Text: Acts 16:11-15, 40

Speaker: Joel Miller

It’s the year 1528, almost 500 years ago.  A woman in her early 40s is visiting a group of prisoners in her home area –Tyrol in Austria.  A movement that would soon be called Anabaptism has sprung up, spreading across the region.  In defiance of official church and legal orders, adult believers are getting re-baptized and forming small study and worship groups.  At a time when church and state are intertwined, infant baptism functions like a birth certificate.  It registers a person as part of the domain, a future taxpayer and eligible soldier – an official member of Christendom. 

That unifying order of Christendom had been massively disrupted by the Black Plague in the 14th century.  It wiped out a third to a half of the population of Europe.  The peasants who survived suddenly found themselves on the favorable side of low supply and high demand for their labor.  The invention of the printing press in the 15th century enabled ideas to spread faster and farther than ever.  New ideas, like Martin Luther’s critique of the Pope which led to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.  And very old ideas, like those in the New Testament – a voluntary church who followed the teachings of Jesus.  And even older ideas from the scriptures like fair wages for laborers, and the conviction that the earth belongs to God, and not the king or the lords.

Peasant revolts, an explosion of print, a refusal to swear loyalty oaths to territorial rulers…the early Anabaptists were intertwined with all these forces.  It was not a welcome development in Catholic or Protestant territories. 

Those prisoners in 1528 Tyrol, Austria, 106 in total, are all Anabaptists.  The visitor is taking a big risk.  She, herself, is under suspicion of being an Anabaptist, and…

Scripture: Luke 19:41-48

The most recent edition of the Anabaptist World magazine had the theme “Faithful and Political.” I think many of us have the political world on our minds as we continue to get closer to the midterm elections and consider the many possible ramifications of their outcomes. So I was intrigued to see what kinds of articles a magazine connected to our historical peace church might have to say about what it means to be faithful and political; what it means to be a courageous peace witness in relation to the political world. 

There were actually many interesting articles exploring these topics from many different viewpoints, and I was impressed with the editors’ ability to present articles with so many different nuances. If you don’t get the publication at home, I encourage you to check out the church’s copy once it makes its way out to the racks in the lobby. 

What struck me from the beginning of diving into the magazine, however, was the way the first two main articles presented approaches to this topic that were, on first read, similar, but upon further reflection quite different. In the first article by Nathan Good titled “Citizens of a Different Kingdom,” Good shares about how he, as a preacher and pastor, is not afraid to engage political topics because the good news of Jesus is political. Yet by the end of the article, it became clear that Good wanted to maintain this idea of dual, competing kingdoms. He writes, “if we are to faithfully follow King Jesus, we must not focus on political speech and organizing. We must use our money, time, houses, relationships and possessions to serve those in need.” (p. 9)

If you flip to the very next page of the magazine, you come to an article titled “Actions…

Texts: Mark 10:46-52; 1 Samuel 16:14-23

Speaker: Joel Miller

46 They came to Jericho. As (Jesus) and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

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If you were doing a crossword puzzle, and the clue was “masculinity,” five letters, and you already have t-o _ i-c, I’m pretty sure the overwhelming majority would confidently write an “x” in the open space and consider that one solved.  

As far as I can tell, the phrase “toxic masculinity” goes back to the 1980s.  It was coined, surprisingly, by men.  The self-diagnosis was that men were suffering from the ills of industrialized society: individualism, competition over comradery, loss of traditional rituals and initiation rites that give boys and men a clear sense of obligation to their community, the sense that men aren’t supposed to feel anything, except anger.  That’s the stew, they taught, that creates toxic masculinity.  This mythopoetic men’s movement – as it was called – was inspired by the feminist movement.  It…

Texts: Genesis 11:1-9, Nehemiah 2:17-18

Speaker: Joel Miller

When a pope wants to make a big statement, they write an encyclical.  For a non-Catholic, such as myself, I have learned an encyclical is a teaching document / pastoral letter on a certain theme.  It’s often quite long, more like a book.  It’s meant to circulate, en-cycle-cal, among a general audience.  This includes not just the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, but us.  Everyone.   

The previous pope, Francis, issued four encyclicals over his twelve years.  This included “Laudato Si,” (“Praise be to you”), a phrase borrowed from his namesake, Francis of Assisi.  Happy Feast Day Francis.  It talked about the earth as our common home, warning against the perils of climate change, with a major takedown of unbridled capitalism.  That same year, 2015, when Francis was touring the US, I remember The Onion putting out an article with a definitely-photoshopped picture of the pope in a grocery store with the headline “Pope Francis reverses position on capitalism after seeing wide variety of American Oreos.”  Ah for the innocent days when fake news was funny.

The current pope, Leo, the first American pope, to my knowledge has made no public statements on Oreos.  But he did issue his first encyclical earlier this year.  If you were pope, if you were one of, if not the most influential spiritual leaders in the world, and you were going to issue your first big statement on a topic of concern, what would it be?  What do you think – right now – is most deserving of a pastoral letter to the human race offering counsel and wisdom and caution and fatherly/motherly love? 

Well, back in May, Pope Leo gave his answer.  It’s called Magnifica Humanitas.  “Magnificent Humanity.”  Subtitle: “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Age…

Text: Mark 5:21-43

Speaker: Carolyn May

When Joel asked me if I’d be willing to offer the reflection for today, he told me that CMC has beenworking through a series focused on “Courageous Peace Witness” and that there was a thought thatperhaps the retreat would be a good weekend to reflect on embodiment and peacemaking. In a lotof ways I still feel surprised that bodies have become such an integral part of my life and work. Ithink I spent much of my early years feeling very disembodied. And feeling, somehow, like that wasa virtue. Like being a good Christian meant learning to rise above all of this messy physical stuff.There are still remnants of that deep within me, I think. And so it felt a bit surprising for Joel tosuggest that I might be a good person to reflect on embodiment.

But, it makes sense. After an intense year of schooling and training, I recently became a licensedmassage therapist. Truly not a path I could have or would have ever anticipated for my life. Itcertainly wasn’t the path I imagined when I went to seminary. Though, to be fair, I don’t think Iactually had any clear path imagined when I made that move.

But as I’ve been reflecting, I think I’ve been recognizing that embodiment has been a reallyimportant part of my theological life for a long time. Because of course. It has always been part ofeverything, regardless of how much I have tried to remain separate from my body, or how much Ihave absorbed that old Christian tendency to think of flesh and body as somehow lesser, whilespirit and mind are where the real spiritual work happens. I am still a body. I think maybe, for awhile, I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that part of the spiritual work might be…