CMC Service – 10/22/23 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

October 22, 2023 | The Specter of Royalty

Texts: 2nd Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5; Psalm 150

Speaker: Mark Rupp

My husband and I were nearly two-thirds of the way through the most recent performance in our Broadway in Columbus season when a brand new character came out on stage and I had to lean over and whisper “Wait, who is that?” Now what makes this a bit surprising is that the show we were seeing was Jesus Christ, Superstar, a rock-opera retelling of the story of Jesus, and I– an ordained minister in the Christian church–needed to ask my husband–a non-religious heathen who maybe attended Sunday School once in his life–what was happening in the story being presented to us. 

Before you all start drafting emails trying to get my ordination revoked, let me be clear that a couple things were happening. First, I was having a bit of a hard time understanding some of the lyrics from our not-quite-nose-bleed-but-still-mid-mezzanine seats, so I think I can be forgiven for not being able to follow everything exactly. Second, the character that appeared for the first time out of nowhere, showed up in complete contrast to the rest of the production. The show can be done in lots of different ways, but this production gave all of the scenery and costumes a bit of a drab, post-apocalyptic feel with muted earthy tones, industrial looking set pieces, and choreography that evoked almost a tribal, Mad Max feel. This new character, however, came on in bright tones, a long gold lamé cloak trailing behind him, and a face painted white, almost clown-looking in the way he was obviously trying hard to exude extravagance. Even the music shifted, turning…

CMC Scripture & Sermon 10.15.2023 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Ruth and Persistent-Loving-Kindness | 15 October 2023
Text: Readings from Ruth
Speaker: Joel Miller

“In the days when the judges ruled.”  That’s how the book of Ruth begins.  This was after the Israelites had settled in Canaan, the promised land, but before they had kings.  The leaders were tribal chieftains, judges, who would rise up during times of crisis. 

If you’re tracking the flow of the Narrative Lectionary you’ll note that we have gone – last week – from the giving of the Ten Commandments in the Sinai desert, to the days when the judges ruled.  We have skipped over, conveniently, the conquest stories in the book of Joshua.  That’s when the new generation of Israelites, after the death of Moses, under Joshua’s leadership, emerge from the desert and take control of the land of Canaan through military conquest.  All this conquesting was done in the name of their God.  These stories do not fit real well into Mennonite peace theology.

If it’s any consolation, the consensus among scholars is that this didn’t actually happen the way it’s described.  The leading theory, based on archeological and DNA evidence, is that the people who became the nation of Israel were mostly native Canaanites, especially the underclass, joined by other ethnic groups, during a time when Egypt’s control of the region was collapsing.  The Exodus and conquest stories then become the narrative glue that holds this diverse group of peoples together as one nation.       

What this suggests is the power of a common story to bind people together – more powerful than having a common blood ancestor.  Stories can even be more powerful than military conquest.  There’s a little sprinkling of peace theology.                               

And if we’re looking…

CMC Service 10-08-2023 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Lord of the Flies or Law of the Fugitives? 
Texts: Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9
Speaker: Joel Miller

Here’s a story: A plane crashes near an uninhabited Pacific Island.  The only survivors are a group of youth.  The boys come ashore and elect a leader, establish plans for survival, and light a fire to alert potential rescuers.  But the order soon falls apart.  Many of the boys don’t do their share of work.  Some believe there is a monster on the island.  One of the boys gains popularity when he pledges to kill the beast, even as he carelessly allows the fire to go out.  He becomes leader of a rebel tribe who continue the slide from civilized British youth to wild savages.  They kill a pig and make its head an offering to the beast.  They paint their faces, dawn spears, and dance around a fire.  They kill one of the boys, mistaking him for the dreaded beast.  Eventually the tribe sets fire to the forest and hunts down the boy who was the original leader.  As he flees out to the beach, he falls, right at the feet of a British officer who is part of a rescue party.  When the pursuing tribe emerges, ready to make their capture, they see their adult superiors and stop in their tracks.  As if lifted from a trance, they hang their heads in shame that they have descended so quickly into violence and chaos, the forest still ablaze behind them.

This is Lord of the Flies, a 1954 novel, adapted to film in 1963.  It’s fiction.  In other words, it never actually happened.  It is a parable that caught the cultural imagination – it speaks to…

CMC Service 9/24/23 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Wrestling with God: Blessings and Bruises
Text: Genesis 32:3-32
Speaker: Joel Miller
 

“Jacob was left alone.”  That’s what it says in Genesis 32:24. 

Jacob is alone because he has sent his entire family – two wives, two maids, and eleven children – and all his possessions – hundreds of sheep, goats, cattle and camels; servants, tents, changes of clothing, – everything he owns and everyone in his family and entourage – he has sent them all to the other side of Jabbok River.  It is night, time for sleep, and Jacob lies down, under the dome of the heavens, alone. 

It was a rare thing, for Jacob to be alone.  From the very beginning, even in his mother’s womb, he had company. 

Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, who we met last week, married Rebekah.  And Rebekah, like her mother-in-law Sarah for most of her life, had no children.  But she becomes pregnant, with twins, who, as Genesis 25 says “struggled within her.” Oof. Jacob must have lost that wrestling match. In a culture in which the bulk of the inheritance went to the first born son, Jacob is born second.  But just barely, grasping the heel of his very slightly older brother Esau as they entered the world.   

The struggle didn’t end there.  Once, after they had grown, Jacob was cooking a stew and Esau came back from an unsuccessful hunt, famished.  Jacob offered him some of the hot stew, but for a price, Esau’s birthright.  Later, when the now-elderly Isaac is ready to confer his blessing on his firstborn son, Jacob, with the help of his mother Rebekah, tricked his blind father by putting on his brother’s clothes and offering him the ritual meal while…

Scripture and Sermon

Holy Laughter: Giving Birth to Joy

Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7 and Luke 1:46-55

Sarah Werner

I’ve done a lot of different things in my life. I’ve searched for orchids in dense forests, sampled mud in a remote Canadian lake, taught kids about marine life in sandals on the beach. I’ve written poems and stories and tens of thousands of journal entries. If someone had told me when I was 20 that at the age of 40 I would be leading a wild church, working as a professional writer, and celebrating my ordination in the Mennonite church, I would have laughed out loud, just like our ancestor Sarah did. I’m sure you too have similar stories. None of us ever really know where we’re headed. All we can do is point our feet towards God, or sacredness, or truth, and start moving. And Sarah provides a roadmap for us through her laughter and trust in the Holy One.

This is quite a foundational story for all three of the Abrahamic faith traditions. All the major players are there—God in the form of three people (something the Trinitarians surely love), Abraham, Sarah, even the holy oaks of Mamre. But, I’m bothered by the clear patriarchal nature of this exchange. Only Abraham talks to the otherworldly visitors/God. Sarah is left in the tent to listen in to their conversation. God in the guise of the visitors, speaks to Sarah, but only to confront her about laughing. So, I’ve decided to share with you a different version. Here goes:

Sarah and Abraham are sitting under an ancient sacred oak tree, the defining feature of their homestead, the place where many holy encounters took place. Abraham goes into the tent to take a nap in the heat of the day, but Sarah remains, gazing out on the open rocky…