Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service 10:30 am (May 8, 1983)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | A motorboat came by, they said, "Hop in reverend", | 0:05 |
he said, "No. go get other people, | 0:08 | |
God will take care of me". | 0:10 | |
A helicopter hovered low and bull horn to him, | 0:13 | |
"Hang on to the rope reverend", | 0:16 | |
and he said, "No God will help me, | 0:18 | |
go get other people". | 0:20 | |
He was washed over and drowned. | 0:22 | |
When he got to heaven, he said... | 0:26 | |
"Lord..." | 0:29 | |
(audience laughs) | 0:32 | |
"How come?" | 0:35 | |
The Lord said, "Well, what more could I have done? | 0:39 | |
I sent a rowboat, | 0:43 | |
sent a motorboat, | 0:45 | |
sent a helicopter". | 0:48 | |
Some people make a distinction between secular, | 0:53 | |
and spiritual living. | 0:56 | |
Actually, this is an artificial distinction. | 0:58 | |
The whimsy of that humor indicates God moves in | 1:01 | |
different ways, | 1:05 | |
and one of the objectives of the privilege I have with you | 1:07 | |
is to say how important baccalaureate is in its | 1:10 | |
ancient tradition. | 1:14 | |
Way back in Europe, when young men and women use to meditate | 1:16 | |
in dedication for their academic degrees, | 1:20 | |
or their public service was undertaken. | 1:24 | |
It's also very interesting to me that the intelligent life | 1:28 | |
of the United States is frantically grasping to recover | 1:32 | |
excellence and values in a day of increasing dullness, | 1:35 | |
and mediocrity, and it seems they have not yet become alert | 1:39 | |
to the fact we have starved ourselves for the inner vision | 1:44 | |
By preoccupation with such heavy pragmatism when we say | 1:50 | |
well we live for the now, | 1:55 | |
but the moment now is already passed. | 1:57 | |
If I could urge on you honored graduates one thing, | 2:01 | |
it would be to recover the inner vision of the meaning of | 2:04 | |
history of what's gone behind as prologue to what yet to | 2:08 | |
come knowing that what is yet to come has the aspect | 2:13 | |
of the transcendent in it. | 2:18 | |
We have lived a flat life, and we're reaping... | 2:21 | |
The impoverished harvest of it. | 2:26 | |
The Harvard Business Review says that you don't measure a | 2:30 | |
culture by success, | 2:33 | |
but you measure a culture by how men and women in it handle | 2:36 | |
their disappointments, and their failures. | 2:39 | |
This is contrary to the American myth, | 2:44 | |
whose great prophet, Vince Lombardi, | 2:47 | |
said... | 2:51 | |
Winning is everything. | 2:52 | |
I have enjoyed being in this great triangle, | 2:56 | |
and know that I stand somewhere on the axis between two | 2:59 | |
great victorious basketball teams, so I am told. | 3:03 | |
(audience laughs) | 3:07 | |
I rejoice with you but... | 3:10 | |
Your national glory is that you had worthy competition, | 3:13 | |
and you would not be proud if you had won the | 3:19 | |
National Championship by defeating | 3:22 | |
Red Clay Creek County High School, | 3:25 | |
would you? | 3:29 | |
Somebody had to lose... | 3:31 | |
Worthily that you might win splendidly. | 3:34 | |
Now that in essence is what we're talking about, | 3:39 | |
live in the light of an inner vision as you pursue your | 3:41 | |
science, and your art, and your literature, | 3:46 | |
and philosophy, and law, and nursing, and business, | 3:48 | |
and all unto which you give yourselves, | 3:50 | |
because as Dante said in one of his cantos, | 3:54 | |
"Midway in life I found myself in a dark forest, | 3:57 | |
and the straightforward path was lost". | 4:01 | |
It's bound to happen in the years to come, | 4:05 | |
you will have meandering and doubts, | 4:07 | |
and you will not be able to see the markers that are so | 4:10 | |
clear for you here in Duke, | 4:13 | |
and you will need to draw on the light of an inner vision | 4:16 | |
to carry you through the darkness and the temptation, | 4:19 | |
and the trial that you may be tempered as it were by fire, | 4:21 | |
and pain, and come through, and make your | 4:25 | |
glorious contribution. | 4:28 | |
What's all that got to do with the Old Testament lesson? | 4:31 | |
In brief, the prophet in his servant were surrounded by a | 4:35 | |
battalion of troops who are out to get them. | 4:39 | |
The prophet prayed that his servant would have an | 4:43 | |
inner vision to see the spirit as it were of providence with | 4:45 | |
history, and of transcendence, and of greater meaning than | 4:49 | |
the immediate moment. | 4:53 | |
And he did, saw a vision of chariots of fire greater than | 4:55 | |
the rumbling dust of the motorized troops that were around | 4:59 | |
him, and then... | 5:02 | |
Dressed as peasants, they pass through the troops | 5:06 | |
unrecognized. | 5:09 | |
I'm talking about perception. | 5:11 | |
The ability to perceive the unseen, yet to be now. | 5:13 | |
And the ability to recognize the the obvious now... | 5:19 | |
Because we don't. | 5:25 | |
In this class are great potentials and you're all friends. | 5:27 | |
15, 20 years from now you'll be saying I was in | 5:32 | |
his, her class. | 5:35 | |
As something emerges from you. | 5:38 | |
So be able to perceive the vision that God has for life | 5:40 | |
that's hidden and be able to perceive, | 5:44 | |
and recognize the obvious which is dressed in | 5:47 | |
peasant clothes, that's what Abraham in the Old Testament | 5:49 | |
did. | 5:52 | |
Our common patriarch with Old Testament Judaism, | 5:54 | |
and Muslim faith. | 5:58 | |
Abraham called out into a splendid life to follow the | 6:00 | |
fertile crescent to look for a city whose builder, | 6:04 | |
and maker was God, and he went, and he never got to | 6:08 | |
his objective, but he pursued to the end, | 6:11 | |
that's why you need an inner vision when you need hope, | 6:14 | |
and things are rough. | 6:18 | |
The New Testament lesson was read from the Revelation of | 6:20 | |
St John, who was in prison exile on the Island of Patmos, | 6:23 | |
60 miles off the coast of Turkey, now a tourist place. | 6:27 | |
As he sat there and watched the shimmering Mediterranean, | 6:32 | |
he contemplated the power of Rome to crush him, | 6:35 | |
and the gospel, and today... | 6:40 | |
Roman life is classical history of times past, | 6:43 | |
and the man who wrote to the vision splendid of unity, | 6:48 | |
of human nature and with God, and this division still | 6:51 | |
persists and binds us together. | 6:55 | |
Dear friends, with the glory of your education here in this | 6:59 | |
splendid university, remember the history validates the | 7:02 | |
holding of the vision of God's dream for humanity, | 7:06 | |
and the earth, and what is to come. | 7:09 | |
And remember also to perceive in the immediate moment, | 7:12 | |
what is obscured, the potential for your impact. | 7:15 | |
Why do you think the United States is restless to recover | 7:20 | |
excellence in education. | 7:22 | |
We are also engaged in a great debate about the morality, | 7:26 | |
and the use of nuclear energy as it comes out of chemistry, | 7:29 | |
and the whole process of life. | 7:32 | |
That problem, the problem of recovering of excellence, | 7:35 | |
and life long lasting qualities stems because... | 7:38 | |
Camus caught it. | 7:43 | |
Somehow I like him, if he'd lived a little longer, | 7:46 | |
I'm sure he would have been a Presbyterian. | 7:49 | |
(audience laughs) | 7:51 | |
Camus wrestles, and gripped with this haunting, | 7:52 | |
wanting meaning in life. | 7:56 | |
And there's much in existentialism that speaks to us. | 7:59 | |
But we need to extend that spirit of meaningfulness to | 8:04 | |
include the vision beyond our pragmatic short sight, | 8:07 | |
now that's the message. | 8:12 | |
I hold before you the energy, the direction, | 8:15 | |
the validation of your lives, young people, | 8:20 | |
as it is true for your parents, | 8:22 | |
of the vision of what can be in your life, | 8:26 | |
and family, and your country, and don't lose that vision, | 8:29 | |
even though the vision be obscured... | 8:32 | |
For decades. | 8:36 | |
It'll give you some blessings, | 8:38 | |
it will give you first of all, a great sense of power to | 8:39 | |
handle life, and secondly it will show you more than that, | 8:44 | |
it will give you the depth of human life. | 8:48 | |
It will show you the power that's resident in life | 8:54 | |
to handle work and pain, because it will give you a | 8:57 | |
broader perspective. | 9:00 | |
Some of you are camera fans, | 9:02 | |
you know what I mean by depth of focus. | 9:04 | |
Many of you are television fans from the production end. | 9:07 | |
You all know that you can compress in a camera, | 9:12 | |
and get a short perspective, and miss what's outside, | 9:17 | |
that's one of our problems today, | 9:21 | |
we all have camera eyes, and we don't get the | 9:23 | |
full perspective, and we live in a close up age. | 9:26 | |
The Governor of New York used to live across the street from | 9:32 | |
our church, and I used to watch television crews rehearse | 9:34 | |
the news, and you'd all be glued to your sets at night, | 9:39 | |
and you say "Oh, that's the news", | 9:44 | |
"That's the way things are", they'd gone through it | 9:45 | |
three or four times to get it just right on camera angle. | 9:48 | |
The same thing applied down here in Kitty Hawk, | 9:53 | |
North Carolina. | 9:56 | |
Two Methodist Bishop sons, the Wright brothers, | 9:59 | |
flew an orange crate for about 19 seconds, | 10:03 | |
before it hit the sand. | 10:06 | |
The New York Times refused to send a reporter, | 10:09 | |
because it said nothing important's gonna come of it. | 10:12 | |
And today 50 hours from Raleigh Durham, | 10:17 | |
you can go anywhere in the earth by airplane, | 10:20 | |
day or night, any kind of weather. | 10:24 | |
All within the lifetime of your grandfather, | 10:28 | |
and grandmother, and you, and extending that parabola, | 10:31 | |
how much more. | 10:34 | |
Even as Professor Goddard launched his first rocket missile | 10:37 | |
with Charles Augusta's Lindberg in the backyard and it went | 10:41 | |
"Poof" for about 30 yards. | 10:45 | |
The neighbors up in Cambridge politely ask them to move to | 10:49 | |
Roswell, New Mexico. | 10:52 | |
(audience laughs) | 10:54 | |
And that "Poof" became the Saturn Jupiter engines, | 10:55 | |
which today have hurtled into space over 2000 | 10:59 | |
space platforms, from which our cameras that could read the | 11:03 | |
Duke University graduation program if you held it out in the | 11:07 | |
grass outside. | 11:11 | |
All within your lifetime. | 11:13 | |
How much more when men and women apply to chemistry, | 11:17 | |
and arts, and medicine, and business, and nursing, | 11:21 | |
and family life, and religion. | 11:24 | |
The inner vision of that which is yet to be missing. | 11:27 | |
The obvious in the presence, it starts with a "Poof", | 11:33 | |
and it becomes an inner space platform... | 11:38 | |
And it's old stuff to you that men and women have walked on | 11:43 | |
the moon. | 11:47 | |
This gives depth and power, because you never get the | 11:48 | |
perspective of the immediate moment, | 11:51 | |
no single event can explain itself. | 11:53 | |
I was telling them early this morning that this is not only | 11:58 | |
Mother's Day, your graduation day, | 12:00 | |
but this is Red Cross Day, isn't that lovely, | 12:02 | |
but the whole point is this, no one knew in that June day | 12:05 | |
in 1859, when 31 year old Jean-Henri Dunant | 12:10 | |
was vacationing in Italy, on a hot Sunday afternoon, | 12:17 | |
when the storm came that he would be the only one there | 12:22 | |
to recognize the carnage of 40 000 mortally wounded | 12:25 | |
Italian, French, and Austrian troops | 12:30 | |
who've been fighting a deadly | 12:33 | |
battle broken off by the thunderstorm. | 12:34 | |
Out there on the wasted countryside, no communication, | 12:38 | |
no media, no medical attention at all. | 12:41 | |
31 year Jean-Henri Dunant's birthday is today. | 12:46 | |
Went into the little community village of Solferino, | 12:51 | |
and pounded on the doors for the men, and the women, | 12:54 | |
to come in from the farms, and their houses and get their | 12:57 | |
sheets, and pillowcases, and slips, and so forth, | 13:00 | |
and go out, and bind up these dying human beings, | 13:02 | |
and out of that came the Red Cross movement that you take | 13:07 | |
for granted, and you expect a rescue squad. | 13:09 | |
It came from a young Swiss, Jean-Henri... | 13:13 | |
Who went bankrupt trying to persuade people to be human, | 13:19 | |
not more than a little beyond a 100 years ago, | 13:25 | |
so slowly do things move. | 13:27 | |
Who would have known on that thunder-clapping, | 13:31 | |
rain-drenched afternoon with the blood flowing, | 13:33 | |
that later would come a young newspaperman, | 13:37 | |
would pick up that story, and publicize it, | 13:40 | |
and today you would take for granted nursing, | 13:42 | |
and American Red Cross, and the whole international flavor | 13:46 | |
of Goodwill. | 13:50 | |
Who knows what comes out of this class, | 13:53 | |
because it's the inner interpretation of life | 13:56 | |
that makes the reality. | 13:58 | |
I know we're all pragmatist, but pragment facts are not the | 14:01 | |
whole of the truth, it's the interpretation. | 14:05 | |
Rene Dubos great biochemist recently | 14:08 | |
deceased in New York, | 14:13 | |
said, It's not what you have friends, it's what you do with | 14:14 | |
what you have", Flannery O'Connor, | 14:18 | |
beautiful lovely Roman Catholic writer down in Georgia... | 14:20 | |
Died when she was 36. | 14:25 | |
Lived on a red clay farm, raised peacocks, | 14:28 | |
wrote great literature, loved the church, | 14:31 | |
and retained public school students who came out of | 14:35 | |
curiosity. | 14:38 | |
How did she manage your life in so short a time with a | 14:40 | |
crippling disease? | 14:43 | |
She lived with a light of an inner vision with the | 14:46 | |
limitations she had. | 14:48 | |
That's how you do it. | 14:51 | |
And there are the men and women live to be 65 or 75, | 14:53 | |
and restless, bored, searching frantically for meaning | 14:56 | |
who have no vision. | 15:00 | |
I hold before you today a vision of power, and glory, | 15:02 | |
and strength of usefulness for yourself and your families, | 15:05 | |
and your Republic. | 15:09 | |
And finally... | 15:12 | |
God will show you the depth in your life, | 15:13 | |
and the depth of yet to be. | 15:16 | |
I personally don't believe in the end of the world, | 15:19 | |
so many people are eager for a big bang. | 15:22 | |
I believe as TS Eliot said in his wonderful play, | 15:26 | |
"A yard of sun that means a court yard full of sunshine in a | 15:29 | |
yard of son", he said there is a greater reality... | 15:33 | |
Which will make falsehood... | 15:38 | |
Out of much that we hold true today. | 15:40 | |
Science taught for 400 years of the earth was flat... | 15:43 | |
And the Portuguese and Spanish navigators began to question | 15:49 | |
where came the flotsam and jetsam and the washing of the | 15:52 | |
tide with pine and balsam, in other words, | 15:55 | |
and they began to hypothecate that if you sailed west, | 15:59 | |
you'd find another continent and you wouldn't fall off | 16:02 | |
the edge of the earth. | 16:05 | |
Men like... | 16:08 | |
Verrazano, who came over here in 1524, | 16:10 | |
sailed up your coast from Carolina to Maine. | 16:13 | |
And a few years later after his splendid primitive maps, | 16:17 | |
Amerigo Vespucci came over and went all the way down south | 16:21 | |
to the great broad la Plata river. | 16:24 | |
And then came... | 16:28 | |
Henry Hudson and discovered you know what... | 16:31 | |
Beautiful Hudson River. | 16:34 | |
What am I saying, each one built on the other, | 16:38 | |
Columbus, Vespucci, Verrazano. | 16:41 | |
Incidentally you wanna remember important date was | 16:44 | |
April, the 17th, 1524 when Verrazano discovered the | 16:46 | |
Verrazano bridge in New York. | 16:51 | |
(audience laughs) | 16:53 | |
But look at how you build, men and women, | 16:55 | |
look at how you build, I watched you velvet green doctoral | 16:58 | |
students coming in, it was a young man Frederick Banting, | 17:01 | |
60 years ago who in depression and real discouragement | 17:05 | |
got the insight... | 17:10 | |
That in one week banished... | 17:13 | |
The diabolical threat of diabetes, | 17:16 | |
and who knows what will come out of this class. | 17:19 | |
There's a depth to life if you follow the inward vision that | 17:22 | |
comes by the Holy Spirit, if God moves and deals with you, | 17:25 | |
God has great benefits to give life if you let him do it. | 17:29 | |
I'll close with reference to a hymn. | 17:35 | |
I feel sorry for the choir they've heard this speech | 17:37 | |
three times, so I like to have one new thing each time, | 17:39 | |
they haven't heard this. | 17:42 | |
Hymn number 55 was written by a man who lived in a cave, | 17:45 | |
his name was Joachim Neander, it's from his name that we | 17:49 | |
have Neanderthal man, because the remains of Neanderthal man | 17:53 | |
were found in the cave where Joachim Neander hid out | 17:57 | |
when he was fired from his job. | 18:01 | |
I got this because I was looking for hymns written in jail, | 18:06 | |
and I looked in the index, and I saw Joachim Neander, | 18:09 | |
I hadn't met him, and he died when he was 30, | 18:12 | |
anyone dies by the time he's 30, has got a story, | 18:16 | |
so I looked it up, this young German evangelical, | 18:18 | |
a professor, was thrown out of office, | 18:22 | |
and lived in a cave on the Rhine River, | 18:24 | |
and out of that came hymn 55, | 18:27 | |
"Praise to the Lord! the Almighty, the King of creation!", | 18:29 | |
if you want to write hymns, go live in a cave. | 18:32 | |
That's my point, men and women, | 18:36 | |
the inner vision transmutes, transforms, transfigures | 18:38 | |
the pain of life, and takes the education you have and | 18:43 | |
glorifies it to God, | 18:46 | |
and keeps you going all your years so that you look back on | 18:49 | |
this glorious day as you continue your education all your | 18:52 | |
life. | 18:56 | |
As you nurture your life and others who look to you. | 18:58 | |
As you make a contribution to the spiritual and cultural | 19:01 | |
life of America. | 19:04 | |
As you say with Saint Paul as you look back on this | 19:06 | |
happy occasion, | 19:09 | |
"I saw a vision, and I was not disobedient to the | 19:11 | |
heavenly vision, I thank God for my family, | 19:15 | |
my institution", | 19:19 | |
and the happiness of this graduation day, | 19:20 | |
and the peace of God be with you men and women | 19:23 | |
in great measure to sustain your inner vision | 19:25 | |
without end, Amen. | 19:29 | |
("Praise to the Lord! the Almighty, the King of creation!") | 19:38 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 21:36 |
We believe in God, who has created and is creating, | 21:39 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus, | 21:44 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 21:47 | |
We trust God, | 21:50 | |
who calls us to be the Church: | 21:51 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness | 21:54 | |
to love and serve others, | 21:57 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 21:59 | |
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, | 22:03 | |
our judge and our hope. | 22:06 | |
In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 22:09 | |
God is with us. | 22:14 | |
We are not alone. | 22:16 | |
Thanks be to God. | 22:18 | |
The Lord be with you. | 22:20 | |
- | And with your spirit. | |
- | Let us pray. | 22:23 |
O eternal God, | 22:37 | |
before whose face the generations rise, | 22:39 | |
and pass away, | 22:42 | |
age after age of the living seek you, | 22:44 | |
and find of your faithfulness there is no end. | 22:47 | |
You are the inspirer of every true prayer, | 22:52 | |
the giver of all wisdom, | 22:56 | |
the source of all truth, | 22:58 | |
the beginning of all human freedom, | 23:00 | |
the end of all human responsibility. | 23:03 | |
Look now, O God, this day upon this community of learning, | 23:07 | |
let it ever remain faithful to you, | 23:12 | |
to the truth as we come to know it in you. | 23:15 | |
Keep us ever from surrendering truth, | 23:19 | |
or giving over freedom to those who in fear, | 23:23 | |
or faithlessness tell us that we must fight evil | 23:26 | |
with tools of evil, | 23:31 | |
or falsehood with lies, | 23:33 | |
or tyranny with ways of tyrants. | 23:35 | |
Let this, Your university, be a light of truth | 23:39 | |
in a world of darkness, | 23:42 | |
a witness to freedom in a world where many are enslaved | 23:45 | |
to idols and to ideologies, | 23:49 | |
a place where all people shall come to know the good, | 23:52 | |
and to know You, the wellspring of all good. | 23:56 | |
O God, we pray for her graduates of Duke this day, | 24:01 | |
those present, those who have gone before, | 24:06 | |
and those who are yet to come, that in the midst of | 24:10 | |
timid uncertainty, they may boldly stand for something, | 24:14 | |
in the midst of aimlessness, they may have a goal, | 24:19 | |
in the midst of false prophets, | 24:23 | |
they may look to your kingdom as the hope of the world, | 24:26 | |
and that in the midst of careless bees, | 24:30 | |
they may mount up with wings as eagles, | 24:33 | |
may run, and not be weary, | 24:37 | |
may walk, and not faint. | 24:40 | |
Hear our prayer, as in praise and thanksgiving | 24:43 | |
for all that we now have, and hold. | 24:47 | |
For we pray in Your name, | 24:50 | |
and in the name of Jesus, | 24:52 | |
who taught us to pray saying, | 24:54 | |
"Our Father, who art in heaven, | 24:57 | |
hallowed be thy Name, | 25:00 | |
thy kingdom come, | 25:02 | |
thy will be done, | 25:04 | |
on earth as it is in heaven." | 25:05 | |
"Give us this day our daily bread. | 25:07 | |
And forgive us our trespasses, | 25:10 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us." | 25:13 | |
"And lead us not into temptation, | 25:16 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 25:19 | |
For thine is the kingdom, | 25:21 | |
and the power, and the glory, | 25:23 | |
forever, Amen." | 25:25 | |
("How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place") | 25:35 | |
- | Please stand please. | 32:30 |
Will you join with me as we offer to God | 32:35 | |
this our unison prayer of gratitude, and hope. | 32:39 | |
Let us pray. | 32:43 | |
Almighty God, | 32:45 | |
as you granted us place and part in this University, | 32:47 | |
hallow to us now this day... | 32:51 | |
When we dedicate ourselves to the life, | 32:54 | |
and work to which you have called us here | 32:56 | |
that we may remember with gratitude the families, | 33:00 | |
and friends who have cared for us. | 33:03 | |
We ask you presence O God, | 33:06 | |
that in the life ahead of us, | 33:09 | |
we may keep faith with those who have loved us, | 33:10 | |
and trusted us, and whose hopes follow us. | 33:13 | |
We ask your presence O God, | 33:17 | |
that we may enter with good courage, | 33:20 | |
and constant purpose upon the tasks that await us. | 33:22 | |
We ask your presence O God, | 33:26 | |
from all sense of strangeness, and loneliness, | 33:29 | |
and from the fear that we may fail, | 33:33 | |
or may find no friends. | 33:35 | |
Good Lord deliver us | 33:37 | |
that the example of wise and generous people, | 33:40 | |
who have gone before us in our families, | 33:44 | |
and here in this university, | 33:46 | |
may save us from falling in self-indulgence. | 33:49 | |
We ask your presence O God, | 33:52 | |
more especially that you would show to us, | 33:55 | |
and to all people your way of love, | 33:58 | |
in a time where all of us desperately need to love, | 34:02 | |
and to be loved. | 34:06 | |
We ask your presence O God, | 34:07 | |
these things, and whatever else you see needful, | 34:10 | |
and right for us, we ask in you Holy Name... | 34:14 | |
Amen. | 34:18 | |
("Guide me, O thou Great Redeemer") | 34:22 | |
- | And now my friends, | 38:18 |
fill your hearts, and your minds | 38:21 | |
with those things that are good, | 38:24 | |
and worthy of praise, | 38:28 | |
those things which are true, | 38:31 | |
noble, | 38:33 | |
right, | 38:34 | |
lovely, | 38:35 | |
and honorable. | 38:37 | |
Put into practice those things which you have learned | 38:39 | |
in this place, | 38:43 | |
and the God who loves us, cares for us, | 38:46 | |
and gives us peace | 38:49 | |
will be with you, | 38:52 | |
and those whom you love | 38:54 | |
now and forever. | 38:56 | |
("Amen") | 39:04 | |
(organ plays) | 40:18 |
(organ music) | 0:05 | |
(organ music) | 7:24 | |
(choral music) | 18:52 | |
("Ode to Joy" by Beethoven) | 20:11 | |
- | Grace, mercy, and peace be with you. | 25:04 |
From the Lord our God who has made us, | 25:08 | |
who redeems us and sustains us. | 25:11 | |
Amen. | 25:15 | |
With what shall we come before the Lord our God? | 25:16 | |
And bow ourselves before God on high. | 25:20 | |
God has showed us, my friends, what is good and righteous. | 25:25 | |
And what does the Lord require of us but to do justice, | 25:30 | |
to love mercy, and to walk humbly before our God. | 25:34 | |
With that awareness, and the awareness of how we live, | 25:39 | |
let us now confess our sin to almighty God. | 25:42 | |
Be seated please. | 25:46 | |
Let us pray. | 25:58 | |
Oh holy God, to whose service we long ago | 26:00 | |
dedicated our souls and lives, | 26:04 | |
we grieve and lament before you | 26:07 | |
that we are still so prone to sin. | 26:09 | |
And so little inclined to obedience. | 26:12 | |
Attached to the pleasure of sins. | 26:15 | |
Negligent of things spiritual. | 26:18 | |
Prompt to gratify our bodies, slow to nourish our souls. | 26:21 | |
Greedy for present delight, | 26:26 | |
indifferent to lasting blessedness. | 26:29 | |
Fond of idleness, indisposed for labor. | 26:32 | |
Soon at play, late at prayer. | 26:37 | |
Brisk in the service of self, | 26:41 | |
slack in the service of others. | 26:43 | |
Eager to get, reluctant to give. | 26:46 | |
Lofty in our professions, low in our practice. | 26:50 | |
Full of good intentions, backward to fulfill them. | 26:55 | |
Severe with our neighbors, indulgent with ourselves. | 27:00 | |
So eager to find fault, so resentful | 27:05 | |
at being found fault with. | 27:08 | |
So little able for great tasks. | 27:11 | |
So discontented with small ones. | 27:14 | |
So weak in adversity, so swollen | 27:17 | |
and self-satisfied in prosperity. | 27:20 | |
So helpless apart from you, and yet, | 27:24 | |
so little willing to be bound to you. | 27:27 | |
Oh, merciful heart of God. | 27:30 | |
Grant us yet forgiveness, | 27:33 | |
for your holy name's sake. | 27:35 | |
Amen. | 27:37 | |
The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us | 27:59 | |
anyone who comes to God must believe that God exists, | 28:03 | |
and rewards those who search for God. | 28:07 | |
The mercy of the Lord is new every morning. | 28:12 | |
Great is thy faithfulness, oh Lord our God. | 28:15 | |
And now because of that faithfulness of God | 28:20 | |
and that forgiveness which God offers us, | 28:22 | |
I declare unto you in the name | 28:25 | |
of the Lord our God, our sins are forgiven. | 28:27 | |
Let us therefore give thanks, for God is good, | 28:33 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 28:37 | |
Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. | 28:40 | |
Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us. | 28:44 | |
Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 28:48 | |
May I say a word of welcome to all of you, | 28:54 | |
on this beautiful Lord's day, this special Mother's Day, | 28:56 | |
and this high and holy moment of graduation day | 29:03 | |
for the class of 1983 of Duke University. | 29:07 | |
We are most pleased to have all of you here | 29:13 | |
on this very, very special occasion. | 29:16 | |
Without any doubt, the most significant weekend | 29:19 | |
during the academic year for our university. | 29:22 | |
So we are honored to have mothers, and fathers, | 29:26 | |
and brothers, and sisters, and husbands, and wives. | 29:29 | |
Children, friends, those of you who have loved | 29:32 | |
and supported and cared for those who graduate this day, | 29:36 | |
we are pleased to have you share | 29:41 | |
with them in this very special time. | 29:42 | |
May I say a word of congratulations to those of you | 29:46 | |
who will receive degrees this afternoon. | 29:48 | |
My prayer and my wish are that your | 29:52 | |
time here at Duke University | 29:55 | |
has been pleasant, or at least, most of it has. | 29:58 | |
That it has been fruitful for you in many ways. | 30:03 | |
But more especially, that the days ahead will be days | 30:07 | |
of deep joy and satisfaction for you, | 30:11 | |
as you leave this place to serve God, | 30:14 | |
and to love your neighbor in all that you do. | 30:17 | |
It's been good to have you here. | 30:20 | |
And we wish God's blessings upon you. | 30:22 | |
It is our privilege and our honor today | 30:26 | |
to have as our guest preacher, | 30:29 | |
the Reverend Dr. Bryant Kirkland, | 30:32 | |
a most distinguished churchman in the United | 30:35 | |
Presbyterian Church, indeed, in the larger Church | 30:38 | |
in this country and around the world. | 30:40 | |
Dr. Kirkland currently serves as the senior minister | 30:44 | |
at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. | 30:47 | |
A position he has held, a ministry | 30:52 | |
which has been his for some 21 years now. | 30:54 | |
He is a graduate of Wheaton College | 30:58 | |
and of Princeton Theological Seminary, | 31:00 | |
and holds honorary degrees from a number | 31:03 | |
of major universities and colleges. | 31:05 | |
He is widely known, and well-known, and much appreciated | 31:09 | |
as a teacher, a preacher, and an author, | 31:13 | |
carrying his ministry both in the written word | 31:17 | |
and otherwise, through radio and televison. | 31:20 | |
Dr. Kirkland, we are pleased to have you here, sir. | 31:24 | |
To preach to us, to bring God's word to the graduates | 31:28 | |
and to all of us on this very special occasion. | 31:31 | |
And we pray God's blessings on you, | 31:34 | |
as you come to bless us. | 31:35 | |
- | Let us pray. | 31:43 |
Almighty God, in whom we are hid | 31:47 | |
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, | 31:51 | |
open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things | 31:55 | |
out of your word, and give us grace | 31:58 | |
that we may clearly understand, | 32:00 | |
and heartily choose the way of your love. | 32:03 | |
Amen. | 32:06 | |
The Old Testament is from Second Kings. | 32:09 | |
Once, when the King of Syria was warring against Israel, | 32:13 | |
he took counsel with his servants, | 32:17 | |
saying at such and such a place shall be my camp. | 32:18 | |
But the man of God sent word to the King of Israel. | 32:22 | |
Beware that you do not pass this place, | 32:26 | |
for the Syrians are going down there. | 32:28 | |
And the King of Israel sent to the place | 32:31 | |
of which the man of God told him. | 32:33 | |
So that he saved himself there more than once or twice. | 32:36 | |
And the man of the King of Syria | 32:40 | |
was greatly troubled because of this thing. | 32:42 | |
And he called his servants and said to them, | 32:45 | |
"Will you not show me who of us | 32:48 | |
"Is for the King of Israel?" | 32:51 | |
And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, oh king, | 32:53 | |
"But Elijah, the prophet who is in Israel, | 32:56 | |
"Tells the King of Israel the words | 33:00 | |
"That you speak in your bedchamber." | 33:02 | |
And he said, "Go and see where he is, | 33:05 | |
"That I may send and seize him." | 33:08 | |
and it was told, behold, he is at Dothan. | 33:09 | |
So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, | 33:14 | |
and they came by night and surrounded the city. | 33:18 | |
And the servant of the man of God | 33:22 | |
rose early in the morning and went out. | 33:23 | |
Behold, an army with horses and chariots | 33:25 | |
were around about the city. | 33:28 | |
And the servant said, "Alas, my master. | 33:29 | |
"What shall we do?" | 33:32 | |
He said, "Fear not, for those who are with us | 33:34 | |
"Are more than those who are with them." | 33:37 | |
Then Elijah prayed and said, "Oh, Lord, I pray thee, | 33:40 | |
"Open his eyes that he may see." | 33:44 | |
So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man. | 33:47 | |
And he saw and beheld a mountain that was full of horses | 33:50 | |
and chariots of fire round about Elijah. | 33:53 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 33:57 | |
The Epistle lesson is from Revelation, Chapter 21. | 34:00 | |
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. | 34:07 | |
For the first heaven and the first earth | 34:11 | |
had passed away, and the sea was no more. | 34:13 | |
And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, | 34:17 | |
coming down out of the heaven from God, | 34:20 | |
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. | 34:23 | |
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, | 34:26 | |
"Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. | 34:30 | |
"He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. | 34:33 | |
"God Himself will be with them. | 34:36 | |
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, | 34:39 | |
"And death shall be no more. | 34:42 | |
"Neither shall there be mourning, | 34:44 | |
"Nor crying, nor pain anymore. | 34:46 | |
"For the former things have passed away." | 34:48 | |
and he who sat upon the throne said, | 34:52 | |
"Behold, I make all things new." | 34:55 | |
Also he said, write this, for these words | 34:58 | |
are trustworthy and true. | 35:02 | |
And he said to me, "It is done. | 35:05 | |
"I am the Alpha and the Omega. | 35:08 | |
"The beginning and the end. | 35:10 | |
"To the thirsty I will give water, without price, | 35:12 | |
"From the fountain of the water of life. | 35:15 | |
"He who conquers shall have this heritage. | 35:18 | |
"And I will be his God, and he shall be my son." | 35:21 | |
Here ends the reading from the Epistle lesson. | 35:26 | |
(organ music) | 35:40 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 36:20 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 36:26 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 36:33 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 36:40 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 36:47 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 36:53 | |
(organ music) | 37:01 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 37:07 | |
(organ music) | 37:13 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 37:19 | |
(organ music) | 37:25 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 37:29 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 37:36 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 37:43 | |
(organ music) | 37:50 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:02 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:08 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:16 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:23 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:32 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:39 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:46 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 38:53 | |
(organ music) | 39:02 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 39:08 | |
♪ Christe eleison ♪ | 39:22 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 39:31 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 39:37 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 39:43 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 39:49 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 39:56 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 40:02 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 40:07 | |
♪ Kyrie eleison ♪ | 40:13 | |
(organ music) | 40:19 | |
♪ Kyrie ♪ | 40:22 | |
♪ Kyrie ♪ | 40:33 | |
(organ music) | 40:41 | |
- | Will the congregation please stand | 41:02 |
for the reading of the Gospel. | 41:04 | |
The Gospel lesson is from Saint Matthew. | 41:13 | |
Then the disciples came and said to him, | 41:16 | |
why do you speak to them in parables? | 41:19 | |
and he answered them, to you it has been given | 41:22 | |
to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. | 41:25 | |
But to them, it has not been given. | 41:28 | |
For to him who has will more be given, | 41:32 | |
and he will have abundance. | 41:34 | |
But from him who has not, | 41:36 | |
even what he has will be taken away. | 41:38 | |
This is why I speak to them in parables. | 41:41 | |
Because seeing, they do not see. | 41:44 | |
hearing they do not hear. | 41:47 | |
Nor do they understand. | 41:49 | |
With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, | 41:52 | |
which says, you shall indeed hear but never understand, | 41:55 | |
and you shall indeed see, but never perceive. | 42:00 | |
For this people's heart has grown dull. | 42:03 | |
And their ears are heavy of hearing. | 42:06 | |
And their eyes they have closed. | 42:09 | |
But blessed are your eyes, for they see. | 42:12 | |
And your ears, for they hear. | 42:15 | |
Truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men | 42:18 | |
long to see what you see and did not see it. | 42:22 | |
And to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. | 42:26 | |
Here ends the reading from the Gospel lesson. | 42:30 | |
Amen. | 42:33 | |
(organ music) | 42:35 | |
(choir music) | 42:42 | |
- | President Sandford, Eminent trustees, | 43:38 |
distinguished faculty, honored graduates, | 43:41 | |
long-suffering parents. | 43:45 | |
It's a great privilege to be here in this beautiful place, | 43:48 | |
and in this distinguished university, | 43:52 | |
and celebrate your high day. | 43:55 | |
It's also a very solemn and heavy responsibility. | 43:58 | |
I recognize that this hour, | 44:02 | |
I'm the last great obstacle between you and your degree. | 44:04 | |
Nevertheless, | 44:10 | |
I want to say a good word for your happiness | 44:12 | |
and your future careers. | 44:16 | |
The whole theme is live your light and an inner vision, | 44:20 | |
and you will be able to overcome the obstacles | 44:24 | |
and the tumult that ordinary life brings. | 44:27 | |
So, if anybody asks you what did he talk about, | 44:31 | |
you can say he said something about live your life | 44:34 | |
in the light of an inner vision, and you will prevail. | 44:37 | |
Incidentally, the rain will not come | 44:42 | |
until 5:12 this afternoon. | 44:43 | |
(audience laughs) | 44:46 | |
I want to say a word of appreciation | 44:52 | |
to Professor Wilder and his exquisite | 44:54 | |
marshaling of all the forces. | 44:58 | |
I want to say a word of gratitude | 45:00 | |
to Dr. Young and his camera for their hospitality. | 45:01 | |
The Youngs and the Wilders have members | 45:07 | |
in the graduating class, | 45:09 | |
so this is a special day for them too. | 45:10 | |
It has really been good to be here. | 45:14 | |
And I go home refreshed from the inspiration of what | 45:15 | |
I've long held and believed about Duke University. | 45:19 | |
Since this is the last time I speak of the trilogy, | 45:23 | |
let me indulge in one bit of humor. | 45:26 | |
A minister in the recent Louisiana flood | 45:29 | |
went up to his ridgepole on his roof. | 45:32 | |
A rowboat came by and said, "Hop in, Reverend." | 45:35 | |
He said, "No, God will take care of me, go get." | 45:38 |