Mary, Breaker of Codes and Conventions
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
One of my favorite novels is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, set in South Carolina in 1964. In it a white teenager, Lily, struggling to make sense of her hazy memories from the afternoon her mother was killed, and living with a father who is abusive, runs away from home with […]
Perplexed
Dan Schrock
If there’s anything we Americans want in our leaders, it’s confidence. From the mayor to the governor to the president, we want to hear our leaders exude confidence. Even if our leaders stretch the truth a little, we still want them to sound confident. Historians sometimes say that one reason Franklin Roosevelt was popular as […]
A Reluctant Prophet and a Persistent God
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
I debated preaching this sermon from the doorway, just as Jeremiah preached his temple sermon in the gate of the temple. What difference does it make where one stands to speak? Does it sound different if spoken in the doorway, rather than from the pulpit? It’s an interesting welcoming strategy as well, to speak this […]
Trust Amid Anxiety
Dan Schrock
I once sat with a young woman who was anxious about the state of the world. Of course someone could worry about any number of things in this world, but this young woman was especially anxious about wars in various parts of the world. During and after college she had lived in several different countries […]
Forgiveness
Peter Shetler
Almost anytime I call Jan during the day, or send her an email (unless someone is listening in or others are copied), or just see her at the end of the day — I will almost always start out with, “So. Do you still love me?” Now Jan says that this is just because I […]
The Ultimate Offering
Dan Schrock
God is in a feisty mood. The prophet Micah is also in a feisty mood. To understand why, look at the context. Micah, a Hebrew prophet who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah about 720 years before Jesus, cared passionately about ordinary people. Micah was no urbane aristocrat like the prophet Isaiah. Instead he […]
Even Solomon in all his Glory
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” (Matt.6:28-29; Luke 12:27) The Gospels of Matthew and Luke include this reference to Solomon in Jesus’ teaching about worry and anxiety over food, drink […]
Those Glorious Nights
Dan Schrock
Most Christians whom I know love daylight and fear darkness. Jenny and I had neighbors twelve years ago who were fine Christian people—members of one of the local Missionary churches here in town. One day shortly after they moved in their new home, they decided to install night lights at the front and back corners […]
As for me and my Household..
Allan Dueck
In early February Bethany’s faculty joined some 500 teachers at a conference center just outside Washington, DC, for the Mennonite Educators’ Conference. Keynote speaker Kenda Creasy Dean talked about Christian faith in America today, and she identified a set of ten pedagogical approaches – ways of teaching – that facilitate faith development in young people […]
Stuck
Dan Schrock
There you are, stuck. Maybe you’re stuck at work. One woman I’m acquainted with felt trapped in her work at a church-related organization. This organization did great work in the community for the sake of Christ, and was known far and wide for doing competent, compassionate work. Her stuckness came from the fact that the […]
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