Joseph A. Burke - "I Will Never Forget You" (April 8, 1984)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(church organ music) | 0:03 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 0:50 | |
(somber organ music) | 0:57 | |
(whimsical organ music) | 1:53 | |
- | Yes. | 2:37 |
(footsteps echoing) | 2:40 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 2:43 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 3:57 | |
(whimsical organ music) | 4:04 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 5:05 | |
(dramatic organ music) | 5:12 | |
(high pitched dramatic organ music) | 6:18 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 7:12 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 8:18 | |
(quiet chattering) | ||
(somber organ music) | 8:48 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 10:12 | |
(somber organ music) | 10:20 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 11:23 | |
(slow organ music) | 11:30 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 12:25 | |
(upbeat organ music) | 12:34 | |
(scuffling) | 13:36 | |
(quiet chattering) | ||
(whimsical organ music) | 13:51 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 14:51 | |
(intense organ music) | 15:01 | |
(coughing) | 16:15 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 16:17 | |
- | And that's all. | 16:27 |
No. | 16:32 | |
(footsteps echoing) | 16:38 | |
(quiet chattering) | ||
(church choir singing harmoniously) | 17:18 | |
(coughing) | 18:20 | |
(uplifting organ music) | 18:23 | |
(church choir singing harmoniously with organ) | 19:15 | |
(organ playing dramatically) | 21:02 | |
(church choir singing harmoniously with organ) | 21:22 | |
- | Oh, come and magnify the Lord with me | 22:19 |
and let us exalt God's name together. | 22:23 | |
Now, let us test and examine our ways | 22:28 | |
and return to the Lord, our God. | 22:31 | |
The sacrifice acceptable to God | 22:34 | |
is a broken spirit, a contrite heart. | 22:37 | |
For a broken heart, oh, God, you will not despise. | 22:41 | |
Let us pray. | 22:46 | |
(soft creaking) | 22:49 | |
Oh, Lord Jesus, you set your face to Jerusalem | 22:58 | |
and called us to come with you. | 23:02 | |
How glibly we said we would follow. | 23:05 | |
We confess that our talk was greater than our courage. | 23:08 | |
Our idealism exceeded our commitment | 23:12 | |
and our self confidence overshadowed our faith. | 23:16 | |
As we have become more prosperous and secure, | 23:20 | |
oh, Lord, we have had second thoughts about the cross. | 23:23 | |
Forgive us for our willfulness and our refusal to take risk | 23:28 | |
for your kingdom. | 23:32 | |
Restore in us a spirit of conviction and courage, | 23:34 | |
that we may live in perfect obedience | 23:38 | |
to our Lord Jesus Christ. | 23:41 | |
Amen. | 23:43 | |
(shuffling) | 23:52 | |
(coughing) | 24:02 | |
(coughing) | 24:07 | |
Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. | 24:13 | |
You who come to me shall not hunger | 24:16 | |
and you who believe in me shall never thirst." | 24:19 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. | 24:23 | |
Let us, then, give thanks, for God is good | 24:28 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 24:31 | |
Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. | 24:34 | |
Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us. | 24:38 | |
Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 24:42 | |
We welcome you to this holy service of worship | 24:48 | |
during the Lenten season. | 24:52 | |
It is now the fifth Sunday of Lent | 24:54 | |
in our own journey toward the cross | 24:57 | |
and our way of discipleship. | 24:59 | |
We are glad to welcome you and your friends | 25:02 | |
here to this service of worship with us today. | 25:05 | |
I want to call your attention to one announcement | 25:10 | |
in the bulletin and also have a special announcement | 25:14 | |
to make for the community here at Duke. | 25:17 | |
You will notice that Mr. Herbert Manfred Hoffman | 25:21 | |
will be offering a recital here in the chapel today | 25:25 | |
at five o'clock. | 25:29 | |
We are very privileged and pleased | 25:31 | |
to have Mr. Hoffman with us. | 25:33 | |
He is the organist of the Heilig Geist Kirchort | 25:36 | |
in Frankfurt, West Germany. | 25:39 | |
The recital is open to the public. | 25:43 | |
There is no charge and we warmly invite you to attend. | 25:45 | |
I was informed by Duke University Food Services | 25:52 | |
on Friday of this week that they have given permission | 25:56 | |
for Duke University students to donate | 26:00 | |
any leftover points in their Food Service plans | 26:03 | |
to go toward imperishable goods | 26:08 | |
for the Saint Philip's Soup Kitchen. | 26:12 | |
So, we want the word to get out about this, | 26:14 | |
particularly to students, but others who have meal plans | 26:17 | |
here at Duke as well. | 26:20 | |
Any student who would like to donate points | 26:23 | |
for the purchase of imperishable goods | 26:27 | |
to help the soup kitchen in Durham | 26:30 | |
may do so by going by the Bryan Center Information Desk. | 26:33 | |
There will be sign up sheets there | 26:39 | |
and you can give any points in any amount | 26:41 | |
that you so desire. | 26:44 | |
The deadline for the collection of points, | 26:47 | |
which will go for the purchase of goods, | 26:49 | |
will be Wednesday, April the 18th | 26:52 | |
and we do hope that students may be able | 26:55 | |
to donate generously to this cause to help | 26:57 | |
hunger here at Durham. | 27:02 | |
We are delighted this morning to introduce to our | 27:07 | |
university community our very own Father Joseph Burke. | 27:11 | |
He will be our guest preacher for the first time | 27:17 | |
this morning here in the chapel. | 27:20 | |
He is now in his seventh year as Chaplain | 27:23 | |
for the Newman Center and the Catholic community | 27:27 | |
here at Duke. | 27:30 | |
Father Burke is a Jesuit priest | 27:32 | |
having been ordained in 1951. | 27:35 | |
In our sharing together, he has told me that | 27:39 | |
40 years of his training and, now, ministry | 27:43 | |
have been spent in a college or university setting. | 27:47 | |
We have been delighted to have him among us | 27:51 | |
in the Religious Life staff here at Duke. | 27:55 | |
We are very glad that he will be sharing with us | 27:58 | |
in the sermon this morning. | 28:01 | |
We are grateful to the Catholic community | 28:03 | |
and our friends in the Newman Center | 28:06 | |
for sharing Joe in his very busy priestly schedule | 28:09 | |
this day and I noticed that the Newman Center | 28:12 | |
cheering community is in place on the pulpit side. | 28:15 | |
Father Burke, we are thrilled to have you | 28:21 | |
and we look forward to the sermon | 28:23 | |
that you will bring. | 28:25 | |
The sermon title is "I Will Never Forget You." | 28:27 | |
- | Let us pray. | 28:41 |
Oh, God, who, according to the promise of Jesus Christ, | 28:45 | |
your son, did send the spirit of truth | 28:48 | |
to your people, grant that the spirit may teach us | 28:52 | |
all things, guide us into all truth, | 28:56 | |
open to us the scriptures and take the ways | 28:59 | |
of Christ and show them to us for your name's sake. | 29:02 | |
Amen. | 29:07 | |
The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah, Chapter 49, | 29:09 | |
Verses 14 and 15. | 29:13 | |
But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me. | 29:17 | |
My Lord has forgotten me. | 29:21 | |
Can a woman forget her suckling child | 29:24 | |
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? | 29:27 | |
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you." | 29:31 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 29:36 | |
(shuffling) | 29:38 | |
(somber organ music) | 29:45 | |
(church choir singing harmoniously with organ) | 29:55 | |
(coughing) | 31:33 | |
Will the congregation please stand | 31:40 | |
for the reading of the gospel lesson? | 31:42 | |
From John, Chapter Eight, Verses One through 11. | 31:49 | |
They went each to his own house, | 31:54 | |
but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. | 31:57 | |
Early in the morning, he came again to the temple. | 32:00 | |
All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them. | 32:03 | |
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman | 32:08 | |
who had been caught in adultery. | 32:11 | |
In placing her in the midst, they said to him, | 32:13 | |
"Teacher, this woman has been caught | 32:17 | |
in the act of adultery. | 32:20 | |
Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such. | 32:22 | |
What do you say about her?" | 32:26 | |
This they said to test him | 32:29 | |
that they might have some charge to bring against him. | 32:31 | |
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground | 32:35 | |
and as they continued to ask him, | 32:39 | |
he stood up and said to them, | 32:42 | |
"Let him who is among you without sin | 32:45 | |
be the first to throw a stone at her." | 32:49 | |
And once more, he bent down and wrote | 32:53 | |
with his finger on the ground. | 32:55 | |
But when they heard it, they went away one by one, | 32:58 | |
beginning with the eldest and Jesus was left alone | 33:02 | |
with the woman standing before him. | 33:06 | |
Jesus looked up and said to her, | 33:09 | |
"Woman, where are they? | 33:12 | |
Has no one condemned you?" | 33:14 | |
She said, "No one, Lord." | 33:17 | |
And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. | 33:19 | |
Go and do not sin again." | 33:23 | |
Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson. | 33:26 | |
Amen. | 33:29 | |
(dramatic organ music) | 33:30 | |
(church choir singing harmoniously with organ) | 33:39 | |
- | My dear fellow students, | 34:40 |
after having spent 44 of the last 48 years | 34:44 | |
as either a student, a teacher, or an administrator | 34:49 | |
at a collegiate institution, I feel quite comfortable | 34:54 | |
addressing you students in this way. | 34:58 | |
In a sense, I have never really gotten out of college. | 35:04 | |
Over the years, my contacts with students | 35:10 | |
have usually been in the classroom, in booth sessions, | 35:13 | |
at the local pub, and in most other places | 35:18 | |
that students usually gather. | 35:23 | |
And in the seven years that I've been here at Duke, | 35:27 | |
most of these sessions have taken place right downstairs | 35:30 | |
in the basement of this great chapel | 35:36 | |
where my office is. | 35:39 | |
I've walked through this chapel | 35:42 | |
many times, hundreds of times, | 35:44 | |
and I've prayed here silently many times. | 35:47 | |
I feel very much at home here, | 35:53 | |
but never, never have I looked at you from this height. | 35:58 | |
I feel so very far away from you. | 36:04 | |
I'd much prefer, frankly, to be right down there | 36:08 | |
in the pews with you. | 36:11 | |
But, I feel like Savonarola haranguing the multitudes | 36:15 | |
in the Doumo at Florence. | 36:20 | |
But Savonarola, I assure you, I am not. | 36:23 | |
For one thing, he was a Dominican and I'm a Jesuit | 36:25 | |
with whatever that implies. | 36:29 | |
In intellect, we are worlds apart | 36:33 | |
and in personality, of course, no comparison. | 36:35 | |
Nevertheless, here I am, up here, way up here | 36:39 | |
on this fifth Sunday of Lent | 36:42 | |
and a sermon has to be preached. | 36:44 | |
And so, I've chosen three aspects of God | 36:47 | |
that have meant so much to me over the years. | 36:50 | |
God's forgiveness, God's presence, God's love. | 36:53 | |
And in sharing my thoughts on these points, | 37:00 | |
I confess I've come to agree strongly | 37:02 | |
with Carl Rogers's experience. | 37:05 | |
This distinguished psychologist | 37:09 | |
invariably found that the feeling, | 37:11 | |
which seemed to him most private and personal, | 37:15 | |
proved to be an expression for which | 37:19 | |
there was a resonance in many another. | 37:22 | |
It lead him to the conviction | 37:26 | |
that what is most personal and unique | 37:29 | |
in each one of us is probably the very element | 37:33 | |
which could, if it were shared or expressed, | 37:38 | |
speak most deeply to others. | 37:43 | |
And Henri Nouwen, in commenting on this, | 37:48 | |
suggested that the Christian leader is, | 37:51 | |
first of all, the artist, who can bind together | 37:54 | |
many people by his courage | 37:59 | |
in giving expression | 38:03 | |
to his most personal concern. | 38:06 | |
To our first point, then. | 38:11 | |
God's forgiveness. | 38:13 | |
Over the years, in speaking with thousands of you students, | 38:15 | |
I've sensed your awareness of sin in your lives | 38:20 | |
and an apprehension, | 38:25 | |
even a fear of the eternal consequences | 38:27 | |
of that sinfulness. | 38:31 | |
And I say this despite the fact that in my estimation | 38:34 | |
college age crises are not so much conflicts | 38:39 | |
with evil as they are struggles | 38:42 | |
to determine your identity. | 38:46 | |
Who am I? | 38:49 | |
How do I become me? | 38:51 | |
And I confess, I, too, have had this fear. | 38:56 | |
How will God judge Burke when Burke faces him | 39:01 | |
at the judgment? | 39:07 | |
Not an unreasonable fear on my part, I assure you. | 39:10 | |
(laughing) | 39:13 | |
Well, let's see what Jesus says about it. | 39:17 | |
In Matthew's 25th chapter, Jesus gives us his version | 39:23 | |
of the Last Judgment. | 39:26 | |
You remember the story | 39:28 | |
when the son of man comes as king | 39:30 | |
and all the angels with him. | 39:32 | |
He will sit on his royal throne | 39:34 | |
and the people of all nations will gather before him. | 39:36 | |
Then, he will divide them into two groups. | 39:40 | |
Just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, | 39:43 | |
he will put the righteous people his right | 39:48 | |
and the others at his left and so on. | 39:50 | |
And when the separation has taken place | 39:54 | |
and the reason for the separation given, | 39:57 | |
the righteous rather plaintively ask, | 40:01 | |
"Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you | 40:05 | |
or thirsty and give you a drink? | 40:10 | |
When did we see you a stranger and welcomed you | 40:13 | |
into our homes or naked and clothed you? | 40:18 | |
When did we ever see you sick or in prison | 40:23 | |
and visit you?" | 40:26 | |
"And," says Jesus, "the king will reply | 40:29 | |
I tell you, whenever you did this | 40:33 | |
for one of the least important of these | 40:36 | |
brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me." | 40:41 | |
Now, the intriguing thing about this story | 40:47 | |
is told by Jesus and which has always fascinated me | 40:49 | |
is this: | 40:55 | |
the king never once mentions positive sin | 40:57 | |
as we understand it. | 41:02 | |
(coughing) | ||
When those in eternal fire ask for an explanation, | 41:05 | |
"Why are we here?" | 41:08 | |
The king does not say because you committed | 41:11 | |
adultery 10 times or you murdered somebody or whatever. | 41:14 | |
He simply says, "Away from me. | 41:20 | |
When I was hungry, you didn't feed me | 41:26 | |
and when I was thirsty, you didn't give me to drink. | 41:29 | |
That is why you are where you are." | 41:33 | |
And so, I've always believed that we will be judged more | 41:39 | |
on the many good things that we could have done | 41:44 | |
and did not do | 41:49 | |
rather than on those big bad sins | 41:52 | |
that we did do | 41:56 | |
and about which we always worry and fret, | 41:58 | |
even though they have already been forgiven and forgotten | 42:03 | |
by an all merciful God. | 42:09 | |
Jesus urges us to forget our forgiven sins | 42:12 | |
and get going on doing good. | 42:17 | |
Now, let's get one thing clear. | 42:22 | |
I am not saying that | 42:24 | |
we can earn our way into heaven | 42:27 | |
by good deeds. | 42:31 | |
That argument is over. | 42:33 | |
It holds water neither philosophically, nor theologically, | 42:35 | |
and the reward of heaven, | 42:40 | |
even our very faith itself, | 42:43 | |
is a free gift of God. | 42:47 | |
But, having said that, we are still left | 42:50 | |
with the plea of Jesus to feed the hungry | 42:53 | |
and clothe the naked | 42:59 | |
and we must be about our business. | 43:01 | |
Another aspect of Christ's forgiveness, | 43:07 | |
Jesus rarely became angry. | 43:10 | |
And when he did, it was usually in the presence | 43:15 | |
of hypocrisy and phoniness. | 43:20 | |
He was always most kind and considerate | 43:23 | |
in the presence of sins of weakness, | 43:26 | |
which most of our sins are. | 43:29 | |
A clear example of this is the story | 43:34 | |
of today's gospel reading from Saint John, | 43:36 | |
the woman taken in adultery. | 43:38 | |
One of the tenderest moments | 43:41 | |
in the whole New Testament, | 43:45 | |
this poor woman caught red-handed | 43:49 | |
is brought before the people and Jesus | 43:53 | |
with no regard for her feelings and her dignity. | 43:57 | |
If there was ever a time when it might be said | 44:03 | |
that sin personified was in the presence | 44:06 | |
of virtue personified, it was this confrontation | 44:10 | |
of the adulterous woman and Jesus. | 44:15 | |
Yet, Jesus quietly forgives her immediately. | 44:21 | |
I can imagine even with an embrace | 44:26 | |
and releases her. | 44:30 | |
Soren Kierkegaard, in one of his edifying discourses, | 44:34 | |
has this poignant comment on this very episode. | 44:38 | |
When the woman was brought in, | 44:44 | |
Jesus bowed down and wrote with his finger upon the ground. | 44:46 | |
Why, I wonder? | 44:52 | |
Did he write with his finger on the ground? | 44:54 | |
Did he sit there like a judge who listens attentively | 44:58 | |
to the story of the accusers | 45:01 | |
who jots down the principal points | 45:04 | |
so that he may not forget them and may judge strictly? | 45:06 | |
Was the woman's guilt the only thing that was noted | 45:11 | |
by the Lord? | 45:15 | |
Or did not he who wrote on the ground | 45:18 | |
rather write it down in order to erase it and forget it? | 45:21 | |
He wrote with his finger in order to blot out | 45:28 | |
what he himself knew, | 45:32 | |
for sin discovers a multitude of sins, | 45:35 | |
but love covers a multitude of sins. | 45:40 | |
Yes, even in the sight of the sinner, | 45:46 | |
love covers a multitude of sins. | 45:48 | |
There was no longer an accuser, no one who condemned her. | 45:51 | |
And so, Jesus simply said, | 45:56 | |
"Neither do I condemn you. | 46:01 | |
Go and sin no more." | 46:04 | |
Thus, Kierkegaard, the gentleness | 46:08 | |
with which Jesus handled this poor woman | 46:12 | |
comes clearly through the gospel text. | 46:15 | |
Thus, does Jesus deal with us weak sinners. | 46:19 | |
He is more willing to forgive our sins | 46:26 | |
than we are to ask to have them forgiven. | 46:28 | |
Why don't we take God at God's word? | 46:33 | |
Your sins are forgiven. | 46:39 | |
Go and sin no more. | 46:42 | |
God will never abandon us. | 46:44 | |
Can a mother forget her infant? | 46:48 | |
Be without tenderness for the child of her womb? | 46:52 | |
Even should she forget, | 46:56 | |
I will never forget you. | 46:59 | |
A forgiving God is with us always, | 47:04 | |
which brings us to our second point, God's presence. | 47:11 | |
Over the years, I've noticed a tremendous | 47:18 | |
streak of generosity in college students, | 47:23 | |
despite your perennial bad press. | 47:28 | |
You really do want to make this a better world | 47:33 | |
in which to live. | 47:38 | |
This is commendable, but ponder this: | 47:41 | |
too few Christians find Christ in their fellow man. | 47:48 | |
It is not that they find little to love in the poor | 47:55 | |
and the disadvantage | 47:59 |
- | What do the words of Christ really mean? | 0:03 |
As long as you did it to one of these, you did it to me. | 0:06 | |
Give one a cup of cold water and you give it to me. | 0:11 | |
Somehow what emerges from the slums of New York, | 0:17 | |
or the shacks of Appalachia, | 0:22 | |
or the migrant farm workers of North Carolina | 0:24 | |
is not the face of Christ, | 0:29 | |
but the features of crucified man. | 0:32 | |
We must see Christ in our less | 0:37 | |
fortunate brothers and sisters. | 0:41 | |
Wherever they are, and whatever their condition. | 0:46 | |
That is what gives Christian value | 0:51 | |
to that cup of cold water. | 0:56 | |
But let's come closer to home. | 1:02 | |
Right here to this campus at Duke. | 1:04 | |
If we are true Christians, we should see Christ | 1:09 | |
in every Duke student. | 1:13 | |
Now that can be a tall order. | 1:18 | |
But I really mean it. | 1:22 | |
Is this some kind of Christian pantheism? | 1:27 | |
No, it is not. | 1:32 | |
I think it's a deep understanding of the Incarnation. | 1:34 | |
We must seek Christ in each other. | 1:38 | |
Do we realize what kindness and compassion | 1:45 | |
can do even in the worst of scenarios? | 1:47 | |
Remember The Elephant Man, the play, the movie? | 1:51 | |
When a compassionate surgeon, Dr. Frederick Treves, | 1:57 | |
first saw the Elephant Man, John Merrick was 20. | 2:00 | |
He was terribly misshapen. | 2:06 | |
The most disgusting specimen of humanity | 2:09 | |
that Dr. Treves had ever seen. | 2:13 | |
Giant nodes extended his head like masses of dough. | 2:17 | |
Another mass of bone protruded like a stump from his mouth, | 2:21 | |
making it only a slobbering aperture, | 2:27 | |
turning speech for him into torture. | 2:30 | |
From his back hung sac-like masses of flesh. | 2:33 | |
From his chest, a bag of flesh. | 2:38 | |
Like dewlaps suspended from the neck of a lizard. | 2:41 | |
When Treves came upon him by accident or providence, | 2:47 | |
Merrick was a circus freak, exploited by his ability | 2:53 | |
to shock, to make people throw up. | 2:57 | |
He had no other way to live. | 3:01 | |
He was shunned, recalled Treves, housed like a wild beast, | 3:05 | |
and got his only view of the world | 3:10 | |
from a peephole in a showman's cart. | 3:13 | |
Two years later, Treves housed Merrick | 3:19 | |
in the London Hospital, with his own sitting room. | 3:24 | |
Merrick, he discovered, was highly intelligent, | 3:28 | |
acutely sensitive, romantically imaginative. | 3:32 | |
Against all the odds, his genetic disorder | 3:38 | |
and the cruelty of his fellows had not embittered him. | 3:44 | |
He was gentle and affectionate, | 3:51 | |
free of cynicism and resentment. | 3:55 | |
With never an unkind word for anyone. | 3:59 | |
Merrick was even able to face others without embarrassment. | 4:06 | |
And that transformation began | 4:10 | |
when a young widow entered his room one day, | 4:12 | |
wished him good morning, and shook his hand. | 4:17 | |
Merrick sobbed uncontrollably. | 4:24 | |
Apart from his mother, | 4:30 | |
she was the first woman | 4:33 | |
who had ever smiled at him, | 4:36 | |
ever touched his hand. | 4:40 | |
From then on, he lost his shyness | 4:45 | |
and loved to see his door open and the world flock to him. | 4:47 | |
For here, Treves noted, was a being with the brain of a man, | 4:51 | |
the fancies of a youth, and the imagination of a child. | 4:57 | |
After three years and four months in London Hospital, | 5:04 | |
death came unexpectedly to John Merrick, | 5:10 | |
in 1890 at the age of 26. | 5:16 | |
And time and again before that tragic April afternoon, | 5:22 | |
the Elephant Man told Treves, | 5:27 | |
"I am happy every hour of the day." | 5:31 | |
Now how is it that such physical deformation, | 5:36 | |
such pain and humiliation, | 5:41 | |
did not lead to a deformed personality? | 5:44 | |
John Merrick confounds so many of our pet theories | 5:51 | |
about personality, about human living, | 5:55 | |
about good and evil. | 6:00 | |
He exemplifies quite rudely how much potentiality | 6:04 | |
for life and love, for joy and laughter, | 6:10 | |
lies deep within the scarred and disfigured. | 6:14 | |
Needing only a smile or a touch to release it. | 6:19 | |
Now, if Treves did what he did for John Merrick, | 6:26 | |
the Elephant Man, out of a human motive, he did well. | 6:30 | |
But if he did it for a Christian motive, | 6:37 | |
that was faith in action. | 6:41 | |
And you Duke students don't have far to go | 6:46 | |
to put your faith in action. | 6:52 | |
Here at Duke, there are no John Merricks. | 6:56 | |
But right in the dorms, right down the corridor, | 7:02 | |
there are students who need your help. | 7:08 | |
Who need companionship in their loneliness. | 7:11 | |
And compassion and understanding | 7:16 | |
in their confusions and sorrows. | 7:18 | |
You can bring out their inner worth. | 7:22 | |
God is in each of us. | 7:29 | |
And it is for this reason, that Saint John pleads, | 7:32 | |
"Little children, love one another." | 7:38 | |
Which brings us to our third point, God's love. | 7:45 | |
If someone were to tell me, Burke, | 7:52 | |
sum up Christianity in one single word, | 7:55 | |
I suppose I'd demur and say, | 8:01 | |
well, can you give me a couple semesters? | 8:03 | |
Nope, one word. | 8:06 | |
What about a lecture? | 8:08 | |
Nope, one word. | 8:10 | |
A sermon? | 8:13 | |
No. | 8:14 | |
A teeny weeny sermon? | 8:16 | |
No, one word. | 8:18 | |
If you push me into a corner, | 8:21 | |
I'd have to answer love. | 8:24 | |
Love is the only word that explains God's creation | 8:29 | |
of everything and everyone. | 8:34 | |
Love is at the basis of God's | 8:37 | |
special relationship to the Hebrew people. | 8:38 | |
Love is at the bottom of the Incarnation. | 8:42 | |
Only love is believable. | 8:46 | |
In the first place, only love makes Christ believable. | 8:50 | |
Only love makes sense out of the next two weeks. | 8:56 | |
The two weeks of the Passion. | 9:00 | |
The Passion of Christ, something happened to Jesus. | 9:03 | |
But what happened to him? | 9:08 | |
What he suffered makes sense only | 9:10 | |
in the context of what he did. | 9:13 | |
And one thing he did supremely, more than anything else, | 9:17 | |
better than anyone else, he loved. | 9:22 | |
Saint John highlights this in the first page of his Passion. | 9:27 | |
When Jesus knew that his hour had come | 9:32 | |
to pass out of this world to the Father, | 9:35 | |
having loved his own who were in the world, | 9:38 | |
he loved them to the end. | 9:42 | |
But if love alone makes Christ believable, | 9:47 | |
surely love alone makes the Christian believable. | 9:50 | |
For Christianity is not an idea | 9:55 | |
floating around in outer space. | 9:58 | |
Christianity is people. | 10:03 | |
In a sobering phrase, God's people. | 10:06 | |
Christ and Christianity will be believable | 10:12 | |
only if my love makes me believable. | 10:16 | |
And so here is the importance of the next two weeks, | 10:23 | |
the two weeks of the Passion, | 10:26 | |
love must get through to me. | 10:29 | |
The love of him who is the suffering servant beyond compare. | 10:32 | |
It must transform my love, so that the men and women | 10:38 | |
I touch resonate my touch | 10:42 | |
because they see on my face | 10:46 | |
the image of Christ, | 10:50 | |
the Christ who loved to the end. | 10:54 | |
A rather famous Jesuit once said, | 11:01 | |
"I suppose I've done some fairly good things in my lifetime. | 11:04 | |
"But you know, if God were not somehow there, | 11:10 | |
"It would all be rather silly, wouldn't it?" | 11:14 | |
Silly, it would be utterly impossible. | 11:18 | |
In Augustan's powerful phrase, | 11:23 | |
"If we but turn to God, | 11:26 | |
that itself is a gift of God. | 11:30 | |
Once I realize that, I can take | 11:35 | |
Christian delight in myself. | 11:39 | |
And what a mighty God has done | 11:42 | |
Through a lowly person, I can like me. | 11:45 | |
And so for every Christian, there are two special sins | 11:51 | |
that crucify Christ again. | 11:57 | |
Pride and despair. | 12:00 | |
Each of these is rooted in the same heresy. | 12:03 | |
That the world can be saved by human wisdom. | 12:09 | |
N-O says Saint Paul, no. | 12:14 | |
God chose what is low and despised in the world, | 12:19 | |
even things that are not, | 12:23 | |
to bring to nothing things that are, | 12:26 | |
so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. | 12:31 | |
God chose you and me. | 12:38 | |
Let God work his wonders in you, | 12:43 | |
and you may take delight in God | 12:47 | |
and in yourself. | 12:52 | |
In the meantime, my dear fellow Duke students, | 12:57 | |
you represent all the students I've known over the last | 13:05 | |
48 years, you and they have pushed me, | 13:09 | |
you've challenged me, you've exasperated me, | 13:14 | |
and you've edified me. | 13:18 | |
And I am grateful to you. | 13:21 | |
My feeling for you and my prayer for you | 13:26 | |
is best expressed | 13:31 | |
in the words of Paul's letter to the Christians at Philippi. | 13:33 | |
I give thanks to God each time I remember you. | 13:40 | |
Always in every prayer of mine, for all of you. | 13:45 | |
I make my prayer with joy. | 13:51 | |
For of this I am certain, | 13:55 | |
that he who began the good in you | 13:58 | |
will bring it to completion, | 14:02 | |
ready for the day when Jesus Christ comes. | 14:04 | |
May your love abound more and more in the fullness | 14:09 | |
of its knowledge and the depth of its perception. | 14:14 | |
So that you can learn to prize what is of real value. | 14:17 | |
May nothing cloud your conscience | 14:24 | |
or hinder your progress till the day Christ comes. | 14:27 | |
May you reap through Jesus Christ | 14:33 | |
the full harvest of your justification | 14:38 | |
to God's glory and praise, | 14:43 | |
amen. | 14:48 | |
(organ music) | 14:56 | |
(choral music) | 15:18 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 17:17 |
We believe in God, who has created and is creating, | 17:21 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus, | 17:26 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 17:29 | |
Who works in us and others by the Spirit. | 17:32 | |
We trust God, who calls us to be the Church, | 17:35 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 17:40 | |
to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil. | 17:43 | |
To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 17:49 | |
our judge and our hope in life, in death, | 17:53 | |
in life beyond death, God is with us. | 17:58 | |
We are not alone, thanks be to God. | 18:02 | |
The Lord be with you. | 18:06 | |
- | And also with you. | 18:08 |
- | Let us pray. | 18:10 |
Oh God, eternal spirit, grant us grace | 18:22 | |
to worship you in spirit and in truth. | 18:26 | |
You have so made us that the glory of our lives | 18:30 | |
is not in things below or around us that we master, | 18:34 | |
but in the divine above us that masters us. | 18:39 | |
Grant us an hour of such spiritual wealth, | 18:44 | |
made aware of your eternal realities, | 18:48 | |
captured by a vision of the Christ-like life | 18:51 | |
to be lifted up out of our littleness | 18:56 | |
by dedication to abiding values | 18:59 | |
and to your everlasting purposes. | 19:03 | |
You, oh God, surely see us a generation victorious | 19:07 | |
over the hazards of war, | 19:13 | |
and yet frustrated and even confused | 19:15 | |
by the problems of peace. | 19:18 | |
From a dismaying world, we come into your sanctuary, | 19:21 | |
and here we pray for an hour of spiritual insight, | 19:27 | |
that with thankful hearts, we may see afresh | 19:31 | |
the light which even this darkness | 19:34 | |
has not been able to put out. | 19:37 | |
For the heritage of the Christian gospel, | 19:41 | |
for all the saints who from their labors rest, | 19:45 | |
for the noble succession of seers and prophets, | 19:49 | |
for Christ, your son, who has given us | 19:53 | |
a kingdom that cannot be shaken. | 19:57 | |
For our friends who renew our faith | 20:00 | |
in goodness and beauty, in integrity and love. | 20:03 | |
And for you, your love, oh God, we give you thanks. | 20:08 | |
Now marshal within us in these momentous times | 20:14 | |
such resources of the spirit that we may be able | 20:18 | |
to withstand in the evil day, | 20:22 | |
and having done all to stand. | 20:26 | |
Come and minister to our intimate personal needs. | 20:30 | |
Oh spirit of the living God, walk through this place now, | 20:35 | |
and be the help and comfort, the inspiration | 20:41 | |
and sustenance of our very souls. | 20:46 | |
In temptation, in illness, | 20:49 | |
in disappointment and depression, | 20:53 | |
in defeat when we are tempted to give up, | 20:56 | |
and in success when we are tempted to be proud, | 20:59 | |
oh God, restore our souls. | 21:04 | |
May we hear your voice speaking to each of us, | 21:07 | |
reassuring us, challenging us, summoning us | 21:11 | |
to dedicated and victorious living. | 21:15 | |
Hear now the unspoken prayers that rise in silence | 21:20 | |
from the depths of our hearts. | 21:25 | |
And to those needs that can find no voice, | 21:27 | |
save for your ear alone, minister according | 21:31 | |
to the riches of your grace, in Christ Jesus, | 21:36 | |
our savior and lord, | 21:40 | |
the one who came to live among us | 21:43 | |
and who taught us to pray, saying, | 21:46 | |
our Father, who art in heaven, | 21:49 | |
hallowed be thy name, | 21:52 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 21:54 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 21:57 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread, | 21:59 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 22:02 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 22:04 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 22:08 | |
but deliver us from evil, | 22:10 | |
for thine is the kingdom and the power | 22:12 | |
and the glory forever, amen. | 22:15 | |
(joyful organ music) | 22:34 | |
(man sings in foreign language) | 24:16 | |
(choir sings in foreign language) | 25:03 | |
(man sings in foreign language) | 25:55 | |
(French horn music) | 27:05 | |
(choir sings in foreign language) | 27:12 | |
("Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow") | 30:07 | |
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 30:28 | |
♪ Praise Him, all creatures here below ♪ | 30:35 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 30:42 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 30:45 | |
♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪ | 30:50 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ | 30:57 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 31:03 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 31:06 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 31:10 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 31:13 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 31:17 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 31:26 | |
- | Oh Lord our God, send down upon us | 31:38 |
your holy spirit to cleanse our hearts, | 31:40 | |
to make holy our gifts, and to perfect | 31:44 | |
the offering of ourselves to you. | 31:47 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, amen. | 31:50 | |
(organ music) | 31:57 | |
(choir sings indistinctly) | 32:32 | |
- | The Lord bless you and keep you. | 35:47 |
The Lord's face shine upon you. | 35:50 | |
The Lord's countenance be upon you, | 35:53 | |
both now and forever, and give you peace. | 35:56 | |
(choral music) | 36:03 | |
(organ music) | 36:28 | |
(parishioners chatting indistinctly) | 40:02 | |
(organ music) | 40:09 | |
(parishioners chatting indistinctly) | 42:38 |
Item Info
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