After I graduated from Bluffton University, I decided to sign up for Mennonite Voluntary Service with a placement in Hutchinson, Kansas.  In many ways, this whole endeavor was a pilgrimage because part of the reason I went to the “wilderness” of Kansas was to try to figure out what life beyond college looked like for me. While I was on this wider pilgrimage that eventually expanded into three years, I also took what I would consider a much more specific, shorter-term pilgrimage. I had built a relationship with Camp Mennoscah, a Mennonite camp near Hutchinson, and the director invited me to spend a retreat weekend in the camp’s guesthouse. I had volunteered to help with a crafting retreat that ended up getting canceled, so the director still wanted to offer me the space to do a solo retreat.  I took her up on the offer, and also decided that I

What’s the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim?  I think I first asked myself this question while studying in Cairo, Egypt during my senior year of college (half a lifetime ago, oh my).  The semester included trips to many common destinations – the pyramids, a boat trip on the Nile, old mosques and churches.  Amidst the tourists, I noticed what felt like another genre of visitor – those who approached these sites with a certain level of reverence, curiosity, and wonder.  Those who came as learners, even worshipers, as if ready to be changed by the place and the stories it holds.  What to call this category of visitor?  Pilgrim works well. I have since increasingly realized that one doesn’t have to go half way around the world for a pilgrimage – although that’s pretty great too.  The opportunity for pilgrimages abound.  To visit a beautiful place, to reconnect

We got some good news a couple days ago worth celebrating. The city of Columbus budgeting process involves the mayor sending a proposed budget to City Council toward the end of the calendar year, with Council having the ability to make its own adjustments.  On Monday, Council President Shannon Hardin announced an additional $1.2 million allocation to the 2023 budget for the creation of a nonpolice emergency response pilot program (at the 6:10 mark in this video). Columbus already has several “Alternative Response” programs for nonviolent situations involving mental health, addiction, and other crises.  But they are all co-responder models, with an armed police officer taking the lead, accompanied by another trained professional.  One of the enduring impacts of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 has been communities more deeply questioning the extent to which we rely on police officers to respond to a wide range of crises, most

With the Coming of Age Celebration this Sunday, I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic of transitions and change. One of the things that has been bouncing around my brain is an NPR article that came out late last year about how the pandemic may have shifted our personalities on a population-wide scale. I don’t think this is surprising to anyone. We’ve all been through a lot. But it was interesting to have some data to back up the anecdotes and general feelings that the last few years have changed us in ways that are deep and possibly long-lasting. If the study cited by the article is to be believed, however, these changes were not the most positive or healthy. “[T]he researchers found that extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness all declined across the population, but especially for younger adults, who also showed an increase in neuroticism.”  The biggest changes

It’s a snow day for Columbus City Schools and, as far as I can tell, just about every K-12 school around Central Ohio.  This is not particularly convenient for parents and guardians who suddenly need to account for their children throughout the day, and do their regular job. And yet…Maybe I’m alone in this, but I still feel a distinct thrill on snow days.  It could be nostalgia for childhood, but I wonder if it’s something more.  Snow days are a reminder, amidst our over-programmed lives, that we can, if we deem it necessary, simply stop.  We can cancel activity for the day.  Urgent things can (mostly) wait.  Due dates and deadlines can be revised. Instead of the regular routine, you could play outside.  You could create something, like a snow angel,  simply for the joy of it – although today looks more like a slush angel.  Or you could