William H. Willimon - "Tell Me the Story of Jesus" (December 31, 1995)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music) | 0:02 | |
- | Good morning, welcome to this service of worship | 0:43 |
at Duke Chapel. | 0:47 | |
You will note that the world moves on immediately | 0:50 | |
after Christmas to something else. | 0:54 | |
The church in its wisdom has declared that this is | 0:57 | |
the first Sunday of Christmas and we continue our | 1:01 | |
reflections upon the nativity of Christ. | 1:04 | |
Helping to lead the service today is | 1:09 | |
Dr. Karen Westerfield Hucker. | 1:11 | |
Who teaches worship at the Divinity School. | 1:13 | |
Eliza Ferguson, graduate student at Duke and member of | 1:16 | |
the congregation of Duke Chapel. | 1:20 | |
Our guest organist is Dr. Joseph Kitchen, | 1:22 | |
distinguished Durham musician and teacher of musicians | 1:26 | |
and again we have with us helping to lead us in our | 1:29 | |
music, the Crown Chamber Brass. | 1:34 | |
One correction, in the bulletin, the congregational | 1:37 | |
12th night party will be held, not as listed in the | 1:41 | |
bulletin, but will be held on Friday, January the fifth | 1:44 | |
at 6:00 p.m. in the Episcopal Center and all are invited. | 1:48 | |
Please stand for the call to worship. | 1:54 | |
Praise the lord. | 2:01 | |
God commanded and all was made. | 2:04 | |
("The First Noel") | 2:12 | |
♪ The first Noel ♪ | 2:52 | |
♪ The angel did say ♪ | 2:55 | |
♪ Was to certain poor shepherds ♪ | 2:59 | |
♪ In fields as they lay ♪ | 3:02 | |
♪ In fields as they lay ♪ | 3:06 | |
♪ Keeping their sheep ♪ | 3:09 | |
♪ On a cold winter's night ♪ | 3:13 | |
♪ That was so deep ♪ | 3:16 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 3:20 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 3:24 | |
♪ Born is the king of Israel ♪ | 3:28 | |
♪ They looked up and saw a star ♪ | 3:39 | |
♪ Shining in the east beyond them far ♪ | 3:44 | |
♪ And to the earth ♪ | 3:51 | |
♪ It gave great light ♪ | 3:54 | |
♪ And so it continued ♪ | 3:58 | |
♪ Both day and night ♪ | 4:01 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 4:05 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 4:08 | |
♪ Born is the king of Israel ♪ | 4:13 | |
♪ And by the light ♪ | 4:22 | |
♪ Of that same star ♪ | 4:24 | |
♪ Three wise men came ♪ | 4:28 | |
♪ From country far ♪ | 4:31 | |
♪ To seek for a king ♪ | 4:34 | |
♪ Was their intent ♪ | 4:38 | |
♪ And to follow the star ♪ | 4:41 | |
♪ Wherever it went ♪ | 4:44 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 4:48 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 4:51 | |
♪ Born is the king of Israel ♪ | 4:55 | |
♪ This star drew nigh ♪ | 5:04 | |
♪ To the northwest ♪ | 5:07 | |
♪ Over Bethlehem it ♪ | 5:10 | |
♪ Took its rest ♪ | 5:15 | |
♪ And there it did ♪ | 5:18 | |
♪ Both stop and stay ♪ | 5:21 | |
♪ Right over the place ♪ | 5:25 | |
♪ Where Jesus lay ♪ | 5:29 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 5:32 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 5:36 | |
♪ Born is the king of Israel ♪ | 5:40 | |
♪ Then entered in ♪ | 5:50 | |
♪ Those wise men three ♪ | 5:53 | |
♪ Fall reverently ♪ | 5:56 | |
♪ Upon their knee ♪ | 5:59 | |
♪ And offered there ♪ | 6:02 | |
♪ In his presence ♪ | 6:06 | |
♪ Their gold and myrrh ♪ | 6:09 | |
♪ And frankincense ♪ | 6:12 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 6:16 | |
♪ Noel Noel ♪ | 6:19 | |
♪ Born is the king of Israel ♪ | 6:23 | |
Woman | Let us pray. | 6:34 |
Almighty God, you have shed upon us the new light | 6:37 | |
of your incarnate word. | 6:40 | |
May this light, enkindled in our hearts, | 6:43 | |
shine forth in our lives | 6:46 | |
through Jesus Christ our lord who lives and reigns | 6:49 | |
with you in the unity of the holy spirit. | 6:53 | |
One God, now and forever, amen. | 6:56 | |
Please be seated. | 7:02 | |
- | 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 may hear your message with joy this day. | 7:23 | |
Amen. | 7:27 | |
The Old Testament reading is from the book of Isaiah, | 7:29 | |
chapter 63, verses seven through nine. | 7:33 | |
I will recount the gracious deeds of the lord. | 7:38 | |
The praise worthy acts of the lord. | 7:41 | |
Because of all that the lord has done for us | 7:43 | |
and the great favor to the house of Israel, | 7:46 | |
that he has shown them according to his mercy, | 7:49 | |
according to the abundance of his steadfast love. | 7:52 | |
For he said, surely they are my people, | 7:56 | |
children who will not deal falsely | 8:00 | |
and he became their savior in all their distress. | 8:03 | |
It was no messenger or angel | 8:07 | |
but his presence that saved them. | 8:09 | |
In his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. | 8:12 | |
He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. | 8:15 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 8:20 | |
- | The psalm appointed for this day is psalm 148. | 8:32 |
Would you please stand? | 8:36 | |
Praise the lord. | 8:45 | |
Praise the lord from the heavens. | 8:46 | |
Praise the lord in the heights. | 8:49 | |
Praise the lord, sun and moon. | 8:58 | |
Praise the lord, all shining stars. | 9:00 | |
Let them praise the name of the lord, who commanded | 9:10 | |
and they were created. | 9:13 | |
Praise the lord from the earth, sea monsters and all deeps, | 9:22 | |
mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, | 9:34 | |
kings of the earth and all peoples, | 9:45 | |
princes and all rulers of the Earth. | 9:48 | |
Let them praise the name of the lord, whose name alone is | 9:56 | |
exalted, whose glory is above Earth and heaven. | 10:00 | |
Praise the lord. | 10:15 | |
(organ music) | 10:18 | |
(hymnal singing) | 10:32 | |
Please be seated. | 11:13 | |
- | The epistle reading is from Hebrews, chapter two, | 11:20 |
verses 10 through 18. | 11:24 | |
It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom, | 11:27 | |
all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, | 11:30 | |
should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect | 11:35 | |
through suffering, for the one who sanctifies | 11:38 | |
and those who are sanctified all have one father. | 11:41 | |
For this reason, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers | 11:46 | |
and sisters saying, | 11:50 | |
I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. | 11:52 | |
In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. | 11:56 | |
And again, I will put my trust in him. | 12:00 | |
And again, here am I, and the children | 12:04 | |
whom God has given me. | 12:07 | |
Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, | 12:09 | |
he himself likewise shared the same things so that through | 12:13 | |
death he might destroy the one who has the power of | 12:17 | |
death that is the devil and free those who all their lives | 12:21 | |
were held in slavery by the fear of death. | 12:26 | |
For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, | 12:30 | |
but the descendants of Abraham. | 12:34 | |
Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters | 12:37 | |
in every respect so that he might be a merciful and faithful | 12:41 | |
high priest in the service of God to make a sacrifice of | 12:46 | |
atonement for the sins of the people. | 12:50 | |
Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, | 12:54 | |
he is able to help those who are being tested. | 12:58 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 13:03 | |
(horn music) | 13:16 | |
- | One of my fondest memories as a parent are | 16:57 |
when our children were being put to bed they always ask, | 17:03 | |
tell a story, read a story. | 17:07 | |
Children love stories. | 17:09 | |
But there's a certain sense in which it can be said, | 17:14 | |
children not only love stories but children need stories. | 17:18 | |
In a soon to be published book on the gospels of Mark | 17:25 | |
and John, Duke writer, Reynolds Price begins by | 17:31 | |
telling what bible stories meant to him growing up. | 17:36 | |
Can any of you relate to this? | 17:42 | |
Price says, | 17:45 | |
I'm hardly alone in the world in saying that the central | 17:47 | |
narratives of the Bible | 17:50 | |
drew early at my mind | 17:52 | |
and have kept their magnetism for me. | 17:55 | |
In my case their hold has lasted undiminished | 17:59 | |
nearly six decades. | 18:02 | |
Before I could read, I often turned to profusely illustrated | 18:05 | |
pages of Hurlbut's story of the Bible, | 18:09 | |
imagining what tales it produced, such warming pictures. | 18:12 | |
By the age of eight | 18:17 | |
I began to make drawings of my own from knowledge I had | 18:19 | |
gained in reading the tales my new won literacy | 18:22 | |
and yielding to the pool of their fresh, unnerving actions. | 18:26 | |
Abraham bent on butchering his Isaac. | 18:31 | |
The boy, David, with a hacked off head of the monstrous | 18:35 | |
Goliath and the strangest | 18:38 | |
and most riveting of all, | 18:41 | |
the birth of a unique, glisting child | 18:43 | |
in a straw table with attendant angels, | 18:47 | |
shepherds and wise men. | 18:50 | |
By then in the countryside near my parents home I had also | 18:52 | |
undergone solitary apprehensions | 18:56 | |
of a vibrant unity among all visible things | 18:59 | |
and the thing I guessed was hid beneath the visible world. | 19:03 | |
The reachable world of trees, rocks, water, clouds, snakes, | 19:07 | |
foxes, myself, beneath them all | 19:11 | |
I loved and feared. | 19:15 | |
Even that early, I sensed the world's unity | 19:17 | |
as a vast kinship far past the bond of any route I shared | 19:21 | |
with other creatures in evolutionary time. | 19:26 | |
The Bible stories have begun to engage me steadily | 19:30 | |
in silence and to draw me toward the singular claim | 19:34 | |
of their burning heart. | 19:39 | |
Your life is willed and watched | 19:41 | |
with a care by a God who once lived here. | 19:44 | |
Price illustrates that children need stories. | 19:54 | |
I wonder why? | 20:01 | |
Here's what my theory is, that children need these stories | 20:02 | |
because a child's life can be so | 20:07 | |
confusing and incomprehensible. | 20:10 | |
The world, so strange that children are desperate | 20:13 | |
for some means of making sense of it all and making some | 20:17 | |
kind of predictability and coherence. | 20:22 | |
Each day a young life can be so strange | 20:26 | |
that they long for experiences that always begin the same | 20:31 | |
way, once upon a time. | 20:36 | |
And then move to some reassuring, predictable end, | 20:39 | |
and they lived happily ever after. | 20:45 | |
I think that's one reason why children demand to have the | 20:50 | |
same story told over and over again | 20:53 | |
and you can't leave out one word of it or one experience. | 20:58 | |
It has to be exactly the same over and over again | 21:01 | |
and I think the reason that when you're four years old | 21:05 | |
there is so much that you don't know. | 21:08 | |
Adults are so unmanageable and odd. | 21:11 | |
It's reassuring to know that some things do turn out right. | 21:15 | |
That even little people like | 21:20 | |
Red Riding Hood or Jack | 21:22 | |
can figure things out, they can triumph over giants | 21:25 | |
and wolves, they can live happily ever after. | 21:29 | |
They love to hear the same stories. | 21:33 | |
And so do we. | 21:38 | |
Now I know that this first Sunday of Christmas there are | 21:41 | |
lots of reasons for you to be here in church. | 21:43 | |
But I want to suggest one. | 21:47 | |
And that is that you are here in search of a story | 21:50 | |
so reliable and true. | 21:56 | |
You are here to hear something that you already | 21:59 | |
know by heart in the deepest meaning of that expression | 22:02 | |
and I'm talking about today's gospel from Luke. | 22:06 | |
The story of the birth of Jesus. | 22:09 | |
This is not new information for you, you know this by heart, | 22:13 | |
having heard it over and again since childhood. | 22:16 | |
You know it by heart. | 22:20 | |
This is the most beloved story in the Bible | 22:23 | |
and I say that you have come here this morning | 22:27 | |
not only because you love this story | 22:29 | |
but because you need this story. | 22:32 | |
Hear the gospel. | 22:36 | |
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus | 22:39 | |
that all the world should be registered | 22:43 | |
and this was the first registration taken while Corinius | 22:46 | |
was governor of Syria. | 22:49 | |
All went to their own towns to be registered. | 22:52 | |
Joseph went also from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to | 22:56 | |
Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem because he was | 23:00 | |
descended from the house, the line of David. | 23:03 | |
He went to be registered with Mary to whom he was engaged | 23:07 | |
and who was expecting a child. | 23:11 | |
While they were there the time came for her to deliver her | 23:14 | |
child and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped | 23:17 | |
him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger. | 23:21 | |
Because there was no place for them in the inn. | 23:24 | |
In that region there were shepherds | 23:29 | |
living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks | 23:31 | |
by night, then an angel of the Lord stood before them | 23:33 | |
and the glory of the lord shone around them | 23:37 | |
and they were terrified. | 23:40 | |
The angel said, | 23:43 | |
do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of | 23:45 | |
great joy for all people. | 23:49 | |
To you, is born, this day in the city of David, a savior | 23:51 | |
who is the messiah, the lord. | 23:54 | |
This will be a sign for you, you will find a child wrapped | 23:58 | |
in bands of cloth lying in a manger and suddenly there was | 24:01 | |
with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God | 24:04 | |
and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace | 24:08 | |
among those whom God favors. | 24:12 | |
And the angels had left them and gone into heaven, | 24:16 | |
the shepherds said to one another, | 24:18 | |
let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has | 24:20 | |
taken place which the Lord has made known to us. | 24:23 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 24:28 | |
Thanks be to God. | 24:32 | |
Our modern lives | 24:37 | |
are characterized by incoherence. | 24:41 | |
If you look in our brains, they would resemble | 24:46 | |
the yellow pages. | 24:49 | |
A catalog of assorted stuff. | 24:51 | |
Images come at us in 10 second sound bites | 24:54 | |
like the evening news, there's a bit of tragedy here, | 24:57 | |
a bomb going off in Bosnia, numbers on the economy, | 25:01 | |
a child has died in an accident, | 25:05 | |
someone's head is blown off in downtown Durham | 25:07 | |
and now a word from our sponsor. | 25:10 | |
It tends not to add up to anything, | 25:15 | |
it doesn't go anywhere, | 25:19 | |
it has no plot, disconnected, incoherent. | 25:21 | |
What we're missing is some | 25:27 | |
master story | 25:30 | |
and as we've said, we live by stories. | 25:33 | |
These stories tell us where life is moving, | 25:36 | |
where we're going. | 25:38 | |
As a child I was told the story of George Washington | 25:41 | |
cutting down the cherry tree and refusing to lie about it. | 25:45 | |
Nevermind that the story is apocryphal, | 25:50 | |
not exactly the way things happened. | 25:53 | |
But from that story learned my heart, | 25:57 | |
you see I learned | 25:59 | |
that the world belongs to the honest. | 26:02 | |
That even though one does wrong, one must not lie | 26:06 | |
after all, look at George Washington. | 26:11 | |
An earlier generation learned the story of a Horatio Alger. | 26:15 | |
The story of a kid who grows up poor but through hard work | 26:19 | |
gets to the top. | 26:23 | |
Another generation learns the story of Batman and Robin. | 26:26 | |
The story of the triumph of good, the defeat of evil. | 26:30 | |
Then there's the Helen Keller story about | 26:35 | |
victory over life's disabilities or | 26:37 | |
the Florence Nightingale story about the goodness | 26:41 | |
of compassion. | 26:44 | |
These are among the master stories which we've heard from | 26:47 | |
childhood which tell us who we are and where the | 26:49 | |
world is going. | 26:53 | |
And yet in a recent book, Neil Postman, | 26:56 | |
the book is entitled, "The End Of Education," | 27:00 | |
Neil Postman says, | 27:04 | |
that we no longer live in a world ruled | 27:07 | |
by certain master stories. | 27:11 | |
Postman says that what we lack | 27:15 | |
is a comprehensive narrative | 27:18 | |
about what the world is like and how it got to be that way. | 27:21 | |
There was a time when Israel's story | 27:27 | |
of the creation of the world, | 27:29 | |
Genesis one, rendered the world into a place of | 27:32 | |
divine work and destiny. | 27:36 | |
It moved the lives of millions. | 27:40 | |
That master story was replaced by Newton's account | 27:44 | |
of the world as a predictable, purely mechanical, clockwork, | 27:49 | |
perpetual motion machine, | 27:54 | |
gift of science, tool of technology. | 27:56 | |
But now, says Postman, both of these master stories, | 28:02 | |
the Genesis story of God's creation of the world | 28:07 | |
and the Newtonian account of the clockwork universe. | 28:10 | |
Both of these stories have been displaced | 28:14 | |
are in jeopardy. | 28:19 | |
There is now no commonly accepted master tale | 28:21 | |
that in the telling gives life coherence and direction. | 28:25 | |
We shuffle through the pages of old stories which | 28:31 | |
used to make sense. | 28:34 | |
The stories of King David or King George or | 28:36 | |
Martin Luther King or Burger King. | 28:39 | |
They no longer speak to us. | 28:43 | |
We don't tell stories to our children | 28:48 | |
with as much conviction | 28:51 | |
because life appears to have lost its narrative framework. | 28:53 | |
Now it's just one dumb thing after another life is to | 28:58 | |
quote Shakespeare, | 29:02 | |
"A tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury | 29:03 | |
signifying nothing." | 29:09 | |
Yesterday, CNN's, Jill Dougherty, | 29:13 | |
in reviewing the past year in politics, | 29:17 | |
the troubles of the current presidential | 29:21 | |
administration says, | 29:23 | |
President Clinton's biggest problem is he's never been able | 29:25 | |
to come up with a good bumper sticker. | 29:29 | |
The interviewer said, what do you mean by that and says, | 29:34 | |
the American people don't want anything that cannot be put | 29:37 | |
in the space of a bumper sticker that explains things. | 29:43 | |
Neil Postman says that our schools purchase expensive | 29:50 | |
computers for our kids because we can't think of anything | 29:54 | |
more significant to do for them. | 29:59 | |
These machines crunch more and more | 30:03 | |
facts and figures and data. | 30:06 | |
They manage more information | 30:10 | |
but it doesn't add up to anything. | 30:13 | |
It doesn't go anywhere. | 30:15 | |
It doesn't have a beginning a middle and an end. | 30:16 | |
All we're doing is sort of shuffling the cards, | 30:20 | |
moving around information, rearranging disconnected images, | 30:23 | |
blips on the computer screen. | 30:27 | |
When what we need is a story. | 30:31 | |
Now today, as another year ends | 30:37 | |
and we slouch toward the end of what may have been | 30:40 | |
the bloodiest century in the history of the world. | 30:44 | |
We have yet to find in all of this century's inventions, | 30:49 | |
the computer or the motion picture, | 30:54 | |
or the bomb, the modern state, the welfare system, internet, | 30:57 | |
we have yet to find anything that really connects us, | 31:03 | |
that anything would suggest that we're moving towards some | 31:06 | |
destination worth having, | 31:09 | |
something that makes life worth living. | 31:12 | |
We need a story, we need some account | 31:15 | |
that is more interesting than the one we have attempted | 31:20 | |
to devise for ourselves. | 31:23 | |
We need to know that there's something there, someone | 31:26 | |
acting in a world greater than our actions | 31:30 | |
and our devices. | 31:34 | |
We need a conviction | 31:38 | |
that history is really going somewhere other | 31:40 | |
than where we ourselves are going. | 31:44 | |
We need to have our lives set in some larger framework. | 31:48 | |
We need a story. | 31:51 | |
And thus I have told you a very old story, | 31:57 | |
strange, true. | 32:01 | |
It's a story which has the power to rearrange the world, | 32:05 | |
to open your eyes, to construct a tomorrow more interesting | 32:08 | |
than today. | 32:13 | |
It begins the way we usually begin stories. | 32:16 | |
It begins, you will note, this story of the Nativity, | 32:21 | |
it begins with men, | 32:24 | |
powerful political men. | 32:26 | |
Men who are named Caesar Augustus or Quirinius | 32:29 | |
But go ahead you could name them Pol Pot, | 32:35 | |
Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, | 32:37 | |
fill in the names, you know this story. | 32:40 | |
The story of power. | 32:42 | |
The story of government regulations | 32:45 | |
and registrations and the paying of taxes, | 32:48 | |
of mandated enrollments, of decrees handed down | 32:52 | |
from Jerusalem or Washington or Moscow. | 32:55 | |
You know that story. | 33:00 | |
But then the story takes an unexpected turn | 33:04 | |
and by the way, much unexpected is going to happen | 33:09 | |
in this story. | 33:12 | |
An unexpected turn, when into the story, | 33:14 | |
intrude two unknown, non-powerful people, | 33:18 | |
Mary, | 33:22 | |
Joseph | 33:24 | |
and you will note that these | 33:26 | |
Mary, Joseph, they don't live in places like Rome or London | 33:29 | |
or Moscow but in places nobody's ever heard of. | 33:34 | |
Nazareth. | 33:37 | |
See? | 33:40 | |
The story is already having its way with you. | 33:42 | |
Already your gaze is being turned away from CNN, | 33:47 | |
away from history as we have been told it is, | 33:52 | |
to places like, away from people like Augustus | 33:55 | |
living in Rome to places like Mary, Bethlehem, people. | 33:59 | |
People that you thought were so big and important | 34:07 | |
are getting displaced. | 34:10 | |
Places where you expected history to be made | 34:13 | |
are being dismantled | 34:16 | |
and there in a little out of the way place called Bethlehem, | 34:20 | |
Mary gives birth to a baby and wraps the baby in rags | 34:25 | |
and lies the baby in a feed trough | 34:29 | |
because there was no room for them | 34:32 | |
in the official, normal places. | 34:35 | |
See, we expect history to be a story about the turning, | 34:41 | |
about power turning on the hinges of | 34:46 | |
movements of men, the trooping of armies, | 34:50 | |
the trumpet's blast, the cannons roar | 34:53 | |
but here history has been transformed | 34:57 | |
by a baby, | 35:03 | |
fragile, dependent, needy. | 35:05 | |
God with a human face. | 35:08 | |
Very, very strange story. | 35:13 | |
And maybe that's why the church never tires of telling it. | 35:18 | |
Maybe that's why we have to retell it | 35:22 | |
every year. | 35:25 | |
That's why we have to sing it in Christmas carols | 35:27 | |
and do it up in Christmas children's pageants. | 35:29 | |
It's so strange, the story, so against our | 35:35 | |
inclinations and expectations. | 35:39 | |
So we got to tell it over and over again to get the point. | 35:42 | |
Our stories, our stories tell of the triumph | 35:47 | |
of human potential. | 35:51 | |
The upward, ever upward ascent | 35:53 | |
of humanity toward ever greater humanly devised goals | 35:56 | |
but this story tells about God's gracious intrusion | 36:02 | |
into human history. | 36:07 | |
God's taking charge, God's moving, | 36:08 | |
acting in ways beyond our puny conception. | 36:11 | |
Our stories tell us that history is what happens up at | 36:17 | |
prominent places but this story tells of | 36:20 | |
a night among poor peasants at a backwater place | 36:24 | |
named Bethlehem. | 36:28 | |
You could've watched CNN for a lifetime. | 36:30 | |
You could've read Time from cover to cover. | 36:33 | |
You could've earned your PhD at some of this country's | 36:35 | |
best institutions including this one | 36:38 | |
and you will never have heard this story. | 36:40 | |
Who is the first to get the news? | 36:45 | |
The good news, it's not the Associated Press, | 36:48 | |
CBS, MTV, ABC, it is this news, | 36:51 | |
so wonderfully strange. | 36:55 | |
It can't come through conventional media. | 36:58 | |
It's got to come through angels | 37:02 | |
and it comes to poor shepherds out with their flocks, | 37:04 | |
working class shepherds and of course this is all to say | 37:09 | |
that if the good news of God can come to a place like | 37:14 | |
Bethlehem, there's even a chance it could come to Durham. | 37:16 | |
If it could come to shepherds, it could come to us. | 37:20 | |
And we see, here is a story that doesn't just simply | 37:25 | |
want to impart more information to you. | 37:28 | |
This story wants to get in your brain, | 37:33 | |
change your field of vision, it wants to lodge deep | 37:35 | |
in your heart until your world is rearranged. | 37:39 | |
After you hear this story and get it in the heart, | 37:44 | |
it will be impossible for you hereafter to say things like, | 37:47 | |
well we might as well give up hope, I think we've done | 37:51 | |
all we can here. | 37:54 | |
Or I believe in God | 37:56 | |
and prayer and all of that, however, | 37:59 | |
there are times when one must be realistic and accept | 38:03 | |
the current situation. | 38:06 | |
It'll be difficult for you once this story gets in your | 38:10 | |
heart to pick up tomorrow's newspaper | 38:13 | |
and ask, well, what is the news today | 38:17 | |
because you know a story of how | 38:21 | |
the people missed the news first time around | 38:24 | |
and may well miss news again, how the things we call news | 38:28 | |
are not always news. | 38:32 | |
Next time you get a bad report back from your doctor, | 38:36 | |
next time when you are confronted by some terrible, | 38:41 | |
bleak situation, | 38:44 | |
next time your family gets unglued, | 38:47 | |
next time you're tempted to throw in the towel, | 38:51 | |
call it quits. | 38:53 | |
I want to tell you a story. | 38:57 | |
It's not only a good story, it's also true. | 39:01 | |
It's not only a story that you love | 39:06 | |
but | 39:10 | |
it's one that you need. | 39:12 | |
Now more than ever. | 39:15 | |
In those days | 39:21 | |
Cesar Augustus sent out a decree | 39:24 | |
that all the world should be enrolled | 39:27 | |
and Joseph and Mary went up to Bethlehem | 39:30 | |
where she gave birth | 39:34 | |
to her first born child. | 39:37 | |
(organ music) | 39:52 | |
(hymnal singing) | 40:12 | |
Woman | Please be seated. | 43:10 |
The lord be with you. | 43:19 | |
Let us pray. | 43:22 | |
In peace let us pray to the lord saying, hear our prayer. | 43:25 | |
For the holy church of God, | 43:32 | |
that it may be filled with truth and love | 43:35 | |
and be found without fault at the day of your coming. | 43:38 | |
We pray to you, oh lord, hear our prayer. | 43:43 | |
For the leaders of the church, for all ministers | 43:49 | |
and for all the holy people of God, | 43:53 | |
we pray to you, oh lord. | 43:56 | |
Hear our prayer. | 43:59 | |
For the mission of the church, that in faithful witness | 44:02 | |
it may preach the gospel to the ends of the Earth, | 44:07 | |
we pray to you, oh lord, hear our prayer. | 44:11 | |
For those who do not yet believe | 44:17 | |
and those who have lost their faith, | 44:20 | |
that they may receive the light of the gospel, | 44:24 | |
we pray to you, oh lord, | 44:27 | |
hear our prayer. | 44:30 | |
For the peace of the world, | 44:34 | |
that a spirit of respect and forbearance may grow among | 44:36 | |
nations and peoples, we pray to you, oh lord, | 44:40 | |
hear our prayer. | 44:45 | |
For the homeless, the outcast, | 44:48 | |
the pursued and the persecuted, | 44:52 | |
that they may be relieved and protected, | 44:56 | |
we pray to you, oh lord, | 45:00 | |
hear our prayer. | 45:03 | |
For the sick and the infirm | 45:07 | |
and for those who remember and care for them, | 45:10 | |
that they may know your healing touch, | 45:13 | |
we pray to you, oh lord, hear our prayer. | 45:17 | |
For our families, friends and neighbors, | 45:23 | |
that being freed from anxiety, they may live in joy, | 45:27 | |
peace and health, we pray to you, oh lord, | 45:32 | |
hear our prayer. | 45:37 | |
For all who have died in the communion of your church, | 45:41 | |
that strengthened by their witness we may be grateful | 45:46 | |
for their example, living in justice and love | 45:50 | |
until by your grace, we join them in life eternal. | 45:54 | |
We pray to you, oh lord, hear our prayer. | 46:00 | |
For yours is the majesty, oh God, holy and eternal. | 46:06 | |
Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, | 46:12 | |
now and forever, amen. | 46:16 | |
We remember and celebrate during this holy season, | 46:25 | |
the gift of God with us. | 46:29 | |
In gratitude, let us return to God the offerings of our life | 46:33 | |
and the gifts of the Earth. | 46:37 | |
(horn music) | 46:54 | |
(organ music) | 50:56 | |
(hymnal singing) | 51:21 | |
Let us pray. | 52:12 | |
Great God of power, we praise you for Jesus Christ | 52:15 | |
who came to save us from our sins. | 52:20 | |
We thank you for the hope of the prophets, | 52:23 | |
the song of the angels | 52:26 | |
and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. | 52:28 | |
We thank you that in Jesus, you became flesh and | 52:32 | |
dwelt among us, sharing human hurts and pleasures. | 52:35 | |
Glory to you for your grace filled love. | 52:40 | |
Glory to you, eternal God, | 52:44 | |
through Jesus Christ, lord of lords and king of kings, | 52:47 | |
now and forever, amen. | 52:53 | |
And now with the confidence of children of God, | 52:57 | |
we are bold to pray, our father who art in heaven, | 53:01 | |
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 53:06 | |
on Earth as it is in heaven. | 53:12 | |
Give us this day our daily bread and | 53:14 | |
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass | 53:17 | |
against us and lead us not into temptation, | 53:22 | |
but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, | 53:26 | |
the power, and the glory. | 53:30 | |
Amen. | 53:33 | |
("Joy To The World") | 53:38 | |
♪ Joy to the world the lord is come ♪ | 54:06 | |
♪ Let earth receive her king ♪ | 54:11 | |
♪ Let every heart ♪ | 54:16 | |
♪ Prepare him room ♪ | 54:18 | |
♪ And heaven and nature sing ♪ | 54:21 | |
♪ And heaven and nature sing ♪ | 54:24 | |
♪ And heaven and heaven ♪ | 54:26 | |
♪ And nature sing ♪ | 54:29 | |
♪ Joy to the world the savior reigns ♪ | 54:34 | |
♪ Let men their songs employ ♪ | 54:39 | |
♪ While fields and floods ♪ | 54:44 | |
♪ Rocks hills and plains ♪ | 54:47 | |
♪ Repeat the sounding joy ♪ | 54:50 | |
♪ Repeat the sounding joy ♪ | 54:52 | |
♪ Repeat repeat ♪ | 54:55 | |
♪ The sounding joy ♪ | 54:57 | |
(hymnal singing) | 55:03 | |
- | The grace of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, | 55:59 |
the love of God, the fellowship of the holy spirit | 56:03 | |
be with you now and throughout the coming year, amen. | 56:06 | |
(organ music) | 56:14 |