Anderson, a member of a Beachy Amish Mennonite church and a doctoral candidate in rural sociology at Ohio State University, addressed a room full of Amish Mennonites at Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies on March 20.
The book of the Revelation to John has with good reason been called the most revealing book of the Bible. Its message is a call to relentless persistence in the work of witnessing to God’s way to run the world, which was lived and taught by Jesus. And it is an ear-splitting proclamation that the ways of greed, consumption and homicidal violence will fail miserably, while those who practice love and generosity will endure forever.
We live in a culture that glorifies war and violence. We are taught—paradoxically—that this is the way to peace. How do we, as followers of Jesus, who taught us instead to love our enemies, question this assumption? How do we offer other ways to go about bringing change in our world, ways that build up rather than destroy? As Christians we need to live into and tell another story, one that we know is life-giving, right and true …
“I love Americans,” Pedro announced to the small group gathered for the Wednesday evening Bible study. “I love your music, your language, your people.”
Hanging on the cross, tortured, almost dead, a convicted rebel asks Jesus for an invitation to God’s paradise: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” …
