William H. Willimon - "The Right Time" (January 1, 1995)

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	(instrumental band music)	0:00
-	Good morning and welcome to Duke Chapel	3:40
	on this first Sunday of a new year.	3:42
	We have been gathered for worship	3:45
	by the Crown Chamber Brass with us again	3:47
	to assist in our music today	3:51
	and we welcome them.	3:53
	Tomorrow our chapel choir leaves for a	3:55
	week-and-a-half tour of various cathedrals in England	3:59
	where they will be singing, giving concerts,	4:04
	and we wish our chapel choir well on this tour.	4:07
	Let us stand for the call to worship.	4:12
	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.	4:18
Congregation	And also with you.	4:22
-	The splendor of Christ shines upon us.	4:24
Congregation	Praise the Lord.	4:26
-	Let us rejoice in God's gift of a new year.	4:28
	(instrumental band music)	4:34
	♪ Good Christian friends, rejoice ♪	5:06
	♪ With heart and soul and voice ♪	5:10
	♪ Give ye heed to what we say ♪	5:14
	♪ News, news, Jesus Christ is born today ♪	5:18
	♪ Ox and ass before Him bow ♪	5:25
	♪ And He is in the manger now ♪	5:29
	♪ Christ is born today ♪	5:34
	♪ Christ is born today ♪	5:38
	♪ Good Christian friends, rejoice ♪	5:43
	♪ With heart and soul and voice ♪	5:47
	♪ Now ye hear of endless bliss ♪	5:51
	♪ News, news, Jesus Christ was born for this ♪	5:55
	♪ He has opened heaven's door ♪	6:00
	♪ And we are blest forevermore ♪	6:04
	♪ Christ was born for this ♪	6:08
	♪ Christ was born for this ♪	6:12
	♪ Good Christian friends, rejoice ♪	6:17
	♪ With heart and soul and voice ♪	6:20
	♪ Now ye need not fear the grave ♪	6:25
	♪ News, news, Jesus Christ was born to save ♪	6:29
	♪ Calls you one and calls you all ♪	6:35
	♪ To gain His everlasting hall ♪	6:40
	♪ Christ was born to save ♪	6:44
	♪ Christ was born to save ♪	6:48
-	Let us pray.	6:57
	Almighty God, who has been the dwelling place	7:01
	of Thy people in all generations,	7:04
	and who in Thy mercy has brought us	7:08
	to the close of another year	7:10
	and the beginning of a new one,	7:12
	we praise Thee for all the way	7:16
	by which Thou has led us	7:20
	and we humbly beseech Thee	7:22
	to continue to us Thy great loving kindness.	7:24
	Help us to cast our weakness on Thy strength	7:29
	that amid all the changes of time	7:34
	in the coming year,	7:38
	we may rest on Thine unchanging love	7:40
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	7:45
	Be seated.	7:50
-	Let us pray for illumination.	7:58
All	Open our hearts and minds, O God,	8:01
	by the power of Your Holy Spirit,	8:05
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	8:08
	we may hear with joy what You say to us	8:11
	at the beginning of a new year, amen.	8:15
-	Here begins the 21st chapter	8:21
	of the revelation of St. John the Divine.	8:24
	Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth	8:28
	for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away	8:32
	and the sea was no more.	8:36
	And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,	8:39
	coming down out of heaven from God,	8:44
	prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.	8:47
	And I heard a great voice from the throne saying,	8:51
	Behold, the dwelling of God is with men.	8:55
	He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,	8:59
	and God Himself will be with them and be their God.	9:03
	He will wipe away every tear from their eyes	9:09
	and death shall be no more.	9:13
	Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore.	9:16
	And the former things have passed away.	9:21
	And He who sat upon the throne said,	9:26
	Behold, I make all things new.	9:30
	And He also said to me, Write this,	9:35
	for these words are trustworthy and true.	9:38
	And He said to me, It is done.	9:43
	I am the Alpha and the Omega.	9:46
	This is the Word of the Lord.	9:51
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	9:54
	(instrumental band music)	10:08
-	Here begins the third chapter	12:39
	of the book of Ecclesiastes.	12:41
	For everything there is a season,	12:45
	for a time and a time for every matter under heaven.	12:48
	A time to be born and a time to die.	12:53
	A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.	12:57
	A time to kill and a time to heal.	13:01
	A time to break down and a time to build up.	13:05
	A time to weep and a time to love.	13:10
	A time to mourn and a time to dance.	13:14
	A time to cast away stones	13:18
	and a time to gather stones together.	13:20
	A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.	13:23
	A time to seek and a time to lose.	13:29
	A time to keep and a time to cast away.	13:33
	A time to rend and a time to sow.	13:37
	A time to keep silence and a time to speak.	13:42
	A time to love and a time to hate.	13:46
	A time for war and a time for peace.	13:50
	What gain has the worker from his toil?	13:55
	I have seen the business that God has given	13:59
	to the sons of men to be busy with.	14:02
	He has made everything beautiful in its time.	14:05
	Also He has put eternity into man's mind	14:09
	yet so that cannot find out what God has done	14:13
	from the beginning to the end.	14:16
	I know that there is nothing better for them	14:20
	than to be happy and enjoy themselves	14:23
	as long as they live.	14:26
	Also that it is God's gift to man	14:28
	that everyone should eat and drink	14:31
	and take pleasure in all his toil.	14:35
	This is the Word of the Lord.	14:39
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	14:41
-	I wanted to mention that our lector this morning	14:51
	is our chapel carillonneur, Sam Hammond	14:54
	who blessed so many during our Christmas services.	14:57
	And offering the prayers for us this morning	15:03
	is Dr. Richard Hayes, professor of New Testament	15:05
	at the Divinity School.	15:09
	We have just lived through one of the happiest	15:14
	times of the year, Christmastide.	15:18
	And we are entering, at least what is for me,	15:23
	one of the most melancholy times, New Years.	15:27
	At Christmas, all things brighten	15:33
	and glow with hope and cheer.	15:38
	We all know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge	15:42
	who spent his life in miserliness	15:45
	but at Christmas, at Yuletide he is transformed.	15:50
	And aren't we all?	15:56
	Shakespeare recalls in Hamlet	15:59
	the tradition that at Christmastide,	16:01
	time is transformed.	16:05
	For one glorious night, all time redeemed	16:07
	by Christ's birth.	16:12
	Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes	16:16
	wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated.	16:19
	The bird of dawning singeth it all night long.	16:22
	And then they say, no spirit can walk abroad.	16:27
	The nights are wholesome and no planets strike.	16:31
	No fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm.	16:34
	So hallowed and so gracious is that time.	16:39
	Christmas carols speak of O holy night.	16:46
	Bethlehem, when the hopes and the fears	16:50
	of all the years are met in thee tonight.	16:53
	How different that time,	16:59
	say, than the time of New Year's.	17:03
	New Year's is a depressing non-event,	17:07
	dreamed up by restaurants and makers of Cold Duck.	17:10
	Another year has ended and another year has begun,	17:15
	which means that you are one year older,	17:20
	one year closer to your end.	17:23
	Happy New Year.	17:27
	(congregation laughing)	17:28
	And there's always something a little too earnest	17:31
	about New Year's Eve parties.	17:35
	Why do so many people celebrate	17:40
	New Year's by inebriation,	17:43
	unless to mask New Year's depression.	17:47
	New Year's, you flip a page on the calendar.	17:52
	Whoopie, 1995.	17:57
	And though we rarely have church on New Year's Day,	18:02
	we do this year	18:05
	and our assigned scripture is appropriately depressing.	18:08
	Poetry from the book,	18:12
	the rarely preached book of Ecclesiastes.	18:15
	For everything there is a season	18:20
	and a time for every matter under heaven.	18:24
	A time to be born.	18:28
	A time to die.	18:31
	A time to plant.	18:34
	A time to pluck up what is planted.	18:36
	A time to kill.	18:40
	A time to heal.	18:42
	Now there was a time when I thought these words beautiful.	18:46
	Sung in the '60s, was it by the Kinks or the Birds,	18:51
	I can't remember.	18:54
	For everything turn, turn, turn,	18:56
	there is a season, turn, turn, turn.	18:59
	You can think these words beautiful	19:06
	until you read them closely in context.	19:07
	And beautiful words though they may be	19:12
	read closely, they are also dark words.	19:17
	A time to weep and a time to laugh.	19:23
	A time to mourn and a time to dance.	19:27
	A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.	19:30
	A time to keep silence and a time to speak.	19:34
	A time to love, a time to hate.	19:37
	A time to make war, a time for peace.	19:41
	See, everything has its time.	19:45
	We were told in Genesis that the seasons	19:49
	would just roll and continue.	19:52
	Ecclesiastes says time passes,	19:57
	the seasons roll along.	20:00
	A time for this, a time for that.	20:02
	But then Ecclesiastes asks,	20:07
	what gain have the workers from their toil?	20:10
	I have seen what God gives us to be busy with	20:15
	and where does it lead?	20:19
	And what good comes of all our toil?	20:21
	That's a dark thought.	20:28
	Look back on 1994.	20:31
	You made 12 car payments.	20:35
	You painted the bedroom and the bath.	20:38
	You shampooed the downstairs carpet.	20:41
	But what gain had you from such toil?	20:43
	There is a time	20:48
	to write checks.	20:51
	A time to pay taxes, a time to paint bedrooms,	20:54
	a time to care for the carpet,	20:56
	a time for Democrats,	20:58
	a time for Republicans	21:00
	and a time to die.	21:03
	How old do you think was the one	21:10
	who wrote these words in Ecclesiastes?	21:12
	Maybe you picture him as say, a young cynic,	21:17
	sitting alone in his dorm room reading Sartre,	21:21
	making sarcastic comments about the capitalist rat race.	21:25
	I remember a student who this past fall said to me,	21:30
	my old man gave his life for GM.	21:33
	He sacrificed his health, he sacrificed his marriage,	21:38
	his happiness, and what good did it do	21:42
	when GM laid him off?	21:47
	Or do you think that maybe these are the words	21:54
	of an embittered, resentful older person,	21:56
	cast aside by the family,	22:01
	sitting alone in an apartment	22:04
	where the telephone never rings.	22:06
	Looking back upon a life and saying,	22:11
	well, now what good does the worker have from his toil?	22:13
	It's depressing.	22:20
	I have seen the busyness that God has given us	22:24
	to be busy with.	22:27
	He has made everything suitable for its time.	22:30
	Moreover, He has put a sense of past and future	22:33
	into their minds	22:36
	and yet they cannot find out what God has done.	22:39
	See, the writer is not just simply talking about	22:47
	how time passes, about how the seasons roll along	22:50
	one after another, boringly trudging	22:54
	each season followed by another.	22:58
	A time for this, a time for that.	23:01
	No, the writer is saying that there is	23:05
	not just a time but there is a right time	23:08
	for every matter under heaven.	23:12
	There's a right time to speak.	23:15
	There's a right time to keep silent.	23:19
	There's a right time.	23:21
	One of Aesop's fables says	23:26
	it is wisdom to do the right thing	23:29
	at the right time.	23:33
	The philosophers, particularly the Stoics	23:39
	made much of this,	23:43
	that there is a right time and a wrong time for everything	23:45
	and much of philosophy devoted itself	23:50
	to the discernment of the right time.	23:53
	I mean, you think about it.	23:58
	Isn't that really what education is all about?	23:59
	Whether you're a philosophy major or not.	24:03
	Learning, growing, training in one's ability	24:05
	to know the right time.	24:10
	'Cause everything, if you think about it,	24:14
	everything is a matter of proper timing.	24:16
	I go to seek advice of a stockbroker,	24:22
	what kind of advice am I seeking?	24:25
	Is this a time to buy	24:27
	or is this a time to sell?	24:30
	Recently a doctor told me that timing is everything	24:36
	in a proper diagnosis.	24:40
	If a patient comes to a doctor too soon,	24:43
	the complaints are vague, unspecific,	24:47
	hard to pinpoint, tough to diagnosis.	24:50
	Alas, if the patient waits too long to come to the doctor,	24:54
	the disease has spread too far	24:58
	and therapy is impossible.	25:00
	Mark Twain wrote that	25:06
	the difference between the right word	25:09
	and the almost right word is a difference	25:12
	between lightning and a lightning bug.	25:15
	And when you think about it,	25:21
	the same could be said for timing.	25:23
	The difference between the right time	25:25
	and the almost but unfortunately not right time	25:29
	is a great difference.	25:33
	This past summer I read Garry Wills' book on leaders	25:38
	and after reading that book, I was really impressed	25:43
	that leadership is a matter of the right time.	25:47
	Leadership is not just simply a matter of talented people.	25:52
	Lots of people have great talents.	25:55
	But the great leader has the right talents	26:00
	at the right time.	26:04
	Winston Churchill, for instance,	26:08
	was the right man for England	26:09
	in the time of war	26:11
	but the wrong leader in the time of peace.	26:14
	And so we come to speak of the man of the hour	26:18
	or we talk about an idea whose time has come.	26:22
	There's a time to make peace	26:28
	but as Neville Chamberlain found out,	26:30
	earnestly desiring to make peace	26:33
	in a time where Hitler roamed,	26:35
	there is a time to make war.	26:39
	Chamberlain was the right man	26:42
	at the wrong time.	26:46
	Shakespeare again.	26:50
	There comes a tide in the affairs of men	26:53
	which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.	26:55
	Omitted, all the voyage of their life	26:59
	is bound in shallows and in miseries.	27:03
	In all things, whether it be birth or death	27:08
	or politics, love, war, economics, planting, harvesting,	27:10
	there is a right time.	27:15
	And so naturally the philosophers	27:20
	sought to cultivate those sensibilities	27:22
	whereby people would learn,	27:24
	whereby they might know the right time.	27:28
	Aristotle advises moderation	27:33
	is a key to knowing when is the right time to act,	27:37
	when is the right time to be silent.	27:42
	Today we build elaborate computer models.	27:45
	We erect an institute of public policy.	27:50
	We hire economists to advise us.	27:53
	We consult astrologers.	27:56
	A whole pseudoscience has arisen.	27:59
	Futurism, to predict and to prognosticate,	28:02
	to know the right time.	28:07
	And Ecclesiastes says	28:15
	that all of that is a lie.	28:18
	Vanity of vanities.	28:23
	Ecclesiastes, while agreeing	28:28
	there is a right time for everything, believes	28:31
	only God knows it.	28:37
	Only God knows when the right time is.	28:41
	How do you know when it is the right time?	28:48
	Only God knows, says Ecclesiastes.	28:50
	God is God and we are not.	28:56
	Now we normally think of God's distance from us	29:00
	in terms of knowledge or power.	29:03
	God is omniscient or God is omnipotent and we're not.	29:06
	But today, New Year's,	29:11
	Ecclesiastes bids us to think of the difference,	29:15
	the distance between us and God	29:19
	as a matter of knowing the time.	29:21
	As a teacher,	29:30
	I've learned the hard way that there is a kind of	29:32
	teachable moment in teaching.	29:36
	That sacred moment	29:40
	when the listener becomes a learner	29:43
	and the eyes light up.	29:49
	You can see in the classroom,	29:50
	you can see the eyes light up.	29:52
	The light bulb going on.	29:54
	You can see it in the eyes	29:56
	and the heartbeat quickens	29:58
	and you know this is the right time.	30:01
	Alas, the way I figured,	30:08
	about 80%, all right, 85% of what I teach	30:09
	is the right information	30:14
	but it's at the wrong time.	30:17
	Oh, to be granted in the classroom	30:21
	the wisdom to know the right time	30:23
	when the student is at last receptive	30:26
	and eager to learn that which I am longing to teach.	30:29
	But I'll tell you this, after two decades of teaching,	30:38
	I know as little how to predict or how to prepare	30:40
	that time as I did when I first slithered into the classroom	30:44
	as a freshman.	30:47
	Don't you think that the, maybe the older you get,	30:52
	those of you who've gotten older,	30:54
	don't you think	30:55
	that the older you get, the more you have to admit	30:58
	how often it has been in life	31:02
	that you have done something right	31:04
	but you did it at the wrong time?	31:06
	Either one pushed one children's too far, too soon	31:09
	or either one missed a golden opportunity	31:14
	or one jumped forward prematurely	31:17
	when one should have stood still.	31:19
	It would be wisdom, great wisdom	31:23
	to know the right time.	31:25
	But Ecclesiastes says, forget it.	31:29
	You can't.	31:32
	You're not God.	31:35
	There are just way too many things out of your control.	31:38
	I think these words in Ecclesiastes,	31:46
	I think they were written by somebody over 65,	31:51
	what do you think?	31:54
	At last year's baccalaureate,	31:59
	I confessed to the graduates	32:01
	my own ineptitude at discerning the right time.	32:04
	A few years ago, I was giving a series of lectures	32:09
	in West Germany and I encountered this Duke sophomore	32:11
	of my acquaintance	32:15
	who was spending the year studying	32:17
	and running about in Germany.	32:19
	And we got to talking about the situation	32:22
	then in East Germany.	32:24
	And he said to me,	32:28
	I was talking with this girl	32:29
	that I met in a bar in Leipzig	32:31
	who told me that she expects East Germany	32:33
	to fall within the next few weeks.	32:36
	What, I asked in astonishment.	32:40
	Well, let me tell you something, kid.	32:43
	I have been meeting with some of the most	32:45
	distinguished professors in two	32:46
	of the best universities in Germany	32:48
	and I can tell you that they tell me	32:51
	that nothing is going to change here in Germany	32:53
	at least through this decade.	32:56
	Well, this girl said that she knows some people	33:00
	over in Leipzig that are.	33:02
	I said, look, I hope that by your junior year	33:04
	you will be able to get more accurate information	33:08
	than that to be derived from random people in bars.	33:11
	(congregation laughing)	33:16
	Two weeks later, I was home, got home, end of the day,	33:18
	flipped on the TV, November 7th, Berlin Wall was down.	33:21
	It would be wisdom	33:30
	always to know the right time	33:33
	but Ecclesiastes says there is an even greater wisdom	33:39
	and that wisdom is to face the facts,	33:46
	to accept our finite, limited creaturely status.	33:50
	There is way too much outside our ability to control	33:56
	and therefore to predict.	34:01
	Time, the right time,	34:05
	is in God's hands.	34:09
	It's not in our hands.	34:11
	I think that's why so many of the New Testament writers	34:15
	enjoy speaking about the right time.	34:19
	Romans 5:6, for while we were still weak,	34:23
	at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.	34:29
	Nobody at the crucifixion thought it was the right time.	34:36
	Paul speaks in Galatians 4	34:41
	of the fullness of time, the pregnancy of time.	34:44
	When the right time had come, Paul says,	34:50
	God sent His Son.	34:53
	These writers are saying,	34:57
	you see that Jesus came at the right time,	34:58
	time which only God knew.	35:02
	In graciousness, God somehow makes our fumbling,	35:07
	inept, unknowing time	35:10
	about 80% of which, as I said, is the right,	35:14
	is the wrong time.	35:16
	God makes this into His time.	35:20
	There are just certain, wonderful gifted moments	35:24
	when God somehow catches up our untimely actions	35:29
	into the right time.	35:35
	And our fumbling, staggering ineptitude	35:39
	becomes somehow woven	35:42
	into the purposes of God.	35:45
	Christmas is such a time.	35:50
	It was the right time.	35:54
	Course they didn't know it.	35:57
	Mary and Joseph, as they went about	35:59
	paying taxes, visiting relatives,	36:02
	getting engaged, having babies,	36:04
	receiving visitors from the East,	36:06
	they didn't know it was the right time.	36:09
	God knew.	36:13
	In the story of the first nativity	36:18
	is a bunch of ordinary people stumbling around,	36:19
	doing what they think they're supposed to do	36:21
	and somehow God just reaches in and makes it right.	36:23
	As a pastor, when a young couple comes to me	36:30
	thinking about marriage, that's usually what they say.	36:33
	They'll say, we're waiting to get married	36:37
	until we can be sure it's the right time.	36:40
	And I usually say,	36:45
	after years of pastoral experience, forget it.	36:47
	It's always the wrong time to get married.	36:52
	You never have enough money to pay for it	36:56
	or security or maturity or balance or.	36:58
	So I find it best just to go ahead and join hands,	37:03
	close your eyes and take the plunge off the cliff.	37:05
	Poor Duke things.	37:11
	Many of them have so planned and programmed	37:14
	their lives up to this point	37:16
	that they expect all life to be a series	37:17
	of the right actions and the right places	37:20
	at the right time.	37:24
	But even if they scored 1350 on the SAT,	37:27
	even though they know a lot about nuclear physics,	37:32
	they cannot know the right time.	37:35
	But I bet there are many here today who can testify	37:41
	if we had the time.	37:44
	Many who got married at the wrong time	37:47
	can today testify that in God's great grace	37:50
	their bad timing was transformed	37:56
	into God's right time.	37:59
	And I think that's why Ecclesiastes says,	38:03
	look, there's nothing better than to go ahead,	38:05
	have something to drink, have something to eat,	38:08
	take pleasure in today.	38:10
	Go on about your life,	38:14
	eating, drinking, taking pleasure in the time that you have.	38:16
	And one day you look back and wonder of wonders,	38:22
	it was really the right time.	38:29
	The truth I have tried to tell this New Year's Day	38:37
	is not one which modern people want to hear.	38:41
	That is, you and I are not gods unto ourselves.	38:50
	We cannot know the right time.	38:57
	And yet here is the good news.	39:02
	Wherever your life may take you	39:06
	in the coming 1995,	39:08
	the seasons of your life are held	39:13
	in God's hand	39:17
	and by God's grace,	39:21
	all shall be well.	39:24
	(instrumental band music)	39:36
	♪ Our God, our help in ages past ♪	40:05
	♪ Our hope for years to come ♪	40:12
	♪ Our shelter from the stormy blast ♪	40:19
	♪ And our eternal home ♪	40:26
	♪ Under the shadow of Your throne ♪	40:35
	♪ Still may we dwell secure ♪	40:42
	♪ Sufficient is Thine arm alone ♪	40:50
	♪ And our defense is sure ♪	40:57
	♪ Before the hills in order stood ♪	41:05
	♪ Or earth received her frame ♪	41:12
	♪ From everlasting Thou are God ♪	41:19
	♪ To endless years the same ♪	41:26
	♪ A thousand ages in Thy sight ♪	41:34
	♪ Are like an evening gone ♪	41:41
	♪ Short as the watch that ends the night ♪	41:49
	♪ Before the rising sun ♪	41:56
	♪ Time, like an ever rolling stream ♪	42:06
	♪ Bears all who breathe away ♪	42:13
	♪ They fly forgotten, as a dream ♪	42:20
	♪ Dies at the opening day ♪	42:27
	♪ O God, our help in ages past ♪	42:36
	♪ Our hope for years to come ♪	42:44
	♪ Be Thou our guide while life shall last ♪	42:51
	♪ And our eternal home ♪	43:00
-	The Lord be with you.	43:14
Congregation	And also with you.	43:16
-	Let us pray.	43:18
	Lord God, You have ordered the times and the seasons.	43:27
	Help us to discern the season rightly.	43:33
	We lift up to You our prayers of intercession	43:36
	for all Your people.	43:40
	For those who welcome new births	43:43
	and for those who face the time of death,	43:47
	grant them trust in You,	43:50
	the Author of life.	43:53
	Whether we live or die, we are Yours.	43:55
	Lord, in Your mercy,	43:58
All	Hear our prayer.	44:00
-	For those who plant new seeds	44:02
	and for those who will reap the harvest,	44:04
	grant them faith in You,	44:08
	the One who gives growth without our knowing how.	44:10
	Lord, in Your mercy,	44:15
All	Hear our prayer.	44:17
-	For those who feel constrained to kill	44:20
	and for those who practice the healing art,	44:24
	grant them an abiding awe for the gift of life	44:28
	that You have entrusted to us.	44:31
	Lord, in Your mercy,	44:34
All	Hear our prayer.	44:35
-	For those who tear down the work of the past	44:37
	and for those who build anew,	44:40
	direct the work of their hands	44:43
	for You are the master architect and builder	44:46
	without whom all our building is in vain.	44:50
	Lord, in Your mercy,	44:54
All	Hear our prayer.	44:55
-	For those who weep and for those who laugh,	44:57
	for those who mourn and for those who dance,	45:02
	grant them the comfort promised by our Lord Jesus	45:06
	and the startling joy that anticipates	45:10
	His coming kingdom in which even dry bones will dance.	45:13
	Lord, in Your mercy,	45:19
All	Hear our prayer.	45:21
-	For those who embrace	45:24
	and are joined in marriage,	45:27
	and for those who refrain from embracing,	45:30
	grant that our embracing may reflect	45:33
	the love with which Christ has embraced us	45:36
	and also that our abstinence	45:40
	may empower our service of Your kingdom.	45:42
	Lord, in Your mercy,	45:46
All	Hear our prayer.	45:48
-	For those who treasure up the past	45:50
	and for who cast it all away	45:52
	in order to follow Your call,	45:56
	grant them discernment to know what things	45:59
	You would have us preserve	46:01
	and what things hinder us	46:04
	from following You.	46:06
	Lord, in Your mercy	46:08
All	Hear our prayer.	46:11
-	For those who keep silence	46:12
	and for those who speak,	46:14
	grant them wisdom to know when to listen,	46:16
	when to fall hush in an unstilled world	46:19
	and how at last to speak truly of You,	46:24
	for You are the word through whom	46:28
	all creation has come into being.	46:30
	Lord, in Your mercy,	46:34
All	Hear our prayer.	46:36
-	For those who embody Your love in the world	46:37
	and for those who hate evil,	46:40
	grant them the purity of heart	46:43
	to recognize Your enemies	46:46
	and the grace to overcome evil	46:49
	with the surpassing love of Christ.	46:52
	Lord, in Your mercy	46:56
All	Hear our prayer.	46:58
-	For those who suffer the terrors of war	47:00
	and for those who seek to make peace,	47:03
	may it not be too late.	47:07
	Grant them respite from their suffering and success	47:10
	in their ministries of reconciliation	47:13
	for You have already made peace	47:16
	through the blood of the cross,	47:19
	putting our enmities at an end.	47:21
	Lord, in Your mercy,	47:24
All	Hear our prayer.	47:26
-	Thus, Lord, at the beginning of this new year,	47:29
	we turn to You in penitence and hope,	47:32
	continuing to trust in You.	47:36
	We look for the promised consolation of the new Jerusalem	47:39
	in which mourning and crying and pain	47:44
	will be no more	47:47
	and You will wipe away every tear from our eyes.	47:49
	Lord, in Your mercy,	47:53
All	Hear our prayer.	47:55
-	We pray all these things trusting in the mercies	47:58
	of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	48:01
	Let us now offer to God our tithes and offerings.	48:07
	(instrumental band music)	48:22
	(organ music)	52:17
	♪ Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ♪	52:41
	♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪	52:47
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	52:54
	♪ Praise God above, ye heavenly host ♪	53:02
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	53:09
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	53:16
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	53:22
	♪ Alleluia ♪	53:29
-	Almighty God, You are the One	53:43
	who holds in the palm of Your hand	53:46
	all the times of our lives.	53:49
	Therefore as an old year ends and a new one begins,	53:52
	it is meet and right	53:56
	that we should gather around Your altar	53:57
	to seek Your grace	54:01
	in the coming year,	54:04
	to reach out for Your guidance	54:06
	in all that we do and say.	54:08
	And now to offer ourselves	54:11
	as gifts to You.	54:13
	You have blessed us with so much	54:16
	during the past year	54:19
	and we know that You shall bless us again.	54:22
	Therefore out of our gratitude for Your grace	54:25
	we offer these our gifts	54:30
	in praise and thanksgiving of all the gifts	54:32
	that You offer to us,	54:35
	particularly the gift of Your dear Son,	54:37
	our Savior, Jesus Christ.	54:39
	Keep us, we pray, in the coming year.	54:43
	For all that has been, we give thanks.	54:47
	For all that shall be, we give thanks,	54:51
	praying as we have been taught,	54:55
All	Our Father, who art in heaven,	54:57
	hallowed be Thy name,	55:00
	Thy kingdom come,	55:02
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	55:04
	Give us this day our daily bread	55:08
	and forgive us our trespasses	55:11
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	55:14
	And lead us not into temptation,	55:17
	but deliver us from evil.	55:20
	For Thine is the kingdom	55:22
	and the power, and the glory forever, amen.	55:24
	(organ music)	55:30
	♪ Joy to the world, the Lord is come ♪	56:00
	♪ Let earth receive her King ♪	56:06
	♪ Let every heart prepare Him room ♪	56:11
	♪ And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing ♪	56:17
	♪ And heaven, and heaven and nature sing ♪	56:23
	♪ Joy to the world, the Savior reigns ♪	56:32
	♪ Let men their songs employ ♪	56:37
	♪ While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains ♪	56:42
	♪ Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy ♪	56:48
	♪ Repeat, repeat the sounding joy ♪	56:53
	♪ No more let sins and sorrows grow ♪	57:01
	♪ Nor thorns infest the ground ♪	57:06
	♪ He comes to make His blessings flow ♪	57:11
	♪ Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found ♪	57:17
	♪ Far as, far as the curse is found ♪	57:23
	♪ He rules the world with truth and grace ♪	57:31
	♪ And makes the nations prove ♪	57:37
	♪ The glories of His righteousness ♪	57:42
	♪ And wonders of His love, and wonders of His love ♪	57:48
	♪ And wonders, wonders of His love ♪	57:54
-	May the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,	58:06
	the love of God	58:09
	and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	58:10
	be with you now and always, amen.	58:12
	(organ music)	58:18

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "The Right Time" (January 1, 1995)

Description:

Sermon start time: 14:51. Sermon end time: 39:27.
It is a great thing to do the right thing at the right season. Yet human beings cannot know the "right" time to plan their lives; only God knows and controls the timing of everything. The good news is that wherever life takes us in the future, the seasons of our life are held in the God's hand and God can always catch up our untimely actions into “the right time.” (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “It would be wisdom always to know the right time. But Ecclesiastes says there is an even greater wisdom, and that wisdom is to face the facts, to accept our finite, limited creaturely status…Time, the right time, is in God’s hands. It’s not in our hands.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r41n7z29d

Date:

January 1, 1995

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Ecclesiastes

Chapter and Verse:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0405
ref9519_r4h
uachapelsermaud
duke:321363
dcrmv001387
ark:/87924/r41n7z29d
b911e1a9-e500-4972-8f34-b12fbbdfaad0

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

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

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William H. Willimon - "The Right Time" (January 1, 1995)

Transcript

Item Info

1. William H. Willimon - "The Right Time" (January 1, 1995)

Duke University Archives

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William H. Willimon - "The Right Time" (January 1, 1995)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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