Charlene P. Kammerer - "On Your Mark" (August 17, 1980)

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-	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

Item Info

Title:

Charlene P. Kammerer - "On Your Mark" (August 17, 1980)

Description:

Sermon start time: 21:11. Sermon end time: 37:54.
Through the metaphor of running a race, Kammerer emphasizes that suffering brings us closer to God. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “The ongoing story of God’s people reveals that the way through suffering brings us to eventual glory. The question we ask of ourselves this day is: Are we prepared to suffer, to endure, to persevere, to keep on keeping on this journey of faith until we reach the “glory finish-line”? We have been called to “run the race” of life that is set before us.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4c53ff9w

Date:

August 17, 1980

Speaker:

Kammerer, Charlene P.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1108
ref7428_wix
uachapelsermaud
duke:320827
dcrau001987
ark:/87924/r4c53ff9w
d22141a3-1a55-4cf9-98d9-401017ed9945

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Charlene P. Kammerer - "On Your Mark" (August 17, 1980)

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