Courage
Sacrifice or Fulfillment
We continue our month of inspirational pieces and sermons by congregants. Addie Liechty is my niece, and hers is the featured image—red and green leaves—of my blog. Addie’s blog is: https://addieswriting.wordpress.com. You can view her biography below. ____________ Reflection: told by Addie Liechty at First Mennonite Church, San Francisco, 1/19/2014 Photo by Joseph Barrientos on…
Read More »Strangers no more
This month, we’ll look at some sermons and inspirational pieces. As Mennonite congregants, we take a try at preaching once in a while. It gives our pastors a week to breathe and catch up on all the others things the job requires, and it is enjoyable to hear each other’s voices. The following is a ‘sermon’…
Read More »Courage, humility, and the Mennonite Arts Weekend
____________ There is a little, urban church in southwestern Ohio that creates a magical thing every even-numbered year. The Mennonite Arts Weekend takes place in Cincinnati, and the year 2020 will see MAW’s fifteenth gathering of Mennonite visual, musical, and prose/poetry artists. Even though the church is graced by commissioned artwork from MAW artists,…
Read More »Courage, humility, and writing
As I stated in the introduction to my website, the book that saved my grade school life was Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry. The young Mafatu’s journey gave me hope. He dug deep, found the courage to survive, and gained confidence. A little of that rubbed off on me when I needed it, and…
Read More »Pacifism and the Soldier – Part 2
Anabaptist Pacifism in the Western World : a Few Definitions and a Little History Next week we will take a look at “Going to War.” We’ll see the close friendships, patriotism, and sense of purpose that military life can bring. Today we’ll visit a brief history of pacifism in the Europe and the U.S., in which…
Read More »Pacifism and the Soldier – Part 1
This post is greatly enhanced by the poetry of Ruth Naylor. Photo by Anna Ogiienko on Unsplash We all know that bravery is part of soldiering. The new documentary “Going to War” by Sebastian Junger and Karl Marlantes outlines veterans’ experiences and makes some interesting conclusions. There is more to soldiering than meets…
Read More »Courage, humility, and old age
In May, with spring in swing, we are looking at stages of growth. Nancy Nordenson began our month with a beautiful essay about middle life and the blessedness of not knowing the future. Then, Anny Rusk and Christina Hoover Moorehead showed us the importance of children’s play. Last week we looked at the Hero’s Journey,…
Read More »Courage, humility, and the Hero’s Journey
In May, with spring in swing, we are looking at stages of growth. Today, we look at the teens and twenties, which means, of course, The Hero’s Journey. Photo on https://www.themarysue.com/wrinkle-in-time-book-vs-movie/ All of us want to be the heroes of our own lives—not victims or villains, neither the whiners nor the addicts,…
Read More »Math, wisdom, and white sand
Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash In May, with spring finally in swing, we will be looking at stages of growth. My thanks to author Nancy Nordenson for contributing a chapter from one of her excellent books of spirituality, Just Think: Nourish Your Mind to Feed Your Soul (Baker Books, 2004). Her quiet call…
Read More »Courage, humility, and vulnerability
Courage, humility and vulnerability: But first, God speed, Winnie Mandela. Life was not easy. Mom and Dad knew Hugh Masekela in Botswana. He helped bring about the Botswana International School of Music. For a long time, we had the VHS of the 1987 Graceland concert, now it’s in DVD. The concert was held in Harare, Zimbabwe.…
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