Welcome to Ordinary Time
What time is it? It’s Ordinary Time. In the liturgical calendar, the seven weeks of the Easter season culminate in Pentecost Sunday. Since Advent we have been following the trajectory of Jesus’ life, from expectant pregnancy and birth, to baptism and ministry, to crucifixion and resurrection. At Pentecost the Spirit…
Becoming members of one another
“…we pledge ourselves to the other members of this church to share openly our problems and concerns, to care for the spiritual and physical needs of each other, and to make this fellowship a vital part of our life.” — Excerpt from the Columbus Mennonite Church Membership Commitment This…
Bicycle power
Today I attended a lunch conversation at the Columbus Metropolitan Club. CMCer Jane Scott is President and CEO and was a gracious host at her CMC. Among other things, Columbus Metropolitan Club hosts weekly Wednesday lunches which are community conversations across a range of topics. Today’s topic: Bicycle Power: On…
Worshiping as a guest
This past Sunday was part of a week of spring vacation. For obvious reasons, I don’t often get to experience worship at other congregations. Our family spent Sunday afternoon and evening in the cathedral of the southern Ohio forest looking for wildflowers, but in the morning I took Eve and…
Giving and withholding blessing
For the last six years I’ve served on the Ministerial Committee of Central District Conference. We oversee credentialing of pastors and chaplains, and give support to CDC pastors and our conference minister, Lois Kaufmann. Along with the other committees and the board of CDC, we meet twice a year…
Conversions
Easter Sunday is past, but the liturgical season of Easter is only beginning, running up through Pentecost Sunday, May 15. During this Easter season our worship theme will be “Conversions.” The plural is intentional. We’ll be looking at different conversion stories in scripture and in more recent history, beginning…
From Cuba with love
Cuba has been in the news this week, and our congregation recently received a gift from Cuba that will be on display at tonight’s Maundy Thursday service. In January CMCers Joe Mas and Linda Mercadante led a group of seminary students on a Cuba trip. Cuba is Joe’s place…
Peace?
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” — Luke 12:51 Say what, Jesus? Needless to say, this is not a verse championed by Mennonites. Do you think Jesus came to bring peace to the earth? “Yes!” is…
Allies or kin?
Two weeks ago I attended an event at MTSO (Methodist Theological School in Ohio) on Mass Incarceration. An African American woman deeply involved on the scene in Ferguson and other racial justice work voiced something I hadn’t heard before: A critique of the word “ally.” She felt that along with…
Midwives of justice
“…chosen as partners, midwives of justice, birthing new systems, lighting new lights.” From the song “God of the Bible,” Sing the Journey 27 This winter I’ve been a part of a Sunday school class studying the book of Exodus and its many intersections with the African American experience of slavery…
