Lex S. Mathews - "They Shall Call His Name" (June 11, 1978)

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	(uplifting organ music)	0:06
	O Holy God,	6:35
	we bow before the mystery	6:37
	of your presence your creation.	6:39
	Move through our minds and hearts	6:43
	with your comforting spirit	6:47
	so that we may worship you with our hearts	6:49
	and praise you with our minds and voices	6:54
	and serve you with our will.	6:58
	We wait in your presence oh holy God.	7:02
	We worship you, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	7:07
	(organ music)	7:18
	(organ music drowns out voices singing)	7:38
	Grace and peace be unto you.	9:59
	It is because we are certain of God's mercy	10:04
	and forgiveness that we have the courage	10:08
	to see ourselves in the light of God's justice	10:11
	and intention for us, and are thus enable	10:16
	to acknowledge who we are and to make our confession.	10:21
	Let us pray.	10:27
-	Almighty God, we come before you in silence	10:30
	for we have failed, failed to be the imprint of your image,	10:35
	failed to be the stewards of all people and over nature.	10:42
	Failed to reflect your love and mercy.	10:48
	Failed to be servants of reconciliation,	10:52
	and yet oh God, we pray to you because we long	10:57
	to be trustworthy, showing the impact of your love	11:02
	in our lives, acting out justice as you will it.	11:07
	Therefore oh God, do not take your spirit from us	11:13
	but implant in us the image of your son	11:18
	and lead us to be obedient to you.	11:22
	(organ music)	11:56
	(organ music drowns out voices singing)	12:17
	Let us give thanks for God is good	14:17
	and God's love is everlasting.	14:21
-	Thanks be to God who creates us.	14:25
	Thanks be to God by who's mercy we are redeemed.	14:29
	Thanks be to God who supports us now and forever.	14:34
-	Greetings in the name of Jesus the Christ.	14:41
	It is our privilege to have Lex Matthews	14:45
	preach for us today.	14:47
	We knew, appreciated and respected Lex's ministry	14:49
	when he was Episcopal Chaplin at UNC.	14:53
	And now give thanks for the leadership he offers	14:57
	to the Christian community through his work	14:59
	as director for Social Ministries	15:03
	for the Episcopal diocese of North Carolina.	15:05
	We welcome you and will listen to the word you bring	15:10
	with open hearts and minds.	15:14
-	Let us pray.	15:22
	Prepare our hearts O Lord to accept your word.	15:25
	Silence in us any voice but your own.	15:30
	That hearing we may also obey your will	15:34
	through Jesus Christ our Lord,	15:38
	Amen.	15:41
	The lesson is from the seventh chapter of Isaiah	15:44
	versus 10 through 17.	15:48
	Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz.	15:53
	Ask a sign of the Lord your God	15:57
	let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.	15:59
	But Ahaz said, I will not ask,	16:04
	and I will not put the Lord to test.	16:08
	And Isaiah said, hear then O House of David.	16:13
	Is it too little for you to weary men	16:19
	but weary my God also?	16:22
	Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.	16:26
	Behold a young woman shall conceive and bear a son	16:31
	and shall call his name Immanuel.	16:36
	He shall eat curds and honey when he knows	16:41
	how to refuse the evil and choose the good.	16:43
	For before the child knows how to refuse the evil	16:48
	and choose the good, the land before	16:52
	whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.	16:55
	The Lord will bring up you and upon your people	17:00
	and upon your father's house such days	17:04
	as have not come since the day that Ephraim	17:07
	departed from Judah, the king of Assyria.	17:10
	Herein ends the reading of the old testament.	17:15
	All praise and glory be to God,	17:18
	Amen.	17:22
	(organ music)	17:25
	(organ music drowns out voices singing)	17:36
	In the name of the Father,	18:34
	and of the Son,	18:35
	and of The Holy Spirit,	18:35
	Amen.	18:36
	I wanna thank you all for extending	18:39
	through my good Helen Crotwell	18:41
	and invitation to share your pulpit.	18:43
	I guess I'd better say at the beginning	18:47
	that I have an allergy and if I have a spate	18:48
	of sneezes which I have not have today	18:51
	and I usually have, I hope you will forgive me	18:53
	and share my embarrassment with me.	18:56
	In this morning's lesson,	18:59
	we notice that	19:03
	when God gives the sign to Ahaz, the new born child.	19:05
	The phrase used is,	19:11
	they shall call his name Immanuel.	19:13
	'Cause the Christian church has picked up	19:17
	this motif and incorporated it into the nativity,	19:20
	into the birth narrative, the Christmas scene.	19:25
	But I don't wanna talk about that part,	19:29
	I wanna talk about the part where it says	19:31
	they shall call his name Immanuel.	19:33
	Now perhaps this is just a play on words	19:39
	or perhaps it's just my anxiety to get a good sermon topic	19:43
	but I like to think that the part that refers	19:47
	to his name,	19:50
	refers to his being,	19:53
	his difference,	19:57
	his uniqueness.	20:00
	And most of all, his aloneness.	20:03
	Well that which he had that no one	20:07
	has ever had before or ever will have.	20:10
	Yet,	20:15
	the same can be said for each of us,	20:16
	for each of us is a unique individual	20:21
	never to be repeated,	20:26
	not in this chapel,	20:29
	not in the world,	20:32
	not ever.	20:33
	Each one of us is a brand new being,	20:36
	virginity.	20:41
	I am a gift to me from God.	20:45
	You are a gift to you from God.	20:50
	The job of living then,	20:55
	is to become who we already are,	20:58
	to resolve the gift.	21:02
	A friend of mine once said that she did not want	21:06
	to hear the story of Christianity anymore.	21:09
	Perhaps a crib book, the spirit of Christianity,	21:13
	but not the story.	21:17
	That statement had special meaning for me	21:20
	and with a few illustrations I'd like	21:24
	to try to convey that meaning to you.	21:26
	They shall call his name Immanuel.	21:31
	Immanuel means God is with us,	21:36
	God is with his name.	21:41
	God is with his being.	21:45
	Is it not then that the spirit of Christianity	21:48
	is God saying through the Jesus man	21:51
	that it's okay to be who we are,	21:55
	whoever we are?	21:59
	Jesus said, I have come that you might have life	22:02
	and have it more abundantly.	22:08
	If we believe that he said this,	22:12
	then we believe the story of Christianity.	22:17
	If we believe it's true,	22:23
	then we believe the spirit of Christianity.	22:26
	The story of Christianity	22:31
	is about Jesus.	22:35
	The spirit of Christianity	22:38
	is about us.	22:41
	Popeye understood the spirit because he said,	22:44
	I am what I am, and that's all I am,	22:48
	I'm Popeye the sailor man.	22:51
	God said the same thing to Moses in a way.	22:55
	You know when God assigned to Moses his job,	22:58
	Moses got a little sweaty about it	23:00
	like we get sweaty about things that are assigned to us	23:02
	or that we take on and we think,	23:05
	suppose I fail, I'd better have someone to blame it on.	23:08
	So Moses said to God,	23:12
	who shall I say sent me?	23:15
	God simply said, I am.	23:18
	We say, well that's okay for God and Popeye	23:22
	to be who they are but not for the girl I marry.	23:25
	I want a gal just like the gal that married dear old dad.	23:30
	A Xeroxed wife,	23:36
	but it is difficult	23:39
	to resolve the gift of personhood.	23:41
	It takes courage,	23:44
	it takes imagination	23:47
	and a sense of presence.	23:50
	Most of all, I think,	23:52
	it takes a senses of presence.	23:54
	There was the rich man who was on his way from Chicago	23:58
	to Florida, I like to think he's a rich man	24:02
	because he was driving by a chauffeur	24:04
	in a long black limousine.	24:07
	And when he got, when they got just north	24:10
	of Chattanooga, Tennessee, they had a blow-out	24:14
	and guess who got to change the tire?	24:17
	While the chauffeur was changing the tire	24:20
	the rich man walked down the road apiece	24:22
	to stretch his legs and came upon this man	24:26
	kinda hunkered down on the side of the road	24:29
	and so he introduced himself to him	24:32
	and said, "Do you live here?"	24:34
	And he said, "Yep, I live right down there."	24:35
	And pointed to a little cottage down in the holla.	24:38
	And he said, "Oh so you do well,	24:42
	"how far is it to Chattanooga?"	24:44
	He said, "I don't know, I ain't ever been to Chattanooga."	24:48
	He said, "You've never been to Chattanooga?	24:53
	"And you live right here?"	24:55
	He said, "Nope."	24:56
	"So well how far is it to Knoxville	24:57
	"which is just north of there?"	24:58
	"I don't know, I've ain't never been to Knoxville."	25:00
	And he said, "You've never been to Chattanooga,	25:04
	"and you've never been to Knoxville,	25:06
	"and you live right down there?"	25:07
	And he said "Yep, I mostly just stay aright around here."	25:08
	And he said, "Well I find that fascinating	25:13
	"that you've never been to these places	25:15
	"and you live right here.	25:17
	"Don't you ever think about places like New York	25:19
	"and Rome and Paris, London."	25:22
	He said, "Nope."	25:29
	Said, "Don't you ever wanna go anywhere?"	25:31
	And the man said,	25:35
	"Ain't I somewhere?"	25:37
	Presence,	25:40
	it takes a sense of presence to resolve the gift.	25:42
	It takes personhood to resolve the gift	25:47
	because the tide runs strong	25:49
	in the other direction,	25:52
	in the direction of mass de-personalization.	25:56
	In the direction of sameness.	26:00
	All 37,000 employees of Fair Weather Airline	26:03
	welcomes you aboard at such-and-such service	26:07
	from Ipswich to Oogoz.	26:09
	They do not welcome the hijacker	26:13
	the woman about to throw up	26:16
	or the man who audibly complains of the service.	26:18
	Fact is Fair Weather airlines cannot welcome	26:22
	or not welcome anyone because it does not know personhood.	26:24
	It's read from a plastic card.	26:29
	Next year a recording perhaps, why not?	26:33
	Should they know us?	26:37
	Of course not, but let's start telling it like it is,	26:39
	all 37,000 employees, no way.	26:43
	I could go on with the multi-graph letters	26:47
	that are made to look real.	26:50
	Worse still, the originals that are automatically typed.	26:52
	Only thing that everyone gets the same originally.	26:57
	I gotta a machine addressed Christian card	27:02
	with the company's name stamped on the inside.	27:04
	A machine addressed it,	27:08
	a machine signed it,	27:11
	a machine stamped it, and for all I know	27:14
	the decision the send it out in the first place	27:17
	was made by a machine.	27:19
	Because Popeye was content to be Popeye,	27:24
	because he resolved the gift,	27:28
	he could be a sailor man,	27:32
	and his style was his own.	27:35
	We must remember that the gift is enough,	27:39
	it is strong,	27:46
	and it will stand alone,	27:48
	we do not need to have security by association.	27:52
	I grew up in Alabama, have a good friend	27:58
	who back then we were both in high school	28:02
	was embarrassed because she happened to be	28:05
	from a small town in Alabama.	28:08
	And whenever she would get around someone	28:12
	from Birmingham to take attention away from her	28:15
	being from a small town, she would go into	28:18
	this little sort of a charade,	28:21
	she would say, "Oh, ah, you're from Birmingham,	28:24
	"do you know Beatsey Smith?"	28:28
	To take attention away from the fact	28:29
	that she was from a small town.	28:31
	Well Beatsey Smith was the beauty queen	28:33
	and the senior of a big high school in Birmingham	28:36
	and she was editor of the year book	28:39
	and head cheerleader and perhaps several other	28:42
	thousand things and, anyway, she was,	28:44
	she was very popular and very well known.	28:47
	So when my friend would say, "Oh, you're from Birmingham,	28:51
	"do you know Beatsey Smith?"	28:53
	The innuendo was that she knew her.	28:55
	Of course she didn't and so she would pull	28:57
	this on everyone that she would meet from Birmingham	29:00
	as I say, to take attention away from her	29:03
	being from a small town.	29:05
	One day she met this person from Birmingham	29:07
	and she said, "Oh, you're from Birmingham,	29:09
	"do you know Beatsey Smith?"	29:11
	and the person said,	29:14
	"I am Beatsey Smith."	29:15
	We all play that game don't we,	29:20
	it's just that most of us haven't been caught.	29:22
	I said it takes imagination to resolve the gift.	29:27
	It does indeed when especially these days	29:31
	too many conservatives	29:35
	would rather have money than prudence	29:37
	and too many liberals would rather	29:42
	have rhetoric than liberty.	29:44
	It takes a person who has a clear vision of the gift	29:48
	and who's actions may appear comical to the millions of us	29:53
	who are coming closer and closer to having	29:57
	charger plate minds and are coming closer and closer	29:59
	to having our names numbered rather than spelled.	30:03
	It takes a person with a sense	30:10
	of poetry and prophecy	30:12
	like my aunt Emily.	30:15
	I was a boy during The Depression years	30:19
	and we all sort of hovered together	30:21
	in my grandfather's house to get through The Depression,	30:25
	and my aunt Emily lived with us.	30:28
	Were she alive today she'd be, well she'd be 100 next year,	30:31
	she was really old enough to be my great aunt I suppose.	30:34
	I think I'm becoming more and more aware of that	30:38
	the older I get, at any rate,	30:41
	my aunt Emily was the kind of person who could not fathom	30:45
	scientific things, she could not	30:49
	fathom automation, cybernation.	30:51
	If you said to my aunt Emily, somebody	30:55
	just went to the moon she would probably	30:57
	say something like, how nice.	30:59
	But if you told her about the person that went to the moon	31:03
	she would get interested.	31:06
	One day my aunt Emily asked my brother	31:12
	and me, she said, "Boys, what time is it?"	31:16
	We call her Sister, and we said Sister	31:19
	don't know but you can dial the telephone	31:22
	and it will tell you what time it is.	31:24
	She did not understand that, she said,	31:27
	"How could the telephone know what time it is	31:28
	"at any given time?"	31:31
	We said: Sister, just dial it.	31:33
	And so she dialed the correct number	31:36
	and it said something like,	31:38
	Coca Cola, the pause that refreshes, it's 09:32.	31:40
	And she looked at the telephone	31:48
	like it was some stranger	31:50
	and, clearly, not understanding what was going on	31:52
	and finally she just	31:55
	a funny look came over her face and she said,	31:57
	"Well thank you very much," and hung up.	31:59
	With that, my brother and I	32:02
	just rolled around on the floor and said,	32:04
	Sister, you don't have to thank it,	32:06
	it's just a recording, just a record.	32:08
	She did not understand that,	32:11
	and I never will forget what she said,	32:14
	Moreover, I will never forget the expression on her face.	32:18
	She said,	32:23
	"I don't understand, but I know one thing,	32:24
	it's always nice to say thank you."	32:28
	My aunt Emily understood the spirit of Christianity	32:33
	and, like Popeye, she had resolved the gift.	32:41
	They shall call his name Immanuel	32:46
	They shall call his name	32:51
	Charlie, Becky,	32:54
	Sarah,	32:57
	Jim,	32:59
	Bob,	33:01
	Helen,	33:03
	Sue,	33:05
	They should call his name your name.	33:07
	Whenever,	33:12
	wherever,	33:14
	and whoever you are,	33:16
	Amen.	33:19
	(organ music)	33:30
	(organ music drowns out voices singing)	34:12
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	36:29
-	We believe in God who has created and is creating.	36:33
	Who has come in the truly human Jesus to reconcile	36:39
	and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.	36:44
	We trust God who calls us to be the Church	36:50
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	36:56
	to love and serve others.	36:59
	To seek justice and resist evil.	37:03
	To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	37:06
	our judge and our hope, in life and death,	37:11
	in life beyond death God is with us.	37:17
	We are not alone, thanks be the God.	37:23
-	The Lord be with you.	37:28
-	And with your spirit.	37:30
-	Let us pray.	37:31
	Almighty ever loving God,	37:42
	creator of us and the whole world,	37:47
	redeemer of us and all persons.	37:53
	You have formed us and re-formed us.	37:59
	Created us and re-created us.	38:05
	Named us and re-named us.	38:11
	Called us and called again and again.	38:16
	We rejoice that you have allowed us to know	38:24
	of your goodness, to participate in your creation.	38:27
	Enlarge our love O God, that we may pray	38:34
	for needs beyond our own.	38:39
	We pray for peace in our nations	38:45
	in our work, in our families.	38:50
	Heal our ancient and our new hate	38:56
	that smolder still aflame in sudden conflict.	39:00
	We pray for those involved in world governments	39:09
	and agencies of control or compassion.	39:13
	Those who work for the reconciling of nations and peoples.	39:18
	Keep them hopeful and work with them and through them.	39:24
	We pray for people who are hungry	39:32
	those who are housed in cramped places.	39:37
	Increase in us and all who are privileged	39:41
	concern for those who need justice, mercy and love.	39:46
	We pray for those people who	39:57
	suffer physical pain or mental distress.	39:58
	Those who cry out for healing,	40:05
	may they be patient, brave and find hope.	40:09
	And bless those people who's skills are used	40:17
	to heal these people.	40:20
	We pray O God, for those who are facing death,	40:25
	may they know the comfort and hope of your presence.	40:29
	For those who are lonely and alone,	40:36
	those who have no one to call in times	40:40
	of sadness or grief or loneliness	40:43
	may they be be-friended and know of your love.	40:48
	And now O God, we pray for ourselves,	40:55
	for courage, imagination, a sense of presence,	40:59
	a sense of our personhood, for the ability	41:07
	to accept the gift of our life.	41:12
	Hear now O God our deepest yearnings.	41:17
	Purify them and bless them as we lift them to you	41:22
	in the silence of this time.	41:29
	Hear us now O God as we pray the prayer	41:57
	that Jesus has taught us.	42:00
-	Our Father, who art in heaven	42:03
	hallowed by thy name.	42:07
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	42:09
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	42:13
	Give us this day our daily bread	42:16
	and forgive us our trespasses	42:20
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	42:22
	And lead us not into temptation	42:27
	but deliver us from evil.	42:30
	For thine is the kingdom,	42:33
	and the power and the glory forever, amen.	42:35
	(organ music)	42:49
	(organ music drowns out voices singing)	47:56
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	48:07
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	48:10
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	48:34
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	48:37
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	48:41
-	We give you thanks O God for all the wonders	49:04
	of our lives, for our uniqueness,	49:07
	for those who care for us,	49:12
	for those who help us become who we are,	49:15
	those who confront us, those who are instruments	49:20
	of your love and justice and mercy.	49:24
	O holy God send your Spirit to cleanse our hearts,	49:30
	hallow these gifts and perfect the offering	49:36
	of ourselves to you through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	49:41
	(organ music)	49:53
	(organ music drowns out voices singing)	50:25
	Make us your new creation O Lord.	53:03
	Bless our going forth and grant	53:07
	that when we leave this place	53:10
	we will know we do not leave your presence.	53:13
	Be ever near us and keep us aware who we are.	53:18
	Help us to serve you and all of your creation.	53:27
	Go now in peace and may God our creator,	53:32
	redeemer and sustainer,	53:38
	be with you this day and forever, amen and amen.	53:41
	(triumphant organ music)	53:51

Item Info

Title:

Lex S. Mathews - "They Shall Call His Name" (June 11, 1978)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 18:34. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 33:19.
His sermon revolves around the phrase “they shall call his name Immanuel” and connects it to God’s desire for us to become who we are. We become who we are, or how the preacher defines it “we resolve the gift of personhood” when we have a sense of presence, and a sense of personhood, that is a certain individuality when we set ourselves apart from everybody else. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Is it not then that the spirit of Christianity is God saying through the Jesus man that it's okay to be who we are, whoever we are?…The story of Christianity is about Jesus. The spirit of Christianity is about us.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r45h7c80k

Date:

June 11, 1978

Speaker:

Mathews, Lex S.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Isaiah

Chapter and Verse:

Isaiah 7:10-17

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0960
ref7123_h9o
uachapelsermaud
duke:321072
dcrau001840
ark:/87924/r45h7c80k
f56b62c9-a59b-4473-91d7-edd5e8503c24

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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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:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For 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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Lex S. Mathews - "They Shall Call His Name" (June 11, 1978)

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1. Lex S. Mathews - "They Shall Call His Name" (June 11, 1978)

Duke University Archives

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