Leviticus 25 declares a Sabbatical year for Israel, one every seven.  It was to be a year of rest and renewal for the people (including hired laborers and slaves), the land (including agricultural fields), and animals. Mennonite Church USA has its own Sabbatical guidelines.  It suggests pastors be granted a three month Sabbatical every four years. 2018 has turned out to be a Sabbatical year for both Mark (April and May) and me (June, July, August) – although this is my fifth year rather than fourth, and Mark’s Sabbatical will be two-ish months rather than three because of being less than full time. Today Gwen, Mim, Mark, and I had a staff retreat to plan for this Sabbatical year.  We sat around a very cozy fire at Gwen’s house and sketched out what our part of this planning involves.  Practically speaking, it means CMC will have a solo pastor

  “The first clue, lesson number one from human history on the subject of nonviolence, is that there is no word for it.” This is how Mark Kurlansky begins his book Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea.  He goes on to note that every language has a word for violence, but none have an independent word for nonviolence.  All we have is a negation of that concept (violence) which we understand much better.  In Sanskrit, for example, himsa is the word for violence or harm.  Ahimsa is its negation, not doing harm.  The same is of course true for English.  So we know what nonviolence isn’t, but what is it? Nonviolence and peacemaking have been a peculiar dimension of Anabaptist/Mennonite understanding of Christian faith.  Peculiar because so few other streams of the faith emphasize it.  Which is itself peculiar since Christianity was a pacifist/nonviolent tradition for its first three

  Yesterday was a big Sanctuary day, with two major events. Mayor Ginther and several of his staff brought lunch for Edith and ate with her.  Two of her children and I joined.  We had a little over an hour for Edith to tell her story, Brandow and Stephanie to talk about what it’s like to fear being separated from their mother, and the four of us to ask the mayor to use his influence to petition ICE to affirm re-opening Edith’s asylum case.  We didn’t get a firm commitment from him, but are hopeful the meal will impact his perspective moving forward in how Columbus residents are being impacted by harsh immigration tactics. In the evening we hosted the event Sanctuary People, Sanctuary Community, Sanctuary Movement.  The highlight was connecting Edith and Columbus with four other people currently in sanctuary, and their supporters: Austin, TX, Philadephia, PA, Raleigh, NC,

  In previous years I’ve written a January blog to recap the past year.  It’s basically a long list of happenings, with lots of commas.  It’s a little overwhelming (to write and probably to read), and I inevitably leave out something important.  This time I’d like to pare it down to a highlight from each month.  Hopefully this captures a sense of where we’ve been together and, especially if you’re new-ish, gives a window into what we do and value as a congregation. January | Drew Hart spoke at our Winter Seminar which we promoted to Mennonites around Ohio.  We were joined by groups from as far away as Cleveland and Cincinnati in considering how the church might confront racism in its many forms. February | Our worship theme for the month was “We are Sermon on the Mount people.”  We looked at how these core teachings in Matthew shape

It is that time of year again: time to start looking forward to our Coming of Age Celebration on February 4, 2018 during our Sunday morning worship.  Starting this coming Sunday, our Junior High Sunday School class will begin planning the worship service for February 4, offering their ideas, suggestions, and gifts to the shaping of that service.  During the celebration, we will specifically be lifting up three of our youth and being blessed by their gifts of leadership among us.  These three young people have already blessed our congregation in many ways, but the Coming of Age ritual has become one of the ways we, as a congregation, lift up those gifts and recognize their role as fellow travelers and co-interpreters of this tradition we call Christianity.  My hope is that these young people take their role seriously, but, perhaps more importantly, my hope is that all of us