David L. Bartlett - Sermon Untitled (May 31, 1992)

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	(organ playing)	0:04
-	Good morning and welcome Duke Chapel,	3:24
	on this the last Sunday in the Christian season of Easter.	3:26
	This is employee Sunday and we welcome	3:32
	those Duke employees who are with us this morning.	3:35
	Our two lectors are Duke employees,	3:38
	Selden Smith and Maureen Cullins.	3:41
	We also welcome today for the first Sunday	3:44
	of this summer, our summer choir.	3:47
	Under the direction of Donna Sparks.	3:50
	If you're around Durham for the summer	3:53
	and would like to sing in the choir,	3:54
	we invite you to do so and we're glad	3:57
	to have these talented musicians	4:00
	with us for the summer.	4:02
	Our guest preacher today is Dr. David Bartlett,	4:04
	who teaches preaching at Yale Divinity School.	4:08
	This is his first visit here at Duke Chapel	4:10
	and we welcome him as we welcome you.	4:13
	Let us stand for the greeting.	4:17
	Christ is risen.	4:23
Congregation	The Lord is risen indeed.	4:25
-	Glory and honor, dominion and power	4:27
	be to God forever and ever.	4:28
Congregation	Christ is risen.	4:32
	Alleluia.	4:33
	(organ playing)	4:35
	(congregation singing)	5:22
-	Let us pray.	8:38
	O God, in whom we live and move and have our being,	8:41
	we have gathered in your presence to sing your praise,	8:48
	and to give thanks for all that you have done for us.	8:53
	We also give thanks this morning	8:57
	for those who work to make this university possible.	8:59
	For the many unsung heroes,	9:04
	and those who unselfishly give so much to make	9:06
	this a wonderful place to be.	9:10
	Bless each employee and all those who have	9:14
	gathered here for worship.	9:17
	Lift up the prayer of each heart	9:21
	into one harmony of worship and service,	9:23
	that we might truly be one body in Christ.	9:27
	Speak to us, spirit of life, in word and melody and quiet,	9:32
	that we may be renewed in our faith	9:40
	and strengthened for your service.	9:43
	This we ask in Christ name, amen.	9:46
	You may be seated.	9:52
-	Let us pray together for illumination.	10:03
	O living God, bring us forth from death to life,	10:08
	so that the scriptures are read and your word is proclaimed,	10:13
	we might be brought to a sure and living faith in you.	10:18
	Amen.	10:22
	The first reading is taken from the acts of the apostles,	10:24
	chapter 16, starting with the 16th verse.	10:27
	One day, as we were going to the place of prayer,	10:33
	we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination	10:37
	and brought her owners a great deal	10:40
	of money by fortunetelling.	10:42
	While she followed Paul and us,	10:45
	she would cry out, these men are slaves	10:47
	of the most high God who proclaim to you	10:51
	a way of salvation.	10:54
	She kept doing this for many days.	10:57
	But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said	11:00
	to the spirit, I order you in the name	11:04
	of Jesus Christ to come out of her.	11:07
	And it came out that very hour.	11:11
	But when her owners saw that their hope	11:14
	of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas	11:16
	and dragged them into the marketplace	11:21
	before the authorities.	11:23
	When they had brought them before the magistrates,	11:25
	they said these men are disturbing our city.	11:27
	They are Jews and are advocating customs	11:32
	that are not lawful for us as Romans	11:35
	to adopt or observe.	11:37
	The crowd joined in attacking them,	11:40
	and the magistrates had them stripped	11:42
	of their clothing and ordered them	11:44
	to be beaten with rods.	11:47
	After they had given them a severe flogging,	11:50
	they threw them into the prison	11:53
	and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.	11:55
	Following these instructions, he put them	11:59
	in the innermost cell and fastened their feet	12:01
	in the stocks.	12:04
	About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying	12:07
	and singing hymns to God,	12:10
	and the prisoners were listening to them.	12:12
	Suddenly there was an earthquake,	12:15
	so violent that the foundations	12:17
	of the prison were shaken,	12:19
	and immediately all the doors were opened	12:21
	and everyone's chains were unfastened.	12:23
	When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open,	12:26
	he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,	12:31
	since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.	12:34
	But Paul shouted in a loud voice,	12:39
	do not harm yourself, for we are all here.	12:42
	The jailer called for lights, and rushing in,	12:46
	he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.	12:49
	Then he brought them outside and said,	12:53
	sirs, what must I do to be saved?	12:55
	They answered, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ	12:59
	and you will be saved, you and your household.	13:02
	They spoke the word of the Lord to him,	13:06
	and to all who were in his house.	13:08
	At that same hour of the night, he took them	13:11
	and washed their wounds.	13:14
	Then he and his entire family were baptized	13:15
	without delay.	13:18
	He brought them up into the house,	13:20
	and set food before them.	13:22
	And he and his entire household rejoiced	13:24
	that he had become a believer in God.	13:27
	This is the word of God.	13:30
	Thanks be to God.	13:33
-	The psalm for today is number 97,	13:44
	and is found on page 817 in your hymnal.	13:47
	Please stand and join in singing responsively.	13:51
	(organ playing)	13:56
	♪ The Lord reigns ♪	14:03
	♪ Let the earth rejoice ♪	14:04
	♪ Let the many coastlines be glad ♪	14:07
	♪ Clouds and thick darkness surround the Lord ♪	14:12
	♪ Righteousness and justice are the foundation ♪	14:17
	♪ Of God's throne ♪	14:21
	♪ Fire goes before the Lord ♪	14:24
	♪ And burns up his adversaries round about ♪	14:29
	♪ The Lord's lightnings illumine the world ♪	14:34
	♪ The earth sees and trembles ♪	14:39
	♪ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord ♪	14:43
	♪ Before the Lord of all the earth ♪	14:48
	♪ The heavens proclaim God's righteousness ♪	14:53
	♪ And all the peoples behold God's glory ♪	14:59
	♪ All the worshipers of images are put to shame ♪	15:05
	♪ Who make their boast in worthless idols ♪	15:09
	♪ All gods bow down before the Lord ♪	15:13
	♪ Zion hears and is glad ♪	15:19
	♪ And the daughters of Judah rejoice ♪	15:23
	♪ Because of your judgments O God ♪	15:27
	♪ For you O Lord are most high over all the earth ♪	15:32
	♪ You are exalted far above all gods ♪	15:38
	♪ The Lord loves those who hate evil ♪	15:43
	♪ Preserves the lives of his faithful ♪	15:48
	♪ And delivers them from the hand of the wicked ♪	15:52
	♪ Light dawns for the righteous ♪	15:58
	♪ And joy for the upright in heart ♪	16:02
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord O you righteous ♪	16:07
	♪ And give thanks to God's holy name ♪	16:12
	♪ All glory be to your creator ♪	16:18
	♪ And to Jesus Christ our savior ♪	16:21
	♪ And to the holy spirit ♪	16:25
	♪ Blessed trinity ♪	16:28
	♪ As it was er' time began ♪	16:31
	♪ Is now and will be forevermore ♪	16:37
	You may be seated.	16:46
-	This reading is from the 22nd chapter	16:59
	of the revelation of John.	17:02
	Beginning with verse 12.	17:03
	See, I am coming soon.	17:07
	My reward is with me, to repay according	17:09
	to everyone's work.	17:11
	I am the alpha and the omega, first and the last,	17:13
	the beginning and the end.	17:17
	Blessed are those who wash their robes,	17:20
	so that they will have the right to the tree of life,	17:22
	and may enter the city by the gates.	17:24
	It is I Jesus who sent my angel to you	17:28
	with this testimony for this churches.	17:31
	I am the root and the descendant of David,	17:34
	the bright morning star.	17:36
	The spirit and the bride say come.	17:39
	And let everyone who hears say come.	17:42
	And let everyone who is thirsty come.	17:46
	Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.	17:49
	The one who testifies to these things says	17:55
	surely I am coming soon.	17:57
	Amen.	18:00
	Come Lord Jesus.	18:02
	This is the word of the Lord.	18:05
	(organ playing)	18:12
	(choir singing)	18:33
-	The gospel lesson is from the gospel of John,	20:51
	the last verses of the 17th chapter.	20:53
	Jesus is praying for his disciples and for us.	20:56
	I ask not only on behalf of these,	21:03
	but also on behalf of those who will believe in me	21:06
	through their word.	21:10
	That they may all be one, as you father are in me	21:13
	and I am in you, may they also be in us.	21:17
	So that the world may believe that you sent me.	21:23
	The glory that you have given me I have given them	21:28
	so that they may be one, as we are one.	21:31
	I in them and you in me, that they may become	21:36
	completely one.	21:40
	So that the world may know that you have sent me	21:43
	and have loved them even as you have loved me.	21:46
	Father, I desire that those also	21:51
	whom you have given me may be with me where I am,	21:54
	to see my glory which you have given me	21:59
	because you loved me before the foundation of the world.	22:04
	Righteous father, the world does not know you,	22:11
	but I know you and these know that you have sent me.	22:16
	I made your name known to them	22:22
	and I will make it known so that the love	22:24
	with which you have loved me may be in them	22:28
	and I in them.	22:33
	This is the word of the Lord.	22:36
	Monday was commencement at our university.	22:48
	Someone has said that it's not a university,	22:54
	it's a multiversity.	22:58
	And the truth is it does sometimes seem barely	23:01
	to hang together.	23:05
	All those different disciplines representing quite	23:07
	different ways of understanding the world.	23:11
	This year, a bitter labor dispute, a strike	23:15
	just barely avoided.	23:19
	Graduate students still angry at the administration	23:22
	for low pay.	23:26
	Three whole departments facing possible extinction	23:29
	so that we can meet a shrinking budget.	23:34
	But the band was playing, and the philosophy department	23:38
	who seldom speak to each other were at least	23:43
	marching side by side.	23:46
	The staff, who had briefly started out on strike,	23:50
	was now cheering the students,	23:53
	and the graduate students were almost,	23:55
	for one day, forgiving the administration.	23:58
	It's always splendid and colorful	24:02
	and a little chaotic	24:07
	and very, very fragile.	24:09
	As we marched through the gates	24:15
	onto the quadrangle for the ceremony,	24:17
	I saw standing at the very edge of the spectators	24:19
	two young men, each holding a placard.	24:24
	And on each placard was a verse from the gospel of John,	24:30
	the gospel we just read.	24:35
	On one placard, the sign said I am the way	24:39
	and the truth and the life, says Jesus.	24:43
	And on the other placard, no one comes	24:47
	to the father but by me.	24:51
	It was a kind of remarkable witness	24:55
	to the rigor and unity of the Christian faith,	24:59
	in the midst of a secular multiversity.	25:03
	It sounded quite appropriately a characteristic note	25:08
	from John's gospel.	25:13
	John's gospel often reminds us that as Christians,	25:15
	we are not finally citizens of this world,	25:20
	with all its bustle and its competing ideologies.	25:24
	In the passage we read this morning,	25:30
	Jesus prays for us to be a special separate family.	25:33
	Finding our meaning in our relationship to God,	25:38
	to Christ and to one another.	25:42
	Righteous father, he prays, the world does not know you,	25:44
	but I know you and these whom you have sent to me.	25:50
	In John's gospel, the church stands over against the world.	25:56
	We find our meaning in Christ and in one another.	26:02
	We challenge the multiversity by calling	26:07
	all those people to leave their diversity	26:11
	and come join us in the one true university.	26:15
	The one true united family in the church.	26:20
	The young men with their signs caught	26:27
	the characteristic note of John's gospel just right.	26:30
	We Christians have been blessed with the way	26:35
	and the truth and the life.	26:38
	We stand here a little to one side of your	26:41
	secular parade,	26:45
	and invite you to come over here and join us.	26:48
	That is an honorable way of being Christian	26:56
	in a secular university and a secular world.	27:00
	But it is not the only way.	27:05
	One of the gifts of scripture is that the Bible	27:09
	provides for us a different models of faithfulness.	27:12
	John shows us a kind of faithfulness that says	27:18
	to the world, come over here and join us Christians.	27:21
	Acts shows a different kind of faithfulness,	27:27
	where Christians say to the world,	27:32
	we're coming out there to confront you.	27:34
	This is my first time in Duke's chapel.	27:40
	I know it only by reputation	27:43
	and by my admiration from afar.	27:45
	But as I drove up this morning it became clear	27:48
	that by architecture and geography you are not allowed	27:51
	to be a shrinking violet on this campus.	27:54
	You are almost destined, called I think,	27:58
	to bring the gospel into the midst of secular confusion	28:03
	and conversation and hope.	28:08
	And so at the very least I think the model	28:11
	of the church in Acts serves	28:14
	to supplement the kind of picture	28:16
	of separated Christianity we see in John.	28:19
	Paul and Silas in the story we heard from Acts,	28:26
	do not stand at the side of the road	28:30
	with a sign saying come over here and join us.	28:32
	They march boldly into the midst of the economic	28:37
	and intellectual and political society of their time	28:40
	and say here we are.	28:44
	Pay attention.	28:47
	Their strategy for faithfulness I think,	28:50
	can be a model for us at Duke and Yale	28:54
	and in the secular multiversities of our time.	28:58
	Look how they do it.	29:03
	Paul and Silas speak and act	29:06
	for justice as Christian people.	29:09
	The poor slave girl who cries after them is twice oppressed.	29:14
	She is oppressed by a demonic spirit.	29:19
	She is oppressed by her owners,	29:23
	who exploit her for her pain.	29:25
	She cries out after Paul and Silas,	29:28
	these men are slaves of the most high God.	29:31
	She speaks truth even in her torment	29:37
	until finally Luke says this about the blessed apostle Paul.	29:39
	Paul, very much annoyed.	29:45
	Turned and said to the spirit, come out of her.	29:50
	And the woman is freed from her torment,	29:55
	and useless at last to her owners.	29:58
	Now I love the realism of that passage.	30:02
	Paul finally acts for justice,	30:07
	only when he is so much annoyed	30:11
	by the pushy woman and her strutting exploitation	30:14
	that he is finally nagged into speaking for God's truth.	30:19
	And when we are honest, we will admit that even	30:25
	for Christian people, our love of justice	30:28
	often only emerges when we're nagged	30:31
	or forced or demonstrated into it.	30:35
	What does it mean, according to Acts,	30:40
	to be faithful for justice?	30:43
	It means that when we are nagged and pushed	30:46
	and demonstrated and prodded into seeing	30:50
	the injustice around us and are very much annoyed,	30:55
	as we are bound to be,	30:59
	we will use our annoyance to serve God's justice,	31:02
	not to protect our privilege.	31:09
	Women were not going to find their rightful role	31:14
	in church and society because men benevolently looked out	31:18
	and said let us be just at last.	31:21
	We male leaders in church and society have been nagged	31:26
	and pushed and demonstrated against	31:30
	until we got very annoyed.	31:33
	And when the spirit was with church and society as leaders,	31:37
	we have sometimes, sometimes, been graced	31:41
	to use that annoyance for reconciliation	31:45
	and for justice, and not for building the fortresses	31:49
	of our defense even higher.	31:53
	I grew up in a church which integrated	31:58
	for the first time in the 1950s.	32:00
	Believe me, that church did not integrate	32:04
	because the deacons went out on the streets trying	32:06
	to make it a multiracial congregation.	32:10
	It integrated because some black folk,	32:14
	who everyone said were much too pushy,	32:17
	came down the aisle one Sunday morning	32:21
	at the baptist invitation and asked to join that church,	32:23
	and when they got voted down the first time,	32:26
	they came back the next month	32:29
	and walked down the aisle again,	32:31
	and lots of people in our church got very annoyed.	32:33
	And some people knew that that annoyance was	32:39
	God pushing us towards justice.	32:43
	Christian faithfulness will not avoid annoyance.	32:47
	It may let us use our annoyance	32:52
	to serve God's just realm.	32:56
	Paul and Silas not only act for justice, they evangelize.	33:02
	They bear witness to their faith.	33:06
	Not standing over against the world with their placards,	33:08
	but right there in the midst of the world's hustle	33:12
	and bustle and pain.	33:15
	They luck out, of course.	33:18
	They have a kind of perfect occasion for a witness.	33:20
	There's this huge earthquake, miraculous escape,	33:22
	the jailer asks what every Christian wishes	33:26
	a neighbor would someday ask.	33:28
	What must we do to be saved,	33:30
	no one's ever asked me that question.	33:31
	But it comes to us still,	33:35
	the opportunity to bear witness,	33:38
	to questions that are more subtle,	33:42
	on occasions that are less dramatic,	33:45
	to proclaim our faith in God and in Jesus Christ.	33:48
	Christians like me, maybe like you.	33:54
	We're quick to talk about our favorite book.	33:58
	Our favorite restaurant.	34:01
	A movie you've just got to see.	34:03
	Try it, read it, see it, we say.	34:05
	Why can't we talk about our favorite church	34:09
	or the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.	34:12
	Try it, see it, taste it.	34:17
	Taste and see the Lord is good, says the Psalm.	34:22
	Why can't we just once say that.	34:27
	Paul and Silas seek for justice.	34:34
	They bear witness.	34:37
	And then in a way a minor point,	34:39
	but it struck me as I read the passage this week.	34:41
	Paul and Silas are considerate and kind	34:44
	to the secular authorities who are their oppressors.	34:48
	Considerate, kind, respectful.	34:52
	Those sound like old fashioned, Victorian,	34:57
	Boy Scout virtues.	35:00
	Girl Scout virtues too.	35:02
	But they're not far from the old translation	35:06
	of the greatest Christian virtue, charity.	35:09
	Faith, hope, charity abide.	35:14
	These three.	35:20
	Anyway, after the earthquake, the jailer thinking	35:22
	that his charges have just escaped,	35:25
	is about to kill himself.	35:28
	And you think it would be a golden opportunity	35:31
	for our heroes to leave and leave their old enemy	35:35
	to his own well deserved fate.	35:40
	But no, they stay around out of a kind of odd,	35:44
	1st century Christian politeness.	35:48
	To spare him trouble.	35:52
	Don't harm yourself, Paul calls to the distraught jailer.	35:55
	We are all here.	36:00
	When we Christians take our quest for justice	36:04
	into the world, there is always the danger	36:08
	that our zeal will turn to meanness.	36:11
	Have you noticed the rhetoric	36:17
	around abortion clinics lately?	36:18
	Or at the sites of executions?	36:22
	Usually the placards and the slogans pit Christian	36:26
	against Christian.	36:30
	When I was young we used to sing, naively,	36:33
	they'll know we are Christians by our love,	36:37
	by our love.	36:40
	Now oftentimes, they know we are Christians	36:43
	by our nastiness.	36:46
	It's not right up there with justice and evangelism	36:52
	at the heart of the Christian life.	36:56
	But Paul and Silas do model civility.	36:59
	In the church where we worship,	37:06
	the minister often closes the service	37:07
	with these words.	37:10
	Go forth into the world in peace,	37:12
	charity, kindness.	37:16
	Not a bad charge.	37:20
	Go forth into the world in peace,	37:25
	but not in peace alone.	37:27
	Paul and Silas, notice this, it's so different	37:29
	from us, I think.	37:32
	Paul and Silas go into the world in pride.	37:33
	Pride in who they are as Christian believers.	37:38
	Peace is not enough if it means they have	37:44
	to hide their faith or sneak about being Christian.	37:47
	After the earthquake, the police tell the jailer	37:53
	to let Paul go.	37:55
	And the jailer goes and tells Paul, the magistrate	37:57
	sent word to let you go.	38:00
	Therefore come out now and go in peace.	38:01
	And Paul says, they have beaten us in public.	38:07
	We are uncondemned men who are Roman citizens.	38:13
	Are they going to discharge us in secret?	38:17
	Certainly not.	38:21
	Certainly not.	38:24
	I am not ashamed of the gospel, says Paul elsewhere.	38:26
	And Acts ends with him in prison again,	38:32
	preaching openly.	38:37
	Boldly.	38:40
	When we go out into the world, we go in peace	38:43
	and justice and charity but we also go	38:47
	in openness and honesty and boldness.	38:50
	We do not pretend that we seek justice and love, charity	38:53
	because we are people of goodwill.	38:58
	We are called to justice and charity	39:02
	because we serve the one who died and rose again.	39:04
	We acknowledge our commitments.	39:10
	We are straightforward about our reasons.	39:12
	We claim our citizenship, not only in heaven	39:16
	and not only in the church	39:20
	but here in Duke and Durham and North Carolina	39:22
	and the United States of America.	39:25
	We have every right and every obligation	39:27
	to join the public forum from our Christian convictions.	39:32
	Not to coerce, but to persuade,	39:38
	unashamed,	39:43
	unembarrassed.	39:46
	At that commencement service in New Haven last Monday,	39:51
	we ended as we always end, with a hymn.	39:55
	It's a kind of odd, anachronistic reminder.	40:00
	That in the beginning our multiversity was	40:05
	just a little college.	40:07
	With a purpose unified and clear.	40:10
	To train leaders for church	40:14
	and civil state.	40:18
	In some ways we have come a very far distance	40:22
	from that vision.	40:27
	But there we were with those old words before us.	40:29
	Invited to sing a hymn which took us back	40:34
	and might point us forward too.	40:39
	The faculty did not sing very loudly.	40:44
	No one would confuse us with a great church choir.	40:47
	Some people of course find singing aloud embarrassing.	40:51
	Others I know, found the words hopelessly	40:56
	fantastic and outmoded.	40:59
	But above the polite mumbling and over the sound	41:03
	of the band, I did hear one voice begin,	41:08
	quite loud.	41:14
	Quite clear.	41:17
	O God, beneath thy guiding hand,	41:20
	our exiled fathers crossed the sea.	41:26
	And when they trod the wintry strand,	41:31
	with prayer and psalm they worshiped thee.	41:36
	And then a few more voices,	41:42
	not anything resembling unanimity,	41:46
	but clearly, audibly, unmistakably,	41:50
	a testimony, a witness.	41:56
	And at the last, somewhat, somewhat louder,	41:59
	a quite respectable hope.	42:05
	And here thy name,	42:10
	O God of love,	42:14
	their children's children shall adore.	42:18
	'Til these eternal hills remove	42:23
	and spring adorns	42:29
	the earth no more.	42:33
	And then, perhaps because they knew the notes,	42:39
	or perhaps because they believed it,	42:45
	or intended to believe it,	42:50
	a goodly multitude of voices sang.	42:53
	Amen!	43:00
	Amen.	43:03
	(organ playing)	43:12
	(all singing)	43:52
-	The Lord be with you.	46:52
	Let us pray, be seated.	46:55
	We've just sung of the kingship of God	47:05
	over all the world.	47:10
	Let us this day pray	47:12
	for the peace and prosperity	47:15
	of all the peoples of the world.	47:18
	Almighty God we lift our hopes and prayers	47:22
	to you for all the peoples of the world.	47:25
	You know their condition, their need as we do not.	47:29
	And our thoughts of them are poor	47:34
	because we've not cared enough to seek knowledge of them.	47:36
	Accept our prayers as we give expression	47:41
	to the concern in our hearts, as we unite our wills	47:45
	with your own mighty intention of good	47:51
	for all the world's people.	47:53
	We remember before you the peoples of Africa	47:57
	and the Middle East.	48:00
	Ancient home of kings, birth place of our culture,	48:03
	lands of bitter wrong, of ignorance and fear,	48:07
	disease and death.	48:11
	Yet lands of promise.	48:14
	Of great rivers and mountains and plains,	48:17
	eager and strong men and women seeking	48:20
	and finding freedom, seeking and finding you.	48:23
	Particularly we pray for the peoples of Zambia.	48:27
	Of South Africa, of Ethiopia,	48:34
	of Israel.	48:38
	Of Jordan, of Syria, of Lebanon.	48:41
	Pour out your spirit upon people everywhere.	48:45
	We remember before you the peoples of Asia,	48:50
	that their divisions may be healed,	48:54
	their wisdom increased to accept from other cultures	48:57
	only that which ennobles and exalts.	49:00
	Particularly we pray for the divided peoples of Korea.	49:04
	O God who burst the bounds of death on Easter,	49:11
	burst the bonds that enslave us to ourselves	49:16
	and separate us from others.	49:23
	We remember before you the peoples of Latin America,	49:28
	struggling upward from chaos	49:31
	into swift ill achievement and promise.	49:33
	Yet hampered by tragic failures	49:36
	of government and enlightenment.	49:38
	That they may find their destiny anew in your purpose.	49:42
	Particularly we pray for the Earth Summit meeting in Rio.	49:47
	Oh God may we unite with peoples everywhere	49:52
	to care for the earth.	49:54
	We remember before you the peoples of Europe,	49:59
	many times crushed by war and born down with old divisions.	50:03
	That as ancient bearers of the message of Christ,	50:08
	they may again be inspired by your power	50:11
	in their common life.	50:13
	We remember particularly the suffering peoples of Bosnia,	50:17
	Herzegovina, Serbia.	50:21
	O God of peace, pour out your peaceful spirit	50:25
	on suffering people everywhere.	50:29
	We remember before you our own peoples on this continent,	50:33
	proud, tireless, groping for new faith	50:38
	even as they seek to live up to the old.	50:40
	O God we pray that without condescension	50:44
	or overweening trust in our own powers	50:48
	we may humbly play our part in your holy desire	50:50
	for the world's life.	50:55
	This morning do we pray for the homeless,	50:59
	the sick, the bereaved among us.	51:02
	O God, you promised us your comforter,	51:09
	pour out your comforting spirit upon us	51:13
	and upon people everywhere.	51:16
	Grant O God that our imagination may be stretched,	51:20
	to enable us to really feel the poignant needs of others,	51:24
	to really celebrate with vibrant exaltation	51:29
	of people of everywhere.	51:31
	Give us all to dwell in a large place,	51:35
	and make your church strong in every land,	51:38
	a visible witness in every tongue for every people,	51:42
	that Jesus Christ is Lord.	51:47
	Amen.	51:51
	As a people who have received so much,	51:54
	let us offer ourselves and our gifts	51:57
	to the God who has offered so much to us.	51:59
	(organ playing)	52:06
	(choir singing)	53:23
	(organ playing)	57:02
	(choir singing)	57:23
-	Let us pray.	58:19
	We give thanks O God for every gift received	58:22
	and for each gift we are blessed in giving.	58:26
	May these gifts bring light to those	58:30
	who walk in darkness, hope to those who live in despair,	58:33
	and justice to those who are oppressed.	58:38
	Grant each giver a sense of participation	58:42
	in the most important opportunity of all time,	58:46
	to share your love with the world.	58:50
	To this end we dedicate our offerings and ourselves.	58:53
	Amen.	58:58
	Our father, who art in heaven.	58:59
	Hallowed be thy name.	59:02
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	59:04
	on earth as it is in heaven.	59:08
	Give us this day our daily bread	59:10
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive	59:13
	those who trespassed against us.	59:16
	Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	59:19
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	59:23
	and the glory forever.	59:26
	Amen.	59:28
	Let us go forth into the world in peace,	59:31
	sharing kindness, promoting justice,	59:34
	witnessing boldly and exemplifying God's love	59:38
	for all people.	59:43
	May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ	59:45
	and the love of God and fellowship of the holy spirit	59:47
	be with you all.	59:51
	(choir singing)	59:58
	(organ playing)	1:00:10
	(all singing)	1:00:50
	(organ playing)	1:03:30

Item Info

Title:

David L. Bartlett - Sermon Untitled (May 31, 1992)

Description:

As Christians we must be bold to go out into the world and seek justice in the name of the one who died and rose again, boldly proclaiming the Gospel. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 22:48. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 43:05.
Key quotation: “We do not pretend that we seek justice and love, charity because we are people of goodwill. We are called to justice and charity because we serve the one who died and rose again.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4cr5nt12

Date:

May 31, 1992

Speaker:

Bartlett, David L.

Liturgical Calendar:

Easter

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0282
ref9105_drz
uachapelsermaud
duke:321347
dcrmv001269
ark:/87924/r4cr5nt12
515fa7c0-08f4-4ecd-ba06-06a37f804722

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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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David L. Bartlett - Sermon Untitled (May 31, 1992)

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Duke University Archives

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