William H. Willimon - "Clean Hands" (August 30, 1987)
Loading the media player...
Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | Good morning and welcome to this service | 0:00 |
of worship in Duke Chapel. | 0:02 | |
This is one of our very joyous services as we welcome | 0:05 | |
our new freshmen, a new class, and the opening | 0:08 | |
of a new academic year here at Duke. | 0:12 | |
Next Sunday is our official opening Sunday | 0:16 | |
and President Brodie and others will be with us | 0:19 | |
for that special service. | 0:22 | |
We're glad that you're here today. | 0:24 | |
Today we will, after the service, have lemonade | 0:26 | |
and fellowship out on the lawn and the arcade | 0:29 | |
in front of the chapel at the conclusion of the service | 0:34 | |
and we hope you'll stop for that time | 0:37 | |
of fellowship together. | 0:40 | |
In your bulletins today, | 0:42 | |
everyone should have received a small slip of paper. | 0:43 | |
We would ask everyone in the congregation to fill out | 0:47 | |
this attendance registration. | 0:49 | |
From this data, we will get some valuable information | 0:54 | |
about the composition of our Sunday congregation. | 0:58 | |
And if you're so inclined and would be willing to answer | 1:01 | |
a confidential questionnaire about chapel worship, | 1:04 | |
we invite you to fill in your name and address | 1:07 | |
at the bottom of the sheet. | 1:10 | |
Everybody is asked to complete the form | 1:12 | |
and to drop it in the offering plate as the offering | 1:17 | |
is received today. | 1:19 | |
Even if you filled out one of these sheets last Sunday, | 1:21 | |
we need you to fill it out again this Sunday | 1:24 | |
to give us a picture of the composition of the congregation. | 1:26 | |
If you don't have one of the sheets, you can obtain one | 1:30 | |
at the back desk as you leave. | 1:32 | |
Thanks for your help with this. | 1:34 | |
We're delighted to have our chapel choir back | 1:37 | |
after the summer recess. | 1:40 | |
New students are in the choir. | 1:43 | |
They will be having auditions for the choir | 1:45 | |
this coming week. | 1:47 | |
If you would like to joint the choir, | 1:49 | |
there's still audition spaces available. | 1:51 | |
We're glad to have our choir back and now let us | 1:55 | |
join together as we fill this great church | 1:58 | |
with the praise of God. | 2:01 | |
♪ Beautiful Savior ♪ | 2:15 | |
♪ Lord of all nations ♪ | 2:21 | |
♪ Son of God ♪ | 2:28 | |
♪ And Son of Man ♪ | 2:33 | |
♪ Glory and honor ♪ | 2:42 | |
♪ Praise, adoration ♪ | 2:49 | |
♪ Now and forever ♪ | 2:55 | |
♪ Holy God ♪ | 3:00 | |
♪ Now and forever ♪ | 3:07 | |
♪ Divine ♪ | 3:20 | |
(dramatic choir music with drums and horn instruments) | 3:35 | |
("A Mighty Fortress is our God") | 4:06 | |
- | Oh, eternal God, You have taught us to keep all Your | 8:53 |
commandments by loving You and our neighbor. | 8:57 | |
Grant us the grace of Your Holy Spirit | 9:01 | |
that we may be devoted to You with our whole heart | 9:05 | |
and united to one another with pure affection. | 9:09 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns | 9:12 | |
with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. | 9:16 | |
Amen. | 9:21 | |
- | Let us pray. | 9:35 |
(lector and congregation together) Open our hearts | 9:37 | |
and minds, oh God, by the power of Your Holy Spirit | 9:39 | |
so that as the Word is read and proclaimed, | 9:44 | |
we might hear with joy what you say to us this day, amen. | 9:48 | |
Give judgment for me, oh God, for I lived with integrity. | 9:56 | |
I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered. | 10:01 | |
(congregation responding) | 10:06 | |
I have not sat with the worthless, | 10:19 | |
nor do I consort with the deceitful. | 10:21 | |
I have hated the company of evildoers. | 10:24 | |
I will not sit down with the wicked. | 10:28 | |
I will wash my hands in innocence, oh Lord, | 10:31 | |
that I may go in procession round Your alter, | 10:34 | |
singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and recounting | 10:38 | |
all Your wonderful deeds. | 10:42 | |
(congregation responding) | 10:45 | |
Do not sweep me away with sinners, | 10:52 | |
nor my life with those who thirst for blood, | 10:55 | |
whose hands are full of evil plots, | 10:58 | |
and their right hand full of bribes. | 11:01 | |
(congregation responding) | 11:04 | |
(choir music) | 11:19 | |
The epistle is taken from Paul's letter to the Romans. | 12:24 | |
I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God | 12:29 | |
to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, | 12:33 | |
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. | 12:37 | |
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed | 12:42 | |
by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove | 12:46 | |
what is the will of God, what is good | 12:50 | |
and acceptable and perfect. | 12:53 | |
For by the grace given to me, I bid everyone among you | 12:55 | |
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, | 12:59 | |
but to think with sober judgment, each according | 13:04 | |
to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. | 13:07 | |
For as in one body we have many members, | 13:12 | |
and all of the members do not have the same function, | 13:16 | |
so we, though many, are one body in Christ | 13:20 | |
and individually members one of another. | 13:24 | |
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, | 13:28 | |
let us use them. | 13:32 | |
If prophecy, in proportion to our faith. | 13:34 | |
If service, in our serving. | 13:37 | |
He who teaches, in his teaching. | 13:40 | |
He who exhorts, in his exportation. | 13:43 | |
He who contributes, in liberality. | 13:46 | |
He who gives aid, with zeal. | 13:49 | |
He who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. | 13:52 | |
This ends the reading of the epistle. | 13:56 | |
The gospel is taken from Matthew. | 14:02 | |
From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples | 14:06 | |
that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things | 14:10 | |
from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, | 14:13 | |
and on the third day, be raised. | 14:18 | |
And Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him saying, | 14:21 | |
God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to You. | 14:24 | |
But He turned and said to Peter, get behind Me, Satan, | 14:28 | |
you are a hindrance to Me, for you are not on the side | 14:32 | |
of God, but of men. | 14:36 | |
Then Jesus told His disciples, | 14:39 | |
if any man would come after Me, let him deny himself | 14:42 | |
and take up his cross and follow Me. | 14:46 | |
For whoever would save his life will lose it, | 14:49 | |
and whoever loses his life for My sake, will find it. | 14:52 | |
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world | 14:57 | |
and forfeits his life? | 15:01 | |
Or what shall a man give in return for his life? | 15:03 | |
For the Son of Man is to come with His angels in the glory | 15:07 | |
of His Father and then He will repay every man | 15:11 | |
for what he has done. | 15:15 | |
Truly I say to you, there are some standing here | 15:17 | |
who will taste death before they see the Son of Man | 15:21 | |
coming in His Kingdom. | 15:25 | |
This ends the reading of the gospel. | 15:27 | |
(choir music) | 15:43 | |
- | If you're a freshman here, I think you'll agree with me | 19:36 |
that one of the more exciting aspects of your first days | 19:40 | |
of college is getting to know your roommate. | 19:47 | |
I know it was for my first days of college. | 19:52 | |
I remember my first day of college, | 19:54 | |
I got to my room before my roommate. | 19:56 | |
He arrived bearing two suitcases. | 20:00 | |
He put down his suitcases and his first words to me were, | 20:03 | |
is Will Willimon your real name | 20:09 | |
or are you just trying to be cute? | 20:12 | |
(congregation laughing) | 20:14 | |
We had a lot to work out, my roommate and I. | 20:16 | |
Now, I don't know whether you're in a market | 20:21 | |
for a new roommate of not, but I can tell you someone | 20:23 | |
whom you would not want to be your roommate. | 20:27 | |
Your mother might like for this person to be your roommate, | 20:30 | |
but even your mother would not want to live nextdoor | 20:33 | |
to the person who is responsible for Psalm 26. | 20:36 | |
Hell would be a Saturday night in the presence | 20:41 | |
of the person who prayed Psalm 26. | 20:44 | |
Would you listen to him pray? | 20:48 | |
I have walked with integrity. | 20:52 | |
I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. | 20:54 | |
I walk in faithfulness to thee. | 20:57 | |
I do not sit with false people, | 21:00 | |
nor do I consort with dissemblers. | 21:03 | |
I hate the company of evildoers. | 21:05 | |
I will not sit with the wicked. | 21:07 | |
I wash my hands in innocence and go about thy alter, | 21:09 | |
oh Lord, singing aloud a song of thanksgiving | 21:14 | |
and telling of they wondrous deeds. | 21:17 | |
Can you believe this person? | 21:22 | |
It's people like him who give religion a bad name. | 21:25 | |
I don't know if you remember him, | 21:30 | |
but you've met him before. | 21:31 | |
You've heard him pray before. | 21:34 | |
Jesus tells a story about two people | 21:38 | |
who come to the temple to pray. | 21:40 | |
One was a tax collector, the other, the religious one, | 21:43 | |
was a Pharisee and Jesus said the Pharisee | 21:48 | |
stood over by himself, so not as to be contaminated | 21:51 | |
by sinners and he prayed thus to himself, | 21:55 | |
Lord, I thank thee that I am not like other people, | 22:01 | |
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, | 22:07 | |
or even this tax collector over there. | 22:10 | |
Lord, I fast, twice a week. | 22:13 | |
I give tithes of everything that I earn. | 22:17 | |
My hands are clean. | 22:22 | |
Mark Twain once spoke of a man as a good man | 22:28 | |
in the very worst sense of the word. | 22:32 | |
And here he is, Psalm 26. | 22:35 | |
God, I thank thee that I am so good. | 22:38 | |
I have not wavered. | 22:41 | |
I have not sat with evil people in the rat's galler, | 22:43 | |
dissemblers, drug takers, heavy drinkers, adulterers, | 22:47 | |
blasphemers, fornicators, sodomisers or other people | 22:52 | |
who do those things which are described | 22:56 | |
by those strange words in the Bible | 22:58 | |
that we're not sure what they mean, | 23:00 | |
but we know they're bad. | 23:01 | |
Lord, my hands are clean. | 23:02 | |
Oh, there's some psalms which rage at God. | 23:09 | |
There's some psalms which cry out, my God, why | 23:12 | |
and what is happening and where art thou, | 23:15 | |
but not Psalm 26. | 23:19 | |
No, here is cool, calm, collected | 23:22 | |
button-downed religion. | 23:26 | |
It is the religion of the Covenant. | 23:30 | |
I will be your God, you will be my people. | 23:33 | |
It is my job as God to make the rules, | 23:38 | |
it is your job to obey the rules. | 23:40 | |
If you obey My law, all will go well with you. | 23:42 | |
God, I have obeyed Your law. | 23:48 | |
All shall be well with me. | 23:50 | |
His prayer, what the psalmist has to say to God, | 23:54 | |
is an inventory of his virtue. | 24:01 | |
He's in church to remind God of how well | 24:05 | |
he's kept up his side of the bargain. | 24:07 | |
It's God's job to make the rules, | 24:10 | |
it's our job to follow the rules. | 24:12 | |
Unlike a lot of our prayers, he doesn't bother God, | 24:14 | |
asking God to do things or to give him anything. | 24:18 | |
What does he need from God? | 24:22 | |
His hands are clean. | 24:24 | |
The relationship with God is cool and fixed and settled | 24:27 | |
and complete and finished. | 24:31 | |
All you come to church for is to reiterate the terms | 24:34 | |
of the agreement, the settlement, | 24:37 | |
to go over it one more time. | 24:39 | |
We are God's cherished ones, let's get together | 24:42 | |
on Sunday morning and check one another out, | 24:45 | |
make sure our social attitudes are suitably progressive | 24:48 | |
and that our hands are clean. | 24:51 | |
Who prayed this psalm? | 24:56 | |
It is the psalm of an obedient person. | 25:00 | |
It is the psalm of those who live confidently | 25:03 | |
and comfortably within the structure. | 25:06 | |
It is the prayer of the older brother | 25:10 | |
who always stayed home and did what mama and daddy told him. | 25:13 | |
Not the prayer, the groveling prayer of that prodigal | 25:16 | |
younger son who had a taste for loose living and harlots. | 25:19 | |
It the prayer of those who are blessed | 25:25 | |
by the Duke Admissions Office. | 25:27 | |
I don't care what the admissions office tells you | 25:30 | |
about wanting a well-rounded study body. | 25:32 | |
The admissions office is out looking for the person | 25:34 | |
who prayed Psalm 26. | 25:36 | |
(congregation laughing) | 25:38 | |
I was talking with a student some time ago, | 25:42 | |
and I asked him sort of in jest, I said, | 25:44 | |
were you always the perfect son? | 25:47 | |
Did you always fulfill your parents' expectations? | 25:50 | |
And he looked back at me and he said, | 25:56 | |
well, I wouldn't be here, would I, if I were a slouch? | 25:59 | |
Lord, I have always done my homework. | 26:06 | |
When the book was assigned, | 26:13 | |
I did not go out and buy CliffsNotes. | 26:14 | |
(congregation laughing) | 26:16 | |
When we had a book report, I did not go down and get | 26:18 | |
The Red Badge of Courage, I got Tale of Two cities | 26:20 | |
to report on. | 26:23 | |
(congregation laughing) | 26:24 | |
Captain of the debating team, National Merit finalist, | 26:27 | |
Eagle Scout, Lord, my hands are clean. | 26:32 | |
And it's only natural that if you were the good | 26:38 | |
son or daughter, the perfect child, | 26:43 | |
it's only natural that you should come to church | 26:48 | |
in much the same way that you've come to Duke | 26:51 | |
Coat and tie, mind your manners, no ambiguity here, | 26:56 | |
nothing to confuse, honor the covenantal arrangement | 27:01 | |
and all will go well for you. | 27:06 | |
Life is this neat, symmetrical equation | 27:08 | |
of obedience, compliance. | 27:12 | |
Here I am on Sunday, taking inventory of my virtues. | 27:18 | |
Integrity, check. | 27:24 | |
Faithfulness, check. | 27:25 | |
Your job is to be obedient, right, to keep your hands clean | 27:29 | |
and don't press God too much about things. | 27:33 | |
And God's job is to respond and to be there | 27:38 | |
when we push the right obedience button. | 27:40 | |
Our job is to study hard and to take good notes, | 27:44 | |
play by the rules and God responds accordingly. | 27:48 | |
George, did you wash your hands before dinner? | 27:54 | |
Yes, ma'am. | 27:56 | |
And yet the trouble is, the trouble is what you've | 27:59 | |
already figured out, probably, the trouble is if you | 28:03 | |
push this sort of thing far, | 28:08 | |
you are well on your way | 28:12 | |
to a lone, autonomous believer | 28:16 | |
who never really engages some transcendent partner. | 28:21 | |
You just don't need God for religion of clean hands. | 28:28 | |
Go back sometime and look again at Jesus' story | 28:35 | |
of the Pharisee and the publican and note how many times | 28:37 | |
"I" and "me" and "my" is used in that prayer. | 28:43 | |
God, I thank thee that I am not like other people. | 28:48 | |
I tithe, I pray, I give. | 28:53 | |
My obedience and my virtue determines the shape | 28:56 | |
of the divine-human relationship. | 29:00 | |
The Pharisee assumes that this reward-obedient system | 29:03 | |
is in good working order. | 29:07 | |
Jesus said that the Pharisee stood by himself | 29:10 | |
and he prayed, he prayed by himself, | 29:13 | |
he prayed to himself. | 29:15 | |
God, I thank thee for me. | 29:18 | |
You don't need God | 29:23 | |
when "I" is the center of everything. | 29:26 | |
Count the times that I and me and my is used in Psalm 26. | 29:32 | |
I have walked, I have trusted, my heart, my mind, my eyes, | 29:38 | |
I walk, I do not sit, nor do I consort, I hate, | 29:42 | |
I wash my hands, I love my life, | 29:45 | |
I walk, redeem me, I will bless. | 29:48 | |
And the end result of this dull, frozen, fixed religion | 29:53 | |
of the I and the me and the my, is the very disillusion | 29:58 | |
of the divine-human relationship. | 30:04 | |
You don't need God for a religion where you're good as god. | 30:09 | |
And when transcendence is closed and fixed and unambiguous | 30:14 | |
and hands are clean, you have autonomous lives | 30:19 | |
and autonomous believers and self-worship is inevitable. | 30:23 | |
And I think this is the dominate characteristic | 30:29 | |
of much that passes for religion. | 30:31 | |
A kind of dignified atheism. | 30:35 | |
I am the measure of all things. | 30:41 | |
Religion is atheistic when it no longer needs God | 30:46 | |
to make it work. | 30:52 | |
This man eats and drinks with sinners and tax collectors | 30:57 | |
they said of Jesus, and you remember how Jesus responded? | 31:00 | |
Tongue-in-cheek, if you're well, you don't need a doctor. | 31:05 | |
You people are so well and healthy and together. | 31:12 | |
Let me make it clear, I've just come for the sick. | 31:17 | |
I've come for the weak and the vulnerable and the sinful. | 31:20 | |
Oh, we come to church on Sunday morning | 31:27 | |
and we busy ourselves with the empty forms of obedience, | 31:29 | |
plodding through the hymns, mumbling through the prayers, | 31:35 | |
all of which seem so dumb since we're only talking | 31:38 | |
to ourselves anyway. | 31:41 | |
Church comes to resemble a decayed marriage | 31:44 | |
in which the partners of the marriage go through | 31:49 | |
the empty forms of love. | 31:51 | |
They go through the dry rituals of affection | 31:54 | |
because all the passion is gone. | 31:57 | |
There's no surprise in the relationship anymore. | 32:04 | |
There's no mystery, there's nothing to shock. | 32:07 | |
There's no point for rage. | 32:09 | |
There's nothing. | 32:11 | |
You put on your hat and your coat after the service | 32:13 | |
and go out and you come back next Sunday | 32:16 | |
and you take off your hat and your coat, | 32:18 | |
just like Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, | 32:21 | |
everything in place, pews still bolted down, | 32:24 | |
alter still where it should be. | 32:27 | |
Let's get on with this thing, | 32:29 | |
we've got to be done by noon. | 32:30 | |
During the gay rights march in Durham last summer, | 32:36 | |
you could tell the religious people. | 32:39 | |
They were the ones holding the placards which said, | 32:41 | |
I'm going to be in heaven, where will you be? | 32:45 | |
Who's prayer is Psalm 26? You know. | 32:51 | |
It is the prayer of the successful and the right. | 32:55 | |
The prayer of the one for whom things have worked out. | 32:59 | |
I wanted to be captain of the team and I worked hard | 33:02 | |
and I got it. | 33:05 | |
I wanted to get into Duke, and I studied hard and I got it. | 33:08 | |
I wanted that job. | 33:11 | |
I showed them my Duke transcript, I got it. | 33:12 | |
I wanted her for my wife, I got her. | 33:14 | |
It is the prayer for when you're young | 33:21 | |
and have the world at your feet and your barns are full | 33:24 | |
and the vineyards are productive. | 33:27 | |
It is the prayer for bright, sunny Sundays, | 33:31 | |
with all of us here in dresses and coats and ties | 33:35 | |
and hair tastefully styled. | 33:39 | |
God, I thank thee for me. | 33:42 | |
And from what I can tell, all will go well for you | 33:49 | |
as long as you stay right and the sun shines | 33:54 | |
and your tie is straight and your star is in ascendancy. | 33:57 | |
And your hands are clean, you can pray Psalm 26 | 34:05 | |
and groom your virtues. | 34:08 | |
And you can get along quite nicely by yourself without God. | 34:11 | |
You don't need God for that. | 34:17 | |
But I tell you, you better keep checking your hands. | 34:21 | |
Early in my ministry, I became acquainted with a young man | 34:27 | |
in my church who was active in college in a conservative | 34:31 | |
religious group on campus. | 34:36 | |
He was a Biblical fundamentalist, and he always knew how | 34:39 | |
to embarrass his preacher because he always had the right | 34:41 | |
Bible verse on the tip of his tongue. | 34:44 | |
For every occasion, I don't care what issue came up, | 34:46 | |
he said, preacher, you know, I think this was settled | 34:49 | |
in Matthew 8:12. | 34:52 | |
And I said, oh, yes, yes, good point. | 34:54 | |
(congregation laughing) | 34:56 | |
He was the all-American boy, everything in place. | 34:59 | |
Then one year, I remember for the Christmas holidays, | 35:07 | |
he came back and I thought I noted a change in him. | 35:10 | |
Something that I found I liked better. | 35:15 | |
I asked him, | 35:20 | |
and he confessed to me that on a campus religious retreat, | 35:23 | |
he had, as he said, | 35:27 | |
fallen from grace sexually. | 35:30 | |
He said he was shocked that I, a born again | 35:36 | |
biblical Christian could be capable of such sin. | 35:41 | |
And then I said, I know what it is now | 35:47 | |
that I like about you. | 35:51 | |
You're real. | 35:54 | |
I'm dealing with a person now, not some stilted facade. | 35:56 | |
I bet now that your religion will be a way of dealing | 36:02 | |
with the facts of life, rather than a means of suppressing | 36:07 | |
or denying those facts. | 36:10 | |
You can't pray Psalm 26 with a straight face any longer. | 36:15 | |
But, the good news is, there're just lots more | 36:19 | |
and lots better Psalms that you can pray, | 36:22 | |
the ones that Jesus enjoyed praying. | 36:25 | |
The psychotherapist Jung said that each of us wears | 36:30 | |
a kind of mask, which he called a persona, from the mask | 36:34 | |
which actors wore in Greek dramas. | 36:38 | |
Jung said that the persona is this mask that we put on | 36:42 | |
as we face the world and we look at other people. | 36:46 | |
The persona is the mask and underneath the mask, he said, | 36:52 | |
is the shadow, where we hide those aspects of ourselves | 36:57 | |
which we consider unacceptable or unworthy. | 37:02 | |
Jung said, the brighter the shadow, | 37:08 | |
the brighter the persona, the darker the shadow underneath. | 37:11 | |
Sometime after graduation a few years ago, | 37:22 | |
he appeared in my office and he had been suffering | 37:24 | |
from terrible depression, he said. | 37:29 | |
He had even been hospitalized on one occasion. | 37:32 | |
He said, but my psychotherapist believes | 37:36 | |
that I'm making progress. | 37:38 | |
You know, it's funny, he said, when I came here to Duke | 37:42 | |
as a freshman, I was self-confident, I was self-assured, | 37:46 | |
I knew what I believed. | 37:51 | |
But, now, | 37:57 | |
now that I've graduated from Duke, I don't where I am. | 38:03 | |
I feel weak and small. | 38:07 | |
And I said with a gentle smile on my face, look, | 38:12 | |
I can explain this to you quick. | 38:15 | |
When you came here as a freshman at 18, you were ignorant. | 38:18 | |
With your block letter sweater and the world at your feet, | 38:23 | |
you really thought you were self-sufficient. | 38:28 | |
You thought you could get by on your own. | 38:31 | |
You knew what you knew. | 38:33 | |
Everybody thinks that at 18. | 38:35 | |
But look at you now. | 38:38 | |
Congratulations. | 38:40 | |
Jesus said you don't get into the Kingdom | 38:43 | |
unless you're a little child. | 38:44 | |
Jesus said you go forward by falling back. | 38:46 | |
You know, you really did get a good education here. | 38:52 | |
Let me see your hands. | 38:59 | |
Amen. | 39:04 | |
(organ music) | 39:09 | |
♪ Be thou my vision oh, Lord, of my heart ♪ | 39:41 | |
♪ Naught be all else to me, save that thou art ♪ | 39:48 | |
♪ Thou my best thought, by day or by night ♪ | 39:56 | |
♪ Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light ♪ | 40:04 | |
♪ Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word ♪ | 40:13 | |
♪ I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord ♪ | 40:21 | |
♪ Thou my great Father, I thy true son ♪ | 40:28 | |
♪ Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one ♪ | 40:36 | |
♪ Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise ♪ | 40:45 | |
♪ Thou mine inheritance, now and always ♪ | 40:53 | |
♪ Thou and thou only, first in my heart ♪ | 41:00 | |
♪ High King of heaven, my treasure thou art ♪ | 41:08 | |
♪ High King of heaven, my victory won ♪ | 41:17 | |
♪ May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun ♪ | 41:25 | |
♪ Heart of my own heart, whatever befall ♪ | 41:32 | |
♪ Still be my vision, oh Ruler of all ♪ | 41:40 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 41:51 |
Congregation | And also with you. | 41:53 |
- | Let us pray. | 41:54 |
Oh, eternal God, the source of all life, | 42:08 | |
thou has searched us and known us and lovest us still. | 42:13 | |
Such knowledge is high for us and we cannot attain it. | 42:18 | |
Even in our imaginations, we cannot find thee out. | 42:23 | |
How much more art thou, oh God, | 42:29 | |
than our meager ways of thinking. | 42:31 | |
Yet save us from despair over our failures | 42:34 | |
and our dirty hands. | 42:38 | |
For thou has revealed thyself to us through thy Son, | 42:41 | |
Jesus Christ, and shown us the way to selfless giving. | 42:44 | |
Grant us the courage to accept thy love for us, | 42:50 | |
even as we acknowledge our inadequacies. | 42:54 | |
We bring before thee, oh God, our varied conditions | 42:59 | |
and concerns, gratefully acknowledging the depths | 43:03 | |
of thy healing power. | 43:06 | |
We bring before thee, creating God, the needs of our bodies. | 43:09 | |
We pray for all those weakened by the plague of hunger | 43:15 | |
and malnutrition, for all those who fall prey to terminal | 43:18 | |
illness or other disease, and for their families. | 43:23 | |
For all those who discover in the process of aging | 43:29 | |
that their bodies are failing them. | 43:32 | |
We bring before thee, redeeming God, the needs of our minds. | 43:36 | |
We pray for all those involved in educational pursuits | 43:41 | |
and especially for those new students, teachers, | 43:46 | |
administrators and staff who have joined our community. | 43:49 | |
For all those ravaged by the tyrannies of mental illness, | 43:55 | |
for all those who seek to expand our minds, visionaries, | 44:00 | |
explorers, creative artists. | 44:05 | |
We bring before thee, sustaining God, the needs | 44:09 | |
of our relationships. | 44:12 | |
We pray for all those embroiled in conflict, | 44:15 | |
between parent and child, between husband and wife, | 44:19 | |
between friends and nations. | 44:24 | |
For all those who suffer from a lack of relationships | 44:28 | |
and are burdened by a sense of loneliness or worthlessness, | 44:32 | |
for all those who are unable to relate openly | 44:37 | |
and who have never fully revealed themselves to another. | 44:41 | |
For all those who have resisted the opportunity to relate | 44:46 | |
even unto thee, gracious God, and do not accept | 44:49 | |
thee acceptance thou hast offered us. | 44:53 | |
And now we bring before thee in silence, oh God, | 44:58 | |
the special needs of this congregation. | 45:00 | |
We lift these prayers before thee, oh God, reassured | 45:15 | |
that thou hast searched us and known us and lovest us still. | 45:20 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. | 45:26 | |
And now in the spirit of thanksgiving, let us joyfully | 45:33 | |
present our gifts and ourselves unto God. | 45:36 | |
(organ music) | 45:42 | |
(choir music with horn instruments) | 48:58 | |
♪ Sing to the Lord a jubilant song ♪ | 49:18 | |
♪ Sing to the Lord a jubilant song ♪ | 49:23 | |
♪ Rejoice and sing and let the Earth be glad ♪ | 49:28 | |
♪ Let the heavens be filled with joy ♪ | 49:33 | |
♪ And a jubilant song ♪ | 49:40 | |
♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ | 49:51 | |
♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ | 49:57 | |
♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ | 50:02 | |
♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord ♪ | 50:07 | |
♪ Tell of His salvation from day to day ♪ | 50:15 | |
♪ Shout His marvelous works among the people ♪ | 50:20 | |
♪ For great is the Lord, great is the Lord ♪ | 50:25 | |
♪ And greatly to be praised ♪ | 50:30 | |
♪ Sing to the Lord a jubilant song ♪ | 50:38 | |
♪ Sing to the Lord a jubilant song ♪ | 50:43 | |
♪ Rejoice and sing and let the Earth by glad ♪ | 50:48 | |
♪ Let the heavens be filled with joy ♪ | 50:52 | |
♪ And a jubilant song ♪ | 51:00 | |
♪ Lord, you have been our refuge ♪ | 51:12 | |
♪ From one generation to another ♪ | 51:17 | |
♪ Before the mountains were made ♪ | 51:24 | |
♪ Or the land and the sea were born ♪ | 51:30 | |
♪ From age to age You are God ♪ | 51:36 | |
♪ And we pray for the coming of Your Kingdom ♪ | 51:42 | |
♪ We shall rejoice ♪ | 51:50 | |
♪ We shall be glad ♪ | 51:53 | |
♪ All the days of our lives ♪ | 51:55 | |
♪ Sing to the Lord a jubilant song ♪ | 52:10 | |
♪ Sing to the Lord a jubilant song ♪ | 52:15 | |
♪ Rejoice and sing and let the Earth be glad ♪ | 52:20 | |
♪ Let the heavens be filled with joy ♪ | 52:25 | |
♪ And a jubilant song ♪ | 52:32 | |
♪ And a jubilant song ♪ | 52:37 | |
♪ Sing to the Lord ♪ | 52:45 | |
♪ A jubilant song ♪ | 52:55 | |
(organ music) | 53:12 | |
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 53:26 | |
♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ | 53:32 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 53:38 | |
♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts ♪ | 53:45 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 53:50 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 53:56 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 54:02 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 54:08 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 54:17 | |
- | Oh, God, how excellent is thy name in all the Earth. | 54:27 |
We thank thee for the mystery of our years | 54:31 | |
and the will to live, for the rewards of solitude | 54:34 | |
and the pleasures of good company, for the satisfactions | 54:38 | |
of a job well done, and the challenges of new beginnings. | 54:41 | |
Now we dedicate these gifts unto thee, eternal God, | 54:46 | |
gratefully acknowledging the varieties and the abundance | 54:50 | |
of thy mercies towards us. | 54:54 | |
These things we pray in the name of Jesus Christ | 54:56 | |
who taught us to pray with confidence, | 54:59 | |
(reverend and congregation together) our Father who art | 55:02 | |
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 55:04 | |
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, | 55:07 | |
on Earth as it is in heaven. | 55:10 | |
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our | 55:12 | |
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 55:16 | |
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 55:20 | |
For thine is the Kingdom, the power, the glory, forever. | 55:25 | |
Amen. | 55:30 | |
(organ music) | 55:33 | |
♪ All hail the power of Jesus name ♪ | 56:08 | |
♪ Let angels prostrate fall ♪ | 56:14 | |
♪ Bring forth the royal diadem ♪ | 56:19 | |
♪ And crown Him, crown Him ♪ | 56:25 | |
♪ Crown Him ♪ | 56:31 | |
♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪ | 56:36 | |
♪ Ye chosen seed of Israel's race ♪ | 56:46 | |
♪ Ye ransomed from the fall ♪ | 56:51 | |
♪ Hail Him who saves you by His grace ♪ | 56:57 | |
♪ And crown Him, crown Him ♪ | 57:02 | |
♪ Crown Him ♪ | 57:09 | |
♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪ | 57:14 | |
♪ Let every tongue and every tribe ♪ | 57:23 | |
♪ Responsive to his call ♪ | 57:29 | |
♪ To Him all majesty ascribe ♪ | 57:34 | |
♪ And crown Him, crown Him ♪ | 57:40 | |
♪ Crown Him ♪ | 57:46 | |
♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪ | 57:51 | |
♪ Oh, that with yonder sacred throng ♪ | 58:01 | |
♪ We at His feet may fall ♪ | 58:06 | |
♪ We'll join the everlasting song ♪ | 58:12 | |
♪ And crown Him, crown Him ♪ | 58:18 | |
♪ Crown Him ♪ | 58:24 | |
♪ Crown Him Lord of all ♪ | 58:29 | |
And now go forth in peace and be of good courage. | 59:24 | |
Hold fast to that which is good, rejoicing in the power | 59:28 | |
of the Holy Spirit and may the blessings of God, | 59:31 | |
Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you all | 59:36 | |
now and forevermore. | 59:39 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:43 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:51 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:00 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:08 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:14 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:23 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:00:37 | |
(fast organ music) | 1:00:57 |