William H. Willimon - "Love" (January 29, 1989)

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	(slow music)	0:00
	(woman singing)	2:08
	(choir singing)	2:56
-	We welcome you to the service of worship	4:45
	here in Duke Chapel	4:47
	on the 4th Sunday after Epiphany.	4:48
	At 3:oo this afternoon,	4:53
	one of our featured	4:56
	and beloved soloist	4:59
	in the chapel choir, Rosetta Reeves,	5:00
	will be giving a concert at Marcums Chapel Church	5:02
	on Old Chapel Hill Road, 3:00 this afternoon.	5:05
	And, at 5:00 our chapel organist, David Arcus,	5:09
	is giving an organ concert	5:15
	on the Benjamin and Duke organ	5:18
	here in the Chapel at 5PM.	5:20
	The public is invited to both of these concerts.	5:22
	Our guest director this morning	5:26
	is Dr. David Hurd,	5:28
	of general Theological Seminary in New York City,	5:30
	and we welcome him here with us.	5:34
	Our elector today is Ted Smith	5:37
	who is the founder of Habitat for Humanity	5:39
	here on the Duke campus.	5:42
	Ted is a junior here at Duke, and we welcome him	5:43
	to our service.	5:49
	Duke Chapel and the Duke Chapel Congregation	5:51
	have been major supporters	5:54
	of the work of Habitat for Humanity.	5:56
	And now, let us continue our worship.	5:59
	(organ music)	6:04
	(choir singing)	6:38
	(organ music)	8:20
	(choir singing)	9:57
-	Oh mighty and everlasting God,	10:37
	who does govern all things, in heaven and earth,	10:40
	mercifully hear the supplications of thy people	10:44
	and in our time, grant us thy peace.	10:48
	Through Jesus Christ, our lord,	10:51
	who liveth and reigneth with thee and the holy spirit.	10:53
	One God, forever and ever, amen.	10:57
-	Let us join together in prayer.	11:14
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	11:18
	by the power of your holy spirit.	11:21
	So, that as the word is read and proclaimed,	11:24
	we might hear with joy, what you say to us this day.	11:28
	A reading from the book of Jeremiah.	11:36
	Now the word of the lord came to me saying,	11:40
	"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.	11:44
	"And, before you were born, I consecrated you.	11:48
	"I appointed you a profit to the nations."	11:51
	Then I said, "Ah, lord God, behold,	11:55
	"I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth."	12:00
	But, the lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth',	12:04
	"for to whom I send you, you shall go.	12:09
	"And whatever I command you, you shall speak.	12:13
	"Be not afraid of them, for I am with you,	12:17
	"to deliver you," says the lord.	12:19
	Then, the lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth.	12:24
	And the lord said to me,	12:28
	"Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.	12:30
	"See, I have set you this day	12:35
	"over nations and over kingdoms,	12:37
	"to pluck up and to break down,	12:40
	"to destroy and to overthrow,	12:43
	"to build and to plant."	12:45
-	Please stand for the reading of the psalter.	12:54
	In thee, oh lord, do I take refuge.	13:04
	Let me never be put to shame.	13:07
	In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me.	13:10
	Incline thy ear to me, and save me.	13:14
	(congregation murmuring)	13:19
	Rescue me, oh my God, from the hand of the wicked,	13:28
	from the grasps of the unjust and cruel man.	13:32
	(congregation murmuring)	13:36
	Upon thee, I have leaned, from my birth.	13:42
	Thou art he who took me from my mother's womb.	13:46
	(congregation murmuring)	13:50
	(organ music)	13:55
	(choir singing)	14:04
	(organ music)	14:52
	(choir singing)	15:29
-	A reading from Paul's first letter	18:46
	to the Corinthians.	18:48
	If I speak in the tongues of people	18:53
	and of angels, but have not love,	18:55
	I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.	18:59
	And if I have prophetic powers	19:03
	and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,	19:05
	and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,	19:09
	but have not love, I am nothing.	19:13
	And if I give away all I have,	19:18
	and deliver my body to be burned,	19:20
	but have not love, I gain nothing.	19:23
	Love is patient and kind.	19:28
	Love is not jealous or boastful.	19:32
	It is not arrogant or rude.	19:34
	Love does not insist on it's own way.	19:38
	It is not irritable or resentful.	19:41
	It does not rejoice at wrong,	19:44
	but rejoices in the right.	19:47
	Love bears all things, believes all things,	19:51
	hopes all things, endures all things.	19:56
	Love never ends.	20:02
	As for prophecy, it will cease.	20:04
	As for tongues, they will cease.	20:07
	As for knowledge, it will pass away.	20:10
	For our knowledge is imperfect	20:13
	and our prophecy, is imperfect.	20:15
	But, when the perfect comes,	20:19
	the imperfect will pass away.	20:21
	For when I was a child, I spoke like a child,	20:25
	I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.	20:29
	But, when I became an adult,	20:34
	I gave up my childish ways.	20:37
	Now, we see in a mirror dimly,	20:41
	but then we shall see face to face.	20:45
	Now, I know in part, but then I shall understand fully.	20:48
	Even as I am fully understood.	20:52
	So faith, hope, and love, abide to these three.	20:56
	But, the greatest of these, is love.	21:03
-	All I can remember are the words of an old preacher	21:19
	who said to me that anybody who tries to preach	21:21
	on 1 Corinthians 13 is a fool.	21:24
	And, that's the last time I'm going to get	21:28
	anyone from Missouri to read the scripture.	21:31
	(congregation laughing)	21:34
	What else can be said	21:36
	after Paul has said it so well	21:37
	and Ted has spoken it so well?	21:41
	Of course, there's a chance	21:46
	that we may think we know what we mean	21:47
	by that little word, love, and may not.	21:50
	If I speak in human tongues	21:57
	or even in angelic tongues,	22:00
	and have not love,	22:02
	I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.	22:06
	Now those are strong words addressed to a preacher.	22:11
	One who's business is to speak	22:15
	if not in the tongues of angels,	22:19
	at least of Billy Graham.	22:21
	I would be quite pleased if after my sermon today	22:23
	someone on the third row turned to her boyfriend and said,	22:26
	"Don't you think Dr. Willimon sounded	22:29
	"just like an angel today?"	22:31
	(congregation laughing)	22:34
	I'm in the tongues of men and angels business.	22:35
	And yet, says Paul, all of our pretty preacher poetry	22:39
	is nothing without love.	22:44
	The greatest orations of Cicero,	22:49
	without love, are little more than	22:54
	the first blast on a rented trumpet	22:56
	by a 14 year old, who's only taking band	22:58
	to pull up his grades for football.	23:01
	Without love, it's nothing.	23:02
	And those are strong words.	23:06
	So, let's just say, right up front, that	23:09
	whatever that little word love means,	23:11
	it's something strong	23:14
	and unsentimental and tough.	23:16
	Paul, who wrote some beautiful words,	23:21
	says that without love, all of this poetry	23:26
	is but auditory pollution, just noise.	23:29
	So please, just for this morning,	23:35
	let's put out of our minds,	23:37
	the wedding solo's we've heard	23:38
	on this text, the mush.	23:40
	For, this 1 Corinthians 13, love	23:43
	is closer to hard-eyed realism	23:46
	than simpering sentimentality.	23:50
	Christian love is not some naive, stupid, unwillingness	23:56
	to look at the world	24:00
	as it is, rather, it is an argument that	24:01
	with the world as it is,	24:03
	nothing less than love will do.	24:05
	And, if I have all prophetic powers	24:13
	and understand all mystery and knowledge,	24:15
	but have not love.	24:21
	Is this where the text starts to step on your toes?	24:25
	For you live not just at a school,	24:30
	but at a sacred precinct,	24:34
	an acropolis called West Campus.	24:36
	Where devotees give everything	24:40
	for understanding and knowledge.	24:43
	Tomorrow, about 10:00, Athena's devotees	24:47
	will make their way to the sancto sanctorum of biology	24:51
	or through the sacred grove on their way to chemistry.	24:55
	Our trustees have found that there is almost no limit	24:58
	to the tuition you would give	25:01
	for some understanding and some knowledge.	25:03
	And yet, Paul says that without love, it's nothing.	25:06
	"I used to think that I was ambitious", she said.	25:16
	"I used to think that I would do anything for a grade.	25:21
	"Then, I came to Duke."	25:25
	"When the article is assigned in the law school,	25:30
	"you'd better get down in the stacks	25:35
	"and get that article quickly", he said.	25:37
	I asked, "Why?"	25:40
	He said, "Because, one of your fellow law students	25:43
	"may get it before you, and clip it out of the journal	25:45
	"just so the curve will stay low."	25:48
	If I should understand all mysteries	25:54
	and all knowledge, but have not love, it's nothing.	25:57
	Evidently, this was the problem for Christians	26:07
	at First Church Corinth.	26:10
	Somebody had come through town	26:12
	promising that for $9.95 a week,	26:13
	he could give the secret key, the esoteric wisdom	26:15
	that nobody else could get, but the enlightened.	26:21
	The gospel is some secret little scripture, verse	26:27
	some little knowledge that you can have.	26:30
	That's what the gospel is.	26:33
	Paul asked, "Has not God made foolish	26:38
	"the wisdom of the world?"	26:42
	In the world's great wisdom,	26:45
	it managed to miss messiah.	26:47
	God chose what is foolish, to shame the wise.	26:52
	Jesus impressed the world	27:00
	as being neither eloquent nor wise.	27:01
	He was no guru with some esoteric,	27:05
	secret, sophisticated, mysterious knowledge.	27:08
	No, he was just the embodiment of love.	27:11
	So Paul says to the Corinthians,	27:19
	"When I came to you preaching, I did not preach	27:21
	"in lofty words of wisdom, because I decided	27:25
	"to know nothing when I was among you,	27:29
	"except Jesus Christ, and him crucified."	27:31
	In the world's wisdom, that is dumb.	27:37
	A God, who goes to the cross.	27:41
	Such an act is comprehensible,	27:46
	only as an act of pure, unadulterated, love.	27:48
	As Jesus says, "There is no greater love,	27:57
	"than to lay down your life for your friends."	27:59
	And Paul says look,	28:02
	"You might die for a really good person,	28:05
	"but God shows his love for us,	28:10
	"in that Christ died for sinners."	28:14
	And if I have all faith so as to remove mountains	28:22
	but have not love, faith is nothing.	28:26
	And I wondered, does Paul really mean to go this far?	28:32
	Fancy, manipulative speech,	28:37
	smug, conceited knowledge,	28:40
	okay, we gladly grant that love is better.	28:42
	Around here, we have a surfeit	28:47
	of big headed, intellectual people	28:49
	and a shortage of love.	28:52
	We know all about that.	28:53
	But here, you see, Paul ups the ante.	28:56
	If I had enough faith, so as to move a mountain,	29:00
	and had not love, it's nothing.	29:06
	How much faith would you say you had this morning?	29:11
	Around here, even comparatively scarce commodities	29:16
	like knowledge or understanding	29:19
	are apt to be a heap more plentiful than faith.	29:22
	Maybe you would be satisfied with just enough faith	29:27
	to be able to remove some of your doubts,	29:30
	or to say the creed with conviction.	29:34
	Much less, to remove a mountain.	29:40
	And yet, Paul says,	29:43
	Paul, who was very big on faith, says that,	29:45
	"Without love, even faith is nothing."	29:49
	And I bet you have met people	29:55
	who know everything about Jesus	29:57
	except that he is love.	30:00
	Who can use the bible as a bludgeon	30:02
	to beat people over the head with.	30:05
	People for whom the Christian faith	30:06
	is little more than something	30:09
	to separate and divide and put down.	30:10
	Without love, even the Christian faith	30:15
	can become cruel, ugly.	30:17
	I remember a man that I met back in the mid '60s.	30:24
	And, he was a college professor	30:28
	and he happened to be on a flight	30:30
	and he happened to be seated	30:32
	next to Martin Luther King Jr.	30:34
	And, during the course of the flight,	30:38
	this man, who was a college professor,	30:40
	told about how he had been active	30:42
	in the civil rights movement	30:44
	on his own campus.	30:45
	And he told Dr. King about how	30:48
	his commitment to racial justice	30:50
	had alienated him from his father.	30:52
	"What can I do with my father?" he said.	30:58
	"How can I help him to be enlightened	31:02
	"on racial issues, Dr. King?	31:04
	"How can I help my old man see	31:06
	"that his great religious platitudes	31:09
	"are nothing but hypocrisy?	31:11
	"How can I help reveal the racism that's in his heart?"	31:15
	And he said Dr. King reached over	31:20
	and put his hand on his hand and said,	31:22
	"Be patient with your father.	31:25
	"He's doing the best he can.	31:28
	"He hasn't had the opportunities that you have had.	31:31
	"And, most of the opportunities that you have,	31:35
	"he has provided you.	31:37
	"You've got to love your father."	31:40
	If I give away everything that I have	31:47
	and if I give my body to be burned,	31:50
	but if I have not love, it's nothing.	31:52
	Now remember, Paul was probably speaking to people	31:59
	who had lost everything when they got baptized.	32:03
	People who had parted with family and friends and goods.	32:07
	I bet there were people in the congregation that day	32:11
	at First Church Corinth,	32:13
	who had seen their mother, their father	32:14
	burned alive because of Christianity.	32:17
	And Paul said to those people,	32:23
	"If you don't have love, it's nothing."	32:26
	Let us not sentimentalize or sugarcoat this text.	32:34
	Love is patient, kind, not jealous or boastful,	32:39
	not arrogant or rude, does not insist on it's own way,	32:43
	is not irritable, resentful,	32:47
	does not rejoice in the wrong,	32:49
	but rejoices in the right.	32:51
	Love bears all things, hopes all things,	32:53
	believes all things.	32:57
	We were meeting at our church's commission	33:03
	on social concern.	33:06
	And everybody at the meeting was socially concerned.	33:09
	And, they were active in the struggle against injustice.	33:12
	I think we were discussing	33:17
	our churches clothes closet for the poor	33:18
	or the soup kitchen for the hungry	33:21
	or something like that.	33:23
	And, during the discussion,	33:24
	one person was so hateful to another person	33:26
	about what she had done or not done on the committee,	33:32
	that she left the meeting in tears	33:35
	and vowed never to come back.	33:37
	Well, so be it, let the chips fall where they may.	33:42
	Enough of this little private personalistic,	33:45
	subjectivistic Christian ethics.	33:48
	Let's go after the big stuff,	33:51
	the social sins, the systemic injustice,	33:53
	the structural evil.	33:57
	Christians, for too long, have limited their	33:59
	love ethic to just the personal and the private	34:01
	and the individual.	34:04
	Justice is where it's at.	34:06
	But, I don't know.	34:12
	How can we do justice to our sister whom we have not seen,	34:17
	if we can't even love our sister across the table?	34:23
	Maybe, contemporary Christians find it less threatening	34:30
	to be concerned about justice, than to try to love.	34:35
	Sometimes it's easier to make justice,	34:42
	than to make love.	34:44
	I can pass a few laws,	34:47
	and I can keep my neighbor as a stranger,	34:50
	while still saying that I am loving my neighbor.	34:53
	Justice, as tough as it is,	35:00
	may not be nearly so tough as love.	35:02
	Which endures all things,	35:07
	is not jealous or arrogant or boastful.	35:09
	A man I know was asked to speak on peace making	35:15
	in a nuclear age, at a seminary.	35:20
	And, for his lecture he chose to speak	35:25
	on gossip in academia.	35:29
	The way we academics put one another down	35:34
	and spread rumors.	35:36
	The way we envy and are petty.	35:42
	Peace making as a matter of gossip.	35:48
	After it was over, they said,	35:53
	"You didn't talk on the subject.	35:54
	"You were supposed to talk about global peace making.	35:55
	"Not something petty like gossip."	35:58
	But, I don't know.	36:06
	Love never ends.	36:10
	As for prophecies, oh they cease.	36:12
	Tongues cease, knowledge passes away.	36:14
	For our knowledge is always imperfect	36:19
	and our prophecy is imperfect	36:21
	but when that which is perfect comes,	36:23
	the imperfect passes.	36:26
	And now, what is for me perhaps	36:30
	the toughest part of this text.	36:32
	When I was a child, I thought, I spoke,	36:35
	I acted just like a child.	36:37
	When I became an adult, I put away these childish things.	36:39
	For now, we see through a mirror but dimly,	36:45
	but then, face to face.	36:47
	Eventually, we shall understand fully.	36:51
	Stated simply, Christian love is not for babies.	36:56
	It isn't easy.	37:01
	It's not doing what comes naturally.	37:03
	Paul has no attachment for the joys	37:07
	of what we call young love.	37:10
	Love, of the kind being described here,	37:14
	takes every ounce of maturity you've got,	37:17
	hard work over a lifetime,	37:21
	waking up every single morning bounding out of bed	37:23
	and asking God for the grace and the strength	37:26
	to help you love despite yourself, despite others.	37:29
	I'm sorry, those of you still in or just out of adolescence	37:35
	but Christian love is not for the young at heart.	37:41
	Eric Fromm speaks of how we speak of love.	37:46
	We talk about falling in-love	37:51
	as if love is something easy	37:54
	that you just stumble into and fall headlong.	37:56
	Or we talk about being in-love	38:00
	as if love is a state of being,	38:02
	just some way that you are,	38:04
	a permanent condition.	38:06
	But that acts as if there's	38:09
	nothing more natural than love.	38:11
	Yet, as Fromm says, "There is hardly any human	38:15
	"experience, that begins with such promise,	38:17
	"and so often ends so miserably as love."	38:22
	so, Fromm says, "We must be clear that	38:29
	"love takes time and it takes effort	38:31
	"and it takes training.	38:34
	"It's not for novices."	38:37
	He says, "Love is an art.	38:41
	"Just as if we want to learn how to love,	38:44
	"we must proceed in the same way we have to proceed	38:51
	"as if we want to learn any other art,	38:54
	"say music or painting or medicine or engineering.	38:56
	"And yet, in our society, in spite of the deep seeded	39:01
	"craving for love, almost everything else	39:04
	"is considered more important.	39:08
	"And all of our resources are used in learning how	39:13
	"to achieve these aims, prestige, success, money, power,	39:15
	"and almost none is expended in the art of loving."	39:21
	Now, those are sweeping claims	39:28
	for such a little word like love.	39:30
	Can such a little word bear so much theological weight?	39:37
	Sometime before Christmas, this year,	39:44
	I was watching the evening news	39:46
	and there was this guy on the evening news	39:49
	being interviewed outside a courtroom in Raleigh.	39:50
	And I said to myself, "I know that guy, who is he?"	39:55
	He had a beard and long hair,	39:59
	kind of a wild look in his eyes.	40:01
	And he was talking about the injustice	40:03
	of the American legal system.	40:05
	And the injustice of the sheriff.	40:06
	And, then the reporter introduced him.	40:08
	She said, "Thank you, Lewis Pitts."	40:14
	Do you know Lewis Pitts?	40:17
	Any of you know Lewis Pitts?	40:18
	He's the one that defended the Native Americans	40:21
	down in Robeson County	40:24
	after they were charged with hostage taking	40:25
	and then, they were acquitted.	40:29
	Lewis Pitts was a freshmen	40:32
	when I was a senior in college.	40:33
	Little Lewis Pitts.	40:35
	There he was on the TV	40:36
	talking about injustice	40:39
	and the evil court system	40:40
	and the failure of American justice.	40:43
	Lewis Pitts, from Bethune, South Carolina,	40:46
	I couldn't believe it.	40:49
	I found out he's living appropriately in Chapel Hill.	40:51
	(congregation laughing)	40:54
	I called him up.	40:55
	I said, "Lewis, remember me?	40:58
	"I've joined the establishment	41:00
	"since you last met me.	41:01
	"you wanna come over and have lunch?"	41:03
	He came over, we talked.	41:05
	Lewis Pitts, Bethune, South Carolina.	41:07
	Turns out he founded Christic South.	41:09
	It's a radical, poverty law organization.	41:12
	He's been in poverty law, since he got out of law school.	41:15
	He lives down there from hand-to-mouth.	41:19
	He's been down to Texas and anti-nuclear demonstrations.	41:21
	He's been in Mississippi in civil rights work.	41:26
	He's been arrested 20, 25 times	41:28
	in non-violent civil disobedience.	41:31
	He was down in Robeson County.	41:34
	He defended communist against the Klan	41:36
	in Greensboro and won.	41:39
	Lewis Pitts, Bethune, South Carolina.	41:41
	Eventually, I finally got around to the question	41:46
	that I'd been wanting to ask him.	41:48
	"Lewis, how did you get from Bethune, South Carolina,	41:50
	"to where you are now?"	41:55
	And Lewis said, "Well,	42:01
	"I believe God is love.	42:05
	"And we ought to love everybody."	42:08
	And I said, "Now Lewis, I hate to tell you this,	42:13
	"but as a theology professor,	42:16
	"that's not enough Lewis, love?"	42:17
	Lewis said, "Well, it's enough to get you shot."	42:25
	And then, he said, "Look, I grew up as a Methodist	42:30
	"in Bethune, South Carolina.	42:33
	"And, when you grow up in Bethune,	42:36
	"population 600 including pets,	42:38
	"you don't get a lot of opportunity	42:41
	"to learn a lot of theology,	42:43
	"accept what you can pick up down	42:44
	"at the Methodist Sunday school.	42:46
	"And down there, somebody told me, God is love	42:48
	"and we ought to love everybody."	42:51
	Faith, hope, love.	42:59
	But, the greatest is love.	43:06
	(organ music)	43:13
	(choir singing)	43:59
-	The lord be with you.	46:47
	(congregation murmuring)	46:49
	Let us pray.	46:50
	Love is patient and kind.	47:03
	(congregation murmuring)	47:07
	Love is not jealous or boastful.	47:20
	(congregation murmuring)	47:24
	Love is not arrogant or rude.	47:40
	(congregation murmuring)	47:44
	Love does not insist on it's own way.	47:56
	It is not irritable or resentful.	48:00
	(congregation murmuring)	48:04
	Love does not rejoice at wrong,	48:15
	but rejoices in the right.	48:18
	(congregation murmuring)	48:22
	Love bears all things.	48:33
	(congregation murmuring)	48:37
	Love believes all thing.	48:43
	(congregation murmuring)	48:47
	Love hopes all things.	48:52
	(congregation murmuring)	48:55
	Love endures all things.	49:03
	(congregation murmuring)	49:06
	Love never ends,	49:12
	for faith, hope, and love abide these three.	49:15
	But, the greatest of these, is love.	49:19
	(congregation murmuring)	49:23
	Amen.
	In the spirit of thanksgiving,	49:35
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves onto God.	49:37
	(slow music)	49:42
	(choir singing)	51:11
	(organ music)	57:46
	(singing)	58:40
	Oh God, how excellent is thy name	59:48
	in all the earth.	59:50
	One age declares thy goodness to another.	59:51
	And thy steadfast love is the mainstay	59:55
	of our restless lives.	59:57
	We thank thee for the mystery of our years	1:00:00
	and the will to live.	1:00:02
	For the rewards of solitude	1:00:04
	and the pleasures of family and friends.	1:00:05
	For the satisfaction of a job well done,	1:00:08
	and the renewing power of rest and relaxation.	1:00:11
	Most of all, we thank thee for the gift of faith	1:00:15
	that makes thy love in Jesus Christ	1:00:18
	the sure foundation on which we build.	1:00:21
	This we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ,	1:00:24
	who taught us boldly to pray,	1:00:26
	our father who art in heaven,	1:00:28
	hallowed be thy name.	1:00:31
	They kingdom come, thy will be done,	1:00:33
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:00:36
	Give us this day, our daily bread.	1:00:38
	And forgive us our trespasses,	1:00:41
	as we forgive those	1:00:43
	who trespassed against us.	1:00:44
	And lead us not into temptation	1:00:46
	but deliver us from evil.	1:00:49
	For thine is the kingdom, the power,	1:00:50
	and the glory forever, amen.	1:00:53
	(slow music)	1:00:57
	(singing)	1:01:55
	And now, go forth in peace	1:05:58
	and be of good courage.	1:06:00
	Hold fast that which is good,	1:06:02
	rejoicing in the power of the holy spirit.	1:06:04
	And may the blessing of God,	1:06:07
	father, son, and holy spirit,	1:06:09
	be with you all, now, and forever more, amen.	1:06:11
	(singing)	1:06:17
	(organ music)	1:07:02

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Love" (January 29, 1989)

Description:

Sermon start time: 21:19. Sermon end time: 43:11.
The preacher elaborates on the biblical definition of love and argues that Christian love is wise, seeing the world as it is, while also being personal, concrete, and mature. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Christian love is not some naïve, stupid, unwillingness to look at the world as it is, rather it is an argument that, with the world as it is, nothing less than love will do.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4wm1482x

Date:

January 29, 1989

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

1 Corinthians

Chapter and Verse:

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0119
ref8567_ry3
uachapelsermaud
duke:321630
dcrmv001115
ark:/87924/r4wm1482x
ddb971e9-ff1d-4852-af39-836009d1b0f2

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" (January 29, 1989)

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Item Info

1. William H. Willimon - "Love" (January 29, 1989)

Duke University Archives

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William H. Willimon - "Love" (January 29, 1989)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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