Chapel, Boston University, Seminary Worship Service, September 30, 1993
Readings: Job 8:20–9:20; Revelation 19:11–21
Text: “He would crush me with a storm” (Job 8:17a)
God Is . . . Friend
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Seminary Worship Service, October 20, 1994
Readings: Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Psalm 35; Mark 10:35–45
Text: “I went about mourning as though for my friend” (Psalms 35:14a)
God Is . . . Hope
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Seminary Worship Service, February 1, 1996
Readings: Isaiah 51:1–11; Romans 8:18–25
Text: “And sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 51:11e)
God Is . . . Monarch
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Seminary Alumni Reunion Service, May 17, 1997
Reading: 1 Samuel 8:1–22
Text: “Appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations” (1 Samuel 8:5b)
God Is . . . Wisdom
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Seminary Worship Service, September 9, 1997
Readings: Psalm 19; Proverbs 1:20–33; James 3:1; Mark 8:31–36
Text: “You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mark 8:33b)
God Is . . . Coming
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, University Worship Service, November 27, 2005
Scripture: Isaiah 64:1–9; Mark 13:24–37
Text: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1a)
God Is . . . Death
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Seminary Worship Service, April 25, 2007
Scriptures: Ecclesiastes 3
Text: “A time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2)
God Is . . . Creator (aka Narnia’s Aslan, Earth’s Darwin, and Heaven’s God)
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Boston University Worship Service, June 21, 2009
Readings: Psalm 8; Job 38:1–7; John 1:1–5
Text: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4a)
God Is . . . Waiting
Marsh Chapel, Boston University, Seminary Worship Service, December 10, 2014
Readings: Isaiah 40:1–11; Psalm 85:1–2, 8–13; 2 Peter 3:8–15a; Mark 1:1–8
Text: “Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things” (2 Peter 3:14)
A Prayer before Each Sermon
(written by Rev. Dr. Andrew Dutney)
[silently]
Lord Jesus Christ,
Although my words will undoubtedly humiliate you,
Please accept them all the same;
And through the humiliation of preaching
May we be encountered by you
Who bore the humiliation of incarnation
And the cross
For our sake and the world’s.
[spoken]
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
God Is . . . Holy Mystery
Readings
[Job’s friend said:]
See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of evildoers.
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy.
Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.
Then Job answered:
Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God?
If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand.
He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—
he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger;
who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;
who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;
who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea;
who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
who does great things beyond understanding, and marvellous things without number.
Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, “What are you doing?”
God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?
Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;
he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
