Arthur James Armstrong - "Martha, Mary, and Joe" Baccalaureate Service 9:00 am (May 8, 1977)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music) | 0:07 | |
(organ music) | 14:46 | |
(hymnal singing) | 24:04 | |
(organ music) | 25:26 | |
- | Grace be unto you. | 30:02 |
And peace from God who creates us, | 30:05 | |
redeems us and sustains us. | 30:09 | |
God has given us life, | 30:13 | |
but we do not always live. | 30:15 | |
We have been given freedom, | 30:18 | |
but we have found this burden heavy, | 30:21 | |
this anxiety painful. | 30:24 | |
And pride and insecurity, | 30:27 | |
we have turned from God to live self deceit. | 30:30 | |
And to serve other gods. | 30:35 | |
In this moment now, let us join together, | 30:38 | |
as we admit both our willfulness and our weakness, | 30:42 | |
let us confess our sins. | 30:47 | |
Oh, God, in whose mystery we abide, | 30:51 | |
and by whose mercy we are redeemed, | 30:55 | |
we confess our sin against one another and against you. | 30:58 | |
All our transgressions, hidden and open, | 31:03 | |
the evil done and the goodness left undone. | 31:08 | |
We have deceived ourselves about ourselves | 31:12 | |
and worn masks and not trusted in love. | 31:16 | |
We confess that we have been careful with things, | 31:20 | |
careless with persons, | 31:24 | |
adept in taking, | 31:27 | |
awkward in giving, | 31:29 | |
in love with our fears, | 31:31 | |
and in fear of our loves. | 31:33 | |
Forgive us for the times of our anger | 31:36 | |
and the occasions of our stupidity, | 31:40 | |
for the times of our cowardice | 31:43 | |
and the places of our hesitation, | 31:46 | |
for every time we did not love the goodness of persons | 31:49 | |
nor praise your glory, | 31:54 | |
forgive us, lift us up | 31:56 | |
and heal us this day, | 32:00 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 32:02 | |
Let us continue in prayer | 32:07 | |
with our personal words of confession. | 32:09 | |
I offer now a simple word of forgiveness, | 32:32 | |
of healing, of restoration. | 32:37 | |
Thus says the Lord, | 32:41 | |
"I have loved you with an everlasting love. | 32:44 | |
"Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. | 32:48 | |
"Take this assurance with you, my friends, | 32:53 | |
"into the life that lies before you. | 32:58 | |
"In all that you do, may you be as one who is free, | 33:03 | |
"free to find yourself, free to be yourself, | 33:07 | |
"free to give yourself. | 33:12 | |
"Amen." | 33:16 | |
(organ music) | 33:23 | |
(hymnal singing) | 33:58 | |
- | The reading is from the 10th chapter of Luke. | 38:12 |
"Now, as they went on their way, | 38:16 | |
"he entered a village and a woman named Martha | 38:19 | |
"received him into her home. | 38:22 | |
"And she had a sister called Mary | 38:25 | |
"who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. | 38:27 | |
"But Martha was distracted with much serving | 38:31 | |
"and she went to him and said, Lord, | 38:35 | |
"do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? | 38:37 | |
"Tell her then to help me. | 38:42 | |
"But the Lord answered her, | 38:44 | |
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled | 38:46 | |
"about many things, one thing is needful. | 38:49 | |
"Mary has chosen the good portion, | 38:52 | |
"which shall not be taken away from her." | 38:55 | |
(organ music) | 39:00 | |
(hymnal singing) | 39:10 | |
- | Let us affirm what we believe. | 39:49 |
We believe in God who has created and is creating, | 39:52 | |
who has come into truly human Jesus | 39:57 | |
to reconcile and make new. | 40:01 | |
We trust God who calls us to be the church, | 40:04 | |
to celebrate life and its fullness, | 40:09 | |
to love and serve others, | 40:12 | |
to seek justice and resist evil, | 40:15 | |
to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, | 40:19 | |
our judge and our hope, | 40:23 | |
in life, in death, | 40:26 | |
in life beyond death, God is with us. | 40:28 | |
We are not alone. | 40:33 | |
Thanks be to God. | 40:35 | |
The Lord be with you. | 40:38 | |
Let us pray. | 40:41 | |
Carl Sandburg once wrote, | 40:52 | |
"I have kept high moments. | 40:55 | |
"They go round and round in me." | 40:59 | |
Oh, Lord our God, | 41:06 | |
we thank you for high moments. | 41:09 | |
For the high moments of these past four years, | 41:13 | |
a new insight, | 41:17 | |
a deep friendship, | 41:19 | |
a kept trust, | 41:22 | |
a realized hope | 41:25 | |
and overcome frustration. | 41:29 | |
Dark become light, | 41:32 | |
sadness shared, | 41:35 | |
hurt healed, | 41:37 | |
comfort given and received, | 41:39 | |
love felt. | 41:43 | |
This is the place, oh, God, | 41:47 | |
where indeed, lives have been molded, | 41:50 | |
values clarified, | 41:53 | |
minds enlarged, visions expanded, | 41:56 | |
touch made more sensitive. | 42:01 | |
Where life has taken on newer and deeper and richer meaning. | 42:05 | |
As together, we have struggled and sweated | 42:10 | |
and studied and cursed and griped | 42:13 | |
and laughed and cried. | 42:16 | |
And now we celebrate. | 42:19 | |
Oh, God, in spite of our complaints and our frustrations, | 42:22 | |
we give you thanks for this university | 42:25 | |
and all its people who love and care and serve | 42:28 | |
one another. | 42:32 | |
Here, now we pray. | 42:36 | |
Our prayers of intercession for those who graduate this day. | 42:40 | |
Keep them strong in their struggles, | 42:46 | |
weak in their pride. | 42:50 | |
Give them health to do and to be and grace to become. | 42:54 | |
Make them wise in their decisions | 43:00 | |
and happy over the consequences. | 43:02 | |
Give them power, but not for self, | 43:06 | |
but for others. | 43:10 | |
Give them not all things that they might enjoy life, | 43:12 | |
but give them life | 43:16 | |
that they might enjoy all things. | 43:18 | |
Perfect, oh, Lord, | 43:24 | |
in so far as is humanly possible, | 43:28 | |
the talents which you have given each of them, | 43:31 | |
chasing the self-centered strivings of their spirits, | 43:36 | |
forge their wills to follow you no matter what the cost. | 43:41 | |
Direct their feet the way you would have them go. | 43:48 | |
Give them always the knowledge that you | 43:53 | |
and your love are with them. | 43:55 | |
May deep joy be their constant companion | 43:59 | |
along the way. | 44:04 | |
May they keep this high moment. | 44:07 | |
May it go round and round in them. | 44:12 | |
Hear us now, as we pray together the prayer | 44:17 | |
which our Lord has taught us, as we pray, | 44:20 | |
our father who art in heaven, | 44:23 | |
hallowed be thy name, | 44:27 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done | 44:29 | |
on Earth as it is in heaven. | 44:33 | |
Give us this day, our daily bread, | 44:36 | |
forgive us our trespasses | 44:39 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 44:42 | |
Lead us not into temptation, | 44:46 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 44:49 | |
And his kingdom, the power, | 44:51 | |
the glory forever and ever. | 44:54 | |
May I say a word of welcome to all of you this morning? | 45:21 | |
The only thing different in some ways | 45:26 | |
about those who are seated down at the front, | 45:29 | |
they're in their customary seats, which they occupy | 45:31 | |
every Sunday, as you know. | 45:34 | |
(audience laughing) | 45:36 | |
The only difference, they're just dressed | 45:39 | |
a little bit differently today. | 45:41 | |
We're delighted to have each of you here. | 45:43 | |
Those of you who have come for this very, very special | 45:47 | |
occasion, I'm not sure that you look forward to it anymore | 45:50 | |
than we do but we're delighted to have the opportunity to | 45:54 | |
share it with you and for you to share it with all of us. | 45:57 | |
It is our privilege to have as our preacher today, | 46:04 | |
Bishop James Armstrong, | 46:08 | |
resident and presiding Bishop of the Dakotas Area | 46:12 | |
of the United Methodist Church. | 46:15 | |
One whom many of us in that particular church | 46:19 | |
and in Christendom have admired and respected | 46:22 | |
and appreciated for many, many years. | 46:25 | |
He is a writer, | 46:28 | |
preacher and administrator by necessity, I suppose. | 46:30 | |
A pastor... | 46:35 | |
A man of strong convictions | 46:37 | |
equaled only by his courage and his compassion. | 46:40 | |
Bishop Armstrong, we welcome you to Duke | 46:45 | |
and to this very special service. | 46:47 | |
- | Many years ago, | 47:01 |
and for several years, | 47:03 | |
I found myself crisscrossing the state of Indiana. | 47:06 | |
Speaking at an assortment of high school | 47:10 | |
baccalaureate and commencement ceremonies. | 47:13 | |
There was a certain sameness about those events. | 47:18 | |
Usually they were held in gymnasiums, | 47:23 | |
sweaty, smelly gymnasiums. | 47:27 | |
The graduating seniors, more often than not, | 47:31 | |
were giggling and self-conscious. | 47:34 | |
The football heroes always had more applause | 47:37 | |
than the class valedictorian. | 47:40 | |
And my rah rah enthusements | 47:43 | |
were frequently concluded with a poem of sorts. | 47:48 | |
A poem that went like this. | 47:53 | |
"You men of Earth have here, the stuff of paradise. | 47:57 | |
"You need no other things to build a stairway | 48:00 | |
"to the unfulfilled, no other marble for the floors, | 48:02 | |
"no other ivory for the doors, no other cedar for the beams, | 48:05 | |
"or dome to man's immortal dreams. | 48:08 | |
"Here on the common human way, here on the path of every day | 48:11 | |
"is all the stuff that God would take to mold | 48:16 | |
"and make new Edens. | 48:19 | |
"Ours is the task sublime to build eternity in time." | 48:21 | |
I thought that was a clincher. | 48:29 | |
But you know, in retrospect, | 48:32 | |
there are a couple of things that need to be said about it. | 48:35 | |
One, it does reflect a starry-eyed idealism. | 48:38 | |
But, two, it is permeated through and through | 48:43 | |
with unabashed male chauvinism. | 48:47 | |
"We, men of Earth have here. | 48:51 | |
"We men of Earth. | 48:54 | |
"We men." | 48:57 | |
In spite of the fact that we opened this service | 49:00 | |
of worship with a hymn that said, God of our Fathers, | 49:03 | |
the fact remains that reality consists | 49:09 | |
of infinitely more than maleness. | 49:13 | |
I have hanging in my study at home over my desk, | 49:18 | |
an 18" by 24" reproduction | 49:22 | |
or parody of Michelangelo's Creation. | 49:26 | |
God is there, but he is not a he God, | 49:31 | |
not a Moses like figure with flowing beard. | 49:36 | |
He is a she. | 49:39 | |
A black woman | 49:42 | |
with an Afro hairdo. | 49:43 | |
And Adam is there, but Adam is not Adam. | 49:46 | |
Adam is Eve. | 49:48 | |
Feminine, | 49:51 | |
if not voluptuous figure. | 49:53 | |
Their fingers touch as in Michelangelo's classic, | 49:57 | |
God's and woman's fingers touch | 50:01 | |
and creation results. | 50:05 | |
That is where we are today. | 50:09 | |
We are living through a time of revolution. | 50:14 | |
Woman is the revolutionary. | 50:19 | |
As Kate Millette has said, | 50:23 | |
"The revolutionary in this instance is not a murderer. | 50:26 | |
"She is a changer, | 50:30 | |
"a teacher, one who keeps in there, | 50:33 | |
"keeps at it and loves people | 50:36 | |
"until she can change their heads." | 50:38 | |
Almost 2,000 years ago, a story was told. | 50:43 | |
A story about two women sisters, Mary and Martha, | 50:49 | |
who invited the Nazarene Jesus to their home. | 50:53 | |
Mary sat at his feet, looked up adoringly, | 50:57 | |
was stimulated by the worldly knowledge, | 51:01 | |
the profound insight that came from the mind | 51:06 | |
and the lips of the man. | 51:09 | |
But all the while, Martha was in the kitchen | 51:11 | |
or scurrying about here and there, | 51:15 | |
caring for the guests who came. | 51:17 | |
At one point, impatient, Martha said, | 51:21 | |
"Mary, will you help me?" | 51:23 | |
Jesus gently chided her and suggested that in our kind | 51:27 | |
of world, there is room for both a Mary and a Martha. | 51:31 | |
The line was drawn, it has come into sharper focus now. | 51:37 | |
And as then, Martha | 51:42 | |
is that low person on the totem pole. | 51:46 | |
Martha, | 51:50 | |
the homemaker | 51:51 | |
continues to be put down. | 51:53 | |
Is known by many as a drudge, | 51:57 | |
one without color, without glamor. | 51:59 | |
It is I think significant that on this Mother's Day, | 52:04 | |
we find ourselves here. | 52:08 | |
And in a position to affirm the homemaker, | 52:11 | |
the mother, | 52:17 | |
the very crux of human development. | 52:18 | |
There are some 60 million women | 52:23 | |
over 18 years of age in this country, | 52:26 | |
who even now are tending their homes, | 52:30 | |
rearing their children, | 52:36 | |
responding to those chores that will in some strange | 52:38 | |
and mystic way, provide both the values and the disposition | 52:42 | |
of the world of tomorrow. | 52:48 | |
One of that number, a mother speaking to a large assemblage | 52:52 | |
of people not long ago said, | 52:56 | |
"Here's to Martha. | 52:59 | |
"She faces challenges and responsibilities | 53:01 | |
"no one else can claim. | 53:04 | |
"If she cultivates qualities of patience, | 53:07 | |
"openness, reflection, sensitivity, | 53:11 | |
"compassion, the capacity to listen, | 53:16 | |
"respond and learn, she can prevail." | 53:19 | |
But if she fails, what then? | 53:23 | |
If Martha does not cultivate herself, | 53:26 | |
respect herself, affirm herself, | 53:30 | |
she will be denigrated by all the Marys | 53:35 | |
and the males around. | 53:38 | |
"Believe me," the mother went on to say, | 53:40 | |
"to be an adequate Martha | 53:44 | |
"requires as much as any other calling in this world." | 53:46 | |
To be an adequate Martha, | 53:52 | |
contributes as much as any other service vocation | 53:54 | |
in this world. | 53:59 | |
The family, however structured, | 54:01 | |
and it is undergoing radical change. | 54:05 | |
The family, however, structured is not a relic of the past. | 54:09 | |
It will be an integral part | 54:14 | |
of whatever future we choose to claim. | 54:19 | |
If in our pseudo sophistication, | 54:23 | |
we tend to look down upon the marries, the homemakers, | 54:26 | |
the families of our time, | 54:30 | |
we are reflecting, not upon Martha, | 54:33 | |
not upon the homemaker, but upon ourselves. | 54:36 | |
Homemaking is an art and a science. | 54:42 | |
It consists of so much more than housekeeping, just | 54:47 | |
as journalism consists of so much more than typing copy. | 54:51 | |
The work is there, the drudgery. | 54:57 | |
The doing of dishes and washing of floors | 55:00 | |
and dusting of furniture and all the rest but beyond that, | 55:03 | |
there is this person who stands in the center of the flux, | 55:07 | |
guiding the delicate, fragile interpersonal relationships, | 55:12 | |
providing the nurturing atmosphere | 55:18 | |
in which a future world is being molded. | 55:22 | |
Now, having said all that, | 55:28 | |
don't sell Mary, the working woman, | 55:31 | |
the career woman short. | 55:36 | |
Feminism, if it has done anything, | 55:39 | |
has enabled us to see that we stand on equal footing. | 55:43 | |
Woman, apart from tradition and bias | 55:49 | |
and stereotype, woman has certain inalienable rights | 55:53 | |
to determine her own destiny. | 55:59 | |
A Barbara Jordan, a Golda Meir, | 56:02 | |
a Barbara Walters, | 56:06 | |
a Rosemary Ruether, | 56:08 | |
an Indira Gandhi, | 56:10 | |
a Chris Evert, | 56:12 | |
have reminded each of us what woman can become. | 56:14 | |
These in a sense, are the headliners, the stars, | 56:19 | |
those who have shown us that baby has come a long, long way. | 56:23 | |
And yet the very rules they play | 56:28 | |
tend to obscure the fact that there are nearly | 56:31 | |
40 million American women who are now | 56:34 | |
a part of the labor market. | 56:38 | |
They are not only nurses and teachers | 56:42 | |
and domestic workers, they're coal miners | 56:46 | |
and truck drivers, scientists, and police officers, | 56:49 | |
attorneys, and executives and politicians. | 56:54 | |
48% of the women in this nation | 56:57 | |
are employed. | 57:01 | |
Some of them are reluctant Marys. | 57:04 | |
Doing what they do because of inflation | 57:08 | |
or other harsh realities that force them | 57:10 | |
into a world out there. | 57:13 | |
Ends must be met. | 57:16 | |
But others of them quite consciously, | 57:18 | |
and with intentionality, have chosen careers | 57:20 | |
in which they seek to fulfill their own dreams, | 57:23 | |
in which they seek to serve the larger human good, | 57:28 | |
in which they seek to fulfill that | 57:33 | |
which is inherent within them. | 57:35 | |
And this of course is their perfect right. | 57:40 | |
I thank God for them. | 57:47 | |
A pioneer physician, Nettie B. Powell | 57:50 | |
brought me into this world in Indiana. | 57:53 | |
And at the ripe old age of six, | 57:57 | |
when I was about to check out, she pulled me back | 57:58 | |
from the threshold of death and gave me life again. | 58:01 | |
I'm grateful for that Mary. | 58:05 | |
And glad that she chose to be one. | 58:08 | |
Yet, the dilemmas involved, | 58:11 | |
during difficult periods of change. | 58:14 | |
I talked with a woman not long ago, | 58:19 | |
a 50 year old woman. | 58:21 | |
Articulate, charming, brilliant, | 58:24 | |
ultra competent, who had been given an opportunity | 58:28 | |
to become the national director of a movement | 58:32 | |
to which she is committed. | 58:35 | |
The base of operations of that movement | 58:38 | |
would be 1,000 miles from her home | 58:40 | |
that would require just a trace of commuting. | 58:43 | |
She talked to her family about it. | 58:47 | |
Her youngsters, two university students | 58:50 | |
respected her, were proud of her, | 58:52 | |
were enthused about the prospect, | 58:54 | |
encouraged her to take the job. | 58:57 | |
Her husband would not discuss it with her. | 59:00 | |
After weeks of stubborn silence on his part, | 59:03 | |
she said no. | 59:07 | |
But confesses now that there are things | 59:10 | |
yet to be worked through. | 59:12 | |
She is no longer willing to move back | 59:16 | |
into a realm of timid domesticity. | 59:19 | |
No longer willing to be the sex object in his world. | 59:24 | |
The charming hostess at his cocktail party | 59:29 | |
presiding over his table, the alter ego to his ambitions. | 59:32 | |
She is a person. | 59:37 | |
And she has dreams she will respond to. | 59:41 | |
There are confrontations yet to come. | 59:44 | |
His name is Joe. | 59:48 | |
Joe... | 59:52 | |
The stereotypical male | 59:54 | |
is the eye at the center of the contemporary storm. | 59:57 | |
He's threatened by feminism. | 1:00:02 | |
The ground on which he stands is no longer | 1:00:06 | |
sure and certain ground. | 1:00:08 | |
He's not certain who he is, what is expected of him. | 1:00:11 | |
Rules are strangely being fused. | 1:00:15 | |
Where once he was the sturdy oak | 1:00:20 | |
and she was the clinging vine. | 1:00:22 | |
Well, where once he thought that was true, | 1:00:25 | |
it will be true no longer. | 1:00:29 | |
You know how we are regarded. | 1:00:32 | |
Man is strong. | 1:00:35 | |
Woman is weak. | 1:00:38 | |
Man is dominant. | 1:00:40 | |
Woman is submissive. | 1:00:42 | |
Man is active. | 1:00:44 | |
Woman is passive. | 1:00:47 | |
Man is aggressive. | 1:00:50 | |
Man is the aggressor. | 1:00:54 | |
And woman waits and waits | 1:00:58 | |
and waits only when she receives | 1:01:01 | |
the invitation to respond. | 1:01:05 | |
No longer. | 1:01:09 | |
No, in fact, it's never been true | 1:01:12 | |
where persons have been willing to accept themselves | 1:01:14 | |
as they are. | 1:01:18 | |
When I was the age of some of you, | 1:01:21 | |
I was married and a father. | 1:01:23 | |
I had the night shift. | 1:01:26 | |
So when Jimmy woke up, it was my task to go to him | 1:01:28 | |
and change him and dunk his diapers in the toilet bowl. | 1:01:31 | |
Those of you who live in the world of Pampers | 1:01:35 | |
don't know what you've missed. | 1:01:37 | |
(audience laughing) | 1:01:39 | |
And Phyllis and I shared responsibilities | 1:01:41 | |
in the kitchen, | 1:01:44 | |
cleaning, cooking. | 1:01:46 | |
One of the role models for that sort of bizarre behavior | 1:01:50 | |
in that ancient past was my own father. | 1:01:53 | |
A lightweight boxer, broken nose three times, | 1:01:57 | |
football, baseball, boxing. | 1:02:00 | |
He had all the macho characteristics but... | 1:02:03 | |
He also knew who he was. | 1:02:07 | |
And therefore knew a quality of gentleness | 1:02:10 | |
and tenderness, almost unbelievable. | 1:02:13 | |
I remember him without a bit of self-consciousness, | 1:02:18 | |
strutting about the kitchen with an apron | 1:02:20 | |
tied around his girth. | 1:02:22 | |
I remember being cuddled in his lap | 1:02:25 | |
as a small boy. | 1:02:29 | |
Nor would I give anything for those memories. | 1:02:31 | |
He could be affectionate as any good Hungarian | 1:02:35 | |
or Italian father can be affectionate. | 1:02:38 | |
He knew who he was. | 1:02:41 | |
He had nothing to prove. | 1:02:44 | |
Hans Kuhn, the Swiss theologian, | 1:02:47 | |
talking about feminism as a new reformation, | 1:02:51 | |
has said among many other things on the subject, | 1:02:55 | |
"One cannot deduce from the essence of Christian marriage, | 1:02:59 | |
"a specific division of labor. | 1:03:02 | |
"For instance, that a woman is to raise the children | 1:03:05 | |
"while the man is to be the breadwinner. | 1:03:08 | |
"Raising children and doing housework | 1:03:11 | |
"as well as financially supporting the family | 1:03:13 | |
"can be performed by a husband and wife together." | 1:03:16 | |
A journalist seeking to cope | 1:03:22 | |
with this same confusion of rules, | 1:03:25 | |
seeking clarification, has written, | 1:03:29 | |
"For every woman who is tired | 1:03:32 | |
"of acting weak when she knows she is strong, | 1:03:35 | |
"there is a man who is tired of appearing strong | 1:03:39 | |
"when he feels vulnerable. | 1:03:44 | |
"For every woman who is tired of acting dumb, | 1:03:47 | |
"there's a man who is burdened with the constant | 1:03:50 | |
"expectation of knowing everything. | 1:03:53 | |
"For every woman who is tired of being called | 1:03:57 | |
"an emotional female, | 1:04:00 | |
"there is a man who is denied the right to weep | 1:04:02 | |
"and to be gentle. | 1:04:05 | |
"For every woman who is called unfeminine when she competes, | 1:04:07 | |
"there is a man for whom competition | 1:04:13 | |
"is the only way to prove his masculinity. | 1:04:16 | |
"For every woman who is tired of being a sex object, | 1:04:20 | |
"there is a man who must worry about his potency. | 1:04:24 | |
"For every woman who feels tied down by her children, | 1:04:28 | |
"there is a man who is denied the full pleasures | 1:04:33 | |
"of shared parenthood. | 1:04:36 | |
"For every woman who is denied meaningful employment | 1:04:38 | |
"and equal pay, there is a man who must bear | 1:04:42 | |
"the full financial responsibility for another human being. | 1:04:46 | |
"For every woman who was not taught the intricacies | 1:04:51 | |
"of an automobile, there is a man who was not taught | 1:04:54 | |
"the satisfactions of cooking. | 1:04:58 | |
"For every woman who takes a step toward her own liberation, | 1:05:00 | |
"there is a man who finds the way to freedom, | 1:05:07 | |
"has been made a little easier." | 1:05:11 | |
You see, we are not talking about women's liberation, | 1:05:14 | |
but about human liberation. | 1:05:21 | |
About mine, as well as yours. | 1:05:23 | |
The apostle said, "In Christ, | 1:05:27 | |
"there is neither male nor female." | 1:05:30 | |
He was not opting for some sort of neutral unisex category. | 1:05:34 | |
Anyone reading the New Testament knows that. | 1:05:41 | |
Rather he was insisting that the old superior, | 1:05:45 | |
inferior categories can no longer apply. | 1:05:48 | |
We are in this thing together. | 1:05:54 | |
We stand on equal footing. | 1:05:57 | |
We must continue to address ourselves | 1:06:02 | |
to the urgent issues of the day. | 1:06:06 | |
Poverty and hunger, | 1:06:09 | |
full employment and economic justice, | 1:06:12 | |
issues of political tyranny and distributed justice, | 1:06:16 | |
war and peace and all the rest. | 1:06:20 | |
And I pray we will address with fervent conscience, | 1:06:23 | |
these issues, but in the final analysis, | 1:06:28 | |
we are dealing with human liberation. | 1:06:32 | |
With the emancipation of men and women, | 1:06:37 | |
not as stereotypical objects, but as persons, | 1:06:44 | |
struggling, growing, dreaming, | 1:06:50 | |
weeping, questing persons, | 1:06:55 | |
and as they and we find our shared liberation, | 1:06:59 | |
this world will be a better greener place on which to live. | 1:07:06 | |
And so with a paraphrase here or there, | 1:07:11 | |
we will close with the same romantic poem. | 1:07:14 | |
We earthbound ones have here, the stuff of paradise. | 1:07:20 | |
We need no other things to build a stairway | 1:07:25 | |
to the unfulfilled, no other marble for the floors, | 1:07:27 | |
no other ivory for the doors, | 1:07:30 | |
no other cedar for the beams or dome | 1:07:32 | |
to man's immortal dreams. | 1:07:35 | |
Here on the common human way, | 1:07:37 | |
here on the path of every day | 1:07:41 | |
is all the stuff that God would take to mold | 1:07:44 | |
and make new Edens. | 1:07:47 | |
Ours is the task sublime | 1:07:50 | |
to build eternity | 1:07:55 | |
in time. | 1:07:57 | |
Amen. | 1:07:59 | |
(organ music) | 1:08:21 | |
(hymnal singing) | 1:08:29 | |
(hymnal singing) | 1:10:10 | |
Will you join with me now in this responsive prayer | 1:15:37 | |
of thanksgiving and commitment, let us pray. | 1:15:41 | |
Oh God, we rejoice that we have learned together | 1:15:47 | |
and have worshiped together. | 1:15:51 | |
Now we bring before you the symbols | 1:15:53 | |
and reality of our lives. | 1:15:56 | |
(indistinct) | 1:16:00 | |
We give thanks for the universe. | 1:16:15 | |
For the Earth. | 1:16:19 | |
(indistinct) | 1:16:21 | |
For communities and neighborhoods. | 1:16:24 | |
(indistinct) | 1:16:26 | |
For the revolutions which shape our world. | 1:16:30 | |
(indistinct) | 1:16:34 | |
For the power of our learning. | 1:16:37 | |
(indistinct) | 1:16:40 | |
For the perplexities which confront us. | 1:16:43 | |
(indistinct) | 1:16:46 | |
For our heritage. | 1:16:49 | |
For the visions of this university's students, | 1:16:54 | |
staff, and faculty. | 1:16:58 | |
(indistinct) | 1:17:01 | |
We are given the eyes of the spirit. | 1:17:04 | |
(indistinct) | 1:17:08 | |
The promise is to each of us, we may see, | 1:17:12 | |
we may receive, we may love. | 1:17:16 | |
(indistinct) | 1:17:20 | |
Amen and amen. | 1:17:38 | |
(organ music) | 1:17:41 | |
(hymnal singing) | 1:18:17 | |
Now without bowing heads or closing eyes, | 1:21:35 | |
will you receive this benediction, this blessing, | 1:21:37 | |
which I offer you? | 1:21:40 | |
My friends, go now, | 1:21:42 | |
remembering always what you have done in this place. | 1:21:45 | |
And may you never be the same again. | 1:21:50 | |
May you be responsive and responsible wherever you are. | 1:21:55 | |
May you seek always to love God | 1:22:02 | |
and to love one another. | 1:22:05 | |
The love of God, | 1:22:08 | |
the grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, | 1:22:11 | |
the communion and fellowship of the holy spirit | 1:22:14 | |
be with you. | 1:22:18 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:22 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:26 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:31 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:34 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:42 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:49 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 1:22:59 | |
(organ music) | 1:23:13 |
Item Info
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