David O. Via - "By What Authority" (June 11, 1989)

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	(symphony music)	0:00
-	On this first, on this fourth Sunday after Pentecost,	2:38
	I welcome all of you summer school students, faculty,	2:42
	visitors, and regular attenders to this service of worship	2:47
	at Duke University Chapel.	2:51
	We also greet those viewing the service	2:54
	on Durham Cable Vision, channel eight at two p.m,	2:57
	and those viewing the service from the Duke area hospitals.	3:01
	Today, I had an unusual privilege of sharing the leadership	3:07
	of this service with my husband Dan Via.	3:10
	Dan, our preacher for today, is Professor of New Testament	3:15
	at Duke Divinity School.	3:19
	He has just completed a book Matthew and Paul	3:22
	on self-deception and wholeness.	3:26
	Our elector for today is Dr. Walter Westerfer,	3:30
	a great friend of Duke Chapel, and a member of the council	3:33
	of the Duke University Chapel Congregation.	3:36
	Notice other announcements found in the bulletin.	3:40
	And now, let us continue our worship together.	3:44
	(choir singing)	3:51
	(organ playing)	4:32
	(congregation singing)	5:08
	(organ playing solo)	6:45
	(congregation singing)	7:16
	In our brokenness and hunger for God's mercy and forgiveness	8:02
	may we now join together as we confess our sin	8:07
	and receive God's pardon.	8:11
	You may be seated.	8:16
	Oh omnipotent God, our sin weighs heavy upon us.	8:26
	Our guilt is a burden.	8:32
	We neglect your world and its peoples,	8:35
	lusting after privilege and place, we misuse our power.	8:38
	The ground trembles with the machines of war.	8:44
	Forgive, oh Lord, our sin.	8:48
	Arouse in us a passion for the wellbeing of others.	8:51
	May hatred give way to healing.	8:56
	May reconciliation replace division so that nations	8:59
	will embrace your Lordship.	9:05
	Quicken our sense of your power and mercy	9:08
	through Jesus Christ, child of your love, and our hope	9:12
	of Salvation.	9:17
	The steadfast love of God never ceases.	9:21
	God's mercy and pardon never come to an end.	9:25
	And so by God's grace, we are pardoned.	9:30
	We are forgiven.	9:35
	Let us rejoice.	9:37
-	Let us pray.	9:48
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God.	9:51
	By the power of your Holy Spirit so that as the word	9:55
	is read and proclaimed, we might hear with joy	10:00
	what you say to us this day, amen.	10:05
	The first lesson is taken from the first book of Kings.	10:10
	Then Solomon stood before the alter of God in the presence	10:16
	of all the assembly of Israel and spread forth His hands	10:20
	toward heaven and said, "Oh Lord, God of Israel,	10:25
	"there is no God like you in heaven above	10:32
	"or on Earth beneath, keeping covenant, and showing	10:37
	"steadfast love to your servants who walked before you	10:41
	"with all their heart."	10:45
	Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people Israel	10:48
	comes from a far country for your namesake, for they shall	10:55
	hear of your great name and your mighty hand	10:59
	and of your outstretched arm.	11:03
	When a foreigner comes and prays towards this house,	11:06
	here in heaven in your dwelling place, and do according	11:10
	to all for which the foreigner calls to you in order	11:14
	that all the peoples of the Earth may know your name	11:20
	and fear you as do your people Israel.	11:24
	And that they may know that this house which I have built	11:30
	is called by your name.	11:33
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	11:37
	(organ music)	11:44
	(congregation singing)	12:21
	The second lesson is taken from Paul's letter	16:06
	to the Galatians.	16:09
	Paul, an apostle, not from human beings nor through any	16:11
	person, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father	16:16
	who raised Christ from the dead, and all the coworkers	16:21
	who are with me to the churches of Galatia, grace to you	16:26
	and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ	16:32
	who gave up self for our sins to deliver us from the present	16:37
	evil and age according to the will of our God and Father	16:42
	to whom be the glory forever and ever, amen.	16:48
	I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one	16:53
	who called you in the grace of Christ.	16:58
	And turning to a different Gospel, not that there is	17:01
	another Gospel, but there are some who trouble you	17:05
	and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ.	17:09
	But even if we, or an angel from heaven,	17:14
	should preach to you a Gospel contrary to that	17:19
	which we preach to you, let them be a cursed.	17:22
	As we have said before, so now I say again,	17:27
	if anyone is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to that	17:33
	which you have received, let that be a cursed.	17:38
	Am I now seeking human favor?	17:43
	Or the favor of God?	17:46
	Or am I trying to please human beings?	17:49
	If I were still pleasing them,	17:53
	I should not be a servant of Christ.	17:56
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	18:00
	(organ music)	18:04
	(choir singing)	18:34
-	Good morning.	21:10
	Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord,	21:12
	Jesus Christ.	21:15
	Please hear the Gospel lesson, composed of two texts	21:18
	from the Gospel of Luke.	21:23
	After he had ended all his sayings in the hearing	21:26
	of the people, he entered Copernium.	21:29
	Now a Centurion had a slave that was dear to him	21:32
	who was sick and at the point of death.	21:36
	When he heard of Jesus, he said to him elders of the Jews,	21:39
	asking him to come and heal his slaves.	21:42
	And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly	21:45
	saying he is worthy to have you do this for him,	21:48
	for he loves our nation and built our synagogue.	21:51
	And Jesus went with them.	21:55
	When he was not far from the house, the Centurions sent	21:57
	friends to him saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself	22:00
	"for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.	22:04
	"Therefore, I did not presume to come to you but say	22:08
	"the word and let my servant be healed,	22:12
	"for I am a man set under authority with soldiers under me	22:16
	"and I say to one, go and he goes and to another	22:21
	"come and he comes and to my slave do this and he does it."	22:25
	When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him and turned	22:31
	and said to the multitudes that followed him,	22:34
	"I tell you not even in Israel have I found such faith."	22:36
	And when those who had been sent returned to the house,	22:41
	they found the slave well.	22:45
	One day as he was teaching the people in the temple	22:49
	and preaching the Gospel, the chief priests and the scribes	22:52
	and the elders came up and said to him, "Tell us by what	22:55
	"authority you do these things, or who is it that gave you	22:59
	"this authority."	23:02
	He answered them, "I will ask you a question.	23:04
	"Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven	23:06
	"or from men?"	23:11
	And they discussed it with one another saying	23:13
	if we say from heaven, he will say why did you not	23:16
	believe him?	23:18
	But if we say from men, all the people will stone us	23:20
	for they are convinced that John was a prophet.	23:24
	So they answered that they did not know whence it was.	23:27
	And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you	23:30
	"by what authority I do these things."	23:34
	This is the Word of God.	23:37
	Listen again to the Centurion's petition to Jesus.	23:41
	Say the word, and my servant is to be healed for I am a man	23:45
	under authority and my word has authority.	23:50
	I tell a soldier to go and he goes, I tell him to come	23:53
	and he comes, and then there the words of Jesus' opponents	23:56
	to him, tell us by what authority you do these things.	24:01
	And finally, Jesus reply, I will not tell you by what	24:05
	authority I do these things.	24:09
	Our theme then is authority.	24:12
	Let us say provisionally that authority is the right	24:14
	to make a claim upon someone, but it is also the capacity	24:18
	to carry out that claim.	24:23
	It is closely associated with power and the ability to act.	24:25
	So authority involves right to make a claim and power.	24:31
	Now what is our experience of authority and how does	24:36
	the Gospel in these texts challenge and transform	24:40
	our relationships to authority?	24:45
	How do we, in fact, experience authority in our	24:48
	historical situation?	24:52
	Nicholas Robichaud, ex-commissurae of the people,	24:55
	is in prison, charged with counter-revolutionary activity	24:59
	and other crimes against the party.	25:04
	There in prison he remembers his words of some years back	25:06
	to a young German communist who had questioned party policy.	25:11
	Says Robichaud, the party makes no mistakes.	25:15
	It has discovered the unairing laws of history,	25:19
	and it embodies these revolutionary laws.	25:23
	Therefore the party can never be mistaken.	25:26
	It cares not about the conscious or the motive	25:30
	of the individual.	25:33
	What goes on in her individual heart or head is of no	25:35
	importance what so ever.	25:39
	Robichaud recognized that his past, his presence,	25:41
	and his future belonged absolutely to the party.	25:44
	It was not to be questioned.	25:48
	The unairing movement of the party justified any action.	25:50
	This comes from the fictitious world, but true,	25:56
	of Arthur Kessler.	26:00
	A public figure in our own recent history charged with lying	26:03
	to Congress and related offenses justified his actions	26:08
	by stating he was always following orders.	26:12
	And we should remind ourselves that this defense was also	26:15
	used by many Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.	26:18
	Colonel North probably does not believe that lying	26:22
	is acceptable moral behavior.	26:26
	But apparently he believes that there are authorities	26:28
	who have the right to require him to go against	26:31
	his conscious, the right to claim absolute obedience	26:34
	from him.	26:37
	I do not chose these examples because they reveal to us	26:40
	the worst possible people we can possibly imagine.	26:43
	I would not want to say that we should think of Russia	26:47
	as the evil empire or that communism has produced	26:49
	the most demonic societies of the world has ever known.	26:53
	Nor do I suggest that Colonel North is the most corrupt	26:56
	liar in American public light, there are many others	26:59
	to chose from.	27:02
	I rather cite these cases because the extreme behavior	27:06
	exhibited by ex-connoisseur Robichaud and Colonel North,	27:11
	this behavior dramatically discloses a tendency	27:15
	in all of us.	27:18
	It may be concealed a bit beneath the surface	27:20
	but we all want to think that there are infallible	27:23
	human authorities which have a right to our unwavering	27:26
	obedience.	27:31
	If there are such authorities, then we are relieved	27:32
	of the responsibility for our own lives and actions.	27:35
	In our time there are human authorities which claim	27:39
	infallibility and demand our total allegiance,	27:42
	and there are countless people who are willing to accede	27:46
	to this claim.	27:48
	And, in our society, in a quite contradictory way,	27:51
	there is the denial that there is any real authority at all.	27:57
	There is no authority with a legitimate claim upon us.	28:01
	The book Habits of the Heart reminds us that	28:05
	American culture has long taught us to leave home	28:07
	and become independent.	28:11
	We want to throw off the authority of home, religion,	28:13
	vocation, and seek only inner validation.	28:16
	External obligation from any source can only interfere	28:21
	with our need to become individual selves,	28:25
	particularly the psycho-therapeutic attitude of our time	28:29
	encourages us to think that we ought to live independently	28:32
	of anyone else's standards.	28:36
	The liberated relationship does not demand obligation	28:38
	or commitment but only the requirement	28:43
	to share feelings openly.	28:46
	A university professor reports that when he asks his student	28:50
	who their heroes are, he is generally greeted by silence.	28:53
	They don't have any heroes.	28:57
	They can't even think of one.	28:59
	Why should their lives be shaped	29:01
	by the values of someone else?	29:03
	The point that I want to make is not that we should	29:06
	necessarily have heroes or engage in hero worship,	29:08
	that can be poisonous.	29:11
	But is it the case that we do not need to have our lives	29:13
	fashioned and shaped by anything outside of ourselves?	29:17
	It seems that within our common humanity,	29:23
	there are people who bestow absolute authority	29:28
	upon human beings and institutions,	29:30
	and there are people who acknowledge no authority at all.	29:33
	Are there two kinds of people?	29:36
	I don't really think so.	29:38
	All of us in one way or another make both of these moves	29:41
	simultaneously, all of us want to reject authority,	29:45
	including the authority of God, and all of us, though we may	29:49
	not quite know it, pay inordinate allegiance to some	29:53
	human authority or authorities, and these human authorities	29:57
	manipulate our lives.	30:01
	Most of us are not as clear-headed as was ex-connoisseur	30:02
	Robichaud about our unlimited loyalty to something	30:07
	less than God.	30:11
	Is there an authority which really is power	30:15
	but which does not simply over power us?	30:18
	Yes there is:	30:22
	The authority of God.	30:24
	God's authority is different from that of human beings.	30:26
	When human authority is left to its own devices,	30:29
	it becomes compelling force.	30:33
	It becomes ex-connoisseur Robichaud's communist party,	30:36
	which rolls unerringly and inextricably on its course	30:40
	crushing the will, the conscious, the thought, the feeling	30:44
	of the individual.	30:47
	It becomes the source of the orders to Colonel North,	30:49
	which required him to lie against his conscious.	30:53
	It becomes the religious claim that books written	30:57
	by human beings or other human beings are infallible	31:00
	authorities.	31:05
	But the authority of God does not work like that.	31:07
	How then does it engage us?	31:10
	The divine authority appeals to our inner reality	31:13
	and on the basis of its own content.	31:18
	The authority of God as it comes to expression in Jesus	31:21
	is real authority.	31:24
	It has power to make things happen.	31:26
	The divine authority, however, does not compel us	31:29
	like an outside force.	31:32
	Rather, it lays claim on our hearts because of its inherent	31:34
	and its intrinsic content.	31:39
	It does not compel, but elicits or draws forth	31:41
	our consent.	31:46
	The good news is that the divine authority engages us	31:48
	in the mission of Jesus in such a way that it touches us	31:53
	from within and then liberates and refashions our lives.	31:57
	The authority of God addresses our understanding	32:02
	and does not overwhelm us but enables us to be free.	32:06
	Freely responsive in relationship to God.	32:10
	And the authority of God is effective power,	32:14
	which liberates us from slavery and enables us to cope	32:18
	fruitfully with the realities of life.	32:21
	Let us see how these two dimensions of authority come	32:25
	to expression in the gospel texts.	32:27
	The divine authority really is power.	32:30
	It does not overpower us.	32:33
	Luke's story of the healing of the Centurion servant	32:38
	occurs in the second half of his account of Jesus' mission	32:41
	in Galilee.	32:44
	It shares with neighboring material an interest in how	32:45
	to hear the word of God properly.	32:48
	Jesus is certainly represented here as powerful.	32:51
	His word is effective.	32:54
	And the Centurion knows that his own word has authority	32:56
	It has consequences.	33:00
	If he tells a soldier to go or to come, he does it.	33:02
	Jesus' word has similar authority, only more so.	33:06
	Just say the word and my servant is to be healed.	33:11
	The story, in fact, enhances the power of Jesus	33:16
	by the fact that the servant who is healed is not even	33:20
	in Jesus' presence. His word was effective at a distance.	33:22
	But there is a counter-melody playing itself out	33:28
	in this story which moderates the emphasis on Jesus' power.	33:31
	The Centurion has a creative role.	33:35
	He makes a comparative judgment.	33:38
	Jesus' authority is somehow like his.	33:40
	And this counter-melody causes the story as told by Luke	33:44
	to modify the conventional way in which miracle stories	33:48
	were usually told.	33:51
	What is normally the center of the story,	33:53
	the healing itself, the enactment of power,	33:56
	the center is not narrated at all.	33:59
	It is simply stated at the end that the friends	34:02
	of the Centurion, when they returned home,	34:05
	found the servant well.	34:08
	All of the interest in the story focuses on the attitude	34:11
	of the Centurion.	34:14
	Actually, our narrative interweaves two human problems:	34:17
	two oppressive boundaries that need to be crossed.	34:21
	The servant is separated from health and the Centurion,	34:26
	because he is a Gentile, is separated from Jesus.	34:29
	And although the healing is not finally described,	34:33
	and the Centurion never gets into the presence of Jesus,	34:37
	Jesus commends the faith, the faith of this Gentile	34:41
	army officer as having exceed that that he has found	34:43
	anywhere in Israel.	34:47
	Our miracle story has relatively little interest	34:49
	in the actual miracle, in the healing.	34:52
	But it is very much interested in the faith that gives us	34:55
	access to the healing power of God.	34:59
	To have faith is to understand that it is the authoritative	35:03
	word of Jesus that restructures our reality.	35:06
	Say the word and my servant is to be healed.	35:10
	It is the interaction between word and faith	35:14
	which empowers us to cross the boundaries that oppress us.	35:18
	What does it mean finally to believe in miracles?	35:23
	Is belief in miracles simply an illusion,	35:27
	wishful thinking,	35:29
	a desire for the instantaneous gratification of our wishes,	35:31
	a regression into infantile mentality?	35:36
	Possibly faith in miracle is this.	35:40
	Therefore, to believe otherwise is to take the risk	35:44
	that faith always entails.	35:47
	Or is faith believing that the historical Jesus really did	35:50
	work miracles?	35:54
	Did Jesus heal a Centurion servant?	35:55
	Possibly.	35:58
	Was healing the kind of thing that Jesus was able to do?	36:00
	Probably.	36:04
	Most critical New Testament scholars would agree to this.	36:05
	But, what living relationship do we have to such	36:08
	miraculous events?	36:12
	They belong to the distant past.	36:14
	What is accessible now and may intervene in our lives	36:17
	is the miracle story.	36:21
	The word about miracle in and through which	36:23
	God's transforming power occurs for us.	36:26
	We are in the same kind of situation as the Centurion.	36:30
	The authoritative healing word of Jesus in the story	36:35
	has now become the story itself as authoritative healing	36:40
	word for us.	36:45
	To have faith is to understand the power of this word,	36:47
	this story, and to have our life situation reshaped by it.	36:51
	In miracle stories, the everyday world becomes transparent	36:57
	to the divine presence.	37:02
	We are able to see through the world to God by means	37:04
	of the story.	37:08
	The stories enable us to see that ordinary reality	37:10
	contains a great deal more than the ordinary.	37:14
	When we see the world through the lens of miracle story,	37:17
	the divine activity becomes present for us.	37:21
	By means of the story, reality is given a new structure.	37:24
	How should I understand this event?	37:30
	Several years ago, Margaret and I returned to a town	37:33
	in which we had once lived.	37:36
	As we drove into town, we were discussing how we would meet	37:38
	after lunch and share the car.	37:41
	I said I thought I would go to see a certain friend	37:43
	and she agreed to meet me there after lunch.	37:46
	This person had been a good friend, but I had not seen him	37:49
	for awhile, and usually did not go to see him	37:52
	when I returned to town.	37:56
	Why did I decide to go that day?	37:58
	Margaret and I met after lunch,	38:01
	I knocked on his office door.	38:04
	When he opened the door and saw who was there,	38:06
	amazement spread over his face.	38:08
	He said, "I have had some very troubling things on my mind	38:13
	"lately, and I needed to talk to you today."	38:16
	What took us there contrary to our accustomed behavior?	38:21
	When we moderns, or should I say post-moderns	38:26
	look at the world through miracle story, we do not stop	38:30
	believing that this worldly causal forces operate	38:35
	in nature and history.	38:39
	But we also believe that there is another dimension	38:42
	of reality and power which works from beyond, in,	38:45
	and through the ordinary things of this world.	38:49
	Our second Gospel text extends the meaning of Jesus'	38:55
	authority and the role of our faith	38:59
	in making that authority a reality.	39:02
	The religious officials questioned Jesus about who gave Him	39:05
	the authority to ride in to Jerusalem like a king	39:08
	and to throw the merchants out of the temple?	39:10
	And now to be standing in the temple himself teaching?	39:12
	By what authority?	39:16
	He answers with a counter-question.	39:18
	Was the baptism of John the Baptist from heaven	39:20
	or from human kind?	39:24
	They decide that either answer will get them in trouble	39:25
	and so they reply we don't know.	39:29
	And the story ends dramatically with Jesus' response,	39:32
	Jesus' proclamation: Then I won't tell you by what authority	39:35
	I do these things.	39:40
	Why did Jesus not just say God gave me the authority?	39:43
	Why did He have to make it so difficult for them?	39:46
	Why did He not just give them a straight forward answer?	39:48
	They asked Him a question about His authority	39:51
	and He answered with a question about John the Baptist.	39:54
	You ask a question and you get another question.	39:57
	What is the source of Jesus authority?	40:01
	He won't say.	40:03
	And His refusal tells us something important.	40:05
	When He declined to say God is the source of my authority,	40:08
	he was disclosing something about the nature of God's	40:13
	authority and about the nature of faith.	40:16
	The authority of God in Jesus is always hidden.	40:18
	Concealed, hidden, so that it can win the uncoerced	40:22
	assent of our hearts.	40:28
	The assent which knows that its intrinsic claims are right.	40:30
	Jesus came with a message that God loves us unconditionally	40:36
	and demands everything of us in the way of obedience.	40:40
	And Jesus actualized this message in His own life.	40:44
	If He had said, God is my authority,	40:48
	He would not have added anything to the internal,	40:51
	self-authenticating, intrinsic power already present	40:54
	in His mission.	40:58
	God was already present and active in His words and deeds.	41:00
	God is not a power which lies underneath, or outside,	41:04
	of Jesus' mission and guarantees the authenticity of it.	41:08
	Rather, God is the expression for the authority which Jesus	41:12
	mission has in itself.	41:15
	Jesus is not going to authorize His mission by saying God	41:18
	gave me the authority, because we have to see for ourselves	41:22
	that God is the authority, transcendent but present	41:27
	as hidden, in the mission of Jesus.	41:31
	To see this hidden presence is faith, and to experience	41:35
	the authority of God hidden in the real humanity of Jesus,	41:39
	is to see the world in a new way.	41:43
	There is a story by Flannery O'Conner.	41:49
	She said it was her favorite, and she called it	41:52
	The Artificial Nigger.	41:55
	I'm sure you understand that that is not my term	41:57
	and neither was it Flannery O'Conner's.	42:00
	It is a term which is appropriate to the setting	42:02
	and the characters of the story.	42:05
	This is the story of a man who experienced the authority	42:08
	of God hidden in an unexpected place as it was hidden	42:11
	in Jesus.	42:16
	Mr. Head is a proud and bigoted man who lives in rural	42:19
	Georgia with his equally proud and impudent grandson Nelson.	42:24
	And they live in the state of mutual hostility.	42:29
	Mr. Head is taking Nelson to Atlanta to teach him a lesson.	42:32
	To teach him that he's not as smart as he thinks he is.	42:35
	In Atlanta, they see lots of black people	42:38
	who both unnerve them and evoke Mr. Head's bigotry.	42:41
	They've become lost and frightened.	42:45
	Then Nelson puts Mr. Head in an embarrassing and threatening	42:48
	position and Mr. Head in his fear denies that he even knows	42:53
	his grandson.	42:58
	Nelson is shocked and offended.	43:00
	While Mr. Head was then remorseful and tormented,	43:04
	Nelson was relentlessly unforgiving.	43:07
	Mr. Head, in his guilt, believed now that he he knew	43:10
	what it would feel like to be dammed eternally.	43:13
	They wandered in their lostness into an elegant neighborhood	43:17
	where they saw in someone's front yard a small, chipped,	43:20
	defaced, plaster figure of a black man.	43:26
	Standing before this figure together,	43:30
	somehow their differences dissolved	43:33
	and Mr. Head knew the mercy of God for the first time	43:35
	in his life.	43:39
	Still he said, they don't have enough real ones here,	43:40
	they've got to have an artificial one.	43:43
	But something has happened.	43:46
	Back at home, he both judges himself	43:48
	and feels the overflowing mercy of God,	43:52
	forgiving him for sinning the sin of Adam	43:55
	in his denial of Nelson.	43:58
	All of this happened in consequence of his encounter	44:01
	with the defaced plaster figure of a small black man.	44:05
	It must have been the authority of God which met him there,	44:10
	otherwise how could he have been redeemed from having sinned	44:14
	all the sins of the whole human race	44:18
	in his denial of his grandson.	44:20
	And the authority of God must have been hidden	44:23
	because his normal way of viewing reality would never	44:26
	have permitted him to see Salvation at this point.	44:30
	And the consent of his own heart must have been elicited	44:35
	for only the new eyes of faith could have let a white	44:39
	backwoods bigot see the forgiving face of Jesus	44:44
	in the disfigured image of a small black man.	44:49
	That is Mr. Head's story.	44:54
	Recall from our text that a Gentile Army officer found	44:57
	authoritative healing power in the word of an intenerate	45:02
	Jewish preacher.	45:06
	That's the Centurion's story.	45:08
	What's your story?	45:11
	(congregation rustling)	45:16
	(piano music)	45:20
	(organ music)	45:29
	(congregation singing)	45:51
-	The Lord be with you...	48:47
Congregation	And always be with you.	48:50
-	Let us pray.	48:51
	Oh Mighty God, whose hiddenness confounds us and whose mercy	49:01
	is blessedness, how unsearchable are your ways,	49:06
	oh incomprehensible and infinite God.	49:12
	How vast is your loving kindness.	49:16
	You make glad the hearts of the desperate.	49:19
	You lift the heads of the bleeding as their voices	49:22
	cry out to you.	49:26
	You make straight the twisted spirits and crippled bodies	49:28
	of the crushed.	49:32
	You bring to our complicated, trying relationships	49:34
	understanding and healing.	49:39
	Oh compassionate God, we offer our prayers for those among	49:42
	us and in the world around us.	49:47
	For those who are desensitized by affluence and those	49:50
	who are trapped in poverty, for the two powerful	49:54
	and for the two powerless.	49:59
	For those who are insensitive for the needs of the sick	50:02
	and the suffering and for the sick who cannot reach beyond	50:05
	their own needs.	50:10
	For those who prized possessions too much.	50:13
	And for those who are blind to the joy of accepting	50:16
	God's gifts.	50:20
	For those who because of their knowledge have lost	50:22
	the ability to see the wonder of simple things.	50:25
	For those who are afraid to voice openly their doubts	50:30
	and fears of uncertainty to you.	50:34
	May all of humanity join in affirming the power of your	50:38
	love, your presence, and your mercy.	50:42
	Oh redeeming God, you have gathered the Church of Christ	50:46
	from the whole world.	50:50
	Support her, that she may everywhere bear faithful witness.	50:52
	Bless your church with leaders who both think and feel,	50:59
	with pastors who love their people,	51:03
	and you more than they love themselves.	51:06
	With theologians who attempt to balance faith and reason,	51:11
	with members whose devotion to you is ever growing.	51:15
	Oh God who governs the world in your love,	51:21
	we commend to you our nation, and all the nations	51:24
	of the Earth.	51:28
	Grant that the councils of government may banish suspicion,	51:30
	mistrust, fear, and hatred, and embrace your paths	51:34
	which lead to peace, justice, and goodwill for all.	51:40
	Especially we pray for those who's thrust towards freedom	51:46
	in China have meet with cruelty, suffering, and death.	51:51
	May temporary defeat not lead them to despair,	51:56
	but rather be a springboard to greater triumph	51:59
	in the future.	52:03
	Help us to remember that the kingdoms of this world	52:05
	will become the kingdom of your righteousness where all	52:09
	people will be united by the one who is our peace,	52:12
	Christ Jesus our Lord, aman.	52:19
	Great is the need of the world around us, now let us	52:27
	respond to that challenge of need with the greatest	52:31
	of generosities so that even our lives will be changed	52:35
	in the act of giving.	52:40
	(organ music)	52:45
	♪ Gloria, gloria ♪	54:29
	♪ Gloria, gloria ♪	54:33
	♪ In excelsis deo ♪	54:37
	♪ In excelsis deo ♪	54:45
	♪ Gloria gloria ♪	54:52
	♪ Gloria, gloria ♪	54:56
	♪ In excelsis deo ♪	55:01
	♪ Gloria, Gloria ♪	55:12
	♪ In excelsis deo ♪	55:17
	♪ Gloria in excelsis ♪	55:38
	♪ Gloria in excelsis deo ♪	55:42
	♪ Gloria in excelsis deo ♪	55:50
	♪ In excelsis ♪	56:03
	♪ Gloria, in excelsis deo ♪	56:16
	(organ music)	56:25
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	57:13
	♪ Praise God all creatures here below ♪	57:19
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:25
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:28
	♪ Praise God above, ye heavenly host ♪	57:32
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! ♪	57:39
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:45
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:48
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:51
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:54
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:57
	♪ Praise God ♪	58:05
	In praise and thanksgiving our eternal God, we bow before	58:17
	your sovereign majesty in humility and awe.	58:22
	You are great and greatly to be praised, marvelous	58:27
	is your power and your wisdom is infinite.	58:31
	Wonderful are your works in creation and redemption.	58:35
	In and of ourselves oh gracious God, we are fragmented	58:41
	and our gifts are only partial.	58:45
	But in you, our gifts and ourselves are made whole.	58:47
	Before this alter we remember the poor, the hungry,	58:53
	the neglected.	58:57
	Receive our gifts who reflect who we are who we will become	58:58
	in your Kingdom, and give these offerings wings	59:04
	to bring hope to our weary world.	59:08
	In the name of the one who taught us to pray saying--	59:11
Congregation	Our Father, who art in heaven,	59:16
	hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	59:19
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	59:25
	Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us	59:27
	our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,	59:31
	and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.	59:36
	For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory	59:41
	forever and ever, amen.	59:45
	(organ music)	59:50
	(congregation and choir singing)	1:00:35
	And now may the strong and gentle Spirit of God	1:03:04
	who speaks to us in many wondrous ways empower us now	1:03:08
	and throughout the week to stand courageously	1:03:14
	in the thick of life, to see Christ's love in every face	1:03:17
	and in every hand that reaches out and touches us.	1:03:22
	Until, by the Grace of God, we see Christ face to face.	1:03:27
	Amen.	1:03:34
	(choir singing)	1:03:37
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:39
	♪ Amen ♪	1:03:43
	♪ Amen ♪	1:04:00
	(organ music)	1:04:13

Item Info

Title:

David O. Via - "By What Authority" (June 11, 1989)

Description:

Sermon start time: 23:41. Sermon end time: 45:14.
The authority of God in Jesus Christ is both powerful and able to restructure our realities and yet uncoercive to our wills. We must access this power of God through faith in the word of Jesus. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “To have faith is to understand that it is the authoritative word of Jesus that restructures our reality.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4ng4h682

Date:

June 11, 1989

Speaker:

Via, David O.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0136
ref8632_6du
uachapelsermaud
duke:321564
dcrmv001132
ark:/87924/r4ng4h682
881780dc-5a82-4822-8680-0ed12829b8cb

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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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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David O. Via - "By What Authority" (June 11, 1989)

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