William C. Turner, Jr. - "The Voice from the Bowels" (January 17, 1999)

Sermon start time: 002:10. Sermon end time: 29:44.

Preaching on MLK day, Turner invites us to consider how the unlikliest circumstances and conditions create the most powerful prophetic witness. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Key quotation: How do the factors that create the republic mix in the bowels? They mix in this way: there is slavery and oppression alongside wealth and power. Religion and race are intertwined; so are politics and populism. What is the real mix? What is really in the bowels? It's really not that pretty. It doesn’t always smell nice; but that’s where the fuel for the body is given. That’s where the energy is manufactured. That’s where we are regulated and it is within the bowels that we have our contact with nature and our feet truly touch the ground. That’s the place where the prophets emerge. Where life touches it's limits. Where people are on the edge. Where the tensions and contradictions are all around and God is the one who must speak to give clarity.