Peacemaking as Lifestyle

This past weekend we led and worshiped with Salem Mennonite Church in Shickley, NE; a church I will soon be attending regularly. We joined the youth on Saturday evening for time to talk and then played a game of ultimate Frisbee. Sunday morning we led Sunday School hour, the church service and then following a potluck we re-joined with a smaller crowd for a time of story telling from the three men left in the congregation who did CPS (Civilian Public Service) during WWII as alternative service to entering the army.

It was interesting to hear their stories and reflections but what struck me was how entering CPS was: (1) not so much a decision made alone, but a decision made primarily by their home congregation and their family; (2) a time in their life when they learned to know other Mennonites and built relationships with those others Mennonites who they wouldn’t necessarily associated with because of divides in the Mennonite church. The other thing that struck me that wasn’t necessarily spoken, but was clear in how each man talked, was that CPS led into a lifetime of service. These men continued to be active in the church and in volunteer activities even as they aged. These activities included prison ministries, Mennonite Disaster Services, Mennonite Central Committee and numerous boards and leadership at the congregational level.

What I continue to wonder at is: why haven’t we done a better job of “selling” voluntary service? That may seem like a comment from nowhere, here is my train of thought. It seems as if we discourage our youth and young people to take a path other than armed services, we should be putting in its place a strong encouragement for voluntary service. I realize it is called voluntary service for a reason (it’s voluntary, not mandatory) but if we take from Christ a message of peace that only tells us not to go to war and not to use violence then we’ve missed half the message.

Peace is not just about being anti-violence and following a path that walks the line around the violence; if this is so we are just as much apart of the violence as those actually doing the action. If I bring in the subject of structural violence, well then we are all guilty. So in what ways are we working for peace, and not just avoiding violence?

The more we talk with people about the Gospel of Peace and God’s vision for Shalom the more and more convinced I am that the heart of this message is about being relational. The original Shalom, God’s vision, was in the Garden of Eden and here was a place where all God’s creation, people, animals and earth lived together in relationship with each other and with God. Obviously we have a long way to go to reestablish God’s vision for peace but if we all start small, what could happen?

Let’s just imagine the transforming, rippling power when we have established a relationship with God and taken Jesus as the center of our life. This relationship as it develops leads to peace with ourselves and we naturally take that peace into other relationships. Well, right Elizabeth, sounds easy but it’s not as easy to live it as it is to type it. That, my friend, is why we’re on a journey. This journey to live into God’s vision of Shalom is uncomfortable but it’s relational. We can always count on our relationship with God to give us strength to build relationships with others whether they are friends, perceived enemies or just scary because they are different than we are. That’s where peace comes in. Living a relational life, of loving those strangers and enemies in our lives is the crux of peacemaking! Avoiding violence just doesn’t cut it. Being a Christian is a call to action and to a lifestyle.

Now, I digress. Before I rambled onto this tangent, I was talking about voluntary service. Maybe it wasn’t as tangential as I think… it seems that saying no to military service means we say yes to a lifestyle. Maybe that lifestyle doesn’t include voluntary service as Mennonite Mission Network sets up, maybe for you it is volunteering in your community. (I must insert here that I am a strong advocate for voluntary service as I did Service Adventure, MMN, out of high school; but further explanation of that will have to be at a later time.) What I believe such a lifestyle should include is a lifetime of active peacemaking at the relational level. War in places where your friends are from is harder to support than a war in an unknown place.

Elizabeth

"Puttin' Up Corn" : The New/Old Way of Doing Church

Hello Again. I am writing to you from Shickley, NE. Before I tell you a few stories about our stay in Shickley I want to tell you a story about my past and “puttin’ up corn”.

I grew up just west of Shickley 1.5 hours and “puttin’ up corn” was an annual event. Each year Grandpa Roth was in charge of organizing the family (15 to 18 of us depending on the year) to go out in the early hours of the morning to pick sweet corn until it was piled high in the back of his truck. We then took it back to my Grandparents house to shuck and than boil the corn in a large kettle. After it had boiled a few minuets the corn was carried over to three large tubs full of cold water. The corn was cycled through between the tubs until it was cooled enough to be cut off of the cob. Grandma was in charge of this process. She was an expert at telling when the corn was at the right temperature and could be cut off of the cob. It was usually our job (the grandchildren) to shuck the corn, to fill the tubs with cold water and take the cooled corn from the tubs to the rest of the family to be cut off the cob and then bagged. We thought that this was the best job because we didn’t have to get all of the sticky corn juice on our hands but we could play in the water. After we were done Grandma gave us permission to splash around in the cooling tubs. That was the best! I always looked forward to that day. Grandpa and Grandma were in charge, everyone was singing (or at least trying to sing), we ate corn until our stomachs hurt and although the temperature was usually 90 degrees or hotter, “Puttin’ up corn” was one of the highlights of the summer.

We have been staying at Mary’s (Matt’s mom) house on a farm just a few miles outside of Shickley. We’ve been here for a little over a week so we have had time to help around the farm. This summer and storm came through and ripped pieces of tin from the shed so Matt and Randy helped to reinstall that. Elizabeth helped them here and there and also weeded the flower beds and I was able to help “put up corn”.

The Seeds helped Matt’s Great Aunt Loretta and her sister Dorothy “put up” corn for the both of them and also made a few bags for Matt and Elizabeth. As I reflect on the morning I have to stop and recognize my feeling of wholeness and peace while helping them out.

Now that I am older (25) “putting up corn” causes me to stop and slow down, to think about the earth and the entire process. It creates an intergenerational environment where lessons are taught and stories are told, songs are sung and delicious food is prepared. When I think about it, “putting up corn” is a way of doing church. Well a piece of Church. It is missing the whole outreach and care for the rest of the world, but it is fostering community. As I spend time in rural communities this summer there are memories that draw me back home to rural life. This summer is teaching me how to grow in my faith and connect it to Shalom and also to remember the gifts that rural communities have to give.

I wonder where I will be "puttin' up corn" next summer?

Jess Roth

Embracing an Evangelical Faith

Hello everyone out there. This is Randy for the Seeds team.

In the last week or so, we received a comment that addressed some concern over our use of the word “evangelical” so this post will try to respond to that, the best we can. First, we did not intend to use the word “evangelical” as if that was a derogatory thing, and we apologize for any statements that seemed to stereotype or generalize evangelicals as if they are a monolithic entity. Evangelicals are a diverse group theologically and doctrinally, and in fact, we consider our group to be evangelical. But we often fall into the same linguistic trap that is present in much of Christianity, a tendency to talk about being “evangelical” and being “peacemakers” as if they are two different things. While we often fall short, we are convinced of this: We cannot separate the two from each other.

There is little question that today these two words have a hard time existing together. At the very least, we can’t possibly imagine how we can emphasize both an evangelical faith, and a strong peace ethic as one. The result has been a painful polarization, a division within our own Mennonite Church. But I ask, how much of this tension between these two words has simply come from our preconceived ideas about “evangelicals”, or our stereotypes about “peace activists,” stereotypes that our culture has defined for us?

Interestingly, but not by mistake. the word, “evangelicalism” originates in the Greek word evangelion, meaning “good news” or “gospel.” Indeed, the message that we are bringing this summer is that our passion for peace in our lives and in this world IS rooted in the Biblical narrative, the Gospel! This story of salvation history shows us a God who loved us while we were still enemies (sinners) yet came to earth and died for us, and made reconciliation with all peoples. (Romans 5:10) It was Jesus himself who came and evangelized peace. (Acts 10.36, Eph 2.17 both use the word evangelion) THIS is the good news (evangelion)! Jesus Christ has made peace through the cross, and conquered the power of death through the resurrection. Because of this Christians are to be people of peace. Christians are to testify to the same love that was shown to us, by also showing it to other people – even our enemies.

There is no question, that the early Anabaptists were deeply evangelical. They had a message to spread, and they did just that. They held a deep commitment to a relationship with God, and to the power of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. But it didn’t stop there; these commitments only motivated them to discipleship (following the teachings of Jesus) for this was how they witnessed to God at work in their lives. May we also, today in 2008, testify to Gods love in our lives. May we embrace an evangelical faith in realization that it cannot lie dormant!

"For true evangelical faith is of such a nature that it cannot lie dormant, but manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it dies unto the flesh and blood; it destroys all forbidden lusts and desires; it seeks and serves and fears God; it clothes the naked; it feeds the hungry; it comforts the sorrowful; it shelters the destitute; it aids and consoles the sad; it returns good for evil.."
-Menno Simons

Shalom,

Randy, on behalf of the entire Seeds Team

Weekend Conversations

This past weekend was spent in Freeman, South Dakota. Farming and cattle are big in that area and I had a chance to talk with a few farmers.

Though there are fewer people around in rural South Dakota than in more urban areas, keeping the peace isn't easy. Neighbors who don't cut down the thistles on their property (whose seed then blows into adjacent pastures and makes the hours of chopping less worth while), or neighbors who don't pay attention to where their drainage ditches are letting out, or the gossip that can ruin a small town family in ways that city-dwellers just don't understand - these are big problems that strain rural areas.

I asked a few locals what "Shalom" means for a farmer.

The role of forgiveness came up as I talked with one farmer's wife. We usually have a chance to offer our friendship and bring peace to a relationship before it gets going and start out on good terms. All to often though I am lazy and slow at getting out and meeting my neighbors. It's only when I've offended them or they have offended me that I finally go over and ask them to stop doing what they are doing - not really the best way to make friends.

If this is the case and there aren't enough good memories of happy times together to excuse the annoying behavior or offset the confrontation, then our words of disagreement might seem judging and be taken offensively unless we've got great tact. This conflict can and often does lead to the need for forgiveness if we want to make 'peace' at that point.

This is all to say that through the conversation with the farmer's wife I'm realizing the need to introduce and befriend my neighbors before I have a chance to let them become my enemies. I can see this as being easier in rural areas than in urban settings. It takes time and energy to plan and meet with people and really get to know them - something that might be done easier with 12 neighbors within the square mile rather than 50 people in the apartment building.

A farmer I asked the same question (What does Shalom mean to a farmer?) immediately drew a line between people and the land. "It means having peace with the land." I asked him to explain a little more and he talked about the need to come to terms with not being in control and realizing that not every year will be a bumper crop. A hail storm that passes over before letting down it's payload or an inch of rain at just the right time during the hot summer can make or break the crop yield in ways many of us who have not been on the farm don't understand. He talked about the cycle of seasons that one needs to understand and respect - each necessary for the process of life to continue.

I was interested to hear about this sort of peace that wasn't so much between people as it was between one person and an object or a thing (the Earth). I wondered whether Jesus' teachings (which I almost always think of as in reference to interpersonal conflict) can be applied to something like this. As we talked together about it we came to the conclusion that Jesus' teachings often pointed out the importance of respecting each other and so when applied to a relationship with "the Land," we considered stewardship, creation care, and the year of Jubilee.

The conversations this weekend were thought provoking and I'm honored for the responses and the time taken to answer my question. As I consider the option of taking over our family farm in Iowa I will continue to ask myself what it means to respect the land and live in shalom with it.

Mark

Action or Inspiration; Part One

This last weekend we found ourselves worshiping and leading in Freeman, SD. We were put to the test Sunday morning when we split ourselves in three (note: five divided by three is an awkward number, so instead of dismembering, we sent Matt on a solo mission) and led Sunday School, sermons and different aspects of worship in three different congregations.

While it had its own set of challenges, the results were good. Mark and I were able to collaborate and work together even though our working styles are nearly opposite; I led a song (though I don't want to do this again for quite awhile); Jess and Randy received a lot of encouragement for their leadership during Sunday School; Matt... well, Matt made it through a word blunder during his sermon on Sunday Morning; Randy gave his first sermon from the pulpit; Mark gave his second sermon from the pulpit; and Jess pulled together material for youth session that can be repeated; and Matt did a wonderful job of being a one man show including children's time, scripture reading, sermon and input during Sunday School. As always, there is room for improvement, but we are seeing improvement in our working together and in our material since we started this summer. We thank those gracious congregations and individuals who were first on our itinerary and who helped us with feedback! (This includes First Mennonite in Iowa City, Sermon on the Mount in Sioux Falls, and White River Cheyenne Mennonite, Lame Deer Mennonite and Ashland Christian Fellowship in Montana.)

While it feels like we're becoming more comfortable with our content and starting to ask the right questions I am beginning to wonder who this summer is really for. (one smart aleck comment that could be made here is that this summer is to glorify God and help in the realization of God's vision for Shalom...this is true too, but I'm thinking even beyond that.)

My hope any more is that we can inject some level of excitement back into the congregation about the peace message in the Gospels and in God's overall vision of Shalom. Whether this injection is caught by the pastor or lay leaders, I am hoping for at least a few inspired people. I hope that people can be open to thinking about peace as being a more complicated and exciting word than just the absence of war. While I agree that the absence of war is a part of God's vision, I also believe that just as central is the restoration of relationships; relationships with each other, with creation, with God, with our enemies. I'm sure Jess, Matt, Randy and Mark are sick of me saying this, but somewhere along the way we Mennonites and more broadly we Christians have narrowed God's vision. God in the Bible is not clear about what position we take politically, God does not see the lines between countries or between political parties. God's eyes are blind to the divisions that we sinners have created. One of our greatest sins is destroying God's vision for unity by living by the standards of division set up by the world we live in. This takes physical and psychological forms, for example: the wall between Mexico and the USA, and racism. I could go on and on with examples, but that's not the point. I digress.

What I was talking about was inspiration. I hope to inspire people to see the bigger picture of God's vision. (continued in part two... look below)

Action or Inspiration; Part Two

Well, Sunday afternoon I was challenged. After church on Sunday we had a break and then at 2 pm we were set to have a joint workshop for all the congregations. It was a small crowd, but that is what you can expect during prime napping time on a Sunday afternoon. Folks have put in their God hours for the week and it's hard to make time for more. We started the workshop talking about who we are and what we're doing and all shared a bit about why we're excited and why we're traveling around for 3 months with little to no pay to talk about the God's Shalom vision and Jesus' teachings of peace.

During the session I reflected on something we've noticed in ourselves and our churches, that we Mennonites have struggled to be able to talk about and link the peace position (rather our Shalom understanding) to our faith. Because we don't know how to talk about peace, we often don't. As a result our understanding of peace is not passed on, or there is a misunderstanding of what peace is; our understanding of peace becomes limited solely to the absence of war. I question why we can't talk peace as well as we talk about our favorite foods or our favorite sports teams. Is it because we have not been taught the right words to express such an understanding? Have we as a church community fallen short in our responsibility to tell the Jesus story in such a way that show how radical his message is? Have we failed, as Willis Busenitz put it, to "put the cookies on the bottom shelf" and left the study of peace to our theologians and not embraced God's vision of Shalom for our own lives? (okay, I didn't even mention that last sentence on Sunday, but that is an interesting one to think about...)

In any case this reflection led into group discussion and then the last few minutes we attempted to focus people's thoughts on the following two questions: (1) What do you need to better talk about your faith? (2) How can we (collectively in your congregation or as a denomination or as individuals) do this [articulation] better?

The hope was that these questions might lead into a bit more of a brainstorming session. It was not as much as I had hoped, I need to rework my questions. But after we got back together and shared collectively what we talked about, I started to close and asked if there were any final comments. Well, the question came: now what?! Where is the action section? Good question. I didn't have a good answer, I guess I didn't see myself or our group as the ones providing an action, the next thing to do. Maybe we could have but my hope is that we could inspire others to act and do. But what does that mean?

I don't know. And this gets me back to my original question, who is this summer for? If its just for me and improving my own abilities in articulation and leadership, well, I'm pretty sure it will be successful. If its for me to inspire others, I can only hope that my excitement and enthusiasm and continued improvement in the area of articulation will do just that. But what do we need to do to inspire action? What is our role? What do folks need to be inspired to act and to work together at a congregational level to explore God's Shalom vision and to learn together how to talk about it and live into that vision? At this point I am without answers, I'm still pondering the questions.
~Elizabeth

Foxes have holes, but the “Seeds” have nowhere to lay their heads

Now, I can hear some of you thinking, “Well, gee, Matt. You visited the Badlands, Black Hills National Forest, Battle of Little Bighorn, Bighorn National Forest…when do you talk about peace? Sounds like you’re sightseeing to me.” My friend, you should not think such blasphemous thoughts. We have to sleep somewhere, don’t we? Can we help it if we’re in some of the most beautiful parts of the country?

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’" Matthew 8.20
Matt