Charlene P. Kammerer - "On Your Mark" (August 17, 1980)
Loading the media player...
Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | Duke University Chapel Service of Worship. | 0:03 |
August 17, 1980. | 0:05 | |
(pipe organ) | 0:10 | |
("The Church's One Foundation" on the pipe organ) | 8:43 | |
- | Come let us worship the Lord. | 12:42 |
Let us bow down before the Lord, God, our Maker. | 12:44 | |
If we claim to be sinless, then we are self-deceived | 12:49 | |
and strangers to the truth. | 12:52 | |
If we confess our sins | 12:55 | |
God is just and may be trusted to forgive our sins | 12:57 | |
and cleanse us from every kind of wrong. | 13:01 | |
Let us admit then our sin before God. | 13:05 | |
O Lord, our God, we come before you | 13:09 | |
knowing we have tried to hide from you, | 13:13 | |
from one another, and from ourselves. | 13:16 | |
Somehow we have felt that by depending upon our own powers | 13:20 | |
we could solve the problems of life. | 13:25 | |
We have tried to escape by withdrawing | 13:28 | |
from the difficult, the challenging, | 13:31 | |
the crucifying experiences of life. | 13:34 | |
We have strayed far from the fullness of life | 13:38 | |
you have promised us. | 13:41 | |
Forgive us for our self-centeredness, | 13:43 | |
our proudness, our weakness, our blindness. | 13:46 | |
Have mercy upon us, that we may become your people anew. | 13:51 | |
So be it. | 13:56 | |
Amen. | 13:58 | |
Let each of us approach God in silence, | 14:01 | |
mediating upon our personal failings. | 14:06 | |
Amen. | 14:33 | |
Friends this statement is completely true | 14:35 | |
and should be universally accepted: | 14:38 | |
That Christ Jesus entered the world | 14:41 | |
to save us from sins. | 14:43 | |
He personally bore our sins upon himself on the cross | 14:46 | |
so that we might be dead to sin | 14:50 | |
and alive to all that is good. | 14:53 | |
If a person is in Jesus Christ, that person becomes | 14:56 | |
altogether new. | 15:00 | |
Everything has become fresh and new again. | 15:02 | |
Thanks be to God. | 15:07 | |
Let us give thanks, for God is good. | 15:11 | |
And God's love is everlasting. | 15:14 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 15:17 |
- | Let us pray. | 15:37 |
Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to accept your word. | 15:40 | |
Silence in us any voice but your own. | 15:45 | |
That hearing we may also obey your will | 15:49 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 15:51 | |
Amen. | 15:55 | |
The Old Testament reading this morning | 16:13 | |
comes from Jeremiah's writings, the 38th chapter. | 16:14 | |
Beginning with verse 1b and concluding | 16:21 | |
with the 13th verse. | 16:28 | |
The Lord had said, "Whoever stays on in the city will die | 16:33 | |
in war or of starvation or disease. | 16:37 | |
But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians will | 16:43 | |
not be killed; he at least will escape with his life." | 16:47 | |
I was also telling them that the Lord had said, "I am going | 16:53 | |
to give the city to the Babylonian army, | 16:56 | |
and they will capture it." | 16:59 | |
Then the officials went to the king and said, "This man | 17:02 | |
must be put to death. By talking like this he is making | 17:05 | |
the soldiers in the city lose their courage, and he is doing | 17:10 | |
the same thing to everyone else left in the city. | 17:14 | |
He is not trying to help the people; | 17:18 | |
he only wants to hurt them." | 17:19 | |
King Zedekiah answered, "Very well, then, | 17:23 | |
do what you want to with him; I can't stop you." | 17:28 | |
So they took me and let me down by ropes | 17:34 | |
into Prince Malchiah's well, which was | 17:38 | |
in the palace courtyard. | 17:42 | |
There was no water in the well, only mud, | 17:44 | |
and I sank down into it. | 17:47 | |
However, Ebedmelech the Sudanese, a eunuch who worked | 17:50 | |
in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. | 17:54 | |
At that time the king was holding court | 17:58 | |
at the Benjamin Gate. So Ebedmelech went there and said | 18:01 | |
to the king, "Your Majesty, what these men have done | 18:04 | |
is wrong. | 18:08 | |
They have put Jeremiah in the well, | 18:10 | |
where he is sure to die of starvation, | 18:12 | |
since there is no more food in the city." | 18:15 | |
Then the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him | 18:18 | |
three men and to pull me out of the well before I died. | 18:21 | |
So Ebedmelech went with the men to the palace storeroom | 18:26 | |
and got some worn-out clothing which he let down to me | 18:29 | |
by ropes. | 18:33 | |
He told me to put the rags under my arms, | 18:35 | |
so that the ropes wouldn't hurt me. | 18:38 | |
I did this, and they pulled me up out of the well. | 18:41 | |
After that I was kept in the courtyard. | 18:44 | |
The New Testament Reading, from Luke's Gospel, | 18:50 | |
begins with the 12th, | 18:55 | |
I'm sorry begins with the 49th verse of the 12th chapter | 18:59 | |
and concludes with the 52nd. | 19:02 | |
Will the congregation please rise | 19:04 | |
for the reading of the Gospel? | 19:06 | |
Jesus speaks. | 19:15 | |
"I came to set fire on the earth, and how I wish | 19:19 | |
it were already kindled! | 19:25 | |
I have a baptism to receive, and how distressed I am | 19:28 | |
until it is over! | 19:31 | |
Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? | 19:34 | |
No, not peace, but division. | 19:39 | |
From now on a family of five will be divided, | 19:46 | |
three against two | 19:51 | |
and two against three." | 19:55 | |
May God give us understanding to this reading | 20:00 | |
of his word. | 20:02 | |
Amen. | 20:04 | |
(bright pipe organ plays) | 20:06 | |
- | Grace and peace be onto you from God our creator | 21:11 |
and Jesus Christ, our forerunner in the faith. | 21:16 | |
We welcome you to the Duke University Chapel | 21:20 | |
this morning and trust that you will be inspired | 21:23 | |
as you worship with us here in this beautiful setting | 21:26 | |
and in this beautiful place. | 21:30 | |
Our lectionary text this morning call us to examine | 21:35 | |
one particular theme of faith. | 21:39 | |
And I believe that this theme points us | 21:43 | |
to a deeper understanding of the way of faith | 21:46 | |
and the way that is to be in our lives. | 21:51 | |
The biblical witness instructs us that part of the way | 21:54 | |
of faith is the way through suffering | 22:00 | |
onto glory. | 22:04 | |
Indeed, we remember historically that the way | 22:06 | |
to the promised land was the way through 40 years | 22:10 | |
in the wilderness. | 22:14 | |
We remember that the way to the | 22:16 | |
resurrection experience | 22:20 | |
was the road to the crucifixion. | 22:23 | |
We remember that the unveiling of eternal life | 22:27 | |
is somehow the way of our own mortal death. | 22:31 | |
It seems to me that the ongoing story | 22:36 | |
of God's people reveals to us that the way of suffering | 22:38 | |
does bring us to eventual glory. | 22:43 | |
The question I want us to ask of ourselves today is this: | 22:48 | |
are we prepared to suffer, | 22:54 | |
to endure, to persevere, | 22:57 | |
to keep on keeping on, this journey of faith | 23:00 | |
until we reach the glory line, the finish line? | 23:05 | |
For I believe that we have been called to run this race | 23:10 | |
that is set before us, that is our very own life. | 23:14 | |
I am aware that running has become a national pastime | 23:21 | |
for us. | 23:26 | |
We seem as a people to be determined to run. | 23:27 | |
We are told that we run for our health. | 23:32 | |
We certainly run for our stress. | 23:35 | |
We run for our highs | 23:38 | |
and we run for achievement. | 23:41 | |
I think that we are often willing to run | 23:44 | |
and to dig into that task | 23:47 | |
even for its own sake. | 23:51 | |
I'm also convinced that when we run, | 23:54 | |
and I confess I'm a runner, too, | 23:57 | |
there's a conviction that our strength in running | 24:00 | |
is somehow parallel to our style. | 24:04 | |
What I mean by that is that I see that Adidas | 24:08 | |
and Nike and Converse are our trademarks | 24:11 | |
for success in running. | 24:15 | |
I have many friends who house impressive collections | 24:19 | |
of t-shirts which are rewards | 24:23 | |
for respectfully completing | 24:26 | |
fun races all over the country. | 24:29 | |
And I confess that my collection at this time | 24:32 | |
is very small. | 24:35 | |
But I do know that we all seem to put a lot of energy | 24:37 | |
and commitment in running in our culture these days. | 24:41 | |
One campus minister at the University of Illinois | 24:46 | |
has written a paper on the theology of running. | 24:50 | |
Running for some has become the way of salvation. | 24:55 | |
If we find ourselves getting so caught up | 25:01 | |
in the thrills of running and what that does for us | 25:04 | |
how much more ought we to prepare ourselves | 25:09 | |
for the race of life that is set before us? | 25:14 | |
The suffering that every runner I know, including myself, | 25:18 | |
endures is nothing compared to the thrill | 25:23 | |
of personal victory in our running. | 25:27 | |
Suffering is a given. | 25:30 | |
You embrace it because you can see yourself | 25:32 | |
beyond that point and you know that you will get beyond | 25:36 | |
the physical pain. | 25:40 | |
It is the conditioning of the body | 25:42 | |
and the heightened awareness that comes to us | 25:45 | |
that show up glimpses of glory in our physical running. | 25:49 | |
Now as far as I know, the prophet Jeremiah | 25:56 | |
was not a runner. | 25:59 | |
I do know that he was sometimes run out of town | 26:02 | |
because of his preaching. | 26:05 | |
And I do know that sometimes he ran away from the visions | 26:08 | |
that God called him to see. | 26:13 | |
But I also know that Jeremiah did not run away | 26:16 | |
from the call of the Lord God, Yahweh, | 26:19 | |
who had a final claim on his life. | 26:24 | |
Jeremiah was a prophet who seemed to know | 26:28 | |
about the suffering and about perseverance. | 26:32 | |
Perhaps in your remembering of the lesson | 26:37 | |
of the Old Testament, you will think | 26:40 | |
that this is a rather obscure reference | 26:42 | |
to the life of Jeremiah the prophet. | 26:45 | |
But for me, this one event highlights | 26:48 | |
a great Biblical truth. | 26:51 | |
Once again, not unsurprisingly, | 26:55 | |
Jeremiah has predicted | 26:59 | |
the destruction of Jerusalem. | 27:01 | |
He preaches destruction because he is genuinely convinced | 27:04 | |
that judgment is coming to Jerusalem from Yahweh. | 27:09 | |
The government response, naturally, to this doomsday-style | 27:14 | |
of preaching is a charge of treason, which they present | 27:18 | |
before Jeremiah. | 27:22 | |
I assume that will be the government's official way | 27:25 | |
to silence this prophet. | 27:28 | |
And therefore the king turns over Jeremiah | 27:31 | |
to the local officials who have a clever plan for his death. | 27:34 | |
Jeremiah find himself cast into a miry cistern | 27:40 | |
owned by the king's son. | 27:45 | |
It is the slimy mud in that cistern | 27:48 | |
which is causing Jeremiah to sink further and further away | 27:52 | |
from life itself. | 27:57 | |
And then we hear that his life is spared | 27:59 | |
because of the deliverance and the intervention | 28:03 | |
of an Ethiopian member of the king's household. | 28:07 | |
The deliverance of Jeremiah from this death point | 28:12 | |
in his own life from being swallowed up by that mud | 28:15 | |
and then being delivered again to the gate of the king | 28:20 | |
for service, seems to me to be a rather dramatic tale | 28:24 | |
in and of itself. | 28:29 | |
And yet I am aware that that is not the main point | 28:31 | |
of this story in Jeremiah's life. | 28:35 | |
The Jeremiah passage reveals to us clearly | 28:38 | |
that the proclamation Jeremiah's preaching | 28:43 | |
brought him rejection and suffering. | 28:48 | |
Abraham Heschel, an Old Testament scholar, | 28:53 | |
claims that the suffering of Jeremiah's prophetic life | 28:57 | |
was so great that indeed it foreshadowed the very passion | 29:02 | |
and suffering of our own Lord, Jesus. | 29:06 | |
Here, Jeremiah was a person, a prophet, | 29:11 | |
who did run well the race set before him | 29:15 | |
The Epistle lesson today comes from a well-known section | 29:21 | |
of Paul's letter to the Hebrews in chapter 12. | 29:25 | |
Preceding this passage is a role call | 29:30 | |
of the Old Testament heroes and heroines of our faith. | 29:33 | |
The name of Jeremiah has a place among that number | 29:38 | |
and among the faithful. | 29:42 | |
We hear names like Abraham, | 29:44 | |
Sarah, Moses, and Rahab. | 29:47 | |
And many more servants of God who were witnesses | 29:51 | |
to the power of faith that helped them to endure | 29:55 | |
every temptation. | 29:59 | |
These people who went before us in the faith | 30:01 | |
are called a cloud of witnesses. | 30:05 | |
And Paul says they are like spectators | 30:08 | |
at a race track. | 30:12 | |
Those who have run before us now watch us | 30:13 | |
in our race of life and they not only watch | 30:17 | |
but they help to cheer us on. | 30:21 | |
While watching the Democratic Convention this week | 30:24 | |
on TV, I was very aware of the presence | 30:28 | |
of Hubert Humphry who was certainly one of the | 30:31 | |
modern-day clouds of witness for the Democratic Party. | 30:35 | |
Now Paul goes on to tell us that | 30:41 | |
the nature of this race set before us. | 30:45 | |
He says that this race, which is our very own life and work, | 30:49 | |
was chosen for us. | 30:55 | |
We did not enter the race of our own accord. | 30:57 | |
We were entered by God's way of faith. | 31:01 | |
Further more, Paul identifies the very point at which | 31:05 | |
we became participants in this life or death race. | 31:10 | |
Our name, our life, is entered on the very day | 31:15 | |
of our baptism into the Christian Church. | 31:20 | |
Thus, Paul's letter goes on to encourage and exhort us | 31:25 | |
to be ready for that race. | 31:30 | |
And he tells us that before we run, | 31:33 | |
we must strip ourselves of any sin that will encumber | 31:36 | |
our journey and our race. | 31:41 | |
And also it is very clear that we must be willing | 31:45 | |
to accept the suffering that will come. | 31:48 | |
If we can do that, it will lead us to the finish line | 31:52 | |
as victors. | 31:56 | |
Jesus, in the New Testament, is referred to as | 32:00 | |
the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith. | 32:04 | |
He has done things even greater than those | 32:09 | |
Old Testament stalwart characters of faith. | 32:11 | |
It is in Jesus the Christ that we see the initiation | 32:16 | |
of the complete way of faith. | 32:21 | |
And I'm convinced that it is this way too | 32:24 | |
that through suffering leads us to glory. | 32:28 | |
Jesus is called the perfecter of our faith | 32:33 | |
because he completed the race set before him by God. | 32:36 | |
Because I am a minister in a time where there are still | 32:43 | |
few ordained women, I sometimes hear myself | 32:48 | |
being described as a pioneer. | 32:53 | |
Marjorie Matthews, newly-elected Bishop of the | 32:57 | |
United Methodist Church, was asked in an interview | 33:00 | |
what it felt like to be a pioneer, to be the first | 33:05 | |
woman Bishop. | 33:09 | |
Her response was, "It feels like being the first woman | 33:11 | |
on the moon." | 33:16 | |
I get asked this question, too. | 33:18 | |
How does it feel to be a pioneer? | 33:22 | |
Let me tell you that it is never easy to be a pioneer. | 33:26 | |
You are aware that the course before you is | 33:32 | |
mostly uncharted. | 33:35 | |
You feel a burden of running your race well | 33:38 | |
so that others who follow you will continue running | 33:43 | |
and will not drop out. | 33:47 | |
There is a very keen motivation to persevere, | 33:50 | |
to continue running at all cost. | 33:54 | |
There is also for me though, the deep knowledge | 33:59 | |
that other women have indeed gone before us | 34:03 | |
and perhaps their journeys were never recorded. | 34:07 | |
But because of them, I know it is possible for me | 34:11 | |
to run this race. | 34:14 | |
For me, there is blessing in being part | 34:17 | |
of this new creation under the sun. | 34:21 | |
For me, there is blessing to be part of the future | 34:25 | |
that is unfolding before us all. | 34:30 | |
For me, there is a sense of excitement | 34:33 | |
because there is an awareness that you are creating history. | 34:37 | |
And for me, there is much, much hope | 34:42 | |
because the pioneer of our faith, | 34:46 | |
Jesus the Christ, enables us | 34:50 | |
to enter that race and to do so anew with courage. | 34:53 | |
The Gospel reading today declares that all believers | 35:00 | |
in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord God | 35:05 | |
are entrants in this race. | 35:09 | |
Likewise it declares that all believers are drawn into | 35:12 | |
the same pathway of suffering. | 35:16 | |
Luke went on to enumerate various forms | 35:19 | |
of suffering of the early church. | 35:23 | |
Personal rejection might be a consequence | 35:26 | |
of the way of faith. | 35:30 | |
Ostracism from family and society | 35:33 | |
might be a consequence of the way of faith. | 35:37 | |
Even martyrdom for some was a consequence | 35:41 | |
of the way of faith. | 35:46 | |
Luke proclaimed this truth as he understood it | 35:49 | |
about the very life of Jesus. | 35:52 | |
If there was no cross, there would be no crown. | 35:55 | |
Somehow this way of faith involves finding our way | 36:00 | |
through suffering to the glory revealed by God. | 36:05 | |
No cross, no crown. | 36:11 | |
I see that this was true in the life of Jeremiah | 36:15 | |
who suffered with the scorn that his preaching brought. | 36:19 | |
This was true of the cloud of witnesses, | 36:25 | |
early ancestors of faith, who died without seeing | 36:28 | |
the glory yet to come, | 36:33 | |
This was true as well for Jesus, the pioneer | 36:36 | |
and perfecter of our faith. | 36:40 | |
This was true for early Christians, who suffered | 36:43 | |
persecution for the way of faith. | 36:47 | |
It is just as surely true for Christians today. | 36:51 | |
The precise form our suffering takes | 36:56 | |
is known only to us and the community of faith | 36:59 | |
as we walk in the way of faith. | 37:04 | |
I believe that we are called this day | 37:08 | |
anew to pursue the way of faith. | 37:11 | |
Our names have been entered in this race | 37:16 | |
whether we like it our not. | 37:20 | |
And our hope and our strength comes in running | 37:23 | |
with endurance the race that is set before us. | 37:27 | |
Whether we have a pair of Adidas or not, | 37:32 | |
the question for all of us today is, | 37:35 | |
are we ready? | 37:38 | |
And the call from God himself to us is | 37:41 | |
on your mark, get set, go. | 37:45 | |
Amen. | 37:52 | |
Let us pray. | 37:55 | |
Eternal Lord, our God, whose church triumphant | 38:01 | |
is made up of generations of faithful Christians | 38:06 | |
who victoriously faced difficulties, discouragement, | 38:10 | |
and persecution, encourage us by their witness, | 38:15 | |
that we may run with perseverance the race | 38:20 | |
that you have set before us. | 38:23 | |
For we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 38:25 | |
Amen. | 38:29 | |
(organ music) | 38:36 | |
(congregation sings) | 39:09 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 41:34 |
- | [Congregation in Unison] We believe in God | 41:37 |
who has created and is creating. | 41:39 | |
Who has come in the truly human Jesus | 41:42 | |
to reconcile and make new | 41:46 | |
who works in us and others by the Spirit. | 41:49 | |
We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 41:53 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 41:58 | |
to love and serve others, | 42:01 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 42:04 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 42:07 | |
our judge and our hope, in life, in death, | 42:11 | |
in life beyond death. | 42:17 | |
God is with us. | 42:19 | |
We are not alone. | 42:21 | |
Thanks be to God. | 42:23 | |
Leader | The Lord be with you. | 42:27 |
Let us pray. | 42:30 | |
Holy God, we praise you and we thank you | 42:43 | |
for the very gift of life. | 42:47 | |
Forgive us for our compulsion to enter races | 42:52 | |
which you would not have us run. | 42:55 | |
The race to amass nuclear armaments. | 43:00 | |
The race to become somebody by the accumulation | 43:05 | |
of wealth or social distinctions. | 43:09 | |
Set us, we pray, upon the good race. | 43:14 | |
Enable us to find our security | 43:19 | |
and our sense of dignity and self-worth in you. | 43:23 | |
And then train us for the race that you would have us run. | 43:30 | |
Make us sensitive to the needs of others | 43:37 | |
and eager to do whatever we can to help them. | 43:40 | |
For the sick, the poor, the lonely, | 43:45 | |
grant that we may be kind, generous and patient. | 43:51 | |
Help us to forgive when forgiving is not in our power. | 43:56 | |
To hope when we can see nothing more to hope for. | 44:02 | |
To give when it seems that we have nothing more | 44:07 | |
left to give. | 44:12 | |
Teach us to look to you for everything we need. | 44:15 | |
Strengthen us as we pray together the prayer | 44:20 | |
of our Lord. | 44:24 | |
Our father who art in heaven | 44:26 | |
hallowed by they name. | 44:29 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 44:32 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 44:35 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 44:38 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 44:41 | |
as we forgive those trespass against us. | 44:44 | |
And lead us not into temptation | 44:47 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 44:50 | |
For thine is the kingdom and the power | 44:53 | |
and the glory forever. | 44:57 | |
Amen. | 44:59 | |
(pipe organ plays) | 45:10 | |
("All Creatures of Our God and King on the pipe organ) | 51:53 | |
- | Holy God, giver of life, | 53:40 |
we thank you for all the resources that you have given us | 53:43 | |
to do mission. | 53:48 | |
We humbly pray that you will accept these our gifts | 53:51 | |
to serve you in this place. | 53:56 | |
Help us ever to be mindful of the needs of others | 54:00 | |
and to give ourselves entirely to you. | 54:04 | |
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, | 54:08 | |
in Jesus' name we pray. | 54:11 | |
Amen. | 54:13 | |
(pipe organ plays) | 54:16 | |
(choir joins pipe organ) | 55:01 | |
- | I repeat to you Paul's charge to us as Christians: | 58:27 |
to run the race that is set before us | 58:33 | |
relying upon the strength of God. | 58:36 | |
And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ | 58:40 | |
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, | 58:44 | |
the love of God the father be with you all. | 58:47 | |
Amen. | 58:50 | |
(pipe organ plays) | 58:55 |