Eduard Schweizer - "The Helplessness of God - Our Help" (April 12, 1970)

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	(liturgical music)	0:03
-	Beloved, those who know best	2:03
	themselves	2:08
	in the sight of God	2:10
	know their continual need	2:13
	for renewal, for cleansing,	2:16
	for recreation, and for refreshment.	2:20
	Even as we wash our hands and our faces periodically,	2:26
	so we need periodically,	2:33
	with great honesty,	2:37
	to confess our sin	2:40
	in the presence of each other	2:44
	and before Almighty God,	2:47
	in order that when we worship God,	2:50
	we may do so with not only clean hands,	2:54
	but a pure heart.	2:59
	And therefore with the utmost sincerity	3:03
	and with great seriousness,	3:07
	thoughtfully, let us unite our hearts and our voices	3:09
	in our unison prayer of confession.	3:14
	Let us pray.	3:16
	Almighty God, we humbly confess that we are guilty people.	3:18
	We cannot count the sins that we have done	3:24
	nor can we remember all the evil thoughts of our hearts.	3:27
	We have neglected Thy word	3:32
	and have taken lightly Thy mercies.	3:34
	We have not turned away from violence and vanity.	3:38
	We therefore do not deserve the forgiveness	3:41
	that we pray for,	3:44
	but we ask Thee to grant that we may from the heart	3:45
	be turned to Thee,	3:49
	and that we may be reconciled to Thee	3:51
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	3:54
	Amen.	3:57
	When we go into a store to buy,	4:02
	we do so with confidence	4:07
	because we believe that the owner of the store wants to sell	4:10
	that which we want to buy.	4:16
	And if we were prepared to pay for it,	4:19
	we go and ask for it with confidence.	4:21
	The great things in the world that we want,	4:26
	we go seeking expectantly.	4:30
	There is every reason to be honest before God	4:35
	about our sins	4:39
	and to ask for His forgiveness,	4:41
	because we are told in scripture	4:45
	that God wants to forgive us	4:48
	much more than we want to repent	4:51
	and ask for His forgiveness.	4:53
	And we have the assurance of His word	4:57
	that if we confess our sins,	5:00
	He is faithful and just,	5:03
	and will forgive our sins	5:06
	and cleanse us	5:08
	from all uncleanness.	5:10
	And this is the joyful word.	5:13
	It is this word which encourages us	5:17
	to come regularly	5:21
	and ask to be cleansed,	5:22
	because there is such certainty	5:25
	that in the heart of God	5:28
	there is a love which wants to draw us to Himself	5:30
	far more than we want to be drawn.	5:35
	And that is why	5:38
	Sunday is always a little Easter.	5:40
	That is why Christians	5:44
	can be the most joyful and hopeful	5:46
	and optimistic people in the world.	5:49
	This is indeed an assuring word.	5:53
	Amen.	5:57
	(liturgical music)	5:59
-	In the Parable of the Prodigal Son,	9:50
	Jesus, as you know, tells us about the younger brother	9:52
	who threw away all his father's money	9:55
	and after having nearly starve to death,	9:58
	came back to his father and was welcomed by him.	10:00
	Then the parable goes on.	10:04
	Now his elder son was in the field,	10:06
	and as he came and drew near to the house,	10:09
	he heard music and dancing,	10:12
	and he called one of the servants and asked what this meant,	10:14
	and he said to him,	10:18
	"Your brother has come	10:19
	"and your father has killed the fatted calf	10:20
	"because he has received him safe and sound."	10:23
	But he was angry and refused to go in.	10:26
	His father came out and then entreated him.	10:29
	But he answered his father,	10:32
	"Though these many years I have served you	10:34
	"and I have never disobeyed your command,	10:36
	"yet you never gave me a kid	10:39
	"that I might make merry with my friends.	10:41
	"But when this son of yours came	10:44
	"who has devoured your living with harlots,	10:46
	"you killed for him the fatted calf."	10:48
	And he said to him,	10:51
	"Son, you are always with me,	10:53
	"and all that is mine is yours.	10:55
	"It was fitting to make merry and be glad	10:57
	"for this your brother was dead and is alive.	11:00
	"He was lost and is found."	11:03
	(liturgical music)	11:07
-	The Lord be with you.	11:51
-	And with your spirit.	11:53
-	Let us pray.	11:55
	Almighty God, creator of the world,	12:05
	Lord of space and time,	12:09
	we are humbled to address Thee in prayer.	12:13
	We would not have the courage to be so presumptuous	12:17
	except that through Jesus Christ,	12:22
	thou hast encouraged,	12:24
	he hast even asked that we do so.	12:27
	We pray for our three fellow humans	12:31
	who today are out in space	12:33
	asking Thy providential care of them,	12:37
	grant them a safe returned to earth.	12:41
	We hope their objective is worth the cost.	12:46
	We asked Thy wisdom as our nation debates	12:50
	and decides upon future commitments of money and men	12:54
	to the space projects.	12:58
	God, we see Thy children on earth	13:02
	in need of food, clothing, and housing,	13:04
	and we are troubled by the choices	13:09
	our government has made and is making.	13:11
	We're thrilled by the excitement	13:15
	of the exploration of space	13:17
	but we are shamed by the squalor and poverty,	13:20
	which thou see on earth.	13:24
	Grant us light to see our duty,	13:28
	and give us grace to reject	13:32
	partisan political considerations	13:33
	once we know what our duty is.	13:35
	We offer, oh Lord, our prayers for peace	13:39
	in Southeast Asia,	13:43
	for peace in the near East,	13:46
	for peace in Africa,	13:48
	in South America,	13:51
	for peace on the campuses	13:54
	of the United States.	13:56
	We do not ask, oh God,	13:59
	for a peace which silences dissent,	14:01
	or which stifles the voice of change and progress.	14:04
	We ask only for a peace	14:09
	which will give us a chance	14:11
	to let the spirit of Jesus Christ	14:13
	change personal lives and social practices	14:16
	until the kingdoms of this world	14:20
	become the kingdoms of our Lord and oof His Christ.	14:22
	We pray for every individual who has not accepted Jesus	14:28
	as Lord and savior	14:32
	that everyone may do so.	14:35
	Heavenly Father, we lift our prayers	14:39
	for the dads of our world	14:42
	and especially for the dads who are here with us today.	14:45
	Give them patients with our ups and downs,	14:50
	give them wisdom to understand us,	14:54
	firmness to correct us when we need it,	14:57
	and in all things, give them love.	15:01
	Oh God, we pray for a renewal of our spirits	15:06
	to match the renewal of nature about us.	15:10
	And to that end,	15:15
	give us diligence to study the word of God	15:16
	so that we shall not foolishly imagine	15:20
	that our selfish wishes are the will of God.	15:23
	And so that we shall indeed know Thy will,	15:27
	know what it is	15:31
	as revealed in Jesus,	15:33
	as recorded in the New Testament,	15:36
	as interpreted through the church	15:39
	by Thy Holy Spirit.	15:42
	May this service today	15:45
	be instrumental in bringing that about for each of us	15:48
	and this we ask in the name and in the spirit	15:54
	of Jesus Christ who has taught his disciples	15:57
	when they pray to say,	16:00
	our father who art in heaven,	16:03
	hallowed be Thy name,	16:05
	Thy kingdom come,	16:08
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,	16:10
	give us this day, our daily bread,	16:14
	and forgive us our trespasses	16:17
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	16:19
	And lead us not into temptation,	16:23
	but deliver us from evil,	16:25
	for Thine is the kingdom	16:27
	and the power and the glory forever, amen.	16:29
	Before our	16:38
	(whooshing sound)	16:40
	distinguished guest preacher takes the pulpit,	16:43
	I would like to say	16:47
	we are extremely delighted to have Dr. Schweitzer back again	16:49
	at the Duke Chapel after eight years.	16:54
	He is one of the great New Testament scholars of the world	16:58
	and one of the great preachers of the world.	17:02
	Also, I want to pay tribute	17:05
	to a special student group at Duke,	17:07
	who, when you see them most of the time,	17:10
	are not wearing blue jeans,	17:13
	but that is the name of their group.	17:15
	They are the ushers and collectors in the chapel today	17:18
	and during the coming week,	17:21
	they will have a cleanup drive on the campus.	17:24
	And I think it only friendly	17:28
	that I remind you not to leave your class notes	17:29
	lying around on the quad in fashion often engaged in	17:33
	because they're liable to be put in the trashcan this week	17:38
	if you do leave them lying about.	17:42
	We are very grateful to the BlueJeans	17:45
	for all that they do continually	17:47
	not only for the chapel,	17:49
	but for the campus as a whole.	17:51
	And now Dr. Schweitzer.	17:54
-	Dear friends,	18:07
	I have learned through the program	18:09
	that this is a father-daughter weekend,	18:11
	but this was just a few minutes ago	18:15
	so I couldn't, out of the spur of the moment,	18:17
	change the parable of Jesus	18:20
	about a father-son relation.	18:23
	However, if you prefer,	18:27
	do hear a She wherever there is a He.	18:29
	In his parable,	18:33
	it's probably about the same matter	18:35
	with the Shes as with the He's.	18:37
	Now, the title	18:41
	of my sermon	18:45
	might seem a bit strange	18:49
	and it might look as if he had just chosen	18:54
	for attracting attention,	18:57
	however, isn't God's helplessness	19:00
	one of the most burning questions today.	19:07
	Isn't God helpless in this world,	19:12
	or against the war in Vietnam,	19:15
	or against race struggles,	19:19
	or whatever you may think of.	19:21
	Let's listen to Jesus.	19:24
	"Lo,	19:28
	"these many years,	19:30
	"I have served you and I have never disobeyed your command	19:32
	"yet you never gave me a kid	19:37
	"but when the son of yours came,	19:41
	"who had devoured your living with harlots,	19:44
	"you killed for him the fatted calf."	19:48
	Right he is,	19:52
	totally and absolutely right.	19:53
	We may count whatever way we want to,	19:56
	he is right.	19:59
	12 hours of labor a day,	20:02
	300 times a year	20:05
	are about 3,600 hours	20:08
	as a minimum	20:13
	and it might be some five years	20:14
	since that day when the younger brother	20:18
	left the house of the father	20:20
	to throw away all his father's money	20:22
	for drinks and women,	20:26
	which makes about	20:29
	20,000 hours	20:33
	of hard work.	20:36
	And the on the other side of this account,	20:39
	there is not even an occasional kid,	20:40
	let alone a fatted calf and old wines.	20:45
	Right he is, the old one,	20:51
	totally perfectly right.	20:53
	As right as we are.	20:57
	I know of a university professor	21:04
	who is famous in the whole world,	21:08
	and he just doesn't read	21:12
	the dissertations of his students	21:15
	and they cannot pass the examinations	21:18
	because he is just so slow	21:20
	in reading their theses.	21:24
	They're right these students,	21:28
	if they flare up,	21:30
	in opposition to this professor.	21:32
	I know of university hospital	21:35
	in which desperate students destroyed	21:38
	the whole card index	21:41
	of all the patients.	21:44
	They have stolen the show	21:48
	and nobody spoke of the tired secretaries	21:51
	who had to work for days and nights	21:54
	to restore that card index	21:57
	so that the patients could have treatment again.	21:59
	Or I know a husband	22:05
	who insults his wife	22:08
	like a madman	22:11
	because she is expecting again,	22:13
	a child from him	22:16
	although the world just sees	22:19
	that effective and successful husband	22:22
	and nobody speaks about that	22:25
	quite and inconspicuous wife at home	22:28
	who has to put up with him.	22:34
	And she is right, totally right,	22:37
	if she complains and thinks that	22:40
	it is impossible to live with such as husband.	22:43
	Well, I know of a youngster	22:47
	who had to start his military service	22:51
	in one of our Swiss mountain turns.	22:53
	Evening before, his parents phone him	22:57
	and they are told that he would come	23:00
	on his very old and (indistinct) motorbike.	23:03
	Now, around midnight,	23:08
	he gets tired of riding his bike	23:11
	and goes to (indistinct)	23:14
	and thinks he could go on the first strain in the morning.	23:15
	Now his father, very much alarmed,	23:19
	starts at 2 am	23:21
	and drives over two or three mountain passes	23:23
	in search of his son and doesn't find him.	23:26
	So, he's more than anxious and comes back in the morning	23:29
	just to learn that his son had arrived	23:33
	an hour ago by rail.	23:36
	And again, he's right, totally right,	23:38
	if he flares up and says he could at least have phoned,	23:40
	although it was just nonsense	23:45
	to drive three mountain passes in winter time	23:47
	with an old motorbike.	23:51
	All of us, we are totally and perfectly right,	23:53
	as right as the older brother	23:59
	here in our parable.	24:03
	They are younger brothers,	24:07
	and husbands, and professors, and students	24:09
	with whom it is simply impossible to live.	24:13
	And so often,	24:20
	they are the ones that are admired by everybody	24:22
	and nobody asks about those who have to put up with them.	24:25
	And this is not the only true in our private lives	24:32
	where it still might be more or less harmless,	24:36
	this is also true in the world of politics.	24:41
	There are younger nations and races	24:45
	who are threatening our peace and our comfort	24:52
	and it's not always so	24:58
	that are just unrighteous.	25:00
	Where, in this world of turmoil, is God?	25:05
	Where is this God of whom the Christians say	25:10
	that he is a loving father.	25:13
	There are patients' and wives and fathers and nations	25:16
	suffering because of the nonsense	25:20
	of some of the younger brothers.	25:23
	There are even nations dying in bloody wars.	25:26
	Where is God, this loving God.	25:32
	His father came out	25:38
	and entreated him.	25:43
	Here he is, his father,	25:46
	he is with his elder son	25:49
	and his outrage and his accusations.	25:53
	He is with him as he was in his heart	25:56
	with his younger son when that one	26:01
	went to seed, entertaining prostitutes,	26:05
	and feeding swine.	26:10
	No, the father is not in the banqueting hall,	26:13
	in all the luxury and comfort,	26:19
	the father is	26:22
	where his lost and outraged sons are.	26:25
	What is Jesus saying?	26:32
	Did we hear correctly?	26:36
	He says, that God is not	26:38
	in a golden heaven	26:43
	in which all the problems are solved	26:45
	far away from the turmoil	26:49
	and all the misery and wretchedness	26:52
	of this world.	26:55
	He says	26:57
	that God is there	26:58
	where a man doubts	27:03
	and rebels against him	27:06
	and his fellow men.	27:10
	What should move us most	27:14
	in his short story is indeed	27:17
	the helplessness	27:22
	of this father,	27:25
	no, he is not so simply	27:28
	the Almighty.	27:32
	He is staying outside of the gate	27:35
	and he has nothing	27:40
	but his word	27:42
	by which he tries to invite his son,	27:45
	or certainly he could call two of his servants	27:50
	and command them to drag his son	27:53
	into the banqueting hall,	27:56
	but what would he gain by this?	27:58
	The heart of his son would not be there.	28:02
	Love and joy	28:06
	cannot be forced upon anybody.	28:10
	And because the father	28:15
	desires nothing but the love	28:18
	and the joy of his son,	28:22
	he can stake nothing	28:25
	but his word.	28:28
	And in today's world,	28:30
	he puts all his love,	28:33
	he is coating,	28:35
	he's being ready to do whatever he could do	28:37
	for his son	28:41
	but this is all that is left for him.	28:42
	Also as the younger son,	28:46
	he did not call the police to bring him back home.	28:49
	Also with him,	28:55
	he had nothing but his burning love,	28:57
	which was waiting for him,	29:01
	yet had no means to force him upon himself.	29:04
	This is God's helplessness	29:09
	and powerlessness	29:12
	because God desires our heart,	29:16
	its love and its joy.	29:20
	He has to stay outside off the gate,	29:23
	far from the banqueting hall of heaven	29:28
	and has to wait.	29:34
	He has no means	29:38
	to drag us home by force.	29:40
	He has but his word	29:43
	into which he puts all his love.	29:46
	But his word,	29:51
	this word,	29:54
	became flesh	29:57
	to call us back	30:00
	to God's festival meal	30:02
	and just then,	30:05
	it's total helplessness	30:07
	became obvious.	30:11
	They cried, "Where is God?"	30:13
	And looked up to the sky	30:18
	and saw the son of God in heaven	30:20
	and a throne with God upon it.	30:24
	They supposed that he should play policeman	30:28
	and break in with brutal force	30:32
	when so many outrageous things happen on earth,	30:36
	with husbands that oppress their wives,	30:41
	and professors oppressing their students,	30:45
	and children that drives their parents to despair,	30:49
	and, and, and.	30:53
	But the word of God	30:55
	had to long ago become flesh	30:59
	and was hanging just above them,	31:03
	and was inviting, still inviting them,	31:08
	and speaking of Gods love,	31:13
	and did not descend in a miraculous way,	31:17
	but even inside in its silence,	31:21
	it called and told	31:24
	about the burning love of the Father.	31:28
	This is the powerlessness of God	31:33
	who is not content with anything less than our heart.	31:37
	One may call, invite,	31:44
	even entice to love,	31:47
	but one can never force it upon anybody.	31:50
	Well, to be sure,	31:55
	we might tell John,	31:57
	"John, I tell you,	31:59
	"if you behave, as you did last time,	32:00
	"and refuse a welcome kiss to your aunt,	32:03
	"you will learn it the hard way."	32:05
	And John will probably behave	32:08
	and kiss beautiful his aunt,	32:10
	but of course love would not be	32:12
	in the kiss.	32:16
	This is God's helplessness	32:20
	that he has decided	32:22
	to create the world	32:25
	in order to share his place	32:28
	and his joy	32:31
	with creatures that would love him	32:34
	out of there hearts	32:37
	because it is only in the freedom of our hearts	32:40
	that we are able to love	32:44
	and to graze and to find real joy.	32:47
	And yet, this seemingly helpless word of God,	32:53
	even nailed to a cross	33:00
	and reduced as everybody saw	33:03
	to a deadly and definite silence,	33:06
	is still speaking	33:10
	and goes on speaking.	33:12
	It's something like the balance in a clock,	33:16
	which keeps the world on its move.	33:19
	As he'd had spoken to the prophets,	33:23
	it speaks in Jesus	33:26
	for centuries and centuries.	33:29
	It reaches us today.	33:32
	All of us	33:35
	who might be so dreadfully wrapped	33:38
	in our complaints.	33:42
	It says,	33:45
	"Son, you are always with me	33:47
	"and all that is mine is yours indeed."	33:51
	We may not have realized it,	33:56
	but this is what God wants.	33:58
	He has given us his creation	34:02
	to use it.	34:06
	We may use it or misuse it.	34:07
	This is this	34:11
	dangerous freedom,	34:13
	which at the same time contains	34:16
	an almost incredible hope.	34:18
	And God tells us,	34:22
	you should make Merry and be glad.	34:26
	This is what God invites us to,	34:29
	this God who is helplessly nailed to a cross	34:33
	and yet is still inviting	34:37
	to the banquet of Easter	34:40
	to make Merry	34:44
	and be glad, do we ask,	34:47
	with such a husband,	34:50
	and such children,	34:53
	and such oppressors,	34:55
	and such a world of suffering and terror.	34:57
	But God's decisive question	35:04
	is still waiting for us.	35:08
	Do we want	35:13
	to be with him or not?	35:16
	The older brother is standing a few inches from the father	35:21
	and yet in his heart, he is miles away from him.	35:27
	It is the eldest son,	35:32
	the one who is so totally right,	35:34
	as right as we maybe,	35:38
	and with all his rightness,	35:41
	he's as far form the father as anybody could be.	35:45
	It is just his counting	35:50
	and his arguing	35:54
	which separates him from the father.	35:55
	As long as he sees	35:59
	his 20,000 hours of labor,	36:01
	he cannot see the love and the joy,	36:05
	he cannot enjoy the steaks and the wine.	36:10
	He cannot understand	36:14
	that there are men with weaker character perhaps,	36:16
	or with the blood of an adventurer perhaps,	36:22
	perhaps born this way,	36:27
	perhaps brought up in this way by an older generation	36:29
	either consciously or unconsciously	36:33
	and therefore he cannot understand	36:36
	that there is a question which is much more important	36:40
	than the question of 20,000 hours of hard work,	36:44
	namely, the question	36:48
	about his openness to love.	36:51
	The parable ends	36:58
	with this elder son.	37:00
	Jesus leaves us alone with him.	37:03
	This means, that he leaves us with that question	37:07
	which threatens us	37:13
	at the end of his story,	37:15
	is the question	37:17
	whether we are really	37:20
	with the father.	37:23
	We might be as close	37:26
	as the elder son.	37:30
	Perhaps just a few steps	37:33
	from the alter	37:36
	of the church	37:38
	and yet miles away	37:41
	in our hearts.	37:44
	There might be others	37:47
	perhaps in the banqueting hall	37:49
	or in a pub	37:53
	during church service	37:54
	who might be closer	37:57
	to his heart.	38:00
	It's just the question	38:07
	whether we may learn	38:10
	to become happy	38:12
	from all our hearts,	38:14
	because we are all learning to love.	38:17
	This will be impossible	38:20
	as long as we are still standing on our rights,	38:23
	whether it is our Christian righteousness	38:27
	or our atheism.	38:31
	The people who stood under the cross	38:34
	might be more right than even we.	38:36
	They were all Jews	38:40
	in Jesus' time who did not care for the law of God	38:42
	and behaved in a very shocking way	38:47
	and there were others	38:48
	who donated 10% of their income every week to God,	38:51
	like for instance, the Pharisees,	38:55
	but just by being so right,	39:00
	they could no longer understand Jesus	39:03
	who ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners.	39:07
	They asked, "Where is God?	39:11
	"Where is this Almighty?"	39:12
	"Where is this loving God?"	39:14
	And they thought he will just	39:15
	give them a reward.	39:18
	And in the mean time, he was amongst themselves, in Jesus,	39:22
	but with the same as and the tax collectors.	39:26
	In their total righteousness,	39:30
	they crucified him.	39:34
	But I tell you,	39:38
	where a heart opens itself	39:40
	for these invitation of the word of God,	39:44
	things begin to happen.	39:47
	I remember a young couple	39:50
	sitting in my study,	39:52
	we were just discussing the liturgy of the wedding ceremony	39:55
	and I started saying,	39:59
	the liturgy runs,	40:02
	"You, Bill Smith,"	40:03
	or whatever his name was,	40:06
	"you desire as your wife this (indistinct)."	40:08
	Then he interrupted me and said,	40:13
	"Ah, that's just what I do not desire.	40:15
	"I have to marry her because	40:18
	"she is expecting a child of me,	40:19
	"but I do not desire her."	40:22
	So this was the start	40:25
	of a very long discussion.	40:27
	And during this discussion,	40:31
	I realized how much	40:33
	this girl had understood	40:37
	of the invitation God,	40:40
	not to stand on our rights,	40:44
	but to love	40:47
	even the younger or the older brothers.	40:50
	And I saw them, for many years,	40:54
	and she was certainly a hundred times right	40:59
	over against her husband,	41:04
	but she was just loving and bearing	41:06
	her husband and her children	41:10
	in a really good matrimony and family life.	41:13
	Or I remember the notice in our newspapers	41:21
	some months ago	41:23
	about the president of Zambia, Africa,	41:25
	a devoted Christian, by the way.	41:29
	He had sent all his ministers	41:32
	into the small villages of Zambia	41:35
	that are still living in the stone age	41:40
	so that his ministers	41:43
	would experience every day	41:45
	the life that the average citizen of his state	41:48
	would have to live.	41:53
	And they assembled just once a month	41:55
	in the capital,	41:58
	which is more or less like any North American	41:59
	or you European capital.	42:02
	Where this word of God	42:04
	is allowed to speak.	42:07
	Things happen on these earth	42:09
	in small families	42:13
	and in nations.	42:17
	Might it not be	42:23
	the meaning of all life on earth	42:27
	even of all suffering in it	42:34
	that we might learn to love,	42:39
	to love God	42:44
	out of a free heart,	42:48
	and by learning this,	42:50
	to learn also	42:54
	to love our younger	42:57
	or older brother	43:01
	who might not be so perfect	43:03
	as we are,	43:08
	perhaps even by far, not.	43:10
	Might it not be the meaning of all life,	43:15
	even of all suffering in it	43:20
	that we might learn	43:25
	to accept the invitation	43:29
	of the father	43:34
	and to find in it	43:36
	the real eternal happiness.	43:39
	Father,	43:47
	you have talked to us	43:49
	and we have tried to listen to you.	43:53
	We have felt a bit of your burning love	43:57
	and yet we are still uncertain	44:01
	whether we have heard adequately.	44:03
	We know ourselves,	44:06
	we like so much to be right,	44:09
	and we dislike so much to be helpless and powerless.	44:11
	And tomorrow there will be all those	44:16
	who make our lives so difficult.	44:19
	We do not know whether we shall be able	44:21
	to remain close to you	44:24
	in your helplessness and love,	44:25
	close to the cross to which you were nailed.	44:28
	Lest we should listen	44:34
	to this word	44:37
	therefore we pray.	44:39
	Sometimes there is so much storm and turmoil in us,	44:42
	and sometimes we are too much at rest	44:50
	so that nothing can move us.	44:53
	Whatever it maybe, we pray,	44:57
	come out of the banqueting hall to join us	44:59
	as you have done in your son	45:06
	and let your work become	45:09
	the unrest of our life	45:14
	until we learn to accept your invitation,	45:17
	or to let your love overcome us.	45:21
	Amen.	45:27
	(liturgical music)	45:31
-	Almighty God,	58:31
	as we are mindful that Thou has self-limited thyself,	58:33
	that the world cannot be saved without our help,	58:37
	we now stand here in Thy presence	58:41
	to offer our help	58:44
	in money,	58:46
	in talent,	58:48
	in service and time,	58:49
	praying that it may be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord,	58:52
	our strength and our redeemer.	58:56
	Now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ	59:03
	be with us all.	59:07
	(liturgical music)	59:12

Item Info

Title:

Eduard Schweizer - "The Helplessness of God - Our Help" (April 12, 1970)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4pn92h18

Date:

April 12, 1970

Speaker:

Schweizer, Eduard

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0517
ref6239_ota
uachapelsermaud
duke:628426
dcrau002507
ark:/87924/r4pn92h18
14e4d346-d620-4714-a753-06460952272c

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.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

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Eduard Schweizer - "The Helplessness of God - Our Help" (April 12, 1970)

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1. Eduard Schweizer - "God's Helplessness - Our Help" (April 12, 1970)

Duke University Archives

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Eduard Schweizer - "The Helplessness of God - Our Help" (April 12, 1970)

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