Preacher Unknown - Morning Service (January 20, 1974) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(soft piano music)

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As we gather to celebrate,

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we remember God's presence in the world

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and thus in the church.

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It is because God is present in the world

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that we do claim his grace and mercy for the church

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and for all persons.

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As we have sung God's praise,

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let us now offer our prayers.

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Prayers of confession, for surely our Lord has said,

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if your burden is heavy,

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come on to me and I will give you rest.

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Let us confess our need for God's forgiveness.

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Be seated, please.

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Let us pray.

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We confess O God that we have fractured

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and broken your church.

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We have left undone those things

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which we ought to have done.

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And we have done those things,

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which we ought not to have done.

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Forgive we pray our indifference and our complacency.

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Forgive our faults, pride, and our form of worship

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and church government,

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which causes us to look with condescension

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on all that is different

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or give our lack of love and charity for all persons.

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Help us to amend what we are.

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And by your spirit direct what we shall be,

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that you may come into the full glory of your creation in us

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and in all persons through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Amen.

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And now let us offer our individual prayers to God.

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May all mighty God grant to each of you pardon and peace.

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May you truly be cleansed from your sin

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through the grace and in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Amen.

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And now let us pray as our Lord has taught us.

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Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

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Thy kingdom come,

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thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread

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and forgive us our trespasses

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as we forgive those who trespass against us

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and lead us not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom

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and the power and the glory, forever.

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Amen.

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(soft piano music)

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Today's reading is from the gospel

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according to John 1:1-5, 14 and 18.

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In the beginning was the word,

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and the word was with God, and the word was God.

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He was in the beginning with God.

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All things were made through him,

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and without him was not anything made that was made.

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In him was life and the life was in the light of men.

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Light shines in the darkness

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and the darkness has not overcome it.

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And the word became flesh and dwelt among us,

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full of grace and truth.

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We have beheld his glory,

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glory as of the only son from the father.

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No one has ever seen God.

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The only son who is in the bosom of the father,

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he has made him know.

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That ends the reading of the Lord.

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Praise be to Jesus Christ.

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(soft piano music)

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(congregation singing)

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The affirmation of faith

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you will find as number 738 in the back of the hymnal.

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The historic confession of the Christian Church,

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of the apostles creed.

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Let us affirm our faith.

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I believe in God, the father almighty,

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maker of heaven and earth,

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and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord,

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who was conceived by the holy spirit,

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born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,

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was crucified, died, and buried.

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The third day, he rose from the dead.

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He ascended into heaven

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and sat the right hand of God, the father almighty.

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From then he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

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I believe in the holy spirit, the holy Catholic church,

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the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,

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the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

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Amen.

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The Lord be with you.

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Let us pray.

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Would you join with me

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in this responsive prayer of Thanksgiving?

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Let us give thanks for the gifts

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and grace of each community of Christendom

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or the Roman Catholic church, it's glorious traditions,

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it's disciplines in holiness,

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it's worship rich with the religious

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passion of the centuries,

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it's noble company of martyrs, doctors, and saints.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the Eastern Orthodox church,

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it's secret treasure of mystic experience,

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it's marvelous liturgy,

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it's regard for the collective life

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and its common will as a source of authority.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the great Protestant communions,

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we thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the congregationalist

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protection of the rightful independence of the soul

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and of the group.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the stress in the Baptist churches

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upon personal regeneration

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and upon the conscious relation

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of the mature soul to it's Lord

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the power of the Methodists

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to awaken the conscience of Christians to our social evils

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and for their emphasis upon the witness

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of personal experience

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and upon the power of the disciplined life.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the Presbyterian reverence for the sovereignty of God

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and their convenance in his faithfulness to his covenant,

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for their sense of the moral law expressing itself

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in constitutional government.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the witness to the perpetual real presence

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of the inner light in every human soul,

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born by the religious society of friends

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and for their faithful continuance

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of a free prophetic ministry.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the Lutheran church,

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it's devotion to the grace of God and the word of God

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enshrined in the ministry of the word and sacraments.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For the Anglican church,

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it's reverent and temperate ways

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through its Catholic heritage and its Protestant conscience,

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it's yearning concern over the divisions of Christendom

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and it's longing to be used as a house of reconciliation.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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For all other churches and religious communities,

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for their untiring work and constant devotion.

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We thank you O Lord and bless your holy name.

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O Lord our God, God of power and God of mind,

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the author and the giver of all good things

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and whose presence is peace, joy, love, and strength.

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We praise you for the gift of this another day

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and another Lord's day

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when we gather in this place and around the world

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to worship in the name of Christ our Lord.

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Continue O God to strengthen and bless your church

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and all who care for others.

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O God hear us as we share our concerns for those in need.

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We remember those in prison, the lonely, the sick,

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the widow, and the widower, the orphan,

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those who hunger and those who thirst.

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May we also remember O God that it is our individual

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and our corporate ministry to do unto them

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as we would onto Christ.

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We pray O God in this time of Christian unity,

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when we are concerned about the divisions

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and the brokenness of the church.

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We pray for your church universal.

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Fill your people with the truth and with your truth,

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O God set us free.

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Where your church is corrupt, purify it.

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Where it is an error, correct it.

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Where it is superstitious, enlighten it.

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Where anything is amiss, reform it.

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Where it is in want, fill it.

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Where it is divided, O God heal its brokenness.

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Where it is right, confirm and strengthen it.

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Make us mindful O father that there is truly one faith,

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one baptism, one Lord, one God and father of us all.

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Hear these words, our prayers.

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Receive our feelings, our prayer.

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Accept our thoughts, our prayers,

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which we offer, not in our name,

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but in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord who loves us

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and cares for us and calls us to care for one another.

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Amen.

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In our observance of a week of prayer for Christian unity,

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let me remind you of services which will be held this week.

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Tonight at 6:30 here in the chapel,

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we began a series of special

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Sunday evening worship services.

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And I encourage you to come and share

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in these services with us.

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Tuesday evening, Tuesday afternoon, late at 5:15,

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father Thomas Cowley we'll have a meditation

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as the various religious communities on campus share

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in the week of prayer for Christian unity.

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And then on Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m.

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we will continue what we began last Wednesday,

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a weekly, mid week, early morning communion service.

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And you were invited to worship God in that service with us.

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It is my privilege this morning to introduce

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perhaps to most, if not all of you, Dr. George Schweitzer,

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who is professor of chemistry

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at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

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Those of you in the congregation

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can read his credentials in the bulletin.

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In addition to being an outstanding scholar and academician,

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he is a warm and genuine human being.

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One who shares not only his intellect,

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but his warmth of spirit in the name of Christ.

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And so for us all, I say welcome George to Duke University,

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to Duke Chapel, and to this service of worship,

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Dr. George Schweitzer.

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May the words of my mouth

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and the meditations of this congregation

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be acceptable in thy sight.

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O Lord our strength and redeemer

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who has surprised us with thy glory in Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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You and I, every woman and man of us

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may think of ourselves if we wish as cosmic detectives,

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as celestial James Bonds if you wish,

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for none of us, no man, no woman, no child

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escapes in this pilgrimage of life

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and attempt to discover what things are all about.

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This is the constant continued quest

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for meaning that we all have

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because we are all conscious

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that we are part of a larger context.

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We're all conscious that there is more than just ourselves

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and our small community.

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We are all conscious that we are portions of a much greater,

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a gargantuan in fact universe.

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And we are continually looking to ask the question

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of what is the meaning of it and what is our place in it,

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and where do we belong.

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Today, the quest for meaning is a mixed one.

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It is a confused one because there are so many options

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and because our world is in such sharp

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and continued and rapid transition.

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But in order to live our lives usefully,

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in order to complete our personalities,

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in order to integrate our sensibilities,

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it is necessary for us all to grasp far,

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to reach far, to attain, and to operate our lives

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upon the basis of a meaning.

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Something we believe is beyond us.

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Something that makes up the context in which we live.

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For if we are to have a meaning,

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we must enter the struggle for meaning,

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because it is only when we have a meaning

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that we have some way to set our goals,

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some way to guide our actions,

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some way to resolve our frustration,

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some way to make us whole, purposeful, useful, perceptive,

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and sensitive persons.

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Though we are in difficulty however,

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with regard to the rapid transitions in our world,

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there are many valuable insights that come to you

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and come to me today,

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particularly from the realms of the sciences,

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which may assist us in our ever

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progressive quest for meaning.

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And I want to review a few of these,

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and I want to kick out to you this morning

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some possibilities,

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some possibilities for meaning.

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I want you to enter into our discussion here

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with alive imagination.

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I want you to enter into it with some flair for fantasy.

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I want you to enter into it that he is in a living

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and perceptive and poetic way.

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How about meaning in this decade?

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What may we say about it

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and what assists may we obtain for it?

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Well, the astronomers may very well help us

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because they tell us that when we turn giant instruments

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like the 200 inch refractor on Mount Palomar,

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when we turn that giant instrument out into the universe,

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we just discover very quickly that we are surrounded

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with a multitude of galaxies.

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In fact we can now see 10 billion galaxies

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each of which is a gargantuan collection

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of at least 100 billion stars.

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And since the early 1930s,

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we have been able by studying the light from these galaxies

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to discern that they are all receding from us.

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Every single galaxy, all of the 10 billion,

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and maybe more that we have just mentioned

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are moving out from us.

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Regardless of the direction in which we look,

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we find every galaxy is moving away from us.

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We can also, from a study of the light,

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our astronomy friends tell us,

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we can also discover how rapidly they are moving

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and knowing how many they are and how far away they are

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and the how rapidly they are moving.

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With moderately simple algebra,

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we can discover the point at which they all

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would appear to have been together at one time.

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If they're all going out,

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then it's possible we can extrapolate back

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and we can discover when they were all together.

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And when we solve our equations,

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we discover that about 10 billion years ago,

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according to what we think we see today in astronomy

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and according to the major interpretation

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that is given of it,

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all the matter, all the stuff of the world

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was gathered together in one gargantuan clump.

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This gargantuan clump is hard to define

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according to what we now know.

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But for our purposes this morning,

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let us simply suppose that it was pure energy.

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Pure energy gathered together, maybe 10 billion years ago,

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which as a consequence of its character exploded

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and was hurled out.

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And as this energy was hurled out

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from this point of origin

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beyond which we cannot go at the moment scientifically,

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it began to cool down.

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It began to become thermodynamically degraded.

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And when energy cools down,

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our astrophysicist friends tell us, it turns into matter.

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The energy turns into neutrons

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and the neutrons decay to produce protons and electrons,

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and they clump together to produce atoms,

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and then the atoms clumped together

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in this great exploding panorama to produce molecules

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and the molecules clump together.

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And then were gathered together in vast turbulences

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that were set up in this gargantuan explosion

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to produce dust clouds and these dust clouds then,

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again according to the people

29:48

that look into these phenomena,

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these dust clouds also began to aggregate,

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began to clump together to produce the stars,

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some of them with planets.

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And as the planets including the earth,

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the chunk of this whole vista that we know the most about.

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As the planets including the earth began to cool down,

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eventually the earth reached a temperature

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where the rain, the moisture

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which surrounded it produced rain.

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The rain fail, was boiled off,

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the rain fell again, was boiled off again.

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The rain fell, was boiled off.

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In the process, the great mountain ranges rose,

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the rock was eroded, soil was farmed,

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and finally the temperature reached a stage

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where the water could begin to stay up

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on the surface of the planet,

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and seas and lakes and rivers came into being.

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In them dissolved were the great chemical

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and elementary chemical substances at that time,

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ammonia and carbon dioxide and other elementary materials.

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In these early cooking pots

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of the elementary chemical substances,

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these materials began to clump together again.

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They began to aggregate, they began to agglomerate,

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and through the vast eons of time out

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of these elementary chemical substances

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came more complex materials,

31:14

the proteins, the phosphotases, the phosphatides,

31:16

and other many things that the biochemists

31:21

could talk to us about.

31:24

Until finally something of the order

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may be of 3 billion years ago,

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give or take a half a billion years.

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These very, very complex chemical substances

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burst across the thin boarder line

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between what you and I call the living and the non-living

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to give the first, very simple, very elementary,

31:43

very fragile forms of life, perhaps 3 billion years ago.

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And then gradually, strangely, fascinatingly, intriguingly,

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these first faint and delicate blushes of life developed

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by agglomerating, by clumping up, by cooperation

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if we may anthropomorphize it,

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they began to develop

32:08

into more complicated forms of existence.

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And there appeared over the centuries,

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over the millennia, over the millions of years,

32:15

plants and animals in all their amazing

32:19

multi-farm, strange, and wonderful variety.

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And as these animal creatures, as they became more complex,

32:25

there appeared among them more and more

32:31

sensitivity to the environment.

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The amoeba pushes out against its environment.

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It absorbs materials from its environment.

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And as we go up through the scale

32:42

of development of complexity, as we follow it through time,

32:44

this sensitivity and this interaction

32:48

with the environment becomes more and more complicated,

32:50

and more and more complex.

32:54

In fact you and I might want to suggest

32:56

that here with the earliest

32:59

and the beginning developments of mind and of consciousness.

33:00

And as we track the great evolutionary scale,

33:05

which I'm discussing with you

33:08

from the invertebrates up through the fish,

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to the reptiles, to the mammals, and to the anthropoids,

33:11

then finally we reach a time

33:15

when it is possible for me to take you by the hand

33:17

and to lead you through the plains of Eastern Africa,

33:20

to move through the brush down there

33:24

in the region of Olduvai Gorge

33:27

which now exists as you know in Tanzania.

33:29

And if we were there, perhaps 4 million years ago,

33:33

you and I could push through the brush,

33:39

we could burst forth into a general opening.

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We could hear a noise, we could turn, we could look

33:44

and we would find ourselves finally face to face with man.

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We would have confronted ourselves.

33:57

We would've found there man.

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Humankind burst forth finally and fully

34:04

and amazingly up on the stage of this strange process.

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Man probably the most complex manifestation of the process,

34:15

at least on this planet.

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Man made of the dust of the earth,

34:21

man made out of the cosmic energy,

34:23

man made out of the stuff of the universe,

34:25

man whom we might style as conscious clay.

34:31

Or as my 13 year old says to me,

34:35

"Dad, we're really thinking mud, aren't we?"

34:37

And I say, "Yeah, yes, this is good."

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And this is what the ancient Hebrew writer felt.

34:45

Oh no, he didn't come at it scientifically.

34:48

He couldn't, but he felt it.

34:51

For he calls man, adamah,

34:53

red earth into which God has breathed the breath of life.

34:58

Thinking mud, conscious clay,

35:05

able to look back over his shoulder

35:07

and dimly perceive what the world is all about.

35:09

Able to ask the question of meaning.

35:14

And it is man's mind,

35:18

man's consciousness that allows him

35:20

to grapple with his world.

35:24

For a physicist you know,

35:26

is nothing but a whole gang of atoms

35:27

that have gotten together to study atoms.

35:30

And man's consciousness is that

35:34

which leads him to investigate,

35:36

to probe, to search, to explore.

35:38

It gives him the impetus to do science

35:41

and to conquer the environment.

35:43

But man is more than that.

35:46

Something else has happened in the cosmic drama

35:47

that you and I have been reviewing,

35:50

for man is not just a computer

35:52

mounted up on some kind of mobilization apparatus.

35:54

He is more than that.

35:59

She is more than that.

36:01

Humankind has gone through another great and glorious stage.

36:03

For if I attempt to address you or treat you as a computer,

36:09

if I attempt to address you or treat you as a machine,

36:14

you say, no, don't do that to me.

36:17

Don't fold, don't staple, don't mutilate,

36:19

don't spindle for I am more than a machine.

36:22

And I say to you, what more.

36:25

You say, well, I'm a person.

36:28

I say quite right.

36:32

And some place when, where, precisely how I do not know,

36:34

but someplace another stage in the processes that occurred,

36:40

the stage of personalization,

36:44

where we have attained the ability to choose to be free,

36:46

to entertain freedom, to determine our own destinies,

36:50

to grow up for peace, to aspire for justice,

36:54

to seek stable society.

36:57

We've entered into these complex abstract relationships

36:59

which make us persons.

37:03

When did it happen?

37:04

When we first perceived the import of death,

37:06

when we developed language maybe 400,000 years ago

37:09

with the invention of the wheel or the invention of fire.

37:14

I'm not sure.

37:18

And neither are the anthropologist sure

37:19

just exactly what it was that personalized us.

37:21

Maybe many things, most likely a complex of many things,

37:24

but we have indeed become persons.

37:28

Now let's review very quickly.

37:33

I have said to you that it appears to me

37:35

that you and I have merged out of at least a vast

37:37

and glorious 10 billion year immense and fabulous journey.

37:40

Out of energy and atoms we have come

37:44

out of the apparently dead unconscious matter,

37:46

there has emerged humanity,

37:48

living conscious and personalized

37:51

with the potential for freedom

37:54

and with the potential for purpose,

37:56

and with the need for meaning.

37:58

The human, the startling product of the whole process

38:02

who can turn around the first portion of the process

38:07

that can turn around and look at the process itself

38:10

and look back into that dim and murky and distant past

38:14

and see himself rising out of the dust.

38:17

We are products of what we might construe

38:21

over simply to be sure,

38:25

what we might construes a vast ladder

38:27

with the wrong first of energy,

38:31

then the breakthrough to matter,

38:34

then the breakthrough to life,

38:37

then the breakthrough to mind,

38:39

and then the breakthrough to consciousness.

38:41

And this is where we are today.

38:44

We are at this mind consciousness personhood breakthrough,

38:47

for we are in strange position today,

38:55

in position as you and I will know

38:58

because it ripples through our gut constantly,

39:00

in position to bring to this earth the greatest good

39:03

it has ever seen.

39:06

With our technology to feed the hungry,

39:08

to give drink to the thirsty,

39:10

to clothe the naked, to house the homeless,

39:12

to lift the fallen, to heal the ill, the cure the insane,

39:15

to teach the ignorant, to deliver all of those captive

39:19

to economic, political, and psychological bondage.

39:23

But strangely,

39:27

paradoxically, we are also in position today

39:29

to bring to this earth

39:33

probably the greatest evil it has ever seen,

39:34

or we are beset with a horrendous potentiality

39:37

of air, earth, and water pollution

39:40

with the possibility of nuclear, chemical,

39:43

and biological warfare,

39:45

with vast currents of planetary racial hatred,

39:47

with powerful forces of economic oppression,

39:51

with the possibility of controlling human beings

39:55

through computers, drugs, electronic devices,

39:58

and genetic changes.

40:01

We are on the rim, on the utter edge

40:03

of planetary starvation under the sponsorship

40:07

of an unregulated population explosion.

40:11

And we seem so much of the time to be beset with leaders

40:14

who are greedy, power mad, self-seeking,

40:18

and short-sighted crisis.

40:22

In short, no one can help ask, where are we headed?

40:32

And I guess the question I want to entertain with you,

40:40

at this point in the scale,

40:45

in the interpretive context I have proffered to you is this,

40:47

is there another rung on the ladder?

40:53

For we have moved from energy, broken through to matter.

40:57

Matter of breaking through to life,

41:01

life breaking through to mind,

41:03

mind breaking through to personality.

41:05

Is there another rung?

41:08

Is there another breakthrough?

41:10

Is there something more we are meant for?

41:11

Is there something more we are meant to be?

41:14

Is there something more it is possible to be?

41:17

And my answer is, yes.

41:21

This is a confessional answer.

41:25

It is a religious answer.

41:27

It is a metaphysical answer.

41:29

It is an answer that comes of the riches

41:31

of what I understand to be the Hebrew Christian tradition,

41:34

because the Hebrew Christian tradition asserts

41:38

that another breakthrough has already occurred.

41:41

And has occurred in the strange, wondering, bearded,

41:46

unorthodox, itinerant,

41:50

massively misunderstood rabbi of Nazareth.

41:52

Strange man who has in himself been the breakthrough,

41:57

who has sensed the pulse of the future,

42:03

who has broke through to the next rung

42:06

of compassionate concern

42:09

and has attempted to splash before us upon these screen

42:13

of the cosmic panorama,

42:17

the potential for all women and for all men.

42:19

And yet, if you think about it,

42:26

every single one of the stages,

42:29

every single one of the movements had certain properties.

42:32

When energy broke through to matter

42:37

or matter broke through to life,

42:39

we've got to use terms like turbulence and struggle

42:41

and try after, try after, try with slight success.

42:46

We have got to use terms that manifest failures and relapses

42:51

and disappointments and gradual and slight success

42:56

among many, many tries.

43:01

How many times did matter try for life.

43:04

Once?

43:07

Oh, no.

43:08

Millions of times, that combination,

43:10

and that combination and that, and that, and that.

43:12

If you wish in an attempt to build a complexity

43:16

that can be called life.

43:20

How many combinations

43:22

of molecular configurations were tried?

43:24

Billions perhaps until finally the right one locked in,

43:27

and there life.

43:32

And out of that one incident, all of the next stage came,

43:36

how many times was mankind tried for.

43:41

Once?

43:45

No, no.

43:46

The surface of the planet is littered with the false starts.

43:47

The bony graves of those that didn't make it surround this

43:52

in practically every region of the planet.

43:56

That try, and that try, and that try, and that,

43:59

again, and again, and again until finally the breakthrough,

44:03

the one and from the breakthrough, the spread.

44:07

And then the cooking, the cooking if you wish,

44:12

the breakthrough on each stayed, the proliferation,

44:16

the cooking and out of the cooking and the pulsing,

44:20

finally the one breakthrough again to the next stage.

44:23

You're intelligent enough

44:28

to develop the paradigm if you wish.

44:29

You're intelligent enough to develop the image.

44:32

What I'm trying to say to you

44:35

is I don't think the image is a wrong one.

44:36

I think it has something to say to us

44:40

because I think the image of breaking through

44:42

to the next stage of possible development

44:45

here up on this planet perched up on the outer edge

44:47

of this tiny galaxy.

44:51

I think the possibility of that next breakthrough

44:53

is going to have similar dimensions far to truly love,

44:56

to truly care, to truly be concerned,

45:01

to change your society, to work constructively,

45:05

to stand against the temptations of materialism

45:09

and nationalism and defeatism.

45:13

To stand against all of the currents

45:17

that would be brought against us is rough.

45:20

And it must only be describable

45:23

in terms of struggle and antagonism.

45:25

And many, many tries with little apparent success,

45:30

but the breakthrough has occurred in the one.

45:35

And we are called to join the breakthrough.

45:39

We are called to look to our brother,

45:44

the first fruits, the breakthrough creature,

45:46

the breakthrough individual Jesus himself.

45:50

We are called to join in that faltering program of love.

45:54

But I must warn you again, it'll be difficult.

45:59

No one that understands the existential

46:03

import of the New Testament.

46:06

No one that understands the character of cross

46:08

and crucifixion

46:12

can fail to understand.

46:16

For there is no resurrection without a compassionate intent,

46:22

which often leads to crucifixion.

46:28

It is sacrifice by which this world moves forward.

46:32

It is the sacrifice of energy that brings about matter

46:38

and the sacrifice of matter that brings about life

46:41

and the sacrifice of the living state

46:44

that brings about development and finally mind,

46:46

and the sacrifice of the mind,

46:49

giving it over to the person,

46:51

and the sacrifice of the person

46:54

that brings the compassion of God into this universe,

46:56

to give one's self in face of the cross.

47:01

We can blow it on the planet.

47:09

We can all die.

47:12

I don't think this is the only place

47:14

that God's running one of these deals.

47:16

For you see every bit of evidence that I can accumulate,

47:20

leads me to believe that there is a vast,

47:23

glorious, personalistic spirit working with this.

47:27

I don't know what kind of theology you have.

47:34

Many people have what I like to call

47:38

prepositional theologies.

47:40

Not propositional, prepositional,

47:42

'cause you see here's the scheme.

47:46

Now I don't know how you think about

47:48

God being related to it.

47:49

Some people want to say God's behind it.

47:51

There's one kind of prepositional theology.

47:53

Others say, God is under it.

47:56

Others say, God is over it.

47:58

Well, I like God rippling through it.

48:00

That's the one I like to talk about,

48:03

but that there is a relation

48:06

and that there is something going on,

48:09

and that you and I are invited to join in is evident to me.

48:11

The potential is tremendous,

48:20

but as I've said, we could blow it.

48:22

If it fails on this planet, it'll go on someplace else.

48:25

In the myriads of galaxies that surround us,

48:29

something similar is going on surely.

48:32

No one said it more clearly than Nikos Kazantzakis.

48:38

Right before he wrote "Zorba the Greek"

48:45

he has given us a series of essays,

48:47

entitled "Report to Greco".

48:50

And one of them tells the story in the most graphic way.

48:52

Give me your imagination again

48:55

as Kazantzakis would have called for it.

48:58

He says in one of those essays,

49:01

the world has reached the stage of the worms.

49:06

It has come up from energy, to matter, to life,

49:09

and life has risen to the status of the worms.

49:12

And there were the worms.

49:14

They were in the mud.

49:16

They were curled up in the fetal position.

49:17

They were happy.

49:20

They were well fed.

49:21

They were warm.

49:22

And down through the stream

49:25

comes what Kazantzakis calls the cry.

49:27

This is his word for God.

49:32

And God says to the word worms.

49:33

God says the cry cries out to the worms,

49:37

rise,

49:42

unfold,

49:44

unfurl.

49:46

There are glories ahead that you don't even dream of,

49:48

there are creatures that you can't even understand.

49:51

There is a vast role to be tried on ahead,

49:54

and you may inaugurated and you may participate in it.

49:58

And the wrong worms look up to the cry and say, nuts.

50:02

Baloney.

50:08

That's a lot of religious gobbledygook.

50:10

That's a lot of garbage.

50:12

But the cry persists saying, rise.

50:17

You don't know what is possible.

50:22

There is glory unfathomable up above,

50:25

and the cry keeps punching down

50:30

upon the worms until finally.

50:36

Out of all the fetal lead positioned worms,

50:39

out of all of those in typical middle-class worms society,

50:42

finally one worm gets hooked.

50:47

And I warn you against the cry 'cause if you do get hooked,

50:57

there's no turning back.

51:04

I warn you against religion

51:06

because it calls for crucifixion.

51:10

But that one worm heard the cry and said,

51:15

"All right, if you'll just shut up.

51:20

"If you'll just get off my back,

51:25

"I'll unfurl and I will rise."

51:27

So once more, the Christ said then, "Rise."

51:31

And the worm unfurled and rose.

51:36

And in that act, the beat went on.

51:40

For the whole future came from that.

51:47

Can Kazantzakis say anything different to us?

51:55

There is the world of glory up ahead,

52:03

there is a possibility built of sacrifice, yes.

52:06

Built a pain, yes.

52:11

Built of difficulty, yes.

52:13

Built of dedication, yes.

52:15

Then emanating, resulting in glory.

52:17

Although it is possible for us to blow it on this planet.

52:25

It is also possible for us to make it.

52:29

I don't think any of us

52:36

will ever be free of the cry

52:41

that ripples down through the cosmic reaches,

52:44

the cry saying to each and every one of us, rise.

52:48

For we know of a resurrection faith

53:00

in which the whole or world,

53:06

energy, matter, life, mind consciousness, personality

53:08

will be gathered up in the end term

53:13

in the compassion of God, rise.

53:18

In the name of the father

53:26

and of the son and the holy ghost, world without end.

53:28

Amen.

53:32

(soft piano music)

53:46

-

The Duke University ministers

54:28

are very pleased to have received

54:30

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54:32

who wish to receive the chapel bulletin.

54:37

We are aware that many persons

54:40

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54:42

We feel it may be helpful to you who worship by radio,

54:47

to have a copy of the Sunday bulletin

54:51

so you can follow our prayers, the scripture readings,

54:53

read the words as their son

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55:00

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55:03

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55:06

and other chapel mailings in advance,

55:08

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55:11

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55:16

Once enough names are secure to get a bulk mailing permit,

55:19

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55:24

The address again is Duke Chapel,

55:27

Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

55:31

(congregation singing)

55:36

(soft piano music)

56:52

(congregation singing)

58:03

Preacher Unknown - Morning Service (January 20, 1974)

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