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John L. Ruth, Salford
johnroma@aol.com

For Peaceful Living’s founder Joe Landis, growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania’s oldest Mennonite community has been to know what a family singing circle felt like. At home the sensation focused in table fellowship and story-telling. At church there was the sacrament of singing together in a folk harmony. He joined this harmony singing as a child, hardly noticing how he had
learned to do so. “We thought anybody could sing like that,” he reflected.

Both home and church singing settings nurtured a powerful, yet sometimes taken for granted, sensation of being included. Even the voices of those, like Joe’s father’s seemingly ancient greatuncle Jonas L. Alderfer whose learning disability kept him from learning how to sing the right notes, were folded into the haunting sound, not of performance but community. “Joney” and his peers were there at the table and in the hymns. Only with such taken for granted completeness did the sacraments of table and church fellowship feel valid. Only with those hoarse voices did the harmony sound fully like home.

Hymns endear us to each other. Old ones connect us with souls who sang them before we were born and those who will sing them when our own voices fail. Hymns connect us with moments in the unfolding of our own individual and communal faith stories. New words, tapping deep wells, enrich old truths and surprise us with their gift of insight. Both singer and hearer are blessed in reprising foundational thoughts of supplication or praise in a medium that lends to our ordinary minds the superior gifts of poet and composer. We make great hymns our personal property. We lift our hearts corporately reminding each other that we belong to God together.

Not only persons familiar with traditional acappella congregational singing can be touched by its sense of family as the four-part sound creates an air of community. Often, even persons unfamiliar with the experience respond to its warmth. Joe thought this experience ought to be shared but wondered how.

Joe and a friend took sometime imagining what it would be like to hear humble meetinghouse strains profoundly ennobled by the string section of a major orchestra. While realizing that it was beyond anyone’s means, they knew the music would be nice. With the sense of family our hymns produce, Joe invited friends to bring those encircling harmonies, on a chamber rather than symphonic scale, into an album. In April and June 2005 Stan Yoder, an instrumental music teacher and performer, led a string quartet to accompany an ensemble of mostly nonprofessional singers who have sung since childhood in local congregations. The album, Spring Hymn Sing, was released last year.

The seventeen hymns and spiritual songs can all be found in Hymnal: A Worship Book (1992), the collection currently in use at many Mennonite and Brethren congregations. The album includes a cavalcade of Isaac Watts, Count von Zinzendorf, Beethoven, African-American spirituals, Brian Wren, and the list goes on. With such teeming memories and a God who, the Psalmist reminds us, “setteth the solitary in families,” how can we keep from singing?

Story behind the cover art: Cover art for “Spring Hymn Sing” was created by Ramin Dabiri of Wynnewood, PA. Ramin is a participant in Peaceful Livings’ Creative Gifts Community Mentoring Program. He has a cognitive disability due to a birth defect. Ramin enjoys the ability to express himself through art. He also enojoys music and is fluent in three languages including Turkish, Persian, and English.

Amanda Moser Arkans
aarkans@rockhillmennonites.org

In 1539, Menno Simons said: “True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant, it clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all men.”

At Rockhill Mennonite Community we attempt to express true evangelical faith as the residents in all levels of care are encouraged to live these words of Menno Simons.

Residents in the Healthcare Center may require 24 hour nursing care, but that does not stop them from exercising this kind of faith. Each month, the residents run a “Cookie Monster Sale” making homemade cookies and selling them to staff and their fellow residents. This money is then given to their Resident Council that decides how the money is divided.In the past, monies have been given to Mennonite Central Committee for use in disaster relief. Locally, the Resident Council supports the Sellersville Fire Department. They also provides bikes and helmets to Pennridge FISH (Fellowship In Serving Humanity), a non-profit organization that serves the needs of the low income families in the Pennridge School District, during the Christmas season.

But the Healthcare resident committee does not stop there. They also support their own, providing electric door openers to different areas of Rockhill to make all areas more accessible to the residents. In addition, they are sure to thank those that support them, by making handmade thank-you gifts for their caregivers during National Nursing Home Week. The Healthcare unit is active in many other areas of service that keep everyone’s evangelical faith from growing dormant while at Rockhill.

Our Healthcare residents are not the only ones who are busy living out this faith. Independent Living residents run a convenience store on-site, called Josey’s Store. Josey’s not only gives the residents the convenience of grocery shopping within the community but the profits from the store are used to support service projects at Rockhill and around the world. Many Independent Living residents are pending their retirement as volunteers with local organizations like the Care and Share in Souderton and Grand View Hospital. And not to be forgotten, the Assisted Living residents recently raised money for the Pennridge FISH “Bear” project.

Even the participants in the Adult Day Care Center express this faith by celebrating Christmas twice each year. Adult Day Services holds two food and dried goods drives for Indian Valley Opportunity Center, one in December and one as part of a Christmas in July celebration. They also make bookmarks a few times a year for patients at Grandview Hospital.

Sunday morning worship brings together residents from the entire community. The first Sunday of every month an offering is taken for a different charity. For instance, in February the offering went to support the Global Family Program of MCC. In a setting like this it is possible for our world to become rather small. These opportunities to support ministries near and far help expand our horizons and push us to keep in focus a world bigger than RMC.

Rockhill Mennonite Community relies on the aid of volunteers acting on these words of Menno Simons. Without the help of volunteers, Rockhill would not be able to continue to offer the broad spectrum of activities and events that its residents enjoy. Anyone interested in volunteering is urged to call Mary Bleakly at (215) 257-2751.

Jeanette Baum, Deep Run East
rjebaum@verizon.net
A columnist in the Allentown Morning-Call suggested that Mennonites (along with Quakers, Buddhists and Unitarians) might be able to solve the problems of the world when he heard about our congregation’s efforts. It’s definitely true that the “Shelter for Life” initiative has begun to transform our church at Deep Run East. Through “Shelter for Life”, we decided to build a house for an elderly couple who had lost their home to Hurricane Katrina. The house is being built in Pennsylvania in sections and will be taken to Louisiana by truck. There was a good buzz of excitement as the builders were trying to read the difficult blueprints.And we had questions. Would the truck drivers be able to navigate the small bridge that needed to be crossed to get to the building site? With some photos and calculations by an engineer from our congregation the good news was that they would not need to unload the tractor trailer on one side of the bridge and reload it on the other.As part of our building and connecting efforts we invited Gulf States Mennonite Conference leader Steve Cheramie-Risingsun to speak during a weekend event at Deep Run East. Steve is a Native American of the Chinamache tribe and a Mennonite pastor. He ministers with two Native American Mennonite congregations that are four hours apart, one in Alabama and the otherin Louisiana. He is a great storyteller and humble servant of God. Steve, his grown children, his mother and siblings also lost all their material possessions to Hurricane Katrina but he does not talk about his own hardships. His priority is to help others.

A gourmet banquet with a Louisiana flair began the special January weekend on Saturday evening. A woman, obviously unfamiliar with our congregation, arrived at the church at the same time as me. Over dinner, I learned that Danawah was Cherokee and a community activist. I discovered how little I knew about native cultures, practices, and beliefs. Our congregation learned that there is an active Coalition of Native Americans in Bucks/Montgomery Counties when a whole delegation arrived for Steve’s presentation after dinner.

There was an overwhelming response from the congregation and community along with gracious articles in the Allentown Morning-Call. During Saturday evening donations were collected from congregational members, the personal contacts from the congregation’s “Shelter for Life” committee with local businesses, and broader community response and as a result the house is now paid for, around $53,000!

In Steve’s Sunday morning sermon, he voiced his appreciation for our congregation’s music. He told us that the only instrument in one of his congregation’s is a guitar with a couple of strings missing.Then he affirmed our congregation for our witness and we listened. The story of his church’s guitar has lingered with me since that Sunday and challenged my thinking. What are the possibilities that might emerge if we partner with a Native American congregation and dare to begin a relationship?I was impressed by Steve’s humility and knowledge. In the question and answer time that took place during our adult Sunday School, we learned much about the way of life of our Native American brothers and sisters and about the hardships they have endured not only in the past but even now, as Euro-Americans continually take advantage of them. While Steve knows and feels the hurt of these injustices he does
not dwell on them. He is passionate and committed and radiates God’s love.

The weekend brought many moments of awareness inspired by God. Our time together brought to light things we were not aware of regarding our Native American brothers and sisters. We learned about the astounding devastation that continues from Hurricane Katrina, the difficulties that people continue to deal with as their homes remain uninhabitable and they live in the cramped quarters of temporary trailers. It is exciting that 15 of our men, including two truck drivers, volunteered to go to Louisiana and build this house so that they can see it through to completion. Our challenge is to continue to take on these opportunities to serve that are so close to home that there is no passport required! To hear the content of the whole weekend on CD or for information on building a Shelter for Life house, call Deep Run East Mennonite Church at 215 766 8380.

Jeanette, from Perkasie, PA, is a mother, grandmother and caretaker for her parents. She is currently involved in music ministry at Deep Run Mennonite Church East. She has an avid interest in missions. She, along with her husband Richard, has taken missions trips with Mennonite Mission Network, MAMA and Agros International.

Sharon K. Williams, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life
sharonw@designforministry.com

When should I speak and when should I listen? I wrestled with many questions like this as I worked with Native Mennonite Ministries and Poarch Community Church to host 400-500 people for the bi-annual Native Assembly of the Mennonite Church in Atmore, Alabama.

Due to the enormous burden of responding to the needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors in the Gulf Coast region, the on-site planning for Native Assembly was severely delayed. As unmet deadlines passed by, the organizing loomed large for Pastor Steve Cheramie-Risingsun, the host chair. Meanwhile Blooming Glen’s Damascus Road Team was praying for appropriate ways to involve their congregation in Hurricane Katrina recovery. Team members Rick and Barb Gebelein met Pastor Steve at a Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) gathering and began devising a plan to provide administrative assistance and web site development for the Native Assembly. Laura Kanagy from Lancaster Mennonite Conference and I were called to go to Atmore at various times while Blooming Glen members and others provided funds that were matched by Franconia Conference. As July arrived, much work remained and it was discerned that I should return to assist during the Assembly itself.

The coming together of the Native peoples from various tribes in the US and Canada was a wonderful celebration. Leaders and participants shared marvelous testimonies of their faith in Christ and their hopes for the Church through their native languages, stories, music, customs, dress and artwork. As I engaged in the intense cross-cultural experience, many questions arose which I still ponder. How should I show respect for the Poarch congregation and Assembly participants when I am unfamiliar with their cultures? How could I maintain proper perspective when showered with much heartfelt appreciation? How should I respond when the lines of responsibility blur? For a gathering so special as Native Assembly, should I even be here to witness it? As Christians I think we need to wrestle with these kinds of questions as we attempt to cross cultural and ethnic boundaries locally, in the US and abroad.

Claude Good
cgood@mosaicmennonites.org

Elizabeth Stover and her husband Preston who live at Dock Woods Community were out walking on the path in the woods connected to the retirement community. Coming toward them was a young man with his small playful child hanging on to his legs. Insoo Lee introduced himself and said he was the youth pastor of a nearby Korean church. Elizabeth invited Insoo’s family to her home for dinner and to speak with the prayer group that she leads at Dock Community.

At that meeting Insoo found out about the Worm Project and invited Alicia and I to present the project to the young people of his church. We were met with overwhelming enthusiasm. Some students wanted to take the contribution containers to their school classrooms to encourage their classmates to contribute as well.

That small group was able to pull together $1,000.00 in a few months! The Worm Project is able to buy a de-worming pill for just two pennies each when bought by the million. One pill can save enough food from the worms to help a child have, on average, an extra 10 lb. of food every six months. So at two cents each, $1,000.00 will buy enough pills to treat 50,000 children! But it will be even more than that – Insoo says that the youth want to keep the contribution containers to continue raising funds to treat more children around the world.

Insoo’s congregation has recently merged with Hatfield (PA) Church of the Brethren becoming one congregation – Grace/Hatfield Church of the Brethren. They worship in English at 10 a.m. and in Korean at 11:30 a.m. on Sundays. A bilingual worship is in their plans for the near future.

Melissa Landis
mlandis@mosaicmennonites.org

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” For generations, adults have asked children this familiar question and I never had a very good answer. For awhile, my quick response was “teacher” because at eight years old I liked to play “school” with my younger sister. But as I grew, I realized I really didn’t know.

In high school the idea of majoring in communication began to creep into my mind. Specifically I liked the idea of working at a non-profit organization that helped people. I decided to major in Organizational Communication because the blend of communication and business classes seemed like a way to facilitate my lingering desire to work in the non-profit realm. As I went through college I held out hope that my major would allow me to do something worthwhile with my vocation.

On my graduation day at Tabor College in Kansas the question of what I wanted to do when I grew up stared me in the face with ferocity. How was I going to use my gifts, my abilities, and my education in the real world? I made a decision to trust that even though I never had a lightening bolt moment of clarity, God would how me the next step. I believed that the promise of Philippians 1:6 was true for me: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.

Recently I began looking at the possibility of working with Franconia Conference as Administrative Services Manager. The position brought together several of my interests and in supporting the staff I could support the conference’s mission of “equipping leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission”. At just the right time a new step in my life was revealed, one that will challenge and stretch me. Most importantly, I know God will continue to work in my life, growing me into the person I was meant to be.

Melissa began her new role in January. She is married to Isaac Landis and attends Franconia Mennonite Church. A graduate of both Hesston and Tabor Colleges in Kansas, Melissa grew up in Nebraska.

Gay Brunt Miller

In early July, all roads lead to San Jose, California,the site of the 2007 Mennonite Church USA
Convention. Here are a few reasons why you should seriously consider going:

1. To experience being part of something bigger: Nearly 110,000 members comprise
Mennonite Church USA. Come and meet your brothers and sisters, discover our diversity, and
experience this group to which you belong!

2. To hear the heart of our denominational leaders: Do you ever wonder who the people are that are providing leadership to our denomination? Meet them in person and hear their passion
for Christ and the Church.

3. To participate in inspiring worship: The impact of worshipping together can feel like a foretaste of heaven. Come to collectively offer our worship to our amazing God!

4. To learn: With dozens of seminars and workshops
to choose from you are bound to be better equipped for ministry in your community.

5. To discern: If you come as a delegate, you can help to discern issues of how we live out our faith in this world as Mennonite Church USA.

6. To listen: Hear of churches of recent immigrants growing in Southern California. Talk to those from the Gulf States about how they are fairing as they continue to rebuild in the aftermath
of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Learn how God is moving. Listen to their stories.

7. To speak: Encourage others with your stories. Tell how God is moving in your life and your congregation.

8. To witness God at work among our youth: Youth convention is often a powerful time in the lives of our youth. Come experience their energy and joy as they encounter God.

9. To meet God: Come prepared and open to experiencing God in a fresh way in your own life! This year’s theme is “Live the Call! ¡Viva El Llamado!” based on Ephesians 4:1-6.

10. To see California! Take the opportunity to see a slice of the West Coast. Build in vacationbefore or after the convention to venture even further than San Jose. It’s a beautiful place!

Franconia Conference encourages each congregation to send a delegate and your youth to this important experience.Can’t go? Maybe you can help someone else from your congregation attend. The Convention is planned with activities for the whole family!