Last week I, along with a number of other people from CMC, attended the biennial Mennonite Church USA Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.  These conventions are always packed full of good conversations with friends, meaningful worship services, challenging and thought-provoking seminars, and lots and lots of walking (my step counter was over 30,000 one of the days).  All of the worship services this year had the same central scripture passage that was unpacked by various speakers in different ways.  That passage was John 20:19-23, where Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection, breathes the Holy Spirit over them, and tells them “Peace be with you.”  Our group had to leave before the final worship service on Saturday morning, but I heard afterwards that it was a very moving service with an inspiring sermon delivered by MCUSA’s current Executive Director, Glen Guyton.  I heard about it, in part, because Glen

It’s church conference season. This past weekend seven of us from CMC went up to Milwaukee to attend the Central District Conference annual gathering.  There are 45 congregations within CDC, including three new members, affirmed by delegate vote: Americus (Georgia), Emmanuel (Sarasota, Florida), and Jubilee (Bellefontaine, Ohio).  CDC has a wide geographical range – from St. Paul, Minnesota to Sarasota; from Ames, Iowa to Harrisonburg, Virginia.  CMC is one of the larger congregations.  The hosts, a small congregation that rents worship space from the Lutheran church where we all gathered, joked that not so long ago they had a meeting in which they joyfully realized, “We’re on the cusp of viability!” The treasurer commented during his report that “A boring financial report is a good financial report.”  Aside from a couple other humorous comments, it was a bit boring.  CDC is financially healthy, supporting a full time conference minister (Doug

On Sunday Abbie and I celebrated our 18th anniversary.  We decided our marriage is now officially an adult.  I don’t think we get a third vote at the polls.  Life has been full of what feels like very adult tasks – raising a family, maintaining a property, work responsibilities. My parents treated us with a hotel stay in Yellow Springs while they kept the girls.  It was a mini-retreat.  Time was unhurried.  Conversations were uninterrupted.  We ate good food prepared and cleared by someone else.  The rain mostly held off when we wanted to be outside. We’ve been exploring the Enneagram off and on for the last year or so.  We both might fit best into Nine, “The Peacemaker” type.  The Enneagram Institute says of double Nine couples: “They are easy going and do not let the minor irritations of life or the relationship get to them easily.”  It also

Let me start by offering our yearly reminder that the original Pride Parade was not a parade but a march to commemorate the riots that broke out in response to police brutality against the queer community.  This year will be the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. As we wave our rainbow flags and celebrate the advances that have been made toward greater justice for queer people, we should never forget those roots and how they compel us to continue to work for justice alongside the most vulnerable and oppressed among our communities.  And for the Church (captial “C”), presence and participation in spaces like the Pride Parade should be grounded with an awareness of the history of how faith communities have long been at the forefront of the oppression of queer people.  Even if our specific congregation has worked toward justice and made strong commitments to blessing and being

[This week’s midweek blog comes from our new pastoral intern, Scott Litwiller.]   Providing hospitality is one of my favorite spiritual disciplines. Cooking and preparing a meal allows me the opportunity to pause and meditate on, or pray for, those who are coming for dinner. Once they have arrived, I am able to show my love and care by serving the meal, pouring a drink, or pulling up another chair. Providing hospitality allows me to retain an amount of control and to know what to expect. Receiving hospitality, however, has been a learning curve. Thinking of receiving hospitality reminds me of the passage in John 13 where Jesus attempts to wash Peter’s feet. Peter is uncomfortable and would prefer to offer Jesus hospitality. When Jesus insists, Peter goes over the top to awkwardly show just how willing he is to receive Jesus’ hospitality by asking to have his whole body