Nancy Ferree-Clark - "God's Offspring" (May 12, 1996)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(light organ music) | 0:02 | |
- | Good morning, welcome to Duke Chapel | 4:31 |
this sixth Sunday of Easter and commencement Sunday. | 4:33 | |
When you hear the bells begin to toll, | 4:38 | |
that is the sign that the class of 1996 | 4:40 | |
has officially graduated. | 4:43 | |
I'd also like to extend a special word of welcome | 4:46 | |
to all the mothers and grandmothers present with us today. | 4:49 | |
You are bearers of life, co-creators with God, | 4:53 | |
and that is a very special gift. | 4:57 | |
We hope that this will be a day which is a joyous day | 4:59 | |
of celebration for you and your families. | 5:03 | |
Our preacher is the Reverend Nancy Ferree Clark, | 5:07 | |
pastor to the congregation at Duke Chapel. | 5:10 | |
It is our pleasure to welcome her to our pulpit once again. | 5:13 | |
Now, let us continue our worship with the call to worship, | 5:17 | |
please stand. | 5:20 | |
You are no longer children of the world, | 5:26 | |
put away your childish gods. | 5:29 | |
God desires that we search and find our maker. | 5:37 | |
Glory to God, whose face is not hidden behind the clouds. | 5:46 | |
Other peoples may worship unknown gods, | 5:51 | |
but as for this house, | 5:54 | |
we will worship the Lord. | 5:57 | |
(organ music) | 6:00 | |
Let us pray. | 10:14 | |
Loving God, in whom we live and move | 10:17 | |
and have our being, | 10:22 | |
dwell with us here, | 10:25 | |
transforming the landscape of our souls, | 10:28 | |
and granting the nourishment we need. | 10:31 | |
We are hungry for your truth, | 10:35 | |
and thirsty for real peace. | 10:38 | |
Hear our prayer and praise, | 10:42 | |
turn us away from evil, | 10:45 | |
and prepare us for life abundant, amen. | 10:48 | |
You may be seated. | 10:53 | |
- | Let us pray the prayer for illumination. | 11:08 |
O living God, bring us forth from death to life | 11:13 | |
so that, as the scriptures are read, | 11:18 | |
and your word is proclaimed, | 11:20 | |
we may be brought to a sure and living faith | 11:22 | |
in your lordship, amen. | 11:25 | |
First lesson is from 1 Peter 3:13-22. | 11:32 | |
"Now who will harm you | 11:39 | |
"if you are eager to do what is good? | 11:41 | |
"But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, | 11:44 | |
"you are blessed. | 11:47 | |
"Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, | 11:49 | |
"but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. | 11:54 | |
"Always be ready to make your defense to anyone | 11:58 | |
"who demands from you an accounting | 12:01 | |
"for the hope that is in you, | 12:03 | |
"yet do it with gentleness and reverence. | 12:06 | |
"Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are maligned, | 12:09 | |
"those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ | 12:13 | |
"may be put to shame. | 12:16 | |
"For it is better to suffer for doing good, | 12:18 | |
"if suffering should be God's will, | 12:21 | |
"than to suffer for doing evil. | 12:24 | |
"For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, | 12:26 | |
"the righteous for the unrighteous, | 12:30 | |
"in order to bring you to God. | 12:33 | |
"He was put to death in the flesh, | 12:36 | |
"but made alive in the spirit, | 12:38 | |
"in which also he went and made a proclamation | 12:41 | |
"to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, | 12:44 | |
"when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, | 12:48 | |
"during the building of the ark, in which a few, | 12:52 | |
"that is, eight persons, were saved through water. | 12:55 | |
"And baptism, which this prefigured, | 12:59 | |
"now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, | 13:02 | |
"but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, | 13:06 | |
"through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, | 13:09 | |
"who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, | 13:12 | |
"with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him." | 13:16 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 13:23 | |
- | The appointed Psalm for the day is Psalm 66:8-20, | 13:31 |
found on pages 790 and 91 in your hymn book. | 13:36 | |
Please stand as we read responsively. | 13:41 | |
"Bless our God, O peoples, | 13:52 | |
"let the sound of God's praise be heard, | 13:55 | |
"who has kept us among the living, | 13:58 | |
"and has not let our feet slip." | 14:01 | |
Audience | "For you, O God, have tested us, | 14:05 |
"you have tried us as silver is tried." | 14:08 | |
- | "You brought us into the net, | 14:11 |
"you laid affliction on our loins." | 14:13 | |
Audience | "You let people ride over our heads, | 14:17 |
"we went through fire and through water, | 14:20 | |
"yet you have brought us out to a spacious place." | 14:23 | |
- | "I will come into your house with burnt offerings, | 14:27 |
"I will pay you my vows, | 14:30 | |
"that which my lips uttered | 14:32 | |
"and my mouth promised when I was in trouble." | 14:34 | |
Audience | "I will offer to you burnt offerings | 14:38 |
"of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams, | 14:41 | |
"I will make an offering of bulls and goats." | 14:45 | |
- | "Come and hear, all you who worship God, | 14:49 |
"and I will tell what God has done for me." | 14:53 | |
Audience | "I cried aloud to Him, | 14:57 |
"and he was extolled with my tongue." | 15:00 | |
- | "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, | 15:03 |
"the Lord would not have listened." | 15:06 | |
Audience | "But truly God has listened, | 15:09 |
"He has given heed to the words of my prayer. | 15:12 | |
"Blessed be God, | 15:15 | |
"because He has not rejected my prayer | 15:17 | |
"or removed His steadfast love from me." | 15:20 | |
(organ music) | 15:24 | |
- | You may be seated. | 16:21 |
- | The gospel lesson is from John 14:15-21. | 16:32 |
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. | 16:41 | |
"And I will ask the Father, | 16:45 | |
"and He will give you another advocate | 16:47 | |
"to be with you forever. | 16:50 | |
"This is the spirit of truth, | 16:52 | |
"whom the whole world cannot receive, | 16:55 | |
"because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. | 16:59 | |
"You know Him because He abides with you, | 17:03 | |
"and He will be in you. | 17:06 | |
"I will not leave you orphaned, | 17:09 | |
"I am coming to you. | 17:12 | |
"In a little while, the world will no longer see me, | 17:15 | |
"but you will see me, because I live. | 17:19 | |
"You also will live. | 17:22 | |
"On that day you will know that I am in my Father, | 17:25 | |
"and you in me, and I in you. | 17:30 | |
"They who have my commandments and keep them | 17:34 | |
"are those who love me, | 17:38 | |
"and those who love me will be loved by my Father, | 17:40 | |
"and I will love them and reveal myself to them." | 17:45 | |
This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God. | 17:51 | |
- | A reading from the Acts of the apostles. | 18:07 |
"Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus | 18:12 | |
"and said Athenians, | 18:15 | |
"I see how extremely religious you are in every way. | 18:17 | |
"For as I went through the city and looked carefully | 18:22 | |
"at the objects of your worship, | 18:26 | |
"I found among them an altar with the inscription, | 18:28 | |
"to an unknown god. | 18:31 | |
"What therefore you worship as unknown, | 18:34 | |
"this I proclaim to you. | 18:37 | |
"The God who made the world and everything in it, | 18:40 | |
"He who is Lord of heaven and earth, | 18:43 | |
"does not live in shrines made by human hands, | 18:46 | |
"as though he needed anything, | 18:49 | |
"since He Himself gives to all mortals | 18:52 | |
"life and breath and all things. | 18:54 | |
"From one ancestor He made all nations | 18:58 | |
"to inhabit the whole earth, | 19:01 | |
"and He allotted the times of their existence | 19:03 | |
"and the boundaries of the places where they would live, | 19:06 | |
"so that they would search for God | 19:10 | |
"and perhaps grope for Him and find Him, | 19:12 | |
"though indeed He is not far from each one of us. | 19:17 | |
"For in Him we live and move and have our being, | 19:21 | |
"as even some of your own poets have said | 19:27 | |
"for we too are His offspring. | 19:30 | |
"Since we are God's offspring, | 19:34 | |
"we ought not to think that the deity | 19:36 | |
"is like gold, or silver, or stone, | 19:38 | |
"an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. | 19:41 | |
"While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, | 19:46 | |
"now He commands all people everywhere to repent, | 19:50 | |
"because He has fixed a day on which | 19:54 | |
"He will have the world judged in righteousness | 19:56 | |
"by a man whom he has appointed, | 19:59 | |
"and of this He has given assurance | 20:01 | |
"to all by raising him from the dead." | 20:04 | |
This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God. | 20:10 | |
It seems appropriate that in today's lectionary reading | 20:19 | |
from Acts, on this graduation Sunday, | 20:21 | |
as the bells remind us so gloriously, | 20:25 | |
that we would overhear Saint Paul preaching in Athens, | 20:28 | |
a university town, | 20:31 | |
for such a setting shares many characteristics | 20:33 | |
with ministry to a college campus. | 20:36 | |
As a marketplace of ideas, | 20:40 | |
Athens was a place of cultural | 20:42 | |
and intellectual sophistication, | 20:45 | |
the kind of place where curiosity flourishes, | 20:48 | |
where new ideas come and go, | 20:51 | |
where there's always an interesting conversation going on, | 20:54 | |
likewise within a university. | 20:59 | |
When James B. Duke first envisioned the Duke campus, | 21:02 | |
over 60 years ago, he believed that within the mix | 21:05 | |
of diverse ideas presented here, | 21:09 | |
he wanted religion to be at the very center | 21:12 | |
of that conversation, and that campus. | 21:14 | |
Thus, he instructed his builders to erect | 21:18 | |
a greater towering church at the heart of west campus, | 21:21 | |
a building which would provide the literal connection | 21:26 | |
between the living and learning portions of the university | 21:28 | |
in hopes that it might influence the spiritual lives | 21:32 | |
of all those who study and work here. | 21:36 | |
For all of his wonderful vision, | 21:40 | |
I wonder if Mr. Duke could really ever have imagined | 21:42 | |
just what ministry in this place, in the late 20th century, | 21:45 | |
would be like. | 21:50 | |
Could he have envisioned how diverse the mix of beliefs | 21:52 | |
represented here would become? | 21:55 | |
How vital worship in this place | 21:58 | |
would be to hundreds of people each week, and yet, | 22:00 | |
how marginal, or even irrelevant, | 22:03 | |
or offensive it would seem to others? | 22:06 | |
After 11 years of ministry here, | 22:09 | |
I feel confident in saying that a college campus | 22:12 | |
is one of the most stimulating, | 22:14 | |
yet challenging environments | 22:16 | |
that I can imagine for witnessing to the gospel. | 22:18 | |
Unlike the rural community where I grew up, | 22:21 | |
where church, alongside school, and maybe 4H clubs, | 22:24 | |
were the only games in town, | 22:28 | |
a university provides a thousand different choices, | 22:30 | |
it seems, ranging from what to read | 22:33 | |
to who or what to worship. | 22:36 | |
We are fortunate in these days | 22:39 | |
of diminished Christian presence on many campuses | 22:41 | |
to be blessed with a multitude of faithful worshipers | 22:45 | |
and dedicated servants of the Lord here at Duke Chapel. | 22:48 | |
Yet, Paul's address to the Areopagus | 22:52 | |
continues to be relevant today. | 22:55 | |
We need instruction about the ways in which Christianity | 22:57 | |
is distinctive from the surrounding culture. | 23:01 | |
How are we called to be set apart | 23:05 | |
from those who would worship others gods? | 23:07 | |
And where do we find common ground? | 23:10 | |
How do we witness to the reality of Christ resurrection | 23:13 | |
even as we struggle with our own temptations | 23:16 | |
to pay allegiance to false gods? | 23:19 | |
Interestingly, Athens was not a part | 23:23 | |
of Paul's original itinerary for his missionary travels. | 23:26 | |
He went there only after encountering | 23:30 | |
some stiff opposition in Thessaloniki and Baria, | 23:32 | |
angry crowds accused him of turning the world upside down | 23:36 | |
with the message that he was preaching. | 23:40 | |
It seemed expedient for him to get out of town | 23:43 | |
ahead of these mobs who were so hot on his trail, | 23:45 | |
and so Paul's supporters sent him ahead as far as Athens, | 23:48 | |
while Silas and Timothy remained behind. | 23:52 | |
What could they have been thinking | 23:55 | |
as they sent Paul on his way? | 23:57 | |
That a bustling city might be a little safer place | 23:59 | |
where he wouldn't stand out so much in the crowd? | 24:02 | |
That he might actually have a chance for some R and R | 24:06 | |
before creating another controversy? | 24:08 | |
Not a chance, Paul was not one | 24:11 | |
to take a holiday from preaching the gospel, | 24:14 | |
though he did take the opportunity | 24:17 | |
while waiting for his friends to join him | 24:18 | |
to explore the city, and what a city it was. | 24:20 | |
Native city of Socrates and Plato, | 24:25 | |
and the adopted home of Aristotle, Epicurus, and Zeno, | 24:28 | |
it represented the highest level of culture | 24:32 | |
attained in classical antiquity, | 24:35 | |
it was a place of unchallenged prestige, | 24:38 | |
but there was just one problem with Athens, | 24:41 | |
and for Paul it was a big one, | 24:43 | |
it was a city overrun with idols. | 24:45 | |
For what we might view today | 24:50 | |
as masterpieces of architecture and sculpture | 24:51 | |
were to the Athenians in those days | 24:54 | |
temples and images of pagan deities. | 24:57 | |
Paul was deeply distressed to see them, | 25:01 | |
and he was compelled to speak out. | 25:03 | |
He argued in the synagogue, | 25:05 | |
he debated the stoic and Epicurean philosophers, | 25:07 | |
he addressed anyone in the marketplace | 25:10 | |
who would listen to him. | 25:12 | |
Paul actually became known as a babbler | 25:14 | |
to some of the Athenians, | 25:16 | |
a word used by the Greeks to refer to a worthless loafer. | 25:18 | |
Others called him a proclaimer of foreign divinities | 25:23 | |
based on their lack of familiarity with Jesus, | 25:26 | |
and the misunderstanding by some of the word resurrection, | 25:30 | |
which could've been interpreted to mean | 25:34 | |
the name of another goddess. | 25:35 | |
In other words, Paul caused quite a stir, | 25:38 | |
enough that he was taken to the Areopagus | 25:40 | |
where the chief court in Athens could inquire further | 25:42 | |
about just exactly what he was teaching. | 25:46 | |
The occasion was a great opportunity for Paul | 25:50 | |
to proclaim the good news. | 25:53 | |
He begins by establishing common ground with his listeners. | 25:55 | |
Athenians, I see how extremely religious | 25:59 | |
you are in every way, | 26:01 | |
for as I was going around | 26:03 | |
looking at your objects of worship, | 26:05 | |
I noticed an altar bearing the inscription | 26:06 | |
to an unknown god. | 26:09 | |
Brilliant orator that he was, | 26:13 | |
Paul knew how to connect with his audience. | 26:15 | |
There was rampant superstitious idolatry all over Athens, | 26:18 | |
but there was also enlightened philosophy. | 26:22 | |
Paul needed to use terms familiar to the Greeks | 26:25 | |
in order to get the gospel message across. | 26:28 | |
His point might well have been relevant | 26:32 | |
to the interest of the Epicureans, for instance, | 26:34 | |
who attacked irrational belief in the gods | 26:36 | |
as expressed in idolatry, | 26:39 | |
though their chief concern was pursuing pleasure | 26:41 | |
and tranquility in life. | 26:44 | |
Or to the stoics, who stressed the importance of reason, | 26:46 | |
obedience to the dictates of duty, | 26:50 | |
and a pantheistic conception of God. | 26:53 | |
What Paul appeared to be doing | 26:56 | |
was to side with the philosophers, if only for a moment, | 26:58 | |
but then to demonstrate that they did not go far enough. | 27:02 | |
He goes on as if to say having seen | 27:05 | |
how scrupulous you really are in matters of religion, | 27:08 | |
now I'm going to teach you about the living God | 27:12 | |
for whom you have been searching all along. | 27:15 | |
In order to find a basis for discussion | 27:19 | |
which these gentiles could understand, | 27:22 | |
Paul appeals not to scripture, | 27:24 | |
but to their knowledge of the natural world. | 27:26 | |
He stresses that this God is, first of all, | 27:29 | |
the creator of the cosmos, the world, and everything in it. | 27:31 | |
How could a temple made by human hands | 27:37 | |
ever encompass this creator? | 27:39 | |
Solomon himself recognized that | 27:43 | |
when he dedicated the temple by asking | 27:45 | |
will God indeed dwell on the earth? | 27:48 | |
Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, | 27:50 | |
much less this house that I have built. | 27:54 | |
Even though we like to think we can claim | 27:57 | |
just a small bit of power over God | 28:00 | |
with our magnificent edifices, | 28:02 | |
Paul reminds us that God is always in charge. | 28:05 | |
Second, God is so great as to have no need whatsoever | 28:09 | |
for anything humanity could supply. | 28:13 | |
As God once asked Job in a memorable discussion, | 28:16 | |
where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? | 28:20 | |
What could the creator of the universe | 28:25 | |
possibly need from us? | 28:26 | |
On the contrary, it is God who is the source of all life, | 28:29 | |
sending the sun to shine and the rain to fall | 28:34 | |
on the just and the unjust alike. | 28:37 | |
Such a generous God is good and trustworthy in all things. | 28:40 | |
Third, this deity is the Lord of all life, | 28:46 | |
not only as creator, | 28:48 | |
but as the shaper and sustainer of human existence. | 28:49 | |
From our common ancestors, Adam and Eve, | 28:53 | |
God fashioned the human race, | 28:57 | |
allotting, according to our text, | 28:59 | |
the times of our existence, | 29:01 | |
and the boundaries of the places where we would live. | 29:03 | |
When will we be born? | 29:07 | |
When will we die? | 29:09 | |
When will the seasons come and go? | 29:11 | |
Where will the rivers flow | 29:14 | |
and the sea separate itself from the dry land? | 29:15 | |
Wisdom teaches us these matters | 29:20 | |
are beyond the powers of any idol, | 29:21 | |
meant to rest only in God's hands. | 29:24 | |
Fourth, this human dependence on God | 29:28 | |
has resulted in a desire to be | 29:33 | |
in relationship with our maker. | 29:34 | |
It is compelling that we search for God, | 29:37 | |
or as the text reads, grope for God, | 29:40 | |
even though God is always very near to us. | 29:43 | |
As Saint Augustan put it, | 29:46 | |
our hearts are restless til they rest in thee. | 29:48 | |
Paul seems to be suggesting that even the pagans | 29:52 | |
unwittingly are engaging in such a search. | 29:56 | |
Likewise, we know many in our own culture | 30:00 | |
who resort to a variety of means, | 30:03 | |
ranging from transcendental meditation to astrology | 30:06 | |
in an effort to reach a higher spiritual plain. | 30:09 | |
It is as if we are aware our souls are thirsty, | 30:13 | |
yet we hardly know where to turn | 30:17 | |
for water that truly satisfies. | 30:18 | |
This relationship with God, which we need so desperately, | 30:22 | |
is a very profound one, | 30:26 | |
akin to that between parent and child. | 30:28 | |
As Paul proclaims by drawing again | 30:31 | |
from the language of the Greeks themselves, | 30:34 | |
he writes for in Him we live and move and have our being, | 30:36 | |
as even some of your own poets have said, | 30:42 | |
for we too are His offspring. | 30:45 | |
How timely it is that our lectionary text today | 30:49 | |
should provide this feminine image of God | 30:52 | |
on the day when we pay tribute to our earthly mothers. | 30:55 | |
According to Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, | 30:58 | |
to live and move and exist within God refers to God's womb, | 31:01 | |
for at no other time in human experience | 31:06 | |
do we exist within another person | 31:09 | |
than during the time spent in our mother's womb. | 31:12 | |
Such an interpretation may strike some of you as radical, | 31:16 | |
but if that is the case, then so was the book of Job. | 31:19 | |
We find in chapter 38 of Job images which depict the sea | 31:23 | |
as leaping tumultuous from the womb, | 31:27 | |
and God's giving birth to the ice from the womb. | 31:30 | |
And in Deuteronomy 32, we read, | 31:34 | |
"You were unmindful of the rock that bore you, | 31:37 | |
"you forgot the God who gave you birth." | 31:40 | |
Even more relevant to this divine womb | 31:44 | |
in whom we live and move and have our being | 31:47 | |
is the fact that the Hebrew word for compassion | 31:50 | |
is closely related to the word for womb. | 31:52 | |
As Old Testament scholar Phyllis Trible has suggested, | 31:57 | |
Hebrew references to God's compassion | 32:00 | |
could be translated as God's womb love. | 32:02 | |
Thus, to exist within God's womb could be interpreted | 32:07 | |
as dwelling within God's love, | 32:10 | |
an obvious connection for any mother | 32:13 | |
who has ever carried a child within her womb. | 32:15 | |
How is it possible for a woman to carry a child | 32:19 | |
inside herself and not love that child | 32:22 | |
from the very depths of her being? | 32:25 | |
Isaiah further develops the image of God | 32:29 | |
as nurturer and caretaker in asking the question | 32:31 | |
does a woman forget her baby or the child within her womb? | 32:35 | |
Yet, even if these forget, I will never forget you. | 32:39 | |
God's love surrounds us more completely | 32:43 | |
and is even more constant than the most intense forms | 32:46 | |
of human love we can ever experience. | 32:50 | |
Such love, plainly, cannot be represented | 32:54 | |
by a piece of gold or silver, nor stone, | 32:56 | |
it is not possible for us to create this life-giving God, | 32:59 | |
or to manufacture a home for this God, nor is it needed. | 33:04 | |
For the relationship God seeks to establish with us | 33:09 | |
was fully, definitively revealed through Jesus Christ, | 33:12 | |
we don't need to go on groping in the dark, | 33:16 | |
expounding on the various gods we may choose to worship. | 33:19 | |
God came to dwell among us in human flesh, | 33:22 | |
was crucified on the cross, and on the third day, | 33:26 | |
was resurrected from the dead | 33:29 | |
that this relationship might be sealed forever. | 33:31 | |
Whereas there may have been a time when God | 33:35 | |
turned a blind eye to the ignorance of humankind, | 33:37 | |
since the resurrection of Jesus, that time is no more. | 33:42 | |
The coming of Christ represents a fresh start. | 33:45 | |
There are no longer any excuses for rejecting God | 33:49 | |
after the perfect revelation of God occurred through Christ. | 33:53 | |
Paul proclaims to his listeners that God has fixed a day | 33:57 | |
on which the world will be judged in righteousness | 34:00 | |
by a man whom He has appointed, | 34:03 | |
and God has provided assurance this will happen | 34:06 | |
by raising this man from the dead. | 34:09 | |
Therefore, Paul issues a call for repentance, | 34:12 | |
asking for a dramatic turnaround by the Athenians. | 34:15 | |
Who would forgo their pagan idols | 34:19 | |
and believe this holy one of Israel, | 34:22 | |
who not only creates and sustains, | 34:25 | |
but who also resurrects the dead? | 34:29 | |
I realize that for many of us, | 34:33 | |
Paul's concerns about polytheism and the need for repentance | 34:34 | |
seem far removed from our experience. | 34:38 | |
Most of us have never seen an idol, | 34:41 | |
much less bowed down and worshiped one. | 34:43 | |
Yet, we have erected our own altars to unknown gods | 34:46 | |
when we have mindlessly and even recklessly | 34:52 | |
given over everything we have and are | 34:54 | |
to forces that seem far removed from the living God. | 34:57 | |
We joke about paying homage to the gods of basketball | 35:01 | |
and the temple known as Cameron indoor stadium, | 35:04 | |
but we also know that we have sacrificed mightily | 35:07 | |
for the gods of tenure, promotion, | 35:12 | |
class rank, homes in the most desirable neighborhoods, | 35:14 | |
membership in the most prestigious social groups, | 35:19 | |
jobs in the most impressive law firm or medical group | 35:22 | |
or big steeple church, | 35:26 | |
and these sacrifices can come at a very high price. | 35:29 | |
None of these things in and of themselves | 35:33 | |
are antithetical to God, | 35:35 | |
but when they consume such a magnitude | 35:38 | |
of our time and energy and devotion | 35:39 | |
that there is nothing left for God, | 35:42 | |
we begin to look like modern day polytheists. | 35:45 | |
We say we believe in God, | 35:49 | |
but the question becomes | 35:51 | |
where do we devote our time and our resources? | 35:52 | |
What, in fact, do we worship? | 35:56 | |
Paul concludes his sermon | 36:01 | |
and encounters the results of his message. | 36:02 | |
Having invoked the scandalous language of faith, | 36:05 | |
he had moved beyond the common ground of reason | 36:08 | |
and powers of observation into areas | 36:11 | |
of significant theological differences. | 36:14 | |
The Greeks did believe in the immortality of the soul, | 36:17 | |
but not in bodily resurrection. | 36:20 | |
And so even at the mention of it, resurrection, that is, | 36:23 | |
some of Paul's listeners scoffed and mocked him. | 36:27 | |
Others said we will hear you again about this, | 36:31 | |
as if it were an issue | 36:34 | |
that could be put on hold for a while. | 36:35 | |
But some of them did believe, including Dionysius, | 36:38 | |
who tradition says may have become | 36:43 | |
the first bishop of Athens, a woman name Damaris, | 36:44 | |
and others with them. | 36:48 | |
Such is the life of one who seeks to spread the gospel | 36:51 | |
in new places. | 36:55 | |
Some of you may have seen the article | 36:58 | |
in yesterday's News and Observer | 37:00 | |
about religion on college campuses. | 37:02 | |
According to this article, baccalaureate services | 37:04 | |
at UNC and NC State are being held this weekend on campus | 37:07 | |
for the first time in several years. | 37:12 | |
The reason is that after a number of years | 37:15 | |
when state universities sought to erect strict walls | 37:18 | |
between church and state, | 37:20 | |
more students are asking to be able | 37:22 | |
to practice their religion openly. | 37:24 | |
What does that mean for a campus | 37:27 | |
which enrolls students from a variety | 37:29 | |
of religious perspectives, | 37:31 | |
and where sensitivity to diversity is a primary concern? | 37:33 | |
The campus minister who planned the UNC service | 37:38 | |
was quoted as saying, | 37:40 | |
"Students were encouraged to name | 37:43 | |
"the particulars of their faith | 37:44 | |
"rather than saying all religions are the same, | 37:47 | |
"we want an authentic expression of gratitude," he said. | 37:50 | |
"For Christians, that means naming Jesus Christ, | 37:54 | |
"for Muslims it may mean invoking Mohammed." | 37:57 | |
Another student said, "You learn more this way | 38:01 | |
"about your own religion." | 38:04 | |
Instead of sweeping religion | 38:07 | |
and religious differences under the rug, | 38:08 | |
these campuses, like Duke and many others, | 38:10 | |
are encouraging the issues to be discussed openly. | 38:13 | |
And what would Saint Paul say about all this, do you think? | 38:17 | |
As one never to shrink from controversy, | 38:22 | |
he would be pleased, I think, | 38:25 | |
pleased that at least the conversation about faith | 38:27 | |
is being resumed. | 38:31 | |
After all, of all the discussions | 38:33 | |
ever held on a college campus, | 38:35 | |
what could possibly be more important than this one? | 38:38 | |
It appears that Mr. Duke built his chapel | 38:42 | |
in exactly the right place. | 38:45 | |
(organ music) | 38:57 | |
- | You may be seated. | 42:22 |
The Lord be with you. | 42:27 | |
Let us pray. | 42:30 | |
O God, by whose word the universe was created, | 42:38 | |
by whose spirit humankind was enlivened, | 42:44 | |
and by whose grace all persons are called | 42:48 | |
and recalled into communion with you, | 42:52 | |
we give thanks for your great and wondrous love. | 42:56 | |
As you have loved us and called us your children, | 43:01 | |
you have also called us to love one another, | 43:05 | |
and to be worthy of our inheritance. | 43:08 | |
We are grateful for those in our lives | 43:13 | |
who have shown us what it means to love and be loved, | 43:15 | |
for mothers who teach us | 43:21 | |
the meaning of love that never ends, | 43:22 | |
and for families who show us how to love | 43:26 | |
for better or worse, we give you thanks. | 43:28 | |
Strengthen our families, | 43:32 | |
that they may be places of renewal | 43:35 | |
which empower us to bear fruit in the world. | 43:37 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 43:41 | |
There are so many people in our world | 43:47 | |
who are in need of signs of love, | 43:49 | |
not the least of which are some of our friends. | 43:51 | |
Help us be the kind of people who reveal ourselves | 43:56 | |
to each other in friendship and love. | 43:59 | |
Show us concrete ways that we might respond | 44:03 | |
to our brothers and sisters, teach us to be better friends. | 44:05 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 44:12 | |
You have taught us, Lord to ask for whatever we need, | 44:17 | |
and when our words are inadequate | 44:21 | |
to express our deepest yearnings, | 44:23 | |
you have promised that your spirit would pray for us. | 44:26 | |
Therefore with confidence, we lift our prayers to you. | 44:30 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 44:46 | |
You also taught us to pray for one another, | 44:51 | |
therefore let us pray for the church and the world. | 44:54 | |
We pray for the church throughout the world | 45:05 | |
that we may be faithful disciples who witness to your love. | 45:09 | |
Bridge the walls between us and overcome strife with peace, | 45:13 | |
that we may be united in the one body of Christ, | 45:20 | |
brothers and sisters in faith. | 45:23 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 45:26 | |
We pray that you would guide the people of this land | 45:31 | |
and all the nations in the ways of justice and peace, | 45:34 | |
free us from the bonds of violence | 45:38 | |
that are destroying our youth | 45:41 | |
and imprisoning women and the elderly and children | 45:43 | |
with fear in their own homes. | 45:47 | |
Make our streets, our shopping centers, | 45:50 | |
our businesses, and our homes safe for inhabitation. | 45:53 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 45:59 | |
Be especially with those who face war, | 46:04 | |
or the ever-present threat of violence. | 46:07 | |
Bring sanity to the insanity of war and mindless killing. | 46:10 | |
Show us how to respond with compassion, | 46:16 | |
and teach us new ways to resolve conflict. | 46:19 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 46:23 | |
We pray for all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit. | 46:28 | |
Give them courage and hope in all their troubles, | 46:33 | |
and help us reach out to them with love | 46:37 | |
so that they will not suffer alone. | 46:40 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 46:43 | |
Be with all the graduates from Duke | 46:48 | |
and other universities, | 46:50 | |
that these youth might take the strengthens and skills | 46:52 | |
that you have given them and use them | 46:55 | |
to bear fruit in your kingdom. | 46:58 | |
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. | 47:01 | |
We pray all these things in those prayers | 47:06 | |
that you know but which remain unspoken, | 47:09 | |
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 47:13 | |
All good things we possess, | 47:19 | |
and all the time we enjoy on this earth are gifts from God. | 47:20 | |
We are invited to a generous offering of thanksgiving | 47:25 | |
as instruments of God's grace in the world. | 47:29 | |
(organ music) | 47:34 | |
Generous God, we dedicate these gifts and ourselves to you, | 52:54 | |
for we want to accomplish the greater works | 53:00 | |
to which Christ calls us. | 53:02 | |
Increase our generosity that we may learn | 53:05 | |
to give in proportion to the mercy we have received. | 53:08 | |
Ready us for the sacrifices that may be required | 53:12 | |
of all who seek to live in faithful response | 53:15 | |
to the way, the truth, and the life. | 53:18 | |
May our lives in the ministry supported by our offerings | 53:22 | |
be a witness to your grace. | 53:26 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, | 53:28 | |
saying our Father who art in heaven, | 53:32 | |
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, | 53:36 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 53:40 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 53:45 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 53:48 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 53:51 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 53:54 | |
but deliver us from evil, | 53:57 | |
for thine is the kingdom | 53:59 | |
and the power and the glory forever, amen. | 54:01 | |
(organ music) | 54:08 | |
And now go forth in peace, | 57:19 | |
and may the blessing of the God of Abraham and Sarah, | 57:21 | |
the blessing of Jesus Christ, born of Mary, | 57:25 | |
the blessing of the Holy Spirit who broods over us | 57:28 | |
like a mother over her children, | 57:31 | |
be with you and remain with you always, amen. | 57:32 | |
(organ music) | 57:38 |