William H. Willimon - "Do You Think That I Have Come to Bring Peace?" (August 20, 1989)

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	(inspirational organ music)	0:00
-	Morning and welcome to Duke Chapel.	3:39
	We are pleased that you are with us,	3:42
	particularly our visitors.	3:44
	Next Sunday our Duke Chapel Choir will be back	3:47
	with us as we begin a new school year together	3:49
	for orientation Sunday,	3:52
	with our new chapel choir director	3:55
	Dr. Rodney Winecoup.	3:58
	If you are a singer we invite you to audition	4:01
	for the Duke Chapel Choir.	4:04
	And now let us continue our worship.	4:07
	(inspirational organ music)	4:12
	♪ The Church's one foundation ♪	4:53
	♪ Is Jesus Christ her Lord ♪	4:58
	♪ She is His new creation ♪	5:03
	♪ By water and the Word ♪	5:08
	♪ From heav'n He came and sought her ♪	5:13
	♪ To be His holy Bride ♪	5:18
	♪ With His own blood He bought her ♪	5:23
	♪ And for her life He died ♪	5:29
	♪ Elect from every nation ♪	5:36
	♪ Yet one o'er all the earth ♪	5:41
	♪ Her charter of salvation ♪	5:46
	♪ One Lord, one faith, one birth ♪	5:51
	♪ One holy Name she blesses ♪	5:56
	♪ Partakes one holy food ♪	6:00
	♪ And to one hope she presses ♪	6:06
	♪ With every grace endued ♪	6:11
	♪ 'Mid toil and tribulation ♪	6:19
	♪ And tumult of her war ♪	6:24
	♪ She waits the consummation ♪	6:29
	♪ Of peace for evermore ♪	6:34
	♪ Till with the vision glorious ♪	6:40
	♪ Her longing eyes are blest ♪	6:45
	♪ And the great Church victorious ♪	6:51
	♪ Shall be the Church at rest ♪	6:56
	♪ Yet she on earth hath union ♪	7:04
	♪ With God the Three in One ♪	7:09
	♪ And mystic sweet communion ♪	7:15
	♪ With those whose rest is won ♪	7:20
	♪ O happy ones and holy ♪	7:26
	♪ Lord, give us grace that we ♪	7:30
	♪ Like them, the meek and lowly ♪	7:36
	♪ In love may dwell with Thee ♪	7:41
-	Almighty God,	7:54
	you have given your only son to be for us a sacrifice	7:57
	for sin and also an example of godly life.	8:01
	Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits	8:07
	of his redeeming work,	8:10
	and to follow daily in the blessed steps	8:12
	of his most holy life.	8:14
	Through Jesus Christ, your son, our lord, Amen.	8:17
	Let us pray.	8:32
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	8:35
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	8:38
	so that as the Word is read and proclaimed,	8:41
	we might hear with joy	8:45
	what you say to us this day.	8:47
	Amen.	8:50
	The Old Testament lesson comes from the book of Jeremiah.	8:52
	Oh Lord, you have deceived me.	8:58
	And I was deceived.	9:00
	You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed.	9:03
	I have become a laughing stock all the day.	9:07
	Everyone mocks me.	9:11
	For whenever I speak I cry out.	9:13
	I shout, violence and destruction.	9:17
	For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach	9:21
	and derision all day long.	9:24
	If I say I will not mention God,	9:28
	or speak anymore God's name,	9:31
	there is in my heart, as it were,	9:34
	a burning fire shut up in my bones.	9:36
	And I am weary withholding it in,	9:39
	and I cannot.	9:42
	For I hear many whispering.	9:44
	Terror is on every side.	9:46
	Denounce him, let us denounce Jeremiah,	9:49
	say all my familiar friends watching for my fall.	9:53
	Perhaps he will be deceived,	9:57
	then we can overcome him and take revenge on him.	9:59
	But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior.	10:05
	Therefore my persecutors will stumble.	10:08
	They will not overcome me.	10:11
	They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed.	10:14
	Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.	10:18
	Oh Lord of host, you try the righteous,	10:22
	you see the heart and the mind.	10:26
	Let me see your vengeance upon them,	10:29
	for to you I have committed my cause.	10:32
	Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord,	10:36
	for God has delivered the life of the needy	10:39
	from the hands of the evildoers.	10:42
	Thus ends the reading of the Old Testament lesson.	10:46
	Let us stand now and join in the responsive reading	10:49
	of the Psalter.	10:52
	Arise, oh Lord,	10:58
	oh God lift up your hand.	11:00
	Forget not the afflicted.	11:02
	Why does the wicked renounce God	11:05
	and think you will not call to account?	11:07
Parishioners	You see,	11:11
	for you note mischief and vexation	11:12
	that you may take it into your hands	11:15
	the helpless commits himself to you.	11:18
	you have been the helper of the fatherless.	11:21
-	Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer,	11:24
	seek out their wickedness until you find none.	11:27
	God is ruler forever and ever.	11:30
	The nations shall perish from God's land.	11:33
Parishioners	O Lord,	11:37
	you hear the desire of the afflicted	11:39
	you will strengthen their heart	11:41
	you will incline your ear	11:43
	to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed	11:46
	so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.	11:49
	(inspirational organ music)	11:55
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	12:03
	(inspirational organ music)	13:07
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	13:32
	(inspirational organ music)	18:24
-	The epistle lesson comes from the book of Hebrews.	18:51
	Therefore since we are surrounded	18:56
	by so great a cloud of witnesses,	18:58
	let us also lay aside every weight and sin	19:01
	which clings so closely,	19:04
	and let us run with perseverance the race	19:06
	that is set before us.	19:09
	Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter	19:11
	of our faith who, for the joy that was set forth	19:15
	before him, endured the cross,	19:18
	despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand	19:21
	of the throne of God.	19:25
	Therefore lift your drooping hands	19:28
	and strengthen your weak knees,	19:30
	and make straight paths for your feet	19:33
	so that what is lame may not be put out of joint	19:36
	but rather be healed.	19:39
	Strive for peace with all people	19:41
	and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.	19:44
	See to it that no one failed to obtain the grace of God,	19:49
	that no root of bitterness spring up and cause trouble.	19:53
	And by it, the many who become defiled.	19:58
	That no on be immoral or irreligious, like Essau.	20:02
	Who sold his birthright for a single meal.	20:07
	For you know that afterward,	20:11
	when Essau desired to inherit the blessing,	20:12
	he was rejected for he found no chance to repent,	20:15
	although he sought it with tears.	20:20
-	A personal word,	20:34
	though the bulletin doesn't indicate it, both our lector	20:36
	and our soloist today are students to Duke Divinity School.	20:40
	Fran Moody and Debby Luther.	20:44
	Both of them will serve as interns	20:48
	in the ministry of the chapel	20:50
	this year.	20:52
	Debby Luther has the additional distinction	20:54
	of being a native of South Carolina	20:57
	and this summer she was the recipient,	21:00
	learned that she is the recipient	21:04
	of the Bessie Parker Scholarship.	21:06
	And Bessie Parker was a united Methodist Minister	21:09
	in South Carolina and was my wife's Grandmother.	21:12
	And so, that's very special to us,	21:16
	that she has the Bessie Parker Scholarship.	21:19
	And they are typical of the	21:23
	fine	21:25
	people preparing for ministry at our divinity school.	21:27
	Today's scripture, gospel,	21:32
	is from the gospel according to Luke chapter 12.	21:34
	Let us attend to the word.	21:40
	In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude	21:41
	had gathered together that they trod upon one another,	21:45
	he began to say to his disciples,	21:49
	I came to cast fire upon the earth	21:53
	and would that it would already kindle.	21:57
	I have a baptism to be baptized with	22:00
	and how am I constrained until it is accomplished.	22:03
	Do you think that I have come to bring peace on Earth?	22:06
	No, I tell you, but rather division.	22:11
	For henceforth in one house there will be five divided,	22:15
	three against two,	22:18
	and two against three.	22:19
	They will be divided.	22:22
	Father against son,	22:24
	and son against father.	22:26
	Mother against daughter,	22:28
	and daughter against her mother.	22:29
	Mother in law against her daughter in law,	22:31
	and daughter in law against her mother in law.	22:34
	He said also to the multitudes,	22:38
	when you see a cloud rising in the west	22:41
	you say at once a shower is coming	22:44
	and so it happens.	22:47
	And when you see the south wind blowing you say	22:49
	there will be scorching heat, and it happens.	22:51
	Well you hypocrites,	22:55
	you know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky,	22:57
	but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?	23:00
	Well what did you do this summer?	23:10
	We did nothing special.	23:13
	It was a kind of restful summer.	23:15
	We had a number of trips to the lake in a new family boat.	23:17
	We went here and there,	23:21
	but I suppose in a way that's what summers are supposed	23:23
	to be, that's a good summer.	23:26
	When it's restful	23:27
	and when it's peaceful.	23:30
	What did you do	23:33
	this restful	23:35
	peaceful summer?	23:38
	At the beginning of the summer, on Sunday May 7th,	23:42
	the day of Panama's elections,	23:47
	Father Nicholas VanCleef,	23:51
	a priest working in Panama,	23:53
	was stopped by a soldier as he drove through his parish	23:56
	inviting people to come to mass.	23:59
	The soldier got in the back of VanCleef's car	24:03
	and ordered him to drive to the local garrison.	24:05
	On the way, the soldier fired point blank range	24:10
	into Father VanCleef's head, killing him.	24:14
	A United Church of Christ	24:19
	in the Philippines fact finding team,	24:21
	after investigating the double murder	24:23
	of a United Church of Christ minister and her husband,	24:25
	reported this summer that political	24:29
	and military motives lay behind their deaths.	24:31
	Visminda Grand, an ordained United Church of Christ	24:36
	in the Philippines Pastor,	24:40
	and her husband Levello Grand were murdered on May 1st	24:41
	by five men using high powered fire arms.	24:47
	The Grand's left two children	24:52
	who were witnesses to their murders.	24:55
	Park Sang Yung,	24:59
	General Secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia,	25:01
	was deported this summer	25:05
	while on his way to a church meeting.	25:08
	Catholic priest Neal McGill	25:12
	of the New Life Workers Center in Taiwan,	25:14
	was expelled from that country in June.	25:17
	In a statement from Hong Kong where he was forced to go,	25:21
	McGill described his 10 years of mission work.	25:25
	He said while in Taiwan I tried to help the workers build	25:28
	a better life for themselves.	25:31
	My work is part of Evangelization.	25:34
	It's part of the work of the church.	25:37
	I tried to stand with the workers in their efforts	25:40
	to obtain their rights.	25:42
	In remarks made a few days before the	25:46
	Chinese military's bloody crack down	25:48
	on student demonstrations in Beijing,	25:50
	Bishop K.H. Ding, president of the China Christian Counsel,	25:54
	declared that Chinese Christian leaders	25:58
	were in solid support of the students.	26:01
	This is the last that has been heard in public	26:05
	from Bishop Ding.	26:07
	Well what did you do this summer?	26:12
	This peaceful,	26:13
	restful, peaceful summer?	26:16
	Well, let's say that it was summer.	26:21
	The weather had been mild that summer in Judea.	26:25
	The fields were green and cool.	26:28
	Winds blew off the Mediterranean from the west.	26:31
	And Luke says that	26:36
	great crowds were following Jesus.	26:39
	So many thousands of the multitude	26:42
	that they trod on one another.	26:45
	They were just so many crowds.	26:47
	Jesus, Luke is happy to report,	26:49
	is catching on.	26:52
	He's becoming a religious celebrity.	26:53
	And it's interesting at that point	26:58
	Luke says Jesus turned to the multitudes	27:01
	and said	27:04
	everyone to whom much is given	27:07
	of that person will much be required.	27:10
	And of him to who much is committed	27:13
	will much more be demanded.	27:16
	I came to cast fire on the earth	27:20
	and would that it were already kindled.	27:24
	Do you think I've come to give peace on Earth?	27:26
	No, I tell you but rather division.	27:31
	For henceforth in one house	27:34
	will be five divided.	27:37
	Three against two and two against three.	27:39
	They will be divided father against son,	27:42
	and son against father, and mother against daughter,	27:44
	and daughter against mother, divided.	27:46
	Now I dare say the multitudes got slim	27:52
	after they heard Jesus' thoughts on family life.	27:56
	Do you think I've come to bring peace on Earth, asked Jesus.	28:01
	Well, yes, we reply.	28:08
	Yes, that's exactly what we think.	28:09
	Isn't that what the angels sang at your birth?	28:13
	Glory to God in the highest and on Earth	28:16
	peace.	28:20
	Now in the heat of August,	28:25
	Jesus asks do you think I have come to give peace?	28:28
	I wonder if G.K. Chesterton was reading this passage	28:36
	from Luke when he noted,	28:41
	"The Christ of the Gospels might seem actually	28:46
	"more strange and terrible	28:50
	than the Christ of the church."	28:53
	Christ in the deadening clutch of the clergy,	28:58
	is a good deal more tame than Jesus,	29:04
	wild and unfettered of the Gospels.	29:08
	When asked what he thought was the greatest challenge facing	29:14
	American Christianity today	29:17
	University of Chicago Church Historian Jarislav Pelican	29:21
	responded "The greatest challenge facing	29:25
	the American Church today is	29:29
	boredom."	29:32
	Multitudes tag after Jesus.	29:37
	They're just multitudes, great crowds.	29:39
	I think we're having a revival of religion, do you?	29:44
	Why, yes didn't a recent Gallop pole show	29:48
	that seven out of ten American's say	29:50
	that they are very religious?	29:53
	Just as many people believe in God	29:58
	in the cynical 1980's, according to George Gallop,	30:01
	as said they believed in God in the more optimistic 1950's.	30:04
	We are very very religious.	30:09
	And yet today's Gospel demonstrates that the Bible	30:15
	is usually unconcerned about the great modern preoccupation	30:20
	is there a God?	30:27
	The infatuation of modern Atheism.	30:31
	Rather the Bible's chief concern seems	30:35
	to be the much more interesting question,	30:37
	well what kind of God is there?	30:41
	For in the Bible it's always idolatry,	30:45
	that is the worship of a false God,	30:48
	which is more interesting than Atheism,	30:52
	the question, Is there a God?	30:56
	So let's use today's Gospel to ask a very biblical question:	31:01
	what kind of God have we got in Jesus?	31:07
	I mean the only way of knowing what we got	31:13
	is to listen to his words, to sit at his feet,	31:16
	to pay attention to his teachings,	31:20
	to listen to the stories that he tells.	31:22
	Attend to his word and what do we hear when we do that?	31:25
	The angels sang of peace at his birth in Bethlehem,	31:32
	but if you know the story you know	31:37
	that his birth brought not peace but a sword.	31:38
	The screams of mothers weeping	31:42
	for their slaughtered children over in Rama	31:45
	drowned out Mary's lullaby in Bethlehem.	31:49
	Old Simeon had sung to Mary	31:55
	when she brought baby Jesus to the temple	31:58
	to have him dedicated.	32:00
	He said that her baby would set in motion	32:04
	the fall and the rising of many in Israel.	32:08
	This Jesus was to cast down more people	32:13
	than he lifted up.	32:16
	From the beginning, from the very very very beginning,	32:18
	from his first sermon in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth	32:21
	he created division, this caster of fire upon the earth.	32:28
	John Venorsdall, President of Lutheran Seminary	32:35
	in Philadelphia, was preaching from this very pulpit	32:39
	and he was preaching I think about the calling	32:42
	of the disciples.	32:45
	And about the calling of	32:47
	Andrew	32:51
	and how these brothers left their father, Zebedee,	32:52
	and they left the fishing nets	32:58
	and they went immediately and they followed Jesus.	32:59
	And John commented,	33:02
	just a little throw away remark in the sermon,	33:04
	Jesus broke the hearts	33:09
	of many a first century Judean family.	33:12
	Well, we hadn't thought about that.	33:18
	Its interesting the Gospel doesn't tell us	33:22
	what fisherman father Zebedee thought	33:24
	of his two boys trailing off after Jesus,	33:27
	leaving him with the fishing business,	33:30
	hitting the road as traveling Evangelists.	33:32
	And I tell you the whole congregation	33:36
	that day in Duke Chapel,	33:39
	of fathers and sons and daughters and mothers	33:41
	got real quiet.	33:44
	Do you think I've come to bring peace?	33:48
	No, I've come to divide.	33:51
	I've come to turn father against son,	33:55
	son against father, mother against daughter.	33:57
	I've come to provoke petty dictators	34:00
	to send their troops against your priests.	34:02
	To deport you, to provoke you,	34:06
	to beat you, jail you, mock you.	34:08
	In Jesus what kind of God have we got here?	34:14
	And the crowds, and the multitudes, got smaller.	34:19
	As he turned and walked his narrow way down toward Calvary.	34:25
	God,	34:31
	this real,	34:33
	demanding God that we've got in Jesus,	34:35
	is a God of truth.	34:39
	But we live in the midst of a world of lies.	34:41
	Do you think there's any way for him to bring peace to us	34:46
	until he first divides us, upsets us,	34:50
	inflames us, breaks us, liars that we are?	34:52
	C.S. Lewis said Christianity is a thing	34:57
	of unspeakable comfort, but it does not begin in comfort.	35:00
	It begins in despair and there's no use trying	35:03
	to get to the comfort by bypassing the despair.	35:06
	It's a dangerous thing to get mixed up with this Jesus.	35:11
	Not the Jesus of semi-vacationing preachers in late August,	35:15
	but this fire casting, division producing,	35:22
	Jesus of the Gospels.	35:24
	Do we really think he's come to bring	35:26
	peace?	35:31
	No,	35:35
	answer the father Nicholas Vancleef's of the world.	35:37
	No, answer Visminda and Levello Grand, Park Sang Yung,	35:43
	Neal McGill, Bishop Ding,	35:48
	and all those bright company, that crowd of martyrs,	35:51
	that stare down at us today from the chapel windows.	35:55
	Many of them holding in their hands	35:58
	the very instruments of their torture.	36:01
	No.	36:02
	His gospel is demanding, it's so demanding	36:05
	that it really expects, according to today's text,	36:10
	it really expects that we not,	36:14
	that we not only be willing to surrender	36:17
	and to suffer for its truth	36:21
	but that we be willing for those whom we love to suffer.	36:25
	Jesus broke the hearts of many a first century family.	36:33
	I mean imagine in a time of government persecution	36:40
	what an anguished decision it was for a Christian parent	36:46
	to seek baptism for the child.	36:49
	In fact, we believe that one of the reasons	36:54
	that infant baptism grew in the early church	36:57
	was that Christian parents were unwilling to die	37:01
	for the church during a persecution	37:04
	without first having their children baptized.	37:06
	Even though that baptism may entail the murder	37:10
	of their own children.	37:14
	Baptism was expensive then.	37:16
	And I think that nothing cuts against	37:20
	our liberal, modern, ethical sentimentality	37:22
	and religious superficiality than this.	37:28
	We have convinced ourselves in our society	37:34
	that there is some means of holding truthful convictions	37:38
	without requiring the suffering	37:42
	of our friends and our families.	37:44
	And so we've tried to make love	37:47
	an individual emotion, which doesn't ask somebody else	37:51
	to suffer because we love them.	37:55
	But that makes nonsense of something like marriage,	38:00
	much less bearing children into the world.	38:02
	Because to love somebody always involves requiring	38:07
	that person to suffer because of our love	38:11
	and our commitments.	38:15
	Last year I was working on a book on clergy burnout.	38:18
	Why a lot of ministers burnout,	38:23
	or blackout, or brownout, or something.	38:26
	And I was struck in interviewing pastors,	38:29
	that one of the major causes of clergy resentment	38:33
	is that many clergy complain that	38:39
	it is unfair of the church to expect their children	38:42
	and their spouses to make sacrifices	38:46
	because of the pastor's vocation.	38:49
	Now to be sure many of those sacrifices	38:52
	and the demands that are placed upon clergy families	38:55
	are trivial and demeaning.	38:59
	A result of misunderstanding of what ministry's about,	39:01
	rather than out of vocation.	39:04
	But the church need not apologize	39:09
	when faithfulness to the gospel demands sacrifice,	39:12
	even from those who don't feel called to be preachers.	39:16
	And that has to do with all Christians.	39:23
	It really has to do with anyone	39:25
	who holds significant convictions about anything.	39:27
	As Martin Luther once commented,	39:33
	idolatry always involves a question	39:36
	of what you'd sacrifice your daughter for.	39:38
	Most of us will sacrifice our children	39:43
	to some god or another.	39:46
	So the question is not whether	39:49
	or not we will ask those whom we love	39:52
	to make sacrifices because of our commitments,	39:55
	but whether or not the sacrifices they make	40:00
	will be to a real god or just a false god.	40:04
	Last summer about this time, Millard Fuller,	40:11
	the founder of Habitat for Humanity,	40:13
	preached from this pulpit.	40:15
	And Millard Fuller talked about the night	40:17
	that he and his wife sat down and decided to trust God	40:19
	and sell everything they had accumulated	40:23
	and move to Americus Georgia	40:26
	and figure out what God wanted 'em to do next.	40:28
	Eventually God told 'em to go out and build houses	40:31
	for poor people and thus began Habitat for Humanity.	40:33
	Well, I was struck, though, after the sermon	40:37
	in the next week when people would talk about Millard Fuller	40:39
	they said does he have any children?	40:44
	It's okay for God to call somebody to move	40:48
	to a place like Americus Georgia,	40:51
	but to require sacrifice,	40:52
	to require suffering of people we love?	40:56
	Today's text implies that Jesus' has got no problem	41:03
	with people making sacrifices	41:07
	and expending their lives.	41:10
	Except when such sacrifice is to a false god.	41:14
	But our God is a real God.	41:20
	A big God, living God,	41:22
	who doesn't deal in trivialities.	41:24
	Our God is about big, serious business.	41:27
	Do we really think that this God has come among us	41:32
	in Jesus for something as boring as peace?	41:34
	Defined as we usually define it,	41:39
	namely the absence of conflict in our lives.	41:41
	When one looks at the altars	41:47
	upon which people are sacrificing their children today,	41:49
	altars of success, and popularity,	41:54
	and academic achievement, and security,	41:58
	and materialism, it's really odd that we should be shocked	42:02
	that Jesus dare ask for our children.	42:07
	Cause we could really sacrifice our children to lesser gods.	42:11
	We shall all give up our lives for something.	42:19
	Will it be for the truth or not?	42:24
	Oh the Jesus who disturbs our August tranquility	42:29
	this morning is a passionate God,	42:32
	who pushes us to our limits	42:34
	and asks us just what would you give your life for?	42:37
	Just what would you sacrifice your children for?	42:42
	For in truth we're all gonna die for something.	42:46
	And we're all gonna offer up our children	42:50
	on somebody's altar.	42:52
	Will the god whom we serve be true or false?	42:56
	A living, demanding, big, real God?	43:00
	Or only this pale, peaceful idol that we've created	43:04
	in our own image?	43:08
	That's a question out on the table this morning.	43:10
	And it's a big question	43:15
	for the dog days of August.	43:17
	C.S. Lewis described his conversion to Christianity,	43:23
	his own experience of relatively late in life,	43:27
	being surprised by God.	43:31
	For Lewis, his conversion to Jesus was	43:36
	not an all together pleasant experience.	43:38
	When he was embraced by Jesus, called to be a disciple,	43:42
	because he had spent many years	43:48
	in many different stratagems,	43:50
	attempting to avoid conversion.	43:53
	Lewis was smart enough to know,	43:56
	I mean he was a professor at Oxford after all,	43:58
	he was smart enough to know	44:01
	that is a potentially dangerous thing	44:03
	to get mixed up with this Jesus.	44:05
	And so Lewis wrote:	44:09
	"Amiable agnostics	44:13
	"talk cheerfully about man's search for God.	44:16
	"To me, as I then was,	44:24
	"they might as well have talked about	44:27
	the mouse's search for the cat.	44:31
	Amen.	44:35
	(inspirational organ music)	44:46
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	45:25
-	Let us unite in this historic confession	48:20
	of the Christian Faith.	48:22
	I believe in God, the father almighty,	48:25
	maker of Heaven and Earth.	48:27
	And in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord,	48:30
	who was conceived by the Holy Spirit.	48:34
	Born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,	48:37
	was crucified, dead, and buried.	48:41
	The third day he rose from the dead.	48:43
	He ascended into Heaven and siteth at the right hand of God	48:46
	the father almighty.	48:50
	From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	48:52
	I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church,	48:56
	the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,	49:00
	the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.	49:04
	Amen.	49:09
	The Lord be with you.	49:11
Parishioners	And also with you.	49:13
-	Let us pray.	49:14
	Oh eternal spirit	49:27
	from whom we come to whom we belong,	49:29
	and in who's service is our lasting peace.	49:33
	We worship you.	49:38
	Mysterious indeed is this vast universe	49:40
	into which, without our asking it,	49:43
	you have ushered us.	49:46
	We stand in awe before your power,	49:49
	which is beyond our ability to measure.	49:51
	Yet even as we fail to comprehend	49:55
	the magnitude of your power	49:58
	to divide and to reconcile,	50:00
	we rest in the knowledge	50:03
	that you and you alone knit us together	50:05
	in our mothers wombs.	50:08
	Therefore we live this prayers	50:11
	for others unto you asking you to hear us	50:13
	and to answer.	50:17
	We bring before you creating God	50:20
	our physical needs.	50:23
	We pray for all those weakened by the merciless plague	50:25
	of hunger and malnutrition.	50:28
	For all who are stricken with terminal illness	50:31
	or other disease, especially all patients at Duke Hospital	50:34
	and their families.	50:38
	For all who seek to do injury to themselves	50:40
	or to others.	50:44
	For all who discover in the process of aging	50:46
	that their bodies are failing them.	50:49
	We bring before you redeeming God	50:53
	the needs of our minds.	50:55
	We pray for all those involved in educational pursuits.	50:58
	Students, teachers, administrators, and staff.	51:03
	We pray for all those suffering	51:08
	from the tyranny of mental illness.	51:10
	We pray for all who seek to expand our minds.	51:13
	Inventors, explorers, and creative artists.	51:17
	We bring before you sustaining God,	51:22
	the needs of our relationships.	51:24
	We pray for all those embroiled in conflict.	51:28
	Between parent and child,	51:32
	between husband and wife,	51:34
	between friends, between races,	51:37
	between nations.	51:40
	We pray for all who suffer from a lack of relationships	51:42
	and are burdened by a sense of loneliness,	51:47
	failure, or despair.	51:50
	We pray for all who seek to build new relationships.	51:54
	For all newly weds, especially for all couples married in	51:58
	Duke Chapel over the course of this year.	52:01
	For all new parents,	52:05
	for the people of Poland as they create a new government.	52:07
	For all college freshman as they prepare	52:11
	for the new opportunities and relationships which life	52:14
	on a college campus will present to them.	52:17
	We pray for all who have resisted the opportunities	52:21
	to know and love another,	52:24
	even to know you gracious God,	52:26
	and do not know the gift of salvation.	52:28
	Oh eternal God, we commit ourselves to you.	52:32
	Hasten through us the day when all shall dwell in safety,	52:36
	free from want, free from fear,	52:40
	free to worship according to the guidance of your spirit.	52:44
	And yours shall be the kingdom,	52:48
	and the power, and the glory forever.	52:49
	Amen.	52:53
	And now in the spirit of Thanksgiving	52:57
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	52:59
	(inspirational organ music)	53:04
	(inspirational organ music)	54:06
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	54:25
	(inspirational organ music)	54:30
	(inspirational organ music)	54:41
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	54:45
	(inspirational organ music)	55:32
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	55:39
	(inspirational organ music)	56:17
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	56:35
	(inspirational organ music)	57:25
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	57:32
	(inspirational organ music)	57:38
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	57:42
	(inspirational organ music)	57:47
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	57:51
	(inspirational organ music)	58:38
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	58:46
	(inspirational organ music)	59:29
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	1:00:02
-	Almighty God, lift us up we beseech thee	1:01:01
	from ingratitude to thankfulness.	1:01:04
	We thank thee for the rain that sustains us,	1:01:07
	for work that engages us,	1:01:10
	for children that delight us,	1:01:13
	and for families that nurture us.	1:01:14
	Most of all, we bless thee for thy son Jesus Christ,	1:01:17
	our Lord who intercedes for us at thy right hand	1:01:21
	and who never gives up on us.	1:01:25
	This we pray, in the name of Jesus who taught us boldly	1:01:28
	to pray, our father, who art in Heaven,	1:01:31
	hallowed be thy name.	1:01:34
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	1:01:37
	on Earth as it is in Heaven.	1:01:40
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:01:42
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	1:01:44
	who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation,	1:01:48
	but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom,	1:01:52
	the power, and the glory forever.	1:01:55
	Amen.	1:01:59
	(inspirational organ music)	1:02:02
	(background noise drowns out other sounds)	1:02:42
-	And now go forth in peace	1:05:54
	and be of good courage.	1:05:56
	Hold fast that which is good.	1:05:58
	Rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.	1:06:00
	And may the blessings of God,	1:06:03
	creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit	1:06:06
	be with you all now and forever more.	1:06:08
	Amen.	1:06:11
	(inspirational organ music)	1:06:17

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Do You Think That I Have Come to Bring Peace?" (August 20, 1989)

Description:

Sermon start time: 23:10. Sermon end time: 44:36.
Offering several accounts of martyrs, the preacher argues that the gospel entails sacrifice. Since God is a God of truth, worshipers of God must divide themselves from lies and live with the challenges and persecutions from the world. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “We shall all give up our lives for something. Will it be for the truth or not?”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4n873f0f

Date:

August 20, 1989

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Luke

Chapter and Verse:

Luke 12:49-56

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0145
ref8661_gh2
uachapelsermaud
duke:321590
dcrmv001141
ark:/87924/r4n873f0f
e7c24825-9ecb-474b-b8d9-0c970d1f5dc4

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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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 - "Do You Think That I Have Come to Bring Peace?" (August 20, 1989)

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1. William H. Willimon - "Do You Think That I Have Come to Bring Peace?" (August 20, 1989)

Duke University Archives

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William H. Willimon - "Do You Think That I Have Come to Bring Peace?" (August 20, 1989)

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Duke University Archives

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