Baccalaureate Address by Mark R. Orten, B.A., Associate B.S., M.Div., University Chaplain

The Depth of Life

As Director of Religious Life and University Chaplain, I add my warm welcome to all of you: students who are about to commence upon the world, families and friends whose support made such a thing possible, and colleagues -- the staff, faculty and administration of this place -- who are present.

It is good to be here to celebrate this momentous occasion in the lives of the Class of '05.

As Director of Religious Life and University Chaplain, I add my warm welcome to all of you: students who are about to commence upon the world, families and friends whose support made such a thing possible, and colleagues -- the staff, faculty and administration of this place -- who are present.

It is good to be here to celebrate this momentous occasion in the lives of the Class of '05.

As is noted in our bulletin today, in memoriam we celebrate the life of Traci Louise Prince Williams (whose parents are here with us today, and) for whose bright life her family and friends and Denison University are grateful. It is in her memory that I was first directed to the topic for today.

We all have mentors by whose lives we measure our own. People whose perspiration is the source of our inspiration. Whose accomplishments are the compass for our own morality, our integrity, and our striving.

More and more of late (it seems passe to say it), the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has become one of those influences on me. The reason for this will become more apparent as I continue, but I want to take as my departure in my comments today some of his own remarks in a sermon he delivered at New Covenant Baptist Church in Chicago, Ill., in 1967.

I'll be quoting from the sermon entitled, "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life." In it he says

"there are three dimensions of any complete life...: length, breadth, and height. (Yes) Now the length of life as we shall use it here is the inward concern for one's own welfare. (Yes) In other words, it is that inward concern that causes one to push forward, to achieve his [or her] own goals and ambitions. (All right) The breadth of life as we shall use it here is the outward concern for the welfare of others. (All right) And the height of life is the upward reach for God. (All right) Now you got to have all three of these to have a complete life."

Length and breadth and height. If length is inward concern for one's own welfare that carries us through our days, and breadth is outward concern for the welfare of others, and height of life is what King would call the upward reach for God, then it seems to me that, respectfully, another dimension might be added: Depth. What, with respect for the way that he might put it, what is the depth of life?

It could be said that that is the complete life to which King refers, that fourth dimension, when all the other three are present.

It's the one that we do not know empirically except by it's evidences. The hint of it is there analogously in nature, like the swaying of the tree giving testament to the wind. It has something to do with relationality and complex wisdom, with a mature and sophisticated understanding of the way things are beyond what we can see with our eyes, touch with our hands, and taste with our tongues. It's our sixth sense, our intuition, what our imagination and inspiration draw upon. It's the intangible tactic of our soul.

So when we speak of things like education and justice, of welfare and of peace, of economics and conservation and security: we know that something non-linear is afoot that no single discipline nor philosophical system nor theological platitude may fully comprehend.

It's Life at a depth where the regular senses may become murky but a whole other world looms for us to experience and enjoy. In the same way that the length (how far) and breadth (how wide) and height (how high) are analogous to our experience, growing out of a tangible, tactile encounter with the sensible world, we know there is a depth as well. I think that Dr. King would be among the first to agree.

For look at how he explains the length:

"When I was in Montgomery, Alabama, I went to a shoe shop quite often, known as the Gordon Shoe Shop. And there was a fellow in there that used to shine my shoes, and it was just an experience to witness this fellow shining my shoes. He would get that rag, you know, and he could bring music out of it. And I said to myself, "This fellow has a Ph.D. in shoe shining." (That's right)

King says,

"What I'm saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.

"And when you do this, when you do this, you've mastered the length of life."

That's Dr. King. So you see there's this other dimension underneath for him that you can see in the way that he explains the first dimension of life, the length of it. And what better reminder to us as we go forth into the world with our education and this amazing Denison experience. To do what we do with all that is in us to do it. That's the length of life.

Now hear what he says about the breadth, the wide outreach of Life:

"Now I can hear somebody saying, 'Lord, I did a lot of things in life. I did my job well; the world honored me for doing my job. (Oh yeah) I did a lot of things, Lord; I went to school and studied hard. I accumulated a lot of money, Lord; that's what I did.' It seems as if I can hear the Lord of Life saying, 'But I was hungry, and ye fed me not. (That's right) I was sick, and ye visited me not. I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was in prison, and you weren't concerned about me. So get out of my face. What did you do for others?' (That's right) This is the breadth of life. (Oh yeah)"

Powerful words of Martin Luther King reminding us that we do not live unto ourselves. We live for others. And not only that, he goes on to remind us:

"... Don't forget in doing something for others that you have what you have because of others. (Yes, sir) Don't forget that. We are tied together in life and in the world. (Preach, preach) And you may think you got all you got by yourself. (Not all of it) But you know, before you got out here to church this morning, [and I'll interject before you got here to Swasey this afternoon -- you'll see the correlation -- I'm quoting Dr. King now] you were dependent on more than half of the world. (That's right) You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom, and you reach over for a bar of soap, and that's handed to you by a Frenchman. You reach over for a sponge, and that's given to you by a Turk. You reach over for a towel, and that comes to your hand from the hands of a Pacific Islander. And then you go on to the kitchen to get your breakfast. You reach on over to get a little coffee, and that's poured in your cup by a South American. (That's right) Or maybe you decide that you want a little tea this morning, only to discover that that's poured in your cup by a Chinese. (Yes) Or maybe you want a little cocoa, that's poured in your cup by a West African. (Yes) Then you want a little bread and you reach over to get it, and that's given to you by the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. (That's right) Before you get through eating breakfast in the morning, you're dependent on more than half the world. (That's right) That's the way God structured it; that's the way God structured this world. So let us be concerned about others because we are dependent on others. (Oh yeah)"

End of quote. The expanse of our relations, the breadth of life, as Dr. King puts it, is the reality of our interdependence that imposes on us by every standard of decency the simple kindness to consider others. The truest measure of what you do with your life, insofar as doing matters, is what you do for others.

Then there is the height, the upward reach of Life. Now you'll have to listen through the masculine language in this full quotation but there just is no way to summarize or re-write this poetry. Of height, the Reverend King says:

"You may not be able to define God in philosophical terms. Men through the ages have tried to talk about him. (Yes) Plato said that he was the Architectonic Good. Aristotle called him the Unmoved Mover. Hegel called him the Absolute Whole. Then there was a man named Paul Tillich who called him Being-Itself. We don't need to know all of these high-sounding terms. (Yes) Maybe we have to know him and discover him another way. (Oh yeah) One day you ought to rise up and say, 'I know him because he's a lily of the valley.' (Yes) He's a bright and morning star. (Yes) He's a rose of Sharon. He's a battle-axe in the time of Babylon. (Yes) And then somewhere you ought to just reach out and say, 'He's my everything. He's my mother and my father. He's my sister and my brother. He's a friend to the friendless.' This is the God of the universe. And if you believe in him and worship him, something will happen in your life. You will smile when others around you are crying. This is the power of God."

That's Dr. King. In all of these he alludes to the dimensions of Life that taken one by one give us some way of knowing how to make the most of what we have gained here at Denison.

• When you walked across the campus and said "Hello," what was the nature of your greeting?
  
  • Climbing the social ladder?
    
  • Cheery encouragement?
    
  • Pure and real affection?
    
  • Or did you say "hello" sometimes out of the excess of an abundant life within you? That's Breadth.

• When you woke up extra early for that athletic practice or for that ungodly exam, what force was it that moved you to rise?
  
  • Was it fear of the consequences if you didn't?
    
  • Was it eagerness for your reward? Was it just pure practicality, a pre-rationalized reliance on a schedule for the maintenance of your days?
    
  • Or did you get up sometimes (ever once?), and greet the dawning day with delerious delight? That's Height.

• What classes did you take? Why?
  
  • Was it curiosity?
    
  • The improvement of knowledge on a matter?
    
  • The challenge of it?
    
  • Proximity to the dining hall?
    
  • Did it meet a requirement for your major?
    
  • ... Now that you have taken it, what will you do with it? That's Length.

These are the dimensions of the complete life, when you ask the questions about why you do things with regard to their breadth, and height, and length. Taken together, this is the depth of life. I would dare to say that it is the very thing that he calls "A Complete Life." The combination of all three.

In the conclusion of his sermon he came to say:

"When you get all three of these together, you can walk and never get weary. You can look up and see the morning stars singing together, and the [children] of God shouting for joy. When you get all of these working together in your very life, judgement will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

"When you get all the three of these together, the lamb will lie down with the lion.

"When you get all three of these together, you look up and every valley will be exalted, and every hill and mountain will be made low; the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh will see it together.

"When you get all three of these working together, you will do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

"When you get all three of these together, you will recognize that out of one blood God made all people to dwell upon the face of the earth."

You can hear already in these words the foretaste of that famous speech on the Mall in Washington from the Hebrew scriptures. That's what Martin Luther King said in his sermon in that cramped little church in Chicago in 1967.

What I say to you today is no less significant (albeit without the eloquence or perhaps the force of necessity, but I told you it has become a compass to me).

The complete life, the depth of life, is the recognition of what is of most value, what is of greatest worth, what is worth due veneration and our industry.

What you have experienced here at Denison University is a wick in the candle of your consciousness by whose light you will see how far you can go. What you have learned here in the sciences and the humanities and the arts has increased the muscle of your intellect by whose strength you will reach out to your neighbor (whoever that becomes) and to the whole world, as it now reaches out for you. What you have come to ask about yourself and others and the world and the sacred is the loft on which you have set your mind and your heart.

Oh the depth of the riches of the knowledge of Life.