Robert T. Young - "Beginning at the End" (September 2, 1973)
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| - | Testing one, two, three, four. | 0:05 |
| - | Is creating who has come in the true man Jesus | 0:09 |
| to reconcile and make new, | 0:14 | |
| who works in us and others by his spirit, | 0:17 | |
| we trust him. | 0:21 | |
| He calls us to be in his church, | 0:23 | |
| to celebrate his presence, | 0:26 | |
| to love and serve others, | 0:28 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 0:30 | |
| to proclaim Jesus | 0:34 | |
| crucified and risen | 0:36 | |
| our judge and our hope | 0:39 | |
| in life, in death, | 0:41 | |
| in life beyond death, | 0:44 | |
| God is with us. | 0:46 | |
| We are not alone. | 0:48 | |
| We believe in God. | 0:50 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 0:52 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 0:54 | |
| - | And with your spirit. | 0:56 |
| - | Lord, give us sufficient grace | 0:58 |
| to take off our masks | 1:00 | |
| and dare to be honest with you | 1:02 | |
| here in the fellowship of these, | 1:05 | |
| our brothers and sisters. | 1:08 | |
| Let us pray. | 1:10 | |
| - | All mighty God, | 1:19 |
| whose glory the heavens are telling, | 1:21 | |
| the earth thy power | 1:25 | |
| and to see thy might | 1:28 | |
| and his greatness, | 1:31 | |
| are healing and thinking creatures everywhere Harold | 1:32 | |
| to you belongs glory, | 1:37 | |
| honor, | 1:40 | |
| might, | 1:42 | |
| greatness, | 1:43 | |
| and magnificence, | 1:44 | |
| now, and forever. | 1:46 | |
| We bow before you in awe | 1:50 | |
| and humility | 1:53 | |
| and with thoughts given. | 1:55 | |
| We praise you | 1:59 | |
| for the gift of life, | 2:01 | |
| for the incomprehensible network of being | 2:04 | |
| in which you have placed us, | 2:09 | |
| for numerous yay numberless witnesses | 2:12 | |
| to your glory, | 2:17 | |
| for the assurance | 2:20 | |
| that you who govern the whole universe | 2:22 | |
| care for us | 2:27 | |
| and for our people. | 2:29 | |
| We give you thanks for your church, | 2:33 | |
| for its nurture, | 2:37 | |
| its support, | 2:39 | |
| its prophetic vision and leadership. | 2:42 | |
| We give you thanks for our senses | 2:46 | |
| through which we enjoy this world. | 2:51 | |
| The cool waters which refresh us, | 2:56 | |
| the feel of our feet | 3:00 | |
| in the green grass, | 3:02 | |
| the wind in our hair, | 3:05 | |
| the taste of new baked bread, | 3:08 | |
| the surprised discovery | 3:13 | |
| of one new friend, | 3:15 | |
| the brilliance and the beauty of the stain glass, | 3:18 | |
| the majesty and the glory | 3:23 | |
| of the music. | 3:26 | |
| We give you thanks for our minds. | 3:29 | |
| For the ability to learn, | 3:33 | |
| to question, | 3:35 | |
| to discover, | 3:37 | |
| to create. | 3:39 | |
| We give you thanks for our imagination, | 3:41 | |
| which enables us | 3:45 | |
| to see new visions, | 3:47 | |
| new possibilities, | 3:50 | |
| and, oh God, | 3:53 | |
| we thank you for all who share | 3:54 | |
| in the development of our minds | 3:57 | |
| and our bodies. | 4:00 | |
| For our families, and friends. | 4:03 | |
| For our teachers, | 4:07 | |
| our counselors, | 4:09 | |
| our advisors, | 4:12 | |
| our librarians, | 4:14 | |
| and we give a special thanks for those | 4:16 | |
| whose physical and mental labors | 4:20 | |
| free our time and energy | 4:23 | |
| from routine work. | 4:26 | |
| For those who cook, | 4:28 | |
| for those who clean, | 4:31 | |
| for those who garden, | 4:33 | |
| for those who work as administrators and secretaries. | 4:36 | |
| And we are thankful | 4:43 | |
| for those who make us uncomfortable | 4:45 | |
| in our complacency, | 4:48 | |
| in our secure routines, | 4:50 | |
| in our safe thoughts, | 4:53 | |
| for those who prod us | 4:55 | |
| to work for a new world | 4:58 | |
| of love and freedom. | 5:00 | |
| And we thank you, oh God, for our future, | 5:04 | |
| which is now open for us to claim. | 5:08 | |
| - | Our prayers move into prayers for others and ourselves. | 5:16 |
| Today we are thinking and feeling | 5:24 | |
| more for others and ourselves | 5:26 | |
| than we have in a long time. | 5:30 | |
| There are so many we have left behind to come here. | 5:33 | |
| Our parents and families | 5:37 | |
| and our friends. | 5:40 | |
| Bless all those dear ones we have left behind, | 5:42 | |
| and oh, please God, | 5:46 | |
| keep them safe. | 5:48 | |
| There are so many new people | 5:51 | |
| all around us, | 5:53 | |
| enable those we live with | 5:56 | |
| not to be strangers to us. | 5:58 | |
| We want to be loving and caring | 6:01 | |
| for all the people that we live with, | 6:03 | |
| go to school with, work with, | 6:06 | |
| God, help us to do this. | 6:09 | |
| We see so many whose names we do not know | 6:13 | |
| who work hard in order that everything will go well | 6:18 | |
| for us here at school. | 6:21 | |
| Dear God, be with all those who work for this school, | 6:24 | |
| those who make sandwiches, | 6:28 | |
| those who scrub bathrooms, | 6:30 | |
| those who are house revetments, | 6:32 | |
| those who are faculty and those who are staff. | 6:35 | |
| Right now, blessed God, | 6:38 | |
| we realize that we are caught up | 6:41 | |
| in this small, new, a return to world, | 6:43 | |
| and so we turn our prayers to a larger world. | 6:48 | |
| Cambodia and Vietnam are out of the news now, | 6:53 | |
| but oh God, | 6:58 | |
| we know how many maimed people are still there | 6:59 | |
| and how unsettled that whole part of the world is. | 7:04 | |
| Bring wholeness of the person | 7:08 | |
| to people who are still suffering. | 7:10 | |
| Help them make the land, once again, | 7:14 | |
| a green field of rice | 7:16 | |
| and bring stability to the politics | 7:19 | |
| everywhere from the village | 7:23 | |
| to the seat of the government. | 7:25 | |
| We pray also for the moral state of our own nation. | 7:28 | |
| We pray for people who commit immoralities against others, | 7:32 | |
| without concern. | 7:37 | |
| God, give us all a good conscience | 7:40 | |
| that can distinguish the immoral from the moral, | 7:44 | |
| that that hurts others | 7:48 | |
| from that that doesn't. | 7:51 | |
| And give us the courage to abide | 7:53 | |
| by our good conscience. | 7:56 | |
| Take care, compassionate God, | 7:58 | |
| of all who were sick, | 8:01 | |
| those who are close to death, | 8:03 | |
| both physically and psychologically. | 8:06 | |
| Bring warmth to their bodies | 8:09 | |
| and feeling to their spirit. | 8:12 | |
| And lastly, with the greatest of humility, | 8:15 | |
| most understanding God, | 8:19 | |
| we pray that our lives | 8:22 | |
| maybe something new and energizing here, | 8:24 | |
| enlighten our minds, | 8:29 | |
| keep our bodies healthy | 8:31 | |
| and give us all an active will, | 8:34 | |
| be with us in others when we are lonely or tired or afraid | 8:38 | |
| but most of all be in us for others | 8:44 | |
| when they are lonely, tired, or afraid. | 8:48 | |
| Be with us all as we live this year | 8:53 | |
| and spread among us, your blessing and your love. | 8:55 | |
| We pray these many things | 9:00 | |
| in full knowledge, that all things are possible in you | 9:03 | |
| dear God, our creator, strength and redeemer. | 9:08 | |
| Amen. | 9:13 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 9:33 |
| Bless, oh Lord, | 9:39 | |
| our speaking | 9:42 | |
| and our hearing | 9:44 | |
| that your word | 9:48 | |
| may become real to each of us | 9:50 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 9:54 | |
| Amen. | 9:58 | |
| No one, | 10:02 | |
| said Charles Lamb, | 10:04 | |
| ever regarded the first of a year | 10:09 | |
| with indifference. | 10:14 | |
| January one begins a new calendar year for all of us. | 10:19 | |
| Your birthday celebrates the beginning of a new year. | 10:25 | |
| If you are married, | 10:30 | |
| your anniversary commemorates | 10:31 | |
| the beginning of a new year. | 10:35 | |
| Our four children and millions of others just like them | 10:38 | |
| have begun a new year | 10:41 | |
| with the opening of public schools last week. | 10:42 | |
| And now Duke University | 10:47 | |
| is set to begin a new year. | 10:50 | |
| For almost five decades now, | 10:55 | |
| this university has begun a new year | 10:58 | |
| every August or every September | 11:01 | |
| and thus for most of you gathered here this morning, | 11:05 | |
| this week marks the first of a new year. | 11:08 | |
| And no one | 11:12 | |
| ever regards that | 11:15 | |
| with indifference. | 11:17 | |
| What I want to say this morning is very simple. | 11:21 | |
| One, | 11:26 | |
| only as one experience ends | 11:28 | |
| can another experience begin. | 11:33 | |
| Two, | 11:36 | |
| the grace of God is present | 11:39 | |
| at the end and at the beginning. | 11:43 | |
| Three, | 11:47 | |
| a beginning at the end is possible for anyone anytime. | 11:49 | |
| Four, | 11:58 | |
| therefore, no matter where you are | 12:00 | |
| in your own personal pilgrimage this morning, | 12:03 | |
| a new beginning | 12:08 | |
| at the end | 12:10 | |
| is possible for you. | 12:12 | |
| Simple isn't it, | 12:16 | |
| and yet it must be important | 12:18 | |
| because this theme runs as a golden thread | 12:20 | |
| from the beginning of the old Testament, | 12:24 | |
| through the new Testament, | 12:26 | |
| through the pages of history, | 12:27 | |
| through your experiences | 12:29 | |
| and through my experiences. | 12:31 | |
| Beginning at the end | 12:34 | |
| that's what life is all about. | 12:37 | |
| As Susan Halls, a second year divinity school student, | 12:41 | |
| said to me this summer, | 12:45 | |
| we are people who do not really care much for endings, | 12:47 | |
| we are people of beginning. | 12:53 | |
| We celebrate beginnings, | 12:56 | |
| but we want to forget endings. | 12:58 | |
| We do want to forget endings. | 13:02 | |
| We don't like to see a door closed in front of us. | 13:04 | |
| We don't like to watch a good movie come to an end | 13:08 | |
| or see the curtain fall | 13:11 | |
| on the end of a good play. | 13:13 | |
| We don't like to come to the last page of a good book | 13:16 | |
| or see the last leaf fall | 13:20 | |
| or drink the last drop of a Coca-Cola. | 13:24 | |
| We don't like to spend our last dollar | 13:27 | |
| or have our pen run out of ink | 13:30 | |
| or see darkness come. | 13:33 | |
| We heard for a long time, | 13:36 | |
| when death comes to someone close to us, | 13:38 | |
| we'd much rather shake hands in greeting | 13:43 | |
| rather than in parting. | 13:46 | |
| We don't really like to kiss goodbye. | 13:47 | |
| No, we'd like to forget endings, | 13:51 | |
| but we do celebrate beginnings. | 13:53 | |
| Christmas at the beginning, | 13:55 | |
| the birth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. | 13:57 | |
| Easter, the birth of a new faith. | 14:01 | |
| The 4th of July, the birth, the beginning of a new country. | 14:04 | |
| Memorial day celebrated as the beginning of peace | 14:07 | |
| at the end of war. | 14:11 | |
| New year's Eve, the beginning at the end, a new year. | 14:13 | |
| Birth, the beginning of new life, | 14:18 | |
| a new job, new opportunities, | 14:21 | |
| a new friend, | 14:23 | |
| the potential of new relationships, | 14:24 | |
| weddings, oh how joyously we celebrate those beginnings, | 14:28 | |
| or college. | 14:34 | |
| Beginning at the end. | 14:37 | |
| The only real problem with this, however, | 14:41 | |
| is that one is never quite sure | 14:44 | |
| when an experience is the end | 14:47 | |
| or when it is the beginning. | 14:50 | |
| But may I be so bold as to say | 14:54 | |
| that it really does not matter, | 14:56 | |
| for whether it is the end of one experience | 14:59 | |
| or the beginning of the other, | 15:02 | |
| the grace of almighty God is present | 15:03 | |
| all the way through. | 15:06 | |
| The old Testament begins, | 15:11 | |
| "In the beginning God created." | 15:13 | |
| Noah began after the flood, | 15:16 | |
| beginning at the end of the flood, | 15:20 | |
| the exodus of Moses and his people | 15:22 | |
| came | 15:25 | |
| when captivity ended. | 15:27 | |
| At the end of Jacob's wrestling with the angel, | 15:30 | |
| a new life began, | 15:33 | |
| the end of his running as long | 15:36 | |
| and as far as he could | 15:38 | |
| even just swimming in the depths of the ocean. | 15:40 | |
| So we're told, at least symbolically, | 15:43 | |
| Jonah finally submitted and began a new. | 15:45 | |
| Amos was called from his fields to begin a new life. | 15:48 | |
| In the new Testament, | 15:52 | |
| the gospel of Mark begins with the words, | 15:53 | |
| "The beginning of the gospel." | 15:56 | |
| Remember Peter, | 16:01 | |
| on one occasion, | 16:03 | |
| he must have felt that the end was surely at hand | 16:05 | |
| when Jesus turned to him and said, | 16:09 | |
| "Get behind me Satan," | 16:11 | |
| but it was this same Peter | 16:15 | |
| who also must've had a new beginning because | 16:16 | |
| just a little bit later, Jesus said, | 16:19 | |
| "Oh, you are Peter | 16:21 | |
| "and on this rock, I will build my church." | 16:23 | |
| Beginning at the end. | 16:26 | |
| Jesus made many references himself to | 16:28 | |
| beginning at the end, | 16:31 | |
| to new beginnings if you will, | 16:33 | |
| except he said, | 16:36 | |
| "You become as little children." | 16:37 | |
| To Nicodemus he said, "You must be born again." | 16:43 | |
| To us he says, "You must be baptized by water | 16:49 | |
| "and the spirit." | 16:53 | |
| You must begin a new | 16:54 | |
| clean and fresh and pure | 16:56 | |
| beginning at the end. | 16:59 | |
| And the most powerful and the most dramatic | 17:03 | |
| and surely the best known beginning at the end | 17:05 | |
| is the story of Jesus. | 17:08 | |
| In the beginning of the church, | 17:11 | |
| Jesus was condemned and beaten, | 17:14 | |
| ordered to be executed. | 17:16 | |
| He was jeered. | 17:18 | |
| He was spat upon. | 17:19 | |
| He was beaten. | 17:20 | |
| He was forced to carry his own execution instrument. | 17:21 | |
| He traveled the Via Dolorosa, | 17:25 | |
| the way of sorrows, all alone. | 17:27 | |
| At the cross, | 17:32 | |
| there were only four | 17:35 | |
| of his so-called many followers present. | 17:36 | |
| And you who believe in | 17:39 | |
| the rights of women | 17:42 | |
| have a right to be proud. | 17:43 | |
| There were three women | 17:45 | |
| and only one man present at the cross. | 17:47 | |
| And on that hill, | 17:51 | |
| the soldiers had an order to carry out | 17:53 | |
| and they were faithful and good soldiers | 17:56 | |
| and they carried out their order. | 17:58 | |
| They did their job well | 18:00 | |
| because he died. | 18:02 | |
| And when darkness came on that awful Friday, | 18:07 | |
| two words | 18:13 | |
| describe the scene. | 18:15 | |
| The end. | 18:18 | |
| You know the story. | 18:23 | |
| It was the end, | 18:26 | |
| but then the fullness of God's grace | 18:30 | |
| came rolling in | 18:33 | |
| and it became the end | 18:35 | |
| which made possible the beginning. | 18:36 | |
| The beginning which caused Mary to say, | 18:39 | |
| "He is not here, he has risen." | 18:42 | |
| Which caused Thomas to say, | 18:45 | |
| "My Lord and my God," | 18:46 | |
| which caused Peter to cry out, | 18:50 | |
| "It is the Lord." | 18:53 | |
| Beginning at the end. | 18:57 | |
| John Wesley at Aldersgate | 18:59 | |
| in May of 1738 | 19:01 | |
| after he had been reared in the church of England, | 19:03 | |
| and he preached no telling how many sermons, | 19:07 | |
| began a new when he said on that May evening, | 19:10 | |
| "I felt my heart strangely warm." | 19:14 | |
| GK Chesterton at the turn of this century | 19:20 | |
| said to a preacher friend of his, | 19:22 | |
| "I've had enough of your doubts, | 19:24 | |
| "tell me of your affirmations. | 19:26 | |
| "Give me a new beginning." | 19:28 | |
| Dag Hammarskjold on quick Sunday in 1961 | 19:33 | |
| wrote these words, | 19:36 | |
| "I don't know who or what put the question. | 19:37 | |
| "I don't know when it was put, | 19:40 | |
| "I don't even remember answering, | 19:43 | |
| "but at some moment I did answer yes to someone | 19:44 | |
| "or to something | 19:46 | |
| "and from that hour, | 19:48 | |
| "I was certain that existence is meaningful | 19:49 | |
| "and that therefore my life in self-surrender | 19:52 | |
| "had a goal." | 19:56 | |
| Beginning at the end. | 19:58 | |
| Huey Newton, who in the sixties, | 20:01 | |
| was known to cause he was the militant organizer | 20:03 | |
| and co-leader of the Black Panthers, | 20:06 | |
| just got out of prison | 20:08 | |
| after having spent some three years or so there, | 20:10 | |
| a new man, | 20:12 | |
| now committed to humane action | 20:14 | |
| and non-violence. | 20:17 | |
| He's expelled all militant gun toting members | 20:18 | |
| of the Black Panthers and says, | 20:22 | |
| "We must care | 20:24 | |
| "by helping." | 20:27 | |
| Beginning at the end. | 20:30 | |
| You've been there. | 20:33 | |
| Most of you. | 20:37 | |
| The loss of a loved one, | 20:41 | |
| the end. | 20:46 | |
| The beginning of a new and different kind of life | 20:48 | |
| without someone very close. | 20:52 | |
| A serious stillness, | 20:58 | |
| the end. | 21:01 | |
| Pain or despair or loneliness or fear or anxiety | 21:02 | |
| and then | 21:07 | |
| the beginning of a new outlook on life. | 21:09 | |
| An excellent example. | 21:13 | |
| I saw the story, | 21:17 | |
| I guess it was first in the paper on Wednesday or Thursday, | 21:18 | |
| maybe of this week. | 21:23 | |
| Lester in Madeline (indistinct) | 21:26 | |
| had a 20 year old son who was injured | 21:30 | |
| in an automobile accident and his brain had been damaged | 21:32 | |
| and the doctor said there was no hope for him to live. | 21:36 | |
| These parents made the decision | 21:40 | |
| not to administer any additional medical treatment to him | 21:43 | |
| so that his two kidneys | 21:47 | |
| could be given to two other persons in need | 21:49 | |
| and could begin life a new, | 21:53 | |
| beginning at the end. | 21:54 | |
| Dr. Carlisle Marnie told some of us about this experience | 22:00 | |
| at Interpreter's House, not too long ago. | 22:03 | |
| He said that a medical doctor friend of his | 22:07 | |
| had a young woman | 22:11 | |
| who had been a patient of his, all her life. | 22:13 | |
| She was confined to a wheelchair. | 22:17 | |
| All four limbs were twisted and gnarled. | 22:20 | |
| She had never walked a step in her life. | 22:23 | |
| She was 27 years old | 22:25 | |
| and had to be cared for by someone else all the time. | 22:28 | |
| One day as the doctor was examining and caring for her, | 22:34 | |
| he said, "You know, Elizabeth, | 22:37 | |
| "with all the pain and the suffering | 22:40 | |
| "that you have had to endure, | 22:42 | |
| "I guess sometimes you have the feeling | 22:45 | |
| "that you wish you had just never been born, don't you?" | 22:47 | |
| And with a sparkle in her eye | 22:52 | |
| and a gleam upon her face, | 22:54 | |
| the doctor said she looked her right- | 22:55 | |
| she looked him right straight in the eye and said, | 22:57 | |
| "I wouldn't have missed it for the world. | 23:00 | |
| "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." | 23:05 | |
| Beginning at the end. | 23:09 | |
| You've been there. | 23:14 | |
| The end, which makes possible the beginning. | 23:16 | |
| The doctor's surgery has to the end | 23:21 | |
| before healing can begin. | 23:23 | |
| Dating has to end before marriage can begin. | 23:26 | |
| Pregnancy has to end before new life can begin. | 23:29 | |
| And as I wound my way through the traffic of | 23:32 | |
| cars unloading on Thursday of this week | 23:36 | |
| and saw scores of you, | 23:39 | |
| I'm sure, unpacking, | 23:41 | |
| I realized, I guess quite forcibly, | 23:45 | |
| that the end of life at home has to end before | 23:48 | |
| being away at college can begin. | 23:55 | |
| War has to end before peace can begin. | 23:58 | |
| Hatred has to end before brotherhood can begin. | 24:01 | |
| So it is | 24:09 | |
| the end of one experience | 24:12 | |
| makes possible the beginning of another. | 24:14 | |
| And surely one of the great affirmations | 24:17 | |
| of the gospel of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, | 24:20 | |
| is that it is the daylight which follows the darkness | 24:23 | |
| and not the darkness which follows | 24:27 | |
| the daylight. | 24:32 | |
| That's what Maureen McGovern sings about | 24:35 | |
| in the song from the Poseidon Adventure. | 24:39 | |
| There's got to be | 24:43 | |
| a morning after. | 24:45 | |
| There's got to be a morning after. | 24:47 | |
| We believe that, we live that, | 24:51 | |
| we have to have that faith statement. | 24:55 | |
| I'm told that it is a breathtaking experience | 25:02 | |
| to go through the endless caverns in Virginia. | 25:05 | |
| You go from one room to another | 25:11 | |
| and see the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites | 25:13 | |
| and the columns forming | 25:17 | |
| uniquely magnificent formations underground. | 25:19 | |
| When the visitors come to the last room, | 25:26 | |
| the guide has everyone stand around against the wall | 25:28 | |
| and the lights are deemed slowly, surely, | 25:33 | |
| and finally completely turned off | 25:37 | |
| and then begins the gradual lighting of the formations | 25:42 | |
| above a little pool of water. | 25:45 | |
| The picture is like | 25:50 | |
| jewels hanging | 25:52 | |
| above a miniature lake | 25:54 | |
| with the dawn breaking in upon them. | 25:56 | |
| And then the guide says, | 26:01 | |
| "This is not the end of the caverns. | 26:04 | |
| "This is just as far as we go." | 26:10 | |
| "Our explorers have gone many, many miles beyond this point. | 26:13 | |
| "They have discovered larger rooms | 26:18 | |
| "than any you have passed through | 26:21 | |
| "and have seen more beautiful formations | 26:23 | |
| "than any you have looked upon. | 26:25 | |
| "This is not the end. | 26:30 | |
| "This is simply as far as we go today. | 26:33 | |
| "That is why we call these the endless caverns." | 26:39 | |
| Life | 26:45 | |
| for you and me | 26:48 | |
| is an endless chain of experiences. | 26:50 | |
| This is not the end | 26:53 | |
| this is just as far | 26:54 | |
| as you and I have gone up to today. | 26:56 | |
| And today is | 27:03 | |
| the first day | 27:05 | |
| of the rest of your life. | 27:08 | |
| Surely, | 27:15 | |
| in Christ, | 27:16 | |
| we believe that there are larger experiences, | 27:19 | |
| greater meanings and more beautiful moments | 27:23 | |
| than any we have known thus far. | 27:26 | |
| And the word became flesh and lived among us, | 27:32 | |
| in him was life | 27:37 | |
| and the life was the life of all persons. | 27:39 | |
| To all who received him, | 27:45 | |
| who believed in his name, | 27:47 | |
| he gave power | 27:50 | |
| to become the children of God. | 27:52 | |
| And the word became flesh and lived among us | 27:56 | |
| and we have beheld his glory | 27:59 | |
| full of grace and full of truth. | 28:03 | |
| This is the day which the Lord has made | 28:07 | |
| let us rejoice and be glad in it, | 28:11 | |
| this day, this year, this moment, | 28:14 | |
| a gift from God, | 28:19 | |
| let us rejoice | 28:21 | |
| and be glad in it. | 28:23 | |
| Martin Luther, | 28:27 | |
| at the height of the reformation turmoil for him, | 28:29 | |
| was asked one day, | 28:32 | |
| where he would be | 28:36 | |
| when all the princes and all the people | 28:40 | |
| and all the church and all the state turned against him? | 28:43 | |
| And Martin Luther came back in a flash, | 28:49 | |
| "Where shall I be then? | 28:51 | |
| "Why then as now, | 28:54 | |
| "in the hands of all mighty God." | 28:58 | |
| Beginning | 29:05 | |
| at the end. | 29:07 | |
| Then | 29:09 | |
| as now. | 29:11 | |
| In the hands | 29:14 | |
| of all mighty God. | 29:16 | |
| What I want to say this morning | 29:20 | |
| is very simple. | 29:24 | |
| One experience has to end | 29:27 | |
| before another | 29:31 | |
| can begin. | 29:33 | |
| The grace of God is ever present | 29:37 | |
| at the end | 29:42 | |
| and the beginning. | 29:45 | |
| Let us pray. | 29:48 | |
| Oh God, | 29:53 | |
| transform what come to us as endings | 29:56 | |
| and make of them | 30:03 | |
| glorious beginnings | 30:06 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 30:10 | |
| Amen. | 30:15 | |
| (liturgical music) | 30:17 | |
| - | (indistinct) for our physical announcement please | 33:25 |
| at the Duke University (indistinct) | 33:30 | |
| - | And in the spirit of Christ, | 33:39 |
| to this magnificent place of worship. | 33:42 | |
| If you are new, we welcome you | 33:47 | |
| or if you are returning | 33:51 | |
| in God's name, | 33:53 | |
| the word of welcome is justice. | 33:54 | |
| Well, just as warm. | 33:58 | |
| I hope | 34:02 | |
| it will be your desire | 34:04 | |
| and our privilege | 34:08 | |
| for us to worship God here | 34:09 | |
| regularly | 34:13 | |
| throughout this year. | 34:14 | |
| As you came into the chapel this morning, | 34:18 | |
| you should have received the Order of Worship, | 34:22 | |
| plus an extra sheet of paper. | 34:24 | |
| On Friday of this week, | 34:29 | |
| it was approved | 34:32 | |
| to begin the installation | 34:33 | |
| of a new and permanent sound system in the chapel. | 34:36 | |
| We have every assurance that the new system | 34:41 | |
| will be in operation by the end of October. | 34:43 | |
| In the meantime, | 34:47 | |
| we're hoping to make it possible | 34:49 | |
| for us to worship here meaningfully, | 34:53 | |
| which means we must hear. | 34:55 | |
| So would you take a moment | 34:59 | |
| and check the appropriate places | 35:01 | |
| on this sheet of paper, | 35:04 | |
| including marking a spot on the outline | 35:07 | |
| of the diagram of the chapel indicating | 35:10 | |
| where you are seated. | 35:12 | |
| During the closing hymn, if you will, | 35:16 | |
| pass these to the outside aisles, | 35:18 | |
| and the ushers will receive them. | 35:23 | |
| Again in God's name, welcome, | 35:26 | |
| and may God spirit bless you | 35:30 | |
| as we continue and worship | 35:32 | |
| by the giving of our tithes and offerings. | 35:34 | |
| (liturgical music) | 35:43 | |
| - | Oh, holy God, | 42:32 |
| we are the people who live in abundance | 42:34 | |
| in the midst of a world of poverty. | 42:37 | |
| We pray that you will accept | 42:41 | |
| these our gifts of (indistinct) | 42:43 | |
| which symbolize our lives | 42:45 | |
| that they maybe used to prepare for your people | 42:48 | |
| and your world. | 42:51 | |
| We pray in the spirit | 42:53 | |
| and for the power of the Father. | 42:56 | |
| Amen. | 42:59 | |
| (liturgical music) | 43:01 | |
| - | We are yours, oh God, | 51:31 |
| as we give our gifts | 51:34 | |
| may we surrender our lives | 51:35 | |
| to your youth. | 51:38 | |
| Show us what you would have us to do | 51:41 | |
| then, oh God, give us the will | 51:45 | |
| to do it. | 51:48 | |
| In Christ's name. | 51:50 | |
| Amen. | 51:53 | |
| (liturgical music) | 51:57 |
