This past weekend I attended the Music and Worship Leaders Retreat at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in western PA.  The theme was PastPresentFuture, focused on bringing our whole selves into worship, and that worship itself is an act of extending our selves back into traditions we have inherited and forward into the future for which we hope. One of the main resource persons was Lara Steinel, a cantor and leader of a progressive Jewish congregation in Kansas City.  One of the lines she delivered was a quote from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi who said something to the effect: “The mind is like tofu: it takes in the flavor of the marinades.”  Which raises the question for me of What are we marinating in?  For starters, it’s a positive step to see Christians reclaiming our kinship and connection with Jewish faith and marinating together in the message of the Torah and the

2014 is gone, but it’s worth considering where all we have 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.  Some of these are things that happen every year and are part of the annual rhythm of the congregation, others are unique to 2014.  All of them are the work of an active community seeking to follow Jesus Christ and be led by the Holy Spirit. Open mic night with music and stories + serving breakfast at Community Resources Center +hosting Central District Conference regional gathering and discussing theme of “Text and Table” + hosting Pete Seeger tribute concert + Coming of Age celebration for six jr. youth: Quinn B, Grace R-W, Steven A, Micah N, Phoebe Y-T, and Jack Z Skyping in from China + group meals hosted

After noticing its persistent presence on my Facebook newsfeed for multiple days, I caved and watched the three minute video of Naomi Feil, a Jewish woman, singing Christian songs to Gladys, an elderly woman with Alzheimers.  While singing “Jesus loves me” and “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” Feil affectionately strokes Gladys’ face, matching her volume and pace to the intensity of movement and emotion expressed by Gladys, who is unable to speak.  At the end of the clip, Gladys, through a soft but clear whisper, actually joins in the echo of the song.  Feil: “He’s got the whole world…”  Gladys: “in his hands.”  Feil comments afterwards: “For a split second, we became one person.”  It’s a beautiful picture of love and music surpassing barriers of religious identity and medical condition. It’s nice to have it confirmed by neuroscience, but it comes as no surprise that the brain

So, what do you want? The last couple days Abbie and I have asked this question to each other as Christmas approaches.  This is not the first time the question has come up this season.  We’ve already passed around some lists with family members to prepare for gift exchanges.  I imagine this is a fairly common question these days.  In buying for our kids, we have tried to mitigate the potential insanity of the season by being guided and limited by a phrase Abbie discovered a few years back: Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.  To quote a favorite line from the Lego Movie, “It’s true because it rhymes.” There’s something about this season that unlocks a sense of longing, desire, and wanting that seems to be an innate part of being human.  A quote attributed to Plato says: “We are fired into

Two weekends ago, Joel and I both had the opportunity to be a part of Fabulous, Fierce, and Sacred: A Gathering of Anabaptist lgbtqa* Community in Chicago, and I wanted to take some time to reflect on that experience.  For those that don’t know, the conference was planned by various groups within the Mennonite Church who are all working in their own ways to make the denomination a safer, more welcoming and inclusive place for people of gender of sexual minorities.  The event page describes the gathering as an opportunity “for retreat and renewal, planning and politics, and/or simply being held in the encompassing space of welcoming and inclusive community.”  The weekend was all of these things and more.  Whenever I try to talk about why the conference was so meaningful or what exactly went on that made it such a powerful experience, I often come up with a loss