(praise and worship music) 

Preacher: Let us walk and run to God. Our unison prayer of confession. Let us pray. Oh, we tell no God and most merciful father, we confess and acknowledge here before the divine majesty that we are miserable sinners that in us there is no goodness. But since we are displeased with ourselves, from the sin that we have committed against thee, and do sincerely repent of the same, we most humbly beseech thee for Jesus Christ sake to show thy mercy upon us, to forgive us all our sins and to increase thy holy spirit in us, help us to bring forth such fruit as maybe agreeable to thy most blessed will. Not because of the way they knows the lord but the merit of the ideally beloved son, Jesus Christ, our only savior, amen. Hear those comfortable words of assurance from the first chapter of John. Our sins are forgiven for Jesus' sake, amen. (worship music) The scripture today would be selected versus from the Psalm 116. "I love the Lord because he has heard the voice of my supplication. I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called out in the name of the Lord. Oh Lord deliver me, I was brought low and he saved me and now has delivered my soul from death, my eyes, tears, and my feet from stumbling. What can I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me, I will pay my vows to the Lord. The very presence of all these people I will offer to thee sacrifice of Thanksgiving. Call upon the name of the Lord, praise lord." (worship music) The Lord be with you, let us pray. We thank the Lord that we have thy wisdom, lying at the mercy of every seeking mind all thy most wonderful in the realm of truth. We thank the Lord that we have thy water river and sea, hill and valley, polished and filled for our dwellings All thy most audience in the realm of beauty, we thank the Lord that we have thy self, but our guide and breath for our most hateful in the realm of the love. Thanks be to thee, for the live, unspeakable gift this day and forever more. Let us put unto God a special prayer of Thanksgiving for the harvest, almighty God, our heavenly father, we give thanks and praise that thy mercy thou has brought us through the savior of another year. And that according to thy promise, see time and privacy have not reached blessed be the thou has crowned the year with like goodness and has bestowed upon us the kindly fruit of the earth, we pray thee to grant us grace, that we may receive them rightfully and use them carefully with own comfort for relief, from those that are needy and for the glory of thy name. Let us all put a prayer of intercession for others. Oh Lord God merciful and mighty, help those whom we have neglected to help, set a right, those who we've caused to stumble, visit those whom we have neglected to visit bringing back those whom we have led astray, cheer the hearts of those whom we have made sad that are with the courts of thy love. Those of whom, I would love, has grown old, save them all, oh Lord and have mercy upon us. For the sake of Christ our lord. And let us all put a prayer of supplication that we may have the graces of Christian character. All thou and whose boundless being or laid upon all treasures of wisdom, truth and holiness grant us through constant fellowship with thee the true graces of Christian Character, Grace us courage whether in suffering or in death, the grace of preparedness thus we entered into temptation. The grace to treat others as we would have others treat us, the grace of charity that we may refrain from his judgment. The grace of silence, that we may refrain from hate speech, the grace for forgiveness toward all who have wronged us. The grace of tenderness towards all those who are weaker, the grace of steadfast in continuing to desire that thou will do as thou we pray. Lord, tamper with tranquility our manhood activity that we may do out of where the very great simplicity. Now, as our savior Christ taught us, we humbly pray together. "Our father who at in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thy is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen." And the words of my mouth and meditations of our hearts acceptable in Christ sake all our strength and our redeemer. This is Thanksgiving Sunday and our Duke Chapel calendar. I don't think it was fine in the light of eventualities that we have today or my remarks, perhaps things may I have to say maybe more appropriate than I had planned. It is appropriate that on this Sunday, we direct our thoughts toward the celebration of a demand in our national history, which comes as close as any other do have a deep religious roots and significance. At least it has been symbolized in this way. I need not rehearse for any of you, the meaning of that event in our national history, our need, I dwell upon the obvious gratitude we have, or it might be thoughtless and neglect things, but when mindful, we're thankful. I do not propose to direct your attention today to this. I do propose, excuse me, to direct your attention today, rather to this human phenomenon, this human project of giving thanks of acknowledging and expressing gratitude, the phenomenon as search, and here, I'm not primarily concerned to look at the phenomenon from the psychological point of view, intending to pay close attention to the meaning of this attitude as such. What I wish to consider in particular are certain dimensions of the larger environment in which Thanksgiving and giving thanks occurs today. It's not a matter of discovering something new. It is a matter of reminding ourselves, recalling what we are experiencing re-correcting, so that the environment may be full of ingredients, which show off or threatened giving thanks with thee sickness or death. Let's assume that we're all reasonably sensitive to our environment. Would you then agree with the following, that the terrible and the tragic cry, which took the lives of the Marshall university students staff will cast the dark cloud over any giving thanks. That the grim consequences of the cyclone which revenged Pakistan and the surrounding region, will create cast a dark shadow over any thanks giving would do. These are two shocking events of the immediate past. What are the nagging war continuing to take its toll of lives, distributed its offerings of suffering and hardship, where will it fit into our season of Thanksgiving? I need not continue this recital of aspects of our total environment (indistinct) to each one of you, for each one of you, there would be no difficulty in bringing notice of aspects of our environment, moving personal dramas, which you have not and will not right public intentions. Nevertheless, they are effective aspects in our lives. Now, I suppose we might try to shut out of our mind, all of this in our rarefying of our environmental atmosphere. We might say I would exclude from my mind anything except those things for which I can be truly grateful and offer genuine thanks. As we might say, I just won't pay any attention to those elements, destructive of our air or water (mumbles), but I wonder how many of us could pull this off in this day and age? I believe phrase one of the contemporary songs gives a pretty good summary of a not uncommon feeling regarding certain dimensions of our environment. In these words, get the word off my back. How do you not know the world when it is on your back? But isn't it the subtle encroach of the world, which is just as threatening as the dramatic pathos of sudden calamity that preys on my back is very suggestive or it conveys the impression not only of being weighted down by the sense of being caught and a grass concerning, which we have the awful temptation to believe that we can do nothing, (mumbles) We know that the terrible strains and goals frustrations antagonism in society, in families, between parents and children, between husbands and wives at those points where they seem often most manageable or not to be fully understood apart from the unpredictable and relatively uncontrollable pressures and demand, after vacillating changing social and economic structure of our existence. We know we live in a society whose mechanisms for the provision of what used to be simple need like food, clothing, shelter, government are so complexes to suggest that personhood is cipher hood in such a condition where the solution to issues is in the decisions regarding issues seem so far from our present personal experience. It is not strange that we tend to discount our own personal responsibility for the movements and developments within our social order. Furthermore, it is not strange that we experience it as a part of our environment which is on our backs. (musical drum beating) We seem to be living in an environment which is closing in, on us from the outside posing as an impenetrable web that threatens to cast such a shadow over all our existence as to discourage us from thinking it can be penetrated. One might say this aspect of our environment is referred to in the rumor going around that man lives in a closed world and is totally subjected to it. That rumor is the most persuasive force ever oppressive ingredient in our (mumbles). We can add to this a very mostly related or not new rumor, which has recently gained some new momentum in substantiation and the publicizing of the researches of Dr. Jose Delgado of the Yale University School of Medicine experimenting with wild animals. Delgado has some remarkable accomplishments to his credit in the field of electrical stimulation of the brain. And most recently he has through the improvement of mechanical devices managed to establish the direct non-sensory communication between a computer and the brain of a Chimp leading to control the conduct of that animal. Dr. Delgado is the prophet of a new society, which he calls cycle civilized. Dr. Delgado has said, quote, "the human race, is an evolutionary turning point. We're very close to having the power to construct our own metal function through a knowledge of genetics, which I think will be complete within the next 25 years. And through a knowledge of the cerebral mechanisms, which underlie our behavior." The question is what sort of humans would we like? Ideally, Duke is black that only our cities are very badly planned. We as human beings are Duke that results in both cases are disasters. Dr. Delgado has concerned shares with most enlightened people, or he believes that something must be done about man's destructive (mumbles) and realities of love. His researches have prompted quite a discussion among the specialists on technical graphs, Towards layman. However, the principle question is posed by those technical experts. Fear that cycle civilization always is a threat to human freedom and arouses all the thoughts of the dangers involved in the mass control of human conduct. I am not at this point, entering basis on technical route. And I refer to this matter to point to one facet of our environment. I refer to the continuous implications of much of our plans for man that we are in the last analysis thanks, mainly object of manipulation when asked to respond to those specialists who believe that the danger of abuse in the use of electrical stimulation of the brain in humans is great. Dr. Delgado's reported to her said, I suppose that to primitive man, the idea of diverting the course of a river would have seen religious. This is an interesting analogy plan to diverting the course of a river. Obviously the question is, this mark, or rather on treatment of a river. I only refer to this to illustrate the environment in which a mark a question mark is repeatedly placed alongside man. As he in any sense ultimately distinct from his world? Is he an object truly destined to succumb to that, which is on his back and the environment on his back seems says closed in upon itself as it is upon here. These are aspects of the environment, in which the act of giving (mumbles) in contemplating the particular dimension, these particular dimensions of the environment of our giving thanks. I wish to suggest one line of scripture or our consideration as we thank. They are the words of the apostle Paul, which are found near the conclusion of his first letter to the best of the loss and they are thee " Rejoice always, pray constantly give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you". I am not pretending to unload that passage of it to me, In the first place I couldn't because I'm sure I don't know all that Paul meant by those closing words. Furthermore, I am sure that he meant each one of us to find its meaning as it points to a decisive illuminating empowering dimension in the environment of our world. Let me say this much. If we take these words seriously, I infer the following from what Paul says from the word rejoice always, we can infer that at all time, no matter how the environment seems or looks to allies there is an ever-present ground for joy, from the words give thanks in all circumstances, we can infer that in all circumstances, there is a ground for giving thanks and thanks giving furthermore, I believe we can infer that we are asked not to close our eyes to any of the circumstances of our environment, but rather to confront them. In deed Paul seems to imply that unless we do confront them, we are not adequately comprehending full context in which we give thanks or the full meaning of giving thanks from the words pray constantly. I believe we can infer that Paul is saying there is the possibility of a conversation taking place in which we are involved in the world. And that it is a possibility of that conversation which opens and leads out on to the ground that is ever present source of rejoicing and that ground, that is the source of giving thanks in all circumstances. And from the words or this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you. I believe we may infer that the language of that conversation is to be found in Jesus Christ, The interpretation of that conversation in world indeed he establishes a conversation between the ground of joy and Thanksgiving. That prophet Paul is ultimately creative and indestructible limited only by the openness of mankind, to enter into that conversation. In one dramatic word elsewhere. Paul seeks to get the substance of the conversation by saying that Christ is God's yes, To all his promises to mankind. It is yes, conveyed in the living and live giving image, of one who did not get a word off his back but saw and seeks, to carry that word back into a conversation, a conversation with the only one who's yes to life can ultimately overcome a devastating suspicion of our environment. The suspicion that deadly ignore, depersonalizing, dehumanizing, destructive things making circus that can be our word. Yes, is the last word, The only one who's yes to life can offer that ground of joy, which is omnipresent and that ground, which renders Thanksgiving a possibility in the face of all circumstances. This then, I would call Paul's prolegomena to Thanksgiving, The reminder are, and the call to a conversation, Which conversation all believe he is the crucial ingredient in the understanding transfiguring and transforming of the total environment of Thanksgiving and giving thanks. Next Thursday (mumbles) It is the conversation without which the ecological balance of human and humane life and especially the light of Thanksgiving and giving thanks is threateningly disturbed. Take this prolegomena, rest with it, live with it, rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstance, pray constantly while this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you. In the name of the father and of the son, and of the holy spirit, amen (sharp worship music) All thanks come up to you God our silver and our gold (indistinct) As the symbol of ourselves, In the name of Jesus Christ our lord. (mumbles) (sharp worship music)