Earl H. Brill - "Living in the Spirit" (May 26, 1985)

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	(orchestra music)	1:31
-	Good morning and welcome to the	10:38
	worship service at Duke Chapel.	10:40
	For those who perhaps have looked at the ministers	10:43
	for the day and have wondered about Nancy's new appearance,	10:45
	I am Hubert Beck, the Lutheran Campus pastor here at Duke,	10:49
	and Nancy and Will both are occupied elsewhere	10:54
	as ministers to the university.	10:57
	We are happy you could be with us today.	10:59
	Dr. Earl Brill is the preacher of the day,	11:02
	a colleague of mine, the Episcopal campus minister,	11:05
	and you will find his credentials, as it were,	11:08
	on the back of the bulletin.	11:11
	We would ask you to rise at the appropriate time	11:13
	for the processional hymn,	11:16
	and then although it is not marked,	11:17
	so please remain standing for the	11:19
	Litany of Praise for Pentecost.	11:22
	We begin then our worship with a choral call to worship.	11:25
	(choir singing)	11:45
	(organ music)	12:23
-	In the Litany of Praise for Pentecost.	15:46
	Our health is in the name of the Lord	15:50
	who created heaven and earth.	15:52
	(audience responding)	15:55
	He rides in the heavens and sends forth His mighty voice.	16:02
	(audience responding)	16:06
	How wonderful is God and His holy places,	16:07
	the god of Israel, giving strength and power to his people.	16:10
	(audience responding)	16:15
	All who are led by the spirit of God are children of God.	16:16
	Lord, send forth your spirit	16:21
	and renew the face of the earth, hallelujah,	16:23
	spirit of the Lord, visit us again	16:26
	as on the day of Pentecost.	16:29
	(audience responding)	16:31
	With rushing wind that seeps away all barriers--	16:33
	(audience responding)	16:37
	With tongues of fire that set our hearts aflame--	16:39
	(audience responding)	16:43
	With speech that unites the babble of our tongues--	16:44
	(audience responding)	16:48
	With love that overleaps the boundaries of race and nation--	16:50
	(audience responding)	16:54
	With power from above to make our weakness strong--	16:56
	(audience responding)	17:00
	In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.	17:02
	(audience responding)	17:05
-	Let us pray.	17:08
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	17:22
	by the power of your Holy Spirit	17:25
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	17:28
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	17:31
	Amen.	17:36
	The first lesson is taken from the Acts of the apostles.	17:38
	When the day of Pentecost had come,	17:45
	they were all together in one place,	17:48
	and suddenly a sound came from heaven	17:51
	like a rush of mighty wind,	17:56
	and it filled all the house where they were sitting	17:59
	and there appeared to them tongues of fire	18:02
	distributed and resting on each one of them,	18:08
	and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit	18:14
	and began to speak in other tongues	18:17
	as the spirit gave them utterance.	18:20
	Now, they were dwelling in Jerusalem,	18:24
	Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven	18:28
	and at this sound, the multitude came together	18:33
	and they were bewildered because each one	18:37
	heard them speaking in his own language	18:41
	and they were amazed and wondered, saying,	18:44
	"Are not all these who are speaking Galileans	18:50
	"and how is it that we hear each of us	18:53
	"in his own native language?	18:57
	"Parthians and Medes and Elamites	19:01
	"and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,	19:05
	"Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt,	19:10
	"and the parts of Libya belonging to Syrinne,	19:15
	"and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,	19:19
	"Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling	19:24
	"in our own tongues, the mighty works of God."	19:28
	And all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another,	19:34
	"What does this mean?"	19:38
	But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine."	19:41
	But Peter, standing with the 11,	19:47
	lifted up his voice and addressed them.	19:50
	"Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,	19:55
	"let this be known to you and give ear to my words,	19:59
	"for these men are not drunk as you suppose	20:03
	"since it is only the third hour of the day,	20:07
	"but this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel.	20:11
	"And in the last days it shall be," God declares,	20:16
	"that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh	20:20
	"and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,	20:23
	"and your young men shall see visions	20:28
	"and your old men shall dream dreams.	20:31
	"Yea, and all my men servants and my maid servants,	20:35
	"in those days I will pour out my spirit	20:39
	"and shall prophesy, and I will show wonders	20:43
	"in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath,	20:47
	"blood and fire and vapor of smoke.	20:52
	"The sun shall be turned into darkness	20:55
	"and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes	20:58
	"the great and manifest day, and it shall be	21:03
	"that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."	21:07
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	21:14
	(organ music)	21:18
	(choir singing)	21:37
-	The second lesson is taken from Romans.	25:44
	We know that the whole creation has been	25:49
	groaning in travail, together until now.	25:52
	And not only the creation, but we ourselves	25:57
	who have the first fruits of the spirit,	26:01
	groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons,	26:05
	the redemption of our bodies,	26:09
	for in this hope we were saved.	26:13
	Now hope that is seen is not hope,	26:17
	for who hopes for what he sees?	26:21
	But if we hope for what we do not see,	26:25
	we wait for it with patience.	26:28
	Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness,	26:32
	for we do not know how to pray as we ought,	26:37
	but the spirit himself intercedes for us	26:40
	with sighs too deep for words.	26:44
	And he who searches the hearts of men	26:49
	knows what is the mind of the spirit	26:52
	because the spirit intercedes for the saints	26:55
	according to the will of God.	26:58
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	27:02
	(organ music)	27:23
	(choir singing)	27:32
-	The reading from the Gospel, according to Saint John.	29:49
	Jesus said, when the counselor comes,	29:54
	whom I shall send to you from the Father,	29:59
	even the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,	30:02
	he will bear witness to me.	30:06
	And you also are witnesses because you	30:09
	have been with me from the beginning.	30:12
	I did not say these things to you from the beginning	30:15
	because I was with you, but now I am going	30:18
	to Him who sent me.	30:22
	Yet none of you asked me, where are you going?	30:25
	But because I have said these things to you,	30:29
	sorrow has filled your hearts.	30:32
	Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.	30:35
	It is to your advantage that I go away	30:38
	for if I do not go away, the counselor will not come to you.	30:41
	But if I go, I will send him to you.	30:46
	And when he comes, he will convince the world of sin	30:50
	and of righteousness and of judgment of sin,	30:54
	because they do not believe in me,	30:59
	of righteousness, because I go to the Father	31:02
	and you will see me no more,	31:05
	of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.	31:07
	I have yet many things to say to you,	31:12
	but you cannot bare them now.	31:17
	When the spirit of truth comes,	31:20
	he will guide you into all the truth,	31:22
	for he will not speak on his own authority,	31:25
	but whatever he hears, he will speak	31:28
	and he will declare to you the things that are to come.	31:32
	He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine	31:36
	and declare it to you.	31:40
	All that the Father has is mine.	31:43
	Therefore, I said that He will take what is mine	31:45
	and declare it to you.	31:49
	When the day of Pentecost had come,	31:57
	they were all in one place.	32:00
	That's how Saint Luke begins his story	32:04
	of the coming of the spirit in the passage	32:06
	from the book of the Acts of the apostles	32:10
	that we've just heard read.	32:13
	For Luke, the timing is important	32:16
	because in his day as today, Pentecost,	32:20
	which comes 50 days after Passover,	32:23
	was kept by the Jewish community as the	32:27
	feast of the giving of the law,	32:30
	based on the tradition that Moses received the law	32:33
	on Mount Sinai 50 days after the exodus.	32:37
	Why is that important?	32:42
	Well, Luke wants to dramatize the contrast	32:44
	between the old covenant and the new.	32:48
	The old covenant which was based on the law	32:52
	which bound Israel together and made them a people.	32:56
	To be a Jew was to be one who observed	33:00
	and who kept the law of the Lord.	33:03
	But the new covenant in Jesus Christ is grounded not in law,	33:07
	but in grace, and the basis of the community	33:12
	of the new covenant is the Holy Spirit.	33:16
	The new Christian community recalled the words	33:20
	of the prophecy of Jeremiah.	33:25
	Behold the days are coming, says the Lord,	33:29
	when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel	33:32
	and with the house of Judah.	33:35
	I will put my law within them	33:38
	and will write it upon their hearts.	33:40
	Those first Christians saw themselves	33:43
	as the heirs of that promise.	33:46
	To be a Christian means to be living in the spirit.	33:50
	It means to be in Christ, to be a part of His body,	33:55
	the church, the living community of faith.	34:00
	That's why the feast of Pentecost is often	34:05
	regarded as the birthday of the church.	34:08
	For up to that moment, the Christian enterprise	34:11
	is still being acted out in the old dispensation.	34:15
	Jesus is a Jew as are His first disciples.	34:22
	His teaching is right out of the law and the prophets,	34:25
	and even when He interprets them on His own authority,	34:29
	He is still speaking and acting in the context	34:33
	of the old covenant, the Jewish understanding	34:37
	of God and His activity.	34:41
	But the coming of the spirit ushers in a new era,	34:45
	the era of the new covenant, the era of the church,	34:49
	the community that is shaped and formed and given life	34:54
	and power by the presence of the Holy Spirit.	34:58
	At first, this new community	35:03
	has very little institutional form.	35:05
	That comes much later and more slowly,	35:08
	but it's already a community,	35:12
	a saved and a saving community.	35:14
	That needs to be emphasized in our time because	35:19
	in our culture we tend to see the isolated individual	35:22
	as the basic unit of human society.	35:27
	We can understand the spirit that	35:31
	inspires and empowers an individual.	35:33
	Christianity becomes a personal relationship	35:37
	between me and Jesus.	35:41
	We tend to regard community as a secondary,	35:44
	but that's not the way it appears in the New Testament.	35:49
	There we have no appearance of the spirit	35:52
	to isolated individuals.	35:55
	The spirit acts in and through the community of faith.	35:58
	Nevertheless, the church has always had a hard time	36:04
	talking about the spirit.	36:08
	We have no adequate definition of the Holy Spirit	36:11
	and I suspect because spirit is inevitably hard to define.	36:15
	It's something like love.	36:20
	You can't define it if you haven't experienced it	36:22
	and if you have experienced it,	36:26
	there's no need to define it.	36:28
	But if you think about the spirit as experience,	36:32
	you realize that we all know something about it.	36:35
	We know about things like school spirit	36:39
	and esprit de corps and we know what it means	36:41
	to be in the spirit of an occasion.	36:44
	When we talk about the spirit in those terms,	36:48
	we mean that which produces	36:51
	the quality of life,	36:54
	of shared by a group.	36:57
	It's something that rubs off on everybody	37:00
	associated with the group.	37:02
	You experience it even if you couldn't ever describe it,	37:05
	and that's why Saint Luke never tries	37:10
	to define the Holy Spirit.	37:12
	He just tells what happens when it comes	37:15
	and what a powerful and transforming experience it is.	37:18
	Words fail him and he has to resort to images.	37:23
	It was like a mighty rushing wind	37:28
	that filled the whole place where they were staying.	37:29
	It was like tongues of fire that set them all ablaze	37:33
	so that they went running around like mad men	37:36
	so that outsiders looking at them thought	37:39
	they'd been hitting up the new wine	37:42
	at nine o'clock in the morning.	37:43
	When the spirit comes, all sorts of strange things	37:46
	begin to happen, and Jesus himself had hinted as much	37:49
	when he described the spirit to Nicodemus,	37:55
	how unpredictable it is.	37:58
	The wind blows where it wills, he said.	38:02
	You hear its sound, but you don't know	38:05
	where it comes from or where it goes.	38:06
	So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.	38:09
	People who are really possessed by the spirit	38:15
	are hard to pin down.	38:17
	They don't fit comfortably into categories.	38:19
	They act spontaneously rather than orderly.	38:22
	A community of the spirit will act the same way.	38:26
	It is not likely to be bound by	38:30
	rules and procedures and precedents.	38:32
	But even Luke's description of the spirit	38:37
	may over-define it.	38:41
	The spirit may come like a mighty rushing wind	38:44
	and like tongues of fire, but that's not all there is to it.	38:47
	People who called themselves Pentecostals	38:52
	see in this passage from Acts,	38:54
	a definitive description of Holy Spirit.	38:56
	They want to equate the spirit	39:00
	with this particular manifestation.	39:01
	And in this view, to be in the spirit	39:04
	means to be seized by a great enthusiasm	39:07
	and it means speaking in tongues,	39:10
	it means a jumping and running around like crazy.	39:12
	That's how you know you've got the spirit.	39:16
	Well, maybe so, but then again, maybe not necessarily so.	39:20
	The spirit is not predictable.	39:26
	It's not even predictably wild and crazy.	39:28
	In fact, the New Testament offers another	39:32
	and very different account of the coming of the spirit.	39:35
	In Saint John's Gospel, Jesus appears to His disciples	39:40
	and says, "Peace be with you as the Father	39:44
	"has sent me, even so, I send you."	39:48
	And John goes on to say, "He breathed on them and said,	39:53
	"Receive the Holy Spirit."	39:57
	No mighty rushing wind here,	40:00
	just the quiet breathing	40:04
	of the Lord to bear witness to the fact that the spirit	40:06
	is no less than the living presence of Christ himself.	40:10
	This story suggests that the spirit connect in calm	40:15
	and unexciting, ordinary ways too.	40:19
	Like that still small voice	40:23
	that Elijah heard on Mount Horeb.	40:25
	So the spirit can manifest itself in mighty rushing winds	40:30
	or in a still small voice, but however manifested,	40:33
	the spirit is the bearer of power.	40:38
	It enables us to be and to do what God wills	40:41
	for us to be and to do.	40:46
	Look what it did for those first disciples.	40:49
	They had assembled in that upper room	40:52
	because they were surrounded by opposition,	40:54
	and frankly, they were scared.	40:58
	And they had reason to be.	41:00
	They had faith, but they were powerless to do anything	41:03
	and then the spirit came and after that, look what happened.	41:08
	They all went charging out of there	41:12
	and turned the world upside down.	41:13
	Look at Peter, for example, the simple ordinary fisherman.	41:16
	Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, he might have said,	41:21
	but still he was able to confront the crowds,	41:25
	to take on the whole religious establishment	41:29
	and ultimately even the Roman Empire,	41:31
	risking his own life a dozen times	41:35
	and finally losing it, all in the power of the spirit.	41:37
	And that spirit and its power are not to be hoarded	41:43
	and kept for our own personal benefit.	41:48
	Power of the spirit is to be put to good use.	41:52
	The Holy Spirit seems to have its own agenda.	41:56
	When you read the book of Acts,	42:00
	you're struck with how active the spirit seems to be	42:02
	in directing the apostles in their ministry.	42:05
	In fact, instead of the Acts of the apostles,	42:09
	we might just as well call that book	42:12
	the Acts of the Holy Spirit, because the spirit	42:14
	is clearly the driving force behind everything that goes on.	42:17
	It's the spirit that drives Peter out	42:23
	to address the multitudes,	42:25
	that inspires Stephen's testimony at his trial later on.	42:27
	The spirit falls on Cornelius, the Roman soldier	42:32
	and his household, convincing Peter that gentiles too	42:36
	are inheritors of the kingdom.	42:41
	It's the spirit that sets apart Paul and Barnabas	42:44
	for their mission to the gentiles and the spirit	42:48
	even forbade Paul from going into the province of Asia	42:51
	when he wants you to go there.	42:55
	And when the apostles and elders meet to determine	42:57
	how gentile converts are to be treated,	43:02
	they communicate their judgment to the churches	43:04
	with the words, "It has seemed good	43:08
	"to the Holy Spirit and to us."	43:10
	So the spirit is a living, active precense,	43:14
	giving life and power to the community of faith.	43:17
	Where the spirit is, the church is empowered	43:22
	for its mission.	43:25
	The spirit wakes people up, gives them energy and conviction	43:27
	and sends them out into the world to proclaim the Gospel	43:32
	and to minister to the world in the name of the Lord.	43:35
	Spirit is life and spirit is power,	43:40
	but not every spirit is holy.	43:45
	Spirits can be evil.	43:49
	They can be demonic and that's why Saint John	43:51
	warns his followers against false spirits.	43:55
	"Do not believe every spirit," he says,	43:58
	"but test the spirits to see whether they be of God."	44:00
	How are you supposed to know whether	44:06
	a spirit is holy or not?	44:08
	Well, Jesus himself told us how to distinguish	44:10
	between the false prophets and the true.	44:12
	"By their fruits you shall know them," He said.	44:17
	Saint Paul picked up on that observation	44:21
	when he offered a contrast between the works of the flesh	44:23
	and the fruit of the spirit.	44:28
	The fruit of the spirit, he said, is love, joy, peace,	44:31
	patience, kindness, goodness,	44:37
	faithfulness, gentleness, self control.	44:42
	That's good counsel because there are plenty of people	44:48
	around today who claim to possess the Holy Spirit.	44:51
	Well, okay, but talk is cheap.	44:54
	The question is, do they exhibit the fruits of the spirit?	44:57
	Love, joy, peace, kindness, and all the rest?	45:01
	If not, they don't deserve either our	45:05
	attention or our respect.	45:08
	If the Holy Spirit is indeed our source of life and power	45:13
	then our future is open and we are called to move	45:17
	into the future with confidence, with resourcefulness,	45:21
	and with imagination in the power of the spirit.	45:26
	I feel a need to emphasize this because so many Christians	45:31
	today seem paralyzed by the future.	45:35
	They want to walk into it backward,	45:38
	keeping their eyes fixed on the past.	45:40
	Some even seem to think that the Bible itself has all	45:44
	the answers to the dilemmas we face today.	45:48
	Well, that wasn't Jesus' view.	45:51
	He was very clear in His expectation	45:54
	that even with His own teaching and His presence among them,	45:57
	the disciples would still have	46:01
	a lot to learn after His departure.	46:03
	In the passage from Saint John that I've just read,	46:07
	He promised that His spirit would be with them and with us,	46:10
	and that the spirit would lead us into all truth.	46:15
	"I have many things to say to you,	46:20
	"but you cannot bare them now," He said.	46:22
	"But when the spirit of truth comes,	46:25
	he will guide you into all truth,"	46:28
	which suggests that we're always confronted with novelty,	46:32
	but we'll always have the spirit to guide us	46:36
	in the midst of that novelty.	46:39
	Doesn't mean that we'll always be able to see the truth.	46:41
	It's not a prescription for an infallible church.	46:46

-	But it is a promise that if we abide	0:04
	in the spirit of the Lord	0:06
	we will be able to move into new situations,	0:08
	confront new challenges and new dilemmas,	0:12
	and we can count on the guidance of the Holy Spirit	0:15
	as we wrestle with the issues we encounter.	0:19
	Now if the church is indeed possessed by the Holy Spirit,	0:25
	what kind of church will it be?	0:30
	Well it will be a community that's full of life	0:33
	and vitality.	0:36
	It will be full of faith and confidence.	0:38
	It will be imaginative and resourceful,	0:42
	not hide-bound by rules and procedures and precedents.	0:45
	It will be an instrument for mission and ministry,	0:52
	proclaiming God-saving activity in Jesus Christ	0:55
	and doing the Lord's work in the world.	0:59
	And it will exhibit the fruits of the Spirit:	1:02
	love, joy, peace, patience,	1:06
	kindliness, goodness,	1:10
	faithfulness, gentleness, self control.	1:13
	Finally, how do you get the Spirit?	1:20
	If, like the wind, it blows where it will	1:24
	then you certainly can't produce it on demand.	1:26
	That would be magic, not faith.	1:30
	But you can open yourself to the Spirit's coming	1:33
	like those first disciples did.	1:37
	They gathered together.	1:40
	They prayed.	1:43
	They supported one another.	1:45
	They lived in faith and hope while they waited.	1:47
	That was all they could do.	1:52
	And we can do the same.	1:56
	We can live and pray and minister in Jesus' name,	1:58
	and we can stick together in the church,	2:04
	the community of faith where the spirit dwells,	2:06
	where the Word is proclaimed and the sacraments ministered.	2:09
	And if we do all that we may one day find ourselves	2:13
	suddenly grasped by the power of the Spirit	2:17
	like a mighty rushing wind	2:20
	and be led off we know not where.	2:22
	Or we may sometime realize that,	2:26
	without our ever being fully aware of it,	2:28
	the Spirit has been with us all the time,	2:32
	moving us and guiding us in our ministry in the world.	2:35
	So in either case we're not required to produce the Spirit	2:42
	because we have already been given the Spirit in baptism.	2:46
	The Spirit is already among us.	2:50
	All we have to do is accept it	2:53
	and respond to it	2:56
	and live in its power.	2:59
	And now unto God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,	3:02
	we ascribe all might, majesty, dominion, and power	3:05
	henceforth, world without end.	3:09
	Amen.	3:11
	(organ music)	3:14
	(choir singing)	4:05
-	Let us unite in the historic confession	6:51
	of the Christian faith into which	6:54
	the Holy Spirit has led us and in which he unites us.	6:55
	It is found in number 738 in the hymnal.	7:00
	I believe in God, the Father Almighty,	7:05
	maker of heaven and earth,	7:08
	and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord,	7:10
	who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,	7:14
	born of the Virgin Mary,	7:17
	suffered under Pontius Pilate,	7:20
	was crucified, dead, and buried.	7:22
	The third day he rose from the dead,	7:25
	he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand	7:28
	of God the Father Almighty,	7:32
	from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	7:34
	I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church,	7:38
	the communion of saints,	7:43
	the forgiveness of sins,	7:45
	the resurrection of the body,	7:47
	and the life everlasting.	7:50
	Amen.	7:52
	The Lord be with you.	7:54
-	And also with you.	7:55
-	Let us pray for all manners and sorts of people.	7:57
	Almighty God, Heavenly Father,	8:07
	we thank you for all things	8:09
	good and beautiful in this world	8:11
	all that enriches, all the enlightens,	8:13
	all that is lovely and of good report.	8:16
	Especially on this day we remember the gift	8:19
	of your Spirit upon your church	8:22
	through whom we are given new birth,	8:24
	deepened in faith, and kept on our homeward way.	8:27
	Remembering this gift of your Spirit through the ages	8:31
	we dare to pray for your Church,	8:34
	asking that it may be kept faithful to you	8:37
	in spite of its frailty.	8:40
	That it may be kept holy and mindful of you	8:42
	in spite of the sin that surrounds and permeates it,	8:45
	and that it may be as a house set on a hill,	8:49
	with the light of your love beaming brightly	8:52
	for all the world to see.	8:55
	Keep it faithful to your Word,	8:57
	and through the waters of our baptism	9:00
	and the bread and wine of your blessed supper,	9:02
	strengthen those of use who claim the name of Christ	9:04
	that our lives might individually be flames of your love	9:08
	just as your church, called, gathered,	9:12
	enlightened and sanctified by your Spirit,	9:14
	shows forth your presence.	9:17
	Preserve those who are persecuted for you name,	9:20
	a special measure of strength,	9:23
	and to persevere in faith and life,	9:26
	and a special measure of patience that comes from you,	9:29
	by which we all are saved.	9:33
	Preserve those of us who are richly blessed	9:36
	with abundance and freedom from the very temptation	9:38
	those blessings raise,	9:41
	lest we become arrogant in our abundance,	9:43
	lazy and indifferent in our opportunity,	9:46
	and slow or lax in our service to others	9:49
	with those things that have been bestowed upon us.	9:52
	Send your Spirit upon the citizens of the world	9:56
	that our warring and suicidal paths may be curbed,	10:00
	that our swords may be beaten into plowshares,	10:04
	and that we may hunger and thirst	10:07
	after justice and peace for all people.	10:09
	Preserve us from world-wide devastation,	10:13
	and still the spirit of strife that promotes	10:16
	the unrest in Afghanistan, in Iraq in Iran,	10:18
	in South Africa, in the Far East, in India,	10:22
	in Pakistan, and also in our own country	10:25
	where injustices remain and brother is torn from sister	10:29
	in racial discord, economic oppression,	10:33
	or in the many ways by which our human family is disturbed.	10:36
	Remember especially the needy	10:41
	and the voiceless among us, O Lord,	10:43
	support the weak, heal the sick,	10:46
	comfort the dying,	10:49
	raise hope in the hearts of the desperate and the depressed,	10:51
	calm the lives of those filled with fear,	10:55
	be the companion of the lonely and the support	10:58
	of all who are in deep distress.	11:01
	Call us by your Spirit to be your arms and legs	11:04
	among such people, O Lord,	11:08
	that men and women everywhere may see the love of Christ	11:10
	in and through us.	11:13
	All this we ask in His name who was your love made flesh,	11:15
	even Jesus Christ our Lord.	11:20
	Amen.	11:24
	We receive our offerings in the name of our Lord,	11:30
	to the end that they may be dedicated to his name	11:34
	we pray according to the wealth of blessings given to us	11:36
	so do we in this moment return to you, the giver,	11:40
	that which has been placed into our stewardship.	11:43
	Open our hearts and our hands, O Lord,	11:47
	that our lives may be filled with your praise	11:49
	in this act of renewed dedication to your service.	11:52
	Through Christ our Lord, Amen.	11:55
	(organ music plays quietly)	11:59
	(choir sings Hallelujah)	12:30
-	Receive these gifts, O Lord,	20:25
	as the offerings of your grateful children.	20:27
	Grant that the use of them may, in turn,	20:30
	give honor to your name	20:32
	so that in your gifting us, in our offering to others,	20:34
	and in the blessings others may receive,	20:39
	there may be common praise,	20:42
	a rich outpouring of love and renewal	20:44
	of your Spirit among us.	20:47
	Through him who is your son,	20:49
	our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,	20:53
	Amen.	20:55
	We join our hearts and voices in bringing before our Lord	21:12
	all those needs that are gathered in our lives	21:15
	and in the life of the world	21:18
	in the words our Lord taught us.	21:20
	Our Father who art in heaven,	21:22
	Hallowed be thy name.	21:25
	Thy kingdom come.	21:28
	Thy will be done	21:29
	on earth as it is in heaven.	21:31
	Give us this day our daily bread,	21:34
	and forgive us our trespasses,	21:37
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	21:39
	and lead us not into temptation,	21:43
	but deliver us from evil.	21:46
	For thine is the kingdom,	21:48
	and the power, and the glory, forever.	21:50
	Amen.	21:53
	(organ music plays)	21:56
	(choir singing)	22:20
	The Lord bless you and keep you.	24:56
	The Lord make his face shine upon you	24:59
	and be gracious unto you.	25:01
	The Lord look upon you with his favor,	25:03
	and give you his peace in the name of the Father,	25:07
	and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.	25:09
	(organ plays quietly)	25:15
	(choir singing)	25:23
	(organ plays dramatically)	26:07
	(people chatting distantly)	29:59
	(distant footsteps)	33:34
-	Open our hearts and minds, O God,	34:07
	by the power of your Holy Spirit	34:10
	so that as the Word is read and proclaimed,	34:13
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	34:17
	The first lesson is taken from the book of Haggai.	34:24
	In the second year of Darius the king,	34:30
	in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month,	34:33
	the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet.	34:38
	"Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of She-alti-el,	34:44
	"governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak,	34:49
	"the high priest, and to all	34:54
	"the remnant of the people, and say,"	34:57
	Feels good.	35:02
	No, I'm giving a little bit more inflection,	35:04
	but I want to because the,	35:08
-	Yeah, exactly.	35:10
-	There's so much.	35:11
	Alright, alright.	35:13
	I wanna do one more thing.	35:18
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	35:20
	The second lesson is taken from Romans.	35:27
	So then, brethren, we are debtors,	35:31
	not to the flesh,	35:34
	to live according to the flesh.	35:36
	No.	35:38
	So then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh,	35:40
	to live according to the flesh,	35:44
	for if you live according to the flesh you will die.	35:46
	But if, by the Spirit, you put to death	35:50
	the deeds of the body you will live.	35:52
	For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.	35:56
	For you did not receive the spirit of slavery,	36:02
	to fall back into fear,	36:05
	but you have received the spirit of sonship.	36:08
	When we cry, "Abba," Father,	36:12
	it is the Spirit himself bearing witness	36:17
	with our spirit that we are children of God.	36:20
	And if children, then heirs.	36:25
	Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,	36:29
	provided we suffer with him in order	36:33
	that we may also be glorified in Him.	36:37
	(papers shuffling)	36:46
	Clear.	36:53
	Thanks so much.	36:57
	I really appreciate that.	36:58
	And then, I guess, I didn't see	37:00
	the procession here this morning but,	37:03
	(mumbled chatter)	37:06
-	Yeah, the choir needed a little more time.	37:09

Item Info

Title:

Earl H. Brill - "Living in the Spirit" (May 26, 1985)

Description:

The Holy Spirit is the life and the power of the community of believers who make up the Church. The Spirit, acting in surprising and unpredictable ways, will lead the Church into truth and in its mission to love the world. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 31:57. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 03:14.
Key quotation: “If the Holy Spirit is indeed our source of life and power, then our future is open, and we are called to move into the future with confidence, with resourcefulness, and with imagination in the power of the Spirit.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r43t9dm54

Date:

May 26, 1985

Speaker:

Brill, Earl H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Pentecost

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0269
ref8059_a2h
uachapelsermaud
duke:320447
dcrau001256
ark:/87924/r43t9dm54
32dedeb8-c799-4f22-a9c1-7d393d7a1d7d

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:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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