Hope for the Struggle
Dan Schrock
Over the last four months I’ve participated in a number of conversations with other Mennonites about the new reality here in the United States. In these conversations people name at least three aspects of our new reality, which I list here in no particular order. The reigning political climate openly vilifies immigrants and refugees, some […]
Taking Jesus Seriously and Ourselves Less Seriously
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
One day, years ago, the phone rang, and the caller said, “Mrs. Froese?”, when I answered. Now, whenever I hear someone call me Mrs. Froese, or in some way mispronounce or stumble over my name, I assume that this is a marketing call, I don’t know them, more importantly, they don’t know me, and I […]
Keeping Sabbath, Practicing Trust, Living Shalom
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
This sermon is in many ways part 2 of my sermon a few weeks ago on chaos. In fact, I had intended to include aspects of Sabbath in that sermon, but for various reasons, not least of which was the length of the sermon, I dropped the Sabbath aspect. The discussion in the sermon response […]
Chaos, Creation and Sabbath: A Divine Dance of Trust and Hope
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
First, thank you for giving your pastors sabbaticals! While some of the fruit of sabbatical may not be apparent for a while, the immediate effects are a feeling of renewal. It was pure gift—I frequently used the word ‘decadent’—to have the time and space to be removed from the daily life of the congregation in […]
God’s Counter-Move
Dan Schrock
For most Americans, Christmas ended two weeks ago. The holiday meals have been eaten, the presents have been opened, the carols have been sung, and most of the decorations have been taken down. For most people, Christmas is over. We in this building are different. We who read the gospel of Matthew and call ourselves […]
New Day, New Management
Ron Guengerich
Today, January 1, begins a new year. But what is really new today? The naming of this day as beginning the new year is just an arbitrary designation. Nothing much is really new today. It is just another Sunday. It is just another holiday in the Western world. But what does it mean that something […]
Seeds of Hope
Elizabeth Miller
A few months ago during sharing time, I spoke about the peace accords in Colombia and how they were drawing to a close. After a war of more than 50 years, a war responsible for displacing 6.4 million people (second only to Syria), the FARC guerrilla group and the government planned to cease hostilities and […]
“What kind of leaders do you want?”
Ron Guengerich
“Make America great again.” We have heard this phrase over and over again for the last year. Who wouldn’t like to see America be great? But what are we hoping for when we want “greatness”? Power? Wealth? Security? Privilege? And what would we hope for if we said “Make Goshen great again”? Or if we […]
Living in the Present Moment
Dan Schrock
This year in July, Tim LaHaye died. He was co-author of the Left Behind series, a set of 12 fictional books on the end times. The Left Behind books tell the story of how all the true believers in Christ are instantly raptured away into heaven, leaving the world in chaos. In this chaos, a […]
A New Mennonite Disaster Service
Dan Schrock
During the recent presidential race, a kind of disaster occurred in the American social fabric. It feels that this election cycle was one of the most angry elections in decades. From voters and candidates, we heard appeals to violence, stories of sexual assault and sexual harassment, animosity toward immigrants, hostility toward Muslims, charges of email […]
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