Peter J. Gomes - "Thinking and Feeling the Faith" (October 28, 1990)
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| (organ music) | 0:00 | |
| (organ music) | 2:23 | |
| - | Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband's side | 2:31 |
| a prominent rich man, | 2:36 | |
| of the family of Elimelech, | 2:38 | |
| whose name was Boaz. | 2:42 | |
| And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, | 2:45 | |
| let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, | 2:49 | |
| behind someone in whose sight I may find favor. | 2:55 | |
| She said to her, go, my daughter. | 3:01 | |
| So she went. | 3:05 | |
| She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. | 3:08 | |
| As it happened, | 3:14 | |
| she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, | 3:15 | |
| who was of the family of Elimelech. | 3:20 | |
| Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. | 3:24 | |
| He said to the reapers, | 3:28 | |
| to whom does this young woman belong? | 3:31 | |
| The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, | 3:36 | |
| she is the Moabite who came back with Naomi | 3:41 | |
| from the country of Moab. | 3:45 | |
| She said, please, | 3:49 | |
| let me glean and gather among the sheaves | 3:51 | |
| behind the reapers. | 3:55 | |
| So she came, | 3:58 | |
| and she has been on her feet | 4:00 | |
| from early this morning until now, | 4:03 | |
| without resting even for a moment. | 4:07 | |
| Then Boaz said to Ruth, | 4:12 | |
| now listen, my daughter, | 4:16 | |
| do not go to glean in another field | 4:19 | |
| or leave this one, | 4:23 | |
| but keep close to my young women. | 4:26 | |
| Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, | 4:31 | |
| and follow behind them. | 4:36 | |
| I have ordered the young men not to bother you. | 4:41 | |
| If you get thirsty, | 4:45 | |
| go to the vessels and drink | 4:47 | |
| from what the young men have drawn. | 4:50 | |
| Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, | 4:54 | |
| and said to him, why have I found favor in your sight, | 4:59 | |
| that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner? | 5:05 | |
| But Boaz answered her, | 5:12 | |
| all that you have done for your mother-in-law | 5:15 | |
| since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, | 5:19 | |
| and how you left your father and mother and your native land | 5:25 | |
| and came to a people that you did not know before. | 5:32 | |
| May the Lord reward you for your deeds, | 5:39 | |
| and may you have a full reward from the Lord, | 5:43 | |
| the God of Israel, | 5:47 | |
| under whose wings you have come for refuge. | 5:50 | |
| Then she said, | 5:55 | |
| may I continue to find favor in your sight, oh lord, | 5:57 | |
| for you have comforted me | 6:02 | |
| and spoken kindly to your servants. | 6:05 | |
| This is the Word of the Lord. | 6:08 | |
| All | Thanks be to God. | 6:11 |
| - | The second reading this morning | 6:15 |
| is taken from the 1st book of Thessalonians chapter two. | 6:18 | |
| You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, | 6:25 | |
| that our coming to you was not in vain, | 6:29 | |
| but though we had already suffered | 6:34 | |
| and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, | 6:36 | |
| we had courage in our God | 6:43 | |
| to declare to you the gospel of God | 6:45 | |
| in spite of great opposition. | 6:49 | |
| For our appeal does not spring | 6:53 | |
| from deceit or impure motives or trickery, | 6:56 | |
| but just as we have been approved by God | 7:02 | |
| to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, | 7:07 | |
| even so we speak, | 7:11 | |
| not to please mortals, | 7:15 | |
| but to please God who tests our hearts. | 7:18 | |
| As you know and as God is our witness, | 7:23 | |
| we never came with words of flattery | 7:28 | |
| or with a pretext for greed, | 7:31 | |
| nor did we seek praise from mortals, | 7:36 | |
| whether from you or from others, | 7:40 | |
| though we might have made demands as the apostles of Christ. | 7:44 | |
| But we were gentle among you, | 7:50 | |
| like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. | 7:53 | |
| So deeply do we care for you | 7:58 | |
| that we are determined to share with you | 8:01 | |
| not only the gospel of God | 8:04 | |
| but also our own selves, | 8:08 | |
| because you have become very dear to us. | 8:12 | |
| This is the Word of God. | 8:16 | |
| All | Thanks be to God. | 8:18 |
| (organ music) | 8:33 | |
| ♪ I heard a great voice from heaven ♪ | 8:40 | |
| ♪ I heard a great voice from heaven ♪ | 8:53 | |
| ♪ Saying unto me ♪ | 9:06 | |
| ♪ Saying unto me ♪ | 9:11 | |
| ♪ Write, from henceforth ♪ | 9:17 | |
| ♪ Write, from henceforth ♪ | 9:23 | |
| ♪ Write ♪ | 9:29 | |
| ♪ Blessed are the dead ♪ | 9:33 | |
| ♪ Blessed are the dead ♪ | 9:40 | |
| ♪ Who die in the Lord ♪ | 9:45 | |
| ♪ Even so ♪ | 10:00 | |
| ♪ Even so, saith the Spirit ♪ | 10:04 | |
| ♪ For they rest from their labors ♪ | 10:15 | |
| ♪ They rest from their labors ♪ | 10:22 | |
| ♪ They rest from their labors ♪ | 10:27 | |
| ♪ And their works do follow them ♪ | 10:36 | |
| ♪ Their works do follow them ♪ | 10:46 | |
| ♪ Their works do follow them ♪ | 10:57 | |
| - | The third lesson appointed for this day | 11:31 |
| is from the gospel according to Saint Matthew. | 11:34 | |
| When the Pharisees heard | 11:38 | |
| that he had silenced the Sadducees, | 11:40 | |
| they gathered around, | 11:42 | |
| and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. | 11:44 | |
| Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? | 11:49 | |
| He said to him, you shall love the Lord your God | 11:54 | |
| with all your heart, and with all your soul, | 11:58 | |
| and with all your mind. | 12:01 | |
| This is the greatest and first commandment, | 12:03 | |
| and a second is like unto it, | 12:07 | |
| you shall love your neighbor as yourselves. | 12:09 | |
| On these two commandments | 12:12 | |
| hang all the law and the prophets. | 12:14 | |
| Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, | 12:18 | |
| Jesus asked them this question: | 12:21 | |
| what do you think of the Messiah? | 12:24 | |
| Whose son is he? | 12:27 | |
| They said to him, the son of David. | 12:29 | |
| He said to them, how is it then that David by the Spirit | 12:32 | |
| calls him Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord, | 12:37 | |
| sit at my right hand, | 12:42 | |
| until I put your enemies under your feet? | 12:43 | |
| If David thus called him Lord, how can he be his son? | 12:47 | |
| No one was able to give him an answer, | 12:52 | |
| nor from that day did anyone dare | 12:55 | |
| to ask him any more questions. | 12:57 | |
| This is the gospel of our Lord. | 13:02 | |
| All | Thanks be to God. | 13:05 |
| - | Let us pray. | 13:24 |
| Help us, Lord, to become masters of ourselves, | 13:31 | |
| that we may become the servants of others. | 13:35 | |
| Take our hands and work through them, | 13:39 | |
| take our minds and think through them, | 13:43 | |
| take our lips and speak through them, | 13:47 | |
| and take our hearts and set them on fire, | 13:51 | |
| for Christ's sake. | 13:56 | |
| Amen. | 13:59 | |
| In the gospel lesson that you have heard from Saint Matthew, | 14:10 | |
| there are at least two tempting opportunities | 14:15 | |
| for preaching. | 14:21 | |
| The first one would be to preach | 14:23 | |
| on the deceitful nature of lawyers, | 14:26 | |
| and to those of you who are at the bar in this chapel, | 14:31 | |
| or those undergraduates who aspire to the bar, | 14:36 | |
| this is a text that I am sorely tempted to take. | 14:41 | |
| (laughing) | 14:45 | |
| For your sake, and mine, and that of the nation. | 14:46 | |
| But I shall restrain myself and not tell you what I think. | 14:50 | |
| But the gospel passage leaves us much room there, | 14:55 | |
| and it could be done. | 14:59 | |
| The second tempting option from this passage, | 15:01 | |
| from the gospel, | 15:05 | |
| is the very last verse, | 15:06 | |
| which strikes some of us indeed as anti-intellectual, | 15:09 | |
| and anti the spirit of the university, | 15:14 | |
| where is says and they durst not ask him | 15:17 | |
| any more questions. | 15:22 | |
| Here one could go on at great length | 15:25 | |
| about the virtues of not asking too many questions, | 15:28 | |
| even in a questionable place like this. | 15:34 | |
| But I shall resist that temptation as well, | 15:38 | |
| and I shall confine my attention, as I hope you will, | 15:40 | |
| to what I think, in fact, | 15:44 | |
| is the burden of this passage from the gospel, | 15:46 | |
| from which I have taken my text. | 15:50 | |
| It's the 37th verse of Saint Matthew 22. | 15:53 | |
| Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, | 15:58 | |
| and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. | 16:04 | |
| This is the first and great commandment. | 16:09 | |
| Now it is Jesus himself | 16:15 | |
| who calls this the first and the greatest commandment. | 16:17 | |
| It is Jesus himself who lifts this commandment | 16:23 | |
| above all of the law, all of the instruction, | 16:27 | |
| all of the hints and suggestions for duty. | 16:32 | |
| It is Jesus who tells us that this is the duty | 16:36 | |
| that we owe toward God, | 16:41 | |
| a duty that involves all of what we are, | 16:44 | |
| and all of what we do. | 16:48 | |
| This is the legitimate answer to a trick question. | 16:51 | |
| The love of God | 16:58 | |
| according to this great commandment of Jesus, | 16:59 | |
| the love of God is expressed with our hearts, | 17:01 | |
| it is expressed with our souls, | 17:06 | |
| it is expressed with our minds. | 17:09 | |
| It is not one of the above, you will note carefully, | 17:12 | |
| it is not two out of three, | 17:17 | |
| it is all of the faculties of our thinking, | 17:20 | |
| our feeling and our being. | 17:25 | |
| All of this is required | 17:29 | |
| in love toward God. | 17:32 | |
| Now I mention this first and great commandment | 17:36 | |
| not only because the lectionary requires it, | 17:38 | |
| and Dean Willimon would expect no less of me in his absence, | 17:41 | |
| but I mention this first and great commandment here as well, | 17:46 | |
| because if this chapel and this university | 17:51 | |
| are anything at all like the chapel and the university | 17:55 | |
| that I serve in the Duke of the North, | 17:59 | |
| (laughing) | 18:02 | |
| then there are some of you who are here this morning | 18:05 | |
| who in fact, look forward to chapel and to church | 18:08 | |
| as that one place, | 18:12 | |
| that one hour during the week | 18:15 | |
| when you are not obliged to think at all. | 18:18 | |
| (laughing) | 18:22 | |
| Here in this marvelous space, | 18:23 | |
| with the narcotic of music, | 18:27 | |
| and the absolutely, wonderfully tempting | 18:29 | |
| diversions of architecture, | 18:33 | |
| surrounded by your neighbors and friends, | 18:35 | |
| here you can all, as some of you already have, | 18:39 | |
| go on automatic pilot. | 18:43 | |
| (laughing) | 18:46 | |
| You hang up all of the intensities of the work week, | 18:47 | |
| all of the demands that press and push and prod, | 18:52 | |
| and you let whatever happens here in the Duke Chapel | 18:56 | |
| wash over you | 19:01 | |
| like a warm shower bath. | 19:02 | |
| I see it happening already as I move up the center aisle | 19:06 | |
| towards the western end. | 19:11 | |
| An undergraduate at Harvard, | 19:14 | |
| with what I took to be a sincere, even flattering intention, | 19:16 | |
| once told me at the door of Memorial Church | 19:22 | |
| that he liked my sermons | 19:24 | |
| because it was the most restful 20 minutes he had all week. | 19:27 | |
| (laughing) | 19:32 | |
| A good sermon, I was once told, | 19:33 | |
| was one from which either you left enlightened | 19:35 | |
| or awoke refreshed. | 19:39 | |
| (laughing) | 19:42 | |
| But the great commandment, | 19:45 | |
| while it does not command us to listen to sermons, | 19:46 | |
| does say that one of the things | 19:51 | |
| with which love toward God is expressed, | 19:54 | |
| is with the mind. | 19:58 | |
| So would you do God and me the kindness | 20:02 | |
| by re-engaging your minds? | 20:06 | |
| I require your attention, even in the choir. | 20:09 | |
| I know you lot, listen up. | 20:14 | |
| (laughing) | 20:16 | |
| We are expected | 20:18 | |
| to express our love toward God | 20:20 | |
| in the first case, with our mind. | 20:23 | |
| There is intellect, | 20:26 | |
| reason involved in the worship and the love of God, | 20:29 | |
| and we are expected, we are commanded, | 20:34 | |
| to give our minds over to this enterprise | 20:37 | |
| in obedience to what God requires of us. | 20:42 | |
| Now this is not to say, and I hasten to say it, | 20:48 | |
| that either God or the worship of God | 20:50 | |
| or even the love of God | 20:53 | |
| are in themselves reasonable propositions. | 20:54 | |
| If your minds are alert now, as they must be, | 20:59 | |
| you will note that these are not one and the same thing. | 21:02 | |
| Worship, the love of God, | 21:06 | |
| these are, in fact, quite unreasonable, as reason goes, | 21:08 | |
| especially if reason is defined | 21:14 | |
| as that which you can see or prove or do. | 21:17 | |
| Try to argue, if you're an undergraduate, | 21:23 | |
| with your roommate, | 21:25 | |
| or if you're not, with your spouse or your friend | 21:26 | |
| about the existence of God, | 21:29 | |
| and you will discover very quickly | 21:31 | |
| how impossible the most reasonable of people, | 21:33 | |
| and the most reasonable of arguments becomes | 21:37 | |
| in that set of circumstances. | 21:41 | |
| And if you want another example | 21:44 | |
| of the unreasonableness of this enterprise | 21:46 | |
| in which you are to give over your mind, | 21:49 | |
| look at this very chapel itself. | 21:51 | |
| This is as unreasonable a space and place | 21:55 | |
| as designed by the hand of man. | 21:59 | |
| This is an incredibly inefficient place. | 22:04 | |
| Look all around it, all of this glass, all of this stone, | 22:09 | |
| not one but two organs, for what? | 22:13 | |
| What an unreasonable enterprise, | 22:17 | |
| what an inefficient, unreasonable place this place | 22:21 | |
| compared to a laboratory or a library. | 22:24 | |
| This could make wonderful condominia | 22:28 | |
| for faculty, for example. | 22:31 | |
| (laughing) | 22:33 | |
| It would make a very reasonable use | 22:34 | |
| if converted into something sensible and practical, | 22:36 | |
| but here it stands, | 22:40 | |
| a monument to the unreasonable | 22:43 | |
| within which one is meant to give over, among other things, | 22:46 | |
| one's mind to God. | 22:52 | |
| Here this marvelously unreasonable space, | 22:55 | |
| Saint Nicotine's, I always call it, | 22:59 | |
| whenever I come to Duke. | 23:02 | |
| (laughing) | 23:04 | |
| At Harvard, | 23:08 | |
| Memorial Church stands in the most prominent part | 23:09 | |
| of the college yard, | 23:13 | |
| and like your chapel here, it can't be missed. | 23:15 | |
| A dean once said to me, | 23:19 | |
| lovely building, the chapel, | 23:21 | |
| but if we were starting again, | 23:23 | |
| I don't think we'd put it here. | 23:25 | |
| And I suspect that the makers of your modern university, | 23:29 | |
| were they to start all over again, | 23:32 | |
| might have second thoughts | 23:35 | |
| about placing the chapel right here. | 23:37 | |
| It is such an unreasonable expression | 23:41 | |
| of a university's ambition. | 23:44 | |
| But unreasonable as this all may seem, | 23:49 | |
| the great commandment does not reject the mind. | 23:52 | |
| In fact, it commandeers the mind, | 23:57 | |
| it drafts the mind for the worship and the love of God. | 24:00 | |
| God wants your mind, | 24:05 | |
| small and inadequate, inefficient as it is, | 24:08 | |
| God wants it anyway. | 24:12 | |
| To think | 24:15 | |
| is to attempt to worship and love God, | 24:17 | |
| to think | 24:21 | |
| is to attempt to comprehend God. | 24:23 | |
| Think about that. | 24:28 | |
| Now warm-hearted Christians, | 24:34 | |
| and I'm not unaware that John Wesley, your great patron, | 24:36 | |
| once described himself as strangely warmed. | 24:41 | |
| I always thought that a marvelous phrase as a Baptist, | 24:45 | |
| it sounds not quite fully done. | 24:48 | |
| Strangely warmed. | 24:50 | |
| (laughing) | 24:52 | |
| Now warm-hearted Christians tend to think of thought | 24:54 | |
| and thinking and thinkers as cold-hearted and rational. | 24:59 | |
| Warm-hearted Christians, especially in the environment | 25:05 | |
| of a great secular university such as Duke, | 25:09 | |
| will tend or be tempted to see the faith | 25:12 | |
| as an island in the storm. | 25:16 | |
| That one place, this place, | 25:19 | |
| where faith and fuzz | 25:22 | |
| become one. | 25:25 | |
| But God requires not simply our hearts, | 25:28 | |
| but our minds as well. | 25:32 | |
| Saint Augustine tells us of the consolations | 25:35 | |
| God has given us in the world, | 25:38 | |
| and chief among these are the abilities | 25:40 | |
| to think and to discern, | 25:44 | |
| to discover, to imagine, | 25:47 | |
| to come to terms with truth, | 25:50 | |
| to discover truth from error, | 25:53 | |
| to calculate, to cogitate, to calibrate. | 25:56 | |
| These are not secular pursuits. | 26:00 | |
| These are not activities reserved alone | 26:04 | |
| for the library and the laboratory | 26:07 | |
| and the people in white coats. | 26:09 | |
| These are indeed the gifts of God for the people of God, | 26:12 | |
| and if you fail to think, | 26:17 | |
| you are abusing one of the gifts of God. | 26:21 | |
| You are engaged in a wasteful, | 26:27 | |
| blasphemous non-enterprise. | 26:30 | |
| Your mind is meant to be engaged for God, | 26:35 | |
| and without it, God is not pleased, | 26:41 | |
| God is not well-served, | 26:45 | |
| neither are you, and neither is the church. | 26:48 | |
| So no Christian who loves God | 26:54 | |
| should ever be afraid of an idea, | 26:57 | |
| no matter how obnoxious, no matter how difficult, | 27:02 | |
| no matter how perverse. | 27:07 | |
| For the mind is the gift God has given us | 27:10 | |
| to discern among good, bad, | 27:14 | |
| and indifferent ideas. | 27:17 | |
| Ideas are Christian property, | 27:21 | |
| and not to use them is to be very poor stewards indeed. | 27:25 | |
| No Christian who loves God need ever think | 27:30 | |
| that his mind is an alien force, | 27:34 | |
| something that has to be turned off | 27:38 | |
| when you become religious. | 27:41 | |
| If that is the case, | 27:44 | |
| you are not truly or thoroughly religious. | 27:46 | |
| No Christian who loves God | 27:52 | |
| need every put her intellectual faculties on hold. | 27:55 | |
| Indeed as my predecessor George Arthur Buttrick | 28:01 | |
| used to say of Memorial Church | 28:04 | |
| the doors of the church should never be so low | 28:07 | |
| that someone must leave his head outside when he enters. | 28:12 | |
| Thank God that the doors of Duke Chapel | 28:17 | |
| appear to be high and everlasting, | 28:20 | |
| so that here, men and women may worship God | 28:24 | |
| with their minds fully intact, fully engaged, | 28:28 | |
| fully pushed, challenged and stimulated. | 28:32 | |
| To think, fully and comprehensively, | 28:37 | |
| to think micro and macro, | 28:41 | |
| is ultimately to think of God. | 28:45 | |
| As the hymnist says, my ample creed, | 28:51 | |
| it is the thought of God. | 28:55 | |
| But thank God the great commandment | 29:02 | |
| which Jesus invokes here, | 29:06 | |
| commandeers more than merely the mind. | 29:08 | |
| For the organs of feeling and passion are also called for. | 29:14 | |
| God commandeers the heart and the soul, | 29:20 | |
| as well as the mind. | 29:25 | |
| God does not want thoughtless Christians | 29:29 | |
| who just feel all warm and fuzzy, | 29:32 | |
| nor does God want thoughtful Christians | 29:36 | |
| who have no spirit, who have no passions or feelings. | 29:41 | |
| God requires the whole thing, | 29:48 | |
| and so we are grateful for this great commandment | 29:51 | |
| which requires | 29:55 | |
| thinking and feeling the faith. | 29:56 | |
| Religion may be learned, it may be taught, | 30:01 | |
| in some places, it may even be practiced, | 30:05 | |
| but both ultimately and immediately, | 30:08 | |
| the Christian faith is both caught and felt. | 30:12 | |
| And such a feeling, if you will, | 30:18 | |
| is invariably and inevitably | 30:21 | |
| the result of a relationship. | 30:25 | |
| You have first opened your minds, | 30:30 | |
| now open your hearts | 30:33 | |
| to receive the good news of Christ. | 30:37 | |
| Feeling, if you will, | 30:43 | |
| is inevitably the result of a relationship. | 30:45 | |
| Now I know this word relationship | 30:51 | |
| is a very dangerous, slippery word. | 30:55 | |
| It has become a euphemism, | 30:59 | |
| a substitute for more basic Anglo-Saxon meaning. | 31:02 | |
| No one any longer has friends or lovers | 31:07 | |
| or boyfriends or girlfriends anymore. | 31:11 | |
| Everyone is in or out | 31:16 | |
| or moving toward or coming from out of a relationship, | 31:18 | |
| and most of these are meant to be meaningful, | 31:24 | |
| that is, full of deep and inexplicable meaning. | 31:28 | |
| And these all, both good and bad, | 31:33 | |
| make demands upon that collection of invisible realities, | 31:36 | |
| invisible realities that we call feelings. | 31:40 | |
| So I want to rehabilitate | 31:46 | |
| both the notion of relationship and feeling | 31:48 | |
| for the use of the Christian faith | 31:51 | |
| and the great commandment, this text allows me to do so. | 31:53 | |
| Feelings are the inevitable result of a relationship. | 32:00 | |
| Think about it. | 32:05 | |
| Feelings are always the result of a relationship | 32:06 | |
| made, sustained or broken. | 32:11 | |
| We connect or we fail to connect, | 32:14 | |
| and in that relationship, broken or unbroken, | 32:18 | |
| feelings, the heart and the soul, | 32:21 | |
| come into play. | 32:25 | |
| Faith is meant to be felt, | 32:28 | |
| not simply talked or merely understood. | 32:31 | |
| It is meant to be felt. | 32:35 | |
| You are meant to be | 32:37 | |
| more than strangely warm. | 32:40 | |
| Faith is ultimately a response to what God has done for us, | 32:44 | |
| and we are to respond to the great | 32:50 | |
| and generous act of creation with our minds, | 32:52 | |
| but indeed with more, | 32:57 | |
| with our hearts and our souls. | 32:59 | |
| All of our being, the whole thing that makes us human, | 33:02 | |
| is that with which we respond to God | 33:08 | |
| who made us human. | 33:11 | |
| But we all know how we feel when the question is put | 33:16 | |
| how are you feeling today? | 33:21 | |
| When we put that question, | 33:26 | |
| we know that it does not require | 33:28 | |
| a full or a truthful answer, | 33:32 | |
| and how horrible it is | 33:35 | |
| when somebody actually in response to that question | 33:36 | |
| tells you how they are feeling today. | 33:40 | |
| Who can bear it? | 33:44 | |
| It is one of the liabilities of truth. | 33:46 | |
| Few of us can. | 33:49 | |
| God bless rhetorical questions. | 33:51 | |
| But the question, if looked at carefully, | 33:55 | |
| is not merely a medical or a physical | 33:58 | |
| or even a psychological question, | 34:02 | |
| it is not even merely polite. | 34:06 | |
| It has to do with you and all of the relationships | 34:08 | |
| that define who and whose you are. | 34:13 | |
| Because we can only feel in relationships to others | 34:17 | |
| and to other things. | 34:22 | |
| To feel the faith is not simply a private inner glow. | 34:24 | |
| It is to respond to God in all of the relationships | 34:30 | |
| in which God has set us, | 34:35 | |
| and in which God is to be found, | 34:37 | |
| and we know with our minds | 34:42 | |
| those feelings | 34:46 | |
| of our hearts and our souls. | 34:48 | |
| And we are at one, in some strange and wondrous way, | 34:52 | |
| when all of these qualities of mind, | 34:56 | |
| heart, and soul | 35:00 | |
| are combined. | 35:03 | |
| That is when | 35:05 | |
| we are fully understood | 35:07 | |
| even as we fully understand. | 35:10 | |
| I point only to this building as a perfect example | 35:15 | |
| of that union | 35:20 | |
| of heart and mind and soul. | 35:22 | |
| This unreasonable building | 35:25 | |
| is the result of the most careful | 35:29 | |
| of mathematical and architectural calculations. | 35:32 | |
| It is, in some sense, reason in stone. | 35:37 | |
| Mere faith that a place like this would turn out okay, | 35:43 | |
| mere faith, mere hope | 35:48 | |
| that something would allow this building to go up, | 35:50 | |
| that one stone would stand upon another | 35:55 | |
| simply would not do. | 35:58 | |
| But the result of this reasonable mathematical enterprise | 36:02 | |
| is, we wouldst all testify, more than reasonable. | 36:06 | |
| The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. | 36:12 | |
| It is the expression, this chapel of yours, if you will, | 36:15 | |
| of a feeling. | 36:19 | |
| It is the expression of a relationship indeed | 36:21 | |
| between the seen and the unseen, | 36:25 | |
| between the transient and the eternal. | 36:29 | |
| It is a statement of relationship, if you will, | 36:32 | |
| between earth and heaven itself. | 36:37 | |
| Oh certainly, Mr. Duke may have built this church | 36:42 | |
| to atone for his many sins, | 36:46 | |
| or to impress his many neighbors, | 36:49 | |
| all of that may be true, but who cares? | 36:51 | |
| For God has a greater use for it, | 36:54 | |
| and when you come here, if you have any sense at all, | 36:59 | |
| you are driven to your knees, | 37:03 | |
| your spiritual knees. | 37:07 | |
| You are lost in wonder, | 37:10 | |
| love and praise. | 37:13 | |
| For you see, in the end, as in the beginning, | 37:18 | |
| God does not want just your mind, | 37:22 | |
| but God does want your mind. | 37:26 | |
| God does not want just your hearts and your souls, | 37:30 | |
| but God does want your heart and your soul as well. | 37:34 | |
| God who gave it all, wants it all, | 37:39 | |
| and will accept nothing less. | 37:43 | |
| Your rational thoughtful self, | 37:48 | |
| so well expressed in the classroom, | 37:51 | |
| your energetic, passionate, physical self, | 37:54 | |
| so well expressed upon the fields of endeavor, | 37:57 | |
| and your spiritual, heart-felt self, | 38:02 | |
| which finds itself expressed here in this place, | 38:05 | |
| God wants all of this. | 38:10 | |
| God requires all of this. | 38:15 | |
| One of the great curses, in some respects, | 38:21 | |
| of being an undergraduate in a great university like this | 38:25 | |
| is the easy and readily understood temptation | 38:29 | |
| to live carefully, compartmentalized life. | 38:34 | |
| In the classroom I think, more or less, | 38:40 | |
| in the dormitory, I have fun as much as I can, | 38:44 | |
| on the fields I play as well as I can, | 38:49 | |
| and in church I am religious, | 38:52 | |
| or at least not consciously wicked. | 38:56 | |
| All of these self-contained | 39:00 | |
| little departments and compartments | 39:03 | |
| that have nothing each to do with the other, | 39:05 | |
| the segregation of mind and heart and soul | 39:08 | |
| and the physical and the spiritual, | 39:12 | |
| the older you get, I hope the clearer it becomes | 39:16 | |
| that such little, tiny boxes simply don't exist, | 39:21 | |
| and that the one place | 39:26 | |
| where all of these departments and compartments | 39:28 | |
| are melded and transformed and transcended, | 39:31 | |
| the one place where that happens here and anywhere else | 39:35 | |
| is in this place | 39:39 | |
| before the altar of God. | 39:41 | |
| The older of you may know this, | 39:46 | |
| and if you don't, it's time you learned it. | 39:48 | |
| The undergraduates, here is a time and place | 39:51 | |
| for you to think about the faith, | 39:56 | |
| and to feel it as well. | 39:59 | |
| These are not mutually exclusive, | 40:02 | |
| they are meant to give you, like this building, | 40:06 | |
| something larger than the sum of its parts, | 40:09 | |
| and it is called life. | 40:14 | |
| So the Christian faith is not simply mind over matter | 40:20 | |
| or heart over head, | 40:24 | |
| it is all that a man or a woman can be | 40:27 | |
| or aspire to be. | 40:31 | |
| To think and to do that, | 40:33 | |
| is required in response | 40:36 | |
| to what God has done | 40:39 | |
| and is doing for you. | 40:42 | |
| The lawyers who put their question to Jesus | 40:46 | |
| like most lawyers, alas, | 40:50 | |
| were not interested | 40:53 | |
| in advancing the frontiers of truth | 40:55 | |
| or knowledge or even information. | 40:59 | |
| They were interested simply in tripping up Jesus. | 41:04 | |
| But they | 41:10 | |
| and you and I have got an answer | 41:12 | |
| to a question, | 41:17 | |
| an answer that far exceeds the question | 41:19 | |
| and the questioners. | 41:23 | |
| God has been generous to us. | 41:26 | |
| In every way, every day, | 41:31 | |
| in every department, | 41:34 | |
| God has been generous to us with minds that think, | 41:36 | |
| and hearts that feel, and bodies that work more or less. | 41:41 | |
| God has been generous, don't be stingy | 41:45 | |
| in your return. | 41:50 | |
| This is not just an offertory sentence. | 41:53 | |
| Don't be stingy in your return of what God has given you. | 41:57 | |
| If your mind works, you owe it to God, | 42:01 | |
| if your body works, you owe it to God, | 42:03 | |
| if your heart can still function and beat and feel, | 42:06 | |
| you owe it to God. | 42:10 | |
| The faith is meant to be thought and felt, | 42:13 | |
| for in no other way can it be enjoyed or shared. | 42:18 | |
| Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, | 42:25 | |
| with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. | 42:29 | |
| This is the first and greatest commandment. | 42:34 | |
| Amen. | 42:40 | |
| (organ music) | 42:48 | |
| ♪ I love thy kingdom, Lord ♪ | 43:10 | |
| ♪ The house of thine abode ♪ | 43:15 | |
| ♪ The church our blest Redeemer saved ♪ | 43:20 | |
| ♪ With his own precious blood ♪ | 43:25 | |
| ♪ I love thy church, oh God ♪ | 43:33 | |
| ♪ Her walls before thee stand ♪ | 43:38 | |
| ♪ Dear as the apple of thine eye ♪ | 43:43 | |
| ♪ And graven on thy hand ♪ | 43:49 | |
| ♪ For her my tears shall fall ♪ | 43:56 | |
| ♪ For her my prayers ascend ♪ | 44:02 | |
| ♪ To her my cares and toils be given ♪ | 44:07 | |
| ♪ Till toils and cares shall end ♪ | 44:13 | |
| ♪ Beyond my highest joy ♪ | 44:20 | |
| ♪ I prize her heavenly ways ♪ | 44:26 | |
| ♪ Her sweet communion, solemn vows ♪ | 44:31 | |
| ♪ Her hymns of love and praise ♪ | 44:37 | |
| ♪ Sure as thy truth shall last ♪ | 44:44 | |
| ♪ To Zion shall be given ♪ | 44:49 | |
| ♪ The brightest glories earth can yield ♪ | 44:54 | |
| ♪ And brighter bliss of heaven ♪ | 45:00 | |
| - | The Lord be with you. | 45:09 |
| Congregation | And also with you. | 45:12 |
| - | Let us pray. | 45:13 |
| Oh God, | 45:25 | |
| you have set before us the way of your truth | 45:27 | |
| and of your life. | 45:31 | |
| Too often we prefer the ways | 45:34 | |
| of our choosing, | 45:38 | |
| thoughtlessly and hurriedly | 45:40 | |
| without thinking, without feeling. | 45:43 | |
| If in so doing we have offended you or our neighbors, | 45:48 | |
| we are truly sorry. | 45:53 | |
| If in so doing we have hurt ourselves, | 45:55 | |
| we ask for your healing. | 45:58 | |
| Lord, in your mercy-- | 46:01 | |
| Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 46:04 |
| - | Oh God, it is your will to hold both heaven and earth | 46:06 |
| in a single piece. | 46:11 | |
| Let the design of your great love | 46:14 | |
| shine on the waste of our wraths and sorrows, | 46:16 | |
| and give peace to your church, | 46:21 | |
| peace among nations, peace in our homes, | 46:25 | |
| and peace in our hearts. | 46:29 | |
| Lord, in your mercy-- | 46:32 | |
| Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 46:35 |
| - | Grant, oh God, that your Holy and Life-giving Spirit | 46:37 |
| may move every human heart, | 46:42 | |
| that the barriers which divide us may crumble, | 46:46 | |
| suspicions disappear and hatred cease, | 46:51 | |
| and that with our divisions healed | 46:55 | |
| we might live in justice and in peace. | 46:59 | |
| Lord, in your mercy-- | 47:02 | |
| Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 47:06 |
| - | Oh Lord, our Ruler, | 47:08 |
| we commend our nation, | 47:12 | |
| and indeed all nations to your merciful care. | 47:15 | |
| Guide those who hold office in the government of this city, | 47:20 | |
| this state and our nation, | 47:25 | |
| that they may do their work | 47:29 | |
| in a spirit of wisdom, | 47:31 | |
| kindness and justice. | 47:33 | |
| Help them use their authority to serve faithfully, | 47:37 | |
| and promote the general welfare. | 47:42 | |
| Help them always remember | 47:46 | |
| that they are called to serve the people as lovers of truth. | 47:48 | |
| Lord, in your mercy-- | 47:53 | |
| Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 47:56 |
| - | Bless, oh God, all colleges, universities, | 47:58 |
| and centers of research and learning, | 48:03 | |
| and those who teach and who study in them. | 48:06 | |
| Bestow your wisdom in such measure | 48:11 | |
| that people may serve you in church and society | 48:13 | |
| and that our common life | 48:18 | |
| may be conformed to the rule of your truth. | 48:20 | |
| Lord, in your mercy-- | 48:24 | |
| Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 48:27 |
| - | Let your blessing rest upon seedtime and harvest, | 48:30 |
| the commerce and industry, the leisure and rest, | 48:35 | |
| the arts and culture of our people. | 48:40 | |
| Take under your special protection | 48:44 | |
| those whose task is difficult or dangerous. | 48:46 | |
| Be with those who face today and tomorrow | 48:51 | |
| without employment, | 48:55 | |
| and be with all who lay their hands to any useful task | 48:58 | |
| no matter how humble. | 49:02 | |
| Give them all just reward for their labor | 49:05 | |
| and the knowledge that their work is good in your sight. | 49:09 | |
| Lord, in your mercy-- | 49:14 | |
| Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 49:17 |
| - | Almighty and most merciful God, | 49:20 |
| we call to mind before you all those | 49:23 | |
| whom it would be easy to forget. | 49:26 | |
| The homeless, the destitute, | 49:31 | |
| the aged, and all who have none to care for them. | 49:35 | |
| Comfort, with the grace of your Spirit, | 49:41 | |
| all who are in sorrow or need, | 49:44 | |
| in sickness or adversity. | 49:47 | |
| Remember those who suffer persecution for the faith. | 49:51 | |
| Have mercy on those to whom death draws near. | 49:56 | |
| Bring consolation to those in sorrow or mourning. | 50:02 | |
| Be merciful to all who are imprisoned. | 50:08 | |
| And to all, grant a measure of your love | 50:12 | |
| taking them into your tender care. | 50:17 | |
| Lord, in your mercy-- | 50:21 | |
| Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 50:23 |
| - | And into your hands, oh God, | 50:25 |
| we now commend all for whom we pray, | 50:28 | |
| trusting in your mercy | 50:31 | |
| through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. | 50:33 | |
| Amen. | 50:37 | |
| And now, as a forgiven and reconciled people, | 50:41 | |
| let us share our tithes and offerings. | 50:45 | |
| ♪ We praise thee, oh God ♪ | 51:08 | |
| ♪ We acknowledge thee to be the Lord ♪ | 51:13 | |
| ♪ All the earth doth worship thee ♪ | 51:19 | |
| ♪ The Father everlasting ♪ | 51:24 | |
| ♪ To thee all angels cry aloud ♪ | 51:31 | |
| ♪ The heavens and all the powers therein ♪ | 51:37 | |
| ♪ To thee cherubim and seraphim ♪ | 51:43 | |
| ♪ Continually do cry ♪ | 51:49 | |
| ♪ Holy ♪ | 51:56 | |
| ♪ Holy ♪ | 52:00 | |
| ♪ Holy ♪ | 52:02 | |
| ♪ Lord God of Sabaoth ♪ | 52:07 | |
| ♪ Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory ♪ | 52:13 | |
| (organ music) | 52:25 | |
| ♪ The glorious company of the apostles ♪ | 52:31 | |
| ♪ Praise thee ♪ | 52:36 | |
| ♪ The goodly fellowship of the prophets ♪ | 52:43 | |
| ♪ Praise thee ♪ | 52:48 | |
| ♪ The noble army of martyrs ♪ | 52:55 | |
| ♪ Praise thee ♪ | 53:00 | |
| ♪ The holy Church throughout all the world ♪ | 53:03 | |
| ♪ Doth acknowledge thee ♪ | 53:09 | |
| ♪ The Father of an infinite majesty ♪ | 53:12 | |
| ♪ Thine honorable, true and only Son ♪ | 53:24 | |
| ♪ Also the Holy Ghost ♪ | 53:33 | |
| ♪ The Comforter ♪ | 53:43 | |
| (organ music) | 54:00 | |
| ♪ Thou art the King ♪ | 54:07 | |
| ♪ Of Glory, oh Christ ♪ | 54:13 | |
| ♪ Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father ♪ | 54:20 | |
| (organ music) | 54:37 | |
| ♪ When thou tookest upon thee ♪ | 54:45 | |
| ♪ To deliver man ♪ | 54:50 | |
| ♪ Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb ♪ | 54:55 | |
| (organ music) | 55:04 | |
| ♪ When thou hadst overcome ♪ | 55:09 | |
| ♪ The sharpness of death ♪ | 55:13 | |
| ♪ Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven ♪ | 55:17 | |
| ♪ To all believers ♪ | 55:23 | |
| (organ music) | 55:29 | |
| ♪ Thou sittest at the right hand of God ♪ | 55:34 | |
| ♪ In the glory of the Father ♪ | 55:45 | |
| (organ music) | 56:04 | |
| ♪ We believe that ♪ | 56:12 | |
| ♪ We believe that thou shalt come ♪ | 56:22 | |
| ♪ To be our Judge ♪ | 56:34 | |
| (organ music) | 56:49 | |
| ♪ We therefore pray thee, help thy servants ♪ | 56:57 | |
| ♪ Whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood ♪ | 57:04 | |
| ♪ Make them to be numbered with thy saints ♪ | 57:13 | |
| ♪ In glory everlasting ♪ | 57:20 | |
| ♪ Oh Lord, save thy people ♪ | 57:35 | |
| ♪ And bless thine heritage ♪ | 57:41 | |
| ♪ Govern them and lift them up forever ♪ | 57:44 | |
| ♪ Day by day, we magnify thee ♪ | 57:52 | |
| ♪ And we worship thy name ♪ | 57:59 | |
| ♪ Ever, world without end ♪ | 58:04 | |
| ♪ Vouchsafe, oh Lord ♪ | 58:19 | |
| ♪ To keep us this day ♪ | 58:26 | |
| ♪ Without sin ♪ | 58:35 | |
| ♪ Oh Lord, have mercy upon us ♪ | 58:46 | |
| ♪ Have mercy upon us ♪ | 58:55 | |
| ♪ Oh Lord, let thy mercy ♪ | 59:04 | |
| ♪ Lighten upon us ♪ | 59:10 | |
| ♪ As our trust is in thee ♪ | 59:15 | |
| ♪ Oh Lord ♪ | 59:27 | |
| ♪ In thee have I trusted ♪ | 59:35 | |
| ♪ Let me never ♪ | 59:44 | |
| ♪ Let me never ♪ | 59:48 | |
| ♪ Be confounded ♪ | 59:58 | |
| (organ music) | 1:00:23 | |
| ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ | 1:00:47 | |
| ♪ Praise God all creatures here below ♪ | 1:00:53 | |
| ♪ Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:59 | |
| ♪ Praise the Lord all ye heavenly hosts ♪ | 1:01:06 | |
| ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:01:12 | |
| ♪ Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ | 1:01:18 | |
| ♪ Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ | 1:01:25 | |
| ♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:01:31 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 1:01:41 |
| Oh God, Maker of all things, | 1:01:44 | |
| through your goodness, | 1:01:47 | |
| you have blessed us with these gifts. | 1:01:49 | |
| With them, we offer ourselves to your service, | 1:01:52 | |
| and dedicate our lives to the care and redemption | 1:01:57 | |
| of all that you have made, | 1:02:01 | |
| for the sake of him who gave himself for us, | 1:02:03 | |
| Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 1:02:08 | |
| Our Father, who art in heaven. | 1:02:11 | |
| Congregation | Hallowed be thy name. | 1:02:15 |
| Thy kingdom come. | 1:02:17 | |
| Thy will be done, | 1:02:19 | |
| on earth as it is in heaven. | 1:02:20 | |
| Give us this day our daily bread, | 1:02:23 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, | 1:02:26 | |
| as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 1:02:28 | |
| and lead us not into temptation, | 1:02:32 | |
| but deliver us from evil. | 1:02:35 | |
| For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. | 1:02:37 | |
| Amen. | 1:02:43 | |
| - | And now let us leave with the blessing of the Lord. | 1:02:44 |
| The Lord Almighty bless us, | 1:02:48 | |
| and order our days and our deeds in his peace. | 1:02:51 | |
| Amen. | 1:02:56 | |
| (organ music) | 1:03:00 | |
| ♪ Deep peace of the running wave to you ♪ | 1:03:04 | |
| ♪ Deep peace of the flowing air to you ♪ | 1:03:12 | |
| ♪ Deep peace of the quiet earth to you ♪ | 1:03:20 | |
| ♪ Deep peace of the shining stars to you ♪ | 1:03:29 | |
| ♪ Deep peace of the gentle night to you ♪ | 1:03:37 | |
| ♪ Moon and stars pour their healing light on you ♪ | 1:03:46 | |
| ♪ Deep peace of Christ ♪ | 1:03:55 | |
| ♪ Of Christ ♪ | 1:04:02 | |
| ♪ The light of the world to you ♪ | 1:04:06 | |
| ♪ Deep peace of Christ to you ♪ | 1:04:17 | |
| (organ music) | 1:04:36 | |
| ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:05:10 | |
| ♪ Grant us in this burning hour ♪ | 1:05:15 | |
| ♪ Grace to ask these gifts of thee ♪ | 1:05:20 | |
| ♪ Daring hearts and spirits free ♪ | 1:05:25 | |
| ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:05:30 | |
| ♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:05:36 | |
| ♪ We are not the first to be ♪ | 1:05:44 | |
| ♪ Banished by our fears from thee ♪ | 1:05:49 | |
| ♪ Give us courage, let us hear ♪ | 1:05:54 | |
| ♪ Heaven's trumpets ringing clear ♪ | 1:05:59 | |
| ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:06:04 | |
| ♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:06:10 | |
| ♪ All our lives belong to thee ♪ | 1:06:17 | |
| ♪ Thou our final loyalty ♪ | 1:06:22 | |
| ♪ Slaves are we whenever we share ♪ | 1:06:28 | |
| ♪ That devotion anywhere ♪ | 1:06:33 | |
| ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:06:38 | |
| ♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:06:43 | |
| (organ music) | 1:06:49 | |
| ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:07:35 | |
| ♪ Make us worthy of this hour ♪ | 1:07:40 | |
| ♪ Offering lives if it's thy will ♪ | 1:07:46 | |
| ♪ Keeping free our spirits still ♪ | 1:07:50 | |
| ♪ God of love and God of power ♪ | 1:07:57 | |
| ♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪ | 1:08:02 | |
| (organ music) | 1:08:15 |