William H. Willimon - "Patience" (December 17, 1989)
Error loading media: File could not be played
Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | They are printed in your bulletins. | 0:00 |
And now, let us continue our worship. | 0:02 | |
(choir singing) | 0:17 | |
(lively organ music) | 1:06 | |
(congregation singing) | 1:40 | |
- | Stir up your power, oh Lord, | 6:54 |
and with great might, come among us. | 6:57 | |
And because we are sorely hindered by our sins, | 7:00 | |
let Your bountiful grace and mercy speedily | 7:04 | |
help and deliver us, | 7:07 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, | 7:09 | |
to whom with You and the Holy Spirit | 7:11 | |
be honor and glory now and forever, amen. | 7:14 | |
- | Let us pray. | 7:31 |
Open our hearts and minds, oh God. | 7:36 | |
All | By the power of Your Holy Spirit | 7:40 |
so that commit and proclaims | 7:43 | |
we might more patiently wait | 7:47 | |
on your Advent among us. | 7:49 | |
Amen. | 7:52 | |
- | The first lesson is taken from the book of Isaiah. | 7:56 |
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, | 8:01 | |
the desert shall rejoice and blossom, | 8:06 | |
like the crocus, it shall blossom abundantly | 8:10 | |
and rejoice with joy and singing. | 8:14 | |
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, | 8:18 | |
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon, | 8:21 | |
they shall see the glory of the Lord, | 8:25 | |
the majesty of our God. | 8:29 | |
Strengthen the weak hands | 8:32 | |
and make firm the feebled knees. | 8:35 | |
Say to those who are of a fearful heart, | 8:38 | |
be strong, fear not, | 8:41 | |
behold your God will come with vengeance, | 8:44 | |
with recompense of God, your God will come and save you. | 8:49 | |
Then shall blind eyes be opened | 8:55 | |
and deaf ears unstopped. | 8:59 | |
Then shall those who are lame leap | 9:02 | |
like a heart and mute tongues sing for joy | 9:06 | |
for waters shall break forth in the wilderness | 9:11 | |
and streams in the desert. | 9:14 | |
The burning sand shall become a pool | 9:18 | |
and the parched ground shall become springs of water. | 9:21 | |
The haunt of jackals shall become a swamp | 9:26 | |
and grass shall become reeds and rushes. | 9:29 | |
A highway shall be there | 9:33 | |
and it shall be called the Holy Way. | 9:36 | |
The unclean shall not pass over it | 9:39 | |
and fools shall not err therein. | 9:43 | |
No lion shall be there, | 9:47 | |
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it. | 9:50 | |
They shall not be found there. | 9:55 | |
But the redeemed shall walk there. | 9:58 | |
This ends the reading of the first lesson. | 10:02 | |
- | Please stand as we read responsively Psalm 146 | 10:11 |
beginning with verse five. | 10:15 | |
Happy are those whose help is in the God of Jacob. | 10:23 | |
Congregation | Whose hope is in the Lord his God. | 10:28 |
- | Who made heaven and Earth, | 10:31 |
the sea and all that is in them. | 10:33 | |
Congregation | Who keeps faith for ever, | 10:37 |
who executes justice for the oppressed, | 10:39 | |
who gives food to the hungry. | 10:42 | |
All | The Lord sets the prisoners free. | 10:44 |
Congregation | The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. | 10:47 |
All | The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. | 10:50 |
Congregation | The Lord loves the righteous. | 10:54 |
All | The Lord watches over the sojourners. | 10:57 |
Congregation | He upholds the widow and the fatherless, | 11:00 |
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. | 11:03 | |
All | The Lord will reign forever, | 11:06 |
your God, oh Zion, from generation to generation. | 11:09 | |
Congregation | Praise the Lord. | 11:13 |
(lively organ music) | 11:15 | |
(congregation singing) | 11:24 | |
- | The second lesson is taken from the letter of James. | 12:25 |
Be patient therefore my friends | 12:32 | |
until the coming of the Lord | 12:35 | |
just as the farmer waits | 12:38 | |
for the precious fruit of the Earth, | 12:40 | |
being patient over it until it receives | 12:44 | |
the early and the late rain, | 12:47 | |
so also you'll be patient. | 12:51 | |
Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. | 12:55 | |
Do not grumble, sisters and brothers | 13:00 | |
against one another that you may not be judged. | 13:03 | |
Behold, the judge is standing at the gates. | 13:07 | |
As an example of suffering and patience, friends, | 13:12 | |
take the prophets | 13:16 | |
who spoke in the name of the Lord. | 13:18 | |
This ends the reading of the second lesson. | 13:22 | |
A reading from the gospel according to Matthew. | 13:28 | |
Now John having heard in prison | 13:33 | |
about the deeds of the Christ, | 13:36 | |
sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus, | 13:39 | |
are you the one who is to come | 13:44 | |
or shall we look for another? | 13:47 | |
And Jesus answered them, | 13:50 | |
go and tell John what you hear and see. | 13:52 | |
Those who are blind receive their sight | 13:57 | |
and those who are lame walk, | 14:02 | |
people with leprosy are cleansed | 14:05 | |
and those who are deaf hear, | 14:08 | |
the dead are raised up | 14:12 | |
and to those who are poor, | 14:15 | |
good news is preached | 14:17 | |
and blessed is the one who takes no offense at me. | 14:20 | |
As they went away, | 14:26 | |
Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. | 14:28 | |
Why did you go out into the wilderness | 14:33 | |
to observe a reed shaken by the wind? | 14:36 | |
Why then did you go out, | 14:42 | |
to see someone clothed in soft raiment? | 14:45 | |
Those who wear soft raiment are in royal palaces. | 14:49 | |
Then why did you go out? | 14:54 | |
To see a prophet? | 14:58 | |
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet, | 15:00 | |
this is the one of whom it is written, | 15:04 | |
I am sending a messenger before your face | 15:08 | |
who shall prepare your way before you. | 15:11 | |
Truly I say to you, | 15:16 | |
among those born of women, | 15:19 | |
there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist | 15:21 | |
yet one who is least in the kingdom of heaven | 15:26 | |
is greater than John. | 15:29 | |
This ends the reading of the gospel. | 15:33 | |
(lively organ music) | 15:44 | |
(choir singing) | 16:25 | |
- | I begin this third Sunday in Advent preaching | 20:09 |
on Christian patience. | 20:13 | |
Advent is the Christian season of waiting | 20:16 | |
in expectancy and therefore it is the season of patience | 20:21 | |
because what we really need most in life, | 20:28 | |
we cannot have merely by wanting, | 20:31 | |
it must come as a gift | 20:35 | |
in God's own good time | 20:38 | |
and today I will end my day in the chapel | 20:41 | |
by performing a wedding | 20:44 | |
of a couple who have patiently waited | 20:46 | |
until they were past 30 before marriage. | 20:48 | |
And yet who knows how long it will take | 20:53 | |
for them to be truly married | 20:55 | |
because marriage requires patience. | 20:56 | |
So, what I'm doing is claiming a link | 21:02 | |
between today's text from James, | 21:04 | |
be patient until the coming of the Lord, | 21:09 | |
the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the Earth | 21:12 | |
being patient, you also be patient, | 21:16 | |
establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord. | 21:20 | |
I'm claiming a link | 21:24 | |
between that Christian patience | 21:26 | |
and the patience of marriage. | 21:29 | |
James speaks of being patient for the Advent of Christ, | 21:32 | |
not marriage but I see a connection. | 21:37 | |
Now those of you who are married | 21:42 | |
can surely testify that marriage requires patience | 21:45 | |
because when you're married to someone, | 21:49 | |
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, | 21:50 | |
you've got to be patient. | 21:53 | |
We all have certain foibles, | 21:55 | |
this may come as a shock to you | 21:57 | |
but someone needs patience even to live with someone | 21:59 | |
so generous and good hearted as I | 22:02 | |
and I've been told by the person whom I married | 22:05 | |
not to leave shoes in the middle of the bedroom floor. | 22:08 | |
For 20 plus years I've been told this. | 22:12 | |
It seems like a reasonable request | 22:14 | |
and in principle I'm all for it | 22:16 | |
but it doesn't seem to happen. | 22:18 | |
So, patience is required. | 22:20 | |
And one of the tough things about marriage | 22:25 | |
is it takes time. | 22:27 | |
And yet time is that which we modern people | 22:31 | |
seem so unwilling to spend, | 22:34 | |
with instant oatmeal and one-hour dry cleaning | 22:38 | |
and overnight mail, | 22:41 | |
we expect love to work the same way. | 22:43 | |
We want what we want now. | 22:47 | |
It takes only a few minutes to get married | 22:52 | |
but any couple who've done it | 22:55 | |
can testify that marriage involves a whole lifetime. | 22:57 | |
Today the traditional engagement period | 23:02 | |
appears to be passe for many couples. | 23:05 | |
Most couples can't see the point of waiting | 23:08 | |
through a long period of public anticipation before marriage | 23:11 | |
and yet one of the good things | 23:17 | |
about the old engagement period | 23:18 | |
was that it had a way of forcing a couple | 23:21 | |
to experience one of the toughest parts | 23:24 | |
about marriage upfront, | 23:26 | |
namely the demand to wait, | 23:29 | |
it told them during these weeks of public anticipation, | 23:33 | |
these weeks of having and yet not completely having | 23:37 | |
that in a way their whole marriage | 23:42 | |
was going to be like that. | 23:43 | |
That marital joy is like trust | 23:45 | |
and compatibility and mutuality | 23:48 | |
cannot be had instantly on demand | 23:51 | |
as if merely wanting something | 23:55 | |
were enough to have it | 23:57 | |
but now many couples have been living together, | 23:59 | |
sharing finances and sex long before the wedding | 24:02 | |
and so, they've missed that slow building moment | 24:05 | |
by moment anticipation which characterizes true intimacy, | 24:10 | |
not just an engagement, but throughout marriage. | 24:16 | |
They've shared an apartment, | 24:20 | |
shared sex, the phone bill | 24:22 | |
but they haven't had marriage | 24:24 | |
because that, that takes time. | 24:26 | |
And I see a connection here | 24:30 | |
with our modern impatience over Christmas. | 24:33 | |
This year they had the Raleigh Christmas Parade | 24:38 | |
a week before Thanksgiving even. | 24:40 | |
That the days of slow growing anticipation, | 24:44 | |
which once characterized preparation for Christmas | 24:48 | |
have been obliterated | 24:52 | |
and the yearly stampede to generate Christmas cheer | 24:53 | |
even before the end of November | 24:57 | |
and so that by the end of December, | 25:01 | |
we're sick of Christmas | 25:04 | |
and gorged as we are on yuletide jingles | 25:06 | |
and seasonal sentimentality. | 25:09 | |
Congregations impatiently endure the singing | 25:12 | |
of all those old Advent hymns on Sunday, | 25:16 | |
just dying to get on with the business of Christmas. | 25:19 | |
We need a little Christmas right this very minute, | 25:23 | |
that's what we want to sing, not come, | 25:26 | |
oh come, Immanuel, come thou long expected Jesus. | 25:28 | |
And so, the result is that by Christmas, | 25:34 | |
we're sick of Christmas. | 25:36 | |
But we really haven't had Christmas. | 25:38 | |
What we've had is some self-generated, | 25:41 | |
commercially induced Christmas on-demand facsimile | 25:43 | |
but not Christmas | 25:47 | |
'cause you got to wait for Christmas | 25:48 | |
because Christmas involves not how we're feeling inside | 25:51 | |
at the moment but Immanuel, | 25:55 | |
God coming to us. | 25:58 | |
And as James says that takes time. | 26:00 | |
And we're so impatient I think in marriage | 26:03 | |
or in Advent perhaps because patience is a virtue | 26:06 | |
which really goes against the grain | 26:11 | |
of the modern world, | 26:14 | |
the modern mentality | 26:16 | |
because it could be argued that the main project | 26:18 | |
of the modern age | 26:21 | |
is to take control of our lives, | 26:23 | |
to shape and to build and to solve | 26:26 | |
and to achieve. | 26:29 | |
We don't know much about patience | 26:31 | |
because patience is a virtue | 26:34 | |
that you have to learn by waiting on somebody else | 26:36 | |
whereas the modern ideal | 26:39 | |
is to fashion a life free of messy entanglements | 26:41 | |
with other people, a life that is such | 26:45 | |
that we're free from the necessity | 26:48 | |
to wait on anybody. | 26:51 | |
For instance, one of the main charms | 26:53 | |
of modern affluence | 26:56 | |
is that it frees us from having to wait | 26:58 | |
so you can have transportation and meals | 27:01 | |
and clean clothes and entertainment | 27:04 | |
when you want them, now. | 27:07 | |
The other day I gave a ride to a man | 27:10 | |
who spends his day working with his hands, | 27:12 | |
hard work which unfortunately does not earn him enough | 27:15 | |
to buy an automobile. | 27:19 | |
And he told me that the way he figures it, | 27:21 | |
he spends about three to four hours of every day | 27:23 | |
waiting on a bus or waiting on someone | 27:27 | |
to take him to or from his home. | 27:30 | |
And when I expressed dismay at this he said, | 27:33 | |
well, it's not so bad. | 27:37 | |
It gives me time to think. | 27:39 | |
Of course because I am more affluent, | 27:41 | |
that means I have more control over my time. | 27:44 | |
I don't have to wait | 27:48 | |
or at least I have the illusion that I have more control | 27:50 | |
over my time though as he was talking, | 27:53 | |
I noted that I doubt | 27:55 | |
that I could find three hours in my day to think. | 27:56 | |
The modern world has given us control. | 28:00 | |
The means to control the world, | 28:04 | |
to hold back floods, to cure disease, | 28:07 | |
to predict the weather, to forecast the future. | 28:10 | |
Or at least it has given us the illusion | 28:14 | |
that we have control | 28:16 | |
and most of these modern devices arose out of impatience | 28:18 | |
because somebody somewhere just got fed up | 28:22 | |
with patiently enduring the crippling effects | 28:25 | |
of polio or the ravages of unchecked nature. | 28:28 | |
When you think about it, | 28:32 | |
our whole modern world was built on impatience. | 28:33 | |
And yet it's there that we have a problem | 28:38 | |
with something like marriage or God. | 28:40 | |
Because marriage involves the relinquishment | 28:44 | |
of control because it involves giving up yourself | 28:48 | |
to another and when you do that, | 28:53 | |
we're talking risk, high risk. | 28:56 | |
You give your life to somebody else, | 28:59 | |
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, | 29:01 | |
'til death and you don't know what might happen. | 29:03 | |
I mean, you hope that you'll grow closer together, | 29:07 | |
day by day but the problem | 29:09 | |
is you have absolutely no guarantee of that. | 29:11 | |
People change, they get sick, | 29:14 | |
they become addicted, they become poor, they get worse. | 29:17 | |
Who knows where you'll be. | 29:21 | |
Who knows who you'll be at 64. | 29:24 | |
You can't really take charge, | 29:28 | |
control, you can't force, you can't forecast | 29:30 | |
or all those other means | 29:33 | |
whereby we modern people give ourselves the impression | 29:34 | |
that the future is really of our sole determination. | 29:38 | |
So, what you can do in marriage | 29:43 | |
is to be patient | 29:46 | |
like a farmer waiting for seed to grow. | 29:47 | |
You can be patient with somebody else. | 29:51 | |
You can take time, you can allow time | 29:54 | |
for things to work out, | 29:57 | |
let the other person grow and change | 29:59 | |
in ways that keep marriage interesting | 30:02 | |
and adventuresome precisely because the changes | 30:06 | |
cannot be predicted. | 30:10 | |
I know as a pastor I've seen people | 30:12 | |
in their marriage at a time | 30:14 | |
when I thought the best thing they could do | 30:17 | |
was to do absolutely nothing. | 30:19 | |
I mean, just wait, be patient | 30:22 | |
and see what happen | 30:25 | |
because sometimes that periodic marital unhappiness | 30:26 | |
that we feel from time to time | 30:30 | |
is really discomfort that arises | 30:32 | |
when you're moving from one stage of life to the next | 30:35 | |
or when the other person is just regrouping. | 30:39 | |
In other words, when our not-so-great present | 30:42 | |
is being transformed into some more interesting future. | 30:44 | |
Then about the best thing you can do | 30:48 | |
is to be patient. | 30:50 | |
And patience in marriage arises | 30:53 | |
out of the conviction that the other person | 30:57 | |
is a mystery to be enjoyed, | 31:00 | |
rather than a problem for you to solve. | 31:02 | |
That the future as unpredictable it is, | 31:06 | |
is bearable even when it is difficult | 31:09 | |
if we bear it together. | 31:14 | |
Marriage and the patience it requires | 31:18 | |
is an everyday, ordinary witness | 31:21 | |
that you don't have to have total control over your life | 31:24 | |
in order to live life well. | 31:28 | |
Control which is after all probably only an illusion anyway. | 31:31 | |
And of course if you get good enough | 31:36 | |
at being patient in marriage | 31:38 | |
with a husband or a wife, | 31:40 | |
then we'll let you have children | 31:43 | |
which will really teach you a thing or two about patience | 31:45 | |
because maybe you thought you brought children | 31:50 | |
into the world so that you could quote bring them up | 31:51 | |
in the right sort of way | 31:55 | |
but then some time while you're being a parent, | 31:58 | |
you wake up and discover | 32:00 | |
that you're really totally out of control, | 32:02 | |
that their lives, their future | 32:05 | |
is not something that you plan and manage | 32:08 | |
and control and predict, | 32:11 | |
it is not of your devising, so what do you do? | 32:12 | |
You have to patient. | 32:16 | |
You have to wait. | 32:18 | |
Let them grow up in their own good time. | 32:20 | |
I suppose a lot of well-intentioned parenting | 32:24 | |
has gone awry precisely because determined parents | 32:28 | |
did way too much | 32:32 | |
or maybe they did way too little | 32:35 | |
which is sometimes just another parental strategy | 32:36 | |
for determining your children's lives | 32:39 | |
but that rather than just be patient | 32:41 | |
and just wait, | 32:45 | |
I know as a pastor I wish I had a dollar | 32:47 | |
for every older parent | 32:49 | |
that I've heard tell about years of struggle | 32:52 | |
with some difficult child, | 32:56 | |
you're trying this strategy and then that strategy | 32:58 | |
only to have the child show up at 25 or 30 | 33:01 | |
as a really interesting charming human being | 33:05 | |
for which the parent can take absolutely no credit. | 33:09 | |
Patience. | 33:13 | |
Okay, so what does any of that have to do with waiting? | 33:17 | |
Not just for our marriages to get right, | 33:20 | |
but waiting on God to come | 33:23 | |
and set the whole world right. | 33:28 | |
I think it has to do with today's strange gospel lesson, | 33:31 | |
for this third Sunday in Advent, | 33:36 | |
a story deep in Matthew's gospel | 33:38 | |
about the time when the John the Baptist, | 33:42 | |
if you were here last week, you met him, | 33:44 | |
John the Baptist, imprisoned by Herod, | 33:46 | |
sent some of his people to ask Jesus | 33:50 | |
this strange question, | 33:53 | |
are you the one we've been waiting for | 33:57 | |
or are we supposed to wait for somebody else? | 34:00 | |
It's a strange question | 34:04 | |
and quite strange to appear here | 34:06 | |
only one week before Christmas. | 34:08 | |
Are you the one for whom we've been waiting? | 34:11 | |
But is the question so strange? | 34:16 | |
Here was John, spent his whole life trying | 34:19 | |
to get Israel prepared for the Advent of Messiah, | 34:22 | |
the God-anointed one who is gonna come in | 34:26 | |
and drive out those Romans | 34:28 | |
and establish peace and justice and heal the sick | 34:30 | |
and feed the hungry | 34:34 | |
and establish the reign of God. | 34:35 | |
At Jesus' baptism, John had put his money down | 34:40 | |
on this young man from Nazareth, | 34:44 | |
behold the lamb of God, John had proclaimed. | 34:46 | |
Here in the flesh is Immanuel, God with us, Messiah. | 34:49 | |
But now John was in jail | 34:55 | |
and Jesus was running about Galilee doing everything | 34:58 | |
except what John had expected. | 35:01 | |
And John has doubts. | 35:04 | |
We've been waiting for peace and justice | 35:07 | |
and for God for thousands of years. | 35:09 | |
Jesus, get on with it, says John. | 35:13 | |
And I think John's problem in prison | 35:18 | |
is our problem in Advent. | 35:20 | |
For 2,000 years we've been waiting | 35:23 | |
and waiting and waiting for God | 35:26 | |
to just come down and put things right. | 35:28 | |
And we wait to marry | 35:32 | |
and we wait in marriage | 35:34 | |
and we wait for children to grow | 35:37 | |
and the farmer waits for seed to sprout from the ground | 35:40 | |
and we wait for God to come | 35:45 | |
and we get tired, | 35:49 | |
we get cynical, we get exasperated, | 35:51 | |
we get impatient. | 35:53 | |
Is this marriage or surely there's something better. | 35:56 | |
Is this my child | 36:01 | |
or was I supposed to get someone else? | 36:02 | |
Is this all there is? | 36:05 | |
Is this God or should we be waiting for somebody else? | 36:11 | |
Is God coming to us? | 36:17 | |
If not, if we are left to our own devices, | 36:21 | |
should we take matters in our own hands | 36:27 | |
and do through our own devices | 36:29 | |
that which God cannot or will not do for us? | 36:30 | |
Patience in marriage arises | 36:36 | |
from a conviction somewhere deep within us | 36:41 | |
that it is better to wait on another | 36:45 | |
than to force that one to be | 36:49 | |
someone other | 36:54 | |
than who that person is. | 36:57 | |
That it is better to wait on another | 37:01 | |
than to force that other one | 37:04 | |
to be the one whom we demand | 37:05 | |
because you see, if we did that, | 37:08 | |
then the person our spouse eventually became | 37:11 | |
would be no more than some sort of pale projection of us | 37:14 | |
and what good would it do living with that kind of person. | 37:19 | |
Patience in waiting for God | 37:24 | |
to come into your life, into your world at Advent | 37:27 | |
arises also from a conviction deep within us | 37:32 | |
that it is better to wait on God | 37:36 | |
than to force God to be the one whom we demand. | 37:40 | |
Because if we did that, | 37:45 | |
then the God who came to us | 37:46 | |
would be no more than some idolatrous projection | 37:49 | |
of all of our selfish desires | 37:54 | |
and what good would that kind of God do us? | 37:58 | |
Be patient, wait | 38:03 | |
for the Lord | 38:08 | |
is at hand. | 38:10 | |
Amen. | 38:12 | |
(lively organ music) | 38:16 | |
(congregation singing) | 38:56 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 40:58 |
(congregation mumbles) | 41:00 | |
- | Let us pray. | 41:01 |
Oh eternal God, mother and father to us all | 41:13 | |
with whom nothing is impossible. | 41:17 | |
In the hushed silence of thy sanctuary, | 41:22 | |
we continue in our pilgrimage toward Bethlehem | 41:24 | |
and the child who grew to be our king. | 41:28 | |
We come as shepherds out of our curiosity, | 41:33 | |
our loneliness, our longing to know thee, | 41:36 | |
we come as wise men feeling like strangers | 41:41 | |
looking in the wrong places, | 41:44 | |
unsure of what we may encounter along the way. | 41:48 | |
We come in response to the angels singing, | 41:52 | |
having heard their song of peace, | 41:55 | |
having been reminded of this great gift of love, | 41:58 | |
we come as Mary and Joseph | 42:03 | |
answering the call to obedience | 42:06 | |
which requires us to give our very lives unto thee. | 42:08 | |
Help us in these final days of preparation | 42:13 | |
to rid ourselves of all that divides us from thee, | 42:16 | |
to empty ourselves, oh God, | 42:21 | |
in order that we may be filled. | 42:25 | |
Hear us now as we wait before thee. | 42:28 | |
We pray thee, gracious God | 42:34 | |
to bless those for whom there is little joy | 42:35 | |
in this season of joy, | 42:39 | |
bless those who are aged and forlorn, | 42:41 | |
for those who are paralyzed by a sense of uselessness. | 42:45 | |
Bless those who have suffered loss | 42:49 | |
and are acutely aware of their grief in this season. | 42:52 | |
Bless those who are poor, | 42:58 | |
who suffer not as much for their own sakes | 43:00 | |
as for their longing to give | 43:03 | |
what they cannot afford. | 43:04 | |
Bless those who are ill | 43:07 | |
and must spend this time of joy in pain. | 43:09 | |
Bless those who are hungry | 43:13 | |
and long to be filled, | 43:15 | |
bless those who are far from home | 43:18 | |
and especially those who have no home, | 43:20 | |
lonely and forgotten among strangers. | 43:23 | |
Bless those who await the fulfillment | 43:27 | |
of long-awaited dreams. | 43:31 | |
We beseech thee reconciling God, | 43:33 | |
send thy spirit among all people this blessed season. | 43:36 | |
Make this a time when those who have quarreled | 43:41 | |
may be reconciled. | 43:44 | |
Make this a time when those who have drifted apart | 43:46 | |
will be together again. | 43:50 | |
Make this a time when a vision of peace on Earth | 43:53 | |
will be renewed within each of us | 43:56 | |
and strives may be made towards sustaining that peace | 43:58 | |
in the face of so many forces which oppose it. | 44:02 | |
We thank thee, oh loving God, | 44:07 | |
for the greatest and best gift of all, | 44:09 | |
Jesus Christ our Lord | 44:12 | |
that he took our common life upon him to be like us | 44:15 | |
in order that we might be like him. | 44:19 | |
May Christ be born again within the hearts | 44:22 | |
of each of us | 44:25 | |
as we await his coming patiently. | 44:27 | |
This we ask for thy love's sake. | 44:30 | |
Amen. | 44:33 | |
As a forgiven and reconciled people, | 44:37 | |
let us offer our gifts | 44:41 | |
and ourselves unto God. | 44:42 | |
Today's offering will be given | 44:45 | |
to the Durham Emergency Energy Fund. | 44:46 | |
(lively organ music) | 44:53 | |
(choir singing) | 45:25 | |
(lively organ music) | 47:11 | |
♪ Gloria, gloria ♪ | 47:44 | |
♪ Gloria, gloria ♪ | 47:47 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 47:51 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 47:59 | |
♪ Gloria, Gloria ♪ | 48:06 | |
♪ Gloria, Gloria ♪ | 48:10 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 48:14 | |
♪ Gloria, Gloria ♪ | 48:25 | |
♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ | 48:29 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis ♪ | 48:49 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis ♪ | 48:52 | |
♪ Deo ♪ | 48:57 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis ♪ | 49:01 | |
♪ Deo ♪ | 49:05 | |
♪ In excelsis ♪ | 49:13 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ | 49:25 | |
(lively organ music) | 49:35 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 50:06 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 50:08 | |
(congregation singing) | 50:13 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 50:26 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 50:28 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 50:31 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 50:35 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 50:38 | |
- | Oh God, how excellent is thy name in all the Earth. | 50:51 |
One age declares thy goodness to another | 50:55 | |
and thy steadfast love is the mainstay of our lives. | 50:58 | |
We thank thee for the mystery of our years | 51:03 | |
and for the will to live, | 51:05 | |
for the gift of patience and the rewards it brings, | 51:07 | |
for the joy of giving | 51:11 | |
and the privilege of receiving. | 51:12 | |
Most of all, we thank thee for the gift | 51:14 | |
of thy Son Jesus Christ | 51:16 | |
who humbled himself to share in our humanity | 51:18 | |
and who taught us to pray with confidence. | 51:22 | |
All | Our Father who art in heaven, | 51:25 |
hallowed be thy name, | 51:28 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 51:29 | |
on Earth as it in heaven. | 51:32 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 51:35 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 51:37 | |
as we forgive those | 51:39 | |
who trespass against us | 51:40 | |
and lead us not into temptation | 51:43 | |
but deliver us from evil | 51:45 | |
for thine is the kingdom, the power | 51:47 | |
and the glory forever and ever. | 51:49 | |
- | And now go forth in peace | 51:55 |
as we look froward to the coming of our Lord Jesus | 51:56 | |
and may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, | 52:00 | |
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 52:03 | |
be with you all now and forever more, amen. | 52:05 | |
(lively organ music) | 52:11 | |
(congregation sings) | 52:31 | |
(tranquil organ music) | 54:31 | |
(choir singing) | 54:38 | |
(lively organ music) | 55:33 |
Item Info
The preservation of the Duke University Libraries Digital Collections and the Duke Digital Repository programs are supported in part by the Lowell and Eileen Aptman Digital Preservation Fund