You Tube Theology

A service of worship in Duke University Chapel. Dr. Ellen Davis delivers a sermon entitled "Shake This Tree" Psalm 34 Sermon begins at (43:55) Opening Excerpt from the Sermon: (43:55) "People come to a place like this because they are looking for something; let's call it 'the good life.' Of course I don't mean a life of ease. Duke is for the most part a Type A- kind of place; only the truly insane would come here looking to kick back. What I do mean is, people come to a university like this, as a student, a staff or faculty member, a trustee on, worth their time and also their heart and mind...something that might be worth years of their life. A great university like this one is, you might say, a place of desire -- very often, intense desire. The church is also a place of desire. People come looking for something more in their lives, something more than is on offer in our culture at large, more even than in the university at large. Many of you have come this morning at some inconvenience to yourselves. You could have slept in, or knocked an item or two off your to do list, but you came, I dare say, hoping to hear something... in the music or the prayers, from the pulpit, in the education hour, maybe from a friend; week after week, we all come here hoping to hear something that will feed us. Sometimes we come out of sheer desperation, hoping against hope that someone will throw out a lifeline to get us through the day, the week, the seemingly endless future. So the church, like the university, is a place of desire -- very often, intense desire" Closing Excerpt from the Sermon:(1:06:04) Now what was it that our psalmist teacher said a while back? Whoever is the person who desires life, who loves the time to see what is good... (v. 13)... if that person is you, then you have come to the right place. You've come to a place where it is safe to invest yourself fully, because God satisfies and sustains through everything. Here, in the place where the gospel of Christ is proclaimed, where we try to live it out, you never have to pretend to yourself or anyone else that you are invulnerable, that your heart can never break. You have come here, and we are glad that you have!come. So be bold. Step up and shake this tree; you'll discover, it is the tree of life Taste its fruit; taste and see that the LORD is good. Amen. .