April 21, 2019: We Gather To Proclaim...

Dear Bucknellians,

It’s only five weeks since I wrote to you expressing grief and sorrow at the mass killings of worshippers at a mosque in New Zealand, a tragedy that itself followed just a few short months after the synagogue murders in Pittsburgh. Yet I am once again compelled to write in the wake of today’s senseless, hate-fueled murder of more than 200 people in Sri Lanka — people who were apparently targeted because of their Christian faith. In the wake of this terrible news, I am grateful to be able to report that our one student enrolled in an off-campus education program in Sri Lanka is safe.

The sad truth is that I could write every day with horrible news of the violence and terror that is so often motivated by fear and hatred of the other. And so, on one of the most significant holy days for Christian believers, I again urge us to stand athwart this history of mutual destruction. I do so to declare our longing for peace, our dedication to justice, and our commitment to the education of each new generation — ideals that, when fulfilled, uniquely open our minds and hearts to the other.

This morning at Rooke Chapel our campus chaplain, Kurt Nelson, said in part:

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.

Let us all be unwilling to turn away from tragedy, suffering and hate. Let us all make that proclamation of life and love, but let us not end with mere words. Rather, let us make the principal artifact of our education and, indeed, our lives, a deeper understanding of the challenges we face, a stronger commitment to service and to overcoming those challenges, and an authentic embrace of each other.

Thank you.

John