Being Brethren Global Mission and Service Congregational Life Ministries Brethren Disaster Ministries in a World Not Our Own the Global Food Crisis Fund
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Suggested oering date March 20, 2016 CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN MessengerJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.BRETHREN.ORG “Where you go I will go; and where you stay I will stay,” (Ruth 1:16). One Great Hour of Sharing is a special opportunity to support Church of the Brethren ministries such as: Being Brethren Global Mission and Service Congregational Life Ministries Brethren Disaster Ministries in a world not our own the Global Food Crisis Fund Through this oering, we go the extra mile to share Christ’s peace and God’s love. Learn more and nd worship resources at www.brethren.org/oghs. FINDING WHAT MATTERS MOST 12 THE SWEET TASTE OF ANTICIPATION 14 GONE TO THE GARDEN 16 OGHS-ad-2016.indd 1 12/17/2015 12:42:25 PM CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN MessengerMessengerEditor: Randy Miller Publisher: Wendy McFadden News: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Subscriptions: Diane Stroyeck Design: The Concept Mill January/February 2016 VOL.165 NO. 1 WWW.BRETHREN.ORG Being Brethren in a world not our own 8 How being made to feel like oddballs for their faith caused one young couple to empathize more deeply with others marginalized by society. Finding what matters most 12 “I might be wrong.” It’s a simple phrase, but one we could stand to hear more in our conversations, especially as we inch closer to another potentially contentious Annual Conference. The sweet taste of anticipation 14 An unexpected obstacle led one Brethren pastor to find creative ways to enhance discussion in her own congregation—and even draw in the surrounding community. Gone to the garden 16 A program intended to help provide nutritious food in disadvantaged areas has led to community involvement and renewal in ways no one could have imagined. departments 2 FROM THE PUBLISHER 18 BIBLE STUDY 28 LIVING SIMPLY 3 In TOUCH 20 NEWS 29 LETTERS 6 REFLECTIONS 24 SPECIAL REPOrt 31 TURNING POINTS 7 THE BUZZ 26 MEDIA REVIEW 32 EDITORIAL 1 FromthePublisher ne of the messages we hear from loyal readers is a plea to keep the print edition of Messenger alive. Some people say they’reO not technologically adept. Others say they simply prefer reading from How to reach us paper. You can be sure, then, that we’re doing all we can to stay afloat in a world where that means swimming against the tide. MESSENGER 1451 Dundee Avenue At the same time, we want to be accessible for those who are more inclined Elgin, IL 60120 to read individual articles that are passed around via Subscriptions: social media. Next month we will launch a Messenger [email protected] website that carries feature articles, opinion essays, and Phone: 800-323-8039 ext. 327 Newsline stories. Messenger will have some digital- Fax: 847-742-1407 only content there, and the print edition will have some Advertising: print-only content. [email protected] This new website is not the same as the digital Phone: 800-323-8039 ext. 308 edition that we launched three years ago. We haven’t Fax: 847-742-1407 decided yet whether to continue that once the new Editorial: Messenger website goes live, so let us know if you [email protected] think we should. It may have ongoing value as a digital Phone: 800-323-8039 ext. 376 WENDY MCFADDEN Fax: 847-742-1407 PUBLISHER replica of the print edition (which the website will not be), but maybe not. Subscription rates: As we move forward there will be changes in staffing. This issue is the last $17.50 individual rate - $32 for 2 years for Randy Miller, who has been editor for almost six years, beginning with the $14.50 gift rate April 2010 issue. Our thanks to him for his stewardship of the magazine during $14.50 church club rate this season of Messenger’s long life. - $27 for 2 years Beginning with the March issue, the magazine will be produced by an edito- $ 1.25 student (per month) rial team of three people—Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, Jan Fischer Bachman, If you move, clip address label and and me—who will expand current responsibilities to include Messenger. send with new address to MESSENGER We are also constituting something new—a group of volunteer contributing Subscriptions, at the above address. editors who will help us be more connected to various parts of the church. You Allow at least five weeks for address change. will see their names added to the magazine’s masthead as they come on board, and from time to time you will see their bylines. Digital Messenger offers enhanced The editorial team is supported by several behind-the-scenes people: Diane content. Go to www.brethren.org/ Stroyeck, subscriptions specialist; Karen Stocking, who handles production and accessmessenger. advertising; and Jean Clements, who assembles the Turning Points page. Thanks Visit MESSENGER online at to these colleagues and also to designer Paul Stocksdale, of the Concept Mill. www.brethren.org/messenger. Our deepest gratitude is to our readers. Thank you for the joy of serving each one of you. MESSENGER is the official publication of the Church of the Brethren. Member of the Associated Church Press. Biblical quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version. Copyright © January/February 2016, Church of the Brethren. MESSENGER (ISSN 0026-0355) is published 10 times a year by Brethren Press, Church of the Brethren. Periodicals postage paid at Elgin, Ill., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MESSENGER, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120-1694. Printed on recycled paper 500 (20% post consumer) 2 Messenger January/February 2016 Intouch Pulling together to build God’s kingdom ast year, the Edgewood Church of the Brethren (New Windsor, Md.) decided to place greater emphasis on witnessing. The challenge was to come up with something interest- Ling that the whole congregation could get behind. Then last year, at our planning retreat, a usually quiet deacon piped up with something unique. “Let’s build a float to enter in the two local firemen’s parades in the summer.” Stunned silence followed. But the more we thought about it, the more we liked it. Soon we had a plan. A team of men would pull a cart using ropes that sported a cross whose crossbeam would be in the shape of a hammer head. An attached sign would read: “Pulling together to build God’s kingdom.” “We first thought of using the term ‘church,’ instead of ‘kingdom,’ but realized that, to some, ‘church’ conjures up an image of a building,” said deacon chair Tom Barnes. Thus we went with the word “kingdom.” Close-Up On the Sunday prior to the parades, the congregation gathered on the front lawn to anoint and bless the float. Then, on two consecutive Sundays, four men pulled the float—with our church name on both sides—through the streets of two local towns. But the witnessing didn’t stop there. Several men and women who accompanied the float handed out bags of Testamints—candies whose wrappers bear scripture verses—to interested parade watchers. We stapled onto each bag a note that had our church’s name, location, and times of services. To our delight, the float was a hit with parade watchers. People who received the Testamints were eager to talk to those distributing them, so much so that our members had to hustle to keep up with the rolling float. We will never know the full impact of this witnessing venture, but we hope that the 1,000-plus candy packets we distributed, and the hammer-head cross, will inspire people searching for meaning and purpose in their lives to seek us out and join our community believers. —Lois Duble is a deacon for Edgewood Church of the Brethren in New Windsor, Md. Congregation by the numbers Number of groups, Do you have district or congrega- including the Church of tional stories that might be of the Brethren, who signed interest to MESSENGER? Short items a Jan. 15 letter to the US with a photo are best. Send them to Senate in support of MESSENGER, c/o In Touch, 1451 Syrian refugees Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 or 500 [email protected]. Messenger January/February 2016 3 Intouch Illinois pastor to receive Purpose Prize Fellow award awn M. Blackman Sr. has been Ground. Find the full interview at www.news- interviewed for the “Getting Personal” gazette.com/living/2015-12-20/getting-personal- Dfeature in the Champaign/Urbana, Ill., dawn-m-blackman-sr.html. (See page 16 for more News-Gazette. The coverage includes a videotaped about Dawn Blackman and the community garden in interview as well as a printed feature article. Champaign, Ill.) Blackman recently was announced as one of the recipients of the 2015 Purpose Prize Fellow award from Encore.org for her achievements within the local community, including hosting a food pantry at Champaign Church of the Brethren and coordinating the Randolph Street community garden affiliated with the church. She is an associate minister at the Champaign (Ill.) Church of the Brethren, and also works part-time as a package handler at FedEx Seeking common ground in Virginia Manassas (Va.) Church of the Brethren was represented by Illana Naylor at a Unity in Community event Dec. 13, at Dar Al Noor, the Muslim Association of Virginia, and VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement). Interfaith friends were invited to share a meal and a dialogue focusing upon Muslim and Christian perspectives of sacred peace, Naylor Lancaster celebrates more said in a brief report from the event. “Given the ongoing acts of violence than 1,500 prayer breakfasts from multiple sectors of society, our gathered friends prayed for peace, Lancaster (Pa.) Church of the Brethren is celebrating a record justice, and understanding by building 1,500-plus prayer breakfasts over 30 years, according to an ar- relationships with our neighbors and ticle by Earle Cornelius in Lancaster Online.