William H. Willimon - "Here" (December 23, 1990)
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Transcript
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♪ O holy night ♪ | 0:03 | |
♪ The stars are brightly shining ♪ | 0:05 | |
♪ It is the night of our dear Savior's birth ♪ | 0:10 | |
♪ Long lay the world in sin and error pining ♪ | 0:20 | |
♪ Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth ♪ | 0:28 | |
♪ A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices ♪ | 0:37 | |
♪ For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn ♪ | 0:43 | |
♪ Fall on your knees ♪ | 0:51 | |
♪ O hear the angel voices ♪ | 0:57 | |
♪ O night divine ♪ | 1:05 | |
♪ O night when Christ was born ♪ | 1:11 | |
♪ O night divine ♪ | 1:18 | |
♪ O night O night divine ♪ | 1:26 | |
♪ Truly he taught us to love one another ♪ | 1:41 | |
♪ His law is love and his gospel is peace ♪ | 1:48 | |
♪ Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother ♪ | 1:59 | |
♪ And in his name all oppression shall cease ♪ | 2:06 | |
♪ Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we ♪ | 2:16 | |
♪ Let all within us praise his holy name ♪ | 2:21 | |
♪ Christ is the Lord ♪ | 2:28 | |
♪ Then ever ever praise we ♪ | 2:34 | |
♪ His power and glory evermore proclaim ♪ | 2:41 | |
♪ His power and glory evermore proclaim ♪ | 2:55 | |
♪ Christ is the Lord ♪ | 3:09 | |
♪ Then ever ever praise we ♪ | 3:15 | |
♪ His power and glory evermore proclaim ♪ | 3:22 | |
♪ His power and glory evermore proclaim ♪ | 3:36 | |
♪ Have you heard the sounds of the angel voices ♪ | 4:15 | |
♪ Ringing out so sweetly ringing out so clear ♪ | 4:24 | |
♪ Have you seen the star shining out so brightly ♪ | 4:33 | |
♪ As a sign from God that Christ the Lord is here ♪ | 4:42 | |
♪ Have you heard the news that they bring from Heaven ♪ | 4:51 | |
♪ To the humble shepherds who have waited long ♪ | 5:00 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ | 5:10 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ | 5:14 | |
♪ Hear the angels sing their joyful song ♪ | 5:19 | |
♪ He is come in peace in the winter's stillness ♪ | 5:31 | |
♪ Like a gentle snowfall in the gentle night ♪ | 5:39 | |
♪ He is come in joy like the sun at morning ♪ | 5:47 | |
♪ Filling all the world with radiance and with light ♪ | 5:56 | |
♪ He is come in love as the child of Mary ♪ | 6:05 | |
♪ In a simple stable we have seen His birth ♪ | 6:13 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ | 6:23 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ | 6:27 | |
♪ Hear the angels singing peace on earth ♪ | 6:32 | |
♪ He will bring new light to a world in darkness ♪ | 6:44 | |
♪ Like a bright star shining in the skies above ♪ | 6:52 | |
♪ He will bring new hope ♪ | 7:00 | |
♪ He will bring new hope to the waiting nations ♪ | 7:04 | |
♪ When he comes to reign in purity and love ♪ | 7:09 | |
♪ Let the earth rejoice ♪ | 7:17 | |
♪ Let the earth rejoice at the Savior's coming ♪ | 7:20 | |
♪ Let the heavens answer with the joyful morn ♪ | 7:26 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ | 7:36 | |
♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ | 7:40 | |
♪ Hear the angels singing Christ is born ♪ | 7:45 | |
♪ Hear the angels singing Christ is born ♪ | 7:54 | |
♪ Silent night ♪ | 8:28 | |
♪ Holy night ♪ | 8:31 | |
♪ Holy night ♪ | 8:34 | |
♪ Holy night ♪ | 8:36 | |
♪ Christ our Savior is born ♪ | 8:39 | |
♪ Jesus our savior is born ♪ | 8:43 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 9:31 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 9:36 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 9:44 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 9:58 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 10:01 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:04 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:11 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:15 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:21 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:27 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 10:30 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:31 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:37 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:41 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:47 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 10:55 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 11:02 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 11:06 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 11:07 | |
♪ Hallelujah hallelujah ♪ | 11:09 | |
- | We welcome you to Duke Chapel | 12:02 |
on this fourth Sunday in the season of Advent. | 12:04 | |
It's always a special Sunday when we are led in worship | 12:08 | |
by the North Carolina Boy Choir | 12:11 | |
under the direction of Mr. Bill Graham. | 12:16 | |
They are regulars here in the chapel, | 12:17 | |
and we thank them for their musical leadership today. | 12:21 | |
They have their annual Christmas concert here in the chapel | 12:26 | |
and they bless us with their presence. | 12:29 | |
Call your attention to the various Christmas Eve services | 12:32 | |
here in Duke Chapel which are open to all. | 12:36 | |
And now let us continue our worship. | 12:40 | |
Would you stand for the greeting? | 12:45 | |
Show us Your mercy, O Lord. | 12:50 | |
Congregation | And grant us Your salvation. | 12:54 |
- | Truth shall spring up from the Earth. | 12:55 |
Congregation | And righteousness | 12:58 |
shall look down from Heaven. | 13:00 | |
("The Virgin's Slumber Song") | 13:01 | |
(choir singing in foreign language) | 13:10 | |
- | Let us pray. | 18:41 |
Lord we have come here from so many different Advents, | 18:45 | |
from so many different lives, and worlds. | 18:49 | |
Collect us together into church. | 18:53 | |
Gather this far flong flock together into one body | 18:57 | |
of adoring, praising, confessing, | 19:01 | |
signing, believing, praying people. | 19:05 | |
Gather us here, where we will learn to wait for you, | 19:11 | |
and know when you do come | 19:16 | |
in the name of the Blessed Trinity. | 19:18 | |
Amen. | 19:20 | |
Please be seated. | 19:22 | |
- | Let us pray. | 19:38 |
Open our hearts and minds, O God. | 19:42 | |
By the power of your holy spirit, so that as the word | 19:46 | |
is read and proclaimed | 19:50 | |
we might be prepared for your Advent among us. | 19:52 | |
Amen. | 19:57 | |
The first reading is taken from Paul's letter to the Romans. | 20:01 | |
Now to God who is able to strengthen you, | 20:07 | |
according to my gospel, | 20:12 | |
and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. | 20:15 | |
According to the Revelation of the mystery | 20:19 | |
that has kept secret for a long years, but is now disclosed. | 20:22 | |
And through the prophetic writings | 20:28 | |
is made known to all the gentiles. | 20:31 | |
According to the command of the eternal God. | 20:34 | |
To bring about the obedience of faith. | 20:38 | |
To the only wise God through Jesus Christ. | 20:42 | |
To whom be the glory for ever. | 20:47 | |
Amen. | 20:50 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 20:52 | |
Thanks be to God. | 20:55 | |
(choir singing) | 21:09 | |
- | This reading is from the gospel according to Saint Luke. | 23:21 |
In those days, a decree went out from emperor Augustus. | 23:26 | |
That all the world should be registered. | 23:31 | |
This was the first registration, and was taken while | 23:35 | |
Quirinius was governor of Syria. | 23:39 | |
All went to their own towns to be registered. | 23:44 | |
Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee | 23:48 | |
to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, | 23:52 | |
because he was descendant | 23:58 | |
from the house and family of David. | 23:59 | |
He went to be registered with Mary. | 24:03 | |
To whom he was engaged, and who was expecting a child. | 24:06 | |
While they were there the time | 24:12 | |
came for her to deliver her child. | 24:14 | |
And she gave birth to her first born son. | 24:19 | |
And wrapped him in bands of cloth. | 24:24 | |
And laid him in a manger. | 24:27 | |
Because there was no place for them in the inn. | 24:29 | |
Now in that region, there were | 24:35 | |
shepherds living in the fields. | 24:37 | |
Keeping watch over their flock by night. | 24:41 | |
Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. | 24:45 | |
And the glory of the Lord shown all around them. | 24:49 | |
And they were terrified, but the angel said to them, | 24:54 | |
"Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news | 24:59 | |
"of great joy for all the people, | 25:04 | |
"to you is born this day, in the city of David, | 25:08 | |
"a savior who is the messiah, the Lord." | 25:13 | |
This will be a sign for you. | 25:19 | |
You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth, | 25:23 | |
and laying in a manger. | 25:28 | |
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of | 25:30 | |
heavenly host, praising God and saying, | 25:36 | |
"Glory to God in the highest heaven, | 25:41 | |
"and on Earth, peace among those whom He favors." | 25:45 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 25:52 | |
Thanks be to God. | 25:55 | |
- | The Seekers Sunday school class was discussing | 26:06 |
what to do about Christmas | 26:11 | |
and Gladys suggested that the class restore | 26:14 | |
the time-honored practice of adopting a needy family, | 26:16 | |
buying them clothes and food, taking it by them | 26:20 | |
on Christmas Eve. | 26:23 | |
Good idea, Gladys, said members of the class, | 26:26 | |
and during morning, Harold has a list. | 26:28 | |
Not so fast, Gladys, said Martha, | 26:33 | |
Christmas food baskets for the poor went out | 26:36 | |
with the hula hoop. | 26:38 | |
Food basket charity is degrading and it's ineffective. | 26:40 | |
The good old Seekers class, asuaging its guilt | 26:45 | |
with a once-a-year trip across the tracks | 26:50 | |
to do something for one poor family. | 26:53 | |
Well, what do you suggest that we do for the poor? | 26:58 | |
Snapped Gladys. And Martha responded, | 27:01 | |
we need to work on the larger causes of poverty | 27:05 | |
and work for systemic change. | 27:09 | |
We need to try to help the whole society | 27:12 | |
rather than a food basket for one poor family, | 27:15 | |
that's why this society ignores the church. | 27:17 | |
The church is always reaching out to one neighbor, | 27:20 | |
but not doing anything about the whole neighborhood. | 27:23 | |
Well, how do you think the Seekers Sunday school class | 27:30 | |
should spread Christmas spirit? | 27:33 | |
I dare say that most of us enlightenment types | 27:38 | |
agree with Martha. | 27:42 | |
Because in the last couple of decades, | 27:45 | |
charity has become a dirty word. | 27:48 | |
Rather than these one to one, face to face, | 27:52 | |
food baskets for the poor, | 27:55 | |
most of us now agree that we ought to spread out | 27:58 | |
our concern to work for the larger issues, | 28:01 | |
the great system problems that cause poverty. | 28:05 | |
Above all we believe that we ought to have a right | 28:10 | |
attitude towards the poor, | 28:12 | |
by right voting rather than food basket right giving. | 28:15 | |
This past fall, one of our students told me that | 28:22 | |
she approached her professor about working for a Saturday | 28:26 | |
at Duke's Habitat for Humanity house | 28:30 | |
and she got this response. | 28:33 | |
"I don't support Habitat for Humanity | 28:36 | |
"because I don't think it helps America's housing problem | 28:38 | |
"to build one house at a time." | 28:41 | |
if you really want to do something about the housing | 28:44 | |
problem, you ought to get us a different senator | 28:46 | |
in Washington. | 28:48 | |
You see? | 28:50 | |
With Martha, we have been taught to look beyond the sad | 28:53 | |
plight of the Joneses. | 28:58 | |
To look at the larger, social greater issues | 29:01 | |
for the less fortunate. | 29:05 | |
Greatest good for the greatest number. | 29:08 | |
Large, big. | 29:11 | |
Universal. | 29:14 | |
And yet, | 29:18 | |
the Christmas story is anything but big, | 29:20 | |
large, universal. | 29:26 | |
The story of the Nativity which Caroline | 29:30 | |
has just read us from the gospel of Luke, | 29:33 | |
is decidedly small and specific and particular. | 29:37 | |
It's not a story about the whole human race, | 29:43 | |
it's about people, real people with real names | 29:46 | |
like Mary and Joseph and Quirinius. | 29:50 | |
And it doesn't begin with once upon a time | 29:55 | |
in a land far, far away, there was a king who... | 29:58 | |
That's the way fairytales begin, but not Bible stories. | 30:03 | |
Bible stories begin with, in those days there went out | 30:07 | |
a decree from Caesar Augustus and this was the first | 30:11 | |
enrollment when Quirinius was governor of Syria | 30:14 | |
and all the world were to be enrolled. | 30:17 | |
Joseph went up from Galilee, | 30:19 | |
from Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David | 30:22 | |
called Bethlehem. | 30:26 | |
You see, it's very specific, it's very particular. | 30:30 | |
It's not once upon a time, timeless eternal. | 30:34 | |
You can date this story. | 30:39 | |
Quirinius was governor of Syria. You can get out | 30:42 | |
a roadmap and you can trace the journey of Mary | 30:44 | |
and Joseph from Galilee to Nazareth to Bethlehem. | 30:47 | |
A fairytale can happen to anybody, anywhere, | 30:53 | |
any time, but not Bible stories. | 30:56 | |
And it is this particularity, | 31:02 | |
this smallness, | 31:04 | |
that is not just a characteristic of Bible stories | 31:10 | |
like the Nativity, | 31:12 | |
I tell you, it is a characteristic | 31:14 | |
of the Christian faith itself. | 31:16 | |
I got this friend, he's a professor, | 31:22 | |
he's been, he's reactivated in a church | 31:25 | |
after a long absence and I ask him | 31:28 | |
how his newfound commitment to the church was going. | 31:29 | |
And he said, fine, I agree with the general principles | 31:34 | |
of the church, I find myself in basic support | 31:38 | |
of the overall goals of the church, | 31:42 | |
I just don't like these stories. | 31:44 | |
Stories? | 31:48 | |
I ask. | 31:49 | |
Yeah, those Bible stories, they just make it all sound | 31:50 | |
so limited and concrete. | 31:53 | |
And I bet if we were as honest as my friend, | 31:59 | |
we would also have to say that's one thing | 32:01 | |
that bothers us about the Christian faith, | 32:04 | |
it's these stories, like the one about Mary and Joseph. | 32:08 | |
On their way to Bethlehem to pay taxes | 32:13 | |
during the Quirinius administration. | 32:15 | |
And what we'd prefer is the Christmas story | 32:19 | |
told the way John's gospel does it. | 32:22 | |
High sounding rhetoric about the incarnation, | 32:26 | |
the word became flesh and dwelled among us. | 32:30 | |
Full of grace and truths, we have beheld His Glory. | 32:33 | |
You see, John's got none of those messy details | 32:38 | |
about Quirinius administration. | 32:41 | |
There's no Mary, there's no Joseph. | 32:44 | |
There's no detours through conflict ridden | 32:47 | |
little backwater Bethlehem on our way up to those | 32:51 | |
rarefied reaches of yuletide settlement. | 32:54 | |
And that's the way we like religion. | 32:59 | |
We love the drink in religion in the form of clear | 33:01 | |
liquor from which these gross particularities | 33:05 | |
of history and geography have been distilled. | 33:08 | |
We thrill to the enunciation of universal timeless truth, | 33:13 | |
relevant to humanity of every age, | 33:17 | |
and yet here we are standing on nearly the Eve of Christmas, | 33:22 | |
ready to receive homiletic urging towards some great, | 33:26 | |
grand universal human love, | 33:30 | |
and what we get is a hasty trip from nowhere | 33:35 | |
Nazareth to backwater Bethlehem made by a Jewish couple, | 33:37 | |
Mary and Joseph during the reign of Augustus. | 33:41 | |
Oh, like my friend, we affirm the great general principles | 33:48 | |
of the faith, we're in broad agreement generally speaking | 33:52 | |
with the church's goals. | 33:55 | |
Our problem is with these stories, | 33:58 | |
they're just so particular and specific and concrete. | 34:00 | |
Like Martha, we are concerned about the plight | 34:06 | |
of the poor, but in the broadest, most general sort of way. | 34:09 | |
We're concerned when we're standing inside | 34:14 | |
a voting booth rather than standing on a back door step | 34:16 | |
with a basket of canned goods and a turkey for Christmas. | 34:21 | |
And yet if we are to love as God loves, | 34:27 | |
judging from Luke's story of the Nativity, | 34:34 | |
then I think we got to learn to love with a particularity | 34:39 | |
and a specificity that just makes us squirm. | 34:42 | |
If you will note, it is rare that the Bible makes | 34:49 | |
a statement like God is love, | 34:51 | |
some abstract affirmation floating above human time | 34:54 | |
and place. | 34:58 | |
But rather the way the Bible says it, | 35:01 | |
it's God loves Israel, God chooses Mary, | 35:03 | |
God spoke to Joseph, God loves Jesus. | 35:07 | |
God called the Church. | 35:09 | |
This is scandalously particular. | 35:13 | |
Rarely does the Bible speak in timeless generality, | 35:17 | |
more typically, the Bible speaks just the way | 35:20 | |
of today's text. | 35:23 | |
God goes to specific people in specific times | 35:26 | |
and particular places. | 35:30 | |
And here I believe is the implication: | 35:33 | |
Particular times | 35:38 | |
and specific people living in particular places | 35:41 | |
like Bethlehem matter a great deal to God. | 35:45 | |
As my friend Stan Hauerwas says, | 35:54 | |
there is an unrelenting, passionate particularity | 35:56 | |
about the way the God of the Bible loves us. | 35:59 | |
The way this God intrudes into human history | 36:03 | |
at specific times and places. | 36:07 | |
Abstract, general, | 36:10 | |
even if high-sounding ideas, | 36:12 | |
rarely have the power to grasp and invigorate us. | 36:15 | |
It is only in the specific and particular | 36:19 | |
that lives are engaged, here. | 36:22 | |
I am sending flowers to a person who, for me, | 36:28 | |
is a representative of the highest and best aspirations | 36:31 | |
of the human race. | 36:35 | |
No. | 36:38 | |
No, that's not the way it is when you're in love | 36:39 | |
with somebody. | 36:41 | |
When you're in love with somebody, one of the reasons | 36:43 | |
that love so transforms us and engages us | 36:46 | |
and changes every waking moment is that we love | 36:51 | |
this person, we love the way she walks, | 36:54 | |
we want to know what she's eating for breakfast, | 36:57 | |
the sound of her name, Jane, Jane. | 37:00 | |
And she doesn't have to stop being Jane | 37:05 | |
and blend into the great, gray lump of the human race | 37:08 | |
for us to love her. | 37:11 | |
In fact, if she did, she would be much less lovable. | 37:11 | |
And God's love invades our time and place | 37:16 | |
with similar particularity. | 37:19 | |
It wasn't just that the word became flesh, | 37:25 | |
once upon a time somewhere to somebody. | 37:28 | |
It was that Jewish Mary, from Nazareth, Galilee | 37:32 | |
had a baby named Jesus in Bethlehem, here. | 37:36 | |
And to witness such passionate, divine intensity | 37:42 | |
about the specific and particular | 37:46 | |
is to realize the possibility that this just may be | 37:48 | |
the way that God loves us and it may be the way | 37:53 | |
God intends for us to love other people. | 37:57 | |
Because God didn't distain to be born in a place | 38:01 | |
like Bethlehem to real people like Mary and Joseph. | 38:05 | |
There's a better than even chance that God might | 38:11 | |
condescend and get mixed up among people | 38:13 | |
like you and me. | 38:17 | |
In a place like Durham, here. | 38:19 | |
And I tell you that's what makes being loved by this | 38:26 | |
God so uncomfortable, | 38:29 | |
it's particularity. | 38:32 | |
John's "the word became flesh" is more comfortable | 38:35 | |
than Luke's Bethlehem, Nazareth, Mary, | 38:41 | |
Joseph, Quirinius. | 38:45 | |
Luke's story is so discomforting | 38:48 | |
because it challenges our assumption that our daily | 38:50 | |
lives really don't matter to this great big God. | 38:54 | |
And we resist loving as God loves us. | 38:59 | |
Because there is something mildly reassuring that our | 39:04 | |
little lives really don't matter | 39:07 | |
so much to God. | 39:11 | |
Certainly not enough to disrupt us during tax season | 39:14 | |
by an unexpected pregnancy | 39:17 | |
or a voice from heaven while we're doing our bit | 39:21 | |
with the sheep on the night shift, here. | 39:23 | |
And we just love to come to church | 39:30 | |
and be served up a souffle of universal principles | 39:32 | |
and abstract sentiments. | 39:38 | |
Puff pastry of ideas. | 39:40 | |
But Luke says that's just not the way this God loves us. | 39:45 | |
Instead of lofty, fluffy platitudes | 39:53 | |
about the human race, | 39:58 | |
we are confronted face to face with a poor Jewish carpenter | 40:01 | |
and his pregnant, young, out of wedlock wife | 40:06 | |
looking for a place to spend the night | 40:10 | |
in Bethlehem. | 40:13 | |
Rather than sociological abstractions about the systemic | 40:17 | |
causes of injustice, we're made to look | 40:20 | |
at the Joneses, the way that they turn their eyes | 40:24 | |
away from us when we hand over the food basket. | 40:28 | |
The food basket filled with canned goods | 40:33 | |
we didn't need. | 40:35 | |
And we note that their gratitude is ever so slightly | 40:38 | |
exceeded by their resentment. | 40:41 | |
Because it's one thing to love humanity, | 40:47 | |
it's another thing to love the Joneses | 40:50 | |
and have our hypocritical platitudes deflated | 40:55 | |
by their justified resentment, here. | 40:59 | |
And from what I've noted, hate, hate | 41:05 | |
appears to be similarly disrupted by the specific | 41:09 | |
and the particular. | 41:12 | |
For instance, what do you think about | 41:15 | |
when you hear the word Iraq? | 41:17 | |
Lawless aggressors? | 41:22 | |
Terrorists led by a maniac no better than Hitler? | 41:24 | |
But just take a moment and picture in your mind | 41:30 | |
an 18 year old from Baghdad shivering in the desert | 41:34 | |
in green fatigues, a picture of his girlfriend | 41:40 | |
in one pocket, a picture of his mother in the other. | 41:44 | |
And he's staring across desert waste at another 18-year-old | 41:49 | |
from Birmingham with a picture of his girlfriend | 41:54 | |
in one pocket and his mother in another. | 41:58 | |
When facing the universal, | 42:05 | |
it's a little easier to pull the trigger. | 42:08 | |
And maybe that's why most of our leaders | 42:13 | |
always speak in terms of generalities. | 42:15 | |
They talk about the violation of international law | 42:20 | |
or the New World Order. | 42:23 | |
They don't talk in specifics and particulars, | 42:27 | |
about 18-year-olds. | 42:31 | |
I remember years ago president Johnson damaged | 42:34 | |
public support for another war when in a moment | 42:38 | |
of great, honest candor he said, | 42:40 | |
look, war, anyway you call it, | 42:43 | |
is sending one mother's son to kill another mother's son. | 42:48 | |
Now of course if that mother's son is from Baghdad | 42:56 | |
and if he's a Muslim, he doesn't know Luke 2, | 42:58 | |
and he doesn't know the story of Christmas. | 43:02 | |
But we know that story and we know that that story | 43:06 | |
implies that God loves him as much as God loves us | 43:10 | |
with scandalous particularity, | 43:14 | |
face to face, one at a time, | 43:16 | |
by name, here. | 43:20 | |
It is only as we learn to love others | 43:26 | |
in the same manner that God has loved us, | 43:29 | |
face to face, one at a time, with risky specificity | 43:32 | |
and particularity, that God's love has a chance | 43:36 | |
in an often violent, nameless, faceless world. | 43:43 | |
A world made all the more violent because of its | 43:49 | |
namelessness and facelessness and placelessness. | 43:52 | |
When God came among us, in the flesh, | 44:01 | |
Emmanuel, God didn't hover over the whole human race. | 44:04 | |
God came to Bethlehem. | 44:11 | |
God didn't appear as some new idea or social program. | 44:15 | |
God came to Mary, to Joseph. | 44:19 | |
When God decided to challenge the might of Caesar's legions, | 44:23 | |
God didn't come as some new philosophy of life. | 44:30 | |
God came as a baby named Jesus. | 44:35 | |
And I tell you that's God's way of doing things, | 44:43 | |
the first Christmas or this Christmas. | 44:47 | |
And so you better pay attention to your life. | 44:52 | |
You better pay attention particularly to its ordinariness, | 44:55 | |
its specificity. | 45:01 | |
You better look into the faces, | 45:03 | |
and you better notice the names, | 45:06 | |
because that's how God comes among us. | 45:11 | |
One by one, here. | 45:14 | |
And so the ordinary things you do, | 45:22 | |
like having babies, | 45:25 | |
going on holiday trips to visit the relatives over | 45:27 | |
at Bethlehem, PA, and paying taxes. | 45:30 | |
These things get redeemed. | 45:34 | |
This is exactly where you can expect to be grasped | 45:38 | |
by God, here. | 45:42 | |
Here. | 45:46 | |
I was at a conference of learned theologians, | 45:48 | |
and the speaker categorized the gospel as quote, | 45:53 | |
"radical obedience to God's program of justice, | 45:58 | |
righteousness and peace for the whole world." | 46:01 | |
Unquote. | 46:05 | |
And one of my colleagues responded that | 46:08 | |
in a little town in Ohio, early morning, | 46:13 | |
an old woman is getting out of bed, | 46:19 | |
looking forward to another day of caring for her | 46:23 | |
retarded adult daughter before she goes to work | 46:26 | |
as a waitress in a local diner. | 46:30 | |
And for that woman, | 46:34 | |
the greatest act of radical, obedience to Jesus Christ | 46:37 | |
occurs | 46:43 | |
when just before she gets out of bed, | 46:47 | |
she says a little prayer | 46:49 | |
and asks a loving God to help her | 46:52 | |
make it through one more day. | 46:54 | |
Emmanuel. | 47:00 | |
God with us. | 47:02 | |
Here. | 47:06 | |
(church music playing) | 47:17 | |
(choir singing) | 47:40 | |
- | Lord be with you. | 50:55 |
Let us pray. | 50:57 | |
Lord, we have waited so long for you. | 51:13 | |
We have waited for you to come and put an end to death. | 51:20 | |
To wipe away every tear from our eyes as you promised. | 51:25 | |
Until you do, teach us how to die faithfully, | 51:31 | |
how to suffer faithfully | 51:37 | |
the death of our friends and family. | 51:39 | |
We pray for those this season who still grieve, | 51:44 | |
come Lord Jesus and wipe away our tears. | 51:48 | |
Come, oh come, Emmanuel. | 51:52 | |
We have waited so long, oh Lord, for You to come back | 51:57 | |
and rule the world in peace. | 52:02 | |
To put an end to the hate and violence in our hearts, | 52:05 | |
to end the age when Christians go to war. | 52:09 | |
Until you do, enable us to be a witness to a world | 52:16 | |
of your life of piece and suffering death. | 52:21 | |
Enable the church to be the peacemakers you have called | 52:26 | |
us to be, to welcome the stranger. | 52:29 | |
To love our enemy. | 52:32 | |
To pray for those who persecute us. | 52:35 | |
We pray especially for our enemies this morning | 52:40 | |
and name them now in our hearts. | 52:43 | |
We pray for all the children of soldiers who will | 53:00 | |
be orphan should there be war. | 53:03 | |
We pray for the husbands and wives of soldiers | 53:07 | |
who will be left alone. | 53:11 | |
We pray for mothers and fathers of soldiers | 53:17 | |
here in American and also in Iraq | 53:19 | |
and throughout the world. | 53:21 | |
Come Lord Jesus and rule in peace. | 53:27 | |
Come, oh come Emmanuel. | 53:30 | |
We have waited so long for you to return | 53:36 | |
and unify this broken church. | 53:39 | |
Reconciling for us what we keep divided. | 53:43 | |
Until you do oh Lord, let us remain discontent | 53:48 | |
with our brokenness. | 53:52 | |
Give us the true vision of the church renewed as one body, | 53:55 | |
one family. | 53:58 | |
And inspire us to live as members of one another. | 54:00 | |
Come Lord Jesus and break down our walls, | 54:06 | |
come, oh come Emmanuel. | 54:09 | |
We have waited for You to come and rule with justice, | 54:15 | |
blessing the poor, filling the hungry with good things, | 54:18 | |
sending the rich, empty away. | 54:21 | |
Setting the captives free, giving sight to the blind, | 54:25 | |
we have waited for you. | 54:28 | |
Until you do, enable us to be just people who will do your | 54:32 | |
work of justice in the world. | 54:39 | |
Unafraid of being poor ourselves, | 54:42 | |
unafraid of the prisoner. | 54:45 | |
Unafraid of our neighbor. | 54:48 | |
Unafraid of the blind fed by your body | 54:51 | |
and blood for this work. | 54:54 | |
Come Lord Jesus and make us poor. | 54:58 | |
Come, oh come Emmanuel. | 55:01 | |
We often want you to hurry and come back Lord, | 55:07 | |
because our lives are hopeless and without meaning. | 55:10 | |
Some days we pray for your return just to spare us | 55:14 | |
from tomorrow. | 55:17 | |
To free us from our own prisons, | 55:19 | |
from the world we have created. | 55:21 | |
Yet we know that your coming as this infant brought us hope | 55:25 | |
and this season reminds us of our joy overwhelming, | 55:30 | |
your life among us then gave us meaning | 55:36 | |
and showed us who we are. | 55:42 | |
Because of your birth and death | 55:46 | |
and resurrection, we can't wait well for your return. | 55:48 | |
Because you created the church to sustain us | 55:56 | |
on this pilgrimage, we will not be alone | 55:58 | |
as we wait and believe and hope that you will come. | 56:01 | |
Heal now our blindness so that we will recognize you | 56:09 | |
when you come, heal now our blindness so we can recognize | 56:12 | |
you as you come to us each day. | 56:17 | |
Come, Lord Jesus, come, come, oh come Emmanuel. | 56:21 | |
We have waited so long for your return. | 56:30 | |
Thank you for coming to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem during | 56:36 | |
the rule of Caesar Augustus. | 56:39 | |
Thank you for coming to us here | 56:44 | |
and will come back to us here. | 56:47 | |
In the name of the blessed trinity, | 56:51 | |
who comes and comes again, amen. | 56:54 | |
God has given us all good gifts, | 57:01 | |
let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God | 57:04 | |
with glad hearts. | 57:07 | |
(choir singing) | 57:26 | |
Lord, for the child, for the cross, | 1:03:35 | |
for the resurrection, for the church we give you thanks. | 1:03:38 | |
For all the joy of our lives, the goodness, | 1:03:43 | |
the beauty, the hope, for all the gifts you offer, | 1:03:46 | |
we give you thanks. | 1:03:50 | |
Enable us this season to welcome your gifts | 1:03:52 | |
however they come to us | 1:03:55 | |
and to be transformed ever more into thankful people, | 1:03:58 | |
at this celebration of your birth into this world, | 1:04:02 | |
we thank you for making us your children | 1:04:05 | |
and as those children, we offer you this holy prayer, | 1:04:09 | |
saying, our father who art in heaven, | 1:04:13 | |
hallowed by thy name. | 1:04:17 | |
Thy kingdom come. | 1:04:19 | |
Thy will be done. | 1:04:21 | |
On earth as it is in heaven. | 1:04:23 | |
Give us this day our daily bread. | 1:04:26 | |
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those | 1:04:29 | |
who trespass against us. | 1:04:33 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 1:04:35 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 1:04:38 | |
For thine is the power, and glory forever. | 1:04:40 | |
Amen. | 1:04:45 | |
Go now in peace to live and serve the Lord | 1:04:47 | |
who came to us as friend, who comes to us again. | 1:04:51 | |
Here, and now. | 1:04:56 | |
In the name of the blessed trinity, | 1:04:58 | |
world without end. | 1:05:00 | |
Amen. | 1:05:02 | |
♪ Day by day ♪ | 1:05:12 | |
♪ Dear Lord ♪ | 1:05:17 | |
♪ Three things I pray ♪ | 1:05:19 | |
♪ To see thee more clearly ♪ | 1:05:29 | |
♪ Love thee more dearly ♪ | 1:05:34 | |
♪ Follow thee more nearly ♪ | 1:05:40 | |
♪ Day by day ♪ | 1:05:47 | |
♪ Day by day ♪ | 1:06:02 | |
♪ Day by day ♪ | 1:06:07 | |
♪ Three things I pray ♪ | 1:06:16 | |
♪ To see thee more clearly ♪ | 1:06:27 | |
♪ Love thee more dearly ♪ | 1:06:32 | |
♪ Follow thee more nearly ♪ | 1:06:40 | |
♪ Day by day ♪ | 1:06:45 | |
♪ Day by day ♪ | 1:06:53 | |
(hymn music playing) | 1:07:34 | |
(choir singing) | 1:08:01 |