Listening for a theme
Last Thursday we had an abbreviated September Church Council business meeting in order to use our time doing something else. Our goal was to listen to what the Spirit has been doing among us and discern if there may be an area to which our congregation might be called to…
A learning tour
Earlier this summer I was accepted to be a part of a twelve day learning tour in November to Israel/Palestine. Mennonite Central Committee has been leading these tours for the last few years, giving church leaders the opportunity to become acquainted first hand with the daily realities of life there. …
Spirituality types
The Alban Institute puts out helpful essays about church life and this week I came across an archived article titled, “Spiritual Identity and Worship Planning.” The author draws from the work of Urban T. Holmes who wrote a book called Discover Your Spiritual Type which names four types of spiritual…
Hashtags, polity, and buzzwords
If you were unable to attend worship on Sunday you missed a wonderful celebration of Mark’s credentialing, including a powerful sermon reflecting on Jesus’ parable of the banquet in Luke 14. We were honored to have numerous out of town guests (32 to be precise), many from Central District Conference,…
Geologic time
Our family arrived back from vacation last Thursday night. We had all driven out to Kansas City, Eve and me staying for the Convention, Abbie taking Lily and Ila on to her hometown of Quinter in Western Kansas. After Convention we joined up in Quinter and spent a week in…
Dear queer Mennonites
Dear queer Mennonites at the Kansas City Convention, and those watching from home, This week your church failed you. Your people, your denomination, your faith community opted to build unity for itself at your expense. Officially, we reaffirmed that pastors may not perform same sex covenant ceremonies and that doing…
Blogging from Kansas City: Thursday
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:22-23 My dear, dear, Mennonite brothers and sisters, my people, my tribe. All week long at this Convention we’ve been hearing about the Emmaus road story. How the…
Systems of forgiveness
Last Thursday I was rather thrilled with the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si,” which speaks an eloquent and urgent pastoral word regarding climate change. Rather than addressing just his fellow Catholics, or even fellow Christians, the document opens by saying, “Now, faced as we are with global environmental…
“The purpose of the institution…”
Keeping on the theme of wider church gatherings this summer (Central District, Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite World Conference) … My favorite book to read devotionally these days is The Experience of God: Icons of the Mystery by Raimon Panikkar. Panikkar was the son of a Spanish Roman Catholic mother and…
A miracle at the table?
It is church conference/convention season. Tomorrow through Saturday is the Central District Conference Annual Meeting, this year in Elkhart, Indiana on the campus of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary – my old stomping/studying grounds. Six of us from Columbus Mennonite will be attending. This gathering is mostly focused on relationship building…
