Kenneth L. Carder - "The Neighbor Question" (July 16, 1995)

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-	Good morning, welcome to Duke Chapel.	0:12
	Our preacher today is the Reverend Doctor Kenneth Carder,	0:14
	Bishop of the Tennessee Conference	0:17
	of the United Methodist Church.	0:19
	We are pleased to welcome him and his wife Linda,	0:22
	and hope you'll take a moment to greet them	0:24
	at the end of the service.	0:26
	On Wednesday, July 19th,	0:28
	at seven o'clock p.m.,	0:31
	Jay Samuel Hammon, the university carillonneur,	0:32
	will present a carillon demonstration and concert.	0:36
	And next Sunday, July 23rd, at three o'clock p.m.,	0:39
	the Moses Hogan Corral, a gospel choir from New Orleans,	0:43
	will perform a program of sacred and popular music.	0:48
	Both concerts are free,	0:51
	and we hope you will be able to attend.	0:53
	Now, let is continue our worship a greeting,	0:55
	please stand.	0:58
	Come, let us worship Almighty God.	1:04
	Come, let us honor Christ Jesus.	1:12
	Come, let us be filled with the spirit of the living God.	1:22
	(organ music)	1:32
	(choir singing)	2:13
-	Let us pray.	5:09
	Gracious God, our helper,	5:12
	we greet you this morning with joy and thanksgiving.	5:15
	We feel your welcome,	5:19
	and anticipate your teaching.	5:21
	Show us this day what you would have us do,	5:24
	whether it be great or small,	5:27
	we want to do what you command.	5:30
	Let our ears we attentive to your word,	5:33
	and our hearts be responsive	5:36
	to the opportunities you grant us,	5:38
	to bear one another's burdens	5:41
	in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	5:44
	You may be seated.	5:49
	Let us join together in the prayer for illumination.	5:57
	Open our hearts and minds, O God,	6:02
	by the power of your Holy Spirit	6:05
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	6:08
	we may hear your message with joy this day, amen.	6:12
	The first lesson is from the book of Amos,	6:18
	chapter seven, beginning with verse seven.	6:21
	This is what he showed me,	6:26
	the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plum line,	6:28
	with a plum line in his hand.	6:33
	And the Lord said to me Amos,	6:36
	what do you see?	6:39
	And I said a plum line.	6:41
	Then the Lord said see, I am setting a plum line	6:44
	in the midst of my people Israel,	6:47
	I will never again pass them by.	6:50
	The high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,	6:54
	and the sanctuaries of Israel	6:58
	shall be laid waste,	6:59
	and I will rise against	7:02
	the house of Jeroboam with the sword.	7:03
	Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,	7:07
	sent to King Jeroboam of Israel,	7:10
	saying Amos has conspired against you	7:12
	in the very center of the House of Israel,	7:15
	the land is not able to bear all his words.	7:18
	For thus Amos has said Jeroboam shall die by the sword,	7:23
	and Israel shall go into exile, away from his land.	7:29
	And Amaziah said to Amos O seer,	7:34
	go, flee away to the land of Judah,	7:38
	earn your bread there and prophesy there,	7:42
	but never again prophesy at Bethel,	7:45
	for it is the king's sanctuary,	7:49
	and it is a temple of the kingdom.	7:51
	Then Amos answered Amaziah,	7:54
	I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son,	7:57
	but I am an herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees,	8:00
	and the Lord took me from following the flock,	8:04
	and the Lord said to me go,	8:07
	prophesy to my people Israel.	8:10
	Now therefore hear the word of the Lord:	8:14
	you say do not prophesy against Israel,	8:17
	and do not preach against the House of Isaac,	8:21
	therefore thus says the Lord,	8:24
	your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,	8:27
	and your sons and your daughters	8:31
	shall fall by the sword,	8:32
	and your lands shall be parceled out by line,	8:33
	you yourself shall die in an unclean land,	8:37
	and Israel shall surely go into exile	8:41
	away from its land.	8:45
	This is the word of the Lord,	8:48
	thanks be to God.	8:50
-	The Psalter this morning is Psalm 82,	9:00
	found on page 804 of the Hymnal.	9:03
	Please rise and sing with us responsively,	9:07
	and remember the Gloria is in the bulletin	9:11
	and follows immediately the Psalm.	9:14
	(organ music)	9:17
	♪ God is seated in the diving council ♪	9:26
	♪ And in the midst of the guards holds judgment ♪	9:30
	♪ Give justice to the weak ♪	9:45
	♪ And the orphaned ♪	9:48
	♪ Maintain the right of the afflicted ♪	9:51
	♪ And the destitute ♪	9:53
	♪ They have neither knowledge ♪	10:07
	♪ Nor understanding ♪	10:09
	♪ They walk about in darkness ♪	10:11
	♪ All the foundations of the earth are shaken ♪	10:15
	♪ Nevertheless you shall die like mortals ♪	10:30
	♪ And fall like any prince ♪	10:34
	♪ All glory be to you Creator ♪	10:50
	♪ And to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪	10:54
	♪ As it was when time began ♪	11:05
-	The second reading is from the book of Colossians,	11:29
	chapter one, beginning with verse one.	11:32
	Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus,	11:36
	by the will of God,	11:39
	and Timothy, our brother,	11:40
	to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters	11:43
	in Christ in Colossi,	11:46
	grace to you and peace from God our Father,	11:48
	in our prayers for you we always thank God,	11:52
	the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,	11:55
	for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,	11:58
	and of the love that you have for all the saints	12:01
	because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.	12:04
	You have heard of this hope before	12:07
	in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you.	12:09
	Just as it is bearing fruit	12:14
	and growing in the whole world,	12:16
	so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves	12:18
	from the day you heard it and truly comprehended	12:21
	the grace of God.	12:24
	This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant.	12:26
	He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,	12:30
	and he has made known to us your love in the spirit.	12:33
	For this reason, since the day we heard it,	12:38
	we have not ceased praying for you	12:41
	and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge	12:44
	of God's will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding	12:47
	so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord,	12:51
	fully pleasing to him	12:54
	as you bear fruit in every good work,	12:57
	and as you grow in the knowledge of God.	12:59
	May you be made strong with all the strength	13:03
	that comes from his glorious power,	13:06
	and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience,	13:08
	while joyfully giving thanks to the Father	13:13
	who has enabled you to share in the inheritance	13:16
	of the saints in the light.	13:18
	He has rescued us from the power of darkness	13:21
	and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,	13:24
	in whom we have redemption,	13:29
	the forgiveness of sins.	13:31
	This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God.	13:35
	(organ music)	13:44
	(choir singing)	14:02
-	Just then, a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.	17:34
	Teacher, he said,	17:39
	what must I do to inherit eternal life?	17:42
	He said to him what is written in the law?	17:47
	What do you read there?	17:51
	He answered you shall love the Lord your God	17:55
	with all your heart, and with all your soul,	17:57
	and with all your strength,	18:00
	and with all your mind.	18:02
	And your neighbor as yourself.	18:05
	He said to him you have given the right answer.	18:09
	Do this and you will live.	18:15
	But, wanting to justify himself,	18:20
	he asked Jesus	18:23
	and who is my neighbor?	18:26
	Jesus replied,	18:30
	a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho	18:33
	and fell into the hands of robbers	18:37
	who stripped him and beat him and went away,	18:39
	leaving him half dead.	18:43
	Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road,	18:47
	and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.	18:51
	So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him,	18:56
	he passed by on the other side.	19:02
	But a Samaritan, while traveling, came near him,	19:08
	and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.	19:13
	He went to him and bandaged his wounds,	19:18
	having poured oil and wine on them.	19:24
	Then he put him on his own animal,	19:29
	brought him to an inn,	19:32
	and took care of him.	19:35
	The next day, he took out two denari,	19:39
	gave them to the innkeeper and said	19:42
	take care of him,	19:45
	and when I come back I will repay you	19:48
	whatever more you spend.	19:50
	Which of these three do you think	19:55
	was a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?	20:00
	He said	20:06
	the one who showed him mercy.	20:08
	Jesus said to him	20:13
	go and do likewise,	20:16
	this is the word of the Lord.	20:22
	I remember that sultry hot August day,	20:28
	not unlike today,	20:34
	when Rob Roy showed up for his first visit	20:37
	to Church Street United Methodist Church in Knoxville.	20:42
	He was immediately noticeable.	20:50
	He wore baggy, self made pants	20:56
	that he had fashioned out of recycled cloth.	21:02
	Also, he wore a tie dyed T-shirt,	21:09
	which I learned later was his own artistic creation,	21:12
	demonstrating his obvious preference	21:18
	for loud colors.	21:21
	He was noticeable because he simply didn't fit in	21:28
	to that tradition-minded, liturgically sensitive,	21:31
	rational congregation that had gathered for	21:38
	their weekly visit	21:43
	to that ornate gothic structure.	21:45
	He was really one who belonged in a picture	21:54
	of a commune of the 60s.	21:57
	His long, unkept brown hair	22:02
	covering his multicolored beads,	22:06
	unshaven,	22:11
	and most noticeable all to me	22:14
	as he walked in the center aisle,	22:16
	he didn't have on any shoes.	22:19
	I had never seen a barefooted person	22:23
	in that sanctuary before.	22:26
	It was communion Sunday,	22:31
	which made him all the more obvious,	22:34
	for he made his way up that long center aisle	22:39
	toward the high altar,	22:43
	every eye followed him all the way to the altar.	22:48
	Wonder what he will do,	22:54
	you can't quite trust people like this,	22:57
	they obviously aren't quite fitting in	22:59
	to this picture, this iconoclastic one.	23:02
	So there he was,	23:08
	kneeling right in the center,	23:11
	in front of the cross.	23:14
	His dirty bare feet showing to the congregation.	23:18
	On his right was a president	23:24
	of a local financial institution,	23:28
	dressed in his dark blue pinstripe suit.	23:31
	It was as though he formed the right	23:37
	of that picture framing	23:41
	this odd person showing up	23:44
	in this sedate place.	23:47
	On his left was a young lawyer,	23:53
	her hair well groomed,	23:57
	her bright red suit with matching shoes	24:00
	clashed with everything Rob had on.	24:05
	He wouldn't go away.	24:16
	He stayed on after the service,	24:19
	insisted on talking to me,	24:21
	I didn't look forward to the conversation.	24:24
	I anticipated any time that he would be asking me	24:28
	for money,	24:31
	but he didn't.	24:35
	Oh, he did ask if it was possible	24:38
	that the church might have an extra room somewhere	24:40
	and could loan him the money for a sewing machine,	24:43
	he thought there would be a market	24:46
	for the clothes he was wearing,	24:47
	and if he could just set up shop in the church	24:50
	he might be able to market those in the street.	24:53
	He had some strange ideas	24:58
	about God and Jesus.	25:01
	I thought I had heard most ideas,	25:05
	but he gave me some new ones.	25:08
	His concept of church was quite different	25:12
	from mine and the dominant view	25:15
	of the people of that congregation.	25:18
	But there was sort of a gentleness about him	25:22
	that had survived years	25:26
	on the streets of American cities.	25:30
	He had experimented with drugs,	25:34
	but was not addicted.	25:36
	I learned that he lived in a local shelter for the homeless,	25:38
	along with his girlfriend, who was pregnant.	25:41
	He said it's about time I settled down, I guess,	25:48
	now that I'm going to be a father.	25:52
	I thought he would go away,	25:59
	secretly hoping he would,	26:02
	be he just stayed around the church,	26:07
	back the next Sunday dressed in the same clothes,	26:10
	he just kept showing up,	26:13
	so I don't know whether it was in an attempt	26:14
	to respond to people such as Rob,	26:17
	but I suspect that was one motivation,	26:20
	we decided to start a Thursday evening alternative service.	26:23
	He would be more at home in a place like that, of course,	26:29
	Parish Hall, after all, we could sit in circles,	26:32
	less formal, so we started that service,	26:35
	Rob showed up for the soup kitchen every week.	26:39
	And yes, on that first Thursday he was there.	26:45
	He showed up there frequently,	26:50
	but he didn't seem to be out of place there,	26:52
	even though his Rob-designed jeans	26:54
	and tie dyed T-shirt	26:58
	had not caught on in the street,	27:01
	he wasn't out of place.	27:05
	But Rob seemed to prefer the more formal sanctuary	27:08
	and service of worship,	27:13
	so he kept showing up on Sunday morning.	27:14
	But he was there on that	27:19
	cold February evening,	27:21
	a Thursday evening.	27:25
	We were waiting for the vans to bring the people in	27:28
	from the shelters and the low income housing	27:31
	and across the river,	27:33
	and there we were waiting for the worship service to begin,	27:35
	when suddenly through the door came a stranger	27:40
	even more noticeable than Rob.	27:45
	Large, matted hair,	27:49
	full beard, glassed over eyes,	27:54
	and no shoes.	27:58
	Well, a barefoot man in February,	28:04
	sub freezing temperatures,	28:06
	represented a crisis to the staff of Church Street Church.	28:09
	What were we to do with this one?	28:15
	I went over, tried to learn his name,	28:18
	and I couldn't understand him,	28:21
	he just wouldn't communicate,	28:22
	I just heard some syllables,	28:24
	but I couldn't distinguish what he was saying.	28:28
	We scurried about the church trying to find a pair of shoes,	28:32
	there were no shoes available.	28:37
	The Baptist church had the clothing store,	28:40
	so we tried to call the Baptist Church,	28:42
	but it was after office hours and no one answered the phone.	28:44
	All of the shoe stores in the city, in the inner city,	28:49
	had closed down.	28:53
	Even the agencies that were supposed to	28:55
	take care of people like this	28:58
	stranger weren't available.	29:01
	Only the police were available,	29:06
	they're always, you know, readily available	29:09
	to deal with people we don't know how to deal with,	29:13
	but we didn't call the police	29:18
	because we knew he hadn't done anything	29:21
	except to present us with an issue	29:23
	we didn't know how to deal with,	29:26
	which is perhaps a popular reason people call the police,	29:29
	but we didn't.	29:33
	I, facetiously, as we walked back down the hallway	29:38
	toward the Parish Hall,	29:41
	commented to one of the other pastors,	29:44
	you know, we oughta get a committee together	29:47
	to form some strategy by which	29:50
	we can avoid such crises as these.	29:52
	We oughta have a plan for this.	29:55
	It was now past time for the service to begin,	29:59
	the people had gathered.	30:03
	I went into the Parish Hall and I looked for that stranger,	30:05
	and I found him over in the corner,	30:09
	and who was with him?	30:11
	Rob was over there with his hand around his shoulder,	30:13
	and I looked down at his feet,	30:20
	and the stranger that had entered the service	30:22
	with no shoes now had shoes on his feet,	30:24
	but Rob had no shoes on his feet.	30:29
	He had given him his shoes.	30:35
	And I had learned that as he put his arm	30:39
	around that threatening stranger,	30:41
	he told him I have another pair of shoes	30:46
	down at the shelter,	30:49
	and also,	30:52
	would you like to spend the night with me down there?	30:54
	It never occurred to me	31:03
	to see if my shoes would fit.	31:07
	I, who have several pairs of shoes,	31:11
	a pair of shoes for almost every occasion,	31:13
	it never entered my mind to offer him my shoes,	31:15
	and I, who have at least two vacant bedrooms	31:20
	in the parsonage, it never entered my mind	31:24
	to suggest that I could provide hospitality	31:27
	to this stranger.	31:30
	And had it entered my mind,	31:31
	I would have immediately come up with at least	31:34
	a dozen plausible good reasons	31:38
	why I should not give him my shoes,	31:43
	and certainly not a bedroom in my home.	31:47
	The world's ditches	31:56
	are full of wounded,	31:59
	broken, hungry,	32:03
	starving, naked,	32:06
	bound people.	32:09
	The ditches are filling up with children,	32:15
	a hundred million or more have died	32:20
	in the last 10 years of poverty.	32:22
	12 million children	32:28
	live in the ditches of this world, homeless.	32:32
	80 million of them between the ages of seven and 14	32:38
	work in factories and mines	32:41
	and wherever else they can get a job	32:45
	to help to support the consumerism	32:49
	of North America and Europe.	32:52
	Everywhere you look, if we look,	32:58
	there the wounded are,	33:03
	robbed by racism and classism	33:07
	and consumerism and sexism	33:12
	and nationalism.	33:15
	People robbed of their dignity,	33:21
	their self respect,	33:22
	people denied access	33:25
	to God's abundant table.	33:29
	They're there, they're on the back roads of our society,	33:36
	in the alleys,	33:43
	some of them sleep in the doorways	33:46
	of our urban churches,	33:48
	they shuffle into our soup kitchens,	33:52
	seldom show up in our sanctuaries.	33:58
	And where is the church?	34:06
	This community called into being	34:08
	to get people out of ditches,	34:11
	or to enter into the ditches where the wounded are,	34:15
	where is the church?	34:18
	Ask the priest and the Levite.	34:22
	We travel with them frequently.	34:26
	This community, this institution called into being	34:31
	to be available to, to be a means by which	34:34
	God touches the wounded of the world,	34:39
	binds up their wounds and pours on them	34:43
	the oil of salvation	34:46
	and sets them on toward the future	34:48
	of a new creation,	34:50
	this institution has got other things to do.	34:54
	We're just preoccupied with our own survival,	35:00
	we're dressing ourselves up to try to appeal	35:04
	to the masses of this culture.	35:07
	We're afraid to come to grips with our woundedness	35:11
	because we're afraid that we'll expose our scars	35:13
	and the world won't like us if we're scarred.	35:17
	So we put our best feet forward,	35:22
	we dress our feet.	35:25
	We cover them.	35:29
	And of course, since we're affluent,	35:34
	affluence makes available to us multiple options,	35:38
	and one of the options we exercise in the very beginning	35:41
	is to avoid the ditches.	35:44
	After all, we can now drive out of and around Jericho roads.	35:50
	We don't have to take that route any longer,	35:55
	we move out of that part of town,	35:58
	we follow people like us to the suburbs,	36:01
	we acquiesce to the racism and the classism	36:07
	and abandon the hurting places of the world	36:10
	to the safe, secure enclaves of personal privilege	36:13
	and illusionary religious orthodoxy.	36:17
	We gather with people like us,	36:23
	and then figure out how to protect our privilege	36:29
	and preserve our institution.	36:34
	Oh, we're not bad people,	36:37
	I know,	36:43
	I know now more painfully than I knew three years ago	36:46
	that I'm a priest and a Levite	36:50
	and I don't know how to change my identity	36:55
	by myself.	36:59
	I just know that the circles in which I operate now,	37:03
	I have to go out of my way	37:07
	to find the ditches.	37:11
	I don't deliberately avoid them,	37:15
	I'm just now part of a whole institutional way	37:19
	of doing things that I never see them.	37:22
	At least when I was the pastor at Church Street,	37:27
	I had to interact with them as I entered the office,	37:31
	I don't do that anymore.	37:33
	I live in a different neighborhood,	37:35
	I travel on different streets,	37:37
	I operate with different people,	37:39
	it's not deliberate, I just don't see them.	37:41
	Some of the bishops have entered into	37:49
	a covenant with one another	37:51
	that we will establish ongoing, persistent friendships	37:53
	with the poor, the despised, the outcast.	37:59
	And every time we gather in our small covenant groups,	38:05
	we ask how are you doing with your covenants?	38:10
	And the covenant we're having the most difficulty with	38:14
	is entering into and maintaining ongoing relationships	38:17
	with the poor and the marginalized.	38:22
	And we embody pretty much	38:27
	the position of our denomination,	38:31
	we just don't know where the ditches are,	38:36
	or if we do, we have a way of avoiding them.	38:41
	Of course, we know where God is, don't we?	38:46
	We have been set apart,	38:49
	as the priest and Levite, they were set apart	38:52
	to keep people connected to God,	38:56
	to keep this community aware	38:58
	of the ditched,	39:02
	but they were so busy preserving the institution,	39:06
	they were not aware of the ditched,	39:09
	or they didn't have time.	39:14
	We know where God is.	39:18
	The God of the Exodus is the one who affirms	39:21
	I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt,	39:23
	I have heard their cries under their taskmasters,	39:27
	indeed, I know their sufferings,	39:31
	and I have come to deliver them.	39:34
	This God who moves into the bondage	39:37
	felt and experienced by the slaves,	39:42
	and leads this community of nobodies	39:45
	toward a new land,	39:50
	and this God who chose to come among us	39:52
	came as a little baby	39:55
	born homeless in a stable	39:59
	of an unwed teenager,	40:04
	spent his first months	40:08
	as an undocumented alien in Egypt.	40:13
	Associated with all kinds of despised and outcast	40:18
	and ditched people of his time,	40:23
	you know the story, we all do,	40:28
	he so closely identified with those	40:30
	who were in the ditches of the world	40:34
	that he said in as much as you do	40:36
	to one of these little ones, you do to me.	40:38
	That there's a connection between our being a neighbor	40:42
	and our relationship with God.	40:46
	There's a direct correlation between	40:50
	our response to the people who live in the ditches	40:52
	and the God we are called to serve.	40:55
	They took him out on a hillside one day,	41:02
	executed him as a bandit between two bandits,	41:06
	they sealed him in a borrowed tomb,	41:15
	and when he rose from the dead,	41:20
	he convinced the skeptical not by rational arguments	41:26
	but by what?	41:30
	Showing them	41:32
	his scars,	41:35
	his wounds.	41:37
	This God who says I will draw people	41:41
	by being lifted up on the cross,	41:47
	this God who heals by stripes, wounds,	41:50
	this God who enter into the brokenness of humanity	41:54
	and absorbs the brokenness and continues,	41:57
	though risen, continues to bear the scars of crucifixion.	42:01
	Ah, that's the God we serve.	42:09
	That's the God who is to shape	42:14
	this community we call church.	42:16
	Whoever else	42:22
	that was in that ditch	42:26
	between Jerusalem and Jericho,	42:30
	and it's instructive that the gospel writer	42:33
	doesn't identify who it was,	42:35
	we don't know really whether he was Jew or Gentile,	42:39
	old or young,	42:44
	black or white,	42:46
	rich or poor,	42:48
	gay or straight,	42:52
	married or single,	42:54
	we don't know if he was a reputable member of the community	42:57
	or a scoundrel,	43:00
	we don't know where he had been or where he was going	43:02
	or what he was going to do when he got there,	43:04
	whether he was one of the robbers	43:07
	who frequented that highway	43:10
	or a police officer,	43:13
	we just know he was wounded.	43:16
	But whoever else was in that ditch that day,	43:18
	God was there.	43:22
	For God has claimed all of the world's ditches,	43:28
	all of the world's stables,	43:33
	all of the world's crosses,	43:36
	all of the world's tombs	43:39
	as the domain of the divine presence.	43:42
	The question who is my neighbor	43:52
	is almost always raised	43:57
	as a sociological or political question.	44:00
	It really is a theological question,	44:04
	who is God?	44:07
	Where is God?	44:09
	And what am I going to do about it?	44:11
	It most often is raised as a means of selecting	44:15
	those to whom we will relate as a neighbor.	44:20
	It certainly is a political question	44:26
	in this culture right now, isn't it?	44:28
	Are the ones in the ditches employed?	44:31
	Have they children out of wedlock?	44:38
	Are they deserving?	44:42
	Jesus turned the whole question,	44:49
	the issue isn't who is in the ditch,	44:53
	but am I a neighbor to the one in the ditch?	44:58
	Am I going to move close to the one	45:03
	who came to claim the ditches of the world	45:08
	and transform them?	45:14
	The Sunday after that Thursday	45:22
	when Rob gave the stranger his shoes,	45:24
	Rob was at church again,	45:31
	he just wouldn't go away, thank God.	45:34
	It was communion again,	45:41
	there he was, dressed in his same silly clothes,	45:45
	the only change I saw of Rob	45:49
	was that his hair was now in a ponytail.	45:52
	He did have shoes on.	45:58
	He came back to the high altar for communion,	46:04
	he looked the same,	46:10
	but he didn't look out of place today.	46:13
	It was as though he really belonged there,	46:17
	and when he took his place	46:19
	right in the center,	46:21
	it was as though he belonged there.	46:25
	As I arrived in front of Rob	46:32
	with the loaf and the cup,	46:36
	I broke the loaf and said	46:41
	the body of Christ	46:46
	broken for you, Rob.	46:50
	He didn't see me, he was looking at the cross,	46:54
	then I took the cup and said Rob,	47:00
	the blood of Christ shed for you	47:03
	and for all people for the forgiveness of sins.	47:06
	His eyes dropped from the cross	47:11
	and just as they were hitting down to the chancel rail,	47:13
	he caught my eye.	47:17
	He prayed silently, I had trouble moving past him,	47:24
	but as I looked,	47:31
	I knew	47:35
	of all the people there that morning,	47:38
	Rob belonged.	47:43
	Of all the people there, Rob knew what all this meant	47:47
	about broken bodies and shed blood,	47:53
	he was in touch with his own brokenness.	47:57
	I knew he belonged there,	48:04
	and at least for a moment,	48:08
	I saw in him	48:11
	the presence of the one	48:15
	who is the neighbor to us all,	48:18
	the one who enters our brokenness,	48:23
	the one who enters the ditches of the world,	48:28
	wounded and scarred and risen,	48:34
	and invites us to join him.	48:40
	Rob knew the answer to the neighbor question,	48:46
	he knew who the real neighbor is,	48:54
	who can transform even priests and Levites	48:59
	like me.	49:06
	(organ music)	49:10
	(choir singing)	50:10
-	The Lord be with you.	53:42
	Let us pray, you may be seated.	53:45
	O Christ, whose wisdom we try to test with our questions,	53:57
	whose love we try to earn with our works,	54:04
	silence us with a parable,	54:08
	humble us with a miracle,	54:12
	tell us wondrous stories of Samaritans,	54:15
	of people who dare to touch those	54:19
	whom others have judged untouchable,	54:21
	of people who rise above long held prejudices	54:25
	to kneel at the side of the wounded,	54:29
	of people who sacrifice time and comfort	54:32
	and even pride to save a stranger from pain,	54:36
	of people who have learned what it means	54:41
	to be a neighbor.	54:45
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	54:48
	Tell us such stories, O Christ,	54:52
	that our knowledge of you might increase,	54:55
	you who sacrificed yourself on a criminal's cross	54:58
	to save your enemies,	55:02
	you who bear the scars of your own woundedness,	55:04
	help us to understand what you mean by eternal life,	55:10
	that we might begin living eternally here and now,	55:14
	showing mercy to those who are in need of mercy,	55:19
	even as we have been shown mercy by you.	55:23
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	55:27
	Help us stop abandoning others to the fate of the world	55:33
	while seeking privilege for ourselves.	55:39
	Help us to begin acknowledging our responsibility	55:42
	to care for those in the ditches	55:46
	before the opportunity to care has passed us by.	55:48
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	55:54
	Overcome our reluctance to intervene	55:58
	lest we become involved.	56:01
	Remind us that what touches one of us	56:04
	touches all of us.	56:06
	If we are to be your disciples,	56:08
	we can no longer remain passive,	56:10
	we can no longer avoid the ditches,	56:13
	we must be willing to get our hands dirty,	56:17
	we must be willing to reach out	56:20
	and touch those who are wounded.	56:22
	Show us those near and far	56:26
	who need the compassion and touch of a neighbor,	56:30
	those who are hungry,	56:34
	naked,	56:37
	bound,	56:39
	wounded,	56:41
	lonely,	56:44
	grieving,	56:46
	angry,	56:48
	hopeless,	56:50
	fearful,	56:52
	or dying.	56:54
	Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.	56:56
	Lord, help us truly to see	57:01
	and to reach out with a healing touch.	57:04
	O Christ who bears the brokenness of humanity	57:07
	because of love,	57:10
	strengthen us in your power	57:12
	that we might be able to love our neighbor	57:15
	more deeply and our God more surely.	57:17
	Let your spirit descend upon us,	57:22
	and like the Samaritan, we shall pour it out	57:25
	upon a suffering world	57:27
	that all might be saved according to your tender mercy,	57:29
	given for all of us through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	57:33
	You shall love the Lord your God	57:42
	with all your heart,	57:44
	and with all your soul,	57:45
	and with all your strength,	57:47
	and with all your mind,	57:48
	and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.	57:50
	This love motivates our giving,	57:54
	as God has loved us we return that love	57:57
	in our offerings of energy, time, and resources.	57:59
	(organ music)	58:07
	(choir singing)	59:38
	(organ music)	1:03:12
	(choir singing)	1:03:37
-	Let us pray.	1:04:40
	O gracious God,	1:04:44
	may these gifts and our lives	1:04:46
	bear fruit and many good works,	1:04:50
	increasing among all people, knowledge of God,	1:04:54
	patience, and endurance,	1:04:59
	wisdom, and understanding,	1:05:03
	love, and joy.	1:05:06
	May we act with compassion to each other	1:05:10
	and to those who are wounded,	1:05:14
	both near and far,	1:05:17
	that we might become neighbors	1:05:19
	who witness to your love in the world.	1:05:22
	We are grateful for the many mercies	1:05:26
	that you have shown us,	1:05:28
	and in our gratitude, we pledge ourselves	1:05:30
	and these offerings to extend mercy to all	1:05:34
	through Jesus Christ our Lord,	1:05:38
	who taught us to pray together,	1:05:41
	saying our Father who art in heaven,	1:05:43
	hallowed be thy name,	1:05:47
	thy kingdom come,	1:05:50
	thy will be done	1:05:52
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	1:05:54
	Give us this day our daily bread,	1:05:56
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:05:59
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	1:06:02
	and lead us not into temptation,	1:06:05
	but deliver us from evil,	1:06:08
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	1:06:11
	and the glory forever, amen.	1:06:14
	(organ music)	1:06:20
	(choir singing)	1:07:06
-	Go forth to serve God	1:10:33
	and your neighbor in all that you do,	1:10:34
	may the love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,	1:10:37
	and the communion of the Holy Spirit	1:10:40
	be with you and keep you, amen.	1:10:42
	(choir singing)	1:10:48
	(organ music)	1:10:59

Item Info

Title:

Kenneth L. Carder - "The Neighbor Question" (July 16, 1995)

Description:

The Church, in its efforts of self-preservation and the maintenance of its institution, has become like the priest and the Levite. It either does not know where the ditches of the world are, or it actively avoids them. It is often those who appear as misfits to the Church that serve to remind us that God has claimed the ditches of the world as the place of divine presence. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “Whoever else was in that ditch that day, God was there. For God has claimed all of the world’s ditches, all of the world’s stables, all of the world’s crosses, all of the world’s tombs, as the domain of the divine presence.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4jm23w97

Date:

July 16, 1995

Speaker:

Carder, Kenneth L.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0432
ref9604_t9e
uachapelsermaud
duke:321440
dcrmv001410
ark:/87924/r4jm23w97
db111808-2e43-4352-b27f-8209bbec06be

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

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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Kenneth L. Carder - "The Neighbor Question" (July 16, 1995)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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