Peter J. Gomes - "Perversity, Providence, and an Impossible Ethic" (February 19, 1995)

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-	Worship we have emphasized	0:00
	the epiphany theme of God's providential care,	0:02
	and the human response to care for our neighbor.	0:06
	Our guest preacher today is the Reverend Doctor Peter Gomes,	0:09
	minister and plumber professor	0:13
	of Christian morals at Memorial Church Harvard University.	0:15
	Doctor Gomes is a frequent visitor to Duke Chapel,	0:20
	and he did a sabbatical here last fall.	0:23
	We're glad to have him here with us	0:26
	in our service of worship.	0:28
	We also welcome the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra	0:30
	and their conductor, Mister David Berger.	0:34
	They will provide special music in today's service,	0:37
	including Come Sunday, a Duke Ellington hymn	0:40
	in our hymn book.	0:44
	Their music will give you a taste	0:45
	of what is to come at three o'clock this afternoon	0:47
	with their concert of sacred music by Duke Ellington.	0:50
	Tickets for that concert will go on sale at noon.	0:53
	Let us continue our worship as we stand for the greeting.	0:57
	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.	1:07
	The splendor of Christ shines upon us.	1:12
	(organ music)	1:17
	(choir singing)	2:00
-	Let us pray.	5:47
	O God, in mystery and silence	5:51
	you are present in our lives,	5:54
	bringing new life out of destruction,	5:57
	hope out of despair,	6:00
	growth out of difficulty.	6:03
	We thank you that you do not leave us alone,	6:06
	but labor to make us whole.	6:10
	Help us to perceive your unseen hand	6:12
	in the unfolding of our lives,	6:16
	and to attend to the gentle guidance of your spirit	6:18
	that we may know the joy you give your people, amen.	6:23
	You may be seated.	6:28
-	Let us pray together	6:46
	the prayer for illumination.	6:47
	Open our hearts and minds, O God,	6:51
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	6:54
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	6:57
	we may hear it with joy	7:01
	what you say to us this day, amen.	7:03
-	Here begins the third verse of the 45th chapter	7:22
	of the book of Genesis.	7:27
	Joseph said to his brothers	7:32
	I am Joseph,	7:35
	is my father still alive?	7:36
	But his brothers could not answer him,	7:40
	so dismayed were they at his presence.	7:42
	Then Joseph said to his brothers	7:47
	come closer to me,	7:50
	and they came closer.	7:52
	He said I am your brother Joseph	7:55
	whom you sold into Egypt,	7:59
	and now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves	8:03
	because you sold me here,	8:07
	for God sent me before you	8:10
	to preserve life.	8:13
	For famine has been in the land these two years,	8:16
	and there are five more years in which	8:19
	there will be neither plowing nor harvest.	8:22
	God sent me before you to preserve for you	8:26
	a remnant on earth,	8:30
	and to keep alive for you many survivors.	8:32
	So, it was not you who sent me here,	8:37
	but God.	8:41
	He has made me a father to Pharaoh,	8:43
	and lord of all his house,	8:46
	and ruler over all the land of Egypt.	8:48
	Hurry and go up to my father and say to him	8:52
	thus says your son, Joseph,	8:56
	God has made me lord of all Egypt,	8:59
	come down to me, do not delay,	9:02
	you shall settle in the land of Goshen,	9:06
	and you shall be near me, you and your children,	9:09
	and your children's children,	9:13
	as well as your flocks, your herds,	9:15
	and all that you have.	9:19
	I will provide for you there	9:21
	since there are five more years of famine to come,	9:25
	so that you and your household and all that you have	9:29
	will not come to poverty.	9:34
	And he kissed all his brothers	9:37
	and wept upon them, and after that,	9:40
	his brothers talked with him.	9:44
	This is the word of the Lord.	9:48
-	The Psalm appointed for today is number 37.	10:06
	It's found on page 772 in your hymnal.	10:10
	Together let us praise God and sing the Psalm	10:14
	and the Gloria responsively, please rise.	10:16
	(organ music)	10:20
	♪ Do not be angry because of the wicked ♪	10:28
	♪ Do not be envious of wrongdoers ♪	10:33
	♪ Trust in the Lord ♪	10:49
	♪ And do good ♪	10:51
	♪ So you will dwell in the land ♪	10:53
	♪ And enjoy security ♪	10:56
	♪ Commit your way to the Lord ♪	11:12
	♪ Trust in God who will act ♪	11:16
	♪ Bringing forth your vindication ♪	11:20
	♪ As the light ♪	11:23
	♪ And your right as the noon day ♪	11:26
	♪ Refrain from anger ♪	11:50
	♪ And forsake wrath ♪	11:53
	♪ Do not be angry ♪	11:56
	♪ It leads only to evil ♪	11:58
	♪ Yet a little while ♪	12:16
	♪ And the wicked will be no more ♪	12:18
	♪ Though you look at their place ♪	12:22
	♪ They will not be there ♪	12:25
	♪ All glory be to you, Creator ♪	12:42
	♪ And to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪	12:45
	♪ As it was when time began ♪	12:57
	Please be seated.	13:14
-	The second lesson is taken from the 15th chapter	13:31
	of 1 Corinthians,	13:35
	beginning at the 35th verse.	13:37
	But someone will ask how are the dead raised?	13:40
	And with kind of body do they come?	13:44
	Fool, what you sow does not come to life	13:48
	unless it dies,	13:51
	and as for what you sow,	13:53
	you do not sow the body that is to be,	13:55
	but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat,	13:58
	or some other grain.	14:01
	But God gives it a body as he has chosen,	14:03
	and to each kind of seed its own body.	14:07
	This is the word of the Lord.	14:11
	(soft piano music)	14:38
	♪ Heaven ♪	14:52
	♪ My dream ♪	14:57
	♪ Heaven ♪	15:03
	♪ Divine ♪	15:07
	♪ Heaven ♪	15:14
	♪ Supreme ♪	15:19
	♪ Heaven ♪	15:26
	♪ Come by ♪	15:30
	♪ Every sweet ♪	15:35
	♪ And pretty thing ♪	15:41
	♪ Life ♪	15:45
	♪ With love to bring ♪	15:49
	♪ Heavenly heaven ♪	15:53
	♪ To me ♪	15:59
	♪ Is just the ultimate degree to be ♪	16:04
	(light orchestral music)	16:18
	♪ Heaven, my dream ♪	17:22
	♪ Heaven ♪	17:33
	♪ Divine ♪	17:39
	♪ Divine ♪	17:50
-	The Holy Gospel is written in the sixth chapter	18:28
	of the gospel according to Saint Luke,	18:31
	beginning at the 27th verse.	18:34
	But I say to you that listen,	18:38
	love your enemies, do good to those that hate you,	18:40
	bless those who curse you,	18:44
	pray for those who abuse you.	18:46
	If anyone strikes you on the cheek,	18:49
	offer the other also,	18:52
	and from anyone who takes away your coat,	18:53
	do not withhold even your shirt.	18:56
	Give to everyone who begs from you,	19:00
	and if anyone takes away your goods,	19:02
	do not ask for them again.	19:05
	Do to others as you would have them do to you.	19:08
	If you love those who love you,	19:13
	what credit is that to you?	19:15
	For even sinners love those who love them.	19:18
	If you do good to those who do good to you,	19:21
	what credit is that to you?	19:25
	For even sinners do the same.	19:27
	If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive,	19:30
	what credit is that to you?	19:34
	Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again.	19:37
	But love your enemies,	19:42
	do good and lend,	19:44
	expecting nothing in return.	19:47
	Your reward will be great,	19:50
	and you will be children of the most high,	19:52
	for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.	19:55
	Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.	20:00
	Do not judge, and you will not be judged.	20:04
	Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.	20:08
	Forgive, and you will be forgiven.	20:13
	Give, and it will be given to you.	20:16
	A good measure, pressed down,	20:20
	shaken together,	20:24
	running over	20:26
	will be put into your lap,	20:28
	for the measure you give	20:30
	will be the measure you receive.	20:32
	This is the word of the Lord.	20:36
-	Let us pray.	20:51
	Help us, Lord, to become masters of ourselves,	20:56
	that we may become the servants of others.	21:01
	Take our hands and work through them,	21:05
	take our minds and think through them,	21:08
	take our lips and speak through them,	21:12
	and take our hearts and set them on fire	21:16
	for Christ's sake, amen.	21:21
	There's a text for this sermon,	21:34
	and it is the eighth verse of the 45th chapter	21:38
	of the book of Genesis,	21:43
	from which the first lesson was taken.	21:45
	It was not you	21:49
	who sent me here,	21:52
	but God.	21:54
	It was not you who sent me here,	21:56
	but God.	22:00
	The Old Testament is wonderfully explicit	22:05
	in its stage directions,	22:10
	and that's why, I think, for most of us,	22:13
	it is the easier of the two testaments to respond to.	22:15
	It makes it clear, for example,	22:22
	for whom we're supposed to be cheering,	22:24
	who are the heroes, who are the villains in the lessons,	22:26
	and there's no doubt in the long epic	22:31
	that constitutes the story of Joseph this morning	22:34
	that it is Joseph who is the hero.	22:39
	Joseph is the fellow to be taken seriously.	22:45
	In case there's any doubt in any of your minds,	22:49
	the story of Joseph is about Joseph,	22:53
	and we are meant to take Joseph seriously.	22:57
	But at the start of this sermon, let's be honest,	23:02
	or at least let me be honest and confess to you	23:06
	at the outset that young Joseph is,	23:10
	for me, one of the more obnoxious figures	23:14
	in all of scripture,	23:18
	in the whole biblical narrative.	23:20
	And I can readily see why his brothers	23:22
	would want to wring his neck.	23:26
	He was self centered, this Joseph,	23:30
	he knew he was the favorite son of his father's old age,	23:34
	favorites always know that,	23:38
	they always know how to play the card	23:41
	with Ma or Pa,	23:44
	and he knew through his dreams	23:46
	that great things were going to happen to him,	23:49
	and he wasted neither time nor effort,	23:52
	this dreamer, in lauding it over his brothers.	23:55
	There's something of the Eddie Haskell	23:59
	in this Joseph,	24:02
	this spoiled brat, the precocious A student,	24:04
	his hand is always up in the seminar,	24:08
	he's got the right answer.	24:11
	His dog never eats his homework,	24:13
	and he doubtless has a long string	24:16
	of perfect attendance pins	24:19
	from his Methodist Sunday school on his bosom.	24:21
	All of us know such people,	24:25
	all of us grew up with such people,	24:28
	and if we could or dared,	24:31
	we would have loved to beat them up	24:33
	just for the sheer fun of it,	24:36
	just because of who they were.	24:39
	Confess that you know that is true.	24:41
	And so, initially at least,	24:44
	this is an exercise in my own perversity.	24:47
	My sympathy is all with the brothers.	24:52
	Now, surely they didn't have to be jealous, these brothers,	24:57
	surely, as older and wiser,	25:00
	they should've had better control of their feelings,	25:02
	been more in touch with their emotions.	25:05
	Surely they should not have contemplated murder,	25:08
	nor sold their brother into slavery,	25:11
	lied to their old father, that's wrong, wrong, wrong.	25:13
	But I think I know why they did it.	25:18
	And this is the reason I posit to you	25:23
	why they did it:	25:25
	you and I, contrary to popular rumor and expectations,	25:26
	you and I do not flourish	25:33
	in the presence of pure and undiluted virtue.	25:36
	We love it in abstraction,	25:43
	but to live with it is a real pain	25:45
	where we sit down.	25:48
	The presence of pure and undiluted virtue	25:51
	is like being in too bright a light, like these lights,	25:55
	too bright and blinding,	26:00
	and rather than illuminating,	26:02
	they blind and intimidate us.	26:05
	Too much of a good thing, contrary to May West,	26:08
	if it is human, is not terrific,	26:11
	it is tedious, it is boring.	26:14
	Can you imagine small talk	26:17
	with Elie Wiesel or Florence Nightingale?	26:21
	Or a long train ride with Mother Theresa?	26:25
	In theory, this is great,	26:28
	but in practice, most of us would rather not bear it,	26:31
	it is too much to handle.	26:35
	Come, let us slay this dreamer,	26:38
	and then we shall see what will become of his dreams,	26:41
	we know those vengeful words of the brothers,	26:44
	and we know them in our own hearts.	26:48
	We associate those words nowadays with the deaths,	26:51
	not only the contemplated death of Joseph,	26:54
	but of Martin Luther King Jr.,	26:57
	and we hear them each January	26:59
	when people read this passage from Joseph	27:01
	and say let us slay the dreamer and hope to kill the dream.	27:04
	We think we can stand the moral light,	27:08
	but most of us cannot.	27:11
	The Josephs of this world do not inspire in close proximity,	27:14
	they annoy, they intimidate,	27:20
	and they drive us, often, to desperate,	27:23
	even despicable measures,	27:26
	and so, the brothers got rid of him.	27:28
	Not by murder, as was their first plan,	27:31
	but by selling him into slavery,	27:33
	a much more profitable enterprise.	27:36
	They could get some cash for him	27:38
	by getting him out of the way,	27:40
	it was a win-win proposition.	27:43
	Now, to put it mildly,	27:47
	this family of Joseph is what we might call dysfunctional.	27:50
	Think of his father, dear old Jacob,	27:58
	here is a conniver from his birth,	28:00
	he is the one who stole his brother's birthright	28:02
	and tricked his father and sort of lied	28:06
	and cheated his way from the womb to the world,	28:09
	that's the father in the case.	28:11
	Then the half brothers,	28:14
	they quarrel with each other all the time,	28:15
	they're united only in their treachery.	28:17
	If this is an exercise, the story of Joseph and his family,	28:21
	if this is an exercise of the Bible's view of family values,	28:24
	then things are very bad off indeed.	28:29
	Of course, as you know, and this is a footnote,	28:32
	the Bible is full of dysfunctional families.	28:34
	Mary and Martha are at each other's throats,	28:37
	hammer and tongue,	28:39
	Cain and Abel have a lethal profile in sibling rivalry,	28:40
	even Jesus tells his mother off at Cainan,	28:45
	tells her to leave him alone,	28:47
	and then, of course, there's Joseph and his brothers.	28:49
	The whole thing is an exercise in perversity.	28:52
	Arrogance, jealousy, treachery,	28:57
	this is stuff hardly fit for a family newspaper,	28:59
	are you sure you want your children reading this stuff?	29:02
	But perhaps the point of this story,	29:08
	at least to remind us that proximity,	29:10
	which is that family unit,	29:14
	proximity often stimulates perversity.	29:15
	That is why the worst fights are family feuds,	29:20
	the worst quarrels are between people who love each other,	29:24
	and the worst of all imaginable wars	29:29
	is a civil war.	29:33
	Satan likes close quarters,	29:35
	and it is in the most intimate of settings	29:39
	that perversity thrives.	29:42
	And in this story, dare we note,	29:46
	things only turn out right	29:48
	when everybody, not just Joseph,	29:51
	picks up, leaves home,	29:53
	and starts off all over again.	29:56
	If you're looking for something to admire here,	30:00
	it is not the family,	30:03
	perversity is what gets our attention in this story	30:06
	at the start.	30:11
	But the perversity is necessary	30:12
	so that it can be encountered by providence.	30:16
	That's the point of the text,	30:21
	it was not you who sent me here, but God.	30:24
	Such remorse as the brothers may have had at that moment	30:28
	is irrelevant.	30:32
	Joseph one ups them by transforming their perversity	30:34
	into God's divine plan for himself.	30:38
	You see, he is still obnoxious.	30:42
	What the brothers intended for evil,	30:45
	God intended for good,	30:48
	and the form of God's goodness here	30:50
	is not where we might think it is.	30:53
	For us, the sign of providence might be	30:56
	relief from the famine,	30:59
	the provision of food and cattle,	31:01
	all of the things that would advance life	31:04
	and protect people against the ravages of natural resources.	31:07
	Famine means death,	31:12
	and God, through Joseph,	31:15
	gives life through famine relief,	31:17
	we all know about that,	31:19
	we know about famine relief for the famines of Africa,	31:21
	save the children, salary struggles and all of that,	31:25
	we remember our high hopes for famine relief in Somalia,	31:28
	we know what is supposed to happen.	31:32
	But here, God's providence in the story of Joseph	31:35
	is not the relief of the famine,	31:38
	it is in the place where all the trouble	31:42
	and perversity began in the first place,	31:45
	it is in the family where God's providence is displayed.	31:49
	God's providence is made real	31:56
	in the reconciliation of a broken, dysfunctional,	31:59
	screwed up family.	32:04
	Joseph himself cannot pretend to be	32:07
	any longer what he is not,	32:11
	he cannot hide under his pseudonym in front of his brothers,	32:13
	he cannot keep them in suspense anymore,	32:20
	he breaks down into tears, reveals who he is,	32:22
	and he and they have a reunion.	32:27
	The human desire for a little bit of revenge and justice	32:32
	is overcome by the divine desire	32:37
	for reconciliation and reunion.	32:41
	It takes a lot of work to maintain anger	32:46
	and estrangement.	32:51
	Those of you who have been involved	32:53
	in maintaining your share of your family's feuds	32:55
	all these years know how hard it is	32:58
	to remember that you're supposed to be	33:01
	thoroughly disgusted with your sister-in-law	33:02
	for something she did 40 years ago.	33:05
	It takes a lot of work to maintain	33:07
	that sort of rigor in the face	33:10
	of God's providential design for reconciliation and reunion.	33:13
	And that is what happens here,	33:19
	providence is the agent of reconciliation	33:22
	and reunion and forgiveness.	33:27
	Now, before we rejoice too fast	33:32
	in the providence of God in this act of reconciliation,	33:34
	we have to note how contrary to human instinct	33:37
	Joseph acts here.	33:41
	And let's confess again that	33:42
	had we been put into slavery by our brothers,	33:44
	had we been deprived of our birthright	33:47
	and now found ourselves in kingly power	33:49
	with life or death power over them,	33:53
	most of us would be sore tempted to a little rough justice,	33:57
	at least for a few minutes.	34:01
	They should be made to suffer just a little bit longer	34:03
	than the text suggests.	34:09
	Indeed, why should they get off so easily?	34:12
	Indeed, why should forgiveness come rushing in	34:16
	like the cavalry at the last moment	34:19
	and rescue the dramatic tension from the justice	34:21
	it all deserves?	34:25
	Forgiveness sometimes is too cheap,	34:27
	forgiveness sometimes is too easy.	34:30
	Did you read, a couple weeks ago,	34:33
	about the terrifying remarks of Elie Wiesel	34:35
	after the 50th anniversary	34:39
	of the commemoration at Auschwitz?	34:41
	He prayed, Wiesel prayed that God	34:45
	would never, ever forgive the Nazis,	34:49
	never forgive the crimes they committed against humanity,	34:54
	it was a chilling,	34:59
	agonizing, terrifying moment.	35:02
	I think I understood why he said it,	35:05
	I know I cannot accept that he said it,	35:09
	or nor can I expect that of the God I worship	35:13
	to whom he addressed it,	35:17
	but I understand what drives	35:18
	that kind of powerful emotion.	35:21
	An example of another thought, however,	35:24
	I was present at not many years ago,	35:27
	not long before his death, Daddy King preached on	35:30
	King's birthday in the Memorial Church at Cambridge,	35:34
	and it was an incredible occasion	35:38
	when he mounted our pulpit and began.	35:40
	The most incredible thing about that preaching	35:42
	in Memorial Church was at the beginning of his sermon	35:45
	where he said let me tell you at the start,	35:49
	I have no bitterness in my heart.	35:53
	And then he described how his son had been murdered,	35:56
	how another son had drowned,	36:00
	how his wife had been shot in church	36:02
	before his very eyes,	36:05
	and after each of these recitals with tears in his eyes,	36:06
	he would say but I have no bitterness in my heart,	36:11
	God won't allow it.	36:15
	Forgiveness may be too easy for us,	36:20
	but it is the stuff of the providence of God	36:23
	as Joseph's brothers discovered.	36:26
	It was not you who sent me here, but God.	36:30
	Perversity has become an instrument of providence.	36:36
	Now, this all may be true,	36:44
	it is all supposed to be true,	36:48
	it is assuredly true, you heard it read from holy writ,	36:51
	you hear it proclaimed by me, it must be true.	36:56
	But Joseph is both a paragon of virtue	37:00
	and long dead.	37:06
	What has this impossible ethic to do with us?	37:09
	Most of us know more of perversity	37:14
	than of providence,	37:18
	and if you were having a miserable time at Duke this year	37:20
	or this term or this week,	37:23
	or even at this very moment, and God sent you here,	37:25
	then God is even more quirky than we think.	37:30
	Are we really meant to take this stuff seriously?	37:35
	What do we do with Jesus, who tells us in these verses	37:39
	from the sermon on the mount	37:44
	that we are to love our enemies,	37:45
	we are to use well those who spitefully use us,	37:48
	that we are to do good to those who hate us,	37:52
	we are to turn the other cheek and,	37:55
	that most frightening of all things for us,	37:57
	you are to lend and expect nothing in return.	38:01
	Are there any bankers in this congregation this morning?	38:06
	Any lending officers?	38:09
	Anybody from the financial aid office	38:11
	at Duke University?	38:13
	You are to lend and expect nothing in return.	38:15
	Wouldn't it be wonderful	38:18
	if some biblical scholar in the divinity school,	38:20
	through careful research of the Greek text	38:24
	and some new discoveries and some old broken jars	38:26
	discovered that these verses from the sermon on the mount	38:29
	really don't mean what they say,	38:32
	they have been mistranslated, misconstrued,	38:34
	taken out of context,	38:38
	all this stuff about turning cheeks and lending freely,	38:39
	that's really not what Jesus had in mind at all.	38:42
	This was meant for some ascetic,	38:47
	saintly, religious community,	38:49
	not for very real people like you and me	38:51
	and other failed Christians.	38:56
	Remember that great mind of Mark Twain who said	38:59
	it's not the things that I don't understand	39:01
	in the Bible that worries me,	39:03
	it's the things that I understand perfectly clear	39:05
	in the Bible that worry me.	39:08
	And these are among the things you understand	39:11
	and are perfectly clear,	39:14
	you are to love your enemies,	39:15
	you are to turn the other cheek,	39:18
	you are to lend without expectation of return.	39:21
	There it is, square in the middle of the gospel,	39:27
	hardly ambiguous at all,	39:30
	I know lots of Christians, lots of them,	39:33
	who want to take the Bible literally	39:37
	as inspired, infallible, and inerrant	39:40
	the sole sufficient rule of faith and practice,	39:44
	I know them and you know them,	39:48
	and maybe you are among them,	39:50
	they struggle over obscure rules of conduct	39:52
	in the book of Leviticus and the Holiness Code,	39:55
	they are eager to adapt themselves	39:58
	in every way to the standards of Rome	40:01
	or Ephesus or any of Paul's cities.	40:04
	But they come to a sputtering halt	40:08
	at these verses in Matthew six	40:12
	where the expectations of a rational and macho society	40:15
	of red-blooded capitalists like you and me	40:18
	is turned on its head.	40:21
	Now, that is what I call perversity.	40:24
	But the impossible ethic, and that is what it is,	40:28
	is the only one that counts.	40:35
	Had Joseph not behaved impossibly	40:40
	and been reconciled to his dysfunctional family,	40:43
	all would have perished,	40:46
	God's plan would've been thwarted and frustrated,	40:47
	there would be no future worthy of the name.	40:51
	Look at South Africa, if you will,	40:55
	who would've imagined a decade ago,	40:59
	five years ago, even a year ago	41:01
	that a policy of reconciliation	41:03
	would be the order of the day in that much divided country?	41:06
	Who would have imagined that	41:12
	even with all of its troubles today,	41:14
	the nation would be renewed,	41:16
	and the families of that nation reunited	41:18
	by one whom the white majority had thrown into prison?	41:21
	Who could imagine that Christian idealism,	41:27
	that impossible ethic, with its ethic of forgiveness	41:32
	and reconciliation and the extra mile	41:36
	would become an effective instrument of nation building?	41:39
	Who would've thought it possible	41:44
	that the impossible ethic, sputtering along,	41:46
	is the thing that is guiding that country	41:50
	from darkness into light?	41:52
	Now, we wouldn't dare try that in this country,	41:56
	that's not written in any contract of which I am familiar,	42:02
	at least not yet.	42:07
	We want, in this country,	42:09
	you want to be lean and mean,	42:10
	somebody must pay, we want to straighten out and tighten up,	42:12
	we will stand for nothing	42:17
	and so we will fall for anything.	42:19
	We cannot bear the thought of Abraham Lincoln,	42:21
	I think of reconstruction,	42:25
	what would it might have been if Abraham Lincoln	42:27
	had practiced the impossible ethic?	42:30
	You and I might've been talking to one another	42:32
	a lot sooner than we did.	42:35
	Or Martin Luther King, what might've happened	42:38
	had we allowed Martin Luther King	42:41
	and his impossible ethic to live?	42:44
	And even Jesus, whom we call the Christ,	42:47
	what could have happened if we let him down from his cross	42:51
	to practice as well as preach his impossible ethic?	42:56
	Do you know what Joseph means in Hebrew?	43:06
	Of course you don't, so I shall tell you,	43:10
	it means may God give increase.	43:13
	What a wonderful name, may God give increase.	43:18
	And we know that his story, obviously enough,	43:22
	is an epiphany story,	43:26
	a story of disclosure, revelation,	43:29
	light manifestation, and reconciliation,	43:32
	we know that because this is	43:36
	the seventh Sunday after epiphany	43:38
	and we are a liturgically correct congregation.	43:41
	The gospel is about light manifestation and disclosure.	43:44
	Perversity is the human condition, more or less,	43:50
	and providence is the business of God	43:54
	by which we see our way through the darkness	43:56
	and in that light.	44:00
	And by that light, wonder of wonders,	44:03
	even the impossible is both possible and plausible.	44:08
	It was not you who sent me here,	44:16
	but God.	44:20
	For God sent me before you	44:22
	to preserve life.	44:25
	And so he did, and so he does,	44:29
	for which we thank God.	44:34
	(light piano music)	45:14
	♪ O dear Lord above ♪	45:29
	♪ God Almighty ♪	45:35
	♪ God of love ♪	45:38
	♪ Please look down ♪	45:43
	♪ And see my people through ♪	45:47
	♪ O dear Lord above ♪	45:59
	♪ God Almighty ♪	46:06
	♪ God of love ♪	46:09
	♪ Please look down ♪	46:14
	♪ And see my people through ♪	46:18
	♪ I believe that God ♪	46:31
	♪ Put sun and moon ♪	46:37
	♪ Up in the sky ♪	46:40
	♪ I don't mind ♪	46:46
	♪ The gray skies ♪	46:50
	♪ For they're just clouds passing by ♪	46:53
	♪ Give peace and comfort ♪	47:02
	♪ To every trouble of mine ♪	47:09
	♪ O often we feel weary ♪	47:33
	♪ But he knows our every tell ♪	47:42
	♪ Go to him in secret ♪	47:50
	♪ He will hear your every breath ♪	47:57
	♪ I found God at sunset ♪	48:07
	♪ When words are taught all day ♪	48:14
	♪ Come Sunday ♪	48:23
	♪ Oh, come Sunday ♪	48:25
	♪ That's the day ♪	48:30
	♪ Come Sunday ♪	48:38
	♪ Oh, come Sunday ♪	48:41
	♪ That's the day ♪	48:46
-	The Lord be with you.	49:23
	Let us pray.	49:26
	O supreme Lord of the universe,	49:33
	you will and sustain everything around us	49:36
	with the touch of your hand,	49:42
	you turned chaos into order,	49:44
	darkness into light.	49:47
	Unknown energies you hid in the heart of matter.	49:51
	From you burst forth the splendor of the sun,	49:56
	and the mild radiance of the moon,	50:00
	stars and planets without number,	50:02
	you set and ordered movement.	50:06
	You are the source of the fire's heat,	50:09
	and the wind's might,	50:13
	of the water's coolness,	50:15
	and the earth's stability.	50:18
	Deep and wonderful are the mysteries of your creation.	50:22
	Lord of lords, Creator,	50:29
	provider, sustainer,	50:33
	we give you thanks.	50:37
	We are the grateful recipients of your providence,	50:41
	knowing that all things come from you,	50:45
	and that you work all things	50:49
	to the good of those who love you.	50:51
	Give us eyes to discern your hand upon our lives,	50:57
	give us faith and courage	51:02
	to follow where you lead.	51:05
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	51:08
	As Joseph provided for the brothers	51:13
	who sold him into slavery,	51:15
	and as Jesus asked forgiveness for those who crucified him,	51:18
	so you call us to be merciful to those in need,	51:23
	even our enemies.	51:28
	Give us hearts that are big enough	51:32
	to offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us,	51:33
	and to work for their wholeness.	51:37
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	51:41
	Give us eyes to see those who suffer	51:46
	that we may respond with compassion.	51:50
	We pray especially for all who suffer trauma	51:53
	in body or mind.	51:57
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	52:00
	For those whose livelihood is insecure,	52:05
	the overworked, the hungry,	52:09
	the homeless and destitute,	52:12
	for those who have been downtrodden,	52:16
	ruined, and driven to despair.	52:18
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	52:23
	For little children whose surroundings	52:28
	hide them from your love and beauty,	52:30
	for all the fatherless and motherless.	52:33
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	52:38
	For families that are broken by perversity and anger,	52:43
	for all whose hearts are hardened	52:48
	toward those closest to them.	52:50
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	52:54
	For those who have to bear their burdens alone,	53:00
	and for all who have lost those whom they love.	53:03
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	53:08
	For those who are in doubt, in anguish of soul,	53:13
	for those who are afraid.	53:18
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	53:21
	For those who suffer through their own wrongdoing.	53:27
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	53:32
	For those whose suffering is unrelieved	53:37
	by the knowledge of your love.	53:40
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	53:43
	Set free, helper of the weak,	53:48
	the souls of your servants	53:51
	from all restlessness and anxiety.	53:52
	Give us the peace and power that flow from you,	53:56
	keep us in all perplexities and distresses,	54:01
	in all griefs and grievances,	54:06
	from fear or faithlessness	54:08
	that being upheld by your strength	54:11
	and stayed on the rock of your faithfulness	54:14
	through storm and stress	54:18
	we may abide in you.	54:20
	In the name of Christ our Lord, amen.	54:23
	Let us offer our thanksgivings with grateful hearts.	54:28
	(organ music)	54:34
	(choir singing)	55:34
	(organ music)	59:30
	(choir singing)	59:51
-	Let us pray.	1:00:51
	Almighty God, giver of every good and perfect gift,	1:00:53
	teach us to render to you all that we have	1:00:58
	and all that we are,	1:01:01
	that we may praise you not with our lips only	1:01:03
	but with our whole lives,	1:01:06
	turning the duties, the sorrows,	1:01:08
	and the joys of all our days	1:01:11
	into a living sacrifice to you,	1:01:14
	to our Savior Jesus Christ,	1:01:16
	who taught us to pray together,	1:01:19
	saying our Father who art in heaven,	1:01:21
	hallowed be thy name,	1:01:25
	thy kingdom come,	1:01:27
	thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.	1:01:29
	Give us this day our daily bread	1:01:33
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:01:36
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:01:38
	Lead us not into temptation,	1:01:42
	but deliver us from evil,	1:01:44
	for thine is the kingdom	1:01:47
	and the power and the glory forever, amen.	1:01:48
	(organ music)	1:01:55
	(choir singing)	1:02:32
-	Go forth in peace to serve God	1:05:48
	and your neighbor in all that you do.	1:05:50
	May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,	1:05:53
	the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit	1:05:55
	be with you and keep you.	1:05:58
	(choir singing)	1:06:05

Item Info

Title:

Peter J. Gomes - "Perversity, Providence, and an Impossible Ethic" (February 19, 1995)

Description:

Sermon start time: 21:34. Sermon end time: 44:39.
God's ethic of forgiveness seems impossible to us whose lives are marked with perversity. Yet, as the story of Joseph shows, even in our acts of perversity, God's providence can make them impossible possible and bring reconciliation where revenge would be expected. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Perversity is the human condition, more or less, and providence is the business of God by which we see our way through the darkness and in that light. And by that light, wonder of wonders, even the impossible is both possible and plausible.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r47w67m9s

Date:

February 19, 1995

Speaker:

Gomes, Peter J.

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0414
ref9543_azm
uachapelsermaud
duke:321716
dcrmv001393
ark:/87924/r47w67m9s
2e38fad8-2588-428b-b52f-f037f78040ff

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Peter J. Gomes - "Perversity, Providence, and an Impossible Ethic" (February 19, 1995)

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