Robert T. Osborn - "Changing Place with Jesus" (August 7, 1977) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

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Duke University Chapel,

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service of worship.

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10th Sunday after Pentecost,

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August the seventh, 1977, 11 o'clock.

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(bright instrumental music)

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(bright instrumental music)

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(bright choral music)

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(bright choral music)

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(bright instrumental music)

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(congregation singing)

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(congregation singing)

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(congregation singing)

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(congregation singing)

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(congregation singing)

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Let us confess our sins.

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Look with mercy upon us oh God,

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for the multitude of our sins,

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for the pride with which we seek

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to build a new world.

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And for the despair,

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with which we behold our world in ruins.

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(indistinct)

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For the deafness of our ears,

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to the cries of the needy,

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and for the exploitation

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to which our power tempts us.

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(indistinct)

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For the discord we create

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between nations and individuals

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by our desire of dominion

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over our brothers and sisters,

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and by our resentment of the hurts

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which people inflict upon us,

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and our unconsciousness of the pains

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we have afflicted upon them.

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(indistinct)

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For the involvement of your church

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in the sins of the world,

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for its cowardice

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and tempering your judgment

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so that no one is attended.

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And for all lack of charity,

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which has brought the prejudice

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of Jew and Gentile,

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and the chasm between bond and free,

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male and female,

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black and white,

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and into the community of grace,

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where all people

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should be one in Christ.

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(indistinct)

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For the despair

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which corrupts our faith

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in the day of calamity,

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and for the complacency

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which shroud your word to us

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in the day of ease.

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(indistinct)

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Oh Lord, hear the prayers

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of our confession,

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and grant that our sorrow

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may be a godly sorrow,

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which leads to repentance,

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and a newness of life.

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Know that God's love and forgiveness

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is ever waiting you.

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Accept it, live in it,

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and rejoice, amen.

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(bright instrumental music)

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(bright choral music)

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(bright choral music)

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(bright choral music)

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(bright choral music)

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Hear the reading

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from the third chapter of Exodus.

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Then the Lord said,

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"I have seen the affliction

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of my people who are in Egypt,

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and I've heard their cry

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because of their task masters.

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I know their sufferings,

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and I have come down to deliver them

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out of the hand of the Egyptians,

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and to bring them out of that land

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to a good and broad land,

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a land flowing with milk and honey.

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To the place of the Canaanites,

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and the Hittites,

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and the Amorites,

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and the Perizzites,

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and the Hivites,

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and the Jebusites.

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And now, behold the cry

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of the people of Israel has come to me,

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and I have seen the oppression

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with which the Egyptians oppress them.

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Come, I will send you to Pharaoh,

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that you may bring forth my people,

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the sons of Israel out of Egypt."

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But Moses said to God,

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"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh,

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and bring the sons

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of Israel out of Egypt?"

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God said,

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"But I will be with you,

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and this shall be the sign for you

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that I have sent you.

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When you have brought forth

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the people out of Egypt,

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you shall serve God upon this mountain."

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The congregation rise

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for the reading of the gospel lesson.

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Hear the reading

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from the last chapter

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of John, his gospel.

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When they had finished breakfast,

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Jesus said to Simon Peter,

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"Simon, son of John,

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do you love me more than these?"

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He said to Him,

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"Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

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He said to him,

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"Feed my lambs."

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A second time He said to him,

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"Simon, son of John,

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do you love me?"

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He said to Him,

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"Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

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He said to him,

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"Tend my sheep."

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He said to him the third time,

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"Simon, son of John,

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do you love me?"

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Peter was grieved

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because He said to him the third time,

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"Do you love me?"

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And he said to Him,

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"Lord, you know everything.

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You know that I love you."

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Jesus said to him,

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"Feed my sheep.

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Truly, truly I say to you,

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when you were young,

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you girded yourself,

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and walked where you would.

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But when you are old,

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you will stretch out your hands,

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and another will gird you,

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and carry you where you do not wish to go."

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This He said to show

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by what depth he was to glorify God.

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And after this He said to him,

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"Follow me."

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Here ends the morning lessons.

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(congregation singing)

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(congregation singing)

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Let us affirm what we believe.

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We believe in God

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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,

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and others by the Spirit.

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We trust God who calls us

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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,

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crucified and risen,

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our judge and our hope.

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In life, in death,

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in life beyond death,

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God is with us.

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We are not alone.

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Thanks be to God.

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The Lord be with you.

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And with your Spirit.

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Let us pray.

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Oh, holy and loving God,

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we rejoice that we can come

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to this community of faith

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to worship you.

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We are in your presence,

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and when we try

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to comprehend your creation,

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your power,

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your majesty,

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we are silent,

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and can only bow in adoration.

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So we bow before you in gratitude

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for you have formed us,

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and reformed us.

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You have redeemed us,

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and even when we feel hopeless and give up,

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even then do you sustain and uphold us.

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And for this we give you thanks.

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Oh God of justice and mercy,

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look with compassion

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on this your world

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full of misery and sorrow.

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Open our eyes that we may see the needs

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of our brothers and sisters.

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Save us from despair

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which immobilizes us.

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Increase our faith.

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Bring us back to our dignity

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as coworkers with you,

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so that together we may build

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a common life in which all of your creation

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may live a fullness of life

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in peace, and love, and justice.

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Hear these our prayers for others,

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for those who are ill,

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that they may be healed

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in body and in spirit.

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For those who have had to accept

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new limitations in their lives,

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that your grace may nourish them,

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and then give them vision

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of an unexpected fullness in this life.

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For those whose families

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are separated or split apart,

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that they may be united,

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or healed, together,

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or in continued separation.

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For those who face an uncertain future,

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that they may find hope

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and courage to move forward.

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Hear us now, oh God,

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as we lift in silence,

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to you those persons

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for whom we have a special concern.

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Send your blessing on these people.

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Use us as individuals and a community

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to serve all your people who are lonely,

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bereaved, homeless, ill,

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hungry, or oppressed.

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We pray in the spirit of Jesus

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who taught us to pray.

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Our Father who art in heaven,

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hallowed be thy name,

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thy kingdom come.

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Thy will be done on earth

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as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread,

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and forgive our trespasses,

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as we forgive those who trespass against us.

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And lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil.

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For thine is the kingdom,

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the power and the glory forever.

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Amen.

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We welcome you

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who worship with us regularly,

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and those of you who are visiting today.

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Please note in your bulletin,

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that we will celebrate Holy Communion

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as we do every first Sunday of the month

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in the Memorial Chapel.

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You're invited to join

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this community in worship,

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as we celebrate communion.

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It is our privilege to have

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Bob Osborne preach for us today.

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He is one of the most stimulating,

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provocative and caring people

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within this university.

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We welcome you to our pulpit Bob.

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Let us pray.

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May the words of my mouth,

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and the meditations of our hearts

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be acceptable in thy sight,

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oh Lord our strength

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and our Redeemer, amen.

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In the scripture we heard this morning,

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Jesus said to His disciples,

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"When you were young,

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you girded yourselves

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and walked where you would.

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But when you are old,

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you will stretch out your hands,

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and another will gird,

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and carry you,

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where you do not wish to go."

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On the surface,

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Jesus is telling Peter

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that like Jesus Himself,

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he will be put to death for his faith.

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But beneath the surface,

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He is telling Peter

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that the entire life

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of Christian discipleship,

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is a process as it were,

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of being carried

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from one place to another.

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From a place we enjoy,

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to one where we do not want to go.

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But what also strikes me

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about this passage,

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is this use of spatial language.

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It's referenced to a change of place.

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To the movement from one place to another.

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And I'm reminded of the way

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in which the Bible so often,

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uses spatial terms

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to talk about the relationship

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between God and His people.

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You heard the story of Moses,

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the call of Moses.

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How God appeared to him,

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promising that He would take Israel

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from one place to another.

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From Egypt to the promised land.

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And this transportation,

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the Jews remember,

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in their Passover feast.

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And we Christians also

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celebrate a Passover.

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God's deliverance and transportation of Jesus

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from His place in the tomb of Joseph,

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of Arimathea,

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to His place, at God's right hand.

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He was put down into the ground,

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into the place of death.

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As the Apostles' Creed states,

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He descended into hell,

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but on the third day,

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God moved Him.

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He raised Him up to heaven

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where God dwells,

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the place of eternal life.

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Now some modern theologians,

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have been troubled

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by this way of speaking.

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Especially in a scientific age,

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for we space age people know very well,

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that God is not up there,

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in a heavenly space.

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We have learned of the infinity

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and relativity of the universe,

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and whatever else that means,

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it means that for certain,

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God is not up there.

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We know that Jesus

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did not ascend to heaven,

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like a rocket taking off

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for outer space.

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And you've seen pictures of the Ascension,

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which suggests this kind of departure.

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And therefore say these theologians,

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like the late Paul Tillich, for instance,

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"We cannot speak of God as up there

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in heaven, in remote space,

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it is better,"

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so they contend,

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"To speak of Him as a dimension or depth

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within our experience and reality."

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But surely you notice with me that Tillich,

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when he speaks this way,

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is still speaking spatially

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in terms of depth.

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And this becomes more evident

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when he also refers to God

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as the ground of being.

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Apparently he intends that we think

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of the space beneath us, the ground,

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in which a flower for instance,

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takes root and grows.

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No, it would appear to me,

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that we are inescapably spatial beings.

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And the question is not whether,

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but how we speak of God and space.

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Now most of us

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in the evangelical Protestant tradition,

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very commonly use spatial symbols,

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when we speak of having God,

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Jesus, or the Holy Spirit,

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in our hearts.

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"Come into my heart, Lord Jesus,"

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petitions a gospel favorite.

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The heart, or the soul,

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is the inner space of the self,

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a realm in which the living Jesus,

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seeks to dwell.

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Conversion occurs then,

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when Jesus is given

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this space in our hearts.

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We are born again,

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like John Wesley,

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when we feel our hearts burn within us.

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Such references to the inner space of the heart,

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suggest that this is where

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Jesus wants to dwell.

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But our text suggest something else.

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Here Jesus does not at all,

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talk about the inner space

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within the heart,

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but rather the outer space

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in which a person,

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both the inner and the outer person,

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heart and body dwells.

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The question of the text

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is not about the space within,

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but the space in which.

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It asks not what is in the heart,

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but where is the heart?

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And Jesus' answer to Peter

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is that we are not where God is,

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or where He wants us to be.

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We occupy the wrong space.

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And regardless of what is going on

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in the inner space of the heart,

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the heart itself is displaced.

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And therefore, says Jesus,

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"God will see to it,

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that His disciples are moved

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to another place."

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To the place where He,

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and God Himself are to be found.

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I'm reminded again

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of the story of Moses,

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where at no time,

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to my recollection,

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did God say to Moses,

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that He was moving into Moses' heart,

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but rather that He was going

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to move Moses,

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heart and body,

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together with His people,

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from their place in Egypt

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to a new place in the promised land.

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It may sound shocking,

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but it is correct, I feel,

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to point out that the New Testament

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does not allow us to say

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that God entered into the heart of Jesus.

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If for no other reason,

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then that Jesus did not tell us

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what was in His heart.

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As a matter of fact,

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Jesus' cry of dereliction from the cross

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would imply that His heart was empty.

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Void of the loving warmth

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of the divine presence.

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"My God, my God,

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why hast thou forsaken me?"

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Now while we may say

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that there is no evidence

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that God was in the heart of Jesus,

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the New Testament does suggest

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and tell us that Jesus was always

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in the heart of God.

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As was most dramatically witnessed

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when God moved Jesus

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from the grave,

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the place of death,

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to a new place,

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to God's own side,

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the place of eternal life.

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It would seem that even

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in the case of Jesus,

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God could not, and would not,

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live where Jesus was.

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Even in Jesus' heart.

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It was precisely the judgment of God

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on the space in which we all live,

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that even when Jesus,

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God's only son took our place,

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God could not be at home in that place.

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Whether God protested that place,

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and finally in the resurrection,

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delivered Jesus from it.

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Similarly, God could not settle in Egypt,

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with the Israelites

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because there His people

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were being destroyed

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by the powers of evil.

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Only in a new place.

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Only as He moved Israel

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out of the old place,

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could and would He be God

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with His people.

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We should expect then,

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that when the resurrected

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living Jesus comes to us,

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He does not come to be buried

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in the depths of our hearts,

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or to settle down with us

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in the space and place we occupy.

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As in the Bethlehem Inn,

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there's really no place for Him there.

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He came and comes,

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not to bring God into our hearts,

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but to bring us into the heart of God.

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He does not come into our place,

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but brings us into God's place,

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His kingdom.

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Very simply, in our text this morning,

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Jesus is saying that we have

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to change our place with Him,

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if we are to be His disciples.

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In all honesty,

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I do not like this word.

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I personally do not want

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to change my place.

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I don't like the place

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where He will take me.

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I like, I really do,

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my middle-class world.

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My university community,

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my Duke forest,

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this beautiful Gothic church

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in its lovely campus setting.

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I enjoy my good friends and neighbors,

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my corner of America and the world.

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And I would prefer

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that God and Jesus,

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enjoy this world with me.

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But I'm not sure they do.

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I am not certain

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that the Bible tells us

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that they are or can be at home here.

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Of course the Bible witnesses

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that Jesus comes to us here,

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where we are,

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but does He come to dwell here?

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In our homes, with us?

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Or does He come to take us to His home?

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Where Jesus is at home

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and wants to carry His disciples,

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is indicated earlier in John 21,

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when He tells Peter

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that if he loves Jesus truly,

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he will feed Jesus' sheep.

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Earlier after Jesus' arrest,

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Peter had denied Him three times.

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Now, three times,

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Peter confesses his love for Jesus,

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and Jesus in turn

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commands him three times,

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"Feed my sheep."

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Peter is where Jesus is,

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bound to Him in love,

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not alienated and distant in denial.

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When he is with Jesus'

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hungry, hurting, and homeless sheep.

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There in the field with Jesus' sheep,

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is God's place.

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His house, in which there are many mansions,

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and blessings for all Jesus' disciples.

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Jesus also identified His place,

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and the place of blessings

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when in His beatitudes He said,

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"Blessed are the poor."

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And we are all familiar with the parable

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of the last judgment in Matthew,

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in which Jesus says

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that we are with Him,

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and He is with us.

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When we give the hungry food,

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the thirsty drink,

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the stranger clothing,

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and the prisoners a visit.

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Jesus comes to take us

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where we do not want to go.

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He comes to change our place.

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Literally?

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Really?

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Must I leave Duke forest

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and our middle-class church

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to be His follower?

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The history of our faith

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has given us many examples

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of those who understood Jesus

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and just these terms, literally.

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Franciscan brothers of the Catholic church,

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for instance, really have stood with,

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and among the poor

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and changed their place.

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Nevertheless,

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I think it is possible and responsible,

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to hear Jesus speaking

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to us symbolically,

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but nonetheless forcibly and realistically,

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and with consequences

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which might very well

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lead to literal changes of place.

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What then is the reality

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suggested by the symbol

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of a place change?

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First, a change of place,

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signifies a radical change,

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literally an uprooting,

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not just a move,

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or change within, but without.

43:52

A change that makes the most profound

43:56

kind of difference.

43:58

Like the change of Jesus' place

43:59

from grave to sky,

44:01

from death to life

44:02

and the resurrection.

44:03

Like a new birth

44:05

from within the womb,

44:07

to outside the womb.

44:09

Second such a radical change,

44:12

is first and always

44:14

a change in perspective.

44:16

It means to view the world

44:18

and our place within it,

44:20

from a different place,

44:23

a different point of view.

44:24

How different the Duke campus

44:28

looks to the high school student

44:30

doing it from without,

44:32

who is anxiously seeking admission.

44:34

As compared with the senior Duke student

44:37

doing it from within,

44:40

who in a few weeks will be leaving it,

44:42

perhaps for the last time.

44:44

Similarly there's very good evidence

44:48

that Jesus' gospel says

44:51

that when one reads the gospel

44:53

from the perspective of the advantaged,

44:56

if you hear one thing,

45:00

and another when you read it

45:02

from the perspective

45:04

of the disadvantaged and poor.

45:05

My generally comfortable students,

45:09

and I included,

45:12

find it difficult to imagine

45:14

that when Jesus said,

45:15

"Blessed are the poor,"

45:17

He meant the poor.

45:19

The (speaking in foreign language) of Mexico,

45:22

the peasant,

45:25

the black of the United States

45:26

of our ghettos,

45:28

need no imagination at all

45:30

to understand Jesus' meaning

45:32

from where they look at it.

45:35

Third, such a radical change of place,

45:38

such a rebirth of perspective

45:42

and point of view is impossible.

45:44

That's what makes it radical.

45:48

We cannot enter into our mother's womb

45:51

and be born again.

45:52

We are where we are.

45:54

We are who we are.

45:56

We cannot change our place.

45:58

Thus it is harder for a rich man

46:02

to enter the kingdom of God,

46:03

than it is for a camel

46:05

to pass through the eye of a needle.

46:06

That is to say it is impossible.

46:07

We cannot change our place

46:11

any more than Jesus,

46:13

the man that raised Himself

46:14

from the dark space of Arimathea's tomb.

46:16

Finally therefore,

46:21

a truly radical change of place,

46:24

is the possibility of God alone.

46:27

Jesus told His disciples

46:30

that they would be carried to the cross.

46:32

They would indeed go where Jesus was.

46:37

Just as God raised Jesus from the dead,

46:41

so He can and will,

46:43

put the rich and the advantaged,

46:45

into the place of the poor,

46:47

and the disadvantaged.

46:49

While we cannot enter again

46:51

into our mother's womb,

46:53

we can be born a new,

46:54

by the Spirit and the grace of God.

46:56

While the rich man

47:01

can no more enter the kingdom,

47:02

than can the camel

47:03

go through the needle's eye

47:04

with God all things are possible.

47:07

This is the good news

47:11

of the living and resurrected Jesus.

47:13

He will take us to His Father,

47:16

as His Father took Him

47:19

in the resurrection.

47:21

We can be with His sheep,

47:22

just as Jesus Himself is.

47:25

In His house are many mansions.

47:28

There is indeed a new place for us.

47:30

I know no better contemporary example

47:35

of what I'm talking about,

47:38

or hear the text saying,

47:39

than the remarkable

47:41

Catholic bishop of Cuernavaca, Mexico,

47:42

whom I happened to become familiar with

47:46

during a recent sabbatical period in Mexico.

47:48

His name is Sergio Méndez Arceo.

47:53

He's affectionately known by his followers

47:56

and his supporters as Don Sergio.

47:59

And he is recognized by others

48:03

as the Protestant bishop,

48:04

the red bishop,

48:06

but best as the liberation bishop.

48:08

He is perhaps the best known Christian

48:11

in all of Mexico,

48:13

and one of the recognized outstanding leaders

48:15

of Latin American Christianity.

48:19

His story is a story

48:21

of that saving place change,

48:24

that is wrought in the resurrection power

48:26

of the Spirit.

48:28

He is 69 years of age,

48:31

and for 25 years,

48:33

has served as the bishop of Cuernavaca.

48:34

Which is the capital

48:37

of the state of Morelos,

48:39

which students in Mexico

48:41

remember as the land of Zapata,

48:42

and revolutionary zeal.

48:45

What was his place?

48:48

As bishop he represented

48:50

ecclesiastical authority and power.

48:52

Power, which in every way,

48:55

had stood behind the politically

48:56

and economically advantaged,

48:58

and reinforced their status.

49:00

And not only did he occupy

49:04

an exalted ecclesiastical

49:05

and political position,

49:07

but he was a cultural elitist,

49:09

a man of distinguished intelligence

49:11

with a Ph.D. in Church History.

49:13

A significant delegate to Vatican too,

49:15

and a most important figure

49:18

in the educational circles of Mexico.

49:20

In every way,

49:23

he was an aristocrat.

49:25

A man of grace and charm

49:27

who moved in the privileged places

49:29

of Mexico and its society.

49:31

And as bishop he presided over

49:34

one of the most elegant and glorious

49:35

rococo churches in the state.

49:38

By the strange movement of the Spirit,

49:42

he was carried,

49:44

in a process that became apparent

49:45

in the late '50s, to a new place.

49:47

God gave him, his cathedral,

49:51

and his diocese to the poor.

49:53

To the (speaking in foreign language)

49:56

and the (speaking in foreign language)

49:57

to the peasants of the country,

49:58

and the workers in the city.

50:00

And this change of place

50:03

was dramatically signaled

50:04

by changes he made

50:06

in the place of worship.

50:07

When in 1957 he renovated the cathedral.

50:09

He threw out all the glorious statuary,

50:14

removed the decorations from the walls

50:16

and returned it

50:19

in beautiful simplicity to the people.

50:20

And the only statute

50:23

that remains in that church,

50:24

is that of the crucified Christ

50:26

who's suspended above the altar.

50:28

He transformed the liturgy,

50:31

initiating the now famous Panamerican Mass.

50:33

Well before the Vatican

50:37

approved or directed,

50:38

he put the mass into Spanish,

50:40

the language of the people.

50:42

He turned off the organ,

50:44

and brought in street musicians,

50:47

the mariachis,

50:48

the folk musicians so commonly found

50:49

in the towns and cities of Mexico.

50:52

He gave the cathedral

50:54

and it's liturgy,

50:55

this place to the people.

50:56

And finally he gave himself.

51:00

No longer does he enter the church

51:03

in pomp and circumstance

51:04

designed to set him apart,

51:06

rather he enters in simple garb,

51:08

carrying forth staff of authority,

51:10

a piece of wood.

51:12

And when he preaches and teaches

51:14

sitting in the chair of authority,

51:16

he is as one who is with his people,

51:18

dividing with them, Jesus' sheep,

51:21

the bread of life.

51:23

The building, the word,

51:25

the liturgy, the pastor,

51:26

are all given to the people.

51:28

And the results for the bishop

51:31

and his ministry

51:33

in this new place are striking.

51:34

He is no longer a church dignitary

51:38

in the first instance,

51:40

but a pastor.

51:41

His agenda is set

51:43

by the newspaper accounts of the reality

51:44

and the oppression of his people.

51:46

And that by the word of God,

51:48

that promises their liberation.

51:50

And he is a preacher.

51:53

Every Sunday he would direct

51:55

his intellectual powers and his education

51:58

to share with the people their story.

52:01

The story of the Bible,

52:04

of Moses, and the crucified Christ.

52:06

As a pastor and a preacher,

52:11

who every Sunday is with his people,

52:13

saying mass in their cathedral,

52:16

or in a church of his diocese,

52:18

whose agenda is set by their reality,

52:22

by their need and hunger,

52:24

he is also a prophet.

52:26

He speaks out in the authority

52:29

of the word, and in love,

52:30

and service to his people,

52:32

against all those structures

52:34

and powers that oppress his people.

52:35

For him the word of God

52:38

is a prophetic protest against oppression,

52:39

and a promise of liberation

52:42

from that oppression.

52:44

Of necessity, therefore,

52:46

he is also a politician.

52:48

Ever engaging and being engaged

52:51

by the political order,

52:53

as he struggles with his people,

52:54

for their liberation.

52:56

He has to be at ease,

52:58

wise as a serpent,

53:00

for snares are constantly

53:01

being set for him.

53:03

And he is therefore,

53:05

also a revolutionary,

53:06

a true son of Morelos and Zapata.

53:08

That which binds his people,

53:12

are structures, national and international,

53:13

Mexican and American,

53:16

political and economic.

53:18

Only the overthought,

53:21

or the radical alteration of these,

53:22

can finally set his people free.

53:24

And so he is a suffering servant,

53:28

always under attack.

53:30

When I left Cuernavaca,

53:32

he faced false,

53:34

but threatening charges of larceny

53:36

designed to discredit him

53:38

and rob him of his considerable power

53:40

and effectiveness,

53:42

as a priest of God's church.

53:43

To put it all very simply,

53:48

because his place was changed,

53:50

he has become a powerful witness

53:53

to Jesus Christ and His liberating power.

53:55

He is now in the place where Jesus is,

53:59

feeding with Jesus,

54:01

the sheep of Jesus.

54:03

I would summarize and conclude

54:07

with two practical notes, two or three.

54:08

First, a negative one,

54:11

you and I who live in the places

54:14

of advantage and privilege,

54:16

are not in a good position

54:18

to hear or understand the will of God.

54:20

We are not where the Bible is best read,

54:24

and we are not where prayers

54:27

are most faithfully spoken.

54:28

Rather, and this is the second note,

54:31

that advantage is the blessing of the poor,

54:33

blessed are the poor.

54:36

The suffering, the literary,

54:38

disadvantaged people of the world.

54:40

Thirdly, and most practically,

54:44

if we are to practice good

54:46

and responsible Bible reading,

54:48

and are to pray as we ought,

54:50

and to be heard

54:52

in our prayers, as God will,

54:53

then the miracle of grace needs to occur.

54:56

We need to be carried

54:59

in the power of the resurrection,

55:01

to a new place.

55:03

Impossible for us?

55:05

Yes, but not for the God

55:07

who raised Jesus from the dead.

55:10

But finally we do have

55:14

the witness of the resurrection.

55:16

We know that Jesus lives

55:18

and indeed comes to us.

55:20

To take us to that place where He dwells

55:23

so that we may hear the word

55:26

as he hears it and speaks it,

55:28

and may pray in the Spirit

55:30

in which He prays.

55:32

We do have the gospel,

55:34

the good news

55:36

of the liberating grace of God.

55:38

We know that Jesus

55:41

is coming to set us free.

55:42

Free to be true brothers

55:45

and sisters of Jesus,

55:46

and with Him,

55:48

sons and daughters of God,

55:49

who are at home with the hungry

55:52

and hurting of our town,

55:54

our nation, and our world.

55:56

May God grant us,

56:01

His sons and daughters,

56:03

grace to take up our cross,

56:04

and to go to that place

56:07

where He would take us.

56:09

Amen.

56:11

(bright instrumental music begins)

56:16

(congregation singing)

56:53

(congregation singing)

57:26

(congregation singing)

57:50

(congregation singing)

58:13

(congregation singing)

58:32

(congregation singing)

58:53

(congregation singing)

59:17

(congregation singing)

59:39

(somber instrumental music)

1:00:30

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1:00:58

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1:01:26

(somber instrumental music)

1:01:50

(bright choral music)

1:02:41

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1:03:11

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1:05:24

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1:05:46

(congregation singing)

1:06:17

(congregation singing)

1:06:37

-

Oh God, giver of all that we have,

1:07:23

we ask you to accept these gifts,

1:07:27

and through them,

1:07:31

our dedication to your service.

1:07:32

Grant that now and at all times,

1:07:35

our gratitude may be as great

1:07:38

as our need for your mercy.

1:07:41

Through Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

1:07:44

(bright instrumental music begins)

1:07:49

(congregation singing)

1:08:27

(congregation singing)

1:08:48

(congregation singing)

1:09:10

(congregation singing)

1:09:29

(congregation singing)

1:09:50

(congregation singing)

1:10:15

(congregation singing)

1:10:45

-

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

1:11:20

and the love of God,

1:11:23

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,

1:11:27

is yours this day and forever more.

1:11:30

♪ Amen ♪

1:11:37

♪ Amen ♪

1:11:42

♪ Amen ♪

1:11:47

♪ Amen ♪

1:11:54

♪ Amen ♪

1:12:00

♪ Amen ♪

1:12:08

♪ Amen ♪

1:12:19

(bright instrumental music)

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1:18:26

Robert T. Osborn - "Changing Place with Jesus" (August 7, 1977)

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1. Robert T. Osborn - "Changing Places With Jesus" (August 7, 1977)

Duke University Archives

Robert T. Osborn - "Changing Place with Jesus" (August 7, 1977)

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Duke University Archives