William H. Willimon - "Thy Kingdom Come" (July 25, 1993)

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	(organ music)	0:07
	(organ plays)	2:25
	(congregation sings)	2:46
-	Let us pray.	6:01
	God of mercy,	6:05
	we gather in this hour of worship	6:07
	praising Your name and seeking to understand Your will.	6:09
	Empower us to know what is so valuable in life	6:14
	that it is worth all we have and all we are.	6:18
	Grant us discernment to see You at work for good,	6:22
	even when events around us seem dark or forboding.	6:26
	Nourish us in covenant	6:30
	and set our hearts free	6:32
	to rejoice in Christ's way.	6:34
	Amen.	6:37
-	Let us pray together	6:48
	the prayer for illumination.	6:50
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	6:53
	by the power of Your Holy Spirit,	6:56
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	6:59
	we may hear your message with joy this day.	7:02
	Amen.	7:06
	This reading is taken from the eighth chapter	7:09
	of Paul's letter to the Romans,	7:11
	starting with verse twenty seven.	7:14
	Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness	7:17
	for we do not know how to pray as we ought,	7:21
	but that very Spirit intercedes	7:24
	with size too deep for words.	7:26
	And God, who searches the heart,	7:29
	knows what is the mind of the Spirit	7:32
	because the Spirit intercedes for the same	7:34
	according to the will of God.	7:37
	We all know that all things work together for good,	7:40
	for those who love God,	7:44
	who are called according to His purpose,	7:46
	for those whom He foreknew,	7:49
	He also predestined to be conformed	7:51
	to the image of His son	7:53
	in order that he might be the first born	7:55
	within a large family.	7:57
	And those who He predestines He also called	8:00
	and those whom He called, He also justifies.	8:03
	And those whom He justified, he also glorified.	8:07
	What then are we to say about these things?	8:12
	If God is for us, who is against us?	8:15
	He who did not withhold His own son,	8:19
	but gave Him up for all of us,	8:22
	will He not with Him also give us everything else?	8:24
	Who will bring any charge against God's elect?	8:28
	It is God who justifies, who is to condemn?	8:32
	It is Christ Jesus who died, yet who was raised,	8:36
	who is at the right hand of God,	8:40
	who indeed intercedes for us.	8:42
	Who will separate us from the love of Christ?	8:45
	Will hardship or distress or persecution	8:48
	or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?	8:52
	As it is written, for your sake	8:57
	we are being killed all day long,	9:00
	we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.	9:02
	Knowing all these things,	9:07
	we are more than conquerors	9:08
	through Him who loved us.	9:09
	For I am convinced that neither death nor life	9:12
	nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present,	9:15
	nor things to come, nor powers,	9:18
	nor height, nor depth, nor anything else	9:21
	in all creation will be able to separate us	9:24
	from the love of God and Christ Jesus, our Lord.	9:28
	This is the word of the Lord.	9:34
Congregation	Thank you, God.	9:36
-	Today's Psalm is number one hundred and five,	9:45
	verses one through eleven, found on page	9:49
	eight twenty eight in the hymnal.	9:52
	Please stand and sing the Gloria responsively.	9:54
	(organ plays)	9:59
	♪ Oh, give thanks to the Lord ♪	10:06
	♪ Call on God's name ♪	10:09
	♪ Make known God's deeds among all peoples ♪	10:12
	(congregation sings)	10:17
	♪ Glory in God's holy name ♪	10:28
	♪ Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice ♪	10:31
	(congregation sings)	10:37
	♪ Remember the wonderful works God has done ♪	10:48
	♪ The miracle and judgment God has uttered ♪	10:53
	(congregation sings)	10:59
	♪ The Lord is our God ♪	11:11
	♪ Whose judgements are in all the earth ♪	11:14
	(congregation sings)	11:19
	♪ The covenant made Abraham ♪	11:33
	♪ His promise won to Isaac ♪	11:38
	♪ And confirmed to Jacob as a statute ♪	11:42
	♪ To his realized and everlasting covenant saying ♪	11:47
	(congregation sings)	11:53
	♪ All glory be to You, Creator ♪	12:05
	♪ And to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪	12:08
	(congregation sings)	12:12
	♪ As it was our time began ♪	12:19
	(congregation sings)	12:23
	Please be seated.	12:33
	(organ plays)	12:38
	(choir sings)	13:27
-	This reading is taken from	17:00
	the thirteenth chapter of Matthew,	17:02
	beginning with verse thirty three.	17:04
	He told them another parable,	17:07
	the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast	17:10
	that a woman took and mixed it	17:13
	with three measures of flour	17:15
	until all of it was leavened.	17:17
	The Kingdom of Heaven is like	17:21
	treasure hidden in a field	17:23
	which someone found and hid.	17:25
	Then in his joy, he goes and sells	17:28
	all that he has and buys that field.	17:30
	Again, the Kingdom of Heaven	17:35
	is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.	17:37
	On finding one pearl of great value,	17:40
	he went and sold all that he had	17:43
	and bought it.	17:45
	Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like	17:48
	a net that was thrown into the sea	17:51
	and caught fish of every kind.	17:53
	When it was full, they drew it ashore,	17:56
	sat down and put the good into baskets	17:59
	but threw out the bad.	18:03
	Have you understood all that?	18:06
	They answered: yes.	18:09
	This is the Word of the Lord.	18:13
Congregation	Thank you, God.	18:16
-	Thy kingdom come	18:27
	Thy kingdom come, that is what Jesus has	18:31
	taught us to pray, we shall pray that	18:34
	as we always do each Sunday,	18:36
	before the service ends,	18:39
	"Thy kingdom come."	18:41
	And let's say that then that's why	18:45
	we're all here this morning,	18:46
	is that we're all becoming part	18:48
	of God's Kingdom, we're here because	18:50
	we're looking for the Kingdom,	18:52
	we're becoming part of the Kingdom.	18:55
	Thy Kingdom come.	18:57
	And yet, the Kingdom's coming	19:02
	must be something that is not self evident,	19:03
	that isn't easy to see.	19:06
	Or else, why would Jesus have spent	19:08
	so much time teaching about the Kingdom?	19:09
	You see this in Matthew's thirteenth chapter.	19:14
	The thirteenth chapter of Matthew begins	19:19
	with Matthew saying he taught them	19:23
	many things in parables	19:25
	and they're all parables about the Kingdom.	19:28
	The Kingdom must be weird,	19:32
	not easily seen because Jesus had to	19:33
	tell so many stories about it.	19:36
	The Kingdom of God, well a kingdom is like	19:39
	it's like a man that goes out	19:43
	and sows seeds, he throws seed.	19:45
	And most of the seed falls on bad ground	19:50
	and it does not take root.	19:52
	But, a small minority of the seed	19:55
	falls on good earth and produces great results.	19:59
	And those of us who are gathered here	20:04
	on this summer Sunday in July,	20:06
	there not all that many of us here,	20:08
	not as many as there is at some times of the year.	20:11
	Not many as are were gathered last night	20:14
	at Walnut Grove or Walnut Creek	20:17
	or whatever it is.	20:18
	We're just a minority and so we like that parable	20:20
	because it says don't worry about that.	20:23
	Don't worry, the Kingdom of God	20:25
	doesn't need a crowd.	20:27
	It just needs a few faithful seeds	20:30
	that bare rich harvest, from the small to the great.	20:33
	Jesus follows that with another parable,	20:38
	the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed,	20:41
	tiny little mustard seed, very small.	20:44
	But yet when that seed germinates	20:48
	and takes fruit it produces a great plant.	20:50
	And because we're small, we take heart.	20:54
	Most of the citizens of Durham,	20:59
	they're on vacation, you could have	21:00
	been on vacation, you could've slept in late,	21:02
	but no, you've come down here	21:04
	to be part of the Kingdom.	21:05
	Just a few of you, that's okay Jesus says,	21:07
	that's the way God works,	21:09
	just the small to the large, take heart.	21:10
	And one can imagine what a comfort	21:14
	these parables were for the disciples.	21:16
	See them there, there were only twelve of them,	21:19
	squatting around in a circle in the dust,	21:22
	listening to Jesus teach about the Kingdom.	21:24
	Former fishermen, ex IRS agents	21:27
	called to come be part of the Kingdom,	21:30
	but they took heart, because that's the way	21:32
	God works, just with a few.	21:34
	Those who the world considers of small	21:35
	and of low account, that's okay.	21:38
	In God's eyes there can be great harvest.	21:40
	And then he says:	21:46
	The Kingdom...	21:49
	The Kingdom is like a woman	21:51
	that takes some leaven and she hides it	21:53
	in a big lump of dough and that little bit of yeast	21:56
	transforms the whole amount of dough,	22:00
	it leavens the whole lump.	22:03
	That's the Kingdom.	22:06
	And that sounds good to us again,	22:09
	sounds reminiscent of the parable of the seeds.	22:10
	From the small we move to the great,	22:13
	God works through just the minority,	22:15
	just an elect few to produce the Kingdom.	22:18
	I love Thy Kingdom, Lord we sing,	22:21
	the church of Thine abode.	22:25
	God works through the twelve disciples,	22:27
	the chosen few on a Sunday morning,	22:30
	the elect, this is where God dwells,	22:32
	we love that.	22:34
	And yet, even though that may be the point	22:38
	about the parables of the sowing of the seed	22:40
	and the mustard seed, it is doubtful	22:42
	that is the point of the parable of the woman	22:44
	and the yeast and the dough.	22:47
	Because, in that part of the world	22:52
	in that day, yeast	22:54
	was an exclusively negative image.	22:58
	If you look through scripture	23:03
	where leaven appears, it is always	23:04
	in a negative light.	23:07
	Paul disgusted with the church at Corinth	23:10
	for letting a few bad apples spoil the whole barrel,	23:13
	says to them: do you not know	23:17
	that just a little leaven ruins the whole lump?	23:18
	That's the way they looked upon leaven in the Bible.	23:23
	Leaven was an image of decay and corruption	23:27
	and spoilage, because when you hear this word	23:31
	leaven, you're not to think about yeast	23:33
	pre-packaged, domesticated yeast	23:35
	like we buy in the grocery store today.	23:37
	You're to think leaven,	23:41
	of the near eastern variety.	23:44
	The way you leavened bread then was	23:46
	you took a pinch from the dough,	23:47
	a pinch of that raw dough and you stuck it	23:50
	in a pot and you put it over	23:52
	to the side of the room and you left it.	23:54
	And there it did what dough does	23:56
	when it is left out like that,	23:58
	it rots, it becomes covered over with a green mold.	24:00
	It begins to smell.	24:05
	The yeast transforms that	24:08
	into a kind of smelly, putrefied lump.	24:12
	Later, when you wanted to leaven bread	24:16
	you would take a pinch of that leavening	24:19
	and you would mix it in with your dough	24:21
	and it would infect the whole lump	24:23
	and that's the way leavened bread was made.	24:25
	That smelly, green molded lump of leaven,	24:28
	that's what we're talking about.	24:30
	No wonder that in Israel	24:32
	it was not permitted to have any leaven bread	24:36
	in the house during the holy days of Passover.	24:38
	That is why Leviticus says you cannot	24:41
	offer leavened bread up at the temple, at the alter.	24:43
	And that is why in a couple of places	24:47
	Paul warns the church, just a little leaven	24:50
	will ruin the whole lump.	24:54
	Purification, rot, decay,	24:58
	that's leaven.	25:00
	And Jesus says that's the way	25:05
	the Kingdom of God happens sometimes.	25:07
	It's an image we do not expect,	25:13
	it's a shock	25:17
	to know that the Kingdom comes	25:19
	the Kingdom comes through ways that we find	25:23
	offensive.	25:26
	I very well remember a professor of mine, a distinguished	25:30
	professor of Christian ethics, James Gustafson.	25:34
	In one of his lectures on Christian ethics,	25:37
	telling us about an episode that	25:39
	happened to him back in the nineteen fifties	25:41
	in midtown Manhattan.	25:43
	He'd been working late into the night	25:45
	on some scholarly project with a colleague	25:47
	and it was a hot night and they decided	25:49
	to walk out on the streets of Manhattan	25:51
	to go for some refreshment.	25:52
	And they went to this bar	25:56
	and in the bar they noticed there was	25:57
	a young soldier who had had too much to drink.	25:58
	And he ordered another drink and he paid	26:04
	for the drink with a twenty dollar bill.	26:06
	And Gustafson said that his observant colleague	26:10
	noted that the bartender gave him five dollars in change.	26:12
	So, his colleague gets up,	26:18
	he goes over to the bartender and he says:	26:19
	give him the rest of his money.	26:22
	And the bartender raises a terrible ruckus	26:25
	and says, I don't know what you're talking about	26:27
	and there was an argument ensued.	26:29
	But he finally opened up his cash drawer	26:30
	and he gave the drunken soldier	26:32
	the rest of his change.	26:35
	He said not because that was what he should have done,	26:36
	but to keep peace in the bar.	26:40
	The colleague sat back down,	26:43
	they resumed their discussion.	26:45
	He noticed that the young man became more drunk	26:46
	and eventually passed out.	26:49
	So, his colleague gets up, goes over,	26:52
	opens up the young mans wallet	26:54
	there on the table, he finds out	26:56
	that he lives in Long Island.	26:57
	So, he says to Gustafson, come on.	27:01
	They help the young man out of the bar,	27:04
	they hail a taxi and then his colleague	27:06
	takes out twenty dollars out of the wallet	27:09
	and writes a note telling the young man	27:11
	what they've done, he puts the note back in the wallet.	27:13
	Then he carefully notes the name of the cab driver,	27:16
	the number of the cab so that they	27:19
	can check on it later.	27:21
	He gives the cabbie the address in Long Island	27:23
	and they send him on his way.	27:26
	Now, Gustafson says the thing that	27:31
	impressed him about that episode was	27:33
	that his colleague, the one who had performed this	27:37
	rather extraordinary ethical action	27:41
	was in no way a religious man.	27:46
	In fact, he had heard him ridicule clergy	27:49
	and the church and Christians	27:51
	on a number of occasions.	27:53
	And yet that man had behaved	27:55
	in a more ethical, more Christian way	27:59
	even than those of us who self identify	28:02
	ourselves as Christians.	28:04
	Do you know how frightening,	28:08
	how threatening a story like that is	28:10
	to a Christian ethicist?	28:12
	So threatening that when Gustafson later wrote	28:15
	his book Can Ethics Be Christian?	28:17
	He included that story at the beginning of the book.	28:19
	It had so impressed him.	28:22
	And maybe the elect don't like to hear	28:27
	a story like that after we've gotten	28:28
	out of bed on a July and we've come down here	28:30
	and we've gathered in the church	28:32
	just us and the Kingdom.	28:33
	Maybe we don't like to know that	28:36
	the Kingdom of God is busy breaking out	28:37
	in ways that are not part of our ways.	28:39
	The parable is even more surprising.	28:46
	Not only is this leaven an image of putrefication	28:50
	and of decay and smelly negativity,	28:53
	but it's surprising in that it's a woman	28:57
	who is busy making this bread.	29:01
	Of the seven parables in Matthew's thirteenth chapter,	29:04
	only one features a woman as an agent of the Kingdom.	29:07
	A woman.	29:12
	And isn't it ironic that this woman	29:14
	who in the eastern society is pushed over in the corner	29:16
	and over to the side, considered small	29:19
	and helpless and of no account.	29:23
	She is busy working with the leaven	29:26
	that has been pushed over to the side.	29:28
	She is the agent of the Kingdom.	29:31
	And what's more interesting	29:37
	the words in the Greek are that she,	29:41
	she doesn't just mix the yeast,	29:43
	she doesn't just sort of work it into the dough.	29:46
	Jesus says she hides it in the dough.	29:48
	She puts it in, she just hides it in there.	29:51
	Using the same word that He's used	29:54
	in another parable where He talked	29:56
	about that little steward that took his	29:57
	one talent, wrapped it in a napkin	29:59
	and then he hid it out in the back yard.	30:01
	Just like a thief would hide his loot.	30:04
	It's a weird word, you don't expect it to	30:08
	appear in the kitchen, she's busy hiding that.	30:11
	And then, it's also odd that He says	30:14
	she takes some leaven and she mixed it	30:18
	in three measures of flour.	30:20
	You know how much three measures of flour is?	30:22
	That's a bushel of flour.	30:24
	The Kingdom of God comes when a woman	30:27
	presumably a rather healthy woman	30:31
	with large biceps, mixes a bushel of flour,	30:32
	that will make enough bread to feed a hundred people.	30:38
	From this woman out on the margins,	30:43
	this no account person,	30:45
	taking this despised yeast,	30:48
	is going to feed the whole neighborhood.	30:52
	Transform a bunch of hungry people.	30:56
	That's the Kingdom, Jesus says.	31:01
	It's not what we came here expecting to hear.	31:05
	It's not, it's odd, we're assaulted	31:08
	by these discordant images of the Kingdom.	31:10
	The Kingdom of God breaks out in ways	31:14
	you can't control and you don't name.	31:16
	Among people who aren't gathered here,	31:19
	it's just breaking out all over them.	31:21
	We don't define the Kingdom,	31:27
	God defines the Kingdom.	31:30
	The Kingdom comes as a work of God, not	31:32
	through our self identified righteous efforts.	31:38
	It's a shock, I tell you.	31:40
	The Kingdom of God is like a woman	31:44
	that took some leaven and she hid it	31:46
	in all this dough and it	31:49
	transformed a bunch of people.	31:53
	Well, in my last church, we decided that	31:58
	we needed to evangelize.	32:00
	We needed to get some new members,	32:03
	translated that means we don't have enough	32:04
	people to make the budget keep a roof over our head,	32:07
	bring in some more people.	32:09
	And so, we got into church growth	32:11
	and we studied evangelism and we were told	32:13
	to have a neighborhood canvas.	32:15
	You go out on a Sunday afternoon,	32:18
	you start knocking on doors,	32:19
	you leave a little pamphlet	32:20
	and you tell them about our church,	32:22
	about our programs and then you hope some will come.	32:23
	Now, I was there at the training session	32:28
	and Mary and Gladys were clearly told	32:30
	you go down Summit Drive and then you take a,	32:33
	you're gonna have two blocks	32:35
	and take a right and then you hand out your pamphlets.	32:36
	I was there when they were told,	32:40
	they were handed a map and the map said	32:41
	go down Summit Drive take a right.	32:43
	But Mary and Gladys in their earlier lives	32:46
	had been elementary school teachers	32:48
	before they retired, this meant that	32:50
	they were better at giving orders than receiving orders.	32:52
	And so, they walked down Summit Drive	32:56
	and they took a left.	32:58
	They took a left,	33:02
	they got into the projects.	33:04
	And there they were evangelizing the wrong neighborhood.	33:08
	And at the end of the day, when every body	33:12
	came back to report on their results,	33:14
	Mary and Gladys said we only had one person	33:17
	who said she was interested in visiting our church.	33:20
	Somebody named Laverne, she lives down there	33:25
	in a two room apartment with her two kids.	33:27
	She said she'd like to come, we invited her	33:30
	to the Wednesday morning women's Bible study.	33:32
	And I said we told you to turn right,	33:36
	what were you doing down there?	33:39
	Anyway, Wednesday morning Gladys shows up	33:41
	with Laverne, Laverne's got her a Bible,	33:45
	she'd never had a Bible before,	33:48
	never seen a Bible but Gladys got her a Bible,	33:50
	it was a black Bible, it had her name engraved	33:53
	in gold letters and she was so proud of that Bible.	33:55
	And she brought that Bible in to the Bible study	33:58
	and I was leading the Bible study that morning	34:01
	and it was on temptation, we were studying	34:03
	from the fourth chapter of Luke	34:05
	about the Jesus temptations and I talked about	34:07
	how Jesus, when confronted by Satan,	34:10
	had resisted temptation, he'd stood up,	34:13
	he resisted that temptation.	34:15
	And then I said to the women gathered there,	34:18
	have any of you ever had to resist temptation?	34:19
	Someone spoke up and she said yes,	34:25
	last week I was at the supermarket	34:27
	and I was buying groceries and there was this	34:29
	confusion at the checkout line,	34:31
	next thing I know I was standing out in the parking lot	34:33
	with a loaf of bread I hadn't paid for.	34:35
	And I thought to myself, what the heck.	34:38
	The supermarket can afford it,	34:41
	I'll just keep this bread, but then I thought	34:43
	no, no, no, wait, wait, wait.	34:45
	You're a Christian, I went back into that supermarket	34:46
	and I paid for that bread.	34:50
	I said, well good, good.	34:53
	That's resisting temptation, good that's fine.	34:54
	Anyone else?	34:57
	Laverne spoke up.	34:59
	She said, when I was living with a guy	35:02
	a couple of years ago, not the guy that's	35:05
	the father of my children, but another guy,	35:06
	one of the first guys I was living with,	35:08
	we were into heroin really big,	35:10
	you know what that's stuff's like,	35:13
	gets in your head, you go crazy.	35:14
	You know what it's like, anyway.	35:15
	One day he talked me into holding up	35:20
	this gas station, we went in there	35:22
	we held up this gas station and we got	35:25
	about two hundred and fifty dollars	35:26
	that Saturday night, it was just as easy	35:28
	as taking candy from a baby.	35:30
	Two days later, he says he has his eye	35:33
	on this convenience store he wants to hold up.	35:34
	He wants me to hold it up with him.	35:37
	And I don't know, there was just something,	35:40
	something in me said I'm not gonna do it.	35:42
	I hold up that gas station,	35:46
	I'm not gonna hold up that convenience store.	35:47
	I said no and he beat the hell outta me,	35:50
	but I said no, it felt good to say no.	35:53
	It was the first time I had ever said no.	35:55
	And I think that was kinda like	36:01
	resisting temptation.	36:04
	And I said, okay I think we're ready	36:08
	for our prayer time now.	36:10
	When I was standing out in the parking lot,	36:15
	helping Gladys get into her Pluma,	36:17
	she said:	36:20
	you know your Bible studies used to be dull.	36:23
	I'm gonna get home, I think I can get a crowd	36:28
	for this, I'm gonna call some people.	36:30
	When He got through with all the stories,	36:40
	Jesus said to His disciples,	36:42
	have you understood all of this?	36:46
	Have you understood what I told you	36:50
	about the Kingdom and the disciples said,	36:52
	yeah, yeah we understand, yeah we got it,	36:57
	we understand.	36:59
	They lied.	37:03
	Amen.	37:06
	(organ plays)	37:11
	(congregation sings)	37:55
-	The Lord be with you	40:06
Congregation	And also with you.	40:08
-	Let us pray.	40:09
	Oh, Sovereign God.	40:22
	As we turn to you in prayer this day,	40:25
	we confess to the times we have	40:28
	been offended by your Gospel.	40:30
	Jesus catches us off guard as He describes	40:34
	the kind of kingdom You sent Him to proclaim,	40:37
	rather than the one we would choose to hear about.	40:41
	Yet, even as we draw back in surprise	40:45
	and sometimes distaste, we humbly confess	40:48
	that more often we have offended You	40:52
	for our failure to understand.	40:55
	We have not trusted that something small	40:58
	could grow into something great.	41:00
	We have not noticed the treasure	41:03
	hidden in our midst.	41:05
	We have not sold everything in order	41:08
	to obtain the pearl of great price.	41:10
	Forgive us our shallowness,	41:13
	expand our vision and open our hearts	41:16
	and minds to fresh understandings	41:20
	of those things we thought we understood	41:22
	but in reality have glimpsed	41:26
	only the faintest shadow of.	41:27
	Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.	41:31
	Redeeming God, we pray for all those who offend us.	41:35
	Perpetrators of violence,	41:40
	substance abusers,	41:43
	those who cheat or deceive us,	41:45
	convicted criminals of any sort,	41:48
	anyone we would call enemy.	41:50
	We acknowledge that you have created a world	41:54
	in which the rain falls on the just and the unjust.	41:57
	Likewise, you call us into a kingdom	42:01
	where the weeds and the wheat grow together	42:04
	with you as our final judge.	42:07
	Teach us how to love our enemies	42:10
	and pray for those whom we call undesirable.	42:13
	Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.	42:17
	Creating God, we pray for all those	42:22
	who've grown and prevail under	42:25
	the burden of the cruelties of nature.	42:28
	For those men, women and children	42:31
	who are without homes, farms, businesses	42:33
	and the necessities of life	42:37
	along the banks of the Mississippi river	42:39
	and it's tributaries.	42:41
	We pray for sunny skies,	42:42
	grant them courage perseverance and hope	42:45
	in the face of overwhelming circumstances	42:49
	and empower us to reach out to them in their need.	42:52
	We pray also for any who suffer	42:56
	in other regions due to lack of rain.	42:59
	Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.	43:02
	Reconciling God, we pray for those	43:07
	who govern our country and the nations of the world.	43:10
	Mindful of the immense responsibilities they bare,	43:13
	we pray for wisdom and strength.	43:17
	Fill them with compassion	43:20
	for the poor and the neglected	43:22
	and enable them to imagine creative solutions	43:24
	to critical areas of public policy.	43:27
	Inspire us all to move beyond	43:31
	simple acceptance of the misery	43:32
	which permeates our world	43:35
	to a place which represents peace	43:37
	and justice for all.	43:39
	Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.	43:42
	Renewing God, we pray for all	43:47
	who cry out for healing,	43:49
	that you will give patience, courage and faith	43:51
	to all who are disabled by injury or sickness.	43:54
	That you will comfort those who endure continual pain.	43:58
	Pouring upon them the healing balm of Your Holy Spirit.	44:02
	That You will grant fearless confidence to all	44:06
	Your children stricken with chronic or terminal illness.	44:08
	Enable us all to remember	44:13
	that each day is a gift from You.	44:15
	Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.	44:18
	Merciful God, in this season	44:23
	of family vacations and reunions,	44:25
	we pray for families everywhere	44:26
	that within the intimate bonds of parent and child,	44:29
	sister and brother, we may learn	44:32
	what it means to create a truly loving community.	44:34
	We pray for healing where trusts	44:38
	have been violated and promises broken.	44:40
	For reconciliation where estrangement has occurred.	44:43
	We pray especially for newly weds	44:47
	as they begin a life together full of hope.	44:49
	For those who feel alone,	44:53
	without a family to call their own.	44:54
	And for children who have never known	44:57
	the safety and security of home.	44:58
	Bless us in our efforts to love one another	45:02
	even in our most unlovable moments.	45:05
	Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.	45:08
	Oh, living God, like the apostle Paul	45:12
	we confess we do not know how to pray as we ought,	45:14
	nor how to live as we ought.	45:18
	But, like Paul we are assured that You will help us.	45:20
	Accept the fervent prayers of Your people	45:24
	and look with compassion on all	45:27
	who turn to You for help.	45:29
	For You are gracious oh, lover of souls.	45:31
	And to You we give glory oh, blessed Trinity.	45:34
	Now and forever.	45:36
	Amen.	45:39
	The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant	45:43
	in search of fine pearls.	45:45
	On finding one pearl of great value,	45:48
	he went and sold all that he had and bought it.	45:51
	Therefore, as we remember the plight	45:56
	of our sisters and brothers	45:57
	along the flooded banks of the Mississippi,	45:59
	to whom this offering is dedicated today,	46:01
	let us present the offerings of our life	46:04
	and our labor to the Lord.	46:06
	(organ plays)	46:16
	(choir sings)	47:34
	(organ plays)	51:30
	(congregation sings)	52:05
-	Accept oh, Lord our thanks and praise	53:28
	for all that You have done for us.	53:31
	We thank You for the splendor	53:34
	of the whole creation,	53:36
	for the beauty of this world,	53:37
	for the wonder of life	53:39
	and for the mystery of love.	53:41
	We thank You for the blessing of family and friends	53:44
	and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.	53:47
	We thank You for setting us at tasks	53:52
	which demand our best efforts.	53:54
	And for leading us to accomplishments	53:56
	which satisfy and delight us.	53:59
	We thank You also for those disappointments	54:02
	and failures that lead us to acknowledge	54:04
	our dependence on You alone.	54:07
	Above all, we thank You for Your son,	54:10
	Jesus Christ, for the truth of His word	54:12
	and the example of His life,	54:15
	for His steadfast obedience by which	54:18
	He overcame temptation,	54:20
	for His dying through which he overcame death,	54:22
	and for His rising to life again	54:25
	in which we are raised to the life of Your kingdom.	54:28
	Grant us the gift of Your Spirit,	54:32
	that we may know Him and make Him known	54:34
	and through Him, at all times and in all places,	54:37
	may give thanks to You in all things.	54:41
	This we pray in the name of the one	54:44
	who taught us boldly to pray,	54:46
	our Father, who art in heaven,	54:49
	hallowed be Thy name,	54:52
	Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done	54:54
	on earth as it is in heaven.	54:57
	Give us this day our daily bread,	54:59
	and forgive us our trespasses	55:02
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	55:04
	And lead us not into temptation,	55:08
	but deliver us from evil.	55:10
	For Thine is the kingdom,	55:12
	the power and the glory forever.	55:14
	Amen.	55:17
	(organ plays)	55:22
	(congregation sings)	55:49
-	The grace of our Lord and Savior	57:51
	Jesus Christ and the love of God	57:53
	and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	57:54
	be with you now and always.	57:57
	♪ hallelujah ♪	58:02
	♪ amen ♪	58:06
	(organ plays)	58:12

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Thy Kingdom Come" (July 25, 1993)

Description:

Sermon start time: 18:27. Sermon end time: 37:11.
The preacher interprets several parables from the four gospels where Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God. He especially expounds on the parable “Yeast in the Leavened Bread” to express that the Kingdom of God often starts from a few lowly, but faithful people. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gb1xx8c

Date:

July 25, 1993

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Matthew

Chapter and Verse:

Matthew 13:33, 44-48, 52

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0329
ref9286_5dk
uachapelsermaud
duke:321517
dcrmv001315
ark:/87924/r4gb1xx8c
5d17bcca-5dcc-43d1-b8b7-556f266c2630

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

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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 - "Thy Kingdom Come" (July 25, 1993)

Transcript

Item Info

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Duke University Archives