MWR : Articles : June 11, 2012

Articles : June 11, 2012

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Bible

All of life belongs to God

Leviticus 25 details the initiation of a regular period of rest — Sabbath — for the land (25:2). Here we see the interconnectedness of all creation; people, land and animals all enter into a rhythm of productivity and rest.

Editorial

Gospel in the Gospels

There’s a gospel within the Gospels that most Christians overlook. That’s the premise of British scholar N.T. Wright’s new book, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. An Anglican, Wright preaches a Christ-centered faith that Anabaptists affirm but that Wright asserts is rare.
Worth the cost

After attending public school through eighth grade, I reluctantly transferred to Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, Pa. By my junior year, however, I had fallen in love with Anabaptist-Mennonite values and education. Sort of.

Feature

Faith descendants trace footsteps of first Anabaptists

ZURICH, Switzerland — Walking along the bank of the Limmat River, Thioro Bananzoro pondered the challenges Anabaptists have turned into opportunities over the last five centuries.

Letters

Negating God’s design

Pastor Joanna Harader’s statement on sexual minorities (“Why I Officiated a Same-Sex Ceremony,” May 28) negates that God had only one design for our sexuality: to bring forth life. While sex is a desirable pleasure and meant to be, it was never designed to be the major thrust of man’s life. God told man to go forth and multiply. Gays and lesbians cannot do this. Therefore they dishonor God’s mandate to populate the Earth. This is not to say that people with such inclinations cannot be loved, they just cannot honor God by fulfilling those sexual urges.
Let’s meet halfway

Thank you for covering the gay/lesbian issue in depth. I was a delegate from Peace Mennonite Church in Lawrence, Kan., to last year’s Western District Conference. After 15 years at Peace, I’ve learned Mennonites have a regrettable tendency to schism. We need a vaccine against that. The pastor of a Houston church dropped a nugget of wisdom at the conference. The issue, he said, is not who follows Jesus or doesn’t, whether we trust Paul or Jesus more, whether congregations or denominations should have the last word. The conversation’s “about all of those things,” he said. “And we need to figure out how to dialogue and keep those values in tension with one another.”
Accept different views

In the Nov. 28 MWR, a group of mostly pastors expressed their opinion concerning gays and lesbians. Instead of the church going through many years of excruciating pain, the letter said, we might just as well split right now. (I doubt if the writers were really encouraging a split.)

News

Better lives spring from wells

Some people living in villages across Kenya must walk for hours every morning to get clean drinking water. Just one water well can improve the lives of thousands of people.
MWC leaders strengthen connections in global body

BASEL, Switzerland — Anabaptist historical and theological roots were a strong undercurrent for the triennial gathering of the Mennonite World Conference General Council May 20-26 at the St. Chrischona Conference Centre near Basel.
MWC elects U.S. pastor as next president

BASEL, Switzerland — It took three impromptu songs to count the ballots and confirm the results, but Anabaptist leaders from around the world elected J. Nelson Kraybill president-elect of Mennonite World Conference at MWC General Council meetings May 20-27.