The Church Here and There

Deconstructing or reconstructing?

(Photo by Betty Avery)

I heard some strong language this summer about church from various extended family members. I’m sure this is not just in my family! Conversation at family gatherings is not usually conducive for more thoughtful or caring conversations, but these phrases caught my ear and attention.

“I’m done with church.”

“I’m done with denominations.”

“I’m deconstructing my faith.”

Unity and uniformity

(Photo by Gilbert Mercier, Flickr)

As a preteen more than 50 years ago, I remember asking my mom about the difference between Baptists and Mennonites, given that we were members of a Fellowship Baptist church while all our relatives were Mennonite Brethren. My mom stumbled to find an answer.

Communal prayers

(Photo by Rosie Sun, Unsplash)

I recall sitting through church services as a child, being even more bored with the pastor’s long prayer than I was by the sermon. During the sermon I could look around at people and out the windows, but during the prayer I had to sit even more still, with my head down, looking only at the floor.

Talking more about power

(Photo by JESHOOTS.COM/Unsplash)

It was Easter Sunday, and after the sun came up over the horizon during our congregational sunrise service, we all tramped inside to share an amazing potluck breakfast spread. My husband Keith landed at a men’s table, and I watched with interest as they became very animated in their discussion.

The limits of control

(Photo by Daniele Colucci/Unsplash)

I am always interested in the impact of culture on faith, and vice versa. Western culture places a high value on personal agency, the ability to make individual decisions that impact one’s future. Other cultures understand that there are many forces beyond one’s control that limit autonomy, such as extended family needs or unjust political and economic contexts. Of course, both are true.

Indonesian peacemaking

Sufi Islamic dancers participate in a July 6 Mennonite World Conference assembly worship service at Congdut GITJ Jepara, a Mennonite church in Central Java. (Mennonite World Conference photo)

I am frequently asked, “What was it like to be in Indonesia for the Mennonite World Conference [MWC] assembly?” There are many possible answers, but today I want to focus on learning from our Indonesian Anabaptist sisters and brothers on how and why they build strong invitational relationships with their Muslim neighbours.

50 years of change

(Photo by Chris Lawton/Unsplash)

I was in Ottawa recently for the anniversary of the church that my parents started 50 years ago. In 1972, we were five families eager to start a new—and different—church in the east end of Ottawa. I was the oldest child among the five families, sometimes the babysitter for the others, and sometimes with the adults in creating a new church.

Can we see it?

A woman plays traditional Javanese music at the Mennonite World Conference assembly in Indonesia last month. (Meetinghouse photo by Kresna Kurniawan)

It’s a summer of church gatherings. It’s a summer of truth-telling about the devastating impact of colonization by the church. It’s a summer of reflection on what it means to be a post-colonial church.

These are our people

(Photo by Leejoann/Pixabay)

We welcomed two babies and their families with words of blessing and commitment into our local congregation today. The wide-eyed babies took in all the people watching them and waving at them, with our pastors saying “Look, these are your people!”

What holds us together?

(Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor/Unsplash)

My father cleaned out his bookshelves recently, and I acquired some more books about Mennonite history. One is a book I read with great interest when it came out in 1988, Why I Am A Mennonite. Almost every chapter is written by a Mennonite with a very traditional Russian or Swiss Mennonite last name.

Meetinghouses

East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa. (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/EastChestnutStreet)

I spent my high-school years in a congregation that was proud of our basketball hoops. Greenbelt Baptist Church decided to use public schools for worship and Sunday school, homes for Bible study, and a community centre for weekly youth events. This was a very intentional way of being visible and connected to the local community.

A difficulty for all of us

(Photo by Kyle Glenn/Unsplash)

War seems close to home for many of us when it hits Ukraine. My paternal grandparents (and my husband’s) fled Crimea as refugees nearly 100 years ago, getting married in Kitchener, Ont., and then moving to Manitoba. Conversations are being triggered in my family and in our congregation on the multi-generational impacts of those traumas.

Communion with creation

Arli Klassen stops for a picture by Grand River. 'I am learning to see who God is, and how God has revealed Godself to the world through the physicality of creation,' she writes. (Photo by Keith Regehr)

I’ve been pondering a new-to-me thought in the last few weeks. In reviewing the Scripture texts selected for Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday this year, from the worship resources produced by Indonesian Anabaptist church leaders, I stayed with Psalm 104.

Every tribe and language

(Photo by Amador Loureiro/Unsplash)

I expect everyone has forgotten what I had to say when I spoke at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate’s chapel a few years ago. But I know some remember that I asked students to read Scripture in their own languages. For a few international students it was the first time they heard the Bible read in their mother tongue. That has not been forgotten.

What will church look like?

(Photo by Debby Hudson/Unsplash)

Church is not the building. We’ve heard that often over the last 18 months. But now that some congregations are back in their building, with the rest trying to figure it out, I wonder who will come back? And what will we come back to?

I have heard a variety of opinions around me, which may be a microcosm of many of our congregations.

Lament and love

(Photo by Nick Fewings/Unsplash)

Once again news headlines are about how the church has failed.

News about residential schools fill our newsfeeds, schools generally run by churches and funded by the government, with decades of separating families and leaving wounds of trauma for seven generations.

A communion in communion

Mennonite World Conference's YABS (Young Anabaptists) committee poses for a picture. The committee includes a representative from each continent. (Mennonite World Conference photo by Perdian Tumanan)

Where or when is the next Mennonite World Conference? This was the question posed to all of us as Mennonite World Conference (MWC) staff and volunteers at a recent Zoom gathering. Some people quickly figured out it was a trick question. The next MWC assembly will be in Indonesia in July 2022. But MWC is right now, everywhere, all the time!

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