Feeling With Images
By: Phil Yoder The other month, when meeting with my spiritual director, I was struggling to articulate my feelings around God (and God’s absence). She pulled out a collection of pastels and asked me to draw them. Draw them? When it comes to the arts, I generally consider myself a…
Worship that Surprises
Our current worship theme focusing on the new hymnal and questions about the very nature of worship has me reflecting on some of my own worship experiences. For this week’s blog, I thought I’d share an experience that was especially meaningful to me, and I’d love to hear from you…
Midweek Blog: Handholds for Uncertain Times
An article came through my inbox recently that truly felt like a bit of fresh air as I read it, and so I thought I’d pass it along and offer my own thoughts to the author’s. Even though it is an article from an organization that focuses on Christian Formation…
Midweek Blog: MennoCon21 Listening
Greetings “from” the Mennonite Church USA Convention. This week, I’m participating in seminars and worship alongside people from around the country (and a few around the world), but I’m doing so from my home. The sound quality might be better for the in-person convention, but I find the lodging accommodations…
Midweek Blog: A Lifetime of Theological Doubt
The Anabaptist World magazine runs a regular comic called Loaves and Fishsticks, by Steve Edwards. In the most recent issue, the comic strip featured a person leading a children’s Sunday School class with a guitar in hand. The leader invites the class to join in singing “Peace Like a River.” …
Midweek Blog: Death Penalty Repeal
In March, Virginia became the 23rd state to put an end to the death penalty, and now there is momentum in Ohio to do the same here. Bipartisan sponsored bills have been introduced in both the Ohio House and Senate, and now is a crucial time to make sure representatives…
Midweek Blog: Lent resource
Last month I wrote about not beating ourselves up for Lent this year. Now that we’re two weeks into the Lenten season, I hope that has held true for you. One of the ways we can end up beating ourselves up is by thinking that if we don’t do something…
Not Beating Ourselves Up For Lent This Year
Let me say up front that I don’t think we should beat ourselves up for Lent any year, but this year feels especially important to make sure we enter this season with a clear sense of purpose. I’ve been in charge of organizing the Ash Wednesday services for a couple…
Epiphany Blessings
Today (January 6) is the feast day of Epiphany when it is tradition to remember the visit of the magi to the baby Jesus. Even if our nativity sets typically include the three kings huddled around Jesus in the manger, the scriptures tell us this visit happened a bit later. …
Optimism and Hope
I recently finished the book Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age by Bruce Rogers-Vaughn. It is aimed specifically at pastors and others in caring professions, but I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in exploring the ways that neoliberal capitalism negatively affects our social, interpersonal, and psychological health…
