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Dear queer Mennonites at the Kansas City Convention, and those watching from home,

This week your church failed you. Your people, your denomination, your faith community opted to build unity for itself at your expense. Officially, we reaffirmed that pastors may not perform same sex covenant ceremonies and that doing so is grounds for a review of their credentials. Unofficially, implicitly, we declared that you are not worthy of the same degree of blessing and respect as are we, your straight sisters and brothers. You just aren’t. We did so not in conversation with you, but in...

Blogging from Kansas City: Thursday

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:22-23

My dear, dear, Mennonite brothers and sisters, my people, my tribe. All week long at this Convention we’ve been hearing about the Emmaus road story. How the risen Jesus appeared to two distraught travelers, and “...

Systems of forgiveness

Last Thursday I was rather thrilled with the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si,” which speaks an eloquent and urgent pastoral word regarding climate change. Rather than addressing just his fellow Catholics, or even fellow Christians, the document opens by saying, “Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet.” Early on the Pope cites his namesake, Francis of Assisi, who taught...

“The purpose of the institution…”

Keeping on the theme of wider church gatherings this summer (Central District, Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite World Conference) …

My favorite book to read devotionally these days is The Experience of God: Icons of the Mystery by Raimon Panikkar. Panikkar was the son of a Spanish Roman Catholic mother and Indian Hindu father, and became one of the world’s leading voices in interreligious dialogue, active up to his death in 2010 at age 91.

I usually read about a page or two a day (it’s dense) and Monday morning came across this lovely paragraph, about the nature of...

A miracle at the table?

It is church conference/convention season. Tomorrow through Saturday is the Central District Conference Annual Meeting, this year in Elkhart, Indiana on the campus of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary – my old stomping/studying grounds. Six of us from Columbus Mennonite will be attending. This gathering is mostly focused on relationship building and worship, and is always full of laughter. Delegate sessions this year include discussion and a vote on a resolution called “...

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