William H. Willimon - "God's Freedom, Our Freedom" (August 9, 1992)

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-	We welcome you to the service of worship	0:05
	here in Duke University Chapel.	0:07
	One of the nice things about the chapel in the summer	0:10
	is the many visitors from around the world.	0:12
	We're glad that you're with us.	0:16
	The chapel calendars for the coming year	0:19
	are available at the rear of the chapel this Sunday,	0:22
	all of the activities for the coming year.	0:25
	And we invite you to help yourself to a chapel calendar.	0:28
	Now let us stand for the greeting.	0:33
	(audience rustles)	0:36
	Be watchful and ready, God comes among us	0:41
	at an unexpected hour.	0:44
	(congregation murmurs indiscernibly)	0:46
	You are offered a place in God's dominion.	0:53
	A dwelling place where God rules.	0:55
	(congregation murmurs indiscernibly)	0:59
	Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,	1:05
	the conviction of things not seen.	1:09
	(congregation murmurs indiscernibly)	1:13
	(organ plays "Maker in Whom We Live")	1:19
	(congregation sings)	2:01
	♪ Maker in whom we live ♪
	♪ In whom we are and move ♪	2:05
	♪ The glory, power, and praise ♪	2:10
	♪ Receive for thy creating love ♪	2:14
	♪ Let all the angel throng ♪	2:20
	♪ Give thanks to God on high ♪	2:26
	♪ While earth repeats the joyful song ♪	2:31
	♪ And echoes to the sky ♪	2:36
	♪ Incarnate Deity ♪	2:45
	♪ Let all the ransomed race ♪	2:49
	♪ Render in thanks their lives to thee ♪	2:54
	♪ For thy redeeming grace ♪	2:59
	♪ The grace to sinners showed ♪	3:05
	♪ Ye heavenly choirs proclaim ♪	3:10
	♪ And cry salvation to our God ♪	3:15
	♪ Salvation to the lamb ♪	3:21
	♪ Spirit of Holiness ♪	3:29
	♪ Let all thy saints adore ♪	3:34
	♪ Thy sacred energy, and bless ♪	3:39
	♪ Thine heart-renewing power ♪	3:44
	♪ No angel tongues can tell ♪	3:50
	♪ Thy love's ecstatic height ♪	3:55
	♪ The glorious joy unspeakable ♪	4:00
	♪ The beatific sight ♪	4:06
	♪ Eternal, triune God ♪	4:22
	♪ Let all the hosts above ♪	4:27
	♪ Let all on earth below record ♪	4:32
	♪ And dwell upon thy love ♪	4:37
	♪ When heaven and earth are fled ♪	4:43
	♪ Before thy glorious face ♪	4:49
	♪ Sing all the saints thy love hath made ♪	4:55
	♪ Thine everlasting praise ♪	5:00
-	Let us pray.	5:13
	Almighty and everlasting God,	5:17
	you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray,	5:21
	and to give more than we either desire or deserve.	5:26
	Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,	5:31
	forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,	5:34
	and giving us those good things	5:38
	for which we are not worthy to ask,	5:40
	except through the merit of Your Son,	5:42
	Jesus Christ, our lord.	5:44
	Amen.	5:47
	(audience rustles)	5:50
-	Let us pray together the prayer for illumination.	5:58
-	[Priest And Congregation] Open our hearts and minds,	6:03
	oh God,	6:05
	by the power of Your holy spirit,	6:06
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	6:10
	we might hear with joy what You say to us this day.	6:14
	Amen.	6:19
-	The first reading is taken from the Book of Jeremiah,	6:22
	the 18th chapter, starting with the first verse.	6:26
	"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,	6:31
	"'Come, go down to the potter's house,	6:35
	"'and there, I will let you hear my words.'	6:39
	"So I went down to the potter's house,	6:42
	"and there he was working at his wheel.	6:45
	"The vessel he was making of clay	6:48
	"was spoiled in the potter's hand,	6:50
	"and he reworked it into another vessel.	6:53
	"As seemed good to him.	6:56
	"Then the word of the Lord came to me,	6:59
	"'Can I not do with you, oh House of Israel,	7:02
	"'just as this potter has done?' says the Lord.	7:05
	"'Just like the clay in the potter's hand,	7:10
	"'so are you in my hand, oh House of Israel.'"	7:14
	"'At one moment, I may declare	7:18
	"'concerning a nation or a kingdom,	7:21
	"'that I will pluck up, and break down, and destroy it.	7:24
	"'But if that nation, concerning which I have spoken,	7:29
	"'turns from its evil, I will change my mind	7:33
	"'about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.	7:37
	"'And at another moment, I may declare	7:42
	"'concerning a nation or a kingdom,	7:45
	"'that I will build and plant it.	7:48
	"'But if it does evil in my sight,	7:51
	"'not listening to my voice,	7:53
	"'then I will change my mind about the good	7:56
	"'that I had intended to do to it.	7:58
	"'Now therefore, say to the people of Judah,	8:02
	"'and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,	8:05
	"'thus says the Lord.'	8:07
	"'Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you,	8:10
	"'and devising a plan against you.	8:14
	"'Turn now, all of you from your evil way,	8:17
	"'and amend your ways and your doings.'"	8:20
	This is the word of the Lord.	8:24
-	[Priest And Congregation] Thanks be to God.	8:27
-	Today's psalm is number 14,	8:38
	found on page 746 in the hymnal.	8:40
	Please stand, and sing responsibly.	8:44
	(organ plays "Psalm 14: Denunciation of Godlessness")	8:48
	♪ Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God" ♪	8:55
	(congregation sings faintly)	9:00
	♪ The Lord looks down from heaven ♪	9:10
	♪ On all people ♪	9:12
	♪ To see if there are any that are wise ♪	9:15
	♪ Who seek after God ♪	9:18
	(congregation sings faintly)	9:22
	♪ Have they no knowledge ♪	9:36
	♪ The evildoers who eat up my people ♪	9:38
	♪ As they eat bread ♪	9:41
	♪ And do not call upon the Lord ♪	9:45
	(congregation sings faintly)	9:50
	♪ You would confound the plans of the poor ♪	10:01
	♪ But the Lord is their refuge ♪	10:05
	(congregation sings faintly)	10:10
	♪ Oh glory be to you, Creator ♪	10:31
	♪ And to Jesus Christ, our savior ♪	10:35
	(congregation sings faintly)	10:38
	♪ As it was, there time began ♪	10:45
	(congregation sings faintly)	10:49
	(congregation rustles)	11:00
-	This reading is from the 12th chapter	11:11
	of the Gospel according to Saint Luke,	11:14
	starting with Verse 32.	11:17
	"Do not be afraid, little flock,	11:20
	"for it is your Father's good pleasure	11:23
	"to give you the kingdom.	11:26
	"Sell your possessions	11:28
	"and give alms.	11:30
	"Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out,	11:32
	"an unfailing treasure in heaven,	11:36
	"where no thief comes near, and no moth destroys.	11:38
	"For where your treasure is,	11:43
	"there your heart will be also.	11:45
	"Be dressed for action, and have your lamps lit.	11:48
	"Be like those who are waiting for their master	11:53
	"to return from the wedding banquet,	11:56
	"so that they may open the door for him	11:58
	"as soon as he comes and knocks.	12:00
	"Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert	12:03
	"when he comes.	12:07
	"Truly I tell you,	12:08
	"He will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat.	12:11
	"And he will come and serve them.	12:15
	"If he comes during the middle of the night,	12:19
	"or near dawn,	12:22
	"and finds them so,	12:23
	"blessed are those slaves.	12:25
	"But know this,	12:28
	"if the owner of the house had known	12:30
	"at what hour the thief was coming,	12:32
	"he would not have let his house be broken into.	12:35
	"You also must be ready,	12:39
	"for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour."	12:41
	This is the word of the Lord.	12:46
-	[Priest And Congregation] Thanks be to God.	12:49
	(congregation rustling)	12:52
	(organ plays somber music)	13:08
	(choir member sings faintly)	13:16
	(choir sings harmoniously)	15:35
	(choir rustles)	16:21
-	Earlier this summer, I was preaching elsewhere.	16:35
	And at the end of the service,	16:39
	a person came up to me and said,	16:40
	"I've got a problem with your sermon.	16:44
	"My Jesus does not confuse people.	16:48
	"My Jesus	16:52
	"does not	16:55
	"say ugly things to people."	16:57
	I suppose you think that perhaps, then,	17:03
	I had failed as a preacher, because	17:05
	a preacher is not to confuse, a preacher is to explain.	17:09
	A preacher is to take the biblical text	17:13
	and, in 20 minutes,	17:15
	make it understandable,	17:19
	tell you the point.	17:21
	But maybe, in that exchange between	17:26
	preacher and listener, maybe,	17:28
	maybe that was the point.	17:33
	On Sunday when we gather, at church,	17:39
	there is one important item on the table for us.	17:44
	It is a question:	17:49
	How does it stand between us	17:52
	and God?	17:56
	We gather on Sunday to talk about God.	17:58
	Oh, sure, we gather on Sunday, we talk about other things,	18:02
	how to have a happy family, how to have a good marriage,	18:05
	how to have obedient kids,	18:07
	how to have a good Monday morning.	18:09
	But sometimes I think we talk about those things	18:12
	to avoid talking about the important thing:	18:14
	How does it stand between us and God?	18:17
	And if you will notice, in church, when we talk about	18:21
	how it stands between us and God,	18:24
	we are forced to reach for	18:26
	symbol and metaphor,	18:29
	because how can we, with mere human speech,	18:31
	talk about something	18:33
	like God?	18:36
	And so we say that God is, uh,	18:37
	the King of heaven, or we say that God is the shepherd,	18:39
	or the Rock of Ages.	18:43
	How does it stand between us and God?	18:47
	With what image or poetic metaphor shall we speak of this	18:49
	infinite source of life and love?	18:54
	How to think about God?	18:59
	And I'm betting that	19:04
	that's the reason you're here this morning,	19:05
	maybe even if you didn't know that was the reason,	19:06
	because you want to	19:09
	think about God, you want to know how does it stand	19:11
	between God and me?	19:13
	In recent years, feminist thinkers	19:18
	have launched an assault upon our inherited ways	19:23
	of speaking about God.	19:26
	What does it do, feminist Christians have asked,	19:29
	to tell some woman who was abused by her father,	19:34
	"God is the father that you are to obey and to submit to"?	19:39
	God as "Father"	19:46
	excludes these women, they say.	19:49
	And so they say	19:54
	that we must, in postmodern terms, deconstruct	19:56
	our images of God.	20:00
	Deconstructionism	20:03
	calls upon us to admit to the historically,	20:05
	culturally bound quality of all of our ways of speaking.	20:09
	Our male images of God, say the feminist,	20:16
	must be deconstructed,	20:20
	because they relate more to the origin of Scripture	20:22
	and patriarchal, that is, male-dominated cultures,	20:26
	than in any essential quality of God.	20:30
	All images of God, like all of our images of everything,	20:34
	they say, are contingent upon some point of view.	20:38
	They are dependent upon who's an authority	20:41
	and who has power and who's at the microphone	20:44
	and who's doing the talking.	20:46
	Deconstructionists call on us to recognize	20:49
	the plurality of possibilities, when talking about reality.	20:52
	They call on us to admit	20:59
	that when we talk, it's often the powerful	21:02
	who determine what images, what guiding metaphors	21:07
	make sense out of the world,	21:10
	that our allegedly universal values	21:14
	are not as universal as we first thought.	21:16
	There is a vast un-centering,	21:20
	a great deconstructing going on in our postmodern world,	21:23
	and it's a good thing, say the feminists.	21:28
	Was having lunch with one of you the other day,	21:37
	and you were noting that	21:40
	to come here on a Sunday morning,	21:42
	it's like entering a throne room.	21:44
	We all come, and there's the king up on the throne.	21:47
	And it's like going back 500 years, and our job	21:50
	is to be quiet, and to be submissive,	21:53
	and to bow before the king.	21:56
	But then you went on to note how that's interesting	21:59
	that in the contemporary church,	22:02
	power appears to have shifted,	22:03
	so that no longer are we coming before the king,	22:06
	but we're coming before ourselves.	22:09
	We are not monarchial, we're democratic.	22:11
	And in today's church, truth is democratically constructed.	22:14
	Truth is derived not from what the king says	22:18
	but by majority vote, what I think,	22:21
	my	22:24
	Jesus.	22:25
	Power is shifting.	22:28
	But one of the difficulty of being a deconstructionist	22:33
	is that I've got to admit	22:36
	that, even as I'm pointing out	22:39
	that everybody else's perspective is relative,	22:41
	I must admit to the relativity of my perspective.	22:43
	I gotta submit my own deconstructionism	22:48
	to the deconstruction of others.	22:50
	And it's at that point that I think we get close	22:53
	to what it feels like to be here on a Sunday morning.	22:56
	Because to be a Christian, to gather on Sunday morning	22:59
	means to gather with a willingness to be deconstructed.	23:03
	Because every time we pull out this book, this Bible,	23:08
	and every time we open it up	23:11
	and we let the Bible speak to us,	23:13
	we signal a willingness to submit all of our images	23:16
	and our lives to be deconstructed.	23:21
	Because for us Christians, when you're baptized it means	23:26
	that every position is relative to this book.	23:29
	Nothing has more authority among us than this Bible.	23:34
	In baptism, we have agreed to gather on Sunday morning,	23:39
	and to have all of our images enlarged	23:43
	and judged and deconstructed and expanded and,	23:46
	so, if you know power is busy shifting here,	23:53
	shifting from what I think and I brought here	23:57
	and where I am conditioned,	24:00
	power is shifting here to this book, to this Bible.	24:02
	And we are rescued from the modernist desire	24:10
	to always judge the Bible.	24:13
	Is it historically true?	24:16
	Is it scientifically accurate?	24:17
	We are moved to a postmodern experience	24:20
	of having this text judge us.	24:23
	Are you true?	24:27
	Are you real? Are you in step with reality?	24:29
	And this brings us to Jeremiah and his visit to the potter.	24:35
	God is, says Jeremiah,	24:40
	God is, uh, God is like a potter.	24:43
	A potter whose skilled hands are busy	24:46
	working with the clay.	24:48
	But the clay doesn't respond to the potter's hands.	24:50
	And so the potter takes the clay and smashes the mud down.	24:53
	And he begins again.	24:57
	Jeremiah hears God ask,	25:01
	"Oh, Israel, can I not do with you as I please?	25:03
	"I am God, I am the potter, you are the clay."	25:07
	And I'm not sure this is one of the more	25:14
	congenial images of God.	25:16
	We used to love to sing the old hymn:	25:20
	Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way.	25:23
	Thou art the potter, I am the clay.	25:27
	Mold me and make me	25:31
	after Thy will.	25:35
	While I am waiting, yielded and still.	25:37
	But do you really like that image	25:45
	of our relationship to God?	25:47
	God is this powerful, tearing down, building up potter.	25:51
	And we are nothing but formless clay,	25:55
	putty in the potter's hands.	25:58
	How do you like that God?	26:00
	At one moment, says God,	26:05
	I will pluck up a whole nation,	26:07
	I'll just take the whole nation and break it down	26:10
	and destroy it.	26:12
	We are no more than putty in God's hands.	26:14
	It is an image of God found in many places in Scripture,	26:18
	Psalm 139,	26:21
	"You hem me in from before and behind.	26:24
	"Whither shall I flee from your spirit?	26:28
	"Where can I go to get away from your presence?"	26:30
	I have known people who felt stepped on, pushed down,	26:37
	refashioned, torn up and put back together by God.	26:42
	Passive clay in the hands of a potter.	26:49
	In our individualistic, self-made, self-motivated	26:55
	culture,	27:00
	I don't think we like this image of God.	27:01
	But then follows a series of curious conditional statements	27:07
	about God.	27:10
	Jeremiah hears God say, "But if a nation	27:13
	"turns from evil, I'll change my mind about this disaster	27:17
	"that I had planned for it.	27:20
	"But if it does evil,	27:23
	"I'll go ahead and unleash this disaster	27:24
	"that I had planned for it.	27:27
	"I'll change my mind about the good that I planned to do."	27:29
	And we're shocked to find out that	27:34
	this great, eternal, ever living God	27:36
	is capable of having a change of mind.	27:38
	And we're not sure if we like that,	27:41
	particularly when the change of mind says, oh, excuse me,	27:43
	I thought I was gonna do good to this nation,	27:46
	maybe I won't.	27:48
	Jeremiah's assertion of free, complete, divine sovereignty,	27:51
	I am the potter,	27:56
	I'll do what I want with the clay, thank you,	27:57
	appears to be contradicted, the metaphor gets mixed.	28:01
	If that clay will stand up and act right and obey,	28:05
	then I'll change my mind,	28:08
	and I'll do something different to it.	28:10
	The poet here, the prophetic poet, breaks the metaphor.	28:15
	My high school English teacher	28:20
	would grade Jeremiah down for this.	28:22
	How can you have both this passive clay in one minute,	28:25
	and the next minute, the clay gets to be active	28:28
	and is starting, thinking, and willing and changing?	28:31
	I think the prophet breaks the metaphor,	28:35
	cracks the symbol,	28:40
	to say that God is utterly free to act,	28:44
	and then we are utterly free to obey.	28:51
	I'm asking you, can we join the prophet	28:57
	in holding together,	29:00
	in our little modern, reductionistic minds,	29:01
	the conflicting claims:	29:04
	God is utterly free;	29:07
	we are utterly responsible.	29:11
	It's a big idea.	29:16
	And we modern people are conditioned	29:17
	to always cut through complexity	29:20
	and get down to the simplest idea.	29:22
	But here, I think, is the question laid on the table	29:26
	for us this morning:	29:29
	Can you relate to a God who is large,	29:30
	thick, irreducible, complex, interesting?	29:34
	I think we tend toward a kind of native reductionism	29:44
	that doesn't like big and complex, pushy gods.	29:48
	As a pastor, for instance,	29:55
	as a pastor, I have learned from bitter pastoral experience,	29:58
	nobody ever gets over being an alcoholic.	30:04
	The disease of alcoholism is so tough and so gripping	30:09
	and so demonic,	30:14
	nobody gets well after being an alcoholic.	30:15
	But, alas, I have learned from	30:22
	pastoral experience	30:25
	that people, even some very, very sick people	30:28
	have amazing powers, down deep, to decide and will	30:34
	and to change.	30:39
	So, now I am stuck with saying,	30:44
	"Alright, alcoholism is an illness."	30:46
	And, "Alcoholism is a moral matter."	30:50
	And it isn't easy for me to hold in my head	30:55
	both at the same time.	30:58
	God is powerful,	31:03
	but God gives room, gives space, to move forward	31:07
	and move backward.	31:11
	See, our notions of God are busy being deconstructed	31:13
	by this text.	31:17
	God is free.	31:19
	We are free.	31:21
	And both assertions are in the same biblical text.	31:23
	And woe be unto the preacher	31:29
	that wants to explain it to you.	31:30
	'Cause I believe that there are some Bible texts	31:34
	that don't want to say anything to you,	31:37
	they want to do something to you,	31:39
	they want you to know that you have been confronted	31:41
	by what's real and large and unmanageable.	31:45
	I think we've got to overcome our modern reductionism.	31:51
	I think we've got to get beyond the three-point sermon	31:56
	and the desire to come to church on Sunday morning	32:00
	to have it explained to us and a point put on it.	32:02
	I think we've got to move beyond our modern desire	32:08
	to define and limit and describe, and	32:10
	we've got to move out into some larger space	32:15
	where God is free and bustling and large.	32:19
	Only pre-modern poetry will do,	32:25
	Jeremiah's potter and his difficult clay.	32:28
	Or, in the Gospel,	32:34
	Jesus' thief in the night.	32:36
	It struck me, as Dr. Putnam was reading	32:40
	both the Old Testament and the Gospel today,	32:42
	these are not some of the nicer images of God.	32:45
	God, the potter who says to the clay,	32:48
	if you don't do right, I'm gonna step on you,	32:52
	I will teach this nation.	32:54
	And then we get to the Gospel, and Jesus says	32:57
	God is a thief that'll just break in at night	33:01
	and rip off everything you've got.	33:04
	That's God.	33:06
	It's complex.	33:11
	I know one year I was preaching, through the lectionary,	33:14
	on the Gospel of Matthew.	33:17
	We got to Matthew, Chapter 20,	33:18
	the story of the laborers in the vineyard,	33:20
	you've heard it before.	33:22
	A man had a vineyard to be harvested, he went out,	33:23
	he hired laborers for the vineyard early in the morning.	33:26
	He goes out later in the day,	33:28
	he hires more workers for the vineyards,	33:30
	still later in the day.	33:31
	At the end of the day, he gathers everybody together,	33:32
	those who worked for 12 hours,	33:35
	those who only worked for one hour,	33:37
	and then he pays everybody the same wage,	33:40
	beginning with the last who got there down to the first.	33:44
	And Jesus said God is like that.	33:48
	And I tell you what, my sermon was on this, my sermon was,	33:52
	it doesn't matter if you didn't grow up in the church,	33:55
	if you don't have your head straight	33:57
	on the Christian faith, that's okay.	33:58
	God welcomes you, there is still time, come on down!	34:00
	Even if you don't understand the Apostle's Creed	34:04
	and haven't gotten everything straight on the Virgin Birth,	34:06
	that's okay, there's still time, there is still time!	34:09
	11th hour workers are just as valued by God	34:13
	as those of us who've been sweating in Sunday school	34:15
	all our lives.	34:18
	As fate would have it, two weeks later,	34:21
	the text was that story Jesus told	34:24
	about the wise and the foolish maidens.	34:27
	And they were invited to the bridal party.	34:31
	And they meant to get oil for their lamps,	34:33
	but there was first one thing and then another,	34:36
	and by the time they got to the party at the late hour,	34:38
	the door was shut.	34:42
	The party had begun.	34:44
	Oh, they beat at the door, they called out from the street.	34:46
	No, sorry,	34:48
	time's up.	34:49
	The party's begun.	34:51
	Too bad.	34:52
	Well, of course, on the way out of church,	34:55
	somebody stopped me and said,	34:57
	"You gotta excuse me,	34:58
	"I don't mean to be critical of you,	35:00
	"but don't we have a contradiction here?	35:02
	"Didn't you say two Sundays ago there was still time,	35:06
	"God always waits on us, accepts us?	35:08
	"What is this business now	35:11
	"about the door being shut and locked?"	35:12
	And the amazing thing is, that is in the same Gospel!	35:16
	Not but just a couple of chapters between them.	35:19
	It's a mess!	35:24
	Both of those stories are in the Bible,	35:30
	and both of those stories are in life.	35:34
	There is always time.	35:40
	There'll always be a tomorrow.	35:42
	No,	35:45
	times up.	35:46
	She slammed the door and walked out for the last time.	35:48
	That little bleeping line on the screen becomes flat.	35:51
	Times up, it's over.	35:55
	Paul thinks of the potter and the clay positively.	36:03
	Paul says when he thinks of Jeremiah's image with the clay,	36:08
	we have this treasure in clay pots,	36:11
	to show that the power belongs to God and not to us.	36:14
	But Isaiah uses the potter and the clay	36:19
	to mock our pretensions about God.	36:22
	Isaiah hears God say,	36:26
	"Woe to you who try to strive with your Maker!	36:28
	"Does the clay talk back to the potter and say,	36:31
	"'Excuse me, I don't like the kind of pot	36:34
	"'you're making out of me'?	36:36
	"No."	36:38
	Or today's Gospel,	36:43
	Jesus begins today's Gospel,	36:45
	"Don't be afraid, little flock.	36:47
	"Your Father wants to give you the kingdom of God.	36:50
	"Your Father just loves to give, he's so gracious,	36:54
	"he's always giving."	36:56
	Yet no sooner has Jesus spoken	36:59
	of what God is going to give us,	37:01
	than he says, "Sell your possessions.	37:04
	"Give alms, throw away your purses!	37:08
	"Be dressed for action, because God is like a master	37:11
	"that will wait till late at night	37:15
	"and then slip up on his servants	37:17
	"and demand a five course meal at midnight.	37:19
	"That's God."	37:22
	Becoming even more intellectually elusive,	37:26
	Jesus says God is a thief	37:28
	who slips up on you at night	37:31
	and rips off everything you've got.	37:33
	God will give.	37:37
	God will steal.	37:38
	Shuttling back and forth between promise and threat,	37:41
	love and assault.	37:44
	I think these texts are meant to answer our question:	37:47
	What kind of God have we got?	37:51
	But it will not be a simple question.	37:56
	It will be an answer,	38:00
	it'll be an answer as deep and thick as God,	38:02
	as life itself.	38:05
	I don't know what you're supposed to do with this,	38:09
	I don't know what the point of this is.	38:11
	But maybe that's the point.	38:16
	What kind of God	38:22
	have we got?	38:24
	Or, maybe more to the point of the Gospel,	38:27
	what kind of God has got us?	38:31
	(organ plays "Christ for the World We Sing!")	38:37
	♪ Christ for the world we sing ♪	39:07
	♪ The world to Christ we bring ♪	39:13
	♪ With loving zeal ♪	39:18
	♪ The poor and them that mourn ♪	39:22
	♪ The faint and overborne ♪	39:26
	♪ Sin-sick and sorrow worn ♪	39:29
	♪ Whom Christ doth heal ♪	39:33
	♪ Christ for the world we sing ♪	39:40
	♪ The world to Christ we bring ♪	39:45
	♪ With fervent prayer ♪	39:51
	♪ The wayward and the lost ♪	39:55
	♪ By restless passions tossed ♪	39:59
	♪ Redeemed at countless cost ♪	40:02
	♪ From dark despair ♪	40:06
	♪ Christ for the world we sing ♪	40:12
	♪ The world to Christ we bring ♪	40:18
	♪ With one accord ♪	40:23
	♪ With us the work to share ♪	40:27
	♪ With us reproach to dare ♪	40:31
	♪ With us the cross to bear ♪	40:35
	♪ For Christ our Lord ♪	40:39
	♪ Christ for the world we sing ♪	40:45
	♪ The world to Christ we bring ♪	40:51
	♪ With joyful song ♪	40:56
	♪ The newborn souls whose days ♪	41:00
	♪ Reclaimed from error's ways ♪	41:04
	♪ Inspired with hope and praise ♪	41:07
	♪ To Christ belong ♪	41:12
-	The Lord be with you.	41:22
	(congregation murmurs)	41:24
	Let us pray.	41:25
	(congregation rustles)	41:29
	Oh God,	41:38
	You confront us with hopeful tomorrows	41:40
	despite our rebellious yesterdays.	41:42
	Even as the potter shapes the clay,	41:46
	so you shape the destinies of nations and of peoples.	41:49
	Hear us for the sake of Your Son,	41:54
	our Lord Jesus Christ.	41:56
	O savior of the world, by Your cross and passion,	42:00
	You have redeemed us.	42:03
	But in the afflictions of Your people,	42:05
	You are Yourself afflicted.	42:07
	We pray for those who suffer,	42:10
	for all those whose homelands reverberate	42:14
	with the sounds of war,	42:17
	for the children and the women and the men	42:20
	of Bosnia, Herzegovina,	42:22
	of Mozambique,	42:25
	of Haiti,	42:27
	of Somalia, of South Africa, and of Northern Ireland,	42:29
	hear us great God of power.	42:35
	For all those whose livelihood is insecure,	42:40
	for the hungry, for the homeless,	42:43
	for the jobless.	42:47
	For those who are downtrodden by the pressures of life,	42:49
	for those who work many jobs, simply to make ends meet,	42:53
	and for those who despair of ever knowing security,	42:58
	hear us, gracious Lord.	43:03
	For children whose surroundings hide	43:07
	from them knowledge of Your love	43:09
	and vision of Your creation's beauty,	43:11
	for the fatherless,	43:14
	and the motherless,	43:15
	for the abandoned,	43:18
	the abused,	43:20
	and the unwanted,	43:22
	hear us, loving Lord.	43:24
	For those who bear their burdens alone,	43:28
	for those who are in doubt and anguish of soul,	43:32
	for all those who lack the prayers of others,	43:36
	and for all those who do not know the power of Your love	43:39
	and the wonder of Your compassion,	43:43
	hear us, kind Lord.	43:46
	For all the sick,	43:51
	those who are broken in body or broken in mind,	43:53
	or broken in spirit,	43:57
	in hospitals or in homes,	43:59
	or on the streets of our community,	44:02
	hear us,	44:05
	strong Lord.	44:07
	O savior of the world, give ear to these our prayers	44:10
	and answer them in Your compassion,	44:14
	and grant that we who have been baptized	44:17
	into Your suffering and death	44:19
	may be empowered by our baptisms	44:22
	and strengthened in love toward one another	44:24
	and the whole world,	44:27
	that You may be served as the one true living Lord	44:29
	of heaven and earth.	44:34
	All this we pray in the name	44:37
	of the crucified and risen Lord,	44:39
	Jesus Christ.	44:42
	Amen.	44:44
	(congregation rustles faintly)	44:46
	With gladness,	44:50
	let us present the offerings of our lives and of our labors	44:51
	to God.	44:56
	(organ plays uplifting music)	44:58
	(choir sings somber hymn)	46:30
	(organ plays powerful music)	50:34
	(congregation sings faintly)	51:22
	Oh God,	52:24
	in Christ you remind us that every place is Your temple,	52:26
	every day, Your Sabbath,	52:30
	every person, Your beloved.	52:33
	Receive these, our gifts, we pray,	52:35
	as ones given out of love for You,	52:38
	and given because we know You have given first to us.	52:41
	Bless them,	52:46
	and use them and us for the work of Your kingdom	52:47
	and the glory of Your name.	52:51
	Almighty and merciful God,	52:54
	from Whom comes all good	52:57
	and every perfect gift,	52:59
	we praise You for your mercies,	53:02
	for Your goodness that has created us,	53:04
	Your grace that has sustained us,	53:08
	Your discipline that has corrected us,	53:11
	Your patience that has borne with us,	53:15
	and Your love that has redeemed us.	53:17
	Help us to laud You and to be thankful for all Your gifts,	53:21
	by serving You and delighting to do Your will,	53:25
	through Jesus Christ our Lord,	53:29
	who taught us to pray, saying,	53:32
-	[Priestess And Congregation] Our Father who art in heaven,	53:35
	hallowed by Thy name.	53:38
	Thy kingdom come.	53:41
	Thy will be done	53:42
	on earth as it is in heaven.	53:44
	Give us this day our daily bread,	53:47
	and forgive us our trespasses,	53:50
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	53:52
	and lead us not into temptation,	53:57
	but deliver us from evil.	54:00
	For Thine is the kingdom	54:02
	and the power and the glory forever.	54:04
	Amen.	54:08
-	The Lord bless you and keep you.	54:12
	The Lord be kind and gracious unto you.	54:15
	The Lord look upon you with favor	54:20
	and give you peace.	54:22
	Amen.	54:25
	(organ plays)
	(choir sings)	54:28
	♪ Alleluia ♪
	♪ Amen ♪	54:31
	♪ Amen ♪	54:32
	(organ plays "God, Whose Love is Reigning O'er Us")	54:38
	(all vaguely sing "God, Whose Love is Reigning O'er Us")	55:14
	♪ Alleluia ♪	55:38
	♪ Alleluia ♪	55:41
	♪ Alleluia ♪	56:16
	♪ Alleluia ♪	56:19
	♪ Alleluia ♪	56:54
	♪ Alleluia ♪	56:57
	♪ Alleluia ♪	57:32
	♪ Alleluia ♪	57:35
	♪ Alleluia ♪	58:25
	♪ Alleluia ♪	58:28

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "God's Freedom, Our Freedom" (August 9, 1992)

Description:

Sermon start time: 16:35. Sermon end time: 38:36.
In the sermon, the preacher speaks to God’s determinism and human free will. He argues that Christians like a potter are shaped by God, yet God leaves room for humans to choose repentance before it’s too late. The preacher implies that human free will is best exercised in choosing the gospel. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r41n7z27f

Date:

August 9, 1992

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0291
ref9134_9zr
uachapelsermaud
duke:321563
dcrmv001278
ark:/87924/r41n7z27f
dc646192-885f-4b7c-b896-710651f6e757

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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William H. Willimon - "God's Freedom, Our Freedom" (August 9, 1992)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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