Helen G. Crotwell - "What Does Jerusalem Have to Say to Athens?" (September 22, 1974)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4wd3v271?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4wd3v271
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(congregation sings indistinctly)	0:03
	(energetic organ music)	1:09
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	1:45
	(energetic organ music)	3:30
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	5:02
-	My dearly beloved, let us have this affirmation	6:00
	as it prepares our hearts for our prayer of confession.	6:03
	This is the message which we have heard from Him	6:08
	and proclaim to you that God is light	6:11
	and in Him is no darkness at all.	6:15
	If we walk in the light, as He is in the light,	6:18
	we have fellowship with one another	6:22
	and the blood of Jesus, His son,	6:25
	cleanses us from all sin.	6:27
	In this faith, let us all pray.	6:30
-	We confess to you, oh God, these our sins,	6:35
	and offer our repentance	6:39
	for not thinking deeply,	6:42
	for being too intense,	6:44
	for being inattentive to your word and your voice,	6:47
	for thinking we have the whole truth,	6:52
	for lack of imagination,	6:55
	for lack of feeling and intercession	6:58
	for the needs of our families,	7:01
	the oppressed, the hungry, those in temptation,	7:03
	and those without hope,	7:08
	for an uncritical attitude to our own membership	7:10
	in a society of affluence,	7:14
	for ignoring other people,	7:17
	for taking ourselves too seriously,	7:19
	for our sins of exhibition,	7:22
	for our sins of inhibition,	7:24
	for our failure to think and pray and act deeply	7:27
	for the mission and unity of the church,	7:31
	for trying to imprison you in words and institutions.	7:34
-	Now hear these words of assurance,	8:04
	wait for the Lord and be strong	8:08
	and let your heart take courage.	8:11
	Yay, wait for the Lord.	8:14
	For the Lord is near to the brokenhearted	8:16
	and save the crushed in spirit.	8:18
	For who is likened to God?	8:21
	Who pardons iniquity and passes over transgression.	8:24
	He does not retain His anger forever	8:28
	because He delights in steadfast love.	8:31
	He will again have compassion upon us.	8:35
	He will tread our iniquities underfoot.	8:38
	He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.	8:41
	Amen.	8:45
	(slow organ music)	8:58
	(energetic organ music)	9:40
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	9:44
	The Old Testament lesson this morning	13:20
	is taken from the book of Exodus 3:1-6.	13:22
	Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,	13:29
	the priest of Midian,	13:33
	and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness	13:35
	and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.	13:39
	And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame	13:43
	of fire out of the midst of a bush.	13:47
	And he looked and lo the bush was burning,	13:51
	yet it was not consumed.	13:54
	And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight,	13:57
	why the bush is not burned."	14:03
	When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,	14:06
	God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses."	14:10
	And he said, "Here am I."	14:16
	Then he said, "Do not come near.	14:19
	Put off your shoes from your feet	14:23
	for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."	14:25
	And He said, "I am the God of your father,	14:30
	the God of Abraham,	14:34
	the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."	14:35
	And Moses hid his face	14:40
	for he was afraid to look at God.	14:43
	The New Testament lesson is taken	14:50
	from the gospel according to Saint Mark,	14:52
	chapter eight, verses 34 through 37.	14:56
	And he called to Him the multitude with His disciples	15:01
	and said to them,	15:04
	"If any man would come after me,	15:07
	let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.	15:09
	For whoever would save his life will lose it,	15:17
	and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's	15:21
	will save it.	15:28
	For what does it profit a man	15:30
	to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?	15:33
	For what can a man give in return for his life?"	15:38
	Here endeth the reading of the lesson.	15:43
	May God bless this reading of his holy scripture.	15:46
	(energetic organ music)	15:51
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	15:59
	Now let us affirm our faith	16:31
	by saying together this affirmation in unison.	16:33
-	We are not alone.	16:38
	We live in God's world.	16:40
	We believe in God,	16:42
	who has created and is creating,	16:44
	who has come in the true man, Jesus,	16:48
	to reconcile and make new,	16:50
	who works in us and others by his spirit.	16:53
	We trust him.	16:57
	He calls us to be in his church,	16:59
	to celebrate his presence,	17:02
	to love and serve others,	17:04
	to seek justice and resist evil,	17:07
	to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen.	17:10
	Our judge and our hope.	17:13
	In life, in death,	17:16
	in life beyond death,	17:18
	God is with us.	17:21
	We are not alone.	17:22
	Thanks be to God.	17:24
	Amen.	17:26
-	You may be seated.	17:27
	Now may the Lord be with you.	17:38
-	And with your spirit.	17:41
-	Let us all pray.	17:42
	Oh Lord our God.	17:47
	Thou who art the author and giver of life	17:49
	and all good things in it,	17:52
	we thank thee this day for all thy mercy	17:56
	and for thy loving care over all thy creatures.	17:58
	We bless thee for the gift of our life,	18:03
	for the going and coming on this university campus,	18:08
	for all the forces and powers and influences	18:11
	that conspired to bring us here.	18:14
	We thank thee for the friendships that we are making here,	18:18
	for the new discoveries	18:23
	that are coming about ourselves and others,	18:24
	and about the great world thou hast made.	18:27
	We thank thee for the opportunities	18:32
	to be stimulated by new ideas	18:34
	and by people who serve noble causes.	18:39
	We thank thee for these great days of the fall time.	18:44
	When we see the handiwork written large,	18:49
	and when nature is the blossom	18:52
	that thou doest wear in thy (indistinct) as we go about.	18:54
	Oh Lord,	19:02
	thou who does so bestow upon us	19:05
	these ingredients of our life and livelihood,	19:07
	do thou except the gratitude of our hearts.	19:11
	Almighty and most merciful Father,	19:17
	we pray this morning for those who are in distress.	19:22
	Over 4,000 families, maybe yay even 7,000	19:27
	have now been ravaged by a storm and death.	19:32
	How can they say there is faith, oh Lord?	19:38
	Unless thou doest by the Holy Spirit inspire them	19:41
	to new faith in these moments.	19:46
	Help us in our hearts of compassion	19:50
	to join vicariously with them	19:54
	to institute and incarnate faith	19:57
	where there is need for it.	20:00
	Oh Lord, in our midst,	20:06
	there are those who are lonely in solitude,	20:07
	who are homesick and missed some that they love.	20:11
	Let the wonder and mystery of thy love	20:18
	abide with them today,	20:21
	so that as they go back to their dormitory rooms	20:23
	and their places of abode,	20:26
	they may know that thou doest march with them	20:30
	and that thou art also with those they love.	20:33
	We pray also, our Father, for our country	20:41
	and those who lead it.	20:45
	Let the truth of thy wisdom abide with them,	20:48
	that they may institute those things	20:52
	which will ennoble us as the people	20:54
	and serve thy kingdom.	20:56
	And, oh Lord, thou who has loosened	21:02
	the brooding spirit of Christ upon us,	21:05
	let Him dwell in the midst of us today.	21:08
	We're trying to carry out our duties each day,	21:12
	but sometimes, they seem more than we can bear.	21:15
	So let the power of your spirit lay claim upon us now	21:18
	to call out of us the hidden strengths that's there,	21:23
	to call out the fullest measure of devotion,	21:27
	to call out the will to achieve.	21:30
	Oh liberating spirit of Christ,	21:34
	free us from the bondage of a narrow life these days,	21:37
	a sensuous life, a useless life.	21:41
	And oh redeeming spirit of Christ,	21:44
	reconstruct the ugly and vain elements in our inner life	21:47
	so that we may have the joy of a liberated courage,	21:52
	the confidence of a new faith	21:56
	and a hope for your sustaining presence forevermore.	21:59
	Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord we pray,	22:04
	who taught us when praying together to say,	22:08
	Our father who art in heaven,	22:11
	hallowed be thy name.	22:13
	Thy kingdom come.	22:16
	Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.	22:17
	Give us this day our daily bread	22:21
	and forgive us our trespasses	22:24
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	22:26
	And lead us not into temptation,	22:29
	but deliver us from evil.	22:32
	For thine is the kingdom	22:33
	and the power and the glory, forever.	22:35
	Amen.	22:39
-	In the name of God, our creator,	22:50
	redeemer and sustainer.	22:54
	Amen.	22:58
	What does Tertullian have to say	23:00
	about the major question to be asked today?	23:03
	His question is,	23:06
	what does Jerusalem have to say to Athens?	23:08
	Tertullian was a second century man,	23:13
	probably a lawyer,	23:16
	a learned man steeped in Greek philosophy and thought,	23:19
	who became a Christian when he was about 40.	23:24
	He was troubled by the problems of heresy facing the church	23:27
	and he was troubled by the lack of strong moral rigor	23:32
	within the church.	23:37
	He saw people missing the real concerns	23:39
	as they nitpicked over what he considered trivial	23:42
	and unimportant issues.	23:46
	In a imitation of the method of philosophy,	23:49
	they missed the mark of the Christian.	23:53
	What he actually asked was,	23:56
	"What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens?"	23:59
	He was not anti-intellectual,	24:03
	not a blind irrationalist,	24:06
	but was convinced that unrestrained speculation	24:08
	can lead a person far afield	24:13
	and that the actual revelation of God	24:16
	was what was important.	24:19
	And his understanding of Revelation	24:22
	was that Revelation was located in history	24:25
	and not in speculation of what God can do.	24:29
	He granted that God could do anything,	24:34
	but what was important was what God had chosen to do.	24:37
	What has Jerusalem to say to Athens is still being asked.	24:43
	And for some, the answer is quite simple,	24:47
	nothing.	24:50
	These are the people who see the language	24:51
	and the arena of the church	24:54
	and the language and the arena of the university	24:57
	as so distinct and so separate	25:00
	that there can be no conversation, no dialogue.	25:03
	Others would say, "nothing,"	25:08
	because they see that the church	25:10
	has lost its right to speak to the university	25:12
	because they believe that the church	25:16
	abdicated its responsibility.	25:18
	And when it did, the public look to the university	25:21
	to fill the vacuum which was left.	25:26
	And all those with a slight variation	25:29
	would say, "nothing,"	25:32
	because they see the church is so in awe of the university	25:34
	that instead of trying to speak to it,	25:39
	it is trying to imitate it and hence become Athens.	25:42
	What does Jerusalem have to say to Athens?	25:47
	Any definition of the responsibility of the church	25:50
	and the responsibility of the university	25:54
	makes plain and obvious,	25:56
	both the distinctiveness of each,	25:58
	but also the (indistinct),	26:01
	the mutual responsibility	26:04
	and the interdependence of the two.	26:07
	First, a definition of the church	26:10
	in broad terms, rooted in our biblical tradition.	26:13
	When you understand the responsibility of the church	26:18
	as being to continue the work of Jesus the Christ,	26:21
	you get very specific clues as to what this means.	26:25
	When you read Luke's account	26:29
	of the opening of Jesus' ministry in Nazareth,	26:31
	when Jesus read in the synagogue from Isaiah,	26:34
	"The spirit of the Lord is upon me	26:39
	because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor,	26:43
	to proclaim release to the captives,	26:49
	recovering of sight to the blind	26:52
	and to set, at liberty, those who are oppressed."	26:56
	Now, when we read the Gospels,	27:02
	there is no way we can spiritualize this	27:04
	or interpret this in terms that would indicate	27:08
	that the church should not be concerned	27:10
	with all dimensions of our lives.	27:13
	Now the clues are the same	27:17
	when you hear Jesus's response to the lawyer's question,	27:18
	"Which is the greatest commandment?"	27:22
	"You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart,	27:26
	with all your soul,	27:31
	with all your strength,	27:33
	with all your mind,	27:36
	and your neighbor as yourself."	27:38
	Or Paul Layman's recent definition,	27:42
	which is used by many as a definitive understanding	27:45
	of the mission of the church.	27:48
	That being, to do what is necessary	27:50
	to make and keep human life human.	27:53
	Now, as a broad definition	27:59
	of the responsibility of the university,	28:00
	hear our selection from the Carnegie Commission's Report	28:02
	on the purpose and performance	28:06
	of higher education in the United States	28:07
	in which they combine the classical understanding	28:11
	with a contemporary perspective.	28:14
	Quoting from this report,	28:17
	"The main purposes of higher education	28:20
	in the United States today,	28:23
	and for the prospective future, all.	28:24
	First, the provision of opportunities for the intellectual,	28:28
	aesthetic, ethical and skilled development	28:33
	of individual students	28:36
	and the provision of campus environments	28:39
	which can constructively assist students	28:41
	in their more general developmental growth.	28:43
	Second, the advancement of human capability	28:47
	and society at large.	28:50
	Third, the enlargement of educational justice	28:52
	for the post-secondary age group.	28:57
	A goal which would make higher education available	29:00
	for all persons	29:03
	and not just an elite group.	29:05
	Fourth, the transmission and advancement	29:08
	of learning and wisdom.	29:11
	And last,	29:13
	the critical evaluation of society	29:15
	through individual thought and persuasion	29:18
	for the sake of society's self renewal."	29:21
	Now, when we see the church	29:26
	seeking to love and care for the neighbor,	29:28
	we know we need adequate knowledge of our need,	29:31
	and of our neighbor's need	29:36
	and of the world in which we live.	29:38
	And we need to develop the necessary skills	29:41
	to meet these needs.	29:44
	And certainly one of these needs	29:46
	is our need for meaningful worship.	29:48
	That is precisely at the extent	29:53
	to which we take seriously	29:56
	the commandment of love	29:58
	and the service which it demands,	30:00
	that we are bound to take seriously	30:02
	the task of higher education	30:05
	as it finds expression in the inquiries	30:07
	of the various disciplines within the university.	30:10
	What does Jerusalem have to say to Athens	30:15
	is both an institutional question and a personal question.	30:17
	There are many times when the institutional question	30:21
	must be addressed from this pulpit.	30:24
	And the institutional question	30:28
	may more important be addressed	30:30
	as a outgrowth of the Word from this pulpit.	30:33
	And small groups who are seeking and questioning	30:37
	to get specific direct instructions	30:42
	for how to act on very specific concerns	30:46
	that face the institution.	30:49
	One such group is found in the wise task force	30:52
	on institutional racism.	30:56
	You know of others and there should be more.	30:58
	Today, we will consider the personal question,	31:02
	especially as it relates to those of us	31:05
	who are citizens of Athens.	31:09
	And we hear the Word as it comes to us	31:12
	from the Old and New Testament lessons.	31:15
	First, take off your shoes.	31:17
	The place you are standing is holy ground.	31:21
	We are people who have done away with sacred time and space.	31:29
	We have lost our sense of holy,	31:33
	our sense of awe,	31:36
	our feeling of wonder.	31:38
	This is sometimes even more acute within the university	31:41
	with its concern for the rational dimension of our nature,	31:45
	with the critical process.	31:50
	And so, we who learn to think,	31:52
	to be critical,	31:55
	to analyze,	31:57
	to take apart,	31:58
	to refute,	32:00
	find that such work can become imperialistic.	32:01
	And the ultimate,	32:06
	the end of all our being	32:08
	can become the intellect, the mind,	32:10
	the rational, the logical.	32:14
	Now, when we do away with sacred space,	32:19
	we fall under the tyranny of the rational.	32:23
	Then all our life,	32:27
	what we do must contain all of its meaning	32:29
	and being within itself,	32:33
	there is no word from the other.	32:35
	When no space or time can reveal the other,	32:39
	then all space and time becomes meaningless,	32:44
	empty, boring, powerless.	32:49
	So the university, instead of being a community of people,	32:54
	creative, dynamic, caring,	32:58
	concerned people searching for truth	33:01
	in all of its dimensions,	33:03
	truth, which can free us and restore the world	33:06
	tends to come a place of separation	33:11
	with walls of competition, infighting,	33:15
	boredom, drabness, dull, routine, death.	33:19
	So the word that Jerusalem must say to us,	33:27
	over and over and over,	33:30
	is that our life,	33:32
	this place,	33:35
	can be full of meaning,	33:36
	can be of value,	33:39
	is important.	33:42
	In Sam Keen's "Apology for Wonder",	33:45
	he describes wonder events as happenings	33:47
	or revelatory occurrences which appear	33:51
	as if by chance, bearing some new meaning or promise.	33:54
	And which, in some sense, are mysterious.	33:58
	Using mystery and the sense	34:02
	of our being personally involved in the event,	34:04
	of being comprehended by truth,	34:07
	rather than observing truth at a distance.	34:10
	In wonder, we are presented	34:14
	with a gift of meaning.	34:17
	In wonder, we have the foundation of our values.	34:20
	Value and holy can be seen as equivalents,	34:25
	the dimension of life,	34:29
	which provides the organizational principle for all of life.	34:31
	Value and holy can be seen as equivalents,	34:35
	the dimension of life,	34:40
	which provides the organizational principle for all of life.	34:42
	Now, the wonder events are not just novel,	34:47
	sensational or spectacular.	34:50
	The true wonder does not need the constant titillation	34:53
	of the sensational to keep it alive,	34:56
	rather it is most often called forth by a confrontation	34:58
	with the mysterious depth of meaning	35:05
	at the heart of the familiar, the ordinary,	35:07
	the burning bush.	35:11
	Now in no sense is this wonder in opposition to	35:13
	or denial of the intellect or the rational nature.	35:16
	The creative thinker finds that wonder and humility	35:20
	grows in proportion to knowledge.	35:23
	Now, the response to wander can be contemplation,	35:27
	which leads to the avoidance	35:30
	of the tyranny of the already known,	35:33
	which then allows for the novel and the unique	35:35
	to create categories which will expand our knowledge.	35:38
	Another response to wonder is the response to the other,	35:44
	to the bush, to the event,	35:47
	which is not one of a desire	35:50
	to dominate, to use, to possess,	35:52
	rather to learn,	35:55
	to celebrate the presence,	35:59
	to be open, receptive, caring.	36:01
	Now those of you who are familiar with the biblical stories	36:04
	which describe these wonder events,	36:06
	know that the record never shows such an event	36:09
	as turning the person in on him or herself.	36:12
	Usually, the Word comes very much as a demand	36:16
	to care for the neighbor.	36:20
	And in the story of Moses and the burning bush,	36:22
	God speaks, affirming the history of the people of Israel,	36:26
	and then talks about, "The affliction of my people.	36:31
	I know their sufferings	36:36
	and have come to deliver them	36:38
	and you are needed, Moses."	36:41
	So the Word that Jerusalem must say to us,	36:45
	over and over and over, is that our life,	36:47
	this place can be full of meaning,	36:52
	can be of value,	36:55
	is important.	36:58
	And we discover this	37:00
	as we allow ourselves to see the burning bush,	37:02
	to hear the words spoken to us from the other.	37:06
	We cannot speak the Word to ourselves,	37:11
	we must hear it from the other.	37:14
	Now we do not receive the Word from every person,	37:17
	every bush or every event,	37:20
	but God can speak to us in any bush,	37:23
	in any person, in any event.	37:27
	And the word from Jerusalem	37:31
	is to sensitize ourselves to this possibility,	37:32
	and if necessary, to change our orientation	37:37
	so that we may see and hear	37:41
	and become whole people.	37:45
	Now when we lose our sense of awe and wonder and the holy	37:50
	and hence have no value,	37:54
	no organizing principle for our lives,	37:56
	we are driven to find meaning in places	37:59
	that offer no lasting meaning.	38:04
	It's accepted in our society	38:08
	that we earn our worth and our value	38:10
	by our position in our society,	38:12
	our money, our power,	38:14
	and this is underscored in the university	38:17
	in the need to make good grades	38:19
	and with the concern with rank and title and position.	38:21
	We are driven to find meaning in places	38:25
	that offer no lasting meaning.	38:28
	And so we hear the second Word from Jerusalem.	38:31
	"You who seek to save your life will surely lose it."	38:34
	Now, while this passage was written to be understood	38:41
	in a very literal sense,	38:44
	reminding the early Christians	38:45
	that their temptation to escape persecution	38:47
	and hence save their lives,	38:50
	would in fact mean, in the most important sense,	38:52
	they would actually lose our lives.	38:55
	It is not dishonest to the intent of the scripture	38:57
	to see that this statement is also relevant	39:00
	to the student whose goal is to save his or her life	39:03
	in the university,	39:07
	which is translated into caring more about grades	39:08
	than learning.	39:13
	If your most important goal is making an A,	39:15
	then you will see every person as being helpful	39:19
	or detrimental to you getting that A	39:23
	and then you will use them accordingly.	39:26
	And the Word from Jerusalem is,	39:30
	"You who seek to save your life will surely lose it."	39:31
	Some of you know Pirsig's book,	39:36
	"The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".	39:38
	He describes an experience he had mountain climbing.	39:41
	He could not make it to the top of the Himalayas.	39:44
	Though he had the physical strength,	39:47
	that was not enough.	39:49
	He had the intellectual motivation,	39:50
	that was not enough.	39:53
	He was trying to use the mountain	39:54
	for his own selfish purposes.	39:56
	He says that to the untrained eye,	39:59
	ego climbing and selfless climbing	40:02
	may appear identical.	40:06
	Both kinds of climbers placed one foot	40:08
	in front of the other.	40:10
	Both breathe in and out at the same rate,	40:11
	both stop when tired, but what a difference.	40:14
	The ego climber is like an instrument out of adjustment.	40:19
	He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late.	40:24
	He's likely to miss a beautiful passage through the trees.	40:28
	He looks up the trail to see what's ahead	40:32
	even when he knows what's ahead	40:34
	because he just looked up a second before.	40:36
	When he talks, his talk is forever,	40:40
	somewhere else, something else.	40:42
	He rejects the hill, is unhappy with it.	40:46
	He wants to be farther up the trail,	40:49
	but when he gets there,	40:52
	he will be just as unhappy	40:54
	because then it will be the here.	40:56
	What he's looking for, what he wants, is all around him,	40:59
	but he doesn't want it because it is all around him.	41:02
	Every steps and effort, both physically and spiritually,	41:07
	because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.	41:11
	And he never reaches the top of the mountain.	41:17
	Now the Word that Jerusalem has to say	41:21
	to these mountain climbers,	41:23
	to those of you who are paralyzed	41:25
	by the fear of not making it to med school,	41:27
	to all of us who are caught up	41:30
	in some paralyzing situation of our own making,	41:32
	is the good news,	41:37
	the good news of the gospel	41:39
	that can be heard in Tillich's sermon, You Are Accepted.	41:41
	We try to buy our worth, our value,	41:46
	earn our acceptance,	41:48
	try to save our lives with our minds,	41:49
	our looks, our grades, our cleverness,	41:52
	but it doesn't work.	41:55
	The word that comes to us, the freeing word,	41:58
	the good news	42:01
	is proclaimed to us from Jerusalem	42:03
	through the Christ is, you are accepted.	42:05
	Accepted by that which is greater than you.	42:11
	At this moment, simply accept that fact	42:16
	that everything is okay,	42:21
	that it's alright with you the way you've been created,	42:25
	your hangups and all.	42:29
	You are accepted as you are,	42:31
	even with all the things you wish you weren't,	42:35
	it's still all right.	42:38
	And when this awareness comes to us,	42:40
	it's a gift of grace	42:43
	and we rejoice.	42:45
	After this awareness, we may not be better than before.	42:48
	And like the mountain climbers, it may look the same.	42:52
	We may still have our hurt and our sufferings,	42:56
	but everything is transformed.	43:00
	We experience this grace in being able to accept our lives	43:04
	and to accept the lives of the other.	43:08
	We experience this grace in being able	43:11
	to overcome the tragic separation of the sexes,	43:13
	the generations, the nations, the races.	43:17
	This grace, this awareness,	43:21
	may only come for a moment.	43:24
	But that's enough.	43:26
	We may forget it, we may lose it, but it can come again.	43:28
	And when it does, we can accept ourselves,	43:32
	love ourselves, not for our goodness,	43:37
	not for our good grades, not for our acclaim,	43:40
	but in the eternal meaning of our lives,	43:44
	which is given to us by our creator.	43:47
	And when we can say yes to ourselves,	43:51
	we are then freed to develop all dimensions	43:54
	of our personhood to participate fully	43:58
	in this educational venture or this job or this family,	44:00
	to choose what we will do with our time and our lives	44:05
	to care for ourselves and for others.	44:09
	And unless we love ourselves,	44:13
	it doesn't help our neighbor very much	44:16
	to love the other as we love ourselves.	44:18
	We are free to take creative risk,	44:22
	to take the risk of appearing dumb and foolish,	44:25
	to fall on our face	44:27
	because we know our value and our worth	44:28
	is given to us by God	44:32
	and no person and no event can take this away from us.	44:35
	We can give it away,	44:40
	but no one can take it away from us.	44:42
	Once we know this,	44:46
	that our value and our worth is a gift,	44:48
	that we are eternally loved,	44:51
	we are free to participate in a community	44:54
	which communicates this grace to others.	44:57
	We are able to worship and love God	45:00
	with all our hearts, minds, bodies and souls,	45:03
	and to love and care for our neighbor and ourselves.	45:08
	And this place we are becomes holy ground.	45:13
	What does Jerusalem have to say to Athens?	45:19
	Take off your shoes.	45:22
	The place you are is a holy place.	45:25
	Oh God, you have given us our life.	45:32
	You love us eternally.	45:37
	We give you thanks now	45:41
	for the gift of your grace	45:44
	and for the events and the persons which bring it to us.	45:45
	We pray in the spirit of your gift to us,	45:49
	Jesus the Christ.	45:54
	Amen.	45:56
	(energetic organ music)	45:59
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	46:43
	(energetic organ music)	50:36
	(soft organ music)	51:02
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	52:21
	(energetic organ music)	55:49
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	56:02
-	Let us pray.	57:00
	Almighty God,	57:02
	accept this, our token of appreciation	57:04
	for thy gifts to us,	57:07
	for thy Word and thy mead and thy possessions and treasure.	57:08
	Help us now to dedicate it	57:13
	that it may be sent as thy Word to those who are poor,	57:14
	who are oppressed,	57:18
	who are handicapped and limited.	57:20
	Let thy gospel become real mead for them.	57:23
	And let the word from Jerusalem	57:27
	be with us and abide with us	57:29
	as we now give ourselves to it in our common life.	57:32
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	57:36
	Amen.	57:39
	(energetic organ music)	57:41
	(congregation sings indistinctly)	58:07
	(slow organ music)	1:00:47
	And now may the grace of God the Father,	1:01:24
	the love of His son	1:01:29
	and the fellowship of his Holy Spirit	1:01:31
	rest and abide with you today and forevermore.	1:01:35
	Amen.	1:01:39
	♪ Amen ♪	1:01:41
	♪ Amen ♪	1:01:49
	♪ Amen ♪	1:01:56
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:12
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:23
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:37
	(bells ringing)	1:02:56
	(energetic organ music)	1:03:10

Item Info

Title:

Helen G. Crotwell - "What Does Jerusalem Have to Say to Athens?" (September 22, 1974)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4wd3v271

Date:

September 22, 1974

Speaker:

Crotwell, Helen Gray, 1925-2006

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0726
ref6651_ese
uachapelsermaud
duke:627953
dcrau002697
ark:/87924/r4wd3v271
b3482a0f-e42e-46ed-bc69-79335cd43168

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

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

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Helen G. Crotwell - "What Does Jerusalem Have to Say to Athens?" (September 22, 1974)

Transcript

Item Info

1. Helen G. Crotwell - "What Does Jerusalem Have to Say to Athens?" (September 22, 1974)

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options

Helen G. Crotwell - "What Does Jerusalem Have to Say to Athens?" (September 22, 1974)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options