The sassy lass of the silver bells and cockle shells was my first Marian acquaintance. I thought it rather bold to have “contrary” and “pretty” in the same nursery rhyme. She was someone spunky I might like to know, who’d join me in my own cantankerous ways …
During the past four years, I have felt a special calling to help the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board and staff focus on our vision and our purpose of becoming a missional church at all levels. However, when I first agreed to accept the moderator-elect position, I did not understand the words “missional church” …
Kara Bender has been a resident of the Chicago area for four years. Recognizing the many privileges she carries by being white, educated and middle-class, Kara attempts to hold the complexity of that reality and wrestle with the responsibility that comes with those advantages …
This semiannual perusal of new books shows how broadly our faith reaches—or needs to reach —as we seek to follow Jesus each day …
Actions taken by delegates at our biennial conventions have a direct effect on individual workers, their families and their communities. For example, former General Conference Mennonite Church members experienced this first hand over the last decade as staff and programs in the Newton, Kan., office have diminished …
Many writers, not only Christians, are calling for compassion for less-fortunate people, often especially immigrants. They are right on this. Limiting the call, in effect, however, to any single group in any one era has the seeds of massive disasters. Others who are affected right now include low-wage workers, border residents and all of us facing more crowded roads, hospitals, schools, as well as more depleted sources of water, farm land, living space, mines, waste dumps and so on …
The Apostle Peter wrote to people who were enduring hard times. He encouraged them to take their suffering in stride, looking to Jesus for hope. Peter knew that people who lived with hope in the face of trouble would inevitably be queried about the reason for their positive outlook. He encouraged them to be ready to give an answer to those who asked …
