Finding the Spirit Outside the Church
Dan Schrock
The (old) Mennonite church that I grew up in was deeply suspicious of the broader world. To keep North American society away, the church of my childhood tried to erect visible markers of difference. Women were to wear prayer coverings. Men were to dress plainly. Youth were to stay away from rock music because that […]
Bent Over the World
Dan Schrock
Today I begin a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit. For many of us in this congregation, the Holy Spirit is probably the person of the Trinity we think about, talk about, and pray to the least often. For four years I was a member of a Mennonite church in another state where the […]
Practicing Patience
Dan Schrock
This text from Galatians comes as a hard word to us Mennonites in this time and place. For the last few years, we in the Mennonite Church USA have been biting and devouring each other—precisely what verse 15 admonishes us not to do. I refer, of course, to our fights over gay and lesbian issues. […]
A Sabbath of the Mind
Dan Schrock
I know a man who grew up many years ago in what was then called the Evangelical and Reformed Church. The Evangelical and Reformed Church, or “E & R” as people affectionately called it, eventually merged into what is now the United Church of Christ. Anyway, this man tells the story of an incident that […]
Escaping Space, Entering Time
Dan Schrock
Keeping the Sabbath is one of the most difficult commandments to observe. Some of the other Ten Commandments are much easier easy to keep, at least for most people I know. Most of us have never murdered anyone; most of us don’t steal things; and most of us tell the truth about our neighbors. For […]
Wrestling with the Sabbath
Dan Schrock
For the first thirty-five years of my adult life, I did not take a twenty-four hour Sabbath every week. I almost never took any Sabbath of any kind, ever. I, a minister of the gospel for a quarter of a century, ignored the Sabbath. I had lots of excuses. I was a graduate student who […]
Pursuing Peace, Living Hope
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
There are so many stories and events from around the world that can leave us feeling hopeless and discouraged. These stories, which we hear and see on the news and internet, which we read in the papers, are all about what’s wrong in the world, where the latest natural disaster has happened, how many casualties […]
Forbearing with Others in the Church
Dan Schrock + Marilyn Rudy-Froese
This summer in Kansas City, delegates to our denominational convention will discuss five resolutions. The first resolution talks about our opposition to sexual violence, the second talks about our hope for peace in Israel-Palestine, and the third talks about what it means for American Mennonites to live in a country that uses drones to make […]
What Kind of House?
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
This is the last sermon in our series on membership, mutual accountability and belonging. The Spiritual Leadership Team began having conversations about membership last fall, and this worship series grew out of those conversations. Since you may not remember the first 2 sermons, let me just re-cap briefly what they were about. You can go […]
Meditation for Easter
Dan Schrock
There’s a detail about this story that always intrigues me. It’s this: Mary doesn’t recognize Jesus the first time she sees him. This is interesting because she had spent lots of time with him during his ministry. She knew the way his eyes twinkled when he told stories. She was familiar with the way his […]
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