Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service (May 7, 1983)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | 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 |