Robert W. Thornburg - "The Folk Christ Seeks" (November 5, 1989)

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	(orchestral music)	0:01
-	Good morning and welcome to this service of worship	3:14
	here at Duke University Chapel on this all saint Sunday.	3:17
	We owe our a special thanks to guest musicians	3:19
	Paul Jeffrey and the Duke Jazz Ensemble	3:24
	and Ms. Rosetta Breeze, who along with our own	3:26
	chapel choir, promised to make this a truly	3:29
	memorable service today.	3:31
	We welcome to our pulpit the Reverend Dr. Robert Thornburg,	3:33
	dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University	3:36
	and chaplain to the university.	3:40
	Dr. Thornburg was educated at DePaul University,	3:42
	Garret Evangelical Seminary, Union Seminary	3:45
	and Columbia University.	3:47
	In addition to his chaplains duties, he serves	3:49
	as lecturer in the Boston University's School of Theology.	3:52
	Dr. Thornburg has been designated a James T Clowe	3:56
	on visiting preacher.	3:58
	I'd also like to thank Mr. Paul Bumbalow,	4:00
	Dean for student life, assistant dean for student life	4:03
	for serving as our lecturer.	4:06
	Please note the remaining announcements	4:08
	as they are printed in your bulletin.	4:10
	And now hear these words of scripture.	4:11
	I beheld and low great multitude	4:14
	which no one could number of all nations.	4:18
	Stood before the throne.	4:21
	And before the lamb clothed with white robes	4:22
	and palms in their hands and cried with a loud voice	4:25
	saying salvation to our God who sits upon the throne	4:29
	and unto the lamb.	4:33
	Please stand as we lift our voices in song together.	4:36
	(organ playing)	4:41
	(choir singing)	5:18
	The lord be with you.	10:15
Congregation	And also with you.	10:17
-	Let us pray.	10:19
	God of all holiness, you gave your saints different	10:28
	gifts on earth, but one holy city in heaven.	10:31
	Give us grace to follow their good example.	10:35
	(congregation speaking)	10:39
	Your servants Mary and Martha who loved their Lord,	10:44
	one through active service,	10:46
	the other through quiet adoration.	10:49
	(congregation speaking)	10:52
	Apostle Paul, who told what he had heard,	10:58
	spreading the good news into all the world.	11:02
	Interpreting the gospel to all without distinction	11:04
	between race and nation.	11:08
	(congregation speaking)	11:10
	King David who led your people with courage,	11:14
	though he shared our human weakness,	11:17
	he was anointed with your spirit	11:19
	to lead with justice and integrity.	11:22
	(congregation speaking)	11:25
	Judas Macabeas, foe of tierany and oppression,	11:30
	refusing to bow to the forces of evil,	11:33
	he inspired your people to throw off their chains	11:36
	and to claim their gracious birthright.	11:40
	(congregation speaking)	11:43
	(organ playing)	11:52
	(choir singing)	12:01
-	The first lesson is taken from the book of Haggai.	12:58
	In the second year of Darius the King,	13:03
	in the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month,	13:05
	the word of the God came by Haggai the prophet.	13:09
	Speak now to Zerubabel, the son of Shealtiel,	13:13
	governor of Judah.	13:16
	And to Joshua, the son of Jahosadac, the high priest.	13:18
	And to all the remnants of the people and say	13:22
	who is left among you that saw this house	13:25
	in its former glory?	13:28
	How do you see it now?	13:31
	Is it not in your sight as nothing?	13:33
	Yet now take courage oh Zerubabel, says the Lord.	13:36
	Take courage oh Joshua, son of Jahosadac, the high priest.	13:40
	Take courage all you people of the land, says the Lord.	13:44
	Work, for I am with you says the Lord of hosts.	13:49
	According to the promise that I made you	13:54
	when you came out of Egypt, my spirit abides among you.	13:56
	Fear not, for thus says the Lord of hosts.	14:01
	Once again, in a little while, I will shake	14:06
	the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.	14:09
	And I will shake all nations so that the treasures	14:13
	of all nations shall come in.	14:17
	And I will fill this house with splendor,	14:20
	says the Lord of hosts.	14:22
	The silver is mine and the gold is mine	14:25
	says the Lord of hosts.	14:28
	The latter splendor of this house shall be	14:31
	greater than the former says the Lord of hosts.	14:33
	And in this place, I will give prosperity	14:37
	says the Lord of hosts.	14:41
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	14:43
	(upbeat jazz music)	14:54
	The second lesson is taken from Paul's	19:17
	second letter to the Thessolonians.	19:19
	This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God	19:24
	that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God	19:27
	for which you are suffering.	19:30
	Since indeed, God deems it just to repay with affliction	19:32
	those who afflict you and to grant rest with us	19:36
	to you who are afflicted.	19:40
	When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven	19:42
	with the mighty angels in flaming fire,	19:44
	inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God	19:48
	and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.	19:51
	They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction	19:56
	and exclusion from the Lord's presence	20:00
	and the from glory of the Lord's might.	20:03
	When on that day the Lord comes to be glorified	20:06
	in the saints and to be marveled at in all who have believed	20:09
	because our testimony to you was believed.	20:14
	To this end we always pray for you,	20:18
	that our God may make you worthy of the call	20:22
	and may fulfill every good resolve	20:24
	and work of faith with power so that the name	20:27
	of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you	20:31
	and you in the Lord.	20:35
	According to the grace of our God	20:37
	and the Lord Jesus Christ.	20:39
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	20:42
-	The holy gospel is written in Saint Luke.	20:53
	Listen for the word of God.	20:57
	Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.	21:01
	There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief	21:06
	tax collector and rich.	21:09
	He sought to see who Jesus was, but could not	21:14
	on account of the crowd because he was	21:16
	very small of stature.	21:18
	So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree	21:21
	to see Jesus who was to pass that way.	21:24
	And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up	21:28
	and said, Zaccheus, make haste.	21:31
	Come down, I must stay at your house today.	21:34
	So he made haste and came down and received Jesus joyfully.	21:38
	And when they saw it, they all murmured.	21:45
	He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.	21:49
	And Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord,	21:53
	behold half my goods I give to the poor.	21:57
	And if I have defrauded anyone of anything,	22:00
	I restore it four fold.	22:03
	And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come	22:06
	to this house, since Zacchaeus also is a descendant	22:10
	of Abraham, for the son of man came to	22:15
	seek and to save the lost.	22:18
	This is the word of the Lord.	22:23
	(soft jazz music)	22:36
	How can you go to serious preaching	25:37
	after that kind of response?	25:38
	I've gotta tell you, I've got a pretty good choir	25:42
	and I appreciate hearing you all,	25:44
	but if the rest of you are not occupied	25:46
	I got a gig up north that you can do on Sunday morning.	25:49
	We got a big, wide chancel and it sounds very good.	25:54
	I expect you get tired of hearing	25:59
	what a spectacular group you are.	26:01
	The setting provides something very special with it,	26:05
	but for those of you who have ever lived	26:09
	as Methodists or Protestants in New England,	26:12
	you know that I haven't seen this many	26:15
	Methodists in one place for the last 12 years.	26:17
	And although there may be a few of other flavors,	26:21
	we're happy to welcome all of you.	26:25
	I'm just honored beyond belief to be here	26:27
	and I think Will believed that with a service	26:30
	as vital as this, no one could do it any damage	26:34
	so I wasn't any great risk.	26:37
	Now Lord, open thou our lips	26:44
	and our mouths will surly show forth thy praise.	26:47
	Amen.	26:51
	Zacchaeus is not a common name.	26:55
	Very unusual to most of us.	26:58
	Indeed it seems strange.	27:00
	But then Zacchaeus was a strange person.	27:03
	Most of you may not have heard the name Zacchaeus	27:06
	unless you played Sunday school games	27:08
	and wanted to put it at the end of the game	27:10
	with Zacharia and Zephenia and all those other late Z's.	27:13
	Zacchaeus was a strange kind of person,	27:18
	and particularly strange for Jesus to spend	27:21
	very much time with.	27:24
	Luke, 14 chapters earlier, had told of our Lord	27:27
	meeting with another tax collector.	27:30
	A man named Levi who did very outrageous kinds of things.	27:32
	And now he is talking about Zacchaeus doing strange	27:37
	and yet most of you won't remember very much about Levi.	27:42
	I hope you will remember a lot about Zacchaeus.	27:47
	He was remembered because he was successful.	27:52
	He was the chief tax collector.	27:56
	Now if you follow the lectionary, last week had a publican.	27:59
	That's the Roman word for a tax collector	28:02
	who had a very short prayer.	28:05
	Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.	28:07
	And a pharisee.	28:09
	I was getting ready for that sermon	28:11
	and my rabbi friend said, I don't know why	28:13
	you make fun of the pharisees all the time.	28:17
	They're our heroes.	28:19
	So I said, well let's change the name.	28:21
	I said, let's not use pharisee.	28:23
	I decided to rename him.	28:26
	I was going to rename him Pious One.	28:27
	And then I thought, I got some Roman Catholic friends	28:30
	who may take serious offense.	28:32
	So the pharisees are the ones who are always	28:34
	the very pious, the very religious,	28:37
	the model of self righteousness.	28:39
	But let's not call them pharisees, lest we be	28:42
	antisemitic about this.	28:45
	But Zacchaeus was a tax collector.	28:47
	And he was like the chief, remember some years ago	28:51
	the Fortune 500 had an article on the	28:56
	most rich crooks in the country.	29:00
	And Zacchaeus was rich and he was crook.	29:04
	He was very rich, but that was a bit of an accident	29:08
	of geography because he was in Jericho	29:10
	where the two roads, main roads, came together.	29:15
	And the Roman system of taxing was not much	29:18
	different than ours.	29:21
	Tax collectors got as much as they needed	29:22
	for the government and everything they got beyond that,	29:24
	Rome didn't ask too many questions about.	29:27
	This was the origin of the phrase,	29:29
	what the traffic will bear.	29:32
	And he got lots and lots from the traffic	29:34
	on that particular road.	29:36
	But he was also short.	29:38
	Now I try not to make any reference to that	29:40
	because I'm sort of monster size, but Zacchaeus couldn't	29:43
	see in parades.	29:47
	When you're 6'5", it makes it great for parades,	29:49
	but Zacchaeus had trouble.	29:51
	So he considered it some sort of disability.	29:54
	Finally, he was ingenious.	29:57
	He decided to climb up a tree to see the Master.	30:00
	And that leaves us to speculate as to why	30:04
	he would ever wanted to do anything like that.	30:07
	That's one part of the story that is not	30:12
	all together self evident.	30:15
	This is my theory.	30:18
	People saw Zacchaeus with the evidences of wealth	30:20
	and power and position.	30:24
	Things that most of us would like to have.	30:26
	But they never saw the empty places,	30:29
	the dark nights, the question marks,	30:32
	the moral voids that he alone knew.	30:35
	He must have heard something about Jesus,	30:39
	the power of His love,	30:42
	the cleansing of his perfect goodness,	30:44
	the great strength that went with his personality.	30:46
	He would've been too ashamed to ask anyone,	30:50
	who is this Jesus?	30:53
	After all, think of my position, he would have said.	30:54
	But he climbed out of his Jaguar and up the tree he went.	30:57
	What did he expect?	31:02
	Doesn't say.	31:05
	But not much different than folks who come to church now.	31:06
	They just came, maybe some of you,	31:10
	not knowing exactly what to expect.	31:13
	This is clear.	31:17
	Folk seek Christ and those who Christ seeks	31:19
	and Christ helps are those who are conscious	31:25
	of their needs.	31:30
	Their spiritual needs, their personal needs,	31:32
	their moral needs.	31:35
	Christ's ability to work with them,	31:37
	even with those who seem successful	31:40
	by outside standards is the important point	31:43
	that this lesson makes.	31:47
	Now think of the words.	31:50
	Bible words are so sort of biblical.	31:52
	They use things like sinner or unrighteous	31:56
	or sick or lost.	32:02
	Who wants to be in a club for losers?	32:04
	Who will queue up to be one of the lost	32:07
	or one of the unrighteous.	32:10
	Oh, it's all right if I make mistakes,	32:12
	but mistakes are all right now and again.	32:16
	But not being lost in sin.	32:20
	I get lost when I drive to Cambridge,	32:23
	that's the reason I can't go to Harvard very often.	32:25
	We have a thing about Harvard in our part of the world.	32:28
	You just don't ever get there.	32:31
	But I can admit that I make a mistake in driving.	32:34
	Never a mistake lost in sin.	32:38
	Or I can admit a mistake because I'm old enough	32:42
	to not feel overly self conscious about it.	32:45
	But lots of folks can't.	32:49
	Admitting that you made a mistake makes you too vulnerable.	32:52
	Or you can dodge by saying, oh that's not my field.	32:55
	I haven't had much chance to study politics	32:58
	or human rights or human relations or things like that.	33:01
	When we need an excuse nearly anyone that is handy will do.	33:06
	What's that in our society, most of our people	33:11
	respect only strength, success, and wealth.	33:16
	Is that true?	33:21
	There are very few in the Rodney danger field club.	33:23
	I don't get no respect.	33:28
	It seems like a very modern problem or situation.	33:31
	But it must have been about the same in our Lord's time.	33:35
	We show religious and moral and personal superiority.	33:39
	But scarcely ever want to admit our weakness.	33:45
	Even the church is guilty of that sometimes.	33:49
	A bunch of years ago Carl Meninger wrote a book	33:53
	entitled Whatever Happened to Sin?	33:56
	And he was scolding preachers for trying	33:59
	to act like junior level shrinks.	34:02
	Trying to pretend as though we don't use	34:04
	word like sin anymore.	34:07
	And told us to come clean and talk about who we really are	34:08
	and talk about what we really do.	34:11
	There's a big exception.	34:14
	The fastest growing groups that come to my chapel	34:15
	are the six AA groups, alcoholics anonymous.	34:18
	And they've got students and faculty and staff	34:22
	and everybody in it.	34:25
	And to get into that group you have to have	34:27
	an affirmation of faith.	34:30
	It starts very simply.	34:32
	Step one, we admitted we were powerless.	34:34
	Our lives had become unmanageable.	34:37
	I wonder how many would've signed that one	34:41
	as they came in today.	34:44
	I admitted my life was lost.	34:45
	Powerless, unmanageable.	34:50
	I came to believe in a greater power.	34:52
	I decided to turn my life and will over to God	34:56
	as I knew God.	35:00
	I made a searching moral inventory.	35:01
	I think the reason they can be effective	35:06
	is they start not with denying what's wrong.	35:10
	They start by confessing honestly and easily.	35:14
	The Christian faith at its best should give you	35:19
	the strength, the strength of ego,	35:23
	or the strength of personality to take the first step	35:25
	in seeing the needs in human life.	35:29
	In my life.	35:32
	Jesus comes with beauty and power and love that we need.	35:34
	Not some judgmental, condemning attitude	35:40
	that is more typical of some of us when we are parents	35:42
	or sometimes of the church.	35:46
	Oh, for some it make take to coming to the	35:48
	lowest point of life, coming to that point	35:50
	where you see only degradation and fear.	35:53
	But some things it's not necessary to get into the pits	35:56
	before you can take the searching moral inventory.	36:00
	The folk Christ sees are those who know themselves	36:04
	to be lost, as scripture says, sick, sin, unrighteous.	36:07
	Christ stops the whole procession, looks up,	36:12
	and calls to Zacchaeus by name.	36:17
	He says to him, hurry, come down.	36:20
	I'm having dinner and staying with you tonight.	36:25
	One would have thought Zacchaeus would've	36:30
	been fearfully embarrassed.	36:32
	Caught up there with his pride and dignity hanging out.	36:35
	All the people watching, but no such thing.	36:41
	He shimmied down the tree in a hurry	36:45
	and joyfully receive the Master.	36:48
	No reserve, nor reservation in that response.	36:51
	Think of the contradiction.	36:55
	The rich tax collector with everything to show	36:58
	and the humble master with nothing.	37:03
	And the tax collector shimmying down the tree	37:07
	to entertain at dinner.	37:10
	You get sort of the picture of the Pope	37:13
	greeting the mafia.	37:16
	And see what that does to your images.	37:18
	It's so outrageous, so outrageous.	37:21
	The other people's responses were all very predictable.	37:27
	They hadn't seen transformation take place enough	37:32
	to recognize what it would look like.	37:35
	The religious leaders all murmured.	37:37
	That's a great phrase in scripture.	37:40
	When the scholars go to study,	37:42
	no one ever studies the word murmur,	37:44
	but you all know what it means.	37:45
	(grunting)	37:47
	They were all saying, he doesn't know what he's doing.	37:48
	Have you heard it?	37:50
	It's sort of that low lying hum that people do.	37:51
	Look at that, he doesn't know what he's doing.	37:57
	He's eating with a sinner.	38:00
	We have stereotypes in religious life that just won't quit.	38:03
	Things just aren't done that way, we say.	38:07
	And for the Master to find fun, food, and fellowship	38:12
	with this social disaster is quite unbelievable.	38:15
	Jesus' disciples were probably just as surprised,	38:20
	but they kept quiet.	38:25
	Jesus did that kind of thing all the time.	38:27
	And yet, his disciples even now, are not quite prepared	38:31
	for that kind of outrageous behavior.	38:36
	Christ announces the beginning of the change.	38:40
	Today salvation has come to this house.	38:44
	The basic metaphor is in the last line of the text,	38:47
	the lost has been found.	38:50
	The first step into a Christian life	38:52
	of faith and trust in Christ is to come	38:54
	from the darkness into the light,	38:57
	to acknowledge that I was lost and now am found.	39:00
	It may be as simple as turning around	39:03
	to greet one whom you have been alienated from.	39:06
	Christ seeks those who recognize	39:10
	that they have some condition or situation	39:13
	that needs Christ's help.	39:16
	To say I am morally sick.	39:19
	I am personally unrighteous.	39:22
	Religiously, I am alienated, I'm a sinner	39:24
	separated from God.	39:26
	You can put them in different contexts,	39:28
	the spirit is the same.	39:30
	The first step in faith is to acknowledge need	39:33
	and look for Christ.	39:35
	Then one outrageous action, Jesus calling him,	39:38
	eating and sleeping with him,	39:45
	calls forth an equally outrageous response.	39:47
	Note the response is not to earn Jesus' love.	39:51
	It's not to earn salvation, that's already the gift	39:56
	that has been given.	39:59
	Zacchaeus says, half my goods I give to the poor.	40:01
	And if I have defrauded anyone,	40:07
	I give them four times what I have taken from them.	40:09
	Now in your service, just after the preaching	40:16
	you're going to have responses in offerings.	40:18
	Think what it would be like	40:23
	if someone were really so moved	40:26
	by their own need and the power of Christ's love,	40:30
	that they would respond the way he did.	40:38
	There are some scholars that say that that	40:42
	was really added later.	40:44
	They do that to all my favorite texts.	40:47
	But it fits the experiences that I know.	40:50
	When everything that is wonderful happens,	40:54
	there's no limit to the outrageous responses	40:56
	that I will make to them.	40:59
	It is never enough only to recognize my need.	41:01
	Some of us love to grovel in our own confession	41:04
	and never go on from there to do anything other than that.	41:07
	But the point is that knowing Christ is a	41:12
	radically transforming event.	41:15
	It is not just an emotional high.	41:18
	I got saved and then went back to life as it was before.	41:20
	Those who seek, whom Christ seeks, and who respond	41:24
	are in a whole new life.	41:29
	It's never enough only to recognize the need.	41:32
	That is clearly the first and indispensable step,	41:35
	but when faith finds you, better be ready for changes	41:39
	which are as great as any really new love can produce.	41:44
	If I had to draw on the best personal analogy	41:50
	between saving faith and another human experience,	41:53
	I think I'd always choose falling in love,	41:57
	for it's the kind of thing that you can recognize	42:01
	when it's genuine.	42:06
	That's the experience that changes the way you talk,	42:08
	the way to talk, the way you meet other people.	42:13
	Friends can tell when love is genuine and love is real.	42:18
	They can also tell when it's faked.	42:23
	And it can strike you anytime.	42:26
	Whether you're ready to receive it or not.	42:28
	Zacchaeus wasn't mentioned enough for the church	42:33
	to know or to make a saint of him.	42:38
	But I have a feeling that for our time	42:42
	Zacchaeus might serve as the patron saint of yuppies.	42:46
	Or those essentially going to be rich people.	42:54
	I don't know how your student body is.	43:00
	We have some pre-law and some pre-med	43:02
	and some pre-den, and some pre-business.	43:05
	Most of them behave as though essentially	43:10
	they were simply pre-rich.	43:12
	They were simply preparing.	43:14
	And for them Zacchaeus ought to be the model.	43:16
	He was rich.	43:21
	He was mildly irreligious.	43:23
	He was ingenious and he was enterprising.	43:25
	What else could you ask?	43:28
	And all of the passions that made him	43:31
	a successful tax collecting entrepreneur	43:33
	helped also in his response to the Christ.	43:37
	Once he found Christ or was found up that tree.	43:41
	The saints of God are depicted beautifully in these windows.	43:48
	And I love them and look graciously at them.	43:55
	But those aren't the kind of saints	44:01
	that are gonna transform me very much.	44:02
	They could never inspire me to be the kind	44:07
	of a person that would be totally different	44:09
	and that's what we celebrate in saints.	44:12
	Not those who have made into stiff, solid stained glass,	44:15
	but those who have decided to change so that	44:20
	they give me the impression that even I	44:24
	could be that way too.	44:26
	Some of God's most peculiar saints are much more	44:28
	like this sought off social misfit,	44:32
	who recognized his own moral and spiritual	44:36
	and personal weakness	44:39
	enough to climb a tree to get a look at Jesus.	44:40
	And from that one attempt we have a story of one	44:44
	whom Christ sought.	44:47
	And that may be very important for you.	44:49
	Zacchaeus is not a common name.	44:53
	Indeed it is a very strange name.	44:57
	For Zacchaeus was a strange person.	45:01
	But he may be one who can remind you	45:04
	that in Christian faith we start by recognizing our need,	45:08
	by doing something in that recognition.	45:14
	And then finding that the love and the power of Christ	45:17
	has transformed that life in genuine and real ways.	45:22
	Amen.	45:28
-	The lord be with you.	45:43
Congregation	And also with you.	45:44
-	Let us pray.	45:47
	You are invited to respond to each petition	45:49
	with the words, Lord hear our prayer.	45:51
	Oh God throughout the ages, men and women	45:56
	have followed Jesus.	46:00
	We pray that we may walk in their footsteps.	46:03
	That our bishops, pastors, teachers,	46:07
	and all members of the church may show forth	46:11
	this spirit of the apostles so that their message	46:14
	will have the power to convince those	46:18
	who hear their words.	46:20
	We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer.	46:22
	For people who are laughed at or discriminated against	46:27
	or persecuted for trying to live like Christians,	46:31
	that they may have strength to persevere like the martyrs.	46:36
	We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer.	46:40
	That the leaders of our nation and other nations	46:44
	may have the wisdom and compassion of the saints	46:48
	who in their day were kings and chancelors and peacemakers.	46:51
	We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer.	46:55
	That those who have given up on life may have the	47:01
	longing for God, the gentleness and purity	47:05
	of the holy hermits and pilgrims who went before them.	47:09
	We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer.	47:13
	May all of us follow with joy and simplicity	47:18
	the great throng of men and women who have	47:21
	gone before us with steady strides or stumbling	47:24
	and wondering found their way back to Him, who is the way.	47:28
	For this we pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer.	47:32
	Lord, we thank you for this feast of all your friends	47:39
	and we pray that we may be in that number	47:42
	when the saints come marching in, amen.	47:47
	Christ invites to His table all who love Him	47:53
	and who desire to live in peace with one another.	47:57
	Let us stand and offer each other	48:00
	signs of God's peace and love.	48:02
	(congregation chatting)	48:05
	In the spirit of thanksgiving for the mighty	48:27
	acts of God, let us offer our gifts	48:29
	and ourselves unto God.	48:32
	(choir humming)	49:04
	♪ Oh when the saints ♪	49:23
	♪ Go marching in ♪	49:28
	♪ Oh when the saints go marching in ♪	49:35
	♪ I Lord, I want to be ♪	49:47
	♪ In that number, Lord ♪	49:57
	♪ When the saints go marching in ♪	50:04
	♪ Oh when the saints ♪	50:25
	♪ Go marching in ♪	50:29
	♪ Oh when the saints go marching in, saint go marching in ♪	50:32
	♪ Oh Lord, I want to be in that number ♪	50:38
	♪ When the saints go marching in ♪	50:45
	♪ Oh when the saints go marching in, yeah ♪	51:02
	♪ Oh when the saints go marching, they go marching in ♪	51:08
	♪ I wanna be, I wanna be in that number ♪	51:15
	♪ When the saints go marching in ♪	51:22
	♪ Yeah ♪	51:29
	♪ When the saints go marching in ♪	51:32
	♪ Oh when the saints, oh when the saints ♪	51:37
	♪ Go marching in, go marching in ♪	51:41
	♪ Oh when the saints go marching in, oh marching in ♪	51:44
	♪ Oh Lord I want to be in that number ♪	51:51
	♪ When the saints go marching in ♪	51:57
	♪ When the saints go marching in ♪	52:05
	♪ Oh Lord I want to be in that number ♪	52:17
	♪ In that number ♪	52:30
	♪ When the saints go, oh they go marching yeah ♪	52:38
	♪ Marching in ♪	52:46
	♪ I wanna be in the number ♪	52:52
	♪ When the saints go marching in ♪	52:57
	(orchestral music)	53:23
	(choir singing)	54:15
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	54:29
	(choir singing)	54:37
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	54:50
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	54:56
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	55:03
	The Lord be with you.	55:16
Congregation	And also with you.	55:17
-	Lift up your hearts.	55:19
Congregation	We lift them up to the Lord.	55:21
-	Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.	55:23
	(congregation speaking)	55:26
	It is right and a good and joyful thing	55:29
	always and everywhere to give thanks to you,	55:31
	Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.	55:35
	Blessed are you, God of creation and all beginnings.	55:39
	God of Abraham and Sarah, God of Miriam and Moses,	55:42
	God of Joshua and Debra, God of Ruth and David,	55:47
	God of the priest and the prophets.	55:51
	God of Mary and Joseph.	55:54
	God of apostles and martyrs.	55:56
	God of our mothers and fathers.	55:59
	God of our children to all generations.	56:01
	And so with your people on earth and all the company	56:04
	of heaven, we praise your name and join	56:07
	their unending hymn.	56:10
	(organ playing)	56:12
	(choir singing)	56:23
	Holy are you and blessed is your son, Jesus Christ.	57:00
	By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection	57:04
	you gave birth to your church.	57:08
	Delivered us from slavery to sin and death,	57:09
	and made us with a new covenant by water and the spirit.	57:13
	On the night in which he gave himself up for us	57:17
	he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,	57:20
	gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat.	57:24
	This is my body which is given for you.	57:28
	Do this in remembrance of me.	57:31
	When the supper was over he took the cup,	57:35
	gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples and said,	57:37
	drink from this, all of you.	57:41
	This is my blood of the new covenant,	57:43
	poured out for you and for many of the forgiveness of sins.	57:46
	Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.	57:50
	And so in remembrance of these, your might acts	57:54
	in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves	57:57
	in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,	58:00
	in union with Christ's offering for us	58:05
	as we proclaim the mystery of faith.	58:08
	(organ playing)	58:13
	(choir singing)	58:15
	Pour out your holy spirit on us gathered here	58:27
	and on these gifts of bread and wine.	58:31
	Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,	58:34
	that we may be for the world the body of Christ,	58:37
	redeemed by His blood.	58:40
	Renew our communion with all your saints,	58:42
	especially those whom we remember in our hearts.	58:45
	Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud	58:52
	of witnesses, strengthen us to run with perseverance,	58:55
	the race that is set before us.	58:58
	Looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.	59:00
	By your spirit, make us one with Christ,	59:05
	one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world	59:07
	until Christ comes in final victory	59:11
	and we feast at His heavenly banquet.	59:14
	Through your son, Jesus Christ, with the holy spirit	59:17
	in your holy church all honor and glory is yours	59:19
	almighty God, now and forever.	59:23
	(organ playing)	59:26
	♪ Amen, amen, amen ♪	59:30
	And now let us pray with confidence	59:44
	the words that Jesus has taught us.	59:46
	Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.	59:48
	They kingdom come, thy will be done	59:53
	on earth as it is in heaven.	59:56
	Give us this day our daily bread	59:58
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	1:00:01
	us who trespass against us.	1:00:04
	And lead us not into temptation,	1:00:06
	but deliver us from evil.	1:00:08
	For thine is the kingdom, the power,	1:00:10
	and the glory forever, amen.	1:00:13
	(soft piano music)	1:01:45
	♪ Precious Lord, take my hand ♪	1:02:32
	♪ Lead me on, let me stand ♪	1:02:39
	♪ I am tired ♪	1:02:46
	♪ I am weak ♪	1:02:49
	♪ I'm worn ♪	1:02:53
	♪ Through the storm, through the night ♪	1:03:00
	♪ Lead me on to the light ♪	1:03:07
	♪ Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home ♪	1:03:14
	♪ When my way grows dread ♪	1:03:29
	♪ Precious Lord, lead me near ♪	1:03:36
	♪ When my life is almost gone ♪	1:03:43
	♪ Hear my pride, hear my call ♪	1:03:56
	♪ Take my hand, lest I fall ♪	1:04:03
	♪ Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home ♪	1:04:10
	♪ When the darkness appears ♪	1:04:25
	♪ And the night draws near ♪	1:04:32
	♪ And the day is passed and gone ♪	1:04:39
	♪ At the river, I stand ♪	1:04:52
	♪ Got my feet, hold my hand ♪	1:05:00
	♪ Take my hand, precious Lord ♪	1:05:07
	♪ And lead me home ♪	1:05:18
	♪ Why should I feel discouraged ♪	1:06:05
	♪ And why should the shadows come ♪	1:06:16
	♪ Why should my heart feel lonely ♪	1:06:26
	♪ And long for heaven and home ♪	1:06:36
	♪ When Jesus is my portion ♪	1:06:44
	♪ A constant friend is he ♪	1:06:53
	♪ Oh his eyes on the sparrow ♪	1:07:01
	♪ And I know he watches me ♪	1:07:10
	♪ For His eye is on the sparrow ♪	1:07:18
	♪ And I know he watches me ♪	1:07:27
	♪ Oh I sing because I'm happy ♪	1:07:35
	♪ I sing because I'm free ♪	1:07:43
	♪ Oh his eye is on the sparrow ♪	1:07:51
	♪ And I know he watches me ♪	1:07:59
	♪ So let not your heart be troubled ♪	1:08:09
	♪ His tender words I hear ♪	1:08:17
	♪ And resting on His goodness ♪	1:08:24
	♪ I lose my doubts and my fears ♪	1:08:32
	♪ Then then the path He leadeth ♪	1:08:39
	♪ But one step I may see ♪	1:08:47
	♪ When His is on the little sparrow ♪	1:08:54
	♪ And I know he watches me ♪	1:09:01
	♪ For his eyes are on the sparrow ♪	1:09:09
	♪ And I know He watches me ♪	1:09:17
	♪ Yes, I sing because I'm happy ♪	1:09:25
	♪ I sing because I'm free ♪	1:09:31
	♪ Oh his eye's on the sparrow ♪	1:09:39
	♪ And I know he watches me ♪	1:09:47
	♪ Sing thou wondrous love of Jesus ♪	1:10:27
	♪ Sing His mercy and His grace ♪	1:10:33
	♪ In the mansion, bright and blessed ♪	1:10:40
	♪ He'll prepare for us a place ♪	1:10:46
	♪ Oh when we all get to heaven ♪	1:10:52
	♪ What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪	1:10:59
	♪ When we all see Jesus ♪	1:11:06
	♪ We will sing and shout the victory ♪	1:11:15
	Please stand for the benediction.	1:11:40
	Go in peace to serve God and your neighbor	1:11:47
	in all that you do.	1:11:50
	(congregation speaking)	1:11:52
	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ	1:11:55
	and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit	1:11:57
	be with you all, amen.	1:12:01
	(organ playing)	1:12:06
	(choir singing)	1:12:42
	("When the Saints Go Marching In")	1:16:18
	(applauding)	1:19:36

Item Info

Title:

Robert W. Thornburg - "The Folk Christ Seeks" (November 5, 1989)

Description:

Sermon start time: 25:37. Sermon end time: 45:29.
Zacchaeus is a model of one who recognized his need for Christ and sought him out. Christ met him in that seeking and that exchange produced great change in Zacchaeus' life. In this way, he is an exemplar for coming to the Christian faith, for the first step is recognizing and confessing our need for Christ and then opening ourselves up to the change that comes through that. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Folk seek Christ and those who Christ seeks and Christ helps are those who are conscious of their needs. Their spiritual needs, their personal needs, their moral needs.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4610w66m

Date:

November 5, 1989

Speaker:

Thornburg, Robert W.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0155
ref8696_2ri
uachapelsermaud
duke:321319
dcrmv001151
ark:/87924/r4610w66m
234049ce-b7ba-4ee9-a0ef-c29b6e6138e4

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

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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:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

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