James W. Cox - "After Easter, What?" (April 18, 1982)

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	(organ music)	0:02
	♪ Beautiful savior ♪	3:40
	♪ Lord of the nations ♪	3:46
	♪ Son of God and Son of Man ♪	3:56
	♪ Glory and honor ♪	4:11
	♪ Praise, adoration ♪	4:19
	♪ Now and forevermore be Thine ♪	4:26
	♪ Now and forevermore be Thine ♪	4:39
	(organ music)	5:03
	(congregation sings)	5:40
	♪ Amen ♪	9:10
-	Praise to you and peace	9:19
	from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.	9:21
	May we come now and bow before God	9:25
	in this time of confession.	9:28
	Praying together our corporate confession of sin	9:30
	and then bowing in silence for our own personal confession.	9:32
	Oh, Lord, our life under faith	9:38
	has failed to maintain spiritual rhythm and meaning.	9:42
	We have chosen to proceed on a collision course.	9:47
	With our rebellious will,	9:51
	we have resisted Your truth.	9:53
	In our spiritual slothfulness,	9:56
	we sought to bribe Your presence	9:59
	with material sacrifices and wandering prayers.	10:01
	In our stubbornness to forgive,	10:06
	we have become ungrateful for Your gift of free grace.	10:09
	Amid our twisted purposes,	10:14
	we have dismissed our responsibilities	10:17
	to the helpless and the needy.	10:20
	Deliver us, Lord, from a near-sighted	10:22
	and shallow faith.	10:25
	Let not our faith fall short of its potential and grace.	10:28
	Teach us to see that faith is not merely belief	10:32
	and understanding, but that it further involves	10:36
	an obedience to Your eternal word.	10:40
	Amen.	10:44
	(organ music)	10:57
	Jesus said, be of good cheer.	11:32
	Your sins are forgiven.	11:36
	Let us give thanks for God is good	11:39
	and God's love is everlasting.	11:42
-	Thanks be to God (mumbles).	11:46
	Thanks be to God (mumbles).	11:50
	Thanks be to God whose grace (mumbles).	11:54
-	We welcome all of you who worship with us	12:01
	on this first Sunday after Easter.	12:04
	Our prayer is that this will be a time truly	12:08
	of worship for each of us here.	12:11
	I would like to call you attention	12:16
	to one announcement in the bulletin.	12:20
	This is our one Sunday each month communion day.	12:22
	And immediately following this service in Memorial Chapel	12:26
	we will observe communion there.	12:30
	You are invited to remain for this brief service	12:33
	of the Eucharist in Memorial Chapel here to my right.	12:36
	And we welcome our guest preacher for the day,	12:42
	Dr. James W. Cox, who is professor of Christian Preaching	12:45
	at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary	12:50
	in Louisville, Kentucky.	12:53
	We are grateful for his presence with us today,	12:55
	and we'll here in later in the service prayerfully.	12:58
	Dr. Cox has two sons who are here at Duke.	13:03
	Ken Cox who will be our lectern this morning	13:06
	and will be reading the scripture for us.	13:09
	Ken is a senior and will be graduating this year	13:12
	as an undergraduate.	13:16
	David Cox is a senior in medical school,	13:18
	and will also be graduating there this year.	13:20
	Again, we welcome Dr. Cox and are glad	13:24
	for this chance for his family to participate	13:27
	with us this morning.	13:29
-	Let us pray.	13:37
	Oh, God, You Who commanded the light	13:40
	to shine out of darkness,	13:42
	shine into our hearts	13:44
	to give the light of the knowledge of Your glory	13:45
	in the face of Jesus Christ.	13:47
	Amen.	13:49
	The New Testament lesson is from Acts,	13:51
	chapter four, verses 32 through 35.	13:53
	Now the company of those who believed	13:57
	were of one heart and soul,	13:59
	and no one said that any of the thing that he possessed	14:01
	was his own, but they had everything in common.	14:03
	And with great power, the apostles gave their testimony	14:07
	to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus	14:09
	and great grace was upon them all.	14:11
	There was not a needy person among them,	14:14
	for as many who were possessors of lands or houses	14:16
	sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold	14:18
	and laid it at the apostles feet.	14:21
	And distribution was made to each as any had need.	14:23
	Herein ends the reading from the New Testament.	14:26
	Amen.	14:28
	(organ and choral music)	14:39
	The Gospel lesson is from John,	18:11
	chapter 16, verses 25 through 33.	18:13
	I have said this to you in figures.	18:17
	The hour is coming when I shall no longer	18:19
	speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father.	18:21
	In that day, you will ask in my name,	18:25
	and I do not say to you	18:27
	that I shall pray the Father for you;	18:28
	for the Father himself loves you,	18:30
	because you have loved me and have believed	18:32
	that I came from the Father.	18:34
	I came from the Father and have come into the world;	18:36
	again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.	18:39
	His disciples said, Ah, now you are speaking plainly,	18:43
	not in any figure!	18:46
	Now we know that you know all things,	18:47
	and need none to question you;	18:49
	by this we believe that you came from God.	18:51
	Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?	18:54
	The hour is coming, indeed it has come,	18:56
	when you will be scattered, every man to his home,	18:59
	and will leave me alone;	19:01
	yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.	19:03
	I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace.	19:06
	In the world you have tribulation;	19:09
	but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.	19:10
	(organ music)	19:17
	(congregation sings)	19:24
-	I bring you greetings this morning	20:21
	from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary	20:22
	in Louisville	20:25
	where this week, Dr. Roy Honeycutt	20:27
	will be installed as the eighth president of our school.	20:31
	Southern Seminary has had meaningful ties	20:36
	with Duke University for many years.	20:39
	Each of these institutions has contributed	20:42
	to the training of faculty for the other.	20:45
	More personally, my wife and I are pleased	20:49
	and grateful for what our sons have received	20:54
	as students here.	20:56
	So it is a special privilege to meet with you today	21:00
	in this chapel where many lives have been enriched,	21:03
	where members of my own family had faith	21:08
	and hope and love renewed just one year ago	21:11
	in Bob Young's Easter message	21:17
	and in a total triumphant service of worship.	21:19
	The lesson text this morning for my message	21:25
	is from First John verses one through five	21:30
	of the fifth chapter.	21:33
	Hear the Word of God.	21:37
	Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ	21:41
	is a child of God,	21:44
	and to love a parent means to love his child.	21:47
	It follows that when we love God	21:51
	and obey His commands, we love his children, too.	21:53
	For to love God is to keep his commands,	21:57
	and they are not burdensome	22:00
	because every child of God is victor	22:03
	over the godless world.	22:05
	The victory that defeats the world is our faith.	22:08
	For who is victor over the world	22:13
	but he who believes	22:14
	that Jesus is the Son of God?	22:17
	The time was 10 yeahrs ago.	22:23
	The place was Saint Sturgis Russian Orthodox Church	22:27
	in Paris, France.	22:31
	The significance of the occasion	22:35
	was that I felt	22:40
	the meaning of Easter in a new and profound way.	22:45
	On Easter Eve, about 9:30, 10:30 as I recall,	22:51
	we processed into the church.	22:56
	The beautiful liturgy was enacted with hymns	22:59
	and prayers and scriptures and Eucharist.	23:03
	That in itself was impressive enough.	23:07
	Then, at midnight,	23:11
	just as Easter day was beginning,	23:15
	Archpriest Alexei came down from the altar	23:19
	and he walked among us,	23:22
	and he said with something of a shout,	23:24
	"Christ is risen."	23:27
	To which the congregation answered,	23:29
	"Christ is risen."	23:31
	This he did in the old Slavonic language.	23:34
	He went back to the altar.	23:37
	Then he came among us again,	23:39
	once and again and again,	23:41
	speaking to us in French and in German	23:43
	and in English, each time he visited	23:47
	among the members of the congregation it was	23:50
	with the words, "Christ is risen."	23:52
	And every time, the answer by the congregation	23:56
	was, "Christ is risen, He is risen indeed."	23:58
	By the time he had come among us for that last occasion	24:03
	of triumphant and exultant acclamation,	24:08
	our hearts were filled with joy,	24:13
	and our eyes with tears.	24:16
	It was a Pentecostal experience.	24:20
	When I saw how meaningful the Easter event was	24:24
	in the lives of these Russian expatriates,	24:27
	I can understand why Nicholas Chernov	24:30
	whom I had met years before,	24:34
	came all the way from Oxford, England,	24:36
	to Paris for those Easter celebrations.	24:38
	And I could understand why decades of repression	24:43
	in their native Russia had not been able	24:47
	to put out the light of faith and hope.	24:49
	When one kind of victory was denied these people,	24:53
	another kind was possible.	24:57
	Victory that affects life at its very deepest levels.	24:59
	Victory as the Easter event as defined it for us	25:04
	is certainly a possibility, a reality,	25:10
	and a worthy objective.	25:16
	The testimony of holy Scripture from beginning to end	25:19
	is that God has a purpose for His creation.	25:24
	Those who gave an account of creation	25:28
	in various parts of the Bible knew the myths	25:30
	and sagas of creation that circulated	25:33
	in the ancient world.	25:36
	The spirit of God brooded over those dark	25:38
	and empty stories.	25:41
	And the light of an orderly account of creation	25:43
	broke forth.	25:46
	Without intending at all to satisfy	25:49
	future scientific curiosity and inquiry,	25:51
	but intending to affirm a purposive creator,	25:55
	the Biblical writers told their story.	26:00
	According to Genesis, God said to the man	26:03
	and the woman He had made,	26:05
	"Be fruitful and multiply,	26:07
	"and fill the earth and subdue it."	26:10
	Something was beginning whose end was not in sight.	26:13
	The book of Revelation looks far into the future	26:17
	and declares the sovereignty of this world	26:20
	has past to our Lord and His Christ	26:24
	and He shall reign forever and ever.	26:28
	Now this is a sweeping view.	26:32
	Yet is there any other view of things	26:34
	that will answer our cry for meaning?	26:37
	The longing that the psalmist articulated	26:40
	when he sighed, "I look up at your heavens,	26:43
	"made by your fingers,	26:46
	"the moon and the stars you set in place.	26:49
	"Ah, what is man that you should spare a thought for him?	26:52
	"The son of man that you should care for him?"	26:56
	Easter has assured us that God is still in business	27:00
	and that beyond the worst that you and I can do	27:04
	and beyond the worst possible natural catastrophes,	27:08
	God is in final control.	27:13
	This is a magnificent view.	27:16
	It staggers the imagination and leaves us almost breathless.	27:18
	But where does it touch your life and mine?	27:23
	Well, we humans have been made as the psalmist tells us,	27:27
	"a little less than God."	27:30
	Or as Genesis puts it,	27:32
	"in God's image and after His likeness."	27:34
	Whatever else this may imply, it means	27:38
	that we share in the ongoing purpose of God Himself	27:41
	and that you and I can participate in the victory	27:46
	that belongs to Him.	27:50
	Some therefore have been audacious enough to believe	27:53
	not only that with God all things are possible,	27:56
	but also as a corollary that everything is possible	28:01
	to one who has faith.	28:04
	Now let us leave aside the contingencies of that	28:07
	for a moment, and simply say that some individuals at least	28:10
	have found this to be true in their own experience.	28:15
	We can see something of this	28:19
	in the quest for self-fulfillment.	28:20
	Now this quest may be more or less religious	28:22
	or more or less secular.	28:26
	Here we are, we want to be something or somebody.	28:29
	We want to achieve something.	28:33
	We want to find meaning in our existence.	28:35
	For some of us, it may mean purpose,	28:38
	peace, or pleasure, perhaps all three.	28:42
	This may require the casting off	28:46
	of certain role expectations.	28:48
	We know that we cannot be what we want to be	28:51
	and at the same time be everything everyone else	28:55
	wants us to be.	28:58
	And we, some of us, are encouraged when we remember	29:00
	that Jesus said, "I have come that men may have life	29:04
	"and have it in all its fullness."	29:08
	But there is a huge obstacle on the road	29:13
	to personal victory or fulfillment.	29:15
	Again and again the author of our text	29:18
	speaks of the world in a pejorative way.	29:20
	The world is the problem.	29:24
	Do not love the world, he says.	29:26
	The world passes away, he says.	29:29
	And here in our text, he is talking about overcoming	29:32
	the world as if it is an enemy.	29:37
	Indeed, another New Testament writer, James, asks,	29:40
	"Do you not know that friendship with the world	29:43
	"is enmity with God?"	29:46
	What is going on here?	29:49
	Doesn't Genesis say that when God created everything	29:51
	He saw that it was good?	29:55
	This is rather confusing it, isn't it?	29:57
	Yet, John and James are not talking	30:00
	about the world of verdant fields and gorgeous sunsets,	30:02
	the world of beauty such as we are enjoying today,	30:07
	the world of art and music,	30:11
	the world of love and friendship.	30:14
	No, they are rather talking about a world	30:17
	of hostility or indifference to God.	30:20
	A world that through greed and lust,	30:23
	through hate and oppression would destroy	30:27
	or make unproductive the world that God is working for,	30:31
	a world of material, moral and spiritual beauty.	30:34
	The truth told in a thousand personal tragedies everyday	30:41
	is this: the world has John defines it can defeat us,	30:45
	can bring to nothing what we have perceived	30:50
	as a shining purpose.	30:53
	The world defeat us by its pressures.	30:56
	We older people talk glibly of peer pressure,	30:59
	meaning what adolescents and young people feel.	31:03
	And our young people often bristle when we speak of it.	31:06
	They know what we're talking about,	31:09
	and they'd rather not think about it too much.	31:12
	But all of us are vulnerable at any age	31:15
	to the pressures of people about us,	31:18
	their customs, their language,	31:21
	their opinions, their dress, their lifestyle.	31:25
	All of these influence us for good or for ill.	31:29
	Sometimes it is only one person	31:33
	whose favorable opinion of us we covet who can do us in.	31:36
	One young person	31:42
	recently told a story of betrayal.	31:45
	Everything he said to me seemed so right.	31:48
	And everything that John Belushi did seemed	31:54
	to some people so right.	31:57
	It is the pressures, yes,	32:01
	but it is also the world's permissions that defeat us.	32:04
	Some have felt that life would be wonderful	32:08
	if they could just get rid of all inhibitions,	32:12
	find some exorcist	32:15
	who could effectively cast out conscience.	32:17
	And there can always be found some hedonist	32:20
	or some antinomian who will grant approval	32:24
	for almost anything anyone would like to do	32:27
	so long as it doesn't affect or harm the advice giver.	32:31
	Sometimes religious rituals and verses of Scripture	32:37
	may be offered to make evil an occasion of celebration.	32:42
	Remember the Ku Klux Klan has its chaplains.	32:46
	All of us are familiar with the seven last words	32:50
	of our Lord.	32:53
	Have you heard the alleged eighth word from the cross?	32:55
	If I'm okay, and you're okay, what am I doing here?	33:00
	When I was a small boy, I paused in front	33:09
	of a grocery story and listened to a conversation.	33:11
	One man boasted that he had just finished consuming	33:15
	what sounded to me like an enormous amount of candy.	33:20
	I walked away amazed that one man could eat	33:23
	so much candy at one time.	33:27
	Sometime later, I don't remember how much later,	33:30
	I saw this same man being lead about	33:34
	by a member of his family.	33:36
	He was now blind.	33:38
	His inordinate craving for sweets,	33:40
	which he'd freely indulged,	33:43
	was a symptom of diabetes.	33:45
	Because his disorder went unrecognized	33:48
	and untreated, it lead to blindness.	33:51
	Isn't it true that our fancied liberation	33:57
	from many of the rules and disciplines of life	33:59
	may be only a Pyrrhic victory?	34:02
	Daniel Yankelovich, a social scientist,	34:06
	said recently, "nothing has subverted self-fulfillment	34:09
	"more thoroughly than self-indulgence."	34:14
	What a pity that we do not try to understand ourselves	34:19
	and other people before some moral tragedy	34:24
	of personal, social or international scope	34:27
	has occurred rather than after it has occurred.	34:31
	Now to return to the metaphor of pressure.	34:37
	Listen to the admonition of the apostle Paul.	34:39
	He says, "don't let the world around you	34:43
	"squeeze you into its own mold."	34:46
	But how is it possible to resist that squeezing?	34:50
	Considering how vulnerable you and I are.	34:57
	Paul has an answer, of course.	35:01
	But look at John's answer in our text.	35:04
	John says, "who is it that overcomes the world	35:07
	"but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"	35:11
	Some days ago as I was pondering these words,	35:16
	I walked down the hall from my office	35:19
	to the office of a visiting professor from Switzerland,	35:20
	Eduard Schweizer.	35:23
	I quoted the words from John.	35:26
	"Who is it that overcomes the world	35:29
	"but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."	35:30
	And I said to him good humoredly,	35:33
	what does that have to do with anything?	35:36
	Well, he put it all in a neat package.	35:40
	He said it means that God has come into our world,	35:44
	and He is not far off in heaven.	35:48
	that He is present with us,	35:52
	that He is for us.	35:55
	Don't you like that?	35:58
	I find it very difficult to understand	36:01
	why some people find Jesus Christ a problem	36:03
	in their quest for God.	36:06
	As if to believe in Jesus Christ denies	36:08
	God's love and care for all people	36:11
	or narrows down God's love.	36:14
	The particularity of Jesus should help us	36:18
	to see the face of the Creator of all things	36:22
	and all peoples.	36:26
	Like a burning glass,	36:28
	Jesus focuses the light of the universal God	36:31
	to an ignition point.	36:35
	As you know what the rest of the ocean is like	36:40
	when you stand on the shore and look	36:43
	at the part that is closest to you,	36:45
	so when you look at Jesus of Nazareth,	36:49
	you see something of God and can know	36:52
	that what you cannot see is like what you have already seen.	36:56
	A saying of Jesus that is not in our New Testament	37:02
	but is believed by many scholars to be authentic	37:04
	says,	37:08
	"He who is near me is near the fire."	37:09
	What more could we want?	37:15
	What is more potentially helpful to us	37:19
	as we try to find the God who otherwise	37:22
	has hidden Himself in an abyss of mystery?	37:25
	If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God,	37:29
	that He brings us an authentic word from God,	37:33
	and that he shows us an authentic way of life,	37:36
	and if we want our life to be what God intends,	37:40
	then the power of the godless world over us	37:45
	is virtually overcome.	37:48
	"Why should God so demean Himself?,"	37:52
	asked one critic of the incarnation.	37:56
	It is precisely because you and I have worth to God	37:59
	that he has quote, "so demeaned Himself."	38:04
	And when we believe that Jesus is the anointed of God,	38:10
	the Son of God, believe it in our bones,	38:13
	it does something remarkably transforming	38:16
	to our sense of personal worth.	38:19
	And because of that, to our feeling toward other persons.	38:21
	We can love our neighbor as ourself.	38:26
	We can see our own self and others as individuals	38:29
	for whom Christ died.	38:34
	"By this we know that we love the children of God	38:37
	"when we love God and obey His commandments," says John.	38:39
	To find our personal values and fulfillment	38:44
	in the purposes of God is profoundly liberating.	38:47
	A psychologist not long ago told a little story	38:52
	that had amused and stunned her.	38:55
	One of her patients in psychotherapy,	38:58
	a woman in her mid-twenties,	39:01
	complained that she had become nervous and fretful	39:03
	because her life had grown so hectic.	39:06
	Too many big weekends.	39:09
	Too many discos.	39:10
	Too many late hours.	39:12
	Too much talk, too much wine, too much pot,	39:13
	too much love making.	39:16
	The therapist asked her mildly,	39:19
	"Why don't you stop?"	39:23
	This patient stared blankly for a moment,	39:28
	then her face brightened.	39:30
	It was as if she had had a revelation.	39:31
	She said, "you mean I really don't have to do	39:34
	"what I want to do?"	39:38
	The truth of Easter as it trickles down to us	39:43
	is that we don't have to do what the world	39:46
	as we usually know it	39:50
	has programmed us to do.	39:54
	We can have a new orientation.	39:56
	That is why the early Christians after Easter	39:59
	went everywhere proclaiming repentance and faith.	40:03
	Life can be different.	40:06
	And once we finally decide that it will be so	40:09
	in our own case, we discover as the text has it,	40:12
	"that His commandments are not burdensome,	40:17
	"that whatever is born of God overcomes the world,	40:20
	"and that this is the victory that overcomes the world,	40:23
	"our faith."	40:28
	Let us pray.	40:34
	Help us to receive, oh, God,	40:41
	what Thou has done for us	40:43
	and what Thou does freely offer to us	40:46
	this day and always	40:50
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	40:53
	Amen.	40:56
	(organ music)	41:00
	♪ I know that my Redeemer lives ♪	41:24
	♪ What comfort this sweet sentence gives ♪	41:31
	♪ He lives, He lives, who once was dead ♪	41:37
	♪ He lives, my everliving Head ♪	41:42
	♪ He lives to bless me with His love ♪	41:51
	♪ He lives to plead for me above ♪	41:57
	♪ He lives my hungry soul to feed ♪	42:02
	♪ He lives to help in time of need ♪	42:08
	♪ He lives and grants me daily breath ♪	42:17
	♪ He lives and I shall conquer death ♪	42:23
	♪ He lives my mansion to prepare ♪	42:29
	♪ He lives to bring me safely there ♪	42:36
	♪ He lives, all glory to His name ♪	42:45
	♪ He lives, my Jesus, still the same ♪	42:51
	♪ Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives ♪	42:57
	♪ I know that my Redeemer lives ♪	43:03
	♪ Amen ♪	43:13
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	43:22
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	43:25
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	43:30
	to reconcile and make new,	43:34
	who works in us and others by his Spirit.	43:37
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	43:41
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	43:45
	to love and serve others,	43:48
	to seek justice and resist evil,	43:51
	to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,	43:54
	our judge and our hope.	43:58
	In life, in death,	44:01
	in life beyond death,	44:03
	God is with us.	44:05
	We are not alone.	44:07
	Thanks be to God.	44:09
	The Lord be with you.	44:12
-	And also with you.	44:14
-	Let us pray.	44:16
	Most holy and loving God,	44:28
	we have experienced you as creator	44:31
	and we give thanks to You for the gift of life.	44:34
	We rejoice in the signs of spring,	44:39
	the beauty of new life which surrounds us,	44:41
	the warmth of the spring sun,	44:44
	the rain which nourishes and waters,	44:47
	the variety of color and texture	44:50
	in the flowers and trees around us.	44:53
	We thank You for human life,	44:56
	for relationships which nourish and support	45:00
	and challenge us.	45:03
	Where life is good and healthy, we celebrate	45:06
	that in Your Name, oh God.	45:08
	May we be aware in our celebration	45:11
	of so much which we have to share	45:14
	for there are those around us in this community	45:17
	and in our larger community who cannot celebrate now.	45:21
	Where there is sickness and disease,	45:26
	we pray for Your healing presence.	45:29
	Comfort the families of the sick	45:31
	and give them peace.	45:34
	Work through those who minister to the sick,	45:36
	the medical and hospital staff,	45:40
	and may they call upon You for their own strength	45:43
	and their ministry of healing.	45:46
	There are those in this university community today,	45:49
	oh God, who grieve because of the death of loved one.	45:53
	Show us how to reach out at such a time	45:58
	to that family.	46:01
	Reach through their grief and anger and confusion	46:03
	so that they can feel Your presence	46:07
	and can understand that You can heal even their pain	46:10
	with time.	46:14
	As Your people, Righteous God, we pray for ourselves	46:17
	that we might recognize Your hand in each	46:21
	of our lives.	46:24
	We ask to see Your hands, Your voice,	46:26
	Your presence in this world.	46:30
	May we recognize the gifts which each one	46:32
	of you possess, find ways to nurture those gifts	46:35
	and call out the gifts of others	46:39
	so that we may thankfully serve you	46:42
	by serving our neighbors.	46:44
	We are a diverse community and we find ourselves	46:46
	in different places in our faith journey.	46:50
	Continue to remind us that our conversion	46:53
	is not complete,	46:56
	that we are still becoming	46:58
	and that if we strive for perfection	47:00
	in our relationship to You,	47:02
	we do that only to the degree that we live for others.	47:05
	We pray for our world, oh God,	47:09
	for ambassadors.	47:13

Pastor	peace, who hurry from one place	0:02
	to another in search of peace.	0:04
	Be with Argentinian and British leaders	0:07
	who contemplate war and peace.	0:09
	Be with leaders in the Middle East,	0:13
	each of whom bargains	0:15
	for the good of his own country	0:17
	with no thought for the good	0:19
	of the larger area.	0:20
	Instill within these people	0:22
	who indeed have the power	0:24
	to opt for war or peace,	0:26
	a commitment to peace.	0:29
	A commitment to living in harmony	0:31
	with their brothers and sisters worldwide.	0:33
	May that peace begin within each of us.	0:38
	And may we help to bring about	0:41
	your kingdom on this earth	0:43
	where peace shall reign.	0:45
	May we be totally committed	0:48
	to kingdom building	0:50
	as we pray together	0:52
	the prayer of which Your son	0:53
	taught us to pray, saying:	0:55
	Our Father,	0:58
	who art in heaven,	0:59
	hallowed be thy name.	1:00
	Thy kingdom come,	1:03
	thy will be done,	1:05
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:06
	Give us this day our daily bread,	1:09
	and forgive us our trespasses,	1:12
	as we forgive those	1:14
	who trespass against us.	1:16
	Lead us not into temptation,	1:18
	but deliver us from evil.	1:21
	For thine is the kingdom,	1:23
	and the power	1:25
	and the glory,	1:26
	forever.	1:27
	Amen.	1:29
	(organ music)	1:47
	(choir sings)	3:10
Pastor	Most holy and righteous God,	14:01
	we know that your gifts are for sending,	14:04
	for giving, for sharing.	14:08
	Help us in this time of dedication	14:11
	to share with you not only our money,	14:14
	but our lives.	14:18
	Teach us how we need to spend our lives today.	14:20
	In the name of Jesus the Christ we pray.	14:26
	Amen.	14:30
	(organ music)	14:34
	(choir sings)	15:14
Pastor	Go now with God's peace and joy,	18:27
	to be God's people in the world.	18:31
	Remember what we have done here today.	18:34
	We shall never be the same again.	18:37
	Amen.	18:41
	(choir sings)	18:45
	(organ music)	19:09

Item Info

Title:

James W. Cox - "After Easter, What?" (April 18, 1982)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 20:21. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 41:00.
The meaning of Easter as the victory that affects every aspect of our lives. In the death and resurrection of Christ, we share in the ongoing purpose of God Himself, participating in the victory that belongs to Him. In the passage, the author shows that the obstacle for finding meaning in your existence is “the world.” He means, a world of hostility and indifference to God. But we don’t have to do what this world has programmed us to do. If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the power of the godless world is virtually overcome. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Easter has assured us that God is still in business and that beyond the worst that we can do and beyond the worst possible natural catastrophes, God is in final control.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r49w09c9t

Date:

April 18, 1982

Speaker:

Cox, James William, 1923-

Liturgical Calendar:

Easter

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0068
ref7664_7ah
uachapelsermaud
duke:320551
dcrau001063
ark:/87924/r49w09c9t
32987661-62c1-494c-acbb-911887763b03

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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James W. Cox - "After Easter, What?" (April 18, 1982)

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Duke University Archives