Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service (May 7, 1983)
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| - | Distance...and you make | 0:03 |
| your contribution to your time. | 0:04 | |
| When things get rough for me in New York, | 0:08 | |
| I don't know what your political | 0:10 | |
| feeling may be, but he's gone, | 0:12 | |
| so we can talk about it--Winston Churchill. | 0:14 | |
| I'd looked back on him because he was thrown | 0:18 | |
| out of office four times, | 0:20 | |
| and bounced back each time when | 0:24 | |
| the public called him to assume leadership; | 0:25 | |
| without rancor or resentment because he lived | 0:29 | |
| in the vision of something beyond his time. | 0:33 | |
| And you can apply this to any aspect of your life | 0:38 | |
| or your classmates or your future, yet unseen. | 0:40 | |
| Because God has a way of giving you | 0:45 | |
| an interpretation of circumstance, | 0:49 | |
| as that imminent biochemist Rene Dubos said: | 0:52 | |
| "It's not what you have in life, | 0:57 | |
| "it's what you do with what you have | 0:58 | |
| "that celebrates life". | 1:00 | |
| That's my point. | 1:03 | |
| Live in the light of an inner vision. | 1:05 | |
| Because the short term perspective is never enough. | 1:08 | |
| Because a single event does not encapsulate | 1:11 | |
| the whole of the situation. | 1:14 | |
| On top of it, is your personal dedication | 1:15 | |
| and your own interpretation | 1:19 | |
| of the circumstance that happens to you. | 1:20 | |
| And another major aspect, | 1:24 | |
| to live in the light of the inner vision | 1:26 | |
| is because there's more depth to your development | 1:27 | |
| and our country, and the university, | 1:32 | |
| then any of us can imagine. | 1:37 | |
| Because God works unseen | 1:39 | |
| in any event or incident. | 1:42 | |
| Lately I have gotten great comfort, friends, | 1:48 | |
| out of T.S. Eliot--a play called A Yard of Sun. | 1:50 | |
| It deals with a courtyard | 1:54 | |
| in Italy after World War II. | 1:56 | |
| This is an astounding line, | 1:59 | |
| I don't know what your faculty would say, | 2:01 | |
| but we're all removing out of here, aren't we? | 2:03 | |
| This is what T.S. Eliot said, listen to this: | 2:07 | |
| "There is a reality | 2:11 | |
| that would make falsehood | 2:15 | |
| "out of much that we hold true today." | 2:17 | |
| I can hear a philosophy major say: | 2:23 | |
| "Oh, that's just Berkeleyan subjectivism." | 2:24 | |
| But there is a greater reality | 2:30 | |
| that would make falsehood of much | 2:32 | |
| that we hold true today. | 2:35 | |
| It's a reasonable position to hold. | 2:38 | |
| A few weeks ago was the anniversary | 2:41 | |
| of the discovery of the Great Bay | 2:43 | |
| of New York Harbor--sorry to be local, | 2:46 | |
| but that's where I'd been confined | 2:48 | |
| for the last 20 years. | 2:50 | |
| Giuseppe Verrazzano | 2:53 | |
| came in on April the 17th | 2:56 | |
| 1524 and discovered the Verrazano Bridge. | 2:58 | |
| (audience laughs) | 3:02 | |
| He'd started a few weeks earlier down here | 3:07 | |
| mapping the coast of Carolina, | 3:09 | |
| he went on all the way to Maine. | 3:13 | |
| What's my point? | 3:15 | |
| Those days in 1524, were bold days; | 3:18 | |
| you had Columbus who died in...59, | 3:21 | |
| you had Americus Vespucio who died | 3:24 | |
| in 1527 | 3:28 | |
| and Verrazzano. | 3:32 | |
| Verrazzano did the most to map the American | 3:34 | |
| coastline and open up | 3:37 | |
| for the colonies. | 3:40 | |
| Each built on the other. | 3:43 | |
| And it's been that way in all of science. | 3:46 | |
| There was electricity in the Garden of Eden, | 3:49 | |
| but they didn't know how | 3:52 | |
| to make it a public utility. | 3:53 | |
| (audience laughs) | 3:55 | |
| If that is not so, when did magnetism | 3:56 | |
| and the whole Electrofield Theory | 4:00 | |
| come into existence in between? | 4:01 | |
| And when did they plant uranium? | 4:06 | |
| It's all there; | 4:09 | |
| and in the days of Verrazzano and the others, | 4:12 | |
| they thought the Earth was flat | 4:14 | |
| and science taught for four centuries | 4:16 | |
| the Earth was flat, you fall off. | 4:18 | |
| We don't believe it anymore. | 4:21 | |
| There is a greater reality | 4:22 | |
| that would make falsehood of much | 4:25 | |
| that we hold true today. | 4:27 | |
| So you live in the light of a vision | 4:29 | |
| that the God of creation, the God of wisdom, | 4:31 | |
| the God of the university life, | 4:34 | |
| the God who is always been willing to move | 4:35 | |
| with courageous men and women, | 4:38 | |
| will guide you into all truth. | 4:39 | |
| And he has a role for every one of you to play. | 4:42 | |
| I like to think of the young woman who retired | 4:49 | |
| last summer--this is a rather lowly example, | 4:51 | |
| but it seeks to make my point. | 4:54 | |
| She was the information clerk | 4:56 | |
| in Radio Corporation America | 4:59 | |
| building in Rockefeller Center, | 5:01 | |
| and many young men and women touring | 5:02 | |
| New York would go to her with their personal | 5:04 | |
| problems and predicaments: where to stay, | 5:07 | |
| eat, go, and et cetera. | 5:09 | |
| She was a refugee and that was the only job | 5:12 | |
| she could get 39 years ago. | 5:14 | |
| And many men and women would've said | 5:16 | |
| that's not very high aspiration. | 5:18 | |
| She made a sacrament out of that information | 5:21 | |
| table and presided over it like a holy altar. | 5:24 | |
| Helping you young graduates who come | 5:28 | |
| to a great city to make your name and fortune, | 5:31 | |
| and find your fun and pleasure. | 5:34 | |
| And when she retired, a great staff of people | 5:36 | |
| recognized she had used that humble office | 5:39 | |
| as one of God's servants because she lived | 5:43 | |
| in the light of an inner vision, | 5:45 | |
| that her life, limited as it was, | 5:47 | |
| could be of great service in a tumultuous city. | 5:48 | |
| So God has great use for you men and women, | 5:53 | |
| and I urge you to live in the light of an inner | 5:56 | |
| vision because there are more ways to fulfill | 5:58 | |
| your life than you will ever know. | 6:00 | |
| If you want to live by the light | 6:04 | |
| of an inner vision remember, | 6:05 | |
| if I may refer to William and Mary College, | 6:07 | |
| President Ewell, when that institution | 6:10 | |
| was bankrupted for seven years, | 6:14 | |
| 1881 to 1888, | 6:16 | |
| faculty were dismissed, | 6:20 | |
| buildings were left open, | 6:22 | |
| doors banged... | 6:25 | |
| Only President Ewell roamed that campus | 6:28 | |
| and everyday for seven years, | 6:32 | |
| went over and rang the chapel bell | 6:34 | |
| in hope and faith, | 6:37 | |
| and in a light of an inner vision | 6:40 | |
| that God would bless that institution, | 6:42 | |
| your institution. | 6:45 | |
| All men and women who live in the light of an | 6:46 | |
| inner vision that the God of truth | 6:48 | |
| and of progress will fulfill himself | 6:52 | |
| in the slow, painful, | 6:55 | |
| torturous process of human life. | 6:57 | |
| So I urge you to live by the light of an inner | 7:02 | |
| vision and continue your education | 7:05 | |
| as long as you live. | 7:07 | |
| I urge you dear friends, | 7:10 | |
| to live by an inner vision to nurture | 7:11 | |
| your life when times get rough | 7:13 | |
| in your profession, your marriage, | 7:16 | |
| and in your civic existence. | 7:19 | |
| I urge you to live by the light of an inner | 7:22 | |
| vision in order to create and contribute | 7:24 | |
| something to this republic in our time. | 7:27 | |
| And last, I urge you to live by the light | 7:31 | |
| of an inner vision that you may know the peace | 7:34 | |
| of God who made you | 7:37 | |
| out of the love of your parents | 7:40 | |
| and loves you inestimably | 7:42 | |
| through his son, our Lord. | 7:46 | |
| God bless you all, | 7:48 | |
| amen, let us pray. | 7:51 | |
| Grant us thy favor Lord Jesus Christ, | 7:55 | |
| in all the years to come, amen. | 7:57 | |
| (organ music) | 8:06 | |
| (choir sings) | 8:26 | |
| - | Let us affirm what we believe. | 10:00 |
| (audience speaks in unison) | 10:02 | |
| We believe in God who has created and is creating; | 10:04 | |
| who has come in the truly human Jesus, | 10:08 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 10:11 | |
| We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 10:14 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness. | 10:19 | |
| To love and serve others; | 10:22 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 10:24 | |
| to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, | 10:28 | |
| Our judge and our hope | 10:31 | |
| in life, in death, in life beyond death, | 10:34 | |
| God is with us, we are not alone. | 10:38 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 10:42 | |
| The Lord be with you, | 10:45 | |
| (audience responds) | ||
| let us pray. | 10:48 | |
| Carl Sanburg has a word for us, he writes: | 10:56 | |
| "I have kept high moments, | 10:59 | |
| "they go round and round in me." | 11:02 | |
| Let us pray. | 11:06 | |
| O blessed, loving Lord our God, | 11:09 | |
| we pause on this day of beauty and meeting, | 11:11 | |
| this high and holy moment, | 11:14 | |
| to thank you for all the high moments | 11:17 | |
| of the years just passed; | 11:20 | |
| moments that we recall just now. | 11:22 | |
| New insights, deep friendships, | 11:26 | |
| a trust kept, a hope realized, | 11:29 | |
| frustration overcome. | 11:33 | |
| Darkness become light, | 11:36 | |
| sadness shared, hurt healed; | 11:38 | |
| comfort given and received, | 11:43 | |
| new life experienced and love made real. | 11:47 | |
| For this is the place, O God, | 11:53 | |
| where our lives have been molded, | 11:55 | |
| our values clarified, | 11:57 | |
| our minds enlarged, | 11:59 | |
| our visions expanded, | 12:01 | |
| where our touch has been made more sensitive. | 12:04 | |
| For life, where life for each of us | 12:08 | |
| has taken on deeper and richer meaning; | 12:10 | |
| as together, we have struggled and sweated | 12:13 | |
| and studied and cursed and griped | 12:17 | |
| and laughed and cried and now, we celebrate. | 12:20 | |
| O God, in spite of our complaints | 12:26 | |
| and our frustrations we do give you thanks | 12:28 | |
| for Duke University, | 12:30 | |
| and for all its people who love | 12:31 | |
| and care for one another here. | 12:34 | |
| Hear our prayers of intercession, O God, | 12:37 | |
| which we offer for those who graduate | 12:39 | |
| from this university now. | 12:41 | |
| Keep them strong in their struggles, | 12:44 | |
| weak in their pride. | 12:47 | |
| Give them health to do and to be, | 12:50 | |
| and grace, to become. | 12:53 | |
| Make them wise in their decisions | 12:56 | |
| and satisfied over the consequences. | 12:58 | |
| Give them power, not only to serve self, | 13:01 | |
| but also, to serve others. | 13:04 | |
| Give them not all things | 13:07 | |
| that they might enjoy life, | 13:09 | |
| but give them life that they might | 13:10 | |
| enjoy all things. | 13:13 | |
| Perfect, O Lord, the talents you have given them. | 13:16 | |
| Chasten the self-centered | 13:22 | |
| striving of their spirits. | 13:23 | |
| Forge their wills to follow you, | 13:26 | |
| no matter what the cost. | 13:28 | |
| Direct their lives the way | 13:31 | |
| that you would have them to go. | 13:32 | |
| And give them always the awareness that you | 13:35 | |
| and your love are with them. | 13:38 | |
| May deep joy be their constant | 13:41 | |
| companion along their way. | 13:44 | |
| May they keep this high and holy moment, | 13:48 | |
| may it go round and round in them. | 13:52 | |
| And now hear us as we pray together: | 13:58 | |
| Our father who art in heaven, | 14:01 | |
| (audience prays in unison) | 14:03 | |
| hallowed be thy name. | 14:04 | |
| Thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 14:06 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 14:10 | |
| Give us this day, our daily bread. | 14:12 | |
| And forgive us our trespasses | 14:15 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 14:17 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, | 14:21 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 14:24 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, | 14:26 | |
| the power and the glory, forever, amen. | 14:27 | |
| (organ music) | 14:39 | |
| (choir singing) | 14:47 | |
| - | Will you stand, please? | 21:32 |
| Now will you join with me as we offer to God, | 21:39 | |
| this, our unison prayer of gratitude and hope, | 21:42 | |
| let us pray. | 21:46 | |
| Almighty God, as you have granted us place | 21:48 | |
| and part in this university, | 21:52 | |
| (audience prays in unison) | ||
| hallow to us now, this day when we dedicate | 21:54 | |
| ourselves to the life and work | 21:58 | |
| to which you have called us here; | 22:00 | |
| that we may remember with gratitude | 22:03 | |
| the families and friends who have cared for us. | 22:05 | |
| We ask your presence, O God, | 22:09 | |
| that in the life ahead of us, | 22:12 | |
| we may keep faith with those who have loved us | 22:14 | |
| and trusted us and whose hopes follow us. | 22:16 | |
| We ask your presence, O God, | 22:20 | |
| that we may enter with good courage | 22:22 | |
| and constant purpose | 22:25 | |
| upon the tasks which await us, | 22:26 | |
| we ask your presence, O God. | 22:29 | |
| From all sense of strangeness and loneliness, | 22:32 | |
| and from the fear that we may fail | 22:36 | |
| or may find no friends, good Lord, | 22:38 | |
| deliver us from neglect of the opportunities | 22:41 | |
| which are all about us, | 22:44 | |
| and from distrust of our ability to meet | 22:46 | |
| the duties of each dawning day, | 22:49 | |
| good Lord, deliver us. | 22:51 | |
| That the example of wise and generous people | 22:54 | |
| who have gone before us in our families | 22:57 | |
| and here in this university, | 23:00 | |
| may save us from folly and self-indulgence, | 23:02 | |
| we ask your presence, O God. | 23:06 | |
| More especially, that you would show to us | 23:09 | |
| and to all people your way of love, | 23:12 | |
| in a time when all of us desperately | 23:15 | |
| need to love and to be loved, | 23:18 | |
| we ask your presence, O God. | 23:20 | |
| These things and whatever else you see | 23:23 | |
| needful and right for us, | 23:26 | |
| we ask in your holy name, amen. | 23:29 | |
| (organ music) | 23:34 | |
| (choir singing) | 24:13 | |
| - | And now my friends, | 27:28 |
| fill your minds and hearts with those things | 27:29 | |
| that are good and worthy of praise. | 27:33 | |
| Those things which are true and noble | 27:38 | |
| and right and pure, lovely and honorable. | 27:40 | |
| Put into practice the good | 27:46 | |
| which you have learned at this place. | 27:47 | |
| And the God who loves us and cares | 27:51 | |
| for us and gives us peace, | 27:54 | |
| will be with you now and always. | 27:57 | |
| (choir sings) | 28:09 | |
| (organ music) | 29:21 | |
| (faint audience chatter) | 30:01 | |
| (triumphant organ music) | 32:27 | |
| (lighter organ music) | 39:54 |
| - | Grace, mercy and peace be with you | 15:57 |
| from the Lord, our God, who has made us | 16:02 | |
| who redeems us and sustains us. | 16:06 | |
| With what shall we come before the Lord, our God | 16:11 | |
| and bow ourselves before God on high. | 16:15 | |
| God has showed us my friends, what is good | 16:20 | |
| and righteous and what does the Lord requires of us, | 16:24 | |
| but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly | 16:28 | |
| before our God. | 16:32 | |
| With that awareness, let us confess our sin | 16:34 | |
| before God almighty, be seated please. | 16:38 | |
| Let us pray, oh holy God, to who's service we long ago | 16:55 | |
| dedicated our souls and lives, we grieve and lament | 17:01 | |
| before you, that we are still so prone to sin | 17:05 | |
| and so little inclined to obedience. | 17:09 | |
| Attached to the pleasure of sins, negligent of things | 17:12 | |
| spiritual, prompt to gratify our bodies, slow to nourish | 17:16 | |
| our slows, greedy or present delight in different | 17:22 | |
| to lasting blessedness, fond of idleness, | 17:26 | |
| indisposed for labor, soon at play, late at prayer. | 17:31 | |
| Brisk in the service of self, slack in the service of others | 17:37 | |
| eager to get, reluctant to give. | 17:42 | |
| Lofty in our professions, low in our practice. | 17:46 | |
| Full of good intentions, backward to fulfill them. | 17:50 | |
| Severe with out neighbors, indulgent with ourselves. | 17:55 | |
| So eager to find fault, so resentful at being | 18:00 | |
| found fault with. | 18:04 | |
| So little able for great tasks, | 18:06 | |
| so discontented with small ones. | 18:09 | |
| So weak in adversity, so swollen and self satisfied | 18:12 | |
| in prosperity, so helpless apart from you | 18:16 | |
| and yet so little willing to be bound to you. | 18:21 | |
| Oh merciful heart of God, grant us yet forgiveness | 18:24 | |
| for your holy name's sake, amen. | 18:29 | |
| Writer of Hebrew's declares to us, anyone, | 18:58 | |
| who comes to God must believe, that God exists | 19:01 | |
| and rewards those, who search for God. | 19:06 | |
| The mercy of the lord is new every morning, | 19:10 | |
| great is your faithfulness, oh Lord, our God. | 19:13 | |
| By declaring to you in the name of the Lord, our God, | 19:18 | |
| our sins are forgiven, amen. | 19:23 | |
| With that assurance, let us give thanks for God is good | 19:28 | |
| and God's love is everlasting. | 19:33 | |
| Thanks be to God, who's love creates us, | 19:36 | |
| thanks be to good, who's mercy redeems us. | 19:40 | |
| Thanks be to God, who's grace leads us into the feature. | 19:44 | |
| Now I say a word of welcome to each of you this day, | 19:50 | |
| this is without a doubt the most significant occasion | 19:54 | |
| of the academic year for us here at Duke university, | 19:58 | |
| that is those events, which make up this graduation | 20:01 | |
| weekend, it is a holy time, a special time for all of us, | 20:05 | |
| so I welcome those of you, who are graduating | 20:10 | |
| and parents, and family and friends, those of you, | 20:13 | |
| who helped to make up the larger Duke family. | 20:16 | |
| We are glad to have you today. | 20:20 | |
| Those of you, who are parents and family should know, | 20:22 | |
| that this exactly, where the same students sit every Sunday, | 20:24 | |
| they just don't wear caps and gowns. | 20:28 | |
| Now I offer a word of congratulations to those of you, | 20:32 | |
| who graduate, my prayer is, that your time here | 20:35 | |
| has been most enjoyable and most beneficial to you | 20:40 | |
| and that as you leave this place, God's blessing | 20:45 | |
| will go with you to guide you and to give you courage | 20:47 | |
| in times of difficulty, to stir you and to keep you doing | 20:51 | |
| what is best for you and for God and your neighbor. | 20:55 | |
| It is our privilege today to have as our guest preacher | 21:00 | |
| for the bachelorette services for the class of 1983, | 21:04 | |
| a most distinguished United Presbyterian churchman, | 21:08 | |
| the revenant doctor Bryant Kurklin. | 21:12 | |
| Doctor Kurklin is a graduate of Wheaton college | 21:16 | |
| and of Princeton theological seminary, a man, | 21:18 | |
| who holds honorary doctor degree doctorates | 21:21 | |
| from a number of major universities. | 21:24 | |
| He has been the senior minister at fifth avenue | 21:28 | |
| Presbyterian church in New York city for 21 years. | 21:31 | |
| During that time, indeed, before that time, | 21:35 | |
| he was already acclaimed and widely known | 21:38 | |
| and well known in this country and around the world | 21:41 | |
| as a preacher, a teacher and a writer. | 21:45 | |
| Doctor Kurklin, it is our privilege and honor | 21:49 | |
| to have you here and to have you preach the word | 21:51 | |
| for us on this holy occasion, welcome to you, sir. | 21:54 | |
| - | Let us pray, oh mighty God | 22:08 |
| and whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom | 22:12 | |
| and knowledge, open our eyes, that we may behold | 22:15 | |
| wondrous things out of your word | 22:19 | |
| and give us grace, that we may clearly understand | 22:21 | |
| and heartedly choose the way of your love, amen. | 22:25 | |
| The old testament lesson is from second kings, chapter six. | 22:31 | |
| Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, | 22:37 | |
| he took council with his servant saying at such | 22:41 | |
| and such a place shall be my camp. | 22:44 | |
| But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, | 22:47 | |
| beware, that you do not pass this place | 22:51 | |
| for the Syrians are going down there. | 22:54 | |
| And the king of Israel sent to the place | 22:57 | |
| of which the man of God told him, thus he used | 22:59 | |
| to warn him so that he saved himself there | 23:03 | |
| more than once or twice. | 23:06 | |
| And the man of the king of Syria was greatly troubled, | 23:09 | |
| because of this thing and he called his servants | 23:12 | |
| and said to them, will you now show me who of us | 23:15 | |
| is for the king of Israel. | 23:19 | |
| One of his servants said, none, my lord, oh king, | 23:22 | |
| but Alicia, the prophet, who is in Israel tells | 23:25 | |
| the king of Israel the words, that you speak | 23:29 | |
| in your bed chamber. | 23:32 | |
| And he said, go and see where he is, that I may send | 23:34 | |
| and seize him. | 23:38 | |
| And it was told him, behold, he is in Dothan. | 23:39 | |
| He sent their horses and chariots and a great army | 23:44 | |
| and they came by night and surrounded the city. | 23:47 | |
| When the servant of the man of God rose early | 23:50 | |
| in the morning and went out, behold an army with horses | 23:53 | |
| and chariots were found round about the city. | 23:56 | |
| And the servant said alas my master, what shall we do? | 23:59 | |
| He said, fear not, for those, who are with us | 24:04 | |
| are more with those, who are with them. | 24:06 | |
| Then Alicia prayed and said, oh lord, I pray thee, | 24:09 | |
| open his eyes, that he may see. | 24:12 | |
| The lord opened the eyes of the young man | 24:15 | |
| and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses | 24:17 | |
| and chariots of fire, round about Alicia. | 24:22 | |
| Here ends the reading from the old testament. | 24:26 | |
| The epistle lesson is from revelation, chapter 21. | 24:30 | |
| Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, | 24:35 | |
| for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away | 24:38 | |
| and the sea was no more. | 24:41 | |
| And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down | 24:44 | |
| out of the heaven from God, prepared as bride | 24:47 | |
| adorned for her husband. | 24:50 | |
| And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, | 24:53 | |
| behold the dwelling of God is with men, | 24:56 | |
| he will dwell with them and they shall be his people | 25:00 | |
| and God himself will be with them. | 25:04 | |
| He will wipe away every tear from their eyes | 25:07 | |
| and death shall be no more. | 25:10 | |
| Neither shall there be morning, no crying, no pain anymore | 25:12 | |
| for former things have passed away. | 25:17 | |
| And he, who set upon the throne, said, | 25:21 | |
| behold, I make all things new. | 25:24 | |
| Also he said, write this for these words | 25:27 | |
| are trustworthy and true. | 25:31 | |
| And he said to me, it is done, I am the alpha | 25:34 | |
| and the omega, the beginning and the end. | 25:37 | |
| To the thirsty I will give water without price | 25:40 | |
| from the fountain of the water of life. | 25:43 | |
| He, who conquers shall have this heritage | 25:46 | |
| and I will be his guide and he shall be my son. | 25:49 | |
| Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson. | 25:54 | |
| Will the congregation please stand for the reading | 31:43 | |
| of the gospel? | 31:46 | |
| The gospel lesson is from saint Matthew. | 31:54 | |
| Then the disciples came and said to him, | 31:59 | |
| why do you speak to them in parables? | 32:02 | |
| And he answered them, to you it has been given | 32:05 | |
| to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, | 32:08 | |
| but to them, it has not been given, for to him, | 32:11 | |
| who has will more be given and he will have abundance, | 32:15 | |
| but from him, who has not, even what he has | 32:20 | |
| will be taken away, this is why I speak to them in parables | 32:24 | |
| because seeing they do not see, hearing, they do not hear, | 32:29 | |
| nor do they understand. | 32:33 | |
| With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, | 32:36 | |
| which says, you shall indeed hear but never understand | 32:40 | |
| and you shall indeed see, but never perceive. | 32:44 | |
| For this people's heart has grown dull and their ears | 32:48 | |
| are heavy of hearing and their eyes, they have closed, | 32:51 | |
| less they should perceive with their eyes | 32:55 | |
| and hear with their ears and understand with their heart | 32:57 | |
| and turn to me to heal them. | 33:01 | |
| But blessed are your eyes, for they see and your ears, | 33:05 | |
| for they hear, truly I say to you, many prophets | 33:09 | |
| and righteous men have longed to see what you see | 33:12 | |
| and did not see it, and to hear what you hear | 33:15 | |
| and did not hear it. | 33:18 | |
| Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson, amen. | 33:20 | |
| - | President Sanford, distinguished trustees, | 34:27 |
| faculty and honored graduates and long suffering parents, | 34:30 | |
| I congratulate you on your attainment and pray God's | 34:37 | |
| blessing on you, it's a great privilege to be here with you | 34:41 | |
| this afternoon to celebrate glory to God | 34:45 | |
| and commemoration of your future. | 34:48 | |
| When I asked my officers, if I might be released | 34:51 | |
| Sunday to come to Duke university, they said yes | 34:54 | |
| with alacrity, because of the fame of your institution, | 34:58 | |
| but as with such speed and enthusiasm I was wondering, | 35:03 | |
| if they were giving me a message. | 35:07 | |
| It is also a very heavy responsibility to talk to you | 35:11 | |
| young people and your parents, because of all the future, | 35:14 | |
| because of the imminence of many great issues in our day | 35:20 | |
| and because this is an historic tradition, | 35:24 | |
| that goes back centuries and centuries, | 35:26 | |
| when men and women held in unity both the secular | 35:30 | |
| and the spiritual world. | 35:33 | |
| Many of you have and some of you will go to the continent | 35:36 | |
| and see where young men and women often spend | 35:39 | |
| the whole night in prayer of dedication. | 35:43 | |
| My hope is to say one word to you, that may be useful | 35:47 | |
| as your fulfill your dreams on this happy weekend | 35:50 | |
| of graduation. | 35:53 | |
| In one sentence I would like to say to you, | 35:56 | |
| live by the light of an inner vision. | 35:59 | |
| If anybody asks you what he said, you can say, he said, | 36:02 | |
| live by the light of an inner vision. | 36:06 | |
| I say that, because the missionary out in Utah | 36:10 | |
| once walked into a saloon and drew two pistols | 36:13 | |
| and said, I came to preach the gospel | 36:16 | |
| and I aim to finish the sermon. | 36:18 | |
| The Harvard business review said, culture is not measured | 36:23 | |
| so much by success, as by how men and women | 36:27 | |
| and a generation handle their defeats | 36:32 | |
| and their disappointments. | 36:34 | |
| This is an interesting insight about vision, | 36:38 | |
| when you put it against one of the great cliches | 36:41 | |
| of our American era, Vince Lambardi said, | 36:44 | |
| you know, winning is everything! | 36:48 | |
| But as you know in an eminent state for basketball | 36:55 | |
| championships, somebody has to lose in order | 36:59 | |
| to make somebody win. | 37:03 | |
| Once the navy cross country team lost | 37:07 | |
| and their coach analyzed it with his runners | 37:11 | |
| and they said, coach we lost because we didn't know | 37:14 | |
| how to run downhill. | 37:18 | |
| How do you plan to handle the turbulence, | 37:21 | |
| the disappointments and the pain of life? | 37:25 | |
| That's a sad note to bring on a happy beautiful weekend, | 37:30 | |
| but the two go together, because when you live | 37:34 | |
| by the light of an inner vision, you will be able | 37:37 | |
| to discover, that most great artists, jurists, | 37:41 | |
| most people of substance, as the Harvard review said, | 37:45 | |
| have come to terms with the heights and the depths | 37:49 | |
| and now that, that amalgam has come, the character, | 37:53 | |
| that this wonderful education you've had in this glorious | 37:56 | |
| institution becomes wisdom, | 37:59 | |
| maturity, love, faith, | 38:03 | |
| hope, the things, that the world cannot give you, | 38:07 | |
| nor take away from you. | 38:11 | |
| You might have thought, when the president read | 38:14 | |
| the old testament lesson, what's that got to do | 38:16 | |
| with this vision. | 38:19 | |
| In quick capsule you know, it's the prophet and his servant | 38:21 | |
| were surrounded by a squadron and when they woke up | 38:25 | |
| in the morning, the servant said, oh look, | 38:30 | |
| cavalry all over the place, what will we do? | 38:32 | |
| And the prophet said, oh God, open his eyes to see | 38:35 | |
| a vision, as it were in the sky of the chariots | 38:39 | |
| and horses of God suggesting spiritual strength | 38:44 | |
| and a way out and then | 38:47 | |
| the prophet boldly led them down | 38:51 | |
| into the valley and threw the lines and they looked | 38:53 | |
| so none descript, that the encircling enemy | 38:56 | |
| didn't even recognize them. | 38:59 | |
| And so you see I have a play on two words there. | 39:01 | |
| Open your eyes to that, which is obscure | 39:05 | |
| and learn how to recognize the obvious. | 39:13 | |
| That should have special reference to you, | 39:19 | |
| because every one of your automobiles has a license plate, | 39:21 | |
| that says what, first in flight. | 39:23 | |
| And on December the 17th at Kitty Hawk, when these two | 39:28 | |
| methodist, bishop's sons flew that orange crate | 39:31 | |
| for about 19 seconds, one of the world's better known | 39:37 | |
| newspapers called, I think, the New York Times said, | 39:42 | |
| it isn't worth sending anyone down there, | 39:47 | |
| nothing will ever come of it. | 39:49 | |
| And all through the day and the night our jet driven | 39:53 | |
| transports cross the skies and any place in the world | 39:57 | |
| is 50 hours away from Raleigh Durham. | 40:03 | |
| And all within the lifetime of a couple of generations | 40:08 | |
| in your home state. | 40:12 | |
| I pray, that you may have a vision to see | 40:15 | |
| what is obscured, because the average man and woman | 40:17 | |
| is blind to recognize the truth and development | 40:20 | |
| the implicitness, because perspective close up | 40:24 | |
| can never give you the full perspective. | 40:28 | |
| It was in the 30s, when your parents may have known | 40:32 | |
| something of the depression, that a scientist | 40:34 | |
| named professor Goddard with colonel Augustus Lindbergh | 40:38 | |
| set off a small rocket, that went poof for 30 yards | 40:43 | |
| in a few second. | 40:47 | |
| And today there are 100s of satellites rocket | 40:49 | |
| born into the sky, possessing camera quality to read | 40:54 | |
| your program from a 150 miles in the heavens. | 40:59 | |
| Men and women, I pray for you to seize this great | 41:04 | |
| education you have and live the light of an inner vision, | 41:08 | |
| that sees beyond the obscure, into the potential | 41:12 | |
| of your life and of your times and of your state | 41:15 | |
| and your nation. | 41:18 | |
| Because there's enough validation in scripture | 41:21 | |
| and in secular history to teach you, | 41:23 | |
| that most men and women are near sighted or far sighted. | 41:28 | |
| Not to see the obscure and to fail to recognize | 41:34 | |
| the obvious as it happens to them. | 41:39 | |
| This has been the history of people, Abraham of ancient | 41:43 | |
| old testament, son of Judaism and Muslim faith | 41:46 | |
| with us all went out not knowing whether he went | 41:50 | |
| and never got there, but pursued it, because he said | 41:54 | |
| he looked for a city, who's builder and maker was God. | 41:58 | |
| Our lord taught the same thing, he, | 42:03 | |
| that would be the greatest, | 42:05 | |
| let him become the servant of all. | 42:06 | |
| And then John of Patmos exile, the author of the last lesson | 42:11 | |
| imprisoned on the island of Patmos, | 42:17 | |
| which is not a tourist attraction 60 miles westerly | 42:19 | |
| from the coast of Turkey, wrote the last book of scripture, | 42:23 | |
| because he saw a vision of a city, who's builder | 42:27 | |
| and maker was God, where there would be unity among men | 42:30 | |
| kind, that would be no more pain and sorrow and death | 42:33 | |
| and it would be the light eternal illumining | 42:37 | |
| the human scene. | 42:40 | |
| Only as you and I and our parents have dreams | 42:42 | |
| and hopes and vision can we get the most out of what | 42:46 | |
| you've had as a privilege in this great university. | 42:50 | |
| And if I stop now, I would pray God give you the light | 42:55 | |
| of an inner vision to go on all your years | 42:59 | |
| and fulfill your education with the high hopes, | 43:02 | |
| that lie before you. | 43:06 | |
| There are more powers available for you, | 43:09 | |
| than a closeup of this present perspective give. | 43:12 | |
| I hope you live to see the day, usually comes about 30 years | 43:16 | |
| later when things go around in a cycle. | 43:19 | |
| And people change and come right back to center. | 43:23 | |
| If you live that long and take that long viewpoint, | 43:27 | |
| you will have a stronger life | 43:30 | |
| and you will have more stability. | 43:32 | |
| You will learn, that no single event explains | 43:35 | |
| a situation, for example. | 43:40 | |
| Today just happens to be the birthday of two eminent | 43:44 | |
| musicians, Peter Tchaikovsky and Johannes Brahms, | 43:47 | |
| but if you read their short biographies, | 43:53 | |
| both men suffered long and intensely, | 43:55 | |
| that you and I on cassette or what's the new form, | 43:59 | |
| digital, I'm not quite up there yet, | 44:04 | |
| but the new sound system, the electronic, | 44:07 | |
| all that music comes out of the pain of these men, | 44:10 | |
| who suffered in the previous century. | 44:14 | |
| Tchaikovsky, for example was often laid on the shelf | 44:18 | |
| his music, his fifth symphony lay on the shelf for 15 years, | 44:21 | |
| that's a long time for you to wait for recognition, | 44:27 | |
| but the bible teaches and history confirms, | 44:31 | |
| that when you live on the light of an inner vision, | 44:33 | |
| you can afford to wait, until the fulfillment comes. | 44:35 | |
| And more than that, the inner process of life | 44:40 | |
| always interprets the event, | 44:44 | |
| I want to say education | 44:47 | |
| is not an amassing of facts, it's more than that, | 44:50 | |
| it's the interpretation and the application of them. | 44:54 | |
| One of the great southern writers is Flannery O'connor, | 44:58 | |
| a young catholic woman, who died at the age of 36. | 45:02 | |
| She was limited by her disease to her red clay farm | 45:08 | |
| and the spiritual encouragement of her mother. | 45:12 | |
| But men and women who read her letters and literature | 45:16 | |
| today know, that out of that narrow confinement | 45:19 | |
| of geography and of health came a radiant spirit, | 45:22 | |
| that lived with the sight of a vision beyond | 45:25 | |
| her own lifetime and her pain. | 45:27 |