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Twelve and Six Scriptures

I took a break from this weekly blog during Lent because of the daily devotions series. Many thanks to those of you who shared your thoughts and insights in what turned out to be a wonderfully eclectic and soul-affirming journey. And now we’re into the Easter season.

One of the topics that the wider church has been discussing for a number of years now is the role of the Bible in our personal and collective lives. How we read and interpret the Bible (or not!) says a lot about us. The passages that we elevate as central to faith and those that we minimize, disagree with, or ignore,...

Remember that you are dust

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

The season of Lent begins today, Ash Wednesday. In case we had forgotten, these words spoken over us re-awaken us to our mortality. Our bodies come from the stuff of the earth, and it is to this earth that our bodies are returning. The ashes we receive on our foreheads today mark us as those who bear witness to this.

Remembering that we are dust and will return to dust does not carry the immediate sense of good news. Remember – you’re going to die and there’s nothing you can do about it. Ouch.

But...

Getting to the Why

This Sunday is the final one before Lent and is known as Transfiguration Sunday, when the church remembers Jesus’ mystical light-infused encounter with Elijah and Moses on top of the mountain…

Last week I had a lunch conversation with two Episcopal minister friends. One of them said he’d been thinking about how the church can be pretty good at the What but can sometimes lose focus on the Why of its existence. We worship, teach,...

Confessing faith

These last couple weeks I’ve been flipping through Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, a booklet written in 1995, composed of 24 brief articles and commentary, including God, Jesus Christ, Scripture, Baptism, The Lord’s Supper, etc. This Sunday I will start teaching the youth catechism class and plan to use this as a basis of discussion.

I, and probably most people familiar it, have a complex relationship with this document. There are parts that are beautiful and inspiring. “Human beings have been made for relationship with God, to live in peace with each...

The arts, rising

Last Friday and Saturday our family headed down to Cincinnati for the biennial Mennonite Arts Weekend. It was of course special to see friends from our seven years of living and pastoring in the city. And it is always special to be a part of that weekend gathering which welcomes Mennonite artists from around the continent to share their work.

The weekend started in the early 90’s as an outgrowth of a conversation in which people lamented the lack of support and space for expression given artists in the Mennonite church. ...

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