John David Lee - "The Faith of an Historian" Alumni Sunday (June 13, 1982)

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Speaker 1	Then number three.	0:03
	God moves in mysterious ways.	0:05
	His wonders to perform.	0:08
	God's ways are past finding out,	0:12
	wrote the psalmist.	0:15
	But we believe, as Christians,	0:16
	that he has a way of revealing them to us, if we ask.	0:18
	The problem is that we so often	0:24
	refuse to recognize those ways when he shows them to us.	0:26
	Here, I think, is one of the great and useful lessons,	0:31
	which the years bring,	0:33
	which is not always revealed to the young.	0:35
	And if you will allow me	0:39
	a little personal reference at this point,	0:39
	let me say that as I have come to look back over my life,	0:42
	I can see many things much clearer	0:45
	than I could see them when they happened.	0:47
	For example, as I look back over my life	0:51
	I can see that the events and experiences	0:54
	which seemed the most unfortunate	0:56
	have turned out to be the most rewarding and enriching.	0:58
	The time I was fired from my first job,	1:03
	I thought the world had come to an end.	1:06
	I'd been happy in it.	1:09
	I thought I had been fruitful	1:11
	and fulfilling in performing it,	1:13
	but apparently that had not been the case.	1:15
	But as I look back on it,	1:18
	it seems I can see it as an opportunity	1:20
	which I would never have made for myself.	1:23
	Being the kind of person I am,	1:26
	I let myself get into a comfortable rut,	1:28
	and then I let myself luxuriate in it.	1:30
	And I might have spent the rest of my career in that job,	1:34
	but God didn't want me to stay there.	1:37
	He wanted me somewhere else.	1:41
	He knew I wouldn't make a change on my own,	1:43
	and the only way he could get me out of it	1:47
	was to get me kicked out,	1:48
	and so he worked it out.	1:50
	And every time I have found myself kicked out of one place,	1:52
	it has been defined a place	1:57
	of greater contribution for such gifts as I have.	1:58
	God never closes one door but that he opens another.	2:02
	And he does it sometimes in such strange ways.	2:08
	And in my own case I find myself	2:11
	often echoing Martin Luther.	2:13
	God has led me like an old bind horse.	2:16
	He does this, too, in His attitudes and actions	2:22
	of our relations with other people	2:25
	as well as with our own inner nature.	2:27
	I said earlier, that God demands certain obedience from us	2:29
	because he is what he is.	2:35
	He insists that if we are to be His faithful children,	2:39
	we must be what he wants us to be.	2:42
	There are certain things which he will not tolerate.	2:46
	He has set certain rules for us	2:49
	in His plan for our universe,	2:51
	and we obey those laws or we break ourselves upon them.	2:53
	Not always right away.	2:58
	Not necessarily payment on demand every Saturday night.	3:00
	But sooner or later, the I.O.U.s fall due.	3:04
	I read once of an experience	3:11
	told by a man named Author Gordon	3:13
	writing in a letter to his godson.	3:15
	I remember very well the occasion he wrote in the letter,	3:18
	when I first heard the phrase	3:21
	keep your eye on the Law of the Echo.	3:23
	Coming home from boarding school,	3:29
	some of the youngsters were in a dining car on a train,	3:31
	you see how long ago this was.	3:33
	Somehow the talk got around	3:36
	to the subject of cheating on exams.	3:37
	And one boy readily admitted that he cheated all the time.	3:40
	He said that he found it both easy and profitable.	3:45
	Suddenly, a mild looking man	3:49
	sitting all alone at a table across the aisle	3:51
	leaned forward and spoke up.	3:54
	"Yes," he said to the boy who boasted of his cheating,	3:56
	"all the same if I were you,	4:01
	I'd keep my eye on the echo.	4:04
	The Law of the Echo."	4:09
	"Is there really such a thing?"	4:10
	asked the godfather of his grandson.	4:11
	His godson.	4:14
	Is the universe actually arranged	4:15
	so that whatever you send out,	4:18
	honesty or dishonesty, kindness or cruelty,	4:20
	ultimately comes back to you?	4:24
	It's hard to be sure.	4:27
	And yet, since the beginning of recorded history,	4:29
	mankind has had the conviction,	4:32
	based partly on intuition, partly on observation,	4:34
	that in the long run, we do, indeed, reap what we sow.	4:38
	And then number four.	4:46
	When the night is darkest, you can see the stars.	4:49
	The house I live in in San Francisco,	4:55
	stands at the foot of two small hills called Twin Peaks.	4:58
	Some of you may have seen them.	5:01
	They're not the highest point in the city,	5:04
	but they do rise from the lower ground to a certain height.	5:05
	Often, as I drive up to San Francisco	5:09
	from some place on the peninsula	5:12
	from the south where I have been,	5:15
	as I look out over that magnificent harbor	5:17
	and see it as it lies there,	5:21
	ringed with all the lights on every side.	5:23
	I find myself echoing words worth	5:28
	Earth hath not anything to show more fair than this.	5:31
	I never tire of seeing it.	5:37
	But there are times when I want something else.	5:40
	The street in front of my house is heavily traveled,	5:44
	and the street lights are bright.	5:46
	So that when I tire of the noise and lights,	5:49
	I get in my car and drive up the winding way	5:51
	to the top of Twin Peaks.	5:54
	The lights of the city are still on.	5:57
	They are bright below.	5:59
	As I turn my eyes up and away from them,	6:02
	I see the stars which I cannot see from my house.	6:04
	To me, that is a parable of our lives.	6:09
	We live in a world of light and sound,	6:13
	of noise and distraction.	6:16
	Events crowd upon us.	6:18
	Crises come in our lives.	6:20
	The darkness closes down	6:23
	until we think the stars have all gone out.	6:25
	We lose someone we love,	6:28
	and the sun no longer shines.	6:29
	But it is just at those times	6:31
	that the light we call God can reveal itself to us.	6:34
	My friend Grace Noll Crowell put it better than I can.	6:40
	"If but one message I may leave behind,	6:44
	one single word of comfort for my kind, it would be this,	6:48
	oh brother, sister, friend,	6:52
	whatever life may bring, what God may send,	6:56
	no matter what the clouds live soon or late,	7:01
	take heart and wait.	7:04
	Despair may tangle darkly at your feet.	7:08
	Your faith be dim and hope once cool and sweet be lost.	7:12
	But suddenly, above a hill a heavenly lamp	7:17
	set on a heavenly sill will shine for you	7:21
	and point the way to go.	7:24
	How well I know.	7:27
	For I have waded through the dark,	7:29
	and I have seen the stars shine	7:31
	in the darkest sky repeatedly.	7:33
	It has not failed me yet.	7:36
	And I am sure God never will forget to light His lamp.	7:39
	If we but wait for it.	7:44
	It will be lit."	7:47
	And so we come to the place	7:52
	to which we have been moving all along.	7:53
	The faith of this historian least comes down to this.	7:57
	We can rely in the phrase of David Livingstone	8:01
	on the perfect word of a perfect gentleman.	8:04
	When our Lord Jesus Christ said	8:08
	I and the Father are one.	8:09
	He meant what he said.	8:12
	If God is dependable, so is Jesus.	8:14
	When he came down to earth, he came from his Father.	8:19
	He was commissioned to bring us to a realization that	8:24
	His way of life was the only one that would work.	8:28
	He went with his dearest friends	8:31
	to the Mount of Transfiguration	8:33
	where the evangelist tells us	8:34
	He appeared to them in a guise white and glistening	8:36
	such as never brought by any bleaching agent on Earth.	8:39
	He came down from that experience to heal a sick child.	8:43
	As though to show his disciples	8:48
	that religious experience is of no use	8:49
	unless it is put to work for our fellow needy human beings.	8:53
	He went on with His work until that night,	8:59
	when in the Garden of Gethsemane	9:02
	he perspired great drops of blood.	9:03
	God said to him, "Will you still go on?"	9:06
	And he said, "I will."	9:10
	And he kept on 'till that trial	9:12
	before Pilate when he was condemned to death.	9:14
	And God said, "Will you still go on now?"	9:17
	And he said he would.	9:21
	And so he went out to that place on Calvary Hill and died.	9:23
	The safest soul that ever was, really.	9:27
	He knew, as you and I know,	9:31
	because we have learned it from him that	9:32
	we know that right is right.	9:37
	That it is not good to lie.	9:39
	That love is better than spite.	9:42
	And a neighbor than a spy.	9:45
	We know that passion needs the leash of a sober mind.	9:48
	We know that generous deeds some sure reward shall find.	9:52
	That the ruler must obey.	9:57
	That the giver shall increase.	10:00
	That duty lights the way for the beautiful feat of peace.	10:04
	And in the darkest night of the year	10:09
	when the stars have all gone out,	10:10
	that courage is better than fear,	10:12
	that faith is truer than doubt.	10:15
	And fierce though the fiends may fight,	10:18
	and long though the angels hide.	10:20
	We know that truth and right	10:23
	have the universe on their side.	10:26
	And that somewhere beyond the stars	10:30
	is a love that is better than hate.	10:32
	When the night lets down her bars,	10:36
	I shall see him,	10:39
	and I will wait.	10:42
	Let us pray.	10:47
	Grant us, oh God,	10:50
	such a vision of thy being and thy beauty.	10:52
	That in the light of it we may do thy work,	10:56
	without haste and without rest.	10:59
	Amen.	11:03
	(pages flipping)	11:05
	(organ plays)	11:11
	♪ Oh love that will not let me go ♪	11:42
	♪ I rest my weary soul in thee ♪	11:49
	♪ I give thee back the life I owe ♪	11:55
	♪ That in thine ocean depths its flow ♪	12:02
	♪ May richer, fuller be ♪	12:07
	♪ Oh light that followest all my way ♪	12:17
	♪ I yield my flickering torch to thee ♪	12:23
	♪ My heart restores its borrowed ray ♪	12:30
	♪ That in thy sunshine's blaze its day ♪	12:37
	♪ May brighter, fairer be ♪	12:43
	♪ Oh joy that seekest me through pain ♪	12:53
	♪ I cannot close my heart to thee ♪	12:59
	♪ I trace the rainbow through the rain ♪	13:06
	♪ And feel the promise is not vain ♪	13:13
	♪ That morn shall tearless be ♪	13:19
	♪ Oh cross that liftest up my head ♪	13:29
	♪ I dare not ask to fly from thee ♪	13:36
	♪ I lay in dust life's glory dead ♪	13:43
	♪ And from the ground there blossoms red ♪	13:50
	♪ Life that shall endless be ♪	13:56
	♪ Amen ♪	14:06
Speaker 2	Let us affirm what we believe.	14:15
Congregation	We believe in God,	14:18
	who has created and is creating.	14:20
	Who has come in the truly human Jesus	14:23
	to reconcile and make new,	14:26
	who works in us and others by the spirit.	14:28
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	14:32
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	14:36
	to love and serve others,	14:39
	to seek justice and resist evil,	14:41
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	14:44
	our judge and our hope.	14:47
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	14:50
	God is with us.	14:53
	We are not alone.	14:55
	Thanks be to God.	14:57
Speaker 2	The Lord be with you.	14:59
Congregation	Also with you.	15:00
Speaker 2	Let us pray.	15:02
	Oh God, eternal spirit,	15:16
	grant us grace to worship you	15:19
	in spirit and in truth.	15:21
	You have so made us that the glory of our lives	15:24
	is not in things below us that we master,	15:27
	but in fact, in the divine above us that masters us.	15:31
	Grant us an hour of such spiritual wealth,	15:36
	captured by a vision of the Christ-like life.	15:40
	Lifted out of our very littleness by dedication to values	15:43
	and to your everlasting purposes.	15:48
	Cleanse us from our evil, our mean ambitions,	15:52
	that we may be ready for this transforming experience.	15:56
	Grant us honesty in confronting and confessing our sins,	16:01
	sincerity in making restitution	16:05
	where we have wronged others,	16:08
	humility in seeking your forgiveness,	16:10
	and resolution by your grace to amend our lives.	16:13
	You, oh God, must see us	16:18
	a generation victorious over the hazards of war,	16:20
	and yet, frustrated and confused by the problems of peace.	16:25
	From a dismaying world,	16:30
	we have come into this, your sanctuary.	16:32
	Here we pray for this hour of spiritual insight,	16:36
	that we may see afresh the light,	16:40
	which even this darkness has not been able to put out.	16:43
	Marshal within us in these momentous times	16:48
	such resources of the spirit,	16:51
	that we may be able to withstand in the evil day.	16:54
	Minister to our personal, intimate needs,	16:59
	oh Spirit of the living God, walk through this place now	17:03
	and be the help and comfort,	17:08
	the inspiration and sustenance of our souls.	17:10
	Hear now the unspoken prayers	17:15
	that rise in silence from the deeps of our hearts,	17:18
	and to those needs that can find no voice	17:22
	say for your ear alone,	17:24
	minister according to the riches of your grace.	17:27
	In Christ Jesus, our Lord, the One who came, lived,	17:31
	and who lived among us teaching us to pray saying,	17:36
Congregation	Our Father, who art in heaven,	17:41
	hallowed be thy name.	17:44
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.	17:46
	On earth as it is in heaven.	17:49
	Give us this day, our daily bread,	17:51
	and forgive us our trespasses	17:54
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	17:56
	Ann lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	18:00
	For thine is the kingdom, and the power,	18:04
	and the glory, forever.	18:07
	Amen.	18:09
	(organ plays)	18:19
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	19:05
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	19:09
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	19:14
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	19:18
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	19:23
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	19:28
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	19:32
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	19:37
	(organ plays)	19:42
	♪ Let the moderation ♪	19:47
	♪ Be known unto all men ♪	19:50
	♪ Let the moderation ♪	19:53
	♪ Be known unto all men ♪	19:55
	♪ The Lord is at hand ♪	19:59
	♪ The Lord is at hand ♪	20:02
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	20:05
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	20:10
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	20:14
	♪ And again, again ♪	20:19
	♪ Again I say, rejoice ♪	20:23
	♪ And again, again I say, rejoice ♪	20:28
	♪ Again I say, rejoice ♪	20:35
	♪ Be careful for nothing ♪	20:46
	♪ But in everything ♪	20:49
	♪ By prayer and supplication with thankgsgiving ♪	20:52
	♪ Let your requests be made known unto to God ♪	20:58
	♪ Be careful for nothing ♪	21:05
	♪ But in everything ♪	21:09
	♪ By prayer and supplication with thankgsgiving ♪	21:12
	♪ Let your requests be made known unto to God ♪	21:18
	♪ And the peace of God ♪	21:25
	♪ Which passeth all understanding ♪	21:28
	♪ Shall keep your hearts and minds ♪	21:34
	♪ Through Jesus Christ, the Lord ♪	21:40
	♪ And the peace of God ♪	21:47
	♪ Which passeth all understanding ♪	21:50
	♪ Shall keep your hearts and minds ♪	21:57
	♪ Through Jesus Christ, the Lord ♪	22:03
	♪ Through Jesus Christ, the Lord ♪	22:10
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	22:18
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	22:23
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	22:28
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	22:32
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	22:37
	♪ And again, I say, rejoice ♪	22:43
	♪ Rejoice in the Lord, always ♪	22:47
	♪ And again, again, ♪	22:52
	♪ Again, I say, rejoice ♪	22:56
	♪ And again, again, I say rejoice ♪	23:01
	♪ Again, I say, rejoice ♪	23:08
	(organ plays)	23:18
	(congregation sings)	24:11
	♪ Alleluia ♪	25:10
	♪ Alleluia ♪	25:13
	♪ Alleluia ♪	25:17
	♪ Alleluia ♪	25:21
Speaker 2	Oh Lord, our God,	25:40
	send down upon us your Holy Spirit,	25:41
	to cleanse our hearts, to hallow our gifts,	25:44
	and to perfect the offering of ourselves to you	25:48
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	25:51
	Amen.	25:54
	(organ plays)	25:56
	♪ God of grace and God of glory ♪	26:33
	♪ On thy people pour thy power ♪	26:39
	♪ Crown thine ancient church's story ♪	26:45
	♪ Bring her bud to glorious flower ♪	26:51
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	26:56
	♪ For the facing of this hour ♪	27:02
	♪ For the facing of this hour ♪	27:08
	♪ Lo the hosts of evil 'round us ♪	27:16
	♪ Scorn thy Christ, assail his ways ♪	27:22
	♪ From the fears that long have bound us ♪	27:28
	♪ Free our hearts to faith and praise ♪	27:33
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	27:39
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	27:45
	♪ For the living of these days ♪	27:51
	♪ Cure thy children's warring madness ♪	27:59
	♪Bend our pride to thy control ♪	28:05
	♪ Shame our wanton selfish gladness ♪	28:11
	♪ Rich in things and poor in soul ♪	28:16
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	28:22
	♪ Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal ♪	28:28
	♪ Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal ♪	28:34
	♪ Set our feet on lofty places ♪	28:42
	♪ Gird our lives that they may be ♪	28:48
	♪ Armored with all Christ-like graces ♪	28:54
	♪ In the fight to set men free ♪	29:00
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	29:06
	♪ That we fail not man nor thee ♪	29:12
	♪ That we fail not man nor thee ♪	29:18
	♪ Save us from weak resignation ♪	29:28
	♪ To the evils we deplore ♪	29:34
	♪ Let the search for thy salvation ♪	29:40
	♪ Be our glory evermore ♪	29:46
	♪ Grant us wisdom, grant us courage ♪	29:52
	♪ Serving thee whom we adore ♪	29:58
	♪ Serving thee whom we adore ♪	30:04
	♪ Amen ♪	30:13
	The Lord bless you and keep you,	30:24
	the Lord's face shine upon you,	30:27
	and the Lord's countenance be lifted up upon you	30:31
	and give you peace.	30:34
	♪ Amen ♪	30:43
	♪ Amen ♪	30:51
	♪ Amen ♪	30:57
	♪ Amen ♪	31:07
	(organ plays)	31:23

	(uplifting organ music)	0:03
	(calm organ music)	2:21
	(mellow organ music)	6:48
	(uplifting choir singing)	10:23
-	Grace and peace be onto you from God, our creator	14:46
	and Jesus Christ, our redeemer in the faith.	14:50
	All we, like sheep have gone astray,	14:55
	we have everyone to turn to our own way.	14:58
	Let us confess our sins together.	15:02
	Oh Lord, our God hear and receive	15:18
	our words of confession.	15:21
	We desire enlightenment but exercise greed.	15:23
	We strive for improvement but experience pride.	15:27
	We hope for immortality but squander life.	15:31
	We talk about equality but harbor unjust attitudes.	15:35
	We believe in righteousness	15:40
	but twist it to self-righteousness.	15:42
	We struggle for spirituality but give in easily.	15:45
	We listen to the word but forget it's significance.	15:50
	We entertain sacrifice but balk	15:53
	at the actual practice of it.	15:56
	We say, preach, believe and profess one way of life,	15:59
	but we live, act and behave a different way	16:04
	of life altogether.	16:07
	Oh Lord, we pray that you will help us keep our deeps	16:10
	in line with our words.	16:13
	Hear our pray through Christ, our Lord, amen.	16:16
	For as the heavens are high above the earth,	16:50
	so great is Gods steadfast love toward those who fear him.	16:53
	As far as the east is from the west, so far does God	16:58
	remove our transgressions from us.	17:02
	Therefore, let us give thanks, for God is good	17:05
	and Gods love is everlasting.	17:08
	Thanks be to God who's love creates us.	17:11
	Thanks be to God who's mercy redeems us.	17:15
	Thanks be to God who's grace leads us into the future.	17:19
	We welcome you this alumni reunion Sunday	17:27
	here to worship with us in Duke University Chapel.	17:30
	It is the second Sunday after Pentecost in the season	17:34
	of the church year and we hope indeed that your spirit's	17:37
	will be refreshed and renewed as we celebrate	17:41
	God's love together in this place.	17:45
	We welcome all of you who are returning to Duke,	17:49
	whether it's been a long time since you've been away,	17:52
	or whether you have graduated fairly recently.	17:55
	We welcome especially the reunion classes of 1932,	17:59
	37, 42, 47,	18:05
	52, 57, 62,	18:08
	67 and 72, and as always	18:13
	the half century club, those persons who graduated	18:17
	50 years ago.	18:21
	We are quite pleased that returning alumni	18:23
	who sang in the Duke University Chapel Choir	18:26
	have also chosen to sing with the choir again this morning.	18:29
	We look forward to the special gift	18:33
	of music they will share.	18:36
	Our guest preacher this morning,	18:40
	the Reverent Doctor John David Lee,	18:43
	is himself a 50 year graduate of Duke University.	18:46
	He was a native of Jacksonville, North Carolina,	18:51
	reared in Graham, North Carolina.	18:55
	Graduated from Duke with a AB degree in 1932,	18:58
	he also obtained his bachelor of divinity here in 1934.	19:02
	Going on to Boston University for the PHD in 1937.	19:08
	He has been an ordained United Methodist Minister,	19:15
	has been serving in the North Georgia conference	19:19
	and also the North Carolina conference with membership.	19:22
	He has served as a professor of church history,	19:27
	both at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University	19:30
	and the Virginia Theological Seminary	19:35
	in Alexandria, Virginia.	19:38
	He has been a Chaplin in his ministry,	19:41
	serving in the United States Navy,	19:43
	serving aboard an aircraft a carrier in the South Pacific	19:46
	during the war years of World War II.	19:50
	The Reverent Doctor Lee was ordained an episcopal priest	19:54
	in Grace Cathedral in 1949.	19:58
	He is now the Canon Pastor at Grace Cathedral.	20:02
	He has served many parishes throughout California,	20:06
	Nebraska and Connecticut.	20:09
	We are delighted and pleased to welcome him	20:12
	back to Duke on this special day	20:15
	and we look forward to the message that he brings to us.	20:17
	The Reverent Doctor Dennis Campbell is serving	20:22
	as lector today.	20:25
	Doctor Campbell is the director or continuing education	20:26
	at the divinity school and himself a graduate	20:30
	in the class of 1967.	20:33
	You are invited to attend an organ recital	20:38
	at four o'clock this afternoon here in the chapel.	20:41
	Mister Shane Dotey will be our organist,	20:45
	this is part of the summer organ recital series	20:49
	and we hope that many of you will be able to join us	20:52
	for this special event.	20:55
	We have sad news to bring and share with you	21:00
	on this alumni Sunday.	21:03
	Doctor Frank Laycock died very suddenly yesterday afternoon	21:06
	while playing tennis here at Duke.	21:12
	He has been an active and faithful worshiper	21:16
	in Duke Chapel for many years.	21:19
	He has enjoyed life to it's fullest and we extend	21:22
	our heartfelt sympathy to Caroline, his wife,	21:27
	and to other members of his family,	21:30
	and to all of us who will mourn his loss.	21:32
	The memorial service for Doctor Laycock is scheduled	21:36
	for this Tuesday at one o'clock in the afternoon	21:39
	here in the chapel.	21:44
-	Let us pray.	21:59
	Oh Lord, our God, you have given your word to be a lamp	22:04
	unto our feet and a light unto our path.	22:09
	Grant us grace to receive your truth and faith and love.	22:14
	That by it we may be prepared	22:19
	unto every good word and work,	22:21
	to the glory of your name	22:24
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.	22:26
	Hear now this lesson from the epistle for this day	22:32
	taken from Paul's letter to the church at Rome	22:36
	in the 15th chapter, verses four through 13.	22:39
	For whatever was written in former days was written	22:46
	for our instruction, that by steadfastness	22:49
	and by the encouragement of the scriptures	22:53
	we might have hope.	22:56
	May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you	22:58
	to live in such harmony with one another,	23:02
	in accord with Christ, Jesus, that together you may	23:05
	with one voice glorify the God and father	23:09
	of our Lord Jesus Christ.	23:12
	Welcome one another therefore as Christ has welcomed you,	23:15
	for the glory of God, for I tell you	23:20
	that Christ became a servant to the circumcised	23:24
	to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises	23:29
	given to the patriarchs and in order that the gentiles	23:33
	might glorify God for his mercy.	23:37
	As it is written, therefore I will praise the	23:41
	among the gentiles and sing to thy name.	23:45
	And again, it is said, rejoice oh gentiles	23:50
	with his people and again, praise the Lord all gentiles	23:53
	and let all the peoples praise him.	23:59
	And further, Isiah says, the root of Jesse shall come,	24:03
	he who rises to rule the gentiles,	24:09
	in him shall the gentiles hope.	24:12
	May the God of hope fill you with al joy and peace	24:16
	in believing so that by the power of the holy spirit,	24:21
	you may abound in hope.	24:26
	Thus, end of the lesson from the epistle for this day.	24:30
	(calm organ music)	24:44
	(female opera singing)	25:32
	(choir and opera singing)	28:21
	Let us stand now for the reading from The Holy Gospel.	29:35
	The gospel lesson for this second Sunday	29:47
	after Pentecost is taken from	29:50
	Saint Luke in the fourth chapter verses 16 to 30.	29:54
	And he came to Nazareth here he been brought up,	30:02
	and he went to the synagogue as his custom was	30:07
	on the Sabbath Day, and he stood up to read.	30:10
	And there was given to him the book of the prophet Isiah.	30:16
	He opened the book and found the place where it was written.	30:20
	The spirit of the Lord is upon me,	30:25
	because he has anointed me	30:28
	to preach good news to the poor.	30:30
	He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives	30:33
	and recovering of sight to the blind,	30:36
	to setup liberty, those who are oppressed.	30:40
	To proclaim the acceptable gear of the Lord,	30:44
	and he closed the book and gave it back	30:48
	to the attendant and sat down.	30:51
	And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him,	30:54
	and he began to say to them, today, this scripture	30:59
	has been fulfilled in your hearing.	31:02
	And all spoke well of him and wondered	31:05
	at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth,	31:08
	and they said, is this not Joseph's son?	31:12
	And he said to them, doubtless,	31:20
	you will quote to me this proverb,	31:22
	physician, heal yourself.	31:25
	What we have heard you did at Capernaum,	31:29
	do hear also in your own country.	31:33
	And he said, truly I say to you no prophet	31:38
	is acceptable in his own country.	31:41
	But in truth I tell you there were many widows	31:44
	in Israel the days of Elisha,	31:48
	when the heaven was shut up three years and six months.	31:50
	When there came a great famine over all the land,	31:54
	and Elisha was sent to none of them,	31:58
	but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon	32:01
	to a woman who was a widow.	32:05
	And there were many lepers in Israel in that time	32:08
	of the prophet Elisha,	32:11
	and none of them was cleanses, but only Naamen the Syrian.	32:14
	When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled	32:20
	with wrath and they rose up and put him out of the city	32:24
	and led him to the brow of the hill	32:31
	on which their city was build,	32:33
	that they might throw him down headlong.	32:36
	But passing through the midst of them he went away.	32:40
	Thus endeth the lesson from the Holy Gospel for this day.	32:46
	May God's rich blessings be unto us,	32:51
	that we may rightly hear and understand him holy word, amen.	32:54
	(orchestral choir singing)	33:02
-	In the name of the father, the son	33:53
	and the holy ghost, amen.	33:55
-	Don't let anybody ever tell you	34:09
	that dreams do not come true.	34:12
	When I was a student at Duke sitting on Sundays	34:16
	where you are now sitting, listening to the preacher	34:20
	of the morning, I used to dream of the day	34:23
	when I would be standing here in the pulpit in his place.	34:27
	It's taken a long time, 50 years, in fact,	34:33
	but my dream has finally come true.	34:38
	You can imagine, at least those of you	34:46
	who are of my generation,	34:49
	there is an almost irresistible temptation to reminisce,	34:52
	but I will spare you that at some cost to myself.	34:58
	Some years before his death,	35:05
	when Winston Churchill returned to his prep school	35:08
	Eaton for a 50th reunion of his class,	35:12
	he was asked to speak.	35:17
	And he chose as his subject, 50 years on.	35:19
	It's very exciting for me to be here on this occasion.	35:25
	It's exciting because I realize anew,	35:33
	the purpose of this University,	35:39
	and it's exciting to be a part of it.	35:43
	To know that here, on this campus	35:46
	there is a great hospital dedicated	35:51
	to the healing of human hurt,	35:54
	and that at the center of the campus	35:58
	there is this magnificent temple to the worship of God,	36:02
	reminding us always that this is our major duty,	36:07
	as well as privilege.	36:13
	Reminding us that Duke University thinks the worship	36:16
	of God is more important of basketball or football teams,	36:20
	and basketball and football coaches.	36:25
	I thought I might use that phrase of Churchill's	36:29
	and then I decided that I would prefer to use another.	36:35
	I wasn't sure what he meant and so I decided I would use	36:39
	the faith of an historian,	36:43
	which is what I have always considered myself to be.	36:44
	At least that is the feeling	36:48
	which most of my teaching ministry has been spent.	36:50
	During the course of World War II a journalist	36:55
	asked Charles A. Beard, distinguished historian	36:58
	at Columbia University if he would summarize,	37:01
	or if he could summarize the lessons of history	37:05
	in a few words, which shows you the effrontery	37:07
	of some journalists and the patience of some historians.	37:11
	Yes, said Beard, I can do it in four sentences,	37:16
	and which he proceeded to give his four statements,	37:21
	which seemed to him to sum up the meaning	37:25
	of men's life here on earth.	37:28
	I thought about those four statements when I started	37:33
	to prepare this sermon and I looked for the clipping	37:36
	that I had made which listed them.	37:39
	I must have put it away too carefully because I was not able	37:42
	to find it and I can only recall the first two.	37:45
	So I will use them and add to it my own,	37:49
	and thus come up with four	37:52
	even though they may not necessarily be the same.	37:54
	Let me begin first with Euripides,	37:58
	whom the gods would destroy,	38:03
	they first make mad with power.	38:06
	And that's not precisely the was Euripides wrote it	38:10
	but it's the way Beard changed it adding the last two words.	38:13
	And let me add a prescript here before I go any further.	38:18
	The Greek playwright believed in many gods and goddesses	38:22
	and so he sued the concept in the plural.	38:25
	You and I ask Christians would wanna see it another way.	38:29
	Whom God would destroy, he first makes mad with power,	38:33
	but we do not believe in a God who drives men to madness.	38:39
	We believe in a God who created man in his image	38:44
	and asks from us, love and loyalty and obedience.	38:48
	Our God is the God we worship a creator, father,	38:55
	redeemer, son and sustainer, spirit.	38:59
	He cares for us so much that he gave the patriarchs	39:04
	to guide his children.	39:08
	The judges to mediate between them and him,	39:10
	the prophets to turn them from their unfaithful ways.	39:14
	And finally when all else had failed,	39:18
	he came in the form of Jesus Christ to redeem his people.	39:21
	But the price God paid for wanting us to love	39:28
	and serve him was to give us the freedom	39:31
	to say yes or no to him.	39:34
	With the freedom of choice, God gave us the freedom	39:38
	to chose other ways than his.	39:40
	And over and over again men have taken the bit	39:44
	in their teeth and gone as the bible puts it,	39:47
	whoring after other Gods.	39:50
	Some of you may have watched the recent TV special called,	39:55
	Inside the Third Reich, telling the story of Albert Spear,	39:59
	the architect of that idea.	40:04
	I watched it, and as I watched it I found myself transported	40:09
	back in time to the year 1938	40:13
	and I made my first trip to Europe.	40:17
	And I was back standing in a crowd at the time	40:20
	when Germany had just taken Austria over	40:24
	listening to Adolf Hitler tell of the glorious future	40:27
	of the Third Reich.	40:31
	The man was a maniac but even I with my limited knowledge	40:34
	of the German language could not help but be moved	40:37
	by the eloquence of this house painter	40:40
	who had gathered so much power to himself	40:43
	that he could not be content without more and more.	40:45
	And as we know, he died at last in a bunker in Berlin,	40:49
	because as Victor Hugo would have said of him,	40:53
	as he said of Napoleon, God grew tired of him.	40:56
	And again and again in our lifetimes we have seen people	41:01
	on small and larger stages become unbalanced	41:05
	with this greed for power.	41:08
	Even now, we see it every day and how foolish it all is.	41:11
	A nation that spends billions of dollars	41:18
	on sophisticated military hardware and computerized weapons,	41:20
	only to be rendered impotent by a mob of poor,	41:26
	ragged, screaming, Islamic students,	41:29
	are to appreciate the irony of how powerless	41:33
	the powerful can be.	41:36
	Still, as a nation and as individuals we continue	41:40
	to reach out to grasp it.	41:43
	All power corrupts, we have been told,	41:46
	and absolute power corrupts absolutely.	41:48
	And still God allows those who insist on inquiring it	41:52
	to go on and, because of it.	41:55
	He does not make them mad, but he will not keep them from it	41:59
	if they insist on it.	42:04
	Number two, the mills of God grind slowly.	42:08
	They grind exceeding small.	42:13
	I knew this sentence long before I knew Longfellow	42:17
	who wrote it.	42:19
	And then I came across a parody of it which goes,	42:20
	and considering what they have to grind,	42:24
	it's a wonder they grind at all.	42:26
	And it's quite true that sometimes we wonder why	42:29
	God does not get discouraged at us humans,	42:32
	that we make such little progress toward	42:36
	what he would have us be.	42:39
	The other day I was reading an interview	42:42
	with the author James Clavell who wrote Shogun	42:43
	and Nobel House and a number of other things.	42:46
	The interviewer asked him if our confrontation	42:49
	with Soviet Russia was simply a matter of politics,	42:52
	or if it was a matter of life and death.	42:55
	It's a matter of life and death, he said.	42:59
	Look at history, he continued.	43:02
	And that's a big problem in America,	43:05
	because nobody looks at history anymore,	43:07
	nobody knows anything about the past.	43:10
	There was a study done recently, he went on,	43:13
	by one of the major magazines on foreign policy.	43:15
	They asked students some very	43:19
	simple foreign policy questions	43:20
	and the results were astounding.	43:22
	The students knew nothing.	43:27
	Clavell said that when his youngest child was 12	43:29
	she was asked in public school where Denmark was	43:31
	and she thought it was a province of Canada.	43:35
	And it was George Santayana, was it not,	43:38
	who made the well known statement that	43:41
	those people who will not learn the lessons of history	43:43
	are destined to repeat them.	43:46
	We may be a people ignorant on foreign policy	43:51
	but we are not a patient people.	43:54
	We want things done yesterday.	43:57
	There's a story told of Wedell Phillips who was a strong	44:00
	and fiery preacher in favor of the abolition of slavery	44:03
	in New England, before the civil war.	44:06
	He came home one night, bone weary	44:10
	from a speaking engagement	44:12
	at which he had been unmercifully heckled.	44:14
	As he flung himself into his chair, his wife asked,	44:17
	what's the matter Wendell?	44:20
	The matter my dear, Phillip said dejectedly,	44:23
	is that I'm in a hurry and God isn't.	44:25
	You see, God's got all time and all eternity	44:30
	and we haven't.	44:35
	We want to put an end over night to nuclear proliferation.	44:37
	We want an end to violence in our society.	44:42
	We want the say on the use of handguns prohibited,	44:45
	or at least controlled.	44:48
	We want an end to war and threats of war.	44:50
	We want and equitable society,	44:53
	but we can't have them over night.	44:56
	We've had war since the caveman learned	44:59
	that he can club anybody he disliked and be free	45:01
	from his enemy.	45:04
	Back in the 30s Angela Morgan	45:06
	wrote a poem entitled, God prays.	45:09
	It begins by telling of a sleepless night	45:12
	in which she prays that God	45:16
	would put an end to strife between nations.	45:17
	And the Lord God whispered and said to me,	45:22
	these things shall be, these things shall be.	45:24
	Nor help shall come from the scarlet skies	45:29
	till the people rise.	45:31
	Till the people rise, my arm is weak.	45:34
	I cannot speak till the people speak.	45:38
	When men are dumb, my voice is dumb.	45:41
	I cannot come till my people come.	45:45
	If the people rise, if the people rise I will answer them	45:49
	from the swarming skies,	45:54
	where Hercules and hosts of might	45:56
	shall spring to splendor overnight.	45:58
	Blazing systems of sun and star are not so great	46:01
	as my people are,	46:05
	nor chanting angels are so sweet to hear	46:08
	as the voice of nations freed from fear.	46:10
	They are my mouth, my breath, my soul.	46:14
	I wait their summons to make me whole.	46:19
	And so God waits, and prays that we will do out part	46:23
	so he can do his.	46:28

Item Info

Title:

John David Lee - "The Faith of an Historian" Alumni Sunday (June 13, 1982)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 00:03. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 46:31.
Speaking from a historian’s perspective, the preacher claims four things he sees in God throughout history: 1) God gives free will to humanity, yet this free will is easily destroyed by power; 2) God has eternal time and patience to work on humanity; 3) God’s wisdom is mysterious yet effective; 4) God’s strength is best shown in time of darkness and weakness. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4g15tr5v

Date:

June 13, 1982

Speaker:

Lee, John David

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 CS-0084
ref7691_mqo
uachapelsermaud
duke:320886
dcrau001076
ark:/87924/r4g15tr5v
70802326-4a5c-45f6-a100-e7ff34321524

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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John David Lee - "The Faith of an Historian" Alumni Sunday (June 13, 1982)

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1. John David Lee - "The Faith of an Historian" Alumni Sunday (June 13, 1982)

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John David Lee - "The Faith of an Historian" Alumni Sunday (June 13, 1982)

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