William C. Gipson - "Keep Hope Alive" (October 11, 1998)

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-	I just wanna take this time to thank Dr. Willimon	0:04
	for the invitation to come to the Duke University Chapel	0:08
	to be the preacher for today,	0:12
	he is indeed a fine colleague in this ministry,	0:14
	to the Assistant Dean of the Chapel	0:19
	and Director of Religious Life,	0:23
	Reverend Kenneth Nelson for his gracious hospitality,	0:24
	to Ms. Christian Richardson, who is our Lector for today	0:29
	who's member of the class of 2001 at the Divinity School,	0:33
	to all of the staff in the office of the Dean	0:36
	who were so kind in making sure that I get here,	0:39
	and get here in one piece and comfortably, I'm grateful.	0:43
	And for all you God's people, it is indeed a blessing	0:48
	to be with you in this place of worship	0:51
	with the sound of this beautiful music	0:55
	from this guest choir from the Charlotte area,	0:57
	and we are grateful to be with you as well.	1:01
	Now, I want you to know I'm especially proud	1:04
	that in our number today is a woman	1:08
	who has, in some way, participated	1:12
	in one of the greatest joys in my life,	1:15
	the mother of my wife, Mrs. Mary Burgee, who's here today	1:18
	and she has come out to hear her son-in-law,	1:24
	so that's a strong affirmation.	1:27
	If you don't like the sermon today,	1:29
	at least you'll know my mother-in-law loves me.	1:31
	(congregation laughing)	1:34
	Mother Grand, as we call her in our house,	1:35
	we're so delighted to see you this morning.	1:37
	Now for the lessons.	1:42
	From the Letter to the Hebrews, the 12th chapter.	1:53
	"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded	2:01
	"by so great a cloud of witnesses,	2:05
	"let us lay aside every weight,	2:08
	"and the sin which so easily ensnares us,	2:11
	"and let us run with endurance	2:15
	"the race that is set before us,	2:16
	"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,	2:20
	"who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,	2:25
	"despising the shame, and has sat down	2:30
	"at the right hand of the throne of God."	2:34
	And continuing at the 12th verse,	2:37
	"Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down,	2:41
	"and the feeble knees, and make straight paths	2:45
	"for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated,	2:49
	"but rather be healed.	2:53
	"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness,	2:56
	"without which no one will see the Lord,	3:00
	"looking carefully lest anyone	3:03
	"fall short of the grace of God,	3:05
	"lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble,	3:08
	"and by this many become defiled."	3:12
	And from Paul's Letter to the Corinthians,	3:16
	First Corinthians 13, verse 13,	3:20
	"And now abide faith, hope, love.	3:29
	"these three, but the greatest of these is love."	3:35
	This is the Word of the Lord.	3:42
-	Thanks be to God.	3:45
-	There was no glide in their stride,	3:51
	there was no pep in their step, no snap in their rap.	3:57
	They were zigging where they should have been zagging,	4:02
	and zagging in places where they should have been zigging.	4:06
	They were sagging and dragging.	4:11
	They were rhythm people who had lost their beat,	4:15
	marching people who were out of step.	4:19
	They were people with long-distance runners' obligations,	4:23
	but possessed only with relay runners' endurance.	4:28
	This perspective on the people to whom	4:34
	the Letter to the Hebrews was written	4:37
	is derived from a reading of the text	4:40
	which suggests that some of those	4:42
	who had started out in the joy and celebration	4:46
	of a new and living way in Christ Jesus	4:49
	had now come to the place in their spiritual journeys	4:52
	where they were tested, wearied, and fearful,	4:57
	and were looking back with desire	5:01
	to that place before they knew	5:06
	the power of God revealed in Jesus.	5:08
	But some discerning sister or brother	5:13
	registered this thinking and affection	5:16
	and began a tight and sustained theological argument	5:18
	which insisted that they could not go back	5:23
	to the old way of being, doing and knowing	5:27
	without denying the life-changing	5:31
	and cosmic cataclysmic work of God in Christ Jesus.	5:33
	The author reminds them that many had gone on before them	5:39
	having died without seeing the promise,	5:43
	but they had kept hope alive by living,	5:48
	believing, and acting as seeing the invisible.	5:52
	The author exhorts them then to move forward.	5:57
	Yes, the author implies it is an uphill journey,	6:02
	but you have to keep climbing all the time.	6:07
	We have come this far by faith, the author argues.	6:11
	We've come trodding our way	6:15
	through the blood of the slaughtered.	6:17
	We have come this far, not by aid of a map,	6:19
	or with the comfort of accurate weather forecast,	6:24
	for it is often stormy on this journey.	6:28
	Storm clouds gather and strong winds,	6:32
	you know, they do blow.	6:34
	But our author and pioneer on this journey is Jesus,	6:37
	who for the joy that was set before him,	6:42
	endured the cross and all of the shame,	6:45
	but is now set down at the right hand of God.	6:48
	Therefore, the author argues, we must stop	6:52
	this sagging and dragging, this limping and weaving,	6:55
	and get on the good foot, as James Brown says.	6:58
	"Keep hope alive," answered our national, political,	7:02
	and social parlance with the bold, and daring,	7:07
	audacious, and provocative, electric, and synergetic	7:12
	presidential candidacy of that South Carolina-born,	7:17
	Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson.	7:21
	But the phrase has deeper historical roots in our country,	7:23
	and in the story of Christian life and faith.	7:28
	One member of that cloud of witnesses from Hebrews 12:1	7:33
	referred to is Harriet Tubman.	7:38
	Tubman, as you well know, a Christian saint	7:43
	and an American of the first rank of patriotic action	7:47
	made 19 trips south, eventually leading over 300 women,	7:51
	men, boys, and girls to freedom.	7:57
	Her word was, "Keep going."	8:02
	She'd say, "Children, if you're tired,	8:05
	keep going.	8:10
	"If you're hungry, keep going.	8:12
	"If you're scared, keep going.	8:16
	"If you want to taste freedom, keep going."	8:19
	Harriet Tubman was a saint, and the cloud of witnesses	8:24
	is a convention of the saints who've passed on,	8:28
	but saints also occupy this time and space.	8:31
	Saints are people who have been awed	8:37
	by God's self-revelation in their lives	8:39
	and who've been freed by that revelation	8:42
	to live and act audaciously in faith and hope.	8:45
	Audacious for reconciliation,	8:51
	audacious for the poor,	8:55
	audacious for justice,	8:58
	audacious for the big things of God.	9:00
	Saints are people who are aware that God's time	9:05
	is interpenetrating human history so profoundly	9:08
	that they can see the skyline of a new Jerusalem	9:13
	so vividly,	9:18
	and experience God's grace so abundantly	9:19
	that they live as if victory is theirs,	9:23
	and truth, and mercy, and peace	9:27
	were as real to them	9:31
	as round is to circle,	9:33
	black is to tar,	9:37
	white on rice, and wiggle to jello.	9:39
	They live as if God is real	9:43
	and God's promises are sure.	9:48
	Our current world and national, political,	9:52
	and social-economic context call for	9:55
	those kind of people, those saints.	10:00
	It requires legions of saints who are close enough	10:04
	to the struggles of life so as not	10:09
	to underestimate the rampage of pain,	10:11
	not to trivialize injustice and suffering,	10:14
	but they are spiritually tuned enough to see	10:19
	the promises of God even if they are far off.	10:24
	These are they who know that fear is real,	10:28
	but faith is stout resistance.	10:34
	These are they who know that despair cannot be wished away,	10:37
	but that hope is an anchor.	10:43
	These are they who know that deception	10:46
	is sometimes a welcome tranquilizer,	10:49
	but that love confronts and transforms.	10:52
	The context of our daily living, personal,	10:57
	nationally, globally require that we have	11:01
	that kind of perspective as people of God,	11:06
	followers of Jesus Christ.	11:10
	Economically, many of you know the story better than I,	11:13
	but we do know that the haves have more,	11:18
	the have-nots have not at all,	11:21
	and since the might-have-beens are now the will-nots,	11:23
	the could've-beens just won't be.	11:27
	Politically, the ones we thought could, can't,	11:28
	the ones we thought were, are not,	11:32
	the ones we thought just would, won't,	11:35
	and the ones we expected haven't shown up,	11:37
	so it requires people of faith to step,	11:40
	not into the gap, but into the fullness	11:44
	of the sainthood God has called them to.	11:48
	Is there any wonder why we need to keep hope alive?	11:52
	We keep hope alive to hold open a space	11:56
	for God to do those things that God does best.	12:01
	Healing, and mending, reconciling, and delivering.	12:05
	Our practice of faith, hope and love are our responses	12:10
	to God's action already at work in the world.	12:14
	There is then a real need for these Christian virtues,	12:19
	faith, hope, and love, to have pragmatic utility,	12:25
	especially for those who live	12:30
	on the cutting edge of God's promises.	12:32
	Folk like Abraham and Sarah,	12:35
	folk like Mary and Joseph,	12:39
	and those whose personal, private skies	12:42
	are filled with foreboding sometimes.	12:45
	Your address, and my address, the homeless,	12:50
	those without medical insurance,	12:53
	and the list goes on, and on for reasons to keep hope alive.	12:56
	It will not suffice to view faith, hope, and love	13:02
	as charming Greco/Roman ideals to be read about aloud	13:06
	at picture-perfect, expensive weddings.	13:12
	No, these are elements that sustain	13:15
	relationship and community long after	13:18
	the wedding party has dispersed.	13:21
	These are active agents that hold it together	13:24
	through thick and thin in all of life.	13:28
	Faith, hope and love must meet	13:31
	where the rubber hits the road	13:34
	and they always appear together	13:37
	when their best work is done.	13:42
	Faith, you see, has a magnet-like attraction	13:46
	to the promises of God,	13:51
	so those who are in faith can see the promises of God,	13:54
	they can smell their sweet savor,	14:00
	they can then sing praises to God.	14:03
	Those who have faith visit the future,	14:07
	and the future visits them.	14:13
	This is what Dr. King meant when he said,	14:16
	"I've been to the mountaintop	14:18
	"and I've seen the Promised Land."	14:21
	That was not any special, spectacular event,	14:23
	this was a man who was living at the very limits of faith,	14:28
	faith that is available to you and I.	14:33
	That's why Hebrews 11:1 begins to make sense.	14:38
	"Now faith is the substance,"	14:44
	that is to say the solid reality, "of things hoped for,	14:47
	"the evidence," that is the material proof,	14:51
	"of things not seen."	14:55
	Now, I am blessed	14:57
	to live in one of the most exciting	15:02
	American cities now for two years,	15:05
	but my roots are deep in the South,	15:09
	I am a Louisiana boy.	15:12
	When I was thinking about this sermon,	15:15
	and thinking about faith in particular,	15:18
	I thought about how we can visit the future,	15:21
	and the future can visit us	15:27
	through the lens of one of my experiences	15:29
	as a kid growing up in the northeast portion of Louisiana.	15:34
	I don't know how many of you still eat	15:41
	that wonderful Southern delicacy called collard greens,	15:43
	but in my house it was a regular item on the menu,	15:48
	and collard greens take a long time	15:53
	to really get to the point where you can eat them.	15:57
	If anybody ever offers you quick collard greens,	16:01
	you head out the door.	16:04
	(congregation laughing)	16:05
	But you know, sometimes when they're cooking,	16:07
	it smells so good and the anticipation is there,	16:09
	but there's this gap between	16:12
	when you'll be able to eat and your hunger.	16:14
	Well, if you would take the lid off the pot,	16:17
	take a of square of cornbread,	16:21
	and you always have to have cornbread with collard greens,	16:22
	and if you were to hold the cornbread over that pot,	16:25
	the vapors from the collard greens would come up,	16:30
	and after a while that cornbread	16:33
	would just become mush in your hands and you could eat it,	16:35
	and someone would say, "Oh, are the greens ready?"	16:38
	You say, "No, they're not ready."	16:41
	"What's that crumb matter all around your mouth?"	16:43
	"Oh, you don't understand,	16:47
	this is the substance of collard greens hope for,	16:50
	the evidence of collard greens not seen."	16:53
	We can visit the future, my sisters and brothers,	16:56
	by living as if God's promises	17:02
	are already realized.	17:06
	There is a need, a strong need, for these Christian virtues,	17:09
	faith, hope and love, to have pragmatic utility,	17:15
	to make a difference in our lives	17:19
	so that love is not etiquette dressed up in church language,	17:22
	but a confronting, redeeming, and transforming power.	17:26
	Hope is not wish, but strong conviction	17:30
	that that which is promised will come to pass	17:34
	if it is rooted and grounded in the one who is promised.	17:39
	Faith is not a beautifully-worded	17:43
	and finely-crafted confession to be recited,	17:46
	but it is finally something that beats	17:50
	with the very pulse of life.	17:53
	And faith, you see, is her own witness,	17:58
	and where you find faith,	18:01
	there you shall find realized promise also.	18:04
	I'm fascinated though, fascinated,	18:08
	by that First Corinthians 13,	18:13
	verse 13,	18:18
	"Faith, hope and love," Paul writes,	18:19
	I've thought about that.	18:24
	Why do they appear together?	18:26
	Well, I like to imagine faith, hope and love	18:29
	as three sisters.	18:33
	Faith is the stout and heavy-set sister	18:38
	'cause she can move mountains.	18:44
	And hope is the puny and weak sister	18:47
	because there was a time before she was born, prenatally,	18:50
	when everyone thought hope unborn had died.	18:55
	But love, love is the more	18:58
	graceful sister.	19:02
	I almost said the more beautiful sister.	19:05
	She is the more graceful sister	19:08
	because when a beautiful person enters a room	19:12
	everybody notices her or him,	19:15
	but when a graceful person enters the room,	19:19
	she or he notices everybody.	19:22
	That's love, that's God's love,	19:25
	that's the love that God calls us to.	19:28
	But faith, if you will,	19:31
	is often anxious and jittery	19:35
	because we are so	19:38
	lacking in faith sometimes.	19:42
	Hope is kept weak and puny as a result of that.	19:44
	And so therefore both of them, faith, hope and love	19:49
	need the inspiration--	19:53
	Faith and hope need the inspiration of their sister, love,	19:55
	to keep on keeping on.	19:59
	In Hebrews, it says,	20:02
	"Lift the weak hands and the feeble knees."	20:05
	This is because somewhere along the way	20:11
	these three sisters have parted,	20:16
	but there has to be a way to keep them together	20:20
	in perfect harmony to keep our lives sweet and strong,	20:23
	to inspire us to live the kind of lives	20:28
	that God has and is calling us to.	20:32
	Keep hope alive.	20:37
	Hebrews says that one of the ways we can do that	20:39
	is by laying aside every weight.	20:42
	I'm not the kind of preacher that's gonna go	20:46
	through the list of all the vices and the sins,	20:48
	I'm sure that it's inexhaustible,	20:51
	and I'm sure there a few there on the list	20:53
	that have some special association with me.	20:56
	But my point in raising this text is to say,	20:59
	if we're gonna keep hope alive,	21:03
	there are some things we need to lay aside.	21:05
	Small things that appear grand and large in our eyes,	21:09
	but really don't benefit the cause of Christ	21:14
	or our growth in God.	21:17
	We have to keep hope alive.	21:19
	Those three sisters, faith, hope and love,	21:24
	if kept in communion with each other,	21:29
	can make all the difference in the world.	21:32
	It's like the admonition in Hebrews	21:34
	to neglect not the gathering together of yourselves.	21:38
	There is power in our company	21:41
	keeping with each other,	21:45
	there is strength in our company keeping with others,	21:47
	there is a power in the communion.	21:52
	I want to share one other story with you	21:58
	and then I'll take my seat.	22:01
	A colleague of mine	22:07
	who works at The National Council of Churches,	22:10
	tells a story of sitting outside in her backyard	22:14
	one summer day with her two young sons.	22:18
	They were splashing around in the pool,	22:23
	and she had set up for herself a nice lawn chair	22:27
	with a lemonade sitting there on the table.	22:32
	The boys, as children will do, exhausted themselves	22:37
	and one came running over,	22:40
	picked up her tumbler,	22:44
	and started to drink, and then he looked at his mother,	22:48
	and he said, "Mommy, if I drink from this tumbler,	22:51
	"will I catch your dreams?"	22:56
	It was a slip.	22:59
	He meant, "would I catch your germs?"	23:03
	But it made me think of our communion together	23:06
	around the Lord's table.	23:10
	Were it that simple.	23:12
	Every time we drink from the cup,	23:14
	we catch God's dream for our hope,	23:18
	for our faith, for deep love.	23:23
	It may not be that simple,	23:27
	but that's what the communion of the saints is about.	23:29
	Every time we drink from that cup,	23:33
	we can catch God's dream and keep hope alive.	23:37
	My sisters and my brothers, let's keep hope alive,	23:42
	for there are a lot of children out there	23:47
	who are not receiving adequate education.	23:50
	My brothers and my sisters, let's keep hope alive	23:55
	because there are a lot of parents out there	23:59
	who can't make ends meet.	24:02
	Keep hope alive.	24:04
	There are widows and widowers out there	24:06
	who are being crushed by loneliness.	24:08
	We gotta keep hope alive,	24:11
	and we keep hope alive by keeping	24:14
	these three sisters together in our theological landscape,	24:16
	but standing close together, side-by-side,	24:20
	in our lives, one with the other.	24:24
	Whatever you do, keep hope alive.	24:29
	Amen.	24:32

Item Info

Title:

William C. Gipson - "Keep Hope Alive" (October 11, 1998)

Description:

Sermon start time: 03:51. Sermon end time: 24:33.
Love begets hope and faith, but the trinity of these values must inspire Christian lives. Gipson asks the congregation to keep these values alive even in the face of difficult times for the sake of the people who may not have hope to spare. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "It will not suffice to view faith, hope, and love as charming Greco-Roman ideals to be read about aloud at picture-perfect weddings. No, these are elements that sustain relationship and community long after the wedding party has dispersed."

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r44m91s0n

Date:

October 11, 1998

Speaker:

Gipson, William C.

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UA.17.01.0003 CS-0927
ref10003_ahk
uachapelsermaud
duke:321140
dcrau001571
ark:/87924/r44m91s0n
d2692314-22d3-4475-bef8-3de5ea2405de

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