Vergel L. Lattimore, III - "Crisis, Change, and a Chance... To Be Made New" (June 10, 1979)
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- | Sunday service Duke University Chapel June 10 1979. | 0:05 |
(organ music) | 0:17 | |
- | Our help is in the name of the Lord | 7:24 |
who made heaven and earth. | 7:27 | |
The Lord is near to all who fear him, | 7:29 | |
to all who call upon him in truth. | 7:32 | |
Praise be to the lord. | 7:35 | |
Let us pray. | 7:38 | |
Eternal Father we need to come away from the pressures | 7:42 | |
and the anxieties of everyday existence. | 7:47 | |
To be with you, | 7:51 | |
to be with your people | 7:53 | |
and to be honest with ourselves. | 7:55 | |
We thank you that you speak not only | 7:59 | |
in the tumultuous noise | 8:02 | |
and anger of our times | 8:04 | |
but also in the silences. | 8:07 | |
Silences we hear so seldom | 8:11 | |
because we are too involved in the noises. | 8:14 | |
Grant us a moment of freedom, | 8:20 | |
a moment of insight, | 8:23 | |
a moment of grace, | 8:25 | |
a moment of wisdom, | 8:28 | |
that we may return to the arena of daily existence | 8:30 | |
strengthened in spirit, | 8:35 | |
renewed in compassion | 8:37 | |
and ready to do your will through Jesus Christ, | 8:40 | |
our Lord, amen. | 8:44 | |
(mass music) | 8:51 | |
(background singing) | 11:58 | |
If we claim to be sinless we are self-deceived | 13:26 | |
and strangers to the truth. | 13:30 | |
If we confess our sins, | 13:33 | |
we have the chance to be made new. | 13:35 | |
For God is just, | 13:39 | |
and may be trusted to forgive our sins | 13:41 | |
and cleanse us from every kind of wrong. | 13:45 | |
Therefore, let us confess our sins to God. | 13:48 | |
Almighty and gracious God, | 13:55 | |
creator and judge of all people, | 13:58 | |
help us to confess our sins against you | 14:02 | |
and against our neighbors. | 14:06 | |
We have erected idols. | 14:09 | |
We worship power and money, | 14:12 | |
status and privilege, | 14:15 | |
bigness and might. | 14:17 | |
We have given our lives over to prejudice and hate, | 14:20 | |
competition and self-centeredness. | 14:25 | |
We are are selfish and full of pride. | 14:29 | |
We bring our shabby selves before you God, | 14:33 | |
realizing that you are readier to forgive our sins, | 14:37 | |
than we are to admit them. | 14:42 | |
Forgive us, cleanse us, | 14:45 | |
and grant us newness of life | 14:49 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 14:51 | |
Hear now the words of assurance, of forgiveness | 15:31 | |
and pardon from Paul's letter to the Romans. | 15:34 | |
There is therefore now no condemnation | 15:38 | |
for those who are in Jesus Christ, | 15:40 | |
for the law of the spirit of life in Christ | 15:43 | |
has set us free from the law of sin and death. | 15:46 | |
For those who live according to the spirit | 15:50 | |
set their minds on the things of the spirit | 15:53 | |
and to set the mind on the spirit | 15:56 | |
is life and peace. | 15:58 | |
Let us pray. | 16:10 | |
Prepare our hearts oh Lord to accept your word. | 16:13 | |
Silence in us any voice but your own. | 16:18 | |
That hearing we may also obey your will | 16:22 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 16:25 | |
The first of today's New Testament lessons | 16:31 | |
is found in the 21st chapter of the book of revelation, | 16:33 | |
the first through the fourth verses. | 16:37 | |
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, | 16:43 | |
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, | 16:47 | |
and the sea was no more. | 16:50 | |
And I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, | 16:53 | |
coming down out of heaven from God, | 16:56 | |
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. | 16:59 | |
And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, | 17:03 | |
"Behold the dwelling of God is with men, | 17:06 | |
"he will dwell with him and they shall be his people, | 17:10 | |
"and God himself will be with them. | 17:13 | |
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes | 17:17 | |
"and death shall be no more, | 17:21 | |
"neither shall they'll be morning nor crying | 17:24 | |
"nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away." | 17:28 | |
The reading from the epistle is taken from | 17:35 | |
the fifth chapter of the second letter to the Corinthians. | 17:38 | |
Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. | 17:53 | |
The old has passed away, | 17:59 | |
behold the new has come. | 18:01 | |
And the gospel lesson for the day is John 13:31-35 | 18:06 | |
and the congregation is asked to stand | 18:13 | |
for the reading of the gospel. | 18:15 | |
When he had gone out, Jesus said, | 18:23 | |
"Now is the son of man glorified, | 18:24 | |
"and in him God is glorified. | 18:28 | |
"If God is glorified in him, | 18:30 | |
"God will also glorify him in himself | 18:32 | |
"glorify him at once. | 18:36 | |
"Little children, yet a little while I am with you. | 18:38 | |
"You will seek me | 18:42 | |
"and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, | 18:44 | |
"'Where I am going, you cannot come.' | 18:48 | |
"A new commandment I give to you, | 18:52 | |
"that you love one another even as I have loved you, | 18:55 | |
"that you also love one another. | 19:00 | |
"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, | 19:03 | |
"if you have love for one another." | 19:08 | |
(organ music) | 19:19 | |
Good morning to all of you. | 20:30 | |
Let us pray. | 20:35 | |
O Lord, may the words of our mouths | 20:38 | |
and the meditations of our heart | 20:42 | |
be acceptable in thy sight. | 20:45 | |
O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. | 20:47 | |
Amen. | 20:51 | |
My testament of word and reflection today | 20:56 | |
has been motivated by | 21:01 | |
several elements which are common | 21:09 | |
to all of our lives. | 21:12 | |
My reaction to the social environment, | 21:18 | |
my two and a half years of intellectual | 21:25 | |
and social experiences | 21:27 | |
as a professional student in training | 21:30 | |
for ministry | 21:35 | |
and two years working, advising, counseling | 21:37 | |
and consulting black students and groups | 21:42 | |
and as individuals in a very diverse | 21:46 | |
and multifaceted Student Affairs office. | 21:51 | |
And the third is my vision and hope | 21:55 | |
and my professional goal of developing | 21:59 | |
community-oriented pastor care resources | 22:02 | |
for social change. | 22:04 | |
My learning experiences at Duke | 22:08 | |
during the past four and a half years | 22:10 | |
have at times been overwhelmingly rich | 22:14 | |
and outstandingly challenging. | 22:19 | |
We have been privileged to receive | 22:23 | |
abundant exchange of ideas and concepts, | 22:25 | |
cordial conversial | 22:30 | |
and controversial personalities | 22:32 | |
and individuals, | 22:34 | |
issues which have swayed emotions | 22:36 | |
and aroused global concerns. | 22:38 | |
And the exposure to resources | 22:43 | |
and data which sometimes | 22:45 | |
baffle the unique | 22:47 | |
and matchless energy of the human mind. | 22:49 | |
In short, my experiences have been filled | 22:53 | |
with a lot of creative tensions, | 22:55 | |
moderate triumph, minimal tragedy, | 22:58 | |
and has left me mildly tarnished. | 23:03 | |
Preaching today at this time in my life | 23:07 | |
during this moment of history | 23:11 | |
in this sacred space is a wonderful burden to me. | 23:12 | |
I must express my appreciation to Reverend Young | 23:19 | |
for his generosity | 23:21 | |
and his thoughtfulness | 23:22 | |
and his apparent willingness to accept | 23:24 | |
the responsibility for the spoken | 23:28 | |
and the spokesperson that stands in this pulpit each Sunday. | 23:30 | |
My all being here is one of surprise | 23:37 | |
that I am standing where the distinguished | 23:39 | |
and the prominent have stood. | 23:44 | |
But in spite of the nature of my presence here | 23:48 | |
in relationship to all others who've gone before me, | 23:50 | |
I am thankful for my turn. | 23:54 | |
And I would simply like to trouble | 23:57 | |
for your thought processes | 23:59 | |
and your feelings and your insights | 24:01 | |
and your hopeful visions | 24:05 | |
and your foresight for just a few moments. | 24:09 | |
And as your thinking is disturbed | 24:14 | |
I hope that you will have the courage | 24:16 | |
to examine the internal depth of your life | 24:18 | |
and the external breadth of your life. | 24:23 | |
The hope of the end result is | 24:27 | |
the discovery of a capacity for dissolving | 24:29 | |
the disparity between the two. | 24:32 | |
That is, finding a life balance. | 24:35 | |
Finding a means of developing relationship | 24:39 | |
between the conflicts we sense personally | 24:41 | |
and the problems we witness on the horizons | 24:45 | |
of our communities, our nations | 24:48 | |
and our world everyday. | 24:51 | |
Crisis, change, | 24:55 | |
and the chance to be made new. | 24:59 | |
These words depict | 25:04 | |
and characterize the predicament our world is in - | 25:05 | |
crisis. | 25:09 | |
These words challenge | 25:12 | |
and confront our capacity to utilize | 25:13 | |
the process by which the old becomes the new | 25:16 | |
or by which one state of progress | 25:21 | |
is displaced by another state of progress. | 25:23 | |
That is change. | 25:27 | |
These words speak to the serious need | 25:30 | |
of all persons to the prospect that the gospel offers | 25:32 | |
each of us if we are willing to accept it. | 25:37 | |
That is, a chance to become new. | 25:41 | |
Crisis - | 25:47 | |
"The thing that hath been | 25:50 | |
"is that which shall be; | 25:52 | |
"that which is done is that which shall be done: | 25:55 | |
"and there is nothing new under the sun." | 26:00 | |
These words, taken from Ecclesiastes, | 26:04 | |
are the words of a sober, observant realist. | 26:11 | |
They are a philosophical gleaning which implies | 26:16 | |
that God, the inscrutable originator of the world, | 26:19 | |
ultimately determines our fate. | 26:24 | |
The author goes on to concede | 26:28 | |
that the achievements of humankind | 26:29 | |
are meaningless production | 26:32 | |
because in the end our fate | 26:34 | |
is the same as all other forms of life | 26:36 | |
and that is death. | 26:40 | |
Human character, personhood, | 26:42 | |
and accomplishment do not alter the end result, | 26:44 | |
the jury fate. | 26:48 | |
"Vanity, vanity!" | 26:49 | |
Is this the common undeniable reality of life? | 26:53 | |
I would prefer to stop the writer's editorial at this point | 26:58 | |
and write my own commentary. | 27:03 | |
I would say that there are elements ingrained in life, | 27:07 | |
imprinted or inwoven into the fabric of life | 27:11 | |
that leads us with our narrow reasoning | 27:16 | |
to understand and question | 27:18 | |
whether or not life has any integrity at all. | 27:21 | |
We could interpret that our author may have been saying | 27:26 | |
in a blunt and cold fashion | 27:29 | |
that life is filled with crisis. | 27:32 | |
In essence, life is filled with confusing circumstances - | 27:36 | |
life is filled with conflict, | 27:40 | |
life is filled with uncertainty, | 27:44 | |
life is filled with contradictions. | 27:47 | |
One of the difficult realizations | 27:51 | |
that I am increasingly come to understand | 27:53 | |
and embrace is the working assumption that | 27:56 | |
life, in spite of its crisis, is worth living. | 27:59 | |
That life, in spite of crisis, | 28:05 | |
is still worth living. | 28:09 | |
But the limitations, the challenges, the difficulties, | 28:13 | |
the tensions can be awfully disenchanting. | 28:17 | |
They can be somewhat depressing, | 28:22 | |
they can be quite discouraging, | 28:26 | |
and they can be very disheartening. | 28:28 | |
Imagine the crisis that confronted | 28:32 | |
the moral conscience of America | 28:34 | |
and the integrity of its judicial system | 28:37 | |
when the Supreme Court ruled in 18, | 28:39 | |
on April 18, 1941, | 28:44 | |
in the Jim Crow case brought by Congressman Arthur Mitchell | 28:48 | |
that separate facilities by substantial | 28:53 | |
awareness are in fact equal. | 28:58 | |
This was a quiet unsettled crisis in social relationships | 29:03 | |
and in race relationships. | 29:09 | |
Imagine that in the midst of a real crisis which was a war | 29:11 | |
the American Revolution, | 29:16 | |
a former negro slave, Crispus Attucks, | 29:19 | |
was one of the five first persons killed | 29:22 | |
in the Boston Massacre in March 1770. | 29:27 | |
He made black history, | 29:31 | |
not history. | 29:35 | |
This to me was a crisis in education, | 29:37 | |
race, race relations, and history. | 29:40 | |
Imagine that on November 12, 1775, | 29:45 | |
General George Washington, an American hero, | 29:50 | |
who would not tell a lie, | 29:53 | |
issued a general order that forbade | 29:56 | |
recruiting officers to enlist Negroes | 29:58 | |
into the service. | 30:04 | |
And yet, after the disastrous winter at Valley Forge, | 30:06 | |
Negro slaves and freemen were welcomed | 30:12 | |
into the American Army. | 30:15 | |
This to me was a crisis of war, | 30:18 | |
race and expediency. | 30:21 | |
Imagine that on March 6, 1857, | 30:25 | |
Dred Scott, the decision by | 30:32 | |
the United States Supreme Court, | 30:35 | |
opened federal territories to slavery | 30:37 | |
and denied citizenship to American Negros. | 30:39 | |
A crisis in human rights | 30:44 | |
and human recognition. | 30:46 | |
Imagine that on November 25th, 1955, | 30:49 | |
the Interstate Commerce Commission | 30:55 | |
banned segregation on buses, waiting stations, | 30:57 | |
travel coaches that were involved in interstate travel | 31:01 | |
precisely on the premise that it was inconvenient, | 31:06 | |
that is, vehicles would have to stop at state lines, | 31:13 | |
unload their black passengers | 31:16 | |
and then reload them on the other side of the state line | 31:20 | |
that prohibited integration of travel facilities. | 31:24 | |
It was a good argument which took root | 31:29 | |
but it was not, essentially, | 31:32 | |
a crisis in the exchange of ethical ineptness | 31:36 | |
for the nullification of immoral practice. | 31:40 | |
I think it is important for us not to toy | 31:46 | |
and tarry with these hints to history | 31:50 | |
but it is important for us to note | 31:54 | |
that the past is prologue. | 31:56 | |
One historian has admonished us that a person | 31:59 | |
who fails a course of history | 32:03 | |
will live to repeat it. | 32:06 | |
Or simply the words of our realist | 32:09 | |
from over the centuries in Ecclesiastes, | 32:11 | |
"what has been is what shall will be. | 32:16 | |
"What has been done is what shall be done." | 32:20 | |
Whether we recognize it | 32:25 | |
and ultimately accept it or not, | 32:27 | |
crisis in a pervasive and piercing way | 32:30 | |
will affect each of us. | 32:32 | |
We speak now of the given tensions | 32:37 | |
and stresses that life presents to us | 32:39 | |
in the day to day issues. | 32:41 | |
Critical moments in our lives that | 32:44 | |
sometimes defy decision | 32:47 | |
but yet they demand decision. | 32:51 | |
We cannot look around our world | 32:55 | |
and find a crisis that has not | 32:57 | |
in some way had an impact on the character | 32:59 | |
of our small troubling experiences. | 33:02 | |
We cannot find a crisis that | 33:06 | |
has not influenced our confidence | 33:08 | |
about how closely we are encircled | 33:10 | |
by the world's crises. | 33:13 | |
The Arab-Israeli conflict rested | 33:18 | |
on the ability of three political personalities, | 33:20 | |
striking spiritual and emotional balance | 33:24 | |
over political sensitivities that | 33:28 | |
had symbolically approached sacredness. | 33:31 | |
The Sinai capital, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, | 33:36 | |
Cairo and Tel Aviv - | 33:38 | |
three persons negotiating | 33:42 | |
to resolve crisis which could affect the whole world. | 33:46 | |
All of their emotions, their knowledge, | 33:53 | |
and their visions and their hope. | 33:56 | |
The world rested on their shoulders for a moment. | 34:01 | |
And then, there was a self-appointed | 34:07 | |
American religious visionary | 34:09 | |
in Guyana, South America, | 34:12 | |
who caused the conscience | 34:15 | |
to approach a level of crisis in America. | 34:18 | |
Why? | 34:22 | |
Because the integrity of religion, faith | 34:24 | |
and belief were questioned. | 34:27 | |
Was it commitment to religion | 34:33 | |
or was it coercion into religion? | 34:35 | |
The crisis is ours. | 34:40 | |
Will our religion move us to action, | 34:43 | |
reaction, inaction or simple inertia, | 34:46 | |
that is, a resistance to change. | 34:50 | |
There was a man Allan Bakke who wanted to | 34:54 | |
attend a particular medical school. | 34:59 | |
His desire and his importunity | 35:04 | |
has brought America to a ral - moral crossroad. | 35:06 | |
Should White or other minority applicants | 35:12 | |
be denied a job or a place in college | 35:15 | |
if a black or other minority applicant's race | 35:20 | |
is used as the pertinent, perhaps, | 35:24 | |
decisive factor in his admission? | 35:26 | |
Chief Justice Blackburn (Blackmun) had this to say | 35:30 | |
in his Supreme Court decision: | 35:33 | |
"It is somewhat ironic," he says | 35:36 | |
"to have us so deeply disturbed over | 35:39 | |
"whether a program uses races | 35:43 | |
"as an element of consciousness | 35:47 | |
"and yet be aware of the fact, as we are, | 35:50 | |
"that institutions of higher learning | 35:53 | |
"have given conceded preferences to a point | 35:56 | |
"with those students who are possessed | 36:03 | |
"with athletic skills, | 36:05 | |
"the children of alumni, | 36:08 | |
"the affluent who bestow their largesse | 36:11 | |
"upon the institutions, | 36:13 | |
"to those having connections with celebrities, | 36:16 | |
"to the famous and to the powerful." | 36:20 | |
He goes on to say, "I suspect that it would be | 36:24 | |
"impossible to arrange an affirmative action program | 36:27 | |
"in a racially neutral way | 36:31 | |
"and have it successful. | 36:33 | |
"In order to get beyond racism," he says, | 36:36 | |
"we must first take account of race. | 36:41 | |
"There is no other way. | 36:43 | |
"And in order to treat some persons equally, | 36:46 | |
"we must treat them differently. | 36:50 | |
"We cannot, we dare not, | 36:53 | |
"let Equal Protection Clause perpetuate racial supremacy." | 36:56 | |
And in an echo coming from Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall, | 37:01 | |
we can find a similar concern. | 37:07 | |
"I agree with the judgment of the court | 37:10 | |
"only so far as it permits a university | 37:12 | |
"to consider the race of an applicant | 37:15 | |
"in making admissions decisions. | 37:18 | |
"I do not agree with the petitioner's admissions program | 37:21 | |
"that violates the Constitution | 37:27 | |
"for it must be remembered that | 37:29 | |
"during most of 200 years, the Constitution, | 37:31 | |
"as interpreted by this court, | 37:34 | |
"did not prohibit the most ingenious | 37:38 | |
"and pervasive forms of discrimination against the Negro. | 37:40 | |
"Now when a state acts to remedy | 37:45 | |
"the effects of that legacy, | 37:47 | |
"I cannot believe that the same Constitution | 37:50 | |
"stands as a barrier." | 37:53 | |
At every point, he goes on to say, | 37:56 | |
"The impacts of the past | 38:00 | |
"is reflected in the still disfavored position of the Negro. | 38:03 | |
"In light of the sorry history of discrimination, | 38:07 | |
"it is devastating impact on the lives of Negroes, | 38:10 | |
"bringing the Negro into the mainstream of American life | 38:14 | |
"should be the highest priority of the state. | 38:16 | |
"To fail to do so is to ensure | 38:22 | |
"that America will be a divided society. | 38:23 | |
"The experience of Negros in America | 38:28 | |
"has been a different kind, not just in degree, | 38:29 | |
"from that of other ethnic groups. | 38:33 | |
"It is not merely the history of slavery alone, | 38:37 | |
"but it's the history of a whole people | 38:38 | |
"who were marked inferior by the law." | 38:40 | |
Crisis, our human situation is engulfed by it. | 38:45 | |
The unsettled nature of our world reveals it. | 38:52 | |
Our ability to cope with crisis that arise | 38:56 | |
within our private temples, our lives | 38:59 | |
and the kinds of crisis that arise on our world | 39:02 | |
and the kinds of crisis which arise | 39:07 | |
in your relationships to each other. | 39:10 | |
Crisis can be felt around our world | 39:15 | |
but yet the tremors of those crisis | 39:19 | |
that we feel around the world | 39:21 | |
affect and shake our own lives individually. | 39:24 | |
But from crisis I have arrived at this | 39:29 | |
functional attitude. | 39:32 | |
Life, with its limitations, | 39:35 | |
life, with its ambiguities, | 39:38 | |
life is still worth living, | 39:40 | |
Therefore in crisis I will trust God. | 39:44 | |
Whatever, wherever I am, | 39:49 | |
I can never be thrown away. | 39:51 | |
If I am in sickness, | 39:54 | |
my sickness may serve God. | 39:56 | |
If I am in perplexity, | 40:00 | |
my perplexity may serve God. | 40:01 | |
If I am in sorrow, | 40:04 | |
my sorrow may serve God | 40:06 | |
and then there's change. | 40:10 | |
What happens after crisis? | 40:14 | |
A sick man who had encountered a multiple tragedy | 40:17 | |
attempts to defend his spiritual integrity | 40:23 | |
before a friend posing a question | 40:27 | |
and then making a declaration. | 40:30 | |
This man, and many of you may have heard and read of him, | 40:33 | |
was Job. | 40:37 | |
Job said to his friend, | 40:39 | |
who had come to his bedside | 40:41 | |
and said to him, "Job you have sinned. | 40:42 | |
"If you confess your sin, | 40:46 | |
"then God will make you well." | 40:48 | |
Job said to his friend, | 40:52 | |
"If a man dies shall he live again? | 40:55 | |
"all the days of my service | 40:59 | |
"I will wait till my change shall come." | 41:01 | |
Let's re-ask the question again. | 41:06 | |
What can happen after crisis? | 41:08 | |
Bitterness, loneliness, despair, | 41:12 | |
emptiness, loss of faith, | 41:17 | |
anger, helplessness, and even death. | 41:20 | |
These sound discouraging, don't they? | 41:25 | |
But I'll ask the question once more. | 41:31 | |
What should follow crisis? | 41:34 | |
Change. | 41:38 | |
Change. | 41:40 | |
But what kind of change should follow crisis? | 41:41 | |
Crisis from the perspective of faith | 41:45 | |
but not just any kind of faith | 41:47 | |
but a faith of redemption, | 41:50 | |
a faith of reconciliation, | 41:52 | |
a faith of renewal, | 41:54 | |
can be creative suffering. | 41:56 | |
Some scholars in the field of psychology | 41:59 | |
think of neurosis as unlived suffering | 42:01 | |
or as the refusal to face | 42:05 | |
and work through our experiences | 42:08 | |
that involve suffering. | 42:10 | |
Viktor Frankl describes suffering in a positive way. | 42:14 | |
"Suffering is a part of life," he asserted. | 42:18 | |
"To remove suffering from life | 42:22 | |
"is to remove meaning from life. | 42:23 | |
"Life takes shapes through suffering," he says. | 42:29 | |
In crisis - mental and physical, | 42:34 | |
emotional - suffering which borders on | 42:36 | |
and threaten the annihilation of the self, | 42:39 | |
crisis seems to us | 42:43 | |
to present more questions than it can answer. | 42:46 | |
Why is it that some of us spend more of our share of time | 42:51 | |
in the deep, dark side of difficulty? | 42:55 | |
Why is it that some of us suffer more than others? | 42:58 | |
An answer to that question from an old hymn | 43:04 | |
is an answer that takes us | 43:09 | |
off somewhere into unreality. | 43:12 | |
The answer says "I'm trouble, Lord, I'm trouble. | 43:18 | |
"I'm troubled about my soul. | 43:22 | |
"And as soon as I get into the kingdom | 43:25 | |
"I won't be troubled no more." | 43:28 | |
This crisis is but an invitation to change - | 43:33 | |
a special kind of change. | 43:38 | |
Crisis is an invitation to change | 43:41 | |
but it is also an invitation to growth. | 43:44 | |
It is an invitation to growth. | 43:50 | |
The kind of growth that comes after | 43:53 | |
our lives have bottomed-out. | 43:55 | |
After we have reached bottom. | 43:57 | |
After we have reached a point of impasse. | 44:00 | |
After, as so often happens | 44:04 | |
in our relationships to each other, | 44:07 | |
when our relationships have gone in for crash landing. | 44:09 | |
it's time then to change. | 44:16 | |
It's time then to change. | 44:22 | |
In a prophetic word about creating change | 44:25 | |
Robert Kennedy had this to say. | 44:27 | |
He said, "few will have the greatness to bend history itself | 44:31 | |
"but each of us can work to change | 44:36 | |
"a small portion of events | 44:38 | |
"and then the total of all of those acts | 44:42 | |
"will be written the history of this generation." | 44:45 | |
We are the links in the chain of change. | 44:50 | |
Without us change is meaningless. | 44:55 | |
Change, then, without our efforts becomes haphazard, | 45:00 | |
becomes disjointed, becomes crippled, | 45:06 | |
becomes chaotic, | 45:09 | |
and it becomes confined in our private lives | 45:13 | |
and our world at large | 45:17 | |
is then thrown back into fits | 45:20 | |
of confusion and crisis. | 45:22 | |
I'm now led to a second working assumption. | 45:26 | |
When our lives have discerned meaning, | 45:30 | |
when our lives have sense value, | 45:34 | |
when our lives have opportunity to express | 45:37 | |
what has been smothered creativity, | 45:42 | |
change must and does inevitably occur. | 45:45 | |
The apostle Paul once wrote that he thought of Christ | 45:50 | |
as someone who was shamefully crucified. | 45:54 | |
But Paul changed his perspective on Christ | 45:58 | |
and he wrote these words. | 46:05 | |
"Therefore, if anyone be in Christ | 46:07 | |
"he or she is a new creature. | 46:11 | |
"Old things are passed away, | 46:14 | |
"behold all things become new." | 46:17 | |
I believe that this is the kind of | 46:21 | |
inner spiritual reflection | 46:23 | |
and the kind of disregard for | 46:26 | |
the external surroundings that enabled a people | 46:30 | |
to see that their position in the world | 46:37 | |
at the present did not really matter. | 46:40 | |
And also this same kind of attitude | 46:45 | |
enabled so many people of my race | 46:49 | |
to realize that by looking at their lives | 46:53 | |
from a different perspective, | 46:57 | |
from the perspective of the gospel, | 47:00 | |
that they too could become new creatures in Christ. | 47:03 | |
And now as we face the plight of the future, | 47:12 | |
a struggle is ensuing | 47:17 | |
and debates are occurring on | 47:19 | |
how we shall survive. | 47:22 | |
How will we survive the energy crisis? | 47:25 | |
Crisis of survival. | 47:31 | |
Crisis of denial. | 47:34 | |
Crisis of sacrifice. | 47:37 | |
And the crisis go on and on and on, | 47:41 | |
but I have not come just to bring you all this | 47:45 | |
stirring news and a stirring word to arouse your emotions. | 47:51 | |
I have come to tell you that | 47:56 | |
from my understanding of the gospel, | 47:58 | |
every creature has an opportunity to be made new. | 48:00 | |
I'm not privy to know your thoughts | 48:07 | |
about your individual situations | 48:11 | |
and about your world's situation | 48:13 | |
but I feel and believe that the world | 48:16 | |
needs as each of us needs | 48:19 | |
a chance to be made new. | 48:22 | |
It is described in Revelations | 48:25 | |
as a vision of the New Jerusalem. | 48:27 | |
The writer says, "Then I saw new heaven and a new earth. | 48:31 | |
"For the first heaven | 48:36 | |
"and the first earth had passed away | 48:37 | |
"and the sea was no more. | 48:39 | |
"And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, | 48:42 | |
"coming down out of heaven from God. | 48:44 | |
"Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. | 48:48 | |
"And I heard a voice, | 48:52 | |
"a loud voice from the throne saying, | 48:53 | |
"'Behold the dwelling of God is with people. | 48:55 | |
"'He will dwell with them | 49:02 | |
"'and they shall be his people | 49:03 | |
"'and God himself shall be their God.'" | 49:04 | |
This is a vision that all creation at some point. | 49:10 | |
I don't know when, | 49:14 | |
but at some point all of creation | 49:16 | |
will be made new. | 49:19 | |
All of the imperfections shall be freed up. | 49:22 | |
All of the essence as we know it shall be changed. | 49:27 | |
Turbulence, unrest, | 49:32 | |
crisis will be changed into forms of peace | 49:34 | |
as we have never known. | 49:38 | |
This is the reality | 49:41 | |
and hope of the gospel. | 49:43 | |
This came clearer to me some three weeks ago | 49:47 | |
when I made a pastoral visitation to | 49:53 | |
a church member at his bedside. | 49:56 | |
This man's life had been invaded by the big one, | 50:03 | |
the heart attack. | 50:08 | |
He was a good man, | 50:11 | |
or he is a good man. | 50:12 | |
He's a family man. | 50:14 | |
He's a church trustee. | 50:16 | |
He is a sign painter and artist. | 50:18 | |
He had checked himself into the community hospital | 50:22 | |
because he felt unusual after dinner | 50:26 | |
and while on the examination table, | 50:31 | |
the man requested the doctor to give him | 50:34 | |
a little additional oxygen | 50:38 | |
because he felt the pressure intensify | 50:40 | |
as though an elephant's foot were on his chest. | 50:44 | |
And then finally as he was describing it to me, | 50:49 | |
the dimness approached | 50:53 | |
and finally the lights went out, completely. | 50:55 | |
But he informed that his spirit | 51:01 | |
escaped the confines of his body. | 51:04 | |
Sounds very unusual. | 51:10 | |
But as he went on to describe, he said, | 51:13 | |
for a moment he was filled with a sense of freedom. | 51:16 | |
His spirit took flight around the room. | 51:22 | |
Moving, moving all around, going to and fro | 51:24 | |
and he saw what he thought were seven people | 51:31 | |
around a table. | 51:34 | |
Seven people had on white coats or gowns. | 51:36 | |
They were around the table | 51:39 | |
but he could not sense what they were doing. | 51:40 | |
He tried in vain to escape the room, | 51:44 | |
to get out of the door but he couldn't. | 51:49 | |
He said he simply wanted to be completely free. | 51:52 | |
He wanted to escape | 51:56 | |
but finally his spirit was drawn, | 51:59 | |
as if by a vacuum, back into his body. | 52:02 | |
And having returned to consciousness as we know it, | 52:07 | |
there were eight doctors | 52:12 | |
he had discerned around him and nurses | 52:15 | |
and they asked him how he felt. | 52:19 | |
Then they carried him to the intensive care unit. | 52:22 | |
This man, as I sat at his bedside listening to this story, | 52:28 | |
tears streamed down his cheeks | 52:35 | |
and he said, "Reverend I feel like a whole new person. | 52:39 | |
"I got a chance to live my life over. | 52:45 | |
"I'm not worried about anything. | 52:50 | |
"If I go tomorrow it's alright." | 52:53 | |
I saw the same man last week on his front porch. | 52:58 | |
And he said he felt so good | 53:05 | |
because he had a chance to be made new. | 53:10 | |
Most of us won't get that opportunity. | 53:16 | |
Not this kind of opportunity | 53:20 | |
to be made new. | 53:22 | |
Most of us won't get that kind of chance. | 53:25 | |
Few of us will experience this kind of crisis. | 53:29 | |
Few of us will share in this kind of change. | 53:33 | |
Chance to be made new. | 53:39 | |
Then there's a news release from Honk Kong. | 53:42 | |
"Chinese MDs give patient new hand." | 53:45 | |
Chinese doctors, the article read, | 53:51 | |
have successfully reconstructed a man's right hand | 53:56 | |
in an operation an American medical expert | 53:59 | |
called "a remarkable technical development." | 54:03 | |
The doctors in Shanghai built a palm claw | 54:07 | |
of steel and covered it with muscle and blood vessel | 54:12 | |
and from the patient's arm | 54:16 | |
they transplanted two toes from the patient's feet | 54:19 | |
for use as fingers. | 54:23 | |
The patient, a 25 year-old man, | 54:25 | |
lost both his hands a year ago, | 54:28 | |
has a normal sense of touch, | 54:31 | |
the News China agency says. | 54:34 | |
He can write, strike matches, | 54:39 | |
and hold weights of less than six pounds. | 54:41 | |
Dr. William Harris, | 54:45 | |
Chief of Massachusetts General Hospitals | 54:46 | |
Implants Surgery Unit, | 54:49 | |
and leading expert in the field said, | 54:52 | |
"American doctors have attempted | 54:54 | |
"similar operations without success." | 54:56 | |
But the thing that is unique he said was | 55:01 | |
taking a series of existing techniques | 55:03 | |
and assembling themin a new combination | 55:07 | |
to solve a difficult problem. | 55:11 | |
It was indeed a remarkable operation. | 55:15 | |
A chance to be made new. | 55:19 | |
The proper adjustment at the right time | 55:23 | |
with the proper elements can yield a new kind of existence. | 55:26 | |
We should be aware of that, | 55:32 | |
that the proper adjustment at the right time | 55:37 | |
with the proper elements | 55:42 | |
can yield a new kind of existence | 55:43 | |
in our crisis, in the midst of our change. | 55:46 | |
Why do we not try new combinations | 55:51 | |
and gather in new resources? | 55:54 | |
To confess our need for new opportunities to be made new | 55:57 | |
is to accept and continually pledge | 56:02 | |
to live reconciled with people | 56:04 | |
and to grow redemptively in our experiences. | 56:07 | |
To confess our need for newness | 56:13 | |
is to be redeemed. | 56:19 | |
In the process we must shed our naivete | 56:23 | |
that coping with crisis is easy, | 56:28 | |
that existence can be made in a smooth kind of change, | 56:32 | |
and we must shed our innocence about | 56:40 | |
the reality of instant change. | 56:44 | |
The legacy of the Christian faith | 56:47 | |
confronts us with the hard facts. | 56:49 | |
Without the shedding of blood, | 56:53 | |
there can be no redemption from sin. | 56:56 | |
Jesus made that very real. | 57:00 | |
There's a man from history, | 57:06 | |
a great thinker, | 57:09 | |
Frederick Douglass who says, | 57:11 | |
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. | 57:13 | |
"Those who favor freedom | 57:19 | |
"and yet dissipate agitation | 57:20 | |
"are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. | 57:23 | |
"They want rain without the thunder and the lighting. | 57:28 | |
"They want the ocean's majestic waves | 57:32 | |
"without the awful roar of its waters." | 57:34 | |
It means that if justice | 57:39 | |
and truth is to be revealed in our own lives, | 57:41 | |
we must accept the reality | 57:46 | |
and the paradox of the cross, | 57:49 | |
power of love versus | 57:53 | |
the power of corruption and destruction. | 57:56 | |
We must accept that. | 58:01 | |
We must accept to live on the side of the power of love | 58:04 | |
but join in collaboration with the power of destruction | 58:09 | |
and power of corruption. | 58:15 | |
The miracle of being made new is not magical. | 58:19 | |
It's not something magical | 58:23 | |
but it is a chance we take | 58:25 | |
and a challenge we accept. | 58:28 | |
It may bring us fear | 58:31 | |
and agitation like the 11 men gathered | 58:34 | |
after the death of their leader. | 58:39 | |
The disciples, after one of them had committed suicide, | 58:42 | |
and that same one had been | 58:48 | |
one who conspired with the authorities | 58:50 | |
to turn their leader over. | 58:53 | |
It may be that | 58:56 | |
public opinion may distort our vision | 59:00 | |
as to what is real and what is illusion. | 59:05 | |
It may question our willingness to trust | 59:09 | |
and risk because we hear what might be a rumor. | 59:11 | |
Christ is alive. | 59:18 | |
Some consider that a rumor. | 59:23 | |
It may greet us face to face as doubt and fear | 59:28 | |
because of our past thoughts and failures. | 59:33 | |
But when it meets us, | 59:39 | |
it meets us the way that Jesus | 59:40 | |
greeted the disciples in the upper room. | 59:42 | |
He greeted them with these words, | 59:47 | |
"Peace, peace" | 59:49 | |
and Jesus said to them in a tone of pure hope | 59:55 | |
and a voice filled with shear opportunity, | 59:59 | |
"As the Father sent me, | 1:00:02 | |
"I also send you." | 1:00:06 | |
This, my brothers and sisters is the new assignment. | 1:00:10 | |
"As my father has sent me, | 1:00:15 | |
"I also send you." | 1:00:20 | |
And I'll share this final word from a poem. | 1:00:26 | |
"Be wary, lad the road which you go up is long | 1:00:31 | |
"and steeper than you dare think | 1:00:34 | |
"and since you leave in darkness | 1:00:38 | |
"lad, be slow. | 1:00:41 | |
"Test every spring before you drink. | 1:00:44 | |
"Learn now the roads may hide a thousand scars. | 1:00:47 | |
"The welcome breeze may herald storm ahead | 1:00:53 | |
"and though your eyes would trace the course of stars | 1:00:56 | |
"or gaze on the gray horizons growing red, | 1:01:00 | |
"let caution rule your step. | 1:01:04 | |
"That you may see the gaping pit, | 1:01:07 | |
"the waiting bog, | 1:01:11 | |
"the wall of white which you must scale. | 1:01:12 | |
"Go carefully, go hopefully | 1:01:14 | |
"but if somewhere you sink or fall, | 1:01:18 | |
"remember where you walked smooth away, | 1:01:22 | |
"that those who follow you may discover day." | 1:01:26 | |
Crisis, our world is filled with it. | 1:01:31 | |
Our history is filled with it. | 1:01:35 | |
Your day will be filled with it. | 1:01:37 | |
Change, the undeniable reality which must occur | 1:01:41 | |
because it's built into the fabric of life | 1:01:47 | |
and a chance to be made new. | 1:01:52 | |
Some of us will not accept our chances to be made new. | 1:01:55 | |
Many of us will | 1:02:00 | |
but the gospel demands | 1:02:03 | |
and offers it to all of us. | 1:02:07 | |
Change, chance. | 1:02:12 | |
The chance to be made new. | 1:02:15 | |
Let us pray. | 1:02:18 | |
God, for this word and opportunity, | 1:02:21 | |
we give thanks. | 1:02:25 | |
Lord, for opportunities around us to be made new, | 1:02:29 | |
we are grateful. | 1:02:33 | |
Now send us on our way on a new assignment. | 1:02:36 | |
As the father has sent me, | 1:02:42 | |
so I send you. | 1:02:47 | |
Amen. | 1:02:49 | |
(organ music) | 1:02:55 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 1:05:16 |
We believe in God who has created | 1:05:20 | |
and is creating. | 1:05:23 | |
Who has come in the truly human Jesus | 1:05:25 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 1:05:28 | |
Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 1:05:31 | |
We trust God, who calls us to be the church. | 1:05:35 | |
To celebrate life and it's fullness. | 1:05:41 | |
To love and serve others. | 1:05:44 | |
To seek justice and resist evil. | 1:05:47 | |
To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen. | 1:05:50 | |
Our judge and our hope. | 1:05:55 | |
In life, in death, | 1:05:57 | |
in life beyond death, | 1:06:00 | |
God is with us. | 1:06:02 | |
We are not alone. | 1:06:04 | |
Thanks be to God. | 1:06:07 | |
We welcome each of you to this service of worship | 1:06:18 | |
in Duke Chapel on this first Sunday after Pentecost. | 1:06:20 | |
We are grateful for this opportunity to worship together. | 1:06:23 | |
The Lord be with you. | 1:06:27 | |
Let us pray. | 1:06:32 | |
Oh God you have awakened faith in us. | 1:06:36 | |
You have spoken the word of your gospel to us. | 1:06:39 | |
You have happened to us God. | 1:06:43 | |
Help us now as we grope for a fitting response | 1:06:45 | |
to your word of love and hope. | 1:06:48 | |
First of all we would respond with thanks giving. | 1:06:52 | |
We thank you for the light of our eyes. | 1:06:56 | |
For the air we breath. | 1:06:59 | |
For the voice with which we speak. | 1:07:00 | |
For the sun, and the rain and their seasons. | 1:07:03 | |
For the plants and all creatures. | 1:07:05 | |
We thank you for creating the world | 1:07:08 | |
and for sustaining the world. | 1:07:11 | |
We thank you for the courage of so many people. | 1:07:14 | |
We thank you that children are born | 1:07:17 | |
and that the dead are lamented. | 1:07:19 | |
We thank you that love exists between men and women | 1:07:23 | |
and friendship beyond all frontiers. | 1:07:27 | |
We thank you for the hard work that is done in factories | 1:07:31 | |
and in universities, on farms | 1:07:34 | |
and in laboratories. | 1:07:37 | |
In hospitals and in office buildings. | 1:07:39 | |
We thank you for all the things we take for granted. | 1:07:43 | |
For everything that comes to us all the time from you, | 1:07:47 | |
our creator and our father. | 1:07:51 | |
And we would also dare to respond to your word | 1:07:55 | |
with solemn petitions. | 1:07:58 | |
We pray for those who mourn and are in distress. | 1:08:00 | |
For the crippled, the infirm, the sick, | 1:08:05 | |
and the dying. | 1:08:08 | |
We pray for all who are disillusioned by life. | 1:08:11 | |
For married couples who have not been able | 1:08:14 | |
to hold on to each other. | 1:08:17 | |
For parents who are disappointed in their children. | 1:08:19 | |
We pray Lord for all those | 1:08:25 | |
who have been broken or disabled by war | 1:08:27 | |
or who's lives have been thrown into disorder | 1:08:30 | |
by cruelty or loneliness. | 1:08:33 | |
We pray for all those who are exploited. | 1:08:36 | |
For all who are poor | 1:08:38 | |
and without legal rights. | 1:08:39 | |
For all who are despised and maltreated | 1:08:41 | |
because of the color of their skin | 1:08:43 | |
or the lack of money in their pockets. | 1:08:45 | |
And we would pray not only | 1:08:49 | |
for all who have to suffer this injustice | 1:08:51 | |
but also for those who foster and increase it. | 1:08:54 | |
We pray that Christ's own attitude of mind may grow in us. | 1:08:58 | |
That we may be easily hurt rather than unfeeling. | 1:09:03 | |
That we may be powerless and without prestige | 1:09:08 | |
rather than unapproachable and proud. | 1:09:11 | |
We pray for mildness | 1:09:15 | |
and humility in our dealings with all people. | 1:09:16 | |
We pray that we may be faithful | 1:09:20 | |
to those who are unfaithful to us. | 1:09:22 | |
We pray for patience | 1:09:26 | |
and a forgiving spirit. | 1:09:28 | |
Lord, our God, we place these things before you | 1:09:31 | |
as well as so many other requests | 1:09:36 | |
and prayers that occur to us. | 1:09:38 | |
Empower us with your spirit, | 1:09:40 | |
so that our response to your love | 1:09:44 | |
will be not only words | 1:09:46 | |
but more importantly, | 1:09:47 | |
the living sacrifice of our very selves | 1:09:49 | |
to the furtherance of your kingdom. | 1:09:52 | |
The kingdom which is at hand | 1:09:55 | |
in and among us. | 1:09:57 | |
In this very place, at this very moment. | 1:09:59 | |
Hear our prayer oh God, | 1:10:05 | |
for it is offered in the name of Jesus Christ | 1:10:06 | |
your son and our savior. | 1:10:09 | |
The one who taught us to pray saying, | 1:10:12 | |
our Father, who art in heaven, | 1:10:15 | |
hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, | 1:10:19 | |
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven | 1:10:23 | |
Give us this day our daily bread. | 1:10:28 | |
And forgive us our trespasses, | 1:10:31 | |
as we forgive those | 1:10:33 | |
who trespass against us. | 1:10:34 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 1:10:37 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 1:10:40 | |
For thine is the kingdom, | 1:10:42 | |
and the power, and the glory, | 1:10:43 | |
forever, amen. | 1:10:47 | |
(instrumental music) | 1:11:10 | |
(upbeat music) | 1:12:53 | |
(instrumental music) | 1:16:02 | |
(congregation chanting) | 1:17:27 | |
Most gracious God, | 1:18:12 | |
what we have we bring. | 1:18:13 | |
Our good intentions, our mixed motives, | 1:18:16 | |
our uncertainties about life, | 1:18:19 | |
our grasp of truth, | 1:18:22 | |
our partial commitment, | 1:18:24 | |
our small gifts. | 1:18:26 | |
It is precious little Lord | 1:18:28 | |
and none of it we know is good enough | 1:18:30 | |
but it is what we offer | 1:18:33 | |
and we dare to affirm that it is received. | 1:18:35 | |
In the name of Jesus the Christ, amen. | 1:18:39 | |
(organ music) | 1:18:47 | |
(congregation singing) | 1:19:14 | |
Grace, mercy and peace from God the creator, | 1:23:07 | |
redeemer and sustainer. | 1:23:12 | |
Be with you now and forever more, amen. | 1:23:15 | |
(organ music) | 1:23:21 |
Item Info
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