Debra K. Brazzel - Sermon Untitled (August 18, 1996)
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Transcript
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(organ music) | 0:02 | |
- | Good morning, we'd like to welcome you to Duke Chapel. | 1:50 |
Our presiding minister this morning | 1:54 | |
is the Reverend Cheryl Bissette, | 1:56 | |
she is the chaplain to Westminster Presbyterian Fellowship | 1:57 | |
here and we are grateful for her leadership. | 2:01 | |
I'd like to say a special word of thanks | 2:04 | |
to the Duke Chapel Summer Choir and their director, | 2:06 | |
Mr. Tom Jaynes for their faithful ministry to us | 2:09 | |
and wonderful gift of music that they have provided | 2:12 | |
for us this summer. | 2:15 | |
Immediately following the service of worship today, | 2:18 | |
there will be coffee and fellowship time provided | 2:20 | |
by the congregation at Duke Chapel, | 2:23 | |
in the basement, which you will enter | 2:26 | |
through the campus ministry offices on the Bryan Center | 2:28 | |
side of the chapel. | 2:31 | |
And now let us continue with the call to worship, | 2:33 | |
please stand and read responsibly. | 2:35 | |
Let us come together and worship the Lord. | 2:41 | |
(congregation speaking) | 2:45 | |
- | How good it is to live together in unity. | 2:49 |
(congregation speaking) | 2:53 | |
(organ music) | 2:57 | |
(choir singing) | 3:45 | |
- | The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and will help those | 7:09 |
who are crushed in spirit. | 7:13 | |
In faith let us draw near to God, | 7:15 | |
together let us pray the prayer of confession found | 7:17 | |
in the hymn book. | 7:20 | |
Most merciful God, | 7:22 | |
we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, | 7:24 | |
word and deed. | 7:28 | |
By what we have done and by what we have left undone. | 7:30 | |
We have not loved you with our whole heart, | 7:34 | |
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 7:37 | |
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. | 7:41 | |
For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, | 7:45 | |
have mercy on us and forgive us, | 7:48 | |
that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways | 7:51 | |
to the glory of your name, amen. | 7:56 | |
Friends, believe the good news of the gospel, | 8:00 | |
Jesus Christ came to save sinners, | 8:02 | |
this is our affirmation, amen. | 8:06 | |
You may be seated. | 8:11 | |
- | Let us pray together the prayer for illumination. | 8:23 |
Open our hearts and minds O God by the power | 8:30 | |
in your Holy Spirit so that as the word is read | 8:35 | |
and proclaimed, we may hear your message with joy this day. | 8:38 | |
Amen. | 8:44 | |
The New Testament reading is from the apostle Paul's | 8:46 | |
letter to the Romans, 11:1-2a, and 29-32. | 8:50 | |
I ask then, has God rejected His people? | 9:05 | |
By no means. | 9:11 | |
I myself am an Israelite and descendant of Abraham, | 9:13 | |
a member of the tribe of Benjamin. | 9:18 | |
God has not rejected his people whom He foreknew. | 9:21 | |
The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. | 9:26 | |
Just as you were once disobedient to God, | 9:31 | |
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, | 9:35 | |
so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy | 9:40 | |
shown to you, they too, may now receive mercy. | 9:45 | |
For God has imprisoned all in disobedience | 9:51 | |
so that God may be merciful to all. | 9:55 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 10:00 | |
Thanks be to God. | 10:03 | |
The gospel reading is found in the book of Matthew 15:10-28. | 10:06 | |
Then He called the crowd to Him and said to them, | 10:18 | |
"Listen, and understand it is not what goes into the mouth | 10:24 | |
that defiles a person, | 10:30 | |
but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." | 10:32 | |
Then the disciples approached and said to him, | 10:39 | |
"Do you know that the Pharisees took offense | 10:44 | |
when they heard what you said?" | 10:46 | |
He answered, "Every plant that my Heavenly Father | 10:49 | |
has not planted will be uprooted. | 10:54 | |
Let them alone. | 10:58 | |
They are blind guides of the blind | 11:00 | |
and if one blind guides another, | 11:03 | |
both will fall into the pit." | 11:07 | |
But Peter said to Him, "Explain this parable to us." | 11:11 | |
Then He said, "Are you also still without understanding? | 11:17 | |
Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth | 11:23 | |
enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? | 11:27 | |
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, | 11:31 | |
and this is what defiles. | 11:36 | |
For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, | 11:39 | |
adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. | 11:44 | |
These are what defile a person, | 11:51 | |
but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile." | 11:54 | |
Jesus left that place and went away to the district | 12:01 | |
of Tyre and Sidon. | 12:04 | |
Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out | 12:07 | |
and started shouting, | 12:13 | |
"Have mercy on me Lord, Son of David, | 12:14 | |
my daughter is tormented by a demon." | 12:17 | |
But He did not answer her at all. | 12:23 | |
And his disciples came and urged him saying, | 12:27 | |
"Send her away for she keeps shouting after us." | 12:31 | |
He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep | 12:36 | |
of the house of Israel." | 12:40 | |
But she came and knelt before him saying, | 12:44 | |
"Lord help me." | 12:48 | |
He answered, "It's not fair to take the children's food | 12:51 | |
and throw it to the dogs." | 12:56 | |
She said, "Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs | 12:59 | |
that fall from their master's table." | 13:06 | |
Then Jesus answered her, | 13:10 | |
"Woman great is your faith, | 13:13 | |
let it be done for you as you wish." | 13:16 | |
And her daughter was healed instantly. | 13:20 | |
This is the word of the Lord, | 13:24 | |
thanks be to God. | 13:27 | |
- | Our gospel reading about the Canaanite woman | 13:43 |
is one of the more difficult passages of scripture | 13:47 | |
in the New Testament. | 13:49 | |
Were it not for our regular practice | 13:52 | |
of following the lectionary cycle of reading | 13:54 | |
through the scripture in three years, | 13:57 | |
it is one of those passages | 14:00 | |
that we might be tempted to skip. | 14:01 | |
The picture of Jesus that it presents | 14:05 | |
doesn't square very well | 14:07 | |
with our sentimental image of a gentle, compassionate Lord. | 14:09 | |
It tells of a particular incident where Jesus is first rude | 14:14 | |
and then down right harsh to a woman who comes to Him | 14:19 | |
seeking help for her daughter. | 14:23 | |
She cried out to Him, "Have mercy on me Lord, Son of David, | 14:26 | |
my daughter is tormented by a demon." | 14:30 | |
But Jesus didn't even bother to answer her, | 14:35 | |
He just kept walking. | 14:39 | |
Perhaps He was hoping that if He ignored her, | 14:41 | |
she would just go away. | 14:45 | |
Have you ever been in a situation like that? | 14:48 | |
I moved here from Dallas, | 14:52 | |
where it was much more common to be confronted | 14:54 | |
by the homeless and destitute. | 14:56 | |
It isn't that there aren't any homeless | 15:00 | |
in the triangle area, they're just not quite as visible. | 15:02 | |
I remember one particular incident very well, | 15:07 | |
when I parked my car and I was downtown for an appointment. | 15:11 | |
And I was waiting for the light to change | 15:15 | |
so that I could cross the street, | 15:18 | |
and I saw this homeless man in the next block | 15:20 | |
and I quickly looked away knowing that | 15:24 | |
if I made eye contact with him, I was in for it. | 15:26 | |
But he started walking for me, | 15:31 | |
and as he got closer he started yelling, | 15:34 | |
"Hey, hey, hey lady!" | 15:36 | |
I kept my eyes straight ahead, | 15:41 | |
hoping that the light would change, | 15:44 | |
hoping that he would get the idea and leave me alone. | 15:46 | |
But he kept coming closer. | 15:50 | |
And just when I was getting really nervous and wondering | 15:54 | |
what I should do the light did change | 15:57 | |
and I scrambled across the street. | 15:59 | |
It was a frightening incident that has stayed with me. | 16:03 | |
Maybe Jesus was hoping, if He kept his eyes straight, | 16:07 | |
and ignored her shouts and kept walking, | 16:11 | |
that she would get the message and go away. | 16:16 | |
Or at least it would give Him time enough | 16:18 | |
to put some distance between them, | 16:20 | |
for this woman was an undesirable on several counts. | 16:23 | |
It was unseemly for any woman in that culture | 16:28 | |
to approach Jesus directly, but she was also a Canaanite, | 16:31 | |
which one scholar describes as one of the great unwashed, | 16:36 | |
whom good Jews of Jesus's time were to have no contact with. | 16:40 | |
She was from the coastal region of Syria, | 16:45 | |
where strange gods were worshiped and the ritual laws | 16:47 | |
of cleanliness were unknown, | 16:50 | |
in other words she was a Gentile, | 16:53 | |
which is the Jewish name for anyone who is not a Jew. | 16:55 | |
And as such, she was both an outsider and an outcast. | 16:59 | |
But in this particular story, | 17:04 | |
Jesus and the disciples were in Tyre and Sidon, | 17:05 | |
cities in the Canaanite region. | 17:09 | |
One might ask what Jesus was doing in their land | 17:12 | |
if He didn't want anything to do with the Canaanite people. | 17:15 | |
But there was also a large Jewish population in this region | 17:19 | |
that Jesus would've wanted to reach. | 17:23 | |
And some scholars have speculated that it was prudent | 17:26 | |
for him to get out of Galilee for a time | 17:29 | |
to let things cool off because of the conflicts | 17:31 | |
He'd been having with the religious authorities. | 17:34 | |
Most recently He'd had it out with them | 17:37 | |
regarding the laws of purity. | 17:39 | |
They had taken issue with Jesus and His disciples | 17:41 | |
because they didn't observe | 17:44 | |
the ritual practice of hand washing. | 17:46 | |
They would've been really upset if they'd seen Him talking | 17:49 | |
to a Canaanite woman. | 17:52 | |
For Jesus had accused the Pharisees and scribes | 17:55 | |
of defiling the very laws that they claimed to uphold. | 17:58 | |
Purity He said, was found in the heart | 18:02 | |
rather than in religious ritual. | 18:05 | |
He had called them hypocrites for honoring God | 18:08 | |
with their lips but not their hearts, | 18:11 | |
and to put it mildly, they were offended with Jesus. | 18:14 | |
So it was with good reason that He left Galilee | 18:18 | |
and walked to the region of Tyre and Sidon, | 18:22 | |
a considerable journey of at least 25 miles. | 18:25 | |
And when He finally arrived, | 18:28 | |
we can assume after several long, hot days of travel, | 18:29 | |
He was immediately confronted | 18:33 | |
with this pagan, unclean woman shouting at Him. | 18:35 | |
We can imagine that it was almost too much for Jesus. | 18:41 | |
Everywhere He went among the Jews, people wanted something | 18:45 | |
from Him, but they didn't understand who He was | 18:48 | |
or what He would be for them. | 18:52 | |
Even after He taught them and healed them and fed them | 18:55 | |
they still didn't get it. | 18:58 | |
And now this, this foreigner, this pagan, this unclean woman | 19:01 | |
had the nerve to call Him, Son of David, Messiah. | 19:06 | |
It was exactly what He'd been trying to get across | 19:13 | |
to His own people, every way He knew how, | 19:16 | |
and they missed the point. | 19:19 | |
But this stranger, this unclean woman, this outsider | 19:21 | |
somehow got it. | 19:27 | |
What irony, to get what you've been wanting | 19:30 | |
from the one you least want it from. | 19:32 | |
Maybe that's why Jesus tried to ignore her. | 19:36 | |
But the woman wouldn't go away | 19:39 | |
and she was starting to attract attention. | 19:42 | |
Even the disciples who were used to the crowds pressing in | 19:44 | |
on Jesus and the constant cries for help, | 19:48 | |
were beginning to get embarrassed. | 19:50 | |
So they went to Jesus and urged Him to send her away. | 19:53 | |
Biblical scholarship says that the implication was, | 19:57 | |
give her what she wants so she'll leave us alone. | 20:00 | |
For goodness sake she's making a scene. | 20:03 | |
But He answered them, | 20:07 | |
I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." | 20:10 | |
It was as if Jesus was saying to them, | 20:17 | |
give me a break, don't you remember that just a few days ago | 20:19 | |
we were swamped with the 5,000 | 20:23 | |
that we fed in the wilderness? | 20:25 | |
There are more Jews who need me than I can begin to help. | 20:28 | |
I have to draw the line somewhere. | 20:32 | |
Don't you remember when I sent you out to preach I told you | 20:35 | |
to stay away from the Gentiles, | 20:38 | |
this is exactly what I was talking about. | 20:42 | |
Where will we be if we don't stick to our mission? | 20:44 | |
We've got to serve the needs of our own, | 20:47 | |
there just isn't enough to go around. | 20:50 | |
Have you ever felt like there were more needs pulling on you | 20:55 | |
than you could possibly meet? | 20:58 | |
You already pay taxes and give to your church | 21:00 | |
and the United Way, | 21:03 | |
but still there are the daily appeals that come in the mail, | 21:05 | |
the Cancer Foundation, Amnesty International, | 21:09 | |
The Sierra Club, The American Red Cross. | 21:11 | |
Good causes all of them, but how is one to decide | 21:15 | |
which appeal to answer and which one to throw in the trash? | 21:19 | |
And what about the telemarketers | 21:24 | |
that catch you right at dinnertime for a worthy cause? | 21:26 | |
Or the commercials of the sad-eyed children | 21:31 | |
who need your help or the sixth girl scout | 21:33 | |
in your neighborhood who wants you to buy cookies? | 21:37 | |
Where will it end? | 21:39 | |
We can understand that Jesus felt overwhelmed | 21:42 | |
and even a bit irritable. | 21:45 | |
We can understand the need to draw the line | 21:48 | |
and say enough is enough. | 21:51 | |
We can do this and no more. | 21:54 | |
We will provide education and healthcare benefits, | 21:57 | |
but only for U.S. citizens. | 22:02 | |
Illegal immigrants will have to fend for themselves, | 22:05 | |
it isn't that we don't care about their needs, | 22:08 | |
there just isn't enough to go around. | 22:10 | |
We have to take care of our own. | 22:13 | |
Enough is enough. | 22:16 | |
We will provide support for the firstborn child | 22:20 | |
of a single mother on welfare but that's it, | 22:25 | |
if she has a second child or a third child | 22:28 | |
or a fourth child, she's on her own, enough is enough. | 22:30 | |
We will support the unemployed for two years while they work | 22:38 | |
to find employment, | 22:42 | |
but if they don't go to work within that time, | 22:43 | |
I'm sorry they just have to be on their own, | 22:47 | |
enough is enough. | 22:49 | |
We understand the need to set limits on what we can do | 22:54 | |
and cannot do for people in need. | 22:58 | |
We know about the need to decide who we will help | 23:01 | |
and who we will turn away. | 23:05 | |
It isn't that we don't care, | 23:07 | |
it is simply that our resources are overwhelmed | 23:10 | |
by the demands made upon them. | 23:13 | |
So Jesus, perhaps feeling overwhelmed drew the line. | 23:16 | |
But the Canaanite woman stepped right over it. | 23:26 | |
When He wanted to turn her away, | 23:31 | |
she got right up in His face. | 23:33 | |
When He tried to keep His distance, | 23:36 | |
to move away from her and her need, | 23:39 | |
she kept moving closer to Him until she was face-to-face | 23:41 | |
and she knelt before Him and said, | 23:47 | |
"Lord, help me." | 23:50 | |
It's so much easier to turn away from another's need | 23:54 | |
when you don't have to look in their eyes. | 23:58 | |
As long as they remain part of the nameless masses, | 24:01 | |
we can objectively examine those people and their problems | 24:05 | |
and make rational decisions | 24:10 | |
about how we will limit our response to them. | 24:11 | |
But some people just won't go away. | 24:15 | |
They won't take no for an answer. | 24:18 | |
Lord help me she says. | 24:21 | |
Can you imagine how Jesus must've felt? | 24:25 | |
How do you feel when someone you've tried | 24:28 | |
to politely get rid of keeps coming at you? | 24:30 | |
How do you feel when you've diplomatically explained | 24:34 | |
why you can't help at this time, | 24:38 | |
and the person still persists in asking? | 24:40 | |
We can imagine that Jesus might've been just a bit irritated | 24:46 | |
when no longer able to avoid her He answered, | 24:51 | |
"It is not fair to take the children's food | 24:55 | |
and throw it to the dogs." | 24:59 | |
Some of the scholars have said that He must have said it | 25:04 | |
with a twinkle in His eye, so that the woman knew | 25:07 | |
that He was really speaking tongue-in-cheek. | 25:10 | |
It's not fair to take the children's food | 25:14 | |
and throw it to the dogs. | 25:16 | |
Maybe, maybe He spoke those words that a typical Jew | 25:20 | |
might have said just to test her response. | 25:24 | |
But on the other hand, it could have simply been a blunt way | 25:28 | |
to say what we mean when we say, sorry, I can't help you, | 25:32 | |
I've gotta take care of my own. | 25:37 | |
It is obvious that in whatever sense Jesus intended her | 25:41 | |
to hear His response, | 25:46 | |
this woman refused to be intimidated by Him, | 25:47 | |
and interpreted His comments in the way | 25:51 | |
that best suited her needs. | 25:53 | |
She said, "Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs | 25:55 | |
that fall from their master's table." | 26:01 | |
Yes, I agree that you were sent first | 26:04 | |
to the house of Israel, | 26:08 | |
yes I understand that we may not be your first priority, | 26:09 | |
but I also believe that there is more than enough | 26:14 | |
to feed all of us. | 26:17 | |
If we are dogs, then at least let us have a dog's rations. | 26:19 | |
You have more than enough to feed us with the crumbs | 26:25 | |
that are left over from your table. | 26:28 | |
Perhaps she sees more in Jesus than He is able to see | 26:32 | |
in Himself. | 26:36 | |
She didn't get offended at His words, | 26:39 | |
she just called Him to do what He was able to do. | 26:42 | |
And in all the stories in the gospel, | 26:47 | |
this is the only time that anyone ever got the best of Jesus | 26:49 | |
in an argument. | 26:54 | |
We can only imagine what this moment must've been like | 26:58 | |
as He realized that this audacious, | 27:02 | |
persistent woman was right. | 27:05 | |
Perhaps He threw back His head and laughed, | 27:08 | |
but in that moment something changed in Him. | 27:12 | |
There is a softening in His voice when He says, | 27:16 | |
"Woman, great is your faith, let it be done for you | 27:20 | |
as you wish." | 27:24 | |
And in that instant her daughter was healed. | 27:26 | |
Through this pagan woman's faith, | 27:31 | |
Jesus learned that God's purpose for Him was even greater | 27:35 | |
than He had imagined. | 27:39 | |
And as one preacher says, | 27:41 | |
"The line that He had drawn between Him | 27:43 | |
and the woman disappeared." | 27:45 | |
The limits that He had placed on Himself vanished | 27:49 | |
and you could almost hear the huge wheel of history turning | 27:53 | |
as Jesus came to a new understanding of who He is | 27:58 | |
and what He's been called to do. | 28:03 | |
He is no longer a Messiah called only to the lost sheep | 28:06 | |
of the house of Israel, but God's chosen redeemer | 28:10 | |
of the whole world, Jews and Gentiles alike, | 28:15 | |
beginning with this Canaanite woman. | 28:21 | |
In the Canaanite woman's appeal to Him for compassion | 28:25 | |
and the healing of her daughter, | 28:28 | |
Jesus heard God's call to extend compassion and healing | 28:30 | |
to all the world. | 28:35 | |
In God's love there was more than enough to go around. | 28:37 | |
She came to Him seeking God's help, | 28:43 | |
but in the process, she mediated God to Him, | 28:46 | |
by enlarging His boundaries and expanding His vision | 28:50 | |
of what God wanted to do through Him. | 28:54 | |
Her faith works in Him like a lever opening His arms | 28:58 | |
wider and wider until there is room for the whole world | 29:03 | |
in them, until He allows them | 29:07 | |
to be nailed open to the cross. | 29:10 | |
You and I owe that Canaanite woman a great deal, | 29:19 | |
because we are the Gentiles who were on the outside | 29:24 | |
of the promise until she challenged Jesus to open up | 29:28 | |
His boundaries and let us in. | 29:32 | |
Now we are insiders, recipients of the blessings | 29:35 | |
and the promises of God and Jesus Christ. | 29:39 | |
We are invited to the table, | 29:43 | |
not just for the crumbs, | 29:46 | |
but for the full feast of God's love. | 29:48 | |
The feast is given to us so that we might be empowered | 29:52 | |
through Christ to open our own lives to all that God | 29:57 | |
can do in us and among us. | 30:01 | |
It means being willing to have our boundaries pushed back | 30:05 | |
and to let go of the limits we set on what we can do | 30:09 | |
and be and give. | 30:12 | |
It isn't always easy for us to let go, | 30:15 | |
but it is always possible. | 30:19 | |
One volunteer with the Sisters of Mercy in Calcutta | 30:24 | |
tells this story of her first day in a home for the dying. | 30:27 | |
She says, "It was terribly traumatic for me | 30:31 | |
being a beauty therapist, | 30:35 | |
I was used to having everything spic and span | 30:37 | |
and smelling nice, so it was quite a shock. | 30:40 | |
When one of the sisters asked me to wash this woman, | 30:44 | |
I just thought, there's no way, I just couldn't. | 30:47 | |
I just stood there. | 30:51 | |
She called me over and said, 'Penny, please take her. | 30:54 | |
I just cried and said I couldn't. | 30:59 | |
So she said, 'All right, come with me.' | 31:02 | |
And she picked up this little bundle of bones, | 31:06 | |
because that's what this lady was, | 31:10 | |
and took her into the bathroom. | 31:12 | |
Even now it makes me cry. | 31:15 | |
There wasn't a lot of light in the room and I was still | 31:18 | |
absolutely catatonic. | 31:21 | |
Then all of a sudden the whole room just lit up. | 31:24 | |
One minute I was saying, 'I can't,' | 31:28 | |
and the next I realized I could. | 31:31 | |
It suddenly struck me seeing one of those religious pictures | 31:35 | |
they have on the wall, it was the body of Christ | 31:39 | |
that anybody can be Christ. | 31:43 | |
It wasn't just that that little old lady covered in scabies | 31:46 | |
was Christ, it was the whole world | 31:50 | |
that was the body of Christ. | 31:53 | |
And I realized that what I was doing for one, | 31:56 | |
I could do for anybody." | 31:59 | |
We don't have to go to Calcutta | 32:04 | |
to have our boundaries pushed back. | 32:06 | |
We can discover the body of Christ in a lonely neighbor, | 32:10 | |
an immigrant, a troubled child, a single parent, | 32:14 | |
a shut-in, someone dying from AIDS. | 32:18 | |
Wherever we are tempted to draw back, to turn away, | 32:23 | |
to avoid someone's eyes, to tighten our protective circle, | 32:29 | |
that's where God is calling us, to let go of our limits. | 32:35 | |
To develop a relationship | 32:39 | |
with someone outside our boundaries. | 32:41 | |
To do what we can do with what is ours to give. | 32:44 | |
With Jesus as our model and our Lord, | 32:51 | |
we are called to step over the lines | 32:54 | |
we have drawn for ourselves, | 32:56 | |
not because we have to and not because we ought to | 32:59 | |
and not even because we want to, | 33:03 | |
but because we know that it is God's own self | 33:06 | |
who waits for us on the other side. | 33:09 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 33:24 |
Let us pray. | 33:28 | |
Lord, Son of David, like the Canaanite woman who begged | 33:34 | |
for your mercy, we too come begging. | 33:37 | |
Begging for help and health and whatever crumbs of kindness | 33:41 | |
you might be willing to throw our way. | 33:44 | |
Begging for the lives of our daughters and our sons, | 33:48 | |
our friends and our loved ones, even ourselves. | 33:52 | |
Perhaps it is not our place Lord, | 33:58 | |
but please do not be indifferent to our pleas. | 34:01 | |
Lord in your compassion. | 34:05 | |
Congregation | Amen. | 34:08 |
- | Lord, Son of David, you call us to examine our hearts | 34:13 |
but when we do we see that we live in a world | 34:18 | |
where almost all human hearts from the smallest | 34:21 | |
to the largest, from the youngest to the oldest | 34:24 | |
get broken and bruised and mishandled | 34:28 | |
and we are sore pressed to know how to heal | 34:32 | |
such hearts as these. | 34:35 | |
Come Lord Jesus, | 34:38 | |
come and show us how to mend what has been broken. | 34:39 | |
Teach us how to protect what has been bruised, | 34:44 | |
with patience, loving kindness and as much clarity | 34:48 | |
as is possible in times such as ours, | 34:51 | |
tell us the way to properly care for the affairs | 34:56 | |
of the heart, Lord in your compassion. | 35:00 | |
Congregation | Amen. | 35:05 |
- | Lord, Son of David you know our blindness | 35:08 |
and our propensity for being blindly led, | 35:11 | |
as we face another election year, | 35:15 | |
the pit yawns before us and we do not even see it. | 35:17 | |
Take our hands and the hands of those | 35:22 | |
who would lead us Lord, and direct us along a better path, | 35:24 | |
with justice and mercy and liberty for all, | 35:30 | |
give our nation and every nation the will to be faithful | 35:32 | |
to the people it serves and the land it protects. | 35:36 | |
Indeed Christ, give us a larger vision of a world | 35:41 | |
that is wholly at peace with itself and it's God, | 35:44 | |
Lord in your compassion. | 35:48 | |
Congregation | Amen. | 35:50 |
- | Lord, Son of David, demons plague our children | 35:54 |
and ourselves, but with your blessing, | 35:58 | |
with only the crumbs of your blessing, help is possible. | 36:02 | |
Grant us this help Jesus. | 36:08 | |
The help that can make even beggars heirs to your kingdom. | 36:11 | |
Help that can steady the beating of our hearts | 36:16 | |
with the calm reassurance of your love | 36:19 | |
and can send us bursting forth in joy and thanksgiving | 36:22 | |
to a world desperately in need of whatever happiness | 36:25 | |
we can offer it, | 36:28 | |
whatever hope we can bring it and whatever service | 36:30 | |
we can work on it's behalf. | 36:33 | |
Help that can open our eyes to the wisdom we need | 36:36 | |
to steer around life's ditches, | 36:39 | |
or to recover from those we have managed | 36:42 | |
to fall into anyway. | 36:44 | |
Help that can cast out that can cast out the demons | 36:47 | |
that threaten our future | 36:50 | |
and the futures of our children, Lord in your compassion. | 36:51 | |
Congregation | Amen. | 36:56 |
- | Lord, Son of David, hear all our prayers, amen. | 36:58 |
I invite you now to stand and pass the peace of Christ | 37:06 | |
with one another. | 37:09 | |
You may be seated. | 37:36 | |
You know the love of our Savior, | 37:43 | |
for though he was rich for our sakes became poor, | 37:46 | |
that we might be made rich. | 37:49 | |
Let us keep the faith. | 37:52 | |
Let us bring the gifts of our life and our labor to God. | 37:54 | |
(organ music) | 38:01 | |
♪ Amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ | 39:14 | |
♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ | 39:26 | |
♪ I once was lost but now I'm found ♪ | 39:37 | |
♪ Twas blind but now I see ♪ | 39:49 | |
♪ Twas grace that taught my heart to fear ♪ | 40:02 | |
♪ And grace my fears relieved ♪ | 40:13 | |
♪ How precious did that grace appear ♪ | 40:23 | |
♪ The hour I first believed ♪ | 40:34 | |
♪ Through many dangers toils and snares ♪ | 40:44 | |
♪ I have already come ♪ | 40:55 | |
♪ Twas grace that brought us safe thus far ♪ | 41:06 | |
♪ And grace will lead me home ♪ | 41:17 | |
♪ The Lord hath promised good to me ♪ | 41:29 | |
♪ His word my hope secures ♪ | 41:38 | |
♪ He will my shield and portion be ♪ | 41:48 | |
♪ As long as life endures ♪ | 41:58 | |
♪ Amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ | 42:08 | |
♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ | 42:21 | |
♪ I once was lost but now am found ♪ | 42:33 | |
♪ Twas blind but now I see ♪ | 42:45 | |
♪ I once was lost but now I'm found ♪ | 43:05 | |
♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ | 43:13 | |
(organ music) | 43:30 | |
(choir singing) | 44:18 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 45:20 |
(congregation answering) | 45:23 | |
Lift up your hearts. | 45:24 | |
(congregation answering) | 45:26 | |
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. | 45:27 | |
(congregation answering) | 45:31 | |
It is right and a good and joyful thing always | 45:33 | |
and everywhere to give thanks to you Almighty God, | 45:37 | |
Creator of Heaven and Earth. | 45:40 | |
You formed us in your image and breathed into us | 45:42 | |
the breath of life. | 45:45 | |
When we turned away and our love failed, | 45:47 | |
your love remained steadfast. | 45:50 | |
You delivered us from captivity, | 45:52 | |
made covenant to be our sovereign God | 45:54 | |
and spoke to us through your prophets | 45:57 | |
who look for that day when justice shall roll down | 46:00 | |
like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. | 46:02 | |
When nations shall not lift up sword against nation, | 46:07 | |
neither shall they learn war anymore. | 46:11 | |
So with your people on Earth and all the company of Heaven, | 46:14 | |
we praise your name and join their unending hymn. | 46:18 | |
(organ music) | 46:21 | |
(choir singing) | 46:31 | |
holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ. | 47:07 | |
Your spirit anointed Him to preach good news | 47:11 | |
to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives | 47:13 | |
and recovering of sight to the blind. | 47:17 | |
To set at liberty those who are oppressed and to announce | 47:19 | |
that the time had come when you would save your people. | 47:23 | |
He healed the sick, fed the hungry and ate with sinners. | 47:26 | |
By the baptism of His suffering, death and resurrection, | 47:31 | |
you gave birth to your church. | 47:34 | |
Delivered us from slavery to sin and death | 47:37 | |
and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit. | 47:40 | |
At His ascension you exalted Him to sit and reign with you | 47:44 | |
at your right hand. | 47:47 | |
On the night on which He gave himself up for us, | 47:49 | |
He took bread, gave thanks to you, gave it to His disciples | 47:53 | |
and said, "Take, eat, this is my body given for you. | 47:57 | |
Do this is remembrance of me." | 48:03 | |
And when the supper was over He took the cup, | 48:08 | |
gave thanks to you, | 48:12 | |
offered it to His disciples and said, | 48:14 | |
"Drink from this all of you, for this is the blood | 48:16 | |
of the new covenant poured out for you and for all | 48:19 | |
for the forgiveness of sins. | 48:23 | |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." | 48:26 | |
So in remembrance of these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ | 48:34 | |
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, | 48:38 | |
as a holy and living sacrifice, | 48:41 | |
in union with Christ offering for us, | 48:44 | |
as we proclaim the mystery of faith. | 48:46 | |
(organ music) | 48:50 | |
(choir singing) | 48:56 | |
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here | 49:04 | |
and on these gifts of bread and wine. | 49:06 | |
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ. | 49:10 | |
That we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed | 49:13 | |
by His blood. | 49:17 | |
By your spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other | 49:18 | |
and one in ministry to all the world. | 49:23 | |
Until Christ comes in final victory and we feast | 49:25 | |
at His heavenly banquet, through your son Jesus Christ, | 49:29 | |
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, | 49:33 | |
all honor and glory is yours Almighty God, | 49:36 | |
now and forever. | 49:39 | |
(organ music) | 49:42 | |
(choir singing) | 49:47 | |
And now with the confidence of the children of God | 49:57 | |
who are invited to this table, | 49:59 | |
we pray together saying, | 50:01 | |
our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 50:03 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 50:08 | |
on earth as it is in Heaven. | 50:12 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 50:14 | |
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those | 50:17 | |
who trespass against us | 50:20 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 50:22 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 50:25 | |
For thine is the kingdom and the power | 50:27 | |
and the glory forever, amen. | 50:30 | |
When we break the bread, | 50:37 | |
is it not a means of sharing in the body of Christ. | 50:39 | |
When we give thanks over the cup, | 50:48 | |
is it not a means of sharing the blood of Christ, | 50:51 | |
which cleanses us from sin. | 50:54 | |
The body of Christ given for you. | 51:03 | |
The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. | 51:15 | |
The feast is prepared, come now to the Lord's table. | 51:43 | |
(organ music) | 51:51 | |
(choir singing) | 52:15 | |
Please stand. | 59:42 | |
Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery | 59:48 | |
in which you have given yourself to us. | 59:52 | |
Grant that we may go into the world, | 59:55 | |
in the strength of your spirit to give ourselves for others, | 59:57 | |
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 1:00:02 | |
(organ music) | 1:00:07 | |
(choir singing) | 1:00:47 | |
Go forth in peace, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ | 1:03:40 | |
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit | 1:03:44 | |
be with you all. | 1:03:47 | |
(choir singing) | 1:03:52 | |
(organ music) | 1:04:04 |