Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Articles

Learning to Grieve, Slowly

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By Chantelle Todman Moore, Intercultural Leadership Coach

I have struggled with grief; I still do. Growing up as a Christian, I learned platitudes in response to grief. But they never gave me the tools I needed to be present with myself, community, and the myriad of feelings and experiences that grief entails.

Life has slowed down for me during this pandemic. With new reasons to grieve on a daily basis, I am finding that I have more capacity to engage and explore personal and communal grief. I am finding guidance and wisdom through conversations with others and reading about grief.

Two books that are bringing me comfort, lessening the feelings of grief isolation, and allowing the tears to flow are The Book of Solace by Dane Kuttler and Rebellious Mourning: the Collective Work of Grief, an anthology edited by Cindy Milstein.

The Book of Solace was gifted to me this past holiday season. In turn, I gifted my copy to another person whom, at the beginning of the pandemic, lost their brother to illness. The wisdom of this book has accompanied me when grief caught me off guard in the middle of completing a task and has been shared with others as they wrestle to make sense of what cannot be tied up into a neat bow. I was also gifted The Book of Solace and have read the contributions with tears streaming down my face. These texts speak to the hard spaces where grief finds us and takes us, as part of the human experience.

Our grief and our mourning is both personal and unique as well as collective and ordinary. Beyond reading and talking with others, additional practices that are holding me in my grief is finding ways to see the potential for transformation for myself and our world. I am planting seeds with my family in our raised beds, making and enjoying delicious meals, finding ways to rest and enjoy pleasurable things.

As most of us shelter at home, there is unreserved access to media. But grief needs stillness and silence. Many things can distract yourself from grief. So I am opening myself up to moments of silence: sitting in my yard, going for walks, and listening to the wind, all while resting and quieting a mind and heart that wants to keep racing for answers and solutions.

I invite you to name what you are grieving both personally and communally right now. Open up yourself to see where grief is leading, teaching, and softening you for transformation.

Always Reinventing Himself

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Leer en espanol

by Jennifer Svetlik, Salford congregation

Originally from Columbia, leadership minister Marco Güete has found numerous ways to combine his passion for the church with his creativity, high energy, and intercultural sensitivities. Since August 2019, Marco has worked with nine congregations, eight of whom were recently part of Southeast Mennonite Conference, that will join Eastern District & Franconia Conference this year. He spends much of his time answering questions about the process of switching conferences and transferring credentials, along with helping the congregations complete the paperwork for transferring membership. He finds the opportunity to bring clarity in the midst of confusion to be rewarding.

“These churches were looking for an established conference to be affiliated with, and decided that Franconia was the best option because of the conference’s racial and ethnic diversity and attentiveness to intercultural ministry,” explains Marco. Eastern District & Franconia Conference was also attractive, Marco explained further, as it has a good Anabaptist foundation and a solid relationship with MC USA.

For Marco, the most rewarding part of his job is seeing these churches continue their affiliation with MC USA. “They consider MC USA as a family and that they belong to them,” shares Marco. “Seeing that gives me a sense of accomplishment.”

Marco was born in Colombia and moved within the country several times as a child, which helped him develop confidence and a sense of independence, as well as learn about different cultures. He and his wife, Sandra, immigrated to the U.S. and Marco worked as a salesperson in an international corporation while he sought professional training in Christian ministry. He opened up two small stores in Queens, NY and was introduced to Anabaptism by a fellow businessman who was a pastor of a Hispanic Mennonite church plant in New York City. A couple of years later, Marco enrolled in the Pastoral Ministry Program at Goshen College (Goshen, IN) and then at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (Lisle, IL).

Soon after began Marco’s long career of leadership in the Mennonite church. He received a call as a pastor at Community of Faith Mennonite Church (Chicago).  In 1986, Marco became the Hispanic Ministries Program Director of the General Conference Mennonite Church. During this ten years in this role, Marco began the Instituto Bíblico Anabautista (IBA, or Anabaptist Biblical Institute), a Spanish training program for local congregations in Mennonite history and theology. Later, Marco was the director of the Latin American Anabaptist Resource Center (CLARA) and Colombia Mennonite Bible Seminary. More recently he has served as a conference minister for three area conferences. He and Sandra reside in Sarasota, FL.

“I am the kind of person that is always re-inventing myself, and creating something new in my ministry and my personal life,” reflects Marco. “If I have goals that I find meaningful, I don’t consider my job ‘work’.”

In his free time, Marco exercises a lot, including walking at least one hour daily with his wife. In September, Marco walked part of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to raise money for the IBA. Marco also stays busy putting together comforters for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) with his wife and considers the work to be an act of creative expression. He enjoys watching movies and reading historical fiction.

A Stimulus Relief Package

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Jesus Meets the Wants Beyond the Needs

by Marta Beidler Castillo, Leadership Minister (Wellspring congregation)

Before Jesus feeds the five thousand (John 6), he sees a great crowd coming toward him and he says to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”  He asked this to test Philip, John says, because Jesus already knew what he was going to do.

Right now, I feel like Philip, who answers, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”  I am wondering where the provision will come from to meet all the needs we’re seeing just in our conference, congregations, Conference Related Ministries, and connected ministries in Mexico and beyond. Maybe it’s a test for us, since God already has in mind what God is going to do.

Luke Beidler and Marta (Beidler) Castillo working together in home office. Photo by Dorothy Beidler

Going back to the story, we remember that Jesus fed them all as much as they wanted with a boy’s offering of five small barley loaves and two small fish.  I am now the small boy ready to offer what I have and stand back to watch how God will bless, multiply, and distribute all that is needed and wanted.

 

A Stimulus Relief Package and the Shalom Fund

by Luke Beidler, Methacton congregation

This week, the Times Herald pictured President Trump signing the corona virus stimulus relief package at the White House.  The article headlined, “Relief checks are a lifeline for some, a cushion for others.”

What do these checks mean for me?  For you?

As I answer this question, I feel my identity as a follower of Jesus, as a member of an Eastern District & Franconia Conference congregation. I strongly feel my commitment to the Anabaptist faith, to feeding the hungry, and to healing the sick. This is exactly the time for us to show our colors, to put ourselves on the front lines together with first responders, doctors, and nurses.  To show ourselves willing to sacrifice that others may live! Can we join all people of faith and the secular community, seeking the welfare of the towns and cities of all the nations? Praying and supporting a fair, just distribution of required resources!

So what does it mean for me and my family?  Can I, as a landlord (I hate that term), be part of the vision to forgive late and unpaid rents, especially for those affected by the virus or loss of job?  Can my wife and I add stimulus to stimulus by matching Everence funds in our local congregation to cover some of the losses of our members and next-door neighbors?   Freely received, freely give!  How about carrying with you envelopes with a hundred dollars to give a stranger who reveals a real need?!

And can we move from our local congregations and counties to pick up the unequal burdens that our urban congregations and their populations face? Pandemics demand an out-in-the-world dynamic. Now is not the time for a scarcity mentality but a joyous generosity to give people hope one day at a time. This is the vision of the Shalom Fund that Eastern District & Franconia Conference has announced for our consideration. In a pandemic, the disadvantages of the homeless, immigrants, and lower income families grow. I would like to see each of us, with passion, pass on and multiply our stimulus checks.  I would like to see each of our conference congregations each give $10,000 for a stimulus relief offering for the healing of the nations.

May the open hand rather than the closed fist be our learning and joy!

Marta Beidler Castillo and Luke Beidler are daughter and father.  If you would like to learn more about the conference Shalom Fund or donate to the fund, please click here.

Important update for Participants in MCUSA’s Corinthian Plan

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by Conrad Martin, Conference Director of Finance

Recently the Corinthian Plan sent out a letter to all participants. Perhaps you, like I, set it aside without reading it. If you did, please read it. The letter has some important information that will affect your church as the employer and you as a participant in the plan.

Here is a brief summary of the topics covered in the letter:

  1. Announcement of a May premium holiday and how that affects both employer and employee.
  2. How changes in working hours may or may not affect your participation in the plan.
  3. Effects of the recent expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act.
  4. Adjustments to the plan coverage of COVID-19 related items, eg. testing, treatment, telemedicine, etc.

The Corinthian Plan has generously offered a “premium holiday” (one month that churches do not have to pay the plan’s premium for continued coverage). However, the plan is inviting churches who do not need a “Premium Holiday” to pay their premium. These paid “holiday premiums” will be placed in an emergency fund, available to churches suffering from significant financial hardships due to the current situation.

If you did not receive a letter, here is a link to the Corinthian Plan web page for this new COVID-19 information: http://mennoniteusa.org/what-we-do/the-corinthian-plan/.  Please read this information and/or make sure your church staff have read it.

If you have questions, please contact the Corinthian Plan Director Duncan Smith, (316-281-4255) or the East Coast Advocate, James Miller (941-400-9937).

Be a Part of History!

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by Joel D. Alderfer, Mennonite Heritage Center, Collections Manager

At the Mennonite Heritage Center, we want to collect and preserve stories from this time of health crisis in which we find ourselves.

We’re inviting persons from our Mennonite communities to help with this by responding to our Coronavirus Crisis Survey at mhep.org/coronavirus-crisis-survey.  No need to answer all questions.  Just type your responses and click “submit” at the end.  From the responses received, we will create a digital archival collection at the Mennonite Heritage Center, which will be available to future researchers.

Melky Tirtasaputra, Associate Pastor at Nations Worship Center (Philadelphia, PA), and his wife, Alvina Krisnadi, transport eggs, rice, and potatoes to Whitehall Mennonite Church (Whitehall, PA) via motorcycle and trailer to help those who are without work and food during the pandemic. (Photo Credit: Melky Tirtasaputra)

We also invite congregations and ministries to share a few good photos (no more than five) that document life during COVID-19 – showing congregational and community life, in all its new, creative, and restricted forms! If you submit photos, please briefly describe them, and email (preferably as jpgs) to: alderferjoel@mhep.org.

Thank you for considering this invitation!  We encourage you to include the following brief paragraph about this survey to include in your church’s newsletter or online bulletin:

Mennonite Heritage Center is inviting persons from our Mennonite communities to help preserve stories of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. All persons are invited to participate. Please respond by taking the Coronavirus Crisis Survey at: https://mhep.org/coronavirus-crisis-survey/.  No need to answer all questions.  Just type your responses and click “submit” at the end.  From the responses received, they will create a digital archival collection at the Mennonite Heritage Center, which will be available to future researchers. 

Building Connections and Fostering Beauty

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by Jennifer Svetlik, Salford congregation

Taking photos for a Conference event

As a pastor’s kid and, later, a pastor, Leadership Minister, and Interim Director of Communication, Emily Ralph Servant has had a heart for pastors since she was a teenager. “I have a passion for the Church, regardless of the bumps and bruises I’ve experienced in it,” reflects Emily.

Soon after college, she observed the work of conference staff and felt drawn to their ministry of caring for and resourcing pastors and congregations. “Conference ministry was a dream for me long before [then Executive Minister] Ertell Whigham asked me to join the staff [in 2011],” shares Emily. “This particular conference is where I was raised up as a leader, called, and ordained, and I love the spirit of our conference and what God has been and is doing here.”

As Communication Director, Emily is responsible for building community within the conference by sharing stories from congregations, leaders, staff, and Conference Related Ministries. She coordinates the “nitty-gritty work” of communication and shapes the language and media that the conference uses to help live its priorities of being missional, intercultural, and formational.

As a Leadership Minister, Emily serves as a companion and guide to pastors and congregations during both the ordinary rhythms of church life and during times of transition or conflict. In this role she helps church leadership to think strategically as well as pastorally, and she serves as a sounding board for ideas and dreams and as a resource for networking and community-building.

Emily leading worship at Conference Assembly

“I love listening to stories and asking questions that help to shift perspective or lead to ‘a-ha!’ moments,” Emily says. She recently joined the conference’s missional priority team, which allows her to help congregations “live and love like Jesus” in their neighborhoods.

Emily grew up all over southeastern PA after her father entered the ministry when she was in elementary school.  She entered ministry for herself as a young adult. “I saw both the best and the worst of the church,” she reflects. “I observed when things went well and when conflict erupted. That prepared me to work with congregations in conflict, transition, and decline.”

Emily has always been creative, using her vivid imagination to write stories, music, and plays. She started leading music as a teenager and had a vision for “blending” worship in new ways that went beyond mixing traditional hymns with praise songs. While serving as a worship minister of Swamp congregation (Quakertown, PA), she became involved with Conference Assembly worship planning and helped form an intercultural cohort of worship leaders from around the conference who wanted to learn one another’s music and build relationships. Multilingual and intercultural worship is still one of her favorite parts of conference life.

Emily and daughter Maggie share a silly moment.

Emily and her husband, Ryan, parent two toddlers, so she spends a lot of time “reading books, giving kisses, and cleaning food off the floor.” Her family enjoys connecting with their neighbors in northeast Baltimore city. She is on a journey to zero waste, so she cans produce from local farms, cooks mostly from scratch, and sews (very badly).

She also loves to upcycle, reusing discarded objects to create something new. “It allows me to express my creativity and do something with my hands, to lower our impact on the environment, and to connect with neighbors (our local Buy Nothing group is a great source of material for upcycling!)” reflects Emily.  “Upcycling is a reflection of the image of God in me: God can take things from our lives that look and feel like junk and transform them into something useful and, even, beautiful.”

Waiting for Heaven’s “Green Card”

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(Baca dalam bahasa Indonesia)

by Hendy Matahelemual, Conference Pastor of Formation & Communication

Judah, Hendy’s oldest son at Wall Street, NYC. Photo by Hendy Matahelemual.

One day I asked my 6-year-old son, “Are you Indonesian or American?” He answered, “Both, Daddy, I’m American and also Indonesian.” This is a reasonable response. However, in terms of citizenship, he is not an American citizen, but an Indonesian because we cannot have dual citizenship.

National and political identity cannot be separated in human life. Even when someone leaves the land of their birth or changes citizenship, that identity is still attached. As a newcomer to the USA and as a seminary student, I am interested in learning how we place national and political identities in line with God’s Word.

Hendy and his wife, Marina at tje Indonesian Fair in Little Indonesia, Somersworth, NH. Photo courtesy of icc.inc

I have no problem with national identity, but we must be careful not to go too far into ultra-nationalism, where someone puts the interests of a country and its people above all things. This certainly makes the country at the same level or higher than God. Therefore, as followers of Jesus, we believe that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).  We rely on God and do not deify the state, citizenship status, or even certain political parties or political figures.

Article 23 of the Confession of Faith in Mennonite Perspective, states:

We believe that the church is God’s “holy nation,” called to give full allegiance to Christ its head and to witness to all nations about God’s saving love. The church is the spiritual, social, and political body that gives its allegiance to God alone. As citizens of God’s kingdom, we trust in the power of God’s love for our defense. The church knows no geographical boundaries and needs no violence for its protection. The only Christian nation is the church of Jesus Christ, made up of people from every tribe and nation, called to witness to God’s glory.

It is common today for someone to rely on the state to give us prosperity, security, and comfort. In most countries, we are taught to sing the national anthem and other patriotic activities. Therefore it is very important that we return to Paul’s words in Romans 12, “Do not be conformed to this world but change with renewal of your mind, so that you understand my will, which is good, pleasing and perfect.”

Flags of nations at St.John Baptist Church Philadelphia where ILC worships every Sunday. Photo by Hendy Matahelemual

As someone who was not born and raised in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, I feel that I have experienced a new birth in Jesus because I used to misplace my national identity. But now, I am sure that my identity is as a citizen of heaven, and every believer is a co-worker without being limited by national and political identity. As a result, it should not be an exaggerated problem if someone kneels when the national song is sung. And, it should be a big concern for us if there is a problem happening in another country. Because as Christians, we are a holy nation that belongs to God.

A sculpture by French artist Bruno Catalano, in Marseilles, France, is an enigmatic sculpture thought to evoke memories and parts of themselves that every traveler inevitably leaves behind when they leave home for a new shore.

Let’s continue to persevere in our faith, especially in these difficult times. I believe God’s grace is endless.  Love, joy, and peace from God will cure our longing for our hometown, which will also fill the emptiness of our heart. This will convince us of our true identity, as God’s children, heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.

I also hope that the topic of national and political identity is no longer a taboo topic to be discussed in churches. I believe that each of our voices needs to be able to build up one another, and strengthen the church of God, a holy nation that is spread throughout the world.  After all, we are all still waiting for heaven’s greencard.

(Credentialed leaders: join us May 6 or 7 as our quarterly Faith & Life gatherings focus on National & Political Identity )

When COVID-19 Comes to Salford

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by Ashley Miller, Salford congregation

Ashley and Chris Miller (who attend Salford Mennonite Church in Harleyesville, PA) have been going through their own personal experience of COVID-19. Ashley began experiencing symptoms on March 15 and tested positive for the disease. Ashley has courageously and generously written about her experience.  

March 29, 2020

Chris & Ashley Miller and family

I am stepping outside of my comfort zone as I am not one to share on such public platforms. There is fear and mystery that surround COVID-19, and I’d like to share my family’s experience.

Two weeks ago, I started to feel sick with what I thought were flu-like symptoms. I felt tired, achy, low grade fever, chills, and an unrelenting headache. I lost my sense of smell. Within a few days I developed a cough and tightness in my chest which resulted in difficulty breathing. I also experienced a strange sensation that I can only describe as breathing shattered glass in my lungs. It was a very intense pain. I have asthma so some of the symptoms felt familiar to me. As the week went on, I realized my symptoms were getting worse instead of improving. After talking with my doctor, it was agreed that I’d be tested for the Flu, RSV, and COVID-19. I received negative results for the Flu and RSV. After waiting seven days, my test results for COVID-19 were POSITIVE. To my knowledge, I did not encounter anyone who had been exposed or who tested positive, so my case is one that is considered “community spread.”

At the onset of my symptoms, I began my isolation period. Despite our best efforts, both my husband Chris and daughter Ava developed symptoms. Their cases are considered presumed positive. Chris’ symptoms were similar to mine but fortunately milder. Ava began presenting with cold-like symptoms and some mild respiratory symptoms. Both are now doing well!

Throughout this experience, I was reminded to rely on my faith and to trust my intuition. As someone who can be anxious, fighting a sickness like this while isolating yourself from your family, doctors, and the world was/is incredibly hard on one’s mental health. I quickly became aware that I needed to utilize the strategies I often discuss with my clients. I turned off the news, limited my social media, and stopped researching “coronavirus.” I changed my mindset from one of fear to one of strength by focusing on healing. I listened to my body and allowed myself to be still, to rest, to heal.

When I initially received the COVID-19 test results, I was hoping for a sense of peace. I wasn’t prepared for the feelings of shame, guilt, and sadness that flooded me with hearing I tested positive. There is no “right’ way to feel; none of us have dealt with a pandemic before, but just as this pandemic has a beginning, there will be an end.

As we focus on our physical health, may we not lose sight of our mental wellness. My hope is that we allow ourselves to hold space for all of our feelings including those of grief, sadness, and fear that we may experience. Continue to find creative ways to connect with the people in your life. Please don’t be afraid to reach out for help.

I offer our story as a sign of hope. I continue to feel stronger each day and must remind myself to be patient as I move towards total healing. I continue to have symptoms which means that we will continue to follow the quarantine protocol but I look forward to moving out of my isolation room and giving my husband and kids a big hug and kiss.