Helen G. Crotwell - "Live Boldly" (May 13, 1979)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| - | Duke University Chapel service of worship, May 13th, 1979. | 0:04 |
| (church organ music) | 0:15 | |
| (tender organ music) | 3:46 | |
| ♪ Lord Jesus Christ He brings a glow ♪ | 11:48 | |
| ♪ On once into leaf, bush and bough ♪ | 11:53 | |
| ♪ My spirits have, with Christ reborn ♪ | 11:58 | |
| ♪ At last my truth is in a shrine ♪ | 12:03 | |
| ♪ Until I wish to sing thy grace ♪ | 12:10 | |
| ♪ A source to me in merchant grace ♪ | 12:15 | |
| ♪ They shone my faith with prince on high ♪ | 12:19 | |
| ♪ That we will know thy name of Christ ♪ | 12:24 | |
| ("Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven" by Henry Francis Lyte) | 12:33 | |
| ♪ Praise my soul, the King of Heaven ♪ | 13:05 | |
| ♪ To His feet your tribute bring ♪ | 13:10 | |
| ♪ Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven ♪ | 13:15 | |
| ♪ Evermore His praises sing ♪ | 13:21 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 13:26 | |
| ♪ Praise the everlasting King ♪ | 13:32 | |
| ♪ Praise Him for His grace and favor ♪ | 13:40 | |
| ♪ To His people in distress ♪ | 13:46 | |
| ♪ Praise Him, still the same as ever ♪ | 13:51 | |
| ♪ Slow to chide and swift to bless ♪ | 13:56 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 14:02 | |
| ♪ Glorious in His faithfulness ♪ | 14:08 | |
| ♪ Fatherlike He tends and spares us ♪ | 14:17 | |
| ♪ Well our feeble frame He knows ♪ | 14:23 | |
| ♪ In His hands He gently bears us ♪ | 14:28 | |
| ♪ Rescues us from all our foes ♪ | 14:33 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 14:39 | |
| ♪ Widely yet His mercy flows ♪ | 14:44 | |
| ♪ Angels help us to adore Him ♪ | 14:53 | |
| ♪ We beheld Him face to face ♪ | 14:58 | |
| ♪ Sun and moon bow down before Him ♪ | 15:04 | |
| ♪ Dwellers all in time and space ♪ | 15:09 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 15:15 | |
| ♪ Praise with us the God of grace ♪ | 15:21 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 15:30 | |
| - | Be seated. | 15:40 |
| - | Herein is love, | 15:53 |
| not that we loved God, | 15:55 | |
| but that He loved us, | 15:59 | |
| and gave His son to be the propitiation for our sins. | 16:01 | |
| Remembering God's love, | 16:07 | |
| let us offer our prayer of confession. | 16:10 | |
| Oh Lord, our God, we confess to you | 16:16 | |
| and ask that you will drown our transgressions | 16:21 | |
| in the sea of your infinite love. | 16:24 | |
| With sorrow and contrition we acknowledge | 16:27 | |
| our faults and failures. | 16:30 | |
| Our failure to be true, even to our own accepted standards, | 16:34 | |
| our self-deception in face of temptation, | 16:39 | |
| our choosing of the worst when we know the better, | 16:43 | |
| oh Lord, forgive. | 16:47 | |
| Our failure to apply to ourselves | 16:50 | |
| the standards of conduct we demand of others. | 16:53 | |
| Our blindness in the suffering of others, | 16:57 | |
| and our slowness to be taught by our own. | 17:00 | |
| Our complacence toward wrongs | 17:04 | |
| that do not touch our own lives, | 17:06 | |
| and our oversensitivity to those that do. | 17:09 | |
| Our slowness to see the good in others, | 17:13 | |
| and see the evil in ourselves. | 17:16 | |
| Our hardness of heart towards our neighbors' faults | 17:20 | |
| and our readiness to make allowance for our own. | 17:23 | |
| Our unwillingness to believe that you have called us | 17:27 | |
| to a small work and our neighbor to a great one. | 17:30 | |
| Oh Lord, forgive. | 17:35 | |
| - | Amen. | 17:40 |
| - | If we confess our sins, | 17:53 |
| God is faithful and just to forgive our sins | 17:57 | |
| and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. | 18:01 | |
| Amen. | 18:08 | |
| We are moving into the summer period of chapel services. | 18:17 | |
| Singers are invited to join the Duke Chapel Summer Choir. | 18:23 | |
| Rehearsals are held at 9:30 Sunday morning in the chancel | 18:29 | |
| and all who are interested in participating are welcomed. | 18:36 | |
| Let us pray. | 18:48 | |
| Oh Lord, open our hearts to the reading of thy word | 18:53 | |
| that we may hear thee speak. | 18:58 | |
| Amen. | 19:02 | |
| From the Book of Acts, | 19:10 | |
| "When Saul reached Jerusalem, | 19:16 | |
| "he tried to join the body of disciples there. | 19:19 | |
| "But they were afraid of him, | 19:24 | |
| "because they did not believe that he had been converted. | 19:26 | |
| "Barnabus, however, took him by the hand | 19:32 | |
| "and introduced him to the apostles. | 19:34 | |
| "Barnabus described to them how Saul had seen the Lord | 19:38 | |
| "on his journey to Damascus and heard His voice. | 19:41 | |
| "And how he had spoken out boldly | 19:46 | |
| "in the name of Jesus in Damascus. | 19:48 | |
| "Saul now stayed with them, | 19:53 | |
| "moving about freely in Jerusalem. | 19:55 | |
| "He spoke out boldly and openly in the name of the Lord, | 19:58 | |
| "talking and debating with the Greek-speaking Jews, | 20:03 | |
| "but they planned to murder him. | 20:08 | |
| "And when the brethren learned of this, | 20:12 | |
| "they escorted him to Caesarea | 20:15 | |
| "and saw him off to Tarsus." | 20:19 | |
| And, from First John, | 20:26 | |
| "My children, | 20:32 | |
| "love must not be a matter of words or talk, | 20:34 | |
| "it must be genuine and show itself in action. | 20:38 | |
| "This is how we may know that belong to the realm of truth | 20:45 | |
| "and convince ourselves in His sight, | 20:48 | |
| "that even if our conscience condemns us, | 20:51 | |
| "God is greater than our conscience and knows all. | 20:54 | |
| "Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, | 21:01 | |
| "then we can approach God with confidence | 21:07 | |
| "and attain from Him whatever we ask | 21:10 | |
| "because we are keeping His commandments | 21:14 | |
| "and doing what He approves. | 21:16 | |
| "This is His commandment: | 21:20 | |
| "To give our allegiance to His son, Jesus Christ, | 21:23 | |
| "and love one another, as He commanded. | 21:27 | |
| "When we keep His commands, | 21:33 | |
| "we dwell in Him and He dwells in us. | 21:35 | |
| "And this is how we can make sure that He dwells in us, | 21:40 | |
| "we know the spirit which He has given to us." | 21:44 | |
| May God add His blessing to these readings from His word. | 21:49 | |
| (church organ music) | 21:57 | |
| ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 22:33 | |
| ♪ Holy is our Lord ♪ | 22:42 | |
| ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 22:52 | |
| ♪ Holy is our Lord ♪ | 23:02 | |
| ♪ We will always lift you high ♪ | 23:12 | |
| ♪ And perform thy song ♪ | 23:22 | |
| ♪ Left on Earth we hold on ♪ | 23:31 | |
| ♪ All that grace is thine ♪ | 23:41 | |
| ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 23:52 | |
| ♪ Holy is our Lord ♪ | 24:02 | |
| ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 24:12 | |
| ♪ Holy is our Lord ♪ | 24:22 | |
| ♪ All the sound is over now ♪ | 24:32 | |
| ♪ This is what I love ♪ | 24:42 | |
| ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 24:51 | |
| ♪ Holy is our Lord ♪ | 25:02 | |
| - | Will you stand for the reading of the gospel. | 25:18 |
| From the Gospel of John. | 25:27 | |
| "I am the real vine and my Father is the gardener. | 25:30 | |
| "Every barren branch of mine, He cuts away. | 25:37 | |
| "And every fruiting branch, He cleans | 25:41 | |
| "to make it more fruitful still. | 25:46 | |
| "You have already been cleansed by the word | 25:51 | |
| "which I spoke to you. | 25:53 | |
| "Dwell in me as I in you. | 25:56 | |
| "No branch can bear fruit by itself, | 26:00 | |
| "but only if it remains united with the vine. | 26:04 | |
| "No more can you bear fruit | 26:08 | |
| "unless you remain united with me. | 26:12 | |
| "I am the vine, you are the branches, | 26:17 | |
| "he who dwells in me as I dwell in him bears much fruit. | 26:21 | |
| "For apart from me, you can do nothing. | 26:26 | |
| "He who does not dwell in me is thrown away | 26:31 | |
| "like a withered branch. | 26:34 | |
| "The withered branches are heaped together | 26:36 | |
| "and thrown on a fire and burned. | 26:38 | |
| "If you dwell in me, | 26:42 | |
| "and my words dwell in you, | 26:45 | |
| "ask what you will, and you shall have it. | 26:48 | |
| "This is my Father's glory | 26:53 | |
| "that you may bear fruit in plenty | 26:56 | |
| "and be my disciples." | 27:01 | |
| Amen. | 27:05 | |
| (church organ music) | 27:08 | |
| (choir singing) | 27:21 | |
| - | I would like to use a scripture | 28:16 |
| which Krister Stendahl used last Saturday at Baccalaureate. | 28:19 | |
| In the name of God, | 28:25 | |
| who loves us | 28:28 | |
| as father | 28:30 | |
| and mother | 28:31 | |
| and friend, | 28:33 | |
| amen. | 28:35 | |
| When we were discussing the glorious Easter service | 28:37 | |
| in this chapel, a student who was out of town bemoaned | 28:41 | |
| the dreariness of the service of worship she attended. | 28:46 | |
| There was no joy, | 28:51 | |
| no hope, | 28:53 | |
| no affirmation. | 28:54 | |
| Rather a dull, | 28:57 | |
| drab, | 28:58 | |
| boring | 29:00 | |
| service. | 29:01 | |
| We are indeed fortunate to have this chapel as a place | 29:03 | |
| where we can worship. | 29:07 | |
| The incredibly beautiful music alone left no doubt | 29:09 | |
| in our minds that Easter is indeed a day of celebration. | 29:14 | |
| A time to rejoice | 29:19 | |
| that Christ is risen. | 29:22 | |
| We responded with joyful hearts | 29:25 | |
| that Jesus, our Lord, | 29:28 | |
| is alive. | 29:31 | |
| Christ | 29:33 | |
| is risen. | 29:34 | |
| Christ is risen, | 29:37 | |
| preach boldly | 29:40 | |
| as Paul did. | 29:42 | |
| And as First John says, | 29:44 | |
| "Let us not love in word | 29:47 | |
| and speech, | 29:50 | |
| but in deed and truth." | 29:52 | |
| And then from the gospel, | 29:56 | |
| "Live boldly as disciples who continue | 29:58 | |
| the work of the Christ in this world." | 30:02 | |
| Soon after Easter, | 30:07 | |
| someone was reflecting on conversation he had just had, | 30:08 | |
| one which Christians have had in various forms | 30:13 | |
| down through the ages. | 30:16 | |
| What difference does it make that you celebrate Easter? | 30:19 | |
| That you affirm that Christ is risen? | 30:23 | |
| Folks have always looked at the church with some skepticism, | 30:27 | |
| suspicion, and sometimes with good reason. | 30:31 | |
| The protagonist in this particular conversation repeated | 30:35 | |
| the hackneyed, "I'd rather buy a used car from an atheist | 30:39 | |
| than from one of you Christians. | 30:44 | |
| I don't know what happens in your services of worship, | 30:46 | |
| but it certainly doesn't seem to make any difference | 30:50 | |
| when you move out of that building." | 30:52 | |
| Cynical. Certainly the person has had a bad experience | 30:55 | |
| which he universalized. | 30:59 | |
| If we hear such comments when we are uneasy about | 31:03 | |
| the witness of the church, we squirm or feel guilty, | 31:06 | |
| or become defensive, and so sometimes miss | 31:10 | |
| the truth that may be found in such conversation. | 31:14 | |
| The lectionary lessons for this day all reflect | 31:18 | |
| the unity of our worship and our life in the world. | 31:23 | |
| The unity of our devotion | 31:28 | |
| and our action. | 31:31 | |
| The story of the vine and the branches | 31:33 | |
| is in the section of John's collection | 31:36 | |
| of Jesus' farewell discourse to his disciples. | 31:38 | |
| Using the parable allegory, Jesus is reminding his disciples | 31:44 | |
| the critical importance of their remaining | 31:49 | |
| in community with Him, | 31:52 | |
| perhaps preparing them for living in this world | 31:55 | |
| without His physical presence. | 32:00 | |
| And it describes for us, | 32:03 | |
| not only the impossibility of our living separated | 32:05 | |
| from the source of our life, | 32:09 | |
| but that also those of us who are disciples will bear fruit | 32:12 | |
| with the very stern warning that those who do not | 32:18 | |
| will be cast out, cut off. | 32:23 | |
| Our source of life is to be found in relation to Jesus | 32:27 | |
| in the community of faith. | 32:31 | |
| There is no ambiguity, no choice. | 32:34 | |
| We cannot live in isolation and separation, | 32:37 | |
| nor do we choose | 32:42 | |
| between a life of piety | 32:44 | |
| or a life of action. | 32:47 | |
| Just as the branch bears fruit, | 32:50 | |
| we live out our lives in the world | 32:53 | |
| in deed | 32:56 | |
| and in truth. | 32:58 | |
| We will not be alive | 33:00 | |
| if we are not related to the source of our life. | 33:02 | |
| And if we do not live responsibly, | 33:07 | |
| we will be cut off, cast out. | 33:10 | |
| These are stern words, hard words. | 33:14 | |
| And notice that it is God who does the cutting off | 33:18 | |
| and casting out. | 33:22 | |
| And even those branches which bear fruit | 33:25 | |
| will be pruned | 33:29 | |
| so that they will bear more fruit. | 33:31 | |
| Now this means that we are invited into | 33:33 | |
| the Christian community without the promise | 33:36 | |
| or the expectation that it will be an easy life. | 33:40 | |
| That there will be no correction, | 33:44 | |
| no expectations placed on us, | 33:46 | |
| or there will be no standing over against us. | 33:50 | |
| For we are still human beings struggling together, | 33:53 | |
| trying to understand what it means | 33:58 | |
| to be disciples of Jesus, the Christ. | 34:00 | |
| The image of the vine and the branches is so familiar to us | 34:04 | |
| that we may read it too quickly | 34:08 | |
| and not hear what it is saying. | 34:10 | |
| When we try to go it on our own, alone, | 34:13 | |
| we are not nourished. | 34:17 | |
| We are without the life-giving resource | 34:20 | |
| by which we are sustained. | 34:23 | |
| We cannot be Christian and live in isolation. | 34:27 | |
| Reflect what it means to live separated from the vine. | 34:32 | |
| When we are separated, we may be physically alive, | 34:35 | |
| even respected by the community, | 34:40 | |
| but dead in the most horrible sense. | 34:43 | |
| Such death is described by Dorothy Surly | 34:47 | |
| as death by bread alone. | 34:51 | |
| It means being terrified of our aloneness, | 34:55 | |
| and yet wanting to be left alone. | 35:00 | |
| Being without friends, yet distrusting and despising others. | 35:04 | |
| Exploiting others and then being exploited. | 35:11 | |
| Forgetting others, and then being forgotten. | 35:16 | |
| Living only for ourselves and then feeling unneeded. | 35:22 | |
| Neither crying for another or being cried for by another. | 35:29 | |
| How horrible is this death by bread alone, | 35:38 | |
| and such is what happens within us | 35:42 | |
| when we look upon others not as a gift or a blessing | 35:45 | |
| or a stimulus, but as threat, danger, competition. | 35:51 | |
| It is the death which comes to all who try to live | 35:57 | |
| by bread alone, separated from the vine. | 36:01 | |
| It is a purposeless, empty existence | 36:06 | |
| devoid of genuine human relationships | 36:09 | |
| and filled with anxiety | 36:13 | |
| and silence | 36:15 | |
| and loneliness. | 36:17 | |
| During a recent meeting in Raleigh, | 36:21 | |
| two of our United Methodist bishops referred | 36:23 | |
| to a critical problem facing the Church; | 36:26 | |
| that of folks trying to live responsibly as Christians, | 36:29 | |
| yet separated from the Christian community. | 36:34 | |
| A condition which is being nourished by media evangelist | 36:38 | |
| who seduce people into believing | 36:43 | |
| that they are living responsibly as Christians, | 36:45 | |
| yet are connected with the vine only through the media. | 36:48 | |
| Now certainly the Church affirms the immense value | 36:52 | |
| that the media provides for those who are, | 36:56 | |
| because of illness, or age, or some other reason, | 36:59 | |
| are confined to their home. | 37:03 | |
| And these people, together with the community of faith, | 37:06 | |
| can work creatively so that it becomes possible | 37:09 | |
| for them to be present with the community, | 37:13 | |
| connected to the vine, | 37:17 | |
| even in their absence. | 37:20 | |
| Now we are amazed at the gullibility of many people | 37:23 | |
| who blindly respond to the emotional pitch | 37:27 | |
| of some of these evangelists | 37:31 | |
| who plead for them to send money immediately | 37:33 | |
| in order that God's word may continue to be communicated. | 37:36 | |
| Some of these tax-free corporations | 37:40 | |
| exploit the rich and the poor, | 37:43 | |
| receiving an unbelievable amount of money | 37:46 | |
| which is used without any accountability | 37:49 | |
| or responsibility to the body of Christ. | 37:52 | |
| These people are usually blatant egotists, | 37:55 | |
| glorifying themselves and not God. | 37:58 | |
| One of our recent Duke graduates | 38:02 | |
| works on a small-town newspaper | 38:04 | |
| and was pleased without responsible reporting, | 38:07 | |
| which is helping expose one such evangelist. | 38:10 | |
| This particular evangelist receives 98% | 38:14 | |
| of his three million dollar a year income | 38:19 | |
| as a result | 38:23 | |
| of his appeal to folks | 38:25 | |
| to send money to keep his program on the air. | 38:28 | |
| At one time, when he made a most desperate and frantic plea | 38:32 | |
| for people to send money immediately, | 38:36 | |
| otherwise they would not be on the air next week, | 38:38 | |
| he was in the process of buying a $230,000 house. | 38:42 | |
| The news story said, somewhat redundantly, | 38:48 | |
| in an exclusive neighborhood. | 38:52 | |
| Where else do you find a home of that price? | 38:55 | |
| An analysis of the use of the contributions showed | 38:59 | |
| that of each $10 sent in, | 39:02 | |
| $3.55 was in fact used | 39:06 | |
| to buy TV time. | 39:10 | |
| And one-half of a penny | 39:13 | |
| was donated to some unspecified charity. | 39:15 | |
| But the rest of the money was used for his well-being, | 39:19 | |
| to fill his ego needs, | 39:24 | |
| to buy bumper stickers | 39:26 | |
| which glorified him. | 39:29 | |
| And also with the money he had bought eight homes | 39:32 | |
| surrounding his boyhood home, | 39:35 | |
| plus many other, grander dwellings. | 39:38 | |
| snd he owned over $100,000 worth of various kinds | 39:42 | |
| of vehicles including two Cadillacs and a Rolls-Royce. | 39:45 | |
| In defending his obvious personal wealth, | 39:53 | |
| this man said that he wears fine clothes | 39:56 | |
| and drives expensive cars and lives in general luxury | 40:00 | |
| because wealth is a sign of God's approval of his ministry. | 40:05 | |
| He said that when people were walking to Jerusalem, | 40:11 | |
| when people were walking to Jerusalem, | 40:15 | |
| Jesus was riding on the back of a jackass. | 40:18 | |
| And said, if there had been Cadillacs back then, | 40:23 | |
| he was certain Jesus would have been riding in one | 40:26 | |
| because Jesus was always first-class. | 40:29 | |
| How easy it is for us to be amused | 40:36 | |
| and to ridicule such charlatans, | 40:39 | |
| to laugh at the absurdity of such claims, | 40:42 | |
| to be prophetic in our judgment against | 40:45 | |
| what appears to be most irresponsible and unloving actions. | 40:48 | |
| Yet when we are honest, we know that, | 40:55 | |
| while we work with more sophistication and finesse, | 40:57 | |
| we can deceive ourselves and make decisions which are just | 41:00 | |
| as absurd and distant from God's intention | 41:04 | |
| for us and our community. | 41:07 | |
| God may not cast us out, but we will be pruned. | 41:10 | |
| Just recently a divinity school professor | 41:15 | |
| made an ecumenical congregation most uncomfortable, | 41:18 | |
| and we don't like to be made uncomfortable. | 41:22 | |
| When talking about Jesus' temptation, | 41:25 | |
| he reminded us of some of | 41:28 | |
| the temptations which we succumb to. | 41:29 | |
| One of his illustrations described how | 41:32 | |
| the black preachers began preaching in the storefronts, | 41:34 | |
| working in secular jobs to pay for the rent | 41:39 | |
| and for the light, and the heat. | 41:42 | |
| But soon, they became successful | 41:45 | |
| and the storefront was full, and they decided | 41:47 | |
| that this was not an appropriate place to worship God. | 41:50 | |
| But instead of directly addressing the congregation, | 41:54 | |
| saying they need a better building, | 41:58 | |
| he asked one of the leaders of the church | 42:01 | |
| if he or she had heard people talking about | 42:04 | |
| how crowded it was in the store, | 42:07 | |
| how difficult it was to worship in this place, | 42:10 | |
| and that's all that's necessary. | 42:13 | |
| The next thing you know, | 42:15 | |
| this congregation is in a million dollar structure | 42:16 | |
| and have saddled future generations with the debt, | 42:20 | |
| while the starving black children | 42:23 | |
| stand outside looking in the windows. | 42:25 | |
| The congregation was uncomfortable. | 42:30 | |
| This is the same man who once, | 42:32 | |
| when he was asked to take one | 42:34 | |
| of our guest preachers out to dinner, | 42:36 | |
| selected a cafeteria saying he could not in good conscience | 42:39 | |
| spend chapel money to eat at one | 42:43 | |
| of those expensive restaurants. | 42:46 | |
| We in the chapel struggle to understand what it means | 42:49 | |
| to live responsibly as a Christian community. | 42:52 | |
| To keep attention of the life-giving nourishment | 42:57 | |
| which is necessary for the branches to relay, | 43:01 | |
| be related to the vine, the source of their life | 43:05 | |
| and also to be obedient as we live out our lives | 43:10 | |
| in this world as disciples of Jesus, the Christ. | 43:15 | |
| Notice that our responsible living in the world | 43:20 | |
| grows out of our life of faith. | 43:24 | |
| Unless we live in relation to the vine, we die. | 43:28 | |
| Unless we, as branches, bear fruit, we are cut off. | 43:33 | |
| Since we, as a chapel, are not a church, | 43:39 | |
| most of you who worship here are in a covenant relationship | 43:42 | |
| with a specific Christian community. | 43:46 | |
| The community which is the primary place | 43:49 | |
| for your worship and nurture | 43:51 | |
| and the locus for your moving from it | 43:53 | |
| to love in deed and truth. | 43:56 | |
| And for us to be responsible certainly means providing | 44:00 | |
| opportunities for people who worship here regularly | 44:03 | |
| to be involved in a community of faith, | 44:07 | |
| a community where they are known by name, | 44:10 | |
| loved and pruned, and are sent into the world. | 44:13 | |
| The people who claim this chapel as their church | 44:19 | |
| are usually the people who are in the choir, who usher, | 44:22 | |
| or who belong to one of the ongoing Christian communities. | 44:25 | |
| Certainly too, our ministry involves preaching | 44:32 | |
| the word of God boldly, | 44:35 | |
| as Paul did. | 44:38 | |
| What more important pulpit in this area | 44:40 | |
| to proclaim the good news of the gospel. | 44:42 | |
| The good news which comes to us as nurture, as forgiveness, | 44:45 | |
| as hope, | 44:50 | |
| but also | 44:51 | |
| as the pruning word of justice. | 44:53 | |
| One of our colleagues said it seemed easier for us | 44:57 | |
| to make our prophetic statements | 45:02 | |
| about situations far-removed from the campus, | 45:03 | |
| like in South Africa, than to be relevant | 45:07 | |
| to the dehumanizing situations | 45:10 | |
| which confront us daily within our community, | 45:12 | |
| such as the blatant exploitation | 45:16 | |
| of another person as a sexual person, | 45:18 | |
| our destructive competitive spirit, | 45:23 | |
| our University, which at times seems more like | 45:26 | |
| a country club than a learning community, | 45:29 | |
| and the very specific expressions | 45:34 | |
| of our sexism and racism within this community. | 45:36 | |
| Now, any time we address a dehumanizing situation | 45:40 | |
| here in our community or in the larger community, | 45:44 | |
| and again we have no choice, it's both. | 45:48 | |
| When we preach boldly and live boldly, | 45:51 | |
| we will find, as Paul did with his preaching, | 45:55 | |
| we will soon be in confrontation with power. | 46:00 | |
| Misused, destructive power. | 46:04 | |
| Whether economic or political or in the form | 46:08 | |
| of power of personal charisma, of peer pressure or ambition. | 46:12 | |
| To preach boldly, to live boldly, | 46:18 | |
| takes courage and humility | 46:22 | |
| with the sure knowledge that in such boldness | 46:25 | |
| there will be the pruning, and then maybe the persecution. | 46:28 | |
| Such courage and commitment is nourished only | 46:33 | |
| as we are in the community of faith, | 46:37 | |
| only as we are branches living | 46:40 | |
| in relationship with the vine. | 46:43 | |
| For the covenant service which John Wesley developed | 46:48 | |
| and is used by many, many churches today, | 46:51 | |
| the scripture lesson he chose was from | 46:53 | |
| the 15th chapter of John, that of the vine and the branches. | 46:56 | |
| Hear now, just a selection of the covenant | 47:01 | |
| he asked people to make. | 47:04 | |
| "Christ has many services to be done. | 47:08 | |
| Some are easy, others are difficult. | 47:11 | |
| Some bring honor, others bring reproach. | 47:15 | |
| Some are suitable to our natural inclinations | 47:20 | |
| and our temporal interest. Others are contrary to both. | 47:24 | |
| In some, we may please Christ and please ourselves. | 47:29 | |
| In others, we cannot please Christ | 47:35 | |
| except by denying ourselves. | 47:37 | |
| Yet the power to do all these things | 47:41 | |
| is assuredly given to us in Christ, who strengthens us." | 47:45 | |
| Christ is risen, | 47:51 | |
| preach boldly. | 47:53 | |
| Christ is risen. | 47:55 | |
| Let us not love in word and speech, | 47:58 | |
| but in deed and truth. | 48:03 | |
| Christ is risen, | 48:05 | |
| live boldly as disciples | 48:08 | |
| who continue his work in this world. | 48:11 | |
| Amen and amen. | 48:14 | |
| (church organ music) | 48:19 | |
| (choir singing) | 49:00 | |
| - | Let us affirm what we believe. | 51:23 |
| We believe in God, who has created and is creating, | 51:26 | |
| who has come in the truly human Jesus | 51:32 | |
| to reconcile and make new, | 51:35 | |
| who works in us and others by the spirit. | 51:38 | |
| We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 51:42 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness, | 51:47 | |
| to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, | 51:50 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 51:57 | |
| our judge and our hope. | 52:01 | |
| In life, in death, | 52:04 | |
| in life beyond death, | 52:06 | |
| God is with us, | 52:09 | |
| we are not alone, | 52:11 | |
| thanks be to God. | 52:13 | |
| Be seated. | 52:16 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 52:26 | |
| - | And with you. | |
| - | Let us pray. | 52:30 |
| Most gracious God, | 52:40 | |
| our heavenly parent. | 52:44 | |
| We thank thee for the turn of time, | 52:47 | |
| for endings and beginnings, | 52:52 | |
| for new seasons, | 52:56 | |
| new eras of life, | 52:58 | |
| new possibilities. | 53:02 | |
| Thou, oh Lord, | 53:06 | |
| hast made goodness. | 53:09 | |
| Help us to pursue it. | 53:12 | |
| Thou hast made truth. | 53:16 | |
| Help us to seek it. | 53:20 | |
| Thou hast made beauty. | 53:24 | |
| Help us to receive it. | 53:28 | |
| Thou hast made love. | 53:32 | |
| Spread thy love through our hearts | 53:37 | |
| and lives. | 53:41 | |
| Be present with us as thy holy spirit, | 53:44 | |
| so that in finding truth | 53:49 | |
| and beauty | 53:53 | |
| and goodness | 53:55 | |
| and love, | 53:58 | |
| we may find the life | 54:01 | |
| which thou hast given | 54:04 | |
| in abundance. | 54:06 | |
| We pray this day, oh Lord, | 54:12 | |
| for those persons in special need. | 54:14 | |
| For those with inadequate money | 54:19 | |
| to provide housing and utilities and food. | 54:21 | |
| For those who are in pain. | 54:29 | |
| For those who are lonely. | 54:34 | |
| Those who face tragedy. | 54:38 | |
| We pray for the hungry. | 54:43 | |
| We pray for the distressed. | 54:47 | |
| We pray for those who have lost | 54:53 | |
| friends, family, or loved ones. | 54:57 | |
| Not only do we pray that we may have sympathy with them | 55:04 | |
| and be able to serve them, | 55:08 | |
| we pray also for the special presence | 55:11 | |
| of thy peace | 55:15 | |
| and hope. | 55:18 | |
| We remember also, | 55:23 | |
| those whose work | 55:27 | |
| we assume will be given. | 55:30 | |
| Those whose service | 55:34 | |
| we presume upon. | 55:38 | |
| We pray for those on this campus, the police, | 55:41 | |
| the maintenance people. | 55:47 | |
| For the workers of the dining halls, | 55:51 | |
| for the nurses | 55:55 | |
| and orderlies | 55:57 | |
| and receptionist. | 56:00 | |
| We pray for those whose daily work sustains our living. | 56:04 | |
| Make us more sensitive | 56:12 | |
| to the interactions of life among all of us. | 56:15 | |
| We may truly appreciate | 56:20 | |
| these usual, | 56:23 | |
| ordinary modes | 56:26 | |
| by which we help one another. | 56:29 | |
| We are richly blessed, oh Lord, with resources, | 56:36 | |
| with goods, with opportunities. | 56:42 | |
| Make us conscious of our responsibility | 56:49 | |
| for the careful use of the resources thou hast given to us. | 56:54 | |
| Make us thoughtful | 57:00 | |
| and wise | 57:02 | |
| and generous. | 57:06 | |
| Now, oh Lord, | 57:12 | |
| impress the message of this morning upon our hearts. | 57:16 | |
| Help us in the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ | 57:22 | |
| to live boldly, | 57:29 | |
| to bear fruit | 57:32 | |
| so that we may show our love for thee | 57:36 | |
| and our love for one another. | 57:42 | |
| And all of these prayers we make | 57:48 | |
| in the name and the spirit of Jesus Christ, | 57:49 | |
| who taught us when praying to say, | 57:54 | |
| "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 57:57 | |
| "Thy kingdom come. | 58:03 | |
| "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. | 58:05 | |
| "Give us this day our daily bread | 58:10 | |
| "and forgive us our trespasses | 58:13 | |
| "as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 58:16 | |
| "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 58:20 | |
| "For thine is the kingdom, the power, | 58:25 | |
| "and the glory forever. | 58:28 | |
| "Amen." | 58:32 | |
| (inspiring organ music) | 58:40 | |
| (uptempo organ music) | 59:41 | |
| (choir singing) | 59:45 | |
| (church organ music) | 1:02:08 | |
| (choir singing) | 1:03:35 | |
| - | Oh Lord, out of the richness of thy grace | 1:04:38 |
| thou hast given to us, | 1:04:41 | |
| and we give these, our offerings, to thee | 1:04:44 | |
| in the spirit of love and of dedication, | 1:04:48 | |
| amen. | 1:04:52 | |
| (church organ music) | 1:04:56 | |
| (choir singing) | 1:05:37 | |
| - | And now, unto God who is able to do immeasurably more | 1:09:36 |
| than all that we can ask or conceive, | 1:09:41 | |
| by the power that is at work within us. | 1:09:45 | |
| To Him be glory | 1:09:49 | |
| in the church and in Christ Jesus | 1:09:51 | |
| from generation to generation, | 1:09:55 | |
| world without end, | 1:09:59 | |
| amen. | 1:10:02 | |
| ♪ God be with you till we meet again ♪ | 1:10:09 | |
| ♪ By His counsels guide uphold you ♪ | 1:10:18 | |
| ♪ With His sheep securely fold you ♪ | 1:10:29 | |
| ♪ God be with you till we meet again ♪ | 1:10:39 | |
| (church organ music) | 1:10:55 |
Item Info
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