William H. Willimon - "Be Imitators of Me" (October 7, 1990)

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	(lively organ music)	0:00
-	Good morning.	5:26
	Welcome to this service of worship	5:27
	on the 18th Sunday after Pentecost.	5:29
	To remind you of the annual service	5:32
	for thanksgiving of God's creation	5:35
	and blessing of animals at 2 p.m. today	5:37
	in front of the chapel.	5:40
	Also call your attention to the opening hymn,	5:42
	which is a favorite hymn here in Duke Chapel,	5:46
	and the special treatment of the hymn	5:49
	as it's printed in the bulletin.	5:51
	We're glad that you're here,	5:54
	and let us continue our worship.	5:55
	Please join me in the greeting.	5:58
	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.	6:00
Congregation	And also with you.	6:04
-	The risen Christ is with us.	6:05
Congregation	Praise to you, oh Lord.	6:07
-	Please stand.	6:09
	(lively organ music)	6:16
	♪ All creatures of our God and King ♪	7:07
	♪ Lift up your voice and with us sing ♪	7:13
	♪ Oh praise Him ♪	7:19
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	7:21
	♪ Thou brother sun with golden beam ♪	7:26
	♪ Thou sister moon with softer gleam ♪	7:32
	♪ Oh praise Him ♪	7:38
	♪ Oh praise Him ♪	7:40
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	7:43
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	7:46
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	7:50
	♪ Oh brother wind, air, clouds, and rain ♪	7:58
	♪ By which all creatures ye sustain ♪	8:05
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	8:10
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	8:13
	♪ Thou rising morn in praise rejoice ♪	8:18
	♪ Ye lights of evening find a voice ♪	8:23
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	8:29
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	8:32
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	8:35
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	8:38
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	8:41
	♪ Oh sister water flowing clear ♪	8:50
	♪ Make music for thy Lord to hear ♪	8:56
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	9:02
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	9:04
	♪ Oh brother fire who lights the night ♪	9:09
	♪ Providing warmth enhancing sight ♪	9:15
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	9:21
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	9:23
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	9:26
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	9:29
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	9:32
	♪ Dear mother Earth who day by day ♪	9:59
	♪ Unfoldest blessings on our way ♪	10:04
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	10:10
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	10:12
	♪ The flowers and fruits that in thee grow ♪	10:17
	♪ Let them God's glory also show ♪	10:23
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	10:29
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	10:32
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	10:35
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	10:38
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	10:42
	♪ All ye who are of tender heart ♪	10:51
	♪ Forgiving others take your part ♪	10:57
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	11:03
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	11:06
	♪ Ye who long pain and sorrow bear ♪	11:11
	♪ Praise God and on Him cast your care ♪	11:17
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	11:23
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	11:26
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	11:29
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	11:32
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	11:36
	♪ And thou our sister gentle death ♪	11:46
	♪ Waiting to hush our latest breath ♪	11:52
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	11:59
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:01
	♪ Thou leadest home the child of God ♪	12:06
	♪ And Christ our Lord the way has trod ♪	12:12
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	12:18
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	12:21
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:24
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:28
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:31
	♪ Let all things their Creator bless ♪	13:16
	♪ And worship Him in humbleness ♪	13:22
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	13:29
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:31
	♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪	13:36
	♪ And praise the Spirit Three in One ♪	13:41
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	13:48
	♪ Oh praise ye ♪	13:49
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:53
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:55
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:59
-	Almighty and everlasting God,	14:12
	You are always more ready to hear than we to pray,	14:15
	and to give more than we either desire or deserve.	14:19
	Pour upon us the abundance of Your mercy,	14:23
	forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,	14:26
	and giving us those good things	14:31
	for which we are not worthy to ask,	14:33
	except through the merits and mediation	14:36
	of Jesus Christ our Savior,	14:38
	who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,	14:40
	one God, for ever and ever, Amen.	14:43
-	Let us pray.	14:59
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God.	15:03
All	By the power of Your Holy Spirit,	15:05
	so that as the Word is read and proclaimed,	15:08
	we might hear with joy	15:12
	what You say to us this day.	15:14
	Amen.	15:16
	The first reading comes from the Book of Numbers.	15:18
	Hear the Word of the Lord.	15:22
	The Lord said to Moses,	15:24
	"Go up this mountain of the Abarim Range,	15:26
	"and see the land that I have given through the Israelites.	15:30
	"When you have seen it,	15:35
	"you also shall be gathered to your people	15:37
	"as your brother Aaron was.	15:40
	"Because you rebelled against my word	15:43
	"in the wilderness of Zin,	15:45
	"when the congregation quarreled with me.	15:47
	"You did not show my holiness	15:51
	"before their eyes at the waters.	15:53
	"Moses spoke to the Lord saying,	15:57
	"Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh,	16:00
	"appoint someone over the congregation	16:05
	"who shall go out before them	16:08
	"and come in before them,	16:11
	"who shall lead them out and bring them in,	16:13
	"so that the congregation of the Lord	16:17
	"may not be like sheep without a shepherd.	16:20
	"So the Lord said to Moses,	16:24
	"Take Joshua, son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit,	16:27
	"and lay your hand upon him.	16:33
	"Have him stand before Eleazar the priest	16:36
	"and all the congregation,	16:39
	"and commission him in their sight.	16:42
	"You shall give him some of your authority,	16:46
	"so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey.	16:49
	"But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest,	16:54
	"who shall inquire for him	16:58
	"by the decision of the Urim before the Lord.	17:00
	"At his word, they shall go out.	17:04
	"And at his word, they shall come in,	17:08
	"both he and all the Israelites with him,	17:12
	"the whole congregation."	17:15
	"So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.	17:18
	"He took Joshua and had him stand	17:21
	"before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation.	17:24
	"He laid his hands on him and commissioned him	17:29
	"as the Lord had directed through Moses."	17:32
	This is the Word of the Lord.	17:35
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	17:37
-	Please stand as we join in singing responsively	17:44
	Psalm 81 found on page 803 in your hymnal.	17:47
	(lively organ music)	17:53
	♪ Sing aloud to God our strength ♪	17:59
	♪ Shout for joy to the God of Jacob ♪	18:03
	(congregation singing)	18:07
	♪ Blow the trumpet at thy new moon ♪	18:17
	♪ At the full moon of thy feast day ♪	18:21
	(congregation singing)	18:25
	♪ I hear a voice I do not know ♪	18:44
	(congregation singing)	18:48
	♪ In distress you called ♪	18:58
	♪ And I delivered you ♪	19:00
	♪ I answered you in the secret place of thunder ♪	19:04
	♪ I tested you at the waters of Meribah ♪	19:08
	(congregation singing)	19:13
	♪ There shall be no strange God among you ♪	19:26
	♪ You shall not bow down to a foreign God ♪	19:31
	(congregation singing)	19:36
	♪ All glory to be to you, oh God ♪	19:50
	♪ And to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪	19:54
	(congregation singing)	19:58
	♪ As it was since time began ♪	20:04
	(congregation singing)	20:08
-	The second reading comes from Paul's letter	20:50
	to the Philippians.	20:53
	"Not that I have already obtained this	20:57
	"or have already reached the goal	21:00
	"but I press on to make it my own	21:03
	"because Christ Jesus has made me his own.	21:05
	"Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it	21:09
	"my own but this one thing I do,	21:13
	"forgetting what lies behind	21:17
	"and straining forward	21:21
	"to what lies ahead	21:23
	"I press on toward the goal	21:25
	"for the prize of the heavenly call	21:28
	"of God in Christ Jesus.	21:30
	"Let those of us then who are mature	21:33
	"be of the same mind.	21:36
	"And if you think differently	21:38
	"about anything, this too God will reveal to you.	21:40
	"Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.	21:45
	"Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me	21:50
	"and observe those who live according	21:55
	"to the example you have in us	21:56
	"for many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.	21:59
	"I've often told you of them	22:03
	"and now I tell you even with tears,	22:04
	"therein is destruction,	22:08
	"their god is the belly	22:10
	"and their glory is in their shame,	22:13
	"their minds are set on earthly things	22:15
	"but our citizenship is in heaven	22:19
	"and it is from there that we are expecting a savior,	22:22
	"the Lord Jesus Christ.	22:25
	"He will transform the body of our humiliation	22:28
	"that it may be conformed to the body of his glory	22:31
	"by the power that also enables him	22:35
	"to make all things subject to himself.	22:38
	"Therefore, my brothers and sisters,	22:41
	"whom I love and long for,	22:44
	"my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord	22:47
	"in this way, my beloved."	22:50
	This is the word of the Lord.	22:53
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	22:55
-	This reading comes from the Gospel according	22:58
	to Saint Matthew.	23:00
	"Listen to another parable.	23:03
	"There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,	23:06
	"put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it	23:08
	"and built a watchtower.	23:12
	"Then he leased it to tenants	23:15
	"and went to another country.	23:17
	"When the harvest time had come,	23:20
	"he sent his salves to the tenants	23:22
	"to collect his produce	23:24
	"but the tenants seized his slaves and beat one,	23:26
	"killed another and stoned another.	23:30
	"Again, he sent other slaves,	23:33
	"more than the first	23:36
	"and they treated them in the same way.	23:38
	"Finally, he sent his son to them saying,	23:42
	"they will respect my son.	23:46
	"But when the tenants saw the son,	23:49
	"they said to themselves,	23:51
	"this is the heir, come, let us kill him	23:53
	"and get his inheritance.	23:56
	"So, they seized him,	23:59
	"threw him out of the vineyard	24:01
	"and killed him.	24:03
	"Now when the owner of the vineyard comes,	24:06
	"what will he do to those tenants?	24:08
	"They said to him, he will put those righteous	24:11
	"to a miserable death	24:15
	"and lease the vineyard to other tenants	24:17
	"who will give him the produce at the harvest time.	24:19
	"Jesus said to them,	24:23
	"have you never read in the scriptures	24:25
	"the stone that the builder rejected	24:27
	"has become the cornerstone?	24:30
	"This was the Lord's doing	24:32
	"and it is amazing in our eyes.	24:34
	"Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God	24:37
	"will be taken away from you	24:41
	"and given to a people	24:43
	"that produces the fruit of the kingdom."	24:45
	This is the word of the Lord.	24:48
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	24:50
	(tranquil organic music)	24:55
	(choir singing)	25:11
-	This seminarian made an appointment with me	26:46
	and asked me if I would take him on	26:49
	for an independent study.	26:52
	"What do you want to study?	26:55
	"Preaching," he said.	26:57
	"I want to do an independent study course	26:58
	"with you in preaching."	27:01
	"Well, what do you wanna learn about preaching?" I ask.	27:04
	"I wanna learn to preach like you preach," he said.	27:09
	"Well, that's ridiculous," I said.	27:13
	"You can't imitate me.	27:15
	"for one thing, you're from Iowa	27:17
	"and to preach like I preach, you've gotta be born somewhere	27:19
	"between Greenville and Maldon.	27:24
	"Pronounce the word O-I-L.	27:28
	And he said, "Oil."	27:31
	And I said, "There you have it.	27:35
	"You're supposed to pronounce that word 'oil'	27:38
	"like motor oil, as distinguished from you all."	27:41
	(laughing)	27:45
	"You can't preach like I preach.	27:46
	"Besides, I don't want you to be my disciple.	27:47
	"I don't want you to imitate me."	27:50
	Reflecting on that conversation,	27:55
	I realized my reluctance	27:57
	had less to do with modesty,	27:58
	a virtue with which I am not overly endowed,	28:02
	but it had to do with my discomfort	28:06
	in having this young person looking over my shoulder.	28:08
	Patterning his way after my way.	28:13
	I don't want that kind of responsibility.	28:17
	Besides, I could be doing it wrong	28:21
	and I don't want to see my mistakes reflected back	28:24
	in the life of somebody else.	28:27
	Those of you who are teachers know what I mean.	28:31
	And thus we come to a collision	28:35
	with today's epistle.	28:37
	Saint Paul, in one of his more unguarded moments,	28:42
	in writing to the Philippians, he says,	28:47
	"Be imitators of me.	28:51
	"You have a worthy example in us."	28:55
	And this was no slip of the tongue.	29:00
	He gives exactly the same advice	29:02
	to the Galatians, the Thessalonians,	29:04
	the Corinthians.	29:08
	"Become as I am," Paul says,	29:11
	"You have an example in us."	29:13
	Is there no limit to apostolic presumption?	29:17
	In the text, we would like to know who these	29:21
	enemies of the cross are whose god is their belly.	29:24
	Who's Paul talking about there?	29:28
	Sensualist, their god is their belly.	29:29
	It sounds like a description	29:32
	of the inhabitants of fraternity row!	29:34
	Their god is their belly. Who are these people?	29:36
	Well, we don't know.	29:39
	But we do know that something	29:41
	in their lifestyle bothered Paul.	29:43
	And what we do know is that Paul	29:48
	quite unashamedly offered his life	29:50
	as counter to theirs.	29:55
	"Join in imitating me."	30:01
	Can you picture this?	30:06
	I'm beginning a class, first class of the new semester	30:08
	and I say, "Now class, this is a course in homiletics	30:12
	"and the goal of this course	30:15
	"and that you will be graded is,	30:17
	"I want you to all join in imitating me."	30:19
	What is this?	30:26
	It's one thing to be in a course	30:28
	where all the assigned readings	30:29
	are texts written by the professor.	30:31
	But really, this is too much.	30:33
	The height of conceit, "imitate me."	30:36
	No, no. What I say is,	30:39
	"Class, during this semester	30:41
	I'm going to lay out a few principles for you,	30:44
	a few interesting ideas	30:48
	(though none of them my own),	30:50
	some insights for discussion,	30:52
	and then I want you to make up your own mind.	30:56
	You see, I respect your identity, your individuality.	31:00
	I don't wanna force myself on you,	31:04
	I'm not like Paul, for heaven's sakes.	31:07
	That's what I'll say,	31:12
	and I'll tell you that I do that	31:14
	because I'm appropriately self-effacing,	31:15
	and modest, and respectful of your personal freedom.	31:18
	Translated into plain English, this means	31:23
	I wanna get through this class	31:27
	without taking responsibility for you.	31:29
	My goal is to trot you through this university	31:33
	in such a fashion that you'll be as much a stranger	31:36
	to me on the day of your graduation	31:38
	as in when we first met.	31:41
	We live in a lonely society based	31:45
	upon the Constitution.	31:47
	The Constitution which created the individual,	31:50
	an entity unknown until the 18th century,	31:53
	the Enlightenment. The individual	31:56
	who is described as this bundle	32:01
	of individual rights and individual claims.	32:03
	Our society puts more stress on individual freedom	32:09
	and individual rights	32:12
	than any other the world has known.	32:13
	And unfortunately there's a byproduct of that.	32:16
	It's called loneliness.	32:21
	A society which believes	32:25
	that individual rights and prerogatives	32:27
	are more important than community.	32:31
	My society gives me maximum room	32:35
	to exercise my rights--	32:37
	but it doesn't tell me which rights	32:39
	are worth exercising.	32:41
	I'm given maximum space for my freedom	32:44
	but it doesn't give me anything interesting	32:47
	to do with my freedom.	32:50
	And in a church or university,	32:54
	corrupted by such a society,	32:58
	everyone becomes a stranger.	33:01
	Oh, I say that I want community	33:07
	but would I want to pay the price	33:09
	and the relinquishment of my individual space?	33:12
	And so, most of us say, "Look,	33:18
	"you stay out of my life,	33:20
	"I'll stay out of yours."	33:22
	A few years ago, one of the biggest gripes	33:26
	of our students was the lack	33:29
	of enforcement of the noise policy.	33:31
	Students demanded that somebody be hired	33:35
	to go into the dorms	33:37
	and tell offenders to turn their stereos down.	33:39
	And there was this dean,	33:45
	this naive dean who asked,	33:46
	"Well, gosh, why don't you simply walk next door	33:49
	"and you knock on the door	33:52
	"and you say, hey, would you turn your stereo down?	33:53
	"It's bothering people."	33:55
	Hey, look, that's not my business.	33:58
	I mean, if I walk next door	34:01
	and tell somebody something like that,	34:02
	he might criticize something	34:05
	that I'm doing, and then where would we be?	34:07
	And I'm not picking on students.	34:11
	At a faculty retreat a few years ago,	34:14
	one of my colleagues asked,	34:16
	"Does it bother any of us	34:19
	"that some of our students are sexually promiscuous?	34:21
	"That some of them are indulging	34:24
	"in self-destructive behavior	34:26
	"and addictive practices?"	34:28
	"Well," we said, "we've got to respect their privacy.	34:33
	"They're adults, we're not their mothers."	34:37
	Translated into honest English,	34:42
	we meant, God forbid	34:44
	that we should hold our students accountable	34:46
	not only for what they know	34:48
	but for who they are	34:50
	because if we did that,	34:52
	you know what might happen?	34:53
	Students might turn on us	34:56
	and hold us accountable,	34:58
	speak the truth about our lifestyle	35:01
	and personal habits and inconsistencies	35:04
	and then where would we be?	35:07
	You see, the students have joined	35:11
	in imitating us faculty.	35:14
	I'll tell you, the Office of Student Affairs	35:18
	is asking for it.	35:20
	Telling students it's not good for their academics	35:22
	to be drunk Friday through Sunday.	35:25
	You tell students a thing like that,	35:28
	they may turn on us faculty	35:30
	and ask what we're doing Friday through Sunday.	35:32
	Then where would we be?	35:34
	You criticize some students for being unprepared in class	35:37
	on Monday, and next thing you know,	35:40
	that student'll be challenging us	35:41
	for being unprepared in class on Wednesday.	35:43
	Then where would we be?	35:46
	I'll tell you.	35:49
	On our way to the rediscovery	35:52
	of the etymology of the word college:	35:55
	college, a collection of colleagues	36:00
	with common purpose.	36:05
	A Duke senior recently returned	36:10
	from a year at Oxford told me	36:12
	that his regret was that in his four years here,	36:14
	he had sort of drifted through the place,	36:19
	taking a little of this and a little of that.	36:21
	Not really engaged.	36:25
	And that nobody on the faculty	36:28
	had gotten to know him well enough	36:30
	to know when he was faking it.	36:32
	He envied the moral tutor tradition at Oxford.	36:36
	Education at its deepest	36:43
	is a form of imitation.	36:48
	Paul, in appealing to his flock for imitation	36:53
	placed himself squarely within that moral	36:57
	and pedagogical tradition	37:01
	which assumed that a teacher	37:04
	is somebody willing to expose,	37:06
	who's willing to be exposed,	37:10
	to the imitative glare of students	37:12
	which asserted that the purpose	37:17
	of learning is imitation of a master,	37:20
	which believed that teachers	37:23
	have a responsibility	37:25
	to live as they teach, to walk as they speak.	37:27
	And that pupils are challenged not only	37:32
	to know a bunch of things,	37:34
	but to be transformed by someone.	37:37
	In the European Enlightenment,	37:42
	with the creation of the individual,	37:44
	morality was recreated	37:47
	into something allegedly available to anybody.	37:49
	Anybody, it was said, could be good	37:55
	by simply thinking clearly,	37:58
	using Kantian reason, common sense,	38:00
	or other individualistic natural endowments.	38:03
	And these were alleged to reside	38:07
	in just everybody,	38:10
	democratically bestowed regardless	38:11
	of that person's upbringing	38:14
	or your parents or social status.	38:16
	And that view of morality	38:20
	is counter to that offered	38:22
	by ancient moralists like Aristotle.	38:24
	Aristotle, who taught that goodness	38:27
	is not a matter of being reasonable,	38:30
	not a matter of deciding what to do	38:33
	in this particular isolated situation,	38:34
	but rather goodness is a matter	38:39
	of being a good person,	38:41
	being somebody who's been trained to be good.	38:43
	You gotta be taught to be good, said Aristotle.	38:48
	And Aristotle's chief analogy	38:52
	for morality was learning how to ride a horse.	38:54
	You can't learn to ride a horse by reading a book.	38:59
	You learn to ride a horse	39:03
	by watching somebody do it	39:04
	who knows how.	39:06
	By being led step by step,	39:08
	by imitating the moves,	39:12
	by being coaxed into it	39:14
	and criticized and guided by this person	39:17
	until you get the feel of the reins,	39:21
	until it becomes yours.	39:24
	Here was an unabashedly elitist view of morality.	39:28
	Aristotle, unlike Kant, believed	39:34
	that morality was something that is not available	39:36
	to everybody by natural endowment.	39:39
	Morality means to belong to that aristocracy	39:42
	who has taken the time and the trouble	39:47
	to become better persons than we would have been	39:50
	if we'd been left to our own devices.	39:53
	Goodness is much more than a matter of knowing good.	39:57
	It's a matter of being good,	40:01
	of learning the moves and the skills	40:03
	which morality requires.	40:08
	On a less exulted plain,	40:11
	Martin Luther said,	40:13
	you don't get apples from a thorn bush,	40:16
	you get apples from an apple tree,	40:20
	you get good works from a good person.	40:23
	But away with Aristotle and back to Jesus.	40:27
	For Jesus, being good was not an intellectual problem,	40:30
	of knowing what ought I to do in this particular situation.	40:35
	Ethics in our day.	40:39
	As was sometimes said in the church	40:42
	in which I grew up,	40:45
	you can't talk the talk	40:48
	if you don't walk the walk.	40:50
	Jesus unabashedly asked not just for agreement,	40:54
	he demanded discipleship:	41:00
	learning the moves, walking the walk,	41:03
	following him down this narrow path.	41:06
	Jesus asked for imitation.	41:11
	He wanted followers, not admirers.	41:16
	Martin Luther King just didn't admire Gandhi,	41:21
	he imitated Gandhi.	41:26
	For this little band of Christians	41:30
	at the church of Philippi,	41:32
	constantly in danger of seduction	41:34
	by the pagan majority,	41:36
	there was no better textbook	41:39
	than the lives of those who bear the burden of leadership.	41:41
	Lifestyle is best converted through lifestyle	41:45
	and there is just no weaseling out	41:49
	of the plain truth that discipleship	41:52
	is utterly dependent on our being able	41:55
	to identify examples, saints,	41:58
	people worthy of emulation	42:01
	and if we Christians can't point to a few examples,	42:05
	even to ourselves,	42:10
	we really have very little to say.	42:13
	If every 100 years or so we can't point	42:17
	to a Teresa of Calcutta or a Desmond Tutu,	42:19
	we Christians have got a big problem.	42:25
	Because the world is quite right	42:28
	in judging our religion	42:29
	by the kind of lives it's able to produce.	42:31
	Lacking changed lives,	42:36
	we pervert the Gospel into an intellectual dilemma,	42:38
	a head trip rather than a lifestyle trip.	42:42
	But being a Christian is a matter	42:46
	of following somebody	42:48
	who's headed somewhere	42:49
	that I would not have gone	42:52
	if I had been left to my own devices.	42:54
	In my last church,	42:59
	I preached this sermon	43:02
	and it was a sermon about poverty	43:04
	and the plight of the poor	43:06
	and I used this example, I got this example,	43:07
	it was out of the a Brazilian newspaper,	43:09
	someone had sent it to me	43:11
	about a man named Walter.	43:13
	Walter in Brazil.	43:16
	In Brazil there is an active market	43:19
	of poor people selling organs	43:21
	from their bodies to richer people.	43:23
	And the story told about how this man named Walter	43:26
	had just sold both of his eyes,	43:29
	Walter had never had a job,	43:33
	he'd never been able to feed his family adequately	43:35
	and Walter had sold his eyes for $20,000.	43:38
	And I just told this story in the sermon.	43:44
	And then we stood and sung a hymn	43:47
	and went home and had lunch.	43:49
	8:30 the next morning,	43:52
	I was walking into my office, phone was ringing,	43:53
	it was Debbie on the phone. Debbie.	43:55
	Her husband was a young professor	43:58
	at a nearby college.	44:00
	They lived in a modest home	44:01
	in a modest part of town.	44:04
	Debbie said to me over the phone,	44:06
	"I've hardly been able to sleep a wink last night."	44:09
	I said, "Oh why, what was wrong?"	44:13
	She said, "I couldn't get Walter out of my mind.	44:14
	"I got my husband up, 5:30 this morning,	44:19
	"we sat down, we looked at our lives.	44:21
	"We'd been thinking about getting a new car.	44:24
	"We don't need a new car, we can repair the old car.	44:27
	"We've been thinking about buying a new stereo,	44:30
	"we don't need to buy a new stereo.	44:32
	"I just wanted to call you and tell you	44:34
	"we have decided to double	44:36
	"what we're giving to the church	44:38
	"if you can assure us that some of that money	44:41
	"might go to help somebody like Walter."	44:45
	And I thought to myself,	44:54
	gee, I slept like a baby last night.	44:56
	Conversations like that	45:01
	will make preachers despise laypeople.	45:03
	(laughter)	45:06
	So, go ahead,	45:09
	imitate me,	45:13
	demand that my miserable little life	45:16
	be a worthy example.	45:19
	Would you do me a favor?	45:22
	Don't let me off the discipleship hook.	45:25
	Insist that I teach	45:29
	by the way I walk	45:33
	rather than merely by the book.	45:34
	Insist that there be an congruency	45:37
	between what I preach	45:40
	and the way I practice.	45:41
	Imitate me.	45:45
	The bread was broken	45:49
	and the wine was poured for communion	45:50
	and I stretched out my hands over the communion table	45:54
	for the prayer of thanksgiving	45:56
	and down on the front row, a little girl	46:00
	was heard to comment,	46:02
	"Look, mommy, he's trying to look like Jesus."	46:04
	It's not an inappropriate thing to say about a Christian.	46:11
	(tranquil organ music)	46:19
	(congregation singing)	46:50
-	The Lord be with you.	49:36
Congregation	And also with you.	49:37
-	Let us pray.	49:39
	Our kind and gracious God,	49:52
	you hear our prayers before we speak	49:55
	and answer before we know our need.	49:59
	Though we cannot pray, may your spirit pray in us,	50:03
	drawing us to you and toward our neighbors on Earth.	50:07
	We pray for the church of Jesus Christ	50:12
	that begun, maintained and nurtured by your spirit.	50:16
	It may be true to its calling doing your will.	50:20
	Lord, in your mercy.	50:25
All	Hear Our Prayer.	50:27
-	We pray for the whole creation,	50:29
	may all things work together for good	50:32
	until by your design your children inherit the Earth	50:35
	and order it wisely.	50:38
	Lord, in your mercy.	50:42
All	Hear our prayer.	50:43
-	We pray for people who do not believe,	50:46
	who feel hopeless beyond any human consolation,	50:48
	who have no examples to inspire them	50:53
	to dream dreams.	50:56
	Open their eyes to see beyond the brokenness	50:58
	of our world, the wonders of your love displayed	51:00
	in Jesus of Nazareth	51:04
	and to answer when he calls them.	51:06
	Lord, in your mercy.	51:10
All	Hear our prayer.	51:11
-	We pray for all schools, colleges and universities	51:14
	for those who teach and those who learn.	51:17
	Bestow your wisdom in such measure	51:21
	that relationships of mutual caring	51:23
	and trust may thrive	51:26
	and that the pursuit of truth may lead them	51:28
	to greater community.	51:31
	Lord, in your mercy.	51:33
All	Hear our prayer.	51:35
-	We pray for enemies as Christ commanded.	51:37
	For those who oppose us or scheme against us,	51:40
	who are also children of your love.	51:44
	Shield us from infectious hate	51:47
	or desire for vengeance.	51:49
	Lord, in your mercy.	51:52
All	Hear our prayer.	51:54
-	We pray for the sick	51:57
	as they suffer from pain or despair,	51:59
	or struggle with demons of the mind	52:02
	as they cry out for healing.	52:04
	May they be patient and trusting,	52:07
	open to your healing presence.	52:10
	Lord, in your mercy.	52:13
All	Hear our prayer.	52:15
-	We pray for those who govern our country,	52:18
	who make, administer or judge our laws.	52:20
	May new bridges of understanding	52:24
	and mutual forbearance enable a greater vision	52:26
	of peace and justice for all to flourish in our land.	52:29
	Lord, in your mercy.	52:34
All	Hear our prayer.	52:36
-	All these things and whatever else you see	52:39
	that we need, grant us, oh God	52:42
	for the sake of him who died and rose again.	52:44
	And now lives and reigns with you	52:48
	in the unity of the Holy Spirit.	52:49
	One God forever.	52:52
	Amen.	52:54
	As a forgiven and reconciled people,	52:58
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	53:01
	(tranquil organ music)	53:05
	(congregation singing)	54:28
	(lively organ music)	57:22
	(congregation singing)	58:07
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	58:19
	(congregation singing)	58:26
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	58:38
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	58:41
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	58:44
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	58:47
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	58:50
-	Oh Lord our God, we thank you for the many examples	59:02
	along our journey who have formed us	59:06
	into the people we are.	59:08
	For loving parents, grandparents,	59:10
	aunts and uncles who embraced us as tiny strangers	59:13
	to become family,	59:16
	for committed teachers, tireless coaches	59:18
	and wise counselors who saw the best in us	59:21
	when we could only see the worst.	59:23
	For modern-day heroes and heroines,	59:26
	both well known and unsung	59:28
	as well as all the saints throughout the ages	59:31
	who inspire us to follow in their footsteps.	59:33
	Most of all we thank you for Jesus Christ,	59:37
	the ultimate example and embodiment	59:40
	of divine love	59:42
	who emptied himself in obedience to you	59:44
	and now reigns in glory with you forever and forever	59:46
	and in whose name we pray.	59:49
All	Our father, who art in heaven	59:52
	hallowed be thy name,	59:54
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done	59:56
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	59:59
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:00:01
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:00:04
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	1:00:06
	and lead us not into temptation	1:00:09
	but deliver us from evil,	1:00:11
	for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.	1:00:13
-	Amen.	1:00:18
	May the God of peace make you holy in every way	1:00:21
	and keep your whole being, spirit, soul and body free	1:00:25
	from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.	1:00:30
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:39
	(lively organ music)	1:00:58
	(congregation singing)	1:01:44
	(lively organ music)	1:04:54
	♪ Go in peace ♪	1:05:19
	♪ And serve the Lord ♪	1:05:20
	♪ Beloved of Christ, amen ♪	1:05:23
	(tranquil organ music)	1:05:37

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "Be Imitators of Me" (October 7, 1990)

Description:

Sermon start time: 26:46. Sermon end time: 46:15.
Reflecting on Paul’s words, which asked the Philippians to imitate his lifestyle, the preacher argues that, Paul, like Jesus, teaches through a life transformed by the gospel, rather than through mere intellectual knowledge. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "Being a Christian is a matter of following somebody who's headed somewhere that I would not have gone if I had been left to my own devices."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r45h7c82j

Date:

October 7, 1990

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Philippians

Chapter and Verse:

Philippians 3:17-21

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0203
ref8847_nf2
uachapelsermaud
duke:321318
dcrmv001194
ark:/87924/r45h7c82j
0b127c62-801b-4b6b-8f05-c63ab768cb74

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

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 - "Be Imitators of Me" (October 7, 1990)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives