Peter James Lee - "The Simplicity of a Complex Faith" (June 13, 1976)
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| (organ music) | 0:07 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 4:04 |
| Grant us, oh God, your grace to see ourselves | 4:07 | |
| and the light of your holiness | 4:12 | |
| so that we may be cleansed of pride | 4:14 | |
| and all which blinds us to your truth, | 4:18 | |
| knowing that from you no secrets are hidden | 4:22 | |
| and thus so be able to confront those deceits | 4:27 | |
| and disguises by which we deceive ourselves | 4:32 | |
| and our brothers and sisters. | 4:36 | |
| Let us now make our corporate confession. | 4:39 | |
| Let us pray. | 4:42 | |
| Oh God, we come confessing that we have sinned. | 4:44 | |
| Sometimes we have tried to hide from you, | 4:50 | |
| from one another, and even from ourselves. | 4:53 | |
| There have been times when we have drawn back from the right | 4:58 | |
| because it was difficult crucifying experience. | 5:02 | |
| Too often we have involved ourselves in a meaningless round | 5:07 | |
| of activities that leads nowhere | 5:11 | |
| and do not bring satisfaction. | 5:15 | |
| We have treated persons as things and things as gods. | 5:18 | |
| We have strayed far on the fullness of life | 5:24 | |
| that you have made possible for us. | 5:27 | |
| Forgive us for our self (indistinct), our weakness, | 5:31 | |
| our living death, and give us the courage to accept the pain | 5:36 | |
| of complete commitment, | 5:41 | |
| which brings new birth and healing of our brokenness. | 5:43 | |
| In the name of Jesus who makes life possible, amen. | 5:49 | |
| Amen, we give thanks that God does forgive our sins, | 6:14 | |
| heals our brokenness, and offers to us new life. | 6:20 | |
| This is the truth, which sets us free from sin. | 6:26 | |
| Let us rejoice in this truth | 6:31 | |
| and believe that which is offered to us. | 6:35 | |
| (organ music) | 6:46 | |
| ♪ God is my shepherd ♪ | 6:50 | |
| ♪ I want for nothing ♪ | 7:00 | |
| ♪ My rest is in the pleasant meadows ♪ | 7:09 | |
| ♪ He leadeth me where quiet waters flow ♪ | 7:20 | |
| ♪ My fainting soul doth He restore ♪ | 7:36 | |
| ♪ And guideth me in the ways of peace ♪ | 7:45 | |
| ♪ To glorify His name ♪ | 7:54 | |
| ♪ And though in death's dark valley ♪ | 8:09 | |
| ♪ My steps must wander ♪ | 8:17 | |
| ♪ My spirit shall not fear ♪ | 8:25 | |
| ♪ For thou art by me still ♪ | 8:33 | |
| ♪ Thy rod and staff are with me ♪ | 8:44 | |
| ♪ And they shall comfort me ♪ | 8:54 | |
| (organ music) | 9:04 | |
| Hear the reading of God's holy word | 9:29 | |
| from the sixth chapter of Isaiah. | 9:33 | |
| "In the year that King Uzziah died, | 9:37 | |
| I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up | 9:40 | |
| and his train filled the temple. | 9:46 | |
| Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings, | 9:49 | |
| with two he they covered his face, | 9:54 | |
| and with two he covered his feet, | 9:57 | |
| and with two he flew. | 10:00 | |
| And one called to another and said, | 10:03 | |
| 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; | 10:06 | |
| the whole earth is full of his glory.' | 10:11 | |
| And the foundations of the thresholds shook | 10:14 | |
| at the voice of him who called, | 10:18 | |
| and the house was filled with smoke. | 10:20 | |
| And I said, 'Woe is me, for I am lost; | 10:25 | |
| for I am a man of unclean lips, | 10:31 | |
| and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; | 10:35 | |
| for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.' | 10:40 | |
| Then flew one of the seraphim to me, | 10:47 | |
| having in his hand a burning coal | 10:50 | |
| which he had taken with tongs from the altar. | 10:54 | |
| And he touched my mouth and said, | 10:58 | |
| 'Behold, this has touched your lips; | 11:01 | |
| your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.' | 11:06 | |
| And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, | 11:13 | |
| 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' | 11:17 | |
| Then I said, 'Here I am, send me.'" | 11:23 | |
| The congregation will rise | 11:32 | |
| for the reading of the gospel lesson. | 11:34 | |
| Hear the reading from the first chapter of the gospel | 11:43 | |
| according to John. | 11:46 | |
| "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, | 11:50 | |
| and the word was God. | 11:56 | |
| He was in the beginning with God. | 11:59 | |
| All things were made through Him, | 12:02 | |
| and without Him was not anything made that was made. | 12:05 | |
| In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. | 12:10 | |
| The light shines in the darkness, | 12:16 | |
| and the darkness has not overcome it. | 12:18 | |
| There was a man sent from God whose name was John. | 12:23 | |
| He came for testimony to bare witness to the light, | 12:27 | |
| that all might believe through him. | 12:32 | |
| He was not the light, | 12:36 | |
| but he came to bare witness to the light. | 12:37 | |
| The true light that enlightens | 12:42 | |
| every man was coming into the world. | 12:43 | |
| He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, | 12:47 | |
| yet the world knew Him not. | 12:53 | |
| He came to his own home, | 12:55 | |
| and his own people received Him not. | 12:58 | |
| But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, | 13:01 | |
| He gave power to become children of God | 13:07 | |
| who were born not of the blood, nor of the will of flesh, | 13:12 | |
| nor of the will of man, but of God. | 13:18 | |
| And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. | 13:24 | |
| Full of grace and truth, we have beheld His glory, | 13:28 | |
| glory as of the only son from the Father. | 13:34 | |
| John bore witness to Him and cried, | 13:38 | |
| 'This was He of whom I said, | 13:40 | |
| 'He who comes after me ranks before me, | 13:44 | |
| for he was before me.' | 13:49 | |
| And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. | 13:52 | |
| For the law was given through Moses; | 13:58 | |
| grace and truth comes to us through Jesus Christ. | 14:01 | |
| No one has ever seen God. | 14:07 | |
| The only son who is in the bosom of the Father, | 14:10 | |
| He has made Him known.'" | 14:14 | |
| We give thanks to God for the word we receive | 14:18 | |
| through the written scriptures, amen. | 14:22 | |
| (organ music) | 14:25 | |
| Let us with one voice affirm our faith. | 15:12 | |
| We are not alone. | 15:16 | |
| We live in God's world- | 15:18 | |
| - | We believe in God | 15:22 |
| who has created and is creating, | 15:24 | |
| who has come in the truly human Jesus | 15:27 | |
| to reconcile and make new, | 15:31 | |
| who works in us and others by the spirit. | 15:34 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church | 15:38 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness, | 15:43 | |
| to love and serve others, | 15:46 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 15:49 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 15:52 | |
| our judge and our hope. | 15:57 | |
| In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. | 15:59 | |
| We are not alone. | 16:07 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 16:09 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 16:12 |
| - | And also with you. | 16:15 |
| - | Let us pray. | 16:16 |
| Eternal and creator God, | 16:27 | |
| maker of heaven and earth, | 16:31 | |
| all that is or ever will be, we worship you. | 16:34 | |
| We give you thanks for your wisdom | 16:41 | |
| which is beyond our understanding, | 16:44 | |
| your power which is greater than we can measure, | 16:48 | |
| your thoughts which are beyond our thoughts. | 16:54 | |
| We also give you thanks that you come to us | 16:59 | |
| in ways we can understand and comprehend. | 17:03 | |
| Give us grace to apprehend by faith, | 17:08 | |
| the power and wisdom which lie beyond our understanding, | 17:13 | |
| and in our worship to feel that which we do not know, | 17:18 | |
| and to praise even that which we do not understand, | 17:25 | |
| so that in the presence of your glory, we may be humble. | 17:30 | |
| And in the knowledge of your judgment, we may truly repent. | 17:36 | |
| And in the assurance of your mercy, | 17:43 | |
| we may rejoice and be glad. | 17:46 | |
| And so be enable to pray | 17:50 | |
| for our brothers and our sisters. | 17:53 | |
| Almighty and loving God, | 17:58 | |
| you are full of compassion and tender mercy. | 18:00 | |
| Hear us as we pray for those who suffer, | 18:06 | |
| for all who are handicapped in life, | 18:12 | |
| for the defective and the delicate, | 18:16 | |
| and all who are permanently injured and incurably ill. | 18:19 | |
| We pray for those who care for them and love them, | 18:27 | |
| and those whose seek to heal them in ways yet undiscovered. | 18:31 | |
| We pray for those whose livelihood is insecure. | 18:38 | |
| The overworked, the hungry, those who are forced to beg | 18:43 | |
| for the necessities of life. | 18:49 | |
| Those who have been oppressed, downtrodden, | 18:52 | |
| ruined and driven to despair. | 18:56 | |
| We pray for little children who are surrounded, | 19:02 | |
| (indistinct) them from your love and beauty. | 19:04 | |
| For all who are without families | 19:09 | |
| or supporting communities of love. | 19:12 | |
| For those who have to bare burdens alone. | 19:17 | |
| For those who have lost someone they love. | 19:23 | |
| For those who are in doubt and anguish of soul. | 19:28 | |
| For those who are oversensitive and afraid. | 19:34 | |
| And also for those who are insensitive | 19:40 | |
| to the hurt they inflict on others. | 19:43 | |
| And for those who misuse their power. | 19:47 | |
| Hear us now, oh Lord, as we in silence | 19:53 | |
| lift to your love and care, | 19:56 | |
| those persons for whom our heart is heavy today. | 19:59 | |
| And now, oh God, | 20:16 | |
| you know some of these prayers have been for ourselves, | 20:18 | |
| for we too are lonely, and hurting, and sick. | 20:23 | |
| Heal us and then use us to be healing instruments | 20:29 | |
| of your love in this world, | 20:33 | |
| which so misuses and misunderstands love. | 20:36 | |
| And hear us now as we pray the prayer, | 20:41 | |
| our Lord taught us to pray. | 20:45 | |
| - | Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; | 20:49 |
| thy kingdom come; thy will be done | 20:56 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 21:00 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread; | 21:02 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 21:06 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us; | 21:08 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, | 21:12 | |
| but deliver us from evil, | 21:15 | |
| for thine is kingdom, and the power, | 21:17 | |
| and the glory for evermore, amen. | 21:21 | |
| - | Some of you have noticed that we do not have a nursery | 21:28 |
| during the summer month. | 21:31 | |
| One of the mothers has volunteered to organize | 21:33 | |
| other mothers who would be willing to take turns | 21:37 | |
| staying in the nursery so that you may come to worship. | 21:40 | |
| If you would be willing to be a part of a team | 21:44 | |
| that would give one Sunday every six weeks | 21:47 | |
| to work in the nursery, | 21:51 | |
| would you call the Chapel Office and let us know? | 21:52 | |
| Thank you. | 21:57 | |
| Under the leadership of Peter Lee, | 21:59 | |
| the Chapel of the Cross | 22:03 | |
| provides an important and most valuable ministry | 22:05 | |
| for the University of North Carolina | 22:10 | |
| and for the whole Chapel Hill community. | 22:14 | |
| It is my privilege to welcome him to this pulpit today. | 22:17 | |
| And we await the spoken word. | 22:23 | |
| - | Thank you, Helen. | 22:31 |
| Let us pray. | 22:32 | |
| Take my lips, oh, Lord, and speak through them. | 22:34 | |
| Take our minds and think with them. | 22:39 | |
| Take our hearts and set them on fire, | 22:43 | |
| for Jesus sake, amen. | 22:48 | |
| This great chapel is a monument to complexity. | 22:54 | |
| It's soaring arches, | 23:03 | |
| the rainbow of color changing through the day, | 23:07 | |
| as the light illuminates the stained glass, | 23:11 | |
| the intricate carving, the quiet shadows, | 23:15 | |
| Duke Chapel is rich and complicated. | 23:21 | |
| And so it should be standing | 23:27 | |
| in the heart of a national university. | 23:29 | |
| Great universities are intricate systems. | 23:34 | |
| They are symbols of the multiplicity | 23:38 | |
| and the unity of truth. | 23:41 | |
| They give birth to new disciplines. | 23:46 | |
| Compare the Duke University catalog of 1976 | 23:51 | |
| with the 1950 catalog, | 23:57 | |
| and I suspect you would find course titles in 1976 | 24:01 | |
| undreamed of a quarter century ago. | 24:07 | |
| Knowledge like living cells divides and subdivides, | 24:12 | |
| new specialties reflect new discoveries. | 24:17 | |
| The high tower of this chapel | 24:22 | |
| pointing towards the limitless heavens | 24:24 | |
| is a symbol of the complicated processes of a university, | 24:27 | |
| probing into the unknown, prodding the settled, | 24:32 | |
| overturning the complacent, | 24:39 | |
| standing tall for the freedom of the mind. | 24:42 | |
| None of this is news to you. | 24:46 | |
| You may be a teacher or a student | 24:50 | |
| of 16th century English poetry | 24:52 | |
| sitting near a biostatistician this morning. | 24:56 | |
| Indeed, you may be a biostatistician | 25:00 | |
| interested in 16th century English poetry. | 25:03 | |
| You know about the complexity of a university. | 25:07 | |
| You know that complexity is necessary. | 25:13 | |
| We organize knowledge into compartments, | 25:17 | |
| so our levels of comprehension may be fuller and deeper. | 25:20 | |
| Complexity and specialization are every day experiences | 25:25 | |
| to this congregation. | 25:29 | |
| We know their necessity and we know their benefits. | 25:31 | |
| Every day more than one life is saved in Duke Hospital | 25:37 | |
| by complex specialties unavailable just a few years ago. | 25:41 | |
| But in spite of these benefits, | 25:48 | |
| many of which we take for granted, | 25:51 | |
| we are witnessing in our generation | 25:54 | |
| a rebellion against complexity. | 25:57 | |
| Throughout the technological cultures of the world, | 26:03 | |
| a resistance against the complicated is spreading. | 26:06 | |
| It began like so many rebellions | 26:12 | |
| in small ways in many places, unconnected with one another, | 26:15 | |
| but it spread quickly and became a movement in the 1960s | 26:21 | |
| in protests against the war in Vietnam. | 26:27 | |
| The Vietnam experience has yet to be digested | 26:32 | |
| by our country. | 26:35 | |
| Its trauma, its influence on our history | 26:37 | |
| remain buried for the most part | 26:42 | |
| like unresolved grief at sudden death. | 26:44 | |
| And it may take generations before we fully understand | 26:48 | |
| this turning point in our national life. | 26:52 | |
| But I think it's fair to say now that the Vietnam War | 26:59 | |
| represented the great failure of complex technology. | 27:03 | |
| No effort of the industrial West was so well organized, | 27:10 | |
| so dependent on the brilliant achievements of science, | 27:14 | |
| and it failed. | 27:18 | |
| The most sophisticated military machine | 27:21 | |
| in the history of mankind led | 27:23 | |
| by best educated military leadership, | 27:25 | |
| supported by an incredible array | 27:29 | |
| of complicated logistical structures collapsed. | 27:32 | |
| It was reduced in the end, | 27:38 | |
| to a handful of Americans scurrying aboard | 27:42 | |
| one of our machines by helicopter | 27:44 | |
| and abandoning the rooftop of our embassy in Saigon. | 27:48 | |
| Well, this sermon is not about the Vietnam War, | 27:53 | |
| except to say that the war coincided with a rapid spread | 27:57 | |
| of a rebellion against complexity and the two are related. | 28:01 | |
| Do you remember the appealing and simple solution | 28:08 | |
| to the Vietnam War that one national legislator suggested? | 28:12 | |
| He was asked, | 28:17 | |
| how can we Americans extricate ourselves from the war? | 28:18 | |
| And he said, "Get on the boats and come home." | 28:22 | |
| It seemed so simple. | 28:26 | |
| In 1970, Charles Rice, the Yale law professor, | 28:29 | |
| won instant fame with his popular book, | 28:34 | |
| "The Greening of America." | 28:37 | |
| It's an adoring tribute of the youth culture of the 60s. | 28:41 | |
| He singled out the corporate state as the enemy, | 28:45 | |
| and here is his 1970 prescription for overcoming complexity. | 28:49 | |
| "The way to destroy the power of the corporate state | 28:56 | |
| is to live differently now. | 29:00 | |
| The plan, the program, the grand strategy is this; | 29:03 | |
| resist the state when you must, avoid it when you can, | 29:08 | |
| but listen to music, dance, seek out nature, laugh, | 29:15 | |
| be happy, be beautiful, help others whenever you can, | 29:19 | |
| work for them as best you can, take them in, | 29:24 | |
| the old and bitter, as well as the young, | 29:28 | |
| live fully in the each moment, love and cherish each other, | 29:32 | |
| love and cherish yourselves, stay together." | 29:37 | |
| I don't know whether to cry or to laugh, | 29:45 | |
| when I read those words now. | 29:48 | |
| They seem to speak of a dream long vanished. | 29:51 | |
| And yet the rebellion against complexity | 29:56 | |
| that inspired the dream is still with us, | 29:58 | |
| even institutionalized in some ways. | 30:02 | |
| Jimmy Carter's success is partly the channeling | 30:07 | |
| of this rebellion into political power. | 30:09 | |
| Americans have always been infatuated | 30:13 | |
| with the romance of the frontier, suspicious of cities, | 30:15 | |
| and attracted to the simplicity farm life. | 30:20 | |
| Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer from Georgia, | 30:25 | |
| appealed to this old enchantment, | 30:30 | |
| and successfully coupled it | 30:33 | |
| with a contemporary rebellion against complexity. | 30:35 | |
| He's not the only example of this rebellion | 30:41 | |
| reaching public life. | 30:44 | |
| Governor Jerry Brown appeals | 30:47 | |
| to the same spirit in California. | 30:48 | |
| It's ironic that California, | 30:52 | |
| a stunning model of American complexity and pluralism, | 30:54 | |
| is also a center of the rebellion against complexity. | 30:58 | |
| But then maybe California's role in the Republic | 31:03 | |
| is to hold the future before us so we can avoid it. | 31:06 | |
| Health food stores are present in Durham | 31:12 | |
| but they abound in California. | 31:15 | |
| Psychotherapists in Durham and Chapel Hill | 31:18 | |
| encourage people to be direct about their feelings. | 31:22 | |
| California's human potential movement | 31:26 | |
| exalts the immediacy of feelings into religious dogma. | 31:29 | |
| California is an icon, an image | 31:35 | |
| of the divisions in America's soul. | 31:38 | |
| This diverse, dynamic, zany country of ours | 31:43 | |
| combines the complexity necessary | 31:47 | |
| for our high standard of living | 31:50 | |
| with a faith in simplicity that refuses to confront | 31:54 | |
| the reality of its complexity. | 31:58 | |
| That split personality, | 32:02 | |
| that contradiction between living in complexity | 32:04 | |
| and even demanding it and believing in simplicity, | 32:07 | |
| reveals a people in search for symbols | 32:12 | |
| to hold them together. | 32:15 | |
| The bicentennial American | 32:18 | |
| is a person without a unifying myth, | 32:20 | |
| desperately searching for faith, faith in anything. | 32:24 | |
| What do we Christians offer this bicentennial American? | 32:30 | |
| What can we say simply and clearly about our complex faith? | 32:35 | |
| At the edges of American religious life, | 32:41 | |
| there are always the snake-oil salesman of simplicity | 32:44 | |
| offering their elixirs to the gullible. | 32:49 | |
| The appeal of the new fundamentalist sex, | 32:54 | |
| the exotic attraction | 32:57 | |
| of the Korean evangelist, Reverend Moon, | 32:59 | |
| and similar folk are always around | 33:02 | |
| to offer a drug of simplicity | 33:05 | |
| to people running from the complexity of their lives. | 33:08 | |
| The faith of the church is something else. | 33:13 | |
| This first Sunday after Pentecost | 33:18 | |
| is also called the Trinity Sunday, | 33:19 | |
| a festival on the calendar of the Western Church | 33:22 | |
| for 1000 years, | 33:25 | |
| and the only day of the church year | 33:27 | |
| that celebrates a doctrine rather than a story. | 33:28 | |
| For some the Trinity represents | 33:33 | |
| human tendencies towards complexity, | 33:35 | |
| contrasted with the simplicity of the gospel. | 33:38 | |
| Some theologians spend careers exploring | 33:42 | |
| the paradox of three persons, one God. | 33:45 | |
| To argue about the Trinity and philosophical categories, | 33:49 | |
| will guarantee your sleep this morning. | 33:52 | |
| The mystery of the Trinity, however, | 33:57 | |
| suggest the rich heritage of the church's faith, | 33:59 | |
| a faith both complex and simple, | 34:04 | |
| commanding the attention of the brightest minds | 34:07 | |
| and inviting the simplest person to believe. | 34:10 | |
| The tension between complexity and simplicity runs | 34:16 | |
| through the history of Judeo-Christian | 34:19 | |
| understanding of reality. | 34:22 | |
| It is that very tension that offers a base | 34:24 | |
| for mature belief in our own time. | 34:27 | |
| On the one hand, our faith has always proclaimed | 34:31 | |
| the essential mystery, the beyondness, | 34:34 | |
| the transcendence of the holy. | 34:37 | |
| Isaiah's vision in the temple points to that mystery. | 34:41 | |
| Confronted with the vision, his response is understandable. | 34:45 | |
| "Woe is me for, I am lost. | 34:48 | |
| My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." | 34:51 | |
| What the Christian faith says about the realities | 34:56 | |
| of life and death is that they are ultimately | 34:58 | |
| beyond our control and comprehension. | 35:02 | |
| We have a deep rooted reverence for the grandeur of life, | 35:06 | |
| a reverence that can be awesome and even fearful. | 35:10 | |
| In the biblical tradition, no person can see God and live. | 35:15 | |
| The final mysteries are beyond us. | 35:20 | |
| That humbles us. | 35:24 | |
| And yet what is beyond, wishes to be present with us. | 35:27 | |
| The same faith that proclaims the mystery | 35:30 | |
| invites us to explore the mystery. | 35:33 | |
| Unlike the current rebellion against complexity | 35:38 | |
| that runs from contradictory reality, | 35:41 | |
| faith calls us to consider all of reality, | 35:44 | |
| a mystery to be reverenced and then explored. | 35:47 | |
| Who can presume to explain the miracle of birth? | 35:53 | |
| Why there is genius is here and mediocrity there. | 35:57 | |
| Why cancer strikes here and not there. | 36:00 | |
| Why a school bus accident claims lives in one place | 36:04 | |
| and none are hurt in another. | 36:08 | |
| We stand in reverence before life that is beyond our grasp, | 36:11 | |
| and honor its complexity. | 36:16 | |
| That's one side of attention, | 36:19 | |
| one side of the paradoxical symbols | 36:22 | |
| by which we Christians approach the realities, | 36:24 | |
| the deepest realities of life. | 36:27 | |
| But the same tradition | 36:31 | |
| has another radically intimate dimension. | 36:32 | |
| "The word became flesh and dwelt among us, | 36:36 | |
| full of grace and truth. | 36:39 | |
| We have beheld his glory." | 36:42 | |
| What a scandal, how absurd this claim | 36:46 | |
| that the ultimately holy | 36:49 | |
| chooses to dwell among persons like us. | 36:51 | |
| Emmanuel means God with us. | 36:55 | |
| We have barely begun to grasp the radical implications | 37:00 | |
| of this central Christian truth. | 37:04 | |
| God in the flesh means that what Isaiah encountered as holy, | 37:08 | |
| infinitely beyond, exists in history | 37:13 | |
| and infuses history with purpose. | 37:17 | |
| What we tend to do is to domesticate that in dwelling | 37:21 | |
| and to make it religious. | 37:25 | |
| Know God so loved the world not religion | 37:27 | |
| that he gave his only son. | 37:32 | |
| It is life, flesh, history that are transfigured | 37:34 | |
| by the incarnation, the presence of the divine and ultimate | 37:39 | |
| in human and temporal affairs. | 37:43 | |
| It is God dwelling in and sharing the complexities | 37:47 | |
| of our lives, that is the profoundly simple statement | 37:50 | |
| of the Christian gospel, | 37:54 | |
| "The word became flesh full of grace and truth." | 37:57 | |
| That's what makes Christian faith extremely simple | 38:03 | |
| and very complex. | 38:07 | |
| God is with us, that simple, direct, understandable, | 38:09 | |
| but present in our complicated, | 38:17 | |
| open, diverse and fluid lives. | 38:19 | |
| The inescapable conclusion | 38:23 | |
| is the most astounding one of all. | 38:25 | |
| That in all the is complexities, | 38:27 | |
| in ways we can hardly imagine, | 38:30 | |
| the God of the universe is at work, | 38:34 | |
| healing, reconciling, bringing to fullness | 38:36 | |
| his will for love, for joy, for life. | 38:41 | |
| The tough issues must then be faced. | 38:48 | |
| Hard realities, public and personal, must be explored, | 38:50 | |
| in faith that the God of history is met only there | 38:55 | |
| in history, in reality, | 38:59 | |
| in life that is complicated and open. | 39:02 | |
| Christian faith is a simple affirmation | 39:07 | |
| of the presence of God in complexity. | 39:10 | |
| It permits no escape from life's reality. | 39:14 | |
| It tolerates no abandonment of faith | 39:18 | |
| in the midst of life's complexity. | 39:21 | |
| That is Trinitarian faith. | 39:25 | |
| Complex, because the world is complicated. | 39:29 | |
| Simple, because even a child can understand | 39:34 | |
| that God is love. | 39:40 | |
| Let us pray. | 39:46 | |
| God, the creator, the wellspring of life, | 39:51 | |
| the fount of all being, | 39:56 | |
| we praise you for the grandeur of life. | 39:59 | |
| It's mystery and richness. | 40:02 | |
| Give us Lord the courage to enter our lives with gladness, | 40:05 | |
| to acknowledge their complexity and difficulty | 40:11 | |
| as signs of the fullness of being. | 40:15 | |
| Keep us constant Lord, | 40:19 | |
| when we are tempted to flee, | 40:22 | |
| to run from the life you give us, | 40:25 | |
| and bring us Lord to the vision of your fullness, | 40:28 | |
| which we know in faith and experience in love, | 40:33 | |
| present among us in Jesus, our Lord, amen. | 40:38 | |
| (organ music) | 40:47 | |
| ♪ Sing ye a joyful song unto the Lord ♪ | 45:08 | |
| ♪ Who hath done marvelous, marvelous things ♪ | 45:15 | |
| ♪ Praise the Lord all the earth ♪ | 45:24 | |
| ♪ Sing praises, shout and be joyful ♪ | 45:27 | |
| ♪ Let the sea roar and all that is therein ♪ | 45:44 | |
| ♪ The round world and all they that dwell there ♪ | 45:51 | |
| ♪ Lift your voices, floods and tempests ♪ | 46:00 | |
| ♪ Mountains, clap your hands for joy ♪ | 46:06 | |
| ♪ Let the fields laugh and sing with waving corn ♪ | 46:26 | |
| ♪ And let all the trees of the forest ♪ | 46:33 | |
| ♪ Be joyful ♪ | 46:42 | |
| (organ music) | 47:11 | |
| - | Oh holy God, you give us all of our life. | 50:22 |
| We give back to you this offering | 50:28 | |
| which represents the busy world of our life and work. | 50:31 | |
| Save us from creating a world | 50:37 | |
| where wealth accumulates and people decay. | 50:40 | |
| Accept this offering and our lives | 50:46 | |
| as willing instruments for good in your world. | 50:49 | |
| We pray in the spirit of Christ, amen. | 50:54 | |
| (organ music) | 51:00 | |
| Amen, go forth to your (indistinct). | 54:34 | |
| And the knowledge of God's love | 54:39 | |
| be present to the life | 54:42 | |
| which surround you and need you, | 54:44 | |
| knowing that you have the blessing | 54:49 | |
| and support of God who creates, | 54:53 | |
| redeems and sustains you | 54:57 | |
| this day and for evermore. | 55:01 | |
| In the name of Jesus, the Christ, | 55:07 | |
| amen and amen. | 55:10 | |
| (bell ringing) | 55:16 | |
| (organ music) | 55:31 | |
| (indistinct chatter) | 59:32 |
