William H. Willimon - "The Lord of the Word" (January 26, 1992)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| - | Good morning and welcome to Duke Chapel. | 0:05 |
| There are several announcements | 0:08 | |
| I'd like call to your attention. | 0:09 | |
| This morning Dr. Dale Martin | 0:12 | |
| from Duke's Department of Religion | 0:14 | |
| began a four week series entitled: Looking at Jesus Today. | 0:16 | |
| The second lecture in this series | 0:21 | |
| will begin next Sunday in Room 211 | 0:23 | |
| in the Divinity School at 9:45 a.m. | 0:26 | |
| This coming Tuesday, Yehezkel Landau, the director | 0:30 | |
| of the Religious Zionist Peace Movement in Israel, | 0:34 | |
| will be speaking in Duke Chapel | 0:37 | |
| about solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma. | 0:40 | |
| The informal discussion will be held | 0:44 | |
| in the Chapel basement from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. | 0:46 | |
| Ongoing worship opportunities in the coming week | 0:50 | |
| include daily noon prayer in Memorial Chapel, | 0:54 | |
| Taize evening prayer and meditation | 0:58 | |
| at 5:15 on Tuesdays in Memorial Chapel | 1:01 | |
| and choral vespers on Thursday at 5:15 | 1:05 | |
| also in Memorial Chapel. | 1:08 | |
| Next Sunday we'll begin a monthly collection of food | 1:11 | |
| for the Durham Urban Ministries Center. | 1:14 | |
| We'll collect canned and packaged foods | 1:17 | |
| on the first Sunday of each month | 1:20 | |
| and there will be a collection box in the narthex | 1:22 | |
| for those of you who are able to help. | 1:25 | |
| Let us continue now with our worship. | 1:28 | |
| The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. | 1:32 | |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 1:36 |
| - | The splendor of Christ shines upon us. | 1:37 |
| Congregation | Praise the Lord. | 1:41 |
| (organ music) | 1:43 | |
| (congregation singing a hymn) | 2:48 | |
| - | Bring your doubts and fears, your grief and pain | 6:57 |
| to these moments of prayer | 7:02 | |
| as we seek forgiveness and healing. | 7:04 | |
| Turn to page 890 as we pray together | 7:07 | |
| the prayer of confession. | 7:11 | |
| Congregation | Most merciful God, | 7:23 |
| we confess that we have sinned against you | 7:25 | |
| in thought, word and deed | 7:29 | |
| by what we have done and by what we have left undone. | 7:31 | |
| We have not loved you with our whole heart. | 7:36 | |
| We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 7:40 | |
| We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. | 7:44 | |
| For the sake of your son Jesus Christ | 7:48 | |
| have mercy on us and forgive us | 7:51 | |
| that we may delight in your will | 7:55 | |
| and walk in your ways to the glory of your name. | 7:57 | |
| Amen. | 8:02 | |
| - | Almighty God have mercy on you. | 8:04 |
| Forgive all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ. | 8:06 | |
| Strengthen you in all goodness. | 8:11 | |
| And by the power of the Holy Spirit | 8:13 | |
| keep you in eternal life. | 8:16 | |
| Amen. | 8:19 | |
| You may be seated. | 8:20 | |
| - | Let us pray together the prayer for illumination. | 8:32 |
| Open our hearts and minds O God | 8:38 | |
| by the power of your Holy Spirit | 8:41 | |
| so that as the word spread and proclaimed | 8:44 | |
| we might hear with joy what you say to us this day. | 8:47 | |
| Amen. | 8:52 | |
| This reading from the Old Testament | 8:54 | |
| comes from the Book of Nehemiah | 8:57 | |
| the eighth chapter starting with the first verse. | 8:59 | |
| When the seventh month came | 9:03 | |
| the people of Israel being settled in their towns | 9:05 | |
| all the people gathered together | 9:08 | |
| into the square before the water gate. | 9:11 | |
| They told the scribe Ezra | 9:14 | |
| to bring the book of the law of Moses | 9:16 | |
| which the Lord had given to Israel. | 9:19 | |
| Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law | 9:21 | |
| before the assembly, both men and women | 9:24 | |
| and all who could hear with understanding. | 9:28 | |
| This was on the first day of the seventh month. | 9:31 | |
| He read from it facing the square before the water gate | 9:35 | |
| from early morning until midday. | 9:39 | |
| In the presence of the men and the women | 9:42 | |
| and those who could understand. | 9:44 | |
| And the ears of all the people | 9:46 | |
| were attentive to the book of the law. | 9:48 | |
| The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform | 9:51 | |
| that had been made for the purpose. | 9:54 | |
| And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people | 9:57 | |
| for he was standing above all the people. | 10:01 | |
| And when he opened it all the people stood up | 10:04 | |
| then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God | 10:09 | |
| and all the people answered Amen, Amen | 10:13 | |
| lifting up their hands. | 10:17 | |
| Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord | 10:19 | |
| with their faces to the ground. | 10:22 | |
| So they read from the book | 10:24 | |
| from the law of God with interpretation. | 10:26 | |
| They gave the sense | 10:29 | |
| so that the people understood the reading. | 10:31 | |
| And Nehemiah who was the governor | 10:34 | |
| and Ezra the priest and scribe | 10:37 | |
| and the Levites who taught the people | 10:40 | |
| said to all the people: | 10:41 | |
| This day is holy to the Lord your God. | 10:43 | |
| Do not mourn or weep. | 10:46 | |
| For all the people wept | 10:49 | |
| when they heard the words of the law. | 10:50 | |
| Then he said to them: Go your way. | 10:53 | |
| Eat the fat and drink sweet wine. | 10:56 | |
| And send portions of them | 10:59 | |
| to those for whom nothing is prepared. | 11:01 | |
| For this day is holy to our Lord. | 11:03 | |
| And do not be grieved | 11:06 | |
| for the joy of the Lord is your strength. | 11:08 | |
| This is the word of the Lord. | 11:11 | |
| Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 11:14 |
| (organ music) | 11:19 | |
| (choir singing a hymn) | 12:31 | |
| - | Now we are going to do something strange. | 14:51 |
| We're going to do something weird, | 14:56 | |
| something potentially subversive, counter-cultural. | 14:58 | |
| Trouble is you've seen me do it so often | 15:04 | |
| it no longer impresses you as strange. | 15:06 | |
| We're going to read from a very ancient book, the Bible | 15:10 | |
| and then I'm going to preach. | 15:12 | |
| Here you see modeled a very different epistemology, | 15:16 | |
| a different way of knowing from that of the world. | 15:21 | |
| Hear the word. | 15:27 | |
| He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. | 15:31 | |
| And he went to the synagogue | 15:34 | |
| as his custom was on the sabbath. | 15:35 | |
| He stood up to read. | 15:38 | |
| And there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. | 15:41 | |
| He opened the book and found the place where it is written, | 15:43 | |
| the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. | 15:47 | |
| He's anointed me to preach good news to the poor. | 15:50 | |
| He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, | 15:54 | |
| recovering of sight to the blind, | 15:57 | |
| to set at liberty those who are oppressed, | 15:59 | |
| to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. | 16:02 | |
| He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant | 16:05 | |
| and sat down and all eyes were fixed upon him. | 16:08 | |
| And he said to them: Today this scripture | 16:13 | |
| has been fulfilled in your hearing. | 16:15 | |
| All spoke well of him and wondered at the gracious words | 16:20 | |
| which proceeded out of his mouth. | 16:23 | |
| Truly I say to you, he said, | 16:28 | |
| no prophet is acceptable in his own country. | 16:30 | |
| In truth I tell you there were many widows in Israel | 16:34 | |
| during the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up | 16:37 | |
| for three years and six months | 16:40 | |
| and there came a great famine over the land. | 16:42 | |
| Elijah was set to none of them | 16:46 | |
| but to the widow at Zerapath in the land of Sidon, | 16:48 | |
| a woman who was a widow. | 16:51 | |
| And there were many lepers in Israel | 16:54 | |
| in the time of the prophet Elijah. | 16:56 | |
| None of them was cleansed, healed | 16:59 | |
| but only Naaman the Syrian. | 17:02 | |
| When he heard this all in the synagogue | 17:06 | |
| were filled with wrath and they rose up | 17:07 | |
| and they put him out of the city. | 17:09 | |
| This is the word of the Lord. | 17:12 | |
| Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 17:16 |
| - | Want you to think about this story that we just read. | 17:18 |
| Jesus returns to his home town synagogue in Nazareth. | 17:22 | |
| What do they do? | 17:27 | |
| They do not say: Jesus, tell it how it has been for you | 17:30 | |
| up at rabbinic school in Jerusalem. | 17:33 | |
| They do not say: Jesus share with us | 17:37 | |
| from some of your racial, gender, cultural experiences. | 17:39 | |
| They do not say: Jesus say something to us | 17:45 | |
| that will pump up our self-esteem for the week. | 17:47 | |
| These are Jews. | 17:50 | |
| They hand him the book. | 17:53 | |
| They unwrap the scroll, they say: Read it. | 17:56 | |
| And he reads. | 18:00 | |
| These are Jews. | 18:02 | |
| How appropriate for our choir to sing in Hebrew, | 18:03 | |
| let the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart. | 18:08 | |
| These are Jews, people of the word. | 18:11 | |
| And so he reads those beautiful words | 18:18 | |
| from the prophet Isiah. | 18:22 | |
| The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, | 18:23 | |
| he's anointed me to preach good news to the captives. | 18:25 | |
| There's an excited stirring that morning | 18:28 | |
| when Jesus says: | 18:31 | |
| Today these words are fulfilled in your hearing. | 18:32 | |
| For we are captives under the heel of Rome. | 18:36 | |
| At last God has heard our prayers, | 18:39 | |
| at last God is coming for his people, us. | 18:41 | |
| Run the Romans out and set us up in Judea. | 18:46 | |
| But then the trouble starts | 18:51 | |
| when the preacher starts to preach. | 18:54 | |
| Speaking of our book, as I remember | 18:58 | |
| there were a lot of hungry women in Israel | 18:59 | |
| during the days of the prophet Elijah, | 19:02 | |
| during the great famine. | 19:04 | |
| Isn't it interesting that God's prophet, | 19:06 | |
| the one who speaks God's word, | 19:09 | |
| fed none of those good women | 19:10 | |
| but went over and fed a widow over in Zerapath, | 19:13 | |
| an outsider of a different race? | 19:16 | |
| The congregation started to get quiet. | 19:21 | |
| Yes and I believe that there were a lot of sick people | 19:25 | |
| in Israel during the days of the prophet Elijah. | 19:27 | |
| Isn't it interesting that God's prophet | 19:32 | |
| healed none of them but healed Naaman the Syrian, | 19:34 | |
| the Syrian Army officer? | 19:39 | |
| And the once adoring congregation | 19:43 | |
| was turned into an angry mob | 19:45 | |
| and they wanted to kill the preacher. | 19:47 | |
| 'Cause it wasn't pleasant to be assaulted by our own book. | 19:51 | |
| We had come that morning to hear a word for us. | 19:57 | |
| Only to be surprised that this book | 20:01 | |
| speaks of a God who is alive and large and big | 20:04 | |
| working the other side of the street along with ours. | 20:07 | |
| It was an intrusive word. | 20:11 | |
| That's why we had as we do on Sunday morning | 20:13 | |
| we had Tom Espy bring in the Bible. | 20:16 | |
| Did you notice it coming in the processional? | 20:19 | |
| It intrudes among us. | 20:21 | |
| It was an intrusive word. | 20:24 | |
| I tell you don't come here on Sunday morning | 20:26 | |
| unless you have the courage | 20:29 | |
| to risk linguistic assault, the intrusive word. | 20:30 | |
| It wasn't pleasant that day in Nazareth. | 20:35 | |
| And we hated the book for it. | 20:37 | |
| Well, the first lesson today is from Nehemiah. | 20:42 | |
| Nehemiah 8. | 20:46 | |
| We have been on exile in Babel and everything is in ruin. | 20:49 | |
| We're finally back home in Jerusalem. | 20:52 | |
| And what do we do to build things back? | 20:56 | |
| The first thing we'll build back is the temple. | 20:57 | |
| The first thing we build back is the temple, | 21:01 | |
| the great building, center of national prestige. | 21:04 | |
| Just like Mr. Duke said when he built the West Campus. | 21:09 | |
| First thing I want you to work on is the chapel. | 21:12 | |
| Put it right in the center. | 21:14 | |
| We put the temple up first. | 21:16 | |
| The temple, the house of God. | 21:18 | |
| It has to be a big building, big enough to contain God, | 21:19 | |
| big enough to show that we're a people | 21:23 | |
| worthy of the presence of God. | 21:25 | |
| After we got the temple built | 21:27 | |
| next thing we worked on was the wall, | 21:28 | |
| the Wall of Jerusalem. | 21:31 | |
| The wall is what we use to keep out the outsiders | 21:32 | |
| to protect them from the insiders. | 21:37 | |
| The wall is how we separate them from us. | 21:39 | |
| The wall is how we protect what we've got. | 21:42 | |
| How we hold on to what we've accumulated. | 21:44 | |
| So, we started work now on the wall. | 21:46 | |
| During the building of the wall, | 21:50 | |
| this is where today's scripture takes up. | 21:51 | |
| In the foundation of the ruins of the old wall | 21:55 | |
| a scroll is found, it is a Torah scroll. | 21:58 | |
| It is a scroll of the law and the prophets. | 22:02 | |
| It had been hidden there during days of turmoil. | 22:05 | |
| It had been lost there for years. | 22:08 | |
| And there at the water gate the scroll is unrolled | 22:11 | |
| and they start to read. | 22:14 | |
| They read the words of the law, the book. | 22:16 | |
| Nehemiah 8 says that the people wept | 22:21 | |
| when they heard the law. They just wept. | 22:24 | |
| The question for this Sunday in Epiphany: | 22:29 | |
| Did they weep tears of joy? | 22:33 | |
| Or did they weep tears of sadness and terror? | 22:36 | |
| That's the question. | 22:41 | |
| Maybe they wept for joy. | 22:44 | |
| Maybe they wept for joy at being reminded, | 22:47 | |
| we're Jews, we are people of the word. | 22:49 | |
| This book is holding us together. | 22:51 | |
| We're being reformed again around this word. | 22:54 | |
| Maybe they wept for joy. | 22:58 | |
| Finding out again who they were and whose they were. | 22:59 | |
| On the other hand, that day in Nazareth | 23:04 | |
| nobody wept for joy they wept but they were tears of rage, | 23:07 | |
| angry at the young preacher. | 23:11 | |
| We had all come to synagogue that morning | 23:14 | |
| all in our seats, all to be reminded of the eternal verities | 23:17 | |
| only to be shocked by our very own book. | 23:20 | |
| We were in rage. | 23:24 | |
| Were they tears of joy or tears of rage? | 23:25 | |
| I bet you have shed some of those tears | 23:28 | |
| on a Sunday morning here. | 23:30 | |
| Intrusive word, linguistic assault. | 23:35 | |
| George Lindbeck of Yale notes | 23:41 | |
| that the Church defeated Rome in less than 400 years | 23:46 | |
| using none of the conventional Gentile ways | 23:52 | |
| of ordering society: | 23:55 | |
| The military, family, race, culture. | 23:57 | |
| In less than 400 years the Church had defeated | 24:02 | |
| the greatest empire the world had ever known | 24:05 | |
| on the basis of nothing more substantial | 24:07 | |
| than the word, book. | 24:10 | |
| Just the word, the word assaulted and dismantled the empire. | 24:13 | |
| As my friend Will Campbell says: | 24:20 | |
| The word is our first offense | 24:24 | |
| and our very last defense. | 24:30 | |
| All we've got is the word. | 24:33 | |
| Don't come down here on a Sunday morning | 24:35 | |
| if you're not willing to be exposed to the word. | 24:37 | |
| The sabbath Sunday fun | 24:42 | |
| always begins when we bring in the book | 24:45 | |
| and we open it up and we read and then we talk about it. | 24:48 | |
| This disruptive fun of the word. | 24:52 | |
| Do you remember where you were this time last year, | 24:59 | |
| earlier in the month? | 25:02 | |
| Remember what you were getting ready to do | 25:02 | |
| this time last year? | 25:04 | |
| On January the 6th I was down | 25:07 | |
| at a big Methodist Church in Atlanta. | 25:08 | |
| January the 6th last year. | 25:12 | |
| Remember what we were all getting ready to do | 25:14 | |
| on January the 6th, making preparations for? | 25:15 | |
| Well, I went to church. | 25:18 | |
| And during the service in this big Methodist church | 25:21 | |
| the preacher indulged in a practice | 25:24 | |
| not dear to my heart called a children's sermon. | 25:26 | |
| You know, the minister gathers here | 25:31 | |
| all the little boys come and he squats down on the steps | 25:32 | |
| and he talks to the children. | 25:35 | |
| He said: Boys and girls who can tell me what today is? | 25:39 | |
| Who knows what today is? | 25:41 | |
| And some little boy said: | 25:43 | |
| January the 6th. | 25:48 | |
| He said: Yes, January the 6th. | 25:49 | |
| But it's more than January the 6th. | 25:51 | |
| Today in the Church is Epiphany. | 25:53 | |
| Can you say Epiphany, boys and girls? | 25:57 | |
| It's a big day in the Church. | 26:00 | |
| It falls on January the 6th which means | 26:01 | |
| that most of the time it doesn't fall on a Sunday | 26:03 | |
| but we're real excited 'cause today it's on a Sunday. | 26:06 | |
| And this is Epiphany. | 26:08 | |
| We Methodists did not know about it 'til a few years ago. | 26:10 | |
| The Episcopalians told us. | 26:13 | |
| And so, today is Epiphany. | 26:15 | |
| And the word epiphany means manifestation, | 26:19 | |
| it means revelation in Greek, it means opening up. | 26:22 | |
| And if you never heard of epiphany boys and girls | 26:28 | |
| I know you've heard of a favorite Epiphany story. | 26:30 | |
| The story of the Three Wise Men | 26:33 | |
| who came to worship the baby Jesus at Bethlehem. | 26:36 | |
| You've heard that story. | 26:39 | |
| Well, that's an Epiphany story. | 26:40 | |
| They were led by the star. | 26:42 | |
| It was manifested to them, it was revealed to them | 26:44 | |
| who the baby Jesus was. | 26:47 | |
| Hate to tell you boys and girls | 26:50 | |
| the Bible doesn't say that they were Three Wise Men. | 26:52 | |
| It says they brought three kinds of gifts. | 26:56 | |
| It doesn't say how many there were. | 26:58 | |
| They bought gold, frankincense and myrrh | 26:59 | |
| but we don't know how many of 'em there were. | 27:01 | |
| Another thing I hate to tell you, | 27:03 | |
| the Bible doesn't call them Wise Men. | 27:05 | |
| It doesn't call 'em Three Kings of Orient are. | 27:08 | |
| It calls them Magi, that's the word in the Bible, | 27:11 | |
| they're called Magi. | 27:15 | |
| It's where we get our English word magic, magi. | 27:16 | |
| They were, they were magicians. | 27:20 | |
| They were these stargazing, horoscope reading magicians. | 27:24 | |
| That's probably how they saw the star. | 27:30 | |
| And that gold, frankincense and myrrh some people feel | 27:32 | |
| may have been the tricks of their magic trade | 27:35 | |
| that they brought and laid at the manger. | 27:37 | |
| Matthew says | 27:42 | |
| that the people who knew the story missed it, | 27:45 | |
| and these Magi came over from the East | 27:49 | |
| and they were the first to see the baby Jesus. | 27:54 | |
| And Epiphany is when we get together and remember them. | 27:58 | |
| Now, the question for today boys and girls is: | 28:02 | |
| Where did the Magi come from? | 28:05 | |
| Who knows where they came from? | 28:08 | |
| Someone said, the East. | 28:11 | |
| He said well all right, the East but where in the East, | 28:12 | |
| what country do you think they came from? | 28:14 | |
| Well, some little girl said: Persia. | 28:18 | |
| He said: Good, Persia, we think they came from Persia. | 28:20 | |
| That was a Bible way of saying, they came from Persia | 28:23 | |
| they came from the East. | 28:26 | |
| Persia was to the east. | 28:27 | |
| Where is Persia today on the map boys and girls? | 28:28 | |
| Who can find Persia on the map? | 28:30 | |
| It's not there anymore, there are countries. | 28:34 | |
| What are some countries that are | 28:36 | |
| part of what used to be Persia? | 28:37 | |
| Can somebody name? | 28:38 | |
| Somebody said: Iran. | 28:39 | |
| He said: Good, Iran that used to be part of Persia. | 28:42 | |
| But it wasn't only Persia. | 28:46 | |
| There were other countries in Persia. | 28:47 | |
| What are some other countries that are part of Persia? | 28:48 | |
| And finally someone said: Iraq, Iraq. | 28:52 | |
| He said: Yes, that's good Iraq. | 28:59 | |
| In fact, Baghdad was sort of the capital of Persia. | 29:01 | |
| They had these ziggurat, still have them in Baghdad | 29:05 | |
| where they looked at the stars. | 29:07 | |
| Maybe that's how they saw the star at Bethlehem. | 29:09 | |
| Yes, I think they probably came from Baghdad. | 29:12 | |
| And Epiphany is the day that the Church gets together | 29:17 | |
| and says thank you God for sending these Iraqis | 29:20 | |
| to show us the baby Jesus. | 29:24 | |
| And now we can go back to our seats boys and girls, | 29:29 | |
| it's the end of the sermon. | 29:32 | |
| I noticed as they went back to their seats | 29:35 | |
| their mothers and fathers | 29:40 | |
| seemed to be fumbling for their seatbelts. | 29:41 | |
| You don't know how you might mess up a young child | 29:45 | |
| telling them a story like that. | 29:48 | |
| Well, you don't know how they may view the world | 29:50 | |
| after hearing a story like that. | 29:52 | |
| John Calvin said: Scripture is the lens | 29:53 | |
| through which we see the world correctly. | 29:56 | |
| Well you...the fun starts | 29:58 | |
| when we open up the book and just tell the story. | 30:02 | |
| I wanted to say to that congregation | 30:07 | |
| you know, I'm sorry you thought we all got dressed, | 30:09 | |
| came down here to look bourgeois, middle class. | 30:12 | |
| No, no, no, this we came down here to risk assault, | 30:14 | |
| dislodgement, disruption. | 30:18 | |
| It's the word, the word. | 30:22 | |
| Well, in a moment you're gonna come down here | 30:29 | |
| and receive the bread and the wine in the name of Jesus. | 30:31 | |
| Now, what could be more basic than bread? | 30:36 | |
| You need bread to live. | 30:40 | |
| You can't live without bread. | 30:41 | |
| And yet just before telling this story of Jesus in Nazareth | 30:44 | |
| Luke says that Jesus was once in the desert | 30:49 | |
| and was without bread for 40 days. | 30:53 | |
| He was starving to death. | 30:56 | |
| He was full of hunger. | 30:57 | |
| And at the very depth of his famine | 31:00 | |
| Satan came to him and said: You're hungry? | 31:03 | |
| I'll give you bread. | 31:09 | |
| Turn these stones into bread. | 31:11 | |
| Worship me. | 31:13 | |
| And Jesus, as hungry as he could be, | 31:17 | |
| said to Satan: Wait. | 31:22 | |
| He quoted to him the Old Testament. | 31:25 | |
| Hey, we don't live by bread alone. | 31:27 | |
| We live | 31:34 | |
| by the word. | 31:38 | |
| Amen. | 31:41 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 31:49 |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 31:51 |
| - | Let us pray. | 31:53 |
| Lord of the word as we come together | 32:02 | |
| to lift our voices in praise and our hearts in prayer | 32:05 | |
| we pray that our words and meditations | 32:12 | |
| may be acceptable in thy sight. | 32:15 | |
| As we listen to your word | 32:20 | |
| give us understanding and courage to obey | 32:23 | |
| and to follow wherever it may lead us. | 32:27 | |
| Almighty God we give you thanks for your word | 32:33 | |
| which intrudes upon our lives | 32:36 | |
| sometimes building us up | 32:39 | |
| and sometimes tearing us down. | 32:42 | |
| It always comes as a surprise when you speak to us | 32:45 | |
| through scripture, a sermon, | 32:50 | |
| a hymn, a prayer, | 32:54 | |
| a word from a friend. | 32:59 | |
| When we know in the depths of our hearts | 33:02 | |
| that you have spoken | 33:05 | |
| our response like those who heard Ezra | 33:08 | |
| is to worship you in awe with bowed heads | 33:13 | |
| and faces to the ground. | 33:17 | |
| For your word always carries a challenge | 33:21 | |
| as well as a promise. | 33:26 | |
| Your love is both a gift and a demand upon our lives. | 33:29 | |
| Like those who turned from Jesus in anger | 33:37 | |
| we too sometimes hear your word with anger, | 33:40 | |
| fear, shame or sadness. | 33:45 | |
| Your word judges and convicts us of our sinfulness | 33:52 | |
| at the very same moment that it forgives us | 33:57 | |
| and frees us from the power of sin. | 34:02 | |
| Your word reveals your vision for humanity | 34:08 | |
| and the reality that we have helped create. | 34:12 | |
| The distance between the kingdom of heaven that you intend | 34:18 | |
| and the earthly kingdom that we have created | 34:22 | |
| is so great we cannot help but feel shame and failure. | 34:25 | |
| But the good news is that you are the God | 34:32 | |
| who preaches hope to the poor, | 34:35 | |
| wholeness to the brokenhearted, | 34:39 | |
| deliverance to the captive, | 34:42 | |
| sight to the blind, joy to the grieving | 34:45 | |
| and praise to the heavy spirited. | 34:51 | |
| And we too are the poor, the brokenhearted, | 34:55 | |
| the captive, the blind, | 35:00 | |
| the grieving, the heavy spirited. | 35:03 | |
| Whatever condition you find us in | 35:10 | |
| you do not leave us in that condition. | 35:13 | |
| You see and bless us in our worst distresses | 35:17 | |
| and can change them in a breath. | 35:22 | |
| You are the God who triumphs | 35:26 | |
| over our anger and sadness, fear and shame. | 35:28 | |
| Your love lifts us up and helps us | 35:34 | |
| see ourselves as you see us, as sinful but beloved children. | 35:37 | |
| Your word disciplines us so that we might | 35:45 | |
| grow upright and strong in faith. | 35:49 | |
| Your grace convicts and changes us | 35:54 | |
| so that we might gladly obey you | 35:57 | |
| and thereby know life abundant. | 36:01 | |
| As we come to your table this morning | 36:07 | |
| let us come with open hearts | 36:10 | |
| ready to receive the gift of your love | 36:13 | |
| poured out for us in such a tangible way. | 36:16 | |
| Help us feed upon Christ in our souls | 36:21 | |
| so that we might be transformed and reshaped | 36:25 | |
| into the people you would have us be. | 36:30 | |
| Amen. | 36:33 | |
| Since Christ has opened his heart to us | 36:38 | |
| let us open our hearts to one another | 36:41 | |
| and God will be glorified. | 36:43 | |
| The peace of Christ be with you. | 36:46 | |
| Let us stand and offer signs of peace to one another. | 36:48 | |
| (congregation murmuring) | 36:57 | |
| You may be seated. | 37:15 | |
| Let us present ourselves | 37:21 | |
| and our gifts to the Lord in gratitude. | 37:23 | |
| (organ music) | 37:38 | |
| (choir singing hymn) | 39:04 | |
| (organ music) | 44:23 | |
| (congregation singing hymn) | 45:06 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 46:03 |
| - | And also with you. | |
| - | Lift up your hearts. | 46:05 |
| - | We lift them up to the Lord. | |
| - | Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. | 46:09 |
| Congregation | It is right to give him thanks and praise. | 46:12 |
| - | Blessed are you Lord our God, our light | 46:14 |
| and our salvation. | 46:17 | |
| Before the mountains were brought forth | 46:20 | |
| or you had formed the earth, you alone our God. | 46:22 | |
| And so with your people on earth | 46:27 | |
| and all the company of heaven | 46:30 | |
| we praise your name and join their unending hymn. | 46:32 | |
| (organ music) | 46:37 | |
| (congregation singing hymn) | 46:47 | |
| Truly holy are you Father. | 47:23 | |
| In the fullness of time you revealed yourself | 47:25 | |
| and your blessed son Jesus the light of the world. | 47:28 | |
| You sent a star to guide the Magi | 47:32 | |
| to where the Christ was born. | 47:35 | |
| And your signs and witnesses in every age | 47:37 | |
| and through all the world | 47:39 | |
| have led persons from far distances to him. | 47:41 | |
| In his table fellowship he ate with sinners | 47:45 | |
| and he preached good news to the poor, | 47:48 | |
| proclaimed release to the captives, | 47:51 | |
| set free the oppressed and announced the time | 47:54 | |
| when God would come and save your people. | 47:56 | |
| On the night his disciples deserted him | 47:59 | |
| he took bread, gave thanks to you and said take, eat, | 48:03 | |
| this is my body given for you. | 48:09 | |
| Do this in remembrance of me. | 48:11 | |
| When the supper was over he took the cup, | 48:14 | |
| gave thanks, gave it to his disciples and said: | 48:17 | |
| Drink from this all of you | 48:20 | |
| for this is the blood of the new covenant | 48:23 | |
| poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins. | 48:24 | |
| Do this as often as you drink it | 48:28 | |
| in remembrance of me. | 48:30 | |
| His presence is continued with his people. | 48:33 | |
| They have been baptized into him | 48:36 | |
| and shared in the breaking of the bread | 48:37 | |
| into Jerusalem and all Judea and Sumeria | 48:41 | |
| and to the ends of the earth. | 48:44 | |
| And so in remembrance of these | 48:46 | |
| your mighty acts in Jesus Christ | 48:47 | |
| we offer ourselves as praise and thanksgiving | 48:49 | |
| as a holy and living sacrifice | 48:52 | |
| in union with Christ sacrificed for us | 48:55 | |
| as we proclaim the mystery of faith. | 48:57 | |
| (organ music) | 49:00 | |
| (congregation singing hymn) | 49:10 | |
| Send the power of your Holy Spirit | 49:21 | |
| on us and on these gifts. | 49:22 | |
| That in the breaking of this bread | 49:24 | |
| and the drinking of this wine | 49:25 | |
| we may know anew the presence of Christ among us. | 49:27 | |
| Through him, with him and the unity of the Holy Spirit | 49:31 | |
| all honor and glory is yours Almighty God | 49:34 | |
| now and forever. | 49:37 | |
| (organ music) | 49:39 | |
| (congregation singing hymn) | 49:48 | |
| Congregation | Our Father who art in heaven | 50:02 |
| hallowed be thy name. | 50:04 | |
| They kingdom come, thy will be done on earth | 50:06 | |
| as it is in heaven. | 50:09 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread. | 50:11 | |
| And forgive us our trespasses | 50:13 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 50:15 | |
| And lead us not into temptation | 50:19 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 50:21 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. | 50:23 | |
| - | Amen. | 50:28 |
| When we give thanks over the cup | 50:31 | |
| is it not a means of sharing in the blood of Christ? | 50:32 | |
| When we break the bread is it not a means of sharing | 50:36 | |
| in the body of Christ? | 50:39 | |
| Come to the Lord's table. | 50:42 | |
| (organ music) | 50:57 | |
| (choir singing hymn) | 51:58 | |
| (organ music) | 55:42 | |
| (choir singing hymn) | 55:57 | |
| (organ music) | 59:22 | |
| (choir singing hymn) | 59:54 | |
| Stand for the benediction. | 1:01:02 | |
| May the God of love pour out his spirit upon you, | 1:01:13 | |
| equip you for every good work as you go forth | 1:01:17 | |
| in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. | 1:01:20 | |
| (choir singing hymn) | 1:01:30 | |
| (organ music) | 1:02:07 | |
| (congregation singing hymn) | 1:02:48 |
Item Info
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