Susan Pendleton Jones - "Blessed Living" (July 4, 1999)

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/r4vm43b7n?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4vm43b7n
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

-	Let us pray.	0:05
	Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us.	0:09
	Melt us, mold us, fill us, use us.	0:16
	Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us.	0:23
	Amen.	0:32
	Several weeks ago, as I was putting our nine-year-old son	0:36
	to bed, after we had turned off the lights and said prayers,	0:40
	I bent down over his bed to kiss him goodnight.	0:45
	As I did, he reached up and pulled my face toward his.	0:50
	Seven kisses he gave me.	0:55
	Four down and three across on my forehead.	0:59
	And, as he let me go, he looked me in the eye	1:05
	and he said, "Mom, you are blessed."	1:08
	"Ben, did you realize that you kissed me	1:16
	"in the shape of a cross?" I asked him.	1:19
	"Yup," he answered, "I planned it that way."	1:23
	Well, over the years, Ben has seen the sign of the cross	1:28
	made on other people's foreheads as well as his own,	1:31
	with ashes during Lent and with water	1:35
	during services of baptismal renewal.	1:38
	But never before had he seen the sign of the cross	1:41
	made on the forehead in kisses.	1:46
	From this little boy, often so full of mischief,	1:50
	I received an unexpected sign of grace from God.	1:54
	A reminder of the blessings I have received in life	1:59
	but also of the price that was paid for them.	2:03
	Kisses in the form of a cross, a blessing.	2:09
	Before meals, young children offer them in song.	2:16
	Every Sunday, worshipers are sent forth with them	2:20
	from sanctuaries around the world.	2:23
	Even sneezes elicit them.	2:26
	Blessings are very much a part of our everyday life.	2:29
	We give them and we receive them from God	2:34
	and each other almost on reflex.	2:37
	A word of grace offered, a sign of forgiveness shared.	2:41
	We extend a blessing and move on.	2:45
	We receive a blessing and feel good for the moment.	2:48
	Blessing is a comfortable noun, particularly when blessing	2:52
	is a gift and we are on the receiving end.	2:57
	And we're pretty used to it as individuals and as a nation.	3:02
	July 4th reminds us of it.	3:07
	Today, we celebrate being blessed as a nation	3:10
	and we usually do it up pretty big.	3:14
	Flags flying, fireworks lighting up the sky,	3:17
	parades and family picnics all celebrating our blessings	3:20
	of independence, of freedom, of inalienable rights,	3:26
	of peace and prosperity.	3:32
	In many ways, we are a blessed country,	3:36
	a land flowing with milk and honey,	3:40
	a land and a people blessed by God.	3:43
	The Old Testament reading for this morning	3:48
	describes just such a land.	3:50
	The richly blessed status of the whole world of Abraham	3:54
	in a land called Canaan.	3:59
	Our reading begins, the Lord has greatly blessed my master	4:03
	and he has become wealthy.	4:08
	He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold,	4:10
	male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.	4:14
	And Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to him	4:18
	when she was very old.	4:22
	The Hebrew word for blessing, berakah,	4:25
	is used six times in this 24th chapter of Genesis.	4:29
	Abraham is blessed, the Lord is blessed,	4:35
	the servant is blessed, and finally Rebekah,	4:37
	the focus of this chapter, is blessed.	4:40
	A suitable wife for Isaac, the long-awaited son of Abraham	4:45
	and Sarah, needs to be found.	4:50
	So we hear of the meeting and then the union	4:53
	of Isaac and Rebekah, and Isaac is comforted	4:56
	after the death of his mother, Sarah.	5:01
	The promise made to Abraham by God, back in Genesis 12,	5:05
	of land, of descendants, of fathering a great nation,	5:09
	is continued through this marriage,	5:13
	through the obedience and faithfulness of Rebekah	5:16
	and the eventual births of Jacob and Esau.	5:21
	Last month, I helped to lead a group of Duke students	5:26
	on a work team to the land where this story takes place.	5:29
	There, we lived and worked among Palestinian	5:34
	Christians and Muslims who live on this land	5:37
	once promised by God to Abraham.	5:40
	Some of the Palestinians we met have deeds to property there	5:44
	that go back to the Middle Ages.	5:48
	Their families have been living there	5:51
	for generation after generation.	5:53
	These Palestinians say they belong to the land.	5:56
	Yet, when we met with a Jewish settler from Chicago,	6:02
	now living outside Bethlehem, the first thing he said	6:05
	to us was, "This is our land.	6:09
	"God gave us this land."	6:12
	As I struggled to understand their very different	6:16
	perspectives and the complexities that have caused	6:18
	centuries of conflict over land in the Middle East,	6:21
	I thought back to that original promise made	6:25
	to Abraham in Genesis 12.	6:30
	You heard it read several Sundays ago.	6:33
	The promise of land to Abraham is directly linked	6:37
	to this theme of blessing.	6:42
	Do you remember it?	6:46
	"Go from your country," God says, "to the land	6:48
	"that I will show you.	6:52
	"I will make of you a great nation.	6:55
	"And I will bless you so that you will be a blessing.	6:58
	"In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."	7:05
	The promise of the land to the Jews is linked to Abraham's	7:13
	descendants being a blessing to others, in God's name.	7:18
	A light to the nations, a beacon of compassion,	7:23
	a living witness to social justice.	7:28
	If discussions between Jews and Palestinians revolve around	7:32
	prior claim to the land or military might or even whose side	7:36
	God is on, then there is little or no hope for peace.	7:41
	But when discussions about the land are set in the context	7:47
	of blessing, then words like forgiveness, cooperation,	7:51
	justice, and hope emerge.	7:57
	And the possibility of a new future is born.	8:02
	A future shaped by God's call to all of us,	8:06
	not just to offer and receive blessings,	8:10
	not just to let blessing be a comfortable noun,	8:13
	but to live as a blessing to others,	8:18
	to come to know blessing as a very challenging verb.	8:22
	On our trip to the Holy Land, we met a Jewish woman	8:29
	committed to this vision of living as a blessing.	8:32
	Her name is Gila Svirsky, and she has founded	8:37
	a group called Bat Shalom, Daughters of Peace.	8:41
	When Palestinian homes on the West Bank are slated	8:47
	for demolition, she goes to those families,	8:50
	along with many women from her organization,	8:53
	and they form a human shield to block the bulldozers.	8:56
	They've been arrested and beaten in their work	9:00
	for peace and justice.	9:03
	They believe that their homeland is to be used	9:06
	as a blessing for all God's children.	9:10
	Blessing is a dynamic, active word.	9:16
	It is a word to be lived.	9:20
	As Elias Chacour, a Melkite Palestinian priest	9:25
	in Galilee, has written, we're used to hearing	9:28
	Jesus speak of blessing in a passive sense,	9:32
	as in the Beatitudes, where he says,	9:36
	blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.	9:39
	Blessed are the merciful.	9:44
	Blessed are the peacemakers.	9:46
	The word Jesus uses here in Aramaic	9:50
	comes from the root word yashar,	9:52
	which doesn't have this passive quality to it at all.	9:55
	Instead it means to set yourself on the right path	9:59
	for the right goal, to turn around, repent,	10:03
	to become straight, or righteous.	10:06
	It's better, Chacour says, to translate	10:09
	Jesus's words of blessing like this.	10:12
	Get up, go ahead, do something, move,	10:16
	you who are hungry and thirsty for justice.	10:21
	Get up, go ahead, do something, move,	10:24
	you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God.	10:27
	Get your hands dirty to build a human society	10:32
	for human beings, otherwise, others will torture	10:36
	and murder the poor, the voiceless, and the powerless.	10:40
	Christianity is not passive, Chacour continues,	10:45
	but active, energetic, alive, going beyond despair.	10:48
	Get up, go ahead, do something, move,	10:55
	Jesus said to his disciples.	10:59
	Live as God's blessing to others.	11:03
	Jesus not only transforms the notion	11:09
	of blessing from passive to active,	11:12
	but he also radicalizes its definition, as well.	11:16
	For Jesus and for those who follow him,	11:21
	no longer does being blessed apply primarily	11:25
	to those who have wealth and prosperity,	11:28
	who live long, healthy, and happy lives.	11:31
	In Luke's version of the Beatitudes, Jesus actually says,	11:36
	"Blessed are you who are poor.	11:41
	"Blessed are you who are hungry now.	11:46
	"Blessed are you who weep."	11:50
	The ones who have lost it all	11:54
	or who haven't even had it in the first place,	11:56
	they are the ones God blesses through Jesus.	12:00
	Why does God bless those who weep?	12:06
	Or, as Matthew puts it, those who mourn?	12:10
	Because they are people whose lives are shaped	12:14
	by a faithful vision of God's kingdom.	12:18
	As Nicholas Wolterstorff describes them,	12:22
	the mourners are those who have caught a glimpse	12:25
	of God's new day, who ache with all their being	12:28
	for that day's coming, and who break out in tears	12:32
	when confronted with its absence.	12:37
	They are the ones who realize that, in God's realm of peace,	12:41
	there is no one hungry	12:45
	and who ache whenever they see someone starving.	12:47
	They are the ones who realize that, in God's realm of peace,	12:51
	there is no one who fails to see God	12:54
	and who ache whenever they see someone unbelieving.	12:58
	They are the ones who realize that, in God's realm,	13:04
	there is no one who suffers oppression	13:07
	and who ache whenever they see someone beaten down.	13:10
	They are the ones who realize that, in God's realm,	13:17
	there is no one without dignity and who ache	13:20
	whenever they see someone treated with indignity.	13:25
	They are the ones who realize that, in God's realm of peace,	13:31
	there is neither death nor tears and who ache	13:35
	whenever they see someone crying tears over death.	13:40
	The mourners are aching visionaries.	13:46
	In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus not only blesses these	13:53
	aching visionaries, he also extends this blessing	13:56
	to those who are heavy-burdened and weighed down.	14:01
	Jesus's command, take my yoke upon you,	14:06
	offers not another burden but the liberating freedom	14:12
	of obedience through discipleship.	14:16
	By being yoked to him, Jesus is calling us away	14:20
	from our personal desires for autonomy and independence	14:24
	and offers us his yoke, one that is easy,	14:30
	one that is shared.	14:35
	It echoes the rabbinic teachings on the yoke of the law.	14:38
	Yet, to take his yoke is to follow him and learn from him	14:43
	whose law is not burdensome but is characterized	14:47
	by humility, forgiveness,	14:52
	and concern for the outcast and downtrodden.	14:56
	Blessing can be a gift, but it is also a responsibility.	15:02
	To try to live as a blessing can seem like	15:10
	an awesome burden, an incredible demand, one that we will	15:14
	never accomplish if we declare our independence	15:18
	and focus on our personal freedom and our individual rights.	15:22
	We live as a blessing only when we take on the yoke	15:28
	of dependence on Jesus and follow his example	15:33
	of humility and self-giving love.	15:37
	Blessed are those whose vision of the kingdom helps them	15:42
	see that blessing comes through costly love and sacrifice.	15:48
	We do live in a land that has been blessed by God.	15:55
	But we are called, just like Abraham and his descendants	16:00
	were called, to use those blessings as a blessing to others.	16:03
	On this weekend, we are challenged to reflect on whether we,	16:10
	as individuals and as a nation, use what we have	16:15
	as a blessing in service to others or see our blessings	16:19
	as a gift to which we have exclusive claim.	16:24
	There is a connection between blessing and sacrifice	16:31
	that even a nine-year-old little boy was able to envision.	16:36
	When Ben kissed me on the forehead that night,	16:43
	he offered a challenging reminder to me and to all of us	16:46
	of the cruciform shape of a life truly blessed.	16:52
	Kisses in the form of a cross.	17:00
	Amen.	17:06

Item Info

Title:

Susan Pendleton Jones - "Blessed Living" (July 4, 1999)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 0:35. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 17:07.
On July 4, this sermon claims considers the idea that Americans are blessed and argues for a biblical view of blessing that is active, sacrificial, and self-giving to others; the preacher calls those who hear to seek to live as those who seek to bring blessing, justice, peace, and hope to others. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4vm43b7n

Date:

July 4, 1999

Speaker:

Jones, Susan Pendleton

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0966
ref10089_d06
uachapelsermaud
duke:320841
dcrau001610
ark:/87924/r4vm43b7n
caaa799a-426b-48af-898c-e683a9e589b4

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

Susan Pendleton Jones - "Blessed Living" (July 4, 1999)

Transcript

Item Info

1. Susan Pendleton Jones - "Blessed Living" (July 4, 1999)

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options

Susan Pendleton Jones - "Blessed Living" (July 4, 1999)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options