Joseph B. Bethea - Sermon Untitled (July 3, 1977)
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| - | Duke University Chapel service of worship, July 3rd, 1977. | 0:04 |
| (uplifting instrumental music) | 0:22 | |
| - | Let us at this time bring our units | 11:36 |
| and confession before almighty God. | 11:37 | |
| Oh, holy and merciful God, | 11:40 | |
| we confess that we have not always taken upon ourselves | 11:43 | |
| with joy, the yoke of obedience, | 11:48 | |
| nor been willing to seek and to do your perfect will. | 11:51 | |
| We have not loved you with all our heart and mind, | 11:57 | |
| and soul and strength. | 12:01 | |
| Neither have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 12:04 | |
| You have called to us to respond | 12:09 | |
| to the need of our brothers and sisters. | 12:11 | |
| And we have passed on heating on our way. | 12:15 | |
| In the pride of our hearts and our unwillingness to repent, | 12:19 | |
| we have turned away from the cross of Christ | 12:24 | |
| and have grieved your holy spirit. | 12:28 | |
| Forgive us we pray. | 12:32 | |
| Amen. | 12:35 | |
| The saying is worthy of full acceptance | 13:09 | |
| that Jesus Christ came and died in order to save sinners. | 13:12 | |
| Amen. | 13:19 | |
| (instruments drowning out singers voice) | 13:23 | |
| - | The first of our scripture lessons for the morning | 17:50 |
| is found at St. Paul's epistles to the Galatians, | 17:52 | |
| chapter three at the 23rd verse. | 17:56 | |
| Saint Paul is speaking to the Galatians | 18:01 | |
| about the very important matter | 18:03 | |
| of the relationship of the law to faith. | 18:05 | |
| "Now before faith came we were confined under the law, | 18:12 | |
| "kept under restraint until faith should be revealed | 18:16 | |
| "so that the law was our custodian until Christ came | 18:19 | |
| "that we might be justified by faith. | 18:23 | |
| "But now that faith has come, | 18:26 | |
| "we are no longer under a custodian | 18:29 | |
| "for in Christ Jesus, | 18:31 | |
| "you are all children of God through faith. | 18:33 | |
| "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ | 18:38 | |
| "have put on Christ, | 18:41 | |
| "and there is neither Jew nor Greek. | 18:44 | |
| "There is neither slave nor free. | 18:47 | |
| "There is neither male nor female | 18:50 | |
| "for you are all one in Christ Jesus. | 18:53 | |
| "And if you are Christ's, | 18:57 | |
| "then you are Abraham's children and heirs | 18:59 | |
| "according to the promise." | 19:03 | |
| Will the congregation please rise | 19:06 | |
| to hear the reading of the gospel. | 19:07 | |
| This morning's gospel lesson | 19:13 | |
| is found in Luke's gospel in the ninth chapter. | 19:14 | |
| "Jesus has just finished feeding the 5,000 | 19:18 | |
| "and has retired for prayer. | 19:21 | |
| "Now it happened that as he was praying alone | 19:27 | |
| "the disciples were with him and he asked them, | 19:30 | |
| "who did the people say that I am? | 19:33 | |
| "And they answered John the Baptist, | 19:36 | |
| "but others say Elijah, | 19:39 | |
| "and others that one of the old prophets has risen. | 19:41 | |
| "And he said to them, who do you say that I am? | 19:45 | |
| "And Peter answered, the Christ of God. | 19:49 | |
| "But he charged and commanded them to tell no one | 19:53 | |
| "saying the son of man must suffer many things, | 19:57 | |
| "and be rejected by the elders and chief priests | 20:00 | |
| "and scribes and be killed, | 20:04 | |
| "and on the third day be raised. | 20:07 | |
| "And he said to them all, if anyone would come after me, | 20:10 | |
| "let them deny their themselves | 20:15 | |
| "and take up their cross daily | 20:19 | |
| "and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it | 20:21 | |
| "and whoever will lose his life for my sake | 20:27 | |
| "will surely gain it." | 20:31 | |
| May the Lord blessed to our hearing | 20:33 | |
| and our understanding these words from the scripture. | 20:35 | |
| ♪ Come ye thee to the Father ♪ | 20:48 | |
| ♪ And to the son ♪ | 20:52 | |
| - | Let us affirm what we believe. | 21:21 |
| We believe in God who has created and is created, | 21:24 | |
| who has come in the truly human Jesus | 21:29 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 21:32 | |
| Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 21:35 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 21:39 | |
| to deliberate life and its fullness, | 21:44 | |
| to love and serve others, | 21:47 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 21:50 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 21:53 | |
| our judge and our hope in life, in death, | 21:58 | |
| in life beyond death, God is with us, | 22:03 | |
| we are not alone. | 22:07 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 22:09 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 22:12 | |
| Let us pray. | 22:15 | |
| Eternal spirit will and power of creation, | 22:25 | |
| redemption, and our sustenance. | 22:30 | |
| You who can part the waters of raging sea, | 22:33 | |
| or the pedals of a budding rose. | 22:38 | |
| You whom Jesus knew to be stern | 22:42 | |
| yet so loving and so close at hand | 22:46 | |
| that he called you Father | 22:49 | |
| be near to us as we pray | 22:51 | |
| each with our own joys and sorrows. | 22:54 | |
| We come this morning in praise and adoration. | 23:00 | |
| Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God almighty, | 23:04 | |
| we are grateful for so many things, | 23:09 | |
| for food, clothing, and shelter, | 23:12 | |
| and for the gift of life and breath itself, | 23:16 | |
| we bring you praise and great thanks. | 23:20 | |
| We have brought our confession father | 23:25 | |
| and stand condemned just like the prodigal children, | 23:28 | |
| and you are so quick to forgive. | 23:31 | |
| You see us coming far off and run to meet us. | 23:34 | |
| May your name be praised everywhere. | 23:39 | |
| In the joy of your forgiveness, | 23:44 | |
| we bring our intersessions and petitions before your throne. | 23:47 | |
| We pray for those at home and abroad | 23:52 | |
| engaged in the struggle to be recognized as human, | 23:55 | |
| may their motives be pure, | 24:00 | |
| may their victory be swift, | 24:03 | |
| and where possible may it be bloodless. | 24:05 | |
| It grieves us deeply to hear | 24:09 | |
| reports of torture and injustice. | 24:10 | |
| For those who set themselves up as enemies | 24:15 | |
| of your peace and communion wherein all are the same, | 24:18 | |
| we pray your spirit to come. | 24:23 | |
| Lord heal your people. | 24:27 | |
| As we celebrate another national birthday, | 24:31 | |
| we pray for the leaders of our country. | 24:34 | |
| May their rule be just, may it be fair. | 24:37 | |
| We pray for those enemies of society among us, | 24:44 | |
| in jails and prisons, | 24:48 | |
| and those among us still at large, | 24:51 | |
| there are some alarmingly too many recently | 24:55 | |
| who have no respect even for our children, | 25:00 | |
| Father we pray for them now, | 25:04 | |
| and we bear their sin up to you for healing. | 25:07 | |
| Father bind our wounds. | 25:12 | |
| For those jailed unjustly at home and abroad, | 25:17 | |
| jailed for their faith in your kingdom and in your justice, | 25:22 | |
| we pray for their speedy release to us. | 25:27 | |
| And we pray for your church everywhere, | 25:32 | |
| its mission and its ministers, | 25:35 | |
| both lay and clergy for we are all ministers | 25:38 | |
| of good news in Jesus Christ. | 25:43 | |
| And bless us as we seek to serve you | 25:46 | |
| in spirit and in the deeds of truth. | 25:49 | |
| As we pray now the great prayer of discipleship, | 25:55 | |
| which even Jesus taught us to pray. | 25:58 | |
| Our father who art in heaven, | 26:01 | |
| hallowed be thy name, | 26:04 | |
| thy kingdom come, | 26:07 | |
| thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 26:09 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread | 26:14 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 26:17 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 26:20 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, | 26:24 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 26:27 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, | 26:29 | |
| the power and the glory forever. | 26:32 | |
| Amen. | 26:36 | |
| On behalf of the chapel and the chapel staff, | 26:42 | |
| I'd like to welcome you all here | 26:45 | |
| if you're visiting with us this morning. | 26:46 | |
| I would like to lift up one announcement in particular. | 26:49 | |
| And that is that this is the first Sunday of the month | 26:52 | |
| and communion will be observed here | 26:55 | |
| following the service. | 26:58 | |
| You are all welcome to stay and partake of that. | 27:00 | |
| It seems a little bit strange to welcome Dr. Buffet | 27:07 | |
| here as a visiting preacher. | 27:10 | |
| For the last five years he has been a very important part | 27:13 | |
| of the Divinity School Community, | 27:17 | |
| which I'm privileged also to be a part of. | 27:19 | |
| And just recently this past spring, | 27:24 | |
| he was taken away from us, snatched you might say | 27:26 | |
| by the church and our loss | 27:29 | |
| is a distinct gain to the church. | 27:31 | |
| It is a great personal pleasure to welcome to the pulpit, | 27:35 | |
| Dr. Joseph Buffet. | 27:39 | |
| - | Thank you Jim for those very kind words. | 27:49 |
| There was a great celebration throughout England, | 27:56 | |
| the captains and the Kings had come from all over | 28:02 | |
| the empire far-flung battle line to honor a queen. | 28:07 | |
| We probably caught a glimpse | 28:14 | |
| of what it must have been like | 28:17 | |
| and the celebration of a few weeks ago | 28:20 | |
| in the same nations capital city. | 28:23 | |
| But the occasion of which I speak now | 28:28 | |
| was the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign. | 28:31 | |
| A reign in years longer than that | 28:38 | |
| of any other English sovereign. | 28:43 | |
| The processions and the displays were planned | 28:49 | |
| and implemented with great care | 28:53 | |
| and with all the splendor and power | 28:58 | |
| that could be mastered by the great empire. | 29:03 | |
| And they didn't have to concern themselves | 29:09 | |
| with the possible coming of an Idi Amin | 29:13 | |
| to disrupt the festivities. | 29:20 | |
| Quite naturally so greater moment | 29:26 | |
| called for great portrait. | 29:30 | |
| So the London Times asked the of the crown poet laureate, | 29:34 | |
| Rudyard Kipling to write a poem | 29:40 | |
| suitable for Sir August on occasion. | 29:43 | |
| Kipling himself said of it. | 29:49 | |
| That poem gave me more trouble | 29:52 | |
| than anything I ever wrote. | 29:55 | |
| When it came due I had nothing that satisfied me. | 30:00 | |
| The Times began to want the poem badly | 30:06 | |
| and sent letter after letter asking for it. | 30:10 | |
| I made many more attempts, but no further progress. | 30:15 | |
| Sitting down with all my previous attempts before me, | 30:23 | |
| I searched through those dozens of sketches | 30:28 | |
| till at last I found just one line that I liked, | 30:34 | |
| that line was, Lord God of hosts, | 30:41 | |
| be with us yet, | 30:49 | |
| lest we forget, lest we forget. | 30:52 | |
| It was around these words | 31:00 | |
| that "The Recessional" was written. | 31:03 | |
| Lest we forget, lest we forget, | 31:09 | |
| Lord God of hosts be with us yet. | 31:14 | |
| Lest we forget, lest we forget. | 31:20 | |
| Now when you read "The Recessional", | 31:26 | |
| you can begin to understand how it must have given | 31:32 | |
| Mr. Kipling more trouble than anything he had written. | 31:36 | |
| For other than the just one line that he liked, | 31:41 | |
| it really is not great poetry far so great on occasion. | 31:49 | |
| Yet that one line that he liked is a great line. | 31:58 | |
| It's a great line because it speaks to all ages, | 32:06 | |
| and nations, and conditions of people. | 32:10 | |
| It's a great line no less | 32:17 | |
| because it echos and may very well be based | 32:19 | |
| on a word from God which is recorded | 32:25 | |
| in the book of Deuteronomy, | 32:30 | |
| the sixth chapter and the 12th verse. | 32:33 | |
| It reads, "Then take heed | 32:39 | |
| "lest you forget the Lord who brought you | 32:44 | |
| "out of the land of Egypt, | 32:50 | |
| "out of the house of bondage". | 32:54 | |
| On another version of it. | 32:59 | |
| "Be careful not to forget | 33:01 | |
| "the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, | 33:04 | |
| "out of the land of slavery. | 33:08 | |
| "Lord God of hosts be with us yet. | 33:14 | |
| "Lest we forget, lest we forget." | 33:20 | |
| It's a great line because it calls us | 33:27 | |
| to some degree of sobriety, | 33:31 | |
| and our celebrations of the momentous occasions | 33:37 | |
| in our own nation's history. | 33:42 | |
| For how soon we forget. | 33:47 | |
| How soon we forget. | 33:52 | |
| How soon we forget that on July 4th, 1776, | 33:58 | |
| the Congress of the 13 United States of America | 34:07 | |
| unanimously adopted a declaration of independence, | 34:12 | |
| which provided that all men are created equal, | 34:18 | |
| that they are endowed by their creator | 34:24 | |
| with certain unalienable rights, | 34:27 | |
| that among these are lies, liberty, | 34:31 | |
| and the pursuit of happiness. | 34:35 | |
| That to secure these rights, | 34:38 | |
| governments are instituted among men | 34:40 | |
| deriving their just powers | 34:44 | |
| from the consent of the governed, | 34:47 | |
| that whenever any form of government | 34:51 | |
| becomes destructive of these ends, | 34:54 | |
| it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it | 34:59 | |
| and to institute a new government, | 35:06 | |
| laying its foundations on such principles | 35:10 | |
| and organizing its powers in such form | 35:15 | |
| as to them shall seem most likely | 35:20 | |
| to effect their safety and happiness, and so forth. | 35:25 | |
| How soon we forget. | 35:33 | |
| How soon do we forget our own struggles, | 35:38 | |
| and the oppression we have suffered | 35:43 | |
| when given the opportunity to oppress others. | 35:49 | |
| How soon we forget the price of our freedom | 35:56 | |
| when we can easily deny others | 36:04 | |
| for our own selfish, individualistic, good or aims. | 36:10 | |
| An oration delivered in | 36:21 | |
| Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York, on July 5th, 1852. | 36:25 | |
| Even 24 years before this nations | 36:34 | |
| celebrated the Centennial of its independence, | 36:38 | |
| Frederick Douglas tried to remind the nation | 36:44 | |
| that it was inconsistent to celebrate independence | 36:49 | |
| and freedom in a land that denied freedom said he, | 36:54 | |
| "What to the American slave is your 4th of July | 37:02 | |
| "a day that reveals to him more | 37:11 | |
| "than all other days of the year | 37:13 | |
| "the gross injustice and cruelty | 37:16 | |
| "to which he is the constant victim. | 37:19 | |
| "To him your celebration is a sham, | 37:24 | |
| "your boasted liberty, an unholy license, | 37:28 | |
| "your national greatness swelling vanity, | 37:33 | |
| "your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless, | 37:38 | |
| "your the nuts creation of tyrants, | 37:43 | |
| "brass fronted, impudence. | 37:48 | |
| "Your shouts of Liberty and equality, hollow mockery. | 37:51 | |
| "Your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgiving | 37:58 | |
| "with all your religious parade | 38:05 | |
| "and solemnity are to him mere bombast, | 38:07 | |
| "fraud, deception, impiety and hypocrisy. | 38:12 | |
| "A sin veil to cover up crimes | 38:19 | |
| "which would disgrace a nation of savages. | 38:23 | |
| "How soon we forget". | 38:29 | |
| Over, and over, and over again, | 38:34 | |
| in our domestic and international relations | 38:38 | |
| we have indeed forgotten the principles | 38:45 | |
| upon which this nation is founded. | 38:49 | |
| And so in this hour 201st celebration of independence, | 38:54 | |
| amid the parades and fireworks | 39:03 | |
| and rivalry of today and tomorrow, | 39:06 | |
| Lord, God of hosts be with us yet | 39:11 | |
| lest we forget, lest we forget. | 39:17 | |
| This is a nation of great wealth and power. | 39:24 | |
| And even though we are beginning to consider | 39:30 | |
| that our resources just may not be unlimited | 39:32 | |
| we still consider ourselves the people most privileged | 39:39 | |
| upon the face of the earth. | 39:44 | |
| Indeed, we have the talents, | 39:48 | |
| the skills and the ability | 39:50 | |
| to accomplish just about whatever we set ourselves to do. | 39:53 | |
| And the temptation is always with us | 40:00 | |
| to regard our wealth and our power | 40:04 | |
| as evidence of our innate goodness, | 40:09 | |
| and our own moral superiority. | 40:13 | |
| Look what we've done. | 40:19 | |
| Observe how far we've come in 201 years, | 40:22 | |
| and we are going on. | 40:31 | |
| And God if you want to be on the right side, | 40:37 | |
| you'd better become a naturalized citizen | 40:42 | |
| of these United States. | 40:45 | |
| But the word of God is a warning | 40:49 | |
| against any self deifying pride that we may have. | 40:53 | |
| Yes the writer of the book of Deuteronomy | 41:03 | |
| was well aware of the political | 41:07 | |
| and military history of Israel. | 41:09 | |
| But for the writer and for Israel, | 41:17 | |
| that history had a religious dimension as well. | 41:21 | |
| For them Israel had been delivered from Egyptian bondage | 41:28 | |
| not by their own political genius | 41:37 | |
| or their own military power. | 41:42 | |
| Not these alone, Israel had been delivered by God. | 41:47 | |
| It was their God who had led them through the red sea | 41:54 | |
| and had watched over them in the wilderness. | 42:00 | |
| And now they are about to enter | 42:06 | |
| and possess the promised land, | 42:09 | |
| and the rules by which they are to govern their lives | 42:13 | |
| in this covenant relationship in this new land | 42:17 | |
| are impressed upon them. | 42:21 | |
| Above all, says the word, don't forget the Lord, | 42:25 | |
| love him with all your heart and soul, | 42:32 | |
| and mind and strength. | 42:36 | |
| Keep these words on your heart, | 42:39 | |
| teach them to your children and to their children. | 42:43 | |
| Talk about them in your homes and wherever you go, | 42:48 | |
| when you lie down and when you get up. | 42:52 | |
| Write these words on the doorpost of your house | 42:57 | |
| and upon your gates. | 43:01 | |
| And when you get in the promised land, | 43:04 | |
| living in great cities which you did not build, | 43:08 | |
| in houses full of good things | 43:14 | |
| which you did not seal, | 43:16 | |
| cisterns hewn out which you did not hew, | 43:20 | |
| and vineyards and olive trees eating from them, | 43:24 | |
| eating from them which you did not plant. | 43:29 | |
| When you have eaten and are full, | 43:35 | |
| then take heed, be aware, be careful | 43:39 | |
| lest you forget the Lord your God | 43:47 | |
| who brought you out of the land of Egypt, | 43:51 | |
| out of the house of abundance. | 43:55 | |
| The achievement of success | 44:00 | |
| and the accomplishment of some desired goal | 44:04 | |
| often brings spiritual danger, | 44:08 | |
| the temptation to say my power, | 44:14 | |
| and the might of my hand have done this | 44:18 | |
| a universal among people and among nations. | 44:22 | |
| One would think that the more success | 44:30 | |
| and prosperity we have, | 44:33 | |
| the more deeply heartfelt should be our gratitude, | 44:35 | |
| but it just ain't so. | 44:40 | |
| Indeed achievement, success, | 44:45 | |
| prosperity tends to turn us not outward | 44:49 | |
| and upward as it should, | 44:53 | |
| but usually inward and downward toward ourselves. | 44:55 | |
| Thus the mere fact of achievement | 45:03 | |
| and success and prosperity may poison | 45:08 | |
| the whole system with pride | 45:12 | |
| and selfishness and greed. | 45:14 | |
| The root of all sin. | 45:19 | |
| And so as we move from one achievement to another, | 45:22 | |
| as we move from one success to another, | 45:28 | |
| as we move from one celebration to another, | 45:31 | |
| we have to take heed, we have to be aware, | 45:36 | |
| we have to be careful lest we forget | 45:43 | |
| the Lord who brought us. | 45:47 | |
| And so on every 4th of July | 45:51 | |
| and in every day of our lives, | 45:58 | |
| we have to pray Kipling's great line, | 46:03 | |
| Lord, God of hosts, be with us yet | 46:10 | |
| lest we forget, lest we forget. | 46:15 | |
| I've tried to find in the popular hymnody of the church, | 46:21 | |
| something there that might indicate | 46:29 | |
| that this nation indeed realizes | 46:33 | |
| the providence of God and its history. | 46:38 | |
| My country tears of thee doesn't have it. | 46:44 | |
| Oh, beautiful so spacious guys doesn't have it. | 46:49 | |
| But there is one stanza in the hymn, God of our fathers. | 46:55 | |
| And that stanza says thy love divine | 47:02 | |
| has led us in the past, | 47:06 | |
| in this free land by thee oh, Lord is cast. | 47:10 | |
| Be thou our ruler, guardian God, and stay, | 47:19 | |
| thy word our Lord, thy path our chosen way. | 47:25 | |
| How soon we forget the genius, | 47:34 | |
| the very heart of black religion | 47:42 | |
| is it's belief in the hand of God in history. | 47:47 | |
| like Israel, black people read their history | 47:57 | |
| 'cause it's impossible for them to read it | 48:05 | |
| politically or militarily, | 48:09 | |
| so they have to read it religiously. | 48:13 | |
| So in church, after church, | 48:19 | |
| this morning of that tradition, | 48:23 | |
| and then celebration after celebration | 48:29 | |
| they will be singing, we've come this far by faith. | 48:31 | |
| Not by our own power, not by our own strength, | 48:39 | |
| not by the might of our own hand, | 48:44 | |
| we've come this far by faith. | 48:47 | |
| Leaning on the Lord, | 48:51 | |
| trusting in his holy word. | 48:56 | |
| He's never failed us yet. | 49:00 | |
| And when we sing our national hymn, | 49:07 | |
| we will say God of our weary years, | 49:13 | |
| God of our silent tears. | 49:18 | |
| Thou who has brought us thus far on the way, | 49:22 | |
| thou who has that might led us into the light, | 49:26 | |
| keep us forever in the path we pray. | 49:32 | |
| Lest our feet stray from the places | 49:38 | |
| our God where we met thee. | 49:42 | |
| Lest our hearts drunk with the wine | 49:44 | |
| of the world we forget get thee. | 49:46 | |
| Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand | 49:50 | |
| true to our God, true to our native land. | 49:56 | |
| How soon we forget, | 50:03 | |
| Lord God of hosts be with us yet, | 50:09 | |
| today, tomorrow and throughout all the days | 50:17 | |
| and years of our lives | 50:21 | |
| lest we forget, lest we forget. | 50:23 | |
| In the name of the father | 50:30 | |
| and of the son out of the holy spirit, | 50:32 | |
| Amen. | 50:36 | |
| (instruments drowning out singers voice) | 50:39 | |
| (instruments drowning out singers voice) | 56:13 | |
| - | Now may the one true and eternal God | 1:05:28 |
| who brought again from the death our Lord Jesus Christ | 1:05:32 | |
| be gracious unto you and strengthen you in every good work | 1:05:36 | |
| into the coming of his kingdom. | 1:05:41 | |
| And this, we pray in Christ's name, | 1:05:43 | |
| and for his sake, amen. | 1:05:46 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:05:53 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:05:57 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:06:03 | |
| (uplifting instrumental music) | 1:07:53 |