The Spirituality of the Blues
Mark Schloneger
(Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, Bessie Smith)[1] Nobody knows you when you’re down and out. That song is by Bessie Smith, nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920’s and 30’s. I listened to the blues as I prepared this message. That’s because I […]
#blessed
Joanne Gallardo
Blessed. Or bless-ed. We use this word a whole lot. We throw it around as easily and as quickly as we do “awesome” or “fantastic.” If you follow #blessed on Instagram, you’ll find 117 million posts! If you follow #blessed with the emoji of two hands giving a high five which 9 out of 10 […]
Looking Toward the Finish Line
Dan Schrock
I’ve watched at least two dozen people die, possibly three dozen. Many of those deaths were navigated well, but at least two of them were not. The first death happened to a young man with AIDS. Back in those long-ago days, getting AIDS was an automatic death sentence because medical science had no way of […]
Nagging God
Mark Schloneger
“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” Sometimes, Luke makes things easy for us, or at least he appears to. Before we even get to the parable, before we even read the story, Luke provides us with the moral, the meaning, the golden nugget of […]
Church as Exile
Mark Schloneger
He saw her in the market, a rare breath of beauty amid the misery of his life in the refugee camp. Someone said she was from his village back in Syria, which he fled when a Syrian government plane dropped bombs that destroyed his home. And now, on a hot afternoon two months later, Samah […]
Introverts in the Church
Dan Schrock
I recently saw an advertisement for a new pastor. It specified that “the candidate must have an outgoing and energetic personality.” For many churches, the ideal pastor is outgoing, gregarious, loves to meet new people and shake their hands, is quick-witted in social conversations, has lots of energy, and dazzles people with charm and charisma. […]
From Loneliness to Solitude
Dan Schrock
About thirty years ago, I began my first pastoral assignment at Lombard Mennonite Church, in Lombard, Illinois. Back then I was an assistant pastor working under the supervision of the two senior pastors, Joe and Emma Richards. One morning in the church office, Joe announced that after lunch, he and I were going to visit […]
The Parable of the Disgraced Father
Mark Schloneger
For most of my life, I have heard stories about the first house that my parents lived in. It was known to them and their neighbors as The Mengises. Mengis was the last name of the first owners of this house. So, in that rural community in Wayne County, Ohio the Schlonegers lived at the […]
What It Takes
Mark Schloneger
A few years back, a Super Bowl commercial for Doritos and Pepsi Max was pulled before it had the chance to be aired. That’s because a lot of Christians complained that it was too offensive. Letters were written, petitions were circulated, and some vowed never to eat Doritos or drink Pepsi again. Given the controversial […]
From Scarcity to Abundance
Joanne Gallardo
If I mention “The Fyre Festival,” how many of you know what I’m talking about? The Fyre festival was supposed to be the best music festival on the planet. For thousands of dollars, you could hop on a private jet to Pablo Escobar’s island, rent out a fancy villa, listen to hot musical groups while […]
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