Charles E. Shannon - "Here's Something to Believe In" (August 12, 1979)
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- | Duke University Chapel service of worship, | 0:05 |
April 12, 1979. | 0:07 | |
(organ music) | 0:12 | |
- | They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. | 10:05 |
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. | 10:11 | |
They shall run and not be weary. | 10:13 | |
They shall walk and not faint. | 10:16 | |
Let us pray. | 10:20 | |
Oh Lord our God, God of Abraham and Sarah, | 10:24 | |
Miriam and Moses, Jesus and Mary, God of us all. | 10:29 | |
How good it is, oh Lord, to gather in this place | 10:38 | |
to worship you, for you come to us | 10:41 | |
at the point of our bewilderment and our need. | 10:44 | |
You affirm our goodness and our worth, | 10:48 | |
and you touch our lives with the strength and mercy | 10:52 | |
which comes only from your hand. | 10:56 | |
Come now, oh Lord, as we wait with eager expectation | 11:00 | |
for the word and the experience that you have | 11:05 | |
for us this day. | 11:08 | |
Hear us, for we pray in the name and in the spirit | 11:10 | |
of Jesus Christ our Lord. | 11:13 | |
Amen. | 11:16 | |
("Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty) | 11:19 | |
(congregation's singing drowned out by the organ) | 11:57 | |
- | Be seated. | 14:50 |
- | Grace and peace be unto you, my friend, | 14:59 |
with confidence and assurance that God will hear | 15:03 | |
and answer our prayer. | 15:07 | |
Let us now confess our sin to the Lord our God. | 15:10 | |
Let us pray. | 15:14 | |
Most holy God, creator and judge of all nations and people, | 15:16 | |
we acknowledge and confess the many sins | 15:22 | |
which we have committed by thought, word and deed, | 15:25 | |
against you and against our neighbors. | 15:30 | |
We have listened to your word, | 15:33 | |
but we have heard only what we wished to hear. | 15:36 | |
We have praised you with our lips, but we | 15:39 | |
have not glorified you with our lives. | 15:42 | |
We have feigned love but harbored hate. | 15:46 | |
We have attended to our families but not to strangers. | 15:50 | |
We have preached forgiveness but exercised vengeance. | 15:55 | |
We have helped the needy but only when convenient. | 16:00 | |
We have judged others, but we have not judged ourselves. | 16:05 | |
Gracious God, whose mercy is higher than the heavens, | 16:10 | |
wider than our wanderings and deeper than all sin, | 16:15 | |
receive back to yourself your bewildered | 16:21 | |
and broken children. | 16:24 | |
Forgive our disobedience, and strengthen us | 16:26 | |
by your holy spirit that we may hereafter | 16:30 | |
love and serve you in newness of life | 16:34 | |
to the honor and glory of your name | 16:37 | |
through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 16:40 | |
Amen. | 16:44 | |
Let us continue with our personal confession to God. | 16:45 | |
Let us hear these words of assurance | 17:16 | |
from the Lord our God. | 17:19 | |
This saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance | 17:21 | |
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. | 17:27 | |
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person | 17:32 | |
becomes a new creation. | 17:34 | |
The old has passed away. | 17:38 | |
Behold, the new has come. | 17:40 | |
With forgiveness and wholeness of heart now present with us, | 17:44 | |
let us rejoice and celebrate the new life | 17:48 | |
that Christ offers to each of us. | 17:51 | |
Amen and amen. | 17:54 | |
May I say a word of welcome to you today? | 18:01 | |
And for those of you who may be visiting here | 18:06 | |
for the first time, if you think it's warm this morning, | 18:07 | |
this is the coolest Sunday we've had all summer. | 18:10 | |
We are delighted to have you | 18:13 | |
together in this place to worship | 18:16 | |
the Lord God Almighty, to share in fellowship | 18:19 | |
with one another, and to receive the word | 18:23 | |
which God has to offer us on this very day. | 18:25 | |
Those of you of the university community | 18:31 | |
will want to know that Father Bruce Shepherd, | 18:34 | |
the Episcopal chaplain, is back in the hospital. | 18:36 | |
He is in room 2124 Minot and is in rather serious condition. | 18:41 | |
I invite you to remember him in your prayers, | 18:48 | |
if you will, to write him a note or, in some way, | 18:53 | |
to express your love and concern to him. | 18:58 | |
I am sure any such expression will mean much to him | 19:02 | |
during these very difficult days. | 19:06 | |
Tonight at seven o'clock, Mr. Thomas Harmon, | 19:10 | |
the university organist at the University of California | 19:15 | |
at Los Angeles will present an organ concert | 19:18 | |
here in the chapel on the Benjamin N. Duke Memorial Organ. | 19:22 | |
You are invited to come and are invited to bring | 19:27 | |
others with you or to tell others to come | 19:30 | |
and share in this concert, | 19:32 | |
the last one for the summer season. | 19:33 | |
There is no charge, and all are invited to come | 19:36 | |
and be a part of it. | 19:39 | |
This really is a welcome home to | 19:41 | |
Dr. and Mrs. Charles Shannon, | 19:44 | |
who were married in Duke Chapel some few years ago. | 19:46 | |
Mary is a native of Durham and is back home | 19:51 | |
with some of her family today. | 19:55 | |
Dr. Shannon received his undergraduate and divinity | 19:58 | |
degrees from Duke University and has served many | 20:00 | |
of the most outstanding, most significant churches | 20:03 | |
in the western North Carolina Conference | 20:07 | |
of the United Methodist Church. | 20:09 | |
He is a friend of Duke, one who loves this university | 20:11 | |
and the divinity school and all that they stand for. | 20:14 | |
He has been a significant voice and leader | 20:17 | |
in the affairs of the United Methodist Church | 20:20 | |
and the Western North Carolina Conference | 20:23 | |
for a number of years. | 20:24 | |
Charlie, we welcome you and Mary back to Duke, | 20:27 | |
and, in just a few moments, we'll hear | 20:30 | |
gladly and gratefully and expectantly the word | 20:33 | |
of God as you bring it to us today. | 20:36 | |
We're glad to have you with us. | 20:39 | |
And now let us offer to God a prayer as we hear | 20:47 | |
the reading of the word. | 20:50 | |
Let us pray. | 20:53 | |
Oh Lord, your word, true and lively, | 20:56 | |
is ever with us and among us. | 21:02 | |
Speak now, oh God, through this reading | 21:06 | |
and through our hearing, that we may feel | 21:08 | |
and know your presence and your word, | 21:11 | |
comfort, confront and challenge us, we pray, | 21:15 | |
through Jesus Christ Our Lord. | 21:20 | |
Amen. | 21:24 | |
The scripture lesson for this morning is taken | 21:27 | |
from the Old Testament, Psalms 95:1-7, | 21:29 | |
words familiar to us all. | 21:34 | |
Let us hear the word of God. | 21:37 | |
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord. | 21:41 | |
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. | 21:45 | |
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. | 21:50 | |
Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise. | 21:54 | |
For the Lord is a great God | 21:58 | |
and a great king above all gods. | 22:01 | |
In his hands are the depths of the earth. | 22:05 | |
The heights of the mountains are his also. | 22:08 | |
The sea is his, for he made it. | 22:11 | |
For his hands formed the dry land. | 22:15 | |
Oh come, let us worship and bow down. | 22:18 | |
Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, | 22:24 | |
for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture | 22:28 | |
and the sheep of his hand. | 22:36 | |
May God bless unto our hearing and understanding | 22:40 | |
the message of these words. | 22:44 | |
Amen. | 22:47 | |
(organ music) | 22:50 | |
(congregation's singing drowned out by the organ) | 23:04 | |
- | It is always for me a joy to be at Duke, | 24:02 |
for, in coming back, I have so many pleasant memories, | 24:09 | |
not least among them, the experiences which I had | 24:15 | |
here while a student many years ago. | 24:22 | |
I shall never forget the first time I stood | 24:28 | |
in this significant pulpit. | 24:31 | |
For about four or five rows in front of me | 24:35 | |
at that time, | 24:39 | |
sat Dr. William Preston Few. | 24:41 | |
And over to his left, | 24:47 | |
Dr. Fowlers, both of whom | 24:51 | |
were in the administration of the university. | 24:53 | |
And I suppose, in some ways, I stand here today | 24:59 | |
with quiverings of the emotion not unakin | 25:04 | |
to that first occasion, | 25:10 | |
almost 40 years ago. | 25:13 | |
What a joy it is to come back home. | 25:17 | |
And particularly today to come and share with you | 25:23 | |
some convictions that are mine | 25:27 | |
and are appropriate for this day. | 25:31 | |
Wherever and whenever the followers of Jesus | 25:38 | |
gather for worship, somewhere in that | 25:43 | |
service of worship, | 25:48 | |
generally, there is an affirmation of faith. | 25:49 | |
And, most of the time, it contains a reference | 25:54 | |
to Almighty God. | 25:59 | |
We shall presently be using a creed, not including | 26:02 | |
that particular phrase but, already in this service | 26:07 | |
of worship, we have been reminded of Almighty God | 26:11 | |
as our minister | 26:15 | |
who presides so very capably, | 26:19 | |
Dr. Young has spoken of Almighty God, | 26:22 | |
whom we have come to worship and adore together. | 26:28 | |
Now, whether we are using the Apostle's Creed | 26:34 | |
or a modern affirmation of our faith, | 26:40 | |
or whether we turn to one a little bit older, | 26:45 | |
the Nicene Creed, if you are familiar with those | 26:48 | |
versions, you will remember that in each of them | 26:53 | |
we refer to our belief in Almighty God. | 26:56 | |
We say that, we affirm that, in our creeds. | 27:06 | |
If that were not enough, usually and, certainly | 27:12 | |
here this morning, we affirm it by our hymns of praise. | 27:17 | |
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. | 27:24 | |
We sang it together. | 27:29 | |
We sang it lustily. | 27:31 | |
Or we could have sung "I Sing the Almighty Power of God." | 27:34 | |
Or, again, one that I've come to like so much, | 27:40 | |
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation. | 27:44 | |
What I'm reminding you is this, that when we | 27:49 | |
come together for worship, | 27:51 | |
generally, we affirm | 27:55 | |
our belief in an Almighty God. | 27:57 | |
We affirm that by our creeds and through our hymns. | 27:59 | |
And I suppose as our voices in moments like those | 28:07 | |
are raised together, we are uttering big and brave | 28:12 | |
and grand and majestic affirmations, | 28:17 | |
which have been used by people of all ages. | 28:21 | |
In saying those things, | 28:27 | |
aren't most of us wistfully expressing a longing | 28:32 | |
deep within us, saying that we want to believe | 28:36 | |
what we are saying? | 28:42 | |
Now, let's be honest with each other. | 28:46 | |
Do you really believe that God is almighty? | 28:50 | |
If so, why have so many of us become fearful | 28:56 | |
about the world in which we live? | 29:00 | |
And why have we found ourselves so many times | 29:06 | |
without an abiding faith | 29:09 | |
that brings anchor for our souls? | 29:12 | |
Could it be, I'm asking you, that our creeds, | 29:19 | |
as magnificently stated as they have come to be, | 29:24 | |
are the longings of our heart? | 29:29 | |
Could it be that our hymns of praise | 29:33 | |
are expressing a deep desire latent within us | 29:37 | |
that we want to believe, but we still haven't | 29:40 | |
come quite to the place that we can hold onto it? | 29:43 | |
For me, and I dare believe for you, that a lot of time | 29:48 | |
it's a yearning, expressed hopefully, wistfully, | 29:52 | |
we want to believe, but we see so many things | 29:57 | |
that keep us | 30:01 | |
from believing | 30:04 | |
in an Almighty God. | 30:07 | |
I suppose this is a part of the credibility gap | 30:09 | |
that exists all about us. | 30:13 | |
But whether we look up to heaven or we | 30:17 | |
turn our seeking toward Washington, | 30:19 | |
we find, do we not, that demolition squads | 30:25 | |
have been at work in the realm of faith, | 30:30 | |
in the realm of our institutions, in the realm | 30:35 | |
of our personal relationships. | 30:37 | |
And some of the things which we believed one time | 30:42 | |
were solid and secure and enduring now take on | 30:45 | |
the character and the appearance of impermanence. | 30:50 | |
May I illustrate it? | 30:55 | |
Look at the American home, | 30:58 | |
an institution with which | 31:02 | |
every one of us is associated. | 31:04 | |
And look at the crumbling effects of the standards | 31:11 | |
of morality of our day. | 31:14 | |
Homes in which purity is scoffed at. | 31:19 | |
Homes in which fidelity is questioned, | 31:24 | |
and discipline is not followed, and selfishness, | 31:26 | |
rather than love, is the rule | 31:30 | |
of the hour. | 31:35 | |
Why, even the validity as well as the integrity | 31:38 | |
of marriage as an institution is being questioned | 31:43 | |
by people of our nation today. | 31:46 | |
The American home, you see, which once | 31:51 | |
we believed held all of the values | 31:54 | |
sacred to so many of us is now a little uncertain | 32:00 | |
for every one of us. | 32:08 | |
Or when we look toward Washington, | 32:13 | |
remembering our heritage as an American people, | 32:17 | |
we find little to give us confidence or courage. | 32:21 | |
Censure of elected members, corruption in agencies | 32:25 | |
and departments, some of us wonder if the General | 32:29 | |
Service Administration, with its | 32:32 | |
$100 million | 32:35 | |
fraud will ever find the answer for its problems. | 32:39 | |
Demolition squads, you see, are at work. | 32:45 | |
We want to believe in the validity of our institutions, | 32:49 | |
even our American way, the government itself. | 32:52 | |
And we remember that some of the promises | 32:56 | |
of our well-respected and loved | 33:00 | |
elected officials | 33:04 | |
either are forgotten or are not carried out | 33:08 | |
in their intended way. | 33:14 | |
And what effects institutions such as the home | 33:18 | |
or the government of our nation also, you see, | 33:20 | |
affects the church to which we find ourselves | 33:23 | |
attached, either here on the university | 33:27 | |
community or back home. | 33:29 | |
I don't suppose, Dr. Young, that there's | 33:33 | |
a denomination in all of Protestantism that | 33:36 | |
hasn't experienced over the last several years | 33:41 | |
a great deal of descension and division | 33:45 | |
because of pronouncements and proposals | 33:50 | |
of many of its boards and agencies. | 33:53 | |
And we who are back out there on the front | 33:57 | |
of the local parish find so many of the laity | 34:00 | |
saying if this is what the church is involved in, | 34:03 | |
I want none of it at all. | 34:08 | |
So, you see, when one begins to look at cherished | 34:13 | |
institutions, | 34:18 | |
something has been at work, | 34:21 | |
a demolition squad. | 34:24 | |
And the things that we once believed in | 34:27 | |
no longer do we find we are able to hold on to | 34:29 | |
with a sense of security. | 34:34 | |
Now, what's true in those realms certainly is true | 34:38 | |
in the realm of personal relationships. | 34:40 | |
As a minister of a rather large parish over in Greensboro, | 34:44 | |
I seldom move through a week in which I don't | 34:48 | |
have somebody come in and share with me | 34:50 | |
something of the broken relationships | 34:53 | |
which they've experienced, | 34:56 | |
of confidences that have been broken and lost. | 35:00 | |
They come to share their disenchantment with life itself, | 35:05 | |
their disappointments over lost ideals. | 35:09 | |
Frequently I hear it expressed this way. | 35:15 | |
"I don't know if I can ever believe in anything | 35:19 | |
or anybody anymore." | 35:24 | |
Yes, you see, whether we're thinking about these | 35:28 | |
organizations that affect us intimately or our | 35:33 | |
personal relationships, you and I have had a lot | 35:35 | |
of questions raised in recent months | 35:40 | |
and in the last few years. | 35:44 | |
Do we have something to believe in? | 35:48 | |
Can we really say that God himself is almighty? | 35:51 | |
Do our creeds, do our hymns of praise, hold | 35:57 | |
the allurement for us, the invitation, which once they held? | 36:00 | |
Recently, I've turned to read again the book of Revelation. | 36:07 | |
And, this time, I've been reading the translation | 36:12 | |
by Dr. William Barclay. | 36:15 | |
You remember something about the book. | 36:19 | |
Written during the reign of Domitian, near the end | 36:23 | |
of the first century in the Christian era, | 36:28 | |
the purpose of which, it seems to me, was to bring | 36:32 | |
encouragement and hope, to reemphasize again | 36:35 | |
for its reader a note of faith and triumph. | 36:40 | |
The writer was saying, although he referred to a number | 36:46 | |
of visions and symbols, basically he was saying | 36:50 | |
something like this. | 36:54 | |
Hold onto your faith. | 36:55 | |
The world is not going to pieces. | 36:58 | |
Evil will not emerge victorious. | 37:01 | |
Have faith. | 37:05 | |
God is still on his throne. | 37:07 | |
And so I come to share with you the text | 37:10 | |
of the morning from Dr. Barclay's translation | 37:13 | |
of the book of Revelation. | 37:18 | |
"Alleluia! | 37:20 | |
For the Lord our God, who holds all things | 37:22 | |
in his control has begun to reign." | 37:26 | |
It's a portion of the 19th chapter. | 37:32 | |
Let me read it again for you. | 37:35 | |
"Alleluia! | 37:37 | |
For the Lord our God who holds all things | 37:39 | |
in his control has begun to reign." | 37:42 | |
Here's something to believe in. | 37:47 | |
Now, it seems to me that St. John the Divine, | 37:53 | |
writer of the book of Revelation, was saying | 37:56 | |
two or three things that we ought to take with us | 37:59 | |
and make applicable to our faith. | 38:03 | |
He's saying, first of all, | 38:08 | |
somebody is in charge. | 38:11 | |
It's hard to believe, isn't it, | 38:16 | |
when we think about our world, | 38:19 | |
to say that somebody's in charge? | 38:21 | |
Driving over from Greensboro this morning, | 38:25 | |
listening to broadcasts of national news and world events, | 38:28 | |
I heard stories of earthquake, | 38:36 | |
of death and destruction | 38:42 | |
in several other places across the face | 38:43 | |
of our world, God's world. | 38:46 | |
And, as I was listening to the radio, | 38:51 | |
I was wondering how I should react to that | 38:53 | |
when I'm sharing with you here something to believe in, | 38:56 | |
and I had planned to say to you that someone | 39:00 | |
is in charge of the world. | 39:04 | |
Natural disasters, floods and tornadoes, | 39:08 | |
world hunger, the plight of the boat people, | 39:13 | |
Mideast problems, crash of airlines, you name it. | 39:18 | |
The problems of energy itself. | 39:24 | |
And you would say it's hard to believe, preacher, | 39:27 | |
that somebody is in charge of this world. | 39:29 | |
Recently, I went over to Winston-Salem, | 39:35 | |
where our church, the United Methodist Church, | 39:37 | |
is in the process of building a home for aged people. | 39:42 | |
It's been my privilege to work in that project now | 39:49 | |
for the better part of two years, in its planning | 39:51 | |
stages as well as now in the days of its construction. | 39:55 | |
The director of the home, Dr. Jules Spock, | 40:02 | |
and several of us went out on the construction site. | 40:05 | |
And I was amazed to see how the steel girders, | 40:10 | |
which had risen two, three stories in height, | 40:14 | |
were now being encased | 40:19 | |
by lumber and brick and mortar. | 40:22 | |
I saw trucks with the name of a plumbing firm | 40:27 | |
on the side or that of an electrical contractor. | 40:31 | |
I saw trucks that were representing insulation firms, | 40:37 | |
where the units had already been finished to the point | 40:44 | |
that insulation could be installed. | 40:46 | |
I saw cement mixers unloading their large | 40:50 | |
loads of molten driveways. | 40:55 | |
I saw a bulldozer in one instance working | 41:00 | |
to bring the landscaping more in harmony | 41:03 | |
with what we had hoped for. | 41:07 | |
And I said to Dr. Spock, "This confuses me. | 41:09 | |
I see so many things going on. | 41:14 | |
I wonder how anybody ever knows what's taking place." | 41:17 | |
I feel, incidentally, the same way every time | 41:22 | |
I come by Duke Hospital, the north unit | 41:25 | |
that's under construction. | 41:28 | |
I wonder if, I really wonder if anybody knows | 41:30 | |
what's taking place. | 41:34 | |
How do they get it all together? | 41:35 | |
But Dr. Spock, as he was showing me | 41:38 | |
around the construction site in Winston-Salem, | 41:41 | |
pointed over to our right, | 41:44 | |
a little unit that looked something like a mobile home. | 41:48 | |
And he said, "Charlie, inside that building | 41:51 | |
the superintendent of construction is on duty | 41:57 | |
the better part of 10 hours every day, | 42:00 | |
and he knows how to read the blueprints. | 42:05 | |
He knows the detailed specifications. | 42:10 | |
He knows what's going on. | 42:14 | |
He's in contact with the various subcontractors | 42:16 | |
and the general contractor. | 42:21 | |
The general superintendent is in charge. | 42:24 | |
He knows what's going on." | 42:27 | |
I went out on my porch in Greensboro this morning | 42:32 | |
to pick up the Sunday morning paper. | 42:35 | |
Just to the left of the door, there's a dogwood tree, | 42:39 | |
and I noticed that during the night, hundreds | 42:44 | |
of its leaves had fallen. | 42:47 | |
And there on the steps and across the stoop | 42:49 | |
of the house, there was almost a covering of leaves | 42:51 | |
that were yellow, indicating that | 42:59 | |
the seasons were changing. | 43:03 | |
As I picked up the newspaper and went back in to read it, | 43:06 | |
I could recall that there was a day, not many months | 43:09 | |
ago, when there were no leaves at all on that tree. | 43:13 | |
There were only blossoms. | 43:17 | |
I remembered that last winter it was bare | 43:21 | |
without any foliage at all. | 43:24 | |
And now the leaves were falling, and I could | 43:26 | |
believe that the time would come again | 43:30 | |
when the blossoms would come out, and the leaves | 43:32 | |
would be green and lend their beauty to all | 43:35 | |
who came that way. | 43:38 | |
What am I saying? | 43:41 | |
Somebody is in charge of this world. | 43:42 | |
I like Babcock's hymn, "This Is My Father's World." | 43:46 | |
We'll sing it before we've gone from here today. | 43:50 | |
"Though the wrong seems oft so strong, | 43:54 | |
God is the ruler yet." | 43:57 | |
Here's something to believe in. | 44:00 | |
Alleluia! | 44:03 | |
For the Lord our God who holds all things | 44:04 | |
in his control has begun to reign. | 44:06 | |
He's a God who is in charge. | 44:10 | |
But I want to know something else about this God | 44:17 | |
who holds all things in his control. | 44:20 | |
He's in charge, yes. | 44:23 | |
That I believe. | 44:25 | |
I like to remember that this God who holds | 44:28 | |
all things in his control | 44:31 | |
is a capable God. | 44:34 | |
I think I can best illustrate it this way. | 44:39 | |
A few years ago, in my pastorate, | 44:43 | |
a family of a young preschool boy had taken | 44:49 | |
the lad to the local hospital where he was | 44:54 | |
being hospitalized because he had experienced | 44:58 | |
three or four severe seizures in the early | 45:02 | |
morning hours one day early in the week. | 45:07 | |
The mother, who was | 45:14 | |
so fearful that he would | 45:18 | |
experience another seizure while he was there | 45:20 | |
in the hospital room alone, determined | 45:23 | |
in her own mind that she would not leave him. | 45:27 | |
She had a cot brought into the hospital room. | 45:31 | |
Day in and day out, she was there, | 45:36 | |
along with the nurses | 45:41 | |
who came in and the doctors who visited, to care | 45:42 | |
for the little five year old. | 45:45 | |
Five days I suppose had gone by, | 45:49 | |
and she was beginning to tire. | 45:51 | |
She'd been there 24 hours a day. | 45:54 | |
Even food she had had brought in by other | 45:56 | |
members of her family. | 45:59 | |
And when people, friends, would come by | 46:01 | |
and say to her, "You need to get out for a few | 46:03 | |
minutes or for a couple of hours." | 46:05 | |
She would say to them, "I'm going to stay here | 46:07 | |
and take care of my little boy." | 46:10 | |
"You'd not understand," | 46:13 | |
she would tell so many people, | 46:15 | |
and that went on for five days, as I recall, | 46:19 | |
until, on the fifth day, | 46:22 | |
a registered nurse, | 46:27 | |
a friend of the family for many years, | 46:28 | |
came by and said to her, "You must leave the hospital room | 46:31 | |
at least for a few hours." | 46:35 | |
And she assured the mother that she too | 46:38 | |
had children that she had been related to many | 46:41 | |
cases of illness similar to this. | 46:46 | |
She said to her, "I'll know what to do if your | 46:49 | |
child experiences a seizure. | 46:52 | |
Leave the hospital room, and I'll care | 46:55 | |
for your son while you're gone." | 46:58 | |
And the mother left, because she could leave | 47:00 | |
with somebody capable in charge. | 47:04 | |
I like the old American folk song. | 47:09 | |
"He's Got the Whole | 47:14 | |
World in His Hands." | 47:15 | |
We used to sing it. | 47:16 | |
You remember? | 47:17 | |
And then some of its stanzas were intriguing. | 47:20 | |
"He's got you and me, brother, in his hands," | 47:24 | |
referring to the hands of God. | 47:27 | |
"He's got the whole world in his hands. | 47:32 | |
He's got the little bitty baby in his hands." | 47:34 | |
Here's something to believe in. | 47:39 | |
For the Lord our God who holds all things | 47:42 | |
in his control has begun to reign. | 47:45 | |
Somebody is in charge. | 47:51 | |
Somebody capable is in charge. | 47:54 | |
But let me say one more thing. | 47:57 | |
Somebody is in charge. | 48:01 | |
Somebody capable is in charge. | 48:02 | |
But, also, and here's the important note | 48:04 | |
it seems to me, somebody compassionate, | 48:07 | |
compassionate is in charge. | 48:13 | |
Aw, to me, one of the most inviting words | 48:18 | |
in all of the New Testament | 48:22 | |
is the word compassion. | 48:26 | |
And every time I come upon the story of the Prodigal Son | 48:31 | |
or turn to the story of the Good Samaritan, | 48:37 | |
that word stands out in bold relief, | 48:41 | |
for it's the most descriptive word that is given | 48:47 | |
us in those stories about a God who cares | 48:50 | |
for his creation. | 48:54 | |
And, you see, that's why after almost 40 years | 48:59 | |
in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, | 49:02 | |
aware of what's been taking place in our world, | 49:06 | |
aware of the evil that dogs the lives of so many of us | 49:10 | |
and the heartaches that beset us. | 49:15 | |
That's the reason I can stand here this morning | 49:18 | |
and say to you somebody is in charge. | 49:20 | |
Somebody capable is in charge. | 49:24 | |
But, most of all, we have hope | 49:26 | |
because somebody compassionate is in charge. | 49:30 | |
This God of ours is like the father who waits | 49:37 | |
for a wayward son. | 49:42 | |
A wayward son who has degraded himself. | 49:45 | |
A wayward son who has violated so many | 49:50 | |
of his father's commands and wishes, | 49:53 | |
but a wayward son who comes back home | 49:56 | |
and finds a compassionate father, | 50:00 | |
who planned a barbecue for the boy and his friends. | 50:05 | |
Isn't that glorious? | 50:11 | |
Somebody is in charge who's compassionate. | 50:14 | |
He's like the Good Samaritan who found | 50:19 | |
the wounded man beside the road | 50:22 | |
and picked him up | 50:27 | |
and put him on his own beast and took him to an inn | 50:28 | |
and there paid the innkeeper for several day's care | 50:34 | |
and said to him, "Whatever else you spend, | 50:38 | |
I'll pay you when I come this way again." | 50:40 | |
He had compassion on him. | 50:45 | |
Oh, my dear friends, this is the message | 50:49 | |
that I want to hear proclaimed from the housetop | 50:51 | |
and from our pulpits today, not about a God who | 50:55 | |
acts out of vengeance | 50:59 | |
or whose justice alone is emphasized. | 51:03 | |
Here's something to believe in. | 51:11 | |
Alleluia! | 51:15 | |
For the Lord our God, who holds all things | 51:16 | |
in his control has begun to reign. | 51:21 | |
My dear friends, the question for every one of us | 51:28 | |
is this: | 51:32 | |
Is this God who holds all things | 51:35 | |
in his control reigning | 51:39 | |
in our life? | 51:43 | |
May God make it so for every one of us. | 51:48 | |
Let us pray. | 51:56 | |
Almighty and ever living God, with gratitude | 52:01 | |
for your presence among us, we lift our prayer | 52:06 | |
of thanksgiving and our petition, Oh Lord, that | 52:12 | |
you would strengthen the beliefs that we have | 52:18 | |
and, by a personal relationship with thee, | 52:23 | |
give us courage to be the church of the living God | 52:27 | |
in this our day and your day. | 52:34 | |
Hear us, we pray, through Christ our Lord. | 52:37 | |
Amen. | 52:42 | |
(organ music) | 52:47 | |
(congregation's singing drowned out by the organ) | 53:30 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 56:04 |
- | We believe in God who has created and is creating | 56:09 |
Who has come in the truly human Jesus | 56:14 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 56:17 | |
Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 56:20 | |
We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 56:25 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, to love | 56:30 | |
and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil. | 56:34 | |
To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 56:40 | |
our judge and our hope. | 56:44 | |
In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 56:47 | |
God is with us. | 56:53 | |
We are not alone. | 56:55 | |
Thanks be to God. | 56:57 | |
- | You may be seated. | 57:01 |
The Lord be with you. | 57:08 | |
- | And with your spirit. | 57:10 |
- | Let us pray. | 57:12 |
Oh thou, who art our maker and our God, | 57:16 | |
because we can only learn to pray by praying, | 57:21 | |
we dare to bring thee now our prayers, | 57:25 | |
unfinished, unpolished as they are. | 57:29 | |
We would, first of all, Oh God, offer thee | 57:35 | |
unbounded praise and thanksgiving. | 57:37 | |
We thank thee for life and light and all things good. | 57:41 | |
We thank thee for the good earth, | 57:48 | |
rich in mineral wealth and resplendent in beauty. | 57:50 | |
We thank thee for soft, gentle rains and cool, | 57:55 | |
refreshing breezes, for time and its flow, | 58:00 | |
the seasons in their march and the stars | 58:04 | |
in their courses. | 58:08 | |
We thank thee for our names and those who | 58:10 | |
know us by them. | 58:13 | |
We thank thee for skills of mind or hand | 58:16 | |
that render us employable. | 58:19 | |
We thank thee for folks about us who care | 58:23 | |
what we think and how we feel. | 58:26 | |
We thank thee for memory and hope, | 58:30 | |
encouragement and praise and all such | 58:33 | |
invisible forces which enhance the gift of life | 58:37 | |
and stretch us to greater effort. | 58:42 | |
Oh God, there are blessings that come to us | 58:46 | |
so clearly marked that even in our most | 58:48 | |
disgruntled mood, they compel our thanks. | 58:51 | |
But we would also now reflect upon mercies | 58:57 | |
that have come to us disguised or reached | 59:00 | |
us in roundabout ways. | 59:03 | |
We think of an unwelcomed illness that shifted | 59:06 | |
the center of our trust from self to thee. | 59:09 | |
We think of new people who entered our life | 59:14 | |
without our willing or wanting, and, in time, | 59:17 | |
expanded our horizons and made us the better | 59:21 | |
for our friendship. | 59:23 | |
We remember some prize that toppled from our grasp | 59:26 | |
as we strained to reach it, causing us to change | 59:29 | |
course, and, in the changing, to discover life itself. | 59:33 | |
We remember long nights of heavy-hanging doubt | 59:39 | |
that issued in a wiser, sturdier faith. | 59:43 | |
For these and other backdoor mercies, | 59:48 | |
we give thee thanks, dear God. | 59:51 | |
And in our unpolished, unfinished prayers | 59:55 | |
to thee this day, most high and exalted God, | 59:57 | |
we would offer also solemn petitions. | 1:00:03 | |
We pray for all those who don't have enough, | 1:00:09 | |
the hungry, the poor, the sick and the lonely. | 1:00:14 | |
We pray for the unemployed, the unfulfilled | 1:00:23 | |
and the unwanted. | 1:00:28 | |
We pray for those who mourn, who suffer, who hurt. | 1:00:31 | |
And, oh Lord, we also pray today for those | 1:00:39 | |
among us and in the world around us who | 1:00:41 | |
are burdened not by too little but by too much. | 1:00:44 | |
We pray for those who have so much power | 1:00:51 | |
that they have grown indifferent to the rights | 1:00:53 | |
and claims of others and are fast becoming | 1:00:55 | |
what they do not wish to be. | 1:00:58 | |
We pray for those who have so much health | 1:01:01 | |
that they cannot understand the sick | 1:01:04 | |
or reckon more adequately with their own mortality. | 1:01:06 | |
We pray for those who have so much wealth | 1:01:11 | |
that they prize possessions more than people | 1:01:14 | |
and worry into the night about losing what they have. | 1:01:17 | |
We pray for those who have so much knowledge | 1:01:22 | |
that they have grown proud and self-sufficient | 1:01:25 | |
and lost the common touch. | 1:01:30 | |
We pray for those who have so much virtue | 1:01:32 | |
that they cannot see their sins or appreciate thy grace. | 1:01:34 | |
We pray for those who have so much leisure | 1:01:41 | |
that they move like driftwood on the surface of existence, | 1:01:43 | |
lacking any cause larger than themselves. | 1:01:48 | |
And finally, oh Lord, in our broken and incomplete way, | 1:01:52 | |
we would pray for thy church throughout the world, | 1:01:57 | |
where it is strong, make it gentle. | 1:02:02 | |
Where it is weak, make it strong. | 1:02:05 | |
Where it is honored, make it humble. | 1:02:09 | |
Where it is persecuted, make it proud. | 1:02:12 | |
Where it is wrong, overrule it. | 1:02:16 | |
Where it is right, make it stand. | 1:02:20 | |
Almighty God, hear our prayers, both spoken | 1:02:25 | |
and unspoken, unfinished and unpolished | 1:02:30 | |
as they are, for they are offered in the name | 1:02:34 | |
of Jesus the Christ, our Lord and our Savior, | 1:02:38 | |
the one who completes in us your new creation. | 1:02:42 | |
And the one who taught us to pray, saying. | 1:02:48 | |
Our father, who art in Heaven | 1:02:52 | |
hallowed be thy name. | 1:02:55 | |
They kingdom come, thy will be done, | 1:02:57 | |
On earth, as it is in Heaven. | 1:03:01 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:03:04 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 1:03:07 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 1:03:10 | |
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 1:03:14 | |
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. | 1:03:20 | |
Amen. | 1:03:27 | |
(organ music) | 1:03:34 | |
(organ music) | 1:10:05 | |
(Congregation's singing drowned out by the organ) | 1:10:51 | |
Almighty God, receive these offerings | 1:11:50 | |
which we bring and enable us with all our gifts | 1:11:53 | |
so to yield ourselves to you that with body, | 1:11:58 | |
soul and mind we may truly serve you, | 1:12:02 | |
and, in your service, find our deepest joy. | 1:12:07 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 1:12:11 | |
(organ music) | 1:12:18 | |
(congregation's singing but drowned out by the organ) | 1:12:40 | |
Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself | 1:14:42 | |
and God our father, who loved us and gave us | 1:14:46 | |
eternal comfort and good hope through grace | 1:14:49 | |
comfort your hearts and establish them in every | 1:14:54 | |
good work and word. | 1:14:57 | |
Amen. | 1:15:00 | |
(organ music) | 1:15:03 |