William H. Willimon - "God Is Coming" (December 1, 1991)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(orchestral music) | 0:00 | |
- | Good morning and welcome to Duke University Chapel | 5:53 |
on this first Sunday in Advent. | 5:56 | |
The Chapel Choir will not be here today | 5:59 | |
due to Thanksgiving recess | 6:01 | |
but we're blessed to welcome the Crown Chamber Brass Group | 6:03 | |
who will provide special music for this service. | 6:06 | |
Performances of the Messiah will be held | 6:09 | |
on Friday evening at 7:30pm, | 6:11 | |
next Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock pm, | 6:15 | |
and next Sunday at 3 o'clock pm. | 6:18 | |
Tickets are currently available through Page Box Office | 6:21 | |
and you definitely don't want to miss | 6:24 | |
this wonderful occasion. | 6:26 | |
Next Sunday is Founder's Day Sunday, | 6:28 | |
always a special celebration, | 6:30 | |
and we hope you'll be able to join us for that. | 6:32 | |
Let us continue our worship together. | 6:35 | |
Please stand for the greeting. | 6:37 | |
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. | 6:46 | |
Congregation | And with you. | 6:49 |
- | Our redemption is drawing nigh. | 6:51 |
Congregation | Praise the Lord. | 6:54 |
(cheerful orchestral music) | 6:57 | |
♪ Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates ♪ | 7:28 | |
♪ Behold, the King of glory waits ♪ | 7:34 | |
♪ The King of kings is drawing near ♪ | 7:41 | |
♪ The Savior of the world is here ♪ | 7:49 | |
♪ Fling wide the portals of your heart ♪ | 7:58 | |
♪ Make it a temple, set apart ♪ | 8:05 | |
♪ From earthly use for heaven's employ, ♪ | 8:12 | |
♪ Adorned with prayer and love and joy. ♪ | 8:20 | |
♪ Redeemer, come, with us abide; ♪ | 8:29 | |
♪ Our hearts to thee we open wide; ♪ | 8:37 | |
♪ Let us thy inner presence feel; ♪ | 8:44 | |
♪ Thy grace and love in us reveal. ♪ | 8:51 | |
♪ Thy Holy Spirit lead us on ♪ | 9:01 | |
♪ Until our glorious goal is won; ♪ | 9:09 | |
♪ Eternal praise, eternal fame ♪ | 9:16 | |
♪ Be offered, Savior, to thy name! ♪ | 9:24 | |
- | The proof of God's amazing love is this. | 9:41 |
While we were sinners, Christ died for us. | 9:44 | |
Because we have faith in him, | 9:47 | |
we dare to approach God in confidence. | 9:50 | |
Let us admit our sins before God | 9:53 | |
as we pray in unison the Prayer of Confession | 9:55 | |
found on page 890. | 9:58 | |
All | Most merciful God, | 10:05 |
we confess that we have sinned against you | 10:08 | |
in thought, word, and deed, | 10:11 | |
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. | 10:14 | |
We have not loved you with our whole heart. | 10:19 | |
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. | 10:23 | |
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. | 10:27 | |
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, | 10:31 | |
have mercy on us and forgive us; | 10:34 | |
that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, | 10:38 | |
to the glory of your Name. | 10:43 | |
Amen. | 10:45 | |
- | Almighty God have mercy on you, | 10:54 |
forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, | 10:58 | |
strengthen you in all goodness, | 11:03 | |
and by the power of the Holy Spirit | 11:06 | |
keep you in eternal life. | 11:09 | |
Amen. | 11:12 | |
You may be seated. | 11:15 | |
- | Let us pray together the Prayer for Illumination. | 11:26 |
Open our hearts and minds of God, | 11:30 | |
by the power of your holy spirit | 11:33 | |
so that as the word is read and proclaimed, | 11:36 | |
we might be prepared for your advent among us. | 11:40 | |
Amen. | 11:44 | |
The first reading is from the words of the prophet Jeremiah. | 11:47 | |
The 33rd Chapter, starting with the 14th verse. | 11:51 | |
"The days are coming," says the Lord, | 11:57 | |
"when I will fulfill the good promise I made | 12:00 | |
"to the house of Israel and the house Judah. | 12:03 | |
"In those days and at that time | 12:07 | |
"I will cause a righteous Branch spring up for David | 12:10 | |
"and he shall execute justice | 12:14 | |
"and righteousness in the land." | 12:16 | |
In those days Judah will be saved | 12:20 | |
and Jerusalem will live in safety. | 12:23 | |
And this is the name by which it will be called. | 12:28 | |
The Lord Is Our Righteousness. | 12:33 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 12:38 | |
Congregation | Amen. | 12:41 |
- | This reading is from Paul's first letter | 12:44 |
to the Thessalonians, | 12:47 | |
chapter three beginning with the ninth verse. | 12:48 | |
How can we thank God enough for you | 12:54 | |
in return for all the joy that we feel | 12:57 | |
before our God because of you? | 12:59 | |
Night and day we pray most earnestly | 13:03 | |
that we may see you face to face | 13:06 | |
and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. | 13:08 | |
Now may our God and father and our Lord Jesus | 13:13 | |
direct our way to you | 13:17 | |
and may the Lord make you increase | 13:20 | |
and abound in love for one another and for all, | 13:22 | |
just as we are bound in love for you. | 13:26 | |
and may the Lord so strengthen your hearts and holiness | 13:31 | |
that you may be blameless before our God and Father | 13:34 | |
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. | 13:38 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 13:45 | |
(upbeat brass music) | 13:54 | |
- | Please stand for the reading of the gospel. | 16:38 |
The gospel is from the 21st chapter | 16:44 | |
of the Gospel According to Luke. | 16:47 | |
And there will be signs in sun, and moon, and stars | 16:51 | |
and upon the earth distress of nations, | 16:56 | |
in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves. | 17:01 | |
People fainting with fear and with foreboding | 17:06 | |
over what is coming upon the world, | 17:10 | |
for the powers of heavens will be shaken. | 17:13 | |
And then they will see the Son of Man | 17:17 | |
coming in a cloud with power and great glory. | 17:19 | |
Now when these things begin to take place, | 17:26 | |
stand up, raise your heads, | 17:29 | |
because your redemption is drawing near | 17:33 | |
this is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God. | 17:40 | |
Be seated. | 17:45 | |
I do not know what to do with a text like this one. | 17:54 | |
A text so full of | 18:00 | |
unmanageable biblical images. | 18:03 | |
To stand before such an Advent text, | 18:08 | |
so rich in these images of sun and moon, | 18:13 | |
and stars and roaring waves, and sea and heavens shaking, | 18:16 | |
it causes a preacher's knees to tremble. | 18:22 | |
I shall, therefore, resist the inclination | 18:28 | |
to explain it, to rationalize it, to apply it. | 18:32 | |
I shall let it stand. | 18:36 | |
I shall attempt to let some of its white, | 18:37 | |
hot blaze singe your eyebrows. | 18:39 | |
Anything less would be an affront to the text. | 18:46 | |
This is not a text to be abused by a preacherette, | 18:50 | |
in a sermonette for Christianettes. | 18:54 | |
It's a big text. | 18:58 | |
What we're reading here in the 21st chapter of Luke | 19:00 | |
is called apocalyptic. | 19:03 | |
This is apocalyptic literature, | 19:05 | |
which occurs frequently in the Bible | 19:09 | |
and more frequently than we would like to admit | 19:11 | |
on the lips on Jesus. | 19:14 | |
But usually only when Jesus happened to be | 19:17 | |
preaching in a University Chapel, | 19:22 | |
when he wanted to shake the foundations, | 19:25 | |
tear the doors off the hinges, upset a pew or two, | 19:28 | |
in much the same way that here in Duke Chapel, | 19:31 | |
we sometimes will rent trumpets and timpani | 19:34 | |
when we really wanna do the thing up big. | 19:39 | |
It's cosmic. | 19:43 | |
Signs of sun and moon and raging seas, shaking heavens. | 19:45 | |
Apocalyptic is a poetic, and therefore utterly realistic, | 19:53 | |
way of attempting to speak through the medium of mere words | 19:59 | |
to say | 20:04 | |
God is coming. | 20:07 | |
That's what all these images are attempting to say: | 20:11 | |
God is coming. | 20:15 | |
Either coming to bless us or to grab us, | 20:19 | |
either way to redeem us. | 20:23 | |
Pray, Jesus says, just pray you'll be able to stand | 20:25 | |
in such a day when the Son of Man comes in a cloud. | 20:30 | |
Now I'll admit that you haven't heard much | 20:40 | |
apocalyptic talk around here. | 20:42 | |
University Chapels, liberal mainline Protestantism, | 20:44 | |
lacks the imagination often times to speak | 20:50 | |
in terms of raging sea and clouds and shaking heavens. | 20:54 | |
Today's church has traded apocalyptic poetry | 21:03 | |
for therapeutic advice. | 21:07 | |
Thus we find ourselves unable to speak | 21:12 | |
either to deep pain or to large fear. | 21:14 | |
The line between Dear Abby and Sunday Sermons grows thin. | 21:20 | |
Alas, church history teaches | 21:29 | |
that the lessening of apocalyptic | 21:31 | |
is always a sign of the church's adaptation | 21:34 | |
to the fixations of the petty bourgeois. | 21:39 | |
And maybe that's why today you can learn | 21:45 | |
a lot more about the injustice suffered by the poor | 21:47 | |
or average middle class misery | 21:53 | |
by going to the theater rather than listening to a sermon. | 21:55 | |
So Paul Simon, when he returned | 22:03 | |
from South Africa, wrote a song, | 22:05 | |
"Look for a distant constellation in the corner of the sky. | 22:10 | |
"These are the days of miracle and wonder. | 22:17 | |
"This is a long distance call, | 22:23 | |
"Don't cry baby, don't cry." | 22:26 | |
It's funny how art and apocalyptic go together. | 22:32 | |
Because at its best both are straining | 22:38 | |
to speak of the unspeakable, | 22:40 | |
to imagine the unimaginable in a flat modern world. | 22:42 | |
And so we now refer to our pastors | 22:50 | |
as members of the helping profession | 22:52 | |
and Christian evangelism becomes something | 22:56 | |
you can put on a bumper sticker. | 22:59 | |
World, where does it itch? | 23:00 | |
Please, allow the church to scratch it for you. | 23:02 | |
How different, how different this text. | 23:08 | |
There will be signs and sun and moon and stars on earth, | 23:12 | |
distress among the nations, | 23:16 | |
confused by the roaring of sea and waves. | 23:19 | |
People will faint with foreboding about what is coming. | 23:23 | |
The powers of heavens will be shaken. | 23:27 | |
Then they will see the Son of Man | 23:29 | |
coming on a cloud with power and glory. | 23:32 | |
Signs of dismantling. | 23:40 | |
Big moves. | 23:43 | |
Chaos. | 23:46 | |
Which always accompanies major change. | 23:48 | |
All interpreted here in Luke as signs of our redemption. | 23:52 | |
Now when these things take place, | 24:00 | |
stand up, lift up your heads | 24:03 | |
because your redemption is drawing near. | 24:06 | |
I think we're uncomfortable with such Bible talk. | 24:14 | |
And maybe that's because people who run banks, | 24:19 | |
people who work for the military | 24:23 | |
or for corporations or for universities, | 24:25 | |
that is people who profit from the status quo, | 24:29 | |
twitch upon hearing apocalyptic speech. | 24:33 | |
But people on the bottom, | 24:39 | |
the small or the hungry, the very ill, | 24:42 | |
those who have little to gain from the preservation | 24:48 | |
of what is, always tremble when they hear talk | 24:52 | |
about what by God's grace will be. | 24:58 | |
I think it all depends on where | 25:04 | |
you happen to be standing when you hear these words. | 25:06 | |
It just depends on where you are. | 25:12 | |
Columbia, South Carolina. | 25:17 | |
Mary Chestnut's diary. | 25:20 | |
March 1865. | 25:23 | |
"General Sherman marched off in a solid column, | 25:29 | |
"leaving not so much as a blade of grass behind. | 25:32 | |
"We have become a howling wilderness, | 25:38 | |
"land laid waste, dust and ashes." | 25:41 | |
She's describing the end of the Old South. | 25:50 | |
But in her tears, Mrs. Chestnut | 25:56 | |
neglected to mention in her tale of devastation and woe | 26:00 | |
the slaves were dancing in the streets. | 26:07 | |
See, it just all depends on where you happen to be standing | 26:14 | |
when you hear apocalyptic talk | 26:18 | |
of dismantling and redemption. | 26:21 | |
Here is Jesus in a way that we don't often see him, | 26:26 | |
Jesus as the byzantine pantocrator | 26:30 | |
holding the world in the palm of his hand like a baseball. | 26:34 | |
Not Jesus, friend of the lilies and the little children, | 26:38 | |
Jesus, the good friend. | 26:42 | |
We're gonna have to reverse our images of God | 26:47 | |
if we are going to meet this God when he comes on clouds | 26:50 | |
with the sea roaring and heavens shaking. | 26:54 | |
Don't you just love Doctor Joe Graedon's | 27:02 | |
Saturday morning program from Chapel Hill? | 27:04 | |
Doctor Joe Graedon's Saturday morning hints | 27:08 | |
for achieving immortality and good health. | 27:10 | |
Couple of weeks ago Doctor Graedon's program | 27:14 | |
was on stress and how to get over it. | 27:17 | |
Various meditational techniques were proposed. | 27:21 | |
Walking in the woods when you feel tense. | 27:26 | |
Going out and screaming in the woods. | 27:31 | |
However it was said by the experts on stress, | 27:34 | |
if you live in an apartment, can't scream, | 27:37 | |
you can tear up large magazines. | 27:39 | |
Take this down, some of you will need this some time. | 27:43 | |
Or if you live in an apartment, | 27:46 | |
it was advised that you can also punch your mattress. | 27:47 | |
This will make you feel better. | 27:50 | |
And yet, said a visiting expert, and yet | 27:54 | |
if, by chance, your marriage is falling apart | 27:59 | |
or you've just lost your job | 28:03 | |
or, perhaps, you're suffering from terminal cancer, | 28:05 | |
these techniques may not be that effective. | 28:08 | |
We can ease the symptoms of stress | 28:14 | |
but we can do very little sometimes about their causes. | 28:17 | |
Yes. | 28:25 | |
There is a limit to the therapeutic. | 28:27 | |
And most of what passes for cure | 28:31 | |
these days is only temporary relief. | 28:33 | |
We got a pill for pain but the cause | 28:38 | |
of the illness is beyond us. | 28:42 | |
Dare we struggle to find words that describe redemption? | 28:47 | |
Fundamental rectification of our situation? | 28:53 | |
If we're going to, we're going to have to rise | 28:59 | |
out of the subjective captivity of the church, | 29:01 | |
for even the expansive human heart is too small a screen | 29:05 | |
on which to project these images. | 29:10 | |
Now when these things take place, | 29:16 | |
stand up, raise up your heads, | 29:18 | |
because you redemption is drawing near. | 29:20 | |
Alas, we have reduced Jesus to the friendly therapist. | 29:26 | |
The merely subjective, we come to church | 29:31 | |
for a little help to make it through the week. | 29:33 | |
To receive hints for better living. | 29:37 | |
We know not what to make of signs that appear | 29:43 | |
in moon and stars and raging of the sea and heaven shaking. | 29:46 | |
Oh, I believe Jesus was a fine teacher, | 29:54 | |
a great moral example. | 29:56 | |
And maybe that's enough to help you | 30:02 | |
make it through most of life's hassles. | 30:04 | |
But it's not good enough for the fundamental, | 30:10 | |
humanly unresolvable situations | 30:13 | |
in which we sometimes find ourselves. | 30:16 | |
And what then? | 30:21 | |
Listen carefully. | 30:25 | |
Listen carefully if there be any of you here this morning | 30:28 | |
who cannot be helped by a pill | 30:34 | |
or a noble uplifting platitude | 30:36 | |
or a moralistic call to greater human effort. | 30:41 | |
Listen carefully because today's text speaks to you. | 30:43 | |
As Monika Hellwig once said, | 30:52 | |
"If it won't play in a cancer ward | 30:54 | |
"or a shoddy nursing home for the elderly, | 30:56 | |
"then whatever it is, it's not gospel." | 30:59 | |
Here is gospel. | 31:04 | |
Good news. | 31:07 | |
In roaring of the waves and rising seas, | 31:09 | |
God is coming. | 31:14 | |
Take heed, God is coming. | 31:17 | |
And whether that be good news or bad news for you, | 31:20 | |
I think depend somewhat on your social location. | 31:23 | |
On where you happen to be standing when you get the news. | 31:27 | |
God is coming. | 31:30 | |
Bad news if we're weighed down with dissipation | 31:33 | |
or even worried about what to give or to get for Christmas. | 31:36 | |
Good news, though, if you're standing on tiptoes, | 31:41 | |
listening, waiting, for nothing less than redemption. | 31:45 | |
As Flannery O'Connor once said in one of her novels, | 31:54 | |
"Any man with a good car don't need redemption." | 31:58 | |
Well where are you standing this advent? | 32:04 | |
This advent, 1991 years after his first advent? | 32:07 | |
Are you merely weighed down with conventional | 32:15 | |
solutions to ordinary human problems? | 32:17 | |
Having so much that this world can offer, | 32:25 | |
is our religion reduced to nothing more | 32:28 | |
than the therapeutic? | 32:31 | |
Or is it still possible for you to stand on tiptoes, | 32:34 | |
sensing your redemption is growing near? | 32:37 | |
Here's a larger vision. | 32:44 | |
It is the vision of Martin Luther King Junior | 32:45 | |
who stood on the mountaintop | 32:48 | |
and looked over into the promise land | 32:49 | |
and was able to redeem by shedding of blood. | 32:51 | |
It is the vision of Martin Luther, | 32:57 | |
who, as a young priest standing before the alter of God | 33:00 | |
at his first mass, his hands shook and trembled so | 33:02 | |
at the thought of touching the very body and blood | 33:08 | |
of Christ, he could not move. | 33:11 | |
It's big, it's large, it's cosmic, | 33:15 | |
apocalyptic. | 33:20 | |
And most of us, I think, on most Sundays | 33:24 | |
just don't need that much and that's okay. | 33:27 | |
But there's some of us on some Sundays | 33:33 | |
that can be comforted with nothing less than redemption. | 33:40 | |
There was a man who lived with his family | 33:49 | |
almost next door to our church. | 33:52 | |
His yard was always a mess | 33:57 | |
and that yard was sort of like his life, | 34:00 | |
his life was a mess. | 34:02 | |
It was rumored in town that he went on | 34:03 | |
drunken binges on the weekends. | 34:05 | |
That he abused his wife. | 34:08 | |
That he cursed his children. | 34:10 | |
Well, we became concerned, we thought we would help him. | 34:12 | |
So I went over and visited with him in his living room. | 34:17 | |
The youth invited his two children | 34:22 | |
to go with them on their trip to the mountains. | 34:24 | |
The women's group went over and invited her | 34:28 | |
to join them at their annual day of prayer. | 34:30 | |
I think they visited our church a couple of Sundays | 34:34 | |
but then they quit coming and that was that. | 34:37 | |
Well some time later, I met him downtown. | 34:43 | |
Well I thought it was him, | 34:48 | |
I had to look at him twice to know who it was. | 34:49 | |
"Joe, is that you?" I said. | 34:51 | |
And he kind of smiled sheepishly and he said, | 34:53 | |
"Yeah, yeah, it's me. | 34:55 | |
"But then, it's not really me. | 34:57 | |
"You see, I've changed." | 35:00 | |
Well I could see he had changed. | 35:03 | |
His whole physical appearance had changed. | 35:05 | |
Come to think of it, his yard had changed. | 35:09 | |
Well, what had happened? | 35:13 | |
Well, he told me, "A few weeks ago, | 35:17 | |
"I was visited by people from this church. | 35:22 | |
"A group came by to pray with me." | 35:27 | |
Now, it was a group from a church, | 35:32 | |
not my nice, middle class, Methodist church. | 35:34 | |
But it was from a church over across the tracks. | 35:37 | |
It was from a fundamentalist church. | 35:40 | |
A premillennial, fire-baptized, | 35:46 | |
Bible-believing, washed-in-the-blood Baptist church. | 35:48 | |
And they'd come over one Sunday night, he said, | 35:53 | |
and they sat down on his sofa | 35:57 | |
and they looked him in eye and said, | 35:58 | |
"Joe, you're gonna die and you're gonna go to hell | 36:00 | |
"and you're gonna burn forever." | 36:05 | |
And then they got Joe down to their church | 36:11 | |
on Wednesday night and they prayed for him by name | 36:13 | |
and they prayed that God would spare him just a week longer | 36:16 | |
so they could have time to save him | 36:18 | |
and keep him from burning in hell. | 36:20 | |
Joe said, "They got my attention." | 36:22 | |
And he was saved. | 36:30 | |
He was turned inside-out, upside-down, he was redeemed. | 36:36 | |
So I said something about, "Well, | 36:42 | |
"I'm glad that their church was able to meet your needs. | 36:44 | |
"I'm sorry that our church wasn't." | 36:47 | |
He said, "Well, preacher, don't feel bad. | 36:50 | |
"I was sick, you offered me asprin. | 36:54 | |
"I needed chemotherapy." | 36:58 | |
Well we gathered with Jesus in the upper room, | 37:05 | |
we just gathered for a little meal, | 37:07 | |
just Jesus, 12 best friends. | 37:09 | |
A little meal, polite conversation. | 37:11 | |
And then Jesus took hold of the cup and said, | 37:16 | |
"This is my blood, pour it out for you. | 37:19 | |
"This loaf is my body, broken for you." | 37:25 | |
And that night we realized, | 37:33 | |
if we are to be redeemed, | 37:37 | |
if God is coming to do something about us, | 37:41 | |
then our redemption will not be small, | 37:49 | |
neither will it be cheap. | 37:55 | |
Amen. | 38:00 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 38:09 |
Let us pray. | 38:13 | |
God of compassion. | 38:19 | |
We are grateful that you listen when we cry out to you. | 38:21 | |
Indeed, we know that you reached out to us | 38:26 | |
long before we had the faith to turn toward you | 38:29 | |
and that gives us the confidence to come before you | 38:34 | |
once again, knees shaking in anticipation of your coming. | 38:36 | |
Prepare us for your revelation, | 38:44 | |
for we can not make sense out of life apart from you. | 38:47 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 38:52 | |
God of power, we have so often trivialized our faith. | 38:58 | |
We've used Christianity to ease our conscience | 39:03 | |
and build up our sense of morality and self-esteem | 39:08 | |
but we haven't expected life-changing, | 39:12 | |
earth-shattering results. | 39:15 | |
Raise our expectations and lift our eyes | 39:18 | |
so that we might see your hopes for us and all of creation. | 39:23 | |
Lord, in your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 39:29 | |
God of mercy, all of creation longs | 39:35 | |
for nothing less than your redemption. | 39:39 | |
We pray this morning for those who are homeless, | 39:43 | |
beaten down, and without hope, | 39:47 | |
that they may find shelter, homecoming, and renewal. | 39:50 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 39:55 | |
For those who are unemployed and fearful for the future, | 40:00 | |
that they may find good jobs, security, and piece of mind. | 40:05 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 40:11 | |
For those nameless victims of rampant crime, | 40:15 | |
that they may know healing, and freedom from fear. | 40:19 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 40:24 | |
For those who are imprisoned, | 40:29 | |
that they may know forgiveness | 40:31 | |
and your rehabilitation to a new life. | 40:33 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 40:37 | |
For those who listen this morning at Duke Hospital, | 40:42 | |
and for all those who fill our medical facilities, | 40:46 | |
that they may know healing and renewal. | 40:50 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 40:54 | |
For those who are imprisoned | 40:58 | |
within their own minds and bodies, | 41:00 | |
enslaved to mental illness or addictions, | 41:03 | |
that they may be freed and restored to wholeness. | 41:08 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 41:12 | |
For those who are suffering from broken homes | 41:17 | |
and broken relationships, | 41:20 | |
that they may know reconciliation and restoration. | 41:22 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 41:27 | |
For Haitians, Croatians, Vietnamese, | 41:32 | |
and all who flee their homelands seeking sanctuary, | 41:36 | |
that they may find safety and homecoming. | 41:40 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 41:44 | |
For all in battled lands, | 41:48 | |
that they may know peace, tolerance, justice, and freedom. | 41:51 | |
In your mercy, come, Lord Jesus. | 41:58 | |
God of hope, with expectant hearts, | 42:02 | |
we, your people, await Christ coming, | 42:07 | |
we await your redemption of the whole world | 42:10 | |
and pray that you will prepare us | 42:15 | |
so that we might be ready for your coming. | 42:17 | |
Teach us to live as faithful children | 42:20 | |
in anticipation of our adoption into your kingdom. | 42:24 | |
In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. | 42:28 | |
Since Christ has opened his heart to us, | 42:37 | |
let us open our hearts to one another | 42:41 | |
and God will be glorified. | 42:43 | |
Please stand as we share signs | 42:45 | |
of the peace of Christ with one another. | 42:48 | |
(congregation murmuring) | 42:52 | |
With gladness, let us present the offerings | 43:26 | |
of our life and labor to the Lord. | 43:29 | |
You may be seated. | 43:31 | |
(upbeat brass music) | 43:51 | |
('Prelude & Fugue in E Flat Major' by William J. Peterson) | 47:42 | |
- | Please turn to page 15 in the hymnal, page 15 | 49:50 |
and join in the prayer of thanksgiving. | 49:54 | |
The Lord be with you. | 49:59 | |
Lift up your hearts. | 50:03 | |
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. | 50:06 | |
Father, in this season when we celebrate | 50:11 | |
the coming of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, | 50:13 | |
we give you thanks. | 50:16 | |
You created all things, you made us in your own image. | 50:18 | |
Even when we rebelled against your love, | 50:22 | |
you did not desert us. | 50:24 | |
You delivered us and made covenant to be our sovereign God. | 50:26 | |
You spoke to us through prophets | 50:30 | |
who looked for that day when justice would roll down | 50:32 | |
like waters and righteousness an ever-flowing stream. | 50:36 | |
And so, with your people on earth, | 50:40 | |
and all the company of heaven, | 50:42 | |
we praise your name and join in their unending hymn. | 50:44 | |
Holy, holy, holy Lord. | 50:49 | |
God of power and might. | 50:52 | |
Heaven and earth are full of your glory. | 50:54 | |
Hosanna in the highest. | 50:56 | |
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. | 50:58 | |
Hosanna in the highest. | 51:01 | |
Holy is your name and blessed in your son Jesus Christ | 51:04 | |
whom you sent in the fullness of time | 51:08 | |
as light to the nations. | 51:10 | |
You scatter the proud, | 51:13 | |
you have mercy on those who fear you | 51:14 | |
from generation to generation | 51:16 | |
you put down the mighty from their thrones | 51:19 | |
and lift up those of low degree. | 51:21 | |
And so in remembrance of your mighty acts and Jesus Christ, | 51:24 | |
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving | 51:27 | |
as a holy and living sacrifice | 51:31 | |
in union with Christ's offering for us | 51:32 | |
as we proclaim the mystery of faith. | 51:35 | |
Christ is died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. | 51:38 | |
On the night he offered himself up for us, | 51:44 | |
he took bread and gave thanks to you. | 51:46 | |
Broke the bread, gave it to his disciples | 51:48 | |
and said, "Take, eat. | 51:51 | |
"This is my body given for you. | 51:53 | |
"Do this in the remembrance of me." | 51:55 | |
When the supper was over, he took the cup, | 51:58 | |
he gave you thanks, gave it to his disciples | 52:00 | |
and said, "Drink from this, all of you. | 52:03 | |
"This is the blood of the new covenant, | 52:06 | |
"poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sin. | 52:08 | |
"Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." | 52:11 | |
therefore in remembrance of all your mighty acts | 52:16 | |
and Jesus Christ, we ask you to accept this, | 52:18 | |
our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving | 52:21 | |
which we offer in union with Christ's sacrifice for us. | 52:24 | |
Send the power of your holy spirit on us and on these gifts, | 52:28 | |
then the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine, | 52:31 | |
we may know the presence of living Christ. | 52:34 | |
Be one body and Him cleansed by his blood, | 52:37 | |
faithfully to serve him in the world, | 52:40 | |
to look forward to that day foretold | 52:43 | |
by prophets and apostles. | 52:45 | |
When the one who came in humility, | 52:48 | |
the one who comes today in word and spirit | 52:50 | |
shall come on clouds with the shaking of heavens | 52:53 | |
and roaring of waves in final victory. | 52:57 | |
Through Him, with Him, and in Him | 53:01 | |
and the unity of the Holy Spirit, | 53:03 | |
all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, | 53:04 | |
now and forever more. | 53:07 | |
Amen. | 53:10 | |
Come to the Lord's table. | 53:15 | |
As we come invite you to join in singing hymn 196. | 53:18 | |
(orchestral music) | 53:29 | |
♪ Come, Thou long expected Jesus ♪ | 54:24 | |
♪ Born to set Thy people free ♪ | 54:31 | |
♪ From our fears and sins release us ♪ | 54:38 | |
♪ Let us find our rest in Thee ♪ | 54:45 | |
♪ Jesus Christ's strength and consolation ♪ | 54:52 | |
♪ Hope of all the earth Thou art ♪ | 54:59 | |
♪ Dear desire of every nation ♪ | 55:06 | |
♪ Joy of every longing heart ♪ | 55:13 | |
♪ Born Thy people to deliver ♪ | 55:23 | |
♪ Born a child and yet a King ♪ | 55:30 | |
♪ Born to reign in us forever ♪ | 55:37 | |
♪ Now Thy gracious kingdom bring ♪ | 55:44 | |
♪ By Thine own eternal Spirit ♪ | 55:51 | |
♪ Rule in all our hearts alone ♪ | 55:58 | |
♪ By Thine all sufficient merit ♪ | 56:06 | |
♪ Raise us to Thy glorious throne ♪ | 56:13 | |
(somber music) | 56:32 | |
- | Let us stand and pray together | 1:04:09 |
the prayer our Lord has taught us. | 1:04:11 | |
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. | 1:04:14 | |
Thy kingdom come. | 1:04:19 | |
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. | 1:04:21 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 1:04:24 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:04:27 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us | 1:04:29 | |
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 1:04:32 | |
Divine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. | 1:04:37 | |
Amen. | 1:04:41 | |
Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, | 1:04:43 | |
the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit | 1:04:46 | |
be with you now as you go forth | 1:04:49 | |
to serve the Lord in all that you do. | 1:04:51 | |
Amen. | 1:04:54 | |
(brass music) | 1:05:01 | |
♪ Savior of the nations, come ♪ | 1:05:34 | |
♪ Virgin's Son, make here thy home ♪ | 1:05:41 | |
♪ Marvel now, O heav'n and earth ♪ | 1:05:48 | |
♪ That the Lord chose such a birth ♪ | 1:05:56 | |
♪ Not of flesh and blood the Son ♪ | 1:06:06 | |
♪ Offspring of the Holy One ♪ | 1:06:14 | |
♪ Born of Mary ever blest, ♪ | 1:06:22 | |
♪ God in flesh is manifest. ♪ | 1:06:29 | |
♪ Wondrous birth! O wondrous Child ♪ | 1:06:40 | |
♪ Of the Virgin undefiled ♪ | 1:06:48 | |
♪ Though by all the world disowned ♪ | 1:06:55 | |
♪ Still to be in heav'n enthroned. ♪ | 1:07:04 | |
♪ From the Father forth he came ♪ | 1:07:14 | |
♪ And returneth to the same ♪ | 1:07:22 | |
♪ Captive leading death and hell ♪ | 1:07:30 | |
♪ High the song of triumph swell ♪ | 1:07:38 |
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