William M. Finnin, Jr. - "Wrestling the Unknown" (July 26, 1992)

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	♪ Give me a clean heart ♪	0:02
	♪ And I'll follow Thee ♪	0:09
	♪ For I'm not asking for the riches of the land ♪	0:17
	♪ I'm not asking for high men to know my name ♪	0:31
	♪ Please give me Lord a clean heart ♪	0:46
	♪ That I may follow Thee ♪	0:55
	♪ Give me a clean heart ♪	1:01
	♪ And I'll follow Thee ♪	1:08
	♪ Oh, sometimes I am up ♪	1:16
	♪ And sometimes I am down ♪	1:21
	♪ Sometimes I am almost ♪	1:30
	♪ Almost level to the ground ♪	1:34
	♪ Please give me Lord a clean heart ♪	1:44
	♪ That I may follow Thee ♪	1:53
	♪ Give me a clean heart ♪	1:59
	♪ Just give me a clean heart ♪	2:06
	♪ Give me a clean heart ♪	2:14
	♪ And I'll follow Thee ♪	2:24
	♪ The blood that Jesus shed for me ♪	3:02
	♪ Oh, way back on Calvary ♪	3:18
	♪ The blood that gives me strength ♪	3:29
	♪ From day to day ♪	3:35
	♪ It will never lose its power ♪	3:42
	♪ Oh, it reaches to the highest mountain ♪	3:54
	♪ Oh, and it flows to the lowest, the lowest valley ♪	4:08
	♪ Oh, the blood that gives me strength ♪	4:20
	♪ From day to day ♪	4:29
	♪ It will never lose its power ♪	4:36
	♪ It soothes my doubts and it calms all my fears ♪	4:49
	♪ And it dries all of my tears ♪	5:05
	♪ The blood that gives me strength ♪	5:16
	♪ From day to day ♪	5:22
	♪ It will never, never lose its power ♪	5:28
	♪ Oh, thank God it reaches to the highest ♪	5:40
	♪ The highest mountain ♪	5:48
	♪ And it flows to the lowest, the lowest valley ♪	5:53
	♪ Yeah, the blood that gives me strength ♪	6:05
	♪ From day to day ♪	6:14
	♪ It will never, never, never ♪	6:20
	♪ Never lose its power ♪	6:23
	♪ And it flows to the lowest ♪	6:48
	♪ To the valleys, yeah ♪	6:53
	♪ The blood that gives me strength ♪	6:59
	♪ From day to day ♪	7:05
	♪ It will never lose its power ♪	7:11
	♪ Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart ♪	8:03
	♪ Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart ♪	8:21
	♪ In my heart, in my heart ♪	8:39
	♪ Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart ♪	8:56
	♪ Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart ♪	9:16
	♪ Oh, Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart ♪	9:35
	♪ Oh, in my heart, in my heart ♪	9:53
	♪ Lord I want, I want to be a real Christian in my heart ♪	10:10
-	Good morning, and welcome to Duke Chapel.	10:53
	There is no doubt that the worship of God	10:58
	has already begun in this place,	11:00
	and we welcome you to share in that experience.	11:03
	I want to announce that next Sunday,	11:10
	August 2nd, the chapel will be making a special collection	11:13
	of canned and packaged food items,	11:19
	which will go to the Durham Urban Ministries.	11:23
	As you know, this is a very vital ministry in our community,	11:27
	and there will be a box in the narthex	11:31
	to receive contributions next Sunday morning.	11:34
	So, please remember that and spread that word	11:37
	to others who may be in attendance at that time.	11:41
	Our preacher today is a Reverend Dr. William M Finnin.	11:51
	Dr. Finnin is chaplain and preacher	11:58
	to the university at Southern Methodist University.	12:01
	He is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana,	12:07
	received his education at Centenary College	12:12
	of Louisiana, and right here at Duke Divinity School,	12:15
	where he graduated with the highest of honors in 1972.	12:21
	Going on, he was awarded the Doctor of Theology degree	12:27
	in ethics and social sciences by the faculty of Iliff	12:32
	School of Theology at the University of Denver.	12:37
	He is an Underwood Fellow of the Danforth Foundation	12:41
	and has three times been awarded the Baker Fellowship	12:47
	of the General Board of Higher Education	12:51
	of the United Methodist Church.	12:54
	In addition to his duties as Chaplain	12:58
	and university preacher, Dr. Finnin,	13:01
	in 1986, was appointed an adjunct professor	13:04
	in the Edwin R Cox School of Business at SMU,	13:10
	and has now responsibilities for team teaching,	13:16
	capstone courses in ethics and corporate responsibility.	13:20
	He is active in a wide range of professional	13:27
	and community groups and programs.	13:31
	Dr. Finnin is married to the former Mary Laird Bingham,	13:36
	who currently is Director of Bereavement Services	13:41
	and Decedent Care at Parkland Memorial Hospital of Dallas.	13:45
	Mrs. Finnin is with us this morning	13:51
	and we welcome her.	13:53
	They are the parents of two sons.	13:55
	We welcome Dr. Finnin to this pulpit,	13:58
	and we will hear him gladly.	14:01
	May we join together in the greeting.	14:07
	Will you please stand?	14:10
	Ask and it will be given you,	14:19
	seek and you will` find,	14:23
	knock and doors will be opened to you.	14:26
	(congregation prays)	14:30
	Come to praise the responsive love of God,	14:39
	who meets us in our need where we are.	14:43
	(congregation prays)	14:49
	Seek the Holy Spirit to God and protect.	14:57
	God will give the Spirit to those who ask.	15:02
	(congregation prays)	15:07
	(organ music)	15:16
	(congregation singing)	15:47
	Please remain standing.	19:07
	Let us pray.	19:10
	God of mercy, we praise you	19:14
	for the hunger you place in our hearts.	19:17
	The longing to find our lives hallowed	19:22
	and gilded by grace,	19:27
	a yearning that impels us to seek,	19:29
	ask and knock, until we find our heart's true desire.	19:33
	Oh God, you hear our prayers of longing,	19:40
	born of the hunger for all that is holy.	19:44
	We praise you for steadfast love.	19:50
	For like a friend at midnight,	19:54
	you will rise to answer us when we call upon you.	19:57
	Amen.	20:02
	Please be seated.	20:04
-	Let us pray together the Prayer for Illumination.	20:21
	Open our hearts and minds oh God,	20:26
	by the power of your Holy Spirit,	20:29
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	20:32
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	20:35
	Amen.	20:40
	The first reading is from the Gospel According to St. Luke.	20:44
	Chapter 11, verses one through 13.	20:48
	He was praying in a certain place,	20:54
	and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him,	20:57
	"Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples."	21:01
	Jesus said to them, "When you pray,	21:08
	"say, Father, hallowed be your name.	21:12
	"Your kingdom come.	21:17
	"Give us each day our daily bread	21:20
	"and forgive us our sins,	21:23
	"for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.	21:25
	"And do not bring us to the time of trial."	21:31
	And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend,	21:36
	"and you go to him ad midnight and say to him,	21:40
	"Friend, lend me three loaves of bread.	21:44
	"For a friend of mine has arrived,	21:47
	"and I have nothing to set before him."	21:49
	And he answers from within, "Do not bother me.	21:53
	"The door has already been locked,	21:57
	"And my children are with me in bed.	21:58
	"I cannot get up and give you anything."	22:00
	I tell you, even though he will not	22:05
	get up and give him anything because he is his friend,	22:07
	at least because of his persistence,	22:12
	he will get up and give him whatever he needs.	22:14
	So, I say to you, ask and it will be given you.	22:20
	Search and you will find.	22:25
	Knock and the door will be opened for you.	22:30
	For everyone who asks, receives,	22:34
	and everyone who searches, finds,	22:38
	and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.	22:43
	Is there anyone among you who,	22:50
	if your child asks for a fish,	22:52
	will give a snake instead of a fish?	22:54
	Or if the child asks for an egg,	22:58
	will give a scorpion?	23:00
	If you then, who are evil,	23:03
	know how to give good gifts to your children,	23:08
	how much more will the Heavenly Father	23:12
	give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?	23:15
	This is the world of the Lord.	23:23
	Thanks be to God.	23:25
	Please stand for the reading of this alter.	23:29
	Hear the words of David in Psalm 21,	23:41
	a thanks giving for victory.	23:43
	In your strength the kind rejoices, oh Lord,	23:47
	and in your help, how greatly he exalts.	23:50
	You have given him his heart's desire	23:55
	and have not withheld the request of his lips.	23:57
	For you meet him with rich blessings.	24:01
	You set a crown of fine gold on his head.	24:04
	He asked you for life, you gave it to him,	24:08
	length of days forever and ever.	24:13
	His glory is great through your help,	24:16
	splendor and majesty you bestow on him.	24:20
	You bestow on him blessings forever.	24:25
	You make him glad with the joy of your presence.	24:27
	For the kind trusts in the Lord,	24:31
	and through the steadfast love of the most high,	24:34
	he shall not be moved.	24:38
	(organ music)	24:42
	(congregation singing)	24:51
	Be seated.	25:41
	(organ music)	25:46
	♪ Shackled by a heavy burden ♪	26:12
	♪ 'Neath a load of guilt and shame ♪	26:23
	♪ Then the hand of Jesus touched me ♪	26:34
	♪ And now I am no longer the same ♪	26:45
	♪ For He touched me, yes, He touched me ♪	26:55
	♪ And oh the joy that floods my soul ♪	27:07
	♪ Something wonderful happened and now I know ♪	27:20
	♪ He touched me and made me whole ♪	27:32
	♪ Since I met this blessed Savior ♪	27:46
	♪ Since He's cleansed and made me whole ♪	27:58
	♪ I will never cease to praise Him ♪	28:09
	♪ I'll shout it while eternity rolls ♪	28:21
	♪ Oh, He touched me, yes, He touched me ♪	28:31
	♪ And oh the joy that floods my soul ♪	28:43
	♪ That floods my soul ♪	28:53
	♪ Something wonderful happened and now I know ♪	28:58
	♪ He touched me and made me whole ♪	29:10
-	Our lesson from the Old Testament this morning,	30:17
	the Hebrew Scriptures, comes from the First Book of Moses,	30:20
	the 32nd chapter of Genesis.	30:26
	Listen to a story about one of the patriarchs,	30:34
	Jacob.	30:39
	And Jacob sent messengers before him	30:42
	to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir,	30:44
	the country of Edom, instructing them,	30:49
	thus you shall say to my Lord, Esau,	30:52
	thus says your servant, Jacob,	30:56
	I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now,	30:59
	and I have oxen and asses,	31:04
	fox, man servants and maid servants,	31:06
	and I have sent them all to my lord	31:10
	in order that I might find favor in your sight.	31:12
	And the messengers returned to Jacob saying,	31:19
	"We have come to your brother, Esau,	31:23
	"and he is coming to meet you,	31:25
	"and 400 men with him."	31:29
	And later in that chapter, as Jacob and his tribe	31:33
	come to rest on the River Jabbok,	31:38
	we read these words.	31:41
	The same night he arose and took his two wives,	31:43
	his two maids, and his 11 children,	31:48
	and crossed the ford at the Jabbok.	31:52
	He took them and sent them across the stream,	31:55
	and likewise everything he had,	31:58
	and Jacob was left alone.	32:03
	And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.	32:07
	When the man saw he did not prevail against Jacob,	32:12
	he touched the hollow of his thigh,	32:17
	and Jacob's thigh was put out of joint.	32:19
	Then he said, "Let me go.	32:25
	"The day is breaking."	32:30
	But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me."	32:32
	And he said to him, "What is your name?"	32:39
	"Jacob."	32:43
	And he said, "Your name shall be called	32:45
	"no more Jacob, but Israel.	32:48
	"For you have striven with God and man and have prevailed."	32:51
	Then Jacob asked him, "Tell me, I pray, your name."	32:57
	But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?"	33:02
	And then he blessed him.	33:08
	So, Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,	33:12
	saying, "For I have seen God face to face,	33:15
	"and yet my life is preserved."	33:19
	And he arose, and as he passed Peniel,	33:27
	he limped, for he remembered his thigh.	33:32
	Imagine years, years into the future for Jacob,	33:41
	he's now an old man confined to his tent,	33:47
	and takes delight only in the scores	33:51
	of grandchildren who come to visit him.	33:54
	One day, one of his granddaughters skips into the tent	33:59
	and says, "Grabby, Grabby, Grabby Jacob!	34:03
	"I have a question for you!"	34:08
	Jacob turns to her and says, "Young lady.	34:13
	"Come up on my knee and ask my your question."	34:17
	And she says, "Grabby Jacob,	34:22
	"why do you limp sometimes and not limp other times?"	34:25
	And sadness falls across Jacob's face,	34:33
	and he says to her, "Young lady,	34:39
	"I haven't always been this sweet and gentle	34:45
	"Grabby Jacob that you know as your grandfather.	34:47
	"When I was a younger man I was a scoundrel.	34:51
	"Oh yes, the limp.	34:56
	"One night, long time ago,	34:58
	"I had a bad dream when I was coming back	35:02
	"to visit your uncle, Esau.	35:05
	"And that dream turned into a nightmare.	35:08
	"I wrestled with an angel of God,	35:13
	"and before he let me go, he set my thigh outta joint.	35:14
	"You know, your grandmother, Rachel, used to say	35:20
	"that was to make me remember that	35:24
	"God was God, and I was Jacob.	35:26
	"She used to say it served me right."	35:30
	Let us pray.	35:36
	In the name of the Triune God,	35:41
	who creates us, who redeems us,	35:44
	and who sustains us in all our living.	35:50
	Amen.	35:55
	Down in Cajun Country...	36:00
	Near a little town called Piapot, Louisiana,	36:03
	not too far from where I was raised.	36:06
	Teeboy Jeanson and his brother, Eber	36:10
	had developed a significant reputation for fishing.	36:15
	Their favorite adventures involved	36:21
	grappling for catfish,	36:24
	along the slews and streams that feed Bayou Pigeon,	36:27
	on of the bayous that runs into the Atchafalaya river basin,	36:35
	on the eastern border.	36:39
	Now, some will say that grappling for catfish	36:42
	has its origin in Central Mississippi.	36:46
	But I'm not here to debate that point.	36:50
	You've gotta know what grappling is.	36:54
	Grappling is a form of fishing where	36:58
	you walk along the banks of a bayou,	37:02
	and with your foot,	37:04
	feel for holes in the bank,	37:09
	hoping that in one of those holes	37:12
	you're going to find a fairly good sized catfish	37:15
	layin' up away from the current after a big meal,	37:19
	just resting.	37:23
	And if you do, you're feeling with you foot,	37:26
	and then plunge down and grab him behind the eye sockets	37:29
	and behind the gills and bring him to the surface.	37:32
	There's a certain economy to that kind of fishing.	37:37
	On one moonless night, Teeboy and Eber	37:44
	were out on the Pigeon.	37:49
	Teeboy in the water feeling along the bank	37:53
	and Eber pulling the pirogue,	37:55
	when Teeboy felt	38:00
	what he thought was a good one.	38:03
	Holding it with his foot,	38:08
	he plunged beneath the surface of the water,	38:10
	grabbed him behind the head,	38:13
	and pulled him to the surface.	38:16
	And it wasn't a flash of a second between	38:19
	the time he broke water and he realized	38:21
	that both he and Eber were in deep trouble,	38:25
	for there he stood face to face	38:28
	with the biggest meanest looking	38:30
	cottonmouth water moccasin	38:33
	that he had ever seen, much less grabbed.	38:35
	And it didn't take much time at all	38:39
	for Teeboy and Eber to realize that	38:41
	they were in dire straits	38:44
	as that big water moccasin wrapped its	38:45
	coil of body around his right arm.	38:48
	Teeboy didn't know whether he had the snake	38:55
	or whether the snake had him.	39:00
	That warm summer moonless night on Bayou Pigeon	39:08
	was the last time the Jeanson boys	39:14
	went grappling for catfish.	39:17
	Their encounter with the unknown...	39:23
	transformed forever the way they foraged for food.	39:29
	When the unknown breaks in on our lives,	39:39
	we sit up and take notice.	39:42
	The unknown shatters our expectations.	39:48
	It plays havoc with our	39:52
	predictable patterns of living.	39:55
	It sets in a new perspective	39:59
	everything that was familiar in our lives.	40:02
	Everything we had taken for granted,	40:07
	like a proverbial thief in the night or	40:11
	like Teeboy's cottonmouth moccasin.	40:16
	The unknown redefines	40:22
	the way we look at the world.	40:26
	It transforms us, and for certain,	40:29
	we are never again the same.	40:35
	A woman by the name of Diane Berger...	40:42
	a homemaker, mother of three children,	40:48
	wife, member of her church,	40:54
	has written a compassionate and terrifying book.	41:01
	She's called it, We Heard of Angels of Madness.	41:07
	This text is a chronology of her teenage son's	41:13
	agonizing struggle	41:18
	and her family's frightening encounter	41:21
	with manic depressive illness.	41:24
	She writes that in the days before Matt's clear diagnoses	41:29
	and long before his	41:34
	final personal commitment to effective therapies,	41:38
	the great unknown of manic depression	41:43
	shook their family by their roots,	41:46
	distorted their relationships,	41:50
	and served as a demon in their midst.	41:54
	Fear and confusion marked their days,	41:58
	clouded their caring,	42:01
	hoping against hope that	42:06
	this demon would suddenly go away	42:08
	proved no help at all.	42:11
	Matt struggled with his own depression	42:16
	and his family's confrontation with it	42:18
	changed forever the way the Bergers	42:20
	looked at themselves, at each other,	42:25
	and at life itself.	42:29
	Never again would they be able to	42:32
	simply take a day for granted with out thanks giving.	42:36
	Never again could they simply have a moment of	42:40
	deep quiet or watch a sunset or	42:45
	think about what health was	42:51
	without feeling grateful for Matt's return to health.	42:56
	I believe that you and I encounter the unknown	43:05
	almost daily.	43:09
	Now, I'm not talking about the heroic encounters	43:11
	that Jacob's story represents or	43:15
	Teeboy's grappling with	43:21
	that water moccasin epitomizes.	43:23
	No, when the unknown breaks in upon us,	43:27
	it calls us beyond ourselves,	43:35
	into the lives of others,	43:38
	into strange and unknown territory.	43:40
	Perhaps you're a parent.	43:46
	I see many of you are.	43:48
	I see many of you may have been.	43:50
	Do you remember the first day you	43:54
	left your child at preschool or kindergarten?	43:57
	What your child experienced and what you experienced,	44:05
	psychologists call separation anxiety.	44:08
	It certainly affects both parents and children.	44:13
	But no matter whether you're sending your child off to	44:18
	preschool, or camp, or church sponsored youth activities,	44:23
	or a well chaperoned band trip,	44:27
	or a Camp Fire girls' cookout,	44:32
	you know that there's more substance to your concern	44:35
	than simply the uneasiness of the initial separation.	44:39
	The unknown out there is not	44:46
	a necessarily benevolent reality.	44:50
	And we can hear as many psychologists	44:56
	as you could get into this chapel	45:00
	say we have got to turn them loose if we really love them.	45:02
	But not at 10 or 12.	45:08
	Now, up the ante, raise the stakes.	45:16
	As we grow into parenting through the teenage years,	45:23
	the unknown often take strange and bizarre forms.	45:30
	I speak as a parent of teenagers.	45:35
	What parent of nascent young adults	45:41
	has not spent those anxious nights,	45:43
	nights that have stretched into the early morning,	45:48
	waiting for that phone call, just one,	45:51
	which says, "I'm safe, I'm at Steve's house."	45:56
	How many of you have taken those	46:02
	somnambulistic walks through the house	46:05
	in the early morning	46:10
	before they get in,	46:13
	after going out or just hanging out?	46:17
	One of my friend's neighbors around the corner	46:23
	observed to me about two weeks ago that	46:27
	it was only recently that she had really	46:30
	come to recognize and to accept that	46:34
	her own son, now 19, had really begun	46:37
	to establish a life of his own.	46:41
	And it was that morning when she went out to get the paper,	46:44
	and as she walked in, realized that	46:48
	he hadn't gotten home yet.	46:50
	We're not talking about	46:58
	theory of adolescent development here, folks.	47:02
	We're talking blood, sweat, and tears,	47:05
	the agony of parenting,	47:09
	and the joy of love.	47:13
	The unknown...	47:19
	We find it right smack dab in the middle of our families,	47:23
	with those, in those,	47:29
	among those we know the best.	47:33
	On a late Thursday afternoon,	47:42
	have you ever gotten a call from your physician	47:44
	after your annual physical,	47:48
	asking you to schedule just one or two	47:51
	more tests just to make sure,	47:54
	and she schedules you for Monday morning?	47:58
	Have a great weekend.	48:03
	The unknown redefines what is immediate,	48:10
	what is central, what is important to us now.	48:15
	Have you ever lost your job?	48:23
	Most recent reports say that	48:30
	in the past month, over 400,000 of our	48:33
	sisters and brothers around this country	48:36
	have experienced the unknown in that form.	48:39
	Perhaps you've lost it for no reason	48:50
	that you can account for.	48:54
	Perhaps precisely because of the way	48:57
	you performed your responsibility.	49:00
	But the shock, the disbelief,	49:05
	the anger, the loss,	49:08
	the suddenly constricted horizons	49:12
	bring you face to face with the unknown	49:15
	right in the middle of your life.	49:18
	The advent of the unknown among us	49:27
	pushes us to the very limits of our living.	49:29
	It drags us kicking and screaming	49:36
	to the edges of our lives and forces us	49:38
	to look across into the empty abyss.	49:40
	Before the unknown, we stand vulnerable,	49:47
	open, and at risk...	49:52
	before both its peril and its promise.	49:59
	Now, I think we can respond to the unknown	50:08
	in a number of ways.	50:12
	We can greet the unknown, the radically unfamiliar,	50:15
	the uncomfortably different,	50:21
	we can greet that unknown with fear	50:24
	and trembling, and dread, shrinking from it.	50:27
	But by such a response, we immobilize ourselves	50:35
	and paralyze our actions, and deaden our spirits.	50:39
	Or in good American fashion,	50:47
	we can simply deny the unknown.	50:52
	Deny its power.	50:57
	Deny its capacity to focus our time	51:02
	and our energy on things we don't want to think about.	51:05
	But in denial, we abandon both the promise	51:12
	and the peril the unknown brings to us.	51:17
	Still, we find ourselves doing just that	51:23
	more often than not.	51:27
	We live as if there were no surprise,	51:31
	no mystery, no wonderment in this life,	51:34
	as if everything were flat and boring.	51:40
	There's another way,	51:53
	another way we can greet the unknown.	51:56
	Jacob is its exemplar.	52:00
	In that way, we can discover	52:06
	the proximity of God's kingdom.	52:07
	Yes, we can contend with the unknown.	52:12
	We can struggle with it.	52:17
	We can wrestle with it against odds we cannot calculate.	52:19
	Perhaps in that encounter we discover a benevolent reality,	52:28
	possibly a blessing, a word of hope,	52:34
	an occasion for celebration.	52:37
	But we will never know until	52:40
	we contend and wrestle with that reality.	52:42
	The faith tradition of Jews and Christians alike	52:48
	call us with compelling clarity	52:52
	to confront the unknown right in our midst,	52:55
	to confront it with bold confidence and openness.	53:00
	Moses, you will recall, was terrified by the Burning Bush,	53:06
	debated his calling right there before God.	53:13
	Job, Job actually argued face to face	53:20
	with the divine reality.	53:25
	As people of the book, ours is a faith	53:30
	that holds a clear alternative to both	53:34
	fear on the one hand and denial on the other hand	53:37
	as the way to encounter the unknown in our midst.	53:40
	Souther Baptist theologian, Wayne Oates,	53:48
	recognizes that even in the face of death itself,	53:53
	we Christians don't just stoically endure	53:59
	the suffering of grief and loss.	54:03
	On the contrary, we are a people of adventure,	54:07
	a people who by faith wrestle with	54:11
	the loss of loved ones,	54:14
	whether permanently or temporarily,	54:16
	through death, separation, and divorce,	54:21
	mental illness, or any other separating power.	54:26
	And the struggle goes on until fresh hope,	54:31
	new growth, and greater potential for life	54:35
	is revealed to us.	54:39
	Even in the face of death.	54:43
	Jacob greets the unknown in such a fashion.	54:52
	In a cosmic wrestling match,	54:57
	to his own amazement and to ours,	55:01
	he discovered the partner	55:04
	in that match to be of God.	55:06
	Now, you have to realize that Jacob	55:13
	was a scurrilous scoundrel.	55:15
	He rightly feared Esau's violent response to his return.	55:19
	Those 400 men Esau sent out were likely not cheerleaders.	55:26
	Jacob had denied the covenantal relationship	55:33
	which had knit families together	55:38
	in God's grace for centuries,	55:40
	yay, generations across time.	55:43
	He had violated that.	55:46
	In a moment of truth that resounds through Hebrew history,	55:51
	Jacob ceased the unknown and wrestled it	55:54
	to the point where it became promise.	55:59
	Hope, hope for his future, even a blessing,	56:02
	a certification of that promise,	56:08
	a certification of forgiveness,	56:12
	of hope, of grace	56:16
	from the God how knows Jacob as an ungrateful jerk.	56:19
	A lying, stealing, cowardly,	56:26
	manipulating jerk at that.	56:31
	A brother.	56:37
	Like us.	56:41
	Jacob chose not to lie down and roll over and die,	56:45
	not to go willingly into that dark night of his soul.	56:50
	On the contrary, he chose to contend,	56:55
	to struggle, to wrestle the unknown.	56:59
	And in that choosing, was blessing.	57:01
	From his prison cell high in Northern Bavaria,	57:09
	Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote to generations yet unborn	57:15
	words of hope and promise.	57:20
	He was a pillar of the confessing church,	57:23
	an active resister against Hitler's godless rule.	57:26
	In that cell, Bonhoeffer wrestled	57:32
	with the certainty of depths unknown in his own life.	57:35
	And in those final moments he proclaimed	57:41
	that God's first and final word to us	57:43
	is a word of graceful freedom.	57:48
	You are free.	57:52
	You are free to choose how you're going	57:54
	to greet the unknown as it comes rushing,	57:57
	rushing towards you.	58:02
	Even if you cannot choose the shape,	58:04
	or the character,	58:08
	or the structure of that future,	58:10
	you can choose how you're going to stand before it.	58:15
	Daily, you and I must choose how to	58:20
	greet the unknown as we stand before it.	58:23
	We can cower in fear and trembling,	58:26
	become twisted personalities	58:30
	curved in on ourselves.	58:32
	Obsessively absorbed with our fears	58:35
	and consequently paralyzed by them.	58:39
	Or we can assume a macho stance.	58:43
	We can deny, we can reject the unknown,	58:48
	we can remain above the fray,	58:53
	disengaged and disentangled from its messiness.	58:55
	Denying life's mysteries,	59:06
	rejecting life's adventures.	59:10
	Or, and here's the great divide,	59:15
	we can contend.	59:20
	We can struggle with the unknown	59:23
	and its brash uncertainty,	59:24
	hoping to wrestle from it the promise of a new day,	59:27
	a sign of hope, the sign of the cross.	59:31
	But remember, if you choose to struggle,	59:38
	if you choose to contend,	59:44
	if you adopt the wrestler's stance in your living,	59:48
	like that scoundrel Jacob did,	59:53
	you will never be the same, never.	59:56
	You'll be changed.	1:00:01
	You'll be bruised and battered.	1:00:04
	Per chance, you'll even be transformed.	1:00:10
	Now my friends,	1:00:21
	may the new limp which is yours,	1:00:26
	a limp you will surely develop,	1:00:30
	may it be for you the blessing it was for Jacob.	1:00:35
	God's blessing in all your matches.	1:00:42
	Amen.	1:00:48
	(organ music)	1:00:51
	(congregation singing)	1:01:45
-	The Lord be with you.	1:05:56
Congregation	And also with you.	1:05:58
-	Let us pray.	1:06:00
	Please be seated.	1:06:02
	Oh God, your spirit works without ceasing,	1:06:10
	flowing as a great river through our lives.	1:06:16
	We have felt the power of your spirit seeking us out,	1:06:21
	dredging us up from despair and lifting us	1:06:26
	on currents of grace and light.	1:06:29
	We find that we cannot stay still,	1:06:33
	but ar born by your spirit to encounters long avoided,	1:06:37
	and to insights long resisted.	1:06:42
	Oh God, the struggles between dawn and dusk are hard.	1:06:47
	But perhaps the most fierce struggles	1:06:54
	occur between dusk and dawn.	1:06:57
	As Jacob crossed the river	1:07:01
	and met his adversary in solitude,	1:07:03
	we also cross over into a shadowy realm of struggle	1:07:07
	during the nocturnal hours.	1:07:12
	Give us, oh God, the wisdom	1:07:16
	to decern our enemy's nature.	1:07:19
	Are we fighting angels?	1:07:24
	Resisting love?	1:07:27
	Or are we battling our coward self at last?	1:07:30
	Routing the side of ourselves	1:07:35
	that has always taken the detours,	1:07:37
	run from encounters, and resisted growth.	1:07:40
	We praise you, oh God, for grace abundant	1:07:46
	as a mighty river.	1:07:49
	Have mercy upon us who have endured	1:07:51
	long dark nights in struggle.	1:07:54
	When the masks of self deception	1:07:57
	are slowly lifted from our hearts,	1:08:00
	on a viscering light of truth and self judgment.	1:08:03
	Help us to remember, God, that you never	1:08:09
	abandoned us to our deception,	1:08:12
	but work in us through the dark nights.	1:08:17
	You bring us, at last, to dawn,	1:08:22
	where graced by the light of your face,	1:08:26
	we find ourselves embraced and healed.	1:08:29
	When at last the day breaks,	1:08:36
	give us your blessing.	1:08:39
	Gently turn us to face our world	1:08:42
	and our destiny with humility,	1:08:46
	and with a greater capacity,	1:08:49
	for forgiveness and love.	1:08:52
	Amen.	1:08:55
	We are invited to give because	1:09:00
	we need the discipline of giving	1:09:03
	as much as the programs we support need our help.	1:09:05
	We are expected go give because we cannot truly worship	1:09:11
	without giving some concrete expression	1:09:17
	of our gratitude to God.	1:09:20
	Let us share with joy from our abundance.	1:09:23
	(organ music)	1:09:29
	♪ I'd rather have Jesus more than silver or gold ♪	1:09:58
	♪ I'd rather be His than have riches untold ♪	1:10:14
	♪ I'd rather, I'd rather have Jesus more than anything ♪	1:10:29
	♪ This world affords today ♪	1:10:43
	♪ Than to be the queen of a vast domain ♪	1:10:57
	♪ Or be held in sin's dread sway ♪	1:11:11
	♪ I'd rather, I'd rather have Jesus than anything ♪	1:11:24
	♪ This world affords today ♪	1:11:37
	♪ Oh, more than anything this world affords today ♪	1:11:48
	♪ Than to be a queen in a vast domain ♪	1:12:02
	♪ Or be held in sin's dread sway ♪	1:12:18
	♪ Oh, I'd rather, I'd rather have Jesus ♪	1:12:30
	♪ More than an-anything ♪	1:12:38
	♪ This world affords today ♪	1:12:45
	♪ Oh, more than anything this world affords today ♪	1:12:59
	♪ This world affords today ♪	1:13:18
	(congregation singing)	1:13:49
	Loving God, we know that your gifts to us	1:14:48
	are not to be hoarded,	1:14:52
	but are given for spending in your service.	1:14:54
	Help us in this time of offering	1:14:58
	to be able to share not only our money,	1:15:02
	but also our lives.	1:15:06
	How, Lord, would you have us to spend our selves today?	1:15:09
	Amen.	1:15:16
	May we pray together a prayer that Christ taught	1:15:18
	to his first disciples using the traditional version.	1:15:22
	Our Father who art in Heaven,	1:15:28
	hallowed be thy name.	1:15:31
	Thy kingdom come.	1:15:34
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.	1:15:36
	Give us this day our daily bread,	1:15:40
	and forgive us our trespasses,	1:15:43
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	1:15:46
	and lead us not into temptation,	1:15:50
	but deliver us from evil.	1:15:53
	For Thine is the kingdom,	1:15:55
	and the power, and the glory, forever.	1:15:57
	Amen.	1:16:01
	May the deep peace of Jesus Christ be with you.	1:16:04
	The strong arms of God sustain you.	1:16:09
	And the pow...	1:16:13
	You wrestle with the...	1:16:18
	Of your life.	1:16:21
	Amen.	1:16:22
	(organ music)	1:16:25
	(congregation singing)	1:16:59

Item Info

Title:

William M. Finnin, Jr. - "Wrestling the Unknown" (July 26, 1992)

Description:

We have many options as to how we can face the unknown in our lives. We can cower from it in fear, or we can foolishly deny it. Jacob, however, shows us the way to confront the unknown that is faithful to the Judeo-Christian tradition, and that is to wrestle with it. Such a wrestling will leave its marks on us, but, as the story of Jacob shows, it may also lead to blessing beyond what we can imagine. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 36:15. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 1:00:51.
Key quotation: “When the unknown breaks in on our lives, we sit up and take notice. The unknown shatters our expectations. It plays havoc with our predictable patterns of living. It sets in a new perspective everything that was familiar in our lives, everything we had taken for granted.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4cj88156

Date:

July 26, 1992

Speaker:

Finnin, William M., Jr.

Biblical Book:

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0290
ref9129_ygr
uachapelsermaud
duke:321775
dcrmv001277
ark:/87924/r4cj88156
0a4eb091-06ce-41b5-9deb-e39902006acf

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

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This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William M. Finnin, Jr. - "Wrestling the Unknown" (July 26, 1992)

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