William H. Willimon - "He Can't Be, Can He?" (March 14, 1993)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP4
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4s75710v?embed=true' height='500px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4s75710v
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(bells and organ playing)	0:00
-	Welcome to this service of worship	3:51
	here in Duke University chapel	3:53
	on this, the third Sunday in the season of Lent.	3:55
	We've been led in worship this morning by our guest choir	4:00
	the Raleigh Ringers, under the direction of Mr. David Harris	4:02
	and we are very grateful for their	4:06
	presence with us this morning.	4:09
	Leading the service with me this morning is	4:13
	Dr. Karen Westerfield Tucker, professor of liturgics	4:16
	at Duke Divinity School and Mr. Tim Tate	4:21
	who is a student at the divinity school.	4:25
	Let us now stand for the greeting.	4:29
	Create in me a clean heart, oh God.	4:35
	(crowd responding)	4:39
	Open my lips, oh lord.	4:42
	(crowd responding)	4:44
	(organ music)	4:48
	(crowd singing)	5:18
-	Let us pray.	7:54
	Almighty God, whose son Jesus Christ	7:58
	gives the water of eternal life,	8:01
	may we always thirst for you, the spring of life	8:04
	and source of goodness.	8:09
	Through him who lives and reigns	8:11
	with you and the holy spirit.	8:13
	One God, now and forever, Amen.	8:15
	If we claim we have no sin, we deceive ourselves	8:21
	and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins	8:26
	God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins	8:31
	and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.	8:35
	Let us confess our sins before God and one another.	8:38
	Most merciful God, we confess that we have	8:44
	sinned against you in thought, word and deed,	8:47
	by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.	8:52
	We have not loved you with our whole heart.	8:57
	We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	9:00
	We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.	9:03
	For the sake of your son Jesus Christ,	9:07
	have mercy on us and forgive us,	9:10
	that we may delight in your will	9:13
	and walk in your ways to the glory of your name, Amen.	9:16
	Almighty God, have mercy on us.	9:30
	Forgive all our sins through our lord Jesus Christ.	9:33
	Strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power	9:37
	of the holy spirit, keep us in eternal life, Amen.	9:41
	Please be seated.	9:47
-	Let us pray together the prayer for illumination.	9:57
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God, by the power	10:03
	of your holy spirit so that as the word is read	10:07
	and proclaimed we may hear your message	10:11
	to us this Lenten season, Amen.	10:14
	The Old Testament reading is from the 17th chapter	10:20
	of the book of Exodus, starting with the first verse.	10:24
	From the wilderness of sin, the whole congregations	10:29
	of the Israelites journeyed by stages as the lord commanded.	10:33
	They camped at Rephidim, but there was	10:38
	no water for the people to drink.	10:42
	The people quarreled with Moses and said,	10:45
	"give us water to drink."	10:48
	Moses said to them, "why do you quarrel with me?	10:51
	"Why do you test the lord?"	10:56
	But the people thirsted there for water,	10:58
	and the people complained against Moses and said,	11:02
	"why do you bring us out of Egypt to kill us	11:05
	"and our children and livestock with thirst?"	11:08
	So Moses cried out to the lord,	11:12
	"what shall I do with these people?	11:15
	"They are almost ready to stone me."	11:17
	The lord said to Moses, "go on ahead of the people	11:20
	"and take some of the elders of Israel with you.	11:25
	"Take in your hand the staff with which	11:28
	"you struck the Nile and go.	11:30
	"I will be standing there in front of you	11:34
	"on the rock at Horeb.	11:37
	"Strike the rock and water will come out of it	11:40
	"so the people may drink."	11:43
	Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.	11:46
	He called the place Massah and Meribah	11:50
	because the Israelites quarreled and tested the lord saying,	11:54
	"is the lord among us or not?"	11:59
	This is the word of the lord.	12:04
	Thanks be to God.	12:07
-	The gospel lesson for this, the third Sunday in Lent,	12:19
	is from the fourth chapter of John's gospel.	12:23
	So he came to a Samaritan city named Sychar near the	12:29
	plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.	12:33
	Jacob's well is there.	12:36
	Jesus, tired out from his journey, was sitting by the well.	12:39
	It was about noon, and a Samaritan woman came to draw water.	12:44
	Jesus said to her, "give me a drink."	12:50
	The Samaritan woman said to him, "how is it that you,	12:55
	"a Jew, ask me, "give me a drink"?	12:59
	"Me, a woman of Samaria.	13:06
	"For Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans."	13:09
	Jesus answered, "if you knew the gift of God and who it is	13:14
	"that is saying to you, 'give me a drink,' you would not	13:18
	"have ask him, and he would have given you living water."	13:22
	The woman said, "sir, you have no bucket,	13:28
	"and the well is deep."	13:32
	"Where do you get that 'living water'?	13:35
	"Are you greater than our ancestor, Jacob,	13:39
	who gave us the well, and his sons	13:42
	and his flock drank from it?"	13:44
	Jesus said, "everyone who drinks of this water	13:47
	"will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water	13:51
	"that I give will never be thirsty.	13:54
	"The water that I will give will become in them	13:59
	"a spring of water gushing up into eternal life."	14:01
	The woman said to him, "Sir, give me some of this water	14:05
	"so that I may never be thirsty	14:11
	"or have to keep coming back here to draw water."	14:12
	Jesus said, "Go call your husband and come back."	14:16
	The woman answered, "I have no husband."	14:22
	Jesus said, "You're right in saying 'I have no husband',	14:25
	"for you have had five husbands and the one you have now	14:28
	"is not your husband: what you've said is true."	14:32
	The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet,	14:36
	"our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,	14:42
	"but you say that the place where people	14:43
	must worship is Jerusalem."	14:46
	Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming	14:48
	'when you will worship the father	14:53
	'neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.	14:54
	"You worship what you do not know.	14:57
	"We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews,	15:00
	"but the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers	15:05
	"will worship the father in spirit and truth,	15:11
	"for the father seeks such as these to worship him.	15:14
	"God is a spirit.	15:18
	"Those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."	15:20
	The woman said, "I know that messiah is coming.	15:25
	"When he come he will proclaim all things to us."	15:30
	Jesus said, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."	15:34
	Just then his disciples came.	15:43
	They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman.	15:45
	But no-one said, 'what do you want?'	15:50
	or, 'why were you speaking to her?"	15:52
	Then the woman left her water jar	15:55
	and she went back to the city and she said to the people,	15:58
	"Come and see a man who's told me everything I've ever done!	16:02
	"He cannot be the messiah, can he?"	16:08
	This is the word of the lord.	16:16
	Thanks be to God.	16:19
	Nearing the church office,	16:25
	in the last light of that late August afternoon,	16:31
	I could see him coming toward me.	16:35
	I could see him walking toward me from the highway	16:38
	out in front of the church.	16:41
	As I recall, he had a small canvas bag	16:45
	and a bright green golf shirt,	16:48
	tan slacks,	16:52
	and he was wearing tennis shoes.	16:54
	It was obvious that he was making his way	16:58
	toward me, to my great chagrin.	16:59
	"Great," I thought, "this is all I need	17:04
	"after the day I've had."	17:06
	"Come back over here to the office,	17:07
	"wanting to do a little work,	17:08
	"and now somebody wanting something from me."	17:12
	Here, I was going to have my day finished off	17:16
	not with quiet study, but rather with this hitchhiker	17:19
	seeking money or a meal or something.	17:23
	So I decided to head him off right at the steps	17:28
	of the church, quickly find out what he was he wanted,	17:31
	and then give him the money he wanted	17:34
	and then send him on his way.	17:36
	Because, you see, when you serve a church	17:38
	in North Myrtle Beach, this near the highway,	17:41
	you become accustomed to these drifters, these vagrants,	17:46
	these hitchhikers coming through town,	17:50
	and here at the end of a long day of pastoral work	17:54
	on this balmy August afternoon,	17:57
	with a full day behind me and work ahead of me,	18:01
	I'm trying to explain why I did not welcome	18:05
	the appearance of this young man	18:08
	come off the highway with his solicitous smile	18:11
	and his quickening stride, come to entrap me,	18:14
	come to get a five or a ten out of me,	18:17
	and then be on his way.	18:19
	"Hello," he said cheerfully, "you're the pastor, right,	18:23
	"that's your name on the sign out front right?"	18:27
	"What can I do for you," I ask.	18:31
	"What can you do for me," he said, "gosh, nothing.	18:35
	"I mean, nothing more than you're already doing for me,"	18:40
	he replied, he was smiling pleasantly.	18:45
	This really annoyed me, his smile.	18:49
	And his failure to get right on to the point	18:52
	about the five or the ten.	18:55
	I wasn't going to sit here all night,	18:58
	listen to some fabricated long story of woe.	18:59
	If he hoped to get any money out of me,	19:04
	he'd need to get right on to the point.	19:05
	"Look, what is it you want," I ask,	19:08
	"I'm busy right now, I've got--"	19:12
	"Well gosh, I don't want anything," he said,	19:16
	"I just wanted to drop by and say hello	19:18
	"and to tell you personally how much I deeply appreciate	19:22
	"all that you've been doing for me."	19:25
	This made me look at him more carefully.	19:29
	His smile, was in merely artificial	19:32
	or maybe was it psychotic?	19:35
	(crowd laughing)	19:38
	Maybe he had seen me alone, coming over here to the office,	19:40
	maybe he wanted to make trouble.	19:43
	Did he have a weapon?	19:45
	In North Myrtle Beach in mid-summer,	19:48
	you come to expect anything.	19:50
	"Who are you," I ask, "I did not get your name".	19:55
	He said,	20:00
	"Jesus, Jesus Christ".	20:02
	Now you may be interested to know	20:08
	that when he said this I made no response.	20:09
	I sort of turned away, I looked out toward the highway	20:11
	and then I looked back at him.	20:16
	Strangely enough, there's something in this moment	20:20
	that does not make me overly surprised	20:22
	that he would say to me, standing here in the yard,	20:24
	'Jesus Christ'.	20:27
	"Why am I not surprised?"	20:30
	"Maybe it's because after ten years of ministry,	20:32
	"nothing surprises me anymore,	20:36
	"or maybe it's something about living	20:38
	"in North Myrtle Beach," I thought,	20:40
	"or maybe it's just something about him standing here	20:42
	"in this late afternoon and the setting sun here	20:47
	"before this church that keeps me from being surprised	20:50
	"that he would say, 'I am Jesus Christ'".	20:54
	"Look," I said, "are you trying to be cute with me?"	20:59
	"Do you find that cute," he asked, seeming amused.	21:03
	"I'm busy," I said, "I've had a long day,	21:10
	"now get onto the point, what is it you want?"	21:12
	"I know you've had a long day," he said.	21:16
	He moved closer to me, I step back a bit.	21:20
	"I know it is not easy here."	21:23
	"All I wanted to do was to just stop by	21:28
	"and just tell you face-to-face how much I appreciated	21:30
	"what you're doing for us here, I know it's not easy."	21:35
	"It's getting more difficult every day," I said.	21:41
	"Yes, I know this isn't the easiest place to serve,"	21:45
	he continued in a kind of knowledgeable way,	21:48
	"but the church looks good, the yard looks good,"	21:51
	he surveyed the yard as he talked,	21:53
	"and I know that you've done a good job."	21:56
	"Say," he said, "do you read the bible?"	21:59
	And I said, "well, of course I do."	22:03
	"Good," he said, "are there any questions	22:06
	"you wanted to ask me about it?"	22:09
	(crowd laughing)	22:10
	"Is there maybe something you don't understand	22:13
	"about the bible?"	22:14
	Well this made me defensive, I said,	22:16
	"I know there are lots of things	22:19
	"that people don't understand the bible,	22:21
	"I'm sure I've got my share of them.	22:22
	"I read it as often as I can."	22:25
	And then I thought, "why am I saying this?	22:28
	"Why am I standing here explaining all this,	22:29
	"getting defensive in front of him?"	22:31
	"But do you enjoy the bible," he asked me,	22:34
	moving closer to me, his eyes squinting in my face.	22:39
	"Yes," I said, "I liked it."	22:44
	"Thank you," he said.	22:47
	"Look," I said, "if you're Jesus, then where are you going?"	22:51
	And he responded to me, "Akron, Ohio".	22:56
	(crowd laughing)	22:59
	"You gotta be kidding," I said, "Akron, Ohio?"	23:02
	"Why would you be going to Akron, Ohio?"	23:07
	And he said, "Oh, business, the usual, you know."	23:09
	Then he put his hand on my shoulder and he said,	23:15
	"Look, I know you're busy and I don't want to keep you,	23:17
	really, I just wanted to stop by and say thanks."	23:20
	Then he turned around and he walked out towards highway 17,	23:27
	waving to me as he left,	23:33
	and I half-raised my arm in a wave at him,	23:36
	and then I watched as he held out his hand	23:39
	and no sooner had he held out his hand than a car stopped	23:42
	and he got in that car and he drove on north on highway 17.	23:46
	I stood there for a while and then I walked,	23:53
	or sort of stumbled back over to the parsonage	23:55
	across the yard.	23:58
	"Guess who I just talked to," I said as I opened the door.	24:01
	I expect that you have come here this morning	24:11
	to meet Jesus.	24:16
	Perhaps you are searching for something in your life.	24:22
	Perhaps you feel a kind of vague sense that	24:26
	that you need more in your life,	24:28
	that something is missing from your life.	24:31
	I teach a course here at Duke for first year students called	24:33
	"The Search for Meaning in Life"	24:36
	and I'm searching for first year students	24:38
	who are searching for meaning,	24:41
	and maybe that's you, you're searching for something.	24:43
	I would think that people don't get out of bed	24:47
	on a cold, icy, treacherous morning and risk it	24:50
	to come to church	24:54
	unless they are searching for something,	24:55
	unless they want something,	24:58
	unless they're looking for something.	24:59
	But I think that today's gospel, from the gospel of John,	25:04
	the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman,	25:08
	I think this story says	25:12
	that's not how you find Jesus.	25:14
	I think this story says Jesus finds us,	25:20
	and that when he finds us,	25:26
	a lot of times it's hard to tell it's Jesus.	25:29
	Take this woman at the well	25:33
	in this delightful story.	25:35
	This conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well	25:40
	is the longest recorded conversation	25:44
	between Jesus and anybody in the entire bible.	25:48
	And you will note that when she meets Jesus,	25:53
	she is not looking for Jesus, she's looking for water.	25:56
	She's come down there to draw water,	26:00
	perhaps for her family's day,	26:02
	but while she's out on her business to draw some water	26:06
	she encounters mister living water.	26:09
	And the well is deep.	26:14
	This well is deep and for me in this story,	26:16
	that well becomes a kind of metaphor of the whole story,	26:19
	this thing is deep.	26:22
	It's working at a bunch of different levels.	26:24
	It's deeper than she knows, and when we get into this story,	26:28
	it's deeper than we know.	26:32
	Because, people, this is the gospel of John,	26:34
	where words have double meaning and deeper meaning.	26:36
	And Jesus is always rather enigmatic,	26:41
	ambiguous, mysterious, confusing.	26:44
	He's large here.	26:47
	He doesn't talk simply.	26:49
	The story begins simply enough in an everyday ordinary way,	26:52
	"woman, give me a drink."	26:56
	And then she comes back, oh my goodness, look at me,	26:59
	and big mister Jew asking me,	27:05
	lowly Samaritan woman that I am, for a drink.	27:08
	To what do I owe this honor?	27:11
	You can just sense the snideness	27:13
	and the sarcasm in her voice.	27:15
	And then John, in case we don't get the point,	27:19
	informs us that Jews and Samaritans don't have any dealings	27:21
	with each other, they don't use things in common.	27:24
	Note that when she first looks at Jesus,	27:29
	she sees a man,	27:32
	she's a woman, she sees a Jew, and she's a Samaritan.	27:35
	She looks at him and she sees this person of another group,	27:42
	another gender, another ethnic, national, religious group.	27:45
	A male, a Rabbi, who will have little to do with her,	27:50
	who won't waste much of his precious teaching on her.	27:54
	And, of course,	27:59
	that is the way we generally handle strange phenomena.	28:00
	The brain almost instinctively goes into action, attempting,	28:04
	groping to pigeon-hole or to label or to tie down	28:08
	or to define, and usually the ways that we label	28:12
	and pigeon-hole and define is through these	28:15
	gender, racial, national labels.	28:18
	It's our way of keeping people at a distance from us.	28:21
	Oh yes, male.	28:25
	Oh yes, Jew, yes, Rabbi, I understand.	28:26
	"Sir," she says, "sir,", and the same word here is "lord".	28:32
	Sir, lord, the well is deep.	28:37
	Where do you plan to get this water that you're speaking of?	28:43
	And when she says it's deep, we smile because we know	28:49
	that this thing is getting deep, it's getting deeper.	28:52
	She's talking about water,	28:55
	Jesus is talking about living water.	28:56
	This encounter with this woman is getting deep.	28:59
	Are you more important than our great ancestor Jacob?	29:04
	And we smile again because we know,	29:07
	yes he is more important than Jacob.	29:08
	Someone even greater stands here in front of her.	29:11
	Give me some of this living water, she says.	29:15
	Go get your husband, Jesus answers.	29:18
	I got no husband, she says.	29:22
	And how, says Jesus,	29:25
	you've had five husbands and the man you're living with	29:29
	right now is not your husband.	29:32
	And then she says, wait a minute,	29:35
	you're some kinda profet, aren't you?	29:37
	And then there's a little debate between them about	29:40
	what is worship and what is real worship	29:43
	and not real worship, and finally the woman says,	29:45
	oh my, with such deep subjects we can all be glad	29:49
	that when messiah comes he's going	29:52
	to explain everything to us.	29:53
	When the messiah gets here he'll make it all simple for us.	29:56
	And then Jesus says	30:01
	"a go, a go a me, a go a me"	30:04
	I am he.	30:07
	I, I am he.	30:09
	And an encounter at a well,	30:15
	a conversation between a man and a woman,	30:18
	a little chit chat	30:22
	about the real meaning of worship explodes into epiphany,	30:24
	into revelation, into theophany.	30:27
	The veil is lifted,	30:30
	I am he.	30:32
	And then she says, running to her friends,	30:37
	Come and see a man that's told me everything I've ever done.	30:41
	He can't be the messiah, can he?	30:47
	I'm betting, you see,	30:56
	that you've been where this woman is.	30:59
	You've been there.	31:03
	I don't mean there at Jacob's well,	31:04
	but I'm betting that there have been times in your life,	31:07
	how many times have there been, when you've been on your way	31:11
	to draw water, or to check out a book at the library,	31:14
	or on some ordinary, everyday, mundane, workaday day,	31:19
	and the veil has been lifted	31:26
	and you have been met.	31:30
	I'm betting that right here this story	31:35
	begins to sound familiar.	31:37
	Not that you understand everything about that moment,	31:40
	and not that you would run like the woman	31:43
	and tell all your best friends about it,	31:45
	'cause they might think that you're crazy,	31:47
	but I'm just saying that you've been met.	31:49
	Samaritan woman could tell us it's disquieting,	31:55
	discomforting, dislodging, it's confusing, it's wonderful.	31:57
	Amid all the double talk in this story,	32:03
	the words which we think we know, like water,	32:06
	and then discover with Jesus we really	32:09
	don't know what that means.	32:11
	Against all our tendencies to pigeon-hole and peg people,	32:15
	we discover we really don't know what's going on.	32:21
	There's more going on around this well than we know.	32:24
	There's more taking place in the library,	32:29
	there's more going on around the dinner table.	32:31
	I think this story is meant by John to warn us:	32:35
	people, be real careful when you're	32:38
	just minding your own business on Monday morning.	32:40
	You need to expect the unexpected,	32:44
	you need to be on guard when you go to draw water	32:46
	because this well may be a lot deeper, even, than you know.	32:49
	You might get met.	32:55
	You might just out of habit stumble down here to the altar	32:58
	and you'll get a piece of bread	33:01
	but suddenly the bread is more than bread.	33:03
	And you'll take a sip of wine,	33:06
	but suddenly the wine is more than wine	33:08
	and this thing gets cracked open and there is epiphany.	33:10
	To know him is not to know him,	33:16
	and to not know him is to risk being met by him.	33:23
	And just when you get your world all tied down	33:29
	and neat and fixed,	33:32
	reality settled, people pigeon-holed,	33:34
	he intrudes and you stumble back to the dorm	33:41
	having been encountered, mumbling,	33:46
	"gosh, he can't be messiah,	33:51
	"can he?"	33:56
	It's a story about those moments,	34:00
	and there's a wonderful sermon by Saint Augustine	34:04
	that he gave on a morning when they were going to celebrate	34:07
	the eucharist, just like we're going to in a moment,	34:10
	and he said,	34:14
	"the priest doesn't stand up at the altar with the bread	34:16
	"and zap the bread and turn it into something that it's not.	34:19
	"Just ordinary bread, and then we say this prayer over it	34:23
	"and suddenly it's transformed into something weird.	34:26
	"No, the priest stands up at the altar with a loaf of bread	34:28
	"and says, "holy God gave this bread".	34:31
	And of course there's always some smart alec	34:35
	out in the congregation who says,	34:36
	"wait a minute,	34:38
	"I had some bread like that for breakfast this morning,	34:40
	"and when I was eating it for breakfast,	34:44
	"I didn't think it was holy."	34:46
	To which the priest says, "right, that's the point.	34:50
	"Maybe after coming up to this altar you'll go back	34:56
	"and eat breakfast differently tomorrow."	34:58
	It's holy, it's deep,	35:02
	and we are encountered in the strangest,	35:07
	most confusing, most wonderful ways.	35:11
	Eugene Lowry notes that	35:17
	when you talk about knowing something,	35:20
	when you talk about knowledge,	35:23
	knowing, understanding something,	35:25
	there are at least two ways to speak of that.	35:27
	One way is when you're in a math class	35:30
	and you've been struggling	35:32
	with this difficult mathematical problem	35:33
	and you've been working with that problem	35:36
	and you've been struggling with that problem	35:37
	and suddenly you work the problem out	35:39
	and you run out of your room and say,	35:41
	"I got it, I got it , I got it, I got it."	35:45
	And that's one way of knowing,	35:49
	but there's another way of knowing.	35:51
	That is like when you go to a movie or you see a play.	35:55
	You go to this movie	35:59
	and when the movie's over	36:02
	and you stumble out into the light, dislodged,	36:05
	turned around, re-worked,	36:11
	you don't come out and say,	36:16
	"oh, I got it, I got it, I got it."	36:17
	No, no.	36:21
	No, it gets you.	36:24
	Amen.	36:31
-	Lord be with you.	36:48
Crowd	And also with you.	36:50
-	Let us pray to the lord with confidence and trust, saying,	36:52
	"hear our prayer."	36:55
	For the one holy Catholic and apostolic church	37:00
	throughout the world, we pray to you, lord, hear our prayer.	37:03
	For the mission of the church,	37:09
	that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel	37:12
	to the ends of the Earth, we pray to you,	37:14
	Lord, hear our prayer.	37:17
	For those persons from this university who will spend	37:21
	the next week in Christian mission,	37:25
	we pray to you, lord, hear our prayer.	37:27
	For peace in the world that a spirit of respect	37:32
	and reconciliation may grow among nations and peoples,	37:36
	we pray to you, lord, hear our prayer.	37:40
	For the poor, the persecuted, the sick and all who suffer.	37:45
	For refugees, prisoners, and all in danger,	37:52
	that they may be relieved and protected,	37:56
	we pray to you, lord, hear our prayer.	37:59
	For the victims of crime and oppression,	38:05
	for the homeless and the hungry, for persons affected	38:08
	by the recent storm, we pray to you, lord, hear our prayer.	38:12
	For all whom we have injured or offended,	38:21
	we pray to you, lord, hear our prayer.	38:24
	For grace to amend our lives and to further	38:29
	the reign of God, we pray to you, lord, hear our prayer.	38:32
	Lord, our God, accept the prayers of your people.	38:39
	In your great mercy, look with compassion on us	38:45
	and all who turn to you for help, for you are gracious.	38:48
	To you we give glory, oh blessed trinity,	38:53
	now and forever, amen.	38:57
	Let us offer one another signs of reconciliation and love.	39:03
	(crowd murmuring)	39:09
	As forgiven and reconciled people,	39:34
	let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God.	39:36
	(bells ringing)	39:57
	(organ playing)	45:17
	(crowd singing)	45:39
-	The lord be with you.	46:54
Crowd	And also with you.	46:56
-	Lift up your hearts	46:57
Crowd	We lift them up to the lord.	46:59
-	Let us give thanks to the lord, our God.	47:01
Crowd	It is right to give our thanks and praise.	47:03
-	It is a right and a good and joyful thing,	47:06
	always and everywhere, to give thanks to you,	47:09
	father almighty, creator of heaven and Earth.	47:11
	During this time, you bid your faithful people	47:17
	to cleanse our hearts and prepare with joy	47:21
	for the feast of victory, that in fervent prayer	47:24
	and works of mercy, renewed by your word and sacrament,	47:27
	we may come to the fullness of grace that you have prepared	47:31
	for all who love and serve you.	47:35
	And so, with your people on Earth,	47:38
	and all the company of heaven, we praise your name	47:41
	and join their unending hymn.	47:44
	Holy, holy, holy lord, God of power and might,	47:47
	heaven and Earth are full of your glory.	47:52
	Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes	47:54
	in the name of the lord, Hosanna in the highest.	47:58
	Holy are you, and blessed is your son Jesus Christ.	48:02
	In infinite love you made us for yourself	48:07
	and when we had fallen into sin and become subjects	48:11
	of evil and death, in the fullness of time	48:14
	you sent Jesus Christ to redeem the world.	48:18
	He entered himself, taking the form of a servant.	48:22
	He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death	48:25
	even death upon the cross.	48:27
	He took upon himself our sin and death and offered himself,	48:30
	a perfect sacrifice, for the sin of the whole world.	48:33
	By the baptism of his suffering, death and resurrection	48:38
	you gave birth to your church, delivered us	48:41
	from slavery to sin and death and made with us	48:44
	a new covenant by water and the spirit.	48:47
	On the night in which he gave himself up for us	48:51
	he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,	48:53
	gave it to his disciples and said, "take, eat.	48:56
	"This is my body which is given for you.	49:00
	"Do this in remembrance of me."	49:02
	And when the supper was over, he took the cup,	49:05
	gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples and said,	49:08
	"drink from this, all of you.	49:10
	"This is my blood of the new covenant,	49:12
	"poured out for you and many, for the forgiveness of sins.	49:14
	"Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."	49:17
	And so, in remembrance of these,	49:22
	your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,	49:23
	we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving	49:26
	as a holy and living sacrifice	49:28
	in union with Christ's offering for us	49:30
	as we proclaim the mystery of faith:	49:34
	Christ is died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.	49:37
	Pour out your holy spirit on us gathered here	49:42
	and on these gifts of bread and wine.	49:44
	Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,	49:47
	that we may be for the world the body of Christ	49:49
	redeemed by his blood.	49:53
	Pour your spirit, by your spirit make us one with Christ	49:56
	and one with each other and one in ministry	49:59
	to all the world until Christ comes in final victory	50:01
	and we feast at his heavenly banquet.	50:05
	Through your son Jesus Christ, with a holy spirit,	50:08
	in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours,	50:11
	almighty father, now and forever, amen.	50:14
	And now with the confidence of children, we pray:	50:19
	Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.	50:23
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth	50:28
	as it is in heaven.	50:32
	Give us this day our daily bread,	50:34
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive	50:37
	those who trespass against us.	50:40
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,	50:42
	for thine is the kingdom, and the power,	50:46
	and the glory forever, amen.	50:48
	'Cause there's one loaf, we, many as we are	50:52
	become one for this one loaf of which we all partake.	50:55
	When we break the bread, is it not a means	50:59
	of sharing in the body of Christ?	51:01
	When we give thanks over the cup, is it not a means	51:04
	of sharing in the blood of Christ?	51:07
	Come to the lord's table.	51:10
	If you'll help me, (mumbles)	51:16
	(organ music)	51:18
	(bells chiming)	54:45
	(organ music)	58:21
-	Please... and let us pray.	1:00:26
	God of our pilgrimage, we have found the living water.	1:00:33
	Refresh, guide and sustain us as we go forth on our journey	1:00:38
	in the name of Christ the lord, amen.	1:00:43
	(organ music)	1:00:49
	(crowd singing)	1:01:28
-	And now may God the father, son and holy spirit	1:03:35
	be with you, guide, protect you this time forth	1:03:39
	and forevermore, amen.	1:03:43
	(organ music)	1:03:49

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "He Can't Be, Can He?" (March 14, 1993)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4s75710v

Date:

March 14, 1993

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Description:

Sermon start time: 16:25. Sermon end time: 36:36.
From the story of Jesus meeting a woman by the well, the preacher helps us understand that Jesus finds us rather than us finding Him, for He is the unexpected deep well from which we draw the water of life. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0317
ref9231_03y
uachapelsermaud
duke:321614
dcrmv001303
ark:/87924/r4s75710v
dbc2b30e-4fe8-4e3c-8e74-67fcc101952a

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

Location:

Subject:

Format:

Language:

English

Liturgical Calendar:

Lent

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.

Type: