William H. Willimon - "The Day of the Lord" (November 11, 1990)

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-	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

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "The Day of the Lord" (November 11, 1990)

Description:

Sermon start time: 20:56. Sermon end time: 40:38.
The preacher argues that Christians tend to consider beautiful sanctuaries and music to equate to good worship, but God looks at doing justice and eliminating sin as good worship, a sacrifice acceptable to Him. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Amos’ contemporaries longed for a day of the Lord, assuming that that day would be in continuity with present arrangements. Assuming that present arrangements were God’s arrangements. That current political and social and economic configurations had been divinely ordained. No, says Amos. No. In words that shatter the presently legitimated order: No. Because on the Lord’s day, the world as you know it ends.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4m902j2q

Date:

November 11, 1990

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Amos

Chapter and Verse:

Amos 5:18-24

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0208
ref8862_1pc
uachapelsermaud
duke:321654
dcrmv001199
ark:/87924/r4m902j2q
270ac265-ad1a-4610-a09c-b448af85b502

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "The Day of the Lord" (November 11, 1990)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives