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

Category:

Education

Tags:

• duke
• university
• chapel
• unworthy
• weak
• vulnerable
• prayer
• worship
• believe
• salvation
• faith
• God
• Christ
• acceptance
• sin
• Pentecost
• holy
• spirit
• alone
• forgotten
• uncertainity
• danger
• love
• Gospel