Peter J. Gomes - "Thinking and Feeling the Faith" (October 28, 1990)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music) | 0:00 | |
(organ music) | 2:23 | |
- | Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband's side | 2:31 |
a prominent rich man, | 2:36 | |
of the family of Elimelech, | 2:38 | |
whose name was Boaz. | 2:42 | |
And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, | 2:45 | |
let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, | 2:49 | |
behind someone in whose sight I may find favor. | 2:55 | |
She said to her, go, my daughter. | 3:01 | |
So she went. | 3:05 | |
She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. | 3:08 | |
As it happened, | 3:14 | |
she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, | 3:15 | |
who was of the family of Elimelech. | 3:20 | |
Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. | 3:24 | |
He said to the reapers, | 3:28 | |
to whom does this young woman belong? | 3:31 | |
The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, | 3:36 | |
she is the Moabite who came back with Naomi | 3:41 | |
from the country of Moab. | 3:45 | |
She said, please, | 3:49 | |
let me glean and gather among the sheaves | 3:51 | |
behind the reapers. | 3:55 | |
So she came, | 3:58 | |
and she has been on her feet | 4:00 | |
from early this morning until now, | 4:03 | |
without resting even for a moment. | 4:07 | |
Then Boaz said to Ruth, | 4:12 | |
now listen, my daughter, | 4:16 | |
do not go to glean in another field | 4:19 | |
or leave this one, | 4:23 | |
but keep close to my young women. | 4:26 | |
Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, | 4:31 | |
and follow behind them. | 4:36 | |
I have ordered the young men not to bother you. | 4:41 | |
If you get thirsty, | 4:45 | |
go to the vessels and drink | 4:47 | |
from what the young men have drawn. | 4:50 | |
Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, | 4:54 | |
and said to him, why have I found favor in your sight, | 4:59 | |
that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner? | 5:05 | |
But Boaz answered her, | 5:12 | |
all that you have done for your mother-in-law | 5:15 | |
since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, | 5:19 | |
and how you left your father and mother and your native land | 5:25 | |
and came to a people that you did not know before. | 5:32 | |
May the Lord reward you for your deeds, | 5:39 | |
and may you have a full reward from the Lord, | 5:43 | |
the God of Israel, | 5:47 | |
under whose wings you have come for refuge. | 5:50 | |
Then she said, | 5:55 | |
may I continue to find favor in your sight, oh lord, | 5:57 | |
for you have comforted me | 6:02 | |
and spoken kindly to your servants. | 6:05 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 6:08 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 6:11 |
- | The second reading this morning | 6:15 |
is taken from the 1st book of Thessalonians chapter two. | 6:18 | |
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, | 6:25 | |
that our coming to you was not in vain, | 6:29 | |
but though we had already suffered | 6:34 | |
and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, | 6:36 | |
we had courage in our God | 6:43 | |
to declare to you the gospel of God | 6:45 | |
in spite of great opposition. | 6:49 | |
For our appeal does not spring | 6:53 | |
from deceit or impure motives or trickery, | 6:56 | |
but just as we have been approved by God | 7:02 | |
to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, | 7:07 | |
even so we speak, | 7:11 | |
not to please mortals, | 7:15 | |
but to please God who tests our hearts. | 7:18 | |
As you know and as God is our witness, | 7:23 | |
we never came with words of flattery | 7:28 | |
or with a pretext for greed, | 7:31 | |
nor did we seek praise from mortals, | 7:36 | |
whether from you or from others, | 7:40 | |
though we might have made demands as the apostles of Christ. | 7:44 | |
But we were gentle among you, | 7:50 | |
like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. | 7:53 | |
So deeply do we care for you | 7:58 | |
that we are determined to share with you | 8:01 | |
not only the gospel of God | 8:04 | |
but also our own selves, | 8:08 | |
because you have become very dear to us. | 8:12 | |
This is the Word of God. | 8:16 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 8:18 |
(organ music) | 8:33 | |
♪ I heard a great voice from heaven ♪ | 8:40 | |
♪ I heard a great voice from heaven ♪ | 8:53 | |
♪ Saying unto me ♪ | 9:06 | |
♪ Saying unto me ♪ | 9:11 | |
♪ Write, from henceforth ♪ | 9:17 | |
♪ Write, from henceforth ♪ | 9:23 | |
♪ Write ♪ | 9:29 | |
♪ Blessed are the dead ♪ | 9:33 | |
♪ Blessed are the dead ♪ | 9:40 | |
♪ Who die in the Lord ♪ | 9:45 | |
♪ Even so ♪ | 10:00 | |
♪ Even so, saith the Spirit ♪ | 10:04 | |
♪ For they rest from their labors ♪ | 10:15 | |
♪ They rest from their labors ♪ | 10:22 | |
♪ They rest from their labors ♪ | 10:27 | |
♪ And their works do follow them ♪ | 10:36 | |
♪ Their works do follow them ♪ | 10:46 | |
♪ Their works do follow them ♪ | 10:57 | |
- | The third lesson appointed for this day | 11:31 |
is from the gospel according to Saint Matthew. | 11:34 | |
When the Pharisees heard | 11:38 | |
that he had silenced the Sadducees, | 11:40 | |
they gathered around, | 11:42 | |
and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. | 11:44 | |
Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? | 11:49 | |
He said to him, you shall love the Lord your God | 11:54 | |
with all your heart, and with all your soul, | 11:58 | |
and with all your mind. | 12:01 | |
This is the greatest and first commandment, | 12:03 | |
and a second is like unto it, | 12:07 | |
you shall love your neighbor as yourselves. | 12:09 | |
On these two commandments | 12:12 | |
hang all the law and the prophets. | 12:14 | |
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, | 12:18 | |
Jesus asked them this question: | 12:21 | |
what do you think of the Messiah? | 12:24 | |
Whose son is he? | 12:27 | |
They said to him, the son of David. | 12:29 | |
He said to them, how is it then that David by the Spirit | 12:32 | |
calls him Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord, | 12:37 | |
sit at my right hand, | 12:42 | |
until I put your enemies under your feet? | 12:43 | |
If David thus called him Lord, how can he be his son? | 12:47 | |
No one was able to give him an answer, | 12:52 | |
nor from that day did anyone dare | 12:55 | |
to ask him any more questions. | 12:57 | |
This is the gospel of our Lord. | 13:02 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 13:05 |
- | Let us pray. | 13:24 |
Help us, Lord, to become masters of ourselves, | 13:31 | |
that we may become the servants of others. | 13:35 | |
Take our hands and work through them, | 13:39 | |
take our minds and think through them, | 13:43 | |
take our lips and speak through them, | 13:47 | |
and take our hearts and set them on fire, | 13:51 | |
for Christ's sake. | 13:56 | |
Amen. | 13:59 | |
In the gospel lesson that you have heard from Saint Matthew, | 14:10 | |
there are at least two tempting opportunities | 14:15 | |
for preaching. | 14:21 | |
The first one would be to preach | 14:23 | |
on the deceitful nature of lawyers, | 14:26 | |
and to those of you who are at the bar in this chapel, | 14:31 | |
or those undergraduates who aspire to the bar, | 14:36 | |
this is a text that I am sorely tempted to take. | 14:41 | |
(laughing) | 14:45 | |
For your sake, and mine, and that of the nation. | 14:46 | |
But I shall restrain myself and not tell you what I think. | 14:50 | |
But the gospel passage leaves us much room there, | 14:55 | |
and it could be done. | 14:59 | |
The second tempting option from this passage, | 15:01 | |
from the gospel, | 15:05 | |
is the very last verse, | 15:06 | |
which strikes some of us indeed as anti-intellectual, | 15:09 | |
and anti the spirit of the university, | 15:14 | |
where is says and they durst not ask him | 15:17 | |
any more questions. | 15:22 | |
Here one could go on at great length | 15:25 | |
about the virtues of not asking too many questions, | 15:28 | |
even in a questionable place like this. | 15:34 | |
But I shall resist that temptation as well, | 15:38 | |
and I shall confine my attention, as I hope you will, | 15:40 | |
to what I think, in fact, | 15:44 | |
is the burden of this passage from the gospel, | 15:46 | |
from which I have taken my text. | 15:50 | |
It's the 37th verse of Saint Matthew 22. | 15:53 | |
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, | 15:58 | |
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. | 16:04 | |
This is the first and great commandment. | 16:09 | |
Now it is Jesus himself | 16:15 | |
who calls this the first and the greatest commandment. | 16:17 | |
It is Jesus himself who lifts this commandment | 16:23 | |
above all of the law, all of the instruction, | 16:27 | |
all of the hints and suggestions for duty. | 16:32 | |
It is Jesus who tells us that this is the duty | 16:36 | |
that we owe toward God, | 16:41 | |
a duty that involves all of what we are, | 16:44 | |
and all of what we do. | 16:48 | |
This is the legitimate answer to a trick question. | 16:51 | |
The love of God | 16:58 | |
according to this great commandment of Jesus, | 16:59 | |
the love of God is expressed with our hearts, | 17:01 | |
it is expressed with our souls, | 17:06 | |
it is expressed with our minds. | 17:09 | |
It is not one of the above, you will note carefully, | 17:12 | |
it is not two out of three, | 17:17 | |
it is all of the faculties of our thinking, | 17:20 | |
our feeling and our being. | 17:25 | |
All of this is required | 17:29 | |
in love toward God. | 17:32 | |
Now I mention this first and great commandment | 17:36 | |
not only because the lectionary requires it, | 17:38 | |
and Dean Willimon would expect no less of me in his absence, | 17:41 | |
but I mention this first and great commandment here as well, | 17:46 | |
because if this chapel and this university | 17:51 | |
are anything at all like the chapel and the university | 17:55 | |
that I serve in the Duke of the North, | 17:59 | |
(laughing) | 18:02 | |
then there are some of you who are here this morning | 18:05 | |
who in fact, look forward to chapel and to church | 18:08 | |
as that one place, | 18:12 | |
that one hour during the week | 18:15 | |
when you are not obliged to think at all. | 18:18 | |
(laughing) | 18:22 | |
Here in this marvelous space, | 18:23 | |
with the narcotic of music, | 18:27 | |
and the absolutely, wonderfully tempting | 18:29 | |
diversions of architecture, | 18:33 | |
surrounded by your neighbors and friends, | 18:35 | |
here you can all, as some of you already have, | 18:39 | |
go on automatic pilot. | 18:43 | |
(laughing) | 18:46 | |
You hang up all of the intensities of the work week, | 18:47 | |
all of the demands that press and push and prod, | 18:52 | |
and you let whatever happens here in the Duke Chapel | 18:56 | |
wash over you | 19:01 | |
like a warm shower bath. | 19:02 | |
I see it happening already as I move up the center aisle | 19:06 | |
towards the western end. | 19:11 | |
An undergraduate at Harvard, | 19:14 | |
with what I took to be a sincere, even flattering intention, | 19:16 | |
once told me at the door of Memorial Church | 19:22 | |
that he liked my sermons | 19:24 | |
because it was the most restful 20 minutes he had all week. | 19:27 | |
(laughing) | 19:32 | |
A good sermon, I was once told, | 19:33 | |
was one from which either you left enlightened | 19:35 | |
or awoke refreshed. | 19:39 | |
(laughing) | 19:42 | |
But the great commandment, | 19:45 | |
while it does not command us to listen to sermons, | 19:46 | |
does say that one of the things | 19:51 | |
with which love toward God is expressed, | 19:54 | |
is with the mind. | 19:58 | |
So would you do God and me the kindness | 20:02 | |
by re-engaging your minds? | 20:06 | |
I require your attention, even in the choir. | 20:09 | |
I know you lot, listen up. | 20:14 | |
(laughing) | 20:16 | |
We are expected | 20:18 | |
to express our love toward God | 20:20 | |
in the first case, with our mind. | 20:23 | |
There is intellect, | 20:26 | |
reason involved in the worship and the love of God, | 20:29 | |
and we are expected, we are commanded, | 20:34 | |
to give our minds over to this enterprise | 20:37 | |
in obedience to what God requires of us. | 20:42 | |
Now this is not to say, and I hasten to say it, | 20:48 | |
that either God or the worship of God | 20:50 | |
or even the love of God | 20:53 | |
are in themselves reasonable propositions. | 20:54 | |
If your minds are alert now, as they must be, | 20:59 | |
you will note that these are not one and the same thing. | 21:02 | |
Worship, the love of God, | 21:06 | |
these are, in fact, quite unreasonable, as reason goes, | 21:08 | |
especially if reason is defined | 21:14 | |
as that which you can see or prove or do. | 21:17 | |
Try to argue, if you're an undergraduate, | 21:23 | |
with your roommate, | 21:25 | |
or if you're not, with your spouse or your friend | 21:26 | |
about the existence of God, | 21:29 | |
and you will discover very quickly | 21:31 | |
how impossible the most reasonable of people, | 21:33 | |
and the most reasonable of arguments becomes | 21:37 | |
in that set of circumstances. | 21:41 | |
And if you want another example | 21:44 | |
of the unreasonableness of this enterprise | 21:46 | |
in which you are to give over your mind, | 21:49 | |
look at this very chapel itself. | 21:51 | |
This is as unreasonable a space and place | 21:55 | |
as designed by the hand of man. | 21:59 | |
This is an incredibly inefficient place. | 22:04 | |
Look all around it, all of this glass, all of this stone, | 22:09 | |
not one but two organs, for what? | 22:13 | |
What an unreasonable enterprise, | 22:17 | |
what an inefficient, unreasonable place this place | 22:21 | |
compared to a laboratory or a library. | 22:24 | |
This could make wonderful condominia | 22:28 | |
for faculty, for example. | 22:31 | |
(laughing) | 22:33 | |
It would make a very reasonable use | 22:34 | |
if converted into something sensible and practical, | 22:36 | |
but here it stands, | 22:40 | |
a monument to the unreasonable | 22:43 | |
within which one is meant to give over, among other things, | 22:46 | |
one's mind to God. | 22:52 | |
Here this marvelously unreasonable space, | 22:55 | |
Saint Nicotine's, I always call it, | 22:59 | |
whenever I come to Duke. | 23:02 | |
(laughing) | 23:04 | |
At Harvard, | 23:08 | |
Memorial Church stands in the most prominent part | 23:09 | |
of the college yard, | 23:13 | |
and like your chapel here, it can't be missed. | 23:15 | |
A dean once said to me, | 23:19 | |
lovely building, the chapel, | 23:21 | |
but if we were starting again, | 23:23 | |
I don't think we'd put it here. | 23:25 | |
And I suspect that the makers of your modern university, | 23:29 | |
were they to start all over again, | 23:32 | |
might have second thoughts | 23:35 | |
about placing the chapel right here. | 23:37 | |
It is such an unreasonable expression | 23:41 | |
of a university's ambition. | 23:44 | |
But unreasonable as this all may seem, | 23:49 | |
the great commandment does not reject the mind. | 23:52 | |
In fact, it commandeers the mind, | 23:57 | |
it drafts the mind for the worship and the love of God. | 24:00 | |
God wants your mind, | 24:05 | |
small and inadequate, inefficient as it is, | 24:08 | |
God wants it anyway. | 24:12 | |
To think | 24:15 | |
is to attempt to worship and love God, | 24:17 | |
to think | 24:21 | |
is to attempt to comprehend God. | 24:23 | |
Think about that. | 24:28 | |
Now warm-hearted Christians, | 24:34 | |
and I'm not unaware that John Wesley, your great patron, | 24:36 | |
once described himself as strangely warmed. | 24:41 | |
I always thought that a marvelous phrase as a Baptist, | 24:45 | |
it sounds not quite fully done. | 24:48 | |
Strangely warmed. | 24:50 | |
(laughing) | 24:52 | |
Now warm-hearted Christians tend to think of thought | 24:54 | |
and thinking and thinkers as cold-hearted and rational. | 24:59 | |
Warm-hearted Christians, especially in the environment | 25:05 | |
of a great secular university such as Duke, | 25:09 | |
will tend or be tempted to see the faith | 25:12 | |
as an island in the storm. | 25:16 | |
That one place, this place, | 25:19 | |
where faith and fuzz | 25:22 | |
become one. | 25:25 | |
But God requires not simply our hearts, | 25:28 | |
but our minds as well. | 25:32 | |
Saint Augustine tells us of the consolations | 25:35 | |
God has given us in the world, | 25:38 | |
and chief among these are the abilities | 25:40 | |
to think and to discern, | 25:44 | |
to discover, to imagine, | 25:47 | |
to come to terms with truth, | 25:50 | |
to discover truth from error, | 25:53 | |
to calculate, to cogitate, to calibrate. | 25:56 | |
These are not secular pursuits. | 26:00 | |
These are not activities reserved alone | 26:04 | |
for the library and the laboratory | 26:07 | |
and the people in white coats. | 26:09 | |
These are indeed the gifts of God for the people of God, | 26:12 | |
and if you fail to think, | 26:17 | |
you are abusing one of the gifts of God. | 26:21 | |
You are engaged in a wasteful, | 26:27 | |
blasphemous non-enterprise. | 26:30 | |
Your mind is meant to be engaged for God, | 26:35 | |
and without it, God is not pleased, | 26:41 | |
God is not well-served, | 26:45 | |
neither are you, and neither is the church. | 26:48 | |
So no Christian who loves God | 26:54 | |
should ever be afraid of an idea, | 26:57 | |
no matter how obnoxious, no matter how difficult, | 27:02 | |
no matter how perverse. | 27:07 | |
For the mind is the gift God has given us | 27:10 | |
to discern among good, bad, | 27:14 | |
and indifferent ideas. | 27:17 | |
Ideas are Christian property, | 27:21 | |
and not to use them is to be very poor stewards indeed. | 27:25 | |
No Christian who loves God need ever think | 27:30 | |
that his mind is an alien force, | 27:34 | |
something that has to be turned off | 27:38 | |
when you become religious. | 27:41 | |
If that is the case, | 27:44 | |
you are not truly or thoroughly religious. | 27:46 | |
No Christian who loves God | 27:52 | |
need every put her intellectual faculties on hold. | 27:55 | |
Indeed as my predecessor George Arthur Buttrick | 28:01 | |
used to say of Memorial Church | 28:04 | |
the doors of the church should never be so low | 28:07 | |
that someone must leave his head outside when he enters. | 28:12 | |
Thank God that the doors of Duke Chapel | 28:17 | |
appear to be high and everlasting, | 28:20 | |
so that here, men and women may worship God | 28:24 | |
with their minds fully intact, fully engaged, | 28:28 | |
fully pushed, challenged and stimulated. | 28:32 | |
To think, fully and comprehensively, | 28:37 | |
to think micro and macro, | 28:41 | |
is ultimately to think of God. | 28:45 | |
As the hymnist says, my ample creed, | 28:51 | |
it is the thought of God. | 28:55 | |
But thank God the great commandment | 29:02 | |
which Jesus invokes here, | 29:06 | |
commandeers more than merely the mind. | 29:08 | |
For the organs of feeling and passion are also called for. | 29:14 | |
God commandeers the heart and the soul, | 29:20 | |
as well as the mind. | 29:25 | |
God does not want thoughtless Christians | 29:29 | |
who just feel all warm and fuzzy, | 29:32 | |
nor does God want thoughtful Christians | 29:36 | |
who have no spirit, who have no passions or feelings. | 29:41 | |
God requires the whole thing, | 29:48 | |
and so we are grateful for this great commandment | 29:51 | |
which requires | 29:55 | |
thinking and feeling the faith. | 29:56 | |
Religion may be learned, it may be taught, | 30:01 | |
in some places, it may even be practiced, | 30:05 | |
but both ultimately and immediately, | 30:08 | |
the Christian faith is both caught and felt. | 30:12 | |
And such a feeling, if you will, | 30:18 | |
is invariably and inevitably | 30:21 | |
the result of a relationship. | 30:25 | |
You have first opened your minds, | 30:30 | |
now open your hearts | 30:33 | |
to receive the good news of Christ. | 30:37 | |
Feeling, if you will, | 30:43 | |
is inevitably the result of a relationship. | 30:45 | |
Now I know this word relationship | 30:51 | |
is a very dangerous, slippery word. | 30:55 | |
It has become a euphemism, | 30:59 | |
a substitute for more basic Anglo-Saxon meaning. | 31:02 | |
No one any longer has friends or lovers | 31:07 | |
or boyfriends or girlfriends anymore. | 31:11 | |
Everyone is in or out | 31:16 | |
or moving toward or coming from out of a relationship, | 31:18 | |
and most of these are meant to be meaningful, | 31:24 | |
that is, full of deep and inexplicable meaning. | 31:28 | |
And these all, both good and bad, | 31:33 | |
make demands upon that collection of invisible realities, | 31:36 | |
invisible realities that we call feelings. | 31:40 | |
So I want to rehabilitate | 31:46 | |
both the notion of relationship and feeling | 31:48 | |
for the use of the Christian faith | 31:51 | |
and the great commandment, this text allows me to do so. | 31:53 | |
Feelings are the inevitable result of a relationship. | 32:00 | |
Think about it. | 32:05 | |
Feelings are always the result of a relationship | 32:06 | |
made, sustained or broken. | 32:11 | |
We connect or we fail to connect, | 32:14 | |
and in that relationship, broken or unbroken, | 32:18 | |
feelings, the heart and the soul, | 32:21 | |
come into play. | 32:25 | |
Faith is meant to be felt, | 32:28 | |
not simply talked or merely understood. | 32:31 | |
It is meant to be felt. | 32:35 | |
You are meant to be | 32:37 | |
more than strangely warm. | 32:40 | |
Faith is ultimately a response to what God has done for us, | 32:44 | |
and we are to respond to the great | 32:50 | |
and generous act of creation with our minds, | 32:52 | |
but indeed with more, | 32:57 | |
with our hearts and our souls. | 32:59 | |
All of our being, the whole thing that makes us human, | 33:02 | |
is that with which we respond to God | 33:08 | |
who made us human. | 33:11 | |
But we all know how we feel when the question is put | 33:16 | |
how are you feeling today? | 33:21 | |
When we put that question, | 33:26 | |
we know that it does not require | 33:28 | |
a full or a truthful answer, | 33:32 | |
and how horrible it is | 33:35 | |
when somebody actually in response to that question | 33:36 | |
tells you how they are feeling today. | 33:40 | |
Who can bear it? | 33:44 | |
It is one of the liabilities of truth. | 33:46 | |
Few of us can. | 33:49 | |
God bless rhetorical questions. | 33:51 | |
But the question, if looked at carefully, | 33:55 | |
is not merely a medical or a physical | 33:58 | |
or even a psychological question, | 34:02 | |
it is not even merely polite. | 34:06 | |
It has to do with you and all of the relationships | 34:08 | |
that define who and whose you are. | 34:13 | |
Because we can only feel in relationships to others | 34:17 | |
and to other things. | 34:22 | |
To feel the faith is not simply a private inner glow. | 34:24 | |
It is to respond to God in all of the relationships | 34:30 | |
in which God has set us, | 34:35 | |
and in which God is to be found, | 34:37 | |
and we know with our minds | 34:42 | |
those feelings | 34:46 | |
of our hearts and our souls. | 34:48 | |
And we are at one, in some strange and wondrous way, | 34:52 | |
when all of these qualities of mind, | 34:56 | |
heart, and soul | 35:00 | |
are combined. | 35:03 | |
That is when | 35:05 | |
we are fully understood | 35:07 | |
even as we fully understand. | 35:10 | |
I point only to this building as a perfect example | 35:15 | |
of that union | 35:20 | |
of heart and mind and soul. | 35:22 | |
This unreasonable building | 35:25 | |
is the result of the most careful | 35:29 | |
of mathematical and architectural calculations. | 35:32 | |
It is, in some sense, reason in stone. | 35:37 | |
Mere faith that a place like this would turn out okay, | 35:43 | |
mere faith, mere hope | 35:48 | |
that something would allow this building to go up, | 35:50 | |
that one stone would stand upon another | 35:55 | |
simply would not do. | 35:58 | |
But the result of this reasonable mathematical enterprise | 36:02 | |
is, we wouldst all testify, more than reasonable. | 36:06 | |
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. | 36:12 | |
It is the expression, this chapel of yours, if you will, | 36:15 | |
of a feeling. | 36:19 | |
It is the expression of a relationship indeed | 36:21 | |
between the seen and the unseen, | 36:25 | |
between the transient and the eternal. | 36:29 | |
It is a statement of relationship, if you will, | 36:32 | |
between earth and heaven itself. | 36:37 | |
Oh certainly, Mr. Duke may have built this church | 36:42 | |
to atone for his many sins, | 36:46 | |
or to impress his many neighbors, | 36:49 | |
all of that may be true, but who cares? | 36:51 | |
For God has a greater use for it, | 36:54 | |
and when you come here, if you have any sense at all, | 36:59 | |
you are driven to your knees, | 37:03 | |
your spiritual knees. | 37:07 | |
You are lost in wonder, | 37:10 | |
love and praise. | 37:13 | |
For you see, in the end, as in the beginning, | 37:18 | |
God does not want just your mind, | 37:22 | |
but God does want your mind. | 37:26 | |
God does not want just your hearts and your souls, | 37:30 | |
but God does want your heart and your soul as well. | 37:34 | |
God who gave it all, wants it all, | 37:39 | |
and will accept nothing less. | 37:43 | |
Your rational thoughtful self, | 37:48 | |
so well expressed in the classroom, | 37:51 | |
your energetic, passionate, physical self, | 37:54 | |
so well expressed upon the fields of endeavor, | 37:57 | |
and your spiritual, heart-felt self, | 38:02 | |
which finds itself expressed here in this place, | 38:05 | |
God wants all of this. | 38:10 | |
God requires all of this. | 38:15 | |
One of the great curses, in some respects, | 38:21 | |
of being an undergraduate in a great university like this | 38:25 | |
is the easy and readily understood temptation | 38:29 | |
to live carefully, compartmentalized life. | 38:34 | |
In the classroom I think, more or less, | 38:40 | |
in the dormitory, I have fun as much as I can, | 38:44 | |
on the fields I play as well as I can, | 38:49 | |
and in church I am religious, | 38:52 | |
or at least not consciously wicked. | 38:56 | |
All of these self-contained | 39:00 | |
little departments and compartments | 39:03 | |
that have nothing each to do with the other, | 39:05 | |
the segregation of mind and heart and soul | 39:08 | |
and the physical and the spiritual, | 39:12 | |
the older you get, I hope the clearer it becomes | 39:16 | |
that such little, tiny boxes simply don't exist, | 39:21 | |
and that the one place | 39:26 | |
where all of these departments and compartments | 39:28 | |
are melded and transformed and transcended, | 39:31 | |
the one place where that happens here and anywhere else | 39:35 | |
is in this place | 39:39 | |
before the altar of God. | 39:41 | |
The older of you may know this, | 39:46 | |
and if you don't, it's time you learned it. | 39:48 | |
The undergraduates, here is a time and place | 39:51 | |
for you to think about the faith, | 39:56 | |
and to feel it as well. | 39:59 | |
These are not mutually exclusive, | 40:02 | |
they are meant to give you, like this building, | 40:06 | |
something larger than the sum of its parts, | 40:09 | |
and it is called life. | 40:14 | |
So the Christian faith is not simply mind over matter | 40:20 | |
or heart over head, | 40:24 | |
it is all that a man or a woman can be | 40:27 | |
or aspire to be. | 40:31 | |
To think and to do that, | 40:33 | |
is required in response | 40:36 | |
to what God has done | 40:39 | |
and is doing for you. | 40:42 | |
The lawyers who put their question to Jesus | 40:46 | |
like most lawyers, alas, | 40:50 | |
were not interested | 40:53 | |
in advancing the frontiers of truth | 40:55 | |
or knowledge or even information. | 40:59 | |
They were interested simply in tripping up Jesus. | 41:04 | |
But they | 41:10 | |
and you and I have got an answer | 41:12 | |
to a question, | 41:17 | |
an answer that far exceeds the question | 41:19 | |
and the questioners. | 41:23 | |
God has been generous to us. | 41:26 | |
In every way, every day, | 41:31 | |
in every department, | 41:34 | |
God has been generous to us with minds that think, | 41:36 | |
and hearts that feel, and bodies that work more or less. | 41:41 | |
God has been generous, don't be stingy | 41:45 | |
in your return. | 41:50 | |
This is not just an offertory sentence. | 41:53 | |
Don't be stingy in your return of what God has given you. | 41:57 | |
If your mind works, you owe it to God, | 42:01 | |
if your body works, you owe it to God, | 42:03 | |
if your heart can still function and beat and feel, | 42:06 | |
you owe it to God. | 42:10 | |
The faith is meant to be thought and felt, | 42:13 | |
for in no other way can it be enjoyed or shared. | 42:18 | |
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, | 42:25 | |
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. | 42:29 | |
This is the first and greatest commandment. | 42:34 | |
Amen. | 42:40 | |
(organ music) | 42:48 | |
♪ I love thy kingdom, Lord ♪ | 43:10 | |
♪ The house of thine abode ♪ | 43:15 | |
♪ The church our blest Redeemer saved ♪ | 43:20 | |
♪ With his own precious blood ♪ | 43:25 | |
♪ I love thy church, oh God ♪ | 43:33 | |
♪ Her walls before thee stand ♪ | 43:38 | |
♪ Dear as the apple of thine eye ♪ | 43:43 | |
♪ And graven on thy hand ♪ | 43:49 | |
♪ For her my tears shall fall ♪ | 43:56 | |
♪ For her my prayers ascend ♪ | 44:02 | |
♪ To her my cares and toils be given ♪ | 44:07 | |
♪ Till toils and cares shall end ♪ | 44:13 | |
♪ Beyond my highest joy ♪ | 44:20 | |
♪ I prize her heavenly ways ♪ | 44:26 | |
♪ Her sweet communion, solemn vows ♪ | 44:31 | |
♪ Her hymns of love and praise ♪ | 44:37 | |
♪ Sure as thy truth shall last ♪ | 44:44 | |
♪ To Zion shall be given ♪ | 44:49 | |
♪ The brightest glories earth can yield ♪ | 44:54 | |
♪ And brighter bliss of heaven ♪ | 45:00 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 45:09 |
Congregation | And also with you. | 45:12 |
- | Let us pray. | 45:13 |
Oh God, | 45:25 | |
you have set before us the way of your truth | 45:27 | |
and of your life. | 45:31 | |
Too often we prefer the ways | 45:34 | |
of our choosing, | 45:38 | |
thoughtlessly and hurriedly | 45:40 | |
without thinking, without feeling. | 45:43 | |
If in so doing we have offended you or our neighbors, | 45:48 | |
we are truly sorry. | 45:53 | |
If in so doing we have hurt ourselves, | 45:55 | |
we ask for your healing. | 45:58 | |
Lord, in your mercy-- | 46:01 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 46:04 |
- | Oh God, it is your will to hold both heaven and earth | 46:06 |
in a single piece. | 46:11 | |
Let the design of your great love | 46:14 | |
shine on the waste of our wraths and sorrows, | 46:16 | |
and give peace to your church, | 46:21 | |
peace among nations, peace in our homes, | 46:25 | |
and peace in our hearts. | 46:29 | |
Lord, in your mercy-- | 46:32 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 46:35 |
- | Grant, oh God, that your Holy and Life-giving Spirit | 46:37 |
may move every human heart, | 46:42 | |
that the barriers which divide us may crumble, | 46:46 | |
suspicions disappear and hatred cease, | 46:51 | |
and that with our divisions healed | 46:55 | |
we might live in justice and in peace. | 46:59 | |
Lord, in your mercy-- | 47:02 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 47:06 |
- | Oh Lord, our Ruler, | 47:08 |
we commend our nation, | 47:12 | |
and indeed all nations to your merciful care. | 47:15 | |
Guide those who hold office in the government of this city, | 47:20 | |
this state and our nation, | 47:25 | |
that they may do their work | 47:29 | |
in a spirit of wisdom, | 47:31 | |
kindness and justice. | 47:33 | |
Help them use their authority to serve faithfully, | 47:37 | |
and promote the general welfare. | 47:42 | |
Help them always remember | 47:46 | |
that they are called to serve the people as lovers of truth. | 47:48 | |
Lord, in your mercy-- | 47:53 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 47:56 |
- | Bless, oh God, all colleges, universities, | 47:58 |
and centers of research and learning, | 48:03 | |
and those who teach and who study in them. | 48:06 | |
Bestow your wisdom in such measure | 48:11 | |
that people may serve you in church and society | 48:13 | |
and that our common life | 48:18 | |
may be conformed to the rule of your truth. | 48:20 | |
Lord, in your mercy-- | 48:24 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 48:27 |
- | Let your blessing rest upon seedtime and harvest, | 48:30 |
the commerce and industry, the leisure and rest, | 48:35 | |
the arts and culture of our people. | 48:40 | |
Take under your special protection | 48:44 | |
those whose task is difficult or dangerous. | 48:46 | |
Be with those who face today and tomorrow | 48:51 | |
without employment, | 48:55 | |
and be with all who lay their hands to any useful task | 48:58 | |
no matter how humble. | 49:02 | |
Give them all just reward for their labor | 49:05 | |
and the knowledge that their work is good in your sight. | 49:09 | |
Lord, in your mercy-- | 49:14 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 49:17 |
- | Almighty and most merciful God, | 49:20 |
we call to mind before you all those | 49:23 | |
whom it would be easy to forget. | 49:26 | |
The homeless, the destitute, | 49:31 | |
the aged, and all who have none to care for them. | 49:35 | |
Comfort, with the grace of your Spirit, | 49:41 | |
all who are in sorrow or need, | 49:44 | |
in sickness or adversity. | 49:47 | |
Remember those who suffer persecution for the faith. | 49:51 | |
Have mercy on those to whom death draws near. | 49:56 | |
Bring consolation to those in sorrow or mourning. | 50:02 | |
Be merciful to all who are imprisoned. | 50:08 | |
And to all, grant a measure of your love | 50:12 | |
taking them into your tender care. | 50:17 | |
Lord, in your mercy-- | 50:21 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 50:23 |
- | And into your hands, oh God, | 50:25 |
we now commend all for whom we pray, | 50:28 | |
trusting in your mercy | 50:31 | |
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. | 50:33 | |
Amen. | 50:37 | |
And now, as a forgiven and reconciled people, | 50:41 | |
let us share our tithes and offerings. | 50:45 | |
♪ We praise thee, oh God ♪ | 51:08 | |
♪ We acknowledge thee to be the Lord ♪ | 51:13 | |
♪ All the earth doth worship thee ♪ | 51:19 | |
♪ The Father everlasting ♪ | 51:24 | |
♪ To thee all angels cry aloud ♪ | 51:31 | |
♪ The heavens and all the powers therein ♪ | 51:37 | |
♪ To thee cherubim and seraphim ♪ | 51:43 | |
♪ Continually do cry ♪ | 51:49 | |
♪ Holy ♪ | 51:56 | |
♪ Holy ♪ | 52:00 | |
♪ Holy ♪ | 52:02 | |
♪ Lord God of Sabaoth ♪ | 52:07 | |
♪ Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory ♪ | 52:13 | |
(organ music) | 52:25 | |
♪ The glorious company of the apostles ♪ | 52:31 | |
♪ Praise thee ♪ | 52:36 | |
♪ The goodly fellowship of the prophets ♪ | 52:43 | |
♪ Praise thee ♪ | 52:48 | |
♪ The noble army of martyrs ♪ | 52:55 | |
♪ Praise thee ♪ | 53:00 | |
♪ The holy Church throughout all the world ♪ | 53:03 | |
♪ Doth acknowledge thee ♪ | 53:09 | |
♪ The Father of an infinite majesty ♪ | 53:12 | |
♪ Thine honorable, true and only Son ♪ | 53:24 | |
♪ Also the Holy Ghost ♪ | 53:33 | |
♪ The Comforter ♪ | 53:43 | |
(organ music) | 54:00 | |
♪ Thou art the King ♪ | 54:07 | |
♪ Of Glory, oh Christ ♪ | 54:13 | |
♪ Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father ♪ | 54:20 | |
(organ music) | 54:37 | |
♪ When thou tookest upon thee ♪ | 54:45 | |
♪ To deliver man ♪ | 54:50 | |
♪ Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb ♪ | 54:55 | |
(organ music) | 55:04 | |
♪ When thou hadst overcome ♪ | 55:09 | |
♪ The sharpness of death ♪ | 55:13 | |
♪ Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven ♪ | 55:17 | |
♪ To all believers ♪ | 55:23 | |
(organ music) | 55:29 | |
♪ Thou sittest at the right hand of God ♪ | 55:34 | |
♪ In the glory of the Father ♪ | 55:45 | |
(organ music) | 56:04 | |
♪ We believe that ♪ | 56:12 | |
♪ We believe that thou shalt come ♪ | 56:22 | |
♪ To be our Judge ♪ | 56:34 | |
(organ music) | 56:49 | |
♪ We therefore pray thee, help thy servants ♪ | 56:57 | |
♪ Whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood ♪ | 57:04 | |
♪ Make them to be numbered with thy saints ♪ | 57:13 | |
♪ In glory everlasting ♪ | 57:20 | |
♪ Oh Lord, save thy people ♪ | 57:35 | |
♪ And bless thine heritage ♪ | 57:41 | |
♪ Govern them and lift them up forever ♪ | 57:44 | |
♪ Day by day, we magnify thee ♪ | 57:52 | |
♪ And we worship thy name ♪ | 57:59 | |
♪ Ever, world without end ♪ | 58:04 | |
♪ Vouchsafe, oh Lord ♪ | 58:19 | |
♪ To keep us this day ♪ | 58:26 | |
♪ Without sin ♪ | 58:35 | |
♪ Oh Lord, have mercy upon us ♪ | 58:46 | |
♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 58:55 | |
♪ Oh Lord, let thy mercy ♪ | 59:04 | |
♪ Lighten upon us ♪ | 59:10 | |
♪ As our trust is in thee ♪ | 59:15 | |
♪ Oh Lord ♪ | 59:27 | |
♪ In thee have I trusted ♪ | 59:35 | |
♪ Let me never ♪ | 59:44 | |
♪ Let me never ♪ | 59:48 | |
♪ Be confounded ♪ | 59:58 | |
(organ music) | 1:00:23 | |
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 1:00:47 | |
♪ Praise God all creatures here below ♪ | 1:00:53 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:59 | |
♪ Praise the Lord all ye heavenly hosts ♪ | 1:01:06 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:01:12 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ | 1:01:18 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ | 1:01:25 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:01:31 | |
- | Let us pray. | 1:01:41 |
Oh God, Maker of all things, | 1:01:44 | |
through your goodness, | 1:01:47 | |
you have blessed us with these gifts. | 1:01:49 | |
With them, we offer ourselves to your service, | 1:01:52 | |
and dedicate our lives to the care and redemption | 1:01:57 | |
of all that you have made, | 1:02:01 | |
for the sake of him who gave himself for us, | 1:02:03 | |
Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 1:02:08 | |
Our Father, who art in heaven. | 1:02:11 | |
Congregation | Hallowed be thy name. | 1:02:15 |
Thy kingdom come. | 1:02:17 | |
Thy will be done, | 1:02:19 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 1:02:20 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:02:23 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:02:26 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 1:02:28 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 1:02:32 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 1:02:35 | |
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. | 1:02:37 | |
Amen. | 1:02:43 | |
- | And now let us leave with the blessing of the Lord. | 1:02:44 |
The Lord Almighty bless us, | 1:02:48 | |
and order our days and our deeds in his peace. | 1:02:51 | |
Amen. | 1:02:56 | |
(organ music) | 1:03:00 | |
♪ Deep peace of the running wave to you ♪ | 1:03:04 | |
♪ Deep peace of the flowing air to you ♪ | 1:03:12 | |
♪ Deep peace of the quiet earth to you ♪ | 1:03:20 | |
♪ Deep peace of the shining stars to you ♪ | 1:03:29 | |
♪ Deep peace of the gentle night to you ♪ | 1:03:37 | |
♪ Moon and stars pour their healing light on you ♪ | 1:03:46 | |
♪ Deep peace of Christ ♪ | 1:03:55 | |
♪ Of Christ ♪ | 1:04:02 | |
♪ The light of the world to you ♪ | 1:04:06 | |
♪ Deep peace of Christ to you ♪ | 1:04:17 | |
(organ music) | 1:04:36 | |
♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:05:10 | |
♪ Grant us in this burning hour ♪ | 1:05:15 | |
♪ Grace to ask these gifts of thee ♪ | 1:05:20 | |
♪ Daring hearts and spirits free ♪ | 1:05:25 | |
♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:05:30 | |
♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:05:36 | |
♪ We are not the first to be ♪ | 1:05:44 | |
♪ Banished by our fears from thee ♪ | 1:05:49 | |
♪ Give us courage, let us hear ♪ | 1:05:54 | |
♪ Heaven's trumpets ringing clear ♪ | 1:05:59 | |
♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:06:04 | |
♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:06:10 | |
♪ All our lives belong to thee ♪ | 1:06:17 | |
♪ Thou our final loyalty ♪ | 1:06:22 | |
♪ Slaves are we whenever we share ♪ | 1:06:28 | |
♪ That devotion anywhere ♪ | 1:06:33 | |
♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:06:38 | |
♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:06:43 | |
(organ music) | 1:06:49 | |
♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:07:35 | |
♪ Make us worthy of this hour ♪ | 1:07:40 | |
♪ Offering lives if it's thy will ♪ | 1:07:46 | |
♪ Keeping free our spirits still ♪ | 1:07:50 | |
♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:07:57 | |
♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:08:02 | |
(organ music) | 1:08:15 |