John E. Hines - Palm Sunday Service (April 11, 1965)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(mild organ music) | 0:06 | |
(choir vocalizing) | ||
(wood banging) | 0:28 | |
(mild organ music) | 0:31 | |
(choir vocalizing) | ||
(mild organ music) | 1:17 | |
(choir vocalizing loudly) | ||
(mild organ music) | 1:34 | |
(choir vocalizing) | ||
(mild organ music) | 2:41 | |
(choir vocalizing loudly) | ||
(reverent organ music) | 3:12 | |
(choir vocalizing loudly) | ||
(mild organ music) | 3:53 | |
(choir vocalizing) | ||
(mild organ music) | 4:28 | |
- | The only gospel is found in the 21st chapter | 5:15 |
of the book of St. Matthew's beginning at | 5:20 | |
the first verse. | 5:24 | |
"And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem | 5:27 | |
"and were come to Bethphage unto the Mount of Olives, | 5:30 | |
"then sent Jesus two disciples saying unto them, | 5:36 | |
"'Go into the village over against you, | 5:42 | |
"'and straightway, ye shall find an ass tied | 5:46 | |
"'and a colt with her. | 5:50 | |
"'Loose them and bring them onto me, | 5:53 | |
"'and if any man say ought unto you, | 5:59 | |
"'ye shall say the Lord hath need of them, | 6:01 | |
"'and straightway he will send them. | 6:06 | |
"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled | 6:10 | |
"which was spoken by the prophet, saying, | 6:13 | |
"'Ye, tell the daughter of Sion, behold, | 6:16 | |
"'thy king cometh unto thee meek and sitting upon an ass | 6:20 | |
"'and a colt, the foal of an ass.' | 6:25 | |
"And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them | 6:29 | |
"and brought the ass and the colt | 6:34 | |
"and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon. | 6:36 | |
"And a very great multitude | 6:43 | |
"spread their garments in the way. | 6:45 | |
"Others cut down branches from the trees | 6:48 | |
"and strawed them in the way. | 6:52 | |
"And the multitudes that went before and that followed | 6:55 | |
"cried saying, 'Hosanna to the son of David. | 6:59 | |
"'Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. | 7:04 | |
"'Hosanna in the highest.' | 7:09 | |
"And when He was come into Jerusalem, | 7:13 | |
"all the city was moved, saying, 'Who is this?' | 7:16 | |
"And the multitude said, 'This is Jesus, | 7:22 | |
"'the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.'" | 7:26 | |
Here endeth the lesson. | 7:30 | |
(reverent organ music) | 7:36 | |
(reverent organ music) | 8:15 | |
(congregation hymning) | ||
(reverent organ music) | 8:55 | |
(congregation hymning) | ||
(reverent organ music) | 9:36 | |
(congregation hymning) | ||
- | There is a request from the head usher, | 10:36 |
and a request from the head usher is an order to me | 10:42 | |
and therefore to you that people | 10:47 | |
are still coming into the chapel, | 10:51 | |
and the request that all of you certainly in the knave | 10:54 | |
and in the transepts, too, move toward the center | 10:58 | |
so that there may be room perhaps in each seat | 11:03 | |
for one more person to sit down. | 11:06 | |
Thank you. There is one other announcement. | 11:30 | |
The presiding ministers will not be in the transepts | 11:36 | |
at my left to meet the congregation | 11:42 | |
at the end of the service for two reasons. | 11:46 | |
First, a service in memory of the four student members | 11:51 | |
of our community who were killed at the beginning | 11:55 | |
of the spring vacation will be held in this chapel | 12:00 | |
at 12:15 following the university service of worship. | 12:06 | |
The second reason is that Bishop Hines, | 12:13 | |
our welcome guest preacher, and Vice Provost Woodall, | 12:18 | |
our welcome lecturer, must needs both catch | 12:24 | |
the 1:15 plane for New York. | 12:31 | |
If you must shake hands with either, | 12:37 | |
then there will be 10 minutes in the vestry | 12:40 | |
after the service for you to do so, | 12:44 | |
and the way to the vestry is through the door | 12:46 | |
in the transept at my left. | 12:49 | |
The Lord be with you. | 12:57 | |
(congregation speaking) | ||
Let us pray. | 13:01 | |
Let us lift up our hearts and give thanks unto our Lord God. | 13:05 | |
It is very meet right and our bound and duty | 13:11 | |
that we should to all times and in all places | 13:14 | |
give thanks unto thee. | 13:17 | |
Oh, Holy Lord, Father Almighty, everlasting God, | 13:19 | |
we magnify thy name for thine unspeakable gift | 13:25 | |
in Jesus Christ, thy son, | 13:29 | |
and for thy purpose of love towards men | 13:32 | |
which He came to fulfill. | 13:35 | |
More especially this day, | 13:38 | |
we praise thee for the faithfulness with which He trod | 13:40 | |
the way of suffering and the grace with which He endured | 13:43 | |
the contradiction of sinners, | 13:50 | |
for His gentleness under provocation, | 13:54 | |
His patience under affliction, | 13:58 | |
His meekness alike in honor and in contempt, we bless thee. | 14:02 | |
For the cross which he carried and the death which he died, | 14:11 | |
we praise thee without end. | 14:18 | |
Therefore, with angels and archangels | 14:22 | |
and with all the company of heaven, | 14:24 | |
we laud and magnify thy glorious name, | 14:26 | |
evermore praising thee and saying holy, holy, holy | 14:30 | |
Lord God of Hosts, heaven and Earth are full of thy glory. | 14:36 | |
Glory be to thee, oh Lord Most High. | 14:43 | |
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. | 14:48 | |
Hosanna in the highest. | 14:54 | |
Oh God, we beseech thee that all who behold thy son | 15:00 | |
in His passion may surrender themselves to Him | 15:03 | |
and follow in His steps. | 15:10 | |
Give thy church courage to declare his right to reign | 15:14 | |
and to proclaim Him lord of all. | 15:21 | |
Strengthen and uphold thy servants who set forth | 15:24 | |
the Word of the cross, | 15:27 | |
and when they suffer scorn and rejection, | 15:30 | |
give them grace to endure us seeing Him who is invisible. | 15:35 | |
In the name of Him who accepted the Hosannas | 15:45 | |
of the children, we beseech thee to bless all children | 15:47 | |
and to direct those who teach them, | 15:53 | |
that they may ever honor thy name. | 15:56 | |
We commend to thy keeping all our loved ones, | 16:01 | |
especially those who are far away from us | 16:06 | |
whom we remember before thee, | 16:11 | |
that they and we may be united in the memory of that love | 16:15 | |
which sought us even through the agony of death | 16:19 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 16:24 | |
Oh, spirit of the living Christ who has on this day | 16:29 | |
didst enter the rebellious city where thou wast to die. | 16:34 | |
Enter into our hearts and subdue them wholly to thy self, | 16:40 | |
and as thy faithful disciples blessed thy coming | 16:48 | |
and spread their garments in the way, | 16:51 | |
covering it with palm branches, | 16:54 | |
make us ready to lay at thy feet all that we have and are | 16:57 | |
and to bless thee who comest in the name of the Lord | 17:06 | |
and grant that after we have confessed | 17:12 | |
and worshiped thee on Earth, | 17:15 | |
we may among the number of those who at the last | 17:17 | |
shall hail thine eternal triumph and bear in their hands | 17:21 | |
the palms of victory when every knee shall bow before thee | 17:27 | |
and every tongue confess that thou art Lord | 17:34 | |
to the glory of God, the Father, | 17:42 | |
and the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, | 17:48 | |
be with us all evermore, amen. | 17:51 | |
(mild organ music) | 18:05 | |
(reverent organ music) | 20:39 | |
(reverent organ music) | 20:51 | |
(choir hymning) | ||
(reverent organ music) | 24:32 | |
(reverent organ music) | 25:20 | |
(congregation hymning) | ||
Here, we offer and present unto thee, oh Lord, | 26:03 | |
ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, | 26:07 | |
holy, and livery sacrifice unto thee | 26:14 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 26:18 | |
(mild organ music) | 26:29 | |
- | I count it a great privilege to renew my acquaintance | 26:57 |
with your distinguished dean of this chapel, Dr. Cleland. | 27:00 | |
Also with my friend, the chaplain of the university, | 27:04 | |
Dr. Wilkinson. | 27:07 | |
To be again in this superb chapel of Duke University | 27:10 | |
and to be a part of the great academic community | 27:17 | |
which is this university, not simply in the southland, | 27:22 | |
but all over the countryside. | 27:26 | |
I'm very grateful for this opportunity to be here today. | 27:30 | |
A portion of the passion narrative from the gospel | 27:37 | |
according to St. Luke. | 27:41 | |
"And He went out, as was His wont, to the Mount of Olives, | 27:44 | |
"and his disciples also followed Him, | 27:50 | |
"and when he was at the place, He said under them, | 27:54 | |
"'Pray that he enter not into temptation.' | 27:59 | |
"And he was withdrawn from them about out a stone's cast | 28:03 | |
"and kneeled down and prayed saying, | 28:07 | |
"'Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. | 28:09 | |
"'Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.'" | 28:17 | |
This is where the issue was decided, | 28:28 | |
not on the cross, Not out of the empty tomb, | 28:34 | |
but precisely here in a garden where things grow. | 28:41 | |
He was really crucified in the garden. | 28:49 | |
To be sure, the event was enacted at the place of the skull, | 28:53 | |
but when Jesus fought and won | 28:58 | |
the second battle of the temptations, | 29:01 | |
surrendering his independence, | 29:05 | |
turning his back upon the appeal of living out His life | 29:09 | |
as the respected rabbi and sage of Nazareth | 29:14 | |
in gentle old age and benign honor, | 29:19 | |
He was crucified. | 29:24 | |
The rest of it, agonizingly brutal that it was, | 29:27 | |
was but the inexorable effect of decision | 29:34 | |
in obedience taking its course. | 29:39 | |
The cross really grew in Gethsemane | 29:45 | |
rooted in a soil fertilized by the bloody sweat of a man | 29:50 | |
who learned to say yes to God | 29:56 | |
for the sake of lost man. | 30:01 | |
The Gethsemane story tells us that obedience to God | 30:09 | |
is seldom easy, never without a struggle between | 30:13 | |
what we will ourselves to be and do | 30:18 | |
and what God wills for us. | 30:22 | |
That we are always involved in such a struggle | 30:27 | |
is not a divine indictment of our weakness as such, | 30:29 | |
nor is it a judgment against our wickedness as such. | 30:35 | |
It is an open recognition of our estate, our finiteness, | 30:41 | |
our unearthly earthiness. | 30:50 | |
Furthermore, if the New Testament is to be believed, | 30:54 | |
God must understand our struggle to obey. | 31:00 | |
Indeed, He's a part of it, was a part of it in Christ Jesus. | 31:04 | |
As someone put it, | 31:10 | |
He values our courage when we are cowardly, | 31:12 | |
our generosity when we feel greedy, | 31:17 | |
our courtesy when we are filled with resentment. | 31:21 | |
To me, this is the meaning of one | 31:28 | |
of our Lord's shortest parables. | 31:29 | |
A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, | 31:32 | |
"Son, go and work in the vineyard today," | 31:36 | |
and he answered, "I will not," | 31:40 | |
but afterward, he repented and went. | 31:43 | |
And he went to the second and said the same, | 31:48 | |
and he answered, "I go, sir," but did not go. | 31:50 | |
Which of the two, the parable asks, | 31:56 | |
did the will of the father? | 31:59 | |
Nobody perfectly responds to the will God in this world. | 32:06 | |
Even Jesus, perfect man come down from heaven, | 32:12 | |
had an admission torn from Him by the awful image | 32:16 | |
of obedience that was before Him. | 32:20 | |
"Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me." | 32:22 | |
It is that simple, innocuous-looking little word, | 32:29 | |
nevertheless, that follows this admission of Jesus' humanity | 32:34 | |
that framed the gibbet and the agony of man's salvation. | 32:41 | |
You know, there is still some great theater | 32:50 | |
alive in this world, not much, but some. | 32:53 | |
One sample played not very long ago | 32:59 | |
quite substantially on Broadway. | 33:01 | |
You may remember it. | 33:06 | |
It was Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons." | 33:08 | |
It depicts the struggle of sir Thomas More, | 33:14 | |
the king's chancellor, man of rare sensitivities | 33:16 | |
to the meaning of duty and courage and loyalty | 33:20 | |
trying to serve his king, Henry VIII, | 33:23 | |
and his church and stay alive. | 33:26 | |
A few poetic liberties taken with history and be forgiven, | 33:31 | |
Robert Bolt, in the light of the accuracy and sympathy | 33:33 | |
with which he reads the deepest needs of man. | 33:37 | |
Sir Thomas More's steady but diplomatic refusal | 33:42 | |
to offer God as a God of convenience is all that stands | 33:45 | |
between an easy putting-away by Henry | 33:50 | |
of Catherine of Aragon and marriage to Anne Boleyn. | 33:53 | |
In this particular scene, William Roper, | 33:59 | |
newly converted to Lutheranism | 34:03 | |
and so a heretic in More's eyes, | 34:05 | |
madly in love with Sir Thomas More's daughter, Alice, | 34:09 | |
a perfectionist for moral principles and extremely critical | 34:13 | |
of the church's officialdom's evasiveness, | 34:18 | |
spots Sir Thomas' manservant as an informer | 34:22 | |
for More's enemies in the king's court, | 34:26 | |
a fact incidentally already known to Sir Thomas. | 34:29 | |
So, Roper cries out, "Arrest him!" | 34:34 | |
More says, "For what?" | 34:38 | |
Daughter Alice puts in, "He's dangerous! That man's bad!" | 34:41 | |
More says, "There's no law against that." | 34:46 | |
Roper says, "There is, God's law." | 34:50 | |
More says, "Then God can arrest him." | 34:55 | |
Roper in disgust says, "Sophistication upon sophistication." | 34:59 | |
More says, "No, sheer simplicity. | 35:04 | |
"The law, Roper, the law. | 35:09 | |
"I know what's legal, not what's right, | 35:13 | |
"and I'll stick to what's legal." | 35:17 | |
Roper says, "Then you set man's law above God's." | 35:21 | |
More says, "No, far below, | 35:25 | |
"but let me draw your attention to a fact. | 35:29 | |
"I'm not God. | 35:33 | |
"The currents and eddies of right and wrong | 35:35 | |
"which you find such plain sailing I cannot navigate. | 35:38 | |
"I'm no voyager, but in the thickets of the law, | 35:44 | |
"oh, there, I'm a forester. | 35:49 | |
"I doubt if there's a man alive who could follow me there," | 35:53 | |
and to himself, he says, "Thank God." | 35:57 | |
Then Roper says, "I have long suspected this. | 36:02 | |
"This is the golden calf. The law's your God." | 36:06 | |
More wearily says, "Oh, Roper, you're a fool. | 36:12 | |
"God's my God," and then rather bitterly, he adds, | 36:18 | |
"but I find Him rather too subtle. | 36:24 | |
"I don't know where He is or what He wants." | 36:28 | |
Yes, God understands our reluctance and our confusion. | 36:37 | |
He knows that we lack the moral resources | 36:44 | |
for full obedience to the way to which | 36:46 | |
we are called in Christ, and so we compromise an end, | 36:48 | |
unable to make the great leap | 36:54 | |
to that gigantic little word, nevertheless, | 36:56 | |
settling for an imitation love, an imitation faith, | 37:01 | |
so that we stand at last in the uninvolved crowd | 37:08 | |
at the foot of the cross over whom the obedient servant | 37:12 | |
breathed His greatest prayer, | 37:18 | |
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." | 37:20 | |
No, | 37:28 | |
no easy obedience under God on this Earth. | 37:31 | |
Then, there is yet another lesson from Gethsemane, | 37:45 | |
and that is this: obedience is seldom a simple issue. | 37:50 | |
At every level, its exercise draws others | 37:58 | |
other than ourselves into its orbit | 38:01 | |
so that no man makes a crucial decision in a vacuum, | 38:05 | |
but always, always at cost to men and women beyond himself. | 38:10 | |
When Jesus chose to obey, He involved Peter, | 38:16 | |
James, John, Judas, Mary, His mother, | 38:22 | |
Mary of Magdala, Pilate, Caiaphas, | 38:27 | |
soldiers of Rome who had likely never heard of Him | 38:32 | |
as well as countless others. | 38:36 | |
This is the area where men and women called | 38:41 | |
to Christian witness are so often in pale. | 38:45 | |
A responsible, conscientious employee, for example, | 38:51 | |
can see where his company's sharp practices, | 38:53 | |
unethical procedures, are leading him and leading them. | 38:56 | |
He can also understand something of the cost | 39:02 | |
of the moral compromise he is being called upon to make. | 39:05 | |
What can you do? | 39:09 | |
Protest and be fired? Quit? | 39:13 | |
Turn in his uniform? | 39:18 | |
He can do any of these things, yes, | 39:22 | |
but his wife and children are involved in his decision. | 39:27 | |
Is he privileged to call upon them to make sacrifices | 39:32 | |
for a cause they really have not chosen? | 39:36 | |
He knows about the Gethsemane plea. Let this cup pass. | 39:41 | |
What happens if He makes the mighty leap to nevertheless? | 39:47 | |
In another vein, the church desperately needs to move | 39:59 | |
its witness from the relatively easier suburban fringes | 40:02 | |
back in the off times, ecclesiastically-deserted inner city. | 40:07 | |
The church cannot afford a witness less well-equipped | 40:14 | |
than the challenge is acute. | 40:18 | |
What happens when the call goes up, | 40:22 | |
go for us to the ableist dedicated talent? | 40:25 | |
Such a minister to minister will have to identify | 40:31 | |
with the people he serves. | 40:36 | |
He cannot serve them and he cannot serve his Lord | 40:38 | |
by dipping in occasionally from another orbit. | 40:42 | |
It may mean less educational advantages for his children. | 40:47 | |
It could mean positive dangers in poorly-lighted streets. | 40:52 | |
It will mean radical readjustments, | 40:56 | |
perhaps some genuine sacrifices. | 41:00 | |
Again, shall he call upon his family to make sacrifices | 41:03 | |
for a cause, the specifics of which, they have not chosen? | 41:09 | |
Surely, these are two minor examples | 41:18 | |
of the complex nature of obedience. | 41:23 | |
There are countless others. | 41:29 | |
You engage in them on this campus. | 41:34 | |
Your associates engage in them. | 41:38 | |
Your life from here on out will be a forest, | 41:43 | |
and the wilderness through which you must walk | 41:49 | |
in which such decisions lie ahead of you daily. | 41:54 | |
At their heart is the lonely leap to nevertheless. | 42:00 | |
Soren Kierkegaard has a great parable | 42:13 | |
concerning Abraham and his son, Isaac, | 42:18 | |
in which this problem of obedience is central. | 42:22 | |
It was early morning. | 42:28 | |
Abraham rose and had the asses saddled. | 42:32 | |
He left the tent and Isaac with him, | 42:36 | |
but Sarah watched from the casement as they went | 42:40 | |
down the valley until they disappeared from sight. | 42:43 | |
For three days, they rode in silence, | 42:49 | |
and on the morning of the fourth day, | 42:51 | |
Abraham said not a word, but lifted up his eyes | 42:52 | |
and saw Mount Moriah afar off. | 42:56 | |
He left his servants behind him and led Isaac by the hand | 43:00 | |
as they climbed the mountain alone, | 43:04 | |
but Abraham said to himself, "I cannot hide from Isaac | 43:08 | |
"where this path is leading him." | 43:13 | |
He stood still. | 43:17 | |
He laid his hand on Isaac's head in blessing, | 43:19 | |
and Isaac bowed down to receive the blessing, | 43:23 | |
and Abraham's countenance was that of a father, | 43:27 | |
his eyes gentle, his voice encouraging, | 43:31 | |
but Isaac could not understand him. | 43:35 | |
His soul could not rise to him. | 43:38 | |
He embraced Abraham's knees. | 43:42 | |
He prayed his feet, implored him to save his young life | 43:44 | |
for the bright promise of the future, | 43:48 | |
reminded him of the joy of Abraham's tent, | 43:50 | |
spoke of sorrow and loneliness. | 43:53 | |
Then, Abraham lifted him up and led him by the hand, | 43:58 | |
and his words were full of consolation and encouragement, | 44:02 | |
but Isaac could not understand him. | 44:07 | |
For a moment, Abraham turned his face away from his son, | 44:12 | |
and when Isaac saw his face again, it had changed. | 44:17 | |
His eyes were wild, and he was terrible to look upon. | 44:21 | |
He seized Isaac by the shoulders and threw him to the ground | 44:25 | |
and said, "Foolish youth, | 44:28 | |
"do you believe that I'm your father? | 44:31 | |
"I am an idle worshiper. Do you believe it is God's command? | 44:34 | |
"No, it is my own pleasure." | 44:41 | |
Then, Isaac trembled and cried out in terror, | 44:46 | |
"God in heaven, have mercy on me. | 44:50 | |
"I have no father on this Earth. Be thou my father." | 44:54 | |
And Abraham said softly to himself, | 45:03 | |
"Father in heaven, I thank thee. | 45:08 | |
"It is better that he should believe me inhuman | 45:13 | |
"than that he should lose faith in thee." | 45:19 | |
This indeed is the issue of obedience framed in Gethsemane, | 45:30 | |
and this is the power by which alone can be made | 45:40 | |
the mighty leap to nevertheless. | 45:46 | |
Almighty God, there are mysteries beyond us | 46:07 | |
in the deep riches of the gospel | 46:10 | |
which our minds have not yet reached. | 46:14 | |
There are heights We have not yet dared to climb | 46:18 | |
and depths we have feared to descend. | 46:21 | |
We have seen the cross. We have found our salvation in it. | 46:25 | |
Yet, like little children, we stand beneath it | 46:32 | |
only half understanding what it means for us. | 46:35 | |
Reveal its meaning that we may live | 46:40 | |
within its creative power through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 46:44 | |
May the peace of God which passeth all understanding | 46:54 | |
keep your hearts and minds and the knowledge and love of God | 46:57 | |
and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 47:01 | |
The blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, | 47:04 | |
and the Holy Ghost be amongst you | 47:07 | |
and remain with you always. | 47:10 |
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