Warning: This blog post contains an extended metaphor Two years ago we put a wood burning insert in our living room fireplace.  One of the many satisfying experiences with this is putting on new logs (and maybe some newspaper) in the morning and having them catch fire from the heat still held in the coals from the previous evening. There have been times in the last couple years when congregational life has felt like tending the coals, waiting for the morning to arrive when new fuel meets conserved heat and flares up for the new day.  I’m not exactly saying that time is about to be fulfilled, but I am observing that we are entering a season, as the school calendar begins, of rekindling some key aspects of church community we haven’t practiced since early 2020.  One of these is offering Sunday school for all ages during the eleven o’clock

This summer marks ten years Gwen Reiser has been lead administrator for CMC.  She worked as a part time assistant the previous six years and held numerous volunteer leadership positions before that.  During the last decade her title has changed from Office Administrator to Church Administrator, reflecting her increased role supporting Leadership Team and our commissions, as well as her supervisory role of several CMC staff.  As one who has been here a mere nine years, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Gwen the whole time. One of the things I greatly appreciate about Gwen is her attentiveness to detail and her interest and vision for the big picture.  The details of congregational life are many, from getting all the necessary information out to commission members about their tasks, to timely responses to emails from within and outside CMC, to maintaining office equipment and supplies, to spelling names correctly

Today’s blog is from Ben Rudeen Kreider.  It’s the final week of his summer pastoral internship and he’ll also be preaching this Sunday. In a short seminary course on Black church traditions related to land, food, and racial agency, Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III shared a story. When he was a young pastor he thought he had to do everything for everyone. He came to realize what his congregation really wanted him to do was preach on Sunday and lead on a weekday Bible study. That left a lot of open space. So he began to experiment with community gardening and organizing with other Black churches and farmers. Within the role of pastor he carved out space to creatively organize around food sovereignty, founding and leading the Black Church Food Security Network. As I wrap up my pastoral internship at Columbus Mennonite Church I’ve been pondering the purpose of the

For the last two years I’ve been meeting weekly with a CMC small group that discusses the daily meditations of Franciscan priest Richard Rohr.  We meet Wednesdays at noon over Zoom.  Anyone is  welcome. This week’s theme is about listening, and today’s meditation features the words of author Kay Lindahl.  She writes: “Listening is a creative force. Something quite wonderful occurs when we are listened to fully. We expand, ideas come to life and grow, we remember who we are.”  Our typical format after checking in with each other is to read through one of the week’s meditations, followed by a free flowing discussion, ending in prayer.  With listening as the theme we added a twist.  Before speaking, each person had to briefly summarize what they heard the person before them saying. This changed the nature of the conversation in (at least) two noticeable ways.  One was that we had

Two years ago our congregation made a commitment: As part of our annual budget, we will include a line item for reparations – funds we release to local Black and Indigenous-led organizations, to be used where most needed.  This is an outgrowth of CMC’s longtime emphasis on racial justice and our more recent studies and worship themes inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.  As a majority-White faith community we have grappled with the ways the creation of Whiteness in our country has stolen land, lives, and wealth from Indigenous and Black Americans.  As believers in a justice that restores individuals and communities toward shalom, holistic peace and wellbeing, we have decided that part of this work includes concrete actions and financial obligations.  Our scale is small – personal, congregational, local, spiritual – keeping in mind that all parts are connected to the whole.  And we’re just getting started in