William H. Willimon - "Unto Us a Child" (December 20, 1998)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4dz03g6v?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4dz03g6v
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

-	Yesterday	0:19
	at holiday drop-ins,	0:21
	more than one person said to me,	0:24
	well, I can't wait to hear what	0:28
	you have to say about, in your sermon,	0:30
	about this tar pit in Washington.	0:33
	And, until about 8:00 this morning	0:38
	I intended to say nothing,	0:41
	because what is there to say more.	0:45
	I've never committed adultery, so	0:50
	there's nothing exciting for me to reveal.	0:51
	(laughter)	0:55
	And this fall, the students have taken delight	1:00
	in pointing out to me that	1:03
	I wasn't one of the three pastors	1:05
	summoned to the White House to serve	1:07
	as the presidents' spiritual advisors.	1:09
	And furthermore, I expect	1:15
	that the majority of you are just dying to hear	1:19
	nothing.	1:22
	The woman at the mall yesterday	1:25
	when I asked about impeachment, I think,	1:27
	spoke for most of us when she said	1:29
	I'm just dying for it to get off TV.	1:31
	After hours of redundant, mostly unedifying	1:36
	debate and posturing	1:39
	in the House yesterday,	1:42
	what additional word could there possibly be?	1:45
	Its time for Christmas.	1:52
	Let's get on with	1:54
	Christmas and forget politics.	1:56
	But, unfortunately,	2:02
	because we're Christians we just can't.	2:03
	This is Church.	2:08
	And we're on the threshold of the Incarnation.	2:10
	And I would like nothing better	2:15
	than to get this	2:17
	whole political mess	2:19
	out of the way to let it	2:21
	slither into the muck and the mire	2:24
	it deserves, but we can't because,	2:26
	well, our Scripture for today	2:31
	just won't let us.	2:32
	What does the Church say	2:36
	about a president	2:40
	who can't tell the truth	2:42
	and a Congress of hypocrites,	2:44
	of Democrats defending the indefensible	2:46
	and Republicans who smell blood	2:49
	and a First Lady saying yesterday,	2:51
	hey, its Ramadan, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa,	2:53
	can't we just all forget about it and go on?	2:57
	Is there a word from the Lord?	3:03
	Isaiah 9.	3:08
	"The people who walked in darkness	3:11
	have seen a great light.	3:14
	Those in the land of deep darkness,	3:17
	on them a light has shined.	3:19
	For a child has been born to us,	3:23
	a Son is given to us	3:25
	and the government shall be on his shoulders.	3:27
	And he is named Wonderful Councilor,	3:32
	Mighty God, Everlasting Father,	3:35
	Prince of Peace."	3:37
	Now, I expect it comes as a shock	3:42
	to a number of you	3:44
	that those words originate	3:45
	with Isaiah rather than Handel,	3:46
	and though you may be hoping,	3:49
	and deserve a respite from politics,	3:54
	nothing could be more political	3:59
	than the Scripture just read.	4:00
	Sorry.	4:04
	We're just going to have to mix	4:05
	religion and politics today,	4:07
	whether you like it or not.	4:09
	Not because the world is awaiting me	4:11
	to comment on presidential veracity,	4:14
	but it's because we're on the way to Christmas.	4:18
	And Christmas is the most politically charged	4:22
	of the Church's seasons.	4:28
	We're going to have to talk politics	4:32
	because you may have forgotten in all the debate	4:34
	in the House,	4:37
	you may have forgotten	4:40
	who's in charge here.	4:42
	Well, it was a dark, difficult time	4:47
	in Israel.	4:49
	Poor King Ahaz had attempted to placate Assyria.	4:51
	But things had gone badly	4:57
	the Assyrians had turned against him,	4:59
	they had laid waste much of Israel	5:00
	and now, the whole Assyrian army stood	5:04
	at the very gates of the Capitol.	5:08
	All of that darkness that is spoken of	5:12
	by the prophet in today's Scripture,	5:14
	it's darkness of the battlefield	5:18
	and war and blood.	5:20
	Israel is on the verge of total annihilation.	5:22
	And into that darkness	5:27
	light comes.	5:31
	Light in the form of a birth.	5:34
	For a child has been born to us.	5:38
	A Son is given to us	5:42
	and the government shall be	5:44
	on his shoulders.	5:45
	Poor Ahaz.	5:49
	He was never able to be quite the king	5:51
	his granddaddy Asiah was.	5:53
	Ever since he had ascended the throne	5:57
	there had been nothing but trouble in Israel.	5:59
	Dark times.	6:02
	He had attempted to hold off Assyria for himself	6:04
	but he was too weak in his resolve.	6:07
	Now, there he was, hunkered down in Jerusalem	6:11
	and all of Israel with him,	6:14
	shaking in his boots,	6:16
	awaiting the sure doom that was to come	6:17
	when the Assyrians finally rolled over	6:20
	the country and laid waste to all.	6:23
	Trembling in this dark day,	6:27
	when he'd tried everything else,	6:29
	as politicians often do,	6:31
	he invited a preacher over	6:32
	to the palace.	6:36
	And King Ahaz said,	6:40
	"Oh man of God, give me a sign.	6:41
	Give me a sign that when I finally stand up	6:45
	and start acting like a king	6:47
	and put my armor on	6:49
	and fight these Assyrians and their allies,	6:51
	give me a sign	6:54
	that I'm going to win."	6:56
	The prophet looks at him with contempt.	7:00
	He's been working with Ahaz for years	7:03
	trying to make a good king out of him.	7:05
	He says,	7:08
	"You want a sign?	7:10
	Okay, okay.	7:12
	I'll give you a sign from God.	7:14
	A young woman will give birth to a baby,	7:17
	whose name will be Emmanuel,	7:21
	God with us.	7:23
	The government is gonna be put on his shoulders."	7:25
	King Ahaz must have laughed out loud.	7:31
	A baby?	7:35
	Hey, I don't need a baby, okay?	7:37
	I need chariots, swords, cruise missiles,	7:40
	a majority in the House, that's what I need.	7:43
	I need some help from you religious people	7:47
	and you come in here and	7:49
	tell me a young woman is gonna get pregnant	7:50
	and have a baby?	7:52
	Scholars believed these words,	7:55
	"for unto us a child is born,	7:57
	unto us a Son is given",	7:59
	come right out of Israel's coronation rituals.	8:01
	When the king was crowned in Israel,	8:04
	Israel spoke of that coronation day	8:07
	as his day of birth, of rebirth.	8:09
	And the priest would stand up and say,	8:12
	unto us a king is given.	8:15
	A prince, and he shall be called	8:18
	defender of the poor,	8:20
	he shall be called a mighty councilor,	8:21
	the wise one, et cetera.	8:23
	You're kidding.	8:28
	You gonna put the government	8:31
	on the shoulders of a baby?	8:34
	Imagine entering the Oval Office	8:39
	for an important meeting with the	8:40
	security council, and seated behind	8:42
	that eventful desk	8:45
	is a baby.	8:48
	In just a few verses,	8:52
	the prophet moves us from the dark,	8:54
	bloody chaos of the battlefield,	8:56
	the mire of real politic,	8:59
	to a baby, who shall be called Emmanuel.	9:03
	Little, God with us.	9:07
	That's quite a move	9:12
	for the prophet to make	9:15
	in just a few verses of poetry.	9:16
	But it's a move that Christians	9:21
	are called to make	9:24
	every year at this time of year.	9:26
	Imagine Phillip Waugerman,	9:30
	or one of those preachers who got invited	9:32
	to the White House saying to our	9:33
	beleaguered chief executive,	9:35
	"Mr. President, I think we've	9:37
	thought of a way out of your dilemma.	9:38
	It's called a baby."	9:41
	In the context of this scripture,	9:45
	this sign, this little Emmanuel,	9:46
	God with us,	9:49
	is politically ambiguous.	9:52
	The prophet goes on to explain	9:55
	that this baby is good news,	9:57
	'cause he's a sign to	10:00
	the King Ahaz that these Assyrians	10:01
	will be held at bay for another year.	10:05
	Jerusalem shall be at peace.	10:07
	On the other hand, king,	10:11
	I hate to tell you,	10:12
	the baby is bad news for you.	10:13
	This baby is a sign	10:17
	that God's given up	10:20
	on you and your house.	10:21
	God's given up on trying to	10:24
	make a good chief executive	10:25
	out of Ahaz and his family	10:27
	and is now gonna pass	10:29
	the government off	10:30
	to another ruler.	10:31
	To Emmanuel and his people.	10:33
	There's good news, and there's bad news.	10:38
	But when you think about it, babies,	10:43
	little Emmanuel or any other baby,	10:45
	are always good news and bad news.	10:47
	A friend of mine speaks of his life	10:52
	BC and AD.	10:56
	That is life	11:00
	before children	11:02
	and life after delivery.	11:03
	And those of you	11:07
	who've tried being parents	11:09
	you know what I mean.	11:11
	Babies.	11:13
	They are cuddly and sweet and cute	11:15
	and they are demanding, and expensive,	11:20
	and relentless.	11:23
	No wonder we live in a culture	11:26
	where nearly a million	11:29
	are aborted every year.	11:30
	'Cause babies are a threat	11:34
	to grown ups.	11:36
	And in our culture we waiver	11:38
	between cute sentimentalization of childhood	11:40
	and the toleration of wide-spread child abuse.	11:44
	A couple of years ago at Duke commencement,	11:48
	Marian Wright Edelman spoke of	11:50
	America's war against children.	11:52
	The most poverty-stricken segment	11:56
	of our population.	11:58
	If a baby is a sign God is with us,	12:01
	Emmanuel,	12:06
	then those of us who've had babies	12:08
	can testify that that is invariably	12:10
	both good news and bad.	12:12
	We don't like for signs to be ambiguous,	12:15
	we want signs to be unequivocally good news.	12:17
	But babies are always ambiguous blessings.	12:22
	Yeah, they're blessings,	12:26
	but they're blessings that always	12:27
	come as a kind of demand.	12:30
	I remember a man in my church	12:33
	explaining to me	12:35
	about how his life got turned around	12:37
	by somebody one week old.	12:40
	He had lived a rather	12:43
	carefree, irresponsible life.	12:46
	He had set on his marriage vows rather lightly.	12:48
	But he said, the day that my little one	12:53
	was brought home, I looked over into	12:56
	that crib, and I saw staring back at me	12:58
	a demand.	13:02
	I felt my life had been judged	13:04
	by her.	13:06
	I realized that she was a gift,	13:08
	but it was a gift that was	13:11
	demanding me to grow up	13:13
	and start acting like more of	13:15
	a human being than I had been.	13:16
	That's an amazing thing,	13:21
	all that judgment and demand	13:22
	to come out of a little baby.	13:24
	Babies are the future.	13:29
	We adults, we decline, we pass away,	13:32
	they increase.	13:36
	Babies are an ever present reminder	13:38
	that tomorrow belongs to them.	13:41
	They remind us that the world	13:45
	isn't all left up to us.	13:47
	It isn't just in our hands.	13:50
	King Ahaz assumed that Israel's future	13:52
	was his kingly problem.	13:55
	But to be told that God had made	13:59
	Israel God's problem,	14:01
	that with redemption	14:04
	and the saving of the nation	14:05
	there is also judgment and punishment	14:07
	of the nation.	14:10
	Well, if it's hard to know	14:13
	when you were thinking about this baby	14:14
	if this was good news or bad.	14:16
	When God comes among us,	14:22
	it's not just to protect or confirm us.	14:25
	God also comes to judge us,	14:30
	that God might redeem us.	14:34
	Last night at a party	14:40
	a man said,	14:42
	"I think this mess in Washington	14:44
	may turn out to be a good thing	14:46
	for our country.	14:47
	Maybe if we're forced over the weeks	14:50
	to look at ourselves,	14:52
	that'll be good."	14:54
	Well, we marveled that he could	14:57
	have such faith that good could come of this.	14:58
	And then he added,	15:01
	"But of course, before it gets better	15:03
	I expect it's gonna get a lot more painful."	15:05
	When another Emmanuel was born in Bethlehem,	15:11
	with all the shepherds and the angels	15:15
	just rejoicing at his birth,	15:17
	you remember it was a politician,	15:22
	whether he was a Republican or a Democrat	15:25
	I know not,	15:27
	King Herod,	15:28
	who may have been, in a way,	15:31
	the only one to get the point	15:33
	about the baby.	15:37
	Herod figured out that that crying,	15:39
	cooing, little baby in the manger	15:42
	was a sign,	15:45
	a threat to everything on which	15:46
	his kingdom had been based.	15:48
	So Herod, whom Jesus nicknamed later	15:51
	The Fox,	15:56
	took matters in hand	15:57
	and launched the very first	15:59
	Operation Desert Fox.	16:00
	So Isaiah the prophet	16:05
	comes up before King Ahaz	16:06
	and dares to tell him	16:09
	the hard political truth.	16:10
	Yes, Virginia,	16:13
	there was a time when preachers	16:14
	would tell politicians the truth,	16:15
	whether they got invited to	16:17
	the White House or not.	16:18
	Isaiah says that God is gonna give you	16:20
	a sign, but unfortunately,	16:23
	maybe not the one you wanted.	16:25
	A young woman will give birth to a baby,	16:28
	fatefully named Emmanuel,	16:31
	God right down here with us.	16:33
	That baby will be a sign	16:38
	that you're not really king after all.	16:41
	That your ways of dealing with	16:45
	the world are false.	16:46
	That there's no hope for Israel,	16:49
	or anybody,	16:52
	unless its hope	16:54
	come from God.	16:56
	God's gonna take the government,	16:59
	the rule of the world,	17:02
	off your trembling shoulders,	17:03
	in order to put all the authority	17:09
	on the back of a baby,	17:11
	and he's gonna call his name,	17:14
	Emmanuel.	17:16
	Now, I know that's not the way	17:20
	we like to get things done in the world.	17:22
	I know this is not what you call a	17:26
	politically effective solution	17:28
	to problems.	17:30
	What good	17:33
	is a baby?	17:35
	Church, say something realistic	17:38
	about the current constitutional crises.	17:41
	The Church says, Emmanuel.	17:44
	When President Clinton once again	17:52
	ordered the bombing of more rebel	17:53
	in Baghdad,	17:55
	it was said that one reason he did it now,	17:57
	was, well, we're almost at the Muslim time	18:00
	of Ramadan, and he didn't want to offend	18:03
	the Muslim world by killing Muslims	18:06
	at such a special time of the year.	18:08
	Isn't it interesting that neither he	18:13
	nor anyone else mentioned	18:15
	the possibility	18:17
	that Christians might be offended	18:19
	by Christians bombing Muslims	18:23
	on Christmas?	18:24
	It's probably another sign	18:28
	that we Christians	18:31
	have so capitulated to the	18:32
	demands of the modern nation	18:34
	we've lost the ability	18:35
	even to know the difference between	18:36
	Jesus and Caesar?	18:38
	Between the king and the babe.	18:40
	Maybe more so, it's like we've lost	18:46
	the courage to get into step	18:48
	behind the babe.	18:50
	To see our future linked	18:53
	not to missiles and power plays	18:54
	and posturing and parliamentary maneuvering,	18:57
	but to God's gifts.	19:00
	The babe.	19:03
	Some of you might have seen the	19:07
	new chapel Christmas show and	19:08
	there I was in a conversation with	19:12
	Doctor Richard Hayes and	19:14
	our professor of New Testament,	19:17
	and I asked Dr. Hayes,	19:19
	"How come Herod the King	19:20
	got so upset over the birth of the baby Jesus?	19:22
	How come he ordered the killing	19:25
	of all those little Jewish babies?"	19:26
	And Dr.Hayes said,	19:31
	"You remember when the angels came	19:32
	and the angels said to the shepherds,	19:35
	"Glory to God in the highest	19:38
	and on earth peace and goodwill to men	19:40
	with whom he is pleased."	19:44
	Those words were taken right out of	19:47
	the imperial proclamations	19:50
	of Caesar Augustus.	19:56
	Whenever he would order the people	19:59
	out in the hinterland to get	20:00
	in step behind the empire,	20:01
	he would send out a decree,	20:03
	and the decree would begin,	20:05
	Glory to God in the highest, Caesar,	20:07
	and on earth, peace	20:10
	to those with whom he's pleased.	20:12
	It's like Herod got the point	20:18
	that maybe there was another king.	20:20
	This shall be a sign to you,	20:24
	light shall dawn into your darkness.	20:26
	Peace into our perilous time.	20:30
	There shall be a babe named Emmanuel.	20:34
	The Church does have something fateful	20:39
	and political to say at this time.	20:42
	One, there shall be bipartisan judgment.	20:46
	The judgment of God upon us.	20:51
	Because God, not nations, rules the world.	20:54
	Two,	21:00
	there shall be salvation.	21:02
	There shall be a way out,	21:05
	not of our devising.	21:06
	There shall be darkness,	21:09
	yes, but there shall also be light	21:11
	as gift.	21:13
	God with us.	21:15
	God with us.	21:16
	I wish I could get you to vote for the babe.	21:20

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Unto Us a Child" (December 20, 1998)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 00:19. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 21:25.
The preacher argues that Christmas is the most politically charged season of the Christian year where God subversively uses the birth of the child, Immanuel, not just to protect and confirm us, but also to judge us, so that we might be redeemed. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4dz03g6v

Date:

December 20, 1998

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Advent

Biblical Book:

Matthew

Chapter and Verse:

Matthew 1:18-25

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0937
ref10025_bny
uachapelsermaud
duke:321069
dcrau001581
ark:/87924/r4dz03g6v
2b7f4b15-7548-4c38-87dc-18912b36fbe9

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

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.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

William H. Willimon - "Unto Us a Child" (December 20, 1998)

Transcript

Item Info

1. William H. Willimon - "Unto Us A Child" (December 20, 1998)

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options

William H. Willimon - "Unto Us a Child" (December 20, 1998)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options