Dennis M. Campbell - "Everything Has Its Price" (September 10, 1995)
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| - | Worship with a greeting. | 0:00 |
| Please stand as we join together. | 0:01 | |
| Hear the choices God sets before us, | 0:07 | |
| life and prosperity, or death and adversity. | 0:10 | |
| (congregation speaking) | 0:16 | |
| Listen to the ordinances of our God, | 0:23 | |
| love God and walk in the way God commands. | 0:26 | |
| (congregation speaking) | 0:30 | |
| Happy are those who delight in God's law. | 0:37 | |
| Blessed are all who meditate on God's word. | 0:40 | |
| (congregation speaking) | 0:44 | |
| (organ music) | 0:53 | |
| (congregation singing) | 1:26 | |
| (uplifting organ music) | 4:00 | |
| (choir singing) | 5:31 | |
| Let us pray. | 6:04 | |
| Oh Lord, our God, you are always more ready | 6:08 | |
| to bestow your good gifts, than we are to seek them. | 6:11 | |
| You're always more willing to give, | 6:17 | |
| than we desire or deserve. | 6:20 | |
| Help us so to seek that we may truly find, | 6:24 | |
| so to ask, that we may joyfully receive. | 6:28 | |
| So to knock that the door of your mercy may be open to us. | 6:32 | |
| Through Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen. | 6:38 | |
| You may be seated. | 6:42 | |
| - | Let us pray the payer for Illumination. | 6:53 |
| Congregation | Open our hearts and minds oh God, | 6:57 |
| by the power of your Holy Spirit, | 7:01 | |
| so that as the Lord is readily proclaimed, | 7:04 | |
| we may hear your message with joy this day, Amen. | 7:07 | |
| - | The Old Testament reading is from the book of Jeremiah. | 7:14 |
| Chapter 18, verses 1-11. | 7:17 | |
| "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. | 7:23 | |
| "Come, go down to the potter's house | 7:26 | |
| "and there I will let you hear my words. | 7:30 | |
| "So I went down to the potter's house | 7:33 | |
| "and there he was working at his wheel. | 7:36 | |
| "The vessel he was making of clay | 7:40 | |
| "was spoiled in the potter's hand. | 7:42 | |
| "And he reworked it into another vessel, | 7:45 | |
| "as seemed good to him. | 7:48 | |
| "Then the word of the Lord came to me. | 7:51 | |
| "Can I not do with you, oh house of Israel? | 7:54 | |
| "Just as this potter has done, says the Lord. | 7:58 | |
| "Just like the clay in the potter's hand, | 8:02 | |
| "so are you in my hand, oh house of Israel. | 8:04 | |
| "At one moment, I may declare concerning a nation, | 8:09 | |
| "or a kingdom, that I will pluck up | 8:13 | |
| "and break down and destroy it. | 8:15 | |
| "But if this nation concerning which I have spoken, | 8:18 | |
| "turns from its evil, I will change my mind | 8:22 | |
| "about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. | 8:26 | |
| "And at another moment, I may declare | 8:30 | |
| "concerning a nation, or a kingdom, | 8:33 | |
| "that I will build and plant it. | 8:35 | |
| "But if it does evil in my sight, | 8:38 | |
| "not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind, | 8:41 | |
| "about the good that I had intended to do to it. | 8:45 | |
| "Now therefore, say to the people of Judah, | 8:49 | |
| "and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, | 8:53 | |
| "thus says the Lord, "Look, I am a potter | 8:55 | |
| "shaping all evil against you | 8:59 | |
| "and devising a plan against you. | 9:01 | |
| "Turn now, all of you, from your evil way. | 9:04 | |
| "And amend your ways and your doings." | 9:08 | |
| This is the word of the Lord. | 9:12 | |
| Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 9:14 |
| - | The Psalm appointed for this morning, | 9:24 |
| is Psalm 139, found on page 854 of your hymnal. | 9:26 | |
| We will sing verses 1-6. | 9:30 | |
| Please rise and sing the Psalm on the Glory irresponsively. | 9:32 | |
| (organ music) | 9:36 | |
| ♪ Oh Lord you have searched me ♪ | 9:42 | |
| ♪ And known me ♪ | 9:46 | |
| (choir singing) | 9:50 | |
| ♪ You search on my path and my lying down ♪ | 10:03 | |
| ♪ And you're acquainted with all my ways ♪ | 10:08 | |
| (choir singing) | 10:13 | |
| ♪ You pursue me behind and before ♪ | 10:24 | |
| ♪ And lay your hand upon me ♪ | 10:29 | |
| (choir singing) | 10:33 | |
| ♪ Oh glory be to you, Creator ♪ | 10:46 | |
| ♪ And to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪ | 10:49 | |
| (choir singing) | 10:52 | |
| ♪ As it was a time began ♪ | 10:59 | |
| (choir singing) | 11:03 | |
| You may be seated. | 11:14 | |
| - | The New Testament lesson | 11:23 |
| is from Paul's letter to Philemon. | 11:25 | |
| Chapter 1, verses 8-21. | 11:27 | |
| "For this reason, though I am bold enough | 11:31 | |
| "in Christ to command you to do your duty, | 11:33 | |
| "yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love. | 11:37 | |
| "And I Paul, do this as an old man. | 11:41 | |
| "And now also, as a prisoner of Christ, Jesus. | 11:45 | |
| "I'm appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, | 11:50 | |
| "who's father I have become, during my imprisonment. | 11:53 | |
| "Formerly, he was useless to you. | 11:58 | |
| "But now he is indeed useful to both you and me. | 12:01 | |
| "I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. | 12:06 | |
| "I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might | 12:12 | |
| "be of service to me, in your place, | 12:15 | |
| "during my imprisonment, for the Gospel. | 12:18 | |
| "But I prefer to do nothing without your consent, | 12:21 | |
| "in order that your good deed, might be voluntary | 12:25 | |
| "and not something forced. | 12:28 | |
| "Perhaps this is the reason | 12:31 | |
| "he was separated from you for awhile. | 12:32 | |
| "So that you might have him back forever. | 12:35 | |
| "No longer as a slave, but much more than a slave. | 12:37 | |
| "A beloved brother, especially to me. | 12:42 | |
| "But how much more to you, both in the flesh | 12:45 | |
| "and in the Lord? | 12:49 | |
| "So if you consider me your partner, | 12:51 | |
| "welcome him as you would welcome me. | 12:53 | |
| "If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, | 12:57 | |
| "charge that to my account. | 13:01 | |
| "I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. | 13:05 | |
| "I will repay it. | 13:09 | |
| "I say nothing about you owing me, even your own self. | 13:12 | |
| "Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you, | 13:16 | |
| "in the Lord. | 13:20 | |
| "Refresh my heart in Christ. | 13:22 | |
| "Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you | 13:25 | |
| "knowing that you will do even more than I say." | 13:29 | |
| This is the word of the Lord. | 13:33 | |
| Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 13:36 |
| (choir singing) | 14:01 | |
| - | The Gospel lesson is from the book of Luke. | 17:26 |
| Chapter 14, verses 25-33. | 17:29 | |
| "Now large crowds were traveling with him | 17:35 | |
| "and he turned and said to them, | 17:38 | |
| "whoever comes to me, and does not hate | 17:40 | |
| "father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters | 17:43 | |
| "yes and even life itself, | 17:49 | |
| "cannot be my disciple. | 17:51 | |
| "Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me, | 17:54 | |
| "cannot be my disciple. | 17:57 | |
| "For which of you intending to build a tower, | 17:59 | |
| "does not first sit down and estimate the cost, | 18:03 | |
| "to see whether he has enough to complete it. | 18:06 | |
| "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, | 18:10 | |
| "and is not able to finish, all who see it, | 18:13 | |
| "will begin to ridicule him, saying, | 18:16 | |
| "This fellow began to build and was not able to finish." | 18:19 | |
| "Or what king going out to wage war, against another king, | 18:24 | |
| "will not sit down first and consider | 18:28 | |
| "whether he is able with 10,000, to oppose the one | 18:31 | |
| "who comes against him, with 20,000. | 18:35 | |
| "If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, | 18:38 | |
| "he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. | 18:42 | |
| "So therefore, none of you can become my disciple, | 18:47 | |
| "if you do not give up all of your possessions." | 18:51 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 19:09 |
| Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, | 19:14 | |
| be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, our strength | 19:18 | |
| and our Redeemer, Amen. | 19:23 | |
| Several years ago, Ross Laboratories | 19:32 | |
| of Columbus, Ohio, held a conference. | 19:37 | |
| It was entitled, "Ethical Dilemmas | 19:41 | |
| "in Current Obstetric and Newborn Care." | 19:45 | |
| One of the participants in that conference, | 19:50 | |
| was an economist. | 19:52 | |
| His name is Richard Hartwick. | 19:54 | |
| He talked about the economic impact | 19:58 | |
| of modern medicine's capacity | 20:01 | |
| to preserve the lives of infants, | 20:04 | |
| who under different circumstances, would die. | 20:06 | |
| This is what he said. | 20:11 | |
| "It is obvious from the data presented | 20:13 | |
| "at this conference, that the expenditures | 20:17 | |
| "of large sums of money, for intensive care, | 20:20 | |
| "could save the lives of many infants, | 20:24 | |
| "who would ordinarily die without such care. | 20:28 | |
| "However, some of these infants will be | 20:33 | |
| "mentally and/or physically handicapped. | 20:35 | |
| "The care which a society must then provide | 20:39 | |
| "for those that are handicapped, | 20:42 | |
| "forces substantial costs on that society. | 20:45 | |
| "Over and above the costs for intensive care. | 20:50 | |
| "These additional costs, may exceed the benefits | 20:54 | |
| "of saving the infants' lives, in the first place." | 20:59 | |
| Then Hartwick went on to say this. | 21:04 | |
| "While some may find the economist's viewpoint repelling, | 21:07 | |
| "it's virtue, stems from the fact | 21:12 | |
| "that it recognizes that none of other disciplines | 21:16 | |
| "seems to recognize, | 21:20 | |
| everything has its price." | 21:22 | |
| Now in our own great medical center, | 21:28 | |
| here on the Duke campus, ethical decisions | 21:30 | |
| involving priority and cost, are being made everyday. | 21:34 | |
| Choice and decision are painful, | 21:39 | |
| because we cannot have or do everything. | 21:41 | |
| This is true of course, for both individuals | 21:45 | |
| and for societies. | 21:49 | |
| The crisis in healthcare in our society is evidence of this, | 21:51 | |
| as are the endless debates in Congress | 21:56 | |
| about competing claims. | 21:59 | |
| In the course of the past year, | 22:03 | |
| Duke University Medical Center | 22:04 | |
| has had to undertake major readjustments | 22:06 | |
| of personnel and procedures, to cope with the reality | 22:09 | |
| that there are limits to what we can do. | 22:13 | |
| If you saw the front page of this morning's paper, | 22:17 | |
| you might have noticed two articles about this very matter. | 22:20 | |
| In one, it talked about possible increased coordination | 22:25 | |
| of the services of Duke Hospital | 22:29 | |
| and the Durham Regional Hospital. | 22:32 | |
| The story says that what people want | 22:34 | |
| is "quality care at low cost," | 22:38 | |
| and that's an exact quote. | 22:42 | |
| The larger article, was about the Republican proposals | 22:44 | |
| in Congress to cut Medicare. | 22:49 | |
| Higher education is dealing with these realities. | 22:55 | |
| In the face of federal cutbacks in research funding. | 22:59 | |
| Even at Duke University, we cannot do everything. | 23:04 | |
| Limited resources make hard choices necessary. | 23:09 | |
| So the economist says, "Everything has its price." | 23:13 | |
| But I want to dispute Hartwick's claim | 23:20 | |
| that it is only economics that teaches us this lesson. | 23:23 | |
| The Bible and Christian faith recognize | 23:28 | |
| that everything has its price, | 23:31 | |
| long before anyone in the world | 23:33 | |
| had even heard of the modern discipline | 23:36 | |
| now called economics. | 23:39 | |
| Christians have always known that choices are necessary | 23:42 | |
| and priorities must be set. | 23:46 | |
| You can't read the New Testament | 23:50 | |
| without recognizing that Jesus continually | 23:52 | |
| emphasized the inevitability of hard choices. | 23:56 | |
| Hard choices require the careful establishment of cost. | 23:59 | |
| Everything has its price. | 24:04 | |
| In our Gospel lesson read so well by Jennifer this morning, | 24:08 | |
| we find Jesus surrounded by a crowd of people. | 24:11 | |
| Now these crowds thought that he was going to be | 24:15 | |
| an earthly messiah. | 24:18 | |
| They expected him to become a king and they wanted to | 24:19 | |
| be on the right side. | 24:22 | |
| Jesus tried to set them straight | 24:25 | |
| and to indicate that being a disciple would be difficult. | 24:27 | |
| It would not be all glory in the company | 24:32 | |
| of an earthly ruler. | 24:35 | |
| It would involve hard choices and high cost. | 24:38 | |
| "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, | 24:43 | |
| "wife and children, brothers and sister, | 24:46 | |
| "yes and even life itself, cannot be my disciple." | 24:49 | |
| Now Jesus does not literally mean | 24:55 | |
| that one must hate ones family. | 24:57 | |
| Matthew in his Gospel, uses the language of comparison, | 25:00 | |
| saying that, "One must not love family more than Jesus." | 25:04 | |
| The point is, that to be a disciple of Jesus, | 25:09 | |
| is to put the love of God ahead of all else. | 25:12 | |
| Discipleship involves setting priorities. | 25:17 | |
| For the Christian, there is only one priority | 25:22 | |
| and that is obedience to God in Jesus Christ. | 25:25 | |
| Jesus further says, "Whoever does not carry the cross | 25:31 | |
| "and follow me, cannot be my disciple. | 25:34 | |
| "For which of you intending to build a tower | 25:38 | |
| "does not first sit down and estimate the cost, | 25:41 | |
| "to see whether he has enough to complete it." | 25:44 | |
| Everything has its price. | 25:48 | |
| The cost of discipleship is high. | 25:51 | |
| The cost is nothing less than placing the love of God | 25:55 | |
| in Christ Jesus first in our lives. | 25:58 | |
| All of us, I think, have known people | 26:05 | |
| who have set out to build a house, or something else | 26:09 | |
| and then part way through, | 26:14 | |
| discovered that they couldn't go on. | 26:16 | |
| In the town I grew up in, we had one famous example of this. | 26:18 | |
| A house that was about half complete | 26:22 | |
| and we used to joke about this fellow | 26:24 | |
| who had started out and then failed to complete it, | 26:27 | |
| because he hadn't counted the cost. | 26:30 | |
| Only a fool would do that. | 26:35 | |
| In life and certainly in Christian faith, | 26:40 | |
| we must set priorities and count cost. | 26:44 | |
| To make this point most dramatically, | 26:50 | |
| Jesus ends this lesson, by a startling statement. | 26:52 | |
| He says, "So therefore, none of you | 26:56 | |
| "can become my disciple, if you do not give up | 26:59 | |
| "all your possessions." | 27:03 | |
| Now this is no easy teaching. | 27:07 | |
| No hard nosed economist, can be tougher than this. | 27:12 | |
| Jesus set the terms and conditions in stark reality. | 27:18 | |
| There is a high cost, to discipleship. | 27:24 | |
| Now there are several great questions | 27:29 | |
| that we could explore this morning | 27:31 | |
| and I want to mention a few of them. | 27:34 | |
| One of them is that of identity. | 27:36 | |
| Jesus is asking us, I think, to face the question, | 27:40 | |
| "Do I really want to be a disciple?" | 27:44 | |
| We're forced to admit that if I do, | 27:48 | |
| there is a price to be paid. | 27:52 | |
| We must ask, "Who am I? | 27:54 | |
| "What is the nature of my identity?" | 27:57 | |
| Our self identity determines our ability | 28:02 | |
| to deal with priorities, | 28:05 | |
| to count costs and make choices. | 28:07 | |
| Who will tell you, who you are? | 28:12 | |
| Will it be your parents? | 28:16 | |
| Your friends? | 28:18 | |
| Your professors? | 28:20 | |
| This university? | 28:22 | |
| Business colleagues? | 28:24 | |
| Academic colleagues from elsewhere? | 28:26 | |
| Television, movies, the media? | 28:30 | |
| We all know people whose ideas and opinions | 28:33 | |
| simply reflect those around them. | 28:37 | |
| Our culture tries to mold us into an identity | 28:41 | |
| to suit its ambitions for economic gain and power. | 28:44 | |
| You who are students will encounter all manner | 28:51 | |
| of opinion and lifestyle in this university. | 28:54 | |
| If you do not have a clear sense of your own identity, | 28:58 | |
| you can lose yourself. | 29:03 | |
| The answer to the question of identity | 29:06 | |
| for the Christian, is that it is God | 29:08 | |
| who tells us who we are. | 29:11 | |
| We are mortal sinners, who stand in need of God's grace. | 29:15 | |
| It is in the church that we discover our authentic identity. | 29:20 | |
| Now there are many competing ideas about truth in our world. | 29:27 | |
| They all involve cost of one sort or another, | 29:31 | |
| never think that there's any easy way. | 29:35 | |
| Christian faith however, is vital and compelling | 29:38 | |
| because the truth of God in Jesus Christ, | 29:42 | |
| frees us for others. | 29:46 | |
| The Christian disciple is freed from undue and paralyzing | 29:49 | |
| self-concern and freed for self-giving. | 29:54 | |
| Christ calls disciples, but there is a cost. | 29:59 | |
| The price is the disciplining of our wills. | 30:03 | |
| The shaping of our identities. | 30:08 | |
| Discipleship is a great adventure. | 30:12 | |
| The Scriptures make that clear. | 30:14 | |
| It's an adventure that gives life value | 30:16 | |
| and meaning and purpose. | 30:20 | |
| This great chapel, stands in the center of Duke University. | 30:23 | |
| To remind us that from the beginning to end, | 30:27 | |
| human life is finally explained, only in God's terms. | 30:31 | |
| Let us recognize that it is God who tells us who we are. | 30:39 | |
| Our identity comes from God, nowhere else. | 30:44 | |
| Now for those of us in this university community, | 30:50 | |
| the questions Jesus, the economist, puts before us, | 30:54 | |
| force us in turn, to ask a second great question. | 30:58 | |
| Why are we here in this university? | 31:03 | |
| And what is this education for? | 31:06 | |
| Is a Duke education to prepare you for making a living, | 31:10 | |
| or for living a life? | 31:14 | |
| I hope that it is the latter | 31:18 | |
| and I hope that you will remember | 31:20 | |
| that you are living a life, | 31:21 | |
| even while you are in this university. | 31:23 | |
| Duke is an island of pleasure and privilege | 31:27 | |
| in a world of deprivation. | 31:32 | |
| If we don't see and hear, then we all have failed. | 31:35 | |
| In the past year, we at Duke, have spent far too much time | 31:40 | |
| worrying about our own living, eating, working | 31:44 | |
| and partying arrangements and far too little time, | 31:49 | |
| worrying about how this community might help alleviate | 31:53 | |
| the extraordinary needs of Durham, | 31:57 | |
| of the children of the world, or of those whose lives | 32:01 | |
| are characterized by unrelieved poverty. | 32:06 | |
| Christian faith compels us to give attention | 32:11 | |
| to great ideas and great service. | 32:15 | |
| The Gospel disciplines us and makes us set priorities | 32:20 | |
| and count costs. | 32:25 | |
| Your education, our education, isn't worth anything, | 32:28 | |
| if it is isolated from the realities of the world. | 32:33 | |
| There are many, many groups of students and faculty | 32:38 | |
| within this university, deeply involved in service | 32:42 | |
| to our local community and to the larger community. | 32:46 | |
| And all of us are called to such service. | 32:50 | |
| Our nation is faced today with a growing gap, | 32:54 | |
| between an educated, wealthy and powerful elite | 32:57 | |
| and an uneducated, poor and dependent group of persons. | 33:02 | |
| Perhaps at no time in our nation's history, | 33:08 | |
| has this problem been so acute | 33:11 | |
| and we don't seem to understand that the price | 33:14 | |
| will be very high. | 33:18 | |
| This weekend, this Christian coalition so called, | 33:20 | |
| has been meeting in Washington. | 33:23 | |
| I've listened to some of what they have to say. | 33:26 | |
| And they don't seem to understand that this political agenda | 33:29 | |
| is in large measure governed by economic interests. | 33:34 | |
| Reminded me of Bishop William Lawrence, | 33:40 | |
| who was the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts | 33:44 | |
| at the beginning of this century, when it might be argued, | 33:48 | |
| we came close to being in this kind of gap situation, | 33:52 | |
| that I've been talking about. | 33:56 | |
| Bishop Lawrence said this in 1901. | 33:58 | |
| "Now we are in a position to affirm | 34:03 | |
| "that neither history, experience, nor the Bible, | 34:06 | |
| "necessarily sustains the common distrust | 34:09 | |
| "of the affect of material wealth on morality. | 34:12 | |
| "Godliness," he said, "is in league with riches." | 34:16 | |
| Everything has its price. | 34:26 | |
| In God's economy, we in universities, | 34:31 | |
| corporations and churches, | 34:35 | |
| cannot simply serve ourselves, | 34:38 | |
| without ultimately paying a high price. | 34:41 | |
| Edward Pusey, a 19th century Oxford professor, | 34:45 | |
| said, "Acute and subtle intellect, | 34:50 | |
| "if undisciplined, are destructive, | 34:53 | |
| "both to themselves and to the body politic, | 34:57 | |
| "in proportion to their very powers." | 35:00 | |
| All that means is, you can be very smart | 35:05 | |
| and also, very bad. | 35:10 | |
| A third question, this consideration of the cost | 35:16 | |
| of discipleship places before us is, | 35:20 | |
| can any of us pay the price? | 35:23 | |
| Is it realistic to think that you or I can be a disciple? | 35:28 | |
| I mean, this is potent stuff, Jesus is putting before us. | 35:33 | |
| Is it realistic to think that you or I | 35:38 | |
| can fulfill this expectation? | 35:40 | |
| We can I think, come to terms with our identity | 35:45 | |
| and I think we can recognize, that who we are | 35:49 | |
| is a gift from God. | 35:53 | |
| I think we can use our education, our gifts | 35:56 | |
| and our abilities for service and we can perhaps, | 35:59 | |
| shape our lives for giving, rather than for greed. | 36:04 | |
| But Jesus ratchets the price up higher. | 36:11 | |
| He says, "None of you can become my disciple, | 36:14 | |
| "if you do not give up all your possessions." | 36:17 | |
| I think it would be absurd and dishonest of me | 36:25 | |
| to suggest in this magnificent chapel this morning, | 36:28 | |
| that this is a realistic option. | 36:32 | |
| None of us, I think, can give up all our possessions. | 36:35 | |
| What then are we to do? | 36:41 | |
| Despair, ignore the teaching? | 36:43 | |
| Or, like biblical interpreters have done for centuries, | 36:46 | |
| look for another passage of Scripture, | 36:50 | |
| to balance the demand. | 36:53 | |
| In fact, it's at this point that we see | 36:57 | |
| that part of what Jesus is trying to teach us, | 36:59 | |
| is that even discipleship itself, is a gift from God. | 37:02 | |
| By setting the price so impossibly high, | 37:09 | |
| Jesus brings us up short, all of us. | 37:12 | |
| We can't pay this price. | 37:15 | |
| And that is just the point. | 37:17 | |
| We need to see that God has already paid the price, | 37:20 | |
| for you and for me. | 37:26 | |
| Our own efforts, our own intelligence, our own knowledge, | 37:29 | |
| our own art, our clever analyses. | 37:33 | |
| All of these are ultimately for nothing, | 37:36 | |
| apart from God. | 37:39 | |
| None of us can do enough to merit salvation. | 37:41 | |
| We literally cannot do all that Jesus demands. | 37:45 | |
| The cost is too great. | 37:49 | |
| I think that is exactly why Jesus demands so much. | 37:52 | |
| We are left hopeless, if we rely on ourselves. | 37:57 | |
| This is the insight missing from economics. | 38:04 | |
| This is the insight missing from politics. | 38:08 | |
| This is the insight missing from self help books. | 38:12 | |
| What is missing from these options, is God. | 38:18 | |
| They all propose that human beings can get things right, | 38:25 | |
| if they only will. | 38:29 | |
| The startling thing the Christian knows, | 38:32 | |
| is that that is simply untrue. | 38:35 | |
| It is not true that human beings can get things right. | 38:38 | |
| Christian faith recognizes that we will not | 38:46 | |
| and we will not because first of all, we are sinners | 38:51 | |
| and we are therefore apart from what God intends | 38:57 | |
| and apart from God, we can do nothing. | 39:03 | |
| On our own, Christian discipleship itself is impossible. | 39:08 | |
| The price is too great. | 39:13 | |
| We can't pay it. | 39:15 | |
| But, there's good news. | 39:19 | |
| And that good news is, | 39:21 | |
| that discipleship is an impossible possibility, | 39:23 | |
| because of God's grace unto us. | 39:28 | |
| This morning's Gospel passage, actually is finished by Luke, | 39:32 | |
| a couple of chapters later, when Jesus says, | 39:36 | |
| "What is impossible for mortals, | 39:40 | |
| is possible for God." | 39:43 | |
| And that's the good news. | 39:46 | |
| If you are daunted by the high demands of Christ, | 39:47 | |
| remember that you are not left to fulfill them alone. | 39:52 | |
| He who calls you to the steep road, will walk with you, | 39:59 | |
| every step of the way and will be there at the end, | 40:04 | |
| to meet you. | 40:09 | |
| This is the great, good news of the Gospel. | 40:12 | |
| What is impossible for mortals, is possible for God. | 40:16 | |
| In the end, it is God's grace that will prevail | 40:22 | |
| and therefore, we who are human can invest ourselves fully | 40:25 | |
| in the needs of the world, without despair | 40:29 | |
| and without the frustration that comes from recognizing | 40:34 | |
| that the cost is too great | 40:38 | |
| and without the arrogance that comes from | 40:40 | |
| the assumption that we can control | 40:43 | |
| and shape the future of the world. | 40:46 | |
| I began by quoting an economist, talking about | 40:51 | |
| the issues of cost benefit analysis, | 40:54 | |
| of potentially handicapped children. | 40:57 | |
| Now I hope you see, that economics is not in fact, | 41:00 | |
| so radical in asking us to face hard choices. | 41:05 | |
| You want hard choices? | 41:10 | |
| Christian faith can give you hard choices. | 41:13 | |
| Hard choices are not the problem. | 41:19 | |
| The problem, is what we value. | 41:23 | |
| In a strict cost accounting analysis, | 41:28 | |
| handicapped children might seem too costly. | 41:30 | |
| But what I've tried to suggest to you this morning, | 41:35 | |
| is this that the Gospel invites us | 41:38 | |
| to see a far more radical truth. | 41:39 | |
| The values and assumptions that characterize | 41:43 | |
| so much of secular human thought and action, | 41:46 | |
| are turned upside down in God's economics. | 41:50 | |
| Everything has its price, but the terms and conditions | 41:56 | |
| are not those of our modern market economy. | 42:00 | |
| Ultimately, the terms and conditions are those of God. | 42:05 | |
| Handicapped children, persons who do not have | 42:12 | |
| our sharp mental abilities. | 42:16 | |
| Persons who are weak and powerless. | 42:20 | |
| Persons who are poor and without economic power. | 42:23 | |
| Persons who give their lives to service. | 42:28 | |
| Ironically, it is these, who point the way | 42:31 | |
| to God's truth, | 42:36 | |
| which is the truth of all creation. | 42:38 | |
| We are called to understand that everything | 42:43 | |
| has its price and to ask hard questions. | 42:45 | |
| Who am I? | 42:49 | |
| Where do I get my identity? | 42:51 | |
| What is my education for? | 42:54 | |
| In what ways am I called to service in this world, | 42:57 | |
| that has such desperate needs? | 43:02 | |
| Can I discipline my will with God's help, | 43:05 | |
| to set limits on my demands, so that others can participate | 43:10 | |
| in this world's goods and services? | 43:15 | |
| Do I really know that in the end, | 43:20 | |
| only God's truth will prevail? | 43:24 | |
| Can I see that God's economics, turns things upside down? | 43:29 | |
| Certainly, everything has its price. | 43:37 | |
| What we need to be sure of, is that what we choose, | 43:42 | |
| is really worth it. | 43:48 | |
| Amen. | 43:51 | |
| (organ music) | 43:57 | |
| (congregation singing) | 44:43 | |
| - | You may be seated. | 47:52 |
| The Lord be with you. | 47:58 | |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 48:00 |
| - | Let us pray. | 48:02 |
| Oh Lord you have searched us and known us, | 48:06 | |
| yet you still call us to be your own. | 48:09 | |
| From the beginning of life until now, | 48:12 | |
| you have surrounded us with your love | 48:15 | |
| and sustained us day by day. | 48:17 | |
| You have paid a great price on our behalf. | 48:21 | |
| A price that we can never merit or repay. | 48:24 | |
| Hear now your people, who come to offer thanksgivings | 48:29 | |
| to your holy and wonderful name. | 48:32 | |
| Lord, in your mercy, | 48:36 | |
| Congregation | hear our prayer. | 48:37 |
| - | How easily do we come to you | 48:40 |
| for words of comfort and enlightenment? | 48:42 | |
| We quickly ask for your healing of our wounds. | 48:45 | |
| We accept it when you give us what we want, | 48:49 | |
| but we do not take up the fullness of discipleship, | 48:52 | |
| when we realize how much it costs. | 48:55 | |
| For trying to pick and choose from your bounty, | 48:58 | |
| for the selfishness that denies commitment, | 49:02 | |
| for our sin of rejecting you, forgive us, good Lord. | 49:05 | |
| Shape and form us into the image for which we were made, | 49:11 | |
| that we might give you delight. | 49:15 | |
| Lord, in your mercy, | 49:18 | |
| Congregation | hear our prayer. | 49:20 |
| - | Teach us to count the cost of following you | 49:23 |
| and so arrange our priorities that we will be able | 49:26 | |
| to serve you above all else. | 49:29 | |
| Discipline our wills and shape our identities, | 49:31 | |
| so that we might rightly choose among the many choices | 49:35 | |
| and paths offered to us. | 49:39 | |
| Free us, for service to your great purposes. | 49:42 | |
| Lord, in your mercy, | 49:46 | |
| Congregation | hear our prayer. | 49:48 |
| - | The Holy Spirit has enabled your people | 49:50 |
| throughout the ages, to share the faith | 49:53 | |
| and bring encouragement to those who suffer. | 49:55 | |
| Having been made free by your grace, | 49:59 | |
| may the same Spirit give us strength to proclaim | 50:01 | |
| the good news of salvation and grace | 50:04 | |
| to all those who do not yet know you. | 50:07 | |
| Lord, in your mercy, | 50:10 | |
| Congregation | hear our prayer. | 50:12 |
| - | You are a God of mercy and compassion | 50:15 |
| and you call us to be a people who use our freedom and power | 50:18 | |
| in ways that are merciful and compassionate. | 50:22 | |
| Indeed, you've called us to be brother and sister | 50:26 | |
| to one another. | 50:29 | |
| Show us those in our midst, whom we can help, | 50:31 | |
| that they might experience your love through our love. | 50:35 | |
| Lord, in your mercy, | 50:39 | |
| Congregation | hear our prayer. | 50:41 |
| - | For all the freedom which is ours, | 50:44 |
| we know that there are things we cannot change alone. | 50:46 | |
| Help us to do our part and yet also trust you | 50:50 | |
| to accomplish what we cannot do for us and for others. | 50:54 | |
| Receive into your care those whom we name in our hearts. | 50:59 | |
| Extend your hand of healing to the sick, | 51:07 | |
| your peace to those who are troubled | 51:10 | |
| and your strength to those who are weak. | 51:13 | |
| Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 51:16 | |
| Finally, give us quiet minds and hearts | 51:21 | |
| to accept your will and to follow | 51:24 | |
| Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen. | 51:27 | |
| Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, | 51:34 | |
| for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. | 51:38 | |
| We bring our gifts, because God has enabled our sharing | 51:41 | |
| and calls us to reach out with good news for others. | 51:44 | |
| Therefore, we offer ourselves, our service | 51:48 | |
| and our possessions, in grateful response | 51:52 | |
| to God's love, in Jesus Christ. | 51:55 | |
| (organ music) | 51:59 | |
| (clarinet music) | 52:25 | |
| (choir singing) | 52:54 | |
| (clarinet music) | 57:20 | |
| (choir singing) | 57:32 | |
| (organ music) | 59:49 | |
| ♪ Praise God from who all blessings flow ♪ | 1:00:20 | |
| ♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪ | 1:00:27 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪ | 1:00:33 | |
| ♪ Praise God above ye heavenly host ♪ | 1:00:41 | |
| ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:00:48 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah, ♪ | 1:00:54 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah, ♪ | 1:01:01 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:01:08 | |
| Oh God, most merciful and gracious. | 1:01:20 | |
| Of whose bounty we have all received. | 1:01:24 | |
| Accept this offering of your people. | 1:01:27 | |
| Remember in your love, those who have brought it | 1:01:30 | |
| and those for whom it is given. | 1:01:32 | |
| So follow it with your blessings, | 1:01:35 | |
| that it may promote peace and goodwill | 1:01:37 | |
| among all peoples and advance the kingdom of our Lord | 1:01:39 | |
| and Savior, Jesus Christ, who taught us | 1:01:43 | |
| to pray together, saying, "Our Father, | 1:01:46 | |
| "who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. | 1:01:49 | |
| "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, | 1:01:53 | |
| "on Earth as it is in Heaven. | 1:01:56 | |
| "Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:01:59 | |
| "and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:02:01 | |
| "as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 1:02:04 | |
| "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 1:02:07 | |
| "For Thine is the kingdom and the power | 1:02:12 | |
| "and the glory forever, Amen." | 1:02:15 | |
| (organ music) | 1:02:20 | |
| (choir singing) | 1:02:50 | |
| (organ music) | 1:05:26 | |
| Go in peace, to love God and serve your neighbor, | 1:06:11 | |
| in all that you do. | 1:06:14 | |
| May the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, | 1:06:15 | |
| the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit, | 1:06:17 | |
| be with you and keep you. | 1:06:20 | |
| (choir singing) | 1:06:26 | |
| (organ music) | 1:08:19 |
