William H. Willimon - "Love in Action" (February 14, 1988)

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	(bright organ music)	0:00
-	Good morning and welcome to this service	3:24
	of worship at Duke University Chapel.	3:26
	We're glad you're here.	3:29
	This week we begin the Christian season of Lent	3:31
	and we call your attention to the activities:	3:34
	the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and the Wednesday,	3:38
	Ash Wednesday, services to be held here in the chapel.	3:42
	This afternoon at five, Dr. William Porter will give	3:46
	an organ recital here in the chapel as part	3:50
	of the chapel Sunday afternoon organ series.	3:54
	We are pleased today to have the first annual	4:00
	Waldo Beach hymnody competition.	4:05
	A hymn that we will initiate here at the chapel	4:09
	will be our first Hymn today.	4:12
	And this is a program in honor of Dr. Waldo Beach,	4:15
	who has taught for many years	4:19
	at the Divinity School and preached from this pulpit,	4:22
	and we have sung his hymns here in the chapel.	4:25
	And today's hymn has been written by Dr. Thomas Troeger,	4:28
	he is here, if you'd come forward so people can see you.	4:33
	Dr. Troeger has had a distinguished career in the area	4:37
	of worship and preaching and has written hymns	4:41
	and we're delighted to be	4:44
-	Thank you.
-	Inaugurating your hymn for the first time, and thank you.	4:45
	Dr. Troeger's hymns have appeared in the Episcopal hymnal	4:49
	and will be in the new United Methodist hymnal	4:52
	and we are honored to be initiating this hymn,	4:54
	which was written especially for a university setting.	4:58
	And now let us continue our worship.	5:02
	♪ Blessed be the God and Father ♪	5:21
	♪ Of our Lord Jesus Christ ♪	5:30
	♪ Which according to his abundant mercy ♪	5:42
	♪ Hath begotten us again ♪	5:59
	♪ Unto a lively hope ♪	6:05
	♪ By the resurrection ♪	6:12
	♪ of Jesus Christ ♪	6:19
	♪ From the dead ♪	6:25
	(bright organ music)	6:35
	(muffled choir singing)	7:34
-	O God, who before the passion of your only begotten son	14:22
	revealed His glory upon the Holy Mountain.	14:26
	Grant to us that we, beholding by faith,	14:30
	the light of His countenance,	14:34
	may be strengthened to bear our cross	14:36
	and be changed into His likeness from glory to glory.	14:39
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you	14:44
	and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, Amen.	14:48
-	Let us pray.	15:06
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	15:09
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	15:12
	so that as the Word is read and proclaimed	15:15
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day, Amen.	15:19
	The Old Testament lesson comes from the Book of Exodus,	15:27
	chapter three, verses one through six.	15:31
	Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law,	15:37
	Jethro, the priest of Midian.	15:40
	And he led his flock to the west side	15:43
	of the wilderness and came to Horeb,	15:46
	the mountian of God.	15:49
	And the angel of the Lord appeared to him	15:51
	in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush.	15:54
	And he looked, and lo, the bush was burning,	15:57
	yet it was not consumed.	16:02
	And Moses said, "I will turn aside,	16:05
	"and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."	16:08
	When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,	16:14
	God called to him out of the bush.	16:17
	"Moses, Moses,"	16:20
	and he said, "Here am I."	16:24
	Then he said, "Do not come near.	16:27
	"Put off your shoes from your feet,	16:30
	"for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."	16:32
	And he said, "I am the God of your father,	16:37
	"the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,	16:40
	"and the God of Jacob."	16:44
	And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.	16:45
	(bright organ music)	17:03
	♪ The statues of the Lord are just ♪	17:15
	♪ And rejoice the heart ♪	17:20
	♪ The law of the Lord is perfect ♪	17:28
	♪ It renews us all ♪	17:32
	♪ The law of the Lord is sure ♪	17:35
	♪ It makes wise the simple ♪	17:39
	♪ The statues of the Lord are just ♪	17:44
	♪ And rejoice our heart ♪	17:48
	♪ The command of the Lord shines clear ♪	17:52
	♪ Enlightens the eyes ♪	17:57
	♪ The statues of the Lord are just ♪	18:02
	♪ And rejoice the heart ♪	18:07
	♪ The fear of the Lord is holy ♪	18:15
	♪ Enduring forever ♪	18:19
	♪ The decrees of the Lord are true ♪	18:24
	♪ And all of them righteous ♪	18:28
	♪ They are more precious than gold ♪	18:33
	♪ More than a bunch of pure gold ♪	18:36
	♪ The word of the Lord is sweeter than honey ♪	18:41
	♪ Than honey fresh from the comb ♪	18:46
	♪ The statues of the Lord are just ♪	18:51
	♪ And rejoice the heart ♪	18:56
	♪ By them your servant is guided ♪	19:05
	♪ In keeping them there his great reward ♪	19:09
	♪ Who can know all my offenses ♪	19:14
	♪ Wash me from my secret wrongdoing ♪	19:17
	♪ God, keep your servant from foolish pride ♪	19:23
	♪ Let it not rule over me ♪	19:28
	♪ Then shall I be whole ♪	19:33
	♪ And innocent from all my transgressions ♪	19:36
	♪ The statutes of the Lord are just ♪	19:42
	♪ And rejoice the heart ♪	19:48
	♪ Let the words of my mouth ♪	19:57
	♪ The parts of my heart ♪	20:00
	♪ Find favor before you, oh Lord ♪	20:05
	♪ Thy redeemer and God ♪	20:10
	♪ The statues of the Lord are just ♪	20:16
	♪ And rejoice the heart ♪	20:21
	(bright organ music)	20:30
	(singing drowned out by organ music)	20:43
-	The epistle for this morning	21:44
	comes from the book of 1 Corinthians,	21:45
	chapter four, verses three through six.	21:48
	But with me it is a very small thing	21:53
	that I should be judged by you	21:56
	or by any human court.	21:59
	I do not even judge myself.	22:01
	I am not aware of anything against myself,	22:04
	but I am not thereby acquitted.	22:07
	It is the Lord who judges me.	22:10
	Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time,	22:13
	before the Lord comes,	22:16
	who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness	22:18
	and will disclose the purposes of the heart.	22:22
	Then every man will receive his commendation from God.	22:26
	I have applied all this to myself and Apollos	22:30
	for your benefit brethren,	22:33
	that you may learn by us	22:35
	not to go beyond what is written.	22:37
	That none of you may be puffed up	22:40
	in favor of one against another.	22:41
	(singing in foreign language)	23:00
-	I want us to think together	27:17
	about this crazy thing called love,	27:20
	an appropriate Sunday to do that.	27:23
	We shall think using the Gospel,	27:27
	let us be attentive to today's Gospel.	27:30
	And he was setting out on a journey,	27:35
	and a man ran up and knelt before him	27:36
	and asked him, good teacher, what must I do	27:38
	to inherit eternal life?	27:42
	And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?	27:45
	No one is good but God alone.	27:49
	You know the commandments.	27:52
	Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal,	27:53
	do not bear false witness, do not defraud,	27:58
	honor your father and your mother.	28:00
	And he said, teacher, all these I have observed	28:04
	from my youth.	28:07
	And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him and said,	28:10
	you lack one thing.	28:16
	Go, sell what you have and give to the poor.	28:18
	And you will have treasure in heaven,	28:23
	and come follow me.	28:26
	And at that saying his countenance fell.	28:29
	And he went away sorrowful,	28:33
	for he had great possessions.	28:36
	Baptist prophet Will Campbell,	28:45
	who was always a most uncomfortable guest,	28:49
	was invited by Manhattan's Riverside Church	28:53
	to speak in a sermon series they were having	28:57
	entitled What Riverside Church Can Do To Help	29:01
	Race Relations in New York.	29:06
	And Campbell took as his text our text for today.	29:09
	Mark's story of Jesus and the rich young man.	29:15
	Campbell began his sermon in his Mississippi drawl	29:21
	by asking, "What can Riverside Church do	29:25
	"to help race relations in New York?	29:29
	"Nothing, not a darn thing unless you sell	29:32
	"this great, big old building and then let's get out	29:36
	"on Broadway and see what God'll do with us."	29:38
	Needless to say, congregation and pastor	29:43
	were not amused.	29:46
	For here's a congregation with an impressively	29:49
	liberal set of credentials.	29:53
	Always the first to be on the right side	29:55
	of every pressing social issue.	29:58
	Later the preacher wrote Campbell and said,	30:02
	you took the wrong text.	30:04
	You were supposed to preach on the widow's might,	30:06
	that's what you should have preached on.	30:08
	How can we use what resources we have	30:11
	to address systemic injustice	30:14
	and third world economic development?	30:17
	And Campbell wrote back and said, hell,	30:19
	I didn't know you wanted to be liberal,	30:21
	I thought you wanted to get saved.	30:22
	And I know the line of thinking.	30:33
	Look, we're not all that rich.	30:36
	We do a lot of good with our great big building.	30:40
	We have programs of community outreach,	30:43
	we've got a day care center.	30:46
	And besides, what good would our little drop	30:49
	of wealth do when plopped down	30:52
	into the great bucket of the world's vast need?	30:55
	And you can sure see why I did not invite	31:01
	Will Campbell to preach from this pulpit	31:04
	when he was visiting at Duke last fall.	31:06
	I dare say we haven't advanced too far	31:10
	in our rationalizations and explanations	31:12
	for why we do not go and do	31:17
	what Jesus so clearly tells us to do.	31:19
	The rich young man who came to Jesus that day	31:24
	did not expect to hear of his riches.	31:27
	He wanted to talk about social ethics.	31:32
	Or he wanted to have a little discussion	31:37
	about some of the great and pressing	31:39
	social issues of they day,	31:41
	and how he as an educated, responsible person	31:43
	could act responsibly in regard to them.	31:46
	After all, he would have never engaged Jesus	31:49
	in a debate had he not already had confidence	31:52
	that his righteousness was impeccable.	31:56
	As he said, he obeyed the law	32:01
	from the time he was very young.	32:03
	He voted a straight Democratic ticket	32:06
	in the last election.	32:08
	He was always on the right side of every issue,	32:10
	was a member of the Sierra Club,	32:14
	ate no non-union grapes,	32:16
	his hands were clean.	32:18
	Tell me Jesus, what are some more things I can do	32:20
	to advance the cause of peace with justice?	32:24
	Join the NAACP, write my congressperson?	32:27
	And Jesus loved him and said, go.	32:34
	Sell all that you have and give it to the poor.	32:39
	And Jesus loved him.	32:44
	I don't know about you, but I've got my own resources	32:49
	for rationalizing and weaseling out of this	32:52
	go sell all you have, give it to the poor.	32:57
	But the thing that impresses me today,	33:01
	is Mark's editorial comment.	33:06
	Not found in the other evangelist's treatment of this tale.	33:10
	And Jesus loved him.	33:15
	He loved him, does that seem strange to you?	33:20
	I tell you, with people like Jesus around	33:24
	to love you, you don't need anybody to despise you.	33:26
	Jesus loved him and said go, sell all you have	33:31
	and give it to the poor.	33:34
	He lacked, we are told, one thing needful,	33:36
	just one thing beyond the bounds	33:39
	of conventional morality and practical ethics.	33:42
	And I think how differently Jesus acted that day	33:50
	than I would have.	33:53
	Of course if I had been Jesus that day	33:56
	that's not what I would have said.	33:59
	I might have asked this well-heeled young man	34:03
	for an endowed fund for student scholarships,	34:06
	or a bigger pledge to the church budget,	34:10
	not everything.	34:14
	And this I call pastoral care,	34:18
	this is what we call compassion.	34:20
	Because you see, unlike Jesus,	34:23
	if I had looked at that young man	34:25
	I would have been able to have some	34:27
	real sensitivity towards his personal limitations.	34:31
	His need for earthly security.	34:35
	Because, you see, I've learned, through my own ministry,	34:40
	that even though this young man is well off financially	34:43
	he is still a poor struggling beggar	34:48
	spiritually speaking, psychologically speaking.	34:50
	We've all got problems, he like all the rest of us,	34:55
	I know, is getting by about the best he can.	34:58
	And that's good enough for me.	35:03
	So my flock, when it comes to me for counseling,	35:06
	or for pastoral guidance,	35:10
	doesn't expect to be told something irrational	35:12
	like go sell all you have and give it to the poor,	35:14
	rather it expects to be assured	35:19
	that they are doing about the best that they can.	35:21
	That whatever they have already decided in their hearts	35:25
	is right, is right enough for me.	35:28
	And I tell you it's more difficult to practice	35:32
	this style of pastoral care than you may think.	35:34
	Because the tough part, for a progressive,	35:40
	sensitive pastor, is to figure out	35:43
	what people have already decided to do	35:46
	before they come to you to ask you	35:48
	what they ought to do.	35:50
	What must I do to inherit eternal life?	35:52
	Well, Jesus should have said,	35:57
	if he had had the benefit of a seminary education,	35:59
	well, what do you think?	36:02
	What do you think is practical?	36:09
	Considering your socioeconomic circumstances	36:11
	and your gender, and your family background,	36:14
	and your psychological makeup,	36:16
	what feels right to you?	36:18
	Which would of course confirm	36:24
	what you already think about preachers.	36:25
	As a young pastor, Reinhold Niebuhr wrote that	36:29
	when he was in seminary he thought that preachers	36:34
	were such cowards, that preachers preached	36:36
	such tame, innocuous sermons because they were scared	36:40
	of getting fired by their parishioners	36:43
	for saying something controversial from the pulpit.	36:45
	And he said, when he got out to his first church,	36:48
	in inner city Detroit, he learned	36:50
	that there may be something to that,	36:53
	but that does not get to the heart of the issue.	36:54
	Niebuhr said preachers preach such tame sermons,	36:58
	they learn to measure their words,	37:05
	because they have grown to love these people.	37:10
	They come to know the struggles	37:15
	that everybody is engaged in in life.	37:17
	And so Niebuhr said love is the problem, not the solution.	37:21
	Elsewhere he said it's no wonder that the prophets	37:29
	in the Old Testament were all itinerants.	37:31
	They never stayed anywhere too long	37:35
	to settle down to get to love people,	37:37
	and that's why there so prophetic.	37:38
	It is tough to say unpleasant things	37:43
	to people that one has learned to love, says Niebuhr.	37:46
	If you want to know why sermons	37:53
	are so boring and innocuous, blame it on love.	37:54
	And yet, Mark says	38:00
	Jesus spoke an unpleasant word	38:04
	to this young man because he loved him.	38:07
	I fear that I, and much of my church,	38:13
	in the name of love,	38:17
	have decided to make people's lives just	38:20
	a little less miserable than a lot more redeemed.	38:24
	In the name of love we have come to bless	38:29
	all sorts of behavior.	38:32
	Because our goal in mainline liberal Protestantism	38:35
	is to help people adjust, accept,	38:39
	affirm, and live with who they already are	38:43
	rather than to call them to somebody	38:48
	they would have never been without the love of Jesus.	38:50
	Accommodation is the name of our game, not conversion,	38:54
	as the preacher last week reminded us.	39:00
	And so, rich young men will be told	39:03
	to use their wealth responsibly	39:06
	rather than fundamentally to question the values	39:10
	upon which their lives are based.	39:13
	Rich young women will be told to join NOW,	39:16
	and to fight for a bigger piece of the pie	39:20
	that the rich young men have been enjoying	39:22
	for so long already.	39:24
	Of course, it's the same pie.	39:27
	People will be asked by their preachers	39:32
	to try to be just a little less greedy,	39:34
	a little less violent.	39:36
	And I tell you, as we stand on the threshold of Lent,	39:41
	you don't need anybody to die on a cross for that.	39:44
	Jesus doesn't need to die for what we already believe.	39:49
	To a way of life that everybody already found easy.	39:56
	And we say we do it out of love.	40:03
	To ask for more would be to provoke	40:07
	a crisis in these people.	40:09
	They could easily blow them away.	40:11
	You are so morally fragile,	40:15
	aren't you glad you got a sensitive,	40:18
	caring, affirming pastor like me	40:20
	to protect you from these things?	40:21
	You know, you come to church, you hear some text	40:25
	that disturbs you, you wonder how could	40:27
	a nice person like Jesus say a thing like that?	40:29
	In 20 minutes I will tell you,	40:32
	using the original Greek words	40:34
	and saying something about the original	40:37
	cultural context of the day	40:38
	that what it appears that he said he really didn't say	40:40
	and then we all go away feeling much better.	40:43
	Of course, it's a good chance that you're smart enough	40:51
	to be suspicious of my claims that I am protecting you.	40:54
	You know why I don't ask more of you.	41:01
	Why I don't call you to abundant life,	41:05
	instead call you to decency.	41:08
	Self protection.	41:13
	Because after all, if I called you to discipleship	41:15
	then you might call me to base my life	41:22
	on something more than my things or my alleged goodness,	41:25
	but rather on Jesus, and then where would we be?	41:29
	I'll tell you where.	41:34
	We might be on our way	41:36
	away from this anemic thing we call love	41:41
	to something like the love of Christ.	41:45
	As a young pastor I remember preaching a sermon	41:51
	on the evils of materialism.	41:54
	The evils of materialism.	41:56
	You should have heard me wax eloquent	41:58
	on the evils of materialism.	41:59
	It was a very prophetic sermon,	42:01
	which means that everybody felt fairly guilty	42:04
	after it was over, and on the way out	42:06
	the chairman of my administrative board	42:09
	shook my hand and he said good sermon, preacher.	42:12
	Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he said,	42:16
	does this mean you won't be expecting a raise this year?	42:20
	I tell you it was the last sermon I preached	42:25
	on materialism and greed.	42:29
	Not that I loved the chairman of my administrative board,	42:34
	(congregation laughing)	42:38
	I loved me too much.	42:43
	So you be suspicious when I tell you	42:46
	that I am doing something because I love you.	42:48
	The story raises the question for all of us:	42:56
	Can we love enough to speak the truth	42:59
	to one another in love?	43:04
	A couple in my church had marital problems.	43:08
	Well, actually the problem was	43:12
	he told her he was in love with somebody else	43:14
	and he wanted out their 12 years and two children.	43:16
	There was a young attorney who took me to lunch one day	43:22
	and after lunch was served he said,	43:26
	you know, I'm really concerned about Ted and Janet.	43:28
	What do you think we ought to do about this, preacher?	43:33
	And I began my liberal litany.	43:39
	There was probably little that we could do.	43:43
	B, it was their problem.	43:45
	C, we need to love them.	43:48
	We need to be supportive, loving, caring,	43:50
	affirming, and understanding.	43:52
	D, look there are two sides to every problem.	43:54
	We can't know all the different factors involved.	43:56
	Look, these things happen, Amen and Amen.	43:59
	He put down his fork and he looked at me straight in the eye	44:05
	and he said, well, if that's all that you,	44:07
	if that's all the church has got to say,	44:13
	then no wonder nobody respects us anymore.	44:18
	I thought the church cared about justice,	44:24
	right and wrong, and if this is the best	44:28
	that we can say to two people right here in our own family,	44:30
	you got no right to tell us what to do in Central America.	44:36
	We can't have it both ways.	44:41
	And so my colleague Stanley Hauerwas	44:44
	has accused us mainliners	44:46
	of public legalism and private antinomianism.	44:50
	That is, we know exactly what we're supposed to do	44:55
	in the area of capital punishment, or Central America,	44:58
	or strategic arms limitations,	45:01
	and we tell people what to do.	45:03
	But we are utterly baffled when it comes	45:04
	to two people in a bedroom.	45:06
	We can't have our justice both ways,	45:09
	nor our love both ways.	45:11
	Do you have someone who loves you so much	45:16
	that you will tell the truth	45:22
	and fully expect him or her to do the same for you?	45:26
	That's a gift.	45:30
	I'm not talking about hanging tough,	45:32
	I'm not talking about letting the chips	45:34
	fall where they may,	45:36
	I'm talking about trusting Jesus' ability	45:37
	to produce the sort of people his good news demands.	45:41
	The church began as a non-violent institution.	45:49
	In the early days, at least to the 4th century,	45:56
	soldiers and government bureaucrats were omitted	45:58
	from the church unless they got converted.	46:02
	Conversion was the order of the day.	46:07
	But by the 4th century, a debate raged	46:10
	over whether a growing and successful church	46:14
	ought to relax some of its moral demands	46:16
	and become more realistic.	46:19
	And in that debate, Maximus the Confessor wrote,	46:21
	"No one must distort the word of God	46:26
	"to indulge his moral negligence.	46:30
	"Rather, it is far better to confess one's weakness,	46:35
	"not concealing God's truth,	46:39
	"lest together with transgressing God's commandments	46:43
	"we also become guilty of intentionally	46:47
	"misrepresenting God's word."	46:51
	Translated this means: if we can't follow Jesus on his terms	46:56
	at least we should be honest enough to confess.	47:01
	Rather than change the Gospel to fit our inadequacies,	47:07
	there is a possibility that we out to change ourselves	47:13
	to fit the Gospel demands.	47:17
	Alas, I am the rich young man.	47:23
	Recently a friend of mine and I wrote a book	47:33
	on United Methodist revitalization.	47:35
	And I remember a letter I got,	47:38
	a district superintendent from New York wrote to say,	47:39
	your book is unfortunate.	47:43
	It will damage our church.	47:46
	Of course I know very well that much	47:48
	of what you criticize is true,	47:50
	but if you really loved our church	47:51
	you wouldn't have said it.	47:53
	The Christian thing to do, the loving thing to do,	47:56
	is to sigh deeply and pat us on the head.	47:59
	Yet I confess, this text has gotten me to wondering,	48:06
	are you really so fragile?	48:11
	Do you really need my protection?	48:15
	Is Jesus so powerless to produce	48:18
	the kind of people he demands?	48:21
	I wonder.	48:24
	My last church we were discussing the possibility	48:27
	of opening up a day care center in our church.	48:29
	And I had been lobbying for this.	48:33
	We had this big empty building, it was empty all week long,	48:35
	we had somebody in our church	48:38
	that wanted to run a day care center.	48:40
	We needed young couples in the church.	48:42
	The Baptists down the street already had a day care center.	48:44
	We were meeting with the committee	48:49
	on Christian education to discuss the proposal,	48:52
	it was presented, and then Gladys spoke up, Gladys Smith,	48:56
	and she said, I'd like to hear some more discussion	49:00
	about this proposal, I'd like to know,	49:04
	would someone explain to me why is the church	49:06
	getting into the day care business?	49:08
	Why is this ministry?	49:11
	And I said, Gladys, let me go over it one more time	49:15
	in words of one syllable.	49:17
	We have this big empty building,	49:19
	we need young couples, somebody already wants to do it,	49:21
	and the Baptists already have one.	49:24
	(congregation laughing)	49:27
	She said, that's not good enough for me.	49:30
	A more supportive layperson spoke up and said,	49:35
	look Gladys, it's getting harder every day	49:37
	to put food on the table.	49:40
	Both people have to work, we need this.	49:42
	And Gladys said, that's a lie.	49:46
	That's not true for anybody in this church.	49:50
	It's not hard for anybody in this church	49:52
	to put food on the table.	49:54
	Now there may be people in our community	49:57
	for whom it is hard, but they'll never come	49:59
	to this day care center.	50:02
	They couldn't get here anyway.	50:04
	No, let's be honest, she said, let's admit	50:07
	what's getting harder and harder every day	50:09
	is to have the two cars and the Winnebago	50:12
	and the place at the beach, and the VCR,	50:15
	and all those things that our parents	50:19
	never even asked for have become for us	50:21
	the necessities of life.	50:24
	I wish my church had the courage to tell young couples	50:29
	that won't make a better marriage,	50:32
	that won't make a better life, that junk.	50:33
	I just hate to see the church	50:37
	buying into the same corrupt value system	50:38
	that everybody else is already into.	50:41
	And I said now Gladys, I am the ethical leader	50:47
	of this congregation.	50:51
	If you think there's an ethical problem,	50:53
	you come to me, I'll explain it to you.	50:55
	And Gladys loved him and said...	51:02
	In Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov,	51:10
	Father Zosima remarks,	51:14
	"Love in action	51:18
	"is a harsh and dreadful thing	51:22
	"compared to love in dreams."	51:26
	(organ music)	51:38
	♪ Holy Spirit, truth divine ♪	52:03
	♪ Dawn upon this soul of mine ♪	52:09
	♪ Word of God and inward light ♪	52:16
	♪ Wake my spirit, clear my sight ♪	52:22
	♪ Holy Spirit, love divine ♪	52:30
	♪ Glow within this heart of mine ♪	52:36
	♪ Kindle every high desire ♪	52:43
	♪ Perish self in Thy pure fire ♪	52:49
	♪ Holy Spirit, power divine ♪	52:57
	♪ Fill and nerve this will of mine ♪	53:04
	♪ Grant that I may strongly live ♪	53:10
	♪ Bravely bear, and nobly strive ♪	53:17
	♪ Holy Spirit, right divine ♪	53:25
	♪ King within my conscience reign ♪	53:31
	♪ Be my Lord, and I shall be ♪	53:37
	♪ Firmly bound, forever free ♪	53:44
Nancy	Let us unite in this historic confession	53:56
	of the Christian faith.	53:59
Congregation	I believe in God in the Father Almighty.	54:01
	Maker of Heaven and Earth,	54:04
	and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord,	54:06
	who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,	54:10
	born of the Virgin Mary,	54:12
	suffered under Pontius Pilate,	54:14
	was crucified, dead, and buried.	54:17
	The third day he rose from the dead.	54:19
	He ascended into Heaven and siteth	54:22
	at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.	54:24
	From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	54:28
	I believe in the Holy Spirit,	54:31
	the Holy Catholic Church,	54:34
	the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins,	54:36
	the resurrection of the body,	54:39
	and the life everlasting, Amen.	54:42
-	The Lord be with you.	54:46
Congregation	And also with you.	54:47
-	Let us pray.	54:49
	Most gracious God, mother and father to us all,	55:04
	who in love has made us,	55:10
	and through love has kept us,	55:13
	and who by love would make us perfect.	55:16
	You have called us into relationship	55:21
	with our sisters and brothers throughout the world.	55:23
	Therefor we offer unto you these prayers for others,	55:27
	beseeching you to grant them fullness of life.	55:31
	We pray for people everywhere who seek to speak the truth.	55:36
	And who dare to weave it into the fabric	55:42
	of their daily lives.	55:44
	For all who earnestly seek peace	55:48
	and who live lives that embody it,	55:50
	for all who plead the cause of the orphan,	55:54
	the prisoner, the oppressed,	55:57
	and help to bring the world into new awareness	56:00
	of our own frailties.	56:03
	For all who perceive beauty and order	56:07
	in the midst of chaos and despair,	56:09
	and who give their lives in order to create it.	56:13
	For all who stand up in any way	56:17
	to expose injustice, prejudice, and inhumanity,	56:19
	even at the price of their own security.	56:24
	We commend to you, savior God, those who stand	56:29
	in special need of prayer this day.	56:32
	For all who bear the burdens of homelessness	56:36
	or unemployment, and who suffer the pangs of hunger.	56:39
	For all who endure the trials of sickness and disease,	56:44
	especially those patients in Duke Hospitals.	56:49
	For all who are paralyzed in the faces	56:53
	of decisions or responsibilities that consume them.	56:55
	For all who are overwhelmed by loneliness,	57:00
	despair, or grief, and who question	57:03
	their reasons for living.	57:06
	For all who are burdened not by too little but by too much,	57:09
	wielding power that renders them indifferent	57:13
	to the needs and the rights of others.	57:16
	And we dare to pray, eternal God, even for ourselves.	57:20
	Aware that we have done so little with so much,	57:25
	yet committed to offering you more obedient service.	57:28
	Give us keener self-understanding,	57:33
	lest we think of ourselves more highly	57:37
	or more lowly than we ought.	57:39
	Give us a sense of what is most vital	57:42
	and most valuable in our life	57:45
	that we may give thanks in all things.	57:48
	Give us a clear and compelling vision	57:53
	of the call to be disciples of Christ,	57:55
	in love with you and with one another.	57:58
	Lest we presume our own limited understanding of faith	58:01
	to be all that you would ask of us	58:06
	when you have created us to be so much more.	58:08
	We beseech thee, eternal God, for the deep	58:13
	and unspoken needs of this congregation.	58:16
	Bless this gathering, whatever our reasons	58:21
	may be for coming here.	58:23
	And may the light of thy love	58:26
	shine through us eternally.	58:28
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ,	58:31
	our Lord and Savior, Amen.	58:34
	And now as a forgiven and a reconciled people,	58:39
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	58:42
	(bright organ music)	58:47
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:02:09
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:02:30
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:02:44
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:02:52
	♪ O Praise ye the Lord ♪	1:03:04
	♪ Praise God in His temple ♪	1:03:09
	♪ Praise ye the Lord ♪	1:03:15
	♪ In the firmament of His power ♪	1:03:20
	♪ O praise Him for His might ♪	1:03:25
	♪ And the greatness of His wonders ♪	1:03:31
	♪ O praise Him ♪	1:03:37
	♪ Praise Him according to His majesty ♪	1:03:40
	♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪	1:03:49
	♪ With the sound of the trumpet ♪	1:03:51
	♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪	1:03:53
	♪ With the sound of the trumpet ♪	1:03:54
	♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪	1:03:56
	♪ With the lute and the harp ♪	1:03:57
	♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪	1:03:59
	♪ With the lute and the harp ♪	1:04:00
	♪ Praise Him with the cymbal ♪	1:04:02
	♪ The cymbal of the Lord ♪	1:04:05
	♪ O praise Him with the organ ♪	1:04:09
	♪ And instruments of strings ♪	1:04:13
	♪ Praise Him, praise Him ♪	1:04:24
	♪ Upon the loud cymbals ♪	1:04:29
	♪ Praise Him, praise Him ♪	1:04:41
	♪ Upon the high-sounding cymbals ♪	1:04:46
	♪ Let everything that hath breath ♪	1:04:51
	♪ Everything that have breath ♪	1:04:56
	♪ Praise, praise the Lord ♪	1:05:02
	♪ Praise, praise the Lord ♪	1:05:06
	♪ Oh praise ye the Lord ♪	1:05:14
	♪ Praise God in his temple ♪	1:05:19
	♪ Oh praise ye the Lord ♪	1:05:25
	♪ In the firmament of his power ♪	1:05:31
	♪ Oh praise Him for his might ♪	1:05:36
	♪ And the greatness of his wonders ♪	1:05:41
	♪ Oh praise Him, oh praise Him ♪	1:05:46
	♪ According to His majesty ♪	1:05:52
	♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪	1:05:58
	♪ With the sound of the trumpets ♪	1:05:59
	♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪	1:06:01
	♪ With the sound of trumpets ♪	1:06:02
	♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪	1:06:04
	♪ With the lute and the harp ♪	1:06:05
	♪ Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord ♪	1:06:06
	♪ With the lute and the harp ♪	1:06:07
	♪ Praise Him with the cymbal ♪	1:06:09
	♪ The cymbal of the Lord ♪	1:06:12
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:06:16
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:06:20
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:06:24
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:06:28
	(bright organ music)	1:06:48
	(muffled singing)	1:07:07
-	Accept, oh Lord, our thanks and praise	1:08:11
	for all that you have done for us.	1:08:13
	We thank you for this splendor of the whole creation,	1:08:16
	for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.	1:08:19
	We thank you for the blessing of family and friends	1:08:23
	and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.	1:08:25
	Above all, we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ,	1:08:29
	for the truth of his word and the example of his life.	1:08:33
	Grant us the gift of your spirit,	1:08:37
	that we may know him and make him known.	1:08:39
	And through him at all times, and in all places,	1:08:42
	may give thanks to you in all things.	1:08:46
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ,	1:08:49
	who taught us to pray with confidence.	1:08:51
Congregation	Our Father, who art in Heaven,	1:08:54
	hallowed be thy name.	1:08:56
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	1:08:58
	on Earth as it is in Heaven.	1:09:01
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:09:03
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:09:06
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:09:08
	And lead us not into temptation,	1:09:11
	but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom,	1:09:14
	the power, and the glory forever, Amen.	1:09:17
	(bright organ music)	1:09:23
	♪ Sing praise to God who reigns above ♪	1:10:06
	♪ The God of all creation ♪	1:10:13
	♪ The God of power, the God of love ♪	1:10:19
	♪ The God of our salvation ♪	1:10:25
	♪ With healing balm my soul is filled ♪	1:10:31
	♪ And every faithless murmur stilled ♪	1:10:37
	♪ To God all praise and glory ♪	1:10:43
	♪ What God's almighty power hath made ♪	1:10:53
	♪ His gracious mercy keepeth ♪	1:10:59
	♪ By morning glow or evening shade ♪	1:11:05
	♪ His watchful eye ne'er sleepeth ♪	1:11:11
	♪ Within the kingdom of His might ♪	1:11:17
	♪ Lo all is just and all is right ♪	1:11:24
	♪ To God all praise and glory ♪	1:11:30
	♪ The Lord is never far away ♪	1:11:39
	♪ But through all grief distressing ♪	1:11:45
	♪ An ever present help and stay ♪	1:11:52
	♪ Our peace and joy and blessing ♪	1:11:58
	♪ As with a mother's tender hand ♪	1:12:04
	♪ God gently leads the chosen band ♪	1:12:10
	♪ To God all praise and glory ♪	1:12:17
	♪ Thus, all my toilsome way along ♪	1:12:26
	♪ I sing aloud Thy praises ♪	1:12:32
	♪ That earth may hear the grateful song ♪	1:12:38
	♪ My voice unwearied raises ♪	1:12:44
	♪ Be joyful in the Lord, my heart ♪	1:12:51
	♪ Both soul and body bear your part ♪	1:12:57
	♪ To God all praise and glory ♪	1:13:03
	♪ Let all who name Christ's holy name ♪	1:13:12
	♪ Give God all praise and glory ♪	1:13:18
	♪ Let all who own His power proclaim ♪	1:13:25
	♪ Aloud the wondrous story ♪	1:13:31
	♪ Cast each false idol from its throne ♪	1:13:37
	♪ For Christ is Lord, and Christ alone ♪	1:13:44
	♪ To God all praise and glory ♪	1:13:50
-	Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior	1:14:01
	Jesus Christ, the love of God,	1:14:03
	and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	1:14:05
	be with you now and always.	1:14:07
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:14
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:24
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:34
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:49
	♪ Amen ♪	1:15:02
	♪ Amen ♪	1:15:16
	(organ music)	1:15:38
	(congregation clapping)	1:18:43

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Love in Action" (February 14, 1988)

Description:

Sermon start time: 28:45. Sermon end time: 51:31.
Jesus asks the rich young man to sell everything he owns and follow him. The preacher argues the hard truth that many Christians fail to follow Jesus on his own terms. Just as Jesus loves the rich young man by telling him the truth, Christians and preachers in particular, are called to speak and to live the hard truth. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “The story raises the question for all of us: Can we love enough to speak the truth to one another in love?”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4xw48b35

Date:

February 14, 1988

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Mark

Chapter and Verse:

Mark 10:17-31

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0071
ref8448_dtz
uachapelsermaud
duke:321561
dcrmv001071
ark:/87924/r4xw48b35
772b5df1-c536-459a-89c9-806089a83d25

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.

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William H. Willimon - "Love in Action" (February 14, 1988)

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Item Info

1. William H. Willimon - "Love in Action" (February 14, 1988)

Duke University Archives

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William H. Willimon - "Love in Action" (February 14, 1988)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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