Robert T. Young - "To What End, for What Cause?" (September 4, 1977)
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| (contemporary gospel music) | 0:03 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 6:33 | |
| - | Duke University Chapel service, | 7:28 |
| September 4th, 1977. | 7:30 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 7:34 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 10:40 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 13:40 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 18:46 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 20:07 | |
| (bright music) | 20:46 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 21:45 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 22:46 | |
| - | Let us bow in the presence of God, | 24:57 |
| before whom all the secrets of our heart are disclosed. | 25:01 | |
| And in this loving and forgiving presence, | 25:07 | |
| make our corporate confession | 25:11 | |
| before God at our neighbors. | 25:14 | |
| Let us pray. | 25:17 | |
| All | Oh Lord, at this moment, | 25:20 |
| and in this place together, | 25:23 | |
| we confess our sin. | 25:26 | |
| We have done those things, which we ought not to have done. | 25:29 | |
| And we have left undone those things, | 25:34 | |
| which we ought to have done, forgive us. | 25:36 | |
| Forgive us oh Lord | 25:41 | |
| and help us to do less talking and more listening, | 25:43 | |
| less complaining and more exclaiming, | 25:48 | |
| forgive us oh Lord and help us to do no bossing now, | 25:52 | |
| just watching over and standing by, | 25:58 | |
| but not telling how. | 26:02 | |
| Forgive us oh Lord, | 26:05 | |
| and keep us from moodiness and self-pity, | 26:07 | |
| from the routine and repetitious set us free. | 26:12 | |
| Keep us in tuned with the deed of others. | 26:16 | |
| Let us be carefree enough to have fun and enjoy life. | 26:21 | |
| Forgive us oh Lord and help us not to grow bitter | 26:27 | |
| or cynical or out of touch with the real. | 26:31 | |
| Let us use our learning and living | 26:36 | |
| as an incentive for more giving and loving. | 26:40 | |
| Oh Lord, we need you now | 26:45 | |
| more than ever before in our lives. | 26:48 | |
| Forgive us, cleanse us, | 26:52 | |
| make us whole through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 26:56 | |
| - | Oh Lord, hear us as we make our personal confession. | 27:01 |
| Amen. | 27:19 | |
| Hear these words from Micah. | 27:21 | |
| "God will have compassion upon us, | 27:23 | |
| will tread our iniquitous underfoot, | 27:27 | |
| and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. | 27:31 | |
| Rejoice in this good news. Amen. | 27:36 | |
| (bright music) | 27:56 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 28:17 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 28:58 | |
| (bright music) | 31:12 | |
| - | The old Testament lesson | 32:44 |
| is from the third chapter | 32:46 | |
| of Ecclesiastes, verses one through 14, | 32:48 | |
| "For everything there is a season | 32:54 | |
| and a time for every matter under heaven, | 32:57 | |
| a time to be born and a time to die, | 33:00 | |
| a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted, | 33:04 | |
| a time to kill and a time to heal, | 33:09 | |
| a time to break down and a time to build up, | 33:12 | |
| a time to weep and a time to laugh, | 33:16 | |
| a time to mourn and a time to dance, | 33:20 | |
| a time to cast away stones | 33:23 | |
| and a time to gather stones together, | 33:26 | |
| a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, | 33:29 | |
| a time to seek and a time to lose, | 33:34 | |
| a time to keep and a time to cast away, | 33:38 | |
| a time to rend and a time to sew, | 33:41 | |
| a time to keep silent and a time to speak, | 33:44 | |
| a time to love and a time to hate, | 33:49 | |
| a time for war and a time for peace. | 33:53 | |
| What gain has the worker from his toil? | 33:58 | |
| I have seen the business that God | 34:02 | |
| has given to the sons of men to be busy with. | 34:03 | |
| He has made everything beautiful in its time. | 34:07 | |
| Also He has put eternity in man's mind. | 34:11 | |
| Yet so that he cannot find out what God has done | 34:14 | |
| from the beginning to the end. | 34:17 | |
| I know that there is nothing better for them | 34:20 | |
| than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. | 34:23 | |
| Also, that it is God's gift to man | 34:27 | |
| that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure | 34:30 | |
| in all his toil. | 34:33 | |
| I know that whatever God does endures forever, | 34:35 | |
| nothing can be added to it, | 34:39 | |
| nor can anything be taken from it. | 34:41 | |
| God has made it so, | 34:45 | |
| in order that men should fear before Him." | 34:47 | |
| Will the congregation stand for the reading of the gospel. | 34:52 | |
| A reading from St. John's gospel, | 35:01 | |
| the 18th chapter verses 33 through 38. | 35:04 | |
| "Then pilot entered into the judgment hall again | 35:10 | |
| and called Jesus and said unto Him, | 35:13 | |
| 'art, thou the king of the Jews' | 35:16 | |
| Jesus answered him. | 35:20 | |
| 'Sayest thou this thing of thyself, | 35:22 | |
| or did others tell it thee of me?' | 35:25 | |
| Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? Thine own nation | 35:29 | |
| and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me, | 35:34 | |
| what hast thou done?' | 35:38 | |
| Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. | 35:41 | |
| If my kingdom were of this world, | 35:46 | |
| then would my servants fight, | 35:48 | |
| that I should not be delivered to the Jews, | 35:50 | |
| but now is my kingdom not from hence.' | 35:53 | |
| Pilate therefore said unto Him, 'Art thou a king then?' | 35:58 | |
| Jesus answered 'thou sayeth that I am a king | 36:03 | |
| to this end was I born, | 36:09 | |
| and for this cause came I into the world, | 36:11 | |
| that I should bear witness unto the truth. | 36:14 | |
| Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice' | 36:18 | |
| Pilate saith unto him | 36:23 | |
| 'What is truth?' | 36:25 | |
| And when he had said this, | 36:29 | |
| he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them. | 36:31 | |
| 'I find in Him no fault at all.'" | 36:35 | |
| Here ends the reading from the holy scriptures. | 36:39 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 36:42 | |
| - | Let us affirm what we believe. | 37:27 |
| All | We believe in God | 37:33 |
| who has created and is creating. | 37:34 | |
| Who has come in the truly human Jesus | 37:38 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 37:42 | |
| Who works in us and others by the spirit. | 37:44 | |
| We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 37:49 | |
| to celebrate life at its fullness, | 37:54 | |
| to love and serve others, | 37:57 | |
| to seek justice and resist evil, | 38:00 | |
| to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 38:03 | |
| our judge and our hope, | 38:07 | |
| in life and death, | 38:10 | |
| and life beyond death, | 38:12 | |
| God is with us. | 38:15 | |
| We are not alone. | 38:17 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 38:19 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 38:22 |
| Congregation | And with your spirit. | 38:24 |
| - | Let us pray. | 38:25 |
| Oh God, we praise you | 38:35 | |
| for the beauty and majesty we know | 38:38 | |
| as we worship you. | 38:41 | |
| We are humbled by our awareness of your love, | 38:43 | |
| your justice and your mercy. | 38:47 | |
| We marvel that we have been created in your image, | 38:51 | |
| responsible for ourselves and for the whole world. | 38:57 | |
| So we ask that you will bless our bodies, | 39:03 | |
| quicken our conscience, | 39:08 | |
| sensitize our minds, | 39:11 | |
| so that we will develop up a world | 39:15 | |
| in which life can be whole and healthy. | 39:18 | |
| We pray that we will leave for those who follow | 39:24 | |
| bread and not stones, | 39:28 | |
| freedom and peace, | 39:32 | |
| and not oppression and war, | 39:35 | |
| a community of love and not hate. | 39:39 | |
| Hear our prayers oh God of thanksgiving | 39:44 | |
| and intercession for all people in this university. | 39:48 | |
| For those who care for our bodies and souls, | 39:54 | |
| those who stimulate and nourish our minds, | 39:59 | |
| for those who work in offices, | 40:03 | |
| those who have responsibility for the financial wellbeing | 40:06 | |
| of this institution. | 40:10 | |
| Those who make decisions which determine the direction | 40:12 | |
| and future of this university. | 40:15 | |
| And for those who faithfully care for this place, | 40:20 | |
| serve our food, | 40:23 | |
| ease our lives with endless daily chores. | 40:25 | |
| We pray that all of us, students, | 40:30 | |
| faculty and the entire community | 40:33 | |
| will be witnesses to your truth, | 40:37 | |
| which sets us free. | 40:40 | |
| That we will become a caring community, | 40:42 | |
| recognizing the worth and value of all persons. | 40:46 | |
| Grant us joy at what we do, | 40:52 | |
| and grace to show our thankfulness | 40:55 | |
| to our brothers and sisters and to you. | 40:58 | |
| We give you thanks oh God, for those we love, | 41:03 | |
| and those who help make our lives more meaning filled. | 41:07 | |
| We ask that through your grace, | 41:12 | |
| we will be enabled to extend our love. | 41:16 | |
| Not only to those who are easy to love, | 41:20 | |
| but also to those who may need this love more. | 41:24 | |
| Those who are lonely, | 41:31 | |
| those who close in on themselves. | 41:33 | |
| Those whose inner beauty is hidden | 41:36 | |
| or dwarfed behind that, | 41:39 | |
| which we call unattractive. | 41:41 | |
| Open our eyes and ears | 41:45 | |
| to the needs of our brothers and sisters. | 41:48 | |
| Open our hearts so that we may respond. | 41:52 | |
| Hear us now, oh loving God | 41:57 | |
| as we lift before you our personal concerns, | 41:58 | |
| for people we know who are celebrating birth | 42:04 | |
| and birthdays, and marriage, | 42:07 | |
| and new opportunities. | 42:11 | |
| For those we know who are sick, | 42:14 | |
| who are facing difficult decisions, | 42:17 | |
| whose families are fractured by death, | 42:20 | |
| distrust, divorce. | 42:22 | |
| And for those who are facing death, | 42:25 | |
| hear us as we lift these people to your care. | 42:27 | |
| Use us to be instruments of your healing love. | 42:40 | |
| We pray in the spirit of one who taught us to pray. | 42:43 | |
| All | Our Father, who art in heaven. | 42:47 |
| Hallowed be thy name. | 42:51 | |
| Thy kingdom come. | 42:53 | |
| Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. | 42:55 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread. | 43:00 | |
| And forgive us our trespasses. | 43:03 | |
| As we forgive them that trespass against us. | 43:06 | |
| And lead us not into temptation. | 43:09 | |
| But deliver us from evil. | 43:12 | |
| For thine is the kingdom. | 43:15 | |
| The power, and the glory, | 43:17 | |
| for ever and ever. | 43:21 | |
| Amen | 43:22 | |
| - | Last year. | 43:25 |
| The worship committee developed a liturgical calendar | 43:26 | |
| for Duke Chapel, which acknowledges | 43:29 | |
| the traditional church year, | 43:32 | |
| and also those Sundays of the university year, | 43:34 | |
| which are important to us as a worshiping community. | 43:37 | |
| This Sunday is a special time for celebration | 43:41 | |
| for the new year. | 43:44 | |
| A time when we begin, some for the first time, | 43:45 | |
| others again and again, and again. | 43:49 | |
| The process of growth, learning and worship | 43:53 | |
| as a Christian community. | 43:57 | |
| Welcome to all of you. | 43:59 | |
| Those who are are here for the first time. | 44:02 | |
| Those of you who are returning. | 44:04 | |
| Those of you who have not been away. | 44:07 | |
| And a special welcome to visitors, | 44:10 | |
| and to the chapel choir, | 44:12 | |
| we miss while you were away. | 44:15 | |
| We wish we could extend our very warm welcome, | 44:18 | |
| in more symbolic terms. | 44:21 | |
| At the conclusion of our service of worship today, | 44:26 | |
| people representing the religious communities of Duke, | 44:28 | |
| we'll be outside of the chapel, | 44:32 | |
| down the steps in the Grove, | 44:33 | |
| to talk with you about their plans | 44:36 | |
| and programs for this year. | 44:38 | |
| On the first Sunday of each month, | 44:41 | |
| obediently following morning worship. | 44:44 | |
| We celebrate holy communion and the Memorial Chapel, | 44:47 | |
| which is to your left. | 44:51 | |
| Bring your hymn book with you. | 44:53 | |
| The chairs are out here for you to sit on. | 44:56 | |
| It is a brief service | 44:58 | |
| and so we will stand for the service. | 44:59 | |
| Beginning this Wednesday evening from 10 to 10:00 PM, | 45:03 | |
| there will be a service of worship here at Duke Chapel. | 45:09 | |
| You are invited to this time of worship each Wednesday | 45:14 | |
| from 10, till 10:30 PM. | 45:17 | |
| Persons who are willing to serve as ushers | 45:21 | |
| and volunteer chapel attendance. | 45:25 | |
| Those are people who help keep the chapel open | 45:28 | |
| from eight to 11:00 PM, | 45:30 | |
| so that you may come in for meditation, | 45:32 | |
| are asked to meet in this chapel at 4:30, this Tuesday. | 45:35 | |
| Welcome to you. | 45:41 | |
| - | I greet you. | 45:51 |
| In the name and in the of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. | 45:54 | |
| May I invite you to do whatever you can | 45:59 | |
| to cool yourself off. | 46:02 | |
| That means unbuttoning a tie or taking a coat off, | 46:05 | |
| or pushing your neighbor out a little bit, whatever. | 46:09 | |
| We wish it were cooler. | 46:13 | |
| One of these the days I'm going to be serious | 46:16 | |
| when I say we'll start us an air conditioning fund. | 46:18 | |
| But if you would like to contribute, | 46:21 | |
| we'll be glad to have any and all contributions | 46:23 | |
| beginning today. | 46:25 | |
| We're delighted to have you here. | 46:28 | |
| This is a time of excitement, | 46:30 | |
| a time of new beginnings for all of us. | 46:33 | |
| Even those of us, as Helen said, | 46:36 | |
| who start over, and over, and over, and over again. | 46:38 | |
| So we're delighted to have you here. | 46:42 | |
| We pray God's blessings on you. | 46:43 | |
| Not only this day, but every day while you're here. | 46:46 | |
| We invite you to worship | 46:50 | |
| in this place every Sunday at 11 o'clock. | 46:51 | |
| Next Sunday, one of the great preachers in our nation, | 46:54 | |
| perhaps in the world will preach for us, Dr. Carlyle Marney. | 46:57 | |
| And every Sunday following we will have worship at 11, | 47:01 | |
| and I trust that you will come and worship with us. | 47:04 | |
| I invite you also to use this place, | 47:08 | |
| not just for worship at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, | 47:10 | |
| but other times. | 47:13 | |
| And I'm sure you will. | 47:15 | |
| In the name of God who creates us, | 47:20 | |
| redeems us and sustains us. Amen. | 47:22 | |
| Someone has calculated, | 47:28 | |
| that by the time a man reaches middle age, | 47:30 | |
| whatever middle age may be, | 47:33 | |
| if he has lived a fairly normal life in these United States, | 47:36 | |
| he will have drunk some 2000 gallons of coffee, | 47:40 | |
| and will have eaten some 2000 steaks. | 47:45 | |
| Also, so the word goes, | 47:50 | |
| he probably has worn out some 90 pairs of shoes, | 47:53 | |
| and some 50 suits of clothes. | 47:57 | |
| I dare not give an estimate as to what it would be | 48:00 | |
| for a middle aged woman. | 48:04 | |
| But now this morning, | 48:09 | |
| the question for us to consider is this, | 48:10 | |
| is it for this cause that a person comes into the world? | 48:14 | |
| To be a consumer, | 48:21 | |
| to provide work for the butcher, | 48:24 | |
| the baker, the candlestick maker. | 48:26 | |
| No, there is more to life than that. | 48:28 | |
| All of us would agree that there is more, | 48:34 | |
| but how much more. | 48:37 | |
| Often we are most unwilling to do | 48:41 | |
| some of the very important things of life. | 48:44 | |
| One of these is that rarely are we willing to face? | 48:47 | |
| What I think is an inescapable question, | 48:51 | |
| namely, to what end was I born? | 48:54 | |
| For what cause have I come into this world? | 48:57 | |
| Or to what end were you born my friend? | 49:02 | |
| Or for what cause do you think | 49:08 | |
| you have come into the world? | 49:12 | |
| Jesus whole life and ministry revealed | 49:16 | |
| the more that there can be to life. | 49:19 | |
| On one occasion, Jesus asked | 49:22 | |
| "is not life more than food | 49:24 | |
| and the body more than clothing?" | 49:25 | |
| It amazed Him that, | 49:29 | |
| "what should we eat? And what should we wear?" | 49:30 | |
| Were more important questions than, | 49:32 | |
| how should we live or what shall we live for? | 49:34 | |
| What is life? | 49:37 | |
| Surely more than food or clothing. | 49:40 | |
| Surely much more than many of us, maybe even most of us, | 49:42 | |
| but at least a lot of us have found so far. | 49:45 | |
| Walker Percy writes in his book, | 49:49 | |
| The Message in the Bottle, | 49:51 | |
| and I paraphrase him slightly. | 49:53 | |
| Why he writes, | 49:55 | |
| "are we Americans so sad in the 20th century? | 49:56 | |
| Why do we feel so bad in the very age? | 50:00 | |
| When more than in any other age, | 50:03 | |
| we have succeeded in satisfying our needs. | 50:05 | |
| Why do we feel bad in good environments, | 50:09 | |
| and good and bad environments? | 50:12 | |
| Why have more people been killed in the 20th century | 50:15 | |
| than in all others put together? | 50:18 | |
| Why do people driving around on beautiful Sunday afternoons | 50:21 | |
| like to see bloody automobile wrecks? | 50:25 | |
| Why do young people look so sad? | 50:29 | |
| The very young people who have sought | 50:33 | |
| a new life of joy and freedom." | 50:36 | |
| End of quote, why? | 50:42 | |
| to what end, for what course? | 50:45 | |
| We may not want to ask that question, | 50:48 | |
| but writers, poets, playwrights, | 50:52 | |
| artists all around us today are urging us to ask it. | 50:54 | |
| But we may be like little Pebbles | 50:59 | |
| in the Flintstones comic strip. | 51:02 | |
| In a recent comic strip she's seen crawling | 51:06 | |
| into the living room where her mom and dad are watching TV. | 51:08 | |
| She sits there on the floor and watches for a few minutes | 51:14 | |
| and she sees advertisements one after another coming up on | 51:18 | |
| the television screen. | 51:22 | |
| And after a while, she probably has seen | 51:23 | |
| all she can take and she crawls away | 51:26 | |
| and the bubbles over her head have her say to herself "who." | 51:28 | |
| What's so great about growing up. | 51:32 | |
| All I got to look forward to is nagging back aches, | 51:35 | |
| dandruff, sinus, headaches, and bad breath. | 51:39 | |
| But we are being called to grow up, | 51:45 | |
| to find our end and our cause. | 51:49 | |
| (indistinct) passages tells, | 51:53 | |
| I guess this probably is the experience which triggered | 51:56 | |
| her writing this particular book, | 51:59 | |
| because she tells about how she is standing | 52:02 | |
| beside a young boy in Northern Ireland, | 52:04 | |
| talking with him one minute, | 52:06 | |
| and then seeing his head blown | 52:10 | |
| to pieces right in front of her very eyes the next minute. | 52:11 | |
| And later she reflects on this and writes, | 52:16 | |
| "take stock, half of your life has been spent. | 52:18 | |
| What about the side of you that wants to contribute | 52:24 | |
| to the world?" | 52:28 | |
| Or as Ramesses the son of Pharaoh | 52:33 | |
| asks his father in Christopher Fry's first born. | 52:38 | |
| "Is there nowhere? Where I can come up on my own shape? | 52:44 | |
| where I am to look for life? | 52:52 | |
| To what end, for what cause?" | 52:57 | |
| Two things about Jesus life in this regard stand out. | 53:01 | |
| I think one, | 53:04 | |
| His primary end and cause was to bear witness to the truth. | 53:06 | |
| He bore witness to the truth, the truth about God, | 53:11 | |
| the truth about himself, the truth about authentic living. | 53:13 | |
| His life revealed that truth indeed will set you free, | 53:17 | |
| but it also revealed that truth and living the truth | 53:21 | |
| may cost you your life. | 53:25 | |
| Second, there is perfect congruence in Jesus life, | 53:28 | |
| between the purpose of his life, and the living of it. | 53:33 | |
| His life in ministry, teaching healing, preaching, | 53:37 | |
| express the end and the cause of His coming. | 53:40 | |
| How many persons do you know who as was Jesus | 53:44 | |
| when being questioned by Pilot near the end of their lives | 53:48 | |
| could say, "This is the cause for which I was born. | 53:52 | |
| This is the end for which I have come into the world, | 53:56 | |
| and have it apply to the way | 53:59 | |
| they have lived out their lives." | 54:00 | |
| Not many of you, | 54:02 | |
| some maybe, but not many. | 54:05 | |
| What then can we learn from the life of Jesus, | 54:09 | |
| to help us know our end and our cause? | 54:13 | |
| First we have to believe that life is worth something. | 54:17 | |
| That life is important. | 54:24 | |
| That life has value that there is meaning here. | 54:25 | |
| It's almost as if we are to go back to the creation story, | 54:31 | |
| to get the sense of value inherent life. | 54:34 | |
| You will recall that in the first creation story, | 54:37 | |
| after each day's act of creation, | 54:39 | |
| the writer tells us, | 54:42 | |
| "and God saw whatever it was that God had created that day. | 54:43 | |
| And God saw so and so, and God saw that it was good." | 54:47 | |
| The next day. | 54:51 | |
| "And God saw what God had created and God saw it and said, | 54:52 | |
| 'it is good.'" | 54:56 | |
| And the next day, | 54:57 | |
| "and God created and God saw it and it is good." | 54:58 | |
| Or to get the real value that God intends for us to see | 55:03 | |
| that there is to human life. | 55:08 | |
| That is your life, my life, everyone's life. | 55:10 | |
| We recall that we are created "Imago Dei" | 55:13 | |
| in the image of God. | 55:16 | |
| Therefore there is something of ultimate value | 55:19 | |
| in every child of God, | 55:22 | |
| and in all of God's creation. | 55:24 | |
| Or if we wanna come at it another way, | 55:27 | |
| we may contrast Jesus view of life with that view, | 55:29 | |
| which Qoheleth the writer of Ecclesiastes talks about, | 55:32 | |
| in passages, not read this morning, | 55:37 | |
| but earlier on in the book of Ecclesiastes, | 55:39 | |
| Qoheleth was a man with a passion for life. | 55:44 | |
| He tried everything and ended up totally disillusioned. | 55:49 | |
| "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." He said. | 55:54 | |
| And then, which I discovered this week for the first time, | 55:59 | |
| Qoheleth also had something to say about academic pursuits | 56:04 | |
| that you may be particularly you interested in this morning. | 56:07 | |
| He said "of making many books, there is no end, | 56:12 | |
| and much study is a wariness of the flesh." | 56:18 | |
| Well, if you don't know that you will. | 56:23 | |
| (congregation laughs) | 56:25 | |
| And you may want that scripture reference also. | 56:27 | |
| Qoheleth apparently worked hard at the pursuit of pleasure | 56:32 | |
| and material gain, and concluded that all was vanity, | 56:35 | |
| and all was the striving after the win. | 56:39 | |
| Now the real point is this, | 56:42 | |
| that Jesus never felt this way about life. | 56:44 | |
| Life was not vanity of vanities. | 56:48 | |
| There was purpose, there was meaning. | 56:51 | |
| In life Jesus saw and emphasized | 56:55 | |
| what William Faulkner would later call, | 56:56 | |
| the old universal truths of love, | 56:59 | |
| honor, pity, pride, | 57:02 | |
| compassion, and sacrifice. | 57:05 | |
| So if we are to discover our end and our cause, | 57:08 | |
| we have to believe that life has value, | 57:10 | |
| with life having value and meaning, then? | 57:15 | |
| In the second place, | 57:18 | |
| we have to be willing to invest something of ourself in it. | 57:19 | |
| Sure, we can go through life as a consumer, | 57:23 | |
| only as a taker, | 57:26 | |
| only as one who gets or receives or uses, | 57:28 | |
| only as a sponge soaking up. | 57:31 | |
| I guess it is possible to go through life like that. | 57:34 | |
| I seem to be able to recall some men and women | 57:37 | |
| and even some young people who treat life that that way, | 57:40 | |
| but is that living? | 57:45 | |
| If we are to discover, | 57:47 | |
| to know and fulfill our end and cause, | 57:49 | |
| we will have to invest some of ourselves in life. | 57:52 | |
| This means that we're not to hold back, but to give, | 57:56 | |
| to give as the prayer puts it, | 57:59 | |
| to give and not to count the cost, | 58:01 | |
| save the cost of knowing that we do God's will. | 58:03 | |
| This means then, | 58:08 | |
| to those of you who begin, | 58:11 | |
| or maybe even to those of you who resume | 58:14 | |
| your life here at Duke this week. | 58:17 | |
| If Duke University is important to you. | 58:20 | |
| If any, or all of your classes are important to you. | 58:26 | |
| If that relationship with a particular young man, | 58:30 | |
| or a particular young woman is of real value to you. | 58:32 | |
| If learning a new idea or grasping a new concept, | 58:36 | |
| or gaining a new insight is important to you. | 58:39 | |
| If a better understanding of yourself | 58:42 | |
| is worth anything to you. | 58:44 | |
| if maturing in your commitment to Christ | 58:46 | |
| and in your response to God means anything at all to you. | 58:48 | |
| If these are worth something of lasting value | 58:51 | |
| and significance to you. | 58:54 | |
| To your present and your future, | 58:56 | |
| to our present and to our future, | 58:57 | |
| then you will invest some of your very best self in them. | 59:00 | |
| And this is a place for us to do that investing my friends. | 59:07 | |
| This scholar, this school. | 59:10 | |
| This place where persons are to be free. | 59:13 | |
| This is a place to learn, to invest ourselves, | 59:17 | |
| where we are free. | 59:20 | |
| We are free to hold back. | 59:22 | |
| We're free to pick and choose. | 59:23 | |
| Pick and choose carefully my friends. | 59:27 | |
| Where and how you're going to invest yourself. | 59:32 | |
| Your mind. | 59:36 | |
| Your body. | 59:38 | |
| Your spirit. | 59:41 | |
| Your energy. | 59:44 | |
| Your ideas. | 59:46 | |
| There are many, many options here. | 59:48 | |
| Choose carefully those things of lasting value. | 59:53 | |
| And then invest yourself. | 59:59 | |
| Jesus was willing to invest himself in life. | 1:00:04 | |
| In His call in His vocation, in others, in God. | 1:00:08 | |
| And we're called to do precisely the very same thing. | 1:00:11 | |
| I think Jesus willing to invest himself, however, | 1:00:14 | |
| that is to preach, to teach, to give, | 1:00:17 | |
| to serve, to love, yes and to die, | 1:00:19 | |
| was connect to His baptism. | 1:00:22 | |
| For that was where He was called, | 1:00:24 | |
| and that was where He gave His obedience to God. | 1:00:26 | |
| And that means this morning, | 1:00:29 | |
| my friends that your baptism in Christ has a particular | 1:00:30 | |
| and peculiar significance for you. | 1:00:35 | |
| Do you remember your baptism? | 1:00:40 | |
| It was then and there | 1:00:44 | |
| that either you gave yourself or you were given, | 1:00:47 | |
| fully, totally, | 1:00:51 | |
| holy to God. | 1:00:54 | |
| Remember that, | 1:00:59 | |
| as you tried to discover your end and your cause. | 1:01:01 | |
| So we have to believe that life has value, | 1:01:07 | |
| have to be willing to invest something of ourselves. | 1:01:09 | |
| And then I think in many ways, | 1:01:12 | |
| the most important thing is that | 1:01:14 | |
| we have to learn to live life in the meantime. | 1:01:16 | |
| This is the real point, live life, live it now. | 1:01:20 | |
| I was reading just a blurb the other day | 1:01:26 | |
| about Sissy Spacek. | 1:01:28 | |
| The bright, young, talented star | 1:01:30 | |
| of Carrie and of three women. | 1:01:33 | |
| She began her acting career | 1:01:36 | |
| after her brother died from leukemia | 1:01:38 | |
| when she was a senior in high school. | 1:01:40 | |
| She says, "his loss," quote, | 1:01:43 | |
| "blew a hole in every thing for me. | 1:01:46 | |
| And it made me aware that we don't always have | 1:01:49 | |
| as much time as we think we do." | 1:01:52 | |
| Or as Rilke writes in his letters to a young point. | 1:02:01 | |
| I want to beg you as much as I can, | 1:02:04 | |
| do not seek answers which can not be given to you | 1:02:07 | |
| because you would not be able to live them. | 1:02:09 | |
| And the point he says is to live everything, | 1:02:12 | |
| live the questions now. | 1:02:16 | |
| Perhaps you will then gradually without noticing it, | 1:02:18 | |
| live along some distant day into the answer. | 1:02:21 | |
| The point is, live everything. | 1:02:26 | |
| Is this why the writer Ecclesiastes says, | 1:02:30 | |
| "for everything there is a time and a season, | 1:02:32 | |
| live everything, live your doubts, | 1:02:35 | |
| your faith, your beliefs, | 1:02:37 | |
| your loyalties, your adventures, | 1:02:39 | |
| your fantasies, your questions, | 1:02:41 | |
| your affirmations, your hopes, | 1:02:43 | |
| your struggles, your loves, your longings. | 1:02:45 | |
| Live the God who lives in you. | 1:02:48 | |
| Now, today, tomorrow, don't wait. | 1:02:51 | |
| Do not wait until next year, | 1:02:55 | |
| or until your senior year, | 1:02:57 | |
| or until you graduate, | 1:02:59 | |
| or don't wait until you get a 4.0 average, | 1:03:01 | |
| or a date with the most popular | 1:03:04 | |
| or the best looking person on campus. | 1:03:06 | |
| Don't wait until you get in grad school, | 1:03:08 | |
| or med school or law school, or get married, | 1:03:10 | |
| or get that best job to begin to live life. | 1:03:12 | |
| No, live it now. | 1:03:15 | |
| Suppose Jesus had waited to live. | 1:03:18 | |
| He really didn't live very long, | 1:03:20 | |
| and suppose He had lived | 1:03:22 | |
| His life waiting, waiting, waiting. | 1:03:24 | |
| Live it now. | 1:03:28 | |
| For what if this now is all we have my friends. | 1:03:29 | |
| Live it now. | 1:03:35 | |
| Dr. Martin Luther king and one of his sermons | 1:03:38 | |
| has something that I'd like to close with today. | 1:03:40 | |
| He says, "I still believe | 1:03:42 | |
| that standing up for the truth of God | 1:03:46 | |
| is the greatest thing in the world." | 1:03:48 | |
| This is the end of life. | 1:03:52 | |
| The end of life he says is not to be happy. | 1:03:53 | |
| The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. | 1:03:57 | |
| The end of life is to do the will of God come what may. | 1:04:01 | |
| Your end, your cause, | 1:04:08 | |
| to do the will of God | 1:04:11 | |
| for your life and live it now. | 1:04:15 | |
| And in doing and living the will of God, we can sing, | 1:04:19 | |
| "rejoice the Lord is king, | 1:04:23 | |
| your Lord and king adore, | 1:04:26 | |
| rejoice give thanks and sing | 1:04:29 | |
| and triumph evermore, | 1:04:31 | |
| rejoice the Lord is king. | 1:04:34 | |
| (bright music) | 1:04:45 | |
| (drums beating) | 1:04:59 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, the Lord is King ♪ | 1:05:03 | |
| ♪ Your Lord and King adore ♪ | 1:05:09 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, give thanks and sing ♪ | 1:05:15 | |
| ♪ And triumph evermore ♪ | 1:05:20 | |
| ♪ Lift up your heart ♪ | 1:05:27 | |
| ♪ Lift up your voice ♪ | 1:05:33 | |
| ♪ Jesus, the Savior, reigns ♪ | 1:05:37 | |
| ♪ The God of truth and love ♪ | 1:05:46 | |
| ♪ When He has purged our stains ♪ | 1:05:52 | |
| ♪ He took his seat above ♪ | 1:05:58 | |
| ♪ Lift up your heart ♪ | 1:06:02 | |
| ♪ Lift up your voice ♪ | 1:06:10 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 1:06:15 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 1:07:21 | |
| (bright music) | 1:08:15 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 1:08:43 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 1:10:35 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 1:14:52 | |
| - | Oh, loving God. | 1:16:16 |
| Send your Holy Spirit to cleanse our hearts. | 1:16:18 | |
| Hallow these gifts, and perfect the offering of ourselves | 1:16:23 | |
| to you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | 1:16:28 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 1:16:36 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 1:17:25 | |
| (contemporary gospel music continues) | 1:20:41 | |
| With the assurance that God's truth is (mumbles) | 1:22:05 | |
| Let us join on this prayer for our university. | 1:22:10 | |
| All | Oh God, help us acknowledge | 1:22:14 |
| those things which divide us, | 1:22:18 | |
| and come to know your love which unite. | 1:22:21 | |
| Let us be slow to criticize, and quick to appreciate, | 1:22:24 | |
| slow to justify ourselves, and quick to excuse one another. | 1:22:30 | |
| When we disagree or misunderstand, | 1:22:36 | |
| let us listen to each other, | 1:22:40 | |
| and make out your truth together. | 1:22:42 | |
| When we fail, let us not live in our self pity, | 1:22:46 | |
| but grasp us in our every pain | 1:22:51 | |
| so that we may take up our failure and walk. | 1:22:54 | |
| In grief, let us put our arms around each other. | 1:22:58 | |
| In joy, let us sing and laugh and dance together. | 1:23:04 | |
| In life let us celebrate our health and goodness, | 1:23:09 | |
| In death, let us celebrate our hope. | 1:23:15 | |
| In the year ahead, oh God. | 1:23:19 | |
| We give ourselves to you and one another, | 1:23:23 | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord. | 1:23:27 | |
| - | Go out in hope and peace, serve the Lord. | 1:23:31 |
| And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ | 1:23:37 | |
| be with you from this day ever more. | 1:23:40 | |
| (contemporary gospel music) | 1:23:47 |
