A Lenten fast
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and Pope Francis is calling for a fast from indifference: ““Indifference to our neighbor and to God represents a real temptation for us Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry…
Bible study time
What does Jesus’ lament over the city of Jerusalem in Luke 13:31-35 have to do with racial relations in the US? What does Jesus’ wilderness temptations in Luke 4 have to do with white privilege? How does the prophet Isaiah’s proclamation that God is “about to do a new…
2015 Review
2015 is gone, but it’s worth remembering where we’ve been and what we’ve done in the past year. With fear and trembling that I may be leaving out something crucial, here are some of the highlights from the year, roughly in chronological order. Many of these events happen every year…
Welcome the Christ
On the cusp on another Christmas, we pray that the peace of Christ be known in our hearts and in our world. This past Sunday we ended our worship with a congregational selfie, a.k.a., taking a family picture. It makes for a nice Christmas greeting card, but was also a…
Sing for life
This past Sunday was one of the high-holy days of the year at CMC – Music Sunday of the Advent/Christmas season. Children began the service with a sampling of music they had shared the night before for the Christmas play, the choir sang the songs they carefully rehearsed this…
The gods must be…angry?
Now that we’re in the middle of Revelation…One of the most difficult aspects of Revelation is the violence and suffering it describes –much of it appearing to be from God. There are two Greek words that get translated as “wrath” throughout Revelation and they are used a total of 16…
Blog from Chris Pedersen
As many of you may know, my name is Chris Pedersen and I will be interning at Columbus Mennonite for the next year. I have been able to introduce myself to many of you but for those I haven’t yet met, hi! I was asked to write the blog for…
A pastoral letter to a congregation breaking a rule (kind of), OR breaking ground
Mark Rupp has been pastoring at Columbus Mennonite for nearly a month and this coming Sunday is his installation service. Mark will preach, and Lois Kaufmann, our Central District Conference Minister, will be here and will lead this part of the service. For first time pastors, installation is usually accompanied…
