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God, Our Mother
On Mother’s Day, Tim Reardon spoke about God, Our Mother — a metaphor that helps us to image an aspect of God. Language is powerful, and can provide a lens to envision God more fully. And there is a history in the church of images of God as mother. We read from Hosea 11:1-4, where…
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Why I Am a Mennonite
On May 3, Sue Park-Hur was first in a series to engage the question of Why am I a Mennonite? As a Korean-American exposed to and embracing the core tenets of Mennonites — Sue has realized that she felt challenged to prove that she was Mennonite enough. It was a question of identity. To this…
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The Fruit of the Spirit
Our youth periodically take over the planning and leading of our worship service — always a wonderful learning experience for us. I find the closing statement of each especially moving: Through the power of the Spirit, when I am at my best, I am an icon of God’s…
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Mutual Aid and Solidarity
Bert, in this post, gives a follow up to his sermon, “Solidarity in Apocalyptic Times.” As part of this, we are invited to consider creating networks of solidarity as an important element to our mutual aid efforts. Working from Luke 16:9, Bert leads us to understand “eternal homes” as “more enduring community.”
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Solidarity in Apocalyptic Times
The Parable of the Unjust Manager has long confounded commentators, but perhaps we are better able to hear it in these “apocalyptic” times. Perhaps the current crisis can open our eyes to see things, and to see people, that we were unable to see before.
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Resurrection
He is risen! For many of us, this must be a strange time to celebrate Easter. Some have called for us even to pause our Easter until churches can meet together and truly celebrate the victory that is the resurrection, extending Lent until we might emerge from our own metaphorical grave. I do understand this…
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New and Unexpected Normal
Lisa Thornton reflects on Matthew 20-20-28, where the mother of Zebedee’s sons bring them before Jesus to ask if they might sit at Jesus’ side in his kingdom. Lisa notes Jesus’ reply that they do not know what it is they are asking. What they envision is not how things will be in his kingdom.…
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Talking to Lost Sheep is Hard
Lisa Danner talks about the instructions of how to talk to our brother/sister if they have sinned against us, found in Matthew 18. She illustrates some ways that this is hard to do, perhaps especially in our current society, and the fact that many of us attempt to prioritize peace or acceptance with people who…
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Mutual Aid, Stimulus Checks, and PMC
Here, we consider the Anabaptist value of mutual aid, how it is directly related to a strong theology of community, and how we might live into this value at this moment in time. Importantly, we consider how we might use our stimulus checks as means of caring for the community and those outside the community.
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The Canaanite Woman
For our second COVID-19 Zoom service, Erica Nellessen preached to us from Mathew 15:21-28 — a passage about a Canaanite woman, which it turns out is a significant phrase in itself. this is a disruptive story. It’s in your face. Some of Jesus’ actions here are confusing at best and violent and racist at worst.…
Pasadena Mennonite Church 