Debra K. Brazzel - Sermon Untitled (November 28, 1993)
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Transcript
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- | Good morning, we'd like to welcome you | 0:04 |
to this first Sunday of Advent and Duke Chapel. | 0:06 | |
Like to call your attention to the Advent wreath | 0:09 | |
which reminds us of God's eternal, | 0:12 | |
never ending presence with us. | 0:15 | |
You'll notice that there are four candles, | 0:17 | |
one of which will be lit for each week of Advent, | 0:19 | |
reminding us of the coming of Jesus Christ, | 0:23 | |
the Light of the world, | 0:25 | |
which we receive a new this Advent season. | 0:27 | |
The reeds on either side | 0:31 | |
of the front entrance of the chapel, | 0:32 | |
the Advent wreath and the red poinsettias | 0:34 | |
had been made possible by the Elizabeth Luciana girl | 0:37 | |
from Memorial endowment | 0:40 | |
established by Dr. and Mrs. James H. Siemens. | 0:42 | |
We are grateful to them for their contributions | 0:45 | |
to our Advent season. | 0:48 | |
Like to also call to your attention | 0:51 | |
that The Messiah will be performed this coming weekend | 0:53 | |
on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, | 0:57 | |
and we hope that you will be able to attend | 0:59 | |
that joyous occasion. | 1:01 | |
Would you please stand as we continue | 1:03 | |
our worship with the greeting. | 1:05 | |
I hear what the Lord God has to say. | 1:12 | |
(congregation speaking) | 1:16 | |
Peace for all people and for God's friends. | 1:18 | |
(congregation speaking) | 1:22 | |
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. | 1:26 | |
(congregation speaking) | 1:30 | |
(religious orchestral music) | 1:36 | |
- | Let us pray if you will turn to your hymn notes 89. | 4:50 |
Let us confess together. | 5:04 | |
Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you | 5:06 | |
into word and deed, by what we have done, | 5:12 | |
and by what we have left undone. | 5:17 | |
We have not loved you with our whole heart, | 5:20 | |
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 5:24 | |
We are truly sorry, | 5:28 | |
and we humbly repent, | 5:30 | |
for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ. | 5:32 | |
Have mercy on us and forgive us. | 5:36 | |
That we may delight in your will, | 5:40 | |
and walk in your ways, to the glory of Your name. | 5:43 | |
Amen. | 5:48 | |
Almighty God have mercy on you, | 6:00 | |
forgive you of all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, | 6:03 | |
strengthen you in all goodness | 6:08 | |
and by all power of the Holy Spirit, | 6:11 | |
keep you in eternal life, Amen. | 6:14 | |
You may be sitted. | 6:20 | |
- | Let us pray together the prayer for illumination. | 6:34 |
Open our hearts and minds, oh God, | 6:39 | |
by the power of your Holy Spirit, | 6:42 | |
so that as the Word is read and proclaimed, | 6:45 | |
we might be prepared for your Advent among us, Amen. | 6:49 | |
The reading from the Old Testament | 6:56 | |
is taken from the 64th chapter of the book of Isaiah, | 6:58 | |
verses one through nine. | 7:02 | |
Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down | 7:06 | |
so that the mountains would quake at your presence, | 7:11 | |
as when fire kindles, brushwood. | 7:14 | |
And the fire causes water to boil, | 7:17 | |
to make your name known to your adversaries, | 7:20 | |
so that the nations might tremble at your presence. | 7:23 | |
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, | 7:27 | |
you came down the mountains quaked at your presence. | 7:31 | |
from ages past, no one has heard, | 7:36 | |
no ear has perceived, | 7:39 | |
no eye has seen any God besides you, | 7:41 | |
who works for those who wait for him. | 7:46 | |
You meet those who gladly do right, | 7:50 | |
those who remember you in your ways, | 7:53 | |
but you were angry and we sinned, | 7:56 | |
because you hid yourself, we transgressed. | 7:59 | |
We have all become like one who is unclean, | 8:03 | |
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. | 8:06 | |
We all fade like a leaf, | 8:10 | |
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. | 8:13 | |
There is no one who calls on your name | 8:18 | |
or attempts to take hold of you. | 8:21 | |
For you have hidden your face from us, | 8:23 | |
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. | 8:26 | |
Yet, O Lord, You are our Father, | 8:30 | |
we are the clay, and you are our Potter. | 8:33 | |
We are all the work of your hand. | 8:38 | |
Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, | 8:41 | |
and do not remember iniquity forever. | 8:44 | |
Now consider we are all your people. | 8:47 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 8:52 | |
(congregation speaking) | 8:55 | |
This reading is from the Gospel according to St. Mark, | 8:58 | |
chapter 13, beginning with the 24th verse. | 9:01 | |
But in those days after that suffering, | 9:07 | |
the sun will be darkened, | 9:10 | |
and the moon will not give its light, | 9:12 | |
and the stars will be falling from heaven, | 9:15 | |
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. | 9:17 | |
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds | 9:20 | |
with great power and glory. | 9:24 | |
Then he will send out the angels | 9:27 | |
and gather his elect from the four winds, | 9:30 | |
from the end of the earth to the end of heaven. | 9:33 | |
From the fig leaf learn its lesson. | 9:38 | |
As soon as its branch becomes tender | 9:40 | |
and puts forth its leaves, | 9:42 | |
you know that summer is near. | 9:44 | |
So also, when you see these things taking place, | 9:47 | |
you know that he is near at the very gates. | 9:51 | |
Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, | 9:55 | |
until all these things have taken place. | 10:00 | |
Heaven and earth will pass away, | 10:03 | |
but my words will not pass away. | 10:06 | |
But about that day or hour no one knows, | 10:10 | |
neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, | 10:13 | |
but only the Father. | 10:17 | |
Beware, keep alert, | 10:20 | |
for you do not know when the time will come. | 10:22 | |
It is like a man going on a journey | 10:26 | |
when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, | 10:29 | |
each with his own work | 10:33 | |
and commands the door keeper to be on watch. | 10:35 | |
Therefore, keep awake, | 10:40 | |
for you do not know when the master of the house will come | 10:41 | |
in the evening or at midnight, | 10:45 | |
or at cock crow or at dawn. | 10:48 | |
Or else he may find you asleep | 10:51 | |
when he comes suddenly. | 10:53 | |
And what I say to you I say to all, keep awake. | 10:55 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 11:01 | |
- | Today is the first Sunday of Advent. | 11:17 |
The first day of the Christian year, | 11:20 | |
the Christian New Year. | 11:22 | |
It is an important day in the Christian calendar, | 11:25 | |
yet it has lost much of its significance for us. | 11:28 | |
We are here today still slightly stuffed from thanksgiving | 11:33 | |
and our eyes have already turned toward Christmas. | 11:38 | |
How could they not? | 11:42 | |
The malls have had Christmas decorations | 11:43 | |
up since the second week in November. | 11:46 | |
The day after thanksgiving | 11:49 | |
is the biggest shopping day of the year | 11:50 | |
and everything was marked down | 11:53 | |
for the big Christmas sale. | 11:54 | |
Empty lots of been transformed into Christmas tree markets. | 11:57 | |
The decorations are up downtown | 12:01 | |
and the annual Christmas parade | 12:03 | |
was held the weekend before thanksgiving. | 12:05 | |
Christmas music is playing on the radio, | 12:09 | |
and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. | 12:12 | |
Given the commercialization of Christmas | 12:17 | |
and the importance it has assumed in our culture | 12:19 | |
as a time for family renewal, | 12:23 | |
it is no surprise that the season of Advent | 12:25 | |
should be overlooked and downplayed. | 12:28 | |
So what is Advent? | 12:32 | |
Is it simply a prelude to Christmas? | 12:34 | |
Is it one more minor tradition | 12:37 | |
to get us ready for the main event on Christmas Eve? | 12:40 | |
It is true that it is one purpose of Advent | 12:45 | |
to prepare us for Christmas. | 12:48 | |
But not the sentimental Christmas of babies and mangers | 12:50 | |
or the commercial Christmas of gifts and feasts. | 12:55 | |
But the Christmas that speaks of a Savior | 12:59 | |
who was born in order that he might suffer, | 13:02 | |
be crucified and resurrected to bring our salvation. | 13:06 | |
Advent means coming. | 13:12 | |
And it reminds us that the incarnate God | 13:14 | |
has come in Jesus the Christ. | 13:17 | |
But it also proclaims | 13:21 | |
that God's work in Christ is incomplete. | 13:23 | |
And that as God has come in Christ, | 13:26 | |
so Christ will come again to judge | 13:29 | |
the living and the dead. | 13:33 | |
Now, you may have come to chapel this morning, | 13:36 | |
hoping to hear a festive sermon to get you in the mood | 13:39 | |
for the Christmas season. | 13:42 | |
But our lectionary scriptures call us | 13:45 | |
to attend to a different reality, | 13:47 | |
a different season. | 13:50 | |
They urge us not to skip over the Advent season, | 13:53 | |
but to spend time exploring its riches and insights. | 13:57 | |
Our Advent text from Isaiah is a lament. | 14:02 | |
And the Gospel passage from Mark has been called, | 14:06 | |
"The Little Apocalypse." | 14:09 | |
Why should we begin the Christian year | 14:11 | |
talking about crisis and lament, | 14:15 | |
the Parousia or second coming of Christ | 14:17 | |
and the final judgment? | 14:20 | |
Don't we get enough bad news every day? | 14:23 | |
You can't turn on television or radio | 14:26 | |
without being inundated with tragedy. | 14:28 | |
Someone has been murdered or raped, | 14:31 | |
someone is at war, | 14:33 | |
someone's home has been destroyed by flood or fire. | 14:35 | |
We're overwhelmed by bad news every day. | 14:39 | |
So why should we start the Christian year | 14:44 | |
with a lament and an apocalyptic mourning? | 14:47 | |
Isn't the overwhelming bad news | 14:51 | |
the very point of Advent? | 14:55 | |
We wouldn't need the Advent, the coming of God, | 14:58 | |
if the world that we lived in was one of peace | 15:02 | |
and goodwill toward all. | 15:04 | |
But the reality is that isn't the world you and I live in. | 15:07 | |
Think about the images of war and destruction | 15:12 | |
you have seen just this year, | 15:14 | |
Somalia, Los Angeles, Bosnia, the Midwest, | 15:18 | |
we've learned to tune out the suffering | 15:23 | |
to filter the horror. | 15:26 | |
To numb ourselves to the reality of violence | 15:28 | |
and injustice and devastation. | 15:31 | |
We prefer to focus to look at | 15:35 | |
accentuate the positive in life, | 15:38 | |
especially when we aren't immediately touched | 15:40 | |
by the tragedies that we see around us. | 15:44 | |
But like it or not deny it or not, | 15:47 | |
we are affected collectively | 15:50 | |
by almost insurmountable problems. | 15:53 | |
Ozone depletion, polluted air and water and land, | 15:56 | |
the threat of nuclear disaster, | 16:00 | |
widespread hunger and poverty | 16:03 | |
and increasing number of regional conflicts, | 16:06 | |
just when we thought peace was in our grasp. | 16:08 | |
As one writer put it, | 16:12 | |
"The situation in the world is not just dangerous, | 16:14 | |
"not just threatening, | 16:17 | |
"it is catastrophic." | 16:19 | |
Or as Walter Brueggemann expresses it, | 16:21 | |
"Humankind has reached the end of its collective rope. | 16:24 | |
"All our schemes for self improvement, | 16:28 | |
"for extricating ourselves from traps | 16:31 | |
"that we have set for ourselves have calmed in nothing." | 16:34 | |
We have now realized | 16:39 | |
at the very deepest level of our being, | 16:41 | |
that we can't save ourselves | 16:45 | |
and that apart from intervention by God, | 16:48 | |
we are totally and irretrievably lost. | 16:51 | |
The lament from Isaiah takes the anxiety | 16:56 | |
and the suffering | 17:00 | |
that are facts of human reality seriously. | 17:01 | |
It is a passionate cry for God's help | 17:06 | |
in the face of desperate circumstances. | 17:09 | |
The Israelites had returned to Jerusalem | 17:13 | |
after the destruction of the temple | 17:15 | |
to find total desolation. | 17:17 | |
Their homes, their sanctuary, | 17:19 | |
all they held most dear had been destroyed. | 17:21 | |
Their cry for God's intervention sounds out | 17:25 | |
with hurt rending resonance | 17:28 | |
to anyone who has ever faced tragedy. | 17:31 | |
Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down | 17:35 | |
so that the mountains would quake at your presence. | 17:39 | |
How we long for signs of God's presence and power, | 17:44 | |
especially in time of need. | 17:48 | |
This lament take seriously our longing for God's Advent, | 17:51 | |
in the midst of pain and tragedy. | 17:56 | |
Advent is a season of longing for God to come down | 18:00 | |
and save us because we know we cannot save ourselves, | 18:04 | |
our world, our families. | 18:10 | |
It is also a season of waiting | 18:13 | |
and hoping even when our cries aren't answered. | 18:16 | |
Isaiah's lament understands | 18:22 | |
that we don't always get what we ask for, | 18:24 | |
what we pray for. | 18:28 | |
Sometimes God doesn't act as we desire. | 18:30 | |
We prayed for the water to stop, | 18:35 | |
but our houses and farms and businesses were washed away. | 18:38 | |
We prayed for healing, but the cancer spread. | 18:43 | |
We prayed for reconciliation, but the marriage failed. | 18:48 | |
We prayed for acceptance of our homosexuality | 18:53 | |
but our families rejected us instead. | 18:57 | |
We prayed for safety but we couldn't stop the rape. | 19:02 | |
We pray for peace but millions died. | 19:06 | |
Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down | 19:12 | |
so that the mountains would quake at your presence. | 19:16 | |
How often we have cried out to God to act on our behalf, | 19:20 | |
or on behalf of someone that we love. | 19:25 | |
What do we do about those times that we cry out | 19:28 | |
and God is silent? | 19:31 | |
This is perhaps the greatest challenge to faith. | 19:34 | |
What do we do when God is silent? | 19:37 | |
Hidden? | 19:40 | |
How does faith respond to such a challenge? | 19:42 | |
Isaiah understood that in times when God is hidden, | 19:47 | |
we have to fall back upon the faith experiences of the past. | 19:51 | |
We have to remember the times when God has intervened | 19:56 | |
to accomplish awesome deeds we did not expect. | 20:00 | |
This lament recalls the exodus from Egypt | 20:05 | |
and the giving of the covenant at Mount Sinai. | 20:08 | |
Those were times in Israel's history | 20:12 | |
when God had acted decisively on her behalf. | 20:15 | |
Advent also recalls Jesus's coming, | 20:20 | |
the dramatic incarnation of God in a child | 20:24 | |
and the subsequent death and resurrection of that child | 20:28 | |
to bring about our salvation. | 20:32 | |
These were times in human history | 20:35 | |
when God tore open the heavens | 20:37 | |
to come down among us and the mountains trembled | 20:40 | |
and human reality was forever changed. | 20:43 | |
Advent wait expectantly | 20:48 | |
for God's intervention on our behalf again, | 20:50 | |
trusting that ours is a God who has acted decisively | 20:54 | |
for us in the past, | 20:58 | |
and who can be counted on us to act in the future, | 21:01 | |
even though God may appear to be silent | 21:05 | |
and hidden in the present. | 21:09 | |
We proclaim this mystery of faith | 21:11 | |
every time we come to the communion table, | 21:14 | |
Christ has died, | 21:17 | |
Christ is risen, | 21:19 | |
Christ will come again. | 21:21 | |
God has acted in the past, | 21:24 | |
God is acting in the present, | 21:27 | |
God will act in the future. | 21:30 | |
Maybe that's key to understanding God's silence. | 21:35 | |
We don't choose or command the ways that God acts. | 21:39 | |
But God does act unexpectedly | 21:44 | |
and decisively for those who wait. | 21:48 | |
Advent is a time of waiting | 21:51 | |
and longing for God to act in surprising new ways | 21:54 | |
to bring justice, reconciliation and healing. | 21:59 | |
Advent is also a time when the Christian church | 22:05 | |
focuses on repentance | 22:07 | |
and renewal of our relationship to God. | 22:09 | |
Isaiah believed that one of the reasons | 22:13 | |
that Israel was estranged from God | 22:16 | |
and hadn't experienced God | 22:19 | |
and felt God is hidden | 22:21 | |
was because they had sinned and become alienated from God. | 22:23 | |
This lament takes seriously | 22:28 | |
the reality of human sinfulness and its consequences. | 22:31 | |
It knows what it is like to be in the grip of sin. | 22:35 | |
The literal translation is melted | 22:40 | |
into the hand of our iniquity. | 22:42 | |
It knows what it is like to be powerless to change, | 22:45 | |
to have lost control over life | 22:49 | |
so that we no longer control sin, | 22:52 | |
but are controlled by it. | 22:54 | |
Sin is more than individual acts of disobedience, | 22:57 | |
but the fundamental distortion in human reality. | 23:01 | |
When we are in the grip of sin, | 23:04 | |
we lose our right relatedness | 23:06 | |
to God, to self, to others | 23:09 | |
and to the whole creation. | 23:12 | |
Our personal relationships, our institutions, | 23:14 | |
our culture, our politics, | 23:17 | |
everything becomes infected by the disease of sin. | 23:19 | |
We are as one unclean | 23:25 | |
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. | 23:28 | |
When we're in the grip of sin, | 23:32 | |
we are powerless to change because sin | 23:34 | |
permeates everything that we are and everything that we do. | 23:37 | |
Advent, take seriously the pervasiveness | 23:44 | |
of human sin that touches every part of human reality, | 23:48 | |
every part of the creation, | 23:54 | |
and longs for the coming of a God | 23:57 | |
who can free us from the grip of our iniquities. | 23:59 | |
As sinful people, | 24:04 | |
Isaiah knows that they have no right to make claims upon God | 24:05 | |
or to petition God to act in their behalf. | 24:09 | |
Yet his lament does presume to make such claims, | 24:13 | |
because God has been revealed to them as Father. | 24:18 | |
God as father is one who is related to them | 24:22 | |
in a fundamental way. | 24:25 | |
They presume to ask the God who is father | 24:27 | |
to put aside his anger | 24:29 | |
and forgive them for their iniquity, | 24:31 | |
reminding him that he is the potter | 24:34 | |
and they are as clay. | 24:37 | |
He is the Creator with the power to mold them in new ways. | 24:39 | |
This is the God whose hand | 24:44 | |
can free them from the grip of iniquity | 24:47 | |
and mold them into new people. | 24:50 | |
Jesus also spoke of the kingdom of God | 24:54 | |
being like a father who welcomes home | 24:56 | |
the prodigal son with celebration, | 25:00 | |
that one who was lost has been found. | 25:02 | |
It is a fundamental hope of Advent, | 25:07 | |
that God has come to save the lost, | 25:10 | |
and God continues to welcome us home. | 25:13 | |
The Scripture from Isaiah speaks of an Advent hope, | 25:19 | |
characterized by a God who acts decisively | 25:23 | |
to save us from despair and sin | 25:26 | |
in the midst of hopelessness. | 25:30 | |
It yearns for God to come down | 25:32 | |
and mold us as a new people restored to God's family. | 25:35 | |
The Scripture from Mark speaks to an Advent hope, | 25:41 | |
from a little different perspective. | 25:44 | |
It speaks as one who knows the reality | 25:47 | |
of the transformative power of God in Jesus the Christ, | 25:50 | |
saving us, redeeming us, | 25:54 | |
molding us as the people of God. | 25:57 | |
In the Gospel of Mark the Savior has come, | 26:00 | |
the Community of Faith has been formed, | 26:03 | |
and they are left with the promise | 26:06 | |
that Christ will come again. | 26:08 | |
This Scripture reminds us | 26:12 | |
that Advent is a time of watching and waiting | 26:13 | |
for the day when the Son of Man will come | 26:16 | |
in power and glory, | 26:19 | |
and all things will be judged in Christ. | 26:21 | |
The Parousia, or the second coming, | 26:25 | |
has sometimes been a difficult doctrine | 26:28 | |
for the Christian church. | 26:30 | |
Fundamentalist churches have often focused | 26:32 | |
on the second coming as a scare tactic for conversion. | 26:35 | |
And some groups have been preoccupied | 26:39 | |
with predicting when it will happen. | 26:41 | |
We witnessed a dramatic and tragic example of this | 26:44 | |
in the Branch Davidian sect. | 26:48 | |
David Koresh predicted that the end was near | 26:51 | |
and prepared his followers for the end, | 26:54 | |
perhaps even forcing the end upon them | 26:57 | |
when the cult complex was stormed. | 27:01 | |
In our attempts in the mainstream church | 27:05 | |
to shun association with any such as these, | 27:08 | |
we have sometimes lost or denied the reality | 27:12 | |
of the parousia in our own tradition. | 27:17 | |
But the Gospel of Mark invites us to look squarely | 27:21 | |
at what we believe to be true about the end times. | 27:24 | |
What is ultimately true? | 27:30 | |
The doctrine of the Second Coming | 27:32 | |
proclaims that in the end, | 27:34 | |
all time all history, all judgment, | 27:37 | |
all hope, all life belong to God. | 27:40 | |
It speaks powerfully of the Christian belief | 27:45 | |
that Christ will come in final victory | 27:49 | |
and the end belongs to God | 27:52 | |
no matter what the present reality may be. | 27:54 | |
This Advent hope has ultimate confidence in God, | 27:59 | |
and without it, I would suggest | 28:04 | |
that we don't have much to offer | 28:05 | |
to an age as dangerous and catastrophic | 28:08 | |
as the one we live in. | 28:11 | |
This Advent hope takes seriously the reality of sin | 28:14 | |
and tragedy and death in our world, | 28:19 | |
and points to a future | 28:22 | |
when the whole creation will be redeemed in Jesus Christ. | 28:24 | |
It is not enough to say that we have been saved | 28:29 | |
through Christ our Lord. | 28:32 | |
It is not enough to say that we are the church. | 28:33 | |
It is God's will that all of creation, | 28:37 | |
participate in the salvation | 28:40 | |
and that the whole world be transformed | 28:43 | |
by God's Advent in the parousia. | 28:46 | |
One of the dangers of this doctrine | 28:51 | |
has been an other worldly thinking | 28:54 | |
that is passive believing | 28:56 | |
that since the future belongs to God, | 28:58 | |
we should leave the future to God. | 29:01 | |
But lest we fall into the trap | 29:03 | |
of thinking that hope in Christ future | 29:05 | |
relieves us of responsibility for our present. | 29:09 | |
This text reminds us that we have been entrusted | 29:13 | |
with the Master's house | 29:17 | |
and given duties for which we are accountable | 29:19 | |
until the end. | 29:22 | |
We are accountable to God now, | 29:24 | |
for the way we carry out our responsibilities | 29:26 | |
as teachers, accountants, students, | 29:29 | |
researchers, administrators, parents, lawyers, | 29:32 | |
because Christ has come. | 29:36 | |
We have been entrusted | 29:39 | |
with responsibilities in the kingdom, | 29:40 | |
because Christ will come again, | 29:43 | |
we are accountable for how we fulfill those duties. | 29:45 | |
Advent calls us to a watchful expectancy | 29:49 | |
ever ready for the Master's return. | 29:54 | |
Advent calls us to active waiting. | 29:57 | |
Active in fulfilling our role in the kingdom, | 30:00 | |
knowing that the final outcome of our efforts | 30:04 | |
and of all life are in God's hands. | 30:07 | |
This, I think, is a concept in Christian light | 30:12 | |
that can bring us great hope. | 30:15 | |
Sometimes we are involved in efforts | 30:18 | |
and we don't see the immediate results of our work. | 30:20 | |
But this assures us that in the end, | 30:24 | |
God makes all things right. | 30:26 | |
That we are called to be faithful | 30:29 | |
and to leave the consequences and the outcome to God. | 30:32 | |
The Scriptures call us to remember | 30:37 | |
and celebrate the season of Advent. | 30:39 | |
It is a season that is rich and hope and promise. | 30:42 | |
Advent offers us a hope that can stand | 30:46 | |
in the face of despair. | 30:49 | |
Because ours is a God who knows | 30:52 | |
and overcomes the reality of death, | 30:54 | |
Christ has died. | 30:57 | |
It gives us hope | 31:01 | |
that has confidence in God's power to redeem us | 31:05 | |
and mold us a new through Christ our Lord. | 31:08 | |
Christ is risen. | 31:12 | |
It offers a hope which empowers us | 31:15 | |
to act faithfully in God's kingdom, | 31:18 | |
because it knows that the final victory belongs to God. | 31:21 | |
Christ will come again. | 31:25 | |
Christ has died. | 31:28 | |
Christ is risen. | 31:30 | |
Christ will come again. | 31:33 | |
This is the mystery of faith. | 31:36 | |
This is the hope of Advent. | 31:38 | |
Let us celebrate that hope | 31:42 | |
as we feast together today at the Lord's table. | 31:43 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 32:00 |
(congregation speaking) | 32:02 | |
Let us pray. | 32:04 | |
Oh God, creator, | 32:09 | |
reminders of our creation in you, | 32:13 | |
for you are the hope of all the ends of the earth. | 32:19 | |
Remind us that as a people who journey, | 32:25 | |
we are vessels containing wellsprings of your hope. | 32:28 | |
We bow in your presence in this first day of Advent. | 32:35 | |
A time when we are called to wait and hope | 32:40 | |
in the beginning | 32:45 | |
of your resurrection | 32:48 | |
to help in your forgiveness | 32:52 | |
and your reconciliation, | 32:56 | |
as vessels of water and hope. | 33:00 | |
Help us that in our pouring out, | 33:04 | |
we might bring the power of healing | 33:07 | |
and make hold the bruised world. | 33:11 | |
Let the living waters of your creation encircle us | 33:16 | |
that we may remember we are yours, | 33:23 | |
and be thankful, | 33:27 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 33:29 | |
(congregation speaking) | 33:31 | |
We pray for your community, | 33:33 | |
the world | 33:36 | |
we pray that as the world is created in your image, | 33:38 | |
you would grant us grace to be fearless | 33:43 | |
to contend against evil | 33:47 | |
and make no peace with oppression. | 33:51 | |
Help us that we may reverently use our freedom in you | 33:55 | |
to help employ justice, | 34:01 | |
to the glory of your name, | 34:04 | |
we remember today especially your people | 34:07 | |
in Haiti, and Bosnia, | 34:10 | |
your people in El Salvador, and South Africa, | 34:14 | |
your community here in Durham, | 34:19 | |
and in the utmost part of the world, | 34:22 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 34:26 | |
(congregation speaking) | 34:28 | |
We pray for those who are marginalized. | 34:30 | |
Those who find themselves | 34:34 | |
on the fringes of lives margin. | 34:35 | |
People so dismayed by the burden of life, | 34:39 | |
that it feels so sunken in the valley of despair, | 34:43 | |
so low that they feel | 34:47 | |
they can no longer hear anybody pray. | 34:49 | |
But we pray that you and your love and justice | 34:54 | |
would go down into those valleys of despair | 34:59 | |
and anoint your children with the balm of hope, | 35:03 | |
the vision of comfort. | 35:07 | |
We remember specially the homeless, | 35:10 | |
the hungry, the abused, the battered, | 35:13 | |
wherever you people reach out for your balm of healing, | 35:18 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 35:23 | |
(congregation speaking) | 35:25 | |
Lord, we pray for your church. | 35:27 | |
Your church today is perplexed that she faces | 35:30 | |
the challenges of the task before us. | 35:33 | |
In this season of Advent, | 35:37 | |
baptize your church your fresh | 35:40 | |
in the new life giving Spirit of Christ | 35:43 | |
and help her to proclaim boldly, | 35:48 | |
your kingdom of hope and promise. | 35:51 | |
We remember this community here in the Duke Chapel, | 35:55 | |
your church everywhere, | 36:00 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 36:03 | |
(congregation speaking) | 36:06 | |
Now hear us and grant us your peace, | 36:09 | |
For Christ's sake, Amen. | 36:13 | |
Let us stand an exchange, | 36:16 | |
the peace, the sign of peace. | 36:19 | |
As a reconciled people, | 36:54 | |
let us come together | 36:57 | |
bringing our gifts offerings before the Lord. | 36:58 | |
(religious orchestral music) | 37:09 | |
(religious orchestral music) | 39:30 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 44:00 |
(congregation speaking) | 44:02 | |
Lift up your hearts. | 44:03 | |
(congregation speaking) | 44:05 | |
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. | 44:06 | |
(congregation speaking) | 44:09 | |
It is right and a good and joyful thing, | 44:13 | |
always and everywhere to give thanks to you, | 44:16 | |
Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. | 44:19 | |
You formed us in your image | 44:23 | |
and breathed into us the breath of life. | 44:25 | |
When we turned away and our love failed, | 44:28 | |
your love remained steadfast. | 44:31 | |
You delivered us from captivity, | 44:34 | |
made covenant to be our sovereign God, | 44:36 | |
and spoke to us through your prophets | 44:39 | |
who looked for that day | 44:41 | |
when justice shall roll down like waters, | 44:43 | |
and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. | 44:46 | |
When nations shall not lift up sword against nation, | 44:49 | |
neither shall they learn war anymore. | 44:53 | |
And so with your people on earth | 44:56 | |
and all the company of heaven, | 44:58 | |
we praise your name and join their unending hymn. | 45:00 | |
Holy, holy, holy Lord, | 45:04 | |
God of power and might. | 45:07 | |
Heaven and earth are full of your glory, | 45:09 | |
Hosanna in the highest. | 45:12 | |
Blessed is to you who comes in the name of the Lord | 45:14 | |
Hosanna in the highest. | 45:17 | |
Holy are you and bless it as your son Jesus Christ, | 45:20 | |
whom you sent in the fullness of time | 45:24 | |
to be a light to the nations. | 45:26 | |
You scattered the proud | 45:28 | |
and the imagination of their hearts | 45:30 | |
and have mercy on those who fear you | 45:32 | |
from generation to generation. | 45:34 | |
You put down the mighty from their thrones | 45:37 | |
and exalt those of low degree, | 45:40 | |
you fill the hungry with good things | 45:43 | |
and the rich you send empty away. | 45:46 | |
Your own Son came among us as a servant | 45:49 | |
to be Emmanuel, | 45:52 | |
your presence with us. | 45:54 | |
He humbled Himself in obedience to your will | 45:56 | |
and freely accepted death on the cross. | 45:59 | |
By the baptism of his suffering, death and resurrection, | 46:03 | |
you gave birth to your church, | 46:07 | |
delivered us from slavery to sin and death, | 46:09 | |
and made with us a new covenant | 46:12 | |
by water and the Spirit. | 46:14 | |
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, | 46:16 | |
he took bread, gave thanks to you, | 46:19 | |
offered it to his disciples and said, | 46:23 | |
"Take, eat. | 46:25 | |
"This is my body which is given for you, | 46:27 | |
"do this in remembrance of me." | 46:30 | |
On the same night, when the supper was over, | 46:33 | |
he took the cup, gave thanks, | 46:35 | |
offered it to his disciples and said, | 46:38 | |
"Drink from this, all of you | 46:40 | |
"for this is the blood of the New Covenant | 46:42 | |
"poured out for you and for many | 46:44 | |
"for the forgiveness of sins. | 46:46 | |
"Do this as often as you shall drink it | 46:48 | |
"in remembrance of me." | 46:51 | |
And so in remembrance of these | 46:55 | |
your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, | 46:57 | |
we offer ourselves and praise and thanksgiving | 46:59 | |
as a holy and living sacrifice, | 47:02 | |
in union with Christ offering for us, | 47:05 | |
as we proclaim The mystery of faith. | 47:08 | |
Christ has died, | 47:11 | |
Christ is risen, | 47:13 | |
Christ will come again. | 47:15 | |
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, | 47:18 | |
and on these gifts of bread and wine, | 47:21 | |
make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, | 47:24 | |
that we may be for the world, the body of Christ, | 47:28 | |
redeemed by his blood. | 47:30 | |
By your spirit make us one with Christ, | 47:33 | |
one with each other, | 47:35 | |
and one in ministry to all the world | 47:37 | |
until Christ comes in final victory, | 47:40 | |
and we feast at his heavenly banquet, | 47:43 | |
through your Son Jesus Christ, | 47:46 | |
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, | 47:48 | |
all honor and glory is yours Almighty Father, | 47:51 | |
now and forever, Amen. | 47:55 | |
Let us pray together as Jesus taught us. | 47:59 | |
Our Father, who art in heaven, | 48:02 | |
hallowed be thy name, | 48:04 | |
thy kingdom come, | 48:06 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 48:08 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 48:12 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 48:15 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 48:17 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 48:20 | |
but deliver us from evil, | 48:23 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 48:25 | |
and the glory forever, Amen. | 48:28 | |
Because there is one loaf | 48:33 | |
we who are many are one body, | 48:35 | |
because we all partake of the one loaf. | 48:38 | |
The cup over which we give thanks | 48:43 | |
is a sharing in the blood of Christ. | 48:46 | |
The body of Christ given for you. | 48:55 | |
The blood of Christ the cup of salvation. | 49:01 | |
Amen. | 49:21 | |
- | The blood of Christ the cup of salvation. | 49:28 |
- | Amen. | 49:29 |
You're invited to come to the Advent feast, | 49:43 | |
you may be seated. | 49:46 | |
(religious ochestral music) | 49:55 | |
(religious ochestral music) | 54:53 | |
Let us pray. | 58:59 | |
Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery | 59:03 | |
in which you have given yourself to us. | 59:07 | |
Grant that we may go into the world | 59:10 | |
in the strength of your Spirit | 59:12 | |
to give ourselves for others. | 59:14 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ, | 59:16 | |
our Advent Lord, Amen. | 59:19 | |
Would you please stand | 59:23 | |
as we continue our worship | 59:24 | |
with the closing hymn? | 59:26 | |
(religious orchestral music) | 59:29 | |
Go forth in hope. | 1:04:47 | |
May the love of God | 1:04:49 | |
and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ | 1:04:50 | |
and the communion of the Holy Spirit | 1:04:52 | |
be with you and keep you, Amen. | 1:04:54 | |
(religious orchestral music) | 1:05:02 |