Helen G. Crotwell - "Passion for the Possible" (September 21, 1975)

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	(upbeat music)	0:09
-	The sacrifices acceptable unto God	7:51
	are a broken and contrite heart.	7:54
	Let us join together in the prayer of confession.	7:58
	Oh God, we confess that we like to believe	8:07
	that the more we learn, the more we know,	8:11
	we dare not admit our ignorance,	8:15
	forgive us our learning, we mistake it or true.	8:18
	We confess that we'd like to believe	8:23
	that all persons are our neighbors.	8:26
	We dare not admit, we are not prepared to do anything	8:30
	about her world of inequality.	8:34
	Forgive us, the chart will smile.	8:37
	The comforter king resolution.	8:41
	We mistake them for a while.	8:43
	We confess that we like to believe ourselves,	8:46
	persons of integrity and responsibility.	8:50
	We dare not admit our Jekyll and Hyde existence.	8:54
	Forgive us the stiff upper lip.	8:58
	We mistake it for an expression of ourselves.	9:02
	We confess that we'd like to thank God	9:06
	is always running after us.	9:09
	We dare not admit that we are not prepared to deny ourselves	9:12
	and take up our cross daily.	9:17
	Forgive us our piety.	9:20
	We mistake it for loving God	9:23
	with heart, mind, soul and strength.	9:25
	Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy,	9:30
	Lord have mercy, Amen.	9:34
	Let us continue in personal and silent confession.	9:38
	Create in us clean heart oh, God,	10:24
	and put new and right spirits within us.	10:28
	Cast us not away from thy presence,	10:32
	and take not thy Holy Spirit from us.	10:36
	Restore to us the joy of thy salvation,	10:41
	and uphold us with a willing spirit, Amen.	10:46
	(upbeat music)	11:11
-	The scripture lessons this morning	14:56
	are taken from the Old Testament,	14:57
	Exodus chapter 14, verses 11 and 12.	15:00
	And they said to Moses,	15:08
	is it because there are no graves in Egypt,	15:11
	that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?	15:14
	What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?	15:19
	Is this not what we said to you in Egypt?	15:25
	Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians	15:28
	or it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians	15:32
	than to die in the wilderness.	15:36
	And then from the New Testament,	15:42
	Galatians chapter three verses one through five.	15:47
	Oh, foolish Galatians who has to be witched you	15:54
	before whose eyes Jesus Christ	16:00
	was publicly portrayed as crucified.	16:02
	Let me ask you only this,	16:06
	did you receive the spirit by works of the law	16:10
	or by hearing with faith?	16:14
	Are you so foolish? Having begun with the spirit	16:17
	are you now ending with the flesh?	16:22
	Did you experience so many things in vain?	16:25
	If it really is in vain, does he who supplies	16:30
	the spirit to you and works miracles among you	16:34
	do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith.	16:38
	Here ends the reading.	16:46
	(upbeat music)	16:48
-	Let us affirm our faith.	17:32
	We are not alone.	17:34
	We live in God's world, we believe in God,	17:36
	who has created and is creating,	17:41
	who has come in the truly human Jesus,	17:45
	to reconcile and make new.	17:48
	Who works in us and others through the spirit.	17:51
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	17:55
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	18:00
	to the love and serve others,	18:04
	to seek justice and resist evil,	18:07
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	18:10
	our judge and our hope,	18:14
	in life, in death, in life beyond death,	18:17
	God is with us, we are not alone.	18:21
	Thanks be to God.	18:25
	The Lord be with you.	18:28
	Let us pray.	18:31
	Oh, thou God of our very being, the goal of our desire,	18:44
	the guide and the stay of these are Pilgrim days.	18:52
	We turn aside now from the fret and routine of life	18:56
	to consider the pattern our life is taking,	19:02
	to consider the substance and direction	19:06
	of our days and weeks.	19:09
	Against thy saving word, oh God,	19:13
	we have been contempt with little comforts	19:18
	and provincial expectations,	19:22
	righteous anger, and passionate hope	19:26
	have not been on our lips nor have they governed our lives.	19:32
	We have easily resigned ourselves to cheap pleasures	19:40
	and to the conventional wisdom.	19:44
	And our way has been determined by the reigning gods	19:47
	of our culture, our sex, our class, our nation.	19:51
	Oh, thou God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,	19:58
	of Sarah, Rebecca and Mary,	20:04
	show us once more the promise of redemption in our history.	20:09
	Raise up once more prophets in our midst,	20:15
	that we might hear the thunder of justice.	20:19
	Let the cry for compassion.	20:24
	The hope in a believable future,	20:28
	be proclaimed amongst us and by us,	20:30
	grant us the gift of living communities of faith,	20:36
	where in persons are nourished by a word	20:41
	beyond all of the narrow and convenient ideologies	20:43
	and parties of our choosing.	20:47
	So prepare us the days ahead oh, Lord, to be ever watchful,	20:52
	to be genuinely hopeful,	20:59
	and grant both the innocence of doves	21:04
	and the wisdom of serpents,	21:07
	that we might know when to be hard and when to be soft.	21:10
	Teach us to care and not to care,	21:16
	to work and finally trust.	21:21
	And teach us ever to pray as our Lord was bold to do,	21:27
	saying our Father who art in heaven,	21:32
	hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,	21:37
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	21:42
	Give us this day our daily bread,	21:46
	and forgive us our trespasses	21:49
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	21:51
	and lead us not into temptation,	21:55
	but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom	21:58
	and the power and the glory forever, Amen.	22:03
	I would call your attention	22:12
	to the other worship opportunities of the week	22:13
	in the bulletin, and especially call your attention	22:17
	to the two performances	22:21
	of Benjamin Britten's Opera, Noah's Flood	22:22
	on Friday and Saturday evenings.	22:26
-	In the name of God, our Creator,	22:39
	Sustainer and Redeemer, Amen.	22:42
	Each Sunday, we affirm that this is God's world,	22:48
	that God works in us and in others,	22:52
	that we ought to seek justice and to serve others.	22:56
	We can say with certainty that the good news	23:03
	which we received through Jesus Christ	23:07
	is that we can live as loved and forgiven people,	23:11
	that God is concerned for those who are in need,	23:17
	the hungry, the lonely, the oppressed,	23:22
	the imprisoned, and the sick.	23:26
	We can say with certainty that God acts	23:31
	to bring about a society of justice and mercy,	23:34
	for the present and for the future.	23:39
	And we say, that God works through us and through others.	23:44
	But then we pause for to understand	23:52
	what that means specifically is not easy.	23:56
	One of the expectations we bring	24:02
	is to understand the implications of this for us personally,	24:05
	but more, that when we leave,	24:11
	we shall share a common commitment in our obedience to God.	24:14
	This is difficult,	24:22
	in some ways we are like Sally, one of the peanuts people,	24:26
	who reports on how she spent her summer.	24:30
	My plans for the summer were ambitious,	24:34
	Study French, listen to Bartok Quartets,	24:37
	read war and peace and start my own vegetable garden.	24:42
	Actually, I spent the whole summer watching game shows on TV	24:48
	and the most serious thing.	24:57
	We understand the student who anguishes.	24:59
	I know I should be concerned about the hungry,	25:04
	but it's difficult when I and all the people I know	25:08
	have plenty to eat.	25:14
	It's difficult for me to remember and to believe	25:16
	that people do not have enough to eat.	25:20
	I remember for while, but I soon forget.	25:24
	There are so many forgotten people.	25:30
	Our society psychologically and socially represses	25:35
	its pain at the suffering in the world,	25:40
	and pushes people who suffer to the fringes of society,	25:44
	in order to live more comfortably unaware of this suffering.	25:50
	And we knew that the people who are in need of justice	25:56
	and mercy and love are not all removed from us spatially.	26:00
	They're all forgotten people,	26:07
	in our midst, in this congregation.	26:09
	Here's some comments.	26:14
	It's hard for me to find any woman who cares.	26:17
	I'm hurting, I'm lonely, I'm afraid,	26:22
	my sister has cancer.	26:28
	My parents are getting divorced.	26:31
	We have our PhDs, but we cannot find work.	26:35
	I cannot find any reason for continuing living.	26:40
	I reach out and there's no one there.	26:45
	I'm terrified about what the sexist revolution	26:50
	is going to mean to me as a man,	26:53
	my whole identity and understanding of myself	26:56
	is being radically called into question, help me.	26:59
	You've heard of failed the echoes of these statements	27:04
	within the university and within your community.	27:07
	Now being in the university brings special privileges	27:12
	and special problems.	27:17
	In our understanding of what it means to live responsibly.	27:20
	For our very reason for being here tends to turn us in	27:26
	on ourselves as we spend more and more of our time	27:31
	in search for knowledge and wisdom	27:36
	and our becoming educated people.	27:39
	And this is heightened as the university	27:43
	becomes more and more competitive.	27:45
	And being in the university can separate us	27:50
	from other members of the university,	27:53
	but even more so from the world out there.	27:55
	It is possible for some of us to live	28:00
	a seemingly self-contained existence,	28:03
	unaware of our dependence on others and of the crises facing	28:07
	our neighbors and the world.	28:14
	This is a human condition,	28:18
	though, not just a university condition.	28:20
	Now we are the elite, the privileged,	28:25
	when the people of the world are seen	28:29
	in a pyramid arrangement, with the people	28:32
	who have ample resources and opportunities	28:35
	being at the top of the pyramid,	28:37
	and the people at the bottom are those	28:40
	who do not have food or freedom or education.	28:44
	We know that we find ourselves at the very top,	28:48
	at the very point.	28:53
	And even those of us who do not see ourselves in this way	28:55
	and do not claim this to be true	28:59
	are up at the top of this pyramid.	29:02
	And when we see this,	29:06
	we better understand why the people at the bottom	29:07
	talk about our social consciousness as a luxury,	29:11
	not something to which we are driven	29:16
	because of our situation.	29:19
	This is our situation.	29:23
	We affirm that we are to love and serve others,	29:25
	that we are to work,	29:29
	to bring about a just and loving society.	29:30
	And we find ourselves in a very privileged position.	29:34
	The Israelites who lived under severe oppression	29:41
	had trouble moving into the unknown	29:44
	with its suffering and hardships	29:46
	saying that if we had known it was going to be this bad,	29:49
	if we are going to die anyway, why didn't we stay in Egypt	29:55
	where at least we had enough food?	30:00
	We are tempted not to risk our comfort and our security,	30:04
	or even to risk giving up our present discomfort	30:09
	and security, to move into the unknown,	30:13
	to respond to our needs and other human needs.	30:17
	And it is only as we are committed,	30:23
	it is only as we take seriously our understanding	30:26
	of what it means to love and care for our neighbor,	30:31
	to be used by God, as agents of healing,	30:35
	of grace, of love, that we can move into this future,	30:39
	only by self emptying and encounter	30:46
	with that which is alien, unknown, and different.	30:49
	Do we, in losing our present lives become the new creation.	30:53
	This is a choice we make,	31:03
	to be human means to be able to say yes or no,	31:06
	to be able to respond and move out with Israel	31:11
	into the unknown or to stay where we are, safe and hidden.	31:14
	And man's search for meaning,	31:22
	Frankl says that life ultimately means,	31:24
	taking the responsibility to find the right answers	31:27
	to its problems and to fulfill the task,	31:31
	which it constantly sets before each one of us.	31:35
	And that our last human freedom	31:40
	is to choose our own attitude	31:43
	in every given set of circumstances to choose our own way.	31:46
	Now in discussing our movement into the future,	31:55
	Jurgen Moltmann says that, only the crucified Christ	31:59
	can bring the freedom which changes the world	32:05
	because it is no longer afraid of death.	32:08
	And it is in Moltmann discussion of believing hope	32:14
	that we found the image of the passion for the possible.	32:18
	It is believing hope, which provides the unending resources	32:23
	for the creative imagination of love which is ours to use.	32:29
	This believing hope, this gift of grace,	32:35
	constantly provokes and produces thinking	32:39
	which not only anticipates,	32:43
	but give shape to the possibilities,	32:46
	which are open to us.	32:49
	And empowers us to act and to respond to our neighbors need.	32:52
	What has been promised to us,	32:58
	a society of justice and mercy and love.	33:00
	The society of God is within the bounds of possibility.	33:04
	So this believing hope will constantly arouse in us,	33:11
	the passion for the possible,	33:16
	and provide creativity and mobility in self-transformation	33:18
	and breaking with the old and coming to terms with the new,	33:24
	and the God of the Exodus, the God of the covenant,	33:29
	the God of justice and mercy and grace and love,	33:34
	the God of Jesus Christ, who is our God,	33:38
	the source of our believing hope,	33:42
	calls us to a passion for the possible,	33:46
	calls us to creative self-transformation,	33:53
	to inventive imaginative responses of love.	33:58
	This passion for the possible calls forth, not only	34:04
	the excitement and enthusiasm that the future	34:07
	can be different, but also grounds are solidly	34:10
	in some simple, realistic expectations and responses.	34:15
	The realism of not choosing impossible, unachievable task.	34:21
	It's difficult for us to take seriously	34:29
	the images of the mustard seed and the yeast.	34:31
	We want to do big, important task.	34:36
	We want to solve major world problems overnight,	34:39
	usually working through a committee.	34:43
	And when we don't, we are crushed, paralyzed, and we say,	34:46
	what's the use, what we do doesn't make any difference.	34:51
	So we need constantly to recall Paul's words.	34:56
	We are God's agents.	35:01
	Each of us performed the task, which the Lord allotted.	35:05
	Paul planted the seed, a policy watered it,	35:10
	but God made it grow.	35:12
	It does not all rest on our shoulders.	35:16
	This is a freeing word.	35:20
	And the wounded healer now in discusses, a very different,	35:24
	realistic expectation and our passion for the possible.	35:28
	Our task is to prevent people	35:34
	from suffering for wrong reasons.	35:36
	Many people suffer because of fault suppositions	35:38
	on which they have based their lives.	35:41
	That is that there should be no fear or loneliness,	35:44
	no confusion or doubt.	35:48
	But these sufferings, he says	35:51
	can only be dealt with creatively	35:53
	when they are understood as wounds integral	35:57
	to our human condition.	36:01
	Therefore ministry is a very confronting service.	36:03
	It does not allow people to live with the illusions	36:07
	of immortality or wholeness.	36:11
	It keeps reminding us that we are mortal and broken,	36:14
	but with the recognition of this condition,	36:18
	liberation starts.	36:22
	We who are pained and wounded can offer ourselves,	36:25
	as guidance to fearful people.	36:30
	It is precisely, and this guidance at the first signs	36:34
	of hope become visible.	36:37
	This is so because shared pain is no longer paralyzing,	36:39
	but mobilizing, even away to liberation.	36:45
	When we become aware that we do not have to escape pains,	36:51
	but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life,	36:55
	those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair	37:00
	into signs of hope.	37:05
	And we are no longer afraid to move out into the unknown,	37:08
	the future to risk pain.	37:13
	And one further word, and we hear part of it	37:17
	from what may be for some of you, a surprising source.	37:20
	Author White Scale,	37:24
	Former National Secretary of SDS, now on the Staff	37:25
	of the Institute of Policy Studies in Washington.	37:29
	He is discussing his perception	37:33
	that the religious recommitted Jews and Christians,	37:35
	so seldom have been among the people	37:39
	to move human beings to change.	37:42
	And he wonders why it's been so easy for believers	37:45
	to cramp and reduce the living God to a deadening idle.	37:47
	He sees that we have been committed to our technology	37:53
	with an absence of a commitment to God, to the non-human.	37:58
	And he calls us to turn our faces to God,	38:04
	essential and this struggle against the dehumanizing forces	38:08
	in our society is our relationship with our divine comrade,	38:12
	with whom we talk and wrestle	38:18
	and who infuses our struggle with law.	38:21
	Another dimension of this word we hear,	38:25
	and a question and the letter to Galatians,	38:27
	does God who surprise the spirit to us,	38:31
	and works miracles in us do so by works of the law,	38:36
	or by hearing with faith.	38:40
	The inner experience of the spirit and faith and prayer	38:44
	are just as essential and the anticipation of the future	38:51
	of Christ, and the liberating of creation	38:54
	as the opening of a ghetto,	38:58
	the healing of a sick person	39:00
	or a successful revolution for independence.	39:02
	These two dimensions cannot be separated.	39:06
	Our basis for action must be grounded,	39:12
	in the crucified risen Christ.	39:16
	The source of our hope,	39:19
	which frees us to take risk, to move into the unknown.	39:21
	The context of our action must be where we found ourselves.	39:26
	And for those of us in this university,	39:31
	it will mean bringing all of these resources to prepare us,	39:35
	to respond to those needs, to which we will give our lives.	39:39
	And we begin by acting by responding now, immediately	39:45
	and small, specific ways to our neighbor's needs those near,	39:52
	and those separated from us by the great distance	39:58
	of that pyramid.	40:02
	Reach out, risk being hurt, risk making a mistake,	40:05
	risk asking someone to help you to love you.	40:13
	If we see that our pains and our hurts and our wounds	40:19
	do not have to paralyze us,	40:23
	but can be instruments of healing love	40:25
	then we can risk loving, caring, sharing,	40:28
	giving, serving, dreaming, changing,	40:35
	and our passion for the possible	40:41
	will surprise us for what has seemed impossible	40:43
	may soon move into the realm of the possible.	40:48
	Let us a pray.	40:54
	You have given Yourself to us Lord.	40:59
	Now we give ourselves for all others.	41:03
	Your love has made us a new people,	41:07
	as a people of love, we will serve You with joy.	41:11
	Your glory has filled our hearts,	41:16
	help us to glorify you in all things, Amen.	41:19
	(upbeat music)	41:36
-	Oh, Lord of quiet power and lowly love,	53:39
	let these gifts be, but token and promise	53:44
	of the more difficult gifts of hearts and minds.	53:48
	So shed thy light upon us that we might see our way,	53:53
	that we might find our neighbor	53:58
	and share the love of Christ with them, Amen.	54:01
	(upbeat music)	54:06
	Grant oh, Lord, that what we have here said with our lips,	58:32
	we might truly believe in our hearts.	58:37
	And so believing act out in the days before us	58:41
	in the power and in the spirit of Christ Jesus,	58:45
	our friend and Lord.	58:49
	(upbeat music)	58:57

Item Info

Title:

Helen G. Crotwell - "Passion for the Possible" (September 21, 1975)

Description:

Beach calls for collective responsibility in consumption of resources, noting the disparity in resource consumption by Americans compared to the rest of the world. He touts the blessings of living a more ascetic life and how it follows God's word. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "If we view our lifestyle from the Christian perspective, we can discern not only the curses of prosperity, but the blessings in austerity."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4513zx4q

Date:

September 21, 1975

Speaker:

Crotwell, Helen Gray, 1925-2006

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0792
ref6784_hms
uachapelsermaud
duke:628402
dcrau002756
ark:/87924/r4513zx4q
9f08c05b-ccc2-48d7-b9d0-beaedbad4c8a

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

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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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Helen G. Crotwell - "Passion for the Possible" (September 21, 1975)

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1. Helen G. Crotwell - "Passion for the Possible" (September 21, 1975)

Duke University Archives

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Helen G. Crotwell - "Passion for the Possible" (September 21, 1975)

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