Peggy Way - "Promised Lands" (March 4, 1979)

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-	Duke University Chapel, service of worship,	0:04
	March Fourth 1979.	0:07
	(organ music)	0:12
	(choir singing)	8:41
	(organ music)	10:05
	(choir singing)	10:45
-	I greet you in the name and in the spirit	13:58
	of Christ Jesus our Lord.	14:01
	We come now in this moment into the house of our God.	14:05
	Here we who are lost will be able to find our way,	14:10
	we who are fallen may be lifted,	14:17
	we who are hurting may be relieved,	14:21
	we who are lonely will find here a sense of presence,	14:26
	we who are joyful will be able to celebrate.	14:30
	Come let us worship the Lord our God,	14:37
	let us join together our words and our prayers	14:42
	as we offer to God our prayer of confession.	14:45
	Let us pray.	14:49
	Oh God who by thy grace in Jesus Christ	14:51
	has made us to share in a high and holy calling,	14:56
	we confess to thee our grievous sins	15:00
	as members of thy church.	15:03
	We have not led a life worthy of our calling,	15:06
	we have been disloyal to thy covenant,	15:09
	we have broken the vows we made at baptism,	15:13
	and at other solemn times of dedication.	15:16
	Sometimes our worship has been cold and formal,	15:20
	halfhearted and insincere, and at other times	15:24
	we have neglected the assembling of ourselves together.	15:29
	We have disobeyed thy word, read and preached to us,	15:33
	we have misused thy grace received in the sacraments,	15:37
	and we have not loved one another	15:41
	as thou in Christ has loved us.	15:43
	We sorrowfully acknowledge the poverty	15:47
	of much of our service and witness,	15:49
	and our lack of liberality in giving,	15:52
	and of zeal for the advance of thy kingdom.	15:55
	Have mercy upon us oh God, for we are unprofitable servants.	15:59
	Cleanse us from our sins through the grace of thy dear son,	16:05
	and renew us by thy Holy Spirit,	16:11
	and enable us henceforth to walk with thee in faith,	16:14
	and with one another in love,	16:18
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	16:21
	Let us offer our silent prayers of confession.	16:25
	Will you join with me in a unison prayer for pardon?	16:51
	Oh savior of the world, who by thy cross and precious blood	16:56
	hast redeemed us, save us and help us	17:01
	we humbly beseech thee, oh Lord.	17:05
	Let the grace of thy mercy loose us from our sins,	17:08
	we humbly beseech thee, oh Lord.	17:12
	Oh lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world,	17:16
	have mercy upon us.	17:20
	Oh lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world,	17:22
	grant us thy peace.	17:27
	Thou that takest away the sins of the world,	17:29
	receive our prayer, amen.	17:32
	Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,	17:37
	for God so loved the world that he gave his only son	17:46
	that whoever believes in him should not perish	17:53
	but have eternal life, amen.	17:57
	May I take a couple of moments to make some announcements,	18:05
	and to remind you of some special worship experiences	18:08
	that are ours during this holy season of Lent?	18:13
	Today is the first Sunday in Lent,	18:17
	and we rejoice to celebrate this day	18:21
	and this holy season with you, and with others.	18:23
	Immediately following this service of worship,	18:27
	we will celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's supper	18:30
	in the memorial chapel.	18:32
	You are invited to remain for that service.	18:34
	Immediately following the service today,	18:38
	those of you who wish to have	18:40
	some conversation with Peggy Way	18:41
	are invited to bring your lunch	18:44
	and join her and others of us in room 101 in the union.	18:45
	At two o'clock this afternoon,	18:50
	Peggy will have conversation with graduate students.	18:52
	If you are in one of the graduate schools	18:56
	or professional schools here, you are invited	18:59
	to come and share in this time with her as well.	19:02
	Tonight at 7:30 the fourth of our series	19:06
	of historical services, the Wesley service of prayers	19:10
	will be held in York chapel,	19:15
	you are invited to come and share in that.	19:17
	At eight o'clock a number of us have been involved	19:20
	in some Jewish Christian discussions,	19:23
	following up on the theologian in residence	19:26
	program last year, you are invited to share in that also.	19:28
	Wednesday and Thursday mornings	19:33
	we will have special times to observe Lent,	19:34
	Wednesday morning at 7:45 around breakfast	19:38
	in the east campus union building,	19:41
	at eight o'clock on Thursday morning in the memorial chapel	19:45
	a brief worship service here.	19:48
	All of you will be interested in knowing	19:53
	that Bob Bender who had emergency surgery yesterday evening	19:55
	is resting well, there were no complications,	20:00
	the surgery went well.	20:03
	I saw him late last night or early this morning,	20:05
	his first words were, "Did we win?".	20:09
	I'm sure your prayers and thoughts go to him	20:14
	and to his family during this time.	20:18
	We need some help with a special project,	20:21
	and so I invite you if you have	20:23
	an hour or so this afternoon,	20:24
	a number of people have written meditations	20:27
	for a Lenten booklet of meditations.	20:30
	We have those ready to put together.	20:34
	If you have an hour or so this afternoon	20:37
	and could come and help us,	20:39
	please check with Perry Miller, the chapel attendant,	20:40
	and he will be glad to show you what to do	20:43
	and your help will be greatly appreciated,	20:45
	so that we can get the booklet ready	20:47
	for all of us to use during this holy season.	20:49
	Peggy Way is a friend and colleague to many of us.	20:55
	She has been to Duke several times before,	21:02
	so she is no stranger, either to this place	21:05
	or to many of those of us who are here.	21:07
	We are delighted to have her today	21:12
	on this first Sunday in Lent,	21:15
	to share her word and God's word with us.	21:18
	She is well known, highly respected,	21:23
	and deeply appreciated across the church,	21:27
	not only as a preacher, but as a teacher,	21:31
	as a writer, and as a counselor.	21:36
	Peggy, we are pleased to have you,	21:40
	and we look forward to the word	21:42
	which you will share with us today.	21:45
-	Let us pray.	21:55
	Prepare our hearts, oh Lord, to accept your word.	21:58
	Silence in us any voice but your own,	22:04
	that hearing we may also obey your will	22:08
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	22:12
	The Old Testament lessons are from the 34th chapter	22:18
	of Deuteronomy, verses 1-12, and Psalm 131.	22:21
	And Moses went up from the plains of Moab	22:29
	to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah,	22:32
	which is opposite Jericho.	22:36
	And the Lord showed him all the land,	22:39
	Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali,	22:42
	the land of Ephraim and Manasseh,	22:47
	all the land of Judah as far as the western sea,	22:51
	and the plain, that is the valley of Jericho,	22:55
	the city of Palm trees as far as Zoar.	22:59
	And the Lord said to him, this is the land	23:03
	of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,	23:07
	I will give it to your descendants.	23:14
	I have let you see it with your eyes,	23:17
	but you shall not go over there.	23:20
	So Moses, the servant of the Lord	23:23
	died there in the land of Moab,	23:26
	according to the word of the Lord,	23:29
	and he buried the valley in the land of Moab,	23:32
	opposite Bethpeor.	23:36
	But no man knows the place of his burial to this day.	23:38
	Moses was 120 years old when he died.	23:43
	His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.	23:48
	And the people of Israel wept for Moses	23:54
	in the plains of Moab 30 days.	23:57
	Then the days of weeping and moaning for Moses were ended,	24:00
	and Joshua, the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom,	24:05
	for Moses had laid his hands upon him.	24:10
	So the people of Israel obeyed him,	24:15
	and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.	24:18
	And there has not arisen a prophet since	24:22
	in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,	24:24
	none like him, for all the signs and the wonders	24:30
	which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt,	24:34
	to Pharaoh and to all his servants,	24:38
	and to all his land, and for all the mighty power	24:41
	and all the great and terrible deeds	24:45
	which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel.	24:48
	Psalm 131, oh Lord, my heart is not lifted up,	24:53
	my eyes are not raised too high.	25:01
	I do not occupy myself with things	25:05
	too great and too marvelous for me,	25:08
	but I have calmed and quieted my soul	25:13
	like a child quieted at its mother's breast,	25:17
	like a child that is quieted is my soul.	25:21
	Oh Israel, hope in the Lord	25:26
	from this time forth and forevermore.	25:30
	Here end the readings from the Old Testament, amen.	25:34
	(organ music)	25:41
	(choir singing)	26:25
	The epistle lesson is from the 21st chapter	29:39
	of Revelation, verse 10-22.	29:43
	And in the spirit, he carried me away	29:47
	to a great high mountain,	29:50
	and showed me the holy city Jerusalem,	29:52
	coming down out of Heaven from God,	29:55
	having the Glory of God,	29:58
	it's radiance like a most rare jewel,	30:00
	like a Jasper, clear as crystal.	30:04
	It had a great high wall with 12 gates,	30:08
	and at the gates 12 angels,	30:12
	and on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes	30:15
	of the sons of Israel were inscribed.	30:18
	On the east three gates, on the north three gates,	30:22
	on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.	30:27
	And the wall of the city had 12 foundations,	30:33
	and on them the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb.	30:36
	And he who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold	30:42
	to measure the city and its gates and walls.	30:47
	The city lies four square,	30:51
	it's length the same as its breadth,	30:54
	and he measured the city with his rod,	30:57
	12,000 stadia, it's length and breadth and height are equal.	31:00
	He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by a man's measure,	31:08
	that is an angel's.	31:15
	The wall was built of jasper,	31:17
	while the city was pure gold, clear as glass.	31:20
	The foundations of the wall of the city	31:26
	were adorned with every jewel.	31:28
	The first was jasper, the second sapphire,	31:31
	the third agate, the fourth emerald,	31:35
	the fifth, onyx, the sixth, carnelian,	31:39
	the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl,	31:43
	the ninth topaz, the 10th chrysoprasus,	31:49
	the 11th jacinth, the 12th amethyst.	31:54
	And the 12 gates were 12 pearls.	31:58
	Each of the gates made of a single pearl,	32:01
	and the street of the city was pure gold,	32:05
	transparent as glass.	32:09
	And I saw no temple in the city,	32:12
	for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the lamb.	32:15
	Here ends the reading from the epistle.	32:21
	All praise and glory be to God, amen.	32:24
	(organ music)	32:30
	(choir singing)	32:45
	Precious Lord, take my hand,	33:44
	lead me on through the night,	33:49
	through the dark, through the storm, to thy light.	33:53
	I have been to the mount,	34:00
	I have seen the promised land.	34:03
	Precious Lord, precious Lord, take my hand.	34:07
	Part one, I have been to the mount,	34:15
	I have seen the promised land.	34:20
	Who has seen a promised land?	34:24
	Moses saw a promised land.	34:28
	The Lord showed him all the land,	34:32
	Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali,	34:35
	the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh,	34:38
	all the territory of Judah as far as the western sea,	34:41
	the Negev and the basin or valley of Jericho,	34:45
	the city of Palms as far as Zoar.	34:48
	Then the Lord said, this is the land	34:52
	concerning which I swore to Abraham,	34:57
	Isaac and Jacob as follows,	35:00
	to your descendants I will give it,	35:04
	and to Moses the Lord said,	35:08
	I have let you look upon it,	35:11
	but you shall not go over there.	35:14
	Moses saw a promised land,	35:18
	Moses with whom the Lord held converse	35:21
	face to face,	35:26
	and the Lord said to Moses, even to Moses,	35:28
	you, even you shall not go over there.	35:32
	And Moses died and was buried	35:38
	this side of the promised land.	35:41
	Who has seen a promised land?	35:47
	In 1848 a group of women met	35:51
	in Seneca Falls, New York,	35:55
	Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Katie Stanton	36:00
	were among the organizers	36:03
	of this first women's rights convention.	36:05
	Their declaration of sentiments said,	36:09
	all men and women are created equal,	36:14
	and it listed demands for political,	36:18
	social, and economic equality with men,	36:20
	but they did not live to see these sentiments realized,	36:26
	they did not even live to see suffrage.	36:31
	They did not live to see their declaration of sentiments,	36:36
	their promised land realized.	36:40
	Will we?	36:45
	Who has seen a promised land?	36:47
	Martin Luther King saw a promised land.	36:52
	In fact the particular words of the hymn with which I began,	36:57
	were written especially for him, in his memory.	37:02
	He took hands with black folk and with white folk	37:07
	to walk with them toward that land.	37:11
	And most of us are still walking	37:15
	toward that land without him.	37:18
	Have you seen a promised land?	37:25
	I have a friend for whom the promised land	37:30
	is to return to North Dakota for spring planting,	37:33
	to sit on the tractor without distraction	37:37
	from inner psyche or outer world,	37:40
	feeling the depressions slip away from him,	37:44
	letting go the urgencies of the world	37:48
	that cry out to him in their many voices.	37:50
	The many voices that cry his name,	37:54
	too many for him to respond to,	37:56
	and he hungers after the promised land	38:00
	of silence, of retreat.	38:03
	Is the promised land where the lion	38:07
	and the lamb lie down together,	38:10
	and the lamb gets up again,	38:14
	or at least where the lamb is able	38:17
	to rest somewhat comfortably during the night?	38:20
	Is the promised land where we wear golden slippers	38:24
	to walk on those golden streets?	38:28
	Or is the promised land where there is	38:32
	neither Jew nor Greek, nor slave, nor free,	38:34
	nor male, nor female, literally,	38:38
	and not just metaphorically?	38:42
	Perhaps your promised land includes	38:46
	an accomplishment of the salt talks	38:49
	or the building of new towns,	38:52
	or a world in which there is not in one single country	38:55
	an oppressive political regime.	38:59
	In your promised land,	39:03
	perhaps the police do not strike for Mardi Gras,	39:04
	and perhaps they do not have to,	39:09
	because the folk all live together	39:11
	in egalitarian ways of peace and justice,	39:13
	the way it ought to be.	39:19
	The human psyche,	39:23
	in cooperation with cultural symbolic processes	39:24
	and images of transcendence,	39:30
	needs, indeed requires a promised land.	39:31
	The imagery of the promised land	39:38
	has a clear cultural and theological function.	39:39
	Without a vision, the people would perish,	39:45
	the people would falter.	39:47
	Without a vision, history becomes meaningless flux,	39:49
	a caldron of nothing more than anxiety,	39:54
	and absurdity, and competing ambiguity,	39:57
	hopeless, without a meaning to give it a center,	40:01
	a meaning around which to focus energies	40:06
	and engage it, encounter it, change it.	40:09
	The promised land as metaphor offers hope,	40:15
	encouragement, a future orientation	40:19
	to prevent the mire of the present	40:22
	from sinking beneath us like quicksand.	40:25
	It offers us a future lure, an invitation,	40:30
	tomorrow, that day,	40:34
	but what if the metaphoric richness	40:40
	is collapsed into a literal description of reality?	40:43
	Since I have become a southerner,	40:49
	I listen to country and western music stations,	40:50
	especially since I live in Nashville,	40:54
	and I drive home a few weeks ago,	40:57
	and I listen to our clear channel station late at night,	40:58
	which we in Nashville are afraid will be taken away from us,	41:02
	and within a 15 minute period I'm reminded	41:06
	of the promised lands that were dreamed of	41:09
	by another generation's pieties.	41:12
	Build me a cabin in a corner of glory land,	41:16
	and a couple sing of their love	41:21
	in a land where we'll never grow old.	41:23
	Wearing their golden slippers,	41:28
	another generation danced with golden streets.	41:30
	And an earlier generation of urban planners	41:33
	measured out a city bounded	41:36
	12,000 furlongs long and wide,	41:39
	a 216 foot high wall of jasper surrounding it,	41:41
	with 12 gates and 12 angels.	41:46
	Another generation's pieties are easy to laugh at,	41:50
	and dismiss.	41:54
	We are more sophisticated, perhaps, we do urban planning,	41:56
	and we establish vast governmental agencies	42:01
	to deal with the problems of families.	42:04
	We explore a new life after death,	42:07
	and we have varying sets of enemies and oppressors	42:10
	who purposefully prevent the promised land from being ours.	42:15
	From the origins of time, these enemies	42:22
	have kept us from that place.	42:25
	Our perspectives, our metaphors, our images	42:28
	of the promised land change,	42:31
	but not certain aspects of the flow	42:34
	of the meaning of history,	42:37
	not certain data about human existence,	42:39
	not certain perspectives of the faith	42:42
	which ebb and flow throughout history,	42:45
	but remain ever present reminders	42:47
	of one way to understand the promised land, which is	42:50
	we live always this side of it.	42:54
	The Hebrew people, Islam,	43:01
	the flower children of the 60s,	43:05
	Jimmy Carter, Bella Abzug, Peggy Way.	43:07
	There's no cabin in the corner of glory land,	43:13
	or a place without death that is not stark and brutal,	43:18
	or where human differences collapse neatly	43:22
	into some ontological human.	43:27
	We live always this side of that place,	43:31
	we live by the structures of hope,	43:35
	we live in a presence that promises.	43:38
	We live in care as much as in cure.	43:43
	We live in a sense of standing by	43:48
	as much as winning.	43:51
	We do not go around, but through the storm,	43:54
	through the night,	43:58
	through the pain to your light.	44:00
	Where is that promised land? Who is that precious Lord?	44:05
	Precious Lord, take my hand,	44:11
	lead me on through the day,	44:15
	through the peril and the hazard on the way,	44:18
	help me see, help me name the pains	44:23
	and the joys that I must claim.	44:29
	Precious Lord, precious Lord take my hand.	44:32
	Part two.	44:39
	Through the storm, through the night,	44:40
	through the perils shines your light.	44:44
	This summer the Commission on Faith and Order	44:50
	of the World Council of Churches	44:52
	gathered in Bangalore India,	44:53
	and we concentrated upon hope.	44:56
	As a matter of fact, we didn't have	45:00
	frightfully much to celebrate.	45:02
	Visions of one church falter rapidly	45:05
	when we risk speaking of what we really believe,	45:09
	and the ways in which we actually think,	45:14
	like the ordination and ministry of women.	45:17
	The German and the third world theologians	45:21
	are not always speaking of the same events.	45:24
	We sing of unity,	45:29
	and we think of our various governments	45:31
	in various permutations of who is oppressing whom.	45:35
	Spokespersons for classism, racism, sexism,	45:40
	battle as wanting to be	45:45
	the primordial interpretive category,	45:47
	which shall take precedence into whose	45:50
	one dimensional analysis of existence we should pursue,	45:53
	and we worked our way together	46:00
	to a common statement of hope,	46:02
	agreeing to stand together this side of the promised land,	46:06
	through and in spite of our differences,	46:11
	without a false collapse into superficiality,	46:15
	or ideology, or universality that was not real.	46:19
	Through our differences and the attendant	46:24
	perils and hazards of the journey,	46:27
	through a perspective that centered us	46:32
	on a Christian understanding of history,	46:34
	that includes the perennial tension	46:37
	of crucifixion and resurrection	46:41
	of images of the various Moses',	46:44
	and the women at Seneca Falls, and the Martin Luther Kings	46:47
	dying this side of the realization of the vision.	46:51
	Time was spent at Bangalore speaking	46:57
	of hope in the midst of despair,	46:59
	a black bishop from South Africa	47:03
	shares his struggle to love white folks.	47:05
	Women express the pains of non-acceptance.	47:10
	The handicapped cry out	47:14
	that they cannot even enter our buildings.	47:16
	Latin America speaks in its many voices,	47:20
	all of them against political oppression,	47:22
	but with different strategies as to how to deal with it.	47:26
	We hear these many voices of pain and of anguish,	47:30
	we want to go away from one another,	47:35
	we cannot stand the cacophony of sounds,	47:38
	or know what to do in its midst,	47:42
	but we stay, we must.	47:46
	The promised land isn't in avoiding human differences.	47:50
	At Bangalore the promised land came closer	47:55
	to choosing to stay together, and to stand one another	48:00
	through our recognized differences,	48:05
	to find the possible pains and the possible joys	48:08
	in the midst of human history.	48:11
	And so at Bangalore we came to speak of Christian hope	48:15
	as a type of guerrilla warfare against fate,	48:20
	against meaninglessness.	48:25
	We came to build in ambiguity	48:27
	without fear of the loss of meaning,	48:30
	to let in the data of existence,	48:33
	for we remembered that God chose to stand	48:36
	in the midst of ambiguity and of determinisms with us,	48:39
	and each of us at Bangalore let go a little bit	48:45
	of our individual, or private, or special group,	48:51
	or particular cultural understanding of the promised land	48:55
	in order to stand in the midst of history together,	49:00
	negotiating existence with the grace	49:05
	and the judgment of God present always amongst us.	49:08
	It is tough sledding, my sisters and my brothers,	49:14
	but it is always through the storm,	49:18
	through the night,	49:21
	through the perils to your light.	49:24
	We are, of course, in this sermon	49:29
	dealing with the nature of historical existence	49:31
	as replete with peril and hazard	49:34
	as a givenness, and not just a creation of the self.	49:38
	Within that context, which we so avoid,	49:44
	the promised land metaphor and imagery	49:47
	sustains us and nurtures us,	49:51
	and enables us to survive.	49:54
	The promised land then is a vision to sustain us in history,	49:59
	not one in whose name we leave it.	50:05
	We do not leap out of history,	50:09
	whether by denying its complexities,	50:12
	or by creating our own places of perfection	50:15
	where we do not allow critique.	50:20
	In the real ecumenical world, we are different,	50:22
	we come even to the communion table	50:27
	with different motivations and understandings	50:29
	of why we are there. Can we stand this?	50:32
	For this is the real world of history.	50:36
	And in the real women's movement we are different,	50:40
	and in the real black movement we are different,	50:43
	and in the real gay movement we are different.	50:46
	Can we stand this and come together?	50:48
	After the weekend encounter group	50:53
	where we are given permission to express	50:57
	and feel anything we want,	50:59
	and experience the unconditioned love	51:02
	of those who do not have to stand living with us	51:04
	in the everyday realities of ordinary existence,	51:07
	we return to everyday existence	51:11
	where there is always the givenness of other people	51:14
	and of structures which do not exist	51:18
	only on our behalf.	51:22
	We create Jonestowns with great peril.	51:26
	The more so, the less we are critical	51:29
	of our own vision of the promised land.	51:32
	So often we step away from our ordinary places,	51:37
	like our families, like our faculties,	51:39
	like our faculty meetings,	51:42
	like our day by day living together,	51:43
	like our staff places where we cannot stand one another,	51:45
	and create other places where we envision	51:49
	a promised land	51:55
	where we do not have to deal with such struggle.	51:56
	How will you live in history	52:01
	if you are denied entry to your promised land?	52:06
	In my vision, in my promised land,	52:14
	one of the things that happens there	52:17
	is that my sisters and brothers who are gay	52:19
	are not denied admittance	52:21
	because of that one dimension of their being,	52:23
	but I may not be invited to share that	52:26
	with them in the promised land.	52:29
	How am I to live in between?	52:32
	How are they? How are you?	52:35
	Whatever your promised land, what does it mean	52:37
	to not experience the promised land,	52:42
	as Moses, as the women of Seneca Falls,	52:46
	as Martin Luther King?	52:50
	I have been to the mount, I have seen the promised land,	52:52
	through the storm, through the night,	52:57
	through the perils to your light,	52:59
	precious Lord, take our hands,	53:03
	lead your children home to thee,	53:08
	with our dream of a world that is free,	53:11
	'til that day when all flesh	53:17
	shares the glory you have planned.	53:23
	Precious Lord, precious Lord,	53:26
	take our hands.	53:31
	Part three.	53:34
	'Til that day, who is that precious Lord?	53:36
	How are we to stand living in history,	53:44
	and who is that precious Lord	53:48
	whom God sent to stand with us there,	53:51
	to stand with us in the midst of the perils and the hazards,	53:56
	seeking to center the ambiguities,	54:01
	but not to do away with them,	54:03
	seeking to focus the anxieties,	54:06
	but not promising us anxiety-less living,	54:08
	not resolving the conditions of existence,	54:13
	for many of them are given, and much of human existence	54:18
	means living in the midst of the unresolvable,	54:22
	what does it mean to have a precious Lord	54:26
	whom God sent to join us there?	54:29
	Precious Lord, precious Lord, take our hands,	54:32
	'til that day of the promised land,	54:37
	through the middle of history,	54:40
	help us to hold to the vision,	54:42
	even when we do not experience it.	54:45
	Give us courage to keep walking in history,	54:49
	and not be tempted to leave it.	54:52
	Keep us in the spirit of hope	54:55
	of the people all over the world	54:58
	who in the midst of despair keep choosing life,	55:00
	and struggling to love the oppressor.	55:04
	Help us to live lives of care and of justice,	55:07
	keep us always on the delicate balance	55:11
	between righteous anger and humility,	55:14
	that we are not in complete charge of history	55:19
	and are not given the gift of grasping control of it.	55:22
	I speak, I suppose, to myself.	55:28
	I had a sermon professor once who said that	55:32
	if every preacher always wrote the sermon to him or herself,	55:35
	there would at least be one person	55:39
	who was attendant upon the importance of the outcome.	55:42
	How am I to stand existence?	55:46
	How am I to keep from becoming cynical,	55:51
	bitter, eroded, burnt out,	55:56
	and what happens to my vision	56:02
	when I embody it through cynicism	56:05
	and bitterness, and a worn out despairing spirit?	56:08
	We are not taught, I am afraid,	56:14
	to live in the midst of history.	56:15
	We allow history itself to be viewed as evil.	56:19
	We sometimes think of ourselves arrogantly	56:22
	as authentic selves in the midst of inauthentic existence,	56:25
	as if this gives us permission then,	56:31
	not to critique our own authenticity,	56:33
	and not to spoil ourselves by participating	56:36
	in historical processes.	56:40
	The biblical promise is through the storm,	56:43
	through the night, through the perils of the day,	56:47
	through the perils of the night,	56:51
	accompanied by Christ's presence,	56:54
	of grace in everyday existence,	56:57
	and of critical judgment of the way we live there	57:01
	in care and justice, and always the forgiveness when we err.	57:04
	We learn some new tonalities of existence,	57:12
	that's why the Psalm was there.	57:16
	There are times when we are not only	57:19
	to be angry and assertive at injustice.	57:21
	My heart is not proud, oh Lord,	57:26
	nor are my eyes lofty, nor do I deal with things	57:27
	too great and too wonderful for me.	57:31
	I have indeed calmed and stilled my spirit,	57:33
	like a weaned child with its mother.	57:36
	My spirit is with me like a weaned child,	57:39
	wait for the Lord henceforth and forever	57:42
	where the delicate balances of anger and of humility	57:47
	find us living in a tonal style of existence	57:53
	where many times there is standing by and caring,	57:56
	as much as curing, where existence is dimensional,	58:00
	and where most one dimensional analysis	58:05
	fall short of capturing the full complexities of history,	58:08
	where sometimes sadness is the proper response,	58:13
	sadness for something that cannot be	58:17
	and a letting it go where sometimes goodbyes are necessary,	58:21
	where sometimes we negotiate existence,	58:25
	rather than to will it, and have negotiation not a term	58:29
	that means compromise or cop out.	58:33
	In this center of history, in this help	58:38
	and the delicate balances of existence,	58:41
	who is that precious Lord holding our hands	58:44
	in the midst of history?	58:49
	This precious Lord who is standing by	58:53
	at the same time as leading on.	58:55
	This precious Lord who is reminding us	59:01
	to live by the structures of incarnate hope within history,	59:03
	sustained even throughout burnout.	59:08
	This precious Lord whose eye is on the sparrow,	59:13
	and I know she watches me.	59:19
	Precious Lord, take our hands,	59:25
	lead us on through the night,	59:30
	through the dark,	59:35
	through the storm to thy light,	59:37
	'til that day when all flesh	59:42
	shares the glory you have planned.	59:46
	Precious Lord, precious Lord,	59:50
	take our hands.	59:56
	(organ music)	1:00:10
	(choir singing)	1:00:40
-	With one voice let us affirm what we believe.	1:03:12
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	1:03:17
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	1:03:22
	to reconcile and make new,	1:03:25
	who works in us and others by the spirit.	1:03:28
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	1:03:33
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	1:03:38
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	1:03:41
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	1:03:48
	our judge and our hope, in life, in death,	1:03:52
	in life beyond death, God is with us.	1:03:57
	We are not alone.	1:04:02
	Thanks be to God.	1:04:04
	Be seated please.	1:04:07
	So that we may move from the time of prayer and meditation	1:04:13
	to the time of offering and committing ourselves, our gifts,	1:04:17
	may I say this word of encouragement to you	1:04:22
	about the offering today?	1:04:25
	Meals on Wheels is a special ministry	1:04:28
	from churches in Durham.	1:04:32
	We have the privilege this morning	1:04:36
	of giving our gifts to share in that ministry.	1:04:38
	If you came perhaps not planning to give anything today,	1:04:43
	let me encourage you to try	1:04:48
	to share something in this service.	1:04:50
	If you came planning to give just a little,	1:04:53
	let me encourage you even to give more,	1:04:55
	for every penny that we give today	1:04:59
	will go to help provide a hot meal	1:05:01
	for someone in the city of Durham.	1:05:05
	The Lord be with you, let us pray.	1:05:11
	Oh God, God of love and God of power	1:05:18
	grant to each of us in this burning hour	1:05:24
	grace to ask these gifts of thee,	1:05:27
	daring hearts and spirits free.	1:05:30
	God of love and God of power,	1:05:35
	thou hast called us for this hour,	1:05:36
	for this very hour, and time, and place,	1:05:39
	remind us again, oh God, that we are a chosen people,	1:05:45
	a chosen race, a royal priesthood, your own people.	1:05:48
	What joy, what blessing, what assurance,	1:05:55
	life then in your grace and in your love	1:05:58
	is a thing of beauty, a joy forever.	1:06:01
	In the midst of our day to day living,	1:06:05
	help us to know and rejoice in the goodness of the Lord	1:06:08
	in the land of the living, for this day,	1:06:11
	for life and health, food and friends,	1:06:15
	for all that nourishes us in body, soul, and mind,	1:06:19
	for all good, and holy, and helpful gifts,	1:06:24
	we give you, oh God, thanks and praise.	1:06:27
	Bless loving, healing, comforting presence,	1:06:31
	those who are in the hospital,	1:06:36
	those who lie this moment on beds of pain or sickness,	1:06:38
	those whose memories need to be remade,	1:06:45
	so that the present is not distorted,	1:06:47
	those whose future needs to be clarified,	1:06:52
	so that tomorrow is filled with hope and promise.	1:06:55
	Oh God, closer are you than breathing	1:07:00
	nearer than hands or feet,	1:07:04
	for this assurance we give you praise.	1:07:06
	Help us to know with the Psalmist of old,	1:07:10
	I am continually with thee, thou dost hold my right hand,	1:07:14
	thou dost guide me with thy counsel,	1:07:21
	and afterward thou wilt receive me into glory.	1:07:25
	My flesh and my heart fail,	1:07:30
	but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.	1:07:33
	For me it is good to be near the Lord God.	1:07:40
	Help us, secure us always, oh Lord our God,	1:07:46
	near to thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord	1:07:52
	who taught us to pray as we pray together.	1:07:57
	Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name,	1:08:01
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done	1:08:06
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:08:10
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:08:13
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:08:16
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:08:18
	And lead us not into temptation	1:08:22
	but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom,	1:08:25
	power, and the glory forever, amen.	1:08:30
	(organ music)	1:08:42
	(choir singing)	1:10:25
-	Oh God, we come now to this moment of dedication,	1:15:02
	realizing that we have been loved	1:15:05
	so that we might love,	1:15:07
	we have been blessed so that we might bless,	1:15:09
	we have been given so that we might give.	1:15:13
	Because of all that you have done for us,	1:15:17
	help us oh Lord, to love, to bless, and to give	1:15:21
	through Jesus Christ our lord, amen.	1:15:27
	(organ music)	1:15:33
	(choir singing)	1:16:12
-	And now without bowing heads or closing eyes,	1:20:09
	may I as one Christian to another	1:20:13
	offer you this blessing from our Lord Jesus Christ?	1:20:15
	The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,	1:20:20
	the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit,	1:20:24
	and the love of God be with you,	1:20:28
	and with those whom you love, this day and forevermore.	1:20:32
	(choir singing)	1:20:41
	(organ music)	1:21:40
	(off mic chatter)	1:26:33

Item Info

Title:

Peggy Way - "Promised Lands" (March 4, 1979)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 33:44. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 59:59.
Through the theme of “promised lands” as well as historical and political examples, Way emphasizes that the people who see the promised lands are often not the people who reach it and that progress requires acknowledging differences between people. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “We do not leap out of history whether by denying its complexities or by creating our own places of perfection where we do not allow critique. In the real ecumenical world, we are different…And in the real women’s movement we are different, and in the real black movement we are different, and in the real gay movement we are different. Can we stand this, and come together?”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4pz5220j

Date:

March 4, 1979

Speaker:

Way, Peggy

Liturgical Calendar:

Lent

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1008
ref7225_fso
uachapelsermaud
duke:321239
dcrau001888
ark:/87924/r4pz5220j
c28b29e1-b224-45af-9ac9-e6e748e3ba6d

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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Peggy Way - "Promised Lands" (March 4, 1979)

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Duke University Archives