Hearts, minds, and possession
Mark Schloneger
This dirt is mine. Well, it’s my wife Sarah’s too, and yes, it’s mostly the bank’s. But let’s not get distracted by the details. Under the law, this dirt is mine because I paid for the exclusive right to call it mine, and what that means is that no one else can call it theirs. […]
Chosen
Mark Schloneger
When it comes to our pets, let’s be honest: we chose them — they didn’t choose us. No, we chose them, and when we did so, we didn’t know whether they’d be affectionate or hostile, loyal or rebellious, intelligent or . . . thick-headed. We didn’t know whether they’d respect our property or be a […]
Nourishing Witness
Mark Schloneger
Around the world, every day, women are walking for water. They go to the well, to the river, to the lake, with one hand by their side, with one hand holding the pot above. they walk, slowly, carefully, gracefully, swans stepping through tall green grass. Around the world, every day, women are walking for water. […]
Do you hear what I hear?
Mark Schloneger
You know, stopping here, stopping at verses 10, we’re pretty sure that we know the three golden nuggets of truth to take away from it. This is a story about how God speaks to us and how we often fail to recognize it.
Inauguration Day
Mark Schloneger
Many times, before I read the scripture that provides the focus for my sermon, I try to provide its context — what has happened or what is being addressed just before the verses that I’m about to read. Today, though, I’m going to do the opposite. I’m going to work backwards. I will still read […]
Joy before the World
Mark Schloneger
On the road to restoration. That’s the theme for this third Sunday of Advent. Almost three years ago, I was driving east on Wilden Avenue. My car: A 2000 Honda Civic LX. It’s color: Vintage Plum. According to the owner’s manual, the 2000 Honda Civic LX belonged to the sixth-generation of Civics. It included a […]
The Christ to Remember
Mark Schloneger
There is a forty-one-year-old woman in California who remembers every day of her life since she was eleven years old. She remembers that on Sunday, August 3, 1986, a friend called her on the telephone. She remembers what happened on a television show that she was watching on Monday, December 12, 1988. She remembers everything […]
The Bread and the Circus
Mark Schloneger
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So [Elisha] repeated, […]
The Things of God: Presidents, Protests, and the Church
Mark Schloneger
I don’t know how I came into possession of this book, this particular copy of The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. I know it was before I became a member of Berkey, but, beyond that, I know nothing of how this book wound up on my bookshelf, who gave it or returned it […]
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