| Location: Blogs Mennonite Church USANational Identity |   | | Posted by: chris | Monday, June 22, 2009 10:18 AM | en Español Additional copies of the Feb. 3 issue of The Mennonite
are available for purchase by calling (800) 790-2498 It’s why people from across Mennonite Church USA are joining together to explore our national identity. We want to live in Christ-like ways that share God’s healing and hope with others, especially in a world with so much pain, despair and violence. Use these resources to explore the ways God is calling you to reassess your identity as an American Christian who gives your primary allegiance to Christ – following Jesus in a world that is not.  T he Anabaptist tradition is one that for centuries has found Mennonites living and witnessing in ways that stand in contrast to the broader culture. Today, in the context of 21st Century North America, our culture presents us with a new set of challenges for following Jesus and joining God’s work in the world.
Sermons Daniel in Babylon — Megan M. Ramer, pastor, Chicago (Ill.) MennoniteChurch Empire Series
- Colossians 1— Ron Adams, pastor, East Chestnut Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.
- Colossians 3: 1-17— Ron Adams, pastor, East Chestnut Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.
- Colossians 3: 18-46— Ron Adams, pastor, East Chestnut Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.
 Colossians 2:1-23 — Sue Conrad, pastor, East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.
Help me save my people — Cyneatha Millsaps , pastor, Community Mennonite Church, Markham, Ill. Sermon to Mennonite Convention 2007 in San Jose, Calif. — Jennifer Davis Sensenig, pastor, Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Va. Before Esther Comes Vashti — by Joel Miller Hymns of Dangerous Praise — by Iris de León-Hartshorn Zacchaeus — by Rod Stafford “Salt, Light, and Making Right” — by Klaudia Smucker | | Copyright ©2009 Mennonite Church USA | | Permalink | Trackback |
Comments (7) Add Comment
| Re: National Identity | By Joel Miller, pastor on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 9:29 AM | | Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship took two Sundays in February to focus on the theme of national identity. Our services were shaped around the first two chapters of Daniel, looking at how Daniel negotiated his dual identity of being both an exiled Jew committed to God's ways of justice and a gifted person in a privileged place of power in the most powerful nation of his time. We were inspired by the MC USA national identity website to present the scripture in a creative way, and used choral readings to tell the story of Daniel. One of the highlights of these services was a presentation from the choir that included "Hope for Resolution," a song written for Mandela and de Klerk, two South African politicians who used their power to overcome apartheid. This arrangement involved a children's choir singing "Of the Father's Love Begotten" alongside the adult choir's singing of "Hope for Resolution." The combined effect of this singing was beautiful. We appreciated the resources offered by MC USA and responded to both sermons by reciting the Christian pledge of allegiance together. We continue to find it valuable to recognize the "promise and peril" of our setting and to name the ways that we are being challenged to follow Jesus more closely. |
|
| Re: National Identity | By Janeen Bertsche Johnson on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 9:34 AM | | just led a 3-week study of national identity in my Sunday school class at Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen. Our class is mostly 40-somethings. We often talk about political issues, so this conversation was not difficult for us. About half the class gets The Mennonite and read through the study issue. Our class sessions last about 45 minutes.<br><br>First session (2/8):<br>-I gave a handout with the resolution and Daryl Byler's 2005 comments on "Speaking to Government" on one side, and my Bible study on the women of Exodus 1-2 on the other side.<br>-I shared the background to the national identity study, starting with the abortion statement in 2003 and health care statement of 2005 (and how people questioned when is it okay for the church to speak to government), Daryl and John Roth's presentations in 2005, Jennifer Davis Sensinig's sermon in 2007, and how the resolution came about. Then I talked about my experience on the task force, and introduced the study issue of The Mennonite as well as the web site with other resources.<br>-We looked at Daryl Byler's comments about why the church should speak to government, then I walked through the Bible study.<br>-Class members were very interested in the many parts of the story that led to this study. No one needed convincing that we should be speaking to government.<br>-I gave handouts from The Mennonite to read for the following week: Terry Shue's article "Following Jesus in a world that is not," and Nelson Kraybill's article "Allegiance at the fault lines."<br><br>Second session (2/15):<br>-We reflected some on President Obama's visit to Elkhart on 2/9. Three of us had been there in person, and others had watched on TV.<br>-We discussed Terry's article. About half the class was from General Conference Mennonite background, and didn't have a historical memory of clear boundaries, but several people who did have that background shared, including one woman whose father left the Amish faith. We acknowledged that we are not living at the margins of our culture. There was a bit of discussion about how we define the center of our identity. <br>-We discussed Nelson's article. There were several acknowledgments of the seductive ways empire pulls for our allegiance, but most people in the class completely reject the idea of civil religion, so that was not an issue for us. We were probably most challenged by Nelson's call for biblical literacy and making the church our first priority.<br>-I read "A prayer for the congregations of MC USA" by Terry for the closing.<br><br>Third session (2/22):<br>-I gave a handout with Gilberto Flores' story on one side ("Soul searching leads pastor to take radical journey with Jesus," from the web site) and Gordon Houser's editorial ("Mennonite politics") on the other side. <br>-We read Gilberto's story, and first responded to his experience in Guatemala. Several people in the class had been to Guatemala and shared what they had learned there. Then we spent most of our time on his reflections about living in Kansas. We were challenged by his assessment that many Mennonites live in "antiseptic" ways. We talked a while about how we sometimes don't respond to the world the way we could because we feel we must do everything, rather than feeling okay about focusing our energy on one issue.<br>-Personally, I felt Gilberto's story was the most powerful piece available, more helpful for pointing out the promise and peril of national identity than the congregational stories in The Mennonite. It sparked good discussion.<br>-We discussed Gordon's editorial, focusing on the second column. <br>-At the end, I asked for reflections on the study to share with this group. Some of the things noted were: Mennonites have changed greatly in the last couple of generations, and are no longer separate from the world. The church is much more diverse, which makes it extremely hard to have a unified voice on any issue. We cannot be paralyzed by our fear of offending people or splitting the church. <br><br>In general, I think the 3 weeks went well. There were way more materials than what we could use, so we did a little bit of Bible study, a little bit of reflection on theological articles, and a little bit of reflection on personal story. I was pleased with the special issue of The Mennonite (and pleased at the number of people in my class who mentioned various articles), but wish the web site could have been more prominently featured (perhaps listing the pieces available). Is there another way to help congregations notice all the resources that are available on the web site? |
|
| Re: National Identity | By Berry Friesen on Saturday, March 07, 2009 10:55 PM | | The Mennonite congregations I’ve been part of taught that I should expect to find myself pulled between my loyalty to Christ and my loyalty to the nation in which I live. They described this tension as an inevitable consequence of following Christ. Notwithstanding this teaching, over the years I have constantly felt myself attracted to the idea that my nation – the USA – is the source of social stability, economic prosperity, and individual liberty in the world. This, I now have come to understand, is the same temptation faced by the first Christians in Colossae vis-à-vis the Roman empire. The hard part is to move beyond piously saying “Jesus is LORD” to the point that I am convinced our LORD has disarmed the U.S.A., shamed the U.S.A., and made a public spectacle of its humiliation (Colossians 2:15). Yet this very thing seems to be happening right before our eyes. Witness the deceit on Wall Street, the spreading impact worldwide of the collapse of the U.S. house of cards, the reports that one million Iraqis have died since the U.S. invaded that nation to “liberate” and “save” its people, the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody, and the way in which official deception and violence have become routine. Perhaps our task is simply to acknowledge the significance of this humiliation, confess our own enthrallment to the myth of American goodness and exceptionalism, and begin making our congregations into communities that see our nation as it really is and yet live within it with courage, hope, and generosity. I imagine many of our neighbors will be looking for that kind of community. |
|
| cristianos buscando apoyo | By karel bosch on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 7:25 AM | | Hola,mi esposa y yo somos cristianons y vivimos en Miami ,estamos tratando de restablecernos en Ohio con el fin de conseguir oportunidades de trabajo y subsistencia;debido a nuestra dificil situasion economica pues mi esposa esta embarzada y me encuentro sin empleo a pesar de q somos residentes legales en U.S;quisieramos saber si existe algun programa de ayuda en las iglesias hermanas de Ohio;siendo nuestro interes especifico recibir orientasion,apoyo en cuanto a refugio y/o oportunidades de empleo;encontrandonos ahora sin vivienda.Reciban bendiciones ,de hermanos en Miami. |
|
| Dramatic reading based on Esther | By Barry Kreider, pastor on Monday, May 04, 2009 7:37 AM | | We are in the middle of a two Sunday series on (the national identity) theme and appreciate what has already been posted. LornaBeth Shantz of our congregation wrote a 20-25 minute dramatic reading based on Esther which we used yesterday as our sermon. It was excellent and I wish it could be used beyond our congregation. LornaBeth worked from the Septuagint version of Esther, which includes additional details to the story that were new to many. (See the drama, Esther's Times, in the drama section on this web page). <br> |
|
| Re: National Identity | By Cathleen Hockman-Wert on Tuesday, June 02, 2009 2:11 PM | | Corvallis Mennonite Fellowship in Oregon just concluded a six-week Sunday morning worship series using these materials. We had previously watched the video of Jennifer Davis Sensenig's sermon at San Jose. Our group is roughly divided in half between "cradle" Mennonites and those from other backgrounds. Folks from both groups expressed a great deal of appreciation for the series, finding it educational and challenging. One Sunday we used the Esther drama, and for the final service we performed three of the dramas by Joel Kauffmann. These were particularly well received, if uncomfortably so ("They were great, they were funny, and they hit a little too close to home"). Thanks very much for providing such high quality materials. We would love to see more dramas in the future from Joel. |
|
| supra shoes | By supra shoes on Monday, August 23, 2010 2:53 AM | | http://www.suprashoes365.com/<br>http://www.coachoutletfactory.com/<br>http://www.chanelbagsoutlet.com/ <br> |
|
|