Leonard I. Sweet - "Pigeon-Walking, Whale-Watching, Wave-Riding, Water-Striding" (August 2, 1987)

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	(organ music)	0:00
-	Grace and peace to you, in the name	5:31
	of the Lord, Jesus Christ.	5:33
	We welcome you to this service of worship	5:35
	at Duke University Chapel, on this eighth	5:37
	Sunday after Pentecost.	5:40
	We also extend greetings to those	5:42
	in our radio and television audiences.	5:44
	We realize that many of you may be visiting	5:46
	the Duke campus for the first time,	5:49
	and if so, we wish you a pleasant stay	5:51
	and offer our assistance in any that we may be	5:54
	of help to you here at the Chapel.	5:57
	Our guest preacher this morning	6:00
	is the Reverend Dr. Leonard I. Sweet,	6:01
	President of United Theological Seminary.	6:04
	Dr. Sweet is a highly regarded preacher,	6:07
	as well as teacher, author and scholar.	6:09
	Author of more than 30 articles in leading publications	6:13
	over the last several years, he's editor of	6:16
	The Evangelical Tradition in America,	6:18
	and associate editor of The Journal	6:20
	of the American Academy of Religion.	6:22
	He has been named a James T. Clellan visiting preacher.	6:25
	We are indeed fortunate to be able to welcome him	6:29
	to our pulpit today.	6:32
	Please note the other announcements	6:34
	as they are printed in your bulletins.	6:35
	And now, let us continue our worship.	6:38
	(choir singing)	6:48
	("Praise to the Lord, the Almighty", Joachim Neander)	7:33
	♪ Praise to the Lord, the Almighty ♪	8:13
	♪ The King of creation ♪	8:18
	♪ O my soul, praise him, for he is your health ♪	8:24
	♪ And salvation ♪	8:31
	♪ Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near ♪	8:36
	♪ Join me in glad adoration ♪	8:46
	♪ Praise to the Lord, above all things ♪	8:56
	♪ So wondrously reigning ♪	9:01
	♪ Sheltering you under his wings, and so gently sustaining ♪	9:08
	♪ Have you not seen all that is needful has been ♪	9:19
	♪ Sent by his gracious ordaining ♪	9:29
	♪ Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work ♪	9:39
	♪ And defend you ♪	9:46
	♪ Surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you ♪	9:52
	♪ Ponder anew what the Almighty can do ♪	10:03
	♪ If with his love he befriends you ♪	10:13
	♪ Praise to the Lord ♪	10:24
	♪ O let all that is in me adore him ♪	10:28
	♪ All that has life and breath ♪	10:37
	♪ Come now with praises before him ♪	10:41
	♪ Let the Amen sound from his people again ♪	10:48
	♪ Gladly forever adore him ♪	10:59
-	Lord of all power and might, the Author	11:14
	and Giver of all good things.	11:17
	Graft in our hearts the love of your name.	11:21
	Increase in us true religion.	11:24
	Nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us	11:28
	the fruit of good works through Jesus Christ, our Lord,	11:32
	who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,	11:36
	forever and ever, amen.	11:40
-	Let us pray.	12:00
All	Open our hearts and minds, oh God, by the power	12:03
	of your Holy Spirit, so that, as the word is read	12:07
	and proclaimed, we might hear, with joy, what you have	12:11
	to say to us this day.	12:15
	Amen.	12:17
-	The first lesson is taken from the book of Exodus.	12:19
	"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,	12:23
	"This month shall be for you the beginning of months;	12:27
	"it shall be the first month of the year for you.	12:31
	"Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day	12:35
	"of this month they shall take every man a lamb	12:38
	"according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household;	12:41
	"and if the household is too small for a lamb,	12:47
	"then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take	12:50
	"according to the number of persons;	12:54
	"according to what each can eat	12:57
	"you shall make your count for the lamb.	12:59
	"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old;	13:02
	"you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats;	13:08
	"and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day	13:12
	"of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation	13:14
	"of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.	13:18
	"Then they shall take some of the blood,	13:23
	"and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel	13:26
	"of the houses in which they eat them.	13:29
	"They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted;	13:33
	"with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.	13:36
	"Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted,	13:41
	"its head with its legs and its inner parts.	13:47
	"And you shall let none of which remain until the morning,	13:51
	"anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.	13:57
	"In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded,	14:01
	"your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand;	14:06
	"and you shall eat it in haste.	14:11
	"It is the Lord's passover.	14:14
	"For I shall pass through the land of Egypt that night,	14:18
	"and I shall smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt,	14:21
	"both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt	14:26
	"I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.	14:33
	"The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses	14:38
	"where you are; and when I see the blood,	14:43
	"I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you	14:46
	"to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.	14:50
	"This day shall be for you a memorial day,	14:57
	"and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord;	15:01
	"throughout your generations you shall observe it	15:05
	"as an ordinance for ever."	15:09
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	15:12
-	Let us join in the response of reading at this alter.	15:24
Women	"Hear my prayer, O Lord;	15:32
	"give ear to my supplications!	15:35
	"In thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness!"	15:37
Men	"Enter not into judgment with thy servant;	15:43
	"for no man living is righteous before thee."	15:46
Women	"I remember the days of old,	15:50
	"I meditate on all that thou hast done;	15:52
	"I muse on what thy hands have wrought."	15:56
Men	"I stretch out my hands to thee;	16:00
	"my soul thirsts for thee like a parched land."	16:02
Women	"Make haste to answer me, O Lord!	16:07
	"My spirit fails!	16:10
	"Hide not thy face from me,	16:12
	"lest I be like those who go down to the Pit."	16:14
Men	"Let me hear in the morning	16:19
	"of thy steadfast love,	16:20
	"for in thee I put my trust."	16:23
All	"Teach me the way I should go,	16:26
	"for to thee I lift up my soul."	16:29
	(organ music)	16:32
	(muffled singing)	16:41
-	The second lesson is taken from Paul's letter	17:39
	to the Romans.	17:42
	"What then shall we say to this?	17:44
	"If God is for us, who is against us?	17:47
	"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up	17:52
	"for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?	17:55
	"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?	18:01
	"It is God who justifies; who is to condemn?	18:05
	"Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised	18:11
	"from the dead, who is at the right hand of God,	18:16
	"who indeed intercedes for us?	18:20
	"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?	18:24
	"Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,	18:28
	"or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?	18:33
	"As it is written, 'For thy sake we are being killed	18:41
	"'all the day long; we are regarded	18:45
	"'as sheep to be slaughtered.'	18:48
	"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors	18:52
	"through him who loved us.	18:56
	"For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels,	18:59
	"nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,	19:04
	"nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else	19:10
	"in all creation, will be able to separate us	19:16
	"from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."	19:19
	(organ notes)	19:36
	(choir singing)	19:43
-	The Gospel is taken from Mark.	22:33
	"On that day, when evening had come, he said to them,	22:37
	"'Let us go across to the other side.'	22:43
	"And leaving the crowd, they took him with them	22:46
	"in the boat, just as he was.	22:49
	"And other boats were with him.	22:53
	"And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat	22:56
	"into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.	23:00
	"But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion;	23:05
	"and they woke him and said to him,	23:10
	"'Teacher, do you not care if we perish?'	23:13
	"And he awoke and rebutted the wind, and said to the sea,	23:17
	"'Peace!	23:22
	"'Be still!'	23:23
	"And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.	23:26
	"He said to them, 'Why are you afraid?	23:31
	"'Have you no faith?'	23:35
	"And they were filled with awe, and said to one another,	23:39
	"'Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?'"	23:44
	This ends the reading of the Gospel.	23:51
-	Please join me in prayer.	24:15
	Fill Thou my life, O Lord our God,	24:20
	In every part with praise,	24:22
	That my whole being may proclaim	24:25
	Thy being and Thy ways.	24:27
	Fill every part of me with praise;	24:31
	Let all my being speak	24:33
	of Thee and of Thy love, O God,	24:35
	Poor though I be and weak.	24:38
	So shall, thou God, from me, even me,	24:43
	receive Thy glory do,	24:46
	and so might we all begin on earth the song forever new.	24:48
	Amen, and amen.	24:54
	It was the fashion in the 15th century	24:59
	to call the Christian church the community	25:02
	of those who travel.	25:06
	Christians are people on the move,	25:09
	and not just in the summertime.	25:12
	How many have yet seen Jaws 4?	25:15
	Well, those of you with your hands up, I'm sorry for you.	25:21
	Those of you with your hands down, you are most fortunate.	25:24
	I did learn something from Jaws 4.	25:27
	There's a sermon in everything, I'm convinced,	25:31
	even in the worst, and I discovered that Christians	25:34
	and sharks have one thing in common,	25:38
	and that is,	25:43
	motion is what keeps us breathing.	25:45
	The only way in which sharks breathe	25:50
	is that they are in motion, and motion	25:52
	is what keeps Christians spiritually breathing.	25:56
	In a world filled with tourists,	26:01
	Christians are the true world travelers.	26:04
	Now, every nation has pilgrimage centers	26:09
	that reenact and rehearse the shared values	26:13
	and symbols of that cultural tradition	26:16
	embodied in that nation.	26:20
	America has two pilgrimage centers that we all travel to.	26:22
	One is historical, and the other is recreational.	26:27
	The historical mecca that we all feel compelled	26:30
	to travel to and feel the tug to take	26:35
	our children to is where?	26:37
	Washington, right, Washington, D.C.	26:41
	Who here has not been to the Washington Monument?	26:43
	Everybody has, we have all been to the Lincoln Memorial,	26:47
	we've all been to the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.	26:51
	One of these days, I'm gonna do a sermon	26:54
	on the Tomb of the Unknown Christian.	26:55
	I don't know what I'm gonna say about it,	26:58
	but it's a wonderful title.	27:00
	There is also another kind of mecca	27:02
	that we have, which is a recreational mecca.	27:06
	We spine and feel the same kind of tug	27:10
	to take our children to this mecca, as well,	27:13
	a recreational mecca.	27:17
	What am I talking about?	27:19
	Right, the identical twin	27:22
	monuments to Mickey Mouse.	27:26
	Disneyland and Disney World.	27:30
	Now, there are, besides pilgrimage centers	27:33
	that we share commonly together,	27:37
	there are also personal pilgrimage centers	27:41
	that we all have in our own life.	27:44
	My personal pilgrimage center	27:47
	is the Martha Memorial.	27:49
	Now, who has not been to the Martha Memorial?	27:52
	Okay, who has been to the Martha Memorial?	27:57
	Well, let me give you a clue.	28:01
	Martha died the first of September, 1914.	28:03
	Does that help out any?	28:08
	Anybody know where the Martha Memorial--	28:11
	Let me give you another clue.	28:14
	One of the reasons why I got so excited	28:16
	about moving to southern Ohio,	28:18
	which is where United Theological Seminary is,	28:22
	is that I could be near where Martha spent	28:25
	most of her entire life.	28:29
	Does that help out any?	28:33
	Let me give one more clue.	28:35
	In the 19th century, so many Martha's	28:38
	traveled together across America,	28:41
	that they formed a big, dense black cloud	28:44
	that was so thick and dense, that the sun	28:50
	literally went into eclipse as they made	28:54
	their migratory passage across America	28:58
	throughout the 19th century.	29:03
	Now you know who Martha was.	29:07
	Martha was the last passenger pigeon.	29:10
	She died the first of September, 1914.	29:15
	She's now stuffed and at the Smithsonian institution,	29:19
	but she spent her entire life at the Cincinnati Zoo,	29:22
	and the Martha Memorial at the Cincinnati Zoo is,	29:28
	for me, one of the most important memorials in America.	29:31
	It is one of my pilgrimage centers.	29:36
	Now, I wanna suggest this morning that there is a force	29:40
	in our midst that is so dense and so powerful	29:45
	that it, too, like those clouds of Martha's	29:51
	across America in the 19th century,	29:55
	it, too, can shut out the sun.	29:57
	It, too, can even close the Church.	30:02
	The rays of God's power and presence	30:08
	can be prevented from reaching our lives	30:12
	because of the spread of this spirit.	30:16
	I want to name the demon this morning,	30:20
	this spirit, this force in our midst,	30:22
	and I am calling it the power of small-mindedness.	30:26
	Desire determines destiny,	30:33
	and our desires	30:38
	for the things of God have become puny.	30:40
	We have made mediocrity into a virtue.	30:44
	Our ambition has become, to have little ambition	30:47
	for God and the Gospel.	30:52
	Now, the powers of small-mindedness	30:56
	can be illustrated by fog.	30:58
	Scientists recently determined to study	31:00
	just how much water there is in fog.	31:06
	You'd think we'd know by now everything	31:08
	that we need to know about fog, but we don't.	31:09
	So, they got their computers together	31:13
	and all this technological wizardry,	31:15
	and they put the question to it,	31:17
	"How much water is there, in fog, dense enough	31:19
	"to shut down a major international airport,	31:24
	"or the equivalent of seven major city blocks	31:28
	"of a metropolitan area?"	31:32
	So, they calculated how much water	31:35
	there would be in that density of fog	31:38
	if it were fully condensed down,	31:41
	and what they discovered was that the amount of fog	31:45
	that it would take to shut down	31:49
	a major international airport, or to shut down	31:51
	a major portion of one of America's largest cities,	31:54
	when you brought it all together,	31:59
	could fit into one eight ounce glass of water.	32:00
	That is all the water it takes,	32:05
	and that is all the small-mindedness it takes in our lives	32:10
	to shut out the rays of God's presence and love,	32:16
	and to shut down the Church.	32:21
	The Church can be so befogged by the spirit	32:25
	of small-mindedness, that it's mission,	32:30
	it's movement, can come to a screeching halt.	32:33
	To get underway again, we must relearn	32:41
	the art of Christian traveling.	32:47
	We must be mobile believers.	32:52
	The art of Christian traveling, I am convinced,	32:58
	is summarized by four basic means of locomotion:	33:03
	pigeon-walking, whale-watching,	33:10
	wave-riding and water-striding.	33:13
	Now, let's return to Martha.	33:18
	Have you ever noticed that pigeons walk funny?	33:22
	Have you ever noticed that, they have	33:26
	a very unique and distinctive way of walking?	33:27
	Passenger pigeons are now extinct,	33:31
	but there are over 300 varieties of other kinds of pigeons,	33:33
	and they're thriving, as anyone who goes	33:37
	into any city knows.	33:39
	Well, the Detroit Free Press, not to long ago,	33:42
	did a study of pigeons and they discovered	33:44
	that the reason why pigeons walk funny	33:48
	is that every pigeon brought in to this world	33:52
	is born with a handicap, and their handicap	33:55
	is that, as long as they are in motion,	33:58
	pigeons can not see straight.	34:02
	It gets cloudy and unfocused,	34:06
	and the further they walk,	34:10
	the more blurred and cloudy their vision becomes.	34:12
	So, pigeons have learned over the years	34:18
	to compensate for this disability	34:20
	by a very unique way of walking.	34:23
	What they do is they go so far, and then they have to stop,	34:27
	and then they focus their eyes,	34:32
	and this is done very, very quickly,	34:34
	they refocus their eyes and then they pivot	34:36
	in the direction which they want to go,	34:39
	and then they start up again, but they can only go so far	34:42
	before everything gets blurry, so they have to stop	34:45
	and they have to re-pivot, refocus and start again.	34:48
	I'm not gonna do the pigeon walk for you this morning,	34:52
	but you know what it looks like, and it's partly	34:56
	from that odd way of walking that we get	34:58
	our expression "pigeon-toed."	35:00
	'Cause that helps them to stop.	35:05
	Now, it's easy for us to laugh at pigeons,	35:08
	but we, brothers and sisters, have the exact same disability	35:11
	as every pigeon brought into this world,	35:16
	for we also move to fast	35:20
	to see clearly.	35:24
	Our lives are so crowded, our calendars are so congested,	35:26
	that we cannot see clearly the will and the way of God	35:30
	for our lives, unless we, too,	35:35
	learn to be pigeon-like.	35:39
	To stop, to refocus,	35:41
	to re-pivot our lives,	35:46
	and then to begin again.	35:48
	When Jesus called his first disciples in Mark 1,	35:53
	you remember he found Peter and his fishing boat partners	35:56
	by the Sea of Galilee, what were they doing?	36:00
	They were hauling in their nets from the water	36:02
	onto dry land, and Jesus' first words to his new disciples	36:05
	were, "Repent, believe the Gospel.	36:10
	"Follow me,	36:15
	and I will make you fishers of men and women."	36:18
	Now, the word for repent, here,	36:23
	is the Greek word, metanoia.	36:25
	It literally means a change of mind,	36:28
	an about-face with your life.	36:31
	In other words, you are fishing or you are walking	36:33
	in a certain direction, but then a metanoic	36:36
	experience happens, and you find yourself returning,	36:39
	re-pivoting, refocusing and starting off	36:46
	in a whole new direction, a new way of living,	36:52
	a new way of fishing, a new way of walking in the world.	36:55
	This Greek word, metanoia, is nothing more	36:59
	than a fancy name for pigeon-walking.	37:04
	But one metanoia is not enough.	37:09
	Christians are a pigeon-toed people.	37:14
	We cannot go far without things getting out of focus,	37:18
	without life becoming blurred again,	37:22
	without needing more conversion experiences,	37:24
	and so, one of the greatest things Martha can teach us,	37:31
	and has taught me,	37:37
	is how to do the pigeon-walk.	37:40
	Now, Jesus calls individuals, but Jesus gathers	37:45
	individuals into communities.	37:48
	This is where the art of whale-watching comes in.	37:52
	My favorite vacation spot in the summer	37:55
	is South Wellfleet, Massachusetts.	37:58
	How many of you ever been to Cape Cod?	38:00
	Okay, how many of you, at Cape Cod,	38:03
	have ever gone on a whale watch?	38:06
	Has anybody here?	38:09
	Some of you have.	38:10
	On a dreary, overcast day, the only thing to do,	38:12
	the only problem is, thousands of others decide	38:15
	this is the only thing to do, is to visit	38:18
	Provincetown and to go on a whale watch.	38:21
	Now, what happens is, the captain of the whale-watching	38:27
	vessel steers the boat into the Stellwagon Bank	38:30
	feeding grounds, which is about	38:34
	six to eight miles out to sea.	38:35
	When he gets out there, he announces that	38:39
	the whale watch begins, and everyone scampers	38:42
	to the sides of the boat, leans over the railing,	38:45
	and is told to watch out for,	38:49
	what the naturalist commentator calls, whale prints.	38:51
	Isn't that a wonderful word?	38:56
	Whale prints.	38:59
	Now, a whale print betrays the spot	39:01
	where the whale has founded, and if you look far enough	39:05
	into the water and long enough around that whale print,	39:09
	or what used to be called the blow wake,	39:13
	you can see the whale surface again for another sounding.	39:16
	If you can imagine, the legendary Paul Bunyan	39:21
	walking on water, you can imagine	39:24
	what these whale prints look like.	39:28
	A whale print is an	39:31
	oily oasis of absolute stillness,	39:33
	absolute calm, in the midst of this ocean	39:38
	of rollicking, billowing waves.	39:42
	No matter how turbulent the water,	39:45
	no matter how violent the waves,	39:49
	a whale print is so still,	39:52
	so serene, so smooth	39:56
	that you could almost launch a toy sail boat	39:59
	and it wouldn't be blown over.	40:03
	Scientists tell us that a whale print	40:06
	is created by a combination of the whale	40:08
	displacing an equal amount of weight	40:11
	to it's own body as it submerges,	40:15
	and the action of it's diving flukes,	40:18
	which creates a churning column of water	40:21
	that literally swells a few inches above	40:25
	the surface of the ocean, creating this spot	40:29
	of absolute stillness.	40:33
	This whale print in the water.	40:37
	Now, the Church leaves a whale print	40:41
	on the surface of this planet.	40:47
	You, your life, leaves a whale print	40:50
	on the surface of this planet.	40:54
	You, too, and the Church, displaces an equal amount	40:56
	of weight in this world.	41:00
	The question is, what kind of weight	41:03
	will our communities displace?	41:06
	What kind of a whale print will we leave?	41:09
	There are too many people out there	41:12
	who are scanning the horizon, peering for havens	41:14
	of peace, places of stillness, and forgiveness	41:18
	in the midst of the incredible violence and turbulence	41:23
	of this world, and they aren't finding whale prints.	41:26
	They aren't finding communities of forgiveness,	41:31
	and peace, and love.	41:36
	All they're finding are more ripples,	41:41
	and more waves, and more tides.	41:43
	God is calling our communities, our churches,	41:49
	to make a difference, to be different,	41:53
	to leave whale prints in their wake.	41:56
	For the whale print is the voice of God	42:00
	upon the waters, saying to the lost and the forgotten,	42:03
	"There is an oasis in your turbulent ocean."	42:08
	Now, the individual and the community,	42:16
	they synergize permission, and this is where the art	42:17
	of wave-riding comes in.	42:22
	When I was in high school, I earned money	42:27
	during the summer by life guarding	42:29
	at various Christian camps in the Adirondack mountains	42:31
	of upstate New York, and included in my job description,	42:35
	one summer, was the task of taking teenagers	42:39
	on speedboat rides every afternoon.	42:43
	It was a tough assignment, but somebody had to do it.	42:46
	I quickly learned that there are two kinds	42:50
	of teenage campers that go to Christian camps.	42:53
	There are those who, when I would rev up the engine	42:58
	and let out the throttle, would stand	43:02
	in the middle of the boat, straddling the bounce	43:04
	across the waves while they would yell,	43:08
	"Faster, faster!"	43:10
	These are the wave-riders, and you can see	43:13
	the exhilaration and the excitement in their faces	43:17
	as they were straddling those waves.	43:21
	Then, there were a whole other crew of campers	43:23
	who were not at the center of the boat,	43:27
	but they were leaning over the sides of the boat,	43:30
	clinging for dear life, hoping and praying	43:33
	that this wonderful experience would soon be over.	43:36
	Now, these were the boat-huggers.	43:41
	Now, you can tell this type from the looks of fear	43:46
	and panic in their faces, as well as from other	43:49
	physiological symptoms best described no further.	43:52
	Boat-huggers and wave-riders.	43:56
	Two very different types of missions for the Church.	44:02
	A line in the prophecy of Ezekiel reads,	44:10
	"Thy rowers bring thee	44:13
	into great waters."	44:16
	God calls the Church to leave the harbor,	44:21
	to lift anchor, to launch out into the joy	44:25
	and into the risk of the deep sea.	44:30
	Our mission is not to hug harbors.	44:33
	Our mission is not to drop anchors where it is safe,	44:36
	or cheer other boats as they sail off into the deep.	44:41
	The place for the church, the place for you	44:45
	and me, brother and sister, is on the high seas,	44:48
	where it is turbulent, where it is dangerous,	44:53
	and where storms gather with their fiercest intensity.	44:57
	That's why, in early Christian art,	45:03
	the Church was portrayed as a boat,	45:05
	driven upon the perilous seas,	45:08
	and Jesus made this very clear to his disciples	45:11
	in this wonderful account that Maurice read to you,	45:15
	of Jesus rebuking the storm.	45:18
	One evening, an exhausted Jesus was sleeping	45:22
	on the little seat, placed at the stern of Peter's boat.	45:25
	A sudden squall arose on the Sea of Galilee,	45:30
	notorious for it's sudden storms,	45:33
	and as the splashing waves broke upon the boat	45:35
	and the disciples found themselves bailing water,	45:39
	they panicked, and they rushed to the stern of the boat	45:42
	where Jesus was sleeping, and shaking him violently,	45:45
	they cried out, "Master, master, the tempest is raging.	45:49
	"The billows are blasting high.	45:53
	"Don't you care that we perish?"	45:57
	Brushing off sleep, Jesus arose, went briskly	46:02
	to the side of the boat, and stretched out his arm	46:07
	and spoke, "Peace, be still."	46:14
	You say, what a magic moment.	46:21
	What a thrill to have been there with those disciples	46:25
	and to have witnessed one of the most spectacular	46:29
	miracles of Jesus' ministry.	46:31
	The subduing of the waves and the wind	46:34
	with the mere sound of his voice.	46:36
	What a thrill to have been there for such an event.	46:39
	But what was Jesus' reaction?	46:43
	Jesus turned to his disciples,	46:47
	and he looked at them angrily,	46:50
	and he rebuked them, and he said, "Where is your faith?"	46:52
	For they had missed the real blessings	46:59
	that Jesus had in store for them.	47:03
	You say, what could have been more of a thrill	47:06
	than witnessing this miracle of Jesus calming the storm,	47:08
	but the miracle Jesus wanted to show his disciples,	47:13
	and wants to show us this morning, is not the miracle	47:17
	of calming the storm.	47:21
	It is the miracle of calming us in the storm.	47:25
	Think what it would have been like to have experienced	47:32
	this miracle of wave-riding.	47:35
	The joy of knowing that, no matter how fierce the storms,	47:38
	no matter how many crises in your cruises,	47:43
	nothing of ultimate harm can happen to you	47:47
	as long as you are in the boat with Jesus.	47:54
	With Jesus in our lives and in our midst,	48:01
	we have nothing to fear.	48:04
	Jesus never promised to speak peace to every storm,	48:10
	in your life and in my life, and those of you listening	48:16
	from the hospital right now know exactly	48:21
	what I am talking about.	48:24
	In fact, Jesus' diction to his disciples in Mark 13	48:27
	was basically, "In the world, you will have tribulation,	48:31
	"you will have storms."	48:35
	But Jesus did promise to speak peace to us	48:39
	in every storm.	48:45
	And so, God is calling the Church, this morning,	48:50
	to be a community of wave-riding people.	48:55
	People who will lift anchor from whatever	49:01
	is holding you in life's harbors; people who will believe	49:04
	that, even when God does not calm our storms,	49:07
	God will calm us in the storms; people who will	49:10
	know that, to voyage with Jesus Christ,	49:14
	is to enjoy peace, even in the midst of life's	49:18
	storm-tossed experience.	49:23
	But there is one more means of traveling	49:30
	that we need to learn.	49:33
	The art of water-striding.	49:37
	This brings me back to Mark 1,	49:44
	and the story of Jesus' call	49:49
	to his first disciples.	49:51
	He called them from a life of hauling things.	49:54
	Now imagine, in your minds, what these disciples were doing.	49:58
	They were hauling things from the water onto the dry land.	50:01
	They were hauling fish in their nets from the water	50:06
	onto the dry land, and Jesus said to them,	50:09
	"Metanoia, repent, do the pigeon-walk,	50:12
	do an about-face, and transform your life	50:15
	into hauling onto the dry land,	50:20
	water-logged fish,	50:27
	onto hauling from the dry land,	50:32
	landed and stranded people,	50:36
	into the water.	50:39
	He called us to a metanoic life of hauling people	50:43
	from the dry lands of lostness and loneliness,	50:47
	from barren deserts of despair and depression,	50:51
	from the wilderness of disease and death,	50:54
	into the water of new life in the Spirit.	50:57
	We are a water people, that is the whole meaning of baptism.	51:00
	You and I are 80% water.	51:05
	No wonder we are both a land	51:08
	and water people,	51:13
	and for this reason, the Church needs amphibious leaders.	51:16
	Jesus calls his amphibious apostles	51:24
	to enter Peter's boat,	51:29
	and enter into a new way of living in this world.	51:31
	Now, Jesus calls us into a new life, and baptizes us	51:38
	as a water people, but baptism means more	51:43
	than sticking your toes in the water, or even just	51:47
	merely getting your feet wet in faith,	51:50
	for in calling James and Peter and John into the water,	51:53
	Jesus called them and is calling us to immerse ourselves	51:57
	in the life of faith, and to so swim in the stream	52:01
	of the Spirit, until sometimes,	52:06
	like Jesus said to Peter,	52:10
	we can actually get out of the boat	52:13
	and walk on that water.	52:18
	That is why I end with the Christian life being more	52:23
	than one of just pigeon-walking, whale-watching	52:26
	and wave-riding.	52:29
	It is also one of water-striding,	52:32
	and when water-striding	52:36
	becomes a way of life, then all of your life and my life	52:37
	becomes a miracle.	52:41
	You know, that water-strider, that bug?	52:44
	We need to remember, that, like that bug,	52:48
	if you ever see a water-strider, notice this.	52:50
	Attention is never drawn to the water-striders themselves	52:54
	and to the miraculous way of walking on water.	52:58
	You only see the shadows.	53:01
	You only see what appears as four pulsating specks,	53:05
	dancing at the bottom of that creek bed.	53:08
	No one ever really knows how much walking on water takes,	53:12
	just to travel creek beds.	53:19
	A water-striding faith does not show how big you are,	53:23
	but how great God is.	53:28
	Faith is not trusting God to get something,	53:36
	to do something.	53:40
	Faith is trusting God when there is nothing left to do.	53:43
	Faith is our victory,	53:50
	a victory of a pigeon-walking,	53:55
	whale-watching, wave-riding,	53:58
	water-striding people.	54:03
	When will the Church come over to the victory's side?	54:07
	When will the Church become a pigeon-walking,	54:12
	whale-watching, wave-riding, water-striding people?	54:18
	My prayer for you, for me,	54:23
	and for our churches this morning.	54:28
	Amen.	54:31
	("At Length There Dawns the Glorious Day")	54:46
	(muffled singing)	55:18
-	The Lord be with you.	57:04
	(muffled)	57:07
	Let us pray.	57:08
	Most gracious God, high above all, yet deep within us,	57:18
	we turn our hearts unto Thee.	57:24
	In the spirit of thanksgiving, we offer these prayers	57:28
	for others, trusting in thy eternal goodness,	57:30
	seeking to give thanks in all things.	57:34
	Let us pray for the needs of the entire human family.	57:39
	Look with kindness, oh God, on those	57:43
	who have separated themselves from	57:47
	one another and from Thee.	57:49
	Take away the hatred and self-righteousness	57:52
	which infect our hearts, and unite us in bonds of love	57:55
	across lines of nationality, race, or creed.	57:59
	Let us pray for all those who suffer want of food,	58:06
	shelter, or other necessities of life.	58:10
	Use, as thine own body, the Church	58:14
	to ease their affliction and renew their hope.	58:17
	Increase our diligence and strengthen our desire	58:22
	to follow Christ's own example of feeding the hungry,	58:24
	healing the sick, and visiting the imprisoned,	58:28
	that thy love may be made a known reality	58:32
	in this broken world.	58:35
	Let us pray, gracious God, for those who live	58:38
	with injustice, violence, disease and death	58:41
	as their constant companions.	58:46
	Make wise those who govern their communities,	58:49
	and grant them the spirit of charity and justice.	58:53
	Grant them the foresight to provide for the needs of people,	58:57
	and strengthen all those who keep vigil for the cause	59:01
	of justice and of peace.	59:04
	Let us pray for the future of our world.	59:08
	Magnify our reverence before the sacred mystery,	59:11
	which is life.	59:15
	Give us new understanding into thy purposes	59:17
	for the human race, and new wisdom and determination	59:20
	for making provision for it's future, in accordance	59:24
	with thy holy will.	59:27
	Recognizing Thou hast given us dominion over the earth,	59:29
	we pray that Thou wouldst grant us the spirit	59:34
	of thanksgiving, to do so with compassion.	59:36
	These things we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.	59:42
	Amen.	59:46
	And now, in the spirit of thanksgiving,	59:49
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	59:51
	(organ music)	59:57
	(muffled singing)	1:01:44
	("All Creatures of our God and King", William H. Draper)	1:05:55
	(muffled singing)	1:06:10
-	Almighty God, creator of all that was and is	1:07:14
	and is to come, diverse that we are in age,	1:07:18
	in outlook, we are one in our desire to voice	1:07:22
	our gratitude unto Thee.	1:07:25
	We thank Thee for our time and place in history,	1:07:28
	for the vision of a better world, for friends and loved ones	1:07:32
	who mediate Thy loving care to us, and for new truths	1:07:37
	which are constantly revealed to us through the Church.	1:07:41
	All Thy works praise, and in that chorus we gratefully join.	1:07:45
	This we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ,	1:07:50
	who taught us to pray with the confidence of children,	1:07:53
All	"Our Father, who art in heaven,	1:07:56
	"hallowed be thy Name,	1:07:59
	"thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	1:08:01
	"on earth as it is in heaven.	1:08:04
	"Give us this day our daily bread.	1:08:07
	"And forgive us our trespasses,	1:08:09
	"as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:08:12
	"And lead us not into temptation,	1:08:15
	"but deliver us from evil.	1:08:18
	"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,	1:08:20
	"for ever and ever. Amen."	1:08:24
	("How Firm a Foundation")	1:08:53
	♪ How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord ♪	1:09:23
	♪ Is laid for your faith in his excellent word ♪	1:09:30
	♪ What more can he say than to you he hath said ♪	1:09:38
	♪ Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled ♪	1:09:45
	♪ Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed ♪	1:09:55
	♪ For I am thy God and will still give thee aid ♪	1:10:02
	♪ I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand ♪	1:10:09
	♪ Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand ♪	1:10:16
	♪ When through the deep waters I call thee to go ♪	1:10:27
	♪ The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow ♪	1:10:34
	♪ For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless ♪	1:10:42
	♪ And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress ♪	1:10:49
	♪ When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie ♪	1:11:00
	♪ My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply ♪	1:11:07
	♪ The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design ♪	1:11:15
	♪ Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine ♪	1:11:21
	♪ The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose ♪	1:11:32
	♪ I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes ♪	1:11:39
	♪ That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake ♪	1:11:47
	♪ I'll never, no never, no never forsake ♪	1:11:53
-	And now, go forth in peace, and be of good courage.	1:12:09
	Hold fast to that which is good, rejoicing in the power	1:12:13
	of the Holy Spirit, and may the blessing of God,	1:12:17
	creator of Christ and the Holy Spirit	1:12:21
	be with you all now and forevermore.	1:12:23
	(choir vocalizing)	1:12:31
	(organ music)	1:13:10

Item Info

Title:

Leonard I. Sweet - "Pigeon-Walking, Whale-Watching, Wave-Riding, Water-Striding" (August 2, 1987)

Description:

The Church must keep in motion if it is not to succumb to the vice of small-mindedness. But there are particular types of motion that are proper to the Christian life. As Christians we must live lives of repentance (the ability to change direction); we must move in such as way as to leave oases of peace and refuge for the world; we must move fearlessly and joyfully into the turbulent waters of life; and we must be so immersed in the life of the Spirit that we can glide over the surface of life like water-striders do a creek. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 24:59. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 54:31.
Key quotation: “Motion is what keeps Christians spiritually breathing.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rf5kw5c

Date:

August 2, 1987

Speaker:

Sweet, Leonard I.

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Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0042
ref8376_z4f
uachapelsermaud
duke:321753
dcrmv001042
ark:/87924/r4rf5kw5c
3f5621af-6a58-4826-ae24-1e46b59c4a33

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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English

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United States
North Carolina
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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Leonard I. Sweet - "Pigeon-Walking, Whale-Watching, Wave-Riding, Water-Striding" (August 2, 1987)

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