Robert T. Young - "Surprised by Grace" (January 11, 1981)

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	(organ music)	0:03
	(soft music)	7:14
	(choir singing)	10:43
	(intense music)	12:05
	(choir singing)	14:01
-	Let us know honestly confess before God,	16:37
	the things that we have done or failed to do,	16:40
	which have caused us to be less effective servants.	16:44
	Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned	16:50
	against you in thought, word, and deed.	16:54
	We have thought of ourselves more highly than we ought,	16:58
	forgetting that your favor rests on all your children.	17:01
	We have spoken the false witness of empty promises,	17:06
	idol, gossip, and calculated lies	17:10
	preferring our own advantage to the advancement of truth.	17:14
	We have labored long to protect our power	17:19
	and promote our privilege, ignoring the desperate condition	17:22
	of your people and the commandment to deny ourselves	17:26
	through love and service to others.	17:30
	We have left undone those things which we ought	17:33
	to have done, and we have done those things	17:36
	which we ought not to have done.	17:40
	In the darkness of pride, we imagine ourselves good.	17:42
	But in the light of your holy Law,	17:47
	we are miserable offenders.	17:50
	For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, have mercy upon us.	17:52
	Forgive us our sins against you	17:58
	and your children, our neighbors.	18:00
	Create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit,	18:03
	that we may again love mercy, seek justice,	18:08
	and walk in your way through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	18:12
	Hear these words of assurance.	18:43
	God raises up the needy out of affliction.	18:45
	Whoever is wise, let him give heed to these things.	18:49
	Let us consider the steadfast love of the Lord, amen.	18:53
	On this beautiful day, we welcome you	19:01
	to the Duke University Chapel.	19:03
	And in the context of this celebration weekend,	19:06
	with the inaugural festivities going on in our state,	19:10
	we are especially pleased to have so many	19:14
	special friends and guests with us this day.	19:16
	We welcome you, we hope that you will be inspired,	19:20
	and are glad that you are here with us	19:23
	on this very special day, for our service	19:25
	of elected officials.	19:29
	Some of you may already have heard the news,	19:34
	but I want to announce the very unexpected	19:37
	and untimely death last evening of Dr. Harry Levy,	19:41
	whose wife, Ernestine Friedle is dean of Trinity College.	19:46
	Dr. Levy died suddenly in his sleep last night.	19:52
	A memorial service for Dr. Levy	19:56
	will be held in the chapel this Wednesday,	19:59
	January 14 at three o'clock in the afternoon.	20:02
	For those who may be interested,	20:07
	the family has requested that no flowers be sent.	20:10
	Rather gifts may be given to the Duke Library.	20:14
-	Let us pray.	20:31
	Oh Lord and lover of us all,	20:35
	cause the pure light of your divine knowledge	20:39
	to shine forth in our hearts.	20:41
	And open the eyes of our understanding,	20:45
	that we may comprehend the ways of your Gospel.	20:49
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	20:53
	The Old Testament lesson is from Psalms	21:00
	chapter 84, verses one through five and 10 through 12.	21:03
	How lovely is thy dwelling place, oh Lord of hosts.	21:12
	My soul longs, ye faints for the courts of the Lord.	21:17
	My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.	21:22
	Even the sparrow finds a home,	21:26
	and the swallow a nest for herself	21:30
	where she may lay her young at thy alters,	21:32
	oh Lord of hosts, my king and my God.	21:36
	Blessed are those who dwell in thy house,	21:41
	ever singing thy praise, selah.	21:44
	Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee,	21:49
	and whose hearts are the highways to zion.	21:52
	Ye the Lord will give what is good	21:57
	and our land will yield its increase.	22:00
	Righteousness will go before him	22:04
	and make his footsteps a way.	22:07
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	22:11
	Amen.	22:14
	(soft music)	22:25
	(men singing)	22:30
	(women singing)	23:13
	Is from Matthew chapter 20, verses one through 16.	24:41
	For the kingdom of heaven is like a house holder,	24:58
	who went out early in the morning	25:02
	to hire laborers for his vineyard.	25:04
	After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day,	25:07
	he sent them into his vineyard.	25:11
	And going out, about the third hour,	25:14
	he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.	25:17
	And to them he said, you go into the vineyard too	25:21
	and whatever is right, I will give you.	25:26
	So they went.	25:31
	Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour,	25:33
	he did the same.	25:37
	And about the 11th hour he went out	25:39
	and found others standing.	25:41
	And he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day?	25:43
	They said to him, because no one has hired us.	25:49
	He said to them, you go into the vineyard too.	25:54
	And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard	25:58
	said to his steward, call the laborers	26:01
	and pay them their wages, beginning with the last,	26:04
	up to the first.	26:08
	And when those hired about the 11th hour came,	26:11
	each of them received a denarius.	26:14
	Now when the first came,	26:18
	they thought they would receive more,	26:20
	but each of them also received a denarius.	26:22
	And on receiving it, they grumbled at the house holder	26:26
	saying these last worked only one hour,	26:29
	and you have made them equal to us	26:34
	who have borne of the day and the scorching heat.	26:36
	But he replied to one of them, friend,	26:41
	I am doing you no wrong.	26:45
	Did you not agree with me for a denarius?	26:47
	Take what belongs to you and go.	26:51
	I choose to give to this last as I give to you.	26:54
	Am I not allowed to do what I choose	27:00
	with what belongs to me?	27:03
	Or do you begrudge by generosity.	27:05
	So the last will be first, and the first last.	27:10
	(organ music)	27:17
	(choir singing)	27:24
	Now the kingdom of heaven is like a householder.	28:16
	So Jesus begins one other of His parables	28:22
	about the kingdom of God.	28:27
	As one thinks about the parables that	28:31
	Jesus taught and left with us,	28:34
	one is reminded that most	28:38
	of the parables Jesus told	28:39
	have some semblance of touch	28:41
	with the real world in which he and his listeners lived.	28:45
	Most of the stories were so	28:50
	realistic and earthy and commonplace,	28:52
	that his listeners themselves,	28:55
	could've told them just as easily as he did.	28:57
	Most of the parables, as a matter of fact,	29:01
	are simply little vignettes out of the daily lives that	29:04
	He and His neighbors lived.	29:07
	The woman searching for the lost coin.	29:11
	The shepherd going the last mile to find his sheep.	29:13
	The father welcoming home his long lost younger son.	29:17
	The warning not to put a new patch on an old garment.	29:21
	The warning about the bride groom coming at an unknown time.	29:25
	But the parable which has been read	29:31
	for our scripture lesson for today is absolutely absurd.	29:33
	That is, it is absurd in the economic,	29:39
	the real, the psychological, the practical,	29:42
	the day to day world.	29:46
	It just does not make any sense.	29:47
	It's a kind of story that would wreak havoc	29:52
	with the AFL and the CIO.	29:56
	Or with the American Association of Manufacturers.	29:59
	The Chamber of Commerce would tell business,	30:02
	would never tell business that this is the way	30:06
	that wages are paid in our town.	30:09
	No business would say that this is the way	30:12
	its wages are paid by it.	30:15
	No government would dare to try to get	30:18
	either labor or management to operate on these principles.	30:21
	Most of Jesus' parables describe life	30:26
	as it works best in the everyday.	30:29
	But this one just will not work.	30:33
	The householder would go out of business.	30:36
	The early workers would be angry	30:39
	as they were in this story.	30:41
	The later workers would think that the owner	30:43
	was out of his head.	30:46
	This parable just will not work.	30:48
	But I'm glad that it does.	30:53
	For every time I read it, I am surprised by grace.	30:56
	I am surprised by the grace of God	31:00
	which does operate just like the householder	31:02
	operates in this story.	31:06
	Read, reflect, ponder, meditate.	31:09
	Consider any words, any story you will.	31:13
	There is no story in all of scripture or in literature	31:16
	that any more beautifully or personally or reassuringly	31:20
	tells me about the gift of life and the grace of God	31:23
	than this particular parable does.	31:27
	First of all, I am surprised by grace	31:31
	when I realize that life is a gift.	31:33
	An absolute free, unmerited,	31:36
	unearned, undeserved gift.	31:39
	The life of each of us is a gift,	31:42
	a gift from the source of life, even the Lord of life.	31:44
	That's what this parable tells me.	31:48
	We are here through the mercy, the love, the grace	31:51
	of the householder of all creation.	31:54
	And that says to me, my friends, that God needs us.	31:58
	James Weldon Johnson says it in his creation poem.	32:03
	God was lonely	32:07
	and God said I think I'll make me a man.	32:10
	And scripture says,	32:16
	"male and female created He them,	32:18
	"in the image of God, created He them."	32:21
	God wants us, needs us,	32:25
	created us,	32:30
	placed us here, now in this place, this time.	32:31
	You, me.	32:35
	Does that not surprise you?	32:39
	It does me.	32:42
	God cannot get along without us, without you	32:45
	or without me.	32:49
	It's like George Elliott describes	32:52
	in her poem on Antonio Stradivari,	32:56
	the maker of the famous Stradivarius violins.	33:00
	She tells how Antonio felt that while God gave	33:04
	the great musicians music,	33:09
	he, Stradivari,	33:12
	gave the great musicians the violins.	33:15
	And then he reflects and says,	33:19
	if my hand slacked,	33:22
	I should rob God.	33:25
	He could not make Antonio Stradivarius	33:28
	violins without Antonio.	33:31
	And so God cannot,	33:36
	and that surprises me.	33:39
	Just as God needs us and places us in this here and now	33:43
	and in this place, you and I need a place.	33:46
	We need the marketplace, we need a vineyard,	33:51
	we need as Paul Torniay, the Swiss psychiatrist tells us,	33:54
	we need a place to stand and we have it.	33:58
	And that always surprises me.	34:03
	When I stop and realize that I am living	34:07
	in the here and now, in this marketplace called life,	34:10
	in this world, in today's vineyard,	34:15
	on this good earth with all its limitations	34:17
	and with all its possibilities.	34:20
	when I stop that I think that I am here,	34:22
	allowed to be, to do, to think, to grow,	34:25
	to create, to give, to help, to love, to serve,	34:27
	to care, to heal.	34:31
	I am surprised.	34:34
	When I pause and ponder, I am astonished	34:38
	at the grace of God, absolutely amazed.	34:40
	Just as amazed and surprised and pleased,	34:43
	as were the workers who were invited to go	34:46
	from the marketplace into the vineyard.	34:49
	Where you see, we not only need life	34:52
	we not only need to be alive and well and breathing.	34:54
	We need and want and long for life with a purpose.	34:57
	We need to hear somebody, some voice, some word say to us	35:02
	go and work in the vineyard.	35:07
	And so God speaks.	35:11
	And that always surprises me.	35:14
	I never hear God speak to me, and	35:17
	I hear that very infrequently.	35:21
	That is, if God just does not get through to me very often.	35:25
	But I never hear God speak to me,	35:28
	nor hear of God speaking to someone else.	35:30
	But what I am surprised,	35:33
	like Noah was.	35:37
	Like Abraham was.	35:40
	Like Moses was.	35:42
	Like Amos was.	35:44
	Like Paul was.	35:47
	Surprised by the grace of God.	35:49
	Thus, the third thing in this parable	35:54
	that makes me surprised about the grace of God	35:56
	is that God does call us.	35:58
	God needs us, that surprises me.	36:01
	God places us in this marketplace	36:04
	that is in life, and that surprises me.	36:06
	And then God calls us, and that surprises me even more.	36:07
	We not only need the marketplace,	36:11
	we not only need the vineyard.	36:13
	We need the householder to move us	36:15
	from the marketplace to the vineyard.	36:18
	God calls, in other words, and that always surprises me.	36:20
	Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one,	36:25
	who in the days of most of us,	36:29
	truly heard God call him from the marketplace	36:32
	to the vineyard.	36:37
	Dr. King, in one of his writings tells of an experience	36:40
	when he heard God call and he describes it	36:42
	something like this.	36:45
	"It happened on a night in January of 1956."	36:47
	And many of us can recall what the times	36:54
	of the middle '50s were like.	36:57
	Dr. King when to bed after he had had a long and trying day,	37:00
	but he could not fall asleep.	37:05
	A threatening telephone call came to him	37:08
	and it brought him to the saturation point	37:11
	of fear and anxiety.	37:13
	He reports that he got a pot of coffee,	37:15
	and he sat alone at his kitchen table.	37:17
	And then he writes.	37:21
	"In this state of exhaustion,	37:25
	"when my courage had all but gone,	37:29
	"I decided to take my problem to God.	37:34
	"With my head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table	37:39
	"and I prayed out loud.	37:43
	"The words I spoke to God that night are still	37:44
	"vivid in my memory.	37:47
	"I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right.	37:51
	"But now he said to God, I am afraid.	37:55
	"The people are looking to me for leadership	38:00
	"and if I stand before them without strength and courage,	38:02
	"they too will falter.	38:05
	"I am at the end of my powers.	38:07
	"I have nothing left.	38:09
	"I've come to the point where I can't face it alone."	38:11
	And at that point, Dr. King reports that he experienced	38:17
	the presence of the divine as he had never, ever before	38:20
	experienced the presence of God.	38:24
	"It seems", he writes, "as though I could hear the quiet	38:26
	"assurance of an inner voice saying to me,	38:30
	"stand up for righteousness.	38:34
	"Stand up for truth,	38:36
	"and God will be at your side forever.	38:38
	"Almost at once, he says, my fears began to go.	38:44
	"My uncertainty disappeared.	38:49
	"I was ready to face anything."	38:53
	God calls, God says to us, stand for righteousness,	38:59
	stand for truth, stand for goodness, stand for justice,	39:04
	stand for love and my friends, my child	39:08
	I will be by your side forever.	39:11
	And that grace always surprises me.	39:17
	The grace where God says,	39:21
	I will be by your side forever	39:24
	always surprises me.	39:27
	And so my dear friends, there is much to do	39:33
	in the vineyard, even yet.	39:35
	We have not by any means run out of work.	39:38
	We have not finished the tasks which God	39:40
	has called us to do.	39:42
	There are still human needs to be met.	39:44
	There are wrongs to be righted, hurts to be healed,	39:46
	justice to be done.	39:49
	Human dignity to be affirmed.	39:51
	We need to learn how to be together, to live together	39:53
	and to love together.	39:57
	God calls us.	40:00
	And in order to do what God calls us to do,	40:02
	we need God's presence and strength and grace	40:04
	by our sides forever.	40:08
	It's like Peter Marshall.	40:12
	You remember who was chaplain in the US Senate for two years	40:16
	before his very sudden, tragic death.	40:20
	He prayed,	40:25
	one Wednesday in July of 1947.	40:27
	"Oh Lord of our lives,	40:31
	"will thou teach us true discrimination	40:34
	"that we may be able to discern the difference	40:38
	"between faith and fatalism.	40:40
	"Between activity and accomplishment.	40:43
	"Between humility and an inferiority complex.	40:46
	"Between a passing salute to God	40:50
	"and a real prayer that seeks to find out God's will.	40:54
	"We can stand criticism.	40:59
	"We can stand a certain amount of pressure.	41:02
	"But we cannot stand, oh God, the necessity	41:05
	"of making grave decisions with nothing	41:07
	"but our own poor human wisdom.	41:10
	"Our heads are not enough.	41:14
	"And our hearts fail us."	41:16
	And then Peter Marshall in this prayer says,	41:19
	"cabbage have heads,	41:22
	"but they have no souls.	41:24
	"We who are created in the image of God	41:27
	"are restless and unhappy until we know	41:31
	"that we are doing thy will,	41:34
	"by thy help."	41:38
	So there is one more thing in this strange parable.	41:42
	God needs us.	41:47
	God places us in the marketplace.	41:49
	God calls us.	41:51
	And then God gives us something to do.	41:52
	Our vocation, our calling.	41:56
	Something to be, to do, to serve, to labor in the vineyard,	41:58
	to be a part of God's mission and ministry	42:02
	in this day and in this time.	42:04
	And here, I believe, is where this particular parable	42:07
	affirms the ultimate significance of the individual	42:10
	human being in the eyes of God.	42:14
	Here the parable says that everyone who goes	42:17
	into the vineyard has ultimate worth.	42:20
	Here the parable says that all of us will be treated	42:23
	equally in God's vineyard.	42:26
	Here the parable says that we will all receive	42:29
	the same from God.	42:32
	All of us will receive the same from God,	42:35
	that is,	42:37
	we will receive the fullness of God's grace.	42:39
	Strange, isn't it?	42:45
	God needs us.	42:48
	God places us here.	42:49
	God calls us.	42:50
	God gives us something to do.	42:51
	God gives us life.	42:52
	And then God rewards us for living.	42:53
	No wonder I'm surprised by grace.	42:59
	And you?	43:03
	Laboring in the vineyard may sound like it is tough.	43:07
	It may seem very hard.	43:11
	But if we read this parable carefully	43:14
	we see what working in the vineyard is contrasted with.	43:16
	Working in the vineyard is seen to be	43:21
	in contrast with loitering or loafing	43:22
	or being idle in the marketplace.	43:26
	It is contrasted with standing idle in the marketplace	43:29
	all day, with being left alone, with not being called	43:33
	or not having heard the call.	43:36
	Or having ignored the call.	43:39
	It is contrasted with not counting for anything	43:41
	in the plan and purpose of God.	43:46
	Mind you, I do not believe that this is a blanket	43:50
	endorsement of the old American way,	43:53
	nor is it an endorsement of the protestant work ethic.	43:55
	This is simply to say that the hell of life	43:58
	is simply to loaf through life.	44:01
	Simply to stand and wait idly all the day.	44:07
	To stand in the marketplace all of one's life.	44:12
	Simply loafing.	44:15
	Totally oblivious and unresponsive to the needs	44:18
	and cries of God, and of other people.	44:21
	Simply waiting, just here, not seeing anything,	44:25
	not hearing anything, not doing anything,	44:29
	not being anything with purpose or meaning or hope.	44:32
	Just idle,	44:35
	all day long.	44:38
	This says to me, how important it is for us to be,	44:42
	how important it is to be in life,	44:45
	to be in the marketplace, to be in the vineyard.	44:47
	To be called to go into the vineyard.	44:50
	That, my friends, is affirming.	44:52
	It means that we're just not left alone.	44:55
	It means that we are not ignored.	44:59
	How important it is to be seen to be called	45:02
	to go and work in the vineyard.	45:05
	What a compliment.	45:07
	What grace, what goodness, what generosity.	45:10
	But it's too bad that we presume upon	45:14
	the greatest of God's love and grace, life and living,	45:17
	doing and being.	45:21
	How about reflecting for just a moment	45:25
	on who you are.	45:29
	How you live.	45:33
	And how you came to be where you are.	45:35
	Reflecting upon how very,	45:40
	very much of God's grace	45:43
	has been lavished on you already.	45:46
	Some people say about this parable,	45:54
	the late workers got a good deal.	45:56
	The early workers were cheated.	46:00
	They had a right to be angry.	46:03
	Not really.	46:06
	The tragic ones in this parable	46:10
	are not those who were called early in the morning	46:12
	and who worked all day in the vineyard.	46:15
	The tragic ones in this parable are those	46:17
	who stood idle in the marketplace all day.	46:19
	For you see,	46:24
	the longer the later workers waited in the marketplace,	46:25
	the more of life they wasted.	46:30
	The more hours the first workers spent in the vineyard,	46:35
	the more of the fullness of life they receive.	46:38
	They just did not realize it,	46:43
	and experience the fullness and the joy	46:46
	and the goodness of it as they were living it.	46:49
	What we need to realize about life is	46:54
	that the work is the payment.	46:59
	The vocateo, the vocation, the calling	47:03
	is in and of itself the reward.	47:08
	The journeying is also the arriving.	47:12
	The living is the being.	47:18
	All of this, my friends, is to say to us	47:24
	that every child of God is of ultimate,	47:28
	ultimate worth.	47:33
	Every one of us.	47:35
	And every one of the almost four billion persons	47:37
	who live on this earth.	47:41
	And so I close by sharing some words	47:44
	from a little book entitled The Way of the Wolf.	47:48
	In one of Martin Bell's writings entitled	47:52
	Wood and Nails and Colored Eggs.	47:56
	This one is entitled Wood.	48:01
	"Something like an eternity ago,	48:06
	"human beings got all caught up in the illusion	48:11
	"that being human is a relatively unimportant	48:14
	"sort of proposition.	48:18
	"Here today, gone tomorrow.	48:20
	"A vail of tears, that sort of foolishness.	48:22
	"What's more tragic, of course, is that	48:26
	"in the wake of this basic error,	48:29
	"there quickly followed the idea that human beings	48:32
	"are expendable, which easily generated into the proposition	48:35
	"that some human beings are expendable,	48:39
	"certain human beings are expendable,	48:41
	"really bad guys are expendable.	48:44
	"Guys with low IQs are expendable.	48:46
	"Anyone who disagrees with me is expendable.	48:49
	"A long time ago, human beings got all caught up	48:53
	"in the illusion that being human is a relatively	48:58
	"unimportant sort of proposition.	49:01
	"Well that's not true.	49:05
	"It's wrong, all wrong and it has always been wrong.	49:07
	"From the creation of the heavens and the earth,	49:12
	"it has been wrong.	49:14
	"There is nothing more important than being human.	49:16
	"Our lives have eternal significance.	49:20
	"And no one,	49:24
	"absolutely no one,	49:26
	"is expendable."	49:29
	God says to you and to me,	49:35
	every one of us	49:40
	is of ultimate, ultimate importance.	49:43
	And no one,	49:48
	absolutely no one is expendable"	49:51
	That always surprises me.	49:58
	Amen.	50:05
	(soft music)	50:19
	(choir singing)	50:40
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	52:19
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating.	52:22
	Who has come in the truly human Jesus	52:27
	to reconcile and make new.	52:31
	Who works in us and others by the spirit.	52:34
	We trust God, who calls us to be the church.	52:38
	To celebrate life and its fullness.	52:42
	To love and serve others.	52:45
	To seek justice and resist evil.	52:48
	To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	52:51
	our judge and our hope in life and death,	52:55
	in life beyond death.	53:00
	God is with us, we are not alone.	53:02
	Thanks be to God.	53:06
	The Lord be with you.	53:08
-	And with you.	53:11
-	Let us pray.	53:13
	Oh God, spirit of justice and truth,	53:27
	we pause now in the busyness of life to think before you	53:32
	our thoughts about where we are going	53:37
	and what we are doing with the opportunities	53:40
	given to us each day.	53:43
	Opportunities to become what it is possible to be	53:45
	under your plan.	53:49
	To fulfill the promise and potential,	53:51
	to rise to the noblest of your creation.	53:54
	Through all of our busyness, make us appreciative	53:59
	of the life affirming way that is right.	54:03
	And help turn us from the life denying customs	54:07
	and attitudes, which are wrong.	54:11
	Help us, oh God, to see that nothing we do is insignificant.	54:14
	You who are our maker and our judge.	54:20
	That in every act of life, great and small,	54:23
	we either think and do right and affirm life.	54:28
	Or our thinking and doing is certainly	54:32
	out of harmony with the best.	54:35
	And is contrary to your plan of creation.	54:37
	In this time of prayer, we confess that no relationship	54:42
	with other people is trivial or unimportant.	54:48
	That in every relationship of life	54:52
	we are given the opportunity to practice	54:54
	the perfect way that Christ exemplified.	54:57
	Or we find ourselves yielding to temptation	55:01
	to demean persons by using them or ignoring them.	55:04
	Save us from these spiritual pitfalls	55:10
	and guide us into the higher way of life	55:13
	in which Christ is indeed our Lord, we pray.	55:18
	Now let us join together in a prayer for sound government.	55:24
	Oh Lord our governor, bless the leaders of our land,	55:31
	that we may be a people at peace among ourselves	55:35
	and a blessing to there nations of the earth.	55:39
	(congregation speaking)	55:43
	To the president elect and members of the cabinet,	55:47
	to the governor of our state, mayors of cities,	55:51
	and to all in administrative authority,	55:55
	grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties.	55:58
	(congregation speaking)	56:02
	To senators and representatives,	56:06
	and those who make our laws in states, cities, and towns	56:08
	give courage, wisdom and foresight to provide	56:13
	for the needs of all our people,	56:17
	and to fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.	56:19
	(congregation speaking)	56:24
	To the judges and officers of our courts,	56:27
	give understanding and integrity that human rights	56:30
	may be safeguarded and justice served.	56:34
	(congregation speaking)	56:38
	And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength,	56:41
	to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens.	56:45
	That their leaders may be good servants of Jesus Christ,	56:48
	trustworthy stewards of His justice and grace.	56:54
	And constant examples of His love and mercy.	56:58
	May we place no other duty above obedience	57:02
	to your divine law, that we may serve you faithfully	57:05
	in our generation and honor your holy name.	57:09
	(congregation speaking)	57:13
	Let us pray the prayer that Jesus taught us saying,	57:21
	our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.	57:25
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	57:31
	on earth as it is in heaven.	57:34
	Give us this day our daily bread	57:37
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	57:39
	who trespass against us.	57:43
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	57:45
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	57:51
	and the glory forever, amen.	57:53
	(soft music)	58:09
	(choir singing)	58:14
	(organ music)	1:07:31
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:08:12
	♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪	1:08:18
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:08:24
	♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪	1:08:31
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	1:08:37
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:08:43
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:08:49
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:08:55
	♪ Amen ♪	1:09:04
	You have called us, oh Lord, and we shall answer.	1:09:15
	Use us now to fulfill your ministry	1:09:19
	as we offer ourselves and our gifts	1:09:22
	to share in your great works, amen.	1:09:25
-	Will you join with me now as we pray responsively.	1:09:32
	Our covenant of commitment to God and to one another.	1:09:36
	We have heard God's word read and proclaimed.	1:09:44
	In the company of God's people and in the presence of God,	1:09:49
	how are we to respond with the life and the hope	1:09:53
	that are ours?	1:09:57
	What does the Lord require of us?	1:09:59
	We will love God with all our hearts, our minds,	1:10:03
	our souls, our strength.	1:10:08
	We will place no other gods or false images	1:10:10
	above the worship of the one true God	1:10:14
	we know as Jesus Christ.	1:10:17
	We will love as God has loved us	1:10:19
	because He has loved us, not considering our own merit	1:10:23
	or other's worthiness.	1:10:27
	But sacrificing our desires for the sake of other's need.	1:10:29
	We will love our neighbors as ourselves.	1:10:34
	After the example of our Lord, we will count no cost	1:10:37
	too high when feeding the hungry.	1:10:42
	Clothing the poor.	1:10:45
	Healing the sick.	1:10:46
	Welcoming the stranger.	1:10:48
	We will do justice, not with the easy word,	1:10:51
	but in the difficult deed.	1:10:55
	We will love mercy.	1:10:57
	Not with idle sentiment, but in sacrificial giving.	1:10:59
	We will walk humbly, not with the trappings of privilege	1:11:03
	but in the fear of responsibility.	1:11:08
	We will perform our civil service as divine worship.	1:11:11
	As public servant or private citizen, we will live our lives	1:11:16
	before God and we pledge our allegiance	1:11:21
	to His Christ, our Lord.	1:11:24
	God is witness to our words.	1:11:27
	May our confession be found in the faithfulness	1:11:30
	of our lives, amen.	1:11:34
	("Battle Hymn of the Republic")	1:11:40
-	We go forth recalling that we are loved,	1:16:22
	forgiven, renewed, and never to be the same again.	1:16:26
	Go forth now with faith to share this with others.	1:16:30
	♪ Amen ♪	1:16:40
	♪ Amen ♪	1:16:47
	♪ Amen ♪	1:16:57
	♪ Amen ♪	1:17:14
	♪ Amen ♪	1:17:24
	♪ Amen ♪	1:17:42
	(organ music)	1:17:59
	(crowd chattering)	1:23:04

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "Surprised by Grace" (January 11, 1981)

Description:

Sermon start time: 28:16. Sermon end time: 50:10.
Everyone has an ultimate worth and is given that worth by the grace of God. To work for God's mission is to experience the fullness of life and is a reward in itself. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "God needs us. That surprises me. God places us in the marketplace, in life. That surprises me. God calls us. That surprises me."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r41c1tw23

Date:

January 11, 1981

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Biblical Book:

Matthew

Chapter and Verse:

Matthew 20:1-16

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1132
ref7480_srx
uachapelsermaud
duke:320561
dcrau002009
ark:/87924/r41c1tw23
8163380c-192f-40b7-9c69-415f9a6f3625

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

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 - "Surprised by Grace" (January 11, 1981)

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