William H. Willimon - "Advice" (September 6, 1987)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP4
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rn30p2h?embed=true' height='500px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rn30p2h
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(piano music)	0:00
-	Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord,	0:35
	Jesus Christ, we welcome you to this service of	0:37
	worship at Duke University chapel on this 13th	0:40
	Sunday after Pentecost which also happens to be the	0:43
	opening Sunday for this new academic year.	0:46
	We're always please and grateful to see many returning faces	0:50
	coming back to school, and also glad to see many	0:53
	new students, faculty, and staff.	0:56
	We also recognize that many of you are visiting	1:00
	campus for the first time, and if so, we wish you a	1:02
	pleasant stay, and offer our assistance to you	1:05
	here at the chapel, in any way that we may be of assistance.	1:07
	We also extend greetings to our radio	1:11
	and television audiences.	1:13
	Our preacher for this morning is the	1:16
	Reverend doctor William H. Willamen,	1:17
	minister to the university.	1:19
	Immediately following today's service, you are invited	1:22
	to attend a coffee hour in the art gallery	1:25
	beside Page Auditorium, sponsored by friends of the chapel.	1:28
	`We look forward to making this a regular time of fellowship	1:33
	after service each Sunday morning.	1:35
	Please note the remaining announcements,	1:39
	as they are printed in your bulletins.	1:41
	And now let us continue our worship.	1:44
	(choir singing)	1:54
	(organ music)	3:15
	(choir singing)	4:05
-	Lord of all power and might,	9:09
	the author and giver of all good things.	9:12
	Graft in our hearts the love of your name.	9:15
	Increase in us true religion.	9:20
	Nourish us with all goodness.	9:23
	And bring forth in us the fruit of good works.	9:26
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives	9:31
	and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,	9:34
	one God forever and ever, amen.	9:37
-	Let us pray.	9:51
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	9:54
	by the power of your Holy Spirit.	9:56
	So that as the word is read and proclaimed	9:59
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	10:02
	Amen.	10:07
	The first lesson is taken from the book of Ezekiel.	10:09
	The word of the Lord came to me.	10:13
	Son of man speak to your people and say to them,	10:16
	if I bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land	10:19
	take a man from among them and make him their watchman.	10:24
	And if he sees the Lord coming upon the land	10:29
	and blows the trumpet and warns the people,	10:32
	then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet	10:34
	does not take warning and the sword comes	10:38
	and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.	10:41
	He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning.	10:46
	His blood shall be upon himself.	10:51
	But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.	10:54
	But if the watchman sees the sword coming	10:58
	and does not blow the trumpet so that the people	11:02
	are not warned and the sword comes and takes	11:05
	anyone of them, that man is taken away in his iniquity.	11:09
	But his blood, I will require at the watchman's hand.	11:14
	So you, son of man, I have made a watchman	11:19
	for the house of Israel.	11:22
	Whenever you hear a word from my mouth,	11:25
	you shall give them warning from me.	11:27
	If I say to the wicked, oh wicked man,	11:30
	you shall surly die and you do not speak	11:33
	to warn the wicked to turn from his way,	11:36
	that wicked man shall die in his iniquity.	11:39
	But his blood I will require at your hand.	11:43
	But if you warn the wicked man to turn from his way	11:47
	and he does not turn from his way,	11:51
	he shall die in his iniquity	11:54
	and you will have saved your life.	11:56
	And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel,	11:59
	thus have you said.	12:03
	Our transgressions and our sins are upon us	12:05
	and we waste away because of them.	12:09
	How can we live.	12:11
	Say to them, as I live says the Lord God,	12:13
	I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.	12:18
	But that the wicked turn from his way of life and live.	12:21
	Turn back, turn back from your evil ways.	12:26
	For why will you die, oh house of Israel.	12:31
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	12:35
	(organ music)	12:46
	(choir singing)	12:59
	(organ music)	17:45
	(choir singing)	18:34
-	In the first act of Hamlet,	22:00
-	-that's Hamlet the play, not Hamlet the town	22:05
	in North Carolina--	22:07
	there's this scene where aging Polonius,	22:10
	an old sentimental blow hard,	22:13
	lectures his son Laertes.	22:19
	Laertes is preparing to go on a journey to France	22:25
	and perhaps remembering what sometimes happens	22:28
	to 19 year olds in Paris,	22:31
	Polonius does what fathers do so well.	22:34
	He offers advice.	22:36
	Most of what Polonius has to say to his son	22:41
	is fairly innocuous.	22:43
	In those days before the advent of dreaded	22:44
	social diseases, there wasn't probably a lot	22:47
	of parental advice to be given.	22:50
	Such as always remember what Surgeon General Coop says.	22:52
	But despite its vacuity, Polonius' speech	22:57
	is a great favorite of Shakespeare lovers.	23:00
	My high school English teacher read it to us	23:05
	on the last day of class our senior year.	23:08
	I even found its words written in large letters	23:12
	in the cafeteria of the University of Indiana,	23:15
	for students to meditate upon as they chewed breakfast.	23:19
	Well as it turned out, Polonius' advice,	23:23
	like a lot of advice that parents give their children,	23:25
	does not bear up under much analysis.	23:29
	Be thou familiar, he says, but by no means vulgar.	23:33
	Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.	23:37
	Neither a borrower nor a lender be.	23:40
	To thine own self be true and it must follow	23:42
	as the night, the day thou cannot be fault to any man.	23:45
	Now what is all that supposed to mean?	23:51
	Laertes, like most 19 year olds politely stands	23:54
	on one foot and then the other as his father	23:58
	praddles on about neither a borrower	24:01
	nor a lender be and as the night follows the day.	24:03
	He's learned that parental advice doesn't usually harm,	24:09
	as long as it's not taken seriously.	24:14
	Can you imagine some of the things	24:18
	your parents have told you, printed in large letters	24:19
	over a university cafeteria?	24:23
	Pick up your socks or you'll never get married.	24:27
	Something like that.	24:30
	No wonder that by the time most people reach your age	24:33
	they have become fairly well inoculated to advice.	24:35
	It's the self protected mechanism of the young	24:39
	to protect them against the onslaughts	24:42
	of the Poloniuses of the world.	24:45
	Besides what could I tell you freshmen about college	24:49
	that you don't already know.	24:52
	You've already seen Rodney Dangerfield's movie.	24:53
	You know what college is going to be like.	24:55
	Generally, my advice to people your age is beware of advice.	24:58
	And I say that not only because I found that that is	25:03
	something with which you will agree,	25:05
	but also because I've observed that bad advice	25:08
	like don't sweat organic chemistry,	25:12
	is always more popular than really good advice,	25:16
	like worry about absolutely everything.	25:19
	But I know that you don't come here on Sunday morning	25:23
	for my advice.	25:25
	But the question is will you sit for Paul's advice?	25:29
	Here is Paul speaking to the church at Rome.	25:33
	Let love be genuine.	25:39
	Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.	25:42
	Love one another.	25:46
	Outdo one another in showing honor.	25:48
	Never flag in zeal.	25:50
	Be a glow with the spirit.	25:51
	Serve the Lord.	25:53
	Rejoice in your hope.	25:53
	Be patient in tribulation, constant in prayer.	25:55
	Contribute to the needs of the saints.	25:58
	Practice hospitality.	26:00
	Bless those who persecute you.	26:03
	Bless and do not curse them.	26:05
	Rejoice with those who rejoice.	26:08
	Weep with those who weep.	26:10
	Live in harmony with one another.	26:12
	Don't be haughty, but associate with the lowly.	26:13
	Never be conceited.	26:17
	Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for	26:19
	what is noble in the sight of all.	26:23
	If possible, live peaceably with all.	26:26
	Beloved, never avenge yourselves	26:30
	but leave it to the wrath of God	26:32
	for it is written, vengeance is mine.	26:33
	I will repay, says the Lord.	26:35
	No, if your enemy is hungry, you should feed him.	26:38
	If he is thirsty, give him drink.	26:41
	For by doing so you will heap burning coals	26:43
	upon his head.	26:46
	Do not be overcome by evil, but you overcome evil with good.	26:47
	Owe no one anything except to love one another.	26:52
	For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled	26:56
	the law, the commandments.	26:58
	You shall not commit adultery.	27:01
	You shall not kill.	27:02
	You shall not steal.	27:03
	You shall not covet.	27:04
	And any other commandment are summed up	27:05
	in this one sentence.	27:07
	You shall love your neighbor as yourself.	27:09
	Now this all sounds like something your mother	27:16
	might say to you, doesn't it?	27:18
	Here is Saint Paul giving advice.	27:20
	Don't do this, do that.	27:23
	Don't do this.	27:25
	And I dare say that for most people,	27:28
	this is what they think religion is all about.	27:30
	Don't do this, don't do that.	27:34
	Advice.	27:38
	Polonius giving advice to Laerties.	27:41
	Saint Paul giving advice to the church at Rome.	27:44
	Don't do this, don't do that.	27:48
	Oh sure, for the first 11 chapters of his letter	27:51
	to the Romans, Paul has preached grace,	27:54
	he's talked about forgiveness.	27:57
	About the unmerited, unrestrained love of God.	27:59
	There is therefore now no condemnation for those	28:03
	who are in Jesus Christ, Romans 8:1.	28:06
	God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners,	28:10
	Christ died for us, 5:1.	28:14
	God's love is for the righteous and for the	28:18
	unrighteous Jew and Gentile because God shows no partiality,	28:20
	Romans 2:1.	28:25
	But at last Paul reveals his true colors.	28:28
	Enough of this grace business.	28:33
	Enough of this talk about acceptance	28:34
	and forgiveness and love.	28:36
	Now Paul at last gives us what he wanted to give us, advice.	28:38
	Perhaps we think Paul said to himself,	28:44
	I preached to them grace and acceptance and forgiveness.	28:48
	I'm going to get a call from their mother tonight	28:52
	saying, I send them over to the chapel.	28:55
	What do they get?	28:58
	They get talk of grace and forgiveness and accpetance.	28:59
	They're gonna be running naked in the streets by tonight.	29:03
	You do what preachers are supposed to do.	29:06
	You tell them what God wants them to do.	29:08
	You tell them what to do and what not to do.	29:10
	Tell them what Surgeon General Coop says, you tell them.	29:12
	But in preparing my advice for you today,	29:18
	I made an interesting discovery.	29:22
	My bible has Paul begin this section by saying,	29:27
	"Let love be genuine."	29:32
	But that isn't what Paul says in the original.	29:36
	In the Greek, the opening verb is in the	29:39
	indicative mood, not in the imperative.	29:46
	In spite of the tone, Paul is not saying	29:51
	let love be genuine.	29:53
	Hold fast to what is good, hate what is evil.	29:55
	Don't be conformed.	29:56
	But in the Greek the opening verb is in the indicative.	29:58
	It is, "Love is genuine."	30:01
	It holds fast to what is good.	30:04
	The verb is in the indicative, not in the imperative.	30:10
	For 11 chapters of his letter to the Romans,	30:17
	Paul has been using every means at his disposal.	30:20
	Hymn and poem and argument and reason	30:24
	to try to tell the Romans who they are.	30:27
	He spends 11 chapters doing that	30:32
	so he can have this one little chapter here	30:34
	to tell them what they ought to do.	30:36
	You are the first witnesses of a brand new age.	30:41
	You are the first citizens of a totally new kingdom.	30:44
	Then at the beginning of chapter 12	30:50
	comes that little Greek word, oun,	30:52
	which is translated therefore.	30:55
	And whenever you see therefore in one of Paul's letters	30:57
	it's a tip off that you're going to shift gears	31:00
	and now move into the implications	31:03
	of what has gone before.	31:05
	Therefore, he says, do not be conformed to this world.	31:07
	You're part of a new world.	31:12
	Therefore serve the Lord because the Lord has served you.	31:15
	Therefore bless those who persecute you	31:19
	just like the Lord blessed you even when you crucified him.	31:22
	Therefore practice hospitality,	31:28
	remembering how you were once a stranger	31:31
	and you were received by the Lord.	31:33
	See what Paul is doing here?	31:38
	This is ethics.	31:41
	But it's not ethics like we usually do ethics.	31:44
	For here is an ethic based, not upon some moralizing	31:48
	list of do's and don'ts, do's and don'ts,	31:52
	but an ethic based	31:58
	upon who we really are	32:02
	and God means us to be.	32:05
	You see, there are two ways I think to go about	32:10
	this matter of ethics.	32:12
	One way is for the mother to sit the daughter down	32:15
	on the edge of the bed and to say to her,	32:17
	now you're getting ready to go off to college	32:21
	and Duke is a big, strange, threatening place.	32:23
	And we want you to go down there and do right.	32:26
	We're spending a lot of money on you,	32:28
	don't you disappoint us.	32:30
	You go down there, you hit those books	32:31
	and you study hard and don't you let us come down there	32:33
	and find that you're not doing what you should be doing.	32:35
	Another way is for the mother to sit the daughter	32:41
	down on the side of the bed and to tell her	32:45
	how proud she is of her.	32:48
	That she is a person of gifts and strengths,	32:52
	and she is so excited for this great	32:57
	new experience for her.	32:59
	Be who you are.	33:04
	A parent stands at the door, bidding the child goodbye.	33:09
	And the final benediction is,	33:14
	now you remember, you get out there	33:18
	and you act like somebody.	33:19
	My sister says that she remembers as my mother	33:22
	was bidding her farewell on a Saturday night	33:24
	for some night of adventure, her words to her were,	33:27
	remember now, you are somebody.	33:31
	And I think with all of our bumbling parental advice	33:39
	that's what we're trying to say to you.	33:46
	That's what we want to say to you.	33:50
	You're somebody, live like it.	33:55
	At least I'm confident that that is what	34:01
	Paul is saying here in his letter to the Romans.	34:03
	Don't be conformed, he says to them,	34:08
	because you don't need to be.	34:11
	You're special.	34:13
	You are somebody.	34:16
	So many times we think of ethics as this	34:19
	heroic attempt to answer what ought I to do.	34:21
	What ought I to do in the matter of abortion	34:26
	or sexual behavior or cheating or truthfulness.	34:29
	What ought I to do?	34:33
	But how in the world can you answer that question	34:36
	without the prior question of who are you?	34:39
	Who do you hope to be?	34:43
	That's the prior and much more basic question.	34:47
	In other words, in Christian ethics,	34:52
	the indicative always precedes the imperative.	34:54
	"You are" always precedes, "You ought."	35:01
	Paul is expended 11 chapters in his letter to the Romans,	35:10
	telling them who they are so now he can turn	35:14
	to what they ought to do.	35:19
	Love is genuine and it hates what is evil,	35:22
	it holds fast to what is good.	35:25
	It blesses those who persecute it,	35:26
	doesn't repay evil with evil.	35:28
	You are God's beloved, therefore...	35:31
	I think the most ethically significant thing I could do	35:37
	for you today	35:40
	is not to give you a bunch of advice	35:44
	on what you ought to do.	35:47
	But the most ethically significant thing	35:49
	I can do for you is simply to remind you of who you are.	35:51
	And I bet that's the reason you came here	35:56
	this morning anyway, even if you didn't know	35:57
	that was the reason.	36:00
	You have come here to remind yourself	36:00
	of who you are,	36:05
	because it is so easy to forget.	36:09
	I remember my brief stay at Fort Bragg	36:16
	during Army Boot Camp.	36:21
	Not one of the more uplifting experiences of my life.	36:23
	Prejudiced me against Fayetteville for the rest of my life.	36:26
	But I remember the first day was one of the worst,	36:30
	with hair cuts and meeting your sergeant	36:35
	and running from here to there.	36:38
	And finally the day ended and the lights were out	36:40
	in the barracks and everybody was in the bunk.	36:44
	And when all was silent you could hear somebody speaking,	36:49
	somebody talking.	36:52
	I'll always remember him, his name was Sweat.	36:55
	That was his name, Sweat.	36:57
	He was from the University of Tennessee,	36:58
	ran track for them, I think.	37:00
	He was saying his prayers.	37:03
	Down beside his bunk, saying his prayers.	37:06
	You can imagine how this display of piety	37:08
	was greeted by his bunk mates.	37:11
	What's the matter, Sweat?	37:13
	You want your momma?	37:14
	Look at Sweat, what's he doing?	37:15
	And other things.	37:17
	He kept right on praying.	37:19
	When he got through, crawled back in his bunk,	37:21
	rolled over, went to sleep.	37:24
	Next night, lights out, there he was again.	37:26
	Praying beside his bunk.	37:29
	There were whistles and catcalls and comments,	37:31
	but not as many.	37:34
	Third night, there he was again.	37:36
	This time only one person said anything.	37:39
	And the night after that, when he knelt down	37:43
	beside his bunk, nobody said anything.	37:46
	But way over at the back when he got through	37:51
	I heard somebody else say, amen.	37:53
	Now I don't know what good that such	37:59
	displays of piety do.	38:04
	But I can testify to that the effect of all that,	38:08
	we wouldn't have gotten down there with him.	38:12
	No, we were too busy trying to fit in,	38:14
	to go with the program, to do what was expected.	38:16
	We all wanted to be good soldiers.	38:19
	To do what we were told, to conform.	38:21
	But at the end of the camp, we all elected Sweat	38:27
	the best cadet in our platoon.	38:33
	He really wasn't that good a soldier,	38:36
	but he was the kind of person we wish we were.	38:39
	Oh when we went off our parents didn't say something	38:44
	to us like you need to fit in and you need to do	38:47
	what the sergeant says and you do what's expected of you.	38:49
	Parents don't have to tell you that.	38:51
	No parent has to tell you to go with the flow,	38:54
	to fit in with the crowd, to go along with everybody else.	38:57
	We're born that way.	39:00
	We're all born conformists.	39:03
	He was to his own self true.	39:08
	Well parents can be so loose with advice	39:18
	because, on the whole, you don't take it anyway.	39:21
	But every then and now you get some good advice,	39:27
	and you listen.	39:32
	And then I can tell you that that's	39:35
	when parents really get nervous,	39:36
	because then you wonder, gee, was I giving good advice	39:38
	or was I just talking?	39:41
	I can tell you as a preacher if there's one thing worse	39:43
	than people not listening to a sermon is when they listen.	39:45
	You meet them next Tuesday and they say,	39:51
	you know that sermon, it just changed my life.	39:52
	I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that	39:55
	and then I find myself saying, now wait a minute.	39:57
	I was just preaching.	39:59
	It's when they listen.	40:03
	And those are the ones you have to worry about.	40:07
	A young man was telling me this summer about	40:11
	his experiences in the church.	40:12
	He, like Sweat, grew up in a little Baptist church	40:14
	somewhere in Tennessee.	40:17
	A fundamentalist church where they took the bible seriously,	40:19
	they took it literally.	40:23
	He grew up in this fundamentalist church.	40:25
	They told him that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish,	40:28
	he believed it.	40:31
	They told him that Moses held back the Red Sea.	40:33
	He believed it.	40:36
	Then when he was 18 or 19 he was off at college,	40:39
	he got a letter from the president	40:42
	asking him to register for the draft.	40:44
	And he said he sat down and wrote a very polite letter	40:48
	back to President Carter thanking him for his letter,	40:50
	but saying that he would probably understand	40:52
	that, as a Christian, he couldn't do this.	40:56
	That Jesus had told him to turn the other cheek	41:00
	and Jesus had told him not to take up the sword.	41:02
	That Jesus had shown him how to die rather than to kill.	41:06
	When word of his letter got back to that little church,	41:13
	they kicked him out.	41:17
	And he said to them,	41:22
	where do you think I got all this stuff?	41:24
	You're the ones that made me memorize the bible	41:27
	back in third grade Sunday school class.	41:30
	You taught me this stuff.	41:31
	Didn't you tell me to take it seriously?	41:34
	Who do you think I am?	41:39
	Amen.	41:44
-	I invite you to join me in the litany for this year	41:56
	in the university.	41:58
	Will you please rise.	41:59
	God of Abraham and Isaac, of apostles and prophets	42:05
	in every age you call people to work for you.	42:09
	Showing justice, doing mercy, giving purpose	42:12
	to a nameless humanity.	42:16
	By your truth darkness is dispelled	42:18
	and all people set free to mature in wisdom.	42:21
	In pursuit of that truth, we now take our place	42:25
	at Duke University.	42:28
	Receive us unto yourself, oh God, use us	42:30
	to accomplish your sacred intention.	42:34
Congregation	Amen.	42:36
-	That in this place we will remember those parents,	42:39
	teachers, and friends who love us	42:42
	and whose hopes follow you us here.	42:45
	(congregation speaking)	42:48
	That we may accept the responsibility of our freedom	42:51
	and the burden of our privilege.	42:54
	(congregation speaking)	42:56
	That with courage we may doubt,	42:59
	but that we will also place our doubts	43:01
	in the larger faith of Jesus Christ.	43:03
	(congregation speaking)	43:06
	From insulating ourselves with books and words.	43:09
	(congregation speaking)	43:12
	From ignorance that feeds injustice.	43:15
	From indifference that yields to cruelty.	43:17
	And from blind loyalty to false values.	43:20
	(congregation speaking)	43:24
	From hopelessness that cripples us,	43:26
	a self consciousness that paralyzes us	43:28
	and from temptations that destroy us.	43:31
	(congregation speaking)	43:34
	Gracious God, in world where justice does not yet	43:36
	roll down as waters, nor righteousness as a mighty stream,	43:40
	where there is much knowledge but little wisdom,	43:45
	we pray for this school, its students and faculty,	43:48
	staff and administrators and for the task	43:52
	in which we now unite.	43:55
	Turn our efforts to good, that as our understanding	43:58
	increases, our responsibility will deepen.	44:01
	For the sake of the future that you give us to create.	44:05
	(congregation speaking)	44:09
	You may now be seated.	44:12
-	Now in the spirit of thanksgiving for the mercy	44:22
	of the Lord, let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	44:24
	(soft organ music)	44:31
	(choir singing)	49:05
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	51:49
	(choir singing)	51:56
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	52:07
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	52:13
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	52:20
	♪ Amen ♪	52:28
	Oh eternal God, creator of all that was	52:39
	and is and is to come, diverse that we are	52:42
	in age and outlook, we are one in our desire	52:47
	to voice our gratitude unto thee.	52:50
	We thank thee for our time and place in history	52:53
	for a past which has nurtured us	52:56
	and for a future which challenges us.	52:59
	For friends and loved one who mediate thy loving care to us.	53:02
	And for new truths which are revealed to us	53:06
	through the church.	53:09
	All they works praise thee and in that chorus	53:10
	we gratefully join.	53:13
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ	53:15
	who taught us to pray with confidence	53:18
	our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name	53:21
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done	53:25
	on earth as it is in heaven.	53:28
	Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us	53:30
	our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.	53:34
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	53:39
	For thine is the kingdom, the power,	53:44
	and the glory forever, amen.	53:46
	(organ music)	53:52
	(choir singing)	54:27
	And now go forth in peace and be of good courage.	57:50
	Hold fast to that which is good,	57:54
	rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.	57:56
	And may the blessing of God, creator, Christ,	57:59
	and Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore.	58:03
	Amen.	58:08
	♪ Amen ♪	58:11
	♪ Amen ♪	58:17
	♪ Amen ♪	58:27
	♪ Amen ♪	58:41
	♪ Amen ♪	58:52
	♪ Amen ♪	59:04
	(organ music)	59:26

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Advice" (September 6, 1987)

Description:

Sermon start time: 22:00. Sermon end time: 41:45.
The preacher centers this sermon on Christian ethics, focusing on identity rather than behaviors, and arguing that ethics is not about what we do, but about who we are. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “This is ethics. But it’s not ethics like we usually do ethics. For here is an ethic based, not upon some moralizing list of do’s and don’ts, but an ethic based upon who we really are and God means us to be.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rn30p2h

Date:

September 6, 1987

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Romans

Chapter and Verse:

Romans 12:2, 9-20; 13:8-9

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0047
ref8391_j7h
uachapelsermaud
duke:321634
dcrmv001047
ark:/87924/r4rn30p2h
d8fa1b14-5e72-4f35-b2c3-61249680f682

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

William H. Willimon - "Advice" (September 6, 1987)

Transcript

Item Info

1. William H. Willimon - "Advice" (September 6, 1987)

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options

William H. Willimon - "Advice" (September 6, 1987)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options