Ernest T. Campbell - "What's the Story?" (May 11, 1975)

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	(soft organ music)	0:02
	(joyful organ music)	2:58
	(choral praise music)	11:58
	(joyful organ music)	13:16
	(choral praise music)	13:59
-	Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened	17:35
	that it cannot save.	17:41
	Neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear.	17:44
	For we acknowledge our transgressions	17:48
	and our sin is ever before us.	17:51
	If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.	17:55
	And the truth is not in us.	18:00
	Let the wicked forsake their way,	18:03
	and the unrighteous their thoughts.	18:06
	Let us pray.	18:10
	Oh God, in whose mystery we abide,	18:16
	and by whose mercy we are redeemed,	18:18
	we confess our sin against one another,	18:21
	and against you.	18:25
	All our transgressions, hidden, and open,	18:26
	the evil done and the goodness left undone,	18:30
	we have deceived ourselves about ourselves,	18:34
	and worn masks and not trusted in love.	18:38
	We confess that we have been careful with things,	18:42
	careless with persons,	18:46
	adept in taking, awkward in giving.	18:48
	In love with our fears, and in fear of our loves.	18:53
	Forgive us for the times of our anger,	18:58
	and the occasions of our stupidity.	19:01
	For the times of our cowardice,	19:04
	and the places of our hesitation.	19:07
	For every time we did not love the goodness of persons,	19:09
	nor praise the glory of God.	19:14
	Forgive us, lift us up, and heal us this day,	19:17
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	19:23
	If we confess our sins,	19:58
	God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins	20:00
	and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.	20:07
	Create in us clean hearts, oh God.	20:12
	And renew right spirits within us.	20:17
	Grace and peace be to you, amen.	20:22
	("Sing Joyfully Unto God" plays)	20:31
-	From Genesis, "Now the Lord said to Abram,"	24:15
	"'Go from your country and your kindred'"	24:19
	"'and your father's house to the land I will show you.'"	24:24
	"'And I will make you a great nation,'"	24:26
	"'and I will bless you and make your name great,'"	24:28
	"'so that you will be a blessing.'"	24:32
	"'I will bless those who bless you,'"	24:35
	"'and him who curses you, I will curse.'"	24:37
	"'And by you all the families of the earth'"	24:42
	"'will bless themselves.'"	24:44
	"So Abram went, as the Lord had told him,"	24:46
	"and Lot went with him."	24:50
	"Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran."	24:52
	"And Abram took Sarai, his wife,"	24:56
	"and Lot, his brother's son,"	24:59
	"and all their possessions which they had gathered,"	25:02
	"and the persons that they had gotten in Haran,"	25:04
	"and they set forth to the land of Canaan."	25:08
	"And when they had come to the land of Canaan,"	25:11
	"Abram passed through the land to the place at Schechem,"	25:14
	"to the oak of Moreh."	25:17
	"At that time the Canaanites were in the land."	25:20
	"Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said,"	25:24
	"'To your descendants I will give this land.'"	25:26
	"So he built there an altar to the Lord"	25:30
	"who had appeared to him."	25:33
	"And thence he removed to the mountain"	25:35
	"to the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent,"	25:36
	"with Bethel on the West, and Ai on the East."	25:39
	"And there he built an altar to the Lord,"	25:43
	"and called on the name of the Lord."	25:46
	"And Abram journeyed on, still going toward Negev."	25:49
	And now from Hebrews.	25:55
	"And what more shall I say?"	25:58
	"For time would fail me to tell of Gedeon,"	26:01
	"Barak, Samson, Jephthae, and David,"	26:04
	"Samuel, and the prophets:"	26:08
	"who through faith conquered kingdoms,"	26:11
	"enforced justice, received promises,"	26:13
	"stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire,"	26:16
	"escaped the edge of the sword,"	26:19
	"won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war,"	26:22
	"put foreign armies to flight."	26:26
	"Women received their dead by resurrection."	26:29
	"Some were tortured, refusing to accept release"	26:32
	"that they might rise again to a better life."	26:37
	"Others suffered mocking and scourging,"	26:39
	"and even chains and imprisonment."	26:41
	"They were stoned, they were sawn in two,"	26:43
	"they were killed with the sword,"	26:46
	"they went about in the skins of sheep and goats;"	26:48
	"destitute, afflicted, ill-treated;"	26:50
	"of whom the world was not worthy;"	26:54
	"wandering over deserts, and mountains,"	26:56
	"and in dens, and caves of the earth."	26:58
	"And all these, though well attested by their faith,"	27:01
	"did not receive what was promised,"	27:06
	"since God had foreseen something better for us,"	27:09
	"that apart from us they should not be made perfect."	27:12
	(organ and choral music)	27:20
-	Will you join with me as we affirm our faith?	28:08
	We are not alone.	28:13
	We live in God's world.	28:15
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	28:17
	who has come in the true man, Jesus,	28:23
	to reconcile and make new.	28:26
	Who works in us and others by his spirit.	28:29
	We trust him.	28:32
	He calls us to be in his church,	28:34
	to celebrate his presence,	28:38
	to love and serve others.	28:41
	So seek justice and resist evil	28:44
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	28:47
	our judge and our hope,	28:51
	in life, in death, in life beyond death,	28:54
	God is with us.	28:59
	We are not alone.	29:00
	Thanks be to God.	29:03
	The Lord be with you.	29:06
-	And with your spirit.	29:08
-	Let us pray.	29:09
	Sister Corita writes,	29:20
	"If it be granted that we say yea to a single moment,"	29:23
	"then in so doing we have said yea not only to ourselves,"	29:28
	"but to all existence."	29:33
	In this moment of prayer, I invite you to say yea.	29:37
	Yea to yourself, to those here with you this day,	29:42
	to those in the university who have cared about you,	29:48
	and to all of God's creation.	29:53
	Let us pray.	29:56
	Oh God, life brings much for which	29:59
	we now rejoice and say thank you.	30:04
	The sparkling dew on the grass,	30:09
	the verdant shades of green on tree, flower, and yard,	30:13
	swirling clouds with storm or sunshine behind them,	30:18
	azaleas, dogwoods, rhododendron, pansies,	30:23
	brilliant in colors.	30:27
	This chapel, towering over the center of this campus,	30:31
	rising majestically, and appearing to touch the heavens	30:36
	as we look down the long drive,	30:40
	inside, brilliant windows,	30:43
	beautiful organ music,	30:47
	a choir singing with joy and radiance,	30:51
	and people, oh God,	30:54
	warm, alive, caring, touching, and being touched.	30:57
	Oh yes, it's good to be alive and in your presence, oh God,	31:04
	and in the company of those who care about us.	31:09
	And so we rejoice and celebrate with each woman	31:15
	and each man who graduates this day from Duke University.	31:18
	We give thanks for their diligence and intelligence.	31:23
	For their will to learn and their desire to mature.	31:28
	For caring not only for things sensual,	31:33
	but also for things spiritual.	31:35
	Caring surely for the needs of their bodies,	31:39
	but also for the needs of their souls.	31:41
	Surely enjoying their idleness and leisure,	31:44
	but also willing to study and to sweat.	31:47
	Willing both to play, and at times, to pray.	31:52
	Seeking not only to get but also to give.	31:58
	Filled with good intentions and some helpful actions.	32:02
	Searching for self and willing to serve others.	32:09
	Professing sound principles	32:14
	and living by them most of the time.	32:16
	For each life lived here,	32:21
	and the influence she or he has been,	32:25
	we thank you, oh God.	32:28
	Make us mindful of those who have made	32:32
	this journey possible and fruitful;	32:34
	mothers and fathers, husbands and wives,	32:38
	roommates and friends, teachers and deans,	32:42
	maids and janitors, and all other staff persons,	32:45
	all who have cared and have shared.	32:50
	And now, oh God, we would ask you for grace	32:56
	equal to the life which lies ahead for each of us.	33:00
	Keep our minds open that we may understand.	33:06
	Work in our wills that we may obey and serve.	33:10
	Warm our hearts that we may truly love.	33:15
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught his disciples	33:20
	to pray the prayer, praying:	33:25
	Our Father,	33:28
	who art in heaven,	33:31
	hallowed be thy name.	33:32
	Thy kingdom come,	33:34
	thy will be done,	33:36
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	33:38
	Give us this day our daily bread.	33:41
	And forgive us our trespasses,	33:44
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	33:46
	And lead us not into temptation,	33:51
	but deliver us from evil.	33:53
	For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.	33:57
	Amen.	34:02
-	I'd like to say good morning	34:16
	to my fellow A through K's.	34:18
	(scattered laughter)	34:22
	This arbitrary division has the singular disadvantage	34:27
	of putting all the better students in at the first hour.	34:32
	(scattered laughs)	34:37
	I recall from my academic years that	34:42
	most of the trouble came from the back of the room.	34:46
	(scattered laughter)	34:49
	And frankly, I never thought that those who were back there	34:55
	really got as much as we did down front.	35:00
	I'd say more about this, were it not for the fact that	35:04
	the distinguished president of this university	35:08
	(scattered laugher)	35:11
	not to mention the minister to the university	35:16
	and the organist and choir director,	35:19
	all apparently came from the back rows.	35:24
	(scattered laughter)	35:27
	I can only assume that these are the exceptions	35:31
	that prove the rule.	35:34
	I'm honored to be among you.	35:38
	And I offer you my sincerest congratulations.	35:40
	I appreciate the opportunity to worship with you	35:45
	on this memorable day.	35:48
	We hear much these days about four letter words.	35:54
	Some good, some bad.	35:59
	Today I should like to attempt some improvisations	36:03
	around a five letter word that is heavily used	36:06
	and frequently misunderstood.	36:12
	That word is faith.	36:16
	At the risk of being either heretical or simplistic or both,	36:20
	I should like to de-theologize that term,	36:27
	take some of the starch out of it,	36:31
	and describe faith as an act of commitment,	36:35
	by which one inserts himself into a new story.	36:39
	Faith as an act of commitment,	36:45
	by which one inserts herself	36:49
	into a new story.	36:52
	Every life needs a storyline.	36:55
	Our years are sequential.	36:59
	Yesterday carries over into today,	37:03
	and today into tomorrow.	37:05
	Some organizing theme must be discerned or ascribed.	37:09
	We cannot live as if life were a patternless	37:14
	mass of unconnected fragments.	37:19
	For some, the story is the self.	37:24
	The perpendicular pronoun is the maypole,	37:28
	around which the steps of life are danced.	37:31
	These potent egos trade in the marketplace of society	37:36
	under the firm name me, myself, and I, incorporated.	37:42
	Ethical decisions here are made on the basis	37:49
	of self reference.	37:52
	What's good for me is right,	37:54
	what's bad for me is wrong.	37:56
	For all such the world turns	38:00
	on the narrow axis of the self.	38:02
	This perception of life can even find support	38:07
	in a strange form of religion.	38:12
	Abraham Heschel, who is still very much missed and mourned	38:15
	on Morningside Heights in New York,	38:19
	and in other places around the world,	38:22
	detected a form of prayer that could only be described	38:26
	as religious solipsism.	38:30
	He said the individual self of the one who prays	38:33
	is the whole sphere of prayer life.	38:37
	The assumption is that God is an idea, a process,	38:40
	a source, a fountain, a spring, a power.	38:44
	But one cannot worship an idea,	38:48
	one cannot address his prayers to a fountain of values.	38:50
	One cannot pray to whom it may concern.	38:54
	To whom then do we direct our prayers?	38:58
	Yes, there is an answer.	39:02
	We address our prayers to the good within ourselves.	39:04
	For some, the story is the family.	39:39
	The needed meaning is found in family history.	39:42
	It is enough to be a Jones,	39:47
	a Johnson, a Jenkins.	39:51
	Pride of blood is still a centering force	39:56
	for many in our culture.	39:59
	Mail order houses continue to do a brisk business,	40:03
	tracing family trees and selling coats of arms.	40:08
	The wag rises up to say that the best thing to do	40:13
	with a family tree is to spray it.	40:16
	But those who try to find their identity	40:21
	in filial ties will not be put off by such whimsy.	40:24
	And perhaps in a world of three and a half billion,	40:30
	we can be forgiven for trying to find	40:35
	some solace and enclosure in the family.	40:38
	But can the family supply all the needed meaning?	40:43
	All in the family may be a good theme	40:49
	for a durable television series,	40:51
	but it is hardly a sufficient base for life.	40:55
	And the advent of the extended family	40:59
	in all parts of our country would seem to suggest	41:01
	that the nuclear family and it blood ties are not enough.	41:05
	Daniel Day Williams put it this way:	41:11
	"Family love does not exempt us from"	41:14
	"the claims of the kingdom of God."	41:16
	"No person is ever fulfilled in the family alone."	41:19
	"And no romanticism about love should obscure that fact."	41:24
	"The person is fulfilled in the world"	41:28
	"where God's work is being done."	41:30
	"We have to find a union of love and its obligation"	41:33
	"to those with whom our lives are immediately bound."	41:36
	"And love which calls upon each to become"	41:40
	"a creative member of the full society."	41:43
	For some the story is the nation.	41:49
	Before and above all else, they know themselves as	41:52
	Americans or Germans, or French, or Puerto Ricans.	41:55
	Surely it is not wrong for one to love her country.	42:00
	But it is dangerous for one	42:05
	to love her country uncritically.	42:07
	Hyper patriotism contributed more than its share	42:12
	to the national grief that we call Watergate.	42:16
	I fear that we are overly stocked in this country	42:21
	with Americans who happen to be Christian,	42:26
	rather than with Christians who happen to be Americans.	42:29
	During my years in Ann Arbor, I came to know a professor	42:36
	who has since gone on to teach	42:40
	at McGill University in Canada.	42:42
	We had a reunion not so long ago,	42:47
	and I asked him about his national status.	42:48
	He said, at the moment I am called	42:53
	a resident immigrant in Canada.	42:56
	I can stay in this status for a while,	43:00
	or I can go on to Canadian citizenship.	43:02
	But this is the interesting part of his answer.	43:06
	He said, I'm not in any hurry because I do not need	43:08
	a national identity to know who I am.	43:12
	For some the story is the job.	43:19
	They define their lives by their livelihood.	43:23
	Who are you, I'm a teacher, I'm a plumber,	43:27
	I'm a merchant, I'm a carpenter.	43:31
	Back in the middle ages,	43:35
	guilds served as organizing foci	43:38
	for thousands and thousands of people.	43:41
	Today the slack is taken up by unions	43:46
	and professional associations.	43:50
	I've known people in the academic world	43:53
	whose day was positively made when they discovered	43:55
	that they were quoted in some obscure footnote	44:00
	in a major work in their chosen field.	44:03
	It is not discounting the worth of work	44:09
	to say that there is something questionable	44:11
	about allowing ourselves to be defined functionally.	44:14
	Carlisle Marney, who is so well known in these areas,	44:19
	tells of a time when he sought to get next to a doctor	44:24
	who had a family problem, to which he would not face up.	44:27
	And one day after much maneuvering,	44:32
	Marney got this man out on the golf course.	44:35
	And long about the eighth or ninth hole,	44:38
	their drives fell reasonably close.	44:40
	And so they walked up the fairway together.	44:43
	Marney took a deep breath and decided to go for broke,	44:47
	and said, John, tell me.	44:50
	What are you when you're not a doctor?	44:52
	And his friend stiffened and replied briskly,	44:55
	by God, I'm always an MD.	45:00
	This is to allow ourselves to be defined	45:05
	not by being, but by function.	45:10
	There is both judgment and warning	45:14
	in that well known epitaph:	45:17
	"Born a man, he died a grocer."	45:20
	(scattered laughs)	45:28
	Every life needs a storyline.	45:32
	And my question is what is the story?	45:37
	Is it self, or family?	45:40
	Is it nation or job?	45:44
	Or are these in fact sub plots	45:48
	that stand in constant danger of being falsely magnified?	45:52
	The good news of the bible is of another story	45:59
	to which any may belong.	46:02
	Once upon a time, God created the heavens and the earth.	46:05
	God said let us make man in our image.	46:09
	And the eyes of them both were opened,	46:13
	and they knew that they were naked.	46:14
	And the story goes on and touches down	46:16
	in places like Babylon and Egypt,	46:19
	Sinai and Palestine, and Assyria,	46:21
	Judea, and Sumeria, the outermost parts of the earth,	46:24
	including New York and North Carolina.	46:28
	It runs through names like Abraham and Moses,	46:32
	Saul and David, Isaiah and Amos,	46:35
	Jesus of Nazareth, Saul of Tarsus,	46:38
	Augustine of Hippo, Calvin of Geneva,	46:41
	Francis of Assisi, King of Atlanta,	46:44
	Schweitzer of Lambarene, Chavez of Delano,	46:47
	and many, many more.	46:51
	The beat goes on and the story continues.	46:53
	And of all those who had proceeded us	46:57
	in this developing drama,	46:59
	it may be said that these all having obtained	47:01
	a good report through faith,	47:04
	received not the promise.	47:07
	God having provided some better thing for us	47:09
	that they without us should not be made perfect.	47:13
	Faith is something more than mental ascent	47:19
	to fix propositions about a static God.	47:24
	God is not a problem to be solved.	47:28
	He's a worker to be joined.	47:31
	"If any man will do his will," said Jesus,	47:33
	"He will know of the doctrine."	47:37
	God had work in the world, not to evacuate the righteous,	47:40
	which is the fundamentalist heresy,	47:47
	but to redeem this vast creation.	47:50
	There is a kind of hovercraft theology	47:55
	that dominates the American church.	47:58
	The hovercraft is that strange contraption	48:02
	found along our coastal ways.	48:05
	It doesn't touch the ground, it doesn't touch the water,	48:09
	it just seems to hover.	48:12
	There is that view of God, that he is a kind of timeless	48:15
	essence that hovers over this anguish	48:18
	that we call history.	48:21
	But this is not the biblical rendering of God.	48:24
	He is not one who is adrift in some timeless impassibility.	48:29
	Rather by loving lures and beckonings,	48:35
	he is pulling us forward to will and to work	48:38
	his own restoration of this vast creation.	48:43
	Abraham is prototype here,	48:46
	going out not knowing whither he goes.	48:49
	Leaving the familiar for the unknown.	48:52
	Eschewing the securities of his home	48:56
	for the insecurities of the ever moving frontier.	49:00
	I know of no one who has caught the spirit	49:06
	of what I'm trying to say more fully in literature	49:08
	than Nikos Kazantzakis.	49:10
	Let these words just wash over your souls as you hear them.	49:14
	"Blowing through heaven and earth," he writes.	49:20
	"And in our hearts and the heart of every living thing"	49:23
	"is a gigantic breath, a great cry,"	49:26
	"which we call God."	49:29
	"Plant life wished to continue its motionless sleep"	49:32
	"next to stagnant waters, but the cry leaped up"	49:35
	"within it and violently shook its roots."	49:39
	"'Away, let go of the earth, walk.'"	49:43
	"Had the tree been able to think and judge,"	49:46
	"it would've cried, 'I don't want to.'"	49:48
	"'What are you urging me to do?'"	49:51
	"'You're demanding the impossible.'"	49:53
	"But the cry without pity kept shaking its roots"	49:55
	"and shouting, 'Away, let go of the earth, walk.'"	49:58
	"It shouted in this way for thousands of eons."	50:02
	"And lo as a result of desire and struggle,"	50:06
	"life escaped the motionless tree and was liberated."	50:09
	"Animals appeared, worms, making themselves at home"	50:13
	"in water, in mud."	50:16
	"'We're just fine here,' they said."	50:18
	"'We have peace and security, we're not budging.'"	50:20
	"But the terrible cry hammered itself"	50:23
	"pitilessly into their loins,"	50:26
	"'Leave the mud, stand up, give birth to your betters.'"	50:28
	"'We don't want to, we can't.'"	50:33
	"'You can't, but I can.'"	50:36
	"'Stand up.'"	50:39
	"And lo after thousands of eons, man emerged,"	50:41
	"trembling on his still un-solid legs."	50:45
	"The human being is a centaur;"	50:49
	"his equine hooves are planted in the ground,"	50:51
	"but his body from breast to head is worked on"	50:54
	"and tormented by this merciless cry."	50:57
	"He has been fighting, again, for thousands of eons,"	51:01
	"to draw himself like a sword out of his"	51:05
	"animalistic scabbard."	51:07
	"He is also fighting, this is his new struggle,"	51:10
	"to draw himself out of his human scabbard."	51:13
	"Man calls in despair, 'Where can I go?'"	51:17
	"'I have reached the pinnacle, beyond is the abyss.'"	51:22
	"And the cry answers, 'I am beyond.'"	51:27
	"'Stand up.'"	51:32
	It follows then that faith deals with all of life	51:38
	that rides in upon us.	51:42
	This is really what I want us to see.	51:45
	Faith is not some esoteric faculty	51:49
	that helps us to affirm something altogether mystical	51:53
	and beyond us.	51:58
	Biblical faith merely concentrates	52:00
	upon events as they happen in the world as it is.	52:03
	Unfortunately, if I were to ask you, do you have faith,	52:09
	you would assume that I meant, do you believe in miracles?	52:15
	Do you believe in the afterlife?	52:20
	Do you believe in the veracity of the bible?	52:23
	Do you believe in the inherent worth of prayer?	52:27
	Do you believe in going to church?	52:30
	Do you believe in taking theology seriously?	52:32
	And by interpreting my question in that way,	52:37
	you would betray a concept of faith	52:41
	which is so much opposed to what the bible	52:45
	is trying to get us to understand.	52:48
	Faith is not some peculiar quality	52:52
	that enables us to get in touch	52:55
	with a specialized order of reality.	52:57
	It is an act of commitment by which	53:01
	one inserts himself into a new story.	53:03
	My friend, William Dickson Gray,	53:09
	whom I describe as the resident sage of Nashville,	53:11
	says the churches even take from their own people,	53:16
	who are in the secular world,	53:19
	a confidence that the secular is God's interest and love.	53:21
	Churches want their people to stay unsophisticated	53:27
	in bondage to an irrelevant idiom.	53:30
	The two storey view of life is dead, S-T-O-R-E-Y.	53:35
	The concept so pronounced in the middle ages	53:42
	that there was an ideal world above	53:44
	where eternal essences abide,	53:46
	while down below in the flickering shadows of history,	53:49
	men and women put in their time	53:53
	until death releases their souls to the realms above.	53:55
	But the two-story, S-T-O-R-Y,	54:00
	world is very much alive and well.	54:03
	For in, with, and under this strange thing	54:06
	that we call history, God is at work to will,	54:10
	and to do of his good pleasure.	54:14
	A book that has helped me to see what I'm saying today,	54:19
	in a very large measure, is Bishop John Robinson's	54:25
	Human Face of God.	54:31
	This is the same man who gave us Honest to God	54:34
	a few years back.	54:38
	"Notice, much theological language," he says,	54:41
	"has a way of defining Christ out of universal"	54:46
	"common experience."	54:49
	"If I am asked to believe, do you believe in the atonement,"	54:52
	"or the resurrection, or the Parousia,"	54:56
	"the questioner expects to elicit my attitude"	54:59
	"to something Jesus is supposed to have done on the cross,"	55:02
	"something that is alleged to have happened"	55:07
	"on the third day, or something that may happen"	55:09
	"at the end of the world."	55:12
	"Contrast the effect when you leave out"	55:15
	"the definite article."	55:18
	"Do you believe in atonement?"	55:20
	"Do you believe in resurrection?"	55:24
	"Do you believe in Parousia, that is presence, or coming?"	55:27
	"The 'the' of the traditional Christian myth"	55:32
	"removes the reality of Christ from the kind of present,"	55:36
	"where every eye might in fact see him."	55:41
	"For the distant past or to the remote future,"	55:44
	"or to the divine super world where Christ lives"	55:49
	"in a timeless realm,"	55:53
	"unrelated to the continuing course of events."	55:56
	It seems to me that if a man and woman	56:02
	are living in diabolical tension,	56:07
	the place for them to understand atonement	56:11
	is at the point of their own differences	56:15
	where they waken to their possibilities.	56:19
	The aims of faith are not all that spooky, or mysterious.	56:25
	The aim of faith is to refine life where it is coarse,	56:32
	to soften it where it is hard,	56:39
	to reconcile it where it is divided,	56:43
	to heal it where it hurts,	56:47
	to recover it where it is lost,	56:50
	to value it where it is debased,	56:53
	to celebrate it where it is doubted,	56:57
	to free it where it is hung up,	57:00
	and to illumine it wherever it is in darkness.	57:03
	What then of self, and family,	57:10
	and nation, and job?	57:14
	These are not denied, but they are fulfilled.	57:18
	They are seen as vital sub plots to the main story,	57:22
	and at the same time they are freed	57:26
	from the strain of trying as parts	57:28
	to function as the whole.	57:31
	Faith is an act of commitment,	57:37
	by which one inserts himself into a new story.	57:41
	Jesus invited us to insert ourselves thus.	57:48
	"Times are fulfilled," he said.	57:55
	"The kingdom is at hand."	57:56
	"Repent and believe in the gospel."	57:59
	And in Jesus of Nazareth, the scope and substance	58:03
	of this story is prefigured.	58:07
	He is its embodiment, its epitome,	58:10
	and the source of our empowerment.	58:15
	Years ago, Josiah Royce, teaching out of Harvard University,	58:21
	said that the aim of human life was the search	58:27
	for loyalty to an adequate cause.	58:32
	The two most important days	58:40
	in a person's life	58:44
	are the day on which she was born,	58:47
	and the day on which she discovers	58:52
	why she was born.	58:57
	Let us pray.	59:00
	Forgive what we have been, oh God.	59:07
	Correct what we are.	59:13
	And order what we yet shall be.	59:17
	For thy sake and ours,	59:21
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	59:24
	(soft organ music)	59:41
	(choral praise music)	1:00:34
-	Will you join with me as we pray responsively	1:06:37
	this prayer of thanksgiving and commitment?	1:06:40
	Let us pray.	1:06:45
	Oh God, we rejoice now that not only have we learned	1:06:48
	and worshiped together,	1:06:52
	we also bring before you the symbols and reality	1:06:54
	of our very lives.	1:06:58
	(congregation recites)	1:07:00
	We give thanks for the universe.	1:07:17
	(congregation recites)	1:07:21
	For the earth.	1:07:22
	(congregation recites)	1:07:24
	For communities and neighborhoods.	1:07:27
	(congregation recites)	1:07:30
	For the revolutions which shake our world.	1:07:34
	(congregation recites)	1:07:37
	For the power of our learning.	1:07:41
	(congregation recites)	1:07:43
	For the perplexities which confront us.	1:07:47
	(congregation recites)	1:07:50
	For our heritage.	1:07:53
	(congregation recites)	1:07:55
	For the visions of this university's students,	1:07:59
	staff, and faculty.	1:08:03
	(congregation recites)	1:08:05
	We are given the eyes of the spirit.	1:08:09
	(congregation recites)	1:08:13
	The promise is to each of us:	1:08:18
	we may see,	1:08:21
	we may receive,	1:08:23
	we may love.	1:08:24
	(congregation recites)	1:08:26
	To such a life of seeing, receiving, and loving.	1:08:38
	We now commit our very lives, amen, and amen.	1:08:43
	(joyful organ music)	1:08:50
	(choral praise music)	1:09:28
	Oh eternal God, the light of minds that know you,	1:13:24
	the joy of hearts that love you,	1:13:29
	and the strength of wills that serve you,	1:13:32
	grant us so to know you that we may truly love you.	1:13:36
	So to love you that we may fully serve you.	1:13:40
	And in loving, serving you, may love and serve	1:13:43
	and care for our neighbors.	1:13:48
	May the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,	1:13:52
	the love of God the father,	1:13:56
	the communion and fellowship of the holy spirit,	1:13:59
	be with you all.	1:14:03
	(chorus signs "Amen")	1:14:08
	(bell chimes)	1:15:24
	(bright organ music)	1:15:40

Item Info

Title:

Ernest T. Campbell - "What's the Story?" (May 11, 1975)

Description:

Faith is not primarily an act of assent to doctrinal truths. Rather, it is a living commitment by which one inserts herself into the story of God. Our lives are always molded to some story, but we often allow the subplots, such as self, family, and occupation, to usurp the primary plot: God's salvific action in history. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 34:16. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 59:29.
Key quotation: “Faith is an act of commitment by which one inserts herself into a new story.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rb6wg90

Date:

May 11, 1975

Speaker:

Campbell, Ernest T.

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0771
ref6742_wbt
uachapelsermaud
duke:320757
dcrau001810
ark:/87924/r4rb6wg90
fb3f1e67-0e6c-4238-8bb1-f0e6cf426584

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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Educational Use Permitted

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This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Ernest T. Campbell - "What's the Story?" (May 11, 1975)

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1. Ernest Campbell - "What's the Story?" (May 11, 1975)

2. Ernest T. Campbell - "What's the Story?"Baccalaureate Service L - Z (May 11, 1975)

Duke University Archives

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Ernest T. Campbell - "What's the Story?" (May 11, 1975)

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