Make Your Shade Like Night

God tells Daughter Zion—who stands for the nation of Israel–to “make your shade like night at the height of noon” (v. 3) for the daughters of Moab. Isn’t that a beautiful image? Here in church, and maybe especially during the season of Epiphany, we like to talk a lot about darkness and light. And that’s…

Listening to the Magi

  Last week, I read in the Christian Century about: Christians being imprisoned and beaten in the Mosul region of Iraq. Muslim sheikhs, imams and preachers disappearing at the Kenya-Somalia border. Protestant pastors who had lived in Turkey for years forced out of the country. Members of the B’hai faith being imprisoned and threatened in…

A Plea for Religious Freedom in Kansas

There is so much crazy going on in Topeka right now, it’s hard to settle down and pick one thing to be be righteously indignant about. I’m absolutely concerned about the proposed bill that would basically put Sam Brownback in charge of the K-12 budget. The possibility of a complete collapse of public education in…

Wednesday Worship Piece: Immigration

When I was in Phoenix this summer for our national Mennonite Church USA convention, I had the privilege of going on a border trip with Borderlinks. I learned about the good work of organizations like Southside Worker Center and Scholarships A-Z. I witnessed a Streamline trial and learned a little bit about the devastating effects…