(gentle music) (inspirational music) 

- Thursday afternoon, in this place, university community took occasion on the anniversary of the signing of the Duke indenture 66 years ago to reflect upon our heritage. To single out those who have made a significant contribution to the university and to recognize recipients of scholarships made possible by the founding family. Today, we pause as we do each year, in memory of the Duke family. To honor all those who have given of themselves in service to the future by creating and recreating this university. We reaffirm here our pledge of this university to the ideal of service to humanity, and we give thanks to those who unselfishly take responsibility for a future that is not theirs. That belongs to other generations. We remember, also, that this university returns the wealth of the land to its people through respect for knowledge and for truth and through the continuing generosity of those who established it for all time. 

- Let us pray. Gracious God, you have blessed us with a rich heritage through the sacrifices of others in the past. We are the recipients of good gifts in the present. Plus we give thanks, acknowledging our indebtedness to our founders as evidence of our indebtedness to you for all good gifts, Amen. Please join me in the litany of commemoration. Almighty and eternal God in whom our mothers and fathers have trusted, we their children, at this time of remembrance, offer unto thee our prayers of thanksgiving. (congregation chants) For the members of the Duke family. Father, daughter, sons, and their spouses, grandchildren, and all others in continuing generations until this very day. Who, with concern and compassion, devotion and dedication. And by their generosity built on a solid foundation continue to worthy school and provide it for education and service beyond even their dreams and expectations. (congregation chants) For the pioneering and persevering men and women connected with this university. Methodist and quakers. Farmers and merchants. Teachers and administrators, who in days gone by, believed in education and made their beliefs prevail. (congregation chants) For the embodiment of their dreams from private school to academy to college, the great university, founded in hope. Continued with sacrifice, growing in outreach, serving with commitment. 
(congregation chants) For faculty and staff whose vision was bolstered by their courage, whose patience was tested and found true, and whose idealism was implanted in the hearts and minds of others. 
(congregation chants) For the ongoing presence of noble ideas, the blending of (foreign language), the freedom for responsible academic research and teaching. The ongoing respect for both body and the spirit, pursuit of knowledge in the sciences and the humanities, the realization that the old order changes and new times bring new opportunities. (congregation chants) 
For the future of Duke University, established for thy glory and for the enlightenment of the human mind and spirit, for consecration to learning by the young. For the best use of the wisdom of those in latter years, for the commitment to growth and enhancement of all persons, for a sense of humor. A spirit of cooperation, and a desire for understanding among all within our community and the world. We give thee thanks and praise. And to thee, oh God, we shall strive as is most do, all grace and glory. World without him, Amen. Be seated. Service of worship here on the first Sunday of advent, second Sunday of advent here at New Chapel. Call your attention to the various advent activities here in the chapel as listed in the bulletin, particularly the performance of the Second Shepherd's Play, a mystery play here in the chapel at four this afternoon. Admission is free and open to all. Also remind you that, as is our custom, holy communion will be celebrated immediately after the service in Memorial Chapel. And now let us continue the worship of God. (inspirational music) Stand. (inspirational music) (vocalizing) 

- Please be seated. Let us pray. Merciful God, you sent your messengers, the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins. That we may celebrate alike, the commemoration of the nativity. And may await with joy, becoming in glory of Jesus Christ, our redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. One God forever and ever, Amen. 

- Let us pray. Open our hearts and minds, oh God. By the power of your Holy Spirit, so that as the Word is read and proclaimed, we might be prepared for your advent among us, Amen. The first reading is taken from the book of Isaiah. Comfort, oh comfort my people, says our God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid. That she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out of the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight to the desert to highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low. The uneven ground shall become level and the rough places, a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice says, cry out. And I said, what shall I cry? All people are grass. Their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers. The flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely, the people are grass. The grass withers. The flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion. Herald of good tidings. Lift up your voice with strength, oh Jerusalem. Herald of good tidings. Lift it up! Do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here is your God. See, the Lord comes with might. And his arm rules for him. His reward is with him and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the mother sheep. This is the Word of the Lord. This reading is from the Gospel according to St. Mark. The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God, as it is written in the prophet, Isaiah. See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is the Word of the Lord. (upbeat music) (vocalizing) 

- Hear this reading now from Matthew. In the 13th chapter. A sower went forth to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path. And the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30. Let anyone with ears listen. 

- - What a graphic picture of a sower we have in this parable. With his bag of seed over his shoulder, he goes forth to sow. As he scatters seeds, some fall on the path and are eaten by the birds. Some fall on rocky ground, and they are unable to develop deep roots. And when the sun comes up, they are scorched. And then they die. Some seeds fall among thorns and weeds, and the weeds and thorns choke them out. What a discouraging picture. Sort of reminds me of my lawn. I've got some of my neighbors here this morning. They can tell you that that's true. We moved into a new house three years ago, and we were surrounded front and back by bare expanse of Durham's famous clay soil. We seeded that autumn, and some seed was eaten by the birds. Some little plants died when it got hot the next summer. Some were choked by weeds despite EPM. It was frustrating, but we sowed more that year and more the next year. And now we've got a semblance of a lawn. I was glad, though, that our income didn't depend on our efforts at cultivation. And I grew increasingly in my respect for farmers. Was that way with the sower in our parable. Despite the frustration, he went forth. And some seed fell on good soil and brought forth grain, but it was not just that grain came forth. It came forth thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. At first hearing, this parable can evoke a sense of discouragement. There is waste, there is frustration, there is loss. But if upon further reflection, it seems to me that it's clear that the meaning of the story has to do with remarkable fulfillment. In the end, there is rich harvest many times greater than could be anticipated or imagined. Almost certainly, the telling of this parable was occasioned by doubts on the part of the followers of Jesus. They were discouraged because they could not see immediate and positive results of his ministry and of their work. He intended that they learn a profound truth, characterized by the person and work of the sower. To the eyes of men and women, much of the work seems to be for nothing. But what seems, at first, to be futile and fruitless labor, in fact, brings forth a rich harvest. This is one of the ways in which God works. In spite of beginnings which are frustrating and appear hopeless, God's grace is more than sufficient to produce results that are unanticipated and perhaps even beyond our imagination. The capacity of the sower to see a fallow field and imagine it rich with undulating grain ripe for the harvest is not mere positive thinking. It is trust in the power and truth of God's promise that the future holds a triumphant end. Some seed is lost. Nevertheless, nevertheless, we wait with patience and trust, and there is harvest. This morning, we culminate our celebration of Founders' Day at Duke. Trinity College, our predecessor institution, began in 1838. And Duke University was founded December 11th, 1924 when James B. Duke signed the indenture providing the resources for a great, private research institution to be created around the liberal arts college. Since that date, many men and women have joined the Duke family as additional founders. Duke must and will always have new founders, who believe in what we are trying to do. Last night, we had a dinner for our founders and gave sowers to our newest founders. The symbol of the founders' society is the sower-- I brought one with me this morning. It's a magnificent replica of the famous statue of the sower on the lawn in front of East Duke building on our East campus. This replica is the work of Franklin Creech of the class of 1964. A number of weeks ago, as I began to think about this sermon one afternoon, I left my office, didn't tell anyone where I was going, and I went over to East campus to look at the sower, at the original. I've loved it for many years. When I was a freshman here in 1963, we couldn't have cars. Let those with ears listen. (laughter) If we were going to go downtown (and there weren't any shopping malls in those days-- the theaters, the restaurants, the movies were all downtown) we took the bus to East campus, and we walked across the lawn. We couldn't walk on the lawn over here or on the main part of East campus, but we did between East Duke building and the wall. We jumped the wall, and we walked up Main Street to downtown. But as we passed the sower, we always paused to see how he was doing. And we always looked to see in his hand here whether there was a penny there. The story is told that a fellow could put a penny in the sower's hand, and if he came back and found the penny gone, then he could kiss his date twice. And in the early days of the university, there was strict rules that women at Duke could only have three dates a week. When I went over a couple weeks ago, there was a penny in the sower's hand. And I was happy to see that, and I left it there. Last Friday, (laughter) Last Friday, the sower was carrying a huge bouquet of balloons. Black, green, and white as a symbol and hope for peace, and so the tradition of the sower goes on. The sower is older than the university. It was a gift of James B. Duke himself to Trinity College in the late fall of 1914, exactly 10 years before he made his greatest gift which we celebrate this morning. Two years before that, in 1912, a famous commencement sermon was preached at Trinity College by Bishop William Fraser McDowell of Chicago. I had heard about this sermon. And so earlier this week, I went over to the university archives. And with the splendid Bill King, who knows everybody and everything about Duke, we looked it up. And we found the sermon, and I read it. I was astonished to find that he had preached on Matthew 13, and I was glad that I had already announced my text and title weeks before for this sermon. It was a powerful sermon. It made a great impression. Believe it or not, so great an impression that the Durham Morning Herald the next morning, on Wednesday the 5th of June 1912, published the entire text of the commencement sermon-- said that Trinity College was used to great oratory, but this had been especially significant. In great big letters on the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, they called it "powerful." Bishop John Carlisle Kilgo, who had been president of the college and was now a bishop of the church, was present, as was William Preston Few, his successor as president of the college. And two years later, in the early fall of 1914, Bishop Kilgo was visiting James B. Duke at his home, Duke Farms in New Jersey. And he saw the statue of the sower, and he remembered the sermon. And he said to Mr. Duke, "Please give that statue to Trinity College because I want the students of the college to look upon the sower day by day, every day, and remember the story of the sower and its meaning. And so, Mr. Duke immediately shipped the statue to Durham on the railroad. James B. Duke himself had found the statue in Leipzig, Germany. And liked it and bought it and brought it to his home in New Jersey. The original, over on East campus, is the work of the 19th century German sculptor, Stephen Walter. After the statue was placed on its base over on East campus, the story is told that one of the caretakers of the college was heard to remark, "You know, that's really Mr. Duke himself sowing his money." In a sense, that caretaker was exactly right. Mr. Duke could not possibly have imagined what the institution he made possible through his initial gift would become. The harvest has truly been thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold. Our history, as an institution, shows that in the early days of Duke University, there were frustrations, adversities, and even doubts. Despite the magnificence of the Duke endowment, there was never enough money. Controversies in the faculty threatened to undo us. Nevertheless, patience produced a great harvest for which we offer thanksgiving to God this morning. Mr. Duke was a sower, and so are we. We would do well to follow Kilgo's advice. Look each day upon the sower and remember the meaning of the story. There are three things I want to say about this this morning. The first is that the university needs to look upon the sower's face day by day. In our university today, there is controversy. And there are frustrations. Our teaching does not seem always to bear fruit. Students do not always work as hard as they should. I talked with a friend from the medical school the other day, and he was complaining that his research on AIDS is not producing quick results. A colleague in Arts and Sciences reported on the opposition in her department to curricular changes that she is convinced are necessary. There still are disagreements in the faculty. There is some waste. There are some false starts. We still don't have enough money, but we are sowers. And therefore, despite all of these odds, with trust and patience, we trust that the returns will be manifold. What is going on at Duke today is fulfilling the dreams of our founders in ways they could not imagine, and it is good. You who are our founders, our continuing founders, remember, though you cannot see now what will be, the promise is sure. So the university needs to look upon the sower's face day by day. Secondly, the church needs to look upon the sower's face day by day. There are those who can see no good future for the church today. Is its influence lessening? Is its vitality being sapped? The mission of the church has always been difficult. The discouragement of any moment, however, should not blind us to the certainty of God's promise. The church will endure. A year ago this month, the communist regimes in Eastern Europe crumbled. Perhaps never before had any political system so systematically sought to eradicate religion, but the church endured and played a major role in the revolution. A leader of the revolution in Romania declared that the church had provided "space to think." Oh, where are kings and empires now of old that went and came. But, Lord, thy church is praying yet a thousand years the same. The university and the church need to look on the sower's face day by day and so do you and I. That's the third point. You and I need to look on the sower's face day by day. For like the sower, our lives and work will sometimes seem futile, prone to failure, and fruitless. But we need to remember that we cannot imagine what ultimate good we may do. Number of years ago, I was an intern in a small town in northern Wisconsin. And I went one afternoon to see an elderly man who had lived all his adult life in that town teaching high school. He was intelligent, and he was cultivated. But he was also somewhat depressed. He wondered to me whether, perhaps, his life had been wasted there. There had been no hint of fame or fortune. Three weeks later, almost to the day he died, and I was amazed that, at his funeral, there were almost 200 people present. One man came back from New York City. He was a senior officer of the permanent staff of the United Nations. And afterwards, he said to me, "You know, I had to come back to see old Billy off. "He was a good man," he said. "He lifted my eyes to the world and encouraged me to go forth from the wilderness of these Northwoods. We never know what we may achieve. Our society desperately needs men and women in the service professions who will set aside the greed that leads them to immediate gratification and give of themselves in trust for the future. The seeds we sow are not for our own selfish ends, but for the good of others. This is the second Sunday in Advent. Advent is the season of beginning and of waiting for the fulfillment of promise. We wait in patience and in trust, but we do not wait in idleness. We sow seeds in the confidence that God will bring forth the harvest in ways we cannot even imagine. Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And knowing that there would be difficulties in the way and no absolute certainty of success, he nevertheless did what he went to do. What a terrible mistake it is to think that it is not worthwhile to try. What a magnificent inspiration is the person who knows life for what it is, but nevertheless, does what is to be done trusting that the harvest will come. It will. And with God's grace, it will be good. Thanks be to God. (hymnal music) (vocalizing) 

- Let us affirm what we believe. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, buried. He descended into Hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence, he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting, Amen. The Lord be with you. 
(congregation chants) Let us pray. As seed cast upon the Earth waiting to rise and be born, we wait your advent among us, oh God. Be light to our darkness, life to our deadness, peace to our troubled world. Having perceived the brightness of your light in your first advent in Bethlehem, we are bold to pray for your healing presence among us now. We long to think thoughts of peace and sing songs to you, Prince of Peace. But we cannot in the midst of words and preparations for war. So we pray for the people of the troubled near East. The nations of Israel and the Palestinians and the people of Iraq and Quwait, Saudi Arabia and the Americans who are there. Guide our leaders, oh Wisdom from on High. Make a straight highway in the desert. Come to us and give us what we cannot achieve on our own, peace. We long to sing carols of love. Come down at Christmas. And yet, how can we with all the signs of lovelessness in our midst? And thus, we pray. For all hungry, neglected children. Child of Bethlehem, bless the children. For all troubled, divided, unhappy families. Son of Mary and Joseph, bring peace to our families. Deliverer of captives. We pray for all prisoners and hostages and their families. For all sick, infirmed, and troubled, heal and comfort those who suffer. Especially those in Duke hospitals and those who care for those who suffer. For all students taking exams or considering what path to take in life, stand beside and guide those who are perplexed. Especially our young. Oh, come desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind. In this place of knowledge, to us, the path of knowledge shown. It calls us this advent in her ways to go, Amen. As a forgiven and reconciled people, let us offer ourselves and our gifts to God. (hymnal music) (vocalizing) 

- Kind and gracious God whose glory we await, we thank you for all that we hold dear in this season of preparation for your coming. For time spent with family and friends, which renews and restores us. For the gifts of worship, of music, of silence, which sustain us in our waiting for your Word which provides comfort for our troubled but expectant hearts and reminds us who we are as people of God. Let us rejoice that you come to proclaim peace on Earth as you make each of us messengers of that hope throughout our world. This we pray in the name of the one who is the way of peace. Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, Amen. May the God of peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being, spirit, soul, and body free from every fault at the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. (spiritual vocalizing) (hymnal music) (vocalizing)