W. Kenneth Goodson - "Sound Advice for Sound Living" Baccalaureate Service (May 5, 1984)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(religious organ music) | 0:03 | |
(people chattering faintly) | 9:21 | |
(religious organ music) | 10:09 | |
(choir singing in foreign language) | 24:07 | |
(religious organ music) | 25:31 | |
(choir singing in foreign language) | 26:13 | |
- | The genius of God, whom we gather to worship | 30:01 |
is revealed in the creation of atoms | 30:04 | |
that attract and repel. | 30:07 | |
In the creation of water that rises from the oceans, | 30:10 | |
falls as snow upon the mountains, | 30:14 | |
and runs as rivers upon the Earth. | 30:17 | |
In the music and art and poetry | 30:20 | |
that expose the sacred and nurture the human soul. | 30:23 | |
In human yearnings for knowledge. | 30:28 | |
In the urgings of the human heart to do justice. | 30:31 | |
Gathering in this place of old stones | 30:36 | |
and sacred memories, | 30:40 | |
let us remember why we are here | 30:43 | |
and who draws us to this place. | 30:45 | |
Come by God's truth, let us be set free | 30:49 | |
and to God let us honestly confess our sin. | 30:53 | |
O holy God, to whose service we long ago | 31:19 | |
dedicated our souls and lives, | 31:23 | |
we grieve and lament before you | 31:26 | |
that we are still so prone to sin. | 31:29 | |
And so little inclined to obedience. | 31:32 | |
Attached to the pleasure of sins, | 31:36 | |
negligent of things spiritual. | 31:39 | |
Prompt to gratify our bodies, | 31:41 | |
slow to nourish our souls. | 31:44 | |
Greedy for present delight, | 31:47 | |
indifferent to lasting blessedness. | 31:50 | |
Fond of idleness, indisposed for labor. | 31:53 | |
Soon at play, late at prayer. | 31:58 | |
Risk in the service of self, | 32:01 | |
slack in the service of others. | 32:04 | |
Eager to get, reluctant to give. | 32:07 | |
Lofty in our professions, | 32:11 | |
low in our practice. | 32:13 | |
Full of good intentions, | 32:15 | |
backward to fulfill them. | 32:18 | |
Severe with our neighbors, | 32:20 | |
indulgent with ourselves. | 32:22 | |
So eager to find fault, | 32:25 | |
so resentful at being found fault with. | 32:28 | |
So little able for great tasks, | 32:31 | |
so contented with small ones. | 32:35 | |
So weak in adversity, | 32:38 | |
so swollen and self-satisfied in prosperity. | 32:40 | |
So helpless apart from you, | 32:45 | |
and yet so little willing to be bound to you. | 32:48 | |
O merciful heart of God, | 32:52 | |
grant us yet forgiveness, | 32:54 | |
for your name's sake, Amen. | 32:57 | |
Who is in a position to condemn? | 33:19 | |
Christ only, and Christ died for us. | 33:22 | |
Christ rose for us. | 33:27 | |
Christ reigns in power for us. | 33:29 | |
Christ prays for us. | 33:32 | |
If we are in Christ then we are new persons altogether. | 33:35 | |
The past is done, it is finished. | 33:39 | |
And what lies before us is a future | 33:42 | |
fresh and full of possibility. | 33:45 | |
My friends, believe the good news of the Gospel, | 33:48 | |
that in Jesus who was and is the Christ | 33:51 | |
you and I are forgiven. | 33:55 | |
Let us give thanks for God is good | 34:01 | |
and God's love is everlasting. | 34:04 | |
Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. | 34:07 | |
Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us. | 34:11 | |
Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 34:15 | |
My friends, students, families, | 34:22 | |
I welcome you to Duke Chapel | 34:27 | |
on this special Saturday afternoon, | 34:30 | |
on a very special weekend in the lives | 34:33 | |
of you and your families and friends. | 34:35 | |
And I want to take a moment to welcome | 34:40 | |
Bishop Kenneth Goodson to our pulpit. | 34:43 | |
Bishop Goodson is the bishop in residence | 34:46 | |
at the Duke Divinity School, | 34:49 | |
but more than that he is a warm and gracious human being, | 34:52 | |
and an able preacher. | 34:57 | |
Bishop Goodson, it is good to have you here this afternoon, | 34:59 | |
and we look forward to the proclamation of God's word. | 35:02 | |
- | Let us pray. | 35:20 |
O God, you who commanded the light | 35:23 | |
to shine out of darkness, | 35:26 | |
shine into our hearts to give the light | 35:28 | |
of the knowledge of your glory, Amen. | 35:31 | |
The Old Testament lesson is the first Psalm. | 35:38 | |
Blessed is the man who walks not | 35:42 | |
in the council of the wicked, | 35:44 | |
nor stands in the way of sinners, | 35:47 | |
nor sits in the seat of scoffers, | 35:49 | |
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, | 35:52 | |
and on his law he meditates day and night. | 35:55 | |
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, | 36:00 | |
that yields its fruit in its season, | 36:03 | |
and its leaf does not wither. | 36:06 | |
In all that he does he prospers. | 36:09 | |
The wicked are not so. | 36:12 | |
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away, | 36:14 | |
therefor the wicked will not stand in the judgment, | 36:18 | |
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, | 36:21 | |
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, | 36:24 | |
but the way of the wicked will perish. | 36:27 | |
Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. | 36:31 | |
The Epistle lesson is from Timothy. | 36:36 | |
Fight the good fight of the faith. | 36:41 | |
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called | 36:45 | |
when you made the good confession | 36:48 | |
in the presence of many witnesses. | 36:50 | |
In the presence of God who gives life to all things | 36:54 | |
I charge you to keep the commandment | 36:58 | |
unstained and free from reproach. | 37:00 | |
This will made manifest at the proper time | 37:05 | |
by the blessed and only sovereign, | 37:08 | |
the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, | 37:10 | |
who alone has immortality | 37:13 | |
and dwells in unapproachable light. | 37:15 | |
Whom no man has ever seen or can see. | 37:18 | |
To Him be honor and eternal dominion, Amen. | 37:22 | |
As for the rich in this world, | 37:27 | |
charge them not to be haughty | 37:29 | |
nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches | 37:31 | |
but on God who richly furnishes us | 37:35 | |
with everything to enjoy. | 37:39 | |
They are to do good. | 37:42 | |
To be rich in good deeds. | 37:44 | |
Liberal and generous. | 37:47 | |
Thus laying up for themselves a good foundation | 37:49 | |
for the future, | 37:53 | |
so that they may take hold of the life | 37:54 | |
which is life indeed. | 37:56 | |
O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. | 37:59 | |
Avoid the Godless chatter and contradictions | 38:02 | |
of what is falsely called knowledge, | 38:05 | |
for by professing it some have missed the mark | 38:08 | |
as regards the faith, grace be with you. | 38:14 | |
Here ends the reading from the Epistle. | 38:18 | |
(religious organ music) | 38:33 | |
(choir singing in foreign language) | 39:17 | |
- | Will the congregation please stand | 44:30 |
for the reading of the Gospel? | 44:32 | |
The lesson is from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. | 44:39 | |
For it will be as when a man going on a journey | 44:45 | |
called his servants and entrusted to them his property. | 44:50 | |
To one he gave five talents, to another two. | 44:54 | |
To another one, to each according to his ability. | 44:58 | |
Then he went away. | 45:02 | |
He who had received the five talents | 45:04 | |
went at once and traded with them, | 45:07 | |
and he made five talents more. | 45:09 | |
So too he who had the two talents made two talents more. | 45:12 | |
But he who had received the one talent | 45:18 | |
went and dug in the ground and his his master's money. | 45:20 | |
Now after a long time, the master of those servants | 45:24 | |
came and settled accounts with them. | 45:27 | |
And he who had received the five talents | 45:31 | |
came forward bringing five talents more | 45:33 | |
saying, master, you delivered to me five talents | 45:36 | |
here I made five talents more. | 45:39 | |
His master said to him well done, | 45:43 | |
good and faithful servant. | 45:45 | |
You have been faithful over a little, | 45:47 | |
I will set you over much. | 45:49 | |
Enter into the joy of your master. | 45:51 | |
And he also who had the two talents came forward, | 45:55 | |
saying master, you delivered to me two talents | 45:58 | |
here I have made two talents more. | 46:02 | |
His master said to him well done, | 46:05 | |
good and faithful servant. | 46:08 | |
You have been faithful over a little, | 46:10 | |
I will set you over much. | 46:12 | |
Enter into the joy of your master. | 46:14 | |
He also who had received the one talent came forward | 46:18 | |
saying master, I knew you to be a hard man, | 46:22 | |
reaping where you did not sow | 46:27 | |
and gathering where you did not winter, so I was afraid, | 46:29 | |
and I went and hid your talent in the ground. | 46:32 | |
Here you have what is yours. | 46:37 | |
But his master answered him you wicked and slothful servant, | 46:40 | |
you knew that I reap where I have not sowed | 46:44 | |
and gather where I have not wintered, | 46:47 | |
then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers | 46:49 | |
and at my coming I should have received | 46:52 | |
what was mine own with interest. | 46:55 | |
So take the talent from him and give it to him | 46:58 | |
who has the 10 talents. | 47:00 | |
For to everyone who has will more be given, | 47:03 | |
and he will have abundance. | 47:07 | |
But from him who has not even what he has | 47:09 | |
will be taken away. | 47:12 | |
Here ends the reading from the Gospel, Amen. | 47:15 | |
(religious organ music) | 47:19 | |
(choir singing drowned out by organ) | 47:28 | |
- | May I begin by assuring you that I know quite well | 48:32 |
in my own mind and heart | 48:35 | |
that is an awesome and frightening responsibility | 48:38 | |
to stand in front of you for these few minutes. | 48:42 | |
To say on behalf of all of us who love Duke University | 48:46 | |
as indeed we do, | 48:50 | |
a word not only about the faith of the institution, | 48:53 | |
and our own faith, | 48:56 | |
but a word about the world | 48:58 | |
in which that faith has to be lived on. | 49:00 | |
For any of us who spent even an hour in our | 49:04 | |
schooling in the chapel at Duke University, | 49:07 | |
there is an unusual something about this building | 49:10 | |
that is untouchable and inexpressible. | 49:14 | |
And no one could be conscious of the awesomeness | 49:19 | |
of this moment | 49:22 | |
than a simple man who stands in your presence at this time. | 49:25 |
- | Somewhere about the year 90 to 110 AD, | 0:04 |
an old man sat down in the ancient town | 0:06 | |
of Laodicea to write a letter. | 0:09 | |
He was an exponent of a new faith, | 0:14 | |
a new idea, a new culture, a new language. | 0:15 | |
He was one of that small minority of people in his day | 0:21 | |
who believed that love might be better than hatred, | 0:24 | |
Who believed that right might be better than wrong, | 0:28 | |
who believed that goodness | 0:32 | |
might be better than its opposite. | 0:33 | |
He found himself deeply attached to his spiritual way | 0:36 | |
to a man who Fulton Oursler called | 0:40 | |
the greatest name in human history. | 0:42 | |
He did not understand all the meaning of his faith, | 0:46 | |
he only knew that he understood | 0:49 | |
something had happened to him | 0:50 | |
which he'd never been completely able to appropriate. | 0:52 | |
It has been the testimony of the ages. | 0:56 | |
And so for the last half of the century | 1:00 | |
he's been running up and down the world, | 1:02 | |
the world of his day, 20 centuries ago, | 1:04 | |
talking a little here and preaching a little there | 1:06 | |
and getting in trouble a bit here | 1:09 | |
and in trouble a bit there. | 1:11 | |
40 times have I been beaten, | 1:15 | |
thrice have I been shipwrecked, | 1:17 | |
I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. | 1:19 | |
He would have known what Dietrich Bonhoeffer | 1:24 | |
was to say centuries later, | 1:26 | |
he would have known a bit about the cost of discipleship. | 1:28 | |
And now his ministry is about done, | 1:33 | |
his ministry is about over, | 1:35 | |
he has come in his sense, not in his youth, | 1:37 | |
but in his old age. | 1:39 | |
He has come to his graduation to his commencement, | 1:41 | |
but he leaves it not only with a bit of hesitation, | 1:46 | |
for he hates to give it up as any man would do | 1:49 | |
or any person would do, | 1:51 | |
but he sits down in the ancient town of Laodicea | 1:53 | |
to write a letter to a young man | 1:57 | |
to whom he has entrusted the gospel. | 1:58 | |
And among the loveliest bits of all human literature | 2:04 | |
that we possess on this earth, | 2:08 | |
of the letters that we know, | 2:09 | |
and from which the President read a few moments ago | 2:11 | |
that we called The Epistles to Timothy. | 2:14 | |
Timothy, a young man who had found | 2:18 | |
something great and something good, | 2:20 | |
and something fine and something keen | 2:22 | |
in the life of an old man, | 2:25 | |
who had seen the authentic in human relations, | 2:28 | |
who had seen the authentic in human commitment, | 2:31 | |
in human dedication. | 2:34 | |
And not only he'd seen it, but who had been drawn to it, | 2:37 | |
and had decided to follow it. | 2:40 | |
For our generation it's not the only generation | 2:43 | |
that is able to recognize a phoney, | 2:46 | |
so was the first century. | 2:49 | |
Timothy knew that whatever there was | 2:50 | |
in a little hunchback man called Paul. | 2:53 | |
Something was real and great and fine | 2:56 | |
and Timothy went along with him. | 2:58 | |
Now the end of Paul's life is beginning to come. | 3:02 | |
You've heard it has been read, | 3:05 | |
I fought the good fight, | 3:08 | |
henceforth there is laid up for me. | 3:09 | |
And not only for me, | 3:12 | |
but for all of those who keep the faith, | 3:13 | |
a crown of righteousness at the end of the journey. | 3:16 | |
It isn't the end of the journey | 3:21 | |
that concerns me at this moment. | 3:23 | |
It is almost the alpha, the beginning of the journey. | 3:25 | |
An old man out of the bounds of an endless friendship | 3:30 | |
sits down to write a letter to a young man, | 3:36 | |
"Timothy, my son... | 3:38 | |
One can feel almost the developing friendship | 3:43 | |
of the old apostle as he writes | 3:48 | |
to his young friend, Timothy. | 3:50 | |
"Timothy, my son, | 3:52 | |
"fight the good fight of faith. | 3:55 | |
"Lay hold on eternal life, | 3:59 | |
"and keep what has been committed to your care." | 4:03 | |
If I could have any single desire | 4:09 | |
out of the graduating class this weekend, | 4:11 | |
and the times it shall be mine to address them | 4:13 | |
on behalf of the university, | 4:16 | |
and one last moment of spiritual counsel with them, | 4:18 | |
I would say that they would never | 4:22 | |
forget the words of the text, | 4:24 | |
"Fight the good fight of faith. | 4:26 | |
"Lay hold on eternal life. | 4:29 | |
"Keep that which has been committed to thy care. | 4:33 | |
"Fight the good fight of faith." | 4:36 | |
The longer you live in this kind of a world, | 4:39 | |
the more difficult you will find it is to believe. | 4:42 | |
Dr. Fosdick reminded us a generation ago | 4:47 | |
that every human being has energies, | 4:49 | |
which it is his will to direct, | 4:52 | |
that the criticism which best fits a lot of people is | 4:56 | |
that they have been less and less they have been inactive, | 5:00 | |
but that they have spent themselves | 5:03 | |
in the wrong direction of their own lives. | 5:05 | |
How terrible Dr. Fosdick said it is | 5:10 | |
that we misuse our pugnacity, | 5:13 | |
and then reminds us the pugnacity ill used | 5:17 | |
can be the cause of economic and social ruin. | 5:20 | |
The pugnacity well used can be the | 5:24 | |
soil out of which social redemption comes. | 5:28 | |
If only the 20th century could be constrained | 5:33 | |
to unite in a good fight, | 5:37 | |
fight the good fight of faith. | 5:41 | |
You do not have to live very long in this kind of a world | 5:43 | |
to know that there are crosses that are in it. | 5:46 | |
If only we could be constrained to fight | 5:51 | |
the good fight of faith against disease, | 5:53 | |
against poverty, against social evils, | 5:57 | |
what an unusually different world this would become. | 5:59 | |
Every now and again we find out | 6:05 | |
that we have to fight this out in our own lives. | 6:07 | |
I did not come to remind the graduating class today | 6:12 | |
- | They have infinitely more sense than this- | 6:15 |
I did not come to remind them | 6:17 | |
that these are dangerous times in which they're living. | 6:19 | |
I did not come to remind them, | 6:25 | |
that the world stands at the inevitable crossroads | 6:26 | |
where every generation and human history has stood. | 6:30 | |
I did not come to remind them | 6:36 | |
that a total security that is based on nuclear fission | 6:38 | |
is not always a reliable security. | 6:42 | |
I didn't come to tell them these were hard times, | 6:48 | |
I came to tell them that these were good and glorious times, | 6:50 | |
but I came to remind them | 6:54 | |
that in addition to the good and the glorious times, | 6:56 | |
and the moment in which we live, | 6:59 | |
there come that inner hour of decision | 7:01 | |
on the part of human beings, men and women, | 7:04 | |
a generation of college graduates | 7:09 | |
who have to fight out | 7:13 | |
in the deep of their own hearts. | 7:16 | |
What manner of person you'd be? | 7:21 | |
The episteme that it constitutes a challenge | 7:27 | |
to every thinking human being. | 7:31 | |
I sometimes have the feeling that what irritates you | 7:36 | |
must be as big a test of character, is what pleases you. | 7:42 | |
What could I say to a community, | 7:53 | |
getting together in a place like this, | 7:56 | |
to come to commencement weekend. | 7:58 | |
I'd say to them first of all, fight the good fight of faith. | 8:00 | |
It is not always easy to be, | 8:04 | |
but in the deep of your own heart you want to be. | 8:08 | |
Not only would I remind you | 8:17 | |
to fight the good fight of faith, | 8:18 | |
I would remind you to... | 8:20 | |
As Paul was reminding Timothy, | 8:22 | |
I would remind you to lay hold upon eternal life, | 8:24 | |
but at an average age of 22 | 8:28 | |
who is interested in eternal life. | 8:30 | |
It is in the eternal life there, | 8:35 | |
pie and pie in the sky, by and by, | 8:36 | |
this isn't what I'm talking about. | 8:39 | |
I'm talking about the worthy ends | 8:43 | |
that belong to life itself. | 8:47 | |
I was interested a few years ago, | 8:51 | |
when in all the schools of France an examination | 8:54 | |
with a single question was distributed | 8:57 | |
to those who were in elementary school | 9:00 | |
and the lower grades of what we would call high school. | 9:03 | |
The single question was, who do you to believe | 9:07 | |
to be the greatest Frenchman in all of history? | 9:10 | |
And they circulated the examination in all of the schools. | 9:21 | |
Everybody, of course knew about the little emperor | 9:24 | |
who brought Europe to its knees and blood. | 9:29 | |
Surely Bonaparte would have been | 9:34 | |
the greatest of all the Frenchman | 9:35 | |
with all of his mighty men, all of his power, | 9:37 | |
but when the report was in | 9:43 | |
and all the examinations had been passed to the front | 9:45 | |
and the calculations in the French schools had been made, | 9:49 | |
the greatest of all the Frenchman | 9:53 | |
was not Napoleon Bonaparte, | 9:55 | |
the greatest of all the Frenchman was Louis Pasteur. | 9:59 | |
I saluted him at breakfast this morning. | 10:07 | |
I salute him at breakfast every morning | 10:13 | |
when I see his name on the carton that bears my milk. | 10:16 | |
(audience laughs) | 10:19 | |
And then I remember the words of Robert Louis Stevenson | 10:23 | |
that the human being doesn't have a ghost of a chance | 10:26 | |
to be remembered 50 years after his death | 10:29 | |
unless he has been one of the servants of mankind. | 10:33 | |
So you've come to the point of graduation. | 10:40 | |
What do you intend to do now? | 10:45 | |
Find a job, get a place, build a home, | 10:49 | |
but as long as you live the important part | 10:53 | |
will still be the human equation. | 10:56 | |
What have you laid hold upon? | 10:59 | |
Or even maybe more accurately, | 11:04 | |
what has laid hold upon you? | 11:09 | |
Let it'd be something worthy of you, | 11:18 | |
something solid, something lasting, | 11:21 | |
such a (mumbles) upon the prizes | 11:25 | |
that human life cannot destroy, | 11:27 | |
upon character, upon integrity, | 11:31 | |
upon communion with God. | 11:36 | |
I love to walk from my office | 11:43 | |
in the Divinity School past the chapel. | 11:45 | |
I used to come in and sit in it | 11:50 | |
but the hour when I was a student here. | 11:52 | |
Among the things I liked most about it | 11:57 | |
is that it reminds me of the oldest | 12:03 | |
continuing business | 12:06 | |
there is on earth. | 12:09 | |
Lay hold on something eternal, | 12:15 | |
something good, something great, | 12:20 | |
something clean, | 12:24 | |
something fine. | 12:27 | |
You see the old man writing the letter to Timothy, | 12:31 | |
"Timothy, fight the good fight of faith." | 12:34 | |
If you don't believe, believing is a tussle, | 12:37 | |
and you've never run up against a secular city. | 12:44 | |
Lay hold upon eternal life. | 12:52 | |
But first one you all had it right, | 12:59 | |
what we're really witnessing today is a head-on fight, | 13:01 | |
a head-on fight | 13:05 | |
between men who hold different points of view | 13:08 | |
concerning the end of life. | 13:12 | |
If our conception of the end of life is Christian, | 13:17 | |
but not in the secular sense. | 13:22 | |
If we are Christian, | 13:26 | |
if we are persuaded the things material, | 13:27 | |
cannot of themselves satisfy us. | 13:30 | |
That will determine not only our attitude toward life, | 13:35 | |
but our attitude toward each other. | 13:41 | |
"Timothy, my son, | 13:45 | |
"keep what has been committed to your care." | 13:50 | |
Timothy had entered into a noble heritage. | 13:56 | |
The faith had been given to him, | 14:01 | |
so Paul has said in the letter, | 14:02 | |
"I am reminded of the faith | 14:04 | |
"that is in your grandmother, Lois; | 14:06 | |
"your mother, Eunice. | 14:08 | |
"And because of the very background of your life, | 14:11 | |
"I know it must be in you as well." | 14:16 | |
You could not see because you were here, | 14:22 | |
but as those of us who were in the far end | 14:27 | |
of the processional and watched it all, | 14:29 | |
we were asked to stand back | 14:34 | |
so that parents with cameras | 14:39 | |
could catch one fleeting moment in your life, | 14:44 | |
in which they so deeply share. | 14:50 | |
I'm reminded of your heritage, | 14:58 | |
I'm reminded of the nurture and of the dedication | 15:03 | |
and of the sacrifice and of the love that brought you here. | 15:06 | |
And that now stands in unimpaired joy | 15:12 | |
to salute your graduation day. | 15:18 | |
We too have entered into a noble heritage. | 15:26 | |
We are the benefactors of other men's labors, | 15:30 | |
and we enjoy blessings | 15:32 | |
which have come to us in other men's pains | 15:34 | |
and we have come out of other men's sacrifice | 15:37 | |
and other men's suffering. | 15:40 | |
Such things are not our own, Timothy. | 15:45 | |
We are simply trustees. | 15:49 | |
The values and the sanctities and the privileges of life | 15:55 | |
have been committed to your care. | 16:00 | |
I was not very long ago | 16:12 | |
in the ancient German town of Dachau. | 16:17 | |
It was in Dachau that the ovens consumed human life, | 16:27 | |
32,000 of them. | 16:31 | |
I walked in a parade of silence | 16:37 | |
across the remains of the Dachau prison. | 16:39 | |
I stood in front of the furnaces, | 16:46 | |
and that still linger with almost an unforgettable odor. | 16:51 | |
And when I stood there I read out of an ancient book, | 17:05 | |
"If any man would fulfill the purpose, | 17:08 | |
"for which he was sent into the world, | 17:11 | |
"let him fight the good fight of faith, | 17:15 | |
"lay hold on eternal life, | 17:19 | |
"and keep what has been committed to his trust." | 17:22 | |
As we turned around to leave Dachau, | 17:29 | |
there is a huge sign | 17:35 | |
done so beautifully | 17:38 | |
in its technical appearance | 17:40 | |
that carries the message of the 20th century | 17:46 | |
it appears to me, | 17:49 | |
I hope really they never have to take it down, | 17:52 | |
but I turned to get one last glimpse. | 17:59 | |
It simply said, | 18:02 | |
"Never again." | 18:08 | |
I wish I could welcome you into a world where | 18:15 | |
God's in his heaven and all is right with the world, | 18:18 | |
that's only half so | 18:22 | |
but I welcome you into an aching world, | 18:26 | |
and a pained world, | 18:30 | |
and an exciting world. | 18:34 | |
"Timothy, | 18:40 | |
"my son, | 18:42 | |
"fight the good fight of faith. | 18:47 | |
"Lay hold upon something decent | 18:51 | |
"and great and strong and fine. | 18:53 | |
"Let it lay hold upon you, | 18:58 | |
"and keep what has been committed to your care." | 19:02 | |
On Tuesday of this week, | 19:11 | |
which is May, the 8th, | 19:12 | |
I will take a moment | 19:17 | |
as my wife and I walk along to a meeting, | 19:20 | |
and I will thank God for my father, | 19:25 | |
for it will be the 118 anniversary of his birth. | 19:29 | |
He never had the chance at a school like this. | 19:39 | |
He grew up in the days in the high hills | 19:44 | |
when an itinerant teacher would come through | 19:48 | |
and stay for the season, | 19:50 | |
and then move on. | 19:53 | |
He had no formal education, | 19:56 | |
but he sent his sons | 20:00 | |
through the university. | 20:04 | |
I grew up in a little town | 20:08 | |
in the middle part of North Carolina. | 20:09 | |
Good little town, great little town. | 20:13 | |
We pride ourselves of being | 20:18 | |
the first city in North Carolina | 20:20 | |
to build a million-dollar high school. | 20:23 | |
There weren't any then. | 20:29 | |
My little town built one. | 20:31 | |
I was in the first graduating class | 20:35 | |
to spend four years in it. | 20:37 | |
One afternoon I said to my father, | 20:41 | |
"I'd like to take you by and show you the new school." | 20:50 | |
He consented to go | 20:57 | |
because his son had asked him, | 20:59 | |
and we rode along until we came to it. | 21:03 | |
There it was, | 21:07 | |
more than 50 years ago | 21:15 | |
beautifully built, | 21:23 | |
technically correct, | 21:25 | |
and how proud we were of a million dollars. | 21:29 | |
And my (mumbles) said to my dad, | 21:35 | |
"Old fellow, | 21:41 | |
"don't you wish | 21:47 | |
"you could have gone to a school like that?" | 21:48 | |
And my father put his hand over on my knee | 21:57 | |
and said, "Don't you ever forget | 22:00 | |
"to whom much is given, | 22:04 | |
"much shall be required." | 22:08 | |
"Timothy, | 22:15 | |
"my son, | 22:17 | |
"keep what has been committed to your trust. | 22:20 | |
"Fight a good fight, | 22:25 | |
"and let something great | 22:30 | |
command your strength." | 22:35 | |
In the name of the Father | 22:38 | |
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, | 22:40 | |
Amen. | 22:43 | |
(soft piano music) | 22:51 | |
(choir singing gospel hymn) | 23:16 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 25:02 |
We believe in God | 25:06 | |
who has created and is creating, | 25:08 | |
(congregation praying) | 25:10 | |
who has come in the truly human Jesus | 25:11 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 25:14 | |
We trust God who calls us to the church, | 25:17 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 25:22 | |
to love and serve others, | 25:25 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 25:27 | |
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, | 25:31 | |
our Judge and our Hope. | 25:35 | |
In life, in death; | 25:37 | |
in life, beyond death, | 25:40 | |
God is with us. | 25:42 | |
We are not alone. | 25:44 | |
Thanks be to God! | 25:46 | |
The Lord be with you. | 25:49 | |
(congregation praying) | 25:51 | |
Let us pray. | 25:53 | |
Our eternal God before whose face | 26:09 | |
generations rise and pass away | 26:12 | |
age after age of the living seek you | 26:16 | |
and find that of your faithfulness | 26:19 | |
there is no end. | 26:22 | |
For you are the inspirer of every prayer, | 26:24 | |
the giver of all wisdom, | 26:28 | |
the source of all truth, | 26:31 | |
the beginning of all human freedom, | 26:34 | |
and the end of all human responsibility. | 26:37 | |
Look now, oh God, | 26:41 | |
upon this community of learning. | 26:43 | |
Let it ever remain faithful to you, | 26:46 | |
to the truth as we come to know it in you | 26:50 | |
and in your son, Jesus Christ. | 26:54 | |
Keep us ever from surrendering truth | 26:57 | |
or giving over freedom. | 27:00 | |
To those who in fear or faithlessness, | 27:03 | |
tell us that we must fight evil with evil, | 27:07 | |
falsehood with lies | 27:11 | |
or tyranny with ways of tyrants. | 27:13 | |
Let this, your university | 27:17 | |
be a light of truth in a world of darkness, | 27:20 | |
a witness to freedom in a world | 27:24 | |
where many are enslaved, | 27:26 | |
a place where all people | 27:29 | |
shall come to know the good | 27:31 | |
and to know you, | 27:34 | |
the wellspring of all good. | 27:35 | |
We pray for our graduates, | 27:39 | |
those present, | 27:42 | |
those who have gone before, | 27:44 | |
and those who are yet to come | 27:46 | |
that in the midst of timid uncertainty, | 27:49 | |
they may boldly stand for something; | 27:52 | |
in the midst of aimlessness, they may have a goal; | 27:56 | |
in the midst of false prophets, | 28:01 | |
they may look to your kingdom in Christ | 28:03 | |
as the hope of the world. | 28:06 | |
And that in the midst of careless ease, | 28:08 | |
they may mount up with wings as eagles, | 28:11 | |
may run and not be weary, | 28:15 | |
may walk and not faint. | 28:18 | |
Hear our prayer as in | 28:21 | |
praise and thanksgiving | 28:23 | |
for all that we now have and hold. | 28:26 | |
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Christ, | 28:29 | |
who taught us to pray saying, | 28:32 | |
Our Father, | 28:36 | |
Who art in heaven | 28:37 | |
(congregation praying) | 28:38 | |
Hallowed be Thy Name; | 28:39 | |
Thy kingdom come, | 28:41 | |
Thy will be done, | 28:43 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 28:44 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 28:47 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 28:49 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us; | 28:52 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 28:56 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 28:58 | |
For thine is the kingdom, | 29:01 | |
and the power and the glory forever. | 29:03 | |
Amen. | 29:06 | |
(piano music) | 29:19 | |
(choir singing gospel hymn) | 29:28 | |
Will you stand? | 36:35 | |
Let us join together in the responsive prayer | 36:42 | |
of gratitude and hope. | 36:46 | |
Almighty God, as you've granted us | 36:49 | |
place and part in this university, | 36:51 | |
hallow to us now this day | 36:55 | |
when we dedicate ourselves to the life | 36:57 | |
and work to which you have called us | 37:00 | |
that we may remember with gratitude | 37:04 | |
the families and friends who have cared for us. | 37:06 | |
(congregation praying) | 37:11 | |
That in the life ahead of us we may keep faith | 37:14 | |
with those who have loved us and trusted us, | 37:17 | |
and whose hopes follow us. | 37:21 | |
(congregation praying) | 37:24 | |
That we may enter with good courage | 37:26 | |
and constant purpose upon the task which await us. | 37:29 | |
(congregation praying) | 37:34 | |
From all sense of strangeness and loneliness | 37:36 | |
and from the fear that we may fail | 37:40 | |
or may find no new friends. | 37:43 | |
(congregation praying) | 37:46 | |
From neglect of the opportunities | 37:48 | |
which are all about us, | 37:51 | |
and from distrust of our ability | 37:53 | |
to meet the duties of each dawning day. | 37:55 | |
(congregation praying) | 37:59 | |
That the example of wise and generous people | 38:02 | |
who have gone before us in our families | 38:05 | |
and here in this university may save us | 38:09 | |
from folly and self-indulgence. | 38:13 | |
(congregation praying) | 38:16 | |
More especially that you'd show to us | 38:19 | |
and to all people your way of love | 38:22 | |
in a time when all of us desperately | 38:26 | |
need to love and to be loved. | 38:29 | |
(congregation praying) | 38:32 | |
These things and whatever else | 38:35 | |
you see needful and right for us, | 38:37 | |
we ask in your holy name. | 38:40 | |
Amen. | 38:43 | |
(congregation praying) | 38:44 | |
(piano music) | 38:47 | |
(choir singing gospel hymn) | 39:29 | |
And now the peace of God | 43:13 | |
which passes all understanding, | 43:15 | |
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge | 43:18 | |
and love of God, our Father almighty. | 43:21 | |
And in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, | 43:25 | |
may always be among you | 43:30 | |
and remain with you always. | 43:33 | |
Amen. | 43:36 | |
(choir singing gospel hymn) | 43:41 | |
(piano music) | 44:53 |
Item Info
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