Wallace Fowlie - Sermon Untitled (April 23, 1978)

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-	Duke University Chapel, service of worship.	0:05
	April 23rd, 1978.	0:08
	(chattering)	0:16
	(organ music)	1:28
	(soft music)	8:31
	(choir singing)	15:53
	(soft music)	17:13
	(choir singing)	17:54
-	All praise to God who creates, redeems and sustains us.	21:49
	And who came in Jesus Christ, not to place heavy burdens	21:56
	of guilt on us, but to set free those who are imprisoned,	22:01
	whose hearts accuse us.	22:08
	We have been promised that God's forgiveness	22:11
	is always waiting for us.	22:14
	With this assurance, let us make our corporate	22:18
	confession of sin.	22:22
	Let us pray.	22:24
	Lord God, forgive your church, its wealth among the poor,	22:28
	its fear among the unjust,	22:34
	its cowardice among the oppressed.	22:38
	Forgive us, your children, our lack of confidence in you,	22:41
	our lack of hope in your future,	22:48
	our lack of faith in your presence,	22:51
	our lack of love in your mercy.	22:54
	Restore us to your covenant.	22:58
	Bring us to true repentance.	23:01
	Teach us to accept the price.	23:05
	Make us strong with the comfort of your Holy Spirit.	23:08
	Break us where we are strong.	23:12
	Make us where we are weak.	23:16
	Shame us where we trust ourselves.	23:19
	Name us where we have lost ourselves.	23:23
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	23:27
	Amen.	23:44
	God does forgive us.	23:46
	We can go on again.	23:49
	God offers to us wholeness and health.	23:52
	Accept this and become the new creation.	23:56
	Let us give thanks for God is good.	24:01
	God's love is everlasting.	24:05
	Thanks be to God who forgives us.	24:09
	Thanks be to God whose grace and mercy...	24:13
	Thanks be to God who leads us into the future.	24:17
	This is a joyous day.	24:22
	A day to rejoice and give thanks.	24:25
	Tonight at 7PM there will be an hour organ concert	24:29
	played on the Benjamin N. Duke Memorial organ	24:33
	by Fenna Douglass with four assisting artists.	24:37
	They will play an all Bach program.	24:44
	The third and final concert in memory	24:47
	of Professor Julia Mulock.	24:50
	It is only because I promised Dr. Fouley	24:54
	that I would make a very short introduction	24:57
	that I do not tell you in specific and in much detail	25:00
	why it is very special to have him preach for us.	25:05
	He is a devout Roman Catholic leman.	25:09
	One of Duke's most outstanding scholars	25:12
	and favorite teachers.	25:15
	For years people have wished for the privilege	25:18
	of hearing Dr. Fouley preach from this pulpit.	25:20
	And as many of you know, he retires this year.	25:24
	We are grateful to you, Dr. Fouley,	25:27
	for this day moving from the classroom to the chapel.	25:30
	And we await your word with open hearts and minds.	25:34
-	Let us pray.	25:44
	Prepare our hearts, oh Lord, to accept your word.	25:46
	Silence in us any voice but your own.	25:53
	That hearing we may also obey your will.	25:59
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	26:05
	The first lesson is from the 11th chapter	26:11
	of Ecclesiastes, verses six to nine, and 12 and 13.	26:15
	In the morning sow your seed.	26:24
	And at evening, withhold not your hand.	26:29
	For you do not know which will prosper.	26:34
	This or that.	26:39
	Or whether both alike will be good.	26:41
	Light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes	26:46
	to behold the sun.	26:51
	For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all.	26:54
	But let him remember that the days of darkness will be many.	27:02
	All that comes is vanity.	27:09
	Rejoice oh young men, in your youth	27:13
	and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.	27:18
	Walk in the ways of your heart	27:24
	and the sight of your eyes.	27:27
	But know that for all these things,	27:30
	God will bring you into judgment.	27:34
	The end of the matter, all has been heard.	27:37
	Fear God and keep His commandments.	27:42
	For this is the whole duty of man.	27:47
	For God will bring every deed into judgment,	27:52
	with every secret thing whether good or evil.	27:58
	The second lesson is from the 21st chapter of Revelation,	28:04
	verses one to 6A.	28:10
	Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.	28:15
	For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.	28:19
	And the sea was no more.	28:26
	And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,	28:29
	coming down out of heaven from God.	28:34
	Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.	28:38
	And I heard a great voice from the throne saying,	28:43
	behold, the dwelling of God is with men.	28:46
	He will dwell with them and they shall be His people.	28:52
	And God Himself will be with them.	28:58
	He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.	29:02
	And death shall be no more.	29:07
	Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying,	29:10
	nor pain anymore.	29:15
	For the former things have passed away.	29:17
	And He who sat upon the throne said,	29:22
	behold, I make all these things new.	29:25
	Also He said, write this, for these words	29:30
	are trustworthy and true.	29:35
	And He said to me, it is done.	29:38
	I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.	29:42
	To the thirsty I will give water of life.	29:48
	Here ends the reading for the first	29:52
	and second lessons, amen.	29:56
	(soft music)	30:04
	(choir singing)	30:16
	(woman singing opera)	31:36
	(choir singing)	32:52
	(woman singing opera)	33:10
	(choir singing)	34:49
	Will the congregation stand for the reading	35:42
	of the Gospel lesson.	35:45
	The lesson is from the ninth chapter of Luke,	35:51
	verses 57 to 62.	35:55
	As they were going along the road,	36:02
	a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.	36:05
	And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes.	36:13
	And birds of the air have nests.	36:19
	But the son of man has no where to lay his head.	36:23
	To another he said, follow me.	36:29
	But he said, Lord let me first go and bury my father.	36:33
	But he said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead.	36:41
	But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.	36:49
	Another said, I will follow you, Lord.	36:56
	But let me first say farewell to those at my home.	37:00
	Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow	37:06
	and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.	37:14
	Here ends the reading from the Gospel.	37:21
	All praise and glory be to God, amen.	37:24
	(soft organ music)	37:29
	(choir singing)	37:39
-	It is a privilege for me this morning to present to you	38:44
	what must be called a sermon, but what I prefer	38:47
	to think of as the sharing with you of a few thoughts	38:51
	about a passage from the Gospels.	38:54
	I'm not following the church calendar	38:58
	because Easter was a few weeks ago,	39:00
	and for my text I'm going back to a moment	39:04
	before the resurrection.	39:08
	I think this liberty should be granted to a man	39:11
	who is giving his first sermon, which in all likelihood	39:13
	will be his only sermon.	39:16
	The title of this sermon if I gave it one	39:20
	would be simply, I think the word, Belief.	39:23
	And in order to approach a possible meaning of belief,	39:27
	I am taking one of the last seven words	39:32
	spoken by our Lord on the cross.	39:35
	One of the thieves crucified with Christ,	39:39
	has just said to him,	39:42
	Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.	39:48
	And Jesus answers him and this is my text,	39:53
	today thou shall be with me in paradise.	39:56
	A very personal reason is behind my choice	40:02
	of this particular text.	40:05
	Throughout a large part of my life	40:07
	I have hoped to hear a sermon on it and I never have.	40:08
	It has always seemed to me the most dramatic	40:13
	of all the statements made by Christ.	40:16
	Even more than dramatic is that it is a sentence	40:19
	charged with meanings that proliferate	40:22
	and quickly go beyond our powers of comprehension.	40:26
	Let me take a minute to review what had immediately	40:30
	preceded this central moment in the history of the world.	40:34
	It came at the end of eight days,	40:40
	when Israel had been darkened.	40:44
	When the Gentile world had been blinded.	40:47
	And when the son of man had been handed over.	40:52
	On the first of those eight days,	40:56
	the one we call Palm Sunday,	40:59
	Jesus returned to Jerusalem, officially returned	41:01
	for the celebration of the Passover.	41:05
	During the years of His preaching,	41:08
	He had made only very brief and almost furtive	41:10
	appearances in Jerusalem.	41:14
	His preaching and His charity on the whole	41:17
	had been confined to obscure corners of Galilee.	41:21
	But the time had come for the prophecies to be fulfilled.	41:26
	The events, as you remember, took place swiftly.	41:31
	He was betrayed, he was taken over by the authorities,	41:35
	reviled, imprisoned, forced to carry His cross,	41:39
	nailed to His cross, and then elevated on the cross.	41:44
	The French poet, Paul Clodell,	41:49
	in speaking of these last days of Christ's life,	41:51
	has found what seems to me an admirable metaphor	41:55
	to describe Christ.	41:59
	A great stag at bay	42:00
	stumbling in the midst of the dogs.	42:03
	(speaking foreign language)	42:07
	It is, of course, the picture of the final scandal.	42:12
	We should not forget that almost everything He said,	42:17
	almost everything He did had appeared scandalous to many.	42:20
	Possibly to the majority.	42:25
	He upset the chosen people on the seventh day of the week.	42:28
	And we might say that He upset the Gentiles	42:32
	on all the other days of the week.	42:34
	This moment on the cross	42:36
	is one of supreme clarification.	42:37
	It reminds us of that moment in the life of Adam,	42:43
	Christ's great ancestor, when he was expelled	42:47
	from the garden.	42:51
	It reminds us of that atoning animal	42:53
	that we read of in Leviticus.	42:56
	The scapegoat loaded with the sins of the people	42:58
	and sent out into the desert.	43:01
	Now it is the son of man expelled from the world.	43:04
	The final picture we have of our Lord as a man	43:09
	is Christ raised on the stocks above the earth.	43:14
	From that last stopping place,	43:19
	we can hear Him say seven words.	43:22
	The first is a general word of pardon	43:26
	of all those who participated in the crucifixion.	43:29
	Father, forgive them.	43:32
	They do not know what it is they are doing.	43:34
	The second word is often interpreted as the founding	43:38
	of His church, when He speaks to His mother,	43:42
	and to His disciple, John.	43:45
	Woman, this is thy son.	43:47
	This is thy mother.	43:50
	The third, is the very simple and yet overwhelming sentence	43:53
	our Lord says to one of the thieves.	43:58
	Today thou shall be with me in paradise.	44:01
	On His level, at His left and at His right	44:06
	were two thieves undergoing the same fate.	44:09
	Exposed, spread out, forming with Him one group.	44:13
	And thus fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy,	44:19
	He would be counted among the wrongdoers.	44:22
	These then are the two companions our Lord shows	44:25
	for the last hours on earth.	44:29
	With this third word, He establishes in relationship	44:31
	to Himself a right and a left.	44:36
	Who were these so called thieves?	44:41
	One of whom is impenitent and who says jeeringly to Jesus,	44:44
	save thyself and then save us.	44:49
	And the other, the penitent thief who suddenly believed	44:53
	and said, remember me.	44:57
	These men were prisoners from the jail in Jerusalem.	45:00
	Probably not petty thieves, but political prisoners.	45:06
	Men who belonged to the underground,	45:10
	who had participated in what we would call today	45:13
	guerrilla warfare against the Romans.	45:16
	Men of violence, revolutionists, strong personalities.	45:19
	One of them remains unbelieving.	45:26
	But the other, on the right hand,	45:30
	is stirred by the sight of Jesus enduring His punishment.	45:32
	And abruptly, unexpectedly knows himself to be	45:38
	in the presence of God.	45:44
	And Jesus sensitive as He always was	45:47
	to the slightest movement of the spirit in others,	45:50
	knows that He is not dying alone and unloved.	45:53
	This story of the two thieves,	45:59
	which is almost a parable, has a counterpart	46:01
	in contemporary literature in the two tramps	46:06
	of Samuel Beckett's play, Waiting for Gordo.	46:09
	At the beginning of the play, Vladimir,	46:12
	the more optimistic, the more hopeful tramp	46:16
	is meditating precisely on this Bible story.	46:20
	And he says, one of the thieves was saved.	46:24
	Then there is a pause while Escago, the pessimist,	46:29
	pulls off his boot that is paining his foot.	46:33
	And Vladimir continues.	46:36
	One of the thieves was saved.	46:39
	It's a reasonable percentage.	46:42
	This seems to mean that salvation is a 50/50 chance.	46:44
	A bit later, Vladimir resumes the dialogue	46:48
	with the question, how's your foot, swelling visibly.	46:52
	The two thieves, shall I tell you the story?	46:58
	No.	47:00
	Do you remember the story?	47:01
	No.	47:03
	It'll pass the time.	47:05
	And then like many Bible exegesis,	47:07
	like many Bible scholars, Vladimir wonders	47:10
	why only one of the evangelists, it was Saint Luke,	47:13
	speaks of one thief being saved.	47:17
	And he grumbles a bit as the scholars grumble.	47:21
	As he says the four of them were there or thereabouts	47:24
	the effect of the dialogue is to make us, the spectators	47:28
	if we're in the theater, identify the glib Vladimir	47:34
	and the resentful Escago with the two thieves.	47:39
	And to see both sets, thieves and tramps,	47:44
	as dividing all humanity into two groups.	47:48
	Believers and non-believers.	47:52
	Beckett knew the famous use that St. Augustine	47:55
	made of this story, when he advised,	47:58
	do not presume one thief was damned.	48:01
	Do not despair, one thief was saved.	48:06
	I suppose the hardest question for us to answer	48:10
	concerning this episode is how did the good thief	48:13
	come to believe that Christ would be king	48:18
	after His death?	48:22
	And the only possible answer involves certainly	48:25
	the power of grace and the best perhaps we can say is,	48:28
	he was touched by the spirit of truth.	48:32
	He must have realized at that moment that we come	48:37
	into the world, that we come into existence	48:39
	through God's love.	48:41
	The thief uses a messianic term in his statement.	48:45
	When thou comest into thy kingdom.	48:49
	And Jesus in His answer uses a word	48:52
	He never used in His preaching, another messianic term	48:54
	which is used only three times in the Old Testament	48:59
	and only three times in the New Testament.	49:02
	It is the Persian word, paradise, meaning orchard	49:05
	or royal park.	49:10
	Today thou shall be with me in paradise.	49:13
	The word today in this sentence means of course, the future,	49:16
	the immediate future after death.	49:20
	I know I don't need to remind you, but I'm going to	49:24
	because it is the point of my sermon.	49:26
	Human experience, human wisdom, human history	49:29
	have not told us, have not given us an explanation	49:35
	of what paradise is.	49:39
	Perhaps this is our best clue.	49:42
	Grace in one instant came to the thief.	49:45
	Not only was he absolved by Christ, he was sanctified.	49:50
	Might even say he was canonized.	49:54
	It's perhaps the only canonization that took place	49:56
	without a great ceremony.	49:58
	It is, I think, the most spectacular story	50:00
	of belief in the Bible.	50:03
	Even more spectacular than the story of Saul of Tarsus,	50:07
	who became Paul.	50:10
	I say more spectacular because Paul was always a good man,	50:12
	a highly moral man.	50:16
	The scene was not one to inspire any hope.	50:18
	Everything around the dying thief seemed God forsake him.	50:22
	And yet, he knew by his proximity	50:28
	to Jesus	50:32
	that he was on the edge of the kingdom of God.	50:34
	When he said, remember me, he knew that this man	50:38
	was the king on His way to His kingdom.	50:42
	The astronomer Copernicus is buried	50:46
	in the Cathedral of Frombork, originally in Prussia,	50:49
	today in Poland.	50:53
	On his tomb is an epitaph in Latin	50:55
	said to have been composed by Copernicus himself.	50:57
	In English it would read this way.	51:01
	I ask not the faith Saint Paul received,	51:03
	nor the grace Saint Peter obtained.	51:08
	But what you gave to the thief on the cross, grant me.	51:11
	These words in the epitaph receive, obtain, grant	51:16
	lead me to conclude with this thought	51:21
	that by converting an action that had placed him in jail,	51:25
	the thief in turning to our Lord	51:29
	quite literally stole paradise.	51:31
	Let us pray.	51:36
	Father of love and power.	51:39
	We pray that you give some degree of the faith	51:43
	of the good thief to all of your children	51:46
	throughout the world.	51:49
	In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit	51:50
	as it was in the beginning, is now,	51:53
	and ever shall be world without end, amen.	51:55
	(soft organ music)	52:07
	(choir singing)	52:38
-	My dear people, let us now affirm what we believe.	55:41
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating.	55:46
	Who has come in the truly human Jesus	55:52
	to reconcile and make new.	55:55
	Who works in us by others, by the Spirit.	55:59
	We trust God who calls us to be the church.	56:03
	To celebrate life and its fullness.	56:08
	To love and serve others.	56:12
	To seek justice and resist evil.	56:15
	To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen.	56:19
	Our judge and our hope.	56:23
	In life, in death, in life beyond death God is with us.	56:26
	We are not alone.	56:34
	Thanks be to God.	56:36
	The Lord be with you.	56:39
-	And with your spirit.	56:41
-	And now let us pray.	56:42
	God our Father, you will all people to be saved	56:52
	and come to the knowledge of your truth.	56:57
	Send workers into your great harvest	57:02
	that the Gospel may be preached to every creature	57:05
	and to your people.	57:09
	Gathered together by the word of life	57:11
	and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit.	57:15
	That your people may thus advance	57:20
	in the way of salvation and love.	57:24
	Pour out on us the spirit of understanding,	57:30
	of truth and of true peace.	57:33
	Help us to strive with all our hearts	57:38
	to know what is pleasing to you, oh Lord.	57:42
	And when we know your will, make us determined	57:46
	to carry it out.	57:52
	Almighty and eternal God, keep together those	57:56
	you have united.	58:01
	Look kindly on all who follow Jesus your son.	58:04
	We are all consecrated to you by our common baptism.	58:11
	We implore you, make us one in the fullness of faith	58:17
	and keep us one in the fellowship of love.	58:24
	We ask all of this through Jesus Christ,	58:31
	your son and our Lord forever and ever.	58:34
	Amen.	58:40
	And now let us rise as a Christian community	58:45
	and pray to the Father in the words	58:48
	that Jesus Himself gave us.	58:51
	Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.	58:58
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	59:03
	on earth as it is in heaven.	59:07
	Give us this day our daily bread	59:10
	and forgive us our trespasses,	59:14
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	59:16
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	59:21
	For thine is the power, the kingdom, and the glory, amen.	59:26
	(soft music)	59:39
	(choir singing in foreign language)	1:00:46
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:08:08
	♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪	1:08:14
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:08:19
	♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪	1:08:27
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	1:08:33
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:08:38
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:08:44
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:08:51
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:59
-	We give you thanks, oh God, for a universe beyond belief.	1:09:13
	For a world of possibilities beyond dreams.	1:09:21
	For this year and the opportunities which were ours.	1:09:26
	For the friends who cared for us.	1:09:32
	For the struggles, which brought us new visions of truth.	1:09:35
	For the word of hope which comes to us.	1:09:40
	Oh God we thank you for the future	1:09:44
	which we move into with confidence	1:09:47
	because we know that we will be sustained by your grace.	1:09:50
	And we pray that you will bless this offering.	1:09:56
	Symbols of our dedication to your work of justice and mercy.	1:10:00
	And bless us that we may go forth serving you.	1:10:07
	We pray in the spirit of Jesus the Christ, amen.	1:10:12
	(organ music)	1:10:21
	(choir singing)	1:11:02
	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,	1:14:21
	the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	1:14:25
	is yours this day and forever more.	1:14:30
	(choir singing)	1:14:36
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:48
	(organ music)	1:15:01
	(intense music)	1:19:06

Item Info

Title:

Wallace Fowlie - Sermon Untitled (April 23, 1978)

Description:

Sermon start time: 38:44. Sermon end time: 51:58.
Belief is what allowed the thief next to Christ on the cross enter paradise. Not only was the thief absolved of his sin, he was also sanctified (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: By converting an action that had placed him in jail, the thief in turning to our Lord, quite literally, stole paradise.

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4t43jj19

Date:

April 23, 1978

Speaker:

Fowlie, Wallace

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Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0952
ref7107_la3
uachapelsermaud
duke:321296
dcrau001832
ark:/87924/r4t43jj19
5382023c-6932-4f85-adcf-f7d1c55371d5

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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

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Wallace Fowlie - Sermon Untitled (April 23, 1978)

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