Participant-Observer
I’m getting caught up on On Being podcasts, and just listened to Krista Tippet’s conversation with Mary Catherine Bateson. She’s the author of the book Composing a Life, and daughter of anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. One of the things she touches on is the value of being…
The past and the present
In November of 1957 a group of students in Columbus started meeting together. They were all from other places. What they shared in common was an upbringing in a Mennonite congregation, and a desire to fellowship with each other. As the group grew, they went from informal gatherings to establishing…
Thoughts on a run after returning from a week of late summer vacation
August 9, 2017 An early morning run along a familiar trail. The air is cool for August. The Olentangy crawls along beside me. There’s a fog over the water, the river in another state, hovering over itself, contemplating its own possibility to float, change, vacate the predictable flow, disappear…
Curiosity and Wondering
Before we put Vacation Bible School (VBS) completely out of our minds, I wanted to take a minute to reflect back on the takeaways from a week that zoomed by so quickly. There were plenty of takeaways about what kinds of things worked well this year and what kinds of…
State killing, Christian witnessing
In 1993 Ron Phillips committed a horrendous crime. He beat, raped, and murdered a three year old child. Her name was Sheila Marie Evans. Phillips confessed his guilt and was given the death penalty. He is scheduled to be executed by the state of Ohio – that’s you and…