W. Kenneth Goodson - "Unchanging Realities in a Changing World" (February 1, 1981)

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	(organ music)	0:17
	(choral singing)	9:19
	(organ music)	14:23
-	I greet you this morning in the name and spirit	16:15
	of Christ Jesus our Lord.	16:18
	Surely this is none other than the house of the Lord	16:22
	where we gather to worship God,	16:27
	to have fellowship with one another,	16:29
	and to hear anew of the goodness of the Lord	16:32
	through the words sung and proclaimed on this holy day.	16:36
	Let us now, having sung praise to God,	16:42
	confess our sin in the company of one another	16:46
	and before the presence of our gracious God.	16:50
	Let us pray.	16:53
	Almighty and most merciful Father,	17:03
	we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.	17:06
	We have followed too much the devices and the desires	17:10
	of our own hearts.	17:14
	We have offended against thy holy laws.	17:16
	We have left undone those things	17:19
	which we ought to have done.	17:22
	And we have done those things	17:24
	which we ought not to have done.	17:25
	But thou oh Lord have mercy upon us.	17:28
	Spare thou those oh God who confess their faults.	17:32
	Restore thou those who are penitent	17:36
	according to thy promises declared unto mankind	17:39
	in Christ Jesus our Lord.	17:43
	And grant oh most merciful Father, for his sake,	17:46
	that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous,	17:50
	and sober life to the glory of thy holy name.	17:54
	Amen.	17:58
	(soft organ music)	18:05
	No other foundation can anyone lay	18:47
	than that which is laid,	18:49
	which is Christ Jesus our Lord.	18:51
	The Christ who says come unto me	18:55
	all ye who labor and are heavy laden.	18:58
	And then gives us this promise.	19:02
	I will give you rest.	19:06
	In the name of Jesus Christ, as we have confessed our sins,	19:10
	I declare your sins forgiven.	19:16
	May you this day find rest for your souls.	19:20
	Let us give thanks for God is good,	19:27
	and God's love is everlasting.	19:31
	(congregation recites prayer)	19:35
	Amen	19:49
	May I welcome you to Duke Chapel	19:50
	on this cold, wintry February morning.	19:52
	A day and a time when indeed it is good	19:56
	to come into the house of the Lord.	19:59
	And May God's spirit touch your spirit	20:02
	and meet some very special personal need	20:05
	which is yours on this day.	20:07
	We welcome you in the name and spirit of Christ	20:10
	to this place and to this glorious service of worship.	20:14
	Immediately following this service,	20:19
	at approximately 12:05, we will observe our first Sunday	20:21
	of the month communion service	20:26
	in the memorial chapel to your left.	20:28
	If you care to share in the blessed sacrament	20:31
	of our Lord's supper with us,	20:33
	we invite you to remain for that brief, liturgical service	20:35
	at that time.	20:39
	On the back of the bulletin today,	20:42
	you will find a listing	20:43
	of many agencies and causes	20:46
	to which the offerings of Duke Chapel are given.	20:51
	I don't know how you feel,	20:56
	but it is reassuring to me	20:57
	to think about the extensive and extended ministry	21:00
	which takes place through the gifts	21:04
	of those of us who are privileged to worship in this chapel.	21:08
	You may want to take a moment	21:13
	either now or after the service	21:14
	and look over the list of those places,	21:16
	those causes, to which our offerings go.	21:20
	There are many persons of need	21:25
	and with special concerns	21:28
	who benefit from the gifts which we give to God	21:30
	in this place.	21:33
	I invite you to look over that list,	21:34
	and I invite you also to remember it	21:37
	when the time of giving our offering comes.	21:39
	One of the real delights that those of us	21:44
	who are in the Duke community have had thus far this year	21:47
	has been that of having Bishop and Mrs. Kenneth Goodson	21:51
	back at Duke with us.	21:53
	Bishop Goodson retired from active service	21:56
	in the episcopacy in July of last year	22:00
	and became officially bishop in residence	22:04
	on the faculty and staff of the divinity school	22:07
	here at Duke.	22:09
	I have heard nothing but words of praise and commendation	22:11
	about his presence and his ministry	22:14
	among the students, the faculty, and the staff	22:16
	in the divinity school since he has been here.	22:18
	Indeed about his ministry	22:22
	in the entire university community.	22:24
	Bishop Goodson is one who is known as a man	22:26
	who loves the church, who loves the ministry,	22:30
	whose life has been totally and completely committed	22:33
	to Christ and to ministry	22:37
	in the name and spirit of Christ.	22:39
	As a matter of fact, he's a man who is known by his loves.	22:42
	His love for North Carolina and the people	22:45
	with whom he grew up	22:48
	and the people whom he has not forgotten	22:49
	but still loves very much, his family,	22:51
	and those near and dear to him here.	22:55
	His love for the church.	22:57
	His love for the ministry and for all young men and women	22:59
	who commit their lives to ministry.	23:03
	His love of Duke University.	23:06
	He has served on the Board of Trustees here	23:10
	for a number of years,	23:12
	and is now a member of the Board of Trustees	23:13
	through the Duke Endowment.	23:15
	He is known as a gifted and effective preacher,	23:17
	having preached before congregations and churches	23:21
	throughout this country.	23:23
	And at one point, having served an extended period of time	23:25
	as a preacher on the Protestant Hour.	23:29
	Ken, we're delighted to have you and Martha back at Duke.	23:32
	And this morning, we look forward to the word of God,	23:36
	which you, by the grace of God, will bring to us.	23:39
	Welcome, and blessings on you.	23:42
-	Let us pray.	23:55
	Heavenly father, we thank you this morning	23:58
	for the privilege and the joy	24:01
	of coming before you in prayer.	24:02
	Father, we ask that for us each one of us	24:05
	personally this morning, that would fulfill your promise	24:08
	that you gave in Isaiah 55,	24:11
	that so shall it be that when your word goes forth,	24:13
	it shall not return to you void or empty.	24:16
	But it shall accomplish the purpose for which you sent it	24:20
	and succeed in the manner in the matter	24:22
	for which you sent it.	24:25
	Father, we ask this morning that	24:26
	the word would impact our hearts,	24:28
	it would not return empty,	24:32
	but would accomplish the purpose in our lives	24:33
	for which you sent it.	24:35
	We would ask, heavenly father, that we would,	24:38
	through the service and through your word,	24:40
	come to know you and not just merely know things about you.	24:43
	And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.	24:47
-	The epistle lesson is from I Corinthians chapter 13,	24:53
	a very beautiful passage called the love passage.	24:57
	If I speak in tongues of men and of angels	25:01
	but have not love,	25:04
	I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.	25:05
	And if I have prophetic powers,	25:08
	and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,	25:10
	and if I have all faith	25:14
	so as to remove mountains, but have not love,	25:15
	I am nothing.	25:18
	If I give away all that I have,	25:20
	and if I deliver my body to be burned,	25:22
	but have not love, I gain nothing.	25:24
	Love is patient and kind.	25:27
	Love is not jealous or boastful.	25:30
	It is not arrogant or rude.	25:32
	Love does not insist on its own way.	25:35
	It is not irritable or resentful.	25:38
	It does not rejoice at wrong things,	25:40
	but rejoices in the right.	25:43
	Love bears all things, believes all things,	25:45
	hopes all things, endures all things.	25:48
	Love never ends.	25:53
	As for prophecies, they will pass away.	25:54
	As for tongues, they will cease.	25:57
	As for knowledge, it will pass away.	25:59
	For our knowledge is imperfect,	26:02
	and prophecy is imperfect.	26:04
	But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.	26:06
	When I was a child, I spoke as a child.	26:11
	I thought like a child.	26:13
	I reasoned like a child.	26:15
	When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.	26:17
	For now we see as in a mirror dimly,	26:21
	but then face to face, now I know in part,	26:23
	then I shall understand fully,	26:27
	even as I have been fully understood.	26:29
	So faith, hope, and love abide.	26:32
	These three, but the greatest of these is love.	26:35
	Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson.	26:39
	Amen.	26:42
	(organ music)	26:54
	(choral singing)	27:07
-	Will the congregation please stand	30:06
	for the reading of the gospel lesson.	30:08
	Gospel lesson this morning is from Luke chapter 2.	30:15
	And when they had performed everything	30:19
	according to the law of the Lord,	30:21
	they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth,	30:22
	and the child grew and became strong,	30:25
	filled with wisdom,	30:27
	and the fave of God was upon him.	30:28
	Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year	30:31
	at the feast of the passover,	30:33
	and when he was 12 years old,	30:35
	they went up according to custom.	30:36
	And when the feast was ended, as they were returning,	30:39
	the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.	30:42
	His parents did not know it,	30:45
	but supposing him to be in the company,	30:47
	they went a day's journey.	30:49
	And they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances.	30:51
	And when they did not find him,	30:54
	they returned to Jerusalem seeking him.	30:55
	After three days, they found him in the temple,	30:58
	sitting among the teachers, listening to them,	31:00
	and asking them questions.	31:03
	And all who heard him were amazed	31:05
	at his understanding and his answers.	31:06
	And when they saw him, they were astonished.	31:08
	And his mother said to him,	31:11
	"Son, why have you treated us so?	31:12
	Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."	31:15
	And he said to them, "How was it that you sought me?	31:18
	Did you not know that I must be in my father's house?"	31:21
	And they did not understand	31:24
	the saying which he spoke to them.	31:26
	And he went down with them and came to Nazareth	31:28
	and was obedient to them,	31:30
	and his mother kept all these things in her heart.	31:32
	And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature	31:35
	and in favor with God and man.	31:39
	(organ music)	31:44
	(choral singing)	31:51
-	As I have said once before	32:47
	when I stood in this place at commencement time,	32:49
	and if you have ever been a student at Duke University	32:53
	for an hour, the chapel stands alone as a building	32:55
	unlike any other building,	32:57
	in all of America.	33:00
	If there's an unquestioned honor and	33:03
	a frightening experience to be asked	33:06
	to stand and preach from a pulpit	33:08
	in front of which you so long sat	33:12
	and listened to others speak.	33:15
	And I do it with an unusual joy	33:18
	but with a kind of a frightening joy,	33:21
	for I know where I am	33:24
	and what at this moment I am supposed to be doing.	33:25
	My comfort, I guess, if there is any at this moment	33:29
	is to see in the congregation	33:32
	members of the student body of the divinity school	33:35
	who have informed me that	33:37
	they all know how to do it better than I do,	33:41
	but they have come to help me get through this hour.	33:43
	Their presence is greatly appreciated.	33:47
	In addition to that, there are new friends now	33:49
	who belong to the faculty	33:52
	who scattered in among you	33:54
	to bring me rescue whenever I needed.	33:56
	It is,	34:00
	It is more than I deserve to have them here,	34:02
	but it is not more than I need.	34:05
	I am grateful to these kind and warm words of Bob Young's.	34:10
	We have been friends over the whole course of his ministry	34:14
	and over much of mine, but all of his.	34:18
	And I count it a great honor to be given	34:22
	one of the Sundays out of a schedule	34:24
	that actually belongs to him.	34:28
	There is an unusual relationship in my life	34:33
	to Duke University.	34:35
	When were living in the city of Charlotte,	34:37
	and I was serving in its first church.	34:39
	The sexton of our church happened to be a very close	34:42
	and a very dear friend.	34:45
	And one day when he was doing over my office,	34:47
	a stranger came in to see me,	34:50
	and Monroe McGriff told him that I was not there.	34:52
	He said he needed to come back and see me,	34:56
	and he wondered what kind of a man I was.	34:58
	And the sexton proceeded to tell him.	35:00
	And he said, well could you condense it?	35:03
	What does he believe in?	35:05
	And Monroe told him, he believes in three things.	35:06
	The Duke Blue Devils, the New York Yankees,	35:10
	and the Methodist church.	35:12
	(audience laughter)	35:14
	And the embarrassing part about it all was	35:15
	that he put it in that order.	35:17
	(audience laughter)	35:19
	But within or without that order,	35:21
	I come to you with great joy.	35:23
	Would you bow your heads for a moment?	35:25
	It is a quiet time.	35:29
	And though a human voice will be speaking,	35:32
	let a voice far beyond the human be heard.	35:34
	Let the words of our mouths	35:39
	and the meditations of our hearts	35:40
	may be acceptable, dear God,	35:44
	in your sight.	35:47
	Amen.	35:49
	On a sabbath day on the year 1847,	35:51
	a man with a name of Henry Francis Lyte	35:54
	preached the final sermon in the wee church of Scotland,	35:58
	and said goodbye to his parishioners.	36:02
	He had been their minister for more than 50 years,	36:03
	and the doctor had told him that his health was collapsing	36:06
	and that he needed to go away to the French Riviera,	36:08
	and there in the sunshine and the salt air,	36:11
	he may be able to regain his health.	36:14
	The congregation stood there	36:17
	and looked at him after the service	36:19
	and the communion was over	36:20
	and watched him as he made his way down across the garden	36:21
	and down to the edge of the lake	36:25
	that was to take him out to the open sea.	36:27
	They stood there and watched him	36:30
	as he went away in a little boat,	36:31
	and as long as they could see the white handkerchief	36:33
	of Henry Lyte waving from the boat,	36:35
	and as long as they could wave their own,	36:38
	they were saying mutual goodbyes to each other.	36:40
	When it was done, they turned and walked away again,	36:44
	never knowing whether or not they would ever	36:47
	see their minister again.	36:49
	The first night on the way to the French Riviera,	36:52
	the ship stopped on the northern coast of France,	36:55
	and the tourists decided	36:59
	they would like to put up for a couple days,	37:00
	and do a bit of looking around	37:02
	on the northern coast of France,	37:03
	which they proceeded to do.	37:05
	When they came down for breakfast	37:07
	on the morning of the second day,	37:09
	everybody answered to the roll call and formally made	37:11
	except Henry Francis Lyte.	37:15
	They didn't really know where he was or what he was doing,	37:18
	they only knew he was late and he didn't come for breakfast.	37:20
	And they waited for a little while,	37:23
	and Dr. Lyte didn't come.	37:24
	And finally they sent someone up to his room,	37:26
	who knocked lustily at the door,	37:28
	and there came no response.	37:30
	The innkeeper was immediately summoned,	37:33
	and they went upstairs again and knocked at the door	37:35
	and no response.	37:37
	The innkeeper took his key, of course,	37:39
	that he had, unlocked the door, and walked in,	37:41
	and there lying across the bed dead was the body	37:43
	of Henry Francis Lyte.	37:46
	In his hand was the last bit of verse that he ever wrote	37:49
	for a hymn, and it's in our hymn book today.	37:52
	We don't use it anymore	37:55
	for we rather delegated it to be used	37:57
	only at funeral times.	38:00
	And it really wasn't for that reason	38:03
	that he wrote it at all.	38:05
	He wrote it as an unusual affirmation of his own soul	38:06
	and of his own life,	38:09
	but when they took it out of his hand, there it was.	38:10
	It's a beautiful thing that every church knows of course,	38:13
	Abide With Me.	38:16
	Fast falls the even time.	38:18
	The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide.	38:20
	If you'll remember that lovely old hymn, Abide With Me,	38:24
	you will remember that	38:27
	in the second or the third stanza of it	38:29
	there is a line that says,	38:31
	"Change and decay,	38:33
	"and all around I see."	38:36
	Every now and again I have a feeling	38:40
	that these words might be written over every generation	38:42
	in human history.	38:45
	Change and decay and all around I see.	38:46
	There are a good many people in the world today	38:50
	who would say you can write that underneath the lines	38:52
	of the 20th century and that would serve	38:55
	to categorize all of us.	38:57
	I don't know how it has been with you lately,	39:01
	but the last months have been unusually difficult for me.	39:03
	I really don't know how to handle the world	39:07
	in which I find myself living.	39:10
	I've celebrated in this building this week	39:14
	and in other buildings across Durham.	39:17
	And while our fellow citizens have been	39:18
	doing it across the world,	39:21
	with the release of the hostages	39:22
	and my own prayer for welcome of them home.	39:25
	But I do not understand the kind of a world	39:28
	in which that could happen.	39:30
	I do not understand the collapse of international law.	39:33
	I do not understand the breakdown	39:36
	of every accepted form of international behavior	39:38
	to which all civilized nations have agreed.	39:41
	I do not understand.	39:45
	I read with an unusual interest in the paper	39:48
	in the financial section	39:50
	where most ministers are total strangers,	39:52
	and I being one of them,	39:54
	that the prime rate is going down,	39:56
	and I'm unusually glad that it's going down.	39:57
	But they tell me it's good for the life of the country,	40:00
	but I do not understand why it is so high.	40:02
	I live in a world of which I am having	40:07
	an unusually large bit of difficulty overcoming.	40:09
	I do not understand high prime interest rates.	40:13
	I do not understand inflation.	40:17
	We not only have our house in Durham,	40:21
	but we also own a house in Richmond,	40:24
	and once every month I am reminded of the unusual cost	40:26
	and I do not understand what's happening.	40:32
	I do not understand what's going on.	40:34
	I feel a bit every now and again like the young boy	40:36
	in AA Milney's poem. Do you remember it?	40:39
	"I think I am a muffin man,	40:42
	"but I haven't got a bell.	40:44
	"I haven't got the muffin things that muffin people sell.	40:46
	"Perhaps I am a postman or I think I am a train.	40:50
	"I'm feeling rather funny and I don't know what I am,	40:55
	"but round about and round about,	40:59
	"and round about I go."	41:01
	I don't know how it is with you.	41:05
	I only know it with me,	41:06
	it's been an unusually difficult time.	41:08
	And when Henry Lyte says	41:10
	change and decay in all around I see,	41:12
	I cannot really accept it, but I am tempted	41:15
	living in a world of change,	41:20
	that if there isn't any longer any room	41:21
	to dispute that.	41:23
	Not long ago in a class where I was a poet,	41:25
	one of the young people in the class asked me	41:28
	what I thought was the largest single happening	41:30
	of my boyhood.	41:34
	I know what it was.	41:36
	Seems so long ago, seems so far away.	41:39
	But I remember in 1927 the largest single announcement	41:42
	that I ever heard in my life.	41:46
	And the afternoon paper in the little town	41:49
	in North Carolina where I was born and raised	41:51
	carried a headline that said	41:54
	"The Flying Fool	41:56
	Lands in Paris".	41:59
	But in northern Virginia,	42:03
	I have friends who commute to Berlin	42:05
	every week for their work.	42:08
	The old order has changed,	42:11
	it's yielded a place to the new.	42:12
	Nothing unusual about that.	42:14
	You can do the same kind of thing.	42:16
	We were changed in transportation.	42:18
	We've changed in our way of doing things.	42:22
	We've changed in almost in every single way that I know.	42:24
	And you can go on and on and on	42:28
	with an endless list of the changes	42:30
	that we've made in our own life.	42:32
	All I'm saying to you is that	42:34
	we live in a world of unusual change.	42:36
	And with change there always comes complexity,	42:42
	and with change there always comes doubt,	42:44
	and with change there always comes a bit of insecurity.	42:46
	And we're beginning to wonder about	42:49
	is there anything on earth that isn't going to change?	42:51
	Or must we adapt ourselves	42:55
	to a constantly changing lifestyle.	42:57
	We are not the only people who've ever asked	43:01
	that question of ourselves.	43:03
	The Corinthians ask it over and over again.	43:05
	Paul had been down to Corinth to speak,	43:07
	and he had converted many,	43:10
	led many of the people in Corinth to Christ,	43:12
	and they had become members of the church.	43:16
	They simply didn't understand all of it.	43:19
	They didn't really understand the relationship	43:22
	that ought to exist between what a man believes	43:25
	and how a man lives.	43:28
	They didn't really understand the relationship	43:32
	between my commitment and my ethics.	43:35
	They really weren't sure in their own minds	43:41
	how much difference one's commitment	43:45
	to Christ ought to make,	43:46
	and so they began to write to Paul,	43:47
	and Paul began to write to them back.	43:49
	We have only two letters to the Corinthians	43:52
	in the New Testament,	43:54
	but it'll always have that kind of a sneaking feeling	43:55
	that somewhere hiding around	43:58
	there ought to be another dozen letters, David,	44:00
	from the Corinthian church.	44:03
	I don't think you can satisfy	44:05
	the Corinthians with two letters.	44:06
	And finally out of their desperation	44:10
	and out of their unusual ability to come to terms	44:13
	with life, they are bound to have written Paul	44:16
	a letter and said are there any permanent things?	44:19
	Are there any everlasting things?	44:22
	Are there any unchanging things?	44:24
	Or do I have to accommodate myself to a world of change	44:30
	in which nothing any longer will be permanent?	44:35
	Nothing any longer will be stable?	44:36
	Nothing any longer,	44:39
	will have character?	44:42
	One of our ministerial students who serves a church	44:45
	up in the southern part of Virginia	44:48
	sent me the other day a copy of his bulletin.	44:50
	He quoted an old friend of mine	44:52
	and a new friend of his.	44:54
	A man by the name of Collin Morris,	44:55
	British preacher who I've known for many, many years	44:58
	and with whom I share a very warm friendship.	45:01
	There came a time of unusual doubt	45:03
	in the mind of Collin Morris	45:05
	that nothing was going to be permanent,	45:07
	that nothing was going to remain stable,	45:09
	and nothing would remain as it ought to be.	45:12
	And in his depression,	45:16
	and almost a state of surrender,	45:18
	Collin Morris came down the steps one morning	45:22
	in the apartment building where he was living in London	45:25
	and stopped to say a word to a kindly old man	45:27
	who shared a first floor apartment.	45:31
	"Is there anything established?" said Collin Morris	45:35
	to the old man.	45:40
	"Anything that isn't going to change?"	45:42
	The old man helped himself up out of the chair	45:47
	and walked over to his bed,	45:49
	and on a table by his bed took a tuning fork	45:50
	and hit it across the poster of the bed	45:54
	and said to Morris, "Listen to that.	45:57
	Did you hear it?"	45:59
	"I heard it," said Collin Morris.	46:01
	"It is middle C," he said.	46:04
	"It was middle C yesterday,	46:07
	it is middle C today,	46:10
	it will be middle C tomorrow.	46:13
	That's good news."	46:17
	And now abideth three things Paul said to the Corinthians,	46:23
	maybe there are more.	46:26
	Only historically we brought these three into our own minds.	46:28
	Now abide three things.	46:31
	Now abide faith.	46:33
	Seber Teasdale once said that somewhere,	46:38
	one by one, like leaves falling off of a tree,	46:41
	the things in which she had believed and given herself	46:46
	were beginning to fall away	46:48
	so that she no longer believed anything,	46:49
	and she no longer had any place to stand.	46:52
	What a horrible experience it is	46:56
	in the mind of a human life	46:58
	when no longer there is faith.	47:00
	It's never a question of faith or no faith,	47:04
	but of faith in what?	47:07
	Of faith in whom?	47:09
	In whom should you put your trust?	47:10
	Vital religion and much of it is there	47:14
	is ultimately based upon an adventuresome faith.	47:17
	The faith at the heart of things,	47:21
	there is a God who understands and who cares.	47:23
	The faith that life has meaning and purpose.	47:27
	The faith at the cross of Jesus Christ	47:30
	is no mere incident or accident,	47:32
	but the revelation of what is ultimate	47:35
	in the affairs of the world.	47:38
	A schoolboy was asked to give a definition of faith.	47:42
	"Faith," he replied,	47:45
	"is believing in what you know ain't so."	47:47
	It isn't faith.	47:51
	It has never been faith.	47:52
	Faith is betting your life on what you know is so,	47:55
	so that by reason,	48:00
	and experience and tradition	48:03
	and scriptures,	48:08
	you can discover more of what's so.	48:10
	Edison St. Vincent Millay did it so beautifully in a poem,	48:15
	not truth but faith it is that keeps the world alive,	48:21
	if all at once faith were to slacken	48:25
	then unconscious faith which I know	48:28
	must be the cornerstone of all believing.	48:30
	Birds now flying fearlessly across the sky	48:34
	would drop in horror to the ground	48:37
	and fishes would drown in the depths of the sea.	48:40
	I live by faith.	48:46
	They might've been able to have shaken Job	48:51
	had he not been able to say,	48:57
	"I know that my redeemer liveth."	49:00
	Not only does faith abide,	49:07
	not only are you going to have to come to terms with it,	49:09
	in addition to faith abiding, love abides.	49:11
	Every now and again I get a little weary	49:17
	about using the word love.	49:18
	Not very long before we came to Durham,	49:20
	Miss Goodson and I came in one night from a late trip,	49:23
	1:00 or 2:00 o'clock in the morning,	49:26
	and we'd been riding across Virginia	49:28
	doing the life of the church.	49:30
	And having grown up in a small town,	49:33
	I said to Nora before we went to bed,	49:35
	"Let's go check the main drag."	49:38
	Did you never go check the main drag?	49:42
	You know, you just want to go take a look at the town,	49:47
	see that everything is there.	49:49
	In Richmond, when you check the main drag,	49:51
	you go in Monument Avenue, and you turn at Miller Roads	49:54
	and Tallheimers and you go back down Broad Street,	49:57
	and if all is well, you go to bed.	50:00
	You checked the main drag.	50:02
	(audience laughter)	50:04
	Just next to Miller Roads, which is the paladium	50:07
	in the center of our city,	50:12
	there is Lowes Theater now being converted	50:16
	into a community opera house.	50:18
	The marquis was burning wildly,	50:21
	late at night after 1:00.	50:25
	And on the marquis there were these words,	50:29
	"Mighty Love Drama	50:32
	Rated X."	50:37
	It's not love.	50:42
	The Greeks had a word for it,	50:44
	but it never got into the scriptures.	50:46
	It's dirt and filth	50:50
	that would appeal to a part of me	50:54
	that they have no right to do.	50:56
	It won't abide.	51:02
	Now abides love, the kind of love that exists	51:04
	between a husband and his wife,	51:07
	between a father and his daughters,	51:10
	between a mother and her sons.	51:15
	The kind of love without which	51:19
	a home has no stability, no life,	51:20
	no permanence, no future.	51:22
	They will still be talking about it.	51:26
	Now abideth love, but there is a deeper love.	51:30
	A love that is known as agape love.	51:33
	How important is the love that you have for God.	51:38
	How important is the love that you have for your home.	51:41
	How important is the love that you have for your child.	51:44
	How important is the love that you have for your neighbor.	51:47
	But the great love of which Paul wrote to them	51:53
	was not the love that I have for God,	51:58
	but the unusual, unchanging,	52:02
	unswerving love	52:05
	that God has for me.	52:08
	"I love you this much,"	52:16
	said God.	52:22
	We have seen a nation this week	52:28
	come nearer to understanding the meaning of joy	52:32
	and the joy of love,	52:37
	that we have known in a long time.	52:41
	Who rejoices in liberation?	52:47
	The gospel, God.	52:52
	It will never change.	52:58
	It will not wash out,	53:01
	but will be everlasting.	53:06
	Now abides faith, love,	53:09
	and now abides hope.	53:13
	Dennison wrote to his friend, Arthur Halem, once	53:17
	and said, "I write to remind you	53:19
	of the mighty hopes that keep us alive."	53:21
	Tucked away in my files of the year,	53:29
	in my files of my ministry in my life	53:32
	are letters written by young men in my church	53:35
	down in the country	53:38
	who happen to have been the squadron leader	53:40
	that did the reconnaissance flight over Hiroshima.	53:43
	That night in a tent in Okinawa,	53:50
	he wrote his minister,	53:53
	"I hope,	53:55
	"I hope,	53:58
	"I hope	53:59
	that it never happens again."	54:03
	You see, if we live by faith,	54:08
	if we understand the meaning of love,	54:11
	if we live by hope.	54:15
	It was middle C yesterday,	54:20
	it is middle C today,	54:24
	it will be middle C tomorrow.	54:26
	We were speaking about this lovely part	54:34
	of the world last night.	54:36
	We used to do our vacations years ago in New Hampshire.	54:38
	And we went so long ago that the highway system	54:42
	of New Hampshire was more primitive	54:46
	and more beautiful than now.	54:48
	We were there during the days of the second World War	54:52
	on a vacation with all our children.	54:56
	The only newspaper that came in	54:59
	was a paper published in the little community	55:01
	of Portsmith, New Hampshire,	55:04
	which is the largest submarine base	55:06
	that the Navy has.	55:10
	During the latter days of the second World War,	55:14
	the Navy was experimenting with a new submarine	55:16
	that they chose to call the S-4.	55:19
	And when they did whatever you need to do	55:24
	to make a submarine and had it all done,	55:25
	they took it out about 10 or 11 miles	55:28
	into the Atlantic, off of the nine-mile coast	55:33
	of New Hampshire	55:35
	for an experimental run.	55:40
	And they did whatever you got to do	55:44
	to make a submarine sink.	55:45
	And it went to the bottom of the sea.	55:48
	And I know,	55:55
	I know I know that they did whatever you've got to do	55:55
	to make a submarine rise,	55:59
	and it was at this point that it failed.	56:04
	And for 28 years,	56:10
	the 84 men who were in the S-4	56:13
	stayed in their watery graves.	56:17
	Before giving up, the Navy did everything it knew	56:22
	to affect a rescue to be sure.	56:24
	And finally the last thing they did	56:29
	was to go out on Cape Code to Provincetown	56:32
	and find an old diver	56:35
	and send him to the floor of the sea	56:40
	to do a reconnaissance trip.	56:44
	He got there.	56:48
	By instrumentation, he found the S-4,	56:51
	and he walked about it and about it.	56:56
	And while he was walking,	57:00
	he heard a rhythmic knocking	57:04
	from inside the ship.	57:08
	It obviously was the telegrapher,	57:12
	the radio man,	57:14
	and the old diver put his helmeted head	57:18
	up against the ship,	57:19
	and on the inside somebody was beating it out.	57:23
	An I, and an S,	57:28
	and a T, and an H,	57:34
	and an E, and an R, and an E,	57:37
	and an A, and an N, and a Y,	57:43
	and an H, and an O, and a P, and an E.	57:49
	"That," said Alford Lockock once,	57:57
	"is the biggest single question of the 20th century.	58:01
	Is there any hope?"	58:06
	And the old diver didn't know.	58:17
	He knew nothing about political science	58:20
	and could've given him no classroom lecture	58:23
	on what tomorrow may have,	58:26
	but he asked for all the power the mother ship had,	58:30
	and he threw back his air hammer,	58:35
	and beat out against the hull of the S-4,	58:37
	the only message he knew,	58:41
	"Is there any hope?"	58:45
	and the Portsmith paper said that he responded	58:49
	with a J, and an E,	58:54
	and an S, and a U, and an S,	58:58
	and a C, and an H, and an R,	59:04
	and an I, and an S, and a T.	59:09
	It was the only hope he knew.	59:15
	Charles A. Ellwood once said in this institution	59:23
	that we have finally come to that spot	59:27
	that we realized he is the only solvent personality	59:31
	in the world's bankruptcy.	59:36
	Paul wrote it to the Corinthians,	59:42
	and he also wrote it to Duke.	59:46
	Now abideth faith.	59:51
	No way to make it without it.	59:56
	Now abides that unusual quality of love	59:59
	without which life has no meaning.	1:00:03
	Now abides hope.	1:00:08
	The hope that is born	1:00:13
	out of a deep commitment	1:00:17
	to Jesus Christ.	1:00:22
	In the name of the father and the son	1:00:26
	and the holy spirit,	1:00:28
	Amen.	1:00:30
	(organ music)	1:00:37
	(choral singing)	1:01:06
-	Having heard the word proclaimed,	1:03:31
	let us now with one voice affirm what we believe.	1:03:33
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	1:03:37
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	1:03:41
	to reconcile and make new,	1:03:44
	who works in us and others by the spirit.	1:03:47
	We trust God.	1:03:51
	Who calls us to be the church	1:03:53
	to celebrate life and its fullness	1:03:55
	to love and serve others	1:03:58
	to seek justice and resist evil	1:04:01
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen.	1:04:04
	Our judge and our hope.	1:04:08
	In life, in death, in life beyond death	1:04:10
	God is with us.	1:04:14
	We are not alone.	1:04:16
	Thanks be to God.	1:04:18
	The Lord be with you.	1:04:21
-	And also with you.	1:04:23
-	Let us pray.	1:04:24
	Gracious Lord, our God, we pause this moment	1:04:32
	to give thee thanks.	1:04:35
	Thanks for all those things which come from thee	1:04:39
	which abide forever.	1:04:42
	Faith, love, and hope.	1:04:44
	Thanks be unto thee oh Lord, our God,	1:04:49
	for these most priceless, precious, unchanging gifts	1:04:53
	which will sustain us in this day and forever.	1:04:57
	Thanks be unto thee oh Lord, our God,	1:05:03
	especially for the gift of thy son	1:05:05
	our blessed savior, even Jesus, the Christ	1:05:08
	who has come, is come, and is to come	1:05:13
	to give to us the fullness of life,	1:05:18
	which thou has promised to all thy children.	1:05:21
	Hear us now oh Lord, our God, as we give thee thanks	1:05:25
	for life, for health, for beauty,	1:05:28
	the beauty of this place, the beauty of friends,	1:05:32
	the beauty of family, and the beauty of thy word	1:05:35
	so richly shared.	1:05:40
	And now hear us oh God as we offer prayers	1:05:44
	of intercession for the needs of others.	1:05:46
	Be thou near and dear to all who suffer.	1:05:49
	All here this morning,	1:05:54
	all here in our hospital on this campus,	1:05:55
	and all around the world.	1:05:59
	All here and everywhere whose hearts are heavy,	1:06:02
	who know the pain and loneliness of death and loss.	1:06:05
	All here and everywhere whose lives bear the marks	1:06:10
	of stress and strain and tension.	1:06:13
	All here and everywhere who seek relief from pressure,	1:06:17
	release from pain, strength in weariness,	1:06:22
	direction in waywardness.	1:06:27
	Be very close oh Lord, our God	1:06:31
	to comfort those who need love to support them,	1:06:34
	those who have had love misused upon them,	1:06:38
	those who know not where to turn to find new life and love.	1:06:43
	Indeed oh Lord, our God, be thou our way,	1:06:48
	our truth and our life.	1:06:52
	Come near oh blessed, living spirit.	1:06:56
	Grant us to receive all thy gifts with gratitude,	1:06:59
	and shed abroad in our hearts now	1:07:04
	thy most perfect gift of love	1:07:06
	that we may be filled with faith and hope.	1:07:10
	And may we always be mindful of the needs of others	1:07:14
	freely, ready, and willing to give	1:07:18
	oh Lord, our God, even as we have received.	1:07:21
	Hear us as we pray.	1:07:25
	As our Lord has taught us, saying,	1:07:28
	Our father, who art in heaven,	1:07:31
	hallowed be thy name,	1:07:34
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done	1:07:37
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:07:40
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:07:43
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:07:46
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:07:49
	And lead us not into temptation,	1:07:52
	but deliver us from evil.	1:07:55
	For thine is the kingdom, and the power,	1:07:58
	and the glory forever.	1:08:00
	Amen.	1:08:04
	(organ music)	1:08:08
	(flute music)	1:09:03
	(operatic singing)	1:09:08
	(choral singing)	1:14:10
	Grant we beseech thee, almighty God.	1:15:12
	That all of our gifts being dedicated fully to thy service	1:15:16
	may be used for the good of thy holy church	1:15:22
	and for the blessing of all thy people	1:15:25
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	1:15:28
	Amen.	1:15:31
	(organ music)	1:15:34
	The grace of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.	1:18:43
	The love of God.	1:18:48
	The communion and fellowship of the holy spirit	1:18:51
	be with you	1:18:55
	and with those whom you love	1:18:57
	this day and forever.	1:19:00
	(choral singing)	1:19:06
	(organ music)	1:19:30

Item Info

Title:

W. Kenneth Goodson - "Unchanging Realities in a Changing World" (February 1, 1981)

Description:

Sermon start time: 32:47. Sermon end time: 1:00:35.
In a world that is constantly changing, the reality of Jesus Christ that compels Christians to live by faith, love, and hope will never change or end. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Faith is betting your life on what you know is so. So that by reason and experience and tradition and scriptures you can discover more of what is so.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r48c9rj5f

Date:

February 1, 1981

Speaker:

Goodson, W. Kenneth

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Ordinary Time

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1137
ref7490_yfs
uachapelsermaud
duke:320765
dcrau002014
ark:/87924/r48c9rj5f
48d2245f-7741-4f88-bf8e-0d7dfec5192d

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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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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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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W. Kenneth Goodson - "Unchanging Realities in a Changing World" (February 1, 1981)

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1. W. Kenneth Goodson - "Unchanging Realities in a Changing World" (February 1, 1981)

Duke University Archives

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W. Kenneth Goodson - "Unchanging Realities in a Changing World" (February 1, 1981)

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