Norman Neaves - "Don't Be Too Religious!" (March 25, 1984)

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	(choir organ music)	0:03
-	In a spirit of praise and worship,	22:47
	let every knee bow and every tongue confess	22:50
	that Jesus Christ is Lord.	22:54
	Let us pray.	22:57
	Oh God Our Redeemer.	23:10
	You sent your Son Jesus to die for us all,	23:12
	that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him.	23:16
	We admit that our lives still stand at a distance	23:21
	from your love.	23:25
	We hear the joyful noise of your feast	23:26
	but we refuse to come in.	23:29
	We see the open arms of your gracious embrace,	23:32
	but we push them back.	23:36
	We have broken vows of love,	23:38
	been hard on other people,	23:41
	damage the relationships which mean the most to us	23:43
	Rescue us oh God.	23:47
	Save us from ourselves.	23:50
	Close the distance once again between us	23:52
	and your forgiving love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.	23:56
	Amen.	24:00
	Remember now these words of Jesus,	24:30
	"Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden,	24:33
	"and I will give you rest."	24:37
	In the name of Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven.	24:40
	Let us then give thanks for God is good,	24:45
	and God's love is everlasting.	24:48
	Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.	24:51
	Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us.	24:55
	Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future.	24:59
	We welcome you this morning to worship here with us	25:06
	in Duke University Chapel during the season of Lent.	25:09
	It is now the third Sunday of Lent	25:15
	in our journey toward discipleship,	25:17
	and our experience and participation	25:20
	with the life, and death, and resurrection	25:23
	of Jesus the Christ.	25:27
	We are glad that you have come to be with us,	25:30
	to worship, to pray, and to experience the gracious love	25:33
	of God's goodness.	25:38
	I would like to call to your attention	25:41
	the notice in the announcement page of the bulletin	25:43
	in regard to our Duke University Chapel Choir.	25:47
	We are very pleased to be able to announce	25:51
	that the chapel choir will be singing	25:55
	in the Washington National Cathedral, next fall,	25:57
	on the Sunday of September 23rd.	26:02
	It will be North Carolina day at the cathedral,	26:05
	and our chapel choir has been chosen to represent	26:09
	not only Duke, but the whole State as well.	26:12
	We are busy helping them and enabling this trip	26:17
	to come to pass for them, and we would like	26:20
	to encourage your participation in this venture together.	26:23
	Many of you who know about the trip	26:28
	have already offered contributions,	26:30
	and other ways of being supportive to the choir.	26:33
	We do invite you to consider making your contribution.	26:37
	An envelope is included in the bulletin	26:40
	for your consideration.	26:43
	And we invite you to place that in the offering plate today.	26:45
	We are very pleased today to welcome to the pulpit	26:52
	of Duke University Chapel, the Reverend Dr. Norman Neaves,	26:56
	Senior minister, Church of the Servant, United Methodist,	27:02
	in Oklahoma City.	27:06
	Norman and his family who have joined him here this weekend,	27:09
	are returning to Duke's campus,	27:13
	where he received his Master of Divinity degree.	27:16
	He has had time to visit with faculty, friends,	27:20
	and also friends in the surrounding area,	27:25
	and has felt warmly received	27:28
	back to his academic community, during seminary days.	27:30
	We are delighted that he is here to preach,	27:35
	to share with us in the service of worship this morning.	27:38
	Dr. Neaves is in demand across the country	27:42
	as preacher, as lecturer, and we're very fortunate	27:46
	to have him here today.	27:50
	And we appreciate his congregation sharing him with us.	27:52
	Dr. Neaves is the senior minister	27:58
	of Church of the Servant, Oklahoma City.	28:00
	It is a United Methodist congregation	28:04
	that he founded in 1968.	28:07
	That congregation today has 25 hundred members,	28:11
	and a professional staff of over 20 people.	28:15
	Dr. Neaves is adjunct faculty member at Drew University,	28:19
	where he received his doctorate degree.	28:24
	We are delighted that his wife Kipp,	28:28
	and his three children are here	28:30
	with him in the service today.	28:32
	We look forward to the word that he will proclaim,	28:35
	and we know that we will be blessed in his presence.	28:38
	The sermon titled today is, don't be too religious.	28:42
-	Let us pray.	28:55
	Oh Lord and lover of us all,	29:01
	curse the pure light of your divine knowledge	29:04
	to shine forth in our hearts,	29:07
	and open the eyes of our understanding	29:09
	that we may comprehend the ways of your gospel,	29:12
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	29:16
	Amen.	29:18
	The Old Testament lesson	29:21
	is from Isaiah chapter 58 verses one through eight.	29:23
	Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet.	29:29
	Declare to my people their transgression,	29:35
	to the House of Jacob, their sins.	29:38
	Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways,	29:41
	as if they were a nation that did righteousness,	29:45
	and did not for sake the ordinance of their God.	29:48
	They ask of me righteous judgments,	29:52
	they delight to draw near to God.	29:55
	Why have we fasted and thou seest it not?	29:58
	Why have we humbled ourselves,	30:03
	and thou takest no knowledge of it?	30:05
	Behold, In the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure,	30:08
	and oppress all your workers.	30:13
	Behold, you fast only to quarrel, and to fight,	30:16
	and to hit with wicked fist.	30:20
	Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice	30:22
	to be heard on high.	30:26
	Is such a fast that I choose a day	30:28
	for a man to humble himself?	30:32
	Is it to bow down his head like a rush?	30:35
	And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?	30:38
	Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?	30:42
	Is not this the fast that I choose	30:47
	to lose the bonds of wickedness?	30:50
	To undo the thongs of the yoke?	30:53
	To let the oppressed go free?	30:55
	And to break every yoke?	30:58
	Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?	31:00
	And bring the homeless poor into your house?	31:04
	When you see the naked to cover him,	31:08
	and not to hide yourself from your own flesh.	31:11
	Then shell your light break forth like the dawn,	31:15
	and your healing shall spring up speedily.	31:19
	Your righteousness shall go before you.	31:22
	The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.	31:25
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	31:30
	(saxophone music)	31:48
	Will the congregation please stand	36:10
	for the reading of the Gospel lesson?	36:12
	The Gospel lesson Is from John	36:22
	chapter four verses five through 26.	36:25
	So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar,	36:31
	near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.	36:35
	Jacob's well was there.	36:39
	And so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey,	36:41
	sat down beside the well.	36:45
	It was about the sixth hour.	36:48
	There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.	36:50
	Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."	36:54
	For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.	36:57
	The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you a Jew	37:02
	"ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?	37:07
	"For Jews have no dealing with Samaritans."	37:11
	Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God,	37:15
	"and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink,	37:19
	"You would have asked him,	37:24
	"and he would have given you living water."	37:25
	The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with,	37:30
	"and the well is deep.	37:34
	"Where do you get that living water?	37:35
	"Are you greater than our father Jacob,	37:38
	"who gave us the well, and drank from it himself?	37:41
	"And his sons and his cattle?"	37:45
	Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water	37:47
	"will thirst again.	37:52
	"But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him,	37:55
	"will never thirst.	37:58
	"The water that I shall give him,	38:00
	"we'll become in him a spring of water	38:03
	"welling up to eternal life."	38:05
	The woman said to him, "Sir give me this water	38:09
	"that I may not thirst nor come here to draw."	38:13
	Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here."	38:17
	The woman answered him, "I have no husband."	38:23
	Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying,	38:27
	"I have no husband, for you have had five husbands,	38:30
	"and he whom you now have is not your husband.	38:33
	"This you said Truly."	38:37
	The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive	38:40
	"that you are a prophet.	38:42
	"Our fathers worshiped on this mountain.	38:44
	"And you say that in Jerusalem is the place	38:46
	"where a man ought to worship."	38:49
	Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me,	38:52
	"the hour is coming when neither this on this mountain	38:55
	"nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.	38:58
	"You worship what you do not know.	39:02
	"We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.	39:05
	"But the hour is coming, and now is,	39:10
	"when the true father seeks to worship Him.	39:14
	"God is spirit, and those who worship him	39:17
	"must worship in spirit and truth."	39:20
	The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming,	39:23
	"he who is called Christ.	39:27
	"When he comes, he will show us all things."	39:30
	Jesus said to her,	39:34
	"I who speak to you, I'm he."	39:36
	Here ends the reading from the New Testament.	39:41
	(choir organ music)	39:46
-	Charlayne, let me thank you	40:55
	for a very warm and gracious introduction.	40:56
	It's a privilege for me to be here today,	41:00
	to be your preacher.	41:02
	It's very much a privilege for me	41:04
	to share the service with Reverend Bill Crowle,	41:05
	a good friend of mine, a colleague in ministry.	41:07
	A person who has taught me much about being a human being,	41:11
	and about ministry, and a real colleague.	41:14
	20 years ago, today, as a matter of fact,	41:18
	I was sitting where you are sitting.	41:22
	The last Sunday of March, 1964,	41:27
	Dr. James T. Cleland, the dean of the chapel here,	41:31
	at Duke, was the preacher.	41:34
	He preached a sermon entitled,	41:37
	the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.	41:39
	I remember that sermon very clearly even today.	41:43
	Suffer under no illusions that you will remember	41:48
	this sermon 20 years from today.	41:50
	But I remember that sermon well,	41:52
	and and to think that I can be here preaching today.	41:55
	Well it's an honor, and I'm delighted to be here.	41:57
	Share your bread with the hungry.	42:03
	Open your house to the homeless poor.	42:07
	And when you see the naked person,	42:12
	cover him.	42:17
	Let us pray.	42:21
	In the name of the father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit	42:26
	do we commit this moment	42:31
	and all the moments	42:35
	of our lives.	42:40
	Amen.	42:45
	Recently, over 4000 people gathered in our nation's capital	42:50
	for the annual meeting	42:54
	of the National Religious Broadcasters Association.	42:55
	A group composed primarily of TV evangelists,	43:01
	and electronic church people all over the United States.	43:04
	And the person they invited to be their special speaker	43:09
	for that occasion was none other than Chuck Colson,	43:14
	the born again Christian who of cause served a prison term	43:18
	for his involvement in the Watergate ordeal.	43:22
	But you know, when Chuck Colson stood up to speak,	43:27
	they were shocked, they were stunned	43:30
	at the words that came out of his mouth.	43:35
	And I want to share with you just for a moment,	43:39
	a few of the words that Chuck Colson said.	43:43
	"Much of the Christianity we slickly market today	43:51
	"is nothing but a religious adaptation	43:56
	"of The self-seeking values of secular culture.	43:58
	"We are too concerned to give people what they want.	44:04
	"My friends." He said,	44:10
	"That is heresy	44:14
	"at the very root of the what's in it for me gospel	44:17
	"so prevalent in America today.	44:21
	"God commands us to care for and serve the sick,	44:25
	"the imprisoned, the needy.	44:30
	"To love the unlovable,	44:33
	"and to lay down our lives for another.	44:34
	"Now that may not be the most popular message	44:38
	"to present to an egocentric, materialistic society.	44:41
	"It wasn't popular when Jesus presented it either.	44:48
	"But my friends, It is the gospel,	44:53
	"and we do a terrible disservice to our Lord	44:58
	"when we only present half of it."	45:04
	When he finished, no one said anything.	45:13
	Well, you almost could have heard	45:19
	a pin drop in that auditorium,	45:20
	there was no applause either.	45:25
	For this born again christian	45:28
	from a very conservative background,	45:30
	religiously and politically,	45:32
	had cut right through the veneer of their religious slickery	45:35
	if I might coin a word.	45:39
	And had put his finger on the very heart	45:42
	of the real issue.	45:46
	Yes, God says to all of us,	45:51
	that we are loved and accepted,	45:55
	and affirmed from the very core of creation.	45:58
	That's the gospel.	46:03
	That's good news.	46:05
	That's why we gather in our houses	46:08
	and places of worship, Sunday after Sunday,	46:10
	to celebrate that news.	46:14
	But you know, God also says to all of us	46:18
	and to each one of us in particular,	46:21
	that we have a ministry to fulfill.	46:26
	And we have a mission to accomplish,	46:29
	that we have a gospel to represent in the world.	46:31
	And we must never let one part	46:34
	of that equation out balance	46:37
	or outstrip the other.	46:40
	I hope you listen carefully to the words	46:45
	of our scripture lessons for today,	46:47
	especially the lesson that Reverend Kurt Crull	46:49
	read to us from Isaiah 58,	46:52
	because it has a very important word to speak to all of us.	46:56
	The Hebrew people of cause were very religious.	47:02
	They spent a lot of time in the temple.	47:05
	They spent a lot of time praying and fasting,	47:07
	and devoting themselves to God,	47:09
	because they believed that somehow	47:11
	through all of their religiosity and all of their piety,	47:12
	they would win God's favor and approval,	47:16
	and maybe obtain a special blessing from God.	47:18
	But of course, God could see right	47:24
	through their religiosity and their piety.	47:25
	God wasn't impressed with their acts of devotion.	47:30
	God knew that sometimes religion	47:33
	can be an escape from life.	47:37
	And that sometimes those	47:40
	who become so excessively preoccupied with him	47:43
	are not appropriately concerned about the needs	47:48
	of the world in which they live,	47:50
	and so, God said in effect,	47:51
	"This is the fast that I desire,	47:54
	"that you loosen the bonds of wickedness,	47:59
	"that you let the oppressed go."	48:02

-	That you share your bread with the hungry.	0:04
	That you open your house to the homeless poor.	0:08
	And when you see the naked person,	0:13
	that you reach out and clothe that person.	0:16
	You see, God does not want to be the	0:24
	object of our faith,	0:30
	so much as the source of our faith,	0:35
	and there's a great difference between the two.	0:40
	God does not want to be the one whom we love	0:44
	and adore and praise too excessively,	0:48
	so much as God wants to be the one	0:51
	who helps us love and care	0:54
	and reach out to one another.	0:58
	God does not want to be the ultimate reason	1:01
	that we live our lives, so much as	1:05
	God wants to be the ultimate power that propels our lives,	1:08
	and that helps us live beautifully	1:13
	in the midst of the world.	1:17
	Westminster Catechism says, "The chief end	1:21
	"of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever."	1:25
	But ya' know, when I think about our passage of scripture	1:31
	from the Old Testament today, and when I also	1:35
	think about that statement,	1:39
	I'm not so sure of its veracity.	1:42
	Maybe Jesus had it right when He said,	1:48
	"If ya' bring your gift to the alter	1:52
	"and you remember that you have an offense	1:56
	"against your neighbor, why, leave your gift at the alter	1:58
	"and first go and be reconciled to your neighbor	2:02
	"and then come back	2:06
	and make your offering to God."	2:07
	Don't be too religious,	2:15
	God seems to be saying to us today.	2:19
	Don't be so preoccupied with Me	2:22
	that you forget that I'm preoccupied with you	2:24
	and with the world in which you live.	2:27
	Don't make me the object of your faith,	2:30
	so much as the source of your faith.	2:34
	The one who lives in you and empowers you	2:38
	to live beautifully and compassionately and humanly	2:44
	in the midst of the world.	2:50
	When I was a student at the Divinity School	2:58
	here at Duke some 20 years ago,	3:00
	I worked one semester as a student chaplain	3:03
	over in the Duke hospital, and one day	3:06
	I had an experience there that changed my theology,	3:10
	my whole way of looking at God and looking at the church	3:16
	and looking at ministry, why, my whole way	3:19
	of looking at my own life, too, for that matter.	3:22
	Let me share it with you for just a moment.	3:27
	I went into the hospital early one morning	3:30
	to visit some people, and a nurse stopped me.	3:32
	And she said, "Reverend Neeves,	3:36
	"I wonder if you would do a favor for me."	3:38
	And I said, "Well, of course, I'd be happy to."	3:40
	And she said, "Well, last night, up on the OB floor	3:42
	"a woman gave birth to a little baby,	3:46
	"and she's an Episcopalian, and she	3:49
	"cannot get ahold of her priest	3:51
	"and she wanted to know if a chaplain	3:52
	"would come up and offer a prayer	3:54
	"of thanksgiving to God for her little baby."	3:56
	And I said, "Well, well I would be delighted to do that.",	3:59
	and of course I was, and so I went up onto the OB floor,	4:02
	and I walked down the corridor and into her room,	4:08
	and there she was lying in the bed	4:10
	and her husband was standing next to her and her two parents	4:11
	and their little five, six, seven year old girl.	4:15
	And we talked for a few moments, and then we clasped hands,	4:20
	all of us, all the way around her bed.	4:23
	And I offered to God a prayer of thanksgiving	4:27
	for this beautiful, wonderful, healthy little baby	4:30
	that she had given birth to just a few hours before.	4:33
	And then I went on my way, thinking	4:38
	what a wonderful gesture on their part.	4:40
	Later in the day, however, I was still in the hospital	4:46
	and a nurse up on the OB floor called,	4:51
	and she said, "Reverend Neeves?"	4:54
	And I said, "Yes."	4:56
	And she said, "I wonder if you could come up	4:58
	"and visit with me for a few moments.	5:00
	"I have an important matter to discuss."	5:02
	I said, "Well, is something wrong?"	5:05
	And she said, "Well, I just prefer	5:06
	"you come up and we talk in person."	5:09
	And I could tell by the gravity of her voice	5:10
	that, that something was wrong,	5:12
	but, of course, I didn't know what.	5:16
	So I went up the stairs,	5:18
	and we found a little conference room	5:20
	and we sat down and her face was very serious.	5:22
	She said, "Reverend Neeves, ya' know this morning	5:28
	"when you were down the hall in that room	5:30
	"and you offered the prayer of thanksgiving	5:33
	"to God for that little baby."	5:36
	And I said, "Well sure, yes."	5:38
	And she said, "Well, you undoubtedly were not aware	5:41
	"of the other woman who was in that room	5:45
	"on the other side of that drawn curtain, were you?"	5:48
	And I said, "No, no I wasn't at all."	5:55
	And she said, "Well, Reverend Neeves,	6:00
	"she gave birth last night to a little baby, too,	6:02
	"but her baby was born without any arms,	6:06
	without any legs,	6:12
	"with some of its organs outside of its body,	6:15
	"and it's not expected to live	6:19
	for even a day or two.	6:24
	"And Reverend Neeves, when, when you were praying	6:28
	"that prayer of thanksgiving, she began to cry.	6:32
	"And her sobs became so deep that she had to get her pillow	6:38
	"and put it over her face to muffle the sobs	6:42
	"so that she wouldn't be heard, but,	6:45
	"but she's been crying ever since, and she's still crying,	6:48
	"and I think you need to go down and see her."	6:52
	I was speechless.	7:00
	I had never encountered anything like that before.	7:03
	My theology, I guess, was somewhat naive.	7:06
	I didn't know what I would say,	7:12
	but I knew deep inside that somehow	7:16
	I needed to go and be with her.	7:19
	And so I walked down that corridor,	7:22
	and as I was walking down that corridor	7:26
	a lump began to form in my throat,	7:28
	and some tears began to appear in my eyes,	7:30
	and I was getting scared, but I walked in,	7:35
	and I went over to her bed, and I looked at her,	7:40
	and I started weeping, and I said,	7:46
	"Mary, I'm just so sorry,	7:47
	so sorry."	7:54
	And I reached out my hands to her and took hers,	7:58
	and she just nodded a very forgiving nod.	8:01
	And she had a very understanding look in her eye,	8:06
	but she was still crying, of course.	8:09
	We were there, both of us crying	8:13
	very quietly for a long period of time.	8:15
	And then I said something to her	8:18
	that I'd never said before, don't know where it came from,	8:23
	but I said, "Mary, I don't know	8:28
	"if this makes any sense to you,	8:32
	"but, ya' know, I don't believe that God did this.	8:35
	"In fact, Mary, I believe	8:44
	that somehow, somewhere,	8:48
	"God is crying right now, too.	8:52
	"I believe God is shedding tears like we're shedding tears.	8:59
	"I believe that God	9:04
	is suffering with us."	9:08
	And when I looked at her face,	9:16
	I could see just a faint smile	9:19
	forming at the corners of her mouth.	9:23
	And I could see just a touch of hopefulness	9:27
	in her bleary eyes,	9:31
	and I knew that somehow,	9:36
	that word had struck deeply in her being.	9:39
	Well, I left and went on my way,	9:47
	but ya' know, I started thinking to myself,	9:52
	"Maybe God lives in the world,	9:58
	"not so much as the strong one, the powerful one,	10:03
	"the mighty one, the one who has everything in control,	10:06
	"so much as the suffering one,	10:12
	the oppressed one,	10:17
	"the one who hurts like we hurt."	10:20
	And then I thought of those beautiful words	10:27
	of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's that he had written	10:29
	from a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War.	10:32
	It was a poem, I had read those words	10:37
	many times before, but I guess	10:41
	I had never really understood them,	10:42
	but now they came alive for me.	10:44
	Bonhoeffer said,	10:49
	"People go to God when He is sore bestead,	10:52
	"Find him poor and scorned, without shelter and bread,	10:57
	"Whelmed under the weight of the wicked, the weak, the dead;	11:00
	"But Christians stand by God	11:05
	in God's hour of grieving."	11:12
	Isn't that powerful?	11:22
	"Christians stand by God	11:25
	in God's hour of grieving."	11:29
	The one thing, according to Bonhoeffer,	11:37
	that distinguishes the Christian person,	11:41
	is not a special piety,	11:46
	not a special religiosity,	11:49
	not even a born again experience for those	11:53
	for whom that's very important.	11:56
	No, it's the willingness of that person	11:59
	to stand with God, and by God,	12:05
	in God's hour of grieving	12:11
	in the world.	12:16
	A woman in our church recently discovered	12:19
	what it means to stand with God and by God	12:22
	as God suffers and grieves in the world.	12:27
	Her name is Jeannie Fortuna, and a few weeks ago	12:31
	she went with a group of people in our church	12:35
	and some other people across the country	12:37
	on a medical mission to Ecuador.	12:40
	It was an ophthalmological mission.	12:43
	There were doctors and nurses	12:46
	and medical technologists and technicians.	12:48
	They went and set up a clinic in a little village	12:51
	high up in the mountains in Ecuador.	12:54
	And there in the course of a period of two weeks,	12:56
	if you can imagine,	12:59
	they treated over 11,000 people.	13:02
	They dispensed glasses, they performed surgeries,	13:06
	they did ophthalmological treatments and procedures.	13:10
	But, of course, finally the time came for them to leave.	13:15
	And so they were packing up their supplies and boxes,	13:20
	and they were packing their boxes on the trucks outside.	13:23
	And outside of their little makeshift wooden clinic	13:28
	were hundreds and hundreds of Ecuadorian people,	13:33
	peasants, who had waited there patiently	13:36
	for days and for nights	13:39
	in the rain and the cold,	13:44
	waiting to get in to be treated.	13:45
	And when it dawned upon them that the missioners	13:48
	were getting ready to leave, they became hysterical.	13:53
	They became desperate and they started pounding on the walls	13:59
	of that little building and pounding on the doors.	14:02
	They wanted to get inside to be treated.	14:05
	And because Jeannie speaks Spanish fluently	14:08
	it became her task to tell them that the team was sorry,	14:11
	but they did have to return to the United States,	14:16
	and they would not be able to treat them this time.	14:19
	And so Jeannie stood there,	14:23
	and here was this teeming throng of people.	14:24
	And Jeannie began to say to them,	14:27
	"We're sorry, we wish we could help you.	14:30
	"We've got to return to the United States."	14:33
	But the noise was so loud, and she just became exasperated.	14:36
	And everything she said was to no avail.	14:41
	And finally Jeannie just broke down, and she started to cry.	14:45
	And then, a beautiful thing happened.	14:52
	A few of those Ecuadorian Indian people	14:58
	noticed that Jeannie was crying.	15:03
	And they started whispering one to another,	15:06
	"She's crying, she's crying,	15:10
	she's crying."	15:16
	And that group of people was as large	15:20
	as all of us here in this chapel this morning.	15:22
	But one by one, that word passed from another person	15:27
	all the way back, and can you imagine it?	15:30
	Within moments, that teeming	15:34
	group of people became silent.	15:39
	A great hush, and then,	15:45
	some of them started to cry, too.	15:52
	And some of the ones who were up near the front	15:57
	where Jeannie was, reached out with their hands,	15:59
	and they touched her face, and they wiped her tears.	16:04
	And there were a few of them that	16:10
	even threw their arms around her,	16:11
	and comforted her and consoled her.	16:16
	And Jeannie said that never in her life	16:22
	had she experienced anything so utterly	16:26
	desperate on the one hand,	16:31
	and yet so utterly profound	16:35
	and beautiful, on the other.	16:39
	God invites us	16:48
	to participate in the suffering of the world.	16:52
	We don't have to have an answer	16:58
	for every question that arises.	17:00
	We don't have to have a solution	17:03
	for every problem that presents itself, no.	17:05
	We only need to be human,	17:11
	vulnerable,	17:18
	broken with the world,	17:22
	and willing to suffer	17:27
	in the midst of a suffering humankind.	17:30
	And to know, as we do, that we are participating	17:34
	in God's suffering	17:41
	on Earth.	17:47
	Christians stand by God	17:50
	in God's hour of grieving.	17:55
	One more simple story I'd like	18:04
	to share with you before I conclude our sermon.	18:05
	Some years ago, Lawrence and Lee wrote a play	18:09
	entitled: "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail".	18:11
	Perhaps some of you have read that play.	18:16
	It's an excellent play, if you've never read it,	18:17
	I would certainly like to encourage your doing so.	18:19
	There's one little scene that I want to share with you.	18:23
	As you perhaps know, Henry David Thoreau	18:27
	was bitterly opposed to our country's involvement	18:31
	in the Mexican-American War of 1846.	18:34
	And he tried, in many different ways,	18:39
	to register his protest, but it was to no avail.	18:41
	And finally, the only thing he could do	18:46
	was to refuse to pay his taxes,	18:49
	which he did.	18:54
	And, of course, he was arrested, and he was put in jail.	18:56
	Well, when he was in jail, his friend,	19:01
	Ralph Waldo Emerson, came to see him.	19:04
	And as Emerson was walking down the corridor	19:08
	and spotted Thoreau in the jail cell nearby,	19:11
	he started laughing, he said, "Henry!	19:15
	"What in the world are you doing in there?"	19:18
	And I love the reply that Thoreau gave.	19:23
	Thoreau looked at Emerson, and he said,	19:28
	"Ralph, the real question is not	19:30
	what am I doing in here, the real question,	19:33
	Ralph, is	19:37
	what are you doing out there?"	19:40
	I think that's the question	19:47
	that God would pose to each of us	19:53
	on this third Sunday of Lent, 1984.	19:56
	"What are you doing out there,	20:01
	"outside the circle of suffering?	20:04
	"What are you doing out there,	20:12
	"insulated and isolated	20:15
	from human pain and human hurt?"	20:20
	Let us never forget that there is always	20:28
	a cost involved in Christian discipleship,	20:35
	always.	20:42
	Sometimes, we can serve God and serve ourselves	20:45
	and there's no conflict between the two.	20:47
	But oftentimes, we cannot serve God	20:51
	and also serve ourselves, and then it is	20:53
	that a tough decision must be made.	20:58
	Remember this,	21:05
	a faith that does not cost us anything	21:09
	is not truly the Christian faith.	21:16
	It might be slick, it might be ever so attractive,	21:22
	and ever so appealing, and it might	21:27
	be wrapped in a beautiful package.	21:28
	But a faith	21:30
	that does not cost us anything,	21:34
	is not bottom line, truly, the Christian faith.	21:38
	And a faith that never calls us	21:45
	to suffer with those who are suffering,	21:50
	and to stand with those who are oppressed,	21:54
	is an inadequate faith that will never	21:59
	be able to support us or hold us up in life	22:03
	when the chips are down, either.	22:08
	How has your faith cost you something significant?	22:17
	In the last week, month,	22:23
	year?	22:30
	What does it mean for you to suffer	22:34
	with, and in behalf,	22:39
	of our Lord?	22:44
	How might your life be different	22:48
	because this year, you took seriously	22:53
	your discipleship	22:58
	and also	23:02
	the meaning of Lent?	23:05
	Amen.	23:15
	(organ music)	23:24
	(choir singing)	24:00
-	As the people of God, let us affirm what we believe.	27:19
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating.	27:24
	Who has come in the truly human Jesus	27:29
	to reconcile and make new.	27:32
	Who works in us and others by the Spirit.	27:35
	We trust God, who calls us to be the church,	27:39
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	27:44
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	27:47
	to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,	27:53
	our judge and our hope in life,	27:57
	in death, in life beyond death.	28:01
	God is with us, we are not alone.	28:04
	Thanks be to God.	28:08
	The Lord be with you.	28:11
-	And also with you.	28:13
-	Let us pray.	28:15
	As we begin our time of prayer this morning,	28:26
	I did want to share this pastoral word with you.	28:29
	We have been saddened this week to receive	28:34
	the news of the death of a 1980 Duke graduate,	28:37
	First Lieutenant Charles L. Bick.	28:42
	Charles had been stationed at Columbus, Mississippi,	28:46
	and was killed earlier this week	28:50
	in a collision of trainer jets.	28:53
	While at Duke, you will remember,	28:57
	that Charlie was in Phi Delta Theta	28:59
	and also in the Air Force ROTC.	29:02
	We have learned that he has been	29:07
	posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain.	29:09
	There will be a military service of internment	29:14
	held March 27th at 3:00 in the afternoon	29:17
	at Arlington National Cemetery.	29:21
	We simply want to say that we extend	29:25
	our heartfelt prayers and sympathy	29:28
	to the family and friends of Charles Bick	29:31
	and surround them in our care at this time.	29:35
	Now let us pray.	29:39
	Oh Lord, our God, You humbled Yourself,	29:46
	that we might be exalted.	29:51
	You became poor, that we might be enriched.	29:55
	You came to us, that we might come to You.	30:00
	You became human like us,	30:06
	that we might share in eternal life.	30:09
	All this was done by virtue of Your free grace	30:13
	which we have not deserved, and through Your Son,	30:17
	our Lord, Jesus, the Christ, we are gathered here	30:21
	in the presence of this mystery	30:27
	and this miracle, to adore You, to praise You,	30:30
	to proclaim You, and to receive Your Word.	30:36
	But we know well that we are incapable	30:41
	of doing so unless You come Yourself	30:44
	to give wings to our hearts and thoughts,	30:48
	which will enable them to ascend to You.	30:51
	We ask You, therefore, to be in the midst of us.	30:56
	Show us, and through the Holy Spirit,	31:01
	prepare for us the ways that lead to You.	31:04
	That with our own eyes, we may see Your light	31:09
	which has come into the world,	31:13
	and may become your witness, hereafter,	31:15
	throughout our whole lives.	31:18
	For we pray in the name of Jesus, the Christ,	31:22
	who taught us to pray, saying,	31:26
	"Our Father, who art in Heaven,	31:28
	"hallowed by Thy name.	31:31
	"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,	31:34
	"on Earth, as it is in Heaven.	31:36
	"Give us this day our daily bread,	31:39
	"and forgive us our trespasses,	31:42
	"as we forgive those who trespass against us.	31:44
	"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,	31:48
	"for Thine is the kingdom, and the power,	31:52
	"and the glory forever, Amen."	31:56
	("Kyrie Eleison")	32:02
	(choir singing in foreign language)	33:56
	(organ music)	37:19
	♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪	37:38
	♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪	37:44
	♪ Alleluia Alleluia ♪	37:50
	♪ Praise Him above ye heav'nly host ♪	37:57
	♪ Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost ♪	38:03
	♪ Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Amen ♪	38:09
-	Oh Lord, our God, send down upon us your Holy Spirit	38:41
	to cleanse our hearts, to hallow our gifts,	38:45
	and to perfect the offering of ourselves unto you.	38:49
	Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.	38:53
	(organ music)	39:00
	(choir singing)	39:37
-	And now, may the God of hope	42:27
	fill you with all joy and peace in believing	42:30
	that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.	42:34
	♪ Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen ♪	42:45
	(organ music)	43:09

Item Info

Title:

Norman Neaves - "Don't Be Too Religious!" (March 25, 1984)

Description:

We should be careful not to become so preoccupied with religion that we forget our mission to the world. God does not want to be the ultimate reason for our lives; rather, God wants to be the source of our strength to love and serve a suffering world. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 40:55. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 23:17.
Key quotation: “We don’t have to have an answer for every question that arises. We don’t have to have a solution to every problem that presents itself. We only need to be human, vulnerable, broken with the world, and willing to suffer in the midst of a suffering humankind.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4r20sb2j

Date:

March 25, 1984

Speaker:

Neaves, Norman

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0199
ref7921_hic
uachapelsermaud
duke:321183
dcrau001189
ark:/87924/r4r20sb2j
6fac9f42-a6dc-46c7-a13a-c4b9b4ccc9b5

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

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

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Norman Neaves - "Don't Be Too Religious!" (March 25, 1984)

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