Otis C. Edwards, Jr. - Sermon Untitled (March 24, 1996)

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	(church choir singing)	0:03
-	Good morning, welcome to Duke Chapel.	3:23
	Our guest preacher is the Reverend Dr. Otis Carl Edwards Jr.	3:26
	An Episcopal priest, theological educator, and chaplain,	3:30
	and scholar in residence with the College of Preachers.	3:34
	We are glad to welcome Dr. Edwards and his wife, Jane	3:37
	to this service of worship.	3:41
	Today at 5:00 pm, Dr. Robert Parkins,	3:43
	the university organist,	3:46
	will present a recital in Duke Chapel.	3:47
	We hope that you will be able to attend this concert.	3:50
	On Tuesday at 7:30 pm we will offer a program	3:54
	in the chapel basement on one of the most challenging topics	3:58
	that faces the Church today.	4:02
	The program, "Let's Talk About Sex:	4:04
	Religious Perspectives on Same Sex Relations"	4:07
	will feature a film presenting various perspectives	4:10
	on this issue, and local theologians Dale Martin,	4:14
	Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Stanley Hauerwas,	4:18
	Rabbi Steve Segar, and Steve Hinkle.	4:22
	We hope that you will be able to attend	4:25
	and engage in this meaningful dialogue.	4:27
	And then on Thursday and Friday,	4:30
	the chapel is sponsoring Matthew Fox	4:32
	who is also one of the well-known theologians	4:35
	in our world today.	4:38
	Speaking about the topic "Integrating Spirituality and Work:	4:40
	Transforming Our Livelihood."	4:44
	They'll be a public lecture in Page Auditorium	4:46
	on Thursday evening at 7:30 pm,	4:49
	and a workshop in Von Canon on Friday, an all-day workshop.	4:51
	If you're interested in tickets please call the chapel	4:56
	and we can provide that information.	4:59
	Let us continue our worship now with the call to worship.	5:01
	Please stand.	5:05
	Out of the depths we cry to you.	5:13
	(congregation responding)	5:17
	There is forgiveness with the Lord.	5:19
	(congregation responding)	5:22
	We praise our God who gives us faith.	5:25
	(congregation responding)	5:29
	(organ music)	5:32
	(church choir and congregation singing)	10:14
	Let us confess our sin before God and one another	11:00
	as we pray together the Prayer of Confession	11:04
	found on page 890.	11:06
All	Most merciful God	11:13
	we confess that we have sinned against You	11:15
	in thought, word, and deed by what we have done	11:19
	and by what we have left undone.	11:24
	We have not loved you with our whole heart.	11:27
	We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	11:30
	We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.	11:34
	For the sake of Your son, Jesus Christ,	11:38
	have mercy on us and forgive us.	11:42
	That we may delight in Your will	11:45
	and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your name.	11:48
	Amen.	11:52
-	Almighty God have mercy on you.	12:02
	Forgive all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ.	12:05
	Strengthen you in all goodness	12:09
	and by the power of the Holy Spirit,	12:12
	keep you in eternal life.	12:14
	Amen.	12:17
	You may be seated.	12:20
-	Let us pray the Prayer for Illumination.	12:34
All	Open our hearts and minds, O God,	12:38
	by the power of Your Holy Spirit	12:42
	so that as the Word is read and proclaimed	12:44
	we may hear Your message with joy this day.	12:48
	Amen.	12:52
-	The Old Testament reading is from	12:54
	the book of Ezekiel chapter 37, verses one through 14.	12:56
	Let us listen for the word of the Lord.	13:03
	The hand of the Lord came upon me	13:09
	and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord	13:13
	and set me in the middle of a valley;	13:16
	it was full of bones.	13:20
	He led me around them, there were many lying in the valley	13:24
	and they were very dry.	13:29
	He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?"	13:33
	I answered, "O God, you know."	13:40
	Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones	13:44
	and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!	13:47
	Thus says the Lord God to these bones:	13:53
	I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.	13:56
	I will lay sinews on you	14:01
	and will cause flesh to come upon you	14:02
	and cover you with skin; and put breath in you,	14:05
	and you shall live.	14:08
	And you shall know that I am the Lord.'"	14:10
	So I prophesied as I had been commanded.	14:16
	And as I was prophesied, suddenly there was a noise,	14:19
	a rattling, and the bones came together,	14:24
	bone to its bone.	14:28
	I looked, and there were sinews on them	14:32
	and the flesh had come upon them	14:34
	and the skin had covered them,	14:35
	but there was no breath in them.	14:38
	Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath;	14:42
	prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath,	14:46
	'Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds,	14:49
	oh breath, and breathe upon these slain,	14:54
	that they may live.'"	14:56
	I prophesied as he commanded me,	14:59
	and the breath came into them;	15:01
	and they lived and they stood on their feet,	15:04
	a vast multitude.	15:07
	Then he said to me:	15:12
	"Mortal, these bones are whole house of Israel.	15:14
	They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost;	15:20
	we are cut off completely.'	15:24
	Therefore prophesy and say to them:	15:27
	'Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves	15:31
	and bring you up from your graves, o my people;	15:35
	and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.	15:39
	And you shall know that I am the Lord,	15:44
	when I open your graves and bring you up	15:48
	from your graves, o my people.	15:50
	I will put my Spirit within you and you shall live,	15:54
	and I will place you on your own soil.	15:59
	Then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken,	16:03
	and will act, says the Lord.'"	16:08
	This is the Word of the Lord.	16:13
All	Thanks be to God.	16:15
-	The Gospel reading is from	16:19
	the book of John chapter 11, verses 1 through 45.	16:21
	Let us listen for the Word of the Lord.	16:27
	Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany,	16:33
	the village of Mary and her sister Martha.	16:36
	Now Mary was the one who anointed the Lord	16:39
	with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair,	16:42
	her brother Lazarus was ill.	16:45
	So the sisters sent a message to Jesus:	16:48
	"Lord, he whom you love is ill."	16:51
	But when Jesus heard it, he said,	16:57
	"This illness does not lead to death	17:00
	rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God	17:02
	may be glorified through it."	17:07
	Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister,	17:10
	and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill,	17:14
	he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.	17:19
	Then after this, he said to the disciples,	17:25
	"Let us go to Judea again."	17:28
	The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now	17:31
	trying to stone you, and you're going to go there again?"	17:34
	Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight?	17:38
	Those who walk during the day so not stumble,	17:43
	because they see the light of this world.	17:45
	But those who walk at night stumble,	17:48
	because the light is not with them."	17:51
	After saying this he told them,	17:55
	"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,	17:57
	but I'm going there to awaken him."	18:01
	The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep,	18:04
	he'll be alright."	18:08
	Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death,	18:11
	but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.	18:18
	Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.	18:22
	For your sake I'm glad I was not there	18:27
	so that you may believe.	18:31
	But let us go to him."	18:35
	Thomas, who was called the Twin,	18:37
	said to his fellow disciples,	18:39
	"Let us also go that we may die with him."	18:42
	When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus	18:48
	had already been dead in the tomb for four days.	18:50
	Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,	18:55
	and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary	18:58
	to console them about their brother.	19:02
	When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,	19:05
	she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.	19:08
	Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here	19:13
	my brother would not have died.	19:17
	But even now I know that God will give you	19:19
	whatever you ask of Him."	19:22
	Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."	19:25
	Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again	19:31
	in the resurrection on the last day."	19:34
	Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.	19:38
	Those who believes in me, even though they die, will live.	19:43
	And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.	19:48
	Do you believe this?"	19:53
	She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe	19:58
	that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,	20:02
	the one coming into the world."	20:04
	When she had said this, she went back	20:08
	and called her sister Mary, and told her privately,	20:10
	"The Teacher is here and is calling for you."	20:13
	And when she heard it,	20:17
	she got up quickly and went to him.	20:18
	Now Jesus had not yet come to the village	20:20
	but was still at the place where Martha had met him.	20:22
	The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her	20:26
	saw Mary get up quickly and go out.	20:29
	They followed her, because they thought	20:32
	that she was going to the tomb to weep there.	20:34
	When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,	20:37
	she knelt at his feet and said to him,	20:40
	"Lord, if you had been here,	20:43
	my brother would not have died!"	20:45
	When Jesus saw her weeping,	20:48
	and the Jews who came with her also weeping,	20:50
	he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.	20:54
	He said, "Where have you laid him?"	20:59
	They said to him, "Lord, come and see."	21:04
	Jesus began to weep.	21:08
	So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"	21:11
	But some of them said, "Could not he	21:17
	who opened the eyes of the blind man	21:19
	have kept this man from dying?"	21:21
	Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.	21:24
	It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.	21:30
	Jesus said, "Take away the stone."	21:33
	Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,	21:38
	"Lord, already there's a stench	21:40
	because he has been dead four days."	21:43
	Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed	21:46
	you would see the glory of God?"	21:51
	So they took away the stone.	21:55
	And Jesus looked upward and said,	21:58
	"Father, I thank you for having heard me.	22:02
	I knew you always hear me, but I have said this	22:06
	for the sake of the crowd standing here,	22:10
	so that they may believe that you sent me."	22:13
	When he said this, he cried out with a loud voice,	22:18
	"Lazarus, come out!"	22:22
	The dead man came out his hands and feet bound	22:28
	with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth.	22:32
	Jesus said to them, "Unbind him and let him go."	22:37
	Many of the Jews therefore who had come with Mary	22:42
	and had seen what Jesus did believed in him.	22:45
	This is the Word of the Lord.	22:51
All	Thanks be to God.	22:54
-	Good morning.	23:09
	With your kind permission I'm going to take a minute	23:11
	to raise the ledge of this.	23:13
	I can see better that way and then I hope	23:17
	I will make more sense to you.	23:19
	In the name of the Father, and of the Son,	23:46
	and of the Holy Spirit.	23:48
	Our Gospel for the day tells the story	23:52
	of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.	23:54
	It's a thrilling story, and it should be.	23:59
	In John's gospel where the story appears	24:03
	the raising of Lazarus is treated as a catalyst	24:06
	for the decision of the religious authorities	24:10
	that Jesus had to die.	24:14
	Every time I hear the story I'm reminded	24:17
	of how 25 years ago my family and I visited	24:20
	the place where the event is traditionally	24:25
	said to have occurred.	24:28
	I was the New Testament professor in a seminary at the time	24:30
	and was using a sabbatical to see the places I taught about.	24:34
	The whole family went along and we all look back	24:40
	on that time as the best thing we ever did together.	24:43
	Bethany, where Lazarus lived with his two sisters,	24:47
	is only about a mile and three quarters	24:51
	from one of the gates of the old city of Jerusalem.	24:54
	While there are modern churches in the vicinity,	24:59
	a Roman Catholic and a Greek Orthodox,	25:02
	the first church built there has lain in ruins	25:07
	for a long time,	25:12
	and a mosque has stood over it for centuries.	25:14
	Today one enters the antechamber to the tomb	25:19
	and sees a round hole in the floor,	25:23
	something like a manhole.	25:27
	There are steps down into the hole	25:30
	that lead into the tomb itself.	25:33
	A prized family possession was a photographic slide	25:36
	showing our son, Sam, who was 11 at the time	25:40
	coming out of the hole on the tomb.	25:45
	He was wearing a Kibbutz cap	25:48
	and the bell-bottomed, striped trousers	25:52
	that were in fashion at the time.	25:54
	And he looked as though he were being resurrected,	25:57
	or being born, or something or other himself.	26:01
	Our joy in the photograph is not diminished	26:06
	by the knowledge that not all New Testament scholars	26:09
	think the miracle occurred there.	26:14
	The problem is not so much with the place,	26:19
	although there is seldom any certainty about such sites.	26:21
	The old church over which the mosque is built	26:26
	had obviously been erected as a shrine for the tomb.	26:31
	The church was built in the fourth century	26:37
	after the emperor Constantine had become a Christian	26:40
	and had begun building churches in all	26:44
	the holy places of the New Testament.	26:46
	This suggests that the tomb was thought to have been	26:50
	the tomb of Lazarus about 300 years after he was raised	26:54
	and often there were ancient traditions	27:00
	identifying the places where Constantine built churches.	27:03
	So the problem is not basically with the site.	27:08
	No, the real problem is that many of the scholars	27:12
	don't believe that Jesus brought Lazarus back to life.	27:17
	They give a number of scholarly reasons for their doubt.	27:23
	For one thing the other three gospels don't mention it	27:27
	and wouldn't they be likely to record such a miracle	27:31
	if it were commonly known.	27:35
	Of course the other gospels tell	27:37
	that Jesus raised someone else,	27:39
	the daughter of the synagogue leader, Jairus,	27:42
	but she had only been dead a short time,	27:46
	and Lazarus had been for four days	27:49
	and decomposition had already begun to set in.	27:52
	Besides that is we have already said,	27:58
	in John the raising of Lazarus starts	28:01
	the religious plot against Jesus' life.	28:05
	While in the other gospels, that is attributed	28:09
	to his driving the money changers out of the Temple.	28:13
	For these and other such reasons	28:18
	the scholars question the historicity of the event.	28:20
	I wonder though if the real explanation is not much simpler.	28:25
	I wonder if many don't doubt it	28:32
	because they don't believe in miracles.	28:35
	They don't think that Jesus or anyone else	28:39
	could raise anyone from the dead.	28:42
	If this is not the case with scholars,	28:46
	it's certainly is true that for many others	28:49
	including many who consider themselves Christians.	28:53
	And I'll confess that I won't swear it happened either.	28:57
	Maybe it did, maybe it didn't.	29:02
	I'd hate to commit myself either way.	29:06
	But I want you to notice the path this has gotten us on to.	29:10
	Because I imagine that for many people the problem	29:14
	is not such relatively small miracle as raising the dead	29:18
	as it is the far larger one	29:24
	of God having become a human being as Jesus of Nazareth.	29:27
	You have to admit that if God walked the earth	29:33
	as a human being there might be a lot of things	29:36
	that person could do that the rest of us can't.	29:40
	But someone may say, "Well it's so much a question	29:45
	of what God could do, it's a question of what God would do."	29:48
	God is not going to go around upsetting	29:53
	the orderly processes of the universe	29:56
	that God had built into it.	29:59
	But you see where that leaves us.	30:03
	That restriction would apply not just to the time	30:06
	when Jesus was in the flesh, the days of his incarnation,	30:10
	but to all time.	30:15
	If God were not going to interrupt	30:17
	the chain of cause and effect when God walked	30:20
	the earth as a human being,	30:23
	then God would not do so at any other time either.	30:25
	This would leave us with a picture of God	30:31
	like that of the old 18th century deist.	30:35
	A god who created the universe	30:38
	and set it running like a piece of clockwork.	30:41
	What Anthony Burgess called the Clockwork Orange	30:44
	and never interfered with it again.	30:48
	A god like that either would not or could not	30:52
	intervene in history in behalf of human beings.	30:57
	Such a god would be a far cry from the god of the Bible,	31:02
	the god that Christians pray to.	31:06
	For all the difference it makes	31:09
	such a god might as well not exist.	31:12
	See how fast our faith can slip away from us.	31:18
	How quickly we can move from doubting	31:23
	that Jesus raised Lazarus, to doubting all miracles,	31:26
	to doubting the divinity of Christ,	31:30
	to doubting the existence of God.	31:33
	Now, please don't misunderstand me,	31:38
	I'm not saying that anyone who questions	31:40
	the raising of Lazarus has already put his or her feet	31:42
	on the path that leads straight down to Hell.	31:48
	I was completely sincere in saying that	31:51
	I'm not even sure whether I believe it myself.	31:54
	What I am trying to call attention to	31:58
	is the difficulty of faith in our culture.	32:00
	Anyone who wishes to be a Christian in our society	32:04
	has to swim upstream against the current	32:09
	like a salmon returning to her home waters to spawn.	32:12
	Our faith can slip away from us unnoticed	32:18
	until one day we turn around and discover	32:21
	that it is no longer there.	32:25
	One day we hear ourselves repeating the pious phrase	32:29
	and we say, "Do I really believe that?"	32:33
	And I have to admit honestly that we don't.	32:38
	This can occur when we continue to go to church,	32:42
	and even worship in a place as beautiful as this,	32:46
	and hear such glorious music,	32:49
	and on other Sundays hear great sermons.	32:51
	This can even happen to clergy.	32:56
	Maybe it can happen especially to clergy.	33:00
	Sometimes we read about that in novels,	33:05
	but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen in real life.	33:07
	And when it does happen, what a difference	33:12
	it makes in the universe.	33:16
	In his new novel, In the Beauty of the Lilies,	33:20
	John Updike describes the experience	33:23
	with painful accuracy.	33:27
	He does so so well, that I'm going to quote him at length.	33:30
	The name of the minister in the story is Clarence Wilmot.	33:36
	"Life's sounds all rang with a curious lightness	33:42
	and flatness as if a resonating base beneath them	33:47
	had been removed.	33:52
	They told Clarence Wilmot what he had long suspected,	33:54
	that the universe was utterly indifferent	33:59
	to his states of mind and as empty	34:03
	of divine content as a corroded kettle.	34:08
	All its metaphysical content had leaked away	34:14
	but for cruelty and death,	34:18
	which without the hypothesis of God	34:20
	became unmetaphysical.	34:25
	They became simply facts which oblivion and time	34:27
	would obliviously erase.	34:32
	The former believers' metaphysical, habitual,	34:35
	mental contortions decisively relaxed.	34:39
	And yet the depths of vacancy revealed were appalling.	34:45
	In the purifying sweep of atheism	34:51
	human beings lost all special value.	34:55
	The numb misery of the horse is matched	35:00
	by that of the farmer; the once-green ferny lives	35:04
	crushed into coal's fossiliferous strata	35:08
	were no more anonymous and obliterated	35:12
	than Clarence's own life would soon be,	35:15
	in a wink of earth's tremendous time.	35:18
	Without Biblical blessing the physical universe	35:21
	became sheerly horrible and disgusting.	35:26
	All fleshly acts became vile	35:30
	rather than merely some.	35:34
	The reality of men slaying lambs, and cattle,	35:37
	fish, and fowl to sustain their own bodies	35:40
	took on an aspect of grizzly comedy.	35:44
	The blood soaked selfishness of a cosmic mayhem."	35:48
	How devastating such a loss of faith sounds.	35:55
	And yet, it can happen so easily.	36:02
	45 years ago when I was a student in the Divinity School	36:05
	I knew a seminarian who had been testing his faith,	36:10
	which ought to be one of the things that people	36:15
	go to seminary to do.	36:17
	But his testing had taken him pretty far out.	36:20
	Contemplating a Monday, Thursday Eucharist	36:24
	he joked archly about psychic cannibalism.	36:29
	He'd come to a point where he thought	36:34
	he could toss a coin to decide	36:36
	whether he believed in God.	36:38
	At the last moment though, he discovered	36:41
	that he could not go so far.	36:43
	Giving up believe in God seemed to him entail	36:46
	giving up belief in the order of the universe	36:50
	which meant, among other things,	36:53
	sacrificing the very rationality	36:56
	which had brought him to that point.	36:58
	He could not live in a world which did not make sense.	37:01
	Had be but known it, his faith was not far	37:07
	from that of Albert Einstein.	37:10
	Einstein's reaction to the uncertainty principle	37:13
	of quantum mechanics discovered by Heisenberg was to say,	37:16
	"I shall never believe that God plays dice with the world."	37:21
	But such faith is either Einstein or the seminarian	37:28
	had at that moment was a long way from	37:32
	the faith we're considering today.	37:36
	The faith that the god who became human, Jesus the Christ,	37:38
	could and would raise Lazarus and all of us from death.	37:43
	And at first glance our long gospel story	37:49
	doesn't seem likely to be of much help to us either.	37:53
	When our Lord assured his friend, Martha,	37:58
	that her brother would rise again,	38:01
	she could get no further than confess her faith	38:05
	in a general resurrection at the end of time.	38:09
	When Jesus told her that he	38:14
	was the resurrection and the life,	38:16
	she could acknowledge that he was the expected messiah.	38:19
	But the limits of her vision became apparent	38:24
	when they went to Lazarus' tomb.	38:26
	The Master ordered the tomb to be open but Martha protested.	38:29
	As is so often the case in the old King James' version	38:35
	deals with the the issue with a directness	38:40
	that modern versions are too finicky to match.	38:43
	In it Martha's protest is,	38:48
	"Lord, by this time he stinketh."	38:52
	You see, she still hadn't got the message.	38:56
	What Jesus told her was I am the resurrection and the life	39:04
	and as a matter of fact, some of the friends of the family	39:10
	who had come to mourn with them didn't get the message	39:13
	even after Lazarus had been brought back to life.	39:16
	We're told that many of them believed,	39:20
	but that others went to the religious authorities	39:22
	to tell them what had happened.	39:26
	Can you imagine?	39:28
	They were supposed to be friends of Lazarus	39:29
	but his restoration to life for them	39:33
	was not a great occasion of rejoicing,	39:36
	but was instead a violation of a religious taboo.	39:40
	A sacrilege to be reported to the authorities.	39:44
	Yet it is their outrageous behavior	39:48
	that can give us a clue that we have been looking for	39:52
	to how this story which has reminded us of the tenuousness	39:56
	of faith can show us how our faith may be strengthened.	40:00
	It also gives us a clue to understanding	40:06
	one of the verses in the story that has shocked us	40:09
	because it appears to put Jesus in a bad light.	40:12
	When Jesus was first told that Lazarus was near death	40:18
	he said that the reason that Lazarus was so ill	40:22
	was to provide an opportunity for God to be glorified.	40:25
	And then, just to make sure that the stakes were high enough	40:30
	Jesus put off going to his friends for an extra two days.	40:35
	Now, the behavior of Lazarus' so-called friends	40:40
	allows us to see what was to glorify God	40:44
	in the way that Jesus said.	40:48
	It was not the raising of Lazarus,	40:50
	as stupendous a miracle as that is.	40:52
	It was rather the death of Jesus	40:55
	which had been set in motion by the raising of Lazarus	40:58
	because the false friends would report it	41:03
	to those who would then decide that Jesus had to be stopped,	41:06
	even if the only way to stop him was to kill him.	41:10
	Elsewhere in this gospel Jesus says	41:15
	that it would be by being lifted up on the cross	41:18
	that he would draw all people to himself.	41:22
	And in another place, he said to Thomas that he believed	41:26
	because of what he had seen,	41:30
	but the truly blessed would be those of us	41:33
	who believed without the benefit of sight.	41:36
	Part of John's teaching about this is that Jesus' death	41:40
	brought his local and temporal presence to an end	41:45
	but in doing so, made it possible for those of us	41:50
	who live in other times and in other places	41:53
	to have access to him.	41:56
	The way Matthew had Jesus say it was,	41:59
	"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."	42:03
	I think there we get to the real reason	42:09
	why those of us who do believe in God.	42:13
	It has little to do with what	42:17
	we consider likely or possible,	42:19
	it rather has to do with experience we have had.	42:22
	Experience that has been too real for us to deny.	42:26
	Experience of an encounter, of a presence.	42:30
	Experience of what we can only call God.	42:34
	Experience of the risen Christ.	42:38
	We cannot doubt the existence of God because we know God.	42:42
	Back in the '60s when there was a lot of talk	42:48
	about the death of God,	42:52
	there was a bumper sticker that said it all.	42:55
	It read, "God is not dead.	42:59
	I was talking to Him just this morning."	43:02
	The way this principle of the theology of John's gospel	43:08
	shows us how to hold on to our faith	43:12
	is suggested by another artifact of pop culture.	43:15
	The artifact is a poster on which there is a print	43:20
	of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam	43:24
	from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.	43:28
	You remember the picture, it's so familiar	43:31
	it's almost to be a cliché.	43:33
	The newly formed Adam is sort of propped on one elbow,	43:36
	raised a little from the earth	43:41
	from which he had just been formed.	43:43
	His other arm is reaching languidly out	43:47
	and is supported by the knee of a bent leg.	43:52
	Approaching him I the sky is the Lord God, Jehovah,	43:57
	borne on a mass of cherubim.	44:01
	White hair, and beard flowing back	44:04
	from the speed of the flight.	44:07
	Extending an animating finger	44:10
	to the inert finger of Adam.	44:15
	You can almost feel the jolt of the life	44:20
	that is about to enter Adam.	44:25
	This is the picture on the poster.	44:30
	But it is the caption that tells us how to keep our faith.	44:33
	The caption says, "Keep in touch."	44:39
	Keep in touch.	44:44
	It is our practice of the presence of God,	44:47
	our regular renewal through prayer	44:51
	that keeps our faith alive and well.	44:55
	In the name of the Father, and of the Son,	44:59
	and of the Holy Spirit.	45:01
Rev. Debra	The Lord be with you.	45:12
Congregation	And also with you.	45:14
-	Let us pray.	45:15
	Almighty God, through Your spirit you give us life.	45:20
	You are not an indifferent God	45:27
	but one who again, and again acts in human history	45:30
	to save us.	45:34
	You hear our cries and Your ear	45:37
	is attentive to our supplications.	45:40
	For Your continuing mercy	45:44
	we offer to You our thanks and praise.	45:47
	By Your mighty and glorious name	45:51
	we are saved from the limits of the flesh	45:54
	and given new life by the Spirit.	45:58
	For this we give You thanks.	46:02
	Lord, in Your mercy,	46:05
All	Hear our prayer.	46:07
-	We know that we have been called	46:10
	to be Your children by your spirit	46:12
	and yet we so often follow the way of the flesh.	46:15
	In seeking to please ourselves	46:19
	we know that we fail to please You.	46:22
	But You have shown from generation to generation	46:27
	that there is forgiveness with You.	46:31
	Help us to wait upon you morning by morning.	46:35
	Redeem us, the children of Your own making.	46:40
	Lord, in Your mercy,	46:45
All	Hear our prayer.	46:48
-	When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead	46:51
	You showed us the way of Your life.	46:55
	Pour out Your spirit upon us anew,	46:59
	that we may be enlivened once more	47:02
	to carry the Good News of Your love.	47:04
	Strengthen us to walk in the day, as well as the night	47:07
	by filling us with the light who is Christ.	47:12
	Lord, in Your mercy,	47:16
All	Hear our prayer.	47:19
-	As your son comforted Mary and Martha,	47:23
	so now comfort those who mourn.	47:26
	Lift up those who have fallen.	47:30
	Be with those who are lonely	47:35
	and give relief from suffering	47:38
	to those who are ill in body, mind, or spirit.	47:41
	Help us to use our infirmity for Your glory.	47:48
	Lord, in Your mercy,	47:53
All	Hear our prayer.	47:56
-	Hear our prayer this day, oh God,	48:00
	for we offer it in the name of the one	48:03
	who is the resurrection and the light.	48:05
	Jesus Christ our Lord.	48:08
	Amen.	48:10
	As recipients of God's love and grace,	48:14
	let us offer signs of reconciliation and love	48:17
	to one another.	48:20
	Please stand.	48:21
	You may be seated.	48:45
	With gladness, let us present the offerings	48:58
	of our life and labor to the Lord.	49:01
	(organ music)	49:05
	(organ music continues)	50:55
	(church choir singing)	51:09
	(organ music continues)	52:49
	(church choir singing)	53:14
	(organ music continues)	54:18
	(church choir and congregation singing)	55:07
	The Lord be with you.	56:12
Congregation	And also with you.	56:14
-	Lift up your hearts.	56:15
Congregation	We lift them up to the Lord.	56:17
-	Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.	56:19
Congregation	It is right to give our thanks and praise.	56:22
-	It is right and a good an joyful thing	56:26
	always and everywhere to give thanks	56:29
	to You, almighty God, creator of Heaven and earth.	56:31
	In love You made us for yourself	56:36
	and when we had fallen into sin	56:38
	and became subject to evil, Your love remained steadfast.	56:40
	You bid Your faithful people cleanse their hearts	56:45
	and prepare with joy for the Easter feast.	56:49
	That renewed by Your word and sacraments	56:52
	and fervent in prayer and works of justice and mercy	56:55
	we may come to the fullness of grace	56:59
	that You have prepared for those who love you.	57:01
	And so with your people on earth	57:04
	and all the company of Heaven	57:06
	we praise Your name and join their unending hymn.	57:08
	(organ music)	57:12
	♪ Holy, holy, holy Lord ♪	57:21
	♪ God of power and might ♪	57:26
	♪ Heaven and earth are full of Your glory ♪	57:30
	♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪	57:36
	♪ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ♪	57:42
	♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪	57:50
	Holy are You and blessed is Your son, Jesus Christ,	57:59
	whom you've sent in the fullness of time	58:02
	to redeem the world.	58:05
	He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant	58:07
	being born in our likeness.	58:10
	He humbled himself and became obedient until death.	58:13
	Even death on a cross.	58:17
	He took upon himself our sin and death and offered himself,	58:19
	a perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.	58:24
	By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection	58:29
	You gave birth to your Church,	58:32
	delivered us from slavery to sin and death,	58:34
	and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit.	58:37
	On the night in which he gave himself up for us	58:42
	he took bread, gave thanks to You,	58:44
	broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said,	58:47
	"Take, eat.	58:50
	This is my body given for you.	58:52
	Do this in remembrance of me."	58:55
	And when the supper was over he took the cup,	58:58
	gave thanks to You, offered it to his disciples and said,	59:01
	"Drink for this, all of you,	59:05
	for this is the blood of the new covenant	59:07
	poured out for you and for many	59:09
	for the forgiveness of sins.	59:12
	Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.	59:14
	And so, in remembrance of these	59:21
	Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,	59:23
	we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving	59:25
	as a holy and living sacrifice	59:29
	in union with Christ offering for us	59:31
	as we proclaim the mystery of faith.	59:34
	(organ music)	59:37
	♪ Christ has died ♪	59:38
	♪ Christ is risen ♪	59:40
	♪ Christ will come again ♪	59:43
	Pour out Your Holy Spirit on us gathered here	59:51
	and on these gifts of bread and wine.	59:53
	Make the be for us the body and blood of Christ,	59:57
	that we may be for the world the body of Christ	1:00:00
	redeemed by his blood.	1:00:04
	By Your spirit make us one with Christ,	1:00:06
	one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world	1:00:08
	until Christ comes in final victory	1:00:12
	and we feast at his heavenly banquet.	1:00:15
	Through Your son, Jesus Christ,	1:00:18
	with the Holy Spirit in your holy church	1:00:20
	all honor and glory is Yours, almighty God	1:00:22
	now and forever.	1:00:26
	(organ music)	1:00:27
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:28
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:31
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:34
	And now with the confidence of the children of God	1:00:41
	let us pray together saying,	1:00:44
All	Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name;	1:00:46
	Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done	1:00:51
	on earth as it is in Heaven.	1:00:55
	Give us this day our daily bread;	1:00:57
	and forgive us our trespasses	1:01:00
	as we forgive those who trespass against us;	1:01:02
	and lead us not into temptation,	1:01:06
	but deliver us from evil.	1:01:08
	For Thine is the kingdom,	1:01:10
	and the power, and the glory forever.	1:01:12
	Amen.	1:01:15
-	When we break the bread	1:01:19
	it is a means of sharing in the body of Christ.	1:01:21
	When we give thanks over the cup	1:01:31
	it is a means of sharing in the blood of Christ	1:01:33
	which cleanses us from sin.	1:01:35
	The body of Christ given for you.	1:01:42
	The blood of Christ given for you.	1:01:48
-	The body of Christ.	1:01:55
-	Amen.	1:01:57
-	The blood of Christ given for you.	1:02:01
-	As the Communion servers move out	1:02:17
	we invite you to come and feast at the Lord's table.	1:02:19
	(organ music)	1:02:31
	(church choir singing)	1:03:19
	(organ music continues)	1:05:50
	(organ music continues)	1:08:17
	(soloist singing)	1:08:37
	(church choir singing)	1:08:51
	(soloist singing)	1:08:56
	(church choir singing)	1:09:02
	(soloist singing)	1:09:15
	(church choir singing)	1:09:39
	(soloist singing)	1:09:59
	(church choir singing)	1:10:06
	(soloist singing)	1:10:09
	(church choir singing)	1:11:41
	Please rise for the closing prayer.	1:12:44
	Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery	1:12:57
	in which you have given yourself to us.	1:13:01
	Grant that we may go into the world	1:13:04
	in the strength of your spirit to give ourselves for others	1:13:06
	in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.	1:13:11
	Amen.	1:13:13
	(organ music)	1:13:20
	(church choir singing)	1:14:03
	(organ music)	1:17:06
	May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,	1:17:25
	the love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit	1:17:27
	be with you and keep you.	1:17:30
	(church choir singing)	1:17:38
	(organ music)	1:19:33

Item Info

Title:

Otis C. Edwards, Jr. - Sermon Untitled (March 24, 1996)

Description:

Sermon start time: 23:09. Sermon end time: 45:05.
Faith can seem like a difficult thing to maintain within a society that so highly prizes rationality. But our faith has little to do with what we believe our doubt to be possible. Rather, it has to do with our experience of God. The best way to keep faith is to practice being in God's presence through prayer. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “It is our practice of the presence of God, our regular renewal through prayer that keeps our faith alive and well.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4st7fc2d

Date:

March 24, 1996

Speaker:

Edwards, Otis C., Jr.

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0467
ref9716_k1t
uachapelsermaud
duke:321640
dcrmv001444
ark:/87924/r4st7fc2d
cfde4d1a-b61b-45d8-8676-a0776c347568

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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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Otis C. Edwards, Jr. - Sermon Untitled (March 24, 1996)

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Duke University Archives

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