Peter J. Gomes - "Opportunity and Obstacles" Baccalaureate Service 8:30 am (May 4, 1986)

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	(traditional catholic music)	0:02
-	As a forgiven people, we recognize that is only	20:15
	the love of God that saves us and not we ourselves.	20:19
	Therefore, let us confess our sins to almighty God	20:24
	that we may be reconciled unto our maker.	20:28
	The one who redeems us and who sustains us.	20:32
	Please be seated.	20:36
	Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned	20:56
	against you in thought, word, and deed.	21:01
	By what we have done and by what we have left undone.	21:05
	We have not loved you with our whole heart.	21:10
	We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.	21:13
	We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.	21:17
	For the sake of your son Jesus Christ,	21:22
	have mercy on us and forgive us that we may	21:24
	delight in your will and walk in your ways.	21:29
	To the glory of your name, amen.	21:33
	For as the heavens are high above the earth	21:38
	so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.	21:40
	As far as the east is from the west,	21:45
	so far does he remove our transgressions from us.	21:49
	Amen.	21:53
-	Let us pray.	22:04
	Open our hearts and minds oh God,	22:06
	by the power of your holy spirit.	22:09
	So that as the word is read and proclaimed	22:11
	we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.	22:14
	Amen.	22:19
	The first lesson is taken from Acts.	22:21
	But some men came down from Judea	22:24
	and were teaching the brethren,	22:27
	unless you are circumcised according to the custom	22:29
	of Moses, you cannot be saved.	22:32
	And when Paul and Barnabas had no small decension	22:36
	and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas	22:39
	and some of the others were appointed to go up	22:42
	to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders	22:45
	about this question.	22:47
	Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders	22:50
	with the whole church to choose men from among them	22:53
	and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.	22:56
	They sent Judas, called Barsavas,	23:01
	and Silas leading men among the brethren	23:04
	with the following letter.	23:07
	The brethren, both the apostles and the elders,	23:09
	to the brethren who are the gentiles in Antioch and Syria	23:13
	and Selicia, greeting.	23:17
	Since we have heard that some persons from us	23:21
	have troubled you with words, unsettling your minds,	23:23
	although we gave them no instructions	23:27
	it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord	23:29
	to choose men and send them to you	23:34
	with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.	23:37
	Men who have risked their lives for the sake	23:40
	of our Lord Jesus Christ.	23:42
	We have therefore sent Judas and Silas	23:44
	who themselves will tell you the same things	23:47
	by word of mouth, for it has seemed good to the holy spirit	23:50
	and to us to lay upon you no greater burden	23:54
	than these necessary things.	23:58
	That you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols	24:01
	and from blood and from what is strangled	24:04
	and from unchastity.	24:07
	If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.	24:10
	Farewell.	24:14
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	24:16
	(traditional catholic music)	24:34
	Please rise for the reading of the gospel.	28:09
	The gospel lesson is taken from St. John.	28:18
	Jesus answered him, if a man loves me,	28:21
	he will keep my word and my father will love him.	28:24
	And we will come to him and make our home with him.	28:29
	He who does not love me does not keep my words	28:33
	and the word which you hear is not mine,	28:37
	but the father's who sent me.	28:40
	These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you	28:43
	but the counselor, the holy spirit, whom the father	28:47
	will send in my name, he will teach you all things	28:51
	and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.	28:54
	Peace I leave with you.	28:59
	My peace I give to you.	29:01
	Not as the world gives do I give to you.	29:03
	Let not your hearts be troubled,	29:06
	neither let them be afraid.	29:09
	You heard me say to you, I go away and I will come to you.	29:11
	If you love me, you would have rejoiced	29:15
	because I go to the father, for the father	29:19
	is greater than I.	29:22
	And now I have told you before it takes place	29:24
	so that when it does take place, you may believe.	29:27
	This ends the reading of the gospel.	29:31
	(traditional catholic music)	29:36
-	Be seated.	30:36
	As minister to the university, I welcome you to the chapel	30:42
	on this glad day of baccalaureate and commencement.	30:46
	And I welcome back to the pulpit of Duke Chapel,	30:52
	the Reverend Dr. Peter Gomes.	30:55
	Dr. Gomes leads a vibrant ministry	30:58
	from Memorial Church at Harvard University.	31:02
	He has international renown as a gifted interpreter	31:06
	of the Christian faith and we welcome him back to Duke.	31:10
-	I read from the 16th chapter of	31:32
	St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians,	31:37
	beginning at the first verse.	31:42
	Now concerning the contribution for the saints,	31:48
	as I directed the churches of Galatia,	31:53
	so you also are to do.	31:57
	On the first day of every week each of you	32:01
	is to put something aside and store it up	32:04
	as he may prosper so that contributions	32:09
	need not be made when I come.	32:13
	And when I arrive I will send those whom you	32:16
	accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.	32:20
	If it seems advisable that I should go also,	32:26
	they will accompany me.	32:29
	I will visit you after passing through Masedonia,	32:32
	for I intend to pass through Masedonia	32:36
	and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter	32:40
	so that you may speed me on my journey wherever I go.	32:45
	For I do not want to see you now just in passing.	32:51
	I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits.	32:55
	But I will stay in Ephasis until Pentecost.	33:01
	For a wide door, for effective	33:06
	work has opened to me	33:10
	and there are many adversaries.	33:13
	When Timothy comes see that you put him at ease	33:17
	among you for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.	33:20
	So let no one despise him.	33:26
	Speed him on his way in peace that he may return to me	33:29
	for I am expecting him with the brethren.	33:35
	Here ends the lesson.	33:40
	Let us pray.	33:44
	Help us Lord to become masters of ourselves,	33:49
	that we may become servants of others.	33:54
	Take our hands and work through them.	33:58
	Take our minds and think through them.	34:01
	Take our lips and speak through them.	34:05
	And take our hearts and set them on fire	34:09
	for Christ's sake, amen.	34:14
	I take as my text the ninth verse	34:25
	of this 16th chapter	34:28
	from first Corinthians which we have just read.	34:30
	These words,	34:35
	for a wide door for effective work	34:38
	has opened to me	34:42
	and there are many adversaries.	34:45
	For hundreds of years now	34:54
	the old, like ourselves,	34:57
	have assembled the young like yourselves before us	35:00
	on occasions very much like this.	35:06
	And have inflicted upon them, that is you,	35:10
	one last bit of unsolicited advice.	35:16
	This is the season of the year when this ritual	35:22
	takes place across the land	35:26
	with painful regularity and frequency.	35:29
	And the formula for occasions such as this	35:34
	is a variation upon	35:38
	one of the following contentions,	35:41
	the advice that we give to us is something like this.	35:45
	The world is in terrible shape,	35:51
	but you can handle it.	35:56
	Or the world is in very good shape,	36:00
	and you're very lucky to be going out into it.	36:05
	Or finally, the world is in terrible shape	36:10
	and so are you.	36:15
	Now given this advice with its mixed signals	36:20
	and its mixed messages, it is possible for any	36:24
	baccalaureate preacher anywhere to preach any sermon	36:28
	on any one of these and this is one of them.	36:32
	Now given this advice and this perception	36:37
	there is reason to understand why there may be	36:41
	among you some who wish to press for some form	36:44
	of student tenure.	36:48
	It was George Clinton who a few years ago	36:50
	at a class they addressed at Harvard looked out	36:54
	at the undergraduates very much like yourselves	36:57
	about to enter the world and he said to them,	37:00
	ladies and gentlemen of the class of whatever,	37:02
	I have one word of advice to you, don't go.	37:04
	It's terrible out there.	37:09
	But you must go.	37:14
	You've only hired these gowns for one day.	37:16
	You must go.	37:19
	Your parents can't afford to keep you here any longer.	37:21
	Duke University cannot afford to have you	37:27
	stay here any longer because you now know too much.	37:29
	The university is really in the business of ignorance,	37:36
	not in the business of knowledge.	37:40
	That is why when you know too much,	37:43
	they graduate you. They get you out of the way.	37:47
	Very much like your ancestors, Adam and Eve.	37:51
	When you know more than is good for you,	37:56
	you are expelled or as they say to you,	37:59
	graduated from this Eden	38:02
	and they are sent out	38:07
	like yourselves, not because they were dumb.	38:08
	They weren't stupid.	38:11
	But because they knew too much	38:13
	and not for their own good.	38:16
	That of course, is an illustration in search of a sermon.	38:19
	Now the preacher's task on	38:26
	an occasion such as this is to try to make some	38:30
	sort of sense of this expulsion.	38:35
	To put as sweet a taste on this poisoned pill as possible.	38:38
	It is an attempt to sort it out, both to speed you	38:44
	on your way and to welcome you to that place	38:48
	to which you are now going.	38:53
	And to do so without imposing too much upon your time,	38:54
	your good sense, or your good humor.	38:59
	So I take this task very seriously,	39:04
	for I have a healthy regard for what I know	39:07
	transpires here in Duke University.	39:10
	I take this task seriously because I care for the world	39:14
	into which you are now to enter.	39:19
	And I take this task most seriously	39:23
	because I have high hope and confidence in you,	39:26
	in your character, in your mind,	39:32
	in your imagination, in your courage,	39:36
	in your spirit, and in your souls.	39:40
	Now it would be very easy and an overwhelming temptation	39:45
	to use this as an opportunity to flatter you	39:51
	and compliment you on all of those skills and abilities	39:55
	that have sustained you here in your days at Duke.	40:00
	Accomplishments upon a field, distinctions in the classroom.	40:05
	All of those graces and gifts which has made	40:10
	your presence here worthwhile.	40:14
	But you all know already how clever and bright	40:17
	and attractive you are.	40:21
	You do not need a hired preacher from Harvard	40:23
	to tell you that.	40:27
	You know better than I do	40:29
	how hard you have worked here.	40:33
	Some of you to make the system work for you	40:36
	and others of you to avoid any work at all.	40:40
	Not a few of you candidates are here this morning	40:45
	solely by the grace of God.	40:49
	You therefore and you know who you are,	40:54
	you therefore have more reason than most to be thankful	40:57
	and you should have attended all three	41:01
	of these baccalaureate services.	41:03
	But it is not for us to meditate upon the glories	41:08
	or the difficulties of the past.	41:13
	Our task before us is just that.	41:16
	It is before us, in front of us.	41:21
	And my responsibility for you this morning	41:26
	is to help you look at, at the moment,	41:30
	what only I can see.	41:33
	For I am looking at the western doors of this church,	41:36
	out of which shortly, you shall pass.	41:41
	My task is to raise the question with you,	41:46
	how can you cope with the reality beyond those doors,	41:49
	the reality, the certainty	41:55
	of an uncertain future.	41:58
	Now this is not a very original question.	42:03
	I know that.	42:05
	But then again, this is hardly an original occasion.	42:07
	You are not the first, nor will you be the last	42:11
	to sit under these espouses.	42:14
	And neither you nor I are very original people	42:17
	as far as that goes.	42:20
	In fact, the only original thing about us	42:22
	is of course original sin, but that also	42:25
	is a subject for another sermon at another time.	42:29
	The presumption that we live in a very unique age	42:33
	which therefore requires some very unique counsel	42:37
	because we are very unique people facing	42:41
	these special unique problems is simply put,	42:44
	a not very unique presumption.	42:47
	So to help us frame this, to provide a coat hook	42:50
	upon which to hang these ideas and perhaps you and me	42:55
	together, to help us do this I take as a text	42:59
	a modest bit of enigmatic pros from St. Paul's	43:04
	first letter to the Corinthians.	43:09
	These words which you have probably not	43:12
	heard very often before.	43:14
	For a wide door for effective	43:17
	work has been opened to me	43:21
	and there are many adversaries.	43:24
	Now if you can remember five minutes ago	43:30
	to that chapter from Corinthians which I read to you,	43:34
	you may have wondered what on earth is going on.	43:37
	This is not one of the more familiar	43:42
	and intimate passages from the new testament.	43:45
	It seems one of those little business notes	43:49
	that St. Paul is always dashing off.	43:52
	Corporate memos to his constituents hither and yon,	43:54
	a combination of homily, gossip, injunction,	43:59
	advice, preaching, all of that sort of thing.	44:03
	More like a collage of messages taped to the	44:07
	refrigerator door, rather than a philosophical essay	44:11
	or a reasoned discourse.	44:16
	So I'm going to ask you to do what is very easy	44:20
	for you to do and that is forget the travel.	44:22
	Forget the offering for the saints at Jerusalem.	44:25
	Don't worry about Masedonia or if you have	44:28
	any idea where it is.	44:31
	Don't get upset trying to sort out who Timothy was	44:33
	or where he was.	44:37
	I am asking you to focus	44:39
	for a moment at that almost	44:42
	parenthetical statement which I have extracted for my text.	44:45
	That word about a wide door for effective work	44:51
	and the fact that there are many adversaries with it.	44:56
	Now note that the apostle says about the adversaries	45:02
	and rather than but.	45:08
	He doesn't say a great door has opened for me,	45:11
	but there are problems on the other side.	45:14
	He doesn't say there is a great opportunity awaiting me,	45:16
	but unfortunately there are also some obstacles.	45:20
	He doesn't even say there is a great opportunity now	45:24
	available to me and I fear there are some problems also.	45:29
	He says there is a wide and effective door	45:34
	opened to me and there are many adversaries.	45:38
	There are by definition adversaries	45:44
	with this open door.	45:48
	There are obstacles that come with every opportunity.	45:50
	They are one and the same process.	45:55
	With every opportunity there comes adversity	46:00
	and if this is so, so to is the opposite.	46:04
	With adversity there comes of necessity,	46:08
	opportunity.	46:13
	Paul recognized that in some sense adversity	46:15
	was not the opposite of opportunity.	46:19
	It was the consequence.	46:23
	He understood as so many of us do not	46:26
	that both opportunity and adversity	46:28
	are seasons of grace.	46:32
	They are together a part of the normal ordinary	46:35
	business of living.	46:40
	Now in a university community, especially as privileged	46:44
	a university community as this one is,	46:48
	one frequently is brought up with a view	46:51
	that one has a ticket only to opportunity	46:55
	and a first class ticket to opportunity at that.	46:59
	That is what you will be handed this afternoon.	47:03
	This first class ticket to opportunity.	47:07
	Somehow here we've sifted	47:11
	few and Henry James'	47:15
	deliciously original and cynical phrase,	47:17
	we pay these exorbitant fees and those of us who teach	47:20
	are paid these pitiful salaries to be	47:25
	protected from adversity of any sort.	47:30
	We are subsidized in the view that a carefree	47:36
	opportunity belongs to us as a right.	47:41
	And that anything less than this is the academic	47:45
	equivalent of sin, which is to say	47:49
	it is unfair.	47:52
	It is unfair, say some of you, that your generation	47:55
	should inherent the threat of nuclear annihilation	48:00
	thus spoiling your.	48:04

-	From raining on your parade.	0:02
	It is unfair that the machinations of the economy,	0:05
	such as it is, will make it likely that your standard	0:10
	of living will be lower than that of your parents,	0:14
	that is unless you're going to be a lawyer.	0:18
	It is unfair that we cannot	0:22
	resolve the wrongs	0:27
	in Latin America, South Africa, the Middle East,	0:29
	or Northern Ireland or next door without	0:33
	undue inconvenience to ourselves.	0:38
	It is unfair that we should be kicked out of Duke	0:42
	just when we got to figure out how the place ran,	0:48
	and almost do it by and for ourselves.	0:51
	Now, it would be presumptuous of me to come	0:57
	from afar to lay this kind of indictment upon you	1:01
	as your guest, but I know this to be a universal axiom,	1:06
	for in Cambridge, before I came down here on Thursday,	1:12
	in Harvard Square, I saw a great blue sweatshirt,	1:16
	and on the front of that sweatshirt, it said,	1:21
	"Harvard: The Duke of the North".	1:26
	(laughter)	1:30
	(applause)	1:33
	So I know what is true in Cambridge is equally true	1:37
	in Durham.	1:41
	(laughter)	1:43
	Now we know, at least we ought to know,	1:44
	that a university education ought to teach one	1:47
	how to make the most of one's opportunities.	1:52
	Opportunities come to him who is prepared,	1:57
	that we know.	2:01
	But the university at its best is also engaged	2:03
	in the business of dealing with the adversity	2:06
	that also and always comes with opportunity.	2:11
	For nothing less than life itself,	2:16
	that combination of opportunity and obstacle,	2:18
	nothing less than life itself is	2:23
	the business of learning.	2:26
	And it is to that business that the university	2:28
	is committed.	2:31
	It doesn't always succeed, however.	2:34
	It was Kierkegaard who, in criticism of Hegel,	2:37
	that gloomy German, said, "He teaches you	2:41
	"everything you need to know in the world	2:45
	"except how to live your life and die your death."	2:49
	What a sad verdict on such a wise man.	2:54
	And it would be as sad a verdict upon you	3:00
	if it were true.	3:04
	But one of the reasons that you spend your last	3:06
	hour and a half as Duke students, not out on	3:10
	the field, and not in the library or in the laboratory,	3:13
	but in this holy place, is that if you learn	3:17
	nothing else, you will begin to learn the necessity	3:22
	of how to live your life and die your death,	3:27
	for that is the whole sum of any education worth having.	3:32
	And it begins in this holy place.	3:38
	You're at the right place, at the right time,	3:42
	whether you know it or not.	3:46
	Now, there will still be commencement orators across	3:52
	the land who will rise in place and continue	3:56
	to sound the trumpets of opportunity in technological	4:01
	terms; some of them will even offer some of you a job.	4:06
	They will tell us that we can do anything	4:12
	we want to do; they will give audiences license	4:16
	to sing that grammar school taunt, "anything you can do,	4:21
	"I can do better," and because so many	4:25
	of you have been here for so long, have worked so hard,	4:29
	and have paid out so much, you will be tempted	4:33
	to believe these prophets of progress	4:37
	and take them to your bosom.	4:40
	Now I do not despise progress; please do not mistake	4:44
	me as an anti-progressive.	4:48
	Do not think me as one who sticks a spoke	4:51
	in the great wheel of progress.	4:54
	I am not a Luddite; if you don't know	4:57
	who a Luddite is, you shouldn't accept your	4:59
	degree this afternoon.	5:02
	I am not a member of the Amish community.	5:04
	I do hold with the little old lady from Dubuke	5:07
	who said that if God had intended man to fly	5:10
	he would not have invented the railroad.	5:13
	No, I don't accept those negative views of progress.	5:17
	I am a result of progress;	5:22
	all of us are results of progress.	5:24
	I like my microwave, for example.	5:28
	I continue to be amazed by the internal combustion engine.	5:32
	I think digital clocks are terrific,	5:37
	and I admire all the other marvelous, miraculous	5:40
	products from Japan.	5:44
	I'm very much in favor of progress,	5:46
	but I hope that neither you nor I will ever mistake	5:50
	these achievements and wonders for anything	5:55
	other than what they are: means and diversions.	5:59
	Means and diversions.	6:04
	Perhaps that we need to remember Thoreau's words when	6:08
	voting against the extension of the telegraph	6:13
	from Concord to Boston in 1847,	6:17
	he stood up in the town meeting and said,	6:21
	"All our progress is but improved means	6:25
	"to unimproved ends."	6:30
	Now we don't need to be chastened by anything	6:35
	quite so modest as the extension of a telegraph	6:39
	line from Concord to Boston.	6:43
	The Challenger disaster in January may have	6:47
	delayed the exploration of outer space,	6:51
	but it may as well have accelerated the	6:56
	exploration of inner space because it	6:59
	has introduced to us a season of great	7:03
	and significant introspection.	7:08
	When that dreadful disaster revealed itself before	7:12
	our eyes on the television screen,	7:16
	we were assured in the days after,	7:20
	first that it was some kind of terrible	7:23
	technical or technological fluke or error,	7:27
	which, once detected, could be corrected,	7:31
	and no loss to progress	7:36
	or science or to the Space Program	7:38
	would be recorded despite the regrettable human loss.	7:42
	Our commentators, for example, were concerned for	7:47
	our young children who saw this disaster on television,	7:51
	they were concerned not that the children would be	7:55
	traumatized by the sight of so violent a death.	7:58
	No! Our children see violent death all of the time;	8:02
	that was nothing new, they were quite used to that,	8:07
	more's the pity.	8:10
	What they feared, what the commentators' fears were	8:12
	was that children would be traumatized by	8:17
	the apparent failure of technology,	8:21
	that the machine would be seen to be fallible.	8:25
	They were not worried about the loss of life;	8:29
	they were worried about the loss of confidence	8:33
	in the machinery, the technique, the technology,	8:36
	of our time.	8:40
	But now, five months later, we know that	8:43
	at the heart of the shuttle failure	8:48
	was not technological failure, though that	8:51
	is the immediate cause, but we know that	8:55
	at the heart of this, as at the heart of so many things,	8:59
	is human failure.	9:03
	A lie here on the part of an over-ambitious engineer,	9:07
	a cover-up there on the part of super-sensitive	9:11
	administrators in the Space Program,	9:14
	the desire to push things along faster and faster,	9:17
	the need for the appearance of success at any cost.	9:21
	The unwillingness to entertain adversity as a colleague	9:26
	of opportunity, the unwillingness to entertain even	9:30
	the susceptibility of failure.	9:34
	That is their very phrase: "We did not think this	9:36
	was susceptible to failure."	9:39
	Human error, human arrogance, human ambition,	9:42
	not ignorance, not evil, these were at the heart	9:46
	of this dreadful dilemma, this terrible disaster.	9:50
	Error seems to be the culprit here,	9:55
	and ambition for achievement, vain distinction,	9:57
	power, all of those things that you have	10:02
	been taught so wisely to go after and have been	10:04
	so clever in adapting to, all of these things,	10:07
	that from time immemorial have deluded us into	10:12
	thinking ourselves wiser and better than	10:17
	we are or can be.	10:21
	The opportunity for wide and effective work is great.	10:24
	But often, more often than not, the adversaries	10:30
	are not only out there, beyond those doors,	10:35
	but right here within ourselves.	10:39
	At the end of the Second World War, when Europe	10:45
	had been restored to peace and democracy,	10:50
	at the height of the great achievement of the	10:55
	Western democracies in restoring peace and	10:58
	the prospect of prosperity, Winston Churchill,	11:02
	who had every reason to speak with authority,	11:06
	surveyed all of this and wrote these words:	11:09
	"Man, at this moment of his history has emerged	11:15
	"in greater supremacy over the forces of nature	11:19
	"than has ever been dreamed before.	11:23
	"He has conquered the wild beasts,	11:26
	"He has even conquered the insects and the microbes.	11:28
	"There lies before him, if he wishes,	11:33
	a golden age of peace and prosperity."	11:37
	"All is in his hand.	11:42
	"He has only to conquer his last and worst enemy,	11:45
	himself."	11:50
	The work of the last four or six	11:54
	or eight years in this university	11:59
	has been devoted on your part to what you know.	12:02
	The next years,	12:09
	as soon as you pass through those doors,	12:11
	will be devoted in some measure, to what you do.	12:15
	But none of it, what you know or what you do,	12:21
	will amount to anything	12:27
	if you don't know who you are	12:29
	and whose you are.	12:34
	Now there is an arrogance that comes with	12:40
	knowledge such as you and I possess, and such as will be	12:45
	celebrated in high academic festivity this afternoon.	12:50
	And that arrogance is just as dangerous as the ignorance	12:56
	which it is called to vanquish.	13:01
	There is also an arrogance that comes with virtue, as well.	13:05
	And you who would be virtuous	13:11
	ought to pay heed to its dangers.	13:15
	There is an aphorism that says, a surplus of virtue	13:19
	is more dangerous than a surplus of vice, for a surplus	13:24
	of virtue is not subject	13:29
	to the constraints of conscience.	13:32
	Think of it, how much harm is done in the	13:36
	name of good, or of God?	13:40
	How much real wickedness is done by those who in the	13:44
	name of a just cause will stop at nothing	13:47
	to achieve their ends?	13:51
	University men and women are subject as few others are	13:54
	to the arrogance of knowledge and virtue,	13:59
	thinking that all who disagree with you	14:03
	are either stupid or wicked, or both.	14:05
	One of the virtues of the world that lies beyond	14:10
	those wide and effective doors in the west end	14:13
	is that you will not be permitted the luxury, uncontested,	14:17
	of either of these options for long.	14:23
	I said earlier that this is not an original occasion.	14:30
	It would be tempting, even seductive for us to believe	14:36
	that somehow the world today is now a very different	14:40
	place from what it was 25 or even 50 years ago.	14:44
	And certainly there is no comparison with the world	14:49
	of Adam and Eve, or Saint Paul,	14:52
	or even of the dukes.	14:56
	Happily, we are free from all of that, we feel.	14:59
	Our medieval academic costume, and this medieval	15:02
	ecclesiastical architecture and the Wesleyans' piety	15:07
	that surrounds us all are simply ornamental props for	15:11
	a brave show, for a brave world,	15:15
	for brave new people.	15:19
	I think that both is a false and a dangerous view.	15:23
	The world, I suggest, nuclear threat and all,	15:28
	is fundamentally the same place it has always been,	15:33
	and so, too, therefore, are men and women.	15:39
	The same fears, the same hopes, the same weaknesses,	15:43
	the same ambitions, and the same joys confront	15:47
	us as confronted your mothers and your fathers	15:51
	and your line back to Adam and to Eve.	15:55
	We are not so much different than they.	15:58
	And if that is true, is it not a source	16:02
	of some profound reassurance that the god	16:06
	who cared for them and preserves them up to this	16:09
	very moment is the same god who will do the	16:12
	same thing for you and for me as well?	16:15
	And if that is true, is it not one of the	16:21
	hopeful ironies of our time, that you should	16:25
	be prepared to enter a secular	16:30
	and crazy world	16:34
	by a service of piety, prayer,	16:37
	hymns, thanksgiving,	16:41
	before the holy table of God	16:44
	in this most holy spot?	16:48
	That you should be prepared to face the world by facing	16:52
	the presence of the living and loving God.	16:56
	Now what encouraged Saint Paul to pass through	17:05
	that wide door for effective work and to	17:09
	embrace the adversaries within, without, on every side,	17:14
	was the conviction that	17:19
	God in Jesus Christ was the	17:22
	same yesterday, today, and forever.	17:25
	No less a conviction than this would	17:31
	enable or empower him in the	17:34
	face of his own arrogance	17:38
	and the face of his own weakness	17:41
	and the face of the opposition of many forces	17:43
	and adversaries, within, without, and beyond.	17:48
	If there is continuity in the sin of the world,	17:53
	there is also continuity in the hope of the world	17:57
	and you, now, are part of that hope.	18:02
	You cannot act that part alone,	18:07
	and that is why all of you young scholars,	18:09
	and old scholars, good scholars,	18:13
	indifferent scholars, and bad scholars,	18:16
	why all of you find yourselves here to receive	18:19
	the prayers and blessings of the church.	18:24
	For finally, and ultimately, it is the best	18:29
	thing that we can give you,	18:34
	and it is the only thing that will keep you.	18:36
	To some of you, this may seem just one	18:43
	more pious anachronism, here we are	18:46
	in the midst of a Gothic quadrangle,	18:51
	translated from the 15th century to the	18:54
	woods of North Carolina, what has this	18:57
	to do with me, you say?	19:02
	Well, a great deal, for the power of	19:06
	the Christian faith does not depend upon	19:10
	whether you believe in God or not.	19:15
	It has very little to do with your consent	19:20
	to that proposition.	19:23
	It has everything to do with the proposition	19:26
	that God believes in you, both despite	19:30
	who you are, and because of who you are.	19:33
	And upon such a bold, uncompromising premise	19:38
	as that, is our holy church founded,	19:43
	this university nourished, and the hope	19:48
	of the world in you maintained.	19:52
	That's what holds this place up.	19:56
	Well, then, are we asking you,	20:05
	ladies and gentlemen of 1986,	20:09
	are we asking you to be heroes and heroines?	20:12
	Dare to be a Daniel, dare to be a Paul,	20:17
	as the old Sunday school song goes,	20:20
	are we asking you to join the saints and the martyrs,	20:23
	these marvelous people in these windows,	20:28
	God's Phi Beta Kappa chapter,	20:31
	are we asking you to join with them in this great	20:33
	heroic enterprise?	20:39
	Well, with all due respect to you, and the saints,	20:42
	and the ideal of the heroic, we do not need	20:46
	to graduate one more hero or heroine.	20:51
	We do not need to create yet another	20:55
	class of experts and specialists.	20:57
	What we want are ordinary men and women,	21:01
	who, with extraordinary passion and compassion,	21:05
	perform the ordinary tasks of life in this world	21:10
	which is ours.	21:15
	We pray the prayer of Browning's Paracelsus,	21:18
	who asks, "Make no more giants, Lord,	21:23
	but elevate the race."	21:26
	We ask you to elevate the race, to raise	21:29
	the standard of living, to raise the standard	21:34
	of expectation, by doing what you can,	21:39
	where you are with what you have	21:43
	because you know to whom	21:46
	and for whom you live.	21:49
	There is now open to each of you a wide	21:55
	and great door for effectual work in the world.	22:00
	I see it, it is open, trust me.	22:05
	When you turn around, there it will be.	22:07
	And there are many adversaries as well out there,	22:12
	and you will meet more than your share of them.	22:17
	You cannot stay here.	22:23
	You cannot stay in this chapel.	22:25
	You cannot stay in this university.	22:27
	You must get on with it, and get out,	22:30
	and the quicker, the better.	22:33
	In the words of the spiritual,	22:36
	"You will go, you shall go,	22:39
	to see what the end will be."	22:42
	But as you go, may God go	22:47
	before you, behind you,	22:51
	beside you, within you,	22:55
	and always with you, for you	22:59
	can't do what you must do alone,	23:03
	for there is open to you a wide and effective	23:07
	door for great work,	23:12
	and there are many adversaries.	23:16
	God go with you as you meet them.	23:21
	Amen.	23:26
	(uplifting organ music)	23:31
-	Let us unite in this historic confession	27:17
	of the Christian faith.	27:19
Congregation	I believe in God the Father, Almighty,	27:21
	Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ,	27:25
	His only Son, our Lord, who is conceived	27:28
	by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,	27:32
	suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,	27:36
	dead, and buried,	27:39
	He descended into Hell.	27:41
	The third day he rose again from the dead.	27:44
	He ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right	27:47
	hand of God the Father, Almighty,	27:51
	from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.	27:54
	I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church,	27:58
	the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins,	28:03
	the resurrection of the body,	28:07
	and the life everlasting, amen.	28:09
-	The Lord be with you.	28:13
Congregation	And also with you.	28:16
-	Let us pray, be seated.	28:18
	Gracious God, source of all truth and wisdom,	28:27
	all knowledge and love,	28:31
	without your guidance, this day would not be possible.	28:35
	For these, our graduating students,	28:39
	we pray that they might be blessed	28:42
	with self-confidence and determination,	28:44
	to use their lives and what they have learned here	28:47
	in service of causes which benefit humanity.	28:51
	We are conscious, O God, of the many needs	28:57
	present within our modern world,	29:01
	humanity has made progress, but there	29:04
	is still hunger, ignorance, prejudice and fear.	29:07
	We pray that these young people may go forth	29:12
	into our world with a burning desire	29:14
	to rectify these wrongs.	29:18
	We pray for fellow students and teachers,	29:22
	in places where freedom and truth are being tested,	29:26
	particularly those in universities and colleges	29:30
	of South Africa.	29:34
	We pray for fellow students and teachers in	29:37
	countries where there is war or civil strife,	29:40
	particularly those who work and study in Lebanon,	29:44
	in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Nicaragua,	29:49
	may they persevere in spite of the terrors	29:54
	around them and be strengthened in their search	29:57
	for knowledge that brings peace.	29:59
	We pray for those who are engaged in the work	30:04
	of research and discovery, that their minds	30:06
	may be continually enlightened to see more of your glory.	30:10
	We pray for those who teach, that their love	30:15
	of learning may never grow cold, and their	30:19
	respect for the wonder of developing young minds	30:22
	never be dulled.	30:27
	We pray for all those who, by economic adversity,	30:29
	or lack of natural ability are denied educational	30:34
	opportunity.	30:38
	We pray for those in the Class of 1986 who have died	30:41
	since this journey began,	30:46
	Louise, Molly, Allison, and Ted,	30:49
	and we remember them with gratitude.	30:56
	For all seekers after truth, that their minds be	31:00
	open to new revelation and their wills strengthened	31:03
	to follow the truth disclosed.	31:06
	This we pray, expectant of your grace and care, amen.	31:11
	(solemn organ music)	31:29
Choir	(sings in foreign language)	33:12
-	Please stand for the responsive prayer.	36:51
-	Almighty God, as you have granted us	36:59
	a place in this university, hallowed to us now this day,	37:03
	when we dedicate ourselves to the life and work	37:08
	to which you have called us, that we may remember	37:12
	with gratitude the families and friends	37:15
	who have cared for us.	37:18
Congregation	(speaking in unison)	37:20
-	But in the life ahead, we may keep faith	37:23
	with those who have loved us, and who have trusted us,	37:27
	and whose hopes follow us.	37:29
Congregation	(speaking in unison)	37:32
-	That we enter with good courage, and constant	37:34
	purpose upon the tasks which await us.	37:36
Congregation	(speaking in unison)	37:40
-	From all vanity and pride, as if our accomplishments	37:42
	were of our sole creation.	37:46
Congregation	(speaking in unison)	37:49
-	From neglect of the opportunities which are all about us	37:52
	and from distrust of our ability to meet the	37:55
	duties of each dawning day.	37:57
Congregation	(speaking in unison)	38:01
-	That the example of wise and generous people	38:04
	who have gone before us and our families	38:06
	and here in this university may save us	38:09
	from folly and self-indulgence.	38:12
Congregation	(speaking in unison)	38:16
-	More especially, that you would show to us	38:18
	your way of love in all that we do or say,	38:21
	that we should come to love the Lord, our God,	38:25
	with our soul and mind and strength,	38:28
	and our neighbor as ourselves.	38:31
Congregation	(speaking in unison)	38:34
	These things, and whatever else you see needful	38:38
	and right for us, we ask in your holy name,	38:40
	amen.	38:44
	(uplifting organ music)	38:48
Congregation	(singing)	39:29

Item Info

Title:

Peter J. Gomes - "Opportunity and Obstacles" Baccalaureate Service 8:30 am (May 4, 1986)

Description:

Adversity is a natural consequence of all opportunities. A true education will prepare you to face these adversities and move beyond them by the grace of God. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 34:25. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 23:28.
Key quotation: “There are obstacles that come with every opportunity. They are one and the same process. With every opportunity there comes adversity, and, if this is so, so too is the opposite. With adversity there comes of necessity opportunity.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4794184s

Date:

May 4, 1986

Speaker:

Gomes, Peter J.

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Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0327
ref8176_mbx
uachapelsermaud
duke:321139
dcrau001311
ark:/87924/r4794184s
0ea9583b-4f54-4e3b-a8bd-e895287ee39e

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Durham (N.C.)

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

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Peter J. Gomes - "Opportunity and Obstacles" Baccalaureate Service 8:30 am (May 4, 1986)

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1. Peter J. Gomes - "Opportunity and Obstacles" Baccalaureate Service 10:30 am (May 4, 1986)

2. Peter J. Gomes - "Opportunity and Obstacles" Baccalaureate Service 3:00 pm (May 4, 1986)

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