William H. Willimon - "The Distance of God" (August 26, 1990)

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	(robust organ music)	0:29
-	Good morning and welcome to this orientation	2:10
	Sunday here at Duke University's chapel.	2:14
	We particularly welcome our new students,	2:17
	our freshmen family, the Duke University football team,	2:21
	and their coaches.	2:26
	It's a tradition for the football team to come	2:27
	on this Sunday and we welcome you here at the Chapel.	2:30
	Reminder if you're a new student that can sing,	2:34
	our Chapel choir auditions are being held the next	2:38
	couple of weeks and we'd like to have you in the choir.	2:42
	Also, in your bulletin, there is an interest sheet	2:45
	that we would like you to fill out and indicate ways	2:49
	you'd like to serve here at the Chapel.	2:52
	After the services today, lemonade will be served	2:55
	for everyone out on the Chapel walkway.	2:59
	We invite you to spend time in fellowship.	3:03
	Now if you'd join me in the prelude.	3:06
	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.	3:11
Congregation	And also with you.	3:14
-	The risen Christ is with us.	3:16
Congregation	Praise the Lord.	3:17
	♪ Praise the Lord, O my soul, ♪	3:26
	♪ And never ceasing praise his Holy Name. ♪	3:32
	(trumpet fanfare)	3:49
	(organ)	4:06
	♪ Rejoice, the Lord is King, ♪	4:43
	♪ The Lord and King adore ♪	4:48
	♪ Rejoice, give thanks and sing, ♪	4:53
	♪ And triumph evermore. ♪	4:57
	♪ Lift up your heart, ♪	5:03
	♪ Lift up your voice! ♪	5:09
	♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice! ♪	5:11
	♪ Jesus, the Savior, reigns, ♪	5:22
	♪ The God of truth and love; ♪	5:27
	♪ When He has purged our stains, ♪	5:32
	♪ He took his seat above; ♪	5:36
	♪ Lift up your heart, ♪	5:43
	♪ Lift up your voice! ♪	5:48
	♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice! ♪	5:51
	♪ His kingdom cannot fail, ♪	6:02
	♪ He rules o'er earth and heav'n; ♪	6:07
	♪ The keys of death and hell ♪	6:13
	♪ Are to our Jesus giv'n: ♪	6:17
	♪ Lift up your heart, ♪	6:24
	♪ Lift up your voice! ♪	6:29
	♪ Rejoice, again I say, rejoice! ♪	6:31
	(organ interlude)	6:57
	♪ Rejoice in glorious hope! ♪	7:26
	♪ Jesus the Judge shall come, ♪	7:31
	♪ and take his servants up ♪	7:36
	♪ to their eternal home. ♪	7:39
	♪ We soon shall hear ♪	7:47
	♪ th'archangel's voice; the trump of God ♪	7:51
	♪ shall sound, rejoice! ♪	7:57
	(jubilant trumpet fanfare)	8:05
-	Let us pray.	8:38
	Open our hearts and minds O God,	8:41
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	8:44
	so that as the Word is read	8:47
	and proclaimed,	8:49
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	8:51
	Amen.	8:55
	The first reading is taken from the Book of Exodus.	8:58
	From the wilderness of Sin, the whole congregation	9:02
	of the Israelites journeyed by stages,	9:06
	as the Lord commanded.	9:09
	They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water	9:11
	for the people to drink.	9:15
	The people quarreled with Moses, and said,	9:17
	"Give us water to drink."	9:20
	Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me?	9:24
	Why do you test the Lord?"	9:28
	But the people thirsted there for water;	9:31
	and the people complained against Moses and said,	9:34
	"Why did you bring us out of Egypt,	9:37
	to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?"	9:40
	So Moses cried out to the Lord,	9:47
	"What shall I do with this people?	9:50
	They are almost ready to stone me."	9:53
	The Lord said to Moses, "Go on ahead of the people,	9:56
	and take some of the elders of Israel with you;	10:01
	take in your hand the staff with which	10:06
	you struck the Nile, and go.	10:08
	I will be standing there in front of you	10:11
	on the rock at Horeb.	10:13
	Strike the rock, and water will come of it,	10:16
	and the people may drink."	10:19
	Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.	10:23
	He called the place Massah and Meribah,	10:28
	because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord,	10:32
	saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"	10:35
	This is the Word of the Lord.	10:41
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	10:44
-	Please stand as we join together in singing	10:50
	responsively Psalm 95, found on page 814 in your hymnals.	10:52
	♪ O come, let us sing to the Lord, ♪	11:07
	♪ Let us sing a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. ♪	11:11
	♪ Let us come into God's presence with thanksgiving. ♪	11:18
	♪ Let us make a joyful noise with songs of praise. ♪	11:23
	♪ For the Lord is our great God, ♪	11:29
	♪ and a great ruler above all Gods, ♪	11:32
	♪ In whose hands are the depths of the earth, ♪	11:36
	♪ And also the heights of the mountains. ♪	11:40
	♪ The sea belongs to God who made it, ♪	11:45
	♪ And the dry land he also made. ♪	11:49
	♪ O come, let us worship and bow down. ♪	11:55
	♪ Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. ♪	11:59
	♪ For the Lord is our God, ♪	12:04
	♪ We are the people of His pasture, ♪	12:08
	♪ And the sheep of God's hand. ♪	12:11
	♪ Hear the voice of the Lord today, ♪	12:15
	♪ Harden not your hearts, as at Meribah, ♪	12:19
	♪ As on the day at Massah in the wilderness, ♪	12:22
	♪ When your forbearers tested me, ♪	12:27
	♪ And put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. ♪	12:31
	♪ For forty years I loathed that generation, ♪	12:37
	♪ And said, "They are a hard people in their hearts, ♪	12:42
	♪ And they do not regard my ways. ♪	12:46
	♪ Therefore I swear in my anger, ♪	12:51
	♪ "They shall not enter my rest." ♪	12:56
	(organ)	13:02
	♪ Glory be to our creator ♪	13:12
	♪ Praise to our redeemer lord ♪	13:19
	♪ Glory be to our sustainer ♪	13:26
	♪ Ever free and ever Lord. ♪	13:34
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	13:42
	♪ Now and evermore shall be. ♪	13:49
-	The second lesson comes from Paul's letter to the Romans.	14:09
	O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!	14:15
	How unsearchable are his judgments	14:20
	and how inscrutable his ways!	14:23
	For who has known the mind of the Lord?	14:27
	Or who has been his counselor?	14:29
	Or who has given a gift to him,	14:33
	to receive a gift in return?	14:36
	For from him and through him and to him are all things.	14:39
	To him be the glory forever.	14:45
	Amen.	14:48
	This is the word of the Lord.	14:50
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	14:53
	(trumpet and organ)	15:14
	♪ Upon this rock I will build my church, ♪	15:27
	♪ And the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. ♪	15:32
	♪ Upon this rock I will build my church, ♪	15:47
	♪ And the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. ♪	15:52
	♪ I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. ♪	16:01
	♪ And what so ever thou shall bind on earth, ♪	16:10
	♪ Shall be bound in Heaven, ♪	16:16
	♪ And what so ever thou shalt loose here on earth ♪	16:22
	♪ Shall be loose in Heaven. ♪	16:27
	♪ Upon this rock I will build my church. ♪	16:35
	♪ Low the winter is blessed, ♪	16:50
	♪ The waiting is over, ♪	16:56
	♪ The waiting is over, ♪	17:00
	♪ The flowers appear on the earth ♪	17:03
	♪ The time of the singing of birds has come. ♪	17:10
	♪ Our God has come awake ♪	17:22
	♪ Our God has come awake ♪	17:26
	♪ Our God has come, Our God. ♪	17:31
	♪ Upon this rock I will build my church, ♪	17:37
	♪ And the gates of Hell, the gates of Hell, ♪	17:42
	♪ will not prevail against it. ♪	17:47
	♪ Our church's one foundation ♪	18:05
	♪ is Jesus Christ her Lord ♪	18:11
	♪ She is his new creation ♪	18:16
	♪ by water and the Word. ♪	18:23
	♪ From heav'n he came and sought her ♪	18:28
	♪ to be His holy bride, ♪	18:34
	♪ With his own blood he bought her, ♪	18:40
	♪ and for her life he died. ♪	18:46
	♪ Amen, ♪	18:52
	♪ Amen, ♪	18:56
	♪ Amen. ♪	19:00
-	This reading is from the Gospel according to	19:27
	St. Matthew.	19:29
	Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,	19:31
	he asked his disciples,	19:36
	"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"	19:39
	And they said, "Some say John the Baptist,	19:43
	but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah	19:47
	or one of the prophets."	19:52
	He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"	19:54
	Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah,	19:59
	the Son of the living God."	20:03
	And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you,	20:06
	Simon son of Jonah!	20:10
	For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,	20:12
	but my Father in heaven.	20:15
	And I tell you, you are Peter,	20:17
	and on this rock I will build my church,	20:20
	and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.	20:23
	I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,	20:27
	and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,	20:31
	and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.	20:35
	Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone	20:40
	that he was the Messiah.	20:43
	This is the Word of the Lord.	20:46
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	20:48
	"Oh the depth and the riches and wisdom	21:01
	"and knowledge of God.	21:05
	"How unsearchable are God's judgements and	21:07
	"how inscrutable his ways.	21:10
	"Who has known the mind of God?	21:14
	"Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"	21:18
	Today ends orientation week for new students.	21:25
	Orientation, that's when we help you find your place	21:30
	here at Duke, and we help you get your bearings.	21:35
	And this morning has found you in the Chapel.	21:40
	Those of us who've been here awhile cease to be amused	21:45
	by the designation of this building as the Chapel.	21:48
	But visitors and newcomers sometimes remark on their	21:52
	amusement at calling so great a building a "chapel."	21:57
	To their minds, the word "chapel" conveys something	22:02
	that's small, something that's intimate.	22:05
	In fact, in my dictionary, the first definition	22:08
	given for chapel is: a place of Christian worship	22:11
	that is smaller than and subordinate to a church.	22:15
	What does Webster know?	22:21
	(laughter)	22:24
	This chapel is anything but intimate;	22:24
	it's anything but small.	22:27
	It's a demanding, challenging place	22:30
	to which to become oriented.	22:35
	And if you're new here, a bit overwhelmed by	22:39
	all of the different decisions to be made here at Duke,	22:43
	and the challenges and potential ahead of you,	22:48
	well I'm afraid that this Chapel won't be very much help	22:52
	at scaling things down.	22:55
	'Cause it's big, it's demanding, it's overpowering.	22:58
	As if to say, "You feel small,	23:04
	"you feel overwhelmed by all the	23:07
	"possibilities here at Duke?	23:09
	"Well then, come into the Chapel--	23:11
	"we'll make you feel even smaller."	23:13
	We don't build churches like Duke Chapel anymore,	23:19
	even if we could afford to.	23:22
	And one reason is, this building embodies an experience	23:25
	of God of an earlier age; dim, dark, distant.	23:30
	Modern churches are all light and clear, steel and glass,	23:38
	brick, everything cut down to human scale.	23:43
	Intimate, carpeted bedrooms, padded living rooms,	23:48
	where preachers pad about, cordless mike and lapel,	23:52
	chatting amiably with the folk in the pews.	23:56
	It's all intimate, it's close.	23:59
	Well, isn't this the purpose of worship?	24:04
	To get close to God?	24:07
	In today's Psalm, we sang, "Let us come into	24:12
	"his presence with thanksgiving."	24:16
	This is Sunday, this is a time to get close.	24:19
	Indeed, when I was in seminary, I was taught that	24:25
	this was the very purpose of preaching.	24:27
	The preacher is the one who stands up in the pulpit	24:30
	on Sunday morning and, the image we got was,	24:33
	with a Bible in one hand and today's newspaper in the other.	24:36
	The preacher labors in about twenty minutes to bring	24:40
	this old ancient world of the Bible	24:44
	close to life in Gilbert-Addoms.	24:46
	We're to bring the two closer together, to get close.	24:50
	We modern people tend to just cut everything down to size,	24:57
	see, even God.	25:01
	I remember a banner from my student days strung over a	25:03
	student chapel, and the banner read, "God is other people."	25:07
	See, God is just sort of on our level.	25:14
	He is not just a function of modern education.	25:19
	Begin with some mystery like grass growing in a meadow.	25:23
	By the 6th grade, grass is a mystery no more.	25:28
	We call it photosynthesis: carbon dioxide, sunlight, water.	25:32
	Later, nuclear fission:	25:37
	you take one heavy atom bombarded with...	25:40
	You give us a mystery, we'll give you an explanation.	25:43
	We'll decode it for you.	25:48
	Give us a gap and we'll bridge it for you.	25:50
	So then, in about four years here, everything will be	25:54
	cut down to your sociological, economic,	25:57
	historical, psychological definition.	26:01
	And it's only natural that in such a world, we should be	26:06
	conditioned to say, "God? Let me explain that to you."	26:09
	But lately, I don't know, lately,	26:16
	maybe it's because I preach in this chapel,	26:19
	I've come to wonder if the function of preaching is not	26:21
	to close gaps, but to open them up.	26:26
	Because it's in the gaps,	26:35
	in those great big, wide, threatening gaps	26:37
	that we are free to wander, to roam,	26:42
	to envision, to re-vision.	26:47
	It's in those great big gaps.	26:49
	That great, fulsome distance	26:54
	that the trivialities of modern existence have burned away,	27:00
	and we are left alone with a great God.	27:05
	What I'm saying is that maybe you have come to this	27:12
	dark, glorious limestone womb,	27:17
	not to snuggle up to God, to get close,	27:20
	but to get some distance,	27:26
	and to revel in the glorious gaps.	27:28
	Come away with me to another chapel.	27:36
	It's cold there.	27:42
	A cold, rainy Sunday, it's a long way from Durham,	27:44
	all the way to winter in Massachusetts.	27:48
	It's a chapel which is described in	27:52
	Melville's "Moby Dick".	27:54
	And inside that little chapel it's just as cold.	27:58
	There are a few marble plaques on the wall,	28:02
	dedicated to the memory of sailors killed by whales at sea.	28:05
	And scattered over that chapel this morning,	28:11
	they're just a few widows, each sitting alone,	28:14
	as if my grief were the only grief.	28:17
	And there are a few seamen scattered about,	28:20
	preparing to venture forth on the sea again	28:25
	and perhaps to die.	28:28
	In silence, in cold silence they wait for the preacher.	28:32
	Can you feel the distance?	28:37
	But that distance is nothing compared to the distance	28:41
	when Father Mapel, the chaplain, comes in at the	28:45
	back door and stamps his boots and shakes the rain	28:49
	off his coat and then he plods toward the pulpit.	28:52
	And the pulpit in that chapel is in the shape of	28:56
	a ship's prow, and the bible rests on the	28:59
	nose point of this bow.	29:02
	You remember how Father Mapel	29:06
	climbs up into the pulpit?	29:08
	They're got a rope ladder, like a ship's ladder,	29:11
	he climbs up that ladder up in the pulpit, and then	29:13
	he pulls the ladder up after him.	29:16
	We're talking distance here!	29:18
	And then this rough, weather-beaten,	29:23
	rough-hewn preacher begins to preach.	29:26
	"Oh my shipmates, hear the Word," he says.	29:28
	And he begins and he takes his scripture text	29:33
	from Jonah.	29:36
	And his text is about the sea, his text.	29:38
	"And the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah."	29:41
	Then he preached,	29:47
	and it's a sermon about the sea,	29:49
	about the dark sea.	29:51
	The raging sea,	29:53
	it's about God and about sailors.	29:55
	And he knows about what he speaks, Father Mapel,	29:58
	because he was a sailor once too.	30:00
	"Oh, my shipmates," he roars as he preaches,	30:03
	"Oh, my shipmates!"	30:06
	And he takes that strange text,	30:09
	up on that high pulpit,	30:13
	and he brings that little congregation	30:15
	right before the awesome, terrifying throne of God.	30:18
	Oh to be in the chapel that day.	30:23
	After Father Mapel's sermon, they put a banner	30:28
	across the chapel that reads, "God is other, people."	30:31
	Come with me to another chapel.	30:38
	It is a long way from Melville's Massachusetts.	30:43
	It's a little place in a summer camp in the mountains	30:47
	of North Carolina, mid-July.	30:50
	And it's described by our own Reynolds Price	30:55
	in his new novel, "Tongues of Angels".	30:58
	It's a story told by Bridge Boatner,	31:04
	twenty-one years old,	31:07
	working as I know many of you did this summer.	31:09
	The summer between his junior and senior years	31:11
	at a summer camp for boys.	31:14
	And it's Sunday.	31:19
	And on Sundays in this camp, the whole camp	31:21
	climbs up to a place called The Pasture.	31:23
	And there they worship.	31:26
	The camp director, whose name is Chief,	31:29
	has invited this ancient Baptist preacher	31:31
	to come speak to the boys on their	31:34
	Sunday evening worship up in the Pasture.	31:37
	Bridge describes that.	31:41
	He says the preacher is a startling sight.	31:42
	He's got lank, snow-white hair.	31:47
	It's parted down the middle,	31:50
	it's hanging down his shoulders,	31:52
	it's just hacked off right below the shoulders.	31:53
	Bridge says that that preacher looks like	31:56
	Franz Linst, the oldest human being he has ever seen	31:58
	in his entire life.	32:02
	And once they get up into the Pasture,	32:05
	the preacher asks permission to talk with the boys	32:07
	about their fathers.	32:11
	And the preacher looks directly at each boy.	32:14
	"Boys and counselors," he said, "boys and counselors,	32:18
	"I want permission tonight	32:21
	"to lay open my heart's burden to you.	32:26
	"Chief Jenkins tells me that as recently as June	32:30
	"he spoke with you about your fathers.	32:32
	"But I wasn't here that blessed morning in June.	32:36
	"No, I was up at the bedside of my dying father.	32:39
	"I was up deep in the mountains of North Carolina,	32:44
	"and my father has now passed on over, but I need,	32:48
	"I need to tell you about it."	32:52
	And the boys huddled together,	32:54
	the boys huddled together and they thought,	32:58
	"Man, his father's got to be older than the wheel!"	33:01
	(laughter)	33:04
	Every boy thought as they gazed on this old mutant.	33:06
	He told the boys he was seventy-four.	33:09
	His father was ninety-six when he summoned his boy	33:13
	to his bedside and proceeded to lapse into a coma.	33:17
	His son kept bedside vigil for sixteen hours.	33:21
	And after a coma of sixteen hours,	33:26
	the old man bolted up in bed	33:28
	and demanded a breakfast of eggs, grits and Vienna sausage.	33:30
	After eating every mouthful, the old man grabbed his son	33:35
	by the shirt and said, "Otis!	33:40
	"Otis, I want you to listen to me.	33:43
	"I wasn't asleep, I was dead.	33:46
	"I was up in heaven.	33:49
	"The main thing I know is that heaven's not a place	33:52
	flooded with light like they tell you.	33:54
	It's restful and still, just like a dim,	33:58
	starlit Cuban night."	34:00
	(He'd been in the Spanish-American war, this old man.)	34:02
	"It's wondrous, and they sent me back here to tell you	34:05
	"because you're a preacher,	34:10
	"they said to me, 'Tell your boy to pass it on.'"	34:13
	Then the old man fell back, dead.	34:17
	End of sermon.	34:22
	Now Bridge Boatner says that most of the boys there	34:25
	took the whole sermon in stride.	34:28
	Outrage number two million twenty-four	34:31
	by the adult race committed in the last two days.	34:33
	But Bridge said	34:38
	he felt as if that old man was speaking to him.	34:40
	If that strange old creature	34:46
	with the chopped-off white hair	34:49
	had been speaking to him, his loony,	34:51
	unvarnished but oddly credible truth.	34:54
	Because, you see, that past winter,	34:57
	Bridge Boatner's father had died.	35:00
	And Bridge could not talk about it 'cause it was so painful.	35:06
	Do any of you know what that means?	35:10
	He was young, he was twenty-one, he was courageous,	35:13
	he was strong, but he had found out that	35:17
	there's some things that happen to you in life	35:19
	that are so terrible you can't talk about them.	35:21
	You can't even cry about them, they're so bad.	35:26
	And somehow, that strange old Baptist preacher,	35:30
	come to those boys as if from another planet,	35:33
	had reached out and stared in the eye each one of them,	35:37
	and spoken to him and it reassured Bridge that his	35:41
	father was somehow safe in that starry dark	35:44
	which he so strangely described.	35:49
	Distance.	35:55
	You see, sometimes,	36:00
	sometimes we come to church to be told what to do.	36:02
	To figure it all out.	36:08
	To have explained to us the way things are.	36:11
	But some Sundays,	36:16
	some Sundays we just come to revel in the distance.	36:19
	The sheer differentness of God, to wander around	36:23
	in the midst of a campus which knows so much	36:27
	about where it's going,	36:34
	here to come to wander in the	36:37
	sheer incomprehensibility of God.	36:39
	And there's a third sanctuary,	36:45
	a little house church I wanna take you to.	36:48
	It's in the third century Rome.	36:50
	It's night.	36:54
	The doors are bolted for fear of Roman soldiers.	36:55
	Gathered there in that little chapel are Jews,	36:59
	and, surprise, Gentiles.	37:02
	And they'd been listening to a letter read aloud.	37:05
	We heard a portion of that letter read to us today,	37:08
	Paul's letter to the church at Rome.	37:11
	It hasn't been easy listening to this letter from Paul.	37:15
	This is no easy "three points and a poem" sermonette.	37:19
	It's deep, closely reasoned theology.	37:23
	If somebody's come to church this evening,	37:26
	hoping for a little thought for the day,	37:29
	some little nugget from Readers Digest,	37:32
	he's gonna be disappointed.	37:34
	"I am not ashamed of the Gospel," says Paul.	37:39
	"It is power of God.	37:42
	"Salvation to all, first to the Jew, then to the Greek."	37:44
	And for ten chapters,	37:49
	ten chapters!	37:51
	Paul weaved step-by-step this intricate argument	37:54
	of the unfolding plan of God's universal salvation.	37:58
	This is some of the most complex, difficult reasoning	38:04
	of all of the Bible.	38:07
	God's grace has come even to the Gentiles.	38:09
	This is the kind of sermon that if you dozed off	38:13
	for just a minute, you missed the whole thing.	38:15
	These Gentiles, those who had absolutely no part	38:18
	in the promises of God to Israel,	38:21
	these Gentiles had somehow been embroced by God in Christ.	38:23
	But then Paul's voice becomes pained.	38:30
	God's people have rejected the Christ.	38:36
	He says, "I have great sorrow and anguish in my heart	38:39
	for my fellow Jews.	38:44
	I wish that I myself were damned for the sake of my kinsmen.	38:46
	And then the preacher's voice trembles with the words,	38:53
	"Has God rejected his own people?	38:56
	"Has God brought Israel this far now just to abandon them?	39:03
	"Just because Israel does not see what even	39:07
	"Gentiles now see?"	39:10
	And the church gets real quiet.	39:12
	You can't hear a cough, there's not a stir.	39:14
	"By no means," says Paul. "The gifts and the call	39:18
	"of God are irrevocable."	39:21
	And then it's as if he can't contain himself any longer,	39:24
	and prose breaks forth in song	39:29
	and theology becomes doxology.	39:33
	And Paul begins to sing, and this is the scripture	39:36
	that Nathan read today.	39:39
	"Oh the depth and the riches	39:40
	"and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!	39:42
	"How unsearchable are God's judgments!	39:44
	"How inscrutable are God's ways!"	39:46
	You can't give God a gift!	39:50
	You can't repay God; God's big.	39:53
	"Oh to God be glory and honor forever and ever.	39:56
	"Amen."	40:00
	Unsearchable.	40:03
	Inscrutable.	40:04
	Distant.	40:06
	So maybe you thought God sort of chose a people	40:10
	and then when things didn't go well,	40:13
	tomorrow that people God rejected,	40:15
	and then moved on	40:17
	to put money down on some...	40:18
	No! No, no no.	40:20
	God's not like us.	40:21
	God doesn't run the world like	40:22
	we would run the world if we were God.	40:24
	God's different.	40:26
	God's ways higher than our ways,	40:28
	God's thoughts distant from our thoughts.	40:30
	Both Gentile and Jew caught up in God's unmeasurable mercy.	40:34
	Oh you high SAT-scoring Gentiles,	40:41
	oh you can ponder it, you can do research on it,	40:44
	you can get a Master's in it,	40:48
	but you can't comprehend it, understand it.	40:51
	Your wisdom and knowledge, impressive though they	40:55
	may be to the admissions office,	40:58
	are no match for the wisdom of God.	41:00
	And this little church,	41:07
	this little newborn fledgling church,	41:09
	just sat there in stunned silence	41:11
	at the bigness of it all.	41:15
	Sometimes you come to church to be told what to do,	41:23
	to figure out life,	41:27
	come up with a definition, an explanation.	41:30
	But some Sundays we just come to play in the gaps,	41:34
	to revel in the glorious distance.	41:40
	"From him and through him and in him	41:48
	"are all things.	41:51
	"to him be glory forever."	41:55
	Amen.	42:00
	(stately organ music)	42:05
	♪ The God of Abraham praise, ♪	42:42
	♪ who reigns enthroned above; ♪	42:47
	♪ Ancient of Everlasting Days, ♪	42:52
	♪ and God of Love; ♪	42:56
	♪ Jehovah, great I AM! ♪	43:02
	♪ by earth and heaven confessed; ♪	43:06
	♪ I bow and bless the sacred name ♪	43:11
	♪ forever blest. ♪	43:16
	♪ The great I AM has sworn; ♪	43:23
	♪ I on this oath depend. ♪	43:28
	♪ I shall, on eagle wings upborne, ♪	43:33
	♪ to heaven ascend. ♪	43:38
	♪ I shall behold God's face; ♪	43:43
	♪ I shall God's power adore, ♪	43:48
	♪ and sing the wonders of God's grace ♪	43:53
	♪ forevermore. ♪	43:58
	♪ The heavenly land I see, ♪	44:05
	♪ with peace and plenty blest; ♪	44:10
	♪ a land of sacred liberty, ♪	44:15
	♪ and endless rest. ♪	44:20
	♪ There milk and honey flow, ♪	44:25
	♪ and oil and wine abound, ♪	44:30
	♪ and trees of life forever grow ♪	44:35
	♪ with mercy crowned. ♪	44:40
	♪ The God who reigns on high ♪	44:48
	♪ the great archangels sing, ♪	44:53
	♪ and "Holy, holy, holy!" cry ♪	44:57
	♪ "Almighty King! ♪	45:02
	♪ Who was, and is, the same, ♪	45:06
	♪ and evermore shall be: ♪	45:11
	♪ Jehovah, Lord, the great I AM, ♪	45:16
	♪ we worship thee!" ♪	45:21
-	The Lord be with you.	45:31
Congregation	And also with you.	45:33
-	Let us pray.	45:34
	O eternal God, from everlasting to everlasting,	45:47
	the Alpha and the Omega of this vast universe.	45:52
	We worship you.	45:56
	You have created each of us as a unique stripe	45:58
	in the fabric of humanity, yet we humbly remember	46:02
	the bond which unites us	46:05
	with our sisters and brothers around the world,	46:07
	even in our diversity.	46:11
	Hear now these prayers offered for the entire	46:13
	human family as we acknowledge the greatness	46:16
	of your creation.	46:19
	Let us pray for all who face new beginnings,	46:23
	most especially the class of 1994.	46:26
	We pray for all who live with anxiety,	46:30
	fear, or self-doubt.	46:33
	Asking that they may receive a renewed vision	46:36
	of your purpose for their lives,	46:38
	and a reassurance of your unfailing love and acceptance.	46:41
	Deliver to their side, O God, good friends and wise council.	46:46
	Lord in your mercy.	46:51
Congregation	Hear our prayer.	46:53
-	Let us pray for all whose lives are affected	46:56
	in any way by the crisis in the Middle East.	46:59
	For men and women serving in military forces	47:01
	and the families they leave behind,	47:04
	especially any from our own communities.	47:07
	For men, women and children held hostage	47:10
	to a nightmare of greed and deception.	47:13
	For Iraqi and Kuwaiti families willing	47:16
	to endanger their own security while	47:19
	sheltering innocent foreigners.	47:21
	For government and military officials on all sides	47:24
	responsible for life and death decisions,	47:28
	guide us in our struggle for justice, O God.	47:31
	Empower us to confront one another without	47:35
	hatred or violence	47:37
	and to work together to achieve a lasting peace,	47:40
	may we become reconciled with	47:43
	those whom we call our enemies.	47:45
	Lord in your mercy,	47:49
Congregation	Hear our prayer.	47:50
-	Let us pray for all who live with injustice	47:53
	and terror as their constant companions,	47:56
	especially the people of Liberia and South Africa,	47:58
	engulfed in civil strife.	48:02
	Look upon them with compassion gracious God,	48:04
	and empower them with the spirit of reconciliation	48:07
	that can disarm weapons and silence ancient hate.	48:10
	Lord in your mercy,	48:14
Congregation	Hear our prayer.	48:16
-	Let us pray for all poor and neglected persons,	48:19
	forgotten in the eyes of the world	48:22
	yet precious in your sight.	48:25
	The homeless, the destitute, the hungry, the sick,	48:27
	nourish their souls, O God,	48:31
	and comfort them with your healing presence.	48:34
	Lord in your mercy,	48:37
Congregation	Hear our prayer.	48:39
-	Let us pray for all who feel unwanted or rejected,	48:41
	for those who resort to violence or prejudice behavior	48:45
	out of their unhappiness,	48:49
	and for those who are victims of their actions.	48:50
	For those who indulge in material excess	48:54
	attempting to fill an interior void.	48:57
	For those addicted to substance abuse,	49:00
	unaware of the destruction they inflict upon	49:03
	their own lives and others.	49:06
	And for all those who live within institutions,	49:08
	surrounded by people yet lonely beyond words.	49:11
	Lord in your mercy,	49:15
Congregation	Hear our prayer.	49:17
-	Our kind and gracious God, we lift these prayers unto you	49:19
	as well as the deep and unspoken needs of this congregation.	49:23
	Bless us in our waking and in our sleeping, in times	49:29
	of contentment and distress that your name may be praised	49:33
	throughout all eternity.	49:37
	Amen.	49:41
	As a forgiven and reconciled people,	49:44
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves	49:47
	to the one whose majesty we celebrate.	49:50
	(organ music)	50:02
	(strong trumpet music)	50:25
	♪ When in our music God is glorified, ♪	50:47
	♪ and adoration leaves no room for pride, ♪	50:53
	♪ it is as though the whole creation cried: ♪	51:01
	♪ Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! ♪	51:09
	♪ How often, making music, we have found ♪	51:20
	♪ a new dimension in the world of sound, ♪	51:27
	♪ as worship moved us to a more profound ♪	51:34
	♪ Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! ♪	51:42
	♪ So has the church, in liturgy and song, ♪	52:01
	♪ in faith and love, through centuries of wrong, ♪	52:08
	♪ borne witness to the truth in every tongue: ♪	52:15
	♪ Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! ♪	52:23
	♪ And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night ♪	52:34
	♪ when utmost evil strove against the light? ♪	52:41
	♪ Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight: ♪	52:49
	♪ Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! ♪	52:58
	(trumpet and brass interlude)	53:08
	♪ Let every instrument be tuned for praise! ♪	53:26
	♪ Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise! ♪	53:34
	♪ And may God give us faith to sing always: ♪	53:41
	♪ Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! ♪	53:51
	♪ Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! ♪	54:03
	(organ)	54:23
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	55:21
	♪ Praise God all creatures here below ♪	55:28
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	55:35
	♪ Praise God above ye heavenly hosts ♪	55:43
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. ♪	55:50
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. ♪	55:57
-	Almighty God, that we are alive, that the sun rises	56:24
	to greet each new day, that new challenges and opportunities	56:29
	await us, Your name we praise.	56:33
	Alleluia.	56:35
	We thank you for friends, old and new,	56:36
	for the places from which we have come,	56:39
	and for the places which we will learn to call home,	56:41
	and for the vision, generosity and commitment	56:44
	of women and men who give of their lives	56:47
	to make this university all that it is.	56:50
	Most of all we thank you for yourself,	56:53
	ground and source of every good,	56:56
	and for the bounty of your love,	56:57
	with all your people in every corner of creation,	56:59
	we count it joy to praise your name.	57:02
	This we pray in the name of the one who taught us.	57:05
	Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.	57:08
	Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,	57:13
	on earth as it is in heaven.	57:16
	Give us this day our daily bread;	57:18
	and forgive us our trespasses,	57:21
	as we forgive those who trespass against us;	57:23
	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	57:26
	For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,	57:30
	for ever and ever, Amen.	57:34
-	Now go forth in peace and be of good courage.	57:38
	Hold fast to that which is good,	57:42
	rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit,	57:44
	and may the blessings of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,	57:47
	be with you all, now and forevermore.	57:50
	♪ Amen. ♪	57:55
	(Trumpet)	58:15
	♪ The church's one foundation ♪	58:58
	♪ is Jesus Christ, her Lord; ♪	59:03
	♪ she is his new creation ♪	59:09
	♪ by water and the Word: ♪	59:14
	♪ from heav'n he came and sought her ♪	59:19
	♪ to be his holy bride; ♪	59:24
	♪ with his own blood he bought her, ♪	59:29
	♪ and for her life he died. ♪	59:35
	♪ Elect from ev'ry nation, ♪	59:43
	♪ yet one o'er all the earth, ♪	59:48
	♪ her charter of salvation ♪	59:53
	♪ one Lord, one faith, one birth; ♪	59:59
	♪ one holy name she blesses, ♪	1:00:04
	♪ partakes one holy food, ♪	1:00:10
	♪ and to one hope she presses, ♪	1:00:15
	♪ with ev'ry grace endued. ♪	1:00:21
	♪ Though with a scornful wonder ♪	1:00:30
	♪ men see her sore oppressed, ♪	1:00:35
	♪ by schisms rent asunder, ♪	1:00:40
	♪ by heresies distressed, ♪	1:00:45
	♪ yet saints their watch are keeping, ♪	1:00:50
	♪ their cry goes up, "How long?" ♪	1:00:55
	♪ And soon the night of weeping ♪	1:01:01
	♪ Shall be the morn of song. ♪	1:01:07
	♪ 'Mid toil and tribulation, ♪	1:01:14
	♪ and tumult of her war, ♪	1:01:19
	♪ she waits the consummation ♪	1:01:25
	♪ of peace forevermore; ♪	1:01:30
	♪ till with the vision glorious ♪	1:01:35
	♪ her longing eyes are blest, ♪	1:01:41
	♪ and the great church victorious ♪	1:01:46
	♪ shall be the church at rest. ♪	1:01:52
	♪ Yet she on earth hath union ♪	1:02:00
	♪ with the God the Three in One, ♪	1:02:05
	♪ and mystic sweet communion ♪	1:02:10
	♪ with those whose rest is won: ♪	1:02:16
	♪ O happy ones and holy! ♪	1:02:21
	♪ Lord, give us grace that we, ♪	1:02:26
	♪ like them, the meek and lowly, ♪	1:02:32
	♪ on high may dwell with thee. ♪	1:02:37
	♪ Go in peace and serve the Lord. ♪	1:02:48
	♪ In the name of God. ♪	1:02:52
	♪ Amen. ♪	1:02:57
	(lively organ music)	1:03:06

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "The Distance of God" (August 26, 1990)

Description:

Sermon start time: 21:01. Sermon end time: 42:04.
This sermon talks about the mystery of God. The preacher argues that God’s wisdom, knowledge, and unmeasurable mercy are caught up in the purposes of God, and the church sits in awe before God’s glory. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "Sometimes you come to church to be told what to do, to figure out life, come up with a definition, an explanation. But some Sundays we just come to play in the gaps, to revel in the glorious distance."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4hh6cm6p

Date:

August 26, 1990

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Romans

Chapter and Verse:

Romans 11:33-36

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0195
ref8828_k4g
uachapelsermaud
duke:321508
dcrmv001187
ark:/87924/r4hh6cm6p
305e48ec-fa38-4e25-85d6-a350412c7c16

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "The Distance of God" (August 26, 1990)

Transcript

Item Info

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Duke University Archives