John W. Vannorsdall - "Figments of Our Imagination" Baccalaureate Service 9:00 am (May 6, 1979)
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| (organ music) | 0:02 | |
| (organ music) | 3:36 | |
| (echo mumbles) | 8:54 | |
| (coughing) | 8:57 | |
| (echo mumbles) | 9:04 | |
| (organ music) | 10:06 | |
| (happy organ music) | 15:16 | |
| (upbeat organ music) | 19:15 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 22:42 | |
| ♪ Now and forever ♪ | 23:26 | |
| ♪ Glory ♪ | 23:31 | |
| ♪ High ♪ | 23:35 | |
| ♪ Now and forever ♪ | 23:37 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 23:50 | |
| (organ music) | 24:00 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 24:42 | |
| (organ music) | 25:21 | |
| (People singing loudly) | 25:26 | |
| (organ music) | 27:38 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 27:43 | |
| (organ music) | 28:25 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 28:30 | |
| (mumbles) | 29:24 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 29:27 | |
| (coughing) | 29:35 | |
| - | There are a number of people standing. | 29:44 |
| As you are getting situated, | 29:47 | |
| let me ask you to move towards the center aisle, | 29:49 | |
| if you will. | 29:52 | |
| All except the candidates for degrees. | 29:53 | |
| So that there may be some extra seating space | 29:56 | |
| for some of those who are standing. | 29:59 | |
| If you would move towards the center aisle, | 30:01 | |
| wherever you are, please. | 30:04 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 30:06 | |
| (coughing) | 30:17 | |
| I greet you, | 30:30 | |
| in the name of our Lord, | 30:32 | |
| who creates us, who makes us whole. | 30:34 | |
| And who sustains us day by day. | 30:38 | |
| We do fall, and fail. | 30:43 | |
| Only by the grace of God do we go on | 30:47 | |
| from day to day. | 30:50 | |
| Thus conscious of our sin, | 30:53 | |
| and of our need to confess to the Lord our God. | 30:56 | |
| Let us bow and offer to God almighty, | 31:00 | |
| our prayer of confession for this day | 31:04 | |
| and this service. | 31:06 | |
| Will you join with me as we pray together? | 31:08 | |
| Oh, God, in who's mystery we abide, | 31:13 | |
| and by who's mercy we are redeemed. | 31:17 | |
| We confess our sin against one another, | 31:20 | |
| and against you. | 31:23 | |
| All our transgressions hidden and open, | 31:25 | |
| the evil done and the goodness left undone. | 31:30 | |
| We have deceived ourselves about ourselves, | 31:34 | |
| and worn masks and not trusted in love. | 31:38 | |
| We confess that we have been careful with things, | 31:42 | |
| careless with persons, | 31:46 | |
| adept in taking, awkward in giving. | 31:48 | |
| In love with our fears, | 31:52 | |
| and in fear of our loves. | 31:54 | |
| We confess before you that we are more prone | 31:57 | |
| to sin than to obedience. | 32:01 | |
| Prompt to gratify our bodies, | 32:04 | |
| slow to nourish our souls. | 32:07 | |
| Attached to the pleasure of sins, | 32:10 | |
| negligent of things spiritual. | 32:14 | |
| Quick in the service of self, | 32:17 | |
| slack in the service of others. | 32:19 | |
| Eager to get, reluctant to give. | 32:23 | |
| Full of good intentions, | 32:27 | |
| hesitant to fulfill them. | 32:29 | |
| Severe with our neighbors, | 32:32 | |
| indulgent with ourselves. | 32:34 | |
| Helpless apart from you, | 32:37 | |
| yet unwilling to be bound to you. | 32:40 | |
| Forgive us, lift us up, | 32:43 | |
| and heal us this day. | 32:46 | |
| We pray in your holy name, | 32:48 | |
| amen. | 32:51 | |
| Let us now continue in prayer, | 32:55 | |
| and offer our personal confessions | 32:57 | |
| unto the Lord our God. | 33:00 | |
| (coughing) | 33:04 | |
| In God alone is our peace. | 33:21 | |
| Through God do we experience forgiveness | 33:24 | |
| and find new life. | 33:27 | |
| The Psalmist tells us the Lord | 33:30 | |
| is gracious and merciful, | 33:33 | |
| slow to anger, | 33:35 | |
| and abounding in steadfast love. | 33:37 | |
| Let us now one by one, | 33:41 | |
| and all together accept and know | 33:42 | |
| the forgiveness of our sin | 33:45 | |
| through the love and mercy of the Lord our God. | 33:47 | |
| Amen. | 33:51 | |
| May I welcome you to this very special service | 33:55 | |
| this morning. | 33:59 | |
| A time of celebration, | 34:02 | |
| a time of commemoration. | 34:05 | |
| A time of real community as we come together | 34:08 | |
| for this very glad and good occasion. | 34:12 | |
| I want you to know, Mr President, | 34:18 | |
| that the religious life staff assumes | 34:21 | |
| full responsibility for the good weather, | 34:24 | |
| for today. | 34:26 | |
| (laughter) | 34:27 | |
| (coughing) | 34:29 | |
| We are glad to have you here, | 34:30 | |
| and trust that it has already been | 34:32 | |
| a good weekend for all of you. | 34:34 | |
| And that there is much goodness yet to come. | 34:36 | |
| Our preacher for today is a reverend, | 34:40 | |
| Dr John Vannorsdall. | 34:42 | |
| Kindly serving as the chaplain | 34:45 | |
| at Yale University. | 34:47 | |
| Ordained Lutheran pastor, | 34:51 | |
| a gifted preacher who's sermons and prayers | 34:54 | |
| have been published and read, | 34:59 | |
| and appreciated widely. | 35:01 | |
| One who's preaching has been heard | 35:04 | |
| as the Lutheran series of the Protestant Hour | 35:06 | |
| for three years now. | 35:09 | |
| He served for a number of years as the chaplain | 35:11 | |
| at Gettysburg College, | 35:14 | |
| in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. | 35:15 | |
| And is now in his third year as chaplain at Yale. | 35:17 | |
| He has been here to preach before, | 35:22 | |
| we are delighted to have him back. | 35:24 | |
| And John, we welcome you to this service, | 35:26 | |
| and hear gladly and eagerly, | 35:29 | |
| the word of God as you bring it to us this day. | 35:31 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 35:46 |
| Prepare our hearts, oh Lord, | 35:50 | |
| to accept your word. | 35:52 | |
| Silence in us any voice but your own, | 35:54 | |
| that hearing we may also obey your will, | 35:57 | |
| amen. | 36:00 | |
| The epistle lesson is from the first chapter | 36:02 | |
| of Romans. | 36:05 | |
| For I am not ashamed of the gospel. | 36:07 | |
| It is the power of God for salvation | 36:10 | |
| to everyone who has faith. | 36:13 | |
| To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. | 36:15 | |
| For in it, | 36:18 | |
| the righteousness of God is revealed | 36:19 | |
| through faith for faith. | 36:21 | |
| As it is written, | 36:23 | |
| he who through faith is righteous, | 36:24 | |
| shall live. | 36:28 | |
| For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven | 36:30 | |
| against all ungodliness and wickedness of men. | 36:32 | |
| Who by their wickedness, | 36:36 | |
| suppress the truth. | 36:37 | |
| For what can be known about God | 36:40 | |
| is plain to them | 36:41 | |
| because God has shown it to them. | 36:43 | |
| Ever since the creation of the world, | 36:47 | |
| his invisible nature, | 36:49 | |
| namely his eternal power and deity | 36:51 | |
| has been clearly perceived in the things | 36:55 | |
| that have been made. | 36:57 | |
| So, they are without excuse. | 36:59 | |
| For although they knew God, | 37:02 | |
| they did not honor Him as God, | 37:04 | |
| or give thanks to Him. | 37:07 | |
| But they became futile in their thinking, | 37:09 | |
| and their senseless minds were darkened. | 37:11 | |
| Claiming to be wise, they became fools, | 37:14 | |
| and exchanged the glory of the immortal God | 37:18 | |
| for images resembling mortal man, | 37:20 | |
| or birds, or animals, or reptiles. | 37:23 | |
| Therefore, God gave them up | 37:25 | |
| in the lust of their hearts to impurity. | 37:28 | |
| To the dishonoring of their bodies | 37:31 | |
| among themselves. | 37:33 | |
| Because they exchanged the truth about God | 37:35 | |
| for a lie, | 37:38 | |
| and worshiped and served the creature, | 37:39 | |
| rather than the creator, | 37:41 | |
| who is blessed forever. | 37:43 | |
| Herein's the reading from the epistle. | 37:47 | |
| Amen. | 37:49 | |
| (organ music) | 37:54 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 38:24 | |
| ♪ If only for ♪ | 42:00 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 42:04 | |
| ♪ If only for ♪ | 42:09 | |
| ♪ If only for ♪ | 42:12 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 42:56 | |
| ♪ Hallelujah ♪ | 43:03 | |
| (coughing) | 43:26 | |
| - | Will the congregation please stand | 43:26 |
| for the reading of the gospel lesson? | 43:28 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 43:31 | |
| The gospel lesson is from the first chapter | 43:37 | |
| of Luke. | 43:39 | |
| "And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord, | 43:41 | |
| and my spirit rejoices in God my savior. | 43:46 | |
| For He has regarded the lower state | 43:50 | |
| of his hand maiden. | 43:52 | |
| For behold, henceforth, | 43:53 | |
| all generations will call me blessed. | 43:56 | |
| For He who is mighty has done great things | 43:59 | |
| for me, and holy is His name. | 44:02 | |
| And His mercy is on those who fear Him, | 44:06 | |
| from generation to generation. | 44:09 | |
| He has shown strength with His arm. | 44:12 | |
| He has scattered the proud in their imagination | 44:15 | |
| of their hearts. | 44:18 | |
| He has put down the mighty from their thrones, | 44:20 | |
| and exalted those of low degree. | 44:22 | |
| He has filled the hungry with good things, | 44:25 | |
| and the rich He has sent empty away. | 44:28 | |
| He has helped His servant, Israel, | 44:31 | |
| in remembrance of His mercy. | 44:33 | |
| As He spoke to our fathers, | 44:35 | |
| to Abraham, and His posterity forever." | 44:37 | |
| Herein's the reading from the gospel, | 44:42 | |
| all praise and glory be to God, | 44:44 | |
| amen. | 44:47 | |
| (organ music) | 44:49 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 45:02 | |
| - | Let us affirm what we believe. | 45:49 |
| We believe in God, | 45:52 | |
| who has created and is creating. | 45:54 | |
| Who has come in the truly human Jesus, | 45:57 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 46:00 | |
| We trust God, | 46:03 | |
| who calls us to be the church. | 46:05 | |
| To celebrate life and its fullness, | 46:08 | |
| to love and serve others. | 46:11 | |
| To seek justice, and resist evil. | 46:14 | |
| To proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 46:17 | |
| our judge and our hope. | 46:21 | |
| In life, in death, | 46:24 | |
| in life beyond death, | 46:26 | |
| God is with us. | 46:29 | |
| We are not alone. | 46:31 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 46:33 | |
| Be seated. | 46:36 | |
| (coughing) | 46:36 | |
| The Lord be with you. | 46:48 | |
| - | And also with you. | 46:50 |
| - | Let us pray. | 46:51 |
| TS Elliot has some lines that go, | 46:55 | |
| "What we call the beginning is often the end. | 47:00 | |
| And to make an end is make a beginning. | 47:07 | |
| The end is where we start from." | 47:11 | |
| Lord our God, | 47:18 | |
| it is good to come to a moment such as this. | 47:22 | |
| A moment of recognition, of accomplishment, | 47:26 | |
| of joy and celebration. | 47:30 | |
| We give thanks to you, oh Lord, | 47:35 | |
| for all that has been good, and enlightening, | 47:39 | |
| and maturing, and satisfying | 47:42 | |
| these past four years. | 47:45 | |
| Four years filled with change, | 47:50 | |
| with question, | 47:52 | |
| with unease. | 47:53 | |
| With good times and sad times, | 47:56 | |
| with work and rest. | 47:59 | |
| With action and reflection, | 48:00 | |
| with movement, and calm. | 48:02 | |
| Four years, oh God, | 48:07 | |
| that have bound some of us one to another | 48:08 | |
| in friendships that will last forever. | 48:11 | |
| That have stirred us and stretched us | 48:15 | |
| in such helpful ways that we dare not | 48:17 | |
| go back to our old selves, old thoughts, | 48:19 | |
| and old ways. | 48:21 | |
| Four years filled with long hours, short nights, | 48:24 | |
| and even shorter weekends. | 48:29 | |
| Four years spent searching for self, | 48:35 | |
| for others, | 48:38 | |
| for truth and justice, and right. | 48:39 | |
| Four years, oh God, | 48:43 | |
| to those who graduate, | 48:45 | |
| that have reshaped and remolded life. | 48:46 | |
| Help all of us this day to know | 48:50 | |
| that commencement is not end, but beginning. | 48:52 | |
| To know that the end of this experience | 48:55 | |
| is where we start from. | 48:57 | |
| We give thanks for all instructors and professors | 49:01 | |
| whose lives have influenced these graduates. | 49:05 | |
| For staff of deans, counselors, president, | 49:09 | |
| and others who really do care about each one. | 49:11 | |
| For the support that has come | 49:16 | |
| from family and friends, | 49:18 | |
| and often from strangers unaware. | 49:19 | |
| For the commitment each graduate | 49:22 | |
| has had to reach this point in his or her life. | 49:24 | |
| For their long hours of work and study. | 49:28 | |
| For determination, and perseverance, | 49:30 | |
| and now much inner satisfaction. | 49:32 | |
| Oh God, we pray | 49:38 | |
| for each one, | 49:41 | |
| make of learning a lifelong experience. | 49:43 | |
| Make of serving a lifelong action. | 49:47 | |
| Make of sharing a lifelong desire. | 49:50 | |
| Make of being obedient to you | 49:55 | |
| a lifelong commitment. | 49:58 | |
| And so with gratitude that You have brought | 50:01 | |
| us all thus far, | 50:03 | |
| we pray for Your help in the time to come. | 50:05 | |
| That all our lives may add to the fullness, | 50:08 | |
| the goodness, and the wholeness of this world, | 50:11 | |
| and of all those we meet along life's way. | 50:13 | |
| We pray in the name of Him who came teaching, | 50:19 | |
| learning and serving. | 50:24 | |
| Him who taught us to pray saying; | 50:26 | |
| Our father who art in heaven, | 50:30 | |
| hallowed be thy name. | 50:33 | |
| Thy kingdom come, | 50:36 | |
| Thy will be done | 50:37 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 50:39 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 50:42 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses | 50:45 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 50:48 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, | 50:52 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 50:55 | |
| For Thine is the kingdom, | 50:57 | |
| the power and the glory, | 51:00 | |
| forever, | 51:02 | |
| amen. | 51:04 | |
| (clears throat) | 51:13 | |
| - | May the words of my mouth, | 51:21 |
| and the meditation of our hearts | 51:23 | |
| be acceptable in Thy sight. | 51:24 | |
| Oh, Lord, our strength, and our redeemer, | 51:27 | |
| amen. | 51:31 | |
| My hope for the members of the graduating class | 51:35 | |
| is a very simple one. | 51:38 | |
| Namely that you will not bore us to death, | 51:41 | |
| and as I begin a sermon, | 51:45 | |
| I imagine that the hope is reciprocal. | 51:48 | |
| (laughter) | 51:50 | |
| There's a difference of course, | 51:53 | |
| if you are boring people, | 51:55 | |
| we have to put up with it for a lifetime. | 51:56 | |
| A sermon lasts only 20 minutes. | 51:58 | |
| (laughter) | 52:00 | |
| There was a large semi trailer | 52:04 | |
| that was stuck under an overpass. | 52:06 | |
| The clearance was something like 13 feet, | 52:10 | |
| two inches, | 52:13 | |
| but the trailer was 13 feet, three inches high. | 52:14 | |
| The driver was pacing up and down, | 52:18 | |
| the police were detouring the traffic | 52:22 | |
| when a small boy tugged at the driver's sleeve. | 52:24 | |
| "Hey, mister", he said. | 52:27 | |
| "Don't bother me now, kid." | 52:29 | |
| "Mister, why don't you let the air out of the tires?" | 52:33 | |
| The driver looked at the boy in disbelief, | 52:39 | |
| looked at the truck, | 52:41 | |
| let out a shout, | 52:42 | |
| and started letting the air out of the tires | 52:43 | |
| until the trailer dropped an inch and a half. | 52:45 | |
| He jumped in the cab, | 52:48 | |
| pulled the rig out from under the overpass, | 52:50 | |
| and parked it alongside the road. | 52:52 | |
| The whole happy ending of this story, | 52:56 | |
| was the figment of a boy's imagination. | 52:58 | |
| I know we use this term pejoratively. | 53:02 | |
| Just a figment of the imagination. | 53:04 | |
| That's because we are really afraid | 53:08 | |
| of imagination, | 53:12 | |
| but figment means shaping. | 53:16 | |
| The boy reshaped the scene with his imagination. | 53:19 | |
| He saw exactly what the truck driver saw. | 53:23 | |
| He saw what the police saw, | 53:27 | |
| but he saw it differently. | 53:29 | |
| Because he did, | 53:35 | |
| an immovable object was driven out | 53:36 | |
| from under the overpass. | 53:40 | |
| "Why don't you let the air out of the tires?" | 53:41 | |
| If we're going to avoid boring one another | 53:47 | |
| as preachers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, | 53:49 | |
| painters and politicians, mothers, lovers, | 53:53 | |
| activists. | 53:55 | |
| It's going to require more | 53:57 | |
| of that kind of imagination | 54:00 | |
| to take things old and familiar, | 54:02 | |
| and worn, and part of death, and to reshape them | 54:03 | |
| into ways which give hope and promise | 54:10 | |
| for change and movements. | 54:12 | |
| A week or so ago, | 54:15 | |
| I was visiting in the university infirmary, | 54:17 | |
| and talked with a middle-aged man, | 54:20 | |
| member of the maintenance staff. | 54:23 | |
| Now, when chaplains visit, | 54:24 | |
| one of the first things the patient says, | 54:27 | |
| is either, | 54:30 | |
| hey, I'm not religious, | 54:31 | |
| or I belong to such and such a church. | 54:34 | |
| This man went to such and such church, | 54:37 | |
| paused and added, | 54:41 | |
| I'm one of those people who pick up papers | 54:44 | |
| on the street. | 54:47 | |
| And first I thought he meant | 54:51 | |
| that he picked up paper for the university. | 54:52 | |
| Then I remembered that at Yale, | 54:55 | |
| we don't have any such people. | 54:58 | |
| (laughter) | 55:00 | |
| (coughing) | 55:02 | |
| What he meant was, | 55:04 | |
| that there are people who throw things | 55:08 | |
| on the sidewalk, | 55:10 | |
| and there are people who pick them up. | 55:11 | |
| (coughing) | 55:14 | |
| That was his way of imagining the world. | 55:15 | |
| And I can see him now on Elm Street, | 55:20 | |
| middle-aged, short, slightly bent, | 55:23 | |
| picking up a plastic top from | 55:27 | |
| a takeout container. | 55:29 | |
| Pushing it into his pocket | 55:31 | |
| until he comes to the next corner | 55:33 | |
| where the city provides a trash container | 55:35 | |
| with a swinging top. | 55:40 | |
| "I pick up paper from the sidewalk." | 55:42 | |
| Was it just a figment of his imagination | 55:48 | |
| to see a world of good and evil? | 55:51 | |
| And thereby, have a way of seeing | 55:54 | |
| who he was, or wanted to be | 55:57 | |
| and what such being in such a world | 56:01 | |
| came down to when he was walking down the street. | 56:03 | |
| Wasn't there a song in the 60s with lyrics, | 56:09 | |
| something like, | 56:13 | |
| someday they'll declare a war, | 56:15 | |
| and nobody's going to come. | 56:19 | |
| Now there's an image, | 56:23 | |
| a party, sure. | 56:24 | |
| Everyone dreads the possibility of a party | 56:26 | |
| thrown to which no one comes. | 56:28 | |
| But a war, | 56:30 | |
| and nobody come... | 56:31 | |
| So, they let the air out of the tires, | 56:35 | |
| and drove the truck away. | 56:38 | |
| What I want to say this morning, | 56:41 | |
| is that one of the things we mean by salvation, | 56:44 | |
| both Jews and Christians, | 56:48 | |
| is that almighty God, | 56:52 | |
| if we will allow it, | 56:53 | |
| will so stir and shape our imaginations | 56:55 | |
| that we be saved from death by boredom. | 56:59 | |
| For those of us who are Jews, | 57:06 | |
| the metaphor is the Passover. | 57:08 | |
| A people 300 years in captivity making bricks, | 57:12 | |
| and God sends Moses to stir their imaginations. | 57:18 | |
| Rise up and get out! | 57:21 | |
| This is no way to live. | 57:23 | |
| This is not the way I created you, | 57:25 | |
| intended you to be. | 57:26 | |
| Now, most of them preferred what was familiar, | 57:31 | |
| and that's what they said | 57:35 | |
| when they got to the Red Sea, | 57:36 | |
| and felt that they were trapped. | 57:37 | |
| "Why did we ever leave?" | 57:40 | |
| They said the same thing when they had no food | 57:43 | |
| in the wilderness. | 57:45 | |
| And they said they preferred Egypt | 57:47 | |
| when they got tired of eating so much manna | 57:49 | |
| in the wilderness. | 57:51 | |
| "Where are the onions we enjoyed in Egypt?" | 57:53 | |
| Back to making bricks. | 57:57 | |
| But there was this vision for some. | 58:02 | |
| Call it hope, or image. | 58:06 | |
| They had this image of a promised land, | 58:09 | |
| and it drew some of them out of past slavery | 58:13 | |
| toward a future which was different. | 58:16 | |
| Their life was hard, | 58:19 | |
| but they were neither bored, | 58:20 | |
| nor boring people. | 58:22 | |
| A rebel, | 58:25 | |
| but they were going some place, | 58:26 | |
| and most of us are not. | 58:29 | |
| The Lord God almighty had stirred | 58:33 | |
| their imaginations. | 58:35 | |
| For Christians, the metaphor is Easter, | 58:39 | |
| just a figment of the imagination. | 58:45 | |
| The friends of Jesus saw some heavyweights | 58:52 | |
| blow out the candle on the alter, | 58:57 | |
| and they went away afraid, | 58:59 | |
| and very sad. | 59:00 | |
| And after the sabbath they came back | 59:04 | |
| to put away the candlestick, | 59:06 | |
| and they saw that the candle | 59:09 | |
| was not out, | 59:12 | |
| but burning. | 59:13 | |
| There were two things which we know, | 59:16 | |
| there are two things for which we know for sure. | 59:18 | |
| We know that they said that, | 59:21 | |
| that that was their experience. | 59:22 | |
| And we know that they drove a lot of stuck trucks | 59:26 | |
| out from underneath underpasses | 59:29 | |
| by the illumination of that candle | 59:34 | |
| which was burning on the third day. | 59:37 | |
| They came to understand many things | 59:41 | |
| which had gone before, | 59:45 | |
| that Jesus had said and done | 59:47 | |
| in a new light, | 59:49 | |
| in a new way. | 59:51 | |
| The information had all been there | 59:51 | |
| just as it was for the truck driver. | 59:54 | |
| But the old information became | 59:56 | |
| exceedingly alive and exciting. | 59:58 | |
| The candle was alive, Jesus alive. | 1:00:00 | |
| Therefore, | 1:00:04 | |
| they now knew | 1:00:07 | |
| that that day | 1:00:09 | |
| spring from on high had visited them. | 1:00:10 | |
| Therefore, they knew that the last | 1:00:14 | |
| would be first. | 1:00:16 | |
| The master would be the servant. | 1:00:18 | |
| That there would be wars declared | 1:00:20 | |
| to which no one would come. | 1:00:22 | |
| There would be speechless people speaking, | 1:00:26 | |
| deaf hearing, | 1:00:29 | |
| adulterers restored to righteousness. | 1:00:30 | |
| Wine for weddings, | 1:00:33 | |
| middle-aged men picking up paper on Elm Street, | 1:00:34 | |
| and putting it in the container | 1:00:37 | |
| with the swinging top. | 1:00:38 | |
| Say, creative imagination, if you like. | 1:00:43 | |
| What we find in the post Easter church | 1:00:47 | |
| is a burst of creative imagination, | 1:00:50 | |
| call it gift of God. | 1:00:53 | |
| Jerome Bruner calls it, | 1:00:55 | |
| the knowledge of the left hand. | 1:00:57 | |
| The recognition of a new pattern of truth, | 1:01:01 | |
| born of facts which were already there. | 1:01:03 | |
| So, the healing of blind Bartimaeus, | 1:01:09 | |
| the healing of the paralytic, | 1:01:12 | |
| the exorcism of the demons in Decapolis. | 1:01:14 | |
| These events became for the early disciples | 1:01:17 | |
| in the creative imagination of Easter, | 1:01:23 | |
| in the light of Christ alive. | 1:01:26 | |
| These events became a way of seeing the future | 1:01:28 | |
| present in their own time. | 1:01:33 | |
| They became, | 1:01:35 | |
| not just miracles of good fortune, | 1:01:36 | |
| for a few wounded human beings. | 1:01:38 | |
| But these events of healing became the first | 1:01:42 | |
| harbingers of an eternal spring, | 1:01:46 | |
| a new creation by the power | 1:01:48 | |
| of the ultimate creator. | 1:01:50 | |
| The dying of an old order, | 1:01:52 | |
| the birth of a new. | 1:01:53 | |
| The dying of Christ, | 1:01:56 | |
| the birth of a new age raised with Christ. | 1:02:01 | |
| They were astonished, surprised. | 1:02:04 | |
| They were shocked by the recognition | 1:02:06 | |
| that they now saw so many old and familiar | 1:02:09 | |
| patterns and events in new ways. | 1:02:12 | |
| Like the truck driver who had been shaking | 1:02:17 | |
| his head at his truck jammed under | 1:02:19 | |
| the underpass. | 1:02:21 | |
| Knowing that the tires could be deflated, | 1:02:23 | |
| but not knowing it. | 1:02:26 | |
| Until a small boy shared his different way | 1:02:29 | |
| of seeing. | 1:02:32 | |
| We look to the Easter event, | 1:02:38 | |
| and some to Passover, | 1:02:41 | |
| as specific points of beginning, | 1:02:44 | |
| as unrepeated event. | 1:02:47 | |
| The perception of which evoked new ways | 1:02:50 | |
| of knowing, | 1:02:53 | |
| but we also have a sense of the ongoing-ness | 1:02:56 | |
| of such creative imagination in each generation. | 1:02:58 | |
| Take children working 10 hours a day | 1:03:02 | |
| in factories, | 1:03:06 | |
| it had to be that way, it was a given. | 1:03:08 | |
| The factories needed the labor, | 1:03:12 | |
| the families needed the money. | 1:03:14 | |
| The truck was stuck under the underpass, | 1:03:16 | |
| but eventually, the creative imagination | 1:03:21 | |
| of Easter, | 1:03:25 | |
| which was smoldering in the soot-covered churches | 1:03:26 | |
| at the factory door erupted. | 1:03:28 | |
| And it became joyfully clear | 1:03:31 | |
| that if Christ is risen, | 1:03:33 | |
| factories don't need to abuse children. | 1:03:34 | |
| I'm not saying that Christians did it. | 1:03:37 | |
| I'm saying that Easter is a way | 1:03:41 | |
| of viewing the world, | 1:03:42 | |
| an image filled with power | 1:03:44 | |
| to break present patterns of things familiar. | 1:03:46 | |
| And that Christians are the people who praise God | 1:03:49 | |
| for Easter's burning candle held against | 1:03:52 | |
| the shadow of the factory floor. | 1:03:55 | |
| I am saying that within the last 10 years, | 1:04:00 | |
| creative imagination has erupted, | 1:04:04 | |
| and we find it wrong now to ignore and hide | 1:04:07 | |
| our brain-damaged children. | 1:04:11 | |
| And find it right and good to invest | 1:04:14 | |
| our resources to help them fulfill | 1:04:16 | |
| their potential. | 1:04:18 | |
| Within the last 10 years, | 1:04:21 | |
| the familiar and accepted patterns | 1:04:22 | |
| of relationships between men and women. | 1:04:25 | |
| Patterns of domination and abuse | 1:04:28 | |
| covered with sweet language, | 1:04:31 | |
| the lies of tongue and pen | 1:04:33 | |
| is now being seen in the light | 1:04:37 | |
| of creative imagination. | 1:04:40 | |
| Figment to some, | 1:04:42 | |
| which puts what is familiar in new perspective, | 1:04:45 | |
| and which makes unacceptable | 1:04:48 | |
| what was once called natural and good. | 1:04:51 | |
| The ride of Moses smites the sea, | 1:04:54 | |
| and women and children begin a journey, | 1:04:57 | |
| which will be exceedingly hard, | 1:05:03 | |
| but not boring. | 1:05:07 | |
| The shock, | 1:05:10 | |
| the surprise of recognition, | 1:05:12 | |
| which is so central to Passover and Easter | 1:05:14 | |
| continues to break forth in each generation. | 1:05:18 | |
| That's the point. | 1:05:22 | |
| Blacks ride in the back of the bus, | 1:05:25 | |
| don't eat in this restaurant, | 1:05:28 | |
| live on this block, | 1:05:30 | |
| study in these schools. | 1:05:31 | |
| Or sing in Constitution Hall, | 1:05:32 | |
| and it goes on that way for years and years. | 1:05:34 | |
| While Easter smolders in ivy-covered churches, | 1:05:37 | |
| and sings quietly in black souls. | 1:05:41 | |
| Until Easter comes to flame, | 1:05:45 | |
| and the Christ who is dead is raised | 1:05:48 | |
| in Montgomery. | 1:05:50 | |
| The martyrs who saw it long before and died, | 1:05:52 | |
| are raised, | 1:05:56 | |
| and white men embrace black men with tears | 1:05:58 | |
| in their eyes, | 1:06:00 | |
| and white women call black women sisters. | 1:06:01 | |
| And we who have been through it all say, | 1:06:06 | |
| of course, | 1:06:09 | |
| there was a time when educational endowments | 1:06:13 | |
| were seen to be ruled by only one concern. | 1:06:17 | |
| To earn the highest dollar for the purpose | 1:06:20 | |
| for which they were given. | 1:06:22 | |
| But now there is at least one modifying | 1:06:24 | |
| way of seeing it. | 1:06:27 | |
| The highest dollar, | 1:06:30 | |
| but not if the extra dime is carried | 1:06:32 | |
| on the backs of indentured South African blacks. | 1:06:35 | |
| There is a time called examinations, | 1:06:41 | |
| when in some pockets of our culture | 1:06:44 | |
| a man or a woman's whole worth is said | 1:06:47 | |
| to hinge on letters A through F. | 1:06:50 | |
| But for some, | 1:06:54 | |
| examination is only one part of Easter's world | 1:06:57 | |
| where death by grade is banished, | 1:07:00 | |
| and worth is love's gift, | 1:07:04 | |
| and love is worth's measure. | 1:07:07 | |
| Just as we once said that some children | 1:07:13 | |
| should be hidden, | 1:07:15 | |
| some work in factories, | 1:07:17 | |
| and that life leads only to death. | 1:07:19 | |
| So we still say, | 1:07:23 | |
| that competition is the only style of learning, | 1:07:25 | |
| that unions make people lazy, | 1:07:29 | |
| that oil companies will not tolerate | 1:07:32 | |
| windfall tax. | 1:07:34 | |
| That Americans will not tolerate rationing, | 1:07:36 | |
| that nuclear warfare is inevitable. | 1:07:38 | |
| That faithfulness in monogamous marriage | 1:07:41 | |
| is too high a goal. | 1:07:43 | |
| That the only motivation is what's good for me, | 1:07:46 | |
| and we sit here in these pews this morning | 1:07:49 | |
| and know deep in our hearts | 1:07:52 | |
| that the element in truth in all of that, | 1:07:53 | |
| that it can't happen because it's a part | 1:07:58 | |
| of the very self that's sitting here. | 1:08:02 | |
| (coughing) | 1:08:05 | |
| We need not be liars, | 1:08:07 | |
| creative imagination does not mean | 1:08:09 | |
| to hide the truth. | 1:08:11 | |
| But it sure means to see things differently. | 1:08:14 | |
| To live by a metaphor, | 1:08:17 | |
| which encompasses the whole of | 1:08:19 | |
| the human experience. | 1:08:21 | |
| Part of it constantly surprising us | 1:08:24 | |
| by evoking recognition of familiar things | 1:08:26 | |
| in patterns, | 1:08:30 | |
| which are now new. | 1:08:31 | |
| Which let us move ahead, change, | 1:08:34 | |
| pick up paper on Elm Street. | 1:08:37 | |
| Let the air out of tires so that stuck trucks | 1:08:39 | |
| can be driven away. | 1:08:42 | |
| Take examinations without fear of our life. | 1:08:43 | |
| Divest without fear of destroying a university. | 1:08:46 | |
| Marry without fear of divorce, | 1:08:51 | |
| and divorce, | 1:08:54 | |
| if that be less evil than a given marriage, | 1:08:55 | |
| without fear of rotting in hell forever. | 1:08:59 | |
| There are two things which are a part of | 1:09:06 | |
| the witness. | 1:09:09 | |
| There is a once forever historical event, | 1:09:13 | |
| call it Passover for some, | 1:09:15 | |
| Easter for others of us. | 1:09:17 | |
| Metaphors by which we live, | 1:09:20 | |
| a candle blown out and still burning. | 1:09:23 | |
| The son of God crucified, dead and buried, | 1:09:26 | |
| raised. | 1:09:28 | |
| Embraced by faith, | 1:09:31 | |
| that is the figment of our imagination, | 1:09:35 | |
| which we acknowledge is not of our making, | 1:09:37 | |
| but gift of God. | 1:09:39 | |
| A new way of seeing, | 1:09:41 | |
| which evokes new meaning and promise, | 1:09:42 | |
| and hope. | 1:09:46 | |
| But the second part is that this is always | 1:09:49 | |
| a new event. | 1:09:53 | |
| That the stone is always being rolled away. | 1:09:56 | |
| The dead Christ appearing, | 1:10:00 | |
| it comes forth a new way of seeing | 1:10:04 | |
| in each generation of world, | 1:10:06 | |
| which is full of promise. | 1:10:08 | |
| There is always Passover in each generation | 1:10:15 | |
| when God sends a new Moses to say to his people, | 1:10:20 | |
| rise and go, | 1:10:23 | |
| by promise, you were created. | 1:10:24 | |
| It is the beauty, the possibilities, | 1:10:30 | |
| the shocked recognition of | 1:10:33 | |
| our bestirred imagination. | 1:10:34 | |
| Which sings in the words of Mary, | 1:10:37 | |
| which the president read. | 1:10:38 | |
| (coughing) | 1:10:40 | |
| He has scattered the proud | 1:10:42 | |
| in the imagination of their hearts. | 1:10:44 | |
| He hath put down the mighty from their seats. | 1:10:47 | |
| Exalted them of low degree, | 1:10:50 | |
| filled the hungry with good things, | 1:10:52 | |
| the rich sent empty, away. | 1:10:53 | |
| It is this new way of seeing things, | 1:10:58 | |
| which allow some of us to say with Paul, | 1:11:00 | |
| I am not ashamed of the gospel. | 1:11:03 | |
| It is the power of salvation from boredom, | 1:11:05 | |
| to everyone who has faith. | 1:11:09 | |
| To the Jew first, and also to the Greek, | 1:11:12 | |
| and others of us simply say, | 1:11:16 | |
| we have to live east of Eden, | 1:11:19 | |
| that's our home. | 1:11:20 | |
| But by the grace of God, | 1:11:23 | |
| we do not have to make bricks forever as slaves | 1:11:24 | |
| in Egypt. | 1:11:27 | |
| There is a promised land. | 1:11:28 | |
| Its Lord is our Lord. | 1:11:30 | |
| Luring us out of death by boredom into trouble, | 1:11:33 | |
| and joy. | 1:11:38 | |
| To such a journey I commend you, | 1:11:39 | |
| the peace of God be with you. | 1:11:43 | |
| Amen. | 1:11:46 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 1:11:49 | |
| (coughing) | 1:12:05 | |
| (organ music) | 1:12:09 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 1:12:27 | |
| ♪ And rejoice ♪ | 1:12:58 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 1:13:06 | |
| ♪ His mercy lives forever ♪ | 1:14:38 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 1:14:44 | |
| (organ music) | 1:15:06 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 1:15:17 | |
| ♪ Give grace and glory ♪ | 1:15:46 | |
| ♪ Evermore ♪ | 1:15:50 | |
| (organ music) | 1:15:58 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:16:08 | |
| - | As a closing act of thanksgiving and commitment, | 1:16:28 |
| let us join together for our unison prayer | 1:16:32 | |
| of gratitude and hope. | 1:16:36 | |
| Let us pray. | 1:16:39 | |
| Almighty God, | 1:16:41 | |
| who has granted us place and part | 1:16:43 | |
| in this university, | 1:16:45 | |
| hallow to us now this day. | 1:16:48 | |
| And we dedicate ourselves to the life and work | 1:16:51 | |
| to which you have here called us. | 1:16:54 | |
| That we may remember with gratitude, | 1:16:58 | |
| the families and friends who have cared for us, | 1:17:00 | |
| we ask your presence, oh God. | 1:17:04 | |
| That in the life ahead of us, | 1:17:07 | |
| we may keep faith with those who have loved us, | 1:17:10 | |
| and trusted us, | 1:17:13 | |
| and who's hopes follow us. | 1:17:15 | |
| We ask your presence, oh God. | 1:17:17 | |
| That we may enter with good courage, | 1:17:21 | |
| and constant purpose upon the tasks | 1:17:23 | |
| which await us. | 1:17:26 | |
| We ask Your presence, oh God, | 1:17:28 | |
| from all sense of strangeness and loneliness, | 1:17:31 | |
| and from the fear that we may fail, | 1:17:35 | |
| and may find no friends. | 1:17:38 | |
| Good Lord, deliver us from neglect | 1:17:40 | |
| of the opportunities, which are all about us. | 1:17:44 | |
| And from distrust of our ability | 1:17:48 | |
| to meet the duties of each dawning day. | 1:17:50 | |
| Good Lord, deliver us | 1:17:53 | |
| that the example of wise and generous people, | 1:17:56 | |
| who have gone before us here at this university | 1:18:00 | |
| may save us from folly and self-indulgence. | 1:18:04 | |
| We ask your presence, oh God. | 1:18:08 | |
| More especially that you would show to us | 1:18:11 | |
| and to all people, | 1:18:15 | |
| the way of love in a time desperately | 1:18:17 | |
| in need of those who care. | 1:18:20 | |
| We ask Your presence, oh God. | 1:18:23 | |
| These things, and whatever else you see needful | 1:18:26 | |
| and right for us, | 1:18:30 | |
| we ask in Your holy name, | 1:18:32 | |
| amen. | 1:18:35 | |
| (organ music) | 1:18:37 | |
| (people singing loudly) | 1:19:12 | |
| - | Go now in love and peace, my friend, | 1:22:26 |
| and as you go, | 1:22:32 | |
| may you find fulfillment in serving, | 1:22:33 | |
| joy in loving, | 1:22:37 | |
| satisfaction in working, | 1:22:41 | |
| and peace in believing. | 1:22:44 | |
| And may the love and peace of God | 1:22:48 | |
| be with you this day, | 1:22:51 | |
| and every day to come. | 1:22:55 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:58 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:05 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:12 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:17 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:25 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:35 | |
| ♪ Amen ♪ | 1:23:47 | |
| (coughing) | 1:24:02 | |
| (organ music) | 1:24:03 | |
| (congregation stirring) | 1:30:15 |
