MWR : Articles : June 6, 2011

Articles : June 6, 2011

Church dancing

In March and April we collected 40 boxes of crackers and 107 cans of fish for the Associated Churches of Fort Wayne. We also collected items for MCC health kits, and filled 92 kits.
Car racing

On March 9, our AWANA Club held their annual Grand Prix Car Races with about 50 cars entered by clubbers and staff. This year the AWANA program was under the leadership of Jason and Tifany Clark. The event was attended by 80 friends and family of clubbers.
Kids against hunger

The Bluffton (Ohio) University Camerata Singers were in concert at Zion March 10. Participating churches in our Mid-Lee County Council observed March 13-19 as “Week of Christian Unity.”

Monument to war objectors

They’ve built a monument to Civilian Public Service, but not of stone. A new website keeps alive the memory of CPS, the World War II alternative service program, and aims to inspire new generations of conscientious objectors.

On a winding path, Franconia minister found community

HARLEYSVILLE, Pa. — Though Christian women often went door-to-door in Ertell M. Whigham Jr.’s North Philadelphia neighborhood, he didn’t know they were Mennonite.

Inclusion is encouraging

I was thrilled to read of the strong support of Goshen College students for gay and lesbian faculty and staff and that a pastor who performed a same-sex commitment ceremony had not been disciplined (May 23). It is encouraging to see these signs of hope that some in the Mennonite church understand that God’s creation includes our gloriously complex sexual natures, which cannot be stuffed into two little boxes marked “masculine” and “feminine” without serious violation of the law of love and of understanding that the mystery of sexuality is far more fluid than many of us have understood.
Inclusion is mind-boggling

The report of students at Goshen College pressing for the inclusion of openly gay faculty members is a mind-boggler. Traditionally, Mennonites have been biblicists. The Bible leaves no question regarding God’s view of homosexuality, or the 21st-century term “GLBTQ.” From Genesis to Revelation, God’s opinion did not change regarding Sodom and Sodomites. God left little doubt when he used fire and brimstone as an object lesson to those people and all subsequent peoples.
Taxes for good

I congratulate Sheldon C. Good for his editorial, “Budget Should Protect the Poor” (May 9). People such Warren Buffet, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates have suggested that taxes are for the good of the commonwealth and should be used to preserve the lives, dignity and human rights of the poor.

MB youth hear controversial Claiborne

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Shane Claiborne and Paula Simpson-Parry posed a dramatic yet effective contrast as keynote speakers at the U.S. Mennonite Brethren national youth convention.
MDS provides leadership in ravaged Joplin

The needs of tornado survivors in Joplin, Mo., run even deeper than damaged homes and lost possessions. Many are uninsured.