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…