W. Kenneth Goodson - "Life Can Be Made Over" (October 30, 1983)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (2)
- MP3 Part 1
- MP3 Part 2
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4ht2gs39?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4ht2gs39
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(reverberating organ music)	0:06
	(reverent organ music)	4:48
	(reverberating choral music)	8:22
	(organ music interlude)	9:55
	(soaring choral music)	10:21
-	We are gathered to worship God with minds and hearts,	13:52
	set on many things.	13:56
	Joy and sadness, faith and doubt, guilt and forgiveness,	13:58
	private concerns and social problems, severe temptations	14:04
	and gloriously constructive opportunities.	14:10
	God bids you a cordial welcome on this day,	14:15
	and promises to meet you helpfully at the point	14:20
	of your most pressing needs.	14:22
	Let us worship God.	14:26
	Praying together as a community of faith	14:39
	our prayer of confession, keeping in mind that the god	14:41
	to whom we pray is a god of mercy,	14:46
	a god of deep compassion, a god of grace.	14:50
	Praying together:	14:55
	oh God, in history as in the heavens,	14:58
	desiring to repent, we confess now our sin.	15:01
	You create us to be free, but we abuse your gift.	15:06
	We are an obstinate people, quick to claim your mercy,	15:11
	yet willing to settle for cheap grace.	15:16
	We are fickle disciples,	15:20
	caring when it is easy, aloof when caring will be costly.	15:22
	Called to be children of light, we embrace the shadows.	15:28
	Pardon, oh lord, our transgressions.	15:33
	Remove from us the burden of our failures.	15:37
	By the promptings of your holy spirit,	15:41
	make us a new creation.	15:43
	Through him who comes to find and redeem what is lost,	15:46
	Jesus the Christ, amen.	15:51
	My sisters and my brothers, know, believe, experience	16:35
	within yourselves the good news,	16:39
	that in Jesus Christ, who is our lord and our redeemer,	16:42
	we are forgiven.	16:46
	Let us give thanks for God is good,	16:50
	and God's love is everlasting.	16:52
	Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.	16:55
	Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us.	16:59
	Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future.	17:03
	32 to 26.	17:14
	Frankly, those numbers make it much easier to welcome you	17:17
	to homecoming weekend.	17:22
	Our thanks to Ben Bennet and gang, for that score.	17:25
	We do welcome you who are returning to the campus	17:32
	for the first time in some time.	17:35
	We're glad to have you back.	17:38
	We sense that there are good things taking place.	17:41
	That old friendships are being renewed.	17:45
	That new friendships are being born.	17:48
	And for these things, we are grateful.	17:51
	And on this 23rd Sunday after Pentecost,	17:54
	this homecoming weekend, we welcome you to Duke Chapel,	17:57
	and this place of worship.	18:02
	I would draw your attention especially to the students	18:05
	in the congregation this morning,	18:08
	to the announcement regarding the designation of June 15th	18:10
	as the Sunday on which the student preacher will preach	18:15
	here in Duke Chapel.	18:19
	You will note that you will be able to get application forms	18:22
	with other information from the chapel office,	18:27
	in the basement of the chapel.	18:30
	And that the deadline for submitting that application	18:33
	in your name is October the 31st.	18:36
	In other words, tomorrow.	18:39
	So we encourage you who are interested in preaching	18:41
	on student Sunday to get the information	18:43
	and the application form sometime tomorrow.	18:47
	It is with considerable pleasure that I introduce	18:54
	and welcome to our pulpit this morning	18:59
	our guest preacher, Bishop W. Kenneth Goodson.	19:02
	Bishop Goodson, as you will note in the bulletin,	19:07
	has a distinguished career as an administrator,	19:11
	as one who has cared for his people,	19:17
	and as bishop in residence, we are coming to know him	19:21
	as most especially a pastor, a man who is available	19:25
	to those of us at this school in times of crisis	19:30
	and also in times of considerable celebration.	19:37
	We are, indeed, grateful to welcome Bishop Goodson	19:41
	to the pulpit this morning.	19:46
	We look forward to his preaching of the word.	19:48
-	Let us pray.	20:02
	Oh God, you who commanded the light to shine out	20:05
	of darkness, shine into our hearts,	20:09
	to give the light of the knowledge of your glory,	20:11
	and the face of Jesus Christ, amen.	20:14
	The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah.	20:19
	Chapter 18, verses one through six.	20:22
	The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,	20:26
	arise and go down to the potter's house,	20:29
	and there I will let you hear my words.	20:33
	So I went down to the potter's house,	20:36
	and there he was, working at his wheel.	20:38
	And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled	20:41
	in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into	20:44
	another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.	20:48
	Then the word of the Lord came to me:	20:53
	O, house of Israel, can I not do with you	20:56
	as this potter has done, says the Lord.	20:59
	Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand,	21:02
	so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.	21:05
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	21:09
	The New Testament lesson is from Revelation,	21:13
	chapter 21, verses one through five-A.	21:17
	Then I saw a new heaven and a new Earth,	21:21
	for the first heaven and the first Earth had passed away.	21:24
	And the sea was no more.	21:27
	And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,	21:29
	coming down out of heaven from God,	21:32
	prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,	21:34
	and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying:	21:37
	behold, the dwelling of God is with men.	21:40
	He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.	21:43
	And God himself will be with them.	21:46
	He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,	21:48
	and death shall be no more.	21:51
	Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying,	21:53
	nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.	21:56
	And he who sat upon the throne said:	22:00
	behold, I make all things new.	22:03
	Here ends the reading from the New Testament.	22:06
	(somber organ music)	22:19
	(reverent choral music)	22:28
	Will the congregation please stand	24:48
	for the reading of the gospel lesson.	24:50
	Gospel lesson is from Luke, chapter 19,	24:57
	verses one through 10.	25:02
	He entered Jericho and was passing through,	25:04
	and there was a man named Zacchaeus.	25:07
	He was a chief tax collector, and rich.	25:10
	And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not,	25:13
	on account of the crowd, because he was of small stature.	25:17
	So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree	25:21
	to see him, for he was to pass that way.	25:25
	And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said	25:28
	to him: Zacchaeus, make haste and come down,	25:32
	for I must stay at your house today.	25:36
	So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.	25:39
	And when they saw it, they all murmured:	25:43
	he has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.	25:46
	And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord,	25:49
	behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor,	25:52
	and if I have defrauded anyone of anything,	25:57
	I restore it fourfold.	26:00
	And Jesus said to him: today, salvation has come	26:03
	to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.	26:07
	For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.	26:12
	Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson.	26:16
	Amen.	26:19
	(echoing organ music)	26:20
	(soaring choral music)	26:29
-	The words that came from Jeremiah from the Lord said:	27:39
	arise and go down to the potter's house.	27:42
	And there I will let you hear my words.	27:47
	So, I went down to the potter's house	27:51
	and there he was working at his wheel.	27:53
	And the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled	27:57
	in the potter's hand, and they reworked it	28:00
	into another vessel, as it seemed good to him.	28:03
	Then the word of the Lord came to me and said:	28:08
	O, house of Israel, can I not do for you	28:11
	what this potter has done with the clay?	28:17
	Now, I begin by saying to you what a frightening	28:23
	joy it is to always preach in the Duke Chapel.	28:25
	And what a joy homecoming weekend has been,	28:31
	as we were making out way to the car yesterday afternoon,	28:33
	after the game, we found the goalposts	28:36
	on the steps of the chapel.	28:40
	(laughing)	28:43
	And being one who is interested in theology,	28:44
	I turned and said to my wife:	28:47
	what a burnt offering to bring to the Lord.	28:49
	(laughing)	28:52
	What a joyous weekend it has been for all of us	28:53
	who live here, and what a great thrill it is	28:55
	to have all of you back.	28:58
	Many of you to whom your religious heritage will date	29:01
	back to the chapel, as does mine,	29:05
	will know what an unusual experience it is to be here,	29:08
	and to be a part of this worshiping community.	29:12
	There is a little town about 100 miles away from here.	29:16
	Not very much of a little town, just a little town.	29:19
	It is a little community called Jugtown.	29:25
	It's not very big, no one's ever really taken	29:29
	the population, but it happens to be surrounded	29:32
	by an unusual deposit of clay.	29:36
	And across a good many years, people who live	29:40
	in that part of America have made	29:43
	their living by being potters.	29:44
	And some of them in family relationships	29:48
	that date back hundreds of years.	29:51
	I go every now and again to Jugtown,	29:56
	so that I can stand at the potter's wheel,	29:59
	and watch him as he does his thing.	30:02
	Some while ago in the Washington Art Gallery,	30:06
	as I was making my way through, I came upon a young man,	30:10
	seated at a bench.	30:13
	In front of him were two potter's wheels.	30:16
	A longer one below, and a smaller one at the top.	30:20
	Two of them connected with a shaft.	30:23
	It was the ancient tool of his handicraft.	30:27
	He was spinning the wheel and shaping the clay,	30:29
	as hundreds of generations of potters had done before him.	30:32
	And when I stood there, I realized that I was seeing	30:37
	almost precisely what the prophet Jeremiah saw,	30:40
	as he strolled down to the potter's house.	30:43
	I stood there for a little while as I'd done in Jugtown,	30:47
	many times across my life,	30:50
	and speculated on what the prophet was thinking.	30:52
	He was thinking about his land, and for him,	30:57
	he was thinking about Israel.	31:00
	For me, I'm thinking about America.	31:01
	And the destiny of Israel was now in question,	31:04
	and the potter brought it all to Jeremiah's mind.	31:09
	Even as clay in the hands of the potter,	31:15
	so is Israel clay in the hands of God.	31:20
	He asked the question that you and I ask about our own land	31:26
	and our own nation today: was she being shaped	31:29
	by a power over which she had no control?	31:33
	Or was she actually hopeless in the hands of an iron fate?	31:38
	But as he stood there and as he watched the potter	31:45
	doing his thing, he saw an unusual thing happen.	31:47
	Imperfections appeared in the clay.	31:51
	Whatever it was that marred the vessel,	31:56
	the vessel was now fit, perhaps, only to be thrown away,	32:00
	or to be called unusable material.	32:03
	It wasn't good clay any longer.	32:05
	It had marred itself by its own bias.	32:08
	It had marred itself by its own prejudice,	32:11
	it had marred itself by whatever imperfections	32:13
	there are in human life.	32:17
	And was that to be Israel's fate, Jeremiah said to himself.	32:22
	Was she a nation not fit to be anything else	32:26
	but a human failure?	32:28
	And then Jeremiah saw something else happen.	32:31
	He saw the potter take the broken clay	32:34
	and remove the imperfections and shape it again	32:36
	and place it back on the wheel.	32:40
	He saw the potter give the shaft a kick,	32:45
	and with his delicate fingers, he watched the potter	32:47
	as he shaped the clay again, and a form of rare beauty	32:50
	gradually emerged from what had been	32:53
	an unusable bit of material.	32:55
	There, said Jeremiah, is the message for Israel.	33:00
	There I say is the message for America.	33:04
	She has the opportunity of God to make her over again.	33:08
	Jeremiah was laying hold upon a deep truth.	33:13
	We shall pursue it in our own modern way,	33:17
	and pursue it under the deep conviction	33:19
	that life can be made over.	33:21
	The real enemies of life, in the final analysis	33:24
	are two old and familiar ones.	33:27
	One is fatalism, and the other is pessimism.	33:29
	And the creative life in God in the 20th century	33:36
	must find itself facing both of them.	33:38
	Fatalism is always based upon a half-truth.	33:41
	The half-truth being that it makes no difference	33:44
	what you do, that time is not in your hands.	33:46
	There is nothing you can do about your own destiny,	33:49
	about your own tomorrow, about your own future.	33:52
	God's in his heaven, but nothing's right with the world,	33:56
	and there isn't anything very much that you can do about it.	33:59
	Fatalism is a kind of an idea that reminds us	34:04
	that there are forces over which we have no control,	34:06
	that determine our own destiny.	34:09
	It is a half-truth.	34:11
	We did not choose to be born.	34:13
	But what we do with our life, whether we see it	34:16
	in terms of possibilities or whether we make choices	34:18
	up or down the level, all of that makes a difference.	34:21
	And no one should ever remind me of the half-truth,	34:24
	that it does not matter who I am or what I am.	34:28
	This is our chances, we'll go down to the potter's house	34:33
	to give the lie to fatalism; life can be made over.	34:37
	I was reading not very long ago a book by a man named	34:42
	Marleson, entitled: Admiral of the Ocean Sea.	34:44
	He's talking about the life of Christopher Columbus.	34:50
	And at the close of his book, he quotes out of the	34:53
	Nuremberg Chronicle,	34:56
	dated July the 12th, 1493.	34:59
	And this has been, as I understand it, 490 years ago.	35:07
	May I read you the leading editorial out	35:10
	of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 490 years ago?	35:12
	Lest anybody feel really an unjustified optimism,	35:16
	the Nuremberg Chronicle places the year 1493	35:22
	in the sixth age of the world.	35:27
	At that time, there begins a prophecy of the seventh age.	35:31
	The prophecy is this: only the wicked will prosper.	35:37
	Good men will fall into contempt.	35:43
	There will be no faith, no law, no justice,	35:47
	no peace, no humanity, no humility, no shame.	35:50
	No truth.	35:55
	And no living man will live the good life.	35:58
	490 years ago, fatalism was at its heights.	36:03
	But even at that moment when the Nuremberg Chronicle	36:08
	was telling what the seventh age that you and I report of	36:11
	was going to be, Christopher Columbus was sailing	36:14
	the high seas, and the world was being made over again	36:17
	by the potter.	36:22
	And then came an enlightened of Britain,	36:25
	and then came America, and then came the Wesleys,	36:27
	and then came Louis Pasteur and then came Benjamin Franklin,	36:30
	and then came Thomas Jefferson,	36:33
	and then came George Washington,	36:35
	and then came all the magnificent discoveries	36:37
	of science and human values.	36:40
	And the Nuremberg Chronicle, it was wrong.	36:45
	Life was made over again by the potter.	36:47
	The other enemy of life is pessimism.	36:53
	It is that kind of an attitude and that kind of a spirit	36:57
	that almost dominates us.	36:59
	And to be perfectly frank about it,	37:04
	pessimism has some ground on which to stand.	37:05
	Let us concede that man has a great power to do evil,	37:08
	and he does it.	37:12
	But that doesn't mean that he's hopeless.	37:15
	I refuse and shall refuse as long as I live	37:19
	to believe that man is completely hopeless,	37:22
	that man is utterly hopeless.	37:24
	Pat O'Brien was one of my favorite actors.	37:26
	And I remember when he did Newt Rockne,	37:30
	and that other man who did George Gibb.	37:33
	Pat O'Brien died within the last fortnight,	37:38
	and at his funeral, they quoted out of an address	37:42
	that Pat O'Brien did when he received an honorary degree	37:45
	from Notre Dame.	37:48
	I refuse to be hopeless, said Pat O'Brien,	37:51
	for I have arrived at the conclusion	37:56
	that to be hopeless is the horror of life.	37:59
	Pessimism has written no hymns.	38:06
	There are no anthems by pessimism or fatalism.	38:10
	There are no cathedrals built in their honors,	38:14
	there are no homecomings.	38:17
	Nevermore than now do we need to assert the fact	38:22
	that we are the opportunities of God, to be made over.	38:25
	I got a copy the other day of a letter that a preacher	38:30
	friend of mine had gotten from a young man in his church	38:33
	who had been something of an unusual cynic.	38:37
	They'd spend many hours in counseling,	38:41
	but he remained a cynic.	38:43
	He just was going to be a cynic.	38:44
	And then he went away for a long trip and finally,	38:46
	he wrote his minister:	38:50
	I've had an unusual journey since I saw you last.	38:54
	And the stimulation for it has been in the meeting	38:59
	of the masses, as I have stubbornly called them.	39:02
	The amazing thing about it is that I have found them	39:11
	to be so good.	39:14
	I tell you now that Lincoln and Jefferson,	39:18
	and the man that you tried to tell me about	39:25
	who lived a couple of thousand years ago,	39:27
	are in the final analysis, right.	39:31
	There is only one hope for the world, he writes.	39:38
	And that lies in tearing off the fetters that thwart	39:43
	and bind the innate goodness of the average man.	39:46
	I've found sensitivity, he says, in a Brooklyn bartender,	39:48
	in a New Jersey truck driver, and a Broadway bookie	39:51
	and their goodness amazed me.	39:55
	There is a considerateness and a respect	39:58
	for the other fellow, in the average man,	40:01
	that I had never suspected until I came in contact	40:03
	with a large number of average men.	40:06
	And all of this has lent conviction to my faith	40:11
	that democracy remains the most adequate theory	40:13
	of government, and that the possibilities to realize	40:16
	are near its system, are limited only by the nature	40:19
	of mankind itself.	40:22
	The nature of mankind, I am finding to be basically good.	40:26
	Your friend, a former cynic.	40:34
	The potter is still at the wheel.	40:39
	I wrote in with pencil early this morning,	40:43
	when I was going over what I wanted to say to you,	40:45
	that I changed my mind about truck drivers.	40:48
	All they've ever done was block the road.	40:54
	And hog the path.	40:59
	Until in the early years of my ministry,	41:03
	I became the minister of a church	41:05
	that was predominantly occupied by truck drivers.	41:07
	Thus a cynical youth can be brought out of a life	41:16
	that can be made over out of stuff like that.	41:18
	So after reading the material, reading the letter	41:21
	from the cynic to the preacher, I wrote him a letter	41:24
	and I said: ask your young friend,	41:26
	where did the master obtain his material to work with?	41:28
	Not many high and mighty were called.	41:33
	But a crooked tax collector.	41:37
	A woman taken in sin.	41:41
	A group of unlettered fisherman who never would	41:44
	have been nominated for anybody's board of deacons.	41:46
	And yet Jesus gave them a new set of values,	41:52
	a new understanding of the meaning of life.	41:55
	A new relationship to life itself.	41:57
	He made life over for them.	42:00
	And sent them out to see if they could have any influence	42:05
	on human history.	42:07
	Talk about a man that do love Jesus.	42:14
	There were some.	42:19
	It is with such a faith that we must enter,	42:23
	it seems to me, the uncertainties of our own times.	42:25
	We will forever have to repudiate the belief	42:29
	that the cards are stacked against us and that the dice	42:34
	are loaded, but rather with our hearts and our minds,	42:37
	we must face the most titanic struggle of all human history.	42:40
	And with sure faith that life can be made over again.	42:46
	We live in a strange world.	42:52
	It is a world that you describe in your own experience,	42:56
	day after day, and I describe in mine.	42:58
	It is no compliment to me that I never heard of Grenada.	43:02
	And though I have sailed the seas,	43:10
	that surround Lebanon, and I have found that of all	43:14
	the cities on this Earth that I have visited	43:19
	in the course of my life, Beirut is the loveliest.	43:21
	Scarcely a person will escape having his life situation	43:32
	unaffected, but with what attitude shall we face the future?	43:37
	Shall we do it with an attitude of pessimism,	43:45
	or shall we do it with an attitude of fatalism?	43:47
	These stifle and kill the soul.	43:50
	They will not do.	43:52
	I will bring my goalpost to the altar of the church.	43:55
	For it alone tells me about human values that are lasting,	44:04
	about decencies that are never out of style.	44:09
	About human conduct that isn't archaic.	44:14
	So the answer for you and the answer for me	44:20
	is in neither fatalism nor pessimism,	44:22
	though I have a kind of a contagion for both of them.	44:24
	But refuse to submit to it.	44:29
	The answer lies somewhere else for the embattled men	44:33
	and women of our day.	44:36
	We must go to the rich resources of the human spirit,	44:39
	and when we get there, we will find not fatalism,	44:44
	with its impersonal authority,	44:46
	nor pessimism with its fiendish grin,	44:50
	but we shall find a hand that reaches out	44:54
	to grasp your hand,	44:58
	and we shall hear a voice	45:02
	replying to your voice.	45:04
	And we shall look into the eyes of one who seems to know.	45:09
	And to understand.	45:14
	And he will tell us that out of the creative spirit	45:18
	comes the word of the Lord,	45:21
	and that word is that life can be made over.	45:24
	There is a little town not far away from here.	45:33
	Called Jugtown.	45:37
	And every now and again,	45:41
	when I grow weary of life, I ride down there.	45:46
	And stand by the potter's wheel.	45:52
	It reminds me of who I am.	45:57
	And whose I am.	46:02
	And I come home humming: have thine own way, Lord.	46:06
	Have thine own way.	46:13
	Thou art the potter, and I am the clay.	46:17
	Mold me and make me,	46:22
	after thy will.	46:27
	For I am waiting, and yielded,	46:30
	and I am still.	46:36
	So have thine own way, Lord.	46:38
	Have thine own way.	46:42
	Hold o'er my being, all of my being, absolute sway.	46:46
	Fill with thy spirit,	46:52
	til all shall see,	46:55
	Christ only, always,	47:00
	living in me.	47:06
	That's who I am.	47:09
	That's whose I am.	47:11
	Amen.	47:14
	(somber organ music)	47:24
	(echoing choral music)	47:57

	(congregation sings)	0:03
-	As the people of God,	1:49
	let us affirm what we believe.	1:51
-	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	1:55
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	2:00
	to reconcile and make new,	2:03
	who works in us and others by the sprit.	2:06
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	2:10
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	2:15
	to love and serve others,	2:18
	to seek justice and resist evil,	2:20
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	2:24
	our judge and our hope.	2:28
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	2:31
	God is with us, we are not alone.	2:35
	Thanks be to God.	2:39
-	The Lord be with you.	2:42
-	And also with you.	2:44
-	Let us pray.	2:46
	Oh God, enteral and changeless,	3:02
	who through ever-changing scenes of life	3:06
	and joy and pain,	3:10
	of effort and rest,	3:12
	continues to lead your people	3:14
	to a nobler destiny	3:17
	than any of us ever of ourselves can conceive.	3:19
	Grant that having our minds steadfastly set	3:24
	upon your commandments	3:28
	and being continually directed by your voice	3:30
	speaking to us, even in the events of this hour,	3:34
	that we may meet with courage	3:39
	whatever the days may bring,	3:42
	of evil or of good,	3:45
	being afraid of nothing	3:48
	that others or the world may do or threaten	3:50
	and fearful only of falling below those things	3:56
	which you have prepared for us	4:00
	and set forth in the gospel of your Son,	4:02
	our Savior, Jesus Christ.	4:06
	For the coming days cause your grace,	4:10
	oh, Almighty God, to triumph over our infirmities	4:13
	and grant us inwardly such increased steadfastness	4:19
	and in our lives such a larger harvest of good	4:24
	that through sunshine and storm	4:29
	we may trust and not be afraid.	4:32
	We may work and not be weary,	4:36
	suffer and not complain,	4:39
	overcome evil with patience	4:42
	and in humility and peace possess our souls	4:46
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	4:51
	To you, most gracious God,	4:54
	we dedicate ourselves and all that we have	4:57
	beseeching you to guide our hands,	5:02
	our minds and our whole energies	5:04
	to those things which are worthy of ourselves	5:08
	and pleasing to you	5:13
	through Jesus Christ our Lord	5:15
	who taught us to pray saying.	5:18
-	Our Father, who art in heaven,	5:21
	hallowed be thy name,	5:24
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done	5:26
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	5:30
	Give us this day our daily bread	5:32
	and forgive us our trespasses	5:35
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	5:38
	and lead us not into temptation	5:41
	but deliver us from evil	5:44
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	5:46
	and the glory forever.	5:50
	Amen.	5:52
	(tranquil organ music)	6:15
	(choir sings)	7:31
	♪ Show me the way ♪	8:43
	♪ Show me the way ♪	8:47
	♪ Show me the way ♪	8:50
	♪ To eternal kingdom, Lord ♪	8:52
	♪ Show me the way to eternal kingdom, Lord ♪	8:54
	♪ Show me the way ♪	8:57
	♪ Oh my good Lord ♪	8:59
	♪ Show me the way ♪	9:00
	♪ Oh my good Lord ♪	9:02
	♪ Show me the way ♪	9:04
	♪ My, my good Lord ♪	9:05
	♪ Show me the way ♪	9:07
	♪ To eternal kingdom, Lord ♪	9:09
	♪ Show me the way ♪	9:11
	♪ To eternal kingdom, Lord ♪	9:12
	♪ Show me the way ♪	9:14
	♪ If you think that I am going astray ♪	9:16
	♪ Show me the way ♪	9:21
	♪ Guide me with your hands ♪	9:23
	♪ And show me, show me the way ♪	9:26
	♪ I am weak ♪	9:30
	♪ Thou art strong ♪	9:32
	♪ You need me, Lord ♪	9:34
	♪ Come on and show me ♪	9:37
	♪ Please, show me ♪	9:41
	♪ Show me the way ♪	9:43
	♪ Show me, when I get on my knees ♪	9:47
	♪ When I get on my knees to pray ♪	9:49
	♪ Teach me, my star ♪	9:53
	♪ From day to day ♪	9:56
	♪ Lord, show me the way ♪	9:59
	♪ My friends become untrue ♪	10:04
	♪ And I don't know what to do ♪	10:06
	♪ Strengthen, Lord, my faith in you ♪	10:10
	♪ Show me the way ♪	10:14
	♪ I am weak ♪	10:17
	♪ Thou art strong ♪	10:18
	♪ You need me, oh ♪	10:20
	♪ Show me ♪	10:24
	♪ Please show me ♪	10:28
	♪ Show me the way ♪	10:29
	♪ Show me ♪	10:33
	♪ When I get on my knees to pray ♪	10:35
	♪ Teach me, my star ♪	10:39
	♪ Day to day ♪	10:43
	♪ Show me the way ♪	10:46
	♪ When my friends have become untrue ♪	10:49
	♪ And I don't know what to do ♪	10:52
	♪ Strengthen, Lord, my faith in you ♪	10:56
	♪ Show me the way ♪	11:00
	♪ I am weak ♪	11:03
	♪ Thou art strong ♪	11:04
	♪ You need me, oh ♪	11:06
	♪ Show me ♪	11:11
	♪ Please, show me ♪	11:14
	♪ Show me the way ♪	11:16
	♪ Oh, my good Lord ♪	11:18
	♪ Show me the way ♪	11:20
	♪ Oh, my good Lord ♪	11:21
	♪ Show me the way ♪	11:23
	♪ My, my good Lord ♪	11:24
	♪ Show me the way ♪	11:27
	♪ To enjoy ♪	11:28
	♪ Show me the way ♪	11:30
	♪ To eternal kingdom, Lord ♪	11:31
	♪ Show me ♪	11:34
	♪ When my friends become untrue ♪	11:36
	♪ And I don't know what to do ♪	11:39
	♪ Show me ♪	11:42
	♪ Show me ♪	11:44
	♪ The kingdom, Lord ♪	11:46
	♪ Show me the way ♪	11:48
	♪ The kingdom ♪	11:50
	♪ Show me ♪	11:51
	♪ The kingdom, Lord, show me the way ♪	11:53
	♪ The kingdom, Lord, show me the way ♪	11:57
	♪ The kingdom, show me the way ♪	12:00
	♪ To eternal kingdom, Lord ♪	12:03
	♪ Show me the way ♪	12:04
	♪ Help me, my star ♪	12:06
	♪ Show me the way ♪	12:08
	♪ When my friends become untrue ♪	12:09
	♪ And I don't know what to do ♪	12:13
	♪ Just show me ♪	12:16
	♪ Show me the way ♪	12:18
	♪ Show me ♪	12:20
	♪ Show me, oh ♪	12:22
	♪ To eternal ♪	12:29
	♪ Your ♪	12:41
	♪ Kingdom, Lord ♪	12:49
	♪ Show ♪	12:57
	♪ Me ♪	13:00
	♪ Please, show me, show me, show me ♪	13:02
	♪ Show me ♪	13:06
	♪ The ♪	13:17
	♪ Way ♪	13:26
	(clapping)	13:42
	(lively organ music)	14:06
	(congregation sings)	14:25
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	14:37
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	14:40
	(congregation sings)	14:45
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	14:58
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	15:01
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	15:04
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	15:08
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	15:11
-	Accept these offerings, we beseech you, oh Lord	15:34
	and mercifully direct and enable us	15:38
	by your Holy Spirit	15:41
	that by all things which we do in your name	15:43
	may be truly fashioned in you	15:47
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	15:49
	Amen.	15:52
	(lively organ music)	15:57
	(congregation sings)	16:46
	The peace of God which passes all understanding	19:32
	keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge	19:37
	and love of God	19:40
	and the blessings of God Almighty,	19:42
	creator, redeemer, sustainer,	19:46
	be among you and remain with you always.	19:50
	♪ Amen ♪	19:58
	♪ Amen ♪	20:10
	♪ Amen ♪	20:24
	♪ Amen ♪	20:39
	♪ Amen ♪	20:56
	♪ Amen ♪	21:15
	(lively organ music)	21:41
	(people murmuring)	28:35

Item Info

Title:

W. Kenneth Goodson - "Life Can Be Made Over" (October 30, 1983)

Description:

The preacher focusses on the passage in Jeremiah about the potter and the clay to assert that we need to reject a spirit of fatalism or pessimism and believe in the innate goodness of humankind and God's power to make the world new. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 27:40. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 47:14.
Key quotation: “Nevermore than now do we need to assert the fact that we are the opportunities of God to be made over.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4ht2gs39

Date:

October 30, 1983

Speaker:

Goodson, W. Kenneth

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0176
ref7875_lu1
uachapelsermaud
duke:320973
dcrau001167
ark:/87924/r4ht2gs39
2942fae5-c4b4-47e4-82d2-f797b3363faa

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection