I hadn’t been a delegate at a Mennonite Church USA convention since San Jose a decade ago. It wasn’t a positive experience then and, to be honest, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the renewed...
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Last week, I traveled from the U.K. to Calais, France, to bear witness to the greatest human migration in Europe since World War II. Last year, a refugee city emerged at Calais with an estimated 10,000...
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I live in a section of duplexes in northwestern Philadelphia. Tucked back from the street, I have the option of less interaction, compared to others who have front doors that open directly onto the sidewalk. I...
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Many who preach regularly are finding it a tough navigation in the pulpit in the United States. Our highly politicized environment means it’s difficult to find ways to speak that are both relevant and...
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I spent the two weeks preceding President Trump’s inauguration in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. Conversation about the U.S. presidential transition was lively. Some Indonesian...
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Soong Chan Rah’s The Next Christendom points out that most immigrants to the United States are already Christian. This ongoing influx of Christians bolsters our churches and keeps an abundant percentage of...
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At 3 a.m. Nov. 9, my phone flashed updates so vigorously it woke me up. I rolled over to verify what I had expected from the election news coverage before going to sleep. Donald Trump had been elected...
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According to U.S. Census figures, white people will be a U.S. minority by 2042. Comedian Hari Kondabalu jokes this shouldn’t make white folks nervous, as the 51 percent of people of color aren’t...
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I rarely identify myself as a pastor. Other trades I inhabit — writer, nonprofit administrator, professor — require less explanation. They come with lower expectations and fewer inhibitions. If you meet me...
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A few days before Ramadan began I visited London Central mosque. It’s a huge building at the edge of Regent’s Park in the middle of the city. London is a bustling and diverse city with its first Muslim...
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I read the 150-page report from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office about the abuse cases of the Altoona-Johnstown (Pa.) Catholic Diocese in the midst of writing a doctoral dissertation on...
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I am fascinated by the power and possibility of Pentecost. Whether the speakers were suddenly gifted with new languages or the hearers simply understood the gibberish in some way, it’s among my favorite New...
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Several years ago during the Easter vigil at Resurrection Catholic parish in my hometown of Johnstown, Pa., I found myself weeping almost uncontrollably. The Saturday Easter vigil is among the grandest of...
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The news of violence broke late in the evening in Philadelphia, mid-morning in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Jan. 14. Philadelphia, where I live, has the largest concentration of Indonesian immigrants on the East...
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These last weeks have seemed feverish both in personal and online spaces as people have sought to respond to incidents in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. These days I get a lot of my news via social media. I...
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In the beginning of his acclaimed book Between You and Me, written as a letter to his adolescent son, Ta-Nehisi Coates wonders how Mennonites came to be included within the “people who think of themselves as...
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Author Peter Steinke suggests Old Testament understandings of salvation are connected to openness rather than constricting. Steinke writes about how healthy communities behave in times of anxiety. His...
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The Jewish high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are soon upon us. I grew up celebrating these days of the Jewish calendar because my mom worked for a Jewish-owned business and had these days off of...
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Tearing cloth is not enough to show you are sad; let your heart be broken. — Joel 2:13 In the Jewish tradition, as part of the period of mourning after a death, the mourner wears a torn piece of clothing....
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The Pew Research Center’s study on religion in the United States, released this month, revealed that the church is in the midst of significant changes. Mennonites are too statistically insignificant to be...
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The Mennonite Church USA credentialed leaders survey has opened a conversation that research coordinator Conrad Kanagy says highlights a growing divide. Kanagy sees homosexuality as a proxy issue that brings...
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The night in November when the news broke that officer Darren Wilson would not be charged in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., I joined a group of religious leaders intent on providing a...
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There are never enough winter jackets in the stacks of sorted clothes in the salon de fiestas (fellowship hall) at Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas. The stream of Central American refugees who arrive...
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The powerful words of Advent readings from Isaiah tend to get lost in this feel-good season of tinsel and twinkling lights. Familiar music, family gatherings and special worship times mark the holiday with a...
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I remember wincing when British Anabaptist Stuart Murray Williams suggested wryly in one of his trips to southeastern Pennsylvania that we had managed to create our own Mennonite Christendom. Murray Williams...
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