Samuel S. Wiley - "The Redemption of the Routine" (August 22, 1976)

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	(melancholy orchestral music)	0:05
	(somber piano music)	0:11
-	Please be seated.	7:43
	Let us confess our sins publicly and in unison.	7:52
	Almighty God, we acknowledged before you	8:01
	our unworthiness and sin.	8:05
	You sent your son to show us the way of life	8:08
	yet we have strayed from you.	8:13
	You have manifested His kingly right	8:17
	and we have seen His glory,	8:20
	but we have offered Him the home edge of our lips	8:24
	and not given him the loyalty of our lives.	8:28
	We have followed our own pleasures.	8:32
	We have sought our own ends.	8:36
	We have lived in selfishness.	8:40
	We have refused the way of the cross.	8:43
	Have mercy upon us.	8:47
	Rebuke our lay witness and folly	8:50
	and grant us true repentance	8:54
	that our sins may be forgiven	8:57
	in the name of Jesus.	9:00
	Amen.	9:02
	Now let us pose a moment	9:05
	to confess our sins privately and silently.	9:08
	Be of good cheer.	9:32
	God is a loving God.	9:35
	He is a forgiving God,	9:40
	and He is a just God.	9:45
	(somber piano music)	9:51
	(Catholic orchestral music)	10:22
	Let us prepare to hear the reading of the scripture	13:55
	taken from 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.	14:00
	"I must boast	14:09
	there is nothing to be gained by it,	14:12
	but I will go on to visions and revelations of the law.	14:16
	I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago	14:22
	was caught up in the third heaven,	14:30
	whether in the body or out of the body,	14:35
	I do not know, God knows.	14:40
	And I know that this man was caught up into paradise,	14:44
	whether in the body or out of the body.	14:51
	I do not know, God knows.	14:56
	And he heard things that cannot be told,	15:01
	which men may not alter.	15:06
	On behalf of this man,	15:11
	I will boast.	15:14
	But on my own behalf,	15:17
	I will not boast except of my weaknesses.	15:20
	Though if I wish to boast, I shall not to be a fool	15:27
	for I shall be speaking the truth.	15:33
	But I refrain from it	15:40
	so that no one may think more of me	15:43
	than he sees in me or hears from me.	15:49
	And to keep me from being too elated	15:55
	by the abundance of revelations,	16:00
	a thorn was given me in the flesh,	16:06
	a messenger of Satan to harass me,	16:11
	to keep me from being too elated.	16:17
	Three times, I be thought the Lord about this,	16:22
	that it should leave me.	16:28
	But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you.	16:31
	For my power is made perfect in weakness.'	16:38
	I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses	16:45
	that the power of Christ may rest upon me	16:51
	for the sake of Christ then I am content with weaknesses,	16:57
	insults, hardships,	17:05
	persecutions and calamities	17:10
	for when I am weak,	17:15
	then I am strong."	17:19
	God bless the reading of His holy word.	17:23
	(somber piano music)	17:26
	Let us affirm our faith.	18:08
	We are not alone.	18:12
	We live in God's world.	18:15
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	18:18
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	18:24
	to reconcile and make new,	18:28
	who works in us and others by the spirit.	18:31
	We trust God,	18:35
	who calls us to be the church	18:38
	to celebrate life and its fullness	18:41
	to love and serve others,	18:45
	to seek justice and resist evil,	18:48
	to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen	18:51
	our judge and our hope	18:56
	in life, in death.	18:59
	And life beyond death	19:02
	God is with us.	19:05
	We are not alone.	19:07
	Thanks be to God.	19:10
	The Lord be with you.	19:12
	Let us pray.	19:16
	Almighty God,	19:26
	as I am to shepherd this flock to the throne of grace	19:30
	let the words of my mouth	19:37
	and the meditations of my heart	19:41
	be acceptable in thy sight.	19:46
	Oh, heavenly master	19:51
	we thank you for your son, Jesus,	19:54
	who as our savior Christ	19:59
	died so that we might be forgiven	20:03
	our sins and transgressions.	20:06
	We thank you for the love you express each and every day	20:11
	through families that are supportive	20:19
	friends that care and advisors that are wise and counsel	20:24
	counsel by which we can live in harmony	20:33
	with others and nature.	20:38
	Oh, gracious Lord,	20:42
	we thank you for spirits that have found peace	20:46
	bodies that are healthy and minds that are sound	20:54
	and guided by the vision of a better life.	21:01
	Herein we thank you for communities	21:09
	where love of neighbor	21:13
	is stronger than love of self.	21:18
	But we recognize that all is not well.	21:24
	So eternal God,	21:32
	be forever our rock	21:37
	in a weary land.	21:39
	A land or a universal, where war is still waged.	21:42
	A land where people are hungry,	21:49
	homeless, jobless,	21:55
	a land where people still suffer from human injustice.	21:59
	We pray for the unfortunate.	22:07
	We pray for the dispossessed, ease their burden,	22:11
	and we pray for those hampered and weakened by sickness.	22:19
	Blessed dear Lord, the sick and shut in,	22:27
	restore them to good health.	22:31
	Strengthen them with the touch of divine physician	22:35
	of your healing hand.	22:40
	We pray for those whose maladies are of the spirit.	22:44
	Mend broken hearts.	22:51
	Reclaim souls estranged from you	22:54
	and befriend the lonely.	22:58
	We pray that you will keep friends near.	23:04
	May we find in them as well as in ourselves and others,	23:10
	a greater inclination to be patient	23:19
	and a greater willingness to be helpful and forgiving.	23:24
	Keep families dear,	23:32
	particularly at this time for the young men who left home	23:36
	and arrived on campus yesterday	23:44
	to participate in the game of football for another season.	23:48
	May they find in courage moment in their endeavor,	23:54
	may their experience be wholesome	24:00
	and may they be protected from injury.	24:04
	This prayer we pray,	24:10
	in the name of our savior, Jesus Christ,	24:13
	who taught us to pray.	24:16
	Our Father who art in heaven,	24:19
	hallowed be thy name,	24:23
	thy kingdom come	24:26
	thy will be done on earth	24:28
	as it is in heaven.	24:31
	Give us this day our daily bread	24:34
	and forgive us our trespasses	24:37
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	24:40
	Lead us not into temptation,	24:45
	but deliver us from evil	24:48
	for thine is the kingdom,	24:51
	the power and the glory forever and ever.	24:54
	Amen.	24:59
	We welcome Reverend Wiley	25:06
	to the Duke University chapel pulpit today.	25:10
	Reverend Wiley has served as executive director	25:16
	of the North Carolina Council of Churches since 1964.	25:21
-	At the fifth assembly	25:48
	of the world council of churches at Nairobi.	25:49
	Robert McAfee Brown sat in the midst of much	25:54
	that remains unclear to me.	25:59
	One thing at least becomes increasingly clear.	26:02
	There is a convergence today between the Biblical view	26:07
	of Jesus as liberate all	26:10
	and the cry of oppressed peoples for liberation.	26:13
	People today are in chains,	26:18
	not only the chains of personal guilt and inadequacy	26:22
	and individual shame,	26:25
	but also the change forged by those who use political	26:28
	and economic systems for their own gain	26:32
	and destroy whole peoples and continents in the process.	26:36
	Now you might expect of me today	26:43
	since I'm engaged in ecumenical service,	26:45
	a stress on the latter emphasis	26:48
	for God knows the need for international reform	26:52
	of political and economic systems,	26:57
	but God knows also the need of people for our liberation,	27:01
	from the chains of personal guilt	27:04
	and inadequacy and individual shame.	27:07
	I would like to affirm here,	27:12
	my belief in what Elton Trueblood has called	27:15
	The Holy Conjunction,	27:19
	and we need conversion of the corporate systems of society	27:21
	and personal renewal.	27:27
	Perhaps it will surprise you to hear me say	27:31
	that I feel led to center my remarks,	27:34
	chiefly and at first certainly today	27:37
	on what my experience has revealed	27:41
	as a special need of individuals.	27:43
	And that is the redemption of the routine.	27:47
	The verses from 2 Corinthians 12, which were read.	27:53
	Our classic passage fall proof	27:58
	that a vital faith in Jesus Christ	28:00
	we'll teach a person how to deal with trouble.	28:03
	We can all thank God that humble dependence upon the Lord	28:09
	will teach one how to triumph over adversity.	28:13
	The apostle Paul was able to say for the sake of Christ,	28:18
	I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,	28:23
	persecutions, and calamities.	28:28
	For when I'm weak, then I'm strong.	28:31
	If we can compare these verses,	28:36
	which were read from the Revised Standard Version	28:39
	with the King James Version,	28:42
	we find an interesting usage.	28:43
	In the authorized version it reads,	28:47
	"I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,	28:49
	in necessities, in persecution,	28:53
	in distresses for Christ's sake.	28:56
	For when I'm weak then am I strong?"	29:00
	Now in this list is the word necessities,	29:04
	which suggests that faith is victory,	29:09
	not only for times of crisis,	29:11
	but also for more ordinary days.	29:14
	Not only for emergencies which require special reserves	29:17
	of energy and courage, but also for the pedestrian routine,	29:21
	which calls for stamina in which courage is patience.	29:25
	And redemption of the routine is perhaps more important	29:31
	because the routine makes up so large a part of our lives.	29:34
	As an old domestic servant said,	29:41
	life is so daily around here.	29:43
	Now I can imagine what it's like for professors and students	29:48
	in a university setting.	29:52
	It's tough enough to do the book work	29:54
	and to labor the labels in the laboratories,	29:56
	but then the papers.	29:59
	The only thing worse than writing papers	30:02
	that I could imagine would be having to read them.	30:03
	But tasks and routine is a large part of merely any job	30:07
	on campus or off.	30:12
	Men and women in offices, and factories, in homes, on farms	30:15
	often find the routine quite wearing.	30:19
	And if Christianity can give us victory here	30:24
	will serve us well.	30:26
	And unless it does,	30:28
	it will not be the answer to the needs of the whole person.	30:30
	My thesis then is that the Christian faith is the answer	30:34
	because Paul was able to say,	30:38
	"I take pleasure in necessities."	30:40
	Now we must recognize that when Paul wrote the Greek word	30:45
	for necessities had come to mean something rather dramatic	30:51
	the necessary hardships involved in a bold course of action.	30:55
	Calamities, distresses, straights,	30:59
	but originally it meant simply the things imposed	31:02
	by external conditions or by duty.	31:06
	And I find in this thought, the idea that Jesus	31:10
	can redeem the routine.	31:15
	Suppose we could learn to take pleasure in necessities.	31:18
	We are reminded here that Christianity	31:25
	is the gospel of the incarnation.	31:27
	The belief that God Himself has entered	31:30
	the right into human experience,	31:33
	that the son of God was born in the little town of Bethlehem	31:35
	grew up in the graceless place called Nazareth.	31:38
	We're accustomed to think of the Lord's life	31:41
	in terms of His miracles of healing and raising the dead	31:44
	of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem	31:48
	of His contest with the high priests,	31:50
	the Last Supper, the agony in Gethsemane,	31:53
	His trials before Herod and Pilate,	31:57
	and then the resurrection and the ascension.	31:59
	These are the great events of the cosmic drama,	32:03
	but there are times when I find more help for my need	32:08
	in the thought that Jesus was a carpenter.	32:11
	As so we believe.	32:14
	And when scripture says he was tempted in all points	32:16
	like as we are yet without sin,	32:20
	it means that God has entered into	32:23
	and redeemed our daily routine.	32:26
	And now there are two considerations	32:31
	which can lead to the redemption of the routine for us.	32:32
	First is the realization of the priesthood of all believers.	32:37
	The church has been rediscovering this belief,	32:43
	which was one of the Cardinal doctrines	32:46
	of the Protestant reformation.	32:48
	We're stressing again,	32:51
	the importance of the ministry of the layoffs,	32:53
	the people of God.	32:55
	We have recognized that the true ministry of the church	32:58
	is not limited to ordained clergy	33:02
	and professional full-time church workers.	33:04
	But that in Christian service,	33:08
	every Christian can have a part.	33:10
	A formal study and worship on Sunday	33:14
	can be highly significant, but even more significant.	33:18
	May be what you do through the week	33:23
	as you serve other people in the name of Jesus Christ.	33:25
	Your job is your parish, that is your ministry.	33:29
	Now not like to discount for a moment,	33:34
	the need for the best ordained clergy we can get.	33:36
	But their truest function is not to be religious	33:40
	or to serve in your stead,	33:43
	but to help you fulfill your ministry.	33:47
	The coach shouldn't run with the ball.	33:52
	you are the ones to play the game.	33:55
	Now, Christian vocation means that we are all invited	33:58
	to become partners in the Father's enterprise.	34:01
	It is proper for every disciple sooner or later	34:05
	to find the answer, which Jesus gave at the age of 12	34:09
	to Mary and Joseph,	34:12
	when they saw it and found him in the temple.	34:13
	"Didn't you know," he said,	34:17
	"that I must be about my Father's business."	34:19
	Paul said later you are no longer a servant, but a son.	34:24
	Now the import of our calling is hinted	34:31
	in the little epistle we call "Third John".	34:34
	The elder there is speaking of the need	34:38
	of giving hospitality to the itinerant missionaries	34:40
	who were wandering about Asia.	34:44
	"We ought to receive such," he said,	34:47
	"that we might be fellow helpers to the truth."	34:49
	James Moffett translated	34:53
	that we're bound to support such men,	34:54
	to prove ourselves allies of the truth.	34:57
	What a calling to be allies of the truth with a capital?	35:02
	What a difference would be made in our routine	35:09
	if we were to realize that whatever we do in word and deed,	35:13
	we can do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.	35:17
	As a legend, that over the door or the carpenter shop	35:21
	at Nazareth, were this words,	35:25
	"My oaks are easy and I believe that they were."	35:28
	So now a worker who has conscious	35:35
	that he is in partnership with God	35:37
	will do his work well.	35:39
	And we'll find what could otherwise be weary monotony	35:41
	redeemed, because doing it,	35:45
	he is doing it in the name of the one who made yokes	35:49
	that were well-fitting and easy.	35:52
	And he still does.	35:55
	Over Ruth Graham's Madeline kitchen,	35:58
	it has a line that says,	36:02
	divine service will be held here three times daily.	36:04
	A young woman told my wife once that	36:11
	a profound impression was made upon her	36:15
	when she came upon her mother one day	36:17
	while the mother was cleaning the bathroom and singing.	36:19
	For her, a menial task was transformed	36:25
	because she did it with love for her family in her heart.	36:29
	Her sad brother Lawrence,	36:34
	but he confess that he felt the divine presence as fully	36:36
	when he was in the kitchen of the monastery	36:42
	with a dozen people calling for things at once.	36:45
	As he did, when he was kneeling	36:49
	before the blessed sacrament.	36:50
	These lines are attributed to a London serving girl,	36:57
	lot of all, pots and pans and 10,	37:01
	since I have no time to be a saint by doing lovely things	37:04
	or watching late with the or dreaming in the dawn light	37:07
	or storming heaven's gates,	37:11
	make me a Saint by getting meals and washing up the plates.	37:14
	Although I must have Martha's hands, I have a mayor in mind.	37:20
	And when I blacked the boots and shoes, dye sandals,	37:24
	Lord, I find.	37:28
	I think of how they tried the earth	37:31
	what time I scrubbed the floor, except this meditation Lord.	37:32
	I haven't time for more warm all the kitchen with on love	37:38
	and light it with that peace.	37:42
	Forgive me all my worrying and make all grumbling cease.	37:44
	Thou who is to love to give men food and room	37:48
	I bother see.	37:51
	Except this service that I do.	37:53
	I do it unto thee.	37:56
	Now if such victory as possible in a kitchen	37:59
	cannot other people, men and women find it in classroom	38:03
	or office or at work bench?	38:08
	We could take pleasure in necessities	38:12
	if we recognized in them a humble service to others	38:15
	and an opportunity for witness to our Lord.	38:19
	Now, apart of the menace of the routine	38:24
	comes from the limitations	38:26
	under which we ordinary fault labor.	38:28
	And this is the second point I should like to make.	38:31
	In another passage in 2 Corinthians,	38:35
	Paul urges that in all things,	38:38
	Christian should approve themselves as ministers of God	38:40
	in much patience, in afflictions,	38:43
	in necessities, in distresses.	38:46
	Now the word translated distresses	38:49
	is a very interesting word in the Greek.	38:51
	It's root meaning is narrowness of place.	38:54
	Paul is saying that we can be ministers of God,	39:00
	even in situations	39:02
	where we feel narrowly circumscribed and limited.	39:03
	We've been talking about the individual	39:08
	is placed in the scheme of things.	39:11
	And now we come back to that other concept of the corporate	39:12
	nature of the church.	39:15
	And the influence that an organic and organized	39:17
	body of people can have on the systems	39:19
	that so much need changing.	39:22
	Bayard Taylor has some lines which are among my favorites.	39:26
	"The healing of the world is in its nameless saints.	39:30
	Each separate star seems nothing	39:34
	but a myriad scattered stars break up the night	39:37
	and make it beautiful."	39:41
	Now, if there are enough of us holding the good thought	39:44
	and living true to it,	39:48
	we can make a difference in this big world.	39:50
	Healed Rives tells of going through a little village	39:53
	in Maine one summer.	39:56
	She saw on every hand, pansy is growing in window boxes	39:59
	and on the borders of the Watts	40:02
	and a little boy was gathering a bouquet of them	40:04
	from a pansy bed.	40:07
	And she saw bunches of them on sale at a market.	40:11
	Then she drove on into the country and suddenly a sale,	40:14
	but a very sweet fragrance.	40:18
	So sweet and strong that she pulled over to the side	40:22
	of the road to see where it came from	40:25
	and she discovered an acre of pansies.	40:27
	She'd never known that they smelled so fragrantly.	40:30
	And as she drove on she knew what she would tell	40:35
	her church friends when they said to her,	40:38
	what can just one Christian do?	40:40
	What can just one church do in a big world?	40:42
	She knew now she would say the work of Christians	40:46
	is like the fragrance of pansies.	40:49
	A single pansy or a single Christian	40:51
	may not make much impression.	40:54
	A single church, like a single pansy bed	40:56
	is noticed by people nearby, but not those far away.	41:00
	But when many Christians working together	41:04
	do so with vigor and enthusiasm,	41:10
	something wonderful is sure to happen.	41:14
	Faith can make great things happen,	41:18
	even in narrowness of place.	41:20
	If we enter into allegiance with God and with one another,	41:23
	it is in this alliance that even obscure members	41:28
	of the body of Christ can make their contribution	41:31
	and find their otherwise dull routine redeemed.	41:34
	Read again, the parable of the talents.	41:39
	The five talent man received the accolade,	41:43
	but so also did the two talent man	41:46
	and the one talent man failed to do,	41:49
	to receive any praise at all, rather condemnation.	41:52
	Because he failed to do what he could	41:57
	with what he was given.	42:00
	He had not wasted his master's goods,	42:03
	like the unjust steward.	42:05
	He had not spent all his portion in riotous living	42:07
	like the prodigal son, nor was he 10,000 talents in debt	42:10
	like the unmerciful servant.	42:14
	He had simply failed to do what he could.	42:16
	And we might feel sure that he would have heard,	42:21
	well done, good and faithful servant	42:24
	if he had just put his gift into circulation.	42:26
	Dwight L. Moody was a great Christian of his generation	42:34
	and left an imprint,	42:40
	which every student of Christian history knows.	42:41
	He had determined as a young shoe clerk,	42:48
	realizing that the world had yet to see	42:53
	what could be accomplished by someone completely dedicated	42:56
	to God that he would try to be that person.	42:59
	He was not well-educated.	43:04
	Once an unkind critic made fun of his grammar.	43:06
	Dwight L. Moody looked the man straight in the eye and said,	43:11
	"You have grammar, what are you doing with it?"	43:16
	And the question is for you and me,	43:21
	we have grammar, what are we doing with it?	43:24
	Now we can face the demands of that big world	43:30
	even though we may feel limited, circumscribed	43:33
	or may not think that we're too gifted.	43:39
	The planned parenthood program of church world service	43:43
	reports that there are 65 million more people	43:47
	in the world today who are unable to read and write	43:50
	than the were 10 years ago.	43:53
	With the total number, nearing 800 million.	43:56
	And literacy is necessary for family planning,	44:00
	for childcare, for health and nutrition,	44:03
	for an understanding of good agricultural procedures,	44:06
	for leadership in community.	44:10
	You have grammar, what are you doing about it?	44:15
	The world hunger is pictured with views of starving babies,	44:21
	but abandoned children do not get as much publicity.	44:26
	Child abandonment is alarmingly on the increase	44:30
	throughout the world.	44:33
	Countless millions of children, fend for themselves,	44:35
	cleaning to life in the slums of every major city.	44:37
	Children bond, parents unwilling	44:42
	or unable to care for them,	44:44
	terrified and anguish children without a childhood,	44:45
	without a present or future.	44:50
	Ragged, filthy, and half started sleeping in doorways	44:52
	and ditches, cemeteries and sewers.	44:55
	We have ability and money	45:00
	what are we doing with them?	45:03
	What of our efforts to bring about justice,	45:07
	liberation and human fulfillment in the world?	45:10
	The improvement of the quality of life in community	45:14
	and state and nation and on planet earth.	45:17
	Will you take some leadership in caring	45:22
	and in reconciliation	45:27
	where disadvantaged families struggle against the cycle	45:30
	of poverty and prejudice?	45:34
	Will you stand for concern, for sharing, and for change?	45:36
	Amen.	45:46
	Let us pray.	45:47
	Father we remember that it was said of Jesus	45:52
	that He went about doing good.	45:55
	And if we should ever be called do gooders,	45:58
	may we take it as an honor.	46:02
	By your grace, through our faith, make us faithful	46:03
	so that we may do great things as though they were small	46:10
	because of your help.	46:13
	And little things as though they were great	46:15
	because we're doing them in Jesus' name	46:18
	and for His sake.	46:22
	Amen.	46:24
	(somber piano music)	46:27
-	Dear Lord, oh, Heavenly Father,	56:09
	we offer these gifts freely given from the heart.	56:13
	Use them, bless them, consecrate them Holy Trinity.	56:21
	Amen.	56:29
	(somber piano music)	56:32
	And now may the grace of God	1:00:02
	and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit	1:00:05
	rest rule and abide with wall hits forth now	1:00:09
	and forever more.	1:00:13
	Amen.	1:00:16
	(church bell rings)	1:00:21
	(energetic piano music)	1:00:38

Item Info

Title:

Samuel S. Wiley - "The Redemption of the Routine" (August 22, 1976)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4ht2md0k

Date:

August 22, 1976

Speaker:

Wiley, Samuel S.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0848
ref6896_dbq
uachapelsermaud
duke:628256
dcrau002807
ark:/87924/r4ht2md0k
7ca3488f-7511-4e87-b808-2fb51430462b

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

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:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For 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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Samuel S. Wiley - "The Redemption of the Routine" (August 22, 1976)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives