(organ music) (organ and choir together) (cheerful organ music) (organ and choir together) 

- God calls unto the creation, oh my beloved, I have breath for you. Oh my beloved creation, I have love for you. Hear the cry of Yahweh, our creator. Oh my beloved creation, I have life for you. Gathering in this place of all stones and sacred memories, let us remember why we are here. Be you skeptical or believing, sad or joy-filled, broken or whole. Come to the one God who creates us in his image, loves us, and calls each one of us good. And to that one God, let us now make our confession. Oh holy God, to whose service we long ago dedicated our souls and lives, we grieve and lament before you that we're still so prone to sin and so little inclined to obedience. Attached to the pleasure of sense, negligent of things spiritual. Prompt to gratify our bodies, slow to nourish /our souls. Greedy for present delight, indifferent to lasting blessedness. Fond of idleness, indisposed for labor. Soon at play, late at prayer. Brisk in the service of self, slack in the service of others. Eager to get, reluctant to give. Lofty in our professions, low in our practice. Full of good intention, backward to fulfill them. Severe with our neighbors, indulgent with ourselves. So eager to find fault, so resentful at being found fault with. So little able for great tasks, so discontented with small ones. So weak in adversity, so swollen and self-interested in prosperity. So helpless apart from you, and yet so little willing to be bound to you. Oh merciful heart of God, grant us yet forgiveness, for your name's sake, amen. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ. And Christ died for us. Christ rose for us. Christ reigns in power for us. Christ prays for us. If you and I are in Christ, then we are new persons altogether. New beings, a part of the new creation. The past is done, it is finished. It is behind us. It has no hold on us. But what is before us is a future fresh with possibility. Alive to new things. My sisters and my brothers, know and believe the good news. That in Jesus who was and is the Christ, you and I, you and I are forgiven. Let us give thanks, for God is good, and God's love is everlasting. Thanks be to God, whose love creates us. Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us. Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. I am delighted to be able to welcome each of you to this special service of worship this morning. Especially those who are graduating today, receiving your degrees. We welcome you, and offer to you our congratulations. We are grateful that you have been able to take time out from a busy schedule, and to worship in this place, and to be with your families and friends on this special day. Again, welcome in Christ's name, and our congratulations. Our preacher of the morning is Bishop Kenneth Goodson. Bishop Goodson is presently the bishop in residence at the Duke Divinity School. But I have found him to be, in the time that I have been with him, a man of compassion. A man of wisdom, a man of great sensitivity. He is in his position at the Divinity School a pastor to pastors. But he is also a friend to human beings. And I have been gratified by my time with him and coming to know him. I welcome Bishop Goodson to the pulpit this morning, and his life's companion, Martha, to this service of worship. Sound Advice for Sound Living is the title of Bishop Goodman's sermon. 

- I have two duties to perform within the next hour. One is to read the scripture, and the other is to decide whether we will have the ceremonies in the stadium or in Cameron. (crowd laughing) I took a vote of the students coming in. I was tempted to do like General Patton did and pray for good weather, but I was a little bit afraid that I would appear to be taking advantage of my situation, so I'm gonna leave that for you to do. And I'm going to pray, as I had already written it down, but be watching that weather, and we'll do the best we can to have it where we ought to have it. So let us pray. Oh God, you who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shine into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of your glory, amen. The Old Testament lesson is from the first Psalm. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. The Epistle lesson is from Timothy. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach. And this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords, who alone has immortality, and dwells in unapproachable light, who no man has ever seen, and no one can. To him, be honor and eternal dominion, amen. As for the rich of this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds. Liberal and generous. Thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of the life, which is life indeed. Oh Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and the contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. For by professing it, some have missed the mark as regards the faith. Grace be with you. Here ends the reading from the Epistle. (organ music) (organ and choir together) 

- Will the congregation please stand for the reading of the gospel lesson. The lesson is from the gospel according to St. Matthew. For it will be as when a man, going on a journey, called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one. To each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents, went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So too, he who had two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them, and he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying master, you delivered to me five talents, and here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also, who had the two talents, came forward, saying master, you delivered to me two talents, here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winter, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours, but the master answers him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I've not sowed, and gather where I've not wintered, then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has 10 talents, for to everyone who has, will more be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Here ends the reading from the gospel. (organ and choir together) 

- May I begin by saying to you what an awesome and frightening responsibility it is to be able to stand in this holy place and attempt to say a significant word to young men and young women who this weekend come to graduation from Duke University. It is an honor to be able to do it, but it is a frightening responsibility, and that over-weighs all the rest. And if you've been a student for a little while on this campus, and I have, though many years ago, and still work on it, there is no other institution, no other building that I know in all of this land that means to those of us who are part of the Duke family what this building means to it. It reminds us of some things that we don't ever want to forget. And it's some of those things that I wanted to talk about today. Somewhere between the year 90 and 110 A.D., an old man set down in the ancient town of Laodicea to write a letter. An old man whose way of life had been changed by what he'd call providence.