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Loving the tradition from the margins: What Malcolm Gladwell is missing about power in his Mennonite

Aug 19, 2016

Loving the tradition from the margins: What Malcolm Gladwell is missing about power in his Mennonite

This article was originally posted on Pink Menno's blog. Chester Wenger’s “An open letter to my beloved church” in 2014 was a beautiful, poignant reflection by a man who dedicated his life to the Mennonite Church on why he had chosen to perform the marriage ceremony for his gay son Phil. He documented the way he had come to believe the church must bless LGBTQ people’s marriages, made a powerful argument for his position, and explained that now at age 96 he was finally ready t

I cannot speak of love to you today

Jul 11, 2016

I cannot speak of love to you today

This article was originally posted on The Mennonite's website. Earlier this summer, my 20-year-old son had a burned out headlight on his car. I don’t know how long it had been out, but as soon as I learned about it, I was all about getting it fixed right away. We made an event of looking up the right size lamp for his vehicle, going to the auto parts store, and then going to YouTube to figure out how to do the replacement. We were successful – chalk one up for feeling acco

A response from Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests, the Supportive Communities Network St

Jun 29, 2016

A response from Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests, the Supportive Communities Network St

“To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true.” – Bayard Rustin On Monday, a narrow majority of the Standing Committee of the Church of the Brethren chose to act from a place of fear – fear of the unknown future, fear that the Holy Spirit may move counter to the ways it has in the past, a fear of losing their church. Fear brings a desire for clarity, for order, for casting aside anything and anyone deemed a threat to its existence. Fear is a powerful force, one tha

BMC at Church of the Brethren Annual Conference

Jun 22, 2016

BMC at Church of the Brethren Annual Conference

At the end of this month, the Church of the Brethren will gather for its Annual Conference. Here is the context in which we will gather: The deadliest mass shooting in modern US history just occurred at a gay nightclub during Gay Pride Month, leaving 49 lgbt or lgbt supportive people dead, and 53 more injured. The conference is being held in Greensboro, North Carolina. In March of this year, North Carolina legislators called a special session in order to enact the most anti-l

BMC Responds to Orlando

Jun 13, 2016

BMC Responds to Orlando

Today, BMC grieves with the Orlando lgbtq community, particularly the Latinx lgbtq community. We mourn a cultural context that gives rise to violent homophobia and transphobia. We lament the institutional policies, doctrines and practices that devalue and degrade lgbtq people. We grieve with a deep knowledge of the lgbtq community's worth, gifts and resilience. We recommit to the work of justice knowing its gravity; understanding that we cannot get the lives that were lost in

Virgin Nation Review: Evangelical Purity Culture

Jun 7, 2016

Virgin Nation Review: Evangelical Purity Culture

In Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence, author Sara Moslener examines the evangelical purity movement in the United States and traces the trajectory of its history back to Cold War fundamentalism and nationalist anxieties in the 1940s and 1950s. The author focuses on two of the most influential purity organizations: Silver Ring Thing and True Love Waits and argues that they function both out of a religion of fear and a religion of accommodation. Moslener’s a

Expressions of Pride

Apr 27, 2016

Expressions of Pride

Bethel College (KS) Pride Week Convocation: April 11, 2016 On June 28, 1969, as police were filing patrons out of a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York, something historical and monumental happened. Usually when the police conducted raids of gay bars, they checked IDs, arrested those who didn’t have them, occasionally committed acts of brutality and the patrons of the bar would go home. But that June evening in 1969, preceded by several decades of consciousness raising, or

Open Letter to Constituency Leaders Council of MC USA

Apr 22, 2016

Open Letter to Constituency Leaders Council of MC USA

It was recently reported that BMC had declined an invitation from the CLC to have an lgbtq person at each table for “dialogue.” Here’s why we said no… Dear CLC Members: This year represents BMC’s 40th Anniversary. Forty is an important number in the Bible. The Hebrews spent forty years in the wilderness following their exodus from captivity in Egypt. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness preparing for his ministry. Each of these experiences, one communal and one individual

Coming home to our bodies: trauma and justice

Jan 29, 2016

Coming home to our bodies: trauma and justice

My senior year of high school, I was talking to a school counselor about an experience I had earlier that year with another classmate. As I finished my explanation, he told me that what I had experienced was emotional trauma. I can’t recall what I said to him, but I remember feeling surprised. No one had ever framed my story that way. That word, “trauma,” framed the experience in a way that allowed me to understand the weight of it, that it wasn’t just “high school girl drama

Pacifist Battlegrounds: The Struggle for Queer Inclusion in a Peace Church

Dec 29, 2015

Pacifist Battlegrounds: The Struggle for Queer Inclusion in a Peace Church

Bethel College Convocation, November 16, 2015 On June 26 of this past summer, at my dining room table with my spouse and several of our friends, I opened a bottle of champagne and poured a toast. We had just heard the news of the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed marriage equality for same-sex couples as a protected right enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. By that point, given the series of appeals court rulings against state bans on same-sex marriage, we we

Historically-Grounded Organizing: A Reflection on Stonewall

Dec 29, 2015

Historically-Grounded Organizing: A Reflection on Stonewall

When the trailer for the Hollywood-produced movie “Stonewall” was released this past August, activists on the internet took to dismantling the narrative the trailer presented. Featured at the center of the historic narrative is fictional Danny Winters, a white gay man who moved to New York from Indiana after being kicked out of his home. The trailer depicts Danny throwing a brick through the windows of what is supposed to be the Stonewall Inn and galvanizing the crowd, framin

An Open Letter in the Wake of the Termination of My Ordination

Dec 17, 2015

An Open Letter in the Wake of the Termination of My Ordination

First of all – to all those who have reached out to me, to my family, and to the Bridgewater COB in love and care, whether you are “with” me/us or not, I want to say thank you. Your kind and thoughtful words are touching and deeply appreciated. I want to assure everyone that I am OK, that I continue to serve in ministry in the Bridgewater COB, and that I was and am prepared to walk this road. My ministry, nor this element of it, has ever been about me. I am called to serve an

Untethered...Reflections on Kansas City

Oct 19, 2015

Untethered...Reflections on Kansas City

Losing faith is not the same as losing belief, but it can break the fragile tether between a person and her innocence just the same. -- Alexandra Fuller In 1971, the Ford Motor Company released the Ford Pinto, a subcompact car that was quickly developed and rushed to market to counter the strong competition from Volkswagen. Designed to be light weight and inexpensive, the car was well received and made a tidy profit for the company. But there was a problem with the desig

Reflecting on My Religious Heritage

Oct 16, 2015

Reflecting on My Religious Heritage

My last semester at Goshen College, I took a class called congregational ministries taught by Keith Graber Miller. On the first and second day of class, Keith asked us to talk about our religious heritage. My answer to this question is just as complicated as when I was transitioning between Goshen, Denver (my hometown), the northern suburbs of Chicago and now Minneapolis and people asked me where I was from. The simple answer is that I grew up in an evangelical Covenant chur

A Ruptured Circle

Aug 1, 2014

A Ruptured Circle

It was a neat and nearly perfect circle of deniability. Denominational leaders would grimace and carefully explain to us how the church structure concentrated power in the Conferences and not in the national offices. Much as they might like to help, much as it might pain them to say it, denominational leaders assured us of their powerlessness to affect change as far as the inclusion of lgbtq people was concerned. Conference Ministers, on the other hand, would point to the con

Jul 25, 2014

A Pastor's Response

Response to IMMC Statement of Charge against Karl Shelly Greetings to you, sisters and brothers in Christ on the IMMC Ministry Credentialing Team. I greet you as a fellow servant in God’s kingdom and on behalf of my congregation, Assembly Mennonite Church, where it has been my privilege to pastor for over 15 years. My congregation Assembly has been a part of Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference for all of its 40 years of existence. Today it is the spiritual home to over

Jul 5, 2014

Being Forced Out of the Church

I've been very busy since starting seminary. Not just with school work, but also with acclimating to a new place and making new relationships. While there have been struggles since coming to Indianapolis, overall it has been a good experience and I believe this is where God calls me to be. In my pastoral care and counseling class last semester, I studied trauma and grief. One of the things that I've learned is that if one doesn't take the time to grieve, then it will eventual

"It's Hard Work to be an Oppressor:" Notes from a Movement

Feb 26, 2014

"It's Hard Work to be an Oppressor:" Notes from a Movement

#Outspoken

Feb 14, 2014

An Open Letter to Ervin Stuzman

Dear Ervin Stutzman, Grace and peace to you. I recently read your response to the "Rule of Love" letter. I was particularly struck by your "lament that the individuals and groups at opposite ends of the spectrum of concerns related to sexual identity and orientation are no longer willing to be in patient forbearance with each other." Like so many Mennonite leaders before you, you seem burdened by the obligation to arbitrate the conflict over the external boundaries of the chu

Fashioned in Love: Biblical and Theological Foundations for Inclusion

Oct 10, 2013

Fashioned in Love: Biblical and Theological Foundations for Inclusion

Pastor Chicago Community Mennonite Church Lancaster Welcoming Dialogue Group & Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests Eden Resort, Lancaster PA It is so good to be with you this evening. I would like to thank Bob Wyble, other members of the Lancaster Welcoming Dialogue Group, and Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests for sponsoring this event and for inviting me to speak. It is humbling, a bit intimidating and a great honor to be here. Thank you. I am grateful

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