MWR : Articles : May 11, 2009

Last updated May 05.

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Articles : May 11, 2009

God’s creativity

Special attention this spring focused on God’s wonderful creativity in starting families and bringing babies into the world. Baby showers have been frequent, evidence of the involvement of many younger couples in LMC. Several times this spring the worship team included three pregnant women who are looking forward to their first child. However, recognition was also given on April 19 with tulips to symbolize people struggling with infertility or the death of a child.

Two-kingdom connection

Two-kingdom theology in a political speech? There it was in a 2006 quote by then-Sen. Barack Obama. He said the Sermon on the Mount is “so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”

Wider grace

Several writers to Viewpoint (April 20) share concerns about allowing “sinful” practices into the church. Have we forgotten the days when people who divorced and remarried were “living in sin” and when interracial marriage was illegal in many states and was also believed to be “sin”? While many churches in those times refused church membership to persons involved in such circumstances, today most Christians believe that God’s grace is wider than we formerly understood it to be. The hymn “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” says it well: “For we make God’s love too narrow by false limits of our own” — limits which we base on narrow interpretations of the Bible, as did the Pharisees.

MMN staff reduced in budget cuts

ELKHART, Ind. — Mennonite Mission Network will cut 10 members of its staff as part of meeting its goal of $1.3 million in permanent budget cuts.
New Philadelphia bishops add diversity to Lancaster conference

CHESTER, Pa. — The stately old sanctuary on the corner of Edgmont and 23rd Street overflowed with more than 500 Mennonites and their friends April 26.
Leadership era ends in Pacific Southwest

During 20 years as a conference leader based in the Pacific Southwest, Jeff Wright guided the region’s churches through an era of growth and change.
Health crisis connects congregation to mutual aid, broader church

ELKHART, Ind. — The health crisis of a church member and the idea of mutual aid brought Angela Nze more fully into relationship with Mennonites.
MDS considers potential response to flu pandemic

AKRON, Pa. — Mennonite Disaster Service is working to determine how it would respond to a flu pandemic.
MCC funds training for those seeking peace in India

AKRON, Pa. — In the wake of widespread violence against Christians in India’s Orissa state, Mennonite Central Committee is helping to provide training for peacemakers.
Swiss group’s visit continues reconciliation process

Nineteen visitors from Switzerland traveled to Pennsylvania and Ohio April 21-May 2 to develop new connections and friendships with North American Mennonites and Amish.