L. Scott Allen - Sermon Untitled (April 24, 1983)
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| (church organ) | 0:12 | |
| (church organ) | 0:28 | |
| (church choir singing) | 1:44 | |
| (church choir singing) | 2:53 | |
| (church organ) | 3:08 | |
| (choir singing over organ) | 3:37 | |
| (congregation singing with choir and organ) | 4:06 | |
| (congregation singing with choir and organ) | 4:39 | |
| Priest | The Psalmist writes the Lord | 7:00 |
| is my light and my salvation. | 7:02 | |
| Whom shall I fear? | 7:04 | |
| The Lord is the strength of my life, | 7:06 | |
| of whom shall I be afraid? | 7:08 | |
| Hear, oh Lord, when we call aloud, | 7:11 | |
| show us favor and answer us. | 7:14 | |
| While I know that I shall see | 7:18 | |
| the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, | 7:20 | |
| wait for the Lord, be strong, take courage, | 7:24 | |
| and wait for the Lord. | 7:29 | |
| Grace, mercy and peace be with you | 7:32 | |
| this holy day, my friends. | 7:35 | |
| God is faithful and just so that | 7:38 | |
| when we confess our sin, God always forgives. | 7:40 | |
| Let us now together and individually | 7:44 | |
| bow before God and confess our sin. | 7:47 | |
| Will you be seated? | 7:50 | |
| Let us pray. | 7:57 | |
| Great and glorious God, you call us | 8:00 | |
| to be a light to the Gentiles, | 8:03 | |
| and to bring salvation | 8:06 | |
| to the outermost parts of the Earth. | 8:07 | |
| You ask us to envision a great community | 8:10 | |
| of people from every nation, all tribes and tongues. | 8:13 | |
| You want us to be your sheep, | 8:18 | |
| to follow you, to do your work. | 8:20 | |
| You hope for us to join the chorus of angels | 8:23 | |
| who sing your praise, and here we are, | 8:26 | |
| hesitant to venture out of our own neighborhoods, | 8:30 | |
| fearful of those who are different from us, | 8:34 | |
| uncertain about how we can make a difference in the world, | 8:37 | |
| more ready to believe in you than to follow you, | 8:41 | |
| and more likely to ask you to solve our problems | 8:45 | |
| than to give you praise and glory | 8:48 | |
| for all that happens to us. | 8:50 | |
| Take us as we are, work miracles in and with our lives, | 8:53 | |
| and cause us to serve you and your children | 8:59 | |
| with joy and thanksgiving, | 9:02 | |
| in the name of Jesus the Christ, Amen. | 9:04 | |
| My dear friends, as we have been raised with Christ, | 9:39 | |
| let us put off the old, the dead, | 9:44 | |
| the worn, the sinful, | 9:46 | |
| and put on all those things which are made new | 9:50 | |
| through Christ Jesus our Lord. | 9:53 | |
| I declare to you this morning | 9:57 | |
| that the good news is that Jesus Christ through | 9:58 | |
| his life, death, and resurrection, | 10:02 | |
| has set us free. | 10:05 | |
| We are forgiven, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. | 10:07 | |
| Therefore, let us give thanks, for God is good, | 10:15 | |
| and God's love is everlasting. | 10:19 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. | 10:23 | |
| Thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us. | 10:27 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 10:31 | |
| To all of you who swam out to the service this morning, | 10:38 | |
| let me say a wet, but warm and graceful welcome to you | 10:43 | |
| as we worship God on this day. | 10:48 | |
| You might keep an eye out for those people | 10:51 | |
| who will be coming in about 11:30 thinking | 10:54 | |
| that it's 10:30, and let me wish for you | 10:57 | |
| a nice restful hour this afternoon | 11:01 | |
| to make up for that hour of sleep | 11:03 | |
| which none of us got last night. | 11:05 | |
| It is good to worship God here, | 11:09 | |
| and to share in this time of fellowship | 11:11 | |
| and praise with you. | 11:13 | |
| Let me wish, for those of you who are | 11:16 | |
| students here, not only my blessings | 11:18 | |
| and the blessings of all of us | 11:23 | |
| who work in this place, but let me wish for you | 11:25 | |
| God's blessings this week, as you | 11:29 | |
| come to the end of this semester, | 11:32 | |
| and as you come to the end of this year. | 11:33 | |
| My prayer is, our prayers have been, | 11:37 | |
| that this will have been a good year for you | 11:41 | |
| in every way, and that surely in some very | 11:43 | |
| significant ways you have grown spiritually | 11:46 | |
| and intellectually, and have matured in ways | 11:49 | |
| that are important to you, as you seek | 11:52 | |
| to live, and to love in the name of God. | 11:54 | |
| And may your exams all turn out to be | 11:59 | |
| just like you would like to have them. | 12:01 | |
| This Friday night, at 6:30 or 7, | 12:04 | |
| I'm not sure exactly about the time, | 12:08 | |
| but the friends of Duke Chapel | 12:10 | |
| will be having their annual dinner meeting. | 12:11 | |
| Some of you may have gotten notice about that | 12:15 | |
| but if you didn't, it's open to anyone | 12:17 | |
| who would like to come. | 12:19 | |
| If you would simply call the chapel by noon | 12:20 | |
| on Wednesday, and indicate your interest | 12:22 | |
| in attending, we'd love to have you. | 12:25 | |
| You'd be interested in the program. | 12:28 | |
| Marge Jones, who has been a chapel hostess | 12:30 | |
| for about 15 years, and Barney Jones, | 12:32 | |
| who has been a professor here for many years | 12:35 | |
| and who is retiring at the end of this year, | 12:37 | |
| will be our program. | 12:39 | |
| They will talk about what Duke Chapel | 12:41 | |
| has meant to them, and I invite you to come | 12:43 | |
| and share in that evening of real enjoyment with us. | 12:46 | |
| It may be a little presumptuous of me | 12:50 | |
| but I'd like to invite all of you, | 12:53 | |
| next Sunday immediately following | 12:56 | |
| the worship service to a reception. | 12:57 | |
| The University is giving a farewell reception | 13:00 | |
| for me and my family, and I'd like | 13:03 | |
| for you to know that we'd like for all of you, | 13:06 | |
| and all who have blessed and touched our lives | 13:08 | |
| during the 10 years we have been here in this place, | 13:11 | |
| to come and share in that time with us, | 13:14 | |
| and with others who will be here for that occasion. | 13:17 | |
| It's our privilege today to have | 13:21 | |
| Bishop L. Scott Allen as our preacher. | 13:22 | |
| Bishop Allen is now the presiding bishop | 13:26 | |
| of the Charlotte area of the United Methodist Church. | 13:29 | |
| He was elected bishop in 1967, | 13:33 | |
| he served the Gulf Coast area of the church, | 13:35 | |
| and served eight years in the host, | 13:38 | |
| an area of the United Methodist Church, | 13:40 | |
| and is now in his seventh year | 13:43 | |
| as the presiding bishop of the Charlotte area. | 13:45 | |
| The first and the only bishop to serve | 13:49 | |
| in the southeast in annual conferences | 13:51 | |
| that are predominantly white. | 13:53 | |
| He has given outstanding leadership | 13:56 | |
| wherever he has been, and he is giving | 13:58 | |
| that kind of leadership to the Charlotte area now. | 14:01 | |
| I say that because it's true, and also | 14:04 | |
| because he is my bishop, friends, | 14:06 | |
| so I want you to be very very nice to him today. | 14:08 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 14:13 | |
| Two personal words about him, though. | 14:17 | |
| One very personal. | 14:22 | |
| While I was in the hospital recently, | 14:24 | |
| he showed me the kind of love that I needed to have. | 14:26 | |
| Three different times, he called and spoke | 14:31 | |
| with either me or with my wife | 14:33 | |
| about how I was doing, to assure me and us | 14:35 | |
| of his prayers and his love and good wishes. | 14:39 | |
| More importantly, perhaps, for the chapel | 14:43 | |
| and for Duke University, he stuck his neck out | 14:46 | |
| and was the leading person in getting | 14:50 | |
| the Southeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops | 14:54 | |
| to make a commitment of one and one tenths million dollars | 14:58 | |
| to the Duke Chapel Development Fund | 15:01 | |
| over the next four years. | 15:03 | |
| Had it not been for him, and his persuasive voice | 15:07 | |
| among his bishop colleagues, our request | 15:10 | |
| for over one million dollars from | 15:14 | |
| the United Methodist Church may well | 15:16 | |
| not have passed that group. | 15:18 | |
| So Bishop Allen, we are grateful to you | 15:21 | |
| for what you have done for Duke Chapel, | 15:24 | |
| and my family and I are deeply grateful | 15:28 | |
| for what you have done for us. | 15:30 | |
| He is a Duke alumnus, having been given | 15:32 | |
| the Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree | 15:34 | |
| in 1971 here at Duke, so we welcome you | 15:36 | |
| back home today sir. | 15:40 | |
| Reader | Let us pray. | 15:47 |
| Oh Lord our God, open our eyes | 15:50 | |
| that we may behold wondrous things | 15:53 | |
| out of your word, and let the words | 15:55 | |
| of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts | 15:58 | |
| be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord | 16:00 | |
| our strength and our redeemer, Amen. | 16:04 | |
| The Old Testament lesson is from Numbers, | 16:08 | |
| chapter 27, verses 12 to 23. | 16:10 | |
| The Lord said to Moses, go up into this mountain | 16:15 | |
| of Avarim, and see the Lord | 16:19 | |
| which I have given you, the people of Israel. | 16:21 | |
| And when you have seen it, you shall also | 16:24 | |
| be gathered to your people, | 16:26 | |
| as your brother Aaron was gathered, | 16:28 | |
| because you rebelled against my word | 16:30 | |
| in the wilderness of Zin | 16:32 | |
| during the strife of the congregation, | 16:34 | |
| to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes. | 16:37 | |
| These are the waters of Mariba, of Kaddish, | 16:40 | |
| in the wilderness of Zin. | 16:43 | |
| Moses said to the Lord, let the Lord, | 16:45 | |
| the God of the spirits, of all flesh, | 16:48 | |
| appoint a man over the congregation | 16:50 | |
| who shall go out before them, and come in before them, | 16:53 | |
| who shall lead them out, and bring them in, | 16:56 | |
| that the congregation of the Lord | 16:59 | |
| may not be sheep which have no shepherd. | 17:01 | |
| And the Lord said to Moses, take Joshua, | 17:05 | |
| the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, | 17:08 | |
| and lay your hand upon him. | 17:11 | |
| Cause him to stand before Eliezer the priest, | 17:13 | |
| and all the congregation. | 17:16 | |
| And you shall commission him in their sight. | 17:18 | |
| You shall invest him with some of your authority, | 17:21 | |
| that all the congregation | 17:24 | |
| of the people of Israel may obey. | 17:26 | |
| And he shall stand before Eliezer the priest, | 17:29 | |
| who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim, | 17:32 | |
| before the Lord, at his word they shall go out. | 17:35 | |
| And at his word, they shall come in. | 17:39 | |
| Both he and all the people of Israel with him, | 17:41 | |
| the whole congregation. | 17:44 | |
| And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. | 17:47 | |
| He took Joshua and caused him to stand | 17:49 | |
| before Eliezer the priest, and | 17:52 | |
| the whole congregation, and he laid | 17:54 | |
| his hands upon him, and commissioned him | 17:56 | |
| as the Lord directed him through Moses. | 17:59 | |
| Here ends the reading of the Old Testament lesson. | 18:02 | |
| The Epistle lesson is from Acts, | 18:06 | |
| chapter 13, verses 14 through 16. | 18:08 | |
| But they passed on from Purga, | 18:13 | |
| and came to Antioch of Pasadea, | 18:15 | |
| and on the Sabbath day, | 18:17 | |
| they went into the synagogue, and sat down. | 18:19 | |
| After the reading of the law and the prophets, | 18:22 | |
| the ruler of the synagogue sent to them, saying, | 18:24 | |
| brethren, if you have any word of exhortation | 18:27 | |
| for the people, say it. | 18:30 | |
| So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, | 18:32 | |
| said, men of Israel, and you that fear God, listen. | 18:35 | |
| Here ends the reading from the second lesson. | 18:41 | |
| (church organ) | 18:59 | |
| (chorus singing over organ) | 19:10 | |
| (chorus singing over organ) | 19:34 | |
| (chorus singing over organ) | 19:57 | |
| (chorus singing a cappella) | 22:36 | |
| (chorus singing over organ) | 23:04 | |
| Will the congregation please stand | 24:11 | |
| for the reading of the Gospel lesson? | 24:13 | |
| The Gospel lesson is from John, | 24:19 | |
| chapter 10, verses 22 through 30. | 24:21 | |
| It was the feast of the dedication | 24:25 | |
| at Jerusalem, it was winter, and Jesus | 24:27 | |
| was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. | 24:30 | |
| So the Jews gathered round him, | 24:33 | |
| and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense? | 24:36 | |
| If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. | 24:40 | |
| Jesus answered them, I told you, and you did not believe. | 24:43 | |
| The works that I do in my father's name, | 24:48 | |
| they bear witness to me, but you do not believe. | 24:51 | |
| Because you do not belong to my sheep. | 24:54 | |
| My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, | 24:57 | |
| and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, | 25:01 | |
| and they shall never perish, and no one | 25:05 | |
| shall snatch them out of my hand. | 25:07 | |
| My father, who has given them to me, | 25:10 | |
| is greater than all, and no one is able | 25:12 | |
| to snatch them out of the father's hand. | 25:15 | |
| I and the father are one. | 25:18 | |
| Here ends the reading from the Gospel lesson, Amen. | 25:21 | |
| (choir singing over church organ) | 25:35 | |
| Bishop | Let us unite our hearts together | 26:33 |
| in a moment of prayerful meditation. | 26:36 | |
| Let the words of our mouths and | 26:40 | |
| the meditations of our hearts | 26:42 | |
| be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, | 26:45 | |
| our strength and our redeemer, Amen. | 26:47 | |
| Dr. Young, Ms. Norman, members of | 26:53 | |
| this significant academic community, | 26:58 | |
| I am profoundly appreciative this morning, | 27:03 | |
| for the privilege to be in this service | 27:05 | |
| of cooperative worship. | 27:08 | |
| And share with you in the unsearchable riches | 27:11 | |
| of the gospel of Christ, as a foundation | 27:15 | |
| for the fulfillment of his will in the Earth, | 27:20 | |
| and the full realization of his creative purposes in us. | 27:26 | |
| It is a bit unusual that I did not to | 27:33 | |
| predict the events, the course of events earlier | 27:37 | |
| when I accepted this invitation. | 27:40 | |
| I don't usually go to visit a church | 27:43 | |
| when I have the preacher on the moving list. | 27:45 | |
| But I did come this morning. | 27:49 | |
| I was impressed with | 27:52 | |
| the very liberal introduction that Dr. Young gave me, | 27:54 | |
| but I just wanna say to him that | 27:58 | |
| it has no real value now. | 28:02 | |
| I've decided that little church that he's going to, | 28:05 | |
| and he didn't need to make an impression on me this morning. | 28:08 | |
| I had five churches that were requesting him, | 28:13 | |
| they were all on the same circuit, | 28:16 | |
| in the same county. | 28:18 | |
| These are days in which we find ourselves | 28:26 | |
| attempt to try to the faith of human beings. | 28:31 | |
| For the rapidity of change, | 28:37 | |
| the occurrences that seem to be tending | 28:40 | |
| to shake the very foundations of the universe, | 28:45 | |
| challenge us in a vivid manner this morning | 28:51 | |
| to seek to find those sources of stability | 28:57 | |
| that will give strength and survival | 29:04 | |
| for God's people in the future | 29:07 | |
| as he continues to be involved | 29:10 | |
| in molding and making human history. | 29:12 | |
| Is our love the vein of that kind of searching? | 29:18 | |
| I want us to think for a few moments | 29:23 | |
| concerning the eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis | 29:25 | |
| and the fourth verse. | 29:30 | |
| And they said, go too. | 29:33 | |
| Let us build us a city, and a tower | 29:36 | |
| whose top may reach unto heaven. | 29:40 | |
| And let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad | 29:44 | |
| upon the face of the whole Earth. | 29:49 | |
| You can immediately envision that the centrality | 29:55 | |
| of this passage | 30:00 | |
| is a certainty of the futility of those | 30:03 | |
| who seek to build their own world | 30:08 | |
| apart from the guidance of God and his spirit. | 30:11 | |
| Now the most interesting and meaningful | 30:16 | |
| characteristics of human history | 30:19 | |
| is a strong and clear affirmation of the fact that | 30:23 | |
| human nature is constituted | 30:28 | |
| in a manner that in some form, | 30:33 | |
| its fundamental traits remain unchanged | 30:36 | |
| by time and changing situations. | 30:39 | |
| Of these inherent traits, none have been | 30:45 | |
| more pronounced and discernable | 30:47 | |
| than the human ambition on the part of each generation | 30:50 | |
| to create its own world. | 30:53 | |
| Doing one's thing is not new, | 30:56 | |
| nor is it an innovative creation | 31:00 | |
| of today's youth and this age. | 31:02 | |
| The desire to build one's own city, | 31:06 | |
| a tower, to make a name, though often expressed | 31:08 | |
| in various and sundry forms, did not end | 31:13 | |
| with the sudden collapse of the tower of Babel. | 31:17 | |
| It has come to vivid appearances | 31:23 | |
| during various periods of history, | 31:25 | |
| in the thought patterns of renowned persons | 31:29 | |
| who sought to realize their dreams and goals, | 31:31 | |
| through various and sundry means. | 31:36 | |
| Handing out in a conspicuous manner | 31:40 | |
| in this galaxy of those who had these | 31:42 | |
| deeply seated ambitions of people | 31:45 | |
| like Sir Thomas Moore, who developed | 31:48 | |
| the idea of a utopia, a perfect state, | 31:52 | |
| a common wealth in which citizens would be governed | 31:56 | |
| by their own standards of what is right, | 31:59 | |
| and would do right simply because it is right. | 32:03 | |
| And Plato who dreamed of a republic, | 32:09 | |
| a perfect state based on reason. | 32:13 | |
| He envisioned a social structure in which | 32:16 | |
| individuals and the state alike | 32:18 | |
| would act justly according with reason. | 32:21 | |
| And such a system however Plato realized that | 32:26 | |
| its success would require | 32:29 | |
| that all rulers become philosophers, | 32:31 | |
| which is quite unlikely. | 32:34 | |
| Standing in a prominent manner among these concepts, | 32:38 | |
| persons who had dreams for the future, | 32:43 | |
| Augustine who envisioned a city of God, | 32:48 | |
| a perfect community built on spiritual principles. | 32:54 | |
| He describes a spiritual city which | 32:58 | |
| had been slowly emerging, but ultimately | 33:01 | |
| include and embrace all of the kingdoms of the world. | 33:05 | |
| The atmosphere of this decade and this century | 33:10 | |
| in which we find ourselves | 33:14 | |
| is highly charged with this kind of adventure. | 33:17 | |
| Especially this is true of the youth of this age. | 33:21 | |
| Ross Snyder in his book entitled Youth and Their Culture, | 33:27 | |
| referred a decade ago to this inner drive | 33:31 | |
| as the force that is motivating young people | 33:34 | |
| to build a culture their own, and he went on | 33:38 | |
| to explore this conclusion to a definition of culture | 33:42 | |
| as that lived moment in culture | 33:47 | |
| which is lived by each person as a self in culture. | 33:53 | |
| This of course means real participation | 33:58 | |
| in every process of life within the human situation. | 34:02 | |
| I think my friends that one of the most | 34:08 | |
| concrete evidences of such state of mind today is | 34:09 | |
| the constant search for the magic words | 34:13 | |
| which might give answers or directions | 34:18 | |
| to achieving the goals of creating new lifestyles | 34:22 | |
| which tend to permit autonomy. | 34:27 | |
| This probably follows the method | 34:31 | |
| of certain television shows, where you see them | 34:33 | |
| prodding individuals, continuing to prod them | 34:37 | |
| to come up with the right word, describe such | 34:41 | |
| commodities as toothpaste. | 34:45 | |
| We want the blueprint for constructing us a tower, | 34:49 | |
| and thereby making us a name. | 34:54 | |
| But like the plan to build a tower of Babel | 34:57 | |
| in New Testament times, there are certain | 35:00 | |
| definite fallacies in any philosophy of life | 35:04 | |
| that seeks to begin from scratch | 35:09 | |
| with no connection with the past. | 35:10 | |
| Such a view of history is just as unreal | 35:15 | |
| and fallacious as the pattern of the Chinese people | 35:18 | |
| who look upon history as a once for all example | 35:22 | |
| for every succeeding generation, whose contributions | 35:27 | |
| can have no value for the present | 35:31 | |
| nor for the future. | 35:34 | |
| For history to be real and alive, | 35:37 | |
| it must be conceived in a total perspective | 35:40 | |
| of the past, the present and the future. | 35:44 | |
| This is simply to say that our heritage | 35:48 | |
| may have meaning and value for contemporary life | 35:51 | |
| within a culture if it does not become the means | 35:54 | |
| of complacency based on noble achievements of the past. | 35:57 | |
| On the other hand, there is a corresponding principle, | 36:04 | |
| which supports the theory that he who goes out | 36:08 | |
| to develop his life, in total isolation of the foundations | 36:11 | |
| that have been laid before him, | 36:16 | |
| is likely to reach a state of utter confusion, | 36:19 | |
| with language confounded and dreams distorted. | 36:22 | |
| There are some magic words, but they are not new. | 36:28 | |
| They are deeply ingrained within the very fiber | 36:33 | |
| and soul and texture of the universe. | 36:36 | |
| And they are not subject to change. | 36:40 | |
| They have been tested by changing times | 36:43 | |
| and changing conditions, and they remain valid. | 36:48 | |
| They remain sources of strength | 36:53 | |
| for those who are seeking to build a life, | 36:57 | |
| and build a world. | 37:01 | |
| One of those magic words, as a part of the Christian faith, | 37:03 | |
| is a constant faith. a constant faith in God. | 37:10 | |
| My friends this morning let us not deceive ourselves, | 37:15 | |
| but let us be assured that God is still at work in the world | 37:20 | |
| seeking to complete his creation, | 37:24 | |
| seeking to bring to realization | 37:28 | |
| the actuality of the design that he set in motion | 37:31 | |
| in creation when he said, let there be light. | 37:35 | |
| And as a pinnacle of that creative idea, | 37:40 | |
| he created man and woman in his image. | 37:43 | |
| He is still trying to help us, to mold our lives | 37:48 | |
| and fashion our future, so as to be in accordance | 37:53 | |
| with his divine plan for each individual. | 37:58 | |
| The magic word still lives. | 38:03 | |
| Faith in God is essential for good living. | 38:08 | |
| Faith in oneself, the potential for growth | 38:13 | |
| and maturity into the full stature | 38:16 | |
| of the will and purpose of God. | 38:20 | |
| And part of that magic word also is | 38:24 | |
| the ability to maintain faith in other people. | 38:27 | |
| This is to view each person | 38:31 | |
| as having the possibility for doing good. | 38:33 | |
| All along the course of his days in the flesh, | 38:37 | |
| Jesus exemplified a faith in the redeemability | 38:41 | |
| of all creatures, | 38:44 | |
| but because of that unswerving confidence, | 38:47 | |
| that is a spark of grace that has the potential | 38:51 | |
| to responding to his call and his will, | 38:55 | |
| that he was willing to go to a cross, | 38:59 | |
| and die to reveal the depth of the father's love. | 39:02 | |
| To actualize that redeemable possibility | 39:07 | |
| in all human beings. | 39:12 | |
| And then there's another magic word | 39:15 | |
| that we should not forget, and that is | 39:17 | |
| a will to work and serve. | 39:19 | |
| This calls for an ethic based on | 39:21 | |
| the call of God to all persons | 39:24 | |
| to be committed to Christian vocation. | 39:27 | |
| It is also an affirmation of one of | 39:30 | |
| the fundamentals of the Gospel, by which | 39:33 | |
| true greatness is determined by dedication | 39:36 | |
| to a role of servitude. | 39:40 | |
| He that would be great among you, let him be your servant. | 39:43 | |
| There still the highest norm of Christian discipleship, | 39:48 | |
| and should continue to be the shibboleth of God's people, | 39:53 | |
| who are committed to the way of the towel and basin | 39:58 | |
| by which he exemplified his humility, | 40:02 | |
| and his will to serve his fellow man. | 40:05 | |
| And then there is another magic word | 40:10 | |
| that stands at a pinnacle above | 40:11 | |
| every other principle of the Christian faith, | 40:14 | |
| and that is a spirit to love. | 40:18 | |
| Now abideth faith, hope, love. | 40:21 | |
| These three, but the greatest of these is love. | 40:27 | |
| That is, this is a better way. | 40:34 | |
| This is a better way that transcends all other ways. | 40:38 | |
| Let love abide. | 40:42 | |
| Love ye one another, for love is of God. | 40:44 | |
| These are virtues that have their initiation | 40:49 | |
| and their influence in the Christian home, | 40:53 | |
| and the impact is continued | 40:56 | |
| in related institutions as the Church | 40:58 | |
| and other orders of society. | 41:00 | |
| They are some of the cardinal elements | 41:03 | |
| of a scale of value, and a philosophy of life | 41:06 | |
| by which human beings, through the power | 41:10 | |
| of the grace of God, may overcome | 41:13 | |
| their sinner pride, the sin that has motivated | 41:16 | |
| individuals, groups, and nations to seek | 41:20 | |
| to make themselves self sustaining | 41:24 | |
| and bigger than they are. | 41:29 | |
| Except for the spirit of Christ, | 41:32 | |
| we've all been touched | 41:36 | |
| by this inner will to determine our own destiny, | 41:38 | |
| to direct our own pathways, but my friends this morning, | 41:43 | |
| like those in the story of the texts, | 41:49 | |
| who sought to build their tower, | 41:52 | |
| the builders of great civilizations in history, | 41:55 | |
| have usually come to learn the hard way, | 42:00 | |
| to learn the unpleasant way that men who seek | 42:04 | |
| to achieve their goals in life through their own | 42:09 | |
| creative devices, their ultimate state becomes | 42:12 | |
| one of failure, one of defeat, and one | 42:18 | |
| of utter disillusionment, just as | 42:22 | |
| the Egyptian Pharaohs, the leaders of Rome and Greece, | 42:25 | |
| came to their end by their selfish pride, | 42:32 | |
| so will modern nations who seek to build their world | 42:36 | |
| and project their future on military power and might, | 42:40 | |
| economic superiority and abundance, | 42:47 | |
| are doomed by the will of him who revealed to the prophet | 42:50 | |
| the truth that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, | 42:54 | |
| just as they are doomed to destruction | 42:59 | |
| in their end | 43:04 | |
| as our predecessors who were blundering builders, | 43:06 | |
| whose ruins stand as a testimony of the futility | 43:10 | |
| of every effort to build a world without God, | 43:15 | |
| to live a life without | 43:21 | |
| the influence of the Christian principles, | 43:22 | |
| such is a certainty. | 43:26 | |
| But the spiritual and moral antithesis | 43:29 | |
| of this prophecy of judgment and doom | 43:31 | |
| is a positive affirmation of the psalmists, | 43:35 | |
| and the prophets, the leaders of the Gospel, | 43:39 | |
| the principle of Jesus, based upon the concept | 43:44 | |
| of the Psalmist, who came to the conclusion, | 43:49 | |
| after realizing that the way of the ungodly | 43:53 | |
| would perish, and not only would the way perish, | 43:57 | |
| but the ungodly would perish with their perishing ways. | 44:00 | |
| But then he comes forth, with a faith | 44:05 | |
| that will stand oppressed by every fool | 44:08 | |
| that does not tremble on the brink of any earthly world. | 44:13 | |
| And he reaffirms the fundamental foundation | 44:18 | |
| of the law of God, which says | 44:24 | |
| the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. | 44:26 | |
| He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. | 44:30 | |
| That bringeth forth his fruit in his season. | 44:34 | |
| His leaves also shall not wither, | 44:38 | |
| whatsoever he doth shall prosper. | 44:41 | |
| Let us build us a tower, let us make us a name? | 44:45 | |
| No, let us build a tower, let us build a life, | 44:51 | |
| let us build a church and build a nation, | 44:56 | |
| and a world on him | 44:59 | |
| who is the source of all good, | 45:03 | |
| and all right. | 45:06 | |
| He who builds the city. | 45:10 |
| - | Without God, labors in vain. | 0:03 |
| He who keeps a city without God | 0:07 | |
| watches in vain. | 0:12 | |
| My friends, today is, | 0:15 | |
| we find ourselves shaking in our boots, | 0:19 | |
| we realize what is happening throughout the world when | 0:24 | |
| murderous movements, murderous spirits | 0:29 | |
| are exerting themselves in the destruction | 0:32 | |
| on human life and property. | 0:36 | |
| Nations are really sitting on powder kegs | 0:39 | |
| with the possibility of destroying each other. | 0:42 | |
| And the ambition to | 0:46 | |
| take the whole world and put it under subjection | 0:50 | |
| on the part of exponents of | 0:55 | |
| selfish ideologies and ways of life, | 0:57 | |
| eating at the very heart of the universe. | 1:01 | |
| I've come this morning to reaffirm to you and to me | 1:05 | |
| that that is a way that seemeth right unto man, | 1:10 | |
| but the end there of is death. | 1:14 | |
| On the other hand, there is a way | 1:17 | |
| that was exemplified by him on a cross on calvary, | 1:21 | |
| a way of love, a way of forgiveness, | 1:26 | |
| rose to the highest point of loving, | 1:29 | |
| reconciling, forgiveness in his dying moments | 1:32 | |
| and cried out as he looked up on them | 1:35 | |
| who nailed him to a cross | 1:38 | |
| and said, father forgive them, | 1:41 | |
| for they know not what they do. | 1:44 | |
| The way of love is still the only | 1:48 | |
| parousia of the ills of our times. | 1:53 | |
| The only butressings and substantiating power | 1:57 | |
| that will give strength and survival | 2:01 | |
| for the future. | 2:05 | |
| Let us build him a tower | 2:07 | |
| that will supersede our human wills | 2:13 | |
| and our human ambitions. | 2:18 | |
| In the name of the father, | 2:20 | |
| and of the son, | 2:22 | |
| and of the holy spirit. | 2:24 | |
| Amen. | 2:27 | |
| (choir singing) | 2:35 | |
| - | With one voice let us affirm what we believe. | 4:51 |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating, | 4:56 | |
| who has come in the truly human Jesus | 5:01 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 5:04 | |
| Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 5:06 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church | 5:10 | |
| to celebrate life in it's fullness, | 5:15 | |
| to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, | 5:18 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 5:24 | |
| our judge and our hope. | 5:27 | |
| In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 5:30 | |
| God is with us, we are not alone. | 5:34 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 5:38 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 5:41 | |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 5:42 |
| - | Let us pray. | 5:44 |
| O God, ever blessing and ever blessed | 5:53 | |
| we pause this day to give you thanks | 5:58 | |
| for all good and sustaining graces which come to us, | 6:01 | |
| those which hold us up and keep us going, | 6:06 | |
| those that change us and make us better persons, | 6:08 | |
| for foods and familiar tastes, | 6:13 | |
| and for new aromas and new experiences open to us, | 6:15 | |
| for homes, for a place of steady support, | 6:20 | |
| and a place where honest healing love can live, | 6:23 | |
| for friendships, for old friends who are helpful, | 6:28 | |
| helpful in their affection and in their correction, | 6:31 | |
| and for new friends who give themselves to us. | 6:36 | |
| For work to do for routine tasks which we do well | 6:39 | |
| and which give order to our lives | 6:43 | |
| and for other tasks for which we fail | 6:45 | |
| which bring a needed humility back to us. | 6:48 | |
| For Jesus Christ who is God with us, | 6:52 | |
| God before us, God behind us, God within us, | 6:55 | |
| God beneath us, God around us, God between us, | 6:59 | |
| calling us and drawing us to love God | 7:05 | |
| and to love one another. | 7:08 | |
| Oh blessed Lord our God as this semester | 7:13 | |
| and this year come to a close for many of us, | 7:15 | |
| we give you thanks for all the holy moments | 7:17 | |
| and sacred place we have known. | 7:20 | |
| For all loving and caring and sustaining friendships | 7:23 | |
| that have touched us along the way, | 7:26 | |
| for new insights and knowledge, | 7:29 | |
| for new faith and renewed hope, | 7:31 | |
| for new depths of love and intimacy | 7:33 | |
| that we have been privileged to experience. | 7:35 | |
| Oh God now bless in special ways | 7:40 | |
| those who come to times of testing and examination | 7:44 | |
| and the writing of papers, | 7:47 | |
| give each student a clear mind and heart, | 7:49 | |
| steady and perceptive thinking and expressing | 7:53 | |
| and the calm ability to respond as needed and expected. | 7:56 | |
| Bless those who evaluate and grade. | 8:01 | |
| Give them fair and supportive judgment, | 8:04 | |
| honest and understanding decisions | 8:06 | |
| and help them to care, to really care, | 8:09 | |
| more about students than sentences | 8:13 | |
| and more about them as people | 8:16 | |
| than about them as grades or papers or numbers. | 8:17 | |
| Bless and support each one this week and in the days to come | 8:22 | |
| who feels tension or pressure or strain. | 8:26 | |
| And God we would remember those who's lives | 8:31 | |
| have been tormented and disrupted | 8:34 | |
| and have experienced pain because of the tragedy in Lebanon. | 8:36 | |
| Those who come home, those who remind us that this world | 8:41 | |
| does need love and not hate, | 8:45 | |
| that this world indeed does need peace and not war, | 8:49 | |
| that this world needs friendships and not enmity. | 8:54 | |
| God bless all who's lives are torn and warped | 8:59 | |
| this day we pray. | 9:04 | |
| And now oh Lord continue to bless us, | 9:07 | |
| give to us that resurrection song that says Christ lives, | 9:10 | |
| Christ surely lives and because he lives, | 9:15 | |
| we also may live. | 9:19 | |
| We pray in the name of Christ who taught us | 9:23 | |
| to pray together saying: | 9:25 | |
| Our Father, who art in heaven, | 9:28 | |
| hallowed be thy name, | 9:31 | |
| thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 9:33 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 9:36 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread. | 9:39 | |
| And forgive us our trespasses, | 9:42 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 9:44 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, | 9:48 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 9:51 | |
| For thine is the kingdom and the glory forever. | 9:53 | |
| Amen. | 9:57 | |
| (choir singing) | 10:15 | |
| - | O blessed Lord our God, | 16:37 |
| accept we pray you these our gifts of money | 16:40 | |
| and these gift of ourselves which we make just now | 16:44 | |
| and help us to give to you this week a faithful stewardship | 16:48 | |
| of our time, our talents, | 16:52 | |
| our minds, our bodies, and our spirits | 16:55 | |
| through Jesus Christ the Lord of all of life. | 16:59 | |
| We pray amen. | 17:04 | |
| (choir singing) | 17:09 | |
| - | And now without bowing heads or closing eyes | 20:40 |
| may I in the name of Christ offer you this blessing? | 20:42 | |
| The grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, | 20:47 | |
| the love of God, | 20:51 | |
| the communion and fellowship of the holy spirit | 20:53 | |
| be with you and those whom you love | 20:57 | |
| this day and forever more. | 21:01 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 21:05 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 21:09 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 21:13 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 21:18 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 21:23 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 21:28 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 21:37 | |
| (organ playing) | 21:49 | |
| (audience applauding) | 25:54 |