David H. C. Read - "Knowledge - With Room for Wonder" Baccalaureate Service 3:00 pm (May 9, 1987)

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	(choir chanting)	0:19
-	When we gather to praise God	5:54
	we remember that we are God's people	5:57
	that we are people who have preferred	5:59
	our wills to God's will.	6:00
	Therefore, let us began this solemn service	6:02
	by confessing our sin to God and one another.	6:05
	Be seated.	6:09
	Let us pray.	6:21
	Most merciful God we confess that we have sinned against you	6:23
	in thought, word and need,	6:28
	by what we have done and by what we have left undone.	6:31
	We have not loved you with our whole heart.	6:36
	We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	6:39
	We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.	6:43
	For the sake of your son Jesus Christ	6:47
	have mercy on us and forgive us.	6:50
	If we may delight in your will and walk in your ways	6:53
	to deploy of your name.	6:58
	Amen.	7:00
	Hear these words of pardon.	7:04
	For it's the heavens high above the earth,	7:06
	so great as his steadfast love with those who fear him.	7:09
	As far as east is from the west,	7:14
	so far does he remove our transgressions from us.	7:17
	Amen.	7:22
	I welcome you to this Baccalaureate Service	7:26
	at Duke University's 135th commencement.	7:29
	At the conclusion of our service we ask	7:34
	that the congregation would remain in place	7:37
	until all of the graduates have recessed out of the chapel.	7:41
	Our preacher for today is the Reverend Dr. David H.C. Read,	7:47
	senior minister of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church	7:55
	in New York City.	7:59
	We welcome Dr.Read back to the chapel.	8:02
	He had preached here many times.	8:05
	He's a gifted preacher and writer	8:08
	and we welcome him back to Duke today.	8:11
-	Let us pray.	8:22
	Open our hearts and minds oh God	8:23
	by the power of your holy spirit,	8:26
	so that is the word is read, then proclaimed,	8:28
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	8:31
	Amen.	8:36
	The first lesson is taken from proverbs.	8:38
	Three things are too wonderful for me	8:41
	for I do not understand.	8:44
	The way of an eagle in the sky.	8:48
	The way of a serpent on a rock.	8:51
	The way of a ship on the high seas.	8:54
	And the way of a man with a maiden.	8:57
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	9:00
	(choir music)	9:12
	(choir chanting)	9:24
	The congregation will rise for the reading of the gospel.	12:58
	The gospel lesson is taken from Saint Matthew.	13:06
	Seeing the crowds he went up on the mountain	13:10
	and when he sat down his disciples came to him	13:13
	and he opened his mouth and taught them	13:16
	saying blessed are the poor in spirit	13:18
	for there's is the kingdom of heaven.	13:22
	Blessed are those who mourn for they should be comforted.	13:25
	Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.	13:30
	Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness	13:34
	for they shall be satisfied.	13:38
	Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.	13:41
	Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God.	13:46
	Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called	13:51
	sons of God.	13:56
	This ends the reading of the gospel lesson.	13:57
	(choir music)	14:02
	(choir chanting)	14:08
	The Epistle is taken from the Ephesians,	15:13
	so that we may no longer be children	15:17
	toss to and fro and carried about with every wind	15:19
	of doctrine by the cunning of men	15:23
	by their craftiness and deceitful wiles.	15:25
	Rather speaking the truth in love	15:28
	we are to grow up in every way into him	15:32
	who is the head, into Christ from whom the holy body	15:35
	joined and knit together by every joint with which	15:40
	it is supplied when each part is working properly	15:43
	makes bodily growth and up builds itself in love.	15:48
	Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord	15:54
	that you must no longer live as the gentiles do.	15:57
	In the futility of their minds they are darkened	16:00
	and their understanding.	16:04
	Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance	16:06
	that is in them due to their hardness of heart.	16:09
	They have become callous and have given themselves up	16:13
	to licentiousness, greedy to practice	16:17
	every kind or uncleanliness.	16:20
	You did not so learn Christ assuming	16:22
	that you have heard about him	16:26
	and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.	16:28
	This ends the reading of the Epistle.	16:33
-	Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts	16:44
	be acceptable in thy sight.	16:49
	Oh Lord our strength and our redeemer.	16:51
	Amen.	16:54
	It is a joy for me to be back on this campus	16:58
	and particularly to share with who are graduating	17:02
	in this holy day for that's what it is.	17:05
	The theme of my sermon today is knowledge	17:11
	with room for wonder and I'm gonna talk a lot more	17:17
	about wonder then about knowledge.	17:20
	I don't all together agree with the cynic who said that	17:26
	universities are regarded as repositories of knowledge	17:30
	because the freshmen bring so much	17:37
	and the graduates take so little out.	17:39
	(laughing)	17:42
	But I know that you have been spending	17:44
	four solid years	17:47
	acquiring this knowledge and my task is to suggest to you	17:51
	how knowledge can be expanded.	17:58
	So suggest to you that the knowledge that we acquire	18:03
	of how to do things and how to think through things	18:07
	has to be supplemental.	18:13
	Something else which I call a sense of wonder	18:16
	and of mystery.	18:19
	As a presbyterian I like to have a text	18:21
	and the text you may find a little bit surprising.	18:25
	You heard it as the old testament reading.	18:29
	In the book of proverbs it is written	18:33
	three things are too wonderful for me	18:36
	for I do not understand	18:40
	the way of an eagle in the sky,	18:43
	the way of a serpent on a rock,	18:47
	the way of a ship on the high seas	18:49
	and the way of a man with a maiden.	18:52
	I want to reassure the choir to begin with	18:57
	that I do not go along with the view preacher (mumbles)	19:00
	who was said to believe	19:05
	when I say something to you three times	19:07
	in a loud voice that it's true.	19:10
	(laughing)	19:12
	A third time are not.	19:15
	What I'm seeking to do is what the apostle said	19:16
	to speak the truth in love.	19:19
	Three things too wonderful, too wonderful for me.	19:24
	I don't understand.	19:28
	Poor fellow.	19:30
	You know he lived many centuries ago.	19:31
	He never heard of aerodynamics or biological mutations	19:35
	or astrophysics or chromosomes or genes.	19:40
	Everything was mystery to him.	19:43
	It was wonderful but he couldn't understand.	19:47
	No, we know all about it.	19:51
	We are told that we have come of age	19:54
	at least the legends used to say that	19:58
	until we started behaving as we have.	20:00
	Wouldn't you like to take this primitive bible	20:05
	right by the hand	20:07
	and explain to him the four things that bothered him.	20:11
	You know, quite simple.	20:14
	The way of an eagle in the sky.	20:17
	Nothing wonderful about that.	20:20
	It's all a question of air displacement	20:22
	given the weight of the bird, the span of the wings,	20:25
	relatively slight lateral motion	20:29
	of the latter will suffice	20:32
	to counteract the pull of gravity while speed, elevation	20:36
	and direction are achieved	20:40
	by appropriate muscular adjustment.	20:41
	We know all about it.	20:45
	But as a primitive heavier than air mechanism	20:48
	the eagle has long been outclassed in speed	20:52
	and efficiency by human artifacts such as the rocket	20:55
	and the jet plane, which I don't understand	21:00
	anymore than you do but somebody does	21:03
	so there's no mystery about it.	21:05
	(laughing)	21:07
	Oh while the old fellow who wrote the proverbs	21:10
	was recovering from this you could go on.	21:13
	The way of a serpent and a rock.	21:16
	Oh I see your difficulty you say.	21:20
	I see your difficulty he got no legs, no wings.	21:21
	How does he move?	21:25
	Well we can tell you.	21:27
	In fact, I looked it up in the encyclopedia.	21:28
	Locomotion is effected by the passage of a series of waves	21:32
	from before backwards.	21:36
	Each wave is progressed pressing against the surrounding	21:38
	medium and forcing the animal forward.	21:41
	If you still don't understand	21:44
	I could add that the scales of the lower surface	21:46
	are enlarged to form transverse overlapping plates	21:49
	who's free edge is directed backwards.	21:53
	To each of these plates is attached a pair	21:56
	of movable ribs.	21:59
	It's quite simple, isn't it?	22:00
	We know.	22:02
	The microphones could show us all these things	22:04
	you couldn't see at all.	22:06
	Problem of the rock, how does he move on a smooth space	22:10
	like a rock?	22:15
	Well it has about 300 (mumbles),	22:17
	each of which can utilize any slighter	22:20
	regularity so that progress is possible	22:22
	over almost any surface that is not absolutely smooth.	22:25
	Think no mystery.	22:29
	Nothing wonderful about the serpent and the rock.	22:31
	We can explain.	22:34
	Next question.	22:35
	Ah yes.	22:36
	The way of a ship on the high seas.	22:38
	I suppose your difficulty is in understanding	22:41
	how the little tab ever keeps afloat in a storm	22:44
	and how it ever picks it way across the seas	22:48
	to the desired harbor.	22:51
	We might go on.	22:53
	I remember your colleague who wrote in the book of psalms	22:54
	were having a similar difficulty.	22:57
	He wrote, "They that go down to the sea	22:59
	and ships that do business in great water.	23:02
	These see the works of the Lord	23:05
	and his wonders in the deep."	23:08
	But you don't need to see any works of the Lord	23:12
	or wonders.	23:15
	Even in your day the science of navigation	23:18
	could explain how your little sinking ship	23:21
	gets somebody out of that.	23:24
	But now we get a whole business so under control	23:27
	that a floating hotel of 80,000 tons can speed	23:31
	through the high seas with an automatic pilot	23:36
	doing all the steering and radar doing all the seeing.	23:40
	There's no mystery anymore.	23:43
	You and I may not understand it all	23:46
	but someone does.	23:48
	Now what was that last thing you mentioned?	23:50
	Ah yes, the way of a man with a maiden.	23:53
	Too wonderful.	23:58
	You don't understand.	24:00
	Now really today if there's anything in which	24:02
	we have become experts it's just this business of sex.	24:07
	(laughing)	24:11
	You primitive people you made such a mystery	24:12
	about it with your rights and your ceremonies,	24:15
	your point and your music and your romantic illusions.	24:18
	We've now analyzed the man woman relationship.	24:24
	We know about the biological impulses behind it.	24:28
	We are applying psychological methods to determine	24:31
	its function in society	24:34
	and we are rationalizing the sex act,	24:38
	developing computers to match the right man	24:41
	and the right maiden or perhaps doing away	24:44
	with one or the other all together.	24:46
	(laughing)	24:48
	A recent book based on elaborate investigation	24:51
	under clinical conditions of the way	24:55
	of a man with a maiden shows the way	24:57
	to complete understanding of human sexuality.	24:59
	My dear old fellow if you wouldn't need to worry	25:03
	about it anymore.	25:05
	If you lived in our time you'd understand.	25:06
	You will know all about it.	25:09
	But now I know that this is not really how you feel.	25:11
	Let's be realistic.	25:18
	We do of course know immensely more about the physical world	25:19
	and our psychological make up	25:25
	and did the writers to the bible.	25:26
	We do know more about the nature of the universe,	25:29
	about the transmission of life, the vastly of the elements,	25:34
	the functioning of the human body and psyche.	25:38
	Of course we do.	25:41
	The advance of human knowledge has been extraordinary	25:42
	since the bible was written and never more so	25:46
	than in the last 50 years.	25:48
	And I not here to delivery a series of blasts	25:51
	against science and technology.	25:54
	I sometimes thing that the new definition	25:57
	of a hypocrite is the preacher who composes	25:59
	on an electric typewriter.	26:02
	An attack on modern technology drives in this automobile	26:05
	to deliver it on the radio.	26:08
	(laughing)	26:11
	Well I was taught long ago in Edinborough	26:14
	that a preacher is seldom more foolish	26:19
	than when he delivers attacks on science.	26:21
	The liberating spirit of inquiry had brought mankind	26:24
	to a new era.	26:29
	Such things as the possible conquest of hunger and disease	26:31
	and in control of the forces of nature.	26:36
	And many of these triumphs has been bought	26:39
	at a price for science has had its martyrs,	26:41
	as well as religion.	26:44
	My purpose in this sermon is simply to raise	26:46
	a huge question mark over against the idea	26:51
	that our scientific understanding of things	26:56
	is sufficient, complete.	26:59
	That therefore we have arrived in a period	27:02
	of human history when wonder and mystery,	27:05
	the intuitions of the mystic, the vision of the artist,	27:11
	deport by the realm of the spirit as just to be	27:16
	dropped out of a count as any avenue for truth	27:22
	and regarded just as the icing on the cake.	27:25
	Something that interests some people	27:29
	just as others collect butterflies or vintage wines.	27:31
	That is common attitude to religion and philosophy today	27:36
	and it couldn't be more wrong.	27:41
	The point is not that there are still some things	27:44
	that science has not yet been able to explain.	27:47
	The a bold preacher who rested a case for religion	27:52
	on the gaps in scientific explanation.	27:54
	Who knows how long the gap may last?	28:00
	I'm confident that science will go on exploring	28:04
	and investigating every area,	28:06
	even those we used to think belong to morals	28:08
	and religion.	28:11
	But is it the same thing to be know,	28:12
	to know how to do a certain thing	28:16
	and be sure that it's the right thing to do it?	28:21
	Just because we can now technologically perform	28:24
	all kinds of operations.	28:28
	Does it follow that it should be done?	28:31
	That is something that science of course	28:34
	is not equipped to answer.	28:37
	It's not its function.	28:38
	We don't after all only want to know how things are.	28:42
	Something in us wants to know why.	28:48
	You can explain to me to the limit of my capacity	28:51
	the complexities of the atom,	28:54
	the cellular structure of life,	28:57
	the rhythm of the solar system,	29:00
	the suite of the galaxies through infinities	29:03
	of time and space.	29:06
	But I'm still left asking what does it mean if anything?	29:08
	Some people would tell you today	29:15
	that it's foolish to ask such questions,	29:17
	that they're just meaningless noises and grunts	29:22
	by which we express our personalities.	29:25
	2000 years of civilization deny that theory.	29:29
	Is there anything beside behind the process?	29:35
	And I find that this generation is still asking	29:40
	those questions.	29:43
	And they're deep questions and they're important questions.	29:46
	They are in the end questions of life and death	29:49
	as we should be more aware than any other generation.	29:54
	And I find that a lot of the things that happen	30:00
	in the student world are	30:03
	pictures of science	30:09
	of this concern, whether it's a demonstration	30:12
	or a new trend in music and dance or poetry or drama	30:16
	or even sad fashion.	30:21
	Looking back sometimes, looking forward	30:24
	but always this urge to know,	30:27
	to understand some other way	30:31
	than just in the mechanical way.	30:33
	It's as though this generation to whom	30:37
	everything seems to have been explained	30:40
	has realized that ultimately nothing	30:44
	has been explained at all.	30:46
	There are other ways of listening to the universe.	30:50
	The telescope and the microscope	30:53
	are not the only windows into truth.	30:55
	Now there was a time when the religious believer	31:01
	was caricatured as a person with a narrow mind	31:03
	and there are indeed religious people as we all know	31:08
	who live in a little chamber of (mumbles)	31:11
	from which they glare out suspiciously	31:15
	at the ways of the modern world.	31:18
	And churches have at times obstructing the path of science.	31:21
	Churches have sometimes have neglected the contribution	31:26
	of the arts, in spite of the fact that they were responsible	31:31
	for some of the greatest artistic works in our history	31:35
	and they have often a certain kind of church	31:40
	forces a timid, negative attitude to life.	31:44
	But I think the situation has turned around	31:49
	and that now it is the more thorough going	31:52
	secularist, the dogmatic rationalist	31:55
	who is being revealed as narrow minded.	32:00
	Not long ago a professor of literature wrote	32:02
	in the New York Times, complaining about	32:05
	the giving of the Nobel prize to Isaac Singer.	32:08
	For this reason only that he was a believer.	32:12
	How that's for atheist fundamentalism?	32:17
	The fact to limit one's convictions	32:24
	to that which is capable of scientific explanations	32:28
	or logical understanding	32:32
	to attempt to reduce	32:36
	our most vivid experiences to mirror computer (mumbles)	32:38
	and to interpret their religious and model insides	32:44
	of the human race just in terms of subjective emotion.	32:47
	That is narrow minded dogmatism	32:51
	for it's the deliberate exclusion	32:54
	of a whole dimension of existence.	32:57
	I think there's a revolt against that	33:02
	secularist fundamentalism going on,	33:04
	which brings me back to the eagle in the sky,	33:07
	the serpent on the rock, the ship in the high seas	33:12
	and the way of a man with a maiden.	33:16
	Think for a moment.	33:18
	Let's imagine we are away from these wholes of learning,	33:21
	laboratories, away from my noisy,	33:26
	snorting, swirling city of New York.	33:31
	We're away grieving ourselves off	33:35
	into a distant mountain peak.	33:37
	Looking out over a sea of mountains	33:41
	colored by the glinting sum as the clouds drift by.	33:44
	And here comes the eagle hovering and swooping	33:49
	and soaring and gliding off the distant speck	33:54
	on the horizon.	33:58
	You and I are not sitting there thinking about aerodynamics.	34:01
	No.	34:06
	And are we at that moment any wiser than the bible writer	34:08
	who found the way of an eagle in the sky	34:12
	too wonderful for him?	34:15
	It's what the artist sees as he or she	34:20
	catches the curve of the flight,	34:24
	even of a common seagull.	34:27
	Is that not more important to us than a whole mountain	34:29
	of statistical research?	34:32
	Can that moment of wonder not open for us	34:37
	a window into the dimension of mystery	34:43
	and of God that is more meaning than a whole wilderness	34:48
	of factual information?	34:53
	Leave room for wonder.	34:55
	I do not understand.	34:59
	Sure.	35:01
	Feed me all the information tucked away	35:02
	in thousands of microfilms.	35:05
	I still will stand and wonder at the bird	35:07
	and I wonder about the serpent on the rock.	35:13
	Wonder in a very different way	35:16
	what I described a few minutes ago.	35:18
	The serpent, I listen the strange voices,	35:21
	the past	35:26
	that come hissing out of our collective unconscious.	35:28
	Primeval symbol of temptation.	35:34
	Right.	35:36
	All the mysterious brown serpent	35:38
	Moses raised in the wilderness for healing.	35:41
	All the legends of the sea serpent.	35:46
	Betraying of the serpent through the imagery of our dream.	35:50
	There is poison.	35:55
	There is the illusiveness cunning.	35:59
	Cleopatra, that serpent of old Nile.	36:04
	See how the windows begin opening into a strange world	36:08
	where there are hopes and fears,	36:13
	where there are shapes of good and evil	36:16
	and in such a moment God can speak to us (mumbles).	36:19
	Have we never been fascinated	36:28
	by one single human creature,	36:31
	the serpent on the rock, an ant carrying its egg,	36:36
	a fly moving on the window bay?	36:42
	All the sheer improbability of the hippopotamus	36:47
	never had these moments of wonder.	36:51
	We don't want to know the facts.	36:55
	We just want.	36:58
	And tell me do we really understand anymore	37:01
	what it all means	37:03
	than the man who wrote the proverbs long ago?	37:05
	And that ship on the high seas,	37:09
	what was it arouse wonder and amazement?	37:13
	The same as destiny today.	37:16
	I'm not thinking of the technical achievement	37:20
	probably the writer of the proverbs knew more	37:22
	about sails and routers and titans, tides and winds	37:24
	than I do.	37:28
	But I think he was seized by the thought that must come	37:30
	to all of us sometime when we look out at the great	37:33
	expanses of the ocean	37:37
	and think of what is happening on them.	37:38
	Why has this earthbound two legged creature	37:43
	the desire to cut down trees and make a ship?	37:47
	It's a little more complicated today.	37:54
	It's the same idea.	37:56
	Why does he entrust himself	37:58
	to the dark menacing ocean?	38:01
	Where's he going and why does he want to go?	38:05
	Then the same question comes surging into our minds	38:09
	when we watch a capsule	38:13
	blasting off into outer space	38:15
	containing some other brave spirits	38:19
	among our fellow men and women.	38:24
	For the achievements we all have explanations	38:28
	but there's no mystery about calculations,	38:33
	experiments, years of research that precede the launching.	38:36
	But the mystery is there, the wonder.	38:41
	The confession we don't understand	38:43
	comes with a deeper question.	38:45
	What's it all about?	38:47
	Why?	38:49
	What strange compulsion has led the human race	38:50
	to make these incredible inventions?	38:54
	What lies behind or beyond the evolution	38:58
	of this creature on earth?	39:02
	Where are we going?	39:04
	Why do we want to go?	39:08
	Well we could guess	39:12
	and we could listen.	39:18
	We could keep our minds open for the informations	39:20
	that come from the immortal world.	39:24
	And therefore, we must keep open,	39:29
	keep room for the sense of wonder.	39:31
	But are we going to become a race of people	39:34
	who understand everything and therefore understand nothing	39:36
	or can we still say about the mystery of man's existence	39:41
	and his questing spirit?	39:44
	It is too wonderful for me.	39:46
	I cannot understand.	39:49
	Yes.	39:53
	And there's the question of sex.	39:56
	Sure.	39:58
	There was too much ignorance and hush hush about	40:00
	the whole question when I was young.	40:03
	But what kind of a life awaits us?	40:07
	For whom the way are for men with a maiden	40:11
	is entirely explainable in terms of glands	40:14
	and genes and psychological (mumbles).	40:17
	The bible is plain enough, you know,	40:20
	about the mere facts of sex.	40:22
	But the way of a man with a maiden is also seen	40:25
	in that wider dimension of wonder	40:29
	and of mystery.	40:32
	You'll find in the Pentateuch sex laws	40:35
	but thank God you will also find in the old testament	40:40
	that beautiful love song, the song of songs.	40:42
	Do you want to move into a grab world	40:48
	where the other kind of thing takes over?	40:53
	I would rather live with my co-patriot Robert Burns,	40:55
	beautiful verse.	41:00
	Oh my love's like a red red rose	41:02
	that's newly sprung in June.	41:06
	Oh my love's like the melody that's sweetly played in tune.	41:09
	I'd rather have that than a revision	41:15
	I tried to make the other day.	41:18
	Oh my love's like a chromosome	41:20
	that seeks the perfect suitor.	41:22
	And my love will be chosen for me by IBM computer.	41:26
	(laughing)	41:30
	No, let's keep the mystery.	41:33
	Revived a sense of wonder.	41:38
	Now that won't on itself make a man or a women a Christian.	41:42
	You have to think about these things	41:48
	the christian claims while you're here	41:50
	but keep open that sense of wonder	41:53
	and something's that now may seem incredible to you	41:57
	may become vividly real.	42:02
	It doesn't mean that you have to accept every doctrine	42:08
	of the church if you keep open a room for wonder	42:11
	but if you do my guess is that the time may well come.	42:15
	When in from that sense of wonder from that mysterious	42:21
	universe on the very heart of it	42:25
	comes back which makes you want to stand up	42:28
	and say I believe in God, the father almighty	42:31
	and in Jesus Christ, his only son our Lord	42:34
	and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.	42:38
	My prayer for you is that just as this beautiful chapel	42:42
	broods over your university as a constant reminder	42:48
	of the holy and of the wonder and of beauty	42:53
	that you may carry with you with it your on shrine	42:58
	and to remind you of the wonder, the mystery	43:04
	and the glory of grace of God.	43:10
	Let us pray.	43:13
	Grant to each of us oh Lord a new sense of wonder	43:16
	as we live in thy universe	43:21
	and make us ready to respond	43:24
	to every message of thy grace and love,	43:28
	to Jesus Christ our Lord.	43:31
	Amen.	43:34
	(choir music)	43:37
	(choir chanting)	44:32

	♪ Whom earth and heaven adore ♪	0:05
	♪ For thus it was, is now ♪	0:13
	♪ And shall be evermore ♪	0:18
-	Let us unite in this historic confession	0:30
	of the Christian faith.	0:33
	I believe in God the father almighty,	0:34
	maker of heaven and earth,	0:38
	and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord,	0:41
	Who was conceived by the holy ghost,	0:44
	born of the Virgin Mary,	0:47
	suffered under Pontius Pilate,	0:49
	was crucified, dead, and buried.	0:52
	He descended into hell.	0:55
	The third day, he rose again from the dead.	0:57
	He ascended into heaven	1:00
	and siteth on the right hand of God, the father almighty.	1:03
	Form this, he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	1:07
	I believe in the holy ghost, the holy catholic church,	1:11
	the communion of saints,	1:16
	the forgiveness of sins,	1:18
	the resurrection of the body,	1:19
	and the life everlasting, amen.	1:22
	Please be seated.	1:26
	(hymnal music)	1:49
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	2:28
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	2:36
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	2:43
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	2:50
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	2:56
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	3:03
	(intense orchestral music)	3:11
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	3:16
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	3:27
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	3:37
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	3:43
	♪ Carried it ♪	3:49
	♪ And then he saw ♪	3:53
	(hymnal music)	4:03
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	4:09
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	4:16
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	4:22
	♪ Priests said the lamb ♪	4:30
	♪ Is home ♪	4:37
	♪ Priest says the lamb is home ♪	4:39
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	4:45
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	4:52
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	5:00
	(hymnal music)	5:07
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	5:14
	♪ Priests said the lamb is home ♪	5:26
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	5:34
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	5:39
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	5:46
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	5:52
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	5:58
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	6:04
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	6:10
	♪ Carried it, and then he saw ♪	6:15
	♪ Carried it ♪	6:25
	♪ And then he saw ♪	6:30
	♪ Carried it ♪	6:36
	♪ And then ♪	6:41
	♪ he saw ♪	6:48
-	Please stand for the responsive prayer.	7:03
	Almighty God, as you have granted us a place	7:13
	in this university,	7:17
	hallow to us now this day,	7:19
	when we dedicate ourselves to the life and work	7:22
	to which you have called us.	7:25
	That we may remember with gratitude	7:27
	the families and friends who have cared for us.	7:30
	(audience speaks over each other)	7:33
	That in the life ahead, we may keep faith	7:36
	with those who loved us and trusted us	7:40
	and whose hoped follow us.	7:42
	(audience speaks over each other)	7:44
	That we may enter with good courage and constant purpose	7:48
	upon the tasks which await us.	7:52
	(audience speaks over each other)	7:54
	From all vanity and pride, as if our accomplishments	7:57
	were of our sole creation.	8:01
	(audience speaks over each other)	8:03
	From neglect of the opportunities which are all about us.	8:06
	And from distrust of our ability to meet the duties	8:10
	of each dawning day.	8:14
	(audience speaks over each other)	8:15
	That the example of wise and generous people	8:18
	who have gone before us in our families	8:22
	and here, in this university	8:24
	may save us from folly and self indulgence.	8:26
	(audience speaks over each other)	8:30
	More especially, that you would show to us	8:33
	your way of love in all that we do or say,	8:36
	that we should come to love the Lord, our God	8:40
	with our soul and mind and strengths,	8:43
	and our neighbor as ourselves.	8:46
	(audience speaks over each other)	8:49
	These things	8:51
	and whatever else you see needful and right for us,	8:53
	we ask in your holy name, amen.	8:56
	(hymnal music)	9:02
	♪ God of grace and God of glory ♪	9:47
	♪ On thy people pour thy power ♪	9:52
	♪ Crown thy ancient church's story ♪	9:58
	♪ Bring thy bud to glorious flower ♪	10:05
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	10:12
	♪ On the facing of this hour ♪	10:18
	♪ For the facing of this hour ♪	10:24
	♪ Lo, the hosts of evil round us ♪	10:33
	♪ Scorn thy Christ, assail his ways ♪	10:39
	♪ From the fears that long have bound us ♪	10:47
	♪ Free our hearts to faith and praise ♪	10:53
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	11:00
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	11:07
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	11:13
	♪ Cure your children's warring madness ♪	11:22
	♪ Bend our pride to your control ♪	11:28
	♪ Shame our wanton, selfish gladness ♪	11:35
	♪ Rich in things and pour in soul ♪	11:41
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	11:48
	♪ Lest we miss your kingdom's goal ♪	11:55
	♪ Lest we miss your kingdom's goal ♪	12:02
	♪ Set our feet on lofty places ♪	12:11
	♪ Gird our lives that they may be ♪	12:17
	♪ Armored with all Christ-like graces ♪	12:24
	♪ In the fight to set men free ♪	12:30
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	12:37
	♪ That we fail not man or thee ♪	12:43
	♪ That we fail not man or thee ♪	12:50
	♪ Save us from weak resignation ♪	12:59
	♪ To the evils we deplore ♪	13:06
	♪ Let the search for thy salvation ♪	13:12
	♪ Be our glory evermore ♪	13:18
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	13:26
	♪ Serving thee whom we adore ♪	13:32
	♪ Serving thee whom we adore ♪	13:38
-	Now, class of 1987, may the peace of God go with you	13:51
	and may the grace of God be with you and abide with you	13:57
	always.	14:00
	(hymnal music)	14:08
	(vocalizing)	14:17
	(hymnal music)	15:31
	(upbeat hymnal music)	22:23
	(audience applauds)	28:32

Item Info

Title:

David H. C. Read - "Knowledge - With Room for Wonder" Baccalaureate Service 3:00 pm (May 9, 1987)

Description:

The questions of knowledge which the Scriptures seek to address are not merely a matter of scientific fact. While modern science is a great gift to human understanding, we run the risk of losing a sense of wonder and mystery about life if we believe that everything can be explained. The Christian faith requires we open ourselves up to the wonder and mystery of life. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 16:58. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 43:36.
Key quotation: “If we are never astonished, made to wonder, then we are terribly impoverished.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4dj58x13

Date:

May 9, 1987

Speaker:

Read, David Haxton Carswell

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0393
ref8336_dh3
uachapelsermaud
duke:320742
dcrau001352
ark:/87924/r4dj58x13
96713d2c-775c-492a-bcc3-ffc81ea4ac6e

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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David H. C. Read - "Knowledge - With Room for Wonder" Baccalaureate Service 3:00 pm (May 9, 1987)

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