Ann E. Hockridge - "Concrete Mysteries" (February 1, 1987)

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	(graceful piano music)	0:02
-	Good morning, and welcome to Duke Chapel	3:15
	on this student-preacher Sunday.	3:17
	Tomorrow evening at 6:15, here in the chapel,	3:22
	we will celebrate the historic Kendall Mass Service,	3:25
	in recognition of the day of The Presentation of The Lord.	3:31
	This will be conducted through the cooperation	3:35
	of the Episcopal and the Roman Catholic Campus Ministries,	3:39
	here at Duke with candlelight and communion	3:43
	and all of you are invited.	3:47
	And then on Thursday at 5:15, is the weekly service	3:50
	of choral vespers with candle light and singing, a service	3:54
	that is becoming increasingly popular here at the chapel.	3:59
	Today our preacher is Ms. Ann Hockridge,	4:03
	a trinity senior who was selected after a campus-wide	4:07
	competition by a committee of Duke Campus Ministry.	4:12
	Ann is from Norristown, Pennsylvania.	4:15
	She has been an active member of the Duke Chapel Choir.	4:18
	She initiated the Food Salvation Project,	4:23
	to help recover unused food here on campus	4:27
	and give it to the Durham Soup Kitchen.	4:31
	She is a person who lives her faith each day on this campus	4:34
	and has been marvelous to have around the chapel in her	4:39
	various activities, and we shall hear her today.	4:43
	I said to a student last week that I was a little nervous	4:48
	about next week because next week	4:53
	is our public official service, when we have the governor	4:54
	and the legislative delegation and all the public officials	4:57
	from throughout the state of North Carolina.	5:01
	And I said I was a little nervous in preparing my sermon	5:03
	for such a group, and the student said,	5:06
	"You've got a bigger problem than that,	5:09
	"you're following Ann Hockridge."	5:10
	(congregation laughs)	5:12
	So, we look forward to Ann today.	5:13
	Let us continue our worship.	5:16
	♪ Blessed be our Father ♪	5:35
	♪ Our Lord Jesus Christ ♪	5:44
	♪ Which according to his abundant mercy ♪	5:53
	(chorus drowns out other sounds)	6:08
	♪ The resurrection of Jesus Christ again ♪	6:24
	(orchestral piano music)	6:41
	(organ music drowns out other sounds)	7:03
	♪ Stand up, and bless the Lord ♪	10:13
	♪ The God almighty ♪	10:19
	♪ stand up, and bless His glorious name ♪	10:24
	♪ with heart, and soul, and voice ♪	10:30
	Almighty God, Fountain of all wisdom,	10:42
	enlighten by your Holy Spirit,	10:45
	those who teach and those who learn,	10:48
	particularly those here at Duke University.	10:51
	That rejoicing in the knowledge of your truth,	10:54
	we may worship you and serve you	10:58
	from generation to generation,	10:59
	in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ,	11:02
	our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit.	11:06
	One God, forever and ever.	11:10
	Amen.	11:13
	Be seated.	11:14
-	Let us pray.	11:27
	Open our hearts and minds oh God,	11:30
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	11:33
	so that is the word is read and proclaimed,	11:36
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day, amen.	11:39
	The first lesson is taken from the book of Micah,	11:46
	Hear what the Lord says, arise,	11:50
	plead your case before the mountains,	11:53
	and let the hills hear your voice.	11:56
	Hear you mountains, the controversy of the Lord	11:58
	and your enduring foundations of the earth.	12:02
	For the Lord has controversy with God's people	12:05
	and God will contend with Israel.	12:09
	Oh my people, what have I done to you?	12:13
	In what have I wearied you?	12:16
	Answer me, for I brought you up from the land of Egypt,	12:18
	and redeemed you from the house of bondage	12:23
	and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.	12:26
	Oh my people, remember what Balak, king of Moab devised,	12:31
	and what Balaam, the son of Beor answered him,	12:36
	and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,	12:39
	that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.	12:42
	With what shall I come before the Lord,	12:46
	and bow myself before God on high?	12:49
	Shall I come before God with burnt offerings?	12:53
	With calves a year old?	12:56
	Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams?	12:58
	With ten thousand rivers of oil?	13:02
	Shall I give my first born for my transgression?	13:04
	The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?	13:08
	God has showed you what is good all,	13:12
	and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice	13:15
	and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?	13:20
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	13:25
	(orchestral piano music)	13:33
	♪ In the hands of the Lord ♪	13:44
	♪ I am kept in safety ♪	13:48
	♪ In the hands of the Lord I am kept in safety ♪	13:56
	♪ The most high is my mercy place ♪	14:04
	♪ No evil shall fall upon me ♪	14:10
	♪ All will be well within my house ♪	14:15
	♪ In the hands of the Lord ♪	14:22
	♪ I am kept in safety ♪	14:26
	♪ If you care for me will me the angels ♪	14:35
	♪ To keep me on my ways ♪	14:41
	♪ They will carry me in their arms ♪	14:47
	♪ So that I will feel (mumbles) ♪	14:52
	♪ In the hands of the Lord ♪	15:00
	♪ I am kept in safety ♪	15:05
	♪ Thy has spoken about the kindness ♪	15:13
	♪ I will defend all who love me ♪	15:19
	♪ Go repent on my name ♪	15:25
	♪ I will love and protect and keep you ♪	15:30
	♪ In the hands of the Lord ♪	15:36
	♪ I am kept in safety ♪	15:41
	♪ When you call I will answer ♪	15:48
	♪ I will be with you ♪	15:52
	♪ I will save you and give you glory ♪	15:56
	♪ With my life I will bless you ♪	16:03
	♪ You shall know my saving heart ♪	16:08
	♪ In the hands of the Lord ♪	16:16
	♪ I am kept in safety ♪	16:20
	(orchestral piano music)	16:30
	(organ music drowns out other sounds)	16:38
	The second lesson is taken from Paul's first letter	17:37
	to the Corinthians, For the word of the cross is folly	17:40
	to those who are perishing, but to us	17:45
	who are being saved it is the power of God.	17:48
	For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,	17:51
	and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.	17:56
	Where is the wise one?	18:00
	Where is the scribe?	18:01
	Where is the debater of this age?	18:03
	Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?	18:07
	For since, in the wisdom of God,	18:11
	the world did not know God through wisdom,	18:13
	it pleased God through the folly	18:16
	of what we preach to save those who believe.	18:18
	For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,	18:23
	but we preach Christ crucified,	18:27
	a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,	18:30
	but to those who are called, both Jew and Greek,	18:34
	Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.	18:38
	For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and women,	18:43
	and the weakness of God is stronger than men and women.	18:47
	For consider your call brothers and sisters,	18:51
	not many of you are wise according	18:54
	to worldly standards, but many were powerful.	18:56
	Not many were of noble birth, but God chose what	19:00
	is foolish in the world, to shame the wise,	19:04
	God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,	19:07
	God chose what is low and despised in the world,	19:11
	even things that are not, to bring to nothing	19:15
	things that are, so that no human being	19:19
	may boast in the presence of God.	19:21
	God is the source of your life in Christ Jesus,	19:25
	whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness,	19:28
	our sanctification and redemption, therefore	19:31
	as it is written that the one who boast, boast of the Lord.	19:37
	This ends the reading of second lesson.	19:43
	The gospel lesson is taken from	19:48
	The Gospel According to Saint Mathew.	19:50
	Seeking the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain	19:54
	and when he sat down, his disciples came to him	19:57
	and he opened his mouth and he taught them saying,	20:00
	"Blessed are the poor in spirit,	20:03
	"for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	20:06
	"Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.	20:08
	"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.	20:12
	"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,	20:16
	"for they shall be satisfied.	20:20
	"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.	20:22
	"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.	20:26
	"Blessed are the peace makers,	20:31
	"for they shall be called the children of God.	20:33
	"Blessed are those who are persecuted	20:36
	"for righteousness sake, for theirs	20:38
	"is the kingdom of heaven.	20:40
	"And blessed are you when men and women revile you,	20:43
	"and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil	20:46
	"against you falsely on my account,	20:49
	"rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven	20:52
	"for so men and women persecuted the prophets	20:57
	"who were before you."	21:00
	This ends the reading of the Holy Gospel.	21:02
	(orchestral piano music)	21:10
	(choir singing in unison)	21:21
	♪ Amen ♪	23:09
-	The scene was one out of any Monday night TV movie.	23:29
	The Duke University Chapel Choir	23:33
	with all its bright energetic faces, was on its pilgrimage	23:35
	to the cathedral of St. John the Divine.	23:39
	It was Saturday morning and we were leaving the hotel	23:42
	in Washington D.C. and heading for New York City.	23:45
	Granted, we'd only left Durham fifteen hours earlier,	23:49
	but the trip thus far had been virtually flawless.	23:53
	All the choir had actually arrived on time	23:58
	for our 6:45 a.m. departure that morning.	24:02
	Our rest stop the night before had been	24:06
	unintentionally perfectly timed.	24:08
	Check in at that hotel had gone smoothly.	24:11
	(congregation laughing)	24:14
	I had been asked to ensure that Patsy Willimon	24:16
	had a good time on the trip, because she only knew	24:18
	a few of the choir members.	24:20
	I discovered about five minutes into the trip	24:23
	that Patsy was the life of her party	24:25
	and certainly needed no help from me in socializing.	24:28
	As tour manager, I was getting some pretty good exercise	24:32
	patting myself on the back, and then	24:36
	he sat down next to me.	24:40
	This was a man I wanted to know better.	24:45
	This was a man upon whom I wanted to make	24:48
	a tremendously stunning impression,	24:51
	little did I know that the Monday	24:55
	night TV movie was slowly evolving into the Friday night	24:56
	creature double feature at the drive in.	25:01
	(congregation laughing)	25:03
	It was the beginning of a day that was to culminate	25:05
	with an exclusive hotel in New York City,	25:07
	telling us that despite our prepaid guaranteed reservations	25:10
	which had been made five months in advance;	25:15
	there were no rooms at the inn for the chapel choir.	25:17
	(congregation laughing)	25:20
	At this moment however, I was blissfully ignorant of what	25:22
	was to come and was concentrating solely	25:25
	on being charming to my seat partner.	25:28
	I was doing fairly well too, we had swapped some	25:31
	innocuous comments about our majors,	25:35
	what we were planning on seeing	25:38
	while we were in New York City,	25:39
	and he had made the usual revolutionary war	25:41
	and George Washington jokes when I told him I was from	25:44
	the area of Valley Forge Pennsylvania.	25:47
	Then he asked me what I was going to do,	25:50
	following my graduation this May.	25:53
	That question so innocently posed,	25:56
	is the bane of every senior's existence.	25:59
	(congregation laughing)	26:03
	I decided to play it safe and merely told him	26:04
	that I was anticipating working for a few years	26:08
	before I entered graduate school,	26:11
	and then he asked what is for me the dreaded question,	26:13
	"What type of graduate school?"	26:18
	"Oh no," I thought, "now I'm going to have to admit	26:21
	that I actually take this religion stuff seriously."	26:24
	"Well, I'm planning on entering the seminary,	26:29
	"to become an Episcopal priest," I said quickly.	26:31
	His eyes glazed over at the utterance	26:34
	of the word seminary and priest.	26:37
	(congregation laughing)	26:39
	"Oh," he said weakly, he's voice cracking,	26:41
	"you wanna be a priest?"	26:43
	"I'm considering a hospital chaplaincy," I explained.	26:46
	"I've been working in pediatric play therapy	26:50
	"at the medical center now for four years,	26:51
	"and as crazy as it sounds, I really	26:54
	"enjoy the work I'm doing there."	26:57
	He looked at me with confusion on his face,	27:00
	"Well Ann, I think it's very good of you to wanna work	27:03
	"in the hospital while you have the time as an undergraduate	27:07
	"but for God sake why would you wanna keep working after	27:10
	"graduation in that depressing situation?"	27:13
	I wanted to tell him that he was right,	27:18
	the hospital is depressing sometimes.	27:20
	I wanted to tell him that some weeks I know	27:24
	I'll never forget what I see there,	27:26
	and I wanted to tell him of my frustration	27:29
	and my sense of hopelessness and helplessness sometimes,	27:32
	but before I could respond he had stammered	27:37
	that he had to go to the bathroom	27:39
	and he'd hurried off towards the back of the bus.	27:41
	It's now four months later and that incident	27:46
	is still bothering me, I've thought a great deal	27:49
	about that conversation because I know	27:52
	that this man's rejection of me	27:55
	was not based upon any of the usual issues.	27:57
	It was not that he loved The Rolling Stones	28:02
	while I adore Rachmaninoff, it wasn't that	28:04
	the last magazine he read was The Sports Illustrated	28:07
	Bathing Suit Issue, while my latest is Ms.	28:10
	Rather, this man's albeit extreme reaction	28:14
	epitomizes the discomfort we all have	28:18
	when faced with a gravely-ill child.	28:21
	A sick child is the antithesis of everything	28:25
	that makes this culture so advanced.	28:29
	Our advertising agencies tell us,	28:33
	"Who says you can't have it all?	28:35
	"The best of times deserve the best of taste."	28:39
	Money always in fashion.	28:43
	It gives so much and asks so little in return.	28:47
	"You've got what it takes."	28:52
	The images of unparalleled prosperity	28:55
	and success in the face of all odds	28:58
	which permeate our culture, are not ones	29:00
	that are conducive to humility or humbleness	29:03
	in the face of power greater than ourselves.	29:06
	Humility is not a virtue conspicuous	29:09
	in any national character, especially ours.	29:12
	As Americans, we believe we have played the game and won,	29:16
	we are in control.	29:21
	Who among us can forget the chance	29:25
	of USA at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in 1984?	29:27
	And at the Winter Olympic games only four years earlier?	29:34
	There was that memorable moment	29:37
	when the US hockey team guaranteed it's victory	29:39
	over the players from the Soviet Union.	29:42
	The spectators both in the stadium	29:45
	and the living rooms across the country, cheered wildly.	29:47
	We cheered not only because we had won,	29:51
	but because we had defeated the enemy.	29:55
	The clean-cut apple pie, American boys had defeated	29:59
	the evil steroid monsters of the Soviet Union.	30:03
	And we celebrated,	30:08
	we supposedly celebrated our athletic prowess,	30:11
	we actually celebrated our power and our dominance	30:15
	and we have come to believe that we	30:21
	have played all the games and won,	30:23
	we, are, in, control.	30:26
	As a student at a nationally prestigious university	30:32
	I suppose I am here because our society's sense of control	30:35
	results from its view that the mysteries	30:40
	of our existence will eventually fall to the human mind.	30:42
	Mystery is a great embarrassment to the modern mind	30:48
	because it indicates that perhaps	30:51
	our worldly wisdom is not in control.	30:53
	I am very much a part of the generation that has been made	30:58
	to feel that the aim of learning is to eliminate mystery.	31:01
	We're here at Duke University to unravel	31:06
	the intricacies of the immune system.	31:09
	To discuss the motivation of Shakespeare	31:11
	in the choice of his eloquent words.	31:14
	To theorize about the structure of the stones	31:16
	that compose the chapel, and to write erudite	31:19
	and insightful essays on the nature of God.	31:22
	And so the unanswerable questions	31:27
	and mystery of a sick child and her despairing parents	31:29
	are uncomfortable and disturbing	31:33
	and something we would chose to ignore.	31:37
	It has been our nature to forget	31:42
	that we have had our fall, that we have	31:44
	temporarily lost grasp of the answer.	31:47
	It has been our nature to forget that we are not God.	31:52
	It is because of this forgetfulness	31:58
	that we push a sick child to the periphery of our vision,	32:01
	making her a freak of nature in this society of limitless	32:04
	prosperity, wealth and success.	32:08
	We forget that imperfection may be a natural state	32:12
	of mankind, because we've been weaned	32:15
	on the idea that we can have it all.	32:18
	Flannery O'Connor is one who believes	32:23
	that a sense of imperfection must become natural to us,	32:25
	and writes in her Occasional Prose: Mystery and Manners,	32:30
	"It is only in these last few centuries,	32:34
	"when we are afflicted with the doctrine	32:37
	"of the perfectibility of human nature by its own efforts,	32:39
	"that the vision of the freak is so disturbing.	32:43
	"The freak is usually disturbing to us because he keeps us	32:46
	"from forgetting that we share in his state."	32:50
	A sick child keeps us from forgetting	32:56
	that our existence is tenuous and limited.	33:00
	A sick child prevents us from forgetting	33:05
	that as mysteriously as our breath was created	33:08
	and is maintained, it will be taken away.	33:11
	And so the illness and death of a child	33:16
	is an occurrence we cannot ignore,	33:19
	it is a concrete detail of life,	33:23
	that makes actual the mystery of our position here on earth.	33:26
	And it is necessary for us to examine	33:33
	those concrete details of life	33:35
	if we claim to have any faith or hope in the risen Lord.	33:37
	People without hope, refuse to take long looks at anything	33:42
	because they lack the courage, they are afraid to admit	33:46
	to a society that values control and dominance	33:51
	above all other virtues, that they are not in control.	33:55
	The way to avoid God, and the promise of despair	34:02
	and hope implicit in our relationship with God,	34:05
	is to refuse to have any kind of human experiences.	34:09
	By limiting our concrete human experiences.	34:14
	we limit our experience of God.	34:17
	If we refuse to acknowledge the mystery and joy	34:21
	that is found around us, we can refuse to acknowledge	34:25
	the full range of God's presence.	34:28
	By refusing to acknowledge the mystery,	34:32
	the unanswered questions, the inadequate human knowledge	34:35
	that we possess, we can continue to safely keep God	34:39
	in a box on the shelf.	34:43
	With God neatly tucked away we can assure ourselves	34:46
	once again that we are in control.	34:50
	Consequently, we avoid the hospitals and its wards	34:54
	instead choosing the platitudes of Madison Avenue.	34:58
	We refuse to have our sense of mystery	35:02
	deepened by contact with reality.	35:06
	We choose to forget that there are people out there	35:11
	living in the most significant position	35:14
	life offers the Christian, they're facing death.	35:17
	These are the individuals and families	35:24
	who completely comprehend the inadequacy of human wisdom.	35:27
	It is a small child and her parents who understand	35:33
	that mankind has had its fall.	35:37
	They approach the modern world and all its assuring slogans	35:43
	with an in-burnt knowledge of human limitations	35:46
	and with a sense of mystery that could not have developed	35:50
	without contact with the concrete reality of death.	35:54
	Time with people who have come close to death or dying	36:01
	makes it clear that our technological genius,	36:05
	literary accomplishments or upper middle class lifestyle	36:08
	cannot thwart death and life through death.	36:12
	Living with death is to recognize	36:17
	that the essential experience for the Christian	36:20
	is not a relationship with God	36:23
	that can be defined through human wisdom.	36:26
	Today's lesson of 1st Corinthians elucidates this knowledge,	36:30
	that human wisdom is inadequate in the face of God.	36:34
	Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?	36:38
	But God chose what is foolish in the world	36:44
	to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world	36:46
	to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised	36:50
	in the world even things that are not,	36:56
	to bring to nothing things that are.	36:59
	The world did not know God through wisdom.	37:03
	A relationship defined by faith,	37:10
	rather than knowledge and wisdom	37:12
	is one that fully admits that limitation	37:15
	and death are the human experience.	37:17
	It is a relationship based on the fact	37:21
	that humankind is humankind and God is God.	37:23
	It is a relationship that has been explained well	37:29
	by a religion professor of mine, Dr. Stewart Henry.	37:32
	He sees earthly life and God's existence as two parallel	37:36
	lines, and as all parallel lines they meet only in infinity.	37:40
	Christ is understood consequently to operate	37:47
	as the divine transversal, slashing both realms	37:50
	in the concrete reality of his life and death.	37:54
	It is Christ's death that adds one more mystery	38:01
	to the myriad other mysteries of our life on this planet.	38:04
	It is the essential Christian mystery,	38:09
	that the world and its people has for all its horror	38:12
	been found by God to be worth dying for.	38:16
	We must accept our limitations and our dying children	38:21
	and their despairing families before we can understand	38:26
	the necessity of Christ death as a redemptive act	38:29
	on our behalf.	38:32
	It is an action that can be accepted only on faith	38:35
	in the stillness of our hearts, because Christ did not	38:39
	redeem us by a direct intellectual act	38:43
	but became incarnate and human form and lived,	38:46
	he lived, not through technological miracles	38:50
	nor essays on the nature of God,	38:55
	but through the very mystery of our existence	38:57
	and he was killed, he was killed in a violent action	39:03
	that remains incomprehensible even to this day.	39:08
	He was killed in a mysterious action	39:13
	that left him hanging there, naked	39:16
	and defenseless and alone.	39:20
	In the crucifixion upon the splintering wood of the cross	39:27
	and in the sterile room of a hospitalized child	39:31
	our pretensions of infallible human wisdom are mocked,	39:34
	and suddenly our existence becomes something we cannot	39:39
	understand with empirical formulas or poetic words.	39:43
	Our existence becomes something we cannot explain,	39:49
	and as Dante wrote, when faced with the visio Dei,	39:55
	"I perceived it but I could not comprehend it."	39:59
	I perceive it but I cannot comprehend it.	40:07
	(orchestral piano music)	40:21
	(choir and congregation singing in unison)	41:07
	(organ music drowns out other sounds)	41:12
-	The Lord be with you.	43:36
Congregation	And also with you.	43:38
-	Let us pray for the students of the world,	43:40
	at the end of each petition the congregation	43:44
	is invited to respond, "Lord hear and help."	43:46
	Please be seated.	43:49
	Let us pray for the students of the world,	44:03
	for those who are persecuted and imprisoned	44:07
	for their faith, Lord hear and help.	44:09
	For those who live in constant fear, Lord hear and help.	44:14
	For those who are ill or hungry or cold, Lord hear and help.	44:20
	For those who are in despair at the collapse of false hopes,	44:28
	Lord hear and help.	44:33
	For those who are blinded by this world's success,	44:36
	that they may come to know the love of God,	44:39
	Lord hear and help.	44:43
	For those who are lonely that they may find	44:45
	comfort in the Gospel, Lord hear and help.	44:48
	Let us pray for those in revolutionary situations	44:55
	that they may confess their faith in the hour of trial	44:59
	and show forth a true picture of community in Christ,	45:03
	Lord hear and help.	45:08
	For those in newly independent countries,	45:11
	that they may seize with zeal the great opportunities	45:14
	open to them, to bring their people closer together,	45:17
	Lord hear and help.	45:21
	For those who have civil strife raging in their countries	45:24
	that they may be comforted in the face of the terror	45:29
	surrounding them, and thereby be strengthened	45:31
	to comfort others by word and deed, Lord hear and help.	45:35
	Let us pray for those of us who find our work	45:43
	too difficult, Lord hear and help.	45:46
	For those who do not give of their best	45:52
	in their work, Lord hear and help.	45:54
	For those who are oppressed by the fear	45:59
	of failure in examinations, Lord hear and help.	46:01
	For those who are perplexed and cast down by the struggle	46:06
	to understand the world in which they live,	46:09
	Lord hear and help.	46:13
	Let us pray for those whose work is a joy to them,	46:18
	that they may be strengthened and enabled to communicate	46:21
	their joy to others, Lord hear and help.	46:24
	For those who are engaged in the work of research	46:29
	and discovery, that their minds may be enlightened	46:32
	continually to see more of your glory, Lord hear and help.	46:35
	For those who are leaders in the student community,	46:42
	that their influence may be for good, Lord hear and help.	46:45
	Let us pray to God for all who teach	46:53
	and the care of students in educational institutions,	46:55
	Lord hear and help.	46:59
	For those work under great difficulties of time	47:02
	and lack of materials, Lord hear and help.	47:05
	For those who find hostility, misunderstanding	47:10
	and rivalry among their colleagues, Lord hear and help.	47:14
	Let us pray for those who distort the truth	47:22
	in the interest of false ideologies, Lord hear and help.	47:24
	For those who are presumptuous, bitter or indifferent,	47:30
	that they may come to unite with others in mutual respect	47:35
	and Christian love, Lord hear and help.	47:38
	For those who have a vision of their responsibility,	47:44
	that they may be given the wisdom and the strength	47:47
	to discharge it effectively, Lord hear and help.	47:49
	Let us pray to God for the student Christian groups	47:56
	throughout the world, that they may be living,	47:59
	worshiping and witnessing communities in the universities	48:03
	and schools of the world, Lord hear and help.	48:06
	For campus ministers and all who work in Christ's name	48:13
	with students, Lord hear and help.	48:16
	For all seekers after truth, that their minds may be	48:21
	enlightened and their will strengthened to follow	48:25
	the truth disclosed, may the God of hope fill us	48:28
	with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound	48:33
	in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.	48:37
	Amen.	48:42
	And now with grateful hearts for the gifts of God,	48:46
	let us make an offering of ourselves and our gifts unto God.	48:50
	(orchestral piano music)	48:56
	(choir singing in unison)	50:57
	(orchestral piano music)	55:31
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:22
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:25
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:44
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:46
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:49
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:52
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	56:55
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	57:03
	Oh ever living God whose foolishness is wiser	57:16
	than all humanity, we thank Thee for all thy mercies	57:19
	and for Thy loving care over all thy creatures.	57:23
	We bless Thee for the gift of life,	57:27
	for Thy protection round about us	57:30
	and for the tokens of Thy love within us.	57:32
	We thank Thee for friendship, for the joys that cheer us	57:36
	and the trials that teach us to trust in Thee.	57:40
	Most of all we thank Thee for the saving knowledge	57:43
	of Thy son our Savior Jesus Christ	57:47
	who taught us to pray with confidence,	57:50
	Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name	57:53
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth	57:57
	as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread	58:01
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	58:05
	who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation	58:09
	but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom	58:13
	the power and the glory, forever.	58:17
	Amen.	58:21
	(orchestral piano music)	58:24
	♪ Rejoice, the Lord is King ♪	58:59
	♪ Your Lord and King adore ♪	59:04
	♪ Rejoice, give thanks and sing ♪	59:09
	♪ And triumph evermore ♪	59:13
	♪ Lift up your heart ♪	59:19
	♪ Lift up your voice ♪	59:24
	♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪	59:27
	♪ Jesus, the Savior, reigns ♪	59:36
	♪ The God of truth and love ♪	59:41
	♪ When He has purged our stains ♪	59:46
	♪ He took his seat above ♪	59:50
	♪ Lift up your heart ♪	59:57
	♪ Lift up your voice ♪	1:00:02
	♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪	1:00:05
	♪ His kingdom cannot fail ♪	1:00:14
	♪ He rules over earth and heaven ♪	1:00:19
	♪ The keys of death and hell ♪	1:00:25
	♪ Are to our Jesus given ♪	1:00:28
	♪ Lift up your heart ♪	1:00:35
	♪ Lift up your voice ♪	1:00:40
	♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪	1:00:42
	♪ Rejoice in glorious hope ♪	1:00:52
	♪ Our Lord and judge shall come ♪	1:00:58
	♪ And take His servants up ♪	1:01:03
	♪ To their eternal home ♪	1:01:06
	♪ Lift up your heart ♪	1:01:13
	♪ Lift up your voice ♪	1:01:18
	♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice ♪	1:01:21
	(orchestral piano music)	1:01:31
-	Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,	1:02:13
	love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	1:02:16
	be with you and abide with you, now and always.	1:02:20
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:30
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:36
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:44
	(orchestral piano music)	1:03:01

Item Info

Title:

Ann E. Hockridge - "Concrete Mysteries" (February 1, 1987)

Description:

Sermon start time: 23:29. Sermon end time: 40:12.
Modern Americans, filled with a sense of nationalistic pride and a desire to control the world through knowledge, tend to be allergic to mystery and the things of human experience that cannot be explained. However, God uses these things, such as a sick child or a crucified Messiah, to bring us to our limits so that we might open ourselves up in faith to the fullness of God. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “In the crucifixion upon the splintering wood of the cross and in the sterile room of a hospitalized child, our pretensions of infallible human wisdom are mocked, and suddenly our existence becomes something we cannot understand with empirical formulas or poetic words. Our existence becomes something we cannot explain.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r44q7r50j

Date:

February 1, 1987

Speaker:

Hockridge, Ann E.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0019
ref8287_q43
uachapelsermaud
duke:321703
dcrmv001019
ark:/87924/r44q7r50j
e03fd775-49e6-4bc2-aad7-6b5bf95ee554

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

Rights:

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Ann E. Hockridge - "Concrete Mysteries" (February 1, 1987)

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Duke University Archives