Text: Luke 6:1-11

Speaker: Joel Miller

In the year 1693, a group of concerned ministers and elders wrote an open letter to Anabaptist congregations, calling for a meeting.  These leaders were concerned about the lack of clarity in what it meant to be a church member in good standing.  Specifically, the three named issues were 1) whether lying was cause for excommunication 2) whether to shun those who had been excommunicated for whatever reason, and 3) if people the church referred to as “the good-hearted,” those who supported the Anabaptists but wouldn’t officially join the church by being rebaptized, would be saved.  The letter-writers feared the church was too lenient on all accounts.    

For a bit more context, this point in time is about 1/3 of the way into the 500-year history of Anabaptism.  Persecutions had scattered the early generations into more tolerant areas.  Other Christian groups had a history of violently persecuting dissenters, while showing little interest in disciplining poor behavior of those who stayed in the church.  Anabaptists, on the other hand, especially in these areas of Switzerland and France, refused physical violence against anyone, but were ready to excommunicate, to temporarily remove from fellowship, unrepentant members who had sinned.    

But where and how to draw these lines, in a way keeping with the gospel of Jesus Christ?  This was the energizing question prompting this letter and the meetings that followed.  The frequency of communion, the practice of footwashing, and whether to have dress codes were other peripheral issues.  

The letter-writing group appointed a small committee who met several times with other ministers.  At their final meeting, the ministers requested more time to consult with their congregations.  This unwillingness to give a definitive answer greatly irritated a lead member of the concerned committee.  On the spot, he pronounced excommunication on those…

Text: Exodus 1:8-21

Speaker: Joel Miller

The biblical book we call Exodus goes by a different name for Jews.  In Jewish tradition, the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, are named after the most significant Hebrew word from the opening phrase of the book.  Genesis is Bereshit, which translates as “In the beginning.”  Numbers is Bamidbar, “In the desert.”  Deuteronomy is Devarim, “Words.”  These fit well with the stories that follow.  Exodus, however, is a bit of a surprise, at least for us Gentiles.  It is known as Shemot which means “The names of…” or, more simply, “Names.” 

Giving a list of names is indeed how Exodus, Names, opens.  “These are the names,” it begins, “of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household.”  It’s a family roll call of the twelve sons, from the oldest, Reuben, all the way down to Joseph.  As a family, they migrated to Egypt.   

Egypt was the super power of its time.  When famine persisted elsewhere, Egypt had grain – lots of it – and people came from all around to stay alive.  The adult children of Jacob were one of those hungry foreign tribes.  They ended up settling in Egypt.  There, the descendants of Israel went from barely surviving to thriving – becoming, as the text says, “exceedingly strong.” 

Names are more than just identifiers of individuals.  Names can represent whole lineages, interconnected webs of relationships through generations.  After opening with the names of this father and his sons, the story promptly leaps forward in time, telling us this entire generation has now died.  Those names are then borne by the descendants who trace themselves back through family lines. 

The last time we worshiped here we explored why we are named Mennonite.  If you weren’t here, or as a reminder,…

Texts: Genesis 33:1-11; “Jacob and Esau: The Embrace, by Cheryl Denise; Matthew 5:43-48

Speaker: Joel Miller

If one were to read the New Testament, starting with Matthew, it wouldn’t take long to reach one of – if not the – most challenging, transcendent, maddening, beautiful, hauntingly impossible, teachings in the entire Bible.  It’s just five chapters in.  It’s part of the long teaching we know as the Sermon on the Mount.  Speaking to the crowds gathered to hear this newly-popular prophet from Galilee, Jesus says these three startling words: Love. Your. Enemies. 

“You have heard that it was said,” Jesus says, “’You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43:45).

Luke records a similar teaching.  Jesus said: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?  For even sinners love those who love them.  If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?…But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High” (Luke 6:32-35).

Several decades ago there was a project called The Jesus Seminar.  It was a group of liberal Bible scholars attempting to sort out the authentic words of the historical Jesus, from what might have been the additions of the gospel writers.  Each saying got ranked according to its likelihood of authenticity.  Among those receiving the highest rating was…“love your enemies.”  Their logic went something like this: There’s no good reason why the early Christians – who were trying to attract more followers – would invent something that would clearly turn people away.  To say it…

Speaker: Mark RuppScripture: Isaiah 43:1-7Poem: Passing through Waters, or Visit to Switzerland by Debra Gingerich

I have to begin this morning’s sermon with a confession: I’ve had a strained relationship with the martyrs. 

When I was hired as pastor here at CMC, I was given a gift as part of my installation. It was a beautiful reproduction of the artwork of Dirk Willems reaching down to save his captor who had fallen through the ice, artwork found in the Martyrs Mirror but colorized and altered into the style of the more traditional religious icons. This gorgeous piece of art hangs on the wall in my office, and even though I am extremely grateful for the thoughtful gift, I sometimes struggle with Dirk’s story, and the other stories of the martyrs. 

If you grew up in the Anabaptist tradition, chances are you encountered Martyrs Mirror at some point. If you are unfamiliar, we have a copy here on our altar table during this series, so you can see what an impending tome it truly is. More than a thousand pages long, it was first published in 1660 in the Netherlands, and its full title is The Bloody Theater, or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians. It begins with the stories of early Christians persecuted by Rome, but it is especially remembered for the detailed accounts of 16th-century Anabaptists who were drowned, burned, beheaded, and starved for their convictions. 

What made this tome truly iconic were the artistic renderings of the various stories done by artist Jan Luyken. These black and white renderings of the various martyrs, including Dirk Willems and others, helped etch their stories into Mennonite-Anabaptist consciousness and identity. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but I can’t help but see parallels to the black and white linocut style artwork included in the…

Texts: Micah 6:1-8, “We Are Sunflowers” Poem, Psalm 24:1

Speaker: Joel Miller

Today’s reading from Micah 6 is familiar.  At least that last part.  At least if you’ve ever looked up on your way in from the church parking lot.  That big green banner summarizes Micah 6:8 in three short phrases. “Do Justice.  Love Mercy.  Walk Humbly.”  The early Anabaptist Hans Denck pointed to these three “fruits” and wrote, simply, “When held together, these make a Christian; when transgressed, they make a non-Christian” (Cited in Anabaptist Community Bible, p. 1123).

What’s less familiar in that passage is the set up.  In the previous verses the prophet Micah imagines the Lord, the Creator of the cosmos, taking his people to trial for all the harm they’ve done.  Since God is kind of tied up as the plaintiff, and the people are the defendants, God calls on the mountains and the hills, the earth itself, to serve as a witness. 

Micah 6:1-2: “Arise, lay out the lawsuit before the mountains; let the hills hear your voice!  Hear, mountains, the lawsuit of the Lord!  Hear, eternal foundations of the earth!  The Lord has a lawsuit against his people.” 

After some back and forth, the prophet announces the verdict of what the people must do: Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly.   

Holding creation as a reference point for our relationship with God, a witness to truths we often forget, was a key part of early Anabaptist theology.  It still is. 

We’ll get to that in a bit, but first let’s do another set up.  Let’s get the lay of the land that we, the people, have created.     

Here’s the situation:

We’ve got a world still recovering from a global pandemic, and while it feels like the storm is over, its long term effects on society are yet to be determined.

We’ve…