Anabaptist and Quaker essays, sermons, and other writings
A few weeks ago I listened to the bonus episode of the “Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” podcast that featured Joshua Harris. For those who don’t know, Joshua Harris, back in the ’90s was the author of the book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.” A few years ago, Harris began […]
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, […]
The coming of the new year, from New Year’s Eve throughout the entire month of January, is always a challenging time for me which requires taking some extra time for contemplation and grounding. As someone who grew up in a fundamentalist and apocalyptic tradition, the end of each year often […]
The following essay is part one of a series. Please look out for part two on February 17. I have observed while listening to a number of white members of the Church of the Brethren in sermons, articles, and conversations, a tendency for some to articulate a vision of evangelism […]
Wrestling Patience I am being taught patience. When my first few kidney stones came around, I struggled to muster the strength to silence the pain in my body. In all of my eight years of life, I had never known the world as such a painful place. I had never […]
As Common Spirit Church of the Brethren celebrates 10 years of ministry in Grand Rapids, Michigan this fall, it has been interesting to compare and contrast the history of the original Grand Rapids Church of the Brethren congregation to the current one. Both churches were started by families living in […]
Sometimes in the middle of the week, we would bike, walk, or drive about a kilometer down a dusty road through farm fields and past mango trees from Kulp Bible College to Church of the Brethren (Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria) Headquarters and the Women’s Fellowship (Zumuntar Matan Ekklesiyar) Restaurant. Often […]
Right from creation and soon after the fall of humanity, war and conflicts became part of human nature. In some parts of the world, Christians are witnessing unspeakable continuous attacks and killings perpetrated by terrorist groups in the name of religion. This ongoing violence is slowly worsening the mental health […]
Why join one of the Historic Peace Churches? Jesus is at the center of this question. Jesus is at the center of this passage (Romans 5:1-11). Jesus at the center of our faith. Jesus is the source of our strength. Jesus is the source of our peace. Jesus is the […]
9 What then? Are we any better off? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, 10 as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who […]