Theressa Hoover - "Diversity of Gifts: Unity of Purpose" (January 19, 1975) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(orchestral music)

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Grace be unto you and peace

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from God our father

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and our Lord Jesus Christ.

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It is an awesome experience,

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to come into the living presence

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of God who is holy love.

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Let us therefore acknowledge

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that we are creatures and sinners

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so that by God's grace we may be forgiven and renewed.

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Let us now offer to God our prayers of confession

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as we pray together.

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O' Lord you are before and after all things,

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the last of all the powers of this world,

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by whom and before whom everything exists that exists

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and then whose hands lie the mysteries

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of each yesterday, tomorrow and today.

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We are those who knowing the wonder filled dread

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of your presence,

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have lacked the courage of our awareness.

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Vainly striving to hide ourselves from you.

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We are those who knowing that life is good,

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have murmured against our fate,

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abusing the world about us

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and all their in.

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Who knowing that life is given to us only in the present,

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desperately clinging to false images about the past

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and our imagined fantasies concerning the future.

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Knowing that we are received in being

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do not choose to be,

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knowing that we are mission,

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do not elect to be called,

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have mercy upon your children O' Lord.

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O' Lord have mercy upon us.

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Let us continue in silence

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with our personal prayers to God.

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Beloved in Christ,

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God has mercy upon us.

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We are free to live

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because we are a forgiven people.

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If we walk in the light as He is in the light,

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we have fellowship with one another

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and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us

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from all our sin, amen.

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(organ music)

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Let us hear the word of God.

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The reading from the old Testament

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is Isaiah 49:8-13.

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"Thus says the Lord,

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in a time of favor,

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I have answered you.

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In a day of salvation,

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I have helped you.

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I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,

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to establish the land,

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to aportion the desolate heritages,

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saying to the prisoners come forth.

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To those who are in darkness, appear.

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They shall feed along the ways

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on all bear heights shall be their pasture.

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They shall not hunger or thirst,

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neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them.

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For he who has pity on them will lead them,

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and by the springs of water will guide them

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and I will make all my mountains away

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and my highways shall be raised up.

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Lo thee shall come from afar

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and lo these from the north and from the west

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and these from the land of Sinim.

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Sing for joy O' heavens and exalt O' earth.

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Break forth 0' mountains into singing

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for the Lord has comforted his people

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and will have compassion on his afflicted."

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The new Testament lesson is Romans 12.

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"I appeal to you therefore brethren,

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by the mercies of God,

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to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

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holy and acceptable to God,

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which is your spiritual worship.

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Do not be conformed to this world,

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but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

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that you may prove what is the will of God,

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what is good and acceptable and perfect,

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for by the grace given to me

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I bid everyone among you

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not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,

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but to think with sober judgment,

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each according to the measure of faith,

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which God has assigned him.

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For as in one body,

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we have many members

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and all the members do not have the same function

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so we though many,

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are one body in Christ

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and individually members of another.

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Having gifts that differ

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according to the grace given to us,

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let us use them.

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If prophecy in proportion to our faith,

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if service, in serving,

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he who teaches,

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in his teaching,

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he who exalts,

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in his exaltation,

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he who contributes, in liberality,

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he who gives aid with zeal,

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he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

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Let love be genuine.

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Hate what is evil,

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hold fast to what is good.

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Love one another with brotherly affection.

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Outdo one another in showing honor.

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Never flag in zeal.

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Be a glow with the spirit,

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serve the Lord.

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Rejoice in your hope.

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Be patient in tribulation.

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Be constant in prayer.

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Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.

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Bless those who persecute you,

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bless and do not curse them.

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Rejoice with those who rejoice,

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weep with those who weep.

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Live in harmony with one another.

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Do not be haughty,

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but associate with the lowly.

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Never be conceited.

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Repay no one evil for evil,

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but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.

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If possible, so far as it depends upon you,

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live peaceably with all.

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Beloved never avenge yourselves,

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but leave it to the wrath of God,

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for it is written,

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"Vengeance is mine,

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I will repay," says the Lord.

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Know if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

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If he is thirsty,

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give him drink,

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for by so doing,

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you will heap burning coals upon his head.

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Do not overcome by evil

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but overcome evil with good."

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(organ music)

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With one voice now let us affirm our faith.

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we are not alone.

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We live in God's world.

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We believe in God,

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who has created and is creating,

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who has come in the true man Jesus,

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to reconcile and make new.

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Who works in us and others by his spirit,

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we trust him.

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He calls us to be his church,

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to celebrate his presence,

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to love and serve others,

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to seek justice and resist evil,

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to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

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our judge and our hope,

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in life in death,

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in life beyond death,

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God is with us.

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We are not alone,

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thanks be to God.

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The Lord be with you.

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And with your spirit.

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Let us pray.

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The Lord our God,

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you see us and hear us,

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you know us and understand us,

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you respond to us when we ask

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and even before we ask,

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you have given us life,

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may we use it to the fullest.

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You have given us a new year,

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may we make the most of it

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for your glory and the good of our neighbors.

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You have given us the beginning

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in this place of a new semester.

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May we truly seek to increase in wisdom,

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in the weeks ahead.

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You have given us one another.

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May we see all persons as brothers and sisters in Christ

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and give of ourselves to them.

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O' God, you know us far better than we know ourselves.

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You love us without our deserving it.

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You have set any eternity in the hearts of us all.

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We know that you could never leave us alone,

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if we but seek you.

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Bring on a new year,

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a new age of salvation,

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a time in which peace and truth and righteousness

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will become real.

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In peace and in hope

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we pray to you O' God for all peoples

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in their daily lives and works

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for our families, our friends and neighbors,

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and those who are alone.

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For this university, this community, this nation, the world,

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for all who work for justice and freedom and peace,

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for the victims of hunger and fear,

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injustice and oppression,

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for all who are in danger or sorrow

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or in any kind of trouble,

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for those who have known special joy this week,

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and those who have special need,

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for those who care for the sick,

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the friendless and the needy,

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for the peace and unity of your holy church,

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for the special needs of this congregation,

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hear us O' Lord,

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for your mercy is great.

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We thank you O' God for all the blessings of life.

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We praise your name now and forever.

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Uphold each of us by your spirit,

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that we may live and serve you in newness of life,

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through Jesus Christ our Lord,

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who taught us as we pray to pray,

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Our Father who art in heaven,

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hallowed be thy name.

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Thy kingdom come,

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thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread,

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forgive us our trespasses

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as we forgive those who trespass against us.

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Lead us, not into temptation,

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but deliver us from evil,

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for thine is the kingdom,

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the power and the glory forever, amen.

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The week of January 18 through 25,

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is being observed by Christian churches

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as a week of prayer for Christian unity.

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We will observe this week with a special service

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here in the chapel on Wednesday at five o'clock.

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Father Roland Murphy,

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professor of Old Testament in the Divinity School

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will lead us with a meditation

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and the service will be led

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by members of the Duke University Christian Council.

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I urge you to come and share

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in this special service with us.

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You will note an announcement in the bulletin

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indicating the results

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of our Oxfam Relief for Hunger drive last fall.

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A special project which was carried out

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by the Duke University Christian Council,

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and they have no intention to let this particular program,

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this particular work end.

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So those of you who are interested

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in continuing to work on this particular problem

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are invited to meet Wednesday at seven o'clock,

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with members of the Duke University Christian Council

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in 206 Union,

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to plan to see where we go from here

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in trying to do our part to help with this drastic need.

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Prophetic voice, able administrator,

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person with a keen and perceptive and sensitive mind

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and warm person,

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Teresa Hoover, is associate General Secretary

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of the board of global ministries

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of the United Methodist church.

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She has served with the former board of missions

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of the United Methodist church for a number of years

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and with the current board since its reconstitution.

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She travels widely, preaches often

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and witnesses for those causes

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which were important to all of us.

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We welcome her to Duke University,

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to Duke chapel

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and to this service of worship,

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as she proclaims God's word to us,

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diversity of gifts,

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unity of purpose.

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Let us hear the word as she brings it to us.

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Good morning, you can say good morning, good morning.

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Good morning.

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Perhaps one of the most fascinating things

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that happens to a person in the course of our career,

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is to find ourself in many and varied situations.

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No one of which one could predict well in advance,

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and so for those of us who sit as participants

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in the service of worship,

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oftentimes play an unseen

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but very supportive role

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for persons who are called upon to speak,

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as that person understands the word of God

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at a given moment in time,

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and so it is for that reason

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I insist on your saying good morning,

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because there are some dark spots in the sanctuary

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and I wanted to make sure enough of us were awake,

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that it was sufficiently important that I continue.

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You've heard read in your presence,

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a passage from Romans 12,

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and this passage really has been read,

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that it might be supplemented by us

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in many other passages from the New Testament.

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Now I find myself

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almost in perpetual argument with Saint Paul,

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especially when he succumbs

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to theologizing out of a cultural conditioning

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and concludes such things as women be silent in the church,

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obey your husbands, et cetera, et cetera,

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but even with persons with whom I often disagree,

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I occasionally discover points of agreement,

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and I've tried to condition myself

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that I would not overlook

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those points of disagreement or agreement

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simply because there were so many with which I disagree.

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So it is with Paul and his teachings.

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I believe in this passage of Romans 12,

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which we have heard read,

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that Paul is really speaking to all of us,

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of Christian behavior

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and in the days when we have in many ways

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an educational or scientific institutions

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go on the gamut

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of technological developments and understandings

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and projects and testings,

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when we as the generic man

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have made many new discoveries

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about ourselves and with little buttons

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and little pills

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and little capsules,

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we can control and direct,

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you know many peoples and things,

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but in the midst of it all,

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we have yet to learn and practice,

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even those of us in the church, Christian behavior.

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Discoveries, the gifts of research,

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the combination of elements of the universe as we know it,

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under certain conditions reveal for us certain facts,

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we have knowledge

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and I believe that there is still yet knowledge

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to be revealed to us.

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The question is,

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how do we use that knowledge?

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What is the very core of our existence,

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that gives to us some dictation

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of what our behavior should be?

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I particularly like this

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because I think Paul is speaking to us,

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about Christian behavior.

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He's speaking of the gift of grace,

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which allows each individual gifts

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and also offers the admonition

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that we use those gifts for the sake of the kingdom.

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Now in many of our...

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If we were to be reading the scripture

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directly this morning in this part of the service,

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you would find that,

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and you have heard that the passage speaks of our many parts

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yet one body in union with Christ,

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and I think many times we have played up on the many parts

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and used the physical body

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as a way to make a graphic for us

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of how, you know you can just,

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you never really think about your index finger,

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but the very moment it's out of commission,

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you realize how often you use it,

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you simply accept it

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and so we've used those illustrations I think quite often

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to help us understand how important it is

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that we use what we have

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for the sake of the whole generation

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and yet I think that perhaps,

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another portion of the admonition

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is one we should also keep in mind in union with Christ

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and we constantly strive to understand

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what is the central message of any act

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that we might convey about our sense of understanding

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of our partnership with Christ in his world.

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I personally am committed to a congregation being one,

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and while here in the Duke University community,

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you may not think of this particular chapel

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and this particular time of Sunday morning

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as a congregational expression,

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because it is conceivable

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that many of you have your membership

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in other congregations,

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but for the sake of our life of academic community

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in Duke University

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and the experience of worship here together,

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I suggest to you that we are a congregation

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and we have many of the responsibilities

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that are incumbent

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upon the more formal, organized

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and accepted local congregation

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but whereas I am committed to a congregation being one,

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I'm even more committed to a congregation

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being in union with Christ

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and constantly searching,

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not in a myopic fashion,

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but in a fashion that is open

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to all the new insights and critiques and judgements on us,

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that come from the outside.

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Increasingly we're developing our own critique with them,

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but I still think sometimes the most advantageous judgments

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come to us from without,

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because they tend to irritate us most

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and we tend to think

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well these people don't know what they're talking about.

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They don't know us

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and maybe it is in the mere fact of their not knowing us

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that makes the judgment valid.

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If we can be open to it and say,

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"Well perhaps we are what they think we are

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if that's the way we have come through to them.'

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and therefore it seems to me that we have to strive

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to be in union as a group with Christ.

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To be less than this is I believe,

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to lose sight of our reason for our being.

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This passage also allows

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for a focus on the diversity of gifts,

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the diversity is we hold between us and the congregation.

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Now of course we are mindful of the many tasks

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that must be done in order for the congregation to operate

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and it is no less true here

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I'm sure than it is in my own local church this morning

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where if you were to find 50 people in the congregation

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the minister would probably really preach a sermon,

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but you would also find that these diversities,

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the gifts are really required,

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and many of us grow stale in using them.

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We haven't seen them in terms of the great gifts of God

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that have somehow come to us.

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All of us know that,

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you know you need,

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most of us would say the financial administration.

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I have some people

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who tell me that is very basic to the church.

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If you didn't have that,

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you wouldn't have a church

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well I don't accept that.

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I think they are theologically unsound.

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You can have the church

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without the financial, you know infrastructure

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that is if you think in terms of the church

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as the spirit that moves

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and we have homes,

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we have schools

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or all other kinds of places

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where we could house ourselves in the physical sense,

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but some of us do have the financial administrative skills

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and those are needed.

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Some of us have the skills of music ministry,

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and I feel particularly ministered to this morning

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as I stood in the back and marched up the aisle

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and have since listened to the music

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as ministry from your own choir.

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Some of us have the skills of teaching,

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some in preaching,

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but no one of these gifts alone,

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is sufficient for the total task of ministry

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in and through any congregation.

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All gifts brought together through a union in Christ,

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provide the conditions of unity of purpose.

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Now what is that unity of purpose as of this moment?

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I believe it to be

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that our purpose is really to be

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a witnessing community for Christ.

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Now what you know those are such loose sounding words

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and in our time when we so accustomed to having

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a 0.1, a, b, you know down to the zillionths point

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to substantiate it all with fact,

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it is very difficult to accept

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that a purpose of a community might well be witnessing.

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To be a witnessing community for Christ.

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Some of you know I come from New York city,

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and on occasion,

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when I get tired of the hassle of running fast

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to pay my 35 cents to ride underground,

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I take a bus and pay my 35 cents

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to ride above ground

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and when I go across 42nd street,

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which is getting to be the turf of many and varied groups,

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on yesterday about 12:30 in the day

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I rode across 42nd street.

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and I was very...

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Let me tell you for the benefit of those of you

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who may not read all the right papers.

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42nd street is you know sin city of New York city.

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You read it, fine.

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This is where you can go and get anything you want

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and a lot of what you don't want.

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All the marquees are blazing,

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all the little people, places you know,

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increasingly now I've noticed young men and women

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standing on the streets soliciting,

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and you can go up to the second floor

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and there's alive something they say up there,

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it makes life quite different.

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You know, all of this,

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it's really sin city personified,

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but yesterday as I rode across

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I kept seeing groups of people

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who didn't look like the 42nd street type

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and they were passing out handbills

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and then I rode on another block and here was another group

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and they had children just like these children here,

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small you know up to about age 10 to 12 in mobs,

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sort of standing around the marquees

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with all these blazing live go, go girls on the billboard,

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you know what I thought now really,

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you know, what's going on here?

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Then I finally passed the bus,

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kind of you know one of those Vauxhall kinda deals

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and here it was a religious witnessing group of some kind.

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I don't know the name of it

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and probably shouldn't say it if it did,

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but they were passing out

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and I kept wanting to get off the bus,

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but I was too cheap to spend another 35 cent fare.

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My idea was to find out, get a bill, you know,

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see what's going on

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but I finally saw a person who'd got on the bus with one,

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and it was a declared witness on the part of this group

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to remove pornography from our city streets.

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Well, I had a lot of things going through my mind.

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Now, it's a great temptation to make judgements

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on another person's witness,

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but that was their witness

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and I would assume it had validity for them.

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I in my own mind had to say,

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"But why if they were going to declare a war on pornography,

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why bring those six and eight, nine year olds down there

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and stand them before those billboards

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with all the naked women

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and funny looking men on it you know?"

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but that was their way of beginning their witness

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and many of us tend to think in that kind of a way,

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when we say,

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"Well she's talking about a witnessing community,

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that's a little corny.

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I'm not gonna stand on any corner

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with you know my tambourine and and my open Bible."

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but you see I would say

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when I speak of witnessing community,

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I am trustful enough in God's ability to provide witnesses

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that I don't really feel I have to pass judgment

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on everyone's witness,

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but I have to struggle with what it means to me,

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to be part of a witness community,

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and I think we are being called into witness

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in a way we have not yet perceived,

43:33

in the Christian churches particularly in the Western world.

43:36

We have often,

43:40

and I happened to have spent my professional life

43:41

working for a mission oriented group

43:44

in the United Methodist church,

43:46

but we are coming more and more to see

43:50

that our understanding of mission

43:53

is one that has to be constantly challenged and changed

43:54

in light of the change in the world

43:59

and the people in their mindsets

44:02

and their understandings of themselves

44:04

and their understandings of the world,

44:06

but at least we know

44:07

that being a part of a witnessing community can be a gift

44:08

and we can begin to raise the right questions about life

44:12

and the meaning of life.

44:15

Do I really believe that I Teresa Hoover I'm somehow saved

44:17

because I can speak in Duke chapel

44:21

to all those nice people

44:23

who come from all those nice home and churches,

44:24

who have been the groups

44:27

that have basically supported the mission program

44:29

of the church all these years.

44:31

I think I have to ask of myself and of you,

44:34

is what we have done enough?

44:38

I would say that when we take a look,

44:45

at some of the things that confront us in the world,

44:48

there are obviously differences between us as Christians.

44:51

I think there are a lot of differences

44:55

between Christians and church members.

44:57

I believe Christians live in Christ

45:00

letting that example challenge and direct her life or his.

45:03

I believe the latter church members,

45:08

live in and for often the congregation only.

45:11

Their boundaries are tied up in the beauty of that edifice

45:17

and how they can keep it looking as spiffy as the Baptist

45:24

down the street

45:27

and how can we keep it as a nice place

45:29

to which we can retreat at the end of the week

45:32

from ordinary daily routines

45:35

in the hope of achieving some moral results.

45:37

It's a nice hour.

45:41

We've stamped it for God

45:43

and we're gonna keep his place beautiful

45:45

and slightly holy,

45:47

and if that is the end of church membership,

45:51

then I submit to you

45:54

it has become a barrier to Christian living.

45:55

I do not believe it has to,

45:59

but I think it is quite often happening.

46:01

I think that we are as Christians

46:04

expected to reach a more exacting standard

46:06

of performance in life for ourselves

46:09

and for the world in which we worked.

46:11

Many of us have confused church membership and morality,

46:15

which is on a fluctuating scale of do's and don'ts.

46:23

Some of the things that pass from morality 10 years ago,

46:29

are not now acceptable as morality,

46:34

and so we find that the scene is constantly shifting

46:37

and perhaps this is why we find some groups

46:41

who are more and more inclined to interpret witness

46:44

as what I have heard them say the purity of the gospel.

46:48

Well that is always one

46:53

that is subject to the understanding

46:55

and the acceptance of the individual.

46:59

No one person or group has purative gospel.

47:04

It is a constantly changing,

47:11

not that the gospel changes,

47:14

but the people who are trying to live

47:16

by changing their understanding of what it might mean

47:18

for them and for their lives.

47:21

Let me give you two examples

47:22

and I'll try to do them very quickly now.

47:24

Some of you, all of us I dare say

47:30

no matter where we've lived in the last so many months

47:32

are aware and probably remember

47:36

and we're a part of all the anguish

47:39

surrounding the Watergate and the subsequent fallout.

47:41

Some of us in the churches

47:48

felt it was very important and strategic

47:49

to say to the people of the churches,

47:53

you again are a citizen of a country.

47:56

You have a citizenship in a sense as a Christian

48:01

in two worlds,

48:03

whatever is your geographical state

48:04

and whatever is that little colony of heaven on earth

48:07

the scripture speaks about,

48:09

and how can you bring these two

48:11

in your understanding together?

48:14

And there's an age old argument among people of the churches

48:16

as to whether or not Christians or the churches

48:19

they say should be involved in politics.

48:21

Well I think it is very interesting

48:24

if we find ourselves

48:26

with what we believe to be some understanding

48:29

of what life is about,

48:32

that we should call and make judgment

48:34

upon that life around us

48:36

including the life of the church and ourselves

48:38

and so as a result some churches

48:41

called for the constitutional provision

48:45

which allowed for impeachment to proceed.

48:49

Now that was not saying they believe impeachment

48:53

you know should be the conclusion,

48:57

but if the constitution

48:59

that we as citizens believe in has validity,

49:01

the process should be allowed to work,

49:06

when there's question

49:08

so then decision can be made

49:10

and a nation and the people can move forward.

49:12

Well there was a considerable fallout at that time

49:15

and much of the fallout that came

49:18

was largely from people of the churches who said,

49:20

"You have no business doing this,"

49:22

or "You were a bunch of so-called,

49:25

you know party people

49:27

who were against so-called president

49:28

because he was of another party."

49:30

You know the kind of thing you see

49:31

that made us more and more,

49:34

made me more and more as I read through some of the mail,

49:36

get the feeling that somehow flag in our mind

49:39

had superseded cross

49:45

and I have to say a word

49:50

as I said, quite often in those hectic months,

49:51

God will not tolerate us as Christians,

49:54

when we lift respect for our nation

49:58

above respect for God.

50:02

God will not forgive us

50:06

when we make a God of an American civil religion,

50:08

and I say to you this day,

50:13

if I were to make a list of the things

50:15

that I think in the next five years

50:18

we as Christians across this country

50:19

are gonna be called to face

50:21

in a way we've never done before,

50:23

I think it would start off, for example

50:25

with a new understanding of ourselves

50:27

as a nation among nations,

50:29

not as a superior among equals.

50:32

A nation among nations,

50:35

and you can go back and trace the last few days of news

50:38

about things that were happening in the UN

50:42

and how we were understanding ourselves there

50:44

and the kinds of threats, overt and covert

50:46

that we were making.

50:49

Well that's all right,

50:51

that's a part of the political scheme.

50:51

That's the way the scenarios are written,

50:54

but if we begin to believe that,

50:56

then I say that we as a nation,

50:59

may not deserve the right to be a peer among peers,

51:01

but that's gonna be a very hard lesson for us

51:07

because we have been so accustomed

51:09

to being the superior among not even peers.

51:12

I think another issue that I would feel,

51:16

we have to put our test

51:19

as to whether or not faith somehow can instruct citizenship

51:21

and that's how you'll feel the hunger.

51:25

I applaud you.

51:27

I read about the Oxfam contributions,

51:29

but if you think that is going to be it,

51:32

you've done too much.

51:36

It isn't sufficient

51:39

to feed the hungry with a few thousand dollars,

51:42

on one Sunday or over a one, three month period,

51:46

and then return to our same expectations

51:50

of life for ourselves.

51:53

35% of the world's non-renewable resources

51:55

are consumed by the Americans,

52:01

and if we think we can live into another age doing that,

52:05

then we've misunderstood I think the meaning of God's world

52:11

and so I submit to you that this use of hunger,

52:16

to which we have contributed

52:21

and I applaud and I contribute

52:22

and encourage you to continue,

52:24

but we must begin to look under it at the cause.

52:26

Drought, is drought something we simply have to accept?

52:30

Go back and read the history of the development of farming

52:36

in our own country.

52:38

We didn't just accept it and bow down

52:40

we discovered ways of trying to control water

52:42

so that in dry periods you know, we can irrigate.

52:45

There all kinds of things that are possible.

52:47

At the moment some of us are financing,

52:51

a very short term exploration study

52:53

into what is really being done and sea beds.

52:57

There are a lot of groups and nations

53:01

and private foundations

53:03

that are involved in trying to discover the potential

53:04

for food stuffs in the sea beds.

53:08

So I say to those of you

53:11

who have the inquiring researching minds,

53:13

that this might be the way

53:16

that you might offer for yourselves

53:18

or for yourself and your gift on behalf of a whole.

53:21

I would call that being part of a witnessing community,

53:25

concerned about the resources

53:29

that are possible in the world, God's creation

53:31

and concerned about the distribution

53:36

and use of those resources

53:39

on behalf of all the world's people.

53:41

I think we look pretty bad

53:44

when we consume 35% of the earth's non-renewable resources

53:46

and then we lead the debate and the proposals

53:51

on limiting world population,

53:54

and don't think that many, many peoples

53:58

in many nations of the world including our own,

54:01

don't see the discontinuity in that.

54:05

There are a lot of others,

54:11

I could turn within the church,

54:13

but there isn't time.

54:14

There never is time to return within the church,

54:16

but there are a lot of issues

54:19

that are gonna face us in terms of polity and doctrine

54:20

in the next five to 10 years within our own church,

54:24

but I simply would like to say

54:28

that we all feel threatened in the midst of change,

54:31

and I'm very happy to know

54:35

or to believe

54:38

that the next five to 10 years,

54:40

that face many of you

54:42

who will be entering into your full time

54:44

kind of professional involvement

54:48

will be years of great promise and hope

54:51

and in many ways,

54:53

nothing that any of us have done in generations preceding

54:54

will prepare you for those years,

54:59

and that is the reason,

55:01

our sense of understanding the nature of our gifts,

55:03

that those gifts have been for us,

55:08

a part of God's grace to us

55:11

and are to be used on the behalf of all of us

55:14

and that is the reason our education

55:18

must be an education that builds into us

55:21

the possibilities of change.

55:25

I say that the Lord promised to satisfy every need.

55:27

I don't think that included a promise

55:32

to satisfy our every want.

55:34

We look forward mainly in the church to big celebrations,

55:39

birth, marriage and death.

55:43

Perhaps we need to prepare ourselves for these celebrations

55:46

by allowing life to reveal its many small ones.

55:50

Three things seem necessary

55:55

to keep life from being so daily for us,

55:57

can be very daily and very boring and very ordinary

55:59

but I think there are three things

56:03

that might give it a lift,

56:05

love, believe and hope.

56:06

Three things that relate to the ordinary people

56:12

and stuff around us

56:14

and every generation hope is one of the first casualties,

56:16

and perhaps it is recovered

56:22

only as men and women learn to see hope in you.

56:25

I believe the mission outreach

56:30

to the churches around the world,

56:32

but it is also found in every corner

56:33

and in every place where I sit.

56:36

In the spirit of unity of all creation,

56:38

we must pray and work

56:41

that our Lord will grant us sanity enough to make a justice,

56:42

that will not kill anyone's love for life.

56:47

Make a justice that will not kill anyone's love for life,

56:52

and when we're seeing those thousands

56:57

of starving emaciated children

56:59

in our press and on our media,

57:02

you have to ask yourself the question,

57:06

where did justice go astray.

57:08

Dear God I pray constantly let us celebrate the past,

57:12

the present and the future

57:16

for all belong to God.

57:18

The past is filled with mistakes of ignorance

57:21

and the triumphs of vision.

57:26

The present is consumed by the tragedies of hate and greed

57:29

and made bearable only by the glimmerings

57:35

of love and generosity.

57:39

Only the future is clean.

57:42

Yet we know it will not remain so,

57:47

for we are selfish beings,

57:50

yet we must trust in God's great love.

57:55

We must even have faith in our own faltering efforts,

58:00

that we might use our gifts towards one purpose,

58:04

peace and justice,

58:10

which makes the future worth living, amen.

58:14

(organ music)

58:21

-

Grant we ask of you all mighty God,

1:12:33

that our gifts being dedicated now to your service,

1:12:37

may be used for the good of your church,

1:12:42

and the care of your children

1:12:45

through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

1:12:49

(organ music)

1:12:55

The grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,

1:16:27

the love of God,

1:16:32

and the fellowship and communion of the holy spirit,

1:16:35

be with you

1:16:39

and with those whom you love,

1:16:41

now and forever.

1:16:44

♪ Amen ♪

1:16:48

♪ Amen ♪

1:16:56

♪ Amen ♪

1:17:07

♪ Amen ♪

1:17:13

♪ Amen ♪

1:17:22

♪ Amen ♪

1:17:32

Theressa Hoover - "Diversity of Gifts: Unity of Purpose" (January 19, 1975)

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1. Theressa Hoover - "Diversity Of Gifts - Unity Of Purpose" (January 19, 1975)

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Theressa Hoover - "Diversity of Gifts: Unity of Purpose" (January 19, 1975)

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