Will Campbell - "That You May Have Life" (January 23, 1977)

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Announcer	Duke University Chapel service of worship.	0:03
	Third Sunday after Epiphany Day,	0:06
	January 23, 1977.	0:08
	(organ music)	0:17
	(organ music)	4:28
	(organ music)	8:14
	(choir singing)	11:33
	(organ music)	12:52
	(choir singing)	13:34
Preacher	The word of God tells us,	17:45
	"You shall love the Lord your God	17:48
	"with all your heart and soul and mind and strength,	17:50
	"and your neighbor as yourself."	17:54
	Let us together now confess our failure	17:58
	to fulfill that word to us,	18:03
	that we might be forgiven and find new strength	18:07
	for the living of these days.	18:11
	Let us confess our sin.	18:14
	Oh, God, forgive us for our failure	18:17
	to be the church in our relationships	18:20
	with one another and with the world.	18:23
	We seem unable to take an honest look at ourselves	18:26
	and to face the problems which prevent us	18:31
	from being fully and actively committed to you.	18:33
	Fear and anxiety has kept us from being open	18:37
	and sensitive to one another	18:41
	and we have not identified with the agony	18:43
	and suffering in the world as our Lord did.	18:46
	Oh, God, give us the courage to come alive	18:50
	and to struggle to be your church in your world.	18:53
	Open our eyes that we may see the depths	18:57
	of beauty in others.	19:00
	Open our ears that we may hear the cries	19:02
	of people in need.	19:05
	Open our minds that we may know your purpose	19:07
	for our lives.	19:10
	Open our hearts that your love may move us	19:12
	to love and live for others. Amen.	19:14
	Oh, God, you who are more ready to hear	19:36
	more ready to accept than we are to return home,	19:42
	more ready to heal than we are to reach out and touch,	19:47
	cleanse now the thoughts of our minds,	19:52
	the feelings of our hearts,	19:55
	and the false desires of our bodies,	19:58
	that we may be made whole	20:01
	through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.	20:04
	(organ music)	20:24
	(choir singing)	20:50
Reader	The congregation is asked to rise	24:54
	for the reading of the Holy Scripture.	24:56
	A reading from the Gospel of John,	25:02
	chapter ten, versus one through ten.	25:06
	"Truly, truly, I say to you:	25:10
	"he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door,	25:13
	"but climbs in by another way,	25:17
	"that man is a thief and a robber.	25:19
	"But he who enters by the door	25:23
	"is the shepherd of the sheep.	25:26
	"To him the gatekeeper opens.	25:28
	"The sheep hear his voice.	25:31
	"And he calls his own sheep by name	25:32
	"and leads them out.	25:35
	"When he has brought them out all his own,	25:37
	"he goes before them and the sheep follow him,	25:40
	"for they know his voice.	25:44
	"A stranger they will not follow,	25:47
	"but they will flee from him.	25:49
	"For they do not know the voice of strangers.	25:51
	"This figure Jesus used with them,	25:55
	"but they did not understand	25:58
	"what he was saying to them.	25:59
	"So Jesus again said to them:	26:01
	"Truly, truly, I say to you:	26:04
	"I am the door of the sheep.	26:06
	"All who come before me are thieves and robbers.	26:09
	"But the sheep did not heed them.	26:13
	"I am the door.	26:15
	"If anyone enters by me,	26:17
	"he will be saved	26:19
	"and will go in and out and find pasture.	26:20
	"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.	26:24
	"I came that they may have life	26:29
	"and have it abundantly."	26:32
	(organ music)	26:40
	(choir singing)	26:50
Preacher	Together let us affirm what we believe.	27:24
	We believe in God who has created and is creating.	27:28
	Who has come into truly human Jesus	27:33
	to reconcile and make new.	27:37
	Who works in us and others by the spirit.	27:39
	We trust God who calls us to be the church.	27:43
	To celebrate life and it's fullness.	27:48
	To love and serve others.	27:51
	To seek justice and resist evil.	27:54
	To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen.	27:57
	Our judge and our hope.	28:00
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	28:03
	God is with us.	28:08
	We are not alone.	28:10
	Thanks be to God.	28:11
	The Lord be with you.	28:16
	(audience answers)	28:17
	Let us pray.	28:19
	We thank you O God,	28:30
	for our creation.	28:32
	For the heavens and the earth,	28:36
	the night and the day,	28:39
	the birds of the air and animals on land	28:42
	and fish in the water.	28:44
	The cold of the winter,	28:47
	the warmth of the spring,	28:49
	the heat of summer,	28:51
	and the cool of fall.	28:52
	For people and places,	28:55
	for animals and things,	28:57
	for times and seasons,	28:59
	for minds to think,	29:02
	hearts to feel	29:03
	and bodies to do.	29:04
	For life, O God, we give thanks.	29:07
	What a mystery, O God,	29:13
	is all that is around us.	29:15
	The wind blows and we know not whither it comes	29:19
	or whither it goes.	29:22
	A thought comes and we know not whither it comes	29:24
	or whither it goes.	29:26
	A moment of love comes and we know not whither	29:28
	it comes or whither it goes.	29:31
	Life just is, O God.	29:33
	And for this we give you thanks.	29:38
	O Lord our God you have ordained	29:44
	that some of your children should have authority	29:46
	over the rest of us.	29:49
	Bless, O God,	29:53
	those women and men in positions of power	29:56
	and authority and responsibility.	29:59
	Inbue each one of them with sound judgment,	30:03
	perceptive insight,	30:08
	proper restraint,	30:11
	and essential courage.	30:13
	Help them to do the right as they know	30:17
	and believe the right.	30:20
	To heal as they know and believe what will heal.	30:22
	To lead us as we all seek to be led out	30:27
	of our confusion and our mistrust.	30:31
	Bless us, O God, who are governed.	30:38
	May we care for our leaders,	30:42
	for what they do and what they decide.	30:45
	May we support them with words and acts of concern	30:49
	and compassion for we know it is no easy responsibility	30:52
	to decide the fate of others.	30:56
	May we be willing to respond and eager to serve	31:01
	as our abilities and our interests make possible.	31:05
	Help us all, O God, those who lead and those who follow,	31:10
	those who govern and those who are governed	31:14
	to seek to do your will in our lives and in our day.	31:18
	To love you above all else that matters	31:24
	and in loving you,	31:27
	to love our neighbors and ourselves	31:30
	as you would have us to do.	31:34
	With gratitude for life,	31:37
	for this day,	31:40
	for this service,	31:42
	for your son and our Savior, Jesus Christ,	31:44
	we offer these words and this prayer	31:47
	and we offer the words and prayers	31:49
	of our hearts and minds in this moment.	31:51
	We offer now, O God, the prayer which our Lord	31:54
	has taught us to pray.	31:56
	Praying, Our Father,	31:57
	who art in heaven,	32:00
	hallowed be thy name.	32:02
	Thy kingdom come.	32:05
	Thy will be done.	32:06
	On earth as it is in heaven.	32:08
	Give us this day our daily bread.	32:11
	Forgive us our trespasses,	32:14
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	32:16
	And lead us not into temptation,	32:20
	but deliver us from evil.	32:23
	For thine is the kingdom,	32:25
	the power and the glory, forever. Amen.	32:27
	May I say a word of welcome to you on this special day	32:39
	in the life of Duke Chapel and Duke University.	32:43
	Two years ago at about this time we had the first	32:47
	of our services of worship for government officials.	32:50
	The meaning of that was rich indeed	32:55
	for those of us who worship here regularly	32:57
	and the response of those who came	32:58
	was such that we were encouraged	33:00
	to provide this service again.	33:03
	So this morning we're delighted	33:07
	to have the Lieutenant Governor and his family	33:08
	and other members of the Council of State.	33:11
	The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court	33:16
	and other members of the Supreme Court.	33:18
	Members of the legislative body of our state government.	33:22
	Other judges from this area.	33:27
	Other elected officials and members	33:30
	of our own local Durham city and county governments.	33:33
	With us to worship God	33:36
	and to celebrate together in this place	33:38
	and on this occasion.	33:41
	This service was suggested to us	33:43
	some two and a half or three years ago by Ken Pie.	33:45
	It is one prompted by a service	33:49
	which is held every year	33:51
	at St. Matthew's Cathedral,	33:53
	the Roman Catholic church in Washington	33:55
	as those who assume responsibilities	33:58
	in Washington do that.	34:00
	So we feel it appropriate	34:02
	that as many of you assume responsibilities	34:04
	in our local and state governments	34:07
	that we gather together in this place	34:09
	where we worship God from various traditions.	34:12
	So we're delighted indeed to have those of you	34:15
	who are with us visiting today.	34:17
	We're glad to have all of you	34:20
	who have come to share in this very special service.	34:21
	I have an announcement though that I want all of us	34:25
	to hear and to respond to in either one of two ways.	34:28
	There are people in Durham who are cold this morning.	34:32
	They were last night and they are now	34:37
	and they will be tonight.	34:38
	Tragically, two people in Durham froze to death last week.	34:41
	That sounds and seems almost unbelievable	34:46
	to those of us who live and sleep in warm homes.	34:49
	We're trying to do two things about that.	34:53
	One, we want to provide some money	34:55
	so that people who do not have the money to buy	34:58
	coal or oil or pay their electric bill can do so	35:00
	and can continue to stay warm.	35:03
	So the first thing I want you to do this morning	35:04
	is to give every penny that you can in the offering.	35:07
	Because every penny that is given this morning	35:12
	will go to the Durham Emergency Fuel Fund	35:15
	and every penny will go to help keep somebody,	35:18
	some family, warm during the next few weeks.	35:21
	Second thing, though, is that we have here	35:25
	at Duke a real treasure.	35:28
	We have thousands of acres of what is known as Duke Forest.	35:30
	Many people say why doesn't that serve some useful purpose?	35:35
	Well, it serves many useful purposes	35:38
	but we're going to put it	35:40
	to one very specific useful purpose	35:41
	during the next few days.	35:43
	Namely, we're going to go	35:45
	into the forest to cut up wood.	35:46
	Trees and limbs that have fallen	35:49
	are going to be cut up and made into firewood	35:51
	and stove wood and other kinds of wood	35:53
	that will be hauled downtown	35:54
	and stored on a parking lot.	35:56
	Operation Breakthrough will distribute it	35:59
	to needy families in the Durham communities.	36:01
	So if you're here this morning	36:03
	and would like to help us go into Duke Forest	36:05
	to cut this timber and provide it so	36:07
	that those who are cold can stay warm,	36:09
	we want you to come and join us any day this week.	36:12
	Beginning tomorrow afternoon,	36:16
	groups of us will gather here	36:18
	in front of the chapel at one o'clock	36:20
	and at three o'clock to go into the forest.	36:22
	And then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,	36:26
	groups of us will meet at 10 AM,	36:29
	at one and three PM to go and work a couple	36:31
	of hours or so with each group.	36:34
	The dean of the School of Forestry,	36:36
	the folks who head up Duke Forest	36:38
	and others have been most cooperative with this.	36:40
	So now we need people who have chainsaws,	36:42
	bow saws, any kind of saw	36:45
	that will cut limbs and logs.	36:46
	And we need your manpower and woman power.	36:48
	We need pickup trucks.	36:51
	We also need good bodies	36:53
	that can just pick up those logs	36:55
	and throw them on a truck	36:56
	and then lift them off those trucks.	36:57
	So I have an idea that almost every one of you here	36:59
	this morning can do one or more of those things.	37:02
	We don't expect all of you to come,	37:05
	but we do expect many of you to come.	37:07
	And we see this as a need that we can meet.	37:11
	And I invite you to come and help us meet it.	37:16
	Will Campbell, for those who know him,	37:22
	is a unique human being.	37:26
	A committee began working over a year ago	37:31
	to plan for our theologian in residence program.	37:33
	A program that begins with his presence with us	37:38
	for the next four weeks and will continue	37:41
	we hope each year from here after.	37:43
	You can read in the bulletin some of his credentials.	37:47
	My guess is that the most important thing to say about him,	37:52
	at least I think as he would want us to say,	37:56
	is that he sees himself as one human being	37:58
	who struggles to know God,	38:04
	to know his neighbor,	38:08
	and to live in a proper relationship with both.	38:11
	Will, we want to welcome you to Duke.	38:15
	We welcome you to Duke Chapel this morning	38:19
	and we look forward to some very exciting	38:22
	and very informative and some very rich	38:24
	and satisfying conversations and experiences	38:27
	with you during the next four weeks.	38:31
	So in this moment now, all of us who are gathered	38:33
	here to worship look forward to the word	38:37
	which you bring to us this morning from God's word,	38:40
	but welcome from all of us.	38:43
Will	Whatever must you be thinking?	38:56
	Whatever must the Lord be thinking?	39:02
	That I would be called in this place	39:08
	a theologian in residence?	39:11
	But I assume that that use in resident	39:14
	is something like as it is used	39:19
	in the medical profession.	39:22
	When you are in residence you are in training.	39:26
	One step beyond an intern.	39:32
	Couple of disclaimers and for someone who has	39:36
	been no more cooperative than I have been	39:40
	with your public relations and other official	39:43
	public information officials, I am not complaining.	39:48
	But several weeks ago I understand that	39:54
	there was an article in the local newspaper	39:59
	which said that Will Campbell had been kicked out	40:05
	of the Baptist church and taken	40:09
	into the Episcopal church as a priest.	40:11
	For those of you who came here	40:14
	to hear an Episcopal priest preach,	40:16
	you are now free to go.	40:20
	Actually it happened somewhat the other way around.	40:24
	I got as high in the Episcopal church once as lay reader,	40:31
	only to have those,	40:37
	that lay reader's license revoked	40:39
	when some of the people in our particular diocese	40:42
	were unhappy about one thing or another	40:44
	that I was saying or not saying.	40:46
	So if you do not choose to leave	40:49
	and you are of the Episcopal persuasion,	40:52
	you may look carefully because you may be	40:54
	seeing the only deposed lay reader in captivity.	40:58
	The other thing that, disclaimer is	41:07
	that I noted in the bulletin that they pointed out	41:11
	how many colleges it took for me finally	41:16
	to graduate from one.	41:19
	(audience laughs)	41:21
	They left one out.	41:23
	Namely the alleged University of Wake Forest	41:26
	from which I graduated in 1948.	41:29
	That's just for the record.	41:35
	Doesn't mean anything.	41:37
	Now for those who have been writing me	41:44
	for the past several weeks at least once a week	41:48
	with schedules and they would always say,	41:52
	"20 minute sermon",	41:55
	they may begin timing at this point.	41:58
	(audience laughs)	42:02
	As will I.	42:06
	On one occasion	42:12
	that Jesus,	42:17
	who might well have been aborted	42:20
	if he had come along in a more enlightened	42:22
	and sophisticated era,	42:24
	because the circumstances surrounding his conception	42:28
	and birth were highly irregular,	42:30
	Jesus was talking to some of his friends and associates	42:36
	and came as close as he ever came	42:40
	to proclaiming that he was for a fact	42:43
	the expected Messiah.	42:47
	After talking of imposters,	42:52
	of thieves and robbers, of sheep and shepherds,	42:55
	he said, "I have come that you might have life.	42:59
	"Life in abundance."	43:03
	Now abundance here has been used most often	43:06
	to explain quality of life.	43:12
	Jesus saying to us that he had come	43:15
	so that we might have a good day.	43:20
	Or have a good rest of the day.	43:23
	So that we might have a meaningful existence on the earth.	43:27
	Maybe so. But I doubt it.	43:31
	Because abundance does not have to do with quality.	43:36
	It has to do with quantity.	43:40
	How much of something. Means a lot of something.	43:41
	Jesus saying I have come that you might have a lot of life.	43:45
	Like forever.	43:49
	I would like to talk this morning,	43:54
	for not more than 20 minutes,	43:58
	about one pilgrim, one person,	44:01
	who needed something to serve and someone to worship.	44:08
	And who finally took the declaration	44:12
	that Jesus was in fact the expected Messiah seriously.	44:14
	And that he did come to walk the light. A lot of it.	44:19
	Despite his belief, his pilgrimage was far from smooth.	44:24
	It's just a story. It isn't biographical.	44:30
	It isn't autobiographical. It's just a story.	44:33
	Our pilgrim was born into a poor family.	44:38
	Rural folk, simple people.	44:43
	Rednecks were what they were called.	44:46
	The only book they had was the Bible.	44:50
	And his mama and his daddy used to read it every night	44:53
	and then they would pray.	44:56
	Now it seemed to the lad that they always prayed	44:59
	for the same things.	45:02
	Food, shelter, fairness to their neighbors about them.	45:04
	When he prayed he thought of a lot of other things	45:09
	to ask but they always admonished him not	45:13
	to bother the Lord with trivia.	45:17
	That he was terribly busy day and night.	45:19
	They were a close people.	45:23
	Each dependent upon the other for something	45:26
	to meet one need or another.	45:29
	And as a lad he said,	45:32
	"I will worship Father and Mother and family."	45:35
	But he was a bright boy and as he grew he became bored	45:43
	with hearing the same stories read	45:47
	and the same things prayed for	45:49
	and in his rebellious adolescence,	45:53
	he would sometimes not listen anymore	45:56
	when they read the Bible.	45:59
	Or would sit in a corner reading books	46:01
	of his own selection and collection.	46:04
	He especially tired of one of their favorite readings	46:08
	of how Mary Magdelene and the other Mary had come	46:11
	running to tell some scared people	46:15
	that Jesus was not where they had put him,	46:17
	that he had got up and run off after he was dead.	46:19
	He resented it keenly when they talked about	46:24
	that meaning that they would live forever,	46:27
	feeling sometimes that both of them	46:31
	had lived long enough already.	46:33
	They were forever talking about good news.	46:37
	The gospel, they said, meant good news.	46:41
	But he could see no good news	46:46
	in the rigid rules their faith seemed to dictate.	46:49
	Don't smoke, don't drink,	46:52
	and don't mess around on a Saturday night.	46:55
	That to him was bad news.	47:00
	And he didn't intend to pay them any mind,	47:04
	for very longer. And soon he didn't.	47:08
	There was a way out and he took it.	47:13
	It was 1943 and the patriotic fever	47:16
	of global war was in the air.	47:19
	There was a drama and romance about it.	47:22
	He did not hate his father and his mother.	47:25
	He actually loved them as much as ever possible	47:27
	for an eighteen year old to love his elders.	47:30
	But he knew that there was more to life	47:33
	than this dull and humdrum existence	47:36
	on a South Alabama cotton farm.	47:38
	And he strongly suspected that there was more	47:41
	to Christianity than their rigid, moralistic code.	47:44
	But that would have to wait.	47:50
	He was in no hurry to find what it was.	47:52
	He saw the marching soldiers,	47:56
	watched the banners of Caesar unfurled	47:58
	upon every occasion, even in church.	48:01
	Listened to rhetoric designed	48:05
	to gain his ultimate allegiance.	48:07
	So he went away, joined up or was drafted,	48:08
	and he liked it. He liked the parades,	48:12
	the formations, even reveille.	48:16
	He even liked the commands. "Platoon, halt!"	48:20
	"Left face!" "Right face!" "Parade rest!" "Attention!"	48:22
	"At ease!" "Ready, aim, fire!"	48:26
	One man saying all these things	48:29
	and a thousand men at once obeyed.	48:32
	The cause was just. He needed something to serve,	48:37
	someone to worship.	48:40
	So he said, "I have found that for which I searched	48:42
	"in the days of my youth.	48:45
	"I will serve my country. "I will worship my king."	48:47
	There were months of it, then years.	48:53
	Months and finally years of sitting	48:56
	in the hot, wet jungles of the South Pacific,	48:58
	waiting for the battle for which	49:02
	by now he was so well trained,	49:03
	an encounter he had so long desired.	49:06
	And then as quickly it came.	49:10
	He found himself splashing through salty water,	49:14
	running with hundreds and thousands of others	49:17
	from the boats called LST and looking like the	49:19
	hippopotamus he had seen in the San Francisco Zoo.	49:23
	Rifles held high above their heads,	49:27
	listening now for commands,	49:30
	but not always hearing them.	49:32
	Storming the beach of a little island called Vella Lavella,	49:34
	looking for the enemy.	49:38
	At first all went well.	49:41
	Everyone shooting as one, shouting,	49:45
	moving further and further inland.	49:47
	Until the Army, the unit,	49:50
	the battalion was split into as many pieces	49:52
	as there were individuals	49:54
	and everyone left on his own deep in the jungles.	49:56
	Then it came,	50:02
	unannounced, with no warning.	50:04
	Days without food,	50:07
	drinking water from a stagnant lagoon,	50:09
	still, though, searching for the enemy.	50:13
	Then he finds them.	50:17
	Slant-eyed soldier sitting all alone.	50:20
	Sitting in days of his own waste from dysentery.	50:24
	Making no motion of opposition.	50:31
	Each looks at the other.	50:35
	The pilgrim, noble warrior, lover of Caesar,	50:38
	knowing the enemy's sitting before him,	50:42
	could not walk and that he was too weak himself	50:44
	to carry him as prisoner to the command post	50:48
	on the beach miles behind him.	50:52
	And the enemy, the slant-eyed little man,	50:55
	he knew only as Jap.	50:59
	Each unable to speak the tongue of the other.	51:02
	This enemy pointed to a spot	51:06
	between his tired little eyes,	51:10
	pointing then to the pilgrim's rifle,	51:13
	never fired before in anger.	51:16
	And then, pulling his own pup tent hat up over his face,	51:19
	so that he could not see, stood facing the pilgrim.	51:24
	Now the battle is over.	51:31
	The pilgrim was back on the ship,	51:34
	going, they said, to a rest area,	51:35
	then to another training area,	51:38
	then to another search for the enemy.	51:39
	He had some time to think.	51:43
	It was of his earliest beginnings that he thought.	51:46
	"I am come that you might have life."	51:49
	"I am come that you might have life."	51:51
	Just those words over and over.	51:54
	And he thought of his simple people at home	51:56
	and wished that he was there.	52:00
	And he thought of the little Jap	52:03
	lying rotting in the jungle.	52:06
	Now the war was over and he waited some more,	52:10
	this time to be mustered out, discharged, sent back.	52:13
	He read a little book the chaplain had given him.	52:18
	It was a book about some things	52:21
	that happened after another great war, the Civil War.	52:23
	Things that had happened to his people, his flesh and blood.	52:26
	It was the story of an illiterate black man	52:31
	who joined forces with some ignorant	52:33
	and illiterate white people,	52:35
	formed a Constitutional Convention in South Carolina,	52:38
	got elected to state office and finally national office.	52:42
	And then of Rutherford B. Hayes,	52:47
	who called the troops out of his native south.	52:49
	And the mass slaughter against those simple people	52:53
	who had come together,	52:55
	had overcome their fears and prejudices of one another,	52:58
	the story of black and white together.	53:02
	He read of the death of the black hero,	53:05
	read these last words and thoughts.	53:07
	Gideon Jackson's last memory as the shell struck,	53:11
	as the shell burst and caused his memory to cease being	53:14
	was of the strength of those people in his land,	53:19
	the black and the white.	53:21
	The strength that had taken them through a long war	53:23
	that had enabled them to build out	53:27
	of the ruin a promise for the future.	53:29
	A promise that was in a sense more wonderful	53:31
	than any the world had ever known of what strength.	53:34
	Strange yet simple ingredients were the people.	53:38
	There were so many of them.	53:43
	So many shades and colors.	53:46
	Some strong, some weak. Some wise, some foolish.	53:49
	Yet together they made the whole of the thing	53:53
	that was the last memory of Gideon Jackson.	53:56
	The thing, the people, indefinable and unconquerable.	53:59
	Now disillusioned with country and with king	54:06
	as well as with his own hollow victory,	54:09
	the shooting of one soldier dying already of beriberi.	54:13
	The pilgrim knew after he read those words	54:18
	that his life would never be the same.	54:21
	That the rest of it would be given	54:23
	to improving his native soil, the South.	54:25
	And improving, too, the relationships between the races.	54:29
	He would serve this cause.	54:33
	He would worship the people.	54:35
	But first he must be trained again.	54:39
	This time with books, laboratories, learning, halls of ivy.	54:42
	He had long since deserted his fundamentalist rearing,	54:49
	partly because they had taught him	54:53
	that sin was smoking, drinking whiskey	54:54
	and messing around in town.	54:56
	Now he read new books, modern books that set him on fire.	55:01
	Heard learned words from learned people.	55:05
	They taught him that what God cares	55:08
	about is the suffering of the people,	55:10
	not little social things like smoking.	55:13
	Then one day his reading included a report	55:18
	that said that according to the scientists,	55:21
	cigarette smoking was going to create more	55:26
	widows and orphans than slavery or war.	55:28
	Since he was a two pack a day man,	55:33
	he didn't dwell on that one.	55:36
	But he did wonder a bit about his new theology.	55:38
	If he had not simply substituted one	55:42
	moralistic code for another.	55:44
	One set of do's and don'ts	55:47
	for another set of do's and don'ts.	55:49
	But he went on because his cause was just,	55:51
	his new God noble.	55:55
	Now there was a movement raging.	55:59
	Something they called the Civil Rights Movement.	56:02
	And he knew that he was for it and it was for him.	56:04
	Would bring him into the struggle for justice	56:08
	as Gideon Jackson and others had been.	56:10
	He joined the movement, went to the meetings, marches.	56:14
	Sang and protested. But also learned to say Cracker,	56:17
	Wool Hat, Redneck, Peckerwood,	56:22
	with the same venomous tones he had once said Nigger.	56:25
	But he was against violence. He was non-violent.	56:30
	But as he watched the soldiers marching	56:34
	on his Christian university campus every Thursday afternoon	56:35
	looking pretty in ROTC parades, learning of war,	56:39
	and as he observed deep down in his innermost thoughts	56:44
	that it was the Academy that trained not only the warriors	56:48
	but the owners, the managers, the rulers.	56:52
	He wondered at times if the Academy might not be responsible	56:55
	for more violence than the Ku Klux Klan	56:59
	that had burned a cross in front	57:02
	of the chapel on Saturday night.	57:04
	But there was so much to do.	57:06
	The movement was just and the learned doctors so persuasive.	57:09
	Suddenly there was another war, far off in Southeast Asia.	57:16
	This too he would protest, march against,	57:21
	sometimes to the point when there would be	57:23
	a strange gnawing in his bones	57:26
	that he was betraying his own people, his own heritage.	57:28
	But he was learning to read the Bible again,	57:32
	in a new light, he thought.	57:34
	And he read the words of Jesus	57:36
	when his family had come to put him in an insane asylum.	57:39
	"Who is my people? "Who is my mother and my brother?	57:43
	"Those whose cause is just." And so he continued.	57:49
	And then yet another movement.	57:54
	Women, too, everywhere oppressed.	57:56
	In some ways more than black people.	57:59
	Again he would join and march and chant supportive songs.	58:02
	Sometimes though his movement seemed almost	58:07
	to oppose one another.	58:10
	For he had wanted years earlier to go and personally	58:14
	kill Bryant and Milum when they murdered a young black man	58:17
	named Emmett Till for insulting a woman	58:21
	in the Mississippi delta.	58:23
	Now he found himself at times wanting to go and kill	58:27
	Emmett Till again for being	58:30
	abusive to a female person.	58:33
	He became confused and confounded.	58:37
	His movements had gone full circle.	58:39
	The wheels of progress made strange	58:41
	and now sometimes unconvincing turns.	58:44
	Through 10 years of war not one native American	58:50
	had been killed at the hands of the state.	58:53
	Now suddenly he was hearing talk of killing	58:57
	our own criminals instead of ideological criminals abroad.	59:00
	Capital punishment was back in the news and that big.	59:05
	Strangely missing during those years of war,	59:09
	it's like we just have to be killing somebody, he thought.	59:13
	As he made an appointment with his own state's governor,	59:18
	a man who was a redneck like himself,	59:21
	or like he once had been.	59:24
	A governor who had already opposed death publicly	59:27
	as a means of punishment,	59:30
	saying that is a judgment for God alone to make.	59:32
	He would go and commend his governor, pat him on the back,	59:37
	but he wasn't ready for the words of his redneck governor.	59:41
	"Ah, pilgrim, I agree.	59:47
	"Ah, pilgrim, I agree.	59:50
	"But now I'm having second thoughts.	59:52
	"Where yesterday, pilgrim, you carried a sign	59:56
	"outside these chambers.	1:00:04
	"A sign which said as I recall,	1:00:08
	"that everyone had a right to control their own body,	1:00:12
	"to rid that body of	1:00:16
	"that which it might be carrying unwantingly.	1:00:17
	"If everyone has the right to rid their body	1:00:21
	"of that which it may be carrying unwantingly,	1:00:23
	"unwillingly and unlovingly,	1:00:26
	"then why doesn't the body politic,	1:00:28
	"which I control, "have the right to rid it's body	1:00:31
	"of that which it might be carrying unwillingly,	1:00:35
	"unwantingly and unlovingly?	1:00:38
	"Ah, pilgrim, I just don't understand."	1:00:40
	And the pilgrim went away sorrowfully,	1:00:45
	for behold, he was very good.	1:00:48
	What's it all about, he wondered.	1:00:53
	Am I hoping when and where and in what there is no hope?	1:00:55
	Am I despairing when I should be in hope?	1:00:59
	Am I perplexed in the presence of absolute uncertainty?	1:01:02
	Feeling it all so deeply,	1:01:07
	he went again to his mother's house.	1:01:09
	The hut of his beginning	1:01:11
	and found a feast of a fatted calf.	1:01:13
	The feast was the reading of his father,	1:01:16
	now weak and stooped with age.	1:01:20
	"Why do you seek the living among the dead?	1:01:24
	"He is not here. He is risen."	1:01:27
	And then again,	1:01:32
	"I am come that you might have life."	1:01:34
	Abundant life. Forever life.	1:01:36
	After the world has done all that it can do to you.	1:01:40
	After all the laws, whether of state or of academe.	1:01:43
	After all the learning.	1:01:47
	After the enslavement of technology,	1:01:49
	progress and sophistication.	1:01:52
	After the firing squad and electric chair.	1:01:54
	After the madness of the rapist.	1:01:57
	After the murderous crimes of passion in the streets.	1:01:59
	After the marching and chanting of the movement,	1:02:03
	be it failure or success,	1:02:06
	and be it for life or for what the world calls death.	1:02:09
	After the surgeon's scalpel might	1:02:13
	have ended a life hardly begun.	1:02:15
	Or the crack of the bullet has ended one in it's 36th year,	1:02:18
	the last word still belongs to God.	1:02:23
	"He is risen." Hallelujah!	1:02:26
	It is, the pilgrim concluded,	1:02:32
	really just as complicated and involved	1:02:35
	as the learned doctors had told him.	1:02:41
	And it is just as simple and as clear	1:02:45
	as the words at his father and mother's fireside.	1:02:50
	Jesus came that we might have life.	1:02:55
	My prayer for us all on this day	1:03:00
	is that we may not try to proclaim	1:03:05
	that promise a lie. Amen.	1:03:09
	(organ music)	1:03:19
	(choir singing)	1:03:43
	(soft organ music)	1:05:43
	(choir singing)	1:06:30
	(soloist singing)	1:10:17
	(choir singing)	1:11:07
	(soloist singing)	1:12:24
	(organ music)	1:12:51
Preacher	Bless us, O Lord,	1:14:15
	as we give these gifts and give of ourselves.	1:14:18
	Forget us not, O God, when we do not or cannot give.	1:14:23
	Multiply the benefits of these dollars	1:14:31
	and cents today, O Lord.	1:14:33
	That those in our community who are cold	1:14:37
	and suffering may find help and relief.	1:14:40
	Bless these gifts and all who give of their money,	1:14:45
	their prayers, their thoughts and their service.	1:14:50
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.	1:14:56
	Will you join with me in	1:15:30
	this responsive affirmation of dedication?	1:15:31
	We have heard the word,	1:15:37
	read and proclaimed.	1:15:40
	In the company now of neighbors and colleagues	1:15:43
	and in the presence of God,	1:15:46
	how will you respond to the light and the hope	1:15:49
	that are yours?	1:15:53
	What will you do?	1:15:54
	(audience responds)	1:15:59
	My friends, God is witness to your words. Amen.	1:16:43
	(organ music)	1:16:52
	(choir and audience singing)	1:17:30
	I was in the service of worship the other day	1:20:23
	where the minister said the benediction	1:20:25
	is simply a blessing from one Christian to another.	1:20:28
	He said it need not be prayed with heads bowed	1:20:32
	or eyes closed so this morning I ask you not to	1:20:35
	close your eyes or bow your head but allow me	1:20:39
	the privilege of offering you this blessing	1:20:41
	as one Christian to another fellow human being.	1:20:44
	The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,	1:20:49
	the love of God, and the fellowship	1:20:52
	of the Holy Spirit be with you and with those	1:20:55
	whom you love now and forever.	1:21:00
	(choir singing)	1:21:13
	(organ music)	1:22:28
	(applause)	1:31:32

Item Info

Title:

Will Campbell - "That You May Have Life" (January 23, 1977)

Description:

In the face of all the madness and death of the world, Jesus promised that he came to bring us abundant, eternal life. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 38:56. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 1:03:14.
Key quotation: “After the world has done all that it can do to you; after all the laws, whether of state or of academe; after all the learning; after the enslavement of technology, progress and sophistication; after the firing squad and electric chair; after the madness of the rapist; after the murderous crimes of passion in the streets; after the marching and chanting of the movement, be it failure or success, and be it for life or for what the world calls death; after the surgeon’s scalpel might have ended a life hardly begun, or the crack of the bullet has ended one in its 36th year, the last word still belongs to God. ‘He is risen.’ Hallelujah!”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rr1q20f

Date:

January 23, 1977

Speaker:

Campbell, Will

Liturgical Calendar:

Epiphany

Biblical Book:

John

Chapter and Verse:

John 10:1-10

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0876
ref6952_nl3
uachapelsermaud
duke:320897
dcrau001818
ark:/87924/r4rr1q20f
da19ea2c-b1cc-4b9f-bf51-e37051968a44

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

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Will Campbell - "That You May Have Life" (January 23, 1977)

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