Wallace Fowlie - Sermon Untitled (April 23, 1978)
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Transcript
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- | Duke University Chapel, service of worship. | 0:05 |
April 23rd, 1978. | 0:08 | |
(chattering) | 0:16 | |
(organ music) | 1:28 | |
(soft music) | 8:31 | |
(choir singing) | 15:53 | |
(soft music) | 17:13 | |
(choir singing) | 17:54 | |
- | All praise to God who creates, redeems and sustains us. | 21:49 |
And who came in Jesus Christ, not to place heavy burdens | 21:56 | |
of guilt on us, but to set free those who are imprisoned, | 22:01 | |
whose hearts accuse us. | 22:08 | |
We have been promised that God's forgiveness | 22:11 | |
is always waiting for us. | 22:14 | |
With this assurance, let us make our corporate | 22:18 | |
confession of sin. | 22:22 | |
Let us pray. | 22:24 | |
Lord God, forgive your church, its wealth among the poor, | 22:28 | |
its fear among the unjust, | 22:34 | |
its cowardice among the oppressed. | 22:38 | |
Forgive us, your children, our lack of confidence in you, | 22:41 | |
our lack of hope in your future, | 22:48 | |
our lack of faith in your presence, | 22:51 | |
our lack of love in your mercy. | 22:54 | |
Restore us to your covenant. | 22:58 | |
Bring us to true repentance. | 23:01 | |
Teach us to accept the price. | 23:05 | |
Make us strong with the comfort of your Holy Spirit. | 23:08 | |
Break us where we are strong. | 23:12 | |
Make us where we are weak. | 23:16 | |
Shame us where we trust ourselves. | 23:19 | |
Name us where we have lost ourselves. | 23:23 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 23:27 | |
Amen. | 23:44 | |
God does forgive us. | 23:46 | |
We can go on again. | 23:49 | |
God offers to us wholeness and health. | 23:52 | |
Accept this and become the new creation. | 23:56 | |
Let us give thanks for God is good. | 24:01 | |
God's love is everlasting. | 24:05 | |
Thanks be to God who forgives us. | 24:09 | |
Thanks be to God whose grace and mercy... | 24:13 | |
Thanks be to God who leads us into the future. | 24:17 | |
This is a joyous day. | 24:22 | |
A day to rejoice and give thanks. | 24:25 | |
Tonight at 7PM there will be an hour organ concert | 24:29 | |
played on the Benjamin N. Duke Memorial organ | 24:33 | |
by Fenna Douglass with four assisting artists. | 24:37 | |
They will play an all Bach program. | 24:44 | |
The third and final concert in memory | 24:47 | |
of Professor Julia Mulock. | 24:50 | |
It is only because I promised Dr. Fouley | 24:54 | |
that I would make a very short introduction | 24:57 | |
that I do not tell you in specific and in much detail | 25:00 | |
why it is very special to have him preach for us. | 25:05 | |
He is a devout Roman Catholic leman. | 25:09 | |
One of Duke's most outstanding scholars | 25:12 | |
and favorite teachers. | 25:15 | |
For years people have wished for the privilege | 25:18 | |
of hearing Dr. Fouley preach from this pulpit. | 25:20 | |
And as many of you know, he retires this year. | 25:24 | |
We are grateful to you, Dr. Fouley, | 25:27 | |
for this day moving from the classroom to the chapel. | 25:30 | |
And we await your word with open hearts and minds. | 25:34 | |
- | Let us pray. | 25:44 |
Prepare our hearts, oh Lord, to accept your word. | 25:46 | |
Silence in us any voice but your own. | 25:53 | |
That hearing we may also obey your will. | 25:59 | |
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. | 26:05 | |
The first lesson is from the 11th chapter | 26:11 | |
of Ecclesiastes, verses six to nine, and 12 and 13. | 26:15 | |
In the morning sow your seed. | 26:24 | |
And at evening, withhold not your hand. | 26:29 | |
For you do not know which will prosper. | 26:34 | |
This or that. | 26:39 | |
Or whether both alike will be good. | 26:41 | |
Light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes | 26:46 | |
to behold the sun. | 26:51 | |
For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. | 26:54 | |
But let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. | 27:02 | |
All that comes is vanity. | 27:09 | |
Rejoice oh young men, in your youth | 27:13 | |
and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. | 27:18 | |
Walk in the ways of your heart | 27:24 | |
and the sight of your eyes. | 27:27 | |
But know that for all these things, | 27:30 | |
God will bring you into judgment. | 27:34 | |
The end of the matter, all has been heard. | 27:37 | |
Fear God and keep His commandments. | 27:42 | |
For this is the whole duty of man. | 27:47 | |
For God will bring every deed into judgment, | 27:52 | |
with every secret thing whether good or evil. | 27:58 | |
The second lesson is from the 21st chapter of Revelation, | 28:04 | |
verses one to 6A. | 28:10 | |
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. | 28:15 | |
For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. | 28:19 | |
And the sea was no more. | 28:26 | |
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, | 28:29 | |
coming down out of heaven from God. | 28:34 | |
Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. | 28:38 | |
And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, | 28:43 | |
behold, the dwelling of God is with men. | 28:46 | |
He will dwell with them and they shall be His people. | 28:52 | |
And God Himself will be with them. | 28:58 | |
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. | 29:02 | |
And death shall be no more. | 29:07 | |
Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, | 29:10 | |
nor pain anymore. | 29:15 | |
For the former things have passed away. | 29:17 | |
And He who sat upon the throne said, | 29:22 | |
behold, I make all these things new. | 29:25 | |
Also He said, write this, for these words | 29:30 | |
are trustworthy and true. | 29:35 | |
And He said to me, it is done. | 29:38 | |
I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. | 29:42 | |
To the thirsty I will give water of life. | 29:48 | |
Here ends the reading for the first | 29:52 | |
and second lessons, amen. | 29:56 | |
(soft music) | 30:04 | |
(choir singing) | 30:16 | |
(woman singing opera) | 31:36 | |
(choir singing) | 32:52 | |
(woman singing opera) | 33:10 | |
(choir singing) | 34:49 | |
Will the congregation stand for the reading | 35:42 | |
of the Gospel lesson. | 35:45 | |
The lesson is from the ninth chapter of Luke, | 35:51 | |
verses 57 to 62. | 35:55 | |
As they were going along the road, | 36:02 | |
a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. | 36:05 | |
And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes. | 36:13 | |
And birds of the air have nests. | 36:19 | |
But the son of man has no where to lay his head. | 36:23 | |
To another he said, follow me. | 36:29 | |
But he said, Lord let me first go and bury my father. | 36:33 | |
But he said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. | 36:41 | |
But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. | 36:49 | |
Another said, I will follow you, Lord. | 36:56 | |
But let me first say farewell to those at my home. | 37:00 | |
Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow | 37:06 | |
and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. | 37:14 | |
Here ends the reading from the Gospel. | 37:21 | |
All praise and glory be to God, amen. | 37:24 | |
(soft organ music) | 37:29 | |
(choir singing) | 37:39 | |
- | It is a privilege for me this morning to present to you | 38:44 |
what must be called a sermon, but what I prefer | 38:47 | |
to think of as the sharing with you of a few thoughts | 38:51 | |
about a passage from the Gospels. | 38:54 | |
I'm not following the church calendar | 38:58 | |
because Easter was a few weeks ago, | 39:00 | |
and for my text I'm going back to a moment | 39:04 | |
before the resurrection. | 39:08 | |
I think this liberty should be granted to a man | 39:11 | |
who is giving his first sermon, which in all likelihood | 39:13 | |
will be his only sermon. | 39:16 | |
The title of this sermon if I gave it one | 39:20 | |
would be simply, I think the word, Belief. | 39:23 | |
And in order to approach a possible meaning of belief, | 39:27 | |
I am taking one of the last seven words | 39:32 | |
spoken by our Lord on the cross. | 39:35 | |
One of the thieves crucified with Christ, | 39:39 | |
has just said to him, | 39:42 | |
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. | 39:48 | |
And Jesus answers him and this is my text, | 39:53 | |
today thou shall be with me in paradise. | 39:56 | |
A very personal reason is behind my choice | 40:02 | |
of this particular text. | 40:05 | |
Throughout a large part of my life | 40:07 | |
I have hoped to hear a sermon on it and I never have. | 40:08 | |
It has always seemed to me the most dramatic | 40:13 | |
of all the statements made by Christ. | 40:16 | |
Even more than dramatic is that it is a sentence | 40:19 | |
charged with meanings that proliferate | 40:22 | |
and quickly go beyond our powers of comprehension. | 40:26 | |
Let me take a minute to review what had immediately | 40:30 | |
preceded this central moment in the history of the world. | 40:34 | |
It came at the end of eight days, | 40:40 | |
when Israel had been darkened. | 40:44 | |
When the Gentile world had been blinded. | 40:47 | |
And when the son of man had been handed over. | 40:52 | |
On the first of those eight days, | 40:56 | |
the one we call Palm Sunday, | 40:59 | |
Jesus returned to Jerusalem, officially returned | 41:01 | |
for the celebration of the Passover. | 41:05 | |
During the years of His preaching, | 41:08 | |
He had made only very brief and almost furtive | 41:10 | |
appearances in Jerusalem. | 41:14 | |
His preaching and His charity on the whole | 41:17 | |
had been confined to obscure corners of Galilee. | 41:21 | |
But the time had come for the prophecies to be fulfilled. | 41:26 | |
The events, as you remember, took place swiftly. | 41:31 | |
He was betrayed, he was taken over by the authorities, | 41:35 | |
reviled, imprisoned, forced to carry His cross, | 41:39 | |
nailed to His cross, and then elevated on the cross. | 41:44 | |
The French poet, Paul Clodell, | 41:49 | |
in speaking of these last days of Christ's life, | 41:51 | |
has found what seems to me an admirable metaphor | 41:55 | |
to describe Christ. | 41:59 | |
A great stag at bay | 42:00 | |
stumbling in the midst of the dogs. | 42:03 | |
(speaking foreign language) | 42:07 | |
It is, of course, the picture of the final scandal. | 42:12 | |
We should not forget that almost everything He said, | 42:17 | |
almost everything He did had appeared scandalous to many. | 42:20 | |
Possibly to the majority. | 42:25 | |
He upset the chosen people on the seventh day of the week. | 42:28 | |
And we might say that He upset the Gentiles | 42:32 | |
on all the other days of the week. | 42:34 | |
This moment on the cross | 42:36 | |
is one of supreme clarification. | 42:37 | |
It reminds us of that moment in the life of Adam, | 42:43 | |
Christ's great ancestor, when he was expelled | 42:47 | |
from the garden. | 42:51 | |
It reminds us of that atoning animal | 42:53 | |
that we read of in Leviticus. | 42:56 | |
The scapegoat loaded with the sins of the people | 42:58 | |
and sent out into the desert. | 43:01 | |
Now it is the son of man expelled from the world. | 43:04 | |
The final picture we have of our Lord as a man | 43:09 | |
is Christ raised on the stocks above the earth. | 43:14 | |
From that last stopping place, | 43:19 | |
we can hear Him say seven words. | 43:22 | |
The first is a general word of pardon | 43:26 | |
of all those who participated in the crucifixion. | 43:29 | |
Father, forgive them. | 43:32 | |
They do not know what it is they are doing. | 43:34 | |
The second word is often interpreted as the founding | 43:38 | |
of His church, when He speaks to His mother, | 43:42 | |
and to His disciple, John. | 43:45 | |
Woman, this is thy son. | 43:47 | |
This is thy mother. | 43:50 | |
The third, is the very simple and yet overwhelming sentence | 43:53 | |
our Lord says to one of the thieves. | 43:58 | |
Today thou shall be with me in paradise. | 44:01 | |
On His level, at His left and at His right | 44:06 | |
were two thieves undergoing the same fate. | 44:09 | |
Exposed, spread out, forming with Him one group. | 44:13 | |
And thus fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, | 44:19 | |
He would be counted among the wrongdoers. | 44:22 | |
These then are the two companions our Lord shows | 44:25 | |
for the last hours on earth. | 44:29 | |
With this third word, He establishes in relationship | 44:31 | |
to Himself a right and a left. | 44:36 | |
Who were these so called thieves? | 44:41 | |
One of whom is impenitent and who says jeeringly to Jesus, | 44:44 | |
save thyself and then save us. | 44:49 | |
And the other, the penitent thief who suddenly believed | 44:53 | |
and said, remember me. | 44:57 | |
These men were prisoners from the jail in Jerusalem. | 45:00 | |
Probably not petty thieves, but political prisoners. | 45:06 | |
Men who belonged to the underground, | 45:10 | |
who had participated in what we would call today | 45:13 | |
guerrilla warfare against the Romans. | 45:16 | |
Men of violence, revolutionists, strong personalities. | 45:19 | |
One of them remains unbelieving. | 45:26 | |
But the other, on the right hand, | 45:30 | |
is stirred by the sight of Jesus enduring His punishment. | 45:32 | |
And abruptly, unexpectedly knows himself to be | 45:38 | |
in the presence of God. | 45:44 | |
And Jesus sensitive as He always was | 45:47 | |
to the slightest movement of the spirit in others, | 45:50 | |
knows that He is not dying alone and unloved. | 45:53 | |
This story of the two thieves, | 45:59 | |
which is almost a parable, has a counterpart | 46:01 | |
in contemporary literature in the two tramps | 46:06 | |
of Samuel Beckett's play, Waiting for Gordo. | 46:09 | |
At the beginning of the play, Vladimir, | 46:12 | |
the more optimistic, the more hopeful tramp | 46:16 | |
is meditating precisely on this Bible story. | 46:20 | |
And he says, one of the thieves was saved. | 46:24 | |
Then there is a pause while Escago, the pessimist, | 46:29 | |
pulls off his boot that is paining his foot. | 46:33 | |
And Vladimir continues. | 46:36 | |
One of the thieves was saved. | 46:39 | |
It's a reasonable percentage. | 46:42 | |
This seems to mean that salvation is a 50/50 chance. | 46:44 | |
A bit later, Vladimir resumes the dialogue | 46:48 | |
with the question, how's your foot, swelling visibly. | 46:52 | |
The two thieves, shall I tell you the story? | 46:58 | |
No. | 47:00 | |
Do you remember the story? | 47:01 | |
No. | 47:03 | |
It'll pass the time. | 47:05 | |
And then like many Bible exegesis, | 47:07 | |
like many Bible scholars, Vladimir wonders | 47:10 | |
why only one of the evangelists, it was Saint Luke, | 47:13 | |
speaks of one thief being saved. | 47:17 | |
And he grumbles a bit as the scholars grumble. | 47:21 | |
As he says the four of them were there or thereabouts | 47:24 | |
the effect of the dialogue is to make us, the spectators | 47:28 | |
if we're in the theater, identify the glib Vladimir | 47:34 | |
and the resentful Escago with the two thieves. | 47:39 | |
And to see both sets, thieves and tramps, | 47:44 | |
as dividing all humanity into two groups. | 47:48 | |
Believers and non-believers. | 47:52 | |
Beckett knew the famous use that St. Augustine | 47:55 | |
made of this story, when he advised, | 47:58 | |
do not presume one thief was damned. | 48:01 | |
Do not despair, one thief was saved. | 48:06 | |
I suppose the hardest question for us to answer | 48:10 | |
concerning this episode is how did the good thief | 48:13 | |
come to believe that Christ would be king | 48:18 | |
after His death? | 48:22 | |
And the only possible answer involves certainly | 48:25 | |
the power of grace and the best perhaps we can say is, | 48:28 | |
he was touched by the spirit of truth. | 48:32 | |
He must have realized at that moment that we come | 48:37 | |
into the world, that we come into existence | 48:39 | |
through God's love. | 48:41 | |
The thief uses a messianic term in his statement. | 48:45 | |
When thou comest into thy kingdom. | 48:49 | |
And Jesus in His answer uses a word | 48:52 | |
He never used in His preaching, another messianic term | 48:54 | |
which is used only three times in the Old Testament | 48:59 | |
and only three times in the New Testament. | 49:02 | |
It is the Persian word, paradise, meaning orchard | 49:05 | |
or royal park. | 49:10 | |
Today thou shall be with me in paradise. | 49:13 | |
The word today in this sentence means of course, the future, | 49:16 | |
the immediate future after death. | 49:20 | |
I know I don't need to remind you, but I'm going to | 49:24 | |
because it is the point of my sermon. | 49:26 | |
Human experience, human wisdom, human history | 49:29 | |
have not told us, have not given us an explanation | 49:35 | |
of what paradise is. | 49:39 | |
Perhaps this is our best clue. | 49:42 | |
Grace in one instant came to the thief. | 49:45 | |
Not only was he absolved by Christ, he was sanctified. | 49:50 | |
Might even say he was canonized. | 49:54 | |
It's perhaps the only canonization that took place | 49:56 | |
without a great ceremony. | 49:58 | |
It is, I think, the most spectacular story | 50:00 | |
of belief in the Bible. | 50:03 | |
Even more spectacular than the story of Saul of Tarsus, | 50:07 | |
who became Paul. | 50:10 | |
I say more spectacular because Paul was always a good man, | 50:12 | |
a highly moral man. | 50:16 | |
The scene was not one to inspire any hope. | 50:18 | |
Everything around the dying thief seemed God forsake him. | 50:22 | |
And yet, he knew by his proximity | 50:28 | |
to Jesus | 50:32 | |
that he was on the edge of the kingdom of God. | 50:34 | |
When he said, remember me, he knew that this man | 50:38 | |
was the king on His way to His kingdom. | 50:42 | |
The astronomer Copernicus is buried | 50:46 | |
in the Cathedral of Frombork, originally in Prussia, | 50:49 | |
today in Poland. | 50:53 | |
On his tomb is an epitaph in Latin | 50:55 | |
said to have been composed by Copernicus himself. | 50:57 | |
In English it would read this way. | 51:01 | |
I ask not the faith Saint Paul received, | 51:03 | |
nor the grace Saint Peter obtained. | 51:08 | |
But what you gave to the thief on the cross, grant me. | 51:11 | |
These words in the epitaph receive, obtain, grant | 51:16 | |
lead me to conclude with this thought | 51:21 | |
that by converting an action that had placed him in jail, | 51:25 | |
the thief in turning to our Lord | 51:29 | |
quite literally stole paradise. | 51:31 | |
Let us pray. | 51:36 | |
Father of love and power. | 51:39 | |
We pray that you give some degree of the faith | 51:43 | |
of the good thief to all of your children | 51:46 | |
throughout the world. | 51:49 | |
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit | 51:50 | |
as it was in the beginning, is now, | 51:53 | |
and ever shall be world without end, amen. | 51:55 | |
(soft organ music) | 52:07 | |
(choir singing) | 52:38 | |
- | My dear people, let us now affirm what we believe. | 55:41 |
We believe in God, who has created and is creating. | 55:46 | |
Who has come in the truly human Jesus | 55:52 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 55:55 | |
Who works in us by others, by the Spirit. | 55:59 | |
We trust God who calls us to be the church. | 56:03 | |
To celebrate life and its fullness. | 56:08 | |
To love and serve others. | 56:12 | |
To seek justice and resist evil. | 56:15 | |
To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen. | 56:19 | |
Our judge and our hope. | 56:23 | |
In life, in death, in life beyond death God is with us. | 56:26 | |
We are not alone. | 56:34 | |
Thanks be to God. | 56:36 | |
The Lord be with you. | 56:39 | |
- | And with your spirit. | 56:41 |
- | And now let us pray. | 56:42 |
God our Father, you will all people to be saved | 56:52 | |
and come to the knowledge of your truth. | 56:57 | |
Send workers into your great harvest | 57:02 | |
that the Gospel may be preached to every creature | 57:05 | |
and to your people. | 57:09 | |
Gathered together by the word of life | 57:11 | |
and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit. | 57:15 | |
That your people may thus advance | 57:20 | |
in the way of salvation and love. | 57:24 | |
Pour out on us the spirit of understanding, | 57:30 | |
of truth and of true peace. | 57:33 | |
Help us to strive with all our hearts | 57:38 | |
to know what is pleasing to you, oh Lord. | 57:42 | |
And when we know your will, make us determined | 57:46 | |
to carry it out. | 57:52 | |
Almighty and eternal God, keep together those | 57:56 | |
you have united. | 58:01 | |
Look kindly on all who follow Jesus your son. | 58:04 | |
We are all consecrated to you by our common baptism. | 58:11 | |
We implore you, make us one in the fullness of faith | 58:17 | |
and keep us one in the fellowship of love. | 58:24 | |
We ask all of this through Jesus Christ, | 58:31 | |
your son and our Lord forever and ever. | 58:34 | |
Amen. | 58:40 | |
And now let us rise as a Christian community | 58:45 | |
and pray to the Father in the words | 58:48 | |
that Jesus Himself gave us. | 58:51 | |
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. | 58:58 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 59:03 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 59:07 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 59:10 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 59:14 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 59:16 | |
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 59:21 | |
For thine is the power, the kingdom, and the glory, amen. | 59:26 | |
(soft music) | 59:39 | |
(choir singing in foreign language) | 1:00:46 | |
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 1:08:08 | |
♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ | 1:08:14 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 1:08:19 | |
♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly host ♪ | 1:08:27 | |
♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:08:33 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 1:08:38 | |
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ | 1:08:44 | |
♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 1:08:51 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:08:59 | |
- | We give you thanks, oh God, for a universe beyond belief. | 1:09:13 |
For a world of possibilities beyond dreams. | 1:09:21 | |
For this year and the opportunities which were ours. | 1:09:26 | |
For the friends who cared for us. | 1:09:32 | |
For the struggles, which brought us new visions of truth. | 1:09:35 | |
For the word of hope which comes to us. | 1:09:40 | |
Oh God we thank you for the future | 1:09:44 | |
which we move into with confidence | 1:09:47 | |
because we know that we will be sustained by your grace. | 1:09:50 | |
And we pray that you will bless this offering. | 1:09:56 | |
Symbols of our dedication to your work of justice and mercy. | 1:10:00 | |
And bless us that we may go forth serving you. | 1:10:07 | |
We pray in the spirit of Jesus the Christ, amen. | 1:10:12 | |
(organ music) | 1:10:21 | |
(choir singing) | 1:11:02 | |
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, | 1:14:21 | |
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 1:14:25 | |
is yours this day and forever more. | 1:14:30 | |
(choir singing) | 1:14:36 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:14:48 | |
(organ music) | 1:15:01 | |
(intense music) | 1:19:06 |
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