Robert L. Johnson - "The Nations and the Kingdom of God: A Bicentennial Celebration" (May 23, 1976) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(gentle organ music)

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(choir singing acapella)

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(choir singing)

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

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Officiant

God has promised

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that when we confess who we are, we will be forgiven.

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In returning and rest we will be made whole.

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In quietness and confidence, we shall find our strength.

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With this assurance, let us make our corporate confession.

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Let us pray.

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[Officiant And Congregation] Almighty God,

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we humbly acknowledge our manifold sins and offenses

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against you, by thought and deed.

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We have neglected the opportunities for good,

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which you have given to us.

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We have been overcome by temptations

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from which you were ready to guard us.

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We have looked unto ourselves, and not unto you.

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In doing our daily work, we thought too little of others

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and too much of our own pleasure.

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But you are ever merciful and gracious

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to those whom you will not cast out.

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Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon us.

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Pardon us, O God,

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and forgive our iniquity and transgression.

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Give us true repentance and sincere faith.

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Do away with our offenses,

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and give us grace to live, hereafter,

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more worthy of our Christian calling.

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Through Jesus Christ our blessed Lord, Amen.

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Officiant

O holy God,

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we pray that we may accept and believe

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the promise and the power of Your word,

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that through grace and love, we will be forgiven.

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And then we pray that we will begin to live life anew.

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All this, we pray,

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in the spirit of Jesus the Christ, who forgives us.

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Amen.

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(gentle organ music)

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(choir harmonizing)

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Will you stand for the reading of the gospel lesson?

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Hear the reading from the 25th chapter of Matthew,

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beginning at the 31st verse.

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When the Son of Man comes in His glory,

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and all the angels with Him,

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then He will sit on His glorious throne.

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Before Him will be gathered all the nations,

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and He will separate them, one from another,

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as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,

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and He will place the sheep at His right hand,

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but the goats at the left.

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Then the King will say to those at his right hand,

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"come, O blessed of my father,

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inherit the kingdom prepared for you

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from the foundation of the world.

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For I was hungry and you gave me food.

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I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

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I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

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I was naked and you clothed me.

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I was sick and you visited me.

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I was in prison and you came to me."

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Then the righteous will answer Him,

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"Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee,

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or thirsty and give thee drink?

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And when did we see thee a stranger, and welcomed thee,

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or naked, and clothed thee?

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And when did we see thee sick,

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or in prison, and visit thee?"

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And the King will answer them, "truly I say to you,

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as you did it to one of the least of these,

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my brothers or sisters, you did it to me."

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Then He will say to those at his left hand,

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"depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire,

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prepared for the devil and his angels.

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For I was hungry and you gave me no food.

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I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

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I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.

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Naked, and you did not clothe me.

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Sick, and imprisoned, and you did not visit me."

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Then they also will answer, "Lord,

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when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty,

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or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,

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and did not minister to thee?"

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Then He will answer them, "truly I say to you,

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as you did it not to one of the least of these,

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you did it not to me."

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And they will go away into eternal punishment,

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but the righteous into eternal life.

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Here ends the morning reading.

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(choir singing)

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Let us affirm our faith.

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We are not alone.

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We live in God's world.

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[Officiant And Congregation] We believe in God,

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who has created and is creating,

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who has come in the truly human Jesus,

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to reconcile and make new.

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Who works in us and others, by the spirit.

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We trust God, who calls us to be the church,

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to celebrate life and its fullness,

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to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,

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to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,

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our judge and our hope, in life, and death,

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and life beyond death.

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God is with us. We are not alone.

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Thanks be to God.

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Officiant

The Lord be with you.

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Congregation

And with your spirit.

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Officiant

Let us pray.

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Almighty God, creator of the universe,

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creator of all that is, and ever will be.

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We worship the majesty of your creation.

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We bow before your power.

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We give thanks for your justice, your mercy, your love.

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We worship you as the Lord of our lives,

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and the Lord of our history.

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You have created us in your image and given us freedom.

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Yet, even when we use our freedom to defy your will,

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you do not abandon or forsake us.

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You work through the stern measures of justice,

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and gentle probing of mercy, to reclaim us

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and help us to become your loving children,

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responsible and responding to your will for us

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and all creation.

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How marvelous are your works, O God, in our history,

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how terrible your judgments,

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and how merciful is your goodness

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to those of us who've returned to you

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with contrite and open hearts.

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Help us to be aware of our dependence

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on those whose work make our life more tolerable,

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and free us for our own work.

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O God, sensitize us to the value and importance

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of all honest work

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so that we will not equate the value of the person

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with the acclaim our culture gives to wealth and power.

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And, O God, we pray for all persons

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who have not found value and purpose

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and meaning in their lives.

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For those who are dependent on external affirmations.

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We pray, O God, and hear our praying,

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for all people who, this day, suffer.

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Those who are driven to despair by hunger, imprisonment,

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oppression, persecution, loneliness,

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family conflict, illness, grief.

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Uphold them with your love and grace.

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Now, God, hear us as we lift before you,

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in the privacy of our private prayer,

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those we have particular concern for.

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Hear these, our prayers, for those we love.

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And, O Lord, we pray for ourselves.

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We need an awareness of your presence to sustain us,

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so that we will have the courage to oppose injustice

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wherever we find it.

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That we may be loving in our daily relationships.

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Hear us as we commit our lives to you this day,

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bless our worship so that we may return to our vocation,

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our place, renewed, refreshed,

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ready to face whatever is ahead of us.

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Lead us forth to a new day,

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and hear us as we pray the prayer of our Lord.

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[Officiant And Congregation] Our Father,

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who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,

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thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

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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, and the power,

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and the glory, forever and ever.

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Officiant

Amen.

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We'd like to say a special word of appreciation

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to Meredith and the summer choir,

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and to invite those of you who enjoy singing

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to join the summer choir.

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They practice at 9:30 every Sunday morning,

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and would be very pleased if any of you would join them.

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We also would like to say, if there are any of you here

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who will be here regularly during the summer,

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and who would be willing to serve as a,

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what we call, summer usher,

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would you see me or one of the chapel attendants

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who would be at the desk at the back of the chapel,

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and give us your name, or call the chapel office tomorrow.

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For those of you who might be interested

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to know more about the installation of the new organ

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that you could not have missed when you came in the chapel,

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we have a mimeographed sheet that describes who did it,

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when it will be completed,

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how many pipes there are, and a lot about it.

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So you may pick up this sheet from the chapel desk

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at the back of the chapel when you come in.

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We're pleased that Bob Johnson will preach for us today,

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and we were especially pleased

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when the National Institute of Campus Ministry

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decided to locate the office for the southeast,

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here at duke, because he becomes, for us,

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our pastor, our minister, and our preacher.

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And it's good to welcome you to our pulpit, Bob.

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Bob

With such a title as "A Bicentennial Meditation,"

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I need to confess and affirm, at the very start,

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my own weariness with much of what passes

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for bicentennial celebrations.

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Much of it, to be frank, is a commercial rip-off.

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Some of it distorts, or ignores, the history we have lived.

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And there are endless possibilities in it

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for patriotic puffery and national smugness.

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But having said that, I am yet proud

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to be a part of this land and its history

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and its unfulfilled promises.

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In this past year, in my work throughout the region,

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I have been enabled in seeing this land anew,

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in all its beauty and ethnic mixture and historic richness.

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I have crossed Mark Twain's great Mississippi,

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and I have been bathed in the purging vibrations of jazz

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in New Orleans' Preservation Hall.

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I have been bedazzled, and troubled,

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by the great boom cities of Houston and Dallas.

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I have walked the battlefields and graveyards

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of Chancellorsville and Sharpsville and Fredericksburg,

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and been rendered silent and shaken

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by those 35,000 gravestones.

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In all of this, I have nourished a new pride

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in being a Southerner in this nation.

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For the southern quadrant of this nation

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is now the most populous quadrant of the country,

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and, perhaps, the most wise,

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if it does not forget the wisdom of defeat, of poverty,

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of particularity, and roots.

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After all, the revolution was largely conceived

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and propagandized by Southerners.

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But beyond that pride, we who claim the name, "Christian,"

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must bear the burden of a larger accountability.

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As a people who believe in a God who acts in history,

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and as people who affirm a kingdom,

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transcending national ambitions and idols,

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we must remember that history with great care.

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We should note that this year,

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some will not enter into a rehearsal

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of the litany of liberty, equality, and justice,

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with the same measure of enthusiasm.

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And that reluctance on the part of blacks,

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Native American Indians,

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Japanese Americans confined to World War II prison camps,

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Chicanos, that reluctance must be respected.

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But how do Christians celebrate the bicentennial?

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How do they honor their history, and God's hand in it?

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How do they appropriate both the burden

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and the promise of this nation?

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For my own reflection,

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I would celebrate our past and anticipate our future

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against the illuminating backdrop

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of the parable of the last judgment in Matthew 25.

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That story, as in all the gospel parables, shakes us up,

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questions our assumptions,

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and gives us a place from which to view history.

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So in beginning to look at who we are as Americans,

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we can begin to get some perspective

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on the very special burden of our history.

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And the burden is this:

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that we have lived from the beginning, to this day,

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with a sense that the Lord had His hand upon us

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to reward us for our goodness and to punish us for our sins.

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That we were called apart from the dark shores of Europe,

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to the virginal innocence of a new land.

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We were certain that our historical destiny

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was rooted in a covenant with the God of the Puritans.

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And even before the Mayflower landed in 1630,

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John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts, said,

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"we must consider that we shall be a city set on a hill.

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The eyes of all people are upon us,

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so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work,

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and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us,

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we shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants,

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and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us."

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The Puritans saw themselves, and this nation,

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as God's new Jerusalem, a new England,

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a theocracy established where God's providence

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ruled over every grain of corn planted,

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every Indian felled in combat.

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Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher,

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theologian of this land,

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announced shortly before the revolution

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that the decisive chapter in the history of salvation

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was about to begin here.

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Shortly after the revolution,

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the president of Yale, Ezra Stiles,

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preached a sermon extolling George Washington as Joshua,

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and picturing the British as pharaohs.

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So from the beginning we'd gloried in this national destiny.

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This land was ours before we were the land's.

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She was our land, more than a hundred years

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before we were her people.

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So Robert Frost read his own words

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at the Kennedy inauguration:

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"It is not good history, but it bespeaks Yankee conviction,

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which echoes from Jefferson, to Wilson, to Ford.

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This sense of divine Providence in our history.

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The sense itself could be a blessing, but it became a burden

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when we took the signs of God's goodness,

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for instance, the great natural resources of this land,

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as proof of our virtue."

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It is an old pattern going back to Deuteronomic piety

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in the Bible.

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The wealthy and the successful think they have been blessed

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for their special goodness.

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For instance, I have seen the same quote attributed

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both to Alexis de Tocqueville and Dwight Eisenhower.

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And it goes like this:

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"America is great because America is good.

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And if America ever ceases to be good,

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she will cease to be great."

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Well, again, that is neither good history,

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nor good theology.

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It runs squarely up against the suffering Job

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looking for God's justice

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in some kind of direct moral correlation.

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It is contradicted by the Christ on the cross,

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but it is there,

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and it led diplomat John O'Sullivan, in 1845, to say,

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"it is our manifest destiny to overspread this continent

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allotted by Providence for the free development

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of our yearly multiplying millions."

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Or in 1964, Barry Goldwater saying, "we are the bearers

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of Western civilization,

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the most noble product of the mind of man."

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Or President Ford saying, within the month,

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"I believe it is no coincidence that this nation,

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which declared its dependence on God,

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even while declaring its independence

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from foreign domination,

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has become the greatest nation in the world."

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It appears, on the face of it,

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that we have struck a rather generous bargain

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with the almighty,

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and sometimes use that sense of divine sanction

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in undertaking assassinations of foreign leaders,

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or having the CIA spend $8 million

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undermining the Allende government in Chile,

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or trying to shape the Italian election.

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I don't think this is what our Puritan forefathers

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had in mind with their doctrine of election, and covenant.

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For the biblical witness is to the contrary.

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Israel was God's chosen people,

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but that election did not rule out either judgment,

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or ultimately, rejection.

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The faithful remnant may remain,

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but there is nothing but peril

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in the nation thinking it has some claim or final corner

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on the will and providence of the Almighty.

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In our own history, I think of two powerful correctives

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to this burden of smugness and pride.

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The first is the late Protestant theologian,

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Reinhold Niebuhr, who wrote often about the ironies

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of American history, and who reminded us,

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one, it is our power, not our unselfish virtue

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that makes the survival of Western civilization

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so dependent on the American future,

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and, two, the degree of our power

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is not the fruit of this generation's virtue.

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That is, the generation that wields the power.

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Somehow the virtue can easily get lost

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between the daughters, and the great, great granddaughters

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of the revolution.

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The other great corrective to our pride

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was in the person of Abraham Lincoln,

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who curiously described Americans

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as God's "almost" chosen people.

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Has there ever been a president with such biblical insight?

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Who knew that all nations, the Union and the Confederacy,

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stood under divine judgment?

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"The Lord gives, to both north and south, this terrible war,

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as the woe due to those by whom the offense come."

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And he knew, as well, that transcending mercy.

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With malice toward none, with charity for all.

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That overweening pride, that arrogance of power,

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that unbridled sense of moral destiny,

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this constitutes the worm in the American apple.

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And we should be ever grateful that we had in our lifeblood,

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those Puritan genes and geniuses,

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Jonathan Edwards, and Herman Melville.

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Reinhold Niebuhr, and Perry Miller,

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and yes, more recently, that worthy heir

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of Witherspoon and Madison, Samuel J. Ervin, of Morganton.

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But if pride, smugness, is the burden we bear,

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there is the other side,

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the vision, the promise of a just society.

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The dream that moved us towards generosity

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and towards a more capacious human community.

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I say this, remembering this week,

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that on Monday we marked the 12th anniversary

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of a landmark decision of the Supreme Court,

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Brown vs. The Board of Education, May 17th, 1954.

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That is part of our history, and one can celebrate.

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So without being romantic,

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one can yet affirm that this nation was generated

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out of a larger dream.

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There was a vision, out of those Puritan beginnings

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and the New England town meetings,

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out of Thomas Jefferson's head and Abraham Lincoln's heart.

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Very often, to be sure, the vision gets translated

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into a dead bureaucracy, an unresponsive establishment,

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which is why Tom Jefferson saw the need for a revolution

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every 20 years or so.

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It is an old story.

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It happened with Israel.

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God revealed himself in dramatic action and burning bush,

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and told Moses in verbal form, "I am that I am,

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and I will call us to be what I call us to be."

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And that dramatic reality got quickly translated

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into nouns and adjectives,

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rendering the reality safe and predictable.

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It happened with the church.

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As early as the fourth century,

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Augustine represented the church as the kingdom of God,

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confusing the provisional with the ultimate,

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the relative with the absolute.

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But if the original and originating vision is lost,

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and the nation goes off worshiping golden calves,

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then, as Isaiah said, the people do perish.

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Because meaningful historic life

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is governed by a sense of beginnings

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and a sense of ultimate endings and fulfillment.

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And for Christians,

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there is a very specific character to what that end is,

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at the ultimate horizon of history.

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Paul Tillich, in his late years,

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was interested in the contrast between the Christian message

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and some of the Eastern religions.

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He made much of the fact that the telos, or the end goal,

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for Buddhists, was expressed in nirvana,

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that individual state of bliss, extinction, calm.

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But that for the Christian, the end goal

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is in a social and political symbol, the kingdom of God.

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But we Christians have not kept the vision either,

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as Ignazio Silone, the Italian novelist, says,

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"the church has a bad conscience about the kingdom of God."

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True, we have been uncertain about it,

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since it did not come on the schedule

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suggested in some of the gospels,

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or we have identified the kingdom with the church,

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to build a kingdom, in my early years,

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was to put on an addition to the church in Florida.

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And we would sing, rather easily, the hymn,

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"I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord, the House of Thine Abode,"

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or even worse, we identified the kingdom with the nation,

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the new Zion of the Mormons,

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or the court religion of Billy Graham

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during the Nixon regime.

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By the way,

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I don't know if any of you have read those sermons

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or ever observed the curious order of worship

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for those White House services.

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But in looking over them, one is struck by the fact

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that not once do you find a prayer of confession.

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How strange that those who exalt the Bible

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forget the biblical message,

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which is not about individual piety or national exaltation,

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but about justice, and mercy.

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And the tragedy, indeed, the pathos of Watergate

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is in those words Ziegler speaks in the final days,

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"contrition is 'expletive deleted.'"

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Look again at your new Testament.

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Plunge again, into that telegraphic Gospel of Mark,

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in which Jesus explodes on the horizon of history,

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saying, "the time is fulfilled.

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The kingdom of God is at hand.

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Repent and believe the good news."

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And then there quickly follows

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those three years of parabolic teaching,

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spelling out what is at stake in the dawning of the kingdom,

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the conflict of the new and the old,

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the mustard seeds of new consciousness,

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new wine, salt, leaven, light, hidden treasures, lost coins.

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The conditions of discipleship,

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the ironies of some quickly saying, "yes, Lord."

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And the curiosity of the naysayer,

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ultimately doing the will of the kingdom.

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From Matthew to Revelation, the kingdom message

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is writ large, but what happened to that message?

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There are many signs in our land

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of evangelical revival and fervor.

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Individuals claiming Jesus is Lord,

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getting turned on to love, manifesting tongues,

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celebrating conversion, praising the Lord,

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but silent about the kingdom.

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I'm aware of some of the problems we have

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in translating that phrase into words and terms

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that are meaningful to us.

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It's monarchical, for one thing, and we live in a democracy.

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It's male-oriented, for another, and yet it is not difficult

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to get the picture that Jesus presents.

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It means the rule of justice and mercy

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in our communal lives.

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G. K. Chesterton called it a counter kingdom,

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set over against all established political order

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and cultural values, an undercurrent of reality

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in all history.

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In that sense, the kingdom of God was, and is,

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the common seed bed of consciousness raising

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for all human revolutions: American, Russian, and Chinese.

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The kingdom is amongst us.

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And we cannot distort that

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into some privatistic kingdom within us, alone.

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The reality is both social, and political.

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More and more, I bracket my own understanding

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of the gospel of Christ around two critical

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New Testament texts.

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The first, Luke 4:18-19, the first preaching at Nazareth,

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where Jesus takes the text from Isaiah,

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about good news to the poor, release to the captives,

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sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed,

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and proclaiming, finally, that jubilee year,

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the acceptable year when debts are forgiven

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and amnesty enacted.

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No wonder Jesus encountered opposition

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from this very day on.

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And the other text is the lesson, this morning,

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from Matthew 25, the parable of the last judgment,

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in which our usual image of individuals

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approaching the great throne of judgment

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to be separated into the sheep and the goats

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is surprisingly violated and reversed.

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It is not individuals, it is the nations

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that are gathered before the Son of Man

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at the end of history.

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We are judged in groups, as we are saved in groups,

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and our communities and nations are judged

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on the straightforward clear-cut issues of human compassion.

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On whether the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed,

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the homeless housed, the stranger befriended.

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This is an incredible scene we have here, in Matthew.

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Jesus is approaching the end of His life.

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He has gathered the disciples on the Mount of Olives,

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overlooking Jerusalem, and with all He stood for,

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tested under the shadow of death,

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He gives us humankind's final scenario.

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When the Son of Man comes,

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all the nations shall be gathered.

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United States, Chile, France, Italy,

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Rhodesia, Brazil, Israel, China.

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All of it.

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It is a fearful judgment.

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And how will we answer when we are gathered?

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With all our fast food parlors and color televisions,

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we still allow hundreds of thousands

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to go hungry in this land,

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not to speak of the 10 to 15 million children

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who will die in the next five years.

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And China has wrought something of a miracle in history,

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making the right to food as fundamental

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as we make the right to education.

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Or what about the stranger in our midst?

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The black folk

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who did not choose to come to Jamestown in 1619?

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Or, beyond this nation,

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how will the nation of Israel answer that question

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with regard to the Palestinians in their midst?

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Or how will the people of North Carolina

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live with the heavy penalties

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imposed upon the Reverend Ben Chavis and the Wilmington 10,

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on the basis of questionable evidence?

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How many time bombs have we planted throughout our history?

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How many times have we been blind to the incognito Christ

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in our midst?

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To be sure, this is a bothersome parable,

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all of them are,

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because of its surprising verdicts and dramatic reversals.

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And all of us are snagged in the snares of its judgment

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in these clear cut questions,

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and all of us, at some time or another,

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will say with the just, "Lord, when did we see thee hungry,

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or naked, or homeless?"

53:16

These questions come forth to us from a timeless kingdom,

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to address every nation in the very specific context

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of historical possibilities, and political responsibility.

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We cannot answer these questions

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without political engagement.

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And we dare not anticipate the third American century

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without that vision of the kingdom and its judgment

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ever before us.

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But the final word should not be a heavy judgment note,

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but a grace note.

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Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom,

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and He linked repentance with an invitation

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to entering the kingdom.

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That gospel He preached was, and is, a scandal,

54:15

an offense to the secure, to the rich in spirit,

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to those who are untouched by the hurt and oppression

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of marginal peoples.

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But to those who have caught the vision,

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and found the way to compassion,

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those who know that the politics of God

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still and forever calls for feeding the hungry,

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clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless,

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befriending the stranger, for those, it is still good news.

54:55

So the way we hear the parable divides us, right there,

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into sheep and goats.

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Some will continue to hear it as a judgment

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on their premature completions of life,

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and their ease in some suburban Zion.

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While others will see it as an open door

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to the beloved community,

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that community which lives under the reign

55:28

of compassion and justice.

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So, to some, the gospel means, "woes."

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The woes Jesus invoked in the presence of scribes,

55:39

Pharisees, hypocrites, lawyers, religionists.

55:44

To some, it means beatitude.

55:51

The broken hearted,

55:58

the poor in spirit,

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the mourning, the peacemakers,

56:03

those hungry and thirsty for righteousness.

56:07

So what is woe to one, is blessing to another,

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but make no mistake that the provoking stimulus

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is the one gospel that we know and proclaim as good news

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to all the nations of this earth.

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Let us pray.

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O Thou, who movest in the dim beginnings,

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set before us the remembrance of saints and prophets

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in our history, and of all courageous spirits

56:52

in whom the splendor of Thy life shone,

56:57

through willing flesh and burning word,

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until at last, we learn to walk in Thy glory

57:06

through the cluttered neighborhood of this imperfect world,

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doing Thy will, even to the least of our brethren,

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as unto thee.

57:19

Ever with praise and thanksgiving.

57:21

Amen.

57:25

(grand organ music)

57:29

(choir singing indistinctly)

58:10

(organ music intensifies)

58:54

(gentle organ music)

1:00:52

(upbeat organ music)

1:03:18

(choir harmonizing in Latin)

1:03:22

(grand organ music)

1:06:19

(choir singing)

1:06:32

♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

1:06:42

♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

1:07:07

♪ Alleluia ♪

1:07:12

Officiant

God of justice and God of love,

1:07:32

receive this offering, which we bring to you.

1:07:36

May these gifts be symbols of a consecration

1:07:42

which knows no limit, which holds nothing back from you,

1:07:45

which desires that all of your children

1:07:51

may have fullness of life.

1:07:56

We pray in the spirit of Christ.

1:08:00

Amen.

1:08:03

(organ plays "Glory, Glory Hallelujah")

1:08:07

♪ Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord ♪

1:08:29

♪ He is trampling out the vintage ♪

1:08:35

♪ Where the grapes of wrath are stored ♪

1:08:38

♪ He hath loosed the fateful lightning ♪

1:08:41

♪ Of his terrible swift sword ♪

1:08:44

♪ His truth is marching on ♪

1:08:47

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:08:54

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:08:59

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:09:05

♪ His truth is marching on ♪

1:09:10

♪ I have seen Him in the watch-fires ♪

1:09:16

♪ Of a hundred circling camps ♪

1:09:20

♪ They have builded him an altar ♪

1:09:23

♪ In the evening dews and damps ♪

1:09:26

♪ I can read His righteous sentence ♪

1:09:29

♪ By the dim and flaring lamps ♪

1:09:32

♪ His day is marching on ♪

1:09:35

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:09:43

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:09:49

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:09:55

♪ His truth is marching on ♪

1:10:00

♪ He has sounded forth the trumpet ♪

1:10:07

♪ That shall never call retreat ♪

1:10:10

♪ He is sifting out the hearts of men ♪

1:10:13

♪ Before His judgment seat ♪

1:10:17

♪ Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him ♪

1:10:19

♪ Be jubilant, my feet ♪

1:10:23

♪ Our God is marching on ♪

1:10:25

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:10:32

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:10:38

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:10:44

♪ His truth is marching on ♪

1:10:49

♪ In the beauty of the lilies ♪

1:10:56

♪ Christ was born across the sea ♪

1:10:59

♪ With a glory in His bosom ♪

1:11:02

♪ That transfigures you and me ♪

1:11:05

♪ As he died to make men holy ♪

1:11:08

♪ Let us die to make men free ♪

1:11:11

♪ While God is marching on ♪

1:11:14

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:11:21

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:11:27

♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪

1:11:33

♪ His truth is marching on ♪

1:11:38

(choir singing indistinctly)

1:11:46

God's truth is marching on.

1:13:11

Go forth with the blessing of God,

1:13:14

our creator, redeemer and sustainer.

1:13:17

Now, and forevermore. Amen.

1:13:20

♪ Amen ♪

1:13:31

♪ Amen ♪

1:13:37

♪ Amen ♪

1:13:43

♪ Amen ♪

1:13:47

♪ Amen ♪

1:13:56

♪ Amen ♪

1:14:02

♪ Amen ♪

1:14:11

♪ Amen ♪

1:14:16

(bell ringing)

1:14:27

(grand organ music)

1:14:44

(congregants applauding)

1:20:58

Robert L. Johnson - "The Nations and the Kingdom of God: A Bicentennial Celebration" (May 23, 1976)

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1. Robert L. Johnson - "The Nations & the Kingdom: A Bicentennial Meditation" (May 23, 1976)

Duke University Archives

Robert L. Johnson - "The Nations and the Kingdom of God: A Bicentennial Celebration" (May 23, 1976)

Transcript

Item Info

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Duke University Archives