Stuart C. Henry - Sermon Untitled (October 15, 1978)

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Announcer	Duke University Chapel,	0:04
	Service of Worship, October 15, 1978.	0:05
	(organ music)	0:11
	(organ music)	4:40
	(choir singing "Kyrie Eleison")	11:14
	(organ music)	12:42
	♪ Glorious things of thee are spoken ♪	13:27
	♪ Zion, city of our God ♪	13:32
	♪ He whose Word cannot be broken ♪	13:38
	♪ Formed thee for His own abode ♪	13:44
	♪ On the Rock of Ages founded ♪	13:50
	♪ What can shake thy sure repose ♪	13:56
	♪ With salvation's walls surrounded ♪	14:02
	♪ Thou may'st smile at all thy foes ♪	14:08
	♪ See, the streams of living waters ♪	14:18
	♪ Springing from eternal love ♪	14:24
	♪ Well supply thy sons and daughters ♪	14:30
	♪ And all fear of want remove ♪	14:36
	♪ Who can faint while such a river ♪	14:42
	♪ Ever flows their thirst to assuage ♪	14:48
	♪ Grace, which like the Lord, the Giver, ♪	14:54
	♪ Never fails from age to age. ♪	15:00
	♪ Round each habitation hov'ring, ♪	15:10
	♪ See the cloud and fire appear ♪	15:16
	♪ For a glory and a cov'ring, ♪	15:22
	♪ Showing that the Lord is near. ♪	15:28
	♪ Thus deriving from their banner ♪	15:34
	♪ Light by night and shade by day ♪	15:40
	♪ Safe they feed upon the manna ♪	15:46
	♪ Which God gives them when on their way ♪	15:52
	♪ Savior, since of Zion's city ♪	16:01
	♪ I through grace a member am ♪	16:07
	♪ let the world deride or pity ♪	16:13
	♪ I will glory in Thy name ♪	16:19
	♪ Fading are the world's best pleasures ♪	16:25
	♪ All its boasted pomp and show ♪	16:31
	♪ Solid joys and lasting treasures ♪	16:38
	♪ None but Zion's children know ♪	16:44
	♪ Amen ♪	16:52
-	Let us bow in the presence of God,	17:18
	before Whom all the secrets of our heart are disclosed,	17:21
	and in God's loving and forgiving presence,	17:26
	make our corporate confession of sin.	17:31
	O God, forgive us.	17:36
	The hatred which divides nation from nation,	17:40
	race from race, class from class,	17:44
Congregation	O Father, forgive us.	17:49
-	The covetous desires of people and nations	17:53
	to possess what is not their own,	17:56
Congregation	O Father, forgive us.	18:00
-	The greed which exploits the labors of humans	18:03
	and lays waste the earth,	18:07
Congregation	O Father, forgive us.	18:10
-	Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,	18:13
Congregation	O Father, forgive us.	18:17
-	Our indifference to the plight	18:21
	of the homeless and the refugee,	18:22
Congregation	O Father, forgive us.	18:25
-	The lust which uses for ignoble ends	18:28
	the bodies of men and women,	18:32
Congregation	O Father, forgive us.	18:35
-	The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves	18:37
	and not in You,	18:42
Congregation	O Father, forgive us.	18:44
-	Amen.	19:01
	Let us give thanks, for God is good,	19:03
	and God's love is everlasting.	19:06
	Thanks be to God who is ever-present.	19:10
	Thanks be to God who is ever-forgiving.	19:15
	Thanks be to God who is ever-loving.	19:18
	Amen.	19:23
	Greetings, and welcome in the name of Jesus, our Christ.	19:25
	On next Sunday, the Reverend Dr. Peter Gomes,	19:31
	minister to Harvard University will be our preacher.	19:34
	And we want to share with you a special joy,	19:38
	that on November 5, Mary Lou Williams will join	19:41
	in leading our worship and celebration	19:45
	for All Saints' Sunday.	19:47
	Dr. Harmon Smith will talk with graduate student group	19:50
	on Bioethics: Sorting, Promise, and Peril	19:54
	this afternoon at 2pm in the student lounge	19:59
	at the Divinity School.	20:03
	He will focus on in vitro fertilization	20:05
	and lead the group in a discussion	20:08
	of legal and medical and moral implications of this issue.	20:10
	Would you please note in the announcement in your bulletin	20:17
	two announcements of opportunities	20:20
	which will be important for those of you	20:23
	who have some vocational questions.	20:26
	The Y Career Opportunities Day this Saturday	20:30
	and the vocational options in contemporary ministry,	20:35
	which will be next week.	20:40
	Dr. Henry, we welcome you to Duke Chapel	20:43
	and await your word with open hearts and minds.	20:47
-	Let us pray.	21:03
	Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to accept Your word.	21:06
	Silence in us any voice but Your own,	21:09
	that hearing we may also obey Your will.	21:12
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.	21:15
	The Old Testament scripture lesson for this morning	21:20
	comes from the 55th chapter of Isaiah, verses one to three	21:22
	and six to 13.	21:25
	Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters;	21:29
	You who have no money, come, buy and eat!	21:32
	Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.	21:36
	Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,	21:40
	and your labor for that which does not satisfy?	21:44
	Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good,	21:47
	and delight yourselves in fatness.	21:51
	Incline your ear, and come to me;	21:53
	hear, that your soul may live;	21:56
	and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,	21:58
	my steadfast, sure love for David.	22:01
	Seek the Lord while the Lord may be found,	22:05
	call upon the Lord while the Lord is near;	22:07
	let the wicked forsake his way,	22:10
	and the unrighteous person his thoughts;	22:13
	let him return to the Lord,	22:16
	that the Lord may have mercy upon him,	22:17
	and to our God, for our God will abundantly pardon.	22:20
	For my thoughts are not your thoughts,	22:24
	neither your ways my ways, says the Lord.	22:26
	For as the heavens are higher than the earth,	22:30
	so are my ways higher than your ways	22:32
	and my thoughts than your thoughts.	22:35
	For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,	22:37
	and return not thither but water the earth,	22:40
	making it bring forth and sprout,	22:42
	giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,	22:45
	so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;	22:47
	it shall not return to me empty,	22:51
	but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,	22:54
	and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.	22:57
	For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace;	23:00
	the mountains and the hills before you	23:04
	shall break forth into singing,	23:06
	and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.	23:08
	Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;	23:12
	instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;	23:15
	and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,	23:19
	for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.	23:22
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	23:26
	May God bless its sending and its reception.	23:28
	Amen.	23:31
	(organ music)	23:35
	(choir singing in foreign language)	24:37
	The New Testament scripture lesson for this morning	27:16
	consists of excerpts from the 21st and the 22nd chapters	27:19
	of the book of Revelations.	27:23
	Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;	27:27
	for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,	27:29
	and the sea was no more.	27:33
	And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,	27:35
	coming down out of heaven from God,	27:38
	prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;	27:40
	and I heard a great voice from the throne saying,	27:43
	"Behold, the dwelling of God is with God's people.	27:47
	"God will dwell with them, and they shall be God's people,	27:50
	"and God in very truth will be with them;	27:54
	"God will wipe away every tear from their eyes,	27:57
	"and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning	28:00
	"nor crying nor pain any more,	28:04
	"for the former things have passed away."	28:07
	And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple	28:11
	is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.	28:14
	And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it,	28:17
	for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.	28:21
	Then he who sat upon the throne showed me the river	28:26
	of the water of life, bright as crystal,	28:29
	flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb	28:33
	through the middle of the street of the city;	28:35
	also, on either side of the river, the tree of life	28:38
	with its twelve kinds of fruit,	28:42
	yielding its fruit each month;	28:43
	and the leaves of the tree were	28:46
	for the healing of the nations.	28:46
	Blessed are those who wash their robes,	28:50
	that they may have the right to the tree of life	28:53
	and that they may enter the city by the gates.	28:55
	The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come."	28:58
	And let him who hears say, "Come."	29:01
	And let the one who is thirsty come,	29:04
	let him who desires take the water of life without price.	29:07
	The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.	29:11
	Amen.	29:15
	Here ends the reading from the New Testament.	29:17
	May all praise and all glory be to our God.	29:19
	Amen.	29:22
	(organ music)	29:25
	♪ Glory be to our Creator ♪	29:40
	♪ Prase to our Redeemer, Lord ♪	29:47
	♪ Glory be to our Sustainer ♪	29:55
	♪ Ever three and ever one ♪	30:02
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	30:09
	♪ Now and ever more, Amen. ♪	30:17
-	In the name of the Father, and of the Son,	30:50
	and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.	30:53
	Simply by virtue of being members of the human race,	31:05
	we are, all of us, voyagers,	31:09
	launched onto the deep	31:13
	in search for a safe harbor.	31:15
	It is a figurative way of speaking, of course,	31:18
	but it indicates the truth that we are always searching.	31:22
	Usually restless, often driven, and for the most part,	31:27
	as touchingly hopeful as children	31:32
	that the new day, the new face, the new experience	31:35
	will reveal the secret of happiness	31:40
	or solve the riddle of our confusion	31:43
	or answer the gnawing question,	31:46
	or discover for us that special place, though	31:49
	so that we shall come to the land of our heart's desire.	31:53
	The wanderer searches for a home,	31:57
	the greedy hunts for things,	32:00
	the scholar seeks after knowledge,	32:02
	but we are, all of us, searching for certainty.	32:05
	Now, contemporary usage labels our plight a crisis	32:10
	and describes it as an identity search.	32:14
	But only the language is new.	32:18
	The universality of the experience is underscored	32:21
	wherever we look, or however we review our history.	32:25
	And never more poignantly than in the Bible,	32:30
	again and again, we see ourselves mirrored	32:34
	in the folk whose stories are recorded there.	32:38
	Abraham setting out across the desert,	32:42
	not knowing where to go,	32:45
	is like anyone, like you or like me -	32:48
	beginning a career, or a semester,	32:53
	or even a day uncertain, perhaps anxious,	32:55
	yet nevertheless hoping and trusting.	33:00
	For what we seek is no place, no thing.	33:04
	What we seek is a state of mind.	33:08
	Read in the Bible of Jacob, an old man	33:11
	yearning for a son long given up for dead.	33:15
	And in Jacob's yearning, you see yourself,	33:18
	even though you are still young,	33:22
	as you are wishfully trying to devise schemes	33:25
	for salvaging a past failure.	33:28
	"A wandering Aramean was my father,"	33:31
	Jacob's child said of him, and so he was and so are we.	33:34
	But what he sought was subtler than it seems.	33:38
	What Jacob longs for in his son is, in essence,	33:42
	what the prodigal seeks in reunion with his father.	33:47
	The prize which our hearts desire and the driving instinct	33:51
	which compels to seek and seek, these are the factors	33:55
	that explain why Abraham is willing to risk the desert,	34:00
	or what a frightened Mary asked of a keeper	34:04
	in an Easter garden.	34:07
	These folk are like us:	34:09
	all voyagers,	34:11
	all searching for safe harbor, all searching, that is,	34:13
	for that which gives meaning to life.	34:17
	And we want meaning enough to make life more	34:20
	than simply bearable.	34:23
	We want our worlds to make sense.	34:25
	So, let us consider the situation	34:29
	as the Bible represents it, as it so often does,	34:32
	in the figures of water and the sea.	34:36
	For somehow, the quest appears more intense	34:39
	in the person of one who puts out to sea.	34:44
	Instinctively, we feel that there is for the voyager,	34:47
	much more than for any other kind of wanderer,	34:51
	a potential danger.	34:54
	One may be blown off the course.	34:56
	One may be shipwrecked.	34:59
	One may be swept into the abyss.	35:01
	There is an inescapable necessity on the voyage	35:04
	to run risks and to accept penalties	35:07
	in the effort to come to terms with our existence.	35:11
	There are immortal implications in the notion	35:15
	of a sea voyage on which we are outward bound.	35:17
	Surely it is not accidental that the final adventure,	35:22
	or if you will, the final ordeal of death	35:27
	is represented to us as crossing the bar,	35:31
	putting out to sea, embarking for infinity,	35:35
	a hazardous but necessary course,	35:39
	because the sea represents to us	35:42
	all the turbulence and conflict which separate us	35:45
	from the safety of haven.	35:49
	Between us and the city eternal lie deep waters.	35:51
	In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress,	35:56
	Christian and his companion, Hopeful,	35:59
	discover that at the very point of reaching the gate	36:01
	toward which they had traveled,	36:05
	their way to the City of Light is barred by waters	36:07
	that run swift and deep.	36:10
	Betwixt them and the gate, writes Bunyan,	36:14
	there was a river, but there was no bridge to go over,	36:17
	and the river was very deep.	36:21
	At the site thereof of this river	36:23
	the pilgrims were much stunned.	36:25
	But no way could be found by them	36:28
	by which they might escape the river.	36:30
	So then, they addressed themselves to the waters,	36:33
	and Christian began to sink, crying out,	36:38
	"I sink in deep waters, the billows go over my head.	36:40
	"All the waves go over me."	36:44
	You understand this plight?	36:47
	Can you ever forget that time	36:49
	when all you trusted and believed in	36:51
	was swept away in a flood of woes	36:55
	that almost overwhelmed you?	36:58
	God bless and pity you.	37:01
	Perhaps even now, you who sit in this sanctuary,	37:04
	whose names I do not know,	37:09
	whose controlled and disciplined faces	37:12
	hide troubled hearts.	37:15
	Perhaps even now, you feel like nothing so much	37:17
	as shipwrecked victims, snatching at straws	37:20
	in a vain effort to stave off being sucked down	37:24
	into the deep.	37:28
	There is always risk in life.	37:30
	This is part of what life is.	37:32
	Yet, those who seek surely find,	37:35
	even though they never find, without risk.	37:38
	The voyager may be endangered,	37:42
	but if, like Bunyan's traveler,	37:45
	he addresses himself to the waters, he will arrive.	37:47
	And yet, oddly, that one who seeks only the safety	37:52
	of escape in a voyage will remain powerless	37:55
	to affect his end.	37:59
	It is always folly to seek exile,	38:02
	for after all, we cannot exile ourselves.	38:05
	When we are exiles, it is because others have exiled us.	38:09
	The Jonahs of this world find themselves destroyed	38:14
	by the very means which they chose for deliverance.	38:18
	The sea rejects them, the waves extinguish them.	38:22
	But to gain the port, one must embark willingly	38:26
	on a voyage, daring the risks,	38:31
	conscious of the penalties, prepared to brave the elements	38:34
	in the search of a place of belonging.	38:38
	But even when we bravely face life's sea,	38:41
	that sea and the voyage itself	38:45
	become occasions of purgatorial suffering.	38:48
	The agony and apparent loss which we suffer,	38:51
	however, can bring us to our senses	38:54
	so that we see, in the time of danger,	38:58
	exactly what is real and exactly what is of true value.	39:03
	The whole situation of offering ourselves	39:08
	to defeat that we may achieve victory,	39:12
	of facing death that we may live,	39:15
	of addressing ourselves bravely to the waters,	39:18
	strong in faith, but still mindful of death,	39:22
	that situation is one which is easy enough to understand.	39:26
	We see it with our eyes, we know it in our hearts.	39:31
	New life must spring out of death.	39:35
	This situation is easy to understand,	39:38
	but it is exceedingly hard to believe.	39:41
	Perhaps it is as one of Melville's characters	39:47
	remarked somewhat darkly to a voyager,	39:50
	"I would rather feel your spine than your skull."	39:54
	That is, in coming to terms with life,	39:58
	we are dealing with a matter of faith, not of logic.	40:02
	What you are, finally, cannot be measured by reason.	40:06
	Indeed, it is measured by that which transcends reason.	40:11
	For faith always transcends belief.	40:15
	Faith, like a surging sea, is forever beating	40:18
	against the dikes of our reason,	40:23
	but there can come the moment when the sea breaks through	40:26
	and overflows the dikes and bear us -	40:29
	chastened but unharmed - to safety.	40:32
	The Bible, that remarkable collection of literature	40:37
	which reflects all our yearnings,	40:40
	has recorded many instances of this kind of experience,	40:42
	telling how those whose histories it preserves,	40:46
	gain the ends for which they sought,	40:51
	on and in and through the water.	40:54
	In the very beginning, when the earth was without form	40:57
	and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep,	41:01
	it was on the waters that the Spirit moved	41:05
	to bring order and beauty out of chaos.	41:08
	Almost as if God were willing to jeopardize	41:12
	his own serenity for the sake of the finite factor	41:15
	in the decision to breathe design into history.	41:19
	Thus we order our own lives only when we allow the Spirit	41:23
	to brood upon our chaos.	41:28
	And then we find that we have committed ourselves	41:30
	to sacrifice, endeavoring to escape destruction,	41:34
	always a potential ordeal by water.	41:39
	Noah found himself driven, not to seek	41:43
	a high mountain away from the rising waters of the rain.	41:47
	Noah built an ark and launched out into the deep.	41:51
	Here was escape.	41:56
	The deliverance from Egyptian slavery is ensured	41:57
	to the children of Israel only when they are willing	42:01
	to cross over the Red Sea, although that which thrills us	42:04
	in the telling terrified them as they stood	42:08
	at the water's edge.	42:13
	The noise of Pharaoh's approaching army	42:14
	was in their ears and they cried out to Moses,	42:16
	"Is it because there were no graves in Egypt	42:19
	"that you have brought us here to take us away	42:22
	"to die in the desert?"	42:25
	Yet, they found themselves saved by the waters	42:27
	which they had feared, even as their enemies	42:31
	were engulfed.	42:34
	Yet, when in God's good grace they came	42:35
	to the promised land, there was the problem	42:39
	of water again and they could not enter in	42:42
	until they had crossed the Jordan.	42:45
	No small feat, and one which subsequently	42:48
	was of no small significance in their history	42:51
	and iconography.	42:54
	So, Jordan remains for us a boundary and a protection	42:56
	and a reminder of God's deliverance.	43:01
	A symbol of the challenge that awaits us all.	43:05
	A symbol of reward and risk inseparably bound up together.	43:08
	In the economy of God, the water,	43:15
	the agent of our deliverance, or if you will,	43:18
	the life, the little lives that we have	43:22
	are also the potential occasions for our destruction.	43:25
	Yet we find that, though there may be life	43:31
	or there may be death, those who seek to preserve life	43:34
	always lose it, and those who risk the life a bit	43:39
	are they who find it.	43:43
	It is faith that makes the difference.	43:45
	Extreme dangers are set forth under the notion of a flood,	43:50
	and so the Psalmist cries out,	43:54
	"Let not the water flood overflow me."	43:56
	Violent assaults and sudden incursions of evil	43:59
	are compared to a flood, and the prophet wails	44:03
	that the enemy hath come in like a flood.	44:06
	But by the floods also are signified the great plenty	44:09
	and the abundance of spiritual and temporal blessing.	44:14
	When God says, "I will pour floods of water	44:18
	"upon the dry ground," he intends benediction.	44:21
	And even more to the point, it is the word of God	44:25
	in the mouth of the prophet that marvelously	44:30
	sets forth the paradox.	44:32
	God is treating with Ephraim here,	44:35
	a wayward, profligate, sinful child,	44:38
	but a child whom God still loves.	44:41
	"You have been as the dew," says God.	44:44
	"Now I will be as the dew."	44:48
	Here is the agony of a distressed parent, for God continues,	44:50
	"What shall I do with you, O Ephraim,	44:55
	"what shall I do with you, O Judah,	44:59
	"your love is like a morning cloud,	45:01
	"your love is like the dew that goes early away."	45:04
	And God answers, "Therefore, I too will be as the dew.	45:10
	"I will be as the dew to Israel.	45:15
	"He shall blossom as a lily, he shall strike root	45:17
	"as the poplar, and his shoot shall spread out,	45:21
	"and his beauty shall be like the olive	45:24
	"and his fragrance like Lebanon.	45:27
	"You have been like the dew, faithless and evanescent	45:29
	"and disappearing; therefore, I will be like the dew,	45:34
	"ever-faithful, daily renewing you."	45:38
	The mystical power to be saved by the self-abnegating	45:43
	risk of death is powerfully dramatized	45:46
	in the church's sacrament and symbol of baptism.	45:49
	Here is death by water, but it is death	45:53
	which resurrects us as new creatures.	45:57
	Being buried in the water, we find ourselves snatched	46:00
	from tombs and risen to new life.	46:03
	In the first prayer book of Edward VI,	46:07
	written at a time when many took seriously	46:10
	this dying with Christ, there is a baptismal prayer	46:12
	which remembers almighty God as one who, in justice,	46:17
	that's destroyed by floods of water the whole world	46:22
	for sin and its drowned wicked king Pharaoh,	46:26
	yet did deliver the Hebrew children	46:30
	even as he had saved all those who were in the ark.	46:33
	The prayer is one of confidence	46:38
	that all who are baptized in Christ	46:41
	may be saved by the wholesome labor of regeneration.	46:44
	It is simply a way of entering into the ark.	46:48
	Now, the church has been rightly called	46:53
	the ark of salvation.	46:55
	Her very wards are derived from the shape of the craft,	46:57
	and her nave, this nave in which you sit,	47:01
	takes her name from that which the early Christians	47:05
	called her the nave, the ship, the ark.	47:08
	The church is the ark of salvation.	47:13
	It is at once our shelter and our transport,	47:16
	and we find community when we launch out onto the voyage	47:20
	into deep waters of risk and penalty.	47:24
	We began by observing that we are all voyagers,	47:29
	at least potential voyagers, driven by longing	47:33
	and necessity to dare to search, even if the search	47:36
	brings danger and ordeal, because we must find meaning	47:42
	for our lives.	47:47
	But where exactly do we point the prow?	47:49
	What is it for which we actually seek?	47:52
	There are hints, however oblique,	47:55
	in the Revelation of Saint John.	47:59
	One of the first details that the evangelist notes	48:02
	in his picture of the new heaven and the new earth	48:06
	is that there is no more sea, the sea is gone.	48:10
	"Then I saw," he says, "a new heaven and a new earth,	48:14
	"for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away	48:18
	"and the sea was no more."	48:22
	When the voyage has ended and the traveler has arrived,	48:25
	the sea no longer threatens,	48:29
	then that time in which we were, moment by moment,	48:31
	upon the razor's edge of possible destruction, is gone.	48:35
	The turbulence which separated us from God is gone.	48:40
	There is no longer any necessity or occasion for the sea,	48:44
	for one who has, once and for all,	48:49
	risked the voyage and has,	48:52
	quite simply, found God.	48:55
	As Augustine reminds us, our souls are made for God	48:59
	and do not find their rest except in him.	49:05
	But there is a more pointed hint.	49:10
	In his description of the Christ, Saint John says	49:12
	that his voice is like the voice of many waters.	49:16
	Here is variety.	49:20
	Water has indeed many sounds and many voices.	49:22
	It thunders in the mighty waterfall.	49:27
	It sings in the fountain.	49:30
	There is a rhythmic voice in the running of the tide	49:32
	that swishes against the sands.	49:36
	And there is the subtle sound of the rain in summer.	49:38
	Water has many voices, and so has the Christ.	49:43
	His is the voice which sadly could say,	49:48
	"Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees."	49:51
	Yet, it is the voice that could bid,	49:55
	"Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,	49:58
	"and I will give you rest."	50:03
	His is the voice that did say,	50:05
	"Get thee behind me, Satan," and also the voice that said,	50:07
	"Go thy way, and sin no more."	50:12
	And it is the voice that is forever saying,	50:16
	"Come, come and follow me," for it is a voice	50:18
	that is suited to every occasion and to every individual.	50:23
	So, for you, whatever you long for,	50:27
	however you are blown about on troubled seas,	50:31
	for you in this voice, which is as the voice of many waters,	50:35
	there is a word, there is indeed the word,	50:40
	exactly suited to your need.	50:45
	The word for your forgiveness, the word to remind you	50:48
	of your acceptance, the word for your life, voyager.	50:52
	You are moved by the voyager's instinct, and so am I.	50:58
	We are all voyagers, if only potentially.	51:02
	Our souls are made for God, and in Him alone	51:06
	shall they find their rest.	51:09
	In his vision of the isle on Patmos,	51:11
	Saint John saw also in the new Jerusalem	51:15
	the river of the water of life, bright as crystal,	51:18
	and by the banks of it, the tree of life,	51:22
	whose leaves were for the healing of the nation.	51:26
	The sea is no more, but in its place flows	51:30
	the river of life freely.	51:34
	And as we read the description,	51:36
	the echo of the prophet sounds in our own ears,	51:39
	"Ho, everyone that thirsteth,	51:44
	"come ye to the waters, without money and without price."	51:46
	And then, and then, answering that longing	51:51
	which we know even before we can define it,	51:55
	the evangelist adds,	51:58
	"The Spirit and the bride say come,	52:01
	"and let all who hear say come,	52:05
	"and let all who thirst come, and let all who desire	52:08
	"take the water of life freely and without price."	52:14
	Amen, and amen.	52:19
	Almighty God, support us in the tempest and storms	52:25
	of our existence, and bring us to the calm,	52:31
	eternal peace in the haven of the practice of Thy presence.	52:37
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	52:43
	Amen.	52:46
	(organ music)	52:49
	♪ The church's one Foundation ♪	53:25
	♪ Is Jesus Christ her Lord ♪	53:31
	♪ She is His new creation ♪	53:35
	♪ By water and the Word ♪	53:40
	♪ From heav'n He came and sought her ♪	53:45
	♪ To be His holy bride ♪	53:50
	♪ with His own blood He bought her ♪	53:55
	♪ And for her life He died ♪	54:00
	♪ Elect from ev'ry nation ♪	54:07
	♪ Yet one o'er all the earth ♪	54:12
	♪ Her charter of salvation ♪	54:17
	♪ One Lord, one faith, one birth ♪	54:22
	♪ One holy Name she blesses ♪	54:27
	♪ Partakes one holy food ♪	54:32
	♪ And to one hope she presses ♪	54:37
	♪ With ev'ry grace endued ♪	54:42
	♪ 'Mid toil and tribulation ♪	54:49
	♪ And tumult of her war ♪	54:54
	♪ She waits the consummation ♪	54:59
	♪ Of peace for evermore ♪	55:04
	♪ Till with the vision glorious ♪	55:09
	♪ Her longing eyes are blest, ♪	55:14
	♪ And the great church victorious ♪	55:19
	♪ Shall be the church at rest ♪	55:24
	♪ Yet she on earth hath union ♪	55:32
	♪ With God the Three in One ♪	55:37
	♪ And mystic sweet communion ♪	55:42
	♪ With those whose rest is won ♪	55:47
	♪ O happy ones and holy ♪	55:52
	♪ Lord, give us grace that we ♪	55:57
	♪ Like them, the meek and lowly ♪	56:02
	♪ On high may dwell with Thee ♪	56:07
	♪ Amen ♪	56:14
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	56:25
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating,	56:29
	who has come in the truly human Jesus,	56:34
	to reconcile and make new, who works in us	56:38
	and others by the Spirit.	56:42
	We trust God, who calls us to be the Church,	56:45
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	56:50
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	56:54
	to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,	57:01
	our judge and our hope.	57:05
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	57:08
	God is with us, we are not alone.	57:13
	Thanks be to God.	57:18
	The Lord be with you.	57:29
Congregation	And with your spirit.	57:31
-	Let us pray.	57:33
	O God, we praise you, we worship you,	57:36
	we bow before your presence.	57:40
	Hear our joyful song and word,	57:44
	accept our praise and prayers,	57:48
	and consecrate the joy we feel this day.	57:51
	Make this a day of hope, of calmness, of joy,	57:57
	of contrition, of holy purpose.	58:04
	We give you thanks for all events and all people	58:10
	who have made our faith more certain	58:13
	as we take the risk to move into the waters of the unknown.	58:17
	For friends who love us, who hurt with us, who heal us.	58:23
	For homes and communities that nourish us.	58:31
	For the heights and depths of the human spirit,	58:36
	full of hope and promise.	58:40
	O God, we remember those who are saddened by death.	58:45
	We pray for those who feel defeated, discouraged,	58:52
	those who have come to this service seeking life and hope.	58:59
	Many of our pains are hidden from us,	59:06
	but O God you know, you know those spirits	59:10
	who are frustrated by circumstances,	59:14
	overwhelmed by temptation, by impossible task,	59:18
	those who are facing griefs, conflicts,	59:25
	all too heavy to carry alone.	59:29
	Care for us and enable us to care for one another	59:34
	and to be cared for.	59:38
	O God, you can make the barren place rejoice,	59:41
	and the desert bloom like a rose.	59:45
	Redeem us, turn our defeat and despair into new life,	59:49
	for we are people who become discouraged about this world.	59:58
	We are wearied by war, we long for peace.	1:00:03
	We are overwhelmed by the hungry,	1:00:08
	the sick, and the oppressed.	1:00:10
	We need to know Your love which can sustain us	1:00:13
	and refresh our souls with ever-renewed hope	1:00:16
	found only in You.	1:00:22
	And hear us now, O God, as we pray together,	1:00:26
	the prayer our Lord prayed.	1:00:29
	Our Father, who art in heaven,	1:00:32
	Hallowed be thy Name, Thy Kingdom come.	1:00:36
	Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.	1:00:40
	Give us this day our daily bread.	1:00:46
	And forgive us our trespasses,	1:00:49
	As we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:00:52
	And lead us not into temptation,	1:00:56
	But deliver us from evil.	1:00:59
	For thine is the kingdom,	1:01:02
	The power, and the glory, forever.	1:01:04
	Amen.	1:01:08
	(organ music)	1:01:17
	(choir singing in foreign language)	1:04:16
	(organ music)	1:07:20
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:07:39
	♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪	1:07:45
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	1:07:51
	♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪	1:07:59
	♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪	1:08:05
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	1:08:11
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	1:08:17
	♪ Alleluia ♪	1:08:23
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:31
	O holy God, we give you thanks	1:08:45
	for the continuing community of your love, the church,	1:08:47
	for the power of the word and of the sacrament,	1:08:52
	and for the many gifts you give to us.	1:08:57
	And now, O God, we give to you these, our gifts,	1:09:01
	symbols of our commitment to you.	1:09:06
	Use them, and enable us to evidence the power	1:09:09
	of Your love to all people.	1:09:14
	We pray in the spirit of Christ, Amen.	1:09:18
	(organ music)	1:09:23
	♪ God of grace and God of glory ♪	1:10:02
	♪ On Thy people pour Thy power ♪	1:10:08
	♪ Crown Thy ancient church's story ♪	1:10:13
	♪ Bring her bud to glorious flower ♪	1:10:19
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:10:25
	♪ For the facing of this hour ♪	1:10:31
	♪ For the facing of this hour ♪	1:10:37
	♪ Lo! the hosts of evil round us ♪	1:10:45
	♪ Scorn Thy Christ, assail his ways ♪	1:10:51
	♪ From the fears that long have bound us ♪	1:10:57
	♪ Free our hearts to faith and praise ♪	1:11:02
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:11:09
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	1:11:15
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	1:11:20
	♪ Cure Thy children's warring madness ♪	1:11:29
	♪ Bend our pride to Thy control ♪	1:11:35
	♪ Shame our wanton, selfish gladness ♪	1:11:41
	♪ Rich in things and poor in soul ♪	1:11:47
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:11:53
	♪ Lest we miss your kingdom's goal ♪	1:11:59
	♪ Lest we miss your kingdom's goal ♪	1:12:05
	♪ Set our feet on lofty places ♪	1:12:14
	♪ Gird our lives that they may be ♪	1:12:20
	♪ Armored with all Christlike graces ♪	1:12:26
	♪ Pledged to set all captives free ♪	1:12:32
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:12:38
	♪ That we fail not them nor thee ♪	1:12:44
	♪ That we fail not them nor thee ♪	1:12:51
	♪ Save us from weak resignation ♪	1:12:59
	♪ to the evils we deplore ♪	1:13:05
	♪ Let the gift of Thy salvation ♪	1:13:11
	♪ Be our glory evermore ♪	1:13:17
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:13:23
	♪ Serving you whom we adore ♪	1:13:30
	♪ Serving you whom we adore ♪	1:13:36
	♪ Amen ♪	1:13:44
	May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ,	1:13:55
	the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	1:14:00
	be with you this day and forevermore.	1:14:06
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:13
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:20
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:28
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:35
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:43
	♪ Amen ♪	1:14:53
	♪ Amen ♪	1:15:07
	(organ music)	1:15:23

Item Info

Title:

Stuart C. Henry - Sermon Untitled (October 15, 1978)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 31:05. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 52:22.
In the economy of God, water is the (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: There is always risk in life. This is part of what life is. Yet, those who seek surely find, even though they never find without risk.

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4377697z

Date:

October 15, 1978

Speaker:

Henry, Stuart C.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0983
ref7175_nwj
uachapelsermaud
duke:320604
dcrau001863
ark:/87924/r4377697z
3cc88244-5256-41ba-bb9d-e913cb951444

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

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