Vannorsdall, John W. - "What in the World Is God Doing?" (May 8, 1988)

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	(organ music)	0:00
	(choral music)	9:54
	(organ music)	10:56
	(choral music)	11:35
	(organ music)	14:10
	(choir music)	15:46
-	When we gather to praise God,	16:29
	we remember that we are God's people	16:31
	who prefer our wills to God's will,	16:33
	therefore let us begin by confessing our sin.	16:36
	Be seated.	16:40
	Let us pray together.	16:49
	Most merciful God, we confess	16:53
	that we have sinned against you	16:56
	in thought, word and deed by what we have done	16:58
	and by what we have left undone.	17:03
	We have not loved you with our whole heart.	17:06
	We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	17:09
	We are truly sorry and we humbly repent	17:13
	for the sake of your son Jesus Christ,	17:17
	have mercy on us and forgive us.	17:20
	That we may delight in your will	17:24
	and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.	17:27
	Amen.	17:32
	Hear these comfortable words of assurance and pardon.	17:35
	For as the heavens are high above the earth,	17:39
	so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.	17:43
	As far as the east is from the west,	17:49
	so does he remove our transgressions from us.	17:51
	Amen.	17:56
	As minister to the university,	18:00
	it is my pleasure to welcome you to the chapel,	18:02
	particularly our graduates, whom we honor this day.	18:08
	This is a high moment in the life of the university,	18:14
	to recognize the achievements of those	18:18
	who have been with us as students.	18:20
	And coming to the chapel symbolizes coming to the heart	18:23
	and the tradition of this great school.	18:27
	Our preacher, back before this baccalaureate service,	18:31
	is the Reverend Dr. John Vannorsdall,	18:35
	president of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.	18:38
	Dr. Vannorsdall has been a frequent	18:43
	and much-beloved preacher	18:47
	from time to time in the chapel,	18:50
	and we welcome him as our baccalaureate preacher this year.	18:51
-	Let us pray.	19:05
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	19:07
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	19:09
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	19:12
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	19:15
	Amen.	19:19
	The first lesson is taken from the book of Deuteronomy.	19:21
	Moses said to the people, hear, oh Israel,	19:25
	the Lord our God is one Lord.	19:29
	And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,	19:32
	and with all your soul, and with all your might.	19:35
	And these words, which I command you this day,	19:39
	shall be upon your heart.	19:41
	And you shall teach them diligently to your children.	19:43
	And shall talk of them when you sit in your house,	19:47
	and when you walk by the way,	19:50
	and when you lie down, and when you rise.	19:52
	And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand.	19:55
	And they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.	19:59
	And you shall write them on the doorposts	20:02
	of your house and on your gates.	20:04
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	20:08
	(organ music)	20:14
	(choir music)	20:30
	The congregation will please rise	24:15
	for the reading of the Gospel.	24:16
	The Gospel is from Saint John.	24:23
	At that time, Jesus said,	24:26
	As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.	24:28
	Abide in my love, just as I have kept	24:29
	my father's commandments, and abide in my father's love.	24:34
	These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you,	24:38
	and that your joy may be full.	24:43
	This is my commandment.	24:46
	That you love one another as I have loved you.	24:48
	Greater love has no one than this,	24:51
	that a man lay down his life for his friends.	24:54
	You are my friends, if you do what I command you.	24:58
	No longer do I call you slaves,	25:02
	for slaves do not know what their master is doing.	25:04
	But I have called you friends,	25:08
	for all that I have heard from my father	25:10
	I have made known to you.	25:12
	You did not choose me, but I chose you.	25:14
	And appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit,	25:18
	and that your fruit should abide.	25:21
	So that whatever you ask the Father in my name,	25:24
	the Father may give it to you.	25:27
	This I command you, to love one another.	25:29
	This ends the reading of the Gospel.	25:34
	(organ music)	25:36
	(choir music)	25:46
	The Epistle is taken from the Book of Acts.	26:48
	When Peter entered, Cornelius met him	26:51
	and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.	26:54
	But Peter lifted him up, saying,	26:57
	"Stand up, I too am a human being."	26:59
	And Peter opened his mouth and said,	27:03
	"Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality.	27:05
	"But in every nation, anyone who is God-fearing,	27:09
	And does what is right is acceptable to God."	27:13
	While Peter was still saying this,	27:17
	the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.	27:19
	And the believers from among the Jewish people	27:23
	who came with Peter were amazed.	27:25
	Because the gift of the Holy Spirit	27:28
	had been poured out, even on the Gentiles.	27:30
	For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.	27:34
	Then, Peter declared, "Can anyone forbid water	27:38
	"For baptizing these people who have received	27:42
	"The Holy Spirit just as we have."	27:45
	And Peter commanded them to be baptized	27:48
	in the name of the Jesus Christ.	27:50
	And they send him, asked him to remain for some days.	27:52
	This ends the reading of the Epistle lesson.	27:56
-	May the words of my mouth,	28:12
	and the meditation of our hearts	28:14
	be acceptable in your sight,	28:18
	oh Lord our strength and our redeemer.	28:20
	Amen.	28:24
	There are only three, I think.	28:30
	Three institutions which know how	28:35
	to celebrate on a grand scale.	28:37
	The Olympics is one of them.	28:41
	The torch, the march into the stadium, all those flags.	28:44
	The multicolored emblems of the nations,	28:48
	the warm embrace of mutual respect	28:51
	for disciplines achieved.	28:55
	The Olympics knows how to celebrate.	28:58
	The university also.	29:03
	And this weekend is your time to march	29:07
	to where the multicolored robes	29:10
	and hoods of your disciplines,	29:12
	the symbols of all the midnight hours,	29:15
	when across your desk	29:17
	danced seductive demons	29:19
	in a pool of light, and angels too,	29:25
	I hope, for your relief and pleasure.	29:27
	The Church, the Temple	29:34
	is the third.	29:37
	Great stone walls, light fractured	29:40
	soft through multicolored windows.	29:42
	An institution capacious enough to celebrate	29:45
	not only your individual accomplishments,	29:49
	but also the non-competitive learning	29:53
	by which we together receive an inheritance.	29:56
	And then become trustees	30:00
	of what we cannot possess.	30:02
	This celebration is sophisticated enough	30:06
	to embrace our accomplishments,	30:09
	but also to acknowledge, with a measure of somberness,	30:12
	our human depravity.	30:17
	And then to go on and celebrate with song, organ,	30:20
	and civil abandon,	30:23
	the disciplines of heaven,	30:25
	which is the mercies of God,	30:27
	set over and against our sin.	30:30
	These three celebrate well.	30:34
	The gold,	30:38
	the hood,	30:40
	and the blessing.	30:42
	But it is this third celebration, the blessing,	30:46
	which is least clear and deserves	30:49
	at least a brief exploration.	30:51
	There is a story about a professor	30:58
	with rising reputation and spreading fame,	31:01
	who worked miracles with the language of his discipline,	31:05
	and would, in a few years, receive honors	31:10
	for his writing and awards for his teaching.	31:12
	And there was a sophomore	31:16
	who appreciated the graduate students who taught	31:20
	too many of his classes and sections,	31:24
	but who was naive enough to desire to study	31:28
	under the professor of rising reputation.	31:33
	And bold enough to send him a note.	31:36
	Dear Professor,	31:38
	though only a sophomore, I humbly ask for the opportunity	31:40
	to talk with you about the possibility	31:45
	of participating in your seminar number 403.	31:47
	After waiting long enough for the professor	31:52
	to receive the note,	31:54
	but not so long that the request would be forgotten,	31:57
	the sophomore went to the professor's office.	32:00
	Bending as suppliant before the littered desk,	32:05
	he cleared his throat to begin his plea.	32:09
	The professor stood up, pushed back his chair,	32:11
	and said, "Stand up!	32:14
	"I too am a human being.	32:18
	"I too am a human being."	32:24
	It was not self-deprecating, I am only a human being.	32:30
	It was not self-laudatory,	32:34
	I am better because I am a human being.	32:36
	Just a straightforward identification	32:38
	of the self in terms of the other.	32:41
	The two of us are human beings,	32:43
	and we are in this together.	32:48
	What is this human	32:53
	togetherness?	32:56
	Jesus told the story of a servant	33:01
	who owed his king 10,000 talents.	33:04
	Which is to say, he owed billions.	33:08
	The king asked him to pay up, the man said he could not.	33:12
	So, in order to affirm the principal	33:15
	that debts should be paid,	33:17
	the king ordered the servant to be sold,	33:20
	his wife, children, everything he had.	33:22
	The man fell down at the king's feet	33:27
	and begged for time, which was ridiculous,	33:28
	because if that servant worked for 1,000 years,	33:31
	he'd never be able to pay off that debt.	33:34
	But because he begged for mercy,	33:39
	the king forgave the whole of it.	33:41
	And the man walked out of that place	33:44
	with his head in the clouds, he was a free man.	33:46
	And as some of you will remember,	33:52
	this same servant, as he walked out of the palace,	33:53
	ran into a fellow servant who owed him	33:57
	a few thousand dollars.	34:00
	He took his fellow servant by the throat,	34:02
	and demanded full payment immediately.	34:04
	The second servant couldn't pay.	34:08
	So the first servant had him thrown into prison,	34:11
	disregarding his plea for mercy.	34:15
	Now, one of the things which is being said to us	34:20
	in this story	34:22
	is that we are like the first servant.	34:24
	We owe billions.	34:28
	Our offense against God	34:34
	is monstrously great.	34:37
	Now if we're honest, and not too churchy or pious,	34:42
	most of us don't really think this way.	34:45
	I wouldn't think of pointing my finger	34:49
	at any one of you, and saying,	34:51
	"Friend, you're a billionaire sinner."	34:52
	I hope that you would assume the same	34:55
	about me, that I am not.	34:59
	Most of us, in as are individuals,	35:02
	are peanut sinners.	35:04
	Get angry once in awhile, a little jealous,	35:08
	sometimes wandering eyes, abusive in a variety of ways,	35:10
	and all of this is serious,	35:14
	all of it's an offense against God.	35:15
	But most of us don't get much beyond peanuts.	35:18
	We're the hundred dinari type, like the second servant.	35:23
	But you see, all of that changes	35:27
	the moment we are able to say	35:32
	I too am a human being.	35:35
	I am a human being, one of those living in the 1980s,	35:42
	who allowed one of the crucial times in history to pass	35:47
	in blissful ignorance or in self-indulgence.	35:50
	I, we, had a few years to develop our coal reserves to use	35:56
	while we developed alternatives to oil.	36:00
	And we would not.	36:03
	And now it is too late.	36:06
	No longer enough time for the transition.	36:09
	Because the Arabs would not lower production,	36:13
	and we would not tax oil sufficiently to cut our use,	36:15
	and for revenues to develop alternative energies.	36:20
	Let's hear it for cheap oil.	36:25
	And it was so.	36:28
	And we use it.	36:30
	And because we have made oil cheap and used it,	36:33
	late in your lifetime,	36:36
	there will not be enough oil to make fertilizer.	36:41
	And millions of children will die	36:46
	of hunger in Southeast Asia.	36:49
	We're all wrapped up in peanut issues.	36:53
	But become billionaire sinners	36:58
	the moment we say	37:00
	I too am a human being.	37:01
	And we can say, what can we do about it now?	37:08
	And that's absolutely right, we are just like the man	37:11
	who owed 10,000 talents to the king.	37:14
	He couldn't do anything about it either,	37:16
	he asked for time, but the king knew that the servant	37:18
	couldn't pay back the debt if he worked for 1,000 years.	37:22
	How do we pay	37:26
	for all the lives that have been	37:30
	lost to starvation and will be,	37:35
	how do we pay?	37:39
	But the servant walked out of the palace free,	37:47
	because what he couldn't pay	37:51
	was absorbed	37:55
	in the disciplines of heaven, the mercies of God.	37:58
	And this is part of the meaning of the blessing,	38:03
	which is the church, on an occasion of this kind.	38:06
	If we are able to come to the point	38:11
	of saying I too am a human being,	38:13
	and in that confession, acknowledge the magnitude	38:17
	of our complicity in evil written gross,	38:19
	then the blessing of God, the mercy of God	38:24
	is also of overwhelming magnitude.	38:26
	If we can only think small and self alone,	38:29
	then we are in a child's world,	38:33
	with blessings of peanut proportions.	38:38
	But there's more to it,	38:43
	more to this blessing.	38:45
	When we say, or are able to come to say,	38:49
	I too am a human being, then we take unto ourselves	38:52
	all the beauty which is	38:57
	the human enterprise.	39:00
	Then this celebration is not just for what you have learned,	39:02
	but a rejoicing for Abraham and Sarah,	39:07
	for Moses and all the prophets,	39:10
	I too am of the family of every woman	39:13
	who has given birth and holds her child to her breast.	39:15
	The family of patient planting, chanting winnowers of grain,	39:20
	of music makers, story tellers,	39:24
	poets, the doers of noble deeds, and seers of visions,	39:26
	which in time will never come to pass.	39:30
	But which call us toward a future	39:33
	to be sought and prayed for.	39:35
	When I can say I too am a human being,	39:38
	I enter into this great world of truth and beauty	39:41
	which is the human enterprise.	39:46
	The grades which I receive, the honors which	39:48
	are now in my name, the procession which I now join,	39:52
	the congratulations addressed to me,	39:56
	these too we bring for blessing.	39:59
	But what the church wants to say to us,	40:03
	the temple wants to say to us	40:05
	on an occasion of this kind is,	40:07
	that there is also a larger blessing.	40:10
	Not just what you have earned and won for yourselves.	40:15
	Each of us does come single,	40:20
	accountable,	40:24
	but we come into an inheritance as well,	40:25
	built up by generations of scholars and teachers.	40:28
	We enter a treasury of love and learning,	40:31
	which belongs not to us, but to the whole human family.	40:33
	And when we say I too am a human being,	40:38
	we claim that inheritance.	40:42
	We offer what Mr. Elliot called our little lights,	40:46
	which are dappled with shadow.	40:50
	The things which we have been moved	40:53
	to building, to finding, to forming	40:55
	at the ends of our fingers and beams of our eyes.	40:57
	And we place these things which we have made	41:02
	with thanksgiving upon the altar of God.	41:05
	And the blessing of God falls not just upon	41:09
	these small lights which we bring.	41:12
	But upon all the love and beauty,	41:18
	generative within the human family,	41:20
	and which we claim with the simple words	41:24
	I too am a human being.	41:28
	Three institutions,	41:32
	which know how to celebrate on a grand scale.	41:35
	The gold, the hood, and the blessing.	41:39
	The university, but especially the church and the temple,	41:45
	invite us to celebrate in a large place,	41:50
	where it is required that we see	41:55
	not just our failures,	42:00
	but embrace as our own	42:04
	all the bloodshed and tears of humankind.	42:07
	A large place where we rejoice,	42:12
	not just in our accomplishments,	42:16
	but where we are invited to claim the inheritance	42:18
	of all things gracious and just.	42:20
	And the blessing bestowed is the mercies of God,	42:25
	set against sins great and small.	42:29
	The blessing bestowed is God's own "amen"	42:34
	to whatever is true and gracious,	42:38
	whether these things be of our doing	42:41
	or come to us by inheritance,	42:43
	the blessing comes to those	42:46
	who are able to say	42:49
	I too am a human being.	42:52
	This blessing rest upon you gently,	42:58
	and give you peace.	43:02
	(organ music)	43:15
	(choir music)	44:10
-	Let us unite in this historic	47:00
	confession of the Christian faith.	47:02
	I believe in God the Father almighty,	47:05
	maker of heaven and earth,	47:08
	and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord,	47:11
	who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,	47:14
	born of the Virgin Mary,	47:17
	suffered under Pontius Pilate,	47:19
	was crucified dead and buried.	47:22
	He descended into hell.	47:25
	The third day, he rose again from the dead.	47:27
	He ascended into heaven,	47:30
	and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.	47:32
	From this he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	47:36
	I believe in the Holy Ghost,	47:40
	the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,	47:42
	the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,	47:46
	and the life everlasting, amen.	47:50
	(organ music)	48:09
	(choir music)	48:49
-	Let us stand and join together in the prayer.	53:34
	Almighty God, as you have granted us a place	53:45
	in this university, hallowed to us now this day,	53:49
	when we dedicate ourselves to the life and work	53:54
	to which you have called us,	53:57
	that we may remember with gratitude	54:00
	the families and friends that have cared for us.	54:02
Congregation	Let us praise you God.	54:07
Priest	That in the life ahead,	54:10
	we may keep faith with those who loved us	54:11
	and trusted us and whose hopes follow us.	54:14
Congregation	Grant us strength, oh God.	54:19
Priest	That we may enter with good courage	54:21
	and constant purpose upon the tasks which await us.	54:24
Congregation	Grant us strength, oh God.	54:28
-	From all vanity and pride, as if our accomplishments	54:30
	were of our sole creation.	54:35
	(congregation murmurs)	54:37
	From neglect of the opportunities which are all about us.	54:39
	And from distrust of our ability	54:43
	to meet the duties of each dawning day.	54:45
Congregation	Deliver us.	54:49
-	That the example of wise and generous people	54:51
	who have gone before us, in our families,	54:54
	and here at this university, may save us	54:56
	from folly and self-indulgence.	55:01
Congregation	Help us, merciful God.	55:04
-	More especially, that you would show to us	55:07
	your way of love in all that we do or say,	55:10
	that we should come to love the Lord our God	55:15
	with our soul and mind and strength,	55:17
	and our neighbor as ourselves.	55:21
Congregation	We trust in you, oh God.	55:24
Priest	These things, and whatever else you see needful	55:27
	and right for us, we ask in your holy name, amen.	55:30
	(organ music)	55:37
	(choir music)	56:20
-	Now, class of 1988, the blessing of almighty God,	1:00:07
	Father, Son and Holy Spirit be among you	1:00:11
	and abide with you now and always.	1:00:15
	(choir music)	1:00:22

Item Info

Title:

Vannorsdall, John W. - "What in the World Is God Doing?" (May 8, 1988)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 28:12. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 43:07.
Baccaulate Service: The university but especially the Church invite us to celebrate in a big scale. A celebration of our human togetherness. Which means we embrace that as humans we have much sin to repent from, but also we share in a blessing inheritance of all things gracious and just. And the blessing bestowed is the mercies of God, set against sins great and small. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “If we are able to come to the point of saying I too am a human being, and in that confession, acknowledge the magnitude of our complicity in evil written gross, then the blessing of God, the mercy of God is also of overwhelming magnitude.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4154f418

Date:

May 8, 1988

Speaker:

Vannorsdall, John W.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Sin, Redemption, Church, Prevenient grace, Repentance

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0080
ref8471_vur
uachapelsermaud
duke:321552
dcrmv001080
ark:/87924/r4154f418
15265a79-4833-4ff1-bad6-d75820e01637

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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.

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Rights Note:

Duke has not determined the copyright status of this item. Regardless of its status, we have made a good faith determination that online access through the Duke Digital Repository is an acceptable fair use and otherwise permitted under U.S. copyright law. For more information, see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions

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