Robert T. Young - "Just a Sprig of Hope" (August 31, 1975)

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-	Oh, holy God, we thirst for an awareness	0:10
	of your love and your presence.	0:15
	So now, we wait before you in this company of your people.	0:19
	Steal our minds and hearts	0:26
	that we may hear you speak to us	0:29
	and feel your presence in our midst,	0:33
	and so become more sensitive to you	0:36
	and all of the places of our living, amen.	0:40
	(choir sings)	0:50
	(instrumental music) 02:14	2:15
	Let us join in our responsive litany	8:03
	of confession and affirmation.	8:05
	Oh, God, we know ourselves	8:11
	as those who rejoice in great music and worship,	8:14
	and yet violate your creation.	8:19
	(indistinct)	8:24
	We speak loudly of wanting our lives to count for something.	8:26
	(indistinct)	8:32
	We want to give of ourselves.	8:39
	(indistinct)	8:42
	We decry the breakdown in communication.	8:48
	(indistinct)	8:52
	We went, set the disparity between the poor and our world.	8:57
	(indistinct)	9:02
	Turn us about this day	9:10
	in the neatly beveled rut we have won.	9:13
	(indistinct)	9:17
	Christ, who showed us the way, spoke of life.	9:20
	(indistinct)	9:25
	Christ, the servant, spoke of hope.	9:30
	(indistinct)	9:34
	Christ, the open one, spoke of love.	9:40
	(indistinct)	9:45
	Christ, the carer of others, spoke of joy.	9:51
	(indistinct)	9:56
	And now, oh, Lord,	10:07
	hear us as we make our personal, private confession to you.	10:09
	Amen.	10:28
	Believe the good news that God is loving and forgiving,	10:29
	and live as forgiven people,	10:35
	moving into the future with hope, amen.	10:39
	(instrumental music)	10:45
	(choir sings)	11:54
-	Let us hear the word of God.	16:34
	Now, the earth was corrupt in God's sight	16:37
	and the earth was filled with violence.	16:39
	And God saw the earth,	16:42
	and behold, it was corrupt.	16:43
	For all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.	16:45
	And God said to Noah,	16:49
	"I have determined to make an end of all flesh	16:51
	"for the earth is filled with violence through them.	16:53
	"Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.	16:56
	"Make rooms in the arc	16:58
	"and cover it inside and out with pitch	17:00
	"for behold, I bring a flood of waters upon the earth	17:02
	"to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life.	17:06
	"And of every living thing, of all flesh,	17:11
	"you shall bring two of every sort into the ark	17:13
	"to keep them alive with you.	17:17
	"They shall be male and female.	17:19
	"For in the seventh day,	17:21
	"I will send rain upon the earth, 40 days and 40 nights.	17:23
	"And every living thing that I've made,	17:27
	"I will blot out from the face of the ground."	17:29
	And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.	17:32
	In the 600th year of Noah's life,	17:35
	in the second, on the 17th day of that month,	17:37
	on that day, all the fountains of the great depth	17:41
	burst forth and the windows of heaven were open.	17:45
	The flood continued 40 days upon the earth	17:49
	and the waters increased, and bore up the ark,	17:51
	and it rose high above the earth.	17:56
	The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth,	17:59
	and the ark floated on the face of the waters.	18:01
	And the water prevailed so mildly upon the earth	18:04
	that all the high mountains were under the heavens	18:06
	were covered 15 cubic deep.	18:10
	Only Noah was left and those that were with him in the ark.	18:13
	At the end of 150 days, waters had abated.	18:20
	And the waters continued to abate until the 10th month.	18:24
	And the end of 40 days,	18:27
	Noah opened the window of the ark, which he had made.	18:28
	And then he sent forth a dove from him	18:31
	to see if the waters had subsided from the face	18:33
	of the ground.	18:36
	But the dove found no place to set her foot,	18:37
	and she returned to him, to the ark,	18:39
	for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth.	18:41
	So he put forth his hand and took her,	18:44
	and brought her into the ark with him.	18:47
	He waited another seven days,	18:49
	and again, he sent forth the dove out of the ark.	18:50
	And the dove came back to him in the evening,	18:53
	and low in her mouth, a freshly plucked olive leaf.	18:57
	So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.	19:01
	Now, let the congregation stand	19:06
	for the reading of the gospel.	19:08
	When the Son of man comes in His glory	19:18
	and all the angels with Him,	19:20
	then He will sit on His glorious throne.	19:22
	Before Him, will be gathered all the nations	19:25
	and He will separate them from one another	19:28
	as a shepherd separates a sheep from the goats.	19:30
	And He will place a sheep at His right hand,	19:34
	but the goats at the left.	19:36
	The King will say to those at his right hand,	19:38
	"Come, oh, blessed of my father.	19:40
	"Inherit the kingdom prepared for you	19:42
	"from the foundation of the world.	19:44
	"For I was hungry and you gave me food,	19:46
	"I was thirsty and you gave me drink.	19:49
	"I was a stranger and you welcomed me.	19:51
	"I was naked and you clothed me.	19:53
	"I was sick and you visited me.	19:55
	"I was in prison and you came to me."	19:57
	Then the righteous will answer Him,	20:00
	"Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee	20:02
	"or thirsty and give thee drink?"	20:05
	"And when did we see thee stranger and welcome thee	20:09
	"or naked and cloth thee?	20:13
	"And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?"	20:14
	And the king will answer them, "Truly. I say to you,	20:18
	"as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren,	20:22
	"you did it to me."	20:26
	Here ends the reading of the lessons.	20:27
	(instrumental music)	20:29
	(choir sings)	20:44
-	Let us affirm our faith.	21:20
	We are not alone, we live in God's world.	21:25
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating.	21:30
	Who has come in the truly human Jesus	21:35
	to reconcile and make new.	21:38
	Who works in us and others through the spirit.	21:41
	We trust God, who calls us to be the church,	21:45
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	21:50
	to love and serve others,	21:54
	to seek justice and resist evil,	21:56
	to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,	21:59
	our judge and our hope.	22:03
	In life and death, in life beyond death,	22:06
	God is with us, we are not alone.	22:11
	Thanks be to God.	22:16
	The Lord be with you.	22:18
-	And with your spirit.
-	Let us pray.	22:22
	Oh, holy God, we accept this day	22:33
	and this new beginning as a gentle gift.	22:38
	Like other days and other beginnings,	22:43
	it comes with joy and tears, and promise.	22:45
	Joy in the awareness of your presence	22:52
	and in the awareness of new friends and new places.	22:56
	Tears for those who suffer hurt	23:02
	and tears from the sadness	23:05
	of being separated from those we love.	23:07
	And promise for the future, for the unexpected,	23:13
	for the hope, which is ours.	23:18
	We give you thanks for all that has brought us	23:23
	to this moment and this place	23:26
	for family and friends, and schools.	23:29
	We give you thanks for all	23:35
	who will care for us during this next year:	23:37
	for teachers and cooks, and administrators, and maids,	23:41
	and janitors, and librarians, and roommates, and ministers,	23:45
	and counselors, and merchants.	23:50
	Those we know and those who serve us are known to us.	23:54
	Oh, God, we come this hour with hope and fear.	24:02
	Fear that we may be lonely,	24:09
	that we may waste our time and abilities,	24:12
	that no one will care for us.	24:16
	Hope that you will bless our time	24:21
	that we may live it in all of its fullness,	24:25
	that you may bless our bodies,	24:29
	that we may pass on life that is good and whole, and full,	24:34
	that you will bless our hands and minds,	24:41
	that we may build a world which reflects your love.	24:45
	And we pray, oh, God,	24:51
	that we will not turn in on ourselves	24:54
	and become blind to those around us.	24:57
	Use us to respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters,	25:02
	to those who reach out to us for healing, love,	25:07
	and support, and care,	25:11
	but also to those who are afraid to reach out to anyone.	25:15
	Enlarge our love, oh, God,	25:22
	that we may pray for others	25:25
	and that our lives may be lived for others.	25:28
	Hear our prayers now,	25:33
	for those we love who are suffering, who are in pain,	25:35
	who are separated and broken in body and spirit,	25:41
	and for those who are grieving over the death	25:46
	of persons they love.	25:50
	And oh, God, we would pray for those	25:54
	who do not have the opportunities	25:56
	which have been given to us,	25:58
	for those who lives are restricted by no food, no family,	26:01
	no work, no future, no hope.	26:07
	We pray, oh, God, that our time will be a time	26:13
	of preparation for response to care	26:17
	for some of the urgent needs of your children.	26:21
	And now, hear us as we pray the prayer	26:26
	that our Lord taught us:	26:30
	our Father, who art in heaven,	26:33
	hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,	26:37
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	26:41
	Give us this day, our daily bread,	26:46
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	26:50
	who trespass against us.	26:53
	And lead us not into temptation,	26:55
	but deliver us from evil.	26:58
	For thine is the kingdom,	27:01
	the power and the glory,	27:03
	for ever and ever, amen.	27:05
	On this Thursday, September 4th,	27:09
	in this chapel, at four o'clock in the afternoon,	27:13
	persons who will volunteer to help keep the chapel open	27:17
	for prayer and meditation are invited to come here.	27:21
	The hours would be from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day.	27:26
	If you are willing to be a volunteer chapel attendant,	27:31
	please come here at four o'clock, this Thursday.	27:34
	And then at 5:15, this Thursday,	27:38
	we will begin the first service of worship,	27:41
	which has been planned by a group of men and women	27:44
	who are concerned to develop a liturgy	27:47
	in which no Christian feels excluded	27:50
	because of a specific word or specific concept	27:53
	or specific hem.	27:57
	5:15, this Thursday.	27:59
	This is a very special day for us.	28:03
	It's the Sunday when we begin the new year.	28:06
	Bob and I look forward to our work with you	28:09
	as you share with us in our ministry, to this community.	28:13
	And for all of us who are worshiping here,	28:19
	a special word of appreciation,	28:21
	those who help lead us in our worship:	28:24
	the musicians, the choir, the ushers, the preacher,	28:27
	and those who work	28:34
	to get this building ready for us each Sunday.	28:35
	And a very special welcome to those of you	28:39
	who are new students this year	28:41
	and to you who are returning,	28:44
	and to all of you who have not been away	28:46
	through this long, hot summer.	28:48
	And if any of you have on jackets,	28:51
	we invite you to remove your jacket	28:53
	so you can worship at least a little cooler.	28:55
-	It doesn't take much, just a whisper, just a whisp,	29:16
	just a flicker, just a word, only one breath,	29:25
	just a sigh, just a glance.	29:31
	If you can see the shadow,	29:36
	you know there must be a reality.	29:38
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	29:42
	The cartoon showed a picture of the earth	29:49
	as the face of a man,	29:51
	with the contours of the continents in the background	29:54
	and the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of a man,	29:57
	clearly showing earth as a man's head.	30:00
	And the tears stream down earth's cheeks.	30:03
	And underneath the cartoon were the words,	30:08
	"This is my father's world," and so it is.	30:10
	This is God's world, mother, father.	30:17
	God world, and I'm sure that as God looks down	30:21
	upon this earth, the tears surely stream down God's cheeks.	30:24
	T.S. Elliott writes in the "Wasteland,"	30:32
	"Here is no water, but only rock.	30:34
	"Rock and no water, and the sandy road."	30:39
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	30:42
	You may feel quite often,	30:49
	very much as Lucy in the peanuts comic strip	30:50
	when she remarked to Linus, "Linus, why is it	30:53
	"that it always rains on our generation?"	30:56
	It doesn't take much in the face	31:00
	of all of today's confusion and restlessness,	31:03
	and quietness, and unease, and despair,	31:06
	just a sprig of hope.	31:10
	We often feel like John Updike puts it in "Pigeon Feathers"	31:13
	when he writes, "He detested the apparatus of piety.	31:18
	"Husty churches, creaking hymns,	31:24
	"ugly Sunday school teachers and their stupid leaflets,	31:27
	"he hated everything about them,	31:31
	"but the promise they held out."	31:33
	And so it often is we hate everything about piety	31:38
	and maybe even about universities,	31:41
	but the promise that they hold out.	31:43
	Or as a Psalmist cried long ago,	31:46
	"How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange	31:48
	"and alien land?"	31:52
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	31:53
	Robert Taylor, campus ministry at the University	32:00
	of Illinois, writing in his book, "This damned campus talks	32:02
	"of what it is like for some of us on university campuses."	32:05
	At times when he says, "Students may wonder	32:09
	"about philosophy courses,	32:11
	"which never seem to ask the big questions,	32:13
	"about psychology courses,	32:16
	"which seldom get around to people,	32:18
	"about English courses,	32:20
	"which disavow the significance to literature	32:22
	"of the meaning of a poem.	32:24
	"Today's students may well find themselves wondering	32:26
	"whether anybody really cares about him or her as a person.	32:30
	"Some gray morning when he hasn't seen his girl for a month,	32:35
	"when his roommate is depressed,	32:40
	"when he knows that his professor doesn't even know his name	32:42
	"and an exam is around the corner.	32:45
	"He questions seriously whether he's anything more	32:47
	"than a statistic,	32:51
	"and he asks himself, "Does anybody really care?"	32:52
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	32:57
	"Now, abides faith, hope, and love, these three,	33:03
	"but the greatest of these," wrote Paul, "Is love."	33:06
	Could it be though that if Paul were writing today,	33:10
	he would write, "Now, abides faith, hope, love, these three,	33:12
	"but the greatest of these is hope."	33:16
	For isn't our greatest need today	33:19
	for some sense of hope for us individually and collectively.	33:22
	Or you show me a person without hope	33:27
	and I'll show you someone without love,	33:30
	for why love if there is no hope.	33:32
	You show me somebody without hope	33:36
	and I'll show you somebody who has no faith,	33:37
	for why believe, why have faith if there is no future	33:40
	and if there is no hope.	33:43
	Abraham Joshua Heschel, the great and beloved Jewish scholar	33:45
	who died not too long ago,	33:49
	wrote some years earlier when things were really dark	33:52
	for him and his people:	33:56
	"There are those who maintained	33:57
	"that the situation is too grave	33:59
	"for us to do much about it.	34:02
	"It is good," he said, "That Moses did not study theology	34:04
	"under the teachers of that message.	34:08
	"Otherwise, I would still be in Egypt, building pyramids."	34:10
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	34:15
	Keith Watkins writes a beautifully,	34:20
	but yet disturbing description of how I feel at times.	34:23
	And if you've been downtown on a busy street	34:27
	and a busy sidewalk on a typical Saturday afternoon,	34:30
	in most towns, you can visualize this picture.	34:35
	He says, "We're like little children	34:37
	"being jerked along so quickly	34:39
	"that our feet just vibrate over the sidewalk	34:41
	"rather than really touching it."	34:44
	"We have" says Archibald MacLeish,	34:47
	"The sense that we are getting far, nowhere,	34:49
	"far too fast.	34:52
	"And that if something really significant	34:53
	"doesn't happen to us, we may arrive at nowhere.	34:55
	"If something really significant doesn't happen to us,	35:00
	"we may arrive at nowhere."	35:04
	I know this morning, my friends,	35:08
	that there are innumerable reasons	35:10
	for the crises we face in our country	35:12
	and in our communities today.	35:14
	But could it be that not too long ago,	35:18
	one reason, my fellow Blacks were willing	35:20
	to burn down their own businesses	35:22
	and even their own rat-infested rooms,	35:24
	and that now, they're calling for Black separatism	35:27
	so they can get themselves together?	35:30
	Is that they have no other hope left?	35:31
	Or could it be that one reason,	35:36
	college students, your predecessor generations,	35:38
	were willing to riot and protest,	35:42
	and demonstrate, and even destroy,	35:44
	and now, you and your colleagues across the country	35:47
	are to me, deathly silent,	35:50
	and often apathetically unconcerned?	35:52
	It says to me, "You've tried now both extremes."	35:54
	Could one reason be that you have no other hope left?	35:59
	Or could it be that one reason	36:05
	that many women in our society and around the world	36:07
	are banding together and are pleading for recognition	36:09
	and equality of treatment in jobs and in society	36:13
	so that they might overcome centuries of misuse	36:17
	and manipulation, and being ignored, and being put down?	36:20
	Is that they have no other hope left?	36:23
	Could it be student, that one reason you feel lonely	36:29
	and empty by being away from home,	36:35
	walking down clean sidewalks and manicured grass,	36:38
	and beside beautiful buildings,	36:44
	and even being with students already	36:47
	and faculty, and advisors,	36:48
	and yet already struggling and searching,	36:50
	and longing, and yearning, and crying,	36:52
	and puzzling, and weeping,	36:54
	and feeling that no one cares	36:55
	as if you have already began to wonder,	36:57
	"Where is my hope?"	36:59
	Could it be that one reason we have family gaps	37:03
	and generation gaps, and cultural gaps,	37:06
	and racial gaps, and economic gaps, and societal gaps,	37:08
	and religious gaps, and all other kinds of gaps?	37:12
	Is that we no longer know	37:15
	how to communicate with each other so much so	37:16
	that in one suburban apartment complex,	37:19
	they're now teaching a course on how to talk	37:21
	with your neighbor.	37:24
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	37:26
	There they were in the ark.	37:33
	They've been there 150 days and 150 nights,	37:36
	and then on top of that, 10 months more;	37:39
	worn out, weary, sea-sick, animal-sick,	37:42
	claustrophobia, par excellence.	37:46
	And Noah sent out a dove.	37:49
	She came back, you noticed it was a woman	37:51
	that was daring enough to be the adventurer,	37:55
	but she came back.	37:57
	Seven more stifling, smelly, stuffy days	37:59
	in that old, creaky boat,	38:03
	and this dove was sent out again.	38:05
	And she returned late in the evening.	38:08
	And low in her mouth, a freshly plucked olive leaf.	38:12
	And Noah knew with just a sprig in the mouth of this dove	38:16
	that there must be solid ground somewhere.	38:21
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	38:25
	Scientists tell us that rats without hope	38:31
	will drown in a jar of water	38:35
	in just a little over three minutes.	38:36
	But you put just a flicker of light beside that water	38:38
	and give them some hope,	38:42
	and they will swim for 36 hours.	38:44
	And so do we.	38:50
	The doctor says there is no hope	38:52
	and we rationalize and justify, and suppress,	38:54
	and become defensive and frightened,	38:57
	and grasp for a straw,	38:59
	and we cry out "As long as there's life, there's hope	39:00
	"or maybe a miracle will happen."	39:03
	Or we say, "Doctor, do something."	39:05
	Or we say, "I'll just keep on hoping always."	39:06
	Or do we ever give up hope?	39:10
	Do we, really?	39:12
	No, no or you better not.	39:14
	But we live by hope.	39:20
	The student who is about to flunk out,	39:22
	keeps struggling to do her very best	39:24
	and will do her very best as long as she thinks	39:27
	that there is some hope that she can make it.	39:30
	The husband who has been unfaithful to his wife	39:34
	and really wants to be reconciled with her,	39:37
	asks her simply, but poignantly,	39:39
	"Just give me one more chance."	39:41
	And what he really means is that, "I'll give my all	39:43
	"if there is some hope for us."	39:47
	The alcoholic who has seen hell at its worst	39:50
	and has been the carrier of hell to countless other persons,	39:53
	when he becomes determined,	39:56
	only asks for one day, often only for one hour,	39:58
	and sometimes, even only for one minute,	40:02
	and all he really wants is just the possibility	40:05
	that he can make it.	40:08
	And with hope, he will try.	40:09
	If you've ever been depressed...	40:14
	And most of us have.	40:17
	You know full well that it's that faint,	40:19
	breaking in of light that says "There is hope,	40:22
	"things can be better.	40:25
	"You can make it, life does have promise."	40:27
	Oh, it doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	40:31
	Boris Pasternak has "Doctor Zhivago" say in one line,	40:37
	"We are born to live, not to prepare for life."	40:42
	Just a little hope, but enough.	40:48
	Alexander (indistinct), who has known both hopelessness	40:53
	and hope, pan some powerful and beautiful lines.	40:56
	Listen, as he writes, "I stand under an apple tree	41:02
	"in blossom and I breathe."	41:08
	This, I believe, is the single most precious freedom;	41:13
	the freedom to breathe freely as I now can.	41:19
	As long as there is fresh air to breathe	41:25
	under an apple tree after a shower,	41:29
	we may survive a little longer.	41:33
	Hope, it doesn't take much.	41:38
	Our hope lies in knowing Jesus, the Christ,	41:43
	experiencing him, receiving him, loving him, giving him,	41:48
	and in knowing, loving, accepting,	41:53
	and caring for each other.	41:56
	Our hope comes from knowing	41:59
	and living the Jesus' experience, if you will.	42:02
	I recall as some of you may,	42:05
	how some commentators were talking	42:09
	during the Apollo 11 moon landing broadcasts.	42:12
	And they said among other things,	42:16
	"We ought to go ahead and change our calendars.	42:18
	"We ought to call this day	42:21
	"of the first walk on the surface of the moon,	42:23
	"Day One of Year One.	42:26
	"For if we do not," they said,	42:30
	"Future generations surely will."	42:31
	But I doubt that.	42:35
	I doubt that very much	42:37
	for you see, we are not impressed deeply or greatly	42:39
	or for very long by signs.	42:43
	One great sign that is done,	42:46
	simply calls for an even greater sign to be done.	42:48
	And we'll see greater signs than moon walks	42:51
	or space dockings as this summer,	42:54
	or even greater than the projected July 4, 1976,	42:56
	landing on Mars.	43:01
	Signs do not impress us very long.	43:02
	And our hope rests, not in great signs nor in great things,	43:05
	and Jesus knew this.	43:10
	Often He failed and refused to give the people a sign	43:11
	when they were clamoring for some sign	43:15
	that he was the Messiah, and He said, "No."	43:18
	And so I ask you this morning,	43:21
	what has made and what will make the lasting	43:23
	and the changing impressions on your life?	43:28
	Your living? Your believing?	43:31
	Your behaving? You're being?	43:34
	May I be bold enough to suggest	43:38
	that the lasting impressions on you have come	43:40
	and will come from your relationships with other persons.	43:42
	Persons impress persons,	43:48
	persons influence persons,	43:50
	persons carry meaning to persons, persons change persons.	43:52
	So that when you take the short	43:58
	or the long view of your life, it's not the whats,	43:59
	but it's the whos that you remember:	44:02
	mother, father, friend, teacher, coach,	44:05
	Sunday school teacher or youth counselor,	44:09
	minister, neighbor.	44:12
	And the whos of today are our hope; the yous and the mes,	44:14
	as the Christ lives in us and through us.	44:18
	Here is our hope that somehow, somewhere, sometime,	44:22
	there is a who who will transform and change,	44:27
	and redeem, and empower each of us and all of us together	44:31
	with the love of God.	44:34
	Oh, I don't see much of it today.	44:36
	No, but it doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	44:40
	We see this power and determination to love in Jesus,	44:47
	and this our hope.	44:51
	What was it that Jesus was trying to do?	44:53
	Jesus was trying to implant hope in other human beings	44:56
	as he lived out the love of God.	45:01
	And he was determined to show that nothing He said,	45:04
	"Nothing that you can do to me will ever keep me	45:08
	"from caring and loving, and showing concern,	45:12
	"and having compassion for you."	45:14
	I can hear Jesus now saying to those around Him,	45:18
	"You can ridicule me, you can laugh at me,	45:20
	"you can (indistinct) at me, you can spit on me,	45:23
	"you can try me in a kangaroo court,	45:25
	"you can condemn me, you can beat me,	45:27
	"you can scourge me, you can whip me with 39 lashes,	45:29
	"you can crown me, yes, with a crown of thorns,	45:32
	"you can pierce my side,	45:35
	"you can give me vinegar when I thirst,	45:36
	"you can crucify me,	45:38
	"and still I'm going to love you, I love you, I love you.	45:41
	"I love you with that ever present, ever real,	45:45
	"ever personal love of God."	45:49
	Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, not even the cross,	45:54
	could pull Jesus off the way of love.	46:00
	They tried to get him to toss in the towel,	46:02
	but no, he held on and persevered, and endured,	46:04
	and herein is our hope for now and forever.	46:08
	Not much, well, maybe, maybe not much,	46:11
	but it doesn't take much, my friends,	46:14
	just a sprig of hope.	46:18
	And so it is personal relationships,	46:22
	personal experiences, and personal encounters,	46:25
	that change our lives.	46:29
	Colin Morris writes, "Christianity is first, last,	46:30
	"and all the time, personal encounter.	46:35
	"It is feeling that changes life, not logic.	46:39
	"The feeling that someone cares about me	46:43
	"and that I can care about another human being."	46:51
	It is personal relationship that gives us hope for today.	47:00
	And it is primarily and ultimately	47:05
	that relationship with Christ that gives us hope,	47:07
	I don't see much of it today.	47:10
	Not much, but it doesn't take much.	47:15
	Carlyle Marney writes, "And where is this wisp of life	47:19
	"and hope beneath us?"	47:24
	It begins here, I think.	47:27
	Listen to his words, my friends,	47:30
	"That whoever you are, from wherever you have come,	47:32
	"and whatever your present state may be,	47:36
	"the chances are that you have loved somewhere	47:38
	"wrongly likely, poorly possibly,	47:42
	"graspingly loved almost certainly.	47:46
	"You have demandingly loved and shapingly loved,	47:48
	"and twistedly loved, and perhaps perversely loved.	47:51
	"And you may have loved too well and too little,	47:55
	"but you have probably loved."	47:58
	This may be all that you have to begin on to hope with.	48:00
	Yet the rest on this,	48:04
	the possibility of a meeting and a relationship,	48:05
	this may be all we have to work with.	48:08
	This is why he says,	48:11
	"When you meet a friend, you ought to touch him or her,	48:12
	"or you might touch the God who appears between you,	48:16
	"for this is where God happens to us,	48:19
	"so reach out and touch."	48:21
	And as this year comes and goes to each of us,	48:24
	there will be times I predict for each of us	48:27
	when we will look out and when we will look in,	48:30
	and we will say, "Where is my hope?"	48:32
	And I'm here this morning to tell you	48:35
	that there will be somebody around this place	48:36
	toward whom you can reach and whom you can touch,	48:42
	and who will be ready to touch you.	48:48
	After all, the sharp, 16-year-old girl said to me,	48:53
	"What is there to life other than personal relationships?"	49:01
	There is a journey from the me to you,	49:09
	there is a journey from the you to me.	49:11
	A union of the two strange worlds must be.	49:13
	The lesson for today, Robert Frost calls to each of us,	49:20
	"And we're an epitaph to be my story.	49:26
	"I'd have a short one ready for my own.	49:30
	"I would've written of me on my stone.	49:34
	"I had a lover's quarrel with the world."	49:39
	This morning, I invite you to a lover's quarrel	49:45
	with yourself, with others,	49:51
	with this university, with the world,	49:54
	for herein lies your hope, our hope.	49:58
	It doesn't take much, just a sprig of hope.	50:03
	And then the evening, the dove returned.	50:10
	And low in her mouth, a freshly plucked olive leaf.	50:13
	Amen, amen.	50:22
	(instrumental music)	50:35
	(choir sings)	51:52
	(instrumental music)	54:38
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	56:32
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	56:35
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	56:38
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	56:41
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	56:44
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	56:46
	(indistinct)	56:50
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	56:58
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	57:01
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	57:05
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	57:07
	(indistinct)	57:10
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	57:34
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	57:37
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	57:40
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	57:43
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	57:46
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	57:48
	(indistinct)	57:52
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	58:00
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	58:03
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	58:06
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	58:09
	(indistinct)	58:12
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	58:35
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	58:37
	(indistinct)	58:41
	♪ Hallelujah, amen, amen ♪	58:52
	♪ Hallelujah, amen ♪	58:55
	♪ Amen, amen ♪	58:59
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	59:05
	♪ Amen ♪	59:11
	(instrumental music)	59:25
	(indistinct)	1:01:34
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:01:46
	(indistinct)	1:01:54
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:02:07
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:02:13
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:02:20
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:28
-	Accept, oh, Lord, this offering,	1:02:41
	which is a symbol of our lives.	1:02:45
	Use these monies and us	1:02:48
	to care for your children in need, amen.	1:02:52
	(instrumental music)	1:02:58
	(choir sings)	1:04:04
	Amen, go forth to the place	1:07:58
	where God has given you responsibility,	1:08:01
	and may the love of God sustain you today	1:08:05
	and tomorrow, and forever.	1:08:10
	We pray in the spirit of Jesus, the Christ, amen.	1:08:13
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:20
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:27
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:34
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:50
	♪ Amen ♪	1:09:00
	♪ Amen ♪	1:09:15
	(bell chimes)	1:09:30
	(instrumental music)	1:09:46
	(congregation applauds)	1:13:56

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "Just a Sprig of Hope" (August 31, 1975)

Description:

The preacher challenges listeners to put aside the "wisdom" they think they have and embrace the "foolishness" of the gospel. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "What if the gospel of the foolish and imprudent God is for people who are not always busy with matters of consequence? What if our salvation depends on us entertaining the possibility...that there may be wisdom in foolishness?"

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r42z16r21

Date:

August 31, 1975

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0789
ref6778_8f0
uachapelsermaud
duke:628617
dcrau002754
ark:/87924/r42z16r21
861eef2c-8fd9-48cb-ae1c-4d213d8e62b8

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Robert T. Young - "Just a Sprig of Hope" (August 31, 1975)

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