James Earl Massey - "Looking Beyond Our Laments" (June 9, 1991)

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	(church organ music)	0:00
-	Welcome to this service of worship at Duke University	2:44
	chapel	2:48
	on this third Sunday after Pentecost.	2:49
	We are grateful to doctor James Ferguson who is a member	2:53
	of the congregational counsel, for serving as lector today.	2:56
	Our guest preacher is the Reverend Doctor James Earl Massey,	3:01
	Dean of Anderson Theological Seminary in Anderson, Indiana.	3:06
	A noted pastor, preacher and new testament scholar,	3:12
	Doctor Massey preached here at Duke chapel two years ago,	3:16
	and we are grateful that he is back with us today.	3:20
	And now would you stand for the greeting.	3:25
	A symbol with songs on your lips and expectation	3:33
	in your hearts.	3:37
	(everyone mumbles response)	3:39
	Look not to things that are seen but to realities	3:47
	that are unseen.	3:51
	(everyone mumbles response)	3:53
	Give thanks to God among all the people, praise God	4:00
	among all the nations.	4:05
	(everyone mumbles response)	4:08
	(church organ music)	4:14
	(O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing is sung)	4:36
	Oh great and eternal God,	7:42
	abundant in power and mercy,	7:44
	we have hope because of your steadfast love.	7:48
	You bless us and empower us to bless each other.	7:52
	Enable us to receive your unseen hand in the unfolding	7:57
	of our lives.	8:02
	Grant that we may affirm what can be affirm and risk	8:03
	what has to be risked for the sake of human dignity.	8:08
	May we attend to the sometime gentle, and sometime	8:13
	compelling guidance of your holy spirit, that we may know	8:17
	the joy you give your people.	8:22
	In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	8:26
	(whispers) You may be seated.	8:31
-	Let us pray.	8:42
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God by the,	8:44
Everyone	power of your holy spirit	8:48
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed, we might	8:50
	hear with joy what you say to us this day.	8:54
-	Amen.	8:58
	The first lesson is taken from the 47th chapter	9:01
	of the Book of Genesis.	9:05
	Beginning at the seventh verse.	9:07
	Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and presented	9:11
	him before Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.	9:14
	Pharaoh said to Jacob, how many are the years of your life?	9:19
	Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my earthly sojourn	9:25
	are one hundred thirty.	9:29
	Few and hard have been the years of my life.	9:32
	They do no compare with the years of the life	9:36
	of my ancestors during their long sojourn."	9:39
	Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from	9:44
	the presence of Pharaoh.	9:47
	This is the word of the Lord.	9:49
Everyone	Praise be to God.	9:52
Singer	The Psalm is number 147,	10:06
	found on page 859 and 860.	10:08
	Please stand as we sing responsively.	10:10
-	Praise the Lord.	10:22
	For it is good to sing praises to our God,	10:23
	a song of praise is fitting.	10:27
	(everyone singing in response)	10:31
	The Lord heals the brokenhearted	10:41
	and binds up their wounds.	10:44
	(everyone singing in response)	10:48
	Great is our Lord	10:57
	and an abundant in power,	10:59
	whose understanding is beyond measure.	11:02
	(everyone singing in response)	11:07
	Sing to the Lord, with Thanksgiving.	11:16
	(everyone singing in response)	11:21
	Who covers the heavens with clouds,	11:26
	prepares rain for the Earth,	11:29
	makes grass grow,	11:32
	upon the hills.	11:35
	(everyone singing response)	11:37
	For our Lord takes no delight in the might of a horse,	11:46
	nor pleasure in the strength of our runner.	11:52
	(everyone singing in response)	11:57
	Oh glory be to you oh God,	12:08
	and to Jesus Christ, our savior.	12:11
	(everyone singing in response)	12:15
	As it was	12:20
	since time began,	12:22
	(everyone singing in response)	12:24
-	The epistle is written in the fourth chapter of Paul's	12:49
	second letter to the Corinthians,	12:53
	beginning at the 13th verse.	12:55
	But just as we have the same spirit of faith that	12:58
	is in accordance with scripture, I believed and so I spoke,	13:01
	we also believe and so we speak.	13:06
	Because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus,	13:10
	will raise us also with Jesus and will bring us with you	13:13
	into his presence.	13:18
	Yes everything is for your sake so that grace as it extends	13:20
	to more and more people may increase thanksgiving	13:25
	to the glory of God.	13:29
	So we do not lose heart, even though our outer nature	13:32
	is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed	13:36
	day by day.	13:40
	For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us	13:42
	for an eternal weight of glory, beyond all measure.	13:46
	Because we look not at what can be seen,	13:50
	but at what cannot be seen.	13:53
	For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot	13:56
	be seen is eternal.	14:00
	For we know that if the earthly tent we live in	14:03
	is destroyed, we have a building from God.	14:06
	A house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.	14:10
	This is the word of the Lord.	14:15
Everyone	Praise be to God.	14:18
	(Bless Thou the Lord is sung)	14:22
-	The holy gospel is written in the third chapter	17:48
	of the gospel according to St. Mark, beginning	17:52
	at the 20th verse.	17:55
	"And the crowd came together again so that they could	17:58
	not even eat.	18:01
	When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him.	18:04
	For people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind."	18:07
	And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said,	18:11
	"He has Beelzebub and by the ruler of the demons,	18:15
	he casts out demons."	18:19
	And he called them to him and spoke to them in parables.	18:21
	"How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided	18:25
	against itself, that kingdom cannot stand	18:30
	and if a house is divided against itself,	18:34
	that house will not be able to stand.	18:37
	And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided,	18:40
	he cannot stand, but his end has come.	18:44
	But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder	18:49
	his property without first tying up the strong man.	18:52
	Then indeed, the house can be plundered.	18:56
	Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins	19:00
	and whatever blasphemies they utter.	19:03
	But whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit,	19:06
	can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin	19:10
	for they had said,	19:15
	"He has an unclean spirit."	19:16
	Then his mother and his brothers came and standing outside	19:20
	they sent to him and called him.	19:24
	A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him,	19:27
	"Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside	19:30
	asking for you."	19:33
	And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"	19:35
	And looking at those who sat around him he said,	19:41
	"Here are my mother and my brothers.	19:44
	Whoever does the will of God is my brother	19:47
	and sister and mother."	19:52
	This is the word of the Lord.	19:55
Everyone	Praise be to God.	19:58
-	The sermon of the day is based upon Genesis chapter 47	20:12
	verses seven	20:18
	through 11.	20:21
	And the scene in the passage	20:24
	is of an aged Jacob,	20:27
	father of Joseph.	20:31
	Jacob is now in Egypt	20:35
	having come down at the request of his son Joseph	20:38
	because the homeland of Canaan	20:43
	was in distress because of famine.	20:45
	On this particular day,	20:51
	Jacob is standing before Pharaoh.	20:54
	Given audience	20:58
	because Pharaoh has	21:00
	held Joseph	21:03
	in such high honor,	21:04
	that he now wishes to honor the father	21:07
	of this man.	21:11
	As Pharaoh looks over the elderly man, he asks him	21:15
	a very solicitous question,	21:19
	"How old are you?"	21:23
	Jacob replies,	21:27
	but in a very strange mood.	21:31
	One would have expected him in telling his age,	21:36
	to do so with some sense of	21:40
	pleasure.	21:43
	One would have expected him, in being before Pharaoh,	21:46
	to show some sense of appreciation.	21:51
	But none of this comes through in his reply,	21:55
	he tells his age,	21:58
	but he does so in the spirit	22:01
	of unpleasantness.	22:03
	His reply reeks with lament,	22:07
	as if something else is on his mind.	22:11
	Overburdening him so that he does not act reasonably	22:15
	in a place which call for a different mood	22:20
	than what his answer shows.	22:24
	Why does Jacob,	22:29
	answer as he does?	22:31
	Two things, most readily thought as one views the passage.	22:36
	One,	22:42
	I believe Jacob answers with this kind of lament	22:44
	because he is riddled by fear.	22:51
	Fear that he might not live long enough to return to Canaan.	22:55
	This man feels like a refuge,	23:00
	because he's so far from home.	23:04
	His ancestors are buried back in Canaan and he fears	23:08
	that at his age, he won't live long enough to be	23:11
	taken back there alive	23:16
	and that his bones might have to be buried	23:19
	in a foreign soil,	23:22
	Egypt.	23:25
	All of us ought to understand how he felt about	23:30
	a proper burial and being buried in the proper place	23:33
	beside his ancestors.	23:37
	Just a few days ago, there was an electrical contractor	23:42
	who answered the call of my wife to come to the house	23:46
	and see about the outside yard light	23:50
	because it was not working.	23:54
	I was there on the morning that he arrived	23:58
	and he was an old friend so we fell to talking a bit.	24:01
	After he finished his work, we were standing beside	24:06
	the coffee and he said, "You know, I'm an old man now,	24:09
	I'm 77,	24:14
	and I'm not taking anything for granted.	24:17
	I know I don't have much longer to live.	24:19
	I've even picked out my burial place."	24:23
	And he told me the number of the crypt.	24:26
	He told me where it was.	24:32
	I said to him, "But so have I."	24:35
	Perhaps some of you have already picked out the spot	24:41
	where you want your remains to be placed, because we know	24:44
	how important it is	24:48
	to think about our end.	24:51
	That's what's happening to Jacob,	24:54
	he's thinking about his end and he does not want	24:57
	the end to come in Egypt.	24:59
	So he says to Pharaoh,	25:03
	"Few have been the days of my life."	25:06
	Now, it's very strange that he answers Pharaoh	25:10
	that he is 130 years old	25:14
	and assesses those years as having been few.	25:17
	Actually, he lived on for 17 more years and he died	25:22
	at 147 years of age.	25:26
	But he laments that he is not as old as his Father had been	25:31
	when he died, he laments that he is not as old as his	25:36
	Grandfather had been when he died.	25:40
	His Grandfather was Abraham,	25:42
	who died at 175.	25:45
	His Father was Issac,	25:48
	who died at 180.	25:50
	One would ask, why does he want to outdistance his Father	25:54
	and his Grandfather in years?	25:58
	Perhaps for the same reason that you and I wish	26:02
	to outdistance	26:05
	our Father, our Mother, our Grandfather,	26:07
	our Grandmother, the others before them in education,	26:11
	in learning,	26:17
	in experience,	26:19
	in travel,	26:20
	in finances.	26:23
	There's something about us that wants us to exceed	26:26
	those who went before us.	26:30
	Maybe that is it, perhaps nothing more.	26:32
	But we cannot say why Jacob really wanted to outdistance	26:37
	his Father and his Grandfather in the years they spent	26:41
	in the world.	26:45
	At any place,	26:48
	we find those who want to live on	26:50
	and maybe that is his concern.	26:54
	130 years had not been enough and he wants	26:57
	to keep on living.	26:59
	Whoever thinks that they have lived long enough.	27:00
	Was that it?	27:05
	Whatever the answer, the fear was dying	27:08
	outside the homeland.	27:11
	But the lament he raises over this is out of place,	27:15
	while he's being greeted courteously by Pharaoh	27:19
	who did not have to extend an invitation for him	27:22
	to come to court.	27:26
	And his reason for being in Egypt, ought to have excited	27:30
	him to the point that he should have felt glad.	27:33
	Not only to be in Egypt where there was plentiful food,	27:37
	but where he had audience to the one in power.	27:42
	Not to mention having a son, who shared	27:47
	that power with Pharaoh.	27:50
	Of all of our emotions, fear is the one that weakens	27:57
	our judgment the most.	28:00
	And Jacob's judgment is weakened	28:03
	because of this lingering fear	28:07
	that he might die outside his homeland.	28:11
	But a second reason why I believe Jacob responds	28:17
	as he does to Pharaoh,	28:19
	he's filled with remembered frustrations	28:25
	and being in Egypt is just another one.	28:29
	The depth of his disturbance is very evident when	28:36
	he laments his life not only as,	28:40
	few	28:42
	years	28:43
	in extent,	28:45
	but evil	28:46
	in content.	28:48
	Few	28:51
	and evil	28:52
	have been the days of the years of my life.	28:54
	Why does he access his life as having been evil?	28:58
	And the Hebrew word there depicts a life that is accessed	29:04
	as ruined,	29:09
	spoiled,	29:11
	worthless.	29:12
	How and why did a man at this late stage of life	29:15
	look back and think that it was all a ruined thing.	29:21
	Perhaps because he had lived by his wits.	29:27
	Because he had lived by cunning,	29:33
	by ambition,	29:37
	the disregarded principle.	29:38
	Here is a man who had a lack of care for anyone	29:42
	other than himself.	29:45
	And his way of living had led him into some very tragic	29:47
	tangles and had produced for him some very tragic times.	29:50
	Here's a man standing before Pharaoh who had been intent	29:56
	to make things go his way,	30:01
	always,	30:04
	even if he had to force matters by outsmarting other people.	30:06
	As he had done, his older brother Esau by seizing	30:11
	the birthright privileges for himself and was afterward	30:16
	on the run for many years, trying desperately to stay out	30:19
	of his angered brother's reach, so as to escape his	30:23
	angered brother's wrath.	30:27
	If his life was ruined,	30:31
	he ruined it.	30:34
	And we humans, have a way doing that.	30:37
	But as Jacob stood before Pharaoh, lamenting how young	30:44
	he was,	30:49
	at 130,	30:51
	and how evil his life had been by his estimation,	30:53
	he has forgotten how God had been	30:58
	open and responsive to him in the midst of his many crises.	31:02
	God had often blessed the life of this man and I wonder	31:09
	how could he have forgotten all of those times,	31:13
	those great times of vision and presence that God	31:16
	had granted to him in the course of his journey.	31:20
	He has forgotten,	31:25
	how life could be.	31:29
	And he has forgotten how God had given him favor to start	31:32
	over again	31:35
	and over again	31:36
	and over again.	31:38
	I wonder how could this man have forgotten that ladder	31:41
	experience in a dream,	31:45
	when he was getting ready to face Esau whom he had wronged,	31:49
	and God changed the situation for him.	31:54
	How could he have forgotten that night, that all night	31:58
	wrestling match with an angel when he won by valiant	32:00
	struggle, a change of name and a change of direction	32:05
	for his life.	32:09
	How could he could have forgotten that vision	32:11
	time at Bethel?	32:13
	What is that about us that makes the sad times	32:17
	stand out larger in our memories than the glad times?	32:22
	Is memory something with which we calculate	32:28
	and catalog events?	32:31
	Or is it something with which we forget and dismiss them?	32:35
	God had been good, God had been gracious, God had been	32:41
	present, God had been mindful,	32:44
	God had often blessed this man.	32:48
	But now he stands,	32:51
	victimized by a mood	32:53
	and all of those good times with God	32:55
	are somewhere in the past,	32:59
	locked away from his remembrance because of a mood.	33:01
	Out of which he raises a lament.	33:07
	So at a time when one would have expected joy,	33:11
	a sense of appreciation for being where he was,	33:16
	one gets a desultory	33:21
	response.	33:23
	A reply that reeks with unpleasantness,	33:25
	sorrow, and lamentation.	33:29
	Fear,	33:34
	and remembered frustrations	33:36
	occasion this mood.	33:40
	What remembered frustrations make you moody?	33:45
	Always watch how you handle them because a lament	33:51
	cannot only change you countenance making you look downcast,	33:54
	a lament can block your reason and distort your perspective.	33:58
	A lament can make you sorry company.	34:04
	I wonder what Joseph thought as he listened to his aged	34:09
	Father darken the scene in the court with such moody words.	34:11
	And I wonder what Pharaoh thought,	34:17
	as he watched and listened to the old man.	34:20
	In terms of how Joseph felt as he listened to his Father,	34:29
	I'm reminded of an experience	34:34
	recounted by	34:38
	Daddy King,	34:40
	as we affectionately called him.	34:42
	Daddy King told in his autobiography about the bitter days	34:47
	he knew as the son of a sharecropper Father.	34:50
	Growing up in Stock Ridge, Georgia.	34:53
	Their lot on the farm was unreasonably hard, the field	34:56
	work was plentiful, it was never over and the pay	34:59
	his Father received was never a fair share.	35:02
	The man was black, broke, without hope that he would	35:07
	ever own his own land and work for himself.	35:11
	So James Albert King sometimes tried to drown his troubles	35:14
	in strong drink	35:19
	and he had a lot of weekend binges.	35:22
	One season when the farm work was going badly,	35:26
	James King went to Atlanta where his son had gone	35:30
	to complete grade school.	35:34
	James King had been drinking, this was evident to the son	35:37
	and to the school principal who was standing in the office	35:41
	as the Father was speaking so harshly to his son.	35:44
	James King was insisting that his son would have to stop	35:48
	school and return with him to the farm and the boy	35:51
	was pleading and resisting the notion of having to go back.	35:54
	Very soon plain to the principal that he would have	36:00
	to intervene in this argument because the principal knew	36:02
	that the boy was 20 years old and was just now finishing	36:05
	grade school and if he didn't stay on now	36:10
	to complete grade school,	36:14
	chances were he wouldn't get to do so later.	36:16
	So he pleadingly stated to the Father, "Don't ask your	36:20
	son to do this Mr. King.	36:23
	Not when his future's so clearly tied up with his getting	36:26
	an education, we can only give him some of that here,	36:28
	maybe not enough,	36:33
	but let us try	36:35
	and let him stay to get it."	36:37
	James King bit his lip hard, paused despite his anger	36:41
	and then lurched toward the office door	36:45
	and left,	36:50
	his evident	36:52
	state of lamentation	36:54
	etched in the eyes	36:57
	of the principal and the son who was watching.	36:59
	The man's eyes had narrowed in defiance as he headed out	37:03
	along the road that would carry him back to the farm, alone.	37:06
	Having to face things without the help of a son.	37:10
	He walked out loaded with lament,	37:15
	his years still unpleasant,	37:18
	unreasonable,	37:21
	unrewarding and his mind thinking that it was all unfair.	37:22
	His son walked back down the hall, re-entered the classroom	37:28
	from which he'd been summoned, he sat down in his seat	37:32
	and tried to be attentive as the teacher went over	37:35
	the lesson that had been prescribed the previous day.	37:37
	Daddy King says,	37:42
	"I listened,	37:45
	but I was hearing very little after that."	37:47
	There are many things in life that happen to us,	37:54
	that don't allow us to hear very much	37:58
	after those things have taken place.	38:02
	What has happened in your life that has blocked out	38:06
	even the glad times that you should be remembering,	38:10
	because God produced them for you?	38:15
	There are times in life	38:22
	when a lament arises from your heart and mine,	38:25
	there have been those conditions	38:30
	which have made life, at one time or another, unpleasant.	38:32
	There have been those times when we have felt that life	38:37
	is unrewarding for our toil.	38:40
	There are conditions which to any reasonable mind	38:42
	are apparently unreasonable and unfair.	38:45
	As those five times in the life of my wife and myself	38:50
	when we lost children.	38:54
	So at this stage in our lives when we could be in love	38:59
	with grands and perhaps great-grands,	39:03
	we are childless still.	39:08
	Maybe you are thinking about conditions in your life,	39:13
	conditions that you have known,	39:18
	out of which a lament was raised in your heart.	39:21
	We all know what it is to lament and we all know why	39:25
	we sometimes indulge in the moodiness out of which	39:27
	laments arise, but any reasonable mind	39:30
	also knows that moodiness can make us like misfits,	39:33
	like Jacob standing before Pharaoh.	39:39
	So locked in the prison of his mood that his spirit lacks	39:43
	the needed openness to show gratitude for the hospitality	39:46
	now extended to him as a privileged guest in the land.	39:50
	Moods	39:56
	can make	39:57
	us misfits.	39:58
	Lingering laments can effect our work,	40:01
	they can effect our family relationships,	40:05
	lingering laments can effect our friendships,	40:09
	lingering laments	40:12
	can effect our very souls.	40:15
	Thank God there is a way out of the lament mood.	40:21
	There is a way out of the prison house of our feelings.	40:26
	That	40:31
	road of faith,	40:33
	is the way.	40:35
	Faith.	40:38
	Faith that life is not through with us.	40:40
	If only Jacob had know that.	40:44
	If only he had known that he would live for 17 more years.	40:48
	But he's not thinking about that now, he's lamenting.	40:52
	We need faith, not only that life is not through with us,	40:57
	but faith that feelings are never the final fact	41:00
	in anyone's life.	41:04
	We need faith that God still cares about us, that God	41:06
	still knows who we are, God knows where we are,	41:10
	and God knows what is happening to us where we are.	41:14
	Faith.	41:18
	This is the open secret of the courage	41:21
	of my slave ancestors.	41:24
	As they were facing the unyielding demands of their hard	41:27
	lot in life,	41:30
	when their frustrations seemed unrelenting,	41:32
	when their troubles seemed unending, when their sorrows	41:35
	continued to multiply beyond all counting,	41:40
	and when their hopes were like	41:44
	already	41:47
	wrinkled raisins,	41:49
	shriveling more so under the torrid sun,	41:51
	they caught a glimpse of God that helped them to look	41:56
	beyond their laments.	41:59
	Yes indeed, they sang, "Nobody knows the trouble I see,	42:00
	nobody knows my sorrow."	42:05
	But having looked beyond themselves, they caught a vision	42:07
	of the justice and the mercy of almighty God,	42:11
	so they went on to add,	42:16
	"Glory, hallelujah."	42:18
	Lament on the one hand, but a lift on the other	42:24
	because of faith.	42:28
	They made it through the dark valley of slavery	42:32
	because they learned to see beyond their laments,	42:35
	catch a glimpse of the bright mountain peaks	42:40
	of a coming freedom.	42:43
	They looked	42:47
	and God took care of the seeing.	42:49
	In the economy of God, willingness to look in his direction	42:54
	has always been the means for gaining human benefit.	42:59
	Across the pages of scripture, this is writ large.	43:05
	Childless Abraham	43:10
	was told by the Lord, "Look to the heaven,	43:14
	number the stars,	43:18
	so shall your descendants be."	43:20
	And that statement to a man whose wife was barren	43:24
	and he himself	43:29
	was in old age.	43:31
	But he looked,	43:34
	and God took care of the results.	43:37
	Ancient Israel his descendants had to be rebuked again	43:42
	and again by the profits for looking down rather than up,	43:45
	for looking to human alliances with foreign nations	43:49
	for safety instead of trusting fully in their faithful God.	43:51
	The words of Isaiah had a sting in them, which we can feel	43:57
	in the reading, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt	44:00
	for help, who rely on horses, who trust in chariots	44:03
	because they are many and in horsemen because they	44:07
	are very strong.	44:10
	But do not look to the holy one of Israel	44:11
	or consult the Lord."	44:13
	I thought of this,	44:17
	as I read the paper on yesterday	44:19
	and learned about the crowd that was in Washington.	44:23
	Gawking at the military might displayed there,	44:28
	all the new machinery, planes.	44:32
	The President on the occasion	44:36
	was reported to have said, "This is good for America."	44:40
	Was he speaking about the military equipment?	44:45
	Or was he speaking about calling attention to God's	44:50
	favor in the handling and winning of a war?	44:53
	Is the mind of the nation on God and his protection?	45:02
	Or is it on our implements?	45:08
	Do we really trust God?	45:13
	Not that implements are not necessary,	45:18
	rather,	45:23
	faith in God	45:24
	must be first.	45:26
	Have the conditions of your life so narrowed	45:30
	that you no longer look up?	45:33
	Have you lost perspective during your journey?	45:39
	And are you now soured because you fear something important	45:41
	has alluded your grasp?	45:44
	Are you like Jacob,	45:46
	in an emotional rut that ruins you for being	45:48
	in places of privilege, and you not ready	45:52
	to receive, reasonably, what is offered to you?	45:55
	The Genesis record does tell us,	46:01
	thankfully,	46:04
	that Jacob's last years saw him lifting his eyes,	46:06
	looking beyond himself and as he did God	46:10
	gave the old patriarch some prophetic insights	46:13
	for the family members gathered about his bed	46:15
	as he was about to face his end.	46:18
	Chapter 49,	46:21
	tells us what he foresaw for his people.	46:24
	Look beyond your laments and you are going to see something	46:29
	that will enrich your spirit.	46:35
	Look up,	46:39
	catch a fresh vision of the glory and grace	46:41
	of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.	46:44
	His promise still stands,	46:47
	"Come to me.	46:50
	All ye who are weary and heavily laden,	46:52
	I will give you rest,"	46:56
	which includes rest from strength-sapping,	46:59
	faith-denying,	47:02
	mind-muddling	47:03
	laments.	47:05
	Look around, catch a fresh awareness of the needs	47:10
	and the hurts of others whose plight	47:14
	calls out for what your hands and your heart could make	47:17
	possible for them	47:20
	if you were only aware of them.	47:23
	Look back,	47:29
	count anew the many blessings you've known	47:32
	because you've seen far too much of the goodness	47:36
	of the Lord to remain a victim of your own moods	47:39
	and forget,	47:43
	that God is good.	47:44
	Look forward and I promise you, you will see a light	47:50
	shining forth from the future and you will also see	47:54
	the outstretched arms of a savior, ready to welcome	47:57
	you as you come to him in prayer,	48:01
	as you come to him in trust,	48:05
	and finally as you come to him in a death	48:10
	that will admit you to the best it can ever be,	48:13
	namely an eternity in his presence.	48:16
	I close with the words of the song poet,	48:24
	"I heard the voice of Jesus say, come unto me and rest,	48:28
	lay down thou worry one, lay down thy head upon my breast.	48:34
	I came to Jesus	48:38
	as I was,	48:40
	weary,	48:41
	worn,	48:42
	and sad.	48:43
	I found in him a resting place and he has made me glad.	48:45
	I heard the voice of Jesus say, "I am this God-world's	48:51
	light, look onto me, thy morn shall rise	48:55
	and all thy days be bright."	48:59
	I looked to Jesus	49:03
	and I found in him	49:05
	my star,	49:07
	my sun,	49:08
	and in that light of life I awoke	49:09
	'till all my days	49:14
	are done.	49:16
	May God help us to do the same.	49:20
	Amen.	49:24
	(church organ music)	49:27
-	[Reverend Margaret] The Lord be with you.	52:41
Everyone	And also with you.	52:44
-	Let us pray.	52:45
	(whispers) Be seated.	52:46
	Oh God, your name and voice is above every name	52:53
	and every voice,	52:57
	yet you stoop to call us	53:00
	and enfold us	53:02
	and to hear us when we pray.	53:04
	We confess what seems always with us,	53:08
	broken things within us that seem never to mend.	53:12
	Empty places within us, that seem always to ache.	53:16
	Oh God you hand to us fresh everyday,	53:22
	your healing, forgiving, grace.	53:26
	May we accept your never ending acceptance.	53:30
	Lord, in your mercy,	53:33
Everyone	Hear our prayer.	53:36
-	Oh reconciling God, you have bound us together	53:39
	in a common life of faith,	53:42
	bless your church so that we do not lose heart,	53:45
	in the midst of frustrations, tensions, afflictions	53:49
	and perils,	53:53
	may we be renewed by your spirit everyday.	53:55
	Gracious God, you sent your son into the world,	53:59
	reveal him to others through his life in us.	54:03
	Lord in your mercy.	54:07
Everyone	Hear our prayer.	54:10
-	Thank you for the movings and and the promptings	54:12
	of the work of your spirit in this place.	54:15
	We pray that during this summer season, we may be alert	54:19
	and receptive to the needs within this University	54:23
	and chapel community.	54:27
	Especially do we pray for Will and his time in Germany	54:30
	and the lives he touches there.	54:34
	For Nancy as she enters a new phase of her ministry.	54:37
	For Deborah and Janet as they prepare to begin	54:42
	their work here.	54:46
	Lord, in your mercy,	54:48
Everyone	Hear our prayer.	54:50
-	Oh transforming God, we pray for the suffering people	54:53
	in our world,	54:57
	for those who are poor, the victims of society in our own	54:59
	country and in the countries throughout the world,	55:03
	especially those suffering from the divisions caused by war	55:07
	and political factions.	55:11
	The starving and dislocated in Africa.	55:14
	In India and Bangladesh,	55:17
	in Iraq, in Iran,	55:20
	and in cities across this land.	55:22
	For those caught in the throes of the volcanic	55:26
	eruptions in Japan.	55:28
	Move us by your self-giving love, to share	55:32
	with those in need.	55:34
	Lord, in your mercy,	55:37
Everyone	Hear our prayer.	55:39
-	We pray for the sick and the dying, especially	55:42
	those in our local hospitals.	55:44
	And for those who suffer the drain of serving the sick	55:47
	and the mentally and emotionally handicapped.	55:52
	Enlarge our spirit so that we may know how to best love	55:56
	and care for the needy, in our homes, our communities,	55:59
	and around the world.	56:04
	Lord in your mercy,	56:06
Everyone	Hear our prayer.	56:08
-	Almighty God keep us strong so that in the midst	56:11
	of struggle, sacrifice and challenge, we might be always	56:14
	your people,	56:19
	looking unto the things which are eternal.	56:20
	In the name of Jesus Christ who empowers us	56:24
	to be your people.	56:28
	Amen.	56:31
	We often approach God with little but ourselves to offer,	56:33
	God takes our modest gifts and our battered lives	56:38
	and transforms them into heavenly treasures,	56:42
	let us bring our gifts to God.	56:46
	(church organ music)	56:51
-	Oh holy God we come to your altar with exceeding joy,	1:02:38
	grateful that you are with us in all the storms of life.	1:02:43
	You have challenged us with a word that points us beyond	1:02:48
	where we are, in the direction you would have us go.	1:02:51
	Link us together with all your children in every generation	1:02:56
	in the quest for peace and righteous living.	1:03:00
	Use our offerings to support others facing trying days	1:03:04
	and difficult decisions.	1:03:08
	Equip us to be instruments of your holy church,	1:03:10
	serving the outcast, the brokenhearted and the downtrodden	1:03:14
	throughout	1:03:18
	our desperate world.	1:03:19
	Gather us up so that we may play a part in making known	1:03:22
	the infinite riches of your grace.	1:03:25
	In the name of the one who taught us to pray saying,	1:03:28
	"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name,	1:03:32
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	1:03:36
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	1:03:40
	Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive	1:03:42
	us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass	1:03:45
	against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver	1:03:49
	us from evil.	1:03:53
	For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory	1:03:55
	forever and ever, amen.	1:03:58
	And now may God who dwells in mystery and holiness,	1:04:01
	preserve you and yours this day and all the days to come,	1:04:04
	guiding and sustaining you in times of joys and trials,	1:04:09
	and bringing you at last to God's eternal kingdom,	1:04:13
	in the name of the Father and the Son	1:04:18
	and of the Holy Spirit, amen.	1:04:20
Everyone	(singing) Hallelujah, amen,	1:04:28
	amen.	1:04:33
	(church organ music)	1:04:41
	(Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service is sung)	1:05:26

Item Info

Title:

James Earl Massey - "Looking Beyond Our Laments" (June 9, 1991)

Description:

When Jacob stands before Pharaoh toward the end of his life, he answers Pharaoh's questions in a mood of dispair because he has allowed the laments of his life to cloud out the memory of God's faithful presence. While there are indeed tragedies we must lament, we must always be looking to the Lord in faith to restore the joy of our countenance. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 20:12. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 49:26.
Key quotation: “Look beyond your laments, and you are going to see something that will enrich your spirit. Look up, catch a fresh vision of the glory and grace of God, in the face of Jesus Christ…Look around, catch a fresh awareness of the needs and the hurts of others whose plight calls out for what your hands and your heart could make possible for them if you were only aware of them. Look back, count anew the many blessings you’ve known because you’ve seen far too much of the goodness of the Lord to remain a victim of your own moods and forget that God is good. Look forward, and I promise you, you will see a light shining forth from the future, and you will also see the outstretched arms of a savior, ready to welcome you as you come to him in prayer, as you come to him in trust, and finally as you come to him in death.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4d50gc45

Date:

June 9, 1991

Speaker:

Massey, James Earl

Liturgical Calendar:

Pentecost

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0235
ref8952_a10
uachapelsermaud
duke:321501
dcrmv001225
ark:/87924/r4d50gc45
1adc2623-3fe3-4c11-a4e2-5b8d8c0d772c

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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Duke University Archives

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