Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service 10:30 am (May 8, 1983)

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-	A motorboat came by, they said, "Hop in reverend",	0:05
	he said, "No. go get other people,	0:08
	God will take care of me".	0:10
	A helicopter hovered low and bull horn to him,	0:13
	"Hang on to the rope reverend",	0:16
	and he said, "No God will help me,	0:18
	go get other people".	0:20
	He was washed over and drowned.	0:22
	When he got to heaven, he said...	0:26
	"Lord..."	0:29
	(audience laughs)	0:32
	"How come?"	0:35
	The Lord said, "Well, what more could I have done?	0:39
	I sent a rowboat,	0:43
	sent a motorboat,	0:45
	sent a helicopter".	0:48
	Some people make a distinction between secular,	0:53
	and spiritual living.	0:56
	Actually, this is an artificial distinction.	0:58
	The whimsy of that humor indicates God moves in	1:01
	different ways,	1:05
	and one of the objectives of the privilege I have with you	1:07
	is to say how important baccalaureate is in its	1:10
	ancient tradition.	1:14
	Way back in Europe, when young men and women use to meditate	1:16
	in dedication for their academic degrees,	1:20
	or their public service was undertaken.	1:24
	It's also very interesting to me that the intelligent life	1:28
	of the United States is frantically grasping to recover	1:32
	excellence and values in a day of increasing dullness,	1:35
	and mediocrity, and it seems they have not yet become alert	1:39
	to the fact we have starved ourselves for the inner vision	1:44
	By preoccupation with such heavy pragmatism when we say	1:50
	well we live for the now,	1:55
	but the moment now is already passed.	1:57
	If I could urge on you honored graduates one thing,	2:01
	it would be to recover the inner vision of the meaning of	2:04
	history of what's gone behind as prologue to what yet to	2:08
	come knowing that what is yet to come has the aspect	2:13
	of the transcendent in it.	2:18
	We have lived a flat life, and we're reaping...	2:21
	The impoverished harvest of it.	2:26
	The Harvard Business Review says that you don't measure a	2:30
	culture by success,	2:33
	but you measure a culture by how men and women in it handle	2:36
	their disappointments, and their failures.	2:39
	This is contrary to the American myth,	2:44
	whose great prophet, Vince Lombardi,	2:47
	said...	2:51
	Winning is everything.	2:52
	I have enjoyed being in this great triangle,	2:56
	and know that I stand somewhere on the axis between two	2:59
	great victorious basketball teams, so I am told.	3:03
	(audience laughs)	3:07
	I rejoice with you but...	3:10
	Your national glory is that you had worthy competition,	3:13
	and you would not be proud if you had won the	3:19
	National Championship by defeating	3:22
	Red Clay Creek County High School,	3:25
	would you?	3:29
	Somebody had to lose...	3:31
	Worthily that you might win splendidly.	3:34
	Now that in essence is what we're talking about,	3:39
	live in the light of an inner vision as you pursue your	3:41
	science, and your art, and your literature,	3:46
	and philosophy, and law, and nursing, and business,	3:48
	and all unto which you give yourselves,	3:50
	because as Dante said in one of his cantos,	3:54
	"Midway in life I found myself in a dark forest,	3:57
	and the straightforward path was lost".	4:01
	It's bound to happen in the years to come,	4:05
	you will have meandering and doubts,	4:07
	and you will not be able to see the markers that are so	4:10
	clear for you here in Duke,	4:13
	and you will need to draw on the light of an inner vision	4:16
	to carry you through the darkness and the temptation,	4:19
	and the trial that you may be tempered as it were by fire,	4:21
	and pain, and come through, and make your	4:25
	glorious contribution.	4:28
	What's all that got to do with the Old Testament lesson?	4:31
	In brief, the prophet in his servant were surrounded by a	4:35
	battalion of troops who are out to get them.	4:39
	The prophet prayed that his servant would have an	4:43
	inner vision to see the spirit as it were of providence with	4:45
	history, and of transcendence, and of greater meaning than	4:49
	the immediate moment.	4:53
	And he did, saw a vision of chariots of fire greater than	4:55
	the rumbling dust of the motorized troops that were around	4:59
	him, and then...	5:02
	Dressed as peasants, they pass through the troops	5:06
	unrecognized.	5:09
	I'm talking about perception.	5:11
	The ability to perceive the unseen, yet to be now.	5:13
	And the ability to recognize the the obvious now...	5:19
	Because we don't.	5:25
	In this class are great potentials and you're all friends.	5:27
	15, 20 years from now you'll be saying I was in	5:32
	his, her class.	5:35
	As something emerges from you.	5:38
	So be able to perceive the vision that God has for life	5:40
	that's hidden and be able to perceive,	5:44
	and recognize the obvious which is dressed in	5:47
	peasant clothes, that's what Abraham in the Old Testament	5:49
	did.	5:52
	Our common patriarch with Old Testament Judaism,	5:54
	and Muslim faith.	5:58
	Abraham called out into a splendid life to follow the	6:00
	fertile crescent to look for a city whose builder,	6:04
	and maker was God, and he went, and he never got to	6:08
	his objective, but he pursued to the end,	6:11
	that's why you need an inner vision when you need hope,	6:14
	and things are rough.	6:18
	The New Testament lesson was read from the Revelation of	6:20
	St John, who was in prison exile on the Island of Patmos,	6:23
	60 miles off the coast of Turkey, now a tourist place.	6:27
	As he sat there and watched the shimmering Mediterranean,	6:32
	he contemplated the power of Rome to crush him,	6:35
	and the gospel, and today...	6:40
	Roman life is classical history of times past,	6:43
	and the man who wrote to the vision splendid of unity,	6:48
	of human nature and with God, and this division still	6:51
	persists and binds us together.	6:55
	Dear friends, with the glory of your education here in this	6:59
	splendid university, remember the history validates the	7:02
	holding of the vision of God's dream for humanity,	7:06
	and the earth, and what is to come.	7:09
	And remember also to perceive in the immediate moment,	7:12
	what is obscured, the potential for your impact.	7:15
	Why do you think the United States is restless to recover	7:20
	excellence in education.	7:22
	We are also engaged in a great debate about the morality,	7:26
	and the use of nuclear energy as it comes out of chemistry,	7:29
	and the whole process of life.	7:32
	That problem, the problem of recovering of excellence,	7:35
	and life long lasting qualities stems because...	7:38
	Camus caught it.	7:43
	Somehow I like him, if he'd lived a little longer,	7:46
	I'm sure he would have been a Presbyterian.	7:49
	(audience laughs)	7:51
	Camus wrestles, and gripped with this haunting,	7:52
	wanting meaning in life.	7:56
	And there's much in existentialism that speaks to us.	7:59
	But we need to extend that spirit of meaningfulness to	8:04
	include the vision beyond our pragmatic short sight,	8:07
	now that's the message.	8:12
	I hold before you the energy, the direction,	8:15
	the validation of your lives, young people,	8:20
	as it is true for your parents,	8:22
	of the vision of what can be in your life,	8:26
	and family, and your country, and don't lose that vision,	8:29
	even though the vision be obscured...	8:32
	For decades.	8:36
	It'll give you some blessings,	8:38
	it will give you first of all, a great sense of power to	8:39
	handle life, and secondly it will show you more than that,	8:44
	it will give you the depth of human life.	8:48
	It will show you the power that's resident in life	8:54
	to handle work and pain, because it will give you a	8:57
	broader perspective.	9:00
	Some of you are camera fans,	9:02
	you know what I mean by depth of focus.	9:04
	Many of you are television fans from the production end.	9:07
	You all know that you can compress in a camera,	9:12
	and get a short perspective, and miss what's outside,	9:17
	that's one of our problems today,	9:21
	we all have camera eyes, and we don't get the	9:23
	full perspective, and we live in a close up age.	9:26
	The Governor of New York used to live across the street from	9:32
	our church, and I used to watch television crews rehearse	9:34
	the news, and you'd all be glued to your sets at night,	9:39
	and you say "Oh, that's the news",	9:44
	"That's the way things are", they'd gone through it	9:45
	three or four times to get it just right on camera angle.	9:48
	The same thing applied down here in Kitty Hawk,	9:53
	North Carolina.	9:56
	Two Methodist Bishop sons, the Wright brothers,	9:59
	flew an orange crate for about 19 seconds,	10:03
	before it hit the sand.	10:06
	The New York Times refused to send a reporter,	10:09
	because it said nothing important's gonna come of it.	10:12
	And today 50 hours from Raleigh Durham,	10:17
	you can go anywhere in the earth by airplane,	10:20
	day or night, any kind of weather.	10:24
	All within the lifetime of your grandfather,	10:28
	and grandmother, and you, and extending that parabola,	10:31
	how much more.	10:34
	Even as Professor Goddard launched his first rocket missile	10:37
	with Charles Augusta's Lindberg in the backyard and it went	10:41
	"Poof" for about 30 yards.	10:45
	The neighbors up in Cambridge politely ask them to move to	10:49
	Roswell, New Mexico.	10:52
	(audience laughs)	10:54
	And that "Poof" became the Saturn Jupiter engines,	10:55
	which today have hurtled into space over 2000	10:59
	space platforms, from which our cameras that could read the	11:03
	Duke University graduation program if you held it out in the	11:07
	grass outside.	11:11
	All within your lifetime.	11:13
	How much more when men and women apply to chemistry,	11:17
	and arts, and medicine, and business, and nursing,	11:21
	and family life, and religion.	11:24
	The inner vision of that which is yet to be missing.	11:27
	The obvious in the presence, it starts with a "Poof",	11:33
	and it becomes an inner space platform...	11:38
	And it's old stuff to you that men and women have walked on	11:43
	the moon.	11:47
	This gives depth and power, because you never get the	11:48
	perspective of the immediate moment,	11:51
	no single event can explain itself.	11:53
	I was telling them early this morning that this is not only	11:58
	Mother's Day, your graduation day,	12:00
	but this is Red Cross Day, isn't that lovely,	12:02
	but the whole point is this, no one knew in that June day	12:05
	in 1859, when 31 year old Jean-Henri Dunant	12:10
	was vacationing in Italy, on a hot Sunday afternoon,	12:17
	when the storm came that he would be the only one there	12:22
	to recognize the carnage of 40 000 mortally wounded	12:25
	Italian, French, and Austrian troops	12:30
	who've been fighting a deadly	12:33
	battle broken off by the thunderstorm.	12:34
	Out there on the wasted countryside, no communication,	12:38
	no media, no medical attention at all.	12:41
	31 year Jean-Henri Dunant's birthday is today.	12:46
	Went into the little community village of Solferino,	12:51
	and pounded on the doors for the men, and the women,	12:54
	to come in from the farms, and their houses and get their	12:57
	sheets, and pillowcases, and slips, and so forth,	13:00
	and go out, and bind up these dying human beings,	13:02
	and out of that came the Red Cross movement that you take	13:07
	for granted, and you expect a rescue squad.	13:09
	It came from a young Swiss, Jean-Henri...	13:13
	Who went bankrupt trying to persuade people to be human,	13:19
	not more than a little beyond a 100 years ago,	13:25
	so slowly do things move.	13:27
	Who would have known on that thunder-clapping,	13:31
	rain-drenched afternoon with the blood flowing,	13:33
	that later would come a young newspaperman,	13:37
	would pick up that story, and publicize it,	13:40
	and today you would take for granted nursing,	13:42
	and American Red Cross, and the whole international flavor	13:46
	of Goodwill.	13:50
	Who knows what comes out of this class,	13:53
	because it's the inner interpretation of life	13:56
	that makes the reality.	13:58
	I know we're all pragmatist, but pragment facts are not the	14:01
	whole of the truth, it's the interpretation.	14:05
	Rene Dubos great biochemist recently	14:08
	deceased in New York,	14:13
	said, It's not what you have friends, it's what you do with	14:14
	what you have", Flannery O'Connor,	14:18
	beautiful lovely Roman Catholic writer down in Georgia...	14:20
	Died when she was 36.	14:25
	Lived on a red clay farm, raised peacocks,	14:28
	wrote great literature, loved the church,	14:31
	and retained public school students who came out of	14:35
	curiosity.	14:38
	How did she manage your life in so short a time with a	14:40
	crippling disease?	14:43
	She lived with a light of an inner vision with the	14:46
	limitations she had.	14:48
	That's how you do it.	14:51
	And there are the men and women live to be 65 or 75,	14:53
	and restless, bored, searching frantically for meaning	14:56
	who have no vision.	15:00
	I hold before you today a vision of power, and glory,	15:02
	and strength of usefulness for yourself and your families,	15:05
	and your Republic.	15:09
	And finally...	15:12
	God will show you the depth in your life,	15:13
	and the depth of yet to be.	15:16
	I personally don't believe in the end of the world,	15:19
	so many people are eager for a big bang.	15:22
	I believe as TS Eliot said in his wonderful play,	15:26
	"A yard of sun that means a court yard full of sunshine in a	15:29
	yard of son", he said there is a greater reality...	15:33
	Which will make falsehood...	15:38
	Out of much that we hold true today.	15:40
	Science taught for 400 years of the earth was flat...	15:43
	And the Portuguese and Spanish navigators began to question	15:49
	where came the flotsam and jetsam and the washing of the	15:52
	tide with pine and balsam, in other words,	15:55
	and they began to hypothecate that if you sailed west,	15:59
	you'd find another continent and you wouldn't fall off	16:02
	the edge of the earth.	16:05
	Men like...	16:08
	Verrazano, who came over here in 1524,	16:10
	sailed up your coast from Carolina to Maine.	16:13
	And a few years later after his splendid primitive maps,	16:17
	Amerigo Vespucci came over and went all the way down south	16:21
	to the great broad la Plata river.	16:24
	And then came...	16:28
	Henry Hudson and discovered you know what...	16:31
	Beautiful Hudson River.	16:34
	What am I saying, each one built on the other,	16:38
	Columbus, Vespucci, Verrazano.	16:41
	Incidentally you wanna remember important date was	16:44
	April, the 17th, 1524 when Verrazano discovered the	16:46
	Verrazano bridge in New York.	16:51
	(audience laughs)	16:53
	But look at how you build, men and women,	16:55
	look at how you build, I watched you velvet green doctoral	16:58
	students coming in, it was a young man Frederick Banting,	17:01
	60 years ago who in depression and real discouragement	17:05
	got the insight...	17:10
	That in one week banished...	17:13
	The diabolical threat of diabetes,	17:16
	and who knows what will come out of this class.	17:19
	There's a depth to life if you follow the inward vision that	17:22
	comes by the Holy Spirit, if God moves and deals with you,	17:25
	God has great benefits to give life if you let him do it.	17:29
	I'll close with reference to a hymn.	17:35
	I feel sorry for the choir they've heard this speech	17:37
	three times, so I like to have one new thing each time,	17:39
	they haven't heard this.	17:42
	Hymn number 55 was written by a man who lived in a cave,	17:45
	his name was Joachim Neander, it's from his name that we	17:49
	have Neanderthal man, because the remains of Neanderthal man	17:53
	were found in the cave where Joachim Neander hid out	17:57
	when he was fired from his job.	18:01
	I got this because I was looking for hymns written in jail,	18:06
	and I looked in the index, and I saw Joachim Neander,	18:09
	I hadn't met him, and he died when he was 30,	18:12
	anyone dies by the time he's 30, has got a story,	18:16
	so I looked it up, this young German evangelical,	18:18
	a professor, was thrown out of office,	18:22
	and lived in a cave on the Rhine River,	18:24
	and out of that came hymn 55,	18:27
	"Praise to the Lord! the Almighty, the King of creation!",	18:29
	if you want to write hymns, go live in a cave.	18:32
	That's my point, men and women,	18:36
	the inner vision transmutes, transforms, transfigures	18:38
	the pain of life, and takes the education you have and	18:43
	glorifies it to God,	18:46
	and keeps you going all your years so that you look back on	18:49
	this glorious day as you continue your education all your	18:52
	life.	18:56
	As you nurture your life and others who look to you.	18:58
	As you make a contribution to the spiritual and cultural	19:01
	life of America.	19:04
	As you say with Saint Paul as you look back on this	19:06
	happy occasion,	19:09
	"I saw a vision, and I was not disobedient to the	19:11
	heavenly vision, I thank God for my family,	19:15
	my institution",	19:19
	and the happiness of this graduation day,	19:20
	and the peace of God be with you men and women	19:23
	in great measure to sustain your inner vision	19:25
	without end, Amen.	19:29
	("Praise to the Lord! the Almighty, the King of creation!")	19:38
-	Let us affirm what we believe.	21:36
	We believe in God, who has created and is creating,	21:39
	who has come in the truly human Jesus,	21:44
	to reconcile and make new.	21:47
	We trust God,	21:50
	who calls us to be the Church:	21:51
	to celebrate life and its fullness	21:54
	to love and serve others,	21:57
	to seek justice and resist evil,	21:59
	to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,	22:03
	our judge and our hope.	22:06
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	22:09
	God is with us.	22:14
	We are not alone.	22:16
	Thanks be to God.	22:18
	The Lord be with you.	22:20
-	And with your spirit.
-	Let us pray.	22:23
	O eternal God,	22:37
	before whose face the generations rise,	22:39
	and pass away,	22:42
	age after age of the living seek you,	22:44
	and find of your faithfulness there is no end.	22:47
	You are the inspirer of every true prayer,	22:52
	the giver of all wisdom,	22:56
	the source of all truth,	22:58
	the beginning of all human freedom,	23:00
	the end of all human responsibility.	23:03
	Look now, O God, this day upon this community of learning,	23:07
	let it ever remain faithful to you,	23:12
	to the truth as we come to know it in you.	23:15
	Keep us ever from surrendering truth,	23:19
	or giving over freedom to those who in fear,	23:23
	or faithlessness tell us that we must fight evil	23:26
	with tools of evil,	23:31
	or falsehood with lies,	23:33
	or tyranny with ways of tyrants.	23:35
	Let this, Your university, be a light of truth	23:39
	in a world of darkness,	23:42
	a witness to freedom in a world where many are enslaved	23:45
	to idols and to ideologies,	23:49
	a place where all people shall come to know the good,	23:52
	and to know You, the wellspring of all good.	23:56
	O God, we pray for her graduates of Duke this day,	24:01
	those present, those who have gone before,	24:06
	and those who are yet to come, that in the midst of	24:10
	timid uncertainty, they may boldly stand for something,	24:14
	in the midst of aimlessness, they may have a goal,	24:19
	in the midst of false prophets,	24:23
	they may look to your kingdom as the hope of the world,	24:26
	and that in the midst of careless bees,	24:30
	they may mount up with wings as eagles,	24:33
	may run, and not be weary,	24:37
	may walk, and not faint.	24:40
	Hear our prayer, as in praise and thanksgiving	24:43
	for all that we now have, and hold.	24:47
	For we pray in Your name,	24:50
	and in the name of Jesus,	24:52
	who taught us to pray saying,	24:54
	"Our Father, who art in heaven,	24:57
	hallowed be thy Name,	25:00
	thy kingdom come,	25:02
	thy will be done,	25:04
	on earth as it is in heaven."	25:05
	"Give us this day our daily bread.	25:07
	And forgive us our trespasses,	25:10
	as we forgive those who trespass against us."	25:13
	"And lead us not into temptation,	25:16
	but deliver us from evil.	25:19
	For thine is the kingdom,	25:21
	and the power, and the glory,	25:23
	forever, Amen."	25:25
	("How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place")	25:35
-	Please stand please.	32:30
	Will you join with me as we offer to God	32:35
	this our unison prayer of gratitude, and hope.	32:39
	Let us pray.	32:43
	Almighty God,	32:45
	as you granted us place and part in this University,	32:47
	hallow to us now this day...	32:51
	When we dedicate ourselves to the life,	32:54
	and work to which you have called us here	32:56
	that we may remember with gratitude the families,	33:00
	and friends who have cared for us.	33:03
	We ask you presence O God,	33:06
	that in the life ahead of us,	33:09
	we may keep faith with those who have loved us,	33:10
	and trusted us, and whose hopes follow us.	33:13
	We ask your presence O God,	33:17
	that we may enter with good courage,	33:20
	and constant purpose upon the tasks that await us.	33:22
	We ask your presence O God,	33:26
	from all sense of strangeness, and loneliness,	33:29
	and from the fear that we may fail,	33:33
	or may find no friends.	33:35
	Good Lord deliver us	33:37
	that the example of wise and generous people,	33:40
	who have gone before us in our families,	33:44
	and here in this university,	33:46
	may save us from falling in self-indulgence.	33:49
	We ask your presence O God,	33:52
	more especially that you would show to us,	33:55
	and to all people your way of love,	33:58
	in a time where all of us desperately need to love,	34:02
	and to be loved.	34:06
	We ask your presence O God,	34:07
	these things, and whatever else you see needful,	34:10
	and right for us, we ask in you Holy Name...	34:14
	Amen.	34:18
	("Guide me, O thou Great Redeemer")	34:22
-	And now my friends,	38:18
	fill your hearts, and your minds	38:21
	with those things that are good,	38:24
	and worthy of praise,	38:28
	those things which are true,	38:31
	noble,	38:33
	right,	38:34
	lovely,	38:35
	and honorable.	38:37
	Put into practice those things which you have learned	38:39
	in this place,	38:43
	and the God who loves us, cares for us,	38:46
	and gives us peace	38:49
	will be with you,	38:52
	and those whom you love	38:54
	now and forever.	38:56
	("Amen")	39:04
	(organ plays)	40:18

	(organ music)	0:05
	(organ music)	7:24
	(choral music)	18:52
	("Ode to Joy" by Beethoven)	20:11
-	Grace, mercy, and peace be with you.	25:04
	From the Lord our God who has made us,	25:08
	who redeems us and sustains us.	25:11
	Amen.	25:15
	With what shall we come before the Lord our God?	25:16
	And bow ourselves before God on high.	25:20
	God has showed us, my friends, what is good and righteous.	25:25
	And what does the Lord require of us but to do justice,	25:30
	to love mercy, and to walk humbly before our God.	25:34
	With that awareness, and the awareness of how we live,	25:39
	let us now confess our sin to almighty God.	25:42
	Be seated please.	25:46
	Let us pray.	25:58
	Oh holy God, to whose service we long ago	26:00
	dedicated our souls and lives,	26:04
	we grieve and lament before you	26:07
	that we are still so prone to sin.	26:09
	And so little inclined to obedience.	26:12
	Attached to the pleasure of sins.	26:15
	Negligent of things spiritual.	26:18
	Prompt to gratify our bodies, slow to nourish our souls.	26:21
	Greedy for present delight,	26:26
	indifferent to lasting blessedness.	26:29
	Fond of idleness, indisposed for labor.	26:32
	Soon at play, late at prayer.	26:37
	Brisk in the service of self,	26:41
	slack in the service of others.	26:43
	Eager to get, reluctant to give.	26:46
	Lofty in our professions, low in our practice.	26:50
	Full of good intentions, backward to fulfill them.	26:55
	Severe with our neighbors, indulgent with ourselves.	27:00
	So eager to find fault, so resentful	27:05
	at being found fault with.	27:08
	So little able for great tasks.	27:11
	So discontented with small ones.	27:14
	So weak in adversity, so swollen	27:17
	and self-satisfied in prosperity.	27:20
	So helpless apart from you, and yet,	27:24
	so little willing to be bound to you.	27:27
	Oh, merciful heart of God.	27:30
	Grant us yet forgiveness,	27:33
	for your holy name's sake.	27:35
	Amen.	27:37
	The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us	27:59
	anyone who comes to God must believe that God exists,	28:03
	and rewards those who search for God.	28:07
	The mercy of the Lord is new every morning.	28:12
	Great is thy faithfulness, oh Lord our God.	28:15
	And now because of that faithfulness of God	28:20
	and that forgiveness which God offers us,	28:22
	I declare unto you in the name	28:25
	of the Lord our God, our sins are forgiven.	28:27
	Let us therefore give thanks, for God is good,	28:33
	and God's love is everlasting.	28:37
	Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.	28:40
	Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us.	28:44
	Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future.	28:48
	May I say a word of welcome to all of you,	28:54
	on this beautiful Lord's day, this special Mother's Day,	28:56
	and this high and holy moment of graduation day	29:03
	for the class of 1983 of Duke University.	29:07
	We are most pleased to have all of you here	29:13
	on this very, very special occasion.	29:16
	Without any doubt, the most significant weekend	29:19
	during the academic year for our university.	29:22
	So we are honored to have mothers, and fathers,	29:26
	and brothers, and sisters, and husbands, and wives.	29:29
	Children, friends, those of you who have loved	29:32
	and supported and cared for those who graduate this day,	29:36
	we are pleased to have you share	29:41
	with them in this very special time.	29:42
	May I say a word of congratulations to those of you	29:46
	who will receive degrees this afternoon.	29:48
	My prayer and my wish are that your	29:52
	time here at Duke University	29:55
	has been pleasant, or at least, most of it has.	29:58
	That it has been fruitful for you in many ways.	30:03
	But more especially, that the days ahead will be days	30:07
	of deep joy and satisfaction for you,	30:11
	as you leave this place to serve God,	30:14
	and to love your neighbor in all that you do.	30:17
	It's been good to have you here.	30:20
	And we wish God's blessings upon you.	30:22
	It is our privilege and our honor today	30:26
	to have as our guest preacher,	30:29
	the Reverend Dr. Bryant Kirkland,	30:32
	a most distinguished churchman in the United	30:35
	Presbyterian Church, indeed, in the larger Church	30:38
	in this country and around the world.	30:40
	Dr. Kirkland currently serves as the senior minister	30:44
	at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.	30:47
	A position he has held, a ministry	30:52
	which has been his for some 21 years now.	30:54
	He is a graduate of Wheaton College	30:58
	and of Princeton Theological Seminary,	31:00
	and holds honorary degrees from a number	31:03
	of major universities and colleges.	31:05
	He is widely known, and well-known, and much appreciated	31:09
	as a teacher, a preacher, and an author,	31:13
	carrying his ministry both in the written word	31:17
	and otherwise, through radio and televison.	31:20
	Dr. Kirkland, we are pleased to have you here, sir.	31:24
	To preach to us, to bring God's word to the graduates	31:28
	and to all of us on this very special occasion.	31:31
	And we pray God's blessings on you,	31:34
	as you come to bless us.	31:35
-	Let us pray.	31:43
	Almighty God, in whom we are hid	31:47
	all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,	31:51
	open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things	31:55
	out of your word, and give us grace	31:58
	that we may clearly understand,	32:00
	and heartily choose the way of your love.	32:03
	Amen.	32:06
	The Old Testament is from Second Kings.	32:09
	Once, when the King of Syria was warring against Israel,	32:13
	he took counsel with his servants,	32:17
	saying at such and such a place shall be my camp.	32:18
	But the man of God sent word to the King of Israel.	32:22
	Beware that you do not pass this place,	32:26
	for the Syrians are going down there.	32:28
	And the King of Israel sent to the place	32:31
	of which the man of God told him.	32:33
	So that he saved himself there more than once or twice.	32:36
	And the man of the King of Syria	32:40
	was greatly troubled because of this thing.	32:42
	And he called his servants and said to them,	32:45
	"Will you not show me who of us	32:48
	"Is for the King of Israel?"	32:51
	And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, oh king,	32:53
	"But Elijah, the prophet who is in Israel,	32:56
	"Tells the King of Israel the words	33:00
	"That you speak in your bedchamber."	33:02
	And he said, "Go and see where he is,	33:05
	"That I may send and seize him."	33:08
	and it was told, behold, he is at Dothan.	33:09
	So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army,	33:14
	and they came by night and surrounded the city.	33:18
	And the servant of the man of God	33:22
	rose early in the morning and went out.	33:23
	Behold, an army with horses and chariots	33:25
	were around about the city.	33:28
	And the servant said, "Alas, my master.	33:29
	"What shall we do?"	33:32
	He said, "Fear not, for those who are with us	33:34
	"Are more than those who are with them."	33:37
	Then Elijah prayed and said, "Oh, Lord, I pray thee,	33:40
	"Open his eyes that he may see."	33:44
	So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man.	33:47
	And he saw and beheld a mountain that was full of horses	33:50
	and chariots of fire round about Elijah.	33:53
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	33:57
	The Epistle lesson is from Revelation, Chapter 21.	34:00
	Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.	34:07
	For the first heaven and the first earth	34:11
	had passed away, and the sea was no more.	34:13
	And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,	34:17
	coming down out of the heaven from God,	34:20
	prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.	34:23
	And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,	34:26
	"Behold, the dwelling of God is with men.	34:30
	"He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.	34:33
	"God Himself will be with them.	34:36
	"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,	34:39
	"And death shall be no more.	34:42
	"Neither shall there be mourning,	34:44
	"Nor crying, nor pain anymore.	34:46
	"For the former things have passed away."	34:48
	and he who sat upon the throne said,	34:52
	"Behold, I make all things new."	34:55
	Also he said, write this, for these words	34:58
	are trustworthy and true.	35:02
	And he said to me, "It is done.	35:05
	"I am the Alpha and the Omega.	35:08
	"The beginning and the end.	35:10
	"To the thirsty I will give water, without price,	35:12
	"From the fountain of the water of life.	35:15
	"He who conquers shall have this heritage.	35:18
	"And I will be his God, and he shall be my son."	35:21
	Here ends the reading from the Epistle lesson.	35:26
	(organ music)	35:40
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	36:20
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	36:26
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	36:33
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	36:40
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	36:47
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	36:53
	(organ music)	37:01
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	37:07
	(organ music)	37:13
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	37:19
	(organ music)	37:25
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	37:29
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	37:36
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	37:43
	(organ music)	37:50
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:02
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:08
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:16
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:23
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:32
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:39
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:46
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	38:53
	(organ music)	39:02
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	39:08
	♪ Christe eleison ♪	39:22
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	39:31
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	39:37
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	39:43
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	39:49
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	39:56
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	40:02
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	40:07
	♪ Kyrie eleison ♪	40:13
	(organ music)	40:19
	♪ Kyrie ♪	40:22
	♪ Kyrie ♪	40:33
	(organ music)	40:41
-	Will the congregation please stand	41:02
	for the reading of the Gospel.	41:04
	The Gospel lesson is from Saint Matthew.	41:13
	Then the disciples came and said to him,	41:16
	why do you speak to them in parables?	41:19
	and he answered them, to you it has been given	41:22
	to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven.	41:25
	But to them, it has not been given.	41:28
	For to him who has will more be given,	41:32
	and he will have abundance.	41:34
	But from him who has not,	41:36
	even what he has will be taken away.	41:38
	This is why I speak to them in parables.	41:41
	Because seeing, they do not see.	41:44
	hearing they do not hear.	41:47
	Nor do they understand.	41:49
	With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah,	41:52
	which says, you shall indeed hear but never understand,	41:55
	and you shall indeed see, but never perceive.	42:00
	For this people's heart has grown dull.	42:03
	And their ears are heavy of hearing.	42:06
	And their eyes they have closed.	42:09
	But blessed are your eyes, for they see.	42:12
	And your ears, for they hear.	42:15
	Truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men	42:18
	long to see what you see and did not see it.	42:22
	And to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.	42:26
	Here ends the reading from the Gospel lesson.	42:30
	Amen.	42:33
	(organ music)	42:35
	(choir music)	42:42
-	President Sandford, Eminent trustees,	43:38
	distinguished faculty, honored graduates,	43:41
	long-suffering parents.	43:45
	It's a great privilege to be here in this beautiful place,	43:48
	and in this distinguished university,	43:52
	and celebrate your high day.	43:55
	It's also a very solemn and heavy responsibility.	43:58
	I recognize that this hour,	44:02
	I'm the last great obstacle between you and your degree.	44:04
	Nevertheless,	44:10
	I want to say a good word for your happiness	44:12
	and your future careers.	44:16
	The whole theme is live your light and an inner vision,	44:20
	and you will be able to overcome the obstacles	44:24
	and the tumult that ordinary life brings.	44:27
	So, if anybody asks you what did he talk about,	44:31
	you can say he said something about live your life	44:34
	in the light of an inner vision, and you will prevail.	44:37
	Incidentally, the rain will not come	44:42
	until 5:12 this afternoon.	44:43
	(audience laughs)	44:46
	I want to say a word of appreciation	44:52
	to Professor Wilder and his exquisite	44:54
	marshaling of all the forces.	44:58
	I want to say a word of gratitude	45:00
	to Dr. Young and his camera for their hospitality.	45:01
	The Youngs and the Wilders have members	45:07
	in the graduating class,	45:09
	so this is a special day for them too.	45:10
	It has really been good to be here.	45:14
	And I go home refreshed from the inspiration of what	45:15
	I've long held and believed about Duke University.	45:19
	Since this is the last time I speak of the trilogy,	45:23
	let me indulge in one bit of humor.	45:26
	A minister in the recent Louisiana flood	45:29
	went up to his ridgepole on his roof.	45:32
	A rowboat came by and said, "Hop in, Reverend."	45:35
	He said, "No, God will take care of me, go get."	45:38

Item Info

Title:

Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service 10:30 am (May 8, 1983)

Description:

Only by living by the light of an inner vision will we be able to live full and purposeful lives. This vision will help guide us through the hills and valleys and the obscure darknesses of life. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 00:05. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 45:42.
Key quotation: “Live by the light of an inner vision.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4f47h81d

Date:

May 8, 1983

Speaker:

Kirkland, Bryant

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0149
ref7821_042
uachapelsermaud
duke:320732
dcrau001140
ark:/87924/r4f47h81d
36030f31-3959-4858-ab99-c8836ac058c7

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service 10:30 am (May 8, 1983)

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1. Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service (May 7, 1983)

2. Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service 8:30 am (May 8, 1983)

Duke University Archives

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Bryant Kirkland - Baccalaureate Service 10:30 am (May 8, 1983)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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