Using Leverage in Obedience to God
Dan Schrock
Our biblical text for today is an ancient story, crafted at least 2,500 years ago but set in a timeline at least 3,200 years ago. The main characters are an unnamed king at the top of the nation, two lowly Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah, and a God who works in hidden yet detectable […]
An Inconvenient Woman
Joanne Gallardo
Women are terribly inconvenient. Whether you’re looking at an ancient text like the Bible, looking at more recent history, or trying to appoint a Supreme Court nominee, women seem to get in the way. Women bust up our image of heroes when they come forth with truth about their past actions. Women adjust our notions […]
Weight Lifting
Mag Richer Smith
We call it the Ketchup Revolution in our family. And it happened after my parents had been married for many years and patterns were well established. My dad fixed things and my mom served meals. So one night after we had all started eating dinner, my dad said, “Ketchup.” (There was no ketchup on the […]
Hope for the Future of the Church
Mag Richer Smith
We have a friendship quilt on our bed, given to us by the congregation in Indianapolis. And one of the patches was created by children 3rd through 6th grades and it says: We are NOT the future of the church….We ARE the church! In thinking about why life here in the Berkey Congregation gives me […]
Keep on a Prayin’
Mag Richer Smith
I met her in Guatemala… a mother of 8 and a persistent woman! When she and her husband decided to build a home for their growing family in Guatemala City, she did the paper work for access to land and petitioned for a building permit and WAITED… When nothing happened she kept showing up at […]
Doors, not Walls
Joanne Gallardo
To be honest, I don’t like this sermon. I see the importance of this series, but I don’t like it. For straight people it’s one thing, but for a person from the LGBTQ community to give a sermon about why they’re for LGBTQ inclusion in the church? Why maybe you should consider LGBTQ inclusion in […]
Plenty Good Room?
Mag Richer Smith
William Sloan Coffin Jr. says: “For Christians the problem is NOT how to reconcile homosexuality with Scripture passages that condemn it, but how to reconcile the rejection of homosexuals with the LOVE OF CHRIST.” YET… for many in the Church the problem HAS been how to reconcile an open door to LGBTQ folks with a […]
From Exclusion to Inclusion: Eunuchs in the Bible
Dan Schrock
Today we begin a series of three sermons on the biblical basis for including LGBTQ persons in congregational life. What biblical texts and themes offer us a rationale for welcoming LGBTQ persons into the full range of congregational life and ministry? This is a big topic and three sermons will not be enough to explore […]
Stages of Discipleship
Dan Schrock
We Mennonites are big on discipleship. It’s one of the main vocabulary words we use in our conversations with each other. As best as we can, we want to follow Jesus. Discipleship is one of our signature ideas, one of our special strengths. However, there’s one aspect of discipleship that we don’t talk about very […]
Breakfast is Ready
Mag Richer Smith
This past week my friend played a song for me that she and her husband would sing together, especially after his Alzheimer’s diagnoses and throughout his illness. I did not know this song, but maybe you do. Lyrics were something like this: We are going. Heaven knows where we are going. It will be hard […]
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