Robert T. Young - "Expectations: Real and Unreal" (September 5, 1976)
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| (bright instrumental music) | 0:27 | |
| ♪Beautiful Savior ♪ | 10:04 | |
| ♪Lord of the nations ♪ | 10:11 | |
| ♪Son of God and Son of Man ♪ | 10:18 | |
| ♪Glory and honor ♪ | 10:32 | |
| ♪Praise, adoration ♪ | 10:39 | |
| ♪Now and forevermore be Thine ♪ | 10:45 | |
| ♪Now and forevermore be Thine ♪ | 10:55 | |
| (bright instrumental music) | 11:15 | |
| - | We would ask that those of you who have some space | 16:19 |
| between you, move to the center of the isle, | 16:22 | |
| center isle so that people who come in | 16:26 | |
| may be seated in the outside, thank you. | 16:28 | |
| For some of us who exalted by the beauty of this worship | 16:47 | |
| and for whom life is good, | 16:52 | |
| it is difficult to claim the need to confess. | 16:55 | |
| So let our call to confession be this prayer. | 17:00 | |
| God, grant us the ability to see ourselves | 17:06 | |
| in the light of your holiness, | 17:11 | |
| that we may be cleansed from the pride and blindness | 17:14 | |
| and all which obscures our need for confession. | 17:18 | |
| And knowing that from you, no secrets are hid, | 17:22 | |
| we may perceive and confront those deceits and disguises | 17:26 | |
| by which we deceive ourselves and others, | 17:31 | |
| so that we may truly worship you in spirit and in truth. | 17:35 | |
| And so be enabled in this holy hour to hear you speak to us. | 17:42 | |
| Let us make our corporate confession. | 17:49 | |
| Lord, here we are out of breath, out of courage | 17:53 | |
| and almost out of hope. | 17:59 | |
| Caught between the infinity of our desires | 18:02 | |
| and the limitations about being. | 18:06 | |
| We are tossed about, torn, pulled here and pulled there, | 18:09 | |
| confused and exhausted. | 18:16 | |
| So Lord, here we are, finally still | 18:19 | |
| and finally ready to listen. | 18:24 | |
| You've seen how our dissatisfaction has made us suffer. | 18:28 | |
| You've seen how fear has led us astray | 18:33 | |
| in choosing our commitments. | 18:36 | |
| You've seen how we were afraid of doing too little | 18:39 | |
| and you've seen the cross imposed by our limited means. | 18:44 | |
| Lord, make us strong enough to do what we should do | 18:49 | |
| calmly, simply without wanting to do too much, | 18:54 | |
| without wanting to do it all ourselves. | 19:00 | |
| In other words, Lord, make us humble in our wish | 19:04 | |
| and our will to serve. | 19:10 | |
| Help us above all, to find you in our commitments, | 19:12 | |
| for you are the unity of our actions. | 19:18 | |
| You are the single love in all our loves | 19:22 | |
| and all our efforts. | 19:26 | |
| You are the wellspring and all things are drawn to you. | 19:28 | |
| So we have come before you, Lord | 19:35 | |
| to rest and gather our strength. | 19:38 | |
| And now, oh Lord, will you hear us as we make | 19:42 | |
| our personal confession to you. | 19:45 | |
| Amen. | 20:05 | |
| Hear these words of assurance. | 20:07 | |
| There is a wideness in God's mercy, | 20:10 | |
| a kindness in God's justice, a wholeness in God's love, | 20:14 | |
| which gives us our peace and our rest and our strength | 20:21 | |
| and the ability to live as forgiven people, | 20:27 | |
| as children of God. | 20:31 | |
| And for this we give thanks. | 20:34 | |
| (bright instrumental music) | 20:44 | |
| ♪ All people that on earth do dwell ♪ | 21:05 | |
| ♪ Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice ♪ | 21:14 | |
| ♪ Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell ♪ | 21:22 | |
| ♪ Come ye before Him and rejoice ♪ | 21:31 | |
| ♪ The Lord, ye know, is God indeed ♪ | 21:45 | |
| ♪ Without our aid He did us make ♪ | 21:53 | |
| ♪ We are His folk, He doth us feed ♪ | 22:02 | |
| ♪ And for His sheep He doth us take ♪ | 22:12 | |
| ♪ O enter then His gates with praise ♪ | 22:26 | |
| ♪ Approach with joy His courts unto ♪ | 22:36 | |
| ♪ Praise, laud, and bless His name always ♪ | 22:46 | |
| ♪ For it is seemly so to do ♪ | 22:56 | |
| ♪ For why, the Lord our God is good ♪ | 23:14 | |
| ♪ His mercy is for ever sure ♪ | 23:24 | |
| ♪ His truth at all times firmly stood ♪ | 23:34 | |
| ♪ And shall from age to age endure ♪ | 23:43 | |
| (bright instrumental music) | 23:56 | |
| ♪ To Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 24:10 | |
| ♪ The God whom Heaven and earth adore ♪ | 24:19 | |
| ♪ From men and from the angel host ♪ | 24:29 | |
| ♪ Be praise and glory evermore ♪ | 24:39 | |
| (bright instrumental music) | 24:52 | |
| - | The old Testament lesson for this morning | 25:28 |
| is from Deuteronomy 13:15-20 | 25:32 | |
| and 31:1-3 and verse six. | 25:40 | |
| "See, I have set before you this day, | 25:51 | |
| "life and good, death and evil. | 25:55 | |
| "If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, | 26:00 | |
| "which I command you this day, by loving the Lord, your God, | 26:04 | |
| "by walking in His ways and by keeping His commandments | 26:10 | |
| "and His statutes and His ordinances, | 26:14 | |
| "then you shall live and multiply. | 26:19 | |
| "And the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land, | 26:22 | |
| "which you are entering to take possession of it. | 26:26 | |
| "But if your heart turns away and you will not hear, | 26:31 | |
| "but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, | 26:37 | |
| "I declared to you this day that you shall perish. | 26:43 | |
| "You shall not live long in the land, | 26:48 | |
| "which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. | 26:50 | |
| "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day | 26:56 | |
| "that I have set before you life and death, | 27:01 | |
| "blessing and curse. | 27:06 | |
| "Therefore choose life that you and your descendants | 27:09 | |
| "may live, loving the Lord, your God, | 27:13 | |
| "obeying His voice and cleaving to Him, | 27:18 | |
| "for that means life to you and length of days, | 27:23 | |
| "that you may dwell in the land, | 27:27 | |
| "which the Lord swore to your fathers, | 27:30 | |
| "to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. | 27:33 | |
| "So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. | 27:41 | |
| "And he said to them, I am 120 years old this day. | 27:46 | |
| "I am no longer able to go out and come in. | 27:53 | |
| "The Lord has said to me, you shall not go over this Jordan. | 27:57 | |
| "The Lord, your God himself will go over before you, | 28:05 | |
| "He will destroy these nations before you | 28:10 | |
| "so that you shall dispossess them. | 28:13 | |
| "And Joshua will go over at your head, | 28:16 | |
| "as the Lord has spoken. | 28:20 | |
| "Be strong and of good courage. | 28:25 | |
| "Do not fear or be in dread of them | 28:28 | |
| "for it is the Lord, your God who goes with you. | 28:32 | |
| "He will not fail you or forsake you." | 28:36 | |
| Will you stand for the reading of the gospel, please. | 28:41 | |
| The gospel is taken from Matthew 20:1-16. | 29:01 | |
| "For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder | 29:11 | |
| "who went out early in the morning | 29:14 | |
| "to hire laborers for his vineyard. | 29:16 | |
| "After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, | 29:20 | |
| "he sent them into his vineyard. | 29:25 | |
| "And going out and about the third hour, | 29:29 | |
| "he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. | 29:31 | |
| "And to them, he said, you go into the vineyard too. | 29:35 | |
| "And whatever is right, I will give you. | 29:39 | |
| "So they went. | 29:43 | |
| "Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, | 29:45 | |
| "he did the same. | 29:48 | |
| "And about the 11th hour, | 29:52 | |
| "he went out and found others standing. | 29:54 | |
| "And he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day? | 29:57 | |
| "They said to him, because no one has hired us. | 30:03 | |
| "He said to them, you go into the vineyard too. | 30:07 | |
| "And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard | 30:12 | |
| "said to his steward, call the laborers | 30:15 | |
| "and pay them their wages beginning with the last | 30:19 | |
| "up to the first. | 30:22 | |
| "And when those hired about the 11th hour came, | 30:26 | |
| "each of them received a denarius. | 30:30 | |
| "Now, when the first came, | 30:34 | |
| "they thought they would receive more, | 30:36 | |
| "but each of them also received a denarius. | 30:39 | |
| "And on receiving it, they grumbled at the householder | 30:44 | |
| "saying, these last worked only one hour | 30:47 | |
| "and you have made them equal to us | 30:52 | |
| "who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching sun. | 30:55 | |
| "But he replied to one of them, | 31:00 | |
| "friend, I am doing you no wrong. | 31:03 | |
| "Did you not agree with me for a denarius? | 31:07 | |
| "Take what belongs to you and go. | 31:11 | |
| "I choose to give you this last as I give to you. | 31:14 | |
| "Am I not allowed to do what I choose | 31:19 | |
| "with what belongs to me or do you begrudge my generosity? | 31:22 | |
| "So the last will be first and the first will be last." | 31:28 | |
| Here ends the reading of the lesson. | 31:34 | |
| (soft instrumental music) | 31:37 | |
| (choir singing) | 31:47 | |
| - | Let us a firm what we believe. | 32:23 |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating, | 32:26 | |
| who has come and the truly human Jesus to reconcile | 32:31 | |
| and make new, who works us and others by the spirit. | 32:36 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 32:42 | |
| to celebrate life and it's fullness, | 32:46 | |
| to love and serve others, | 32:50 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 32:52 | |
| to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen. | 32:56 | |
| Our judge and our hope. | 33:00 | |
| In life and death and life beyond death. | 33:02 | |
| God is with us, we are not alone. | 33:06 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 33:12 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 33:14 | |
| - | And with your spirit. | 33:16 |
| - | Let us pray. | 33:18 |
| Oh, holy God, | 33:28 | |
| there is an exuberance in us which lifts our spirit | 33:31 | |
| to your spirit. | 33:35 | |
| We bow and awe before the wonder of your creation, | 33:37 | |
| the beauty of this world, the glory of this music, | 33:42 | |
| the majesty of this building, | 33:48 | |
| the power of your spoken word. | 33:51 | |
| There's an excitement in us as we wait before the unknown, | 33:55 | |
| the future. | 34:00 | |
| We give you thanks for new beginnings and new opportunities. | 34:02 | |
| We give you thanks for all events and all peoples, | 34:08 | |
| which have brought us to this time and this place. | 34:11 | |
| And oh God, as we wait in your presence, | 34:18 | |
| we pray for your grace to accept these gifts, | 34:22 | |
| which are ours. | 34:27 | |
| The gifts of teaching, of learning, of working, | 34:29 | |
| of expanding our mind, of using our creativity. | 34:34 | |
| Save us from assuming that we deserve these gifts | 34:40 | |
| more than those who do not have such opportunities | 34:44 | |
| and privileges. | 34:47 | |
| And in such knowledge, help us to use them | 34:49 | |
| to make this world a better place for all of your creation. | 34:53 | |
| And oh God, we give you thanks | 35:00 | |
| for all who work that we may learn, | 35:03 | |
| those who teach, those who have responsibilities | 35:08 | |
| for administration, for monies. | 35:12 | |
| Those who keep our grounds, our buildings, | 35:16 | |
| those who tend our libraries, our offices, | 35:20 | |
| our souls and our bodies. | 35:23 | |
| Those who cook and clean. | 35:27 | |
| We pray that in all we do, we continue to make this | 35:31 | |
| a loving community which acknowledges and values | 35:37 | |
| the worth of every person. | 35:41 | |
| Oh God, we pause now because some hearts are heavy. | 35:47 | |
| There are those who are ravaged by the terrors | 35:52 | |
| of the natural world, who suffer drought and earthquake | 35:55 | |
| and flood we do not understand. | 36:00 | |
| We pray for your help and that you will use our minds | 36:05 | |
| and energies, that we may work to alleviate such terrors. | 36:09 | |
| There are those who are ravaged by the terrors | 36:16 | |
| of our human pride and selfishness, | 36:18 | |
| by war and greed and oppression and poverty. | 36:20 | |
| And we pray that our minds and our talents may be used | 36:24 | |
| that our world can become a place where all people | 36:27 | |
| will have a good life. | 36:32 | |
| And hear us now as we lift before you, | 36:35 | |
| those persons we love who are faced with personal tragedy, | 36:39 | |
| those whose families are broken, | 36:46 | |
| those who are sick and mind and body, | 36:50 | |
| those who are immediately facing death, | 36:54 | |
| those whose future is uncertain because of no work | 36:59 | |
| or no family, or no friends, | 37:03 | |
| because of unbearable pain. | 37:07 | |
| We give thanks and pray for all who care for them | 37:12 | |
| and pray that we may be responsible to these people | 37:17 | |
| in specific and loving ways. | 37:22 | |
| And hear us now, O Lord, as we pray the prayer | 37:27 | |
| that Jesus taught us. | 37:32 | |
| Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, | 37:35 | |
| Thy kingdom come. | 37:41 | |
| Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 37:43 | |
| Give us this day, our daily bread. | 37:48 | |
| Forgive us our trespasses, | 37:51 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 37:54 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, | 37:58 | |
| for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory | 38:03 | |
| forever and ever, amen. | 38:09 | |
| Greetings in the name of Christ on this first Sunday | 38:13 | |
| in our new academic year. | 38:16 | |
| For some of you, the chapel has already become | 38:20 | |
| your community for worship. | 38:22 | |
| Welcome back. | 38:25 | |
| For others of you, you are here for the first time | 38:27 | |
| and we are especially glad to see you. | 38:30 | |
| And our prayers you and for us | 38:33 | |
| is that this will become a place | 38:38 | |
| for your renewal and growth, | 38:41 | |
| a place for your Christian worship. | 38:45 | |
| Bob and I offer ourselves to you to become your ministers, | 38:49 | |
| to celebrate with you the good times, | 38:54 | |
| and to comfort and support you in the bad times. | 38:57 | |
| On the first Sunday of each month, | 39:03 | |
| we celebrate holy communion in the Memorial chapel | 39:05 | |
| to my right, to your left. | 39:09 | |
| The Eucharistic service will begin immediately | 39:12 | |
| at the conclusion of this morning worship. | 39:15 | |
| - | What would life be like | 39:52 |
| for you or for me, | 39:56 | |
| if you could have no expectations for yourself | 40:01 | |
| or for your future? | 40:06 | |
| What if you could not plan or hope or anticipate | 40:11 | |
| or contemplate or long or expect? | 40:16 | |
| What if you had no way of imagining or dreaming | 40:22 | |
| or fantasizing or projecting your expectations? | 40:26 | |
| What if there were no promise for the future? | 40:32 | |
| No assurance, no hope, | 40:36 | |
| no anticipation that you could live with, dream of, | 40:39 | |
| share, hope for, pray for, believe in? | 40:43 | |
| Jesus gave us a word to set the pattern | 40:51 | |
| for deep expectation when he talked with his disciples | 40:54 | |
| on that tragic night, when he was betrayed and said to them, | 40:57 | |
| "In a short time, you will no longer see me. | 41:00 | |
| "And then a short time later, you will see me again. | 41:05 | |
| "You are sad now, but your hearts will be full of joy | 41:09 | |
| "and that joy, no one shall take from you." | 41:14 | |
| You see me, you will not see me. | 41:19 | |
| You will see me again and you will be full of joy. | 41:23 | |
| Presence, absence, pain, | 41:29 | |
| separation, expectation, communion, joy. | 41:33 | |
| In his book, "Out of Solitude" | 41:40 | |
| Henri Nouwen has a chapter entitled, | 41:41 | |
| "Expectation As Joy." | 41:44 | |
| In this chapter, he writes, | 41:48 | |
| "Whereas patience is the mother of expectation, | 41:49 | |
| "it is expectation itself | 41:53 | |
| "that brings true joy to our lives." | 41:55 | |
| Expectation brings new and true joy to our lives. | 41:59 | |
| Thus the first word I want to say to you this morning, | 42:04 | |
| is that expectation is essential to authentic living. | 42:07 | |
| This has been, is, and always will be true. | 42:13 | |
| In the beginning, God. | 42:18 | |
| And with that word to begin our scripture, | 42:20 | |
| we believe, we are assured. | 42:22 | |
| We expect that God was at the beginning, | 42:24 | |
| will be at the end and is present in all there is between. | 42:27 | |
| The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. | 42:32 | |
| The most beloved passage in scripture | 42:36 | |
| tells us that we can always expect the presence of God | 42:38 | |
| to be near, to support, to sustain, to protect. | 42:42 | |
| "The Lord will keep your going out | 42:47 | |
| "and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore," | 42:49 | |
| says the Psalmist in Psalms 121. | 42:53 | |
| "Thus, we can expect the Lord to be close at hand | 42:56 | |
| "in all of our comings and in all of our goings." | 43:00 | |
| In the new Testament, Jesus says, | 43:04 | |
| "I will not leave you comfortless. | 43:06 | |
| "I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending. | 43:08 | |
| "I will be with you to the end of the age. | 43:11 | |
| "If I go, I will return again." | 43:15 | |
| Christianity indeed would be a dead faith | 43:19 | |
| if there were no expectations for the present and the future | 43:22 | |
| at the very heart of it. | 43:27 | |
| Life would be dead, hope would be shattered. | 43:28 | |
| Meaning would be lost, future would be empty | 43:32 | |
| and the present would have no meaning | 43:36 | |
| if there were no expectation in it. | 43:38 | |
| Expectation brings new joy to our lives. | 43:42 | |
| In the classic Alice in Wonderland, | 43:47 | |
| Alice is talking with Cheshire Puss, the cat. | 43:51 | |
| "Cheshire Puss," she began rather timidly. | 43:55 | |
| "Would you tell me, please, | 43:59 | |
| "which way I ought to go from here?" | 44:01 | |
| "That depends a great deal on where you want to go," | 44:06 | |
| said the cat. | 44:09 | |
| "I don't much care where," said Alice. | 44:10 | |
| "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat. | 44:15 | |
| How do you and I get from here, where we are | 44:22 | |
| in our thoughts, our feelings, our convictions, | 44:25 | |
| our understandings, our faith, our commitments? | 44:27 | |
| Where do we want to go? | 44:32 | |
| What are our expectations? | 44:36 | |
| Thus expectations are essential to authentic living, | 44:39 | |
| is the first word. | 44:44 | |
| A second word is that expectations provide joy | 44:46 | |
| and satisfaction in life. | 44:49 | |
| In the beloved little book, "The Little Prince," | 44:53 | |
| there are some lines that thrill my heart and more my soul, | 44:57 | |
| a beautiful and pregnant line full of warmth and richness | 45:00 | |
| that tell us about the real joy of expectation | 45:06 | |
| and anticipation. | 45:09 | |
| The fox is talking to the little prince | 45:11 | |
| who has just come back to him. | 45:12 | |
| The fox says, "If you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, | 45:15 | |
| "then at three o'clock, I shall begin to be happy. | 45:20 | |
| "I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. | 45:26 | |
| "And at four o'clock, I shall already be worrying | 45:30 | |
| "and jumping about. | 45:33 | |
| "I shall show you truly how happy I am. | 45:34 | |
| "If you tell me you're coming at four o'clock, | 45:37 | |
| "then I shall begin to be happy at three o'clock." | 45:41 | |
| This is at the heart of the Christian faith. | 45:45 | |
| Expectation that God is the ruler, | 45:47 | |
| yet expectation based on faith in Christ as the living Lord | 45:51 | |
| and the savior of us all. | 45:55 | |
| "Faith that believes," as the great Benjamin Mays says, | 45:56 | |
| "that tomorrow things will be better." | 45:59 | |
| "Faith," he says, "is taking the next step | 46:03 | |
| "and leaving the consequences to God." | 46:05 | |
| Faith is expectation. | 46:09 | |
| Expectation that brings joy and satisfaction to our lives, | 46:12 | |
| like at the beginning of a new year, | 46:16 | |
| like being in a new place, like making a new start, | 46:19 | |
| like meeting a new friend, like a new job, | 46:23 | |
| or even the beginning of a new day. | 46:27 | |
| The kind of expectation and excitement and anticipation | 46:30 | |
| that many of you new students have had ever since that day | 46:33 | |
| you got the letter saying that you could indeed come to Duke | 46:36 | |
| and you began to plan to come. | 46:39 | |
| The kind of expectation and excitement | 46:41 | |
| that many of you returning students have had | 46:43 | |
| over the summer, as some of you have traveled | 46:45 | |
| and worked and studied abroad. | 46:48 | |
| Some worked at jobs all over this country, | 46:49 | |
| some studied and visited, or even just rested at home. | 46:52 | |
| And every once in a while, | 46:55 | |
| you would just look back over your shoulder at Duke | 46:56 | |
| and think about Duke with its good and with its bad. | 46:59 | |
| And you would remember some of the people here, | 47:03 | |
| some of whom you would long, very, very dearly | 47:05 | |
| to be back with again. | 47:08 | |
| And the expectation of coming back. | 47:11 | |
| The kind of expectation that many of the rest of us had | 47:15 | |
| over the summer, traveling and vacationing | 47:18 | |
| and visiting away from home, | 47:20 | |
| looking back over our shoulder, back home. | 47:21 | |
| And even though when we got back home, | 47:24 | |
| it was just the same as it was when we left. | 47:26 | |
| There was joy in the expectation for many of us. | 47:29 | |
| The kind of expectations that thrilled you and stirs you | 47:33 | |
| as you make plans to see and to be with | 47:36 | |
| and to share life with, just a few moments | 47:39 | |
| with a very dear friend, too long separated | 47:41 | |
| and known only in expectation. | 47:45 | |
| Expectation brings joy and satisfaction to our lives. | 47:48 | |
| And I'm not talking just about young people. | 47:53 | |
| I remember a 73 year old, gray haired lady | 47:55 | |
| who was in a class, which I taught this summer | 47:58 | |
| in Biloxi, Mississippi. | 48:00 | |
| I had told the class of a conversation | 48:03 | |
| that Dr. Don Shriver had had with one of our graduates | 48:05 | |
| last may when Dr. Shriver was here | 48:09 | |
| to preach the baccalaureate sermon for us | 48:10 | |
| on graduation weekend. | 48:12 | |
| Dr. Shriver and I were talking with the student, | 48:15 | |
| with a student here and all of a sudden, | 48:18 | |
| Dr. Shriver looked the student straight in the eye and said, | 48:20 | |
| "What are you going to do with your life?" | 48:24 | |
| I thought my word, | 48:32 | |
| straight, direct, | 48:36 | |
| powerful, penetrating. | 48:40 | |
| Sometimes the most profound questions | 48:42 | |
| come to us in the simplest of words. | 48:45 | |
| And so I told the class in Mississippi | 48:47 | |
| about this experience and then I said, | 48:50 | |
| "Not just, what is this student going to do with his life," | 48:52 | |
| but I said, "What are you going to do with your life?" | 48:56 | |
| Indeed, what are you and I, | 48:58 | |
| what are we going to do with the rest of our lives? | 49:00 | |
| And two days later, this 73 year old woman came up to me | 49:05 | |
| and she said, "I've been praying and thinking about this." | 49:08 | |
| And she said, "I have decided to make myself available | 49:12 | |
| "to the board of missions to teach in some mission school | 49:15 | |
| "in the United States." | 49:18 | |
| She said, "I guess I had thought my real life was over, | 49:20 | |
| "but now I expect God still has something for me to do." | 49:26 | |
| Well, she may never make it, but the sense of joy, | 49:33 | |
| the sense of excitement that she now has | 49:37 | |
| over the expectation that God still has something | 49:39 | |
| for her to do has brought real joy to her life. | 49:42 | |
| It's like John Powell says in his book, "He Touched Me." | 49:48 | |
| Powell is a Catholic theologian at Loyola University | 49:53 | |
| in Chicago and he writes, "God is not finished with me yet. | 49:56 | |
| "Others may not think of me as a very effective lover, | 50:01 | |
| "but they do not know the before and the after. | 50:06 | |
| "I am still a Pilgrim, but I have been touched | 50:10 | |
| "and I am partially transformed. | 50:15 | |
| "This is the basis for my hope, | 50:17 | |
| "the God who has touched me in the past will act again | 50:20 | |
| "and again, in my life. | 50:25 | |
| "Over and over again, I will feel his finger and find Him." | 50:27 | |
| My friend, God is not finished with you or me yet. | 50:33 | |
| Indeed, as a matter of fact, | 50:40 | |
| God may have only begun to work in your life at this moment. | 50:41 | |
| As someone said, no one can be everything | 50:47 | |
| that he or she wants to be. | 50:49 | |
| No, but we can go on expecting that we can become | 50:51 | |
| more and more, the real person | 50:55 | |
| whom God has intended us to be. | 50:58 | |
| Expectation is essential to authentic living. | 51:01 | |
| Expectation brings joy and satisfaction to our lives. | 51:05 | |
| But then there are some problems with expectations. | 51:09 | |
| And I wanna look at some of those. | 51:13 | |
| Those persons who have no expectations | 51:16 | |
| or little expectations or low expectations | 51:18 | |
| have some real difficulty in life. | 51:23 | |
| Some of you may not have this kind of problem, | 51:27 | |
| but it's like the young junior executive's wife | 51:33 | |
| in a Chicago suburb said one day | 51:36 | |
| in talking about the neighborhood where she lived. | 51:38 | |
| She said, "Our relationships in this community | 51:42 | |
| "are not really very exciting, | 51:47 | |
| "but after all, no one expected them | 51:51 | |
| "to be more than just ordinary." | 51:55 | |
| Well, my friends, if that's all that you expect in life, | 51:59 | |
| if all you think that is going to happen to you | 52:05 | |
| is the ordinary, the monotonous, the routine, the mundane, | 52:08 | |
| then that is precisely what will happen. | 52:12 | |
| If you don't think you can win, | 52:20 | |
| the chances are very slim that you will. | 52:22 | |
| If you don't expect to do well, | 52:25 | |
| then surely, most likely you will do poorly. | 52:27 | |
| If you don't look for the extraordinary and the classic, | 52:32 | |
| you surely won't find it. | 52:35 | |
| Those who have expectations for today and tomorrow | 52:39 | |
| can live fuller lives in the present. | 52:42 | |
| Surely where there is no vision, no hope, | 52:45 | |
| no expectation that people, we perish. | 52:48 | |
| But on the other hand, | 52:55 | |
| one of the most serious problems that we ministers deal with | 52:57 | |
| in counseling with students here at Duke is that they, | 53:01 | |
| that is you who our students, come here with expectations | 53:04 | |
| far too great. | 53:10 | |
| Expectations, which in many cases are totally unrealistic | 53:12 | |
| and totally unrealizable. | 53:16 | |
| You come here, not only with your own expectations, | 53:19 | |
| but also with mama's and daddy's and the school's | 53:22 | |
| and the community's and your teacher's and the preacher's | 53:25 | |
| and the Sunday school teacher's and your coach's. | 53:28 | |
| Everybody has dumped on you the good word | 53:31 | |
| that you are great, | 53:34 | |
| that you've always done well in school, | 53:36 | |
| that you have a brilliant mind, | 53:38 | |
| that you must keep on making all A's. | 53:40 | |
| That you've got to become a great doctor or teacher | 53:42 | |
| or lawyer or scientists or president of some business. | 53:45 | |
| "Everybody is counting on you," they say. | 53:48 | |
| All of you who've heard any or all of that, | 53:51 | |
| hold up your hand. | 53:53 | |
| And then you get here and you find that everybody else | 53:59 | |
| in your classes has come with just as good | 54:03 | |
| or even a better background. | 54:08 | |
| And the expectations on you and on them | 54:11 | |
| are very, very great. | 54:14 | |
| The pressure builds up, the work piles on, | 54:17 | |
| the reading is endless, the laboratories are tedious. | 54:19 | |
| And the expectations on many of you are totally unrealistic | 54:23 | |
| and unrealizable. | 54:26 | |
| Oh, if only we could teach you, | 54:28 | |
| if only we could have you and your parents learn it | 54:32 | |
| and have you feel it and have you internalize it | 54:35 | |
| so that you know it | 54:38 | |
| that to fail is human. | 54:42 | |
| To be perfect is divine. | 54:46 | |
| And none of us here at Duke is divine. | 54:50 | |
| Will you simply allow yourself to be human, | 54:58 | |
| to make mistakes, to do poorly sometimes, even to fail. | 55:04 | |
| To be just yourself and not mama or daddy or teacher | 55:12 | |
| or coach or preacher made over again. | 55:19 | |
| Will you? | 55:24 | |
| What we need here is visionaries who can live with failure, | 55:26 | |
| dreamers who can piece together shattered dreams, | 55:33 | |
| fantasizers who can deal with reality, | 55:37 | |
| persons like you and me | 55:41 | |
| who have hopes that are both unrealizable and realizable | 55:44 | |
| and can learn to live with both. | 55:48 | |
| But then there's another word I want to say | 55:57 | |
| about expectations and problems. | 55:59 | |
| And that's very simply this, | 56:02 | |
| that no matter how general or specific your expectations, | 56:06 | |
| no matter how clear or how vague, | 56:11 | |
| there are some experiences in life | 56:16 | |
| which we cannot expect or anticipate. | 56:18 | |
| Our psyche simply will not allow us to imagine | 56:22 | |
| that some moments of love and true intimacy | 56:26 | |
| could ever be as beautiful as they are, | 56:30 | |
| or we could not stand the pain of not being there | 56:34 | |
| all the time. | 56:39 | |
| Our spirits, likewise will not allow us to anticipate | 56:43 | |
| the deepest of hurt and loss that might be, | 56:47 | |
| for we could not endure moment by moment or day by day, | 56:54 | |
| the fear of what is going to happen. | 56:59 | |
| Thus, there is no way that we can anticipate | 57:05 | |
| or expect that certain experiences | 57:08 | |
| are going to come our way. | 57:10 | |
| They just do. | 57:14 | |
| They happen. | 57:16 | |
| And later on, we look around and say, | 57:22 | |
| "Did that painful moment really come to me?" | 57:27 | |
| Or "Was that beautiful experience really mine?" | 57:35 | |
| My guess is that for most of you, | 57:43 | |
| both the beautiful and the painful | 57:48 | |
| have been, are and will be. | 57:52 | |
| How do we do with our expectations? | 58:02 | |
| Sometimes all alone, | 58:09 | |
| sometimes in the company of others, | 58:16 | |
| others who love us. | 58:23 | |
| Ultimately, we deal with our expectations | 58:28 | |
| with God in Christ, | 58:35 | |
| who is helping us to create our expectations, | 58:40 | |
| who is drawing us to and leading us through | 58:45 | |
| and beyond our expectation. | 58:49 | |
| Moses, | 58:55 | |
| who though he led the children of Israel | 58:57 | |
| through 40 years of hell | 59:00 | |
| and long to set just one foot in that promised land | 59:03 | |
| was told by God that he would not cross over, | 59:10 | |
| just before he went up to the mountain | 59:17 | |
| to be with God forever. | 59:21 | |
| Moses, in one of his last words to his people said, | 59:25 | |
| "I set before you this day, life and good, death and evil. | 59:28 | |
| "Therefore choose life that you may live, | 59:35 | |
| "be strong and of good courage, for it is the Lord, | 59:39 | |
| "your God who goes with you. | 59:43 | |
| "He will not fail you, nor forsake you." | 59:47 | |
| Martin Luther king Jr, in the last sermon he ever preached. | 59:56 | |
| In the sermon he preached in Memphis | 1:00:02 | |
| on the night before he was slain | 1:00:04 | |
| talked beautifully and movingly about expectations | 1:00:07 | |
| and about the joy and satisfaction that had come to him | 1:00:13 | |
| for he had no fear, he had real joy. | 1:00:17 | |
| He knew life. | 1:00:21 | |
| He said, "I have been to the mountain top | 1:00:23 | |
| "and I've looked over. | 1:00:31 | |
| "And I've seen the promised land. | 1:00:34 | |
| "I might not get there with you," he said. | 1:00:38 | |
| "But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people | 1:00:43 | |
| "will get to the promised land. | 1:00:46 | |
| "So I'm happy tonight, for mine eyes have seen the glory | 1:00:49 | |
| "of the coming of the Lord." | 1:00:54 | |
| That's all it takes. | 1:00:58 | |
| Just the deepest of deep expectations. | 1:01:00 | |
| Just to look over, just to get up to the top | 1:01:04 | |
| of the mountain, just to see, to taste, to touch, | 1:01:07 | |
| to experience, to expect. | 1:01:11 | |
| And the important word this morning | 1:01:18 | |
| is that your expectations and mine, | 1:01:19 | |
| real and unreal are in the hands of God | 1:01:27 | |
| who will not forsake us nor ever leave us. | 1:01:34 | |
| Amen, amen. | 1:01:42 | |
| (soft instrumental music) | 1:01:50 | |
| ♪ There's a wideness in God's mercy, ♪ | 1:02:36 | |
| ♪ like the wideness of the sea. ♪ | 1:02:40 | |
| ♪ There's a kindness in God's justice, ♪ | 1:02:46 | |
| ♪ which is more than liberty. ♪ | 1:02:52 | |
| ♪ There is welcome for the sinner, ♪ | 1:02:58 | |
| ♪ and more graces for the good. ♪ | 1:03:04 | |
| ♪ There is mercy with the Savior, ♪ | 1:03:10 | |
| ♪ there is healing in his blood. ♪ | 1:03:16 | |
| ♪ For the love of God is broader ♪ | 1:03:24 | |
| ♪ than the measures of the mind, ♪ | 1:03:29 | |
| ♪ and the heart of the Eternal ♪ | 1:03:35 | |
| ♪ is most wonderfully kind. ♪ | 1:03:41 | |
| ♪ If our love were but more simple, ♪ | 1:03:46 | |
| ♪ we should rest upon God's word, ♪ | 1:03:52 | |
| ♪ and our lives would be illumined ♪ | 1:03:58 | |
| ♪ by the presence of our Lord. ♪ | 1:04:04 | |
| (soft instrumental music) | 1:04:26 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:05:45 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:05:51 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:05:57 | |
| ♪ Amen amen ♪ | 1:06:02 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:06:13 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:06:16 | |
| ♪ Rejoice hallelujah ♪ | 1:06:28 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:06:34 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:06:46 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:06:51 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:06:58 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:07:07 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:07:18 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:07:19 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:07:20 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:07:21 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:07:22 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen. ♪ | 1:07:22 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:07:44 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah amen amen hallelujah amen ♪ | 1:08:02 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:08:25 | |
| (soft instrumental music) | 1:08:35 | |
| - | Oh, holy God, we bring you these gifts, | 1:10:48 |
| symbols of our lives. | 1:10:53 | |
| And so giving them, we dedicate to you our lives, our minds, | 1:10:55 | |
| our work, our study, | 1:11:01 | |
| that we may be enabled to love and serve you | 1:11:04 | |
| in all we do. | 1:11:09 | |
| We pray in the spirit of Christ, amen. | 1:11:10 | |
| (bright instrumental music) | 1:11:24 | |
| - | And now may the God who creates us, | 1:15:56 |
| who redeems us and sustains us go with us | 1:16:00 | |
| this day and forever more. | 1:16:07 | |
| Go out now in peace | 1:16:12 | |
| to love and serve God. | 1:16:14 | |
| (instrumental music) | 1:16:23 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:16:25 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:16:29 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:16:36 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:16:51 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:17:05 | |
| (bell rings) | 1:17:34 | |
| (soft instrumental music) | 1:17:52 | |
| (bright instrumental music) | 1:20:03 |
