Welcome to the Next Mennonite Century blog.
This discussion is an outgrowth of a Waterloo North Mennonite Church adult Sunday School class with sessions on May 12 & 19 and June 2 & 9. You will find a little more information about the topic under the "The Agenda" tab/page. If you are of a slightly suspicious frame of mind, look under The (Hidden) Agenda tab for hints as to where the course might lead. References to books and other resources that have influenced the material in the course, and links where available, will eventually be found under the "The Reading List" tab.
Running a blog is completely new territory for me, so this one will definitely be a work in progress (I guess that is more or less the point of a blog). For the time being, what I have in mind is for discussion to first take place in class, with postings to follow (i.e. there will be no need to read postings or other materials in advance). However, with four relatively brief sessions, it may not be feasible to explore ideas and questions thoroughly, and some people may prefer time to reflect before contributing their thoughts. Hopefully this blog will permit such conversation to continue outside of class, as well as allow for participation by those who can't make it to the session.
Remember the first rule of on-line communication - whatever you say may be out there forever! Please don't let this make you hesitate, but if you make your comments with a respectful and courteous tone, they should not come back to haunt you ten years later when you are running for public office. ; )
If you want to comment and aren't familiar with the process, look down to the end of the posting to which you want to respond. You should see either a comment window, or a link that refers to "comments" or "no comments". Just click on that link.
I look forward to your input.
I look forward to this morning's discussion.
ReplyDeleteI'm bouncing off a comment in this morning’s class about Anabaptists and Counter Reformation of the 16th Century as trying to lead people to a radical personal experience with God.
ReplyDeleteThat leads me to ask what message does our century need to hear that would call people to a radical experience of relationship with God?
On one hand I would suggest the chasm between us and God in our time is brought about in part by toxic individualism. "Because I am my own independent person I do not need God" could ring true for many in our culture. Since our ultimate identity is the individual, it is a struggle for us to conceive of an ultimate group identity such as “the Body of Christ”.
On another hand I would suggest another struggle that some have is of feeling “at one” with all people, or even more broadly, with all of God’s creation. In such a case what does it mean to identify with a smaller portion of creation called “the church”, or even “Waterloo North Mennonite Church”? “Building walls” feels like a violent or unhealthy metaphor to use for establishing an identity.
How do we describe our distinctive identity as a church in a way that bonds us deeply with God as the body of Christ, but does not give in to individualism and does not do unjust violence to “the other”. Ron Flaming
ReplyDeleteRuss: My hearty commendations on your initiative and work in commencing a blog on this intriguing and timely question! Sadly I missed the first discussion and thus appreciate this opportunity to catch up a bit and to toss my initial thoughts into the hopper is most appreciated. It feels good to start off by affirming Ron Flaming's insights above. They offer helpful grist for the mill. I'll refrain from attempting to pursue any specifics in his piece.
My more mundane thoughts include a hope of much less preoccupation with celebrating endlessly the historical stories of the persecuted founders of our Anabaptist brand of the faith so as to move on to more conversation and sharing about ways of putting that faith into practice in our daily living and workplaces, with less preoccupation with maintenance and defense of Menno Institutions. Hopefully such a shift could help create space for honestly confronting difficult questions such as how to deal with doubts and uncertainty without getting bogged down\ smothered in theo-jargon, inquiry into the evolution of scripture and the church's interpretation of it.
Oh to be free of the mindset, that inside our"walls", ( as per Ron’s comment above), we' possess all the truth ever needed by humanity.
I yearn too for the day when theologs and their adherents stop misrepresenting science and dismissing a legitimate role for it along side scripture in helping us understand the world we live in and how we need to behave responsibly. I would welcome a revelation among those who so zealously pursued a Lutheran apology to ‘Anabaptists’ that Mennonites owe a lot of substantive apologies to aboriginal people in North, South, Central America America, and the Ukraine where our fore bearers were among those who brushed aside aboriginal people to make space for themselves and Our lives of comfort while many if not most of them, live lives of poverty and misery. It’s also time to cease the evangelizing talk so as to make time for listening, learning and repenting.
dave cressman
May 24, 2013
ReplyDeleteAs you begin this journey, Russ, blessings to you and your readers. In the May 12 comments, How did you get to the 21st century, I would suggest that you add the concept of separation of church and state as well as the concept that the Christian should obey God rather than humans to the list of distinctives. Secondly, I like the suggestion raised of what the Catholic Church has learned since 1525. That question might be followed by what we have learned about the Catholic Church since then.
Doug Snyder