Dennis M. Campbell - "The Impossible Possibility" (October 13, 1985)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(bright organ music) | 0:04 | |
(classical organ music) | 1:39 | |
(classical organ music) | 2:19 | |
(classical organ music) | 3:21 | |
(slow tempo organ music) | 4:07 | |
(slow classical organ music) | 5:03 | |
(slow classical organ music) | 6:34 | |
(mid tempo classical organ music) | 8:01 | |
(bright classical organ music) | 9:21 | |
(bright classical organ music) | 10:51 | |
(bright classical organ music) | 11:25 | |
- | Welcome this morning to Duke Chapel. | 11:50 |
We're particularly delighted to see so many visitors. | 11:52 | |
Our preacher this morning is the Reverend Doctor | 11:56 | |
Dennis M Campbell who is Dean of our Divinity School | 11:59 | |
and a leader | 12:04 | |
in theological education in this country, | 12:06 | |
and we welcome him again to our pulpit. | 12:10 | |
Our music this morning will be lead by the Alamance Chorale | 12:14 | |
who are visiting with us today. | 12:18 | |
They've been here since early morning | 12:22 | |
preparing to lead us in worship | 12:23 | |
and we welcome them again to the Chapel. | 12:26 | |
If you're a regular worshiper with us | 12:31 | |
we remind you of the Duke Chapel forums which | 12:33 | |
are being held every Sunday morning at 9:30 | 12:37 | |
in the room in the Divinity School | 12:42 | |
on various topics of contemporary interest | 12:45 | |
and all of you are invited. | 12:49 | |
Let us continue our worship. | 12:52 | |
(classical organ music) | 12:58 | |
(choir singing in distance) | 13:28 | |
(choir singing religious music in distance) | 14:39 | |
(classical organ music) | 15:19 | |
(religious singing in distance) | 16:00 | |
When we gather to worship, | 16:37 | |
we remember that we are God's people, | 16:39 | |
but we are also brought face to face with the fact | 16:42 | |
that we are people who often prefer our wills to God's will. | 16:45 | |
Therefore let us begin our worship by confessing our sins. | 16:52 | |
(light talking in distance) | 16:59 | |
Most merciful God, we confess that | 17:10 | |
we have sinned against you, | 17:13 | |
in thought, word, and deed, | 17:15 | |
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. | 17:18 | |
We have not loved you with our whole heart, | 17:24 | |
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 17:27 | |
For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, | 17:31 | |
have mercy on us and forgive us, | 17:35 | |
that we may delight in your will | 17:38 | |
and walk in your ways to the glory of your name. | 17:41 | |
Amen. | 17:46 | |
Here, the good news, | 17:50 | |
Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. | 17:53 | |
This is God's own proof of his love toward us. | 17:58 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. | 18:03 | |
- | In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. | 18:10 |
- | Let us pray together the prayer for illumination. | 18:16 |
Open our hearts and minds oh God, | 18:21 | |
by the power of your holy spirit. | 18:24 | |
So that its word is read and proclaimed | 18:27 | |
we might hear with joy what you say to us this day. | 18:31 | |
Amen. | 18:36 | |
- | The first lesson is taken from Genesis. | 18:48 |
And they heard the sound of the Lord God | 18:51 | |
walking in the garden in the cool of the day | 18:54 | |
and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence | 18:57 | |
of the Lord God among the trees of the garden, | 19:01 | |
but the Lord God called to the man and said to him, | 19:04 | |
"Where are you?" | 19:08 | |
And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, | 19:10 | |
"and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself." | 19:14 | |
He said, "Who told you that you were naked? | 19:19 | |
"Have you eaten of the tree of | 19:22 | |
"which I commanded you not to eat?" | 19:24 | |
The man said, "The woman whom thou gaveth to be with me, | 19:27 | |
"she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate." | 19:32 | |
Then the Lord God said to the woman, | 19:35 | |
"What is this that you have done?" | 19:38 | |
The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me and I ate." | 19:41 | |
The Lord God said to the serpent, | 19:46 | |
"Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle | 19:49 | |
"and above all wild animals. | 19:54 | |
"Upon your belly you shall go, | 19:56 | |
"and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. | 19:59 | |
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, | 20:02 | |
"and between your seed and her seed. | 20:05 | |
"He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." | 20:08 | |
To the woman he said, | 20:13 | |
"I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing. | 20:15 | |
"In pain you shall bring forth children | 20:19 | |
"yet your desire shall be for your husband, | 20:22 | |
"and he shall rule over you." | 20:26 | |
And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened | 20:28 | |
"to the voice of your wife, | 20:31 | |
"and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, | 20:33 | |
"you shall not eat of it. | 20:37 | |
"Cursed is the ground because of you. | 20:38 | |
"In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. | 20:41 | |
"Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you, | 20:45 | |
"and you shall eat the plants of the field. | 20:49 | |
"In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread | 20:52 | |
"til you return to the ground, | 20:54 | |
"for out of it you were taken. | 20:57 | |
"You are dust and to dust you shall return." | 20:59 | |
This ends the reading of the first lesson. | 21:04 | |
(light organ music begins) | 21:22 | |
(choir sings religious hymn) | 21:37 | |
(choir singing religious hymn) | 22:58 | |
(choir singing religious hymn) | 23:48 | |
(dramatic organ music) | 24:07 | |
(choir singing religious hymn) | 24:20 | |
(choir singing lightly) | 25:19 | |
(choir singing lightly) | 26:21 | |
(classical organ music) | 27:08 | |
(choir singing religious hymn) | 27:13 | |
The second lesson is taken from the letter to the Hebrews. | 28:52 | |
Therefore while the promise of entering his rest remains, | 28:57 | |
let us fear lest any of you be judged | 29:01 | |
to have failed to reach it, | 29:04 | |
for good news came to us just as to them, | 29:06 | |
but the message which they heard did not benefit them | 29:09 | |
because it did not meet with faith in the hearers. | 29:12 | |
For we who have believed in of that rest as he has said, | 29:16 | |
"As I swore in my wrath, they shall never enter my rest." | 29:20 | |
Although his words were finished from | 29:24 | |
the foundation of the world, so then there remains | 29:26 | |
a sabbath rest for the people of God, | 29:30 | |
for whoever enters God's rest also ceases | 29:33 | |
from his labors as God did from his. | 29:37 | |
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, | 29:40 | |
that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience, | 29:44 | |
for the word of God is living and active, | 29:48 | |
sharper than any two edge sword, | 29:52 | |
piercing to the division of soul and spirit | 29:55 | |
of joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts | 29:58 | |
and intentions of the heart, | 30:02 | |
and before him, no creature is hidden, | 30:05 | |
but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him | 30:08 | |
with whom we have to do. | 30:12 | |
This ends the reading of the second lesson. | 30:15 | |
(classical organ music) | 30:30 | |
(choir singing lightly) | 30:58 | |
(choir singing religious hymn) | 31:52 | |
(choir singing religious hymn) | 33:12 | |
(choir singing brightly) | 34:18 | |
- | Gospel lesson for this day | 35:35 |
is taken from the book of Saint Mark in the 10th chapter | 35:38 | |
beginning with the 17th verse. | 35:44 | |
And as he was setting out on his journey | 35:47 | |
a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, | 35:49 | |
"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" | 35:53 | |
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? | 35:58 | |
"No one is good, but God alone. | 36:02 | |
"You know the commandments, do not kill, | 36:05 | |
"do not commit adultery, do not steal, | 36:09 | |
"do not bear false witness, | 36:13 | |
"do not defraud, honor your father and mother." | 36:16 | |
And he said to him, "Teacher, | 36:22 | |
"all these I have observed from my youth." | 36:24 | |
And Jesus looking upon him loved him, | 36:28 | |
and said to him, "You lack one thing. | 36:32 | |
"Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, | 36:35 | |
"and you will have treasure in heaven, | 36:40 | |
"and then come, follow me." | 36:44 | |
At that saying his countenance fell | 36:49 | |
and he went away sorrowful, | 36:53 | |
for he had great possessions. | 36:57 | |
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, | 37:02 | |
"How hard it will be for those who have riches | 37:04 | |
"to enter the kingdom of God." | 37:09 | |
And the disciples were amazed at his words, | 37:13 | |
but Jesus said to them again, | 37:17 | |
"Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. | 37:19 | |
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle | 37:25 | |
"than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." | 37:29 | |
And they were exceedingly astonished | 37:34 | |
and said to him, "Then who can be saved?" | 37:38 | |
Jesus looked at them and said, | 37:44 | |
"With men, it is impossible, | 37:47 | |
"but not with God." | 37:51 | |
Thus endeth the lesson from the Holy Gospel for this day. | 37:56 | |
May God's grace be with us all | 38:01 | |
that we may rightly hear and understand his holy word. | 38:04 | |
Amen. | 38:10 | |
You see he was very rich | 38:13 | |
and he was moral | 38:18 | |
and he was good. | 38:21 | |
He came up to Jesus as he was setting out on his journey | 38:23 | |
and asked, | 38:27 | |
"What must I do to be saved?" | 38:28 | |
Jesus quotes him the commandments | 38:33 | |
and the young man replies that | 38:36 | |
he has done them from his youth. | 38:38 | |
Jesus then tells him to go sell all that he has | 38:43 | |
and give to the poor and then come and follow him. | 38:47 | |
Hearing that, | 38:53 | |
the young rich man | 38:55 | |
went away sorrowfully. | 38:57 | |
Jesus then turns to his disciples | 39:01 | |
who heard the conversation and offers | 39:04 | |
the commentary you just heard, | 39:07 | |
on the problems of the rich. | 39:11 | |
It's going to be hard for the rich. | 39:13 | |
Indeed it's easier for a camel to go | 39:17 | |
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man | 39:21 | |
to get into the kingdom of God. | 39:25 | |
Well, this passage makes us uncomfortable doesn't it? | 39:29 | |
We discussed this passage in our house this week. | 39:33 | |
The reaction was swift. | 39:38 | |
We don't like Jesus' answer. | 39:40 | |
It's too difficult. | 39:43 | |
He asked him to give up everything. | 39:45 | |
It's impossible. | 39:48 | |
One of my favorite modern novelists | 39:51 | |
is the English writer Barbara Pym. | 39:54 | |
In her novel An Unsuitable Attachment | 39:58 | |
there is a scene which takes place | 40:01 | |
in the home of the rector of one of | 40:03 | |
London's most fashionable churches. | 40:05 | |
The rector, his wife, and niece | 40:09 | |
are having dinner after Sunday service, such as this. | 40:12 | |
They are discussing the problems | 40:17 | |
of getting the wealthy parishioners to observe lent. | 40:20 | |
"My dear, this is a fashionable London parish so called," | 40:25 | |
said the rector. | 40:30 | |
He carved the saddle of mut and savagely | 40:32 | |
as if he were rending his parishioners. | 40:36 | |
What hope is there for them this lent? | 40:40 | |
I suppose they can give up drinking cocktails. | 40:44 | |
Bertha, the Minister's wife protested. | 40:49 | |
"Somebody has got to minister to the rich." | 40:53 | |
She was often thankful that her husband | 40:58 | |
had not felt the call to serve in a slum parish, | 41:00 | |
or on a new housing estate. | 41:05 | |
Life in a Mayfair rectory suited her very well | 41:09 | |
and she had private means. | 41:13 | |
It had always seemed so hard | 41:16 | |
that saying about the rich man | 41:19 | |
and the kingdom of heaven. | 41:23 | |
The rector observed, "My particular cross | 41:26 | |
"is to be a fashionable preacher, as they say. | 41:30 | |
"Bertha is quite right when she says | 41:36 | |
"that somebody must minister to the rich. | 41:39 | |
And indeed it is so that somebody must minister to the rich | 41:44 | |
just as somebody | 41:49 | |
must minister in Duke Chapel, Will. | 41:50 | |
And of course, | 41:56 | |
somebody must be Dean of the Divinity School. | 41:58 | |
And we could go on until we found the rationalization | 42:02 | |
that each of you uses | 42:07 | |
to get around this saying of Jesus. | 42:09 | |
The fact of the matter is that on any comparative scale | 42:14 | |
with most people in this country | 42:18 | |
and certainly with most people in this world, | 42:20 | |
almost all of us in this Chapel this morning | 42:24 | |
are rich. | 42:28 | |
It is clear from these words of Jesus | 42:31 | |
that we have a problem. | 42:35 | |
Our reaction is not however | 42:40 | |
the same of the rich young man. | 42:43 | |
We have not gone away. | 42:46 | |
We're here this morning | 42:50 | |
and so while we may be uneasy with the story | 42:53 | |
because we can identify with the young man, | 42:56 | |
nevertheless, | 43:00 | |
I think our presence probably indicates | 43:02 | |
that we want and hope | 43:06 | |
to stay with Jesus. | 43:09 | |
We have not and, really, | 43:11 | |
cannot give up everything | 43:13 | |
yet we say | 43:16 | |
Lord, we would be Christians. | 43:18 | |
This Gospel passage forces us to come to terms | 43:23 | |
with the difficult question, in what way | 43:27 | |
or to what degree is Christ relevant | 43:32 | |
to the situation in which we must live? | 43:36 | |
This has been a problem for the Church | 43:40 | |
from the earliest days of Christianity. | 43:42 | |
It has to do with the relationship | 43:46 | |
between Christian faith and culture. | 43:49 | |
How do we live in the world | 43:54 | |
and yet live a Christian life? | 43:57 | |
Perhaps it is worthwhile noting | 44:02 | |
that this is not a problem | 44:05 | |
for Christianity alone. | 44:07 | |
It certainly is a problem for all of the monotheistic faiths | 44:10 | |
that is the religions which profess | 44:15 | |
the reality of one sovereign god. | 44:18 | |
Some of you perhaps will have seen in the last | 44:22 | |
three issues of New Yorker Magazine, | 44:25 | |
the remarkable and absorbing | 44:28 | |
three very long articles | 44:32 | |
by Lis Harris | 44:35 | |
about the Lubavitcher movement | 44:37 | |
within Hasidic Judaism. | 44:40 | |
And there she tells the story of this | 44:43 | |
very interesting group who seek | 44:47 | |
to live within culture | 44:50 | |
yet marginal to it | 44:53 | |
and denying | 44:55 | |
secular culture, | 44:59 | |
or we could think of contemporary problems for Islam | 45:01 | |
and many of the problems in the middle east today can | 45:05 | |
be understood only if we understand that | 45:08 | |
for many within Islam, the confrontation between | 45:12 | |
that religion and the modern secular culture of the west, | 45:17 | |
is profoundly troubling. | 45:22 | |
Indeed one state department official | 45:25 | |
once observed to me a couple of years ago | 45:27 | |
that he is convinced that part of the | 45:29 | |
serious problems the United States had | 45:32 | |
and even understanding the downfall of the Shah of Iran | 45:35 | |
was because few if any in the state department | 45:39 | |
or the higher levels of our government really believed | 45:45 | |
that religious motivation could be | 45:50 | |
so determinative in the modern world. | 45:53 | |
Faith and culture is a problem, | 45:58 | |
not just for Christians, | 46:01 | |
but this problem | 46:04 | |
is particularly great for Christians | 46:07 | |
because in fact, | 46:10 | |
a great many of Jesus' teachings | 46:12 | |
concern what we are to do | 46:16 | |
with our possessions. | 46:19 | |
Now there's an extensive literature | 46:22 | |
in the Christian tradition on this problem. | 46:24 | |
Paul, Augustan, Aquinas, Calvin, | 46:27 | |
Luther, Wesley, all address it. | 46:30 | |
H Richard Niebuhr in our own time | 46:34 | |
has addressed it in a classic manner. | 46:36 | |
Some Christians have simply tried | 46:39 | |
to reject culture altogether, | 46:41 | |
and there are those who want to take Jesus' words literally. | 46:44 | |
One thinks for instance of Roman Catholic | 46:49 | |
ArchBishop Oscar Romero of Latin America | 46:51 | |
and his observation about God's | 46:55 | |
preferential option for the poor. | 46:58 | |
Or one can think of the hermit tradition, | 47:01 | |
the monastic movements but also groups such as the Amish, | 47:04 | |
this summer my family and I visited an Amish-- | 47:08 |
- | Market in Pennsylvania, | 0:07 |
and I was struck by the culture-denying reality, | 0:09 | |
but also certain accommodation. | 0:15 | |
Why, for instance, | 0:17 | |
deny modern dress | 0:19 | |
yet accept modern running shoes? | 0:22 | |
I don't know. | 0:27 | |
I mention this to suggest that even the rejectors | 0:28 | |
of dominant culture | 0:32 | |
must make some adjustments | 0:34 | |
to live in the world. | 0:37 | |
The problem is a real one. | 0:39 | |
Some Christians, on the other hand, | 0:42 | |
have chosen to eliminate the problem | 0:45 | |
by assuming that culture and Christian faith | 0:48 | |
are the same thing in the modern West. | 0:51 | |
In America, this position was well represented | 0:56 | |
by episcopal bishop William Lawrence of Massachusetts. | 0:59 | |
In 1901, he wrote that now | 1:03 | |
we are in a position to affirm | 1:08 | |
that neither history, experience, | 1:10 | |
nor the Bible necessarily | 1:14 | |
sustains the common distrust | 1:16 | |
of the effect of material wealth on morality. | 1:19 | |
God, he said, | 1:24 | |
godliness is in league with riches. | 1:26 | |
He was the forerunner | 1:32 | |
of some contemporary American Christian leaders | 1:34 | |
who equate Christian faith with American values, | 1:38 | |
including the materialism of middle class life, | 1:43 | |
and our national defense policies. | 1:47 | |
Most television evangelists | 1:51 | |
and independent popular preachers | 1:53 | |
are silent on the morality of second homes | 1:56 | |
or expensive recreational vehicles | 2:01 | |
in a nation where many persons barely get by. | 2:05 | |
I could go on citing examples | 2:10 | |
of the ways in which Christians | 2:13 | |
have tried to handle the relationship | 2:15 | |
between Christian faith and culture. | 2:18 | |
But it's enough to say that while some | 2:22 | |
have gone to the extremes of rejection | 2:25 | |
of culture or total acceptance of culture, | 2:28 | |
most have tried to avoid | 2:32 | |
either baptizing culture or condemning it, | 2:35 | |
and have tried to live with some degree | 2:40 | |
of ambiguity and tension. | 2:44 | |
Reminds me of the wealthy man | 2:49 | |
who came up to his pastor and said | 2:51 | |
"I'm getting old, and I'm sick. | 2:53 | |
"Do you suppose if I leave everything to the church, | 2:56 | |
"I'll go right to heaven?" | 2:59 | |
And his pastor replied, "It's worth a try." | 3:01 | |
I have a friend who accuses theologians | 3:11 | |
of being in the business of complexification. | 3:14 | |
And it is true that in my lectures | 3:19 | |
and sermons I find myself often saying | 3:22 | |
that most ideas are more complex than we usually allow. | 3:25 | |
H. L. Mencken, the sage of Baltimore, | 3:30 | |
once observed that to every complex problem, | 3:33 | |
there are 10 simple answers, all of them wrong. | 3:37 | |
This is the kind of problem we've got in this gospel text. | 3:44 | |
The problem of the rich young man is complex, | 3:48 | |
it is difficult, and there is no easy answer. | 3:52 | |
Now do you feel frustrated? | 3:58 | |
So did the disciples. | 4:03 | |
We find ourselves at this point | 4:06 | |
joining in the chorus | 4:09 | |
with those exceedingly astonished disciples, | 4:12 | |
then who can be saved? | 4:17 | |
Now the answer to this question | 4:22 | |
as John Wesley often remarked | 4:24 | |
is the pivotal answer for humankind. | 4:27 | |
Men and women by nature want to trust in themselves, | 4:32 | |
in their goodness, their creative potential, | 4:38 | |
their material possessions. | 4:42 | |
Here we really get to the heart of the problem | 4:46 | |
of this sermon. | 4:50 | |
Where is the source of our trust and hope? | 4:52 | |
Our own efforts, our own intelligence, | 4:57 | |
our own knowledge, our own art, | 5:01 | |
are all ultimately for nothing apart from God. | 5:04 | |
None of us, you see, can do enough to merit salvation. | 5:10 | |
We literally cannot do all that Jesus demands. | 5:16 | |
And I think that that is exactly why he demands so much. | 5:23 | |
We are left hopeless | 5:29 | |
if we rely on ourselves. | 5:32 | |
The institutions, the governments, | 5:37 | |
the organizations of this world cannot save us. | 5:40 | |
The university, for instance, | 5:45 | |
has been for some a source of hope, | 5:47 | |
but as a human institution, | 5:50 | |
the university is profoundly limited. | 5:52 | |
As Margaret Clapp, a former president | 5:55 | |
of Wellesley College once remarked, | 5:58 | |
modern universities have been more successful | 6:00 | |
in helping men and women wage war | 6:03 | |
than in helping us wage peace. | 6:06 | |
Perhaps Matthew Arnold was right | 6:09 | |
in his classic description of the university | 6:12 | |
as home of lost causes. | 6:15 | |
The point is that apart from God, | 6:19 | |
we all live in a home of lost causes. | 6:22 | |
In the words of the classic prayer, forgive us Lord, | 6:27 | |
for we have preferred our wills to thine. | 6:32 | |
But thank God Jesus did not leave | 6:39 | |
the astonished disciples in despair. | 6:42 | |
The third section of today's gospel lesson | 6:47 | |
includes Jesus' remarkable reply, | 6:50 | |
"With men it is impossible, but not with God. | 6:53 | |
"For all things are possible with God." | 7:00 | |
There is no hope for the rich young man | 7:05 | |
or for any of us here this morning | 7:09 | |
if we trust in ourselves and the things of this world. | 7:12 | |
Our only hope is trust in God, | 7:18 | |
because all things are possible with God. | 7:22 | |
The good news is that this grace of God | 7:29 | |
is given unto us without regard | 7:32 | |
to our ability to perform the exceptional. | 7:36 | |
This is the good news | 7:43 | |
that Jesus gives to His disciples. | 7:46 | |
It's the good news for us today. | 7:50 | |
Where do you put your trust? | 7:55 | |
The rich young man put his in his possessions, | 7:58 | |
perhaps some of us in institutions, | 8:03 | |
in our possessions, in material goods, | 8:06 | |
in status, in reward, | 8:09 | |
in award, you find your own. | 8:11 | |
But the truth is that only trust in God | 8:16 | |
ultimately makes any difference. | 8:20 | |
My prayer is that all of us this morning | 8:24 | |
will go forth out of this place with new vision | 8:27 | |
to see the truth of Jesus' message, | 8:33 | |
to understand what is really important in our life | 8:36 | |
and to know that that vision is possible | 8:43 | |
as a gift of God, | 8:47 | |
amen. | 8:52 | |
(light organ music) | 8:56 | |
(choir singing) | 9:22 | |
- | Let us unite in the historic confession | 11:15 |
of the Christian faith. | 11:18 | |
I believe in God the Father Almighty, | 11:21 | |
maker of heaven and earth, | 11:24 | |
and in Jesus Christ His only son our Lord, | 11:27 | |
who is conceived by the Holy Spirit, | 11:30 | |
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, | 11:33 | |
was crucified dead, and buried. | 11:38 | |
The third day he rose from the dead, | 11:41 | |
He ascended into the heaven | 11:43 | |
and sitteth at the right hand | 11:45 | |
of the God the Father Almighty. | 11:47 | |
From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. | 11:49 | |
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, | 11:53 | |
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, | 11:58 | |
the resurrection of the body, | 12:02 | |
and the life everlasting, amen. | 12:04 | |
The Lord be with you. | 12:08 | |
Let us pray. | 12:11 | |
Gracious God, | 12:25 | |
having come into your presence, | 12:29 | |
having heard your word, | 12:30 | |
having sensed your touch upon our disordered lives, | 12:35 | |
we now intercede for others. | 12:39 | |
We pray that the world may live in peace. | 12:43 | |
We intercede for the victims of violence, | 12:48 | |
those who suffer because of war, | 12:52 | |
the victims of terrorism, | 12:55 | |
the sufferers under Apartheid. | 12:59 | |
We pray for all ministers and teachers of the church, | 13:04 | |
that they may be faithful servants of the Gospel, | 13:09 | |
leading others to your truth and strengthening their faith. | 13:13 | |
Particularly we pray for the ministry | 13:19 | |
of your servant, Dennis Campbell, | 13:21 | |
giving thanks for his work in the training | 13:23 | |
of future ministers of the gospel and leaders of the church. | 13:26 | |
We pray for the leaders of this nation, | 13:32 | |
asking for them the patience to pursue | 13:36 | |
peaceful means of settling international crises | 13:38 | |
and courage in the face of shrill calls | 13:43 | |
for retribution and violence. | 13:45 | |
We pray for those who are sick, | 13:50 | |
those who are facing serious surgery, | 13:53 | |
particularly those who may be doing so | 13:55 | |
at Duke University Hospital. | 13:58 | |
We pray for those who are confronting | 14:02 | |
the choice of whether or not | 14:03 | |
to place someone they love within a nursing home | 14:05 | |
or an institution for the mentally ill. | 14:10 | |
As the Lord who reached out and healed, | 14:15 | |
we know your compassion | 14:17 | |
for those who suffer in body or spirit. | 14:19 | |
We pray for the poor, the millions who are hungry, | 14:24 | |
countless mothers who see their children | 14:30 | |
perish from disease, | 14:32 | |
brothers and sisters for whom this good world | 14:35 | |
is reduced to unending misery. | 14:38 | |
And may we be so bold, O God, to pray even for ourselves. | 14:43 | |
Do not send us away sorrowful, O God, | 14:51 | |
blessed as we are with many possessions | 14:54 | |
and great material wellbeing. | 14:57 | |
Teach us the limits of our affluence, | 15:00 | |
the impotence of our power, and we shall be wise. | 15:04 | |
Train our eyes blinded by our selfishness | 15:11 | |
upon the needs of others. | 15:15 | |
Thus may it be possible even for us | 15:19 | |
to know the things of eternity, | 15:23 | |
which make for life, amen. | 15:26 | |
As a forgiven and a reconciled people, | 15:31 | |
let us offer ourselves and our gifts | 15:34 | |
to the God who has offered so much to us. | 15:38 | |
(somber organ music) | 15:45 | |
(choir singing) | 16:42 | |
(uplifting organ music) | 21:36 | |
(choir singing) | 21:52 | |
- | O God, it is right to give you thanks and praise, | 22:49 |
not content to let us be. | 22:53 | |
You came to us, exposed our faults, God, | 22:55 | |
filled us with visions of possible impossibilities, | 22:59 | |
judged us, loved us, | 23:04 | |
and prodded us to be all that we could be by your grace. | 23:06 | |
Therefore, we offer these gifts, | 23:10 | |
and we offer ourselves as reasonable | 23:13 | |
and holy surrenders to your will | 23:16 | |
in our world. | 23:21 | |
Our Father who art in heaven, | 23:23 | |
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, | 23:26 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 23:30 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 23:34 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 23:37 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 23:39 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 23:43 | |
but deliver us from evil, | 23:45 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 23:48 | |
and the glory forever, amen. | 23:51 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 24:00 | |
(choir singing) | 24:33 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 26:59 | |
- | The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, | 27:37 |
the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 27:40 | |
be with you now and always. | 27:44 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 27:54 |