Peter J. Gomes - "Friends of God and Prophets" Baccalaureate Service (May 10, 1981)

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	(high pitch humming)	0:06
	(indistinct chattering)	0:53
	(uplifting music)	0:59
	(soft music)	4:19
	(uplifting music)	8:31
	(choir music)	11:08
	(uplifting music)	12:24
-	Now may grace, mercy, and peace be yours	16:42
	from the Lord our blessed God on this holy day	16:45
	and in this festival hour of worship	16:49
	as we gather in joy and celebration	16:54
	to sing praise, to share in community with one another,	16:57
	to hear God's holy word read and proclaimed	17:02
	and to offer our lives anew in service to God	17:06
	and to one another.	17:10
	Please be seated.	17:13
	Will you join with me as we offer to God	17:33
	this unison prayer of confession, let us pray.	17:36
	O holy and merciful Lord our God,	17:42
	we confess that we have sinned against you in thought,	17:46
	in word, and in deed, have mercy upon us.	17:49
	We have thought of ourselves more highly than we ought,	17:55
	imagining ourselves better than the least of your children.	17:59
	Have mercy upon us.	18:03
	We have spoken words to advance our own cause,	18:06
	pleading our selfish desires against the cries	18:10
	of human need, have mercy upon us,	18:13
	we have done the works of self righteousness,	18:17
	laboring for the satisfactions of privilege	18:21
	instead of the joys of service.	18:24
	Have mercy upon us.	18:27
	We have not loved you purely because we have not loved	18:29
	our neighbor with our whole heart.	18:33
	Have mercy upon us.	18:36
	Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts	18:39
	and the words of our mouths	18:41
	that the deeds of our lives	18:43
	may be an acceptable sacrifice unto you.	18:45
	For the sake of your son, our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,	18:48
	amen.	18:53
	(soft music)	19:03
	We know that in everything,	19:37
	God works for good with those who love God.	19:38
	As we confess our sins, God is faithful and just	19:43
	and will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.	19:46
	God grant you peace and hope and the assurance	19:52
	that your sins are forgiven, amen.	19:57
	Let us give thanks for God is good	20:03
	and God's love is everlasting.	20:07
	Thanks be to God whose love has made us.	20:10
	Thanks be to God whose mercy forgives us.	20:15
	Thanks be to God whose promise secures us, amen.	20:19
	May I welcome you, each of you, to this very, very	20:25
	special service of worship in Duke Chapel	20:29
	and at Duke University,	20:32
	this the third of our baccalaureate services worship	20:33
	for the graduating class of 1981.	20:37
	May I congratulate each of you who will be honored	20:41
	by receiving a degree today, congratulate you for	20:44
	the hard word, the efforts, the achievement,	20:47
	and oncoming to this very, very special moment	20:50
	in your life.	20:53
	We're pleased to have parents, other members of the family,	20:55
	husbands, wives, friends, all of you who have come to share	21:00
	in this very special day with your son or daughter	21:05
	or husband or wife or friend.	21:09
	May it indeed be a time of worship, of joy,	21:11
	of real celebration for you, indeed, for all of us	21:14
	as we gather here in this place, this day.	21:18
	Just one word, though,	21:22
	the weather we're experiencing today is not Duke weather,	21:24
	this is Carolina weather, you folks ought to know,	21:27
	and in case you parents or other friends may be here	21:32
	for the first time, take a good look at where	21:36
	your son or daughter is, I wanna tell you	21:38
	that's where they sit every Sunday morning.	21:40
	A time of joy for us all for which we give thanks.	21:48
	The Reverend Dr. Peter Gomes is minister in Memorial Church	21:53
	and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals	21:58
	at Harvard University.	22:01
	At the present time he is studying at Emmanuel college,	22:04
	Cambridge University in England, is on sabbatical leave	22:08
	and has returned to this country to preach for us	22:12
	here at Duke on this baccalaureate weekend,	22:16
	this graduation weekend.	22:19
	Peter and I are colleagues and very dear friends	22:21
	and in that capacity, Peter it is good to welcome you	22:26
	back to Duke.	22:29
	He has preached here at Duke many times	22:30
	and has always been warmly and appreciatively received.	22:32
	In December 1979, Time Magazine honored him	22:37
	by naming him one of the seven most outstanding preachers	22:41
	in this country, an honor that he rightly deserves.	22:44
	He is a scholar, a writer, pastor, and a preacher.	22:50
	In all of these capacities, we welcome you back	22:56
	and we look forward to the word as you will preach to us	22:59
	on this very special day.	23:02
	God bless you.	23:04
-	As our distinguished preacher will tell us this morning,	23:11
	knowledge leads to the safe decision, the secure decision,	23:16
	where wisdom leads to the creative approach,	23:23
	the risk taking in life, and I want you to know	23:28
	that we are not relying on knowledge but attempting wisdom	23:31
	and we're going to have the exercises outside	23:35
	on each campus.	23:38
	(applauding)	23:41
	Now he will not tell us in his sermon	23:49
	how we know whether we have wisdom or not,	23:51
	it's a chance you take.	23:53
	Let us pray.	23:58
	Blessed Lord who has caused all holy scriptures	24:00
	to be written for our learning,	24:02
	grant that we may in such ways hear them,	24:05
	read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them	24:08
	that by patience and comfort of your holy word,	24:12
	we may embrace and ever hold fast,	24:15
	the blessed hope of everlasting life	24:18
	which you have given us and our savior, Jesus Christ,	24:21
	amen.	24:24
	The lesson from the apocrypha is Wisdom of Solomon	24:27
	chapter seven verses 17 through 28.	24:32
	For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,	24:37
	to know the structure of the world	24:41
	and the activity of the elements;	24:43
	the beginning and end and middle of times,	24:45
	the alternations of the solstices	24:48
	and the changes of the seasons,	24:50
	the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,	24:53
	the natures of animals and the tempers of wild beasts,	24:57
	the powers of spirits and the reasonings of men.	25:01
	I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,	25:07
	for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.	25:10
	For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent,	25:16
	holy, unique, manifold, subtle, distinct,	25:18
	loving the good, overseeing all, and penetrating through all	25:23
	spirits that are intelligent and pure and most subtle.	25:28
	For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;	25:32
	because of her pureness she pervades	25:35
	and penetrates all things.	25:38
	For she is a breath of the power of God,	25:40
	and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty.	25:42
	For she is a reflection of eternal light,	25:46
	a spotless mirror of the working of God,	25:49
	and an image of his goodness.	25:52
	Though she is but one, she can do all things,	25:55
	and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;	25:58
	in every generation she passes into holy souls	26:03
	and makes them friends of God, and prophets;	26:08
	for God loves nothing so much	26:12
	as the man who lives with wisdom.	26:15
	Here ends the reading from the Apocrypha.	26:18
	(soft music)	26:28
	(choir music)	26:33
	The epistle lesson is from Romans.	28:46
	We know that in everything God works for good	28:50
	with those who love him and who are called	28:53
	according to his purpose.	28:56
	For those who he foreknew he also predestined	28:58
	to be conformed to the image of his Son,	29:02
	an order that he might be the firstborn	29:05
	among many brethren.	29:07
	And those whom he predestined,	29:08
	he also called and those whom he called	29:10
	he also justified and those whom he justified,	29:13
	he also glorified.	29:16
	What, then, shall we say to this?	29:20
	If God is for us, who is against us?	29:23
	He who did not spare his own son but gave him up	29:27
	for us all, will he not also give us all things	29:31
	with him?	29:34
	Is it Christ Jesus who died, yes,	29:36
	who was raised from the dead,	29:39
	who is at the right hand of God, who indeed	29:40
	intercedes for us.	29:44
	Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?	29:46
	Shall tribulation or distress,	29:48
	or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril	29:51
	or sword?	29:54
	In all these things, we are more than conquerors	29:56
	through him who loved us.	29:59
	For I am sure that neither death nor life,	30:01
	nor angels no principalities,	30:04
	nor things present nor things to come,	30:06
	nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else	30:09
	in all creation will be able to separate us	30:13
	from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.	30:16
	Here ends the reading from the Epistle lesson.	30:21
	Will the congregation please stand	30:25
	for the reading of the Gospel?	30:27
	The Gospel lesson is from John chapter 16.	30:33
	A little while and you will see me no more.	30:37
	Again a little while and you will see me.	30:41
	Some of his disciples said to one another,	30:45
	"What is this that he says to us?	30:47
	"What does he mean by a little while?"	30:50
	Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him	30:53
	so he said to them,	30:56
	"Is this what you ask in yourselves?	30:57
	"What I meant by saying a little while	31:00
	"and you will not see me	31:02
	"and again a little while and you will see me.	31:04
	"Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament	31:08
	"but the world will rejoice.	31:12
	"You will be sorrowful but your sorrow will turn into joy.	31:15
	"When a woman is in travail, she has sorrow	31:19
	"because her hour has come	31:21
	"but when she has delivered of the child,	31:23
	"she no longer remembers the anguish,	31:25
	"for joy that a child is born into the world.	31:28
	"So you will have sorrow now but I will see you again	31:31
	"and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy	31:35
	"away from you."	31:39
	Here ends the reading from the Gospel lesson, amen.	31:40
	(uplifting piano music)	31:46
	(choir music)	31:53
	In the name of God, the father, the son,	32:40
	and the holy ghost, amen.	32:43
	I wish to paraphrase a late bishop of London	33:04
	who said before I begin my sermon,	33:10
	I have something to say	33:13
	and what I have to say is to add my greetings,	33:16
	congratulations, and best wishes to the candidates	33:21
	for degrees who fill this chapel	33:26
	and to their families and friends	33:30
	who share this day with them.	33:33
	Where I come from, weather of this sort	33:36
	is always described as Yale weather,	33:39
	so I'm greatly relived to find out	33:44
	that it's the responsibility of Carolina.	33:47
	This is an age of great courage and great faith,	33:51
	Mr. President, and I trust both will be rewarded	33:55
	this afternoon.	33:58
	My text is from the 27th verse of the seventh chapter	34:01
	of the Wisdom of Solomon	34:08
	and from generation to generation,	34:12
	passing into holy souls,	34:16
	wisdom maketh us friends of God	34:19
	and prophets.	34:24
	Friends of God and prophets.	34:26
	A little knowledge, we are told,	34:32
	is a dangerous thing	34:35
	and so applying to this proposition,	34:39
	the rigorous analysis that you have doubtless acquired	34:41
	after four or more years at Duke University,	34:45
	it becomes clear that a great deal of knowledge	34:50
	is even more dangerous.	34:53
	It was such knowledge of the facts of life,	34:57
	of good and evil, that got our first parents,	35:00
	Adam and Eve into such difficulties	35:04
	and when they learned more than was good for them,	35:08
	as you will recall, they were, as it were,	35:12
	graduated from Eden and they were sent east	35:16
	into what we persist in calling the real world.	35:20
	And as they contemplated leaving that garden	35:25
	for the unknown realities that lay beyond it,	35:28
	Adam is said to have said to his wife,	35:32
	"My dear, we live in an age of transition."	35:36
	And thus, he perpetrated the first commencement address.	35:44
	(laughter)	35:49
	Now, word that we all could follow, it's still an example.	35:52
	It was true.	35:57
	It spoke to the condition of his heroes	35:59
	and it was mercifully brief.	36:03
	It began with knowledge, imperfect and misapplied knowledge,	36:06
	and it ended with toil and tears and not a little pain.	36:12
	Now, this may simply be an illustration	36:19
	in search of a sermon but I rather think	36:21
	it not a bad point to remember	36:24
	as we celebrate here in academic festivity	36:27
	the accomplishments of learning and knowledge.	36:31
	Now, amid all the pop of your mortar boards	36:36
	and your tassels,	36:39
	your hired academic plumage and that taken out of mothballs	36:41
	by the faculty, amidst all this assembly	36:46
	of secular knowledge and in this company	36:50
	of the brightest and the best of minds,	36:53
	amidst everything that you see this morning	36:56
	and will experience this afternoon,	36:59
	we need to remember in the words of that immortal	37:02
	theologian Tallulah Bankhead there is less here	37:06
	than meets the eye.	37:10
	President Lowell of Harvard once said that universities	37:17
	were rightfully called repositories of learning	37:21
	because the freshmen brought so much of it in	37:25
	and the seniors took so little of it away.	37:28
	Now that may not be such a bad thing	37:34
	because I am not persuaded any longer	37:37
	that the world needs any more learning,	37:40
	at least the thought of learning	37:45
	with which we amuse ourselves as professors	37:47
	and teachers and students.	37:50
	For generations upon generations at Duke and Harvard	37:54
	and elsewhere, we have produced men and women	37:57
	who know so much more than all of their predecessors	38:01
	put together.	38:05
	In fact, occasions such as thing are usually employed	38:07
	by hired preachers from foreign parts	38:11
	to tell the likes of you that the world has never seen	38:15
	a brighter light than that of the class of 1981	38:20
	and that it can scarcely wait until you are ready	38:25
	to relieve the world from the incompetent management	38:29
	of the class of 1980.	38:33
	The classic commencement address and baccalaureate sermon	38:38
	has long consisted of, what are to me,	38:42
	two inconsistent truisms.	38:45
	The first one is that the graduates are the brightest	38:49
	and the best that learning can buy	38:53
	and the second is that the world has never been	38:55
	in more perilous condition.	38:59
	Now, one of these is almost always certain to be true	39:03
	and perhaps at different times, both of them are true	39:07
	but for each of them to be equally, simultaneously,	39:12
	and always true is a rather depressing judgment	39:16
	upon the capacities of learning to cope	39:21
	with the realities of the world.	39:23
	If, my dear friends, you are brighter and better	39:26
	than your predecessors and the world remains	39:30
	in the sorry state in which we find it,	39:34
	then, perhaps, we are teaching and you are learning	39:38
	the wrong things and perhaps this is why	39:43
	baccalaureate services take place not in the libraries	39:47
	and in the laboratories where most of you	39:52
	have spent most of your time at Duke	39:55
	but rather here, in this odd, sacred,	39:58
	and remote space before the altar of God,	40:02
	in a service of divine worship	40:07
	that does not celebrate what you know	40:10
	or who you are or what you have done	40:14
	but rather reminds you of what you need,	40:18
	what you truly require in here and out there	40:23
	if you are to become what our text calls	40:28
	friends of God and prophets	40:33
	and that is a sonorous praise, friends of God and prophets	40:39
	as befits the Wisdom of Solomon.	40:45
	In all of the books on what it means to be a truly	40:49
	educated man or woman, in all of the essays	40:53
	on the advantages of liberal learning,	40:57
	in all of the courses on relevant educational goals,	41:01
	nowhere is it stated that the object of all of this	41:05
	is to produce each year, a class of friends of God	41:09
	and prophets.	41:14
	I suspect that there is not one seminar here,	41:16
	even in the Divinity school, in which you can learn	41:19
	to be a friend of God or a prophet	41:23
	and that is understandable,	41:27
	we don't have such a course at Harvard either.	41:29
	It is understandable because we are in the business	41:33
	in Durham and in Cambridge of teaching people	41:38
	how to think analytically, imparting knowledge,	41:41
	certifying confidence and skills,	41:46
	we will teach you all how to make a living	41:49
	rather than a life.	41:53
	We will teach you how to take things apart	41:55
	not necessarily to put them back together again.	41:59
	We will make you smart or smarter	42:03
	but not wise and the pity of all of this is	42:06
	that you deserve and we require so much more than this.	42:10
	Where is the life we have lost in living?	42:17
	Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?	42:20
	Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?	42:24
	The cycles of heaven in 20 centuries	42:29
	bring us farther from God and nearer to the dust	42:32
	not the Wisdom of Solomon but the poetry of T. S. Eliot.	42:37
	Foolish and ungrateful is the person who says	42:43
	you don't need to know what you have learned.	42:47
	Science, technology, the liberal and humane arts	42:51
	have taught and continued to teach us and to help us	42:56
	make our way in the world	42:59
	but perhaps the most important thing they teach us	43:02
	is that they, themselves, are not sufficient unto the day	43:07
	nor have they ever been sufficient in themselves	43:12
	to the needs of this world.	43:16
	How else can we explain the fact	43:20
	that education as such has not solved our problems	43:22
	but has simply made us more aware of them?	43:27
	The techniques, for example, of the Columbia space shuttle	43:32
	is truly miraculous.	43:35
	The fantasies of millennia have now become real	43:38
	by the skill of hand and mind and yet in the face	43:42
	of such a remarkable and valid accomplishment,	43:46
	how is it that we have not yet learned	43:52
	what it takes to make the world more peaceful	43:56
	and habitable?	43:59
	We do not yet know how to make our families	44:01
	and our friendships more secure and loving	44:04
	and our hearts yet need to learn how to be inclined	44:08
	to justice, beauty, and truth.	44:14
	The text says that there is more to it than all of this	44:19
	and that is because wise old Solomon knew	44:25
	that learning was simply a means to a larger end	44:28
	and that end in his homely phrase	44:32
	was friendship with God.	44:36
	To be intimate with God, a friend,	44:40
	was to share in God's vision for the world,	44:43
	to share God's labor for the world	44:47
	because we share in God's love for the world.	44:49
	To be a friend of God and a prophet is to share all these	44:54
	with God and to share them with the world	44:59
	and it is by the divine wisdom	45:03
	that we are enabled to do this.	45:06
	Someone has said that wisdom is that which remains	45:10
	after you have forgotten everything you learned.	45:15
	Better, perhaps, is the view that wisdom is what you do	45:20
	with what you know	45:25
	and the divine wisdom is simply this:	45:28
	that you put to God's service	45:31
	and the needs of God's people	45:35
	the human knowledge and skills that are now yours.	45:38
	By discerning and doing God's will,	45:45
	we become his friends and we become prophets.	45:48
	That is wise men and wise women who are able to live	45:53
	as God would have them live	45:58
	despite and because the times	46:01
	in which they are found.	46:04
	Now in this enterprise in which wisdom is the doing	46:08
	of the will of God will our human learning, your skills	46:13
	and knowledge and competence, we are reminded in the words	46:17
	of Alfred North Whitehead that all education,	46:22
	not just Sunday education,	46:26
	not just so-called Christian education but all education	46:28
	is fundamentally religious.	46:34
	It belongs not alone to us	46:38
	and is not for ourselves alone but is to be shared.	46:41
	We are reminded of this sharing by the text itself	46:46
	from generation to generation.	46:50
	There is an education, the glory of continuity	46:54
	and the constant reminder unto humiliation	46:58
	that you and I about trustees or stewards	47:02
	of a great process, a great cultivation	47:06
	and exchange of ideas,	47:10
	experiences, hopes, and ambitions	47:12
	that were before we were	47:16
	and will be after we are gone.	47:19
	From generation to generation reminds us	47:23
	that we are not alone but are rather a part	47:28
	of that great continuity of human effort	47:31
	and divine providence whereby what we are	47:34
	and have is the result of the labors of those now gone	47:38
	and for the benefit of those yet to come.	47:43
	Many of you parents see this day in your sons	47:48
	and in your daughters, opportunities and hopes	47:53
	that were perhaps denied to you	47:57
	but are now begun in them	48:01
	and generations yet unborn are the heirs of these efforts	48:05
	that are begun here today by these candidates.	48:10
	Knowledge may be first person singular	48:15
	but wisdom is always plural.	48:19
	It belongs to the community.	48:23
	Passing into holy souls is meant to suggest	48:28
	the activity of wisdom,	48:33
	a process rather than a state,	48:36
	a process which depends upon activity and receptivity,	48:39
	the divine use of human things, wisdom is active,	48:45
	it is a burn and the text suggests the liveliness	48:51
	of the process as part of the creativity of God.	48:55
	As we say of faith, so to must we say of wisdom,	49:00
	don't keep it but pass it on and this means today,	49:05
	particularly today,	49:10
	taking risks and sharing in adventure.	49:12
	Here for example is where wisdom and common sense,	49:18
	so-called, often part company.	49:22
	For sense, as we understand it, almost always means safety	49:26
	and security, it is the obvious	49:32
	and the standard option	49:35
	whereas wisdom is lively and risky	49:38
	and adventurous.	49:42
	Sense tells us that the only realities are	49:45
	death and taxes.	49:49
	Sense tells us that you can't fight city hall.	49:52
	Sense tells us better be safe than sorry	49:57
	so stay inside this afternoon.	50:02
	And sense tells us, in the words of that classical	50:06
	little old lady from Dubuque that if God had intended	50:10
	man to fly, he would not have invented the railroad.	50:15
	And yet, passing into holy souls suggests	50:23
	both an activity and a receptivity	50:28
	which can confront the world with what Saint Paul	50:33
	dares to call the foolishness of God.	50:38
	But the promise of this text is that by wisdom,	50:45
	not only should we become wise but we should become friends	50:50
	of God and prophets,	50:55
	that is a bold and unfamiliar claim.	50:58
	Friendships, true authentic friendships are not always	51:03
	easy things and are not always easily come by.	51:08
	In fact, we speak so seldom of friendships these days.	51:13
	For example, none of my colleagues in Cambridge	51:19
	have friendships anymore.	51:23
	They now all have relationships,	51:26
	most of which are said to be meaningful.	51:30
	Now I am not certain what a meaningful relationship is	51:35
	and I don't think that the text is improved	51:40
	by the translation wisdom maketh us have	51:43
	meaningful relationships with God.	51:47
	No, friendship is what it says	51:50
	and friendship is what it means	51:52
	and what it suggests is an intimacy that transcends	51:55
	both good times and bad times	51:59
	and that is more than a convenient liaison.	52:03
	To be wise is to want to be	52:08
	intimate friendly with God	52:10
	and his vision for a transformed world	52:14
	and when I think of friends of God,	52:18
	I think of such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta	52:20
	or Martin Luther King in Atlanta	52:24
	or that man or woman known perhaps only to you or to me	52:27
	who in God's name does what he can with what he has	52:32
	where he is.	52:37
	The friends of God are friends of the people of God	52:39
	and they defriend the creation in order to fulfill in it	52:43
	what God would have it become.	52:48
	As such, they become prophets, wise people,	52:50
	who move like the magi of old	52:56
	by the most important site available inside.	52:59
	A prophet is a friend of God, a man or woman of vision	53:05
	who, because of that vision, uses his gifts for God	53:10
	and the people of God wherever they are to be found	53:14
	and wherever they are needed.	53:18
	Now that future,	53:24
	that bright beckoning elusive future	53:26
	for which you all have prayed and played	53:30
	and paid and worked,	53:34
	that which one seemed so far away	53:36
	is now, for better or worse, right here.	53:40
	It is very much like Gertrude Stein's description	53:45
	of trying to find California.	53:48
	She says, when you get there, there isn't any there there,	53:51
	it's only here.	53:56
	The world they say is in a terrible state,	53:59
	there are wars and rumors of war	54:02
	and there is the general sense that despite	54:04
	the best efforts of the class of 1981,	54:06
	things will get worse before they get better.	54:10
	As Woody Allen might say,	54:13
	I have seen the future and it is very much like the present	54:15
	only longer. (laughter)	54:19
	The future, whatever it might be, does not appear	54:24
	to be as bold or as bright or as promising	54:28
	as once it did and people all over the world	54:31
	and people, perhaps even some of you in this church today,	54:36
	are quite frankly afraid.	54:41
	In the minds of most people, writes Jacob Bronowski	54:46
	in his little essay, A Sense of the Future,	54:49
	in the minds of most people, fear is plainly uppermost.	54:52
	They are afraid of the future and if you ask them why,	54:58
	they conveniently blame the atomic bomb	55:03
	but the atomic bomb is only the scapegoat for our fears.	55:07
	We are not afraid of the future because of a bomb,	55:12
	we are afraid of bombs	55:16
	because we have no faith in the future.	55:18
	And yet it is into precisely such a future as that,	55:24
	bombs and all, that you are called, whether or not	55:28
	you are ready for it or it for you.	55:32
	So, what else is new?	55:37
	Few days ago, I went to Salisbury Cathedral in England	55:41
	and as I left the quiet pastoral confines	55:46
	of the Cathedral close, for the bustle and rustle	55:49
	of the high street, I passed a little antique shop	55:52
	hard by the white hot hotel	55:56
	and in the door of this little antique shop	56:00
	was a tiny neat lettered sign	56:02
	which said Nothing New Here.	56:05
	Now how reassuring for an antique shop	56:10
	and how depressingly accurate is it as a description	56:14
	of a world and age that insists upon how modern it is	56:18
	by simply giving new names to old vices.	56:24
	Farrow said it all when he said, all our progress	56:29
	is but improved means to unimproved ends	56:34
	and yet despite that and because of that,	56:40
	the message that we have been given that is yours now,	56:44
	the news that we have to bring is not called the new news	56:49
	but rather the good news.	56:54
	Proclaimed in all places and in all times by people,	56:57
	not unlike ourselves who are called, not necessarily to be	57:01
	successful but who are called always to be faithful.	57:05
	To be friends of God and prophets	57:12
	in this world is not an easy task	57:16
	but then again, it never was	57:21
	and it may be tempting soon to give up the visions,	57:24
	the ideals and the hopes and yield over these efforts	57:28
	to the next generation but now, of course,	57:32
	comes the sobering realization	57:36
	that you are the next generation	57:38
	and so it falls to you and to us to keep on	57:43
	keeping on.	57:48
	Friends of God and prophets are those of whom Eliot writes	57:50
	when he says and right action is freedom	57:56
	from past and future also.	58:00
	For most of us, this is the aim,	58:04
	never here to be realized;	58:07
	who are only undefeated	58:10
	because we have gone on trying.	58:13
	Who are only undefeated	58:17
	because we have gone on trying.	58:19
	The future is not made for us	58:25
	but we are made for the future.	58:29
	A future in which by God's grace and wisdom,	58:32
	we are made, indeed, more than conquerors,	58:37
	we are made friends of God and prophets.	58:41
	And who can ask for more	58:46
	or accept less than that?	58:50
	And from generation to generation,	58:55
	passing into holy souls, wisdom maketh us	58:58
	friends of God and prophets.	59:04
	Let us pray.	59:08
	Blessed Lord, what it is to be young, to be off,	59:14
	to be fore, be among, be enchanted,	59:19
	enthralled, be the caller,	59:24
	the called, the singer, the song,	59:27
	and the sung, amen.	59:32
	(uplifting piano music)	59:41
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	1:01:41
	We believe in God who has created and is creating,	1:01:44
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	1:01:49
	to reconcile and make new.	1:01:52
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	1:01:55
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	1:01:59
	to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,	1:02:02
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen our judge	1:02:08
	and our hope in life, in death, in life beyond death,	1:02:13
	God is with us.	1:02:19
	We are not alone.	1:02:21
	Thanks be to God.	1:02:23
	The Lord be with you.	1:02:25
	Let us pray.	1:02:29
	O God of truth, ever beckoning your children to loftier	1:02:41
	understanding and deeper wisdom,	1:02:45
	we seek your will and implore your grace	1:02:47
	for all who share the life of this university,	1:02:51
	knowing full well that unless you build amongst us,	1:02:55
	we labor in vain who are teachers and learners here.	1:02:59
	For men and women who teach that they come together	1:03:05
	to bring vision to a common task, knowing one field	1:03:09
	yet eager to relate it to others, prepared to teach	1:03:14
	not only by great learning but by great faith in humankind	1:03:18
	and in thee.	1:03:23
	O God, in them and in us, kindle your saving truth,	1:03:25
	for deans and presidents, trustees and business aids,	1:03:31
	and all others who point the way for higher learning	1:03:36
	in our day that they're concern be not mainly budgets	1:03:41
	and buildings and prestige but rather men and women	1:03:44
	freed into your whole will arouse to serve the common need	1:03:49
	in them and in us, O God, kindle your saving truth.	1:03:56
	For janitors and maids, for cooks and keepers of grounds,	1:04:03
	for those who have washed our dishes, tended our needs,	1:04:07
	and for the host of other works whose faithfulness	1:04:12
	ministers to our common life together,	1:04:15
	in them and in us, O God, kindle your saving truth.	1:04:18
	For parents and givers of scholarships	1:04:26
	who have sent and supported students in higher learning,	1:04:30
	that they seek for them not merely more income	1:04:34
	nor social acceptance, nor glory of family,	1:04:37
	but rather hope for a new kind of intelligence,	1:04:42
	the spirit made whole in a high Christian mission in life.	1:04:47
	In them and in us, O God, kindle your saving truth	1:04:51
	for students and graduates themselves,	1:04:59
	that their bewilderment may be brief,	1:05:02
	their perspective constantly enlarged,	1:05:05
	their minds and spirits alert both to all that classroom	1:05:09
	and campus have meant and to all that you can mean	1:05:13
	in their lives.	1:05:17
	In them and in us, O God, kindle your saving truth.	1:05:20
	We know, O Lord, our God,	1:05:26
	that what is called higher education is but the willing	1:05:29
	and planning of women and men together,	1:05:33
	sought by your great love.	1:05:37
	Grant that we who would earnestly serve thee,	1:05:40
	may witness in their midst to the reality of the gospel	1:05:43
	as shown forth to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.	1:05:48
	Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,	1:05:55
	thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth	1:06:00
	as it is in Heaven, give us this day, our daily bread,	1:06:04
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	1:06:09
	who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation	1:06:13
	but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom	1:06:17
	and the power and the glory forever, amen.	1:06:22
	(choir music)	1:06:49
-	Will you stand please?	1:10:47
	Let us join together words and spirits	1:10:53
	as we offer to God our unison prayer of gratitude and hope,	1:10:57
	let us pray.	1:11:02
	Almighty God, who hast granted us place and part	1:11:04
	in this university, hallow to us now this day	1:11:08
	when we dedicate ourselves to the life and work	1:11:13
	to which you have here called us,	1:11:17
	that we may remember with gratitude the families and friends	1:11:19
	who have cared for us, we ask your presence, O God,	1:11:24
	that in the life ahead of us, we may keep faith	1:11:29
	with those who have loved us and trusted us	1:11:33
	and whose hopes follow us.	1:11:36
	We ask your presence, O God, that we may enter	1:11:39
	with good courage and constant purpose upon the tasks	1:11:43
	which await us, we ask your presence, O God,	1:11:46
	from all sense of strangeness and loneliness	1:11:52
	and from the fear that we may fail and may fine no friends,	1:11:56
	good Lord, deliver us, from neglect of the opportunities	1:12:01
	which are all about us and from distrust of our ability	1:12:05
	to meet the duties of each dawning day.	1:12:10
	Good Lord, deliver us,	1:12:13
	that the example of wise and generous people	1:12:16
	who have gone before us here at this university,	1:12:19
	may save us from folly and self-indulgence,	1:12:23
	we ask your presence, O God,	1:12:27
	more especially that you would show to us and to all people,	1:12:30
	the way of love in a time desperately in need	1:12:35
	of person's who care.	1:12:39
	We ask your presence, O God,	1:12:41
	these things and whatever else you see needful	1:12:44
	and right for us,	1:12:48
	we ask in your holy name, amen.	1:12:50
	(choir music)	1:12:57
-	And now the peace of God, which passes all understanding,	1:17:30
	keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God	1:17:34
	and of his son Jesus Christ our Lord	1:17:38
	and the blessing of God Almighty, creator, redeemer,	1:17:41
	and sustainer be among you and remain with you always.	1:17:45
	(choir music)	1:17:53
	(upbeat music)	1:19:14

Item Info

Title:

Peter J. Gomes - "Friends of God and Prophets" Baccalaureate Service (May 10, 1981)

Description:

All education is a means to an end, and that end is friendship with God. Insofar as the university forgets this end, the learning that occurs there will not change the world. True wisdom is not individual but communal, and its acquisition is an intergenerational process. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 32:40. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 59:37.
Key quotation: “To be intimate with God, a friend, is to share in God’s vision for the world, to share God’s labor for the world because we share in God’s love for the world. To be a friend of God and a prophet is to share all these with God and to share them with the world, and it is by the divine wisdom that we are able to do this.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4dv1d290

Date:

May 10, 1981

Speaker:

Gomes, Peter J.

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Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-1157
ref7530_0g4
uachapelsermaud
duke:320598
dcrau002034
ark:/87924/r4dv1d290
37a80b38-be91-4a7d-9321-610abb3633d4

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

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Peter J. Gomes - "Friends of God and Prophets" Baccalaureate Service (May 10, 1981)

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