William H. Willimon - "Clean Hands" (August 30, 1987)

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-	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

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Clean Hands" (August 30, 1987)

Description:

Sermon start time: 19:36. Sermon end time: 39:05.
The preacher offers a self-righteous perspective on Psalm 26 where the psalmist offers only “I” centered praise of his own good works. The preacher compares the psalmist with the self-contented Pharisee who compares himself to a tax-collector, and whom Jesus condemns, arguing that those who only see their good works worship themselves instead of God. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “You don’t need God when ‘I’ is the center of everything.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4599zg8v

Date:

August 30, 1987

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0046
ref8388_rth
uachapelsermaud
duke:321502
dcrmv001046
ark:/87924/r4599zg8v
1502593d-c8b4-46c3-a958-b479a98ac5e8

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "Clean Hands" (August 30, 1987)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives