Nancy Ferree-Clark - "Is That All There Is?" (November 26, 1989)
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| - | Morning, and welcome to this service of worship | 0:00 |
| here at Due University Chapel | 0:02 | |
| on this Christ the King Sunday. | 0:04 | |
| We extend warm greetings to each of you, | 0:06 | |
| and especially those of you in our | 0:08 | |
| radio and television audiences. | 0:11 | |
| I would like to thank the Reverend David Oli Jenkins, | 0:12 | |
| campus minister for the Wesley Fellowship here at Duke, | 0:15 | |
| for serving as this mornings presiding minister, | 0:18 | |
| and Mr. Robert Freund, president of Duke campus ministry, | 0:21 | |
| for serving as our lector today. | 0:25 | |
| We are also grateful to members of our chapel choir | 0:27 | |
| who are in town over the Thanksgiving break, | 0:30 | |
| for breaking with tradition by coming to church today | 0:32 | |
| and providing music for our service. | 0:35 | |
| We also thank Mr. David Arcus, | 0:38 | |
| who will be conducting them, and Mr. David Kirkland | 0:40 | |
| for accompanying the choir as guest organist. | 0:43 | |
| Please note the remaining announcements | 0:47 | |
| as they are printed in your bulletins. | 0:49 | |
| And now let us stand and lift our voices together in song. | 0:50 | |
| (organ music) | 0:56 | |
| ♪ Crown Him with many crowns ♪ | 1:36 | |
| ♪ The Lamb upon His throne ♪ | 1:40 | |
| ♪ Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns ♪ | 1:45 | |
| ♪ All music but it's own ♪ | 1:49 | |
| ♪ Awake my soul and sing ♪ | 1:55 | |
| ♪ Of Him who died for thee ♪ | 1:59 | |
| ♪ And hail Him as thy matchless king ♪ | 2:04 | |
| ♪ Through all eternity ♪ | 2:09 | |
| ♪ Crown him the Lord of life ♪ | 2:17 | |
| ♪ Who triumphed o'er the grave ♪ | 2:22 | |
| ♪ And rose victorious in the strife ♪ | 2:26 | |
| ♪ For those He came to save ♪ | 2:31 | |
| ♪ His glories now we sing ♪ | 2:36 | |
| ♪ Who died and rose on high ♪ | 2:41 | |
| ♪ Who died eternal life to bring ♪ | 2:47 | |
| ♪ And lives that death may die ♪ | 2:52 | |
| ♪ Crown Him the Lord of peace ♪ | 3:00 | |
| ♪ Whose power a scepter sways ♪ | 3:04 | |
| ♪ From pole to pole that wars may cease ♪ | 3:09 | |
| ♪ And all be prayer and praise ♪ | 3:14 | |
| ♪ His reign shall know no end ♪ | 3:19 | |
| ♪ And round His pierced feet ♪ | 3:24 | |
| ♪ Fair flowers of glory now extend ♪ | 3:29 | |
| ♪ Their fragrance ever sweet ♪ | 3:34 | |
| ♪ Crown Him the Lord of years ♪ | 3:42 | |
| ♪ The potentate of time ♪ | 3:48 | |
| ♪ Creator of the rolling spheres ♪ | 3:53 | |
| ♪ Ineffably sublime ♪ | 3:58 | |
| ♪ All hail Redeemer hail ♪ | 4:04 | |
| ♪ For Thou hast died for me ♪ | 4:08 | |
| ♪ Thy praise shall never never fail ♪ | 4:14 | |
| ♪ Throughout eternity ♪ | 4:19 | |
| - | Would you remain standing and join me | 4:32 |
| in the opening callage, number 721. | 4:34 | |
| Almighty and everlasting God, | 4:40 | |
| it is Your will to restore all things to Christ, | 4:43 | |
| Whom You have anointed priest forever, | 4:47 | |
| and ruler of creation. | 4:50 | |
| Grant that all the people of the earth | 4:53 | |
| now divided by the power of sin, | 4:55 | |
| may be united under the glorious | 4:59 | |
| and gentle rule of Jesus Christ, | 5:01 | |
| who lives and reigns forever and ever, amen. | 5:04 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 5:24 |
| Open our hearts and minds, oh God, | 5:26 | |
| by the power of Your Holy Spirit, | 5:30 | |
| so that as the Word is read and proclaimed, | 5:33 | |
| we might hear with joy what You say to us this day, amen. | 5:36 | |
| Our first lesson this morning | 5:43 | |
| comes from the book of Second Samuel, | 5:45 | |
| chapter five versus one through five. | 5:47 | |
| Then all the tribes of Israel | 5:51 | |
| came to David at Hebron and said, | 5:53 | |
| behold, we are your bone and flesh, | 5:55 | |
| in times past, when Saul was king over us, | 5:58 | |
| it was you that led out and brought in Israel, | 6:02 | |
| and the Lord said to you, | 6:05 | |
| you shall be shepherd of my people, Israel, | 6:07 | |
| and you shall be prince over Israel. | 6:10 | |
| So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, | 6:13 | |
| and King David made a covenant | 6:17 | |
| with them at Hebron before the Lord. | 6:18 | |
| And they anointed David king over Israel. | 6:21 | |
| David was 30 years old when he began to reign, | 6:24 | |
| and he reigned 40 years. | 6:28 | |
| At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, | 6:30 | |
| and Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah 30 years. | 6:34 | |
| This is the word of the Lord. | 6:40 | |
| (organ music) | 7:06 | |
| ♪ The Lord is a mighty God ♪ | 7:13 | |
| ♪ And a mighty ruler ♪ | 7:18 | |
| (angelic music) | 7:29 | |
| - | Please stand and join me in | 9:22 |
| a responsive reading of the 95th Psalm. | 9:27 | |
| Oh come let us sing to the Lord, | 9:35 | |
| let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. | 9:39 | |
| Let us come into God's presence with thanksgiving, | 9:43 | |
| let us make a joyful noise with psalms of praise. | 9:48 | |
| For the Lord is a great God, | 9:51 | |
| and a great ruler above all gods, | 9:54 | |
| in whose hands are the depths of the earth, | 9:57 | |
| and also the heights of the mountains, | 10:00 | |
| the sea belongs to God, who made it, | 10:03 | |
| in the dry land because God formed it. | 10:06 | |
| Oh come, let us worship and bow down. | 10:09 | |
| Congregation | Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. | 10:12 |
| - | For the Lord is our God. | 10:16 |
| Congregation | And we are the people of God's pasture, | 10:19 |
| and the sheep of God's hand. | 10:22 | |
| - | Hear the voice of the Lord today. | 10:24 |
| Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, | 10:27 | |
| as on the day at Massah when your forebears tested me | 10:30 | |
| and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. | 10:37 | |
| Congregation | For 40 yer I loathed that generation | 10:42 |
| and said, they are a people whose hearts go astray. | 10:45 | |
| - | And they do not regard my ways. | 10:49 |
| Therefore, I swore in my anger, | 10:51 | |
| that they should not enter my rest. | 10:54 | |
| (organ music) | 10:57 | |
| (angelic choir music) | 11:10 | |
| - | The second lesson comes from the book | 12:05 |
| of Colossians chapter one, versus 11 through 20. | 12:07 | |
| May you be strengthened with all power, | 12:12 | |
| according to GOd's glorious might, | 12:15 | |
| for all endurance and patience with joy, | 12:17 | |
| giving thanks to God, who has qualified us to share | 12:21 | |
| in the inheritance of the saints in light. | 12:25 | |
| God has delivered us from the power of evil, | 12:28 | |
| and transferred us to the kingdom of God's beloved child. | 12:31 | |
| In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, | 12:36 | |
| who is the image of the invisible God, | 12:40 | |
| the firstborn of all creation, | 12:43 | |
| for in Christ all things were created. | 12:45 | |
| In heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, | 12:48 | |
| whether thrones or dominions, | 12:52 | |
| or principalities or authorities, | 12:54 | |
| all things were created through Christ and for Christ. | 12:57 | |
| Christ is before all things, | 13:00 | |
| the one in whom all things hold together. | 13:03 | |
| Christ is the head of the body, the church, | 13:06 | |
| and is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, | 13:09 | |
| that in everything Christ might be preeminent. | 13:12 | |
| For in Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell | 13:15 | |
| and through Christ to reconcile for Christ all things, | 13:20 | |
| whether on earth or in heaven, | 13:23 | |
| making peace by the blood of the cross. | 13:26 | |
| The Word of the Lord. | 13:29 | |
| - | Please stand for the reading of the Gospel. | 13:44 |
| A reading from the Gospel according to Saint John. | 13:51 | |
| When the great crowd of the Jews | 13:56 | |
| learned that Jesus was there, | 13:58 | |
| they acme, not only on account of Jesus, | 14:01 | |
| but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. | 14:03 | |
| So the Chief Priest planned to put Lazarus also to death, | 14:08 | |
| because on account of him, | 14:12 | |
| many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. | 14:15 | |
| The next day, a great crowd who had come to the feast | 14:19 | |
| heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. | 14:22 | |
| So they took branches of palm trees | 14:24 | |
| and went out to meet him, crying, hosanna, | 14:27 | |
| blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, | 14:30 | |
| even the king of Israel. | 14:33 | |
| And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it, | 14:35 | |
| as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, | 14:39 | |
| behold your king is coming, sitting on an asses colt. | 14:42 | |
| His discipled did not understand this at first, | 14:47 | |
| but when Jesus was glorified, | 14:50 | |
| then they remembered that this had been written of him | 14:53 | |
| and this had been done to him. | 14:56 | |
| The crowd that had been with him | 14:59 | |
| when he called Lazarus out of the tomb | 15:00 | |
| and raised him from the dead bore witness. | 15:02 | |
| The reason why the crowd went to meet him | 15:05 | |
| was that they heard he had done this sign. | 15:07 | |
| The pharisees then said to one another, | 15:10 | |
| you see that you can do nothing, | 15:13 | |
| look, the world has gone after him. | 15:16 | |
| This is the Word of the Lord. | 15:19 | |
| Please be seated. | 15:23 | |
| About this time of year I always have the feeling | 15:35 | |
| that people become acutely aware of the passing of time. | 15:39 | |
| Now I suppose to a great extent | 15:44 | |
| that's because holiday seasons are often accompanied | 15:46 | |
| by a profound sense of nostalgia. | 15:49 | |
| We just can't help reminiscing about | 15:52 | |
| all that's happened in the past year, | 15:54 | |
| how long it's been since we've seen certain people. | 15:57 | |
| How much their children must have grown, | 16:00 | |
| and how much we would enjoy seeing them soon. | 16:03 | |
| We're also painfully aware of the absence | 16:06 | |
| of those who have died in the past year. | 16:09 | |
| Each holiday, each birthday, | 16:13 | |
| each passage from one year to the next reminds us | 16:15 | |
| of the unrepeatable nature of time, | 16:18 | |
| in which everything passes away, including ourselves. | 16:21 | |
| Such is the nature of time, | 16:26 | |
| at least in the quantitative sense, | 16:28 | |
| with which our lives are inextricably bound. | 16:30 | |
| Paradoxically, our Gospel lesson for today, | 16:35 | |
| while marking the last Sunday of the church year, | 16:38 | |
| points at the same time toward another kind of time. | 16:42 | |
| (speaking in foreign language), | 16:47 | |
| as opposed to (speaking in foreign language) in the Greek, | 16:48 | |
| time in the qualitative sense. | 16:50 | |
| It's what you mean when you say the time is right, | 16:54 | |
| or, it's time to tell you something. | 16:57 | |
| It's like being with someone you love | 17:01 | |
| when you have little if any sense of the passing of time. | 17:02 | |
| Today's Gospel celebrating Christ the king, | 17:07 | |
| when seen in it's proper context | 17:11 | |
| has such a timelessness about it, | 17:13 | |
| as thought the chronological time stopped flowing, | 17:16 | |
| and it's rippled surface grew so smooth and still | 17:19 | |
| that if you opened your eyes | 17:23 | |
| you would be able to see deep down into the water, | 17:24 | |
| deep down into time, and what you would see | 17:28 | |
| you would not be able to distinguish as past or present, | 17:32 | |
| but simply as what is, | 17:36 | |
| because in (speaking in foreign language) time, | 17:39 | |
| past and present have a way of melting into each other, | 17:41 | |
| and finally of melting away completely. | 17:45 | |
| Perhaps you've had a similar experience | 17:49 | |
| when an event such as a birth, a death, | 17:51 | |
| perhaps a marriage or a baptism, | 17:54 | |
| brought about such an unusual joy or pain, | 17:57 | |
| that you caught a glimpse of not only what life | 18:01 | |
| is all about in the present, | 18:03 | |
| but in the past and the future too. | 18:05 | |
| A great crowd had gathered in the | 18:10 | |
| heat of the day in Jerusalem | 18:11 | |
| to catch a glimpse of the man who had reportedly | 18:14 | |
| raised Lazarus from the dead, | 18:16 | |
| and maybe even of Lazarus too, | 18:19 | |
| if the Chief Priest hadn't gotten to Him first. | 18:22 | |
| There He comes, someone yells at the front of the crowd. | 18:25 | |
| As Frederick Buechner describes this scene, | 18:29 | |
| the donkeys hooves raised little puffs of dust | 18:32 | |
| as it jogs along the sun baked streets, | 18:34 | |
| the rider sits with His bare feet tucked in tight, | 18:38 | |
| under it's soft round underbelly. | 18:42 | |
| In a gesture of extravagance, | 18:45 | |
| one of the men who has gathered along the way to watch | 18:47 | |
| rushes forward and spreads his cloak out | 18:50 | |
| in the street in front of the donkey. | 18:53 | |
| This takes him by surprise | 18:55 | |
| and causes him to break into a trot, | 18:57 | |
| thrown off guard, the rider is | 19:00 | |
| jolted backwards at a crazy angle, | 19:02 | |
| and for a second it looks as though | 19:04 | |
| He will lose His balance and fall. | 19:06 | |
| But then, grabbing a fist full of the mane, | 19:09 | |
| He pulls Himself straight again. | 19:11 | |
| A woman lifts a child off her shoulders | 19:14 | |
| and sets him down by the roadside. | 19:18 | |
| Several of the onlookers are waving branches of myrtle | 19:21 | |
| and willow and sprays of palm leaf. | 19:23 | |
| The face of the rider is shiny with sweat. | 19:27 | |
| It is a motley crowd that has come to watch him. | 19:31 | |
| Many have heard of the riders miraculous deeds | 19:34 | |
| and expected to see something more. | 19:36 | |
| Others have no idea what the fuss is all about | 19:40 | |
| and couldn't care less, | 19:42 | |
| it's something to do to pass the time of day, that's all. | 19:44 | |
| It's this mysterious rider, human yet divine, | 19:50 | |
| who gives our glimpse into Holy Week | 19:54 | |
| on this last Sunday of the church year, | 19:56 | |
| it' past, present, and future quality. | 19:59 | |
| For as we recall his dramatic entrance into Jerusalem, | 20:04 | |
| we recognize the terms under which He became King. | 20:07 | |
| Not those of the people, not those of His own design, | 20:12 | |
| but under God's authority. | 20:15 | |
| Even the disciples did not understand this until later | 20:18 | |
| that same week when the rider would eat His last meal | 20:21 | |
| together with His friends. | 20:24 | |
| It is in a large room, upstairs, | 20:27 | |
| somewhere in that seething, unpredictable city. | 20:30 | |
| The room is filled with sounds of men eating, | 20:33 | |
| one of them wipes his hand across his bearded mouth, | 20:37 | |
| another is solemn, never once taking his eyes | 20:41 | |
| off the one face of all their faces that is still | 20:44 | |
| in the way air, just before a storm, is still. | 20:48 | |
| As was the custom, the rider gets up to bless the bread, | 20:53 | |
| and gives thanks for it. | 20:55 | |
| And was the custom, He takes the loaf up into His hands, | 20:57 | |
| and breaks it for them. | 21:01 | |
| Then the unaccustomed part, | 21:04 | |
| He gives the loaf a name, His body, | 21:06 | |
| the dark wine a name, His blood. | 21:10 | |
| Whatever He means by that, and tells them to eat and drink, | 21:13 | |
| although one wonders how they could have any stomach for it, | 21:18 | |
| now while their mouths are dry with fear. | 21:20 | |
| In other words, He tells them to take His life | 21:24 | |
| into themselves and live it for Him. | 21:27 | |
| Live it for Him. | 21:32 | |
| I try to picture this rider in a more contemporary setting, | 21:35 | |
| making a similar request of His friends | 21:39 | |
| over dinner in a pub somewhere perhaps, | 21:42 | |
| and I wonder how far He would get. | 21:45 | |
| I'm sorry friend, I'm up to my ears in commitments. | 21:48 | |
| You're sounding a little disoriented. | 21:53 | |
| Are You keeping in touch with Your therapist? | 21:55 | |
| Yeah, live my life for You, | 21:59 | |
| have You noticed how difficult it is | 22:01 | |
| just living it for myself? | 22:03 | |
| In a recent conversation with several campus ministers, | 22:07 | |
| it was noted that cynicism is the mood of the day | 22:11 | |
| on most college campuses, at least among many seniors. | 22:15 | |
| Whereas freshmen my begin their college careers | 22:19 | |
| with the innocent expectation that life will hold for them | 22:22 | |
| virtually everything that the admissions brochures promised. | 22:26 | |
| The ups and downs of the next four years | 22:29 | |
| have a way of challenging those expectations. | 22:31 | |
| Broken promises, unrelenting competition, | 22:35 | |
| disappointing relationships, | 22:39 | |
| or any seemingly unfair occurrence | 22:42 | |
| have a way of eating away at the sense of invulnerability | 22:45 | |
| so prevalent among youth. | 22:48 | |
| Is that all there is? | 22:51 | |
| Many begin to ask of life. | 22:53 | |
| Interviews with a group of college students | 22:57 | |
| concerning their reactions to | 22:59 | |
| the spread of AIDS in our society | 23:00 | |
| revealed their deep anxiety about the disease | 23:03 | |
| and in many cases resentment | 23:06 | |
| that they have to live with a death threat which was | 23:08 | |
| unknown to their parents when they were in college. | 23:11 | |
| While information is widely available about the virus, | 23:15 | |
| and how it is spread, some students are more inclined | 23:18 | |
| to ignore such information in hopes of simply | 23:21 | |
| never being confronted with it. | 23:24 | |
| In terms of AIDS testing, I've heard it said, | 23:27 | |
| better to avoid the test and live happily | 23:30 | |
| for another five or six years than to know I'm going to die. | 23:33 | |
| Perhaps we all have known the feeling. | 23:39 | |
| We'll do anything to avoid a discussion about our own death | 23:41 | |
| lest we be left with the same question, | 23:44 | |
| is that all there is? | 23:47 | |
| It is today's Gospel lesson that gives us | 23:50 | |
| the courage to raise such a question | 23:52 | |
| even in light of our own mortality. | 23:55 | |
| Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem | 23:58 | |
| points Him straight toward His suffering on the cross. | 24:00 | |
| But also toward the victory which | 24:04 | |
| He claimed over sin and death, | 24:06 | |
| He was not made King by the whims of a crowd, | 24:08 | |
| that shouted hosanna at the beginning of the week, | 24:12 | |
| and crucify Him by the end of it. | 24:14 | |
| He is King by virtue of His unerring obedience to God. | 24:17 | |
| As the evangelist emphasized in his | 24:23 | |
| telling of the passion account, | 24:25 | |
| Jesus found His own colt to ride, | 24:28 | |
| He carried His own cross, He gave His own life freely for us | 24:30 | |
| as a shepherd gives his life for his sheep, | 24:36 | |
| as a man lays down his life for his friends, | 24:39 | |
| as Pilot himself posted above the cross in three languages | 24:44 | |
| for all the world to understand, | 24:48 | |
| Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. | 24:51 | |
| In that act he was cynical, sarcastic, and vengeful, | 24:54 | |
| and he was also right. | 24:59 | |
| So if everyone in Jerusalem recognized that fact, | 25:02 | |
| why can't we? | 25:06 | |
| What does it take for Jesus to be acknowledged | 25:07 | |
| as ruler over all in 1989, | 25:10 | |
| and not simply in the first century? | 25:13 | |
| The problem, it seems to me has a great deal to do | 25:16 | |
| with the magnitude of the gift He has given us. | 25:19 | |
| Let me explain. | 25:23 | |
| Have you ever noticed how much more difficult it is | 25:25 | |
| to receive a gift than to give one? | 25:28 | |
| Especially when that gift is another life? | 25:32 | |
| The man whose life is saved in warfare | 25:36 | |
| at the expense of another, for example, | 25:38 | |
| carries a special burden, | 25:41 | |
| for it is clear that he only has a life, | 25:43 | |
| because another gave his for him. | 25:46 | |
| Perhaps he, the survivor, would wish that he would have | 25:49 | |
| been the one to throw himself onto the hand grenade, | 25:52 | |
| or into a nest of machine gunners, | 25:56 | |
| or whatever the means of self sacrifice might be. | 25:58 | |
| Who knows why anyone ever does such a thing? | 26:03 | |
| If you're a cynic you might say that a person might be | 26:05 | |
| temporarily insane to do such a thing, | 26:09 | |
| because no one in his or her right mind | 26:11 | |
| would ever willingly give ones life away, | 26:14 | |
| hardly even for someone he loved, | 26:17 | |
| let alone for people he barely knows. | 26:20 | |
| Or perhaps he acted out of a crazy thirst for glory, | 26:24 | |
| believing that not even death was | 26:26 | |
| too high a price to pay for heroes honor. | 26:28 | |
| Now if you're an idealist, you might insist | 26:32 | |
| that although the human spirit is full of darkness, | 26:34 | |
| every once in a while it is capable of a godlike act. | 26:37 | |
| Whatever the reason, it is impossible for us to know. | 26:42 | |
| But what we do know is that the one | 26:46 | |
| who must go on living for that one he is destined to live | 26:48 | |
| for the one who died as though, in some sense, | 26:52 | |
| the dead one lives through the living one. | 26:56 | |
| If someone dies so that I might live, | 27:00 | |
| then I feel compelled to do with my life | 27:03 | |
| whatever that person might have done. | 27:05 | |
| My debt to him or her is so great, | 27:08 | |
| that the only way I can approach paying it | 27:11 | |
| is by living a life as brave and as beautiful | 27:15 | |
| as that persons death. | 27:18 | |
| I can only live my life for what it truly is | 27:21 | |
| not a life that is mine by natural right, | 27:25 | |
| to live anyway I choose, but a life that is mine | 27:27 | |
| only because it has been given to me. | 27:31 | |
| We know the culmination of Jesus entry into Jerusalem | 27:35 | |
| was death for the sake of another. | 27:38 | |
| And there is no mystery about His motive. | 27:41 | |
| As He understood it, He died for all of us. | 27:44 | |
| He died because His death would make all the difference | 27:47 | |
| until the end of time, but does it really? | 27:51 | |
| Does that single noble death make any difference | 27:55 | |
| to people like us who live in a world | 27:59 | |
| infinitely more complicated | 28:01 | |
| than He ever would have imagined? | 28:03 | |
| A world where the church is considered by many | 28:05 | |
| to be a mere shard of ancient history, | 28:09 | |
| mildly interesting, but hopelessly irrelevant? | 28:12 | |
| Yes, it does make a difference. | 28:17 | |
| When the cross of Christ becomes our own, | 28:19 | |
| as Jesus told His disciples, | 28:22 | |
| if we relive it every day of our lives | 28:24 | |
| by turning away from idolatry and all that it entails, | 28:27 | |
| and by obeying his command to give up ourselves, | 28:30 | |
| in selfless obedience to God, | 28:34 | |
| the death of Christ is tied to a moment | 28:37 | |
| in history 2000 years ago, | 28:39 | |
| but His reconciling work I expanding through the church. | 28:42 | |
| While Christ was glorifying on a cross, | 28:47 | |
| a once for all event of history, | 28:49 | |
| His reign continues for all time when we live in faith. | 28:52 | |
| It's a different kind of royalty | 28:58 | |
| than we're used to hearing about, to be sure. | 29:00 | |
| Where there would normally be a storehouse of treasures | 29:04 | |
| for a king to possess, Jesus had only the robe on His back. | 29:06 | |
| Where there would be soldiers to protect Him, | 29:12 | |
| He carried only a spirit of love. | 29:14 | |
| Where there would be whole nations to acclaim Him, | 29:17 | |
| there was only a small band of apostles to follow Him, | 29:19 | |
| who did so at the risk of their own lives. | 29:23 | |
| Where there would be monuments and archives to remember Him, | 29:26 | |
| there is only the church. | 29:30 | |
| Hosanna, blessed is the one who | 29:34 | |
| comes in the name of the Lord. | 29:37 | |
| His future depends on us, thanks be to God. | 29:39 | |
| (organ music) | 29:47 | |
| (angelic choir music) | 30:20 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 33:54 |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 33:56 |
| - | Let us pray. | 33:58 |
| Lord, in this silence we offer You our confession. | 34:09 | |
| Laying before You our lives, which have not loved you | 34:15 | |
| with our whole heart | 34:19 | |
| which have not loved you with our soul, | 34:22 | |
| which have not loved You with our minds, | 34:26 | |
| and which have not loved You with our strength. | 34:30 | |
| That You receive these lives we offer You | 35:09 | |
| and forgiveness is good news for us. | 35:12 | |
| And as forgiven people we offer You our prayers of joy, | 35:18 | |
| praise, and thanksgiving. | 35:22 | |
| For all the suffering in our lives | 35:26 | |
| which draws us nearer the cross, we give You thanks. | 35:30 | |
| For our hunger and thirst for You, we give You thanks. | 35:43 | |
| For the silence in our lives that you give us as gift, | 35:57 | |
| the silence in which we can wait for You. | 36:02 | |
| Hear Your still small voice, we give You thanks. | 36:07 | |
| We thank You for the Holy Spirit, | 36:19 | |
| who prays for us with sighs too deep for words, | 36:22 | |
| who comforts us, who gives us memory of You, | 36:28 | |
| who gives us our past, and present, and future in You. | 36:35 | |
| Who gifts us all for the church. | 36:42 | |
| We thank You Lord for Matthew, and Mark, | 36:52 | |
| Luke and John, | 36:58 | |
| for all those who gave to us our story, | 37:02 | |
| who tell us who we are. | 37:07 | |
| For all the children of our lives and their faith. | 37:14 | |
| We give You thanks and ask Your blessings. | 37:19 | |
| We thank You for the friends who would die for us. | 37:28 | |
| For those friends who through their mercy, | 37:33 | |
| forgiveness, grace, challenge, and devotion, | 37:38 | |
| teach us about our friendship with You. | 37:46 | |
| For this world that it might know Your rule | 37:55 | |
| we ask Your blessings. | 38:01 | |
| And especially for the church that it might be the church. | 38:04 | |
| We ask Your blessings. | 38:09 | |
| That we would be unafraid of those who need us, | 38:15 | |
| those on the streets, those with AIDS, | 38:19 | |
| those in our homes, | 38:25 | |
| we do pray. | 38:27 | |
| For the joy of Your salvation we give You thanks. | 38:35 | |
| In the name of the blessed Trinity, | 38:42 | |
| world without end, amen. | 38:45 | |
| (organ music) | 39:37 | |
| (angelic choir music) | 39:47 | |
| (organ music) | 43:24 | |
| ♪ Praise God from Whom all blessing flow ♪ | 43:35 | |
| ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ | 43:41 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 43:47 | |
| ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪ | 43:54 | |
| ♪ Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 44:00 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 44:06 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 44:12 | |
| - | Oh Lord we pray that You would | 44:32 |
| transform us into thankful people, | 44:33 | |
| ever responding to Your rule in the world, | 44:36 | |
| ever responding with thanks to Your work on the cross. | 44:39 | |
| Transform our humble gifts into the ministry of Your church | 44:47 | |
| that we might ever proclaim Your thanksgiving, | 44:53 | |
| Your love and sacrifice for us. | 44:57 | |
| Transform us into prayerful people, | 45:02 | |
| and teach us to pray as Your son taught us, | 45:05 | |
| saying, our Father who art in heaven, | 45:08 | |
| hallowed be Thy name. | 45:12 | |
| Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, | 45:14 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 45:18 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 45:21 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, | 45:24 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 45:26 | |
| Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. | 45:30 | |
| For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, | 45:35 | |
| and the glory, amen. | 45:38 | |
| Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord | 45:43 | |
| who does rule over this cosmos, | 45:47 | |
| and who does rule over our lives. | 45:49 | |
| In the name of the blessed Trinity, amen. | 45:53 | |
| (angelic choir music) | 46:02 | |
| (organ music) | 51:35 |