Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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Considerations for Community Gathering During a Pandemic

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Many churches are turning to the question of re-gathering in person for worship. How does re-opening, re-gathering, or refraining from gathering express our love of God?

by Steve Kriss, Executive Minister

Two months ago, I wrote an article about why we might postpone, cancel, or shift to online meetings. Now, many of us are approaching months of physical distancing and social/spiritual solidarity.  For most, the time has felt long. We have been challenged in ways we couldn’t have predicted.

Many of us are turning to the question of re-gathering in person.  Throughout this time as a Conference, we have emphasized the “Jesus Creed” of love of God and neighbor.   As we consider possibilities, I suggest several postures while keeping these questions at the center of our discernment:

  • How does our re-opening, re-gathering, or refraining from gathering express our love of God?
  • In our in-person or dispersed acts of community, how do we embody and extend our love for our neighbors?

Posture 1: Consider the vulnerable.

Paul reminds us that, as one body, we honor those who are vulnerable with a heightened sense of care.  Does our gathering together increase our risk?  Yes, inevitably it does.  But how can we release more vulnerable persons from responsibilities in ways that also honor their desire to be in community?

Ripple Community Inc, in Allentown, PA, did this well by introducing new precautions and by shifting staff members who are over the age of 60, to more behind-the-scenes roles. Younger staff remained in forward facing/interactive roles.

Considerations for persons over 65, immuno-compromised, and/or caregivers for vulnerable persons must be in our minds as we think about what it means to gather together again. Jesus promises that he’s present when just two or three of us are together.  How can we create environments that are welcoming, hospitable, and minimize the negatives of risk?

Posture 2: Consider guidance from local public health and government leaders.

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where Conference offices are located, had requested that religious communities not gather in person. I appreciated that this was a request not a mandate. We are reminded in our gathering of our witness as salt and light in our communities. While we understand the laws of the land do not establish our moral compass, we encourage communities to cooperate with local public health directives and government requests regarding in-person gathering. This means keeping up to date and aware of changing contexts and situations in our local communities.

Posture 3: Consider responsibilities over rights.

Sometimes in the United States, our go-to response is to point to the Bill of Rights.  We have the right to assemble and the privilege of religious freedom.  But as Christians, we know that freedom in Christ also comes with significant responsibility. For some of our congregations, this has meant using our meetinghouses to provide food for neighbors or opening our spaces for blood drives. We have the freedom to not be overcome by fear, but we have the responsibility to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.  We live in tension between seeking the common good and individual conscience.  We recognize that others might make different decisions in discernment of how to live our responsibilities as a witness of Christ’s healing and hope in our communities.

Posture 4: Consider new possibilities.

The pandemic has been an interruption in our regular lives and schedules.  It has indeed been stressful.  However it has also opened new possibilities. Some of us have moved to online worship.  Some of us have planted gardens.  Some of our churches report new faces in worship. There have been new opportunities for witness.  How do we not too quickly jump back to “what was” out of familiarity?  How might the Spirit be inviting us to change and respond?

We believe in a God who sustains, redeems, and brings transformation in the midst of struggle. As we consider how to creatively extend Christ’s peace, we have opportunity to bear witness of God’s love and care for one another, both nearby and around the world.

Shalom Fund

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Give to the
Shalom Mutual Aid Fund

“With great power, they gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  Great grace was upon them. And no one among them lacked anything.”  (Acts 4.33-34)

The COVID-19 virus outbreak has brought unprecedented change and challenge across the communities in our Conference, unlike what many of us have experienced in our lifetimes.  In our Conference’s most vulnerable communities, the needs have become apparent immediately: food and support, shelter and prayer. Alongside the needs have come opportunities to offer relief in ways that allow us to express our love of God and neighbor so that “no one among us will lack anything.”

Our Conference launched the Shalom Fund to help our congregations and ministries respond to members and neighbors in ways that provide support for basic and essential needs. Our goal is to raise at least $100,000 to sustain congregations and communities through this crisis.

Leadership ministers have done initial assessments around four areas of need:  congregations, pastors, members, and neighborhoods. The needs have been immediate for those who have lost employment (at least 1 in 6 workers in Pennsylvania) and for those who fall in the gaps of government social service initiatives.   This is our opportunity to be the Church, remembering that Jesus tells us that he is present whenever we feed the hungry or provide water for the thirsty.

Our congregations and ministries have already begun to respond:

  • In North Philadelphia, Crossroads Community Center is a long-term presence that has become even more crucial in a time when critical needs for food and support become more apparent.
  • In South Philadelphia, Nations Worship, Centro de Alabanza, Indonesian Light, and Philadelphia Praise congregations are joining together to provide food and support, distributing potatoes, rice, noodles, and eggs to members and neighbors.
  • In Allentown, PA, Ripple Community Inc and Ripple Church are meeting the basic needs for food and support for persons who live on the margins in one of the Pennsylvania cities where COVID-19 has become most prevalent.
  • In Tampa, FL, Pastor Roy Williams of College Hill congregation has declared, “We made a commitment that people wouldn’t die of hunger in the midst of the virus.”  College Hill joined with Shalom and North Tampa congregations in extending their ministry of food and support in this vulnerable time.

The Shalom Fund empowers our congregations and ministries by making sure our members have enough resources to represent the peace of Christ in their neighborhoods.  This is a real and immediate crisis. Our Conference is uniquely positioned to respond in tangible ways that care for the most vulnerable members of our body and, at the same time, to extend that care to our communities, in the way of Jesus.

We have already begun to respond to urgent needs.  Will you consider sharing your resources—rainy day funds, congregational endowed funds, stimulus checks, gas money—so that our witness can together go out with great power across our Conference?

Our Christian witness is tested and strengthened in times of crisis.  Now is such a time, as we extend the great gift of grace that we have received in this season of remembering and celebrating the resurrection, and as we look toward Pentecost … with hope.

In the name of the Risen One,
Stephen Kriss, Executive Minister
Ken Burkholder, Moderator

(Download PDF: Why Support the Shalom Fund?)

Jesus Never Said You Should Use LED Light Bulbs

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by Jennifer H. Schrock, Mennonite Creation Care Network

Members of Taftsville (VT) Chapel Mennonite Fellowship participated in a spring clean-up of their native plantings around their church building last month. Photo credit: Jennifer Schrock

Mennonite Creation Care Network (MCCN) has selected an Eastern District & Franconia Conference congregation, Taftsville (VT) Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, to receive its first annual Art and Jocele Meyer Award.

The award recognizes exemplary creation care at the congregational level and the creation care liaison’s role in communicating with the broader network. It includes a $500 donation to the congregation’s creation care efforts.

Taftsville’s liaison is Heather Wolfe, a dietician and wellness coach who has also authored the forthcoming Herald Press book, “Sustainable Kitchen: Recipes and Inspiration for Plant-based, Planet-Conscious Meals.”

Wolfe has been in the role since 2016 and spearheaded a number of initiatives. These range from installing solar panels to landscaping with native plantings to holding an intergenerational conversation on climate change. Wolfe has created a webinar outlining the steps that their congregation took to create a culture of creation care as a guide to help other churches do similar work.

Many of the church’s actions stem from completing MCCN’s Greener Congregation Score Sheet. The scoresheet encourages congregations to look at creation care from multiple angles, from identifying green leaders to landscaping decisions to worship. The results can provide a road map for years to come.

An intergenerational discussion on climate change at Taftsville (VT) Chapel Mennonite Fellowship allows those under 40 and over 40 to take turns listening to each other. Heather Wolfe, the congregation’s creation care liaison, is in the center facing forward. Photo credit: Jennifer Schrock

Taftsville Pastor Steve McCloskey said one of the first things he knew about the church before his initial interview in 2017 was that the members had chosen to install solar panels.  “I saw life in the church,” he said. “I saw that this church is not just thinking about themselves as a congregation but asking, ‘How can we be part of a solution to a broader problem?’ ”

To McCloskey, it showed a seriousness about loving one’s neighbors, even if the neighbors were on the other side of the world or still unborn. He said his role is often to help clarify the connection between the Bible and an emphasis on caring for the Earth.

“Jesus never says you should put LED light bulbs in your home or ride bicycles,” McCloskey said. “Why does our faith imply that we should make decisions that are healing to the Earth? I like wrestling with those questions, and Heather does a good job of keeping those questions on our minds.”

Wolfe said she’s always giving credit to the Holy Spirit. “We are just vessels of this Spirit at work in our congregation,” she said.

She is grateful creation care has made the church visible to the local community and attractive to new attendees. “People associate our faith tradition with care for creation,” Wolfe said.

 

A version of this article originally appeared in Mennonite World Review and is used with permission.

Holy Humor

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by Pastor Tami Good, Swamp Congregation

Associate Pastor Tami Good (Swamp Congregation) records entertaining videos for children (and adults) to connect with her congregation during this time of social distancing. All of her videos are available here.

The Sunday after Easter my sister-in-law sent me a video entitled, “Holy Humor Sunday.” It was a church service filled with funny hymns, jokes, bright clothing, and a thoughtful reflection on the need for laughter today.

My first reaction was, “This is amazing!” However, it also brought me pause. Is this kind of thing really allowed in church? Church is supposed to be a solemn place, right? I was a bit skeptical. So I researched it.

In the early Church, the Sunday after Easter was a day of laughter and joy. Parties were thrown and practical jokes were played. Bright clothing was worn, and everyone joined in on the fun. The custom of “Bright Sunday,” as it was called, was an idea formed by early church theologians who believed that God played a joke on the devil by raising Christ from the dead. The resurrection was God’s ultimate surprise on Death. Over time, this practice was pushed aside and forgotten … until recently.

The importance of joyfulness and gladness has always been part of our tradition. Psalm 100:1-2 (NRSV) says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord…worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.” As God’s beloved children we are encouraged to live out the joy and thanksgiving God’s presence brings.

However, God does not only exist to bring us joy.  Does God experience joy and laughter too? Imagine God during Creation, breathing over the waters. Couldn’t a breath be one big burst of joyous laughter?

Jesus was no different. Think about Jesus’ companions: weathered fisherman, party girls, and outcasts, who sorely needed a dose of hope, joy, and laughter. This is one of the reasons the religious people of Jesus’ day hated him so much. He was a friend to “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34, NRSV). Maybe it was Jesus’ laughter with these people that was so scandalous to the religious leaders.

Remember when Jesus breathes on his disciples (John 20:19-23)? Just as God breathed creation into being, Jesus breathed in a new creation as well. Only this new creation was the power of the Holy Spirit. I can hardly believe this breath of God’s Chosen One was a gentle, fluttering breeze. Instead I picture it as a gregarious eruption of laughter! What pure elation the disciples must have felt as they celebrated the complete defeat of death!

We are currently living in chaotic and stressful times. It is hard to live within the unknown.  I wonder, however, if we might be able to find ways to imitate Jesus’ sense of humor through all of this? I’m sure there were smirks and giggles when Jesus told some of his outlandish parables or crazy ideas: A camel going through the eye of a needle? Feeding 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and fish?

Laughter puts things back into perspective and reminds us to see the good in those around us. It takes the focus off what we cannot control and lets us see our situation in a new light. If Jesus appeared on earth to deliver God’s punchline, how might God long to surprise you in the coming days?

As we continue in this time of being apart, I encourage you to ask God to help you see the humor all around you. Wear bright clothing, sing a silly song, and tell the cheesiest “Dad jokes” you know. How might God long to bring some “Holy Humor” into your life today?

Creating Change through Love

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by Jennifer Svetlik, Salford congregation

Steve KrissIn 2005, Steve Kriss was living in Pittsburgh, working in leadership cultivation with young people, and going to graduate school at Duquesne University. When he saw Franconia Conference’s job description for a role that involved cultivating young adult leaders, Steve said to himself, “How can I say no to this?”

Franconia’s vision and staff culture were a good fit for Steve.  After flourishing on conference staff for over a decade, in 2017, he was asked to serve as Executive Minister.  “I would never have anticipated or asked for this role, but it has allowed me to live into God’s calling,” he reflects.

In his fifteen years on staff, Steve has “come to love the people” of the conference, and that love was one of his primary motivations in accepting his current role. He describes his leadership posture as seeking to create change through love, which grows over time. “It is work that feels very personal, meaningful, and with people and communities I’ve come to care about deeply,” he says.

Steve works with the Conference’s executive leadership, leadership cultivation, and serves as a leadership minister. A typical workday for Steve has at least three meetings and additional contacts with lots of people in a variety of ways. Usually, this involves conversing in English or Spanish and texting in Spanish, Indonesian, and/or English. “I don’t know many professional roles that have the diversity of people that I encounter daily, and sometimes that is disorienting,” Steve reflects.

The most rewarding aspect of Steve’s work is watching people grow over many years. There are high school students that he worked with 15 years ago that are now leaders in the conference. “It is also significant to watch our conference’s intercultural transformation, and to have been around long enough to see us changing,” says Steve.

“I continue to be amazed by how our conference communities are comprised of so many gifted, committed, and compassionate people,” shares Steve. “I am amazed by the generosity of individuals and communities, feeling a sense of ‘us’ as the conference and wanting to dream together.”

Steve Kriss (right) visits with Isai Sanchez, Diana Salinas, and Gama Sanchez along with board members Angela Moyer and Gwen Groff, on a visit to CIEAMM in Oaxaca in 2018.

Recently Steve has been inspired by the work of reconciliation. “It feels like a privilege to get to lead the Conference in the time of the reconciliation work,” admits Steve. “When so much in the culture around us is divisive, we are attempting to bring the resources, strengths, and shared history of these conferences together. It has been shared and holy work.”

Steve grew up near Johnstown, PA in a three-generation household. His great grandparents were from Slovakia and many Eastern European immigrants lived near him as a child. In middle school his family moved to a more Mennonite area in a suburban setting and began to attend a Mennonite church.

Steve graduated from Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA), and served as a pastor for Mennonite congregations in Somerset County, PA and Staten Island, NY.

Steve lives in Northwest Philadelphia and is a member of Philadelphia Praise Center. Even though he is an extrovert, his work is so people-oriented that he really values time by himself, along with time with family and friends. He enjoys being outside and biking on trails. He prioritizes going to the gym to maintain both his mind and body. His love of planting things comes from his grandfather, for whom Steve is named. “I feel tangibly connected to him when I am working in my garden,” Steve shares.

A Wedding & A Funeral: Pandemic Life Realities

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by Randy Heacock, Leadership Minister

Randy Heacock and his daughter, Vanessa, at her recent wedding. The bride’s grandfather’s boots, seen in the photo, represent Randy’s father.

As we continue, day after day, in this time of social distancing, there are moments I find myself feeling like I have discovered a bit of a routine. Meanwhile, there are moments of hazy confusion, when I need to remind myself what day of the week it is. One moment there seems like there are a lot of new things going on; the next it seems like another 24 hours of the same old thing.

In the last 3 weeks, I experienced the high of seeing my daughter get married and the low of burying my father.

With this weird mix of highs and lows, busy and bored, normal and unusual, I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3. Perhaps you remember the song by The Byrds, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” which states much the same:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.  -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NRSV)

This text comes out of the wisdom literature of the Bible. It contains the wisdom of the people of Israel as they learned both from God and from the circumstances of daily life. There is the awareness that there are different seasons to life. It acknowledges what appear to be opposite ends of the spectrum, such as a time to gather and a time to throw away. Often we tend to embrace one of these ends, and consider it good, while trying to avoid the other, and labeling it as bad.

Perhaps we are to live more in the tension, somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, rather than merely embracing one place and running from the other. For example, in both the wedding and the funeral I attended recently, there were tears of loss but also celebrations of profound joy.

In relationships, it is always good to be at peace. But there are times, even in our best relationships, when we experience conflict, which may feel like war.  If we hold these things in tension, while looking to God, we can find hope and energy. Perhaps the call is to simply remain present and wait on God.

A few people have expressed to me how this pandemic has provided them the space to sort out things they have neglected for many years.  In a culture that believes busyness is better than stillness and accumulation is better than reduction, consider what we can learn from the biblical wisdom that proposes a time for everything.

How might we continue to learn what God has for us?  What new practices might we develop as we come out of social distancing?  There is a time to reflect and a time to practice.

Crossing Frontiers and Cultures

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by Jennifer Svetlik, Salford congregation

Debbie & Jeff Wright

“I’m a white boy from Oklahoma,” shares Jeff Wright, leadership minister, based in Riverside, California. Yet, somehow, Jeff has found ways to connect and support with congregations who are culturally different from his upbringing.

“I’d always had a sense of calling to international mission,” Jeff reflects. “For a variety of reasons that never worked out, but I try to live out the definition of mission offered by David Bosch: to ‘cross frontiers in the form of a servant’.” Jeff’s work crosses frontiers as he interprets for those at the Pennsylvania core of the conference what it means to be church in California. He also works to serve as a human transcontinental bridge, connecting brothers and sisters in the same conference, but living on opposite coasts.

Jeff works with three Indonesian churches in southern California: Indonesian Community Christian Fellowship (Colton, CA), International Worship Church (San Gabriel, CA), and Jemaat Kristen Indonesia Anugerah (JKIA or Grace Indonesian Christian Fellowship; Sierra Madre, CA). He also accompanies San Francisco (CA) Chinese Mennonite Church, a Cantonese speaking church, in his conference leadership role.

“These churches are immigrants and first- and second-generation Americans,” and offer unique perspectives, Jeff reflected. “They have a global view of their lives, and many of them go back to their home countries often. This global perspective is part of these congregations’ DNA.”

As leadership minister, Jeff assists pastors with credentialing, coaches, and troubleshoots challenges they bring to him. He also prays regularly for the pastors and their congregations and connects them to other conference staff and resources.

“Working intentionally at intercultural competency is challenging for me, in a good way,” Jeff reflects. He has begun learning the Indonesian language, and he finds conversations with Chantelle Todman Moore, the conference’s Intercultural Leadership Coach, particularly helpful.

“To have a conference that is intentionally dedicating resources to and training for intercultural competency is an amazing gift that isn’t always available to other conferences because of size, capacity, or vision,” Jeff reflects.  “These are the things we need to pay attention to in order to be the church in North America.”

Jeff first connected with Franconia Conference twenty years ago when he was a lead consultant in the conference’s vision and finance plan. Currently, aside from his leadership minister role, he also serves as pastor of Madison Street Church, a Brethren in Christ (BIC) congregation, in Riverside, CA and as president of viaShalom, a small nonprofit missional resource agency.

Jeff considers himself an “Anabaptist without borders.” He came to faith in the Mennonite Brethren (MB) church, was previously a pastor of a General Conference (GC) Mennonite church, has been a conference minister for MCUSA, and is now a pastor of a BIC church.

“Not being a ‘cradle’ Mennonite has helped me to learn from the different traditions,” Jeff reflects. “I appreciate the piety of the MB, the commitment to unity of GC, the holiness perspective of the BIC, and the commitment to scripture of MC USA.”

In his free time, Jeff either has a book in his hand, is watching the LA Dodgers, is attending a minor league baseball game, or is riding his bike.

Generosity & God’s Provision in Social Isolation

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by Steve Kriss, Executive Minister

According to clinical psychologists who study these things, we are in the “third quarter” of social isolation. In this phase, we want things to get back to normal.  We grieve what we’ve lost in the time away from work, each other, routine.  We’ve let go of celebrations and now interact virtually. We’re reluctantly wearing masks at the grocery store.  We’re reluctantly going to the grocery store. We each experience the crisis of a pandemic differently.

Antonio Martinez, Aurelio Hernandez, Suly Sosa and Tomas Galicia, preparing food for distribution at Centro de Alabanza.

The children of Israel grew weary of the time in the Sinai.  The exhilaration of release from Egypt became the exhaustion of the not yet.  There was God’s obvious care through the quail and manna.  But there was distraction through the creation of a golden calf that harkened backward rather than toward true identity and future.  And there were frustrated leaders, like Moses, who broke the original tablets of the commandments and had to return to a conversation with God for a second round.

In our Conference, we implemented a lean and responsive plan to work for a 60-day period, ending June 1.  We paused a hiring process for our director of Community Engagement in order to work more closely with Conference Related Ministries and communication. We’ve put a hold on travel and some grant processes.

We’ve focused energy toward more frequent communication. Randy Heacock has assumed an interim role as leadership minister for Conference Related Ministries.  We’re continuing our work toward our new reconciled identity that is scheduled to be released at Pentecost.  We’ve filed for a government-backed loan to help carry us through, like many other nonprofits and small businesses, but still reduced expenses during this time. Meanwhile, we’ve launched the Shalom Fund initiative.

Food ready for delivery at Centro de Alabanza.

What we’ve discovered in this in-between time is God-inspired generosity, compassion, and empathy.  We’ve been able, through the generosity of so many, to respond to real human needs in vulnerable communities and situations.  What began as a half ton of potatoes in the back of a pick-up truck has multiplied into truckloads of food delivered to Allentown, North Jersey, Philadelphia, and Tampa.

Some days I wonder if we will have enough resources to meet the needs arising in our Conference.  Each time God, working through God’s people, has supplied what was needed. Like the widow’s vessel of oil that never ran dry and the loaves and fish Jesus multiplied, there has always been more than enough.

We’ve exceeded our $100,000 goal for the Shalom Fund. Glory be to God and thanks to each of you who have shared in this extension of Christ’s peace in a disrupted time.  This has been amazing to witness.

I have been overwhelmed, but not surprised, by the commitment and creativity of our worshipping communities and leaders.  I trust that we will continue to respond well in ways that keep our love of God and our neighbors in the foreground.

Yet, we are still in the in-between. Needs still exist. The journey to the Promised Land was not about returning to normal but imagining a new way of being God’s people together.  The Israelites were not without fears and complaints in their odyssey. But God continued to work among them, inviting them to be renewed in their relationships, both vertically and horizontally.

When we look back, my hope is that we will remember the ties that bound us when we shared our loaves and fishes and continued our work creatively and courageously rooted in Christ’s love. Because there was indeed abundance.