Nancy Ferree-Clark - "On Fire for God" (May 18, 1997)

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  Unknown Rights-Holder
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r48g8fz1t?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r48g8fz1t
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

-	The third lesson is from the gospel of John,	0:05
	chapter 15, verses 26 and 27,	0:07
	and chapter 16, verses four through 15.	0:11
	When the advocate comes,	0:16
	whom I will send to you from the Father,	0:17
	the spirit of truth,	0:20
	who comes from the Father,	0:21
	he will testify on my behalf.	0:23
	You also are to testify because you have been	0:26
	with me from the beginning.	0:28
	I did not say these things to you	0:31
	from the beginning because I was with you.	0:32
	But now I am going to him who sent me.	0:35
	Yet none of you asks me,	0:38
	"Where are you going?"	0:40
	but because I have said these things to you,	0:42
	sorrow has filled your hearts.	0:44
	Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.	0:47
	It is to your advantage that I go away.	0:50
	For if I do not go away,	0:52
	the advocate will not come to you.	0:54
	But if I go, I will send him to you.	0:56
	And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong	1:00
	about sin and righteousness and judgment.	1:03
	About sin because they do not believe in me.	1:06
	About righteousness because I am going	1:09
	to the Father and you will see me no longer.	1:11
	About judgment because the ruler	1:14
	of this world has been condemned.	1:16
	I still have many things to say to you,	1:19
	but you cannot bear them now.	1:22
	When the spirit of truth comes,	1:24
	he will guide you into all the truth.	1:26
	For he will not speak on his own,	1:28
	but will speak whatever he hears.	1:30
	And he will declare to you the things that are to come.	1:33
	He will glorify me because he will take	1:36
	what is mine and declare it to you.	1:39
	All that the Father has is mine.	1:42
	For this reason, I said that he will take	1:45
	what is mine and declare it to you.	1:48
	This is the word of the Lord.	1:51
-	It's hard to imagine what life must have looked like	2:04
	to the followers of Jesus in those earliest days	2:06
	between his resurrection and ascension.	2:10
	As we read in the opening paragraph	2:14
	of the book of Acts,	2:15
	Jesus had presented himself alive among them,	2:16
	not just one time, but by many convincing proofs.	2:20
	It must have been a heady time,	2:24
	basking with Jesus in the light of the miracle	2:27
	which changed history forever.	2:29
	For the 40 days between his resurrection and ascension,	2:32
	these believers must have hung	2:37
	on every word Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God	2:39
	and what was still to come.	2:42
	And so it was not an unreasonable question	2:46
	when they came together in Jerusalem	2:49
	and these followers asked Jesus,	2:50
	"Lord, is this the time	2:53
	when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?"	2:55
	After all, hadn't the angel Gabriel	2:58
	promised Mary way back at the enunciation	3:01
	that Jesus' name would be great	3:04
	and God would give him the throne	3:06
	of his ancestor David where he would rule	3:08
	over the house of Jacob forever?	3:11
	Once again, Jesus had to correct their misunderstanding.	3:15
	"It is not for you to know the time or periods	3:19
	"that the Father has set by his own authority.	3:23
	"You will receive power when the holy spirit	3:27
	"has come upon you and you will be my witnesses	3:29
	"to the ends of the earth."	3:33
	To put it another way,	3:36
	the coming of God's kingdom isn't dependent	3:37
	on our calendar or anybody else's,	3:40
	but on faithful waiting by the people of God	3:43
	and on their reception of God's holy spirit.	3:47
	And with those words,	3:51
	Jesus flew straight up to Heaven on a cloud.	3:52
	Now we all know the pain of parting.	3:57
	Witness the difficulty that many graduates	3:59
	will have today just simply letting go	4:01
	and learning to say goodbye.	4:04
	But what do you do when the one you love has left you,	4:07
	miraculously been raised from the dead,	4:12
	to return and then left again?	4:14
	"John baptized with water,	4:18
	"but you will be baptized with the holy spirit	4:21
	"not many days from now,"	4:23
	Jesus had announced just prior to his departure.	4:25
	Some of his followers must have turned these words	4:30
	over and over in their minds,	4:32
	lying awake at night,	4:34
	struggling to know what they meant,	4:35
	fearful of the unknown.	4:37
	Others perhaps withdrew into complete silence.	4:40
	Still others may have become cynical,	4:44
	noting how little apparently remained	4:47
	from their lofty expectations,	4:50
	torn apart inside with anger and grief.	4:53
	Waiting is hard.	4:56
	Not knowing is terribly difficult.	4:58
	Yet these believers proceeded as best they could.	5:02
	They gathered faithfully for prayer.	5:05
	The disciples, the women, unnamed except	5:07
	for Mary the mother of Jesus, but still numerous,	5:11
	as well as Jesus' brothers.	5:14
	They even managed to choose a successor for Judas	5:16
	in preparation for the work they still had to do.	5:20
	And then they waited.	5:23
	It was early morning the day of Pentecost,	5:26
	the Jewish celebration which falls 50 days after Passover,	5:29
	commemorating the giving or the Torah at Mt. Sinai.	5:33
	And there came a sound from Heaven	5:37
	like the rush of a violent wind,	5:38
	filling the entire house where they were sitting.	5:40
	Now just think for a moment	5:44
	about the last time you heard a violent wind.	5:45
	Many of us have vivid memories	5:49
	of Hurricane Fran's visit to town last fall	5:50
	as the violent winds turned almost everything	5:53
	in sight upside down.	5:55
	Perhaps you've been caught out in the open	5:58
	during a thunderstorm that blew up unexpectedly,	6:01
	a long way away from shelter.	6:04
	Things get uprooted in that kind of weather.	6:07
	They come loose.	6:10
	They break open.	6:11
	Some people are exhilarated by it.	6:12
	Others are terrified.	6:14
	Think of the mighty wind	6:18
	the spirit of God blew across the dark waters	6:19
	on the first day when Genesis said God created light.	6:23
	Just as the breath of God breathed new life	6:28
	into the creation in the beginning,	6:31
	the same thing was happening to the church	6:33
	on the day of Pentecost.	6:36
	What was first heard was then seen.	6:39
	Tongues of fire appeared among them	6:41
	and a tongue rested on each one of them.	6:43
	Now have you ever seen a human candle?	6:47
	That's about the closest analogy I've ever seen	6:51
	applied to this text.	6:54
	As John the Baptist had foretold,	6:56
	"Christ will baptize you with the holy spirit	6:58
	"and with fire."	7:01
	He went on to explain that Christ	7:04
	would gather the wheat into his granary,	7:05
	but the chaff he would burn with unquenchable fire.	7:08
	Fire is too hot to handle.	7:13
	It's energizing.	7:15
	It spreads quickly under the right circumstances.	7:16
	And in this case it also represents judgment.	7:20
	Judgment against those who fail to receive the gospel.	7:23
	What happens next is such a remarkable part	7:28
	of the story that perhaps all of us would wish	7:31
	it could happen to us someday.	7:34
	The believers were filled with the holy spirit	7:36
	and then the very first sign of that gift	7:38
	was their ability to speak in other languages.	7:41
	Miraculously, without any practice time at all	7:44
	in a language lab.	7:47
	Their elocution was so good	7:50
	that they began to draw a crowd.	7:51
	You see, Jerusalem was a very diverse place	7:53
	with devout Jews from all over the world living there.	7:56
	The crowd was absolutely bewildered	8:00
	as they listened and one wonders	8:02
	if those speaking the languages themselves	8:05
	didn't feel much the same.	8:07
	They had never learned these languages in school.	8:09
	Perhaps they didn't even understand	8:13
	what they were saying.	8:15
	But these international citizens	8:18
	of Jerusalem were very sharp	8:19
	and they didn't miss the strong Galilean accent.	8:21
	Aren't these people all Galileans?	8:24
	How is it that we hear,	8:28
	each of us in our own native language?	8:29
	Medes and Elomites from the east,	8:33
	Romans from the west,	8:34
	Libyans from the south,	8:36
	Capadocians from the north.	8:37
	They all wondered aloud,	8:39
	"What does this mean?"	8:41
	Certain onlookers accused the disciples of being drunk.	8:45
	But Peter was quick to reply,	8:49
	"These people are not drunk,	8:51
	"it's nine o'clock in the morning."	8:53
	You can tell he's not talking	8:55
	to a college commencement crowd.	8:56
	With a flash of insight,	9:01
	Peter recovers all the ground he lost	9:02
	during his earlier years with Jesus	9:05
	when he failed to truly understand the gospel.	9:07
	What a miraculous turn of events.	9:10
	That the one who denied Jesus three times	9:13
	at Gethsemane should experience his own rebirth	9:15
	at Pentecost and be given the gift of proclamation,	9:19
	destined to become the leader of the church.	9:23
	It was Joel, Peter announced,	9:26
	that said in the last days there would be	9:29
	an outpouring of the spirit on all flesh,	9:31
	not just a select group of prophets.	9:34
	And that included sons and daughters,	9:38
	young and old, slaves and free.	9:40
	It included folks wearing Roman togas	9:45
	and long flowing desert robes,	9:47
	homespun tunics and animal skins,	9:50
	all speaking different languages,	9:53
	all accustomed to different foods.	9:55
	All representing a wealth of diverse experiences.	9:57
	What a colorful and interesting assembly it would be.	10:01
	So Peter goes on in this sermon	10:06
	to link the history of Israel	10:07
	with the life of Jesus.	10:09
	To proclaim that the community the spirit formed	10:11
	stands in unbroken succession	10:14
	with Israel's own pattern	10:16
	of expectation and realization.	10:18
	Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise.	10:21
	Peter therefore does not speak	10:25
	of the founding of the church	10:26
	or of the formation of some kind of new Israel.	10:28
	There is only one Israel according to Peter.	10:32
	The faithful people who respond faithfully	10:35
	to the promises of God.	10:37
	Peter's sermon cuts to the heart of his listeners	10:40
	and they said, "What should we do?"	10:43
	"Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,"	10:46
	is his reply.	10:51
	And they did.	10:53
	About 3000 of them in all.	10:55
	What a dramatic testimony to the power of the holy spirit.	10:59
	This is not a power that can be contained	11:03
	or domesticated for it blows where it will.	11:06
	God is always taking the initiative	11:09
	with us through the spirit.	11:12
	Surprising us, consoling us, empowering us,	11:14
	and yes, judging us.	11:18
	As the church had to learn in its earliest days,	11:21
	we are here only because of the power of the spirit.	11:23
	This is the primary lesson of Pentecost.	11:28
	As we complete today the great 50 days	11:31
	of Easter celebration.	11:34
	As Christ had to be resurrected from the grave,	11:36
	so a defeated church had to be resurrected	11:39
	through the power of the holy spirit.	11:43
	This is a great story about the origins of the church	11:46
	and we revisit it every year.	11:49
	We have assigned significant authority to it	11:51
	and so we turn to it regularly	11:54
	to learn more about who we are as the church.	11:56
	Yes, sometimes it is difficult to hear	12:00
	without just a touch of discouragement or cynicism.	12:02
	Just like some of the earliest Christians may have felt.	12:07
	We joined the church with lofty expectations,	12:10
	but become easily disillusioned	12:13
	when things don't turn out quite as we had expected.	12:15
	Hurtful words may be exchanged.	12:20
	Mistrust and skepticism can become commonplace.	12:23
	Serventhood can be overshadowed by struggles for power.	12:27
	Even within the church.	12:31
	"The church is full of hypocrites," some will say.	12:33
	"I'm burned out with the church," according to others.	12:36
	Where is the spirit in the midst	12:40
	of so much turmoil, we ask.	12:43
	The apostle Paul speaks to this concern,	12:46
	powerfully, when he writes in the book of Romans,	12:49
	"We know that the whole creation	12:52
	"has been groaning in travail until now,	12:54
	"and not only the creation,	12:56
	"but we ourselves, who have the first fruits	12:58
	"of the spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption."	13:00
	So what is this relationship between these fruits	13:07
	of the spirit which we already have	13:09
	and this continuing groaning of believers?	13:12
	"Like a woman in labor, both church and creation	13:16
	"await with eager longing the arrival of new life."	13:19
	The expectant mother is constantly aware	13:23
	of the presence of life within her,	13:26
	but not until the moment of birth	13:28
	does she receive a full revelation	13:30
	of the nature of that life.	13:32
	Likewise, we have received the spirit,	13:35
	through our baptism into the church.	13:37
	And have tasted the dawning of the reign of God.	13:40
	We have already experienced salvation	13:43
	in one sense, but not fully.	13:45
	"For in hope we were saved," Paul writes.	13:49
	"And hope that is seen is not hope."	13:52
	God has reached out to us from the future,	13:56
	but we're not there yet.	13:58
	We must wait for it with patience,	14:00
	even as we groan inwardly	14:03
	and continue to experience	14:06
	the anguish of human existence.	14:07
	Often we feel confused and weary,	14:10
	unable even to pray as we should.	14:13
	But at this point Paul writes some	14:17
	of his most memorable words.	14:18
	"The spirit helps us in our weakness,	14:20
	"interceding with sighs too deep for words."	14:23
	This may be the most profound interpretation	14:28
	in scripture of the ongoing work of the spirit.	14:31
	As feeble, as misdirected,	14:35
	as many of our efforts have been in the church	14:37
	ever since the earliest days,	14:40
	the church continues to intercede for us,	14:42
	in spite of ourselves,	14:45
	usually in ways far too deep	14:47
	for us to begin to comprehend.	14:49
	Likewise, God has created a partnership	14:52
	between creation and the church,	14:55
	calling us to be stewards of the earth	14:57
	as we acknowledge the groaning	14:59
	of the entire creation.	15:01
	Groaning that actually seems to intensify	15:04
	at a pace that would have stunned St. Paul.	15:07
	That groaning must be heard above the clang	15:10
	of two and a half millions cans and bottles	15:12
	being tossed out every hour,	15:14
	above the deafening silence left behind	15:17
	as more and more plant and animal species	15:19
	become extinct each year.	15:22
	Above the haunting cries of millions of children	15:24
	who are malnourished, homeless, or abused.	15:27
	Above the relentless sounds of ricocheting gunshots	15:31
	and exploding landmines which echo around the globe.	15:35
	How can we join with the spirit	15:39
	in caring for our world	15:41
	which truly groans in travail?	15:44
	Oh it would be easy to become discouraged	15:47
	and burned out, wouldn't it?	15:49
	Except for the fact that there are	15:51
	spirit filled people and communities all around us,	15:54
	each testifying to the reality of that spirit.	15:58
	Think for a moment about some well known saints	16:02
	such as Mother Theresa, Desmond Tutu, Millard Fuller,	16:06
	founder of Habitat For Humanity,	16:10
	or the Catholic Worker communities,	16:13
	founded by Dorothy Day.	16:14
	How brightly their lives shine forth	16:16
	in some of the very darkest places in our world.	16:18
	But think also about the times the sister	16:21
	or brother in Christ has reached out to you	16:23
	in some small yet significant way.	16:26
	To offer a word of encouragement or of healing.	16:29
	To join hands with you in a circle of prayer.	16:33
	Or to simply hold you in their arms	16:36
	when words could not adequately express their concern.	16:38
	What about the times when a lesser known prophet	16:43
	in our own community has risen up	16:45
	to offer a strong word on behalf	16:48
	of the whole creation,	16:50
	calling for trees to be saved,	16:51
	for rivers to be protected,	16:53
	for children to be cared for properly,	16:55
	for diverse groups to be reconciled one to another.	16:58
	These are hopeful signs of the spirit's activity	17:02
	today in our midst.	17:06
	Pentecost is God's cure for all of us	17:09
	who's spirit's have grown dim	17:12
	and who's tongues are tied.	17:14
	The burned out are set on fire for God again.	17:17
	Thanks be to the one who breathes new life	17:22
	into each and every one of us. Amen.	17:25
	(organ playing)	17:33

Item Info

Title:

Nancy Ferree-Clark - "On Fire for God" (May 18, 1997)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 02:04. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 17:30.
It is easy to become disillusioned with the church and accuse it of hypocrisy. However, rather than leaving altogether, we should attempt to fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit and represent what the church should be: kind and supportive to those in need. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Pentecost is God’s cure for all of us whose spirits have grown dim and whose tongues are tied.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r48g8fz1t

Date:

May 18, 1997

Speaker:

Ferree-Clark, Nancy

Liturgical Calendar:

Biblical Book:

John

Chapter and Verse:

John 15:26-27, 16:4-15

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0855
ref9860_wtx
uachapelsermaud
duke:321280
dcrau001500
ark:/87924/r48g8fz1t
d0e74837-79f3-490a-99e6-7dd941fd70d5

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Unknown Rights-Holder

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Nancy Ferree-Clark - "On Fire for God" (May 18, 1997)

Transcript

Item Info

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options