Nancy Ferree-Clark - "On Not Knowing" (November 30, 1986)

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	(organ music)	0:00
-	Grace and peace to you in the name	3:23
	of the Lord Jesus Christ.	3:25
	On this service and worship at Duke University Chapel	3:28
	on this first Sunday in Advent	3:31
	and we invite you to join us again soon.	3:33
	We send special greetings to all those joining	3:36
	our service by radio broadcast	3:38
	and by television coverage in Duke Hospital.	3:41
	We also welcome the Broughton Carolina	3:44
	Spirit Choral Ensemble to our service of worship	3:46
	and extend our appreciation again	3:50
	for their contributions to today's service.	3:52
	Please note the remaining announcements	3:55
	as they are printed in your bulletin.	3:57
	We now give these words of Scripture.	3:59
	"It is full time now for you to wake from sleep.	4:03
	"For salvation is nearer to us now	4:07
	"than when we first believed.	4:09
	"The night is far gone, the day is at hand.	4:12
	"Let us then cast off the works of darkness	4:15
	"and put on the armor of light."	4:18
	(O Come, O Come, Emmanuel organ music)	4:26
	♪ O Come, O Come Emmanuel ♪	5:09
	♪ And ransom captive Israel ♪	5:16
	♪ That mourns in lonely exile here ♪	5:24
	♪ Until the Son of God appear ♪	5:30
	♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪	5:37
	♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪	5:46
	♪ O come thou wisdom from on high ♪	5:57
	♪ And order all things, far and and nigh ♪	6:04
	♪ To us the path of knowledge show ♪	6:11
	♪ And cause is in her ways to know ♪	6:19
	♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪	6:26
	♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪	6:35
	♪ O come, desire of nations bind ♪	6:46
	♪ All peoples in one heart and mind ♪	6:53
	♪ Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease ♪	7:01
	♪ Fill the whole world with heaven's peace ♪	7:09
	♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪	7:16
	♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪	7:25
	♪ O come thou dayspring, come and cheer ♪	7:36
	♪ Our spirits by thy Advent here ♪	7:44
	♪ Disperse the gloomy clouds of night ♪	7:52
	♪ And death's dark shadows put to flight ♪	7:59
	♪ Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel ♪	8:07
	♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪	8:17
-	Let us humbly confess our sins against God	8:32
	and our neighbor.	8:35
	O, Almighty God who has taught us that the night	8:48
	is far spent and the day is at hand,	8:52
	we humbly confess that we have not loved thee	8:57
	with our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.	9:00
	And that we have not loved on another as Christ loved us.	9:05
	Thy life is within our soul.	9:11
	But our selfishness has hindered thee.	9:14
	We have not lived by faith.	9:17
	We have resisted thy spirit.	9:20
	We have neglected thy inspirations.	9:23
	Forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are.	9:27
	And in thy spirit direct what we shall be.	9:33
	That thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation,	9:37
	in us and in all people.	9:42
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	9:45
	Hear the good news, Christ died for us while we	9:51
	were yet sinners.	9:55
	That is God's own proof of his love toward us.	9:57
	In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven.	10:00
	(congregants speaking in unison)	10:05
-	Let us pray.	10:16
	Open our hearts and minds, O God, by the power	10:19
	of your Holy Spirit, so that as the word is read	10:22
	and proclaimed we might hear with joy what you say	10:27
	to us this day, amen.	10:31
	The first lesson is taken from the book of Isaiah.	10:35
	The word which Isaiah, the son of Amos sung	10:38
	concerning Judah and Jerusalem.	10:41
	"It shall come to pass in the latter days	10:45
	"that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall	10:47
	"be established as the highest of the mountains	10:50
	"and shall be raised above the hills,	10:53
	"and all the nations shall flow to it.	10:56
	"And many people shall come and say come,	10:58
	"let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,	11:01
	"to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us	11:05
	"his ways and that we may walk in God's paths.	11:08
	"For out of Zion shall go forth the law	11:13
	"and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.	11:15
	"God shall judge between the nations and shall decide	11:19
	"for many peoples.	11:23
	"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,	11:26
	"and their spears into pruning hooks.	11:29
	"Nations shall not lift up sword against nation,	11:32
	"neither shall they learn war any more."	11:36
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	11:40
-	Will you rise for the responsive reading	11:48
	of Psalm 122, the women beginning with the first verse.	11:50
-	[Female Congregants] I was glad when they said to me,	11:59
	Let us go into the house of the Lord.	12:01
	Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.	12:04
-	[Male Congregants] Jerusalem is built	12:08
	as a city which is bound firmly together,	12:11
	to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord.	12:13
	as was decreed for Israel,	12:18
	to give thanks to the name of the Lord.	12:20
-	[Female Congregants] There thrones for judgment were set,	12:24
	the thrones of the house of David.	12:27
-	[Male Congregants] Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,	12:30
	may they prosper who love you.	12:32
-	[Female Congregants] Peace be within your walls,	12:36
	Prosperity within your palaces.	12:38
Congregants	For my brothers and sisters sake	12:40
	I will say peace be within you.	12:43
	For the sake of the house of the Lord our God	12:46
	I will seek your good.	12:50
	♪ Glory to be our Creator ♪	13:01
	♪ Praise to our Redeemer Lord ♪	13:08
	♪ Glory be to our Sustainer ♪	13:16
	♪ Ever three and ever one ♪	13:24
	♪ As it was in the beginning ♪	13:32
	♪ Now and ever more shall be ♪	13:40
-	The second lesson is taken from Paul's letter	13:59
	to the Romans.	14:02
	"Owe no one anything except to love one another.	14:04
	"For whoever loves one's neighbor has fulfilled the law.	14:08
	"The commandments, you shall not commit adultery,	14:13
	"you shall not kill, you shall not steal,	14:16
	"you shall not covet, and any other commandment	14:19
	"are summed up in this sentence.	14:23
	"You shall love your neighbor as yourself.	14:26
	"Love does not wrong to a neighbor.	14:29
	"Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.	14:32
	"Besides this, you know what hour it is,	14:37
	"how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep,	14:40
	"for salvation is nearer to us now than when	14:45
	"we first believed.	14:48
	"The night is far gone, the day is at hand.	14:50
	"Let us then cast off the works of darkness	14:54
	"and put on the armor of light.	14:58
	"Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day,	15:00
	"not in reveling and drunkenness,	15:04
	"not in debauchery and licentiousness,	15:06
	"not in quarreling and jealousy.	15:09
	"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision	15:12
	"for the flesh to gratify its desires."	15:16
	This ends the reading of the second lesson.	15:20
	(trumpet fanfare)	16:08
	(classical choral singing)	16:12
-	A reading from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew.	20:16
	"But of that day and hour no one knows,	20:21
	"not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,	20:25
	"but the Father only.	20:28
	"As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming	20:31
	"of the Son of Man.	20:33
	"For as in those days before the flood,	20:36
	"they were eating and drinking,	20:38
	"marrying and giving in marriage until the day	20:40
	"when Noah entered the ark.	20:43
	"And they did not know until the flood came	20:45
	"and swept them all away.	20:48
	"So will be the coming of the Son of Man.	20:49
	"Then two men will be in the field.	20:54
	"One is taken and one is left.	20:56
	"Two women will be grinding at the mill.	21:00
	"One is taken, and one is left.	21:03
	"Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day	21:06
	"your Lord is coming.	21:11
	"But know this, that if the house holder had known	21:13
	"in what part of the night the thief was coming	21:17
	"he would have watched and would not have let his house	21:20
	"be broken into.	21:23
	"Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man	21:26
	"is coming at an hour you do not expect."	21:31
	This is the word of the Lord.	21:36
	On this first Sunday in Advent once again we acknowledge	21:45
	the passing of another year while a new one	21:49
	arrives on our doorstep, whether we're ready	21:51
	for it or not.	21:54
	As with any occasion which marks the passing of time,	21:56
	such as birthdays, anniversaries, holidays,	22:00
	most of us approach such events with at least	22:02
	a few mixed feelings about the passing of time.	22:07
	Maybe simply feeling a year older, a year richer,	22:11
	or a year poorer, a year wiser than last Advent.	22:14
	But all anxieties aside, such occasions are a good thing	22:20
	for helping us to order our lives.	22:24
	They give us a means for remembering who we are,	22:28
	our first birthday party, first wedding anniversary,	22:31
	baby's first Christmas, the first holiday after the death	22:36
	of a loved one.	22:41
	These are times for remembering.	22:43
	So likewise in the church we mark time by the use	22:47
	of the liturgical calendar as a way of remembering	22:51
	who we are as the people of God.	22:53
	On this first Sunday of Advent we usher in not only	22:56
	a new season, but a brand new year.	22:59
	But unlike a calendar which monitors chronos,	23:03
	humanity's time, this new beginning in the church	23:07
	calendar points us towards kairos, God's time.	23:11
	Time beyond time.	23:16
	In these weeks immediately preceding Christmas,	23:20
	the secular world would have us remember	23:23
	the nostalgic things of our past,	23:25
	Christmas carols wafting across the mall	23:28
	as we remember the good old days.	23:30
	Yet the church's task in this season is to point us	23:33
	toward the future as we remember the babe	23:37
	born in the manger.	23:40
	And the future that this lesson would point us towards	23:42
	is full of unknowns.	23:45
	But of that day and hour no one knows,	23:48
	not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,	23:52
	but the Father only, reads today's Gospel lesson.	23:56
	Advent is a season of prayerful, attentive watching	24:00
	through the darkness, when we attempt to come to grips	24:04
	with the things that we do not know.	24:08
	And therein lies much of the tension which is characteristic	24:12
	of this season.	24:15
	Who among us likes to admit to not knowing?	24:17
	Seems we spend much of our lives acting as if we know	24:21
	more than we really do.	24:24
	Certainly our formal education prepares us to master	24:26
	our field of knowledge, to gain control over it	24:29
	more than it prepares us to admit to not knowing.	24:33
	Pity the poor law student who has come up short	24:37
	in his or her case preparation and doesn't know	24:40
	the answer when called upon in class.	24:42
	Or the student trying to impress a friend	24:45
	who discovers along the way that he or she	24:47
	hasn't the foggiest notion of what some new topic	24:51
	of discussion is all about.	24:53
	Haven't most of us had the experience of winging our way	24:56
	through an exam attempting to bluff our way	24:59
	to the truth over simply admitting to the truth	25:02
	when it is simply, I don't know.	25:06
	There are times when not knowing may be preferred	25:10
	over knowing, such as a president who discovers	25:13
	his staff was involved in highly questionable activity.	25:16
	So we wonder why he didn't know?	25:20
	But generally speaking, knowing in most every situation	25:23
	is preferred over not knowing thanks both to our curiosity	25:26
	and our desire to control.	25:31
	We are almost compelled to seek new and better	25:33
	forms of knowledge.	25:36
	And in an academic community such as ours,	25:38
	surely we can celebrate this fact.	25:40
	For many of us the pursuit of knowledge has become	25:43
	our life's work.	25:46
	And a highly respected one it is.	25:48
	The danger that lies in this situation where our abilities	25:52
	to dissect and manipulate the world through our knowledge	25:55
	produces a kind of arrogance which makes us extremely	25:58
	distrustful or disrespectful of those things, people,	26:02
	or cultures that we do not and cannot know.	26:07
	Such knowledge may, at those times, be more alienating	26:11
	than reconciling, more corrupting than healing.	26:14
	Consider for a moment some of the key words we use	26:20
	to describe the kind of knowledge that we most value	26:23
	and most trust.	26:26
	Words like facts, reality, and objective.	26:28
	Fact, for instance, comes from the Latin word	26:35
	meaning to make.	26:37
	The image of making suggests that a fact is something	26:40
	crafted by human hands.	26:43
	This is a central component in our world of knowing.	26:46
	We are busily engaged in trying to construct	26:49
	a livable world with our facts.	26:52
	Perhaps it is no accident that our confidence in facts	26:55
	has grown as our religious faith has declined.	26:59
	Faith that the world has been created for us	27:03
	to be received as a gift.	27:05
	The knower now stands like a master builder	27:08
	in the midst of chaos trying to fashion a world	27:11
	fit for human habitation and consumption.	27:15
	We are now ourselves the creators with our facts	27:19
	we attempt to make reality.	27:23
	Objective is another world central to our way of knowing.	27:27
	If a claim is not objective we suspect it is not knowledge,	27:31
	but merely some species of passion or prejudice.	27:35
	The root for objective means to put against, or to oppose.	27:39
	Such an image reveals another aspect of modern knowledge.	27:45
	It may put us in an adversary relationship with each other	27:50
	and our world.	27:53
	We come to value knowledge that enables us to coerce	27:56
	the world into meeting our needs,	27:58
	even if violence is necessary to do so.	28:00
	Thus our knowledge of the atom, as an example,	28:04
	places us in the precarious position of doing possibly	28:07
	irrevocable damage to the environment	28:11
	or threatening even the survival of the human species itself	28:14
	depending on how we choose to use our knowledge.	28:18
	And how about the word, reality.	28:23
	It comes from a word meaning a property, a possession,	28:25
	a thing.	28:29
	This image suggests another quality of knowledge.	28:32
	We seek to know reality in order to lay claim to things,	28:34
	to own and control them.	28:39
	Of course, ownership and control are possible	28:42
	only in relation to objects or things.	28:44
	So knowledge based on this understanding of reality	28:47
	must turn all of its subjects, including nature	28:50
	and human beings, into objects.	28:54
	The dangers of such a way of thinking are obvious	28:58
	when we consider the position taken, for instance,	29:01
	by the doctors who participated in the genocide	29:04
	in Nazi Germany, or military strategists who engineer	29:07
	elaborate schemes for destroying entire cities	29:11
	and seem to enjoy it.	29:15
	Going all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden	29:19
	we can see the beginnings of humanity's attempt	29:22
	to seek a kind of knowledge which would make them God.	29:26
	In the language of religious tradition,	29:31
	Adam and Eve committed the first sin.	29:34
	In the language of intellectual tradition	29:37
	they made the first epistemological error.	29:39
	Their error was not a hunger for knowledge.	29:42
	And the way back to paradise not via intentional ignorance,	29:45
	lest you misunderstand me.	29:49
	Adam and Eve were driven from the garden because	29:52
	of the kind of knowledge they reached for,	29:54
	which was the knowledge that distrusted	29:57
	and excluded God.	29:59
	Their drive to know arose not from love,	30:01
	but from curiosity and control, from the desire to possess	30:06
	powers belonging to God alone.	30:10
	They wanted to know what was not theirs to know.	30:13
	We, of course, are familiar with that feeling.	30:19
	We seek to know as much as we can about all that we can	30:21
	and feel extremely impatient when we encounter something	30:26
	that is not fully knowable.	30:28
	Thus the tension arises about this time in every	30:32
	liturgical year when the lessons call us to watch.	30:35
	For we do not know on what day the Lord is coming.	30:40
	Let those marginal people on the street corners	30:44
	preach about the second coming, we may think to ourselves.	30:47
	The rest of us have more important agendas like dealing	30:51
	with the church budget, feeding the hungry,	30:54
	or even conducting worship on Sunday morning.	30:57
	Yet what are we really saying in such attitudes?	31:01
	One of my favorite writers, Annie Dillard,	31:07
	has some insight into this kind of arrogance	31:08
	when she writes in Holy the Firm, "The higher Christian	31:11
	"churches come at God with an unwarranted	31:16
	"air of professionalism, with authority and pomp,	31:18
	"as though they knew what they were doing,	31:22
	"as those people in themselves were an appropriate	31:26
	"set of creatures to have dealings with God.	31:28
	"I often think of the set pieces of liturgy	31:33
	"as certain words which people have successfully	31:35
	"addressed to God without their getting killed.	31:38
	"And the high churches, they saunter through	31:43
	"the liturgy like Mohawks along a strand of scaffolding	31:44
	"who have long since forgotten their danger.	31:48
	"If God were to blast such a service to bits	31:52
	"the congregation would be, I believe,	31:55
	"genuinely shocked.	31:57
	"But in the low churches you expect it any minute.	31:59
	"This is the beginning of wisdom."	32:03
	In a later instance Ms. Dillard indicts all Christians	32:07
	for our cavalier and casual attitudes towards the Holy.	32:11
	She writes, "On the whole I do not find Christians	32:17
	"outside of the catacombs sufficiently sensible	32:21
	"of conditions.	32:25
	"Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power	32:27
	"we so blithely invoke?	32:31
	"The churches are children playing on the floor	32:34
	"with their chemistry sets mixing up a batch of TNT	32:36
	"to kill a Sunday morning.	32:41
	"It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats	32:43
	"and velvet hats to church.	32:46
	"We should all be wearing crash helmets.	32:47
	"Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares.	32:51
	"They should lash us to our pews, for the sleeping God	32:56
	"may awake someday and take offense.	32:59
	"Or the waking God may draw us out to where we	33:03
	"can never return."	33:06
	The 18th century Hasidic Jews had more sense than this	33:09
	and more belief.	33:13
	There's a story of a rabbi who refused to promise a friend	33:15
	to visit him the next day.	33:20
	How can you ask me to make such a promise, he said.	33:23
	This evening I must pray and recite, hear O Israel.	33:27
	When I say these words my soul goes out	33:33
	to the utmost realm of life.	33:35
	Perhaps I shall not die this time either.	33:38
	But how can I now promise to do something at a time	33:43
	that comes after the prayer?	33:47
	Such an attitude may be one worth borrowing	33:51
	from the rabbi in this season of Advent.	33:54
	A recognition that some things we cannot know	33:58
	for they are beyond our comprehension.	34:01
	As hard as we may try to make it otherwise,	34:04
	God will be God and not we ourselves.	34:08
	Joseph Sittler addressed his concern by saying,	34:14
	my duty is not to reduce God's message to the size	34:17
	of what I have or have not.	34:20
	It is proper sometimes to declare what one	34:23
	does not know.	34:27
	Thus in contrast to the type of knowledge which seeks	34:32
	to control or manipulate, the knowledge which is faith	34:34
	cannot be based on facts, on objectivity,	34:38
	or so-called reality which is within our grasp	34:42
	to analyze and predict.	34:46
	To know anything for certain about God	34:49
	implies we have made God's story too small.	34:52
	Faith is always a longing, a longing to know more,	34:57
	to see more, to believe more.	35:02
	Not ever to be fulfilled until that final day	35:06
	when creation comes to be what it was meant to be,	35:10
	the joy and the glory of all creation working together	35:14
	with the Creator.	35:17
	It will mean the redemption and not the destruction	35:19
	of creation.	35:22
	How then are such limited creatures as ourselves	35:26
	to comprehend such a miraculous thing?	35:29
	You may be thinking.	35:31
	If it is to be grasped at all.	35:34
	It seems most likely it will be the lump in the throat,	35:37
	the quickened beating of the heart that convinces us,	35:41
	more than religion as institution, ethics, dogma,	35:45
	or even social action.	35:50
	It will be the testimony of a cloud of witnesses	35:54
	who have stood, weak-kneed and awkward in front	35:58
	of the high altar to pronounce their wedding vows.	36:01
	Of proud parents who brought children in long	36:05
	white dresses for baptism hoping they wouldn't scream	36:08
	bloody murder.	36:11
	Of grief-stricken widows who came to bury their dead,	36:13
	bringing with them the unfinished love, guilt,	36:18
	sadness, and relief that are part of what death	36:22
	always is for the living.	36:26
	These are the most precious and often most anguished moments	36:29
	of not knowing.	36:32
	The times that generation upon generation of believers	36:35
	have offered up to God in the hope that there was a God	36:38
	to hallow them.	36:42
	A God to hear and seal their vows,	36:44
	to receive their children into his unimaginable kingdom,	36:47
	to raise up and to cherish their dead.	36:52
	Even in the act of attending worship today	36:56
	each of you have taken upon yourselves the risks	37:00
	of yet another boring day in church in hopes	37:02
	that it would be a glorious one.	37:06
	What lies at the heart of our listening	37:09
	in its innermost places?	37:11
	It's perhaps most simply, or not simply I need to know,	37:14
	but the hope we are known,	37:18
	each one of us by name and that God would call us	37:21
	by our names to the lives God would have us to live	37:25
	and to the selves God would have us to become.	37:29
	Hope that into the secret grief and pain	37:34
	and bewilderment of each of us Jesus will come at last	37:37
	to heal and to save us.	37:42
	On this first Sunday of the new year we come	37:47
	to the Lord's table both to remember who we are	37:50
	and to anticipate who we will be.	37:52
	Watching, listening, longing, receiving.	37:55
	In the words of W.H. Auden, we who must die	38:03
	demand a miracle.	38:06
	Nothing can save us that is possible.	38:09
	Come, Lord Jesus.	38:14
	Do we dare now in this season of Advent to cry,	38:17
	Lord Jesus, quickly come.	38:21
	(organ music)	38:34
	(choral hymn)	39:32
-	The Lord be with you.	42:14
Congregants	And also with you.	42:16
-	Let us pray.	42:18
	With all our heart and with all our mind	42:27
	let us pray to the Lord saying, Lord have mercy.	42:30
	For the peace from above, for the loving kindness of God,	42:37
	and for the salvation of our souls let us pray	42:41
	to the Lord, Lord have mercy.	42:45
	For the peace of the world, for the welfare of the Holy	42:49
	Church of God, for the unity of all peoples	42:53
	let us pray to the Lord, Lord have mercy.	42:57
	For all the clergy and people let us pray to the Lord.	43:02
	For our president, for the leaders of the nations,	43:09
	and for all in authority let us pray to the Lord.	43:13
	For this city of Durham, for every city and community	43:20
	and for those who live in them let us pray to the Lord.	43:24
	For seasonable weather and for an abundance of the fruits	43:31
	of the earth, let us pray to the Lord.	43:35
	For the good earth which God has given us	43:40
	and for the wisdom and will to conserve it,	43:43
	let us pray to the Lord.	43:46
	For those who travel on land, on water, or in the air,	43:50
	let us pray to the Lord.	43:55
	For the aged and infirm, for the widowed and orphans,	44:00
	and for the sick and the suffering let us pray to the Lord.	44:05
	For this university let us pray to the Lord.	44:12
	For the poor and the oppressed, for the unemployed	44:18
	and the destitute, for prisoners and captives,	44:21
	and for all who remember and care for them let us pray	44:25
	to the Lord.	44:29
	For all who have died in the hope of the resurrection	44:32
	and for all the departed let us pray to the Lord.	44:35
	For deliverance from all danger, violence, oppression,	44:42
	and degradation let us pray to the Lord.	44:46
	That we may end our lives in faith and hope	44:52
	without suffering and without reproach let us pray	44:54
	to the Lord.	44:59
	Lord, hear the prayers of your people,	45:03
	and what we have asked faithfully grant that we may obtain	45:06
	effectually to the glory of your name.	45:10
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	45:13
	Let us with gladness present the offerings	45:20
	and oblations of our life and labor unto the Lord.	45:23
	(string ensemble playing medley of hymns)	46:18
	(organ playing solemn music)	50:24
	(Singing "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow")	51:50
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	52:16
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	52:22
	♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪	52:28
	♪ alleluia ♪	52:34
	♪ Amen ♪	52:43
-	The Lord be with you.	52:53
Congregants	And also with you.	52:56
-	Lift up your hearts.	52:57
Congregants	We lift them to the Lord.	52:59
-	Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.	53:01
Congregants	It is right to God thanks and praise.	53:03
-	Almighty God, in this season when we celebrate	53:07
	the coming of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ,	53:10
	we give you thanks and praise.	53:14
	You created all things and called them good.	53:17
	You made us in your own image.	53:20
	Even though we rebelled against your love	53:23
	you did not desert us.	53:25
	You delivered us from captivity and made covenant	53:27
	to be our Sovereign God.	53:30
	You spoke to us through prophets who looked	53:32
	for that day when justice shall roll down like waters	53:35
	and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,	53:38
	when nations shall not lift up sword against nation.	53:42
	Neither shall they learn war anymore.	53:46
	Therefore with the prophets and all who have looked	53:49
	for a better age to come, with your people in all ages	53:52
	and the whole company in heaven we join the song	53:56
	of unending praise saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,	53:59
	God of power and might.	54:05
	Heaven and earth are full of your glory,	54:07
	hosanna in the highest.	54:10
	Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.	54:12
	Hosanna in the highest.	54:15
	Holy is your name and blessed is your son, Jesus Christ	54:18
	whom you sent in the fullness of time to be a light	54:22
	to the nations.	54:25
	You scatter the proud and the imagination of their hearts	54:26
	and have mercy on those who fear you from generation	54:30
	to generation.	54:34
	You put down the mighty from their thrones	54:35
	and exalt those of low degree.	54:38
	You fill the hungry with good things	54:41
	and the rich you send empty away.	54:43
	Your own son came among us as a servant to be Emmanuel,	54:47
	your presence with us.	54:50
	He humbled himself in obedience to your will	54:53
	and freely accepted death on a cross.	54:56
	On the night he offered himself up for us	54:59
	he took bread, gave thanks to you,	55:02
	broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said,	55:04
	"Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.	55:09
	"Do this in remembrance of me."	55:13
	When the supper was over he took the cup,	55:17
	gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples and said,	55:19
	"Drink from this all of you, for this is my blood	55:23
	"of the new covenant poured out for you and for many	55:27
	"for the forgiveness of sins.	55:31
	"Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."	55:33
	By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection	55:40
	you gave birth to your church,	55:43
	delivered us from captivity to sin and death	55:46
	and made with us a new covenant.	55:48
	Therefore in remembrance of all your almighty acts	55:52
	in Jesus Christ, we ask you to accept this our sacrifice	55:55
	of praise and thanksgiving which we offer in union	55:59
	with Christ's sacrifice for us as a living	56:03
	and holy surrender of ourselves.	56:06
	Send the power of your Holy Spirit on us	56:10
	and on these gifts that in the breaking of this bread	56:12
	and the drinking of this wine we may know the presence	56:15
	of the living Christ, be one body in him cleansed	56:18
	by his blood, faithfully serve him in the world	56:22
	and look forward to that day foretold by prophets	56:27
	and apostles when the one who came in humility	56:29
	and who comes today in word and spirit	56:33
	shall come in final victory.	56:36
	Through Him, with Him, and in Him,	56:39
	in the unity of the Holy Spirit,	56:41
	all honor and glory is yours Almighty God,	56:44
	now and forever, amen.	56:47
	Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.	56:51
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth	56:55
	as it is in heaven.	56:58
	Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us	57:01
	our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.	57:04
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	57:09
	For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,	57:13
	forever, amen.	57:17
	(organ playing religious music)	58:23
	♪ Hail to the Lord's anointed ♪	1:11:51
	♪ Great David's greater Son ♪	1:11:56
	♪ Hail in the time appointed ♪	1:12:00
	♪ His reign on earth begun ♪	1:12:05
	♪ He comes to break oppression ♪	1:12:09
	♪ To set the captive free ♪	1:12:14
	♪ To take away transgression ♪	1:12:19
	♪ And rule in equity ♪	1:12:23
	♪ He comes in succor speedy to those who suffer wrong ♪	1:12:31
	♪ To help the poor and needy, and bid the weak be strong ♪	1:12:40
	♪ To give them songs for sighing ♪	1:12:49
	♪ Their darkness turn to light ♪	1:12:54
	♪ Whose souls, condemned and dying ♪	1:12:59
	♪ Are precious in His sight ♪	1:13:04
	♪ He shall come down like showers upon the fruitful earth ♪	1:13:11
	♪ Love, joy, and hope, like flowers ♪	1:13:21
	♪ Spring in His path to birth ♪	1:13:26
	♪ Before Him on the mountains ♪	1:13:31
	♪ Shall peace, the herald go ♪	1:13:36
	♪ And righteousness, in fountains ♪	1:13:40
	♪ From hill to valley flow ♪	1:13:45
	♪ To Him shall prayer unceasing ♪	1:13:54
	♪ And daily vows ascent ♪	1:13:58
	♪ His kingdom still increasing ♪	1:14:03
	♪ A kingdom without end ♪	1:14:08
	♪ The tide of time shall never ♪	1:14:13
	♪ His covenant remove ♪	1:14:18
	♪ His name shall stand forever ♪	1:14:23
	♪ That name to us is Love ♪	1:14:28
-	And now go forth in peace and be of good courage.	1:14:39
	Hold fast to that which is good,	1:14:43
	rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.	1:14:46
	And may the blessings of God, Creator, Christ,	1:14:49
	and Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore.	1:14:52
	♪ Amen, amen ♪	1:14:59
	♪ Amen, amen ♪	1:15:12
	♪ Amen, amen ♪	1:15:27
	(organ playing solemn hymn)	1:15:58

Item Info

Title:

Nancy Ferree-Clark - "On Not Knowing" (November 30, 1986)

Description:

In a world where knowledge is increasingly held up as power–power to possess, control and destroy–the preacher exhorts the congregation to loosen their grip on the world of knowledge and open their hands in a posture of faith, waiting patiently for the advent of Christ, who will come to restore all that is broken. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 20:16. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 38:23.
Key quotation: “To know anything for certain about God implies we have made God’s story too small. Faith is always a longing, a longing to know more, to see more, to believe more. Not ever to be fulfilled until that final day, when creation comes to be what it was meant to be, the joy and the glory of all creation working together with the Creator. It will mean the redemption and not the destruction of creation.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4rb6wh3j

Date:

November 30, 1986

Speaker:

Ferree-Clark, Nancy

Liturgical Calendar:

Advent

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0009
ref8255_y7t
uachapelsermaud
duke:321684
dcrmv001010
ark:/87924/r4rb6wh3j
a24c065f-da32-44e5-91bf-a76be48a95aa

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Unknown Rights-Holder

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Nancy Ferree-Clark - "On Not Knowing" (November 30, 1986)

Transcript

Item Info

Duke University Archives

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