Last evening I attended the annual assembly of BREAD – Building Responsibility, Equality, And Dignity. Many of you know this better than I, but in case not: BREAD is a county wide interfaith organization that selects one pressing social issue per year on which to try and make a significant positive impact. Issues of past years include immigration, pay day lending, housing, and restorative justice in the juvenile courts. One of the (many) speakers at last evening’s assembly was Judge Elizabeth Gill who has been helping form Community Restorative Circles which work with first time...
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Today I came across a quote attributed to Thomas Merton: “If the you of five years ago doesn’t consider the you of today a heretic, you are not growing spiritually.” I’m a little leery to pass it along because it doesn’t have a specific reference to one of Merton’s writings. It wouldn’t be the first time someone came up with a provocative quote and attributed it to a spiritual giant to give it more punch. It certainly seems like something Merton could have written, or said. A devout Trappist monk, he was one of the leading 20th century figures who pioneered...
Our family has been living in our house for about three months now (My first month at CMC, you may remember, was homeless and wife-and-kids-less). The moving in process is slow but rewarding. In the last week we have hung curtains, organized our dining rooms shelves, found the just-right color/design/size rug for the living room, and even hung a few things up on the walls. It’s amazing what you can get done when you don’t have a child in the hospital.
Clintonville is a beautiful neighborhood. Our neighbors are fantastic, Oakland Park Ave is gorgeous in the fall, our kids are in...
On the last Sunday of October congregations are invited to observe Mennonite Heritage Sunday, each year having a different theme related to the Anabaptist/Mennonite story. This year’s theme is The Gifts of Women.
Needless to say, the church historically has not done such a good job of treating women and men as equal partners in the mission of God. Neither has it done such a good job of using language and imagery for God that celebrates both the feminine and the masculine. The dual effect here is that men have too often seen themselves as god, and women have too seldom seen...
During Sunday’s sermon I mentioned a TED talk given by Brene Brown called “The power of vulnerability.” A link to that talk has been included in the sermon blog and can also be linked HERE. The tagline of TED talks is “Ideas worth spreading,” and this is one talk, and idea, that is spreading well.
Speaking of TED talks, walking our kids to school each day has...