Nancy Ferree-Clark - "The Mind of Christ" (September 30, 1990)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music) | 0:07 | |
- | Good morning. | 3:28 |
And welcome to the service of worship | 3:29 | |
here at Duke University Chapel | 3:31 | |
on this 17th Sunday after Pentecost. | 3:32 | |
We are delighted to be able to join | 3:35 | |
with each of you in celebrating | 3:37 | |
the sacrament of Holy Eucharist. | 3:38 | |
I'd like to thank the reverend David O. Jenkins | 3:41 | |
who is campus minister to | 3:43 | |
the Wesley United Methodist Fellowship here at Duke | 3:45 | |
for serving as our presiding minister today. | 3:47 | |
And Ms. Debbie Luther, | 3:50 | |
coordinator of the Graduate | 3:52 | |
and Professional Students Fellowship | 3:53 | |
for serving as lector. | 3:55 | |
We also are indebted to our communion servers | 3:57 | |
who are divinity students | 3:59 | |
and members of the campus ministry. | 4:00 | |
And to our ushers, who include both student ushers | 4:03 | |
and members of the congregation at Duke Chapel. | 4:06 | |
The ushers provide an invaluable service to us | 4:08 | |
each Sunday morning, and we are truly grateful to them. | 4:11 | |
I'd like to remind you of an organizational meeting | 4:15 | |
which is happening this afternoon at two o'clock | 4:18 | |
in the chapel basement for all students interested | 4:20 | |
in participating in a spring break work team in Costa Rica. | 4:23 | |
Please note the remainder of the announcements | 4:28 | |
as they are printed in you bulletins. | 4:30 | |
And now, please stand for the greeting. | 4:33 | |
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. | 4:41 | |
Congregation | And also with you. | 4:44 |
- | The risen Christ is with us. | 4:46 |
Congregation | Praise the Lord. | 4:49 |
(organ music) | 4:52 | |
(choir and congregation singing) | 5:28 | |
(organ music continues) | 7:20 | |
(choir and congregation singing) | 8:58 | |
- | Because we are sinners | 9:39 |
God has given us the great and wonderful possibility | 9:41 | |
to confess and be forgiven. | 9:44 | |
So let us remain standing and confess our sins before God. | 9:48 | |
Page 891 in the hymnal. | 9:52 | |
Let us pray. | 9:58 | |
All | Almighty and merciful God; | 10:00 |
we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. | 10:03 | |
We have followed too much the devices | 10:08 | |
and desires of our own hearts. | 10:10 | |
We have offended against thy holy laws. | 10:13 | |
We have left undone those things | 10:16 | |
which we ought to have done; | 10:19 | |
and we have done those things | 10:21 | |
which we ought not to have done. | 10:23 | |
But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us. | 10:26 | |
Spare thou those, O God, who confess their faults. | 10:29 | |
Restore thou those who are penitent; | 10:34 | |
according to thy promises declared in Christ Jesus our Lord. | 10:37 | |
And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; | 10:42 | |
that we may hereafter live a godly, | 10:46 | |
righteous, and sober life, | 10:49 | |
to the glory of thy holy Name. | 10:52 | |
Amen. | 10:54 | |
- | If we confess our sins | 11:15 |
God is faithful and just | 11:18 | |
and will forgive our sins | 11:21 | |
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. | 11:23 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 11:27 |
- | You may be seated. | 11:29 |
- | Let us pray. | 11:41 |
All | Open our hearts and minds, O God, | 11:44 |
by the power of your holy spirit | 11:47 | |
so that as the word is read and proclaimed | 11:50 | |
we might hear with joy what you say to us this day. | 11:53 | |
Amen. | 11:58 | |
- | The first lesson comes to us from the book of Exodus. | 12:01 |
Moses said to the Lord; | 12:06 | |
see you have said to me bring up this people. | 12:09 | |
But you have not let me know whom you will send with me. | 12:13 | |
Yet you have said, I know you by name | 12:18 | |
and you have also found favor in my sight. | 12:21 | |
Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways. | 12:25 | |
So that I may know you and find favor in your sight. | 12:30 | |
Consider too that this nation is your people. | 12:34 | |
He said, my presence will go with you | 12:38 | |
and I will give you rest. | 12:41 | |
And he said to Him, if your presence will not go | 12:44 | |
do not carry us up from here. | 12:48 | |
For how shall it be known | 12:50 | |
that I have found favor in your sight? | 12:52 | |
I and your people unless you go with us. | 12:55 | |
In this way we shall be distinct, | 12:59 | |
I and your people from every people | 13:02 | |
on the face of the earth. | 13:04 | |
The Lord said to Moses; | 13:07 | |
I will do the very thing that you have asked. | 13:09 | |
For you have found favor in my sight | 13:12 | |
and I know you by name. | 13:15 | |
Moses said; | 13:18 | |
show me your glory, I pray. | 13:19 | |
And He said; | 13:22 | |
I will make all my goodness pass before you | 13:24 | |
and will proclaim before you the name the Lord. | 13:27 | |
And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, | 13:31 | |
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. | 13:34 | |
But He said; | 13:38 | |
you cannot see my face, | 13:39 | |
for no one shall see me and live. | 13:42 | |
And the Lord continued; | 13:45 | |
see there is a place by me | 13:47 | |
where you shall stand on the rock | 13:50 | |
and while my glory passes by | 13:52 | |
I will put you in a cleft in the rock. | 13:55 | |
And I will cover you with my hand | 13:58 | |
until I have passed by. | 14:00 | |
Then I will take away my hand | 14:03 | |
and you shall see my back. | 14:05 | |
But my face, shall not be seen. | 14:08 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 14:11 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 14:14 |
- | Would you please stand | 14:16 |
for the singing of the Psalm number 99, | 14:17 | |
found on page 819 and 820 in your hymnal. | 14:20 | |
(organ music) | 14:28 | |
♪ The Lord reigns ♪ | 14:37 | |
♪ Let the peoples tremble ♪ | 14:38 | |
♪ The Lord sits enthroned upon the cherubim ♪ | 14:42 | |
♪ Let the earth quake ♪ | 14:45 | |
(congregation singing) | 14:48 | |
♪ Let them praise your great and wondrous name ♪ | 14:58 | |
(congregation singing) | 15:02 | |
♪ Mighty ruler, lover of justice ♪ | 15:06 | |
♪ You have established equity ♪ | 15:10 | |
(congregation singing) | 15:13 | |
♪ Extol the Lord our God ♪ | 15:21 | |
♪ worship at the Lord's footstool ♪ | 15:24 | |
(congregation singing) | 15:27 | |
♪ Moses and Aaron were among God's priest ♪ | 15:31 | |
♪ Samuel also was among those who called upon God's name ♪ | 15:36 | |
(congregation singing) | 15:42 | |
♪ They kept God's testimonies ♪ | 15:53 | |
♪ And the statutes God gave them ♪ | 15:56 | |
(congregation singing) | 16:00 | |
♪ Extol the Lord our God ♪ | 16:13 | |
♪ And worship at his holy mountain ♪ | 16:16 | |
(congregation singing) | 16:20 | |
(organ music) | 16:28 | |
(choir and congregation singing) | 16:37 | |
- | You may be seated. | 17:27 |
The second lesson is taken | 17:35 | |
from Paul's letter to the Philippians. | 17:37 | |
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, | 17:42 | |
any consolation from love, | 17:46 | |
any sharing in the spirit, | 17:48 | |
any compassion and sympathy, | 17:51 | |
make my joy complete. | 17:54 | |
Be of the same mind | 17:57 | |
having the same love | 17:59 | |
being in full accord and of one mind. | 18:01 | |
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, | 18:06 | |
but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. | 18:10 | |
Let each of you look not to your own interest, | 18:15 | |
but to the interest of others. | 18:18 | |
Let the same mind be in you | 18:21 | |
that was in Christ Jesus | 18:23 | |
who, though he was in the form of God, | 18:25 | |
did not regard equality with God | 18:28 | |
as something to be exploited. | 18:31 | |
But emptied himself taking the form of a slave | 18:33 | |
being born in human likeness. | 18:37 | |
And being found in human form | 18:40 | |
he humbled himself and became obedient | 18:43 | |
to the point of death; | 18:46 | |
even death on a cross. | 18:48 | |
Therefore God also highly exalted him | 18:51 | |
and gave him the name that is above every name. | 18:55 | |
So that at the name of Jesus | 18:59 | |
every knee should bend | 19:01 | |
in Heaven and on earth | 19:03 | |
and under the earth. | 19:05 | |
And every tongue should confess | 19:07 | |
that Jesus Christ is Lord | 19:09 | |
to the glory of God the Father. | 19:11 | |
Therefore my beloved | 19:15 | |
just as you have always obeyed me, | 19:16 | |
not only in my presence | 19:20 | |
but much more now in my absence, | 19:22 | |
work out your own salvation in fear and trembling. | 19:25 | |
For it is God who is at work in you | 19:29 | |
enabling you both to will and to work | 19:32 | |
for his pleasure. | 19:35 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 19:38 | |
ALL | Thanks be to God. | 19:40 |
- | The Gospel reading comes from | 19:45 |
the book according to Saint Matthew. | 19:46 | |
"What do you think? | 19:51 | |
A man had two sons. | 19:53 | |
He went to the first and said, | 19:55 | |
'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' | 19:57 | |
He answered, 'I will not.' | 20:01 | |
But later he changed his mind and went. | 20:04 | |
The father went to the second and said the same, | 20:08 | |
and he answered, 'I go, sir.' | 20:10 | |
But he did not go. | 20:13 | |
Which of the two did the will of his father?" | 20:16 | |
They said, "The first." | 20:19 | |
Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, | 20:21 | |
the tax collectors and the prostitutes | 20:25 | |
are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. | 20:27 | |
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, | 20:31 | |
and you did not believe him, | 20:34 | |
but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. | 20:36 | |
And even after you saw it, | 20:40 | |
you did not change your minds and believe him." | 20:43 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 20:47 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 20:49 |
- | "Make my joy complete," | 21:00 |
Saint Paul writes to he Philippians, | 21:02 | |
"and be of one mind. | 21:04 | |
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, | 21:07 | |
but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. | 21:11 | |
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, | 21:16 | |
who though he was in the form of God | 21:19 | |
did not regard equality as something to be exploited, | 21:22 | |
but emptied himself taking the form of a slave." | 21:26 | |
Perhaps no passage in Paul's epistles | 21:33 | |
is more eloquent in its appeal to the Church, | 21:36 | |
or stronger in its basis for the appeal | 21:39 | |
than this beloved text. | 21:42 | |
We are called to imitate the humility of Christ | 21:44 | |
because he revealed to us | 21:47 | |
God's own nature as that of a servant. | 21:49 | |
Jesus' self-emptying and humiliation on the cross | 21:54 | |
are not to be seen as a step away from God's true nature. | 21:57 | |
Rather, his humility revealed the limitlessness | 22:01 | |
of God's love for all of humanity. | 22:05 | |
And thereby he was glorified. | 22:08 | |
The way to Heaven for each of us, | 22:12 | |
Paul underscores in this text, | 22:13 | |
points downward before it points upward. | 22:16 | |
And so humility, downward mobility, | 22:20 | |
as a way to discipleship, | 22:24 | |
is highly touted in the scriptures and in the Church. | 22:25 | |
"All who humble themselves will be exalted." | 22:29 | |
"Whoever becomes humble like this child, | 22:32 | |
is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven," | 22:35 | |
we read in the Gospels. | 22:37 | |
"Clothe yourselves with humility | 22:39 | |
in your dealings with one another," Peter writes, | 22:41 | |
"For God oppresses the proud, | 22:44 | |
but gives grace to the humble." | 22:46 | |
Yet for all its significance to Christianity, | 22:50 | |
humility is a relatively unpopular virtue. | 22:53 | |
Have you noticed? | 22:56 | |
I spent several of the past days | 22:58 | |
just looking for examples of it all over campus. | 23:00 | |
And as you might have imagined, | 23:03 | |
it wasn't that easy to come up with. | 23:04 | |
As they say in the admissions office, | 23:07 | |
prospective Duke students | 23:08 | |
don't prepare all those great resumes and videos | 23:10 | |
just to show how modest they are. | 23:13 | |
I did hear of a few faculty members | 23:16 | |
who are rather well known | 23:17 | |
for attempting to instill a type of humility | 23:18 | |
in their students in the classroom. | 23:22 | |
And in years past, various university traditions | 23:24 | |
have even existed to actually keep certain groups | 23:28 | |
in a humble frame of mind. | 23:32 | |
For instance, | 23:34 | |
I recently learned that up until | 23:35 | |
the late '50s or early '60s, | 23:37 | |
right here at our beloved Duke, | 23:40 | |
there was a rule that said | 23:42 | |
all the freshmen had to wear beanies | 23:44 | |
with their class year on it if they were male, | 23:46 | |
or blue and white bows if they were female | 23:49 | |
to indicate their humble status as freshmen. | 23:52 | |
Now everyone had to wear the beanies and bows | 23:55 | |
until the Duke/Carolina football game | 23:57 | |
and if Duke won, | 23:59 | |
the beanies and the bows could be put away for good. | 24:00 | |
But if Duke lost, | 24:03 | |
they had to be worn the rest of the semester. | 24:05 | |
Now just call the university archivist | 24:09 | |
if you don't believe me. | 24:10 | |
He has pictures to prove it and even more stories. | 24:11 | |
Do you know about the tradition that said | 24:15 | |
freshmen were strictly forbidden | 24:16 | |
to sit on those steps out in front of the chapel | 24:18 | |
in order to make room for | 24:21 | |
the upper class students to socialize? | 24:22 | |
Fortunately, such blatant, enforced regard | 24:26 | |
of others as better than yourself | 24:29 | |
is no longer a part of the way we do things here, | 24:31 | |
outside of fraternity rush at least. | 24:34 | |
For while they may have succeeded | 24:38 | |
in humiliating some students, | 24:40 | |
such practices have little to do with humility. | 24:42 | |
But I am sad to reflect on the fact | 24:46 | |
that we have only limited progress | 24:48 | |
in becoming the kind of people | 24:50 | |
who actually value humility more than ambition, | 24:52 | |
or compassion more than competition. | 24:56 | |
In fact we've pointed ourselves | 25:01 | |
almost in the opposite direction | 25:02 | |
by valuing more and more a way of knowing | 25:05 | |
and of being in the world that distances and separates, | 25:08 | |
before it builds up and becomes one mind | 25:13 | |
as Saint Paul exhorts the Philippians to do. | 25:16 | |
I have come to believe that, | 25:19 | |
especially we as a community which places knowledge | 25:21 | |
at the very heart of our identity | 25:24 | |
are vulnerable to a kind of arrogance | 25:26 | |
which can inhibit the growth of community | 25:29 | |
and the deepening of faith. | 25:31 | |
Let me try to spell this out just a little more clearly. | 25:34 | |
Parker Palmer, a Christian philosopher and sociologist, | 25:37 | |
writes about a way of knowing | 25:41 | |
in which we seek to control the world around us. | 25:43 | |
A kind of knowing that most of us are very familiar with | 25:47 | |
through our formal educations. | 25:50 | |
Through this very objective approach to learning | 25:52 | |
we have sought to make ourselves | 25:55 | |
the masters of the world | 25:57 | |
by distancing ourselves from that which we know. | 25:59 | |
We have even constructed our language | 26:02 | |
in a manner that attempts to describe reality in this way. | 26:04 | |
Take the word "fact", for example, | 26:08 | |
which is so crucial to the kind of knowledge we prize. | 26:11 | |
It comes from the Latin word meaning to make, | 26:15 | |
also related to words such as "manufacture" or "artifact". | 26:18 | |
From this perspective, | 26:22 | |
the knower stands as a master builder in the midst of chaos | 26:24 | |
trying to construct a livable world with our facts. | 26:28 | |
Or take the word "objective", | 26:32 | |
meaning to put against, to oppose. | 26:34 | |
We value knowledge that enables us | 26:38 | |
to coerce the world into meeting our needs. | 26:40 | |
Even though it may put us in a detached, | 26:43 | |
adversarial relationship with each other and our world. | 26:46 | |
Thus our knowledge of the atom, for example, | 26:50 | |
has brought us into opposition to the ecology of the earth. | 26:53 | |
And even represents a threat to our survival. | 26:57 | |
We'll take the word "reality", | 27:01 | |
its root meaning being property, possession, a thing. | 27:02 | |
We seek to know reality in order to lay claim to things, | 27:06 | |
to own, and to control them. | 27:12 | |
And so we see that with control as a primary motive | 27:14 | |
for our pursuit of knowledge, | 27:18 | |
we generate knowledge that moves us not | 27:21 | |
toward the building of community, | 27:23 | |
but potentially toward its destruction. | 27:24 | |
Add to that the way in which the whole culture | 27:28 | |
of the academic community | 27:30 | |
with its system of rewards and punishments | 27:31 | |
comprises a hidden curriculum | 27:35 | |
which can have greater influence | 27:37 | |
over the lives of the learners | 27:39 | |
than the advertised curriculum. | 27:41 | |
A business school may offer courses | 27:44 | |
in team management and collective work styles, | 27:46 | |
or a divinity school courses in compassion. | 27:49 | |
But if the culture of those schools | 27:52 | |
requires students to survive through competition, | 27:54 | |
then competition, and not compassion or cooperation | 27:57 | |
are the real lessons taught and learned. | 28:01 | |
Contrast these approaches to learning | 28:05 | |
to the image at the root of the word "truth." | 28:08 | |
It comes from the same root | 28:12 | |
that gives rise to the word troth. | 28:14 | |
In case you've ever wondered | 28:16 | |
what a troth is as in the vow; | 28:18 | |
I pledge thee my troth. | 28:21 | |
With this person, with this word | 28:24 | |
a person enters a covenant with another. | 28:25 | |
A pledge to engage in a mutually accountable | 28:28 | |
and transforming relationship in the face of unknown risk. | 28:32 | |
To devote oneself to the truth as compared to the facts | 28:37 | |
therefore implies entering into a relationship | 28:42 | |
of accountability. | 28:45 | |
Though it does not mean turning away | 28:47 | |
from objective realities | 28:48 | |
to a completely subjective form of knowledge. | 28:50 | |
Rather what is different is our relation to the facts. | 28:53 | |
Truth requires the knower | 28:58 | |
to become interdependent with the known. | 29:00 | |
Consider as an example, | 29:04 | |
one of the most memorable discussions of truth | 29:06 | |
found in scripture. | 29:09 | |
When Jesus is being tried before Pilate who asks, | 29:10 | |
"What is truth?" | 29:14 | |
As we hear this story read each year at Palm Sunday, | 29:17 | |
we hear Pilates question as either a cynical sneer | 29:20 | |
or a despairing sigh. | 29:24 | |
The problem however lies not in the word "truth", | 29:27 | |
but in the word "what." | 29:29 | |
Pilate obsessed by the whatness of truth | 29:32 | |
wants to objectify Jesus to get a handle on him | 29:37 | |
by forcing him into this category of king. | 29:41 | |
He wants to make Jesus somehow a comprehensible, | 29:44 | |
a dispensable entity in the political terms of his time. | 29:48 | |
But the truth standing before Pilate | 29:52 | |
is not an object out there, | 29:54 | |
but a subject who would enter Pilate's life | 29:57 | |
and change it. | 30:00 | |
By refusing to enter into a relationship with Jesus | 30:02 | |
Pilate puts himself beyond the reach of truth. | 30:05 | |
Eventually he agrees to murdering the one | 30:09 | |
who embodies truth and who called for his conversion | 30:12 | |
in favor of an objective reality | 30:16 | |
that appeared to keep him in control. | 30:19 | |
This example reminds us that in Christian understanding | 30:23 | |
truth is not a concept that works, | 30:26 | |
but an incarnation that lives. | 30:30 | |
Christian tradition understands | 30:33 | |
truth to be embodied in personal | 30:34 | |
flesh and blood terms. | 30:36 | |
The terms of the one who said, | 30:39 | |
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." | 30:40 | |
Jesus calls us all to truth but not in the form | 30:45 | |
of creeds, or theologies, or facts. | 30:47 | |
His call to truth is a call to community. | 30:51 | |
With him, with each other, with creation, and its creator. | 30:54 | |
And the speaking of that truth | 30:59 | |
becomes the living of our lives. | 31:01 | |
When we are honest with ourselves | 31:05 | |
I guess we have to admit that most of us | 31:07 | |
are really more comfortable | 31:09 | |
with this objectivist approach to knowledge | 31:10 | |
because like Adam and Eve, we want information | 31:13 | |
that eliminates mystery and puts us in charge of our world. | 31:16 | |
Ask any faculty member who has announced | 31:21 | |
that there will be no lecture this year | 31:23 | |
in what had traditionally been a lecture course, | 31:25 | |
say organic chemistry. | 31:28 | |
And that students will be | 31:29 | |
collectively assuming responsibility for the class. | 31:31 | |
They'll devise the syllabus, design their own projects, | 31:34 | |
and make class presentations. | 31:37 | |
Such an approach, though infinitely more engaging | 31:40 | |
in terms of relationships, is apt to | 31:43 | |
initially at least, to be greeted with great anxiety. | 31:45 | |
We don't like being vulnerable. | 31:49 | |
As Parker Palmer puts it | 31:51 | |
above all, want to avoid a knowledge | 31:53 | |
that calls for our own conversion. | 31:55 | |
We want to know in ways that allow us | 31:58 | |
to convert the world. | 32:02 | |
But we don't want to be known | 32:03 | |
in ways that require us to change as well. | 32:05 | |
And therein, my friends, lies the rub of this lesson. | 32:09 | |
As the church at Philippi was finding out | 32:13 | |
when Paul wrote his apostle to them, | 32:16 | |
even the strongest communities | 32:18 | |
have to work at changing in the ways | 32:20 | |
that the Christian truth calls them to change. | 32:23 | |
Like regarding others as better than themselves. | 32:26 | |
Doing nothing, nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. | 32:29 | |
Looking not to their own interest, | 32:35 | |
but to the interest of others. | 32:36 | |
As Jesus revealed throughout his life | 32:40 | |
and especially in his death, | 32:42 | |
his truth calls for obedience. | 32:44 | |
Obedience, not in the sense of an obligation | 32:47 | |
to follow some distant command | 32:50 | |
from some distant authority. | 32:52 | |
But obedience in the sense of listening, | 32:54 | |
the meaning of its Latin root. | 32:57 | |
Jesus' own example of obedience | 33:00 | |
is that of letting go of his own desires | 33:02 | |
in order to hear God's word and respond to it | 33:04 | |
without hesitation or limitation. | 33:07 | |
When used by Jesus the word obedience | 33:11 | |
as no negative connotations | 33:14 | |
such as we are likely to associate with it. | 33:15 | |
But rather it is the expression | 33:18 | |
of his most intimate relationship. | 33:19 | |
Listening and responding in love. | 33:23 | |
Thus the Christian community call to live in truth | 33:27 | |
looks to the example of Christ | 33:29 | |
as one who was obedient, who listened, | 33:31 | |
and responded to the will of God. | 33:34 | |
"Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice", | 33:37 | |
Jesus says to Pilate. | 33:41 | |
Such a commitment to listen, not only to God, | 33:43 | |
but to the voices of sisters and brothers in community | 33:45 | |
implies an ability to lay aside one's own interest, | 33:49 | |
to attend to the needs of others. | 33:53 | |
How can anyone expect to be a good listener | 33:56 | |
when he or she is consumed with self interest | 33:58 | |
or blinded by ambition or conceit, | 34:01 | |
or maybe just too busy | 34:04 | |
with one's own activities to be bothered. | 34:05 | |
The pluralistic nature of our world | 34:09 | |
demands even more humility. | 34:11 | |
More listening than we as Christians | 34:13 | |
have been willing to give. | 34:16 | |
In the natural world we must give voice to the earth. | 34:18 | |
To the vegetation that clothes it, | 34:21 | |
and the wild beasts that inhabit it | 34:23 | |
to learn of their relatedness to our lives. | 34:25 | |
In our pluralistic society | 34:29 | |
we are called to listen attentively | 34:31 | |
to diverse voices and views for the claims they make on us. | 34:33 | |
Black and White, | 34:38 | |
women and men, | 34:39 | |
Christian and Jew, | 34:41 | |
gay and straight, | 34:42 | |
young and old. | 34:44 | |
Not only will our understanding be deepened | 34:47 | |
but our ability to love will be increased | 34:49 | |
as we submit ourselves to truthful, | 34:52 | |
obedient living in community. | 34:55 | |
And so today we find ourselves | 34:58 | |
with our mini voices gathered around the communion table | 35:00 | |
as a reenactment of God's truth in our lives. | 35:04 | |
To eat any meal together is to meet at the level | 35:07 | |
of our most basic need I suppose. | 35:10 | |
It's hard to be conceited with wine on your lapel | 35:12 | |
or breadcrumbs on your chin. | 35:15 | |
But to eat this particular meal together | 35:18 | |
is to acknowledge our most basic humanness | 35:21 | |
involving our need not just for food | 35:24 | |
but for each other. | 35:26 | |
To speak and to listen, | 35:28 | |
to hear and to respond. | 35:30 | |
I need you to help fill my emptiness | 35:33 | |
just as you need me to help fill yours. | 35:36 | |
Isn't that at least a part of why God put us here? | 35:39 | |
Together we abandon ourselves to Christ | 35:43 | |
to mold us and shape us as he will. | 35:46 | |
As you're walking the aisle this morning | 35:51 | |
to receive your portion of the holy meal, | 35:52 | |
I have just one favor to ask of you. | 35:55 | |
Would you humbly look at each face as you see it | 35:57 | |
and just revel in it for a moment? | 36:01 | |
In your mind remember to say, | 36:03 | |
Christ died for you. | 36:06 | |
That jerk, that phony, that egotist, | 36:09 | |
that cheat, that saint. | 36:14 | |
Christ died for you, my brother. | 36:18 | |
Christ died for you, my sister. | 36:21 | |
Thanks be to God. | 36:25 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 36:39 |
Congregation | And also with you. | 36:40 |
- | Let us pray. | 36:42 |
On the eve of the United Nation Summit on Children, O Lord, | 36:50 | |
we offer you our prayers. | 36:54 | |
God you know what it's like to be a child. | 36:59 | |
That's how you came to us | 37:02 | |
and often how you come to us still. | 37:04 | |
We pray these prayers for children | 37:09 | |
knowing you understand each child's life. | 37:11 | |
Knowing you have already died for each child. | 37:15 | |
Rejoicing that you offer each of us | 37:18 | |
adoption as your children. | 37:21 | |
We pray for those children and students here at Duke | 37:26 | |
who have lived in fear of their parents. | 37:29 | |
Who have been beaten, or beaten down emotionally. | 37:33 | |
Who do not have a secure home | 37:38 | |
but come home afraid of who their parents are. | 37:40 | |
Lord in you mercy, hear our prayer. | 37:44 | |
We pray for those children | 37:51 | |
who have been abandoned by their parents. | 37:52 | |
Left with relatives, or neighbors. | 37:56 | |
Abandoned to institutions. | 37:59 | |
Abandoned to trash cans and alleys. | 38:02 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 38:07 | |
We pray for those children of war. | 38:14 | |
Those children killed and wounded because of our wars. | 38:18 | |
The children left orphaned because of our wars. | 38:24 | |
Those children used as pawns and protection. | 38:26 | |
The children trained to kill others. | 38:32 | |
We pray for the children | 38:36 | |
of the neighborhoods and cities at war. | 38:37 | |
Shot in their beds and schools. | 38:40 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 38:44 | |
For the children who are born | 38:51 | |
mentally or physically handicapped | 38:53 | |
to families who don't want them | 38:55 | |
and receive them like an albatross | 38:58 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 39:04 | |
We pray for the children born dying | 39:10 | |
with AIDS or other diseases. | 39:14 | |
Lord in you mercy, hear our prayer. | 39:18 | |
For those children who find themselves hopeless | 39:23 | |
and wanting to die, | 39:27 | |
we ask that you enter their lives | 39:30 | |
and be their hope. | 39:32 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 39:35 | |
For those children who find themselves | 39:41 | |
caring for their ill or aging parents | 39:43 | |
we ask your blessings and give you thanks | 39:46 | |
for this life of sacrifice and love. | 39:49 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 39:54 | |
We pray for the Church. | 40:01 | |
That we would be the kind of people | 40:04 | |
who welcome the gifts of children into our lives, | 40:06 | |
however they come to us. | 40:09 | |
We pray for the Church | 40:12 | |
that we could be a peaceful people | 40:13 | |
offering our children homes, communities, | 40:16 | |
and worlds of peace. | 40:20 | |
We pray that children and parents | 40:24 | |
could forgive one another | 40:26 | |
and model the forgiveness we have all received from you. | 40:28 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 40:34 | |
We pray for our own childhoods, Lord. | 40:39 | |
Giving you thanks for how we were sustained, | 40:43 | |
loved, fed, raised in faith. | 40:47 | |
For those parents and grandparents | 40:54 | |
who lived saintly lives before us we give you thanks | 40:56 | |
and in silence now we name those names. | 41:01 | |
For the pastors, Sunday school teachers, | 41:13 | |
and school teachers, youth counselors, | 41:16 | |
and church people who taught us of the faith | 41:19 | |
we give you great thanks | 41:22 | |
and name them now with grateful hearts. | 41:24 | |
And we pray for our own childhood memories. | 41:40 | |
That you would heal us of the pain, | 41:43 | |
and loss, and hurt of those years. | 41:45 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 41:49 | |
We pray for the Church's ministry of baptism. | 41:55 | |
That you would enable us to keep the promises made there | 41:58 | |
and made on our behalf. | 42:01 | |
Help us take responsibility in the Church | 42:04 | |
for raising one another's children as we promise. | 42:07 | |
For how our children teach us how to parent well | 42:11 | |
we give you thanks. | 42:15 | |
Lord in you mercy, hear our prayer. | 42:18 | |
We pray for all those students here at Duke | 42:23 | |
who will be parents one day. | 42:26 | |
That you begin in them the transformation of their lives | 42:29 | |
into the kind of people who will raise their children | 42:32 | |
in faith, joy, patience, trust, and love. | 42:36 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 42:44 | |
And we offer you our whole lives | 42:50 | |
knowing that you have adopted us | 42:52 | |
as your sons and daughters | 42:54 | |
and called us into the kind of humility | 42:56 | |
that reminds us of our adoption as your children. | 43:00 | |
As your children we come to you prayer, | 43:07 | |
in joy, and in hope. | 43:09 | |
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 43:12 | |
In the name of the blessed trinity, world without end. | 43:16 | |
Amen. | 43:21 | |
Christ invites to his table all who love him | 43:25 | |
and who desire to live in peace with one another. | 43:30 | |
Let us stand and offer each other | 43:34 | |
signs of God's peace and love. | 43:36 | |
As thankful people, we offer God our ties, | 43:59 | |
our offering, and gifts of sacrifice of our lives. | 44:02 | |
Let us come before the Lord with or offering. | 44:06 | |
You may be seated. | 44:09 | |
(organ music) | 44:13 | |
(choir singing) | 44:59 | |
(choir singing continues) | 49:58 | |
(organ music) | 50:46 | |
(choir and congregation singing) | 51:29 | |
- | Let us join in the Great Thanksgiving | 52:31 |
found on page 17 in your hymnal. | 52:33 | |
The Lord be with you. | 52:41 | |
Congregation | And also with you. | 52:43 |
- | Lift up your hearts. | 52:44 |
Congregation | We lift them up to the Lord. | 52:46 |
- | Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. | 52:48 |
Congregation | It is right to give our thanks and praise. | 52:50 |
- | We give thanks because you were God | 52:53 |
even before time began. | 52:55 | |
You have seen every sun rise, every day begin | 52:58 | |
since you first gave form to our home, the Earth. | 53:01 | |
You launched into your universe. | 53:04 | |
Shaped its hills and filled its seas when space was ready. | 53:06 | |
You brought life out of the waters | 53:11 | |
and in time made us in your image, male and female. | 53:13 | |
Yet we were not content with such a paradise. | 53:17 | |
We rebelled putting our wills before yours. | 53:20 | |
Even then we found you boundless in love. | 53:24 | |
Time after time you reached out your hand | 53:27 | |
to touch our lives with loving kindness. | 53:29 | |
You led us from captivity | 53:32 | |
to life in the land you promised. | 53:33 | |
You made covenant to take us to be your people | 53:36 | |
to love an to cherish, | 53:39 | |
and we took you as God and ruler | 53:41 | |
promising to forsake all others. | 53:43 | |
You put your words on the lips of women and men. | 53:46 | |
They spoke your words of law, | 53:49 | |
gave themselves in the struggle for justice, | 53:51 | |
and taught us to sing your glory. | 53:53 | |
And so with your people on earth | 53:56 | |
and all the company of Heaven, | 53:58 | |
we praise your name and join their unending hymn. | 54:00 | |
(organ music) | 54:03 | |
♪ Holy, holy, holy Lord ♪ | 54:12 | |
♪ God of power and might ♪ | 54:17 | |
♪ Heaven and earth are full of your glory ♪ | 54:21 | |
♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪ | 54:27 | |
♪ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ♪ | 54:31 | |
♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪ | 54:38 | |
Full indeed are Heaven and earth of your glory | 54:50 | |
holy Lord God. | 54:53 | |
When time was ready, you the creator of all that is, | 54:54 | |
sent Christ to be a creature like us. | 54:58 | |
Instead of a servant you sent your own son | 55:01 | |
that he might be a servant of all. | 55:04 | |
Christ alone, he who is closest to your heart, | 55:06 | |
he made you known to us. | 55:10 | |
Walking among us, Jesus the Christ | 55:12 | |
performed great signs to reveal his glory. | 55:14 | |
He spoke as one having authority | 55:17 | |
that we might trust your love and obey your law. | 55:20 | |
When his hour had come he drank the cup of suffering | 55:24 | |
and accepted the baptism of death. | 55:27 | |
Like a lamb he was led away from the living, | 55:29 | |
but as your son he was raised from the grave. | 55:32 | |
Having triumphed over death he left our sight | 55:35 | |
that his spirit might fill our hearts | 55:38 | |
as we await the completion of all things in him. | 55:40 | |
On the night in which he gave himself up for us | 55:45 | |
the Lord Jesus took bread in his hands. | 55:47 | |
Lifting his eyes to Heaven he gave you thanks, | 55:50 | |
broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said, | 55:53 | |
"Take, eat. | 55:56 | |
This is my body which is given for you." | 55:58 | |
When supper was finished, he took cup. | 56:01 | |
Again he offered thanks to you, | 56:04 | |
gave the cup to his disciples and said, | 56:06 | |
"Drink from this, all of you. | 56:08 | |
This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood | 56:10 | |
poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. | 56:12 | |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." | 56:17 | |
And so in remembrance of these | 56:21 | |
your mighty acts in Jesus Christ | 56:23 | |
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving | 56:24 | |
as a holy and living sacrifice | 56:27 | |
in union with Christ offering for us | 56:30 | |
as we proclaim the mystery of faith. | 56:32 | |
(organ music) | 56:35 | |
♪ Christ has died ♪ | 56:45 | |
♪ Christ is risen ♪ | 56:47 | |
♪ Christ will come again ♪ | 56:49 | |
Send, we pray, your holy spirit on us | 56:58 | |
gathered here out of love for you and on this offering. | 57:00 | |
May your spirit make real the signs | 57:04 | |
that through breaking bread and drinking wine together | 57:06 | |
we may know Christ present among us. | 57:09 | |
By the spirit make us one with the goodness of Christ | 57:12 | |
as you made him one with our sinfulness. | 57:15 | |
That we may be one with each other | 57:17 | |
and one in service to all you have created. | 57:19 | |
Through you son, Jesus Christ | 57:23 | |
with the Holy Spirit and your holy church | 57:24 | |
all honor and glory is yours almighty God now and forever. | 57:27 | |
(organ music) | 57:31 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 57:40 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 57:42 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 57:45 | |
And now let us pray with the confidence | 57:53 | |
of the children of God. | 57:55 | |
Our Father, who art in heaven, | 57:56 | |
hallowed be thy name; | 57:59 | |
thy kingdom come, | 58:01 | |
thy will be done, | 58:03 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 58:04 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 58:06 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 58:09 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us; | 58:11 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 58:14 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 58:16 | |
For thine is the kingdom, the power, | 58:18 | |
and the glory forever. | 58:21 | |
Amen. | 58:22 | |
(organ music) | 58:33 | |
(choir singing) | 59:02 | |
(organ music continues) | 1:00:42 | |
(choir singing) | 1:05:26 | |
(organ music continues) | 1:08:34 | |
(choir singing) | 1:09:04 | |
- | Let us pray. | 1:09:40 |
Pour out upon us the spirit of your love, O Lord | 1:09:43 | |
and unite the wills of those whom you have fed | 1:09:47 | |
with one heavenly food. | 1:09:49 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 1:09:51 | |
Amen. | 1:09:54 | |
Please stand for the Benediction. | 1:09:55 | |
Go in peace to serve God, | 1:10:04 | |
and your neighbor in all that you do. | 1:10:06 | |
(congregation responding) | 1:10:09 | |
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, | 1:10:11 | |
and the love of God, | 1:10:13 | |
and the communion of the Holy Spirit | 1:10:14 | |
be with you all. | 1:10:16 | |
(choir singing) | 1:10:22 | |
(organ music) | 1:10:42 | |
(choir and congregation singing) | 1:11:09 | |
(organ music continues) | 1:13:29 | |
(choir singing) | 1:14:18 | |
(organ music) | 1:14:31 |