Debra K. Brazzel - Sermon Untitled (September 3, 1995)
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Transcript
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(classical organ music) | 0:09 | |
- | Good morning, we'd like to welcome you all to Duke Chapel. | 2:05 |
I'd like to introduce some very special people | 2:08 | |
to you, this morning, our Chapel music staff. | 2:11 | |
If I could have them come out and join me. | 2:14 | |
Dr Rodney Wynkoop is the Director of Chapel Music | 2:21 | |
and the University Chorale Music Program. | 2:25 | |
Donna Sparks is the Program Director | 2:28 | |
and Assistant Conductor for Chapel Music. | 2:31 | |
She is also the Choral Director | 2:34 | |
for the Choral Vespers Choir. | 2:36 | |
Dr. David Arcus, immediately to my right, | 2:39 | |
is the Chapel Organist. | 2:42 | |
On the back organ is Dr. Robert Parkins, | 2:44 | |
the University Organist, and also | 2:48 | |
up in the carillon is Samuel Hammond | 2:50 | |
the University Carillonneur. | 2:53 | |
We're very grateful to our music staff | 2:55 | |
for the excellent music program that they provide for us | 2:57 | |
throughout the year. | 3:00 | |
Thank you all. | 3:02 | |
I wanted to call to your attention that there is | 3:05 | |
an opportunity for people who are interested | 3:07 | |
in being a part of the Chapel Choir this year to audition | 3:10 | |
in the coming week. | 3:14 | |
Donna Sparks will be at the desk at the back of the chapel | 3:15 | |
immediately following the service | 3:19 | |
for those who want to ask questions | 3:21 | |
or signup for an audition time. | 3:23 | |
Also, immediately following the service, today, | 3:26 | |
Dr Willimon's book of meditations for incoming students | 3:29 | |
entitled Good-bye High School, Hello College, | 3:33 | |
will be available for students free | 3:36 | |
at the back of the chapel in the narthex. | 3:38 | |
That is made available to us by a very generous gift | 3:41 | |
from the Friends of Duke Chapel. | 3:44 | |
This coming week we will be beginning our weekly Taizé | 3:47 | |
and Choral Vesper services. | 3:51 | |
Taizé meets on Tuesdays at 5:15 in Memorial Chapel | 3:53 | |
which is just to the right. | 3:57 | |
Choral Vespers is on Thursday evenings at 5:15 | 3:58 | |
also in Memorial Chapel. | 4:02 | |
I also want to call to your attention | 4:04 | |
that we have listed a guide for those interested | 4:06 | |
in being involved in various services in the Chapel | 4:10 | |
to have an opportunity to sign up on the back | 4:13 | |
of your bulletin, and we hope you'll take advantage of that. | 4:16 | |
Let us continue our worship with the greeting, please stand. | 4:19 | |
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. | 4:27 | |
All | And also with you. | 4:30 |
- | The risen Christ is with us. | 4:31 |
All | Praise the Lord. | 4:33 |
("Praise to the Lord, the Almighty") | 4:38 | |
♪ Praise to the Lord ♪ | 5:16 | |
♪ The Almighty ♪ | 5:18 | |
♪ The King of creation ♪ | 5:21 | |
♪ O my soul, praise him, ♪ | 5:27 | |
♪ For he is thy health and salvation ♪ | 5:31 | |
♪ All ye who hear ♪ | 5:39 | |
♪ Now to his temple draw near ♪ | 5:43 | |
♪ Join me in glad adoration ♪ | 5:49 | |
♪ Praise to the Lord ♪ | 5:59 | |
♪ Who o'er all things ♪ | 6:02 | |
♪ So wondrously reigning ♪ | 6:04 | |
♪ Bears thee on eagle's wings ♪ | 6:11 | |
♪ E'er in his keeping maintaining ♪ | 6:15 | |
♪ God's care enfolds ♪ | 6:23 | |
♪ All whose true good he upholds ♪ | 6:27 | |
♪ Hast thou not known his sustaining ♪ | 6:33 | |
♪ Praise to the Lord ♪ | 6:43 | |
♪ Who doth prosper thy work ♪ | 6:46 | |
♪ And defend thee ♪ | 6:50 | |
♪ Surely his goodness and mercy ♪ | 6:55 | |
♪ Here daily attend thee ♪ | 7:01 | |
♪ Ponder anew ♪ | 7:07 | |
♪ What the Almighty can do ♪ | 7:11 | |
♪ Who with his love doth befriend thee ♪ | 7:17 | |
♪ Praise to the Lord ♪ | 7:28 | |
♪ Who doth nourish thy life ♪ | 7:31 | |
♪ And restore thee ♪ | 7:34 | |
♪ Fitting thee well for the tasks ♪ | 7:40 | |
♪ That are every before thee ♪ | 7:44 | |
♪ Then to thy need ♪ | 7:52 | |
♪ God as a mother doth speed ♪ | 7:56 | |
♪ Spreading the wings ♪ | 8:02 | |
♪ Of grace o'er thee ♪ | 8:05 | |
♪ Praise to the Lord ♪ | 8:52 | |
♪ O let all that is in me adore him! ♪ | 8:55 | |
♪ All that hath life and breath ♪ | 9:05 | |
♪ Come now with praises before him ♪ | 9:09 | |
♪ Let the amen ♪ | 9:17 | |
♪ Sound from his people again ♪ | 9:21 | |
♪ Gladly forever adore him ♪ | 9:28 | |
- | Let us pray. | 9:43 |
Almighty God, | 9:47 | |
to you all hearts are open, | 9:49 | |
all desires known | 9:52 | |
and from You no secrets are hidden. | 9:54 | |
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts | 9:58 | |
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit | 10:01 | |
that we may perfectly love you | 10:05 | |
and worthily magnify your holy name | 10:08 | |
through Christ our Lord. | 10:11 | |
Amen. | 10:14 | |
Be seated. | 10:16 | |
- | Let us now join together in the Prayer for Illumination. | 10:25 |
All | Open our hearts and minds O God, | 10:30 |
by the power of your Holy Spirit, | 10:34 | |
so that as the Word is read and proclaimed | 10:37 | |
we may hear your message with joy this day. | 10:40 | |
Amen. | 10:44 | |
- | Our first lesson this morning is found | 10:47 |
in the book of Isaiah, second chapter. | 10:49 | |
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob | 10:53 | |
and all the families in the house of Israel. | 10:56 | |
Thus says the Lord, "What wrong did your ancestors find | 11:00 | |
"in Me that they went far from Me | 11:04 | |
"and went after worthless things | 11:07 | |
"and became worthless themselves." | 11:10 | |
They did not say, "Where is the Lord | 11:13 | |
"who brought us up from the land of Egypt, | 11:16 | |
"who led us in the wilderness, | 11:19 | |
"in the desert and in the pits, | 11:21 | |
"in a land of drought and deep darkness, | 11:23 | |
"in a land that no one passes through | 11:27 | |
"where no one lives. | 11:29 | |
"I brought you into plentiful land to eat its fruits | 11:32 | |
"and its good things, | 11:36 | |
"but when you entered you defiled My land | 11:38 | |
"and made My heritage an abomination." | 11:41 | |
The priests did not say, "Where is the Lord?" | 11:45 | |
Those who handled the law did not know me. | 11:48 | |
The rulers transgressed against me. | 11:52 | |
The prophets prophesied by Baal | 11:55 | |
and went after things that do not profit. | 11:58 | |
"Therefore, once more, I accuse you," says the Lord. | 12:02 | |
"I accuse your children's children | 12:06 | |
"cross to the coast of Cyprus and, look, | 12:09 | |
"send to Kedar and examine with care. | 12:12 | |
"See if there has ever been such a thing." | 12:16 | |
Has a nation changed its gods | 12:19 | |
even though they are no god, | 12:21 | |
but my people have changed their glory | 12:24 | |
for something that does not profit. | 12:27 | |
Be appalled, O heavens. | 12:29 | |
"At this, be shocked, be utterly desolate," says the Lord. | 12:31 | |
"For my people have committed two evils. | 12:36 | |
"They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, | 12:40 | |
"and dug cisterns for themselves, | 12:44 | |
"cracked cisterns that hold no water." | 12:46 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 12:50 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 12:52 |
- | The psalm appointed for this Sunday is number 81, | 13:04 |
verses one through 10. | 13:07 | |
You can find this in your hymnal on page 803. | 13:09 | |
Together let us praise God in singing the psalm | 13:13 | |
and the Gloria, responsively. | 13:15 | |
Please rise. | 13:17 | |
♪ Sing aloud to God our strength ♪ | 13:26 | |
♪ Shout for joy to the God of Jacob ♪ | 13:31 | |
♪ Raise a song ♪ | 13:36 | |
♪ Sound the tambourine ♪ | 13:38 | |
♪ The sweet lyre with the harp ♪ | 13:42 | |
♪ Blow the trumpet at the new moon ♪ | 13:47 | |
♪ At the full moon on our feast day ♪ | 13:52 | |
♪ For it is a statute for Israel ♪ | 13:57 | |
♪ An ordinance of the God of Jacob ♪ | 14:02 | |
♪ Who made it a decree in Joseph ♪ | 14:08 | |
♪ When God went out ♪ | 14:13 | |
♪ Over the land of Egypt ♪ | 14:15 | |
♪ I hear a voice I do not know ♪ | 14:20 | |
♪ I relieve your shoulder of the burden ♪ | 14:25 | |
♪ Your hands were freed from the basket ♪ | 14:31 | |
♪ In distress you called and I delivered you ♪ | 14:37 | |
♪ I answered you in the secret place of thunder ♪ | 14:43 | |
♪ I tested you at the waters of Meribah ♪ | 14:49 | |
♪ Hear O my people ♪ | 14:55 | |
♪ While I admonish you ♪ | 14:58 | |
♪ O Israel if you would just listen to me ♪ | 15:02 | |
♪ There shall be no strange god among you ♪ | 15:10 | |
♪ You shall not bow down to a foreign god ♪ | 15:15 | |
♪ I am the Lord your God ♪ | 15:21 | |
♪ Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt ♪ | 15:25 | |
♪ Open wide your mouth and I will fill it ♪ | 15:31 | |
♪ All glory be to you Creator ♪ | 15:38 | |
♪ And to Jesus Christ our Savior ♪ | 15:42 | |
(mumble | 15:50 | |
♪ As it was at time began ♪ | 15:53 | |
♪ Is now and will be ♪ | 15:59 | |
♪ Forever more ♪ | 16:03 | |
- | Please be seated. | 16:10 |
- | Our second lesson this morning is found | 16:20 |
in the book of Hebrews, | 16:23 | |
selected readings from the 13th chapter. | 16:25 | |
Let mutual love continue. | 16:29 | |
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers | 16:32 | |
for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. | 16:36 | |
Remember those who are in prison, | 16:40 | |
as though in prison with them, | 16:42 | |
and those who are ill-treated, | 16:45 | |
since you are also in the body. | 16:47 | |
Let marriage be held in honor among all, | 16:50 | |
and let the marriage bed be undefiled, | 16:54 | |
for God will judge the immoral and the adulterous. | 16:57 | |
Keep your life free from the love of money | 17:01 | |
and be content with what you have, | 17:04 | |
for God has said, "I will never fail you nor forsake you." | 17:07 | |
Hence, we can confidently say, | 17:12 | |
"The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. | 17:14 | |
"What harm can anyone do to me?" | 17:18 | |
Remember your leaders, | 17:22 | |
those who spoke to you the Word of God. | 17:24 | |
Consider the outcome of their life | 17:26 | |
and imitate their faith. | 17:29 | |
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, | 17:31 | |
and forever. | 17:35 | |
Through Him let us continually offer up a sacrifice | 17:37 | |
of praise to God that is the fruit of the lips | 17:40 | |
that acknowledge God's name. | 17:44 | |
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have | 17:46 | |
for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. | 17:51 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 17:56 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 17:58 |
- | Our gospel lesson is found in the 14th chapter | 18:01 |
of the book of Luke. | 18:05 | |
One sabbath, he went to dine at the house of a ruler | 18:08 | |
who belonged to the Pharisee and they were watching him. | 18:12 | |
Now, He told a parable to those who were invited | 18:17 | |
when he marked how they chose the places of honor | 18:20 | |
saying to them, "When you're invited by one | 18:23 | |
"to a marriage feast, do not sit down at the place | 18:26 | |
"of honor lest a more imminent person, than you, | 18:30 | |
"be invited by the host. | 18:34 | |
"The one who invited you both will come and say to you, | 18:36 | |
"give this place to this person, | 18:41 | |
"and then you will begin in shame to take the lowest place. | 18:43 | |
"But, when you're invited, go and sit in the lowest place, | 18:48 | |
"that when your host comes to you, | 18:53 | |
"he may say to you, friend go up higher. | 18:55 | |
"Then you'll be honored in the presence of all who sit | 18:59 | |
at the table with you. | 19:03 | |
For those who exalt themselves will humbled, | 19:05 | |
and those who humble themselves will be exalted. | 19:09 | |
He said also to the man who had invited him, | 19:13 | |
"When you give a dinner or a banquet, | 19:18 | |
"do not invite your friends or your family | 19:20 | |
"or your kinsfolk or your rich neighbors | 19:24 | |
"less they invite you in return and you will be repaid. | 19:28 | |
"But when you give a feast, invite the poor, | 19:33 | |
"the maimed, the lame, the blind, | 19:36 | |
"and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. | 19:41 | |
"You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." | 19:45 | |
This is the Word of the Lord. | 19:49 | |
All | Thanks be to God. | 19:51 |
(O Be Joyful in the Lord) | 20:10 | |
♪ O be joyful in the Lord ♪ | 20:17 | |
♪ O be joyful in the Lord ♪ | 20:20 | |
♪ O be joyful in the Lord ♪ | 20:23 | |
♪ O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands ♪ | 20:26 | |
♪ Serve the Lord with gladness ♪ | 20:31 | |
♪ Serve the Lord with gladness ♪ | 20:34 | |
♪ And come before his presence ♪ | 20:37 | |
♪ With song ♪ | 20:40 | |
♪ Be ye sure ♪ | 20:47 | |
♪ That the Lord He is God ♪ | 20:51 | |
♪ It is he that hath made us ♪ | 20:56 | |
♪ And not we ourselves ♪ | 21:00 | |
♪ We are his people ♪ | 21:05 | |
♪ And the sheep of his pasture ♪ | 21:08 | |
♪ We are his people ♪ | 21:13 | |
♪ The sheep of his pasture ♪ | 21:17 | |
♪ O go your way ♪ | 21:33 | |
♪ Go your way ♪ | 21:34 | |
♪ Through his gates ♪ | 21:36 | |
♪ Through his gates ♪ | 21:38 | |
♪ Through his gates ♪ | 21:40 | |
♪ Through his gates ♪ | 21:42 | |
♪ With thanksgiving ♪ | 21:44 | |
♪ And into his courts ♪ | 21:49 | |
♪ With praise ♪ | 21:52 | |
♪ Be thankful ♪ | 21:56 | |
♪ Unto Him ♪ | 21:59 | |
♪ And speak good ♪ | 22:03 | |
♪ Of His Name ♪ | 22:07 | |
♪ For the Lord ♪ | 22:13 | |
♪ Is gracious ♪ | 22:18 | |
♪ His mercy ♪ | 22:21 | |
♪ Is everlasting ♪ | 22:25 | |
♪ And his truth ♪ | 22:30 | |
♪ His truth endureth ♪ | 22:32 | |
♪ From generation ♪ | 22:39 | |
♪ To generation ♪ | 22:44 | |
♪ Glory be to the Father ♪ | 22:56 | |
♪ And to the Son ♪ | 23:02 | |
♪ And Holy Ghost ♪ | 23:06 | |
♪ As it was in the beginning ♪ | 23:12 | |
♪ As it was in the beginning ♪ | 23:16 | |
♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪ | 23:18 | |
♪ Is now and ever shall be ♪ | 23:21 | |
♪ World without end ♪ | 23:25 | |
♪ World without end ♪ | 23:27 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 23:30 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 23:37 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 23:41 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 23:45 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 23:49 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 23:53 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 23:57 | |
- | (mumbles) Is one of the great challenges | 24:28 |
of the 20th century. | 24:30 | |
Just this past month, the cover story of Time Magazine | 24:32 | |
was dedicated to 20th century blues. | 24:36 | |
The article entitled The Evolution of Despair quotes | 24:41 | |
the infamous Unabomber as saying, "The modern world, | 24:45 | |
"for all its technological marvels, | 24:50 | |
"can be an uncomfortable, | 24:53 | |
"unfulfilling place to live." | 24:55 | |
It is a twisted irony that his answer | 25:00 | |
to the problem of modern society is to use | 25:03 | |
the very technology that he condemns in killing people. | 25:06 | |
His methods are demonic, | 25:10 | |
but his message has a frightening ring | 25:14 | |
of truth, a resonance. | 25:17 | |
The modern world can be an uncomfortable, | 25:20 | |
unfulfilling place to live. | 25:24 | |
Just this past year, a young law student snapped | 25:28 | |
and went on a shooting rampage in downtown Chapel Hill. | 25:32 | |
Another man walked into a local hi-tech firm | 25:38 | |
with guns blazing looking for his wife. | 25:41 | |
A crowd watched in Detroit as woman, | 25:45 | |
who accidentally hit a car, | 25:48 | |
was dragged from her car, beaten, stripped, chased | 25:49 | |
and, finally, fell or was pushed off a bridge | 25:54 | |
to her death. | 25:59 | |
A few people who didn't like the way our federal government | 26:02 | |
was doing things decided to blow up a building | 26:04 | |
in Oklahoma City. | 26:07 | |
A religious sect in Japan released poison gas in a subway | 26:10 | |
killing and wounding hundreds of people. | 26:15 | |
Shocking reports of war crimes continue to grow | 26:18 | |
in the former Yugoslavia, | 26:22 | |
and the Rwanda refugee camps threaten to become death camps | 26:24 | |
with renewed signs of ethnic cleansing. | 26:28 | |
It's impossible to read the daily paper | 26:33 | |
and not get the uncomfortable feeling | 26:37 | |
that something is amiss, | 26:40 | |
something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. | 26:43 | |
For many people, it seems that human life has become | 26:49 | |
unfulfilling and worthless. | 26:52 | |
They don't value their own lives very much, | 26:55 | |
and much less the lives of others. | 26:58 | |
It would be easier if we could attribute the problems | 27:03 | |
of the modern society to foreigners | 27:06 | |
or fanatics or the poor. | 27:09 | |
It would be comforting if we could say that, | 27:12 | |
"It isn't our concern that the violence | 27:15 | |
"and the despair behind it don't touch our lives." | 27:18 | |
But the signs of meaninglessness | 27:23 | |
and a society unraveling at the edges are all around us, | 27:25 | |
in our cities, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, | 27:30 | |
even our own homes. | 27:33 | |
In The Search for Meaning, Thomas and Magdalena Naylor | 27:36 | |
and Will Willimon quote the statistic | 27:40 | |
that on an average day, | 27:43 | |
135,000 children and youth bring guns to school. | 27:44 | |
A recent study shows that compared with youth | 27:50 | |
and other affluent nations, | 27:53 | |
children in America are more likely | 27:55 | |
to die before their first birthday, | 27:58 | |
to live in poverty, to be abandoned by their fathers, | 28:01 | |
and to be killed before the age of 25. | 28:05 | |
The rates of depression in industrialized nations | 28:09 | |
have doubled every 10 years. | 28:12 | |
And, it's interesting that depression is much more | 28:15 | |
of a problem in affluent, modern societies | 28:17 | |
than in poor, developing nations. | 28:20 | |
Despair is no respecter of education, race, | 28:23 | |
class, economics, sex, age. | 28:27 | |
Suicide is the third most common cause of death | 28:32 | |
among young adults after car wrecks and homicides. | 28:35 | |
Modern society is plagued by meaninglessness and despair, | 28:39 | |
and college campuses are not immune. | 28:45 | |
In The Search for Meaning, Willimon and the Naylors | 28:48 | |
assert that nowhere is meaninglessness more prevalent | 28:50 | |
than in college campuses. | 28:54 | |
Colleges and universities have lost their bearing, | 28:57 | |
administrators, faculty, and students. | 29:00 | |
As one student quoted, told a fundraising group, | 29:04 | |
"Duke University is a class university, first-rate, | 29:08 | |
ahead of Princeton. | 29:12 | |
It is one of the few major universities | 29:13 | |
where it's possible to get drunk four nights a week, | 29:16 | |
four years in a row, and still maintain a B-average. | 29:19 | |
It's common practice for women students basically | 29:25 | |
to fast during the day so that they can drink at night | 29:29 | |
without gaining weight. | 29:33 | |
Just this week, two students standing behind me | 29:35 | |
at the RAT where talking about how their roommate had | 29:38 | |
had so much to drink the night before | 29:41 | |
that they could smell it on her, | 29:44 | |
even after she had had a shower. | 29:46 | |
The new alcohol policy which went into affect this fall | 29:49 | |
is designed to address the problem of alcohol abuse | 29:53 | |
on campus, but the prevalent use of alcohol | 29:56 | |
and drugs is part of a much larger problem, | 30:00 | |
the crisis of meaninglessness | 30:04 | |
which plagues modern society. | 30:07 | |
It is the task of individuals and societies | 30:11 | |
to ask the primary question, | 30:15 | |
"What gives life meaning?" | 30:18 | |
In each age, we must determine what is most important. | 30:23 | |
What is profitable and good to seek? | 30:29 | |
For what purposes will our life and energy | 30:32 | |
and resources be devoted? | 30:36 | |
For several years, students at the Fuqua School of Business | 30:40 | |
were asked to write a personal strategic plan | 30:44 | |
based upon the question, "What do you want to be | 30:47 | |
"when you grow up?" | 30:50 | |
Willimon and the Naylors said that, | 30:52 | |
with very few exceptions, | 30:55 | |
they wanted three things - money, | 30:56 | |
power and things, | 31:00 | |
very big things including vacation homes, | 31:02 | |
expensive foreign automobiles, yachts, even airplanes. | 31:06 | |
Primarily concerned with their careers | 31:10 | |
and the growth of their financial portfolios, | 31:12 | |
their personal plans contained little room | 31:15 | |
for family, intellectual development, spiritual growth, | 31:18 | |
or social responsibility. | 31:22 | |
Now let me be clear, this is not an attack | 31:26 | |
on the Law School or the legal profession. | 31:29 | |
They have no monopoly upon the desire to pursue money, | 31:33 | |
power and things. | 31:36 | |
These are three gods that are highly promoted | 31:39 | |
in our modern, capitalistic society. | 31:42 | |
Every ad, every billboard, every commercial teaches us | 31:45 | |
to want more things, | 31:49 | |
and to become better consumers we must have access | 31:51 | |
to more power, more money, more things. | 31:54 | |
Many students come to Duke | 32:00 | |
and universities across the country, | 32:02 | |
for the express purpose of being trained to make money. | 32:04 | |
A Bachelor's degree is seen as a commodity | 32:09 | |
which will help them get into the best graduate | 32:12 | |
and professional schools | 32:14 | |
which will help them get the most prestigious positions | 32:16 | |
which will help them create the most profitable life. | 32:20 | |
And, many of these students learned their values | 32:26 | |
from their parents who are investing more | 32:29 | |
than $20,000 a year to send them to Duke | 32:31 | |
and they expect a profitable return upon their money. | 32:34 | |
But the irony is that money and power and things | 32:39 | |
cannot in and of themselves give life meaning. | 32:45 | |
As the Psychologist Erich Fromm said, | 32:50 | |
"Having is an illusory source of meaning. | 32:53 | |
"If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, | 32:58 | |
"then who and what am I?" | 33:02 | |
With the likes of Donald Trump, Michael Milken, | 33:08 | |
and Ivan Boesky, | 33:11 | |
we have seen how quickly fortunes can come and go. | 33:12 | |
But, even those who manage to hold onto their positions, | 33:17 | |
power, and wealth are often not happy. | 33:20 | |
Sometimes they pay a huge personal cost for a life spent | 33:25 | |
in the pursuit of having. | 33:29 | |
The tabloids love to expose the dark underside | 33:32 | |
of the lives of the rich and famous. | 33:36 | |
So, what does give life meaning? | 33:40 | |
What makes it all worthwhile? | 33:44 | |
The scripture from Jeremiah is concerned | 33:48 | |
with this very question. | 33:51 | |
It is an age-old question which people in each generation | 33:54 | |
in each time must ask for themselves, | 33:58 | |
and how we answer the question of meaning | 34:03 | |
and worth has much to do with the kind of life | 34:06 | |
that we will seek to live. | 34:09 | |
Thus says the Lord, " What wrong did your ancestors find | 34:13 | |
"in Me that they went far away from Me | 34:18 | |
"and went after worthless things | 34:21 | |
"and became worthless themselves." | 34:24 | |
It seems that it matters what we go after, | 34:29 | |
what we pursue determines our worth. | 34:33 | |
If we go after worthless things, then we become like | 34:37 | |
the very thing that we pursue, worthless. | 34:40 | |
The prophet Hosea says, "They consecrated themselves | 34:45 | |
"to a thing of shame and became detestable | 34:49 | |
"like the thing they loved." | 34:52 | |
In Jeremiah, God accuses of Israel | 34:55 | |
of going after worthless things and becoming worthless | 34:58 | |
because they went far away from God. | 35:03 | |
What we are close to and what we go after, | 35:07 | |
go hand-in-hand. | 35:12 | |
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. | 35:15 | |
The irony is that the people of Israel were most close | 35:19 | |
to the Lord when they were in the wilderness. | 35:23 | |
In the wilderness, | 35:25 | |
the essentials of life quickly become evident. | 35:27 | |
They had to depend upon God and upon each other | 35:31 | |
for water, food, shelter for their very survival. | 35:33 | |
It's easy to discern what is most important | 35:38 | |
when your survival is at stake. | 35:40 | |
Those of us who've been privileged to go on one | 35:44 | |
of the annual mission trips | 35:46 | |
to Honduras have seen this dynamic at work. | 35:48 | |
This is the second poorest country in our hemisphere, | 35:53 | |
and because the people have so little, | 35:56 | |
they're closer to the land, to their families, | 35:59 | |
to their community, to their God. | 36:01 | |
There is a sense of meaning and joy in their lives | 36:05 | |
that comes through in spite of the difficulties | 36:09 | |
of the lives that they lead. | 36:12 | |
Now I don't mean to glamorize poverty | 36:15 | |
for subsistence living is grueling and often cruel. | 36:17 | |
But it is one of ironies of life | 36:23 | |
that hardship and suffering can sometimes bring us closer | 36:26 | |
to the things that really matter. | 36:30 | |
In the wilderness, the people of Israel were close | 36:34 | |
to the Lord who led them through deserts and pits, | 36:37 | |
drought and darkness, | 36:42 | |
a desolate land where no one could survive alone. | 36:45 | |
But when the Lord led them into the land of plenty, | 36:51 | |
they forgot what God had done for them | 36:54 | |
and began to seek their own way. | 36:57 | |
As Walter Brueggemann says, "This is a people | 37:01 | |
"which had become prosperous, secure, tenured, | 37:04 | |
"beguiled in to self-sufficiency." | 37:09 | |
The predictable outcome is that this community has ceased | 37:13 | |
to do its memory work. | 37:17 | |
They no longer ask, "Where is the Lord?" | 37:20 | |
They no longer remember the one who brought them up | 37:24 | |
from the land of Egypt, and, when they forgot, | 37:27 | |
they forgot the past, they forgot God, | 37:30 | |
they forgot themselves, they forgot their history, | 37:33 | |
their identity, their faith, their vocation, | 37:36 | |
their (speaking foreign words). | 37:40 | |
In the community of faith, | 37:44 | |
we believe that there is a crucial link | 37:47 | |
between remembering the faith story | 37:49 | |
and being the people of faith. | 37:53 | |
If we do not remember what God has done in the past, | 37:56 | |
then we cannot recognize what God is doing now. | 38:00 | |
If we do not remember who we've been in relation | 38:04 | |
to God in the past, then we can't know who we're meant | 38:06 | |
to be in relation to God in the present. | 38:10 | |
This act of remembering, | 38:14 | |
of telling the faith stories, | 38:17 | |
of rehearsing who we are and to whom we belong, | 38:19 | |
it's constitutive. | 38:24 | |
It recreates us as the community of faith | 38:26 | |
in each generation. | 38:29 | |
As we are told the stories of faith, | 38:32 | |
and as we tell them to our children, | 38:35 | |
then we enable each generation to ask, | 38:37 | |
"Where is the Lord? | 38:41 | |
"What is of God," | 38:44 | |
and, "What is not of God?" | 38:46 | |
What is profitable to seek and what is unprofitable? | 38:48 | |
What is meaningful and worthwhile, | 38:54 | |
and what is meaningless and worthless? | 38:57 | |
These are important questions for us | 39:01 | |
because we are people who live in a land of plenty. | 39:04 | |
There is so much around us that is unessential. | 39:08 | |
There's so many gods who compete for our loyalties. | 39:11 | |
There's so much that tempts us to forget our God | 39:15 | |
and to exchange our glory | 39:18 | |
for something that does not profit. | 39:20 | |
The litany of the malaise, violence, and meaninglessness | 39:24 | |
which characterize modern life, | 39:28 | |
is eloquent testimony to the worthlessness | 39:31 | |
of so many of our pursuits. | 39:34 | |
We think we're seeking something of value, | 39:37 | |
but it turns out to be worthless and unprofitable. | 39:39 | |
We give our lives to pursue goals | 39:43 | |
that give us nothing but worthlessness in return. | 39:47 | |
Though we seek gain, we wind up with loss. | 39:51 | |
The tragedy, for us, as for Israel, | 39:57 | |
is that we're offered so much more. | 40:02 | |
The plentiful land with all its fruits | 40:05 | |
and all its good things, | 40:09 | |
the fountain of living water, | 40:11 | |
these are gifts inestimable | 40:15 | |
and they're are offered to us freely. | 40:18 | |
It pains the very heart of God | 40:23 | |
when we defile the gifts that are given | 40:26 | |
by using them for purposes for which they were not intended. | 40:29 | |
The very heavens are appalled | 40:34 | |
when we forsake God to seek our own way | 40:36 | |
and chase after worthless things | 40:39 | |
which make our very lives worthless in the process. | 40:41 | |
"For my people have committed two evils, | 40:46 | |
"they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, | 40:49 | |
"and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns | 40:54 | |
"that can hold no water." | 40:58 | |
What fools we are to turn away from that which could satisfy | 41:03 | |
and quench our deepest thirst, | 41:08 | |
while frantically digging in the ground trying | 41:11 | |
to make containers to secure our own life, | 41:14 | |
and dependence, self-sufficiency, money, | 41:18 | |
power, things, freedom to do with our lives | 41:21 | |
whatever we choose, these are the goals | 41:24 | |
that were taught by our culture to pursue, | 41:27 | |
to seek with everything that we have. | 41:30 | |
But when we do, we end up with cracked cisterns | 41:33 | |
that can hold no water, even the rain water | 41:37 | |
that falls from the sky. | 41:41 | |
In the end, no matter how frantically we work | 41:43 | |
to create our own lives, | 41:46 | |
no matter how much we stockpile money, or possessions, | 41:49 | |
no matter how much power we wield, | 41:52 | |
we can neither secure our lives | 41:55 | |
nor sustain their meaning | 41:58 | |
and deep abiding worth on our own. | 42:00 | |
In our search to create our own lives, | 42:05 | |
we reject the very source of life | 42:07 | |
and wind up with only the empty, worthless shell, | 42:10 | |
a mere imitation of life. | 42:14 | |
But, so much more is possible, | 42:18 | |
if we will only remember first and foremost, | 42:21 | |
that as a people of faith we must ask the question, | 42:26 | |
"Where is the Lord?" | 42:30 | |
This must be what we seek. | 42:33 | |
This must be what we desire above all else. | 42:35 | |
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart | 42:40 | |
and with all your soul and with all your strength | 42:42 | |
and with all your might. | 42:46 | |
We must seek the fountain of living water | 42:49 | |
which quenches our deepest need | 42:52 | |
and gives us the ground of meaning. | 42:54 | |
This is what makes life worthwhile. | 42:58 | |
Only when we seek God, and the things of God, | 43:02 | |
will we be able to rightly discern what is real and unreal, | 43:06 | |
true and false, profitable and unprofitable, | 43:11 | |
meaningful and meaningless, | 43:17 | |
life giving and death dealing. | 43:20 | |
The fountain of living water is offered to us | 43:26 | |
as a free gift. | 43:29 | |
Come, and drink deeply | 43:31 | |
that you may truly live. | 43:36 | |
("Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing") | 43:42 | |
♪ Come thou fount of every blessing ♪ | 44:28 | |
♪ Tune my heart to sing thy grace ♪ | 44:34 | |
♪ Streams of mercy never ceasing ♪ | 44:39 | |
♪ Call for songs of loudest praise ♪ | 44:44 | |
♪ Teach me some melodious sonnet ♪ | 44:50 | |
♪ Sung by flaming tongues above ♪ | 44:55 | |
♪ Praise the mount ♪ | 45:01 | |
♪ I'm fixed upon it ♪ | 45:03 | |
♪ Mount of thy redeeming love ♪ | 45:06 | |
♪ Here I raise mine Ebenezer ♪ | 45:14 | |
♪ Hither by thy help I'm come ♪ | 45:20 | |
♪ And I hope by thy good pleasure ♪ | 45:25 | |
♪ Safely to arrive at home ♪ | 45:31 | |
♪ Jesus sought me when a stranger ♪ | 45:37 | |
♪ Wandering from the fold of God ♪ | 45:42 | |
♪ He to rescue me from danger ♪ | 45:48 | |
♪ Interposed his precious blood ♪ | 45:53 | |
♪ O to grace how great a debtor ♪ | 46:07 | |
♪ Daily I'm constrained to be ♪ | 46:13 | |
♪ Let thy goodness like a fetter ♪ | 46:19 | |
♪ Bind my wandering heart to thee ♪ | 46:24 | |
♪ Prone to wander ♪ | 46:29 | |
♪ Lord I feel it ♪ | 46:33 | |
♪ Prone to leave the God I love ♪ | 46:35 | |
♪ Here's my heart O take and seal it ♪ | 46:41 | |
♪ Seal it for thy courts above ♪ | 46:47 | |
- | The Lord be with you | 46:59 |
All | And also with you. | 47:01 |
- | Let us pray. | 47:03 |
You may be seated. | 47:05 | |
O God, who has brought us to this bountiful place | 47:20 | |
where we can feast on the fruits of scholarship | 47:26 | |
and savor the spirit of service, | 47:29 | |
we give you thanks for the opportunity to begin again | 47:32 | |
on this opening day, | 47:36 | |
a journey that so many have taken before us. | 47:38 | |
We give you thanks for the new classes | 47:43 | |
and fresh texts | 47:46 | |
that transmit others enduring and lasting ideas | 47:48 | |
and that nurture new ones in us. | 47:54 | |
Grant that we will find great joy in the harvest we gather | 47:58 | |
from what others have planted, | 48:03 | |
in the beauty of art, in clarity of thought, | 48:05 | |
in vitality of spirit. | 48:10 | |
Lord, in your mercy. | 48:13 | |
All | Hear our prayer. | 48:16 |
- | Let us pray for the leaders of this institution. | 48:19 |
O God, we ask your blessing on the President | 48:24 | |
of Duke University and all in her administration. | 48:28 | |
Grant that she and they will remain dedicated servants | 48:33 | |
of the aims of the school and the heritage entrusted | 48:37 | |
to their hands and ours. | 48:41 | |
Make them swift in pursuing social justice, | 48:45 | |
zealous in nurturing intellectual freedom, | 48:49 | |
and faithful in uniting knowledge and vital piety. | 48:53 | |
Lord, in your mercy. | 48:58 | |
All | Hear our prayer. | 49:01 |
- | Let us pray for those who labor to maintain the beauty | 49:03 |
and comforts of this bountiful place. | 49:06 | |
O God, bless those whose daily tasks begin | 49:11 | |
before the rising of the sun. | 49:15 | |
Bless those who care for our classrooms and corridors, | 49:19 | |
those who love flowers enough to labor among them, | 49:24 | |
those who keep the hospital clean enough for surgery, | 49:28 | |
those who keep laboratories safe enough for science, | 49:33 | |
those who work with their hands so that others | 49:38 | |
among us can work with our minds. | 49:41 | |
Grant that they will find joy in their service | 49:45 | |
and gratitude from those whom they serve. | 49:50 | |
Lord, in your mercy. | 49:54 | |
All | Hear our prayer. | 49:56 |
- | Let us pray for those beyond this campus. | 49:58 |
O God, care for your people in this city of Durham | 50:03 | |
and in the world. | 50:07 | |
Grant that our schools in this city will become models | 50:10 | |
of justice and community, models of learning and hope. | 50:13 | |
Protect the children from demons like drugs, | 50:19 | |
abuse, and violence. | 50:25 | |
And not only in this city, but well beyond it. | 50:29 | |
On this weekend when many pause to recall the end of a war, | 50:32 | |
50 years ago, | 50:37 | |
care for those who still suffer | 50:39 | |
from the signs of that past war | 50:42 | |
and care, especially, for those who in this day | 50:46 | |
seek peace where wars still rage. | 50:49 | |
We pray for the people of Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia. | 50:53 | |
We pray that the force of reconciliation will find a place | 50:59 | |
in their broken lives. | 51:03 | |
Lord, in your mercy. | 51:06 | |
All | Hear our prayer. | 51:09 |
- | Let us pray for those who are ill. | 51:11 |
O God, | 51:15 | |
whose power to heal and power to create | 51:18 | |
are the gifts that offer reconciliation | 51:23 | |
not only in this life but in the life to come. | 51:25 | |
Grant that all who are ill this day will find comfort | 51:29 | |
and peace, and that the measure of healing, | 51:33 | |
which is yours to grant, will be claimed by them | 51:38 | |
in their hospital rooms and homes, in hospices, | 51:42 | |
in distant places, in lonely rooms, | 51:46 | |
and grant that they will find the nurture | 51:50 | |
and encouragement of the community of faith | 51:53 | |
lifting up prayers, like these, to you, | 51:56 | |
so that they will be refreshed with hope | 52:00 | |
and find the reconciliation of healing | 52:04 | |
as they are touched by the taste of living waters. | 52:07 | |
Lord, in your mercy. | 52:12 | |
All | Hear our prayer. | 52:15 |
- | And we pray, O Lord, for all who study here, | 52:17 |
and all who teach here, that your Word | 52:20 | |
and your Light and your Truth will be known among all. | 52:25 | |
Lord, in your mercy. | 52:30 | |
All | Hear our prayer. | 52:32 |
- | These things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, | 52:34 |
your Son, our Savior. | 52:37 | |
Amen. | 52:40 | |
Of all of the gifts of God's bounty | 52:46 | |
that are ours to receive, | 52:48 | |
we offer songs of praise | 52:51 | |
and signs of thanksgiving, | 52:53 | |
and we offer, as well, gifts of the things of the earth | 52:56 | |
in portions as we have been privileged to harvest them. | 53:02 | |
Let us turn unto the Lord and offer our gifts | 53:07 | |
of thanks and praise. | 53:10 | |
(dramatic orchestral music) | 53:25 | |
(moves to sacred organ music) | 59:05 | |
♪ Praise God from who all blessings flow ♪ | 59:45 | |
♪ Praise God all creatures here below ♪ | 59:51 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 59:57 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:00 | |
♪ Praise God above ye heavenly host ♪ | 1:00:04 | |
♪ Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost ♪ | 1:00:10 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:17 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:19 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:23 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:26 | |
♪ Alleluia ♪ | 1:00:29 | |
- | O Lord, without whom there would be no light, | 1:00:43 |
no breath of life, no harvest from the earth, | 1:00:48 | |
no hope or joy, | 1:00:53 | |
it is from you that all these gifts have come | 1:00:56 | |
and it is to us that a portion | 1:00:59 | |
of those gifts have been offered. | 1:01:01 | |
With gratitude, we have received those gifts, | 1:01:04 | |
and, now, O Lord, as a sign of our thanksgiving | 1:01:07 | |
we offer a portion of what has been given to us, | 1:01:11 | |
entrusted to us, now given as a sacrifice in your name, | 1:01:15 | |
with thanksgiving we present to you, O Lord, | 1:01:21 | |
ourselves, our souls, our bodies, | 1:01:25 | |
and our portion of our earthly means. | 1:01:30 | |
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord | 1:01:34 | |
through whom and in whom we pray the way he taught us. | 1:01:38 | |
All | Our father who art in heaven, | 1:01:44 |
hallowed be thy name. | 1:01:48 | |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 1:01:50 | |
on earth as is in heaven. | 1:01:54 | |
Give us this day our daily bread | 1:01:56 | |
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those | 1:01:59 | |
who trespass against us, | 1:02:03 | |
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, | 1:02:06 | |
for thine is the kingdom, and the power, | 1:02:11 | |
and the glory forever. | 1:02:14 | |
Amen. | 1:02:16 | |
("Praise the Source of Faith and Learning") | 1:02:22 | |
♪ Praise the source of faith and learning ♪ | 1:03:28 | |
♪ Who has sparked and stoked the mind ♪ | 1:03:34 | |
♪ With a passion for discerning ♪ | 1:03:40 | |
♪ How the world has been designed ♪ | 1:03:47 | |
♪ Let the sense of wonder flowing ♪ | 1:03:53 | |
♪ From the wonders we survey ♪ | 1:03:59 | |
♪ Keep our faith forever growing ♪ | 1:04:06 | |
♪ And renew our need to pray ♪ | 1:04:12 | |
♪ God of wisdom we acknowledge ♪ | 1:04:21 | |
♪ That our science and our art ♪ | 1:04:26 | |
♪ And the breadth of human knowledge ♪ | 1:04:33 | |
♪ Only partial truth impart ♪ | 1:04:39 | |
♪ Far beyond our calculation ♪ | 1:04:46 | |
♪ Lies a depth we cannot sound ♪ | 1:04:52 | |
♪ Where your purpose for creation ♪ | 1:04:59 | |
♪ And the pulse of life was found ♪ | 1:05:05 | |
♪ May our faith redeem the blunder ♪ | 1:05:14 | |
♪ Of believing that our thought ♪ | 1:05:20 | |
♪ Has displaced the grounds for wonder ♪ | 1:05:27 | |
♪ Which the ancient prophets thought ♪ | 1:05:33 | |
♪ May our learning curb the error ♪ | 1:05:40 | |
♪ Which unthinking faith can breed ♪ | 1:05:46 | |
♪ Lest we justify some terror ♪ | 1:05:53 | |
♪ With an antiquated creed ♪ | 1:05:59 | |
♪ As two currents in a river ♪ | 1:06:07 | |
♪ Fight each other's undertow ♪ | 1:06:13 | |
♪ Till converging they deliver ♪ | 1:06:20 | |
♪ One coherent steady flow ♪ | 1:06:26 | |
♪ May we blend our faith and learning ♪ | 1:06:33 | |
♪ Till they carve a single course ♪ | 1:06:39 | |
♪ And our seeking and our yearning ♪ | 1:06:46 | |
♪ Join in praising you their source ♪ | 1:06:52 | |
♪ Praise for minds to probe the heavens ♪ | 1:07:00 | |
♪ Praise for strength to breathe the air ♪ | 1:07:07 | |
♪ Praise for all that beauty leavens ♪ | 1:07:14 | |
♪ Praise for silence, music, prayer ♪ | 1:07:20 | |
♪ Praise for justice and compassion ♪ | 1:07:27 | |
♪ And for strangers, neighbors, friends ♪ | 1:07:34 | |
♪ Praise for hearts and lips to fashion ♪ | 1:07:40 | |
♪ Praise for love that never ends ♪ | 1:07:46 | |
- | Go forth in peace. | 1:07:58 |
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, | 1:07:59 | |
the love of God, and communion of the Holy Spirit, | 1:08:01 | |
be with you and keep you. | 1:08:05 | |
♪ God be ♪ | 1:08:10 | |
♪ In my head ♪ | 1:08:12 | |
♪ And in my ♪ | 1:08:16 | |
♪ Understanding ♪ | 1:08:19 | |
♪ God be ♪ | 1:08:28 | |
♪ In mine eyes ♪ | 1:08:31 | |
♪ And in my ♪ | 1:08:35 | |
♪ Looking ♪ | 1:08:38 | |
♪ God be in ♪ | 1:08:47 | |
♪ My mouth ♪ | 1:08:51 | |
♪ And in my ♪ | 1:08:54 | |
♪ Speaking ♪ | 1:08:57 | |
♪ God be ♪ | 1:09:08 | |
♪ In my heart ♪ | 1:09:12 | |
♪ And in my ♪ | 1:09:16 | |
♪ Thinking ♪ | 1:09:20 | |
♪ God be ♪ | 1:09:29 | |
♪ At my end ♪ | 1:09:34 | |
♪ And in ♪ | 1:09:42 | |
♪ My ♪ | 1:09:47 | |
♪ Departing ♪ | 1:09:50 | |
(classical organ music) | 1:10:08 |