Vance W. Torbert III - "Natural Business" (February 27, 1977) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

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Duke University Chapel service of worship

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first Sunday in Lent, February 27th, 1977.

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(instrumental music)

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(instrumental music)

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(someone coughs)

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(instrumental music)

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(someone coughs)

4:35

(instrumental music)

4:35

(instrumental music)

7:49

(someone coughs)

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(instrumental music)

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(congregation singing hymn song)

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(instrumental music)

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(congregation singing hymn song)

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(instrumental music)

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With the beauty such as it is outdoors today,

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I'm sure that the only wish unfulfilled

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at the moment with regard to our gathering

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here is that we are not gathering outside

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rather than in here.

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It is a day of beauty, a day of warmth

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and sunshine that all of us have longed for.

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And I'm sure rejoice in.

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As we honestly seek renewal in order to serve God,

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we begin by being honest about our own past failures,

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all of us have been guilty of postponing good words

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and actions until the time for saying

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and doing was passed.

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That being true then,

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I invite you to join with me as we confess before God,

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some of those things which we have done

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or have failed to do,

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(someone coughs)

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which have caused us to be less than the persons

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(someone coughs)

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whom God has called us to be.

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Let us confess our sins,

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forgive us most gracious God,

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for what we have done or said

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to increase the pain of the world.

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Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture,

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the hard and selfish deed,

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the failure to show sympathy and kindly help

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where we had the opportunity, but missed it.

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And enable us so to live,

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that we may daily do something

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to lessen the tide of human sorrow,

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and add to the sum of human happiness. Amen.

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(someone coughs)

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In the quietness of our own individual hearts.

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I invite you now to speak with God and listen

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(someone coughs)

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to the word from God.

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Our Lord has said, come to me all

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who labor and are heavy Laden,

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and I will give you rest.

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My friends in Christ receive now,

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the love and forgiveness and presence of Christ

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and find that rest. Amen.

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(someone coughs)

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(instrumental music)

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(someone coughs)

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(instrumental music)

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(someone coughs)

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(instrumental music)

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(someone coughs)

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(instrumental music)

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(congregation singing hymn song)

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(instrumental music)

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(someone coughs)

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(instrumental music)

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(congregation singing hymn song)

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(instrumental music)

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(congregation singing hymn song)

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The Old Testament lesson comes from the third chapter

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of Lamentations verses 21 through 26.

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And from the seventh chapter of Micah verse seven.

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All this I take to heart

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and therefore I will wait patiently.

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The Lord's true love is surely not spent

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nor has his compassion failed.

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They are new every morning so great is his constancy.

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The Lord I say is all that I have.

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Therefore, I will wait for him patiently.

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The Lord is good to those who look for him

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to all who seek him.

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It is good to wait in patience

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and sigh for deliverance by the Lord.

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But as for me, I will look to the Lord,

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I will wait for the God of my salvation

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my God will hear me.

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The gospel lesson comes from the 15th chapter

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of Luke verses one through four,

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will the congregation please rise?

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Now the tax collectors and sinners

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were all drawing near to him

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and the Pharisees and the Scribes murmured saying,

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" this man receives sinners and eats with them."

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So he told them this parable,

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"what man of you having a hundred sheep,

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if he has lost one of them,

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does not leave the 99 in the wilderness

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and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it."

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May God grant us grace to hear his holy word

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and to grow in wisdom and understanding.

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(instrumental music)

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(congregation singing hymn song)

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Together let us affirm our faith.

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We believe in God 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,

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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 in death

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in life beyond death, God is with us.

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We are not alone, thanks be to God.

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The Lord be with you.

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(congregation murmurs)

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Let us pray.

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(clears throat)

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Oh God on such a day as this,

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when warmth and beauty and brightness

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and promise and hope of the new life

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of Springs surround us.

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We rejoice in the life that we are privileged

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to have and to enjoy.

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Surely we lift up our eyes to you

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from whence cometh our help.

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We thank you oh God,

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for all of the small and beautiful things of life

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that sometimes go unnoticed, but make our lives.

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We thank you for each dear experience,

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which brings us closer to you

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and nearer to one another.

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In your word oh God, Paul writes

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now abides faith, hope and love these three,

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but the greatest of these is love.

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We know, oh God that it is by your power

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and love that we're able to accept

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and to obey your commandments

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and even to seek to do your will.

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So we ask now, that you would increase our faith,

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maker of each of us and honest and growing believer,

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help us to trust in your grace

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when the clouds are dark.

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To accept and to live with the mysteries of life,

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to believe that all things do ultimately work together

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for good for those who love you.

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So we would ask now that you would increase our hope,

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give us the hope which sees things at their worst

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and yet refuses to despair.

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Hope which is able to fail and yet try again.

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Hope which knows disappointment

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and yet does not give in.

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And so we would ask now that

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you would increase our love,

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help us to love our neighbors as you love them.

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Our neighbors, oh God, who lived beside us

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and walk beside us day by day.

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Our neighbors across the hall or upstairs

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or downstairs or across the quad,

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who are hurting and lonely.

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Who need a word that life is hope and meaning.

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A word, an expression of love from us,

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help us to love you as you have first loved us.

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And above all, oh God, help us to love

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and to follow our Lord Jesus Christ.

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We ask that your spirit would cleanse

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the life of your church.

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Take away the bitterness and the divisions,

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the coldness and yes, the laziness

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that we may in this day and in this time show courage,

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share love, give hope and care

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as our Lord Jesus Christ came caring.

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So in these moments now oh God,

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when we have come apart to worship,

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to sing, to pray,

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to hear your word, read and proclaimed.

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We asked that you would receive us

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and renew us and empower us one by one surely,

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but also empower us in a united and uniting way.

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We give you thanks for Jesus Christ.

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Whom we remember in special ways

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in this holy season of Lent.

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Hear these words and hear oh God, the prayer,

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which we pray not a new but a fresh,

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which our Lord has taught us saying,

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our father, who art in heaven,

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hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,

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thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread, as we forgive

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(congregation murmurs)

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as we forgive those

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(congregation murmurs)

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(someone coughs)

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lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

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for thine is the kingdom the power

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and the glory for ever. Amen.

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(someone coughs)

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This Friday, the members of the University chorale

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will leave to begin their Spring tour.

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Our hope as they travel Northward,

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they can find weather as nice as it is here today.

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Leaving here on Monday, a week from tomorrow will be 120

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or so members of the chapel choir

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to join the chorale with making a total of some 200 voices

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where on Tuesday, they will rehearse in Carnegie hall.

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And on Wednesday, along with the North Carolina Symphony

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will present a concert in Carnegie hall.

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So I'm sure that since this is the last time

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that the choir will lead us in worship

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before they leave either as chorale member

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or as choir members,

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I'm sure you would like to wish them all the best

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and pray God's blessings upon them.

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So I'm going to ask Ben,

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the choir members to stand now, if you will?

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Some of them will not be going

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but most all of them will.

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Many of the members of the chorale

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are also members of the choir.

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This is indeed not only

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a real thrill and blessed opportunity,

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one which brings much recognition to the university

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and to each of them and to all of them together.

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But it is one of the rare opportunity

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when they have the privilege of singing praise to God.

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So will you join with me now in a moment of prayer,

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as I offer a word or two for them to God, let us pray.

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Oh God, in whose love we all move and act,

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by whose love we are all given different gifts,

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but by whose love also we're privileged

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to use our gifts in special ways.

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We pray oh God, a very special blessing on the members

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of the Duke University Chorale,

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each one, on Ben Smith, who will direct them.

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We pray oh God, a special blessing

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upon each member of the Duke Chapel choir

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may each one who has this special privilege

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and opportunity be filled with joy and goodness

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and happiness that their hearts

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might truly sing in praise to you as together

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with the members of the symphony.

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The music is lifted in your honor and for your glory,

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give them safety in their travels,

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give them happy times together

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and bring us all together again

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that we might worship here,

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in the name and in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Blessings on you all.

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(someone coughs)

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Tonight at seven o'clock Mr. Robert Parkins

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the Chapel Organist, will present his first concert

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on the New Benjamin N. Duke Memorial Organ.

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You're invited to come and to share in that concert,

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as I'm sure many of you have already

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been blessed by others who have prayed.

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We invite you tonight for this special concert

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at seven o'clock.

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Mr. Vance Torbert the third is our preacher for today.

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He is a third year law student.

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And as you notice in the bulletin

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he is a partner in the Trash Club,

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which prides itself on not taking

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itself too seriously in the law school.

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Perhaps we all might do well

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to ask to become honorary members

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of such a club at times, Vance.

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It is our privilege to have him preach for us today.

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(someone coughs)

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He did his undergraduate work at Princeton University

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and received a Master's degree

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from the University of West Florida.

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And in May will receive his Doctorate

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of Jurisprudence degree from Duke.

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And then will begin practice

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with a law firm in New York City.

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We trust that your experiences is here Vance,

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have been rewarding intellectually as well as spiritually.

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And now we listen to you as

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you bring God's word to us, welcome today.

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May the words of my mouth and the meditations

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of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight.

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Oh Lord our strength and our Redeemer of man.

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In act two of Robert Bolt's masterful portrayal

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of Sir Thomas More, A Man For All Seasons,

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More has just learned that parliament

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will pass an act requiring betrayal

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of his allegiance to the church.

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More, sensing the seriousness of his situation calms

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his worried daughter and son-in-law.

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Now listen Will and Meg you listened too

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God made the angels to show him splendor

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as he made animals for innocence

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and plants for their simplicity.

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But man he made to serve him wittily,

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in the tangle of his mind.

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If he suffers us to fall to such a case

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as there is no escaping,

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then we may stand to our tackle as best we can.

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And yes, Will, then we may clamor light champions

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if we have the spittle for it.

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And no doubt it delights God to see splendor

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where he only looked for complexity.

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But it's God's part not our own

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to bring ourselves to that extremity.

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Our natural business lies in escaping.

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The common man with capital letters

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who narrates the stage version,

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comments somewhat less eloquently.

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"You know the old adage?

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Better live rat than a dead lion."

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I'll make my basic point at the beginning

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so that when someone else asks you

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what the sermon was about,

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you at least stand a chance of remembering.

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The point is this, it's easy to get used

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to some romantic notion that we're born

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into some kind of slavery of the soul

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and that our life should be

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or is a struggle for or a search for freedom.

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Well, I think we're going about it wrongly.

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We're born into freedom and by freedom,

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I mean we're born without the conscious knowledge

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of God's salvation.

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And if we succeed in life,

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if we succeed in finding God's plan for our lives,

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if we succeed in life we start by surrendering.

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But, our natural business lies in escaping.

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David and Lisa, a marvelous film

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that was current about 15 years ago,

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concerned two teenagers

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undergoing psychiatric help at a special school.

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Lisa, suffering from a dictionary full

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of psychotic disorders resulting

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from lack of parental love, is missing.

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After a few frantic hours of searching

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the telephone wait begins.

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David, her only friend and himself a patient,

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recalls her fascination with a statue of a mother and child

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and reasons you don't run away from something

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simply because you don't like it.

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You don't run away from something, you run to something.

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You don't escape from something, you escape to something.

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They find Lisa curled up in the arms of the statue.

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Lisa, unable to face her reality,

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left for a place she thought secure.

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It's not hard to draw parallels to ourselves.

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Acrophobia, the fear of high places.

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We've seen pictures of structural steelworkers

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walking on the frames of office buildings

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a dozen stories high, walking on beams

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no more than eight inches across.

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How many of us have imagined ourselves up

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there and thought, boy, if that was me,

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if you could ever get me up there in the first place,

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I'd probably just jump to get it over with,

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because I know I'd fall.

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If we actually were there,

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I'll bet that most of us would have

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the same death-grip on that beam

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that most preachers get on this railing.

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(congregation laughs)

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Fine, now suppose the I-beam is down on the ground.

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How many of us would show the slightest hesitancy

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about walking on the beam now?

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The first point is easy and clear,

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a dozen stories up where the risk-reward ratio

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goes right off the chart.

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We're very, very careful because mistakes are expensive.

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On the ground we'll gladly try handstands

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without the slightest care

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if we stay on or fall off the beam.

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The second point is perhaps not so clear.

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It seems to me that if we think of falling off the beam

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as taking Kierkegaard's leap of faith,

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transcending that boundary where knowledge

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must end and faith begin.

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Then notice please that when you're in the most danger

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is when you're closest to salvation.

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When your chances for spiritual awakening are least,

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that is when the beam is on the ground.

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You are free, not to use the word free.

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You are free to make light of faith

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because mistakes cost nothing.

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You can get back on the I-beam very easily.

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The problem lies in that few,

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if any of us would choose 12 story high handstands

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over zero story high handstands.

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The former is much too risky,

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too risky physically in the illustration,

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too risky spiritually in the analogy.

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Our natural business lies in escaping.

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Marlowe's doctor Faustus, the 11th hour has come.

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At midnight Faustus will end the 24 years of pleasure

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he bought from Lucifer at the price of his immortal soul.

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Faustus paces his room and cries,

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Ah Faustus now hast thou but one bare hour to live

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and then thou must be damned perpetually.

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Stand still you ever-moving spheres of heaven,

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the time may cease and midnight never come.

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Fair natures eye rise and rise again

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and make perpetual day or with this hour

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be but a year, a month, a week, a natural day

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that Faustus may repent and save his soul,

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runs slowly, slowly oh horses of the night.

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The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,

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the devil must come and Faustus must be damned.

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Oh, I'll leap up to my God who pulls me down.

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Our natural business lies in escaping.

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I have five delightful Jerusalem cherry plants

48:17

that I've raised from seed.

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When I was reading the passage

48:21

from A Man For All Seasons, I recalled that

48:23

in one very important respect,

48:25

plants do praise God by their simplicity.

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My plants grow toward the light.

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Some more, some less, some can stand a lot,

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some are very little, but most all in one degree or another.

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Mankind as a rule, grows away from the light.

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Mankind seems as a rule, to seek darkness of spirit.

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Some few as Faustus, seek the darkness directly in Satanism.

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Most of the rest of us seek the darkness simply

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because we fail to seek the light.

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For most of us,

48:58

our natural business lies in escaping.

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The truth is that few of us escaped so dramatically.

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Few of us walk on I-beams a dozen stories high,

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few of us are ever taken to a high mountain

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by the devil, shown the world's riches

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and have it offered to us for the price of our souls.

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Few of us are ever in a position where

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we're faced with the knowledge-faith leap directly.

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For me, our common enemy and one that is very real,

49:25

our common enemy here is complacency.

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(someone coughs)

49:31

Consider the plight of the complacent man.

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If necessity is the mother of invention,

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complacency is the step-child of security.

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However, complacency, security,

49:42

whatever you call it has dire consequences.

49:44

Herb Gardner in his magnificent play A Thousand Clowns,

49:48

shows us invention in the form of

49:51

our seldom-employed genius hero Murray Burns

49:53

and complacency in the form of his brother, Arnold,

49:57

a man in a brown flannel suit.

50:00

Murray is frightened, Arnold, five months ago

50:03

I forgot what day it was.

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I'm on the subway on my way to work

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and I didn't know what day it was

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and it scared the hell out of me.

50:14

I was sitting in the express, looking out the window

50:17

same as every morning,

50:19

watching the local stops go by in the dark

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with an empty head and my arms folded,

50:22

not feeling great, not feeling rotten,

50:25

just not feeling.

50:27

And for a minute I couldn't remember,

50:30

I didn't know, unless I really concentrated

50:32

whether it was a Tuesday or a Thursday or a,

50:35

for a minute, it could have been any day, Arnie,

50:38

sitting in the train going through any day

50:42

in the dark through any year, Arnie,

50:45

it scares the hell out of me.

50:47

You've got to know what day it is.

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You've got to know what's the name of the game

50:51

and what the rules are with nobody else telling you.

50:53

You have to own your own days and name them

50:56

each one of them, every one of them

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or else the years go right by

51:00

and none of them belong to you.

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(someone coughs)

51:05

And that just ain't for weekends, kiddo.

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Murray is told off by the brown flannel Arnold,

51:10

unfortunately for you Murray, you wanna be a hero.

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Maybe if a fella falls into a lake,

51:18

you can jump in and save him

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but who gets opportunities like that

51:22

in Midtown Manhattan, with all that traffic?

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I am willing to deal with the available world

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and I do not choose to shake it up

51:29

but to live with it.

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I have a wife and children and business

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like they say is business.

51:34

I am not an exceptional man, so it is possible

51:37

for me to stay with things the way they are.

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I'm lucky, I'm gifted, I have a talent for surrender.

51:43

I'm at peace, but you are cursed.

51:47

You don't have the gift

51:51

and I can see the torture of it.

51:52

All I can do is worry for you

51:54

but I will not worry for myself.

51:57

You cannot convince me that I am one of the bad guys.

51:59

I get up, I go, I lie a little,

52:03

I peddle a little, I talk the talk

52:06

I watched the rules.

52:09

I will not apologize for it, I take pride,

52:11

I am the best possible Arnold Burns.

52:15

The sad truth is this, for every Murray Burns,

52:19

there are a thousand Arnolds.

52:23

Our natural business lies in escaping.

52:26

(someone coughs)

52:31

Thornton Wilder's Our Town is a simple

52:33

but powerful story of life

52:35

and death in a small New England town.

52:36

Emily, having died in child-birth is granted

52:39

another look at a day in her life

52:42

and she chooses her 12th birthday.

52:44

Soon discovering that events move too fast for her,

52:47

she can't bear to remain past breakfast.

52:50

As she returns to her grave on the hill

52:53

she asks the stage manager,

52:54

"Do human beings ever realized life while they live it?

52:57

Every, every minute?"

53:01

The stage manager replies,

53:04

" No, the saints and poets maybe, they do some."

53:06

A bitter commentary comes from

53:12

the deceased church organist, Simon Stimson.

53:13

Now you know, that's what it was like to be alive,

53:17

to move about in a cloud of ignorance

53:20

to go up and down trampling,

53:22

trampling on the feelings of those about you,

53:25

to spend and waste time as

53:27

though you had a million years.

53:29

To be always at the mercy of

53:31

one self-centered passion or another

53:33

that's the happy existence you wanted to go back to.

53:36

Ignorance and blindness.

53:40

Our town, says the author in our preface

53:43

to a collection of his place is not offered

53:46

as a speculation about the conditions of life after death.

53:48

It is an attempt he says,

53:52

to find a value above all price

53:53

for the smallest events of our daily life.

53:56

Mr. Wilder sought to emphasize the commonplace

53:59

because we so often with the ordinary events

54:02

in our life merge into a stream of unconsciousness,

54:05

so that we need not face

54:10

consciousness and it's implications.

54:11

Our natural business lies in escaping.

54:15

It is not generally known that once in hell

54:21

you can take a day trip to heaven by bus.

54:24

In C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce,

54:28

the master of fantasy does so

54:30

and tells us what he's found.

54:31

Hell he describes as an ever-expanding grey,

54:34

rainy, featureless city, full of quarrelsome people.

54:37

On his excursion to heaven,

54:41

he learns that it is possible to remain there permanently,

54:43

but only if you're willing to leave all

54:47

your sins behind even those most precious.

54:49

A spirit talks to the narrator concerning heaven and hell.

54:53

Son, ye cannot in your present state understand eternity,

54:58

but ye can get some likeness of it.

55:03

If ye say the both good and evil

55:05

when they are fully blown become retrospective.

55:07

Not only this valley but all this earthly past

55:11

will have been heaven to those who are saved.

55:14

(someone coughs)

55:17

Not only the twilight in that town,

55:18

but all their life on earth too will be seen

55:21

by the damned to have been hell.

55:24

In the actual language of the lost

55:26

the words will be different no doubt.

55:28

One will say that he has always served

55:31

his country right or wrong.

55:32

Another that he sacrificed everything to his art.

55:34

Some that they've never been taken in

55:38

and some that, thank God they've always looked

55:39

after number one and nearly all that

55:41

at least they've been true to themselves.

55:45

The saved? What happens to them

55:49

is best described as the opposite of a mirage.

55:51

What seemed when they entered it

55:55

to be the veil of misery turns out

55:57

when they look back to have been a well.

55:59

And were present experience saw only salt deserts,

56:02

memory truthfully records that

56:06

the pools were full of water.

56:08

Hell is a state of mind.

56:12

And every state of mind left to itself,

56:15

every shutting up of the creature

56:17

within the dungeon of its own mind

56:19

is in the end hell.

56:23

But heaven is not a state of mind.

56:27

Heaven is reality itself.

56:30

All that is fully real is heavenly.

56:32

For all that can be shaken will be shaken

56:36

and only the unshakeable remains.

56:38

I want to be alone.

56:44

Hey, don't bother me now, can't you see I'm busy?

56:45

Our natural business lies in escaping.

56:52

Complacency is the set of Adidas track shoes.

56:57

Well, it's tough to come up

57:01

with good similes for everything.

57:02

Complacency along with routine, habit and tedium.

57:05

Complacency helps us escape the walk on the I-beam,

57:09

escape the high mountain, escaped the leap of faith.

57:13

Complacency not wanting to have to fight or surrender,

57:16

not wanting to go either forward or back

57:18

just sitting there in the pew

57:20

with your arms folded keeping self in and God out.

57:21

This is not something new or original in our time.

57:26

The new English Bible's translation

57:30

of the Lord's prayer we intoned a few minutes ago,

57:32

the Lord's prayer in that translation

57:34

where we generally say,

57:36

" and lead us not into temptation",

57:38

the New English Bible reads,

57:40

" and do not bring us to the test."

57:42

Our natural business lies in escaping.

57:48

All right, escape, run, hide,

57:53

what good will it do you?

57:55

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai

58:03

go to the great city of Nineveh,

58:07

go now and denounce it

58:09

for its wickedness stares me in the face.

58:10

But Jonah set out for Tarshish

58:13

to escape from the Lord,

58:16

that his escape across the sea out of Israel.

58:19

Escape across what was considered

58:22

to be the kingdom of death

58:24

and escape to the farthest known reach of the world.

58:25

When the storm rose Jonah was thrown overboard

58:29

as a sacrifice but the Lord ordained

58:32

that a great fish should swallow Jonah.

58:35

And for three days and three nights

58:37

he remained in its belly.

58:39

The sojourn by way of digestion

58:41

had the desired effect on Jonah.

58:45

Sometime after the fish spewed Jonah out onto the dry land,

58:48

the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time,

58:52

go to the great city of Nineveh,

58:56

go now and denounce it in the words I give you.

58:57

Jonah obeyed at once and went to Nineveh.

59:01

Our natural business lies in escaping

59:06

but our unnatural business lies in surrendering.

59:09

Our unnatural business lies in surrendering.

59:15

I recall my first experience with Brussels sprouts.

59:21

(congregation laughs)

59:25

The first time I saw one,

59:26

my parents wanted to know if I would peel it

59:27

or eat it or sneak it down under the table

59:31

to our Springer Spaniel.

59:34

Without knowing why I decided that

59:36

those things were not meant for men to eat.

59:38

(congregation laughs)

59:41

I was no fan of cabbage and those things looked

59:42

and smelled like little cabbages.

59:44

However, when I realized that

59:46

I would rot right there in my chair

59:49

(someone coughs)

59:51

unless I ate at least one,

59:52

I got this feeling that I may as well do it

59:54

so down the hatch and I liked it.

59:57

I became the only kid on my block to like Brussels sprouts.

1:00:01

(congregation laughs)

1:00:04

When I knew, the Brussels sprouts were going to get me,

1:00:07

when I knew that there was no escaping,

1:00:11

then and only then would I try one?

1:00:14

Also, I could not escape the fair

1:00:18

but heavy hand of my father.

1:00:20

He was there. I could see him.

1:00:22

He ate his Brussels sprouts with a smile.

1:00:25

(congregation laughs)

1:00:28

Can we escape from the Lord?

1:00:31

I could not escape the love and concern

1:00:34

of my parents for my diet.

1:00:38

But can we escape the love and concern

1:00:40

of the Lord for our souls?

1:00:43

Here the Psalmist,

1:00:46

oh, Lord thou hast searched me and known me.

1:00:48

Thou knowest my down sitting and my uprising,

1:00:51

thou understandest my thought from afar.

1:00:54

Thou searchest out my path and my lying down

1:00:57

and art acquainted with all my ways.

1:01:00

Wither shall I go from thy spirit

1:01:03

or wither shall I flee from my presence?

1:01:05

If I ascend up into heaven,

1:01:07

behold, thou art there.

1:01:09

If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there,

1:01:11

if I take the wings of the morning

1:01:17

and flee to the uttermost parts of the sea,

1:01:19

even there shall thy hand hold me,

1:01:21

thy right hand shall lead me.

1:01:24

It is only when we come to realize

1:01:27

when we confess to ourselves that there is no escaping

1:01:30

from the love of God made manifest in Christ.

1:01:33

It is only then that we can cry aloud

1:01:36

with the Psalmist search me O God

1:01:39

and know my thoughts.

1:01:41

Try me and know my heart

1:01:43

and see if there be any wicked way in me

1:01:46

and lead me in the way everlasting.

1:01:49

Our unnatural business lies in surrendering.

1:01:53

Remember what we said about escaping?

1:01:59

We don't escape from something but to something.

1:02:01

That's why the saints and the poets throw up

1:02:04

their hands and agony we have it all backwards.

1:02:06

We're really running from something to nothing.

1:02:10

God has a personal interest in you.

1:02:15

God has a plan for your life

1:02:18

but you can't hear it at all,

1:02:20

unless as the song goes you turn your radio on.

1:02:23

You can't hear it distinctly if you're too busy,

1:02:26

if you don't want to get involved.

1:02:29

If you've got a death-grip on that I-beam.

1:02:30

We can know God's plan for our lives,

1:02:34

we can know that inner peace that comes

1:02:36

when God works in us.

1:02:38

We can know the joy that comes

1:02:41

when Jesus finds us in the wilderness.

1:02:43

And we start all this.

1:02:45

Not as the proverb goes by taking a single step

1:02:47

but by not taking that step, by surrendering.

1:02:51

We take the leap of faith not

1:02:55

by a rash act of the body

1:02:57

but by surrender of the soul.

1:02:59

By surrender of the soul.

1:03:02

By admitting to yourself that there is no escaping.

1:03:03

By raising your hand in the wilderness,

1:03:07

in the tangle of your mind and saying,

1:03:09

"here I am Lord." The prophet says,

1:03:12

but as for me, I will look to the Lord

1:03:19

I will wait for the God of my salvation

1:03:22

my God will hear me.

1:03:26

Jesus said, what man of you having a hundred sheep,

1:03:29

if he has lost one of them

1:03:32

does not leave the 99 in the wilderness

1:03:34

and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

1:03:36

We simply stop running.

1:03:43

We stop our stream of unconsciousness

1:03:44

for a moment and surrender.

1:03:47

Rest assured, rest assured indeed

1:03:52

that Jesus is coming after you.

1:03:56

(someone coughs)

1:03:59

Rest assured that you can not outrun the love of God.

1:04:00

Rest, rest assured, for this is not a message of hope,

1:04:04

this is a message of certainty.

1:04:12

For I am convinced that there is nothing in death

1:04:17

or life in the realm of spirits

1:04:22

or superhuman powers in the world as it is,

1:04:25

or the world as it shall be.

1:04:28

In the forces of the universe in heights

1:04:31

or depths nothing in all creation

1:04:33

that can separate us from the love of God

1:04:37

in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

1:04:42

(instrumental music)

1:04:53

(congregation singing hymn song)

1:05:52

(someone coughs)

1:09:25

(instrumental music)

1:09:28

(congregation singing hymn song)

1:09:58

(instrumental music)

1:16:49

(congregation singing hymn song)

1:17:16

-

Secure in the certainty of your endless

1:18:10

and unfailing love.

1:18:16

Oh God, we do rest assure accept

1:18:20

these gifts which we offer,

1:18:30

but more especially oh God,

1:18:34

accept that part of our lives,

1:18:38

(someone coughs)

1:18:42

which we now give to your keeping and your directing.

1:18:42

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

1:18:51

(instrumental music)

1:18:59

(someone coughs)

1:19:28

(instrumental music)

1:19:29

(congregation singing hymn song)

1:19:53

Now with heads not bowed and eyes not closed.

1:23:48

Will you receive this blessing?

1:23:53

Which I offer you in the name of Christ,

1:23:55

the love of God, the grace of our Lord

1:23:59

and savior Jesus Christ,

1:24:03

the communion and fellowship of the holy spirit

1:24:06

be with you and with those whom you love, now and forever.

1:24:10

(congregation singing hymn song)

1:24:20

(instrumental music)

1:25:02

Vance W. Torbert III - "Natural Business" (February 27, 1977)

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1. Vanve W. Torbert - "Natural Business" (February 27, 1977)

Duke University Archives

Vance W. Torbert III - "Natural Business" (February 27, 1977)

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Duke University Archives