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Menno delegate votes – “What does this mean?”

This coming Sunday is Pentecost. One of the great phrases in that Acts 2 story occurs after the Spirit has swept through the upper room in Jerusalem where the Jesus followers had gathered, the sound of wind and flame mixing with the voices of festival pilgrims from all over the Roman world, each spontaneously declaring the praises of God in their own native language. Onlookers are amazed and perplexed, looking at one another and asking, “What does this mean?”

It’s a question many of us across Mennonite Church USA are asking after having gathered last weekend from around the US for...

Thou Shalt Not...

Joel and I meet monthly with other pastors and credentialed leaders from Central District Conference for conversation, support, and fellowship. At the last gathering, the topic that was suggested for the group was to have everyone offer a few of their “10 Commandments for Ministry.” What “thou shalts” or “thou shalt nots” help guide and ground the work that we do?

Many helpful pieces of wisdom were offered around the circle, some were more lighthearted while others were attempts to tackle some of the harder issues of ministry. We all agreed that most of the classics like “Thou...

Mennonites voting, discerning

At the end of this month delegates from around Mennonite Church USA will be meeting for the Special Session of the Delegate Assembly in Kansas City. Delegates typically meet during church wide biennial conventions on the odd years, but last year…Covid. So we’re meeting in person over four days on Memorial Day Weekend this year. CMC gets two delegates plus a youth delegate, so Katie Graber and I, plus Eve Miller will be representing the congregation.

There are four resolutions on the table.

...

Just as new as old

Our spring review of the CMC directory got me curious: Of the folks now listed in the directory, what is the ratio between those who were part of the church when I came on board (nearly nine years ago) and those who came after me? A nonscientific flip and tally through the directory revealed that it is right at 50/50. I don’t know the national statistics on this, but this dynamic seems like an inevitable aspect of healthy congregations in areas where people are on the move.

I suppose each member could do the same exercise, with yourself as the line of delineation between who is “...

Holy Holy Holy Week

This year Holy Week and Easter overlap with the Jewish Passover and Muslim month of Ramadan. Because Ramadan is on the lunar calendar this is rare. This means about 4.3 billion of the earth’s nearly 8 billion people, well over half, are currently within a sacred time.

On Monday Congregation Tifereth Israel on Broad Street hosted a BREAD meeting. During Rabbi Skolnik’s welcome he noted that when Jews celebrate Passover they are asked to do so as if they themselves were the ones enslaved in Egypt and delivered out of bondage. This personal and collective experience informs their...

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