Mark Trotter - "What About Family Values?" (August 16, 1992)

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	(busy organ music)	0:02
-	Morning and welcome to the Service of Worship	2:45
	here at Duke University Chapel.	2:47
	Been led in worship by our Chapel Organist, David Arcus.	2:49
	Dr. Arcus has been playing, for our prelude,	2:53
	an original composition	2:56
	based on the tune of our first hymn.	2:59
	We're blessed to have Dr. Arcus here with us at the chapel.	3:03
	Our guest preacher today is Dr. Mark Trotter,	3:08
	United Methodist Pastor from San Diego, California.	3:14
	Dr. Trotter is back for his third visit here at Duke Chapel.	3:18
	Dr. Trotter, being from San Diego, has never seen rain.	3:22
	And so we've, as you see, arranged for three or four days of	3:26
	rain here in Durham, so we hope he enjoys it.	3:30
	And we hope that you are blessed by this service.	3:34
	And now, let us stand for the greeting.	3:38
	"Come you fearful and you faithful,	3:46
	"God dwells with you."	3:48
	(congregation responding muffledly)	3:51
	"Sing to God, praise God all the day long!	3:55
	"God delivers the needy from the hand of evildoers."	3:58
	(congregation responding muffledly)	4:02
	"God rules for ever and ever	4:09
	"though nations perish and fires of division	4:11
	"are cast upon the Earth."	4:15
	(congregation responding muffledly)	4:17
	(organ playing)	4:26
	♪ O for a thousand tongues to sing ♪	4:50
	♪ My great Redeemer's praise ♪	4:56
	♪ The glories of my God and King ♪	5:01
	♪ The triumphs of His grace ♪	5:07
	♪ My gracious Master and my God ♪	5:14
	♪ Assist me to proclaim ♪	5:20
	♪ To spread through all the earth abroad ♪	5:25
	♪ The honors of Thy name ♪	5:31
	♪ Jesus` the name that charms our fears ♪	5:38
	♪ That bids our sorrows cease ♪	5:44
	♪ 'Tis music in the sinners ears ♪	5:49
	♪ 'Tis life and health and peace ♪	5:54
	♪ He breaks the power of canceled sin ♪	6:02
	♪ He sets the prisoner free ♪	6:07
	♪ His blood can make the foulest clean ♪	6:13
	♪ His blood availed for me ♪	6:19
	♪ He speaks and listening to his voice ♪	6:26
	♪ New life the dead receive ♪	6:32
	♪ The mournful broken hearts rejoice ♪	6:37
	♪ The humble poor believe ♪	6:43
	♪ Hear him ye deaf his praise ye dumb ♪	6:50
	♪ Your loosened tongues employ ♪	6:56
	♪ Ye blind behold your Savior come ♪	7:01
	♪ And leap ye lame for joy ♪	7:07
	♪ In Christ your head you then shall know ♪	7:15
	♪ Shall feel your sins forgiven you ♪	7:20
	♪ Anticipate your heaven below ♪	7:26
	♪ And own that love is heaven ♪	7:32
-	"Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open,	7:46
	"all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid,	7:50
	"cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration	7:55
	"of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee,	7:58
	"and worthily magnify thy holy name,	8:02
	"through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."	8:05
-	Let us pray together the Prayer for Illumination.	8:24
	"Open our hearts and minds,	8:29
	(congregation joining in)
	"O God, by the power of your Holy Spirit,	8:32
	"so that as Word is read and proclaimed,	8:36
	"we might hear with joy what you say to us this day, Amen."	8:40
	The first reading is taken from the Book of Jeremiah,	8:49
	the 20th chapter starting with the seventh verse.	8:53
	"O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed.	9:00
	"You have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.	9:05
	"I have become a laughingstock all day long.	9:10
	"Everyone mocks me.	9:15
	"For whenever I speak, I must cry out,	9:18
	"I must shout, 'Violence and destruction!'	9:21
	"For the word of the Lord has become for me	9:26
	"a reproach and derision all day long.	9:29
	"If I say, 'I will not mention him,	9:34
	"'or speak any more in his name, then within me	9:37
	"there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones.	9:41
	"I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.	9:46
	"For I hear many whispering, 'Terror is all around!	9:52
	"'Denounce him! Let us denounce him!'	9:56
	"All my close friends are watching for me to stumble.	10:00
	"'Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail	10:05
	"'against him and take our revenge on him.'	10:08
	"But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior;	10:13
	"therefore my persecutors will stumble,	10:17
	"and they will not prevail.	10:20
	"They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed.	10:23
	"Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.	10:28
	"O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous.	10:32
	"You see the heart and the mind.	10:35
	"Let me see your retribution upon them,	10:38
	"for to you I have committed my cause.	10:41
	"Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord!	10:46
	"For he has delivered the life of the needy	10:49
	"from the hands of evildoers."	10:52
	This is the word of the Lord.	10:56
	Thanks be to God.	10:59
	(congregation respond also)
-	The psalm appointed for this morning	11:21
	is Psalm number 10, verses 12 through 18	11:23
	found on page 745 in your hymnal.	11:26
	Please stand and sing responsively.	11:30
	♪ Arise O Lord our God lift up your hand ♪	11:40
	♪ Forget not the afflicted ♪	11:46
	♪ Why do the wicked renounce God ♪	11:50
	♪ And say in their hearts you will not call to account ♪	11:54
	♪ You indeed see you note trouble and vexation ♪	12:02
	♪ That you may take it into your hands ♪	12:08
	♪ The helpless commits himself to you ♪	12:13
	♪ You have been the helper of the fatherless ♪	12:18
	♪ Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers ♪	12:24
	♪ Call his wickedness to account ♪	12:30
	♪ 'Til you find none ♪	12:33
	♪ The Lord is ruler forever and ever ♪	12:36
	♪ The nations perish from his land ♪	12:41
	♪ O Lord you will hear the desire of the meek ♪	12:47
	♪ You will strengthen their hearts ♪	12:54
	♪ You will incline your ear to do justice ♪	12:58
	♪ To the fatherless and to the oppressed ♪	13:03
	♪ So that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more ♪	13:07
	♪ O glory be to you Creator and to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪	13:15
	(organ music drowns out singing)	13:22
	♪ As it was 'ere time began ♪	13:29
	(organ music drowns out singing)	13:33
-	This reading is from the 12th chapter	13:57
	of Paul's Letter to the Hebrews	13:59
	beginning with verse one.	14:02
	"Therefore, since we are surrounded	14:06
	"by so great a cloud of witnesses,	14:09
	"let us throw also lay aside every weight	14:12
	"and the sin that clings so closely.	14:16
	"And let us run with perseverance	14:19
	"the race that is set before us.	14:22
	"looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,	14:25
	"who, for the sake of the joy that was set before him,	14:30
	"endured the cross, disregarding its shame,	14:34
	"and has taken his seat at the right hand	14:38
	"of the throne of God.	14:41
	"Therefore, lift your drooping hands	14:44
	"and strengthen your weak knees	14:47
	"and make straight paths for your feet	14:50
	"so that what is lame may not be put out of joint	14:53
	"but, rather, be healed.	14:58
	"Pursue peace with everyone and the holiness	15:01
	"without which no one will see the Lord.	15:05
	"See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.	15:09
	"That no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble	15:14
	"and through it many become defiled.	15:18
	"See to it that no one becomes like Esau,	15:22
	"an immoral and godless person,	15:26
	"who sold his birthright for a single meal.	15:29
	"You know that later, when he wanted	15:33
	"to inherit the blessing, he was rejected,	15:36
	"for he found no chance to repent,	15:39
	"even though he sought the blessing with tears."	15:42
	This is the word of the Lord.	15:47
	Thanks be to God	15:50
	(congregation responding also)
	(quiet organ music)	16:02
	acoustics drowning out choir)	16:12
-	This reading is taken from the Gospel	18:34
	according to St. Luke, chapter 12,	18:37
	starting at verse 49.	18:41
	"I came to bring fire to the earth,	18:45
	"and how I wish it were already kindled!	18:48
	"I have a baptism with which to be baptized,	18:51
	"and what stress I am under until it is completed!	18:55
	"Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?	19:00
	"No, I tell you, but rather division!	19:04
	"From now on, five in one household will be divided,	19:08
	"three against two and two against three.	19:13
	"They will be divided father against son	19:17
	"and son against father,	19:21
	"mother against daughter and daughter against mother,	19:24
	"mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law	19:28
	"and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."	19:32
	"He also said to the crowds,	19:37
	"'When you see a cloud rising in the west,	19:40
	"you immediately say it is going to rain;	19:43
	"And so it happens.	19:47
	"And when you see the south wind blowing, you say	19:50
	"there will be scorching heat; and it happens.	19:54
	"You hypocrites!	19:59
	"You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky,	20:01
	"but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"	20:06
	This is the word of the Lord.	20:13
	Thanks be to God.	20:16
	(congregation responding)
-	Let us pray	20:28
	that the words of my mouth and the meditation	20:30
	of our hearts be acceptable in Thy sight.	20:32
	Oh Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.	20:36
	It is my great pleasure to be	20:41
	with you here again at Duke University.	20:42
	I am the envy of a great number of Duke Alumni,	20:45
	an increasing number as a matter of fact,	20:49
	in my congregation, who would love to return	20:51
	to this campus, preferably during the basketball season.	20:54
	But I am sure that they would settle	20:58
	for the middle of August.	21:00
	I am most grateful also to	21:03
	Will Willimon for this invitation.	21:05
	As you know in this congregation,	21:08
	he is one of the most	21:11
	respected of clergy and theologians in this country.	21:14
	And also, and this is rare,	21:19
	one of the most listened to, consistently,	21:21
	no matter what he preaches or what he writes.	21:24
	I am very grateful to him for this invitation	21:28
	and I don't want to diminish the honor in any way	21:31
	by suggesting that if I ever to choose	21:34
	a Sunday to be away from the pulpit,	21:37
	I think it would be on this Sunday	21:39
	in which the Gospel lesson reads,	21:41
	"They will be divided, father against son,	21:43
	"son against father, mother against daughter,	21:45
	"daughter against mother, mother-in-law against	21:48
	"daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."	21:51
	It sounds like a storyline for "As the World Turns".	21:55
	I can assure you that this is not	22:00
	a preacher's favorite text,	22:02
	but it is the Gospel lesson for this Sunday.	22:03
	And so it is there as a challenge to us.	22:07
	If this text were in an event in Olympic diving,	22:09
	it would be given a level of difficulty at about 10.	22:13
	One of the efforts about which you say,	22:17
	"You have to admire him for trying it."	22:19
	I also wondered what those preachers,	22:24
	my brothers and sisters in Houston,	22:26
	are doing with this text this morning	22:28
	as the Republicans gather for their convention	22:30
	in that city, ready to push a platform of family values.	22:33
	I can imagine them going to church,	22:38
	hearing the Gospel lesson, the words of our Lord,	22:40
	"My coming means division among families."	22:43
	But it's not just the Republicans	22:46
	who are confounded and trouble by this passage.	22:48
	The Democrats are as well, and all the rest of us.	22:52
	And not just because of what it says	22:55
	about division in families, but the apparent contradiction	22:58
	in this passage to everything that we thought	23:02
	the Gospel was about.	23:06
	There was a man in my congregation	23:09
	who loves to point out where I've contradicted myself.	23:10
	I call him the Heckler.	23:13
	He's not a member of the church.	23:15
	He won't join the church.	23:17
	He says he has a few reservations.	23:19
	I say if he ever should run out of them	23:22
	I'll help him find a few more.	23:23
	(congregation laughing)	23:26
	But nevertheless he comes to church	23:28
	every Sunday, he never misses.	23:29
	And he always sits in the same pew.	23:31
	I can just see him there.	23:33
	And he listens intently	23:35
	until a certain point in the sermon	23:38
	and then he begins to stare out the window or	23:40
	examines his fingernails like a chess player	23:42
	who has seen that his opponent has now made	23:45
	the fatal move and it's now just a matter of time	23:48
	to just wait until the end.	23:51
	And it's inevitable now, he's got you.	23:53
	It's checkmate and I continue preaching	23:56
	the rest of the sermon distracted,	23:58
	wondering what it was that I said.	24:00
	Where was I inconsistent?	24:02
	What fact did I get wrong this time?	24:03
	And I only have to wait so long as the end of the service	24:06
	and he greets me at the door and says,	24:10
	"You know, what you said this morning	24:12
	"contradicts what you said on April the 12th."	24:15
	(congregation laughing)	24:18
	Well the Heckler would have a field day with this text.	24:20
	Go to the 51st verse, "Do you think that I have come	24:23
	"to bring peace on earth?	24:26
	"No I tell you, but rather division."	24:27
	But I thought, did not you, that he had in fact	24:30
	come to bring peace on earth.	24:34
	He is even called the Prince of Peace.	24:37
	And in that beautiful two chapters	24:41
	at the beginning of Luke, the Nativity story,	24:44
	probably two of the most favorite, beloved chapters	24:46
	in all of the Gospel, angels sing glory to God	24:50
	in the Highest, and on Earth, peace to herald	24:54
	the coming of the Messiah into the world.	24:58
	And does not Jesus say to a man who is estranged	25:03
	from his brother, "First, go be reconciled with your brother	25:05
	"and then go to the temple."	25:08
	And in John, the discourse at the Last Supper	25:10
	called the Last Discourse, he prays for the Church,	25:12
	praying that they may all be one.	25:16
	And in Paul's letters, now Paul is the most	25:20
	authoritative interpreter of the Gospel.	25:23
	Paul says God was in Christ reconciling the world	25:26
	unto himself and calling us to be	25:29
	ministers of reconciliation.	25:33
	God making his appeal through us	25:36
	for unity and peace and concord,	25:38
	among all people so that all peoples	25:43
	will be united, as it were, into one family.	25:45
	I suggest to you that that's why	25:50
	whenever Paul wrote to any church	25:52
	he always talked about unity for the Church	25:54
	as a part of the New Creation and therefore,	25:57
	we should be modeling a new humanity	25:59
	to let the world see the way God intends	26:02
	for all of His creation to live.	26:04
	Paul seems to have spent all of his spare time	26:08
	on the road writing to churches	26:10
	to cool it, overcome your divisions,	26:12
	stop fighting, be reconciled.	26:16
	We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.	26:18
	So kiss and make up,	26:22
	which is the origin of that custom	26:24
	called Passing the Peace as it is referred to now,	26:26
	liturgically it's sanitized now.	26:28
	We just shake hands now	26:30
	and say to one another, "The peace of the Lord be with you."	26:33
	But that is significant, we say the peace	26:36
	of the Lord be with you.	26:40
	You pass the peace at the end of the Liturgy	26:41
	of the Word just before the Liturgy of the Table	26:43
	or the Holy Communion, because at the Lord's table	26:46
	we are all supposed to be one.	26:50
	And Paul says you cannot go	26:52
	to the Lord's table divided,	26:54
	because you are the Church and the Church is here	26:58
	to model the new way of living in this world.	27:02
	So especially when we're at the table of our Lord,	27:04
	we should demonstrate	27:07
	that we are united by God's Grace.	27:08
	I've taught that.	27:13
	I've preached it.	27:15
	I've tried to model it in my own church.	27:17
	I've worked hard for it.	27:19
	I believe that that's the Church's mission	27:22
	in a divided world, a world of Sarajevos,	27:24
	a world of Belfasts,	27:28
	and of Somalia and Jerusalem and Johannesburg.	27:30
	A world in which division and hatred	27:35
	between people is rampant.	27:37
	Getting worse.	27:39
	We don't need more division in this world.	27:41
	We need reconciliation, we need peacemakers.	27:44
	Jesus himself said that.	27:47
	"Blessed are the peacemakers."	27:50
	And if you are a United Methodist and you want	27:54
	real apostolic authority for all of this,	27:56
	remember that John Wesley said that our	27:59
	unity in Christ ought to be stronger than	28:01
	the divisions of the world.	28:05
	So he said, "If your heart is with my heart	28:07
	"then give me your hand" for in church,	28:09
	especially in church,	28:11
	no more division.	28:14
	That's the way it should be.	28:17
	That's the way it is supposed to be.	28:19
	But it isn't.	28:22
	The fact is that sometimes	28:24
	religion divides and doesn't unite,	28:27
	that's just the way it is.	28:29
	It's that way even today in Asia and Africa,	28:30
	where new Christians are still being disowned	28:34
	by their families, "son against father,	28:35
	"father against son, mother against daughter."	28:38
	What a terrible sorrow that is.	28:41
	But it happens.	28:44
	As a parent, I can imagine what it must be like.	28:46
	Our children followed the faith of their parents	28:51
	for which we are grateful,	28:54
	especially raising them in Southern California	28:56
	when they could've become just about anything.	28:58
	But I can imagine what it would be like	29:01
	if one of my children were to become	29:04
	a Buddhist or a Hindu.	29:05
	I should not disown them, I know that.	29:08
	I would not do that, but oh, it would be hard.	29:10
	There'd be division of some kind.	29:15
	It wouldn't be the same anymore.	29:19
	And then it occurred to me Jesus himself	29:23
	knew what division in family was like.	29:25
	The prophecy is there right at the beginning	29:27
	back in the Nativity.	29:29
	No sooner do the Angels announce	29:31
	that peace has now come to the world,	29:33
	then old Simeon sings the Nunc Dimittis	29:35
	as the song is called in the Liturgy of the Church.	29:38
	"Lord, let us now, Thy servant, depart in peace	29:41
	"for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation".	29:43
	The scene is a temple in Jerusalem.	29:47
	Mary, Joseph have brought the baby to the temple	29:49
	for the Rite of Purification	29:51
	and here is this old man, Simeon.	29:53
	Been there on the steps of the church for years	29:55
	waiting for the Messiah, because the prophecy had said,	29:58
	"He shall suddenly come to His temple" and so Simeon,	30:01
	hedging his bets, sits at the stairs of the temple	30:05
	year after year, waiting.	30:09
	He sees the Holy Couple come up the stairs.	30:11
	He pulls the blanket away from the baby's face	30:14
	and says, "Now, let us Thou, Thy servant depart in peace	30:16
	"for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation."	30:20
	Mary and Joseph thanked the old man	30:22
	for saying such nice things about their baby,	30:25
	continue up the steps.	30:27
	Simeon pulls Mary aside	30:29
	and he whispers to her,	30:32
	"This Child is set for the rising and fall of many."	30:35
	and then he adds,	30:40
	"and a sword will pierce your soul, also."	30:40
	You know where that happened first?	30:46
	It must have happened many times	30:49
	culminating in the Cross, but it happened first	30:53
	when Jesus returned to Nazareth.	30:55
	Someone went to Mary and said, "Your son is back	30:58
	"in town and he's saying things that are causing	31:01
	"people to wonder about his sanity."	31:03
	Mary, embarrassed by all this, goes to him	31:05
	along with others in the family, it says that his	31:08
	brothers were there too.	31:10
	She goes to where he's preaching, the crowd is so big	31:11
	she can't get to him, so she sends a message up	31:15
	through the crowd saying "Your mother is here.	31:18
	"She would like to see you."	31:21
	You know what he did?	31:23
	In public, out loud,	31:25
	in front of everybody according to the other Gospels,	31:29
	he pointed to the crowd and he said,	31:32
	"Here are my mother and my brothers", but in Luke	31:33
	he says this, "My mother and my brothers are those	31:36
	"who hear the Word of God,	31:40
	"and do it."	31:44
	It was there that that sword pierced her heart.	31:46
	For what we were witnessing publicly along with the crowd,	31:49
	is a family divided.	31:53
	But why?	31:56
	What happened?	31:58
	Why would he do this?	32:00
	And the clue, I suggest, is in the closing paragraph	32:03
	of the text read for you this morning,	32:06
	"You hypocrites! You know how to interpret	32:08
	"the appearance of earth and sky,	32:11
	"why don't you know how to interpret the present time?"	32:14
	It was an extraordinary time	32:17
	demanding an extraordinary response.	32:19
	A time when all values are suspended except one.	32:22
	A time when all is relative to one absolute;	32:26
	hearing what God is doing	32:30
	and responding to it.	32:33
	Do you know how to interpret the time?	32:36
	The time we refer to is the time	32:39
	of the coming of the Kingdom.	32:41
	It's the time when the only thing that matters	32:43
	is hearing the word of God and doing it,	32:45
	hearing what God is doing in the world	32:47
	and saying yes to it.	32:50
	Nothing else matters in such a time,	32:51
	not even family.	32:55
	Which explains why families do not fare very well	32:59
	in the Gospel of Luke.	33:01
	Have you noticed that Jesus walking down the road	33:02
	calls people to follow him.	33:05
	One man says, "First I must go bury my father."	33:07
	Jesus says, "Let the dead bury the dead."	33:10
	I just buried my mother last summer.	33:13
	I know that nothing was more important then.	33:15
	I dropped everything to join family in doing that.	33:19
	Jesus says, "Let the dead bury the dead."	33:24
	Another says, "First, let me go say goodbye to my family."	33:28
	I would love it if my children came home before a trip	33:33
	and said goodbye, they're going away for awhile.	33:36
	Jesus says, "Anyone who puts his hand to the plow	33:38
	and turns back is not fit for the Kingdom of God."	33:40
	A woman, in gesture of respect, utters a common blessing.	33:44
	This is an affirmation of family,	33:48
	"Blessed is the womb that bore you.	33:51
	"Blessed are the breasts that you sucked."	33:52
	Jesus contradicted her.	33:55
	He put her down.	33:57
	He repeated what he believed, "Blessed are those	33:59
	"who hear the word of God and do it."	34:02
	The disciples at the end of the Gospel say	34:05
	"We have left family and followed you."	34:08
	And Jesus says, "Anyone who leaves family	34:11
	in order to follow me, will have a special place	34:13
	in the Kingdom.	34:16
	You find that throughout the Gospel.	34:18
	Something's going on here.	34:20
	You have to know	34:22
	how to interpret the time.	34:25
	In the Bible, there are only two times.	34:28
	There's the Time of Waiting	34:31
	and the Time of His Coming.	34:34
	There's the Time of Preparation	34:36
	and the Time of Fulfillment.	34:38
	There's the Time of Praying for the Kingdom to Come	34:39
	and there's the Time of the Kingdom's Coming.	34:44
	And the great frustration of Jesus in the Gospels	34:48
	is due to this inability of his contemporaries	34:50
	to understand what time it was.	34:54
	They thought it was still the Time of Waiting.	34:59
	He is preaching The Time of Fulfillment,	35:02
	The Kingdom of God is here.	35:05
	Accept this good news!	35:08
	And they didn't do it.	35:11
	And that's why he climbed that hill	35:13
	above Jerusalem and wept, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem,	35:15
	"would I have gathered you	35:18
	"as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,	35:20
	"but you would not."	35:23
	If it is the end time, if the Kingdom is here,	35:26
	then you should sell all you have and follow him.	35:30
	You should leave everything behind and follow him.	35:33
	Including family.	35:36
	Which is a message of all this 12th chapter.	35:39
	It's filled with these hard sayings.	35:42
	Last week, if you heard the Gospel preached	35:43
	in this church last week, it was about selling	35:46
	all you have and follow him.	35:48
	Today, leave family behind and follow him.	35:50
	It's what you should do	35:54
	if the end is near.	35:57
	Do you know what time it is?	36:01
	There's a time of waiting	36:05
	and there is a time of His coming.	36:07
	And according to Christian chronology,	36:11
	since the Resurrection and the Ascension,	36:14
	we are once again in a time of waiting.	36:16
	A time of waiting now for His Second Coming.	36:18
	W.H. Auden, in his great play about Christmas	36:23
	entitled "For the Time Being", put it this way.	36:26
	He defined time	36:29
	as a time between the times.	36:31
	He called it the Meantime.	36:34
	And he wrote in the Meantime, and I paraphrase now,	36:38
	we have responsibilities to perform, we can't ignore them.	36:40
	We have irregular verbs to learn,	36:44
	we have the time being to redeem from insignificance.	36:47
	How do you live lives of significance in a time of waiting.	36:52
	The most important thing to remember	36:58
	is that it is not the end time.	37:01
	In the end time all will be perfect.	37:04
	In the present, we must live with imperfection.	37:07
	In the present we know what the Kingdom is like	37:11
	but we don't possess it, as the Letter to the Hebrews	37:14
	explained to us in the election read for you this morning.	37:16
	Or in the words of Philippians, we press on to make it	37:19
	our own because Christ Jesus has made us his own.	37:22
	Or is Martin Luther King put it, "I have a vision	37:25
	"of that day when all people will be one"	37:30
	its a vision, it's a dream.	37:33
	Or, as the old hymn puts it, "We are marching to Zion	37:35
	"the beautiful city of God."	37:38
	We can see it, we can press toward it,	37:39
	we can dream it, we can march toward it,	37:43
	but we cannot possess it.	37:46
	We are not in the end time.	37:48
	We are living in the meantime.	37:51
	Since the title of this sermon mentioned family values,	37:55
	I think it's only fair that I return to it, specifically,	37:58
	in talking about the meantime.	38:03
	How do we live in families in the meantime.	38:04
	In an imperfect world the first	38:09
	function of families is protection.	38:11
	What is so appalling to me, and to you I'm sure,	38:15
	about our society's families today is that so many of them	38:17
	seem to allow children to be exposed	38:21
	to influences that are harmful to them	38:24
	physically and spiritually, and emotionally.	38:26
	It's just amazing.	38:29
	So when family values are talked about,	38:32
	I think this is what we	38:35
	think about, almost immediately, about protecting	38:38
	little children from the influence as a society	38:40
	that would destroy them.	38:45
	The United Methodist Church recently	38:47
	adopted a new baptismal ritual.	38:49
	The new service restored	38:51
	what are called the Renunciations,	38:54
	where, in the case of infant baptism,	38:57
	the parents renounce the evil powers of this world	38:59
	and the spiritual forces of wickedness.	39:03
	And as I prepared to introduce the new baptismal	39:05
	ritual to my congregation,	39:08
	that was the point that I was sure	39:10
	was going to be a problem with them;	39:12
	these renunciations in this ancient language	39:13
	right out of the First Century.	39:15
	And so I worked hard on how I would explain this.	39:17
	The technical word is demythologize it.	39:20
	The assumption is that ancient language is in a	39:23
	mythological language and we have to make it modern,	39:26
	and scientific, and relevant to our time.	39:29
	And I tried to do that; I think I did it very well.	39:31
	And when I finished, and I said to the class,	39:34
	"I hope that you can make this cultural shift	39:37
	"back to a pre-scientific age."	39:41
	Someone raised his hand	39:43
	and he said, "We don't need to have this translated for us.	39:45
	"We're parents of small children	39:48
	"and we are very much aware	39:51
	"of what awaits our children living in this world.	39:54
	"We know, already,	39:57
	about the evil powers of this world."	39:59
	The first responsibilities of families	40:03
	is to protect the children.	40:07
	The second function of families is instruction	40:10
	on how to live in a time of waiting.	40:14
	How to live in an imperfect world.	40:17
	The Bible contains not only the vision of the end time,	40:21
	it also contains instructions on	40:24
	how to live in the meantime.	40:27
	And no instruction is more valuable than Paul's.	40:29
	That we are not justified by our perfection	40:32
	but by God's grace.	40:36
	I, like most pastors, spend an inordinate amount of time	40:40
	with the product of Christian homes	40:43
	who have not gotten the news.	40:45
	It's just amazing to me the number of people who do not	40:47
	understand that the Christian Gospel	40:51
	is supposed to be good news.	40:53
	Good news about God and what God has	40:56
	done for us, and Jesus Christ.	40:58
	Not news about me	41:00
	and how imperfect I am.	41:03
	And yet these people are constantly held up	41:07
	to a standard of perfection and they were made to know	41:09
	that they always fell short of it and that nothing they did,	41:12
	no matter if it was their best effort,	41:16
	was ever to be good enough.	41:18
	They were reminded continually that they were unworthy.	41:20
	And now many of them in middle age,	41:25
	in fact some of them even older than that,	41:27
	find subtle and not-so-subtle ways of punishing themselves	41:29
	for not being somebody else.	41:33
	The world between the times	41:37
	remains imperfect.	41:40
	The Gospel is a gift to us, given to us,	41:44
	so that we could redeem the present time.	41:48
	And the most important function of families is to teach	41:52
	children of God's Grace	41:55
	by surrounding them with Grace.	41:58
	Paul is the first theologian to describe	42:03
	how to live in an imperfect world.	42:05
	And his most powerful description	42:07
	is to be found in first Corinthians 13.	42:09
	It was prompted by those in that church	42:12
	at Corinth claiming perfection.	42:15
	And he was very kind to them, he did not deny that they had	42:18
	the gifts of which they boasted.	42:21
	He just said they weren't very important.	42:23
	They weren't worth very much in an imperfect age.	42:26
	For our task in an imperfect age	42:29
	is getting along.	42:32
	How do we live together	42:34
	when neither of us is perfect?	42:37
	Or as he puts it, when no one has all the answers,	42:40
	"For we see through a glass darkly,"	42:43
	which means not very well at all.	42:46
	Our knowledge is imperfect he says.	42:48
	Someday, we will see perfection.	42:51
	Someday the perfect will come	42:55
	but in the meantime,	42:58
	we must get along with each other.	43:00
	And that is why, in the meantime,	43:03
	there are only three things that matter.	43:06
	And therefore, they ought to be the three things	43:08
	that children receive as legacy from their families:	43:11
	faith, hope, and love,	43:16
	and the greatest of these is love.	43:21
	There are other family values	43:25
	but if you can give these three, it is enough.	43:28
	But in the meantime,	43:31
	for this time of waiting, that's all we need,	43:34
	for this time between	43:38
	His first coming and His second.	43:41
	Let us pray.	43:44
	Oh Lord, take our lips and speak through them.	43:49
	Take our minds and think through them.	43:51
	Take our hearts and set them on fire.	43:53
	Help us to be the masters of ourselves	43:56
	that we might be the servants of others	43:58
	through Christ our Lord,	44:00
	Amen.	44:03
	(organ music)	44:05
	(organ drowns out choir)	44:42
Celebrant	The Lord be with you.	46:30
Congregation	And also with you.	46:31
-	Let us pray	46:33
	Jesus, we come here expecting to be	46:46
	reassured and comforted.	46:49
	And yet how often have you spoken	46:53
	words to us that challenge, confront.	46:55
	We do not want to hear you speak to us	46:59
	as much as we say we do.	47:02
	For you do not let us alone.	47:05
	Your word brings not peace, but a sword.	47:09
	Drives us back to searching examination of our lives.	47:13
	Do you consider not what comfort you will give us,	47:18
	but what challenge you lay upon us.	47:21
	We come here expecting something for ourselves,	47:27
	our struggles, our pain, and need.	47:29
	And how often you force us to ask for something for others.	47:34
	For the suffering, hating, hurting, oppressed,	47:41
	oppressing people of what used to be Yugoslavia,	47:43
	give us that which centuries of our hate	47:49
	and history cannot give:	47:51
	the ability to forgive past wrong,	47:55
	the willingness to start over,	48:00
	the courage to make peace.	48:03
	We are Bosnians, Serbs, Iraqis, Americans, give us grace	48:08
	to be brothers and sisters,	48:14
	to get along.	48:16
	We come here as families	48:20
	using church as a way to polish	48:23
	our idealized image of ourselves.	48:25
	But how often you've pushed us	48:30
	to confront the realities of our lives together.	48:31
	The gap between who we wish we were	48:35
	and who, in reality, we are.	48:39
	So we pray for all victims of domestic violence,	48:44
	for people who're here this morning	48:50
	who've been abused physically, emotionally, spiritually,	48:51
	by people they're supposed to be married to.	48:55
	Children who've been sexually abused by adults	48:59
	who are supposed to love them, not use them.	49:02
	Families who are so consumed by getting and buying	49:07
	and having and too little engaged in giving	49:10
	and creating and sharing.	49:15
	Bless our families in ways that neither we,	49:19
	nor our politicians know how to bless.	49:23
	We come here, O God, full of needs	49:29
	we don't know how to express,	49:32
	prayers we wouldn't begin to pray,	49:36
	desperate for gifts only you can give.	49:38
	And how often have you overlooked	49:44
	our poor prayers and given us those gifts	49:46
	which we didn't have the insight to know we needed.	49:50
	So Lord, take our poorly prayed prayers	49:54
	and our secret needs, and our complacent, postponed lives,	49:59
	our too-easily-satisfied expectations	50:04
	and mold them, judge them, remake them	50:07
	according to your will.	50:09
	How often have you come to us before we came to you?	50:13
	Therefore, for all that we pray,	50:20
	and for all that we have not the courage	50:24
	nor the wisdom to pray,	50:26
	we pray in your name, and honor the judgment	50:30
	of your gracious will for us.	50:34
	Amen.	50:39
	As the forgiven, reconciled people,	50:42
	let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God.	50:45
	(sprightly organ music)	50:51
	(organ muffles choir performance)	52:45
	(stately organ music)	54:13
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	55:24
	♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪	55:31
	♪ Alleluia ♪	55:37
	♪ Alleluia ♪	55:40
	♪ Praise God above ye heavenly host ♪	55:44
	♪ Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost ♪	55:50
	♪ Alleluia ♪	55:57
	♪ Alleluia ♪	55:59
	♪ Alleluia alleluia ♪	56:03
	♪ Alleluia ♪	56:09
-	Loving God, we thank you	56:24
	for all the blessings of this life.	56:26
	All of those gifts, great and small	56:30
	through which you daily remind us	56:32
	of your loving care for us.	56:34
	For your word, giving us direction,	56:38
	discernment, encouragement, and hope.	56:41
	For beautiful music to inspire and comfort us	56:45
	in means too deep for words.	56:50
	For our families,	56:53
	for those who love us and put up with us,	56:56
	who sacrifice for us, who know us better	56:59
	than we know ourselves.	57:03
	We thank you for the grace we experience in family.	57:06
	For people who are not in our families,	57:11
	who quietly and unobtrusively bless our lives	57:14
	just by being there for us.	57:18
	For people like Nina High whom we recall	57:22
	with gratitude this day.	57:25
	And for summer, blessed time of unburdening	57:29
	and family vacations, engagement with nature,	57:32
	wonderful season of rest and rejuvenation.	57:35
	For all these and the other gifts you give us,	57:40
	we give thanks, acknowledging how impoverished	57:43
	our lives would be without your daily grace.	57:46
	And now we pray as our Lord has taught us.	57:52
	"Our Father who art in Heaven,	57:55
	"hallowed be Thy name.	57:58
	"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done	58:00
	"on Earth as it is in Heaven.	58:03
	"Give us this day our daily bread	58:06
	"and forgive us our trespasses	58:09
	"as we forgive those who trespass against us.	58:12
	"And lead us not into temptation	58:16
	"but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom,	58:19
	"the Power and the Glory forever, Amen."	58:23
	And now may the grace of our Lord and Savior	58:31
	Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship	58:33
	of the Holy Spirit be with you now and always.	58:36
	♪ Alleluia amen amen ♪	58:43
	(stately organ music)	58:54
	♪ My hope is built on nothing less ♪	59:35
	♪ Than Jesus Christ my righteousness ♪	59:40
	♪ I dare not trust the sweetest frame ♪	59:46
	♪ But wholly lean on Jesus name ♪	59:52
	♪ On Christ the solid Rock I stand ♪	59:59
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:00:05
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:00:10
	♪ When darkness veils His lovely face ♪	1:00:19
	♪ I rest on His unchanging grace ♪	1:00:25
	♪ In every high and stormy gale ♪	1:00:31
	♪ My anchor holds within the veil ♪	1:00:36
	♪ On Christ the solid Rock I stand ♪	1:00:43
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:00:49
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:00:55
	♪ His oath His covenant His blood ♪	1:01:04
	♪ Support me in the whelming flood ♪	1:01:10
	♪ When all around my soul gives way ♪	1:01:15
	♪ He then is all my hope and stay ♪	1:01:21
	♪ On Christ the solid Rock I stand ♪	1:01:29
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:01:34
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:01:41
	♪ When He shall come with trumpet sound ♪	1:01:55
	♪ Oh may I then in Him be found ♪	1:02:01
	♪ In Him my righteousness alone ♪	1:02:07
	♪ Faultless to stand before the throne ♪	1:02:13
	♪ On Christ the solid Rock I stand ♪	1:02:20
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:02:26
	♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪	1:02:32
	(calm organ music)	1:02:51

Item Info

Title:

Mark Trotter - "What About Family Values?" (August 16, 1992)

Description:

Sermon start time: 20:28. Sermon end time: 44:05.
There are times of waiting and times of coming. We are now in a time of waiting for the Second Coming, so in the meantime the best we can do is to teach and maintain God's grace until the endtime. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "The world between times is imperfect. The Gospel is a gift to us given to us so we can redeem the present time. And the most important function of families is to teach children about God's grace by surrounding them with grace."

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4542jq0s

Date:

August 16, 1992

Speaker:

Trotter, Mark

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0292
ref9137_l2j
uachapelsermaud
duke:321632
dcrmv001279
ark:/87924/r4542jq0s
ae43daf9-5d4f-4eab-9aac-52cabb4b8066

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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

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Mark Trotter - "What About Family Values?" (August 16, 1992)

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