Nancy Ferree-Clark - "To Tell the Truth" (August 11, 1985)

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	(lively organ playing)	0:05
	(organ playing)	2:56
	(orchestral music)	8:18
	(upbeat orchestral music)	15:14
-	Grace and peace to you	22:11
	in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.	22:12
	We welcome each of you	22:15
	to this holy time and place of worship	22:16
	at Duke University Chapel.	22:19
	As we join together in worship,	22:21
	and pray that each of you	22:23
	will receive a special blessing here today.	22:24
	Realizing that many of you are out of town guests,	22:28
	we extend a special word of welcome to you	22:30
	and invite you to be with us again soon.	22:33
	If you have need of pastoral assistance	22:35
	during your time here,	22:37
	please do not hesitate to call.	22:39
	In particular, we would recognize	22:41
	the Northeastern High School Band from Elizabeth City,	22:43
	under the direction of David S. Albert,	22:47
	who are visiting Umstead State Park	22:49
	for their 29th Annual Band Camp.	22:51
	They visit with us each year.	22:54
	We look forward to next year, when they'll be back.	22:56
	I would draw your attention to the announcements	22:59
	as they are printed in the bulletin.	23:01
	Now, let us join our hearts and minds together,	23:05
	in a moment of silence,	23:08
	as we prepare to worship God.	23:09
	This is the day the Lord has made,	23:12
	let us rejoice and be glad in it.	23:15
	(upbeat orchestral music)	23:33
	(choral singing)	24:20
-	Hear us, eternal God,	26:28
	as we come in worship.	26:30
	Not that we search for easy answers	26:32
	to perplexing problems	26:35
	or smooth waters without intended storms,	26:37
	but because we need this pause for our soul's sake.	26:41
	Do we separate ourselves for these brief moments	26:46
	that silence and scriptures	26:50
	word and anthem	26:53
	can refresh us once more	26:55
	and set us on the high road toward adventurous living	26:57
	in the faith of Jesus Christ, Amen.	27:01
	Please be seated.	27:06
-	Let us pray.	27:18
	Open our hearts and minds, O God.	27:21
	By the power of your Holy Spirit.	27:25
	So that as the word is read and proclaimed,	27:28
	we might hear with joy	27:32
	what you said to us this day.	27:33
	Amen.	27:37
	The first lesson is taken from the second book of Samuel.	27:39
	Then David mustered the men who were with him	27:44
	and set over them commanders of thousands	27:47
	and commanders of hundreds.	27:51
	And the king ordered Joab	27:53
	and Abishai and Ittai,	27:56
	"Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom."	27:59
	And all the people heard when the king gave orders	28:04
	to all the commanders about Absalom.	28:07
	And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David.	28:10
	Absalom was riding upon his mule,	28:14
	and the mule went under the thick branches	28:16
	of a great oak,	28:19
	and his head caught fast in the oak,	28:21
	and he was left hanging between heaven and earth,	28:23
	while the mule that was under him went on.	28:27
	And a certain man saw it	28:31
	and told Joab, "Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak."	28:32
	Joab said to the man who told him,	28:38
	"What, you saw him!	28:41
	"Why then did you not strike him there to the ground?	28:43
	"I would have been glad to give you	28:47
	ten pieces of silver and a girdle."	28:49
	But the man said to Joab,	28:52
	"Even if I felt in my hand	28:55
	"the weight of a thousand pieces of silver,	28:56
	"I would not have put forth my hand against the king's son,	29:00
	"for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai	29:05
	"and Ittai, 'For my sake protect the young man Absalom.'	29:10
	"On the other hand,	29:16
	"if I had dealt treacherously against his life,	29:17
	"and there is nothing hidden from the king,	29:21
	then you yourself would have stood aloof."	29:24
	Joab said, "I will not waste time like this with you."	29:28
	And he took three darts in his hand	29:32
	and thrust them into the heart of Absalom	29:34
	while he was still alive in the oak.	29:37
	And ten young men, Joab's armor-bearers,	29:40
	surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.	29:43
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	29:48
-	Please stand and read responsibly Psalm 143.	30:02
	Hear my prayer, O Lord	30:12
	give ear to my supplications,	30:14
	in thy faithfulness answer me,	30:16
	and in thy righteousness.	30:19
	Enter not into judgment with thy servant,	30:20
	for no one living is righteous before thee.	30:24
	(congregation speaks in unison)	30:29
	Make haste to answer me, O Lord.	30:45
	My spirit fails,	30:48
	hide not thy face from me,	30:50
	(congregation speaks in unison)	30:53
	Teach me thy way I should go.	31:00
	For in thee, I lift up my soul.	31:02
	(organ begins playing)	31:06
	(congregation singing)	31:17
-	The second lesson is taken from Paul's letter	32:22
	to the Ephesians.	32:25
	Therefore, putting away falsehood,	32:28
	let everyone speak truth with his neighbor.	32:31
	For we are members one of one another.	32:34
	Be angry, but do not sin.	32:37
	Do not let the sun go down on your anger,	32:41
	and give no opportunity to the devil.	32:45
	Let the thief no longer steal,	32:49
	but rather let him labor,	32:51
	doing honest work with his hands	32:54
	so that he may be able to give to those in need.	32:56
	Let no evil talk come out of your mouths,	33:01
	but only such as it is good for edifying	33:04
	as fits the occasion	33:08
	that it may impart grace to those who hear.	33:10
	Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,	33:14
	in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.	33:17
	Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger,	33:22
	and clamor, and slander,	33:25
	be put away from you, with all malice.	33:27
	And be kind to one another,	33:31
	tenderhearted, forgiving one another,	33:33
	as God in Christ forgave you.	33:36
	Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children	33:40
	and walk in love	33:44
	as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.	33:46
	A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.	33:50
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	33:55
	(orchestra begins)	34:09
-	The gospel is taken from John.	38:57
	Jesus said to them,	39:01
	"I am the bread of life.	39:02
	"He who comes to me shall not hunger,	39:05
	"and he who believes in me shall never thirst."	39:08
	The Jews then murmured at him because he said,	39:13
	"I am the bread that which came down from heaven."	39:16
	They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,	39:19
	"whose father and mother we know?	39:24
	"How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?"	39:28
	Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.	39:33
	"No one can come to me	39:38
	"unless the Father who sent me draws him,	39:39
	"and I will raise him up at the last day.	39:43
	"It is written in the prophets,	39:47
	"'And they shall all be taught by God.'	39:50
	"Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father,	39:54
	"comes to me.	39:56
	"Not that anyone has seen the Father,	39:59
	"except him who is from God;	40:01
	"He has seen the Father.	40:04
	"Truly, truly, I say to you,	40:06
	"he who believes has eternal life.	40:09
	"I am the bread of life.	40:14
	"Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,	40:16
	"and they died.	40:19
	"This is the bread which comes down from heaven,	40:21
	"that a man may eat of it and not die.	40:24
	"I am the living bread which came down from heaven.	40:28
	"If anyone eats of this bread,	40:32
	"he will live forever.	40:34
	"And the bread which I shall give him	40:37
	"for the life of the world,	40:39
	"is my flesh."	40:41
	This ends the reading of the gospel.	40:44
-	Connoisseurs of television game shows	40:59
	will remember an intriguing program	41:03
	popular in the 1950's and 60's entitled,	41:05
	"To Tell the Truth."	41:09
	Next to "I Love Lucy" and "Leave it to Beaver,"	41:12
	it was just about my very favorite show.	41:14
	"To Tell the Truth" featured a panel	41:17
	of relatively well known personalities	41:20
	who were given the task of determining	41:22
	which of a group of three people	41:24
	were the real Mr. or Ms. X.	41:27
	Two of the three were imposters	41:31
	while the third was supposedly the individual in question.	41:33
	Now the participants chosen inevitably had larger than life,	41:38
	but true stories to tell	41:42
	that would have been completely unbelievable	41:45
	in almost any other context.	41:47
	But that was part of the intrigue.	41:49
	Which of the three contestants	41:52
	could most convincingly present his or her story	41:54
	in a fashion that would win the panel's vote.	41:57
	The moment of revelation drew near,	42:01
	as Bud Collier, with his commanding voice, put the question,	42:03
	"Will the real Mr. X please stand up?"	42:07
	After a few all-knowing glances were exchanged	42:12
	among the contestants,	42:15
	and a couple of false starts,	42:16
	he did.	42:19
	The art of being an imposter	42:21
	had never risen to such great heights	42:22
	of popularity in American culture.	42:25
	I eventually outgrew my addiction to "To Tell the Truth,"	42:28
	or the station quit broadcasting it,	42:32
	I'm not sure which.	42:34
	But the notion of becoming an imposter,	42:36
	at least once in my life,	42:39
	persisted in my mind.	42:40
	Though I think I was imagining something like	42:43
	feigning royalty in a distant land.	42:46
	It was actually during my freshman year at Duke	42:49
	that I had a chance to try out my fantasy.	42:52
	In response to an invitation that my dorm had received	42:56
	to one of those infamous fraternity mixers	43:00
	I told my roommate I was feeling in the mood to attend	43:03
	but not as a freshman from Polkton, North Carolina.	43:07
	"Well, what do you think you're gonna be then?"	43:12
	she asked, curiously.	43:15
	Having come from a place, herself, no more memorable than I.	43:16
	"How about a first year law student	43:21
	"from Southern California?"	43:25
	She said it would never work,	43:28
	but I was game to try.	43:30
	You know what?	43:32
	It did.	43:33
	I convinced the entire fraternity	43:34
	of my graduate student status.	43:36
	It wasn't until the next week	43:39
	when one of the brothers came to pick me up	43:41
	to take me out to a fraternity outing	43:43
	that he discovered I was but a lowly freshman.	43:46
	After his most unpleasant reaction,	43:51
	my fantasy died a sudden death	43:53
	and I haven't had the desire to revive it ever since.	43:56
	I learned, once and for all,	44:00
	that good relationships are never built on falsehoods	44:01
	and I would not recommend it	44:05
	to any rising freshman in the congregation today.	44:06
	Today's epistle lesson calls the church at Ephesus	44:12
	to put away falsehood and let everyone speak the truth.	44:15
	For we are members, one of another.	44:20
	Their church consisted of people who were drawn from	44:23
	many different backgrounds and nationalities,	44:25
	yet Paul proclaimed the Ephesians	44:28
	that they shared one Lord, one faith, one baptism.	44:31
	As we heard in our reading last week.	44:35
	Gathering such a diverse group into a true community	44:39
	called for certain changes of behavior, however.	44:42
	Thus, in today's reading,	44:45
	St. Paul deals with a specific manner	44:47
	in which they are to become a more unified community.	44:50
	As a starting point for their instructions,	44:55
	Paul tackled this noble calling,	44:57
	putting away falsehood that everyone may speak the truth.	45:00
	But what is truth?	45:06
	To echo Pilates words to Jesus,	45:08
	during the trial preceding the crucifixion,	45:10
	there are those who argue	45:13
	that the whole truth can never be attained.	45:14
	Thus making falsehood, itself, an ambiguous category.	45:17
	Even those who seek to speak the truth	45:22
	are often surrounded by such complex questions,	45:25
	that truth seems, eternally, to elude their grasp.	45:28
	Should physicians lie to dying patients,	45:32
	so as to delay the anxiety,	45:35
	which the truth might bring them?	45:37
	Should professors exaggerate	45:40
	the quality of their students' work on recommendations	45:42
	in order to give them a better shot at the job market?	45:45
	Should journalists mislead those	45:48
	from who they seek information	45:50
	in order to expose corruption?	45:52
	An in-depth analysis	45:56
	of these various levels of truth telling	45:57
	properly deserves a series of discussions	46:00
	about Christian ethics.	46:02
	I will not attempt such an analysis today.	46:04
	Rather, in this particular text,	46:08
	Paul seems to be raising the question	46:10
	of how telling the truth	46:12
	enhances growth in relationships	46:14
	within the Christian community.	46:17
	Notice that his call is to speak the truth	46:19
	with thy neighbor, not to or at thy neighbor.	46:22
	This implies to me	46:27
	a mutuality in communications between persons.	46:28
	A willingness to listen,	46:32
	as well as to speak.	46:34
	Unlike those who rant their truth	46:35
	at the nearest available listener.	46:38
	Consider speakers at Hyde Park, London	46:41
	every Sunday afternoon,	46:43
	John McEnroe on TV,	46:45
	or most politicians communicating with the electorate,	46:47
	as counter examples of the thing Paul was referring to.	46:50
	Let everyone speak the truth with his neighbor, Paul writes.	46:55
	For we are members, one of another.	46:59
	Membership within the Christian community carries with it	47:02
	accountability for the truthfulness of our relationships.	47:05
	It is not surprising, then,	47:11
	that anger should enter as a primary concern	47:13
	into Paul's discussion of truth-telling	47:16
	and relationships within the church.	47:19
	Then, as now, the church had trouble	47:22
	trying to express strong emotions appropriately.	47:25
	Conflict and anger, seemingly,	47:30
	were often ignored until major problems developed.	47:31
	While the consequences of such feelings	47:35
	brought about unnecessary suspicion and isolation	47:37
	among its mem...	47:41

-	Anger continues to be one of the least understood	0:05
	of human emotions.	0:08
	And I regret to say it is a Christian stereotype	0:10
	that suggests that anger is sinful	0:13
	and if ignored will go away.	0:16
	Thankfully Christ had no illusions	0:19
	about who or what we are, nor did Saint Paul,	0:22
	when he wrote "Be angry, but do not sin	0:25
	and do not let the sun go down on your anger."	0:30
	An acknowledgement of the inevitability of anger	0:34
	in our everyday lives	0:38
	and of our Christian responsibility to do something with it.	0:40
	While Paul instructs us to put away our anger	0:45
	along with bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander and malice,	0:49
	he leaves the actual method of putting it away	0:54
	up to the imagination of the individual.	0:56
	Thomas Jefferson had a suggestion	1:00
	which went something like this.	1:02
	"When angry, count to ten before you speak,	1:04
	If very angry, 100."	1:08
	Mark Twain, less sanguine about our emotions,	1:11
	offered this revision.	1:14
	"When angry count to four, when very angry, swear."	1:15
	(congregation chuckles)	1:20
	Anyone who has sat red-faced behind a steering wheel	1:22
	in bumper-to-bumper traffic knows the untold variety	1:25
	of methods that cross our minds in those vulnerable moments	1:29
	for putting away anger.	1:32
	One recalls a truck driver in Los Angeles reportedly	1:35
	got so angry with a bus driver who haunted him	1:39
	that he repeatedly rammed his small car	1:42
	into the bus in retaliation.	1:44
	"Take that!" he screamed self-righteously.	1:47
	One would assume that such a person	1:50
	thought he was doing himself a favor	1:52
	by expressing himself so freely.	1:55
	Yet recent studies dealing with anger,	1:58
	suggest that certain myths persist	2:00
	regarding the manner in which anger functions.	2:03
	This will be a brief digression from Saint Paul	2:07
	but I think it's a point worth exploring.	2:09
	One such myth is that aggression	2:12
	is the instinctive catharsis for anger.	2:15
	This ventilationist theory suggests that	2:19
	kicking, yelling, screaming, running or hitting	2:22
	are healthy ways of venting one's anger.	2:25
	Letting off steam, so to speak, kind of like a tea kettle.	2:29
	This is often used as a rational basis	2:34
	for excusing emotional outburst in domestic squabbles,	2:36
	as well as in sports both on the part of the players	2:40
	and the fans.	2:43
	If this were the case one could assume that	2:44
	following selected Duke basketball games	2:47
	over the past couple of years,	2:49
	certain of our fans were in remarkably healthy condition	2:51
	after the game.	2:54
	(congregation chuckles)	2:55
	Another myth is that talking out anger enables one	2:56
	to get rid of it, or at least makes you feel less angry.	3:00
	Carol Tavris reports in her book	3:05
	Anger, The Misunderstood Emotion,	3:07
	that none of these psychological rationales	3:10
	for ventilating anger stand up under scrutiny.	3:12
	To the contrary, expressing anger	3:17
	just for the sake of ventilation makes the person angrier,	3:20
	solidifies an angry attitude,	3:24
	and establishes a hostile habit.	3:27
	Rather, Miss Tavris recommends reappraising a situation	3:30
	or even looking for a bit of humor	3:34
	in an otherwise infuriating situation,	3:37
	as means of dealing with anger, at least initially.	3:39
	There's the story of a husband and wife,	3:44
	who engaged in domestic battles on a fairly regular basis.	3:46
	As marriage and family expert David Mays has discovered,	3:50
	marriage and family living, generate in normal people	3:54
	more anger than these same people experience	3:58
	in any other situation	4:01
	in which they habitually find themselves.	4:03
	Some of you may be able to relate to this familiar pattern.	4:06
	Joe, the husband, upon noticing	4:12
	his wife Jane's distressed,	4:14
	posed the question "What's the matter?"	4:16
	with genuine sympathy in his voice.	4:19
	Her only response was to cry.	4:22
	Stage two, Joe sighed loudly	4:25
	in order to indicate that he had troubles too,	4:29
	not the least of which is an incommunicative wife.	4:32
	And how were they going to solve anything	4:35
	if she didn't say something.	4:37
	With just a tad of aggravation in his voice.	4:39
	He pleaded again, "What is the matter?"	4:42
	For all of which he received a head shake	4:46
	and more tears.	4:49
	Now, Joe felt that silence was the tool of the devil	4:51
	for the way it allowed him to stew in his own juices	4:54
	imagining the profusion of sins he must have committed	4:57
	to cause such a flood of tears.	5:00
	The microwave approach to domestic conflict resolution,	5:03
	but Joe was not one to give in.	5:07
	His third strategy	5:09
	was to accept her attacks so willingly,	5:11
	that it would throw her off balance.	5:15
	"Okay, okay!" he cried with his hands up.	5:17
	"What did I do now?"	5:20
	More crying until the dam finally burst	5:23
	and an ocean of shortcomings poured forth	5:26
	feeling as if he would drown in Jane's venom,	5:30
	Joe resorted to his final weapon,	5:32
	which was to jam his arms into his overcoat,	5:35
	bolt down the stairs of the apartment	5:38
	and pitch himself into the cold night air,	5:40
	to roam the sidewalks three hours at a stretch.	5:43
	Leaving Jane to wonder, is he being mugged?	5:46
	One night, Joe's birthday in fact,	5:51
	they waged a battle in the usual manner,	5:54
	right up until Joe's dramatic leap into the darkness.	5:57
	And then there came a hitch.	6:01
	As Joe's slammed the front door	6:03
	his coattail got caught in it.	6:04
	(congregation chuckles)	6:08
	Getting madder by the minute,	6:09
	he rifled through his pockets for a key to unlock the door	6:10
	and complete this most crucial tactic	6:14
	against Jane's peace of mind.	6:16
	But there was no key.	6:18
	Of the two alternatives,	6:21
	either shedding the coat	6:23
	and pacing in the freezing night air unprotected,	6:24
	unbeknownst to Jane, or ringing the doorbell,	6:27
	he chose the latter.	6:31
	In a matter of seconds	6:33
	she unlocked the door	6:34
	only to burst into hearty side-splitting laughter	6:36
	placing a hand on his shoulder.	6:40
	He could have given a little chuckle too,	6:43
	and shared in that extraordinarily sweet	6:45
	forgiveness of laughter.	6:48
	But pride got the best of him, as sin overtook his anger.	6:51
	He pushed her hand aside, cried a disgruntled "Humph",	6:54
	and stalked into the night more grimly than ever before.	6:58
	How easily we forgo those opportunities for reconciliation	7:03
	just in order to nurse our own wounds.	7:07
	Unfortunately, it's not very often that coattails	7:11
	actually get caught in the door.	7:14
	But rather it slams behind us all too quickly.	7:17
	Generally speaking angry feelings require us to take	7:21
	the initiative, and to acknowledge what we feel,	7:25
	instead of resentfully bearing grudges.	7:29
	To learn to admit what makes us feel angry	7:32
	and how to talk about that anger in ways	7:35
	that do not escalate the quarrel.	7:37
	This is the way to truthful authentic relationships,	7:40
	capable of transcending anger and incorporating forgiveness.	7:43
	Biblical examples of anger acknowledged and revealed,	7:49
	remind us often necessity of such expressions.	7:52
	Job, as an example, does not sink into a mood	7:57
	of quiet desperation in reaction to his suffering	8:01
	but cries out against injustice	8:04
	and demands an answer from God.	8:07
	His is a dynamic communication with God.	8:10
	Antagonistic, but filled with faith.	8:13
	When Moses came down off Mount Sinai,	8:18
	to find the Israelites worshiping the golden calf,	8:21
	he threw down the tablets in hot anger.	8:23
	Enraged that his people had rejected the truth	8:26
	presented by the tablets written in God's own hand.	8:30
	He confronted them in the most dramatic way possible	8:33
	with their foolishness and their sin.	8:36
	Even Jesus is recorded as expressing his anger	8:39
	in the cleansing of the temple,	8:43
	and in his encounter with the fig tree.	8:45
	Finding no fruit on the tree,	8:48
	he cursed it, causing it to wither and die.	8:50
	Jesus was irate that the tree was not fulfilling	8:55
	the purpose for which it was made.	8:58
	Created to bear fruit, it was barren.	9:00
	The Christian faith claims to understand the human emotions.	9:05
	Indeed, Jesus expressed the full range.	9:10
	But Christianity also makes a radical promise.	9:14
	That the normal workings of our feelings,	9:18
	with their familiar logic, can be transformed.	9:20
	Emotions such as anger,	9:25
	which often are simply an expression	9:27
	of a failure to have our own way,	9:29
	can also be a means of telling the truth.	9:32
	As Moses did with the Israelites,	9:36
	or Jesus did in the temple.	9:38
	Their anger was other directed.	9:41
	It expressed disappointment in peoples' folly,	9:44
	barrenness and lifelessness.	9:47
	It called them to something greater by challenging them	9:51
	to live a life of righteousness and peace.	9:54
	Not of falsehood.	9:58
	I was recently privileged to attend	10:02
	an international peace conference	10:04
	sponsored by The World Methodist Council.	10:06
	Christians gathered from around the world to consider	10:09
	the crucial task for the Church, of peacemaking.	10:13
	We heard one account after the next,	10:17
	of human suffering around the globe,	10:19
	only to be followed by a different account	10:22
	of the unfathomable amounts of resources	10:25
	being spent on armaments each day.	10:27
	And we found ourselves growing angry.	10:31
	And hearing of such anathema in the name of peacekeeping.	10:34
	An appropriate reaction on the part of Christians	10:39
	in today's world, I believe,	10:42
	but only when it can be transformed	10:44
	into a passion for justice, and a commitment	10:47
	to work for it, along with a willingness to forgive.	10:50
	With God's help such transformations will occur.	10:55
	Saint Paul, in writing to the church at Ephesus,	11:01
	invites all Christians tho take the risk	11:04
	in speaking the truth with one another,	11:07
	but not to stop there.	11:10
	Walk in love, as Christ loved us, forgiving one another,	11:13
	as God and Christ forgave the world,	11:19
	thereby acknowledging the ultimate truth	11:22
	of God's saving grace through Christ.	11:26
	The Church becomes the Body of Christ	11:29
	in embodying such forgiveness.	11:32
	As imitators of God, all Christians are called	11:35
	to learn to speak the truth, but to stand ready to forgive.	11:38
	All Christians are called to acknowledge our emotions,	11:43
	but to expect them to be transformed.	11:46
	All Christians are called to recognize those	11:50
	who would be our enemies, but to offer them our love.	11:53
	As people convinced that our religious understanding	11:59
	is not alien to our every day existence,	12:02
	but is inextricably bound to it.	12:05
	May we welcome Christ's transforming power	12:08
	in the most ordinary and unexpected moments of our lives.	12:11
	Even as we speak the truth with God and with one another,	12:17
	we will be made whole.	12:23
	Thanks be to God.	12:25
	(congregation member coughs)	12:35
	(organ plays)	12:42
	(congregation sings)	13:14
-	Please join me in the Apostle Peter's	15:00
	historic affirmation of our faith.	15:03
All	I believe in God the Father, Almighty,	15:07
	Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ,	15:10
	His only son, our Lord, who was conceived	15:13
	by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,	15:17
	suffered under Pontius Pilate,	15:21
	was crucified, dead and buried.	15:24
	The third day he rose from the dead.	15:27
	He ascended into heaven,	15:30
	and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.	15:32
	From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	15:36
	I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church,	15:40
	the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins,	15:45
	the resurrection of the body,	15:49
	and the life everlasting, Amen.	15:51
	The Lord be with you.	15:56
Congregation	And also with you.	15:57
-	Let us pray, you may be seated.	15:59
	Eternal God, we find the mystery of life very deep,	16:11
	and the explanation of this vast and varied universe	16:16
	does not lie within the comprehension of our minds.	16:20
	Give us the eyes of faith that can see the way	16:24
	in spite of life's mystery,	16:29
	and the world's discordant noises.	16:32
	To that end, lift us above the immediate,	16:36
	and set our lives in the horizons of abiding truths.	16:40
	Today, remind us of the goodness we have known,	16:45
	of the beauty our eyes have seen in nature,	16:49
	and in human life, of the friendliness and love	16:53
	that has sustained us.	16:58
	Character that has supported us, and your goodness,	17:01
	that has been patient with us.	17:05
	Awaken gratitude in the hearts of some of us	17:08
	who have forgotten to give thanks,	17:11
	and around the evil that depresses us,	17:14
	throw great memories, and wide hopes.	17:18
	Comfort our sorrows, be with the sick,	17:23
	strengthen us where we are weak.	17:27
	Yet we cannot rest content only with our own lives,	17:31
	for no person is an island unto himself.	17:36
	So we pray for the lonely and broken regions of the world,	17:41
	where hunger and violence are the twin companions of death.	17:45
	May the painful memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki	17:52
	steel our resolve not only to work for brotherhood	17:57
	and understanding among the nations,	18:01
	but among those people whose lives touch ours day by day.	18:04
	So indel us with courage in danger,	18:11
	serenity under strain, strength to do what we ought to do,	18:15
	and stand what we must endure.	18:21
	In the spirit of Christ we pray, Amen.	18:24
	Give unto the most high according as He as enriched you,	18:32
	and as you have received, give with a generous hand.	18:36
	(orchestral music)	18:47
	(organ music)	22:53
	(congregation sings)	25:10
-	God of light, Lord of the nations,	26:13
	you have shown in Jesus Christ your glory to all humankind.	26:16
	We thank you for his power that has drawn us together,	26:21
	and baptized us into one Holy Church.	26:25
	We thank you that in Jesus you joined us	26:28
	into the sharing of human hurts, as well as pleasures.	26:31
	Glory be to you for your wonderful love,	26:36
	glory to you eternal God, through Jesus Christ,	26:39
	Lord of lords, and King of kings, forever, Amen.	26:43
	And in the manner Jesus taught his disciples we pray,	26:51
All	Our Father who art in heaven,	26:55
	hallowed be thy name.	26:58
	Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,	27:00
	on Earth as it is in Heaven.	27:04
	Give us this day our daily bread,	27:07
	and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those	27:10
	who trespass against us.	27:14
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,	27:16
	for thine is the Kingdom, and the power,	27:21
	and the glory forever, Amen.	27:24
	(organ music)	27:29
	(congregation sings)	28:15
-	And now go forth in peace and be of good courage,	30:47
	hold fast to that which is good,	30:51
	rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.	30:53
	And may the blessing of God, creator, redeemer,	30:56
	and Holy Spirit be with you all	31:00
	and remain with you forever, Amen.	31:02
	(organ music)	31:11
	(applause)	39:10
	(congregation chatters)	39:25

Item Info

Title:

Nancy Ferree-Clark - "To Tell the Truth" (August 11, 1985)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1): 40:59. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 12:28.
To live in Christian community, we must learn to speak truthfully with one another. However, in order to do this, we will inevitably be confronted with moments of anger. We must allow our anger to be transformed and learn to direct it toward justice and forgiveness. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “The Christian faith claims to understand the human emotions. Indeed, Jesus expressed the full range. But Christianity also makes a radical promise, that the normal workings of our feelings, with their familiar logic, can be transformed.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4k35mv6t

Date:

August 11, 1985

Speaker:

Ferree-Clark, Nancy

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0280
ref8081_e20
uachapelsermaud
duke:320933
dcrau001267
ark:/87924/r4k35mv6t
cb6ca0ec-582a-4a3c-98bd-7c0a0e96e036

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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United States
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Durham (N.C.)

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

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Nancy Ferree-Clark - "To Tell the Truth" (August 11, 1985)

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