William H. Willimon - "The Naked Truth" (February 28, 1993)
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| - | Oh God. | 0:06 |
| (murmuring) | 0:09 | |
| Open my lips, oh Lord. | 0:11 | |
| (murmuring) | 0:13 | |
| ♪ Oh God, the Father, creator of Heaven and Earth ♪ | 0:19 | |
| ♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 0:25 | |
| ♪ Oh God, the Son, Redeemer of the world ♪ | 0:28 | |
| ♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 0:33 | |
| ♪ Oh God, the Holy Ghost, sanctifier of the faithful ♪ | 0:37 | |
| ♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 0:43 | |
| ♪ Oh holy, blessed, and glorious trinity, one God ♪ | 0:46 | |
| ♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 0:52 | |
| ♪ Remember not Lord Christ our offenses ♪ | 0:55 | |
| ♪ Nor the offenses of our forebearers ♪ | 0:59 | |
| ♪ Neither reward us according to our sins ♪ | 1:03 | |
| ♪ Spare us good Lord, spare thy people ♪ | 1:08 | |
| ♪ Whom thou has redeemed with thy most precious blood ♪ | 1:12 | |
| ♪ And by thy mercy preserve us forever ♪ | 1:17 | |
| ♪ Help us good Lord ♪ | 1:23 | |
| ♪ From all evil and wickedness ♪ | 1:26 | |
| ♪ From sin ♪ | 1:29 | |
| ♪ From the crafts and assaults of the devil ♪ | 1:30 | |
| ♪ And from everlasting damnation ♪ | 1:34 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 1:38 | |
| ♪ From all blindness of heart ♪ | 1:41 | |
| ♪ From pride, vain glory, and hypocrisy ♪ | 1:44 | |
| ♪ From envy, hatred, and malice ♪ | 1:48 | |
| ♪ And from all want of charity ♪ | 1:51 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 1:56 | |
| ♪ From all inordinate and sinful affections ♪ | 1:59 | |
| ♪ And from all the deceits of the world ♪ | 2:03 | |
| ♪ The flesh and the devil ♪ | 2:06 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 2:10 | |
| ♪ From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism ♪ | 2:13 | |
| ♪ From hardness of heart ♪ | 2:17 | |
| ♪ And contempt of thy Word and commandment ♪ | 2:19 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 2:24 | |
| ♪ From lightning and tempest ♪ | 2:27 | |
| ♪ From earthquake, fire, and flood ♪ | 2:30 | |
| ♪ From plague, pestilence, and famine ♪ | 2:33 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 2:38 | |
| ♪ From all oppression, conspiracy, and rebellion ♪ | 2:41 | |
| ♪ From violence, battle, and murder ♪ | 2:46 | |
| ♪ And from dying suddenly and unprepared ♪ | 2:50 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 2:55 | |
| ♪ By the mystery of thy holy incarnation ♪ | 2:58 | |
| ♪ By thy holy nativity and submission to the law ♪ | 3:02 | |
| ♪ By thy baptism, fasting, and temptation ♪ | 3:07 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 3:12 | |
| ♪ By thine agony and bloody sweat ♪ | 3:15 | |
| ♪ By thy cross and passion ♪ | 3:18 | |
| ♪ By thy precious death and burial ♪ | 3:21 | |
| ♪ By thy glorious resurrection and ascension ♪ | 3:25 | |
| ♪ And by the coming of the Holy Ghost ♪ | 3:29 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 3:33 | |
| ♪ In all time of our tribulation ♪ | 3:36 | |
| ♪ In all time of our prosperity ♪ | 3:39 | |
| ♪ In the hour of death and in the day of judgment ♪ | 3:43 | |
| ♪ Good Lord deliver us ♪ | 3:49 | |
| ♪ We sinners to beseech thee to hear us, oh Lord God ♪ | 3:52 | |
| ♪ And that it may please thee to rule ♪ | 3:58 | |
| ♪ And govern thy holy church universal ♪ | 4:00 | |
| ♪ In the right way ♪ | 4:04 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 4:07 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to illumine ♪ | 4:11 | |
| ♪ All bishops, priests, and deacons ♪ | 4:13 | |
| ♪ With true knowledge and understanding of thy Word ♪ | 4:16 | |
| ♪ And that both by their preaching and living ♪ | 4:20 | |
| ♪ They may set it forth and show it accordingly ♪ | 4:24 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 4:30 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people ♪ | 4:35 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 4:41 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to send forth laborers ♪ | 4:46 | |
| ♪ Into thine harvest ♪ | 4:49 | |
| ♪ And to draw all people into thy kingdom ♪ | 4:52 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 4:57 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to give to all people ♪ | 5:02 | |
| ♪ Increase of grace to hear and receive thy Word ♪ | 5:05 | |
| ♪ And to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit ♪ | 5:11 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 5:16 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to bring into the way of truth ♪ | 5:20 | |
| ♪ All such as have heard and are deceived ♪ | 5:24 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 5:30 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to give us a heart ♪ | 5:34 | |
| ♪ To love and fear thee ♪ | 5:38 | |
| ♪ And diligently to live after thy commandments ♪ | 5:40 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 5:46 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee ♪ | 5:50 | |
| ♪ So to rule the hearts of thy servants ♪ | 5:51 | |
| ♪ The President of the United States ♪ | 5:55 | |
| ♪ And all others in authority ♪ | 5:59 | |
| ♪ That they may do justice and love mercy ♪ | 6:02 | |
| ♪ And walk in the ways of truth ♪ | 6:06 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 6:10 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to make wars to cease ♪ | 6:14 | |
| ♪ In all the world ♪ | 6:17 | |
| ♪ To give to all nations unity, peace, and concord ♪ | 6:20 | |
| ♪ And to bestow freedom upon all peoples ♪ | 6:26 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 6:31 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee ♪ | 6:34 | |
| ♪ To show thy pity upon all prisoners and captives ♪ | 6:36 | |
| ♪ The homeless and hungry ♪ | 6:41 | |
| ♪ And all who are desolate and oppressed ♪ | 6:44 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 6:48 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use ♪ | 6:51 | |
| ♪ The fount of the fruits of the earth ♪ | 6:56 | |
| ♪ So that in due time all may enjoy them ♪ | 6:59 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 7:04 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to inspire us ♪ | 7:07 | |
| ♪ In our several callings ♪ | 7:10 | |
| ♪ To do the work with which thou gives us to do ♪ | 7:13 | |
| ♪ With singleness of heart as thy servants ♪ | 7:15 | |
| ♪ And for the common good ♪ | 7:19 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 7:22 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee, ♪ | 7:26 | |
| ♪ to preserve all who are in danger ♪ | 7:27 | |
| ♪ By reason of their labor or their trouble ♪ | 7:30 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 7:35 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to preserve and provide for ♪ | 7:38 | |
| ♪ All women in childbirth, young children and orphans ♪ | 7:43 | |
| ♪ Widowed and all whose homes are broken or torn by strife ♪ | 7:48 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 7:53 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to visit the lonely ♪ | 7:58 | |
| ♪ To strengthen all who suffer in mind, body, and spirit ♪ | 8:01 | |
| ♪ And to comfort with thy presence ♪ | 8:07 | |
| ♪ Those who are failing and infirm ♪ | 8:09 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 8:13 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to support, help, and comfort ♪ | 8:17 | |
| ♪ All who are in danger, necessity, and tribulation ♪ | 8:21 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 8:27 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to have mercy upon all people ♪ | 8:31 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 8:36 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to give us true repentance ♪ | 8:39 | |
| ♪ To forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances ♪ | 8:43 | |
| ♪ And to endure us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit ♪ | 8:50 | |
| ♪ To amend our lives according to thy holy Word ♪ | 8:54 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 8:59 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to forgive our enemies ♪ | 9:03 | |
| ♪ Persecutors and slanderers and to turn their hearts ♪ | 9:06 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 9:13 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to strengthen such as to stand ♪ | 9:16 | |
| ♪ To comfort and help the weak hearted ♪ | 9:21 | |
| ♪ And to raise up those who fail ♪ | 9:24 | |
| ♪ And finally, to beat down Satan under our feet ♪ | 9:28 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 9:33 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee ♪ | 9:37 | |
| ♪ To grant all the faithful ♪ | 9:39 | |
| ♪ departed eternal life and peace ♪ | 9:39 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 9:45 | |
| ♪ That it may please thee to grant that ♪ | 9:48 | |
| ♪ In the fellowship of all the saints ♪ | 9:51 | |
| ♪ We may attain to thy heavenly kingdom ♪ | 9:54 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord ♪ | 9:59 | |
| ♪ Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us ♪ | 10:03 | |
| ♪ Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us ♪ | 10:08 | |
| ♪ Oh Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of our world ♪ | 10:12 | |
| ♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 10:18 | |
| ♪ Oh Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world ♪ | 10:21 | |
| ♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 10:26 | |
| ♪ Oh Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world ♪ | 10:29 | |
| ♪ Help us, I plead thee ♪ | 10:34 | |
| ♪ Oh Christ, hear us ♪ | 10:37 | |
| ♪ Oh Christ, hear us ♪ | 10:40 | |
| ♪ Lord have mercy upon us ♪ | 10:42 | |
| ♪ Christ have mercy upon us ♪ | 10:46 | |
| ♪ Lord have mercy upon us ♪ | 10:49 | |
| ♪ Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name ♪ | 10:53 | |
| ♪ Thy kingdom come, thy will be done ♪ | 10:59 | |
| ♪ On earth as it is in heaven ♪ | 11:03 | |
| ♪ Give us this day our daily bread ♪ | 11:06 | |
| ♪ Forgive us our trespasses ♪ | 11:09 | |
| ♪ As we forgive those who trespass against us ♪ | 11:12 | |
| ♪ And lead us not into temptation ♪ | 11:16 | |
| ♪ But deliver us from evil ♪ | 11:19 | |
| ♪ For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory ♪ | 11:21 | |
| ♪ Forever ♪ | 11:26 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 11:27 | |
| ♪ Oh Lord, let thy mercy be showed upon us ♪ | 11:29 | |
| ♪ As we (mumbles) ♪ | 11:34 | |
| ♪ Let us pray ♪ | 11:39 | |
| ♪ Almighty God, who has promised to hear ♪ | 11:41 | |
| ♪ The petitions of those who ask in thy Son's name ♪ | 11:45 | |
| ♪ We beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ear to us ♪ | 11:49 | |
| ♪ Who have now made our prayers ♪ | 11:54 | |
| ♪ and supplications unto thee ♪ | 11:55 | |
| ♪ And grant that those things ♪ | 11:59 | |
| ♪ which we have asked faithfully ♪ | 12:00 | |
| ♪ According to thy will may be obtained eventually ♪ | 12:04 | |
| ♪ To the relief of our necessity ♪ | 12:09 | |
| ♪ And to the setting forth of thy glory ♪ | 12:12 | |
| ♪ Through Jesus Christ our Lord ♪ | 12:16 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 12:20 | |
| ♪ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ♪ | 12:22 | |
| ♪ And the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost ♪ | 12:25 | |
| ♪ Be with us all evermore ♪ | 12:30 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 12:34 | |
| - | Let us pray together the prayer for illumination | 12:50 |
| printed in your bulletin. | 12:53 | |
| Open our hearts and minds, Oh God, | 12:59 | |
| by the power of your Holy Spirit. | 13:02 | |
| So that as the Word is read and proclaimed | 13:05 | |
| we may hear your message to us this first Sunday of Lent. | 13:08 | |
| Amen. | 13:13 | |
| The first reading is from Genesis chapter three | 13:15 | |
| beginning with the first verse. | 13:19 | |
| Now the serpent was more crafty than any other animal | 13:22 | |
| that the Lord God had made. | 13:26 | |
| He said to the woman, "Did God say you shall not eat | 13:28 | |
| "from any tree in the garden?" | 13:33 | |
| The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit | 13:35 | |
| "of the trees in the garden, but God said | 13:39 | |
| "you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree | 13:42 | |
| "that is in the middle of the garden. | 13:44 | |
| "Nor shall you touch it or you shall die." | 13:47 | |
| But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. | 13:51 | |
| "For God knows that when you eat of it, | 13:55 | |
| "your eyes will be opened and you will be like God | 13:57 | |
| "knowing good and evil." | 14:02 | |
| So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food | 14:05 | |
| and that it was a delight to the eyes | 14:09 | |
| and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, | 14:11 | |
| she took of its fruit and ate. | 14:15 | |
| And she also gave some to her husband who was with her | 14:18 | |
| and he ate. | 14:22 | |
| Then the eyes of those were open and they knew | 14:25 | |
| that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together | 14:29 | |
| and made loin cloths for themselves. | 14:34 | |
| This is the Word of the Lord. | 14:39 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 14:41 | |
| The Psalm for today is number 32 | 14:47 | |
| found on page 766 in the hymnal. | 14:50 | |
| Please stand and join in singing | 14:54 | |
| the Psalm and Gloria responsively. | 14:56 | |
| (organ playing) | 15:00 | |
| ♪ Blessed are those whose transgression is forgiven ♪ | 15:07 | |
| ♪ Whose sin is covered ♪ | 15:12 | |
| ♪ Blessed are those who are not found guilty ♪ | 15:16 | |
| ♪ And in who there is no iniquity ♪ | 15:22 | |
| ♪ When I did not declare my sin ♪ | 15:28 | |
| ♪ My body wasted away ♪ | 15:31 | |
| ♪ Through my groaning all day long ♪ | 15:34 | |
| ♪ For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me ♪ | 15:40 | |
| ♪ My strength dried out as in the heat of summer ♪ | 15:46 | |
| ♪ I acknowledged my sin to you ♪ | 15:54 | |
| ♪ And I did not hide my iniquity ♪ | 15:58 | |
| ♪ I said, I confess my transgressions to the Lord ♪ | 16:04 | |
| ♪ And you took the away the guilt of my sin ♪ | 16:11 | |
| ♪ Therefore let those who are godly offer prayer to you ♪ | 16:17 | |
| ♪ At the time of distress ♪ | 16:23 | |
| ♪ The great flood waters shall not reach them ♪ | 16:26 | |
| ♪ You are a hiding place for me ♪ | 16:32 | |
| ♪ You protect me from trouble ♪ | 16:35 | |
| ♪ You encompass me with deliverance ♪ | 16:39 | |
| ♪ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go ♪ | 16:44 | |
| ♪ I will counsel you with my eye upon you ♪ | 16:51 | |
| ♪ Do not be like an unruly horse or a mule ♪ | 16:58 | |
| ♪ Without understanding ♪ | 17:01 | |
| ♪ Whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle ♪ | 17:04 | |
| ♪ Many are the sorrows of the wicked ♪ | 17:10 | |
| ♪ But mercy surrounds those who trust in you ♪ | 17:15 | |
| ♪ Make light in the Lord and rejoice oh righteous ♪ | 17:22 | |
| ♪ Those who are upright in heart ♪ | 17:28 | |
| ♪ All glory be to you Creator and to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪ | 17:35 | |
| ♪ And to the Holy Spirit the Trinity ♪ | 17:43 | |
| ♪ As it was when time begun ♪ | 17:49 | |
| ♪ And now until forevermore ♪ | 17:54 | |
| You may be seated. | 18:03 | |
| - | The gospel reading is taken from the book of Matthew | 18:13 |
| chapter four, beginning with the first verse. | 18:16 | |
| Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness | 18:23 | |
| to be tempted by the devil. | 18:26 | |
| He fasted 40 days and 40 nights | 18:29 | |
| and afterwards he was famished. | 18:32 | |
| The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God | 18:35 | |
| "command these stones to become loaves of bread." | 18:39 | |
| But he answered, "It is written, one does not live | 18:44 | |
| "by bread alone, but by every word | 18:48 | |
| "that comes from the mouth of God." | 18:51 | |
| Then the devil took him to the holy city | 18:55 | |
| and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple | 18:57 | |
| saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, | 19:00 | |
| "throw yourself down, for it is written, | 19:03 | |
| "He will command his angels concerning you | 19:07 | |
| "and on their hands they will bear you up, | 19:09 | |
| "so that you will not gash your foot against a stone." | 19:12 | |
| Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, | 19:17 | |
| "do not put the Lord your God to the test." | 19:20 | |
| Again the devil took him to a very high mountain | 19:25 | |
| and showed him all the kingdoms of the world | 19:28 | |
| and their splendor and he said to him, "All these | 19:31 | |
| "I will give you if you will fall down and worship me." | 19:36 | |
| Jesus said to him, "Away with you Satan, for it is written, | 19:42 | |
| "worship the Lord your God and serve only him." | 19:47 | |
| This is the Word of the Lord. | 19:53 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 19:55 | |
| (organ playing) | 20:15 | |
| (choir singing) | 20:21 | |
| - | Last semester | 24:55 |
| at the University of California | 24:58 | |
| in Berkeley, Mr. Andrew Martinez | 25:00 | |
| began appearing on campus | 25:04 | |
| all natural, | 25:07 | |
| attending class and strolling about campus | 25:09 | |
| in the nude. | 25:12 | |
| He said that he was doing so | 25:15 | |
| as a protest against social repression. | 25:17 | |
| The President of the University of California at Berkeley, | 25:22 | |
| as university presidents often are, | 25:25 | |
| was not amused. | 25:28 | |
| Mr. Martinez was sent home. | 25:31 | |
| He plans to write a book about his experiences. | 25:35 | |
| Today's text from Genesis, it is traditional to read | 25:43 | |
| on this the first Sunday of Lent. | 25:47 | |
| And it is an early primordial story. | 25:51 | |
| And you know it is an old story, | 25:55 | |
| because it says that Adam and Eve were naked | 25:59 | |
| and unashamed. | 26:03 | |
| They were naked and unashamed. | 26:05 | |
| And the story is meant to ask you how long ago | 26:10 | |
| was that in your story? | 26:13 | |
| You can't stroll around Duke or Berkeley in the nude. | 26:18 | |
| But of course, it is okay for a toddler to stroll about | 26:24 | |
| the nursery all natural, cuddly baby flesh, | 26:28 | |
| smooth, unmarked, innocent. | 26:32 | |
| And that was the way we were, says Genesis. | 26:39 | |
| That was the way we were. | 26:43 | |
| We were all, Adam and Eve, all of us, | 26:44 | |
| the toddler romping gleefully naked | 26:47 | |
| after the bath. | 26:51 | |
| Naked and unashamed. | 26:54 | |
| And of course we were very young then. | 26:58 | |
| We were only a few hours old. | 27:00 | |
| Innocent, smooth, unselfconscious | 27:03 | |
| in the good garden. | 27:07 | |
| And surely you're not surprised | 27:11 | |
| that our early primordial innocence did not last long. | 27:12 | |
| That Adam and Eve's unashamed-ness didn't last long | 27:17 | |
| because yours didn't last long. | 27:22 | |
| Adam and Eve, Luther notes, grew up already | 27:26 | |
| by the afternoon of their first day. | 27:30 | |
| Their eyes were opened. | 27:32 | |
| And their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked | 27:34 | |
| and they were ashamed. | 27:39 | |
| How long did it take for your eyes to be opened, | 27:42 | |
| for you to grow up? | 27:47 | |
| Enter into the story the serpent. | 27:50 | |
| The serpent whom we are told was the most subtle | 27:53 | |
| of all God's creatures. | 27:56 | |
| Smart, savvy, it's not Satan, it's a serpent. | 27:58 | |
| Smart. | 28:02 | |
| And the Hebrew writer of Genesis has a pun here. | 28:04 | |
| The Hebrew (speaking foreign language) "naked" | 28:07 | |
| is set next to in the next verse the Hebrew word | 28:11 | |
| (speaking foreign language), "wise". | 28:16 | |
| Adam is naked, the serpent is wise. | 28:18 | |
| Whereas we are nude, | 28:23 | |
| the serpent is shrewd. | 28:26 | |
| And self-conscious knowledge is the promise of the snake. | 28:31 | |
| The serpent says, God doesn't want you to eat | 28:35 | |
| the tree of knowledge because God knows what will happen | 28:37 | |
| to you after you eat of this fruit, | 28:40 | |
| this forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. | 28:42 | |
| The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong, | 28:44 | |
| Sophistication. | 28:47 | |
| Don't you wanna get smart? | 28:50 | |
| The serpent and Adam and Eve, | 28:53 | |
| seniors with freshman, | 28:56 | |
| let me help you get smart without God, | 28:59 | |
| promises the serpent. | 29:03 | |
| Eat, open your eyes, grow up. | 29:04 | |
| And so our peaceful innocent existence lasted | 29:08 | |
| no longer than afternoon of the very first day on earth. | 29:12 | |
| So the story says that the forbidden fruit is eaten | 29:16 | |
| by the woman and the man, a mutual act of self-assertion | 29:19 | |
| and our eyes are opened. | 29:24 | |
| Our eyes are opened. | 29:26 | |
| And look at what we see. | 29:30 | |
| The promise was that we would eat of the forbidden fruit | 29:35 | |
| and we would be as wise as gods. | 29:37 | |
| We would be able to have limitless god-like vistas. | 29:39 | |
| Eyes were opened and what do we see? | 29:44 | |
| Our genitals. | 29:50 | |
| I think the story is meant to be a joke. | 29:53 | |
| A joke on us. | 29:57 | |
| The irony that in our lust for knowledge, | 29:59 | |
| after eating the forbidden fruit we now know one piece | 30:02 | |
| of information we did not know before, and that only, | 30:06 | |
| namely, that we are naked. | 30:09 | |
| Our eyes are opened, oh, but yet how little we see. | 30:12 | |
| We now see that we are naked, | 30:16 | |
| we see that we are exposed. | 30:17 | |
| And immediately we set to work | 30:22 | |
| now having only one human project on earth, | 30:24 | |
| namely to cover our nakedness. | 30:29 | |
| Shame becomes the main | 30:33 | |
| human motivation in the story. | 30:35 | |
| We sew fig leaves together. | 30:39 | |
| We make aprons,fashioning aprons for ourselves. | 30:41 | |
| Sometime in the privacy of your own dorm room, | 30:46 | |
| try fig leaves as lingerie. | 30:48 | |
| It's bound to be an unpleasant experience. | 30:50 | |
| And I think the writer of Genesis is here | 30:54 | |
| having fun with us, | 30:56 | |
| making fun of human creativity and self-exultation. | 30:57 | |
| It's laughable, the joke is on us. | 31:02 | |
| Just a few days after God creates the world | 31:07 | |
| and everything in it, | 31:11 | |
| our first act of human creativity | 31:13 | |
| and fabrication | 31:17 | |
| is fig leaf aprons. | 31:20 | |
| "Where are you," God asks, | 31:27 | |
| on God's afternoon stroll through the garden? | 31:29 | |
| And we pitiably reply, "Where?" | 31:34 | |
| We were naked. | 31:39 | |
| We were naked, we were vulnerable, we were exposed, | 31:41 | |
| we were ashamed. | 31:45 | |
| Who told you that you were naked? | 31:49 | |
| And then the pitiful blaming begins, | 31:53 | |
| the pitiful attempt, correlative our fig leaf wardrobe | 31:56 | |
| to cover ourselves, | 31:59 | |
| Adam says, well it was this woman, | 32:02 | |
| this woman that you created. | 32:05 | |
| The one that you thought of and gave to me. | 32:07 | |
| She thought of it. | 32:09 | |
| Then the woman says it was this serpent that you created. | 32:09 | |
| He gave me the fruit. | 32:15 | |
| He opened my eyes. | 32:17 | |
| And this story begins to ring true | 32:20 | |
| with our primordial experience. | 32:23 | |
| The great Baptist Prophet Carlyle Marney | 32:27 | |
| who loved to preach from this pulpit, | 32:30 | |
| was once asked by a visiting group of youth, | 32:32 | |
| where was the Garden of Eden? | 32:37 | |
| And Marney replied, | 32:41 | |
| "The Garden of Eden is located at | 32:43 | |
| "135 Elm Street, Knoxville, Tennessee." | 32:44 | |
| And they said, "You're crazy, it's someplace in Mesopotamia, | 32:48 | |
| "isn't it?" | 32:51 | |
| And he says, | 32:52 | |
| "No, no, it's 135 Elm Street, Knoxville, Tennessee, | 32:52 | |
| "because that was where I went | 32:57 | |
| "and I opened my mother's purse | 32:59 | |
| "and I took a quarter and I went down to the corner store | 33:01 | |
| "and I bought some candy | 33:05 | |
| "and I ate it all on the way home. | 33:08 | |
| "And when I got home, I was so ashamed I hid in the closet. | 33:12 | |
| "It was there in the closet that she found me." | 33:16 | |
| "And she said, | 33:18 | |
| "Where are you? | 33:21 | |
| "Who told you? | 33:25 | |
| "What have you done?" | 33:29 | |
| The philosopher Ernest Becker | 33:35 | |
| says that all human culture, | 33:38 | |
| art, architecture, philosophy, religion, all human culture | 33:42 | |
| is but pitiful fig leaf-like attempt | 33:47 | |
| to cover our nakedness, | 33:50 | |
| to cover ourselves. | 33:53 | |
| All cultural learning is but | 33:56 | |
| a protective hedge | 34:01 | |
| against the awesome realization that we are naked | 34:03 | |
| and exposed. | 34:07 | |
| The awesome awareness that we are dust | 34:09 | |
| and to dust we shall return. | 34:12 | |
| Naked came I out of my mother's womb, says Job. | 34:15 | |
| And naked I shall return to the dust. | 34:19 | |
| I tell you, this is a story about the shady side of wisdom. | 34:25 | |
| It's a story about the downside of growing up | 34:30 | |
| and becoming big and adult and our eyes to be opened. | 34:32 | |
| It is a story about the cost of the knowledge even higher | 34:36 | |
| than Duke tuition. | 34:39 | |
| Funny, he said to me, funny. | 34:44 | |
| I had more self confidence when I was | 34:47 | |
| a senior in high school | 34:50 | |
| than now that I'm a senior at Duke. | 34:54 | |
| And I said, "Oh, I can explain that to you. | 34:58 | |
| "Senior in high school, block letter sweater, | 35:01 | |
| "world at your feet, young man on the way up. | 35:03 | |
| "You were stupid. | 35:06 | |
| "But here at Duke, you've taken a few courses | 35:09 | |
| "and you've been around the dorm a couple of times | 35:12 | |
| "and your eyes have been opened and now you know | 35:14 | |
| "just how small you are. | 35:18 | |
| "You know, namely, what you don't know." | 35:21 | |
| Eye opening wisdom | 35:26 | |
| extracts a price. | 35:30 | |
| Caught, caught in the shame of our nakedness, | 35:35 | |
| our physical, psychological, our mortality, | 35:39 | |
| our nakedness, | 35:43 | |
| something deep within is, we want to go home. | 35:46 | |
| Even in our brokenness, | 35:51 | |
| this story has the power to evoke a memory, | 35:53 | |
| as if deep genetically, | 35:56 | |
| the memory of what we once were, | 35:57 | |
| that innocence, that smooth flesh, | 35:59 | |
| unmarked innocence. | 36:02 | |
| The memory of the way life should be. | 36:05 | |
| And so we feel a sense of tragedy. | 36:13 | |
| Our eyes are open, we see that we're naked, | 36:17 | |
| we're self-conscious, | 36:22 | |
| we can suddenly see ourselves. | 36:25 | |
| All animals die. | 36:30 | |
| But only human beings are animals who know | 36:34 | |
| that we shall die. | 36:38 | |
| The poet Archibald MacLeish, | 36:43 | |
| "our exile is that our eyes see. | 36:46 | |
| "Hawk and fish have eyes, | 36:51 | |
| "but we behold | 36:54 | |
| "what they can only be." | 36:56 | |
| Our exile | 37:00 | |
| is ourselves. | 37:03 | |
| Naked, | 37:07 | |
| before the truth we stand exposed, | 37:09 | |
| ashamed. | 37:13 | |
| Now on the first Sunday of Lent as I said, | 37:18 | |
| it is our custom to read these lesson, | 37:20 | |
| as it is our custom to chant | 37:22 | |
| the Great Litany, to chant the Great Litany. | 37:24 | |
| And you don't like it. | 37:27 | |
| And I don't know if I like it. | 37:29 | |
| Not because of the music, but because of the meaning. | 37:31 | |
| Cause we don't like to have to stand up til we're tired | 37:37 | |
| and be forced by the church to say over and over again | 37:40 | |
| we have failed, we have fallen, we have slipped, | 37:45 | |
| we've goofed, we've rebelled, we've garbled, | 37:48 | |
| we've disobeyed, we have sinned, | 37:50 | |
| Lord have mercy. | 37:53 | |
| Why would the church insist on rubbing our noses into | 37:57 | |
| this awesome naked truth? | 38:00 | |
| Which, if Ernest Becker be believed, | 38:03 | |
| this truth which we expend | 38:08 | |
| most of our intellectual creativity avoiding. | 38:09 | |
| I was naked, I was ashamed, | 38:14 | |
| and I hid myself. | 38:18 | |
| Why force us to stand before this | 38:22 | |
| harsh Lenten mirror? | 38:25 | |
| What good does that do? | 38:30 | |
| I am haunted by Robert Penn Warren's long poem | 38:36 | |
| "Brother to Dragons." | 38:40 | |
| In Brother to Dragons, | 38:43 | |
| the poet has an imaginary conversation | 38:44 | |
| with Thomas Jefferson sometime in time | 38:47 | |
| with Thomas Jefferson and the members | 38:52 | |
| of the Jefferson family. | 38:53 | |
| The poet asks Jefferson about an event, | 38:56 | |
| an almost forgotten and buried event | 39:00 | |
| that actually happened within the Jefferson family. | 39:03 | |
| One of Jefferson's relatives, Lilburn Lewis | 39:07 | |
| hacked to death a black slave with a meat ax. | 39:12 | |
| Because the slave had broken a pitcher | 39:18 | |
| that belonged to Lilburn's mother. | 39:21 | |
| And the poet asked Jefferson why | 39:26 | |
| in all of his writings, | 39:29 | |
| in all of his speeches and letters, | 39:31 | |
| Jefferson never mentioned | 39:35 | |
| that event from the family. | 39:38 | |
| He confronts Jefferson with the event | 39:42 | |
| and Jefferson is obviously very uncomfortable, | 39:44 | |
| cause Jefferson cannot square that horrible, brutal murder | 39:48 | |
| with his vervain, deistic, | 39:52 | |
| humanistic philosophy | 39:55 | |
| about the nobility of human nature. | 39:58 | |
| That horrible fact of that slave hacked to death | 40:00 | |
| with a meat ax in a fit of rage, | 40:04 | |
| just won't square with Mr. Jefferson's tame humanism. | 40:07 | |
| And the poem ends with Mr. Jefferson pondering | 40:15 | |
| his own complicity in that horror. | 40:18 | |
| But not only his complicity but ours as well. | 40:23 | |
| We have lifted the meat ax | 40:29 | |
| in the elation of love and justice, | 40:33 | |
| charges the poet. | 40:35 | |
| We have lain on our bed | 40:38 | |
| and devised evil intent in the heart. | 40:41 | |
| We have stood in the sunlight | 40:45 | |
| and we have named the bad thing good | 40:47 | |
| and the good thing bad. | 40:51 | |
| We have done this. | 40:55 | |
| Sounds like notes from the Great Litany, doesn't it? | 40:58 | |
| But why? | 41:04 | |
| Why rub the nose of the great Thomas Jefferson | 41:06 | |
| in such sordid human nastiness? | 41:10 | |
| What good is there in such exposure? | 41:15 | |
| Such naked stare at the human condition. | 41:20 | |
| The poet answers the question. | 41:26 | |
| Listen to the poet. | 41:28 | |
| "The recognition of complicity | 41:32 | |
| "is the beginning of innocence. | 41:36 | |
| "The recognition of necessity | 41:40 | |
| "is the beginning of freedom. | 41:43 | |
| "Death to the self | 41:47 | |
| "is the beginning of self good. | 41:49 | |
| "All else is surrogate of hope. | 41:52 | |
| "All else is destitution of spirit." | 41:56 | |
| Surely this is what Chesterton meant | 42:04 | |
| when he spoke about the good news of original sin. | 42:07 | |
| There is good news and unless stating the truth, | 42:13 | |
| the bad news, the naked truth of ourselves. | 42:18 | |
| This may not be the end of wisdom | 42:23 | |
| but it is surely its beginning. | 42:25 | |
| Or as the novelist Thomas Hardy said, | 42:29 | |
| "if a way to the better there be, | 42:31 | |
| "it exacts a full look at the worst." | 42:35 | |
| Cowering in the bushes, fig leaf aprons, | 42:42 | |
| ashamed of our nakedness, God comes to us. | 42:46 | |
| Earlier we got smart, we asked God questions. | 42:52 | |
| Did God say, did God really mean? | 42:56 | |
| But now God asks us questions. | 42:58 | |
| Where are you? | 43:00 | |
| Who told you? | 43:02 | |
| What have you done? | 43:04 | |
| And the naked truth about us is exposed. | 43:10 | |
| We are naked and we're ashamed. | 43:14 | |
| In the Bible, shame, | 43:18 | |
| shame is not just a matter of things you've done | 43:20 | |
| that you shouldn't have done, | 43:23 | |
| but shame is | 43:24 | |
| the realization of who you are | 43:26 | |
| that you're not who you ought to be. | 43:31 | |
| Shame is standing before the mirror of the naked truth | 43:35 | |
| about ourselves and desperately wanting to turn away | 43:39 | |
| or to cover ourselves, but knowing that we can't. | 43:43 | |
| Yet as I said that there is | 43:48 | |
| planted deep within the human memory, | 43:50 | |
| deep within the psyche, deep within genesis, | 43:53 | |
| memory of primal innocence. | 43:56 | |
| And thus there is deep within us the hope of renovation, | 43:59 | |
| of return, not to ignorance, but to innocence, | 44:04 | |
| no, return to trust, | 44:09 | |
| trust in God who comes to us and | 44:11 | |
| who sees us as we really are, | 44:15 | |
| but comes to us and takes us, | 44:17 | |
| and thus we pray with the old hymn, | 44:21 | |
| Dear Lord and Father of mankind, | 44:25 | |
| forgive our foolish ways. | 44:29 | |
| And a verse I've never noticed before, | 44:32 | |
| reclothe us in our rightful minds. | 44:33 | |
| And pure lives thy service find | 44:40 | |
| in deeper reverence praises. | 44:43 | |
| Reclothe us, oh God, in a rightful mind. | 44:51 | |
| And next Sunday, second Sunday of Lent, | 44:58 | |
| you're gonna meet an old man named Nicodemus, | 45:01 | |
| who comes and asks Jesus, | 45:04 | |
| "How can you be born again when you're old? | 45:07 | |
| "Is it possible to enter a second time | 45:12 | |
| in your mama's womb and be born?" | 45:14 | |
| Can you go back to pre-kindergarten innocence | 45:18 | |
| when you're all grown up and you've been to Duke | 45:22 | |
| and you've seen the sights and you've been exposed? | 45:24 | |
| Promise to Nicodemus is that day | 45:30 | |
| when we shall be born anew, | 45:32 | |
| when our eyes shall be opened | 45:36 | |
| to a new world fresh, renovated. | 45:40 | |
| When we shall be before God, | 45:45 | |
| a toddler romping gleefully naked | 45:50 | |
| after the bath. | 45:56 | |
| (organ playing) | 46:03 | |
| (singing) | 46:27 | |
| - | You may be seated. | 49:06 |
| We are called as stewards in God's garden, | 49:13 | |
| entrusted with care of all the earth and of God's people. | 49:16 | |
| Let us give account of our stewardship as we dedicate | 49:20 | |
| material offerings and as we rededicate ourselves | 49:23 | |
| to the task Christ has set before us. | 49:27 | |
| (organ playing) | 49:34 | |
| (choir singing) | 51:09 | |
| (organ playing) | 56:30 | |
| ♪ Praise God from whom ♪ | 57:54 | |
| ♪ All blessings flow ♪ | 57:57 | |
| ♪ Praise him all creatures ♪ | 58:02 | |
| ♪ Here below ♪ | 58:08 | |
| ♪ Praise him above ♪ | 58:11 | |
| ♪ Ye heavenly hosts ♪ | 58:15 | |
| ♪ Praise Father, Son ♪ | 58:19 | |
| ♪ And Holy Ghost ♪ | 58:24 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 58:35 |
| Thank you God for providing so bountifully for our needs | 58:38 | |
| and for coming to us in our nakedness. | 58:43 | |
| Above all we are filled with gratitude | 58:46 | |
| that you sent Jesus to minister among us, accepting us | 58:49 | |
| where we are and leading us on grace-filled paths | 58:53 | |
| toward the way of renovation and righteousness. | 58:58 | |
| We offer with our treasures our renewed obedience | 59:03 | |
| and our desire to be born anew according to your purposes. | 59:07 | |
| In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. | 59:11 | |
| Let us go forth renewed by the power of God | 59:16 | |
| to bear witness to the love of Christ to all the world. | 59:19 | |
| Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, | 59:23 | |
| the love of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, | 59:26 | |
| be with you and keep you. | 59:29 | |
| Amen. | 59:31 | |
| (organ playing) | 59:38 | |
| (singing) | 1:00:12 | |
| (organ playing) | 1:03:52 |
