Kenneth L. Nelson - Lenten Meditation and Music - conducted by Kenneth L. Nelson (February 1, 1999)

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-	Almighty God, your Blessed Son was led by the Spirit	0:02
	to be tempted by Satan.	0:05
	Come quickly to help us	0:08
	who are assaulted by many temptations	0:09
	and, as you know the weakness of each of us,	0:12
	let each one find you mighty to save,	0:15
	through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, amen.	0:18
	♪ O for a heart to praise my God ♪	0:23
	♪ A heart from sin set free ♪	0:37
	♪ A heart that always feels Thy blood ♪	0:46
	♪ So freely spilt for me ♪	0:56
	♪ A humble, lowly, contrite heart ♪	1:08
	♪ Believing, true and clean ♪	1:18
	♪ Which neither life nor death can part ♪	1:28
	♪ From Him that dwells within ♪	1:38
	♪ Thy nature, gracious Lord ♪	1:47
	♪ Thy nature, gracious Lord impart ♪	1:54
	♪ Come quickly from above ♪	2:05
	♪ Write Thy new name upon my heart ♪	2:26
	♪ Thy new, best name of love ♪	2:40
-	"Where cross the crowded ways of life."	3:00
	These are the words of a great social gospel hymn	3:03
	written by Frank Mason North.	3:06
	Frank Mason North was an idealistic young student,	3:09
	working among New York City's desperately poor	3:13
	in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York.	3:16
	And this hymn arises out of his experiences there in 1903.	3:19
	"Where cross the crowded ways of life."	3:24
	Right there, in the middle of human need and suffering	3:27
	there is where we hear the voice of Jesus.	3:31
	In the middle of the marketplace,	3:35
	amid dark despair, wherever there is war or suffering,	3:37
	there the cross is raised again and again	3:42
	and there is our Lord.	3:46
	When I came to Duke Chapel a decade ago,	3:50
	we initiated the stations of the cross on Good Friday.	3:53
	Beginning at the Bryan Center, walking behind the cross,	3:58
	a procession moves to various stations around the campus.	4:02
	And at each station, we remember some event	4:05
	from Good Friday, the trial,	4:08
	the crucifixion and the death of Jesus.	4:10
	That Stations of the Cross has become for many of us	4:14
	one of the most memorable services of the year.	4:18
	There's something about walking behind the cross,	4:21
	hearing the words of Scripture,	4:24
	describing the suffering, the injustice, the death of Jesus,	4:26
	juxtaposed with the Duke campus	4:30
	on a spring day at noon.	4:32
	Students are sunning themselves on the lawn.	4:34
	People toss Frisbees, shout to one another.	4:37
	And there, there moving through it all is the cross	4:40
	and people walking behind it, a pastor chanting	4:44
	from one of the psalms of lament,	4:48
	Christians gathered around their Scriptures,	4:50
	walking behind the cross.	4:53
	One year, we even got a call from someone	4:56
	over at the admissions office asking us	4:59
	if we could cancel the service,	5:01
	or at least move it discreetly inside the chapel	5:03
	because they were having a special weekend	5:06
	to recruit Duke students.	5:09
	And, as they said, "Some of the prospective students	5:12
	"might get the wrong idea about Duke	5:14
	"from witnessing the procession."	5:16
	Wrong idea, indeed.	5:19
	Well, we didn't cancel the service.	5:21
	I'm sure there are those who think that Christians	5:23
	ought to keep such services to ourselves,	5:26
	ought to tuck them safely within the chapel	5:29
	where no one could be made uncomfortable	5:32
	on a spring afternoon by a man dying on a cross.	5:35
	The trouble is, Christianity is the sort of religion	5:40
	that thrives in the marketplace,	5:43
	amid the tug and the pull of daily life,	5:46
	proceeding into where we live,	5:49
	intruding into where people work or play,	5:51
	suffer, live and die.	5:55
	"Where cross the crowded ways of life	5:59
	"Where sound the cries of race and clan	6:02
	"Above the noise of selfish strife	6:05
	"We hear your voice, O Son of Man."	6:08
	It's Lent, it's the time of the year	6:13
	when we remember our God did not stay aloof,	6:16
	uninvolved, some high and untouchable ideal.	6:20
	Our God came among us.	6:26
	"Where cross the crowded ways of life."	6:28
	That is one of the reasons we call that Friday good.	6:32
	♪ Where cross the crowded ways of life ♪	6:39
	♪ Where sound the cries of race and clan ♪	6:46
	♪ Above the noise of selfish strife ♪	6:54
	♪ We hear the voice, O Son of Man ♪	7:02
	♪ In haunts of wretchedness and need ♪	7:14
	♪ On shadowed thresholds fraught with fears ♪	7:22
	♪ From paths where hide the lures of greed ♪	7:29
	♪ We catch the vision of your tears ♪	7:38
	♪ From tender childhood's helplessness ♪	7:49
	♪ From human grief and burdened toil ♪	7:57
	♪ From famished souls, from sorrow's stress ♪	8:05
	♪ Your heart has never known recoil ♪	8:14
	♪ The cup of water given for you ♪	8:26
	♪ Still holds the freshness of your grace ♪	8:34
	♪ Yet long these multitudes to view ♪	8:43
	♪ The sweet compassion of your face ♪	8:51
	♪ O Master, from the mountainside ♪	9:03
	♪ Make haste to heal these hearts of pain ♪	9:12
	♪ Among these restless throngs abide ♪	9:20
	♪ O tread the city's streets again ♪	9:29
	♪ Till all the world shall learn your love ♪	9:40
	♪ And follow where your feet have trod ♪	9:49
	♪ Till glorious from your heaven above ♪	9:57
	♪ Shall come the city of our God ♪	10:05
-	We can think of the life of Jesus as a series of journeys.	10:21
	When reading the scriptural account of his life on earth,	10:25
	it's striking how often Jesus was on the move.	10:28
	We're invited to follow Jesus on all the roads of his life.	10:32
	In this Lenten season of spiritual reflection,	10:35
	let us look anew at those journeys.	10:38
	There was the great entry into Jerusalem,	10:41
	a parade of shouting children and palm branches.	10:44
	And we, too, should follow, praising and worshiping	10:47
	the One who comes in the name of the Lord.	10:50
	There was a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho,	10:53
	Jesus tells us,	10:56
	a journey interrupted so one man could care for another,	10:58
	a Samaritan for a Jew,	11:02
	even though the world called them enemies.	11:04
	And we too should follow in acts of service,	11:06
	sharing the love which has been our greatest blessing	11:10
	with the sick, the needy, the distressed.	11:12
	There was a road to Emmaus, a strange encounter	11:16
	with that mysterious man Jesus,	11:20
	who showed that God often finds us	11:22
	where we least expect Him.	11:25
	And we too should follow, alert to the signs God gives us	11:27
	in the majesty of His creation,	11:31
	in the blessings of this life,	11:34
	in the loving kindness of our fellow travelers,	11:36
	the signs God gives us of His abiding presence.	11:39
	There was a road to the cross, a way of sorrows,	11:43
	a path of pain where Jesus	11:47
	bore the whips and shouts of abuse	11:50
	to free humanity from its bondage to sin.	11:53
	And we, too, should follow, taking up our own crosses	11:56
	and in our lives lived against the world,	12:00
	enduring its scorn and pain so that in our sacrifice,	12:04
	in our pain, we might know the sacrifice	12:08
	of the most innocent, the sacrifice that redeemed us.	12:12
	There was also a road to the tomb,	12:16
	a road that began in weeping,	12:18
	but ended in shouts of joy.	12:20
	Jesus is risen, praise God.	12:23
	And we too should follow,	12:26
	rejoicing in the great miracle that defeated death itself,	12:28
	rejoicing not just here on Earth,	12:32
	but some day in the presence of the risen Christ in heaven.	12:34
	"If though but suffer God to guide thee	12:38
	"and hope in God through all thy ways,	12:41
	"He'll give thee grace, whate'er betide thee	12:44
	"and bear thee through the evil days.	12:47
	"Who trusts in God's unchanging love	12:50
	"builds on the rock that naught can move."	12:53
	The good news is that God is with us on all our journeys,	12:57
	guiding us in our joy and in our pain.	13:01
	Jesus told the crowd, "I am the Good Shepherd	13:04
	"and I know my sheep and am known by my own.	13:07
	"As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father	13:10
	"and I lay down my life for the sheep."	13:14
	The promise of Jesus is that He will guide	13:17
	and direct our lives with the hand	13:20
	of a loving sacrificial shepherd.	13:22
	As we stop this Lent to examine our lives,	13:25
	let us look for that shepherding hand.	13:27
	As we seek to renew our faith,	13:30
	let us trust more fully in the wisdom of the good shepherd,	13:33
	the strength of the rock we are built upon.	13:36
	As we look at life and across its shadow,	13:40
	let us return love so freely given	13:42
	with acts of mercy and reverent worship, amen.	13:46
	♪ If thou but suffer God to guide thee ♪	14:10
	♪ And hope in Him through all thy ways ♪	14:18
	♪ He'll give thee strength ♪	14:27
	♪ Whate'er betide thee ♪	14:31
	♪ And bear thee through the evil days ♪	14:36
	♪ Who trusts in God's unchanging love ♪	14:45
	♪ Builds on the rock that naught can move ♪	14:54
	♪ Be still and await His leisure ♪	15:06
	♪ In cheerful hope, in cheerful hope ♪	15:12
	♪ With heart content, with heart content ♪	15:19
	♪ To take whate'er thy Father's pleasure ♪	15:29
	♪ To take whate'er thy Father's pleasure ♪	15:35
	♪ And His discerning love hath sent ♪	15:42
	♪ Nor doubt our inmost wants are known ♪	15:53
	♪ To Him who chose us for His own ♪	16:02
	♪ Sing, pray and keep His ways unswerving ♪	16:18
	♪ In all they labor faithful be ♪	16:28
	♪ And trust His Word, though undeserving ♪	16:39
	♪ Thou yet shalt find it true for thee ♪	16:49
	♪ God never yet forsook in need ♪	16:58
	♪ The soul that trust in Him indeed ♪	17:10
-	God of the cross, chafe our shoulders	17:32
	with the cross of Thy love.	17:35
	O love, deep and wondrous, be here now.	17:36
	The back bent under toil,	17:40
	the knee under sin, the hands to the face under fear,	17:42
	the head bent under grief.	17:47
	Bow stubborn knees.	17:49
	Greet this great burden with gratitude and joy.	17:51
	God of the suffering cross,	17:55
	from the cowardice that dare not face truth,	17:57
	the laziness that is content with half-truth,	18:00
	and the arrogance that assumes to know all truth,	18:03
	save us.	18:06
	God of redemption, so that by the soul of Christ	18:07
	may I be sanctified.	18:11
	By the body of Christ, saved,	18:13
	by the blood of Christ, inebriated,	18:15
	by the wine that stung His lips, awakened,	18:19
	by the weight of the cross, strengthened,	18:22
	forever and ever, amen.	18:24
	♪ Lord, who throughout these forty days ♪	18:29
	♪ For us did fast and pray ♪	18:37
	♪ Teach us with thee to mourn our sins ♪	18:46
	♪ And close by Thee to stay ♪	18:55
	♪ As Thou with Satan didst contend ♪	19:05
	♪ And didst the victory win ♪	19:13
	♪ O give us strength in Thee to fight ♪	19:21
	♪ In Thee to conquer sin ♪	19:29
	♪ As Thou didst hunger bear and thirst ♪	19:38
	♪ So teach us, gracious Lord ♪	19:46
	♪ To die to self and chiefly live ♪	19:54
	♪ By Thy most holy Word ♪	20:02
	♪ And through these days of penitence ♪	20:12
	♪ And through Thy passiontide ♪	20:20
	♪ Yea, evermore in life and death ♪	20:28
	♪ Jesus, with us abide ♪	20:37
	♪ Abide with us, that through this life ♪	20:48
	♪ Of doubts and hope and pain ♪	20:56
	♪ An Easter of unending joy ♪	21:05
	♪ We may attain at last ♪	21:13
-	As Christians baptized	21:28
	into the millions who join the theme,	21:30
	we do not choose our song.	21:32
	As the martyrs sang your song	21:35
	by sword, by stone and by cross,	21:37
	so we open our mouths and receive your perfect song for us.	21:40
	I believe in God the Father.	21:45
	What wondrous love is this?	21:49
	It is a question from the foot of the cross.	21:52
	Why create something that will have to be redeemed by nails?	21:55
	Why this love that looks like death?	21:58
	"For God so loved the world	22:02
	"that He gave His only Son	22:04
	"that whoever believes in Him may not perish	22:06
	"but have eternal life."	22:08
	What is this wondrous love?	22:11
	It is God Himself.	22:14
	Why is it here with us?	22:16
	Because God loved.	22:18
	God was Himself love,	22:21
	and He loved into existence the world	22:23
	so that it might know love.	22:25
	Love is the Creator.	22:27
	Love creates.	22:29
	And we the creation, we are told, "Love one another,	22:31
	"as I have loved you."	22:35
	But we don't do this.	22:37
	We are the missing part.	22:39
	And so, we sing not because of our faith,	22:41
	but because of our lack of it,	22:43
	because, in our inability to believe, we want to believe.	22:45
	I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.	22:50
	We are caught up in a song.	22:55
	And the hope of it is that we could not have written it,	22:57
	could not have conceived of a God who bleeds and dies.	23:00
	The song we are given is always one of the future,	23:05
	as if by singing, we will be propelled to that time,	23:08
	when, free from death, our praise is unthwarted	23:11
	and our breath for song endless.	23:14
	I believe in the Holy Spirit.	23:18
	Why does the Christian sing?	23:22
	We sing because we have been given a song,	23:24
	a wondrous love, and we must sing it	23:27
	or be consumed by it because it is terrifying,	23:29
	this love of the great I AM,	23:33
	who was, who is and who is to be.	23:35
	And if we were singing it alone,	23:38
	we might think we could decide not to want to do it,	23:41
	this complete love that smothers, that nails, that kills.	23:44
	Because we cannot stand the total debt of this love,	23:49
	that our lives are not our own,	23:52
	so that our triumphs are not our own.	23:54
	Our talents are not our own.	23:56
	Our decisions are not our own.	23:58
	Our failures are not our own.	24:00
	Our humiliations are not our own.	24:02
	Our deaths are not our own.	24:05
	They are Christ's, begotten for the purpose of taking them,	24:09
	as we were created to be enveloped	24:13
	into a totalness of praise for the love by which we exist.	24:15
	And even now, we are approaching that end,	24:19
	and we cannot change our course.	24:23
	We are stuck, singing for eternity.	24:25
	Thanks be to God.	24:29
	♪ What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul ♪	24:32
	♪ What wondrous love is this, O my soul ♪	24:40
	♪ What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss ♪	24:48
	♪ To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul ♪	24:56
	♪ To bear the dreadful curse for my soul ♪	25:04
	♪ When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down ♪	25:13
	♪ When I was sinking down, O my soul ♪	25:21
	♪ When I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown ♪	25:29
	♪ Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul ♪	25:37
	♪ Christ laid aside His crown for my soul ♪	25:45
	♪ To God and to the Lamb ♪	25:54
	♪ I will sing, I will sing ♪	25:58
	♪ To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing ♪	26:02
	♪ To God and to the Lamb ♪	26:11
	♪ Who is the great I Am ♪	26:15
	♪ While millions join the theme ♪	26:19
	♪ I will sing, I will sing ♪	26:23
	♪ While millions join the theme, I will sing ♪	26:29
	♪ And when from death I'm free ♪	26:38
	♪ I'll sing on, I'll sing on ♪	26:42
	♪ And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on ♪	26:45
	♪ And when from death I'm free ♪	26:53
	♪ I'll sing and joyful be ♪	26:57
	♪ And through eternity ♪	27:01
	♪ I'll sing on, I'll sing on ♪	27:05
	♪ And through eternity, I'll sing on ♪	27:10
	♪ And joyful be ♪	27:16
	♪ What wondrous love is this ♪	27:19
	♪ O my soul, O my soul ♪	27:21
	♪ What wondrous love is this, O my soul ♪	27:25
	♪ And through eternity, I'll sing on ♪	27:37
-	Have you ever noticed that things	27:55
	sometimes start out so wonderful	27:57
	and then, before you know it,	27:58
	everything gets all messed up?	28:00
	Suddenly things are ever so wrong.	28:03
	That's how it was in Jerusalem.	28:07
	Could it have been only five days	28:09
	since Jesus rode into the Holy City,	28:11
	with the crowds waving palm branches in greetings?	28:13
	Shouts of, "Hosanna," loud, "Hosanna," they cheered.	28:16
	Now the same crowd was begging Pilate to crucify Him.	28:21
	On His back was the cross on which He would die.	28:25
	In that same place, mounted with a skull,	28:29
	placed in the midst of two other nameless people.	28:33
	But yet, His cross was marked:	28:37
	"Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."	28:40
	Even Pilate, when asked to change it,	28:44
	said he meant what he'd written.	28:46
	As was foretold, he was nailed to a cross,	28:50
	stripped of his clothes for the whole world to see	28:53
	and given bitter wine to drink.	28:57
	Even after this, His love reached out to His mother,	29:00
	as He turned her care over to Peter.	29:05
	And with only love for those who persecuted Him,	29:09
	He died.	29:14
	How painful, how painful to watch a love offered so freely,	29:17
	so bitterly rejected.	29:22
	How could they ever know that the one mocked	29:25
	would offer mercy,	29:28
	that blood shed would cleanse the ones stripped of dignity.	29:30
	But just who was mocking whom?	29:38
	In his account of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel	29:41
	describes the scene of a young boy	29:44
	being hung from the gallows.	29:46
	In anguish, one of the elders cries out,	29:48
	"Where is God?"	29:51
	Another responds, "He is hanging in the gallows."	29:54
	Perhaps Dietrich Bonhoeffer was right:	30:00
	"Only a suffering God can save."	30:03
	That's what Lent is all about, God dwelling among us	30:07
	to save us, to redeem us.	30:12
	Thanks be to God, amen.	30:17
	♪ To mock your reign, O dearest Lord ♪	30:23
	♪ They made a crown of thorns ♪	30:28
	♪ Set you with taunts along that road ♪	30:33
	♪ From which no one returns ♪	30:39
	♪ They could not know, as we do now ♪	30:44
	♪ How glorious is that crown ♪	30:49
	♪ That thorns would flower upon your brow ♪	30:55
	♪ Your sorrows heal our own ♪	31:00
	♪ In mock acclaim, O gracious Lord ♪	31:08
	♪ They snatched a purple cloak ♪	31:13
	♪ Your passion turned, for all they cared ♪	31:19
	♪ Into a soldier's joke ♪	31:24
	♪ They could not know, as we do now ♪	31:30
	♪ That though we merit blame ♪	31:35
	♪ You will your robe of mercy throw ♪	31:41
	♪ Around our naked shame ♪	31:46
	♪ A sceptered reed, O patient Lord ♪	31:54
	♪ They thrust into your hand ♪	31:59
	♪ And acted out their grim charade ♪	32:05
	♪ To its appointed end ♪	32:10
	♪ They could not know, as we do now ♪	32:16
	♪ Though empires rise and fall ♪	32:21
	♪ Your Kingdom shall not cease to grow ♪	32:27
	♪ Till love embraces all ♪	32:32
	♪ Were you there when they crucified my Lord ♪	32:46
	♪ Were you there ♪	32:58
	♪ Were you there when they crucified my Lord ♪	33:02
	♪ Were you there ♪	33:15
	♪ Oh, oh, ♪	33:22
	♪ Sometimes it causes me ♪	33:30
	♪ To tremble ♪	33:38
	♪ Tremble, tremble ♪	33:45
	♪ Were you there when they crucified my Lord ♪	33:56
	♪ Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb ♪	34:19
	♪ Were you there ♪	34:32
	♪ Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb ♪	34:37
	♪ In the tomb ♪	34:50
	♪ Oh, oh ♪	34:57
	♪ Sometimes it causes me ♪	35:07
	♪ To tremble ♪	35:15
	♪ Tremble, tremble ♪	35:22
	♪ Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb ♪	35:30
	♪ Laid Him in the tomb ♪	35:51
-	Psalm 130: "Out of the depths, I cry to thee, O Lord,	36:08
	"Lord, hear my voice.	36:13
	"Let Thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.	36:16
	"If Thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,	36:21
	"Lord, who could stand?	36:24
	"But there is forgiveness with Thee,	36:28
	"That Thou mayest be feared.	36:30
	"I wait for the Lord.	36:33
	"My soul waits, and in His word, I hope.	36:35
	"My soul waits for the Lord,	36:40
	"More than watchmen for the morning.	36:43
	"More than watchmen for the morning, I wait.	36:45
	"O Israel, hope in the Lord,	36:49
	"For with the Lord, there is steadfast love	36:51
	"And with Him is plenteous redemption.	36:55
	"And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities, amen."	36:58

Item Info

Title:

Kenneth L. Nelson - Lenten Meditation and Music - conducted by Kenneth L. Nelson (February 1, 1999)

Description:

Sermon start time: 03:00. Sermon end time: 30:22.
An assortment of homilies interspersed with music for the Lenten season.

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4x05xs95

Date:

February 1, 1999

Speaker:

Nelson, Kenneth L.

Liturgical Calendar:

Lent

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 DAT-002
ref10039_sh7
uachapelsermaud
duke:320723
dcrau001766
ark:/87924/r4x05xs95
86e688d8-3ff0-4340-897d-00a2e53db344

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

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