For the last 6-7 years I’ve had a color printout of the 1930s-era redlining map of Columbus on the bulletin board in my church office.  Like all good maps, it serves as a useful guide for understanding where we are and how we got here.  In this case, it illuminates what areas of our…

After I graduated from Bluffton University, I decided to sign up for Mennonite Voluntary Service with a placement in Hutchinson, Kansas.  In many ways, this whole endeavor was a pilgrimage because part of the reason I went to the “wilderness” of Kansas was to try to figure out what life…

What’s the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim?  I think I first asked myself this question while studying in Cairo, Egypt during my senior year of college (half a lifetime ago, oh my).  The semester included trips to many common destinations – the pyramids, a boat trip on the…

We got some good news a couple days ago worth celebrating. The city of Columbus budgeting process involves the mayor sending a proposed budget to City Council toward the end of the calendar year, with Council having the ability to make its own adjustments.  On Monday, Council President Shannon Hardin…

With the Coming of Age Celebration this Sunday, I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic of transitions and change. One of the things that has been bouncing around my brain is an NPR article that came out late last year about how the pandemic may have shifted our personalities…