Charlene P. Kammerer - "What Does It Mean to Repent?" (January 24, 1982)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| (intricate organ music) | 0:04 | |
| (overlapping choral music) | 10:08 | |
| (reverent organ music) | 11:35 | |
| (echoing choral music) | 14:29 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 14:36 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 14:40 | |
| (echoing choral music) | 14:44 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 14:58 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 15:01 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 15:04 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 15:07 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 15:11 | |
| (echoing choral music) | 15:19 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 15:33 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 15:36 | |
| (echoing choral music) | 15:41 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 15:55 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 15:57 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 16:01 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 16:04 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 16:08 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 16:16 | |
| - | The psalmist cries: make us to know thy ways, O Lord. | 16:24 |
| Teach us thy paths. | 16:28 | |
| Lead us in thy truths and teach us, | 16:31 | |
| for thou art the God of our salvation, | 16:35 | |
| for thee we wait all the day long. | 16:38 | |
| Yes, praise be to God, we wait all the day long. | 16:42 | |
| Grace, mercy, and peace be yours this holy day, | 16:48 | |
| through our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. | 16:54 | |
| Let us now confess our sin to almighty God. | 16:57 | |
| Let us pray. | 17:07 | |
| Oh God, we confess our failure to be true. | 17:10 | |
| Even to our own accepted standards. | 17:14 | |
| Our choosing of the worse when we know the better, | 17:18 | |
| our unwillingness to apply to ourselves | 17:22 | |
| the standards of conduct we demand of others, | 17:24 | |
| our complacency toward wrongs | 17:29 | |
| that do not touch our own lives, | 17:31 | |
| and our oversensitiveness to those that do, | 17:33 | |
| our slowness to see the good in others, | 17:37 | |
| and to see the evil in ourselves, | 17:41 | |
| our hardness of heart toward our neighbors' faults, | 17:44 | |
| and our readiness to make allowances for our own. | 17:47 | |
| Oh Lord, forgive us and help us to amend our ways. | 17:51 | |
| (somber organ music) | 17:58 | |
| Together now, let us offer one another these words | 18:37 | |
| of assurance of God's forgiveness. | 18:40 | |
| By the mercy of God, we are united with Jesus Christ, | 18:44 | |
| and in our Lord we are forgiven. | 18:49 | |
| God makes us new by forgiveness, | 18:52 | |
| and renews our faith, rekindles our hope, | 18:55 | |
| and restores our love. | 18:59 | |
| Therefore, let us give thanks, for God is good | 19:02 | |
| and God's love is everlasting. | 19:05 | |
| Thanks be to God whose love creates us. | 19:09 | |
| Thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us. | 19:12 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 19:16 | |
| Amen. | 19:21 | |
| Either the weather is getting a little bit warmer, | 19:24 | |
| or we're getting accustomed to it; I'm not sure which. | 19:27 | |
| But may I welcome you to Duke Chapel | 19:30 | |
| and to this very special service of worship | 19:32 | |
| in the Lord's house, here on this holy day. | 19:34 | |
| We're glad to have you, and trust that this | 19:38 | |
| will be a time of blessing and new meaning, | 19:41 | |
| for you and your life. | 19:44 | |
| It's a very special day for us, because we're blessed | 19:47 | |
| to have Mr. Michael Best back at Duke again. | 19:49 | |
| He has blessed us several times in the past | 19:54 | |
| as the tenor soloist for Messiah Performances, | 19:57 | |
| where he has thrilled thousands of us by his singing. | 20:01 | |
| Michael is undoubtedly one of Duke University's | 20:05 | |
| most distinguished graduates, | 20:09 | |
| and Durham's, one of Durham's most distinguished citizens. | 20:13 | |
| Michael, we are very pleased to have you back. | 20:18 | |
| Not only for the concert which you gave | 20:21 | |
| on Thursday night, and the concert you gave | 20:23 | |
| with the Duke Symphony and the Chorale on Friday night, | 20:26 | |
| but to have you sing for us and share God's message with us, | 20:29 | |
| here this day. | 20:33 | |
| We're also pleased to have his wife, Marsha Andrews, | 20:35 | |
| and Mrs. Best with us for this special service of worship. | 20:38 | |
| We're pleased to have all of you, | 20:43 | |
| and particularly to have Michael. | 20:45 | |
| I feel almost like saying that, in light of all | 20:49 | |
| of the publicity for today as Super Bowl Sunday, | 20:53 | |
| that I feel like saying yes, Virginia, | 20:57 | |
| there is something more than the Super Bowl on this day. | 20:59 | |
| And that more is a concert here this afternoon | 21:04 | |
| by Mr. Peter Marshal, who is the chapel organist for us. | 21:07 | |
| This will be Peter's first concert since becoming | 21:13 | |
| the chapel organist. | 21:17 | |
| He is a graduate of Oberlin College with a masters degree | 21:19 | |
| in music from Yale University, | 21:22 | |
| and a year of special study as a Fulbright Scholar | 21:25 | |
| at Lupig, Germany. | 21:27 | |
| Peter came to us and began his work here in August. | 21:29 | |
| Many of you have come to know him and to love him, | 21:32 | |
| and to appreciate his music. | 21:34 | |
| The concert will be this afternoon at five o'clock. | 21:36 | |
| The program is in the bulletin. | 21:38 | |
| I invite you to come and to share in this very special time | 21:40 | |
| with Peter and with others. | 21:44 | |
| Tomorrow morning and Tuesday morning, | 21:47 | |
| in the basement of the chapel, or rather, | 21:49 | |
| tomorrow all day beginning at 10 o'clock until four o'clock, | 21:51 | |
| and Tuesday the same time, the blood mobile will be here. | 21:55 | |
| Over 200 of you gave blood. | 21:59 | |
| 200 people connected with Duke a week ago, Saturday. | 22:02 | |
| They need more and they need it badly. | 22:06 | |
| The winter months seem to demand more blood. | 22:08 | |
| I used to be afraid to give blood, | 22:12 | |
| thinking that it would hurt or that it would do | 22:13 | |
| something bad to me. | 22:15 | |
| I can assure you, it doesn't do anything bad. | 22:16 | |
| As a matter of fact, it's quite a thrill | 22:19 | |
| to know that you may be helping someone. | 22:21 | |
| So I invite you, if you're healthy and able-bodied, | 22:23 | |
| and over 18 years of age, to come tomorrow or Tuesday | 22:26 | |
| to the chapel basement to give blood, | 22:30 | |
| so that others may benefit from your gift. | 22:32 | |
| The Reverend Charlene Kammer is our preacher for this day. | 22:39 | |
| The assistant minister to the university, | 22:42 | |
| her sermon title is: What Does It Mean to Repent? | 22:45 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 22:58 |
| Almighty and most merciful God, | 23:00 | |
| you have given the Bible to be the revelation | 23:02 | |
| of your great love to us, and of your power | 23:04 | |
| and will to save us. | 23:07 | |
| Grant that our study of it may not be made in vain | 23:09 | |
| by the callousness or carelessness of our hearts, | 23:12 | |
| but that by it we may be confirmed in penitence, | 23:15 | |
| lifted to hope, made strong for service, | 23:17 | |
| and above all, filled with the true knowledge of you | 23:21 | |
| and of your son, Jesus Christ, amen. | 23:23 | |
| The Old Testament lesson is from Jonah chapter three, | 23:27 | |
| verses one through five, and verse 10. | 23:30 | |
| Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, | 23:34 | |
| saying: arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, | 23:36 | |
| and proclaim to it the message that I tell you. | 23:40 | |
| So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, | 23:43 | |
| according to the word of the Lord. | 23:44 | |
| Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, | 23:46 | |
| three days journey in breadth. | 23:48 | |
| Jonah began to go into the city, | 23:51 | |
| going a day's journey, and he cried: get 40 days, | 23:52 | |
| and Nineveh shall be overthrown. | 23:55 | |
| And the people of Nineveh believed God. | 23:58 | |
| They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, | 24:00 | |
| from the greatest of them to the least of them. | 24:02 | |
| When God saw what they did, how they turned | 24:05 | |
| from their evil way, God repented of the evil | 24:07 | |
| which he said he would do to them, and he did not do it. | 24:10 | |
| Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 24:14 | |
| Amen. | 24:16 | |
| The epistle lesson is from First Corinthians, | 24:18 | |
| chapter seven, verses 29 through 35. | 24:20 | |
| I mean brethren, the appointed time has grown very short. | 24:24 | |
| From now on, let those who have wives live | 24:28 | |
| as though they had none, and those who mourn | 24:30 | |
| as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice | 24:33 | |
| as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy | 24:36 | |
| as though they had no goods, and those who deal | 24:38 | |
| with the world as though they had no dealings with it. | 24:41 | |
| For the form of this world is passing away. | 24:44 | |
| I want you to be free from anxieties. | 24:47 | |
| The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord. | 24:49 | |
| How to please the Lord. | 24:52 | |
| But the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, | 24:54 | |
| how to please his wife and his interests are divided. | 24:57 | |
| And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious | 25:00 | |
| about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body | 25:02 | |
| and spirit, but the married woman is anxious | 25:05 | |
| about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. | 25:07 | |
| I say this for your own benefit, | 25:11 | |
| not to lay any restraint upon you, | 25:12 | |
| but to promote good order, and to secure | 25:14 | |
| your undivided devotion to the Lord. | 25:16 | |
| Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson. | 25:19 | |
| (tranquil organ music) | 25:23 | |
| (reverberating vocal solo) | 25:42 | |
| - | Will the congregation please stand, | 28:48 |
| for the reading of the gospel lesson? | 28:50 | |
| The gospel lesson is from Mark chapter one, | 28:57 | |
| verses 14 through 20. | 28:59 | |
| Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee | 29:02 | |
| preaching the gospel of God and saying: | 29:05 | |
| the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. | 29:07 | |
| Repent and believe in the gospel. | 29:11 | |
| And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, | 29:13 | |
| he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, | 29:15 | |
| casting a net in the sea, for they were fisherman. | 29:18 | |
| And Jesus said to them: follow me, | 29:21 | |
| and I will make you become fishers of men. | 29:23 | |
| And immediately, they left their nets and followed him. | 29:25 | |
| And going on a little farther, he saw James, | 29:28 | |
| the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, | 29:30 | |
| who were in their boat, mending the nets. | 29:33 | |
| And immediately he called them, and they left their father, | 29:35 | |
| Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants | 29:38 | |
| and followed him. | 29:39 | |
| Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson. | 29:42 | |
| Amen. | 29:44 | |
| (organ music) | 29:45 | |
| (echoing choral music) | 29:53 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 30:52 |
| May the words of my mouth, the meditations of our hearts, | 30:57 | |
| and the living of our lives be acceptable in thy sight, | 31:02 | |
| O Lord, our strength and redeemer. | 31:07 | |
| Amen. | 31:10 | |
| On a chilly day in August, 1973, | 31:14 | |
| a stern-faced, | 31:18 | |
| shabbily dressed man could be seen pacing up and down | 31:20 | |
| by the cable car depot in downtown San Francisco. | 31:24 | |
| He wore a placard slung over his shoulders, | 31:29 | |
| with one word scratched on it: Repent. | 31:33 | |
| As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch or business, | 31:38 | |
| he would solemnly lift his arm, | 31:42 | |
| pick out a person near him, and say: guilty! | 31:45 | |
| After pacing up and down near the loading area, | 31:52 | |
| he would pause a few moments before repeating the gesture. | 31:55 | |
| As a tourist, standing in the crowd, | 32:00 | |
| I remember being startled and very perplexed | 32:03 | |
| at this strange behavior. | 32:07 | |
| Minutes crept by and the pantomime that was being enacted | 32:10 | |
| before us on the passing strangers, | 32:14 | |
| including myself, was rather eerie. | 32:18 | |
| We would stare at him, hesitate, look away, | 32:22 | |
| look at each other, and then look at this character again. | 32:27 | |
| Most folks hurried by on their way. | 32:32 | |
| But one man, turning to no one in particular, | 32:36 | |
| said very clearly: but how did he know? | 32:39 | |
| No doubt, many of us had similar thoughts on that day. | 32:44 | |
| How did he know, indeed? | 32:49 | |
| Karl Menninger, in his book, Whatever Became of Sin?, | 32:53 | |
| pursues these questions for that crowd, | 32:57 | |
| gathered in San Francisco. | 33:00 | |
| Guilty, everyone guilty. | 33:03 | |
| Guilty of what? | 33:06 | |
| Guilty of over-parking? | 33:08 | |
| Guilty of lying, of cheating on a test? | 33:11 | |
| Guilty of arrogance and pride toward our God? | 33:15 | |
| Guilty of borrowing, not to say embezzling? | 33:20 | |
| Guilty of unfaithfulness to a faithful spouse? | 33:25 | |
| Guilty of only evil thoughts, or evil plans? | 33:29 | |
| Guilty before whom? | 33:35 | |
| Is there a public safety officer watching? | 33:38 | |
| Did anyone see? | 33:41 | |
| Does he really know about it? | 33:43 | |
| But that isn't technically illegal, is it? | 33:46 | |
| Why surely I can make it up. | 33:51 | |
| I will give it back; I will apologize. | 33:54 | |
| I wasn't myself when I did that. | 33:58 | |
| No one knows about it. | 34:01 | |
| Oh, but I know I'm going to quit. | 34:04 | |
| It's a dangerous habit. | 34:07 | |
| I wouldn't want the children to see me. | 34:10 | |
| How in the world can I straighten out this mess? | 34:13 | |
| That solemn accuser on the San Francisco street corner | 34:20 | |
| has had many predecessors, as I recall. | 34:24 | |
| In the eighth to sixth centuries BC, | 34:28 | |
| a band of exhorters held forth in thriving | 34:32 | |
| Palestinian villages, attracting large crowds of people. | 34:35 | |
| To their listeners, these prophets likewise cried: guilty! | 34:41 | |
| And they proclaimed ominously that in spite of all | 34:46 | |
| general prosperity, sin was prevalent thereabouts. | 34:50 | |
| And the message was that if sin was unacknowledged | 34:56 | |
| and unrepentant, it would bring dire consequences indeed. | 34:59 | |
| These prophets who proclaimed such a message | 35:05 | |
| found themselves ignored, ridiculed as alarmist, | 35:08 | |
| jailed as trespassers or driven from their country. | 35:13 | |
| The Book of Jonah follows this tradition. | 35:18 | |
| But focuses on the activity of the prophet Jonah, himself. | 35:21 | |
| We find that Jonah had unsuccessfully attempted to escape | 35:27 | |
| the task that the Lord Yahweh had imposed upon him. | 35:31 | |
| That of preaching repentance to the Ninevites. | 35:36 | |
| The fact was that Jonah could have cared less | 35:40 | |
| for these gentile people of Nineveh, and he even assumed | 35:43 | |
| that God could not possibly care for them as well. | 35:48 | |
| But we discover, as the story unfolds, | 35:53 | |
| that Jonah refuses to let, is refused by God | 35:56 | |
| to run away from his mission. | 36:00 | |
| Jonah's dramatic rescue from the sea, | 36:03 | |
| and the belly of that great fish, | 36:06 | |
| was accomplished in order that he would be able | 36:09 | |
| to preach repentance. | 36:12 | |
| The surprise is that lo and behold, | 36:15 | |
| Jonah's preaching produced results. | 36:18 | |
| The people, even including their king, | 36:22 | |
| believed Jonah's message. | 36:25 | |
| They fasted, they dressed in their clothes of repentance, | 36:27 | |
| they turned from their ways of violence, | 36:32 | |
| and they asked for God's mercy in their lives. | 36:35 | |
| True repentance, the turning from evil ways | 36:40 | |
| with ample evidence of new behavior, in this case, | 36:44 | |
| was not what Jonah expected. | 36:48 | |
| He was angered considerably at this divine turn of events. | 36:51 | |
| Jonah had been so certain that his preaching would be | 36:57 | |
| in vain, and the fact that any individual, | 37:00 | |
| much less the whole city, would shape up and radically | 37:04 | |
| reorient their private and corporate life, | 37:08 | |
| was too much with Jonah. | 37:12 | |
| We are told that he went away sulking. | 37:15 | |
| According to the Old Testament tradition, | 37:20 | |
| genuine repentance was always embraced by marvelous, | 37:23 | |
| unexpected, earthshaking and mind-changing events. | 37:28 | |
| Repentance, the need for it and the acceptance of it, | 37:34 | |
| were part and parcel of the story and life of Israel. | 37:38 | |
| We see that before the time of Jesus's appearance, | 37:43 | |
| John the Baptist was himself still crying in the wilderness, | 37:47 | |
| calling for repentance of God's people. | 37:52 | |
| No new theme here, it seemed, because John's message | 37:56 | |
| was that God was to act soon. | 38:01 | |
| So urgency and watchfulness were communicated to the people | 38:05 | |
| of Jesus's day. | 38:09 | |
| Jesus's sojourn as a preacher revealed that he, too, | 38:12 | |
| called for repentance. | 38:17 | |
| However, careful listeners to his message caught a hint | 38:20 | |
| of some new reality that was profoundly disturbing. | 38:25 | |
| Jesus himself, his very life, he proclaimed, | 38:31 | |
| was the event to which the Old Testament | 38:36 | |
| prophecies looked forward. | 38:39 | |
| Watch out, he said, for the promises of the kingdom of God | 38:42 | |
| are already being fulfilled. | 38:46 | |
| Mark uses the Greek word (speaking Greek) for repent, | 38:50 | |
| which literally means: to change one's mind. | 38:55 | |
| Jesus demanded that people repent, | 39:00 | |
| change their whole way of thinking, | 39:03 | |
| because the kingdom of God was upon them. | 39:06 | |
| But this wasn't the whole message. | 39:09 | |
| For it wasn't enough to be sorrowful for your sins. | 39:13 | |
| Repentance also required the demand | 39:17 | |
| of a disciplined life of faith. | 39:20 | |
| In his writing, Mark places the call of the disciples | 39:24 | |
| immediately following Jesus's call to repentance, | 39:29 | |
| to call to our attention the relationship between the two. | 39:32 | |
| Now I say, and confess to you, that repentance has always | 39:38 | |
| been one of those religious code words | 39:43 | |
| that doesn't often appear in my speech. | 39:45 | |
| But clearly, the scriptures call us and me to task, | 39:50 | |
| and make us deal with this bold word: repent. | 39:55 | |
| I believe that the recovery of | 40:01 | |
| and the incorporation of repentance | 40:03 | |
| into our fabric of life is part of our command, | 40:07 | |
| as would-be followers of Christ. | 40:11 | |
| Clarence Jordan, the founder of and now deceased | 40:16 | |
| spiritual leader of Koinonia Farms, | 40:20 | |
| has enlightened and inspired my struggle | 40:23 | |
| with the claims of repentance. | 40:26 | |
| He offers a comparison of (speaking Greek), | 40:29 | |
| with a more familiar word in our hearing. | 40:32 | |
| Metamorphosis. | 40:36 | |
| A metamorphosis speaks of a change in form, | 40:38 | |
| a preparation for a new order, a different existence. | 40:42 | |
| Metamorphosis, a change of mind and soul, | 40:48 | |
| that equips you for a new order. | 40:53 | |
| Jordan defines repentance like most of us understand it. | 40:57 | |
| He says that to repent is to get all sorry | 41:02 | |
| for getting caught at something. | 41:06 | |
| Being sorry is not enough. | 41:10 | |
| And in fact, I believe that our culture has warped | 41:14 | |
| the meaning of sorry, which became best expressed | 41:17 | |
| for me in the theme of a movie in the late '60s. | 41:21 | |
| Love means never having to say you're sorry. | 41:25 | |
| Well, that is just not true in my experience. | 41:30 | |
| I hear myself only too well, bending down to respond | 41:35 | |
| to our toddler, who very quickly and sweetly says, | 41:39 | |
| after hitting me: mama, I'm sorry. | 41:44 | |
| He and I both know that saying you're sorry isn't enough. | 41:49 | |
| A change in behavior is required | 41:55 | |
| to give meaning to our words. | 41:58 | |
| Fredrick Beatner further instructs us concerning repentance | 42:02 | |
| in a way that I find demands my response. | 42:07 | |
| To repent is to come to your senses. | 42:11 | |
| It is not so much something you do | 42:14 | |
| as something that happens. | 42:17 | |
| True repentance spends less time looking at the past, | 42:19 | |
| and saying I'm sorry, than to the future, | 42:23 | |
| and saying, wow. | 42:26 | |
| I'm afraid that this repentance talk in the Bible | 42:31 | |
| is serious business, after all. | 42:36 | |
| It seems that this call to a new order prefaces | 42:40 | |
| everything that Jesus had to say, | 42:44 | |
| and he didn't say it was around the corner, | 42:48 | |
| like prophets before him had declared. | 42:51 | |
| He astounded his hearers and us by claiming | 42:54 | |
| that the kingdom, God's new order of creation, | 42:58 | |
| is already here. | 43:02 | |
| The spirit of repentance and discipleship is present now. | 43:05 | |
| Where is this kingdom? | 43:12 | |
| It is constantly struggling for expression | 43:15 | |
| in the experiences of God's children, everywhere. | 43:19 | |
| I believe that any time that the love of God, | 43:24 | |
| the righteous, just, lively presence of God, | 43:28 | |
| can come to us and change us, | 43:33 | |
| that is a sign of the kingdom of God. | 43:36 | |
| Any time we are transformed into living the will of God, | 43:41 | |
| that is a sign of the kingdom. | 43:46 | |
| Sometimes a sign of the kingdom comes to us | 43:50 | |
| in an unexpected way. | 43:53 | |
| The news story of Mr. Charles Morris, who escaped | 43:57 | |
| from a North Carolina prison some 14 years ago now | 44:01 | |
| and created a new life for himself is such a sign, to me. | 44:05 | |
| This man has acknowledged his crime and confessed his guilt. | 44:11 | |
| He served time, perhaps an unjust sentence | 44:17 | |
| for the crime he committed, born out of a desperate moment. | 44:21 | |
| Since he has escaped, he has acted on a desire | 44:26 | |
| for a new life, he has worked out his own reentry | 44:30 | |
| into the quote: civilized world. | 44:34 | |
| He has adopted his own rehabilitation plan, | 44:37 | |
| which has worked, he has supported a family, | 44:41 | |
| he has worked hard at a job, | 44:44 | |
| he has become a model citizen, | 44:47 | |
| according to the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey. | 44:51 | |
| His church family echos these signs of transformation | 44:54 | |
| and new life about Mr. Morris. | 45:00 | |
| Now we all know that Mr. Morris's case will not be | 45:03 | |
| easy for the courts, the legal courts, to decide. | 45:07 | |
| You see, his repentant posture might not be a valid enough | 45:13 | |
| legal defense, but I would like to say that would | 45:18 | |
| that we all showed the kinds of dramatic signs | 45:22 | |
| of the kingdom in our own lives. | 45:27 | |
| A young woman I know | 45:33 | |
| had a profound religious transformation. | 45:35 | |
| Her commitment led her to writing each of her friends | 45:39 | |
| and members of her family. | 45:44 | |
| And in those letters, she asked for forgiveness | 45:46 | |
| of every hurtful thing in her past relationships. | 45:50 | |
| I was very dismayed at receiving such a letter, | 45:56 | |
| because I didn't think that my friend had anything | 46:00 | |
| to ask of me for forgiveness, | 46:03 | |
| but then I came to realize that she was also | 46:07 | |
| asking for my blessing, for my affirmation | 46:11 | |
| of her new life of discipleship. | 46:15 | |
| That, I was able to give. | 46:19 | |
| And also, to point out to her several signs | 46:22 | |
| of a new strength and courage that I saw she now possessed. | 46:26 | |
| That was repentance for my friend. | 46:31 |
| - | Jesus' message, repent, I believe was | 0:05 |
| not so unique in His own day. | 0:08 | |
| What was unique was when He said, "Repent", | 0:12 | |
| immediately following, "Follow me," | 0:16 | |
| Jesus demanded a response. | 0:20 | |
| Somehow Jesus sensed in those first disciples, | 0:24 | |
| something of the dawn of a new era in them. | 0:28 | |
| Those disciples became attached | 0:32 | |
| to the very person of Jesus. | 0:34 | |
| They were ready to go along with Him in His way. | 0:37 | |
| A way which we now know | 0:41 | |
| will always lead to the cross. | 0:44 | |
| Repent and follow are not words | 0:48 | |
| that we want to hear. | 0:52 | |
| But they are the spoken word to us | 0:55 | |
| today and everyday. | 0:57 | |
| Even now, the Scriptures tell us that that word | 1:01 | |
| is being being fulfilled in our hearing. | 1:05 | |
| Are we ready to be changed? | 1:09 | |
| Are we ready to follow? | 1:13 | |
| Amen. | 1:18 | |
| (church organ music) | 1:26 | |
| (congregation vocalizing) | 1:50 | |
| - | With one voice let us affirm what we believe. | 3:37 |
| We believe in God who has created | 3:41 | |
| and is creating. | 3:44 | |
| Who has come into truly human Jesus | 3:46 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 3:49 | |
| Who works in us and others by the Spirit. | 3:52 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the Church | 3:56 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness, | 4:00 | |
| to love and serve others, | 4:03 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 4:05 | |
| to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen. | 4:08 | |
| Our judge and our hope in life, in death, | 4:12 | |
| in life beyond death. | 4:17 | |
| God is with us. | 4:19 | |
| We are not alone. | 4:21 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 4:23 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 4:26 | |
| - | And also with you. | 4:27 |
| - | Let us pray. | 4:29 |
| Gracious, Lord, our God. | 4:38 | |
| We come to You now with words of faith, | 4:44 | |
| with words of hope, | 4:48 | |
| with words of love. | 4:50 | |
| For we do put our ultimate trust | 4:54 | |
| and belief in You. | 4:57 | |
| We do, oh God, find fulfillment | 4:59 | |
| in doing Your will. | 5:02 | |
| And we are surely, oh God, blessed | 5:05 | |
| unbelievably by Your love. | 5:08 | |
| As we come to this place to receive | 5:14 | |
| Your word this day, | 5:16 | |
| we know that Your word speaks to us | 5:19 | |
| through the joy and the discipline of worship. | 5:21 | |
| May there be nothing, oh God, | 5:26 | |
| to distract us and keep us from hearing | 5:29 | |
| and receiving the word You have for each of us. | 5:33 | |
| Through prayer, music, song, sermon, | 5:38 | |
| or through the warmth and the fellowship | 5:44 | |
| we find with one another here. | 5:46 | |
| Give us Your word, oh Lord, | 5:50 | |
| to cause us to search our souls, | 5:51 | |
| to seek for more meaning in life, | 5:55 | |
| to turn from all that denies us life, | 5:59 | |
| all that would defeat or destroy us, | 6:03 | |
| and to come as little children | 6:07 | |
| into Your presence. | 6:10 | |
| Your loving presence, all healing, caring, | 6:13 | |
| Mother and Father of us all, | 6:18 | |
| and find in You our resting place, | 6:21 | |
| our shelter from the storms of life, | 6:26 | |
| and also to find in You the force, the desire, | 6:30 | |
| the push to be more faithful to You | 6:33 | |
| and more caring for those around us. | 6:39 | |
| May our lives, oh Lord, know You | 6:44 | |
| and show forth Your will | 6:47 | |
| in all that we do and are. | 6:50 | |
| May our families never be shortchanged | 6:55 | |
| because we are too attentive to others. | 6:57 | |
| May our friends never want | 7:04 | |
| for a loving word or act, | 7:05 | |
| that is ours to give. | 7:08 | |
| May those around us find their work more | 7:12 | |
| bearable and meaningful, | 7:15 | |
| because they know we walk with them. | 7:17 | |
| May those who suffer for any reason | 7:22 | |
| receive that healing and that sense of well being | 7:26 | |
| from knowing that someone cares, | 7:29 | |
| that we care. | 7:32 | |
| May, oh Lord, our God, | 7:35 | |
| the homeless find refuge, | 7:38 | |
| the hungry be fed, the hurting restored, | 7:41 | |
| the worried put at peace, | 7:46 | |
| and the anxious find a sense of goodness, | 7:49 | |
| and hope and wholeness. | 7:52 | |
| We thank You, oh God, | 7:57 | |
| for every opportunity to minister and to love | 7:59 | |
| that comes our way. | 8:02 | |
| And as we go our way this week, | 8:05 | |
| may there be no doubt in anyone's mind | 8:07 | |
| about whom we worship. | 8:10 | |
| May all know, all know that You are indeed | 8:14 | |
| the Lord of our lives, | 8:19 | |
| and that Christ's will to obey, to serve, | 8:22 | |
| and to love is our constant desire. | 8:25 | |
| Hear all our prayers, oh Lord, | 8:32 | |
| unuttered or expressed, | 8:38 | |
| for we pray in the name and in the Spirit | 8:43 | |
| of Jesus Christ, our Lord, | 8:46 | |
| who calls us and comes to us, | 8:49 | |
| and invites us to pray together saying, | 8:52 | |
| Our Father, Who art in Heaven, | 8:56 | |
| Hallowed by Thy name. | 8:59 | |
| Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done | 9:01 | |
| on Earth as it is in Heaven. | 9:05 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 9:08 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 9:11 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 9:13 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, | 9:17 | |
| but deliver us from evil, | 9:20 | |
| for Thine is the kingdom and the power | 9:22 | |
| and the glory forever, Amen. | 9:25 | |
| (church organ music) | 9:35 | |
| (church member vocalizing) | 11:26 | |
| (congregation vocalizing) | 12:13 | |
| (church organ music) | 12:58 | |
| (church member vocalizing) | 13:03 | |
| (church organ music) | 14:09 | |
| (congregation vocalizing) | 14:16 | |
| (church organ music) | 16:59 | |
| (congregation vocalizing) | 17:18 | |
| - | Oh gracious God of love, | 18:22 |
| the gifts we bring we pray are symbols | 18:25 | |
| of our very selves, our lives, our hopes, | 18:28 | |
| our dreams we place now on this | 18:31 | |
| altar before Thee. | 18:33 | |
| Take us and form us into persons | 18:36 | |
| who love Your children, | 18:39 | |
| and who love Your world. | 18:41 | |
| To the rule of peace and justice and love, | 18:43 | |
| we now dedicate ourselves, oh Lord, our God, | 18:47 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our redeemer. | 18:51 | |
| Amen. | 18:55 | |
| (church organ music) | 19:00 | |
| (congregation vocalizing) | 19:39 | |
| Since it isn't every Sunday that we are blessed | 22:34 | |
| to have a Metropolitan Opera singer thrill us, | 22:37 | |
| as Michael did, particularly with the Sanctus, | 22:42 | |
| I have asked him if he would remain | 22:47 | |
| at the back so that many of you, | 22:49 | |
| who I'm sure would like to do so, | 22:51 | |
| may have the opportunity to speak with him. | 22:54 | |
| He, and then will be joining the ministers | 22:57 | |
| to greet you following the service. | 22:59 | |
| And now as one Christian to another, | 23:02 | |
| may I offer you this blessing. | 23:06 | |
| The grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, | 23:10 | |
| the love of God, | 23:14 | |
| the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit | 23:16 | |
| be with you and with those whom you love | 23:19 | |
| this day and forever. | 23:23 | |
| ♪ Amen. ♪ | 23:27 | |
| (congregation vocalizing) | 23:34 | |
| (church organ music) | 24:54 |
Item Info
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