The Mennonite provides Anabaptist content and is a publication of Mennonite Church USA.
Daily News
Advent: Mary’s Magnificat, beautiful and infuriating
This coming weekend, during the fourth Sunday of Advent, churches across the globe will read Mary’s Magnificat from the first chapter of Luke. It is a beautiful and stirring group of words in which Mary sings out her praise to God for the many blessings shown to her. To me, it feels very satisfying to […]
Advent: An Advent of privilege
For Advent, I’ve been reflecting particularly on what it means to tell the Christmas story to my 4-year-old daughter. Particularly, as one for a preference for the Gospel of Matthew, how do I talk about the Massacre of the Innocents? This is the title given to the story of Herod ordering the killing of all […]
Friday roundup: Five things worth paying attention to this week
Here are five things worth paying attention to this week. These are designed to expose you to a perspective you may not normally come across. 1. White supremacy and the illusion of “equity” I recently came across this article, which opened my eyes to the covert racism of the popular “equity vs. equality” meme that made […]
February 2019 Call for Submissions: Transformation
The Mennonite, Inc., invites your original submissions for our February 2019 print magazine issue and corresponding online content focusing on Transformation. Description of the theme: While Valentine’s Day occurs annually in February and typically focuses on romantic love, there are other matters of the heart worth exploring. In Acts 2, Peter addresses a crowd and calls […]
Advent: Preparing the way by unlearning
The days are growing darker in every way imaginable. I find myself struggling between great anxiety for the future, for the world, for the church, for my children and what they are growing up in and trying to convince myself that God is sovereign and faithful. I’m not seeing evidence of God’s sovereignty at the […]
Tell me your name
My husband has a gift of remembering names and faces. He can often even recall where he met someone and through whom he met them. It’s a superpower that I do not possess. In my current role as Mennonite Church USA denominational minister, I encounter so many new names throughout the day — through emails […]
Is there a place for me in this world?
Photo: L’Arche community members in Portland, Oregon, including Adam, far right. Photo provided by L’Arche Portland. This is a web-exclusive article on the theme “Good News, Great Joy.” For more stories on this theme, see the December issue of The Mennonite. Adam and I took frequent walks down to the Food Lion on the corner to […]
Advent Manifesto: Does my soul still sing?
This article comes from the December issue of The Mennonite, which focuses on “Good News, Great Joy.” Read more reflections online or subscribe to receive more original features in your inbox each month. First words I too decided to write an orderly account for you. Luke 1:3 1. Some good friends in the world of Mennonite publications asked if I might […]
An innovative solution to affordable housing
Photo: Ruth Dunlap, right, who attends Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster, and Rose Sheaffer, who attends New Holland Mennonite Church, reside at the Cooperative Living House at Garden Spot Village in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Photo provided by Garden Spot Village. This is a web-exclusive article on the theme “Health care: a biblical and cultural concern.” […]
A response to the Medical Industrial Complex
This is a web-exclusive article on the theme “Health care: a biblical and cultural concern.” For more stories on this theme, see the November issue of The Mennonite, available here. Applicants interviewing for health-professional programs are asked this classic question: “Why do you want to be a—?” Most often, preprofessional health students respond with, “I want […]
Living with a degenerative disease without losing heart
Photo: Michael Meneses serves Communion. Photo provided by the author. This article comes from the November issue of The Mennonite, which focuses on “Health care.” Read more reflections online or subscribe to receive more original features in your inbox each month. How do you stay motivated when you have little energy and constantly feel tired and weak? What do you do when […]
My journey of forgiveness
Photo: Joanne Gallardo. Photo by Olivia Copsey. This article comes from the October issue of The Mennonite, which focuses on “Loving Enemies.” Read more reflections online or subscribe to receive more original features in your inbox each month. I’ll never forget when I became a pacifist. I was 12 and not a part of a church. My dad bought an old VHS […]
What to say on the eve of an election?
Recently, I spoke with a millennial who told me she’s not going to vote. She doesn’t really know the issues, she said. What is more, she doesn’t like what politics does to people and therefore she doesn’t want to participate. I am sympathetic. I would rather be birding than debating national issues. I am by […]
Love in the face of tragedy in Pittsburgh
Every week on Shabbat, the seventh day, when Jews come to the synagogue to observe the Sabbath, the Torah scroll is removed from the ark, lifted up, then laid gently down on a broad lectern and rolled out so the Scripture portion of the day may be chanted directly from the Hebrew text. Before and […]
One year in: a sanctuary reflection
Photo: In observation of Mother’s Day, Columbus Mennonite Church held an event May 10 that put Edith Espinal’s story alongside two other mothers: facing separation from children through possible deportation (Espinal), living without a son killed by Columbus police, and leaving behind a child in a refugee camp. The three woman are standing in front. […]
Doors, not walls: Why LGBTQ inclusion is so divisive in MC USA
I joined the Mennonite church as a teenager. Mennonite Church USA as a denomination was still new, and I found it fitting that I was starting my journey as a Mennonite at the same time this denomination was trying to get itself off the ground. I was pretty convinced this denomination was a perfect fit […]
Three reasons why gay acceptance has been so divisive in MC USA
Since its formation in 2001, Mennonite Church USA has declined from more than 120,000 adult members to about 67,000 adult members today. Most of this loss has been due to congregations, as well as some area conferences, leaving the denomination. Although congregations and conferences have left over a variety of issues, the most prominent one […]
What would Mr. Rogers do with the Muslim travel ban?
I know a thing or two about the power of fear. I was grounded by a fear of flying many years ago. I traveled to Europe twice in a cheap cabin deep in the belly of the Queen Elizabeth 2, near the rumbling engines, because I couldn’t bring myself to get on an airplane. With […]
