blip : Blog of Isaac & Jason :

For some strange reason The Christian Century decided to interview me in their series on ministry in the 21st century. Here’s an excerpt: What does being a leader mean to you? An anticlerical stream runs through the center of the Anabaptist tradition. Pastors aren’t singled out as default leaders. Leadership roles for us are always [...]

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I’m been a member of a Mennonite church eight years now, and I’m still trying to get a handle on what it means to be a Mennonite. Last year I was able to visit congregations across the United States as an attempt to experience the diversity within the Mennonite denomination. I ended up writing a [...]

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I wrote a short reflection about some people from church visiting prisoners every Tuesday evening. And since we are in the season of Advent, I use the story of Mary as a way to think through what is happening to us. Here’s a taste: As members of our church gather for fellowship and prayer in [...]

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I’ve been spending time in prison over the past couple years. I put together my inconclusive thoughts about my experience in forming friendships with inmates. The result is an essay that was published earlier this year: “The Anabaptist Prison,” Conrad Grebel Review, vol. 28 no. 1 (Winter 2010). Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of [...]

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I joined the Mennonite church 7 years ago. I wanted to be a part of a church that acknowledged Christ’s way of peace as fundamental to the gospel. The peace of Jesus is always at the center of our worship at Chapel Hill Mennonite. But, as far as I can tell, the larger denominational bodies [...]

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I wrote a reflection on my week-long visit with the people of Mt. Zion Mennonite Church in Boonsboro, Maryland. Here’s an excerpt: From the window of the nursery I can see the cemetery that stretches across the hill alongside the church — a field planted with rectangular stones to mark the graves of the faithful: [...]

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(The piece below is a revised version of my article that appeared in The Mennonite; I sent the editor my revisions a few days too late) I believe in the Holy Spirit “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind” (Acts 2:2). Pentecost happened with a bang. Heaven came [...]

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For the next four months I’ll be visiting different Mennonite congregations through the USA. These trips are part of a grant I received from the Louisville Institute: Gifts of Unity. While on the road I’ll be writing for the Mennonite Weekly Review. My first column describes what I’m trying to do. Here’s an excerpt: God [...]

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For Holy Thursday a bunch of gathered at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Cary, North Carolina, and held a footwashing worship service—we told them we wanted to wash the feet of the people detained inside. If you haven’t heard about these ICE detention centers, that means the federal government is good [...]

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I wrote a short piece for The Mennonite. Here’s an excerpt: Our Mennonite identity is always disturbed; the church is broken; our congregations are torn. People come and go. Disagreements reemerge and threaten to drive us apart. Congregations dissolve, and others are born. The church is in a precarious state of unsettled tornness. That’s simply [...]

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