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Sunday Service - 8/28/2011 - Sam Wells
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Rev Dr Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Six Steps to Heaven."Opening excerpt from the sermon: (43:13)
"Why do we still come to university? Why do we cram every tiny electronic gadget, every potential fashion statement and every classy-but-casual item of clothing into every last inch of our parents' car and drive an unimaginable distance to fulfill a dream of going to college? Surely it would be a whole lot cheaper, easier, and quicker to stay home and let the computer do all the work for you. Why don't you allow Skype and Amazon and Wikipedia to do the heavy lifting? You could simply cut out those tiresome professors and resident assistants. You'd never have to meet the nerdy student who threatens to drag you down into social oblivion or the super athlete who has the body of a Greek god and makes you feel like the original wimpy kid. Why not skip the exhaustion and humiliation and heartbreak of college and just do it all online? The answer is, because there's more than one kind of knowing"
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (1:00:23)
"That's what Moses discovers at the burning bush. Six steps to heaven. Six steps to knowing God. I'm now going to tell you the best news in all the world. What is the most important thing about knowing someone? The most important thing you can know about someone is what's in their heart. Heaven is knowing what's in God's heart. And d'you know what's in God's heart -- at the very heart of God's heart? You are"
Sermon begins at 43:13.
Exodus 3:1-15
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/paxq1t
Sermon: http://bit.ly/nUdKnM
Published 1 year ago
Undergraduate Convocation 2011
Duke University's undergraduate convocation, August 24, 2011.Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 8/21/2011 - Sam Wells
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Reading the Bible and Letting the Bible Read You."Exodus 1:8-2:10
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/qr7rAw
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 8/14/2011 - Jason Byassee
A service of Worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Jason Byassee delivers a sermon entitled "Honorary Jews."A service of Worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Jason Byassee delivers a sermon entitled "Honorary Jews."
Opening excerpt from the sermon: (25:13)
If"you"read"the"gospels"for"any"length"of"time"you"start"to notice"a"pattern."Jesus"is"confronted"by"someone's"dire"needillness,"demon"possession,"hunger."But"the"religious"authorities"forbid"mercy"on"that"occasionit's"the"Sabbath,"or"the"person"is"unclean."Jesus"argues"with"themwhat's"more"important,"this"person's"need,"or"our"laws?"The"answer"is"clear,"the"person"is"healed,"fed,"or"exorcised,"Jesus"is"vindicated,"his"enemies"fume,"and"the"temperature"is"turned"up"on"the"way"to"the"boiling"point"of"his"
crucifixion."Scholars"call"these""controversy"narratives.""And"that's"why"scholars"make"the"big"bucks.But" if" you" notice" in" this" story" we" have" a" controversy" narrative" in" reverse." Here" Jesus" is" the" Pharisee" and" the" unnamed"Canaanite"woman"wins"the"debate"about"mercy"and"wins"mercy"itself."TheCanaanite"woman"presents"her"dire"need,"shouting"at"Jesus."He"ignores"her."The"disciples"suggest"he"send"her"away."He"explains"he's"been"sent"only"to"the"lost"sheep"of"Israel,"not"to"the"
gentiles."She"changes"strategies"from"the"shouting"and"quietly"kneels"and"begs,""Lord,"have"mercy.""He"responds"with"the"harshest"words"he"says"to"anysupplicant"in"the"gospels:""It"is"not"right"to"take"the"children's"food"and"throw"it"to"the"dogs.""The"Canaanite"woman" responds" with" total" agreement," "Yes" Lord," but" even" the" dogs"eat"the" crumbs"that"all"under"their"masterstable.""Jesus"knows"that"he's"been"bested,"and"pronounces"her"the"winner:""O"woman,"great"is"your"faith!"Let"it"be"done"for"you"as"you"wish.""Here"Jesusis"the"religious"establishment,"the"bad"guy,saying"why"mercy"cannot"be"extended."The"Canaanite"woman,"the"non,Jew,"engages"him"in"a"battle"of"wits"and"succeeds."Everyone"is"amazed"at"her"wisdom"and"faith,"and"she"gains"what"she"sought. Peter"Hawkins of"Boston"University describes"the"story"well—"Not"only"does"Jesus"change"his"mind,"but"he"does"so"in"a"breathtaking"180"degree"turn."Most"astonishing"of"all"it"is"a"pagan"woman"who"makes"him"do"it."This"story"is"a"perfect"snapshot"of"the"two"natures"of"our"infleshed"God,"Jeus."He's"so"human"he"can"lose"an"argument."And"he's"so"divine"enough"to"heal"someone's"daughter"from"miles"away
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (46:55)
For"those"who"pray"this"sort"of"prayer"there"is"a"catch."There's"always"a"catch,"isn'"there The "one"true"God"of"Israel"has"invited"us"to"eat"the"crumbs"that"fall"from"his"children's"table.And"we"have"to"do"so"with"all"others"who"approach"his"table"seeking"these"crumbs."Some"will"look"like"us."Most"won't."There"will"be"people"of"all"races,"nations,"ages,"times"and"places."There"will"be"people"who"like"processions"and"organs"and"gothic"cathedrals."There"will"be"people"who"like"guitars"and"dancing"and"hand"raisingand"miracle"performing."There"will"be"Christians"from"places"where"the"church"is"growing"like"gangbusterslike"Cote"d'Ivoire"and"Sudan"and"South"Korea."And"from"places"where"they"haven't"made"a"new"disciple"in"ages."The"decision"to"follow"will"affect"all"the"areas"in"which"Israel"defended"itself"from"the"Canaanites:"who"we"marry,"who"we"eat"with,"who"we"fight(now,"no"one),"who"we"worship."Everything"is"changed"now"with"Jesus"coming."We"who"eat"this"bread"together"are"bound"so"tightly"that"one"of"us"can"believe"and"another"get"the"benefitthe"woman"believes"and"her"daughter"far"away"is"healed."The"church"is"a"new"social"reality"that"never"existed"before,"and"maybe"doesn't"exist"in"fullnow."To"belong"all"you"have"to"do"is"not"belong."To"recognize"that"we"have"no"merit,"no"justification,"there's"no"price"we"can"pay"to"eat"beneath"this"table."The"only"question"that"matters"is"whether"we"want"mercy"from"Jesus."He"doesn't"care"about"your"resume,"though"many"in"here"have"long"ones."All"he"cares"about"is"whether"you"will"boldly"and"humbly"kneel,"eat,"and"believe,"and"then"if"you'll"belong"to"all"others"who"kneel,"eat,"and"believe."I"understand"if"you"don't"want"to."Who"wants"to"submit"to"being"called"a"dog?"But"if"you"want"mercy"from"Jesus,"hang"on."People"you"love"will"be"healed."Others"you"love"will"be"enraged."And"you"will"hear"Jesus"say,"woman,"man,"great"is"your"faith."Amen
Sermon begins at 25:13. Matthew 15:21-28
Published 1 year ago
Duke Divinity School Course of Study Closing Convocation 2011
"SOWING AND TRUSTING IN THE LORD."Service of Worship with Holy Communion and the Recognition of the Graduates of Basic and Advanced Course of Study.
Duke University Chapel
August 4, 2011 7:00 p.m.
Bishop Tom Bickerton delivers a sermon entitled " At All Cost."
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 8/7/2011 - Christy Lohr Sapp
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. Dr Christy Lohr Sapp delivers a sermon entitled "Calling on the Name of the Lord."Opening excerpt from the sermon: (50:27)
"Call me if you need anything." Have you heard that from a colleague or neighbor? Have you said it recently, yourself? It's an innocent and well-meaning statement meant to convey our willingness to help someone in need. "Call me if you need anything" can mean "I'll bring you groceries," or "I'll watch your kids." It is a phrase we use often enough, and it is a phrase that I think has taken on a meaning that is quite the opposite of what it is intended to convey. "Call me if you need anything" is supposed to be a statement of selfless giving of our time and resources. But, much like "We should get together for lunch sometime" it has become one of those things that we say when we want to be nice but don't want to commit. "Call me if you need anything" makes us feel good about ourselves for being thoughtful and generous enough to make an offer of help, but it is not the same as simply turning up at someone's door with a casserole and a loaf of bread when she is sick. It is not the same as mowing a neighbor's lawn because we know he is overwhelmed with work or has a sprained ankle."
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (37:01)
"When we call on the Lord to save us, we do so not because we have perfected ourselves to the point of worthiness before God. Instead, when we call on the Lord to save us, we do so because we, like Peter, are sinking. Calling on the name of the Lord is important because it is the point at which you acknowledge your humanity. It is the point at which you recognize that you, yourself, cannot do the stuff of salvation. Calling on the name of the Lord is an admission that you need help and that help is there, at the ready, even before you call for it and even before you know you need it. Even if you think you do not deserve it; God's hand is there in your pain and peril, in your terror and uncertainty and in your joy and blessing. Amen."
Sermon begins at 50:27.
Matthew 14:22-33
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/mZNiK9
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 7/31/2011 - James Howell
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr James Howell delivers a sermon entitled "Twelve Baskets Full Left Over." Matthew 14:13-21 Bulletin: http://bit.ly/oCgrHY
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 7/24/2011 - Sam Wells
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr. Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Inseparable."Opening excerpt from the sermon: (28:07)
"I wonder if you've ever walked away from a funeral feeling really cross. Not so much with God, for taking the person away, but more with the pastor and even the family for not telling it like it was, for somehow fabricating a story about the deceased person that didn't have the courage to look into the reality of how they really lived or the truth of how they really died. It's almost like you want to do the funeral again, because somehow you can't believe it worked the first time. That's how I felt when I walked away from my aunt's funeral, many years ago. She was diagnosed with cancer and died three weeks later at the age of 70. It was 1987, if I recall. At the funeral we sang happy songs and hymns and the pastor said how strong her faith was and what a great wife and mother she'd been. And I was screaming inside, "But she's dead! Can't you see it? Aren't you sad? Why won't anyone say it?"
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (46:25)
"I still think about my aunt's funeral, 23 years ago. I still feel her pastor got it all wrong. But I'm not cross with my aunt any more. In fact, I admire her profoundly. She wasn't the favored child in her family, by any means. She went as a nurse to Kenya to give her life in service to others. She spent more than 30 years caring for a mentally disabled son. For much of that time she was caring at home for an infirm husband and an elderly mother too. Nothing in her assumed she had a right to an easy life of security and comfort. She was only interested in two things. She wanted to enjoy the freedom of knowing she'd never be separated from the love of God. And she wanted the Holy Spirit to make her look like Christ. And she got all she wanted. And if, in my own hour of fear and trembling, she was able to say to me, "All things work together for good for those who love God," then, after all she'd been through, she had every right to. One day, if I've been through what she went through, with God at my side every step of the way, and if I'e been made to look as much like Jesus as she was, then maybe I'll have the faith and the right to say those words too."
Sermon begins at 28:07. Romans 8:26-39
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/n3jhLP
Sermon: http://bit.ly/rg21qo
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 7/17/2011 - Sam Wells
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr. Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Searched and Known."Opening excerpt from the sermon: (31:33)
"There's no escaping my love." I wonder if you've ever said those words to anybody. I know someone who
routinely signs her email messages to friends and colleagues with those very words. "There's no escaping my
love." In fact she used to shout those exact same words down the street to her children when she dropped
them off at school, accompanied by much gorilla-style long distance arm-encircling. "There's... no... escaping...
my... lo-----ve.
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (51:54)
"Look back upon your life. Have you made knowing and loving enemies of one another? Write this psalm on your heart. Tell your friends and family to read it to you on your deathbed. Because when your life ends, it will be time for those estranged companions, knowledge and love, to be reunited in you, just as they are in God. And when you're raised to life eternal, you'll for the first time be known and loved not just by God, but by everyone else as well. That will be heaven."
Sermon begins at 31:33. Psalm 139
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/oSOlYO
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 7/10/2011 - Paula Gilbert
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Paula Gilbert delivers a sermon entitled "Power and Grace and Mystery."Sermon begins at 20:18. Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/p9AqMJ
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 7/3/2011 - Sam Wells
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Things Hidden from the Wise."opening excerpt from the sermon: (20:18)
"During the 1630s, the French colony of Quebec was evangelized by Jesuit priests and Ursuline nuns. They spent a great deal of time with First Nations people, especially the Huron tribe. The Catholic missionaries were bemused to find a people who didn't speak French, and assumed that because the Huron couldn't speak French, they obviously weren't capable of rational thought, and should therefore be treated like children. By contrast the Huron wanted to show hospitality to the French missionaries, and the biggest compliment they knew how to give the priests and nuns was to invite them to instruct, feed and dress their children."
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (41:55)
"Whom do you ignore? What do you ignore? What in your regular surroundings do you consistently overlook? Who in your circle or community do you regard as of no account? To whom do you consistently find yourself saying, "Not now, Bernard"? What in yourself do you profoundly
neglect? Listen up. You may have just discovered where God is revealing the secret of all things."
Sermon begins at 20:18. Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/qfeHFf
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 6/26/2011 - Ellen Davis
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. Dr Ellen Davis delivers a sermon entitled "Radical Trust."Opening excerpt from the sermon: (23:04)
"A thought experiment: If they had asked me to edit the Bible (whoever "they" is -- perhaps the Holy Spirit, or the heavenly Council on Divinely Inspired Works)... if they had made me the original editor of the Bible, I would have made some substantial changes, and the very first change would have been to get rid of the 22nd chapter of Genesis, the story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac. "It's way too off-putting," I would have argued. "Just listen to this: And God said, Take your son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac, and take him to some as yet unspecified place, and offer him there as a burnt offering. This is exactly the kind of story that gives the Old Testament a bad name," I would have said. "It gives God a bad name. If you put this story just 22 chapters into the Bible, who is going to read the rest? Even if the story is true, who would want to believe in a God like this?"
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (45:31)
"Caution: Relationship with the real God, the God of Abraham and Jesus, is not for the risk averse.The book of Genesis puts it to us straight: Sometimes being in relationship with the real God hurts like hell. Sometimes it's bewildering; we'll be inching along in the dark, with no vision of where this relationship is taking us. But the gospel also puts it to us straight: it is taking us to the cross, and on to resurrection. It is taking us straight into the arms of God. The paradox of risky faith delivering us into the arms of God -- that is the paradox at which artist Margaret Adams Parker hints in the print on the front of your bulletin. See, Abraham has one hand behind his back, holding the knife -- but the other he stretches out as if to caress his bound child, curled up as though asleep on the cloth his father laid down to protect him from the rough wood. And above them both we see what Abraham does not see: the angel stretching out strong protective hands to enfold them. It is a picture of a child's radical trust, a parent's aching yet indomitable love, and the divine Love that will not let us go -- ever, not ever. You can put your trust in that."
Sermon begins at 23:04. Genesis 22:1-14
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/jWAOs3
Sermon: http://bit.ly/lAfgXz
Published 1 year ago
Sunday Service - 6/19/2011 - Sam Wells
A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Everything's Relative."Opening excerpt from the sermon: (28:36)
"I want to tell you about three people I've talked to recently whose lives I find instructive.The first is Baxter. Baxter's a pilot. His life as an undergraduate was a daily process of trying to hold together his increasing confidence in his own skill and future in the air force and his chronically burdensome and embarrassing family relationships. He couldn't invite his father to his graduation because he couldn't trust him to behave, he hasn't seen his elder sister for years because her mental health has been so up and down, and he longs to be able to communicate with his younger sister but she seems to feel he's betrayed the family by moving away to go to college and graduate school. The one thing he adores is to strap himself into the cockpit of his plane, and head up into the freedom of the open skies and the far horizon. That feels like the only place in the world where he can relax and where his chaotic family can't poison his life."
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (46:59)
"John the Evangelist, the author of the Fourth Gospel and the three letters of John and the Book of Revelation,lived out his days on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. One day, one of his followers came and spoke to him. "Master," he said, "Tell me one thing. I've always wondered, why is it that you always write about love? Why don't you ever write about anything else?" St John paused for a very long time, waiting for his disciple to work out the answer for himself. Finally, he answered the question. "Because," he said, "In the end, there isn't anything else. There is only love." Only love, all the way down. Only companionship with us, all the way down. Only relationship, in the very heart of the Trinity. In the end, that's all there is. All the way down."
Sermon begins at 28:36. 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/iwsLWz
Sermon: http://bit.ly/mIylom
Published 2 years ago
Sunday Service - 6/12/2011 - Joy Moore
A service of Sunday worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Joy Moore delivers a sermon entitled " A Crowd Came Together."Sermon begins at 37:48. Acts2: 1-21, 2 Corinthians 12: 3b-13
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/jwACUr
Published 2 years ago
Sunday Service - 6/5/2011 - Sam Wells
A service of Sunday worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Do We Exist?."Opening excerpt from the sermon: (29:16)
"I happen to know identical twin brothers, now in their seventies, both ordained, both monks, and both Anglican bishops. They have a party piece that they do when one of them is invited to preach on Ascension Day. One brother hides somewhere behind the lectern, while the other goes up in the pulpit to preach the sermon. At the agreed moment, the one in the pulpit says, "The ascension of Jesus is a difficult event to envisage. Imagine it went something..." and his voice trails off mysteriously, while he slowly disappears into the lower regions of the pulpit, until moments later his twin brother pops out from behind the lectern and says, "Like this!" It never fails to bring the house down, especially if the congregation doesn't previously know that the two bishops are identical twin brothers."
Closing excerpt from the sermon: (49:01)
"Hear the good news of the Christian gospel. The Holy Trinity, the one true Being, loved the creation so much -- enough, indeed, to long for that creation not just to change and become, but truly to exist, to be. And so Jesus came at Christmas to enter the world of becoming, to be in that world of becoming. Jesus lived a true life of being in the midst of this transitory world of becoming, even to the point of death, the ultimate form of decay. But the God of Being raised Jesus from death, and in his glorious ascension Jesus took the becoming of God's children into the heart of God, that those who see their true being in him shall not finally become, and thus decay and die forever, but find their true being in him. Jesus' ascension turns contingent human becoming for the first time into true human being. So Jesus' ascension isn't an embarrassment. It's the answer to one of the most important, perhaps the most important question there is: "Do we exist?" And the answer is, because Jesus has ascended to the Father,"Yes-- we can."
Sermon begins at 29:16.
Acts 1:1-11, Colossians 3.1-4, Luke 24:44-53
Bulletin: http://bit.ly/m25Pif
Published 2 years ago
