The Lord in the Dance
Mark Schloneger
…when it comes to dancing as an expression of worship, all the churches of which I’ve been a part, have had trouble embracing it beyond watching a rare liturgical dance performance. And that’s true for a lot of churches, not just Mennonite ones.
A Symphony in 3 Movements
Richard A. Kauffman
I’ll let you in on a little family secret: At one time I was known in my family for driving on an empty tank of gas. Family members knew that if they drove my car, their first task might be to go straight to a gas station to get some gas. It was partly strategic: […]
Reorientation
Richard A. Kauffman
Some of you may know the name John Dear—no, not the green tractors that used to go put-put—but John Dear [D-e-a-r], a Catholic priest and peace activist from CA. Early in his career John Dear felt obligated to support an inmate on death row, since he opposed the death penalty. He contacted an inmate in […]
Lamenting the Loss of Laments
Richard A. Kauffman
Twice in my life I’ve had to face my mortality: At 15 I was in a serious car accident in which I could well have been killed. Then, at the ripe age of 50 I had open heart surgery. After this last incident I had a need to talk about my mortality, but I had […]
Help! Wow! Thanks!
Mag Richer Smith
IN Guatemala City, one of the biggest garbage pits in the world can be viewed from a cemetery overlook. And from that vantage point, one can see people moving about in the trash, making their homes in the squalor and stench, scavenging to eek out their subsistence while vultures are hovering overhead. THIS is […]
Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise
Dan Schrock
I was talking a while back with my friend Paul. He told me one morning at dawn he was driving into Goshen for a meeting. Just outside of Goshen the sun started to rise over the horizon, radiating pinks, yellows, and oranges across the landscape. “It was so stunning I had to pull my van […]
To Focus on God
Dan Schrock
Every week, Christians gather to worship God. At first glance, these worship services look very different. We might meet in tiny rooms that only hold a handful of people, or in giant church campuses sprawled out over 50‐60 acres. We worship in prison chapels, hospital chapels, and nursing home chapels. Our style of worship might […]