Food, Faith, Justice #2 – Little Portion – Jennifer Li ’20

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We were greeted by Fr. Mike at the gate of the Shrine of St. Anthony, a Franciscan shrine located 30 miles west of Baltimore. Even before stepping foot into the shrine, one could hear birds’ chirpping from all directions and cows’ mooing in the distance. Fr. Mike guided us through the sanctuary before inviting us to sit in the library to talk about the history, believes, and actions on reducing food insecurity taken by the shrine.

            What I found interesting personally, though not directly related to food, is the Franciscan way of viewing nature as someone who supports us and whom we need to support like as family. He pointed out that nowadays we human counterposes ourselves from nature, saying things like “man vs wild”, when in reality we are part of nature. It is essential that we position ourseves appropriately in relation to the Earth, so that we can always be grateful to what we have now and remember to give back.

            After lunch, we worked in the Little Portion Farm ran by the shrine to help prepare for the coming spring. The Little Portion Farm was created as an attempt to both bring people closer to nature and provide fresh produces to serve those who are in need. Every year different types of crops such as potatos, lettuces, tomatos and more are harvested and delivered to the Franciscan Center in Baltimore for distribution. Fr. Mike, when explaining the objective of the farm, quoted from Pope Francis: “to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.” Even though the project is still in its developing stage, there are clear visions and plans to create an ecosystem where human and nature can work hand in hand to combat food insecurity in Baltimore area in a sustainable manner.

Food, Faith, Justice #1

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We’re finished with our 3rd day of our Food, Faith, & Justice spring break trip – the culminating experience of our course. More posts to come from student participants. But from me (Kurt) tonight:
We finished our second hard day of labor – working on community gardens, and got to meet with one of my favorite people – the Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III today – founder of the Black Church Food security network.

Lots more to say later – but as we arrived home – sweaty and tired – we learned that the end of the spring semester at Bucknell will be radically altered, as an effort to keep everyone safe from Covid-19 outbreak.

Emotions ranged widely, but everyone was worried about next steps, storage solutions, ends of classes, etc. We pondered and wondered and consoled. But then we stopped for our nightly student-led reflection. And for a few moments, we considered those who don’t know where their next meal is coming from and considered those responding so meaningfully to the challenges here.

And in the midst of it all, we had a moment of profound learning and community. Asked to reflect on the day, off the cuff, in haiku form two of our group responded:

Critique what is
Create what should be
Lead from what you have


(Lessons from Pastor Brown) and:

Be proud of who you are
persistence is key
Marathon, not a sprint.

I don’t usually stop mid-reflection to take notes, but I had to.

Mostly, what I feel this evening is gratitude l to travel and learn with such amazing students. Gratitude for our amazing community partners. And deep grief that I won’t see our students as we return to campus.

Sending much love this evening to the Bucknell community from Baltimore – especially the members of the class of 2020. Stay tuned.

  • At Pleasant Hope Baptist Church with Sha’Von and Pastor Brown

Prof. Nikki Young – “What is the seed?”

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1 March, 2020, Rooke Chapel, Bucknell University
Galatians 5:13-18, 22-25

We are together here at the end of Black history month and at the beginning of Women’s history month. In this space and at this time, I feel compelled to call some names of folks who have gone on to be saints, to be our cherished ancestors. Nanny of the Maroons. Sojourner Truth. Harriet Tubman. Yaa Asantewaa. Ida B. Wells. Rosa Parks. Fannie Lou Hamer. June Jordan. Audre Lorde. Shirley Chisolm. Toni Morrison. Carmen Gillespie. We are blessed that they are our ancestors.

Let us pray. Oh God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our Strength and our Redeemer. And those gathered who could said, Amen.

I was excited to learn that the theme of contemplation this semester is “Fruit of the Spirit.” Nothing is quite as illustrative of new weather, new possibilities, of alchemy, magic, growth, change, transformation as fruit. And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about transformation. I’m interested in transforming spaces and relationships, economies of power and privilege, experiences and contexts of marginality and oppression, gluten-free flours into fluffy croissant… For me the process of transformation is at once magical and adventurous, filled with imagination, grounded by a belief in someones, somethings, some ways, sometimes… better.

The Galatians weren’t eating well.  And as a result, they weren’t getting the essential vitamins and minerals that they needed for a healthy body.  Paul was trying to deal with this in his letter.

In the end of the verses read for today, Paul teaches that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” The FRUIT, he says. Singular. Not “fruits” and then this list, but fruiT. We have to ask – or at least I do – how big is it? Is it like a grapefruit? A cantaloupe? A pumpkin? I mean, what kind of fruit is all of those things at once? But then, maybe that’s the wrong question. Maybe we should be thinking about something else. So let’s meditate together this morning on the question, “What is the seed of the fruit of the Spirit?” Now, in the style of black church, of call and response traditions, I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, “neighbor,” “what is the seed,” “of the fruit of the Spirit?” And turn to another neighbor and say, “I don’t know but it must be huge.” Just kidding.

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Joy

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Psalm 30

During my last few years at Colby College,
I taught a class, each January, called “ The Good Life”
in which we pondered an array of wisdom traditions’
and philosophies’ answer to the question, “What does it mean to live well?”
And before the class started,
I asked our students to write a little essay,
answering the question, “What makes for a good life?”
And invariably,
the top answer,
boiled down to the word:
“Happiness.”
 
This is not surprising,
we live in a moment in which shared values are a little hard to come by,
and some days, “Happiness” is the best we’ve got.
and we’ve become, I think, a little happiness obsessed.
I recently got a receipt from Chipotle
which read “Build your own happiness.”

Continue reading “Joy”

A Wide Place – Tabitha Fisher M’20

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Psalm 31: 7-8 NKJV:
I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy,

For you have considered my trouble;

You have known my soul in adversities

And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy;

You have set my feet in a wide place

What I love about Psalm 31 is that it, like many psalms, is a rollercoaster of praise and lament. The verse immediately following our scripture is, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble” (31:9), which seems counterintuitive to the message of the previous verses. Can David be so inconsistent? Why, in praising the Lord, does David not provide a more cohesive image of salvation from suffering?

As I reflect on my experience with Christ and my experience here at Bucknell, the flip-flopping of David’s psalm appears more and more a holistic interpretation of life rather than a fragmented one.

When I arrived at Bucknell in August of 2018, I had been saved for two months. During the summer between my undergraduate graduation and my entrance to Bucknell, my best friend convinced me to work at a Christian summer camp. I was to be a camp counselor. Leading bible study. Never mind the fact that I was terrified of kids and most decidedly agonistic. The fact of the matter was that I was broke, needed part time work, and, contrary to popular opinion, no one would hire me to cashier with an English degree. My options were slim, and the space I had to maneuver was narrow. Camp seemed like my only option, the barest toehold to push myself onto the next stage in life where I would be back to feeling comfortable in academics. I figured that the kids I could get used to, and the religion I could fake.

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The Fruit of the Spirit

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1.19.20, Rooke Chapel Congregation
Galatians 5: 1, 13-25

Welcome back, friends,
to our humble Ecumenical Christian Worship service.
The angels’ songs have quieted.  And the wise travelers from the east have returned home by another road.
And we are here again in the midst of holy, ordinary time,
to sing, pray, worship God, and love one another.
We will ponder, this semester,
“the fruit of the spirit.”
Laid out in Galatians Chapter 5,
and we will encourage our seniors,
to come share the pulpit,
and share with us how
“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control”
shape their lives.
Or how they might like them to,
 
This is Paul’s reminder,
that life is Christ can look different,
that things do not have to be the way they have always been.
not because we’re bound to a different set of rules,
but because we are free,
to grow in real and deep love.
 
The only thing that matters,
he says in verse 6,
is faith working through love.
 
Our seniors – those who have signed up to speak, and those who haven’t! –
we’ll encourage to take one of these fruits,
or one of the many more we could conjure,
justice, humility, perseverance, etc.
Paul’s list is not meant to be exclusive,
simply instructive.
to take those fruits and run
with whatever they might inspire or evoke in their lives.
 
But today, I thought,
we’d examine the fruit,
in its context,
We’ve all likely encountered this snippet of scripture, disembodied,
as church banners,
or wall hangings,
“fruit of the month” calendars
or personal prayer guides.
Warm, inviting, positive.
But it’s wedged,
actually amidst some passionate and fascinating discourse.
Those who would suggest that scripture,
or theology is boring,
would do well to read Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
In which he calls his readers fools,
his detractors, dogs,
and suggests that those who advocate the necessity of circumcision,
might consider castration instead. (actually, though.)
 
But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
 

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How can this be?

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Luke 1:26-38

I sat down to write,
over the past couple of weeks.
In short, disconnected snippets.
I try not to talk about busyness,
because it’s basic, and boring,
and it’s a cultural disease.
But I was stretched the last last few days and weeks,
so my writing process wasn’t as cohesive as I like.
And I sat down on Monday,
and realized I had outlined,
drawing from this most famous of advent texts –
the annunciation to Mary –
point by point,
paragraph by paragraph,
exactly the same sermon,
I offered at Easter here,
some 7 months ago:
 
Again the angel comes,
saying “Don’t be afraid.”
Because that’s what angels always say.
 
again we have a model of discipleship,
in a female protagonist named Mary,
because – let’s be honest –
the women were the best disciples,

Continue reading “How can this be?”

What is Church?

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Matthew 18:15-20

The story goes.
That a year ago, or so.
On a Sunday not unlike this one,
late in the semester,
A congregation – A church –
gathered at this very time and in this very space,
that was made up entirely,
of the Jansson family,
a small choir,
our student managers,
and a guest preacher.

The details are not all that important,
but suffice it to say that this congregation,
this church,
had hit a rough patch,
and not for the first time.
Pushing the boundaries of Jesus’ assurance,
regarding 2 or 3 being gathered.

I came to interview around that time,
and it wasn’t clear to me then,
that this church was a sustainable enterprise.

Most universities in on the East Coast and Midwest,
were founded by churches,
and most of them held Sunday services,
through most of their history,
but most have similarly abandoned the practice.

I’m glad we did not,

Continue reading “What is Church?”

What is Truth

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John 18: 33-38

I thought it’d be fun to start today
with a little bible quiz, whaddaya think?
Pencils out, books away.
Just shout the answer when you know it
From which book of the bible do the following passages come:


1.    And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
 
2.    I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me. 
 
3.    And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
(John 1, 14, 8 are the answers)
 
It’s fair to say, I think,
that John’s gospel is obsessed with the concept of truth.
It comes up dozens of times from beginning to end,
far more than any other text,
and all the other gospels combined.
John is, in essence, our first theologian.
He is not so much attempting to tell an accurate story,
as he is trying to paint us a picture,
of what it might mean,
that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
That eternity entered time and space.
That Wisdom became enfleshed and entombed.
That God could become human.
 
And the places he lands,
the pictures he paints, above all:
are grace and truth.
 
But when the question is asked directly,
by Pilate to Jesus:
What is truth?
There is only silence.

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My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

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PSALM 22, Sunday 10/27/19

Have you ever been to an HR training?
Or a leadership development session?
They tell you.
if you are seeking to give someone “Constructive Feedback”
which is HR speak for critique,
they say you’re supposed to make a “compliment sandwich.”
Like, “Eric, three things:
1. great work on the year-end report last week.
2.  Your verbal abuse of your deskmates is proving a distraction.
3.  I’m loving the office birthday parties you plan.

There are many ways to interpret Psalm 22.
Which seemingly takes a dramatic turn
around verse 25:
Individual and then communal
past and then  present.
present and then future.

But I like to think of it as a compliment sandwich for God:
God:

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