courage – Greta Holt

Sacrifice or Fulfillment

By Greta Holt | August 16, 2018 |

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…

Courage, humility, and the Mennonite Arts Weekend

By Greta Holt | August 2, 2018 |

____________ 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,…

Courage, humility, and writing

By Greta Holt | July 18, 2018 |

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…

Pacifism and the Soldier – Part 2

By Greta Holt | June 13, 2018 |

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…

Courage, humility, and vulnerability

By Greta Holt | April 25, 2018 |

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.…

Courage, humility, and heights

By Greta Holt | April 18, 2018 |

Courage, humility, and heights: April is poetry month! My thanks to Jeff Gundy for adding immeasurably to this post by allowing me to present his poem Stringer below. Photo by KAP Jasa on Unsplash When I (Greta) was five, I pedaled my tricycle all the way down Grandma’s many concrete steps in Berne, Indiana, gaining…

Courage, humility and—business?

By Greta Holt | March 22, 2018 |

As I’ve searched for religious articles about quiet courage, I’ve found some beautiful and powerful examples. But the internet is a big place, and too often I have found articles in which simple faith and ethical behavior were not central. Those writings either pounded the reader with what the scriptures demand, or examined a courageous act…

How are courage and humility shown?

By Greta Holt | March 15, 2018 |

Last year, we Mennonites and the U.N. lost MJ (Michael) Sharp to rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By all accounts, he was tough as nails, sometimes lonely, but absolutely determined to help people solve difficult problems using peace and justice. Links: https://mcc.org/stories/mourning-death-michael-j-sharp http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/03/29/521962848/remembering-michael-sharp-he-risked-his-life-to-make-peace But I imagine that many of his days were hum…

Why courage and humility?

By Greta Holt | March 8, 2018 |

I’ve always been interested in how these concepts depend upon each other and interact with people and institutions, hopefully producing a type of quiet courage that gets things done. Definitions: Humility: the quality or condition of being humble; having a modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance, rank, etc. Courage: the quality of mind…

Climbing April 2, 2021
Last year and during the first months of 2021, we have felt as if we were climbing. But as this year progresses, hope for the future is making the effort easier for some. We study and pray for the strength to finish the climb and help others journey upward. My parents worked in Botswana in…
Greta Holt
Courage and Humility 2020 December 4, 2020
Humility is hard to come by. Ego is not. Courage to overcome selfishness is as elusive as goldfish in the ocean. I lost my voice this year during COVID. Did it happen to you, too? To add insult to 2020’s injuries, my husband had a serious heart attack. I prepared myself to take care…
Greta Holt
Through My Mothers’ Eyes September 8, 2020
In this guest blogpost, Katie Laine, my childhood friend, tells the story of her German stepmother, whose family faced Fascism during World War II. ____________ THROUGH MY MOTHERS’ EYES All that came to be in my life began with what occurred to my two mothers. In 1949 my birth mother, paternal grandmother and paternal great-grandmother were killed…
Greta Holt
My Vector Complex – A guest post by psychiatrist Lawson Wulsin May 22, 2020
Psychiatrist Lawson Wulsin is a member of my writers’ group. I value his senses of balance and humor, especially in this crazy coronavirus time. His book Treating the Aching Heart: A Guide to Depression, Stress, and Heart Disease is a comprehensive study of heart disease, and his Mind Matters columns in the Cincinnati Enquirer are worth…
Greta Holt
Psalm 23 in the time of Covid-19 May 15, 2020
A few weeks ago in Zoom church, Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship prayed the Lord’s Prayer, Psalm 23. Since it is part of a lectionary tradition, a great number of churches re-examined this psalm, as well. Photo by Jared van der Molen on Unsplash In our small church, we ask different congregants to give the Sunday welcoming…
Greta Holt
Individual and Societal Priorities via COVID-19: Guest writing by Mary Tom Watts May 7, 2020
Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash “There isn’t time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that.” Mark Twain In the 300 words I asked her for, my friend Mary Tom Watts—who writes for newspapers, reflects…
Greta Holt
Guest Blog by Diane Gottlieb April 29, 2020
Hello, All. My friend, Diane Gottlieb, is an expert blogger. She writes the blog WomanPause. WomanPause is about life after 50, and Diane explores everything from invisibility to the she-ro. With her background in creative nonfiction, Diane is a consummate interviewer, and she makes the most of her guests’ unique perceptions about life. I’m honored…
Greta Holt
An ‘Addie Poem’ during Covid-19 March 19, 2020
Friends, in this time-out of taking care of my husband and dear friend in the aftermath of his heart attack: ___________________________________________________ while the world comes to terms with a pandemic: (New York Times, March 18, ‘These Places Could Run Out of Hospital Beds as Coronavirus Spreads’) ____________________________________________________ I offer this thoughtful poem by my niece,…
Greta Holt
Kilt and Cap: being half-Mennonite January 23, 2020
Recently, a friend and fellow blogger, Diane Gottlieb, asked me about my Anabaptist background. Diane writes the wonderful blog WomanPause, regarding women in the glorious years. Her questions made me think of a memory I wrote in response to J Daniel Hess’s presentation at one of the previous Mennonite Arts Weekends. The Weekend is coming up again in a few…
Greta Holt
Christmas/New Year’s Wishlist December 16, 2019
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion. Bewilderment brings intuitive knowledge.” Rumi I did want to write about whether Christians must believe in the virgin birth to be christian. Wouldn’t it be a great exercise in Courage to tackle that subject during this season? I thought. What would I find and how…
Greta Holt