Nancy Ferree-Clark - "A Divine Joke" (March 9, 1986)
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| (organ music) | 0:03 | |
| (fast-paced organ music) | 1:09 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 4:34 | |
| (organ music) | 4:47 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 8:03 | |
| (somber organ music) | 8:11 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 11:48 | |
| (organ strikes chord) | 12:25 | |
| (angelic choir singing gospels) | 12:30 | |
| (organ strikes a chord) | 14:21 | |
| (choir singing gospels) | 14:27 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 15:35 | |
| Pastor | Grace and peace to you | 16:04 |
| in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. | 16:05 | |
| We welcome you to this service of worship | 16:07 | |
| at Duke University Chapel on this fourth Sunday in Lent | 16:09 | |
| and invite you to be with us again very soon. | 16:13 | |
| We are pleased to welcome as our guest choir this morning, | 16:17 | |
| the Burlington Boy's Choir | 16:19 | |
| under the direction of Miss Eva Wiseman | 16:21 | |
| who founded the choir in 1959. | 16:24 | |
| We have been blessed by their outstanding contribution | 16:27 | |
| to our services in the past and we look forward | 16:30 | |
| once again to their contribution to our worship today. | 16:33 | |
| Please note the other announcements | 16:37 | |
| as there are printed in your bulletins. | 16:39 | |
| Hear now these words of scripture, | 16:42 | |
| "Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you." | 16:45 | |
| (organ music) | 16:57 | |
| (choir singing) | 17:28 | |
| As the penitential season continues today | 19:41 | |
| in the life of the Christian Church | 19:44 | |
| may we in this place of worship turn our thoughts inward | 19:47 | |
| as we call on God to grant us mercy and pardon for our sin. | 19:51 | |
| Almighty God who by thy love has made us | 20:09 | |
| - | and through thy love has kept us, | 20:14 |
| and in thy love would us make us perfect. | 20:18 | |
| We humbly confess that we have not loved thee | 20:22 | |
| with all our heart and soul and mind and strength | 20:26 | |
| and that we have not loved one another | 20:31 | |
| as Christ has loved us. | 20:34 | |
| Thy life is within our souls | 20:37 | |
| but our selfishness hath tendered thee. | 20:40 | |
| We have not lived by faith, we have resisted thy spirit. | 20:44 | |
| We have neglected thine inspirations. | 20:50 | |
| Forgive what we have been. | 20:54 | |
| Help us to amend what we are | 20:58 | |
| and in thy spirit direct what we shall be. | 21:01 | |
| That thou mayest come in to the full glory of thy creation. | 21:06 | |
| In us and in all men and women, | 21:12 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 21:15 | |
| - | Hear the good news, Christ died for us | 21:20 |
| while we were yet sinners. | 21:23 | |
| That is God's own proof of his love toward us. | 21:26 | |
| In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven. | 21:30 | |
| - | In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven. | 21:35 |
| - | Let us pray, the prayer for illumination. | 21:46 |
| - | Open our hearts and minds, oh God, | 21:50 |
| in this season of the cross | 21:53 | |
| so that as the word is read and proclaimed | 21:56 | |
| we might hear with joy what you say to us this day. | 21:59 | |
| Amen | 22:04 | |
| - | The first lesson is from Joshua, | 22:06 |
| "And the Lord said to Joshua, | 22:09 | |
| "This day I have rolled away | 22:12 | |
| "the reproach of Egypt from you | 22:14 | |
| "and so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. | 22:16 | |
| "When the people of Israel were encamped in Gilgal, | 22:21 | |
| "They kept the passover on the 14th day of the month, | 22:25 | |
| "at evening in the plains of Jericho. | 22:28 | |
| "And on the morrow after the passover, | 22:31 | |
| "on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land:" | 22:34 | |
| "unleavened cakes and parched grain. | 22:38 | |
| "And the manna ceased on the morrow | 22:41 | |
| "when they ate of the produce of the land | 22:43 | |
| "and the people of Israel had manna no longer | 22:46 | |
| "but ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." | 22:49 | |
| This ends the reading of the Old Testament. | 22:53 | |
| - | Will you stand and join | 23:01 |
| in reading responsively the psalter. | 23:03 | |
| "I will bless the Lord at all times: | 23:10 | |
| "his praise shall continually be in my mouth. | 23:14 | |
| - | "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: | 23:19 |
| "the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. | 23:22 | |
| - | "O magnify the Lord with me | 23:26 |
| and let us exalt his name together. | 23:28 | |
| "I sought the Lord and he answered me | 23:32 | |
| "and delivered me from all my fears. | 23:36 | |
| - | "They looked unto him and they were lightened: | 23:40 |
| "and their faces were not ashamed. | 23:43 | |
| - | "This poor man cried and the Lord heard him | 23:46 |
| and saved him out of all his troubles. | 23:50 | |
| - | "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about him | 23:55 |
| that fear him, and delivereth them. | 23:59 | |
| - | "O taste and see that the Lord is good: | 24:02 |
| "happy is the one who takes refuge in him." | 24:05 | |
| - | The epistle lesson is from | 24:18 |
| Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, | 24:19 | |
| "From now on, therefore, we regard no one | 24:23 | |
| "from a human point-of-view. | 24:25 | |
| "Even though we once regarded Christ | 24:28 | |
| from a human point-of-view we regard him thus no longer. | 24:31 | |
| "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ | 24:35 | |
| "he is a new creation, the old has passed away. | 24:38 | |
| "Behold the new has come, all this is from God | 24:42 | |
| "who through Christ reconciled himself | 24:46 | |
| "and gave us ministry of his reconciliation. | 24:49 | |
| "That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself | 24:52 | |
| "not counting their trespassed against them | 24:57 | |
| "and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. | 25:00 | |
| "So we are ambassadors for Christ. | 25:04 | |
| "God making his appeal through us. | 25:07 | |
| "We besiege you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. | 25:10 | |
| "For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin | 25:15 | |
| "so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." | 25:19 | |
| This ends the epistle lesson. | 25:23 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 25:28 | |
| (organ music) | 25:59 | |
| (choir singing) | 26:10 | |
| (organ music) | 28:00 | |
| (choir singing) | 28:04 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 28:50 | |
| - | A reading from the gospel according to Saint Luke, | 29:17 |
| "Now the tax-collectors and sinners | 29:22 | |
| "were all drawing near to hear Jesus. | 29:24 | |
| "And the pharoses and the scribes murmured saying, | 29:28 | |
| 'This man receives sinners, and eats with them.' | 29:32 | |
| "So he told them this parable; | 29:36 | |
| "there was a man who had two sons | 29:39 | |
| "and the younger of them said to his father, | 29:42 | |
| 'Father, give me the share of property that falls to me', | 29:44 | |
| "and he divided his living between them. | 29:48 | |
| "Not many days later the younger son gathered | 29:52 | |
| "all that he had and took his journey into a far country | 29:54 | |
| "and there he squandered his property in loose living. | 29:59 | |
| "And when he had spent everything | 30:03 | |
| "a great famine arose in that country | 30:05 | |
| "and he began to be in want. | 30:08 | |
| "So he went and joined himself | 30:10 | |
| "to one of the citizens of that country | 30:13 | |
| "who sent him into his fields to feed swine. | 30:15 | |
| "And he would gladly of fed on the pods that the swine ate | 30:19 | |
| "and no one gave him anything. | 30:23 | |
| "But when he came to himself he said, | 30:25 | |
| 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough | 30:28 | |
| 'and to spare but I perish here with hunger?' | 30:31 | |
| "I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, | 30:35 | |
| 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you | 30:39 | |
| 'I am no longer worthy to be called your son. | 30:43 | |
| 'Treat me as one of your hired servants.' | 30:46 | |
| "And he arose and came to his father, | 30:49 | |
| "but while he was yet at a distance | 30:52 | |
| "his father saw him and had compassion | 30:54 | |
| "and ran and embraced him and kissed him | 30:58 | |
| "and the son said to him, | 31:01 | |
| 'Father I have sinned against heaven and before you | 31:02 | |
| 'I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' | 31:06 | |
| "But the father said to his servants, | 31:09 | |
| 'Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, | 31:12 | |
| 'and put ring on his hand and shoes on his feet | 31:16 | |
| 'and bring the fatted calf and kill it | 31:20 | |
| 'and let us eat and make merry, | 31:22 | |
| 'for this my son was dead and is alive again, | 31:24 | |
| 'he was lost and is found', and they began to make merry. | 31:29 | |
| "Now his elder son was in the field | 31:35 | |
| "and as he came and drew near to the house | 31:37 | |
| "he heard music and dancing. | 31:40 | |
| "And he called one of the servants | 31:43 | |
| "and asked what this meant and he said to him, | 31:44 | |
| 'Your brother has come and your father has | 31:48 | |
| 'killed a fatted calf because he has | 31:51 | |
| 'received him safe-and-sound.' | 31:54 | |
| "But he was angry and refused to go in. | 31:56 | |
| "His father came out and entreated him | 31:59 | |
| "but he answered his father, | 32:01 | |
| 'Lo, these many years I have served you | 32:03 | |
| 'and I never disobeyed your command. | 32:05 | |
| 'Yet you never gave me a kid, | 32:08 | |
| 'that I might make merry with my friends. | 32:10 | |
| 'But when this son of yours came, | 32:13 | |
| 'who has devoured your living with harlots, | 32:15 | |
| 'you killed for him the fatted calf.' | 32:18 | |
| "And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me | 32:20 | |
| 'and all that is mine is yours. | 32:25 | |
| 'It was fitting to make merry and be glad | 32:27 | |
| 'for this your brother was dead and is alive. | 32:30 | |
| 'He was lost and is found." | 32:34 | |
| Here ends the reading of the gospel lesson. | 32:39 | |
| As the preacher climbs into the pulpit on a Sunday morning, | 32:46 | |
| she turns on the lectern light, clears her throat | 32:49 | |
| and prepares to deliver her sermon, God willing. | 32:54 | |
| Anxious to know just how many people did elect | 32:58 | |
| to cut-close the first few minutes of the ACC Finals | 33:01 | |
| on television in order to be here at the chapel. | 33:04 | |
| She looks out over the congregation | 33:07 | |
| and there, the inevitable sea of silence awaits her. | 33:11 | |
| She spots a 12 year-old boy | 33:16 | |
| brought to church against his better judgment. | 33:18 | |
| A bank vice-president known to have an alcohol-dependency, | 33:21 | |
| an unmarried college student terrified she may be pregnant. | 33:26 | |
| An impeccably dressed man who rumor has it, | 33:31 | |
| just left his family. | 33:35 | |
| The preacher invades the intimidating silence | 33:37 | |
| with an announcement, a reading from the gospel | 33:40 | |
| according to Saint Luke. | 33:44 | |
| The student leans forward, chin in hand. | 33:47 | |
| The bank vice-president neatly folds the bulletin | 33:50 | |
| and places it inside her purse. | 33:53 | |
| They all know the kinds of the things | 33:56 | |
| the preacher has told them before. | 33:58 | |
| Many of which seemed irrelevant at the time. | 34:00 | |
| But who knows what another sermon may bring. | 34:03 | |
| In the silence, they each await an answer, | 34:07 | |
| for they have come not only | 34:11 | |
| in their hopelessness but in their hopefulness | 34:12 | |
| that a word of truth might be spoken. | 34:17 | |
| And the preacher said, "There was a man who had two sons." | 34:20 | |
| A familiar tale to most of those gathered there. | 34:24 | |
| One woman remembered the thrill of seeing Baryshnikov | 34:27 | |
| dance Prokofiev's Prodigal Son at the Lincoln Center. | 34:30 | |
| Another recalled the Rembrandt etching she had once seen. | 34:35 | |
| And another recalled a rather unusual sermon | 34:39 | |
| she had heard preached on the text, | 34:41 | |
| from the perspective of the fatted calf. | 34:44 | |
| (congregation laughing) | 34:47 | |
| And so the story unfolds. | ||
| The younger of the two sons insists | 34:51 | |
| on receiving his share of the inheritance | 34:54 | |
| and the father actually gives it to him. | 34:57 | |
| "Is this to be taken as a new model | 35:00 | |
| of conflict resolution in the home?", | 35:01 | |
| a bewildered parent wonders. | 35:04 | |
| In a story full of extremes, | 35:06 | |
| the younger son gathers all that he has. | 35:08 | |
| Not just enough to tide him over six months or so, | 35:11 | |
| not just enough to get him to Tahiti and back. | 35:15 | |
| He gathers all that he has | 35:18 | |
| and he journeys into a far country. | 35:19 | |
| Where with characteristic abandon he spends everything. | 35:22 | |
| Behold, the younger son has to go to work | 35:26 | |
| or starve to death and so he gets a job on a pig farm. | 35:29 | |
| Quite an insult to the family name | 35:33 | |
| but not such a bad deal for the pigs, | 35:36 | |
| since he soon enough realizes | 35:38 | |
| they're getting a better deal than he is. | 35:39 | |
| Thus, the prodigal comes to himself and decides to go home. | 35:42 | |
| Not because he realizes he's made a fool | 35:47 | |
| out of himself and broken his fathers heart. | 35:50 | |
| Not because he indicates he's sorry for what he's done | 35:52 | |
| or that he's resolved to make amends somehow | 35:56 | |
| and do better next time. | 35:58 | |
| He decides to go home for the simple reason that he knows | 36:01 | |
| he always got three-square-meals a day there before | 36:04 | |
| and for a man in danger of starving to death | 36:07 | |
| that's reason enough. | 36:10 | |
| And so as he sets out on the return trip | 36:13 | |
| he rehearses the speech he has especially written | 36:15 | |
| to cajole his father into taking him back. | 36:18 | |
| "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. | 36:21 | |
| "I am no longer worthy to be called your son. | 36:25 | |
| "Treat me as one of your hired servants." | 36:28 | |
| "That ought to hit him where the old man lives", | 36:31 | |
| the young man thinks as he practices his inflection | 36:33 | |
| like Richard Burton preparing for King Leer. | 36:37 | |
| Just about the time he thinks he has it down | 36:40 | |
| the father spots him, coming down the long entrance | 36:44 | |
| into their grand estate. | 36:46 | |
| How many times, we wonder, has he stared blankly down | 36:49 | |
| that lonely road during those long months. | 36:52 | |
| Until that moment, perhaps he had not known | 36:55 | |
| what his reaction would be, but from the instant | 36:58 | |
| he lays eyes on that dearly beloved boy | 37:02 | |
| he has compassion on him, the kind that originates | 37:05 | |
| in your gut, as the New Testament word implies. | 37:09 | |
| It arises as naturally within him | 37:13 | |
| as air rushes in to fill any empty space. | 37:15 | |
| Before the son could even present his well-prepared speech | 37:20 | |
| his father throws his arms around him | 37:24 | |
| and all but knocks him off his feet. | 37:26 | |
| With tears and exclamations | 37:28 | |
| and incredulous laughter over his return. | 37:31 | |
| His son is back and that's all that matters, who cares why? | 37:34 | |
| The father does what no other parent in history | 37:40 | |
| would have been inclined to do. | 37:42 | |
| He doesn't say, "He hopes he's learned his lesson" | 37:44 | |
| or "I told you so." | 37:47 | |
| He doesn't say, "He hopes he's finally ready to settle down | 37:49 | |
| "for a while and will find someway | 37:52 | |
| "to make it up to the family." | 37:55 | |
| In an extraordinary display of love | 37:57 | |
| and graciousness, the father turns that cunning speech | 37:59 | |
| of the son into a moment of truth. | 38:03 | |
| The son is not to be treated as a servant | 38:06 | |
| but as an honored guest. | 38:09 | |
| In breathless succession the father heaps | 38:12 | |
| extravagant gifts upon the son: the best robe, | 38:14 | |
| a mark of high distinction, a ring, a sign of his authority | 38:18 | |
| and a fatted calf, in a land where meat is rarely eaten. | 38:24 | |
| And why not eat and make merry as the father proclaims? | 38:28 | |
| Turn on the music, roll back the carpet, | 38:31 | |
| break out the Champagne; for the son was dead | 38:34 | |
| and is alive again, he was lost and is found. | 38:38 | |
| This story, as much as any other I know, | 38:44 | |
| reveals the truly good humor of God, | 38:47 | |
| "For it seems that it's only when we hear the gospel | 38:51 | |
| as a wild and marvelous joke", in the words of | 38:53 | |
| Frederick Buechner, "that we even get it at all." | 38:56 | |
| For hearing it isn't really all that easy. | 39:00 | |
| Consider the elder brother, as an example. | 39:03 | |
| If God is preposterous, so is humanity | 39:07 | |
| as exemplified by this member of the family | 39:10 | |
| and his capacity for sin. | 39:12 | |
| It seems that no where is the deadliness | 39:15 | |
| of all seven of the deadly sins anymore unappealing | 39:18 | |
| than it is in the elder brother. | 39:21 | |
| Envy and pride and anger and covetousness | 39:24 | |
| are all present in full-force. | 39:29 | |
| Even sloth is there as he waits | 39:32 | |
| for his patrimony to gain interest, and lust, | 39:34 | |
| as he slavers over the harlots whom he's quick | 39:38 | |
| to point out the younger son has squandered his cash on. | 39:40 | |
| The elder brother is what Mark Twain called, | 39:44 | |
| "A good man in the worst sense of the word." | 39:46 | |
| He caricatures all that is joyless and petty | 39:50 | |
| and self-serving about all of us. | 39:54 | |
| But even here we detect a note of divine laughter | 39:57 | |
| and the joke's on all of us who know | 40:01 | |
| what it is to resent the presence of goodness. | 40:03 | |
| The father loves the elder brother in spite of himself. | 40:07 | |
| He always loved him and always will love him. | 40:10 | |
| Only, the elder brother never noticed it | 40:13 | |
| because it was never love he was looking for | 40:16 | |
| but only his due. | 40:19 | |
| The fatted calf, the Champagne, the ho-down, | 40:21 | |
| all could have been his too, anytime he asked for them. | 40:25 | |
| Except he was too busy cheerlessly trying to earn them | 40:28 | |
| and then resenting it when the younger son, | 40:32 | |
| whom he never called brother, became the grateful recipient. | 40:34 | |
| "The blind receive their sight. | 40:39 | |
| "The lame walk, the deaf hear. | 40:42 | |
| "The dead are raised up", Jesus said | 40:45 | |
| "and blessed is the one who takes no offense at me." | 40:48 | |
| Blessed is the one who is not offended that no one receives | 40:53 | |
| what he or she deserves but vastly more. | 40:57 | |
| Blessed is the one who gets the joke | 41:01 | |
| and enjoys the miracle. | 41:04 | |
| Most of us, I guess, are prepared for everything | 41:07 | |
| except for the fact that beyond | 41:10 | |
| the darkness of our blindness there is a great light. | 41:12 | |
| We're prepared to go on breaking our backs, | 41:16 | |
| plowing the fields without seeing, until we stumble on it, | 41:19 | |
| that there's a treasure buried in that field | 41:23 | |
| rich enough to buy the State of Alaska. | 41:25 | |
| We're prepared for a God who drives hard bargains | 41:28 | |
| but not for one who gives as much for an hours work | 41:32 | |
| as for an entire day's. | 41:35 | |
| We are prepared for a mustard-seed kingdom of God | 41:38 | |
| no bigger than our little fingers | 41:41 | |
| but not for the giant redwood it becomes | 41:43 | |
| with birds in it's branches singing Mozart. | 41:46 | |
| We are prepared for the pot-luck supper at First Methodist, | 41:50 | |
| but not for the marriage suffer of the lamb. | 41:54 | |
| In the words of Mr. Buechner, | 41:58 | |
| "It is the tragic which is understood to be inevitable." | 42:00 | |
| A given, an assumption that won't let you down | 42:04 | |
| about the human condition. | 42:07 | |
| This is evidenced in more ways than we care to remember | 42:10 | |
| by the art work which has graced our chapel | 42:13 | |
| during this season of Lent. | 42:15 | |
| The expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from the tent of Abraham | 42:18 | |
| and the broken relationship between Sarah and Hagar. | 42:23 | |
| The rape of Tamar, Judas' betrayal, the Via Delaroso | 42:27 | |
| The crucifixion itself, the bombing of Hiroshima, | 42:33 | |
| all are depicted in disturbing even abrasive forms, | 42:37 | |
| to remind us of the bad news | 42:41 | |
| that must always come before the good news. | 42:44 | |
| We are all lost, whether or not | 42:47 | |
| we squandered our inheritance in loose living, | 42:50 | |
| or clung to it so fiercely as to lose our very souls. | 42:53 | |
| But for those who are willing to hear the good news | 42:58 | |
| as it breaks through the bad, | 43:01 | |
| there awaits an eternity of comic relief. | 43:04 | |
| They are often the people who the rest of the world | 43:07 | |
| wouldn't stop to ask the time of day. | 43:09 | |
| Themselves seen as bad jokes and misfits. | 43:12 | |
| They're the poor people, the broken people. | 43:16 | |
| The penitent people. | 43:20 | |
| The ones who are willing to believe in miracles | 43:22 | |
| because they know it will take a miracle | 43:24 | |
| to fill the empty place inside of them. | 43:27 | |
| Sarah knew what it would take to fill her emptiness. | 43:31 | |
| After 90 years of waiting and in the mean time | 43:34 | |
| watching jealousy devour her relationship with Hagar, | 43:37 | |
| her servant whom she once loved. | 43:42 | |
| So when the angel appeared and told her, | 43:45 | |
| "At last, she would deliver a child", | 43:47 | |
| she laughed and Abraham laughed with her | 43:50 | |
| because having used up all their tears | 43:53 | |
| they had nothing but laughter left. | 43:55 | |
| "While the tragic is inevitable, it is the comic | 43:59 | |
| which is unforeseeable", according to Buechner. | 44:03 | |
| Or at least it seems that way in the world. | 44:06 | |
| Whereas, the father may have imagined from the time | 44:09 | |
| his two boys were born, what he was in for. | 44:12 | |
| Sarah would never have predicted the intervention | 44:15 | |
| of an angel after all that she has failed to live up to. | 44:17 | |
| Yet as we all know, the ways of the world | 44:22 | |
| are not the ways of the kingdom of heaven. | 44:24 | |
| From the divine perspective, could it be, | 44:27 | |
| that it is the unheralded, the unlikely, | 44:30 | |
| the comic, which is bound to happen | 44:34 | |
| and not the other way around? | 44:37 | |
| If we really believe that God does | 44:39 | |
| impossible things with impossible children, | 44:41 | |
| we learn to expect the unexpected appearance of grace. | 44:44 | |
| Then let us join in the divine peel of laughter. | 44:50 | |
| Proclaiming the folly of Christ as our way of being, | 44:53 | |
| of doing, and of loving. | 44:57 | |
| Switching off the lectern light | 45:03 | |
| and gathering her notes now dampened by her sweaty palms. | 45:05 | |
| The preacher steps back to her seat. | 45:09 | |
| She has addressed her congregation | 45:13 | |
| with both a word of tragedy and of comedy | 45:14 | |
| because they are both a word of truth. | 45:18 | |
| She has spoken of God's visible absence | 45:21 | |
| because to fail to do so | 45:25 | |
| makes God's invisible presence less credible. | 45:26 | |
| Sin and grace, death and life, | 45:32 | |
| absence and presence, tragedy and comedy. | 45:36 | |
| They divide the world between themselves. | 45:42 | |
| Where they meet, is where we live and worship. | 45:45 | |
| For it is also the place where the gospel happens. | 45:50 | |
| Where God and all of God's people | 45:54 | |
| enjoy the last laugh together. | 45:57 | |
| Amen. | 46:00 | |
| (organ playing) | 46:15 | |
| (congregation standing) |
| (tranquil organ music) | 0:03 | |
| (congregation singing) | ||
| - | Let us unite in this historic confession | 3:23 |
| of the Christian faith. | 3:27 | |
| - | I believe in one God, | 3:31 |
| the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth | 3:34 | |
| and of all things invisible and visible | 3:38 | |
| and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, | 3:42 | |
| the only begotten Son of God. | 3:45 | |
| You are the father before all worlds, | 3:48 | |
| God of God, light of light, | 3:52 | |
| very God of very God, | 3:54 | |
| begotten, not made, | 3:58 | |
| being of one substance with the Father | 4:00 | |
| through whom all things were made | 4:03 | |
| who for us men | 4:06 | |
| and for our salvation came down from Heaven | 4:08 | |
| and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary | 4:12 | |
| and was made man and was crucified also for us | 4:16 | |
| under Pontius Pilate. | 4:21 | |
| He suffered and was buried | 4:23 | |
| and the third day he rose according to the scriptures | 4:25 | |
| and ascended into Heaven | 4:28 | |
| and sitth on the right hand of the Father | 4:30 | |
| and he shall come again with glory | 4:34 | |
| to judge both the quick and the dead | 4:36 | |
| whose kingdom shall have no end | 4:39 | |
| and I believe in the Holy Ghost, | 4:42 | |
| the Lord, the giver of life | 4:44 | |
| who preceded from the Father and the Son | 4:47 | |
| who with the Father and the Son together | 4:51 | |
| is worshiped and glorified, | 4:53 | |
| who spake by the prophets | 4:56 | |
| and I believe in one holy Catholic | 4:58 | |
| and apostolic church. | 5:01 | |
| I acknowledge one baptism | 5:03 | |
| for the remission of sins | 5:05 | |
| and I look for the resurrection of the dead | 5:07 | |
| and the life of the world to come, amen. | 5:10 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 5:19 |
| - | And also with you. | 5:22 |
| - | Let us pray. | 5:23 |
| Most holy and loving God, | 5:36 | |
| we call out to you for mercy | 5:39 | |
| in this reflective time of Lent | 5:42 | |
| when our thoughts grapple with the human problems | 5:46 | |
| that seem to control our lives. | 5:49 | |
| We are afraid of the darkness in our hearts | 5:53 | |
| and the darkness in our world. | 5:57 | |
| Free us from this fear | 6:00 | |
| so that we may boldly claim your transforming power. | 6:03 | |
| For the church throughout the world, we pray, oh God. | 6:09 | |
| Grant that every member may truly | 6:13 | |
| and courageously serve you. | 6:16 | |
| We pray for those gathered here this day | 6:20 | |
| with our special needs and concerns, | 6:24 | |
| for the students and faculty returning | 6:29 | |
| from their rest, | 6:31 | |
| for the visitors, | 6:34 | |
| for all of us in this congregation, | 6:36 | |
| grant the light of your eternal truth. | 6:38 | |
| May all who confess your name live together | 6:43 | |
| in your love and reveal your glory to the world. | 6:46 | |
| As the creative power of God begins | 6:52 | |
| to show itself in the beginning in the spring, | 6:54 | |
| may that power become manifest | 6:58 | |
| in new and honest hearts. | 7:01 | |
| Guide the leaders and people of this land | 7:05 | |
| and of all the nations in the ways of justice | 7:09 | |
| and peace that we may honor one another | 7:11 | |
| and serve the common good. | 7:15 | |
| We pray for those countries | 7:19 | |
| where war is raging | 7:21 | |
| and where the threat of war is constant. | 7:23 | |
| Bring rapid solutions to the problems | 7:26 | |
| which have caused the paralyzing conflicts | 7:30 | |
| in so many corners of our globe. | 7:33 | |
| For the sick in body or spirit, | 7:37 | |
| we ask your healing presence. | 7:40 | |
| For the starving masses, | 7:43 | |
| we ask for food for body and spirit. | 7:45 | |
| For the dying, we ask for eternal life. | 7:50 | |
| For the poor, the persecuted, the refugees, | 7:54 | |
| the prisoners, and even the terrorist, we pray, oh God, | 7:59 | |
| redeem them for their sakes and for ours. | 8:04 | |
| Grant that all of us may know how to respond | 8:08 | |
| to the needs of our fellow brothers | 8:13 | |
| and sisters here in our midst | 8:15 | |
| and in all parts of the world | 8:18 | |
| for yours, oh Lord, is the power | 8:21 | |
| and the glory now and forever. | 8:24 | |
| Amen. | 8:29 | |
| We are a people of God, | 8:34 | |
| forgiven and reconciled, | 8:36 | |
| therefore let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God. | 8:38 | |
| (tranquil organ music) | 8:46 | |
| (lively organ music) | 10:46 | |
| (choir singing) | 11:17 | |
| (tranquil organ music) | 15:35 | |
| (congregation singing) | 16:04 | |
| - | Almighty and most merciful God, | 16:52 |
| who giveth every good and perfect gift, | 16:54 | |
| we give thee thanks and praise | 16:58 | |
| for all thy mercies. | 16:59 | |
| Thy goodness hath created us, | 17:01 | |
| thy bounty hath sustained us | 17:03 | |
| and thy patient love hath found us. | 17:06 | |
| Give us a heart to love and serve thee | 17:09 | |
| that we may cheerfully submit in all things | 17:12 | |
| unto thy blessed will. | 17:15 | |
| This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, | 17:17 | |
| who taught us to pray with confidence. | 17:20 | |
| - | Our Father who art in Heaven, | 17:22 |
| hallowed be thy name, | 17:25 | |
| thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth | 17:27 | |
| as it is in Heaven. | 17:30 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 17:32 | |
| and forgive our trespasses | 17:34 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us | 17:37 | |
| and lead us not into temptation | 17:40 | |
| but deliver us from evil | 17:42 | |
| for thine is the kingdom, | 17:44 | |
| the power and the glory forever. | 17:46 | |
| - | Amen. | 17:49 |
| (tranquil organ music) | 18:01 | |
| ♪ Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart ♪ | 18:33 | |
| ♪ Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art ♪ | 18:41 | |
| ♪ Thou my best thought by day or by night ♪ | 18:49 | |
| ♪ Waking or sleeping, Thy presence, my light ♪ | 18:57 | |
| ♪ Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word ♪ | 19:07 | |
| ♪ I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord ♪ | 19:15 | |
| ♪ Thou my great Father, I Thy true son ♪ | 19:23 | |
| ♪ Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one ♪ | 19:31 | |
| ♪ Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise ♪ | 19:42 | |
| ♪ Thou mine inheritance, now and always ♪ | 19:50 | |
| ♪ Thou and Thou only, first in my heart ♪ | 19:58 | |
| ♪ High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art ♪ | 20:05 | |
| ♪ High King of Heaven, my victory won ♪ | 20:18 | |
| ♪ May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's Sun ♪ | 20:25 | |
| ♪ Heart of my own heart, whate'er befall ♪ | 20:34 | |
| ♪ Still be my vision, O Ruler of all ♪ | 20:42 | |
| - | And now as we go, may we go in peace, | 20:56 |
| may we go with a deeper understanding | 20:59 | |
| of God's grace, | 21:02 | |
| may we go determined to love and serve the world | 21:04 | |
| because Christ first loved us. | 21:09 | |
| In the name of the one who was | 21:12 | |
| and is and ever shall be, amen. | 21:14 | |
| (tranquil organ music) | 21:24 |
