Robert T. Young - "O.K., I'm Scared" (September 1, 1974)

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	(liturgical choral music)	0:04
	(triumphant music)	1:01
-	Here are the words of Abraham Lincoln.	6:05
	It is the duty of nations,	6:08
	as well as of people, to own their dependence	6:11
	upon the overruling power of God,	6:15
	to confess their sins and transgression in humble sorrow,	6:19
	yet with assured hope that genuine repentance	6:25
	will lead to mercy and pardon.	6:29
	Let us confess our sins corporately.	6:33
	Oh God, we know ourselves as those who violate	6:36
	the order and beauty of your creation.	6:40
	(congregation murmurs)	6:45
	We speak loudly of wanting our lives to count for something.	6:48
	(congregation murmurs)	6:54
	We say, we want to give of ourselves.	7:01
	(congregation murmurs)	7:05
	We say, we want to grow and change and mature.	7:09
	(congregation murmurs)	7:14
	We say we want to know new people, new ideas.	7:17
	(congregation murmurs)	7:22
	We decry the lack of communication among peoples.	7:26
	(congregation murmurs)	7:31
	Turn us around, lift us out of the neatly	7:35
	worn rut we are in.	7:39
	(congregation murmurs)
	Oh God, hear the private confessions of your people.	7:46
	Christ, the way shower, spoke of life.	8:12
	(congregation murmurs)	8:16
	Christ, the servant, spoke of hope.	8:20
	(congregation murmurs)	8:24
	Christ the open one spoke of love.	8:28
	(congregation murmurs)	8:32
	Christ the person for others spoke of joy.	8:37
	(congregation murmurs)	8:42
	Amen.	8:51
	(liturgical choral music)	8:53
-	The Old Testament lesson is from the book of Exodus,	12:19
	Chapter Three, verses one through 12.	12:23
	Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law,	12:28
	Jethro, the priest of Midian.	12:32
	And he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness	12:35
	and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.	12:39
	And the angel of the Lord appeared to him	12:44
	in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush.	12:46
	And he looked, and lo, the bush was burning.	12:52
	Yet it was not consumed.	12:56
	And Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great sight,	13:00
	why the bush is not burned.	13:06
	When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,	13:10
	God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses.	13:13
	And he said, here am I.	13:19
	Then he said, do not come near.	13:23
	Put off your shoes from your feet,	13:27
	for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.	13:30
	And he said, I am the God of your father,	13:35
	the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.	13:38
	And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.	13:44
	Then the Lord said, I have seen the affliction of my people	13:50
	who are in Egypt and have heard	13:54
	their cry because of their taskmasters.	13:57
	I know their sufferings.	14:01
	And I have come down to deliver	14:03
	them out of the hand of the Egyptians,	14:05
	and to bring them up out of that land to a good	14:09
	and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey,	14:12
	to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites,	14:17
	the Parizites, the Hivites and the Jebucites.	14:23
	And now behold, the cry of the people	14:29
	of Israel has come to me.	14:32
	And I have seen the oppression	14:35
	with which the Egyptians oppress them.	14:36
	Come, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth	14:40
	my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.	14:44
	But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh	14:50
	and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?	14:55
	He said, but I will be with you.	14:58
	And this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you.	15:02
	When you have brought forth the people up out of Egypt,	15:07
	you shall serve God upon this mountain.	15:11
	The congregation will stand for the reading of the gospel.	15:15
	The New Testament lesson is from the Gospel of Matthew,	15:28
	Chapter 26, verses 36 through 46.	15:31
	Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane.	15:36
	And he said to his disciples	15:40
	sit here while I go yonder and pray.	15:43
	And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee,	15:47
	he began to be sorrowful and troubled.	15:52
	Then he said to them, my soul	15:56
	is very sorrowful, even to death.	15:59
	Remain here and watch with me.	16:02
	And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed.	16:06
	My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.	16:10
	Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.	16:16
	And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.	16:22
	And he said to Peter,	16:26
	so could you not watch with me for one hour,	16:28
	watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation?	16:32
	The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.	16:37
	Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed.	16:42
	My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it,	16:47
	thy will be done.	16:52
	And again, he came and found them sleeping,	16:54
	for their eyes were heavy.	16:57
	So leaving them again, he went away and prayed	17:00
	for the third time, saying the same words.	17:04
	Then he came to the disciples and said to them,	17:09
	are you still sleeping and taking your rest?	17:12
	Behold, the hour is at hand and the son of man	17:16
	is betrayed into the hands of sinners.	17:20
	Rise, let us be going.	17:24
	See, my betrayer is at hand.	17:27
	May God open our hearts and our minds to his word.	17:32
	(liturgical choral music)	17:38
-	Let us affirm our faith.	18:20
	We are not alone.	18:22
	We live in God's world.	18:24
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	18:26
	who has come in the true man Jesus	18:32
	to reconcile and make new,	18:35
	who works in us and others by his spirit.	18:38
	We trust him.	18:42
	He calls us to be in his church to celebrate his presence,	18:43
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	18:49
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	18:55
	our judge and our hope, in life and death,	18:59
	and life beyond death, God is with us.	19:04
	We are not alone, thanks be to God.	19:08
	The Lord be with you.	19:13
	(congregation murmurs)	19:15
	Let us pray.	19:17
	Great are you, oh Lord,	19:27
	and greatly to be praised.	19:28
	Great is your power, and your wisdom is infinite.	19:31
	You have made us for yourself,	19:36
	and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.	19:39
	Hear our prayers of thanksgiving,	19:46
	for the majesty of this place of worship,	19:50
	the clear beauty of the stained glass,	19:53
	the glory of the music, and the power	19:56
	of the spoken word, we give you thanks.	19:59
	For all who love and care for us,	20:04
	for all who make personal sacrifices	20:07
	from which we benefit, we give you thanks.	20:10
	For all strides which have been made	20:15
	to make this world a better place for all living creatures,	20:17
	for all moves toward genuine peace,	20:22
	for all struggles for justice,	20:24
	for the settlement of the strike,	20:27
	we give you thanks, oh God.	20:29
	Oh God, accept our thanks for all people	20:32
	who make possible our life in this university,	20:35
	for those who clean, who plan, who cook,	20:42
	who teach, who administer, for those who work in offices	20:45
	and laboratories and maintenance,	20:50
	and health and caring services,	20:53
	for those we know and those we do not know	20:56
	who serve you in their work, we give you thanks.	21:00
	Hear our prayers of petition and intercession.	21:05
	Oh God, we pray for this university,	21:08
	that we may be united in a common	21:12
	endeavor to seek and serve truth.	21:14
	Let us never, for lack of courage we need,	21:18
	refuse to face the facts.	21:22
	Let us never seek our personal advantage	21:25
	when it is destructive to others.	21:29
	Let us never consider some persons because of their task	21:33
	in the university to be outside of the university community.	21:37
	We pray that the privilege of learning	21:42
	may never cut us off from the larger community,	21:45
	but rather equip us for selfless service to this community.	21:49
	Hear our special prayers for those who begin	21:56
	their university life at this time, that they may find	21:59
	in their work joy and meaning and purpose.	22:03
	We pray that we may be sensitive to those	22:07
	who are lonely, frustrated, confused,	22:10
	and that our joy in life may not	22:14
	blind us to the pain of the other.	22:17
	And, oh Lord, we pray for those who are	22:20
	hungry, homeless, sick, oppressed.	22:23
	And our prayer is that what we do	22:28
	in this university may make life better for all people.	22:30
	And now hear us as we pray the prayer that our Lord told us.	22:34
	Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,	22:40
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	22:45
	on earth as it is in heaven.	22:49
	Give us this day, our daily bread,	22:52
	and forgive us our trespasses,	22:55
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	22:57
	lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,	23:01
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	23:07
	and the glory forever and ever, amen.	23:09
	This is one of our great	23:14
	festival Sundays in the Duke chapel.	23:15
	We are celebrating the beginning of new year.	23:18
	We are welcoming the new students to our chapel worship,	23:21
	and to the choir, and to the returning students,	23:25
	and faculty and staff, we say a very special hello.	23:28
	We've missed you, we're glad you're back.	23:32
	And to those who are here for the first time,	23:35
	we look forward to opportunities	23:37
	to get to know you as you return to worship,	23:39
	as we see you on campus.	23:42
	Bob and I would like for you to know	23:45
	that we are in the chapel whenever you need us.	23:46
	We cherish the privilege of working with you,	23:50
	as we all work together in our common ministry.	23:52
	We have one announcement that did not get in the bulletin	23:57
	that is relevant to the new students.	24:00
	Community two dinner will be at Asbury Methodist Church,	24:02
	which is behind East Campus, at five o'clock.	24:05
	The Methodist and Presbyterian ministry	24:10
	invite you to join them for supper.	24:12
	We would like those of you who to come to worship here	24:16
	to come in any dress that you think is appropriate.	24:19
	And I think appropriate dress now	24:22
	is whatever can be, is cool for you.	24:24
	So if you have anything on, you can take it off.	24:26
-	Let me add a further word along that line,	24:40
	which Helen has mentioned, and say, let's take about	24:42
	10 seconds and let all the men	24:45
	who would like to stand and take off your coats.	24:48
	It may be just a little more comfortable without them.	24:51
	Arthur Schopenhauer,	25:18
	the German philosopher of pessimism of the 18th century,	25:20
	sitting on a park bench one day was once asked who he was.	25:25
	Who am I, he cried, who am I,	25:31
	I wish to God I knew.	25:35
	And the cry of Schopenhauer is the cry of each of us.	25:41
	The young man had just entered a new school	25:45
	and he wrote these words, I remember the first day	25:47
	that I visited school, I wandered through very big halls,	25:51
	carrying very big books, among very big people.	25:55
	And I was so afraid that when the group	25:59
	at my lunch table told me it was an ancient tradition	26:01
	for the new students to clean up the dining hall,	26:04
	I wholeheartedly believed them.	26:07
	But William Faulkner wrote the basis	26:11
	of all things is to be afraid.	26:12
	I hope this is true.	26:17
	At least it is comforting.	26:19
	We begin school, we began to make friends.	26:22
	We forget to invite someone to a party	26:24
	or they forget to invite us.	26:26
	We deny someone an easy hello on a blue morning,	26:29
	we receive or inflict what seems like very great hurt,	26:32
	and is probably, most of the time, completely unintentional.	26:36
	We move from the unselfishness of children.	26:41
	What we expect never comes, or comes at the wrong time,	26:46
	or in the wrong wrappings.	26:50
	So we, this young man writes, or at least I,	26:53
	protect myself by concentrating on homework or football,	26:57
	or becoming hard and powerful, or by saying I don't care.	27:01
	And at the same time that we are a little wary,	27:08
	a bit critical of others, we are afraid of being alone.	27:11
	We want to be a part of something or someone.	27:15
	There are enough committees,	27:19
	enough athletic teams to go around,	27:20
	but we compete destructively for successful grades,	27:23
	for influential friends, for the confidence that is brought	27:26
	by the external recognition of some sort of talent.	27:30
	And even our talents are frightening,	27:34
	because they demand a devotion that limits and isolates us,	27:36
	an openness or creativity that has already proved painful.	27:40
	He continues, the basis of all things is to be afraid.	27:46
	But perhaps we can learn to accept being afraid,	27:51
	accept reservation as part of our relations with others,	27:55
	accept the uneasiness of being alone,	27:59
	and the fear of miscalculating our capabilities.	28:02
	If we could only say I'm scared,	28:06
	okay, I should be scared.	28:11
	And then take a chance, make up a song	28:15
	and sing it to others, all the while not knowing	28:17
	whether the notes are right for our voice	28:21
	or whether anyone will want to listen.	28:23
	And if we could only sing our song, not to drown out others,	28:26
	not expecting them to sing along,	28:31
	but with the hope that they will create	28:33
	and sing one too so that we can listen.	28:35
	So writes a new student.	28:41
	The basis of all things is to be afraid, and here we are.	28:44
	Loneliness, the unknown, uncertainty, confusion,	28:52
	crises of personal identity and personal inadequacy.	28:57
	Your world is no longer parochial, sectarian, regional,	29:02
	private, or personal, provincial, or just familial.	29:06
	Your world is now pluralistic, cosmopolitan,	29:11
	chaotic, interpersonal, multi-racial, multi-ethnic,	29:14
	and full of intelligent, talented, able,	29:21
	creative, expressive, and effective persons.	29:24
	Your world is now male, female, unisexual,	29:28
	homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual.	29:31
	Your world is now comprised of demanding professors,	29:35
	challenging professors, lonely professors,	29:39
	unavailable I'm here to do my research professors,	29:44
	and loving I'm here to care about you	29:48
	and to help us both learn together professors.	29:50
	Your world now includes hurting roommates,	29:55
	struggling classmates, grade conscious, pre-med, pre-law,	29:57
	pre-divinity, pre-grad, and pre-professionals of all kinds.	30:01
	And it includes some students for whom Duke	30:05
	is small and isolated, and others for whom Duke	30:08
	is mammoth and overpowering.	30:11
	Some who find the Gothic and the neo-Gothic buildings,	30:14
	warm and beautiful and inspiring.	30:17
	Others who find them cold and sterile and uninviting.	30:20
	And so you say all this talk about the unknown,	30:27
	about loneliness, about confusion, inadequacy, uncertainty,	30:29
	identity crisis, grade competition, and faith questions,	30:33
	it is somewhat disturbing and disconcerting.	30:39
	I guess I am scared just a little.	30:43
	So I say this morning, you're scared?	30:49
	Okay.	30:54
	That's okay.	30:55
	It's okay for us to be scared sometimes.	30:58
	Now let me remind you of Moses, and Jesus,	31:04
	and of the grace of God,	31:08
	for this is a sermon about the grace of God.	31:10
	Moses, murderer, sheep herder,	31:15
	the wandering nomad standing beside a bush,	31:19
	and it caught on fire burned and burst into flame.	31:22
	Moses, Moses.	31:25
	Moses turned and looked and God spoke	31:28
	through the bush and said here am I,	31:30
	and Moses hid his face for he was afraid.	31:33
	Okay, I'm scared.	31:37
	Then just a few lines farther,	31:42
	God says to Moses, I will be with you.	31:44
	I'm scared.	31:50
	And it's okay.	31:52
	Jesus,	31:54
	the carpenter, the teacher, the healer,	31:56
	the one who mothers call the Christ, the son of God,	31:59
	in Jerusalem on that fateful night,	32:03
	because earlier on, he had set his face to go to Jerusalem,	32:05
	agony, blood, sweat, and tears.	32:11
	Matthew tells us that as Jesus faced these moments,	32:15
	he was sorrowful even unto death,	32:18
	greatly distressed, troubled, terrified,	32:21
	Goodspeed translates the words	32:25
	and Jesus began to feel distress and dread,	32:27
	okay, I'm scared.	32:32
	And then the words thy will be done.	32:37
	I'm scared.	32:42
	And it's okay.	32:43
	In these two experiences of Moses and Jesus,	32:46
	we have the paradigms of life	32:49
	with its struggle, agony and decisions,	32:51
	and with its assurance, hope and grace.	32:54
	Moses was where he was simply by accident.	32:56
	He just happened to be where he was	32:59
	tending his father-in-law's sheep.	33:02
	Jesus was where he was by intention,	33:04
	by design, by his own choice.	33:07
	There are thus two extreme ways we get	33:09
	into a very demanding, fear filling situation.	33:13
	One, Moses' way.	33:16
	We just wake up and are there.	33:18
	Someone else made decisions and plans and dreams for us,	33:21
	suddenly we become conscious and alert and aware	33:25
	of where we are and of what must be done.	33:27
	The other, Jesus' way, is to choose consciously	33:31
	and deliberately and intentionally,	33:34
	we make our own decisions, plans and choose our own options,	33:37
	and suddenly we find ourselves again	33:40
	in a demanding situation.	33:42
	Okay, in either case, I'm scared,	33:44
	But I'm scared and it's okay.	33:49
	You are here in this place and at this time	33:54
	either because someone else planned and made decisions	33:57
	for you or because you planned and made your own decisions,	34:00
	you're here because you feel there is more to risk,	34:04
	to struggle, to dare, to learn, to grow.	34:07
	Michel Quoist, the great Roman Catholic priest, writer	34:11
	says there are too many people whom we let sleep.	34:15
	We don't want to let each other sleep in this place.	34:20
	Wherever you are at this moment,	34:24
	you and I know that you could be elsewhere.	34:26
	Wherever you may be headed,	34:29
	you could be headed in another direction.	34:31
	Whoever you are now, you feel that there	34:33
	is someone else that you may become.	34:36
	Oh God, deliver me from being tomorrow	34:39
	the same person I am today, same prejudices, same fears,	34:43
	thoughts, ideas, concerns, values, and objectives.	34:48
	But that kind of change is frightening, isn't it?	34:54
	But if tomorrow you are as you are today,	35:00
	then Duke University as an intellectually demanding,	35:03
	mind stretching, soul expanding university will have failed.	35:07
	Yes, that's frightening.	35:15
	Okay.	35:19
	I'm scared.	35:20
	I'm scared, but it's okay.	35:23
	Because this university is made up of persons	35:27
	who are here to reach out to you	35:31
	and to me in the midst of our change.	35:34
	in his book "Include me Out,"	35:40
	Collin Morris writes of the church,	35:41
	this whole massive structure we call the church,	35:44
	with all its history, theology,	35:48
	worship and witness is a great pyramid on a point.	35:50
	It is meant to be brought to focus on any one person's need.	35:54
	That is what all the singing and praying	35:58
	and bishops and sacraments and preaching is about.	36:00
	It is about the paramount significance to God	36:03
	of a single human being's need.	36:06
	And if we fail in that one thing,	36:09
	he says, we fail in everything.	36:11
	Let me use that now as an analogy	36:13
	and say this, this whole massive institution	36:16
	we call Duke University, with all its philosophy, tradition,	36:19
	policy and practice is a great pyramid on a point.	36:23
	It is meant to be brought to focus at one time	36:27
	or another on any one person's need.	36:30
	This is what all the teaching and reading	36:34
	and writing and researching and administrative officers	36:36
	and student government and health care	36:39
	and religious life staff is about.	36:41
	It is about the paramount significance to God	36:43
	of any one person's need here.	36:46
	And if we fail to realize this and respond to this,	36:50
	we fail in everything.	36:53
	But if we are aware of this and respond in ways	36:55
	that are helpful and meaningful,	36:58
	then life becomes full for us all.	37:00
	The only business of this university is to take	37:05
	you and me to take each one of us, student faculty, staff,	37:08
	as we are now, perhaps somewhat scared or frightened	37:12
	or unsure or partial, and help us to become	37:16
	real and whole and authentic persons.	37:20
	The kind of persons who know themselves, weak and strong,	37:25
	frail and tough,	37:30
	and can face and live with themselves productively.	37:33
	Persons who can live with the hope-filled fear of Moses.	37:38
	And persons who can live with the fear filled hope of Jesus.	37:44
	But you may find too much here.	37:52
	For this place is like no other place	37:56
	you've ever been before,	37:59
	but neither is anywhere else.	38:03
	While you're here, you will need	38:06
	rest, peace, patience, time,	38:08
	distance between you and new experiences and new ideas,	38:12
	tolerance and kindness.	38:17
	You will need to care like you have never cared before.	38:20
	You will have to use feelings you have never used before.	38:23
	You will need the ability to see beyond what you see	38:28
	and know what your friends are really communicating.	38:32
	You think you really are on your own, don't you?	38:40
	Not so.	38:45
	In his latest book entitled "Priests to Each Other"	38:47
	Dr. Carlyle Marney talks about grace as shared endurance.	38:51
	We live constantly by and in the grace of God.	39:00
	And so I want to say a word or two now	39:05
	about this grace of God, this grace that can	39:06
	help us when we are scared, the grace of shared endurance.	39:10
	Okay, I'm scared.	39:16
	And we start with that.	39:19
	Let's be honest about ourselves.	39:21
	That's the way Moses responded.	39:26
	I'm scared, he said, I don't have a good speaking voice.	39:29
	Why should the people follow me?	39:34
	How can I get Pharaoh to listen to me?	39:37
	What will I say to my people?	39:39
	Who will I tell them sent me.	39:42
	I'm just a sheep herder, God.	39:45
	Marney writes the Christian faith rests	39:48
	on neither doing nor having.	39:50
	Salvation by faith is salvation by grace,	39:53
	an affirmation of being as being.	39:56
	You are as you are, warts and all.	40:00
	To be is to be, whether one is sick or well,	40:03
	crippled, dumb, blind, or rich,	40:07
	to be is to be even without arms or legs.	40:13
	One could almost say even without mind.	40:16
	To be is to be without defenses, possession,	40:20
	excuse, power, energy, or will, it is never to be what.	40:23
	The objects all drop off.	40:29
	We are stripped, no harness, no titles.	40:31
	No havings, no gotness, no doings.	40:34
	Being is just being.	40:37
	And this is where Christ meets me.	40:40
	Just as I am.	40:43
	For while we are yet sinners,	40:47
	I'm scared	40:53
	and it's okay.	40:56
	Be open to the future.	40:59
	Who knows what new truth will become plain to you here.	41:03
	What new view of yourself will emerge.	41:07
	What new relationship will develop with someone now strange.	41:10
	What new demand or expression or dream or tragedy	41:14
	or exhilaration or desperation	41:18
	or celebration will come to you.	41:20
	God is alive and well at Duke University.	41:23
	And God is alive and well with you and me.	41:26
	And for you and me.	41:30
	Live expectantly for change in the future.	41:33
	Be open to others.	41:37
	Starbuck, the dreamer of dreams that almost never come true,	41:42
	complains to Lizzie about a world	41:46
	in which reality falls far short of one's vision.	41:48
	Starbuck says nothing's as pretty in your hands as it is,	41:53
	as it was in your head.	41:57
	There ain't no world near as good as the world	41:59
	I got up here as he angrily taps his forehead, why?	42:02
	Lizzie replies,	42:08
	I don't know.	42:12
	Maybe it's because you don't take time to see it.	42:14
	Always on the go, here, there, nowhere, running away,	42:17
	keeping your own company.	42:22
	Maybe if you'd keep company with the world.	42:24
	And Starbuck injects doubtfully, I'd learn to love it.	42:28
	You might, if you saw it real.	42:34
	Lizzie says some nights I'm in the kitchen washing dishes,	42:37
	and pop's playing poker with the boys.	42:41
	Well, I'll watch him real close, she says,	42:44
	and at first I'll see an ordinary middle-aged man.	42:48
	Not very interesting to look at.	42:51
	And then minute by minute,	42:53
	I'll see little things I never saw in him before.	42:55
	Good things and bad things, queer little habits	42:59
	I never noticed he had, and ways of talking	43:02
	I never paid any mind to, and suddenly I love him so much	43:05
	I could cry, and I want to thank God	43:12
	that I took the time to see him for real.	43:15
	Be open to the future and thank God,	43:21
	and take time to see others for real.	43:26
	And then whatever it is that makes you or me scared,	43:30
	we know it's okay and we can endure it together.	43:34
	You're here.	43:40
	I am here.	43:41
	For all of us to find what learning is together.	43:44
	What meaning, hoping, groping,	43:49
	what struggle and fear and faith and doubt and death and sex	43:51
	and joy and sickness and health and goodness are together.	43:55
	You are here, I am here	44:02
	to become free, to move, to think,	44:05
	to give in, to hold fast, to move on, to back up,	44:08
	to say no, yes, maybe,	44:13
	I'll try, to doubt, to ask questions, to affirm.	44:17
	Sure.	44:24
	You may lose your life.	44:28
	You also may find your life.	44:34
	That's always the risk we take.	44:40
	But we do it together.	44:48
	The grace of shared endurance.	44:52
	John Steinbeck, in his classic novel "The Grapes of Wrath,"	44:57
	talks about this grace that sustains us	45:00
	when a crude old preacher named Casey speaks.	45:06
	I ain't saying I'm like Jesus, but I got tired like him.	45:12
	And I got mixed up like him.	45:18
	And I went into the wilderness like him	45:22
	without no camping stuff.	45:23
	Nighttime I'd lay on my back and look up at the stars.	45:27
	Morning I'd sit and watch the sun come up.	45:32
	Midday I'd look from a hill at the rolling dry country.	45:36
	Evening, I'd follow the sun down.	45:40
	Sometimes I'd pray like I always done,	45:44
	only I couldn't figure what I was praying to or for.	45:49
	There was the hills and there was me,	45:53
	and we wasn't separate no longer.	45:55
	We was one thing, and that one thing was holy.	45:58
	And I got to thinking, only it wasn't thinking,	46:06
	it was deeper down than thinking.	46:08
	I got to thinking how we was holy when we was one thing,	46:10
	and mankind was holy when it was one thing,	46:13
	and it only got unholy when one miserable little fellow	46:17
	got the bit in his teeth and run off in his own way,	46:20
	kicking and dragging and fighting.	46:23
	A fella like that busts the holiness.	46:27
	But when we're all working together,	46:30
	not one fella for another fella,	46:32
	but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang,	46:34
	that's right, that's holy.	46:38
	Each one here is kind of harnessed to the whole shebang.	46:43
	That's right.	46:48
	And that's holy.	46:50
	Let us pray.	46:54
	Oh God, give us grace to sustain us when we are scared,	46:58
	grace to know that it's okay to be scared sometimes,	47:03
	grace, to be honest, to be open, and to face life together.	47:07
	Give us courage to trust, patience to hold on.	47:13
	For we belong to you, let us walk with you	47:17
	as we walk with one another, for the love of Christ,	47:21
	and for the sake of ourselves, we pray.	47:27
	Amen, amen.	47:30
	(cheerful liturgical choral music)	47:37
-	Oh God, accept this offering from your people.	58:53
	And as we dedicate it to your work,	58:59
	we also dedicate ourselves to you.	59:02
	And we pray that the strength of our bodies,	59:07
	the intelligence of our mind, our creativity, our love,	59:11
	our kindness may not be lost through disuse	59:17
	or destroyed through misuse, but developed in these days	59:22
	for greater service to the world and to your kingdom, amen.	59:27
	(triumphant music)	59:35
	And now may the grace and love and courage	1:03:47
	of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love and majesty	1:03:52
	and power of God, and the fellowship and comfort	1:03:58
	of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever.	1:04:03
	(liturgical choral music)	1:04:14
	(church bell tolls)	1:05:34
	(liturgical organ music)	1:05:50

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "O.K., I'm Scared" (September 1, 1974)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4jw8bp42

Date:

September 1, 1974

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0723
ref6645_spu
uachapelsermaud
duke:628427
dcrau002695
ark:/87924/r4jw8bp42
f36aa306-f50c-433a-b478-c276e0d6fc3d

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Robert T. Young - "O.K., I'm Scared" (September 1, 1974)

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1. Robert T. Young - "O.K., I'm Scared" (September 1, 1974)

Duke University Archives

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Robert T. Young - "O.K., I'm Scared" (September 1, 1974)

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Duke University Archives

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