June 10th

Five Minutes on Friday 31

LOVE, COURAGE, WISDOM

 ‘Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality as with the ordinary church member.  Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier.  Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual.’    [Ammon Hennacy, Catholic Worker leader]

DISARMED

Five years ago Michael Sharp and colleague Zaida Catalan were working in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the United Nations.  Misled into believing they would be safe meeting with rebels they were kidnapped and killed.  Disarmed: The radical life and legacy of Michael MJ Sharp is a biography of this remarkable man. 

Sharp had a passion for peace but his commitment to pacifism was anything but passive.  As committed as he was to helping others, Sharp also loved having fun.  He enjoyed driving a sports car, and travel.  His ability to play poker helped pay for his studies at Eastern Mennonite University. 

After graduation from college, Sharp worked with soldiers seeking conscientious objector status in Germany.  From that role he went to Eastern Congo to teach non-violent methods of peacemaking.   His work brought him to the attention of the UN who hired him in 2015.  It was this work that also brought him to the attention of the rebels who later took his life.

A good book published by Herald Press.

HOLD ON 

Three startling stories have recently caught my attention:

One – there have been 246 mass shootings in the U.S. up to June 5 in 2022. That’s more shootings than days in the year so far. A grim statistic and sad commentary on the anger and division in that country.

Two - the June issue of Atlantic features a story entitled, ‘The War inside the Evangelical Church’ (by Tim Alberta).  It is available online, and it is a painful read. No religious group has been more closely tied to the rise of Trump; and Trumpism than the Evangelical Church. Alberta’s coast to coast travels in research reports dueling pastors and migrating members moving toward the right. Misinformation and conspiracy theories get mixed with an abbreviated gospel and churches are breaking apart.  As David Augsburger observes, ‘this is  no time for us to be silent when Anabaptism offers a different path toward following the Jesus of Galilee, Samaria, the Garden, Golgotha and Emmaus.’

Three – the Washington Post (and other media) have reported that up to one-third of Americans now believe violence is justified to overthrow a government they believe to be unjust.

Let’s remember to pray for our neighbours to the South, and especially MC USA as it seeks to be a voice for peace in this contested time.

https://youtu.be/LXnWzsShEZ0  -  Hold On (EMU Chamber singers)

SUNDAY

This week we begin a worship series – WE DECLARE – based on the theme of this year’s MC Canada Assembly in July.  The planners describe the theme this way: 

This theme is an important one for us to consider. Our congregations are in flux: many are aging and getting smaller in number, and many are seeking to reimagine themselves in new ways. New Canadian and nontraditional congregations are joining the Mennonite Church, and many congregations are becoming more culturally diverse. At the same time, the role of the church within Canadian society is continually shifting further away from a position of cultural or political importance. What place does our distinctive Christian message, the gospel, have in a religiously plural and culturally diverse world? How can we speak of our faith in a society of many faiths and no faith, a society that has seen all too well the harm the church can inflict in the name of Jesus? Is it possible in all this to imagine our churches proclaiming and living out a good news that is truly good news for humanity and all creation, even to imagine new believers joining us in following Jesus in his good-news way of love? 

The text for the Assembly comes from 1 John 1.1-4:

What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have looked at and touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life. 

²That life was displayed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.  

³What we have seen and heard, we declare to you too, so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  

⁴We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.  

FOR REFLECTION:

Do you find it easy / difficult to talk about your faith?

When did Jesus become more than just a name to you?