William K. Quick - "The Founder's Faith" Founders' Day (December 13, 1981)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| (organ music) | 0:04 | |
| (organ music) | 1:47 | |
| (organ music) | 5:25 | |
| (organ music) | 9:57 | |
| ♪ Praise to the Lord, the Almighty ♪ | 13:17 | |
| ♪ The King of creation ♪ | 13:21 | |
| ♪ O my soul, praise him ♪ | 13:26 | |
| ♪ For he is my help and salvation ♪ | 13:29 | |
| ♪ All ye who hear ♪ | 13:36 | |
| ♪ Now to his temple draw near ♪ | 13:40 | |
| ♪ Join me in glad adoration ♪ | 13:45 | |
| (organ music) | 13:58 | |
| ♪ O come, O come Emmanuel ♪ | 14:39 | |
| ♪ And ransom captive Israel ♪ | 14:46 | |
| ♪ That mourns in lonely exile here ♪ | 14:53 | |
| ♪ Until the Son of God appear ♪ | 15:00 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel ♪ | 15:07 | |
| ♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪ | 15:16 | |
| (organ music) | 15:24 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel ♪ | 15:53 | |
| ♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪ | 16:01 | |
| ♪ O come, Desire of nations, bind ♪ | 16:11 | |
| ♪ All peoples in one heart and mind ♪ | 16:18 | |
| ♪ Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease ♪ | 16:25 | |
| ♪ Fill the whole world with heaven's peace ♪ | 16:32 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel ♪ | 16:39 | |
| ♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel ♪ | 16:48 | |
| (organ music) | 16:55 | |
| ♪ O come, thou Dayspring ♪ | 17:42 | |
| ♪ Come and cheer ♪ | 17:44 | |
| ♪ Our spirits by thine advent here ♪ | 17:49 | |
| ♪ Disperse the gloomy clouds of night ♪ | 17:56 | |
| ♪ And death's dark shadows put to flight ♪ | 18:03 | |
| ♪ Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel ♪ | 18:10 | |
| ♪ Shall come to thee, O Israel, amen ♪ | 18:19 | |
| - | This Founders' Day is always a special day | 19:13 |
| in the affairs and activities of Duke University, | 19:18 | |
| for it is on this day that we remember | 19:23 | |
| the kind of dedication and support | 19:27 | |
| that made possible this university. | 19:30 | |
| And it's a special day of remembrance for us, | 19:34 | |
| for the Duke family, | 19:39 | |
| the father, Washington Duke, | 19:42 | |
| and the sons, Benjamin and James Buchanan. | 19:44 | |
| And it's good to remember | 19:49 | |
| that this university was not created all at once. | 19:51 | |
| And that it came from the steady pursuit of excellence | 19:55 | |
| on the part of the faculties. | 20:01 | |
| It became what it is today with the steady dedication | 20:03 | |
| of literally hundreds and hundreds of people, | 20:07 | |
| who felt the need for this kind of an institution. | 20:11 | |
| And certainly, the Duke family did not just all of a sudden | 20:15 | |
| make money available that made a university possible. | 20:19 | |
| And I think not only did the Duke family bring money, | 20:24 | |
| but I am certain also | 20:27 | |
| that they helped shape the character of this institution | 20:29 | |
| in some extremely important ways. | 20:34 | |
| They were supporting this small college, | 20:37 | |
| getting it established as it moved to Durham, | 20:40 | |
| still a college. | 20:45 | |
| And Washington Duke, a man of considerable vision, | 20:47 | |
| at a time when the distinguished president | 20:50 | |
| of Harvard University | 20:53 | |
| was proclaiming in his sense of fairness and understanding | 20:55 | |
| that we shouldn't be too hasty in judging | 20:59 | |
| that women could not do college work, | 21:03 | |
| that it might yet be established | 21:06 | |
| that they were capable of doing so. | 21:08 | |
| And Washington Duke, at that time, | 21:11 | |
| was giving a special grant to Trinity College | 21:13 | |
| on the condition that Trinity College admit women, | 21:16 | |
| at the turn of the century, on an equal basis. | 21:19 | |
| And incidentally, to give another insight | 21:23 | |
| into his character, | 21:26 | |
| shortly thereafter he wrote and said, | 21:28 | |
| "I withdraw the conditions, | 21:30 | |
| "because I never like to put strings | 21:32 | |
| "on contributions to colleges." | 21:35 | |
| Fortunately, the president got the message | 21:38 | |
| without the string. | 21:40 | |
| A few years later, the Bassett Case, | 21:43 | |
| that very much is a part of the history of this university. | 21:47 | |
| It wasn't only President Kilgo and Dean Preston Few | 21:52 | |
| and certain trustees who led the way | 21:56 | |
| to establish firmly that academic tradition, | 21:59 | |
| but Benjamin Duke, in the background, was saying, | 22:04 | |
| of course, the trustees are going to support | 22:07 | |
| the concept of academic freedom. | 22:10 | |
| And again, the character of this institution | 22:13 | |
| was being shaped. | 22:16 | |
| And then, when James Buchanan Duke later made possible | 22:18 | |
| the funds that made possible the building of this campus | 22:21 | |
| and the creation of this university, | 22:25 | |
| he did it as his indenture pointed out, | 22:27 | |
| with the expectation | 22:31 | |
| that this would be the kind of university capable | 22:33 | |
| of obtaining and maintaining a place of real leadership | 22:36 | |
| in the educational world. | 22:40 | |
| And so, this is a time of remembrance, appreciation, | 22:43 | |
| appreciation to those who made it possible, | 22:48 | |
| in terms of financial support. | 22:51 | |
| And remembrance and appreciation for those | 22:53 | |
| who helped us establish, for this university, | 22:56 | |
| the sense and the dedication to academic freedom, | 22:59 | |
| to creativity and excellence. | 23:02 | |
| For this heritage, we are grateful, | 23:05 | |
| and to this heritage, we are pledged. | 23:08 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 23:17 |
| O Lord our God, God of all times, all places, all peoples. | 23:20 | |
| We thy people lift our hearts to thee in this moment | 23:26 | |
| and in this place. | 23:29 | |
| God of all wisdom, we give thee thanks for those who, | 23:32 | |
| wise in thought and in the ways of living, | 23:36 | |
| have shared their wisdom with others and with us. | 23:40 | |
| God of all grace, we give thee thanks for those who, | 23:45 | |
| gracious and generous | 23:50 | |
| in things spiritual, intellectual, and material, | 23:52 | |
| have shared themselves and their possessions | 23:56 | |
| with others and with us. | 23:59 | |
| God of all hope, we give thee thanks for those who, | 24:02 | |
| faithful and obedient in matters of the mind and the spirit, | 24:07 | |
| have shared visions and dreamed dreams | 24:12 | |
| and given to others and to us, hope for today and tomorrow. | 24:15 | |
| We give thee thanks, O God, this day for Duke University. | 24:21 | |
| Thou whose desire is that we love thee | 24:25 | |
| with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, | 24:28 | |
| and that we love and serve our neighbor as ourselves. | 24:31 | |
| For all the goodly heritage of past and present, | 24:36 | |
| we give thee thanks and praise, O God. | 24:39 | |
| Keep us, we pray thee, from being a world unto ourselves. | 24:42 | |
| Make us always mindful of the world beyond our boundaries. | 24:48 | |
| Help us in these days, as a university community, | 24:52 | |
| to commit ourselves to bringing knowledge, health, | 24:57 | |
| understanding, and above all, this day, peace | 25:00 | |
| to our day and time. | 25:05 | |
| We pray all this in thy holy name. | 25:07 | |
| And hear us, O God, as we join together | 25:10 | |
| to offer this responsive litany of commemoration | 25:13 | |
| on this day. | 25:16 | |
| Almighty and eternal God, | 25:19 | |
| in whom our mothers and fathers have trusted, | 25:21 | |
| we their children at this time of remembrance | 25:24 | |
| offer unto thee our litany of commemoration. | 25:26 | |
| - | Hear us, we beseech thee, O Lord. | 25:30 |
| - | For the members of the Duke family, | 25:33 |
| father, daughter, sons and their wives, | 25:35 | |
| grandchildren, and all others in continuing generations, | 25:38 | |
| who with concern and compassion, devotion and dedication, | 25:42 | |
| and by their generosity, | 25:47 | |
| built on a good foundation, continued a worthy school, | 25:49 | |
| and provided for education and service | 25:53 | |
| beyond even their dreams and expectations. | 25:55 | |
| - | We give you thanks and praise. | 25:59 |
| - | For the pioneering and persevering | 26:02 |
| men and women of our state, | 26:04 | |
| Methodists and Quakers, farmers and merchants, | 26:06 | |
| teachers and administrators, | 26:08 | |
| who in days gone by, | 26:10 | |
| believed in education and made their belief prevail. | 26:13 | |
| - | We give you thanks and praise. | 26:17 |
| - | For the embodiment of their dreams, | 26:19 |
| from private school, to academy, to college, to university, | 26:22 | |
| founded in hope, continued with sacrifice, | 26:26 | |
| growing in outreach, established in assurance. | 26:29 | |
| - | We give you thanks and praise. | 26:33 |
| - | For faculty and staff, | 26:36 |
| whose vision was bolstered by their courage, | 26:38 | |
| whose patience was tested and found true, | 26:41 | |
| whose idealism was implanted | 26:44 | |
| in the hearts and minds of others. | 26:45 | |
| - | We give you thanks and praise. | 26:47 |
| - | For the ongoing presence of noble ideas, | 26:51 |
| the blending of eruditio et religio, | 26:54 | |
| the freedom for wrought responsible | 26:57 | |
| academic research and teaching, | 26:59 | |
| the unending care for both the body and the spirit, | 27:01 | |
| the pursuit of knowledge in the sciences and the humanities, | 27:05 | |
| the realization that the old order changes | 27:09 | |
| and the new days bring new demands on us all. | 27:11 | |
| - | We give you thanks and praise. | 27:15 |
| - | For the future of Duke University, | 27:17 |
| established for your glory | 27:20 | |
| and for the enlightenment of the human mind and spirit, | 27:22 | |
| for consecration to learning by the young, | 27:26 | |
| for the best use of the wisdom of those in later years, | 27:29 | |
| for the commitment to the growth and enhancement | 27:32 | |
| of all persons, | 27:34 | |
| for a sense of humor, a sense of cooperation, | 27:36 | |
| and a desire for understanding | 27:40 | |
| among all within our community. | 27:42 | |
| - | We give you thanks and praise. | 27:44 |
| - | And to thee, O God, we shall ascribe, as is most due, | 27:47 |
| all praise and glory, world without end, amen. | 27:51 | |
| - | The idea of a Founders' Society | 28:09 |
| grew out of this celebration several years ago, | 28:14 | |
| when we recognized what we knew, | 28:20 | |
| that the maintenance of excellence | 28:24 | |
| is a continuing necessity. | 28:25 | |
| And indeed, the founding and re-founding of a university | 28:29 | |
| is a continuing process, | 28:35 | |
| as we attempt to make each part of the university | 28:37 | |
| the level of excellence | 28:41 | |
| that we seek for the total university. | 28:42 | |
| So indeed, it is a never ending process | 28:46 | |
| and the use of personal wealth | 28:50 | |
| to endow a gift to this university | 28:53 | |
| is also a never ending process, | 28:57 | |
| for an endowment assures you and assures us | 29:02 | |
| that for all times, forever, | 29:05 | |
| your funds, your interests, | 29:08 | |
| your dedication, your generosity, | 29:10 | |
| will be here providing for the level of excellence | 29:12 | |
| of this university, forever. | 29:15 | |
| And so, we thank all of you that recognize that | 29:19 | |
| and join with us | 29:22 | |
| and continue to be a part of the building and the founding | 29:23 | |
| of a greater and greater university. | 29:28 | |
| And we are grateful to all of you | 29:31 | |
| for your part and your continuing part | 29:33 | |
| in the hopes of this university. | 29:38 | |
| It is my pleasure now | 29:43 | |
| to proceed to the awarding of an honorary degree. | 29:45 | |
| And I now invite trustee Margaret Harris | 29:49 | |
| to present the name of the recipient. | 29:53 | |
| - | Mr. President, it is my pleasure to present to you | 30:04 |
| the name of Stanley Sebastian Kresge, | 30:09 | |
| who is a candidate for the degree, honorary degree, | 30:12 | |
| of humane letters. | 30:16 | |
| The nomination has been approved | 30:18 | |
| by the faculties of the university | 30:20 | |
| and by the board of trustees. | 30:22 | |
| Professor Jameson Jones and professor John Bergland, | 30:25 | |
| Jameson Jones being his faculty sponsor, | 30:29 | |
| will please escort Mr. Kresge to the chancel. | 30:32 | |
| - | Stanley Sebastian Kresge, distinguished business leader, | 31:01 |
| philanthropist, churchman, and friend of higher education, | 31:06 | |
| you stand in a small company of individuals | 31:11 | |
| who have combined exceptional business acumen | 31:14 | |
| and imaginative administrative leadership | 31:17 | |
| to make enduring contributions to humanity. | 31:19 | |
| You inherited a wise, practical vision of the world. | 31:23 | |
| You honor it as it does honor to you. | 31:26 | |
| Early in your life, you acquired a deep devotion | 31:30 | |
| to family, hard work, and the Christian faith, | 31:33 | |
| a devotion that has marked your vigorous leadership | 31:37 | |
| and a long association with the S.S. Kresge company, | 31:40 | |
| the Kmart Corporation, and the Kresge Foundation. | 31:44 | |
| You have made your modesty, goodness, | 31:48 | |
| and deep reverence for the will of God | 31:51 | |
| profound and living ideals. | 31:54 | |
| As a man of national stature in the business world | 31:57 | |
| and as a wise steward of the resources | 32:00 | |
| of the Kresge Foundation, | 32:02 | |
| you have fostered opportunities for others | 32:04 | |
| in a broad range of humanitarian causes. | 32:07 | |
| Your abiding concern | 32:10 | |
| for the enduring purposes of higher education | 32:12 | |
| has been demonstrated assuredly | 32:15 | |
| as you have given generously | 32:17 | |
| of your wisdom, time, talents, and personal substance | 32:18 | |
| to assure countless significant advances | 32:23 | |
| in human and spiritual knowledge and understanding. | 32:26 | |
| Your generous hand of support to this university | 32:30 | |
| has helped to secure the foundations of our Eye Center, | 32:33 | |
| our University Center, and our Divinity School. | 32:37 | |
| Duke University is proud to recognize | 32:41 | |
| your contributions to humanity, your wise leadership, | 32:44 | |
| and your vision of the future. | 32:47 | |
| We celebrate your life of faith, your compassion for all, | 32:49 | |
| your own humility, | 32:54 | |
| and we make you a permanent member | 32:56 | |
| of our university community. | 32:58 | |
| - | Thank you, very much. | 33:01 |
| - | Kresge, with appreciation for your concern | 33:05 |
| for higher education | 33:07 | |
| and the role of religion in higher education, | 33:09 | |
| I welcome you back. | 33:12 | |
| And by the authority vested in me, | 33:14 | |
| I confer upon you the degree of doctor of humane letters | 33:16 | |
| and I admit you to its rights, its privileges, | 33:19 | |
| and its obligations. | 33:22 | |
| - | Thank you President Sanford, thank you very much. | 33:25 |
| (organ music) | 33:42 | |
| ♪ Let thy holy presence ♪ | 34:23 | |
| ♪ Let thy holy presence ♪ | 34:34 | |
| ♪ Let thy holy presence ♪ | 34:41 | |
| ♪ Come upon us ♪ | 34:46 | |
| ♪ We pray ♪ | 34:56 | |
| ♪ Thy holy, thy holy presence ♪ | 35:03 | |
| - | On this beautiful and blessed third Sunday | 35:31 |
| in the season of Advent, | 35:35 | |
| 12 days before the festive and joyous celebration again | 35:38 | |
| of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, | 35:41 | |
| I greet you. | 35:44 | |
| May the peace and the love of our Lord be with you. | 35:46 | |
| Let us together, in the presence of one another | 35:51 | |
| and before the presence of God, confess our sin. | 35:54 | |
| Let us pray. | 35:59 | |
| O Lord our God, hear us as we pray. | 36:02 | |
| O thou Eternal Wisdom, | 36:06 | |
| whom we partly know and partly do not know, | 36:08 | |
| O thou Eternal Justice, | 36:12 | |
| whom we partly acknowledge, but never wholly obey, | 36:15 | |
| O thou Eternal Love, | 36:19 | |
| whom we love a little, but fear to love too much, | 36:21 | |
| open our minds that we may understand, | 36:26 | |
| work in our wills that we may obey, | 36:29 | |
| kindle our hearts that we may love thee. | 36:33 | |
| Help us as we worship thee | 36:36 | |
| to come to a truer knowledge of ourselves, | 36:39 | |
| knowing that we cannot hide from thee. | 36:42 | |
| God be merciful to us, for we are sinners. | 36:45 | |
| (organ music) | 36:51 | |
| Dear friends, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, | 37:24 | |
| has come truly to seek and to save those who are lost. | 37:27 | |
| Everyone who trusts in him receives forgiveness of sin | 37:32 | |
| through his Spirit and his grace. | 37:36 | |
| Therefore, be assured | 37:40 | |
| that God bestows upon you forgiving mercy | 37:43 | |
| and indeed, grants you release from your sins | 37:47 | |
| and leads you into life eternal, amen. | 37:50 | |
| Let us give thanks for God is good | 37:56 | |
| and God's love is everlasting. | 38:00 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose love has made us. | 38:03 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose mercy forgives us. | 38:07 | |
| Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future. | 38:11 | |
| May I say a word of welcome to all of you this morning. | 38:17 | |
| A beautiful day it is, | 38:20 | |
| the third Sunday in the season of Advent. | 38:22 | |
| Nearing the end of a semester, | 38:25 | |
| here for us in this university community. | 38:27 | |
| We're pleased to welcome all of you here. | 38:30 | |
| We're especially pleased | 38:33 | |
| to have members of the Founders' Society | 38:34 | |
| with us this morning. | 38:37 | |
| But also, are particularly pleased | 38:39 | |
| to have many members of the faculty of Duke University here, | 38:41 | |
| those who by virtue of their distinction | 38:46 | |
| as teacher, researcher, writer, or in some other way, | 38:49 | |
| you have distinguished yourself in your field | 38:54 | |
| and now occupy a distinguished chair at Duke, | 38:57 | |
| we are particularly pleased to have each of you | 39:02 | |
| and all of you here on this Founders' Day. | 39:04 | |
| This is a special time for us, a time of celebration. | 39:10 | |
| It also is the nearing of the end of this semester. | 39:17 | |
| And so, as those of you who are students face examinations | 39:20 | |
| and the writing of papers for this term, | 39:24 | |
| and as faculty face a grading and evaluating time, | 39:27 | |
| our prayers and best wishes are with all of you, | 39:32 | |
| that it may be a productive and fruitful time for all. | 39:36 | |
| Tonight at 7:30, the Hillyer Concert Choir from Raleigh | 39:42 | |
| will present a special Mozart concert here in Duke Chapel. | 39:47 | |
| The concert will last for one hour. | 39:52 | |
| There is no admission charge. | 39:54 | |
| It begins at 7:30. | 39:56 | |
| You and friends and others in this community | 39:58 | |
| and in this area | 40:02 | |
| are invited to come and to share in that particular concert. | 40:03 | |
| May I make a very special announcement? | 40:08 | |
| I have in my hand a copy of a recording | 40:10 | |
| that was made here in Duke Chapel last Easter Sunday. | 40:14 | |
| It's entitled Easter Music from Duke Chapel. | 40:19 | |
| I commend it to you, because I think as you hear it, | 40:22 | |
| or as you give it to others for them to hear, | 40:27 | |
| you will be reminded again of the beauty | 40:29 | |
| of the sheer majesty of the music in that service. | 40:32 | |
| The carillon, the organ, the choir, | 40:36 | |
| the congregation, the hymns we sang. | 40:39 | |
| It will be on sale beginning tomorrow | 40:41 | |
| in the Duke University bookstores. | 40:43 | |
| So I think for those of you | 40:45 | |
| who are looking for a good Christmas present, | 40:47 | |
| I'd be glad to suggest this and commend it to you. | 40:50 | |
| And to Ben Smith and the choir and the organists, | 40:53 | |
| I want to say a word of thanks and appreciation | 40:55 | |
| for a beautiful, moving, and memorable worship experience | 40:58 | |
| which we now have on this record. | 41:02 | |
| And speaking of Easter Sunday, | 41:04 | |
| we received word last Monday from CBS TV, | 41:06 | |
| a good word that this Easter Sunday's 11 o'clock service, | 41:11 | |
| on April 11, will be carried nationwide by CBS TV. | 41:16 | |
| So, we would like for you to spread that word, | 41:22 | |
| not only here, | 41:24 | |
| but wherever you go from this place between now and Easter. | 41:25 | |
| And if you have a good suggestion or two | 41:30 | |
| for a sermon for that day. | 41:32 | |
| (congregation laughs) | 41:34 | |
| It is a privilege this morning to welcome back home | 41:40 | |
| Bobby and Bill Quick. | 41:43 | |
| The Reverend Dr. Bill Quick | 41:46 | |
| is our preacher for this Founders' Day. | 41:47 | |
| He currently serves as the senior minister | 41:50 | |
| of Metropolitan United Methodist Church | 41:53 | |
| in Detroit, Michigan. | 41:55 | |
| He is now in his eighth year of service there. | 41:57 | |
| He went there from serving | 41:59 | |
| as senior minister of Trinity United Methodist Church, | 42:00 | |
| here in Durham. | 42:03 | |
| Bill and I were classmates in divinity school | 42:05 | |
| and everywhere Bill has been in his ministry, | 42:08 | |
| he has provided creative and outstanding leadership | 42:11 | |
| for the churches that he has served, | 42:14 | |
| from Bahama, to Zebulon, to St. James Church in Greenville, | 42:16 | |
| to Trinity Church here in Durham, | 42:20 | |
| to Metropolitan Church in Detroit. | 42:22 | |
| Wherever he has gone, | 42:25 | |
| he has been known as a very effective administrator, | 42:27 | |
| a caring pastor, and a very good preacher. | 42:31 | |
| Bill, we're delighted to have Bobby and you | 42:34 | |
| back here with us today | 42:36 | |
| and we look forward to the word of God | 42:38 | |
| which you will bring to us on this very special day. | 42:39 | |
| - | Let us pray. | 42:52 |
| Almighty and most merciful God, | 42:55 | |
| you have given the Bible | 42:58 | |
| to be the revelation of your great love to us | 42:59 | |
| and of your power and will to save us. | 43:03 | |
| Grant that our study of it may not be made in vain | 43:06 | |
| by the callousness or carelessness of our hearts, | 43:10 | |
| but that by it we may become confirmed in penitence, | 43:14 | |
| lifted in hope, and made strong for service, | 43:18 | |
| and above all, filled with the true knowledge | 43:21 | |
| of you and of your Son, Jesus Christ, amen. | 43:23 | |
| The epistle lesson is from 1 Thessalonians, | 43:31 | |
| chapter one, the first eight verses. | 43:35 | |
| "Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy | 43:40 | |
| "to the church of Thessalonians | 43:42 | |
| "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, | 43:44 | |
| "grace to you and peace. | 43:48 | |
| "We give thanks to God always for you all, | 43:51 | |
| "constantly mentioning you in our prayers, | 43:54 | |
| "remembering before our God and Father | 43:56 | |
| "your work of faith and labor of love | 43:58 | |
| "and steadfastness of hope | 44:01 | |
| "in our Lord Jesus Christ. | 44:03 | |
| "For we know, brethren beloved by God, | 44:05 | |
| "that he has chosen you. | 44:08 | |
| "For our gospel came to you not only in word, | 44:12 | |
| "but also in power and in the holy Spirit | 44:15 | |
| "and with full conviction. | 44:18 | |
| "You know what kind of men we proved to be among you | 44:20 | |
| "for your sake | 44:23 | |
| "and you became imitators of us and of the Lord. | 44:25 | |
| "For you received the word in much affliction, | 44:28 | |
| "with joy inspired by the holy Spirit, | 44:31 | |
| "so that you became an example to all the believers | 44:35 | |
| "in Macedonia and in Achaia. | 44:38 | |
| "But not only has the word of the Lord | 44:40 | |
| "sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, | 44:43 | |
| "but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, | 44:47 | |
| "so that we need not say anything." | 44:50 | |
| Here ends the reading from the epistle. | 44:53 | |
| (organ music) | 45:03 | |
| ♪ For a long time I have held my peace ♪ | 45:08 | |
| ♪ But now will I speak ♪ | 45:18 | |
| ♪ I will lead the blind ♪ | 45:26 | |
| ♪ In a way they know not ♪ | 45:32 | |
| ♪ In paths that they have not known ♪ | 45:38 | |
| ♪ I will guide them ♪ | 45:44 |
| (choir sings) | 0:03 | |
| ♪ And he sought beyond your river ♪ | 0:35 | |
| ♪ Of a water on high ♪ | 0:41 | |
| (opera singing) | 0:47 | |
| (choir sings) | 1:02 | |
| (choir sings) | 2:19 | |
| ♪ Amen, amen, amen, amen ♪ | 3:01 | |
| - | [Church Officiant] Will the congregation please stand | 3:36 |
| for the reading of the Gospel lesson? | 3:38 | |
| The Gospel lesson is from Saint John chapter one. | 3:45 | |
| In the beginning was the Word, | 3:50 | |
| and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. | 3:52 | |
| He was in the beginning with God. | 3:57 | |
| All things were made through Him, | 3:59 | |
| and without Him was not anything made that was made. | 4:01 | |
| In Him was life, and the life was the light of man. | 4:05 | |
| The light shines in the darkness, | 4:09 | |
| the darkness does not overcome it. | 4:11 | |
| He was in the world, the world was made through Him, | 4:14 | |
| yet the world knew Him not. | 4:17 | |
| He came to His own home and His own people received Him not. | 4:19 | |
| But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, | 4:24 | |
| He gave power to become children of God, | 4:27 | |
| who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, | 4:31 | |
| nor the will of man, but of God. | 4:34 | |
| And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, | 4:38 | |
| full of grace and truth. | 4:40 | |
| We have beheld His glory, glory as of the | 4:43 | |
| only Son from the Father. | 4:46 | |
| Here ends the reading from the Gospel lesson. | 4:49 | |
| Amen. | 4:51 | |
| (organ playing) | 4:53 | |
| (choir singing) | 5:01 | |
| Pastor | It is with a sense of profound gratitude | 5:59 |
| to the President of this university for this invitation, | 6:04 | |
| and yet it is with a sense of great awe that I stand | 6:09 | |
| in this chapel to share and worship | 6:13 | |
| with you on Founder's Day. | 6:15 | |
| For Duke University has touched and influenced my own life | 6:19 | |
| in a multitude of ways. | 6:24 | |
| And I am doubly grateful to be privileged to share | 6:28 | |
| in the honor that this university, my alma mater, | 6:31 | |
| has bestowed upon one of my own members, | 6:34 | |
| an exemplary Christian friend | 6:39 | |
| and beloved Methodist, Stanley Kreschke. | 6:42 | |
| For the Bible knows that a great life | 6:47 | |
| is a classroom of its own, | 6:49 | |
| and his too, is a great life. | 6:52 | |
| Let us pray. | 6:55 | |
| Father, we have heard the living Word. | 7:00 | |
| May it come alive anew into spoken word. | 7:07 | |
| And may the words of my mouth | 7:13 | |
| and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable | 7:15 | |
| in Thy sight. | 7:19 | |
| For Thou alone art our strength | 7:23 | |
| and our Blessed Redeemer. | 7:28 | |
| Amen. | 7:30 | |
| During recent weeks, I have sought to discover | 7:33 | |
| something of the man and his driving faith | 7:36 | |
| for whom this university is named. | 7:40 | |
| James Buchanan Duke, on December 11, 1924, | 7:45 | |
| established The Duke Endowment. | 7:50 | |
| And yet, this university does not bear his name. | 7:53 | |
| It is named for the man he admired and loved | 7:59 | |
| the most in this world, his father, | 8:02 | |
| Washington Duke. | 8:07 | |
| And as I've pondered about Washington Duke, | 8:10 | |
| I kept remembering something that Alfred North Whitehead | 8:12 | |
| once said, that moral education is impossible | 8:16 | |
| without the vision of greatness. | 8:23 | |
| And that is the judgment which the biblical writers | 8:29 | |
| implicitly concur. | 8:33 | |
| For again, and again, in the pages of history, | 8:35 | |
| we have seen throughout biblical history, | 8:39 | |
| the absorbing and instructive passages | 8:43 | |
| are essentially biographical. | 8:46 | |
| The lives of the great Abraham, David, Moses, | 8:49 | |
| are held up as an inspiration for later generations. | 8:53 | |
| "Let us now praise famous men and our fathers | 8:58 | |
| who begat us", begins a familiar passage in Ecclesiastes. | 9:02 | |
| Jesus Corea is studied with allusions to ancient worthies, | 9:08 | |
| Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah. | 9:13 | |
| And he said, if his contemporaries could not | 9:17 | |
| see the purposes of God in history, | 9:20 | |
| they would never see them at all. | 9:24 | |
| And then there is that notable passage in | 9:27 | |
| the 11th chapter of Hebrews, which calls | 9:30 | |
| the role of Israel's great and near great, | 9:33 | |
| who surround us now as then | 9:37 | |
| as a great cloud of witnesses. | 9:41 | |
| For the sake of our understanding better | 9:46 | |
| the influences that shape this remarkable family, | 9:47 | |
| The Dukes of Durham, I want us to look at the patriarch | 9:51 | |
| on this Founder's Day. | 9:55 | |
| For in a home where the light of education had never shown, | 9:58 | |
| Washington Duke lit a lamp of learning, | 10:02 | |
| which would be fueled by his sons, | 10:06 | |
| whom he affectionately called Ben and Buck. | 10:09 | |
| James Buchanan Duke was heard to say, | 10:14 | |
| "I want to do big things for God, | 10:17 | |
| and great things for humanity." | 10:19 | |
| And later, he would write, "My old Daddy used to say, | 10:22 | |
| that if he amounted to anything in life, | 10:27 | |
| it was due to the Methodist circuit riders, | 10:31 | |
| who frequently visited his home, and whose preaching | 10:34 | |
| and counsel brought out the best that was in his life." | 10:37 | |
| And then he added, "If I ever amount to anything, | 10:42 | |
| it will be because of my Daddy | 10:48 | |
| and the Methodist Church." | 10:52 | |
| So, let's look at his daddy and a faith that was | 10:55 | |
| engendered in his heart by the Methodist Church. | 10:59 | |
| He was a plain man, of English and Welsh ancestry. | 11:04 | |
| Washington Duke's forebears settled in the red clay | 11:09 | |
| hills of eastern Orange, now Durham county | 11:12 | |
| in the mid-18th century. | 11:16 | |
| He was the eighth of 10 children, | 11:17 | |
| and his parents managed to give the brood enough schooling | 11:20 | |
| to learn a smattering of the three R's. | 11:24 | |
| His family hewed out a living with ax, and hoe, and plow | 11:28 | |
| on a modest farm along the Little River, | 11:32 | |
| near Bowl Town which is the present village of Bahama. | 11:35 | |
| During my student days in this divinity school, | 11:40 | |
| I was appointed by Bishop Garber to serve | 11:43 | |
| the Mount Bethel Church in that crossroads community. | 11:46 | |
| I did not know at that time, | 11:50 | |
| what I came to know whilst there. | 11:53 | |
| That in that place, a significant event took place | 11:56 | |
| in the life of a timid 10 year old boy in 1830. | 12:00 | |
| In a protracted meeting, as they called them, | 12:06 | |
| during the hot dog days of August, | 12:11 | |
| under a brush arbor canopied by giant oaks, | 12:15 | |
| he was brought under conviction and converted. | 12:18 | |
| This lad, who had earlier joined the | 12:24 | |
| Mount Bethel Sunday School, now joined the | 12:26 | |
| Methodist Episcopal Church. | 12:28 | |
| And whatever we may think from our late-20th century | 12:32 | |
| sophisticated vantage point of revival meetings | 12:37 | |
| and protracted meetings, that singular event is of | 12:41 | |
| utmost significance to all of us who later would | 12:46 | |
| be touched by the Duke family. | 12:49 | |
| For it's abundantly clear that outside his own family, | 12:53 | |
| Methodism was the most powerful | 12:56 | |
| lifelong influence upon this man. | 13:00 | |
| The fiery preaching, and the spirited singing | 13:05 | |
| of early Methodists would shape his character, | 13:08 | |
| would sturdy his faith, and steel him for the | 13:11 | |
| personal tragedy and loneliness that lay ahead of him. | 13:15 | |
| Now his conversion must surely have pleased | 13:21 | |
| his eldest brother William. | 13:24 | |
| Later, Wash and another brother, were bound over | 13:27 | |
| to Billy, for whom they would work from crack of dawn | 13:29 | |
| to bedtime at an endless round of farm chores. | 13:32 | |
| Lean and wiry was this lad, and later in life | 13:37 | |
| he would write to a group of blacks, | 13:40 | |
| "I've plowed more furrows in God's earth than | 13:42 | |
| any man of my age in North Carolina." | 13:46 | |
| And we can be sure that brother Billy nurtured | 13:50 | |
| that young convert with a | 13:54 | |
| healthy dose of zealous Methodism. | 13:55 | |
| Deeply interested in Billy's church work, | 13:59 | |
| the younger Wash helped build a retreat, | 14:02 | |
| Duke's Arbor, where the camp meetings | 14:05 | |
| and the revivals could be held close at hand. | 14:07 | |
| And the church was the center of his life, | 14:10 | |
| spiritual and social, and understandably so, | 14:13 | |
| in that simple, rural society. | 14:16 | |
| His adult life began as a tenant farmer, | 14:20 | |
| and at age 22 he married Mary Caroline Clinton. | 14:23 | |
| She bore two sons. | 14:27 | |
| And in 1847, his father died, | 14:30 | |
| and then Mary Caroline his wife. | 14:34 | |
| Washington Duke was not quite 27, widowed, | 14:37 | |
| and his motherless boys were sent to live | 14:43 | |
| with his wife's parents. | 14:45 | |
| In his loneliness, he turned even more to religion. | 14:48 | |
| And he toiled away on the land. | 14:51 | |
| He built a modest house in the early 1850s, | 14:54 | |
| and on December 9, 1852, | 14:57 | |
| he married Artelia Roney. | 15:01 | |
| And he brought his pretty, singing wife, | 15:04 | |
| reunited with his two young boys | 15:07 | |
| to what we now know as the Duke Homestead. | 15:09 | |
| Oh, it must have been a joyful Christmas for him | 15:14 | |
| that year, but little did he conceive | 15:16 | |
| the lurking tragedy which lay ahead. | 15:21 | |
| During the next five years, she would bear | 15:25 | |
| three children, Mary, Benjamin Newton, | 15:27 | |
| and on December 23, 1856, James Buchanan, | 15:29 | |
| named we are told, in honor of the new | 15:34 | |
| Democratic President-elect. | 15:37 | |
| But then the scourge of the countryside, | 15:41 | |
| the typhoid epidemic of 1858, struck twice | 15:44 | |
| in Wash Duke's home. | 15:49 | |
| His 14 year old son Sidney died, | 15:52 | |
| and ten days later, beautiful Artelia. | 15:54 | |
| She was 29, he was 37. | 16:00 | |
| In little more than a decade, | 16:06 | |
| this God-fearing, Bible-believing, | 16:07 | |
| church-going farmer had buried | 16:10 | |
| his father, two wives, a son, and his mother. | 16:12 | |
| A single parent, responsible for four children, | 16:18 | |
| and a farm of 300 acres, he turned to two | 16:23 | |
| of his wife's younger sisters and his own | 16:26 | |
| unmarried sister Melinda, and they took turns | 16:29 | |
| caring for those four motherless children. | 16:32 | |
| Can we not see now how in later life he would have | 16:37 | |
| a special sympathy and care towards orphans? | 16:42 | |
| This was also a time in his life when | 16:47 | |
| he violated his own conscience. | 16:49 | |
| He was opposed to slavery, but he bought a slave girl, | 16:53 | |
| Caroline, and he brought her as a nurse | 16:57 | |
| and house servant for his children. | 17:00 | |
| You see, so bitter was his opposition to slavery, | 17:03 | |
| that both Wash Duke and his brother Billy | 17:06 | |
| changed their political affiliation in 1860 | 17:08 | |
| and voted for Abraham Lincoln. | 17:11 | |
| Decades later, he would help to build a hospital | 17:15 | |
| for black people in this city, | 17:18 | |
| and he called it Lincoln Memorial. | 17:21 | |
| He opposed North Carolina's secession from the Union, | 17:25 | |
| but when he was conscripted into the Confederate Army | 17:29 | |
| in 1863, he went without complaint, risking his life | 17:31 | |
| in a cause in which he did not believe. | 17:36 | |
| But he was a good Methodist, and methodically | 17:40 | |
| he arranged for the care of his children, | 17:44 | |
| for the slave girl, and for Aunt Betty. | 17:46 | |
| He turned over his farm to a neighbor, | 17:49 | |
| and he marched off to war. | 17:52 | |
| And as he left, he learned that his youngest brother | 17:54 | |
| Robert had been killed in Virginia. | 17:57 | |
| During the final weeks of that war he was imprisoned | 18:01 | |
| in Libby Prison in Richmond. | 18:05 | |
| Mustered out in New Bern, penniless and ragged, | 18:08 | |
| he made his way back, 135 miles to Durham. | 18:11 | |
| He had a single 50-cent piece in his pocket | 18:15 | |
| that he had traded a souvenir-hunting Yankee soldier | 18:18 | |
| his last, practically worthless, | 18:22 | |
| five dollar Confederate bill. | 18:24 | |
| And when he arrived, he found the home place looted, | 18:28 | |
| the livestock killed or driven off. | 18:33 | |
| He was confronted with a desolate situation, | 18:36 | |
| a veritable paw of doom and darkness, | 18:39 | |
| and the only thing that greeted him were two blind mules. | 18:42 | |
| This is the man for whom this university is named. | 18:49 | |
| At this time in his life he had nothing, | 18:56 | |
| but his children and his faith. | 18:59 | |
| But Washington Duke's faith had a promise in it. | 19:04 | |
| We rejoice at Saint Paul and our sufferings, | 19:09 | |
| for we know that suffering produces hope. | 19:12 | |
| Now that is new, and different, and strange. | 19:17 | |
| You would expect it to be otherwise, | 19:20 | |
| that suffering produces despair. | 19:21 | |
| But Wash Duke found what the early Christians had found, | 19:27 | |
| that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can | 19:30 | |
| turn anything upside down. | 19:33 | |
| Suffering has a promise in it. | 19:36 | |
| Washington Duke's staunch Methodist faith | 19:41 | |
| enabled him to shoulder that suffering and to start anew. | 19:44 | |
| Let's examine on the basis of what we know about this man, | 19:51 | |
| his faith, and what we can be sure about it. | 19:54 | |
| Let it be said, first of all, it was a simple faith. | 20:00 | |
| We're here on this third Sunday of Advent, | 20:05 | |
| and I know what that conjures up in the minds of most of us, | 20:09 | |
| this holy season of love. | 20:13 | |
| Washington Duke reminds me of one of | 20:16 | |
| the main characters in that draw. | 20:18 | |
| He reminds me of the shepherds who came to the manger, | 20:21 | |
| the faithful, the devout, the people who may not | 20:26 | |
| have much book learning, who may not be very | 20:30 | |
| sophisticated religiously, but good people, | 20:33 | |
| intuitively open, and accepting people, | 20:37 | |
| strong in their faith but not dogmatic about | 20:41 | |
| forcing their belief on other people, | 20:44 | |
| the ordinary people who are the salt of the earth, | 20:48 | |
| and the light of the world. | 20:51 | |
| That's the kind of faith Wash Duke had, then, | 20:53 | |
| and 'til the end of his life. | 20:58 | |
| We need to be reminded of a faith like that. | 21:01 | |
| We need to be reminded that the church is not | 21:05 | |
| an exclusive club of people like us, | 21:07 | |
| whatever our category may be. | 21:11 | |
| The church is not restricted to those | 21:15 | |
| with an IQ over 140, or to those who have an income | 21:18 | |
| in the 30 or 40% tax bracket. | 21:22 | |
| It is not for those activists whose very soul | 21:25 | |
| is uplifted by the thought of a new demonstration | 21:28 | |
| or a new cause. | 21:31 | |
| Or those who would reduce to statistics the milk | 21:33 | |
| of human kindness if they could. | 21:36 | |
| Remember that scene in Mark Twain's book | 21:40 | |
| A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? | 21:42 | |
| Where the American sees a medieval saint swaying | 21:46 | |
| to and fro in the ecstasy of religious devotion. | 21:50 | |
| It seemed like wasted energy, and so he hooked up | 21:55 | |
| the saint to a device to provide power for a sewing machine. | 21:58 | |
| A lot of people think the church is useless | 22:04 | |
| unless it's geared up for something. | 22:08 | |
| But the church is more than that. | 22:12 | |
| It should be open, and it should encourage and produce | 22:15 | |
| people of simple piety. | 22:19 | |
| For a faith like his, is a spiritual resource | 22:23 | |
| that is open to all persons. | 22:27 | |
| "Truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain | 22:30 | |
| of mustard seed", said Jesus, "You can say to this mountain, | 22:34 | |
| move hence to yonder place, and it will move, | 22:38 | |
| and nothing will be impossible to you." | 22:41 | |
| So, when you think of Washington Duke, | 22:47 | |
| I hope that you will celebrate that kind of faith. | 22:50 | |
| And I'm not about to argue that anything is possible | 22:56 | |
| if only you have faith. | 22:59 | |
| They taught me better than that in this place. | 23:01 | |
| But as I am concerned today with this man, | 23:05 | |
| I want to say that is not what Jesus meant | 23:10 | |
| when he made that statement. | 23:13 | |
| Jesus' word here is deliberate, proverbial, hyperbole, | 23:15 | |
| and ought never to be read in any other way. | 23:21 | |
| What I'm going to say about Washington Duke's faith is this. | 23:25 | |
| For this is what I think it says to us, | 23:30 | |
| that nothing is possible until you believe. | 23:33 | |
| Unless you have some kind of real faith, | 23:39 | |
| some kind of expectation, unless you make | 23:42 | |
| some kind of commitment before you can possibly | 23:45 | |
| know the outcome, you will never do | 23:48 | |
| as much as tie your shoe. | 23:51 | |
| Faith, in its usual biblical sense, is not as many | 23:55 | |
| people seem to think it is, an illogical belief | 23:58 | |
| in the occurrence of the improbable. | 24:02 | |
| It is more nearly, what I call, reason | 24:06 | |
| grown adventurous. | 24:09 | |
| It is an act of confidence in the reliability | 24:11 | |
| of the moral order. | 24:14 | |
| What was it that Isaiah said to dispirited, | 24:17 | |
| defeated, frustrated people? | 24:22 | |
| There shall come forth a chute from the stump | 24:25 | |
| of Jesse, the royal line of David is like a tree | 24:29 | |
| that has been cut down. | 24:33 | |
| And just as new branches sprout from a stump, | 24:35 | |
| so a new king will arise from David's descendants. | 24:38 | |
| That is faith, adventurous and confident | 24:42 | |
| in the reliability of the moral order. | 24:45 | |
| When I think of Wash Duke trudging 135 miles | 24:50 | |
| from New Bern to Durham county at the end of the Civil War, | 24:54 | |
| I think of Jeremiah. | 25:01 | |
| He lived in a bleak, uncertain time, | 25:04 | |
| 400 years of empire, proud independence | 25:08 | |
| for the Hebrew people were dissolving. | 25:11 | |
| The nation was caught between two superpowers, | 25:13 | |
| and he did not know where to turn. | 25:16 | |
| Jeremiah had preached himself into prison, | 25:19 | |
| but silencing the prophet never changes | 25:24 | |
| the ills he has diagnosed. | 25:28 | |
| And things kept getting worse. | 25:31 | |
| One day, with all the signs pointing to total disaster, | 25:35 | |
| Jeremiah did a strange thing. | 25:38 | |
| He bought a piece of property from a cousin. | 25:40 | |
| The strangeness of it all was not merely | 25:42 | |
| that he was in jail, or that he had no | 25:44 | |
| immediate prospect of using the land. | 25:48 | |
| The strangest thing of all, is that it was | 25:51 | |
| property already that had been conquered | 25:54 | |
| and was in the hands of the enemy. | 25:57 | |
| And yet, he paid cash for it. | 26:01 | |
| And he was careful to see that the deed | 26:03 | |
| was properly notarized and recorded. | 26:05 | |
| Why did he do it? | 26:08 | |
| It was an adventurous faith, a deliberate act of faith, | 26:10 | |
| and the reliability of the moral order of things. | 26:13 | |
| A way of saying to the frustrated and the frightened, | 26:17 | |
| "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, | 26:21 | |
| houses, and fields, and vineyards shall be | 26:25 | |
| bought in this land." | 26:28 | |
| No, the Bible does not mean in any literal sense | 26:32 | |
| that all things are possible if only we believe. | 26:34 | |
| But what it does say to us, is that nothing | 26:39 | |
| is possible until we believe. | 26:42 | |
| And we will never cast out the demons that plague us | 26:47 | |
| and our time except by faith. | 26:50 | |
| The third thing I want to say about | 26:54 | |
| Wash Duke's faith is this, it had more to do | 26:56 | |
| with holiness than happiness. | 27:00 | |
| I know a lot of people, who, when they become | 27:06 | |
| the least bit unhappy, lose their faith. | 27:08 | |
| His faith was not based on happiness. | 27:14 | |
| His faith was based on that of which | 27:19 | |
| the Scripture says, "The Word was made flesh | 27:21 | |
| and dwelt among us." | 27:25 | |
| The conviction that God was in Christ, | 27:27 | |
| and even though He came unto His own, | 27:29 | |
| and His own rejected him, that kind of goodness | 27:31 | |
| is something that will not be done away with. | 27:35 | |
| It has nothing at all to do with happiness, | 27:39 | |
| it has a lot to do with holiness, | 27:43 | |
| goodness, moral maturity. | 27:46 | |
| The indenture that created this university | 27:50 | |
| was signed during the season of Advent. | 27:54 | |
| We're in the midst of that holy season, | 27:58 | |
| with all the stories about the baby, and the star, | 28:01 | |
| and the angels, and the wise men. | 28:03 | |
| And they all are ways of saying that Jesus | 28:05 | |
| was the embodiment of Godliness. | 28:08 | |
| That in Him, we see what the nature, or likeness | 28:12 | |
| of God really is. | 28:16 | |
| He is the flesh and blood demonstration | 28:18 | |
| of God's outgoing love. | 28:21 | |
| The New Testament holds that Jesus is a model for us, | 28:25 | |
| that we are to be imitators of Him, | 28:29 | |
| that we are to walk in the way in which He walked, | 28:32 | |
| that we are to follow in His steps. | 28:35 | |
| That is the way Wash Duke walked, | 28:39 | |
| and it had more to do with holiness than happiness. | 28:44 | |
| Perhaps a clue to the love that Ben and James Buchanan | 28:50 | |
| had for him and his influence over them | 28:53 | |
| is caught up in the holiness of his life | 28:56 | |
| and his example. | 28:58 | |
| Albert Schweitzer said, "Example is not the main | 29:00 | |
| thing in influencing others, it is the only thing." | 29:03 | |
| And real faith has more to do with holiness, | 29:10 | |
| moral maturity than with happiness. | 29:12 | |
| For it enables us to have a close | 29:16 | |
| working relationship with God. | 29:19 | |
| Finally, Washington Duke, this man of simple faith, | 29:23 | |
| whose life shows us that nothing is possible unless | 29:29 | |
| you believe, that real faith has more to do | 29:31 | |
| with holiness than happiness, became a man | 29:34 | |
| of the purest integrity. | 29:40 | |
| And that is something for us to celebrate | 29:44 | |
| on this Founder's Day. | 29:46 | |
| It's a fact that we can thank God for any day, | 29:48 | |
| for it's rare enough in any age to make us wonder | 29:51 | |
| whether or not it has completely disappeared, | 29:54 | |
| but it keeps turning up. | 29:58 | |
| First here, and over there, in unexpected places, | 29:59 | |
| in unexpected times. | 30:02 | |
| Let me say, that it is one of the things we ought | 30:05 | |
| to be looking for most of all, and reward, | 30:10 | |
| in our political leaders today. | 30:14 | |
| That's the criterion that ought to be in our minds, | 30:17 | |
| more than any other. | 30:20 | |
| More important than a party platform, | 30:23 | |
| more important than whether a candidate | 30:25 | |
| has supported a particular issue. | 30:27 | |
| What will affect this nation four years from now, | 30:31 | |
| 40 years from now, 400 years from now | 30:35 | |
| is not whether anyone is for or against the ERA, | 30:38 | |
| for or against the draft, pro-life or for | 30:43 | |
| freedom of choice with respect to abortions, | 30:48 | |
| for or against tax cuts. | 30:50 | |
| What will count most | 30:54 | |
| is whether the candidates we elect | 30:57 | |
| are persons of integrity, | 31:00 | |
| persons of courage, | 31:04 | |
| and consistency, and unselfishness. | 31:07 | |
| This man, Washington Duke, | 31:11 | |
| became a man of integrity. | 31:15 | |
| In 1905, he died. | 31:19 | |
| The trustees of Trinity College said, "We have never | 31:25 | |
| seen him less than a man acting under the fear of God | 31:28 | |
| and under the inspiration of lofty purpose." | 31:32 | |
| There was no act of his life for which | 31:37 | |
| the college need make apology. | 31:40 | |
| What integrity. | 31:44 | |
| The faculty said, "He never hampered us with a small idea, | 31:46 | |
| or a personal wish, or preference." | 31:50 | |
| What integrity. | 31:54 | |
| A generation ago, Herbert Butterfield was professor | 31:57 | |
| of modern history at the University of Cambridge England. | 32:00 | |
| I think he has a word to say to us, | 32:04 | |
| "The profoundest effects on our civilization have been | 32:10 | |
| produced by people who were not thinking of affecting | 32:13 | |
| the course of human affairs at the mundane level. | 32:18 | |
| They have come by the unanticipated byproducts of lives | 32:23 | |
| intent on spiritual things." | 32:28 | |
| Maybe the life story of Washington Duke has a | 32:36 | |
| remarkable parallel in William Booth, | 32:41 | |
| the founder of The Salvation Army. | 32:46 | |
| He was asked one time what was the secret of his success. | 32:48 | |
| And his answer was, "God had all there was | 32:53 | |
| of William Booth." | 32:59 | |
| He never claimed to be a great thinker. | 33:02 | |
| He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. | 33:05 | |
| He never got any particular breaks in life. | 33:09 | |
| He left British Methodism because it wouldn't let him | 33:13 | |
| do a job that he thought he could do, | 33:15 | |
| and he started from absolute scratch. | 33:17 | |
| But he said, "From the day that I got the poor of London | 33:21 | |
| on my heart, and a vision of what Jesus Christ could do | 33:24 | |
| with the poor of London, I made up my mind | 33:28 | |
| that God would have all there was | 33:32 | |
| of William Booth." | 33:37 | |
| Years later, that devotion would be tested. | 33:40 | |
| He was stricken with eye trouble, | 33:43 | |
| and when the final medical verdict was in, | 33:45 | |
| his son Bramwell had to break the news to him. | 33:47 | |
| "You mean that I'm blind?", said the old man. | 33:51 | |
| "I fear we must contemplate that", said his son. | 33:56 | |
| "I shall never see your face again?" | 34:01 | |
| "Not in this life, Dad." | 34:04 | |
| "Bramwell", he said as he reached out his hand | 34:09 | |
| and grasped his son's hand, "I have tried to serve | 34:12 | |
| God the best I can with my sight. | 34:17 | |
| I shall now try to serve him the best I can | 34:23 | |
| without sight." | 34:28 | |
| God had all there was of William Booth. | 34:31 | |
| Maybe we have this university today | 34:37 | |
| because God had all there was | 34:44 | |
| of Washington Duke. | 34:51 | |
| Let us pray. | 34:55 | |
| Almighty God, we now praise famous men, | 35:01 | |
| remembering especially the father of | 35:04 | |
| the new Trinity College and the man for whom | 35:08 | |
| this university is named, Washington Duke, | 35:10 | |
| one of Thy surprising saints. | 35:14 | |
| For him and to Thee on behalf of us all, | 35:18 | |
| including his children, we say thank you Father. | 35:22 | |
| Thank you. | 35:27 | |
| Amen. | 35:29 | |
| (organ playing) | 35:36 | |
| (choir singing) | 35:56 | |
| (organ playing) | 36:45 | |
| Church Official | Let us affirm what we believe. | 37:32 |
| Congregation | We believe in God, who has | 37:35 |
| created and is creating. | 37:37 | |
| Who has come into truly human Jesus | 37:40 | |
| to reconcile and make new. | 37:43 | |
| Who works in us and others by the Spirit. | 37:45 | |
| We trust God, who calls us to be the church, | 37:49 | |
| to celebrate life and its fullness, | 37:53 | |
| to love and serve others, to seek justice, | 37:56 | |
| and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 38:00 | |
| our judge and our hope. | 38:05 | |
| In life, in death, in life beyond death, | 38:08 | |
| God is with us. | 38:12 | |
| We are not alone. | 38:14 | |
| Thanks be to God. | 38:16 | |
| Church Official | The Lord be with you. | 38:18 |
| Congregation | And with you also. | 38:20 |
| Church Official | Let us pray. | 38:22 |
| Oh Lord, our God, who has made us a royal priesthood | 38:35 | |
| that we may offer unto you prayer and intercession | 38:40 | |
| for all your children. | 38:43 | |
| Hear us now as we pray. | 38:45 | |
| For all who labor with their hands, that they | 38:48 | |
| may enjoy the rewards of their industry. | 38:52 | |
| For those who bear the responsibilities of | 38:55 | |
| leadership and administration, that they may not | 38:58 | |
| use their authority and power for selfish advantage, | 39:02 | |
| but be guided to do justice and to love mercy. | 39:06 | |
| For those who have suffered in the battles of life, | 39:12 | |
| through the inhumanity of their fellows, | 39:16 | |
| through their own limitations, or the incomprehensible | 39:19 | |
| forces of evil, that they may contend against | 39:23 | |
| injustice without bitterness, and learn to accept | 39:27 | |
| with patience what cannot be altered. | 39:31 | |
| For the rulers of the nations, that they might | 39:36 | |
| act wisely and without pride. | 39:39 | |
| May seek to promote peace among the peoples | 39:42 | |
| and establish justice in our common life. | 39:45 | |
| For students, here at this university, | 39:50 | |
| who struggle to study, to show themselves approved | 39:54 | |
| unto God in all their habits and in their honest work. | 39:57 | |
| For teachers and ministers of the word, that they | 40:04 | |
| may rightly divide the Word of truth and not be | 40:07 | |
| tempted by any passion to corrupt the truth | 40:10 | |
| to which they are committed. | 40:14 | |
| For families and loved ones, who gather in this | 40:17 | |
| holy Advent season, that their lives may shine forth | 40:21 | |
| with a light of your presence and hope. | 40:26 | |
| For prophets and saints, who awaken us from laziness, | 40:30 | |
| that they may continue to hold their torches high | 40:35 | |
| in a world that is darkened by prejudice and sin. | 40:39 | |
| Oh God, who has bound us together in this very | 40:44 | |
| bundle of life, give us grace now to understand | 40:48 | |
| how our lives depend upon the courage, the honesty, | 40:53 | |
| and the integrity of all our brothers and sisters, | 40:58 | |
| that we may be mindful of their needs, | 41:02 | |
| grateful for their faithfulness, and faithful in our | 41:05 | |
| responsibilities to them. | 41:09 | |
| For it is through Jesus Christ our Lord that we pray | 41:11 | |
| and whom taught us to pray saying. | 41:15 | |
| Congregation | Our Father who art in Heaven, | 41:19 |
| hallowed be Thy name. | 41:22 | |
| Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done as it is in Heaven. | 41:24 | |
| Give us this day, our daily bread, | 41:30 | |
| and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those | 41:32 | |
| who trespass against us. | 41:36 | |
| And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | 41:38 | |
| For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, | 41:43 | |
| and the glory forever. | 41:46 | |
| Amen. | 41:47 | |
| (organ playing) | 41:56 | |
| (choir singing) | 43:34 | |
| (choir singing) | 44:07 |
Item Info
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