Helen G. Crotwell - "Go To the Place..." (June 8, 1975) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

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♪ Praise to the Lord, the Almighty ♪

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♪ the King of creation ♪

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♪ O my soul, praise him ♪

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♪ For he is my health and salvation ♪

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♪ All ye who hear; now to his temple draw near ♪

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♪ Join me in glad adoration ♪

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Cry out with joy to the Lord.

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All the earth serve the Lord with gladness.

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Come before the Lord rejoicing, for Christ is with us.

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Our savior is with us, indeed.

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♪ Stand up and bless the Lord ♪

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♪ Ye people of His choice ♪

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♪ Stand up, and bless the Lord your God ♪

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♪ With heart, and soul, and voice ♪

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♪ Tho' high above all praise ♪

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♪ Above all blessing high ♪

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♪ Who would not fear His holy name ♪

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♪ And laud and magnify ♪

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♪ O for the living flame ♪

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♪ From His own altar brought ♪

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♪ To touch our lips, our minds inspire ♪

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♪ And wing to heaven our thought ♪

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♪ God is our strength and song ♪

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♪ And His salvation ours ♪

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♪ Then be his love in Christ proclaimed ♪

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♪ With all our ransomed thoughts ♪

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♪ Stand up and bless the Lord ♪

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♪ The Lord your God adore ♪

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♪ Stand up, and bless His glorious name ♪

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♪ Henceforth forevermore ♪

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♪ Amen ♪

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Let us join together in confessing our sins to the Lord.

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First, through unison prayer.

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And then by lifting up our personal confessions

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in silent prayer.

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Let us pray.

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We are not your peace in this world.

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We are not your remedy and salvation

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for people who are broken and divided,

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because we are ourselves divided,

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petty-minded and indifferent.

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We betray your course and spread confusion.

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We refuse to take responsibility for our actions.

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Help us to see who we are and who we can be,

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so that we may no longer be content

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to continue in this situation,

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but think and act in the light of your future,

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your promise to make everything new.

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Hear our prayers, Oh Lord.

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Amen.

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The God of our faith,

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who is always more ready to hear than we to pray.

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And who gives us more than we either desire or deserve,

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pours down upon us an abundance of mercy,

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pardoning and delivering us from our sins,

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confirming and strengthening us in all goodness,

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and bringing us the promise of life everlasting.

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Blessing and honor, glory and power,

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be unto the God of our salvation.

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Amen.

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♪ Thy word is a lantern unto my feet ♪

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♪ Thy word is a lantern unto my feet ♪

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♪ Thy word is a lantern unto my feet ♪

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♪ Unto my feet ♪

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♪ Thy word is a lantern unto my feet ♪

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♪ And a light unto my path ♪

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♪ Unto my path ♪

♪ And a light ♪

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♪ And a light ♪

♪ A light unto my path ♪

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♪ And a light ♪

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♪ And a light ♪

♪ A light unto my path ♪

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♪ I have sworn ♪

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♪ I have sworn ♪

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♪ and I will perform it ♪

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♪ That I will keep thy righteous judgments ♪

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♪ I have traveled ♪

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♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Within me, according to Thy word ♪

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♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh, Lord ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh lord ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Within me ♪

♪ According to Thy word ♪

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♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Within me, oh Lord ♪

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♪ According to Thy word ♪

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♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh, within me ♪

♪ Within me ♪

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♪ Oh ♪

♪ According to Thy word ♪

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♪ Let the freewill offerings of my mouth ♪

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♪ Let the freewill offerings of my mouth ♪

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♪ Let the freewill offerings of my mouth ♪

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♪ Let the freewill offerings of my mouth ♪

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♪ Let the freewill offerings of my mouth ♪

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♪ Oh, Lord ♪

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♪ And teach me thy judgments ♪

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♪ And teach me thy judgments ♪

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♪ And teach me thy judgments ♪

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♪ And teach me thy judgments ♪

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♪ And teach me ♪

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♪ Teach me, teach me ♪

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♪ Thy judgements ♪

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♪ And teach me, teach me ♪

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♪ Teach me thy judgements ♪

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♪ The wicked have laid a snare for me ♪

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♪ But yet I swerve not from thy commandments ♪

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♪ Thy testimonies have I claimed as my heritage ♪

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♪ Forever ♪

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♪ They are the many joys ♪

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♪ They are the many joys ♪

♪ The many joys ♪

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♪ And rejoice ♪

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♪ And rejoice ♪

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♪ And rejoice ♪

♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪

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Will you join me in a unison reading

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of our Old Testament lesson this morning,

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number 643 at the back of your hymnal.

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Let us read responsively.

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For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.

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And the former shall not be remembered,

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nor come into mind.

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But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.

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For, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,

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and her people a joy.

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I will rejoice in Jerusalem

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and be glad in my people.

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No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

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and the crying of distress

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They shall build houses and inhabit them.

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They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit

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They shall not build and another inhabit.

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They shall not plant and another eat

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For like days of a tree shall be the days of my people.

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And my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

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They shall not labor in vain.

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Or bear children for calamity

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For they shall be the offspring of the blessed

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of the Lord.

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And their children with them.

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Before they call, I will answer.

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While they're yet speaking I will hear.

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The Wolf and the lamb shall feed together.

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And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

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And dust shall be the serpent's food.

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They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.

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Will you stand now for the reading of the gospel?

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Then Jesus told his disciples.

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If any man would come after me,

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let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me

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for whoever would save his life will lose it.

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And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

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For what will it profit a man,

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if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?

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Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

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Here ends the reading of the morning lesson.

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(church sings harmonious hymn)

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Let us read together our affirmation of faith.

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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 truly human Jesus

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to reconcile and make new.

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Who works in us and others through the spirit.

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We trust God who calls us to be the church,

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to celebrate life and its fullness,

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to love and serve others, 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 in life and death

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and 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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And with your spirit.

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Let us pray

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All mighty God.

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You have taught us to pray for all people.

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And it promised in Christ Jesus that whatever we ask

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in our Savior's name will be granted to us.

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Hear us as we bring to you the needs of the world

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and answer our prayers according to your will.

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We pray for the church.

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Most gracious, God,

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you have set one table before us

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and called us into to fellowship with you.

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We pray that the church gathered by your word and spirit

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may be a faithful witness to you in the world.

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Help us to overcome our divisions

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and to work together in responding to the needs of others.

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We pray for peace.

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Eternal God, Lord of all creation,

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grant peace on earth and Goodwill among all people

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that men and women everywhere may live together in harmony.

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We pray for those who rule.

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Mighty God, king of kings govern those who govern us

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and those who share the public trust

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in every land that they may be led by your wisdom

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to govern righteously and with abundant mercy.

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We pray for those who work and study.

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Oh Lord, our creator, bless the work of our hands

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and our minds.

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Help us to rise above narrow

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and self-centered use of our talents

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and to see instead the ways in which we can use

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our varied gifts to create a more just and humane world.

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We pray for the sick, the troubled and the sorrowing.

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Holy God, bearer of the world's pain through the death

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and resurrection of our savior, Jesus of Nazareth,

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be present to all who are sick or distressed

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that they might find strength to meet the trials

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that face them.

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We pray for our families and our friends.

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Almighty God, you have placed us in families

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and among friends.

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We ask your blessing upon all those who are dear to us,

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nurture and challenge them, we pray.

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So that they may reach their true potential

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and know the richness of a full and meaningful life.

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We pray also, oh Lord, for our enemies.

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Oh merciful God whom we cannot love

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unless we love each of our brothers and sisters

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on this planet, be with our enemies.

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Those who fear us and those whom we fear

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purge us of all hatred and malice

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and grant that they and we, may be reconciled

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and at one with each other.

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We offer all of these prayers in the name of our Lord

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and savior Jesus Christ, who taught us

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when we prayed to say, our father who art in heaven,

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hallowed be thy name, 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,

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our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses.

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As we forgive those who trespass against us

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and lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil for thyn is the kingdom

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and the power and the glory.

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Forever and ever.

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Amen.

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I would call your attention this morning,

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especially to one announcement on the back of your bulletin.

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This is the third Sunday that we have added

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to our Sunday activities,

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an informal service of worship in the Duke gardens.

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Unless the weather turns bad by this afternoon,

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we invite all of you to join us at 6:30 in the gardens,

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along the path between the goldfish pond and the chapel

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and the entrance to the hospital parking lot.

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If the weather is bad, we will meet here in the chapel.

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Some of you know that I was ordained an elder

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in the United Methodist church

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at the last session of the North Carolina annual conference.

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For those of you who are not familiar

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with the Methodist system,

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Ordination is a process which culminates

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and the first being ordained as a deacon

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and finally, as an elder and then you are minister

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and full connection in the church.

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Now with the exception of three years,

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I have worked all my life

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within the structure of the church.

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When I began my work,

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the church would not ordain women

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and for reasons that it's not important

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to relate at this time.

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I chose to maintain my lay ministry status.

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Even after the church voted to ordain women,

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my decision to seek ordination at this time

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was so that I could fully participate

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in all dimensions of the ministry,

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especially the sacramental dimensions.

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In one sense I feel that what the church has just done

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is to make a public and community acceptance

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of what happened a long time ago,

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but even so the service of ordination was very meaningful

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and very moving.

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So this occasion has caused me to reflect again

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on the meaning of the church, of its ministry

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and the responsibility of the ordain ministry.

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What I will be sharing with you today is a collage of images

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of ideas, which become a picture, a picture of the church,

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a picture of which is personal, but not private.

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For ministry and mission and church

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are corporate and community and not private

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and individual concepts.

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And so I've turned again to the words Jesus read

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in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning

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of his public ministry from Isaiah.

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"The spirit of the Lord is upon me

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because God has anointed me to preach the good news

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to the poor, has sent me to proclaim release

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to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,

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to set at liberty those who are oppressed

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and to announce the time

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when the Lord will save all the people."

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Now, the implication of this commission

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is the form for the collage today.

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The next to the words from the gospel lesson

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words, which are important to hear

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as we respond to this commission

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to become followers, to become disciples

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of Jesus the Christ.

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For if we are to follow Jesus,

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and if we are to find ourselves,

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if we are to become who we are intended to be,

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if we are to fulfill the potential, which is ours,

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then we must forget self.

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We must lose our lives in our obedience.

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And the remarkable fact is,

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that only then do we truly find ourselves

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only then do we become whole people.

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For, if we turn in on ourselves,

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if we act as if we are the important people in existence,

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if we take advantages which we denied to others,

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then we shall truly lose our lives.

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And if we refuse to take risks to deny ourselves

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and orders that others may live, we also lose our lives.

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Now all of us have experienced this

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in important and in unimportant ways.

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The dangers of trying too hard to protect our lives,

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to make our lives secure, to avoid risk.

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So we know in our very being what Jesus is saying to us,

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that if we take undue care in preserving our lives,

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if we are afraid to take risk,

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if we are afraid to move into the unknown,

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we will surely lose our lives.

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And this doesn't necessarily mean a physical loss of life,

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but that we will live a life, which is worse than death,

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a life with no meaning, no joy, no hope, no future.

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Norman Cousins says, that the tragedy of life

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is not the fact of death,

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but is what dies in us while we are still living.

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We rejoice that God breaks in on the ordinary, our routine,

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our door, and calls us forth again, to care anew,

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what we can be, who we can be, what we can do.

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And to say again, who we are to claim us again,

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as responsible people.

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And in response, we accept and we become the church anew.

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Now to another part of the collage,

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the image of the church in more specific terms,

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certainly this includes the words from Isaiah

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to feed the hungry, to care for the world.

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And it means that we continue the work of the Christ,

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both in personal and in institutional terms.

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Always Paul Layman's popular expression has put it,

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we do what is necessary to make and keep human life human,

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and a discussion of the difficulty

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and the hazards of the Christian ministry,

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Ron Honipa says, that it is very,

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very difficult to preach the gospel, honestly,

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for it means to preach the severity of God, to the proud

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and the mercy of God to the broken hearted.

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And we are tempted to preach the mercy of God

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to the proud and the severity to the broken hearted.

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We are mediators of God's judgment and also of God's mercy.

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We must face the hazard of cowardice

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and also the pretension of courage without charity.

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We have to deal with the severity and the goodness of God

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to distinguish somewhat between those

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who must be broken before they can be revealed.

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And those who are broken

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and need to be rebuilt between judgment and mercy.

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This is a pastoral task and only those of great humility

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and charity can help the wandering and the confused people.

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And most of us see ourselves as both,

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for we are usually at the same time,

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the proud and the broken hearted.

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Now another image of the church,

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which is most important because it points

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to another balance, which we need to keep within the church.

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And that is the image of the church as a gathered community

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and a scattered community.

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We are people who gathered to worship to be healed,

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to be renewed.

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We are people who gathered to study, to plan,

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to discover what it means for us to be in Christ,

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to continue the work of the Christ in the world,

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to discover how we can love and care for this world,

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which he's given us.

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But once we gather we soon scatter,

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and one of the commissions we use at the conclusion of our

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worship here is to say,

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is go to the place where God has given you responsibility.

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And so we do not stay together as a church,

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but when we separate from each other,

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we do not stop being the church,

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for we come together to worship, to be restored,

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to be called into question, to be healed, to be renewed,

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to receive vision in order that we may be able

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to care for the world and our neighbor.

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In this sense we can claim John Wesley's concept

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that the world is our parish,

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and we can affirm Colin Morris's statement`

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that that is only one way we can risk cover

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our sense of essential dignity and a trivial

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and trivializing society.

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It is as we enlist ourselves to causes,

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which will not exhaust themselves

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before we exhaust ourselves none are so pathetic,

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as the people who have outlived the causes

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to which they have given their lives.

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And so we give ourselves to make life more human.

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And we know that the great problems of ours, of hunger,

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of discrimination, of injustice,

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of meaninglessness of loneliness

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are not going to be abolished in our lifetimes,

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but we will not lie down

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and bemoan the hopelessness of it all.

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We can take one short stout, strike one puny blow,

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lay one tiny brick on behalf of the future.

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The link of God's love requires that we think long thoughts,

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wrestle with great issues though they throw us

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and step back from time to time for some deep reflection

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on where this circus per session we call life is heading.

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And his proclamation of the kingdom of God,

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Jesus offered us a cause which would not exhaust itself

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before we exhaust ourselves.

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A vision that needs the whole stage of history to contain it

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and a program which speaks not only to our social

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and our political concerns,

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but also to our inner spiritual needs.

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Now to say again, the reason I have shared this experience

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and the resulting images with you

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is that while such times are personal,

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they are never private, but always a part of a community,

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but even more important,

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this moment is shared with you

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because the responsibility for the church

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is never given to a select group of people.

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The ordain ministers are given the privilege

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of working in a special way and usually working full time

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within the structure of the church.

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But this responsibility comes from the people of God

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and is shared with all the people of God,

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for the responsibility of ministry belongs to all of you.

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When you were baptized into the church,

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you were baptized into the mission of the church.

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And when you came into full membership of the church,

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you made public your claiming of this responsibility.

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Now to complete the collage, there are two expressions

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which communicate that the responsibility of ministry

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belongs to all the people of God.

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First and most familiar is Luther's term,

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the priesthood of all believers,

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the situation which caused Luther to speak out so strongly

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is one which is with us always

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and that is the temptation to leave the work of the church,

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to the professionals,

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to give the authority and the responsibility

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and the power to the ordain clergy, to the paid staff.

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And anytime this happens,

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it is should death to the church's community,

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to the individual persons in the church

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and to the ordain ministry.

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In fact, to that particular expression of the church.

44:58

Now the temptation is real sometimes

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because we, as the clergy want special privileges

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and special responsibilities.

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And so we give to the laity,

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the housekeeping task, the boring unimportant task,

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or sometimes it's because we as clergy have lost our vision

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and so we are afraid to get very close to the laity.

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You may call us into question, so we keep you away.

45:24

But sometimes it's because we,

45:29

as laypersons have lost the zeal and the hope we have,

45:30

but we are not ready to give up on the church.

45:34

So we pay the professionals to do the job,

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or sometimes it's because we as laypersons

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have so many demands on our times and loyalties,

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we don't find the time.

45:49

Sometimes to be responsible for the work of Christ

45:52

is not an easy task and involves risk and pain

45:55

and demands a radical commitment.

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One we believe in,

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but leave to the professionals with the options

46:05

of later getting involved.

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But we know that this is not an option.

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There is no way that we can be the church

46:15

without sharing in the ministry,

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without sharing in the responsibility.

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So we affirm the crucial importance of the priesthood

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of all believers and affirming this

46:30

we are saying that each one of us has a responsibility

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that is equally as important as any other person

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be that person, a Bishop, a Pope

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or a very powerful layperson.

46:44

We are also saying that we cannot priest ourselves.

46:47

You must be my priest and I must be your priest.

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We must be the priest for our neighbor

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specifically and not generally,

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often simply and not always grandiosely.

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We must always be sensitive to the other,

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be the healing word, the confronting word,

47:15

always with humility and charity and love.

47:19

And we must work not only person to person,

47:23

but to change institutions and structures

47:27

which destroy our humanity.

47:30

Now, do you hear what is involved if we take seriously

47:34

the fact that we believe in the priesthood of all believers?

47:36

We not only allow

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but we expect our neighbor to be our priest.

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Another way of seeing this is that we allow the Christ

47:47

to work through us so that we may care for our neighbor

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and that we open our hearts

47:56

and our eyes to meet the Christ

47:58

who comes to us in our neighbor, even the stranger.

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And when we live our lives in this dimension,

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that is a vitality and an allowance,

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which makes possible our being obedient

48:14

to our responsibility, to be the church.

48:18

Now, the second phrase,

48:21

which is closely tied to this other image

48:22

is one of Carlisle Marnie's, faith is a verb.

48:26

Think of the images which come to your mind

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when you consider faith as a noun, a set of beliefs,

48:33

passive sitting, listening, holding, static,

48:38

then think of faith as a verb, active, alive, moving,

48:44

changing, growing, believing, being,

48:49

but faith as a verb needs to be set

48:53

in the context and concept of grace,

48:55

for we are being, acting, believing faithing

48:58

doing, priesting,

49:01

not in order to gain God's love or God's acceptance.

49:02

For, the good news of the gospel,

49:08

the good news of Jesus Christ is that God loves us

49:10

and accepts us and cares for us just as we are.

49:14

This is a given.

49:18

We give thanks to God that we do not have to earn God's love

49:20

that we only have to accept it,

49:26

but once we know it, once we accept it,

49:29

then we respond and faith is a verb

49:34

and we become instruments of God's love

49:39

and redeeming action.

49:41

And so the collage is finished, a collage of the people

49:43

of God being cared for and caring for the world,

49:47

of priesting our neighbor,

49:51

of gathering and scattering and of faith as a verb.

49:53

And we accept the commission to go forth

49:58

to the place where God has called us

50:02

and given us responsibility.

50:06

And now I invite you now to renew the covenant

50:09

you made to be the church, which we have already affirmed

50:12

in our corporate statement of faith.

50:18

This time using a part of John Wesley's covenant service.

50:22

And now beloved,

50:28

let us bind ourselves with willing bonds to our covenant God

50:30

and take the yoke of Christ upon us.

50:36

This taking of the yoke means that we are hardily content

50:41

that God appoint us to our place and our work.

50:46

Christ has many services to be done.

50:51

Some are easy, others are difficult.

50:55

Some bring honor, others bring reproach.

50:59

Some are suitable to our natural inclinations

51:03

and temporal interest.

51:07

Others are contrary to both.

51:08

And some, we may please Christ and please ourselves

51:12

and others we cannot please Christ,

51:15

except as we deny ourselves.

51:18

Yet the power to do all these things

51:21

is assuredly given us in Christ who strengthens us,

51:24

therefore let us make the covenant of God our own.

51:30

Let us engage our heart to the Lord

51:35

and resolve in God's strength never to go back.

51:38

Let us pray.

51:43

Oh Lord God,

51:47

you have called us through Christ

51:50

to be partakers in this gracious covenant.

51:52

We take upon ourselves with joy, the yoke of obedience,

51:56

and engage ourselves for a love of you

52:02

to seek to do your will.

52:06

We are no longer our own but yours.

52:09

Amen.

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(organ music starts)

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(melodious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(pleasant organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings glorious hymn)

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(somber organ music)

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(somber organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(soothing organ music)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(melodious organ music)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(melodious organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(harmonious organ music starts)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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♪ hallelujah ♪

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♪ hallelujah ♪

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♪ hallelujah ♪

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♪ Amen ♪

1:02:23

-

Oh lord

1:02:34

This morning we return to you

1:02:35

only a small portion of that, which is already yours.

1:02:38

And in this giving, we dedicate ourselves anew

1:02:43

to be your servants as part of the church universal

1:02:47

working to show forth Christ's presence

1:02:52

until he shall come again.

1:02:55

Amen.

1:02:58

(melodious organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings melodious hymn)

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(church sings melodious hymn)

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(church sings uplifting hymn)

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(church sings melodious hymn)

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(church sings harmonious hymn)

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(church sings harmonious hymn)

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(church sings hymn)

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(church sings harmonious hymn)

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(church sings harmonious hymn)

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Go forth into the world in peace.

1:07:18

Be of good courage.

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Hold fast to that, which is good.

1:07:25

Render unto no one evil for evil.

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Strengthen the faint hearted, help the afflicted,

1:07:33

yield the power to the powerless,

1:07:38

honor all people, love and serve the Lord

1:07:41

and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

1:07:47

the love of God and the communion of the holy spirit.

1:07:50

Go with you.

1:07:55

Amen.

1:07:57

♪ Amen ♪

1:08:02

♪ Amen ♪

1:08:07

♪ Amen ♪

1:08:14

♪ Amen ♪

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♪ Amen ♪

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♪ Amen ♪

1:08:36

♪ Amen ♪

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(church bell rings)

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(melodious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(pleasant organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(melodious organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(harmonious organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

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(rhythmic organ music)

1:12:32

Helen G. Crotwell - "Go To the Place..." (June 8, 1975)

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1. Helen G. Crotwell - "Go to the Place..." (June 8, 1975)

Duke University Archives

Helen G. Crotwell - "Go To the Place..." (June 8, 1975)

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Duke University Archives