J. Claude Evans - "Jesus Christ, Superstar" (August 1, 1971) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(Choir singing)

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(choir finishes singing)

1:14

-

Beloved, let us offer unto God, our prayer of confession.

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Almighty father,

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we do offer our prayer of confession,

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because we are unnecessarily deficient, and we know it.

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We could have done better at a lot of points,

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and our failure to do so

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has made us rightfully uncomfortable.

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The only way we can honestly get comfortable

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about our past sins

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is to confess them to you in the presence of one another,

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and ask for your forgiveness.

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We admit that we often ask the wrong questions.

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When we are faced with a decision about right and wrong,

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we often ask what our pals think about it,

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rather than asking what Jesus thinks about it.

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We often get our priorities mixed up.

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We substitute sleeping for worship.

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We try to make a name for ourselves

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at the very time

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we should be trying to heal the wounds of mankind.

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We put our money in the wrong places.

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We seem to be able to afford

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almost everything that comes along,

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and then we tell the church we are out of funds.

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Oh Lord, we are sinners

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in the way we get our priorities hopelessly confused.

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Oh God, as we confess our sins together,

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we are aware that the particulars of our sinfulness

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are not the same.

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Some of us are guilty of holding on to stuffy old notions

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about our Christian faith,

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which we're not willing to reexamine

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in the light of scripture,

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or with the aid of the holy spirit.

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Others of us are not at all stuffy,

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but we sensationalize everything about our Christian faith.

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Instead of making sure that we are truly Christian,

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we make sure that we are truly sensational.

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But although the particulars of our sinning are different,

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we all unite in our failure to seek first

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your will and your righteousness.

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So, now we come asking for forgiveness.

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We ask for restoration.

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We ask love and acceptance.

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We pray for a new chance, not merely to do better,

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but by your grace to do a lot better In Jesus' name,

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we offer our prayer.

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Amen.

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In the new Testament, The letter of John,

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the first letter,

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these words :

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"This is a message we have heard from him

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and proclaimed to you,

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that God is light,

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and in him is no darkness at all.

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If we walk in the light, as he is in the light,

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we have fellowship with one another,

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and the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin."

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Amen.

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May we now unite our hearts and our voices in our prayer of

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Thanksgiving.

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Let us pray.

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For all the things for which we have never given you thanks,

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Oh Lord,

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we humbly bow our hearts for common things of earth,

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which sustain our bodies in health and strength,

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though we pay scant attention to them,

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we thank you.

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For far off things in the ages past

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or in lands distant from us,

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which enlarge our heritage and expand our horizons,

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We give you thanks.

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For invisible things of heaven and earth,

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which sweetened life with beauty and grace,

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we express our thanks.

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For things of the spirit,

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which disclose to us the beauty of your holiness,

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and sanctify the passing time with eternal meaning,

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we give you thanks.

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For things bought with a great price,

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given to us without cost,

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by which we are deepened and heightened

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to the measure of Christ, our Lord,

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we give you thanks.

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Though there be no end to your gifts,

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help us to number them

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as they are revealed to us day by day.

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Amen.

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(organ music)

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(choir singing)

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(choir finishes singing)

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Let us give attention to the reading of the scripture.

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Matthew's gospel, chapter three,

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beginning at the first verse,

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"In those days came John the Baptist,

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preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

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Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he said.

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for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet, Isaiah,

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when he said : the voice of one crying in the wilderness,

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prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

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Now, John wore a garment of camel's hair,

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and a leather girdle around his waist.

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His food was locust and wild honey.

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Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea,

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and all the region about the Jordan.

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And they were baptized by him

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in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.

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But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees

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coming for baptism, he said to them :

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you brood of vipers who warned you to flee

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from the wrath to come?

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Bear fruit, that befits repentance,

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and do not presume to say to yourselves,

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we have Abraham as our father,

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for I tell you,

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God is able from these stones

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to raise up children to Abraham.

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Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees,

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every tree, therefore that does not bear good fruit

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is cut down and thrown into the fire.

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(organ music)

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(choir singing)

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(choir finishes singing)

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The Lord be with you,

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Let us pray.

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Oh Lord, we offer our prayers of intercession

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for our fellows,

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and our prayers for our own needs.

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We intercede this morning for the safe return to earth

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of the men now exploring the moon.

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We pray for wisdom

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to know how the fruits of this exploration

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can benefit all mankind.

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Deliver us, oh God,

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from expending all this money and ingenuity

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merely to gain prestige for our country.

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We pray also heavenly father for a dedication

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to our urgent tasks here on earth,

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where people live and suffer,

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which will match the dedication we have given to exploring

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the moon where nobody lives.

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May it not finally be true

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that we gave more devotion to solving the technological

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problems of moon exploration

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than we gave to solving the human problems

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of our earthly cities and countryside.

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oh God, we offer our prayers of intercession

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for the families of those migrant workers

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who were murdered and buried in California,

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and for the migrant workers who now live and work there.

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We pray also for the migrant workers

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who were recently stranded in our midst.

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May they find important work to do and a just reward for it,

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and be nourished by loving human and divine relationships.

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Oh God, the father of the prince of peace,

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we pray now for peace. once again.

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Nothing new, nothing special,

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we simply pray for peace,

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And we do it with confidence

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that we don't have to use a lot of words about it,

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since you want it even more than we do.

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Perhaps what we should be asking you

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is that you will show us the things that make for peace,

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which we can do.

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And now, oh God, we pray for all who have personal needs

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that are special and urgent.

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Those who have been an wreck or have had surgery,

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those who are terminally ill and who soon will cross over

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the great divide.

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We pray for those who have tasted a bitter disappointment,

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for those who are confused

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about the direction of their lives.

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Give healing, give love,

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a clear head, and true light to all.

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We make this prayer in the name and the spirit of Jesus

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who has taught us when we come together to worship,

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to pray, saying our father who art in heaven,

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hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,

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thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread,

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and forgive us our trespasses

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as we forgive those who trespass against us,

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and lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil,

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`for thine is the kingdom

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and the power and the glory forever.

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Amen.

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-

In the name of the father, and of the son,

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and of the holy spirit.

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Amen.

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I want to talk a while this morning on of all things,

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Jesus Christ Superstar.

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Maybe it's out of date here,

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but it has a message that is not out of date.

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In the scripture lesson read a moment ago,

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John, The Baptist is announcing the kingdom of heaven

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is at hand, and urged that all his listeners repent,

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and be Baptized.

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Some of the Pharisees and Sadducees,

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the leaders of the community,

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heard about his notoriety,

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came out of the city of Jerusalem to hear him.

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Spotting them in his audience,

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John said to them directly :

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You brood of vipers,

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who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

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Bear fruit meat for repentance,

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do not presume to say to yourselves,

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we have Abraham for our father,

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for I tell you, God is able from these stones

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to raise up children of Abraham.

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In effect, John saying that God's holy spirit

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does not depend upon tradition alone for its witness.

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He can raise up witnesses in a rude prophet in the desert,

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or from the stones in the ground.

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God's freedom does not depend on man's rigid definitions

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of what is appropriate as a vehicle of grace.

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Now, this ancient Matthewen principle

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has come alive again today in Charles Reich,

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the greening of America.

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Says Reich, "American culture began with consciousness one,

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when our forefathers lived in small towns

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with almost no class consciousness

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in a Republican form of government,

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where people were sovereign,

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where they were free to live their lives

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without any arbitrary outside government controls,

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it was an enchanting dream,

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but it's swiftly led to monstrosities, robber barons."

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These are quotations every time I do this.

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robber barons, business piracy,

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ruinous competition, unreliable products,

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and false advertising,

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grotesque inequality,

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and the chaos of excessive individualism,

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and the lack of coordination and planning

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that led to a gangster world.

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So consciousness two came into existence

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through the failures of consciousness one.

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Consciousness two was the inevitable result

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of the industrialism, technology, The growth of huge cities,

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the development of national and international commerce.

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So life in the 20th century,

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demanded organization and coordination,

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a rational arrangement of hierarchy and authority,

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with the individual dedicated to training

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for goals and work outside himself.

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Yet Now we know this God has turned out to be another idol.

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Increasingly man is caught up in consciousness two,

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in a rat race of institutional and corporate life,

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where he's dominated, controlled,

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programmed, educated,

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even listed in a file of army intelligence

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if he should speak out against the leviathan culture

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that technology has produced.

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But," Says Reich,

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"we are now living at the beginning of consciousness three,

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which has come almost unnoticed,

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in the youth culture of all places.

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Consciousness three aims at the rediscovery of a meaningful

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sale.

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It's not anti-technology.

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It is only against the worship of technology.

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Consciousness three sees the evils of consciousness two

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not merely in political and economic wrongs,

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in the political domain,

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but it sees the deeper evils that a Kafka, or a Dickens,

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or the impressionist would've seen.

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Old people shunted into institutional homes,

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Streets made hideous with neon signs,

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and commercialism,

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servile conformity,

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the competitiveness and sterility of suburban living,

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the loneliness and enemy of cities,

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The ruling of nature by bulldozers and pollution,

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the stupid mindlessness of most high school education,

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the coarse material realism of most contemporary values,

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the lovelessness of many marriages,

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and above all the plastic artificial quality of everything.

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Plastic lives in plastic homes.

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It's against these evils,

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that consciousness three, young people, are rebelling."

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Now, Dr. Reich over draws his case,

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especially in his naive assumption

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about the goodness of youth,

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and their drive toward perfection.

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Young people are sinners too,

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but he is onto something.

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He's on something similar to the scripture lesson

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about John the Baptist.

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It's all there in Matthew three,

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Charles Reich's thesis, the Phariseeic establishment

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knowing that something was wrong with their culture

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is drawn to listen to a new prophet, a new faith,

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but still clinging to their old gods.

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John warns them that God will raise up

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true children of Abraham out of the stones,

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rather than through some self-centered clinging

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to an establishment way.

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This is what history should have led us to expect.

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God has always used new stones for his purposes.

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It was not through the establishmentarian Pharisees

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and Sadducees that God worked out his purposes

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2000 years ago,

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it was through a carpenter son.

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It was not through a Pope or his hierarchy

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that revolutionized an increasingly corrupt church

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in the middle ages,

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it was through the self chosen poverty of a rebellious son

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of a rich noble man

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that God worked out his will for me,

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and my St. Francis of Assisi.

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Could it be today that we should look for renewal of faith

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in strange, out of the way, unexpected places,

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perhaps even among young people?

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I submit that you will find something close to this

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in the new rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar.

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The youth culture wrote this.

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One of the writers 29, the other 23,

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it's a major musical work,

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which explores the ancient Christian tradition

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in a new, exciting, relevant way.

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Even as blase a critic as Myron Bloy

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writes that,

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"Superstar has the sustained coherence,

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the intellectual subtlety and the startling beauty

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of an important artistic impression."

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So let us look at Jesus Christ superstar together.

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Listen to its words and see if it is not a stone of grace

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for the day.

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The opera begins with the voice of Judas.

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In fact, Judas turns out to be one of the chief characters.

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Why?

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Especially why Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus?

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The most despicable man in human history.

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Confronted with perfect love and righteousness,

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turned it down.

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He wanted to manipulate it, to change it, to rationalize it,

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to control it.

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Could it be that our name is Judas.

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Listen to these words and see,

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"Listen, Jesus, I don't like what I see,

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all that I ask is that you listen to me."

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"Listen, Jesus, do you care for your race?

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Don't you see we must keep in our place?

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We are occupied,

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have you forgotten how put down we are?

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I am frightened by the crowd,

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for we are getting much too loud,

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and they'll crush us if we go too far."

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And then at the last supper, when things are falling apart,

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Judas is in despair.

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"Every time I look at you, I don't understand,

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why you let things you did get so out of hand,

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you'd have managed better if you'd had it planned."

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And then at the crucifixion Judas, this time a modern Judas,

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looking back on the ancient story,

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sings a modern word of recrimination.

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"Why'd you choose such a backward time

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in such a strange land?"

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If you'd come today you would've reached the whole nation.

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Israel in four BC had no mass communication."

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Do you see who Judas is?

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Judas is us.

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Particularly us social Liberals

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who have all the answers to the ills that beset mankind.

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It is we who could manage right If we were only in power.

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it is we who could solve the world's problems

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if only the world would listen to our careful strategies.

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Listen to me, we say, Judas-like to the world.

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We are modern zealots waiting for the right time,

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the right strategy.

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We'll take over.

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The world is full of these modern Judas Liberals.

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We say to the Blacks, Hey man, don't go so fast, slow down.

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You'll wreck the whole plan.

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Sure, Black is beautiful, but don't shout it so loud.

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You will upset too many Southern ids and Northern egos.

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Plan,

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manage.

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We say to the women's live.

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Hey girls, take it easy.

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Don't be so obnoxious.

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Of course you are people.

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Ah, but remember the soft voice of femininity

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has made more men roll over than this world dreams of.

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Plan,

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strategize.

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Use your sex for non-sexual ends.

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Or we say to the Peaceniks, take it easy fellas.

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We are pulling out of Vietnam.

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We are turning over the war to the South Vietnamese,

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only 13 Americans killed last week in the war.

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Don't shake the bull.

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Plan,

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manage.

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Strategize.

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With few of us realizing that all of this

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is a betrayal of Jesus Christ.

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I know you are waiting to hear from me some

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mitigating words,

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some exception clause that will ease up on us Liberals.

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After all I'm a Liberal,

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some of my best friends are Liberals,

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but that's just why

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I'm not going to put the exception clause.

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You see the temptation of all of us,

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Liberals and Conservatives alike

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is to deify our program as theologically and ethically pure.

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We already know what the will of God should be,

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like Judas, all that we ask is that you listen to me,

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but the will of God is holy spirit that lives in the world.

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It broke through in the life and death and resurrection

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of Jesus Christ in new and the unexpected ways,

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it will break through again through us today,

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provided we Liberals, we conservatives,

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we Catholics, we Protestants,

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we campus crusaders, we Jesus freaks,

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we Zen Buddhists, we new mystics,

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providing we do not become modern Judas'

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already knowing ahead of time how things should come out,

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and refusing to be moved by new whims of the spirit

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at work in the world today.

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God is raising up out of the stones of you

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witnesses to his will and way.

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But let's go to Mary Magdalene.

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Now remember, according to our tradition,

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Mary Magdalene is a bad woman,

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perhaps a prostitute, at the very least,

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a lady courtesan.

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She hails from Magdalene,

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that fishing port noted for its sailors in a need

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for a night on the city with a willing woman.

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Perhaps Mary didn't even take money for her services.

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Perhaps she was a modern whore, or the sleep around kind you

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find in contemporary cities, and on contemporary campuses.

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But the new Testament says that

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Jesus cured her of her demon possession,

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And she became a follower.

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She learned to care for a man,

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even love a man,

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yet didn't have to prove her devotion by genital sex.

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So she sings to Jesus.

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"Let me try to cool your face a bit."

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And Jesus replies.

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"That feels nice.

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So nice,

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Mary, that is good, while you prattle through your supper,

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where and when and who and how,

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she alone has tried to give me

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what I need right here and now"

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And then Mary sings that beautiful haunting caring message.

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"Try not to get worried,

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try not to turn on to problems that upset you,

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Oh, don't you know,

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everything's all right, yes, everything's fine,

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and we want you to sleep well tonight."

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Later, Mary sings her song,

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I Don't Know How to Love Him.

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Listen, you contemporary harlots,

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and I'm talking to me as well as to you,

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to everyone that makes sex an idol, an end in itself,

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a be all and end all of existence,

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without which we are nobody's,

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as if the body was the self,

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instead of the temple of the self.

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"I don't know how to love him.

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What to do, how to move him.

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I've been changed. Yes, really changed,

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in these past few days when I've seen myself,

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I seem like somebody else.

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I don't know how to take this.

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I don't see why he moves me.

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He's a man, he's just a man.

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And I've seen so many men before,

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in very many ways, he's just one more.

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Should I bring him down? Should I scream and shout?

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Should I speak of love? Let my feelings out?

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I never thought I'd come to this.

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What's it all about?

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Don't you think it's rather funny.,

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I should be in this position?

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I'm the one who's always been so calm, so cool,

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no lovers fool, running every show,

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he scares me so.

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I never thought I'd come to this.

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What's it all about?

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Yet, If he said he loved me,

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I'd be lost, I'd be frightened.

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I couldn't come, just couldn't cope.

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I'd turn my head, I'd back away,

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I wouldn't want to know, he scares me so,

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I want him so,

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I love him so."

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And then Judas sings his confusion about Mary and Jesus,

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a confusion that mirrors our confusion about things sexual.

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"It seems to me a strange thing, mystifying,

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that a man like you can waste his time on women of her kind.

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I can understand that she amuses,

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but to let her stroke you, kiss your hair

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is hardly in your line.

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It's not that I object to her profession,

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but she doesn't fit in well with what you teach and say,

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it doesn't help us if you're inconsistent,

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they only need a small excuse to put us all away."

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I tell you, these words are as modern as a coed university.

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And they put the B on us all.

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Like Mary, we are all searching for our self identity.

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They are some among us who proclaim their identity

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in rational terms.

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I think therefore I am.

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now don't misunderstand me,

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but rationality in this phrase is a God,

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and the rational man, his disciple,

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but human intelligence is only one aspect of man.

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Good, important,

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perhaps man's highest potentiality,

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but still just a part of the whole.

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So, you university scholars, if this is all you are,

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rational, man, you are a cripple,

36:04

a part man,

36:09

out of touch with your sentient self,

36:11

Others say, I feel therefore I am.

36:14

Don't misunderstand me,

36:19

there's much truth here, but still cripple truth,

36:21

a needed truth in our day of formality,

36:25

when we struggle to free people up in worship,

36:27

so they can applaud or clap or dance

36:30

in the eyes,

36:33

or be present to God in their own subjectivity.

36:34

But again, this is not the whole man.

36:39

Others of us say, closer to truth this time,

36:44

I suffer, therefore I am.

36:47

That's close to the cross,

36:51

But it's also the last bastion of self righteousness,

36:55

and a false identity of one's self.

37:00

It is the vision of a sacrificing self,

37:02

I'm good cause I sacrifice.

37:06

So Judas can tell Jesus to take the precious ointment

37:10

Mary Magdalene has poured over his body and sell it,

37:13

and give it to the poor.

37:17

others among us, so many others say, on college campuses,

37:21

I screw, therefore I am.

37:28

Forgive my language.

37:31

But that's part of the problem.

37:34

Some in our culture identify ourselves as proper selves,

37:37

mannered selves, polite selves,

37:41

use the right words in the right company selves,

37:43

and others rebel against this superficial hypocrisy,

37:46

and identify ourselves

37:50

totally with expressions of obscenity.

37:52

I screw, therefore I am.

37:56

Somebody loves me.

37:58

Somebody wants me.

38:00

We overlooked the hyphen between the words, some-body.

38:04

What Mary is really singing about is her new discovery.

38:11

I care, therefore I am.

38:16

She was changed.

38:19

She was lifted out of her cripple self as a prostitute,

38:21

where her motto of self identity was

38:25

I screw, therefore I am,

38:28

into I care, therefore I am.

38:31

There's no denying sexuality here.

38:35

The wholeness of our relationship

38:38

with others of the opposite sex,

38:39

but it's overladen and undergirded with a deeper witness,

38:42

we are meant to care, to befriend, to listen to love.

38:45

We are all Judas',

38:52

mystified that a man like Jesus could waste his time

38:54

with a woman of Mary's kind.

38:58

But here's the miracle.

39:01

We are all women of Mary's kind.

39:04

We are all prostitutes ourselves

39:08

to limited definitions of who we are.

39:10

The world is a brothel.

39:14

And if you don't believe it, answer me this,

39:16

why is the world so screwed up today,

39:18

that it threatens to destroy itself

39:21

with no help from outside?

39:23

But don't despair,

39:28

we are not only Judas who can betray,

39:30

we are also Mary's who can receive love,

39:33

who can respond to love,

39:36

whole love, which is really holy love.

39:38

If you can love, if you can care,

39:43

then Mary's song is meant for you.

39:46

"Everything's all right, yes, everything's fine,

39:50

and we want you to sleep well tonight."

39:54

Now we must jump around through Jesus Christ Superstar.

39:59

Look at the response of the crowds.

40:04

At first, we hear the sound of celebration.

40:07

Palm Sunday like, a popular hero has come,

40:10

"Hosanna, heysanna sanna sanna

40:14

hosanna hey sanna ho,"

40:17

it's done much better on the record.

40:20

Then the crowds join an a frenzy of self justification.

40:23

Their hero Messiah has come.

40:27

They want to see him.

40:30

"Christ You know I love you.

40:32

Did you see i waved.

40:34

I believe in you and God, so tell me that I'm saved.

40:35

Jesus, I am with you. Touch me, touch me, Jesus.

40:39

Jesus, I am on your side.

40:43

Kiss me, kiss me Jesus."

40:45

But Jesus warns them.

40:48

You don't understand.

40:50

Neither the disciples nor the Jews,

40:52

nor the Romans, nor Judas, nor the priests, nor the scribes,

40:54

nor any of us today.

40:59

None of us know what power is, what glory is.

41:01

They do not understand that to conquer death,

41:07

you only have to die.

41:11

When a hero makes religious and ethical demands on us,

41:14

he's no longer a hero.

41:18

People soon departed from Jesus,

41:23

just as they are departing from the church today

41:27

when it makes religious and ethical demands upon us

41:29

for the social situation.

41:32

And then Jesus goes to the temple,

41:36

and he hears the people in competitive faiths,

41:40

spinning out their religions.

41:45

"roll on up for the price is down.

41:47

Come on in for the best in town.

41:49

Take your pick of the finest wine.

41:51

Lay your bets on this bird of mine.

41:53

Name your price, I got everything.

41:55

Come and buy, It's all going fast

41:57

borrow cash on the finest terms,

41:59

Hurry now while the stock still lasts."

42:01

the Methodists Hawking their Wares,

42:05

the Baptists Hawking their Wares.

42:06

The Presbyterians Hawking their Wares.

42:08

You don't think this is a temple of Bedlam

42:10

that needs to be cleaned out by Jesus Christ

42:12

with the rope to lash us to truth?

42:16

This is what Jesus sang to this victim,

42:21

"My temple should be a house of prayer,

42:23

but you've made it a den of thieves.

42:26

Get out, get out."

42:27

I wonder, is he saying that to us today?

42:31

I wonder,

42:37

and I worry.

42:40

Or Look at the response of Herod.

42:43

The learned leader of the Jews,

42:45

who sings in the rhythm and idiom

42:47

of the comedian, Tom Lehrer.

42:49

I collect Tom Lehrer's records,

42:52

hope you do.

42:54

It's kind of an intellectual humor,

42:55

makes me feel kind of, you know,

42:57

intellectual when I listen.

42:58

When you get to this part of the record,

43:00

you'll recognize the rhythm,

43:02

In rational, skeptical point of view,

43:04

A Harvard professor could be singing it.

43:10

His words come straight out of the university.

43:13

"Jesus, I'm overjoyed to meet you face to face.

43:17

You've been getting quite a name all around the place."

43:20

We should have you lecture here.

43:23

"Healing cripples,

43:24

raising from the deed and now understand you are God,

43:25

at least that's what you've said.

43:28

So you are the Christ,

43:30

(vocalizing)

43:32

you're the great Jesus Christ.

43:33

Prove to me that you are divine,

43:34

change my water into wine.

43:36

That's all you need to do,

43:38

and I'll know it's true.

43:39

Come on King of the Jews.

43:41

Jesus, you just won't believe the hit you made around here."

43:43

Believe it at Harvard, at duke.

43:46

"you are all we talk about the wonder of the year.

43:49

Oh, what a pity if it's all a lie,

43:51

still I'm sure you can rock the cynics if you try."

43:55

"Prove to me that you're no fool,

43:58

walk across my swimming pool.

44:00

If you do that for me, I'll let you go free.

44:02

Come on king of the Jews.

44:05

Hey, aren't you scared of me,

44:08

Christ?

44:11

Mr. Wonderful Christ."

44:13

I'm a full professor.

44:16

"You're a joke.

44:18

You're not the lord.

44:20

You are nothing but a fraud.

44:21

Take him away. He's got nothing to say."

44:23

He's not a PhD.

44:26

"Get out you king of the Jews.

44:28

Get outta my life."

44:31

Listen.

44:34

Listen, you Harvards, you Yales, You Dukes,

44:36

you NCs,

44:39

you NC states,

44:41

you SMUs,

44:42

listen you rationalists making reason to God,

44:44

you scientists making facts an idol,

44:48

your method excludes the real God of mystery

44:52

who discloses himself in human form in human history.

44:56

And this Jesus will not exceed to your

45:01

(indistinct) assumptions.

45:04

And so you dismiss him,

45:06

you run him out.

45:09

in effect you are saying to Jesus Christ, superstar,

45:11

son of God,

45:16

get out of this university,

45:18

you mysterious theonomous being.

45:20

Get out of this lab, you mystic man.

45:22

Our faith is in our facts,

45:25

while you haven't even given us a winning football team,

45:27

though we've prayed before every game.

45:30

At least we do at SMU, and it doesn't work any better there.

45:33

Now let's close,

45:38

Jesus is betrayed by Judas,

45:41

denied by Peter,

45:45

tried by pilate, given 39 lashes.

45:47

I couldn't help but wonder

45:50

if this has any reference to the church's 39 articles,

45:51

who's certainties must surely cause pain or stress

45:55

to the truth as it is known by God.

45:59

But let that lie.

46:02

He was then taken to Caiaphas, to Herod,

46:04

back the pilate,

46:07

and then condemned to be crucified.

46:09

The opera moves to its end with the voice of Judas,

46:12

already hanged remember, by his own self despairing hand,

46:15

singing off stage as a modern Judas.

46:20

"Every time I look at you,

46:25

I don't understand,

46:27

why you let the things you did get so out of hand,

46:29

You'd have managed better If you'd only it planned."

46:33

Then the choir sings its wistful prayer,

46:37

representing the longing in all of us.

46:41

"Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ.

46:44

Who are you? What have you sacrificed?

46:48

Jesus Christ superstar.

46:52

Do you think you are what they say you are?"

46:55

And then Jesus dies on the cross.

47:01

For some, this is the end of the opera.

47:07

No resurrection, no fulfillment,

47:09

but I think otherwise.

47:14

Resurrection is faith, not just fact.

47:17

Look at the biblical records.

47:20

They are so contradictory as to make a man despair,

47:22

ever knowing what the true facts are.

47:26

Jesus says to one disciple "touch me".

47:30

He says to another, "don't touch me".

47:31

Jesus sits down and eats a meal of fish.

47:35

The resurrected Jesus then gets up and walks through a door

47:38

without opening it.

47:40

What happened to the fish?

47:42

But all the records are one in faith.

47:45

This Jesus whom we crucified his risen from the dead,

47:48

alive, among his church,

47:52

at least alive in that part of the church

47:55

opened to his will, to obedience,

47:58

for love, toward us in the world.

48:01

alive, in strange places and movements,

48:05

in the consciousness three world of young people.

48:08

Now listen to the end of the opera.

48:13

Jesus utters the cry, "it is finished",

48:17

and the sound cuts off into deathly silence.

48:21

And then quietly the strings come up in beautiful harmonies,

48:27

with soft visions of clouds, and peace,

48:31

and love, and community.

48:34

Christ has risen.

48:37

He has risen indeed.

48:40

Now would you go home and listen

48:43

to this testimony of Jesus Christ.

48:45

Come out from the stones of rock music,

48:47

and see if you also are not moved towards faith.

48:50

Perhaps then you will resonate to the words of Judas,

48:57

as he begins his first song.

49:00

"My mind is clearer now.

49:04

at last all too well,

49:06

I can see where we all soon will be.

49:08

If you strip away the myth from the man,

49:12

you will see where we all soon will be."

49:16

Let us pray.

49:24

Oh infinite God,

49:27

let us all old and young alike

49:29

see,

49:33

and feel,

49:34

and understand,

49:36

and find ourselves committed to

49:38

thy son,

49:40

Jesus Christ,

49:43

who emptied himself of his stardom,

49:45

and became one of us,

49:48

for the sake of all of us.

49:52

In his name, we pray,

49:55

amen.

49:58

(organ music)

50:02

(choir singing)

50:42

(choir finishes singing)

52:17

(organ music)

52:24

J. Claude Evans - "Jesus Christ, Superstar" (August 1, 1971)

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1. J. Claude Evans - "Jesus Christ, Superstar" (August 1, 1971)

Duke University Archives

J. Claude Evans - "Jesus Christ, Superstar" (August 1, 1971)

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Duke University Archives