I’ve been noticing a lot of wedding anniversaries within CMC recently.  June is a good time to get married, and Abbie and I have been a part of that club for 13 years now.  On Tuesday David Brooks wrote a lovely Op-Ed in the NY Times called “Rhapsody in Realism, ” a reflection on the beauty of flawed people making marriage work.  He cites an article on marriage he has appreciated whose first piece of advice was “Go to bed mad.”  Don’t stay up too late until everything’s perfect.  Get some sleep and “in the morning, eat some pancakes.  Everything will seem better.”  He also quotes Immanuel Kant who said, “Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.”  Having a crooked timber mentality helps keep expectations for one’s partner and one’s self realistic.  He ends his essay with these words: Great and small enterprises often

We had a nice vacation with Abbie’s family in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee.  A highlight: having childcare back at the cabin while Abbie and I hiked to a waterfall and old growth part of the national forest. I’m writing this from the basement of the church where I was dedicated as a baby – Bethel Mennonite Church in West Liberty, Ohio.  They hosted a lunch gathering today with about 20 area pastors to be in conversation with Ervin Stutzman, Executive Director of Mennonite Church USA.  Ervin will also be in Bluffton this evening for an open town hall meeting.  Conversation focused on where we are now as a denomination and how and whether we can continue to be church together amidst our differences.  We are a denomination of about 100,000 people spread out over the country and although we all trace our lineage back through the early Anabaptists, we

School’s out, summer has begun, and Eve has started softball practice.  With baseball having been a significant part of my life from an early age, I can’t help but be involved as an assistant coach.  Isn’t the standard progression of childhood development sit up, crawl, walk, run around the bases?  This is the youngest level of organized play and one of things I’ve noticed so far is how little these kids know about the sport.  This makes perfect sense since they’ve never played before, but aren’t these things common knowledge?  While hitting, you don’t have to swing at every pitch and the ball needs to be hit between first and third base for it to be in play.  While running the bases, you can run through first and home but not second and third.  While fielding, the second basewoman is positioned between first and second base, not on second base. 

And the winners are… Our 12 Scriptures have been finalized.  Thanks to all who submitted lists, and to the group that helped collect, group, tally, and discern (it’s not as easy as it may seem).  The list of the “Troubling 6” is still being worked on. I’ve listed the 12 Scriptures below in the order in which we’ll focus on them this summer.  You’ll notice I’ve grouped them in five themes, although there are, of course, plenty of overlaps.  Here are some other observations: + There are three Hebrew Scriptures and nine from the New Testament + Each of the Gospels is represented, and Paul (surprisingly?) makes a strong showing. + There is one that is just one verse, and four that are whole chapters. + The underlined themes are my own imposition on the 12 Scriptures, but highlight some of the key values and theological emphases that this congregation

For Sunday’s sermon I’ll be interviewing CMCer and MTSO seminary professor Linda Mercadante.  For the last five years she has been interviewing people who identify as “Spiritual but not Religious” and has recently published a book titled Belief Without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but not Religious.”  Linda begins the Introduction to the book by stating, “’Nones’ – those who do not claim any particular communal faith identity – are on the rise.”  She goes on to note that approximately 46 million, more than a fifth of Americans, have no religious affiliation, up from around 14 million in 1990.  Remarkably, there are now more “Nones” than mainline Protestants in the US.    But Linda’s research is much more interesting than just detailing the decline of the American church.  The people she interviews are eager to share their beliefs, comfortable with spiritual language and practices, but aren’t ready or