WEBVTT
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(pipe organ)
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(choir singing)
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Beautiful Savior Lord of the nations
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Son of God and Son of Man
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Glory and honor praise adoration
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Now and forever more be Thine
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Now and forever more be Thine
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(pipe organ)
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(congregation singing)
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Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God
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our creator and Jesus Christ our redeemer.
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If we say we have not sinned,
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the truth is not in us and we deceive ourselves.
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Let us therefore confess our sins before
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Almighty God and in the presence of one another.
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Let us pray.
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Keeper of the universe, creator of life,
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Lord of all souls, one and all we have raged against the
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heavens, wasted our substance, feared our mortality,
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avoiding timelessness we become enslaved to time,
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careless with means we go corrupt towards ends,
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strangers before death, we are not at home with life.
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Therefore, great Lord, in these days of fresh beginnings,
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recall us to the majesties beyond our words.
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Turn us to handle, with all the
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lively world, that we do not earn.
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Return us to yourself, that we may live without fear
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and seize our days with days with bold exaltation.
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In the name of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ, amen.
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The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?
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The Lord is the stronghold of my life,
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of whom shall I be afraid?
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In the name of Jesus the Christ, our sins are forgiven.
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Let us then give thanks for God is good
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and Gods love is everlasting.
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(congregation in unison) Thanks be to God,
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His love creates us.
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Thanks be to God, who's mercy redeems us.
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Thanks be to God, who's grace leads us into the future.
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It is a joy to welcome you here,
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Sunday morning in the Duke University Chapel.
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It is the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
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and also opening Sunday for the life
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of the University and here at the chapel.
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We want to extend a warm welcome to all of you,
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particularly students both new and returning ones.
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We welcome members of the faculty and administration
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and our friends from the Duke and Durham families
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that come to join us here in worship.
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Our prayer for you, not only this day,
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but in the year ahead is that your spirit will be refreshed
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in this place and that your life
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and service will also be inspired.
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We invite you in many ways to participate
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in the life of the chapel.
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There are still auditions being held for the chapel choir
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and you are invited to call and make an appointment
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if you would like to be in the choir.
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We still need volunteer ushers
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and attendants for this next academic year.
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If you are interested, whether you are a student,
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a towns person or someone in the Duke community,
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we ask that you leave your name
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and telephone number at the hostess desk
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in the front of the chapel as you leave today.
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We have received sad word last evening
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of the death of Professor Fred George.
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He retired from Duke two years ago
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in the Department of Business Administration.
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He suffered a massive heart attack
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at his home in New Hampshire.
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There will be a memorial service planned
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and held here in the chapel.
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That announcement will come at a later date.
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Also, we are well deeply saddened this week,
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at the tragic death of a Duke student, Serena Wooden.
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Serena was one of the victims of the Korean Air Flight
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which was shot down by Soviet gun fire.
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She was a junior here at Duke
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on her way to participate in a year abroad program of study.
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This news has come as a shock to all of us
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and grieves us all.
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Not only is our personal loss keen,
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but Serena's unrealized potential is a loss to the world.
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She was a very bright student,
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who was gifted in many abilities.
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A memorial service for Serena will be planned
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and an announcement about time
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and further details will be early in this week.
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We extend our heartfelt sympathy to
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Serena's family and her friends here at Duke.
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We are very pleased this morning to have as guest preacher
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for opening Sunday here in the chapel,
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Dean Dennis M. Campbell, who is dean
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of the Duke Divinity School.
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Dennis, as many of you know,
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has been in the Duke community for many years now,
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did part of his graduate study here,
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has been loved among us all as a campus minister,
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a church pastor, a college and university administrator.
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Dr. Campbell has been busy this week in the orientation
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and beginning of the Divinity School community.
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We are truly grateful that he
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is sharing himself with us this morning.
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We look forward to the word that he will bring.
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His sermon title for today is "Everything has it's Price."
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Let us pray.
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Almighty God, and whom are hid all
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the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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Open our eyes that we may behold
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wondrous things out of your word.
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And give us grace that we may clearly understand
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and heartily choose the way of your love.
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Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.
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The old testament lesson is from Proverbs.
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"Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you.
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Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
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Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser.
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Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
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and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight."
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Here ends the reading from the old testament, amen.
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(pipe organ)
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(choir muffled singing)
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Will the congregation please stand
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for the reading of the gospel lesson?
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The gospel lesson is from St. John.
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"Now great multitudes accompanied him and turned to them
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and said to them, 'if anyone comes to me
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and does not hate his own father and mother
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and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
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yes even his own life, he can not be my disciple.
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Whoever does not bear his own cross
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and come after me, can not be my disciple.
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For which of you desiring, to build a tower,
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does not first sit down and count the cost,
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whether he has enough to complete it?
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Otherwise when he has laid a foundation
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and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him
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saying this man begin to build and was not able to finish.
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Or what king going to encounter another king in war,
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will not sit down and take council,
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whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him
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who comes against him with 20,000?
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And if not while the other is yet a great way off,
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he sends an embassy to ask terms of peace.
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So therefore, whoever of you who does not renounce
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all that he has, can not be my disciple.'"
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Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson, amen.
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(pipe organ playing)
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(organ drowns out singing)
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Let us pray.
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Come holy spirit, heavenly,
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dove with all they quickening powers.
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Kindle a flame of sacred love
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in these cold hearts of ours.
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Amen.
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Some years ago now,
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Ross Laboratories of Columbus, Ohio,
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held a conference titled,
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Ethical Dilemmas in Current Obstetric
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and Newborn Care.
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In the course of the conference, one participant,
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Richard Hatwick an economist,
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commented on the economical impact of modern medicines
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capacity to preserve the lives of infants,
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who under different circumstances would die.
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This is what he said,
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"it is obvious from the data presented at this conference,
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that the expenditures of large sums
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of money for intensive care,
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could save the lives of many infants
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who would ordinarily die without such care.
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However, some of these infants,
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will be mentally and/or physically handicapped.
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The care, which a society must then provide
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for those that are handicapped,
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forces substantial cost on that society over
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and above the cost for intensive care.
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These additional cost may exceed the benefits
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of saving the infants lives in the first place."
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Hatwick went on to say, "while some may find
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the economist's viewpoint repelling,
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it's virtue stems from the fact that it recognizes
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what none of the other disciplines seems to recognize,
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everything has its price."
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In our own great medical center,
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here on the Duke campus,
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ethical decisions involving priority
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and cost are being made everyday.
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Choice and decision are painful
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because we can't have or do everything,
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as individuals we can't, we can't as a society.
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So the economist asserts,
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"everything has a price."
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But it certainly is not only economics
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which teaches us this hard lesson,
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Christian faith also recognizes that
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everything has its price.
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Choices are necessary,
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and priorities must be set.
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Jesus continually emphasized the
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inevitability of hard choices.
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Hard choices require the careful establishment of cost.
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In our gospel lesson for today,
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we find Jesus surrounded by a crowd of people,
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as he always was, or at least often was.
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Those crowds sometimes called by the gospel writers,
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multitudes, thought that Jesus was
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going to be an earthly messiah.
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They expected him to become a king
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and they wanted to be on the right side.
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Jesus tried to set them straight
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and to indicate that being a disciple would be difficult.
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It would be a matter of hard choices
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and high cost.
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"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father
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and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
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yes and even his own life, he can not be my disciple."
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Now Jesus does not literally mean that
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one must hate ones family or ones self.
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Indeed, Matthew in his gospel uses the language
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of comparison saying that "one must not love
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family more then Jesus."
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The point is that to be a disciple
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of Jesus Christ is to put the love God
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ahead of all else.
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Discipleship involves setting priorities.
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For the Christian there is only one priority
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and that is obedience to God in Jesus Christ.
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Jesus further says, "whoever does not bare his own cross
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and come after me, can not be my disciple.
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For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first
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sit down and count the cost,
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whether he has enough to complete it."
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Everything has its price.
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The cost of discipleship is high.
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The cost is nothing less then placing the love
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of God in Jesus Christ, first in our lives.
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If we do this, then everything else is judged
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in relation to this first priority.
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Everything else comes into perspective.
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Jesus uses a parable to further make his point.
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If you are going to build a tower, or a house,
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or any building for that matter,
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or actually perhaps if you are
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going to undertake any great thing,
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won't you first sit down and make plans
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and then ascertain the cost so you will know
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if you have enough money?
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I have to do that as a dean.
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President Sanford has to do it as the president
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of this university and everyone of us here this morning
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has to do it as an individual.
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Otherwise, we might lay a foundation only
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to find that we don't have the money
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to go on with the project,
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and only a fool would do that.
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In life, and certainly in Christian faith,
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you've got to set priorities and count cost.
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The recognition that everything has its price,
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has implications for everyone of us as individuals
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and for the communities in which we live.
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This morning I want to look first
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at some of the individuals issues
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and then at some of the issues
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for this university community.
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In the first place, the great
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individual question is "who are you?"
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What is the nature of your identity?
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Ourself identity determines our
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ability to deal with priorities,
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to count cost and to make choices.
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Who will tell you who you are?
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Will it be your parents?
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Will it be your friends?
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Will it be your professors?
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This university?
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William Sloane Coffin tells in his autobiography about
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visiting a Yale alumnus in California.
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Coffin, who was at that time Chaplin to Yale University,
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was struck by the way in which
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this outwardly successful man,
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still looked for approval from Yale.
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He had never established a confident self identity.
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We all know persons whose ideas
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and opinions simply reflect those around them.
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But persons who make a difference in this world,
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are those that have some clarity about themselves.
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I was stricken thinking this week about the great march
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in Washington D.C. last Sunday,
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commemorating the anniversary of the great speech
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by Martin Luther King.
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If he had not been informed by Christian faith
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and let that faith shape his self identity,
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he would have never have made the impact on this nation
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and world that he did.
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You who are students will encounter, in this university,
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all manner of opinion and all manner of lifestyle.
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If you do not have a clear sense of your own identity,
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you'll lose yourself.
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There are many competing ideas about truth in this world.
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They all involve cost.
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Christian faith is vital and compelling because the truth
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of God in Jesus Christ frees us for others.
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The Christian disciple is freed from undue
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and paralyzing self concern
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and freed for self giving.
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Why are we all here in this university?
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And what after all is education for?
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Is the high cost of a Duke education to prepare you
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for making a living, or for living a life?
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I hope it is the latter.
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And I hope you'll remember that you are living a life
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even while you are in this university.
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Your education won't really be worth anything
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if it is isolated from the realities of our world.
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There are many groups of students
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and faculty within this university deeply involved
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in service to our local community
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and to the larger community.
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I hope that all of us here this morning will take a part.
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Duke is, in some respects, an island of pleasure
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and privilege in a world of deprivation.
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If we don't see and hear,
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then we all have failed.
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Christian faith compels attention to great ideas
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and great service.
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The gospel disciplines us and makes us set priorities
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and count cost.
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Edward Pusey, a 19th century Oxford University professor,
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once said, "acute and and subtle intellect,
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if undisciplined, are destructive both to themselves
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and to the body politic, in proportion to their very power."
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Christ invites disciples, but there is a cost.
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The price is the disciplining of our wills.
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The shaping of our identities.
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Discipleship is a great adventure.
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An adventure that gives life value
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and meaning and purpose.
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Who will tell you who you are?
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Communities and institutions also have identities
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and those identities shape the persons who make them up.
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Twenty years ago this month,
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I entered Duke as a freshman in Trinity College.
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Although, I was away for graduate work
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and taught elsewhere before coming back to Duke,
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I am keenly aware that I am who I am in large
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measure because of this university.
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I am glad that Duke stands in the tradition
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which seeks to unite learning and vital piety.
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The founder of this university clearly intended
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that Christian values of education and service
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inform all decisions and directions of the school.
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As Mr. Duke wrote, "education, next to religion,
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is the greatest civilizing influence."
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And as he saw rightly, the two must go together.
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This is not a matter of small importance.
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We live in a world gone mad.
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The senseless tragedy of an airplane shot out of the sky
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by the Soviet Union last week is especially poignant for
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us at Duke because one of our
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own students was on that plane.
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The terror that we all feel about the possibility
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of nuclear destruction is intensified when we think
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that this whole world can be destroyed as instantly
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and surely as that fated jumbo jet.
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It should not be lost upon us that the technology
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to wage war has been greatly aided
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by research in countless universities.
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Indeed as Margaret Clapp,
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a former president of Wellesley has written,
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evidence can be amassed that universities have
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been more effective in scientific
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research to help the world wage war,
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then to help the world wage peace.
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Education is not neutral,
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everything has its price.
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At a meeting I recently attended,
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the president of another American university,
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characterized American higher education
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as dominantly secular and materialistic.
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No wonder higher education is in trouble.
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Secular materialism is bankrupt because it has no great
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vision, no compelling meaning,
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no motivating purpose.
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Not long ago, Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger,
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the remarkable Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Paris
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said publicly, "look friends, the West is born
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of Christianity, and the crisis
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of the West is that it isn't Christian anymore.
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Period.
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The West was born of Christianity
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and that's the whole story."
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There is urgent need for universities, such as our own,
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to maintain a concern for the meaning, purpose,
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and unity of education.
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As Samuel Johnson said,
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"no one can think deeply without thinking religiously."
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I hope and trust that we here at Duke
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will always proclaim that education has meaning
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and that it has purpose and that it has unity.
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Our vision is of service to persons
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in a world gone wild.
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It should be clear that such affirmation
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is not without cost,
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but everything has its price.
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The invitation to Christian discipleship is an invitation
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in which offers us identity.
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There is a cost to discipleship, everything has its price.
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But there is also a payoff.
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Discipleship offers us perspective, it offers us purpose,
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and it offers us power.
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Christian faith puts everything else into perspective.
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Everything that happens to us,
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and all our decisions are seen in relation to God.
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Decisions about the care of severely handicapped infants
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can not be made on the basis of economic priorities alone.
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In a Christians sense, a severely handicapped persons
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are no different in value or potential from the rest of us
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because the measurement belongs to God.
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Christian faith offers a perspective which challenges
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a simple and selfish secular materialism.
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Christian faith also gives purpose to our individual
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and corporate lives.
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Life is not meaningless, it is fundamentally purposeful.
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Most significantly, Christian faith gives power.
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Power to live in a world gone mad.
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It is the power of God's presence.
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The power of God's presence in all that we do.
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Everything has its price.
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In the case of Christian discipleship, the value is clear,
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for those who have ears to hear
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and eyes to see, amen.
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(pipe organ)
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(pipe organ drowning out singing)