Stephen J. Batten - "The Voice of God" (February 26, 1989)

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	(gentle organ music)	0:01
	(bright organ music)	0:48
	(singing in foreign language)	3:11
-	Good morning and welcome to the service	4:47
	of holy communion here at the chapel	4:49
	on this third Sunday of Lent.	4:51
	We are pleased to welcome each of you to this service	4:53
	and we also extend greeting to those of you in our radio	4:55
	and television audiences,	4:58
	especially those patients in Duke Hospital	4:59
	where the service is broadcast live each Sunday morning.	5:02
	We welcome to our pulpit this morning,	5:06
	Mr. Steven J. Batton, Trinity College class of '89.	5:08
	Mr. Batten has been invited to preach	5:13
	at this morning's service as the winner	5:15
	of this year's annual student preacher competition.	5:17
	He is a senior majoring in religion	5:20
	with an emphasis in Islamic studies.	5:22
	Stephen is also a student carillonneur	5:25
	and a former chapel attendant.	5:28
	We are grateful to all of those who have had a part	5:30
	to play at this year's competition	5:33
	as we look forward to Stephen's message this morning.	5:35
	This afternoon at five o'clock p.m.	5:38
	an organ recital will be presented by Mr. Peter Harford	5:40
	of St. Alban's Cathedral in England on the Flentrop organ.	5:43
	The public is invited to attend without charge.	5:47
	Please note the remaining announcements	5:51
	as they are printed in your bulletins.	5:53
	And now let us continue our worship.	5:55
	(bright organ music)	5:58
	♪ I sing the mighty power of God ♪	6:40
	♪ That made the mountains rise, ♪	6:44
	♪ That spread the flowing seas abroad ♪	6:49
	♪ And built the lofty skies. ♪	6:54
	♪ I sing the wisdom that ordained ♪	7:00
	♪ The sun to rule the day ♪	7:05
	♪ The moon shines full at his command ♪	7:10
	♪ And all the stars obey ♪	7:15
	♪ I sing the goodness of the Lord, ♪	7:22
	♪ Who filled the earth with food, ♪	7:27
	♪ Who formed the creatures with his Word ♪	7:32
	♪ And then pronounced them good ♪	7:37
	♪ Lord, how thy wonders are displayed ♪	7:43
	♪ Where'er I turn my eye, ♪	7:48
	♪ If I survey the ground I tread ♪	7:53
	♪ Or gaze upon the sky ♪	7:58
	(dramatic organ music)	8:06
	(gentle organ music)	9:25
	♪ There's not a plant or flower below, ♪	9:34
	♪ But makes thy glories known, ♪	9:39
	♪ And clouds arise, and tempests blow ♪	9:44
	♪ By order from thy throne ♪	9:49
	♪ While all that borrows life from thee ♪	9:55
	♪ Is ever in thy care ♪	10:00
	♪ And everywhere that man can be ♪	10:06
	♪ Thou, God art present there ♪	10:11
-	When we gather to praise God,	10:22
	we remember that we are a people	10:25
	who have preferred our own wills to the Lord's.	10:27
	Accepting God's power to become new persons in Christ,	10:31
	let us confess our sins before God and one another.	10:34
	Please be seated.	10:39
	Have mercy upon us oh God,	10:52
	according to thy loving kindness,	10:55
	according to the multitude of they tender mercies,	10:58
	blot out our transgressions.	11:01
	Wash us thoroughly from our iniquities,	11:04
	and cleanse us from our sins.	11:07
	For we acknowledge our transgressions	11:09
	and our sin is ever before us.	11:12
	Create in us clean hearts, O God	11:15
	and renew a right spirit within us.	11:18
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	11:21
	Hear the good news.	11:27
	Christ died for us while we were yet sinners,	11:29
	that is God's own proof of his love toward us.	11:33
	In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.	11:36
Congregation	In the name	11:41
	of Jesus Christ you are forgiven.	11:42
-	Will you pray with me the prayer for elimination.	11:51
All	Open our hearts and minds, oh God.	11:55
	By the power of your Holy Spirit	11:58
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	12:01
	we might hear with joy, which you say to us this day.	12:05
	Amen.	12:09
	A reading from the book of Exodus.	12:11
	Now Moses was keeping the flock	12:15
	of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.	12:17
	And he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness	12:21
	and came to Horeb the mountain of God.	12:24
	And the angel of the Lord appeared	12:28
	to him in a flame of fire	12:30
	out of the midst of a bush and he looked,	12:32
	and lo, the bush was burning yet it was not consumed.	12:35
	And Moses said, "I will turn aside	12:41
	"and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."	12:44
	When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,	12:49
	God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses.	12:52
	And he said, "Here am I."	12:57
	Then God said, "Do not come near,	13:02
	"put off your shoes from your feet,	13:05
	"for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."	13:07
	And God said, "I am the God of your father,	13:12
	"the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,	13:16
	"and the God of Jacob."	13:20
	And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.	13:23
	Then the Lord said, "I have seen the affliction	13:29
	"of my people who are in Egypt	13:32
	"and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.	13:34
	"I know their sufferings	13:38
	"and I have come down to deliver them	13:40
	"out of the hand of the Egyptians	13:42
	"and to bring them up out of that land	13:44
	"to a good and broad land,	13:46
	"a land flowing with milk and honey	13:49
	to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites,	13:51
	"the Amorites, the Perezites,	13:55
	"the Hivites, and the Jebusites.	13:58
	"And now behold, the cry of the people	14:02
	"of Israel has come to me	14:04
	"and I have seen the oppression	14:06
	"with which the Egyptians oppress them.	14:08
	"Come, I will send you to Pharaoh	14:11
	"that you may bring forth my people,	14:13
	"the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."	14:15
	But Moses said to God,	14:18
	"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh	14:20
	"and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt.	14:22
	He said, "But I will be with you.	14:25
	"And this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you.	14:27
	"When you have brought forth the people out of Egypt,	14:32
	"you shall serve God on this mountian."	14:35
	Then Moses said to God,	14:39
	"If I come to the people of Israel and say to them,	14:41
	"the God of your fathers has sent me to you,	14:44
	"and they ask me, what is the name of that one?	14:46
	"What shall I say to them."	14:50
	And God said to Moses, "I am who I am."	14:53
	And God said, "Say this to the people of Israel,	14:58
	"I am has sent me to you."	15:03
	God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel,	15:06
	"The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,	15:10
	"the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.	15:15
	"This is my name forever,	15:20
	"and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations."	15:22
	(gentle organ music)	15:33
	♪ O my soul, bless God the Father ♪	15:57
	♪ All within me, bless his name ♪	16:03
	♪ Bless the Father, and forget not ♪	16:09
	♪ All His mercies to proclaim ♪	16:15
	♪ Who forgiveth my transgressions ♪	16:25
	♪ Who forgiveth my transgressions ♪	16:30
	♪ Thy diseases all who heals ♪	16:36
	♪ Thy diseases all who heals ♪	16:41
	♪ Who redeems thee from destruction ♪	16:47
	♪ Who with thee so kindly deals ♪	16:53
	♪ For as east from west is distant ♪	17:03
	♪ He hath put away our sin ♪	17:08
	♪ Like the pity of a father ♪	17:14
	♪ Hath the Lord's compassion been ♪	17:21
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	17:30
	♪ So it was without an end ♪	17:36
	♪ To the children's children ever ♪	17:42
	♪ Shall his righteousness descend ♪	17:49
	♪ Unto such as he gives covenant ♪	17:58
	♪ And on such as he gives grace ♪	18:04
	♪ And on such as he gives faith ♪	18:10
	♪ Unto those who still remember ♪	18:16
	♪ His commandments have no end ♪	18:22
	♪ Bless the Father, all his creatures ♪	18:32
	♪ Ever under his control ♪	18:38
	♪ All throughout his vast dominion ♪	18:45
	♪ Bless the Father, O my soul ♪	18:51
-	When I was a little kid,	19:15
	growing up in eastern North Carolina,	19:18
	my father would occasionally read to me a bedtime story.	19:23
	My sister and I would sit in her bedroom	19:27
	and wait and Daddy would come in	19:29
	with a large black book entitled,	19:31
	100 Bedtime Bible Stories for Children.	19:34
	Now, I'm familiar with the theory	19:38
	that it's noble to expose children to Scripture	19:40
	and the tenets of their faith from an early age.	19:43
	But the book was horrifying.	19:46
	All of the best stories,	19:49
	the stories with the color illustrations,	19:50
	were the scariest ones.	19:52
	The stories of Shadrach, Meshach	19:54
	and Abednego being cast into the furnace.	19:56
	The story of the plagues of Egypt,	20:00
	complete with rivers of blood, toads,	20:02
	and the Angel of Death.	20:05
	And the story of Moses and the burning bush.	20:08
	Now, I'm thinking back to a time when I was about five.	20:12
	And I'm just learning to live without a nightlight.	20:16
	I still have a security blanket and thinking back to that,	20:18
	the stories were a little more than I could bear.	20:24
	I would check my closet and under my bed,	20:26
	I occasionally even checked the bushes outside my window,	20:30
	lest they be on fire,	20:33
	God would come booming down into my bedroom	20:35
	and tell me to do something I didn't really want to do.	20:38
	But it was in the context of a bedtime story	20:44
	that I first heard the story of Moses and the burning bush.	20:47
	It is a story that we all have heard before,	20:50
	we heard it in lectionary for today,	20:54
	we've seen it on countless Sunday School flannel boards,	20:56
	we've even seen it on the silver screen	20:59
	with Charlton Heston portraying a decidedly waspish Moses.	21:02
	It is a story we know by heart.	21:06
	It is part of the canon.	21:10
	But for me the story	21:13
	of Moses and the burning bush holds a mystery,	21:14
	a relevance, a resonance,	21:18
	something that has continued to fascinate me,	21:20
	despite the fears of childhood because here,	21:23
	God speaks directly to one of us.	21:27
	A human being.	21:31
	There's no prophet to interpret an omen.	21:33
	Moses is hearing the voice of the very real, Almighty.	21:37
	And I would venture to say, that most of us here today,	21:43
	I know that I have, at times envied Moses his burning bush.	21:47
	For in an age that is sorely lacking in drama and mystery,	21:54
	where traditions of centuries are discarded daily	22:00
	without question as to whether they were good or bad,	22:02
	where the problems that we face are most often posed	22:07
	by our own achievements,	22:10
	a little solid direction from an indisputable source would	22:12
	at times be very welcome.	22:16
	It would be like having God as a consultant,	22:20
	or an academic advisor.	22:22
	Not only does he know the questions, he wrote the book.	22:24
	The advice is advice that in no way can be second guessed.	22:28
	Steering you clear of the bad parts of human existence	22:31
	and pointing you towards the better ones.	22:35
	The voice of God, unfortunately,	22:38
	is a little more tricky than that.	22:40
	Let's look back at Moses.	22:41
	Now, Moses had an alright childhood.	22:43
	True, he was put in a river,	22:47
	but he was found by a princess of the royal house of Egypt,	22:48
	he was given every advantage.	22:51
	True, he did murder a man,	22:55
	but when he did have to flee Egypt,	22:56
	he eventually landed on his feet like a cat.	22:58
	He's married, he has a family	23:01
	and he's peacefully tending his flocks in the Sinai desert.	23:04
	Moses is a murderer on the lam, but that's behind him	23:09
	and as he's tending his flocks he sees a burning bush.	23:13
	And a voice comes out of it, and the voice is God's.	23:18
	And it says, Moses, come here.	23:22
	Take of your shoes, sit still and listen,	23:24
	I have a job for you.	23:26
	Moses has to go back to Egypt where he's a wanted man,	23:28
	speak to a skeptical king,	23:32
	convince that king to let an unbelieving	23:35
	and suspectful people go,	23:38
	convince them that their God has not forgotten about them	23:40
	and lead them to a promised land	23:43
	that no one has ever seen before.	23:45
	And Moses has the impertinence to ask, why me.	23:48
	It's a human question.	23:52
	Moses is one of us.	23:54
	But it's not a debate.	23:56
	God has a commission.	23:58
	The commission has been given	24:00
	and it's up to Moses to do what has to be done.	24:02
	His life will never be the same.	24:06
	And that seems to be the voice of God for you.	24:09
	Because when you least expect it,	24:12
	God comes booming down telling you to do something	24:14
	that you didn't really think about in the first place	24:17
	and gives you terms that you have to live with.	24:20
	Our faith is full of people,	24:23
	people who heard the voice of God without asking to hear it.	24:25
	David, Saul, Joan of Arc if you will.	24:28
	People who heard the voice of the Almighty	24:32
	and afterwards found out that their lives have been wrenched	24:34
	from their control, their destinies	24:37
	and their fates taken beyond their own grasp.	24:40
	They often have met less than pleasant ends	24:45
	in their mortal lives.	24:47
	And yet I feel, and I think many of us here today,	24:48
	may wish to hear the voice of God.	24:52
	Despite documented examples of what may happen.	24:56
	Why?	24:59
	Well, we do live in an age that has increasingly little use	25:01
	for miracles or manifestations of the Almighty Divine.	25:05
	Skeptics that we are, we poke and we prod	25:09
	and we try to find a rational explanation	25:12
	for everything that passes in front of our senses.	25:15
	And realizing that a completely rational world	25:19
	may truly be a completely bleak world,	25:22
	wouldn't it be nice to have a little first hand experience	25:26
	that not only is God there,	25:30
	God is watching us and caring about us.	25:34
	And walking under a falling anvil	25:37
	and missing it by a matter of seconds	25:39
	and inches is not what I'm talking about.	25:41
	We'd like a little Hollywood God if you will,	25:44
	a burning bush, a column of smoke, a booming voice.	25:46
	A little irrefutably divine and magical evidence	25:50
	that not only is our Creator there, our Creator is active.	25:55
	The same line of reasoning carries us	26:00
	to another reason why we may wish	26:02
	to hear the voice of God, our own egos.	26:04
	Because surely, if God is going to speak	26:08
	to anyone of anyone, he's going to speak to one of us.	26:11
	We are the children of God and though made	26:15
	in the image of our Creator,	26:17
	we are each unmistakably unique.	26:19
	Only God can perfectly understand me, you,	26:22
	the life you live, the problems that we all have.	26:27
	Only God can answer those questions pertinent to ourselves.	26:30
	When I began to write this sermon,	26:36
	I was looking for a quote and rummaging	26:38
	through a box on my desk	26:40
	and I found a stack of papers	26:42
	that I had written freshman year.	26:44
	They're four years old now, they are painful to read	26:48
	and I was wondering, why did I save them?	26:51
	Very simply, when I entered Duke in 1985,	26:56
	I assumed that everything	26:59
	that I had ever written would someday be	27:00
	in demand for publication.	27:02
	(audience laughing)	27:04
	An early anthology of Stephen Batten if you will.	27:05
	The royalties would pour in,	27:08
	I would not have to interview for a job.	27:10
	May the 15th would hold no fear for me.	27:12
	But of course I found out otherwise.	27:16
	And it's that same kind of ego which made me think	27:19
	that my theology papers	27:23
	from Dr. Osborne's class were special.	27:25
	That makes me think that maybe God will speak to me,	27:27
	whether I'm a Moses or not.	27:32
	We also live in the post-Enlightenment Protestant Age	27:36
	where every person is expected to think for his or herself.	27:38
	And where the tenets of our faith are open to all.	27:43
	We are expected to come up with definite answers	27:47
	to questions not yet solved.	27:50
	Sometimes our preachers and priests,	27:54
	we relegate them to simply well-intentioned clerics	27:56
	instead of the authorities that they once were.	28:00
	And in this time it is up to the individual	28:03
	to think through the disturbing moments of faith.	28:07
	The results being highly individualistic explanations	28:10
	of who we are and the problems that we face	28:14
	in our own lives.	28:17
	As the heirs of the mismatched marriage of faith and reason,	28:19
	we want to hear God telling us	28:23
	that there are indeed universal answers	28:25
	to our own individual spiritual queries.	28:28
	And finally perhaps the time when we need	28:32
	to hear God the most is during those inevitable moments	28:35
	of pain and bereavement.	28:38
	When our Creator, as our parent,	28:40
	is seemingly no where to be found.	28:42
	Like abandoned children, we cry out.	28:46
	And in the episodes of pain and suffering	28:49
	which confront us in human existence,	28:52
	when no great majestic voice reaches forth the comfort	28:54
	to succor us, the silence is deafening.	28:59
	And like our Savior on the cross during the Passion,	29:03
	we cry, my God, hast thou forsaken me.	29:06
	This most telling line of the Passion has reverberated	29:12
	in us all at one time or another.	29:16
	Where is our God that the world we inhabit allows us	29:20
	to live miserably and sometimes die painfully.	29:23
	Where is our Creator that we are allowed to suffer,	29:27
	to hate and to be hated.	29:30
	And if, just if, all of this is inevitable,	29:32
	then like Moses, we have the impertinence to ask why.	29:36
	Not only do we ask the questions, we demand answers.	29:42
	We want to hear the voice of God.	29:46
	Two Christmases ago, I received a phone call	29:51
	from my mother telling me that my Aunt Madge had died.	29:55
	Now, it was I think the day before finals ended,	30:01
	so I still had one more to go.	30:05
	The news didn't really phase me,	30:08
	I had seen Madge four weeks earlier at Thanksgiving	30:10
	and I had just recently come to realize, I guess,	30:15
	that no one is forever and that we have to face death.	30:19
	And so, I went in took my final, I went home,	30:23
	and I prepared to drive to Virginia for the funeral.	30:28
	To truly understand why I'm telling you this,	30:33
	I have to try to recreate a little bit of my Aunt Madge.	30:35
	She was someone the likes	30:38
	of which you will probably never meet.	30:39
	I know no one else like her.	30:43
	Born and raised in southwestern Virginia and West Virginia,	30:45
	she was a woman of the mountains.	30:49
	She had a twang to her speech,	30:51
	an honesty that was unflinching.	30:53
	She would tell you how you looked no matter how you looked.	30:55
	When you asked her how she was doing she would tell you	31:00
	in no uncertain terms, starting with the hip,	31:02
	maybe going forward, it was who she was.	31:05
	She had a wicked sense of humor.	31:09
	Once when I was driving her to my grandmother's house	31:12
	for Thanksgiving and my 21 year old car broke down,	31:15
	as the wrecker lifted the front	31:19
	of the car pointing towards the heavens,	31:20
	Madge quietly began to hum, Nearer My God to Thee.	31:22
	(audience laughing)	31:26
	She didn't look at me,	31:27
	she said she enjoyed the view as she rode into Blacksburgh	31:30
	So I drove to the funeral.	31:36
	And funerals are never fun experiences, we all know that.	31:38
	And Madge's was no exception.	31:43
	After arriving in her small town of Henry, Virginia,	31:48
	at the house, we went up to the church	31:52
	which stood on a hill, still does stand on a hill.	31:54
	Probably no more than a tenth of a mile from her house.	31:57
	And having to file past a coffin	32:02
	and say goodbye to someone I loved,	32:05
	and then sit down in front of a congregation, grieving,	32:08
	was something that was not fun.	32:12
	It was an experience that I was trying	32:16
	to get through with as much composure as I could.	32:18
	And when the service was over	32:22
	and the pall had been borne out of the church,	32:25
	we drove back down through the valley of Henry	32:28
	and back out to the cemetery which is	32:31
	on another hill facing across the valley.	32:33
	And it was exactly like a funeral should be.	32:37
	It was straight out of a movie.	32:39
	It's a gray, cold windy day, a hint of snow,	32:42
	a mountain top cemetery.	32:45
	Muffled words.	32:48
	And we consigned Madge to her earthly resting place,	32:51
	filed past and drove back to the house.	32:56
	I was tired.	33:00
	More than tired, I was sick of being around people.	33:02
	I am not normally comfortable in large crowds	33:05
	and the house was getting crowded for my taste	33:07
	and so I went upstairs to get away	33:10
	from the noise of the family,	33:12
	to get away from the business of the will.	33:15
	And I went into the only heated bedroom upstairs,	33:19
	which was Madge's room.	33:21
	And I sat down.	33:26
	I cannot describe to you exactly what it felt like	33:30
	to sit in that room, it was alive.	33:33
	I had been in that room a million times since childhood	33:37
	and nothing had changed, from the chair that I sat in,	33:39
	to the quilt on the bed, to the old black phone	33:43
	on the bedside table, to the hairbrushes, to the smell,	33:47
	be it perfume or hairspray, I don't remember.	33:52
	That room talked to me of my aunt.	33:55
	And I felt sure that if just sat still	34:02
	and waited long enough, she'd talk to me.	34:05
	Not, because I was being ghoulish or anything,	34:09
	but because she hadn't been dead that long,	34:12
	she couldn't be that far away, she was someone I loved,	34:15
	she couldn't leave me.	34:19
	And so I waited.	34:23
	And I didn't hear a thing.	34:26
	And in the absence of hearing Madge's voice,	34:28
	in the absence of hearing anything at all,	34:31
	I wanted to hear the voice of God.	34:34
	I wanted to hear the voice of God, not to comfort me,	34:37
	I wanted to hear the voice of God telling me,	34:41
	telling me why someone I loved had to die.	34:44
	Forgetting that millions have grieved before me,	34:48
	billions even and will grieve after me.	34:50
	Forgetting that spouses grieve for each other,	34:53
	for their children, children for their parents,	34:56
	I wanted to know why.	34:58
	God, defend your actions to me, Stephen Batten,	35:00
	tell me exactly why someone I love has been taken from me.	35:03
	More than that, why do people die.	35:07
	Why is there pain, why are we here?	35:09
	And I closed my eyes and I waited.	35:15
	And I heard nothing.	35:19
	Nothing except the sound of my own voice beginning to cry	35:21
	and later I just went downstairs and drove home.	35:24
	Because for me there was no burning bush.	35:28
	There was no great majestic voice from God.	35:32
	And I don't mean to be a skeptic, and I'm not.	35:38
	But, I don't believe that many of us will be blessed	35:42
	with hearing the voice of God, not in the way Moses did.	35:45
	Audibly and perceptibly booming down and abase.	35:49
	Talking to us.	35:53
	I believe in miracles and if you explain something to me	35:56
	in terms of the divine, I'll accept it.	35:59
	I'll make it a miracle before anything else,	36:02
	but I just don't feel it's that likely.	36:05
	Because we want to hear our Lord,	36:09
	because we want to be held and comforted.	36:11
	We want to be reassured, that yes, we really do matter,	36:14
	and that yes we are beautiful if flawed creations	36:18
	and that yes, God actually watches each and everyone of us.	36:21
	We want to be told that this world,	36:27
	which experience teaches us is indifferent at best,	36:28
	is not really all that there is	36:32
	and that the unconditional love of God for man is more	36:34
	than a neatly turned phrase or a nicely interpreted text.	36:38
	We want to hear all of this and more but in order to do so,	36:44
	in order to hear anything, we have to hear it all.	36:48
	We have to hear not only what we want to hear,	36:53
	but what God has to say.	36:55
	And not all of it is pleasant.	36:58
	Certainly we were created in the image of God,	37:00
	but we fell from grace	37:04
	and every day we repeat the fall in our lives.	37:05
	True there is a life everlasting,	37:08
	but we must also suffer the death of our bodies	37:10
	and the pain of bereavement.	37:13
	Yes, the story and the life	37:15
	of Jesus the Christ is beautiful,	37:17
	and in a few weeks we will live	37:19
	through the sheer agony of Good Friday,	37:21
	knowing that Easter Sunday is just a day	37:23
	around the corner doesn't really help	37:26
	when we have to relive the moments	37:29
	of our Savior's crucifixion.	37:31
	In Christmas-tide we celebrated the miracle	37:34
	of the Incarnation, in this holy season of Lent,	37:36
	we remember our own mortality.	37:40
	If we truly wish to hear anything,	37:44
	we have to listen to it all.	37:47
	We have to listen to all that is both pleasing	37:50
	and unpleasing to our ears and then maybe, maybe,	37:53
	we begin to realize that we don't need a burning bush.	37:57
	That maybe we've had a burning bush.	38:02
	And that burning bush occurred	38:06
	in the miracle of God and man.	38:08
	In the Incarnation of the Christ.	38:12
	That is our burning bush.	38:16
	And like Moses, we have been commissioned by ours	38:17
	to lead the world out of the bondage of sin	38:21
	and the pain of human existence by loving the Lord our God,	38:24
	with all hearts and with all our souls	38:30
	and with all our minds	38:33
	and by loving our neighbors as ourselves.	38:35
	In hearing that commission,	38:40
	we realize that we've witnessed the greatest miracle of all.	38:43
	Certainly our egos have been sated.	38:47
	The Enlightenment, well, and we are not abandoned children.	38:51
	No, our Creator cared.	38:57
	And it was the care of that Creator	38:59
	that sent to us the Christ.	39:01
	In accepting that commission,	39:04
	we have indeed heard the voice of God.	39:05
	It is not the god of a Hollywood movie,	39:11
	or even a bedtime story that speaks to us in such a manner.	39:15
	It is not a Hollywood god which enjoins us	39:22
	to celebrate the commission we accept in baptism,	39:25
	by coming forward to receive the Eucharist,	39:29
	simple bread and simple wine,	39:32
	the body and blood of our Lord.	39:34
	Nope, it's not a Hollywood god.	39:37
	It is a patient God,	39:40
	a God who has over the millennia revealed not only the good	39:43
	but the bad, and who revealed the commission	39:46
	of the church and the Christian for all time.	39:50
	In short, the voice of God has already spoken for us today.	39:53
	And to simply reflect on it may not be as dramatic	39:58
	as a burning bush, a towering column of smoke,	40:02
	a booming voice.	40:05
	We may ask the questions, time and time again,	40:09
	but God has given us the answers.	40:13
	And I for one am not going to ask that they be repeated.	40:16
-	The Lord be with you.	40:35
-	And with you.
-	Let us pray.	40:38
	Oh ever living God, high above yet deep within us,	40:44
	thou hast searched us and known us, and lovest us still.	40:50
	Such knowledge is too high, we cannot attain it.	40:55
	Yet trusting in thy eternal goodness,	41:00
	ever beyond our comprehension,	41:03
	yet as close to us as a whisper,	41:06
	we bring before thee our varied conditions and concerns,	41:09
	gratefully acknowledging the mystery	41:13
	and the depths of thy power to heal.	41:15
	We bring before thee, creating God, the needs of our bodies,	41:20
	we pray for all those weakened	41:26
	by the merciless plague of hunger and malnutrition,	41:28
	for all who are stricken with terminal illness	41:33
	or other disease, and especially for all patients	41:35
	at Duke Hospital and for their families.	41:39
	For all who discover in the process	41:42
	of aging that their bodies are failing them.	41:44
	We bring before thee redeeming God, the needs of our minds.	41:50
	We pray for all those involved in educational pursuits,	41:55
	students, teachers, administrators and staff.	42:00
	For all those suffering from the tyranny of mental illness.	42:05
	For all who seek to expand our minds,	42:10
	visionaries, explorers, creative artists.	42:13
	We bring before thee sustaining God,	42:19
	the needs of our relationships.	42:22
	We pray for all those embroiled in conflict.	42:25
	For all who suffer from a lack of relationships,	42:30
	and are burdened by a sense of loneliness,	42:33
	failure or despair.	42:36
	For all who are unable to trust	42:39
	and who have never been fully known by another.	42:42
	For all who have resisted the opportunity	42:46
	to love even thee gracious God	42:49
	and do not accept the acceptance that thou hast offered us.	42:52
	We lift these prayers before thee oh God,	42:58
	reassured that thou has searched us	43:01
	and known us and lovest us still.	43:04
	In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.	43:08
	Remember the words of the Lord Jesus,	43:14
	how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive.	43:16
	Let us acknowledge the blessing of God in our lives	43:21
	as we offer our gifts and ourselves with thanksgiving.	43:23
	(soft organ music)	43:29
	(singing in foreign language)	44:13
	(gentle organ music)	48:10
	(bright organ music)	49:20
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	49:39
	♪ Praise him, all creatures here below ♪	49:49
	♪ Praise him above, ye heavenly host ♪	49:57
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	50:05
	♪ Amen ♪	50:15
-	The Lord be with you.	50:34
-	And also with you.
-	Lift up your hearts.	50:37
-	Lift them up, O Lord.
-	Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.	50:40
Congregation	It is right to give God thanks and praise.	50:43
-	It is right and a good a joyful thing always	50:46
	and everywhere to give you thanks,	50:49
	Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth.	50:51
	You brought all things into being and called them good.	50:54
	From the dust of the earth you formed us into your image	50:58
	and breathed into us the breath of life.	51:01
	When we turned away and our love failed,	51:05
	your love remains steadfast.	51:07
	When rain fell upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights,	51:10
	you bore up the ark on the waters,	51:13
	saved Noah and his family	51:16
	and established an everlasting covenant	51:18
	with every living creature upon the earth.	51:20
	When you delivered us from slavery	51:23
	and made us your covenant people,	51:25
	you lead Moses to your mountian	51:27
	for 40 days and 40 nights and gave us your teachings.	51:29
	You lead us through the wilderness for 40 years	51:33
	and brought us to the Promised Land.	51:36
	When we forsook your covenant you lead your prophet Elijah	51:39
	to your mountain where as he fasted 40 days	51:42
	and 40 nights he heard your still small voice.	51:45
	When you gave your only Son, Jesus Christ	51:49
	to save us from our sin,	51:52
	your Spirit led him into the wilderness	51:54
	where he fasted 40 days and 40 nights	51:57
	in preparation for his ministry.	51:59
	When he suffered and died on a cross for our sin,	52:02
	you raised him to life, presented him alive to the apostles	52:05
	during 40 days and exalted him at your right hand	52:09
	that we might be raised as the people of your new covenant,	52:13
	from sin and death to everlasting life.	52:17
	And now when we your people prepare	52:20
	for the yearly paschal feast	52:23
	of your Son's death and resurrection,	52:25
	you lead us to repentance for our sin	52:27
	and the cleansing of our hearts	52:30
	that during these 40 days of Lent we may become prepared	52:32
	to renew our covenant with you.	52:36
	Therefore, with your people in all ages	52:38
	and the whole company of heaven we join in the song	52:41
	of unending praise, saying,	52:44
All	Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might.	52:47
	Heaven and earth are full of your glory,	52:51
	hosanna in the highest.	52:54
	Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.	52:56
	Hosanna in the highest.	52:59
-	Truly holy are you and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ.	53:01
	On the night his disciples betrayed and deserted him,	53:06
	he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,	53:09
	gave it to his disciples and said,	53:13
	"Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.	53:15
	"Do this in remembrance of me."	53:19
	When the supper was over, he took the cup.	53:22
	Gave thanks to you, gave to his disciples and said,	53:25
	"Drink from this all of you,	53:28
	"for this is my blood of the New Covenant,	53:30
	"poured out for you	53:32
	"and for many for the forgiveness of sins.	53:33
	"Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."	53:37
	Therefore in remembrance	53:43
	of all your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,	53:45
	we ask you to accept this our sacrifice of praise	53:48
	and thanksgiving which we offer in union	53:51
	with Christ' sacrifice for us as a living	53:54
	and holy surrender of ourselves.	53:57
	Send the power of your Holy Spirit on us	54:00
	and on these gifts that in the breaking of this bread,	54:02
	the drinking of this wine,	54:06
	we may know the presence of the living Christ.	54:08
	Be one body in him, cleansed by his blood,	54:10
	faithfully serve him in the world	54:13
	and look forward to his coming in final victory.	54:16
	Through him, with him, in him,	54:19
	in the unity of the Holy Spirit,	54:23
	all honor and glory is yours Almighty God, now and forever.	54:25
All	Amen.	54:30
	Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.	54:31
	Thy kingdom come.	54:36
	Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.	54:37
	Give us this day our daily bread	54:41
	and forgive us our trespasses,	54:43
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	54:45
	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	54:48
	For thine is the kingdom,	54:52
	the power and the glory forever, amen.	54:54
-	The gifts of God for the people of God.	55:06
	(singing in foreign language)	56:34
	(gentle organ music)	58:52
	♪ Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face ♪	59:23
	♪ Here would I touch and handle things unseen ♪	59:30
	♪ Here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace ♪	59:37
	♪ And all my weariness upon thee lean ♪	59:44
	♪ This is the hour of banquet and of song ♪	59:53
	♪ This is the heavenly table spread for me ♪	59:59
	♪ Here let me feast, and feasting, still prolong ♪	1:00:06
	♪ The brief, bright hour of fellowship with thee ♪	1:00:13
	♪ Here would I feed upon the bread of God ♪	1:00:23
	♪ Here drink with Thee the royal wine of heav'n ♪	1:00:30
	♪ Here would we lay aside each earthly load, ♪	1:00:37
	♪ Here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiv'n. ♪	1:00:44
	♪ Too soon we rise, the symbols disappear; ♪	1:00:54
	♪ The feast, though not the love, is past and done; ♪	1:01:01
	♪ Gone are the bread and wine, but thou art here, ♪	1:01:08
	♪ Nearer than ever, still my Shield and Sun. ♪	1:01:15
	♪ Feast after feast thus comes, and passes by ♪	1:01:25
	♪ Yet passing, points to the glad feast above ♪	1:01:32
	♪ Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy ♪	1:01:38
	♪ The Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love ♪	1:01:45
	(gentle organ music)	1:01:59
	(singing in foreign language)	1:02:51
	(gentle organ music)	1:09:52
	♪ Let all mortal flesh keep silence ♪	1:10:24
	♪ And with fear and trembling stand ♪	1:10:31
	♪ Ponder nothing earthly minded ♪	1:10:38
	♪ For with blessing in his hand ♪	1:10:45
	♪ Christ our God to earth descending ♪	1:10:52
	♪ Comes our homage to demand ♪	1:11:01
	♪ King of kings, yet born of Mary ♪	1:11:10
	♪ As of old on earth he stood ♪	1:11:17
	♪ Lord of lords, in human vesture ♪	1:11:24
	♪ In the body and the blood ♪	1:11:30
	♪ He will give to all the faithful ♪	1:11:37
	♪ His own self for heavenly food ♪	1:11:46
	♪ Rank on rank the host of heaven ♪	1:11:56
	♪ Spreads its vanguard on the way ♪	1:12:02
	♪ As the Light of light descendeth ♪	1:12:08
	♪ From the realms of endless day ♪	1:12:14
	♪ Comes the powers of hell to vanquish ♪	1:12:21
	♪ As the darkness clears away ♪	1:12:30
-	Pour out upon is the spirit of your love oh, Lord,	1:12:44
	and unite the wills of those whom you have fed	1:12:47
	with one heavenly food	1:12:50
	through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, amen.	1:12:52
	And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,	1:12:57
	the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be	1:12:59
	with you all now and forevermore, amen.	1:13:02
	(gentle organ music)	1:13:10
	♪ For the bread which thous hast broken, ♪	1:13:36
	♪ For the wine which thou hast poured ♪	1:13:42
	♪ For the words which thous hast spoken ♪	1:13:48
	♪ Now we give you thanks, O Lord ♪	1:13:54
	♪ By this pledge that thou dost love us ♪	1:14:03
	♪ By thy gift of peace restored ♪	1:14:08
	♪ By thy call to heaven above us ♪	1:14:14
	♪ Hallow all our lives, O Lord ♪	1:14:20
	♪ With our sainted ones in glory ♪	1:14:29
	♪ Seated at the heavenly board ♪	1:14:35
	♪ May the church that's waiting for you ♪	1:14:41
	♪ Keep love's tie unbroken, Lord ♪	1:14:47
	♪ In thy service, Lord, defend us ♪	1:14:56
	♪ In our hearts keep watch and ward ♪	1:15:02
	♪ In the world where you have sent us ♪	1:15:07
	♪ Let thy kingdom come, O Lord ♪	1:15:14
	(somber organ music)	1:15:22
	(bright organ music)	1:17:06
	(people chattering)

Item Info

Title:

Stephen J. Batten - "The Voice of God" (February 26, 1989)

Description:

We long to hear the voice of God as it came to Moses, clear and direct. There are many reasons for this desire––we may want to be comforted, or it may be a matter of our own egos––but if we are truly going to hear God , then we must open ourselves not only to the answer we want but all of what God has to say. When we do this, we come to realize that God already has spoken to us in a burning bush, and that bush is the flesh of Jesus the Christ Incarnate. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 19:15. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 40:21.
Key quotation: “If we truly wish to hear anything, we have to listen to it all. We have to listen to all that is both pleasing and unpleasing to our ears, and then maybe, maybe we begin to realize that we don’t need a burning bush. That maybe we’ve had a burning bush. And that burning bush occurred in the miracle of God and man. In the Incarnation of the Christ.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4k06xg21

Date:

February 26, 1989

Speaker:

Batten, Stephen J.

Liturgical Calendar:

Lent

Biblical Book:

Exodus

Chapter and Verse:

Exodus 3:1-15

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0124
ref8582_ug7
uachapelsermaud
duke:321594
dcrmv001120
ark:/87924/r4k06xg21
b05e8036-3739-4c7d-b963-5c811d3a9bae

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.

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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