Today is Ash Wednesday and it snowed this morning and a little more this afternoon.  Today is the beginning of Lent, a day in which we recite these words to one another: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.”  Despite the cold forecast ahead, and despite the groundhog supposedly seeing his shadow two weeks ago, the snow will soon enough be gone.  “Remember, snow, that you are water, and to water you will return.” Ash Wednesday is our annual reminder of the impermanence of all things.  Snow, bodies, consumer goods, social status: it will not stand.  Isaiah and the Psalmist use other images to say the same thing: “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades” (Isaiah 40:6,7, and Psalm 103:15,16).  This is neither something to celebrate nor something to lament.  It is something to

Last evening the Gifts Discernment Committee met at church.  This is the group charged with inviting members to serve on various Commissions each year.  This is the group thankful for the strong response received from the Gifts Discernment forms in which you named people you felt were gifted to lead us in areas such as Worship, Christian Education, Community Life, and Mission.  This is the group that could very likely be giving you a phone call in the next few weeks. Columbus Mennonite is what you might call a “highly participatory community.”  “Shared ministry” is another way this has been described.  We believe all people have gifts and that we are enriched by the sharing of those gifts.  We value collaboration and fresh input.  Although some folks’ gifts are practiced and polished, we also want to be a place where gifts are tested and developed.  We are not simply consumers

Doing justice is hard work.  It’s hard figuring out how to do it and it’s hard to do.  It’s slow moving and tiring.  It usually involves just showing up, which isn’t necessarily all that fulfilling in itself. One of the things that we at CMC have going for us is that we do not work for justice alone.  We are a part of a coalition of 50 congregations across Franklin County, known collectively as BREAD (Building Responsibility, Equality, And Dignity), who identity one significant issue every year and work for justice in one specific way on that issue. This week I’m in Orlando, Florida with ten others from Columbus and 180 others from around the country at the annual DART (Direct Action and Research Training) clergy conference.  I apologize if this feels like an unjust location to be in this week.  Not to rub it in, but during a couple

This Sunday we will celebrate six jr. youth coming of age.  The scripture they have chosen to shape the worship theme is Jeremiah 1:1-14.  After an initial call from the Lord to Jeremiah, and Jeremiah’s response that he is too young and cannot speak, the Lord asks him a question: “What do you see?” Along with pondering this simple but profound question I’ve also been pondering what we don’t see – or what just goes unseen.  Two weeks ago I was driving up to Bluffton for a pastor-peer meeting.   As I traveled north the trees started to become covered with a thin, and then rather thick, layer of frost.  I had left in good time, was driving on rural roads, and decided to pull over and get a closer look.   The ice crystals were stacked over a half inch on top of every horizontal surface I could see, intricate and

In a few weeks, on February 1, six of the youth in our congregation will be leading us in the Coming of Age Celebration.  As part of that worship service, we will also be kicking off the Mentoring Program by officially matching up each of the youth with a mentor who will walk with them through the coming year.  From what I understand, mentoring at Columbus Mennonite has been an important ministry for a lot of people, but participation has faded in the last few years.  I am excited to be a part of the renewal of this program, in part, because I know firsthand the blessing that mentoring can be in the life of a young person. As I have been organizing and planning these mentoring matches, I have been giving a lot of thought to what makes for a good match.  I will be the first to admit