Recently I learned that someone I know co-authored a book called, Real Connections: Ministries to Strengthen Church and Community Relationships (written by Joy Skjegstad and Heidi Unruh). I decided I needed to pick up a copy not only because I like supporting the creative work of people I know, but also because the topic felt like such a timely one.
The later chapters of the book contain many great practical ideas and tips for...
November is in the air and the leaves are realizing they can’t hold on much longer. As we begin a new month here is a preview of Sunday worship themes:
November 7: All Saints/Souls Observance
This Sunday is our annual time of remembrance for loved ones who have died. Whether in the sanctuary or at home, we’ll light memorial candles and speak the names of those dear to us. This is also the Sunday when I highlight an Anabaptist forebear during the sermon. This time around we’ll look at Hans Denck who might have some things to say to us in a time of...
A week from this Saturday, November 6, CMC is hosting an in-person workshop called “Believe and Be Baptized: Conversations on a 500-year-old tradition.” The event will be led by John Roth, Professor of History at Goshen College in Indiana. It is part of a series of events anticipating the 500-year anniversary of the Anabaptist movement (a small gathering on January 21, 1525 during which members re-baptized themselves is frequently referenced as the beginning of Anabaptism). This workshop will include a presentation by Roth...
We are one of 85 faith communities in Ohio participating in Death Penalty Abolition Week.
Yesterday was the 40-year anniversary of Ohio’s reinstatement of executions. To mark this Ohioans To Stop Executions organized over 100 folks to meet with state lawmakers urging them to pass HB 183 and SB 103, both bipartisan bills to abolish the death penalty in Ohio. Advocates believe we are closer than ever to this happening.
I was one of a dozen people on a phone conference with aides of Senator Stephanie Kunze. A Presbyterian participant noted...
By: Phil Yoder
The other month, when meeting with my spiritual director, I was struggling to articulate my feelings around God (and God’s absence). She pulled out a collection of pastels and asked me to draw them. Draw them? When it comes to the arts, I generally consider myself a musician. There was that 10th grade drawling class, but I never stuck with it like music, which came more naturally for me. I grew up in a house that had little artwork, beyond a few of our elementary school creations, and in a church that only a few visuals beyond a simple wooden cross up front -whose...