Robert T. Young - "Who Are My Brothers and Sisters?" (October 13, 1974)

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	(Contemporary Catholic liturgical music)	0:03
-	Dear Lord our God, the glory of this autumn morning	4:39
	calls out to us to heed again,	4:43
	the words of the Psalmist, serve the Lord with gladness.	4:45
	Come before his presence with singing,	4:50
	enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts	4:53
	with praise.	4:57
	Be thankful unto him and bless his name	4:59
	for the Lord is good.	5:02
	His mercy is everlasting	5:04
	and his truth endureth to all generations.	5:06
	Let us praise God together,	5:10
	renewing our faith and preparing to be the Lord servants	5:12
	in the service of others.	5:17
	Amen.	5:19
	(Contemporary Catholic liturgical music)	5:21
	Let us join and confessing our sins to the Lord.	11:28
	First through words of corporate confession,	11:33
	and then through thoughts of	11:37
	personal confession lifted up in silent prayer.	11:38
	Let us pray.	11:44
	This is our poverty that we have turned from each other	11:47
	and from you and we do not always serve you.	11:52
	We each go our own way	11:57
	and we do not always care for our neighbor.	12:00
	We pray oh Lord redeem us from this estrangement,	12:04
	redeem us out of this loneliness,	12:09
	deliver us from the sin that divides us.	12:12
	Join us closely in true love.	12:16
	Have mercy upon all your children.	12:19
	The God of our faith,	12:35
	who is always more ready to hear than we to pray	12:38
	and who gives us more than we either desire or deserve.	12:42
	Now pours down upon us an abundance of mercy	12:47
	pardoning and delivering us from our sins	12:52
	confirming and strengthening us in all goodness	12:56
	and bringing to us the promise of life everlasting,	13:00
	blessing and honor, glory and power.	13:05
	Be unto the Lord of hosts. Amen.	13:08
	(Contemporary Catholic liturgical music)	13:14
	Here now the reading of the morning scriptures	18:14
	first from 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.	18:17
	"Now I would remind you brethren,	18:27
	in what terms I preach to you the gospel	18:29
	which you received, in which you stand.	18:31
	By which you are saved. If you hold it fast,	18:35
	unless you believed in vain.	18:39
	For I delivered to you as a first importance.	18:42
	What I also received, that Christ died for our sins	18:45
	in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried,	18:51
	that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the	18:56
	scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas then to the 12.	18:59
	Then he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time.	19:05
	Most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep.	19:09
	Then he appeared to James then to all the apostles,	19:13
	last of all, as to one untimely born,	19:17
	he appeared also to me,	19:21
	for I am the least of the apostles	19:24
	unfit to be called an apostle	19:26
	because I persecuted the church of God.	19:28
	But by the grace of God, I am what I am.	19:31
	And his grace toward me was not in vain.	19:36
	On the contrary.	19:40
	I worked harder than any of them though it was not I,	19:42
	but the grace of God, which is with me,	19:45
	whether then it was I or they. So we preach.	19:50
	And so you believed now if Christ is preached	19:54
	as raised from the dead,	19:58
	how can some of you say that	20:01
	there is no resurrection of the dead,	20:02
	but if there is no resurrection of the dead,	20:05
	then Christ has not been raised.	20:08
	If Christ has not been raised,	20:11
	then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."	20:13
	Would you stand now for the reading of the gospel?	20:28
	From the gospel according to Matthew 12:46-50.	20:38
	"While he was still speaking to the people,	20:47
	behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside	20:50
	asking to speak to him.	20:53
	But he replied to the man who told him,	20:56
	'Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?'	20:59
	And stretching out his hand towards his disciples,	21:03
	He said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers	21:06
	for whoever does the will of my father in heaven	21:11
	is my brother and sister and mother.'	21:14
	That's the end of the reading of the morning lesson.	21:19
	(Contemporary Catholic liturgical music)	21:22
	Would you repeat with me our affirmation of faith?	22:07
-	(Congregation) We are not alone. We live in God's world.	22:13
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	22:18
	who has come in the true man Jesus	22:23
	to reconcile and make new,	22:26
	who works in us and others by his spirit.	22:30
	We trust him.	22:34
	He calls us to be in his church to celebrate his presence,	22:36
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	22:41
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen our judge and our hope	22:47
	in life and death and life beyond death.	22:54
	God is with us.	22:58
	We are not alone. Thanks be to God.	23:01
-	(Speaker) Be seated please.	23:06
	The Lord be with you.	23:13
	(Congregation in unison)	23:15
	Let us pray.	23:17
	Dear Lord our God help us this morning	23:22
	to join with your Prophets of Old,	23:26
	to dream dreams and see visions,	23:29
	help us as participants in this service of holy worship,	23:33
	to see the vision of ourselves	23:36
	as but one small part of the worldwide	23:38
	worshiping and witnessing community of the faithful.	23:42
	Help us to strengthen and support one another.	23:46
	As we go forth from this service	23:50
	and help us to meet the needs of other students	23:53
	faculty and employees here at this university.	23:55
	Help us Oh God to dream dreams	24:01
	of what it can mean for this campus.	24:03
	To be a great center of learning,	24:05
	where the pursuit of knowledge may serve to enrich life,	24:08
	help us to rise above a narrow view of education,	24:13
	as nothing more than a series of unrelated courses,	24:16
	exams and research projects.	24:20
	And to see instead a vision of a more just and humane world	24:23
	made possible through the use of the many and varied talents	24:29
	that you have given to us.	24:33
	Help us oh Lord, to dream dreams	24:37
	and see visions of your children, living in communities	24:40
	of justice and peace throughout the world.	24:44
	Give us the power to work for such a community	24:49
	here in Durham, so that all persons,	24:52
	regardless of race or sex may find decent work at decent pay	24:56
	safe housing and creative schools.	25:03
	Give us the power also to work for a community	25:08
	of justice and peace among all nations,	25:11
	restrain our own arrogance and pride,	25:16
	assist our national leaders to place the good of all	25:20
	above the desires of a few. And give to all nations,	25:24
	the strength to exchange the narrowness of nationalism	25:30
	for the openness of genuine cooperation	25:34
	and mutual self-help.	25:38
	We pray this morning especially	25:42
	for your children living in lands,	25:44
	ravished by war or natural disaster	25:46
	for the people of hurricane plagued Honduras	25:51
	and of drought plagued regions of Africa and Asia.	25:56
	For the people reeling from the toil of war	26:01
	in Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Cypress.	26:06
	And yet again Indochina.	26:12
	May we see a new the vision of peace and wellbeing	26:16
	that you offer for all of these, your children.	26:20
	Help us most especially oh Lord,	26:26
	to dream dreams and see visions	26:27
	that will assist us in overcoming	26:30
	the temptations of self-centeredness,	26:32
	that are all around us.	26:35
	In this time of economic uncertainty,	26:36
	give us the power to resist blaming others	26:40
	for the crises to which we have contributed so massively	26:44
	through our casual unthinking and wasteful use	26:48
	of this earth resources.	26:52
	Help us we pray to reject easy solutions	26:55
	purchased at the price of increased suffering	26:58
	for the poor and the powerless.	27:00
	And finally oh God, we pray this morning.	27:05
	Not only that you give us the power to dream dreams and see	27:08
	visions about what we are called to do,	27:12
	but that you also grant to us the resolve	27:16
	and the firmness of purpose to plunge into life,	27:19
	working hand in hand with others	27:24
	to make these visions become realities	27:27
	in this place, in this university, in this community	27:30
	and in this your world,	27:37
	we ask for your assistance	27:40
	in the name of your son Jesus Christ,	27:43
	who taught us to pray together saying "Our Father who art in	27:47
	heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,	27:53
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	27:58
	Give us this day, our daily bread	28:02
	and forgive us our trespasses.	28:05
	As we forgive those who trespass against us,	28:08
	lead us not into temptation,	28:12
	but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom	28:15
	and the power and the glory forever and ever.	28:19
	Amen.	28:24
	Let me extend, especially on this autumn morning.	28:34
	A special word of welcome to all of you who are visiting	28:38
	with us here in the chapel and at Duke.	28:41
	And especially to those of you who have come home again	28:45
	for this homecoming weekend.	28:49
	We're glad to have you with us.	28:51
	We hope you will benefit from this service	28:53
	and share with us our celebration and joy together.	28:57
	I also wanna take this time	29:04
	to share with you two other announcements.	29:06
	First is really a more of a	29:09
	active appreciation than an announcement.	29:12
	As some of you will know	29:15
	for the last two Sundays prior to this one,	29:16
	the chapel offering has been designated for use in Honduras.	29:19
	To aid those suffering from the hurricane	29:25
	that afflicted that country only a few weeks ago.	29:28
	The chapel offering is always used	29:33
	to meet the needs of others	29:36
	and not to sustain the ongoing life of the chapel.	29:38
	But it is especially gratifying	29:43
	that in these last two Sundays,	29:45
	you chose to share with the people of Honduras	29:48
	some $2,000 to assist them	29:52
	in their time of rebuilding and renewal.	29:55
	The second isn't announcement,	30:02
	it's an invitation to all of you to attend	30:03
	a variety of services and events that will be going on	30:07
	next weekend during the dedication services for the	30:11
	Mary Duke Biddle Music Building	30:16
	that is being open on East Campus.	30:19
	We'd like especially to call your attention	30:23
	to the dedication service	30:25
	that will be held here in the chapel.	30:27
	Next Saturday evening, as part of that service,	30:29
	Marian Anderson will receive an honorary doctorate	30:34
	from this university and the choir and wind symphony	30:38
	will join together in presenting a performance of	30:44
	Ian Hamilton's today on commissioned	30:50
	especially for the dedication of the new music building.	30:53
	This will be next Saturday evening	30:58
	at 8:15 here in the chapel.	31:00
	In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen.	31:22
	I've had real difficulty preparing this sermon.	31:31
	I have begun it in at least six different ways.	31:37
	I've started writing it at least four different times	31:43
	only to get partway through and stop.	31:46
	I had the sermon written entirely	31:52
	and then read it over a couple of times.	31:56
	And it dawned on me that the sermon as I had written it,	32:01
	it was filled with truisms and platitudes and self evidence	32:03
	statements that would perhaps have been an insult to your	32:08
	intelligence and to your faith.	32:10
	So I scrapped that one.	32:13
	I would be glad to share it with you	32:16
	if you should be interested.	32:18
	I felt that that one would be a waste of time	32:22
	yours, mine, and Gods'.	32:24
	So the message for this morning will not be a 20 minute	32:27
	sermon.	32:30
	I simply want to talk with you for 10 or 12 minutes	32:32
	and tell you what is on my heart and mind	32:36
	relative to this passage without any padding	32:38
	and without any embellishments.	32:43
	So just a few words about these verses in Matthew and what	32:47
	they say to me this morning.	32:50
	New Testament scholars seem to agree that Jesus,	32:56
	in this experience when his mother and his brothers	32:59
	came to speak with Him.	33:02
	An experience which is recorded and	33:04
	all three of the synoptic gospels	33:06
	seem to agree that Jesus was not denying	33:10
	or rejecting His family ties.	33:13
	They say that Jesus wouldn't have done anything like this,	33:18
	that this was unlike Him and out of character	33:21
	with the rest of his life and ministry. I'm not so sure.	33:25
	Well there are other passages, which say in some way,	33:31
	some of the same things that are implicit	33:34
	or explicit in this passage.	33:37
	Remember Jesus' experience at the temple when he was 12	33:40
	and his mother and father looked for him,	33:43
	they came to him and he said,	33:45
	"Do you not know that I must be about my father's business?"	33:46
	And his father was standing there.	33:51
	At a wedding in Cana when Mary walked up to him, he said,	33:54
	"Woman, what have I to do with you?"	33:58
	To his disciples, He said,	34:04
	"A prophet is not without honor saving his own country."	34:06
	Could He have been talking about his own home?	34:10
	He said, "He who loves father or mother more than me	34:15
	cannot be my disciple or even more strongly.	34:19
	He who does not hate his father and mother	34:26
	cannot be my disciple."	34:30
	So here, whoever does the will of my father in heaven	34:34
	is my brother, sister and mother, or as Luke puts it,	34:39
	those who hear and do the will of God	34:44
	are my brothers and my sisters.	34:49
	So I'm not really so sure	34:51
	about Jesus' view of his family time.	34:58
	But a negative message is not the important message here,	35:03
	except perhaps as a negative often tends to accentuate the	35:06
	real truth, because this is a positive,	35:09
	which Jesus is stating here. It is an affirmation.	35:13
	It is a ringing pronouncement, a heralding of good news.	35:17
	This is basic stuff. He says,	35:22
	this is primary loyalty and obedience to God.	35:25
	Jesus says are fundamental.	35:30
	They are ultimate. And they are supreme in importance.	35:34
	All other loyalties, all other ties,	35:39
	all other relationships, including the natural families	35:45
	bonds are secondary in character.	35:49
	Obedience to God is the mark of those who are brothers	35:53
	and sisters of Christ and who are sons and daughters	35:56
	of his father.	36:02
	Jesus says here, there will come a time	36:04
	when you will have to choose loyalty	36:06
	to family or loyalty to God and that's tough.	36:08
	Well you see that's to have to make a difficult decision.	36:13
	That's a real battle because	36:17
	one must choose between love versus love.	36:19
	And that's hard.	36:24
	Jesus says, do you obey others, family, brother, sister	36:26
	or friends or do you obey God?	36:31
	Do you respond with true obedience to others or to God?	36:33
	Jesus calls us here in this experience to a larger family,	36:38
	to a voluntary intentionally chosen, not automatic family,	36:43
	to an unconditional infinite and eternal family.	36:49
	Jesus says to his physical brothers and to us,	36:55
	there is a relationship that has more to it	36:59
	than you were talking about.	37:02
	One that is more true, more real, more meaningful,	37:05
	more lasting, more in quality goodness, and value	37:08
	like Dean Fitch of the Pacific School of Religion once said,	37:14
	"There is no purely personal religion.	37:17
	There never was in the whole history of the world."	37:21
	Or is he Stanley Jones at great missionary of the church	37:25
	once said, "I belong to Jesus Christ.	37:28
	And I belong to everyone who belongs to Christ."	37:32
	Amen.	37:37
	Here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters,	37:40
	no one need face life alone.	37:48
	As our affirmation of faith begins and ends.	37:53
	We are not alone.	37:56
	There is a communion, a fellowship, a oneness.	38:00
	There is a family.	38:03
	Those who are in Christo, those who are in Christ,	38:05
	those who hear and obey the word of God are new persons.	38:09
	They are sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters	38:13
	of Christ. And this is the heart of the message.	38:16
	It was our new Testament lesson, our gospel lesson.	38:22
	But there is another word I hear here.	38:28
	It's more simple and not his profound,	38:32
	it's slightly different. And yet I feel rather important.	38:36
	You have seen and known families where fleshing blood	38:42
	brothers and sisters do not seem to be	38:45
	real brothers and sisters I have.	38:47
	As a matter of fact there are times	38:52
	when I feel little or no kinship	38:54
	with my eight brothers and sisters.	38:55
	There were 13 of us, nine of us now living.	38:58
	We do not think alike. We do not act alike.	39:01
	We do not have similar beliefs. We agree on almost nothing.	39:04
	When it comes to issues and thought and belief,	39:10
	we have almost nothing in common.	39:13
	Our values are different. Our lifestyles are different.	39:16
	Our goals for life are different.	39:19
	There is very little of real meaning that we have in common.	39:22
	Often I feel that the blood relationship is	39:27
	all that we have,	39:30
	sure we have the same name,	39:33
	sure we grew up together at least some of us did,	39:36
	sure we know we belong to the same family in one sense.	39:40
	And as I thought about this passage	39:47
	and my own personal experience I could not help,	39:49
	but think that perhaps some of you who might be worshiping	39:52
	in this place this day might have had,	39:56
	or might be having similar kinds of experiences between you	40:01
	and your brothers or sisters or mother or father.	40:08
	And so when someone asks or when I stop and think about it,	40:15
	who are my brothers and my sisters,	40:19
	I'm reminded of this experience of Jesus.	40:22
	And so the word of Jesus gives us another message here.	40:25
	I think as you grow and mature and change	40:29
	as your view of yourself and of life and of others changes,	40:35
	your real family may become those	40:40
	whose values are the same as yours,	40:43
	those whose beliefs, or to use John's words,	40:47
	visions and dreams.	40:51
	Those whose hopes, objectives, priorities and concerns	40:53
	are as yours.	40:58
	Those who see life somewhat like you do those who search for	41:01
	and find meaning in life in those things which you do.	41:05
	This was another thing I think Jesus was saying here.	41:11
	He said here, as he looked around and as he extended his arm	41:15
	around toward his disciples	41:20
	here are my brothers and my sisters.	41:21
	These are my family. These are the ones who believe in God.	41:24
	These are those whose values are as mine	41:29
	whose Supreme loyalty match mine.	41:31
	I can identify with them and they with me,	41:34
	not because of blood, not because we have to,	41:37
	but because of our common commitments, our common interests,	41:40
	our common goals. We love each other.	41:44
	We care about each other.	41:47
	We have developed close personal,	41:49
	intimate relationships with each other	41:51
	and our obedience to God.	41:54
	I think Jesus had found in his disciples,	41:58
	a group of people who understood him,	42:00
	who shared life with him,	42:03
	who would give their lives for him.	42:05
	And he certainly gave his life for them.	42:06
	And for us who believed as he believed	42:09
	and who cared for others as he cared for them.	42:12
	And so this morning,	42:17
	this says to me that there may come times	42:20
	when other relationships take priority over	42:25
	those of our natural family	42:30
	we may feel estranged or separated.	42:34
	Differing not understood, not appreciated.	42:38
	Flesh and blood brothers and sisters	42:46
	may not agree with our view of life	42:48
	or with our understanding of what is important	42:52
	and lasting and of real significance.	42:54
	And then,	42:58
	then our brothers and sisters become those whose loyalties	43:00
	and bonds are one with ours.	43:04
	And here I can hear Jesus saying, this is okay.	43:07
	And this gives us hope because our natural families are not	43:13
	always with us. We leave them or they leave us.	43:17
	They grow apart from us or we grow apart from them.	43:20
	We become different in those ways where differences really	43:23
	do count. But as this happens,	43:27
	we reach out and then someone else reaches out to us	43:29
	and a new family is formed around us.	43:33
	Here in is our hope for meaningful, satisfying,	43:38
	personal relationships, family life ties	43:42
	on and on and on so that when one relationship must go,	43:46
	we don't sever it or ignore it or reject it.	43:53
	We just add to it and build upon it.	43:58
	New and deeper relationships.	44:01
	Thus my real brothers and sisters	44:05
	can keep on coming and going forever.	44:08
	Those with whom I identify and those who identify with me,	44:12
	there is a future for my family and me.	44:17
	It may not be the same family, but I will be their brother.	44:21
	And they will be my brothers and sisters and mother	44:25
	with God as our father.	44:29
	And the thought has occurred to me Will Bob quote right,	44:32
	"Do you have to claim any other man or any woman,	44:35
	any other child of God as a brother or sister of yours?"	44:39
	And you know the only answer that I've come up with	44:43
	is to say I have no right.	44:45
	I have no right to claim any other person	44:48
	as a brother or sister.	44:51
	But I know deep in my heart	44:53
	that I have a basic need	44:57
	to claim brothers and sisters under God	45:00
	who are my brothers and my sister.	45:10
	Amen.	45:19
	Our hymn now is to be hymn number 192,	45:22
	but it's not going to be sung by the tune	45:28
	which you find in the hymnal.	45:30
	We're going to sing it with a different tune.	45:32
	One which we hope will be moving and meaningful	45:35
	and rich for you and for us all,	45:39
	I'm going to ask the choir to sing through	45:42
	the first stanza with this new tune.	45:44
	And then all of us join in singing the first	45:49
	through the fourth stanzas together.	45:52
	In Christ there is no east or west	45:54
	will you stand as we sing?	45:57
	(Contemporary Catholic liturgical music)	46:00
	Oh Lord.	57:08
	This morning we give back to you only a portion of that,	57:10
	which is already yours.	57:15
	And in this giving,	57:18
	we dedicate ourselves a new to be your servants	57:20
	seeking to be brothers and sisters in the faith.	57:25
	As part of the church universal	57:29
	working to show forth Christ's presence	57:32
	until he shall come again. Amen.	57:35
	(Contemporary Catholic liturgical music)	57:46
	Go now.	1:01:27
	Go in peace.	1:01:29
	Preach good news to the poor,	1:01:31
	proclaim release to the captives,	1:01:34
	bring sight to the blind and set at Liberty,	1:01:37
	all those who are oppressed, so that this may be a time	1:01:41
	that is truly acceptable to the Lord.	1:01:46
	Go. Now in the name of Christ our Lord and Savior.	1:01:49
	(Contemporary Catholic liturgical music)	1:01:58

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "Who Are My Brothers and Sisters?" (October 13, 1974)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4862gc8z

Date:

October 13, 1974

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0729
ref6657_njq
uachapelsermaud
duke:628359
dcrau002700
ark:/87924/r4862gc8z
ea4819a5-07fa-465f-9f9e-6b8ca235d96a

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

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Robert T. Young - "Who Are My Brothers and Sisters?" (October 13, 1974)

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1. Robert T. Young - "Who Are My Brothers and Sisters" (October 13, 1974)

Duke University Archives

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Robert T. Young - "Who Are My Brothers and Sisters?" (October 13, 1974)

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Duke University Archives

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