Howard C. Wilkinson - "I Hurt and I Heal" (June 18, 1978)

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-	Duke University chapel service of worship,	0:05
	Sunday, June 18th, 1978.	0:08
	(organ prelude)	0:16
	♪ Now God be praised in heaven above ♪	9:01
	Praised be He for His great love,	9:07
	Wherein all creatures live and move,	9:13
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	9:20
	(organ music drowns out congregation singing)	9:36
Man	Be seated, please.	12:17
	To be open to God	12:28
	to know life in all its fullness,	12:31
	and to help bring life to others,	12:36
	we must be honest with ourselves no matter how difficult	12:41
	or painful this may be.	12:44
	We have both, by what we have done and what we have left	12:49
	undone, missed the mark of our high calling in Christ Jesus,	12:52
	our Lord.	12:59
	Therefore, let us now confess our sin	13:02
	before one another and to God.	13:07
	Let us pray.	13:11
	We confess that we are not worthy of the riches of life	13:14
	for which the generations before us have labored	13:18
	that we might enter into this heritage.	13:22
	We confess the confusion of our common life,	13:26
	the greed which disfigures our collective life	13:30
	and sets us against our brothers and sisters.	13:33
	We confess the indifference and callousness with which	13:37
	we treat the sufferings and the insecurity of the poor,	13:41
	and the pettiness which mars the relations between us.	13:45
	May we with contrite hearts seek once more to purify	13:50
	our spirits and to clarify our reason, so that a fair temple	13:54
	for the human spirit may be built in human society.	14:00
	Hear our prayers, Oh Lord, amen.	14:06
	Let us continue with our words and prayers	14:10
	of personal confession.	14:14
	My dear friends, let us know and believe that the God who	14:41
	creates us can also re-create us.	14:46
	The psalmist tells us that God is never far from us.	14:53
	Let us now rejoice in this truth that God has loved us,	14:59
	is loving us, and will always love us no matter where we are	15:06
	or what we do, God is with us, loving us still.	15:14
	This is the good news that brings us life.	15:22
	Let us give thanks for God is good	15:29
	and God's love is everlasting.	15:32
Congregation	Thanks be to God who creates us.	15:37
	Thanks be to God whose tender love redeems us.	15:41
	Thanks be to God for His presence sustains us.	15:45
Man	Amen.	15:49
	On this very special day, Alumni Sunday for Alumni Weekend,	15:53
	may I welcome you to this service of worship.	16:01
	May I welcome you alumni back home again.	16:05
	Those of you who are having class reunions,	16:09
	I trust that it has been a most enjoyable time for you	16:12
	in fellowship with friends and with acquaintances of	16:16
	bygone days.	16:19
	We trust that the program has been satisfying	16:21
	and enjoyable to you, and that this event, the last event,	16:25
	except for the oldest class reunion which will have dinner	16:30
	following the service of worship,	16:35
	this event, which closes Alumni Weekend, this service	16:38
	of worship will be a time of renewal in spirit and in truth	16:42
	for you as you have come back home to worship here	16:48
	and to share in this special time of worship together.	16:52
	It is our pleasure to have the President of the	16:57
	Alumni Association share in the leadership of this service,	17:01
	Mr. John Sharoll from Greenwood, South Carolina,	17:05
	who serves as elector for today.	17:08
	For those of you who are going to be in Durham and around	17:12
	the campus through tonight, I have just learned that there	17:15
	are some 100 tickets still available for the American	17:19
	Dance Festival program tonight.	17:23
	It is a beautiful, beautiful program	17:26
	and you are invited to come.	17:29
	Tickets are still available and will be on sale at the	17:31
	Page box office beginning at four o'clock.	17:34
	The program tonight begins at seven o'clock.	17:37
	We are pleased today to welcome back to Duke University,	17:43
	the Rev. Dr. Howard Wilkinson.	17:48
	Dr. Wilkinson served as chaplain to the university here	17:52
	for 15 years until 1972 when he resigned and went to	17:56
	Greensboro College where he now serves as President	18:02
	of Greensboro College.	18:05
	He has served a number of leading churches in the western	18:08
	North Carolina conference and in many ways is back home	18:12
	there now serving as President of Greensboro College	18:15
	in that conference, but he also comes back home here today.	18:19
	So, we welcome you Howard and Nita, his wife, and one of	18:24
	their daughters, Melinda, back to Duke and to this very	18:28
	special service.	18:33
	I notice some of you are probably not quite as cool as you	18:35
	would like to be.	18:39
	We may as well let today be the day to begin a special fund	18:41
	to air condition the chapel.	18:47
	(congregation laughing)	18:49
	I'll be around for any contribution.	18:52
	If you would like to make yourself comfortable,	18:56
	please feel free to remove your jacket or whatever so that	18:58
	you can be as comfortable as possible during the remainder	19:01
	of the service.	19:05
	We are glad to have you worship God with us here this day.	19:07
John	Let us pray.	19:21
	Prepare our hearts, Oh Lord, to accept Your Word.	19:25
	Silence in us any voice but Your own, that hearing we may	19:30
	also obey Your will through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	19:37
	The Old Testament lesson is selected verses from the 32nd	19:45
	chapter of Deuteronomy.	19:49
	Readings taken from the Reynolds Price articles.	19:52
	Yahweh will judge His people and will have mercy	20:01
	on His slaves when He sees their strength is vanished,	20:04
	that there is no savior bound or free,	20:11
	then He will say, "Where are their gods?	20:15
	"Rock where they hid?	20:20
	"Who ate fat of sacrifice?	20:22
	"Drank poured wine?	20:24
	"Let them stand and help you.	20:27
	"Let them be your shelter.	20:29
	"See now that I, I am He.	20:31
	"No gods with me.	20:35
	"I kill and I raise.	20:37
	"I hurt and I heal.	20:39
	"No flight from my hand.	20:41
	"I raise my hand to sky and say I live forever.	20:44
	"When I whet lightning of my sword	20:50
	"and my hand sees vengeance, I will pay my foes,	20:53
	"hurt my haters.	20:57
	"I will make my arrows drunk with blood,	20:59
	"my sword swill flesh, blood of the slain and prisoners,	21:03
	"the heads of their princes."	21:08
	Shout joy, oh nations.	21:10
	He avenges the blood of His slaves, pays His foes,	21:13
	is good to the ground of His people.	21:17
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	21:23
	(organ playing)	21:31
	(choir sings in foreign language)	22:18
	Will the congregation stand for the reading of	24:17
	the gospel lesson?	24:19
	The lesson is from Matthew 10:26-33.	24:28
	So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered	24:35
	that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.	24:38
	What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light	24:44
	and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops	24:48
	and do not fear those who kill the body,	24:53
	but cannot kill the soul.	24:56
	Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.	24:58
	Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them	25:05
	will fall to the ground without Your Father's will?	25:10
	But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.	25:14
	Fear not, therefore, you are of more value	25:18
	than many sparrows, so everyone who acknowledges me	25:23
	before men I also will acknowledge before my Father	25:27
	who is in Heaven, but whoever denies me before men,	25:32
	I also will deny before my Father who is in Heaven.	25:36
	Here ends the reading from the gospel.	25:43
	All praise and glory be to God, amen.	25:46
	(organ playing and congregation singing)	25:52
Dr. Wilkinson	Good morning.	27:14
	Let me digress for a minute	27:16
	from the purpose of divine worship	27:21
	to express appreciation	27:24
	for a valuable job well done	27:26
	by the president of the university	27:30
	on whose campus I stand at this hour.	27:34
	President Sanford has been an intelligent	27:39
	and vigorous chairman	27:43
	of the private sector of higher education	27:45
	in this state.	27:50
	And for 38 private colleges	27:52
	and universities,	27:55
	what he has done	27:57
	will be of tremendous benefit.	27:59
	His representations before the legislature	28:04
	and in the public forum	28:08
	are of great benefit	28:12
	to the entire private sector of higher education.	28:13
	While I'm convinced that his activities	28:19
	have been in the interest of Duke University	28:21
	and also that the proposals he has advocated	28:26
	are directly saving all of the North Carolina tax payers	28:30
	a large sum of money,	28:35
	it remains true	28:38
	that all 38 of the private institutions	28:40
	will reap a nice harvest from his leadership.	28:44
	As president of one of those other colleges,	28:50
	I wish to use this occasion	28:54
	to pay public tribute	28:56
	where tribute is due,	28:58
	and now to the sermon.	29:04
	One of the famous graduates of Duke University is the	29:08
	writer, Reynolds Price, whose publications have received	29:12
	very widespread recognition	29:17
	in the literary world.	29:21
	I've been personally intrigued with the last two of some	29:24
	10 volumes that he has published	29:29
	because they consist of narratives	29:32
	translated from the ancient languages of the Bible.	29:36
	Although Reynolds Price would rate good marks	29:42
	for his biblical scholarship,	29:45
	these translations benefit us more	29:48
	by reason of Mr. Price's skill as a novelist	29:51
	than by his skill as a scholar.	29:56
	Both of these two last books	30:00
	contain narrative sections from the Bible.	30:02
	Their titles are Oracles,	30:06
	which was published by the Friends of the Duke Library	30:09
	and may be obtained in the Rare Book Room,	30:13
	and A Palpable God,	30:17
	P-a-l-p-a-b-l-e	30:20
	which is available in your local bookstore.	30:23
	Now, since these narratives	30:28
	were originally the work of biblical storytellers,	30:30
	it perhaps is as valuable to have them rendered	30:34
	by a novelist as by an exegete,	30:37
	but in this instance what we have is the work of a novelist	30:43
	who made constant use of exegesis,	30:48
	thus providing for the reader	30:52
	the best of two worlds.	30:54
	In the first book, Oracles,	30:58
	there appears the translation of portions	31:01
	of the very lengthy	31:04
	32nd chapter of Deuteronomy,	31:06
	which was read a while ago	31:11
	by the President of the Alumni Association,	31:13
	and which G. Ernest Wright has called,	31:18
	"The Song of Moses."	31:21
	Now in that chapter,	31:25
	Jehovah is talking to His people	31:28
	and He is explaining to them what His resources are	31:32
	and the methods by which He deals with those	31:37
	whom He has created.	31:40
	One sentence stands out in bold relief,	31:43
	"Jehovah said,	31:49
	'I hurt	31:52
	and I heal.'"	31:54
	A number of translators use the word "wound"	31:59
	which can be either accidental or intentional,	32:03
	but I prefer Reynolds Price's choice	32:07
	of the more aggressive word,	32:10
	the transitive verb, "hurt"	32:13
	as a translation of the Hebrew word,	32:18
	"mashatzi"	32:22
	in the context of this narrative.	32:25
	My good friend, Rabbi Arnold Task,	32:29
	tells me that the root meaning of "mashatzi"	32:31
	is to smite severely,	32:36
	and he said that if someone using that verb promised to	32:39
	do it to you, it would be a threat you should	32:44
	take seriously.	32:47
	"I hurt and I heal,"	32:51
	said Jehovah.	32:55
	The thought that God may intentionally hurt us is	32:59
	disturbing, isn't it?	33:03
	With few exceptions,	33:05
	we do not enjoy being hurt.	33:08
	Those few who do enjoy it	33:11
	are described by our psychiatrist friends	33:14
	as being abnormal and are called masochists.	33:16
	Milton Moss tells about a group of masochists who formed	33:21
	a society and planned a meeting.	33:25
	They decided to have a speaker.	33:28
	They invited a psychiatrist to address them.	33:30
	This was a bit unusual, but seeing himself on that occasion	33:35
	as a speaker rather than as a doctor, the psychiatrist	33:39
	decided to try to please his audience	33:44
	rather than to cure it.	33:47
	So he began by saying,	33:50
	"Dear friends, I have today good news "and bad news.	33:53
	"The good news is,	33:57
	I definitely have some bad news."	33:59
	Most of us, however, prefer not to hear bad news	34:05
	or to be pained in any other way.	34:10
	And so this announcement of Jehovah,	34:14
	taken as a whole,	34:17
	jars our sensitivities,	34:19
	shakes us out of our chosen complacency.	34:22
	Frankly, most of us would like to reject the concept	34:26
	out of hand if we could.	34:30
	We don't have any difficulty hearing God tell us	34:33
	that He heals, for in that case,	34:36
	Revelation agrees with human contentedness.	34:40
	We like the promise that God will heal.	34:44
	We have no objection to His doing	34:48
	all of that He wants to do.	34:51
	We would even be willing to give occasional thanks for it,	34:54
	but God hurts?	34:58
	That's a different matter altogether, we think.	35:03
	Why would He wish to hurt us?	35:09
	Does God imagine that He must hurt us	35:13
	so that there will be a need for Him to heal us?	35:16
	Well, I should say not.	35:20
	We inflict enough damage upon ourselves and upon our fellows	35:23
	to keep the Lord constantly employed on a wide front	35:27
	in the vocation of healing.	35:31
	Moreover, the unsettling idea of God hurting us runs counter	35:35
	to the popular image of Jehovah as a cosmic Santa,	35:41
	always dropping largess down our chimneys from above.	35:45
	I remember very well hearing Dr. H. Shelton Smith	35:51
	say in class years ago	35:54
	that the theme song of a lot of easy-going church members is	35:57
	He walks with me and He talks with me	36:02
	and He chuckles me under the chin.	36:06
	Some churchmen today who like to think of religion	36:09
	as divine support for comfortable complacency	36:12
	have adopted a theology	36:17
	which tells the man of the world something like this,	36:19
	"God loves you"	36:24
	"He forgives and accepts you just as you are"	36:26
	"The only thing you need to do to find happiness	36:32
	and peace of mind is simply to accept	36:36
	your total acceptance."	36:41
	Now, there's a great deal of good in that statement,	36:45
	but there is a thin and important line drawn between	36:49
	that point of view on the one hand	36:53
	and a theology of the Bible on the other hand.	36:58
	Biblical theology tells the man of the world	37:03
	something like this:	37:05
	"God loves you, just as you are,	37:07
	and He will accept you just as you are,	37:13
	and forgive you	37:18
	provided you are sincerely dissatisfied	37:20
	with your evil ways	37:25
	and are resolved by God's help	37:27
	to live a righteous life of unselfish service	37:30
	to God and man."	37:34
	Now, this added ingredient of human repentance	37:37
	and a rejection of sin and evil is necessary	37:41
	if healing and redemption are to take place.	37:46
	As an aid to our understanding	37:52
	the significance of this fine line of distinction,	37:54
	let me describe an imaginary conversation	37:57
	on North Mangum Street in Durham.	38:01
	Suppose a patient weighing 400 pounds	38:05
	walks into Dr. Kempner's Rice House on North Mangum Street.	38:11
	The patient tells Dr. Kempner that members of his family	38:17
	have suggested he may have a health problem	38:21
	and that he should place himself	38:26
	in the hands of Dr. Kempner.	38:28
	"The only thing I ask,"	38:32
	he tells the physician,	38:38
	starting the conversation, is "don't hurt me."	38:40
	Now let us suppose that Dr. Kempner replies in this fashion,	38:47
	"You unfortunate man, please know that I love you.	38:53
	"I accept you just as you are	38:59
	and the only thing you need to do to be whole	39:03
	is to accept my acceptance of you just as you are."	39:07
	Well, whatever theology you may hear in your particular	39:15
	church, you will not hear that doctrine preached in	39:19
	the Rice House on North Mangum Street	39:23
	or in the medical center.	39:26
	Dr. Kempner would put that 400 pound man	39:30
	on a very hurting diet	39:34
	and he would instruct him to do other things which would	39:39
	stab his comfort for weeks on end,	39:42
	things which would chafe, grate,	39:46
	sting, torment,	39:50
	spoil, damage, and give pain in general.	39:52
	I know, I've talked to a lot of his patients in the past.	39:56
	Dr. Kempner would insist	40:02
	that all of that pain and hurt	40:06
	is an outgrowth of his acceptance of	40:10
	and love of that patient	40:15
	and that any other prescription than the one he gave	40:19
	would be foreign to a loving acceptance.	40:23
	The alliteration of Reynolds Price's translation,	40:29
	"I hurt and I heal" suggests a connecting unity	40:34
	between the activities of hurting and healing,	40:39
	which is true to the reality.	40:43
	The two often go together and in their joining we find	40:46
	not only sequence but consequence.	40:50
	God hurts us in order that He may heal us.	40:55
	Early on in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells	41:01
	the children of Israel that Jehovah has said,	41:05
	"You shall consider in your heart	41:09
	that as a man chastens his son,	41:13
	so Jehovah your God chastens you."	41:17
	When Dr. Elizabeth Locke asked the distinguished writer,	41:23
	William Styron, to reflect upon his experience	41:28
	as an undergraduate at Duke,	41:32
	he chose to recount what happened	41:34
	when Professor William Blackburn	41:37
	gave him his first assignment to write a theme.	41:39
	Describing how proud and how pleased he was	41:44
	when he gave the professor the theme,	41:50
	Styron then contrasted this	41:52
	with the abject misery he experienced	41:54
	when Blackburn handed the theme back.	41:59
	The theme was veritably marinated with red ink	42:03
	and its margins were choked with devastating questions.	42:08
	Styron was painfully pushed almost to the brink of despair	42:13
	but not quite.	42:20
	He was deeply hurt, but he was also	42:24
	resoundingly provoked and challenged.	42:27
	Listen now to Styron's description of the result	42:33
	of Dr. Blackburn's painful criticism.	42:37
	I quote, "Before too long, my work got much better	42:40
	"and as it did, I was so eager to meet	42:46
	"his demanding standards.	42:50
	"He possessed that subtle, ineffable, magnetically	42:54
	"appealing quality.	42:58
	"A kind of invisible rapture which caused	43:00
	"students to respond.	43:03
	"He was unquestionably a glorious teacher.	43:09
	"I deeply miss him because ultimately	43:14
	"he became more than a teacher to me."	43:18
	I hurt and I heal.	43:24
	Thad Stem, Jr. has pointed out	43:31
	that the great negro scientist, Booker T. Washington,	43:34
	delivered the first address he ever was permitted to give	43:37
	to a southern white college right here,	43:41
	on the campus of Trinity College.	43:46
	Many theologians in the years since then have attributed	43:50
	President Kilgal's invitation to Washington	43:53
	and Washington's acceptance of that invitation	43:57
	to the promptings of the spirit of God.	44:01
	If so,	44:04
	God chose to hurt on that occasion	44:07
	because the resulting furor	44:11
	created by the speech of a black man	44:14
	on a southern white campus	44:17
	divided families into warring factions,	44:20
	brought down the wrath and scorn of a great newspaper	44:23
	upon Trinity College	44:27
	and some of the college's fair-weather friends	44:29
	deserted it forever.	44:32
	Without question,	44:34
	there was deep hurt.	44:36
	Yet out of this hurt came healing.	44:41
	Moreover, looking back from the vantage point of history,	44:45
	we conclude that the healing which has come about	44:48
	would not have occurred in our lifetimes	44:53
	except for the pain.	44:57
	At least two major blessings have followed in the wake	45:01
	of that trauma.	45:04
	One was the pioneer act of the Trinity trustees	45:07
	in guaranteeing academic freedom in the famous Basset case.	45:10
	The other was the raising of the issue of human equality	45:15
	uncompromised by race, color, or	45:19
	previous condition of servitude.	45:23
	Looking from our perspective of 1978 and reviewing	45:27
	a long series of events which began with President Kilgal's	45:31
	invitation to Booker T. Washington,	45:36
	we can today,	45:39
	almost audibly,	45:41
	hear Almighty God say,	45:43
	"I hurt and I heal."	45:47
	Now, what I conclude from this is that the conditions	45:51
	in American life	45:55
	which reflect a continuation	45:57
	of the moral and spiritual sickness	45:59
	are of concern to our God because	46:02
	He loves us.	46:06
	And because He is more interested in our character than	46:08
	He is in our comfort, we may expect Him to hurt us if	46:11
	necessary in order to heal us.	46:16
	In response to His past promptings, we have made much	46:21
	progress in many areas of American life	46:26
	and for these achievements we are most thankful.	46:30
	However, we are concerned by a lack of such progress	46:34
	in other areas.	46:38
	We see our people rapidly becoming a drunken nation	46:40
	and the age of drunkenness gets lower every year.	46:44
	We see family life, marriage vows, and sexual integrity	46:51
	diminish speedily.	46:57
	Every day's newspaper tells a story of yet	47:00
	another public official who has been corrupted.	47:02
	Our hope as a people lies in the promise of God	47:08
	that He will discipline us,	47:14
	that He will bring hurt to our land if	47:17
	necessary so that He may heal us.	47:22
	So you see, actually, this verse in Deuteronomy	47:26
	is not an isolated text.	47:31
	The teaching we have from the beginning to the end	47:34
	of the Scripture is the same.	47:38
	In Genesis, the story of Jacob is told when he was	47:42
	at Jabbok, he wrestled with what appeared to be a man,	47:47
	but later Jacob knew that in wrestling with that man	47:51
	he had wrestled with God.	47:55
	And in the struggle, Jacob was injured in the hip	47:58
	by his divine opponent,	48:02
	but in that struggle he also became a new man.	48:07
	He ceased being Jacob the Supplanter and became Israel,	48:12
	a new man,	48:19
	and then in the last book of the Bible, we are given a view	48:21
	of all the people of God as they are to be gathered	48:26
	before the presence of the Almighty.	48:30
	An elder asks the question,	48:35
	""Who are these that are arrayed in white robes	48:39
	and whence came they?"	48:42
	And the answer comes immediately,	48:44
	"These are they who came out of great tribulation.	48:47
	"Therefore, are they before the throne of God."	48:53
	Heavenly Father, help us to trust You.	49:01
	Help us to trust Your intelligence	49:04
	as much as we trust Your love	49:07
	so that we will obey Your Word and be healed	49:10
	through Jesus Christ our Lord,	49:16
	Amen.	49:19
	(organ playing)	49:28
	♪ Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices ♪	50:14
	♪ Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices ♪	50:27
	♪ Who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way ♪	50:40
	♪ With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today ♪	50:51
	♪ O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us ♪	51:04
	♪ With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us ♪	51:17
	♪ And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed ♪	51:30
	♪ And free us from all ills, in this world and the next ♪	51:42
	♪ All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given ♪	51:55
	♪ The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven ♪	52:08
	♪ The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore ♪	52:21
	♪ For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore ♪	52:33
	♪ Amen ♪	52:46
Man	Let us affirm what we believe.	52:56
	We believe in God who has created and is creating	53:00
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	53:05
	to reconcile and make new.	53:08
	Who works in us and others by the spirit,	53:11
	we trust God who calls us to be the church	53:15
	to celebrate life in its fullness, to love and serve others,	53:20
	to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus crucified	53:26
	and risen, our judge and our hope in life, in death,	53:33
	in life beyond death, God is with us.	53:40
	We are not alone.	53:45
	Thanks be to God.	53:47
	The Lord be with you.	53:49
Congregation	And with you.	53:51
Man	Let us pray.	53:53
	O God, hear us now as we pray.	54:09
	And not because of our goodness, not because of our merit,	54:18
	not because of our many words and vain utterances,	54:25
	but hear us because of your mercy and your love.	54:31
	We give thanks to You, oh loving God, for this time of	54:38
	worship for surely it is good to go into the house	54:42
	of the Lord to hear Your Word in music, in Scripture,	54:46
	in prayer and in sermon,	54:53
	To be close to friends and family and neighbors,	54:57
	and to celebrate this day and all that it means.	55:02
	We give You thanks for this university for its love of	55:08
	religion and learning, of the arts and sciences,	55:14
	the concern to heal and to help, the desire to make life	55:21
	more whole and more real, which we do experience here.	55:27
	We give You thanks for beautiful memories of persons,	55:34
	of places and of experiences all cherished and held very,	55:38
	very dear.	55:44
	We give You thanks for the hope of a better world tomorrow	55:47
	because of this place and its people.	55:53
	Oh God, bless us in our remembering and in our hoping.	55:58
	Oh God, we give thanks now for life.	56:07
	Life, which offers us days never lived before so that we may	56:12
	share and not hoard our lives, choose joy over pleasure,	56:18
	peace over ease, truth instead of safety, and above all	56:27
	else, find love.	56:35
	And now oh God, we pray in the name of the Christ who loves	56:40
	us and gives life and hope and promise to us	56:43
	and to all persons, may we be healers of others through	56:47
	Your love and power.	56:53
	Be our guide through all that is dark and doubtful.	56:57
	Be our guard against all that threatens our integrity.	57:01
	Be our strength under pressure and our	57:06
	consolation in sadness.	57:09
	Be our joy in celebration and our comfort in disappointment.	57:13
	Keep us always open to You and thus open to one another.	57:20
	Hear us now as we pray, as our Lord has taught us to pray	57:27
	saying, our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.	57:31
	Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it	57:39
	is in heaven.	57:44
	Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our	57:46
	trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.	57:49
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	57:56
	For Thine is the kingdom, the power,	58:01
	and the glory forever, amen.	58:04
	(organ plays)	58:11
	(organ and choir perform "Laudate Dominum" by Mozart)	1:00:46
	(organ plays doxology)	1:05:50
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:06:08
	♪ Praise Him all creatures, here below ♪	1:06:15
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	1:06:21
	♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts ♪	1:06:28
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	1:06:34
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia ♪	1:06:40
	♪ Amen ♪	1:07:00
Man	And now, oh God, we present ourselves to You,	1:07:14
	our work and our leisure, our joys and our sorrows,	1:07:17
	our thoughts and our deeds just as we are to be used	1:07:23
	by You in the world.	1:07:28
	We pray that You will accept our offering as a personal	1:07:31
	giving of ourselves for the good of others and for the doing	1:07:35
	of Your will.	1:07:39
	As we give our gifts, may we also give ourselves through	1:07:42
	Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	1:07:49
	(organ plays and congregation sings)	1:07:55
Man	And now without bowing heads or closing eyes,	1:11:16
	from one Christian to another,	1:11:20
	may I offer you this benediction, this blessing:	1:11:24
	the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,	1:11:29
	the love of God and the communion and fellowship of the	1:11:33
	Holy Spirit, be with you and with those whom you love	1:11:38
	this day and forever.	1:11:45
	(choir sings amen)	1:11:55
	(organ plays postlude)	1:13:00
	(indistinct crowd noise)	1:17:37

Item Info

Title:

Howard C. Wilkinson - "I Hurt and I Heal" (June 18, 1978)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 27:14. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 49:20.
Focuses on the verse on Deuteronomy 32 in which God says, "I hurt and I heal". Compares God to a doctor who upon seeing a very sick patient, will prescribe a strict (and hurtful) diet in order to see the patient get better. Then compares God to a professor who grades harshly so that the student will be motivated to keep pursuing a better grade and continue learning. His sermon argues that God indeed hurts us in order that He may heal us. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “God is more interested in our character than He is in our comfort, we may expect Him to hurt us if necessary in order to heal us.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4m03zc28

Date:

June 18, 1978

Speaker:

Wilkinson, Howard C.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0961
ref7125_8i2
uachapelsermaud
duke:321164
dcrau001841
ark:/87924/r4m03zc28
05354580-ecb4-4219-802d-c2a72df98035

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Howard C. Wilkinson - "I Hurt and I Heal" (June 18, 1978)

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1. Howard C. Wilkinson - "I Hurt and I Heal" (June 18, 1978)

Duke University Archives

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Howard C. Wilkinson - "I Hurt and I Heal" (June 18, 1978)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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