What took so long?

A Woman’s Place is in the House … of Bishops (by Joy Carroll Wallis)

The Covenant

So I am now officially(?) a Mennonite.  Yesterday was our fellowship’s Recovenanting service, and in stepping forward to sign the covenant I am now a member.  So I now get to take part in this wonderful statement.

“We covenant together to love each other with Christian love; to help each other discover the fullest expression of life by affirming and supporting, by giving and receiving counsel, and by dealing with conflicts in the manner prescribed by Christ.”

I hope that the church lives up ot this statement, as much I hope that I live up to it.

Also, I’d like to ask for your prayers for Kathy, a member of the fellowship and CPT, who is in the West Bank for a few weeks to give her support for the team there.

Bigoted Christianity

So I’m reading Head and Heart by Gary Willis and discovered something I hadn’t know about previously.   Though upon thinking about it, I really shouldn’t be surprised.  So, apparently the Southern Baptist Convention was formed due to Southern Christians insistence that there was nothing wrong with the institution of slavery.  The Southern Baptist Convention at its very roots was a racist organization.  Not so surprising though considering their homophobic and sexist rhetoric.

Change is in the air

So. I have a second job interview at CDS tomorrow.  I’m excited, very excited.

Theology of the Comma

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.”

For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

Above are two excerpts from the most influential creeds of Christianity; the Apostle’s and the Nicene. Both excerpts deal with the Godly person of Jesus. There is something very important missing from these creeds. What is it? The 30 something years of the life and ministry of Jesus, that’s what’s missing. What the Christ did while living among us is just as important as his death and resurrection. In his life, we see how we are to live our lives, which is just as important as some “salvation” that has no affect on how we live. This is the theology of the comma, the commas of the creeds. And it is this that I have discovered is the real distinctive of the Mennonite Church. Yes, we’re pacifists and million other things. But above all it is this focus on the human ministry of Christ that makes us Mennonites. And it is this focus that makes us adopt all those other things that people know about us (or think they know about us). This may not have been the specific thing that drew me into the Mennonite Church in the last year, but it is the thing that supported what did draw me into the Church. And as I spend more time dwelling on the theology of the comma, I realize I am in the right place.

Can you explain it?

So, I just finished reading a book about a man named Zvi Weichert.  Zvi was a Jew of Polish origin, who managed to escape to the Levant where he participated in the establishment of Eretz Yisrael.  This is all good, but what’s the deal with nicely forgetting that the Jews hadn’t lived in this region for centuries, and that there were others that had.  And then to top it off, the people who just wanted to remain in their homes are labeled terrorists?  This book was published by the Christian Zionist organization, the Friends of Israel.  So can someone explain to me what the problem is with these people.

Now don’t get me wrong. The Jews have had a rough history, and I find nothing wrong with the fact that they want to have their own place, where they have no problem with being Jews.  But for being a persecuted people, they have pretty quickly forgotten what its like and have now embraced the role of oppressor.  I just wish that right wing Christians would realize this and stop ignoring it.  And I wish they would realized that the Palestinian people have just as much right to the land as the Israelis.

A few weeks ago in church, Kathy a member of CPT was asking for our prayers with one of Israel’s recent atrocities.  That day the plan was to evict the children from a West Bank orphanage and demolish it.  This was all these children had, and they had nowhere to go.  How can anybody stand this nonsense?  How can the Christian church stand by and let the Chosen People commit these atrocities.  Fortunately, the eviction has not happened, but the thought that it could even be considered is an outrage to my sensibilities, and I hope to yours.

Blogosphere Re-Entry Mode

So saying it’s been a while would probably be a bit of an understatement.  You may have wondered what happened to me.  No I didn’t drop into an abyss, though life could be considered to be an abyss, or more likely a tempest.  Life is not what it was six months ago when I was in the midst of college life.  Difficulties led to me dropping out of Houghton, and I’ve returned to my job in the food service industry, living at home with the family, and generally letting life pass me by.  Maybe I’ll actually be able to revive this as a bit of an outlet from the humdrum of daily living, letting myself inner self out from the restrictive boundaries of the world around me.  Wow, that sounds depressing.  Don’t worry too much the depression has actually pretty much worn off and I’ve ditched the meds(not entirely with my doc’s consent, but whatever).

Peace until we meet again.