Greetings!

It is with much joy that we write to invite families in your congregation to consider attending Peacebuilders Family Camp this summer, June 11 – 16, 2012.  Marilyn McGinnis and Krista Showalter Ehst, members of Atlanta Mennonite Fellowship, and Jonah McDonald, from the Atlanta Friends Meeting, are planning a week full of learning and adventure in south Georgia for families from Central District Conference churches.  Last summer, Jonah and Marilyn co-directed Peacebuilders Camp for youth, and with encouragement from CDC pastors and financial support from grants, are this year expanding the camp to include a week for CDC families.  Krista will join the leadership team this year and will bring to Family Camp both her passion for peace education and her solid grounding in Mennonite thought and theology.

Peacebuilders Family Campers will live together in community for a week at Koinonia Partners in Americus, Georgia, a working farm with strong ties to the Civil Rights Movement and Christian peacemaking.  Koinonia, with its rich history of social justice work and intentional community, provides the perfect setting for exploring peace-building and faithful living.  From our home base at Koinonia, we’ll venture each day into surrounding communities to witness the examples of other peacemakers, and to consider the many opportunities that people of faith have to impact their communities and their world. Daily devotional and reflection times will be included in the schedule, as well as plenty of recreational opportunities.

Our plans for the week include:

…a tour of Koinonia Parnters’ farm, with a discussion of its history and its present witness.

…a visit to Café Campesino, a fair trade coffee roastery, where we’ll learn about the importance of fair trade for farmers and craftspeople in developing nations.

…an excursion to south Georgia farm communities to witness the impacts that harsh new laws have had on the migrant workers who harvest our crops, and to meet the dedicated healthcare workers who serve this at-risk population.

…a morning exploring Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village and learning about Habitat’s work in all parts of the world.

…a service project with Fuller Center for Housing in Americus.

…a visit to Andersonville, Georgia, the site of the largest Civil War prison camp, and home to the National Prisoner of War Museum, where we’ll consider the cost of war, its lasting impacts, and the opportunity for courageous peacemaking in the face of brutal conflict.  (An alternate activity will be made available for younger children.)

…the opportunity to visit immigrant detainees at the largest immigrant detention center in the nation, and to share a meal with detainees’ family members at El Refugio, a ministry of hospitality one mile away from the detention center.

…a hike at Providence Canyon State Park, a beautiful canyon that was created through agricultural runoff – the consequence of unsustainable farming practices.  (Children and adults who choose not to visit Stewart Detention Center may opt to spend additional time at the park or other nearby venues.)

…a half-day of swimming at a state park lake, lots of water activities in the hot Georgia sun, a movie night, and plenty of fun and fellowship.

Peacebuilders Family Camp targets families with children ages 8 and up, and also welcomes applications from single adults and couples without children in the home.  Activities will be planned with a wide age group in mind, and different options will be available for children, teens, and adults when appropriate.

The cost for the week of camp is $600 for the first family member plus $300 for the 2^nd family member, $250 for the 3^rd, $150 for the 4^th, and $100 for each additional family member after that.  Because of the generosity of Central District Conference, the Peace and Justice Committee of the Mennonite Church, and several congregations, we are able to offer scholarships to families who require financial assistance to attend camp.

We urge you to visit our website at www.peacebuilderscamp.org for more information, photos from last year’s youth camp, and the application for this year’s camps.  You may also contact Marilyn through email at marilyn.mcginins (at) earthlink (dot) net or Jonah at jonah (at) surefootadventures (dot) com.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Many blessings to you and your congregations.

Last Saturday, Jane Patty, Jill Jantzen, and I drove up to Grace Mennonite Church in Pandora, near Bluffton, to attend our Central District Conference regional gathering.  These gatherings happen once a year and provide an additional opportunity outside of the summer annual gathering for people to connect, worship together, and keep in touch with the life of the conference.  There were 40+ people there with the largest representation from Grace Mennonite and First Mennonite, Bluffton.  We tied with Shalom Mennonite of Ann Arbor, Michigan for the longest drive.  Here are some highlights from the day:

+ We listened to a historical vignette about the life of Anne Neufeld Rupp, the first female ordained in Central District Conference.  In talking with her parents about the gathering, Jill realized that Anne had been the pastor of the congregation her father attended as a boy and that he greatly appreciated Anne’s ministry and perspective on the life of faith.

+ CDC offers Reign of God grants as a way of encouraging cooperative mission projects between congregations.  We heard from a grant recipient who is helping to plan a gathering of Mennonite acoustic music performers in Bluffton this summer, called Menno Folk.  They noted that they wouldn’t mind having a representative from Cincinnati – the arts congregation! -  in their planning group.

+ We heard a brief financial report that CDC is on track with its spending plan.  Congregational giving alone does not fulfill all of CDC’s needs, so they also rely on and invite individual donations.

+We sang together in Grace’s newly remodeled sanctuary.  The song order was arranged such that the words (we sang only first verses) told the entire salvation story of the Bible, starting with creation and ending with the final consummation of Revelation.  I wondered if this might be a good way to structure a Sunday morning worship service hymn sing.

+ After lunch we clustered in congregational groups and were asked to choose a Bible story that represents something about the current life of the congregation, and then act out the story in mime.  We wanted to have something that represented Mennonite Arts Weekend and the best we could come up with was the later chapters of Exodus when the many artisans and craftspersons were invited to share their skills in the construction of the tabernacle.

+ The final hour included a guided conversation about homosexuality.  We were first asked to write down one hope and one fear about entering such a conversation.  After those were shared at tables, we were asked to share how our personal experiences have shaped our thoughts on this matter.  We were then asked to name a passage from Scripture that has shaped our attitudes.  Our table conversation was rich and meaningful and a highlight of the day.

Wednesday evenings in January I am attending teaching sessions at St. Monica St. George given by XU prof. Dr. Chris Pramuk on the spirituality of Thomas Merton.  Last week the class was overflowing, which speaks of the continued power of Merton’s life and witness.  In the 60’s Merton, a trappist monk, was expanding out into international justice and nonviolence, reflections on the human relationship with the natural world, and interfaith commonalities.  While the early part of his monastic life was seen as a ‘fleeing from the world,’ his final decade involved a ‘turning toward the world’ in profound ways.  He came to see, more and more, the life of contemplation as being not an escape from reality, but a deeper immersion into reality, the Real, and believed this was not just a monastic calling, but a Christian, human, calling.

These venues enrich my life and feed my soul.

Here is a quote from Merton, writing about an epiphany while traveling away from the monastery:

“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.  It was like waking up from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness…This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud…And if only everybody could realize this!  But it cannot be explained.  There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”  — from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Sermon on the Mount worship series + Coming of Age service for Matthew Brenneman, Caroline Lehman, Ben Mumaw, Vincent Sears + Journey Groups meet + Laura Brenneman, Bluffton U. prof, guest speaker + youth babysit for Valentine’s couple’s night out + Vita Pontis first Sunday potlucks +  Visioning sessions for discerning congregational priorities + Ohio Conference Annual Conference Assembly – theme: “Abide, Love, Grow” + serving with Interfaith Hospitality Network + Naked Anabaptist book study + Choir sings for Easter and Advent + City Gospel Mission baking and serving + Jerry Sears, Emily Luken, and Brianne Brenneman receive baptism + Community Meal goes strong + we host CDC pastors and go to Freedom Center + Bart Campolo, guest speaker + Visioning process prioritizes church properties, conference affiliation, and possible VS unit + youth pancake breakfast fundraiser + Pastor Joel and family on Sabbatical + births: Milo Syravong, Asa Jorgenson, Eli Swartzendruber + Central District Conference annual meeting – theme: “Following Christ and Growing Together” + worship at Burnet Woods + CMF has over 20 participants at MC USA Pittsburgh national convention – theme: “Bridges to the Cross” – Ed Diller serving as Moderator + Fall party at the Headings + youth study financial stewardship + 9/11 remembrance service + youth and sponsors campout at Beechwood Acres + Asa Jorgenson dedication + Teresa Artis dies, memorial service + People Working Cooperatively Prepare Affair + Peace Sunday includes writing letters to Congress re: Afghanistan war + hosting Oakley Community Thanksgiving Eve service + pulpit exchange with Steve Goering, Columbus Mennonite + Advent worship includes many young people sharing special music, special offering for Children’s Home + Mennonite Arts Weekend preparation + Christmas party blue elephant + Congregation affirms focusing on improving our current church facility + Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

It’s no secret the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth has connections with pre-Christian solstice celebrations.  Nobody knows when Jesus was actually born, but the symbolism of turning toward the light is a fitting place on the calendar to remember that holy night.

We are a people not well connected to the natural world.  We depend on it like all generations before us, but are distanced from it by the nature of our present economy.  One small way of recovering this connection is by reconciling our Christian and pagan heritage in celebrating both solstice and Christmas as wondrous gifts from God.  It is humbling to consider our utter dependence on this fragile planet and a burning ball of hydrogen almost 100 million miles away.  It is humbling to consider that we call “Savior” a peasant child who embodied divine love as an adult and suffered a violent death at the hands of his enemies.

Our family has had an Advent wreath on our dinner table and the girls have taken turns lighting the appropriate candles each evening throughout the season.  Tonight, rather than blowing them out the normal way, we’re going to experiment with turning off all the lights in the house and blowing out the candles one by one, talking about the solstice, our sun, the wonder of physical life, and our planet’s turning toward the light.  I’m not sure what the girls’ reaction will be when the last candle is blown out and we are sitting in darkness, but hopefully it will at least be a reminder to Abbie and me that we are grateful residents on this our native planet, where life has formed from the energy of the sun, and where love has blossomed from the manger in Bethlehem.

Click HERE to see the full 12 picture slide show with text underneath.  And then give MCC lots of tax-deductible $$$$   !

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

This short poem by Mary Oliver is one I shared at Columbus Mennonite Church on Sunday and one that summarizes well the spirit of Advent.

Prior to our cultural New Year’s celebration, the church year has just rebooted, beginning again with this season of expectation, this season of longing, this season of paying attention.  The coming of Christ which we are anticipating is much more than the historical birth of Jesus, although it is that as well.  The call to pay attention, to be stirred with a holy longing, is the call to look at our world with eyes of faith.  To anticipate seeing what we have forgotten is present.  To allow ourselves to expect grace even when it has seemed absent.  To allow ourselves to be astonished by what has been reduced to merely ordinary.

Paying attention in this season of Advent asks us to reverse the common notion of “seeing is believing.” Instead, we begin with belief, and are surprised to find that there is something there to be seen which we hadn’t seen before.  Believing is seeing.  What is it that we believe our way into seeing?  Love, mercy, grace, God with us, Christ among us.  The gift already given.  The holy core of being which God has placed in each of us.

One of the things I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving are the many mentors who bless and teach us, and for friendships that span generational differences.

A Happy Thanksgiving to you.

I concur.

What other holiday or event do we have that brings a good portion of a community out of their homes and on their front porches to meet and interact with neighbors?  I’m not sure there is one.  Neighbors meet each other, young children interact with adults of all ages who treat them with kindness (lots of treats, no tricks, in our experience), and families discover other families that live near them.

I didn’t grow up celebrating Halloween – no dressing up and no trick or treating.  My parents weren’t comfortable with the way Halloween (All Hallows Eve, October 31) dealt with death as a twist on All Saints Day (November 1), so we just skipped it, no big deal.

So participating in Halloween is still a pretty novel thing for me – aided by the large full body suit blue M&M costume received at a CMF white elephant gift exchange.  And I’ve been impressed with the brief window that that hour+ time provides for neighbors interacting together in positive ways.

Our Halloween walk within the couple blocks around our house included:

+ Seeing our neighbor’s pet opossum roaming around their front yard, dressed up as a bumble bee (if it hadn’t been for the promise of candy at other houses, it would have been hard to get our girls to leave that one).

+ Catching up briefly with neighbors that we see infrequently.

+ Talking with a person that I have seen from time to time at Oakley Community Council meetings who usually brings a rather contrarian perspective.  We talked about the beautiful red oaks in his front yard.

+ Meeting some new families.

I won’t go so far as to say that Halloween is the gateway to the Kingdom of God, but I find it interesting that a holiday with some potentially shaky theology behind it is one that builds community and promotes neighborly intergenerational interaction in a way that none of our other holidays do in quite the same way.