Robert T. Young - "Love... Is for Us" (October 28, 1979)

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-	Duke University Chapel Service of Worship,	0:04
	October 28th, 1979.	0:07
	(organ playing)	0:15
	(slow organ music)	5:59
	♪ Beautiful savior ♪	9:08
	♪ Lord of all nations ♪	9:14
	♪ Son of God ♪	9:23
	♪ And son of man ♪	9:28
	♪ Glory and honor ♪	9:37
	♪ Praise, adoration ♪	9:44
	♪ Now and forevermore ♪	9:50
	♪ Be thine ♪	9:56
	♪ Now and forevermore ♪	10:01
	♪ Be thine ♪	10:13
	(organ playing)	10:27
	(chorus singing)	11:06
	(organ playing)	14:29
-	I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord	14:59
	and savior Jesus Christ.	15:02
	So that those standing and coming in later	15:06
	can possibly find a seat, we'd like to ask that you move in,	15:09
	sort of scrunch in towards the center as much as possible,	15:13
	both in the transepts and in the nave area	15:18
	and that those of you who have bulletins,	15:21
	share with those standing who do not have bulletins.	15:23
	You may be seated now.	15:38
	On this beautiful autumn day,	15:55
	a paraphrase of the words of a favorite poet come to mind.	15:58
	"If summer has to become winter, this is a beautiful way."	16:02
	So come now and let us worship the Lord, our maker.	16:09
	Let us enter his gates with thanksgiving	16:13
	and his quarts with praise.	16:15
	For the Lord is good.	16:18
	His steadfast love endures forever	16:20
	and his faithfulness to all generations.	16:23
	Amen and amen.	16:27
	The proof of God's amazing love is this.	16:30
	While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.	16:33
	Because we have faith in him,	16:39
	we dare with confidence to approach God,	16:41
	knowing that if we do confess our sin,	16:44
	God is just and may be trusted to forgive our sins	16:48
	and cleanse us from every kind of wrong.	16:52
	Therefore, with humble and contrite hearts,	16:57
	let us confess our sin before God.	17:00
	Almighty and most merciful God,	17:06
	we humble ourselves before thee,	17:10
	under a deep sense of our unworthiness and guilt.	17:13
	We have grievously sinned against thee	17:17
	in thought, in word, and in deed.	17:20
	We have come short of thy glory.	17:24
	We have broken thy commandments.	17:27
	We have turned aside every one of us from the way of life.	17:30
	Yet now, O'merciful parent,	17:36
	hear us when we call upon thee with penitent hearts,	17:41
	for the sake of thy son, Jesus Christ, have mercy upon us.	17:45
	Pardon our sins.	17:51
	Take away our guilt and grant us thy peace.	17:54
	Purify us by the inspiration of thy holy spirit	17:59
	from all inward uncleanness and make us able	18:04
	and willing to serve thee in newness of life,	18:09
	to the glory of thy holy name,	18:13
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	18:17
	Let us continue now with our personal confession.	18:20
	Brothers and sisters in Christ,	18:59
	hear the good news recorded in Paul's letter to the Romans.	19:03
	"Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ?	19:08
	"Shall tribulation or distress or persecution	19:12
	"or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?	19:16
	"No, in all these things we are	19:20
	"more than conquerors through him who loved us.	19:24
	"For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels,	19:28
	"nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,	19:33
	"nor powers, nor height, nor depth,	19:38
	"nor anything else in all creation,	19:41
	"will be able to separate us	19:44
	"from the love of God and Christ Jesus, our Lord."	19:46
	In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.	19:51
	All praise and glory be to God.	19:55
	Let us give thanks, for God is good	20:00
	and God's love is everlasting.	20:04
-	Thank you God, from all ages.	20:09
	Thank you God, for saving me.	20:13
	Thank you God, praise Jesus.	20:17
-	On behalf of the minister to the University	20:24
	and the entire chapel staff and ministry,	20:26
	I welcome each of you to do chapel today.	20:29
	On this parent's weekend Sunday,	20:34
	we would like to offer a special word of welcome	20:36
	to those of you who are on campus	20:40
	visiting sons and daughters,	20:42
	brothers and sisters, friends and loved ones.	20:44
	Whoever you are, we are glad you are here and we	20:48
	are thankful for this opportunity to worship together.	20:52
-	Let us pray.	21:04
	Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to accept your Word.	21:07
	Silence in us any voice but your own, that hearing,	21:12
	we may also obey your will, through Jesus Christ our Lord.	21:15
	Amen.	21:21
	The Old Testament lesson is from the 19th chapter	21:23
	of Leviticus, verses one through four and 17 to 18.	21:26
	"Then the Lord said to Moses,	21:33
	"Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel,	21:35
	"'You shall be holy, for I the Lord, your God, am holy.	21:39
	"Every of you shall revere his mother	21:44
	"and his father, and you shall keep my sabbaths.	21:46
	"I am the Lord, your God.	21:51
	"Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods.	21:53
	"I am the Lord, your God.	21:58
	"You shall not hate your brother in your heart,	22:01
	"but you shall reason with your neighbor,	22:04
	"lest you bear sin because of him.	22:06
	"You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge	22:09
	"against the sons of your own people,	22:12
	"but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.	22:14
	"I am the Lord.'"	22:18
	The Epistle lessons from the fourth chapter	22:23
	of one John, versus 13 through 19.	22:25
	"By this we know that we abide in Him	22:30
	"and Him in us because he has given us of his own spirit.	22:32
	"And we have seen and testify that the Father	22:38
	"has sent his son as a savior of the world.	22:40
	"Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God,	22:44
	"God abides in him, and he in God.	22:47
	"So we know and believe the love of God has for us.	22:51
	"God is love, and he who abides in love	22:56
	"abides in God, and God abides in him.	22:59
	"In this his love perfect with us,	23:04
	"so we may have confidence for the day of judgment.	23:07
	"Because as he is, so are we in this world.	23:10
	"There is no fear in love, but perfect love	23:13
	"casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment	23:16
	"and he who fears is not perfected in love.	23:21
	"We love because He first loved us."	23:25
	Here ends reading from the Epistle.	23:31
	Amen.	23:34
	(organ playing)	23:37
	(chorus singing)	23:47
-	Will the congregation please stand	26:53
	for the reading of the gospel?	26:55
	The gospel lesson is from the	27:04
	15th chapter of John, verses 12 through 17.	27:06
	"This is my commandment, that you	27:11
	"love one another as I have loved you.	27:13
	"Greater love has no man than this,	27:17
	"that a man lay down his life for his friends.	27:20
	"You are my friends if you do what I command you.	27:24
	"No longer do I call you servants,	27:28
	"for the servant does not know what his master is doing,	27:30
	"but I have called you friends,	27:34
	"for all that I have heard from my Father	27:37
	"I have made known to you.	27:39
	"You did not choose me,	27:42
	"but I chose you and appointed you,	27:44
	"that you should go and bear fruit,	27:46
	"and that your fruit should abide,	27:49
	"so that whatever you ask the Father in my name,	27:52
	"he may give it to you.	27:55
	"This I command you.	27:57
	"To love one another."	27:59
	Here ends the reading from the gospel.	28:03
	All praise and glory be to God.	28:05
	Amen.	28:08
	(organ playing)	28:09
	(chorus singing)	28:18
-	There is still a few people standing.	29:20
	I wonder if I may ask again,	29:22
	if there is some room on the row where you're seated,	29:24
	please to move towards the center aisle	29:29
	so that those who are standing in the back	29:32
	and in the transept, may be seated.	29:34
	Thursday morning	29:52
	on Campus Drive,	29:55
	an automobile with five Duke students in it	29:59
	was involved in an accident.	30:04
	Fortunately, three of those students	30:07
	were not injured seriously.	30:11
	Tragically, two young women,	30:15
	first-year students both, were seriously injured.	30:18
	Liz Farner and Sue Schmidt.	30:24
	Some of you have met them,	30:30
	one or both of them already, I'm sure.	30:32
	They're both in Duke Hospital in room 4116, Holmes.	30:37
	If you would like to make a note of that,	30:44
	I'll say it again so that you may write them a note,	30:47
	send them a card, or express your love and concern.	30:51
	4116, Holmes.	30:57
	Sue Schmidt and Liz Farner.	31:00
	I ask you now for just a moment	31:06
	to join with me in a prayer of intersession,	31:09
	that God's love and healing presence	31:14
	may be very close to both of them.	31:19
	Let us pray.	31:24
	O Lord, our God,	31:35
	in this moment take all the yearnings,	31:39
	the beatings, the pleadings of our hearts	31:43
	as we ask for your healing presence to be with Sue and Liz.	31:49
	Take all that we offer to thee O God	31:56
	and turn it into a loving, caring, sustaining presence.	32:00
	That each of them might know	32:07
	not only that thy presence is with them,	32:12
	but the presence of all of us	32:17
	who love them is also with them.	32:18
	Be very close to sustain them, we pray in thy holy name.	32:24
	Amen.	32:30
	We are glad to have you here this morning	32:33
	and I'm particularly glad to have Chris Hest,	32:36
	who is the president of Asdue this year,	32:38
	as elector for this service of worship.	32:41
	Parents' weekend is a very special time at Duke	32:44
	and this service of worship is also a special time.	32:47
	So I join with Phyllis is welcoming you	32:51
	and praying that God's blessing	32:53
	will be with you in this hour	32:54
	and in all the time you're here	32:56
	and that you may have safe journeying home.	32:58
	I invite you now to think with me	33:01
	for just a few minutes about life.	33:04
	Your life.	33:08
	What is has been, what it is, and what it may be.	33:11
	Think with me for just a while.	33:16
	Have you ever thought what life	33:20
	would be like	33:24
	if you had to live all of your life	33:26
	feeling that no one loved you?	33:30
	No one,	33:35
	absolutely no one at all.	33:37
	Have you ever, on the other hand,	33:43
	thought what your life might be like	33:45
	if you had to go through all of your life	33:47
	and never have the feeling that you had loved anyone else?	33:51
	No one, absolutely no one at all.	33:58
	Talk about Hell.	34:04
	I can think of absolutely no more fearful	34:08
	nor frightening way to describe the agony,	34:11
	and the emptiness, and the nothingness of Hell,	34:14
	than never to have been loved	34:19
	or never to have loved.	34:22
	So John says in the Scripture which Chris read,	34:27
	"You need to be loved to live."	34:31
	And Jesus, in the gospel of John said,	34:35
	"You need to love to live."	34:38
	So think with me about life.	34:43
	Here as John and Jesus write about it,	34:46
	I think is a two-fold awareness, that love,	34:48
	the love that is for us, is what determines life and	34:54
	is what determines the quality of life for each one of us.	34:58
	A two-fold awareness which says that love	35:01
	is for us to receive	35:04
	because he, God, first loved us.	35:06
	Love is for us to lay down.	35:11
	Greater love has no one than this.	35:13
	So I believe that John and Jesus	35:17
	are calling us to a two-fold awareness,	35:18
	a two-way experience that is	35:21
	at the heart and soul of life itself, that is life.	35:24
	The real essence of the abundant life	35:29
	that Christ Jesus came to bring to us.	35:31
	John and Jesus did not and do not want us to miss life,	35:34
	nor to deny life to anyone else.	35:39
	And so, I ask you, have you ever thought	35:42
	what life would be like if you were not loved?	35:46
	Or what life might be like if you never loved?	35:52
	I want to contend this morning	35:58
	that this is the time and that this is the place	36:00
	and that we are the people	36:03
	to whom God is giving a very special message.	36:06
	Because God first loved us	36:10
	and greater love has no one than this.	36:13
	For, you see, I am convinced this morning	36:18
	that this Duke University community	36:19
	can be a hellishly lonely,	36:22
	unfriendly, cold, uncaring, cutthroat,	36:27
	nobody gives a damn about me	36:31
	and I don't give a damn about anybody, kind of place.	36:33
	Yes, this is a place where many people here	36:39
	do not know what it is to receive	36:42
	or to give love.	36:46
	But I'll bet you	36:51
	what I just said about the Duke University community	36:55
	may also be said about your place too	36:58
	wherever your place happens to be.	37:01
	It sure is.	37:05
	It's your place and it is this place.	37:07
	Was it not Dear Abby who received a shocking response	37:10
	to a suggestion she made not too long ago?	37:13
	She asked parents to write her	37:16
	and answer one question,	37:20
	would you as a mother or a father,	37:23
	if you had it to do all over again,	37:25
	would you have any children?	37:27
	Of those who responded to her,	37:30
	72% of the mothers and fathers said,	37:33
	"No, if I had it to do over again,	37:37
	"I would not have a child."	37:40
	Never to have been loved?	37:45
	It was a Duke student, sophomore she was,	37:49
	who broken-heartedly shared with me these words.	37:52
	She said, "I've been here almost a year and a half now	37:55
	"and I have not one friend yet."	37:58
	Never to have been loved?	38:03
	It was the elderly woman who was in the rest home who died.	38:05
	Shortly after she died, they found the diary in the	38:09
	little bedside table where she had been sleeping at night.	38:12
	They opened the diary and it read	38:15
	with some very simple, poignant, painful lines.	38:18
	It began, "January 1, nobody came.	38:21
	"January 2, nobody came.	38:24
	"January 3, nobody came.	38:26
	"February 10, nobody came.	38:28
	"March 20, nobody came.	38:30
	"June 15, nobody came."	38:32
	Never to have been loved?	38:37
	It was the Duke graduate assistant teaching	38:40
	in the religion department who said to me,	38:42
	"I am absolutely amazed, shocked,"	38:45
	he said, "For two years, I've been teaching	38:49
	"And each of those two years, I have probably	38:53
	"written 20 or more references for students."	38:55
	And he said, "I don't know these students well enough	38:59
	"to write a recommendation, but when I tell them that,	39:03
	"they say to me, 'But you know me better	39:06
	"than any other teacher I have here.'"	39:09
	And he finishes by saying,	39:14
	"The sad part is that I hardly know them at all."	39:16
	Never been loved?	39:22
	The chancellor in his remarks to a faculty meeting	39:26
	just this week, reminded all of us	39:28
	of what we really know all to well already,	39:31
	that there is much deep animosity and jealousy	39:36
	between the faculty and staff of the medical center	39:39
	and the faculty and staff of the rest of the university.	39:42
	He rightfully and pointedly reminded us of our need	39:46
	to develop a sense of real community	39:50
	in this university, this one community.	39:53
	The ill will and resentment, however, are not just	39:58
	between the rest of the university and the medical center.	40:02
	They are between departments and schools	40:06
	and even there is much bitterness and jealousy	40:08
	and envy within given departments	40:12
	or given schools among faculty within each group.	40:14
	And then some administrators cut each other to pieces	40:19
	and belittled other persons with utter disdain.	40:25
	And then students are split apart.	40:31
	Some student leaders, student union,	40:35
	and student government hardly speak to one another.	40:39
	And some students even complain to me	40:44
	and I'm sure they complain to others	40:46
	that they get migraine headaches	40:49
	when their roommates even walk into the room.	40:51
	And they hardly speak to one another	40:59
	and wish the roommate would go away.	41:00
	Never been loved?	41:06
	Never loved?	41:08
	Hell?	41:09
	A friend of mine, a young woman	41:11
	who got her Master's degree at Appalachian State University	41:13
	when I was the pastor at Boone,	41:16
	a young woman with much beauty	41:18
	and much intelligence and real ability,	41:20
	wrote me a very despairing letter this week saying,	41:23
	"There is something missing in my life, Mr. Young	41:26
	"and I am afraid of what may happen to me	41:30
	"if I continue on the way I am going.	41:33
	"Life seems so futile.	41:36
	"Life is so lonely.	41:39
	"It hurts so much.	41:41
	"Please, help me."	41:43
	Never been loved?	41:47
	Never loved?	41:48
	Hell?	41:50
	Love, what kind of love?	41:51
	Not a sweet, and gushy, and syrupy, sentimental,	41:53
	easy, juicy, nice, love story kind of love.	41:57
	You know in a love story where they had famous quotation	42:00
	that floated around here for so long.	42:02
	"Love means never having to say you're sorry."	42:04
	That's absolutely ridiculous.	42:06
	Love means having to say you're sorry	42:08
	over and over and over and over again.	42:10
	Love which means to choose, to respond,	42:15
	to commit, to decide, to risk.	42:18
	Loving which means feeling the hurts,	42:21
	the needs and the longings of others.	42:23
	Seeing, really seeing and sharing the pain	42:25
	and the misery and the struggles of others.	42:28
	Responding to an impulse that is God-initiated	42:31
	and that is other-centered.	42:34
	Love, which is costly, my friends.	42:37
	Love is that experience which not only	42:39
	offers us immediate satisfaction,	42:41
	but also assures us of ultimate fulfillment.	42:44
	Love is for us because John says,	42:48
	"He that is God first loved us."	42:51
	God's word shows us that the initiative is from God,	42:56
	that love really does begin there.	43:00
	We do believe within the Christian faith	43:03
	that God uniquely came to us in the caring of Jesus,	43:05
	the Christ and the incarnation.	43:08
	But God has always been loving.	43:10
	God's love is, as someone said,	43:12
	it's a personal love of a personal God for us as persons.	43:14
	Someone has designated the title page	43:21
	of the Bible with these words.	43:24
	"The Holy Bible containing the old	43:27
	"and new love stories between God and his children."	43:30
	This it seems to me, is about the best and clearest,	43:36
	perhaps even the most important clue	43:39
	to the meaning of God's word and to the central message	43:41
	that is the good news, the gospel of our Lord,	43:44
	Jesus Christ, the old and new love stories	43:47
	between God and us, his children.	43:50
	The love of God does shine through in Scripture	43:54
	from the story of creation in the book of Genesis	43:56
	right on to the final glorious vision	44:00
	of that heavenly city come to this Earth,	44:03
	which John sees in the book of Revelation.	44:05
	The Old Testament prophets, and Jesus, and Peter, Paul,	44:08
	John, other leaders in the early church,	44:12
	saw God's love as the basic experience	44:15
	which was behind every event in their lives	44:18
	and behind every event which they wrote about.	44:21
	God's love was so basic my friends, listen,	44:24
	that they not only said God loves or that God shows love.	44:27
	They also said God is love.	44:31
	The very essence and nature and character of God are love.	44:36
	Love is who God is.	44:43
	So that when God came into human history	44:47
	in the form of his son Jesus Christ,	44:49
	this became love in the flesh, divine love in human form.	44:51
	But God has been showing us about love	44:56
	for a long, long time, seeing in the love that Miriam	44:58
	had for her little baby Moses.	45:02
	The love that Joseph had for his brothers and his father.	45:05
	The love that Ruth had for hr mother-in-law, Naomi.	45:09
	The love that Jonathan had for his friend David.	45:12
	The magnificent, beautiful love	45:16
	which David had for his son, Absalom.	45:18
	The love that Hosea had for his prostitute wife, Gomer.	45:21
	The love which Mary and Elizabeth had for one another.	45:26
	The love that Joseph had for	45:29
	his pregnant, out of wedlock wife, Mary.	45:31
	The love Andrew had for his brother Peter.	45:36
	The love than Peter had for Jesus	45:39
	and the love which Jesus has for us.	45:41
	John Powell	45:45
	suggests	45:47
	that it should be	45:49
	that underneath every crucifix,	45:51
	underneath every cross which we have hanging	45:54
	in any church or cathedral, or on any wall,	45:57
	there are some words that	46:00
	should be written boldy and clearly.	46:01
	He said, "Underneath the crucifix,	46:03
	"underneath the cross, should be the words,	46:06
	"'This is what I mean	46:08
	"when I say I love you.'"	46:09
	So it is we love because God first loved us.	46:18
	Love is for us, then, because we are to love.	46:23
	Greater love has no one than this,	46:26
	that one should lay down one's life for one's friend.	46:29
	And those words in the gospel of John	46:32
	come just after Jesus has said,	46:34
	"Love one another as I have loved you."	46:37
	So again, because God has loved us,	46:39
	we are to lay down our lives for others.	46:42
	Here, I believe,	46:49
	Jesus tells us what the ultimate experience,	46:51
	the ultimate expression,	46:55
	the ultimate giving of love would be,	46:57
	that is to lay down one's life for another.	47:00
	This is love in it's ultimate sense.	47:03
	So when I ask you this morning if you were seeking	47:08
	or were looking for someone to be a friend,	47:12
	what kind of friend would you really want?	47:15
	One who would just care for you for a little while,	47:17
	be concerned for a short period of time,	47:21
	that would think about you some	47:23
	but then leave you all alone?	47:25
	Or if you really wanted a friend,	47:27
	would you want someone who really cared,	47:29
	who really was present, who really was supportive,	47:31
	who really was with you,	47:34
	even possibly unto the giving of life itself?	47:35
	Or if you were going to be a friend,	47:42
	what kind of friend would you be willing to be?	47:47
	One who cared for another only when everything went well,	47:52
	only as Lucy in the Peanuts comics strip puts it?	47:56
	Only when the other was having ups, ups, and ups	47:59
	as she said she wanted all the time?	48:02
	She didn't want any downs, downs, downs.	48:04
	Only as long as the other	48:07
	did not ask for or expect too much.	48:09
	Only as long as you could be sure	48:12
	that for every moment given,	48:14
	every tear shed, every feeling shared,	48:18
	you would also get as much or more in return?	48:21
	Or could you or would you be willing to love all the way,	48:25
	as Jesus says there is no greater love,	48:31
	even to the laying down of your life?	48:33
	Is there someone, is there anyone, anywhere,	48:38
	is there any person on the face of this Earth,	48:43
	any friend you have for whom	48:46
	you would be willing to lay down your life?	48:49
	Do you know anybody?	49:00
	Anybody else on the face of this Earth	49:02
	for whom you would give your life?	49:05
	I used to think that the greatest joy,	49:11
	the deepest satisfaction,	49:13
	the most complete sense of worth and meaning and wholeness,	49:15
	the best and most joyful feeling that one could know,	49:19
	would be the feeling of being loved,	49:23
	and being loved totally, freely, and unconditionally.	49:25
	Surely, if it is Hell never to be loved,	49:29
	it is Heaven to know love and feel love	49:32
	and be loved, and it is sure, yes.	49:35
	But Jesus says, and this I now believe,	49:39
	that there is a love even greater	49:42
	than the love of being loved.	49:45
	And that which is greater than being love,	49:48
	he says, is to love.	49:50
	To love so much, so deeply, so fully,	49:53
	so unconditionally, so unselfishly, so unreservedly,	49:57
	that one is willing, even if need be,	50:01
	to lay down one's life.	50:04
	Surely, if it is Hell never to love,	50:06
	then it is heaven, indeed, to love.	50:10
	To love another all the way, with life,	50:12
	in life, through life, even unto death.	50:16
	My friends,	50:22
	the Word tells us that we can know and feel	50:24
	and live both the heaven of being loved,	50:28
	because God first loved us, and the heaven of loving,	50:31
	as greater love than this, there is not.	50:35
	But that's hard.	50:40
	Maybe it is even impossible.	50:43
	Because few of us are ever going to have the opportunity	50:47
	to lay down our lives for anybody else.	50:51
	Hopefully, none of us will be in a war	50:56
	where we'll have that opportunity.	50:58
	Few of us are going to come up on automobiles	51:00
	where someone is dying or a fire where someone	51:03
	is in a house and we may be asked to lay down our lives.	51:07
	Those opportunities, those tragic opportunities,	51:11
	come very seldom.	51:15
	So it may be impossible	51:18
	for us to lay down our lives totally for anybody else.	51:22
	But may I tell why I believe, this morning,	51:27
	that God gave us this Scripture and this word for today?	51:30
	Because I believe that God knows	51:34
	with his love,	51:39
	you and I and God's love can change this world,	51:42
	can change this place, this place right here.	51:47
	I spoke to a sorority at the beginning of school	51:52
	and talked with them about the kind of lonely,	51:55
	hellish existence that I believe many people	51:58
	in this community live day by day.	52:01
	And a half dozen of the young women	52:04
	in that sorority came up and said,	52:06
	"Mr. Young, I wish you could tell	52:08
	"that story all across the campus,	52:10
	"so that we would begin to reach out	52:12
	"and care for one another.	52:14
	"It is lonely here," they said.	52:17
	So I believe that you and I with God's love	52:19
	can begin to change this place,	52:23
	wherever this place is, and wherever you go from here.	52:27
	Let me share with you a letter, my friends.	52:32
	We may not be able to lay down our lives,	52:36
	but we may be able to lay down something else.	52:39
	This young man wrote, he said, "Dear folks,	52:41
	"thank you for everything, but I'm going to Chicago	52:43
	"and try and start some kind of new life.	52:46
	"You ask me why I did those things	52:49
	"and why I gave you so much trouble	52:51
	"and the answer is easy for me to give you,	52:53
	"but I'm wondering if you will understand.	52:55
	"Remember when I was about six or seven	52:58
	"and I used to want you just to listen to me.	53:00
	"I remember all the nice things you gave me for Christmas	53:03
	"and my birthday, and I was really happy	53:06
	"with the things for about a week	53:08
	"at the time that I got the things,	53:11
	"but the rest of the time during the year,	53:12
	"I really didn't want presents.	53:14
	"I just wanted all the time for you to listen to me	53:15
	"like I was somebody who felt things too	53:19
	"because I remember even when I was young, I felt things,	53:22
	"but you said you were busy.	53:25
	"Mom, you're a wonderful cook and you had everything	53:28
	"so clean and you were tired so much	53:30
	"from doing all those things that made you busy.	53:32
	"But you know something, Mom?	53:36
	"I would've liked crackers and peanut butter	53:38
	"just as well if you had only sat down	53:40
	"with me a while during the day and said to me,	53:43
	"'Tell me about it, so I can maybe help you understand.'	53:45
	"And when Donna came along,	53:49
	"I couldn't understand why everybody	53:51
	"made so much fuss about her	53:52
	"because I didn't think it was my fault	53:54
	"that her hair was curly, and her skin was so white,	53:56
	"and that she doesn't have to wear glasses	54:00
	"with such thick lenses as I do.	54:02
	"Her grades were better too, weren't they?	54:04
	"If Donna ever has children,	54:06
	"I hope you will tell her to pay	54:08
	"just as much attention to the one	54:11
	"who doesn't smile very much because	54:13
	"that one will really be crying inside.	54:16
	"And when she's about to bake six dozen cookies	54:19
	"to make sure, first, that the kids don't want	54:21
	"to tell her about a dream, or a hope, or something,	54:23
	"because thoughts are important too.	54:27
	"To small kids, even though they don't have so many words	54:30
	"to use when they tell about what they have inside them,	54:34
	"I think that all the kids who are doing	54:38
	"so many things that grownups	54:41
	"are tearing out their hair worrying about,	54:42
	"are really looking for somebody	54:45
	"who will have time to listen a few minutes.	54:47
	"And who really and truly will treat them	54:50
	"as they would a grownup who might be useful to them,	54:52
	"you know, be polite to them.	54:55
	"If you folks had ever said to me, 'Pardon me'	54:57
	"when you interrupted me, I'd have dropped dead.	55:00
	"If anybody asks you where I am,	55:04
	"tell them I've gone looking for somebody with time	55:06
	"because I've got a lot of things I want to talk about."	55:10
	Signed, your son.	55:15
	Lay down your life?	55:19
	Well, maybe not.	55:22
	By the grace of God and for the sake of others.	55:26
	As a matter of fact, for your sake and my sake,	55:29
	we can lay down some time.	55:33
	We can take time to listen, really listen.	55:36
	Just give some of yourself for someone.	55:40
	Parents, give some time to your child.	55:45
	Husband, to your wife.	55:53
	Wife, to your husband.	55:55
	Roommate, to your roommate.	55:58
	Friend, to your friend.	56:02
	So having said all this, I look again,	56:09
	this moment my friends, at the cross.	56:11
	Will you look and feel with me	56:16
	the cross of Jesus?	56:20
	The cross of Christ?	56:22
	The cross of your Lord and my Lord, our Lord?	56:24
	As G. A. Studdert Kennedy says,	56:28
	"So through the clouds of Calvary, there shines his face.	56:30
	"And good lives on, loves on, and conquers all,	56:34
	"for God is love and such is my faith."	56:37
	The cross, my friends, is where and how	56:40
	and when God said, "This is how much I love you."	56:44
	The cross is where and how and when God said,	56:48
	"Greater love has no one than this."	56:50
	Then as I look again at the cross,	56:54
	the magnificent words of Isaac Watts' great, great old hymn,	56:58
	"When I survey the wondrous cross	57:05
	"on which the Prince of Glory died	57:08
	"my richest gain I count but loss	57:12
	"and pour contempt on all my pride	57:17
	"were the whole realm of nature mine	57:21
	"that were an offering far, far too small	57:24
	"because love so amazing, so divine	57:28
	"demands my soul, my life, my all."	57:32
	By this, we know love.	57:40
	That Christ laid down his life for us	57:43
	and we are to lay down our lives for one another.	57:48
	Let us pray.	57:54
	O God,	58:00
	thank you for caring for us.	58:04
	Indeed, for laughing with us and crying with us	58:09
	and walking with us in the hell of life,	58:12
	until we come to know the fullness of life and love.	58:15
	So God, when we're scared, give us courage.	58:21
	When we're weak, make us strong.	58:25
	When we want to hate, give us love and patience.	58:29
	Help us, O God.	58:33
	In the moments, in the days ahead, somehow or other,	58:36
	to wrap our arms around somebody	58:40
	and love them to you and love them to life.	58:44
	So help us to love.	58:50
	In the name and Spirit of Christ who loves us,	58:54
	we pray.	58:59
	Amen.	59:01
	(organ playing)	59:06
	(chorus singing)	59:48
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	1:02:59
	We believe in God	1:03:03
	who has created and is creating,	1:03:05
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	1:03:09
	to reconcile and make new,	1:03:12
	who works in us and in others by the spirit.	1:03:15
	We trust God,	1:03:19
	who calls us to be the church,	1:03:21
	to celebrate life in its fullness,	1:03:24
	to love and serve others,	1:03:28
	to seek justice and resist evil,	1:03:31
	to proclaim Jesus, crucify and risen,	1:03:34
	our judge and our hope.	1:03:38
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	1:03:41
	God is with us.	1:03:46
	We are not alone.	1:03:48
	Thanks be to God.	1:03:51
	You may be seated.	1:03:54
	(crashing)	1:03:57
	The Lord be with you.	1:04:04
	Let us pray.	1:04:08
	O Lord, our God, whose glory is nowhere	1:04:15
	more visible than on our own landscape now,	1:04:19
	whose Earth cannot help but praise thee	1:04:23
	both in its living and in its dying.	1:04:26
	Hear our prayers of Thanksgiving.	1:04:30
	We give thanks that by thy love,	1:04:34
	we know love, and are able to love.	1:04:37
	That by thy justice, we are able	1:04:43
	to know what justice requires of us.	1:04:45
	That by thy peace, we learn	1:04:49
	what we must do to be peacemakers.	1:04:52
	That by thy forgiveness, we know both	1:04:55
	how to give and how to receive the forgiveness	1:04:58
	that can bind up this world's wounds and heal our divisions.	1:05:02
	O God, our God, who has fathered us	1:05:09
	in the rejoicings of heaven and mothered us	1:05:13
	with affections from the womb of time itself,	1:05:16
	we give thanks for the ties of love in our families,	1:05:20
	for the roots and tendrils that have fed our freedom,	1:05:25
	for the tensions and disagreements	1:05:29
	that have made us measure our accountability,	1:05:32
	for the caring circle within	1:05:36
	whose safety we are called to grow in faith in thee,	1:05:37
	and love for one another.	1:05:42
	And O Lord, hear also this day, our prayers of petition	1:05:46
	and intersession as we pray	1:05:51
	for all our brothers and sisters,	1:05:53
	for all those who are members of the human family.	1:05:55
	We pray for those who mourn and are in distress.	1:06:01
	For the crippled, the infirm, the sick, and the dying.	1:06:05
	We pray for all who are disillusioned by life.	1:06:13
	For married couples who have not	1:06:17
	been able to hold on to each other.	1:06:19
	For parents who are disappointed in their children.	1:06:21
	And for children who are disappointed in their parents.	1:06:25
	O God, we pray for the hungry, the poor, and the lonely.	1:06:31
	We pray for the unemployed,	1:06:35
	the unfulfilled, and the unwanted.	1:06:37
	Lord, hear our special prayer this morning	1:06:41
	for the starving people of Cambodia.	1:06:44
	Be with them in their suffering	1:06:48
	and be with those who are trying to hep alleviate	1:06:51
	some of the hurt and pain in that distant	1:06:54
	and yet, ever closer corner of the world.	1:06:57
	And O Lord, our God, ruler of the universe,	1:07:03
	Father of us all, we would pray	1:07:05
	for the leaders of governments,	1:07:08
	for those who's words and actions	1:07:09
	will influence the situation in the world.	1:07:11
	We pray that they may not tolerate injustice,	1:07:15
	seek refuge in violence,	1:07:18
	or make rash and ill-considered decisions	1:07:20
	about the future of other people.	1:07:22
	And O Lord, we would also pray for all	1:07:26
	who live in the shadow of world events.	1:07:29
	For those who are never noticed,	1:07:32
	but who do their duty, and remain obscure.	1:07:35
	For all who are automatically just ordinary and likable.	1:07:39
	For mothers who look after their families.	1:07:46
	And for doctors and nurses who do their work	1:07:49
	without talking about it.	1:07:52
	Eternal God, we pray for the church, the body of Christ.	1:07:56
	We pray that it may not merely lay up treasures on Earth	1:08:00
	or simply become a monument to a past age,	1:08:04
	clinging to what is already dead	1:08:07
	and remote from people of today.	1:08:09
	But that it may be converted and receive	1:08:12
	the spirit of Jesus, our Lord, who is the light and life,	1:08:15
	the hope and peace of this world, forever and ever.	1:08:20
	Finally, O Lord, we would pray for ourselves.	1:08:26
	We are many things to many people.	1:08:30
	But in thy sight, O God, we are thy sons and daughters.	1:08:33
	Be now as a father and mother to us.	1:08:38
	Encourage us in obedience when we have grown lax.	1:08:42
	Restore us in tenderness when we have grown hard.	1:08:46
	Renew us in purpose when we have grown confused.	1:08:51
	Gracious God, we offer these our prayers in faith,	1:08:56
	aware that thou art loving and merciful in all thy ways.	1:09:00
	Hear our prayers, for they are offered	1:09:05
	in the name of Jesus Christ, our brother and our Lord,	1:09:08
	the one who taught us to pray,	1:09:16
	saying "Our Father, who art in heaven,	1:09:18
	"hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,	1:09:23
	"thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.	1:09:27
	"Give us this day our daily bread,	1:09:33
	"and forgive us our trespasses	1:09:36
	"as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:09:39
	"And lead us not into temptation,	1:09:43
	"but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom	1:09:46
	"and the power and the glory forever."	1:09:51
	Amen.	1:09:56
	(organ playing)	1:10:02
	(chorus singing)	1:15:48
	Most gracious God, what we have, we bring.	1:16:52
	Our good intentions, our mixed motives,	1:16:58
	our uncertainties about life, our grasp of truth,	1:17:01
	our partial commitment, our small gifts.	1:17:07
	It is precious little Lord and none of it we know	1:17:11
	is good enough, but it is what we offer	1:17:15
	and we dare to affirm that it is received.	1:17:19
	In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	1:17:23
	(organ playing)	1:17:29
	(chorus singing)	1:18:09
	Go forth into the world in peace.	1:21:55
	Be of good courage.	1:21:58
	Hold fast to that which is good.	1:22:00
	Render no one evil for evil.	1:22:03
	Strengthen the faint-hearted.	1:22:07
	Support the weak.	1:22:09
	Help the afflicted.	1:22:11
	Honor all persons.	1:22:13
	Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing always	1:22:16
	in the power of the Holy Spirit.	1:22:20
	And may the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ,	1:22:23
	the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	1:22:26
	be with you all, both now and forevermore.	1:22:31
	♪ Amen ♪	1:22:38
	♪ Amen ♪	1:22:45
	♪ Amen ♪	1:22:53
	♪ Amen ♪	1:23:10
	♪ Amen ♪	1:23:22
	♪ Amen ♪	1:23:36
	(organ music playing)	1:23:59

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "Love... Is for Us" (October 28, 1979)

Description:

Sermon start time: 32:33. Sermon end time: 59:02.
God's love for us is culminatd at the cross, and we too can give this kind of love to others in the form of laying down our time and care. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: The cross is where and how and when God said, "Greater love has no one than this."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4db7w49s

Date:

October 28, 1979

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1050
ref7312_m2s
uachapelsermaud
duke:321173
dcrau001929
ark:/87924/r4db7w49s
bdf1a138-5b17-453b-9cc0-486c947f4e25

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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Educational Use Permitted

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Robert T. Young - "Love... Is for Us" (October 28, 1979)

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1. Robert T. Young - "Love...Is for Us..." (October 28, 1979)

Duke University Archives

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Robert T. Young - "Love... Is for Us" (October 28, 1979)

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