Robert W. Estill - "The Church - 1983" (July 10, 1983)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(upbeat organ music) | 0:03 | |
(choir singing) | 9:44 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 10:53 | |
(choir singing) | 11:30 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 14:01 | |
(choir singing) | 14:34 | |
- | Grace, mercy, and peace to you | 15:19 |
from God our creator and the Lord Jesus Christ. | 15:22 | |
Now with a clear mind and open heart, | 15:27 | |
let us in truth confess our sins. | 15:30 | |
Let us pray. | 15:34 | |
O holy and merciful God, | 15:45 | |
we confess that we have not always taken | 15:47 | |
upon ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience, | 15:50 | |
nor have been willing to seek | 15:55 | |
and to do your perfect will. | 15:56 | |
We have not loved you with all our heart | 15:59 | |
and mind and soul and strength, | 16:02 | |
neither have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 16:05 | |
You have called to us in the need of our neighbors | 16:08 | |
and we have passed unheeding on our way. | 16:12 | |
In the pride of our hearts | 16:15 | |
and our unwillingness to repent, | 16:17 | |
we have turned away from the cross of Christ | 16:20 | |
and have grieved your Holy Spirit, amen. | 16:23 | |
Wait for the Lord, | 16:47 | |
be strong and let your heart take courage, | 16:48 | |
ye, wait for the Lord. | 16:52 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. | 16:54 | |
Let us then give thanks for God is good, | 16:59 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 17:02 | |
Thanks be to God whose love creates us, | 17:05 | |
thanks be to God whose mercy redeems us, | 17:09 | |
thanks be to God whose grace leads us into the future. | 17:13 | |
We welcome you this summer Sunday morning | 17:20 | |
here to worship with us in Duke University Chapel. | 17:23 | |
Today is the seventh Sunday after Pentecost, | 17:27 | |
and our hope for you is that your heart and life | 17:30 | |
will be full of God's spirit | 17:33 | |
as you are refreshed this day | 17:36 | |
as the people of God. | 17:38 | |
We are glad this morning | 17:41 | |
that our summer chapel choir is back with us, | 17:43 | |
we've missed them and their presence | 17:46 | |
and music ministry among us. | 17:48 | |
Also, I'm aware that we have two groups of young students | 17:51 | |
here with us worshiping in the chapel today. | 17:55 | |
Both groups are participating in special summer programs | 17:59 | |
here in the Durham area. | 18:03 | |
One group is from the North Carolina School | 18:05 | |
of Math and Science here in Durham, | 18:08 | |
and we're delighted that they've chosen | 18:10 | |
to come and worship here in the chapel. | 18:12 | |
Another group is from here at Duke University, | 18:16 | |
students participating in the talent identification program. | 18:20 | |
We're delighted that all of you have chosen to come | 18:24 | |
and be with us here in worship with us. | 18:27 | |
You will note in the bulletin that all of us | 18:32 | |
are invited to a reception following the worship service | 18:35 | |
next Sunday morning here at the chapel. | 18:39 | |
Out on the main lawn in front of the chapel, | 18:42 | |
the Duke University Union will be hosting a reception | 18:46 | |
for all people who attend chapel worship. | 18:50 | |
There will be a string group providing music, | 18:54 | |
and light refreshments will be served. | 18:56 | |
We look forward to that time of fellowship together. | 18:59 | |
And you will note that in case of rain, | 19:02 | |
the reception will simply be postponed | 19:05 | |
until the following Sunday. | 19:08 | |
We are honored today to have among us | 19:12 | |
and here as our guest preacher | 19:16 | |
the Right Reverend Robert Whitridge Estill. | 19:19 | |
He is currently bishop of the diocese of North Carolina, | 19:22 | |
residing in Raleigh. | 19:27 | |
Bishop Estill is a native of Lexington, Kentucky. | 19:30 | |
He has the AB degree | 19:34 | |
from the University of Kentucky at Lexington. | 19:36 | |
His advanced degrees are from | 19:40 | |
the Episcopal Theological School | 19:42 | |
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, | 19:44 | |
and from the School of Theology | 19:46 | |
at University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. | 19:48 | |
Reverend Estill comes to us | 19:53 | |
with a very wide background of service | 19:55 | |
in the life of the church. | 19:59 | |
He has served as rector, | 20:00 | |
as faculty on seminaries and schools of higher education, | 20:03 | |
and also in the capacity of dean. | 20:08 | |
He has now been instrumental | 20:11 | |
in a number of ecumenical efforts in the area of Raleigh, | 20:13 | |
and the whole church is grateful | 20:17 | |
for his witness and ministry. | 20:19 | |
We are very glad to have Bishop Estill here with us today, | 20:22 | |
and we look forward to the sermon that he will bring. | 20:26 | |
The sermon title is | 20:30 | |
The Church, 1983. | 20:32 | |
- | Let us pray. | 20:44 |
O Lord and lover of us all, | 20:47 | |
cause the pure light of your divine knowledge | 20:49 | |
to shine forth in our hearts, | 20:51 | |
and open the eyes of our understanding | 20:53 | |
that we may comprehend the ways of your gospel | 20:56 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 20:59 | |
The Old Testament lesson is from Deuteronomy, | 21:04 | |
chapter 30, verses nine through 14. | 21:06 | |
The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous | 21:10 | |
in all the work of your hand | 21:14 | |
and the fruit of your body, | 21:16 | |
and in the fruit of your cattle, | 21:17 | |
and in the fruit of your ground, | 21:19 | |
for the Lord will again take delight | 21:21 | |
in prospering you as he took delight in your fathers. | 21:23 | |
If you obey the voice of the Lord your God | 21:27 | |
to keep his commandments and his statutes, | 21:29 | |
which are written in this book of the law, | 21:32 | |
if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart | 21:34 | |
and with all your soul, | 21:36 | |
for this commandment I command you this day | 21:38 | |
is not too hard for you, | 21:41 | |
neither is it far off. | 21:43 | |
It is not in heaven that you should say | 21:45 | |
who will go up for us to heaven | 21:48 | |
and bring to us that we may hear it and do it? | 21:50 | |
Neither is it beyond the sea | 21:54 | |
that you should say who will go over the sea for us | 21:56 | |
and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? | 21:59 | |
But the word is very near you, | 22:04 | |
it is in your mouth and in your heart | 22:06 | |
so that you can do it. | 22:08 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 22:10 | |
The epistle lesson is from Colossians, | 22:15 | |
chapter one, verses one through 20. | 22:17 | |
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, | 22:21 | |
and Timothy our brother, | 22:25 | |
to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colossae, | 22:27 | |
grace to you and peace from God our father. | 22:31 | |
We always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 22:34 | |
when we pray for you | 22:38 | |
because we have heard your faith | 22:40 | |
of our Lord Jesus, | 22:42 | |
and of the love which you have for all of the saints | 22:43 | |
because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. | 22:46 | |
Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, | 22:50 | |
the gospel which has come to you. | 22:52 | |
So among yourselves, | 22:55 | |
from the day you've heard and understood | 22:56 | |
the grace of God in truth | 22:58 | |
as you have learned it from Epaphras, | 23:00 | |
our beloved fellow servant. | 23:02 | |
He's a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf | 23:04 | |
and has made known to us your love in the spirit. | 23:07 | |
And so, from the day we heard of it, | 23:11 | |
we have not ceased to pray for you, | 23:13 | |
asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will | 23:15 | |
and all spiritual wisdom and understanding | 23:19 | |
to lead a life worthy of the Lord, | 23:22 | |
fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, | 23:24 | |
and increasing in the knowledge of God. | 23:28 | |
May you be strengthened with all power | 23:30 | |
according to his glorious might, | 23:33 | |
for all endurance and patience with joy, | 23:35 | |
giving thanks to the father, | 23:38 | |
who has qualified us to share in the inheritance | 23:40 | |
of the saints and light. | 23:43 | |
He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness, | 23:45 | |
and transferred to us the kingdom of his beloved son | 23:48 | |
in whom we have redemption | 23:52 | |
and forgiveness of sins. | 23:53 | |
He's the image of the invisible God, | 23:56 | |
the first born of all creation, | 23:58 | |
for in him all things were created | 24:00 | |
in heaven and on earth, | 24:03 | |
visible and invisible, | 24:05 | |
whether thrones or dominions | 24:07 | |
or principalities or authorities, | 24:09 | |
all things were created through him and for him. | 24:12 | |
He is before all things, | 24:16 | |
and in him all things hold together. | 24:19 | |
He is the head of the body, the church. | 24:22 | |
He's the beginning, the first born from the dead, | 24:25 | |
then everything he might be preeminent. | 24:28 | |
For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, | 24:31 | |
and through him to reconcile himself to all things, | 24:35 | |
whether on earth or in heaven, | 24:38 | |
making peace by the blood of his cross. | 24:40 | |
Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson. | 24:44 | |
(choir singing) | 25:00 | |
Will the congregation please stand | 26:55 | |
for the reading of the gospel lesson? | 26:57 | |
The gospel is from Luke, | 27:03 | |
chapter 10, verses 25 through 37. | 27:04 | |
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, | 27:09 | |
saying teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? | 27:12 | |
He said to him what is written in the law? | 27:18 | |
How do you read? | 27:21 | |
And he answered you shall love the Lord your God | 27:22 | |
with all your heart | 27:26 | |
and with all your soul | 27:27 | |
and with all your strength | 27:28 | |
and with all your mind, | 27:30 | |
and your neighbor as yourself. | 27:32 | |
And he said to him you have answered right, | 27:34 | |
do this and you will live. | 27:38 | |
But he, desiring to justify himself, | 27:40 | |
said to Jesus and who is my neighbor? | 27:44 | |
Jesus replied a man was going down | 27:47 | |
from Jerusalem to Jericho, | 27:49 | |
and he fell among robbers who stripped him | 27:51 | |
and beat him and departed, | 27:54 | |
leaving him half dead. | 27:56 | |
Now by chance, a priest was going down that same road, | 27:58 | |
and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. | 28:01 | |
So did likewise a Levite, | 28:06 | |
and when he came to the place and saw him, | 28:07 | |
passed by on the other side. | 28:10 | |
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, | 28:12 | |
came to where he was, | 28:14 | |
and when he saw him he had compassion and went to him | 28:16 | |
and bound up his wounds, | 28:19 | |
pouring on oil and wine. | 28:21 | |
And then he set him on his own beast | 28:23 | |
and brought him to an innkeeper, | 28:26 | |
saying take care of him, | 28:28 | |
and whatever more you spend, | 28:30 | |
I will repay you when I come back. | 28:32 | |
Which of these three do you think | 28:35 | |
proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? | 28:37 | |
And he said the one who showed mercy on him, | 28:41 | |
and Jesus said to him go and do likewise. | 28:44 | |
Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson, amen. | 28:49 | |
(light organ music) | 28:53 | |
(choir singing) | 29:01 | |
- | In the name of the father | 29:53 |
and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, | 29:54 | |
amen. | 29:57 | |
A lawyer stood up | 30:03 | |
to put Jesus to the test, | 30:05 | |
saying teacher, what shall I do | 30:08 | |
to inherit eternal life? | 30:11 | |
And when Jesus asked him what was written in the law, | 30:14 | |
he answered you shall love the Lord your God | 30:18 | |
with all your heart | 30:22 | |
and with all your soul | 30:24 | |
and with all your heart, and strength and mind, | 30:27 | |
and your neighbor as yourself. | 30:30 | |
And Jesus said to him | 30:34 | |
you have answered right, | 30:36 | |
do this and live. | 30:37 | |
As we know, Jesus went on beyond these remarks | 30:42 | |
to illustrate what he meant by this summary of the law. | 30:45 | |
He told the story of the good Samaritan, | 30:49 | |
and I would like, around the title of my sermon, | 30:54 | |
The Church, 1983, | 30:56 | |
to think about that today | 30:59 | |
in the context of this gospel lesson. | 31:01 | |
Let me say first, though, how happy I am to be here | 31:05 | |
and to have this opportunity | 31:08 | |
at this moment in the sermon | 31:10 | |
to thank the university and the chaplain | 31:12 | |
and all who make this Duke Chapel so available | 31:16 | |
to all of us in the community of North Carolina, | 31:20 | |
and certainly even beyond. | 31:24 | |
I was consecrated here, | 31:26 | |
and instituted here. | 31:28 | |
We've had numerous acollate festivals here, | 31:30 | |
the episcopal church is most grateful to you | 31:34 | |
for letting us have this as our cathedral | 31:37 | |
and not having to pay the light bill. | 31:40 | |
We do appreciate it, | 31:44 | |
and it is a great ministry through this place | 31:45 | |
to our state and beyond it, to the world. | 31:49 | |
So, I would like to think about the church together. | 31:52 | |
My own church, picking up on Saint Paul's definition, | 31:56 | |
considers the church to be the body of which | 32:00 | |
Jesus Christ is head, | 32:03 | |
and all baptized persons as members. | 32:05 | |
Our new prayer book describes the church as | 32:09 | |
the people of God, | 32:12 | |
the new Israel, | 32:14 | |
a holy nation. | 32:16 | |
It describes people who are the church | 32:19 | |
as being pillars and grounds of truth, | 32:22 | |
a royal priesthood. | 32:26 | |
Not long ago, I read a little skit | 32:30 | |
written about some children who were playing church. | 32:32 | |
The children in the skit are Jim, | 32:36 | |
Carol, Millie, Bill, and Fred. | 32:38 | |
Jim speaks up first and says | 32:43 | |
if we're going to play church, | 32:45 | |
we need a building. | 32:46 | |
Carol, no, we need people first. | 32:48 | |
Millie, we've got to have a pastor. | 32:52 | |
Jim says Fred, you be the pastor. | 32:55 | |
Fred, what do I do? | 32:58 | |
Bill, preach sermons that make people mad. | 33:01 | |
Jim says no, you call on the old, | 33:05 | |
and you scold the kids. | 33:08 | |
Carol, and you take up an offering. | 33:10 | |
Millie, let's have a service. | 33:13 | |
Jim, let's criticize the sermon. | 33:16 | |
Fred, I didn't preach one yet. | 33:19 | |
Bill, we'll criticize it anyway. | 33:23 | |
Millie, hardly any Bible in it. | 33:26 | |
Jim, I couldn't hear half of it. | 33:29 | |
Carol, I didn't like the half I heard. | 33:32 | |
Jim says we're in a financial bind. | 33:37 | |
Millie, what's that? | 33:40 | |
Jim, I don't know, but Dad enjoys saying it. | 33:42 | |
Fred, it means we need money. | 33:46 | |
Carol says let's sell lemonade. | 33:49 | |
Bill, if we don't like the sermon, why give? | 33:52 | |
Jim, that's what Dad says. | 33:56 | |
Fred, can't we have some fun in church? | 33:59 | |
Carol, no, mother says it's a sacrifice. | 34:03 | |
Fred, what's that? | 34:08 | |
Carol, stuff you do because you hate to. | 34:09 | |
And Fred says why? | 34:15 | |
Carol, God loves us more if we're miserable. | 34:17 | |
And the little skit ends with Fred saying | 34:23 | |
let's play something else. | 34:26 | |
Well, that perception is a far cry | 34:32 | |
from what I've said | 34:33 | |
at least Episcopalians say the church is, isn't it? | 34:34 | |
The Gutierrez and others in Latin America | 34:38 | |
have a different perception of what the church is about too. | 34:42 | |
They point out that Jesus had a revolutionary consciousness, | 34:46 | |
meaning by that word revolution, | 34:51 | |
a fundamental transformation | 34:53 | |
of an existing state of affairs. | 34:56 | |
Jesus, whose body we say the church is, | 35:00 | |
certainly did not belong to the Ecclesiastical | 35:03 | |
or social establishment of his day, | 35:06 | |
despite was Hans Kung calls | 35:09 | |
the varied attempts made to domesticate him. | 35:12 | |
There is a radical note to the gospel lesson, | 35:17 | |
it equates the kingdom of God with action, | 35:21 | |
with reaching out, with picking up a helpless soul | 35:25 | |
from the highway and ministering to him. | 35:29 | |
So Camilo Torres could say the Christian community | 35:34 | |
cannot offer the mass, the sacrifice, | 35:38 | |
in an authentic form | 35:41 | |
if it has not first fulfilled the percept | 35:44 | |
love thy neighbor. | 35:47 | |
The whole movement in liberation theology | 35:52 | |
calls upon you and I, | 35:54 | |
if we would be the church, | 35:56 | |
to a radical obedience to this commandment. | 35:58 | |
And while it is beyond the scope of this sermon, | 36:03 | |
it must not be beyond our scope of study | 36:06 | |
and of attention if we are to be the body of Christ | 36:09 | |
in our world where we live, | 36:13 | |
whether in Latin America, | 36:15 | |
or here in North Carolina. | 36:17 | |
Again, the model of the Christian playing church, | 36:20 | |
or of the liberation church in Latin America, | 36:24 | |
very different conceptions of what the church is meant to be | 36:26 | |
may well cause most of us to fall somewhere | 36:31 | |
between those extremes. | 36:34 | |
The Princeton Religion Research Center | 36:38 | |
and the Galop organization, | 36:41 | |
the latter being a little less objective, in my opinion, | 36:43 | |
have done a report on the background | 36:47 | |
and values and interests of unchurched Americans | 36:49 | |
called the Unchurched American. | 36:52 | |
The report concludes that the proportion of believers | 36:56 | |
in the total American population | 37:00 | |
has remained constant over the last quarter of a century, | 37:03 | |
and further, the unchurched are overwhelmingly believers, | 37:08 | |
and it is not loss of faith, in their conclusions, | 37:14 | |
in most cases, that has caused people to become unchurched. | 37:17 | |
The report goes on to say many of the unchurched | 37:24 | |
and churched as well | 37:26 | |
fell that churches are spiritually dry. | 37:28 | |
Americans, particularly the young, | 37:32 | |
are increasingly turning to various religious movements | 37:34 | |
and to disciplines in an effort to find | 37:39 | |
deeper spiritual meaning in their lives. | 37:42 | |
A significant proportion of Americans | 37:47 | |
have had a dramatic religious experience in their lives, | 37:50 | |
but at the same time, are spiritually homeless. | 37:54 | |
They are, as it were, all charged up, | 37:59 | |
but they feel they have no place to go. | 38:03 | |
Somehow, as the Conference of Catholic Charities | 38:08 | |
stated in 1972, | 38:11 | |
the good news of the gospel | 38:14 | |
and the scandal of human suffering together | 38:16 | |
situate our paradoxical mandate as a church, | 38:19 | |
for only in the blending of those | 38:24 | |
will the mature and the integrated life | 38:27 | |
expected of the Christian community be forthcoming. | 38:30 | |
As I've gone about the episcopal diocese of North Carolina | 38:36 | |
in my first three and a half years as a bishop, | 38:40 | |
I've tried to say that the body of which | 38:43 | |
Jesus Christ is head, | 38:46 | |
and all baptized persons are its members, | 38:48 | |
is that place when we gather, | 38:52 | |
when we hear the word, | 38:55 | |
and when we partake of the sacrament, | 38:58 | |
it is that place in which then | 39:01 | |
we meet the living Lord of the church. | 39:03 | |
Not because he is not elsewhere in his world | 39:07 | |
in all of creation for he is, | 39:11 | |
but because in a particular way, | 39:14 | |
he has in a way limited himself | 39:17 | |
in a kind of self limitation | 39:20 | |
to coming together and being with people | 39:23 | |
when two or three gather together in his name, | 39:26 | |
or when we hear, as we have this morning, the word, | 39:29 | |
or when we partake of the sacrament. | 39:33 | |
When we do that, the Lord of life comes | 39:36 | |
and dwells in our midst. | 39:40 | |
And we then, with the eyes of our faith opened, | 39:42 | |
go out from the church and proclaim that good news | 39:47 | |
by meeting him where Jesus said we would as well | 39:51 | |
in the life and in the needs of others. | 39:55 | |
When you and I become good Samaritans, | 39:58 | |
when we find the truth in those words | 40:02 | |
in as much as ye have done it | 40:05 | |
unto one of the least of these, my brethren, | 40:07 | |
ye have done it unto me. | 40:11 | |
That man, beaten by robbers and left on the road to die, | 40:14 | |
when the person stopped, | 40:20 | |
the Samaritan stopped and picked him up, | 40:22 | |
was in his person the Lord of life, | 40:24 | |
and he met the Lord there | 40:28 | |
whether he knew it or not. | 40:30 | |
That means that the church is meant to become | 40:33 | |
a kind of beehive in reverse, | 40:35 | |
a coming in to receive, | 40:38 | |
and a going out, then, to give. | 40:40 | |
I heard a story told that during World War Two in London, | 40:44 | |
there were two shopkeepers in the east end of London | 40:48 | |
who were great rivals. | 40:52 | |
And during the Blitz, | 40:54 | |
each made a point of being open for business every morning | 40:55 | |
after the severe air raids, | 40:59 | |
even though his store | 41:02 | |
might've been damaged the night before. | 41:04 | |
One night, however, the attack was particularly devastating, | 41:07 | |
and the front of one of the shops | 41:11 | |
was completely blown away. | 41:13 | |
The competitor's store, while also damaged, | 41:16 | |
nevertheless had the usual sign out front | 41:19 | |
the next morning, which the people had grown to depend on, | 41:22 | |
which said open as usual. | 41:25 | |
When they looked across the street at the other shop | 41:28 | |
with its front completely blown away, | 41:31 | |
nonetheless there was a larger sign there, | 41:34 | |
and on that sign was lettered the words | 41:37 | |
more open that usual. | 41:40 | |
That story says something to me about the function | 41:44 | |
of the church today. | 41:47 | |
You and I who are the church | 41:49 | |
need to be more open than usual, | 41:51 | |
more open that usual to the opportunities | 41:55 | |
to serve as good Samaritans. | 41:58 | |
More open that usual to feed the hungry, | 42:01 | |
not only with bread but with the bread of life. | 42:05 | |
More open than usual to proclaim the word of God | 42:09 | |
in deeds and in action | 42:13 | |
as well as with our lips. | 42:16 | |
More open than usual to be the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 42:18 | |
when we gather in his name and in his presence, | 42:22 | |
and to make others welcome there | 42:26 | |
and to feed them on the presence of the living Lord | 42:28 | |
whose church this is. | 42:32 | |
That's why when we gather as we have this morning, | 42:35 | |
it's such serious stuff. | 42:38 | |
Beneath the excitement and the joy | 42:42 | |
and the beauty and the outward signs | 42:44 | |
and all that go with days when we come together | 42:47 | |
to worship in a great place like this, | 42:49 | |
you and I nonetheless must be deadly serious | 42:52 | |
about what we're doing. | 42:56 | |
Never before, in my opinion, | 42:58 | |
has the church of Jesus Christ | 43:00 | |
been more needed than it is today. | 43:02 | |
Never has it needed more desperately | 43:06 | |
to shed that image that those children had | 43:08 | |
in that little skit. | 43:11 | |
Never has it needed more desperately | 43:13 | |
to be the church, | 43:16 | |
to be God's reconciling agency | 43:18 | |
not only in the life of the world and of the nation, | 43:22 | |
but in our lives as well, | 43:26 | |
yours and mine. | 43:27 | |
C.S. Lewis wrote, "God made us, | 43:31 | |
God invented us as a man invents an engine, | 43:34 | |
a car is made to run on gasoline | 43:38 | |
and it would not run properly on anything else. | 43:41 | |
So God designed the human machine | 43:45 | |
to run on himself. | 43:49 | |
He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, | 43:52 | |
or the food our spirits were designed to feed upon. | 43:57 | |
There is no other, | 44:02 | |
and that is why it is no good asking God | 44:05 | |
to make us happy in our own way | 44:07 | |
without bothering about religion. | 44:10 | |
God cannot give us a happiness and a peace | 44:13 | |
apart from himself | 44:17 | |
because it is not there. | 44:20 | |
There simply is no such thing." | 44:22 | |
And thus it is that it is even more important to know | 44:28 | |
that we who call ourselves the church | 44:31 | |
are God's reconciling body in his world, | 44:35 | |
called to proclaim by word and example | 44:39 | |
the good news of God in Christ, | 44:42 | |
called to seek and serve Christ | 44:45 | |
in all persons, | 44:47 | |
loving our neighbor as ourself, | 44:49 | |
called to strive for justice and peace among all people, | 44:53 | |
and to respect the dignity | 44:57 | |
of every human being. | 44:59 | |
Someone has written that the holiest moment | 45:02 | |
of the church service is that moment | 45:04 | |
when God's people, strengthened by word and by sacrament, | 45:07 | |
go out of the door, into the world to be the church. | 45:11 | |
You don't go to church; | 45:17 | |
you are the church. | 45:19 | |
And it is part of our good fortune | 45:22 | |
that we can show forth our thankfulness | 45:24 | |
for God's reconciliation | 45:26 | |
not only with our lips but in our lives. | 45:29 | |
For just as we meet the Lord there | 45:32 | |
in that good Samaritan story | 45:35 | |
when we stop on the road | 45:37 | |
and minister to that person in need, | 45:39 | |
so too you and I have been that person in need, | 45:42 | |
and the Lord of life has come to us | 45:46 | |
and bound up our wounds | 45:50 | |
and taken us to the inn | 45:52 | |
and put us up for the night | 45:53 | |
and healed us and forgiven us | 45:55 | |
and strengthened us. | 45:58 | |
You and I can proclaim that good news to others | 46:00 | |
lying on the highways of life, | 46:03 | |
you and I can, | 46:06 | |
by giving up ourselves to walk in his service, | 46:07 | |
truly become what the church is meant to be. | 46:11 | |
To be, as Tolkien once said of himself, | 46:15 | |
co-creators, | 46:19 | |
to share as members of his body | 46:21 | |
in the new creation. | 46:24 | |
In the name of the father | 46:28 | |
and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, | 46:29 | |
amen. | 46:33 | |
(light organ music) | 46:42 | |
(choir singing) | 47:03 |
(congregation sings) | 0:03 | |
- | As the people of God, let us affirm what we believe. | 0:34 |
- | We believe in God who has created | 0:39 |
and is creating, how has come in the truly human Jesus | 0:42 | |
to reconcile and make new, | 0:46 | |
who works in us and others by the sprit. | 0:49 | |
We trust God who calls us | 0:53 | |
to be the church to celebrate life | 0:55 | |
and its fullness, to love and serve others, | 0:58 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 1:02 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 1:06 | |
our judge and our hope. | 1:09 | |
In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 1:12 | |
God is with us. | 1:16 | |
We are not alone. | 1:18 | |
Thanks be to God. | 1:20 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 1:22 |
(congregation mumbles) | 1:25 | |
Let us pray. | 1:26 | |
Our eternal God, maker of all worlds | 1:39 | |
and creator of our very souls, | 1:43 | |
we worship you this day. | 1:46 | |
It is out of our littleness and partialness | 1:49 | |
that we ask that you weave us into your larger life | 1:53 | |
and design for us. | 1:58 | |
Lead us up from our low levels | 2:00 | |
and out from our narrow boundaries | 2:03 | |
that we may escape somehow | 2:06 | |
from the obsession with ourselves | 2:08 | |
and loving and serving something greater than ourselves, | 2:11 | |
find what we are truly in you. | 2:16 | |
Set us in the great backgrounds of our lives. | 2:20 | |
Remind us of the families from which we came, | 2:25 | |
the fathers and mothers and others who loved us, | 2:29 | |
the better heritage of our nation's life | 2:34 | |
in which we share, the prophets | 2:37 | |
who have spoken for us and to us, | 2:39 | |
the martyrs who have died that we might live, | 2:43 | |
that so seeing our lives might be lifted up | 2:47 | |
and we be grateful. | 2:50 | |
Oh God, grant us even this day a new vision | 2:53 | |
of the causes we should serve, | 2:57 | |
justice in a generation that is full of wrong, | 3:00 | |
unselfishness in a time when many are suffering, | 3:04 | |
peace in a day of violence. | 3:09 | |
Release us from narrowness of opinion | 3:12 | |
into wide compassion and sympathy. | 3:16 | |
Grant unto to us your servant | 3:20 | |
so sincerely to worship you | 3:22 | |
that across all lines of division | 3:25 | |
our hearts may today perform an act of your goodwill. | 3:28 | |
Give us the victory over our private prejudices | 3:34 | |
and our meanness, oh God, | 3:39 | |
for we would take into our care every sort | 3:41 | |
and condition of humankind. | 3:44 | |
Oh loving Lord, if there are hearts and lives here | 3:49 | |
to whom such calls of service seem to come in vain | 3:52 | |
because they are too sorely hurt themselves by life, | 3:58 | |
we ask your strength for them | 4:03 | |
and it is not for soft and easy lives that we pray | 4:06 | |
but for great resources of endurance. | 4:11 | |
Some of us are struggling against powerful temptations, | 4:15 | |
some of us have felt the burden of grief | 4:20 | |
and anxiety too heavy to be borne, | 4:23 | |
thus oh God, we ask for stability, | 4:26 | |
for inward reserves of your spiritual power | 4:29 | |
that while our outward person seems to be fraying, | 4:34 | |
that inward person may be renewed day by day. | 4:38 | |
Send us out, oh Lord, we pray you to face | 4:44 | |
this troubled difficult and often cruel world. | 4:47 | |
May we know and learn how to lay soothing hands | 4:53 | |
upon places that are hurtful | 4:57 | |
and for ourselves to keep clearly in our vision | 5:00 | |
all that is excellent and beautiful. | 5:04 | |
God, give us radiance as your people | 5:07 | |
and make our faith contagious. | 5:11 | |
May Christ's joy be ours | 5:14 | |
and the promise of abundant life be fulfilled in us | 5:16 | |
and may we who be among those who help bring humanity | 5:21 | |
to its fullness when you have promised | 5:25 | |
that your kingdom of righteousness shall come | 5:29 | |
for we ask it in the Spirit of Christ our Lord | 5:33 | |
who taught us to pray saying. | 5:38 | |
- | Our Father, who art in heaven, | 5:40 |
hallowed be thy name, | 5:43 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 5:45 | |
on Earth as it in heaven. | 5:48 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 5:51 | |
and forgive our trespasses | 5:54 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | 5:56 | |
and lead us not into temptation | 6:00 | |
but deliver us from evil | 6:03 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 6:05 | |
and the glory forever. | 6:08 | |
Amen. | 6:10 | |
(tranquil organ music) | 6:24 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 7:11 | |
(choir sings) | 7:16 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 7:20 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 7:21 | |
(choir sings) | 7:26 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 7:29 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 7:31 | |
(choir sings) | 7:36 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 7:40 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 7:41 | |
(choir sings) | 7:48 | |
♪ The Lord is a man ♪ | 8:10 | |
♪ The Lord is a man ♪ | 8:14 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 8:18 | |
(choir sings) | 8:23 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 8:26 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 8:28 | |
(choir sings) | 8:34 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 8:42 | |
(choir sings) | 8:43 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 8:49 | |
(choir sings) | 8:51 | |
♪ Through Jesus Christ our Lord ♪ | 10:04 | |
(choir sings) | 10:11 | |
♪ Through Jesus Christ our Lord ♪ | 10:28 | |
♪ Through Jesus Christ our Lord ♪ | 10:36 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 10:44 | |
(choir sings) | 10:50 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 10:53 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 10:55 | |
(choir sings) | 11:01 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 11:05 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 11:07 | |
(choir sings) | 11:12 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 11:15 | |
♪ Rejoice in the Lord always ♪ | 11:17 | |
(choir sings) | 11:23 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 11:32 | |
(choir sings) | 11:34 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 11:40 | |
(choir sings) | 11:42 | |
♪ Rejoice ♪ | 11:48 | |
(lively organ music) | 12:06 | |
(congregation sings) | 12:25 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:37 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:39 | |
(congregation sings) | 12:44 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:56 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 12:59 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 13:02 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 13:06 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 13:10 | |
- | Giving us all things, oh Lord, | 13:22 |
will you now receive these gifts of your people. | 13:24 | |
Help us to render unto you | 13:28 | |
all that we have and all that we have are | 13:30 | |
that we may praise you with our whole lives. | 13:33 | |
Amen. | 13:37 | |
(lively organ music) | 13:39 | |
(congregation sings) | 14:19 | |
And now the peace of God | 17:30 | |
which passes all understanding | 17:32 | |
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge | 17:35 | |
and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord | 17:38 | |
and the blessings of God Almighty, | 17:45 | |
creator, redeemer and sustainer | 17:48 | |
be among you and remain with you this day and always. | 17:52 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 18:02 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 18:11 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 18:18 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 18:26 | |
(lively organ music) | 18:39 | |
(clapping) | 26:31 | |
(people murmuring) | 26:41 |
Item Info
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