William H. Willimon - "Be Imitators of Me" (October 7, 1990)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(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 |