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...
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...
by CMC Pastoral Intern Ben Rudeen Kreider
This past Sunday pastor Joel preached on the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. Joel wondered if its main message might not be for us to simply be Good Samaritans ourselves but to see the places we are in need, dependent on the unexpected compassion and neighborliness of others.
Part of the beauty of a good story is how it can be seen from multiple angles, open to nuance. Within the parable we heard this Sunday, my mind went to the perspective of the robbers, who stripped and beat and nearly killed the man traveling from...
The July issue of Sojourners magazine includes an article featuring icon artist Angela Manno. As an established contemporary artist in the 90s Manno decided to explore liturgical art by studying under a master iconographer in the Byzantine-Russian style. Manno explains that the process of icon creation itself carries spiritual meaning, mirroring our own creation. The blank wooden board represents the tree of life. To this 13 layers of white primer are added, representing pure consciousness. A...
“And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 22:2
This week I’m transporting leaves from Columbus to Goshen, Indiana. That’s where six of us from CMC will gather with other representatives from Central District Conference congregations for our annual meeting. The leaves aren’t real – although they are colored on paper which I guess technically comes from trees. CMC kids (and a few adults) colored them during our outdoor service at Highbanks a couple weeks ago. All the CDC congregations are doing the same. I believe we’ll be having a...