You Tube Theology

A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. The Reverend Dr. Samuel Wells delivers a sermon entitled "Forming, Norming, Storming, Reforming. Opening excerpt from the sermon: (36:45) "Stop me if I'm telling your story. You learned from your church or your parents that God the Father made you, nurtured you, and cares for the smallest detail in your life; that Christ came to find you, and died for you, and that when you see the nail-marks in Christ's hands you see how much God loves you; that the Holy Spirit makes Christ present to you, gives you all the gifts you need to be a disciple, and empowers you to live as God's free child. And yet you feel you're constantly inadequate for God, you're a square human peg in a round divine hole, and for all your good intentions you can't pray, you can't love, you can't live in a way that pleases God. You know you're supposed to come to church and feel gloriously alive, but in fact on Sundays you feel wretched, because you think "If all that lot knew how I really live and what's going on inside me, they'd be horrified." So maybe you avoid church, or perhaps you lurk in the shadows, or maybe you sing boldly and speak vigorously but when you're quiet and alone you groan with a rather different song." Closing excerpt from the sermon: (56:14) "Think about another parable -- the best-known parable of all. A man had two sons. One ran away. One stayed at home. The one who ran away eventually realized being away from home was no fun. It meant being away from everything that made him know who he was. The one who stayed at home was cross and self-righteous and went out into the field and sulked. He thought he was staying at home but in truth he was as far away as his brother. The one who ran away we might call the Protestants. The one who went out into the field we might call the Catholics. But the words the Father has for both wayward children are the same words, words that are full of love, full of a desire to re-form us again, full of grace. This is what the father's saying: "We were made to be one family. I can't love just one of you. My love is made for both of you. How can you say you love me if you're still separated from your brother? Don't you realize you can't be whole until you're one with another, and you continue to break my heart as long as you divide my body? It's time to come home. It's time for both of you to come home." Sermon begins at 36:45. Mathew 23: 1-12 Bulletin: http://bit.ly/tQczlk