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Pastor: Welcome to Duke Chapel. This Sunday our service concludes an historic weekend here at Duke University, with the inauguration of our new president. It is fitting that here in this university, where religion and erudition are wedded, that we should now gather in our chapel to celebrate and to pray God's blessings upon Dr. H. Keith Brodie, as he begins his administration with us. It is also fitting that today we begin broadcasting this service into the rooms of the Duke University hospitals, since Dr. Brodie has spent his academic life as a member of the healing professions. I don't know of a university that can boast its own bishop, except for Duke. And our preacher today is our beloved Bishop-in-Residence at the Duke Divinity School, Bishop Kenneth Goodson. And we welcome him again to the Duke Chapel pulpit. And we also thank Ben Smith and the Duke Chapel Choir, as well as our special guest musicians, for their part in the service, for their presentation of the Joyful Bach Cantata 147. Let us fill this great church with praise. (speaker drowned out by mic noise) (choir singing) (organ music) (choir singing) (organ music) (choir singing) 

Speaker: Oh eternal God, the alpha and the omega, who seest the end from the beginning, we lift our voices and our souls unto thee. Once more in this holy place, we would be still, and know that thou art God. Infinite, almighty, incomprehensible are thy judgements, yet loving are thy ways. We turn to thee in the spirit of Thanksgiving for all that thou hast done, and most especially on this inaugural Sunday for this university, and the one thou hast called to lead it. Fill us now with the spirit of thine only son, Jesus Christ, that we may know the peace which quiets every restless heart, and the trust which fills the soul with gladness. Amen. (organ music) (choir singing) 

Pastor: 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 hear with joy what you say to us this day. Amen. The first lesson is taken from the book of Job. Then, Job answered the Lord, "I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, and I will speak. I will question you, and you declare to me. I had heard of thee, by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee. Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. This ends the reading of the first lesson. (cheerful orchestral music) (choir singing) (tape crackling) (choir singing) (tape crackling) (choir singing) (orchestral music) The Gospel lesson for this day is taken from St. Mark, in the ninth chapter, verses 38 through 50. John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, "and we forbade him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, "for no one who does a mighty work in my name "will be able soon after to speak evil of me, "for he that is not against us is for us, "for truly I say to you, "whoever gives you a cup of water to drink "because you bear the name of Christ, "will by no means lose his reward. "Whoever causes one of these little ones "who believe in me to sin, "it would be better for him if a great mill stone "were hung round his neck, "and he were thrown into the sea. "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. "It is better for you to enter life maimed, "than with two hands to go to hell "to the unquenchable fire. "And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. "It is better for you to enter life lame, "than with two feet to be thrown into hell. "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. "It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God "with one eye, than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, "where their worm does not die, "and the fire is not quenched. "For everyone will be salted with fire, "salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltness, "how will you season it? "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Thus ends the reading of the Gospel. (orchestral music) (soloist singing) (orchestral music) (soloist singing) (orchestral music) (choir singing) 

- There is no way that I nor any other human being would ever be able to tell you how important and how significant is this weekend on the campus of Duke university. But we have come to do a thing that has been done only 12 times in the history of the institution. And only a little more than half that number in the university itself. And not only is it significant and exciting weekend in the life of Trinity College in Duke University, it is a significant and exciting weekend in the personal and the professional lives of a good many people, and particularly a family that is named Brodie. It is a significant time in the life of Keith Brodie, who comes to an unusual line of distinguished people who have marched before him, and who have worn upon their shoulders as well in the deep of their heart, the medallions that identified them as the presidents of either Trinity College or Duke University. But it also is a significant time in the family experience of a man who is so committed to his family, it is an important time in the life of a girl named Brenda. And it is a time that even yet they do not understand, but someday will appropriate, in the lives of four unusually nice people, whose names are Melissa and Cameron and Tyler and Bryson. Someday they will know, as indeed they do now suspicion. And if I were to use the language of the day, which should never be used in this pulpit, I would say to you that it couldn't have happened to nicer people. But if we're going to completely understand the meaning of all that is transpiring here today, I would remind you that Alex Haley has dramatically reminded us in his unforgettable book entitled "Roots", that in order to plot the future, we must have some kind of an understanding of the past. To fully understand where we need to go, we must have some understanding of where we've been. So our story begins in a little community called Trinity, in Randolph county, scarcely 75 miles away from here. In the year 1830, a small group of people, primarily Quakers and Methodists, gathered together and came as a result of their meeting to an unusual conclusion. And they wrote it down in their journal when they said that ignorance and error are the bane of society, and we need to do something about the problem. So they decided that they would begin the organization of some community schools. There was involved in that meeting a farmer by the name of John Brown, we do not know much about him, except that he was making his living out of the soil, and John Brown decided that he would build a building which an itinerant could come and teach, and they would tackle the problems of ignorance and error. So they organized, and they built a crude, one-room log house, with a wooden chimney and an earthen hearth, and with a roof made out of common boards, and they called it John Brown's Schoolhouse. And there they started. In the year 1838, now almost 150 years ago, a tall, lanky man, 6 feet and 2 inches in height, came to be the principal at John Brown's Schoolhouse. His name was Brantley York. It is a name that is significant in the history of this university, and in the course of the year, Brantley York called the farmers together again, to discuss with them ignorance and error, and he persuaded them that what they needed was a finer institution, and a bigger school. And so they came together out of the countryside, primarily with their own labors and their own lumber, and they built a new building, they built a building twice as large, this one had two rooms. With a fireplace in each room. It was a frame building, as indeed they all were, primarily, in those days, and so they called it John Brown's Schoolhouse again. In the year 1841, a man scarcely yet before his 20th birthday, only a little more than 19, by the name of Braxton Craven, came to the community to teach in what was known as John Brown's Schoolhouse. But now because of its structure was two rooms and two fireplaces, had been given the unusual dignified name of Union Institute. And Braxton Craven, less than 20, came to be the principal of Union Institute. Running a school in those days was as difficult as running a school in our days, I guess, if you're gonna compare difficulty, and he found out what every college president knows, and this one will soon find out, more even than he knows now, that it takes lots of money to run an institution, and Braxton Craven didn't know really where to turn for the money, so he turned to the Methodist church, in the central part of North Carolina, for financial support. And in return for that financial support, he agreed to educate their preachers without charge. In 1851, the state of North Carolina was so impressed with what had happened to Union Institute that they decided to change its name, and the North Carolina legislator chartered a school that was known as Normal College. And that charter enabled the graduates of Union Institute, John Brown's Schoolhouse, Normal College, to be accredited teachers in the public schools of North Carolina. In the year 1856, the Randolph county institution became known by the community in which it lived, and it was called Trinity College. It was a liberal arts school operating under Methodist auspices.