Our biannual national Mennonite Church USA convention begins on Tuesday, and there are two resolutions coming before the delegates that highlight disagreements about how our denomination should include LGBTQ people. The resolutions are fairly new, but the disagreements themselves are not. Many Mennonites, myself included, have spent a lot of time hashing out the details…
By Mark Rupp “[Jesus] has called us to find our blessing in making peace and seeking justice.” The Mennonite Church’s peace stance is likely the first thing people think of when trying to articulate what makes Mennonite faith distinct from other Christian denominations. In fact, the Mennonite emphasis on peace and justice are what initially…
Or How to Survive the Kansas City Convention: Attend the “Bound Together, Together Free” worship service: Tuesday, June 30, at 5 p.m. Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. (Next to the Convention Center.) Offer prayers of thanksgiving that there will (finally) be a (convention-authorized) booth for Brethren Mennonite Council in the main convention hall. Go to…
by Lisa Ann Pierce I may be the only person you know who, as a young adult, snuck out of her parent’s home to go to church. It’s not that my parents had anything against church; I was raised by an inveterate Sunday School teacher, after all. But I wasn’t sneaking out to go to…
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Amidst the violence of this world, we desire God’s peace. In the shadow of deep hatred, we long to live out the love of Christ. In a society still devastated by racial prejudice and injustice, we seek a way to live faithfully, bravely. In this week that has seen…
Confession of Faith in a Queer Perspective: Article 4. Scripture Reflections by Frank Trnka Like so much of what we have seen coming from the merged MCUSA, the language of the fourth article of the Confession of Faith seems to serve primarily as reassurance to Mennonites of an evangelical, fundamentalist bent that MCUSA is holding…
The following is an excerpt from my sermon this past Sunday. Just to show that I am on board with some of MC USA’s priorities. You can also read other sermons from our “Enough for All” series: Proverbs 30:7-9; 1 Kings 17:1-16. – – – – How do we not worry? Seek first God’s kingdom…
–This is part of a sermon I preached on 1 Kings 17:1-16. The full text is available here. – – – – – I try to be a person of faith. As a pastor, having faith is part of my job description, I suppose. But I tell you what, Elijah has me beat. There is…
Believe it or not, I have been eagerly awaiting the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board resolution–for weeks. Weeks! And it is finally here. Unfortunately. For those of you who just want the Readers’ Digest condensed version: the resolution from the MC USA Executive Board, “On the Status of the Membership Guidelines,” is a train wreck…
Most of you have seen the news about Evana—the new “non-denomination.” And depending on how strong your stomach is, you may have even looked through the entire web site and noticed the way that the “Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective” is being used as code for that one line in Article 19: “We…
Spacious Faith 