Nancy Ferree-Clark - "Friends in Christ" (May 5, 1991)

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	(organ music)	0:00
	♪ Day by day ♪	0:56
	♪ Dear Lord of these three things I pray ♪	1:01
	♪ To see thee more clearly ♪	1:14
	♪ Love thee dearly ♪	1:21
	♪ Follow thee more nearly ♪	1:26
	♪ Day by day ♪	1:33
	♪ Day by day ♪	1:49
	♪ Day by day ♪	2:00
	♪ Dear Lord of these three things I pray ♪	2:05
	♪ To see thee more clearly ♪	2:15
	♪ Love thee more dearly ♪	2:22
	♪ Follow thee more nearly ♪	2:28
	♪ Day by day by day ♪	2:34
-	Good morning, and welcome to this service of worship	3:25
	at Duke University Chapel on this sixth Sunday of Easter.	3:28
	We are delighted to see each of you here,	3:32
	and especially to our many visitors,	3:34
	we extend a warm welcome.	3:36
	If we may be of assistance to you in any way	3:38
	during your visit to the Duke campus,	3:40
	please do not hesitate to let us know.	3:42
	I am indebted to the Reverend Ollie Jenkins	3:45
	who is campus minister for the Wesley United Methodist	3:47
	Fellowship here at Duke,	3:50
	for serving today as our presiding minister.	3:52
	Ollie is well-known to many of us	3:55
	for his active participation in the Religious Life Program	3:57
	here at Duke, and most especially this past year	4:00
	for serving as leader to the mission trip	4:03
	over Spring Break to Honduras.	4:05
	Our lector is the Reverend Debbie Luther,	4:08
	coordinator of the Graduate	4:10
	and Professional Student Fellowship	4:11
	who has served for two years here	4:13
	on the chapel and Religious Life staffs.	4:15
	Debbie is soon to graduate from the Duke Divinity School	4:18
	after which she will move on to Summerville, South Carolina,	4:21
	where she will serve as associate pastor	4:24
	at the Bethany United Methodist Church.	4:27
	We thank her for her excellent service here at the chapel	4:29
	and wish her well in her future ministry.	4:32
	We are also grateful to the North Carolina Boys Choir	4:35
	for their spirited leadership in today's service	4:38
	and to the Reverend Karen Westerfield Tucker,	4:41
	lecturer in Liturgistics at Duke Divinity School	4:43
	for serving as our second organist	4:47
	alongside chapel organist David Arcus.	4:49
	The North Carolina Boys Choir is led, by the way,	4:52
	by Mr. Bill Graham, to whom we are extremely indebted	4:54
	for his leadership in this program today.	4:57
	Please note the remaining announcements	5:01
	as they are printed in your bulletins,	5:03
	and now let us stand for the greeting.	5:05
	Christ is risen	5:12
-	The Lord is risen indeed.
	Glory and honor, dominion and power	5:17
	be to God forever and ever.	5:20
Congregation	Christ is risen, hallelujah.	5:23
	(organ music)	5:29
	♪ Our God our help in ages past ♪	5:53
	♪ Our hope for years to come ♪	5:59
	♪ Our shelter from the stormy blast ♪	6:05
	♪ And our eternal home ♪	6:12
	♪ Under the shadow of thy throne ♪	6:20
	♪ Thy saints have dwelt secure ♪	6:26
	♪ Sufficient is thine arm alone ♪	6:33
	♪ And our defense is sure ♪	6:39
	♪ Before the fields in order stood ♪	6:48
	♪ Or earth received her frame ♪	6:54
	♪ From everlasting thou art God ♪	7:00
	♪ To endless years the same ♪	7:07
	♪ A thousand ages in thy sight ♪	7:16
	♪ Are like an evening gone ♪	7:22
	♪ Short as the watch that ends the night ♪	7:28
	♪ Before the rising sun ♪	7:35
	♪ Time like an ever rolling stream ♪	7:43
	♪ Bears all its sons away ♪	7:50
	♪ They fly, forgotten as a dream ♪	7:57
	♪ Dies at the opening day ♪	8:02
	♪ Our God our help in ages past ♪	8:11
	♪ Our hope for years to come ♪	8:19
	♪ Be Thou our God while troubles last ♪	8:25
	♪ And our eternal home ♪	8:32
-	Let us pray.	8:45
	Lord, you have gathered us here.	8:49
	You have given us faith.	8:52
	You have given us a desire to worship and confess,	8:55
	and sing hymns of praise and thanksgiving.	8:59
	You have given us gifts for worship,	9:03
	preaching, and music, and silence.	9:05
	You have given us the church as a place	9:10
	in which we are shaped into worshipful people.	9:13
	So in this hour, let us be faithful	9:18
	to all that you have done.	9:20
	In the name of the blessed Trinity, amen.	9:23
	You may be seated.	9:27
-	Let us pray.	9:40
	O living God, bring us forth from death to life,	9:43
	so that as the Scriptures are read	9:48
	and your Word is proclaimed,	9:51
	we might be brought to a sure	9:53
	and living faith in your lordship, amen.	9:55
	A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.	10:03
	While Peter was still speaking,	10:08
	the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.	10:11
	The circumcised believers who had come with Peter	10:16
	were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit	10:19
	had been poured out even on the Gentiles,	10:22
	for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.	10:26
	Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water	10:31
	"for baptizing these people	10:35
	"who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"	10:37
	So he ordered them to be baptized	10:42
	in the name of Jesus Christ.	10:44
	Then they invited him to stay for several days.	10:47
	This is the word of the Lord.	10:53
All	Thanks be to God.	10:55
-	Please stand and join me responsively	11:02
	in the reading of Psalm 98 found on page 818 in your hymnal.	11:05
	O sing to the Lord a new song	11:17
	for the Lord has done marvelous things.	11:20
	God's right hand and holy arm have gotten the victory.	11:24
All	The Lord has declared victory	11:28
	and has revealed his vindication	11:31
	in the sight of the nations.	11:33
-	The Lord has remembered his steadfast love	11:36
	and faithfulness to the house of Israel.	11:39
All	All the ends of the earth	11:42
	have seen the victory of our God.	11:44
-	Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.	11:48
All	Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.	11:52
-	Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,	11:56
	with the lyre and the sound of melody.	11:59
All	With trumpets and the sounds of the horn,	12:03
	make a joyful noise before the ruler, the Lord.	12:06
-	Let the sea roar and all that fills it,	12:10
	the world and all those who dwell in it.	12:14
All	Let the floods clap their hands,	12:17
	let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord	12:20
	who comes to judge the earth.	12:24
	The Lord will judge the world with righteousness	12:27
	and the peoples with equity.	12:31
	(congregation muffled singing with organ music)	12:41
-	A reading from the first letter of John.	13:43
	Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ	13:49
	has been born of God,	13:52
	and everyone who loves the parent, loves the child.	13:54
	By this we know that we love the children of God	13:59
	when we love God and obey his commandments.	14:03
	For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments,	14:08
	and his commandments are not burdensome.	14:13
	For whatever is born of God conquers the world,	14:16
	and this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.	14:20
	Who is it that conquers the world	14:26
	but the one who believes that Jesus Christ	14:28
	is the Son of God.	14:31
	This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ,	14:34
	not with the water only, but with the water and the blood.	14:39
	And the Spirit is the one that testifies,	14:44
	for the Spirit is the truth.	14:47
	This is the word of the Lord.	14:51
All	Thanks be to God.	14:54
	(organ music)	15:07
	(boys' choir vocalizing)	15:22
-	A reading from the gospel according to Saint John.	18:25
	Jesus addresses the disciples in his final discourse	18:29
	prior to the betrayal and crucifixion.	18:33
	As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.	18:37
	Abide in my love.	18:43
	If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love	18:45
	just as I have kept my Father's commandments	18:49
	and abide in His love.	18:52
	I have said these things to you	18:55
	so that my joy may be in you	18:57
	and that your joy may be complete.	18:59
	This is my commandment, that you love one another	19:03
	as I have loved you.	19:07
	No one has greater love than this	19:09
	to lay down one's life for one's friends.	19:12
	You are my friends if you do what I command you.	19:16
	I do not call you servants any longer	19:20
	because the servant does not know what the master is doing,	19:23
	but I have called you friends	19:28
	because I have made known to you	19:30
	everything that I have heard from my Father.	19:32
	You did not choose me, but I chose you,	19:37
	and I appointed you to go and bear fruit,	19:41
	fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you	19:44
	whatever you ask in my name.	19:48
	I am giving you these commands	19:52
	so that you may love one another.	19:54
	This is the word of the Lord.	19:58
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	20:02
-	For all the talk about commandments	20:07
	and their importance in our lives,	20:10
	I sometimes wonder what their future really is.	20:11
	Granted, commandments usually receive	20:15
	a good bit of attention on Sunday mornings,	20:18
	but I'm just not so sure that holds true	20:20
	for the rest of the week.	20:23
	When was the last time you actually used	20:25
	the word commandment in a conversation?	20:27
	I worry that it may be falling into a list	20:31
	of endangered vocabulary, such as beget or beseech,	20:33
	which still sound relevant in the sacred space	20:38
	of a gothic cathedral or even in a little tiny church	20:41
	in the countryside somewhere,	20:45
	but increasingly is being ignored in our daily lives.	20:47
	Much of our world regards religious commandments	20:52
	with a good deal of suspicion,	20:55
	while offering alternative, more palatable philosophies	20:57
	for autonomous free-thinking individuals to live by.	21:01
	Follow your own light, maximize your own potential,	21:04
	competition before cooperation,	21:10
	anything for the sake of a dollar, to name a few,	21:12
	commandments dressed up not to look like commandments.	21:16
	Fortunately for the church, our story is based	21:22
	on the language of commandments	21:25
	and we acknowledge it as such.	21:27
	We live under the common authority of God's Word	21:30
	and the Christian community's interpretation of it	21:33
	where we have heard the good news of God's intervention	21:36
	through Christ on our behalf.	21:39
	In grateful response to God's love for us,	21:42
	we accept God's commands.	21:45
	So the John the evangelist makes no bones	21:49
	about the commandment which Christ has issued	21:51
	in his farewell discourse to the disciples.	21:53
	This is my commandment, that you love one another	21:56
	as I have loved you.	22:00
	What is initiated by God and is made incarnate	22:02
	through Christ lives on in the church	22:05
	through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that is love.	22:08
	God's entire command to the church as found in John's gospel	22:12
	is literally summarized in the words love one another.	22:17
	In contrast to the type of moral or ethical instructions	22:22
	we often associate with the word commandment.	22:26
	This evangelist believed it was sufficient to say	22:30
	that we have the model of Jesus	22:33
	who came to do God's will which he obeyed even to death,	22:35
	and that his life compels us to love one another.	22:39
	That single command includes and fulfills all others.	22:43
	How to interpret that command	22:49
	in the various situations we confront each day	22:50
	can be discerned by those who abide in God's love	22:53
	and are taught by the Spirit.	22:57
	As Christ explained to his disciples	23:00
	in the passage just preceding today's gospel,	23:02
	the figure of the vine and its branches	23:05
	is an image which depicts the relationship	23:08
	of the Christian to God.	23:10
	I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser.	23:12
	You are the branches; abide in my love.	23:17
	To abide in Christ suggests a divine	23:22
	indwelling of the Holy Spirit,	23:25
	not in terms of a sort of exalted mysticism,	23:27
	but in terms of keeping God's commandments.	23:30
	It implies a relationship of trust,	23:33
	knowledge, unity, and love.	23:37
	Just as Christ was able to remain or abide in God	23:40
	from whom he came while he was still on earth,	23:44
	the disciples and indeed the whole church	23:47
	are able to abide in Christ after his ascension.	23:50
	To abide in Christ therefore implies	23:55
	both love and obedience, which the figure of the vine	23:57
	and its branches so beautifully illustrates.	24:01
	Apart from the vine, the source of life,	24:04
	the branch can never bear fruit.	24:07
	The branch will whither, be thrown into the fire and burned,	24:10
	for apart from him, we can do nothing.	24:13
	But every branch that abides in Christ will bear much fruit	24:16
	and will be pruned by the vinedresser	24:20
	to increase its yield that we may glorify God.	24:22
	In return, if we abide in Christ,	24:27
	we ask whatever we will and it will be done for us.	24:29
	God will not forsake us.	24:32
	Love and obedience are therefore mutually dependent.	24:35
	We love in obedience to God's command	24:39
	and we obey God's command because we love.	24:42
	But can love really be commanded, you ask?	24:46
	Is this not a misunderstanding of the very nature of love?	24:50
	Well, based on the population notion	24:55
	that loves comes to us on a moonlit night	24:57
	wafting in on a summer breeze,	24:59
	that may appear to be the case.	25:01
	But based on Jesus' teachings, it is not.	25:03
	In the context of Jesus' command,	25:07
	his distinctive understanding of love, known as agape,	25:09
	is not primarily a feeling, but an act of will.	25:14
	As most of us know, producing a warm fuzzy feeling	25:19
	on demand is about as easy	25:22
	as producing a yawn or a sneeze.	25:24
	When Jesus tells us to love one another,	25:27
	it is not in the sense of producing	25:29
	a warm feeling on demand.	25:31
	On the contrary, he is telling us to love our neighborhood	25:34
	in the sense of being willing to work for their wellbeing,	25:37
	even if it means sacrificing our own wellbeing to that end.	25:42
	The primary example by which that love for one another	25:47
	is measured is God's love for the world and Christ's love,	25:50
	which carried it out in complete obedience.	25:54
	According to today's text, the supreme act of love	25:57
	for each of us is the giving of one's life for the other.	26:01
	Love, understood in Jesus' terms,	26:06
	is volitional rather than emotional.	26:09
	The person who loves truly does so	26:12
	because of a decision to do so	26:14
	in response to God's love for us.	26:17
	That person has made a commitment to be loving,	26:20
	whether or not a loving feeling is present.	26:22
	If it is, so much the better.	26:25
	But if it isn't, the commitment to love,	26:28
	the will to love, still stands and is exercised.	26:31
	This is commonly experienced in marriage	26:36
	when the dewy-eyed, all is right with the world feeling	26:39
	of romantic love is over,	26:42
	and the couple wakes up one morning	26:44
	to discover that their affection for each other	26:46
	can no longer be taken for granted.	26:49
	This will to love one another is about to be tested.	26:51
	Fortunately in the case of marriage,	26:56
	there are legal and societal norms	26:58
	meant to lend support to a marriage	27:01
	which may be tottering on the brink of disaster	27:04
	more so in the past perhaps than now	27:07
	which do in fact encourage couples	27:10
	to willfully carry through on their commitment.	27:12
	No one rejoices in divorce, and the death of a marriage	27:16
	is generally experienced with deep loss and grief.	27:20
	We still believe that marriages are meant to endure.	27:24
	Such is not always the case	27:29
	with other kinds of relationships, however.	27:30
	We live in a fast-paced extremely mobile society.	27:33
	Let conflicts or differences emerge	27:37
	between friends or neighbors which require more energy	27:39
	to resolve than they seem worth,	27:43
	and the feeling of love is no longer enough	27:45
	to sustain a relationship.	27:48
	Relationships come and go for so many different reasons	27:50
	that we are more inclined to limit	27:54
	our level of investment in them than to go the extra mile	27:56
	in order simply to protect ourselves.	28:01
	Add to that the everyday challenges involved	28:04
	in loving neighbor who already thinks differently,	28:06
	acts differently, worships differently,	28:10
	is of a different race, gender, sexual orientation,	28:13
	or ethnic background than we happen to be,	28:17
	and the commandment to love one another	28:20
	becomes a tremendous test of will.	28:22
	We cannot expect it to simply come naturally.	28:25
	In seven years of ministry here at Duke Chapel,	28:30
	I've had ample opportunity to observe the ways	28:32
	in which all of us, our own community,	28:35
	are hungry for more love.	28:38
	And I am convinced more than ever that loving one another,	28:40
	be it family, friend, or stranger	28:43
	requires sustained, concentrated effort,	28:46
	not just a good feeling or good intentions.	28:50
	Indeed, love is always a form of work or a form of courage,	28:54
	according to a well-known psychiatrist.	28:59
	When we extend ourselves for the sake of another,	29:01
	we do so in opposition to the inertia of laziness	29:04
	or the resistance to fear.	29:08
	Moving out against the inertia of laziness, we call work.	29:11
	Moving out in the face of fear, we call courage.	29:15
	If an act of love is not one of work or of courage,	29:18
	then it is probably not an act of love.	29:22
	Consider for a moment the work of love.	29:26
	Perhaps the principle form that it takes is attention.	29:29
	When we love someone, we give him or her our attention.	29:33
	We attend to that person's needs.	29:37
	One of the most common ways	29:40
	that we exercise attention is by listening.	29:42
	We spend an enormous amount of time listening.	29:45
	It seems it would be one of the easiest ways	29:48
	to love another human being,	29:50
	yet most of us listen rather poorly.	29:52
	I'm reminded of the way two different students	29:56
	may experience a lecture in the same classroom.	29:59
	For the distracted, preoccupied student,	30:03
	a lecture on a topic of only marginal interest to him or her	30:06
	will leave that student bored and listless,	30:10
	while he or she retains very little of the material.	30:14
	But for the student who loves the subject and the teacher,	30:18
	tremendous effort will go into listening to every word	30:21
	which is exchanged in that class.	30:24
	Rather than experiencing it as boredom,	30:27
	he or she will leave the classroom energized and excited.	30:30
	Listening is a two-way street.	30:34
	When we give of ourselves, we also are preparing to receive.	30:37
	An even better example comes from the experience	30:42
	of any parent or friend to young children.	30:45
	The idea that children should be seen and not heard	30:49
	has its origins in the reality	30:53
	that truly listening to children requires effort.	30:55
	So children are subjected	30:59
	to an inordinate amount of fake listening.	31:00
	Whereas some people may allow the child to chatter away	31:04
	without fanning any interest at all,	31:07
	others may pretend to listen,	31:09
	proceeding along with an occasional uh-huh,	31:12
	or isn't that nice,	31:14
	at more or less appropriate times in the monologue.	31:16
	For those who truly stop to listen to children,	31:19
	it's obvious that good listening	31:22
	requires tremendous concentration.	31:24
	In particular, listening means the giving up	31:27
	or the setting aside at least of one's own prejudices,	31:30
	desires, and frames of reference	31:34
	in an attempt to experience the speaker's world	31:37
	from the inside.	31:40
	It also involves a total acceptance of the other,	31:42
	enabling the speaker to feel less and less vulnerable	31:45
	and more and more trusting to open up to the listener.	31:48
	No wonder Jesus chose the example of children	31:53
	to illustrate to the disciples the approach	31:57
	they were to take in spreading the news of the kingdom,	31:59
	an openness to acceptance and inclusion	32:03
	of the least of these lies at the heart	32:06
	of the command to love one another,	32:09
	and that acceptance implies expenditure of effort.	32:11
	Sadly, the time and energy required for genuine listening,	32:16
	of being present to another person,	32:20
	is often in short supply.	32:23
	How many students have remarked to me	32:25
	that they never really had the occasion to talk openly	32:28
	with a faculty member or to be truly heard	32:31
	by a parent or a busy friend.	32:34
	Ours is a culture that rewards workaholic behavior	32:37
	and discounts the importance of time	32:41
	given to building relationships.	32:43
	Is it any surprise that students being schooled	32:45
	in those ways of thinking feel caught in the crunch?	32:48
	They still have needs, even as they are being taught	32:53
	by example to ignore them,	32:55
	especially for those who for too long have had no voice.	32:58
	The love represented by a listening ear	33:03
	provides a pathway to healing and empowerment.	33:05
	The act of love also requires moving out	33:11
	against resistance created by fear.	33:13
	When we extend ourselves to love another person,	33:17
	we enter into new and unfamiliar territory,	33:19
	and the experience, for most of us at least, is frightening.	33:24
	It often involves the risk of loss or rejection.	33:28
	If you reach out to another person,	33:32
	there's always the risk that person will move away from you.	33:34
	Love anything that lives, and it will die.	33:38
	Trust somebody, and you may be hurt.	33:42
	Depend on anyone, and that one may let you down.	33:45
	A person who is determined not to risk pain	33:50
	is unwilling to love.	33:53
	Try to love another,	33:55
	and pain as well as joy will be your reward.	33:56
	A full life will be full of pain	34:00
	as Christ himself revealed to us.	34:03
	But the only alternative to that pain	34:06
	is not truly living at all.	34:07
	An act of love, therefore, requires courage in spite of fear	34:10
	and the risk of loss or rejection.	34:15
	As if loving one's neighbor were not hard enough already,	34:18
	there are even those times when we're called	34:22
	to love someone we do not like.	34:24
	Consider the case of the good Samaritan as an example.	34:27
	We never really find out in that story	34:31
	if the good Samaritan liked the man in the ditch	34:34
	whose life he saved, but it can be surmised	34:37
	that on first appearances, he had no reason to.	34:40
	In Jesus' terms, we can love our neighbor	34:44
	without necessarily liking them.	34:47
	That doesn't mean that liking may not be a part of loving,	34:51
	only that it doesn't need to be.	34:55
	Sometimes, surprisingly enough,	34:57
	liking can even follow on the heels of loving.	35:00
	You know, it's hard to work for someone's wellbeing	35:04
	very long without coming in the end	35:07
	rather to like him or her.	35:10
	As Jesus called his disciples friends	35:13
	because he had revealed the love of God to them,	35:15
	so we befriend each other as we share that same love,	35:18
	one with another.	35:22
	If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.	35:25
	These things have I spoken to you that my joy may be in you	35:30
	and that your joy may be full.	35:34
	To live in the world and yet within the constancy	35:37
	of God's love is to live the joy of which Christ's speaks.	35:40
	A parent knows so well the ecstasy	35:46
	which accompanies the hard work of raising a child.	35:49
	But so does the concerned volunteer	35:53
	who faithfully prepared meals at the soup kitchen	35:55
	know the joy of feeding a hungry person,	35:58
	the patient doctor or nurse who cares	36:01
	for the sick and the dying,	36:04
	the teacher or coach who attentively listens	36:06
	to children or students who never feel heard at home,	36:09
	the neighbor who performs a thoughtful deed	36:13
	in the middle of a crisis,	36:15
	the stranger who offers a hand	36:17
	or even a listening ear in time of need.	36:20
	Christ's parting words to his disciples	36:24
	could have been filled with grief and despair,	36:26
	but this assurance from Christ that his joy resides in us	36:29
	when we love one another is for us a message of hope.	36:33
	It reminds us that God's commandments are not burdensome,	36:37
	even though we expect them to be,	36:41
	when we rest in God's love.	36:43
	Through the work of the Holy Spirit and the church,	36:46
	we will do more than simply survive.	36:49
	We flourish into the fullness of life,	36:52
	dwelling in God's own presence	36:55
	when we follow his command to love.	36:56
	What more could we ever ask for?	37:00
	Christ has called us to be his friends.	37:03
	Thanks be to God.	37:07
	(organ music)	37:15
	♪ Love divine, all loves excelling ♪	37:45
	♪ Joy of heaven to earth come down ♪	37:51
	♪ Fix in us thy humble dwelling ♪	37:59
	♪ All thy faithful mercies crown ♪	38:06
	♪ Jesu, thou art all compassion ♪	38:12
	♪ Pure, unbounded love thou art ♪	38:19
	♪ Visit us with thy salvation ♪	38:27
	♪ Enter every trembling heart ♪	38:34
	♪ Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit ♪	38:44
	♪ Into every troubled breast ♪	38:52
	♪ Let us all in thee inherit ♪	39:00
	♪ Let us find that second rest ♪	39:06
	♪ Take away the love of sinning ♪	39:14
	♪ Alpha and Omega be ♪	39:21
	♪ End of faith, as its beginning ♪	39:28
	♪ Sets our hearts at liberty. ♪	39:35
	♪ Come almighty to deliver ♪	39:46
	♪ Let us all thy life receive ♪	39:52
	♪ Suddenly return and never ♪	40:00
	♪ Never more thy temples leave ♪	40:07
	♪ Thee we always would be blessing ♪	40:14
	♪ Serve thee as thy hosts above ♪	40:21
	♪ Pray and praise thee without ceasing ♪	40:28
	♪ Glory in thy perfect love ♪	40:35
	♪ Finish then thy new creation ♪	40:45
	♪ Pure and spotless let us be ♪	40:53
	♪ Let us see thy great salvation ♪	41:00
	♪ Perfectly restored in thee ♪	41:08
	♪ Changed from glory into glory ♪	41:15
	♪ Till in heaven we take our place ♪	41:22
	♪ Till we cast our crowns before thee ♪	41:30
	♪ Lost in wonder, love, and praise ♪	41:37
-	The Lord be with you.	41:51
-	And also with you.
-	Let us pray.	41:54
	Lord, we live much of our lives as if you do not exist	42:04
	or as if you do not love us	42:10
	or as if we worship other gods.	42:13
	In this silence, we offer you our confessions.	42:17
	As friend, we trust you to accept them with mercy.	42:21
	In silence, let us confess.	42:26
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	43:01
	Lord, by your cross we know	43:07
	that you have not just befriended us,	43:10
	but have also befriended those people in Bangladesh.	43:13
	We pray for all those suffering there,	43:18
	the families without homes,	43:20
	the children who have lost parents,	43:23
	the parents whose children were swept away.	43:26
	Because you have made us their friends,	43:30
	send us, the church, there to share their suffering	43:34
	and to be your signs of hope and care.	43:39
	You have commanded us to love them.	43:44
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	43:48
	By your cross, you have become friends	43:55
	with those people in Peru and Chile,	43:56
	those dying of this cholera epidemic.	44:00
	You have made us their friends, too,	44:04
	and have commanded us to love them.	44:06
	So send us there to take the risk of dying with them,	44:10
	as a sign of the kind of love you offer.	44:16
	Send the church to that village	44:21
	where people need clean water and medicine	44:23
	and hope and signs of you in the world.	44:27
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	44:33
	For those refugees in Iran, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq,	44:40
	we pray for all those Arabs you have given us as friends,	44:45
	we ask your blessings this day.	44:52
	As friends of theirs, we beg your forgiveness	44:56
	for all the suffering we have caused.	44:59
	So send us now to them.	45:04
	Let Christians replace the soldiers.	45:09
	Let us restore the homes, plant the fields,	45:11
	feed the orphans, care for the widows.	45:17
	Lord, you have commanded us to love.	45:23
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	45:27
	For all of our friends and family hospitalized	45:35
	or sick at home, we ask your blessings for them	45:38
	and on us who must care for them faithfully.	45:43
	For Rowena Harden and all those we now name for you.	45:48
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	45:58
	Lord, we pray for all the graduating seniors	46:04
	and those graduate and professional students	46:07
	who are graduating this month.	46:10
	Enable them to find places of ministry	46:13
	in this world so desperate for you	46:16
	and signs of your friendship.	46:19
	Take from them and from all of us that self-serving ambition	46:22
	and replace it with Christ's heart.	46:27
	Replace it with your eyes for the poor,	46:31
	with your hands for the sick and lonely,	46:33
	with your voice for those desperate to hear good news.	46:38
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	46:47
	And we pray for Nancy this morning,	46:53
	giving thanks to you, Lord, for the good news	46:55
	you have spoken through her throughout her ministry,	46:58
	for the light you shine through her	47:02
	into an often dark and violent world,	47:05
	for all those she has counseled and married in your name,	47:10
	for all of us who have been led in worship	47:15
	and shaped into worshipful people,	47:17
	for all those she has befriended in the name of Jesus	47:21
	and thus taught us of your friendship with us.	47:25
	We give you, God, such great thanks.	47:29
	We believe you will continue to bless her ministry	47:34
	as she both trains future pastors	47:37
	and models for future ministers the life of Christ.	47:41
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	47:46
	Thank you for calling us to prayer	47:51
	and for hearing us when we do pray.	47:54
	All these things we ask in your name, amen.	47:58
	Let us now offer God our signs of friendship	48:04
	and love and thanksgiving.	48:08
	(organ music)	48:43
	(boys' choir vocalizing)	48:54
	(organ music)	54:27
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	55:15
	♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪	55:21
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	55:27
	♪ Praise him above ye heavenly host ♪	55:35
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	55:41
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	55:48
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	55:55
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:02
-	Lord, we come to you as friends,	56:18
	offering you a gesture of thanksgiving.	56:20
	Help us not to be satisfied with this gesture,	56:23
	but transform us into people who offer you	56:26
	our whole lives in prayer and thanksgiving,	56:30
	a living and holy sacrifice.	56:33
	Sanctify us through our prayers,	56:36
	through this prayer you taught us as we say	56:40
All	Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.	56:43
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	56:48
	on earth as it is in heaven.	56:51
	Give us this day our daily bread,	56:54
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	56:57
	who trespass against us.	57:01
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	57:04
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	57:09
	and the glory forever, amen.	57:12
	Christ is risen indeed,	57:17
	and because of the cross and resurrection,	57:20
	we can now go into the world in peace and joy	57:23
	to love as God has loved us.	57:28
	So go and serve our God, in the name of the blessed Trinity,	57:31
	world without end, amen.	57:36
	(boys' choir vocalizing)	57:49
	(organ music)	59:04
	♪ Rejoice the Lord is king ♪	59:30
	♪ Your Lord and king adore ♪	59:35
	♪ Mortals, give thanks and sing ♪	59:40
	♪ And triumph evermore ♪	59:43
	♪ Lift up your heart ♪	59:50
	♪ Lift your voice, rejoice ♪	59:55
	♪ Again I say rejoice ♪	59:59
	♪ Rejoice, your Savior reigns ♪	1:00:08
	♪ The God of truth and love ♪	1:00:13
	♪ When he had purged our stains ♪	1:00:18
	♪ He took his seat above ♪	1:00:22
	♪ Lift up your heart ♪	1:00:28
	♪ Lift up your voice, rejoice ♪	1:00:34
	♪ Again I say rejoice ♪	1:00:38
	♪ His kingdom cannot fail ♪	1:00:48
	♪ He rules o'er heaven and earth ♪	1:00:53
	♪ The keys of death and hell ♪	1:00:58
	♪ Are to our Jesus given ♪	1:01:01
	♪ Lift up your heart ♪	1:01:08
	♪ Lift up your voice, rejoice ♪	1:01:13
	♪ Again I say rejoice ♪	1:01:17
	♪ Rejoice in glorious hope ♪	1:01:26
	♪ Jesus the Judge shall come ♪	1:01:33
	♪ And take his servants up ♪	1:01:38
	♪ To their eternal home ♪	1:01:42
	♪ We soon shall hear the archangel voice ♪	1:01:48
	♪ The trump of God shall sound, rejoice ♪	1:01:57
	(organ music)	1:02:14

Item Info

Title:

Nancy Ferree-Clark - "Friends in Christ" (May 5, 1991)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 20:07. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 37:10.
Love requires sustained, concentrated effort. Love is always a form of work or a form of courage. Love, and the listening required for such, is vitally important because it offers the opportunity for healing. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “In the context of Jesus’ command, his distinctive understanding of love, known as agape, is not primarily a feeling, but an act of will. As most of us know, producing a warm, fuzzy feeling on demand is about as easy as producing a yawn or a sneeze. When Jesus tells us to love one another, it is not in the sense of producing a warm feeling on demand. On the contrary, he is telling us to love our neighbor in the sense of being willing to work for their well-being. Even if it means sacrificing our own well-being to that end.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4901zw7v

Date:

May 5, 1991

Speaker:

Ferree-Clark, Nancy

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0231
ref8938_wit
uachapelsermaud
duke:321311
dcrmv001221
ark:/87924/r4901zw7v
13f3da80-e47c-4a5f-8dd7-5fdba343f564

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

Unknown Rights-Holder

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Nancy Ferree-Clark - "Friends in Christ" (May 5, 1991)

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1. Nancy Ferree-Clark - "Friends in Christ" (May 5, 1991)

Duke University Archives

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Nancy Ferree-Clark - "Friends in Christ" (May 5, 1991)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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