blip : Beyond Lost Intellectual Ponderings :

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: Stauffer, [...]

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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 2:2Acts 2:2English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEV2 Suddenly there was a [...]

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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 is [...]

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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 what it [...]

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I just finished Bob Ekblad’s book, Reading the Bible with the Damned, and was inspired by his method of Bible study that he uses when leading groups with inmates, immigrants, and others on the margins of society.  What impresses me is the way he is able to weave together scholarly exegesis, facilitating a space for [...]

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I’m am beginning to work on a essay for a conversation on technology and worship sponsored by Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Below you can read my initial attempt at working through some of the literature.

Part 1

Why not start with Karl Barth? In his essay, “Church and Culture” (in Theology and Church, London: SCM, 1962), Barth [...]

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I wrote a little piece on my friends for the Mennonite. I called it “Re-membering Communion.” But the editors like to change things around. Here it is: Are memories our communion?

Here’s a piece of it if you want to get a sense of it:
In worship we open our arms to receive the intimacy of God’s [...]

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I’ve started writing short pieces for The Mennonite magazine. My first piece appeared in the April 1st issue: “Blessed are those who mourn.” Here’s an excerpt:
Mourning is worship. Sometimes we worship with our tears. To worship any differently would be dishonest and deny what Paul affirms: We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:231 Cor 1:23English: Contemporary English Version (1999) [...]

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