William H. Willimon - "Easter Is True" (May 3, 1987)

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	(church choir hymns canticles)	0:00
	(organ music)	7:00
-	Good morning and welcome to this service of worship.	9:22
	We welcome our visitors today,	9:28
	particularly those in our congregation from	9:30
	Austin Messiah Lutheran Church in Chicago,	9:33
	and all the rest of you we're glad to have with us.	9:36
	We also welcome again to Duke Chapel the Elon College choir,	9:40
	frequent visitors here	9:45
	and they are helping in the leadership of our music today.	9:47
	Presiding minister for today's service	9:51
	is the Reverend Dr. Stuart Henry,	9:54
	Emeritus Professor of American Christianity	9:56
	at the Divinity School.	9:58
	And now let us continue our worship.	10:02
	(organ music)	10:09
	(church choir hymns canticles)	10:48
-	Let us unite responsibly	14:16
	in our opening sentences, number 659.	14:19
	Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.	14:28
	Let us therefore celebrate the festival.	14:31
	(congregation praying)	14:35
	For we know that Christ being raised	14:43
	from the dead will never again die.	14:46
	Death no longer has dominion over him.	14:48
	(congregation praying)	14:52
	So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin	14:59
	and alive to God in Christ Jesus.	15:04
	(congregation praying)	15:07
	For as by man came death,	15:14
	by man has come also the resurrection of the dead.	15:16
	(congregation praying)	15:22
	Be seated.	15:28
-	Let us pray.	15:40
	Open our hearts and minds, O God,	15:42
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	15:46
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	15:49
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	15:53
	Amen.	15:58
	The first lesson is taken from Acts.	16:01
	But Peter standing with the 11	16:06
	lifted up his voice and addressed them	16:09
	that all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly	16:14
	that God has made him both Lord and Christ,	16:18
	this Jesus whom you crucified.	16:23
	Now when they heard this,	16:27
	they were cut to the heart	16:29
	and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,	16:31
	Brethren, what shall we do?	16:35
	And Peter said to them,	16:38
	repent and be baptized every one of you	16:40
	in the name of Jesus Christ	16:44
	for the forgiveness of your sins,	16:47
	and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.	16:50
	For the promise is to you and to your children	16:55
	and to all that are far off,	16:59
	everyone whom the Lord, our God calls to him.	17:02
	And he testified with many other words	17:07
	and exhorted them saying,	17:10
	save yourselves from this crooked generation.	17:14
	So those who received his word were baptized	17:18
	and there were added that day about 3000 souls	17:23
	and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching	17:28
	and fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers.	17:31
	And fear came upon every soul,	17:37
	and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.	17:41
	And all who believed were together	17:46
	and had all things in common.	17:49
	And they sold their possessions and goods	17:53
	and distributed them to all as they had need.	17:57
	And day by day attending the temple together	18:02
	and breaking bread in their homes,	18:07
	they partook of food with glad and generous hearts,	18:10
	praising God and having favor with all the people,	18:15
	and the Lord added to their number	18:19
	day by day those who were being saved.	18:22
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	18:27
-	When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion	18:47
	(congregation praying)	18:52
	then our mouth was filled with laughter.	18:54
	(congregation praying)	18:57
	Then they said among the nations,	19:00
	the Lord has done great things for them.	19:02
	(congregation praying)	19:06
	May those who sow in tears,	19:10
	(congregation praying)	19:14
	he that goes forth weeping,	19:16
	bearing the seed for sowing.	19:18
	(congregation praying)	19:21
	(organ music)	19:27
	(church choir hymns canticles)	19:36
-	The second lesson is taken from the first letter of Peter.	20:33
	And if you invoke as Father	20:38
	him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds	20:41
	conduct yourselves with fear	20:46
	throughout the time of your exile.	20:48
	You know that you were ransomed	20:52
	from the futile ways inherited from your fathers,	20:54
	not with perishable things such as silver or gold,	20:59
	but with the precious blood of Christ,	21:04
	like that of a lamb without blemish or a spot.	21:08
	He was destined before the foundation of the world	21:13
	but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.	21:16
	Through him you have confidence in God	21:22
	who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,	21:26
	so that your faith and hope are in God.	21:30
	Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth	21:35
	for a sincere love of the brethren,	21:39
	love one another earnestly from the heart.	21:43
	You have been born anew,	21:48
	not of perishable seed but of imperishable	21:51
	through the living and abiding word of God.	21:55
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	22:01
	(organ music)	22:14
	(church choir hymns canticles)	22:19
-	The gospel lesson for this third Sunday	26:56
	of Easter is from Luke.	26:59
	That very day two of them were going to	27:03
	a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem	27:06
	and talking with each other	27:11
	about the things that had happened.	27:13
	While they were talking and discussing together,	27:16
	Jesus himself drew near them and went with them,	27:19
	but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.	27:23
	And he said to them, what is this conversation	27:26
	that you're holding with each other as you walk?	27:29
	And they stood still looking sad,	27:33
	and then one of them named Cleopas said to him,	27:35
	"Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know	27:39
	"the things that have happened here in these days?"	27:42
	And he said to them, "What things?"	27:46
	And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth	27:49
	"who was a prophet mighty indeed in word	27:52
	"before God and all the people.	27:54
	"And how our chief priest and rulers delivered him up	27:56
	"to be condemned to death and crucified him,	27:59
	"but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.	28:03
	"Yes, besides all this,	28:08
	"it is now the third day since this happened.	28:10
	"Moreover, some women of our company amazed us.	28:13
	"They were at the tomb early in the morning	28:18
	"and did not find his body.	28:21
	"They came back saying that	28:23
	"they'd even seen a vision of angels	28:24
	"who said that he was alive.	28:26
	"Some of those who were with us went to the tomb	28:29
	"and found that it was as the women had said,	28:32
	"but him they did not see."	28:36
	And he said of them, "O foolish men,	28:39
	"how slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken!	28:42
	"Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things	28:48
	"and enter into his glory?	28:51
	"And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,	28:54
	"he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures	28:57
	"the things concerning himself."	29:00
	So they drew near to the village to which they were going.	29:04
	He appeared to be going further,	29:07
	but they constrained him saying,	29:09
	stay with us for, for it is toward evening,	29:11
	the day is now far spent.	29:12
	And so he went in to stay with them	29:15
	and when he was at table with them,	29:18
	he took bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.	29:20
	And their eyes were opened and they recognized him,	29:24
	and then he vanished out of their sight.	29:28
	And they said to each other,	29:31
	"Did not our hearts burn within us	29:33
	"while he talked with us on the road,	29:35
	"while he opened to us the Scriptures."	29:37
	And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem,	29:41
	and they found the 11 gathered there	29:44
	and those who with them, and they said,	29:46
	"The Lord has risen indeed and he has appeared to Simon."	29:49
	Awhile back at a conference,	30:03
	the chapel was sponsoring on faith and technology,	30:04
	a graduate student commented,	30:09
	as a scientist I am taught to look at the world	30:13
	in an objective, rational, scientific way.	30:16
	And yet the events on which Christianity	30:22
	is based are inherently irrational.	30:26
	And therefore I see no way for a modern,	30:31
	rational, scientific person to be a Christian.	30:35
	And if you are honest you can see what he means.	30:41
	If we would step back a step or two from the Easter story	30:47
	and try to hear it again	30:53
	as if hearing it for the very first time.	30:55
	If we could somehow step back from	30:58
	this glorious music and this beautiful building,	31:00
	if we could step back and hear it with new ears,	31:05
	we would have to admit	31:08
	that this story with its account	31:11
	of dead bodies rising from tombs	31:13
	and strange goings-on in graveyards	31:16
	is, to put it politely, irrational.	31:18
	And what are we to do with such a story?	31:23
	A couple of years ago, William Sloane Coffin began	31:30
	a baccalaureate sermon from this pulpit by asking,	31:33
	if it could be proven that George Washington	31:38
	never threw a dollar across the Potomac,	31:42
	would he be any less a hero?	31:45
	If it could be shown that	31:49
	Jesus Christ never walked on water,	31:50
	would he be any less a Savior?	31:54
	I suppose Coffin's point is that	31:59
	even if George Washington	32:01
	didn't have such a great throwing arm,	32:02
	he was still a great hero in the minds of people.	32:05
	And even if Jesus Christ could not skim across the waves,	32:08
	I mean, who cares.	32:11
	It doesn't matter much	32:14
	if someone can't throw a dollar across a river	32:16
	or cannot walk on water.	32:18
	But does this line of reasoning also apply	32:24
	to a strange event like the resurrection?	32:28
	Because there, I dare say, it does make a lot of difference.	32:30
	It makes a lot of difference whether	32:36
	this is only a fanciful tale or on actual event.	32:37
	As Paul says,	32:45
	if Christ is not raised,	32:47
	then our faith is in vain.	32:50
	In an academic community great stress	32:54
	is put upon scientific explanations for natural phenomena	32:57
	and logic and clear thinking,	33:02
	but a few moments ago you have been read	33:07
	a story about someone who was crucified and dead and buried,	33:09
	and rose from the dead,	33:13
	speaking to his friends commanding them.	33:15
	And what will you modern people do with such a story?	33:17
	Theologian John Hick notes	33:24
	that a statement such as the one read in today's epistle,	33:29
	that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead,	33:33
	appears to be a factual assertion about this supreme being	33:39
	who from time to time inserts himself	33:43
	into the natural flow of things and reverses natural laws.	33:46
	And Hick questions how modern,	33:53
	scientific people can believe such statements?	33:56
	After all you don't even need to be a scientist,	34:02
	you don't have to live very long in this world to find out	34:05
	that everything that lives dies.	34:11
	And if something dies, it does not live again, that's a law.	34:15
	And so Hick says that if such statements as	34:22
	God raised Jesus Christ from the dead	34:24
	are to be retained and have plausibility	34:27
	in our time they must be reinterpreted,	34:29
	they must be given more mundane meaning.	34:32
	In other words, we've got to get	34:37
	such statements down to our level.	34:38
	For Hick such statements as,	34:42
	God raised Jesus Christ from the dead,	34:44
	for them to have any meaning they must be transformed	34:48
	from a statement about God's alleged	34:52
	supernatural intrusions into history	34:54
	into claims about human experience.	35:02
	For instance, Hick says that	35:07
	if you take a biblical statement like,	35:09
	God created the heavens and the earth,	35:11
	you need to change this statement to say that	35:15
	people found order and meaning in life.	35:17
	Or take the story of Jesus walking on water.	35:23
	What are we to do with that?	35:27
	Hick says that this is sort of a primitive way of expressing	35:28
	that Jesus inspired hope and bravery in his followers.	35:32
	In the hands of Hick,	35:38
	these primitive expressions of the nature of God	35:40
	are transformed into more modern statements	35:43
	about the nature of humanity.	35:47
	You can imagine that when	35:51
	John Hick arrives at the resurrection	35:52
	he faces his greatest challenge.	35:55
	And he suggests that the Easter story should be understood	35:58
	not as an event in the past,	36:00
	in which God raised up Jesus from the dead,	36:04
	but rather as a moment when, quote,	36:08
	"A new perspective on life opened up for us."	36:11
	The important thing is not the event on Easter morning,	36:16
	but rather our human perspective on life.	36:20
	The resurrection, he says, is not literally true,	36:24
	in that dead Jesus was raised to life,	36:27
	but the resurrection is true,	36:30
	in that it invites a particular attitude in the hearers.	36:32
	In other words the story of Easter is a jolly good story.	36:38
	Important thing isn't what God did to Jesus,	36:44
	but what this good story does to each of us.	36:47
	Now I suppose that is what William Sloane Coffin meant	36:51
	when he said that it really doesn't make much difference	36:54
	whether or not Jesus walked on water,	36:58
	the important thing is what happened in the hearts	37:00
	and minds of his disciples.	37:02
	It isn't important whether Easter is true,	37:07
	at least true in the historical sense,	37:09
	the important thing is our perception of Jesus	37:11
	and what that perception does to us	37:14
	and our attitude about life.	37:16
	And I can tell you this is a favorite ploy of preachers,	37:20
	particularly preachers like me that got to preach	37:23
	to academic, mature, intelligent, modern people like you.	37:26
	We take some miraculous event like Jesus feeding the 5000	37:32
	and we tell you that this isn't a story about a miracle,	37:37
	this is really a story about how we all need to get together	37:40
	and share our possessions with one another.	37:43
	Your acts are more important than God's miracles.	37:46
	Now some of you may be wondering,	37:52
	why anybody would resort to such intellectual contortions?	37:53
	I mean why doesn't John Hick take	37:57
	the route of that sincere graduate student	37:59
	and say the whole thing is irrational	38:01
	and therefore, in his mind, false.	38:03
	The reason, I suppose, is that Hick rejects the Easter story	38:07
	as true, in the historical sense,	38:12
	while still wanting to maintain	38:16
	that it is true in some sense.	38:18
	Lacking the straightforwardness of that graduate student,	38:22
	he throws out the historical truth claims of Christianity	38:26
	while still wanting to claim something for Christianity.	38:30
	I think this is the intellectual equivalent of the person	38:34
	who no longer believes in the Christian faith	38:38
	but attends church every so often	38:41
	because he enjoys good organ music	38:43
	played in a Gothic building.	38:45
	But the abandonment of factual discourse is, about	38:49
	direct divine action into the world, is a momentous leap.	38:53
	In its earnest attempt to interpret this	38:59
	primitive story to the modern world,	39:02
	it destroys the Christian truth claims	39:06
	as they have been generally known.	39:09
	As far as I can tell,	39:12
	there is just no way to weasel out of the plain assertion	39:16
	that Christians have all along made,	39:21
	not that the resurrection is a jolly good story,	39:26
	a beautiful symbol, a fine metaphor,	39:30
	but that the resurrection is true.	39:34
	Now part of me wishes this were not so,	39:40
	part of me wishes that there was some way	39:42
	through mental gymnastics or through superior sermonic skill	39:45
	to help you over this hurdle.	39:50
	It would certainly make being a Christian easier.	39:52
	If only I could tell you that it's enough for you	39:55
	to be attracted to the noble teachings	39:58
	of Jesus, the great prophet,	40:00
	fascinated by the literary excellence	40:02
	of these beautiful little stories,	40:04
	and then I could help you sidestep that difficult business	40:07
	of deciding whether or not they are true.	40:13
	Unfortunately, I can't.	40:19
	Intellectual honesty will not permit me to preach	40:22
	an Easter sermon about a butterfly emerging from a cocoon	40:25
	or the budding of the crocus	40:31
	or the return of the Robin every spring,	40:32
	because no such poetic drivel can help.	40:36
	That somehow the forces of life	40:40
	and death were reversed and overcome	40:42
	and Christ was let loose in the world.	40:46
	That those who sealed Jesus shut in the tomb	40:51
	were shocked, surprised, scared half out of their wits	40:56
	on Easter morning is a scandal I cannot help you to avoid.	41:01
	Sure, the story of the resurrection on Easter	41:07
	may transform your attitude about life.	41:11
	And if that story is told well by	41:14
	some poetically endowed preacher,	41:16
	the story may even make you feel a lot better about life,	41:19
	even if you don't happen to believe the story is true.	41:25
	But the Bible is saying a great deal more than that.	41:32
	Interpreters who try to make Easter more plausible	41:36
	by reducing it to oatmeal assertions about	41:39
	human perspectives and attitudes	41:42
	distort the Bible's own claims for itself.	41:44
	Gospel writers go to great lengths	41:51
	to show that this was not something the disciples expected,	41:55
	prayed for or even wanted.	41:59
	The resurrection of Jesus	42:02
	scared them half out of their wits.	42:03
	Nothing they had ever known about life and death,	42:06
	about reality prepared them	42:09
	for what happened on Easter morning.	42:11
	Here is a story about what God does, not how we feel.	42:14
	Their hearts were wrong, their eyes were blind,	42:21
	their minds were too small to understand.	42:24
	Now, of course, the resurrection did open up	42:29
	a new perspective on life for the disciples,	42:32
	but only as a consequence of something God did.	42:36
	God's fact came before their new perspective on life.	42:41
	To believe this story is to believe that	42:48
	this is an account of something God did.	42:51
	Now sure, this story is told like any other biblical story	42:55
	using first century thought patterns.	42:59
	They expressed truth one way, we may express it another way.	43:01
	For instance, I might have said something like Easter,	43:04
	at Easter a new force of,	43:08
	a new power of love	43:11
	was unleashed in the world in Jesus Christ,	43:14
	whereas Luke says it,	43:17
	the Lord has risen and appeared to Simon.	43:20
	But let's us remind ourselves	43:26
	that first century people knew the difference	43:31
	between a jolly good story	43:34
	and something which actually happened.	43:36
	They were no less scandalized	43:40
	by the claims of Easter than are we.	43:42
	When early pre-scientific primitive people	43:45
	heard this story told by early Christians,	43:49
	early pre-scientific primitive people thought	43:52
	they were crazy or drunk or maybe both.	43:56
	We may be at some limitation	44:00
	as modern people in understanding this story,	44:02
	but not because we're so progressive and scientific,	44:05
	but rather our modern experience of God	44:08
	is so impoverished, puny, anemic.	44:11
	In the resurrection, God may be calling us to a new level	44:18
	of existence that we've never known before.	44:22
	God may be attempting to reveal something to us	44:27
	which has been carefully excluded	44:29
	by modern academic discourse.	44:31
	Our world is so flattened, rational, predictable, dull.	44:34
	When we confront the realities of life and death,	44:40
	we are too easily pleased by what we already know.	44:44
	And that is, by the way, why we cannot make our experience	44:50
	the test for the truth or falsity of anything.	44:55
	We are in the intellectually impoverished situation	45:01
	of limiting reality to our contemporary experience of it.	45:03
	Ignorance is born of the arrogance of those who believe	45:09
	in what they have only personally seen.	45:14
	I remember as a young boy I met this farmer	45:17
	in South Carolina who told me that as a young boy	45:19
	he didn't believe that Europe existed,	45:23
	but he said in 1918 he got drafted	45:26
	and Uncle Sam sent him to Europe,	45:29
	and he found that it was actually there.	45:31
	He said, "You wouldn't believe what's over that ocean."	45:33
	(congregation member laughs)	45:37
	Well, having rejected the notion that Jesus	45:40
	rose from the dead,	45:44
	John Hick cannot tell us exactly what happened.	45:47
	Theories about fears of the future or wish fulfillment	45:51
	of the grieving disciples or mass hysteria among	45:56
	Jesus' followers don't explain anything,	45:59
	nor does it do any good to pick through biblical revelation	46:03
	and accept that which only our limited reason will allow.	46:06
	That is puny, naturalistic reductionism.	46:11
	All of this is just to say that, unfortunately,	46:16
	I don't know of any way to get around the scandal of Easter.	46:21
	I can make no act of homiletical contrivances	46:27
	or no talk of butterflies from cocoons	46:30
	or Robins in the spring,	46:34
	which will enable me to save you	46:36
	from having to trip over this assertion.	46:39
	Gospel writers like Luke knew the difference	46:43
	between fact and fiction.	46:45
	They were also intellectually honest to know	46:48
	that nothing can save but facts.	46:50
	No new perspective on life	46:55
	is a match for the fact of death.	46:58
	No inanities about the return of the Robin in the spring	47:05
	can save us from the hard cold objective fact of death.	47:10
	No story, even the most beautiful story,	47:16
	is a match for death.	47:20
	The consolation of pagans, wishful thinking of humanists	47:25
	are thin nourishment in the face of omnivorous death.	47:31
	An old man breathes his last gasps	47:38
	surrounded by family and friends,	47:41
	a little child closes its eyes	47:45
	and dies of starvation in the Sahel,	47:47
	the nameless, countless victims of pogroms	47:51
	and concentration camps and wars and other cruelty,	47:54
	nothing can save but the facts.	47:58
	It's okay for you to say that	48:03
	you may have doubts about this story, who doesn't?	48:06
	And it's fair for you to say that you don't understand,	48:09
	that you wish you had more information,	48:12
	that you're baffled and surprised and confused,	48:14
	because Luke goes to great lengths to assert	48:18
	that the very first people who heard this story	48:21
	felt exactly the same way.	48:24
	But make no mistake about it,	48:27
	it was an event; it was a fact.	48:30
	And they had to confront it, to believe it, to reject it,	48:35
	to accept it, reject it,	48:40
	but to those who dare,	48:46
	there are no facts of life greater than this fact:	48:49
	Christ is risen,	48:56
	he has risen indeed.	48:59
	(organ music)	49:11
	(church choir hymns canticles)	49:39
-	Let us unite in the historic confession of our faith,	51:36
	I believe in God, the Father Almighty,	51:41
	maker of heaven and earth,	51:45
	and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord,	51:47
	who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,	51:51
	born of the Virgin Mary,	51:54
	suffered under Pontius Pilate,	51:57
	was crucified, dead and buried.	51:59
	The third day he rose from the dead,	52:03
	he ascended into heaven	52:06
	and seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.	52:08
	From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	52:12
	I believe in the Holy Spirit,	52:17
	the holy Catholic Church,	52:19
	the communion of saints,	52:22
	the forgiveness of sins,	52:24
	the resurrection of the body,	52:26
	and the life everlasting.	52:29
	Amen.	52:31
	Be seated.	52:35
	The Lord be with you.	52:40
	(congregation praying)	52:42
	Let us pray.	52:44
	O God, who art love,	52:56
	save and deliver us,	53:00
	we beseech thee from the falsehood of a selfish faith	53:01
Woman	Amen.	53:05
-	Help us to remember all for whom	53:06
	we ought to pray in our common worship.	53:08
	We ask thy grace	53:13
	upon those to whom the people have entrusted power,	53:15
	that their counsels may be filled with knowledge and equity	53:20
	to the end that all may prosper	53:24
	beneath the freedom of an equal law.	53:26
	Bless all missionaries of the cross of Christ	53:31
	and all who lived our gospel before the face of the world.	53:35
	We pray for all who are distressed in mind,	53:40
	body or estate,	53:45
	for all prisoners and exiles,	53:49
	for all doubters and rebels,	53:53
	for all poor and sick and lonely folk,	53:57
	make their faith and patience a light shining in darkness,	54:02
	strengthen the weak,	54:07
	confirm the strong,	54:10
	instruct the ignorant,	54:13
	deliver the oppressed.	54:16
	Encompass with our favor all whose lives are dear to us,	54:19
	and if there be any who do us wrong,	54:23
	remove all bitterness from our hearts,	54:26
	as we pray for thy blessing upon them.	54:29
	Give peace to the world in our time, O Lord,	54:33
	and unite all our hearts	54:37
	in the love of Christ Jesus, our Lord.	54:39
	Amen.	54:43
	Let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God.	54:48
	(organ music)	54:53
	(church choir hymns canticles)	57:19
-	Let us pray.	1:02:12
	O God, we bring our gifts to you	1:02:15
	in response to your good news,	1:02:18
	Christ has risen indeed and abides in us still.	1:02:21
	By all that we do, be in response to that new life.	1:02:26
	As you've accepted who we are, O God,	1:02:30
	please receive what we offer,	1:02:33
	and transform all of our being to conform with your will.	1:02:36
	Extend your grace through us,	1:02:40
	so that others hear of the salvation which you bring.	1:02:43
	O God, we're a people of promise,	1:02:47
	thanks to your abiding grace.	1:02:51
	Through the gift of your son, Jesus Christ,	1:02:54
	we have been born anew.	1:02:56
	You did not forsake us when we strayed from your way,	1:02:58
	you have sent us the Christ who shows us your will.	1:03:02
	In our distance from you, he has redeemed us from exile	1:03:06
	and stood by our side.	1:03:10
	He brings us the light to illumine your desires	1:03:13
	and shows us our error when we disobey you.	1:03:17
	In him we have confidence that you will set things right	1:03:21
	and for all that we thank you through Christ.	1:03:25
	And now we pray as our Lord has taught us.	1:03:31
	Our Father who art in heaven,	1:03:35
	hallowed be thy name,	1:03:38
	thy kingdom come,	1:03:40
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	1:03:42
	Give us this day our daily bread,	1:03:46
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:03:49
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	1:03:51
	and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,	1:03:55
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	1:04:00
	and the glory forever.	1:04:03
	Amen.	1:04:05
	(organ music)	1:04:09
	(church choir hymns canticles)	1:04:47
-	Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,	1:08:00
	fellowship with Holy Spirit and the love of God be with you	1:08:03
	now and always.	1:08:07
	(organ music)	1:08:15

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Easter Is True" (May 3, 1987)

Description:

Sermon start time: 30:03. Sermon end time: 49:04.
The preacher argues that resurrection is not just some Christian perspective , but instead, that it is a fact of history that occurred two thousand years ago. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “To those who dare, there are no facts of life greater than this fact: Christ is risen, he has risen indeed.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r45d8nw47

Date:

May 3, 1987

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Easter

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0030
ref8329_nib
uachapelsermaud
duke:321301
dcrmv001030
ark:/87924/r45d8nw47
65f26de0-758a-4fb3-82b5-fbb3c325fb88

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 - "Easter Is True" (May 3, 1987)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives