James T. Cleland - "Jesus: Dead, but Raised" (April 14, 1974)

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-	I will look for you at the service	0:03
	and also this afternoon.	0:06
	I think you've (indistinct)	0:11
	we don't know, this is a mess, right?	0:16
-	(indistinct)	0:19
-	But you and I both agreed with the director	0:20
	the we would share that theme with the instrumentals,	0:23
	we don't know when they are coming or anything.	0:25
	Be here at 6:00, be out by 6:15 outside.	0:29
	All right, let's sing up those words.	0:34
	When do we form up?	0:36
	At 6:30 we come back here?	0:40
	(indistinct)	0:43
	I'm sorry (indistinct)	0:46
	(liturgical music)	1:26
-	If we say we have no sin,	9:45
	we deceive ourselves	9:50
	and the truth is not in us,	9:54
	but if we confess our sins,	9:59
	God is faithful and just,	10:03
	and will forgive us our sins	10:07
	and cleanse us	10:11
	from all unrighteousness.	10:13
	Let us confess our sins to all mighty God.	10:17
	Oh, holy God,	10:21
	on this joyous Easter Sunday,	10:24
	it is difficult for us to confess our sin.	10:27
	We give thanks.	10:31
	We rejoice.	10:33
	We are exhilarant,	10:34
	but we pray, oh God,	10:37
	that our rejoicing will not blind us	10:39
	to the needs of the world.	10:41
	That our affirmation of the resurrection	10:44
	will not damn the continuing reality of the crucifixion.	10:47
	So now, oh God, we come before you as a disobedient church,	10:52
	our loyalty to you has been lost	10:59
	in the conflict of human loyalties.	11:01
	Our own self-interest	11:04
	has made us insensitive to your command.	11:06
	Our past is precious to us,	11:10
	and we have allowed it to set limits	11:13
	upon the present and the future.	11:15
	Our worship and service have been feeble.	11:18
	We have not responded in love to you	11:22
	nor to the needs of our neighbor and the campus,	11:26
	break our apathy and our arrogance	11:29
	with the judgment of your love	11:33
	and the assurance of the resurrection faith.	11:35
	Then in mercy heal us, oh, Holy Spirit,	11:39
	causing us as a community	11:43
	to be born and new in Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	11:46
	Let us continue with our individual	11:54
	personal prayers to God.	11:57
	God shows his love for us	12:24
	and that while we were yet sinners,	12:29
	Christ died for us.	12:32
	He himself bore our sins on the cross	12:36
	that we might die to sin	12:40
	and live to righteousness.	12:42
	The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.	12:46
	I declare unto you	12:52
	in the name of Jesus Christ	12:54
	we are forgiven,	12:58
	amen.	13:03
	(liturgical musical)	13:06
-	Let us hear the word of God.	20:15
	On this mountain,	20:21
	the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples	20:23
	a feast of fat things,	20:25
	a feast of wine on the lees,	20:28
	of fat things full of marrow,	20:31
	of wine on the lees will be refined.	20:34
	And he will destroy on this mountain,	20:37
	the covering that is cast over all peoples,	20:40
	the veil that is spread over all nations.	20:44
	He will swallow up death forever,	20:48
	and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces	20:52
	and the reproach of his people	20:58
	he will take away from all the earth	21:00
	for the Lord has spoken.	21:03
	It will be said on that day,	21:07
	"Lo this is our God,	21:10
	"we have waited for him that he might save us.	21:13
	"This is the Lord,	21:17
	"we have waited for him.	21:19
	"Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."	21:22
	Let the congregation stand for the reading of the gospel.	21:36
	But on the first day of the week at early dawn,	21:52
	they went to the tomb,	21:55
	taking the spices which they had prepared,	21:57
	and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.	22:02
	But when they went in,	22:06
	they did not find the body.	22:08
	While they were perplexed about this,	22:11
	behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel,	22:13
	and as they were frightened	22:20
	and bowed their faces to the ground,	22:21
	the men said to them,	22:24
	"Why do you seek the living among the dead?	22:26
	"Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee,	22:30
	"that the son of man must be delivered	22:35
	"into the hands of sinful men and be crucified,	22:38
	"and on the third day rise."	22:43
	And they remembered his words,	22:46
	and returning from the tomb,	22:49
	they told all this to the 11	22:51
	and to all the rest.	22:54
	Now, it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary,	22:57
	the mother of James,	23:00
	and the other women with them	23:02
	who told this to the apostles.	23:05
	Here ends the reading of the lesson.	23:09
	(liturgical music)	23:13
-	Let us affirm our faith.	23:57
	We are not alone.	24:01
	We live in God's world.	24:03
	We believe in God	24:06
	who has created and is creating,	24:08
	who has come in the true man Jesus,	24:11
	to reconcile and make new,	24:14
	who works in us and others by his spirit.	24:17
	We trust him.	24:21
	He calls us to be in his church,	24:23
	to celebrate his presence,	24:26
	to love and serve others,	24:29
	to seek justice and resist evil,	24:32
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	24:35
	our judge and our hope,	24:39
	in life, in death,	24:41
	in life beyond death, God is with us.	24:44
	We are not alone.	24:48
	Thanks be to God.	24:50
	The Lord be with you.	24:53
-	And with your spirit.	24:55
-	Let us pray.	24:56
	Christ, the lamb of God is sacrificed for us.	25:05
	Now has Christ been raised from the dead,	25:11
	he is risen, as he said.	25:15
	Thanks be to God who gives us the victory	25:18
	through our Lord Jesus Christ.	25:22
	Oh God, most high,	25:25
	all praise and thanks be to you this day	25:29
	for the multitude of your loving kindnesses to us	25:32
	and to all of your children.	25:36
	It is neat and right	25:40
	that we should praise you at all times, surely,	25:41
	but especially this day,	25:46
	we sing praises to your name	25:47
	because you have brought eternal life to light	25:50
	through the joyous victory of our Lord, Jesus Christ.	25:54
	Having overcome the sharpness of death,	26:00
	we give thanks that he opened the way of life to us	26:03
	and that because he lives, we live also.	26:07
	Oh merciful father,	26:14
	we commend to you this day	26:17
	all persons who in any way at all are afflicted,	26:19
	relieve those who suffer,	26:25
	restore health and strength to those who are sick.	26:28
	In Christ our Lord, who is truly resurrection in life,	26:33
	let the heavy laden find strength to endure	26:38
	and let those who now are in the valley of the shadow	26:42
	see the light of life eternal.	26:48
	Give to the lonely and the sorrowing the assurance	26:51
	that nothing can ever separate them from your love,	26:55
	which we know in Jesus Christ.	27:00
	We pray for all those dear to us,	27:05
	especially those from whom we are parted	27:10
	and who come	27:12
	clearly to mind this day,	27:15
	those whom we name in our hearts now before you,	27:19
	may they rejoice with us this holy day	27:28
	and rejoice in the hope	27:32
	that we do indeed have an inheritance in your presence	27:33
	that is incorruptible and undefiled	27:37
	and lasts forever.	27:40
	And now, oh God, as we wait upon you in faith and hope,	27:44
	may we know your will and serve you acceptably and lovingly	27:49
	all the days of our life.	27:54
	Help us to love	27:59
	as you love us.	28:01
	In the name of Christ who taught us to pray,	28:05
	praying together,	28:07
	our father who art in heaven,	28:10
	hallowed be thy name,	28:14
	thy kingdom come,	28:17
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,	28:18
	give us this day, our daily bread	28:22
	and forgive us our trespasses	28:26
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	28:29
	and lead us not into temptation,	28:32
	but deliver us from evil.	28:36
	For thine is the kingdom,	28:38
	the power and the glory forever and ever, amen.	28:40
	Let me say a word of welcome in the name of Christ to you	28:50
	on this blessed Easter day	28:55
	as you have come to this particular place	28:59
	to rejoice in the good news that Christ is raised.	29:01
	If you worship here regularly, it's good to have you back.	29:06
	If you're visiting,	29:11
	we pray that God's spirit and love will be very	29:12
	present to you	29:16
	not only in the moments when you worship here,	29:17
	but as you leave.	29:20
	Tonight at Seven o'clock,	29:24
	a very special service.	29:27
	The North Carolina Symphony and the Duke Chapel choir	29:31
	will join together	29:34
	in presenting for,	29:36
	"Rejoicing by us All,"	29:38
	Mahler's resurrection symphony.	29:41
	You are invited at Seven tonight.	29:44
	It is a distinct privilege	29:50
	for all of us who know and love Jim Clelland	29:55
	to wait now, as he in the name of Christ,	30:00
	brings us the word of God	30:05
	on this glad Easter day.	30:08
	Dr. Clelland.	30:11
-	The grace of the risen Lord	30:24
	be with us all.	30:27
	Easter is the oldest	30:32
	of the festivals of the Christian Church.	30:34
	Easter has every right to this primacy	30:39
	because it is the historical starting place of our faith.	30:45
	As Saint Paul puts it quite bluntly,	30:53
	if Christ was not raised,	30:58
	then our gospel is null and void	31:04
	and so is your faith.	31:09
	No Easter then no Christian Church,	31:14
	as we know it,	31:20
	or there might have persisted	31:22
	a small association of Jesus followers,	31:25
	perhaps calling themselves the Nazarenes	31:30
	with the "Sermon on the Mount,"	31:36
	as their gospel.	31:39
	They however would have been obliterated by the Romans	31:42
	in A.D 70,	31:46
	along with the Sadducees and the Essenes	31:49
	when Jerusalem was destroyed.	31:54
	Moreover, no Easter	31:58
	then no Christmas	32:01
	and no Friday	32:05
	called good.	32:08
	Now, why is such a statement made so emphatically?	32:12
	Without Easter, Good Friday would have been	32:18
	for the followers of Jesus, Bad Friday.	32:21
	The tag end of a fallen carpenter	32:27
	who had become an itinerant preacher	32:32
	and whose life ended as a crucified criminal	32:35
	done to death on the double charge	32:40
	of treason and blasphemy.	32:45
	Such a Friday would be remembered as the triumph of evil.	32:49
	Why should Jesus' birth be celebrated at Christmas	32:57
	if there is no truth in the Easter message.	33:02
	But Easter does three things.	33:08
	First, it vindicates God.	33:11
	Jesus did not of himself rise from the dead,	33:18
	he was raised from the dead	33:24
	by God.	33:28
	That's the key thought in the first sermon	33:31
	preached by Saint Peter.	33:34
	God raised him to life again,	33:37
	because it could not be	33:41
	that death should keep him	33:44
	in its grip.	33:48
	As an old Scotsman put it in his Scotts vernacular	33:51
	thinking about Easter,	33:55
	God's the boy.	33:57
	And if you look up the word boy	34:00
	in the Scott's dialect dictionary,	34:02
	it means a smart, clever, capable fellow.	34:03
	Now that's what God is,	34:09
	a smart, clever, capable fellow.	34:11
	It's an interesting, but valid reaction to Easter.	34:15
	Second, Easter placed God's imprimatur,	34:20
	his stamp of approval on Jesus.	34:25
	God endorsed Jesus.	34:29
	No up stack, nothing stands in the way.	34:33
	Peter's way of announcing this	34:39
	in that same first sermon was,	34:41
	"Let all Israel accept as certain	34:44
	"that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified,	34:49
	"both Lord and Messiah,"	34:55
	two high titles.	35:00
	As the late Henry Sloane Coffin put it,	35:04
	"The indisputable Easter fact	35:07
	"is that Jesus was our more potent factor in Jerusalem	35:11
	"in the weeks and months after his death and calvary	35:18
	"than when he rode into the city amid the crowds	35:23
	"or sat with his disciples in the upper room."	35:27
	And third, the Easter message encourages us today,	35:35
	as Paul discovered and proclaimed,	35:40
	"The spirit of the risen Christ	35:43
	"can take possession of a person.	35:47
	"I live," and then he denies it,	35:52
	"yet not I,	35:56
	"Christ lives in me	35:59
	"and the life I now live in the flesh,	36:03
	"I live by faith in the son of God who loved me	36:07
	"and gave himself for me."	36:11
	Moreover, that fact meant for Paul	36:14
	and for Christians down the centuries	36:17
	that this indwelling spirit of the risen Christ	36:21
	is an earnest,	36:26
	a pledge	36:29
	of continuing life with Jesus	36:31
	in the presence of God hereafter.	36:36
	Now, do we begin to appreciate	36:40
	why Easter is the primary festival in the Christian year,	36:41
	more important than Christmas, than Good Friday.	36:48
	No Easter,	36:54
	no Christianity	36:57
	in anything like the form that it has been transmitted	37:00
	for 19 centuries.	37:05
	But you ask, how can this be?	37:08
	A man raised from the dead.	37:12
	It's hard for us who are oriented by science	37:19
	and encouraged to be, "Objective,"	37:24
	to accept Easter.	37:30
	With the various and contradictory accounts	37:34
	of the resurrection amount to anything	37:38
	in a court of law.	37:43
	It's a valid and constantly recurring question.	37:46
	Take for instance,	37:49
	who saw the risen Jesus first?	37:51
	Now you got a choice.	37:57
	Was it Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Salome,	37:59
	Joanna, Peter, the two men from the mist,	38:05
	or again, what kind of body did the risen Jesus have?	38:12
	It was recognizable, sometimes,	38:20
	but it could appear and disappear.	38:26
	It more than once entered into a room	38:30
	where the disciples had gathered	38:33
	behind locked doors.	38:36
	Jesus' first word to them on those occasions	38:41
	was a very wise one.	38:44
	It was, "Shalom," peace.	38:46
	They were startled, terrified, worried.	38:52
	We let Paul come to our help again,	38:58
	he tells the Corinthians that there is a difference	39:01
	between an earthly body and a spiritual body,	39:05
	adding that flesh and blood	39:11
	cannot inherit the kingdom of God,	39:17
	which says something to the custom of embalming.	39:22
	But it is the same person	39:29
	who once possess the earthly body	39:33
	who will inherit the spiritual body.	39:38
	The Eastern message then is one of assurance.	39:42
	It vindicates God, it validates Jesus, it encourages us.	39:46
	However, you ask me again,	39:53
	what can we accept as a sample valid proof	39:55
	of the resurrection?	40:01
	There are two facts	40:04
	separated by almost 2000 years	40:06
	and yet intimately related,	40:11
	which make up an answer.	40:14
	The first is, the transformation of the 11 disciples,	40:17
	from the lying, disappointed, puzzled crowds,	40:24
	puzzled cowards of Friday,	40:32
	into the stalwart witnesses	40:36
	for a living spirit of Jesus,	40:39
	who no law court,	40:42
	no jail cell,	40:44
	no hostile mob,	40:46
	no cruel death	40:49
	could alter or subdue.	40:51
	They were Christians,	40:55
	Jesus Christ's men,	40:58
	backed by a group of women	41:01
	who were never again lying or cowardly.	41:04
	And the second proof is like unto it,	41:09
	the living Christian community today	41:13
	in which the spirit of Jesus	41:17
	still lives and acts	41:20
	through its members.	41:24
	Your participation in this service this morning	41:27
	is a witness to the resurrection,	41:35
	which is the key stone of Christian faith	41:38
	and love and hope.	41:42
	For years, almost too many to number,	41:47
	I have searched for a visible symbol of Easter.	41:50
	The crucifix won't do,	41:57
	that's the symbol of the Friday before Easter.	42:00
	The empty cross won't do,	42:06
	it signifies nothing except maybe	42:10
	that it's waiting for the next victim	42:13
	and his name is Legion.	42:18
	And then last November,	42:21
	I came upon a Roman Catholic church, newly built,	42:24
	impressive in its modern architecture.	42:30
	I went inside and knelt,	42:35
	suspended over the altar was a great cross	42:39
	with a curved figure of Jesus.	42:45
	It is a stunning piece of work,	42:48
	but the even more stunning fact	42:53
	is that Jesus	42:56
	is not fastened to the cross.	42:58
	His outstretched arms	43:03
	are above the horizontal bar, that much,	43:05
	and they are beginning to reach upwards.	43:10
	His feet are free from the nails.	43:15
	This is not the Jesus who was taken down from the cross	43:20
	by friendly human hands,	43:25
	this is Jesus, the Christ, being taken up by God,	43:29
	an anticipation of the resurrection.	43:35
	A priest spoke to me.	43:40
	I told him of my excitement	43:43
	and my delight in at long last	43:46
	finding a symbol for Easter.	43:49
	He told me that it was planned, designed and made	43:53
	as a sign of the resurrection.	44:00
	It may be unique in the United States.	44:02
	I wish there were one more.	44:07
	Where?	44:11
	Here.	44:13
	We have a great unseen cross	44:16
	a top the Reredos.	44:19
	It's eight feet high.	44:22
	You never can see it.	44:26
	Perhaps one day	44:30
	it will be floodlit, perhaps.	44:32
	And perhaps they will be given to the chapel,	44:39
	a carved figure of Jesus	44:43
	to accompany that Reredos Cross,	44:48
	like the one in the parish church of St. Margaret Mary	44:54
	in Winter Park,	44:59
	the sign and symbol of the Easter Christ.	45:02
	And now the choir will finish this meditation for me.	45:08
	The anthem begins quietly	45:14
	with the odd recognition of Jesus crucified, crucifixes.	45:17
	It ends in triumph with the blessed affirmation	45:24
	of Jesus resurrected, it resurrects it.	45:29
	It's good to be a fellow worker with such a choir	45:34
	and with such musicians,	45:40
	so let it be.	45:44
	(liturgical music)	45:54
-	As Jesus ultimately gave his life,	55:57
	so we also got to give at least a portion of our lives,	56:01
	as we give these gifts now,	56:08
	we give ourselves to witness, to serve, to love.	56:11
	Use us, oh God, to fulfill the ministry of Christ's love,	56:17
	to and for	56:22
	all persons,	56:25
	amen.	56:28
	(liturgical music)	56:31
	Now may the God of peace	1:00:25
	who grew up out again from the dead,	1:00:27
	our Lord Jesus Christ,	1:00:29
	the great shepherd of the sheep,	1:00:31
	by the blood of the eternal covenant,	1:00:34
	he equipped you with everything good	1:00:37
	that you may do his will,	1:00:39
	working in you that which is pleasing in his sight,	1:00:42
	through Jesus Christ,	1:00:46
	to whom be glory this day and forever and ever.	1:00:49
	(liturgical music)	1:00:59
	(bell ringing)	1:02:12
	(liturgical music)	1:02:26

	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	0:05
Peter	The Lord is risen.	2:49
	And the voice from the throne said,	2:56
	"Behold, I make all things new."	2:58
	(indistinct responses)	3:03
	Amen and amen.	3:12
	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	3:16
	(upbeat instrumental music)	3:30
	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	5:22
	(upbeat instrumental music)	5:51
	The proof of God's amazing love is this	10:50
	that it was while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.	10:57
	It is in the same Jesus, because we have faith in him	11:04
	that do he dare with confidence	11:08
	to approach all mighty God,	11:11
	let us confess our sins to God.	11:15
	Oh, holy God.	11:20
	On this joy as Easter Sunday,	11:22
	it is difficult for us to confess our sin.	11:25
	We give thanks.	11:29
	We rejoice.	11:31
	We are exhilarated, but we pray, oh God,	11:32
	that our rejoicing will not blind us	11:37
	to the needs of the world.	11:39
	That our affirmation of the resurrection	11:42
	will not the continuing reality of the crucifixion.	11:45
	So now, oh God, we come before as a disobedient church,	11:49
	our loyalty to you has been lost	11:56
	in the conflict of human loyalties.	11:58
	Our own self interest has made us	12:02
	insensitive to your command.	12:04
	Our past is precious to us	12:07
	and we have allowed it to set limits	12:10
	upon the present and the future.	12:12
	Our worship and service have been feeble.	12:15
	We have not responded in love to you	12:19
	nor to the needs of our neighbor and the campus.	12:22
	Break our apathy and our arrogance	12:27
	with the judgment of your love	12:30
	and the assurance of the resurrection faith.	12:33
	Then in mercy heal us, oh holy spirit,	12:37
	causing us as a community to be born a new	12:41
	in Jesus Christ our Lord.	12:46
	Amen.	12:49
	Let us continue in silent,	12:51
	personal confession and prayer with God.	12:54
	This statement is completely reliable	13:19
	and should be accepted everywhere.	13:23
	Christ Jesus entered the world to rescue sinners.	13:26
	If any person is in Christ,	13:31
	that person becomes new all together.	13:33
	The past is finished and gone.	13:37
	Everything has become fresh and new.	13:41
	God's mercy never ends.	13:46
	I tell you in the name of Jesus Christ,	13:51
	we are forgiven.	13:56
	Amen.	14:00
	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	14:04
	(upbeat instrumental music)	14:50
	Let us hear the word of God.	20:51
	On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples	20:57
	a feast of fat things,	21:02
	a feast of wine on the lees of fat things full of marrow	21:05
	of wine on the lees well-refined	21:11
	and he will destroy on this mountain	21:15
	the covering that is cast over all peoples	21:17
	the veil that is spread over all nations.	21:21
	He will swallow up death forever,	21:25
	and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces	21:29
	and the reproach of his people.	21:33
	He will take away from all the earth	21:35
	for the Lord has spoken.	21:38
	It will be set on that day Lord, this is our God.	21:42
	We have waited for him that he might save us.	21:48
	This is the Lord.	21:52
	We have waited for him.	21:54
	Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.	21:57
	Let the congregation stand for the reading of the gospel.	22:04
	"But on the first day of the week at early Dawn,	22:16
	they went to the tomb, (clears throat)	22:20
	taking the spices which they had prepared,	22:22
	and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.	22:26
	But when they went in, they did not find the body.	22:31
	While they were perplexed about this	22:36
	behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel,	22:38
	and as they were frightened	22:44
	and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them,	22:45
	"Why do you seek the living among the dead?"	22:50
	"Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee,	22:55
	that the son of man must be delivered	23:00
	into the hands of sinful men and be crucified	23:02
	and on the third day rise."	23:08
	And they remembered his words and returning from the tomb,	23:11
	they told all this to the 11 and to all the rest.	23:15
	Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna	23:20
	and Mary the mother of James	23:24
	and the other women with them	23:26
	who told this to the apostles."	23:28
	Here, ends the reading of the lesson.	23:32
	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	23:36
	Let us affirm our faith.	24:20
	We are not alone.	24:23
	We live in God's word.	24:26
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	24:29
	who has come in the true man, Jesus	24:34
	to reconcile and make new	24:37
	who works in us and others by his spirit.	24:40
	We trust him.	24:45
	He calls us to be in his church to celebrate his presence,	24:47
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	24:53
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen	24:59
	our judge and our hope	25:03
	in life in death.	25:06
	In life beyond death,	25:08
	God is with us.	25:11
	We are not alone.	25:13
	Thanks be to God.	25:15
	The Lord be with you.	25:19
	(indistinct responses)	25:21
	Let us pray.	25:22
	The Lord is risen, indeed.	25:33
	Hallelujah.	25:36
	I am he that lives and was dead, says the Lord	25:40
	and behold, I am alive forevermore, hallelujah.	25:44
	Oh God, spirit of life of love, of hope,	25:51
	creator, Redeemer, and life giver.	25:58
	It is you O God who guides the stars	26:02
	in their mysterious paths, way out beyond our reach.	26:05
	You who laid the foundations and the principles	26:11
	for this universe in which we live.	26:14
	And it is you who cares for and helps the growth	26:19
	and fulfillment of every living thing.	26:22
	We know you have a destiny and a place for each of us	26:28
	here and in the world to come.	26:32
	And we know you help us find our place	26:35
	when we try to find it in fellowship with you,	26:39
	we know you are always with us.	26:44
	Thanks be to you oh God.	26:48
	Especially this day oh God.	26:53
	We know and feel your presence in the raised life	26:55
	and spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord, for he was crucified.	26:59
	He was dead.	27:04
	Now he is raised,	27:06
	raised to live and be with us	27:09
	and with every person who receives his spirit,	27:13
	oh, how we need to be raised oh God,	27:18
	raised from hopeless doubt,	27:22
	indifferent despair and endless death.	27:25
	We need affirmation.	27:30
	We need assurance.	27:31
	We need life.	27:33
	God of all mercies.	27:35
	Listen now, as we your children lift up our sisters	27:38
	and brothers before you,	27:43
	those who mourn, those who suffer,	27:46
	those who hurt, those in prison,	27:50
	those alone, all alone,	27:55
	those hungry,	27:58
	and those who are just weary and tired	28:01
	father in your mercy sustain and support them	28:06
	all the day long.	28:10
	And when the shadows lengthen and night draws nigh	28:13
	help all of us to feel secure in your love.	28:16
	Oh, what a great day this is Lord, for,	28:22
	for those of us who claim Christ as Lord	28:26
	help us this day and in the days to come	28:31
	to know that neither death, nor life, nor angels,	28:37
	nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,	28:41
	nor powers, nor height, nor depth,	28:46
	nor anything else in all your creation	28:50
	shall be able to separate us from your love,	28:54
	which we know in Christ Jesus.	28:58
	For, oh God, Christ has come, lived, died	29:02
	and been raised for us for now and forever.	29:09
	And now let us pray the prayer,	29:17
	which our Lord has taught us, praying,	29:19
	our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,	29:22
	thy kingdom come,	29:28
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	29:31
	Give us this day, our daily bread	29:35
	and forgive us our trespasses	29:39
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	29:41
	and lead us not into temptation,	29:46
	but deliver us from evil	29:49
	for thine is the kingdom and the power, the glory forever.	29:51
	Amen.	29:58
	On this joyous, glad Easter day	30:06
	in the name of Christ may I welcome you to this place	30:13
	and to this service of celebration	30:17
	of the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.	30:20
	If you worship here regularly,	30:24
	it's good to have you where you belong.	30:27
	If you're visiting, we rejoice in your presence just as much	30:32
	and pray that for whatever reason you have come	30:36
	from whatever place you have come,	30:39
	God's spirit, the love of Christ	30:42
	might become very, very real to you in this holy hour.	30:46
	We are pleased and grateful that the worship services	30:54
	from Duke Chapel, as many of you know,	30:59
	have been broadcast each Sunday for 35 years	31:04
	on radio station, WDNC.	31:07
	We appreciate this long and good	31:11
	and mutually beneficial relationship.	31:14
	New station management though,	31:19
	has decided to discontinue the service	31:21
	with today's broadcast, being the last on WDNC.	31:24
	Beginning next Sunday	31:29
	so that those of you who do worship by radio, when not here,	31:31
	you may know the services will be broadcast on WDBS	31:36
	on FM at 107.1 on the FM dial.	31:42
	We are pleased that WDBS we'll be broadcasting	31:48
	the service live at 11 o'clock each Sunday,	31:51
	and that there will be no break	31:55
	in these services being heard	31:57
	by those who worship with us by radio.	31:59
	Tonight at seven, o'clock a very special,	32:04
	rich, meaningful service awaits you, us.	32:09
	As the North Carolina Symphony	32:16
	and this Duke Chapel choir will join together	32:17
	in a presentation of the Mahler Resurrection Symphony.	32:21
	You are invited, seven o'clock tonight.	32:25
	Again, we rejoice in your presence this day,	32:31
	and now we rejoice	32:35
	as the beloved Dean emeritus of his chapel,	32:36
	Dr. James T. Clelin brings to us the word of God	32:41
	on this glad Easter day, Dr. Clelin.	32:45
Dr. James	The grace of the risen Lord be with us all.	33:04
	(coughs)	33:09
	Easter is the oldest of the festivals	33:13
	of the Christian Church.	33:16
	Easter has every right to this primacy	33:20
	because it is the historical starting place of our faith.	33:26
	As St. Paul puts it quite bluntly.	33:34
	If Christ was not raised,	33:38
	then our gospel is null and void.	33:42
	And so is your faith.	33:48
	No Easter then no Christian Church, as we know it.	33:53
	Oh, there might have, pre-existed	34:00
	a small association of Jesus' followers,	34:04
	perhaps (indistinct)	34:09
	with the sermon on the mountain (mumbles).	34:14
	They however, would have been obliterated by the Romans	34:20
	in AD70 (indistinct) when Jerusalem was destroyed.	34:24
	Moreover no Easter, no Christmas	34:36
	and no Friday, (mumbles).	34:42
	(inaudible talks)	34:46
	Without Easter, Good Friday	34:54
	would have been for the followers of Jesus, Bad Friday.	34:56
	(inaudible talks)	35:03
	Why should Jesus's birth be celebrated in Christmas	35:33
	if there is no truth to the Easter story.	35:38
	But Easter does three things,	35:44
	first it vindicates God.	35:47
	Jesus did not have himself rise from the dead.	35:53
	He was raised from the dead by God.	35:58
	(inaudible talks)	36:04
	God raised him to life again (indistinct).	36:10
	(inaudible talks)	36:14
	God endorsed Jesus, no obstruct, nothing stands in the way.	37:03
	Peter's way of announcing this in that first sermon	37:10
	was let all Israel accept as certain	37:14
	that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified	37:20
	both Lord and Messiah.	37:26
	Hey, may not have been before his death.	37:28
	God has made him through the resurrection, Lord and Messiah.	37:31
	And as the late Henry Sloane coffin put it,	37:38
	"The indisputable Easter fact	37:41
	is that Jesus was a more potent figure in Jerusalem	37:44
	in the weeks and months after his death in Calvary."	37:50
	And then when he rode into the city, amid the crowds	37:56
	or sat with his disciples in the upper room.	38:00
	Third, the Easter message encourages us today.	38:06
	As Paul discovered and proclaimed	38:12
	the spirit of the risen, Jesus	38:15
	can take possession of a person.	38:18
	Remember how Paul put it?	38:20
	"I live yet, not I, but Christ lives in me	38:22
	and the life I now live in the flesh,	38:33
	I live by faith in the son of God who loved me	38:37
	and gave himself for me."	38:43
	Moreover, that fact meant for Paul	38:46
	and for Christians down the ages	38:49
	that this indwelling spirit is a nearness,	38:52
	a pledge of continuing life,	38:58
	eternal life with Jesus in the presence of God hereafter.	39:02
	Now do we begin to appreciate	39:10
	why Easter is the primary festival of the Christian year,	39:12
	more important than Christmas, than good Friday.	39:19
	No Easter, no Christianity in anything like the forum	39:25
	in which it has been transmitted for 19 centuries.	39:31
	But you ask how can this be,	39:37
	a man raised from the dead?	39:43
	It's hard for us who are oriented by science	39:50
	and encouraged to be quote, "Objective", end of quote,	39:55
	to accept Easter.	40:01
	Would the various and contradictory accounts	40:05
	of the resurrection amount to anything today	40:09
	in a court of law,	40:14
	it's a valid and constantly recurring question.	40:18
	Take a for instance,	40:20
	who saw the risen Jesus first?	40:22
	Now wouldn't you think there'd be unanimity on that?	40:26
	But it wasn't Mary Magdalene,	40:29
	the other Mary, Salome, Joanna, Peter,	40:32
	the two men from Amyris.	40:41
	But, again, what kind of a body did the risen Jesus have?	40:44
	It was recognizable sometimes,	40:54
	but it could appear and disappear.	40:58
	It more than once entered into a room	41:02
	where the disciples had gathered behind locked doors.	41:05
	Jesus' first word to them on the first occasion	41:11
	was a wise man wise, when all he said was Shalom, peace.	41:15
	He saw that they looked startled, terrified, worried.	41:24
	Well, let Paul come to our help again.	41:31
	He tells the Corinthians that there is a difference	41:35
	between unearthly body and a spiritual body,	41:39
	but in each case, the noun is the word body	41:46
	adding that flesh and blood	41:50
	cannot inherit the kingdom of God.	41:53
	But it is the same person	41:58
	who once possessed the earthly body	42:01
	who will inherit the spiritual body.	42:05
	The Easter message then is one of assurance.	42:09
	It vindicates God, it validates Jesus, it encourages us.	42:11
	However you ask me,	42:19
	what can we accept as somewhat valid evidence	42:22
	for the resurrection?	42:29
	There are two facts separated by almost 2000 years	42:31
	and yet intimately related, which make up an answer.	42:37
	The first is the transformation of the 11 disciples	42:42
	from the lying disappointed puzzled cowards	42:50
	of Friday into the tall what witnesses	42:57
	for a living spirit of Jesus.	43:02
	No law court, no jail cell, no hostile mob,	43:04
	no cruel death could subdue or alter them.	43:10
	They were Christians, Christ men backed by a group of women.	43:16
	They were never, again, lying, never cowardly.	43:23
	And the second is like unto the first,	43:28
	the living Christian community today	43:31
	in which the spirit of Jesus still lives.	43:36
	And acts through the members,	43:40
	your participation in the service this morning,	43:42
	either within the chapel or with a last thanks to WDNC	43:47
	for the last time over that station on the air,	43:55
	you and that radio congregation	44:00
	are witnesses to the resurrection.	44:03
	Otherwise, why would you be here?	44:05
	Why would you be listening?	44:08
	Now the resurrection,	44:11
	which is the key stone of the Christian faith	44:12
	and love and hope.	44:15
	For years, almost too many to number	44:18
	I've searched for a visible sign and symbol of Easter.	44:23
	The crucifix won't do	44:30
	that is the symbol of the Friday before Easter.	44:33
	The empty cross won't do, it signifies nothing,	44:39
	except maybe that it's waiting for the next victim.	44:47
	And his name is Legion.	44:53
	And there's last November in Florida,	44:56
	I came up a Roman Catholic church,	45:01
	newly built impressive in its modern architecture.	45:05
	I went inside and note,	45:11
	suspended over the altar was a great cross	45:15
	with a card figure of Jesus.	45:20
	It is us stunning piece of work,	45:23
	but the even more stunning fact	45:29
	is that Jesus is not fastened to the cross.	45:34
	His outstretched arms	45:42
	are that height above the horizontal bar.	45:44
	They are not horizontal.	45:49
	They are stretched upwards.	45:52
	His feet are free from the nails.	45:56
	This is not the Jesus who was taken down from the cross	46:01
	by friendly human hands.	46:06
	This is Jesus the Christ being taken up by God	46:10
	and anticipation of the resurrection.	46:16
	A priest spoke to me.	46:19
	I told him my excitement and my delight in at long loss,	46:21
	finding a symbol for Easter.	46:27
	He told me that it was planned, designed and made	46:31
	as a sign of the resurrection.	46:38
	It may be unique in the United States.	46:41
	I wish that were one more.	46:46
	Where?	46:50
	Here.	46:52
	Do you realize sitting there	46:55
	that we have an eight foot wooden cross top the radars.	46:56
	Chapel (indistinct) told me that for two years back there in	47:04
	the back of the church, I never saw it.	47:07
	I'm sure you can't see it now.	47:09
	Whoever built the windows and made the rear doors	47:12
	just collided.	47:14
	Somebody blundered beautifully, beautifully.	47:15
	(brethren laughing)	47:19
	But perhaps so that you may see the cross	47:23
	one day it will be floodlit, one day.	47:27
	That means that seven years, at least at least.	47:32
	(brethren laughing)	47:36
	And perhaps one day and this'll be about 14 years.	47:40
	The chapel will possess a carved figure of Jesus	47:45
	to a company that rear doors cross	47:51
	like the one in the parish of St. Margaret Mary	47:55
	in Winter Park,	48:00
	the sign and the symbol of the Easter Christ.	48:02
	Now the choir will finish this meditation for me.	48:10
	The Anthem begins quietly	48:15
	with the odd recognition of Jesus crucified, crucifixes.	48:18
	It ends in triumph with the blessing affirmation	48:24
	of Jesus resurrected it resurrects.	48:28
	Let me tell you, brethren it's good to be a fellow worker	48:34
	with choir and musicians like these people.	48:37
	So let it be.	48:42
	(bright upbeat music)	48:55
	(upbeat instrumental music)	52:22
	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	56:43
	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	57:41
Peter	Oh, God, we know we need you	58:54
	more than you need us.	58:56
	We know we need your gifts more than you need ours.	59:00
	We offer these gifts and we offer ourselves again	59:04
	as ministers of your love	59:07
	to help bind all peoples together in Christ	59:10
	in the name of our risen Lord,	59:16
	we offer these gifts and ourselves.	59:17
	Amen.	59:21
	(bright upbeat instrumental music)	59:24
	Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead,	1:03:25
	our Lord Jesus Christ,	1:03:31
	the great shepherd of the sheep	1:03:34
	by the blood of the eternal covenant,	1:03:37
	equipped you with everything good	1:03:40
	that you may do his will	1:03:44
	working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight,	1:03:47
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord	1:03:52
	to whom be glory, dominion, majesty,	1:03:55
	and power forever and ever.	1:04:00
	(bright upbeat music)	1:04:06
	(bright upbeat music)	1:04:16
	(bell ringing)	1:05:22
	(upbeat instrumental music)	1:05:36

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "Jesus: Dead, but Raised" (April 14, 1974)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4br8rh6h

Date:

April 14, 1974

Speaker:

Cleland, James T. (James Tough), 1903-1974

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0700
ref6602_sw2
uachapelsermaud
duke:628112
dcrau002677
ark:/87924/r4br8rh6h
dd750bbb-2b0b-4373-9ba0-9e0e054999ac

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

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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James T. Cleland - "Jesus: Dead, but Raised" (April 14, 1974)

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