Nancy Ferree-Clark - "A Divine Joke" (March 9, 1986)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(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 |