William H. Willimon - "Beware! Angels" (December 24, 1995)

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-	Here in Duke University Chapel.	0:00
	We're glad that you're here.	0:04
	I call to your attention	0:05
	the other services to be held this day,	0:06
	this afternoon the children's Christmas service	0:09
	and at 5:30 our annual service of lessons	0:13
	and of carols and communion	0:17
	and tonight at 11 our service of lessons and carols	0:20
	and we invite you to come again to these services.	0:25
	Now let us stand for the call to worship.	0:31
	All people on Earth, praise the lord.	0:36
	(congregation speaking)	0:40
	For unto us a child is born.	0:42
	(congregation speaking)	0:46
	Bow down when the holy one appears.	0:49
	(congregation speaking)	0:52
	("O Come All Ye Faithful")	0:58
	♪ O come all ye faithful ♪	1:52
	♪ Joyful and triumphant ♪	1:58
	♪ O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem ♪	2:03
	♪ Come and behold him ♪	2:13
	♪ Born the king of angels ♪	2:18
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	2:23
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	2:28
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	2:34
	♪ Christ the Lord ♪	2:40
	(congregation singing)	2:47
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	3:18
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	3:23
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	3:28
	♪ Christ the Lord ♪	3:34
	♪ Sing choirs of angels ♪	3:42
	♪ Sing in exultation ♪	3:47
	♪ O sing all ye citizens of heaven above ♪	3:51
	♪ Glory to god, glory in the highest ♪	4:02
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	4:12
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	4:17
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	4:22
	♪ Christ the Lord ♪	4:28
	(congregation singing)	4:35
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	5:05
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	5:10
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	5:15
	♪ Christ the Lord ♪	5:21
	(congregation singing)	5:29
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	6:00
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	6:04
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	6:09
	♪ Christ the Lord ♪	6:14
	♪ Ye lord we greet thee ♪	6:22
	♪ Born this happy morning ♪	6:27
	♪ Jesus to thee be all glory given ♪	6:32
	♪ Word of the father ♪	6:43
	♪ Now in flesh appearing ♪	6:49
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	6:54
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	6:59
	♪ O come let us adore him ♪	7:05
	♪ Christ the Lord ♪	7:11
-	Oh loving God, the light of your love	7:24
	has drawn us to this place	7:28
	as we join your angels in worshiping the Christ child.	7:30
	Let it touch the hearts and minds	7:34
	of those gathered here and all people everywhere	7:36
	with the bright beams of mercy and truth.	7:40
	So direct our steps	7:43
	that we may ever walk in the way	7:46
	you have revealed to us	7:47
	as the shepherds of Bethlehem	7:50
	walked with joy to the manger where he dwelled	7:52
	who reigns in our hearts now and forever	7:56
	Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.	7:59
-	Let us pray together	8:18
	the prayer for illumination.	8:19
Everyone	Open our hearts and minds oh God	8:23
	by the power of your Holy Spirit	8:26
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed	8:29
	we may hear your message with joy this day.	8:32
	Amen.	8:36
-	The old testament reading	8:40
	is taken from the seventh chapter	8:41
	of the book of Isaiah beginning at the 10th verse.	8:44
	Again the lord spoke to Ahaz saying,	8:49
	ask a sign of the Lord your God.	8:52
	Let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven	8:56
	but Ahaz said, I will not ask	9:00
	and I will not put the lord to the test.	9:04
	Then Isaiah said, here then oh house of David,	9:07
	is it too little for you to weary mortals	9:12
	that you weary my God also?	9:14
	Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.	9:18
	Look, the young woman is with child	9:22
	and she'll bear a son and shall name him Emmanuel.	9:25
	He shall eat curds and honey	9:31
	by the time he knows how to refuse the evil	9:32
	and choose the good.	9:35
	For before the child knows how to refuse evil	9:38
	and choose the good,	9:41
	the land before who's two kings you are in dread	9:43
	will be deserted.	9:47
	This is the word of the Lord.	9:50
Congregation	Praise be to God.	9:53
-	Please stand as we join in reading	10:00
	this alter responsively.	10:02
	Give ear oh shepherd of Israel.	10:12
	You who lead Joseph like a flock.	10:15
	You who are enthroned upon the Cherubim shine forth.	10:19
	In the presence of Ephriam and Benjamin and Manessa,	10:24
	stir up your might and come to save us.	10:27
	(congregation speaking)	10:32
	Oh lord God of host, how long will you be angry	10:38
	with your people's prayers?	10:43
	(congregation speaking)	10:46
	You make us the scorn of our neighbors	10:53
	and our enemies laugh among themselves.	10:57
	(congregation speaking)	11:01
	(uplifting choral music)	11:09
	(everyone singing)	11:17
-	The epistle is taken from the first chapter	12:18
	of Paul's letter to the Romans	12:22
	beginning at the first verse.	12:24
	Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,	12:28
	called to be an apostle set apart	12:30
	for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand	12:33
	before his prophets and the holy scriptures	12:37
	the gospel concerning his son	12:39
	who was descended from David according to the flesh	12:43
	and was declared to be son of God	12:46
	with power according to the spirit of holiness	12:48
	by resurrection from the dead.	12:51
	Jesus Christ our lord,	12:54
	through whom we have received grace and apostleship	12:56
	to bring about the obedience of faith	13:00
	among all the gentiles for the sake of his name	13:01
	including yourselves who are called	13:05
	to belong to Jesus Christ.	13:08
	To all God's beloved in Rome	13:11
	who are called to be Saints,	13:13
	grace to you and peace from God our father	13:16
	and the lord, Jesus Christ.	13:19
	This is the word of the lord.	13:22
Congregation	Praise be to God.	13:25
	("Hosannah In The Highest")	13:31
	("Gloria In Excelsis Deo")	17:21
-	Watching the Martha Stewart Christmas show,	18:13
	you know Martha Stewart,	18:19
	that's the one that shows you how	18:21
	with pins and ribbons and styrofoam balls	18:23
	if you begin in July and work everyday	18:28
	you can make your friends beautiful Christmas gifts.	18:33
	The only trouble is her show airs in mid December	18:37
	so this always leads to a lot of holiday depression.	18:41
	Anyway, Martha Stewart was saying	18:47
	as she placed another gold cherub on the tree,	18:50
	angels are big again this Christmas	18:55
	and if you will go to your bookstore	19:03
	and look it seems like there is an outburst	19:05
	of books about angels.	19:08
	It's enough to make you ask,	19:13
	why does the whole world seem so interested in angels?	19:14
	And particularly at this time in our history.	19:18
	Now in Greek the word angel, angelos,	19:24
	means messenger.	19:27
	That's what angels are, they are messengers.	19:29
	Angels are messengers from God	19:32
	that's why artists have always	19:35
	depicted them with wings.	19:37
	Angels, messengers of God	19:41
	but in the current Mercedes Benz TV commercial,	19:44
	angels are these cute, cuddly little	19:47
	hermaphroditic things that fly around	19:50
	and make you fall in love with a car	19:52
	which is a long way from the biblical view of angels.	19:57
	In the current avalanche of books,	20:03
	I was reading an article said	20:05
	that this year and some of last year	20:06
	over 200 books have been published about angels.	20:10
	Angels are depicted in most of these books	20:16
	as God's guardians, cherubs, cute.	20:20
	A guardian angel it is said	20:26
	is assigned to each and every person,	20:28
	to look after that person	20:31
	and keep that person out of harms way.	20:33
	Angels are protecting and they are comforting	20:36
	and they are loving.	20:39
	Mary mother Angelica is big on angels.	20:43
	Mary mother Angelica is a nun in Alabama	20:46
	that owns her own cable TV station	20:50
	and she said that she encountered her guardian angel	20:53
	when she was 11.	20:57
	She was on her way home from school	20:58
	and crossing the street	21:00
	she felt herself with invisible hands	21:02
	just lifted up and put out of the way	21:05
	of a speeding automobile.	21:08
	In fact, I think you'll find out	21:10
	in most of the books about angels,	21:12
	angels today seem to be mostly involved	21:15
	in traffic decisions.	21:18
	I don't know what angels did	21:21
	before the days of interstate highways.	21:23
	Now I bring all this up	21:26
	because this morning's scripture,	21:27
	this is probably not a surprise	21:29
	but this morning's scripture,	21:31
	the gospel deals with angels	21:33
	but I want you to note	21:37
	how differently the gospel depicts angels	21:40
	from the way most contemporary Americans	21:45
	are thinking about angels.	21:48
	From the gospel of Matthew,	21:52
	now the birth of the Messiah took place this way	21:56
	when his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph	22:00
	but before they lived together	22:03
	she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.	22:05
	Her husband Joseph being a righteous man	22:09
	and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace	22:11
	planned to dismiss her quietly	22:14
	but just when he had resolved to do this	22:17
	an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph	22:20
	in a dream and said,	22:24
	Joseph son of David,	22:25
	do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,	22:28
	for the child conceived in her	22:31
	is from the Holy Spirit.	22:32
	She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus.	22:34
	For he will save his people from their sins.	22:39
	All of this took place	22:43
	to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord	22:44
	through the prophet.	22:47
	Look, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son	22:49
	and they shall name him Emmanuel	22:54
	which means God with us.	22:57
	When Joseph awoke from sleep	23:02
	he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him	23:04
	and he took her as his wife	23:08
	but he had no marital relations with her	23:11
	until she'd born a son	23:13
	and they named him Jesus.	23:16
	This is the word of the Lord.	23:20
	Well what would be your reaction	23:26
	if you were a man,	23:29
	engaged to be married,	23:34
	you were poor, you were living in	23:35
	a depressed, oppressed part of the world	23:37
	and you were greeted one night	23:42
	by a man dressed in white	23:44
	and you were told that your fiance	23:47
	was going to have a baby?	23:49
	The man who greeted you dressed in white	23:52
	was not a gynecologist, he was an angel	23:53
	and Matthew says, the first thing the angel said is	23:58
	Joseph, don't be afraid	24:02
	which I know is a polite Bible way of saying,	24:05
	Joseph was scared half out of his wits.	24:07
	Sometimes children's Christmas pageants	24:12
	get more to the heart of this.	24:16
	A friend of mine was telling me	24:20
	his little boy was in a Christmas pageant	24:21
	and he was to play Joseph	24:23
	and the nine year old Joseph	24:27
	leads Mary to the inn,	24:30
	the innkeeper opens the door,	24:32
	he asks for a room,	24:34
	the nine year old innkeeper said,	24:35
	look I don't have a room.	24:37
	Joseph pleads and says,	24:38
	my wife is going to have a baby,	24:40
	I've got to have a room	24:41
	and the innkeeper says,	24:43
	hey look that's not my fault	24:45
	and then Joseph says, hey it's not my fault either.	24:46
	(congregation laughing)	24:49
	And in a way that sort of gets to it.	24:55
	This thing was disrupting.	24:59
	It was unnerving and that is,	25:00
	that's the way it is generally in the Bible	25:03
	with these angelic visitations.	25:06
	They are a frightening sign that something weird,	25:08
	strange, new is about to happen.	25:11
	God is stepping into the course of history.	25:16
	God is moving to change the way things are moving	25:19
	and guess who is going to get to help God do that?	25:23
	Ask the angel.	25:27
	Poor Joseph.	25:31
	He probably thought of his engagement	25:33
	as something personal, something private	25:34
	between him and Mary.	25:38
	Just something between them	25:40
	but then here comes this angel	25:42
	who tells Mary, then Joseph	25:46
	that they are going to be used by God	25:50
	to bless the whole world.	25:54
	The whole nation will be lifted from its sin through them	25:58
	and that was frightening,	26:06
	that was unnerving.	26:08
	So you see, according to the Bible	26:10
	about the last person you should hope to meet in December	26:12
	is an angel.	26:16
	Thus says Lawrence Cunningham,	26:18
	the chair of Notre Dame's department of theology.	26:19
	Cunningham says, if you don't read your Bible carefully	26:23
	angels seem to be friendly folk	26:27
	because we know so little about angels,	26:32
	because angels are off there	26:35
	somewhere vaguely in the realm of the spirit,	26:37
	contemporary devotees of angels	26:40
	paint any face on them they please.	26:42
	If you look at the faces of angels on Christmas cards	26:46
	they're always smiling	26:50
	and you wonder why now	26:55
	we get so into this.	26:57
	Amid the perplexity and confusion of modern life	26:59
	maybe we reach out to some totally comforting presence	27:06
	of a completely powerful, a completely loving,	27:10
	and an utterly undemanding guardian	27:14
	who is always on our side.	27:17
	Always ready to comfort,	27:19
	always reluctant to judge, reprimand, or demand.	27:22
	Maybe that's why.	27:28
	Writer Trudy Bush says,	27:31
	the popularity of angels at this time of year	27:34
	suggests that they, quote: "function as a kind of	27:37
	Santa Claus for grownups."	27:41
	We wonder.	27:46
	As celebrating Christmas as nothing more	27:48
	than an orgy of buying and selling	27:51
	with no religious significance,	27:55
	has this left secular Americans feeling empty?	27:57
	And so maybe angels fill that void	28:02
	becoming a sentimental, saccharine substitute	28:07
	for real deep, abiding faith in Christ.	28:09
	I wonder if we like angels	28:16
	because unlike that baby in the manger in Bethlehem	28:19
	we can make angels mean fairly much	28:23
	anything we want.	28:26
	Professor Cunningham says,	28:30
	to move angels center stage	28:32
	in a way that they're not in the Bible	28:36
	is to trivialize Christianity	28:39
	and if you look at a lot of the recent talk about angels	28:42
	it bears that out.	28:45
	For most of these writers	28:47
	only guardian angels exist	28:49
	and these guardians often perform	28:52
	remarkably trivial tasks	28:54
	such as helping a tired mother to make the bed	28:56
	of a child at the end of the day and	28:59
	rarely does anybody get a troubling,	29:04
	disrupting message from these angels.	29:07
	Trudy Bush says, only occasionally	29:12
	do these angelic encounters transform lives	29:16
	or turn people out of themselves into service	29:20
	to anybody else.	29:24
	We have angels in our own image	29:27
	and so this Sunday	29:33
	as we stand on the eve of Christmas	29:35
	and the celebration of Christ's nativity in Bethlehem	29:37
	the feast of the incarnation,	29:40
	in a time where there's much infatuation with angels,	29:44
	I want you to notice just two things	29:47
	about Joseph's encounter with the angel.	29:51
	Just two things.	29:54
	First, Joseph, good son of Israel that he was	29:55
	he knew enough about the living true God of Israel	30:01
	to know that any message you get from God	30:04
	is something about which to be frightened.	30:10
	The angel didn't come to tell Joseph	30:14
	that he was going to be protected	30:16
	while crossing the street	30:18
	or that his wedding and the reception	30:20
	would go off without a hitch.	30:22
	The angel came to tell him	30:25
	that his fiance had been selected by God	30:26
	to change the whole course of the world	30:29
	cause the holy God of Israel	30:34
	doesn't indulge in trifles.	30:35
	I think if you'll check out angels in scripture,	30:40
	I think you'll find, first not only that	30:44
	they don't appear that often,	30:47
	but also that when they appear	30:49
	it's always a signal.	30:51
	It's a sign that everything is about to shift direction	30:53
	and something big, weird, scary is about to happen.	30:58
	And the second point,	31:06
	if you note in Joseph's story,	31:09
	note how his encounter with the angel ends.	31:13
	Joseph doesn't say,	31:19
	well now I know that I'm going to be protected	31:20
	and comforted for the rest of my life	31:24
	by my personal guardian angel.	31:26
	No more need for seat belts.	31:28
	No, Joseph, what Joseph did was to obey.	31:30
	The angel said to Joseph,	31:37
	don't have your plans,	31:41
	don't worry about the calendar the way you planned things,	31:43
	God's got other plans.	31:46
	God's gonna shift your life	31:48
	from where you thought it was going.	31:49
	You just keep quiet and obey	31:52
	and that's what Joseph did.	31:54
	He just quietly obeyed.	31:55
	Now in the Gospel of Luke	31:58
	when Mary is greeted by a similar angel,	32:00
	Mary says, in effect,	32:03
	I'm not sure where all this is headed,	32:07
	I don't know what all this means	32:09
	but here I am anyway.	32:11
	Ready to be used by God for the work of God	32:15
	which is a wonderful, faithful thing	32:20
	for Mary to say which I guess is why the church	32:22
	has always regarded Mary as the very first of the disciples	32:24
	because in the gospel Mary is the first one	32:29
	to get called by God to be a disciple	32:32
	and she says yes	32:35
	and I suppose that makes Joseph the second of the disciples	32:39
	because he also got a call from God	32:43
	but after this angel got through with Joseph,	32:47
	Joseph didn't sing like Mary,	32:50
	he didn't say anything.	32:52
	He just kept quiet and obeyed.	32:53
	Angels are messengers of God	33:00
	and the message is usually a call	33:04
	to some risky service rather than	33:07
	merely comfort. 'Cause our God comes to us	33:11
	not wearing some blank face	33:14
	upon which we can paint any sweet expression	33:16
	that suits our needs.	33:19
	Our God comes bearing a name,	33:22
	Jesus, and wearing a face	33:25
	which is not only the face of compassion	33:30
	but also the face of vocation.	33:32
	Follow me, he says.	33:37
	Follow me.	33:40
	I've never seen an angel	33:44
	but I have seen their results.	33:47
	Some of you heard me tell the story,	33:52
	the time we were having a Bible study,	33:53
	morning Bible study here	33:55
	and we were studying the book of Acts	33:57
	and you know early in the book of Acts	33:59
	there as an occasional angel appears	34:01
	and Sylvia Arnett asked a question.	34:05
	Sylvia's from Philadelphia so she likes the world	34:08
	fairly straight and Sylvia said,	34:10
	look all these angels, what are we supposed to do with this?	34:13
	I've never seen an angel,	34:15
	nobody I know has seen an angel,	34:16
	what are we supposed to do with these angels?	34:18
	And I got defensive and I said Sylvia,	34:20
	this is kind of a primitive biblical way	34:22
	of conveying a deeper spiritual truth	34:24
	and we left it at that.	34:27
	I left this Bible study, went to my office,	34:30
	there was a sophomore waiting on me	34:33
	and she said, I'm confused.	34:36
	I thought I knew what I was doing with my life	34:38
	but lately it's just like this voice.	34:41
	It's just like this hammering in my head	34:43
	telling me that I'm going in the wrong direction	34:45
	and I need to change my major	34:48
	and I need to start thinking about other people	34:50
	and I need to think about not what I'm gonna get	34:51
	from the future but what I'm going to give to the future	34:55
	and I'm just, I'm confused.	34:57
	And we talked about that a good while.	35:00
	Later that afternoon a graduate student showed up	35:03
	and he told me, said I'm depressed,	35:06
	I'm miserable, I can't sleep,	35:08
	I'm thinking about dropping out of graduate school,	35:10
	remember me undergraduate, went down with Wesley Foundation	35:13
	on the mission trip to Honduras,	35:19
	I never gotten that out of my mind	35:21
	and I just think maybe God has given me certain gifts	35:24
	and I'm expected to use them some other way.	35:28
	I never thought about being responsible	35:30
	to anybody but myself but now	35:32
	I just feel like it's like	35:35
	somebody's asking me,	35:37
	what are you doing with the gifts that you got?	35:38
	What are you going to do for the world with those gifts?	35:40
	I finished this conversation just in time	35:45
	and I went over to a fancy restaurant	35:47
	where a search committee I was on was meeting,	35:49
	mostly physicians on the search committee,	35:51
	this waiter shows up, he's taking our order,	35:53
	telling us what the specials are	35:56
	and he looks at me and he says, I bet you're a minister	35:58
	and all these doctors start laughing around the table	36:01
	and everything and I try to get this waiter	36:03
	away from me but every time he kept	36:06
	bringing something back he kept wanting	36:08
	to have this religious discussion with me	36:09
	and I said, look, my meters not running.	36:11
	I'm not involved in this right now	36:14
	and at the end of the evening	36:17
	I'm walking out of the restaurant,	36:18
	I'm out in the parking lot,	36:19
	this waiter comes running for me	36:20
	in the parking lot saying, wait,	36:22
	can you suggest a good seminary	36:24
	for me to go to?	36:26
	I think God wants me to be a minister.	36:28
	I told Sylvia the next day,	36:31
	look the reason you haven't seen an angel	36:33
	in Durham is that they're just real busy right now.	36:37
	(congregation laughing)	36:41
	If you will take a number and be patient	36:44
	I know they will get to you eventually.	36:46
	They're out there disrupting the lives of sophomores	36:49
	and calling waiters into the ministry	36:53
	and stuff like that.	36:55
	I believe in God's messengers	36:59
	because I have seen so many of you	37:04
	get God's messages.	37:07
	So this Christmas if you should encounter an angel,	37:12
	I mean like the ones that scared those shepherds	37:16
	to death working the night shift	37:19
	or like the angel that came	37:20
	and intruded on Joseph one night in a dream,	37:23
	jumping him, changing his life,	37:27
	or like the angel Gabriel who came to Mary	37:29
	telling her that even though	37:34
	the world regarded her as lowly	37:35
	God was gonna use Mary	37:39
	for the salvation of the whole world.	37:42
	I hope that you might be given the grace	37:47
	to respond like Mary.	37:52
	Lord, I don't know why you picked me,	37:56
	I don't know what all this means	37:59
	but here I am ready to be used in your service.	38:03
	Amen.	38:11
	(uplifting organ music)	38:16
	(congregation singing)	38:55
-	You may be seated.	41:22
	The lord be with you.	41:30
Congregation	And also with you.	41:31
-	Let us pray.	41:33
	Oh God, the alpha and the omega	41:38
	you are without beginning or end	41:41
	yet we celebrate that you choose	41:45
	to be born an infant in time.	41:47
	Oh God the almighty,	41:52
	you hold the mountains in the palm of your hand	41:54
	yet you come to us wrapped in swaddling clothes.	41:58
	Oh God the infinite,	42:04
	heaven and Earth cannot contain you	42:06
	yet you rest in the arms of Mary and Joseph.	42:09
	Oh God the eternal word,	42:14
	you are the source of all wisdom	42:17
	yet you sleep in the cattle's manger and cannot speak.	42:20
	Oh God send a band of angels	42:26
	to sing their glorious hymn in our midst	42:28
	that we might truly believe in the miracle	42:32
	of your incarnation.	42:35
	Lord in your mercy,	42:38
	hear our prayer.	42:39
	Oh merciful God,	42:43
	we pray this day for all those	42:45
	who serve as living reminders of your incarnation	42:47
	in our world.	42:51
	For all who give you a face	42:53
	by spreading your love in the world.	42:55
	For all who give you hands	42:58
	by serving their sister and brother.	43:00
	For all who give you a voice	43:03
	by defending the poor and oppressed.	43:05
	For all who give you eyes	43:08
	by seeing the true worth of every man, woman, and child.	43:11
	Lord in your mercy,	43:16
	hear our prayer.	43:18
	Oh giver of life,	43:21
	we pray for those who know little joy	43:23
	in this season of hope.	43:25
	For those who are hungry and afraid,	43:28
	for those who are too poor to give their children gifts,	43:32
	for those who suffer in the bitter cold	43:36
	from lack of shelter,	43:39
	for those who suffer physical, mental,	43:41
	or emotional distress,	43:44
	for those who are imprisoned,	43:47
	for those who have lost loved ones.	43:49
	Lord in your mercy,	43:53
	hear our prayer.	43:56
	Oh prince of peace,	43:58
	grant us your peace.	44:00
	We pray for all those who live in war torn countries,	44:03
	for soldiers who risk their lives to keep the peace	44:08
	and for their families,	44:12
	for leaders of government around the world	44:16
	that they may become peace makers,	44:18
	for all those who suffer because of conflict	44:21
	within their own homes,	44:24
	for all who live in fear of random violence,	44:27
	for children who have never known peace,	44:30
	for those who struggle to find peace	44:34
	within their own hearts.	44:36
	Lord in your mercy,	44:38
	hear our prayer.	44:40
	Wonderful councilor send us your word.	44:43
	Guide those who hearing your song in the heavens	44:47
	truly seek your presence on Earth.	44:50
	Bless those who discover they will receive new life	44:53
	not in places of power and wealth	44:56
	nor even in a humble inn	44:59
	but in a wretched stable.	45:01
	Empower those who after locating the child	45:03
	discover they cannot easily return to their own city.	45:07
	Strengthen the whole church	45:12
	that we may testify to the truth of the word made flesh.	45:14
	Lord in your mercy,	45:19
	hear our prayer.	45:21
	All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ	45:24
	who came to Earth to be like us	45:27
	that we might be like him.	45:29
	God with us and savior of all.	45:31
	Amen.	45:35
	The word became flesh not to endure silence	45:39
	but to testify to truth.	45:43
	Not to condemn creation	45:46
	but to transform it.	45:47
	In response to God's great gift	45:49
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves	45:51
	with joy and thanksgiving	45:53
	that we too may testify to the truth of God's word.	45:55
	("Onward Christian Soldiers")	46:11
	("God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen")	47:18
	("Noel")	49:29
	(uplifting organ music)	52:54
	(congregation singing)	53:17
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	53:31
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	53:34
	(congregation singing)	53:39
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	53:53
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	53:56
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	54:00
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	54:03
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	54:07
	Gracious God, we thank you that once again	54:20
	we are able to experience the awe and the wonder	54:23
	of the Christmas story.	54:27
	We welcome the holy child into our midst,	54:29
	blessed by the outpouring of your love for us.	54:32
	Teach us to give that love away	54:35
	as we learn from you that all love is to be given.	54:38
	May all that we dedicate to you now	54:42
	be used to express the riches of your grace	54:44
	for the good of your kingdom here on Earth.	54:47
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ,	54:50
	our lord and savior	54:52
	who taught us to pray with confidence.	54:54
Everyone	Our father who art in heaven	54:57
	hallowed be thy name	54:59
	thy kingdom come	55:01
	thy will be done	55:03
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	55:04
	Give us this day our daily bread	55:07
	and forgive us our trespasses	55:09
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	55:11
	and lead us not into temptation	55:15
	but deliver us from evil.	55:17
	For thine is the kingdom, the power,	55:19
	and the glory forever.	55:22
	Amen.	55:24
	("Hark! The Herald Angels Sing")	55:29
-	The grace of our lord and savior Jesus Christ,	58:58
	Emmanuel, God with us be with you now and always.	59:00
	Amen.	59:06
	(uplifting organ music)	59:10

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Beware! Angels" (December 24, 1995)

Description:

Sermon start time: 18:13. Sermon end time: 38:12.
The preacher critiques contemporary angelology for its human-centric nature, which makes angels into the guardian servants of human beings. He argues that angels are messengers of God who bring God’s words and commands to God’s people for the fulfillment of God’s plan, not our own. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Angels are messengers of God, and the message is usually call to some risky service rather than merely comfort. ‘Cause our god comes to us not wearing some blank face upon which we can paint any sweet expression that suits our needs. Our God comes bearing a name, Jesus, and wearing a face which is not only the face of compassion but also the face of vocation.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4571838x

Date:

December 24, 1995

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Advent

Biblical Book:

Matthew

Chapter and Verse:

Matthew 1:18-25

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0457
ref9678_wta
uachapelsermaud
duke:321457
dcrmv001434
ark:/87924/r4571838x
e885b946-79ed-42c3-b557-b5ceac9de5ea

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

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 - "Beware! Angels" (December 24, 1995)

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Item Info

1. William H. Willimon - "Beware! Angels" (December 24, 1995)

2. William H. Willimon - "Upside Down Christmas" Christmas Eve Service of Carols and Holy Communion (December 24, 1995)

Duke University Archives

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