Robert T. Young - "Christ Appeared...Also to Me" Easter Service 11:00 am (April 15, 1979)

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-	Duke University Chapel service of worship,	0:04
	Easter, April 15th 1979.	0:06
	(baroque organ music)	0:11
	(quiet hubbub)	2:06
	(congregation member coughs)	2:28
	(congregation member coughs)	2:52
	(congregation chatters quietly)	2:54
	(gentle organ music)	3:55
	(baby babbles)	5:13
	(congregation members cough)	5:25
	(baby coos)	6:02
	(congregation members cough)	6:16
	(classical horn music)	6:26
	(choir sings)	8:10
-	The Lord is risen,	10:07
-	The Lord is risen indeed, hallelujah.	10:10
-	And a voice from the throne said,	10:14
	"Behold I make all things new,	10:17
-	Hallelujah, for the Lord our God Almighty reigns.	10:20
	Let us rejoice and exalt and give God the glory.	10:26
	Amen, and amen.	10:31
	(organ music)	10:34
	(congregation sings)	11:17
	(classical horn music)	14:26
	(choir sings)	14:32
-	The Lord is risen	18:09
-	The Lord is risen indeed, hallelujah.	18:12
-	Dear people of God,	18:17
	as you are seated for the prayer of confession,	18:18
	would you move toward the center aisle,	18:21
	so that those who are standing may find some seats.	18:23
	(general hubbub)	18:26
-	All praise to God who creates us, redeems us	18:45
	and sustains us.	18:50
	Because the Lord is risen,	18:53
	we can find the courage to see ourselves as we are.	18:55
	With the assurance that God, who is loving,	19:00
	and forgiving, calls us to confess our sins	19:03
	so that we can be made whole people,	19:09
	the new creation of Christ, let us pray.	19:14
-	Oh, Holy God, on this joyous Easter Sunday,	19:19
	it is difficult for us to confess our sin.	19:23
	We give thanks, we rejoice, we are exhilarant,	19:27
	but we pray, oh God, that our rejoicing	19:34
	will not blind us to the needs of the world.	19:38
	That our affirmation of the resurrection will not dim	19:42
	the continuing reality of the crucifixion.	19:46
	Break our apathy and our arrogance	19:51
	with the judgment of your law,	19:54
	and the assurance of the resurrection faith.	19:58
	Then in mercy, heal us, oh Holy Spirit,	20:01
	causing us as a community to be born anew	20:07
	in Jesus Christ, our Lord.	20:12
	And now, oh Lord hear us as we make our personal confession.	20:14
-	Amen.	20:37
	Remember the words of Jesus that our sins are forgiven,	20:40
	and that He has come that we might have life	20:44
	and life more abundant, and that He says,	20:48
	"Behold, I make all things new."	20:52
	Let us give thanks for God is good and God's love	20:56
	is everlasting.	21:01
-	Thanks be to God who comes to us as servant,	21:04
	thanks be to God who suffers with us and for us.	21:08
	Thanks be to God, whose love and mercy sustain us, amen.	21:14
-	Greetings, and welcome	21:22
	in the name of our risen Lord.	21:23
	The Page box office will be open	21:26
	immediately after this service for those of you who have not	21:28
	gotten your ticket to the performance of Verdi's Requiem,	21:32
	tonight at 7 PM, 7:15 PM, in the Duke Chapel.	21:36
	Yesterday some of us heard the chorale and the chapel choir,	21:41
	and the North Carolina Symphony under the direction of	21:46
	Ben Smith in a rehearsal, it was glorious.	21:48
	We are grateful to all the people who have helped us	21:53
	make worship possible on this Easter Sunday.	21:57
	Our thanks immediately go to the musicians	22:01
	and the minister, but also to those we never see,	22:04
	whose work is essential to the service of worship,	22:08
	in preparing the bulletin, in moving chairs,	22:12
	and in cleaning, and on and on.	22:15
	Thank you for helping us celebrate that our Lord	22:19
	is risen indeed.	22:22
-	Let us pray.	22:30
	Prepare our heats, oh Lord to accept your word.	22:33
	Silence in us any voice but your own, that hearing,	22:37
	we may also obey your will,	22:41
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.	22:44
	The Epistle lesson this morning is from the 15th chapter	22:49
	of 1 Corinthians, verses three through 22,	22:52
	and we hear the word of Saint Paul.	22:57
	"For I delivered to you as of first importance	22:59
	what I also received, that Christ died for our sins	23:04
	in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried,	23:09
	that he was raised on the third day,	23:13
	in accordance with the scriptures.	23:15
	And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12,	23:18
	then he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time,	23:22
	most of whom are still alive,	23:26
	though some have fallen asleep.	23:29
	Then he appeared to James, then to all the Apostles.	23:31
	Last of all, as to one untimely born,	23:36
	he appeared also to me.	23:40
	For I am the least of the Apostles,	23:43
	unfit to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted	23:46
	the Church of God.	23:49
	But by the grace of God, I am what I am,	23:52
	and his grace toward me was not in vain,	23:55
	on the contrary, I worked harder than any of them,	23:58
	though it was not I, but the grace of God	24:02
	which is with me.	24:05
	Whether then it was I or they, so we preach,	24:07
	and so you believed.	24:11
	Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead,	24:14
	how can some of you say that	24:17
	there is no resurrection of the dead?	24:18
	But if there is no resurrection of the dead,	24:21
	then Christ has not been raised.	24:24
	If Christ has not been raised,	24:27
	then our preaching is in vain,	24:29
	and your faith is in vain.	24:31
	We are even found to be misrepresenting God,	24:35
	because we testified of God that He raised Christ,	24:38
	whom if he did not raise,	24:42
	if it is true that the dead are not raised,	24:44
	for if the dead are not raised,	24:48
	then Christ has not been raised.	24:50
	If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.	24:52
	And you are still in your sins, then those also	24:55
	who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.	25:00
	If for this life, only we have hoped in Christ,	25:03
	we are of all men most to be pitied.	25:07
	But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.	25:11
	The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep,	25:16
	for as by a man came death,	25:20
	by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead,	25:22
	for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ	25:26
	shall all be made alive."	25:30
	Here ends the reading from the epistle, amen.	25:34
	(organ music)	25:48
	(choir sings)	25:54
-	Will you rise now to hear the words of the gospel?	32:14
	(general hubbub)	32:18
	As we read from the 20th chapter gospel	32:21
	according to Saint John verses 1 through 18.	32:24
	"Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdeline	32:28
	came to the tomb early, while it was still dark,	32:31
	and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.	32:35
	So she ran and went to Simon Peter, and the other disciple,	32:39
	the one who Jesus loved, and said to them,	32:43
	they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know	32:46
	where they have laid him.	32:50
	Peter then came out with the other disciple,	32:52
	and they went toward the tomb, they both ran,	32:55
	but the other disciple outran Peter, and reached	32:59
	the tomb first, and stooping to look in,	33:01
	he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.	33:05
	Then Simon Peter came following him, and went into the tomb.	33:10
	He saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin,	33:14
	which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths	33:18
	but rolled up in a place by itself.	33:21
	Then the other disciple who reached the tomb first,	33:24
	also went in, and he saw and believed.	33:28
	For as yet they did not know the scripture	33:32
	that he must rise from the dead.	33:34
	Then the disciples went back to their homes.	33:38
	But Mary stood outside the tomb, and as she wept,	33:42
	she stooped to look into the tomb.	33:47
	And she saw two angels in white	33:49
	sitting where the body of Jesus had lain,	33:52
	one at the head, and one at the feet.	33:54
	They said to her, woman, why are you weeping?	33:57
	She said to them, because they have taken away my Lord.	34:00
	And I do not know where they have laid him.	34:05
	Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing.	34:09
	But she did not know that it was Jesus.	34:12
	Jesus said to her, woman why are you weeping?	34:15
	Whom do you seek?	34:18
	Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him,	34:20
	Sir, if you have carried him away,	34:24
	tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.	34:26
	Jesus said to her, Mary.	34:32
	She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni,	34:38
	which means teacher.	34:41
	Jesus said to her, do not hold me, for I have not	34:44
	yet ascended to the father, but go to my brethren	34:47
	and say to them I am ascending to my Father and your Father,	34:50
	to my God, and Your God.	34:55
	Mary Magdeline went and said to the disciples,	34:59
	I have seen the Lord.	35:02
	And she told them that he had said these things to her."	35:04
	Here ends the reading from the Gospel.	35:08
	All praise and glory be to God, amen.	35:11
	(organ music)	35:15
	(choir sings)	35:33
	In the name of our Lord, Creator,	36:25
	Redeemer and Sustainer, amen.	36:29
	If, as a friend of mine told me recently,	36:35
	Easter is a time of ultimate love,	36:40
	then it is no wonder that	36:46
	the carillon in this chapel	36:48
	majestically pealed the dawning of this Easter morn.	36:52
	Then it is no wonder that we gather here this day to sing	36:57
	Christ the Lord is risen today.	37:00
	No wonder that we rejoice and with one voice exclaim	37:03
	the Lord is risen, the Lord is risen indeed, hallelujah.	37:07
	No wonder that Handel's music and Edmond L. Budry's words	37:13
	thrill and move us,	37:17
	"Thine is the glory,	37:20
	"risen, conquering Son,	37:22
	"endless is the victory,	37:24
	"thou o'er death hast won.	37:25
	"Lo, Jesus meets thee, risen from the tomb,	37:28
	"lovingly he greets thee, scatters fear and gloom.	37:32
	"Let his church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing,	37:37
	"for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost it's sting.	37:42
	"Thine is the glory, risen conquering Son,	37:46
	"endless is the victory	37:50
	"thou o'er death hast won."	37:52
	Something there is in Easter, that warms our hearts,	37:56
	that thrills our instincts, that stirs our imagination,	38:01
	that fills our intuition, that touches us indeed,	38:05
	to the very depths of our souls,	38:08
	reassures us about life and death, about now, this moment,	38:12
	and about every moment, indeed, about forever.	38:16
	Perplexes us with mystery and yet overwhelms us	38:20
	with a sense of presence,	38:23
	for Easter is the story of resurrection,	38:25
	new life, now.	38:28
	The story about goodness, now.	38:30
	Hope, now,	38:33
	acceptance now,	38:35
	support, strength, grace,	38:36
	sustenance, for you and me, now.	38:39
	It is love, now, indeed,	38:42
	Easter is a time of ultimate love.	38:44
	Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed,	38:49
-	Hallelujah.	38:53
	In one of his classic poems, "Timesweep",	38:55
	Carl Sandburg writes,	38:59
	"Tell me about any strong, beautiful wanting,	39:02
	and there is your mourning, my mourning,	39:07
	everybody's mourning,"	39:12
	So Easter, a time when we feel and are allowed to express	39:15
	and experience a strong beautiful wanting,	39:19
	Sandburg has some other words that speak to me	39:23
	on this absolutely magnificent Easter day,	39:26
	"Remembering high loveliness hovers in time,	39:29
	and is made of passing moments.	39:34
	I have kept high moments, they go round and round in me."	39:38
	Easter indeed, is one of those high moments,	39:43
	that by the grace of God we're privileged	39:48
	to know and share and celebrate, not only on Easter Day,	39:49
	but any moment and in any experience where the spirit of the	39:54
	risen Christ is alive and among us.	39:57
	Such high moments as we know indeed,	40:00
	do go round and round in us.	40:02
	So for almost 2,000 years now,	40:07
	Christians have gathered to remember, and to celebrate,	40:10
	for there was something about the high moment	40:15
	of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection	40:18
	that would not be killed.	40:21
	For as someone has said, "You cannot kill a holy presence,	40:24
	or a holy idea."	40:28
	And indeed the spirit of Christ would not be defeated,	40:30
	even by that last enemy, death.	40:33
	It's indeed, like Harry Emerson Fosdick	40:36
	preached on one occasion, "They crucified Jesus,	40:39
	but one thing they could not do, they could not	40:44
	injure his idea.	40:47
	Not a nail they drove pierced it,	40:49
	not a stone they rolled before the tomb imprisoned it,	40:52
	for here is the realistic basis of true hope,	40:56
	that once a great idea is started, no one and nothing	40:59
	can stop it, if you crucify it, you glorify it.	41:03
	If you postpone it's victory,	41:07
	you only make it's victory more overwhelming when it comes.	41:09
	If you bury it, you give it an Easter day."	41:13
	And so with the idea of Christ very much alive today,	41:18
	this Easter, and this same idea very much alive to Paul,	41:21
	he wrote to the Church at Corinth,	41:26
	"I delivered to you what I also received,	41:29
	"that Christ died for our sins,	41:32
	"in accordance with the Scriptures.	41:35
	"That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day,	41:38
	"that he appeared to Cephas, that is to Peter,	41:41
	"and then to the 12, and then he appeared to more than 500,	41:44
	"then he appeared to James, and then to all the Apostles.	41:48
	"But last of all, as to one untimely born,	41:51
	"Christ appeared also to me."	41:54
	"Last of all," Paul writes, "Christ appeared also to me."	41:58
	Now when you think about it,	42:03
	it seems to me that that is really a rather arrogant boast,	42:06
	isn't it?	42:10
	Seems to be rather pretentious,	42:12
	presumptuous posture for Paul who, after all,	42:15
	had become widely known as a real enemy,	42:19
	as one of the chief persecutors of the first Christians,	42:22
	but yet he says,	42:25
	"last of all, Jesus appeared to me."	42:26
	My guess is that there were probably lots of others	42:30
	going around about Jerusalem the first century,	42:32
	claiming that Jesus appeared last of all to them,	42:36
	Thomas, who met Jesus in the upper room,	42:40
	the two men who met and knew Jesus	42:43
	walking on the road to Emmaus,	42:46
	Mary who met Jesus at the tomb,	42:48
	Peter on the beach,	42:51
	all of these, perhaps as well as many others,	42:53
	and as well as Paul, could and probably did	42:55
	make such a claim.	42:58
	I've had a hard time trying to imagine	43:02
	what it must have been like	43:05
	to have been among the women and the men	43:06
	to whom Jesus first appeared after the resurrection.	43:10
	I really cannot quite fathom the impact	43:14
	or the meaning that it must have had on them one by one.	43:17
	But I read some lines recently,	43:23
	from the movie, The Last Picture Show,	43:24
	that helped me see the meaning that Jesus has	43:27
	for me and for you, for us today,	43:30
	and so, some meaning that he may have had	43:32
	for those in the first century.	43:35
	Robert Raines writes about it as he tells about	43:37
	how Christ, today, has appeared to him, he says,	43:39
	"Christ appeared also to me	43:43
	in the movie The Last Picture Show.	43:46
	A poignant view of life in a small Texas town,	43:48
	the town is boring, people feel as if their options	43:52
	are closing off, they yearn for something or someone more.	43:56
	There is much human unfulfillment in the movie.	44:01
	But also little oases of human warmth and understanding.	44:04
	A middle aged woman talks to a young man,	44:10
	about a man that they both loved,	44:13
	called Simon the- Sam the Lion.	44:15
	Sam had died, he had been a generous,	44:20
	compassionate and courageous man.	44:23
	The woman had been married to someone else but she loved Sam	44:26
	in a very special way, and so she said to this young man,	44:31
	You know, it's a shame	44:34
	to meet only one man in your life	44:37
	who knows what you are really worth."	44:41
	Mary, Thomas,	44:47
	John, Peter, Paul, they all met someone	44:50
	who knew what each of them was really worth.	44:55
	Seems rather strange, doesn't it?	45:00
	Only one person, and Paul's claim that last of all,	45:02
	Christ appeared also to me,	45:07
	boastful, arrogant, presumptuous, maybe even absurd, yes?	45:09
	Absurd is another word that came to me	45:13
	as I read this passage, absurd indeed.	45:16
	And this called to my mind some lines from Camus,	45:19
	the existentialist playwright, when he said,	45:23
	"At the center of man, dominating the great moments of life,	45:27
	there is for all of us, an essential absurdity."	45:32
	An essential absurdity.	45:38
	Those are the words, sure it is, absolutely absurd,	45:41
	but an essential absurdity.	45:45
	Then I remembered some words of the great	45:48
	early church writer Tertullian, who professed,	45:50
	on one occasion, "I believe," he said,	45:54
	"because it is absurd."	45:57
	Sure it is, there you have the words,	46:00
	it was absurd for the risen Christ to appear to Saul	46:03
	or to Paul, it is absurd for the risen Christ	46:07
	to appear to us today, it does not make sense.	46:10
	There is no way to understand, or comprehend,	46:14
	or make sense out of the living presence of Christ,	46:16
	except that maybe God in Christ really does know	46:20
	how much each one of us is worth.	46:24
	And so it is absurd,	46:30
	but I choose to believe that it is more than that,	46:33
	for it is absurdity transformed.	46:37
	Transformed into experience, transformed into reality,	46:40
	transformed into a living	46:43
	ongoing sustaining relationship.	46:45
	Belief in Christ is absurd, or	46:49
	as the Greek word puts it in the New testament,	46:51
	it is skandalos, it is a scandal, a stumbling block,	46:53
	but it is absurdity transformed by the grace of God,	46:57
	so that Paul could go on and say	47:02
	"By the grace of God, I am what I am,	47:04
	"and his grace toward me was not in vain."	47:07
	The word proclaiming the resurrection	47:13
	of our Lord Jesus Christ may seem absurd,	47:16
	but according to the late theologian Karl Barth,	47:19
	the message he says is itself, evangel,	47:21
	that is, good tidings,	47:26
	it is news which uplifts and comforts and sustains.	47:27
	once and for all then,	47:32
	it is a proclamation of joy,	47:34
	it is not a mixed message of joy and terror,	47:37
	salvation and damnation,	47:39
	it does not proclaim in the same breath good and evil,	47:42
	both help and destruction, both life and death,	47:45
	it is life and not darkness,	47:48
	the first and the last word of the gospel is	47:50
	yes, and not no.	47:53
	And so the word that came to Paul indeed was yes.	47:56
	This morning if I were to ask,	48:01
	how many of you have ever had an experience	48:04
	where Jesus Christ appeared to you,	48:09
	what would be your response?	48:15
	Has the risen Christ ever appeared to you?	48:18
	If so, how?	48:24
	If not,	48:27
	is there any reason why that presence has not?	48:29
	Would you want to experience	48:34
	the presence of the risen Christ?	48:36
	Well, if you do, then what would you expect to have happen?	48:39
	Well, I happen to believe that resurrection	48:44
	appearances of Christ happened and still happen,	48:47
	in different ways to different people	48:52
	in different circumstances for different reasons	48:54
	with different expectations, and with different results.	48:57
	Such appearances happened differently	49:01
	in New Testament times, and they do today as well.	49:03
	Look for just a moment if you will,	49:06
	at the resurrection appearances.	49:07
	On the Emmaus road, Jesus was walking with two strangers,	49:09
	they didn't know who he was, he did not know them,	49:14
	they were walking, talking, a normal conversation	49:17
	about an execution of someone just a few days before.	49:20
	They stopped and ate, who Christ was	49:25
	became known to them after they had walked together	49:28
	and after they had eaten together.	49:30
	Thomas in the upper room, gathered in a house in Jerusalem	49:33
	talking with the other disciples, friends with friends.	49:38
	Familiar people, familiar places.	49:41
	One who was skeptical, unbelieving and even doubting,	49:44
	not sure until Jesus said, "Put your hand here, Thomas."	49:48
	and when he did, he exclaimed "My Lord and my God."	49:52
	Mary before the tomb, going to the tomb	49:57
	to show her love for Jesus, a genuine act of love	50:00
	and of sorrow, to express her grief,	50:04
	to remember the good times, to do all that she could	50:08
	to express her feelings.	50:12
	It may be that there was no more	50:14
	that Jesus could do for her,	50:15
	but she was going to be as faithful and as caring	50:17
	and as loving toward Jesus as she could possibly be	50:20
	to death, and even beyond.	50:23
	What an amazing act of utter, total free devotion,	50:26
	and reaching out from her to	50:31
	someone who had been very special to her,	50:33
	and Jesus spoke, "Mary,"	50:35
	and she knew at once who he was.	50:38
	Peter on the beach, gathered there with other disciples,	50:42
	probably to resume their work at fishing,	50:45
	stopping to eat the evening meal.	50:48
	A physical presence must have been real,	50:50
	because we're told that Jesus ate some fish.	50:52
	Jesus had a concern for a continuing relationship	50:55
	with Peter, and for Peter's continuing relationship	50:58
	with others, three times he asked him,	51:01
	"Peter, do you love me?" And then he said,	51:03
	"Peter, feed my sheep, tend my lambs, tend my sheep."	51:06
	and this is a kind of communion, the kind of communication	51:09
	of both words and spirit, that can take place	51:13
	where there has been, and where there still is,	51:16
	a feeling of intimacy.	51:19
	Peter knew who this Jesus was.	51:20
	Saul, on the road, I think we can imagine that Saul	51:25
	was just walking leisurely down the road toward Damascus,	51:29
	an enemy of Christ and of the early Christians,	51:32
	surely one who was not expecting the Christ	51:35
	to appear to him.	51:37
	Personal was the encounter, for the word was simply,	51:40
	"Saul," and my friends you really do not get	51:45
	any more intimate, or any more personal	51:48
	than to have someone call you by your first name.	51:50
	And Saul knew immediately who he was, for he said	51:54
	"Lord, my Lord,"	51:56
	Looking at these experiences that these people had	51:59
	with the risen Christ, convinces me	52:02
	that there is no one way, no one place, no one time	52:04
	no one event, no one need, no one experience	52:07
	that we have with the risen Christ.	52:10
	We may be up or down, we may be happy or sad,	52:14
	we may believe him, or doubt him,	52:16
	we may be critic or enemy, friend or stranger,	52:18
	we may be ready, or not ready,	52:22
	but the word is clear.	52:24
	Serendipity, there is unexpected renewing experiences	52:26
	with Christ, can and do happen.	52:31
	Three other words about these resurrection appearances.	52:37
	All of them, all of those to whom Christ appeared	52:41
	were doing routine, simple, day to day things.	52:47
	Walking, eating, going to the tomb, fishing,	52:51
	a second thing is that not one of them,	52:54
	according to scripture, not one of them	52:57
	expected the Christ to appear.	52:58
	All of them were surprised when his presence came.	53:01
	Third, the appearances of the risen Christ	53:05
	were not spectacular or overwhelming,	53:08
	as a matter of fact Jesus seemed to try	53:12
	to downplay the experiences, and try to keep them calm	53:14
	as he spoke to them calmly, "Mary,"	53:18
	or calmly, "Peace be with you."	53:21
	It seems to me that it is very very bad that we today	53:25
	have romanticized and glamorized the appearances	53:30
	of the risen Christ.	53:34
	This it seems to me is to our loss	53:36
	and a great loss it is too,	53:38
	for now we think that in order to know and meet	53:40
	and experience the risen Christ,	53:43
	something dramatic, or overpowering, or miraculous,	53:45
	or stupendous has to happen to us, and this is not so.	53:49
	The real miracle of the coming of Jesus	53:55
	in his birth, life, death, resurrection,	53:58
	and risen appearances is that he came to live with us,	54:01
	in us, among us, right where we are just as we are	54:05
	and not in some idealized or glorified time or space	54:10
	or place, but to be with us in the simple beauties	54:14
	and the hard realities of life	54:17
	as you and I know it every day.	54:19
	I was teaching a study of the book of Revelation recently,	54:23
	and some persons in the group were surprised	54:27
	when I remarked to the group that I do not consider	54:31
	myself to be really a spiritual, quote, unquote, person.	54:35
	That is I do not consider myself to be quote, spiritual	54:39
	in the sense of one who is something of a mystic,	54:43
	or one who spends a great deal of time in prayer	54:46
	or meditation, or reflection, or to put it in another way,	54:48
	I simply do not quote, feel the presence of Christ	54:52
	or the presence and the spirit of God very often.	54:55
	Now, I have had some moments, and some experiences	55:00
	that I indeed would call spiritual kinds of experiences,	55:03
	but I feel something more like the woman	55:07
	I was talking with recently, who said to me,	55:09
	"I have a hard time believing in a God up there,	55:11
	or out there somewhere.	55:14
	A sense of the presence of God outside me,	55:17
	and outside other people, I find hard to understand.	55:20
	But," she said, "I do know what it is to experience	55:25
	the love of God, the presence of Christ in other people.	55:29
	The love of God in friend to friend,	55:33
	or person to person experiences	55:35
	is a loving, caring, waiting with, supporting and listening,	55:37
	that I do know, I know and can feel God this way."	55:42
	She said, and I do too.	55:47
	I wish this morning so very very much,	55:53
	that we had not over the centuries overdramatized	55:58
	and overplayed and exaggerated	56:01
	the resurrection appearances of Christ.	56:02
	For he really did come to be with people.	56:05
	Every day, common folk in their everyday living.	56:07
	Perhaps if we could read again	56:13
	the stories of the resurrection appearances	56:14
	and clear away all the trappings and the excess dramatics	56:17
	that we've all grown accustomed to,	56:20
	we could know, and be ready for, and anticipate	56:22
	and thus experience the presence of Christ	56:25
	more day by day as we live it.	56:28
	A tear, a hug, a sigh,	56:33
	a word, a prayer,	56:38
	a touch of one's hand.	56:41
	A song, a look from someone else	56:43
	that comes to your very soul.	56:48
	A feeling that someone loves,	56:52
	a feeling of knowing that someone cares.	56:56
	The experience of caring for someone else.	57:01
	Yes, my dear friends,	57:06
	today, Easter day,	57:09
	there surely is somebody	57:11
	who knows how much you are really worth,	57:16
	and last of all, Paul writes,	57:22
	"As to one untimely born,	57:25
	"Christ appeared to me,"	57:28
	and to you, amen.	57:32
	(general hubbub)	57:45
	(majestic orchestral music)	58:10
	(choir sings)	58:35
-	Let us unite in this historic confession	1:01:30
	of the Christian faith.	1:01:34
-	I believe in God, the Father Almighty,	1:01:37
	Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ	1:01:40
	his only son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,	1:01:44
	born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,	1:01:49
	was crucified, dead and buried.	1:01:55
	the third day he rose from the dead,	1:01:58
	he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand	1:02:02
	of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come	1:02:06
	to judge the quick and the dead.	1:02:10
	I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church,	1:02:12
	communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins,	1:02:18
	the resurrection of the body,	1:02:23
	and the life everlasting, amen.	1:02:26
-	The Lord be with you,	1:02:39
-	And also with you.	1:02:41
-	Let us pray.	1:02:43
	Oh holy God, you come to us as the despised one	1:02:46
	the crucified one, and the risen one, the victorious one.	1:02:52
	Help us to recognize the presence of our risen Lord	1:02:59
	in our midst, in the ordinary and the routine of our lives.	1:03:05
	When our eyes are too full of our own visions,	1:03:12
	when our ears are too full of our own sounds,	1:03:16
	when our mouths are too full of our own wisdom,	1:03:22
	when our hearts are too full of our own concern,	1:03:27
	break through oh God, liberate us from the narrow world	1:03:31
	which constricts our soul.	1:03:37
	Liberate us from the fear which blinds us,	1:03:40
	to the newness of your work, liberate us	1:03:44
	from the preoccupation with the trivial, and the uneasiness	1:03:48
	with the difficult.	1:03:54
	Liberate us into the community of our risen Lord.	1:03:57
	When the hurt in our souls is deep, when we feel weak	1:04:04
	at the beginning of a mighty task,	1:04:11
	when our minds are sick with frustrations and divisions,	1:04:15
	when fears and anger eat at the foundation of our peace,	1:04:23
	heal us, cleanse us, make us whole, oh God.	1:04:28
	When our hearts are heavy with sorrow and misery,	1:04:36
	when we are cut off from our family and friends,	1:04:40
	when the pressures and pains of our life are too great,	1:04:46
	restore us, bless us, renew us.	1:04:51
	When our well ordered lives fall apart,	1:04:58
	when we see no future, no hope, no way out,	1:05:02
	replenish us, recreate us, and redeem us, oh God.	1:05:08
	Use us and prepare us to respond to the need in our midst.	1:05:15
	Judge us and grace us into the community	1:05:23
	of our risen Christ, where all are equal,	1:05:27
	yet all are unique.	1:05:31
	All are sinners, yet all are accepted.	1:05:34
	All are judged, yet all find mercy.	1:05:39
	All are finite, and limited.	1:05:44
	And all can be ministers, loving children of the community	1:05:48
	of the crucified and risen Christ, who taught us to pray,	1:05:54
-	Our Father, who art in heaven,	1:05:59
	Hallowed be thy name.	1:06:03
	They kingdom come, thy will be done,	1:06:05
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:06:09
	Give us this day our daily bread,	1:06:12
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	1:06:15
	who trespass against us.	1:06:19
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	1:06:22
	For thine is the kingdom, the power,	1:06:28
	and the glory forever, amen.	1:06:31
	(general hubbub)	1:06:38
	(soloist sings with orchestra)	1:07:00
	(choir sings)	1:08:58
	(organ music)	1:15:43
	(choir sings)	1:15:58
-	Oh holy God, we offer to you our worship	1:17:02
	and praise, we give you this offering,	1:17:06
	a symbol of our lives, which we dedicate	1:17:12
	again to your service.	1:17:15
	Resurrect us, and to new life and new power,	1:17:18
	that we may be your children.	1:17:23
	We pray in the spirit of the risen Lord, amen.	1:17:26
	(organ music)	1:17:31
	(congregation sings)	1:18:05
	May the almighty and merciful and faithful God	1:21:27
	who raised Jesus from the dead bless us and keep us	1:21:31
	this day, and forever more.	1:21:36
	(choir sings)	1:21:41
	(organ music)	1:22:02
	(congregation chatters loudly)	1:22:05

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "Christ Appeared...Also to Me" Easter Service 11:00 am (April 15, 1979)

Description:

Sermon start time: 36:25. Sermon end time: 57:37.
The risen Christ appears to everyone and knows what each person is worth. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: Has Christ ever appeared to you? If so, one might ask, how has he appeared? If he has not, is there any reason? Or, would you really want to experience the risen presence of Jesus the Christ?

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4bg2hr19

Date:

April 15, 1979

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Liturgical Calendar:

Easter

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Resurrection

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1020
ref7249_40g
uachapelsermaud
duke:321126
dcrau001900
ark:/87924/r4bg2hr19
25aa95c7-0bbe-4c38-8336-fc04cd6e7b7c

Digital Collection:

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Source Collection:

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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.

Rights:

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Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Robert T. Young - "Christ Appeared...Also to Me" Easter Service 11:00 am (April 15, 1979)

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1. Robert T. Young - "Christ Appeared...Also to Me" Easter Service 9:00 am (April 15, 1979)

2. Robert T. Young - "Christ Appeared...Also to Me" Easter Service" (April 15, 1979)

Duke University Archives

Robert T. Young - "Christ Appeared...Also to Me" Easter Service 11:00 am (April 15, 1979)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives