William H. Willimon - "Jesus and Christians: All in the Family" (December 7, 1986)

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-	Good morning and welcome to this service	0:47
	on the second Sunday in the season of Advent.	0:49
	We're glad you're here in the chapel.	0:53
	And we particularly welcome those	0:54
	who are worshiping with us on the closed circuit	0:56
	television system in Duke Hospitals.	1:00
	Our chapel choir has gone through two performances	1:04
	of Messiah and will give their final performance	1:09
	this afternoon; we congratulation them	1:12
	on their achievement this weekend, and once again,	1:15
	express our gratitude to those students	1:19
	and members of the community who serve in our chapel choir.	1:22
	Next Sunday is the annual observance of Founders Day.	1:26
	If you're a student, we particularly invite you	1:31
	to be here for this special service and worship.	1:35
	It's one of the highlights of our year.	1:39
	Dean Dennis Campbell of the Divinity School	1:42
	will be preaching.	1:45
	And as usual, the music will be special.	1:48
	And now let us continue	1:53
	our worship.	1:56
	(peaceful choral music)	2:06
	(peaceful organ music)	3:24
	(harmonious organ and choir music)	3:51
	(dramatic organ music)	6:42
	(harmonious organ and choral music)	7:51
-	Oh wisdom, breath of the most high,	8:27
	pervading and permeating all creation,	8:30
	oh, Lord of Lords and leader of the House of Israel,	8:36
	who appeared to Moses at the Burning Bush,	8:40
	gave him your Law on Sinai.	8:43
	Oh, good Jessie, standing as a signal to the nations	8:50
	before whom all kings are mute.	8:53
	To who the nations will do homage.	8:56
	Oh, Key of David, and ruler of the House of Israel,	9:03
	what you open, no one can close.	9:07
	What you close, no one can open.	9:09
	Oh, radiant dawn, splendor of eternal light,	9:19
	and son of justice.	9:22
	Oh, King of the nations, the ruler of all poor,	9:30
	the cornerstone binding all together.	9:33
	Oh, Emmanuel, you are king in our hearts.	9:41
	You anoint the nations and their sins.	9:45
	(static rumbling)	9:47
-	Let us pray.	10:12
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God.	10:14
	By the power of your Holy Spirit,	10:18
	so that this glorious day we proclaim,	10:20
	in God's true joy was to say to us this day, amen.	10:23
	The first lesson is taken from Isaiah.	10:29
	You shall come forth and shoot from the stuff of Jessie.	10:32
	And a branch shall grow out of his roots.	10:38
	And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon you.	10:40
	The spirit of wisdom and understanding,	10:44
	the spirit of counsel and mind.	10:47
	The spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.	10:50
	And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.	10:54
	He shall not judge by what his eyes see.	10:57
	Or decide by what his ears hear,	11:00
	but with righteousness he shall judge the poor	11:03
	and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.	11:07
	And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth	11:10
	and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.	11:14
	Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist,	11:18
	and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.	11:21
	The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,	11:25
	and the lepers shall lay down with the kin,	11:27
	and the cow and the lion and the fatling together,	11:29
	and a little child shall meet there.	11:33
	The cow and the bear shall be pleased.	11:37
	Their young shall lay down together.	11:39
	And the lion shall be strong like the ox.	11:42
	The suckling child shall play over the hold of the ashes.	11:46
	And the winged child shall put his hand on the Adam's den.	11:50
	They shall not hurt or destroy all my holy mountains.	11:54
	This earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord	11:59
	and the water to cover the sea.	12:02
	In that day the word of destiny shall stand	12:05
	at the entrance to the people.	12:08
	And shall the nations seek	12:11
	and his dwellings shall be glorious.	12:13
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	12:15
	(peaceful organ music)	12:26
	(harmonious organ and choir music)	12:42
	The second letter is taken from Paul's Letter to the Romans:	16:54
	For whatever was written in former days	16:59
	was written for our instruction,	17:02
	that by steadfastness and by the encouragement	17:05
	of the Scriptures, we might have hope.	17:08
	May the God of steadfastness and encouragement	17:12
	grant you to live in such harmony with one another,	17:16
	in accord with Christ Jesus, that together	17:20
	you may with one voice glorify the God	17:24
	and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.	17:27
	Welcome one another, therefore as Christ has welcomed you,	17:31
	for the glory of God.	17:36
	For I tell you that Christ became a servant	17:37
	to the circumcised, to show God's truthfulness,	17:41
	in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,	17:45
	and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God	17:50
	for His mercy.	17:53
	As it is written, therefore I will praise thee	17:55
	among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name.	17:59
	And again, it is said, rejoice, oh Gentile.	18:03
	With the people of God, and again, praise the Lord,	18:07
	all Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise God.	18:11
	And further, Isaiah says,	18:16
	the root of Jessie shall come.	18:18
	He who rises to rule the Gentiles,	18:21
	in him shall the Gentiles hope.	18:23
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	18:27
	The Gospel is taken from Matthew:	18:31
	In those days came John the Baptist,	18:34
	preaching in the wilderness of Judea.	18:37
	Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!	18:40
	For this is he was spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah,	18:44
	when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness,	18:49
	"prepare the way of the Lord.	18:54
	"Make His path straight."	18:56
	Now John wore a garment of camel's hair,	18:58
	and a leather girdle around his waist.	19:02
	And his food was locusts and wild honey.	19:05
	Then when out to him Jerusalem and all of Judea,	19:08
	and all of the region about Jordan.	19:12
	And they were baptized by him in the River Jordan,	19:15
	confessing their sins.	19:19
	This ends the reading of the Gospel.	19:21
	(peaceful organ music)	19:27
	(harmonious organ and choir music)	19:36
	♪ Glory to God ♪	19:38
	♪ Glory to God in the highest ♪	19:40
	♪ And peace on earth ♪	19:50
	♪ Glory to God ♪	20:01
	♪ Glory to God ♪	20:04
	♪ Glory to God in the highest ♪	20:07
	♪ And peace ♪	20:15
	♪ On earth ♪	20:18
	♪ Good will for all ♪	20:24
	(harmonious choir and organ music)	20:27
	♪ Glory to God ♪	20:45
	♪ Glory to God in the highest ♪	20:48
	♪ And peace ♪	20:56
	♪ On earth ♪	20:59
	♪ Good will for all ♪	21:05
	♪ Good will good will ♪	21:10
	♪ Good will good will ♪	21:13
	♪ Good will on earth and peace ♪	21:17
	(harmonious organ and choir music)	21:21
	(peaceful organ music)	21:32
-	Any law enforcement officer will tell you	22:06
	that a policeman would rather try and stop a bank robbery	22:09
	than to intervene in a domestic quarrel.	22:14
	The bank robber only wants to take the money and run.	22:20
	But, a fight between an estranged husband and wife,	22:23
	an argument between two brothers,	22:28
	somebody's likely to get hurt.	22:31
	Statistics show that you're more likely	22:34
	to be murdered by a close relative	22:36
	than by a perfect stranger.	22:39
	Family fights can be tough.	22:42
	Luke tells a story	22:46
	of a quarrel between two brothers	22:49
	for the father's affections.	22:52
	You know the story, you remember about how	22:54
	the younger brother returned home after	22:56
	wasting his inheritance in loose living,	23:00
	and when he returned, his father welcomed him with a party,	23:03
	but the older brother, the one who had stayed home,	23:07
	faithfully working in the fields,	23:11
	the older brother refused to go in.	23:12
	Family fights can be bitter.	23:18
	When we were in graduate school and we didn't have	23:21
	enough money to go out on Saturday night,	23:23
	we would sometimes amuse ourselves	23:25
	by listening in on the arguments of the couple next door	23:27
	in the apartment.	23:32
	And it was harmless fun, we thought; it was cheap.	23:34
	And many times as you read the Bible,	23:41
	you're listening in with glass to the wall	23:43
	on a family argument that has lasted for centuries,	23:47
	in which there has been much bitterness,	23:52
	and little fun, and even much bloodshed.	23:56
	A family feud between Christian and Jew.	24:00
	Today's Scripture,	24:07
	like much of the New Testament,	24:10
	is part of that ongoing debate.	24:12
	In many of his letters, Paul addresses	24:16
	his fellow Jews, urging them to welcome these Gentiles	24:19
	into the Family of God.	24:24
	But on this second Sunday of Advent,	24:27
	the Epistle lesson from Romans,	24:30
	Paul works the other side of the street,	24:32
	urging Gentiles within the church to accept	24:37
	their Jewish/Christian brothers and sisters.	24:42
	Paul says: Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you.	24:46
	He says to the Gentile, you know what it's like	24:52
	to be out in the cold.	24:56
	Once you were nobodies, now you've been brought	24:58
	into the Family of God, now act like it!	25:00
	Welcome one another and may your lives together	25:02
	be a unified song of praise to God.	25:05
	We Gentiles need to be reminded that	25:13
	that we	25:18
	were the Prodigal Son returning home,	25:20
	hoping to be welcomed back.	25:22
	We are the friend at midnight banging on the door,	25:25
	hoping that the door will be opened	25:29
	and the promises given to Israel might also be given to us.	25:30
	We were the Johnny-come-latelys,	25:35
	the 11th hour workers who got	25:38
	to the vineyard of faith late.	25:40
	And Paul says to us:	25:46
	Remember that you were outsiders,	25:49
	and now that you are insiders, welcome one another	25:50
	even as you have been welcomed.	25:54
	Will the Jews be saved?	26:00
	That question is often asked in the church,	26:03
	but let us note that it is not a biblical question.	26:05
	It is not a New Testament question.	26:09
	The question of the status of the Jews	26:12
	had already been answered in Scripture	26:14
	beginning with promises to Abraham and Sarah	26:17
	to make a great nation out of their descendants,	26:19
	reiterated to Jacob, made manifest to Moses	26:22
	in the liberation from Egyptian slavery,	26:26
	and we believe, made finally manifest	26:29
	in the birth at Bethlehem of Joshua,	26:34
	the one whom we call Jesus.	26:37
	God promised always to love Israel.	26:42
	And Scripture is a long record of God's faithfulness	26:45
	to that promise.	26:49
	As Paul says in Romans: Christ became a servant	26:51
	to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm	26:56
	the promises given to the patriarchs.	27:00
	Will the Jews be saved?	27:05
	No, no, the New Testament question is not that one,	27:06
	the New Testament question is: Will the Gentiles be saved?	27:10
	Because when God made promise to Abraham,	27:14
	it was to make a great nation out of his descendants,	27:16
	not the whole world.	27:20
	And when God promised to liberate,	27:23
	it was to liberate the Children of Israel,	27:27
	not all oppressed peoples everywhere.	27:29
	The promises of God are to save and to love Israel.	27:34
	The Chosen People, the Light to the Nations, God's Family.	27:38
	Will the Jews be saved, is, according to passages	27:44
	like Romans 9 and 10 and 11,	27:47
	not a New Testament issue.	27:50
	It is not a question which any Bible-believing,	27:54
	promise-trusting Christian may ask,	27:56
	because we already know the answer:	27:59
	God is faithful.	28:02
	The New Testament question, the debate which required all	28:06
	of the theological resources at Paul's disposal,	28:10
	and all of his literary gifts:	28:13
	Will the Gentiles be saved?	28:18
	In what way is the Good News addressed to the Jew	28:22
	our Good News?	28:26
	How do we stand in relationship to the people	28:30
	who first taught us to look for a Messiah?	28:32
	What are we doing here, Gentiles,	28:38
	reading somebody else's mail?	28:40
	For Paul,	28:44
	for Paul, the ultimate wonder of Christ,	28:46
	the most miraculous thing of the birth	28:50
	of the Christ child at Bethlehem was not the virgin birth,	28:52
	which he never mentions, or the flutter of angel wings,	28:56
	the most amazing thing was that in this Christ child,	28:59
	even Gentiles are included into the promises.	29:04
	The Father has welcomed the Prodigal Son.	29:11
	The door is open to the friend at midnight.	29:14
	The 11th hour worker who gets to the vineyard	29:18
	at the close of the day gets in on as much	29:21
	as those who have labored and believed and suffered	29:23
	for hundreds of years.	29:27
	God is amazingly gracious, even to Gentiles.	29:29
	And yet, if you have even a superficial knowledge	29:35
	of the Church's relationship to the Jews,	29:39
	a shudder goes down our Gentile spines,	29:44
	because we know that the same Gospel which first enabled you	29:50
	to welcome Gentile, became perverted	29:56
	into a cause of separation	30:01
	between Gentile and Jew.	30:04
	By Crusaders' sword, or Hitler's ovens,	30:07
	or even Christian evangelism,	30:09
	the once persecuted Church became the persecutor	30:12
	of Jesus' own family.	30:16
	And I know that I do not have to recount	30:20
	for this congregation the long tragic tale	30:21
	of the Church's complicity, and even outright persecution	30:25
	of God's Chosen People.	30:30
	Our infidelity, our perversion	30:34
	of the Gospel transformed the cross of Christ	30:39
	from the symbol of our salvation	30:43
	into a symbol of death and oppression for millions.	30:45
	We Christians are often hurt when we learn	30:50
	that the cross, which is for us the symbol of our hope,	30:53
	is the symbol for others of fear and pain.	30:57
	And isn't it a bitter irony	31:03
	that the instrument of death	31:06
	and torture for the Jew Jesus,	31:09
	who was not the first	31:13
	and alas not the last Jewish martyr,	31:15
	that that symbol	31:20
	has been perverted into a sword of oppression,	31:23
	for Jesus' kinfolk?	31:26
	Advent is a season of penitence.	31:29
	And the Church has much repenting to do	31:33
	for our relationship	31:34
	with our brothers and sisters, the Jews.	31:38
	And I think it's in this sense that the presence	31:42
	of the Jews continues to be a scandal for Christians.	31:44
	Because the very presence of the Jew	31:50
	poses a stark question to Christians:	31:52
	We look back on centuries of cruelty to the Jews,	31:56
	and we have to wonder, why was it	32:01
	that our Gospel failed	32:03
	to give more of us the resources rightly	32:06
	to live with and to defend our brothers and sisters?	32:09
	Why weren't there more Christian families	32:16
	like that Polish family we've been reading about recently	32:19
	in the newspapers,	32:22
	that opened their doors to their Jewish neighbors	32:24
	during their time of trial?	32:27
	As we moved towards Christmas, you have to wonder,	32:32
	how many Christian doors would be open	32:35
	to a poor Jewish carpenter and his pregnant wife,	32:37
	who had nowhere to stay during Caesar's taxation.	32:43
	How many of us would risk our families	32:48
	to save some Rachel and her Jewish boy-child	32:52
	from Herod's sword?	32:57
	I believe that one reason why	33:01
	there is often so much animosity	33:03
	between Christian and Jew	33:05
	is that we Christians know, in our moments of deep honesty,	33:08
	how miserably our religion failed	33:13
	when it needed to be laid on the line for Jesus' family.	33:17
	We had our chance to show what we were made of.	33:23
	We had our chance to be courageous and peaceful.	33:26
	And we turned away Mary and Joseph from the door.	33:30
	We stopped our ears to the wailing of Rachel and Rhama.	33:34
	Paul's solution to this difficult problem	33:41
	was a very simple one,	33:45
	and Paul is not noted for his simple solutions.	33:48
	Paul's simple response to animosity	33:52
	between believers, is a simple one of hospitality.	33:56
	He says: Welcome the Jew in the same way	34:01
	that the Jew welcomed you.	34:05
	The one who is hospitable knows what it's like	34:08
	to be a stranger.	34:10
	We Gentiles know what it's like to stand out in the cold.	34:13
	We know what it's like to be nobodies.	34:17
	Now, this doesn't deny that we Christians really do	34:23
	have fundamental differences with the Jews.	34:25
	The Jews look at Jesus and they do not see what we see.	34:31
	The Jews still ask:	34:36
	If Jesus is the Redeemer, why doesn't the world	34:40
	look more redeemed?	34:45
	And it's a tough question, and it's a question	34:48
	which goes to the very heart of what we believe.	34:50
	But we must not answer that question in ways	34:55
	that forsake the very religion of Jesus,	34:57
	with resentment or violence or oppression.	35:00
	We have to answer that question in the same way	35:05
	that Jesus answered it,	35:07
	by trying to live lives that do not blatantly contradict	35:10
	the truth of which we speak.	35:14
	We Gentile late-comers will not get out	35:18
	of our dilemma with the Jews	35:21
	through some sort of liberal, intellectual imperialism,	35:24
	which first demands that both Christians and Jews	35:28
	give up our differences	35:32
	and settle down and become bland,	35:36
	universalized American pagans	35:38
	before we can live together.	35:42
	Some of the silliest arguments over the Duke Ring	35:46
	took this point of view.	35:49
	Let's all agree to act less religious.	35:51
	If you religious people	35:53
	would just stop being religious,	35:54
	then you could all get along together.	35:57
	If you could just give up those silly differences	36:01
	you have with each other.	36:04
	If you could give up those distinctive beliefs	36:06
	and just act like rational,	36:08
	universal human beings, that would settle our differences.	36:11
	No.	36:17
	Religion for Jew or for Gentile is not something	36:19
	we check at the door when we come into the University.	36:21
	It accounts for who we are;	36:28
	it accounts for our very deepest motivations;	36:29
	it accounts for what we want out of life.	36:32
	No, if I am to live with the Jew,	36:37
	I must do so as Paul says: I have to welcome the Jew	36:40
	as a Jew,	36:46
	in all of his or her differences and particularities	36:49
	and he or she must welcome me in the same way.	36:52
	We Christians cannot render up our belief	36:57
	in Jesus as the Christ	37:00
	as a sort of guilt payment for past sins against the Jew,	37:03
	because that solves nothing.	37:08
	I know right after I came here I got an irate phone call	37:12
	from a faculty member who was upset about something	37:14
	some fundamentalist, conservative Christian group	37:17
	here on campus was doing.	37:20
	And he said to me,	37:23
	"You ought not to allow these people	37:25
	"to push their religion like this!"	37:27
	And I said, "You know, they would probably	37:30
	"just as soon talk to you as to me.	37:32
	"They don't trust me either."	37:33
	He said, "Here on the campus, religion ought	37:36
	"to just be pushed to the side.	37:39
	"Keep it in the chapel, but don't let it out	37:41
	"into the dormitories and all."	37:43
	I said, "Wait a minute, you're talking,	37:47
	"you're talking as if you're a minority	37:50
	"talking to a majority.	37:52
	"I believe there's as many Jews	37:53
	"on this campus as Methodist."	37:54
	Wait a minute, I don't think I'm your problem.	37:57
	Nor are even those conservative Christians.	38:02
	I think it's you and me against the pagans.	38:05
	It's those of us who believe in anything against	38:10
	a vast majority who've stopped wanting	38:14
	to believe in anything.	38:16
	I think that our dilemma	38:20
	is not how to be a little less Christian,	38:23
	or a little less Jewish,	38:25
	but how to be evermore faithful, as Christians or Jews.	38:28
	The way for Christians and Jews to live together	38:35
	on the Duke campus or anyplace else,	38:38
	is for us both to be more faithful.	38:41
	The more we Christians come to see our savior	38:46
	as the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel,	38:50
	the more keenly we feel surprised	38:55
	at the amazing inclusion of our people into those promises,	38:58
	the more quickly we'll be healed	39:05
	of tragic separations within the Family of God.	39:06
	To the extent that we believers, Christian or Jew,	39:11
	allow our faith in God to be watered down	39:15
	and diluted by nationalistic loyalties,	39:18
	or pagan philosophies, or alien truth claims,	39:21
	we forfeit the theological resources	39:27
	whereby we are enabled to live together like family.	39:29
	Because the only way I can be hospitable to any stranger,	39:34
	is to remember that I was a stranger.	39:40
	That I was out in the cold.	39:45
	I was taken into God's house	39:49
	even when I didn't deserve to be.	39:50
	Luke told a story of a troubled family,	39:55
	in which a younger son, after a lurid sojourn,	40:01
	returned home in rags smelling	40:04
	of the cheap perfume of harlots.	40:06
	But the waiting Father welcomed him.	40:11
	A party began.	40:15
	But the older brother, the one who had never left home,	40:18
	the one who remained faithfully working in the field,	40:21
	refused to come in to the party.	40:23
	And so the father left the party	40:27
	and went out into the darkness	40:28
	to plead with the older brother.	40:31
	In our day this story has taken a sad and unexpected turn.	40:36
	The story went on, the younger brother	40:43
	soon lost his contrite spirit.	40:45
	The shock of his father's gracious reception wore off.	40:49
	He came to resent the fact that his older brother	40:52
	didn't come in and party when he returned home.	40:54
	He began to scheme against his older brother.	40:58
	He began taking on airs and behaving heartily.	41:01
	He even finally resorted	41:04
	to locking his older brother out of the house.	41:05
	He bolted the door, and now he had the house all to himself.	41:07
	And the celebration resumed, this time not as a homecoming	41:12
	but as the arrogant victory bash of the usurper.	41:16
	The smug younger brother had it all to himself now.	41:22
	But outside,	41:29
	outside in the December darkness	41:32
	stood the father where Luke left him.	41:36
	The father,	41:42
	standing where he had always been,	41:44
	standing beside the older brother.	41:47
	The younger brother succeeded in locking out his brother.	41:53
	He had the whole house to himself.	41:59
	But alas, in locking out his older brother,	42:02
	he had locked out his father, as well.	42:08
	(peaceful organ music)	42:25
	(harmonious organ and choral music)	43:02
-	Let us unite in the historic Confession	45:01
	of the Christian faith, the Apostle's Creed:	45:03
Congregation	I believe in God the Father almighty,	45:07
	maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ,	45:10
	His only son, our Lord,	45:13
	who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,	45:15
	born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,	45:18
	was crucified dead, and buried.	45:22
	The third day he rose from the dead.	45:25
	He ascended into heaven and siteth at the right hand	45:28
	of God the Father almighty.	45:31
	From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	45:34
	I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church,	45:37
	the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins,	45:42
	the resurrection of the body,	45:46
	and the life everlasting, amen.	45:48
-	The Lord be with you.	45:53
Congregation	Also with you.	45:54
-	Let us pray.	45:56
	Oh, God, who art our light and our salvation,	46:08
	we pray that thou would enable us to enter into	46:13
	and abide in the secret place of the most high	46:17
	this Advent season.	46:20
	Bring us near to the things that are infinite and eternal.	46:23
	Grant us grace to behold the heavenly vision,	46:28
	that in the strength of its light	46:31
	we may go about the living of our days with humility,	46:34
	with joy, and with heartfelt gratitude.	46:38
	Remembering that thou has chosen the weak	46:42
	to confound the mighty, we pray, oh God,	46:45
	for those who feel powerless in our world.	46:49
	For those who bear the trials of hunger,	46:53
	of homelessness, of loneliness.	46:56
	For those who suffer the indignations of prejudices,	47:00
	greed, and lack of opportunity.	47:04
	For those who must endure the oppression of war,	47:08
	of grinding poverty, and of inescapable disease.	47:12
	Encircle these, they children, with they healing power.	47:18
	Remembering, redeeming God, that thou did send thy son,	47:24
	that the Word might be made flesh among us.	47:27
	We beseech thy blessing upon those who seek	47:31
	to live out the Gospel in our own time.	47:33
	For all who earnestly work for peace.	47:39
	For all who deliberately live on less,	47:43
	in order to share with those who have less than they need.	47:46
	With those who plead the cause of the orphan,	47:51
	the prisoner, and the forsaken.	47:54
	For all who stand up in any company to challenge injustice.	47:59
	Help us all, gracious God,	48:04
	to become steadfast incarnations of thy love	48:05
	in this broken world.	48:10
	Remembering the examples set forth by thy servant Mary,	48:14
	who said unto the Angel Gabriel,	48:18
	"Let it be to me according to thy word."	48:20
	We dare to pray even for ourselves, sustaining God,	48:24
	that her example of discipleship might inspire us	48:29
	to give so completely of ourselves, our wills,	48:33
	our desires, our fortunes.	48:38
	May we so intensely desire to obey thy Word	48:42
	and glorify they name that we too would be willing	48:45
	to pay the price.	48:49
	We humbly beseech thee this Advent season	48:52
	to sustain us in an awareness of our sin,	48:56
	in a careful search of our virtues and our blessings,	49:00
	and in a serious examination of words and phrases	49:04
	so casually sung and spoken.	49:07
	In the place of superficial holiday merriment,	49:11
	grant us the true joy that comes only when our souls	49:14
	find their rest in thee.	49:18
	Let it be enough	49:21
	that thou art for us,	49:23
	with us, and within us,	49:26
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	49:29
	And now in the spirit of thanksgiving	49:36
	for the mighty acts of God, let us offer our gifts	49:38
	and ourselves unto the one who made us.	49:42
	(uplifting organ music)	49:48
	(harmonious choral music)	49:59
	(peaceful organ and choral music)	50:13
	(peaceful organ music)	53:25
	(vibrant organ music)	54:49
	(harmonious organ and choral music)	55:07
	Oh, thou who art the source of all existence	56:11
	and the light of all seeing, we remember with joy	56:14
	that the world is thy creation	56:18
	and that life is thy gift.	56:20
	Accept our praise and thanksgiving for the great hope	56:23
	thou has given us that thy kingdom shall come on earth	56:26
	as we work and pray for that perfect day	56:31
	when thy will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.	56:34
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ,	56:38
	who taught us boldly to pray.	56:41
Congregation	Our Father, who art in heaven,	56:44
	hallowed be thy name.	56:47
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	56:49
	on earth as it is in heaven.	56:52
	Give us this day our daily bread,	56:54
	and forgive us our trespasses	56:57
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	56:59
	And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,	57:02
	for thine is the kingdom, the power,	57:07
	and the glory, forever, amen.	57:10
	(somber organ music)	57:15
	(harmonious organ and choral music)	57:56
-	Now by the grace of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ,	1:00:55
	the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	1:00:58
	be with you now and always.	1:01:01
	(harmonious choral music)	1:01:08
	(peaceful organ music)	1:01:25

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Jesus and Christians: All in the Family" (December 7, 1986)

Description:

Sermon start time: 22:06. Sermon end time: 42:13.
On this special Christmas TV show, Willimon dialogues with several professors from Duke on different facets of Jesus’s nativity story and introduces arts of Duke Chapel that relate to the message of Christmas. The political side of Jesus’ nativity, the beauty of the narratives from the four gospels, the relevance of Jesus’ birth to the world, and the context that Jesus was born are mentioned in the discussions. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gh9br00

Date:

December 7, 1986

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Christmas

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0010
ref8262_r9q
uachapelsermaud
duke:321621
dcrmv001011
ark:/87924/r4gh9br00
e7e3f51d-71ae-43fe-9fcb-f25bc9081a48

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "Jesus and Christians: All in the Family" (December 7, 1986)

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Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives