David H. C. Read - "God Loves You - So What?" (March 29, 1992)

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	(footsteps)	0:46
-	Good morning and welcome to this fourth Sunday of Lent.	0:47
	This is truly a beautiful morning.	0:50
	Indeed, as we have come together to praise God	0:53
	and to give thanks for miraculous basketball wins.	0:56
	(audience laughing)	1:00
	We are blessed today to have as our guest preacher,	1:03
	the distinguished Dr. David Read.	1:07
	Dr. Read is a native of Scotland who served	1:10
	as the minister of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church	1:14
	in New York City for 35 years.	1:18
	His distinguished career spans three continents,	1:21
	and he's the author of more than 30 books.	1:24
	It is our pleasure to welcome Dr. Read back to Duke Chapel.	1:27
	I'd like to call your attention	1:32
	to a couple of announcements in the bulletin.	1:33
	This evening at 5:00, we have a concert	1:36
	by Dr. Robert Parkins and hope you will be able	1:39
	to attend that.	1:43
	Next week and also the first Sunday of each month,	1:44
	we are collecting canned goods for the poor in Durham	1:48
	and there will be a collection box	1:52
	at the back of the chapel.	1:54
	Let us continue our worship together	1:56
	as you stand for the greeting.	1:58
	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.	2:07
Congregation	And also with you.	2:10
-	Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me.	2:12
	Bless God's holy name.	2:16
Congregation	Bless the Lord my soul	2:18
	and lift up our countenance.	2:21
-	Who forgives all your sins	2:24
	and heals all your infirmities.	2:26
Congregation	(murmuring) God in prayer,	2:29
	we ask for mercy upon us.	2:32
	(joyful organ music)	2:36
	♪ Lift high the cross ♪	2:58
	♪ The love of Christ proclaim ♪	3:03
	♪ Till all the world adore ♪	3:07
	♪ His sacred name ♪	3:14
	♪ Come, Christians, follow ♪	3:18
	♪ This triumphant sign ♪	3:23
	♪ The hosts of God ♪	3:27
	♪ In unity combine ♪	3:32
	♪ Lift high the cross ♪	3:38
	♪ The love of Christ proclaim ♪	3:42
	♪ Till all the world adore ♪	3:47
	♪ His sacred name ♪	3:53
	♪ Each newborn servant ♪	3:57
	♪ Of the Crucified ♪	4:03
	♪ Bears on the brow ♪	4:07
	♪ The seal of him who died ♪	4:12
	♪ Lift high the cross ♪	4:18
	♪ The love of Christ proclaim ♪	4:22
	♪ Till all the world adore ♪	4:27
	♪ His sacred name ♪	4:33
	♪ O Lord, once lifted ♪	4:38
	♪ On the glorious tree ♪	4:43
	♪ As thou has promised ♪	4:47
	♪ Draw the world to thee ♪	4:53
	♪ Lift high the cross ♪	4:58
	♪ The love of Christ proclaim ♪	5:03
	♪ Till all the world adore ♪	5:08
	♪ His sacred name ♪	5:14
	♪ So shall our song of ♪	5:19
	♪ Triumph ever be ♪	5:24
	♪ Praise to the crucified for victory ♪	5:27
	♪ Lift high the cross ♪	5:39
	♪ The love of Christ proclaim ♪	5:43
	♪ Till all the world adore ♪	5:48
	♪ His sacred name ♪	5:54
	(jubilant organ music)	6:00
-	God was in Christ, reconciling the world to God's self.	7:00
	Therefore, we come in the name of Jesus Christ	7:05
	to claim that healing within and among us.	7:08
	The one who received sinners and ate with them	7:12
	invites us to feast on God's forgiving love.	7:15
	Let us confess our sin as we pray in unison	7:18
	the prayer found on page 890.	7:21
All	Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned	7:31
	against you in thought, word and deed	7:35
	by what we have done and what we have left undone.	7:38
	We have not loved you with our whole heart.	7:43
	We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	7:46
	We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.	7:50
	For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us	7:53
	and forgive us that we may delight in your will	7:58
	and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.	8:01
	Amen.	8:06
-	God rolls away our reproach.	8:14
	In Christ, we are a new creation,	8:17
	and God does not count our trespasses against us.	8:20
	God gives us the very best and celebrates our return.	8:25
	The new life God grants us enables us to reach out	8:29
	to those we have wronged and those who have wronged us.	8:32
	We are reconciled to God and one another.	8:36
	Let us then live as ambassadors for Christ.	8:40
	You may be seated.	8:44
-	Let us pray together the Prayer for Illumination.	8:54
All	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	9:00
	by the power of your Holy Spirit	9:03
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	9:06
	we might hear with joy what you say	9:10
	to us this Lenten season.	9:13
	Amen.	9:16
-	The Old Testament lesson for this morning will come	9:18
	from the book of Jeremiah in place of that	9:20
	which is printed in your bulletin.	9:24
	I will read from the 31st chapter, verses one through four.	9:26
	At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God	9:31
	of all the families of Israel.	9:35
	They shall be my people.	9:38
	Thus, says the Lord, the people who survive the sword	9:40
	found grace in the wilderness.	9:44
	When Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him	9:47
	from far away.	9:51
	I have loved you with an everlasting love.	9:54
	Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you.	9:58
	Again, I will build you and you shall be built,	10:02
	oh virgin Israel.	10:06
	Again, you shall take your tambourines and go forth	10:09
	in the dance of the merrymakers.	10:13
	This is the word of the Lord.	10:16
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	10:19
-	Will the congregation please stand	10:29
	and sing responsively Psalm 34: 1-8	10:30
	on page 769 of the hymnal.	10:34
	♪ I will bless the Lord at all times ♪	10:45
	♪ God's praise shall continually be in my mouth ♪	10:49
	♪ My soul makes its boast in the Lord ♪	10:54
	♪ Let the humble hear and be glad ♪	10:59
	♪ O' magnify the Lord with me ♪	11:04
	♪ And let us exalt God's name together ♪	11:08
	♪ I sought the Lord who answered me ♪	11:12
	♪ And delivered me from all my fears ♪	11:17
	♪ Look to God and be radiant ♪	11:23
	♪ So your faces shall never be ashamed ♪	11:26
	♪ The poor ran out and Lord had heard ♪	11:31
	♪ And saved him out of all his troubles ♪	11:36
	♪ The angel of the Lord encamps around those ♪	11:41
	♪ Who fear God and delivers them ♪	11:46
	♪ O taste and see that the Lord is good ♪	11:50
	♪ Happy are those who take refuge in God ♪	11:55
	♪ All glory be to you, Creator ♪	12:02
	♪ And to Jesus Christ out savior ♪	12:05
	♪ And to the Holy Spirit blessed is he ♪	12:08
	♪ As it was as time began ♪	12:14
	♪ Is now and will be forever more ♪	12:17
-	This reading is from Paul's second letter	12:42
	to the Corinthians, the fifth chapter, verses 16-21.	12:44
	From now on, therefore, we regard no one	12:51
	from a human point of view.	12:56
	Even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,	12:59
	we know him no longer in that way.	13:03
	So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.	13:07
	Everything old has passed away.	13:12
	See, everything has become new.	13:15
	All this is from God who reconciled us	13:19
	to himself through Christ and has given us	13:22
	the ministry of reconciliation.	13:26
	That is in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,	13:30
	not counting their trespasses against them	13:36
	and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.	13:39
	So we are ambassadors for Christ.	13:44
	Since God is making his appeal through us,	13:48
	we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.	13:53
	For our sake, he made him to be sin	13:59
	who knew no sin so that in him,	14:03
	we might become the righteousness of God.	14:06
	This is the word of the Lord.	14:11
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	14:14
	(organ music)	14:19
	♪ O taste and see how gracious the Lord is ♪	14:35
	♪ Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him ♪	14:44
	♪ O taste, o taste and see, and see ♪	14:52
	♪ Taste and see how gracious the Lord is ♪	15:00
	♪ Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him ♪	15:10
	♪ O taste and see how gracious the Lord is ♪	15:18
	♪ Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him ♪	15:28
	♪ O taste, o taste and see, and see ♪	15:36
	♪ Taste and see, taste and see ♪	15:45
	♪ How gracious the Lord is ♪	15:49
	♪ Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him ♪	15:55
	♪ O fear the Lord, ye that are His saints ♪	16:03
	♪ For they that fear Him ♪	16:12
	♪ That fear Him lack nothing ♪	16:17
	♪ The lions do lack, and suffer hunger ♪	16:23
	♪ But they who seek the Lord ♪	16:29
	♪ They who seek the Lord ♪	16:34
	♪ Shall want no manner of thing that is good ♪	16:39
	♪ Shall want no manner of thing that is good ♪	16:44
	♪ Shall want no manner of thing that is good ♪	16:49
	♪ No manner of thing that is good ♪	16:53
	♪ The lions do lack, and suffer hunger ♪	16:58
	♪ The lions do lack, and suffer hunger ♪	17:02
	♪ But they who seek the Lord ♪	17:07
	♪ They who seek the Lord ♪	17:13
	♪ Shall want no manner of thing that is good ♪	17:19
	♪ Shall want no manner of thing that is good ♪	17:23
	♪ Shall want no manner of thing that is good ♪	17:27
	♪ No manner of thing that is good ♪	17:31
	♪ O taste and see how gracious the Lord is ♪	17:36
	♪ Blessed is the man ♪	17:46
	♪ That trusteth in Him ♪	17:53
-	Before I read the Scripture and preach,	18:29
	I want to say what a joy it is for me	18:32
	to be once more in this lovely chapel	18:36
	and sharing in your morning worship.	18:39
	I should, perhaps, explain that the change	18:42
	in the reading from the Old Testament was not made	18:45
	by me at the last minute.	18:48
	It wasn't that last night	18:51
	when I looked at the original reading	18:54
	and found it rather somber,	18:56
	I switched it that it would end	18:59
	with a note of celebration, dancing, and joy.	19:02
	But I'm very glad that although for five minutes,	19:06
	I thought the original might have been more suitable,	19:08
	the last second changed it all,	19:12
	and here we are rejoicing.	19:16
	Now, we read from the new, the gospel.	19:19
	It's one of the most familiar stories in the world.	19:24
	Then drew near to Jesus, all the publicans and sinners	19:35
	to hear him.	19:40
	And the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying,	19:42
	"This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them."	19:45
	And he spake this parable saying,	19:50
	a certain man had two sons.	19:58
	The younger of them said to his father,	20:02
	"Father, give me the portion of goods	20:04
	"that forteth to me."	20:07
	He divided unto them his living.	20:09
	Not many days after, the younger son gathered all together	20:13
	and took his journey into a far country.	20:17
	There wasted his substance with riotous living.	20:20
	When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine	20:25
	in that land and he began to be in want	20:29
	and he went and joined himself to a citizen	20:32
	of that country and he sent him into his fields	20:34
	to feed swine.	20:39
	He would have feign have filled his belly	20:41
	with the husks that the swine did eat	20:43
	and no man gave unto him.	20:45
	When he came to himself, he said,	20:50
	"How many hard servants of my father's have bread enough	20:53
	"and to spare, and I perish with hunger?	20:56
	"I will arise and go to my father	20:59
	"and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven	21:02
	"and before thee and am no more worthy	21:07
	"to be called thy son.	21:10
	"Make me as one of thy hard servants."	21:12
	He arose and came to his father.	21:16
	When he was yet a great way off,	21:21
	his father saw him and had compassion	21:23
	and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.	21:26
	The son said unto him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven	21:31
	"and then thy sight and am no more worthy	21:36
	"to be called thy son."	21:38
	But the father said to his servants,	21:41
	"Bring forth the best robe and put it on him,	21:43
	"and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet,	21:46
	"and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it	21:50
	"and let us eat and be merry.	21:53
	"For this, my son, who's dead and is alive again.	21:56
	"He was lost and is found."	22:01
	And they began to be merry.	22:04
	Now, his elder son was in the field.	22:08
	As he came nigh and drew nigh to the house,	22:12
	he heard music and dancing.	22:14
	He called one of the servants	22:17
	and asked what these things meant.	22:19
	He said unto him, "Thy brother is come and thy father	22:22
	"hath killed the fatted calf	22:27
	"because he hath received him safe and sound."	22:28
	And he was angry and would not go in.	22:33
	Therefore, came his father out and he dreated him.	22:38
	He answering, said to his father,	22:42
	"Lo' these many years do I serve thee?	22:44
	"Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment?	22:46
	"And yet thou never gavest me a kid	22:50
	"that I might make merry with my friends.	22:53
	"But as soon as this thy son was come,	22:56
	"which had devoured thy living with harlots,	23:00
	"thou hast killed for him the fatted calf."	23:03
	And he said unto him, "Son, thou art ever with me	23:08
	"and all that I have is thine.	23:13
	"It was meek that we should make merry and be glad	23:17
	"for this, thy brother, who was dead and is alive again	23:21
	"and was lost and is found."	23:25
	This is the word of the Lord.	23:32
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	23:35
-	Let the words of my mouth	23:39
	and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight.	23:40
	Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer.	23:44
	Amen.	23:46
	New York taxi drivers hear a very strange conversations	23:52
	from time to time.	23:57
	Some years ago, I was driving down Park Avenue	24:00
	to deliver an old friend at Grand Central Station.	24:04
	On the way down, we talked about preaching.	24:09
	We talked about the Christian gospel.	24:14
	We talked about the message we should be proclaiming.	24:16
	We talked about the theology behind it all.	24:20
	My friend was the late D.T. Niles,	24:24
	a Methodist minister	24:28
	from Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist island.	24:30
	At that time he was the Director of Evangelism	24:35
	for The World Council of Churches.	24:38
	I had asked him some years before	24:43
	to conduct a Christian mission in Edinburgh University	24:45
	where I was chaplain.	24:48
	Probably the first time a missionary from Asia came	24:51
	to evangelize Scottish students.	24:56
	Well, the driver of that cab must have heard	24:59
	a lot more than he wanted to about this sort of thing.	25:02
	As we drew up at the station,	25:05
	Niles got out of the cab,	25:07
	poked his head in again through a window.	25:10
	He said, "There's only one thing to say, David.	25:15
	"Only one thing.	25:20
	"In the end,	25:22
	it's God loves you, goodbye."	25:24
	It was the last time I saw him.	25:31
	He died shortly afterwards,	25:32
	but I've never forgotten his remark.	25:34
	Is that indeed what all our preaching's about?	25:38
	God loves you.	25:40
	And it is, you know.	25:44
	And yet, and yet, what does that mean	25:46
	to the average person today?	25:51
	What surprises me is that after some 55 years	25:54
	in the business of proclaiming this good news	25:59
	is that it does not, contrary to expectations,	26:03
	seem to have less meaning,	26:07
	nor is it less often said.	26:12
	Few weeks ago, I was walking	26:17
	through central park one afternoon I saw a vast crowd	26:18
	of people and I heard the beloved voice	26:22
	of my old fried, Billy Graham.	26:25
	He was preaching on God so loved the world	26:28
	that whoever believes in him should not perish	26:30
	but have everlasting life.	26:34
	Somehow it seemed as fresh as when I heard him use	26:37
	that familiar text years and years ago.	26:40
	And yet, there we were.	26:44
	All around us, Manhattan and all it contains.	26:45
	The crowd were listening.	26:52
	A week later, I saw another old friend,	26:55
	who is Canon Bryan Green, ascending the pulpit	27:00
	with even more trouble than I had today	27:03
	because he's 92 years of age.	27:06
	His text was the party began.	27:09
	They began to be merry and his message was	27:13
	that God loves us with an unconditional love.	27:16
	Right, but on the other hand,	27:23
	with this theme in mind for you this morning,	27:26
	I was hit over the head, as it were,	27:31
	by an article I read which had the innocuous title,	27:32
	Jesus Loves Everybody.	27:37
	It was the very opposite of the kind of article	27:42
	I expected to find.	27:45
	It began with these words:	27:47
	More human beings live in abject poverty now	27:50
	than at any moment in the history of the planet.	27:55
	The wars of our century have set records	27:59
	for destructiveness.	28:02
	We have seen genocide practiced	28:03
	with a technical efficiency	28:06
	that might have cause Genghis Khan to blush.	28:08
	To the long list of ancient pestilences,	28:11
	has been added the scourge of AIDS, famine as commonplace,	28:15
	the United States, the richest and most powerful nation	28:20
	on Earth, is beset with racial class conflicts.	28:23
	Many of our schools are in brutal disarray.	28:29
	Homelessness, addiction, crime are epidemic.	28:33
	These are the words not of some atheistic	28:38
	professor of sociology or anything of that kind.	28:44
	They're the words of a professor of theology, Dr. Goetz.	28:46
	Jesus loves everybody.	28:53
	So what?	28:56
	What meaning does that have for you and me?	28:59
	That's the part.	29:01
	So I had to do another bit of thinking about the sermon.	29:06
	That's the astonishing thing about words like	29:12
	the love of Jesus, the love of God.	29:16
	That you think you must know all about it	29:20
	when you've been preaching for about 10 years.	29:23
	When you've been preaching for about 50,	29:27
	you begin to feel you don't know anything about it.	29:29
	It's constantly expanding.	29:32
	So, I began to wonder.	29:35
	Is this an impossible task	29:41
	to declare to people like you	29:45
	that the whole human story,	29:49
	the planet we inhabit,	29:53
	the vast universe beyond,	29:55
	your life, my life,	29:59
	are actually under the control	30:02
	and direction of an infinitely wise	30:07
	and benevolent power?	30:11
	It doesn't look like it.	30:15
	So I decided I would prepare this sermon	30:18
	with a so what ringing in my ear.	30:23
	The so what is said by people	30:27
	who come to the conclusion that a phrase	30:29
	like God loves you is part of the repertory	30:33
	of the Christian church that has ceased	30:35
	to have any real meaning at all.	30:39
	Or else, they say, "What difference would it make	30:43
	"to my life tomorrow morning whether I believe	30:45
	"that God loves me or now."	30:48
	So what.	30:50
	So I kept hearing that so what as I was preparing this.	30:52
	It's not just that the facts seem	30:58
	to contradict the proposition,	31:01
	but that we, ourselves, probably all of us here,	31:05
	may have gone through or are now going through	31:10
	some experience that robs the words of real meaning.	31:14
	You say, so what, I've heard this,	31:21
	but it's not helping me very much at the moment.	31:28
	Is there anybody who really, totally escapes	31:31
	what you might call the silence of this loving God	31:36
	when we are most in need?	31:41
	It's my conviction and experience	31:46
	that we're on the way to a more living	31:50
	and genuine when we begin to realize	31:53
	that these phrases, God is love, God loves you,	31:57
	are very far from being cliches or truisms.	32:02
	As a matter of fact, the phrase, God is love,	32:07
	does not occur in the entire Bible	32:10
	until a little letter that's tucked in	32:14
	before the book of Revelation at the end.	32:17
	There's no such statement in the whole of the Old Testament.	32:21
	There's no such statement in the Gospels	32:26
	or the Letters of Paul.	32:29
	I think that's because Jesus, himself,	32:34
	and the great prophets in the Old Testament	32:39
	never dealt in abstractions.	32:44
	That the word, love, is nearly always a verb	32:48
	and practically never a noun when it does occur.	32:50
	We learn to hear Jesus saying, "God loves you,"	32:56
	when we hear the stories he told	33:03
	like this one of the prodigal son.	33:04
	Or incidental words like, aren't five sparrow sold	33:08
	for two pence, and not one of them is overlooked by God.	33:13
	"Even the hairs of your head have all been counted,"	33:21
	he said.	33:23
	"Don't be afraid, you're more value than many sparrows."	33:26
	These are the images that convey the astounding news	33:31
	of God really loving us.	33:36
	Jesus doesn't argue about it, at all.	33:39
	He lives it more than anyone who ever walked.	33:42
	He lived in the conviction that God loved him.	33:47
	A conviction that took him right through the worst kind	33:50
	of pain of body, mind, and spirit	33:54
	that any of us can ever know.	33:56
	So that he could die saying,	34:00
	"Father, into they hands I commend my spirit."	34:02
	Somehow, occasionally the sight of a dead pigeon	34:08
	lying in the gutter of a New York street,	34:14
	or the sight of my comb when I've just done brushed my hair.	34:19
	One little hair, perhaps.	34:24
	The dead pigeon speaks more to me today	34:28
	than the arguments.	34:31
	They can become, you know, these simple little things.	34:34
	The sacraments of God's love,	34:37
	and they still speak with power.	34:41
	I think this amazing grace, as it is so well called,	34:44
	accounts for astonishing durability of the good news	34:50
	of the Gospel.	34:54
	By normal human standards of judgment,	34:57
	the grim facts of what has happened	35:01
	during these recent years.	35:05
	The years I've seen since my ordination in 1936.	35:08
	Just to hear them listed, should be enough	35:13
	to convince most sensible people	35:17
	that to talk of a God who loves us has become impossible,	35:20
	and these cliches, if they are, should be thrown	35:27
	into the dust bin of theology.	35:31
	But it hasn't happened like that.	35:37
	As I said, the word seems to be growing at the moment.	35:40
	The current issue, I believe,	35:48
	of Time magazine carries a stimulating essay	35:49
	about the year 2000 by Henry Gruenwaller.	35:54
	He talks about the present sense we have	36:00
	of things ending and others beginning.	36:04
	"As if," he says, "the hand of God was turning	36:09
	"another page in human faith."	36:11
	Then he goes on to speak	36:15
	about three great endings and beginnings	36:19
	that are happening right now.	36:24
	First, obviously, the end of communism	36:28
	and the beginning of coping of what it will mean	36:32
	for capitalism.	36:35
	Second, the rise of nationalism	36:37
	and the beginning	36:45
	of looking for new international relations.	36:47
	Then the third made me blink.	36:53
	He says, "We are witnessing the end, or at least the decline	36:56
	"of an age of unbelief and a beginning	37:01
	"of what may well be a new age of faith."	37:05
	You believe that?	37:10
	I don't know.	37:13
	New age of faith?	37:14
	I think it can happen.	37:18
	There are signs that it can happen.	37:20
	When we awake and let others be awake	37:24
	to the fact that the church is not dispensing bromides	37:27
	with its message of the love of God.	37:31
	We're not being called to return to a church	37:33
	that is going to be out there next century on the margin,	37:38
	living on a cliche,	37:41
	doing nothing that changes the situation.	37:44
	God is love.	37:48
	God loves you.	37:50
	That's a challenge to the mind and to the will.	37:52
	It's not meant to be an obvious truth.	37:58
	It's not an obvious truth.	38:01
	It's an astonishing truth.	38:03
	It's a challenge to the mind and the will.	38:05
	It's a slogan, if you like, to stir the blood	38:07
	when we really hit it and send us marching on	38:10
	to make a better world.	38:14
	Send us out dancing on whatever Berlin walls remain.	38:16
	So if our response to the word God loves you	38:23
	is so what.	38:28
	There are two important things waiting for us.	38:30
	Two answers, if you like.	38:34
	One offers a satisfaction to the mind.	38:36
	The other appeals to our wills, to our desire,	38:41
	to make this a better world.	38:44
	People wouldn't think that such a simple statement	38:47
	that God loves you could offer satisfaction to the mind.	38:52
	It does when we realize what an astonishing statement it is.	38:56
	I've just been reading a book that has given me	39:02
	what I never expected to find in my 80's,	39:06
	some new light on the parable of the prodigal son.	39:10
	The book is by Henri Nouwen,	39:16
	whom I think many of you may have heard.	39:18
	Illuminating writing on the spiritual life is probably known	39:22
	to some here.	39:26
	His new book just out is based not just	39:28
	on the story of the prodigal son,	39:34
	but Rembrandt's extraordinary painting	39:36
	of that return.	39:41
	Nouwen went as far as to Saint Petersburg	39:43
	to spend he said, "Seven hours gazing at that picture."	39:47
	He's a man who's had experience proclaiming	39:56
	the Gospel of God's love to the student world.	39:58
	He's a man who felt called by God	40:04
	to close that chapter and go to live	40:07
	with the community of mentally retarded people.	40:12
	He repaints, as it were in the book, the central figure,	40:21
	the Father, but he paints the prodigal	40:27
	in all his destitution being embraced by this father.	40:31
	Prodigal kneeling, penitent,	40:38
	and folded in that unexpected welcome.	40:41
	Then there is that stern disapproving figure	40:46
	of the elder brother standing there.	40:51
	Apparently unmoved by any instinct	40:59
	of joy seeing his brother back.	41:03
	We're not told in the story	41:10
	if he responded to the father's appeal.	41:14
	In fact, the gospel passage	41:17
	doesn't really indicate	41:22
	one way or the other.	41:26
	All we know is that this tremendous love coming	41:29
	from the father was responded to	41:32
	by the prodigal.	41:37
	The elder brother made his complaint,	41:42
	a very natural, but we don't know	41:45
	if he decided in the end to join the party.	41:49
	But Nouwen invites us to identify with these figures.	41:54
	Now, we have been asked a thousand times	42:00
	to identify with the prodigal son.	42:02
	You and I are invited to see ourselves as prodigals	42:07
	as indeed we are,	42:14
	but it's difficult for the average church congregation	42:18
	really to identify with this guy	42:22
	who went and spent all his father's hard,	42:25
	worked for gains	42:30
	and lived it up with prostitutes in a distant country.	42:32
	Most of us find it possible to obey the commandments,	42:38
	that's to say to the extent of getting through 24 hours	42:42
	without telling lies, stealing, or committing adultery.	42:46
	So we wonder why we should be considered prodigal.	42:51
	Nouwen doesn't rub in the ordinary things here.	42:59
	He indicates how hard it is for us	43:04
	as it was for that prodigal to let ourselves be embraced	43:07
	by a totally unconditional love that	43:12
	accepts us as we are.	43:17
	A love that dazzles us	43:20
	with the only kind of self esteem,	43:23
	to use the overworked word, that's worth math counting.	43:26
	Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.	43:36
	Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.	43:39
	Bring hither the fatted calf and let us eat and be merry.	43:41
	Do we really hear that?	43:50
	Or do we have a much more severe	43:53
	and unappealing picture of God?	43:57
	For this is how God loves us.	44:03
	This is the God who's love offers the most marvelous,	44:04
	mind satisfying, soul refreshing interpretation	44:09
	of human life.	44:12
	Just when we are tempted to say Macbeth was right.	44:16
	It's a tale told by an idiot	44:21
	full of sound and fury signifying nothing.	44:24
	"So what?" we say.	44:30
	That's the real truth.	44:32
	So we're prodigals.	44:35
	We gotta be startled again by hearing	44:37
	that there is this God of love	44:39
	behind all that is happening	44:40
	to the world and to us.	44:42
	There's nothing simplistic, obvious, sentimental	44:45
	about Jesus' way of telling us that God loves us.	44:49
	Nor is there anything grim,	44:54
	drab, sensorius.	44:58
	In his approach to that constant question	45:02
	that arises in every generation	45:07
	about what we call moral values.	45:09
	Rules of behavior.	45:13
	So Nouwen invites us to identify with the elder brother.	45:17
	In fact, when he was busy writing the book	45:23
	and got halfway through, he met a nun where he was working	45:26
	who said, "Henri, don't forget you are the elder brother."	45:29
	He didn't like it when he heard it,	45:34
	but he came to believe that there was a lot of truth in it	45:36
	as there is for us.	45:38
	As I say, most of us who come to church,	45:41
	whether we are firm believers or not,	45:45
	consider ourselves pretty decent people.	45:48
	Sometimes people get worried about these confessions of sin	45:56
	that we produce in our bulletins.	45:59
	They say, "Well, I don't want to say that."	46:03
	So I noticed that our Anglican friends have taken out	46:08
	there is no health in us and yet, I think,	46:10
	probably should have been left in.	46:13
	It's when we realize that there is,	46:16
	basically, no health in us	46:18
	that we're on our way to understanding the love of God.	46:22
	Pure love of God and love our neighbor.	46:30
	How about the envy we have of rascals	46:36
	like the prodigal	46:40
	who seem to get away with it, huh?	46:41
	Subtle sins, the elder brother.	46:46
	Question of pride, for instance.	46:51
	They tell a story in Scotland about a Sunday School teacher	46:56
	who was telling the children the story	47:00
	of the Pharisee and the tax collector	47:03
	who were praying in public.	47:08
	You will remember the Pharisee	47:14
	stood up and said,	47:18
	he didn't kneel.	47:20
	He stood up and he said, "Lord, I thank thee.	47:21
	"I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers.	47:23
	"I fast twice in a week.	47:28
	"I give tithes of all I posses."	47:29
	And the teacher then dramatically illustrated	47:34
	that the tax collector just threw himself on the ground	47:37
	and all he said was, "Lord have mercy on me a sinner!"	47:42
	And Jesus said he was the one	47:49
	who was deceived.	47:53
	Unfortunately the teacher at that point had a closing prayer	47:55
	in which he said, "Now children, let's give thanks	47:59
	"that we are not like that Pharisee."	48:01
	You can never get to the end.	48:07
	Instead of pride, comparing ourselves favorably	48:09
	with other people.	48:13
	Once we glimpse the fact that what it means	48:17
	to understand human life as a journey	48:21
	towards the fulfillment of God's love in us	48:25
	and in his world, then I think we can make	48:30
	that leap of faith without waiting for an answer	48:34
	to all our questions.	48:39
	We'll not get it, you know,	48:41
	but I'd rather make that leap of faith	48:44
	with Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer,	48:47
	Francis of Assisi, John Donne, Dante	48:50
	then settle for this so what of the cynic	48:55
	and hedonist.	48:59
	I don't have to be mathematically certain	49:02
	of the things I say I believe	49:05
	when I have those moments	49:09
	when I know that which lies beyond	49:11
	mathematical proofs.	49:16
	What comes to me through those moments	49:19
	of illumination come to us all.	49:22
	Simple thing, we know	49:25
	that despite of the evil and the power of evil in our day,	49:28
	ultimately, we are in the hands	49:33
	of the living and loving God.	49:37
	So what about that other answer when people say,	49:42
	"What difference does it make?"	49:45
	Well, it does make a very big difference	49:48
	if we are understanding	49:51
	what our profession of love to God	49:54
	really involves us in.	49:56
	Henri Nouwen said it took him a long time	50:00
	to understand that we are not invited	50:02
	just to identify with the prodigal or the other brother,	50:06
	but with the father.	50:09
	He says, talking of his own life,	50:13
	"God's love for me was limited by my fear of God's power	50:17
	"and it seemed wise to keep a careful distance	50:22
	"even though the desire for closeness is immense."	50:25
	He said, "I know I share this experience	50:29
	"with countless others.	50:31
	"I've seen how the fear of becoming subject	50:34
	"to God's revenge and punishment has paralyzed	50:38
	"the emotional lives of many people."	50:41
	This paralyzing fear of God is one	50:43
	of the great human tragedies.	50:45
	Rembrandt's painting and his own tragic life have offered	50:47
	me a context in which to discover	50:51
	that the final stage of the spiritual life is	50:54
	so to let go of all fear of the father	50:59
	that it becomes possible to become like him.	51:02
	After all, didn't Jesus say, "Be compassionate	51:07
	"as your Father in Heaven is compassionate."	51:11
	We are to be like the Father.	51:16
	Have we ever really felt a force behind the Lord's statement	51:19
	that to love God with heart and soul and strength	51:23
	is indesolubly linked	51:26
	with loving our neighbor as our selves,	51:29
	being the father to the sisters and brothers around us.	51:32
	Another apostle made that very clear, didn't he?	51:39
	John says, "We love because he first loved us.	51:42
	"Those who say I love God	51:47
	"and hate their brothers and sisters are liars."	51:49
	Well, the preacher in this post-modern age.	51:55
	I often wonder what people mean by post-modern.	51:59
	I've come to the conclusion, for me,	52:02
	it means it was modern when I was an active in the ministry	52:04
	and it's now post-modern in my retirement.	52:08
	However, struggling to understand this post-modern world,	52:11
	the preacher had a lot to rely on,	52:16
	not just the Bible text, but the communion of the saints	52:20
	that we proclaim God loves you.	52:25
	So does every Christian who wants	52:28
	to share good news to the friends.	52:32
	The most powerful and convincing argument for everyone	52:36
	is a demonstration of that fatherly and motherly love	52:41
	and care for those in need	52:47
	that reflects the unconditional, indiscriminate love	52:50
	that God has shown and will show	52:55
	to the entire human family.	52:57
	I usually begin my sermons with the text.	53:00
	Now, I'm ending, as you'll be glad to hear,	53:04
	with this time with a text.	53:06
	I will say no more.	53:09
	From Paul, Roman 8:38.	53:11
	A man who had a very full life.	53:16
	I am persuaded that neither death nor life,	53:18
	nor angels nor principalities nor powers	53:23
	nor things present nor things to come	53:28
	nor height nor depth nor any other creature	53:32
	shall be able to separate us from the love of God	53:35
	which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.	53:41
	To that, let us all say amen.	53:47
	(jubilant organ music)	53:59
	♪ Oh for our heart to praise my God ♪	54:27
	♪ A heart from sin set free ♪	54:34
	♪ A heart that always feels thy blood ♪	54:40
	♪ So freely shed for me ♪	54:47
	♪ A heart resigned, submissive, meek ♪	54:56
	♪ My great Redeemer's throne ♪	55:03
	♪ Where only Christ is heard to speak ♪	55:09
	♪ Where Jesus reigns alone ♪	55:16
	♪ A humble, lowly, contrite heart ♪	55:25
	♪ Believing, true, and clean ♪	55:32
	♪ Which neither life nor death can part ♪	55:38
	♪ From Christ who dwells within ♪	55:46
	♪ A heart in every thought renewed ♪	55:55
	♪ And full of love divine ♪	56:02
	♪ Perfect and right and pure and good ♪	56:08
	♪ A copy, Lord, of thine ♪	56:16
	♪ Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart ♪	56:25
	♪ Come quickly from above ♪	56:32
	♪ Write thy new name up on my heart ♪	56:38
	♪ They new, best name of Love. ♪	56:46
-	The Lord be with you.	56:56
Congregation	And also with you.	56:58
-	Let us pray.	57:00
	Loving God, who makes the afflicted hear,	57:11
	who delivers us from all our fears,	57:15
	who saves us out of all our troubles,	57:19
	we give you thanks and continuous praise.	57:23
	We bless you and exalt your name	57:27
	for we were lost, but now we are found.	57:30
	We were dead, but now we have new life	57:34
	through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.	57:38
	We thank you that you loved us enough	57:42
	to send your son that we might be freed	57:44
	from the power of sin and restored as your children.	57:48
	Like the prodigal son, some of us have followed	57:53
	our own desires and have swept up	57:56
	in the temptations of the world	58:00
	and sucked down into the pit.	58:03
	We have lived no better than the swine.	58:05
	You have intended more for us,	58:10
	but we have been afraid to come back to you	58:13
	and ask for your forgiveness	58:16
	knowing we have squandered our inheritance.	58:18
	Help us to trust in your compassion and graciousness	58:23
	for you have promised that those who seek the Lord	58:27
	shall want no manner of thing that is good.	58:30
	Help us accept your love and its healing power	58:35
	so that we might be made over as your loving children.	58:39
	Fill us with your righteousness	58:44
	that we might become obedient and whole.	58:46
	Yet many of us, Lord, are like the elder son.	58:51
	We have kept our eyes firmly fixed on you	58:55
	and have tried to obey your every command,	58:59
	but our hearts are small	59:03
	and there is no room for love within us.	59:06
	We would have you love,	59:10
	but only those we deem deserving.	59:12
	We count ourselves among those who deserve	59:16
	even more than you have given to us.	59:19
	Forgive us for our smallness	59:23
	for truly we are in as great a need	59:26
	of your forgiveness and reconciliation	59:29
	as the greatest sinner.	59:32
	We are weighed down by the sin of pride	59:35
	and puffed up with our own accomplishments.	59:38
	Remind us that nothing we do	59:43
	and nothing we are is possible without you.	59:45
	Free us from our self-righteousness	59:51
	that we might become filled with our righteousness.	59:54
	Enlarge our hearts so that we might have room	59:58
	to love all those whom you love.	1:00:02
	The sinner, the failure, the disobedient, the undeserving.	1:00:05
	God, we are amazed at your love.	1:00:14
	A love that gives, gives ever more,	1:00:17
	gives with zeal, with eager hands,	1:00:22
	spares not, keeps not, all outpours,	1:00:26
	ventures all, its all expends.	1:00:31
	We know that we don't deserve so great a love as this,	1:00:36
	but we thank you that you love	1:00:40
	regardless of what we deserve.	1:00:43
	We know that only so great a love as this can transform us	1:00:47
	into the loving children you have created us to be	1:00:52
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	1:00:56
	Oh God, you have promised that if anyone is in Christ,	1:00:59
	they are a new creature.	1:01:04
	The old things have passed away and the new has come.	1:01:07
	Make us new that we might become ambassadors for Christ.	1:01:12
	Give us the courage to lift high the cross	1:01:16
	to proclaim the love of Christ to all people.	1:01:20
	You have called us to be ministers of reconciliation.	1:01:25
	We're the ones you have called to be the peacemakers,	1:01:30
	the healers, the lovers of the world.	1:01:34
	We are the ones you have called to live like you,	1:01:39
	to love like you.	1:01:43
	Help us so to live that all persons might experience	1:01:46
	the love of Christ through us	1:01:50
	and all the world might adore his Holy name.	1:01:53
	For it is in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray.	1:01:57
	Amen.	1:02:00
	As stewards of all that God has entrusted to our care,	1:02:05
	we bring our offerings with deep concern	1:02:09
	that they accomplish God's will in our day.	1:02:12
	Let us rededicate ourselves with our tithes and offerings.	1:02:15
	(graceful organ music)	1:02:20
	("Beati Quorum Via")	1:03:28
	(jubilant organ music)	1:07:00
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:07:48
	♪ Praise God, all creatures here below ♪	1:07:56
	♪ Praise God above, ye heavenly host ♪	1:08:04
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	1:08:12
	Let us pray.	1:08:25
	How grateful we are, oh God, that you have claimed us	1:08:27
	and provided for us even when we have been unfaithful.	1:08:31
	In thanksgiving for your compassion	1:08:37
	and in recognition of needs among your children	1:08:39
	that you call us to address.	1:08:43
	We bring you our best in these offerings.	1:08:46
	Make us useful in your service.	1:08:49
	Amen.	1:08:52
	Let us pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us.	1:08:54
All	Our Father, who art in heaven,	1:08:58
	hallowed be the thine name.	1:09:01
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	1:09:03
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:09:06
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:09:09
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:09:11
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:09:14
	Lead us not into temptation,	1:09:17
	but deliver us from evil.	1:09:20
	For thine is the kingdom, and the power,	1:09:22
	and the glory forever.	1:09:25
	Amen.	1:09:26
-	In Christ we are a new creation.	1:09:28
	The old has passed away.	1:09:31
	Behold, the new has come.	1:09:34
	Let us go forth as ambassadors for Christ	1:09:36
	to proclaim the love of Christ for all people.	1:09:39
	May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ,	1:09:42
	and the love of God and the fellowship	1:09:44
	of the Holy Spirit be with you all.	1:09:47
	♪ Amen, amen ♪	1:09:55
	♪ Amen ♪	1:10:03
	(joyful organ music)	1:10:17
	(muffled congregation singing)	1:10:42
	(joyful organ music)	1:13:14

Item Info

Title:

David H. C. Read - "God Loves You - So What?" (March 29, 1992)

Description:

It can be easy and tempting to see the phrase "God loves you" as a meaningless cliché in a world so full of disasters and tragedies. Yet, in order to move forward and accept this truth on faith, we must come to see that human life is a journey toward the fulfillment of this love, which God gives to us unconditionally. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 23:39. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 53:51.
Key quotation: “Once we glimpse the fact that what it means to understand human life as a journey toward the fulfillment of God’s love in us and in his world, then I think we can make that leap of faith without waiting for an answer to all our questions.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4b56dk4p

Date:

March 29, 1992

Speaker:

Read, David Haxton Carswell

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Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0277
ref9079_yl7
uachapelsermaud
duke:321468
dcrmv001264
ark:/87924/r4b56dk4p
a6af3c28-8db0-4148-8539-18906cdd4954

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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English

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United States
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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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David H. C. Read - "God Loves You - So What?" (March 29, 1992)

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