Peter J. Gomes - "Facts and Visions" (October 24, 1993)

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	(choir music)	0:01
-	Good morning.	2:06
	Welcome to this joyous service of worship here	2:07
	in Duke University Chapel.	2:10
	We are particularly glad to welcome	2:12
	our guests who have been with us for this joyous weekend	2:15
	of the inauguration of our new president.	2:20
	Our guest preacher this morning is Reverend Dr.Peter Gomes	2:24
	from Memorial Church at Harvard	2:29
	who has been in residence here at the chapel	2:31
	and at the Duke Divinity School this fall.	2:33
	And we are delighted as he comes to us again	2:36
	to bring us the word.	2:40
	And now let us worship God.	2:44
	(choir chanting)	2:59
	(choir music)	4:28
	(chanting)	5:07
-	Let us pray.	10:29
	Oh God, as we stand before you today	10:36
	on the occasion of the inauguration	10:40
	or President Nannerl Overholser Keohane,	10:43
	we ask your blessing upon President Keohane,	10:47
	her family and this university.	10:51
	As she assumes leadership guide her	10:55
	that she may lead with understanding and wisdom.	10:59
	Remind her and us that we had been charged	11:04
	with a great mission (speaking foreign language),	11:08
	the union of knowledge and religion.	11:14
	May all of our efforts be guided	11:18
	by these two essentials principles.	11:20
	Help us apply ourselves with deep passion	11:23
	to the pursuit of knowledge	11:27
	and with deep compassion	11:29
	to the service of humanity through religion.	11:31
	Remind us that knowledge without religion	11:36
	is vain and immoral,	11:39
	and religion without knowledge is irrelevant and fruitless.	11:41
	Remind us also that we do not pursue religion	11:48
	or knowledge alone.	11:51
	That you are with us.	11:53
	God incarnate, guiding, directing, challenging,	11:55
	and affirming the life and faith of your people.	12:01
	Help us remember that we have been called into your service	12:06
	and it is through your grace that we might serve you	12:10
	with faithfulness.	12:13
	Be with us now in this time of worship	12:16
	that we might commit ourselves anew as a university	12:18
	and a community of faith to serve you with gratitude.	12:23
	In the name of Christ, the servant of us all.	12:29
	Amen.	12:33
	You may be seated.	12:35
-	Let us pray together the prayer for illumination.	12:45
	Open our hearts and minds, oh God,	12:51
	by the power of your holy spirit,	12:55
	so that as the word is read and proclaimed	12:58
	we may hear your message with joy this day.	13:01
	Amen.	13:06
	The scripture lessons this morning will be read	13:08
	in the King James translation.	13:11
	This reading includes several verses from the seventh	13:13
	and eighth chapters of the wisdom of Solomon,	13:17
	a book of the Apocrypha.	13:21
	For wisdom is a breath of the power of God	13:25
	and a clear affluence of the glory of the almighty.	13:29
	Therefore, can nothing defiled find entrance into her.	13:34
	For wisdom is an effulgence from everlasting light	13:39
	and an unspotted mirror of the working of God	13:44
	and an image of his goodness.	13:49
	And from generation to generation passing into holy souls	13:52
	wisdom maketh men friends of God and prophets.	13:58
	But if riches are a desired possession in life,	14:03
	what is richer than wisdom which worketh all things?	14:07
	And if understanding worketh who more than wisdom	14:12
	is an artificer of the things that are?	14:15
	And if a man loveth righteousness	14:20
	the fruits of wisdom's labor are virtues,	14:22
	for wisdom teaches soberness and understanding,	14:26
	righteousness and courage,	14:30
	and there is nothing in life for men	14:32
	more profitable than those.	14:35
	This is the word of the Lord.	14:38
Congregation	Thank you God.	14:41
-	This morning's psalter is psalm 90,	14:49
	verses one through six, found on page 809,	14:51
	and verses 13 through 17 found as you turn the page to 810.	14:54
	Please stand and sing the psalter in Gloria responsively.	14:59
	♪ Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations ♪	15:11
	(choir chanting)	15:20
	♪ You turn us back to thy dust ♪	15:37
	♪ And say turn back oh mortal ones ♪	15:41
	(choir chanting)	15:47
	♪ You sweep them away they are like a dream ♪	16:02
	♪ Like grass which is renewed in the morning ♪	16:07
	(choir chanting)	16:12
	♪ Return oh Lord how long ♪	16:26
	♪ Have pity on your servants ♪	16:30
	(choir chanting)	16:35
	♪ Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us ♪	16:49
	♪ And as many years as we have seen evil ♪	16:56
	(choir chanting)	17:02
	♪ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us ♪	17:15
	♪ And establish the work of our hands ♪	17:20
	(choir chanting)	17:24
-	This reading comes from the fourth chapter	18:46
	of Paul's letter to the Philippians,	18:49
	verses four through eight.	18:51
	Rejoice in the Lord always,	18:56
	and again I say rejoice.	18:58
	Let your moderation be known onto all men.	19:02
	The Lord is at hand.	19:07
	Be careful for nothing,	19:10
	but in everything by prayer and supplication.	19:12
	With Thanksgiving let your request be made known onto God.	19:16
	And the peace of God,	19:23
	which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts	19:25
	and minds through Christ Jesus.	19:29
	Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true,	19:34
	whatsoever things are honest,	19:40
	whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,	19:43
	whatsoever things are lovely,	19:49
	whatsoever things are of good report,	19:52
	if there be any virtue and if there be any praise	19:56
	think on these things.	20:01
	This is word of the Lord.	20:04
Congregation	Thank you God.	20:07
	(choir chanting)	20:41
-	The holy gospel of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,	25:10
	according to Matthew.	25:14
	Blessed are the poor in spirit	25:19
	for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	25:22
	Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.	25:26
	Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.	25:30
	Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst	25:36
	after righteousness for they shall be filled.	25:39
	Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.	25:43
	Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God.	25:47
	Blessed are the peacemakers	25:53
	for they shall be called the children of God.	25:55
	Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake	25:58
	for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.	26:04
	Blessed are ye when men shall revile, and persecute you,	26:08
	shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,	26:15
	for my sake.	26:20
	Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward	26:22
	in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets,	26:28
	which were before you.	26:34
	Ye are the salt of the earth,	26:38
	but if the salt hath lost his savour,	26:41
	wherewith shall it be salted?	26:45
	It is thenceforth good for nothing,	26:49
	but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.	26:52
	Ye are the light of the world.	26:59
	A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.	27:03
	Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,	27:08
	but on a candlestick, and it giveth light	27:13
	onto all that are in the house.	27:17
	Let your light so shine before men	27:21
	that they may see your good works	27:25
	and glorify your father, which is in heaven.	27:29
	This is the word of the Lord.	27:36
Congregation	Thank you God.	27:41
-	Help us lord become masters of ourselves,	27:45
	that we may become the servants of others.	27:49
	Take our hands and work through them.	27:53
	Take our minds and think through them.	27:57
	Take our lips and speak through them.	28:01
	And take our hearts and set them on fire	28:05
	for Christ's sake.	28:10
	Amen.	28:13
	And from generation to generation	28:23
	passing into holy souls	28:28
	wisdom maketh us friends of	28:31
	God and prophets.	28:36
	And now you needn't pretend that you recognize	28:42
	that verse from your youth,	28:45
	because most of you don't.	28:48
	Few of you have clutched the apocrypha to your bosoms.	28:50
	Few of you have memorized its verses to be sent to camp	28:55
	or to earn pins or medals in the Methodists	28:58
	or the baptists Sunday school.	29:01
	It's a new verse, so confess it.	29:04
	Rejoice in it.	29:07
	I have chosen it to be deliberately obscure	29:08
	to capture at least initially your interest,	29:13
	if not your attention.	29:17
	Now the title of this morning's sermon	29:20
	facts and visions	29:23
	alas is not my own.	29:26
	I realize that in the business of preaching	29:29
	that all work and no plagiarism	29:32
	makes Jack or Peter a dull preacher,	29:34
	but I should start out straight away	29:38
	by confessing that I lifted this title	29:39
	from a book of baccalaureate sermons	29:42
	preached at Harvard by President Abbott Lawrence Lowell	29:45
	about 60 years ago.	29:49
	The book has been long out of print,	29:52
	but like good wine and compost	29:55
	the sermons in it keep well.	29:58
	They filled these baccalaureate sermons	30:02
	of Mr.Lowell with sober Yankee analysis	30:04
	sound advice and no nonsense observations	30:08
	by the president to the young on that last	30:12
	and perhaps only occasion when the young	30:17
	are compelled to listen to him.	30:20
	And the title of it says it all, facts and visions.	30:24
	Facts are the things without which	30:28
	we cannot take account of anything else.	30:32
	Facts are to be taken seriously.	30:35
	But visions are the things that give meaning, and purpose,	30:39
	depth, angularity,	30:43
	and perspective to the facts,	30:46
	and they go beyond the fact.	30:50
	That creative tension between facts and visions	30:54
	is not unlike that creative tension between	31:00
	learning and religion of which your president spoke	31:03
	so deftly yesterday.	31:08
	That tension is summed up nicely	31:11
	by Mr.Lowell's title and now mine,	31:14
	facts and visions.	31:17
	The university requires a sufficiency of both.	31:20
	If it is to know and it is to do its job.	31:25
	And those of us who labor in it,	31:30
	who either pay too much or are paid too little,	31:32
	we too need to know the gentle relationship	31:36
	between facts and vision.	31:41
	Today, like yesterday	31:44
	is a good day to remember that,	31:47
	but it is not as easy as it seems.	31:51
	The fact of your university and mine	31:57
	is that in the middle of our most public spaces,	32:01
	your quadrangle and my yard,	32:06
	there stands an enormous handsome,	32:09
	hardly modest, or invisible church.	32:14
	Yesterday, sitting outside of the God's most gracious	32:19
	and glorious sky I believe the Governor of North Carolina	32:23
	took full credit for it by calling it a Carolina sky.	32:26
	It seems a little greedy, but we'll allow that for him.	32:30
	Who could not be aware of the fact	32:35
	sitting in that quadrangle yesterday	32:37
	of the splendid fact, unavoidable fact	32:40
	of this great pile of stone and glass.	32:46
	And in my own college yard in Cambridge	32:52
	there stands another great church,	32:55
	not as large as this admittedly,	32:57
	but we like it.	32:59
	(laughing)	33:01
	And when Memorial Church was built just two years	33:04
	after this chapel was built it was over the protests	33:07
	of students who wanted something either useful	33:12
	or beautiful as the Memorial to the Harvard dead	33:17
	of the first World War.	33:21
	And in a church them complained they got neither.	33:23
	In fact, it was said of Memorial Church	33:28
	that it was erected to the glory	33:31
	of Abbott Lawrence Lowell and in memory of God.	33:33
	(laughing)	33:37
	These physical facts in Cambridge and in Durham	33:40
	confront us.	33:43
	They confront us.	33:45
	And here at Duke, perhaps the most beautiful college	33:47
	on earth, possible exception of Wellesley,	33:51
	one cannot help but be impressed	33:56
	by the glory of the built environment.	33:59
	I walk around here day after day agape and a gaze	34:03
	at the splendor of the environment.	34:07
	They literally paint the roses red here,	34:11
	and it is an extraordinary thing to behold.	34:14
	But great as these facts in Carolina's stone are of course,	34:18
	even greater is the vision that gave them their life,	34:23
	their shape, their purpose,	34:29
	that turned these facts into visions	34:32
	beyond our imagining.	34:36
	We need the facts but we need the vision behind,	34:38
	beyond, and before them as well.	34:43
	We cannot afford to be like one of my freshman advisees	34:47
	in Cambridge who in his first tutorial	34:50
	complained bitterly that, "The ideas were getting in the way	34:52
	of the facts and facts are all that I want," he said.	34:57
	Thank God you and I know better than that.	35:02
	Now Nan yesterday when you began your discussion	35:10
	of the Duke motto, I looked for a slight tremor	35:15
	in that great tower out there,	35:19
	a lifting perhaps, a leaning as you proceeded down	35:22
	the treacherous path of breathing life into a legend.	35:28
	Some of your new colleagues might think too unsophisticated	35:33
	for a university as ambitious	35:38
	and achieved as this one.	35:41
	My own college for example dedicated to truth	35:45
	or Christ and the church happily rendered	35:49
	in relatively obscure Latin visibly winces	35:54
	when it is reminded that the truth	35:58
	of which that legend speaks is not the result	36:00
	of abstract scholarship and scientific discoveries	36:03
	reported on federal research grants,	36:07
	but is in fact a truthful, useful, and personal,	36:10
	and made human in the form of	36:16
	Jesus Christ and his church.	36:19
	If the duke of the north seems eager to free itself	36:24
	from it's puritan piety and it daily redefines itself	36:29
	as the epitome of all secular and useful knowledge,	36:33
	so to one would expect it's younger sibling in Durham	36:37
	to be tempted to do the the same thing.	36:41
	And if you proceed down that path all the Methodist bishops	36:45
	in Christendom cannot possibly	36:49
	put Humpty Dumpty together again.	36:52
	Institutional maturity for so many these days	36:56
	is defined as defining yourself	37:00
	as far away from your founding	37:03
	premises as possible.	37:06
	To grow up is to grow away.	37:10
	I'd rather think old James Buchanan Duke understood that,	37:15
	and that is why he planted in the midst of his bounty	37:20
	an irremovable happily unavoidable reminder	37:24
	of your embarrassing past	37:30
	and your ultimately promising future.	37:33
	Happily for Duke and for the rest of higher education,	37:37
	your president yesterday defined the institutional maturity	37:42
	as growing into and not away	37:46
	from it's worthy founding premises,	37:50
	translating old hopes into new opportunities,	37:53
	living creatively and responsibly with unavoidable tensions,	37:58
	and seeking ever increasing opportunity to test the facts	38:03
	by the visions	38:09
	and the visions by the opportunity.	38:10
	That is no bad thing	38:14
	for an institution to remember	38:17
	at the start of a new administration.	38:20
	And for such a vision to come from the lips	38:23
	of its president is extraordinary.	38:27
	Well, all well and good you might say.	38:32
	A nimble exercise worthy of a scholar	38:36
	of 18th century dexterity and duplicity,	38:40
	but the circle is not so easily squared as that.	38:45
	In fact, it is impossible in the modern world	38:49
	of the modern secular research university	38:53
	to keep these facts and visions neatly in their places.	38:56
	It is impossible to keep them	39:01
	in a healthy cooperative relationship.	39:03
	The arts really cannot stand the sciences,	39:07
	and vice versa.	39:11
	Faith and reason sound good, but do not date.	39:12
	Religion and learning, come on, be serious.	39:17
	Give me a break.	39:21
	How many earners discussions of religion and learning	39:23
	in their relationship take place in the west quadrangle	39:27
	on Saturday evening?	39:30
	Get real.	39:33
	Let's be serious.	39:34
	It is an impossible task to reconcile,	39:36
	much less recognize these polarities, these difficulties.	39:40
	This is an impossible job	39:45
	and that is why we give it to the president to do.	39:48
	(laughing)	39:51
	I agree.	39:54
	And like the Red Queen in Through the Looking-Glass,	39:57
	I, and I think Nan, have a high appreciation	40:01
	for the art of the impossible.	40:06
	Remember if you have read	40:09
	your Through the Looking-Glass recently.	40:11
	Remember where the Red Queen says to Alice	40:13
	that she is 101 five months and a day old.	40:16
	"I can't believe that", said Alice.	40:21
	"Can't you?", said the Queen in a pitying tone.	40:24
	"Try again.	40:28
	Draw a long breath and shut your eyes."	40:30
	Alice laughed, "There's no use trying".	40:34
	She said, "One can't believe impossible things."	40:37
	"I dare say you haven't had much practice", said the Queen.	40:41
	"When I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day,	40:45
	why sometimes I believed as many	40:50
	as six impossible things before breakfast."	40:52
	Duke, Harvard, Wellesley would be very different places	40:59
	indeed if the Red Queen were president,	41:03
	but something of her capacity	41:06
	for coping with the impossible.	41:08
	The quality that in a less fantastic place	41:11
	than Through the Looking-Glass would be called imagination	41:13
	is a necessary quality in the leadership God has chosen	41:18
	to give you in your new president.	41:23
	On your morning jogs, Nan, no doubt	41:29
	you will think at the very least	41:32
	of six impossible things for Duke.	41:34
	God help the rest of you.	41:39
	(laughing)	41:41
	One of these impossible things will be to keep faith	41:44
	with the formative vision of a place	41:50
	where faith is not meant merely to be tolerated,	41:54
	but to be celebrated both in learning and in religion.	41:58
	To keep faith with the ideal of vital piety	42:03
	and sound learning where leadership is service	42:08
	and where service leads.	42:14
	It was said of an english schoolmaster	42:18
	in the Kentish Village of Sandwich in England	42:21
	in the middle of this century,	42:24
	in leadership he served,	42:28
	in serving he led and thus	42:31
	he set the feet of many	42:35
	upon the path of life.	42:38
	An impossible task that is,	42:43
	an agenda for the life of the soul	42:46
	and the mind in a place and in a time like this.	42:49
	Impossible but it must be done.	42:54
	And how can it be done?	42:59
	Well, there are three witnesses in scripture,	43:02
	which I think can help.	43:06
	The three witnesses are the lessons,	43:09
	which we have caused to be read to you this morning.	43:12
	The first lesson indeed is that unfamiliar passage	43:16
	from the apocrypha.	43:20
	It upholds that passage	43:23
	the great virtue of wisdom	43:26
	who in the apocrypha	43:30
	is described as female.	43:33
	Wisdom is she throughout this passage	43:37
	from which this text is taken.	43:41
	And I was drawn to this text both for the obscurity	43:44
	for which I've already eluded	43:47
	and it's aptness as well to the necessities	43:49
	and qualities of your new president.	43:54
	When Nan was installed as president of Wellesley,	43:59
	her reverend father among other things	44:03
	prayed these words,	44:06
	"That Nan be filled with the spirit	44:09
	of wisdom of patience and enterprise	44:11
	and above all the spirit of winsome grace."	44:16
	A lovely line.	44:22
	Winsome grace.	44:24
	Wisdom is the spirit of winsome grace	44:27
	and it is a continuous quality, not restricted only	44:32
	to the would-be wise in one place or time or circumstance,	44:37
	but passing from generation to	44:42
	generation into holy souls.	44:45
	That is from time to time	44:49
	passing into the receptive souls,	44:52
	and minds, and spirits of those	44:55
	who come and continue to come.	44:57
	Wisdom has the capacity	45:00
	to make us friends of God	45:04
	and prophets.	45:06
	And for what more could you ask than to be a friend of God	45:08
	and a prophet.	45:12
	Wisdom affirms your relationships,	45:13
	your relationship with your God,	45:17
	your relationship with your people.	45:20
	And that passage concludes.	45:22
	If you love righteousness, the fruits of wisdom's labors	45:25
	are virtues for wisdom teaches soberness, and understanding,	45:30
	and righteousness, and courage.	45:36
	And there is nothing in life	45:39
	for your more greater profit than these.	45:42
	Wisdom helps.	45:50
	The second lesson to help out with the impossible task	45:53
	is the ultimately impossible vision that most famous	45:58
	of all of the Beatitudes	46:02
	where it says the meek shall inherit the earth.	46:04
	Now I watched you as I read that passage	46:11
	from the Beatitudes and I chose the authorized version	46:14
	because I know you know it	46:17
	and I watched a gentle glaze begin to move	46:19
	from these front pews all the way back	46:22
	to the Benjamin and Duke Memorial organ.	46:25
	And I'm sure it was back here too, but I didn't look to see.	46:27
	(laughing)	46:30
	It was the glaze of familiarity.	46:32
	I have heard it from my cradle.	46:34
	I know it from my youth.	46:37
	It is like wall to wall carpeting	46:39
	in the apartment of my mind.	46:41
	I don't have to really pay attention,	46:44
	except at one point where we read	46:46
	and the meek shall inherit the earth	46:48
	and you all say, yeah, uh-huh.	46:52
	Indeed.	46:55
	Of course.	46:56
	What do you expect of Jesus and Matthew and Gomes?	46:58
	Haha.	47:02
	(laughing)	47:03
	The meek shall inherit the earth.	47:04
	Well, it may very well be.	47:07
	Perhaps, the meek will inherit the earth,	47:08
	but they cannot be trusted	47:11
	to run a major research university.	47:12
	(laughing)	47:15
	Search committees do not list meekness among the qualities	47:17
	that they seek in their CEOs.	47:21
	If the trustees are here today	47:25
	I suspect that they admire meekness in principle,	47:26
	but not in person.	47:30
	This text is an impossible text for an impossible calling	47:33
	because most of us who know meek people	47:39
	know they are meek because they must be.	47:42
	They can't be or do anything else.	47:45
	As Churchill said modesty is for those who need it.	47:50
	(laughing)	47:54
	What a horrible thought it is that all of us non-meek types	47:56
	because we're all type A's or we wouldn't be at Duke.	48:00
	All of us non-meek types are working so hard	48:03
	and so well, so that these meek losers	48:07
	can inherit the whole bloody thing.	48:09
	(laughing)	48:12
	But to be meek here in this translation	48:14
	and to be meek as we understand the context of this lesson	48:18
	is not to be merely mild or humble as was your (mumbles)	48:22
	in David Copperfield.	48:27
	The meek are those who have perspective, insight,	48:29
	a sense of modesty and humility,	48:34
	who know that all that is done	48:37
	does not depend upon those who will dupe.	48:40
	And in the transformed world of the be attitudes	48:44
	where the usual rules of kill or be killed,	48:49
	or do one to others before they do onto you	48:52
	will no longer apply.	48:54
	The meek inherit a place transformed,	48:57
	changed, redeemed, renewed,	49:02
	where meekness is no longer a liability,	49:06
	but is in fact the way things are.	49:10
	Meekness is the good sense of those who know	49:13
	that where we are is not where we are going.	49:18
	Meekness is the good sense that says	49:23
	that we are more than what we do.	49:25
	Meekness is the good sense that says	49:29
	while it may appear to be the case,	49:32
	what you see is not	49:36
	necessarily what you get.	49:39
	Meekness is not the opposite of strength.	49:43
	It is the opposite of pride.	49:48
	And if any institution on earth	49:52
	needs to know the dangerous lessons of pride,	49:57
	it is the modern research university.	50:02
	Such prideful, vain, glorious places we are.	50:07
	So smart.	50:13
	So bright.	50:14
	So clever.	50:15
	What we don't know isn't worth knowing.	50:17
	What we do know we will rule the world with it.	50:19
	Truth to be produced in our laboratories,	50:25
	or our libraries, or in our lecture halls.	50:28
	These are the Gods before whom we bow	50:32
	and whom we create in our own image.	50:36
	If anybody in the world including governments and business	50:39
	needs to know the lessons of humility, meekness,	50:43
	and the vices of pride.	50:48
	It is the modern research university.	50:51
	If you learn that lesson you will have learned all.	50:56
	A little modesty is not a bad thing	51:01
	in pretentious places like this.	51:05
	Finally, when you have forgotten all of our wisdom	51:10
	and have tossed meekness off as weakness,	51:14
	when the facts obscure the vision,	51:18
	and the vision seems inadequate to the time,	51:20
	what is there left to do?	51:23
	Well, pray.	51:24
	Pray.	51:26
	Pray.	51:28
	You'll need it.	51:29
	This place if probably	51:30
	impossible to conceive of	51:33
	without invisible help.	51:36
	Pray.	51:39
	That is what Philippians 4 says.	51:41
	Have no anxiety about anything.	51:43
	Relax.	51:46
	Don't worry.	51:47
	But in everything by prayer and supplication	51:48
	let your requests be made known to God.	51:52
	Now prayer makes people nervous.	51:58
	Some years ago I was on a flight to England.	52:01
	It was no a Saturday night and I was going to land	52:04
	in London early in the morning,	52:06
	and I had the great privilege later that morning	52:08
	of preaching in St-Paul's.	52:10
	So, on the flight as we were encountering	52:13
	what they say as airportees as a little turbulence	52:16
	I opened my briefcase and got out my book of common prayer	52:20
	just to go over the lessons,	52:25
	so that I would be prepared when I landed.	52:27
	A lady next to me noticed this gesture	52:32
	and she said with some trepidation,	52:35
	"Are you a clergyman?"	52:37
	And I said, "Why yes I am."	52:38
	Then she said, "Do you know something that I don't	52:41
	and should about this flight?"	52:45
	(laughing)	52:48
	I knew what she meant and I put my prayers away	52:49
	as it obviously made her very nervous indeed.	52:52
	And when the turbulence subsided, she thanked me.	52:56
	(laughing)	53:00
	Now I know that prayer is not a substitute	53:02
	for thought or action as any football or basketball coach	53:06
	can tell you.	53:11
	If you don't have the plans and you don't have the plays,	53:13
	the prayers will not help.	53:17
	God is too busy on the other side.	53:20
	Prayer here however in Philippians is the means	53:23
	by which one begins to experience that peace of God	53:27
	which passeth all understanding.	53:32
	That sense of security, serenity and stability	53:35
	that does not come from knowing all the answers	53:39
	or even most of the questions.	53:41
	But comes from our sense of being related to ideals,	53:44
	ideas and visions that transcend	53:48
	the facts and the circumstances.	53:51
	Prayer allows us the peace	53:54
	by which in Christ we may contemplate whatever is true,	53:57
	honorable, pure, just, lovely,	54:02
	and gracious.	54:07
	Prayer is that inspirited connected moment	54:09
	that reminds us that we are not just to do something,	54:14
	but to stand there.	54:19
	So, there you have it.	54:25
	There it is.	54:27
	Impossible advice from an improbable source	54:29
	for an impossible job.	54:34
	Neither you nor all that is Duke can hope to do any of this	54:37
	on your own.	54:42
	You need Nan all of the help that you can get,	54:44
	and that is what this impossible chapel,	54:50
	and it's impossible sacraments, symbols,	54:55
	and it's impenetrable sermons will remind you.	54:59
	In his wildest imagination	55:04
	Mr.James Buchanan Duke	55:07
	could not have imagined 70 years ago	55:09
	that his vision would be entrusted into your hands,	55:13
	and that you will be charged in the discharge	55:18
	of your great duty by a black preacher from Harvard.	55:21
	(laughing)	55:25
	Had the facts not been overwhelmed by the visions	55:26
	we would both be in a very different place today.	55:31
	But here we are.	55:35
	God is great.	55:37
	God is good.	55:38
	And God has a terrific sense of humor.	55:39
	(laughing)	55:42
	Wisdom, meekness, prayer,	55:43
	this may seem an impossible	55:47
	(mumbles) formula for an impossible job,	55:49
	but every morning of every day all of us	55:52
	from the world weary freshman	55:55
	and the hassle dining hall worker	55:58
	to the gray faced graduate student	56:00
	and the much pressed upon president,	56:03
	all of us rise everyday to face impossible tasks	56:06
	in impossible places and we do them.	56:11
	And what it makes possible for us to get on and keep on,	56:15
	what makes it possible for us to aspire to be friends of God	56:19
	and prophets it is the glorious,	56:24
	gracious filled fact	56:28
	that the facts are not allowed	56:31
	to obscure the visions for long.	56:35
	If we remember that	56:39
	and act upon the remembrance of that	56:42
	then by God's grace our future	56:45
	will be worthy of our past.	56:51
	And that's a fact.	56:55
	God bless Nan.	56:58
	God bless Duke.	56:59
	God bless us all for we need it.	57:01
	Amen.	57:06
	(choir chanting)	57:41
-	The lord be with you.	1:00:35
Congregation	And also with you.	1:00:37
-	Let us pray.	1:00:38
	Be seated.	1:00:40
	Almighty God,	1:00:48
	source of wisdom and truth	1:00:51
	from generation under generation you have blessed us.	1:00:55
	Bless us we pray for those of us who work, who teach,	1:01:04
	who conduct research and who learn here at Duke University,	1:01:10
	who may be the beneficiaries of your grace.	1:01:14
	We pray for your church.	1:01:18
	Set this day amid new conflicts and challenges.	1:01:21
	Give your church courage to witness	1:01:26
	confidence in its claims, deep concern for the young.	1:01:29
	Same concern which one led 19th Century Quakers	1:01:38
	and Methodists to found Trinity College	1:01:43
	and then Duke University in their day.	1:01:46
	We pray for all those who in this generation	1:01:51
	are entrusted with positions of leadership,	1:01:54
	particularly those who lead this university.	1:01:57
	For all administrators, deans, coaches,	1:02:01
	help them amid the daily demands upon their time,	1:02:08
	energy and creativity never to forget the treasure	1:02:12
	committed to their care.	1:02:16
	The gift of this university, the wonder of talented youth,	1:02:19
	the adventure of education,	1:02:24
	especially this day do we pray for our new president	1:02:29
	as she assumes the burdens of leadership here.	1:02:31
	May those burdens be also for her blessings.	1:02:35
	Give her as she leads the gifts required	1:02:40
	for wise leadership, the ability to listen	1:02:43
	to the (mumbles) voices within the university	1:02:48
	without being paralyzed by their conflicting claims,	1:02:52
	the patience required to work with young people	1:02:57
	on their way to adulthood, but not there yet,	1:03:01
	the humor to work with faculty who are often	1:03:06
	more impressed with ourselves than we ought to be,	1:03:09
	the grace to forgive herself when she makes mistakes,	1:03:14
	and the grace to rejoice when through her leadership	1:03:20
	things go well.	1:03:24
	We pray for our fellow intellectuals and students	1:03:27
	who study and learn in places where war and civil on rest	1:03:32
	make their lives difficult.	1:03:35
	For all those students this day	1:03:39
	who are persecuted for their thoughts,	1:03:43
	done violence for their writing,	1:03:47
	mocked for their research by a preside governments	1:03:48
	and cruel regimes we pray.	1:03:51
	We pray for all those who care,	1:03:55
	for the sick and the infirm,	1:03:58
	particularly our colleagues who work in the Duke hospitals.	1:04:00
	Oh Christ, healer of the sick and savior of the retched,	1:04:05
	give them the gifts they need for their healing work.	1:04:11
	Make this university so dear to our hearts	1:04:16
	a lively center for sound learning,	1:04:20
	new discovery in the pursuit of wisdom.	1:04:22
	Help our students to rise above the narrow desire	1:04:27
	simply to make a living.	1:04:30
	Enable them rather to make a life worthy of the gospel.	1:04:34
	Help our faculty to lay aside academic vanity	1:04:41
	and conceit, petty politics and desire for personal gain,	1:04:45
	and never lose sight of the nobility of our vocation.	1:04:51
	In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.	1:04:59
	Jesus, source of life and light.	1:05:03
	Jesus, giver of that holy wisdom for which the world	1:05:06
	by its own devices can neither know, nor take away.	1:05:11
	Jesus, by whom we are promised that we might know the truth,	1:05:18
	the truth which makes us free.	1:05:26
	Amen.	1:05:31
	As a gifted people let us offer ourselves	1:05:35
	and our gifts to the God who has given so much to us.	1:05:39
	(choir chanting)	1:07:02
-	Let us pray.	1:14:49
	Oh Lord our God, the author and giver of all good things,	1:14:51
	we thank you for all of your mercies	1:14:56
	and for your loving care over all your creatures.	1:14:59
	We give thanks for the gift of life	1:15:03
	and your guiding hand upon us.	1:15:06
	Through prayer make us wise to rightly use	1:15:08
	all the benefits we enjoy.	1:15:12
	Give us a heart to love and serve you,	1:15:15
	and enable us to show our thankfulness for your goodness	1:15:18
	and mercy by giving ourselves to your service	1:15:22
	and your vision.	1:15:26
	Help us walk before you in holiness and righteousness	1:15:28
	all our days through Jesus Christ our Lord	1:15:31
	to whom with you and the holy spirit	1:15:35
	be all honor and glory forever and ever.	1:15:38
	Amen.	1:15:41
	Let us continue our prayers	1:15:44
	as we pray together the Lord's prayer.	1:15:45
	Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name.	1:15:48
	By kingdom come, by will be done,	1:15:53
	on earth as it is in heaven.	1:15:56
	Give us this day our daily bread,	1:15:59
	and forgive us our trespasses,	1:16:01
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	1:16:03
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	1:16:07
	For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and glory forever.	1:16:12
	Amen.	1:16:17
	(choir chanting)	1:17:24
	(choir music)	1:24:51

Item Info

Title:

Peter J. Gomes - "Facts and Visions" (October 24, 1993)

Description:

It is one of the impossible tasks of a university like Duke to maintain its rootedness in the faith-filled vision of its initial formation. In order to accomplish this impossible task, three things will be necessary: wisdom, meekness (humility), and prayer. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 27:45. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 57:08.
Key quotation: “One of these impossible things will be to keep faith with the formative vision of a place where faith is not meant merely to be tolerated, but to be celebrated both in learning and in religion.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4v98062m

Date:

October 24, 1993

Speaker:

Gomes, Peter J.

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

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Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 VHS-0342
ref9322_2xj
uachapelsermaud
duke:321374
dcrmv001327
ark:/87924/r4v98062m
dd29bd50-e5f2-45eb-ba73-ccd5df20a04f

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

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

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This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For 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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Peter J. Gomes - "Facts and Visions" (October 24, 1993)

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1. Peter J. Gomes - "Facts and Visions" (October 24, 1993)

Duke University Archives

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