Howard Thurman - Sermon Untitled (January 28, 1979)
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- | Service of worship, January 28th, 1979. | 0:04 |
(organ music) | 0:10 | |
♪ Beautiful Savior ♪ | 8:02 | |
♪ Lord of all nations ♪ | 8:10 | |
♪ Son of God and Son of Man ♪ | 8:19 | |
♪ Glory and honor, praise, adoration ♪ | 8:34 | |
♪ Now and forever more be Thine ♪ | 8:48 | |
♪ Now and forever ♪ | 9:00 | |
♪ More be Thine ♪ | 9:11 | |
("Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!") | 9:26 | |
- | Dear friends, we are always in the presence of God. | 14:01 |
Such awareness is fearful, for the presence | 14:08 | |
of such love and justice, we become keenly aware | 14:13 | |
of our unloving and our unjust Thoughts and actions. | 14:20 | |
It is only as we are certain of God's love | 14:28 | |
that is ever waiting to forgive us, | 14:32 | |
to restore us to wholeness, that we have the courage | 14:35 | |
to acknowledge our sin and to ask for forgiveness. | 14:41 | |
With such assurance, let us now | 14:47 | |
make our corporate confession to God. | 14:51 | |
Let us pray. | 14:55 | |
Most holy and merciful God, | 14:58 | |
we acknowledge an confess before the our sinful nature. | 15:01 | |
Prone to evil and slothful in good, | 15:06 | |
and all our shortcomings and offenses. | 15:10 | |
Thou alone knowest how often we have sinned | 15:14 | |
and wandering from Thy ways, and wasted Thy gifts, | 15:18 | |
and forgetting Thy gifts, forgetting Thy love. | 15:22 | |
For Thou, oh Lord, have mercy on us | 15:27 | |
who are ashamed and sorry for all wherein | 15:31 | |
we have displeased Thee. | 15:35 | |
Teach us hate our errors. | 15:37 | |
Cleanse us from our secret Thoughts, | 15:40 | |
and forgive our sins, | 15:43 | |
for the sake of Thy dear son, | 15:45 | |
and most holy and loving God, | 15:48 | |
help us, we beseech Thee, | 15:52 | |
do live in Thy light and walk in Thy wings, | 15:54 | |
according to the commandments of Jesus Christ our Lord. | 15:59 | |
And now, oh God, hear our personal confessions. | 16:04 | |
Amen. | 16:22 | |
Dear people of God, we are forgiven, | 16:26 | |
so let us live in the fullness of God's love, | 16:31 | |
for us and for all creation. | 16:35 | |
Let us give thanks, for God is good, | 16:40 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 16:43 | |
Thanks be to God who creates us. | 16:47 | |
Thanks be to God who redeems us. | 16:51 | |
Thanks be to God who sustains us. | 16:54 | |
Amen. | 16:58 | |
Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Christ. | 17:00 | |
We will continue our Jewish Christian dialogue | 17:05 | |
this Friday, February the 2nd, at 8:30 PM | 17:08 | |
at the Baptist Student Center. | 17:13 | |
The focus of this conversation will be | 17:16 | |
an understanding of what is the core | 17:18 | |
of the Christian faith and of the Jewish faith. | 17:21 | |
You will note in your bulletin | 17:26 | |
that Dr. Deborah Partridge Wolfe, | 17:27 | |
who preached here at the chapel in December, | 17:29 | |
will return to the campus this week | 17:32 | |
to participate in our theologian and residence program. | 17:34 | |
At 8:15 on this Tuesday evening, January the 30th, | 17:38 | |
she will give her major speaker address | 17:42 | |
in Gross Kip Auditorium, | 17:44 | |
talking about values and the human dimension in the future. | 17:47 | |
We are especially pleased today | 17:53 | |
to have the people who have been | 17:55 | |
participating in the black student weekend | 17:56 | |
join us for worship. | 17:59 | |
And for you, who are here, to have opportunity | 18:02 | |
to hear Dr. Thurman preach. | 18:05 | |
Dr. Thurman, we thank God for your life and your witness, | 18:08 | |
which many of us had only known through your writings. | 18:12 | |
The pastoral prayer today has been | 18:17 | |
shaped by your meditations. | 18:20 | |
And for those of you who are interested, | 18:23 | |
you will find at the desk, as you leave the chapel, | 18:25 | |
a copy of the Listening Ear, a newspaper of | 18:28 | |
the Howard Thurman Educational Trust, | 18:31 | |
a publication we may receive if we | 18:35 | |
send them our name and address. | 18:37 | |
After the morning service, Dr. Thurman | 18:41 | |
will greet those who want to speak with him | 18:43 | |
here at the front of the chancel. | 18:46 | |
Dr. Thurman, your presence among us | 18:50 | |
has been one of grace and truth. | 18:52 | |
We are, indeed, appreciative of your honoring | 18:56 | |
all the commitments we made for you, | 18:59 | |
even when, because of the cold we gave you, | 19:02 | |
the doctor requested that you stay to your bed. | 19:05 | |
We exalted in your presence | 19:09 | |
as you recognize in each of us our unique humanity. | 19:11 | |
We are challenged in your presence, | 19:17 | |
as we see the personal peace, serenity, and power, | 19:19 | |
which comes from your life of meditation and devotion. | 19:24 | |
And we are loved in your presence | 19:29 | |
as we are encompassed by God's loving spirit. | 19:32 | |
For the university and the Durham communities, | 19:36 | |
I say a very simple thank you and God bless you. | 19:39 | |
- | Let us pray. | 19:55 |
Prepare our hearts, oh Lord, to accept your word, | 19:59 | |
silence in us any voice but your own, | 20:06 | |
that hearing, we may also obey your will, | 20:11 | |
in Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 20:15 | |
Amen. | 20:18 | |
The Old Testament lesson is from the second chapter, | 20:21 | |
verse three, and the third chapter, | 20:25 | |
verses 11 through 13 of Zephaniah. | 20:29 | |
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land | 20:35 | |
who do his commands. | 20:39 | |
Seek righteousness, seek humility. | 20:42 | |
Perhaps, you may be hidden | 20:46 | |
on the day of the wrath of the Lord. | 20:48 | |
On that day, you should not be put to shame | 20:52 | |
because the deeds by which you have rebelled against me. | 20:56 | |
For then, I will remove from your midst | 21:00 | |
your proudly exalted ones. | 21:04 | |
And you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. | 21:07 | |
For I will leave in the midst of you | 21:12 | |
a people humble and lonely. | 21:15 | |
They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, | 21:19 | |
those who are left in Israel. | 21:23 | |
They shall do no wrong and utter no lies, | 21:26 | |
nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. | 21:30 | |
For they shall pastor and lie down, | 21:36 | |
and none shall make them afraid. | 21:39 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 21:42 | |
Amen. | 21:46 | |
(organ music) | 21:53 | |
♪ Holy, Holy, Holy ♪ | 22:15 | |
♪ Holy is the Lord ♪ | 22:28 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 22:41 | |
♪ Holy is our God ♪ | 22:53 | |
♪ He who always liveth ♪ | 23:06 | |
♪ Evermore the same ♪ | 23:17 | |
♪ Heaven and earth He ruleth ♪ | 23:28 | |
♪ Come and praise His name ♪ | 23:39 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 23:53 | |
♪ Holy is the Lord ♪ | 24:04 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 24:16 | |
♪ Holy is our God ♪ | 24:28 | |
♪ Glorious and beloved ♪ | 24:42 | |
♪ Is the One adored ♪ | 24:52 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ | 25:03 | |
♪ Holy is the Lord ♪ | 25:16 | |
Will the congregation stand | 25:47 | |
for the reading of the Gospel lesson? | 25:48 | |
The Gospel lesson is from the fifth chapter of Matthew, | 25:58 | |
verses one through 12. | 26:02 | |
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. | 26:08 | |
And when he sat down, his disciples came unto him, | 26:13 | |
and he opened his mouth and taught them saying, | 26:18 | |
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, | 26:22 | |
"for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. | 26:26 | |
"Blessed are those who mourn, | 26:29 | |
"for they shall be comforted. | 26:33 | |
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. | 26:36 | |
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, | 26:42 | |
"for they shall be filled. | 26:46 | |
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. | 26:50 | |
"Blessed are the pure in heart, | 26:56 | |
"for they shall see God. | 26:59 | |
"Blessed are the peacemakers, | 27:02 | |
"for they shall be called sons of God. | 27:05 | |
"Blessed are those who are persecuted | 27:09 | |
"for righteousness sake, | 27:12 | |
"for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. | 27:14 | |
"Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you, | 27:18 | |
"and utter all kinds of evil | 27:22 | |
"against you falsely on my account. | 27:24 | |
"Rejoice and be glad, | 27:28 | |
"for your reward is great in Heaven. | 27:31 | |
"For so men persecuted the prophets who were before you." | 27:35 | |
Here ends the reading from the Gospel. | 27:42 | |
All praise and Glory be to God. | 27:45 | |
Amen. | 27:49 | |
(organ music) | 27:50 | |
(choir singing) | 28:05 | |
- | Drop Thy still dues of quietness | 30:30 |
until all our strivings cease. | 30:35 | |
Take from our souls the strain and stress, | 30:43 | |
and let our ordered lives confess | 30:51 | |
the beauty of Thy peace. | 30:58 | |
Yay, Though I walked through | 31:05 | |
the Valley of the Shadow of Death, | 31:10 | |
I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. | 31:18 | |
Thy rod and they staff, they comfort me. | 31:30 | |
Thou preparest a table before me | 31:40 | |
in the presence of my enemies. | 31:42 | |
Thou anoints my head with oil, my cup runneth over. | 31:44 | |
Surely goodness... | 31:51 | |
and mercy... | 31:58 | |
shall follow me... | 32:04 | |
All the days of my life. | 32:09 | |
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord... | 32:15 | |
forever... | 32:25 | |
Forever. | 32:32 | |
Amen. | 32:36 | |
Before I read two things that I would | 33:01 | |
like for you to hold in mind as | 33:06 | |
a background for our thinking together, | 33:11 | |
our mediation really, | 33:14 | |
I wish to take this moment to express | 33:18 | |
my appreciation for all of the | 33:22 | |
little and big courtesies by which | 33:28 | |
my days have been surrounded since coming here. | 33:33 | |
Both as a expression of your goodwill | 33:39 | |
and an expression of the kindness of your hearts. | 33:46 | |
Despite the fact that you could not control the weather, | 33:56 | |
my organism knows that you did | 34:03 | |
the best you could with what you had. | 34:05 | |
It is good to remember that God has not | 34:14 | |
left himself wiThout a witness in our spirits. | 34:17 | |
There is a spirit in us that contains our spirit, | 34:22 | |
that provides the secondary consolations | 34:28 | |
which float the big anxieties, | 34:33 | |
that sustains the effort beyond | 34:37 | |
the calculated endurance | 34:41 | |
that makes the case for the good impulse, | 34:44 | |
when the rational judgment sends the mind spinning | 34:48 | |
in the opposite direction. | 34:54 | |
It is good to remember that God | 35:03 | |
has not left himself wiThout a witness in our lives. | 35:07 | |
There is at work in life much that seems | 35:12 | |
so circumstantial that the release | 35:15 | |
of explanation can come only in the great word | 35:18 | |
of the noncommittal, coincidence. | 35:22 | |
Even the most cursory examination | 35:27 | |
of what may be regarded as the most ordinary life | 35:29 | |
shows that at many points, startling things have occurred | 35:34 | |
that altered the entire direction of one's life. | 35:40 | |
Some chance word heard at a critical moment, | 35:45 | |
some single encounter along the way, | 35:53 | |
a paragraph tucked away in an ordinary book, | 35:58 | |
a stray Thought out of nowhere | 36:02 | |
finds a cuddling place in the mind, | 36:05 | |
and there begins to live and breath, | 36:09 | |
and reproduce its kind until something | 36:13 | |
emerges as a new outlook, | 36:16 | |
a different way of thinking. | 36:20 | |
It is good to remember that God has | 36:23 | |
not left himself wiThout a witness in our lives. | 36:26 | |
Despite all the wanderings of our footsteps, | 36:31 | |
despite all the ways by which we may have | 36:35 | |
sought to circumvent the truth within us, | 36:38 | |
despite all the weaknesses of our spirits and of our minds, | 36:43 | |
despite all the blunders by which | 36:49 | |
we may have insulated ourselves from | 36:53 | |
our fellows' approval unworThy of the love, | 36:56 | |
the trust, the confidence, by which again | 36:59 | |
and again our days are surrounded, | 37:02 | |
despite all these things, | 37:05 | |
it is good to remember that God has not | 37:08 | |
left himself wiThout a witness | 37:11 | |
in our spirits and in our lives. | 37:14 | |
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. | 37:30 | |
This is the timeless utterance, | 37:34 | |
the password that relaxes the angel | 37:39 | |
with the flaming sword who guards | 37:43 | |
the entrance to the Holy of Holies. | 37:46 | |
No man can be happy in Heaven | 37:49 | |
if his brother is in Hell. | 37:55 | |
If the light | 38:07 | |
that is in you be darkness, | 38:11 | |
what a darkness it is. | 38:16 | |
The tempter carried him to the pinnacle of the temple, | 38:37 | |
and he said, | 38:45 | |
"If you are God's son, | 38:49 | |
"or if you are God's son, | 38:54 | |
"or if you are God's son, | 39:00 | |
"or if you are God's son... | 39:05 | |
"jump... | 39:19 | |
"and you won't get hurt." | 39:25 | |
That is in the background of our thinking. | 39:29 | |
Our lives are surrounded by what seems | 39:37 | |
to me to be a structure of dependability | 39:40 | |
in the very nature of life, | 39:46 | |
that there is an order, there is a ground | 39:50 | |
that is rational, that supports, | 39:56 | |
sustains, that breaths through, | 40:00 | |
that bottoms existence. | 40:04 | |
And the degree to which an individual seems | 40:10 | |
to understand this | 40:13 | |
by brooding over the stubborn and, sometimes, | 40:18 | |
unyielding and recalcitrant aspects | 40:22 | |
of nature of the world, | 40:24 | |
until the rational principle | 40:28 | |
that seems to be working his mind | 40:30 | |
becomes one with the rational principle | 40:33 | |
that is at work in the whole structure | 40:36 | |
of nature and the universe, | 40:39 | |
when these flow together, | 40:41 | |
then it seems to the man | 40:45 | |
who is thus visited, | 40:50 | |
that he stands outside | 40:53 | |
of the normal operation | 40:56 | |
of antecedent and consequence of reaping and sewing. | 41:00 | |
And the insistence of my mind this morning is, | 41:09 | |
that if by brooding over the external world, of nature... | 41:16 | |
the mind of man seems to be illumined by | 41:25 | |
the secret that is there which is one with the secret | 41:30 | |
in his own mind so that he can use | 41:35 | |
the raw materials of nature, | 41:39 | |
on behalf of an expression of his own will and intention, | 41:41 | |
when this is his experience, | 41:46 | |
he seems to himself to be standing outside | 41:50 | |
of the operation of any moral law whatsoever. | 41:55 | |
Our history illustrates this. | 42:04 | |
Brooding over the world external to ourselves | 42:09 | |
until at last we were able to extract | 42:13 | |
what seems to be to us the secret of atomic energy. | 42:17 | |
And this secret, | 42:26 | |
we harnessed and we put it | 42:30 | |
at the disposal of the decisions of the mind | 42:34 | |
and the judgements of history as we interpreted it. | 42:39 | |
And as an expression of the way | 42:45 | |
by which we could extricate ourselves | 42:49 | |
from that which seem to threaten and to destroy, | 42:52 | |
we became the instrument through which | 42:57 | |
this kind of atomic energy could be released | 43:00 | |
on the children of man. | 43:05 | |
And our knowledge | 43:17 | |
gave to us the delusion | 43:22 | |
that we, ourselves, were immune to the | 43:25 | |
moral and ethical consequences of our behavior. | 43:28 | |
When the energies of life | 43:36 | |
that are part of an expression of the creative life of God | 43:41 | |
are used on behalf of | 43:48 | |
that which destroys | 43:52 | |
and lays waste, | 43:58 | |
that does not heal and cure and make secure, | 44:01 | |
when this happens, | 44:07 | |
mankind experiences the rath of God. | 44:10 | |
When the same energies brooding over | 44:18 | |
the sickness and the illness, and all of the other | 44:24 | |
ways by which life seems to have gone awry, | 44:26 | |
when these energies become creative expressions | 44:32 | |
of the intent and the benevolence, | 44:36 | |
and the kindness, and the grace, and he love of God, | 44:38 | |
then we experience the love of God. | 44:41 | |
There is something about... | 44:46 | |
the mind... | 44:52 | |
that causes the individual as he seeks | 44:58 | |
and experiences the understanding | 45:01 | |
of the world external to himself | 45:03 | |
that makes him feel that he is immune | 45:07 | |
to the operation of moral law. | 45:12 | |
If I can get the secret, | 45:16 | |
then I can stand outside of the relentless operation | 45:21 | |
of antecedent and consequence of reaping and sewing. | 45:27 | |
Sometimes when I'm very young I feel this way. | 45:35 | |
In my early days in San Francisco, | 45:39 | |
there was one young fellow in our church | 45:41 | |
who was sure that his parents were a little out of date | 45:45 | |
because they felt that he drove | 45:51 | |
the family car with too much recklessness. | 45:53 | |
And one day when they were chiding him about it, | 45:58 | |
he said, "Accidents come to those people | 46:01 | |
"who do not know how to drive. | 46:05 | |
"Every Kurd in Northern California knows my name." | 46:10 | |
And then one day he met a Kurd who had not heard about him, | 46:18 | |
and I went to visit him in the hospital. | 46:24 | |
This is one of the perils. | 46:29 | |
If I'm young, If I'm innocent... | 46:33 | |
then I am immune | 46:42 | |
to the operation of the relentless logic | 46:45 | |
of antecedent and consequence, of reaping and sewing. | 46:48 | |
I stand outside of it because I'm innocent. | 46:52 | |
If I'm a good man... | 47:06 | |
I have given the nerve center of my heart to God. | 47:11 | |
And I'm committed to following the path of Jesus Christ. | 47:18 | |
Then standing within that kind of | 47:24 | |
holy and cosmic immunity, | 47:27 | |
I ought to be able | 47:32 | |
to do | 47:38 | |
what someone who is not involved in that kind of process | 47:41 | |
to do with recklessness. | 47:46 | |
There's something that is very illusory about goodness | 47:49 | |
in the religious experience, | 47:54 | |
a naive feeling that there's something | 47:57 | |
about goodness that can good itself through the world. | 47:59 | |
That the good man is immune | 48:05 | |
to the operation of the laws of life, | 48:15 | |
the logic, the structure of dependability | 48:21 | |
that is inherent in the nature of existence. | 48:26 | |
I have described this at some point. | 48:43 | |
But when I moved out to San Francisco from Boston | 48:47 | |
from Washington rather, | 48:53 | |
one of my very good friends, | 48:56 | |
who is a dean of a medical school, | 48:58 | |
wanted to be sure that on the hazardous undertaking | 49:01 | |
of which I was engaged, that my health was good, | 49:07 | |
my organism would support the enterprise. | 49:10 | |
So, he asked me to come | 49:13 | |
down to the hospital for examination, | 49:16 | |
and he did his part, and he sent me to X, | 49:20 | |
and X did his part, and Y, and L and M. | 49:24 | |
Each one did his part. | 49:28 | |
And then on Friday, after this had begun on Monday, | 49:30 | |
he invited me to his office and sat me down in the chair. | 49:36 | |
He sat at the desk with the manila folder. | 49:42 | |
He looked at this report, | 49:48 | |
and he looked at me and said, "Mm-hm, mm-hm." | 49:51 | |
And then he held the report in his hand, | 49:58 | |
and the time stood still for a moment, | 50:00 | |
and then he put it down and said, "Mm-hm." | 50:03 | |
And he went all the way through the manila folder, | 50:07 | |
and then he looked at me and he said, | 50:12 | |
"You are in pretty good shape for a man of your years." | 50:16 | |
But he said, "You are getting a little too heavy." | 50:21 | |
And he talked to me rather learnedly about | 50:25 | |
what the extra weight would do to my heart | 50:28 | |
and to my blood pressure and parts of me | 50:32 | |
that I have not heard or Thought about. | 50:36 | |
And then I looked at him. | 50:42 | |
He was not as tall as I, about five feet, | 50:48 | |
oh, six or four inches, | 50:52 | |
and he weighed about 225 pound. | 50:55 | |
(congregation chuckles) | 51:01 | |
Now listen very carefully. | 51:02 | |
He Thought that his body knew | 51:05 | |
that he was a doctor. | 51:11 | |
His body did not know that he was a doctor. | 51:13 | |
His body knew precisely what my body knew, | 51:17 | |
that he was storing up more caloric units | 51:20 | |
than he was burning up, and hence became | 51:23 | |
the storage spaces called the bulges. | 51:26 | |
(congregation chuckles) | 51:29 | |
Now, that knowledge... | 51:30 | |
was an immunity. | 51:38 | |
He didn't know he Thought this. | 51:40 | |
That we are bound by a structure | 51:44 | |
of dependability in life, | 51:49 | |
that there is an order | 51:52 | |
that expresses itself in all manifestations of creation, | 51:56 | |
and ultimately, it expresses itself | 52:04 | |
in the hunger of the heart. | 52:07 | |
And once it is clear to me | 52:13 | |
that the hunger in my heart, | 52:18 | |
which if I listen with great care, | 52:23 | |
becomes for me | 52:27 | |
the whisper of the voice of God. | 52:29 | |
That this hunger and my experience | 52:34 | |
of the orderly structure in which I am grounded | 52:39 | |
as a part of God's creation will flow together. | 52:45 | |
And the tempter carried him | 52:53 | |
to the pinnacle of the temple. | 52:56 | |
And the tempter said, | 53:02 | |
"If you are God's son... | 53:06 | |
"jump. | 53:11 | |
"Nothing will happen to you. | 53:13 | |
"God will take care of you. | 53:15 | |
"He will give you his angels charge concerning you. | 53:19 | |
"They will bear you up on their wings, | 53:22 | |
"lest you dash your foot against a stone." | 53:26 | |
And the master's reply, you remember? | 53:32 | |
It is written, Thou shall not tempt God, | 53:36 | |
tempt God, tempt God, | 53:42 | |
to destroy you. | 53:47 | |
"If I go up to the pinnacle of the temple | 53:51 | |
"and jump, even Though I am the son of God, | 53:53 | |
"even Thought I came forth out of the womb of time | 53:59 | |
"to demonstrate and manifest the part | 54:04 | |
"of the creative redemptive energy of God, | 54:08 | |
"nevertheless, I am not immune. | 54:12 | |
"So if I go to the pinnacle of the temple and jump down, | 54:18 | |
"the possibilities are I will break my neck." | 54:24 | |
Son of God to the contrary, | 54:28 | |
not withstanding, because this world is grounded | 54:30 | |
in a structure of dependability. | 54:34 | |
It is a part, not only of the law and the order of God. | 54:38 | |
It is a part of the love of God. | 54:44 | |
Therefore | 54:51 | |
I shall have no fear | 54:55 | |
of today or tomorrow. | 54:59 | |
I shall not shrink from the relentless operation | 55:04 | |
of the order by which my days are surrounded. | 55:10 | |
I am committed to this... | 55:16 | |
that the light that is in me | 55:25 | |
remain light. | 55:31 | |
If the light in me becomes darkness... | 55:35 | |
What a darkness... | 55:43 | |
What a darkness. | 55:50 | |
Thou shalt not tempt God. | 55:55 | |
Our words are ended, our Father. | 56:09 | |
Be... | 56:19 | |
Very close to them, | 56:22 | |
and guide them, | 56:28 | |
that they may be true... | 56:32 | |
to the light that lighteth every man | 56:40 | |
that cometh into the world, | 56:47 | |
and for us, oh God, our Father... | 56:51 | |
Our Father, this is enough, enough. | 56:59 | |
Amen. | 57:09 | |
(organ music) | 57:23 | |
♪ Holy Spirit, truth divine ♪ | 57:46 | |
♪ Dawn upon this soul of mine ♪ | 57:52 | |
♪ Word of God and inward light ♪ | 57:58 | |
♪ Wake my spirit, clear my sight ♪ | 58:04 | |
♪ Holy Spirit, love divine ♪ | 58:13 | |
♪ Glow within this heart of mine ♪ | 58:19 | |
♪ Kindle every high desire ♪ | 58:26 | |
♪ Perish self in your pure fire ♪ | 58:32 | |
♪ Holy Spirit, power divine ♪ | 58:41 | |
♪ Fill and nerve this will of mine ♪ | 58:47 | |
♪ By you may I strongly live ♪ | 58:54 | |
♪ Bravery bear, and nobly strive ♪ | 59:01 | |
♪ Holy Spirit, right divine ♪ | 59:10 | |
♪ King within my conscience reign ♪ | 59:17 | |
♪ Be my law and I shall be ♪ | 59:24 | |
♪ Firmly bound, forever free ♪ | 59:30 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 59:38 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 59:47 |
We believe in God, who has created and is creating, | 59:50 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus, | 59:56 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 59:59 | |
who works in us and others by the Spirit. | 1:00:03 | |
We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 1:00:07 | |
to celebrate life and its fullest, | 1:00:12 | |
to love and serve others, | 1:00:15 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 1:00:18 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 1:00:21 | |
our judge and our hope. | 1:00:25 | |
In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 1:00:28 | |
God is with us. | 1:00:33 | |
We are not alone. | 1:00:35 | |
Thanks be to God. | 1:00:37 | |
The Lord be with you. | 1:00:40 | |
(congregation prays) | 1:00:42 | |
Let us pray. | 1:00:43 | |
We give you thanks, oh God, for our joys. | 1:00:55 | |
The joy in being alive, | 1:01:00 | |
the joy in new and renewed friendships, | 1:01:04 | |
the joy in reestablished and reconcile lives, | 1:01:09 | |
the joy in the day's work and the night's rest. | 1:01:15 | |
The sheer joy of being loved, of caring, | 1:01:20 | |
and being cared for. | 1:01:26 | |
We yield to you, oh God, our confusions, | 1:01:30 | |
the chaos of our minds and spirits, | 1:01:36 | |
the tensions which tame your glory our of our lives. | 1:01:40 | |
We yield to you, oh God, our concerns for the world. | 1:01:48 | |
We are exposed to buts that cast down and depress us, | 1:01:55 | |
and so little that uplifts and expires. | 1:02:01 | |
War, and the threat of war, | 1:02:05 | |
the long loneliness and the death watch | 1:02:10 | |
which seems to stalk our culture and fill | 1:02:13 | |
our civilization with dry rot, | 1:02:17 | |
the hunger, the suffering, | 1:02:21 | |
the pain of oppression of our brothers and sister. | 1:02:25 | |
All this and more than our tongue can say | 1:02:30 | |
and our heart can feel, and our mind can think. | 1:02:36 | |
We yield to your judgment and your justice, and your love. | 1:02:42 | |
Hear, oh God, our prayers for ourselves. | 1:02:50 | |
Where our hearts are heavy with sorry and misery, | 1:02:55 | |
be present to heal, to bless, to relieve. | 1:03:00 | |
When our friends are difficult | 1:03:08 | |
because of misunderstanding and losses, | 1:03:10 | |
be present, oh healing God, to bless and renew. | 1:03:14 | |
When the thread of our years unwinds | 1:03:23 | |
near the end of the spool, | 1:03:25 | |
when the failing powers of mind and body | 1:03:28 | |
accent the passing days, | 1:03:32 | |
be present, oh eternal God, | 1:03:36 | |
to reassure, to make steady and confirm. | 1:03:39 | |
When our well ordered plans fall apart in our hands, | 1:03:46 | |
be present to replenish, to create and redeem. | 1:03:51 | |
When faith in our brothers and sisters wallows in the mud, | 1:03:58 | |
when through disappointment and failure, | 1:04:04 | |
through flattery, all seems lost, | 1:04:06 | |
be present, oh holy and loving God, | 1:04:11 | |
to revise, to renew, and to reassure. | 1:04:15 | |
Hear us now, as we pray the prayer | 1:04:22 | |
of the one who knew all the pain and sorry, | 1:04:25 | |
and terror, and glory of being human. | 1:04:30 | |
Our Father, who art in Heaven, | 1:04:36 | |
hallowed be Thy name. | 1:04:40 | |
By kingdom come, Thy will be done, | 1:04:42 | |
on earth as it is in Heaven. | 1:04:46 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:04:49 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:04:52 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 1:04:55 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 1:05:00 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 1:05:03 | |
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, | 1:05:05 | |
and the glory forever. | 1:05:08 | |
Amen. | 1:05:11 | |
(organ music) | 1:05:22 | |
♪ Oh Redeemer divine, our sole hope of salvation ♪ | 1:07:07 | |
♪ Eternal light of the earth and the sky ♪ | 1:07:22 | |
♪ We kneel in adoration ♪ | 1:07:38 | |
♪ Oh Savior, turn on us Thy loving eye ♪ | 1:07:46 | |
♪ Oh Savior, turn on us Thy loving eye ♪ | 1:08:02 | |
♪ Send down on us the fire of Thy grace, all consuming ♪ | 1:08:50 | |
♪ Whose wondrous might ♪ | 1:09:06 | |
♪ Whose wondrous might ♪ | 1:09:11 | |
♪ Dispersed the powers of hell ♪ | 1:09:15 | |
♪ And rouse our slumbering souls ♪ | 1:09:23 | |
♪ With radiance, all illumining ♪ | 1:09:30 | |
♪ That they may waken your mercy to tell ♪ | 1:09:39 | |
♪ That they may waken your mercy to tell ♪ | 1:09:55 | |
♪ Oh Christ bestow your blessing ♪ | 1:10:12 | |
♪ On us, we implore Thee ♪ | 1:10:20 | |
♪ Who here are gathered on penitent knee ♪ | 1:10:28 | |
♪ Accept the hymns ♪ | 1:10:44 | |
♪ Accept the hymns we chant ♪ | ||
♪ Thine everlasting glory ♪ | 1:10:55 | |
♪ And these Thine gifts we return unto Thee ♪ | 1:11:04 | |
♪ And these Thine gifts we return unto Thee ♪ | 1:11:22 | |
♪ And these Thine gifts ♪ | 1:11:49 | |
♪ We return unto Thee ♪ | 1:12:04 | |
♪ Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 1:13:08 | |
♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪ | 1:13:14 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 1:13:20 | |
♪ Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ♪ | 1:13:27 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:13:32 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 1:13:38 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 1:13:44 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:13:51 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:13:59 | |
We give you thanks, oh God, for your abundant love | 1:14:11 | |
and pray that you will accept this offering, | 1:14:15 | |
a symbol of our lives, which we dedicate to your service. | 1:14:18 | |
We pray in the spirit of Jesus, our Christ. | 1:14:23 | |
Amen. | 1:14:27 | |
(organ music) | 1:14:31 | |
(choir drowned out by organ music) | 1:15:05 | |
The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, | 1:18:28 | |
the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, | 1:18:32 | |
be with us all from this day, forever more. | 1:18:39 | |
♪ Amen, amen ♪ | 1:18:47 | |
♪ Amen, amen ♪ | 1:18:56 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:19:08 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:19:18 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:19:31 | |
(organ music) | 1:19:53 |