William H. Willimon - "The Gift of Interpretation" (September 12, 1993)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music) | 0:00 | |
Man | Please stand for the greeting. | 1:01 |
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. | 1:05 | |
Congregation | And also with you. | 1:08 |
Man | The risen Christ is with us. | 1:10 |
Congregation | Praise the Lord. | 1:12 |
("Holy, holy, holy") | 1:14 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 1:55 | |
♪ Lord God almighty ♪ | 2:00 | |
♪ Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee ♪ | 2:06 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 2:17 | |
♪ Merciful and mighty ♪ | 2:22 | |
♪ God in three persons blessed Trinity ♪ | 2:28 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 2:39 | |
♪ All the saints adore Thee ♪ | 2:45 | |
♪ Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea ♪ | 2:50 | |
♪ Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee ♪ | 3:01 | |
♪ Who was, and is, and evermore shall be ♪ | 3:12 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 3:23 | |
♪ Though the darkness hide Thee ♪ | 3:29 | |
♪ Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see ♪ | 3:34 | |
♪ Only Thou art holy ♪ | 3:45 | |
♪ There is none beside Thee ♪ | 3:51 | |
♪ Perfect in power, in love, and purity ♪ | 3:56 | |
(organ solo) | 4:08 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 6:40 | |
♪ Lord God Almighty ♪ | 6:45 | |
♪ All Thy works shall praise Thy Name ♪ | 6:51 | |
♪ In earth, and sky, and sea ♪ | 6:55 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 7:02 | |
♪ Merciful and mighty ♪ | 7:07 | |
♪ God in three Persons, blessed Trinity ♪ | 7:13 | |
- | Let us join together in the Prayer of Confession | 7:30 |
found on page 890 in your hymn book. | 7:33 | |
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned | 7:49 | |
against you in thought, word, and deed, | 7:53 | |
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. | 7:57 | |
We have not loved you with our whole heart; | 8:02 | |
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 8:05 | |
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. | 8:09 | |
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, | 8:13 | |
have mercy on us and forgive us; | 8:16 | |
that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, | 8:19 | |
to the glory of your name, amen. | 8:24 | |
Almighty God, have mercy on you. | 8:37 | |
Forgive all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, | 8:40 | |
strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power | 8:44 | |
of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life, amen. | 8:47 | |
You may be seated. | 8:53 | |
- | Let us pray together the Prayer for Illumination. | 9:03 |
Open our hearts and minds, oh God, | 9:07 | |
by the power of your Holy Spirit | 9:10 | |
so that as the Word is read and proclaimed, | 9:12 | |
we may hear your message with joy this day, amen. | 9:16 | |
The epistle reading is from the 14th chapter | 9:22 | |
of Paul's letter to the Romans, starting with verse one. | 9:24 | |
Welcome those who are weak in faith, | 9:29 | |
but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. | 9:32 | |
Some believe in eating anything, | 9:36 | |
while the weak eat only vegetables. | 9:38 | |
Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, | 9:41 | |
and those who abstain must not pass judgment | 9:44 | |
on those who eat, for God has welcomed them. | 9:48 | |
Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? | 9:52 | |
It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. | 9:56 | |
And they will be upheld, | 10:00 | |
for the Lord is able to make them stand. | 10:01 | |
Some judge one day to be better than another, | 10:06 | |
while others judge all days to be alike. | 10:08 | |
Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. | 10:12 | |
Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. | 10:16 | |
Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, | 10:20 | |
since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, | 10:23 | |
abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. | 10:27 | |
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. | 10:32 | |
If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, | 10:36 | |
we die to the Lord, so then, whether we live | 10:40 | |
or whether we die, we are the Lord's. | 10:43 | |
For to this end Christ died and lived again, | 10:47 | |
so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. | 10:50 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 10:54 | |
- | Thank you, God. | |
- | Our Old Testament lesson is from | 11:07 |
the fourth chapter of the Book of Daniel. | 11:08 | |
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house, | 11:14 | |
prospering in my palace. | 11:17 | |
I had a dream which made me afraid, which alarmed me. | 11:20 | |
Therefore, I made a decree that all wise men of Babylon | 11:25 | |
should be brought before me that I might | 11:28 | |
make it known to them for interpretation of the dream. | 11:31 | |
Then, the magicians, the enchanters, | 11:35 | |
the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, | 11:37 | |
and I told them the dream, but they could not | 11:40 | |
make known to me the dream's interpretation. | 11:43 | |
At last, Daniel came in before me | 11:47 | |
and I told him the dream. | 11:52 | |
The visions of my head as I lay on my bed were these. | 11:55 | |
Behold, a tree in the midst of the earth | 11:59 | |
with its height was great. | 12:01 | |
A tree grew and became strong. | 12:03 | |
Its top reached the heavens. | 12:05 | |
It spread to the whole earth, | 12:07 | |
its leaves were fair and abundant, | 12:09 | |
and in it was food for all, | 12:12 | |
the beasts of the field found shade under the tree. | 12:13 | |
I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in the bed, | 12:18 | |
and behold, a holy one came down from Heaven. | 12:21 | |
He cried aloud and said, "Cut down the tree, | 12:23 | |
"cut off its branches, strip off its leaves, | 12:26 | |
"scatter its fruit, let beast flee from under its branches, | 12:28 | |
"but leave the stump. | 12:33 | |
"Let them be a sign." | 12:37 | |
Then Daniel was dismayed for a moment, | 12:42 | |
for his thoughts alarmed him, and the king said, | 12:46 | |
"Daniel, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you," | 12:50 | |
but he answered, "My lord, may the dream be for those | 12:54 | |
"who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies? | 12:58 | |
"The tree you saw which grew and became strong | 13:01 | |
"with its top reaching in the heavens, | 13:04 | |
"whose leaves were fair and fruit abundant | 13:06 | |
"in under which the beasts of the field found shade. | 13:09 | |
"It is you, oh king, who have grown and become strong. | 13:12 | |
"Your greatness has grown and reaches to the heaven | 13:17 | |
"and your dominion to the ends of the earth." | 13:19 | |
And, where is that Holy One from Heaven | 13:22 | |
said, "Hue down the tree and destroy it, | 13:25 | |
"but leave its stump and its roots. | 13:27 | |
"This is the interpretation, oh king. | 13:30 | |
"It is the decree of the Most High, | 13:33 | |
"which is come upon my Lord, the king. | 13:34 | |
"You shall be driven from among people. | 13:37 | |
"Your dwelling shall be with beasts of the field. | 13:40 | |
"You'll eat grass like an ox, oh one who is most high, | 13:42 | |
"and as it was commanded to leave the stump | 13:48 | |
"and the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be sure | 13:51 | |
"for you for the time that you know that Heaven rules. | 13:54 | |
"Therefore, oh king, my counsel to you | 13:58 | |
"is break off your sins by practicing righteousness, | 14:01 | |
"your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, | 14:04 | |
"and may, thereby, your tranquility be lengthened." | 14:08 | |
All this came to King Nebuchadnezzar. | 14:13 | |
At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof | 14:16 | |
of his royal palace, and the king said, | 14:18 | |
"Is not this great Babylon which I have built | 14:21 | |
"with my mighty power, and for the glory of my majesty?" | 14:25 | |
And, while these words were still in the king's mouth, | 14:29 | |
there fell a voice from heaven, | 14:31 | |
"Oh, King Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom has departed from you. | 14:33 | |
"You shall be driven from among men. | 14:37 | |
"Your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field." | 14:39 | |
Immediately, the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. | 14:43 | |
He was driven from among men, he ate grass like an ox, | 14:46 | |
his body was wet with the dew of heaven | 14:49 | |
'til his hair grew long as eagle's feathers, | 14:52 | |
and his nails were like birds claws. | 14:54 | |
At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, | 14:58 | |
lifted up mine eyes to heaven. | 15:00 | |
Reason returned to me, I blessed the Most High | 15:03 | |
and praised and honored Him. | 15:05 | |
Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor | 15:09 | |
the king of Heaven, for all His works are right | 15:12 | |
and His ways are just, and those who walk in pride, | 15:16 | |
He is able to bring low. | 15:21 | |
I think it was Voltaire who said, | 15:29 | |
"History is a long story of | 15:33 | |
"wooden shoes clogging upstairs | 15:37 | |
"and silk slippers going down." | 15:41 | |
Or, as Mary said in her Magnificat, | 15:46 | |
"The Lord scatters the proud, | 15:48 | |
"but lifts up those of low degree," | 15:51 | |
and I don't know how much you know about history. | 15:56 | |
If you're a student, I don't know about anything | 15:58 | |
because | 16:01 | |
one of the purposes of a university, | 16:02 | |
one of the functions of faculty, is to convince students | 16:06 | |
how little they know, that's sort of the purpose of exams. | 16:10 | |
I had a student last year | 16:14 | |
in a seminar of mine and I gave him a C. | 16:16 | |
Later I saw him, he said, "You know, I thought that | 16:22 | |
"I had learned a lot during that seminar. | 16:25 | |
"I thought that I had grown a lot and changed, | 16:28 | |
"but then after I got the C, I realized | 16:31 | |
"I didn't learn as much as I thought I learned." | 16:33 | |
And, that's kind of a function of faculty. | 16:37 | |
The purpose is to convince you that | 16:40 | |
you will never know enough, | 16:43 | |
even after four years, to ever be faculty. | 16:44 | |
And, you pay your tuition, and we live off your tuition, | 16:47 | |
and knowledge kind of dribbles from the top down | 16:51 | |
to the lowly students, and it's a nice system, | 16:54 | |
particularly for those on top. | 16:58 | |
And, who could be more on top than King Nebuchadnezzar? | 17:04 | |
Great Nebuchadnezzar, you met him last week, | 17:08 | |
great Oriental potentate. | 17:11 | |
Yet, even tyrants dreams, | 17:15 | |
are caught alone in their beds at night, | 17:20 | |
sometime between three and four in the morning | 17:23 | |
with the palace quiet, still. | 17:26 | |
And there, great Nebuchadnezzar says, | 17:32 | |
"I had a dream, | 17:37 | |
"and I was afraid." | 17:41 | |
Nobody dares disturb powerful people at night. | 17:45 | |
Powerful people who, after a day of managing | 17:50 | |
and making decisions, you don't call them at night, | 17:52 | |
but sometimes nightmares intrude, | 17:56 | |
disrupt, bubble up from the unconscious, and | 18:02 | |
suggest, even to powerful people, | 18:05 | |
that there may be a world out there | 18:08 | |
beyond the area of their management and control and order, | 18:10 | |
and if you're a powerful person, | 18:16 | |
a nightmare like that is enough | 18:18 | |
to scare the wits out of you. | 18:20 | |
I doubt that there were many voices intruding | 18:23 | |
into Nebuchadnezzar's day. | 18:25 | |
All the little toteys and bureaucrats which surrounded him, | 18:28 | |
I'm sure every time he opened up his mouth, they said, | 18:31 | |
"Oh, what a wonderful idea, that is a marvelous idea, | 18:33 | |
"oh great King Nebuchadnezzar." | 18:38 | |
But, at night, | 18:42 | |
sleeping alone, as powerful people often do, | 18:45 | |
sometimes there is an intrusive voice, | 18:50 | |
and the voice in the dream speaks. | 18:56 | |
A great tree spreading out all over all the earth | 18:58 | |
with all the earth clustered | 19:02 | |
for shade and fruit under its branches, | 19:04 | |
and the great tree, | 19:08 | |
there is a voice, "Cut it down!" | 19:10 | |
And, King Nebuchadnezzar is frightened, | 19:13 | |
because there, it suggests that there may be something | 19:18 | |
going on out there, something beyond royally managed systems | 19:22 | |
of knowledge distribution and power, | 19:26 | |
and all the king's magicians and enchanters | 19:31 | |
cannot make sense of the dream, and so, | 19:33 | |
this doesn't surprise you, | 19:37 | |
he calls in little Daniel | 19:39 | |
to interpret the dream, | 19:43 | |
and there is little Daniel | 19:45 | |
on the margins of the powerful court, | 19:47 | |
just waiting to be called in, | 19:50 | |
and little Daniel, young adult, Jew, exiled, | 19:53 | |
knows what the king does not know, | 19:57 | |
and you witness, once again in this story, | 20:01 | |
a subtle shift of power, a shift of power from the great | 20:04 | |
omnipotent, autonomous king down to little Daniel. | 20:08 | |
He has knowledge which can save a king. | 20:13 | |
If you will notice, if you've been here before | 20:19 | |
in these Daniel stories, there is a kind of gap | 20:21 | |
between the generations here. | 20:24 | |
It is the duty in these stories | 20:27 | |
of the old to manage and hold onto, | 20:30 | |
and it is the duty of the young | 20:34 | |
to dream, to probe, and to interpret. | 20:37 | |
We are witnessing here what Walter Brueggemann has called | 20:43 | |
a dismantling of the credentialed. | 20:46 | |
It reminds you of the scene just over the altar | 20:51 | |
here in the chapel, a scene that I don't think appears | 20:54 | |
in any other Christian church in that place in the world. | 20:58 | |
Little Jesus standing before the scholars of the temple. | 21:01 | |
Little Jesus standing up to the department of the religion, | 21:05 | |
putting them through their paces. | 21:09 | |
Little Jesus, knowing more than people with PhDs. | 21:11 | |
Little Jesus, playing the role of Little Daniel, | 21:14 | |
speaking truth to power. | 21:18 | |
In the dream, there's this huge tree, | 21:21 | |
and the whole world huddled for protection under the tree. | 21:24 | |
The tree is freestanding, and it's self-sufficient, | 21:28 | |
and it is stable and powerful, it is the pex Babylonia, | 21:32 | |
looking after the whole world through its military might, | 21:36 | |
and the intruding voice says, "Cut it down," | 21:41 | |
and Nebuchadnezzar trembles, and the all-powerful king | 21:47 | |
is confronted with some higher power, | 21:52 | |
some greater thing going on than even Babylonia, | 21:54 | |
God, | 21:59 | |
and it's little Daniel who tells him about it. | 22:01 | |
Nebuchadnezzar is stupid. | 22:05 | |
He can't figure out the dream | 22:08 | |
because he doesn't know any higher reality, | 22:10 | |
he doesn't know any greater power | 22:13 | |
than the one within his own empire. | 22:14 | |
Daniel, young adult, | 22:18 | |
small, exiled Jew, | 22:21 | |
he is the wise one because in the words of the prophets, | 22:24 | |
it is God, | 22:29 | |
and not kings, who rules the world. | 22:31 | |
Little Daniel has a harsh truth to tell the king, | 22:36 | |
words nobody in the court would've dared speak, | 22:39 | |
"It is you, oh king, who shall be cut down." | 22:43 | |
Well, for a year, nothing happens, and | 22:49 | |
the king thinks that maybe that dream that he had | 22:53 | |
was the result of a bad meal followed by a bad night, | 22:55 | |
and who is he to go around listening | 22:59 | |
to this little Jewish freshman? | 23:01 | |
He asked himself, "Wait a minute, is this not Babylon | 23:04 | |
"which I have made for my glory, so I can rule the world?" | 23:09 | |
Everything is in monologue when you're in power, | 23:14 | |
I, me, my, reminds you of a story Jesus told, doesn't it? | 23:17 | |
The rich farmer, successful, settles back into | 23:23 | |
his easy chair and says, "I have big barns, | 23:27 | |
"I have full barns, I can take ease." | 23:32 | |
We would call him a successful, powerful, prudent person. | 23:36 | |
The angel of God calls him | 23:39 | |
"fool, you shall die." | 23:42 | |
The story of Nebuchadnezzar's demise is ruthless and swift. | 23:48 | |
While the words were still in the king's mouth, | 23:54 | |
a voice not bound by the empire, | 23:58 | |
and usual methods of knowledge distribution, | 24:02 | |
a voice intrudes, and he is cut down. | 24:07 | |
It is swift, he is reduced to the level of insanity, | 24:10 | |
of living just like an animal, | 24:14 | |
eating grass, long fingernails. | 24:17 | |
He wanders as a kind of half man, half beast. | 24:19 | |
It's quite a contrast, isn't it, | 24:24 | |
to that once powerful, autonomous king | 24:26 | |
strolling about on his roof, looking at his empire, | 24:29 | |
and it is that moment, | 24:34 | |
that the king gets smart, right there, | 24:37 | |
and the king says, "Praise and extol and honor | 24:41 | |
"the king of Heaven for all of His works of truth, | 24:43 | |
"His ways of justice, He is able to bring low | 24:46 | |
"those who walk in pride." | 24:50 | |
Now, that's quite an epistemological move for a king | 24:56 | |
who earlier thought he was God. | 24:59 | |
It is the knowledge move that is at the heart of the gospel. | 25:03 | |
How is it that Alcoholics Anonymous puts it? | 25:09 | |
"We were powerless over our own lives, | 25:13 | |
"we had to reach out to a power greater than our own." | 25:15 | |
So, it's not just a story about royal debasement. | 25:22 | |
It's a story about the gift of knowledge, | 25:26 | |
the grace to realize we are not God, | 25:29 | |
and I'm sure that little Daniel, at 19, | 25:35 | |
didn't know | 25:38 | |
everything about the intricacies of power politics, | 25:39 | |
about international relations, | 25:43 | |
but he knew one thing, | 25:46 | |
one Jewish Christian thing | 25:48 | |
that made him wiser than anybody, even the king, | 25:52 | |
Daniel knew that God, not nations, rules the world. | 25:55 | |
That all of us, | 25:59 | |
even the most powerful and greatest of us, | 26:01 | |
with chevrons on our sleeves, stands accountable, | 26:04 | |
and I think the story says, if you just know that, | 26:10 | |
you know a great deal. | 26:14 | |
The fear of the Lord | 26:17 | |
is the beginning of wisdom. | 26:20 | |
This is knowledge you cannot get out of the library. | 26:25 | |
You get it here in worship on Sunday. | 26:29 | |
If you will note please, the story ends with Nebuchadnezzar | 26:33 | |
bowed in worship, great royal body bent | 26:37 | |
in worship and praise to almighty God. | 26:42 | |
Worship is what makes you smart. | 26:46 | |
I had this student in my class who, the first day of class, | 26:52 | |
introduced himself as a Christian fundamentalist. | 26:56 | |
"On guard," I said to myself, and yet, | 27:01 | |
he impressed me | 27:06 | |
with a wisdom beyond his years, | 27:09 | |
and I remember when I asked the class to write a paper, | 27:12 | |
"my philosophy of life", | 27:15 | |
I noticed that about 80% of the class said, | 27:17 | |
"I believe in the golden rule." | 27:20 | |
Golden rule, do unto others you would have them do unto you. | 27:22 | |
Everybody believed in the golden rule. | 27:25 | |
I noticed that my young fundamentalist | 27:28 | |
also invoked the golden rule, | 27:30 | |
but here's what he said about the golden rule, | 27:33 | |
"do unto others you'd have them do unto you", | 27:38 | |
that's what you're supposed to do, you do. | 27:40 | |
Here's what he said, | 27:42 | |
"The golden rule, which by the way, | 27:43 | |
"isn't what Jesus called it, | 27:45 | |
"is insufficient for morality. | 27:48 | |
"How could I possibly do to others | 27:53 | |
"what I would like them to do to me? | 27:56 | |
"I'm sinful, | 27:58 | |
"my desires for myself are often warped by | 28:00 | |
"my own self deceit, my self-centeredness. | 28:03 | |
"Often, the things that I want for myself, | 28:07 | |
"I found out belatedly are selfish, ill conceived. | 28:11 | |
"Why should I project my own selfishness on others | 28:15 | |
"as some sort of moral principle? | 28:18 | |
"I don't really know what I want for myself. | 28:21 | |
"My knowledge is limited by my youth, my inexperience, | 28:25 | |
"my sin, | 28:29 | |
"therefore, I've found that I have to ask Jesus | 28:31 | |
"to help me decide what I want in life, | 28:34 | |
"Jesus to teach me what to want. | 28:38 | |
"Only then might I ever be free to do unto others | 28:42 | |
"as they ought to have done unto them." | 28:48 | |
Now, I don't know about you, | 28:55 | |
but I find such wisdom rather amazing in 19 years of life. | 28:56 | |
I believe, here is a wisdom rooted in worship, | 29:03 | |
in the every Sunday acknowledgement of God. | 29:07 | |
I'm sure there's a lot that that freshman does not know, | 29:13 | |
but he knew this, God, not king's rules. | 29:17 | |
Both kings and freshmen are accountable | 29:23 | |
to standards of judgment, not of their own devising. | 29:26 | |
All of this exists, not autonomously or independently, | 29:32 | |
but in dialogue with God's grace. | 29:37 | |
In just a moment, you're gonna come to the Lord's table, | 29:43 | |
and you're going to reach out empty hands, | 29:46 | |
and you're going to stand there, | 29:49 | |
needy and empty, | 29:51 | |
and I tell you, | 29:56 | |
that is the predominant posture of Christian knowing. | 29:58 | |
If you know this, you know much. | 30:04 | |
The fear of the Lord | 30:08 | |
is the beginning of wisdom. | 30:11 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 30:26 |
- | And also with you. | |
- | Let us pray. | 30:30 |
Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might, | 30:40 | |
Heaven and Earth are full of your glory, | 30:46 | |
Hosanna in the highest. | 30:50 | |
Merciful and mighty God, we come before you | 30:55 | |
with hearts full, our songs of praise rise upon | 30:59 | |
the still coolness of the morning, for it is then, | 31:04 | |
before the business of the day sets in, | 31:09 | |
that we remember, you alone are God. | 31:13 | |
Everything in earth and sky and sea praises your name, | 31:20 | |
for all your works are truth, and your ways justice. | 31:26 | |
Holy, holy, holy Lord, teach us to sing joyful praises | 31:34 | |
to you with all the fullness of our being. | 31:39 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 31:45 | |
Almighty God, we so often act as if we do not know | 31:50 | |
that ultimately, you are in charge of our life | 31:55 | |
and this world that we call our own. | 32:01 | |
We deny you all day long, yet in your mercy, | 32:04 | |
you do not deny us. | 32:10 | |
Who are we that you are mindful of us? | 32:14 | |
We give thanks for your desire and your power | 32:18 | |
to bridge the cathom that we create between you and us, | 32:21 | |
and we stand in awe of your act of self giving | 32:26 | |
through your son Jesus Christ, who became one of us | 32:30 | |
that we might be restored as one of yours. | 32:35 | |
As we receive the gift of his body and blood this day, | 32:40 | |
remind us that as we receive Christ, so we receive you, | 32:45 | |
and you receive us, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 32:51 | |
Merciful God, help us to live in the world | 32:59 | |
as people who know that you are God. | 33:03 | |
Move us to live for you rather than self. | 33:06 | |
Help us discern between what is true and false | 33:11 | |
so that we may resist the powers that would conform us | 33:16 | |
to the world's values, and stand fast | 33:19 | |
in your truth and justice. | 33:23 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 33:27 | |
Open our eyes to recognize the suffering around us, | 33:32 | |
and show us the ways that we can respond | 33:37 | |
with our own unique gifts. | 33:39 | |
Empower us to embody acts of mercy toward the hungry, | 33:42 | |
the oppressed, the imprisoned, the naked, | 33:47 | |
and all those you call us to serve. | 33:50 | |
Guide our acts of mercy that they may be pure of heart | 33:54 | |
and reflections of your grace, | 33:58 | |
rather than prideful exhibitions. | 34:00 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 34:04 | |
Lord, we also pray for the leaders in our world | 34:09 | |
that they too may lean that only you are God. | 34:12 | |
Teach them that power is the gift that can be snatched away | 34:16 | |
from those who abuse it in an instant. | 34:21 | |
Remind them that they, like those they rule, | 34:25 | |
are ultimately dependent upon your power and your mercy. | 34:28 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 34:34 | |
We pray a special prayer today for the leaders of Israel | 34:38 | |
and the PLO that they may put aside pride and past hurts | 34:43 | |
to come to a peaceful solution in the Middle East | 34:48 | |
for Israelis and Palestinians. | 34:52 | |
Give them the courage to resist the efforts of those | 34:56 | |
who would destroy the peace process, | 34:58 | |
and help them to look to you to create | 35:01 | |
a higher reality than they have ever imagined. | 35:05 | |
We pray for these and all things in the name | 35:09 | |
of our lord and savior Jesus Christ, believing in the power | 35:12 | |
of your Holy Spirit to accomplish them and more, | 35:16 | |
in the name of Christ, amen. | 35:21 | |
Let us stand as we offer one another | 35:26 | |
signs of God's love and peace. | 35:28 | |
(audience murmuring) | 35:32 | |
Let us offer ourselves and our gifts to the Lord. | 35:56 | |
(organ music) | 36:00 | |
(choir singing hymn) | 37:03 | |
(organ solo) | 40:28 | |
(choir singing hymn) | 41:24 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 41:36 | |
(choir singing hymn) | 41:43 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 41:56 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 42:02 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 42:08 | |
- | Let us join in the prayer of thanksgiving. | 42:21 |
The Lord be with you. | 42:24 | |
- | And also with you. | |
- | Lift up your hearts. | 42:27 |
- | We lift them to the Lord. | |
- | Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. | 42:30 |
Congregation | It is right to give our thanks and praise. | 42:32 |
- | It is right in the good and joyful thing always | 42:35 |
and everywhere to give thanks to you, | 42:38 | |
Father almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth, | 42:39 | |
and so with your people on Earth, | 42:42 | |
and all the company of Heaven, we praise your name | 42:45 | |
and join in their unending hymn. | 42:48 | |
(organ music) | 42:51 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy Lord ♪ | 43:00 | |
♪ God of power and might ♪ | 43:05 | |
♪ Heaven and earth are full of your glory ♪ | 43:09 | |
♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪ | 43:14 | |
♪ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ♪ | 43:19 | |
♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪ | 43:25 | |
- | Holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ, | 43:39 |
by the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, | 43:42 | |
you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery | 43:46 | |
to sin and death, and made with us | 43:50 | |
a new covenant by water and the spirit. | 43:52 | |
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, | 43:55 | |
he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, | 43:58 | |
gave it to his disciples, and said, | 44:01 | |
"Take, eat, this is my body given for you. | 44:04 | |
"Do this in remembrance of me," and when the supper was over | 44:08 | |
he took the cup, gave thanks to you, | 44:12 | |
gave it to his disciples, and said, | 44:14 | |
"Drink from this, all of you. | 44:17 | |
"This is my blood of the new covenant | 44:19 | |
"poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins. | 44:20 | |
"Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." | 44:24 | |
And so, in remembrance of these, your mighty acts | 44:28 | |
in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise | 44:30 | |
and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, | 44:34 | |
in union with Christ offering for us | 44:37 | |
as we proclaim the mystery of faith. | 44:40 | |
(organ music) | 44:43 | |
♪ Christ has died, Christ is risen ♪ | 44:47 | |
♪ Christ will come again ♪ | 44:52 | |
- | Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here | 44:59 |
and on these gifts of bread and wine. | 45:01 | |
Make them be for us, the body and blood of Christ, | 45:03 | |
that we may be for the world a body of Christ | 45:06 | |
redeemed by his blood. | 45:10 | |
By your spirit, make us one with Christ | 45:12 | |
and one with each other, and one in ministry | 45:14 | |
to all the world until Christ comes in final victory | 45:17 | |
and we feast at his heavenly banquet. | 45:20 | |
Through your son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit | 45:22 | |
in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, | 45:25 | |
Almighty Father, now and forever. | 45:28 | |
(organ music) | 45:31 | |
♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪ | 45:36 | |
- | Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 45:49 |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 45:53 | |
on earth as it is in Heaven. | 45:56 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 45:58 | |
as we forgive us our trespassers, | 46:00 | |
we forgive those who trespass against us. | 46:03 | |
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, | 46:06 | |
for thine is the kingdom, the power, | 46:10 | |
and the glory forever, amen. | 46:12 | |
Because there is one loaf, we many, we all become one, | 46:17 | |
for it is one loaf of which we all partake. | 46:20 | |
A cup of blessings which we blessed. | 46:23 | |
Is it not a means of participation in the blood of Christ. | 46:26 | |
Come to the Lord's table. | 46:31 | |
(organ music) | 46:37 | |
(choir singing hymn) | 47:20 | |
(organ solo) | 49:33 | |
(singing in foreign language) | 50:52 | |
(organ music) | 55:47 | |
(choir singing hymn) | 55:55 | |
- | Stand for the prayer. | 59:18 |
Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery | 59:24 | |
in which you've given yourself to us. | 59:27 | |
Granted, we may go into the world in the strength | 59:30 | |
of your Spirit to give ourselves to others, | 59:32 | |
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. | 59:35 | |
(organ music) | 59:40 | |
(choir singing hymn) | 1:00:21 | |
(organ solo) | 1:02:32 | |
- | Peace of God which passes all understanding, | 1:03:45 |
be in your hearts and minds now and always. | 1:03:48 | |
(choir singing hymn) | 1:03:54 |
Item Info
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