Howard C. Wilkinson - "Sunday Worship in Duke Chapel" Freshman Sunday (September 15, 1968)

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Priest	Thy kingdom come	0:04
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	0:06
	Give us this day,	0:10
	our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses.	0:12
	As we forgive those who trespass against us	0:13
	and lead us not into temptation	0:19
	but deliver us from evil.	0:22
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	0:24
	and the glory, amen.	0:27
	Amen.	0:30
	As Dean Enclou has pointed out	0:53
	this is fresh on Sunday	0:56
	from the Duke University chapel.	0:58
	Here we are together.	1:01
	Although you have been here only since Friday,	1:05
	you have already been introduced to the 932 a 6/10th people	1:11
	you have had 32 cups of coffee	1:19
	you have had nine cups of punch,	1:23
	14 Coca Cola's	1:27
	and some of you have attended play this morning	1:30
	that seemed appropriate.	1:34
	We are now here in the chapel,	1:40
	the university service of worship.	1:45
	This is not the faculty service of worship.	1:50
	This is not the administration service of worship.	1:56
	This is not a student service of worship.	2:01
	It is a university service of worship	2:06
	designed for conducted by all of these groups	2:11
	I have mentioned.	2:17
	The faculty, the administration,	2:19
	and the students, and every phase of it	2:21
	including the gestation that which will preach here	2:26
	and even including the preaching	2:32
	strongly is influenced by students.	2:35
	We have dialogue sermons here in which	2:39
	undergraduate students do	2:41
	part of the preaching, the singing of the choir,	2:43
	almost all together are students.	2:48
	And of course, the large part	2:51
	of the congregation is students.	2:54
	We are all together.	2:57
	This is place at one time at Duke University.	2:58
	When the whole University does this together.	3:02
	Just as it is not a service of worship for any one section	3:09
	or a segment of the University of those that I listed.	3:14
	So it is not a Methodist service of worship.	3:17
	It is not a Catholic service of worship	3:22
	or a Baptist or Lutheran or Episcopalian,	3:24
	Presbyterian or whatever.	3:27
	It is a university service of worship.	3:30
	Having said that I should pace in to add	3:36
	that we do not intend to have here	3:40
	in an attempt to be broadly ecumenical,	3:44
	a sort of watered down, meaningless least common denominator	3:48
	kind of exercise.	3:53
	That doesn't really mean anything to anybody.	3:56
	We named this service to be specifically Christian.	4:00
	Though not sectarian.	4:05
	It is not an attempt here to make this service	4:09
	all things to all men.	4:13
	Because if we were to do this,	4:16
	we would find ourselves attempting the impossible.	4:18
	This cannot be fully meaningful	4:22
	to the atheist students at Duke	4:24
	and fully meaningful to the Christian students at Duke.	4:26
	It cannot be fully meaningful to	4:30
	the atheist professor at Duke	4:33
	and Christian professor at Duke.	4:35
	This was not calculated to bring in all the strange	4:38
	of interest of the Judah religion,	4:41
	the Mohamed religion, the Buddhist religion,	4:44
	and all Christian branches.	4:47
	Now of course at Duke University, every person,	4:51
	whatever his religious belief or lack of	4:54
	has complete freedom to express and to cultivate	4:58
	his own point of view and his own faith commitment.	5:02
	There is no question about that.	5:06
	And if you should find yourself in a classroom	5:09
	with a professor who implies by something he says	5:11
	that he wishes it were possible for him to express	5:15
	some criticism of Christianity	5:19
	and to let out some kind of an atheistic opinion,	5:21
	please be assured he is pulling your leg.	5:25
	Because ever since the famous Basset case	5:29
	over half a century ago,	5:31
	everyone at Duke has had the freedom	5:33
	and most of the people at Duke have used that freedom	5:36
	to express his own opinions and beliefs	5:39
	to the fullest extent.	5:43
	But having said that,	5:45
	I come back to say that this	5:47
	University service of worship intentionally	5:50
	is specifically Christian.	5:53
	It does not try to be all things to all men.	5:59
	Since neutrality is impossible and ponder that	6:03
	since neutrality regarding religion is impossible,	6:10
	we have to come down somewhere.	6:15
	And historically, and officially Duke University	6:19
	comes down squarely oriented for Christian faith.	6:22
	And this University service of worship	6:29
	is based upon the faith commitment of the university.	6:31
	Let me read you a section of the bylaws of Duke University,	6:35
	which pertained to this.	6:39
	You will find what I'm going to read on a bronze plaque	6:41
	on a little pile of rocks out in front of this	6:46
	nothing pile of rocks.	6:49
	The aims of Duke University are who has served	6:52
	a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion.	6:56
	As set forth in the teaching and character of Jesus Christ,	7:01
	the son of God to advance learning in all lines of truth.	7:06
	To defend scholarship,	7:13
	to defend scholarship against all false notions and ideals	7:16
	to develop a Christian love of freedom and truth	7:22
	to promote sincere spirit of college.	7:28
	And to discourage all partisan and sectarian stripe.	7:32
	You render the largest permanent service to the individual,	7:41
	the state patient, and the church.	7:44
	Now that is the faith position and commitment	7:49
	of the university.	7:52
	And it is the context of this University service of worship.	7:54
	This is a service of worship for all who have faith	7:59
	in Jesus Christ, the son of God,	8:04
	or who are willing to be exposed to the proclamation	8:08
	of that faith whether you have yet made that	8:13
	faith commitment for yourself.	8:17
	But when you come here,	8:19
	you may expect what happens to proceed	8:21
	from that faith commitment.	8:24
	You are invited to come here each Sunday	8:28
	if you're willing to explore the meaning	8:30
	of this faith in the company of others,	8:32
	without any prior insistence upon a certain form of baptism	8:36
	without any prior insistence upon certain	8:43
	ecclesiastical procedures or certain liturgical refinements.	8:45
	All right, that is very broadly	8:55
	what this university service of worship is.	8:59
	Now, let me use the remaining time of this sermon	9:03
	to explain to you certain particular's	9:06
	at which point you will find this service different	9:10
	from many, if not all other services of worship in churches,	9:15
	which you have attended here for.	9:19
	Or which you will attend after you leave Duke.	9:21
	The first is we intend this as a service of worship.	9:26
	This is not a time primarily for instruction.	9:34
	Though it will include instruction.	9:38
	This is not a time that when we offer you a requirements.	9:41
	This is not a showing.	9:45
	This is a time when we invite the people of God	9:49
	to come together, to worship God,	9:52
	a service of worship accordingly.	9:55
	When the preacher gets up to deliver the sermon,	10:00
	he is not aiming primarily at an eloquent oration.	10:02
	He is aiming primarily at a faithful witness	10:07
	through the good news of God in Jesus Christ.	10:10
	When the choir finishes its anthem it will not bow	10:14
	and wait for you to applaud.	10:18
	They are not engaged in a performance.	10:21
	What they do is an offering to God.	10:25
	And when the organist plays the organ	10:30
	you'll notice on your bulletin	10:33
	you will not see you there the word organ play leaf	10:35
	or old organ bus lewd.	10:38
	You see, opening organ voluntary	10:42
	and the word voluntary means	10:45
	an offering to God so that the music, the choral singing,	10:47
	the congregational singing, the preaching,	10:53
	everything is intended to be in the service of God	10:56
	and for His glory, as well as for our own welfare.	11:00
	That means when the preacher is preaching,	11:05
	we do not plant them out into the center of things and say,	11:08
	now here's the great climax is all part of the personality.	11:12
	No, the center of attention in this chapel	11:19
	and in the service of worship is the offering	11:23
	which symbolizes the presence of God.	11:26
	And which symbolizes our commitment to God.	11:30
	That is the center of this service.	11:33
	We hope also in this service,	11:38
	this will not be something that someone does on your behalf	11:40
	or for you, but something we all do together.	11:45
	And the person on the last pew of this chapel is as much a	11:48
	participant as the presiding minister	11:52
	or the director of the choir or the preacher or anyone else.	11:55
	We participate together.	12:01
	And at the least,	12:04
	we are going to have bucks in the pews of the chapel	12:05
	which will greatly enrich the congregational participation	12:09
	of this service.	12:13
	Now in line with this first point that I'm making,	12:16
	I would point out this is not a personality club	12:18
	here at the chapel.	12:22
	You have been to some church services	12:24
	where there was a lot of backslapping done,	12:26
	preacher would mount the pulpit	12:28
	and look out at the congregation	12:30
	and he would see his favorite politician there	12:32
	who just last Wednesday got elected.	12:35
	And he'd say,	12:37
	we're all really proud of you Mr. Snipples	12:37
	for winning the election made us real happy	12:40
	to see that you were successful politically.	12:44
	Now next Saturday night, Jim Burke,	12:48
	who read the scripture this morning	12:50
	makes one of his patented touchdown runs.	12:51
	We're not trying to get up in the chapel on Sunday morning	12:54
	and say, Jim, if you keep that up, you will make all of our,	12:56
	this, this is not a service of worship for that purpose.	12:59
	We're here to worship God not each other	13:06
	and to have fellowship his worship.	13:10
	Secondly, I think that there	13:13
	is a distinguishing characteristic	13:15
	about the service, which is not unique, certainly,	13:19
	but when we attempt to emphasize,	13:23
	and that is we see here to identify with Christians	13:24
	of all places at all times.	13:29
	This is not primarily a 20th century event.	13:33
	Though it is a 20th century event.	13:38
	But we see ourselves as a part of a colony of faith	13:42
	as often translates a verse of scripture,	13:47
	which began in New Testament times	13:51
	with our Lord Jesus Christ.	13:56
	We want to identify with that colony of faith	13:58
	as born witness to Christ who all the centers.	14:02
	This is not an American service of worship.	14:07
	Though we are rooted in America.	14:11
	But seated in the pews and planted in the book within	14:14
	in the choir will be bonafide representatives	14:17
	of other countries	14:21
	as you may have already noticed	14:23
	in your glancing at the preaching schedule.	14:25
	But we seek to make clear	14:31
	an authentic experience that would be	14:33
	as meaningful to a person in England or India	14:35
	or Hong Kong or any other part of the world,	14:38
	as it would be meaningful in Durham, North Carolina.	14:42
	This is extremely important.	14:47
	And as we come here and this service	14:49
	and use deliberately in it ingredients,	14:54
	which are ancient in origin,	14:57
	we do it in order that we may be corrected in our day	15:00
	from the accesses of trying too much	15:04
	to keep up with the last word and the last new thing.	15:07
	For instance, a while ago,	15:13
	Dean Enclou led us all in praying together	15:15
	the Lord's prayer,	15:18
	which was given to the disciples by Jesus himself.	15:19
	And then he used the ancient form of calcutta prayer.	15:23
	And which the presiding minister stands up and breach	15:28
	the congregation.	15:31
	And this way the Lord be with you,	15:32
	and then all of us responded to him	15:35
	And with your spirit, then he said to us, let us pray.	15:39
	Not be quiet while I pray, but let us pray.	15:45
	You would be interested to know	15:50
	that this is next to the Lord's prayer	15:52
	the most ancient form of worship	15:54
	that has been used in the Christian community,	15:57
	through all the ages.	16:00
	And it is found even as early as the time	16:01
	when the Christians had worship in the homes	16:05
	before churches were built.	16:08
	Whoever was leading the worship would say,	16:10
	for those gathered in the home about the Lord, be with you,	16:12
	they would respond and with your spirit.	16:17
	Then he would say, let us pray.	16:20
	Then he would lead them by using the words,	16:22
	which would stimulate their own individual prayers	16:24
	along with him.	16:28
	Now we do things like this to keep ourselves corrected.	16:31
	It's so easy to get off base	16:36
	if we follow the fad and the whim of the moment.	16:41
	In this day, there are people who are even saying that	16:45
	the use of narcotics can be a religious experience.	16:48
	And there are religious systems and religious forms	16:54
	and religious services built around the use of LSD	16:57
	and other narcotics.	17:01
	Now I do not deny to anybody the right to have a bonafide	17:03
	and genuine religious experience	17:08
	in whatever way it comes to him.	17:10
	But I believe that all religions experiences	17:12
	need the correction of the ancient experience of the church.	17:15
	We find ourselves today in the rather ludicrous position	17:19
	of being and the reverse situation from that with Karl Marx	17:23
	talked about when he said that religion is	17:27
	the opiate of the people.	17:29
	We now find people who are saying that opiate	17:31
	can be the religion of the people.	17:34
	We need some form of correction,	17:36
	Stokely Carmichael emphasizing the very legitimate	17:39
	interest of religion in civil rights	17:44
	without the correction of the Christian community	17:49
	has moved into a kind of voodooism and tribal religion	17:52
	in his day.	17:57
	And those who would follow him well,	17:59
	Stokely Carmichael himself need the correction	18:03
	of a community of worship	18:05
	which is based solidly upon 2000 years	18:07
	of Christian continuity and Christian worship.	18:11
	They say he led seriously the strike.	18:14
	Now the third distinguishing characteristic	18:18
	about this service of worship is	18:20
	that we seek to enrich worship by the use	18:22
	of the greatest architecture and art and music.	18:25
	Not the chorist.	18:31
	Whenever possible,	18:34
	the best offerings of the human spirit to be offered	18:36
	in the worship of God.	18:40
	This chapel itself was built at great expense	18:42
	and after great effort to find out	18:47
	what the architects believe would be	18:50
	the most worship full expression.	18:53
	And they centered upon a kind of architecture	18:57
	with its balls and domes and arches	19:01
	which symbolically point our thoughts toward God,	19:04
	which put the congregation in a building	19:08
	that is arranged in the shape of a cross.	19:12
	So that as you sit in the chapel,	19:15
	you are symbolically in the cross.	19:17
	And which has,	19:21
	as I have already indicated as the center of attention,	19:23
	a piece of furniture that symbolizes the presence of God	19:27
	and our dedication to God.	19:31
	You will hear in this chapel, not the chorist	19:35
	anthems that have been composed by great musicians,	19:38
	but the best.	19:41
	And I personally believe	19:43
	that we have brought here the best choral conductor	19:45
	that I know about to lead a great choir	19:50
	in the presentation of this music	19:54
	for the glory of God, and for our own enrichment.	19:59
	Now that there is a fourth distinguishing characteristic	20:04
	that I would like to mention about this service,	20:07
	which is quite different from your home church.	20:10
	Very properly in your home church, this Sunday, next Sunday,	20:13
	and the following Sunday, the same preacher	20:17
	your pastor will deliver the sermon.	20:19
	That is in my opinion as it should be	20:21
	indeed as it must be.	20:24
	But you are here at college now.	20:27
	You're in the university for four years	20:31
	of abnormal living.	20:33
	This is a cup flour situation.	20:35
	While you are here,	20:38
	you do not make the money that keeps you here	20:39
	or supports this university.	20:42
	You do not spend your time	20:45
	the way you would have to spend it normally in your life.	20:47
	You're here for a very specialized four year experience.	20:51
	You will study, learn, revise your opinions, seek the truth,	20:54
	find your future,	21:00
	this is an abnormal situation.	21:02
	Therefore, what we hope to do in this four years	21:06
	you are here is expose you to the preaching	21:09
	of the greatest leaders of the Christian Church	21:13
	in every part of the world.	21:17
	You will hear in this pulp the man who	21:21
	the students on our committee	21:24
	and the faculty on our committee,	21:27
	believe to be the greatest preachers in the world.	21:28
	And if you did not hear the greatest preachers in the world,	21:32
	then we don't know who they are,	21:34
	because everyone that we invite to preach here	21:36
	accepts the invitation.	21:39
	You will hear in this pulpit	21:41
	as you've already noticed from your schedule,	21:43
	a great Bishop from Pittsburgh,	21:47
	who's a member of the central committee of the world,	21:49
	council of churches, Bishop Nicole's	21:51
	the eminent Presbyterian preacher in New York,	21:54
	Dr. David Reed.	21:56
	The very excellent Lutheran preacher, Dr. Edmund Steinway,	21:59
	the head of the Baptist theological school	22:05
	at Oxford university, president	22:07
	of the American Baptist convention,	22:09
	a great philosopher of religion from Andover Newton.	22:11
	In other years,	22:16
	we have heard and will hear the presiding Bishop	22:17
	of the Episcopal church, Bishop John Hines	22:21
	who has preached here twice in the last few years.	22:24
	Lord Soper, the British house of Lords,	22:27
	perhaps the greatest preacher in England today.	22:30
	Had an interesting experience this summer.	22:34
	One of our students was in England	22:36
	and wrote back and said, I have met, heard	22:37
	the greatest man that I heard Lord Soper.	22:40
	He has been at Duke twice in the last few years.	22:45
	And preached in this pulpit.	22:48
	You have heard, will here, Mark Nepo,	22:51
	who was Hitler's prize political prisoner,	22:53
	he preached here this past year,	22:56
	president of the world counsel of churches.	22:58
	Dr Benjamin Nayes, Dr. Vicki Nile	23:00
	was calling me on the telephone this morning	23:03
	that he will preach for us next year.	23:05
	He is perhaps the leading Christian in Asia.	23:08
	Dr. Charles Colson of Oxford great scientist preacher	23:13
	Dr. Albert Adler, distinguished theologian.	23:16
	Yes indeed, the Bishop Pipe	23:19
	has preached here the last few years	23:21
	and the great man of the past generation	23:24
	Buttrick, Sonmtili and others.	23:27
	You will hear	23:30
	not the kind of preaching here that you will hear	23:31
	have been hearing in your home church,	23:35
	because this is a specialized situation.	23:38
	And if you did not hear these preachers	23:41
	while you're in college,	23:42
	you probably will not hear that in your life.	23:44
	Certainly not this many.	23:47
	This great example	23:49
	all of the great preachers of the world.	23:51
	Now, in addition to these from the outside,	23:55
	perhaps even more significant will be the preaching	23:58
	of those from our own campus.	24:02
	Dr. James Enclou, is dean of the chapel,	24:05
	and he is the number one preacher of the University	24:09
	and to the University.	24:12
	He preaches at this chapel pulpit once a month,	24:14
	he will preach his first sermon of this year, next Sunday.	24:18
	And after you hear it,	24:23
	you will agree with us that he is one of the great preachers	24:24
	with the world.	24:27
	This is not only our opinion,	24:29
	but it is an opinion confirmed	24:31
	by those who invite people to preach	24:32
	in the great preaching places of the earth	24:35
	and the lecture on preaching	24:37
	and the great preaching places of the earth.	24:39
	He is the preacher to the university,	24:42
	and you will want to hear him	24:46
	in this pulpit each month.	24:48
	And then in another specialized kind of way.	24:52
	The members of our faculty who teach religion	24:58
	to the undergraduates and members of our faculty	25:01
	who trained the ministers in the definitive school,	25:04
	they will make up the rest of our preaching schedule.	25:08
	And many of you will come to know these men	25:12
	who teach religion academically in the classroom,	25:14
	and you will benefit measurably from hearing them	25:18
	as they preach to them as a confessional Christians	25:22
	here in this pulpit.	25:26
	You see into your schedule, Dr. Lang	25:29
	who was chairman of the department of religion	25:31
	and who is a great preacher and a great friend to students.	25:34
	And for many of you, he will be your passion.	25:40
	The others here I will not name,	25:43
	but this preaching in this chapel is designed	25:46
	to give you a vast spectrum of contemporary	25:49
	and historical Christian preaching.	25:54
	While making the Christian faith meaningful	25:58
	and relevant in your lives.	26:01
	Now last, this is a Christian service of worship	26:04
	without sectarian labels	26:11
	Ecumenical and spirit scope.	26:16
	We're seeking here in a very real way	26:20
	to carry out one of the sections of the bylaws	26:23
	that says it is the aim of Duke University	26:26
	to promote a sincere spirit of tolerance	26:29
	and to discourage all partisan and sectarian stripe.	26:32
	One of the statues at the door through which you came	26:39
	to come into the chapel is that of Savonarola	26:43
	one of the great Catholic preachers of history.	26:46
	We have in this service of worship leading it	26:50
	and men who represent many denominations,	26:55
	the dean of the chapel is Presbyterian.	26:58
	The chaplain to the University is Methodist.	27:02
	The organist is Roman Catholic.	27:04
	The choir director is Methodist.	27:07
	The assistant choir director is United church of Christ	27:10
	The visiting choral conductor is Baptist.	27:14
	The ushers and collectors	27:18
	we don't even know what they because	27:20
	we don't ask them, it doesn't make any difference.	27:22
	And the members of the choir represent all	27:26
	congregational religious groups.	27:28
	And of course the members of the congregation	27:31
	are from every	27:34
	and from no religious background.	27:36
	I would like to emphasize the value of this	27:40
	in a peculiar way at this time.	27:44
	It is particularly important that we have	27:49
	such a service of worship where Christians can come together	27:52
	without sectarian labels, because	27:55
	and you would disagree about the wisdom of this.	27:59
	But the fact is the Supreme court has ruled	28:02
	that this kind of worship may not take place	28:05
	in public schools and in state universities,	28:08
	the only kind of place that is left,	28:13
	therefore is such a place as this,	28:15
	where simply as Christians,	28:18
	we may come together to worship Christ	28:20
	and to glorify the heavenly Father.	28:23
	Therefore, I believe that such	28:25
	services of worship as this	28:27
	have become doubly important in these days	28:29
	when they do not take place in public places.	28:33
	A while ago, Temp Redek read the scripture lesson	28:38
	in which Jesus said to the disciples	28:41
	when they said to him, look,	28:44
	we saw some people doing great work in your name,	28:46
	but because they were not with us, we told them to quit.	28:48
	He said, do not.	28:52
	Because he who is not against us is for us.	28:55
	Too often, I think we look at those	29:00
	who are members of other denominations and say,	29:02
	what they're doing is not important.	29:05
	We'll not have respect for them because they're not above us	29:08
	they're not with us.	29:11
	They don't sit down and worship in the same denomination	29:12
	in which we worship.	29:15
	Jesus would say to us,	29:17
	no whether they're members of our group,	29:19
	whether they have the same specific creed we have,	29:23
	whether they wear the same denominational labels,	29:26
	they're part of us.	29:29
	That is the mood here which we seek to have	29:31
	for the glory of God,	29:35
	for the expansion of His kingdom.	29:37
	Meaningful service of worship is here.	29:39
	We invite you to be a part of it every Sunday of this year.	29:41
	Let us pray.	29:45
	Almighty God, our heavenly father.	29:48
	We thank thee that God has called us to this place	29:51
	at this time.	29:53
	Now do thou lead us as we seek to be faithful	29:55
	in our day and in this place.	29:59
	Amen.	30:02
	(liturgical music playing)	30:11

Item Info

Title:

Howard C. Wilkinson - "Sunday Worship in Duke Chapel" Freshman Sunday (September 15, 1968)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4nv9fc47

Date:

September 15, 1968

Speaker:

Wilkinson, Howard C.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0447
ref6097_pxl
uachapelsermaud
duke:628607
dcrau002438
ark:/87924/r4nv9fc47
280c6863-d8db-4692-91ae-d59f19ad2cc1

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

Educational Use Permitted

Rights Note:

This material is made available for educational and non-commercial use. This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the license indicated here. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For other reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Howard C. Wilkinson - "Sunday Worship in Duke Chapel" Freshman Sunday (September 15, 1968)

Transcript

Item Info

Duke University Archives

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