J. Davison Philips - "To Behold and to Inquire" (June 29, 1980)

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-	Duke University Chapel service of worship,	0:20
	June 29, 1980.	0:24
	(organ music)	0:28
	(organ music)	3:10
	(organ music)	5:02
	(organ music)	7:17
	(organ music)	11:50
-	I greet you this morning, this very warm, June morning.	14:29
	We are pleased to have visitors come and worship with us	14:35
	in this beautiful sanctuary.	14:39
	Let us come together and worship before the Lord	14:49
	and sing to the Lord a new song.	14:54
	Sing to the Lord, all the Earth, for He comes,	14:57
	for He comes to judge the Earth.	15:01
	He will judge the world with righteousness	15:03
	and His peoples with His truth.	15:06
	Let us join together in singing hymn number 30.	15:10
	(organ music)	15:14
	Let us hear the call to confession.	18:12
	All we, like sheep, have gone astray.	18:16
	Our thoughts are self-centered.	18:19
	Our words wound even those we love.	18:21
	Our sloth perpetuates the suffering of our neighbor.	18:25
	Our actions fall short of the mark.	18:28
	Let us, therefore, confess our sins together before God.	18:31
	Would the congregation be seated.	18:35
	Our Heavenly God, who by Your love, has made us,	18:43
	and through Your love has kept us,	18:48
	and in Your love would make us perfect,	18:51
	we humbly confess that we have not loved You	18:55
	with all our heart and soul and mind and strength,	18:59
	and that we have not loved one another	19:03
	as Christ has loved us.	19:06
	Your light is within our souls,	19:08
	but our selfishness has hindered You.	19:11
	We have not lived by faith.	19:15
	We have resisted Your Spirit.	19:17
	We have neglected Your inspirations.	19:20
	Forgive what we have been.	19:24
	Help us to amend what we are.	19:27
	And, in Your Spirit, direct what we shall be,	19:30
	that You may come into the full glory of Your creation	19:34
	in us and in all persons, through Jesus Christ,	19:39
	our Lord, amen.	19:44
	Let us know confess before God in the silence of our hearts	19:47
	the sins which burden us.	19:52
	The good news is this, you are forgiven.	20:17
	Christ's love has canceled your sins	20:22
	and you are reconciled to God.	20:25
	Live in this newness.	20:28
	Life is a gift to be given away joyfully.	20:30
	Let us give thanks, for God is good	20:34
	and God's love is everlasting.	20:37
	Thanks be to God whose love has made us.	20:40
	Thanks be to God whose mercy forgives us.	20:45
	Thanks be to God whose promise secures us, amen.	20:49
	We welcome today, to Duke University and the chapel,	20:56
	the Reverend Dr. J. Davison Philips,	21:01
	who is President of the Columbia Theological Seminary	21:04
	in Decatur, Georgia.	21:07
	Dr. Philips comes from the Presbyterian tradition,	21:10
	has been a chaplain and a pastor.	21:14
	We look forward to hearing his message this morning.	21:16
	Let us pray.	21:21
	Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to accept Your word.	21:25
	Silence in us any voice but Your own,	21:30
	that hearing we may also obey Your will.	21:34
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	21:37
	The Old Testament lesson is from Psalm 27,	21:42
	a Psalm of David.	21:46
	"The Lord is my light and my salvation.	21:49
	"Whom shall I fear?	21:51
	"The Lord is the stronghold of my life.	21:53
	"Of whom shall I be afraid?	21:56
	"When evildoers assail me, uttering slanders against me,	21:59
	"my adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall.	22:03
	"Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.	22:09
	"Though war rise against me, yet I will be confident.	22:14
	"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after,	22:19
	"that I may dwell in the house of the Lord	22:24
	"all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord	22:26
	"and to inquire in His temple.	22:32
	"For He will hide me in His shelter in the days of trouble.	22:35
	"He will conceal me under the cover of his tent.	22:40
	"He will set me high upon a rock.	22:43
	"And now, my head shall be lifted up	22:47
	"above my enemies round about me,	22:50
	"and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy.	22:52
	"I will sing and make melody to the Lord.	22:57
	"Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud.	23:01
	"Be gracious to me and answer me.	23:04
	"Thou has said, 'Seek ye my face.'	23:07
	"My heart says to Thee, thy face, Lord, do I seek.	23:11
	"Hide not Thy face from me.	23:16
	"Turn not Thy servant away in anger.	23:19
	"Thou has been my help, cast me not off.	23:22
	"Forsake me not, O God, of my salvation.	23:27
	"For my father and my mother have forsaken me,	23:30
	"but the Lord will take me up.	23:34
	"Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path	23:36
	"because of my enemies.	23:40
	"Give me not up to the will of my adversaries,	23:43
	"for false witnesses have risen against me	23:46
	"and they breathe out violence.	23:48
	"I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord	23:51
	"in the land of the living.	23:55
	"Wait for the Lord.	23:57
	"Be strong and let your heart take courage.	23:59
	"Yea, wait for the Lord."	24:02
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	24:05
	Will the congregation please stand	24:08
	for the reading of the Gospel lesson?	24:10
	The Gospel lesson is from John chapter 14	24:16
	verses 1 through 11.	24:20
	"Let not your hearts be troubled.	24:24
	"Believe in God, believe also in me.	24:27
	"In my Father's house are many rooms.	24:31
	"If it were not so, would I have told you	24:34
	"that I go to prepare a place for you?	24:37
	"When I go and prepare a place for you,	24:40
	"I will come again and will take you to myself,	24:43
	"that where I am, you may be also.	24:47
	"And you know the way, where I am going.	24:51
	"Thomas said to Him,	24:54
	"'Lord, we do not know where you are going.	24:56
	"'How can we know the way?'	24:59
	"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way,	25:01
	"'and the truth, and the life.	25:04
	"'No one comes to the Father but by me.	25:09
	"'If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.	25:12
	"'Henceforth, you know Him and have seen Him.'	25:16
	"Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father	25:20
	"'and we shall be satisfied.'	25:24
	"Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long	25:26
	"'and yet you do not know me, Philip?	25:30
	"'He who has seen me has seen the Father.	25:34
	"'How can you say, Show us the Father?	25:36
	"'Do you not believe that I am in the Father	25:39
	"'and the Father in me?	25:42
	"'The words that I say to you,	25:45
	"'I do not speak on my own authority.	25:47
	"'But the Father who dwells in me does His works.	25:50
	"'Believe in me that I am in the Father	25:53
	"'and the Father in me, or else believe me	25:55
	"'for the sake of the works in themselves.'"	25:58
	Bless the hearing of this word.	26:01
	(organ music)	26:05
-	Let me first of all today express,	27:12
	as I'm sure you would expect me to do,	27:14
	my personal pleasure of being here	27:16
	in this service of worship.	27:19
	I look forward to being in Duke Chapel.	27:21
	I have heard for a long time of its beauty	27:24
	and I am not disappointed,	27:26
	and of the vigor of the worship and the preaching	27:28
	and the music here in this place,	27:31
	where people gather to worship God.	27:33
	I am glad to be a part of it today.	27:37
	I have a new item to add to my list.	27:39
	I must be impressed by the warm of the atmosphere here	27:41
	in Duke Chapel this morning, as you must be.	27:45
	I want us to think today about a very simple,	27:50
	basic, biblical theme,	27:52
	which I believe is a part	27:55
	of everyday life for you and me.	27:58
	It's from the 27th Psalm.	28:01
	The theme is to behold and to inquire.	28:02
	A particular passage in that psalm which speaks	28:06
	to this theme and to which I now commend to you	28:09
	as God's word for this hour is found in these words.	28:11
	"One thing have I asked of the Lord	28:17
	"that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house	28:20
	"of the Lord all the days of my life,	28:24
	"to behold the beauty of the Lord	28:28
	"and to inquire in His temple."	28:31
	Amen.	28:35
	I'm sure you'll let me, as a Presbyterian,	28:39
	to refer to that other John this morning, John Calvin,	28:41
	who said that the Psalms	28:45
	are a mirror of the soul.	28:48
	Do you ever see yourself in a psalm?	28:52
	Through the experiences, the struggles, the faith,	28:56
	the celebrations, the affirmations,	28:58
	of those who put these hymns together	29:01
	and sang them both privately and corporately,	29:04
	that these things reflect any	29:07
	of your own spiritual pilgrimage?	29:10
	They do for me, and I believe they do for you.	29:13
	You see, you and I never really know,	29:18
	in any service of worship around the world this morning,	29:20
	what people have brought to this service.	29:23
	What have you and I brought?	29:27
	The things that give us cause for joy and celebration	29:30
	and the things which give us also reason for meditation,	29:34
	reflection, analysis, and at times, even for despair.	29:38
	And therefore, we need to listen to this music,	29:44
	to resonate with some of the message of it,	29:48
	and to find a way	29:51
	to move into the problems of reentry tomorrow	29:54
	and in all the tomorrows.	29:57
	The 27th Psalm has at least two sections to it.	30:00
	I side with the Old Testament scholars today	30:04
	who believe that there are three basic paragraphs in it.	30:06
	They seem quite disparate at the first reading.	30:11
	The first, as you will recall,	30:15
	is the great affirmation of faith and trust.	30:17
	"The Lord is my light and my salvation.	30:21
	"Whom shall I fear?	30:24
	"The Lord is the stronghold of my life.	30:26
	"Of whom shall I be afraid?"	30:29
	And at the end, there is a paragraph	30:32
	with a fervent prayer for guidance.	30:34
	"Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path."	30:37
	"Wait for the Lord.	30:43
	"Be strong.	30:44
	"Let your heart take courage.	30:45
	"Yea, wait for the Lord."	30:47
	But here in the middle, there is a passage	30:49
	which seems at first reading to be pretty ordinary.	30:52
	What is so unique?	30:55
	What is so fresh, good news?	30:56
	This hour of worship, for you and me,	30:59
	where we are in this moment in the long pilgrimage of life,	31:01
	I believe it's in the fact that the psalmist asked	31:06
	of God when he had just one little request,	31:09
	asked of God to be in His presence forever in the temple	31:13
	to do two specific things, to behold the beauty of the Lord	31:19
	and to inquire in His temple.	31:25
	Surely we have problems with asking God for anything,	31:28
	do we not?	31:32
	The whole business of intercessory prayer	31:34
	is fraught with problems for those of us	31:36
	who use it as an instrument to get our way,	31:38
	to indulge in some self-centered pettiness.	31:41
	The secret something which is just for us	31:46
	and which has little to do with God's ultimate glory	31:49
	or will for us.	31:52
	If you could just ask God for one thing this morning,	31:54
	here in Duke Chapel, where you are at this moment	31:58
	in your life, what would it be?	32:01
	Would it be something in that long list	32:03
	which a four-year-old offers	32:05
	to some department Santa Claus, pillowed and bewhiskered	32:06
	and hearing it all with great boredom, I'm sure?	32:10
	Would it be some legitimate personal concern,	32:15
	some tremendous personal need for healing	32:19
	or for hope, or for direction, or guidance?	32:23
	If it is that, we need to ask ourselves,	32:28
	really, what's so wrong with that,	32:30
	if it's done in this atmosphere of trust and commitment?	32:33
	Or is it something absurd,	32:36
	one of those things which we include	32:40
	in a desperate prayer sometimes which,	32:42
	if we're honest, could not possibly interest God?	32:45
	I have a friend in Atlanta, long time Presbyterian elder,	32:49
	an ardent golfer.	32:53
	Once he confessed to me when we were talking	32:56
	after a game of golf about, of all things, prayer,	32:58
	that he was thoroughly ashamed of one	33:01
	of the worst prayers he'd ever prayed.	33:03
	He found himself playing one day in a Pro-Am golf tournament	33:06
	for the benefit of a children's hospital in Atlanta.	33:09
	He used to do it on Monday after the Masters.	33:12
	A lot of the famous golf pros would come over	33:15
	and play the game and you had to give a very large	33:17
	sum of money to the hospital	33:20
	to have permission to play with them.	33:21
	He discovered to his shock that he was paired	33:24
	with the most famous golfer at that time of all,	33:28
	Arnold Palmer.	33:31
	He could scarcely make his way to the first tee.	33:33
	He found himself nervous trying to grip a club.	33:35
	Without thinking what he was doing,	33:38
	he did this shameful thing.	33:40
	He said, "Oh God, help me get off the first tee today	33:42
	"and I'll not ask You for anything else	33:44
	"the rest of the day."	33:46
	His drive was 250 yards.	33:49
	That's a great first shot, let me assure	33:51
	all you non-golfers, straight down the middle.	33:53
	Even Mr. Palmer was impressed.	33:55
	And he never hit another decent shot the rest of the day.	33:58
	(audience laughing)	34:01
	And of course, that's an absurd thing to think	34:05
	that God might be interested in a thing like that	34:07
	or be involved in something like that.	34:09
	But what about that long list of things also	34:12
	which would be so legitimate this morning?	34:14
	To pray that God would hear the cry for justice in our time.	34:18
	80-85% of the people on this planet crying out	34:22
	in agony for simple justice.	34:27
	Or a cry for peace in a time when great thunder clouds	34:30
	of nuclear destruction hang over us.	34:35
	Do we pray that we know how to use the opportunity	34:40
	of the living of these days,	34:43
	to have wisdom and courage for it?	34:45
	Or to seek some new quality in life for everybody,	34:47
	for young people, for the elderly, for retired persons,	34:51
	for women, for minority groups in our time?	34:55
	Or a simple prayer for survival on this planet?	34:59
	All of those things could be written	35:03
	into your own personal psalm.	35:06
	But back to this one.	35:10
	How marvelous it is, the more you think about it,	35:13
	how important it becomes for us.	35:15
	Think about these two basic things,	35:17
	dwelling in the presence of God forever	35:19
	and the symbolism of being in the temple.	35:21
	First of all, to behold the beauty of the Lord.	35:24
	The psalmist, whoever,	35:30
	was articulating for us quite clearly	35:33
	the great hope that above everything else,	35:35
	we might see and know the living God.	35:39
	He does not come and recite to God all the horrors	35:45
	of that time, although there's a lot about the enemies	35:48
	of the psalmist here in this passage.	35:50
	Sometimes the way we do it, a bullfight in Spain,	35:53
	we almost get sympathetic with the enemies	35:56
	because of the vigor with which they're attacked	35:58
	and the calling down of the judgment of God upon them.	36:01
	He doesn't do that.	36:06
	He doesn't come and announce to God the way	36:08
	the anglican priest did to his London congregation	36:10
	once in some difficult times.	36:14
	He opened his pastoral prayer by saying,	36:16
	"Lord, have You seen the mourning times today?"	36:18
	He says, "Let me see You.	36:23
	"Let me know You."	36:25
	He comes to symbolize that strong,	36:28
	persistent	36:31
	hunger to know God.	36:32
	The 27th psalm has a seventh verse in it.	36:36
	"Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud.	36:39
	"Be gracious to me and answer me.	36:41
	"Thou hast said, 'Seek ye my face.'	36:43
	"My heart says to thee, 'Thy face, Lord, do I seek.	36:45
	"'Hide not Thy face from me.'"	36:50
	Do you pray like that? I do.	36:54
	What an appropriate way to begin the conversation with God.	36:56
	Surely, in every service of worship	37:02
	where there might be some spasm of new life	37:06
	contradicting the verdict of ecclesiastical morticians	37:09
	that the church is really dead and all but buried,	37:13
	wherever there is, worshipers come to seek to know God,	37:16
	to ask, is there any word from the Lord for me today?	37:21
	Karl Barth was quite right when he said that,	37:25
	"The subconscious question which every worshiper	37:28
	"in the living church asks is,	37:31
	"is it really true about God?"	37:34
	That God is what He claims to be,	37:39
	that He is like what we see in Jesus Christ.	37:41
	You see, in our time, even with you and me,	37:46
	thoughtful, devoted, searching people, perhaps,	37:49
	God has His own identity crisis.	37:52
	He can be regarded as some stern judge	37:56
	meting out all kinds of harsh punishment.	37:58
	Or some resident policeman watching us to catch us.	38:02
	Or some absentee landlord collecting from us	38:07
	and ignoring our own needs.	38:11
	All the rest of that,	38:13
	even Jesus Christ has His identity crisis.	38:13
	He can be thought of as some jolly green giant,	38:17
	hero of some kind, or a guerrilla at the barricades	38:19
	with a machine gun in these revolutionary times.	38:22
	How, then, we need to push on to get Him in focus,	38:26
	to see and to hear and to know this God.	38:31
	For you see, God has given us again and again	38:34
	the assurance that He would make Himself known.	38:37
	His glory will be proclaimed.	38:40
	Jan Lockman, Professor of Theology at Bonsall says,	38:43
	"There's a great Czech theological tradition,	38:47
	"the tradition out of which he came,	38:49
	"which maintains that God's glory	38:51
	"will be proclaimed in the Earth.	38:53
	"If the bishops don't do it, the clergy will.	38:56
	"If the clergy don't do it, the laity will.	38:58
	"If the laity will not do it, men and women,	39:02
	"little children, those even outside the church, will do it.	39:04
	"And if they are silent, even the stones of the earth	39:09
	"will cry out, 'Glory be to God.'"	39:12
	God has initiated this conversation with you and me.	39:16
	He has broken the silence.	39:19
	Otherwise, we are terribly alone.	39:21
	Could there be anything worse than being shunned by God?	39:24
	Set aside	39:28
	and the whole Earth is silent	39:31
	as far as the speaking with God is concerned.	39:33
	In the 28th Psalm, the one following this in the psalter.	39:38
	"To Thee, O Lord, I call my rock.	39:41
	"Be not deaf to me lest if Thou be silent to me,	39:43
	"I become like those who go down to the pit.	39:47
	"It is hell	39:50
	"to cope with the silence of God."	39:52
	But Martin Luther was right when he prayed,	39:55
	"Punish me, punish me, O Lord, but be not silent to me."	39:57
	God has come to say, "I am not silent.	40:04
	"I am speaking.	40:06
	"Listen."	40:07
	The New Testament reflects this great initiation	40:09
	of the conversation with us.	40:11
	"The God who said, 'Let there be light,'	40:13
	"has shined in our hearts to give us the knowledge	40:15
	"of the glory of God in Christ Jesus.	40:19
	"The word was made flesh,	40:24
	"bone, blood, sinews, flesh.	40:27
	"And we beheld His glory	40:32
	"as of the Only Begotten of the Father."	40:35
	That was written, I'm sure, with great astonishment.	40:40
	It should be read with that.	40:43
	How wonderful to know God and to know the glory of God.	40:44
	"The whole Earth is filled with His glory,"	40:48
	they said, in great awe and amazement.	40:50
	How does this knowledge of God come for you?	40:54
	I'm not sure whether it comes for you like a great flash	40:58
	of lightning in the middle of the night	41:02
	and you're awakened by a thunderstorm	41:06
	and the roll of thunder, and you look out the window	41:07
	of the bedroom and there the wind is blowing	41:10
	the branches of the tree around,	41:13
	and the rain is cascading down,	41:15
	just spidering in the puddles already forming	41:17
	out there in the yard.	41:19
	And there's a flash of lighting,	41:21
	and you see all that in sharp focus.	41:22
	Or does the knowledge of God come usually like the slow	41:27
	dawning of the day on a gray, drizzly day,	41:30
	when the light comes slowly?	41:33
	At least for me it has come like that,	41:35
	seldom in a great flash of lightning,	41:37
	everything perfect, everything sharply in focus.	41:38
	But the more you see Jesus Christ who said,	41:42
	"If you've seen me, you've seen the Father,"	41:44
	the more you begin to see the revelation of God in Him	41:47
	as if to say, "All you need to know about me, really,	41:50
	"you can see in Him."	41:53
	The more, then, we know the glory and the wonder of God.	41:56
	All over the world today,	42:01
	under the most adverse of circumstances,	42:02
	God would make Himself known and He would respond	42:04
	to this request here in this place this morning.	42:08
	I would dwell with you to behold the beauty of the Lord.	42:12
	What is that beauty?	42:16
	That beauty is the flawless character of God's nature	42:18
	and His will and His purpose,	42:21
	not physical beauty, obviously.	42:24
	He's not a physical being.	42:25
	But God Himself, in all of that perfection of wisdom	42:28
	and strength and integrity, and His great love	42:33
	which surpasseth knowledge of the whole world.	42:37
	Recently, at a conference on China to which some 20 persons	42:41
	came from our denomination, we heard the son	42:46
	of a missionary who had been an educator in Pe King talk	42:50
	about being back recently.	42:55
	He's now the head of the Nieman Fellowship,	42:57
	which gives opportunities for study to journalists	42:59
	from the United States.	43:02
	He and some other American visitors heard that morning	43:04
	that for the first time since the Gang of Four	43:07
	had been toppled from authority,	43:09
	a public service of worship was being held	43:12
	in an old church.	43:14
	They had two hours to make it.	43:16
	It took them that long to find it.	43:18
	When they got there,	43:20
	they arrived just a few minutes before it began.	43:21
	They were greatly stirred by the opening hymn,	43:24
	sung in Chinese but with words familiar to them,	43:27
	"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty.	43:31
	"Early in the morning our song will rise to Thee."	43:35
	God had been speaking	43:41
	and people had been responding again and again.	43:43
	What of this last Sunday in June this beginning	43:46
	of the decade of the 80's, this fateful decade	43:50
	in the world's history?	43:54
	God would make Himself known to us.	43:56
	Let us seek Him.	44:00
	Seek Him with hope and faith and love.	44:01
	But the other part of this is also tremendously important,	44:06
	perhaps even more important, than that.	44:09
	We have come together to inquire in His temple.	44:13
	To see and to know is to lead all of us	44:17
	into a great yearning to understand.	44:20
	So many of the inquiries of the Bible begin	44:25
	with a simple word, why?	44:28
	Why have You forsaken me?	44:32
	Why are You silent toward me?	44:35
	And to make inquiry is a very important duty	44:38
	for every one of us.	44:41
	To do theology is to inquire of God concerning	44:42
	the meaning of God for life.	44:45
	To know about God is one thing, but what does it mean?	44:47
	What does it mean?	44:52
	The questions which we have for God in this place,	44:54
	if we are a common part of common humanity,	44:56
	flesh and blood, men and women, young and old,	44:59
	is always a question like ranks of marching soldiers	45:02
	going by with fixed bayonets glistening in the sun.	45:06
	They come wave on wave before the living God.	45:11
	Like Job, some of us may have a controversy	45:15
	with the Lord today.	45:17
	Don't be ashamed of that.	45:18
	Ask Him about it.	45:20
	Like the apostle Paul, once we ask, "Who are You, Lord?"	45:22
	We are driven to ask, "What will You have me to do?"	45:27
	Like thoughtful women of every age,	45:33
	peopling the pages of the scripture from Deborah	45:35
	and Miriam to Lydia and Priscilla	45:38
	and all the others in the New Testament,	45:41
	we come with inquiries about what it means	45:44
	to be a human being in this culture and in this society.	45:47
	Even Jesus picked up the words of the psalm,	45:53
	"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"	45:56
	Thoughtful people are asking today,	46:00
	"What about	46:03
	"the shaking of the foundations, oh God?"	46:05
	"What about all of that?	46:09
	"If the foundations be destroyed, what do the righteous do?"	46:11
	Well, one wise commentator says,	46:17
	"They do what the righteous always do.	46:19
	"Go on being righteous, that is, seeking the justice	46:21
	"and the righteousness and the truth of God in our time."	46:24
	You have your own list of questions, I'm sure,	46:29
	but what about the shaking world?	46:32
	Everything seems to be trembling	46:35
	as though a great earthquake were shaking us economically,	46:37
	politically, religiously.	46:42
	We're quire keenly aware of that.	46:45
	Who's responsible?	46:49
	Are we, or someone else?	46:50
	The people we read about in the papers?	46:52
	One very devout lady, an officer of one	46:55
	of our Columbia Seminary groups told us the other day	46:57
	of a grandmother who invited her six-year-old grandson	46:59
	to spend a week with her in California.	47:03
	On Wednesday night, she was greatly frightened	47:07
	when she awoke and discovered that the house was trembling.	47:09
	An earthquake was shaking the house, her room, her bed.	47:12
	In her fright, she called out to her grandson,	47:15
	"Billy, Billy!"	47:18
	He replied, "I didn't do it, Grandmother!	47:20
	"I didn't do it!"	47:22
	(audience laughing)	47:23
	We can deny it all we want to,	47:25
	but we are a part of the shaking of the world, are we not?	47:27
	And perhaps we ought to be.	47:30
	In that great passage in the 13th chapter of Hebrews	47:33
	God speaks clearly.	47:35
	In the Old Testament days, gave the law,	47:38
	and the world shook.	47:40
	The author speaking in that dramatic letter,	47:42
	how exciting it must have been to get that letter,	47:44
	for Hebrew Christians, unlike the letters that we get.	47:47
	Most of our mail is cluttered with bills or advertisements	47:50
	or Reader's Digests, sweepstake opportunities,	47:53
	things like that, and occasionally from some dear,	47:56
	elderly aunt who grew up in the civilized days	47:59
	when people actually wrote letters to each other,	48:02
	believe it or not.	48:05
	Unlike that, here is a dramatic letter to people	48:07
	who could say, "Thanks, I needed that."	48:10
	For the letter says to them	48:13
	that God is shaking the world again,	48:16
	that the things which cannot be shaken will remain.	48:19
	Be thankful for a kingdom which cannot be shaken	48:22
	and worship God with reverence and awe.	48:26
	How tremendous it is	48:29
	to believe that some things remain in a shaking world.	48:31
	"This kingdom," says the letter,	48:36
	"remains the kingdom of God's justice and prove that love	48:38
	"and hope and faith, the word of God, abides forever."	48:41
	God Himself is sovereign Lord forever.	48:45
	Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.	48:48
	Faith, hope, and love still stronger	48:51
	than hate and malice and meanness.	48:53
	Justice is stronger than injustice.	48:57
	It's a great thing, then, to come to God and ask Him,	49:01
	"Is this all I'm ever going to be?	49:07
	"Is this all we're ever going to have?	49:10
	"Isn't there something more?	49:13
	"Isn't there something more than the monotony	49:15
	"of my business or my profession?	49:16
	"Isn't there something more of the pain	49:19
	"of being a parent sometimes and the fellowship	49:20
	"of bruised parents?	49:23
	"Isn't there something more than being a woman	49:24
	"who lives in a world of, perhaps typewriters	49:26
	"and telephones and a cog in a very routine machine?	49:30
	"Isn't there something more than being the parent	49:35
	"of young children, a period of great weariness	49:37
	"and closed-in-ness?"	49:40
	Lying down in bed at night and saying,	49:42
	"Isn't there something more?	49:44
	"Is this all there's ever going to be?"	49:45
	God comes to say, "There is something more.	49:49
	"There is indeed."	49:53
	How long, how long, we ask, O God,	49:55
	until justice rains down like a great, rushing river?	49:57
	How long will 10,000 people starve to death in the moments	50:02
	in which we're speaking today?	50:05
	Oh, I have come today to inquire of the Lord.	50:08
	Let there be great conversations	50:13
	with God	50:17
	between you and between the God	50:19
	who initiates that conversation.	50:22
	I believe, like John of Patmos in the Book of Revelation,	50:25
	that all those clashing symbols, those code words,	50:30
	trying to say to the people of God,	50:32
	"You're battered and beaten, but you are not yet finished."	50:34
	He said, "I hear the voice of a great multitude."	50:40
	What are they saying?	50:43
	"Glory be to Caesar?"	50:44
	Not at all.	50:45
	If he listened, he could have heard the death rattle	50:46
	in the throat of the Roman Empire,	50:48
	or the sounds of the breaking of the rocks	50:50
	of the prisoners of Patmos.	50:52
	Not at all.	50:53
	I heard the voice of a great multitude crying,	50:55
	"Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigns."	50:58
	How great a thing it is, to listen to God,	51:05
	to know Him, and to listen to Him.	51:09
	Why not, then, make this at the top	51:14
	of any list you may have,	51:18
	whatever the legitimate concerns may be,	51:20
	as you deal with God, ask Him, let me dwell in Your house,	51:23
	in Your presence, so that I may behold You,	51:27
	Your purposes, Your character, the wonder and glory of God.	51:29
	But above all, that I may inquire in Your temple.	51:34
	In a few moments, when we walk out	51:38
	of this magnificent sanctuary and reenter normal life	51:40
	with all of the problems of reentry,	51:44
	maybe there can be, like a returning astronaut,	51:46
	some new attitude,	51:49
	some new attitude	51:52
	which makes for successful reentry for survival.	51:54
	There is a Russian novel written a few years ago,	52:01
	The Last Circle.	52:05
	In it, the central characters are two young Russians	52:08
	who fall in love with another,	52:12
	one a 21-year-old member of the Marxist party	52:13
	with a great political future, very bright,	52:16
	getting the best of education,	52:19
	great promise in the Russian system.	52:21
	The other a 19-year-old, A-gan-ya.	52:24
	They were very much in love.	52:28
	But there was a peculiar thing.	52:31
	Ya-ga-nov could not see A-gan-ya on Sunday morning.	52:33
	She always made excuses.	52:36
	He pushed her so hard that she finally said to him,	52:39
	"I will tell you that I go to church on Sunday morning."	52:42
	She couldn't have shocked him, if she'd confessed	52:48
	to 100 infidelities, shocked him any more than that.	52:50
	They began to debate this and argue about it a great deal.	52:56
	Finally she said, "Come, go with me.	52:59
	"Maybe you'll understand what it means to me."	53:01
	He did, but even walking back from the service,	53:05
	he was still pushing and challenging	53:07
	and asking her about this.	53:10
	Finally, she said, "Let me put it this way, Ya-go-nov.	53:13
	"I believe deeply when the bells in that steeple	53:18
	"are rung no more and the anthems of that choir	53:23
	"are sung no more,	53:27
	"and that Gospel word is proclaimed no more,	53:29
	"we will slip into a deeper barbarism	53:34
	"than we have ever known."	53:37
	I believe that.	53:40
	What is more, I believe that you do too.	53:42
	Why not, then, on the basis of knowing God	53:46
	and listening to God and being in all this conversation,	53:50
	why not ring some steeple bells for faith	53:53
	and for justice and for love in our time?	53:58
	All the things which God would be concerned about,	54:02
	why not sing some songs of faith	54:05
	and hope and love and truth?	54:10
	And why not, above everything else,	54:14
	declare good news to the world,	54:16
	the Lord God omnipotent reigns.	54:19
	He is still the Lord of all the Earth,	54:22
	and we can be a part of that great steam of new life	54:25
	which cascades out of the temple of God	54:28
	and the imagery of the ancient prophet	54:31
	and everything it touches will live.	54:33
	So let it be.	54:39
	So may it be.	54:42
	Could you ask for anything more than that?	54:45
	Shall we settle for anything less than that?	54:49
	In the name of the Father, the Son,	54:53
	and the Holy Spirit, amen.	54:56
	(organ music)	55:02
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	57:18
	We believe in God, who has created, and is creating,	57:21
	who has come in the truly human Jesus,	57:27
	to reconcile and make new,	57:31
	who works in us and others by the Spirit.	57:34
	We trust God, who calls us to be the church,	57:38
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	57:44
	to love and serve others, to seek justice,	57:47
	and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus	57:52
	crucified and risen, our Judge and our Hope.	57:56
	In life,	58:01
	in death, in life beyond death,	58:03
	God is with us.	58:07
	We are not alone.	58:09
	Thanks be to God.	58:11
	The Lord be with you.	58:14
	Let us pray.	58:18
	Oh God of the universe, God of history,	58:28
	God of the human heart, we come before You again	58:32
	and again with joy, with songs of praise.	58:36
	Like the psalmist, we come to You to inquire,	58:41
	to be assured, so that we may behold Your glory.	58:45
	We are moved by Your inexpressible majesty	58:51
	and the mystery of Your creation.	58:54
	We are reassured by the unfolding	58:57
	of Your hidden purposes for life	58:59
	and Your infinity of creation.	59:01
	We are grateful for moments that startle us,	59:05
	for the grace within the unexpected	59:08
	with breaks open all our careful schemes.	59:10
	We thank You for each day of our lives,	59:15
	for the soaring moments of blessing	59:19
	and the searing times of despair.	59:22
	Help us to offer up both our joy	59:25
	and our sadness as acts of praise to You,	59:29
	the Lord and Giver of all life.	59:33
	We give thanks to You for the gifts and talents	59:37
	of those who serve humanity in this community.	59:39
	We are grateful for the healing skills of the members	59:43
	of the medical center, for the intellectual toughness	59:47
	and integrity of the academic community,	59:50
	and for the overlay of rational interpretation for those	59:54
	who train the spiritual ministers of the seminaries.	59:58
	And now, O God, through the intercession of Your Son,	1:00:04
	Jesus Christ, we lift up our petitions of concern.	1:00:08
	Remember, O God, and help the suffering	1:00:14
	of Your children throughout the world.	1:00:16
	Inspire Your people to forsake their greed	1:00:19
	and share the abundance of Your creation.	1:00:21
	Move the peoples of the third world to lift up	1:00:25
	their voices a way for the future.	1:00:28
	Help us to love our differentness,	1:00:32
	to accept the alien and the stranger in our shrinking world	1:00:34
	so that we may all be as neighbors.	1:00:39
	Help us to live out our conflicts so that Your peace,	1:00:42
	Your Kingdom, may finally come.	1:00:47
	Teach the leaders of nations the art of compromise	1:00:51
	where comprise is wise, and steadfastness	1:00:54
	where lives and security are being challenged.	1:00:58
	Help them to have your vision	1:01:02
	of social justice here and now.	1:01:04
	Open the prison doors that confine us	1:01:08
	in the unfreedom of lives too shallow, too empty,	1:01:11
	too angry to be of service to You.	1:01:15
	Give them courage to decide and live boldly in Your freedom.	1:01:18
	Touch with Your Spirit those who are trapped in pain	1:01:23
	in body, mind, or soul.	1:01:28
	Bring Your healing love into their aching, lonely lives.	1:01:31
	Give them faith to endure and hope to be able to see	1:01:35
	the vision of the peace of Your Kingdom come.	1:01:39
	And now, let us silently offer up our personal petitions	1:01:43
	to You, naming before You in this company someone	1:01:47
	who we know is burdened in some way.	1:01:52
	Now, O God, all these petitions we ask,	1:02:18
	in the name of our Lord and Savior,	1:02:23
	who taught us to pray together, our Father,	1:02:25
	who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.	1:02:29
	Thy Kingdom come, They will be done,	1:02:34
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	1:02:38
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:02:40
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:02:43
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	1:02:46
	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,	1:02:50
	for Thine is the Kingdom and the power	1:02:55
	and the glory forever.	1:02:59
	Amen.	1:03:02
	Let us praise God with our offering.	1:03:04
	(soft organ music)	1:03:09
	(dramatic organ music)	1:05:43
	(organ music)	1:06:17
	(upbeat organ music)	1:09:42
	O God, most merciful and gracious,	1:10:58
	of whose bounty we have all received,	1:11:02
	accept this offering of Thy people.	1:11:05
	Remember in Thy love those who have brought it	1:11:08
	and those for whom it is given,	1:11:11
	and so follow it with Thy blessing	1:11:14
	that it may promote peace and good will among all people	1:11:16
	and advance the kingdom of our Lord and Savior,	1:11:20
	Jesus Christ, amen.	1:11:23
	(organ music)	1:11:28
	The Lord bless you and keep you,	1:13:45
	the Lord make His face to shine upon you	1:13:49
	and be gracious to you.	1:13:52
	The Lord lift up His countenance upon you	1:13:54
	and give you peace, amen.	1:13:57
	(dramatic organ music)	1:14:02
	(audience quietly chatting)	1:17:10

Item Info

Title:

J. Davison Philips - "To Behold and to Inquire" (June 29, 1980)

Description:

The psalmist of Psalm 27 reminds us that there is no greater thing than to know the living God and to inquire deeply into God's character and what that means for our lives. We should, then, make this our chief prayer, that we might come to see the living God and to inquire in God's temple. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 27:12. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 55:00.
Key quotation: “How great a thing it is to listen to God, to know Him and listen to Him. Why not, then, make this at the top of any list you may have?”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r43b5wp21

Date:

June 29, 1980

Speaker:

Philips, J. Davison

Biblical Book:

John

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1101
ref7414_zii
uachapelsermaud
duke:321054
dcrau001980
ark:/87924/r43b5wp21
9ef0ca79-e4dc-4009-8566-7fe95b8959d4

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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J. Davison Philips - "To Behold and to Inquire" (June 29, 1980)

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