Carol M. Norén - "No Visible Means of Support" (May 25, 1986)
Loading the media player...
Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(traditional Catholic music) | 0:04 | |
- | Good morning and welcome to this service of worship | 15:22 |
at Duke Chapel, we're glad you're with us today. | 15:25 | |
Our guest preacher is Reverend Dr. Carol Marie Norin, | 15:28 | |
the newly appointed assistant professor | 15:32 | |
of homiletics at Duke Divinity School. | 15:35 | |
And we welcome Dr. Norin to Duke Chapel and to Durham. | 15:38 | |
Dean Dennis Campbell of the Divinity School | 15:44 | |
is helping preside in the service today | 15:47 | |
and we welcome him to the chapel also. | 15:50 | |
In honor of Dr. Norin's visit we invite you | 15:53 | |
for lemonade after the service to meet her in the arcade. | 15:56 | |
If you're in Durham for the summer, | 16:01 | |
we invite you to join our summer choir | 16:03 | |
under the direction of Donna Sparks. | 16:06 | |
No auditions are required. | 16:08 | |
You don't have to be here every Sunday, | 16:10 | |
but we are always looking for singers. | 16:12 | |
We have the largest summer choirs that we have had | 16:15 | |
in recent years and we're delighted. | 16:18 | |
And now let us prepare ourselves for worship. | 16:21 | |
(traditional Catholic music) | 16:33 | |
- | Our God is a holy and righteous God, | 22:13 |
therefore let us begin this service with confession | 22:16 | |
of our sin before God and one another. | 22:20 | |
Be seated. | 22:24 | |
Our heavenly father who by they love has made us | 22:36 | |
and through thy love has kept us and in thy love | 22:40 | |
which make us perfect, we humbly confess | 22:46 | |
that we have not loved thee with our whole heart | 22:50 | |
and soul and mind and strength. | 22:53 | |
And that we have not loved one another | 22:57 | |
as Christ hath loved us. | 22:59 | |
Thy life is within our souls, | 23:02 | |
but our selfishness has hindered thee. | 23:05 | |
We have not lived by faith. | 23:09 | |
We have resisted thy spirit. | 23:11 | |
We have neglected thine inspirations. | 23:14 | |
Forgive what we have been. | 23:18 | |
Help us to amend what we are. | 23:21 | |
And in they spirit direct what we shall be, | 23:23 | |
that thou mayest come into the full glory | 23:28 | |
of thy creation through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 23:31 | |
Hear these comfortable words of scripture | 23:39 | |
for all those who turn to the Lord. | 23:42 | |
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger | 23:45 | |
and abounding in steadfast love. | 23:49 | |
This is the message that we have heard from him | 23:53 | |
and proclaim to you, that God is light. | 23:57 | |
And in God is no darkness at all. | 24:02 | |
If we walk in the light as he is in the light, | 24:05 | |
we have fellowship with one another | 24:08 | |
and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. | 24:11 | |
Your sins are forgiven for his sake. | 24:16 | |
Amen. | 24:20 | |
- | Together let us pray the prayer for illumination. | 24:32 |
Open our hearts and minds, oh God, | 24:37 | |
by the power of your holy spirit. | 24:41 | |
So that as the word is read and proclaimed, | 24:45 | |
we might hear with joy what you say to us this day. | 24:48 | |
Amen. | 24:54 | |
The first lesson is taken from the old testament | 24:58 | |
book of Proverbs in the eight chapter. | 25:02 | |
Verses 22 through 31. | 25:06 | |
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work. | 25:11 | |
The first of his acts of old. | 25:16 | |
Ages ago I was set up at the first, | 25:19 | |
before the beginning of the earth. | 25:22 | |
When there were no depths, I was brought forth. | 25:26 | |
When there were no springs abounding with water. | 25:31 | |
Before the mountains had been shaped, | 25:35 | |
before the hills, I was brought forth. | 25:38 | |
Before he had made the earth with its fields | 25:41 | |
or the first of the dust of the world. | 25:45 | |
When he established the heavens, I was there. | 25:48 | |
When he drew a circle on the face of the deep. | 25:52 | |
When he made firm the skies above. | 25:56 | |
When he established the fountains of the deep. | 25:59 | |
When he assigned to the sea its limit | 26:03 | |
so that the waters might not transgress his command. | 26:07 | |
When he marked out the foundations of the earth, | 26:12 | |
then I was beside him like a master workman | 26:16 | |
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always. | 26:21 | |
Rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting | 26:28 | |
in the sons of men. | 26:33 | |
This ends the reading of the first lesson. | 26:37 | |
(traditional Catholic music) | 26:49 | |
The second lesson is taken from Paul's letter | 31:11 | |
to the church at Rome in the fifth chapter. | 31:14 | |
Verses one through five. | 31:18 | |
Therefore since we are justified by faith | 31:22 | |
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. | 31:26 | |
Through him we have obtained access to this grace | 31:31 | |
in which we stand and we rejoice in our hope | 31:35 | |
of sharing the glory of God. | 31:40 | |
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings | 31:44 | |
knowing that suffering produces endurance | 31:48 | |
and endurance produces character | 31:51 | |
and character produces hope. | 31:54 | |
And hope does not disappoint us because God's love | 31:58 | |
has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit | 32:03 | |
which has been given to us. | 32:08 | |
Thus endeth the reading of the second lesson. | 32:12 | |
(traditional Catholic music) | 32:25 | |
- | The third lesson is a reading from the gospel | 39:33 |
according to St. John. | 39:36 | |
The 16th chapter, verses 12 to 15. | 39:38 | |
I have yet many things to say to you, | 39:45 | |
but you cannot bear them now. | 39:48 | |
When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you | 39:51 | |
into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, | 39:55 | |
but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare | 40:01 | |
to you the things that are to come. | 40:06 | |
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine | 40:09 | |
and declare it to you. | 40:14 | |
All that the father has is mine, | 40:17 | |
therefore I said that he will take what is mine | 40:21 | |
and declare it to you. | 40:25 | |
Thanks be to God for His holy word. | 40:28 | |
Today is Trinity Sunday, | 40:40 | |
the first Sunday after Pentecost. | 40:43 | |
It's chief liturgical significance may be that this | 40:48 | |
is the Sunday the pastor finds a visiting preacher | 40:51 | |
to wrestle with the incomprehensible unity | 40:55 | |
of father, son, and holy spirit. | 40:58 | |
Today also happens to be the Sunday | 41:02 | |
closest to Aldersgate Day. | 41:05 | |
A time when united Methodists like to argue | 41:08 | |
over what exactly happened to John Wesley | 41:12 | |
over 200 years ago in a prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street. | 41:15 | |
Was it a conversion experience? | 41:22 | |
Or an existential crisis? | 41:24 | |
Or something else all together? | 41:27 | |
We aren't sure. | 41:31 | |
But we do come to this worship service today | 41:34 | |
certain of some things. | 41:36 | |
There are painful certainties in our lives | 41:40 | |
that impinge upon our consciousness | 41:44 | |
even as we gather to sing and pray | 41:47 | |
and listen to a sermon. | 41:51 | |
Some of you for example have come from a week | 41:54 | |
of unreasonable pressure on the job. | 41:57 | |
And others may come from searching | 42:02 | |
unsuccessfully for employment. | 42:04 | |
Still others may come from a week of trying | 42:08 | |
to hold a shaky marriage together. | 42:11 | |
Or from a world in which poverty and loneliness | 42:14 | |
and alienation seem a good deal closer | 42:18 | |
than 18th century spirituality. | 42:23 | |
The buoyant optimism of the fifth chapter of Romans | 42:27 | |
may be far cry from the world in which you live | 42:30 | |
and the way you think about it. | 42:35 | |
During this last week I received a letter | 42:38 | |
from a close friend of mine who lives in Sweden. | 42:40 | |
It began with these sentences. | 42:45 | |
Dear Carol, I started this letter almost a month ago | 42:48 | |
and since that time the US has bombed Libya, | 42:53 | |
the reactor in Chernobyl has exploded | 42:56 | |
and spewed it's awful, awful all over Europe, | 43:00 | |
including our town. | 43:04 | |
And the world no longer seems to be the place | 43:07 | |
it used to be. | 43:10 | |
What's happening? | 43:12 | |
It seems to me that evil is taking on new | 43:14 | |
and here to for undreamed of dimensions. | 43:17 | |
I used to think the world would be annihilated | 43:21 | |
as the result of a nuclear war. | 43:24 | |
But wouldn't it be ironic if we were all wiped out, | 43:26 | |
not by a war but through the peaceful uses | 43:30 | |
of atomic energy? | 43:34 | |
Wouldn't it be ironic if T.S. Elliott's words | 43:37 | |
that the world will end not with a bang, but a whimper, | 43:40 | |
were to come true. | 43:45 | |
I hate to think about all this. | 43:47 | |
What do Trinity Sunday or Aldersgate experiences | 43:52 | |
have to do with the menacing realities around us | 43:57 | |
other than many distracting us for an hour or so | 44:00 | |
from the depression and pessimism they foster. | 44:05 | |
I believe the passage from Romans read a few minutes ago | 44:10 | |
not only make Aldersgate and Trinity less remote | 44:15 | |
from our own experience, but also tell us something | 44:19 | |
of how we may conquer as well as cope | 44:24 | |
in a world that appears to be falling apart. | 44:27 | |
First of all there is no promise that faith in Jesus Christ | 44:33 | |
is going to make all life's problems go away. | 44:38 | |
Paul says, we have peace with God, which sounds fine. | 44:43 | |
But in the next breath he's talking about suffering | 44:48 | |
and tribulation that are bound to come our way | 44:51 | |
no matter what we believe. | 44:55 | |
It is unfortunate at best and downright deceitful | 44:59 | |
at worst, the way so much of television evangelism | 45:03 | |
and popular Christian literature portray faith | 45:07 | |
in Jesus Christ the way a secular advertiser | 45:12 | |
might sell shampoo. | 45:16 | |
You know, a dismal before picture of some poor | 45:18 | |
schlomossal with dandruff and no friends. | 45:22 | |
And a dazzling after picture of the same person, | 45:26 | |
now surrounded by attractive, sexy admirers, | 45:30 | |
enjoying the good life with plenty of money | 45:35 | |
and a good job and incidentally, no more dandruff. | 45:38 | |
That is not the way life is. | 45:45 | |
After a person finds peace with God through Jesus Christ, | 45:49 | |
John Wesley learned that following his Aldersgate | 45:55 | |
experience, yes he did go to a prayer meeting | 45:59 | |
on Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738, | 46:04 | |
earnestly longing for the assurance of God's love. | 46:09 | |
And yes, his heart was strangely warmed | 46:14 | |
and he found he could trust Christ alone | 46:19 | |
for his salvation, but when he woke up the next morning | 46:22 | |
the suffering and problems facing him were still there. | 46:28 | |
Justification by faith, that is being delivered | 46:34 | |
from the penalty of sin did not lessen the hostility | 46:38 | |
of the church of England toward his work. | 46:43 | |
Peace with God did not end a persecution by mobs | 46:46 | |
when he preached. | 46:51 | |
It did not stop dissension within the Methodist societies | 46:54 | |
or make his family life a bed of roses. | 46:58 | |
And the same is true for us. | 47:04 | |
We come to worship. | 47:09 | |
Many of us desiring a kind of peace | 47:11 | |
we know the world can't give. | 47:14 | |
A deepening of our relationship with God. | 47:16 | |
But even when the holy spirit works an Aldersgate | 47:21 | |
experience within us, Monday morning's tribulations | 47:24 | |
still lie ahead. | 47:29 | |
The peace of God doesn't excuse us from the pains of life. | 47:32 | |
But because we know the love of God, | 47:38 | |
we can trust that anything that happens to us | 47:41 | |
can ultimately work to the glory of God | 47:44 | |
and to draw us closer to him. | 47:48 | |
If pursuing peace with God won't solve life's problems, | 47:53 | |
how are Christians to address them? | 47:58 |
- | Simply by working really hard, | 0:03 |
by limiting ourselves to the sensible | 0:06 | |
and verifiable methods, approved by the rest of the world. | 0:08 | |
I think it's no accident that this passage in Romans | 0:14 | |
has so many verbs about human beings, | 0:18 | |
where the humans are the passive recipients of action. | 0:21 | |
We are justified. | 0:26 | |
Hope does not disappoint us. | 0:28 | |
God's love has been poured into our hearts. | 0:31 | |
The Holy Spirit has been given to us. | 0:35 | |
All of these fly in the face | 0:39 | |
of an achievement oriented western culture, | 0:41 | |
that tells us if we try hard enough, | 0:44 | |
we'll attain our goals, spiritual or temporal. | 0:47 | |
Yet scripture tells us that whatever visible, | 0:53 | |
measurable schemes we devise for setting ourselves | 0:57 | |
or the world to rights, are doomed and futile. | 1:01 | |
John Wesley had to get a good sense | 1:08 | |
of his own failure, to get it together, | 1:11 | |
before he was ready for Aldersgate. | 1:16 | |
Until that experience, Wesley's religion was a burden | 1:20 | |
to him and everyone around him. | 1:24 | |
He wasn't the sort of person you'd want with you | 1:28 | |
on your summer vacation. | 1:30 | |
He was always getting up at a ridiculously early hour | 1:33 | |
to read the Bible and to pray | 1:37 | |
for scrupulously prescribed periods. | 1:39 | |
He went around taking the spiritual and moral pulse | 1:43 | |
of every soul he encountered. | 1:46 | |
He went around doing good even through clenched teeth, | 1:49 | |
berating himself and others | 1:54 | |
for sins both real and imagined. | 1:57 | |
And all this feverish activity | 2:02 | |
didn't sell his brand of piety | 2:05 | |
to the church of England. | 2:07 | |
It didn't bring about an end to disease or drunkenness. | 2:10 | |
His own very best efforts as recorded in his journal, | 2:14 | |
accomplished no peace within or without. | 2:20 | |
The expectation that he could change | 2:26 | |
his religious experience or life in the world around him | 2:29 | |
if he only figured out the right combination | 2:32 | |
made him a profoundly depressed and ineffective Christian. | 2:36 | |
And so it is with us, | 2:44 | |
good strong members of Christ's church | 2:48 | |
in all denominations are tempted daily | 2:52 | |
to rely on sensible demonstrable means | 2:57 | |
for changing ourselves and the world. | 3:01 | |
In our hearts, we know that no number | 3:06 | |
of hands across America will end | 3:09 | |
the underlying cause of hunger and poverty. | 3:12 | |
No proliferation of church boards and agencies, | 3:17 | |
no resolutions passed at annual conference, | 3:21 | |
or newspaper articles, or stepped up stewardship campaigns | 3:24 | |
will convert or sanctify the human spirit. | 3:30 | |
No church growth statistics, or hymnal revisions, | 3:35 | |
or resolutions to lead a better life from now on | 3:39 | |
can weed out the root of sin. | 3:44 | |
No weapons or disarmament, | 3:47 | |
no talks nor negotiation | 3:51 | |
will solve international tensions. | 3:53 | |
Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ | 3:58 | |
will not end all tribulation, | 4:01 | |
as the King James Version puts it, | 4:04 | |
nor can we successfully eradicate life's problems | 4:06 | |
in our own strength. | 4:11 | |
Counting on the technology and expertise | 4:13 | |
the world calls sensible, | 4:16 | |
it is rather by faith, | 4:21 | |
as Paul says in verse one, | 4:25 | |
that we are to confront whatever trials come our way. | 4:27 | |
What does that mean? | 4:33 | |
It's relying on the invisible | 4:35 | |
and uncontrollable power of God | 4:38 | |
that gives us the eyes to see what God is doing | 4:42 | |
in the most trying circumstances, | 4:46 | |
or to put it in simple terms, | 4:50 | |
it's saying, Lord, I'm in over my head, | 4:52 | |
I don't know what to do. | 4:58 | |
Show me what you are doing, even here. | 5:01 | |
Jesus, take away my fear of trusting you. | 5:06 | |
Tell me how I can be part of what you are doing. | 5:11 | |
Holy Spirit, give me the strength | 5:16 | |
to do what you are leading me to do. | 5:19 | |
This is what happened to John Wesley that night | 5:24 | |
on Aldersgate street. | 5:28 | |
He gave up believing that he could | 5:30 | |
make things right on his own. | 5:32 | |
He learned to rely on invisible | 5:35 | |
rather than visible means of support. | 5:38 | |
And by trusting in God's power, | 5:42 | |
rather than his own, the problems and suffering | 5:45 | |
which had once threatened to defeat him | 5:49 | |
were now grounds for rejoicing. | 5:51 | |
Why? | 5:54 | |
First because he was able to see God's grace | 5:55 | |
at work in the worst of his suffering, | 5:58 | |
and second, because he now had hope | 6:02 | |
of sharing in the glory of God, | 6:05 | |
in the ultimate victory over evil. | 6:08 | |
You and I are invited daily | 6:14 | |
to Aldersgate experiences | 6:18 | |
and the new life that follows them. | 6:21 | |
Now it's more than a private satisfying peace of mind | 6:25 | |
that you've gotten things right with God. | 6:29 | |
And it's certainly not learning to put up with | 6:33 | |
the evil you see around you, | 6:36 | |
simply because you trust that somehow | 6:38 | |
God is going to work it for good. | 6:41 | |
It is on the contrary, casting yourself | 6:45 | |
on an invisible means of support, | 6:48 | |
and relying on the strength of a triune God | 6:52 | |
to work in you and through you, | 6:55 | |
and if necessary, around you. | 6:59 | |
It calls you to draw on God's wisdom | 7:02 | |
rather than your own cleverness, | 7:07 | |
to answer the tough questions. | 7:08 | |
It equips you to comfort the suffering, | 7:12 | |
and gives some meaning to the senseless cruelty | 7:16 | |
we see daily in the world. | 7:19 | |
It is faith in Jesus Christ that makes it possible | 7:23 | |
for us to participate in the redemptive activity | 7:28 | |
God is doing, instead of being frustrated | 7:32 | |
by the futility of our feeble human efforts. | 7:35 | |
The Holy Spirit, our invisible means of support, | 7:40 | |
gives us courage to speak difficult truths, | 7:46 | |
and to take the kind of risks the world calls foolish. | 7:51 | |
Best of all, it enables us to live | 7:56 | |
for the purpose for which we were created, | 8:00 | |
to glorify God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, | 8:03 | |
and know a joy that is beyond human comprehension. | 8:09 | |
All this is ours to claim, simply by faith | 8:15 | |
in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 8:20 | |
which is sufficient for all our needs. | 8:22 | |
Thanks be to God for this, his inexpressible gift, | 8:27 | |
amen. | 8:32 | |
(organ music) | 8:36 | |
(choir singing) | 9:24 | |
- | Now in response to God's word read and preached, | 13:00 |
let us affirm our faith in the words of the apostles creed, | 13:05 | |
I believe in God the Father Almighty, | 13:10 | |
maker of heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, | 13:14 | |
his only son, our Lord, | 13:18 | |
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, | 13:21 | |
born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, | 13:24 | |
was crucified dead and buried, | 13:29 | |
the third day he rose from the dead, | 13:33 | |
he ascended into heaven, | 13:35 | |
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. | 13:38 | |
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. | 13:43 | |
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, | 13:47 | |
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, | 13:52 | |
the resurrection of the body, | 13:57 | |
and the life everlasting, amen. | 13:59 | |
The Lord be with you, let us pray. | 14:04 | |
Almighty and Eternal God, | 14:21 | |
in whose appointment our life stands, | 14:24 | |
and who has committed our work to us. | 14:29 | |
We would commit our cares to you. | 14:34 | |
We thank you that we are your children, | 14:38 | |
and that you have assured us | 14:41 | |
that while we are intent upon your will, | 14:43 | |
you will heed our wants. | 14:47 | |
We commend to your mercy, all those in need this day, | 14:50 | |
we think especially of nations | 14:55 | |
afflicted with famine, pestilence, or war, | 14:57 | |
those who suffer persecution for the sake of the gospel, | 15:03 | |
and all persons oppressed with poverty, | 15:08 | |
sickness, or any infirmity of body or sorrow of mind. | 15:12 | |
On this Memorial Day weekend, as we in the United States | 15:21 | |
remember those who fought and died | 15:27 | |
that we might live, accept our gratitude, | 15:30 | |
make us more worthy of their sacrifice, | 15:36 | |
and comfort all those who mourn. | 15:41 | |
On this anniversary Sunday of Aldersgate, | 15:48 | |
we remember in a time of great need, | 15:52 | |
you did raise up your servants John and Charles Wesley, | 15:56 | |
and by your spirit, did inspire them | 16:01 | |
to kindle a flame of sacred love, | 16:04 | |
which leaped and ran, and became an inextinguishable blaze, | 16:08 | |
grant that we in this time of great need, | 16:15 | |
may be refreshed by your grace, | 16:20 | |
and newly devoted to the increase | 16:24 | |
of scriptural holiness throughout the land. | 16:27 | |
We pray always in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 16:32 | |
Now in response to God's grace unto us, let us give. | 16:42 | |
Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, | 16:49 | |
how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. | 16:52 | |
(soft music) | 17:02 | |
(woman singing) | 18:25 | |
(choir singing) | 22:03 | |
(organ music) | 23:32 | |
(choir singing) | 23:50 | |
- | Almighty and everlasting God, | 24:59 |
who hast revealed thyself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, | 25:01 | |
and dost ever live and reign in the perfect unity of Love, | 25:09 | |
accept these gifts which we now bring before thee, | 25:15 | |
and help us make the whole of life an offering | 25:22 | |
and every thought a prayer. | 25:26 | |
We would seal this hour of worship in a renewed consecration | 25:30 | |
of ourselves as we pray the prayer our Lord taught us. | 25:35 | |
Our Father who art in heaven, | 25:42 | |
Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, | 25:45 | |
thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. | 25:49 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 25:56 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 25:59 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 26:02 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 26:07 | |
but deliver us from evil, | 26:10 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 26:12 | |
and the glory forever, amen. | 26:17 | |
(organ music) | 26:22 | |
(choir singing) | 27:04 | |
(man speaking off mic) | 30:17 | |
- | Holy Spirit, be with you both now and forevermore, amen. | 30:25 |
♪ Amen, ♪ | 30:36 | |
♪ amen, ♪ | 30:44 | |
♪ amen, ♪ | 30:51 | |
♪ amen ♪ | 30:59 | |
- | Thank you very much. | 31:12 |
(organ music) | 31:14 | |
(crowd chattering) | 34:55 | |
(organ music) | 35:13 | |
(crowd chattering) | 44:48 |