Albert F. Fisher - "Famine in the Promised Land" (August 25, 1974) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

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I will bless the Lord at all times.

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His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

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Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

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and let us exalt His name together.

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Look to God,

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and be joyful.

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Let us pray.

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Fill our hearts and minds, oh God.

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As we gather in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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With the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

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That we may sing your praises with joy and gladness.

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Offer our prayers with faith and love,

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and learn, and then obey the lessons

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of your holy word,

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through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Amen.

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(contemporary gospel music rises)

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As we confess our sin before God,

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and with one another,

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let us simply acknowledge our individual

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and corporate humanness.

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The reality of evil within us,

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and then accept the forgiving grace of God.

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Let us pray.

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Oh, holy God.

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We come together before you remembering all the things

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which we have not done that needed to be done.

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We have seen the needs of the people around us,

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but we refuse to get involved.

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We have had the power to help the hungry and the homeless,

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but we have not noticed them.

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We have had the chance to be friends to the lonely,

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but we have not heard their cries or seen their tears.

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Help us oh God,

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To know our faults,

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and may we, by the memory of our omissions,

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be inspired to join in your action in the world.

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May we realize again that we have not fulfilled

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our calling in the world,

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to which we were called by Jesus Christ our Lord,

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in whose name we pray.

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Amen.

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Let us continue in silence,

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with our very personal words of confession.

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God gives power to the faint.

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And to those who have no might, He increases strength.

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Everyone who asks will receive.

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Everyone who seeks will find.

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And the door will be opened to everyone who knocks.

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May the peace of God's forgiving spirit

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be yours.

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Amen.

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(contemporary gospel music)

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(contemporary gospel music rises)

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Let us hear the word of God

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as it is contained the book of Genesis

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Chapter 12:1-10.

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"Now the Lord said to Abraham.

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'Go from your country and your kindred,

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and your father's house

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to the land that I will show you.

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And I will make of you a great nation.

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And I will bless you and make your name great

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so that you will be a blessing.

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I will bless those who bless you,

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and him who curses you, I will curse.

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And by you all the families of the earth

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will bless themselves.'

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So Abraham went, as the Lord had told him.

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And Lot went with him.

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Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.

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And Abraham took Sarah his wife and Lot his brother's son

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and all their possessions which they had gathered.

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And the persons that they had gotten in Haran.

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They set forth to go to the land of Canaan.

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When they had come to the land of Canaan,

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Abraham passed through the land to the place of Shechem,

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to the oak of Moreh.

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At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.

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Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said,

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'To your descendants, I will give this land'

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So he built there an altar to the Lord

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who had appeared to him.

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Thence he removed to the mountain on the East of Bethel,

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and pitched his tent.

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With Bethel on the West, and Ai on the East.

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And there, he built an altar to the Lord

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and called on the name of the Lord.

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And Abraham journeyed on still going toward the Negev.

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Now there was a famine in the land.

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So Abraham went down to Egypt.

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To sojourn there.

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For the famine was severe in the land."

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Here ends the reading of the lesson for the day.

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May God's spirit bless to our hearing and understanding.

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These words from his holy word.

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Amen.

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Let us affirm our faith.

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All

We are not alone.

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We live in God's world.

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We believe in God who has created and is creating,

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who has come in the true man Jesus,

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to reconcile and make new.

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Who works in us and others by His spirit.

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We trust Him.

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He calls us to be in His church,

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to celebrate His presence,

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to love and serve others,

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to seek justice and resist evil,

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to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen.

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Our judge and our hope.

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In life in death.

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In life beyond death,

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God is with us.

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We are not alone.

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Thanks be to God.

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The Lord be with you.

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Congregation

And with your spirit

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Let us pray.

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Oh God.

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Our Creator, Father and Redeemer.

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We thank you for the wonderful gift of life,.

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With all its joys and responsibilities.

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It's struggle and its meaning.

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We thank you for good health and daily food.

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For shelter from the storm and loyalty from our friends.

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We thank you for the cycles of life

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as they bring to our lives, variety and goodness.

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A time of work, and a time of rest.

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A time of night, and the time of day.

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A time to rejoice, and a time to weep.

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A time of going out, and a time of coming in.

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A time to give, and a time to receive.

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A time to help, and a time to be helped.

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A time to love, and a time to let love come into our lives.

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Oh God, help each of us to say.

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"I rejoice in your gift of life to me,

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and I am grateful."

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But now God help us to look beyond ourselves,

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and to know that we have others to be concerned about.

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Those who think that darkness of soul

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is all that there is to life.

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Those who are living this moment

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in the valley of the shadow of death.

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Those who fear what this day may bring

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and who wonder if there will be a tomorrow.

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All those who have more of their life behind them,

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then they have a head of them.

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Little babies who have begun life this week.

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The children who seem most of all

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to live life to its fullest.

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And the youth who have the energy to live.

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And those of us older who have some answers,

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and many questions.

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We do not want life to be an escape, oh God.

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We want meaning goodness,

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joy, peace,

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satisfaction,

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good health.

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And most of all, the assurance

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that all is well in our relationships with you,

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and with our neighbor.

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Oh God, be very near to us now.

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So near that we not only believe,

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but we know.

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As Christ came to obey you and to love others.

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So may we be obedient and loving.

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We offer these prayers in the name

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and the spirit of our Lord,

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even Jesus Christ,

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who taught us as His disciples to pray as we pray together.

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All

Our father who are in heaven.

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Hallowed be thy name,

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thy kingdom come,

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thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day, our daily bread,

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and forgive us, our trespasses,

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as we forgive those who trespass against us.

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Lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil.

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For thine is the kingdom,

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and the power and the glory forever.

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Amen.

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It is good to be back again.

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I've been away for several weeks on vacation and traveling.

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And it's good to be back home.

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And so in the name of God,

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may I welcome you to this service of worship.

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As I pray that His spirit may speak to you

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in a way that will be meaningful and rich,

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and satisfying for this hour, which you have given to Him.

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To those of you who are new here.

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And there are some new students

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and perhaps new faculty and staff.

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Someone told me this week that the football players

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and the law school students have to get an early start

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on everybody else.

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So, if you fit into either one of those categories

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or in any other category, which makes you new among us.

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Let me welcome you.

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And to those of you who worship here often,

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let me say also welcome

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in the name and in the spirit of Christ.

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May I say a word about the Reverend Al Fisher?

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Our preacher for the day.

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One of the real leaders of the United Methodist Church

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in our area of the church.

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Having just completed

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a term as district superintendent

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of the Goldsboro District in the North Carolina Conference,

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of the United Methodist Church.

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One who is recognized as an administrator, surely.

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As a committed churchman, yes.

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But one about whom I have heard

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it said more than anything else,

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who really cares about other persons.

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And having been a district superintendent,

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I've heard it most of all from men

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and others who have served

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in his district.

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And so he comes to Durham now.

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As the Associate Director of the Office

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of the rural church of the Duke Endowment,

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working with Dr. Wilson Nesbitt.

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He also is on the staff of the Divinity School.

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He and his wife Becky have a son who will be

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a first year student here at Duke beginning this week.

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Another son at Jordan High School,

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and a daughter at Hope Valley.

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And so we not only welcome you out

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to the pulpit today.

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But welcome you and your wife and family to Durham.

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And may your sojourn here be most satisfying to all of you.

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In the name of God.

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Now we hear you as you bring to us the word for today.

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To each of you loved of God and called to be

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Christ men and women.

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Grace and peace from God the Father,

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and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

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The scripture lesson this morning,

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tells us, of a little heard and a little you story.

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Of the children of Israel

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first venture into the promised land.

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You know, we usually think of Moses

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and connection with the promised land

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as he led the children of Israel through 40 years

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in the wilderness.

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Story which ends tragically for Moses,

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as he's not able to enter the promised land

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because of his own failures.

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But actually Abraham was the first to go into that country.

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And this story out of the 12th chapter of Genesis,

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tells about it.

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God speaks to Abraham.

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Tells him to leave his country as Kindred.

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His father's house and go to a land

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to which he would direct him.

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And Abraham did.

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Taking with him Lot.

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They cared all of their belongings and their families

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and made the long journey.

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When they came to this land.

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We find the first thing Abraham does

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is to build an altar to his God.

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Abraham found, however that the promised land

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was not the paradise that he had anticipated.

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We can imagine something of his dismay to have come so far.

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Travel being what it was in that time.

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Only to find this land which God had directed him,

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to which God told him he would give to his descendants,

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to be a land of starvation and famine.

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The scripture doesn't tell us what went on

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in his mind at this time.

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Perhaps he panicked.

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Obviously he did not wait to find out what the Lord

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would direct him to do in this time of crisis.

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But we find him packing a gain,

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and moving on in to Egypt.

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And we know from the scripture,

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that this was not the best alternative for him.

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The lesson that we learned from this story

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is that there is famine, even in the promised land.

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You know, we have a way of looking forward

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to a new land, or a new set of circumstances,

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a new position,

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as being able to solve all of our problems.

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Parents look to the time when their children will be grown,

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finish school on their own,

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as a time when they can do some of the things

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they haven't been able to do through the years.

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Only to find that there is an emotional famine

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in their lives because they're alone.

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Young people look to marriage

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and assume that it will mean that

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the solution of their problems,

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that they will now be accepted as full members of society.

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Only to find as a clan of old that they've simply swapped

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one set of problems for another.

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During World War II,

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our country was caught up and carried away

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in a great patriotic effort.

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We believe that if we could vanquish the Nazis

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that we would be living in the promised land.

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We did just that.

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But what did we find?

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We found that our troubles were many,

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in different arenas, perhaps, but many.

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And yet I would have to say this morning that we truly live

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in the promised land.

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There is no question about that.

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Never in the history of man,

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has there been a more affluent people,

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than those of us who live now,

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in this time,

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in the United States of America.

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I'm just amazed at what I see.

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As Bob indicated in his introduction

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this morning about our background.

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We've served for 20 years in the Methodist Church,

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and we've lived in Methodist parsonages.

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And they've been provided for us, and in a marvelous way.

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This new job that I've come to,

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means that we have to provide our own housing.

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And so we've had to go out on the marketplace

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and furnish a house...

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Buy a house, first of all and then furnish it.

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You know, I've never had the opportunity of shopping

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for the things that go into a house.

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When you start looking for appliances,

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you can find just anything today.

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Looking for a refrigerator, for instance.

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You can find them that not only cool,

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but they freeze, and then they have a compartment,

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that'll keep ice cream real cool.

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They have one that'll keep butter real soft,

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all within the confines of the refrigerator.

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They have dispensers that you can get on the doors

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that you can fill with soft drinks,

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and have your own soda fountain.

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They make ice, and they never have to be defrosted.

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Now, this kind of marvel,

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to one who can remember

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when the ice truck went through town,

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leaving its telltale trail of water.

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The stove, amazing.

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A timer that can cut food on,

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and you don't even have to be there, cut it off.

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The oven has a new unit that heats in a hurry.

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Not only that,

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you turn a button and the oven will clean itself.

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Or I could go on to the washing machine

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that another marvel of our time.

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Has a half dozen settings for soft fabrics

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and hard for warm water,

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cool water, you name it, we can find it.

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And I can remember the wash pot in the backyard.

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Now what I've said about appliances,

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we can say about almost any area of our existence.

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The marvels of the medical world,

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the food industry,

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the things that you and I go down

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and purchase without even thinking about it.

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It is the promised land.

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But alas, there is famine

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in the promised land.

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The famine is obvious in several areas.

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Today, a tremendous amount of legislative time

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and tremendous amounts of money are being poured

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into a program to eliminate poverty.

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Yes, in the promised land of America,

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there is poverty.

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I clipped an editorial cartoon

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out of the news and observer sometime ago.

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This cartoon showed a typical American home.

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Had a big picture window.

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And on the front door, the letters USA.

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As you looked into the big picture window,

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you could see a family sitting at the table.

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And the table was laden with food.

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All kinds.

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I can remember the picture very vividly,

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the largest single item, being a turkey.

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The candles are lit, as if it's a festive occasion,

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Thanksgiving, Christmas, the 4th of July.

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And as the family's beginning to eat,

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a knock comes at the door.

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Standing at the door is an emaciated,

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gaunt, stooped old man.

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Written across his back

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the words "hunger at home"

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The voice from inside calls out to him,

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"You must have the wrong address,

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we're a prosperous people"

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And yet I was visiting in the hospital

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and was asked to visit,

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a young girl, five years old.

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She was only the size of a two-year old.

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She had been found just before she starved to death.

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And that in North Carolina.

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Poverty may be viewed as a downward circling spiral,

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whose parts continually feed upon each other

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to drive the spiral further down.

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For example;

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Unstable employment, is conducive to ill health,

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which means that a person can't hold a job regularly.

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Low family income,

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encourages a youth to drop out of school.

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And this sets the limit,

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in the kind of advancement he can hope for in life.

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A slum environment,

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fosters crime and juvenile delinquency.

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Which in turn produces an environment

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of social disorganization and apathy.

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And the slum worsens.

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Thus, the spiral continues downward.

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We have famine

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in promised land.

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And if I'm any judge today,

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we have a new type of famine in our country.

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It comes to those who live on fixed income.

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Living with a fixed income.

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They're caught up in a runaway inflation.

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And I can think about some of my own family

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who are living on on Social Security

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and how impossible it must be,

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to live in these times of inflation.

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There are other kinds of famine.

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There's a moral famine in promised land.

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No better example can be found and that of Watergate.

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last Sunday's Durham morning Herald carried

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an article about the 97th Convention

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of The American Bar Association.

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A great part of the time at that convention

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was spend on Watergate, why?

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Why did it happen?

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What were the factors that brought it on?

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At least two of the key speakers there,

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said that the men

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who perpetrated Watergate were immoral.

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Men in the highest positions in our country.

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Senator Sam Ervin speaking at The Bar Convention said.

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"The lust for political power of the presidential aides

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who perpetrated Watergate on America,

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blinded them to the laws of God,

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as well as the laws and ethics of men"

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Senator Ervin went on to say that the laws of men

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would not keep Watergate from happening again.

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The law, he said does not make men good.

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The tasks can be performed only by ethics,

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or religion,

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or morality.

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I heard an interesting statistic,

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while driving in my automobile last week

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that verifies what Senator Sam was saying.

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This commentator was talking about,

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the number of people in prison,

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in various countries throughout the world.

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And he gave an example from a Scandinavian country

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where 50 people for every 200,000 people

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are in prison.

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In the United States,

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200 people of every 100 thousand

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are now in prison.

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We could continue to talk about areas of famine.

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There are many others.

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There's the permissiveness of our time.

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The famine caused by the misuse of our natural resources.

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It must be obvious to you as it is to me,

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that even though we are the most affluent people

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in all time.

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Truly the promised land,

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there is famine here.

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What do we do about it?

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How do we cope with it?

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Well, of course the immediate possibility

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is to escape to Egypt, as Abraham did.

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As it turned out,

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this was not the best possibility for Abraham.

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To exist in Egypt meant that Abraham had to live

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in a false situation.

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We didn't go ahead and read the last part of that chapter,

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chapter 12 this morning.

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If you go on and read that,

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you'll find how as they went into to Egypt.

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Abraham became quite concerned for his own safety.

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Sarah his wife was a very beautiful woman.

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And he knew if the Pharaoh saw her.

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Living in that kind of a world.

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That he'd take care of Abraham

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so that he could take Sarah into his place.

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Abraham knew this.

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And so he had Sarah to become his sister.

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And this way she was still taken by Pharaoh,

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but Abraham was able to preserve his life.

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A far greater importance than that even,

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was the fact that in Egypt

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he could not call upon his God,

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could not build an altar to his God.

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He had to live a lie.

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But he chose to live with these kinds of ambiguities.

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You know, we're often caught in the same situation.

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We find ourselves in places where it's much easier

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to try to escape from facing the realities.

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Even if it means we have to live a lie.

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There are many ways of escaping,

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it's possible to escape in religion.

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We can accept an unrealistic religion

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and by such action, escape.

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It can be said of a certain kind of religion

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that it's so heavenly minded that it's no earthly good.

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It is this kind of religion that Karl Marx called

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"The opiate of the people"

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I suppose it was the only kind of religion that he saw.

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And he took this as normative,

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of what the Christian life is about.

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Some people are saying that there's

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a religious revival underway in our country today.

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It is an extremely personal religious experience

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as emphasized, if indeed such a revival is going on.

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My observation of the new pietism of today

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is that it too has a danger,

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of being so inwardly directed,

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and so preoccupied with personal salvation,

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that it fails to seize

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the concern that God places upon all of us,

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for all of the people about us.

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It is though possible.

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For us to find an escape,

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in our religious experience.

42:31

There are other ways of escaping.

42:36

We can employ easy solutions.

42:40

This is to take an action that will handle

42:44

the situation for the moment.

42:46

I suppose that,

42:53

we could look about us at our friends

42:57

and find many people who find various kinds

42:59

of temporary means of escape.

43:02

A man finds that he's in trouble with his son.

43:06

And he says to him,

43:08

"I know you can do better.

43:11

I'm going to give you an automobile,

43:13

will you do better?"

43:14

What's his response?

43:17

"Of course dad"

43:19

Does he?

43:22

Of course not.

43:24

Not even God helps in that kind of a situation.

43:26

God can only help him change

43:31

when the pain of his rejection has been removed.

43:33

So many people in their personal experiences though,

43:41

try to escape from the realities about them

43:45

from the famine that seems to have come to their lives.

43:47

One of the great problems of our time is alcoholism.

43:52

More often than not it is an escape.

43:55

A temporary solution to a problem

43:59

that needs to be handled.

44:02

Well, serving for 15 years in local churches

44:05

across Eastern North Carolina.

44:08

I watched an interesting phenomenon take place.

44:10

During a normal pastorate in a church.

44:17

There would be a time when

44:21

there would be a new family to come in to the church.

44:22

Usually they would have moved from another church

44:26

within the community.

44:29

But they would see the church that I was serving

44:32

as the answer to their needs, so they joined.

44:34

It wouldn't be long before they began to find problems

44:40

with that church, and with that preacher,

44:42

and with that situation.

44:44

And before many months were gone,

44:47

they'd be moved on to another church.

44:49

Trying to find

44:52

a solution to their problem, a temporary one.

44:56

They were trying to escape.

45:00

Because they were not

45:03

willing to look within themselves to see

45:05

if the problem might really be theirs,

45:07

and not the churches.

45:10

While serving as superintendent

45:13

I saw this in another way with churches

45:15

who felt that their problem was with their pastor.

45:18

And in the Methodist church we moved people,

45:23

at annual conference time.

45:27

And so a pastor normally stays for a year.

45:29

And after Christmas usually as we began

45:32

to work toward conference.

45:35

Many of these churches will come and say,

45:36

"you know, this man, or this woman

45:37

is just not doing the job for us.

45:40

We've got to have another pastor."

45:42

And so it goes through the agony,

45:45

and finally make a change.

45:47

And next year is probably going to be

45:50

the same problem again.

45:51

Because very often,

45:54

the problem is that of the churches,

45:56

and not the pastors.

45:59

No matter how we choose to escape,

46:02

sooner or later we come to the moment of truth.

46:06

That's what happened to Abraham.

46:09

He was a good man.

46:12

In fact, Abraham was a great man.

46:14

We look at him and his life.

46:17

We must come to understand that.

46:19

But he was also a normal person.

46:22

And so his tendency was to try to escape from his problems.

46:25

So when the famine came to them,

46:30

as they moved into Canaan,

46:33

they began to look somewhere else,

46:36

to try to escape from.

46:38

But the day of judgment came to Abraham.

46:46

The Pharaoh found out about his deceit.

46:52

And he had to leave.

46:57

And he did an interesting thing.

46:59

For instead of continuing to travel he turned back,

47:03

to where he had been.

47:07

And this opens a second choice that's available to us.

47:10

It's to tough it out in the promised land,

47:13

during the time of famine.

47:16

Perhaps if we struggle in these hard times,

47:19

and these difficult times,

47:22

and because of the struggle,

47:23

we will find ourselves able

47:26

to build a stronger tomorrow.

47:29

To face the famine, is the manlier.

47:32

Very often the one we try to avoid.

47:37

This is exactly what Abraham did in the final analysis.

47:43

Turning back, he went to where he had built the altar

47:47

in the beginning,

47:50

when he returned there to Ai,

47:52

he fell down and call upon the name of the Lord.

47:53

We cannot help, but wonder,

47:58

how different it would have been,

48:01

had Abraham done that in the first place.

48:02

The trouble is, he wasted so much time,

48:08

trying to escape,

48:11

before he faced the reality of the situation.

48:13

And you know, our tragedy is the same.

48:17

We to try every means of escape we can,

48:20

before we really face the issues,

48:23

and try to deal with them constructively.

48:27

We have in our stereo record collection,

48:31

the music from a Broadway musical titled Purlie,

48:36

the music is exciting.

48:41

The major contribution of the play is the story.

48:44

It takes place on a small Georgia town, in the recent past.

48:48

The play is a story of Purlie,

48:54

a young black preacher.

48:57

And his attempts to get Big Bethel,

48:59

which is a church not being used.

49:02

From which he can preach his gospel of freedom,

49:08

his new gospel as he calls it a freedom.

49:13

Purlie talks about himself as a preacher,

49:17

and he says, "I'm a New Fangled Preacher Man."

49:19

He's come back to Georgia to free his people.

49:23

But apparently finds himself frustrated

49:28

as he tries to get Big Bethel.

49:30

The only way he can get it is through Captain Ketchup,

49:34

who is a white landowner in Georgia.

49:40

And he seems frustrated at every turn.

49:43

And finally, he develops a scheme,

49:47

not all honest,

49:50

but nonetheless away to get Big Bethel.

49:51

But even that scheme is uncovered,

49:55

and the plan fails.

49:58

He's frustrated, he's defeated.

50:01

So he sees it on it answer as for him to leave,

50:04

to go back North.

50:08

And at this point in the musical,

50:11

he sings about it with a sister-in-law Missy.

50:13

Purlie sings.

50:17

"You can have your black-eyed peas,

50:19

the morning glories and the trees.

50:21

You just can't do the things you please

50:24

crawling on your knees down home.

50:26

Up North, that's the place to be Up North Up North.

50:29

Up North ask Missy,

50:33

you're seven living in a room,

50:36

up above a cheap saloon.

50:38

Your future is tied to a broom,

50:41

freedom doesn't bloom Up North,

50:47

down home about is better off, down-home."

50:50

Purlie responds.

50:55

"I'm sick of flopping in this shack,

50:56

paper stuffing in the cracks,

50:59

toting around a burlap bag.

51:01

The world gets on your back, down-home.

51:03

Up North sister, picture me Up North."

51:07

and Missy Sings.

51:11

"I see you sitting on a concrete step.

51:13

I see you picking knots and three have been.

51:16

You're never loving soul, he did.

51:20

That's the deal you'd get Up North,

51:23

down home a body is better off down-home.

51:26

The answer brother to your prayers

51:30

ain't living up no flight of stairs,

51:32

is having you a fair share

51:35

of the old country air, down-home."

51:37

What Missy was saying to Purlie.

51:43

What we come to understand out of Abraham's experience,

51:46

as he went on into Egypt,

51:50

is that the great issues of life,

51:54

the times of famine,

51:59

must be faced where they are.

52:02

It is a marvelous country in which we live.

52:08

It is truly the promised land,

52:11

there are problems.

52:14

Problems and the government.

52:16

Problems in the culture in our society,

52:19

in our community.

52:22

In our own homes and in our personal lives.

52:24

The escape mechanisms that we employ,

52:28

our stop gap at best.

52:31

For each of us,

52:34

there must be a way to deal with them,

52:36

now and effectively.

52:39

For I believe that's the only hope

52:42

for meaningful existence.

52:45

And I believe that's the lesson

52:49

that we come to understand,

52:52

out of this first venture into the promised land.

52:55

Let us pray.

53:00

Almighty God who has given so much to us.

53:05

Who has given us life in this time.

53:14

Our prayer is

53:24

that each day will find us growing,

53:27

dealing with the problems that come.

53:32

Knowing that famine is a normal part of life.

53:36

And that if we live long enough,

53:42

some kind of famine

53:45

will test our faith.

53:48

Give us the strength to deal with it at that moment.

53:50

For we know that victory comes,

53:56

as we seek to deal with these problems,

54:01

with your help,

54:06

and your strength.

54:08

For you have promised us that through you,

54:11

all things are possible.

54:15

Amen.

54:19

(liturgical organ music)

54:25

(soft organ music)

56:46

(man singing indistinctly)

57:18

(bright organ music)

59:50

(man singing indistinctly)

1:03:23

(contemporary gospel music)

1:07:54

-

Oh, Lord, our God.

1:09:28

Receive our praises and our prayers,

1:09:31

and these offerings which we bring before you.

1:09:33

With these gifts, we offer also ourselves,

1:09:37

our souls and bodies,

1:09:40

a living sacrifice.

1:09:43

Holy acceptable to you,

1:09:46

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

1:09:50

Amen.

1:09:53

(contemporary gospel music)

1:09:56

The Lord bless you and keep you.

1:12:39

The Lord make His face to shine upon you,

1:12:42

and be gracious unto you.

1:12:45

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

1:12:47

and give you peace.

1:12:51

Amen.

1:12:54

(church bells toll)

1:12:58

(jubilant organ music)

1:13:13

Albert F. Fisher - "Famine in the Promised Land" (August 25, 1974)

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