William H. Willimon - "They're Drunk" (May 22, 1994)

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	(organ music)	0:00
-	Good morning.	2:19
	Welcome to this celebration of Pentecost,	2:21
	the Lord's gift of the spirit to the church	2:24
	on this gorgeous Sunday in Duke Chapel.	2:27
	We will be led today in the celebration of the Eucharist	2:30
	and in preaching by our own Dean of the Chapel,	2:34
	William Willimon.	2:37
	We will be led in music by our summer choir	2:39
	and by our tenor, Mr. William McCullough.	2:43
	Those of you who are in town for the summer	2:46
	and wish to participate in the summer choir	2:49
	are invited to do so.	2:51
	Immediately following the service today,	2:54
	there will be a coffee on the lawn of the chapel.	2:56
	Let us stand for our Litany of Praise.	3:03
	Our help is in the name of the Lord who creates heaven	3:11
	and earth.	3:13
	(crowd chanting in unison)	3:15
	He rides in the heavens and sends forth his mighty voice.	3:21
	(crowd chanting in unison)	3:26
	How wonderful is God in his holy places, the God of Israel,	3:27
	giving strength and power to his people.	3:31
	(crowd chanting in unison)	3:34
	All who are led by the spirit of God are children of God.	3:35
	Lord, send forth your spirit	3:39
	and renew the face of the earth.	3:41
	(crowd chanting in unison)	3:44
	(organ playing)	3:47
	(crowd singing in unison)	4:32
-	Please be seated.	6:59
	(page turning)	7:04
	Let us pray together the prayer for illumination.	7:09
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God.	7:13
	By the power of your holy spirit,	7:16
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	7:19
	we might hear your word,	7:23
	joy,	7:25
	amen.	7:28
	Our first lesson is taken from Saint Paul's	7:31
	Epistle to the Romans.	7:33
	The eighth chapter, verses 22 through 27.	7:35
	We know that the whole creation	7:42
	has been groaning in labor pains until now.	7:44
	And not only the creation, but we ourselves.	7:48
	We who have the first fruits of the spirit,	7:52
	we grown inwardly while we wait for adoption,	7:55
	the redemption of our bodies.	7:59
	For in hope, we were saved.	8:03
	Now, hope that is seen is not hope.	8:06
	For who hopes for what is seen?	8:10
	But if we hope for what we do not see,	8:13
	we wait for it with patience.	8:16
	Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness,	8:20
	for we do not know how to pray as we ought,	8:25
	but that very spirit intercedes with sigh too deep for words	8:28
	and God, who searches the heart,	8:35
	knows what is the mind of the spirit	8:39
	because the spirit intercedes for the saints.	8:43
	According to the will of God.	8:46
	This is the word of the Lord	8:50
Crowd	Thanks be to God.	8:52
-	Our second lesson is taken from the Acts of the Apostles.	9:00
	The second chapter,	9:04
	from the beginning through the 21st verse.	9:06
	When the day of Pentecost had come,	9:14
	they were all together in one place.	9:17
	And suddenly from heaven there came	9:20
	a sound like the rush of a violent wind	9:23
	and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.	9:26
	Divided tongues, as of fire,	9:31
	appeared among them and a tongue rested on each of them.	9:33
	All of them were filled with the holy spirit	9:38
	and began to speak in other languages	9:42
	as the spirit gave them ability.	9:45
	Now there were devout Jews from every nation	9:49
	under heaven living in Jerusalem and at this sound,	9:51
	the crowd gathered and was bewildered	9:56
	because they heard them speaking in their native languages.	10:00
	Amazed and astonished, the people in the crowd asked,	10:05
	"Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?	10:10
	And how is it that we here, each of us,	10:14
	in our own native language Parthians, Meads, Alemites,	10:17
	and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,	10:23
	Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,	10:28
	Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;	10:32
	and visitors from Rome, both Jews and prosletites;	10:37
	Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them	10:42
	speaking about God's deeds of power."	10:46
	All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,	10:51
	"What does this mean?	10:55
	But others sneered and said,	10:57
	"They are filled with new wine."	11:00
	But Peter, standing with the Eleven raised his voice	11:04
	and addressed them.	11:07
	"Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem,	11:09
	let this be known to you and listen to what I say.	11:13
	Indeed these are not drunk as you suppose,	11:18
	for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.	11:22
	No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel."	11:25
	In the last days it will be, God declares,	11:31
	that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh	11:34
	and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,	11:39
	and your young men shall see visions,	11:43
	and your old men shall dream dreams.	11:46
	Even upon my slaves, both men and women in those days,	11:50
	I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy.	11:55
	And I will show portents in the heaven above	12:00
	and signs on the earth below.	12:03
	Blood and fire and smokey mist.	12:05
	The sun shall be turned to darkness	12:11
	and the moon to blood before the coming	12:13
	of the Lord's great and glorious day.	12:16
	Then everyone who calls	12:20
	on the name of the Lord shall be saved.	12:21
	This is the word of the Lord.	12:26
Crowd	Thanks be to God.	12:29
-	A few years ago a friend of mine,	12:39
	United Methodist Minister, graduate of Duke,	12:42
	a friend of mine and I were discussing	12:48
	the then current neo-charismatic movement	12:49
	that was sweeping through the churches.	12:52
	And my friend who is quite an intellectual,	12:56
	we had done graduate work together at Emory,	13:00
	I wanted to know, I wanted him to sort of	13:02
	help me think through this strange phenomenon.	13:05
	People speaking in tongues, members of my church	13:09
	going to faith healings, other...	13:12
	...weird behavior.	13:15
	And as I was talking about the charismatic movement	13:18
	and some of my wonderings about it,	13:22
	I looked over at my friend and he had this sort of	13:25
	sheepish look on his face.	13:28
	And I said, "Wait a minute,	13:31
	you haven't spoken in tongues, have you?"	13:34
	And then he told me.	13:39
	It had been a difficult week,	13:42
	he hadn't been able to get to writing his sermon.	13:43
	He got up on Saturday morning, he went down to the church,	13:46
	he sat down at his desk, determined not to leave	13:48
	until he had finished writing that sermon.	13:51
	He said, "I was sitting there,	13:54
	and all of a sudden it was as if something seized me	13:56
	and my head fell back and I,	14:00
	my tongue started moving	14:03
	and there were these strange guttural sounds	14:04
	emanating from my throat.	14:06
	And then it was over and I felt a great sense of release	14:11
	and relief.	14:17
	I realized that I had experienced glossolalia,	14:19
	speaking in tongues."	14:23
	And I said to him,	14:27
	"Promise me you'll never tell anybody this story.	14:30
	You're a Duke graduate, I mean,	14:34
	what would people think?"	14:35
	(crowd lightly laughing)	14:37
	Now I don't know whether or not today's lesson from Acts 2	14:39
	is talking about glossolalia, speaking in tongues.	14:44
	There's some doubt Luke even knew what that was.	14:48
	Paul talks about speaking in tongues.	14:51
	Says he's done it on many different occasions.	14:53
	Yet I do know that Acts 2, this account of what happened	14:58
	at Pentecost, is describing some weird, wonderful goings on.	15:03
	On the day of Pentecost, Jews from every nation	15:10
	were gathered together in one place	15:14
	and the spirit descended and they all began to speak	15:17
	in strange tongues and they all began to understand	15:21
	in strange ways.	15:26
	And upon hearing the Pentecostal commotion,	15:28
	the crowd out on the street said, "They're drunk.	15:31
	Jesus' people are drunk."	15:36
	Peter came out and addressed the crowd,	15:40
	giving the dubious defense, "We're not drunk!	15:42
	It's only 10 o'clock in the morning!"	15:46
	Now what do we make of this strange story?	15:51
	Here on this day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church?	15:55
	Tom Long who preaches often and well from this pulpit,	16:02
	tells about when we was a young pastor	16:08
	he was conducting a Confirmation class at his church.	16:10
	And he had just three little girls in his Confirmation class	16:13
	and one afternoon he was telling them about	16:18
	the church year and its various parts	16:21
	and he came to Pentecost.	16:24
	But the little girls had never heard of Pentecost	16:26
	so he told them well, "At Pentecost,	16:28
	that was the day the church was gathered together	16:30
	in one place, people from all over the world,	16:32
	the spirit descended	16:35
	and suddenly they could hear each other,	16:36
	their divisions were healed,	16:38
	they could understand each other,	16:40
	tongues like a fire descended upon each person."	16:43
	Two of the little girls	16:48
	received this information impassively	16:49
	but one of the little girls sat there,	16:53
	her eyes got bigger and bigger, her mouth dropped open,	16:55
	and finally she said, "Gosh Reverend Long,	16:59
	I guess my family was absent on that Sunday."	17:01
	And maybe, if we're honest as that little girl,	17:08
	when we hear this story, we have to say,	17:11
	"Gosh, I guess I didn't make it to church that day."	17:13
	It's tough to read ourselves into this strange story	17:17
	of Pentecost.	17:22
	Why is that?	17:26
	One Sunday a few years ago,	17:30
	I got kind of carried away in the sermon,	17:32
	I raised my voice a couple of times,	17:35
	I think I gestured broadly with my arm.	17:36
	Someone down on the sixth row,	17:39
	obviously who had never been here before,	17:41
	got carried away.	17:43
	At the end of the sermon, he stood up and he shouted out,	17:44
	"Amen, right on!"	17:46
	(crowd laughing)	17:48
	I looked for the ushers to remove this person.	17:50
	You read Acts 2 and it's difficult	17:58
	to read yourself into the story,	18:00
	where people get the gift of God's spirit	18:04
	and they get out of control.	18:07
	This same spirit which empowered Jesus to do good.	18:09
	This spirit now settles upon the church	18:14
	and it transforms these strangers into a community.	18:16
	Releasing new powers within them, powers to hear,	18:21
	powers to speak,	18:25
	healing their old racial, nationalistic divisions.	18:26
	Folk watching them emerged from church that Sunday,	18:32
	said to one another, "Look at those Christians.	18:35
	They're drunk."	18:40
	Alas, when we emerge from church on Sunday,	18:42
	you're on your way out to the parking lot,	18:44
	when's the last time anyone, you heard anyone say	18:46
	on the way out, "Look at those Christians.	18:48
	They're in there, they're drunk again."	18:50
	More than likely what they say is,	18:52
	"Look at them, they look dead again."	18:54
	I tell you, there's, we have difficulty with this story	19:02
	and it's not just because we happen to be	19:04
	kind of modern people.	19:06
	It's because there's something sort of threatening	19:09
	about this story.	19:11
	We have to tell ourselves,	19:14
	we don't live in such an age, an age of the spirit.	19:15
	A new book, The Churching of America,	19:21
	published by Rutgers Press by Fink and Stark,	19:25
	two sociologists, tells the story	19:29
	of the steady decline of mainline Protestantism.	19:32
	Mainline Protestantism that's us.	19:36
	Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Baptist.	19:39
	Protestantism in America.	19:43
	And these sociologists say that from what they can see,	19:47
	religious vitality is related to three factors.	19:51
	And those factors are	19:55
	cost,	19:58
	stigma,	20:00
	and sacrifice.	20:01
	Those churches who demand a great cost from their members.	20:03
	Those churches that lay upon the backs of their members	20:10
	some social stigma.	20:14
	Those churches that ask for more sacrifice do better	20:16
	than those churches who ask for less.	20:20
	There has been a vast decline in American religious life,	20:26
	and yet,	20:31
	studies show that North Americans are just as religious	20:33
	as they've ever been.	20:38
	There basically has been no decline in the number	20:40
	of people who practice their Christian faith	20:42
	over the past 50 years in North America.	20:46
	The decline has been exclusively	20:50
	within mainline Protestantism.	20:51
	And yet there has been a rapid upsurge	20:55
	in the younger churches.	20:57
	The Church of God, the Assemblies of God, etc.	20:58
	In other words, these sociologists indicate	21:03
	that with respectability and affluence	21:05
	and education and a rise of a professional clergy,	21:08
	always comes decline.	21:12
	And that's tough to think about these matters around here.	21:17
	Maybe because if these sociologists are right,	21:23
	we are the instigators of mainline religious decline.	21:26
	And so, when we're faced with a story	21:31
	of Pentecost in Acts 2,	21:34
	or our neighborhood Assemblies of God congregation,	21:36
	we don't think holy spirit.	21:40
	We're conditioned to think that maybe	21:42
	these people have got some kind of psychological problem.	21:45
	Maybe they're the victims of some sort	21:48
	of cultural educational backwardness.	21:52
	Freud characterized religion as neurosis.	21:56
	He calls religion an intoxicant.	22:01
	Childishness to be overcome.	22:05
	And most of us, when we hear a story like Pentecost,	22:08
	we are all Freudians.	22:12
	I was teaching a class in the Divinity School,	22:17
	Field Education Seminar and that's when the students come in	22:19
	and they present episodes from their ministry	22:22
	and we look at them and we discuss them.	22:25
	And one of the students presented a case study in which,	22:28
	when he was a student pastor, a woman comes to him	22:32
	and says to the student pastor,	22:34
	"What does the Methodist church believe	22:38
	about speaking in tongues?"	22:40
	The pastor's first response was,	22:44
	"Oh my God don't tell me you've gotten into that."	22:46
	And she said, "Well I don't know that I've gotten into it	22:50
	but in my Monday morning prayer and Bible study group,	22:53
	I had this very strange experience	22:57
	and after it's over someone says well dear	22:59
	that's speaking in tongues.	23:00
	You've got the gift of tongues.	23:02
	And I just wondered what we believe about it."	23:04
	To this, the pastor responded,	23:07
	"I wonder if you're still not in some grief	23:10
	over the death of your daughter."	23:12
	And she said, "Well certainly I'm in grief	23:15
	over the death of my daughter.	23:18
	Do you think this is related to that?"	23:19
	Then the young pastor says,	23:22
	"Have you thought about seeking professional help?"	23:23
	And she said, "Well yeah that's sort of why I came to you,	23:28
	the pastor."	23:31
	(crowd laughing)	23:32
	You see, there can be only one explanation	23:37
	in our reductionistic world view for such strange phenomena.	23:41
	This woman must be nuts.	23:47
	The young pastor never assumed that maybe	23:52
	what was going on here was a reworking of Acts 2.	23:55
	There was only one explanation in his urbane, educated,	24:01
	theologically sophisticated mind.	24:05
	Lady, you must be drunk.	24:08
	In 1927, Freud spoke of religion as some sort of psychosis.	24:12
	Religion is most active among people	24:17
	who are mentally unbalanced and yet,	24:20
	since 1927 there have been numerous studies	24:24
	and none of them show that there is the slightest bit	24:27
	of evidence to back up Freud's claim.	24:29
	And every study I know about, psychological studies	24:32
	of deeply religious people find a positive	24:35
	rather than a negative relationship between	24:39
	strong religious vitality and emotional health.	24:42
	Marx dismissed religion as the opiate of the masses.	24:48
	The poor man's cheap drug to take away	24:53
	some of the pain from daily existence.	24:56
	And yet as we watched the revolution that occurred	25:00
	in Eastern Europe, much of it directly tied to the churches,	25:02
	we now know what poor old Marx did not.	25:09
	Religion is not the opiate of the masses,	25:12
	it is the amphetamine of the poor.	25:16
	I'm saying there is no justification	25:21
	for our modern prejudice to relegate the born again	25:23
	or the spiritually engaged to the ranks	25:27
	of the mentally unbalanced.	25:30
	In fact, a recent study of American college students showed	25:32
	that there is a positive correlation between saying	25:36
	you're born again or that you identify yourself	25:40
	as a conservative evangelical	25:43
	and academic achievement in college.	25:46
	See we told ourselves that we were becoming modern	25:52
	and as we became modern,	25:55
	the world was going to get less religious,	25:56
	we were gonna all end up	25:59
	looking like England or something.	26:00
	Unfortunately there is no evidence for this	26:04
	in North America.	26:06
	As Richard Douhouse says,	26:08
	"North America more closely resembles India or	26:09
	Africa in our religiosity than England	26:12
	or Sweden or Northern Europe."	26:16
	It's only people who work around Universities	26:20
	and people who write for newspapers	26:23
	who persist in the outmoded notion	26:27
	that somehow religious faith is an outmoded vestige	26:29
	that we have put behind us.	26:33
	William James characterized true religion as white hot heat.	26:37
	And it does seem that a lot of people	26:45
	are getting heated up over faith.	26:47
	And yet all evidence to the contrary,	26:53
	don't you find it interesting we continue	26:55
	to sin against Pentecost.	26:57
	We continue to attempt reductionistically	27:01
	to explain away this disruptive outburst,	27:04
	this weird intrusion of the spirit.	27:07
	And I think you know why.	27:12
	Acts 2 is not a promise.	27:16
	For us it is a threat.	27:20
	The story of Pentecost is a threat	27:23
	that one Sunday we might all gather here	27:26
	in our bolted-down pews and our smug reasonableness	27:28
	and our bourgeoisie respectability	27:36
	only to be jumped from behind by the spirit.	27:40
	To be grabbed by our collective collars,	27:43
	shaken up and thrown into confusion.	27:46
	Intoxicated.	27:50
	And this is not a suggestion many of us welcome.	27:54
	Because most of us come here to be confirmed	27:58
	in what we already know.	28:00
	Most of us come here to be sure	28:02
	that the ruts we've chosen in life,	28:04
	are good ruts for us to be in.	28:06
	Not, we do not come here to be dislodged.	28:10
	Led by the spirit into some terra incognita.	28:16
	That we do not know.	28:21
	And so I say this story to us as a warning, a threat,	28:25
	you be real careful here.	28:28
	As you come to the table today with hands open,	28:32
	maybe even your mind open.	28:36
	Be careful.	28:39
	Because scripture says the wind,	28:43
	the holy wind blows where it will.	28:45
	God's spirit will not be tamed or house-broken by us.	28:49
	Not by our liturgy, my sermons, this church,	28:54
	modern policing of what's possible and impossible.	28:59
	This spirit will not be tamed by us.	29:03
	Your soul might catch fire.	29:06
	You might break free, even, especially here.	29:08
	Now I would hate to see nice,	29:15
	respectable people like you with mortgages,	29:18
	I would hate to see you go out of here drunk.	29:22
	No I wouldn't.	29:27
	(crowd murmuring)	29:29
-	The Lord be with you.	29:43
Crowd	And also with you.	29:45
-	Let us pray, let us stand for our Pentecost litany.	29:47
	When the day of Pentecost had come	29:58
	they were all together in one place	29:59
	and all of the many foreigners heard the witnesses	30:01
	speaking in their own tongue.	30:04
	(crowd speaking in unison)	30:07
	Speak in the language of our need.	30:13
	Let us hear how our deepest hungers, desires,	30:15
	and aspirations can be fulfilled by your goodness	30:19
	and in your service.	30:22
	(crowd speaking in unison)	30:24
	Speak in the language of our fear.	30:29
	Let us hear how our worries about the future	30:31
	and about each other and about ourselves can find rest	30:34
	in your providential care.	30:39
	(crowd speaking in unison)	30:41
	Speak in the language of our guilt.	30:46
	Let us hear how our confessed shame for wrong things done	30:49
	and for good things undone is covered by your forgiveness.	30:54
	(crowd speaking in unison)	30:59
	Speak in the language of our gratitude.	31:04
	Let us hear how our honest thanks relate us,	31:07
	not only to those with whom we live	31:10
	but also to you the Lord and giver of life.	31:12
	(crowd speaking in unison)	31:16
	Speak to us in the language of joy.	31:21
	Let us hear how our gladness	31:24
	and our delight not only brighten this world	31:26
	but honor you who made our world.	31:29
	(crowd speaking in unison)	31:32
	Speak to us in the language of hope.	31:37
	Let us hear how our yearning and our expectations	31:40
	are not just wishful thinking but responses to your promise.	31:43
	(crowd speaking in unison)	31:49
	Now let us greet one another with words	32:07
	and signs of God's peace.	32:09
	(crowd murmuring)	32:14
	Would you please be seated?	32:32
	Our Lord said it is more blessed to give than to receive.	32:37
	Let us therefore worship God	32:40
	with our tithes and our offerings.	32:42
	(organ playing)	32:49
	(man singing)	35:14
	(choir singing)	36:01
	(organ playing)	40:54
	(crowd singing)	41:40
William	Let us give thanks to God.	42:37
	The Lord be with you.	42:39
Crowd	And also with you.	42:41
William	Lift up your hearts.	42:42
Crowd	We lift them up to the Lord.	42:44
William	Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.	42:46
Crowd	It is right to give him thanks and praise.	42:49
-	All praise and thanks are yours, life giving Lord.	42:52
	In the beginning your spirit moved over	42:56
	the face of the waters, you breathed into us	42:58
	the breath of life.	43:01
	When we resisted and grieved	43:02
	your spirit came upon the waters	43:04
	and upon us, upon prophets, upon teachers,	43:08
	anointing all to speak your word in truth.	43:13
	In the folds of time you gave us your son Jesus.	43:17
	At his baptism in the Jordan	43:20
	your spirit descended upon him	43:22
	and announced him as your beloved son.	43:24
	With your spirit upon him he turned away	43:26
	the temptation of sin and proclaimed justice	43:29
	to all peoples brought good news to the poor	43:32
	and released the captives.	43:35
	Freedom to the oppressed.	43:37
	By the baptism, his death and resurrection	43:39
	you gave birth to your church.	43:42
	At his ascension, you exulted him to sit at your right hand	43:44
	where according to his promise,	43:48
	he is with us always baptizing us	43:50
	with the holy spirit and with fire.	43:53
	As on the day of Pentecost,	43:55
	we pray with your people on earth	43:58
	and all the company of heaven.	44:03
	Praising your name and joining their unending hymn.	44:05
	(organ playing)	44:09
	(crowd singing in unison)	44:18
	On the night he offered himself up for us, he took bread,	44:56
	he gave thanks to you, broke the bread,	44:58
	and gave it to his disciples and said, "Take, eat,	45:01
	this is my body given for you.	45:05
	Do this in remembrance of me."	45:07
	And when the supper was over, he took the cup,	45:10
	gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples and said,	45:12
	"Drink from this, all of you.	45:15
	For this is the blood of my new covenant	45:18
	poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins.	45:20
	Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."	45:23
	And so in remembrance of these,	45:27
	your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,	45:29
	we offer ourselves in praise	45:31
	and thanksgiving as a holy living sacrifice	45:33
	in union with Christ offering	45:37
	for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith.	45:38
	(organ playing)	45:43
	(crowd singing in unison)	45:52
	On the day that you raised him up from the dead,	46:05
	Jesus was recognized by his disciples	46:07
	in the breaking of the bread	46:10
	and in the power of your spirit.	46:11
	Therefore in remembrance of all your mighty acts	46:13
	in Jesus Christ, we ask you to accept this,	46:16
	our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which we offer	46:19
	in union with Christ's sacrifice for us.	46:23
	As a living and holy surrender of ourselves.	46:26
	Send the power of your holy spirit on us and on these gifts.	46:29
	That in the breaking of this bread	46:33
	and the drinking of this wine	46:34
	we may know the presence of the living Christ	46:35
	and be renewed in his likeness.	46:38
	All honor and glory is yours almighty father	46:43
	now and forever.	46:48
	(organ playing)	46:50
	(crowd singing in unison)	47:00
	And now with the confidence of children,	47:14
	we pray as Christ has taught us.	47:16
	(crowd chanting in unison)	47:18
	Our Father, who art in heaven,	47:19
	hallowed be thy name.	47:21
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.	47:23
	On earth as it is in heaven.	47:26
	Give us this day, our daily bread	47:28
	and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those	47:31
	who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation	47:34
	but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom,	47:39
	and the power and the glory forever.	47:42
	Amen.	47:45
-	When we break the bread,	47:47
	is it not a means of sharing in the body of Christ?	47:49
	When we give thanks over the cup,	47:53
	is not a means of sharing in the blood of Christ?	47:55
	Come to the Lord's table.	47:59
	(shuffling noises)	48:06
	(footsteps)	48:10
	(organ playing)	48:40
	(choir singing)	49:05
-	Please stand for the Benediction.	56:51
	Now by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,	56:57
	the love of God and the fellowship of the holy spirit	57:00
	be with you now and always.	57:02
	(organ playing)	57:08
	(choir singing)	57:12
	(crowd singing in unison)	57:42

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "They're Drunk" (May 22, 1994)

Description:

Sermon start time: 12:39. Sermon end time: 29:29.
Pentecost and the spiritual experience of speaking in tongues challenges the contemporary mind, which does not believe in the supernatural. The preacher argues that doubting the Holy Spirit may be the cause of the steady decline of mainline Protestantism in America and the increasing popularity of atheism. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Acts 2 is not a promise. For us it is a threat. The story of Pentecost is a threat that one Sunday we might all gather here in our bolted-down pews and our smug reasonableness and our bourgeoisie respectability, only to be jumped from behind by the Spirit. To be grabbed by our collective collars, shaken up and thrown into confusion. Intoxicated.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4zc7s87p

Date:

May 22, 1994

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Biblical Book:

Acts

Chapter and Verse:

Acts 2:1-21

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0373
ref9419_0ro
uachapelsermaud
duke:321769
dcrmv001355
ark:/87924/r4zc7s87p
e1313ab9-d07d-4a87-b902-fac8bf81d874

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

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

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William H. Willimon - "They're Drunk" (May 22, 1994)

Transcript

Item Info

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Duke University Archives