Carole Cotton-Winn - "Knowing When to Rise" (January 22, 1984)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music) | 0:02 | |
(choir sings) | 13:42 | |
(playful organ music) | 14:35 | |
(organ and choir together) | 15:17 | |
- | Oh magnify the lord with me, | 18:38 |
and let us exalt God's name together. | 18:41 | |
For with God is the fountain of life. | 18:44 | |
In God's light do we see light. | 18:48 | |
From the rising of the sun, to its setting, | 18:52 | |
let the name of the lord be praised. | 18:55 | |
Now let us confess our sins before almighty God, | 19:00 | |
and in the presence of one another, let us pray. | 19:04 | |
Lord God, whose mercy is everlasting, | 19:19 | |
whose love surpasses our understanding, | 19:22 | |
we confess that we are uncertain and faithless servants, | 19:26 | |
ignoring the burdens of others, | 19:31 | |
we set our hearts on our own comfort, | 19:33 | |
so as long as we are not their victims, | 19:37 | |
we are patient with injustice and tolerant of war. | 19:39 | |
We see our sisters and brothers hungry, or poor, | 19:44 | |
or lonely, and do not help them. | 19:48 | |
Oh Lord, we regret our callousness. | 19:51 | |
We pray for new hearts, that we will see | 19:55 | |
our neighbor's needs and new strength to meet them. | 19:58 | |
Through Jesus Christ our lord, amen. | 20:02 | |
For as the heavens are high above the Earth, | 20:31 | |
so great is God's steadfast love | 20:35 | |
toward those who fear God. | 20:38 | |
As far as the east is from the west, | 20:41 | |
so far does God remove our transgressions from us. | 20:44 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. | 20:49 | |
Let us then give thanks, for God is good, | 20:54 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 20:58 | |
Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. | 21:01 | |
Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us. | 21:06 | |
Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 21:10 | |
We welcome you this beautiful cold morning | 21:17 | |
to worship here with us in Duke University Chapel. | 21:21 | |
We are glad that you have come to be with us. | 21:25 | |
It is now the third Sunday after Epiphany, | 21:28 | |
where we seek signs of God's light and life | 21:32 | |
in our lives and presence. | 21:36 | |
There is a change in the hymn | 21:40 | |
following the sermon today. | 21:42 | |
The hymn number we shall sing | 21:45 | |
is number 342 titled Go Make of All Disciples. | 21:48 | |
I'm very pleased to welcome and to introduce | 21:56 | |
to you this morning the reverend Carole Cotton-Winn. | 22:00 | |
She is our guest preacher from the day, | 22:05 | |
and comes to us from the Louisiana Conference | 22:08 | |
of the United Methodist Church. | 22:12 | |
She is currently co-pastor with her husband, John, | 22:15 | |
of the First United Methodist Church of Houma. | 22:19 | |
Carole has been a model for many clergywomen | 22:25 | |
in our denomination across the years. | 22:29 | |
She is a warm pastor, a gifted preacher, | 22:32 | |
and has served the church on many boards | 22:37 | |
and agencies, and throughout her pastorates | 22:40 | |
in the Louisiana Conference. | 22:44 | |
She and her husband John are in their sixth year | 22:47 | |
pastoring the church in Houma. | 22:51 | |
They are breaking new grounds in that conference | 22:55 | |
and for the general church by having | 22:58 | |
a style of ministry for couples | 23:01 | |
where they share equally in preaching, | 23:04 | |
administrations, and all the functions | 23:08 | |
of a busy ministry in a very large church. | 23:11 | |
We are pleased and delighted to welcome the reverend | 23:15 | |
Carole Cotton-Winn to Duke University Chapel today. | 23:19 | |
We look forward to the word that she will bring. | 23:24 | |
Her sermon title is Knowing When to Rise. | 23:27 | |
- | Let us pray. | 23:40 |
Oh Lord, our God, open our eyes | 23:42 | |
that we may behold wondrous things out of your word. | 23:45 | |
And let the words of my mouth | 23:49 | |
and the meditation of our hearts | 23:51 | |
be acceptable in your sight. | 23:52 | |
Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer, amen. | 23:55 | |
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah, | 24:00 | |
chapter nine, verses one and two. | 24:03 | |
But there will be no gloom for her that wasn't anguish. | 24:07 | |
In the former time, he brought into contempt | 24:10 | |
the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. | 24:12 | |
But in the latter time, he will make glorious | 24:16 | |
the way of the sea. | 24:18 | |
The land beyond the Jordan, | 24:20 | |
Galilee of the nations. | 24:22 | |
The people who walked in darkness | 24:24 | |
have seen a great light. | 24:26 | |
Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, | 24:28 | |
on them has light shined. | 24:31 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 24:34 | |
The Epistle lesson is from First Corinthians, | 24:37 | |
chapter one, verses 26-31. | 24:41 | |
For consider your call, brethren. | 24:46 | |
Not many of you were wise, according to worldly standards. | 24:48 | |
Not many were powerful. | 24:52 | |
Not many were of noble birth. | 24:54 | |
But God chose what is foolish in the world | 24:56 | |
to shame the wise. | 24:59 | |
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. | 25:01 | |
God chose what is low and despised in the world, | 25:06 | |
even things that are not, | 25:09 | |
to bring to nothing things that are. | 25:11 | |
So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. | 25:13 | |
He is the source of your life in Christ, Jesus, | 25:18 | |
whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness, | 25:21 | |
and sanctification and redemption. | 25:24 | |
Therefore, as it is written, | 25:28 | |
let him who boasts boast of the Lord. | 25:30 | |
Here ends the reading from the Epistle. | 25:34 | |
(organ and choir together) | 25:46 | |
- | Will the congregation please rise | 29:17 |
for the reading of the gospel lesson? | 29:19 | |
The gospel lesson is taken from Matthew, chapter four. | 29:26 | |
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, | 29:32 | |
he withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, | 29:35 | |
he went and dwelled in Capernaum by the sea | 29:39 | |
in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali | 29:41 | |
that was spoken by the prophet Isaiah | 29:45 | |
might be fulfilled. | 29:48 | |
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali | 29:50 | |
toward the sea, across the Jordan, | 29:54 | |
Galilee of the Gentiles, | 29:57 | |
the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. | 30:00 | |
Upon them his light shined. | 30:04 | |
From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying | 30:08 | |
repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. | 30:11 | |
As he walked by the sea of Galilee, | 30:16 | |
he saw two brothers, | 30:18 | |
Simon, who is called Peter, | 30:20 | |
and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, | 30:23 | |
for they were fisherman. | 30:28 | |
And he said to them, follow me, | 30:31 | |
and I will make you fishers of men. | 30:33 | |
Immediately, they left their nets and followed him. | 30:36 | |
And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, | 30:41 | |
James, the son of Zebedee, | 30:44 | |
and John, his brother, in the boat | 30:47 | |
with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. | 30:49 | |
And he called them. | 30:52 | |
Immediately, they left the boat, and their father, | 30:54 | |
and followed him. | 30:58 | |
And he went about all Galilee, | 31:01 | |
teaching in their synagogues, | 31:04 | |
and preaching the gospel to the kingdom, | 31:06 | |
and healing every disease and every infirmity | 31:10 | |
among the people. | 31:14 | |
Here ends the reading from the gospel. | 31:17 | |
(organ and choir together) | 31:21 | |
- | It means a great deal to me to be here this morning. | 32:34 |
In 1825, my great-great-grandmother, | 32:38 | |
Sarah Faggert, and her husband, Elijah Cotton, | 32:42 | |
left Cabarrus County, North Carolina, | 32:46 | |
in a covered wagon. | 32:50 | |
The Faggerts never heard from Sarah Faggert again. | 32:52 | |
And it wasn't until the 1970s | 32:57 | |
that the Cottons of Louisiana | 33:00 | |
and the Faggerts of North Carolina | 33:02 | |
made contact again. | 33:04 | |
For me to make a journey from Louisiana | 33:07 | |
to North Carolina to be with you this day | 33:11 | |
in this place, one of the finest institutions | 33:16 | |
in all of North Carolina, | 33:20 | |
was much more than a journey; | 33:24 | |
it was a pilgrimage for which I am deeply grateful. | 33:27 | |
Let us pray. | 33:33 | |
Bless oh Lord | 33:37 | |
the reading and the hearing of your holy word. | 33:39 | |
That it may find life in our lives this day. | 33:45 | |
Amen. | 33:50 | |
From our perspective, so many hundreds of years later, | 33:55 | |
the amazing thing was | 34:01 | |
that when Jesus came time to choose, | 34:04 | |
he chose for the likes of Peter and Andrew, | 34:08 | |
James and John, surely there were others | 34:13 | |
who were braver, more courageous, kinder, | 34:18 | |
smarter than they were. | 34:24 | |
We wonder what he saw in them that others had missed. | 34:28 | |
Surely they were not known for their courageous spirit. | 34:33 | |
They were doing what had been done | 34:39 | |
in that part of the country from generation to generation. | 34:41 | |
They were fishing. | 34:46 | |
And in one sense, James and John had never even left home. | 34:49 | |
They were still working with their father. | 34:55 | |
Frederick Buechner says of them, | 35:01 | |
what was it about them that caused him to choose them? | 35:07 | |
They were not brighter or smarter than anyone else. | 35:12 | |
In fact, according to the New Testament, | 35:16 | |
they were continually jockeying for position, | 35:20 | |
missing the point, and when the chips were down, | 35:24 | |
there was nothing so important that they'd | 35:29 | |
save their own skins. | 35:33 | |
It seems that their sole qualification | 35:38 | |
seems to have been their willingness to rise to their feet | 35:41 | |
when Jesus said follow me. | 35:46 | |
And in a sense, Matthew doesn't give us much | 35:53 | |
more to go on than that. | 35:56 | |
But we do have to give them that much, | 35:59 | |
they were willing to rise to their feet | 36:02 | |
when Jesus said follow me. | 36:06 | |
Of course, what he said to Peter and Andrew was | 36:11 | |
follow me and I will make you fishers of men. | 36:14 | |
Now I must admit that to my 20th century ears, | 36:20 | |
when I hear those words, I find myself | 36:24 | |
grinding my back teeth. | 36:28 | |
But Jesus's life and ministry spoke | 36:32 | |
far louder than his words, just as our life | 36:36 | |
speaks far louder than our words. | 36:41 | |
For once, when Jesus was hurrying | 36:46 | |
to heal the daughter of Jairus, | 36:49 | |
Jesus turned and said, someone touched me. | 36:53 | |
And when the woman stepped forward, | 36:59 | |
he said daughter, your faith has made you whole. | 37:01 | |
Go in peace. | 37:06 | |
And when the children wanted to touch Jesus, | 37:08 | |
and the disciples wanted to get them away, | 37:12 | |
it was Jesus who said let the children come unto me. | 37:14 | |
So when Jesus says follow me, | 37:23 | |
and I will make you fishers of men, | 37:27 | |
he is saying follow me and you will come to know | 37:32 | |
the women and men and children of this world | 37:37 | |
as I know them. | 37:43 | |
As I minister to them, you will minister to them. | 37:47 | |
As they are my brothers and sisters, | 37:52 | |
they are your brothers and sisters. | 37:56 | |
When Jesus called the twelve, | 38:02 | |
he didn't perhaps need the brightest and the best. | 38:04 | |
He needed those who were willing to rise | 38:10 | |
to their feet when they heard the words follow me. | 38:13 | |
Jesus never calls us to be successful, | 38:19 | |
he calls us to be faithful. | 38:23 | |
As Paul so eloquently said, | 38:28 | |
when you were chosen, | 38:32 | |
you were not wise as we know wisdom. | 38:34 | |
You were not powerful, | 38:39 | |
you were not of noble birth. | 38:42 | |
When God chooses, God chooses the weak in the world | 38:46 | |
to shame the strong. | 38:51 | |
God chooses those | 38:54 | |
that are foolish, to shame the wise. | 38:57 | |
And I'm not a person that likes to appear weak or foolish | 39:03 | |
in the eyes of others, even from childhood | 39:07 | |
I haven't liked to appear weak or foolish. | 39:10 | |
I grew up with a mother whose name is Pudding. | 39:15 | |
And if you can imagine, some of the things | 39:21 | |
I had to live down in my childhood | 39:23 | |
and adolescence, with a mother named Pudding. | 39:25 | |
She was our choir director as I grew up | 39:29 | |
in our church, and she could think | 39:32 | |
of more cutesy things for us to sing | 39:34 | |
and do in front of the congregation | 39:38 | |
that I didn't want to be caught dead doing in public. | 39:41 | |
A few years ago, she was going to be | 39:46 | |
in the musical Oklahoma in the little theater | 39:49 | |
of our community. | 39:53 | |
And John and I were only living 20 miles away, | 39:55 | |
and we had all good intentions of going to the play. | 39:57 | |
Mother had talked about it for weeks. | 40:01 | |
She'd gone to the rehearsals every night. | 40:04 | |
But as it turned out, John was hospitalized | 40:08 | |
just as the play began. | 40:12 | |
And for the next days and week, | 40:15 | |
my life was consumed with what I just had to do | 40:16 | |
at the church, and caring for his needs. | 40:19 | |
He came home the day of the last performance of the play. | 40:24 | |
I already had my speech ready. | 40:29 | |
I was going to say, now mother, | 40:32 | |
you know that this is the first night | 40:33 | |
that John has been home from the hospital. | 40:36 | |
And I would hate to leave him when he's just come home. | 40:39 | |
But the phone rang at 7:30 that morning, | 40:44 | |
and it was Pudding. | 40:46 | |
And she said, now Carole, | 40:47 | |
the play starts at 7:30, your dad and sister | 40:49 | |
are going to be there right at the door to meet you, | 40:52 | |
it'll be over at 10, you'll be home before the news is over. | 40:54 | |
I could see that it was a command performance. | 40:59 | |
I was going to the play. | 41:03 | |
If you're familiar with Oklahoma, | 41:06 | |
you know there's one of the songs | 41:08 | |
that is about the cowboys and the farmers should be friends. | 41:10 | |
And in the chorus line, mother was going | 41:16 | |
to be doing a square dance and singing | 41:17 | |
in this particular song. | 41:20 | |
And as they began to dance and sing, | 41:23 | |
it's the kind of song you pat your foot to | 41:25 | |
and clap along with, and it really surprised me | 41:28 | |
when I realized that my bottom lip was quivering, | 41:32 | |
and there were tears coursing down my cheeks. | 41:37 | |
For I knew then that she had insisted | 41:42 | |
that I come to the play so that she could give me a memory. | 41:45 | |
A memory that I could have in no other way | 41:52 | |
except by my presence. | 41:55 | |
Of my playful mother singing and dancing | 41:59 | |
the year of her 50th wedding anniversary, | 42:03 | |
so that I might know you are never too old | 42:07 | |
to sing and dance. | 42:11 | |
All of our lives, we want to be chosen. | 42:17 | |
We want to be on the inside in the in group. | 42:23 | |
But we want to be chosen because of our great wisdom, | 42:31 | |
or because of our leadership skills, | 42:36 | |
or because of the insights we have | 42:38 | |
into working with people. | 42:41 | |
Or because of some great talent that we have | 42:44 | |
that no one else has. | 42:47 | |
And then someone whispers in our ear, | 42:51 | |
when you were chosen, you were not wise | 42:56 | |
by worldly standards, you were not powerful, | 43:00 | |
you were not of noble birth. | 43:04 | |
When God chooses, | 43:07 | |
God chooses the weak | 43:10 | |
to shame those in the world who are strong. | 43:14 | |
God chooses the foolish in the world | 43:18 | |
to shame the wise. | 43:21 | |
When Jesus chose the 12, | 43:27 | |
Jesus did perhaps not need | 43:30 | |
the brightest and the best. | 43:33 | |
He chose those who were willing to rise to their feet | 43:37 | |
when he said follow me. | 43:41 | |
He had no magic wand to make them the perfect 12, | 43:45 | |
he has no magic wand now. | 43:51 | |
But Jesus does not give up on his followers. | 43:57 | |
There is an old legend that says when Jesus | 44:03 | |
returned to heaven, an angel asked him, | 44:06 | |
what have you left behind to carry on your work? | 44:10 | |
And he responded, a small band of men and women who love me. | 44:16 | |
And the angel said, but when the trial comes, | 44:23 | |
what if they fail? | 44:26 | |
Will they all be defeated? | 44:30 | |
And he said yes, if they fail, | 44:34 | |
all will be defeated. | 44:37 | |
And the angel said, is there nothing else? | 44:41 | |
And he said, no, there is nothing else. | 44:44 | |
What then, the angel asked. | 44:48 | |
And Jesus replied, | 44:51 | |
they will not fail. | 44:55 | |
Each of us has been called by name. | 45:02 | |
We have been chosen. | 45:06 | |
But if for some reason you find that you are too wise, | 45:11 | |
or too busy, or too involved, | 45:17 | |
then you should be very careful | 45:23 | |
as to the next time you find yourself | 45:25 | |
rising to your feet. | 45:29 | |
For you may be making a commitment | 45:33 | |
to the Christ and to the people of Christ, | 45:36 | |
the men, the women, and children of this world | 45:41 | |
who are his followers that will captivate you | 45:46 | |
for the rest of your life. | 45:51 | |
Let us pray. | 45:55 | |
Oh Lord, we have all been called by name. | 46:00 | |
We have all heard the call. | 46:04 | |
So help us to hear it again in a new way today, | 46:07 | |
and to know that as we rise to our feet, | 46:12 | |
we are responding to something much more | 46:15 | |
than a simple yes. | 46:19 | |
But we are responding to a commitment | 46:22 | |
that will last a lifetime. | 46:25 | |
Amen. | 46:28 | |
(organ music) | 46:35 | |
(organ and choir together) | 47:16 |
(congregation sings) | 0:02 | |
(lively organ music) | ||
- | As disciples of Christ and the people of God, | 1:44 |
let us affirm what we believe. | 1:48 | |
- | We believe in God who has created | 1:52 |
and is creating, who has come in the truly human Jesus | 1:55 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 2:00 | |
who works in us and others by the sprit. | 2:03 | |
We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 2:07 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 2:12 | |
to love and serve others, | 2:15 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 2:18 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 2:21 | |
our judge and our hope. | 2:25 | |
In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 2:28 | |
God is with us, we are not alone. | 2:32 | |
Thanks be to God. | 2:36 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 2:38 |
- | The Lord be with you. | 2:40 |
- | Let us pray. | 2:42 |
How can we pray to you, oh Holy and hidden God | 2:58 | |
whose ways are not our ways, | 3:04 | |
who reigns in awful mystery beyond the realm | 3:08 | |
of space and time, | 3:11 | |
yet how can we not pray to you, oh holy God | 3:14 | |
who knows what it is to be human | 3:19 | |
because you have walked among us as the man Jesus, | 3:23 | |
breaking with us the bread of our affliction | 3:29 | |
and drinking deep of the cup of our despair. | 3:33 | |
How can we not pray to you | 3:38 | |
when it is your very spirit alive within us | 3:41 | |
that moves our lips and lives in prayer. | 3:46 | |
Hear us, oh God, the prayers | 3:51 | |
of all your children everywhere, | 3:54 | |
prayers for forgiveness and healing, | 3:58 | |
for courage, for faith, | 4:02 | |
prayers for the needs of others, | 4:05 | |
prayers for peace among the desperate nations. | 4:09 | |
Whether you give or withhold what we ask, | 4:14 | |
whether in fact you answer us in words | 4:19 | |
that burn like fire | 4:22 | |
or in silence that burns within us, | 4:25 | |
increase in us the knowledge | 4:29 | |
that you are always more near to us than breathing, | 4:31 | |
that your will for us is love. | 4:36 | |
And deep beneath all our asking, | 4:41 | |
so deep beneath that we are all but deaf to it ourselves, | 4:44 | |
hear, oh God, the secret song of every human heart, | 4:50 | |
praising you for being what and who you are, | 4:55 | |
rejoicing with the morning stars | 5:00 | |
that you are our God and we your children. | 5:03 | |
Make strong and wild the secret song | 5:09 | |
within all of us | 5:13 | |
until it can burst forth at last to your glory | 5:15 | |
and our salvation | 5:20 | |
for it through Jesus Christ our Lord | 5:23 | |
that we pray together saying. | 5:27 | |
- | Our Father, who art in heaven, | 5:30 |
hallowed be they name, | 5:33 | |
thy kingdom come, they will be done | 5:36 | |
on Earth as it is in heaven. | 5:39 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 5:42 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 5:45 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | 5:47 | |
and lead us not into temptation | 5:51 | |
but deliver us from evil | 5:54 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 5:56 | |
and the glory forever, amen. | 6:00 | |
(tranquil organ music) | 6:08 | |
(choir sings) | 8:55 | |
♪ And the blessing of the Almighty ♪ | 10:08 | |
♪ Our father, our Son and our Holy Ghost ♪ | 10:16 | |
(choir sings) | 10:27 | |
(lively organ music) | 11:14 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 11:47 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 11:49 | |
(congregation sings) | 11:54 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:08 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:10 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:13 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:17 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:20 | |
- | Oh Lord Jesus, who for our sakes | 12:40 |
did become poor that by your poverty | 12:43 | |
we might become rich in spirit, | 12:47 | |
grant now to your people so to give | 12:50 | |
of our substance as to acknowledge that we belong holy | 12:53 | |
to you for your own sake. | 12:58 | |
In Christ's name, amen. | 13:01 | |
(lively organ music) | 13:06 | |
(congregation sings) | 13:47 | |
- | And now may the God of steadfastness | 16:21 |
and encouragement grant you to live | 16:25 | |
in such harmony with one another | 16:28 | |
in accord with Jesus Christ | 16:31 | |
that together we may glorify God with one voice | 16:34 | |
and our Lord Jesus Christ. | 16:39 | |
(choir sings) | 16:44 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 17:00 | |
(lively organ music) | 17:05 |