Anabaptist and Quaker essays, sermons, and other writings
In normal times, Jonah comes across as being utterly ridiculous. He is grumpy. He doesn’t want to do what God wants him to do. He runs away. He almost causes a shipwreck. He complains. He gets angry. When Jonah finally relents and does what God wants him to do, he […]
Beatitude: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. In my office, I have a framed image of military fighter jets. Overlaid on the image is a quote by Menno Simons that says, “Christ is our fortress; patience our weapon of defense; the word of God […]
How many of you have been on an airplane since 9/11? A lot of things have changed in airports since then. Not just going through metal detectors, but pat-downs, body scans, scans of our luggage and purses… whole arenas for security procedures have been set up in every airport, and […]
“Pray without ceasing,” advised Paul (1 Thess 5:17). But how do we do that? What do we do? If we’re called to unceasing prayer and are serious about accepting this call, the Lord Himself will show us how, and we’ll do it! And not only that, we’ll be brought into […]
Jesus is risen! Have you seen the Lord? Have you seen him, still alive in the world, still going about the same kind of work that he had always been up to? Jesus has risen. Having found that empty tomb, we can leave it behind: we are not searching for […]
Beatitude: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Purity isn’t something we talk much about in the church anymore. This is likely a reaction to the purity sub-culture of the church that had some harmful unintended consequences that led to a lot of shame, gossip, and […]
How many of you learned about the story of the “Good Samaritan” as a child in Sunday school? It’s a sweet story for kids in some ways if you don’t focus too much on the brutality. A man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He’s attacked by robbers, who strip […]
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. – Romans 7:15-18 NRSV … her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has […]
How many of us still believe in “good guys and bad guys”? Are there such things? We live in a world where political commentators have been describing the difference between parties in starker terms than a lot of recent science fiction movies or even some video games have drawn the […]
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Take a moment and read Luke 6:32-38. Take another moment and read it again. Read it a third and a fourth time too. Such a simple, beautiful, and convicting passage. Eugene Peterson in his Message translation of the bible puts it this […]