William H. Willimon - "The Day of the Lord" (November 11, 1990)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | In '57 until 1972. | 0:00 |
I'd like to draw to your attention two special events | 0:03 | |
occurring on campus this afternoon, | 0:06 | |
the first is a performance by the Modern Black Mass Choir | 0:08 | |
at three o'clock in Page Auditorium | 0:11 | |
and the second is an organ recital | 0:13 | |
by Dr. David Arcus, chapel organist, | 0:15 | |
to be held at five o'clock here in the chapel. | 0:18 | |
Both are free of charge. | 0:21 | |
Thanks to the efforts of a tireless group of Duke students | 0:24 | |
we are looking forward to week-long event devoted to | 0:27 | |
education on hunger and homelessness in Duke and Durham. | 0:30 | |
Specifically on Thursday of this week | 0:35 | |
an International Oxfam Fast Day will be observed. | 0:37 | |
At 7:30 on Thursday evening, | 0:41 | |
we will feature a performance here in the Chapel | 0:43 | |
by the Howard Hanger Jazz Fantasy | 0:46 | |
as well as Eugene Friesen | 0:49 | |
who is cellist for the Paul Winter Consort | 0:50 | |
here at the chapel free of charge | 0:52 | |
followed by an overnight vigil | 0:55 | |
to be held on the Chapel Quad. | 0:57 | |
All are invited to participate | 0:59 | |
in this exciting week of events. | 1:01 | |
Please note the remaining announcements | 1:04 | |
as they are printed in your bulletins. | 1:05 | |
And now please stand for the greeting. | 1:08 | |
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. | 1:17 | |
- | And also with you. | 1:19 |
- | The risen Christ is with us. | 1:21 |
- | Praise to the Lord. | 1:24 |
(pipe organ music) | 1:32 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 1:43 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 1:47 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:51 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 1:53 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 1:56 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 2:00 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 2:02 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 2:06 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 2:10 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 2:15 | |
♪ No more dying there ♪ | 2:21 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 2:24 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 2:28 | |
♪ No more dying there ♪ | 2:30 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 2:33 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 2:37 | |
♪ No more dying there ♪ | 2:39 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 2:42 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 2:46 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 2:52 | |
♪ No more crying there ♪ | 2:57 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 3:00 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 3:04 | |
♪ No more crying there ♪ | 3:06 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 3:09 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 3:13 | |
♪ No more crying there ♪ | 3:15 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 3:18 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 3:23 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 3:27 | |
(pipe organ music) | 3:32 | |
♪Soon and very soon ♪ | 3:51 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 3:54 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 4:00 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 4:04 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 4:10 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 4:13 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 4:19 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 4:23 | |
♪ No more dying there ♪ | 4:28 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 4:32 | |
♪ No more dying there ♪ | 4:37 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 4:40 | |
♪ No more dying there ♪ | 4:46 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 4:49 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 4:54 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 4:59 | |
♪ No more crying there ♪ | 5:04 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 5:08 | |
♪ No more crying there ♪ | 5:13 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 5:16 | |
♪ No more crying there ♪ | 5:21 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 5:25 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 5:30 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 5:34 | |
(pipe organ music) | 5:40 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 7:48 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 7:51 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 7:56 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 7:58 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 8:02 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 8:06 | |
♪ Soon and very soon ♪ | 8:08 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 8:12 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 8:17 | |
♪ We are going to see the King ♪ | 8:22 | |
- | When no justice rolls down oh Lord | 8:48 |
you will not join our feasting | 8:51 | |
when the waters of righteousness are contaminated by sin | 8:54 | |
you will not listen to our singing. | 8:58 | |
Touch our inmost being oh God | 9:01 | |
for our solemn assemblies have no meaning | 9:04 | |
without the change of heart | 9:07 | |
that moves us to faithful actions | 9:09 | |
Amen. | 9:13 | |
- | Let us pray the prayer for illumination | 9:27 |
Open our hearts and minds oh God | 9:31 | |
by the power of your Holy Spirit | 9:34 | |
so that as the word is read and proclaimed | 9:36 | |
we might hear with joy what you say to us this day | 9:40 | |
Amen. | 9:44 | |
A reading from the book of the prophet Amos. | 9:47 | |
Alas for you who desire a day of the Lord. | 9:53 | |
Why do you want a day of the Lord? | 9:58 | |
It is darkness and not light | 10:01 | |
as if someone fled from a lion and was met by a bear | 10:03 | |
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall | 10:07 | |
there to be bitten by a snake. | 10:11 | |
Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light | 10:14 | |
and gloom with no brightness in it? | 10:18 | |
I hate, I despise your festivals. | 10:22 | |
I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. | 10:25 | |
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings | 10:29 | |
and grain offerings | 10:32 | |
I will not accept them. | 10:33 | |
The offerings of your well fatted animals | 10:36 | |
I will not look upon. | 10:39 | |
Take away from me the noise of your songs. | 10:41 | |
I will not listen to the melody of your harps | 10:46 | |
but let justice roll down like waters | 10:50 | |
and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. | 10:55 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 11:01 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 11:04 |
- | Please stand as we join in reading responsibly Psalm 97 | 11:12 |
found on page 816 in your hymnal | 11:17 | |
using response number two at the letter R. | 11:20 | |
The organ will introduce the response. | 11:23 | |
(pipe organ music) | 11:26 | |
♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪ | 11:43 | |
♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪ | 11:47 | |
♪ Let them resound loud as the rolling sea ♪ | 11:52 | |
- | The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice | 12:01 |
let the many coastlands be glad. | 12:05 | |
- | Clouds and thick darkness surround the Lord | 12:07 |
righteousness and justice | 12:10 | |
are the foundation of God's throne. | 12:12 | |
- | Fire goes before the Lord | 12:15 |
and burns up his adversaries round about. | 12:18 | |
- | The Lord's lightnings illumine the world | 12:21 |
the earth sees and trembles. | 12:24 | |
- | The mountains melt like wax before the Lord | 12:27 |
before the Lord of all the earth. | 12:30 | |
- | The heavens proclaim God's righteousness | 12:32 |
and all the peoples behold God's glory. | 12:36 | |
♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪ | 12:39 | |
♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪ | 12:43 | |
♪ Let them resound loud as the rolling sea ♪ | 12:48 | |
- | All worshipers of images are put to shame | 12:58 |
who make their boast in worthless idols | 13:01 | |
all gods bow down before the Lord. | 13:04 | |
- | Zion hears and is glad | 13:08 |
and the daughters of Judah rejoice | 13:10 | |
because of your judgments oh God. | 13:12 | |
- | For you oh Lord are most high above all the earth | 13:16 |
you are exalted far above all gods. | 13:20 | |
- | The Lord loves those who hate evil, | 13:23 |
preserves the lives of his faithful, | 13:26 | |
and delivers them from the hands of the wicked. | 13:28 | |
- | Light dawns for the righteous | 13:32 |
and joy for the upright in heart. | 13:34 | |
- | Rejoice in the Lord oh you righteous | 13:37 |
and give thanks to God's holy name. | 13:40 | |
♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪ | 13:43 | |
♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪ | 13:47 | |
♪ Let them resound loud as the rolling sea ♪ | 13:51 | |
- | All glory be to you oh God | 14:00 |
and to Jesus Christ our Savior. | 14:02 | |
- | As it has always been blessed be the Kingdom. | 14:05 |
- | As it was since time began | 14:08 |
- | Is now and ever will be. | 14:10 |
♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪ | 14:13 | |
♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪ | 14:18 | |
♪ Let them resound loud as the rolling sea ♪ | 14:22 | |
- | The second lesson is taken from Paul's first letter | 14:45 |
to the Thessalonians. | 14:49 | |
But we do not want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters | 14:52 | |
about those who have died so that you may not grieve | 14:57 | |
as others do who have no hope. | 15:01 | |
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again. | 15:04 | |
Even so through Jesus God will bring with him | 15:09 | |
those who have died. | 15:14 | |
For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord | 15:16 | |
that we who are alive, | 15:19 | |
who are left until the coming of the Lord, | 15:21 | |
will by no means precede those who have died. | 15:24 | |
For the Lord himself with a cry of command | 15:29 | |
with the Archangels call and with the sound of God's trumpet | 15:34 | |
will descend from Heaven | 15:39 | |
and the dead in Christ will rise first. | 15:41 | |
Then we who are alive who are left | 15:45 | |
will be caught up in the clouds together with them | 15:48 | |
to meet the Lord in the air. | 15:50 | |
And so we will be with the Lord forever. | 15:53 | |
Therefore encourage one another with these words. | 15:57 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 16:02 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 16:04 |
- | This reading from the gospel according to Saint Matthew. | 16:08 |
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this | 16:12 | |
ten bridesmaids took their lamps | 16:16 | |
and went to meet the bridegroom. | 16:19 | |
Five of them were foolish, five were wise. | 16:22 | |
When the foolish took their lamps | 16:26 | |
they took no oil with them. | 16:28 | |
But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. | 16:31 | |
As the bridegroom was delayed, | 16:36 | |
all of them became drowsy and went to sleep. | 16:39 | |
But at midnight there was a shout, | 16:43 | |
look here is the bridegroom. | 16:45 | |
Come out to meet him. | 16:47 | |
Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. | 16:49 | |
The foolish said to the wise, | 16:54 | |
give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. | 16:56 | |
But the wise replied | 17:01 | |
no there will not be enough for you and for us. | 17:03 | |
You had better go to the dealers | 17:07 | |
and buy some for yourselves. | 17:09 | |
And while they went to buy it, | 17:12 | |
the bridegroom came and those who were ready | 17:14 | |
went with him into the wedding banquet. | 17:18 | |
And the door was shut. | 17:21 | |
Later the other bridesmaids came also saying | 17:24 | |
Lord, Lord open to us. | 17:27 | |
But he replied | 17:30 | |
truly I tell you I do not know you. | 17:31 | |
Keep awake therefore | 17:36 | |
for you know neither the day nor the hour. | 17:39 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 17:43 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 17:46 |
(bongo music) | 18:05 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 18:36 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 18:39 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 18:42 | |
♪ The time is drawing nigh ♪ | 18:47 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 18:49 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 18:53 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 18:56 | |
♪ The time is drawing nigh ♪ | 19:00 | |
♪ Children don't get weary ♪ | 19:03 | |
♪ Children don't get weary ♪ | 19:07 | |
♪ Children don't get weary ♪ | 19:10 | |
♪ Till your work is done ♪ | 19:13 | |
♪ Children don't get weary ♪ | 19:17 | |
♪ Children don't get weary ♪ | 19:20 | |
♪ Children don't get weary ♪ | 19:24 | |
♪ Till your work is done ♪ | 19:27 | |
♪ Christian journey soon be over ♪ | 19:31 | |
♪ Christian journey soon be over ♪ | 19:34 | |
♪ Christian journey soon be over ♪ | 19:38 | |
♪ The time is drawing nigh ♪ | 19:42 | |
♪ Christian journey soon be over ♪ | 19:44 | |
♪ Christian journey soon be over ♪ | 19:48 | |
♪ Christian journey soon be over ♪ | 19:51 | |
♪ The time is drawing nigh ♪ | 19:55 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 19:58 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 20:02 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 20:05 | |
♪ The time is drawing nigh ♪ | 20:09 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 20:12 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 20:15 | |
♪ Keep your lamps trimmed and burning ♪ | 20:18 | |
♪ The time is drawing nigh ♪ | 20:25 | |
- | This is Sunday | 20:56 |
the Lord's day. | 21:00 | |
The Lord's day when we worship. | 21:03 | |
That's what I first taught at Duke Divinity School. | 21:06 | |
I taught worship, liturgy. | 21:08 | |
I'm kind of an expert in worship. | 21:11 | |
Proper behavior on the Lord's day. | 21:15 | |
Which of course means that | 21:19 | |
because I'm kind of an expert in worship | 21:20 | |
I've got some very different opinions. | 21:22 | |
Very definite opinions about how it ought to be done. | 21:24 | |
I have an image in my mind | 21:28 | |
about what good worship looks like. | 21:30 | |
That's why many of you are here on this Lord's day | 21:37 | |
here in the chapel | 21:39 | |
because in one or another Duke Chapel fits for you | 21:40 | |
what is your idea of good worship. | 21:44 | |
Of course I've got my own pet peeves | 21:50 | |
and prejudices about worship. | 21:52 | |
For instance I'm not much on pre-service chatter. | 21:55 | |
We put a note up in the bulletin | 22:00 | |
on the top of the first page | 22:01 | |
ask you not to chatter during the prelude | 22:02 | |
but you often still do. | 22:05 | |
I don't like that. | 22:06 | |
Another thing, | 22:10 | |
I don't like preachers with stained glass voices. | 22:11 | |
You know what I'm talking about? | 22:13 | |
Let us all stand and sing that great hymn of the church | 22:16 | |
135 let us all stand, | 22:18 | |
I don't like that. | 22:21 | |
Children's sermons, I don't like that either. | 22:25 | |
(laughter) | 22:28 | |
The preacher wants to star on Uncle Bill's Funhouse | 22:29 | |
let him do so at some time other than Sunday. | 22:32 | |
I don't want that. | 22:35 | |
May we pray. | 22:37 | |
That always annoys me. | 22:38 | |
What if somebody stood and there and said no, you may not? | 22:40 | |
It's let us pray not may we pray. | 22:42 | |
Plastic flowers, all male ushers, | 22:47 | |
good-looking preachers, I don't like that. | 22:53 | |
(laughter) | 22:56 | |
And of course I am sure that | 22:58 | |
if you were up here doing the talking | 23:00 | |
you would have your own list for good worship. | 23:02 | |
Preachers with southern accents. | 23:08 | |
Cute remarks from the pulpit. | 23:11 | |
You don't like that. | 23:14 | |
And yet how often have we asked ourselves | 23:17 | |
when talking about what is good worship, | 23:19 | |
how often have we dared ask: | 23:21 | |
what does God like about worship? | 23:26 | |
What does God expect from a Sunday morning? | 23:33 | |
Well back to my liturgical thoughts. | 23:41 | |
You could explain what we want out of Sunday morning | 23:45 | |
through a variety of perspectives. | 23:49 | |
For instance you could explain it anthropologically. | 23:51 | |
One of the anthropological functions of worship is | 23:55 | |
location. | 24:00 | |
We don't just worship anywhere. | 24:02 | |
We worship at a particular place, | 24:04 | |
a particular location. | 24:07 | |
Because on Sunday mornings we are busy getting our bearings | 24:11 | |
so to speak. | 24:15 | |
Locating ourselves within a | 24:16 | |
sometimes chaotic and confusing cosmos. | 24:19 | |
And maybe that's why we usually build | 24:24 | |
our places of worship bigger | 24:26 | |
and more costly than they really need to be. | 24:29 | |
It takes four football players | 24:34 | |
to move the Duke Chapel altar six feet. | 24:37 | |
Heavy. | 24:42 | |
We're busy locating ourselves. | 24:44 | |
In fact in the first centuries of the church | 24:47 | |
in the mediterranean world | 24:50 | |
we always built our churches facing in the same direction, | 24:51 | |
facing east. | 24:54 | |
Even in this chapel when we're facing sort of north, | 24:58 | |
when you walk into the chapel we tell you that's east. | 25:01 | |
Worship locates us. | 25:06 | |
And if you're a student and you're a long way from home | 25:10 | |
maybe one of the things you love about this chapel | 25:16 | |
is it provides you a place where you are again located. | 25:19 | |
You are again embraced by the familiar | 25:23 | |
and the predictable. | 25:27 | |
Here on this campus everything may be cut loose in your life | 25:30 | |
but you come on Sunday and it's reassuring to know | 25:35 | |
that somethings are still tied down. | 25:38 | |
Just where we left them back home | 25:41 | |
comfortable, reassuring, linked to the past. | 25:44 | |
Therefore Sunday is a day for location. | 25:51 | |
It is a day to affirm. | 25:53 | |
I believe in God the Father Almighty, | 25:55 | |
maker of heaven and earth. | 25:56 | |
It is a day to confirm. | 25:57 | |
This is my Father's world I rest me in the thought. | 26:00 | |
It is a day to order in grand procession | 26:06 | |
those eternal verities one right after the other | 26:08 | |
yes still in place. | 26:12 | |
In church furniture tends to be heavy. | 26:16 | |
Bolted down, fixed, immovable. | 26:19 | |
If you get married here in the chapel | 26:22 | |
we give you guidelines. | 26:24 | |
We tell you no moving the furniture. | 26:25 | |
You gotta take it as is. | 26:27 | |
No moving, no rearranging, no dislocating. | 26:30 | |
And yet and yet you also know that sometimes | 26:37 | |
as we are busy affirming and confirming | 26:44 | |
and ordering and locating, | 26:47 | |
sometimes there is on the Lord's day | 26:49 | |
dislocating intrusion. | 26:53 | |
When Sunday regularity hardens into | 26:59 | |
rigid stability, | 27:03 | |
when Sunday is little more | 27:07 | |
than a time to reiterate royally approved | 27:09 | |
definitions of reality | 27:13 | |
and Sunday worship is just no more than the embodiment | 27:15 | |
of the establishment. | 27:18 | |
Sometimes there is dislocation. | 27:20 | |
And such I think is today's word, | 27:29 | |
from the prophet Amos. | 27:32 | |
We have begun as we usually do with ourselves. | 27:37 | |
We've asked ourselves well what do you like from worship? | 27:42 | |
Well here's what I like. | 27:44 | |
Anthropologically. | 27:48 | |
But with Amos's tutoring can we dare to ask | 27:52 | |
what does God want from our worship? | 27:55 | |
What is God's definition of good worship? | 28:01 | |
"Woe to you who desire a day of the Lord." | 28:08 | |
Why do you want to get together with God? | 28:13 | |
Why do you want to celebrate the day of the Lord? | 28:16 | |
I tell you that day is darkness not light. | 28:19 | |
To come to God is to flee from a lion | 28:25 | |
only to be embraced by a grizzly. | 28:28 | |
It is to escape into the comfort of your own home | 28:31 | |
only to be bitten by a rattler. | 28:34 | |
Here darkness not light. | 28:38 | |
Amos is talking about the day of the Lord. | 28:42 | |
The day of the Lord. | 28:44 | |
That hoped for prayed for day | 28:45 | |
when God would at last come down and be with his people. | 28:48 | |
That day when the presence of the Lord | 28:54 | |
would no longer be a pious wish or a hope. | 28:56 | |
Not something far off and distant but here. | 29:00 | |
Maranatha. | 29:04 | |
Come Lord Jesus. | 29:07 | |
Maranatha that is one of the earliest prayers | 29:08 | |
in the New Testament. | 29:11 | |
Come Lord Jesus, come be with us. | 29:13 | |
Emmanuel. | 29:16 | |
You want that day asked Amos. | 29:20 | |
You be careful. | 29:24 | |
That day is gloom and darkness not light. | 29:27 | |
It is a poisonous snake, a bear. | 29:30 | |
And then Amos speaks for God | 29:34 | |
some of the most terrifying dislocating words | 29:37 | |
in all of scripture. | 29:40 | |
I hate, | 29:43 | |
I despise your festivals. | 29:45 | |
I take absolutely no delight in your solemn assemblies. | 29:50 | |
Bring your offerings up to the altar, | 29:56 | |
I won't accept them. | 29:59 | |
I will not look upon them. | 30:01 | |
Take away from me the racket of your songs. | 30:03 | |
To the melody of your pipe organs | 30:09 | |
I'm not gonna listen. | 30:10 | |
Paraphrased it says God says your worship | 30:14 | |
just makes me sick. | 30:18 | |
The smell of your offerings, | 30:22 | |
your sweet incense rising up into gothic rafters, | 30:25 | |
just nauseates me. | 30:30 | |
Your lovely four-part harmony just hurts my ears. | 30:34 | |
Take it away. | 30:38 | |
Go ahead sing your little songs. | 30:42 | |
I don't like your kinda music. | 30:43 | |
Preach your sermons. | 30:46 | |
Pray your prayers. | 30:48 | |
My ears are closed. | 30:49 | |
Thus we are led to ask well what does God want? | 30:56 | |
We're doing the best we can. | 31:00 | |
What is good worship? | 31:01 | |
How are we supposed | 31:04 | |
to celebrate the Lord's day? | 31:08 | |
It is carved in black granite, these words, | 31:14 | |
on the Civil Rights monument in Selma, Alabama | 31:18 | |
we ought to carve it over the front door | 31:20 | |
of every church. | 31:22 | |
You know the words. | 31:24 | |
"Let justice roll down like waters | 31:27 | |
"and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." | 31:32 | |
Oh there may be gods, | 31:39 | |
there may be religions for whom worship | 31:41 | |
is but the beating of a drum | 31:43 | |
or the ringing of a bell | 31:45 | |
or the burning of sweet incense | 31:47 | |
or the repetition of high sounding platitudes. | 31:50 | |
But Israel's religion, Israel's God | 31:55 | |
is not one of those. | 31:58 | |
You know what I love on a Sunday morning? | 32:03 | |
I love a joyous chorus from Handel. | 32:05 | |
I love a clear trumpet | 32:09 | |
sounded from the Flentrop by Purcell. | 32:11 | |
I love to see that silver cross lifted high | 32:13 | |
and moving in stately procession | 32:18 | |
down the aisle of the chapel. | 32:20 | |
I love to see coat and tied chaste sophomores | 32:22 | |
sitting on the second row attentively. | 32:25 | |
That's what I like. | 32:28 | |
"You know what I like on the Lord's day?" says the Lord. | 32:33 | |
"I like justice rolling down like Niagara. | 32:38 | |
"Righteousness flowing like the Mississippi. | 32:45 | |
"That's what I like." | 32:50 | |
Well back in the Exodus | 32:57 | |
you remember the story Moses goes to Pharaoh | 32:59 | |
and Moses says to Pharaoh | 33:03 | |
we need a few days off to go worship our God | 33:05 | |
out in the wilderness. | 33:07 | |
You can worship God right here in Egypt Pharaoh says. | 33:10 | |
I'll send one of my chaplains to the ghetto | 33:13 | |
this afternoon if y'all wanna have a little service. | 33:15 | |
Moses continues to plead let us go, | 33:19 | |
let us go out and worship our God | 33:22 | |
and keep a festival to him. | 33:24 | |
Pharaoh continues to refuse. | 33:27 | |
Ten plagues and much pain later, | 33:29 | |
he finally relents. | 33:31 | |
Okay you Hebrews, | 33:33 | |
get outta here and don't stop | 33:34 | |
till you get somewhere other than Egypt. | 33:36 | |
At last we're free. | 33:39 | |
At last we're liberated. | 33:41 | |
We're free to worship. | 33:42 | |
Well they get out in the desert | 33:46 | |
and they're free and they're liberated | 33:47 | |
they're ready to worship | 33:48 | |
but the trouble is nobody has worshiped God | 33:49 | |
in so long everybody's forgot how. | 33:51 | |
There are no hymnals there are no service books. | 33:55 | |
Nobody's been trained in liturgics. | 33:57 | |
And so they send Moses up on the mountain | 34:00 | |
to find out how okay we're out here to worship | 34:02 | |
now what do we do now? | 34:05 | |
God do you like gospel music | 34:12 | |
or Gregorian chants? | 34:14 | |
Are there directions? | 34:16 | |
The people stay down in the valley | 34:19 | |
and they await further rubrics. | 34:21 | |
I am the Lord your God. | 34:24 | |
I brought you outta the land of Egypt, | 34:26 | |
says God in a voice like Charlton Heston. | 34:29 | |
I brought you out | 34:32 | |
not because I'm in favor of liberation or freedom. | 34:33 | |
I just love people to worship me. | 34:37 | |
Well yes, yes says Moses. | 34:41 | |
We're all for worship and everything but how? | 34:43 | |
Do you like hearing read the King James Version | 34:48 | |
or the revised, revised standard version? | 34:50 | |
Do you like Gregorian chant? | 34:52 | |
Do you like gospel music? | 34:54 | |
What are you in to? | 34:55 | |
You know what I like says the Lord? | 34:58 | |
I love a kind of worship where | 35:02 | |
you'll have no other gods before me. | 35:06 | |
You don't kill. | 35:11 | |
You don't steal. | 35:13 | |
You don't commit adultery. | 35:16 | |
That's my idea of a good time on Sunday morning. | 35:19 | |
I just love the ethical linked to the liturgical. | 35:23 | |
Moses that day he came back down from the mountain | 35:29 | |
found that it is a potentially disrupting thing | 35:34 | |
to worship this God. | 35:37 | |
What we want most from Sunday morning is stability. | 35:42 | |
And so our ministers become managers of the status quo. | 35:46 | |
Managers of conventional, | 35:50 | |
officially approved definitions of reality. | 35:52 | |
Our liturgies become embodiment of the establishment. | 35:56 | |
See there is the king up on the throne | 36:00 | |
and here we all are in neat rows, | 36:03 | |
bolted down pews. | 36:06 | |
Sunday is a day to celebrate the eternal continuity | 36:07 | |
of the known old fixed world. | 36:12 | |
And yet here from Amos | 36:16 | |
there comes this prophetic disruptive word. | 36:17 | |
A linguistic assault upon presumed fixed royal world. | 36:20 | |
Amos' contemporaries longed for a day of the Lord | 36:26 | |
assuming that that day would be in continuity | 36:30 | |
with present arrangements. | 36:32 | |
Assuming that present arrangements were God's arrangements. | 36:34 | |
That current political and social | 36:37 | |
and economic configurations had been divinely ordained. | 36:39 | |
No, says Amos. No. | 36:43 | |
In words that shatter the presently legitimated order: | 36:48 | |
No. | 36:51 | |
'Cause on the Lord's day the world as you know it ends. | 36:53 | |
The granite walls of the post office and city hall | 36:57 | |
and even your beloved chapels | 37:00 | |
just melt under the blast of God's breath. | 37:02 | |
That's your day of the Lord. | 37:07 | |
The established world cannot tolerate speech | 37:10 | |
about the end of the world. | 37:14 | |
Liberal academic religion so comfortable | 37:17 | |
and adjusted to present arrangements, | 37:20 | |
only mildly uneasy with the status quo, | 37:23 | |
purges apocalyptic bible talk about the end | 37:26 | |
from Sunday morning. | 37:30 | |
Because if a prophet named Amos or even Jesus | 37:32 | |
ever stood up and announced the end, | 37:36 | |
it would shatter our present order. | 37:39 | |
But the end of the world has power to evoke a new world. | 37:44 | |
Termination leads to evocation. | 37:49 | |
I hate, | 37:55 | |
I despise your feast, | 37:57 | |
the noise of your solemn assemblies. | 38:02 | |
Let justice roll down like waters, | 38:06 | |
righteousness an ever flowing stream. | 38:08 | |
Well how are we doing Lord? | 38:15 | |
I'll tell ya how you're doing. | 38:19 | |
An evening at the Durham Bulls | 38:22 | |
is more racially, culturally integrated | 38:24 | |
than Sunday morning in your chapel. | 38:26 | |
That's how you're doing. | 38:28 | |
What we have here in Amos is a prophetic, linguistic assault | 38:33 | |
upon the establishment. | 38:36 | |
A poetic de-legitimization | 38:39 | |
of present configurations of power. | 38:42 | |
Oh but we don't want prophets. | 38:45 | |
We want ministers who are managers of the consensus. | 38:47 | |
Temple functionaries who scurry around in padded slippers | 38:51 | |
around the altar on Sundays in a desperate attempt | 38:56 | |
to keep the known world intact. | 38:59 | |
Reassuring us again | 39:01 | |
of the eternal stability of the status quo. | 39:03 | |
See, God is in Heaven, | 39:06 | |
all's right in the world. | 39:08 | |
But sometimes on a Sunday morning | 39:14 | |
the known fixed royal world is disrupted | 39:17 | |
by prophetic poetic speech | 39:21 | |
that announces the end | 39:25 | |
so that the day of the Lord can come. | 39:28 | |
A couple of years ago I was host to Will Campbell here. | 39:36 | |
Acerbic but brilliant Baptist preacher and novelist. | 39:40 | |
It was Sunday morning and we were walking up to the chapel | 39:46 | |
from the parking lot through the woods. | 39:49 | |
It's my favorite way | 39:52 | |
to approach the chapel on Sunday morning | 39:53 | |
and bells were ringing and a bright Sunday sun | 39:54 | |
just glistened off of the chapel tower. | 39:58 | |
And it was glorious and it was beautiful. | 40:00 | |
I was proud and I knew that this visitor | 40:05 | |
was probably impressed. | 40:09 | |
I mean he's from Nashville | 40:10 | |
and I was so proud as we walked up there. | 40:13 | |
The trees cleared and there the chapel tower stood forth. | 40:17 | |
Rose before us in all of it's stately grandeur | 40:22 | |
and just then I heard Campbell mutter to himself: | 40:25 | |
"Huh, you've brought him a long way from Bethlehem." | 40:30 | |
Amen. | 40:37 | |
(pipe organ music) | 40:44 | |
♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪ | 41:29 | |
♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪ | 41:32 | |
♪ Ring with the harmonies of Liberty ♪ | 41:36 | |
♪ Let our rejoicing rise ♪ | 41:44 | |
♪ High as the list'ning skies ♪ | 41:49 | |
♪ Let it resound loud as the rolling sea ♪ | 41:53 | |
♪ Sing a song full of the faith ♪ | 42:00 | |
♪ that the dark past has taught us ♪ | 42:05 | |
♪ Sing a song full of the hope ♪ | 42:08 | |
♪ that the present has brought us ♪ | 42:13 | |
♪ Facing the rising sun of our new day begun ♪ | 42:20 | |
♪ Let us march on till victory is won ♪ | 42:28 | |
♪ Stony the road we trod ♪ | 42:37 | |
♪ Bitter the chast'ning rod ♪ | 42:41 | |
♪ Felt in the day that hope unborn had died ♪ | 42:45 | |
♪ Yet with a steady beat ♪ | 42:53 | |
♪ Have not our weary feet ♪ | 42:57 | |
♪ Come to the place on which our fathers sighed ♪ | 43:02 | |
♪ We have come over a way ♪ | 43:09 | |
♪ that with tears has been watered ♪ | 43:14 | |
♪ We have come treading our path ♪ | 43:18 | |
♪ through the blood of his slaughtered ♪ | 43:22 | |
♪ Out from the gloomy past ♪ | 43:29 | |
♪ till now we stand at last ♪ | 43:33 | |
♪ Where the white gleam of our star is cast ♪ | 43:38 | |
♪ Go of our weary years ♪ | 43:46 | |
♪ God of our silent tears ♪ | 43:51 | |
♪ Thou who has brought us thus far on the way ♪ | 43:56 | |
♪ Thou who has by thy might ♪ | 44:04 | |
♪ Led us into the light ♪ | 44:08 | |
♪ Keep us forever in the path we pray ♪ | 44:12 | |
♪ Lest our feet stray from the places ♪ | 44:20 | |
♪ our God where we met thee ♪ | 44:24 | |
♪ Lest our hearts ♪ | 44:28 | |
♪ Drunk with the wine of the world ♪ | 44:31 | |
♪ We forget thee ♪ | 44:33 | |
♪ Shadowed beneath thy hand ♪ | 44:39 | |
♪ May we forever stand ♪ | 44:43 | |
♪ Tru to our God ♪ | 44:48 | |
♪ Tru to our native land ♪ | 44:50 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 45:06 |
- | And also with you. | 45:07 |
- | Let us pray. | 45:09 |
Oh Lord we come this morning | 45:20 | |
knee bowed and body bent | 45:22 | |
before thy throne of grace. | 45:25 | |
Oh Lord this morning | 45:28 | |
bow our hearts beneath our knees | 45:30 | |
and our knees in some lonesome valley. | 45:34 | |
We come this morning like empty pitchers to a full fountain | 45:39 | |
with no merits of our own. | 45:45 | |
Oh Lord open up a window of heaven | 45:49 | |
and lean out far over the battlements of glory | 45:53 | |
and listen this morning. | 45:58 | |
Lord have mercy on proud and dying sinners. | 46:01 | |
Sinners hanging over the mouth of hell | 46:07 | |
who seem to love their distance well. | 46:10 | |
Lord ride by this morning, | 46:14 | |
mount your milk-white horse and ride by this morning. | 46:17 | |
And in your ride, | 46:23 | |
ride by old hell. | 46:25 | |
Ride by the dingy gates of hell | 46:28 | |
and stop poor sinners in their headlong plunge. | 46:31 | |
And now oh Lord this man of God | 46:36 | |
who broke the bread of life this morning, | 46:40 | |
shadow him in the hollow of thy hand | 46:44 | |
and keep him out of the gunshot of the devil. | 46:47 | |
Take him Lord this morning. | 46:52 | |
Wash him with hysop inside and out. | 46:55 | |
Hang him up and drain him dry of sin. | 46:59 | |
Pin his ear to the wisdom post | 47:03 | |
and make his words sledgehammers of truth | 47:06 | |
beating on the iron heart of sin. | 47:10 | |
Lord this morning, | 47:14 | |
keep his eye to the telescope of eternity | 47:17 | |
and let him look upon the paper wall of time. | 47:21 | |
Lord turpentine his imagination. | 47:25 | |
Put perpetual motion in his arms. | 47:29 | |
Fill him full of the dynamite of thy power. | 47:32 | |
Anoint him all over with the oil of thy salvation | 47:36 | |
and set his tongue on fire. | 47:40 | |
And now oh Lord, | 47:44 | |
when I've drunk my last cup of sorrow, | 47:47 | |
when I've been called everything but a child of God, | 47:51 | |
when I'm done traveling up the rough side of the mountain, | 47:56 | |
oh Mary's baby, | 48:00 | |
when I start down the steep and slippery steps of death, | 48:03 | |
when this old world begins to rock beneath my feet, | 48:08 | |
lower me to my dusty grave in peace. | 48:13 | |
To wait for that great gettin' up morning. | 48:17 | |
Amen. | 48:21 | |
As reconciled and forgiven children of God, | 48:31 | |
let us know prepare to give unto the Lord. | 48:34 | |
(pipe organ music) | 48:41 | |
(trumpet music) | 49:04 | |
♪ When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound ♪ | 49:12 | |
♪ And time shall be no more ♪ | 49:15 | |
♪ And the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair ♪ | 49:20 | |
♪ When the saved of earth ♪ | 49:27 | |
♪ shall gather over on the other shore ♪ | 49:29 | |
♪ And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 49:35 | |
♪ When the roll, ♪ | 49:48 | |
♪ when the roll ♪ | 49:49 | |
♪ is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 49:50 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 49:53 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 49:54 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 49:57 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ | 49:58 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 50:01 | |
♪ On that bright and cloudless morning when the ♪ | 50:12 | |
♪ Dead in Christ shall rise ♪ | 50:15 | |
♪ And the glory of his resurrection share ♪ | 50:17 | |
♪ When his chosen ones shall gather to their home ♪ | 50:21 | |
♪ Beyond the skies ♪ | 50:24 | |
♪ And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 50:26 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 50:30 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 50:31 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 50:35 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 50:36 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 50:39 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ | 50:40 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 50:44 | |
♪ Let us labor for the Master ♪ | 50:58 | |
♪ from the dawn to setting sun ♪ | 51:02 | |
♪ Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care ♪ | 51:07 | |
♪ Then when all of life is over ♪ | 51:16 | |
♪ And our work on earth is done ♪ | 51:21 | |
♪ And the roll is called up yonder ♪ | 51:26 | |
♪ I'll be there ♪ | 51:30 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 51:36 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ | 51:37 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 51:40 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ | 51:41 | |
♪ When the roll ♪ | 51:45 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder ♪ | 51:46 | |
♪ When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there ♪ | 51:52 | |
♪ When the roll is called up ♪ | 51:58 | |
♪ yonder I'll be there ♪ | 52:02 | |
(pipe organ music) | 52:22 | |
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 53:36 | |
♪ Praise him you creatures here below ♪ | 53:42 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 53:49 | |
♪ Praise him above ye heavenly host ♪ | 53:55 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 54:02 | |
♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 54:07 | |
♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 54:11 | |
♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 54:14 | |
♪ Hallelujah, ♪ | 54:17 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 54:20 | |
- | Eternal God we bring you | 54:33 |
our gifts with jubilant hearts | 54:35 | |
not because you require them | 54:37 | |
but to express our thanks for the wonders of your love. | 54:40 | |
Use them to bring comfort to those who grieve, | 54:43 | |
freedom to the oppressed and food for all who hunger. | 54:47 | |
Accept and multiply them as signs | 54:50 | |
of your justice and righteousness here on earth | 54:53 | |
that your name may be glorified throughout eternity. | 54:56 | |
This we pray in the name of the one who taught us | 55:00 | |
to pray with confidence. | 55:02 | |
Our Father who art in heaven | 55:04 | |
hallowed be thy name | 55:07 | |
thy kingdom come | 55:08 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven | 55:10 | |
give us this day our daily bread | 55:14 | |
and forgive us our trespasses | 55:16 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | 55:18 | |
and lead us not into temptation | 55:21 | |
but deliver us from evil | 55:24 | |
for thine is the kingdom | 55:26 | |
the power and the glory forever amen. | 55:27 | |
May the god of hope | 55:33 | |
fill you with all joy and hope in believing | 55:35 | |
so that you may abound in hope | 55:38 | |
by the power of the Holy Spirit. | 55:40 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 55:47 | |
(pipe organ music) | 56:10 | |
♪ Sing the wondrous love of Jesus ♪ | 56:52 | |
♪ Sing his mercy and his grace ♪ | 56:57 | |
♪ In the mansions bright and blessed ♪ | 57:03 | |
♪ He'll prepare for us a place ♪ | 57:08 | |
♪ When we all get to heaven ♪ | 57:13 | |
♪ What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪ | 57:18 | |
♪ When we all see Jesus ♪ | 57:23 | |
♪ We'll sing and shout the victory ♪ | 57:28 | |
♪ While we walk the pilgrim pathway ♪ | 57:35 | |
♪ Clouds will overspread the sky ♪ | 57:40 | |
♪ But when travelin' days are over ♪ | 57:45 | |
♪ Not a shadow not a sigh ♪ | 57:51 | |
♪ When we all get to heaven ♪ | 57:55 | |
♪ What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪ | 58:00 | |
♪ When we all see Jesus ♪ | 58:05 | |
♪ We'll sing and shout the victory ♪ | 58:11 | |
♪ Let us then be true and faithful ♪ | 58:17 | |
♪ Trusting serving every day ♪ | 58:22 | |
♪ Just one glimpse of him in glory ♪ | 58:27 | |
♪ Will the toils of life repay ♪ | 58:33 | |
♪ When we all get to heaven ♪ | 58:38 | |
♪ What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪ | 58:43 | |
♪ When we all see Jesus ♪ | 58:48 | |
♪ We'll sing and shout the victory ♪ | 58:54 | |
♪ Onward to the prize before us ♪ | 59:00 | |
♪ Soon his beauty we'll behold ♪ | 59:06 | |
♪ Soon the pearly gates will open ♪ | 59:11 | |
♪ We shall tread the streets of gold ♪ | 59:17 | |
♪ When we all get to heaven ♪ | 59:22 | |
♪ What a day of rejoicing that will be ♪ | 59:27 | |
♪ When we all see Jesus ♪ | 59:32 | |
♪ We'll sing and shout the victory ♪ | 59:38 | |
- | Let us go into the world to serve God | 59:51 |
and our neighbor. | 59:54 | |
- | We are set in the name of Christ amen. | 59:56 |
(pipe organ music) | 1:00:02 |