Elizabeth Achtemeier - "Romanticism, Reality, and the Christmas Child" (December 7, 1980)

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	(inspirational organ music)	0:05
	(lively reverent music)	2:49
	(soft inspirational music)	4:57
	(lively organ music)	7:04
	(reverent organ music)	9:58
	(choir vocalizing)	12:58
	(inspirational organ music)	14:11
	(choir vocalizing)	14:54
	♪ Rejoice rejoice ♪	15:22
	(muffled lyrics)	15:27
	♪ Rejoice rejoice ♪	16:08
	(muffled lyrics)	16:13
	♪ The lame shall walk ♪	16:41
	♪ The blind shall see his work ♪	16:43
	♪ The deaf shall hear the story of his birth ♪	16:48
	♪ Rejoice rejoice ♪	16:56
	♪ The mountains came to say that Jesus' love ♪	17:02
	♪ For all our sins shall pay ♪	17:07
	♪ Where shall (mumbles) seas ♪	17:14
	♪ The rest (mumbles) of the Prince of Peace ♪	17:20
	♪ Oh Lord before the (mumbles) divine ♪	17:28
	(muffled lyrics)	17:34
	♪ Rejoice rejoice ♪	17:41
	♪ Our (mumbles) shall see and he shall rule ♪	17:46
	♪ Throughout the Prince of Peace ♪	17:52
	♪ (Mumbles) the mortal life of day ♪	17:59
	♪ My sins (mumbles) save ♪	18:06
	(muffled lyrics)	18:13
	♪ Rejoice rejoice ♪	18:27
	♪ Rejoice (mumbles) ♪	18:32
	♪ For Christ, my child, shall be my fortress nigh ♪	18:36
	(muffled lyrics)	18:44
	♪ Forever shall he reign on high ♪	18:59
	(muffled lyrics)	19:05
	♪ Rejoice rejoice ♪	19:13
	♪ Praise God the three-in-one ♪	19:18
	♪ Who gives us all the joy of his (mumbles) ♪	19:22
	♪ Amen ♪	19:32
-	Grace to you and peace from God, our creator,	19:46
	and our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may prepare ourselves	19:50
	in heart and mind for worship.	19:56
	Let us now confess our sin toward God	20:00
	and against our neighbor.	20:03
	Oh Lord, in this season of hope and expectancy,	20:09
	we look at our lives and confess that we are in need	20:13
	of the miracle of your love and peace.	20:17
	We, who claim to have heard the good news,	20:20
	live our lives defensively.	20:24
	We are afraid to be made vulnerable by caring too deeply.	20:27
	We hide from pain, loneliness, and involvement.	20:31
	Our lives are full of disillusionment	20:36
	with people and politics.	20:39
	We have forgotten that joy and laughter	20:42
	are part of your gift to us.	20:45
	Come to us in our fear and despair.	20:48
	Know us as we are.	20:51
	Feel our longing and hunger to be your faithful people.	20:54
	Let your love grow.	20:58
	Amen.	21:01
	Wait for the Lord, be strong	21:21
	and let your heart take courage.	21:24
	Yea, wait for the Lord.	21:26
	Let us give thanks, for God is good	21:31
	and God's love is everlasting.	21:33
	Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.	21:37
	Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us.	21:41
	Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future.	21:45
	We welcome each one of you to the Duke University	21:52
	Chapel Service of Worship during this very special season	21:55
	of the year Advent.	22:00
	We are glad you have come to celebrate with us	22:02
	in this first season of the Christian year.	22:05
	I know many of you will be glad to know	22:10
	we do have Messiah tickets available now	22:13
	for this concluding performance this afternoon	22:17
	at three o'clock here in the chapel.	22:20
	There will be 200 tickets available	22:24
	in the page box office beginning at two o'clock,	22:27
	one hour before the performance.	22:31
	We would like to invite you to worship with us	22:35
	Thursday afternoon at five o'clock here in the chapel	22:39
	for a special Advent service.	22:43
	This will be a service of readings and carols	22:46
	and you are cordially invited to attend.	22:50
	We are especially glad to welcome to the chapel today	22:57
	as our guest preacher Dr Elizabeth Ottomeyer.	23:01
	She comes to us as a Biblical scholar,	23:05
	a preacher, and a woman who has been widely published	23:09
	in her field.	23:13
	Presently, she is serving as visiting professor	23:15
	of homiletics and hermeneutics	23:18
	at the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.	23:21
	Her husband Paul is here with her	23:25
	and we welcome them both to our chapel today	23:28
	and look forward to her word	23:31
	as she shares with us on this day.	23:33
-	I want to take just a moment	23:50
	in the service this morning to pay tribute	23:54
	to a young man who was friend to many of you,	24:00
	was a very dear friend to Duke University,	24:06
	a faithful worker and servant	24:10
	of the university while he was here.	24:12
	Mr Randy Yorke, who was the manager	24:14
	of the Duke University stores.	24:18
	Randy, as most of you will know,	24:22
	was killed tragically in an automobile accident	24:25
	Friday morning.	24:30
	Many of you knew him.	24:34
	A number of you worked with him.	24:37
	Many of us talked and laughed with him,	24:41
	and even more of us did business with him.	24:45
	He had been here at Duke for 10 years	24:50
	and was warmly regarded and appreciated	24:54
	by his fellow employees,	24:57
	and greatly loved and respected	25:00
	by students, faculty, and staff.	25:04
	Randy was not only a good businessman,	25:11
	a good supervisor, a good manager;	25:14
	he was pleasant and congenial,	25:20
	and a real pleasure to be around.	25:23
	Many of you students will remember	25:28
	that some of you had your pictures taken	25:30
	sitting on his lap either last year or year before	25:32
	or at some time, as he played Santa Claus for the stores.	25:36
	He was looking forward and planning to do that again	25:41
	this coming week.	25:45
	All of those of us who knew him were shocked	25:48
	and deeply saddened by the tragic news	25:51
	of his accident Friday.	25:54
	He will be missed very very much	25:57
	by this university community and by all who knew him.	25:59
	A funeral service will be held this afternoon	26:06
	in his home church at Aldersgate United Methodist Church	26:08
	at two o'clock.	26:12
	For those of you who may wish to be there,	26:15
	Aldersgate Church is on North Duke Street in Durham.	26:17
	At the moment, it is undecided as to whether or not	26:23
	we will have a memorial service here in the chapel.	26:26
	If we do, it will be announced in the Chronicle.	26:28
	I share this with you on this day and in this season,	26:33
	which meant so very very much to Randy	26:37
	because I'm sure your prayers and your love	26:41
	will go out to his wife and their two children	26:45
	during these days.	26:48
	I invite you to join with me in giving thanks to God	26:51
	for the life of Randy Yorke and for what he has meant	26:55
	to this university community and to many, many others.	26:57
-	Let us pray.	27:16
	Oh Lord our God,	27:22
	you have given your word to be a lamp unto our feet	27:26
	and a light unto our path.	27:31
	Grant us grace to receive your truth, faith and love	27:36
	that by it we may be prepared unto every good work	27:41
	and word to the glory of your name	27:47
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	27:51
	The Old Testament lesson is taken from the book of Isaiah	27:59
	Chapter 11 verses one through nine.	28:07
	"There shall come forth a shoot	28:17
	"from the stump of Jesse	28:23
	"and a branch shall grow out of his roots.	28:27
	"The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.	28:33
	"The spirit of wisdom and understanding,	28:37
	"the spirit of counsel and might.	28:41
	"The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.	28:46
	"His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.	28:52
	"He shall not judge by what his eyes see	29:00
	"or decide by what his ears hear,	29:05
	"but with righteousness he shall judge the poor	29:11
	"and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.	29:15
	"He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth	29:22
	"and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked.	29:27
	"Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist	29:33
	"and faithfulness, the girdle of his loins.	29:36
	"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb	29:42
	"and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.	29:45
	"The calf, the lion and the fatling together	29:49
	"and a little child shall lead them.	29:52
	"The cow and the bear shall feed.	29:57
	"Their young shall lie down together	30:00
	"and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.	30:05
	"The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp	30:11
	"and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.	30:16
	"They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;	30:23
	"for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord	30:29
	"as the waters cover the sea."	30:34
	Here ends the reading of the Old Testament.	30:38
	(reverent organ music)	30:49
	(choir vocalizing foreign language)	30:59
	Please stand for the reading of the Gospel.	33:22
	The Gospel reading is taken from the Second Chapter of Luke	33:38
	verses 22 through 35.	33:44
	"When the time came for their purification	33:50
	"according to the law of Moses,	33:55
	"they brought him up to Jerusalem	33:58
	"to present him to the Lord.	34:01
	"As it is written in the law of the Lord,	34:04
	"every male that opens the womb	34:07
	"shall be called holy to the Lord.	34:10
	"To offer a sacrifice according	34:15
	"to what is said in the law of the Lord,	34:17
	"a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.	34:20
	"Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.	34:26
	"This man was righteous and devout,	34:33
	"looking for the Consolation of Israel	34:37
	"and the Holy Spirit was upon him.	34:42
	"It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit	34:47
	"that he should not see death	34:52
	"before he had seen the Lord's Christ.	34:55
	"Inspired by the Spirit, he came into the temple	35:00
	"and when the parents brought in the child Jesus,	35:05
	"to do for him the custom of the law.	35:09
	"He took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,	35:14
	"'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant	35:20
	"'depart in peace according to thy word.	35:23
	"'For mine eyes have seen thy Salvation,	35:30
	"'which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples.	35:35
	"'A light for revelation to the Gentiles	35:41
	"and for glory to thy people Israel.'	35:45
	"His father and his mother	35:51
	"marveled at what was said about him.	35:53
	"Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother,	36:00
	"'Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many	36:06
	"'in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against	36:13
	"'and a sword will pierce through your own soul also	36:19
	"'that the thoughts out of many hearts may be	36:23
	"'revealed.'"	36:29
	God, bless the reading of this gospel word.	36:32
	(reverent organ music)	36:35
	♪ Glory be to all creation ♪	36:43
	♪ Praise to all (mumbles) ♪	36:50
	♪ Glory be to all (mumbles) ♪	36:58
	(muffled lyrics)	37:05
	♪ Amen ♪	37:27
-	Just one word.	37:47
	Let me say that it is a distinct honor and pleasure	37:49
	to worship with you this morning.	37:55
	We tend to romanticize Christmas.	38:02
	Heaven knows we don't mean to do so when we come	38:07
	into the first week or two of the Advent season.	38:10
	You and I are, after all, rather hard-headed people.	38:15
	We know how to look after our own interests.	38:22
	We know we have to stay on our toes	38:26
	in this dog-eat-dog competitive society.	38:29
	We even know Christmas is just a momentary glow	38:34
	over the landscape of an otherwise forbidding world.	38:38
	As soon as January 2nd rolls around,	38:44
	and the angels have gone away into Heaven,	38:47
	the carols are stilled and the gifts put away,	38:49
	we will all be back at it again.	38:54
	Buying, selling and scrambling after a buck.	38:58
	Edging out academic competitors,	39:04
	asserting ourselves and maybe even stepping on the fingers	39:08
	of the person below us on success' ladder.	39:14
	And yet Christmas gets at us, doesn't it?	39:20
	The Scrooge in us gives way to the innocence of Tiny Tim.	39:25
	The symbols and songs in Silent Night	39:31
	work their magic glow.	39:34
	And our hearts are warmed and our spirits lifted.	39:38
	We find ourselves beginning to hope that maybe,	39:43
	just maybe, things will work out alright after all.	39:48
	It is at this point then when our hoops are kindled	39:55
	that the words of our text hit home.	39:58
	"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb	40:02
	and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.	40:04
	The calf, the lion and the fatling together.	40:08
	A little child shall lead them.	40:12
	The sucking child shall play over the hole of the ass	40:15
	and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.	40:20
	They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain."	40:25
	The picture calls forth all our romantic wistfulness.	40:32
	Our hopes for a world quiet and at peace,	40:38
	where the serpent of our sin	40:43
	has been turned into harmlessness.	40:44
	where a soft lamb can curl up without fear	40:49
	before the fangs of the wolf.	40:52
	The innocence, tenderness and sweetness of a little child	40:55
	dominate all relations.	41:00
	The Christ child.	41:02
	The newborn shoot from the stump of Jesse.	41:04
	The innocent babe lying in a manger.	41:07
	That becomes the final symbol of our Christmas romanticism.	41:10
	The hope, the wonder, the love connected	41:17
	with the birth of a little child.	41:20
	When the scripture seized on the figure of the child,	41:25
	however, and God incarnated his son in a babe,	41:28
	they were not trying to be romantic.	41:33
	They were not indulging in our sweetness and light.	41:36
	You see, the figure of the child in the Bible	41:42
	is much more than a figure of salvation.	41:45
	Very often, throughout the Old Testament,	41:49
	the child is also the figure of the Lord's coming judgment.	41:52
	There are all those children of the prophets	41:59
	with those strange and ominous names given them by God.	42:01
	There's Lo-ammi in the Hebrew,	42:06
	the son of the prophet Hosea,	42:08
	whose name means "you are not my people."	42:10
	There is his other son called by God,	42:16
	that is, "I will no longer have mercy upon you."	42:19
	There is Isaiah's child named to symbolize	42:25
	God's destruction of Israel.	42:29
	His name is translated to mean "the spoil speeds,	42:32
	the prey hastes,"	42:36
	that is Assyria, will come upon you.	42:38
	A child laughing and playing in the street	42:43
	can be a prophetic symbol of destruction.	42:47
	When Isaiah wants to say that society will be dissolved,	42:52
	he foretells babes will be your rulers	42:55
	and the youth will be insolent to the elder.	42:58
	Yes, when Jesus confronts his disciples' pride,	43:03
	he calls a child into their midst and warns them.	43:06
	"Unless you turn and become like children,	43:10
	you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven."	43:14
	As in our gospel lesson from Luke,	43:19
	a child, according to the biblical writers,	43:22
	can cause one to fall or rise.	43:25
	A babe can be an occasion for judgment	43:30
	or for salvation.	43:35
	I wonder if we do not know that in our society	43:39
	even more than we are willing to admit these days.	43:42
	W C Fields once remarked with his marvelously cynical flare,	43:48
	"The person who hates dogs and children can't be all bad."	43:54
	Andhat used to be funny in the United States	43:59
	because it wasn't true.	44:02
	But we are seeing some strange things happen	44:05
	to the image of children in our society.	44:08
	As a Newsweek columnist put it some time ago,	44:13
	"American children are taking on the image of monsters."	44:16
	It was the child who was the bearer of evil	44:23
	in the movies The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby.	44:26
	It is the child gone bad	44:32
	with drugs, sex and vicious crimes	44:36
	who was robbing our peace as citizens.	44:39
	"Americans do not like other people's children,"	44:44
	wrote an Ohio State criminal justice expert recently,	44:47
	"Especially the children of the poor."	44:51
	The truth is that we are afraid of poor children,	44:55
	particularly those of other races.	45:00
	Like children of all classes,	45:04
	these children from time to time	45:06
	confirm our fears and our dislike of them	45:08
	by committing atrocious and frightening crimes.	45:11
	As a result, American society	45:17
	has begun to reject its offspring.	45:19
	Several years ago, Dear Abby made the mistake	45:24
	of asking her readers, "If you had it to do over again,	45:27
	"would you have children?"	45:30
	She received 10,000 letters in response.	45:34
	Seven out of 10 of the parents said, "No."	45:39
	"Children were too much responsibility," was the reason	45:44
	or "They took too much time out of personal freedom."	45:47
	They disappointed their parents by the way they turned out	45:51
	or they paid too little attention to those who raised them.	45:55
	But that is not a judgment on the children	46:00
	so much as it is a judgment on the parents.	46:02
	When we hear it all, we begin to get the feeling	46:08
	that something is terribly wrong.	46:10
	There is some sickness in this society we have made	46:15
	which is infecting our very offspring.	46:19
	Worse yet, there is some sickness in us	46:24
	which is making us warp and then hate our children.	46:28
	The child has become the symbol of judgment	46:33
	on our culture and on you and me.	46:37
	The child has become the instrument of our undoing.	46:43
	So you see, the fact that Christmas has to do with a child,	46:48
	with a newborn babe in a manger is not an event	46:53
	that should send us into unrealistic romanticism.	46:56
	This Christmas child, like all children,	47:02
	can be a judgment on us.	47:05
	In fact, Jesus later tells us he is the eternal child.	47:09
	"Whoever receives one of these little ones,"	47:15
	he says, "Receives me."	47:17
	Jesus comes to us first and eternally	47:21
	in the flesh and blood of a little child.	47:25
	Our attitude toward him can be an occasion of judgment	47:29
	as well as of salvation.	47:34
	This child, the babe in the manger,	47:37
	the shoot from the stump of Jesse,	47:42
	this child, this Christmas child,	47:46
	is for the rise and fall of many.	47:50
	Now what is it about this Christmas child	47:58
	which can make us stumble over him	48:01
	and turn him into an instrument of our own destruction?	48:03
	Well surely, the first mistake is to believe	48:09
	that we have no lasting responsibility toward him.	48:11
	Like doting grandparents at the birth of a grandchild,	48:16
	to admire and adore him on a 10 day Christmas visit	48:20
	and then to return home to business as usual	48:25
	with no more obligation toward him.	48:28
	For you see, this is a child of whom	48:32
	you and I are not going to be rid.	48:35
	This is in fact, the eternal child;	48:39
	the ones Herod's armies could not slaughter	48:44
	and the Roman Empire could not bury.	48:46
	This is God's child, the Lord's Messiah,	48:48
	the one on whom God has poured out his spirit.	48:53
	With his birth, that spirit has now invaded	48:58
	your lives and mine.	49:01
	That's a fact that draws us irresistibly	49:06
	to Christmas in the first place, of course.	49:08
	The fact that our little realms are invaded	49:12
	by something beyond their borders.	49:15
	The fact that there floods into our darkness	49:20
	a light not dependent on our tarnished glories.	49:23
	The fact that some spirit of wisdom, strength	49:29
	and understanding whispers in our hearts	49:32
	that perhaps there is hope for our tattered lives after all.	49:36
	But we shall be foolish indeed if we believe that spirit	49:43
	abandons us on December 26th	49:47
	and that we need not answer thereafter	49:51
	to his persistent claim upon us.	49:53
	It is in truth Emmanuel,	49:58
	God with us in the birth of Jesus Christ,	50:02
	and we shall not be rid of him ever ever again.	50:06
	"Wither shall I go from thy spirit, oh Christ?	50:13
	And whither shall I flee from thy presence?	50:19
	If I ascend into Heaven, thou art there.	50:23
	If I make make my bed in Sheol, thou art there."	50:28
	If we deny that fact,	50:33
	this Christmas child will be the occasion of our stumbling.	50:36
	This child, this Christmas child,	50:41
	is for the rise and fall of many.	50:44
	Now the second mistake we can make is to think	50:51
	that we are immune from that judgment	50:53
	and that the faith, goodness, importance	50:58
	or the status that we brought with us	51:01
	into this service this morning	51:03
	is sufficient to guarantee the approval of our lives	51:06
	in the eyes of God.	51:09
	Somehow God does not see us in the same manner	51:12
	that we see ourselves.	51:15
	He sends his son who is not swayed by the appearances	51:17
	of this world.	51:21
	"He shall not judge by what his eyes see	51:22
	or decide by what his ears hear," reads our text.	51:25
	You see apparently, our reputations and learning	51:31
	and self-confident appraisals of our own desserts	51:34
	are not important to the almighty.	51:38
	Instead, he causes a little shoot to sprout forth	51:42
	from the rotten stump of history.	51:46
	Then he uses that branch as a yardstick	51:50
	to measure everything that we have done.	51:53
	We instinctively know that at Christmastime too.	51:57
	That with the birth of Christ, there has entered	52:03
	into our world a faithfulness	52:05
	which puts our vacillating trust to shame.	52:07
	There has come onto our scene one so pure	52:13
	that all our righteousness is shown to be smudged and dirty.	52:17
	There is a mercy now living in our midst	52:24
	which reveals most of our compassion	52:26
	to be self-seeking and calculating.	52:29
	And we are judged by Christ and shown by his light	52:32
	to be less than we ought to be.	52:36
	As Henrik Ibsen at the age of 60 wrote	52:41
	to an 18 year old flirt with whom he had become infatuated,	52:44
	"You and the Christmas season do not quite fit together."	52:49
	This child, this Christmas child is for the rise	52:56
	and fall of many and we shall make a terrible mistake	53:00
	if we think we are immune from the fall.	53:06
	Good Christians, the Advent season	53:15
	is a season of repentance.	53:17
	The time when beyond all our wistfulness	53:21
	and romantic idealism and transitory feelings of goodwill,	53:25
	we take a sober, realistic look at ourselves	53:31
	and see that we are wanting.	53:34
	It is not enough anymore to say with Thomas Hardy,	53:38
	"If someone said on Christmas Eve,	53:42
	'Come, see the oxen kneel in the lonely barton	53:44
	by yonder coomb our childhood used to know.'	53:49
	I should go with him in the gloom,	53:54
	hoping it might be so."	53:57
	It is not enough anymore simply to hope	54:01
	that Christmas might be so.	54:04
	Merely to long for it's spirit of peace on earth,	54:08
	goodwill toward men to endure throughout the year,	54:11
	piously to imagine that someday, somehow, our lives	54:16
	will have the innocency and brightness of its little child.	54:20
	Because in truth, Christmas now is so	54:25
	and measured against the hard reality of the branch	54:30
	from the root of Jesse.	54:33
	You and I are judged to be much much less	54:35
	than we are supposed to be.	54:39
	There is something wrong,	54:42
	something terribly wrong in our world	54:45
	and in our personal lives.	54:47
	Our pride keeps getting in our way	54:51
	of concern for other people for one thing.	54:53
	Our love for our comfort and status quo	54:58
	undermines our zeal for justice for another.	55:01
	Our wish not to be interrupted in our accustomed pursuits	55:06
	defeats our care for the outside world.	55:10
	An Advent is the season when we repent and confess	55:14
	that those things are so.	55:18
	Indeed Advent is the time when we acknowledge	55:23
	that all our efforts at goodness have been futile.	55:27
	That we are doomed and lost if we are left	55:34
	to our own devices.	55:36
	Our Old Testament lesson puts it in the figure	55:41
	of that lifeless stump.	55:43
	Our history is barren and broken and fruitless	55:47
	it is saying, and only God can make a new beginning.	55:50
	We are dead and clean cut off	55:56
	unless there is a shoot from the stump of Jesse.	56:00
	Could it be, dear Christians, that rather than	56:07
	a season for romanticism then,	56:09
	this Advent is precisely the time	56:14
	when for once we can be realistic?	56:16
	Could it be that we finally have the chance	56:21
	to be honest about ourselves?	56:24
	To pray, "Lord, my motives are terribly mixed	56:28
	and my faith is constantly marred.	56:36
	Sometimes I am afraid and sometimes dreadfully lonely.	56:41
	I go on and on, but often I do not know where I am going.	56:47
	Lord, I have left undone those things	56:55
	which I ought to have done	56:58
	and I have done those things	57:02
	which I ought not to have done.	57:03
	I have offended against thy holy laws	57:07
	and now there is no health in me.	57:12
	Advent is precisely the time when we can make	57:18
	such a confession because there is that shoot	57:21
	from the stump of Jesse	57:26
	and because if we will bow down before him,	57:30
	he will begin to lift us up.	57:35
	This Christmas child does not want our destruction.	57:40
	He does not will that any one of us	57:45
	should fail before his judgment.	57:48
	He comes finally not to cause our fall,	57:52
	but to raise us up,	57:55
	to bring us forgiveness	57:58
	and healing and wholeness for our rebellious	58:00
	and sinful lives.	58:03
	As the Christmas Carol has it,	58:05
	life and light to all he brings.	58:07
	Risen with healing in his wings.	58:11
	Born to raise the sons of earth,	58:14
	born to give them second birth.	58:17
	But he comes as king,	58:21
	as final heir to the throne of David.	58:25
	That is what the Messiah is, God's chosen king.	58:29
	Unless we finish those words of that Christmas Carol	58:35
	by the manner of our lives,	58:38
	unless we can truly sing "Hark the herald angels sing,	58:42
	glory to the newborn king,"	58:46
	unless we can in repentance and humility	58:52
	turn our lives over to this Messiah,	58:55
	he cannot raise us up newness and transformation	59:01
	of our way of living.	59:04
	It is only in humbling ourselves that we shall be exulted.	59:06
	It is only in confessing our lack of wholeness	59:12
	and relying on Christ that we may be restored.	59:15
	I was moved by the homily of the Pope	59:22
	delivered at his inauguration.	59:26
	He said, "Do not be afraid to welcome Christ	59:31
	and to accept his authority.	59:34
	Have no fear, open the doors.	59:37
	Fling them open to Christ and to his saving authority."	59:39
	Why?	59:44
	Because this child, this Christmas king comes	59:47
	also as our savior.	59:50
	Set not only for the fall,	59:54
	but also for the rise of many.	59:56
	If we acknowledge his rule	1:00:02
	and rely on his spirit at work in our lives	1:00:05
	for all our goodness	1:00:08
	and look to him for the power	1:00:12
	to fulfill his commandments,	1:00:14
	then we will with the aged Simian	1:00:17
	in our New Testament lesson, be able to say	1:00:20
	"Mine eyes have seen thy salvation."	1:00:22
	And so you see, it is finally not romantic nonsense	1:00:30
	to believe at this season of the year	1:00:34
	that we can be changed by Christ.	1:00:36
	To believe that he can pour out his sanctifying spirit	1:00:41
	upon us and cleanse our hearts and transform our ways	1:00:45
	to make them fit for Christmas.	1:00:49
	Not if we see that we come to that by way of sober realism,	1:00:53
	by the way of deepest humility.	1:00:59
	By understanding our lives as they really are,	1:01:03
	by confessing that we need a king and savior.	1:01:06
	And by trusting him to forgive and transform and guide	1:01:11
	and impower us.	1:01:16
	Nor is it simply wistful daydreaming in Advent	1:01:20
	to look forward to that vision of Isaiah;	1:01:23
	that world of quiet and perfect peace	1:01:28
	and our evil turned to harmlessness.	1:01:33
	That perennial human dream also takes on the shape	1:01:37
	of possibility if we see that that world	1:01:40
	will also come because of hard reality,	1:01:43
	the hard reality of a criminal's cross	1:01:49
	and an gaping, empty tomb.	1:01:53
	This child, this Christmas child knew our world of evil,	1:01:57
	down the road of his life, past Bethlehem,	1:02:04
	beyond the angels, the glory	1:02:07
	and the shepherds, he met our wrong,	1:02:09
	every bit of it on a hill called Golgotha.	1:02:11
	Our strives and hatreds and our terrible distortions	1:02:18
	with which we warp our children,	1:02:22
	our injustice and apathy and our awful pride	1:02:25
	with which we lay waste our world, he knew it all.	1:02:30
	He suffered it all.	1:02:32
	It nailed him to the cross	1:02:34
	and he bore our evil and died our death	1:02:38
	and was buried with this world's destruction.	1:02:40
	But he rose.	1:02:46
	He was raised from our death.	1:02:49
	He triumphed over all this world's wrong.	1:02:52
	And he promises us that if we trust his triumph,	1:02:58
	we may share his victory.	1:03:01
	This child, this Christmas king and savior	1:03:05
	is set for the rise of many.	1:03:10
	He promises us that his kingdom comes	1:03:15
	when every tongue will confess his rule.	1:03:18
	Yes, when they shall not hurt or destroy	1:03:23
	in all his holy realm,	1:03:26
	for the earth, his kingdom on earth	1:03:29
	will be filled with the knowledge	1:03:33
	of God as the waters cover the sea.	1:03:35
	Fantasy friends?	1:03:39
	Wistful romanticism?	1:03:42
	Imagination gone wild at Christmastime?	1:03:46
	No, it is all reality,	1:03:52
	as real as the flesh and blood of a newborn baby,	1:03:57
	as real as the evil in our lives	1:04:03
	and God's forgiveness of them.	1:04:06
	As real as a cross of death	1:04:10
	and the first raise of Easter morn.	1:04:13
	This child, this Christmas child,	1:04:17
	is set for your fall or rise.	1:04:22
	So repent.	1:04:29
	Trust him.	1:04:32
	Trust him to raise you up	1:04:36
	and then have a merry Christmas.	1:04:41
	Amen.	1:04:45
	("Come Thou Long Expected Jesus")	1:04:52
	♪ Come Thou long ♪	1:05:32
	♪ Expected Jesus ♪	1:05:35
	♪ Born to set ♪	1:05:39
	♪ Thy people free ♪	1:05:42
	♪ From our fears ♪	1:05:46
	♪ And sins release us ♪	1:05:49
	♪ Let us find ♪	1:05:53
	♪ Our rest in Thee ♪	1:05:56
	♪ Israel's strength and consolation ♪	1:06:00
	♪ Hope of all ♪	1:06:06
	♪ The earth Thou art ♪	1:06:09
	♪ Dear desire ♪	1:06:13
	♪ Of every nation ♪	1:06:17
	♪ Joy of every ♪	1:06:20
	♪ Longing heart ♪	1:06:24
	♪ Born Thy people ♪	1:06:29
	♪ To deliver ♪	1:06:33
	♪ Born a child ♪	1:06:36
	♪ And yet a King ♪	1:06:39
	♪ Born to reign ♪	1:06:43
	♪ In us forever ♪	1:06:46
	♪ Now Thy gracious ♪	1:06:50
	♪ Kingdom bring ♪	1:06:53
	♪ By Thine own ♪	1:06:56
	♪ Eternal spirit ♪	1:06:59
	♪ Rule in all ♪	1:07:03
	♪ Our hearts alone ♪	1:07:06
	♪ By Thine all ♪	1:07:10
	♪ Sufficient merit ♪	1:07:13
	♪ Raise us to ♪	1:07:17
	♪ Thy glorious throne ♪	1:07:20
	♪ A ♪	1:07:25
	♪ Men ♪	1:07:29
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	1:07:36
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating,	1:07:40
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	1:07:46
	to reconcile and make new;	1:07:49
	who works in us and others by the spirit.	1:07:52
	We trust God, who calls us to be the church	1:07:55
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	1:08:00
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil;	1:08:03
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	1:08:09
	our judge and our hope in life,	1:08:13
	in death, in life beyond death.	1:08:16
	God is with us, we are not alone.	1:08:20
	Thanks be to God.	1:08:24
	The Lord be with you.	1:08:27
	(congregation mumbling)	1:08:29
	Let us pray.	1:08:31
	Oh Lord our God,	1:08:44
	in this Advent season, we have been directed to search	1:08:47
	to find the child in the stable	1:08:52
	who becomes the savior of the world.	1:08:54
	Give us now eyes to see the bright light of that star,	1:08:58
	ears to hear the music of the angels and hearts to enfold	1:09:04
	the full story of that birth at the end.	1:09:10
	Give us the kind of wonder and awe	1:09:15
	and response at Christmastime that we might reach out	1:09:18
	to a world which is crying for a savior	1:09:22
	and does not recognize the spirit of Christ among us.	1:09:26
	We ask your blessings today on all those	1:09:33
	who do not have cause to be joyful,	1:09:36
	who are suffering in pain and misery,	1:09:40
	who are unable to celebrate because of heavy burdens.	1:09:44
	We ask that you bless those who are in grief,	1:09:50
	those who are ill,	1:09:55
	all those and us who are lonely and troubled,	1:09:58
	those who are seeking freedom and release	1:10:03
	in the very wideness of your love and mercy.	1:10:06
	We ask that you make us one family of love and concern	1:10:11
	as we learn to reach out,	1:10:17
	to comfort and strengthen one another.	1:10:19
	We ask that the hopes of Advent be filled for us	1:10:24
	with a deep joy,	1:10:29
	a rich and meaningful life,	1:10:31
	which is discipleship.	1:10:35
	We ask that you bless us in helping us to know	1:10:40
	our abilities and gifts in preparing us	1:10:44
	for living in this time, 2,000 years	1:10:48
	after the search for this child began.	1:10:53
	Oh Lord on this day, fill us with your light of hope	1:10:58
	and your very spirit of peace.	1:11:03
	For we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,	1:11:07
	who taught us to pray saying,	1:11:11
	Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.	1:11:14
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	1:11:20
	on Earth as it is in Heaven.	1:11:24
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:11:27
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:11:30
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:11:32
	And lead us not into temptation,	1:11:36
	but deliver us from evil.	1:11:39
	For thine is the kingdom	1:11:41
	and the power and the glory forever.	1:11:43
	Amen.	1:11:47
	("E'en So Lord Jesus, Quickly Come")	1:11:54
	♪ Peace be to you ♪	1:13:45
	♪ And grace from Him ♪	1:13:49
	♪ Who freed us from ♪	1:13:55
	♪ Our ♪	1:13:59
	♪ Sin ♪	1:14:01
	♪ Who loved us all ♪	1:14:05
	♪ And shed his blood ♪	1:14:10
	♪ That we might ♪	1:14:16
	♪ Saved ♪	1:14:19
	♪ Be ♪	1:14:23
	♪ Sing holy, holy ♪	1:14:26
	♪ To our Lord ♪	1:14:31
	♪ The Lord almighty ♪	1:14:36
	♪ God ♪	1:14:41
	♪ Who was and is ♪	1:14:45
	♪ And is to come ♪	1:14:50
	♪ Sing holy, holy ♪	1:14:56
	♪ Lord ♪	1:15:03
	♪ Rejoice in heaven ♪	1:15:06
	♪ All ye that dwell therein ♪	1:15:11
	♪ Rejoice on earth ♪	1:15:16
	♪ Ye saints below ♪	1:15:21
	♪ For Christ is coming ♪	1:15:27
	♪ Is coming soon ♪	1:15:32
	♪ For Christ is coming ♪	1:15:38
	♪ Soon ♪	1:15:49
	♪ E'en so Lord Jesus ♪	1:15:53
	♪ Quickly come ♪	1:15:59
	♪ And night shall be ♪	1:16:04
	♪ No more ♪	1:16:09
	♪ They need no light ♪	1:16:14
	♪ No lamp, nor sun ♪	1:16:20
	♪ For Christ will be ♪	1:16:26
	♪ Their ♪	1:16:32
	♪ All ♪	1:16:37
	("Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow")	1:16:49
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:17:26
	♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪	1:17:32
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:17:38
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:17:41
	♪ Praise Him above ye heav'nly host ♪	1:17:46
	♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪	1:17:53
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:17:59
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:18:02
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:18:06
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:18:10
	♪ Hallelu ♪	1:18:13
	♪ Jah ♪	1:18:19
	♪ A ♪	1:18:23
	♪ Men ♪	1:18:27
-	Oh Lord our God, you who give us all things,	1:18:35
	receive now these gifts as offerings of ourselves	1:18:39
	that we might bless you with our whole lives.	1:18:43
	Amen.	1:18:47
	(reverent organ music)	1:18:50
	(organ drowned choir vocalizing)	1:19:30
-	Dismiss us now, Oh Lord, with your blessing	1:22:37
	and accompany us with your grace that from this very moment,	1:22:41
	we may continue our journey through life	1:22:45
	with love, peace, and justice.	1:22:48
	(choir vocalizing)	1:22:57
	♪ A ♪	1:23:10
	♪ Men ♪	1:23:15
	(cheerful regal music)	1:23:23
	(somber reverent music)	1:25:53
	(cheerful regal music)	1:27:54

Item Info

Title:

Elizabeth Achtemeier - "Romanticism, Reality, and the Christmas Child" (December 7, 1980)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 37:47. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 1:04:47.
In this advent sermon, the preacher dispells the romanticism of the Chirstmas season in exchange for the realistic, embodied, hope of Jesus, to whom we confess our sins and prepare for his coming at Christmas. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "Could it be, dear Christians, that rather than a season for romanticism then, this Advent is precisely the time when for once we can be realistic?"

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4wh2dv64

Date:

December 7, 1980

Speaker:

Achtemeier, Elizabeth, 1926-2002

Liturgical Calendar:

Advent

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1125
ref7462_oq7
uachapelsermaud
duke:321122
dcrau002002
ark:/87924/r4wh2dv64
bbb7b18b-211c-4bef-bc1f-1a02e97f050a

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English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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CC BY-NC 4.0

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This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Elizabeth Achtemeier - "Romanticism, Reality, and the Christmas Child" (December 7, 1980)

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