William H. Willimon - "No Partiality" Easter Service (March 30, 1986)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| Narrator | Good morning. | 0:01 |
| Welcome to our live telecast | 0:02 | |
| of the Duke University Chapel Easter Service. | 0:03 | |
| WTVD is proud to telecast this beautiful observance | 0:06 | |
| of Easter from this magnificent chapel. | 0:10 | |
| The presiding minister for this mornings service | 0:13 | |
| is the Reverend Ms. Nancy A. Ferree, | 0:15 | |
| Assistant Minister to the university. | 0:18 | |
| The lector is Mr. Mark D. Hipps, | 0:20 | |
| President of Duke Campus Ministry. | 0:22 | |
| This morning's sermon will be delivered | 0:25 | |
| by the Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon, | 0:26 | |
| minister to the university. | 0:29 | |
| The director of the choir and instrumentalists | 0:30 | |
| is Mr. J. Benjamin Smith. | 0:33 | |
| (choir singing) | 0:36 | |
| (lively big band music) | 1:16 | |
| (choir singing) | 1:28 | |
| - | Hallelujah, Christ the Lord is risen. | 5:01 |
| (congregation mumbling) | 5:05 | |
| And a voice from the throne said behold, | 5:09 | |
| I make all things new. | 5:13 | |
| (congregation mumbling) | 5:16 | |
| Mighty God, by your power, | 5:26 | |
| Christ is raised from death | 5:29 | |
| to rule this world in love. | 5:32 | |
| We praise you for his presence with us | 5:35 | |
| because he lives, we look for eternal life, | 5:37 | |
| confident that nothing past, present | 5:43 | |
| or yet to come can separate us from your great love | 5:47 | |
| in Christ, amen. | 5:51 | |
| Be seated. | 5:55 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 6:04 |
| All | Oh living God, bring us forth from death to life | 6:07 |
| so that as the scriptures are read | 6:11 | |
| and your word is proclaimed, | 6:14 | |
| we might be brought to a sure | 6:17 | |
| and living faith in your Lordship, amen. | 6:19 | |
| - | The epistle lesson is taken | 6:24 |
| from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. | 6:26 | |
| If for this life only we have hoped in Christ | 6:29 | |
| we are of all men most to be pitied | 6:34 | |
| but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. | 6:38 | |
| The first fruits of those | 6:42 | |
| who have fallen asleep | 6:45 | |
| for as by a man came death, | 6:47 | |
| by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. | 6:50 | |
| For as in Adam, all die, | 6:54 | |
| so also in Christ shall all be made alive. | 6:58 | |
| But each in his own order. | 7:03 | |
| Christ the first fruits, | 7:06 | |
| then at his coming, | 7:09 | |
| those who belong to Christ. | 7:11 | |
| Then comes the end | 7:14 | |
| when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father | 7:16 | |
| after destroying every rule | 7:20 | |
| and every authority and power. | 7:22 | |
| For he must reign until he has put all enemies | 7:27 | |
| under his feet. | 7:32 | |
| The last enemy to be destroyed is death. | 7:35 | |
| This ends the reading of the first lesson. | 7:41 | |
| The gospel lesson is taken from John. | 7:44 | |
| Now of the first day of the week, | 7:50 | |
| Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early | 7:52 | |
| while it was still dark | 7:56 | |
| and saw that the stone had been taken away | 7:58 | |
| from the tomb. | 8:01 | |
| So she ran | 8:03 | |
| and went to Simon Peter | 8:04 | |
| and the other disciple, | 8:07 | |
| the one whom Jesus loved | 8:09 | |
| and said to them, | 8:11 | |
| they have taken the Lord out of the tomb | 8:13 | |
| and we do not know where they have laid him. | 8:17 | |
| Peter then came out with the other disciple | 8:21 | |
| and they went toward the tomb. | 8:24 | |
| They both ran but the other disciple outran Peter | 8:27 | |
| and reached the tomb first | 8:32 | |
| and stooping to look in, | 8:35 | |
| he saw the linen cloths lying there | 8:37 | |
| but he did not go in. | 8:41 | |
| Then Simon Peter came following him | 8:44 | |
| and went into the tomb. | 8:47 | |
| He saw the linen cloths lying | 8:50 | |
| and the napkin which had been on his head | 8:51 | |
| not lying with the linen cloths | 8:55 | |
| but rolled up in a place by itself. | 8:58 | |
| Then the other disciple | 9:01 | |
| who reached the tomb first | 9:03 | |
| also went in and he saw and believed | 9:05 | |
| for as yet they did not know the scripture | 9:11 | |
| that he must rise from the dead. | 9:14 | |
| Then the disciples went back to their homes. | 9:17 | |
| But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb | 9:22 | |
| and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb | 9:24 | |
| and she saw two angels in white | 9:29 | |
| sitting where the body of Jesus had layen, | 9:31 | |
| on at the head and one at the feet. | 9:34 | |
| They said to her, | 9:37 | |
| woman, why are you weeping? | 9:38 | |
| She said to them because they have taken away my Lord | 9:42 | |
| and I do not know where they have laid him. | 9:46 | |
| Saying this she turned round | 9:49 | |
| and saw Jesus standing | 9:51 | |
| but she did not know it was Jesus. | 9:54 | |
| Jesus said to her, woman, | 9:57 | |
| why are you weeping? | 10:00 | |
| Whom do you seek? | 10:01 | |
| Supposing him to be the gardener, | 10:03 | |
| she said to him, sir, | 10:06 | |
| if you have carried him away | 10:10 | |
| tell me where you have laid him | 10:12 | |
| and I will take him away. | 10:15 | |
| Jesus said to her, Mary, | 10:18 | |
| she turned and said to him in Hebrew, | 10:22 | |
| (speaking in foreign language) | 10:25 | |
| which means teacher. | 10:26 | |
| Jesus said to her, | 10:28 | |
| do not hold me | 10:30 | |
| for I have not yet ascended to the Father | 10:32 | |
| but go to my brothers and say to them, | 10:35 | |
| I am ascending to my father | 10:38 | |
| and your father, to my God and your God. | 10:40 | |
| Mary Magdalene went | 10:45 | |
| and said to the disciples I have seen the Lord | 10:47 | |
| and she told him that he had said these things to her. | 10:51 | |
| This ends the reading of the gospel. | 10:56 | |
| (choir singing) | 11:10 | |
| ♪ Though I am fallen to you ♪ | 12:14 | |
| ♪ A mystery ♪ | 12:18 | |
| ♪ We shall not go to sleep ♪ | 12:27 | |
| ♪ When he comes ♪ | 12:32 | |
| ♪ We shall not sleep ♪ | 12:44 | |
| ♪ When he comes ♪ | 12:51 | |
| ♪ But we shall all ♪ | 12:58 | |
| ♪ Be changed ♪ | 13:03 | |
| ♪ All be changed ♪ | 13:05 | |
| ♪ Shall all be changed ♪ | 13:11 | |
| ♪ We shall all be changed ♪ | 13:18 | |
| ♪ Shall all be changed ♪ | 13:26 | |
| ♪ In one moment, a moment ♪ | 13:37 | |
| ♪ In the twinkling of an eye ♪ | 13:43 | |
| ♪ At the sound, the sound of the trumpet ♪ | 13:47 | |
| (choir singing) | 13:56 | |
| ♪ And then ♪ | 14:54 | |
| ♪ What of all ♪ | 14:57 | |
| ♪ Was written ♪ | 15:00 | |
| ♪ The same shall be brought ♪ | 15:06 | |
| ♪ To pass ♪ | 15:13 | |
| (choir singing) | 15:23 | |
| - | Today's scripture from the book of Acts | 17:39 |
| and Peter opened his mouth and said, | 17:42 | |
| truly I perceive that God shows no partiality | 17:46 | |
| but in every nation anyone who fears him | 17:50 | |
| and does what is right is acceptable. | 17:53 | |
| You know the word which he sent to Israel | 17:57 | |
| preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ, | 18:00 | |
| he is the Lord of all. | 18:03 | |
| The word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, | 18:06 | |
| beginning from Galilee | 18:09 | |
| after the baptism which John preached, | 18:11 | |
| how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit | 18:14 | |
| and with power, | 18:18 | |
| how he went about doing good | 18:20 | |
| and healing all that were oppressed by the Devil | 18:23 | |
| for God was with him | 18:26 | |
| and we are witnesses to all that he did | 18:30 | |
| both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem, | 18:32 | |
| they put him to death | 18:36 | |
| by hanging him on a tree. | 18:37 | |
| But God raised him on the third day | 18:40 | |
| and made him manifest to all. | 18:43 | |
| When I first read the lesson, | 18:53 | |
| it seemed an odd text for an Easter Sunday. | 18:55 | |
| And Peter opened his mouth and said truly I perceive | 19:00 | |
| God shows no partiality. | 19:04 | |
| But in every nation anyone who fears him | 19:09 | |
| and does what is right is acceptable. | 19:11 | |
| You know the word which he sent, | 19:16 | |
| how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth | 19:18 | |
| with the Holy Spirit and with power, | 19:21 | |
| how he went about doing good and healing, | 19:23 | |
| they put him to death by hanging him on a tree | 19:26 | |
| but God raised him up on the third day. | 19:30 | |
| Well it's a story, yes, | 19:35 | |
| and it's an Easter story. | 19:38 | |
| Since it is a narration, | 19:40 | |
| whose brevity would do any preacher credit, | 19:43 | |
| of the resurrection. | 19:47 | |
| They put him to death by hanging him on a tree | 19:49 | |
| but God raised him up on the third day. | 19:52 | |
| And that about sums it up. | 19:56 | |
| The next time someone asks you | 19:59 | |
| what do Christians believe? | 20:01 | |
| You simply turn in your Bible to Acts 10, | 20:03 | |
| and it's all there. | 20:05 | |
| Here is one of the oldest | 20:08 | |
| and maybe the shortest summaries | 20:11 | |
| of the story which gave birth to the church. | 20:14 | |
| They put him to death, God raised him | 20:19 | |
| on the third day. | 20:22 | |
| And yet no one asked, "Hey Peter, | 20:25 | |
| "tell us an Easter story." | 20:29 | |
| No, what they said was at First Church Jerusalem, | 20:32 | |
| "Hey Peter, what were you doing with them?" | 20:37 | |
| See, they were angry | 20:45 | |
| because word had gotten back to them | 20:47 | |
| that Peter had just baptized Cornelius. | 20:49 | |
| Cornelius, a Roman, a gentile, | 20:55 | |
| a soldier. | 21:02 | |
| And when Peter got back to first Church Jerusalem, | 21:06 | |
| he had some explaining to do. | 21:10 | |
| You ate with those Romans. | 21:15 | |
| Yeah. | 21:18 | |
| Lasagna and other unclean fast foods. | 21:20 | |
| You baptized them? | 21:25 | |
| Well, Peter said, you told me to go spread the word. | 21:30 | |
| Sure but within limits. | 21:35 | |
| You way overstepped your bounds, fisherman. | 21:39 | |
| Went over the limit, passed all proper distinctions. | 21:43 | |
| And at the mention of limits, boundaries, distinctions, | 21:49 | |
| Peter said, I've found | 21:57 | |
| that God shows no (speaking in foreign language), | 22:00 | |
| no partiality. | 22:05 | |
| Or as it's translated in the Jerusalem Bible, | 22:09 | |
| God doesn't have favorites. | 22:13 | |
| It's a thought found elsewhere in scripture. | 22:19 | |
| God is not partial. | 22:22 | |
| He will not take a bribe, Deuteronomy 10. | 22:25 | |
| In Galatians 2:6 when Paul is questioned | 22:29 | |
| about relationships between slaves and masters, | 22:33 | |
| Paul says God shows no partiality. | 22:38 | |
| God doesn't know the difference | 22:43 | |
| between slave and free, Jew, Greek, male, female. | 22:44 | |
| Or when they asked Jesus, | 22:52 | |
| Jesus said, he makes the sun to rise | 22:54 | |
| upon the good and the bad, | 22:59 | |
| and his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. | 23:01 | |
| God is impartial. | 23:07 | |
| And I know of no sadder sight in academia | 23:11 | |
| than a professor | 23:14 | |
| who plays favorites | 23:17 | |
| or a student who makes distinctions | 23:20 | |
| between different colors | 23:22 | |
| of his fellow students. | 23:24 | |
| Or a university administrator | 23:27 | |
| who enforces the rules for some but not for all. | 23:29 | |
| God shows no partiality says Peter. | 23:33 | |
| And you and I, Gentile, Johnny come latelies | 23:38 | |
| to the house of Israel can take delight | 23:42 | |
| that God shows no partiality | 23:46 | |
| because if God did, | 23:48 | |
| you and I wouldn't be here. | 23:49 | |
| But you can sure understand | 23:54 | |
| how those Jewish Christians were upset with Peter. | 23:55 | |
| A Gentile? | 24:02 | |
| A Roman? | 24:05 | |
| A soldier? | 24:07 | |
| A man whose sword hung at his side | 24:10 | |
| signified both his security forces | 24:14 | |
| and the KGB and the Gestapo all rolled into one, | 24:18 | |
| a man who just following orders | 24:23 | |
| was the sort of person who only a few months before | 24:27 | |
| had hung their beloved Jesus up on a cross to die. | 24:30 | |
| And Peter baptized him. | 24:36 | |
| But why did you do it they wanted to know, | 24:41 | |
| how could you, you an ignorant fisherman, | 24:42 | |
| who only a couple of years ago | 24:46 | |
| didn't know anything more than how to tell a carp | 24:48 | |
| from a flounder, you decide to lay aside 2,000 years | 24:52 | |
| of time-honored tradition | 24:56 | |
| and baptize this Roman. | 25:00 | |
| And Peter answered, | 25:04 | |
| God shows no partiality. | 25:07 | |
| Because Jesus of Nazareth | 25:12 | |
| they put him to death | 25:14 | |
| but God raised him up on the third day. | 25:17 | |
| In other words, Peter said Easter made him do it. | 25:22 | |
| They asked Peter how he could kick down | 25:28 | |
| this venerable wall of distinction | 25:30 | |
| and Peter answered by telling them an Easter story. | 25:34 | |
| "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," | 25:41 | |
| writes the poet Frost. | 25:45 | |
| But you better learn | 25:48 | |
| because you'll spend most of your life between walls, | 25:51 | |
| life is intramural. | 25:56 | |
| There's one between East and West Berlin | 25:59 | |
| and one between the Arabs and the Israelis. | 26:01 | |
| The way to live with the Soviets, | 26:07 | |
| build a big high wall, | 26:09 | |
| stack the bombs, they put on one | 26:12 | |
| and then we put on a bigger one | 26:15 | |
| and we keep stacking it higher and higher, | 26:17 | |
| national defense, that's just a fancy way of saying | 26:20 | |
| Partiality, partition, apartheid, | 26:28 | |
| dirty words, I'm sure they all have | 26:34 | |
| the same linguistic derivation. | 26:37 | |
| In our distant past, | 26:40 | |
| somebody looked across the field | 26:42 | |
| and saw his neighbor and when their eyes met, | 26:43 | |
| he looked around on the ground | 26:46 | |
| for a stone, he picked up one stone | 26:47 | |
| and then another stone and another | 26:49 | |
| and I bet that humanity invented walls | 26:53 | |
| before we discovered wheels. | 26:57 | |
| And you can paint it. | 27:02 | |
| You can fresco it, you can graffiti it | 27:04 | |
| but it's still a wall, a partition, a boundary | 27:07 | |
| and it does a good job | 27:12 | |
| of keeping him out. | 27:14 | |
| And an even better job of keeping you in. | 27:17 | |
| Because with walls, sometimes it's hard to know | 27:21 | |
| whether you're locked in or out. | 27:25 | |
| 'Cause once the thing is built, | 27:28 | |
| everybody feels like a prisoner with walls. | 27:29 | |
| Well, you know her, he said of his fellow Duke student, | 27:36 | |
| she is the BMW Spring at Fort Lauderdale Set. | 27:39 | |
| Case closed, got that wall all in place. | 27:45 | |
| What else is growing up | 27:51 | |
| except learning about the boundaries, | 27:54 | |
| learning about the walls. | 27:59 | |
| Here is a six-year-old going out | 28:04 | |
| for his first day of school, | 28:07 | |
| triumphantly parading out to this new adventure, | 28:10 | |
| eyes so bright. | 28:12 | |
| Go back and look at that child 10 years later. | 28:16 | |
| What happened to the bright eyes? | 28:21 | |
| Well you see, the bright eyes got dulled | 28:25 | |
| after the standardized tests | 28:28 | |
| and the report cards | 28:31 | |
| and keep both feet on the floor young man | 28:32 | |
| and write between the lines. | 28:34 | |
| I'm just not good in math, he says. | 28:39 | |
| Girls are not supposed to play soccer, she says | 28:44 | |
| as she leaves the field. | 28:49 | |
| Well, good, good, | 28:52 | |
| they've learned about the boundaries, | 28:54 | |
| the limits, the walls | 28:56 | |
| and when they've discovered more about their limits, | 28:58 | |
| we'll give them a diploma and call them mature. | 29:00 | |
| And if they get too out of line, | 29:05 | |
| we'll get 'em a therapist | 29:06 | |
| to help them adjust to the walls. | 29:07 | |
| It's what I do as a preacher in the hospital all the time. | 29:11 | |
| I meet the doctor coming out of the patient's room. | 29:15 | |
| He says to me okay, preacher, | 29:19 | |
| I've shown him the wall, | 29:21 | |
| you go in there and help him live with it. | 29:22 | |
| And I go in and stand at bedside and say, Lord, | 29:27 | |
| grant us the serenity to live with these walls. | 29:32 | |
| One day, when I was about 20, | 29:41 | |
| I was talking with a guy my age | 29:44 | |
| who had never seen New York City. | 29:46 | |
| We pooled our money and found out that we had enough | 29:49 | |
| to get to New York. | 29:52 | |
| We left that very afternoon, | 29:53 | |
| drove all the way from South Carolina to New York. | 29:55 | |
| We went up the Empire State Building | 29:58 | |
| right after sunrise, went out on the Staten Island Ferry, | 30:02 | |
| saw two Swedish movies, | 30:06 | |
| walked around down at Greenwich Village, | 30:08 | |
| got back in the car, came back in time to see sunrise | 30:10 | |
| over the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. | 30:13 | |
| But this year I'll be 40. | 30:18 | |
| Wanna go to Asheville? | 30:22 | |
| No, no. | 30:23 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 30:25 | |
| I've learned my limits, I'll just stay here, take a nap. | 30:28 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 30:32 | |
| Oh, you laugh. | 30:35 | |
| You laugh. | 30:37 | |
| Many of you are young, | 30:38 | |
| still straining at the limits, | 30:41 | |
| dancing along the boundaries, | 30:43 | |
| that's what youth does. | 30:45 | |
| You think because you've done well in school, | 30:49 | |
| because you got in a place like Duke | 30:51 | |
| and because you're young | 30:54 | |
| and you've never even known heartburn, | 30:55 | |
| you think you can do anything you like. | 30:59 | |
| You're part of the new wave, | 31:02 | |
| the new generation, ignoring past prejudices | 31:04 | |
| and distinctions, you won't live your life | 31:07 | |
| by the same boundaries of race | 31:10 | |
| and sex and ideology as your parents. | 31:14 | |
| You're free, impartial. | 31:18 | |
| But come back at 40 and we'll see. | 31:23 | |
| But there is one wall | 31:31 | |
| that even you won't get over. | 31:35 | |
| There's no way around that one. | 31:41 | |
| You can jog, you can eat yogurt, | 31:44 | |
| you can think positively, | 31:46 | |
| but one day your super highway will dead end | 31:49 | |
| against a blank wall | 31:53 | |
| that nobody gets over. | 31:56 | |
| We shall die. | 32:01 | |
| Jean-Paul Sartre wrote a story, The Wall, | 32:06 | |
| in which a group of men | 32:11 | |
| are sitting around and talking and awaiting death | 32:13 | |
| by a firing squad in the Spanish Civil War. | 32:16 | |
| As the hour of their death approaches, | 32:22 | |
| when they must stand before that wall, | 32:23 | |
| eyes blindfolded and meet their deaths, | 32:25 | |
| they begin to think. | 32:32 | |
| One says, "With what eagerness I had run after happiness. | 32:35 | |
| "And women and liberty and to what end? | 32:43 | |
| "I wanted to liberate Spain, | 32:46 | |
| "I belong to the Anarchist movement, | 32:48 | |
| "I spoke at public meetings, | 32:49 | |
| "I took everything as seriously | 32:51 | |
| "as if I had been immortal. | 32:53 | |
| "I had the impression | 32:57 | |
| "that I had my whole life before me. | 32:58 | |
| "And now it isn't worth anything. | 33:02 | |
| "Death has taken the charm out of everything." | 33:07 | |
| And that's what death does. | 33:14 | |
| So, why should I criticize those | 33:18 | |
| who get all they can | 33:21 | |
| and strive and achieve | 33:23 | |
| and eat and drink and be merry? | 33:26 | |
| Maybe they're the smart ones | 33:30 | |
| because they've learned that life has its limits | 33:34 | |
| and you better grab all you can | 33:36 | |
| while you can before your head hits solid | 33:38 | |
| against that dark wall | 33:42 | |
| that nobody gets over. | 33:44 | |
| In criticizing the hedonism | 33:47 | |
| and the alleged self-centeredness | 33:50 | |
| of many of today's campuses | 33:51 | |
| one commentator writes, | 33:54 | |
| "Faced with a nuclear threat, | 33:57 | |
| "a shrinking future, gloomy economic students, | 34:00 | |
| "today's students feel | 34:04 | |
| "that they are on the Titanic. | 34:06 | |
| "The thing may be sinking | 34:10 | |
| "but at least they can be on the first class deck | 34:13 | |
| "when it goes down." | 34:16 | |
| The BMWs, the clothes, | 34:19 | |
| the career, the frantic search for fun. | 34:22 | |
| It's their way of living with the wall. | 34:27 | |
| And if we can't get over the wall, | 34:33 | |
| we can at least plant roses in front of it. | 34:35 | |
| Accept reality, face the facts, | 34:38 | |
| which all means know your limits. | 34:43 | |
| Learn to live with the boundaries, | 34:48 | |
| including the biggest, most inviolable boundary of all: | 34:51 | |
| death. | 34:57 | |
| And then there comes this fisherman | 35:02 | |
| still breathless from scaling the wall | 35:07 | |
| to reach over to embrace an outsider. | 35:09 | |
| Saying truly I perceive that God shows no partiality. | 35:16 | |
| God will not love a wall. | 35:26 | |
| On Good Friday you see, | 35:31 | |
| they nailed him shut, | 35:33 | |
| somebody disturbing our peace, | 35:35 | |
| somebody not recognizing the status quo, | 35:37 | |
| admiring our boundaries, | 35:39 | |
| well, we've got an answer for that, kill him, | 35:41 | |
| seal the tomb shut. | 35:44 | |
| And just when we had all these walls, | 35:48 | |
| our limits fixed so firmly in place, | 35:51 | |
| insiders, outsiders, possible, impossible, life, death, | 35:55 | |
| he ripped away the veil in the Holy of Holies, | 36:01 | |
| tore off the shroud, | 36:06 | |
| rolled the stone away, scaled the wall | 36:08 | |
| and we so impressed | 36:13 | |
| by our limits, | 36:17 | |
| so well adjusted to the walls, | 36:20 | |
| come to church, | 36:26 | |
| shocked again this Easter | 36:28 | |
| to find him waving at us | 36:31 | |
| from the other side. | 36:36 | |
| He's loose. | 36:40 | |
| And what's more, he wants to set you and me loose | 36:43 | |
| because God shows no partiality. | 36:47 | |
| (lively organ music) | 37:00 | |
| (choir singing) | 37:31 | |
| Minister | The risen Christ be with you. | 38:41 |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 38:43 |
| - | Let us pray. | 38:45 |
| Most kind and gracious God, | 38:57 | |
| who called forth thy son from the grave | 39:00 | |
| making life the victor over death, | 39:03 | |
| we bow in prayer before thee | 39:07 | |
| seeking a fresh awareness of thy reality | 39:09 | |
| and of thy resurrecting presence. | 39:13 | |
| In so doing, we offer these prayers for others | 39:16 | |
| that in our remembering of their needs, | 39:20 | |
| we may be reminded of our own neediness | 39:23 | |
| as we stand in utter dependency upon thee. | 39:26 | |
| Let us pray for those who suffer in our world, | 39:31 | |
| for the masses of starving people | 39:36 | |
| that whatever language they may speak, | 39:39 | |
| their cries of anguish will be heard. | 39:42 | |
| For homeless people everywhere, | 39:46 | |
| for those who dwell in the streets of our nation's cities, | 39:49 | |
| for thousands of refugees | 39:54 | |
| who roam the Earth searching for a place to call home. | 39:55 | |
| For runaway children who feel home | 40:00 | |
| is more of a hindrance to their growth than a help, | 40:02 | |
| that each may find a place of rest and understanding. | 40:06 | |
| For those who are bereaved | 40:12 | |
| over the loss of a loved one, | 40:14 | |
| over news of a debilitating illness, | 40:18 | |
| over memories of happier days gone by, | 40:21 | |
| that thy healing presence | 40:26 | |
| may restore them to fullness of life. | 40:27 | |
| Let us pray for those caught | 40:32 | |
| in the struggles of discernment, | 40:34 | |
| for all those contemplating life-changing decisions, | 40:37 | |
| grant them wisdom | 40:41 | |
| and a true sense of thy presence in their lives, | 40:43 | |
| for those who seek to know thee | 40:47 | |
| yet struggle to believe. | 40:49 | |
| Grant them the courage necessary | 40:52 | |
| to take the leap of faith. | 40:54 | |
| For leaders of all the nations | 40:56 | |
| that they may understand and respond | 40:59 | |
| to the needs of all the world's peoples | 41:02 | |
| and lead us in the pathway of peace. | 41:05 | |
| Let us pray for all who feel unloved or unwanted, | 41:10 | |
| for those who seek to injure themselves or others, | 41:15 | |
| for those who indulge in material excesses | 41:19 | |
| attempting to fill an interior void. | 41:23 | |
| For those who live within institutions | 41:27 | |
| surrounded by people yet lonely beyond words. | 41:29 | |
| Heal these thy children, oh God | 41:34 | |
| that they may appreciate the unique worth | 41:37 | |
| which thou has bestowed upon them. | 41:40 | |
| These and the many unspoken concerns | 41:44 | |
| of this congregation we lift unto thee, | 41:47 | |
| redeeming God, trusting in thy goodness, | 41:49 | |
| confident in thy power to save, | 41:54 | |
| grateful that thou art love for all eternity. | 41:57 | |
| In the name of Jesus Christ our risen Lord we pray. | 42:03 | |
| Amen. | 42:08 | |
| And now in the sprit of thanksgiving | 42:12 | |
| that God has raised Christ from the dead, | 42:14 | |
| let us offer our gifts and ourselves to God. | 42:17 | |
| (operatic singing) | 42:36 | |
| (lively organ music) | 51:08 | |
| (congregation singing) | 51:28 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 51:41 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 51:44 | |
| (congregation singing) | 51:49 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 52:03 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 52:06 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 52:10 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 52:13 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 52:18 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 52:29 | |
| - | Almighty God, power of life, | 52:43 |
| we thank you for all your mercies | 52:46 | |
| and for your loving care over all your creatures, | 52:48 | |
| especially we praise you that you have not abandoned us | 52:52 | |
| to the death of sin and despair | 52:55 | |
| that with Jesus Christ you have lifted us up from the grave. | 52:59 | |
| Grant that we might live in newness of life, | 53:03 | |
| that we might ourselves know the power | 53:06 | |
| of resurrection now and in the world to come. | 53:09 | |
| This we pray in the name of the risen Christ | 53:13 | |
| who taught us to pray. | 53:16 | |
| All | Our father who art in heave, | 53:18 |
| hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, | 53:21 | |
| thy will be done | 53:25 | |
| on Earth as it is in heave. | 53:27 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 53:29 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 53:32 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us | 53:34 | |
| and lead us not into temptation | 53:38 | |
| but deliver us from evil | 53:40 | |
| for thine is the kingdom, the power | 53:42 | |
| and the glory forever. | 53:45 | |
| Amen. | 53:47 | |
| (dramatic band music) | 53:51 | |
| (choir singing) | 54:15 | |
| (dramatic band music) | 56:46 | |
| - | And now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ | 57:00 |
| who has come from death to life | 57:03 | |
| be with you now and evermore. | 57:05 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 57:11 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 57:14 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 57:17 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 57:20 | |
| (lively organ music) | 57:31 | |
| Narrator | You've been watching a live telecast | 59:01 |
| of the Duke University Chapel Easter Service | 59:03 | |
| from the campus of Duke University. | 59:05 | |
| Stay tuned to WTVD11 for Curious Kaleidoscope | 59:08 | |
| coming up next here on WTVD11. | 59:11 |
Item Info
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