James T. Cleland - "The Chapel in the University" (September 24, 1967)
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| - | Let us pray. | 0:16 |
| Let the words of my mouth | 0:19 | |
| and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable | 0:22 | |
| in thy site. | 0:26 | |
| Oh Lord, our strength | 0:28 | |
| and our redeemer. | 0:31 | |
| Amen. | 0:33 | |
| At the opening service of worship | 0:43 | |
| in a new academic year, | 0:45 | |
| It may be good for us in this sermon | 0:49 | |
| to look at the place of a chapel | 0:52 | |
| in a university. | 0:55 | |
| With particular attention | 0:58 | |
| to the university service of worship, | 0:59 | |
| at 11 o'clock of a Sunday morning, | 1:02 | |
| on our own campus. | 1:05 | |
| This is a live issue with many people, | 1:08 | |
| gown and town | 1:12 | |
| in the light of the previous academic year. | 1:14 | |
| For almost all of my 22 years | 1:19 | |
| as an officer of this chapel, | 1:22 | |
| the service moved along | 1:25 | |
| in a more or less unaltered course. | 1:27 | |
| Accepted. | 1:30 | |
| Appreciated. | 1:32 | |
| Enjoyed. | 1:34 | |
| But last year gave evidence | 1:36 | |
| of a sense of disappointment. | 1:39 | |
| Criticism. | 1:42 | |
| Even censure. | 1:44 | |
| Which was pointed up on several unique occasions. | 1:46 | |
| There was the reaction, pro and con, | 1:52 | |
| to the lengthy sermon | 1:56 | |
| of the dramatic Bishop Pike. | 1:58 | |
| One of God's older, angry men. | 2:01 | |
| There was the lecture in the chapel | 2:06 | |
| because no other space | 2:09 | |
| large enough to hold the eager crowd | 2:12 | |
| of listeners was available. | 2:16 | |
| The lecture by Altizer, | 2:18 | |
| that exponent of a lofty view | 2:22 | |
| of Jesus Christ. | 2:26 | |
| But more popularly known | 2:29 | |
| for his death of God emphasis. | 2:31 | |
| That caused reverberations | 2:35 | |
| in Allen building, | 2:38 | |
| even on the second floor. | 2:39 | |
| (audience laughs) | 2:41 | |
| Then there were the dialogue sermons | 2:44 | |
| between Chaplain Wilkinson and a student, | 2:46 | |
| a sound innovation which ought to be continued. | 2:49 | |
| And then above all else, | 2:55 | |
| there was the dramatic, spiritual, free-for-all | 2:56 | |
| one Sunday morning, | 3:01 | |
| which even aroused the interest | 3:03 | |
| of the Durham Police Department. | 3:05 | |
| Thanks to a worried radio listener. | 3:08 | |
| Now, in the like of that unusual, | 3:11 | |
| but stimulating year, | 3:14 | |
| what should be said about the chapel | 3:16 | |
| and its university service of worship, | 3:19 | |
| at the beginning of another year? | 3:22 | |
| Let me think out loud with you. | 3:24 | |
| The atmosphere of all the colleges on the campus. | 3:29 | |
| Yes, true in great part of the college of engineering | 3:34 | |
| and in the school of nursing, | 3:38 | |
| is that of the liberal arts. | 3:40 | |
| Liberal arts is a translation | 3:44 | |
| of the Latin (in foreign language), | 3:46 | |
| which may be construed as work | 3:49 | |
| befitting a free man. | 3:53 | |
| Work befitting a free man. | 3:57 | |
| It originated independently of Christianity, | 4:00 | |
| and its aim had nothing to do with preparation | 4:05 | |
| for the making of a living. | 4:10 | |
| This viewpoint, I think is epitomized | 4:13 | |
| in the Cambridge University toast. | 4:16 | |
| To the higher mathematics, | 4:19 | |
| may they always be useless. | 4:21 | |
| That's liberal arts. | 4:24 | |
| (audience laughs) | ||
| It was aristocratic for the upper crust | 4:28 | |
| and secular, rooted in the interesting concerns | 4:33 | |
| of this world. | 4:38 | |
| Now, that is hardly the point of view | 4:40 | |
| of Christian faith. | 4:43 | |
| Which is for all strata of society, | 4:46 | |
| and is not concerned solely with this world. | 4:51 | |
| The aim of the liberal arts is a search for, | 4:56 | |
| and an appreciation, of truth. | 5:01 | |
| Come whence it may, cost what it will. | 5:04 | |
| The aim of Christianity | 5:10 | |
| is a commitment to the biblical God, | 5:13 | |
| as revealed primarily | 5:17 | |
| in Jesus The Christ. | 5:19 | |
| Now can search for, | 5:22 | |
| and commitment to, be reconciled. | 5:25 | |
| Some say, yes. | 5:31 | |
| The middle ages domesticated | 5:33 | |
| the liberal arts in Christian society. | 5:36 | |
| Education had three interweaving parts. | 5:39 | |
| Bodily exercise, | 5:43 | |
| rigorous training of the mind, | 5:46 | |
| instruction in Christian piety, | 5:49 | |
| according to the Torina of Mantua | 5:53 | |
| in the 15th century. | 5:57 | |
| Now, that might well describe the curriculum | 5:59 | |
| of some colleges today | 6:02 | |
| in the USA. | 6:05 | |
| Others say, no. | 6:07 | |
| They cannot be reconciled | 6:09 | |
| and they say it emphatically. | 6:11 | |
| There may be a valid place for religion courses | 6:15 | |
| in a liberal arts college. | 6:18 | |
| But a Christian service of worship, | 6:21 | |
| sponsored officially by the college, is absurd. | 6:25 | |
| Moreover, they believe that | 6:31 | |
| such sponsored worship will disappear. | 6:32 | |
| As one member of the Duke faculty, | 6:36 | |
| who expects that this chapel | 6:39 | |
| will be a repository for old books | 6:41 | |
| within 50 years. | 6:45 | |
| The morgue of the library. | 6:47 | |
| There are yet others who give a qualified, yes, | 6:52 | |
| to the possibility of a genuine reconciliation. | 6:57 | |
| They would claim that a liberal education | 7:02 | |
| can be illumined by Christianity, | 7:04 | |
| provided that the Christianity | 7:09 | |
| which compliments it, | 7:11 | |
| is unbigoted in its commitment. | 7:13 | |
| For an education requires religious insight, | 7:18 | |
| as well as the hindsight, | 7:24 | |
| and the foresight, | 7:27 | |
| which the classroom is supposed to offer. | 7:29 | |
| The present situation even at Duke | 7:33 | |
| is an understandable, if tangled, eclecticism. | 7:35 | |
| It is rightly realized that commitment | 7:41 | |
| and search are not inseparable. | 7:44 | |
| Yet, there is a valid hesitancy | 7:49 | |
| to identify the viewpoints | 7:53 | |
| of the liberal art researcher, | 7:55 | |
| and of the confident Christian witness. | 7:58 | |
| It's simple to be either. | 8:01 | |
| More difficult to be both. | 8:04 | |
| Duke is still willing to accept | 8:07 | |
| the possibility of both. | 8:10 | |
| Therefore, there is a chapel, | 8:14 | |
| several chapels, | 8:16 | |
| as well as classrooms and labs | 8:18 | |
| and libraries on the campus. | 8:21 | |
| The chapel then, is the place | 8:26 | |
| where the committed people of God | 8:28 | |
| in our community | 8:30 | |
| may meet together | 8:32 | |
| at the university service of worship, | 8:33 | |
| to express that commitment. | 8:36 | |
| But there is a sharp | 8:40 | |
| difference of opinion among us, | 8:41 | |
| revealed in last year's unusual experiments | 8:45 | |
| and resulting turmoil, | 8:48 | |
| as to the intent and content | 8:50 | |
| and shape and conduct | 8:54 | |
| of the 11 o'clock service. | 8:56 | |
| The difference may be represented | 8:59 | |
| in two Latin phrases. | 9:01 | |
| (in foreign language) | 9:04 | |
| and (in foreign language) | 9:07 | |
| (in foreign language) | 9:12 | |
| literally the house of God | 9:14 | |
| considers his house | 9:18 | |
| as a piece of real estate | 9:20 | |
| dedicated to him, | 9:23 | |
| occupied by (in foreign language), | 9:25 | |
| erected to his glory. | 9:28 | |
| And the most likely place in the world | 9:30 | |
| where contact with him may be made. | 9:34 | |
| It is the sacred place where | 9:38 | |
| God dwells in a unique way. | 9:39 | |
| It is a temple. | 9:43 | |
| A shrine. | 9:45 | |
| A divine domicile. | 9:46 | |
| God's earthly quarters. | 9:49 | |
| And therefore, holy ground. | 9:52 | |
| (in foreign language) | 9:57 | |
| that is the house | 10:00 | |
| of the people of God is holy. | 10:01 | |
| Not because of the building. | 10:06 | |
| Which may be a room in a home | 10:09 | |
| or in a store. | 10:12 | |
| But because of the congregation. | 10:14 | |
| The gathered community. | 10:18 | |
| United because of their | 10:21 | |
| voluntary commitment to God. | 10:23 | |
| The building per se, is not sacred to God | 10:25 | |
| or because of God. | 10:29 | |
| The sacredness is in his people | 10:32 | |
| worshiping him there. | 10:36 | |
| Which means that they can worship him anywhere. | 10:39 | |
| It's interesting to notice the influence | 10:45 | |
| of these two views on architecture. | 10:47 | |
| And in turn, of architecture on these two views. | 10:50 | |
| If the structure has a Holy of Holies, | 10:56 | |
| or a sanctuary at one particular | 11:00 | |
| spot in the floor plan, | 11:02 | |
| or a series of symbols and lights | 11:05 | |
| which focus the attention on one place, | 11:08 | |
| then the house of God idea | 11:11 | |
| (in foreign language) | 11:14 | |
| is inevitably, even if unintentionally, emphasized. | 11:16 | |
| If the structure has no symbols | 11:21 | |
| and movable chairs, | 11:24 | |
| and is devoid of stained glass | 11:26 | |
| and a special table, | 11:29 | |
| and ignores candles and a cross. | 11:31 | |
| Then the house of the people of God, | 11:34 | |
| (in foreign language) | 11:38 | |
| is obviously intended. | 11:41 | |
| The early church was a (in foreign language). | 11:43 | |
| The holiness resided in the people. | 11:48 | |
| The church had no special buildings. | 11:52 | |
| It was a politically persecuted minority | 11:55 | |
| for at least 200 years, | 11:58 | |
| and wisely kept itself inconspicuous. | 12:00 | |
| But when it became an accepted religion, | 12:03 | |
| the accepted religion | 12:07 | |
| of the Roman Empire, | 12:09 | |
| it began to build. | 12:10 | |
| And its choice of architecture | 12:13 | |
| influenced its view of its essence | 12:16 | |
| and transformed its thinking. | 12:19 | |
| The Roman basilica | 12:23 | |
| and later the Gothic Church | 12:25 | |
| overwhelmed the worshiper | 12:28 | |
| with a sense of all | 12:30 | |
| majesty and mystery. | 12:32 | |
| A cathedral congregation is a far cry | 12:36 | |
| from a kitchen meeting | 12:39 | |
| in self understanding. | 12:41 | |
| Now, thanks to James B. Duke's high opinion | 12:45 | |
| of Princeton University, | 12:48 | |
| the Gothic revival | 12:51 | |
| was imposed on West Campus. | 12:52 | |
| Oh, lucky East. | 12:56 | |
| (audience laughs) | 12:59 | |
| This magnificent chapel with seats for, | 13:01 | |
| we don't know, 1800 to 2000, | 13:04 | |
| is good Gothic. | 13:07 | |
| It is true Gothic. | 13:09 | |
| Splay-footed, goggle-eyed Saints | 13:12 | |
| fill its colorful windows. | 13:15 | |
| You know, since the hail storm, | 13:18 | |
| (clears throat) | 13:19 | |
| one Saint in the great window back here, | 13:20 | |
| James The Elder, | 13:26 | |
| has a monocle. | 13:30 | |
| (audience laughs) | 13:31 | |
| It's very English. (clears throat) | 13:37 | |
| (audience laughs) | 13:39 | |
| Maybe we leave it. | 13:42 | |
| Carving of the finest in wooden stone | 13:44 | |
| offer a sense of grandeur even awe. | 13:47 | |
| A great organ extols God. | 13:50 | |
| The table where bread is broken. | 13:53 | |
| The table of the uncommon common meal, | 13:56 | |
| is topped with a cross and candles, | 14:00 | |
| half hinting that it may be a shrine. | 14:03 | |
| So, unconsciously, unintentionally, inevitably | 14:06 | |
| the (in foreign language) | 14:11 | |
| conception dominates, | 14:13 | |
| almost obliterates, | 14:14 | |
| the (in foreign language) idea. | 14:16 | |
| The house of the people of God | 14:19 | |
| is subordinated to the house of God. | 14:21 | |
| This in part, | 14:24 | |
| lay behind last year's experimentation. | 14:25 | |
| And it does raise a question | 14:29 | |
| as to what we can do and should do, | 14:31 | |
| in the intent and content | 14:35 | |
| and shape and conduct | 14:38 | |
| of the university service of worship | 14:40 | |
| on Sunday morning, | 14:42 | |
| in this type of a ecclesiastic building. | 14:44 | |
| What then shall be the dominating view | 14:49 | |
| of the (mumbles) chapel, | 14:51 | |
| which shall control the kind of service | 14:53 | |
| we have here on Sunday mornings. | 14:55 | |
| For many, if not most of us, | 14:59 | |
| the (in foreign language) conception dominates. | 15:03 | |
| The chapel is God's house. | 15:08 | |
| It is the holy place. | 15:13 | |
| Not because of the congregation. | 15:16 | |
| Because of him. | 15:20 | |
| It is the place to which we come | 15:22 | |
| when we want to make contact with him. | 15:24 | |
| Either in company with our fellows, | 15:27 | |
| or in isolation from our fellows. | 15:29 | |
| Let me illustrate. | 15:31 | |
| A housemaster called up at 1:30 | 15:34 | |
| in the morning this past week, | 15:36 | |
| to find if the chapel could be opened | 15:40 | |
| to allow a freshman to sit there. | 15:44 | |
| The freshman had just heard | 15:48 | |
| that his fiance had been killed. | 15:50 | |
| The chapel was opened. | 15:55 | |
| People who seldom, if ever, | 15:59 | |
| worship here or anywhere | 16:02 | |
| want to be married in the chapel. | 16:03 | |
| And not only for cast or aesthetic reasons. | 16:06 | |
| They wish to acknowledge | 16:12 | |
| at a focal point in life | 16:13 | |
| that which is ultimate | 16:16 | |
| and somewhat unknowable, | 16:18 | |
| but worthy of reverence. | 16:21 | |
| They believe God is here | 16:23 | |
| and they hope he is here for them. | 16:26 | |
| Now, with that view of the chapel, | 16:30 | |
| such people will desire a service | 16:33 | |
| which is fitting, majestic, and dignified, | 16:35 | |
| and stately and grand. | 16:40 | |
| Worthy of God and of Gothic. | 16:43 | |
| For other people, | 16:48 | |
| and perhaps for all of us on occasion, | 16:50 | |
| the (in foreign language) | 16:54 | |
| is the controlling idea | 16:56 | |
| that comes to the fore on special occasions, | 16:59 | |
| or at a service of Holy Communion, | 17:03 | |
| following a wedding rehearsal. | 17:07 | |
| At the school of nursing capping service, | 17:11 | |
| where the recessional ends | 17:15 | |
| in feminine shrieks of mutual joy. | 17:16 | |
| At a service of infant baptism | 17:21 | |
| or of infant dedication, | 17:23 | |
| when Christian vows are publicly spoken | 17:26 | |
| in the presence of witnesses. | 17:30 | |
| Now, can these two views | 17:33 | |
| be reconciled in the chapel | 17:36 | |
| and particularly at the Sunday morning | 17:38 | |
| university service of worship? | 17:42 | |
| Let me offer a thought for your consideration. | 17:45 | |
| Let the chapel be, | 17:50 | |
| by conscious intention, | 17:52 | |
| the central house of God. | 17:56 | |
| For the various, | 17:59 | |
| numerous congregations of the people of God, | 18:01 | |
| which are scattered all over the campus. | 18:05 | |
| The wise, the interest groups of the | 18:08 | |
| new University Christian Movement. | 18:12 | |
| The Newman Club. | 18:15 | |
| The Cabot Society. | 18:17 | |
| The Fellowship of Christian Athletes. | 18:19 | |
| The Student Christian Fellowship. | 18:22 | |
| The full members group. | 18:24 | |
| All the multifarious | 18:27 | |
| and diverse, and valid, | 18:29 | |
| and useful communities | 18:34 | |
| of fellow Christians on our campus. | 18:36 | |
| And let the university service of worship | 18:40 | |
| be the united affirmation | 18:43 | |
| of our common worship | 18:46 | |
| of the God and Father, | 18:49 | |
| who is God and father | 18:52 | |
| of all the groups | 18:54 | |
| and of each of us. | 18:56 | |
| Now, because the chapel has the build | 18:58 | |
| and bearing of a Gothic Cathedral, | 19:00 | |
| the ritual and ceremonial of the service | 19:04 | |
| cannot be comfortable | 19:07 | |
| to that of a Harlem Storefront Parish, | 19:09 | |
| or a Quaker meeting. | 19:13 | |
| We had better co-operate | 19:16 | |
| with what Mr. Duke gave us. | 19:18 | |
| The service should open with a procession. | 19:22 | |
| With the cross if not the flags | 19:26 | |
| carried before the choir. | 19:28 | |
| The emphasis should be upon praise and prayer, | 19:32 | |
| with the sermon minimized in length. | 19:36 | |
| I'm a good one to say that. | 19:39 | |
| (audience laughs) | 19:40 | |
| The ushers and collectors should be gowned. | 19:43 | |
| This flower they always just look like | 19:48 | |
| strays from a wedding. | 19:50 | |
| (audience laughs) | 19:52 | |
| There should be more congregational participation | 19:54 | |
| in hymns and prayers. | 19:57 | |
| Now, there is room for experiment. | 20:00 | |
| Carefully planned and worthily executed. | 20:04 | |
| Even for guitars. | 20:08 | |
| If the National Cathedral once a year, | 20:12 | |
| can stand bagpipes leading the choir | 20:15 | |
| and clergy into the chancel. | 20:18 | |
| We can surely risk unusual | 20:20 | |
| musical accompaniment on occasion. | 20:23 | |
| After all, the bagpipe | 20:27 | |
| is the one musical instrument | 20:29 | |
| for which no sacred music has been written. | 20:31 | |
| (audience laughs) | 20:34 | |
| In Robert Burns, | 20:37 | |
| it is the devil who plays the pipe. | 20:38 | |
| There is no valid reason why | 20:43 | |
| God should not be addressed in prayer as "You", | 20:44 | |
| rather than as "Thou". | 20:48 | |
| Though one does shudder at "You" and "Thou" | 20:51 | |
| indiscriminately in the same prayer. | 20:55 | |
| A sign of the careless and sloppy preparation | 20:59 | |
| of an untidy mind. | 21:02 | |
| A service which remembers the elements | 21:05 | |
| of adoration and confession, | 21:07 | |
| of forgiveness and Thanksgiving, | 21:11 | |
| of intercession for others, | 21:14 | |
| and supplication for ourselves. | 21:17 | |
| Of the reading and interpretation of the word, | 21:20 | |
| of dedication and benediction, | 21:24 | |
| can unite the scattered companies | 21:27 | |
| of the committed people of God, | 21:30 | |
| once a week, | 21:32 | |
| in a great outpouring of our united | 21:34 | |
| and ecumenical recognition. | 21:38 | |
| Affirming that we are not divided. | 21:41 | |
| All one body, we, under God. | 21:44 | |
| Now, this demands the combined resources | 21:49 | |
| of the ministries, of music and prayer, | 21:53 | |
| and the word. | 21:57 | |
| Of ushering and collecting. | 21:59 | |
| Of all the people of God | 22:04 | |
| in this house of God. | 22:07 | |
| The scripture lesson of the morning, | 22:10 | |
| the 84th Psalm, | 22:11 | |
| told of the joy that a Hebrew found | 22:14 | |
| in the temple. | 22:17 | |
| How lovely is thy dwelling place. | 22:19 | |
| Oh, Lord of hosts. | 22:22 | |
| That's (in foreign language). | 22:25 | |
| Blessed are those who dwell in thy house | 22:27 | |
| ever singing thy praise. | 22:31 | |
| That is (in foreign language). | 22:33 | |
| That somewhat unites the two ideas. | 22:37 | |
| Now, the Psalm has been put into meter | 22:40 | |
| and the first five verses | 22:43 | |
| are our closing hymn. | 22:46 | |
| They express the joy of the people of God, | 22:48 | |
| all kinds of people of God, | 22:52 | |
| who stand united as the people of God, | 22:55 | |
| in the house of God. | 22:59 | |
| And don't be surprised about the sparrow | 23:00 | |
| finding a house where into rest and the swallow, | 23:03 | |
| because birds have been | 23:06 | |
| coming through that window, | 23:07 | |
| and finding a place here. | 23:10 | |
| But before we sing that hymn, let us pray. | 23:12 | |
| We praise Thee, O God. | 23:18 | |
| We acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. | 23:21 | |
| Accept the worship of thy people and thy house. | 23:25 | |
| For, to Thee, we ascribe honor and majesty, | 23:29 | |
| dominion and power, | 23:33 | |
| as is most due. | 23:35 | |
| Amen. | 23:39 | |
| (organ music playing and people singing a hymn) | 23:44 | |
| (background organ music playing softly) | 26:26 |
