David H. C. Read - "Knowledge - With Room for Wonder" Baccalaureate Service 5:00 pm (May 8, 1987)

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	(organ music)	0:01
	(choral music)	9:29
	♪ Now and forever more, Gloria ♪	10:26
	♪ Now and forever ♪	10:36
	♪ Gloria ♪	10:46
	(organ music)	11:00
	(choral music)	11:41
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:11
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:14
	♪ Glory to God ♪	12:21
	(choral music)	12:25
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:51
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	12:56
	(choral music)	13:02
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:32
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	13:36
	(choral music)	13:42
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	14:12
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	14:17
	(choral music)	14:23
	♪ Jesus Christ is born ♪	14:39
	(choral music)	14:43
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	14:54
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	14:58
	(organ music)	15:05
-	When we gather to worship, we remember that we	15:09
	are God's people who have preferred our wills	15:12
	to God's will.	15:14
	Therefore, let us begin this solemn service	15:16
	by confessing our sin before God and one another.	15:18
	Be seated.	15:22
	Let us pray.	15:36
	Most merciful God,	15:38
	we confess that we have sinned	15:40
	against you in thought, word, and deed	15:41
	by what we have done and by what we have left undone.	15:46
	We have not loved you with our whole heart.	15:51
	We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	15:54
	We are truly sorry and we humbly repent	15:58
	for the sake of your son, Jesus Christ.	16:01
	Have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight	16:04
	in your will and walk in your ways	16:08
	to the glory of your name, amen.	16:11
	Born as high as the heavens are high above the earth,	16:17
	so great is his steadfast love towards those	16:20
	who fear him.	16:22
	As far as the east is from the west,	16:24
	so far does he remove our transgressions from us.	16:27
	Amen.	16:33
	I welcome you to this baccalaureate service	16:36
	at Duke University's 135th commencement.	16:41
	At the conclusion of this afternoon's service,	16:45
	the congregation is asked to remain in place	16:49
	until all the graduates have recessed from the chapel.	16:52
	We are fortunate to have as our baccalaureate preacher	16:58
	this year, the Reverend Dr. David H. C. Read,	17:00
	Minister of Medicine Avenue Presbyterian Church	17:05
	in New York.	17:08
	He is a gifted writer, a distinguished preacher,	17:10
	a frequent visitor to Duke Chapel, and we welcome	17:15
	him back to the pulpit today	17:18
	to bring us the baccalaureate sermon.	17:20
-	Let us pray.	17:32
	Open our hearts and minds, O God	17:34
	by the power of your Holy Spirit	17:37
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed,	17:38
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	17:42
	Amen.	17:47
	The first lesson is taken from Proverbs.	17:48
	Three things are too wonderful for me,	17:52
	for I do not understand the way of an eagle	17:56
	in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock,	18:00
	the way of a ship on the high seas,	18:04
	and the way of a man with a maiden.	18:06
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	18:10
	(organ music)	18:19
	(choral music)	18:35
	♪ My heart and I shall be whole in the living heart ♪	19:11
	(choral music)	19:26
	(organ music)	20:17
	♪ The Lord, his majesty ♪	20:29
	(choral music)	20:31
	♪ Oh God ♪	21:18
	(choral music)	21:22
-	The congregation will rise	22:13
	for the reading of the Gospel.	22:15
	The Gospel lesson is taken from St. Matthew.	22:21
	Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain,	22:25
	and when he sat down, his disciples came to him	22:28
	and he opened his mouth and taught them,	22:31
	saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit,	22:33
	"for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	22:37
	"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.	22:40
	"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.	22:44
	"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst	22:48
	"for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.	22:51
	"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.	22:55
	"Blessed are the pure in heart,	23:00
	"for they shall see God.	23:02
	"Blessed are the peacemakers,	23:06
	"for they shall be called sons of God."	23:08
	This ends the reading of the Gospel lesson.	23:12
	(organ music)	23:15
	(choral music)	23:25
	You may be seated.	24:21
	The Epistle is taken from Ephesians.	24:28
	So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro	24:32
	and carried about with every wind of doctrine	24:36
	by the cunning of men, by their craftiness	24:39
	and deceitful wiles.	24:41
	While they're speaking the truth in love,	24:44
	we are to grow up in every way into him	24:48
	that is the head and to Christ,	24:51
	from whom the whole body, joined and knit together	24:55
	by every joint, which it is supplied	24:58
	when each part is working properly,	25:00
	makes bodily growth and up, builds itself in love.	25:04
	Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord	25:10
	that you must no longer live as the gentiles do	25:13
	in the futility of their minds.	25:16
	They are darkened in their understanding,	25:19
	alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance	25:22
	that is in them.	25:25
	This, due to their hardness of heart.	25:27
	They have become callous and have given themselves up	25:30
	to licentiousness, greedy to practice	25:33
	every kind of uncleanliness.	25:36
	You did not so learn Christ, assuming that you	25:39
	have heard about him and were taught in him,	25:42
	as the truth is in Jesus.	25:46
	This ends the reading of the Epistle.	25:50
-	Let the words of my mouth and the meditation	26:02
	of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight.	26:05
	O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.	26:08
	Amen.	26:11
	It is a joy for me to be present once more	26:14
	in this beautiful church and to have the responsibility	26:17
	of speaking, particularly to those	26:22
	who are about to graduate.	26:25
	I have called this sermon	26:29
	Knowledge with Room for Wonder.	26:34
	I'm not going to say a great deal about knowledge.	26:38
	You have been acquiring it steadily	26:42
	for the last four years or so.	26:44
	A cynic once said that the reason why a university	26:48
	is known as a repository of knowledge and wisdom	26:53
	is that the freshmen bring so much in	26:58
	and the graduates take so little out.	27:01
	(congregation laughing)	27:04
	I am happy to believe that you are taking a lot out	27:05
	from this great institution, but let me now	27:09
	give you my text, as is our Presbyterian practice,	27:12
	and the text comes from what you heard	27:17
	in the Book of Proverbs.	27:20
	Three things are too wonderful for me,	27:23
	for I do not understand	27:27
	the way of an eagle in the sky,	27:30
	the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship	27:34
	on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.	27:38
	Now, filled with our modern knowledge,	27:44
	do you feel like taking the author of these verses	27:50
	by the hand?	27:54
	Too wonderful for me, I do not understand.	27:56
	We say to him, poor man, he lived so long ago	28:01
	that he never heard of aerodynamics	28:05
	or biological mutations, or astrophysics,	28:07
	or chromosomes, or genes, or whatever it is	28:10
	that we have been studying today,	28:13
	everything that was mystery to him.	28:15
	It was wonderful because he could not understand.	28:18
	Now that we know all about it, now that we	28:24
	have come of age, as the theologians used to tell	28:28
	us 20 years ago.	28:31
	Although, I sometimes wonder if the world	28:33
	is acting as mature people at the moment.	28:35
	But now, wouldn't perhaps you like	28:39
	to take this primitive Bible writer by the hand	28:43
	and explain the four things that bothered him?	28:46
	The way of an eagle in the sky, nothing wonderful	28:50
	about that, you see, it's all a question	28:53
	of air displacement given the weight of the bird,	28:56
	the span of the wings, a relatively slight	29:00
	lateral motion of the latter will suffice	29:03
	to counteract the pool of gravity while speed,	29:08
	elevation, and direction are achieved	29:11
	by appropriate muscular adjustments.	29:13
	Nothing mysterious about that.	29:17
	However, as a primitive, heavier than air mechanism,	29:21
	the eagle has long been outclassed in speed	29:25
	and efficiency by human artifacts such as the rocket	29:29
	and the jet plane, which I don't understand	29:33
	anymore than you, but somebody does,	29:36
	so there's no mystery about it.	29:39
	(congregation laughing)	29:41
	And while the author of the Book of Proverbs	29:43
	is recovering from this, you go on.	29:45
	The way of a serpent on a rock.	29:49
	"Oh yes, I see your difficulty," we say.	29:54
	No legs, no wings.	29:56
	How does he moves?	29:59
	But elementary zoology would soon explain that to you.	30:01
	I looked it up and I read locomotion.	30:06
	This is of the serpent, locomotion is affected	30:11
	by the passage of a series of waves from the fore backwards.	30:15
	Each wave in its progress pressing against	30:19
	the surrounding medium and forcing the animal forwards.	30:22
	If you still don't understand, I could add	30:26
	that the scales of the lower surface are enlarged	30:28
	to form transverse overlapping plates	30:32
	whose free edge is directed backwards,	30:35
	and to each of these plates is attached	30:38
	a pair of movable ribs.	30:40
	So now we say to this old poet, microscopes have shown	30:44
	us a lot of things you didn't know about.	30:49
	I could go on to tell you more about the serpent	30:53
	than you would ever want to know.	30:55
	The problem about the rock, for instance.	30:58
	How does the serpent move on a smooth surface?	31:01
	Well, it has about 300 ventral heels, I read,	31:05
	each of which can utilize any slight irregularity	31:09
	so that progress is possible over almost any surface	31:13
	that is not absolutely smooth.	31:17
	You see, there's nothing wonderful	31:19
	about the serpent on the rock.	31:21
	We can explain.	31:24
	What's the next question?	31:25
	Ah yes, the way of a ship on the high seas.	31:27
	I suppose we say your difficulty is in understanding	31:33
	how the little tub ever keeps afloat in a storm	31:36
	and how it ever picks its way across the ocean	31:40
	to the desired harbor.	31:43
	I seem to remember your colleagues who wrote the Book	31:46
	of Psalms having a similar difficulty.	31:49
	They that go down to the sea in ships that do business	31:52
	in great waters, they see the work of the Lord	31:55
	and his wonders in the deep, but you don't need to see	31:58
	any wonders or works of the Lord.	32:02
	Even in your day, the science of navigation could explain	32:04
	how your little sailing ship gets from hither to yon	32:10
	and now we have the whole business so under control	32:14
	that a floating hotel of 80,000 tons can speed through	32:17
	the high seas with an automatic pilot	32:21
	doing all the steering and radar doing all the seeing.	32:24
	No mystery anymore.	32:28
	You and I may not understand it all, but someone does.	32:30
	Now what was that last thing you mentioned?	32:33
	Ah, the way of a man with a maiden.	32:36
	Too wonderful?	32:40
	You don't understand?	32:42
	Now really, if there's one thing in which we've made great	32:44
	strides, it's in this business of sex.	32:48
	You primitive people made such a mystery of it	32:53
	with your rites, and your ceremonies, and your poems,	32:57
	and your music, and your romantic illusions.	33:00
	We have now finally analyzed this man/woman relationship.	33:04
	We know all about the biological impulses behind it	33:09
	and we are applying psychological methods	33:13
	to discover its true function in society.	33:16
	We are on our way to rationalizing the sex act	33:21
	and we get further on that way every year.	33:24
	We are developing, perhaps, computers to match	33:29
	the right man and the right maiden.	33:32
	A recent book based on an elaborate investigation	33:35
	under clinical conditions of the way of a man	33:39
	with a maiden shows the way towards	33:42
	a complete understanding of human sexuality.	33:45
	You won't need to wonder anymore.	33:49
	You'll understand, you'll know all about it.	33:51
	Well now, I know this isn't how you feel.	33:55
	You've had a better education than that.	33:59
	Let me be quite realistic.	34:02
	We do know immensely more about this universe	34:05
	than the man who wrote the Book of Proverbs.	34:09
	We do know more, not only the nature of the universe,	34:13
	but of the transmission of life,	34:16
	the mastery of the elements, the functioning	34:19
	of the human body and the psyche.	34:22
	Sure, we know more.	34:24
	The advance of human knowledge	34:26
	has been extraordinary since the Bible was written,	34:28
	and the understanding that modern science	34:32
	has given us and the benefits it has become	34:35
	furthering us and should not be scoffed at	34:39
	by any passing preacher.	34:43
	I sometimes think that the new definition	34:45
	of a hypocrite is the preacher who composes	34:48
	on an electric typewriter a sermon which he pushes	34:52
	off in his car to deliver on the radio,	34:56
	denouncing modern technology.	35:00
	(congregation laughing)	35:04
	My old teacher in Edinburgh, Professor Macintosh,	35:05
	used to say that a preacher never looks more foolish	35:08
	than when he starts attacking the scientists.	35:12
	The liberating spirit of inquiry has brought man	35:15
	to a new era in the conquest of hunger and disease	35:18
	and in control of the forces of nature,	35:23
	and this understanding has also been bought	35:27
	at great price, for science has also has its martyrs.	35:29
	My purpose this evening is simply to raise	35:35
	a huge question over the idea	35:40
	that a scientific understanding of things	35:44
	is sufficient and complete, and that therefore,	35:47
	we have arrived at a point in the human story	35:51
	where wonder and mystery,	35:54
	the intuitions of the mystic,	35:58
	the vision of the artist, the whole realm of the spirit	36:01
	can be ruled out as just a kind of icing on the cake,	36:06
	as something that you can enjoy if you have a taste	36:11
	for that sort of thing, but in no way an avenue	36:14
	to the truth and a guide for the human mind.	36:18
	My point is not that there are still some things	36:24
	that science cannot explain.	36:27
	You'd be a foolish person who rested a case	36:29
	for religion on any gaps in scientific knowledge.	36:31
	These gaps have a way of filling up	36:35
	and confidence that science will go on exploring	36:38
	and investigating in every area, even those we used to think	36:41
	belonged only to ethics and religion.	36:46
	The Bible puts up no keep out sign for the inquiring mind.	36:51
	We are to ask though,	36:58
	whether that kind of explanation,	37:01
	even if it covered the whole, apparently the whole sum	37:05
	of human experience, if it really offers or can offer	37:09
	any answer to the ultimate questions	37:15
	that every intelligent person asks.	37:17
	We don't just want to know how,	37:21
	we want, if possible, to know why.	37:26
	You can explain to me to the limit of my capacity	37:30
	the complexities of the atom, the cellular structures	37:33
	of life, the rhythm of the solar system,	37:38
	the sweet of the galaxies through the infinities	37:42
	of space and time.	37:45
	I'm still left asking, as you do,	37:48
	what does it all mean, if anything?	37:51
	Is there anything behind this process?	37:55
	Some will tell you that such questions are foolish,	37:58
	that they're a sign of middle or old age.	38:03
	Yet I find them being raised more	38:06
	by the younger generation than my own contemporaries.	38:09
	Search for meaning going on, as you know, lying behind	38:13
	all kinds of things from the eruption of demonstrations	38:17
	to new trends in music, dance, poetry or grammar,	38:20
	or even fashion.	38:24
	It's as though a generation to whom everything	38:26
	has been in process of being explained has realized	38:30
	that ultimately, nothing has been explained at all.	38:35
	There are other ways of listening to the universe.	38:40
	The telescope and microscope are not the only windows	38:45
	into truth, as I'm sure you have discovered.	38:49
	There was a time when the religious believer	38:55
	was accused of having a narrow mind	38:57
	and there are indeed religious people who live	39:00
	in a little chamber of piety from which they glare out	39:03
	suspiciously at the modern world, and churches in the past	39:08
	have too often obstructed the path of science,	39:12
	neglected their contribution to the arts	39:16
	and forced a kind of timid and negative	39:19
	attitude to life.	39:22
	But I suspect that we are now	39:24
	in a very different situation.	39:26
	Today, rather surprisingly, it is the thorough going	39:29
	secularists and skeptic who is being revealed	39:33
	as narrow minded, for to limit one's convictions	39:38
	to that which is capable of scientific explanation,	39:43
	to attempt to reduce every vivid experience	39:48
	to computer foray, to interpret the religious	39:52
	and the moral insights of a human race	39:56
	purely in terms of subjective emotion is narrow minded	39:59
	dogmatist, a deliberate exclusion	40:03
	of a whole dimension,	40:07
	and for me, the most important dimension of human life.	40:09
	Not long ago, a professor from a university,	40:14
	a professor, I think, of literature,	40:18
	wrote an indignant letter to the New York Times	40:20
	protesting against the award for Nobel Prize	40:23
	in Literature to Isaac Singer purely on the grounds	40:27
	that Singer is a religious believer.	40:32
	Now there is atheist fundamentalism for you, isn't it?	40:35
	And that brings me back to the eagle,	40:40
	the serpent, the ship on the high seas,	40:44
	and the way of a man with a maiden.	40:49
	So let's leave our modern world	40:52
	and laboratories,	40:57
	the traffic, all the rest of it, and dream ourselves off	40:59
	for a moment to some distant mountain peak	41:04
	where we sit on a rock looking out over a sea of peaks	41:08
	colored by the glinting sun as the clouds drift by	41:14
	and here comes the eagle hovering,	41:18
	swooping, soaring,	41:21
	gliding off again to be a distant speck on the horizon.	41:24
	Are we sitting there thinking about aerodynamics?	41:30
	Are we at that moment any wiser than the Bible writer	41:35
	who found the way of an eagle in the sky	41:40
	too wonderful for him?	41:43
	It's what the artist seEs as he catches	41:49
	the curve in flight even of a common seagull,	41:53
	not more important to us than a whole mountain	41:58
	of statistical research.	42:01
	And can that moment of wonder not open a window for us	42:05
	into the dimension of mystery of God	42:08
	that has more meaning than a wilderness	42:12
	of factual information?	42:15
	I do not understand.	42:18
	You can feed me all the information tucked away	42:20
	in 1,000 microfilms.	42:23
	I would still stand there and wonder.	42:25
	And I wonder too about the serpent on the rock.	42:29
	I listen to strange voices from the past that come	42:36
	hissing through the collective unconsciousness of man.	42:41
	The primeval symbol of temptation.	42:47
	Do you remember?	42:49
	Then that healing snake that Moses lifted up	42:51
	on the wilderness, the legend of the sea serpent,	42:53
	the trail of the serpent through the energy	42:59
	of our dreams.	43:01
	There's the poison, the illusionist, the cunning,	43:06
	this Cleopatra, that serpent of old Nile.	43:12
	Now the window opens into a strange world, doesn't it?	43:17
	Where the hopes and the fears,	43:21
	shapes of good and evil,	43:24
	and at such moments, God speaks.	43:28
	If we are never transfixed by the wonder	43:32
	of a single living creature, whether it's a serpent	43:35
	on the rock or an ant carrying its egg	43:39
	or a fly moving on the windowpane or the sheer	43:43
	improbability of the hippopotamus,	43:47
	if we are never so transfixed,	43:51
	we are going to be terribly impoverished.	43:53
	There are times we don't want to know the facts.	43:57
	We just wonder.	43:59
	And tell me, do we really understand anymore	44:01
	what it all means than the man	44:04
	who wrote that proverb many centuries ago?	44:06
	The ship on the high seas.	44:11
	Well, what was it that aroused this writer	44:16
	to wonder in amazement?	44:21
	I don't think it was technical achievement.	44:22
	He probably knew quite a lot more than I do	44:26
	about sails, and rudders, and tides, and winds.	44:28
	I believe he was seized by the thought	44:32
	that may come to pass from time to time	44:34
	why, why has this earthbound,	44:38
	two-legged creature	44:43
	had the desire to cut down trees and make ships?	44:46
	Why does he entrust himself to the dark	44:51
	and menacing ocean?	44:54
	Crazy!	44:57
	Where is he going and what does he want to do?	44:59
	For us, exactly the same questions come surging in	45:05
	when we see on the television screen a capsule	45:09
	blasting off into space containing	45:13
	fellow men and women.	45:18
	For the achievement, we have all the explanations.	45:23
	No mystery about the calculations, the experiments,	45:26
	the years of research that precede the launching,	45:29
	but the mystery, the wonder, the contemplation	45:33
	that we don't understand come then	45:37
	with the deeper questions, don't they?	45:39
	What strange compulsion has lead human beings	45:44
	towards the mastery of their environment?	45:50
	Where are we going, why do we want to go?	45:55
	We get so accustomed to these things	46:00
	that sometimes we stop asking these questions.	46:02
	Are we going to become a race of people who understand	46:07
	everything and therefore understand nothing?	46:09
	Or can we still say about the mystery	46:13
	of man's existence and his questing spirit,	46:16
	it is too wonderful for me.	46:20
	I cannot understand.	46:22
	All right, we're not quite through though, are we?	46:27
	Last, ooh, some years ago,	46:30
	Life Magazine published a letter	46:35
	from a lady concerning the book	46:37
	called Human Sexual Response, and she said	46:38
	that her reaction to the book was to plead	46:43
	for a society for the preservation	46:46
	of the sweet mystery of life.	46:48
	Don't you ever feel that way?	46:52
	All right, have the facts.	46:55
	There was certainly too much ignorance	46:57
	and hush, hush about sex in my youth,	46:59
	but what kind of life awaits a people	47:03
	for whom the way of a man with a maiden	47:07
	is entirely explainable in terms of glands,	47:09
	and genes, and psychological data?	47:13
	The Bible is plain enough about the facts of sex,	47:17
	but the way of a man with a maiden is also seen there	47:22
	in the dimension of wonder and mystery.	47:26
	You got the song of songs there in the Bible	47:31
	as well as the sex laws of the (mumbles).	47:34
	Into what drab world are we moving when wonder	47:38
	and poetry disappear and mere explanation	47:44
	or attempted explanation take the place?	47:48
	As a Scotsman, I can't help in quoting this lovely verse.	47:54
	Oh, my love's like a red, red rose	48:01
	that's newly sprung in June.	48:05
	Oh, my love's like the melody	48:08
	that's sweetly played in tune.	48:11
	Would you like instead to sing	48:15
	oh, my love's like a chromosome	48:19
	that seeks the perfect suitor?	48:22
	(congregation laughs)	48:24
	And my love will be chosen for me by IBM computer.	48:25
	(congregation laughs)	48:30
	Let's preserve the mystery.	48:32
	Let's keep that sense of wonder alive,	48:36
	the recognition of the dimension where life	48:40
	cannot be explained away.	48:43
	That's what makes us Christian,	48:48
	that's what gives us the spiritual outlook on life	48:51
	which I hope you will have and take with you.	48:54
	I am not suggesting that just because there's wonder	48:57
	and mystery you must accept everything the church	49:00
	has to say about the being of God, the person of Christ,	49:03
	or the work of the Holy Spirit.	49:07
	I'm just telling you not to close the door.	49:08
	That's all the Book of Proverbs is doing,	49:14
	but it's very, very necessary.	49:17
	And so, as I have spoken long enough, let me end	49:22
	by just expressing the hope that you will carry with you	49:27
	who are graduating tomorrow into that mysterious world	49:32
	which grows more mysterious to me everyday,	49:37
	something corresponding to this shrine,	49:41
	this place which is a symbol of the wonder	49:46
	and the glory of almighty God	49:51
	and a sign of his care for us	49:55
	that you will take with you,	49:58
	this shrine that broods over your campus as an inner shrine	50:02
	so that none of the strange	50:08
	things that may happen to you	50:13
	as you go into a new way of life will ever erase	50:15
	from your mind the thought that there's a lot	50:19
	that we cannot explain, and it is worthwhile	50:23
	keeping that shrine alive in your heart.	50:26
	Let us pray.	50:30
	Grant to us O God, our renewed sense of wonder	50:33
	in thine universe and a readiness to hear thy word	50:37
	through Christ our Lord, amen.	50:42
	(organ music)	50:53
	(choral music)	51:50
-	Let us unite in this historic confession	54:45
	of the Christian faith.	54:47
-	[Woman And Congregation] I believe in God,	54:50
	the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth	54:51
	and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord,	54:55
	who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,	54:59
	born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,	55:02
	was crucified, dead and buried.	55:07
	He descended into hell.	55:10
	The third day, he rose from the dead.	55:12
	He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right	55:15
	hand of God the Father almighty.	55:18
	From this, he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	55:21
	I believe in the Holy Ghost,	55:25
	the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,	55:27
	the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection	55:32
	of the body, and the life everlasting.	55:35
	Amen.	55:39
Woman	Please be seated.	55:40
	(organ music)	55:56
	(singing in foreign language)	56:39
Reverend	Would you stand for the responsive prayer?	1:01:08
	Let us pray, almighty God, that you have granted us	1:01:20
	a place in this university hallowed to us now this day,	1:01:24
	when we dedicate ourselves to the life and work	1:01:29
	to which you have called us,	1:01:32
	that we may remember with gratitude the families	1:01:34
	and friends who have cared for us.	1:01:37
Congregation	We ask for your strength, O God.	1:01:40
Reverend	That in the life ahead, we may keep faith	1:01:42
	with those who loved us and trusted us	1:01:46
	and whose hopes follow us.	1:01:48
Congregation	We ask for your strength, O God.	1:01:51
-	That we may enter with good courage	1:01:54
	and constant purpose upon the task which await us.	1:01:56
Congregation	We ask for strength, O God.	1:02:00
-	From all vanity and pride, as if our accomplishments	1:02:03
	were of our sole creation.	1:02:07
Congregation	The Lord deliver us.	1:02:09
-	From neglect of the opportunities	1:02:11
	which are all about us, and from distrust	1:02:14
	of our ability to meet the duties of each dawning day.	1:02:17
Congregation	The Lord deliver us.	1:02:21
Reverend	That the example of wise	1:02:23
	and generous people who have gone before us	1:02:24
	and our families and here in this university	1:02:27
	may save us from folly and self-indulgence.	1:02:31
Congregation	We ask for this, O God.	1:02:35
-	More especially, that you would show us	1:02:37
	to your way of love in all that we do and say,	1:02:40
	that we should come to love the Lord our God	1:02:44
	with our soul and mind and strength	1:02:46
	and our neighbor as ourselves.	1:02:49
Congregation	We ask it, O God.	1:02:52
-	These things and whatever else you see	1:02:55
	needful and right for us, we ask in your holy name.	1:02:57
-	Amen.	1:03:03
-	Amen.
	(organ music)	1:03:05
	♪ God of grace and God of glory ♪	1:03:50
	♪ On your people pour thy power ♪	1:03:56
	♪ Crown your ancient church's story ♪	1:04:03
	♪ Bring the bud to glorious flower ♪	1:04:09
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:04:16
	♪ For the facing of this hour ♪	1:04:22
	♪ For the facing of this hour ♪	1:04:28
	♪ Lo the hosts of evil round us ♪	1:04:37
	♪ Scorn the Christ, assail his ways ♪	1:04:43
	♪ From the fears that long have bound us ♪	1:04:50
	♪ Free our hearts to faith and praise. ♪	1:04:57
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:05:04
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	1:05:09
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	1:05:16
	♪ Cure your children's warring madness ♪	1:05:27
	♪ Bend our pride to your control ♪	1:05:31
	♪ Shame our wanton, selfish gladness ♪	1:05:38
	♪ Rich in things and poor in soul ♪	1:05:45
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:05:52
	♪ Lest we miss your kingdom's goal ♪	1:05:58
	♪ Lest we miss your kingdom's goal ♪	1:06:05
	♪ Save us from weak resignation ♪	1:06:14
	♪ To the evils we deplore ♪	1:06:20
	♪ Let the gift of your salvation ♪	1:06:27
	♪ Be our glory evermore ♪	1:06:33
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:06:40
	♪ Serving you whom we adore ♪	1:06:46
	♪ Serving you whom we adore ♪	1:06:53
	♪ Save us from weak resignation ♪	1:07:02
	♪ To the evils we deplore ♪	1:07:08
	♪ Let the gift of your salvation ♪	1:07:15
	♪ Be our glory evermore ♪	1:07:21
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	1:07:28
	♪ Serving you whom we adore ♪	1:07:35
	♪ Serving you whom we adore ♪	1:07:41
-	And now, class of 1987, may the peace of God	1:07:53
	go with you as you go forth and may the great love of God	1:07:57
	be with you and remain with you now and always.	1:08:01
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:08
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:19
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:29
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:37
	♪ Amen ♪	1:08:56
	♪ Amen ♪	1:09:09
	(organ music)	1:09:31

Item Info

Title:

David H. C. Read - "Knowledge - With Room for Wonder" Baccalaureate Service 5:00 pm (May 8, 1987)

Description:

The questions of knowledge which the Scriptures seek to address are not merely a matter of scientific fact. While modern science is a great gift to human understanding, we run the risk of losing a sense of wonder and mystery about life if we believe that everything can be explained. The Christian faith requires we open ourselves up to the wonder and mystery of life. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 26:14. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 50:46.
Key quotation: “If we are never astonished, made to wonder, then we are terribly impoverished.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4d21s02b

Date:

May 8, 1987

Speaker:

Read, David Haxton Carswell

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0031
ref8334_c31
uachapelsermaud
duke:321387
dcrmv001031
ark:/87924/r4d21s02b
13d58073-24d4-4fc2-989b-75ebc9245474

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

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