Peter J. Gomes - "Facts and Visions" (October 24, 1993)

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	(choir music)	0:01
-	Good morning.	2:06
	Welcome to this joyous service of worship here	2:07
	in Duke University Chapel.	2:10
	We are particularly glad to welcome	2:12
	our guests who have been with us for this joyous weekend	2:15
	of the inauguration of our new president.	2:20
	Our guest preacher this morning is Reverend Dr.Peter Gomes	2:24
	from Memorial Church at Harvard	2:29
	who has been in residence here at the chapel	2:31
	and at the Duke Divinity School this fall.	2:33
	And we are delighted as he comes to us again	2:36
	to bring us the word.	2:40
	And now let us worship God.	2:44
	(choir chanting)	2:59
	(choir music)	4:28
	(chanting)	5:07
-	Let us pray.	10:29
	Oh God, as we stand before you today	10:36
	on the occasion of the inauguration	10:40
	or President Nannerl Overholser Keohane,	10:43
	we ask your blessing upon President Keohane,	10:47
	her family and this university.	10:51
	As she assumes leadership guide her	10:55
	that she may lead with understanding and wisdom.	10:59
	Remind her and us that we had been charged	11:04
	with a great mission (speaking foreign language),	11:08
	the union of knowledge and religion.	11:14
	May all of our efforts be guided	11:18
	by these two essentials principles.	11:20
	Help us apply ourselves with deep passion	11:23
	to the pursuit of knowledge	11:27
	and with deep compassion	11:29
	to the service of humanity through religion.	11:31
	Remind us that knowledge without religion	11:36
	is vain and immoral,	11:39
	and religion without knowledge is irrelevant and fruitless.	11:41
	Remind us also that we do not pursue religion	11:48
	or knowledge alone.	11:51
	That you are with us.	11:53
	God incarnate, guiding, directing, challenging,	11:55
	and affirming the life and faith of your people.	12:01
	Help us remember that we have been called into your service	12:06
	and it is through your grace that we might serve you	12:10
	with faithfulness.	12:13
	Be with us now in this time of worship	12:16
	that we might commit ourselves anew as a university	12:18
	and a community of faith to serve you with gratitude.	12:23
	In the name of Christ, the servant of us all.	12:29
	Amen.	12:33
	You may be seated.	12:35
-	Let us pray together the prayer for illumination.	12:45
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	12:51
	by the power of your holy spirit,	12:55
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed	12:58
	we may hear your message with joy this day.	13:01
	Amen.	13:06
	The scripture lessons this morning will be read	13:08
	in the King James translation.	13:11
	This reading includes several verses from the seventh	13:13
	and eighth chapters of the wisdom of Solomon,	13:17
	a book of the Apocrypha.	13:21
	For wisdom is a breath of the power of God	13:25
	and a clear affluence of the glory of the almighty.	13:29
	Therefore, can nothing defiled find entrance into her.	13:34
	For wisdom is an effulgence from everlasting light	13:39
	and an unspotted mirror of the working of God	13:44
	and an image of his goodness.	13:49
	And from generation to generation passing into holy souls	13:52
	wisdom maketh men friends of God and prophets.	13:58
	But if riches are a desired possession in life,	14:03
	what is richer than wisdom which worketh all things?	14:07
	And if understanding worketh who more than wisdom	14:12
	is an artificer of the things that are?	14:15
	And if a man loveth righteousness	14:20
	the fruits of wisdom's labor are virtues,	14:22
	for wisdom teaches soberness and understanding,	14:26
	righteousness and courage,	14:30
	and there is nothing in life for men	14:32
	more profitable than those.	14:35
	This is the word of the Lord.	14:38
Congregation	Thank you God.	14:41
-	This morning's psalter is psalm 90,	14:49
	verses one through six, found on page 809,	14:51
	and verses 13 through 17 found as you turn the page to 810.	14:54
	Please stand and sing the psalter in Gloria responsively.	14:59
	♪ Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations ♪	15:11
	(choir chanting)	15:20
	♪ You turn us back to thy dust ♪	15:37
	♪ And say turn back oh mortal ones ♪	15:41
	(choir chanting)	15:47
	♪ You sweep them away they are like a dream ♪	16:02
	♪ Like grass which is renewed in the morning ♪	16:07
	(choir chanting)	16:12
	♪ Return oh Lord how long ♪	16:26
	♪ Have pity on your servants ♪	16:30
	(choir chanting)	16:35
	♪ Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us ♪	16:49
	♪ And as many years as we have seen evil ♪	16:56
	(choir chanting)	17:02
	♪ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us ♪	17:15
	♪ And establish the work of our hands ♪	17:20
	(choir chanting)	17:24
-	This reading comes from the fourth chapter	18:46
	of Paul's letter to the Philippians,	18:49
	verses four through eight.	18:51
	Rejoice in the Lord always,	18:56
	and again I say rejoice.	18:58
	Let your moderation be known onto all men.	19:02
	The Lord is at hand.	19:07
	Be careful for nothing,	19:10
	but in everything by prayer and supplication.	19:12
	With Thanksgiving let your request be made known onto God.	19:16
	And the peace of God,	19:23
	which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts	19:25
	and minds through Christ Jesus.	19:29
	Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true,	19:34
	whatsoever things are honest,	19:40
	whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,	19:43
	whatsoever things are lovely,	19:49
	whatsoever things are of good report,	19:52
	if there be any virtue and if there be any praise	19:56
	think on these things.	20:01
	This is word of the Lord.	20:04
Congregation	Thank you God.	20:07
	(choir chanting)	20:41
-	The holy gospel of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,	25:10
	according to Matthew.	25:14
	Blessed are the poor in spirit	25:19
	for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	25:22
	Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.	25:26
	Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.	25:30
	Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst	25:36
	after righteousness for they shall be filled.	25:39
	Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.	25:43
	Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God.	25:47
	Blessed are the peacemakers	25:53
	for they shall be called the children of God.	25:55
	Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake	25:58
	for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	26:04
	Blessed are ye when men shall revile, and persecute you,	26:08
	shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,	26:15
	for my sake.	26:20
	Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward	26:22
	in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets,	26:28
	which were before you.	26:34
	Ye are the salt of the earth,	26:38
	but if the salt hath lost his savour,	26:41
	wherewith shall it be salted?	26:45
	It is thenceforth good for nothing,	26:49
	but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.	26:52
	Ye are the light of the world.	26:59
	A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.	27:03
	Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,	27:08
	but on a candlestick, and it giveth light	27:13
	onto all that are in the house.	27:17
	Let your light so shine before men	27:21
	that they may see your good works	27:25
	and glorify your father, which is in heaven.	27:29
	This is the word of the Lord.	27:36
Congregation	Thank you God.	27:41
-	Help us lord become masters of ourselves,	27:45
	that we may become the servants of others.	27:49
	Take our hands and work through them.	27:53
	Take our minds and think through them.	27:57
	Take our lips and speak through them.	28:01
	And take our hearts and set them on fire	28:05
	for Christ's sake.	28:10
	Amen.	28:13
	And from generation to generation	28:23
	passing into holy souls	28:28
	wisdom maketh us friends of	28:31
	God and prophets.	28:36
	And now you needn't pretend that you recognize	28:42
	that verse from your youth,	28:45
	because most of you don't.	28:48
	Few of you have clutched the apocrypha to your bosoms.	28:50
	Few of you have memorized its verses to be sent to camp	28:55
	or to earn pins or medals in the Methodists	28:58
	or the baptists Sunday school.	29:01
	It's a new verse, so confess it.	29:04
	Rejoice in it.	29:07
	I have chosen it to be deliberately obscure	29:08
	to capture at least initially your interest,	29:13
	if not your attention.	29:17
	Now the title of this morning's sermon	29:20
	facts and visions	29:23
	alas is not my own.	29:26
	I realize that in the business of preaching	29:29
	that all work and no plagiarism	29:32
	makes Jack or Peter a dull preacher,	29:34
	but I should start out straight away	29:38
	by confessing that I lifted this title	29:39
	from a book of baccalaureate sermons	29:42
	preached at Harvard by President Abbott Lawrence Lowell	29:45
	about 60 years ago.	29:49
	The book has been long out of print,	29:52
	but like good wine and compost	29:55
	the sermons in it keep well.	29:58
	They filled these baccalaureate sermons	30:02
	of Mr.Lowell with sober Yankee analysis	30:04
	sound advice and no nonsense observations	30:08
	by the president to the young on that last	30:12
	and perhaps only occasion when the young	30:17
	are compelled to listen to him.	30:20
	And the title of it says it all, facts and visions.	30:24
	Facts are the things without which	30:28
	we cannot take account of anything else.	30:32
	Facts are to be taken seriously.	30:35
	But visions are the things that give meaning, and purpose,	30:39
	depth, angularity,	30:43
	and perspective to the facts,	30:46
	and they go beyond the fact.	30:50
	That creative tension between facts and visions	30:54
	is not unlike that creative tension between	31:00
	learning and religion of which your president spoke	31:03
	so deftly yesterday.	31:08
	That tension is summed up nicely	31:11
	by Mr.Lowell's title and now mine,	31:14
	facts and visions.	31:17
	The university requires a sufficiency of both.	31:20
	If it is to know and it is to do its job.	31:25
	And those of us who labor in it,	31:30
	who either pay too much or are paid too little,	31:32
	we too need to know the gentle relationship	31:36
	between facts and vision.	31:41
	Today, like yesterday	31:44
	is a good day to remember that,	31:47
	but it is not as easy as it seems.	31:51
	The fact of your university and mine	31:57
	is that in the middle of our most public spaces,	32:01
	your quadrangle and my yard,	32:06
	there stands an enormous handsome,	32:09
	hardly modest, or invisible church.	32:14
	Yesterday, sitting outside of the God's most gracious	32:19
	and glorious sky I believe the Governor of North Carolina	32:23
	took full credit for it by calling it a Carolina sky.	32:26
	It seems a little greedy, but we'll allow that for him.	32:30
	Who could not be aware of the fact	32:35
	sitting in that quadrangle yesterday	32:37
	of the splendid fact, unavoidable fact	32:40
	of this great pile of stone and glass.	32:46
	And in my own college yard in Cambridge	32:52
	there stands another great church,	32:55
	not as large as this admittedly,	32:57
	but we like it.	32:59
	(laughing)	33:01
	And when Memorial Church was built just two years	33:04
	after this chapel was built it was over the protests	33:07
	of students who wanted something either useful	33:12
	or beautiful as the Memorial to the Harvard dead	33:17
	of the first World War.	33:21
	And in a church them complained they got neither.	33:23
	In fact, it was said of Memorial Church	33:28
	that it was erected to the glory	33:31
	of Abbott Lawrence Lowell and in memory of God.	33:33
	(laughing)	33:37
	These physical facts in Cambridge and in Durham	33:40
	confront us.	33:43
	They confront us.	33:45
	And here at Duke, perhaps the most beautiful college	33:47
	on earth, possible exception of Wellesley,	33:51
	one cannot help but be impressed	33:56
	by the glory of the built environment.	33:59
	I walk around here day after day agape and a gaze	34:03
	at the splendor of the environment.	34:07
	They literally paint the roses red here,	34:11
	and it is an extraordinary thing to behold.	34:14
	But great as these facts in Carolina's stone are of course,	34:18
	even greater is the vision that gave them their life,	34:23
	their shape, their purpose,	34:29
	that turned these facts into visions	34:32
	beyond our imagining.	34:36
	We need the facts but we need the vision behind,	34:38
	beyond, and before them as well.	34:43
	We cannot afford to be like one of my freshman advisees	34:47
	in Cambridge who in his first tutorial	34:50
	complained bitterly that, "The ideas were getting in the way	34:52
	of the facts and facts are all that I want," he said.	34:57
	Thank God you and I know better than that.	35:02
	Now Nan yesterday when you began your discussion	35:10
	of the Duke motto, I looked for a slight tremor	35:15
	in that great tower out there,	35:19
	a lifting perhaps, a leaning as you proceeded down	35:22
	the treacherous path of breathing life into a legend.	35:28
	Some of your new colleagues might think too unsophisticated	35:33
	for a university as ambitious	35:38
	and achieved as this one.	35:41
	My own college for example dedicated to truth	35:45
	or Christ and the church happily rendered	35:49
	in relatively obscure Latin visibly winces	35:54
	when it is reminded that the truth	35:58
	of which that legend speaks is not the result	36:00
	of abstract scholarship and scientific discoveries	36:03
	reported on federal research grants,	36:07
	but is in fact a truthful, useful, and personal,	36:10
	and made human in the form of	36:16
	Jesus Christ and his church.	36:19
	If the duke of the north seems eager to free itself	36:24
	from it's puritan piety and it daily redefines itself	36:29
	as the epitome of all secular and useful knowledge,	36:33
	so to one would expect it's younger sibling in Durham	36:37
	to be tempted to do the the same thing.	36:41
	And if you proceed down that path all the Methodist bishops	36:45
	in Christendom cannot possibly	36:49
	put Humpty Dumpty together again.	36:52
	Institutional maturity for so many these days	36:56
	is defined as defining yourself	37:00
	as far away from your founding	37:03
	premises as possible.	37:06
	To grow up is to grow away.	37:10
	I'd rather think old James Buchanan Duke understood that,	37:15
	and that is why he planted in the midst of his bounty	37:20
	an irremovable happily unavoidable reminder	37:24
	of your embarrassing past	37:30
	and your ultimately promising future.	37:33
	Happily for Duke and for the rest of higher education,	37:37
	your president yesterday defined the institutional maturity	37:42
	as growing into and not away	37:46
	from it's worthy founding premises,	37:50
	translating old hopes into new opportunities,	37:53
	living creatively and responsibly with unavoidable tensions,	37:58
	and seeking ever increasing opportunity to test the facts	38:03
	by the visions	38:09
	and the visions by the opportunity.	38:10
	That is no bad thing	38:14
	for an institution to remember	38:17
	at the start of a new administration.	38:20
	And for such a vision to come from the lips	38:23
	of its president is extraordinary.	38:27
	Well, all well and good you might say.	38:32
	A nimble exercise worthy of a scholar	38:36
	of 18th century dexterity and duplicity,	38:40
	but the circle is not so easily squared as that.	38:45
	In fact, it is impossible in the modern world	38:49
	of the modern secular research university	38:53
	to keep these facts and visions neatly in their places.	38:56
	It is impossible to keep them	39:01
	in a healthy cooperative relationship.	39:03
	The arts really cannot stand the sciences,	39:07
	and vice versa.	39:11
	Faith and reason sound good, but do not date.	39:12
	Religion and learning, come on, be serious.	39:17
	Give me a break.	39:21
	How many earners discussions of religion and learning	39:23
	in their relationship take place in the west quadrangle	39:27
	on Saturday evening?	39:30
	Get real.	39:33
	Let's be serious.	39:34
	It is an impossible task to reconcile,	39:36
	much less recognize these polarities, these difficulties.	39:40
	This is an impossible job	39:45
	and that is why we give it to the president to do.	39:48
	(laughing)	39:51
	I agree.	39:54
	And like the Red Queen in Through the Looking-Glass,	39:57
	I, and I think Nan, have a high appreciation	40:01
	for the art of the impossible.	40:06
	Remember if you have read	40:09
	your Through the Looking-Glass recently.	40:11
	Remember where the Red Queen says to Alice	40:13
	that she is 101 five months and a day old.	40:16
	"I can't believe that", said Alice.	40:21
	"Can't you?", said the Queen in a pitying tone.	40:24
	"Try again.	40:28
	Draw a long breath and shut your eyes."	40:30
	Alice laughed, "There's no use trying".	40:34
	She said, "One can't believe impossible things."	40:37
	"I dare say you haven't had much practice", said the Queen.	40:41
	"When I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day,	40:45
	why sometimes I believed as many	40:50
	as six impossible things before breakfast."	40:52
	Duke, Harvard, Wellesley would be very different places	40:59
	indeed if the Red Queen were president,	41:03
	but something of her capacity	41:06
	for coping with the impossible.	41:08
	The quality that in a less fantastic place	41:11
	than Through the Looking-Glass would be called imagination	41:13
	is a necessary quality in the leadership God has chosen	41:18
	to give you in your new president.	41:23
	On your morning jogs, Nan, no doubt	41:29
	you will think at the very least	41:32
	of six impossible things for Duke.	41:34
	God help the rest of you.	41:39
	(laughing)	41:41
	One of these impossible things will be to keep faith	41:44
	with the formative vision of a place	41:50
	where faith is not meant merely to be tolerated,	41:54
	but to be celebrated both in learning and in religion.	41:58
	To keep faith with the ideal of vital piety	42:03
	and sound learning where leadership is service	42:08
	and where service leads.	42:14
	It was said of an english schoolmaster	42:18
	in the Kentish Village of Sandwich in England	42:21
	in the middle of this century,	42:24
	in leadership he served,	42:28
	in serving he led and thus	42:31
	he set the feet of many	42:35
	upon the path of life.	42:38
	An impossible task that is,	42:43
	an agenda for the life of the soul	42:46
	and the mind in a place and in a time like this.	42:49
	Impossible but it must be done.	42:54
	And how can it be done?	42:59
	Well, there are three witnesses in scripture,	43:02
	which I think can help.	43:06
	The three witnesses are the lessons,	43:09
	which we have caused to be read to you this morning.	43:12
	The first lesson indeed is that unfamiliar passage	43:16
	from the apocrypha.	43:20
	It upholds that passage	43:23
	the great virtue of wisdom	43:26
	who in the apocrypha	43:30
	is described as female.	43:33
	Wisdom is she throughout this passage	43:37
	from which this text is taken.	43:41
	And I was drawn to this text both for the obscurity	43:44
	for which I've already eluded	43:47
	and it's aptness as well to the necessities	43:49
	and qualities of your new president.	43:54
	When Nan was installed as president of Wellesley,	43:59
	her reverend father among other things	44:03
	prayed these words,	44:06
	"That Nan be filled with the spirit	44:09
	of wisdom of patience and enterprise	44:11
	and above all the spirit of winsome grace."	44:16
	A lovely line.	44:22
	Winsome grace.	44:24
	Wisdom is the spirit of winsome grace	44:27
	and it is a continuous quality, not restricted only	44:32
	to the would-be wise in one place or time or circumstance,	44:37
	but passing from generation to	44:42
	generation into holy souls.	44:45
	That is from time to time	44:49
	passing into the receptive souls,	44:52
	and minds, and spirits of those	44:55
	who come and continue to come.	44:57
	Wisdom has the capacity	45:00
	to make us friends of God	45:04
	and prophets.	45:06
	And for what more could you ask than to be a friend of God	45:08
	and a prophet.	45:12
	Wisdom affirms your relationships,	45:13
	your relationship with your God,	45:17
	your relationship with your people.	45:20
	And that passage concludes.	45:22
	If you love righteousness, the fruits of wisdom's labors	45:25
	are virtues for wisdom teaches soberness, and understanding,	45:30
	and righteousness, and courage.	45:36
	And there is nothing in life	45:39
	for your more greater profit than these.	45:42
	Wisdom helps.	45:50
	The second lesson to help out with the impossible task	45:53
	is the ultimately impossible vision that most famous	45:58
	of all of the Beatitudes	46:02
	where it says the meek shall inherit the earth.	46:04
	Now I watched you as I read that passage	46:11
	from the Beatitudes and I chose the authorized version	46:14
	because I know you know it	46:17
	and I watched a gentle glaze begin to move	46:19
	from these front pews all the way back	46:22
	to the Benjamin and Duke Memorial organ.	46:25
	And I'm sure it was back here too, but I didn't look to see.	46:27
	(laughing)	46:30
	It was the glaze of familiarity.	46:32
	I have heard it from my cradle.	46:34
	I know it from my youth.	46:37
	It is like wall to wall carpeting	46:39
	in the apartment of my mind.	46:41
	I don't have to really pay attention,	46:44
	except at one point where we read	46:46
	and the meek shall inherit the earth	46:48
	and you all say, yeah, uh-huh.	46:52
	Indeed.	46:55
	Of course.	46:56
	What do you expect of Jesus and Matthew and Gomes?	46:58
	Haha.	47:02
	(laughing)	47:03
	The meek shall inherit the earth.	47:04
	Well, it may very well be.	47:07
	Perhaps, the meek will inherit the earth,	47:08
	but they cannot be trusted	47:11
	to run a major research university.	47:12
	(laughing)	47:15
	Search committees do not list meekness among the qualities	47:17
	that they seek in their CEOs.	47:21
	If the trustees are here today	47:25
	I suspect that they admire meekness in principle,	47:26
	but not in person.	47:30
	This text is an impossible text for an impossible calling	47:33
	because most of us who know meek people	47:39
	know they are meek because they must be.	47:42
	They can't be or do anything else.	47:45
	As Churchill said modesty is for those who need it.	47:50
	(laughing)	47:54
	What a horrible thought it is that all of us non-meek types	47:56
	because we're all type A's or we wouldn't be at Duke.	48:00
	All of us non-meek types are working so hard	48:03
	and so well, so that these meek losers	48:07
	can inherit the whole bloody thing.	48:09
	(laughing)	48:12
	But to be meek here in this translation	48:14
	and to be meek as we understand the context of this lesson	48:18
	is not to be merely mild or humble as was your (mumbles)	48:22
	in David Copperfield.	48:27
	The meek are those who have perspective, insight,	48:29
	a sense of modesty and humility,	48:34
	who know that all that is done	48:37
	does not depend upon those who will dupe.	48:40
	And in the transformed world of the be attitudes	48:44
	where the usual rules of kill or be killed,	48:49
	or do one to others before they do onto you	48:52
	will no longer apply.	48:54
	The meek inherit a place transformed,	48:57
	changed, redeemed, renewed,	49:02
	where meekness is no longer a liability,	49:06
	but is in fact the way things are.	49:10
	Meekness is the good sense of those who know	49:13
	that where we are is not where we are going.	49:18
	Meekness is the good sense that says	49:23
	that we are more than what we do.	49:25
	Meekness is the good sense that says	49:29
	while it may appear to be the case,	49:32
	what you see is not	49:36
	necessarily what you get.	49:39
	Meekness is not the opposite of strength.	49:43
	It is the opposite of pride.	49:48
	And if any institution on earth	49:52
	needs to know the dangerous lessons of pride,	49:57
	it is the modern research university.	50:02
	Such prideful, vain, glorious places we are.	50:07
	So smart.	50:13
	So bright.	50:14
	So clever.	50:15
	What we don't know isn't worth knowing.	50:17
	What we do know we will rule the world with it.	50:19
	Truth to be produced in our laboratories,	50:25
	or our libraries, or in our lecture halls.	50:28
	These are the Gods before whom we bow	50:32
	and whom we create in our own image.	50:36
	If anybody in the world including governments and business	50:39
	needs to know the lessons of humility, meekness,	50:43
	and the vices of pride.	50:48
	It is the modern research university.	50:51
	If you learn that lesson you will have learned all.	50:56
	A little modesty is not a bad thing	51:01
	in pretentious places like this.	51:05
	Finally, when you have forgotten all of our wisdom	51:10
	and have tossed meekness off as weakness,	51:14
	when the facts obscure the vision,	51:18
	and the vision seems inadequate to the time,	51:20
	what is there left to do?	51:23
	Well, pray.	51:24
	Pray.	51:26
	Pray.	51:28
	You'll need it.	51:29
	This place if probably	51:30
	impossible to conceive of	51:33
	without invisible help.	51:36
	Pray.	51:39
	That is what Philippians 4 says.	51:41
	Have no anxiety about anything.	51:43
	Relax.	51:46
	Don't worry.	51:47
	But in everything by prayer and supplication	51:48
	let your requests be made known to God.	51:52
	Now prayer makes people nervous.	51:58
	Some years ago I was on a flight to England.	52:01
	It was no a Saturday night and I was going to land	52:04
	in London early in the morning,	52:06
	and I had the great privilege later that morning	52:08
	of preaching in St-Paul's.	52:10
	So, on the flight as we were encountering	52:13
	what they say as airportees as a little turbulence	52:16
	I opened my briefcase and got out my book of common prayer	52:20
	just to go over the lessons,	52:25
	so that I would be prepared when I landed.	52:27
	A lady next to me noticed this gesture	52:32
	and she said with some trepidation,	52:35
	"Are you a clergyman?"	52:37
	And I said, "Why yes I am."	52:38
	Then she said, "Do you know something that I don't	52:41
	and should about this flight?"	52:45
	(laughing)	52:48
	I knew what she meant and I put my prayers away	52:49
	as it obviously made her very nervous indeed.	52:52
	And when the turbulence subsided, she thanked me.	52:56
	(laughing)	53:00
	Now I know that prayer is not a substitute	53:02
	for thought or action as any football or basketball coach	53:06
	can tell you.	53:11
	If you don't have the plans and you don't have the plays,	53:13
	the prayers will not help.	53:17
	God is too busy on the other side.	53:20
	Prayer here however in Philippians is the means	53:23
	by which one begins to experience that peace of God	53:27
	which passeth all understanding.	53:32
	That sense of security, serenity and stability	53:35
	that does not come from knowing all the answers	53:39
	or even most of the questions.	53:41
	But comes from our sense of being related to ideals,	53:44
	ideas and visions that transcend	53:48
	the facts and the circumstances.	53:51
	Prayer allows us the peace	53:54
	by which in Christ we may contemplate whatever is true,	53:57
	honorable, pure, just, lovely,	54:02
	and gracious.	54:07
	Prayer is that inspirited connected moment	54:09
	that reminds us that we are not just to do something,	54:14
	but to stand there.	54:19
	So, there you have it.	54:25
	There it is.	54:27
	Impossible advice from an improbable source	54:29
	for an impossible job.	54:34
	Neither you nor all that is Duke can hope to do any of this	54:37
	on your own.	54:42
	You need Nan all of the help that you can get,	54:44
	and that is what this impossible chapel,	54:50
	and it's impossible sacraments, symbols,	54:55
	and it's impenetrable sermons will remind you.	54:59
	In his wildest imagination	55:04
	Mr.James Buchanan Duke	55:07
	could not have imagined 70 years ago	55:09
	that his vision would be entrusted into your hands,	55:13
	and that you will be charged in the discharge	55:18
	of your great duty by a black preacher from Harvard.	55:21
	(laughing)	55:25
	Had the facts not been overwhelmed by the visions	55:26
	we would both be in a very different place today.	55:31
	But here we are.	55:35
	God is great.	55:37
	God is good.	55:38
	And God has a terrific sense of humor.	55:39
	(laughing)	55:42
	Wisdom, meekness, prayer,	55:43
	this may seem an impossible	55:47
	(mumbles) formula for an impossible job,	55:49
	but every morning of every day all of us	55:52
	from the world weary freshman	55:55
	and the hassle dining hall worker	55:58
	to the gray faced graduate student	56:00
	and the much pressed upon president,	56:03
	all of us rise everyday to face impossible tasks	56:06
	in impossible places and we do them.	56:11
	And what it makes possible for us to get on and keep on,	56:15
	what makes it possible for us to aspire to be friends of God	56:19
	and prophets it is the glorious,	56:24
	gracious filled fact	56:28
	that the facts are not allowed	56:31
	to obscure the visions for long.	56:35
	If we remember that	56:39
	and act upon the remembrance of that	56:42
	then by God's grace our future	56:45
	will be worthy of our past.	56:51
	And that's a fact.	56:55
	God bless Nan.	56:58
	God bless Duke.	56:59
	God bless us all for we need it.	57:01
	Amen.	57:06
	(choir chanting)	57:41
-	The lord be with you.	1:00:35
Congregation	And also with you.	1:00:37
-	Let us pray.	1:00:38
	Be seated.	1:00:40
	Almighty God,	1:00:48
	source of wisdom and truth	1:00:51
	from generation under generation you have blessed us.	1:00:55
	Bless us we pray for those of us who work, who teach,	1:01:04
	who conduct research and who learn here at Duke University,	1:01:10
	who may be the beneficiaries of your grace.	1:01:14
	We pray for your church.	1:01:18
	Set this day amid new conflicts and challenges.	1:01:21
	Give your church courage to witness	1:01:26
	confidence in its claims, deep concern for the young.	1:01:29
	Same concern which one led 19th Century Quakers	1:01:38
	and Methodists to found Trinity College	1:01:43
	and then Duke University in their day.	1:01:46
	We pray for all those who in this generation	1:01:51
	are entrusted with positions of leadership,	1:01:54
	particularly those who lead this university.	1:01:57
	For all administrators, deans, coaches,	1:02:01
	help them amid the daily demands upon their time,	1:02:08
	energy and creativity never to forget the treasure	1:02:12
	committed to their care.	1:02:16
	The gift of this university, the wonder of talented youth,	1:02:19
	the adventure of education,	1:02:24
	especially this day do we pray for our new president	1:02:29
	as she assumes the burdens of leadership here.	1:02:31
	May those burdens be also for her blessings.	1:02:35
	Give her as she leads the gifts required	1:02:40
	for wise leadership, the ability to listen	1:02:43
	to the (mumbles) voices within the university	1:02:48
	without being paralyzed by their conflicting claims,	1:02:52
	the patience required to work with young people	1:02:57
	on their way to adulthood, but not there yet,	1:03:01
	the humor to work with faculty who are often	1:03:06
	more impressed with ourselves than we ought to be,	1:03:09
	the grace to forgive herself when she makes mistakes,	1:03:14
	and the grace to rejoice when through her leadership	1:03:20
	things go well.	1:03:24
	We pray for our fellow intellectuals and students	1:03:27
	who study and learn in places where war and civil on rest	1:03:32
	make their lives difficult.	1:03:35
	For all those students this day	1:03:39
	who are persecuted for their thoughts,	1:03:43
	done violence for their writing,	1:03:47
	mocked for their research by a preside governments	1:03:48
	and cruel regimes we pray.	1:03:51
	We pray for all those who care,	1:03:55
	for the sick and the infirm,	1:03:58
	particularly our colleagues who work in the Duke hospitals.	1:04:00
	Oh Christ, healer of the sick and savior of the retched,	1:04:05
	give them the gifts they need for their healing work.	1:04:11
	Make this university so dear to our hearts	1:04:16
	a lively center for sound learning,	1:04:20
	new discovery in the pursuit of wisdom.	1:04:22
	Help our students to rise above the narrow desire	1:04:27
	simply to make a living.	1:04:30
	Enable them rather to make a life worthy of the gospel.	1:04:34
	Help our faculty to lay aside academic vanity	1:04:41
	and conceit, petty politics and desire for personal gain,	1:04:45
	and never lose sight of the nobility of our vocation.	1:04:51
	In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.	1:04:59
	Jesus, source of life and light.	1:05:03
	Jesus, giver of that holy wisdom for which the world	1:05:06
	by its own devices can neither know, nor take away.	1:05:11
	Jesus, by whom we are promised that we might know the truth,	1:05:18
	the truth which makes us free.	1:05:26
	Amen.	1:05:31
	As a gifted people let us offer ourselves	1:05:35
	and our gifts to the God who has given so much to us.	1:05:39
	(choir chanting)	1:07:02
-	Let us pray.	1:14:49
	Oh Lord our God, the author and giver of all good things,	1:14:51
	we thank you for all of your mercies	1:14:56
	and for your loving care over all your creatures.	1:14:59
	We give thanks for the gift of life	1:15:03
	and your guiding hand upon us.	1:15:06
	Through prayer make us wise to rightly use	1:15:08
	all the benefits we enjoy.	1:15:12
	Give us a heart to love and serve you,	1:15:15
	and enable us to show our thankfulness for your goodness	1:15:18
	and mercy by giving ourselves to your service	1:15:22
	and your vision.	1:15:26
	Help us walk before you in holiness and righteousness	1:15:28
	all our days through Jesus Christ our Lord	1:15:31
	to whom with you and the holy spirit	1:15:35
	be all honor and glory forever and ever.	1:15:38
	Amen.	1:15:41
	Let us continue our prayers	1:15:44
	as we pray together the Lord's prayer.	1:15:45
	Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name.	1:15:48
	By kingdom come, by will be done,	1:15:53
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:15:56
	Give us this day our daily bread,	1:15:59
	and forgive us our trespasses,	1:16:01
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:16:03
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	1:16:07
	For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and glory forever.	1:16:12
	Amen.	1:16:17
	(choir chanting)	1:17:24
	(choir music)	1:24:51

Item Info

Title:

Peter J. Gomes - "Facts and Visions" (October 24, 1993)

Description:

It is one of the impossible tasks of a university like Duke to maintain its rootedness in the faith-filled vision of its initial formation. In order to accomplish this impossible task, three things will be necessary: wisdom, meekness (humility), and prayer. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 27:45. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 57:08.
Key quotation: “One of these impossible things will be to keep faith with the formative vision of a place where faith is not meant merely to be tolerated, but to be celebrated both in learning and in religion.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4v98062m

Date:

October 24, 1993

Speaker:

Gomes, Peter J.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0342
ref9322_2xj
uachapelsermaud
duke:321374
dcrmv001327
ark:/87924/r4v98062m
dd29bd50-e5f2-45eb-ba73-ccd5df20a04f

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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

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Peter J. Gomes - "Facts and Visions" (October 24, 1993)

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