formational

The good news is still breaking

January 9, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Stephen Kriss, director of leadership cultivation

“After a sermon like that, I just want to cry,” commented octogenarian Roma Ruth, reflecting on Salford intern John Tyson’s debut sermon on Sunday. John is an Eastern Mennonite University and Christopher Dock High School grad studying now at Princeton Seminary. His internship represents the best of flourishing conference, congregation, and community relationships. He is learning alongside his old high school history teacher, Joe Hackman, who is now Salford’s lead pastor. I’m serving as John’s official supervisor for the year, a role I’m happy to fill as the conference’s director of leadership cultivation.

Roma’s family helped to start the small mission church in Somerset County, Pa., where my family first connected with the Mennonites. Now, almost thirty years later, I am the one cultivating new generations of leaders. In the seven years I have worked for the conference, it has been both a challenge and a joy to do this kind of work, helping a historic community navigate into the realities of next-generation leadership. I’ve worked with dozens of interns, students, pastors. I continue to witness amazing and sometimes disturbing things. It’s not easy to be a next-generation leader in the church. There are lots of bang-ups and bruises. What amazes me, though, is the willingness of young people to invest in our broken but beautiful communities in spite of, and sometimes because of, this very brokenness.

Roma told me that her tears were from the realization that John’s sermon spoke powerfully to issues of the Good News, justice, and peace that are close to her heart. She recognized in the sermon yet another turning of the page. It’s a gracious realization that God continues to call forth new leaders in nearly 300-year-old congregations in a half-millennia-old tradition in ways that are both resonant and discordant with the past, but nonetheless harmonizing with the way of Christ across the generations.

I am becoming more and more aware that the Spirit is increasingly calling leaders across ethnic lines, calling women, calling people born outside of the Mennonite fold into our contexts of worship and ministry. These men and women are highly skilled, highly committed, willing to be vulnerable, willing to contribute without thought of compensation, often living somewhere between patient and zealous, believing in both constancy and change. Of course there are still areas of growth, but overall the gifts of next-generation leaders are like the gifts of the magi—appropriate, overwhelming, full of mystery and grace.

It is fitting that John’s sermon was on Epiphany, a time of celebrating the gifts of those coming from another place, marking the inbreaking of salvation, wise to the ways of the world, bearing with them what they hope will witness to a beautiful new beginning embedded in a real and historic story. Our community’s challenge is to have the courage, wherewithal, and imagination, along with the spiritual rootedness, to understand and celebrate that God is still with us and that, as John said in his sermon and Roma affirmed this last Sunday at Salford, “the good news is still breaking.”

Living in grace and difference

January 3, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

Marking 25 years of credentialing women in Franconia Conference

by Emily Ralph, Salford

My most vivid memory from the fall of 1987 was sitting in a circle with my preschool classmates taking turns shaking a jar of cream an impossibly long time until it became—wonder of wonders!—butter. There isn’t much drama when you’re four: arguments over who plays with who on the playground, the boredom of lying wide awake on the mat during naptime, joy at seeing Mom again at the end of the day.

Marty Kolb-Wyckoff was the first woman licensed in Franconia Conference. Photo by Andrew Huth.

While I was building with blocks and coloring pictures in that Ohio preschool, history was in the making 400 miles away.

Delegates from Franconia Conference had spent several years in conversation and discernment, listening, talking, and praying about the question of women in leadership. That fall, without much fanfare, delegates voted to allow congregations to request credentialing for female leaders. In fact, the decision was made so quietly and gently that the newsletter announcement a few months later only took up three inches of column space.

This past Assembly marked the 25^th anniversary of this decision. I am still in awe sometimes that this happened in my lifetime. As a licensed pastor in Franconia Conference, I think about how different my life would be now if that decision hadn’t been made. I am so grateful to those leaders who wrestled with a difficult issue and came to a graceful and gracious decision together.

That’s the beauty of the “women in leadership” conversation that Franconia Conference had in the 1980s—it was conducted with love and respect for the diversity of opinion within our conference. Unlike some other conferences, Franconia didn’t lose a single church when that decision was made. And this gives me incredible hope.

Twenty-five years later, we’re still having difficult conversations and there will be new difficult conversations twenty-five years from now. But the Spirit of unity, the Spirit of love, not fear—that is, the Spirit of Jesus—is with us today, just as that same Spirit was with conference leaders twenty-five years ago. This Spirit allows us to find unity not just despite our differences but as we acknowledge and celebrate our differences.

Logan, Emily, and Cadi — Emily with her nephew and niece–how will they reflect on today’s conversations in 25 years?

I don’t know what the future holds; I don’t know what decisions we will be making in the coming years. But somewhere nearby, there are little boys and girls swinging, and building Lego castles, and maybe even shaking jars of cream into butter who will someday reflect on our conversations—may they be inspired by our devotion, our integrity, our perseverance, and most of all, our love for one another.

Are you a tourist or a pilgrim?

January 2, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

by John Stoltzfus, Conference Youth Minister

For many youth leaders and youth, this is the time that preparations begin in earnest for summer trips. Many are planning for the Mennonite Convention in Phoenix while other groups are planning service trips local and beyond. Are we preparing our youth to go as pilgrims or tourists?

At a recent conference gathering, Elizabeth Soto Albrecht, moderator elect for Mennonite Church USA (MC USA), spoke of her plans for a pilgrimage this summer. In solidarity with those who may be unable to attend convention because of immigration restrictions, she will take the opportunity to visit various places and churches along the way during the time of convention. What if all of us would consider our upcoming youth trips as pilgrimages?

A pilgrimage speaks of an expectation to meet God and to be changed along the way. A pilgrim resolves that the one who returns will not be the same person that left. A tourist may go with a more consumerist approach primarily looking to accumulate for personal gain. For a tourist, much more attention is given to the outer details of the trip: what is packed, where to visit, what entertainment to see, and what souvenirs to buy with little reflection on the inner journey of the soul. Pilgrims go on pilgrimage not necessarily to see something, but to receive something: renewed spirit, greater devotion to God, a new sense of community, and a wider world view of God’s kingdom.

I wonder if it would be beneficial to remind our youth that we travel not as tourists but as pilgrims. This mind set is established prior to departure. When we are making our packing lists, pilgrims should be reminded that the most important thing we take with us on the pilgrimage is receptivity to God’s presence all along the journey.

The preparation and the follow-up can be as important as the trip itself. What makes the difference between being a tourist and a pilgrim is a sense of openness and expectancy. Too often we decide beforehand what a trip should be like and we judge it by our own needs and desires. It may prove to be disappointing or satisfactory but it will rarely be the occasion of some new revelation or growth in our life of faith. As leaders we need to cultivate within ourselves and our youth the openness to follow a different way.

For those planning to go to convention this summer here are some ideas of ways to do things differently:

Along with raising money to attend the convention, invest in the DREAMer Fund set up by MC USA. The goal of the fund is to help undocumented young people pay the fee required to apply for a deferment.
Partner with another congregation who may not have the resources in order to make the pilgrimage together.
Seek to visit and form a relationship with an immigrant congregation in your area in order share stories and increase understanding.
Invest the congregation in praying for the youth before, during and after the pilgrimage.
Encourage all the participants to keep a journal during the trip. Provide for regular opportunities along the way for group reflection and sharing.
In the months after the convention, take time for reflection on what was learned. Be prepared to make changes and respond to new commitments.

Walking in the Way of Peace

December 19, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

Last spring, the Eastern District and Franconia Conference Peace and Justice Committee sent invitations to our congregations for any member, young or old, to write reflections on “Walking in the Way of Peace.” We weren’t sure what response we would receive, but we offered this as one way for people to consider and express how their experience of following Jesus in everyday life led them to reconciling conversations, or choices supporting justice for vulnerable people, or perhaps what tensions they felt in trying to live Christ’s peace. As it turned out, the best submissions did speak of struggle and uneasiness – especially the conflicted feeling of desiring the well-being and fullness of life God intends for us and all creation, and cringing in our awareness of our own part in continuing the gap between God’s dream and our present reality. Thanks be to God that we are not left alone in acknowledging the gap, but live with the Spirit within us, moving among us to create peace that eclipses human understanding! May these two honest reflections feed our common hope in the Prince of Peace, who comes to us in weakness and poverty–that the glory of the Lord would be revealed, and all people would see it together.

Walking in the Way of Peace

by Brenda Shelly, Blooming Glen

I have not opened morning eyes to a place torn by bombs or spent a night without sleep due to violence.

But I long for peace in the devastated dark corners of this trembling globe.

I have not tasted the painful bitterness of losing a loved one to war.

But my heart aches for mothers and wives bearing such a profound and agonizing sting.

The mouths of my children have never asked for bread because they could not quiet great hunger from within.

But my soul aches when I remember the millions less fortunate. The gentle, the innocent, the starving. Parents with no way to comfort a dying child.

Never have I been unduly pressed by a governmental or cultural authority, leaving me powerless and desperate.

How I fear for those oppressed beyond any visible hope or release.

It has not been difficult for me to turn the other cheek in my privileged middleclass neighborhood with only the sound of wind chimes and the occasional spoiled dog next door to break the silence.

I’ve had no trouble integrating my nonviolent beliefs in the peaceful way of Jesus with the realities of my tiny, sheltered, personal world. I am sometimes ashamed by my pedestrian untested faith. How can my opinions even matter when resting alongside such global suffering?

I have no answers. Yet my heart burns for peace. Every fiber of my being aches for justice, longs for reconciliation, and desperately hopes that somewhere deep inside each vengeful or frightened heart, we might someday find our common humanity. A humanity in which will can all to look into the eyes of the one we fear (the one we think we hate) and see our own eyes looking back.

Why "walking in the way of peace" requires grace

December 19, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

Michael Meneses

Why “walking in the way of peace” requires grace

by Michael A. Meneses, Wellspring Church of Skippack

People hurt people. There is no exception. There are a thousand and one ways in which we hurt one another. And we’re all guilty. We alienate and exclude, and distance ourselves; we give them the silent treatment or rudely dismiss them as inadequate and unimportant; we label and ridicule or nurture distain in our hearts for them; we assume superiority over them, we indulge in profiling and pre-judgment, we take advantage of them, manipulate, cheat, lie, and steal from them, and so-on and so-forth. And so, many become wary, careful in relationships, afraid to get too close, fearful of vulnerability, quietly building invisible protective walls against others.

As such, given our present human condition, walking in the way of peace is contrary to our nature. Why? Upon eating the forbidden fruit, the human race declared war against God, as well as against each other. Each of us in one form or another has declared ourselves a god in our own right in defiance of our Creator. This is reflected in our power struggles with one another. We want our own way. When we don’t get it? It’s fight or flight. That’s our real human nature.

Because of this, walking in the way of peace actually begins with the honest acknowledgement that relationships are dangerous. Conflict, disagreements and hurt, offenses-given and offenses-taken, are a regular occurrence in our day-to-day relations with others. When relationships go awry, many find it much easier to drop the relationship (fight or flight) rather than stay committed to the way of love and its hard work of constructive engagement for peace building. Thus, walking in the way of peace can be quite a challenge.

Furthermore, genuine peace is not merely the absence of open conflict between two parties. For example, there can be much pain and agony between people even where there is no apparent conflict: silent hurt feelings, quiet misunderstandings, and self-righteous accusatory judgment, for example. Real Biblical peace, Shalom, is actively concerned for one’s neighbor, for his or her fulfillment and completion, soundness and wholeness, serenity and tranquility, success and prosperity. If two neighbors passively live side-by-side in distrust and with silent resentment toward each other, and never speak a word to each other unless necessary, there is no real shalom in that neighborhood.

Neither is walking in the way of peace a matter of becoming a doormat to avoid conflict. Seeking wholeness, one-ness, and completeness for all, including one’s self, is a deliberate choice to stay connected and negotiate in and through conflict in order to find a harmonious solution as much as is humanly possible (Romans 12:18). Being a deliberate intent to respect, care for, and consider the needs and interests of “the other,” while at the same time respecting one’s own needs and interests, walking in the way of peace maintains a self-integrity without fabricated self-effacement, a kind of false humility. Avoiding conflict through disingenuous self-denial is motivated out of fear or cowardliness rather than genuine strength of character that is willing to stand for what is true, right, or good. Such avoidance has little integrity and does little to address the actual source of conflict.

All this is not only difficult, it is next to impossible. It takes super human strength. It’s beyond human nature. It therefore requires God’s grace, the work of the Holy Spirit within us, and a ready submission to Christ’s Lordship and Authority in our lives. It requires God’s unconditional love working its way in and through us, toward others. And though we don’t always get it right, we must always keep trying. For it is the way God expands His Kingdom-Rule among us.

Moved by faith … back to school

December 13, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Maria Byler, Philadelphia Praise Center

In Matthew 17 Jesus tells the disciples that with faith the size of a mustard seed they could move mountains. But at Philadelphia Praise Center/Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia, something else is being moved by faith: adults are going to school. And I, as site administrator, get to witness the miraculous results.

This fall, 15 members of PPC/CAF started the certificate program of the Anabaptist Biblical Institute (IBA), an adult Christian education program coordinated by the Mennonite Education Agency and the Hispanic Mennonite Church. It consists of eight 12-week courses. Students complete workbook lessons on their own and meet weekly in group tutoring sessions. Tutors are pastors Leticia Cortés and Fernando Loyola. With God’s help the first course, Introduction to Bible Study, was completed in early December.

Each student is in a very different place with their education. One student is completing postdoctoral work, one dropped out of elementary school over 20 years ago. Most have begun to know Jesus within the last five years. But their varied experiences with school and church were overcome by the strength of their faith and their desire to learn more about God.

At the first class when asked about the homework, most of the students raised their eyebrows and shook their heads sadly. “Me cuesta leer tanto,” – “It’s hard for me to read so much” “No entendí todas las preguntas,” “I didn’t understand all the questions.” We struggled through the literary genres in the Bible and the difference between figurative and literal. But we also had great conversations about Hebrew identity, Creation, and even vegetarianism. Week after week I left the class amazed at what God is doing with these humble but eager followers. And the students left the class feeling as though they had merely scratched the surface of knowledge, and ready to deepen their understanding.

More than what God is doing inside each student is what God is doing with us as a community. We are each (including me) growing so much more than if we just read the lessons individually. IBA has become a very human place where we learn from the reading and also from our sisters’ and brothers’ life views. This includes experiences of members of the community during the course. We have had to cancel or rearrange classes because of illness or other church events – and those happenings make it into the class conversation. Students often bring their children, who participate in their own way. It’s giving us all practice in being a community of sharing and support as we learn together how to walk this life as Christians.

At the beginning of the New Year we start on the second course: Anabaptist History and Theology. For more information on what we’re studying, check out the Mennonite Education Agency website. Or, if you’d rather, contact me – I love to talk about this exciting work that God is doing in the church!

Fall Ministerial Update

November 29, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

Noah Kolb, for the Ministerial Committee

Ubaldo Rodriguez, left, is the newest member of the Ministerial Committee.

The Ministerial Committee met on September 5 and November 7. At our September meeting, we welcomed Ubaldo Rodriguez as a new member of the committee. We took action to approve Kristopher Wint, associate pastor of Finland congregation, for a two-year ministerial license toward ordination and accepted the ordination credentials of John Stoltzfus, conference youth minister and campus pastor at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, from Illinois Conference.

At our November meeting, we approved Franco Salvatori, pastor of Rocky Ridge congregation, for a license toward ordination. The committee took action to change the ordination status of Dennis Detweiler and Bill Brunk from “active’ to “retired.” The policy to assist credentialed leaders with counseling expenses was reviewed and updated. We invited LEADership Ministers and the Credentials Committee to join us in reviewing the policies that guide who we credential.

God@Work: Singing a New Song

November 28, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Sheila R. Duerksen, Blooming Glen

How does one who was sheltered in the arms of a loving family, taught of God as she is taught to walk, surrounded by faith as by an embryonic fluid — how does one such as I not know that God loves her?

In a crisis of overwhelming fears, I came to sudden clarity that I did not really trust Him, and this was rooted in not truly believing that He loves me. Yes, I believed He loved the world, in a general, beneficent Creator sort of way. But what interest did He have in me? I knew I had been sheltered and protected, and for that I was grateful. But I did not believe that He treasured me, and I did not believe that I should even expect that kind of attention. I should be thankful for what I have and be content. But there was a yearning in me I could not name.

I did not realize that thankfulness would unlock the greatest surprise of my life: a God, on the edge of His seat, a catch in His throat, His muscles taut as He restrained Himself to honor my free will, and waited…waited…waited for me, His beloved. A God who longed for me and fought for me and craved an intimate relationship with me. I never imagined a God like that, His Words a-quiver with life, a startlingly real God of visions and dreams and singing a new song.

During this season of growing thankfulness came the songs. Suddenly, like rain showers, words and music began to fall into my mind. I never knew when the next song would come. I did not deliberately try to write them; they would arrive out of the clear blue, while I was jogging or in the shower or at the kitchen sink. They arrived while I was sleep deprived and desperately juggling the needs of two young children while drowning in the mire of household tasks. I simply opened up and received.

This was shocking and delightful to me. I had never written a song in my life, and it had never occurred to me to try. Still, I had always loved the feel and tang of words, and found joy in music, paying very close attention to the songs which moved me. The mystery of music called to me.

Could it be that God…knew me? Cared about me? He knew that, when I was lost in the worship of thankfulness that January morning, my spirit suddenly stretched out long toward Him… I wanted to sing. I wanted my own words to sing. But I could not ask for such a thing. You aren’t deserving of that. And if you want it too badly, you will not get it. You will be disappointed. But somehow grace was stronger than fear, and He heard my faintest soul whisper, the deepest desire of my heart, what I did not even know was hidden in me. He gave me what I was afraid to ask for.

This was a God who knew that the hurts incurred on my journey through the world had shaken me and battered me. I had put away my poetic nature, my creativity, and my sensitivity because they did nothing to protect me from the blows. I became jaded and suspicious, because innocence made me a target. I closed the door on dreams because they weren’t practical or responsible. But He knew who He had created me to be. And He was calling out to that girl. For the first time in my life, I heard Him.

He has answered my deepest questions and my deepest longings by His love for me. I see His hands all over the events of my life, weaving the joy and pain together into something new, always something new. Fear and disappointment cannot withstand the astonishing tenderness and mercy of my Father’s relentless pursuit of me; the creator and caretaker of all that exists is also the Lover of my soul.

formational

Marking 25 years of credentialing women in Franconia Conference

Walking in the Way of Peace

Why “walking in the way of peace” requires grace

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