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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.

Whether We Live or Die, We are the Lord’s

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by Gwen Groff, Bethany congregation

Gwen Groff

Lent begins with the reminder, “…to dust you shall return.” In this season we hear Jesus tell his followers, “I’m turning toward Jerusalem. I’m going to die there. Come with me.” It is a counter-cultural invitation. If much anxiety is rooted in our fear of death, we have to stop avoiding death. We are in the right season for this.

In the last sermon that I preached with a physically-present congregation, I quoted Julian of Norwich, using the familiar words in our hymnal. “All will be well, and all will be well, all manner of things will be well.”

At that time, I had no notion of the journey we were embarking on. I did not know we would not gather the following Sunday. I did not know COVID-19 had already arrived in our small, spaciously populated state.

Julian of Norwich

“All will be well” is not a glib platitude. Julian, born in 1342, lived through three rounds of the Black Plague, the Peasants’ Revolt, and part of the Hundred Years’ War. Before she heard God’s revelation that “all will be well,” she had been so severely ill that she was administered last rites. To say “all will be well” was not an optimistic claim that we will not experience suffering. It was a promise that in our suffering we are held within God’s being.

Since that Sunday, Paul’s assurance in Romans 14:8 has been repeating internally, as I walk, cook, and sit in silence: “Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” That also is not a glib promise. It does not deny death or the pain of death. But it affirms that just as God holds us now as we live fully and love life, God holds us as we face death, as we move through death, and as we discover what follows after death.

Those words from Scripture first came alive for me when a friend described her midwest community’s response to the Palm Sunday tornadoes of 1965. She was a child in Indiana when 137 people died and 1200 people were injured on that one Sunday. She experienced, up close, the reality that people you love die, people grieve hard, and relationships with those people and with God continue.

I marveled at her attitude in the acceptance of death. She is a person in love with the world, life, and people. But she has a real sense that death is not the end, and that “Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

I have at times thoughtlessly associated the acceptance of death with despair or purposelessness.  A neighbor said to me last week, “If COVID-19 would have happened the year after my husband died, I’d have been out there trying to catch it. But not now. I love life again. I want to live.”

Acceptance of the reality of death is not a death wish. And loving life doesn’t create a fear of death. We may fear death most when we sense we haven’t lived fully.

Another neighbor in the “high risk” category summed this up: “I want to live to be a hundred. But if I die now, boy—we’ve had a good run.”

I take Paul’s words in Romans to mean our life with God somehow continues through death and beyond. Can I hold that hope if my parents (in their 90s), quarantined in a nursing home, fall ill? Can I remember that promise if I am short of breath? And can I maintain that perspective if civilized society starts to disintegrate? How can we, as the body of Christ, behave as if we know that whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s?

Arts Contest to Help Give Hope

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By Maria Hart, Garden Chapel (Dover, NJ)

In times of darkness and crisis, Garden Chapel (Dover, NJ) desires to help and give to those in need.  The COVID-19 pandemic has left members of Garden Chapel feeling immobile, questioning their ability to fill needs because this situation is so new and unique.

One area of concern is the challenges children and youth face amidst this crisis.  It is a significant adjustment for them. Educational practices have changed. Daily news reports talk about healthy people nearby who are becoming very ill, even dying.  It has become the new norm, sadly. The pandemic is emotionally, mentally, and spiritually challenging for many young people.

Members of Garden Chapel have a special passion for the arts, as the arts serve as an outlet to express human emotions and our faith.

While so many are focused on the pandemic, Garden Chapel wants to redirect attention and resources to the arts with our “Delivering Hope Arts Contest.”  As most everyone is needing to stay at home these days, now is a good time to use the gift of music, fine arts, video, and literature to spread hope. Adults, too, are invited to participate, as many have lost jobs and are home, faced with great uncertainty and possible despair.

As news reports continually report on the growing rise of COVID-19, the body of Christ is called to spread an even larger dose of hope. This invitation to share the gifts of music and art is one way we can do that.

See the flyer for all the details (English & Spanish) and a registration form.