Interview, Renovation, Vacation
Interview This Sunday I’ll be doing an interview/dialogue sermon with Rev. Lane Campbell. Lane is a young white woman who is co-leader of the Columbus chapter of SURJ – Showing Up for Racial Justice. This is the group that helped organize the public action Mark, Austin, and Adam spoke…
Meat in Leviticus
This afternoon I was re-reading Leviticus 19, the chapter that contains the commandment at the crux of the Parable of the Good Samaritan: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” However, after back-pedaling into Leviticus 17, I got wrapped up in the proper slaughtering of animals. After consulting Jacob…
Probing for answers
One of the bright spots in what’s deemed ‘news’ these days is the Juno probe. NASA launched it back in August of 2011 and it is just now making its way to Jupiter. Long trip. It will spend the next 20 months orbiting Jupiter 37 times, collecting all kinds of…
Places with messages
Last week I served as camp pastor at Camp Friedenswald in southern Michigan. Eve and Lily attended as campers and Abbie and Ila and I got to enjoy the “Peaceful Woods” and join in the action. It was a lot of work – ten sermons in one week –…
A story about where we (CDC) come from
Tomorrow folks from Central District Conference (CDC) congregations will be coming to Columbus as the Annual Meeting begins. Here’s a story that has helped me better understand CDC: Joseph Stuckey was born in Berne, Switzerland in 1826 and migrated to the US with his parents when he was five. Joseph…
In the ams of Ali
“My conscious won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me…
The Great Fiesta yet to come
Today we hosted a lunch at church for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and their allies. Most of the fresh tomatoes served at US restaurants and sold in supermarkets October through April come from Florida, with a large percentage of those coming from the area around the town of…
Welcome to Ordinary Time
What time is it? It’s Ordinary Time. In the liturgical calendar, the seven weeks of the Easter season culminate in Pentecost Sunday. Since Advent we have been following the trajectory of Jesus’ life, from expectant pregnancy and birth, to baptism and ministry, to crucifixion and resurrection. At Pentecost the Spirit…
Becoming members of one another
“…we pledge ourselves to the other members of this church to share openly our problems and concerns, to care for the spiritual and physical needs of each other, and to make this fellowship a vital part of our life.” — Excerpt from the Columbus Mennonite Church Membership Commitment This…
Bicycle power
Today I attended a lunch conversation at the Columbus Metropolitan Club. CMCer Jane Scott is President and CEO and was a gracious host at her CMC. Among other things, Columbus Metropolitan Club hosts weekly Wednesday lunches which are community conversations across a range of topics. Today’s topic: Bicycle Power: On…
