Robert T. Young - "Anger, Comfort, Joy, Salvation" (March 5, 1978)

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	(high intensity cathedral music)	0:06
	(congregation member coughs)	10:04
-	Grace and peace to you from God our father,	10:55
	and from the Lord, Jesus Christ.	10:58
	Let us pray.	11:01
	Give ear, oh Lord, unto our prayer	11:05
	and attend to the voice of our supplications.	11:09
	Teach us your way, oh Lord.	11:13
	We will walk in your truth.	11:15
	Unite our hearts to fear your name.	11:18
	We will praise you, oh Lord our God with all our heart.	11:22
	And we will glorify your name forever more,	11:26
	for great is your mercy toward us, amen.	11:30
	(high intensity cathedral music)	11:36
	(background noise)	14:02
	My sisters and brothers when we gather to praise God,	14:09
	we remember that we are his people	14:13
	who have preferred our wills to his,	14:16
	accepting his power to become new persons in Christ,	14:19
	let us confess our sin before God and one another	14:24
	in the litany of forgiveness, let us pray.	14:28
	We have sinned in many ways.	14:33
-	Forgive us Lord.	14:35
-	We are filled with anger and hatred.	14:38
	(congregation answers indistinctly)	14:41
	Forgive us Lord.	14:45
	We are filled with jealousy and envy.	14:47
	(congregation answers indistinctly)	14:50
	Forgive us Lord.	14:55
	We are afraid and lonely.	14:57
	(congregation answers indistinctly)	15:00
	Forgive us Lord.	15:04
	We are selfish and proud.	15:06
	(congregation answers indistinctly)	15:10
	Forgive us Lord.	15:15
	We are lazy and apathetic.	15:17
	(congregation answers indistinctly)	15:20
	Forgive us Lord, for these and all our sins.	15:26
	Forgive us Lord, amen.	15:30
	Let us continue silently with our personal confession.	15:34
	Hear these words of assurance and forgiveness	15:59
	from the Scriptures.	16:01
	The Lord is gracious and merciful,	16:03
	slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,	16:06
	for as the heavens are high above the earth,	16:11
	so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.	16:14
	As far as the east is from the west,	16:19
	so far does he remove our transgressions from us,	16:23
	in the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, amen.	16:27
	Let us give thanks for God is good,	16:34
	and God's love is everlasting.	16:36
	Thanks be to God who forgives us.	16:40
	Thanks be to God who offers us peace.	16:43
	Thanks be to God who loves us even now.	16:47
	We extend to you our warmest welcome on this first Sunday	16:57
	of the university's spring break.	17:00
	And we trust that your presence with us,	17:03
	for the worship of all mighty God will be a blessing to you.	17:06
	Let me remind you that during the spring break,	17:11
	the Lenten breakfasts on Wednesday and Thursday	17:14
	will not be held.	17:18
	They will however, resume a week from Wednesday	17:20
	on west campus and a week from Thursday on east campus.	17:24
	Two other brief announcements.	17:29
	First, there will be no evening worship service tonight.	17:32
	And second, as is our custom on the first Sunday	17:37
	of each month, the sacrament of the Lord's supper	17:40
	will be served in the Memorial Chapel	17:43
	at the conclusion of this service.	17:45
	Will you please take this announcement	17:49
	as your personal invitation to join us	17:51
	in that celebration of Holy Communion.	17:54
	Let us pray.	18:03
	(papers flipping)	18:09
	Lord open our hearts and minds	18:10
	by the power of your Holy Spirit	18:12
	that as the Scriptures are read and the Word proclaimed,	18:15
	we may hear with joy what you say to us this very day.	18:19
	Amen.	18:24
	(papers flipping)	18:26
	The old Testament lesson comes from the 12th chapter	18:30
	of Isaiah 1-6.	18:34
	In this passage, the prophet seeks to assure Israel	18:38
	that the prophecies of the coming empire	18:42
	of the king of peace will indeed be fulfilled.	18:45
	Hear now the word of God.	18:50
	"You will say in that day,	18:53
	I will give thanks to thee oh Lord,	18:56
	for thou wast angry with me,	19:00
	thy anger turned away and thou hast comfort me.	19:02
	Behold, God is my salvation.	19:07
	I will trust and will not be afraid.	19:10
	For the Lord God is my strength and my song,	19:15
	and he has become my salvation.	19:18
	With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,	19:22
	and you will say in that day, give thanks to the Lord,	19:27
	Call upon his name, make known his deeds among the nations	19:32
	proclaim that his name is exalted.	19:38
	Sing praises to the Lord for he has done gloriously.	19:42
	Let this be known in all the earth, shout and sing for joy,	19:46
	oh inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst,	19:51
	is the holy one of Israel," amen.	19:55
	Will the congregation please stand	20:00
	for the reading of the gospel.	20:02
	The lesson is taken from the gospel	20:14
	according to St. Luke 15:11-32.	20:16
	The parable of the prodigal son.	20:22
	"And Jesus said there was a man who had two sons.	20:27
	And the younger of them said to his father,	20:31
	'Father give me the share of property that falls to me.'	20:34
	And he divided his living between them.	20:39
	Not many days later, the younger son gathered all that	20:43
	he and took his journey into a far country	20:46
	and there he squandered his property in loose living.	20:50
	And when he had spent everything,	20:55
	a great famine arose in that country	20:57
	and he began to be in want.	20:59
	So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens	21:02
	of that country who sent him into his fields to feed swine.	21:05
	And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate,	21:10
	and no one gave him anything.	21:14
	But when he came to himself, he said,	21:18
	how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough	21:21
	and to spare?	21:25
	But I perish here with hunger.	21:27
	I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him,	21:31
	'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.	21:35
	I am no longer worthy to be called your son.	21:39
	Treat me as one of your hired servants.'	21:43
	And he arose and came to his father.	21:47
	But while he was yet at a distance,	21:50
	his father saw him and had compassion	21:52
	and ran and embraced him and kissed him.	21:55
	And the son said to him,	21:59
	'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,	22:00
	I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'	22:05
	But the father said to his servants,	22:10
	'Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him,	22:13
	and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet,	22:17
	and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat	22:22
	and make merry, for this my son was dead	22:26
	and is alive again, he was lost and is found.'	22:31
	And they began to make merry.	22:36
	Now his elder son was in the field	22:39
	and as he came and drew near to the house,	22:42
	he heard music and dancing.	22:44
	And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant.	22:47
	And he said to him, 'Your brother has come	22:52
	and your father has killed the fatted calf	22:54
	because he has received him safe and sound.'	22:58
	But he was angry and refused to go in.	23:02
	His father came out and entreated him,	23:05
	but he answered his father, 'Lo these many years	23:08
	I have served you and I have never disobeyed your command,	23:12
	yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry	23:16
	with my friends, but when this son of yours came,	23:20
	who has devoured your living with harlots,	23:26
	you killed for him the fatted calf.'	23:28
	And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me,	23:32
	and all that is mine is yours.	23:37
	It was fitting to make merry and be glad,	23:41
	for this your brother was dead and is alive,	23:44
	he was lost and is found.'"	23:48
	Praise be to God who gives us the victory, amen.	23:52
	(high intensity cathedral music)	23:58
-	Today's theme for the fourth Sunday in Lent is rejoice.	25:13
	Now I'm certain in my own mind	25:20
	that those who prepared the lectionary	25:24
	for this particular time did not know that those of us	25:26
	in this community would have extra cause	25:31
	for rejoicing today,	25:33
	for athletic as well as spiritual reasons.	25:37
	But I would like to offer a word of congratulations	25:43
	to coach Foster and the other coaches and all the players,	25:45
	not only for playing some great basketball three times this	25:50
	week, but, as I have said to many people,	25:54
	for being the real honest to goodness gentlemen	25:57
	that they really are.	26:01
	The kind of students, the kind of persons indeed,	26:03
	to make anyone proud.	26:06
	They made, I'm sure, all good and loyal Duke people	26:09
	mighty happy this week.	26:12
	And I'm sure all of us are happy for all of them.	26:14
	It's sort of like my wife said on the way back home	26:19
	yesterday, "It's good to know that we can be good winners	26:22
	as well as good losers."	26:27
	And it is indeed.	26:31
	Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.	26:36
	That is the opening word appropriate	26:41
	to this the fourth Sunday in Lent.	26:44
	Lent, as we all know,	26:48
	is that holy season of the church year,	26:49
	when we are to be in a constant state of penitence	26:51
	and confession.	26:55
	It all begins with the ashes of Ash Wednesday,	26:57
	reaches its climactic penitential peak	27:01
	in the betrayal of Maundy Thursday, the agony of Good Friday	27:05
	and the utter despair of low Saturday.	27:10
	The terrible, terrible, unbelievable inhumanity	27:15
	of God's people is met with the sure and precise	27:19
	and demanding righteousness and judgment of God.	27:24
	Lent is a time of serious somber, severe soul searching	27:29
	on the part of us all.	27:35
	Thus this word of rejoicing,	27:37
	coming at the very mid point of Lent	27:40
	is a welcome and a happy one for us all.	27:43
	All of the lessons for today emphasize this jubilant theme,	27:47
	rejoice ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her.	27:52
	All ye who love her, rejoice for joy with her,	27:57
	all ye who mourn for her.	28:02
	From the old Testament lesson in Isaiah,	28:07
	"With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation,	28:09
	shout and sing for joy oh, inhabitants of Zion."	28:14
	From the gospel, we hear again the majestic	28:19
	incomparable story of God's boundless love and grace,	28:23
	seen in the homecoming, when a father indeed makes merry	28:31
	because his son was lost and is found,	28:36
	was dead and is alive again.	28:41
	The word surely needed in this long season,	28:46
	seven weeks of penitence.	28:50
	And the word surely intended from the lessons for this day	28:52
	is a simple yet essential one,	28:57
	namely, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.	29:00
	The passage I want us to let speak this morning	29:06
	is a passage from Isaiah 12.	29:10
	Here is a hymn, a song, a word of praise	29:14
	or a word of thanksgiving.	29:18
	It is the response to what the writer of this prayer says	29:20
	is the future saving action of God.	29:25
	The writer writes after the Babylonian exile,	29:29
	but he writes says if the time	29:33
	were actually the time of the exile.	29:35
	The writer writes says,	29:39
	if the joy and the salvation are to be experienced	29:41
	in that day, after the return from the Babylonian captivity.	29:44
	And yet the writer surely, already knows that God is their	29:50
	sure and strong salvation, their deliverer.	29:54
	It would be as if this were a Jewish writer	30:00
	in the 20th century, writing after the Holocaust	30:03
	and after the establishment of the state of Israel.	30:07
	And yet writing to describe the time	30:10
	of the late '30s and the early '40s,	30:13
	or it would be as if this were a Christian writer writing	30:16
	after the resurrection and yet writing in the time	30:19
	between Good Friday and Easter morning.	30:23
	You know, and yet salvation has not yet come.	30:27
	You believe, and yet joy is not fully known.	30:32
	You have been there and seen and heard and know	30:36
	and experience, and thus can sing praise to the Lord	30:40
	and yet you are not there.	30:44
	It's like Martin Luther King Jr's word	30:48
	that he had been to the mountain top.	30:51
	And he had looked over and he had seen the promised land.	30:54
	He was not there indeed.	30:57
	We were not there, none of us was there.	30:59
	We had not yet arrived and yet he could say,	31:02
	"My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."	31:05
	for he believed in the goodness of the Lord,	31:09
	in the land of the living.	31:13
	Surely the word of Isaiah is a word for us in our day,	31:16
	in our time of living in between this time of transition,	31:20
	this moment of the yes and now, and the no, not yet.	31:27
	This time I've hoped for, longed for	31:34
	much needed deliverance.	31:37
	And as I was writing these words,	31:40
	it occurred to me how badly we are in need	31:41
	of some kind of deliverance,	31:45
	some word of hope and assurance.	31:47
	When, for example, in conversation with a friend of mine	31:50
	just this week about the energy crisis,	31:53
	we talk about the perils of nuclear power.	31:57
	And this friend of mine can sit across the table from me	32:00
	and calmly say, "It's inevitable	32:03
	that there will be a nuclear power 'accident'	32:05
	and we'll lose 200 or 300,000 people."	32:10
	And his voice continued,	32:14
	as I thought of just what such an accident might mean,	32:17
	or a word of assurance is needed when Ellie Wiesel	32:25
	who gave a moving and memorable address	32:27
	on the Holocaust here recently responded to a question	32:30
	in a book by Harry James Cargas and said,	32:34
	"I believe with fear that if there should be another	32:36
	holocaust, it will be a universal holocaust."	32:41
	So what beautiful words of thanksgiving these are	32:50
	in Isaiah 12, and why not?	32:53
	Let me try to put these words in some context for you.	32:57
	They come for us in the book of Isaiah,	33:00
	heard upon the words of chapters 9, 11, 9 and 11.	33:03
	Indeed, some of the most beautiful,	33:08
	some of the most hopeful, some of the most stirring imagery	33:10
	and words of poetry ever, ever written.	33:14
	Listen from chapter 9,	33:16
	"The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light,	33:19
	those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,	33:24
	on them has the light shined,	33:27
	for the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder,	33:31
	the rod of his oppressor thou has broken,	33:36
	for to us a child is born, to us a son is given	33:40
	and the government will be upon his shoulder	33:45
	and his name will be called wonderful counselor,	33:48
	mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace,	33:51
	of the increase of his government	33:56
	and of peace there will be no end."	33:59
	Those words from chapter 9.	34:03
	Listen to the words of chapter 11.	34:06
	"There shall come forth a root out of the stump of Jesse	34:09
	and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,	34:14
	righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist	34:18
	and faithfulness the girdle of his loins."	34:22
	And then these words,	34:25
	perhaps as beautiful as any words ever written	34:27
	about the loveliness of life	34:30
	that this writer believed would be.	34:33
	And I frankly believe someday will be.	34:35
	"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,	34:40
	and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,	34:45
	and the calf and the lion and the fattening together,	34:49
	and a little child shall lead them.	34:54
	The cows and the bear shall feed together,	34:58
	their young shall lie down together	35:01
	and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,	35:03
	the suckling child shall play over the hole of the ass	35:07
	and the weaned child shall put his hand in the adders den,	35:12
	they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,	35:17
	for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord	35:24
	as the waters cover the sea."	35:29
	Is it any wonder then that these words	35:35
	in chapter 12 follow those words?	35:40
	"You will say in that day,	35:44
	'I will give thanks to thee oh Lord,	35:47
	for though thou wast angry with me,	35:51
	thy anger turned away and thou hast comfort me.	35:53
	Behold, God is my salvation.	35:58
	I will trust and not be afraid	36:03
	for the Lord God is my strength and my song,	36:06
	and he has become my salvation.'	36:10
	With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,	36:13
	rejoice, rejoice, rejoice."	36:19
	And in the midst of our rejoicing right now,	36:26
	I'd like for us to look at four of these words,	36:29
	four words from this very passage,	36:31
	anger, comfort, joy, and salvation.	36:34
	Four words that are at the heart	36:40
	of the Jewish Christian tradition.	36:41
	Four words that are at the heart of our own Christian faith.	36:44
	Four words that tell us of God's love revealed in Christ.	36:47
	Four words, indeed, that give us cause for rejoicing.	36:51
	Words are symbols.	36:56
	They carry much more than simple meanings.	36:59
	Words create pictures and images.	37:02
	They recall pasts and presents and hopes for the future.	37:05
	A word, one word often can sustain as nothing else will do.	37:10
	To refer to Isaiah again,	37:17
	he uses words in the most beautiful	37:21
	and the most symbolic way.	37:23
	Some of the most powerful words in the English language	37:26
	are central for him.	37:29
	For one who has experienced what he has,	37:30
	each of these words is packed with meaning.	37:33
	Words that he uses such as night, silence,	37:37
	clouds, stars, tears,	37:45
	or words such as those used by those	37:55
	who write our newspaper articles.	38:01
	William Randolph Hearst, supposedly for years,	38:06
	told his reporters that each story that they write	38:09
	should have certain elements and experiences of life in it.	38:15
	Each story should contain tears, laughs, loves and thrills.	38:21
	So it is with words.	38:32
	The word anger.	38:35
	"For though thou wast angry with me,	38:38
	thy anger turned away."	38:41
	I believe it is good for us to remember	38:46
	that God is indeed a God of anger.	38:48
	To forget this essential characteristic of God	38:54
	is to do so at our own risk and at our own danger.	38:57
	God's anger is stirred by our disobedience.	39:02
	God's anger is provoked by our unfaithfulness.	39:06
	God's anger is expressed toward our injustices.	39:10
	Remembering the wrath and the anger of God toward their	39:15
	apostasy and their rebellion, often brought the Israelites	39:18
	up short and helped them to correct their evil ways	39:22
	and be restored to God's favor.	39:26
	Misfortune, loss, sickness, sadness,	39:30
	suffering, tragedy, defeat, confusion, despair, death	39:34
	as any or all of these came to the Jewish people,	39:41
	they inevitably connected the presence of suffering and pain	39:46
	in their lives with the wrath or anger of God being poured	39:50
	out on them for their sin and rebellion and disobedience.	39:54
	God was for them indeed, a God of high expectation.	39:59
	One who demanded total loyalty,	40:04
	one of unwavering righteousness.	40:07
	And so to fail to be loyal or righteous or obedient	40:11
	was to bring the anger of God upon oneself	40:15
	or one's household or indeed upon all of one's people.	40:17
	But today we're too sophisticated	40:23
	to make that connection automatic.	40:27
	And I say that not sarcastically.	40:31
	We are, I believe.	40:34
	For we see now that often there are intermediate	40:36
	or mediating causes between God and the suffering	40:40
	that befalls us.	40:43
	I could not agree more wholeheartedly than I do	40:45
	with the need to separate some of the devastating	40:48
	experiences of our lives from the direct intervention	40:51
	of God, things are not always God's will.	40:54
	God is not always to blame or at fault or the initiator	41:02
	or the vengeful, wrathful, get even God	41:07
	that some people make him out to be.	41:10
	And yet we would do well to remember that God is a God	41:14
	of justice, and righteousness, and love,	41:19
	and mercy, and forgiveness,	41:22
	and that God's anger toward our loose	41:24
	and irresponsible, uncaring, immoral, disobedient behavior	41:28
	will not be restrained forever.	41:33
	There is a need for us to be reminded to recall	41:42
	and then to remember that God still is a God of anger.	41:46
	And this anger surely may be acted out upon us	41:52
	as individuals, as a community,	41:56
	as a nation or as all peoples.	41:57
	If God is not a God of anger and wrath and judgment,	42:01
	then why need we fear any behavior we act out?	42:04
	Or as is the case with Isaiah here,	42:10
	why feel relief or joy or ease	42:14
	when we know that the anger of God is turned away from us?	42:17
	Comfort, here is the word our hearts and souls most long	42:25
	to know, not just to hear of comfort,	42:33
	but to feel it and be assured and be reassured.	42:37
	"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," says your God.	42:41
	"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her	42:46
	that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned."	42:50
	Jesus said, "I will not leave you comfortless.	42:54
	I will come to you.	42:59
	I will pray to the father and he will give you	43:01
	another comforter who will be with you forever."	43:03
	Pain, suffering, sadness, heartache, despair, death,	43:09
	these are not the final words	43:14
	The final words are, "I am alpha and omega,	43:16
	the beginning and the ending."	43:19
	The final words are, "Lo, I am with you always,	43:22
	even to the end of the age."	43:25
	The final words are, "The Lord is my shepherd,	43:28
	I shall not want.	43:32
	Yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,	43:36
	I will fear no evil and I will dwell in the house	43:39
	of the Lord forever and ever, and ever."	43:44
	As Isaiah writes again, "Suffering is not the answer.	43:53
	Suffering, my friends, is the question."	43:58
	Somebody is writing a certain script,	44:04
	but we cannot read it, comfort.	44:07
	"Thou," Isaiah wrote, "thou, oh God didst comfort me,	44:12
	personally and reassuring."	44:19
	Joy, with joy you will draw water	44:23
	from the wells of salvation.	44:27
	The joy comes because we know that there is water there,	44:30
	we know what the water contains.	44:34
	As one line from "The Little Prince" goes,	44:37
	"The reason that the desert is so beautiful,	44:40
	is that somewhere out there we know there is an Oasis."	44:43
	So it is.	44:49
	Joy comes because God provides us the wells of life.	44:50
	God provides us the water.	44:54
	God allows us to draw from these wells.	44:56
	They are for our good, the water of life,	44:59
	the well of living, the water which makes us never thirst.	45:02
	Even Jesus the Christ is God's gift to us	45:06
	to bring true joy to our lives.	45:10
	And then for us in turn to bring some joy to other people.	45:12
	Joy, for who?	45:17
	For you, for me, who is this you, this me	45:20
	that God has allowed to be?	45:25
	I was rereading what I think is probably Carlyle Marney's	45:28
	greatest book, his little book entitled,	45:32
	"Recovery of the Person."	45:34
	And in this book I came across Marney's writing about	45:36
	an experience that he had with Carl Sandburg.	45:43
	And one day when visiting Carl Sandburg,	45:47
	he asked Sandburg to read for him	45:49
	his masterpiece wilderness.	45:52
	Marney said that Sandburg was 84 years old	45:56
	when he read these lines to him.	46:01
	And those of you who know the poem will know	46:04
	that this poem talks about man, about woman,	46:06
	about you and me, about human beings saying that,	46:11
	"Man is an animal, that we are animals.	46:15
	There is a wolf in me, there is a fox in me.	46:22
	There is a hog in me, a fish, a baboon, an eagle,	46:28
	a mockingbird, a zoo, a menagerie inside my ribs,	46:34
	oh, I got a zoo, I got a menagerie inside my ribs	46:39
	under my bony head, under my red valve heart,	46:43
	and I got something else,	46:48
	it is a man child heart, a woman child heart.	46:51
	It is a father and a mother and a lover.	46:56
	It came from God knows where,	47:00
	it is going to God knows where,	47:02
	for I am the keeper of the zoo,	47:05
	for I say yes and I say no.	47:09
	This you, this me, this keeper of the zoo,	47:14
	God has given to us the joy	47:18
	in the water from the wells of salvation.	47:21
	Sometimes our joy though comes if we only see	47:24
	what God has given us."	47:28
	The poet writes, "Earth's crowned with heaven	47:31
	and every common bush of fire with God,	47:36
	and only he who sees takes off his shoes,	47:41
	the rest sit round it and pluck black berries."	47:46
	Salvation, the liturgy reads, "Having received the end	47:55
	of their faith, even the salvation of their souls."	48:01
	That is the end, for all of us, for each of us.	48:07
	Salvation, wholeness, fulfillment,	48:15
	fruition, becoming, salvation.	48:18
	Many things to many people,	48:23
	different things to different people.	48:26
	From de Chardin, these words,	48:31
	"Someday after mastering the winds, the waves,	48:35
	the tide, the gravity, we shall harness for God,	48:40
	the energies of love.	48:44
	And then for the second time in the history of the world,	48:48
	we will have discovered fire."	48:54
	Love, power, fire, wholeness, authenticity, salvation,	48:58
	or as someone else has put it, salvation is to learn	49:06
	to follow the way, to learn how to be the way	49:08
	without getting in the way of others.	49:12
	In the midst of our wanderings and wonderings	49:17
	are strugglings and searchings are crying and questioning.	49:19
	In the midst of our feelings of lossness and loneliness	49:23
	and estrangement, it is to have a sense of at homeness	49:27
	in the presence of God and in the company of others.	49:31
	Listen to these words of Henri Nouwen,	49:36
	"When God has become our shepherd, our refuge, our fortress,	49:39
	then we can reach out to him in the midst of a broken world	49:44
	and feel at home while still on the way.	49:48
	When God dwells in us, we can wait	49:53
	while we have already arrived and ask,	49:57
	while we have already received."	50:01
	Or for some, salvation is simply, yes.	50:07
	James W. Angel quotes a beautiful line from E. E. Cummings.	50:14
	Cummings writes, "Yes, is a world.	50:20
	And in this world of yes	50:26
	live skillfully curled all other worlds.	50:29
	Maybe so, just maybe so."	50:38
	For angel goes on to say that, "Yes is stronger than no.	50:43
	Is the universe some deliberate artwork of God?	50:51
	Yes, does God really know we are here	50:55
	and is God's love a love which out lasts	50:59
	and outlives our own?	51:02
	Yes, is there hope for me after I have failed?	51:05
	Can I say yes to myself as a person even when my performance	51:11
	wasn't what it was supposed to be?	51:15
	Yes, is it right for us to dream the impossible dream,	51:19
	to go on attempting to reach the unreachable star?	51:25
	Yes, after life, is there more?	51:29
	Yes, honestly?	51:33
	Yes."	51:36
	Anger, comfort, joy, salvation.	51:42
	A progression of acceptance and fulfillment, words of life,	51:48
	calls for rejoicing on this fourth Sunday	51:55
	in the season of Lent.	52:01
	I'd like to close with a prayer	52:04
	that has some words by Robert Raines,	52:08
	words that have come to mean a great deal to me.	52:10
	So will you join with me as we pray.	52:15
	Oh Lord, we are uneasy looking into the future.	52:20
	We need to know that you are with us and we are with you.	52:27
	Give us the confidence that though all things change,	52:35
	you are the same God, ever gracious from whose love	52:38
	nothing can separate us.	52:46
	Let us feel you on our pulses and in our breathing,	52:49
	and convince us in our bodies that we live	52:54
	and die in the hollow of your hand.	52:58
	Release now those mute longings hidden in our hearts	53:04
	to join the early morning bird song,	53:09
	singing green beginnings and multicolored hopes	53:12
	for you are shaking us and shaping us	53:17
	into a spring time people with Easter in our eyes.	53:22
	Oh God, remind us of the spring time	53:31
	and of the Easter that is to be through Jesus Christ,	53:37
	our Lord, amen.	53:43
	(high intensity cathedral music)	53:54
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	57:13
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	57:16
	who has come in the truly human Jesus to reconcile	57:22
	and make new, who works in us and others by the spirit.	57:26
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	57:33
	to celebrate life in its fullness, to love and serve others,	57:38
	to seek justice and resist evil,	57:45
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	57:49
	our judge and our hope, in life, in death	57:53
	in life beyond death, God is with us.	57:59
	We are not alone.	58:03
	Thanks be to God.	58:06
	The Lord be with you.	58:08
-	And with your spirit.	58:10
-	Let us pray.	58:13
	Gracious and eternal God,	58:24
	our creator, Redeemer, and sustainer.	58:27
	Hear us as we come to you this morning in faith	58:32
	for we know you answer prayer.	58:37
	Help us to listen to you with open hearts and open minds	58:40
	even as we pour out our souls to you in time of need.	58:46
	We ask that your strength and presence be with those	58:53
	who are hungry and in need of food,	58:57
	food for the body, food for the soul.	59:02
	Help us to assume our share of the responsibility	59:07
	for feeding these, our brothers and sisters.	59:11
	We ask your strength and presence for those who grieve	59:17
	and are hurting because of separation,	59:21
	estrangement, loss, or death,	59:24
	especially do we remember our brother, Joseph Farmer,	59:31
	comfort his family, sustain them in their time of sorrow,	59:36
	and help them to feel the gentle touch	59:43
	of your loving compassion.	59:47
	We pray for the elderly, the sick and infirmed,	59:52
	for those in hospitals, nursing homes, rest homes.	59:57
	We know that many of these people are lonely	1:00:03
	and in need of love,	1:00:07
	help us to acknowledge the fact not only doctors and nurses,	1:00:10
	but we too are administrators of your healing love.	1:00:17
	We also remember those in our community who are away	1:00:24
	for this much needed spring break.	1:00:27
	Bring them safely back to us, both rested and refreshed.	1:00:31
	Now, Lord, we pray for ourselves	1:00:38
	that we may be true and faithful disciples of your Word.	1:00:42
	Give us strength when we are weak,	1:00:48
	challenge us when we become lazy,	1:00:52
	judge us when we miss the mark as we so often do,	1:00:56
	and give us grace to continue in your love and service	1:01:02
	to your glory and honor.	1:01:07
	These are prayers we ask in the name of Christ our Lord,	1:01:10
	who when asked by his disciples,	1:01:16
	taught them how to pray even as he teaches us now,	1:01:18
	our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,	1:01:24
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth	1:01:31
	as it is in heaven.	1:01:36
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:01:38
	and forgive us our trespasses,	1:01:42
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	1:01:44
	and lead us not into temptation,	1:01:49
	but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom,	1:01:52
	power, and the glory forever, amen.	1:01:58
	(congregation member coughing)	1:02:06
	(high intensity cathedral music)	1:02:12
-	Loving and gracious Lord,	1:09:19
	we present these gifts to you and we present ourselves	1:09:21
	to you in gratitude for your great love.	1:09:24
	We know that we can only love because you first loved us.	1:09:29
	Indeed, you loved us so much that you gave your only son	1:09:34
	that we might have life and have it abundantly.	1:09:37
	We ask that you use these gifts, use us to feed the hungry,	1:09:42
	to heal the sick, to care for the poor, to comfort, to love,	1:09:47
	to do your will.	1:09:53
	Praise be your holy name forever and ever, amen.	1:09:56
	(high intensity cathedral music)	1:10:07
-	Now will you receive this benediction,	1:13:18
	the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ,	1:13:22
	the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	1:13:24
	be with you and all those you love, amen.	1:13:28
	(high intensity cathedral music)	1:13:41

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "Anger, Comfort, Joy, Salvation" (March 5, 1978)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r42j6d591

Date:

March 5, 1978

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0943
ref7089_07z
uachapelsermaud
duke:628559
dcrau002878
ark:/87924/r42j6d591
b12f0f1f-4514-44cb-bb8d-5702ab84e770

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

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

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Robert T. Young - "Anger, Comfort, Joy, Salvation" (March 5, 1978)

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1. Robert T. Young - "Anger...Comfort...Joy...Salvation" (March 5, 1978)

Duke University Archives

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Robert T. Young - "Anger, Comfort, Joy, Salvation" (March 5, 1978)

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Duke University Archives

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