Dennis M. Campbell - "Watching and Waiting for God" (October 22, 1989)
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Transcript
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(soft pipe organ music) | 0:00 | |
- | Good morning and welcome to this service of worship | 0:21 |
here at Duke University Chapel | 0:24 | |
on this 23rd Sunday after Pentecost. | 0:26 | |
We are delighted to see each of you here including all the | 0:29 | |
administrative assistants for the United Methodist Bishops | 0:32 | |
who are visiting with us today. | 0:34 | |
We welcome as our guest preacher this morning, | 0:37 | |
the Reverend Dr. Dennis Campbell, | 0:39 | |
Dean of Duke Divinity School and professor of theology. | 0:42 | |
Educated at Duke and Yale Universities, | 0:46 | |
Dr. Campbell is a noted lecturer, seminar leader and author. | 0:49 | |
He is also widely recognized as a national spokesperson | 0:53 | |
on theological education. | 0:56 | |
Dr. Campbell is a very familiar face to us here at | 0:58 | |
the chapel, having preached and presided here many times. | 1:01 | |
Our lector for today is Mr. Craig Langston, | 1:05 | |
Divinity School intern for Duke Chapel | 1:09 | |
and the Duke Chapel congregation. | 1:11 | |
Substituting for associate chapel organist, David Arkess, | 1:13 | |
today is Dr. Thomas B. Clark III. | 1:16 | |
Please note the following additions and corrections | 1:20 | |
to this week's calendar of activities here at the chapel. | 1:23 | |
On Monday evening at 7:30 p.m. Reverend Barry Shelley | 1:26 | |
of the Youth Protection Center in San Salvador will speak | 1:30 | |
in the chapel basement on the topic, Forced Military | 1:33 | |
Recruitment in El Salvador and the Church's Response. | 1:36 | |
On Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. Coach Mike Sheshefsky, | 1:41 | |
Head Coach of the Duke Men's Basketball team | 1:45 | |
and Professor John Westart of the Duke Law School | 1:49 | |
will lead a discussion on the topic, Ethics in Sports, | 1:52 | |
in room 139 Social Science. | 1:54 | |
And on Thursday evening, beginning at 7:00 p.m., | 1:57 | |
not 7:30, a lecture will be presented by Dr. Eagen Mayer | 2:01 | |
on the topic of Marriage and Dating | 2:05 | |
Between Christians and Jews. | 2:07 | |
Small group discussions will occur immediately afterward. | 2:09 | |
Please note the remaining announcements | 2:13 | |
as they are printed in your bulletins. | 2:15 | |
And now let us continue our worship as we stand | 2:17 | |
and lift our voices in song. | 2:19 | |
(pipe organ playing intro to the hymn) | 2:23 | |
♪ All my hope is firmly grounded ♪ | 3:00 | |
♪ In the great and living Lord ♪ | 3:04 | |
♪ Who, whenever I most need him, ♪ | 3:12 | |
♪ Never fails to keep his word. ♪ | 3:17 | |
♪ Him I must ♪ | 3:23 | |
♪ Wholly trust, ♪ | 3:26 | |
♪ God the ever good and just. ♪ | 3:28 | |
♪ Tell me, who can trust our nature, ♪ | 3:38 | |
♪ Human, weak, and insecure ♪ | 3:43 | |
♪ Which of all the airy castles ♪ | 3:50 | |
♪ Can the hurricane endure? ♪ | 3:55 | |
♪ Built on sand, ♪ | 4:01 | |
♪ Nought can stand, ♪ | 4:04 | |
♪ By our earthly wisdom planned. ♪ | 4:07 | |
♪ But in every time and season, ♪ | 4:16 | |
♪ Out of love's abundant store, ♪ | 4:21 | |
♪ God sustains his whole creation, ♪ | 4:28 | |
♪ Found of life for evermore. ♪ | 4:34 | |
♪ We who share ♪ | 4:39 | |
♪ Earth and air ♪ | 4:42 | |
♪ Count on his unfailing care. ♪ | 4:45 | |
(organ playing interlude) | 4:54 | |
♪ Thank, O thank, our great Creator, ♪ | 6:18 | |
♪ Through his only Son this day. ♪ | 6:25 | |
♪ God alone, the Heavenly Potter, ♪ | 6:31 | |
♪ Made us out of earth and clay. ♪ | 6:36 | |
♪ Quick to heed, ♪ | 6:42 | |
♪ Strong in deed, ♪ | 6:45 | |
♪ God shall all his people feed. ♪ | 6:48 | |
- | Almighty and everlasting God, | 7:04 |
who, in Christ, has revealed thy glory among the nations, | 7:06 | |
preserve the works of thy mercy that thy church | 7:11 | |
throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith | 7:15 | |
in the confession of thy name, through the same Jesus Christ | 7:19 | |
our Lord who liveth and reigneth with thee | 7:23 | |
and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen. | 7:26 | |
- | Will you join in the prayer for illumination. | 7:43 |
Open our hearts and minds, oh God, by the power of your | 7:47 | |
Holy Spirit, that as the word is read and proclaimed, | 7:51 | |
we might hear with joy what you say to us this day, amen. | 7:56 | |
The first lesson this morning comes to us | 8:03 | |
from the book of Habakkuk 1:1-3 and 2:1-4. | 8:05 | |
The oracle of God which Habakkuk the prophet saw. | 8:13 | |
Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? | 8:17 | |
Or cry to you, violence, and you will not save? | 8:22 | |
Why do you make me see wrongs and look upon trouble? | 8:26 | |
Destruction and violence are before me. | 8:31 | |
Strife and contention arise. | 8:33 | |
I will take my stand to watch and station myself | 8:36 | |
on the tower and look forth to see what God will say to me | 8:39 | |
and what I will answer concerning my complaint. | 8:44 | |
And the Lord answered me, write the vision, | 8:48 | |
make it plain upon tablets so the one who reads it may run. | 8:51 | |
For still the vision awaits its time. | 8:56 | |
It hastens to the end. | 8:59 | |
It will not lie. | 9:01 | |
If it seems slow, wait for it. | 9:03 | |
It will surely come, it will not delay. | 9:06 | |
Behold, the one whose soul is not upright within shall fail | 9:09 | |
but the righteous shall live by their faith. | 9:14 | |
The word of God for the people of God. | 9:17 | |
(pipe organ playing intro to, He, Watching Over Israel) | 9:47 | |
♪ He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 9:50 | |
♪ He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 10:00 | |
♪ He, watches, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 10:11 | |
♪ He slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 10:16 | |
♪ He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 10:23 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish, ♪ | 10:40 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish ♪ | 10:46 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish ♪ | 10:51 | |
♪ He will quicken thee. ♪ | 11:03 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish ♪ | 11:07 | |
♪ He will quicken thee. ♪ | 11:14 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish ♪ | 11:23 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish ♪ | 11:28 | |
♪ He will quicken thee. ♪ | 11:36 | |
♪ He will quicken thee. ♪ | 11:40 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish. ♪ | 11:46 | |
♪ He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 11:51 | |
♪ Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish. ♪ | 11:57 | |
♪ He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 12:09 | |
♪ He slumbers not, he slumbers not. ♪ | 12:22 | |
♪ He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 12:30 | |
♪ He slumbers not, he slumbers not. ♪ | 12:44 | |
♪ Sleeps not. ♪ | 12:56 | |
♪ He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. ♪ | 13:02 | |
(pipe organ playing) | 13:29 | |
- | Please stand for the responsive reading of Psalm 119 | 13:49 |
beginning with verse 137. | 13:52 | |
Righteous are you, oh Lord and right are your judgements. | 14:05 | |
Congregation | You have appointed your testimonies | 14:09 |
in righteousness and in all faithfulness. | 14:12 | |
- | My zeal consumes me because my foes forget my words. | 14:15 |
Congregation | Your promise is well tried, | 14:21 |
and thy servant loves it. | 14:23 | |
- | I am small and despised yet I do not forget your precepts. | 14:25 |
Congregation | Your righteousness is righteous for ever, | 14:31 |
and your law is true. | 14:34 | |
- | Trouble and anguish have come upon me | 14:36 |
but your commandments are my delight. | 14:39 | |
Congregation | Your testimonies are righteous for ever; | 14:42 |
give me understanding that I may live. | 14:45 | |
(pipe organ playing) | 14:49 | |
♪ Glory be to God, Creator, ♪ | 14:59 | |
♪ Praise to our Redeemer Lord. ♪ | 15:06 | |
♪ Glory be to our sustainer, ever free and ever one. ♪ | 15:13 | |
♪ As it was in the beginning ♪ | 15:28 | |
♪ Now and ever more shall be. ♪ | 15:35 | |
- | The second lesson comes to us from II Timothy 3:14-4:5. | 15:56 |
But as for you, continue in what you have learned | 16:06 | |
and have firmly believed. | 16:09 | |
Knowing from whom you learned it and how, from childhood, | 16:11 | |
you have been acquainted with the sacred writings | 16:14 | |
which are able to instruct you for salvation | 16:16 | |
through faith in Christ Jesus. | 16:19 | |
All scripture is inspired by God | 16:23 | |
and profitable for teaching for reproof, for correction | 16:25 | |
and for training in righteousness | 16:30 | |
that the person who is of God may be complete, | 16:32 | |
equipped for every good work. | 16:36 | |
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus | 16:39 | |
who is to judge the living and the dead | 16:42 | |
and by the appearing and reign of Christ, | 16:45 | |
preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season. | 16:48 | |
Convince, rebuke and exhort. | 16:52 | |
Be unfailing in patience and in teaching. | 16:55 | |
For the time is coming when people will not endure | 16:58 | |
sound teaching but have itching ears, | 17:01 | |
they will accumulate for themselves teachers | 17:03 | |
to suit their own likings and will turn away | 17:06 | |
from listening to the truth and wander into myths. | 17:09 | |
As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, | 17:13 | |
do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. | 17:17 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 17:21 | |
The gospel lesson comes from Luke 18:1-8. | 17:25 | |
And Jesus told them a parable to the effect | 17:34 | |
that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. | 17:37 | |
He said, in a certain city there was a judge | 17:41 | |
who neither feared God nor respected people. | 17:44 | |
And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to the | 17:47 | |
judge and saying, vindicate me against my adversary. | 17:50 | |
For a while the judge refused but afterward thought, | 17:54 | |
though I neither fear God nor respect people, | 17:58 | |
yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her | 18:01 | |
or she will wear me out by her continual coming. | 18:05 | |
And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says | 18:09 | |
and will not God vindicate the elect | 18:13 | |
who cry to God day and night? | 18:15 | |
Will God delay long over them? | 18:19 | |
I tell you, God will vindicate them speedily, | 18:22 | |
nevertheless, when the human one comes, | 18:25 | |
will the human one find faith on earth? | 18:28 | |
- | Let us pray. | 18:44 |
Oh God we ask that we might rightly hear and understand | 18:49 | |
your holy word, | 18:54 | |
and appropriate it for us in our time today. | 18:57 | |
In the name of the Father and of the Son | 19:02 | |
and of the Holy Spirit, amen. | 19:04 | |
Probably all of us in this chapel this morning | 19:12 | |
have, at one time or another, asked the question, | 19:17 | |
why has God allowed this to happen? | 19:22 | |
And we have watched and waited | 19:28 | |
for an answer to our question. | 19:31 | |
The night was dark and cold | 19:38 | |
and we had gone to bed earlier than usual. | 19:40 | |
I was sleeping soundly when I was suddenly awakened | 19:44 | |
by the sharp ringing of the telephone. | 19:48 | |
It was a friend of mine who was | 19:53 | |
an obstetrician in our church. | 19:55 | |
Vicky's baby has come, he said, and we need you right away. | 19:58 | |
The baby is severely deformed. | 20:04 | |
I got up and dressed and went immediately to the hospital. | 20:09 | |
And as I entered the familiar corridors, | 20:14 | |
they smelled especially like a hospital that night | 20:17 | |
and I didn't like the smell. | 20:21 | |
I found out that the baby had been born without a back. | 20:25 | |
Not too long later I went in to see Vicky | 20:32 | |
and she turned to me and said, I am waiting for an answer. | 20:36 | |
Why has God allowed this to happen? | 20:42 | |
Some years ago I was talking to a man who was a major leader | 20:48 | |
in the Christian church in Uganda at the time the Idi Amin | 20:53 | |
was the dictator in that beautiful east African country. | 20:58 | |
During that terrible and brutal period, | 21:05 | |
many Christians were killed | 21:11 | |
simply because they were Christians. | 21:13 | |
And some of you will remember that the Anglican | 21:17 | |
Arch Bishop was martyred. | 21:19 | |
My friend said, Dennis, why did God allow this to happen? | 21:23 | |
Now you and I could multiply stories like these, | 21:31 | |
especially this week. | 21:36 | |
Especially this week, including headlines | 21:40 | |
this morning in the paper. | 21:43 | |
Bad things happen to good people | 21:46 | |
who live their lives in faith. | 21:49 | |
That's a fact and we all know it. | 21:52 | |
Where is the justice, we say? | 21:56 | |
And we watch and we wait for answers | 21:59 | |
that satisfy us about this reality. | 22:04 | |
Now the text that Craig read for us this morning out of | 22:10 | |
the Old Testament reminds us that this is not a new problem. | 22:14 | |
Habakkuk was a prophet of Israel at the end of the seventh | 22:21 | |
and the beginning of the sixth centuries B.C. | 22:25 | |
The Babylonians had begun to destroy Judah. | 22:29 | |
The Babylonians were mean and nasty people. | 22:34 | |
They slaughtered and devastated the people of Israel, | 22:39 | |
the people of God, the people of Judah. | 22:44 | |
And in Habakkuk's eyes there was no justice in this. | 22:49 | |
He could not understand God's willingness to allow this | 22:55 | |
to happen to God's own people. | 23:00 | |
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help | 23:05 | |
and thou wilt not hear | 23:09 | |
or cry to thee violence and thou wilt not save? | 23:12 | |
Why dost thou make me see wrongs | 23:18 | |
and look upon trouble? | 23:22 | |
Destruction and violence are before me, | 23:25 | |
strife and contention arise. | 23:29 | |
So the law is slacked and justice never goes forth. | 23:33 | |
For the wicked surround the righteous | 23:39 | |
so justice goes forth perverted. | 23:43 | |
Why has God allowed this to happen, Habakkuk says, | 23:48 | |
and why will God not act to correct it? | 23:53 | |
Then he proposes to go off into his watch tower. | 23:59 | |
Evidently the prophet had a private room, perhaps indeed | 24:04 | |
a tower apart where he meditated. | 24:09 | |
And there he said he would go and wait, watch and wait | 24:13 | |
to see what God will say. | 24:19 | |
I will take my stand to watch and station myself | 24:21 | |
on the tower and look forth | 24:27 | |
to see what he will say to me. | 24:31 | |
Well God does answer. | 24:35 | |
Habakkuk records God's answer to him. | 24:38 | |
And God says this, record a vision. | 24:43 | |
Make it plain on tablets so that even one who runs by | 24:46 | |
will be able to read it. | 24:51 | |
Write it so big that a runner going by can see | 24:53 | |
the answer that I am going to give. | 24:56 | |
The vision will still abide at the appointed time, | 25:00 | |
God says. | 25:06 | |
It will speak out at the end and not lie. | 25:07 | |
If it tarries, wait for it. | 25:12 | |
For it will surely come and not be too late. | 25:15 | |
Behold the wicked. | 25:19 | |
For him I have no uprightness | 25:21 | |
but let the righteous person abide in his faith. | 25:25 | |
Hold on in the midst of adversity. | 25:31 | |
Be obedient and loyal to God's expectations, | 25:35 | |
even when it apparently pays no dividends. | 25:39 | |
In time, God's justice will prevail. | 25:43 | |
The righteous person lives by faith. | 25:47 | |
The book of Habakkuk is one of my favorites in the Bible. | 25:54 | |
It soars to the heights of religious imagination | 25:58 | |
and achieves a great vision. | 26:01 | |
If you will, it achieves a theology of history, | 26:04 | |
incorporating the great events of communities and nations. | 26:07 | |
And it also includes a theology of individual human life, | 26:13 | |
expressing the truth for individuals. | 26:19 | |
Watching and waiting is not enough. | 26:23 | |
We are called to live in faith. | 26:27 | |
The only answer in the end is faith in God. | 26:31 | |
The righteous one shall live in faith. | 26:37 | |
From this great vision of Habakkuk there are | 26:43 | |
three things I want us to note. | 26:47 | |
The first is that in this great book we learn about God. | 26:51 | |
There is a remarkable and wonderful turn about | 26:59 | |
in this religious vision. | 27:03 | |
While we are watching and waiting for God, | 27:06 | |
suddenly we realize God has gone before us | 27:10 | |
and is waiting for us. | 27:14 | |
It's a great turn about. | 27:18 | |
It occurred to me driving over this morning | 27:21 | |
that this turn about is sort of like the idea, | 27:23 | |
the great image, that North Carolina native writer, | 27:26 | |
Thomas Wolfe, in his book, Look Homeward Angel, | 27:29 | |
observes that while sometimes we wait, | 27:34 | |
looking out the front window, | 27:40 | |
something sneaks in the cellar door. | 27:43 | |
While we're watching and waiting for God we suddenly realize | 27:48 | |
that God has preceded us and even our capacity | 27:52 | |
to ask questions about God is a gift of God's grace. | 27:56 | |
In Jesus Christ, God acted definitively and finally | 28:04 | |
and we know, therefore, that good prevails. | 28:10 | |
In time, in God's time, the good will prevail | 28:15 | |
and we know that because in Jesus Christ the battle is over | 28:20 | |
and the victory is won. | 28:24 | |
There will still be bad things. | 28:28 | |
There will still be injustice. | 28:31 | |
But in the fullness of time, | 28:35 | |
God's justice will be seen. | 28:38 | |
As Paul wrote to the church at Rome, we know that | 28:42 | |
in everything God works for good with those who love him, | 28:46 | |
who are called according to his purpose. | 28:52 | |
God is good. | 28:57 | |
I was in Wisconsin a number of years ago. | 28:59 | |
There was a church that had a formerly Swedish, | 29:02 | |
now American citizen, but a Swedish janitor. | 29:07 | |
And the minister of the church had been critically ill | 29:11 | |
but then had had a turning point and was better | 29:15 | |
and this old, Swedish janitor went out on the bulletin board | 29:19 | |
in front of the church and put up the letters, God is good. | 29:23 | |
The preacher is better. | 29:27 | |
(chuckling) | 29:30 | |
God is good. | 29:37 | |
While we are watching and waiting, | 29:40 | |
God is acting in the world and thus, | 29:45 | |
secondly we learn not only about God | 29:48 | |
but we learn about the world. | 29:50 | |
History, according to Habakkuk, | 29:53 | |
is not a series of unrelated and meaningless | 29:56 | |
random events. | 30:00 | |
There is order and meaning to history. | 30:02 | |
One thinks of the great Joseph saga in Genesis 37 to 50 | 30:07 | |
in which, clearly, some of the human actors | 30:12 | |
were trying to get rid of Joseph, indeed to kill him. | 30:17 | |
And of course in the end, Joseph is vindicated | 30:21 | |
but forgives his brothers | 30:24 | |
with the remarkable statement, | 30:28 | |
as for you, you meant evil against me | 30:30 | |
but God meant it for good. | 30:34 | |
Even in the midst of apparent evil and intended evil | 30:38 | |
God can work. | 30:42 | |
That's the way the world is. | 30:45 | |
Daniel Bell, that great Harvard sociologist, in 1977 | 30:49 | |
gave a remarkable address at the London School of Economics. | 30:53 | |
And in it, among other things, he observed that | 30:58 | |
at the end of the 18th and to the middle of the 19th century | 31:02 | |
almost every enlightened thinker expected religion | 31:06 | |
to disappear in the 20th century. | 31:10 | |
Bell went on to observe that there have always been | 31:13 | |
alternatives to religion but one by one, in the course | 31:16 | |
of our century, these have gone by the wayside. | 31:21 | |
And he concluded with this statement. | 31:27 | |
What people fail to realize is that the institutions | 31:30 | |
that have survived the longest are religious ones. | 31:34 | |
Now Bell is not a theologian. | 31:39 | |
I would go on to say the reason for that | 31:42 | |
is that God is active in history. | 31:46 | |
That's the way the world is. | 31:49 | |
Last year here at Duke Divinity School we entertained | 31:52 | |
the Russian Orthodox Arch Bishop of Kiev. | 31:56 | |
And in a wonderful session with our students and faculty | 32:00 | |
the Arch Bishop talked a bit about his understanding | 32:04 | |
of the church and the fact that | 32:08 | |
the people of Christ | 32:12 | |
in Russia can see the long view. | 32:14 | |
It's not simply what happens in our lifetime | 32:19 | |
or even a particular century, but over the long view, | 32:22 | |
he said to our people, the church will prevail. | 32:27 | |
Last Saturday in papers all over the world | 32:33 | |
there were pictures of the opening service | 32:36 | |
at the Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral. | 32:40 | |
Some of you may have seen it. | 32:43 | |
The opening service of the first time since 1917 | 32:46 | |
in that great cathedral Christian worship. | 32:51 | |
The church will prevail, that's the way the world is. | 32:56 | |
God is active in history and we've got to see the long view. | 33:00 | |
Despite appearance to the contrary, | 33:06 | |
God is in control in this world. | 33:09 | |
Time passes but the world is God's, not ours. | 33:14 | |
So while we watch and wait, the truth is that God | 33:19 | |
is in control and thus we learn about the world. | 33:24 | |
And if we learn about God and if we learn about the world | 33:29 | |
in the third place we learn about ourselves. | 33:33 | |
We need to see in response to this that human beings | 33:38 | |
are sinful mortals in need of God's grace. | 33:43 | |
While we are watching and waiting for answers, | 33:47 | |
suddenly we find in this turn about | 33:51 | |
that we have no claims that can justify us. | 33:54 | |
That we are simply dependent on God. | 33:59 | |
And that all of that outward evidences of education | 34:03 | |
or wealth or privilege or knowledge or understanding | 34:07 | |
finally will mean nothing in the end. | 34:11 | |
In the end we come up against the stark reality of God. | 34:17 | |
Last March I was in Europe when the last | 34:22 | |
Empress of Austria died. | 34:26 | |
The Empress Zita died at the age of 96 | 34:29 | |
in a Swiss nunnery. | 34:34 | |
She was crowned empress in 1916, | 34:37 | |
was exiled in 1918 | 34:41 | |
but never renounced her crown. | 34:44 | |
Last April 1st, 40,000 people turned out | 34:47 | |
to pay respects at an Austrian state funeral | 34:52 | |
in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. | 34:56 | |
Millions more watched a live broadcast throughout Europe. | 34:59 | |
A full orchestra and choir performed Mozart's Requiem | 35:05 | |
and the Vienna Boys Choir sang | 35:10 | |
while Cardinals and Bishops prayed. | 35:13 | |
As the bells of St. Stephen's tolled, | 35:17 | |
princes and dukes in formal mourning attire, | 35:21 | |
farmers in feathered caps, | 35:25 | |
old soldiers in antique uniforms, | 35:28 | |
and members of ancient orders | 35:33 | |
joined in singing the imperial anthem. | 35:35 | |
At the entrance to the church, the pallbearers | 35:40 | |
and the church wardens played out a ceremonial dispute | 35:43 | |
dating centuries back and signifying the fundamental truth | 35:48 | |
that in the end we are all sinful mortals. | 35:54 | |
The church wardens asked, who wishes to enter? | 35:59 | |
And the pallbearers replied, the Empress of Austria, | 36:05 | |
and repeated all her royal titles. | 36:11 | |
I do not know this person, said a warden. | 36:15 | |
Again the pallbearers knocked at the door of the cathedral. | 36:21 | |
Again they gave her royal titles | 36:26 | |
and again they were turned back. | 36:28 | |
They knocked a third time but this time the pallbearers | 36:33 | |
said, we come with the sinful mortal, | 36:38 | |
our sister, Zita. | 36:43 | |
The gates were opened. | 36:47 | |
The great doors at the west end of the cathedral were opened | 36:50 | |
and the coffin entered the church. | 36:56 | |
So when you and I enter the church | 36:59 | |
we are seen for what we really are, | 37:04 | |
sinful mortals, dependent on God's grace. | 37:08 | |
We are not the ones to watch and wait for God | 37:13 | |
as if we had some claim on him. | 37:18 | |
It is turned around. | 37:22 | |
We are not the judge, God is the judge. | 37:25 | |
The Christian believer is not characterized then as watching | 37:32 | |
and waiting for answers from God. | 37:36 | |
We know the essential things about the nature of God, | 37:40 | |
about the nature of the world | 37:44 | |
and about the nature of ourselves. | 37:47 | |
The Christian believer lives by faith | 37:50 | |
knowing that though we cannot understand everything | 37:54 | |
that happens, nevertheless, | 37:58 | |
nothing can separate us from the goodness of God. | 38:03 | |
Finally there is meaning and purpose in life. | 38:07 | |
God makes sense out of nonsense. | 38:12 | |
In Jesus Christ, the battle is over, the victory is won. | 38:16 | |
We began this morning along with Habakkuk and others | 38:22 | |
watching and waiting for answers from God. | 38:26 | |
But watching and waiting is passive. | 38:31 | |
Living in faith is active. | 38:36 | |
The righteous one shall live in faith. | 38:44 | |
Amen. | 38:50 | |
(pipe organ playing intro to, Be Now My Vision) | 38:58 | |
♪ Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart ♪ | 39:34 | |
♪ Naught be all else to me, save that thou art. ♪ | 39:43 | |
♪ Thou my best thought, by day or by night ♪ | 39:51 | |
♪ Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. ♪ | 40:01 | |
♪ Be Thou my wisdom, and thou my true word. ♪ | 40:12 | |
♪ I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. ♪ | 40:21 | |
♪ Thou and thou only, first in my heart ♪ | 40:30 | |
♪ Great God of Heaven, my treasure thou art. ♪ | 40:39 | |
♪ Great God of Heaven, my victory won ♪ | 40:51 | |
♪ May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's Sun. ♪ | 41:00 | |
♪ Heart of my own heart, whatever befall ♪ | 41:09 | |
♪ Still be my vision, O Ruler of all. ♪ | 41:19 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 41:33 |
Congregation | And also with you. | 41:35 |
- | Let us pray. | 41:37 |
Eternal spirit, high over all, blessed forever, | 41:49 | |
we worship thee. | 41:54 | |
In thee we live and move and have our being | 41:56 | |
yet we do not apprehend thee. | 42:00 | |
Thou art closer to us than our breathing | 42:04 | |
and nearer than our hands and feet | 42:07 | |
and yet we do not understand thee. | 42:10 | |
Especially in this week of tragedy, we stand in awe | 42:12 | |
before the power which thy creation contains within itself. | 42:16 | |
Yet even as we ask why in the face of many | 42:23 | |
unanswered questions, we rest in the knowledge | 42:27 | |
that thou hast knit us together in our mothers' wombs | 42:30 | |
and neither life nor death shall separate us from thee. | 42:34 | |
Therefore we lift these prayers for others unto thee, | 42:40 | |
affirming our belief in doing so | 42:44 | |
while seeking help for our unbelief. | 42:47 | |
Oh God who art the hopes of the ends of the earth, | 42:52 | |
hear us while we pray. | 42:55 | |
Let us pray for all victims of natural disasters | 42:58 | |
and other unexpected hardships. | 43:01 | |
Especially those who suffered loss due to hurricane Jerry, | 43:05 | |
for the loved ones of those who died | 43:08 | |
in the Honduran jet crash and for the thousands of people | 43:11 | |
whose homes were destroyed, livelihoods were lost | 43:15 | |
and loved ones killed or injured in this week's earthquake. | 43:19 | |
Let us pray for those who must search through the rubble | 43:24 | |
left in its aftermath; for all who care for the injured | 43:26 | |
and the bereft; for those who shelter the homeless | 43:31 | |
and feed the hungry; for all who bear the responsibility | 43:35 | |
for creating order where there is chaos. | 43:38 | |
Let us pray for all who are in despair | 43:43 | |
and who question their ability to carry on. | 43:46 | |
Let us pray for prisoners and captives | 43:49 | |
and all who live with injustice or political instability | 43:52 | |
as their constant companions. | 43:56 | |
We remember the people of South Africa, East Germany, | 44:00 | |
the Israeli occupied territories, Armenia, El Salvador, | 44:03 | |
Northern Ireland, Colombia. | 44:08 | |
Let us pray for those who shoulder burdens greater | 44:13 | |
than they feel able to bear; for the poverty-stricken people | 44:15 | |
of this country and around the world; for broken families; | 44:20 | |
for the illiterate and uneducated, for all who have | 44:25 | |
expectations of themselves greater than they should; | 44:29 | |
for the overworked, the underpaid and unappreciated. | 44:33 | |
Let us pray for all who are in doubt and must endure | 44:38 | |
the dark night of the soul; for those who are blinded by | 44:42 | |
arrogance and cynicism; for those who suffer | 44:46 | |
by their own short-sightedness or self-centeredness. | 44:50 | |
Let us pray for those burdened with the weight of malice | 44:54 | |
and ill will; for those harboring deep resentments | 44:57 | |
who know not the grace of forgiveness. | 45:00 | |
Let us pray for the deep and unspoken needs of | 45:04 | |
this congregation, especially that our poverty of spirit | 45:07 | |
may be transformed into wellsprings of hope. | 45:11 | |
These things we seek in faith in Christ's holy name. | 45:17 | |
Amen. | 45:21 | |
As we respond, in faith, to God's call to discipleship | 45:25 | |
let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God. | 45:29 | |
(soft pipe organ music) | 45:37 | |
♪ And then, then shall your light break forth ♪ | 47:47 | |
♪ As the light of morning breaketh, ♪ | 47:57 | |
♪ And your health shall speedily spring forth then. ♪ | 48:03 | |
♪ And the glory of the Lord ever shall reward you ♪ | 48:13 | |
♪ Ever shall reward you. ♪ | 48:31 | |
♪ Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is ♪ | 48:44 | |
♪ In all the nations, ♪ | 48:49 | |
♪ Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is ♪ | 48:52 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 48:57 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 49:01 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 49:07 | |
♪ Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is ♪ | 50:03 | |
♪ Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is ♪ | 50:08 | |
♪ Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is ♪ | 50:13 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 50:25 | |
♪ How excellent thy name is ♪ | 50:29 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 50:33 | |
♪ Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is ♪ | 50:44 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 50:50 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 50:53 | |
♪ Thou fillest heaven with Thy glory. ♪ | 50:57 | |
♪ Lord, our Creator, how excellent thy name is ♪ | 51:04 | |
♪ In all the nations. ♪ | 51:14 | |
♪ Thou fillest heaven with thy glory. ♪ | 51:19 | |
♪ Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. ♪ | 51:25 | |
(pipe organ intro to the Doxology) | 52:01 | |
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow. ♪ | 52:27 | |
♪ Praise God all creatures here below. ♪ | 52:34 | |
♪ Alleluia, alleluia. ♪ | 52:39 | |
♪ Praise God above ye heavenly hosts. ♪ | 52:46 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. ♪ | 52:53 | |
♪ Alleluia, alleluia, ♪ | 52:59 | |
♪ Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. ♪ | 53:06 | |
- | Eternal God, the Alpha and the Omega, | 53:26 |
thou hast called the world into being and the creatures | 53:29 | |
which inhabit it and hath pronounced it good. | 53:32 | |
So now we thank thee for thy entire creation | 53:36 | |
on this glorious autumn day as we celebrate thy goodness | 53:39 | |
in presenting these gifts. | 53:42 | |
Accept them as signs of our gratitude | 53:44 | |
and our endless longing for thee. | 53:47 | |
This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ | 53:50 | |
who taught us to pray with confidence. | 53:53 | |
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 53:55 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth | 54:00 | |
as it is in heaven. | 54:03 | |
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our | 54:05 | |
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 54:08 | |
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil | 54:13 | |
for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. | 54:17 | |
Amen. | 54:22 | |
And now go forth in peace and be of good courage. | 54:28 | |
Hold fast that which is good rejoicing in the power | 54:31 | |
of the Holy Spirit and may the blessings of God, Father, | 54:34 | |
Son and Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore. | 54:38 | |
Amen. | 54:42 | |
♪ God be in my head, and in my understanding ♪ | 54:49 | |
♪ God be in mine eyes, and in my looking ♪ | 55:04 | |
♪ God be in my mouth, and in my speaking ♪ | 55:22 | |
♪ God be in my heart, and in my thinking ♪ | 55:42 | |
♪ God be at mine end, and in my departing. ♪ | 56:00 | |
(pipe organ playing intro to, God, Whose Love is Reigning) | 56:46 | |
♪ God, whose love is reigning o'er us, ♪ | 57:21 | |
♪ Source of all, the ending true. ♪ | 57:27 | |
♪ Hear the universal chorus ♪ | 57:33 | |
♪ Raised in joyful praise to you. ♪ | 57:38 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia, ♪ | 57:43 | |
♪ Worship ancient, worship new. ♪ | 57:50 | |
♪ Word of God from nature bringing ♪ | 57:58 | |
♪ Springtime green and autumn gold ♪ | 58:05 | |
♪ Mountain streams like children singing, ♪ | 58:10 | |
♪ Ocean waves thunder bold. ♪ | 58:15 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia, ♪ | 58:21 | |
♪ As creation's tale is told. ♪ | 58:27 | |
♪ Holy God of ancient glory, ♪ | 58:35 | |
♪ Choosing man and woman too ♪ | 58:42 | |
♪ Abram's faith and Sarah's story ♪ | 58:48 | |
♪ Formed a people bound to you. ♪ | 58:52 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia, ♪ | 58:58 | |
♪ To your covenant keep us true. ♪ | 59:04 | |
♪ Covenant, new again in Jesus, ♪ | 59:13 | |
♪ Star child born to set us free ♪ | 59:18 | |
♪ Sent to heal us, sent to teach us ♪ | 59:25 | |
♪ How love's children we might be. ♪ | 59:30 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia, ♪ | 59:36 | |
♪ Risen Christ, our Savior he. ♪ | 59:41 | |
♪ Lift we then our human voices ♪ | 59:50 | |
♪ In the songs that faith would bring ♪ | 59:57 | |
♪ Live we then in human choices ♪ | 1:00:03 | |
♪ Lives that, like our music sing ♪ | 1:00:08 | |
♪ Alleluia, Alleluia, ♪ | 1:00:13 | |
♪ Joined in love our praises ring. ♪ | 1:00:19 | |
(pipe organ playing soft music) | 1:00:33 | |
(pipe organ playing a fugue) | 1:01:04 |
Item Info
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