A Mennonite bishop once pointed out to me there was an area where Jesus didn’t send his disciples. In Acts 1:8, when Jesus told his disciples they would be his witnesses “in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and...
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Why do Christians have such difficulty reaching agreement? The answer may lie in the very nature of God and the gospel. Our challenge is to embrace a God of mystery who is also relational and trustworthy. This...
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This column is a combined effort by my fiance and me, written before our wedding on Nov. 23. Ivan: I like to read; therefore I get a few book catalogs. One day I noticed an ad for a new book, Anything But...
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“I don’t want to call God an idiot or anything,” I told Ivan, “but if I had created the world, I would have done things differently.” Someone I love made a choice that hurt me, and that is why I said...
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When the lawyer finally got face time with Jesus, he poured out what was heaviest on his heart, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He groped for a guarantee. He wanted a divine will and...
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In Ruth 3, a young widow heads to the threshing floor. If you were an ancient reader of this story, if you heard it recited by your friends around a campfire, if you listened to it whispered to you by the...
[read more]The bride’s grandparents led the wedding procession. The two grandmothers walked down the center aisle; a grandson pushed the grandfather’s wheelchair. The attendants were next, followed by the groom and...
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I recently started watching NCIS, a television drama now in its 16th season. In the series, a team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigate crimes involving the U.S. Navy and...
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The 4th century theologian Jerome tells a story about the Apostle John. John was old and frail, unable to walk, so his disciples would carry him into the gathering of believers on the Lord’s Day. Every week...
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Anyone who knows me or sees me, knows me as that activist human who is very political. In the fall I finished an internship at the Indiana Democratic Party that I had since the beginning of June. I have loved...
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Oct. 2 was the one year anniversary of Edith in Sanctuary in our Columbus Mennonite Church building. The press continues to tell her story sympathetically, like THIS article in The Guardian, and THIS one in...
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I wake up with a dark hole of emptiness eating through my chest, and it takes me a second to realize why. My little girl is gone. The child that I loved from the minute I set eyes on her is gone. I still...
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I love the paradoxes of God: “God is love,” the Bible states, but it also says, “God is holy.” God is portrayed as both the vulnerable lamb and the wrathful lion. He is king and servant, Alpha and...
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“More to the right!” “No, go left!” “From where I stand it looks like you just need to center it.” We are on a youth-group service trip. The shouting isn’t about politics. It is about locating...
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These texts from Paul provide an excellent coda to our conversations about ethics, justice and the Christian life. Although Romans is rightly considered Paul’s most important theological writing, he most of...
[read more]I come from a people called the Banyamulenge. We are cattle herders and live in the high mountains of eastern Congo overlooking Lake Tanganyika. Over the years, my people have been forced from one area to...
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To introduce our summer preaching series on Philippians, I called my sermon How to Pray for the People You Love, because that’s what the apostle Paul does in the opening verses of his letter. Some years...
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As national flames flare over babies torn from immigrant parents, how public figures are treated in restaurants, naming a new Supreme Court justice, tariffs, taxes, environmental regulations and more, a...
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I saw two movies recently. The second was First Reformed. The pastor of a small Christian Reformed church somewhere in New York struggles with a tension between hope and darkness in his own life and runs into...
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I had taken a vacation from the news for a couple weeks, but I couldn’t help but notice all the discussion in my Facebook feed about immigrants being separated from their children. Everybody seems to have...
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I clearly remember that cold winter morning in January 2007. I arrived at the airport at 3:30 a.m. to report for my job, as a supervisor for a major airline in Brownsville, Texas. I walked to the ticket...
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Infinity Wars, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, brings together multiple threads woven through many of the previous 19 films. It’s fun to watch the Avengers finally meet up with...
[read more]Anxiety affects nearly one-third of the U.S. population, making it the most common mental-health disorder. Youth particularly feel its crushing weight. Record numbers of college students are seeking treatment...
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Do you remember a time when every Sunday started with three hours of church followed by a long meal, often roast beef and root vegetables that roasted in the oven while we sat in the pews? Perhaps the meal was...
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This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Growing up in a Mennonite church, I knew nothing about Lent. But when I was in seminary, I worked as an assistant minister in a United Methodist church....
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