Stephanie Hirschler and Michael Honderich—both Goshen (Ind.) College graduates— married on June 7 and took a new route with their wedding registries. They registered at Target and Ten Thousand Villages, but also provided options for people to give gifts to causes in their names …
The Christian faith is filled with a number of creative tensions that never get fully resolved. It’s a little like walking. If I stand on my left foot for a long time I get shaky and unstable. But if I keep walking and shifting my weight from one foot to the other, I remain stable and keep moving forward. These tensions are not meant to be resolved. They are creative. They generate forward movement. One such tension is the one between urgency and patience …
When I heard there are churches in the online virtual world, Second Life, my jaw dropped—although not as far as the other jaws in the room …
I have always believed that Karl Barth was right: Christians ought to hold their Bibles in one hand and the newspaper in the other. The media frenzy surrounding the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, though, gave me pause …
There are many “Robert Kreider stories” across our denomination. One of my favorites involves a meeting where people were attempting to develop a mission statement. We were having some difficulty and asked Dr. Kreider, an author, historian and a former president of Bluffton (Ohio) University, to comment on the draft. To my delight, instead of offering a rewrite, Dr. Kreider noted that the statement “does not sing—it needs more effervescence” …
On Jan. 26, top leaders of our denomination said of the 7-year-old Mennonite Church USA, “Our vision and call to engage in God’s purposes in the world is not adequately supported by our present relationships, behaviors and organization” …
Five years ago I wrote an article in Mennonite Mutual Aid’s magazine about our new experience with budgeting, and our hope to be on the debt-free road and looking toward a managed retirement …
The first thing that caught my eye when I came into church the first Sunday in Lent was a hideous, ripped up quilt hanging in front of us. It looked like it was made from patches of women’s polyester pants in shades of dirty brown and gray. Stuffing was oozing out of it …
