Category: sermon

If God is for us, who is against us?

Posted on by kdn004

Romans 8: 26-39
9/8/19, Rooke Chapel, Bucknell University

At first blush,
the answer to today’s question might seem obvious:
If god is for us, who is against us?
No one.
or nothing of consequence anyway.
 
If the source and summit of the universe,
the fount of love and understanding is for us –
and I believe deeply that God is for us –
What could possibly be against us?
 
Of course there are those who see resistance
as evidence that we are being truly faithful in a fallen world.
but more prevalent, in my experience is a certain kind of belief that says
everything will be alright in the end.
We’re just passin’ through this life anyway.
God is for us,
and nothing else matters.
 
But,
suffering exists,
and evil is real,
and bad things happen to good people.
These seem self-evidently true.
Not so many years ago,
I might have needed to defend those statements in certain audiences,
but I rarely do these days.
 
And the more we try to deny suffering and sin and evil, I think,
the worse it gets for us.
 
Another week, we’ll take up the problem of evil,
the question, “why do we suffer?”
for which I most assuredly do not have an easy answer.
 
But for me,
the question, “If god is for us?”
leads in a straight line to the question,
What gives us hope?

Continue reading “If God is for us, who is against us?”

A Word of Encouragement

Posted on by kdn004

Rooke Chapel, Sunday May 5, 2019

Mark 12:28-34

It’s been many years since my last final.
And many years before that,
that I finished,
and promptly abandoned,
my pre-med requirements.

Which means I was finished,
with Chemistry labs,
and calculus courses.
and the exams that come with them.
Long ago.

And yet still,
to this day,
almost every finals season,
and exclusively within finals season,
like clockwork,
In the middle of some night,
I’m awoken by that stress dream
in which I show up to a class I’ve never attended,
for an exam I’m bound to fail.
And it’s always Chemistry or Math.

It is a strange and stressful time,
and I can empathize with your struggles.
And am confident you will survive.

In addition to the mundane challenges of this season –
like getting the work done,
time management, memorization,
finding a few moments to sleep,
looking for jobs or internships –
I remember occasionally being overcome,
my a much more substantive challenge.
A deep-seated question,
which made it hard, sometimes, to study and write –
Does any of this actually matter? Continue reading “A Word of Encouragement”

Come As You Are – Hannah Rickertsen ’19

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Come As You Are
Galatians 3: 26-29

Good Morning everyone! My name is Hannah Rickertsen, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a senior geology major and Posse Scholar originally from North Hollywood, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. I’ve been singing with the Rooke Chapel Vocal Ensemble off and on for a total of 5 semesters out of the 8 that it has existed. In addition to Vocal Ensemble, I also work as assistant general manager at Uptown, where I’ve worked since spring 2017, and undergraduate research student with Dr. Rob Jacob in the geology department since last May, and as the geophysics TA for this spring. Past jobs I’ve had on campus include an Admissions Ambassador (a fancy way of saying tour guide) for the past two summers, a summer RA in 2017, and as a Junior Fellow for the Discovery Residential College in the summer and fall of 2015. Also during the summer of 2015 I worked at the camp organization, Lutheran Retreats, Camps, and Conferences, where I had previously worked in high school. These camp experiences, both as a camper and as a staff member, were really where I connected with my faith. Yeah, my grandfather was a Lutheran pastor, and we all went to church every Sunday, but it was camp which made faith real for me.

One of the reasons I loved camp, and still do, is because of one of the major themes: “come as you are”. The way our camp teaches kids ages 6-12 is what we jokingly call “theology lite”: we don’t get into all the heavy nuanced details, but we do teach the main themes, like the 10 Commandments, the Golden Rule, and “Jesus loves you and everyone, regardless”. For the 12-18 year olds, we do go into some more details and touch on some theological debate, but we teach love first and foremost. We tell them about how God meets everyone where they are, just as they are. They don’t have to dye their hair, or get contacts, have perfectly clear skin, get rid of their braces, or anything like that. They just simply have to be, simply exist, and however they exist, is enough for God. Continue reading “Come As You Are – Hannah Rickertsen ’19”

6 Words.

Posted on by kdn004

Easter Sunday. Rooke Chapel. 4/21/19
Luke 24: 1-12

Christ is Risen!

We gather this morning to proclaim and celebrate the resurrection.
And we gather with our eyes open.
There is no Resurrection without death in our tradition
and there is no celebration without mourning in our lives.
Most notably this morning,
with the people of Sri Lanka in the wake of violence there.
We gather unable and unwilling to turn our eyes from such tragedies,
and our hearts break,
as they should.
and yet we are unwilling to allow them to be the last word.
We gather to proclaim life and love,
amidst the reality of violence and death
This is the story of Easter,
and it is alive and well in our midst,
and as needed as ever.
And it is good to be together.
Let us open our ears afresh to the story.

There’s an apocryphal story out there,
About Ernest Hemmingway,
Sitting at a bar with a bunch of his writing buddies.
And he bets them
that he could write an excellent story,
in fewer than 10 words.
foolishly, they take the bet,
And he wrote, on a cocktail napkin:
“For sale, baby shoes, never used.”
And he went home with the 10 dollars.

Continue reading “6 Words.”

Another Way

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Rooke Chapel Congregation
4.14.19
Luke 19: 29-44

Rick Szuecs vos, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/april-web-only/jonathan-merritt-palm-sunday-gift-disillusionment.html?fbclid=IwAR0pztfrMFUPxAszQTQJ6I6Nlxluavy5y5auxBHdB9F-wfQ5RV9SayF9h8s

Some of you, like me,
Probably went to a church that read the Passion narrative on Palm Sunday.
[indeed, that might be the tradition here]
As Maundy Thursday and Good Friday become less popular,
It’s important to take time,
To mark and honor the story of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, and death.
So we’ve stuck it on the Sunday before easter.
That Jesus died,
Is rather important to the story.
And reading that story together,
Reading ourselves into that story
d shouting “crucify him!”
Is certainly meaningful.

But I want us to linger here, this morning.
On the so-called “triumphal entry.”
Because it has much for us.
Surrounded as we are,
By empire and evil and injustice.
Which mostly just wants us to give up,
To despair.
This morning wave our little palms and say, simply,
We’re part of a different story,
And eager to see it unfold and participate in its telling.
We are headed another way.

There were really two processions into Jerusalem that day, Continue reading “Another Way”

Rooke, the Rock – Renee Rouleau ’19

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The first of a new tradition of senior reflections, to be offered by members of the graduating class.

Rooke, the Rock
Renee Rouleau ‘19
Rooke Chapel, 4/7/2019

Matthew 7: 24-27

For those of you who don’t know me, hi, I’m Ren, I’m a senior neuroscience major, and a Leo. For those of you who do know me, welcome back, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’m not a freshman anymore. I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m still a Leo. For both groups, I’m glad that I get to open you all up a little into my life.

When I came to Bucknell as a first year, which feels like forever ago, I had no idea what I was doing. I did so well in high school, I thought I was prepared for college. I thought that my major would be a piece of cake, because I knew so much (I was wrong about that on SO many levels). I thought that who I was going into college would be who I was coming out. Actually, it never really dawned on me that I would be graduating, until this spring. And that thought still makes me a bit nauseous. I went through orientation feeling okay about myself, okay about Bucknell, even though I was surrounded by a completely different atmosphere and a completely different group of people. I think the first part of being on edge was when my birthday came around during orientation, and my family not being there, and my friends certainly not being there. I had the people on my hall, but they didn’t know who I was as a person, they just knew that it was their hallmate’s birthday. That was when I first started searching for stability, and that was my first of a very ongoing conversation I had with God. At first, it was sort of a “why me?” attitude. Continue reading “Rooke, the Rock – Renee Rouleau ’19”

Ash Wednesday

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Ash Wednesday Ecumenical Service, March 6, 2019
Rooke Chapel, Bucknell University. Kurt Nelson

It’s quite rare,
in a position such as mine,
to speak from a place of certainty.

No doubt you can call to mind,
those unfortunate few religious leaders,
who speak nothing but certainty,
even when it’s clear to the rest of us,
that they’ve little wisdom to impart.

But in actuality, mine is a profession of humility,
of mystery,
and of wondering.
Rife with big questions,
with few easy answers.

But, new as I am to this community,
I’ve come to two conclusions for today,
about which I’m fairly confident. Continue reading “Ash Wednesday”

A Level Place

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2/24/19
Rooke Chapel Congregation

luke 6: 17-26

We’ve been wrestling with Matthew’s sermon on the mount,
For a couple of weeks now.
Thinking about perfection, and turning the other cheek.
And Salt and light.
We skipped, you may have noticed,
Matthew’s long and beautiful list of blessings –
Blessed are the poor in spirit, mourners, the meek, hungry, merciful, peacemakers.
It is a lovely text,
If perhaps,
A little dulled by overuse
on mugs and inspirational Christian Instagram.

But instead, this morning,
We’ve jumped to Luke’s version.
Now, I’m a Luke guy through and through.
If all of a sudden,
the bible ship started to sink,
and I only had time to save one book.
It would definitely be Luke’s Gospel.
Luke’s version of Jesus is especially pointed,
especially concerned with justice,
and poverty,
and he connects especially,
God’s coming reign,
with the lived, earthly experience.
But I must admit,
that when it comes to the sermon on the mount,
I prefer Matthew’s version (Matthew 5)  Continue reading “A Level Place”

Salt and Light

Posted on by kdn004

Kurt Nelson
2/10/19
Rooke Chapel Congregation

Matthew 5: 13-20

We spent our first two weeks together,
with the Gospel of John.
The first systemic attempt,
to author the meaning
of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection.
A story meant to help us feel what abundant life might look like,
and help us notice, as we discussed last week,
where that abundance,
that grace – might call us out into the world,
to get to work
and sometimes to get into trouble.

for the next three weeks
(maybe 4.
I don’t know yet.
I’m still figuring a lot of things out here.
And we don’t know each other that well yet.)
I’d like us to look together at the sermon on the mount.
Which is the most sustained, significant,
teaching from Jesus,
(rather than about Jesus)
that we have.

If you’re curious about its compilation,
or history,
or about comparative study between various version
I’d be delighted to talk about a bible study time,
but for worship,
I think we’ll focus more on its substance,
dig in, and muck around a little.
Because it is world changing stuff,
and life changing stuff,
even as the words have become blunted for many of us,
from overuse.

And we’re starting today,
a little bit in the middle of the sermon.

Because it’s here,
here that Jesus takes up the implicit, essential question:
Who are we?

And we should first note, Continue reading “Salt and Light”

The God Shaped Box

Posted on by kdn004

Rooke Chapel Congregation
2/3/19
John 2:13-25

Two weeks ago,
we took up the story of the wedding at Cana.
In which Jesus walks into a 7 day party,
argues with his mother.
Loses,
and then turns a bunch of water,
meant for ritual purification,
into some really good wine.
The Gospel of John,
I think, is ever interested,
in showing us – rather than telling us –
what grace means.
And that was John’s first story.
part of what grace means,
is abundance,
overflowing abundance,
like casks and gallons of the good wine,
ever around the corner.
Even when we worry we’ve run dry.

And then Jesus goes right into the Temple,
to cause some trouble.
Because the other part of grace,
is that once we’ve been shown abundance,
we can’t help but jump into the fray.
This is one of the few stories that’s told in all four gospels.
But John tells it different.
In Matthew, Mark, and Luke –
often called the ‘synoptic gospels’ –
this is Jesus’ last public act.
He turns over the tables,
he gathers the last supper,
he’s arrested,
killed.
And (spoiler alert) resurrected.
the chasing off the money changers is the beginning of the end.

But in John,
it’s the beginning of the beginning.
This is his first public act – right after the wedding at Cana. Continue reading “The God Shaped Box”