B. Maurice Ritchie - "The Parable of the Unjust Judge" (October 19, 1986)

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	(soft organ music)	0:07
	(organ music ends)	3:07
	(up-tempo organ music)	3:22
	(energetic choral singing)	3:32
	(melancholic choral singing)	5:14
	(dramatic choral singing)	6:16
	(organ music ends)	6:50
-	Grace to you and peace from God our father	7:19
	and the lord Jesus Christ.	7:22
	We welcome you to this service of worship in Duke Chapel	7:25
	on the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost.	7:29
	Let me call your attention to the numerous announcements	7:32
	contained in today's bulletin.	7:35
	Please make a special note of the lecture	7:38
	by Dr. Martin Marty on American Religious Life	7:40
	Friday evening at seven o'clock p.m.	7:43
	in your chapel of the Divinity School.	7:46
	Dr. Marty is internationally known	7:49
	for his perceptive analysis	7:51
	of contemporary American religious life	7:52
	and is always a fascinating speaker.	7:55
	We are grateful to have as our special guest this morning	7:58
	the Alamance Chorale and the Chorale's director,	8:01
	Dr. Steven Tin Ike.	8:05
	And we thank them for their moving musical leadership	8:08
	of our worship.	8:10
	The Duke Chapel Choir is singing this morning	8:12
	at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.	8:15
	Our preacher of the morning is the Reverend Maurice Richy,	8:20
	Associate Dean for Student Life and Field Education	8:24
	in the Divinity School.	8:27
	Maurice is presently serving as a member	8:30
	of the Board of Ordained Ministry	8:32
	of the Western North Carolina Conference,	8:34
	and for the past 13 years, has been greatly influential	8:36
	in the ministerial formation	8:41
	of hundreds of divinity students here at Duke.	8:43
	We look forward with anticipation to the message	8:46
	he brings to us today.	8:49
	Let us now prepare our hearts and minds	8:53
	for the worship of almighty God.	8:55
	(joyful organ music)	8:59
	(choir singing)	9:40
	♪ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ♪	9:41
	(choir singing)	9:53
	♪ Holy, holy, holy, ♪	10:02
	♪ merciful and mighty ♪	10:08
	(choir singing)	10:12
	♪ Blessed trinity ♪	10:18
	(choir singing)	10:23
	(choir singing)	11:07
	(choir singing)	11:44
	♪ Merciful and mighty ♪	12:17
	(choir singing)	12:22
	♪ Blessed trinity ♪	12:27
-	Let us pray together the collect of the day.	12:37
	Almighty and everlasting God,	12:42
	in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations.	12:45
	Preserve the works of your mercy,	12:50
	that your church throughout the world may persevere	12:52
	with steadfast faith in the confession of your name	12:56
	through Jesus Christ our lord	13:01
	who lives and reigns with you and the holy spirit	13:03
	one God forever and ever, Amen.	13:07
-	Let us pray.	13:23
-	Open our hearts and minds,	13:26
	oh God, by the power of your holy spirit	13:27
	so that is the word is read and proclaimed,	13:32
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day, Amen.	13:36
	First lesson is taken from the prophet, Habakkuk.	13:45
	The oracle of God which Habakkuk the prophet saw.	13:49
	Oh lord, how long shall I cry for help	13:54
	and thou wilt not hear?	13:58
	Or cry to thee, violence, and thou wilt not save?	14:00
	Why does thou make me see wrongs and look upon troubles?	14:05
	Destruction and violence are before me,	14:10
	strife and contention arise.	14:14
	I will take my stand to watch and station myself	14:18
	on the tower and look forth to see what God will say to me	14:23
	and what I will answer concerning my complaint.	14:29
	And the lord answered me, write the vision.	14:34
	Make it plain upon tablets.	14:37
	The one who reads it may run.	14:40
	For still the vision awaits its time.	14:44
	It hastens to the end, it will not lie.	14:48
	If it seems slow, wait for it, it will surely come.	14:52
	It will not delay.	14:57
	Behold, the one whose soul is not upright shall fail,	15:00
	but the righteous shall live by their faith.	15:06
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	15:11
	Blessed are those whose way is blameless.	15:31
-	(murmurs).	15:35
-	Blessed are those who keep his testimonies.	15:37
-	(murmurs).	15:40
-	Who also do no wrong.	15:42
-	(murmurs).	15:45
-	Thou has commanded thy precepts	15:47
	to be kept diligently.	15:49
-	(murmurs).	15:51
-	Then I shall not be put to shame.	15:56
-	(murmurs).	15:59
-	I will praise thee with an upright heart.	16:03
-	(murmurs).	16:06
-	I will observe thy statues.	16:09
-	(murmurs).	16:12
-	How can a young man keep his way pure?	16:15
-	(murmurs).	16:17
-	With my whole heart, I will seek thee.	16:20
-	(murmurs).	16:24
-	I have laid up the word in my heart.	16:27
-	(murmurs).	16:30
-	Blessed be thou, oh Lord.	16:33
-	(murmurs).	16:35
-	With my lips I declare all the ordinances of thy mouth.	16:38
-	(murmurs).	16:42
-	I will meditate on thy precepts.	16:48
-	(murmurs).	16:50
-	I will delight in thy statutes.	16:54
-	(murmurs).	16:56
	(dramatic organ music)	16:59
	(choir and congregation singing)	17:10
-	The second lesson is taken	18:07
	from Paul's second letter to Timothy.	18:09
	But as for you, continue in what you have learned	18:13
	and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it	18:17
	and how from childhood you have been acquainted	18:21
	with the sacred writings, which are able to instruct you	18:24
	for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.	18:27
	All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching	18:32
	for reproof, for correction, and for training	18:37
	in the righteousness, that the person who is of God	18:41
	may be complete, thus equipped for every good work.	18:45
	I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus	18:50
	who is to judge the living and the dead	18:54
	and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word.	18:57
	Be urgent in season and out of season.	19:01
	Convince, rebuke, and exhort.	19:05
	Be unfailing in patience and in teaching.	19:09
	For the time is coming when people will not	19:13
	endure sound teaching, but having itching ears,	19:15
	they will accumulate for themselves teachers	19:19
	to suit their own likings and will turn away	19:21
	from listening to the truth and wander into myths.	19:25
	As for you, always be steady.	19:30
	Endure suffering.	19:34
	Do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry.	19:36
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	19:42
	(choir singing acapella)	20:06
	(choir singing acapella)	21:29
-	The gospel lesson for the morning comes	23:10
	from St. Luke's gospel, the 18th chapter.	23:11
	Jesus spoke to them in a parable to show	23:16
	that they should keep on praying, and never lose heart.	23:18
	There was once a judge who cared nothing for god or man,	23:24
	and in the same town there was a widow	23:29
	who constantly came before him,	23:31
	demanding justice against her opponent.	23:33
	For a long time, he refused, but in the end	23:37
	he said to himself,	23:41
	true I care nothing for God or man,	23:43
	but this widow is so great a nuisance that I will see her	23:47
	righted before she wears me out with her persistence.	23:50
	The lord said, you hear what the unjust judge says	23:55
	and will not God vindicate his chosen who cry out to him	24:01
	day and night, while he listens patiently to them?	24:05
	I tell you he will vindicate them soon enough,	24:10
	but when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?	24:14
	He spoke to them in a parable to show	24:26
	that they should keep on praying and never lose heart.	24:29
	It was not smart of St. Luke to tip his hand.	24:34
	No, to hand us the key to this parable of the widow	24:39
	and judge before we have a chance to hear it for ourselves	24:42
	and wrestle with what it means.	24:46
	For right out front he says, now what our lord	24:49
	is talking about here is continuous prayer.	24:52
	He is talking about keeping on keeping on.	24:57
	You know the kind of pep talk a coach will give a team	25:01
	that has won three for the season	25:04
	and eight points down in the last minute of the game.	25:06
	That's what Luke is doing here in verse one.	25:10
	And it is frankly tempting to take Luke's introduction	25:14
	and to run with it.	25:18
	It's been done before.	25:20
	There's not a verse in scripture that could stimulate	25:22
	a good pietist like this one.	25:26
	Keep on praying.	25:30
	That's what our world needs, more prayer.	25:32
	After all, isn't that what the gospel is all about?	25:36
	More prayer?	25:40
	Why if we had enough people in enough places lifting	25:43
	enough prayer, why who knows what we might accomplish?	25:45
	It staggers the imagination.	25:51
	We could storm the kingdom with our prayers,	25:54
	and perhaps force God's hand, like this poor widow	25:57
	with the judge.	26:01
	Now if that pietist were a good Methodist,	26:04
	that would be something else.	26:07
	The classical 20th century Methodist	26:10
	never grows weary in well-doing.	26:12
	Lose heart, never heard of it.	26:15
	Wouldn't think of it.	26:18
	You take a good organization,	26:20
	undergird it with a lot of prayers,	26:22
	and then throw some money at it, stand back,	26:25
	move over, here come the Methodists.	26:29
	We would be building kingdoms yet unknown.	26:33
	But if our pietist were a Methodist who had discovered	26:38
	liberation theology, or perhaps feminism,	26:42
	then get ready to be organized to hold prayer vigils	26:46
	for oppressed women and meet your legislator to lobby her	26:50
	for rewriting the laws on inheritance and estate taxes.	26:55
	In the history of biblical exposition, one might find	27:01
	variations on all of these approaches to Luke's words.	27:03
	And there may be, indeed, I dare say there is a kernel	27:09
	of truth in all of these understandings of this text.	27:12
	But none of them is entirely faithful to the major thrust	27:17
	of this parable or to Luke's interpretive comments	27:20
	which precede it.	27:24
	If that be the case then, what might we make	27:27
	of these eight brief tightly written verses?	27:30
	First, Luke is writing in response to some very specific	27:38
	questions circulating among his congregations.	27:41
	When will the kingdom of God come?	27:45
	How will we be able to tell when it is coming?	27:48
	How will we know the true prophets of the kingdom	27:53
	from the false ones who think they know when it is coming?	27:56
	Will we have time to prepare for the coming	28:02
	once it's on the way?	28:05
	It is in response to these sorts of questions, says Luke,	28:08
	that Jesus tells the parable of the widow and the judge.	28:12
	A widow has been wronged.	28:18
	How? By whom?	28:20
	We do not know.	28:22
	She has sought justice from her local judge	28:25
	but to no avail.	28:28
	She persists in her quest.	28:30
	She would not fold until she had had her day in court.	28:34
	The judge has lost no love on this woman or her cause.	28:39
	He has neither ethical nor compassionate	28:45
	to say nothing of competent.	28:48
	If you've read your newspaper over the past six months,	28:52
	you should have no difficulty recognizing the type.	28:54
	This judge is focused on his own comfort,	28:58
	convenience, and advantage.	29:01
	Yet because of his own perversion and the persistence	29:04
	of this lowly widow, all widows were lowly under Hebrew law,	29:08
	justice was done.	29:14
	The woman had her day in court.	29:17
	Her opponent was put in his place.	29:19
	She had satisfaction before the bar of justice.	29:22
	Says Jesus, hear what the unjust judge says.	29:27
	This widow is so great a nuisance that I will see her	29:32
	righted before she wears me out.	29:37
	Will not God vindicate his chosen who cry out to him	29:40
	day and night while he listens patiently to them?	29:44
	I tell you God will vindicate them.	29:49
	Unlike most of Luke's parables, this one does not invite us	29:56
	to identify God with a main character	29:59
	but to contrast the two.	30:02
	If a corrupt judge is capable of executing justice	30:05
	for a deprived woman, even with a nice assortment	30:08
	of rather sorted motives, will God not do at least as well	30:12
	toward the elect?	30:17
	The implication of the text is that God will do	30:19
	infinitely more for the elect, and that right soon.	30:22
	So according to Luke, God is not an impassionate deity	30:29
	positioned in space remote from the sufferings	30:32
	of the covenant people, or indifferent toward them.	30:34
	No, God knows the plight of the people	30:38
	and is responsive to them.	30:41
	God may not respond when we will or as we will,	30:44
	but respond, God will.	30:48
	Suffering for God's sake will neither	30:53
	go unnoticed nor unvindicated.	30:55
	God is a patient listener.	30:58
	God keeps covenant with the faithful	31:01
	and will not abandon them when they are wounded	31:04
	in kingdom battles.	31:07
	God will come for them.	31:09
	He spoke to them in a parable to show	31:14
	that they should keep on praying.	31:17
	Luke was writing to a congregation in latter stages	31:21
	of battle fatigue.	31:24
	Some seemed ready to surrender.	31:26
	Why continue?	31:28
	The promised kingdom already tasted in the experience	31:30
	with Christ refuses to come in its fullness.	31:33
	Keep on keeping on.	31:38
	Never lose heart.	31:41
	To suggest that we need only lay on more prayers	31:45
	and in this way storm the kingdom,	31:47
	to think that if we're still sick even after	31:51
	exhaustive prayers, we must be weak of faith.	31:53
	To think that that offer from grad school	31:57
	has not come through because we did not expect	32:00
	a miracle in the beginning.	32:03
	To understand prayer in these ways is to trivialize it.	32:07
	The prayer which Luke has in mind sounds more like	32:11
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.	32:15
	Profound agony of soul led a young Dietrich Bonhoeffer,	32:24
	a German theological student in New York,	32:28
	to return to Nazi Germany with virtual certainty	32:31
	it would mean intense suffering if not death.	32:35
	If I am not with my people during the war, he said,	32:40
	I shall have nothing to say to them after the war.	32:43
	Bonhoeffer did return.	32:48
	He did participate in a plot on Hitler's life,	32:50
	because he was convinced Hitler was the devil incarnate.	32:53
	He was arrested.	32:57
	In prison he continued his prayers.	33:00
	Daily he recited the psalms, the great prayer book	33:03
	of the Bible, as he paced his prison cell.	33:06
	With his feet as well as his lips, he prayed	33:10
	for the coming of God's kingdom.	33:12
	He was hanged just weeks before the collapse of Berlin.	33:16
	Was Bonhoeffer vindicated?	33:21
	After all he was killed.	33:23
	Where is God's justice in a death like this?	33:26
	Only an unbelieving heart that takes death more seriously	33:31
	than God would believe Bonhoeffer was not vindicated	33:34
	because he did not survive the war.	33:37
	Though Bonhoeffer struggled mightily with God	33:41
	and his own temptations during his imprisonment,	33:45
	he was indeed by his own testimony sustained by God	33:48
	until his death.	33:54
	Martin Niemöller was another young German pastor	33:57
	who first welcomed national socialism, or Nazism.	34:00
	But soon he saw its pagan tendencies	34:04
	and organized a counter church in the Nazi-dominated	34:07
	state church of Germany.	34:09
	In 1937, Niemöller was arrested for his resistance	34:13
	to the Nazis.	34:16
	Many of the years between his arrest in 1937 and war's end	34:18
	in 1945, Niemöller spent in solitary confinement.	34:23
	Repeatedly, the Nazis offered him release in return	34:28
	for confessions toward the government.	34:30
	Repeatedly, Niemöller refused.	34:34
	After the war, Niemöller confessed it was his meditation	34:37
	on the scriptures which enabled him to survive	34:40
	the long stretches of solitary confinement used by the Nazis	34:42
	to force compromise.	34:46
	Did God vindicate Niemöller?	34:49
	It is clear that God sustained him	34:53
	through horrible suffering.	34:55
	That in itself speaks to us a word of hope and confidence	34:57
	and strong testimony of the faithfulness of God	35:01
	towards God's faithful servant, Martin Niemöller.	35:05
	I was privileged as a young theological student to meet	35:12
	in Leipzig in East Germany with a group of Christians	35:15
	gathered in a parish church there in the early 60s.	35:19
	They were facing hard choices.	35:24
	Confessing faith then meant you did not attend a university.	35:27
	It meant you did not get a crack at the choice jobs.	35:31
	It meant you never got on the list for a new apartment	35:35
	or better working conditions.	35:37
	These Christians asked repeatedly how do we sing	35:40
	the Lord's song in a land once our home	35:43
	but not increasingly strange and foreign?	35:47
	And how do we resist growing bitter toward those	35:51
	in authority, or thinking life in the West is superior	35:54
	simply because it is freer and more opulent?	35:58
	These people subsisted on prayer,	36:02
	and God's promise of faithfulness toward his chosen.	36:05
	How long, oh lord, how long,	36:09
	before our suffering is vindicated?	36:12
	If you have wept over Ethiopian famine,	36:18
	over South African repression and violence,	36:22
	over endless bloodshed wherever in the world,	36:25
	then you are a kindred spirit with those	36:28
	to whom Luke was writing.	36:30
	The issue for the widow was justice against her opponent.	36:33
	For you and me, it is justice against the enemies	36:37
	of the kingdom of God.	36:41
	How long must we endure arms control negotiations before	36:43
	there is just a beam of hope for a nuclear-free world?	36:48
	How long do we have to watch women and children abused	36:52
	before we learn to relate together in human family?	36:55
	How many marriages must fail?	37:00
	How many family be destroyed before we acknowledge	37:02
	that lust and adultery are not a private affair	37:05
	but a community issue?	37:09
	How many generations of children will have to grow up alone	37:12
	before we have the faith to place the love of children	37:15
	above compulsion for a higher standard of living	37:19
	or personal fulfillment or professional advance?	37:22
	The prayer Luke invites us to make is the prayer	37:28
	of the heart, not in lieu of our private time with God,	37:31
	but in, under, and with all that we do.	37:36
	We are invited to pray with our lives	37:41
	and not only with our lips.	37:44
	To be focused upon God in our midst, and God coming	37:45
	to bring justice and recompense and judgment.	37:49
	To cease our praying with our lives is to capitulate to evil	37:55
	and to succumb to cynicism.	38:01
	When we cease our prayers, we have enthroned	38:04
	the idols of America.	38:06
	We have given over our confidence in God to the world	38:08
	and admitted that life is hopeless	38:11
	and that there is no God.	38:14
	Christ has given us his promise through Luke's account.	38:17
	The sacrifices we make and the suffering we endure	38:21
	to keep the faith in our relationships, in our families,	38:24
	in our vocations, in our church, our community,	38:29
	these sacrifices will not go unheeded.	38:34
	That is the promise of God.	38:37
	How long, oh lord?	38:40
	Not so long that God will forget or abandon us.	38:43
	God will not forsake the faithful	38:47
	who suffer for the kingdom.	38:49
	God will vindicate them with a refiner's fire.	38:51
	Luke assures us that in contrast to the unjust judge,	38:56
	God is very just.	39:00
	God will come to vindicate those faithful to the kingdom.	39:02
	And Luke finally in the very last verse	39:08
	taunts us with our lord's last question.	39:11
	Yes, the kingdom will come.	39:15
	Yes, the faithful will be vindicated.	39:18
	But when the kingdom comes,	39:22
	will we be numbered	39:25
	among the faithful?	39:28
	Let us pray.	39:33
	Yours is indeed, oh God, the majesty	39:36
	and the power and the glory.	39:40
	Lead us not into temptation.	39:44
	Deliver us from evil.	39:48
	And bring us thy kingdom.	39:52
	In Christ our lord, Amen.	39:56
	(soft organ music)	40:10
	(choir and congregation singing)	40:39
	(choir and congregation singing)	41:46
-	The lord be with you.	43:04
-	And also with you.	43:06
-	Let us pray.	43:08
	Gracious God,	43:21
	you do not create us to live alone,	43:25
	and you have not made us all alike.	43:27
	We thank you for the varied societies into which we come,	43:31
	by which we are brought up, and through which	43:35
	we discover your purpose for our lives.	43:38
	In gratitude, we pray for our brothers and sisters	43:42
	here and everywhere.	43:45
	Your son, Jesus the Christ commanded us,	43:48
	love one another as I have loved you.	43:51
	Therefore we pray for our families,	43:56
	with whom we live day by day.	43:59
	May this most searching test of our character	44:03
	not find us broken and empty.	44:06
	By all that we do and say, help us to build up	44:09
	the faith and confidence of those we love.	44:13
	And when we quarrel, help us to forgive quickly.	44:17
	We pray for the places where we work.	44:22
	That there we may be workers who have no need to be ashamed.	44:25
	We ask to be reliable rather than successful.	44:31
	Worthy of trust, rather than popular.	44:36
	Whether those we work with be many or few,	44:40
	may we help to give them the sense	44:44
	that they are personally wanted and cared for.	44:46
	Loving God, we pray for the varied communities	44:52
	to which we belong, that we may be good citizens.	44:54
	Make us willing to accept responsibility	44:59
	when we are called to it.	45:01
	Make us willing also to give place to others,	45:04
	that they too may have their opportunity.	45:07
	And grant that our influence may be good and not evil.	45:10
	We pray for the generation to which we belong,	45:16
	those with whom we share a common storehouse of memory,	45:19
	common standards of behavior, and a common attitude	45:23
	toward the world.	45:27
	Grant that the presence of Christ may be so real to us,	45:29
	that we may be able to help our generation to see Christ	45:33
	also as our contemporary.	45:37
	Lord of all life, and to whose world we come	45:41
	and from whose world finally we must go,	45:44
	we thank you for all those people, great and humble,	45:48
	who have maintained the fabric of the world's life	45:52
	in the past, and left us a great inheritance.	45:54
	May we take up and encourage what is good	45:59
	and hand it on to those who come after, believing	46:02
	that our work in your name will not be wasted or in vein.	46:06
	We ask these things in the name of the Christ	46:11
	who commands us to love one another	46:15
	even as he loves us.	46:17
	Amen.	46:20
	In a spirit of gratefulness, let us now offer our gifts	46:25
	and our lives to God.	46:28
	(soft organ music)	46:34

	(church organ music)	0:04
	(church choir vocalizing)	1:13
	(church organ music)	1:42
	(church choir vocalizing)	1:54
	(church organ music)	3:02
	(church choir vocalizing)	3:13
	(church organ music)	4:51
	(congregation vocalizing)	5:41
-	Let us pray.	6:42
	We give thanks almighty God	6:44
	for all the rich blessings of our life in Christ.	6:46
	Fountain of all goodness,	6:50
	You have given us life and reason,	6:51
	and set us in a world which is full	6:54
	of Your glory.	6:56
	You have comforted us with family and friends,	6:58
	administered to us through the hands	7:01
	and minds of those all around us.	7:03
	You have set in our hearts a hunger for You,	7:07
	and given us Your peace.	7:10
	You have redeemed us and called us	7:13
	to a high calling in Christ Jesus.	7:15
	You have given us a place in the fellowship	7:18
	of Your spirit and the witness of Your church.	7:20
	In darkness, You have been our light.	7:24
	In adversity and temptation, a rock of strength.	7:27
	In our joys, the very spirit of joy.	7:31
	In our labors, the all sufficient reward.	7:34
	You have remembered us when	7:38
	we have forgotten You.	7:39
	Followed us even when we fled from You.	7:41
	Met us with forgiveness when we	7:45
	turned back to You.	7:46
	For all Your long-suffering and the abundance	7:49
	of Your grace,	7:51
	we give You thanks and praise Your Holy name,	7:53
	and our goal to pray as Christ taught us.	7:56
	Our Father, who art in Heaven,	8:00
	hallowed by Thy name.	8:03
	Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done	8:05
	on Earth as it is in Heaven.	8:09
	Give us this day, our daily bread,	8:12
	and forgive us our trespasses,	8:15
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	8:18
	And lead us not into temptation,	8:22
	but deliver us from evil.	8:24
	For Thine is the kingdom and the power	8:27
	and the glory forever, Amen.	8:30
	(church organ music)	8:35
	(congregation vocalizing)	9:17
	Go forth into the world	11:32
	to pray without seizing,	11:33
	through all the deeds and actions of your life.	11:36
	And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,	11:39
	the love of God, and the encouragement	11:42
	of the Holy Spirit be with you always, Amen.	11:44
	(church organ music)	11:53
	(congregation applauds)	19:58

Item Info

Title:

B. Maurice Ritchie - "The Parable of the Unjust Judge" (October 19, 1986)

Description:

Sermon start time: 24:26. Sermon end time: 40:01.
The parable of the unjust judge is typically read as an exhortation to us to pray incessantly for the things we want from God. While there is some truth to this, there is a deeper truth. This story is an encouragement to those who are suffering and asking when the kingdom will come. Jesus is saying to the faithfuls' cries, "How long, oh Lord?" that it won't be so long that God will abandon his faithful. God will come and bring the kingdom and those who have been suffering on its behalf. The real question is, will we be numbered among the faithful when he does come? (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “The prayer Luke invites us to make is the prayer of the heart, not in lieu of our private time with God but in, under, and with all that we do. We are invited to pray with our lives and not only with our lips. To be focused upon God in our midst, and God coming to bring justice and recompense and judgment.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rx93t51

Date:

October 19, 1986

Speaker:

Ritchie, B. Maurice

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0358
ref8238_uy0
uachapelsermaud
duke:320453
dcrau001339
ark:/87924/r4rx93t51
6463bd1e-b014-4e1c-87f5-7cfb091598b3

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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B. Maurice Ritchie - "The Parable of the Unjust Judge" (October 19, 1986)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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