Those who have mucked out a house after a flood know how painstaking and messy the process becomes. Worse yet is when the disaster drives you from your home as a refugee, carting away pieces of your old life...
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I wish our Uniform Texts had started with Luke 23:55. In both the Greek New Testament and the NRSV, Luke 24:1 begins with “But . . . they came to the tomb.” What happened before the “but,” and who is...
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I’m looking forward to Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Ready Player One — especially after reading the novel, which centers on a high school boy who battles to save a virtual world called Oasis. I am...
[read more]Attempting to comfort survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school massacre and families of the victims, President Trump quoted 2 Kings 20:5: “I have heard your prayers; I have seen your tears; indeed, I will...
[read more]Martin Bucer has been called “the father of Protestant confirmation.” That makes the early Anabaptists, particularly Pilgram Marpeck, grandparents of the now-common rite. Bucer was a Catholic monk who was...
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It has become politically trendy to separate the deserving poor from the supposedly undeserving. This is evident in calls for work requirements for Medicare; in Ben Carson’s comment last year that public...
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MOUNT HOPE, Ohio — A sobering commitment to nonresistance in wartime was the theme given the most attention at the 13th Anabaptist Identity Conference. Hours of lectures on the experiences of nonresistant...
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God is immense. He spread the universe with one wave of his hand; billions of galaxies spanning light years, completely unseen and unreachable by man. This same God created the intricacies of our bodies that...
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Hannatu Anthony (name has been changed for confidentiality) smiled and sang songs as she walked to Faith Alive pharmacy in Jos, Nigeria. During her pregnancy, she received free treatment, medication and...
[read more]Since leaders and writers from outside Lancaster Mennonite Conference have offered their perspectives on why LMC withdrew from Mennonite Church USA, I will add my voice. I was part of LMC when we decided to...
[read more]When a congregation has a lot of funerals in a short time, the shadow of death looms large. At the same time, the light of the Resurrection shines. Darkness and light, sorrow and hope, compete for power over...
[read more]I strongly reject the contention of Mark Noll in The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (as echoed by John Longhurst in his Feb. 26 column, “Lessons from a Long-Ago Conflict”), that “Christian” white...
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Growing up in a conservative Mennonite family, David A.R. White only saw one movie in his first 18 years — and that was at a friend’s house. Today, he is an actor and producer with a film scheduled for...
[read more]In faithful response to the Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine resolution that passed overwhelmingly at the 2017 Mennonite Church USA convention, Manhattan (Kan.) Mennonite Church unanimously voted Feb. 19...
[read more]As we enter the Easter season, we’re celebrating not merely a feel-good story but an actual event in history. In the person of Jesus, God entered our space and time as one of us. He lived, died and returned...
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My millennial generation is post-Christian, and we in Mennonite Church USA urgently need to talk about this. In the United States, religious engagement among youth is at a low not seen in decades, if ever, and...
[read more]Mennonite Central Committee’s U.S. and Canada boards have approved the possibility of exceptions to the “lifestyle expectations” for some MCC personnel, although those parameters have not been completely...
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NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — In 2004, Joachim Wieler of Weimar, Germany, opened a small wooden box he inherited after his mother’s death. To his surprise and horror, it contained letters his late father wrote...
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NEWTON, Kan. — Two co-workers at Mennonite Mission Network have discovered that even with a full-time “city job,” beekeeping is a great way to keep the boy on the farm. Several years ago, when former...
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Growing up, I was mostly very compliant with rules of any sort. I didn’t just accept everything at face value — I often turned things over in my mind and tried to make sense of them — but I didn’t...
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In a country torn apart by political turmoil, Christians need to stand up and disrespect and demonize the government. If we are going to create real change, this is justified and necessary. Wait, is that what...
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On the first day of the Mennonite Central Committee Ottawa Office student seminar, MPs and government officials explained to us all the reasons why Canada will not pressure Israel to end the military...
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The cover of Living on the Edge of the Edge: Letters to a Younger Colleague shows a dramatic photograph with a deep and beautiful canyon in the background. In the foreground is a cairn mounted on the upper...
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Last week, we readers were part of the crowd of Israelites at the original Temple Mount in Jerusalem for the dedication of the first temple. The chapters leading up to this moment are filled with descriptions...
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I met her at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, two and a half hours from my home in rural Rusk County, Minn. She was tall and dark and beautiful. She wore a bandana that covered her hair completely and gave...
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