Christian Living

An Incredible, Unspoiled Garden
In the beginning of the Biblical narrative, Divinity creates a dazzling garden. He names it Eden and saw that it was good. In all its fancy, in every spray of color, in every sound of peace, in every thought of wonder, in every taste of sweetness, for every human sensory, for every pleasure known, this garden is created for mankind—yes, everything an Almighty could “conceive.”

We have a blessed practice in our churches that many likely take for granted. We begin our services in reverence and silence. We enter the sanctuary and sit quietly, stilling our soul as we prepare to worship together. But it is possible that some of us only appear quiet and still on the outside. Inside we may be in turmoil or simply be distracted, entertaining thoughts about things outside our church building—I know what that is like.

July has been an exciting month for stargazers. The comet NEOWISE was first discovered on March 27, 2020 by an earth-orbiting space telescope. By July 2020, this ball of ice, rock and dust was near enough to earth and bright enough to be visible under dark skies to the naked eye. Currently, this comet can be seen in the morning and evening. In the morning, it appears very low above the north-eastern horizon, and in the evening, it is visible low in the north-western sky, under the big dipper.

BE AWARE – We are very focus driven, typically speaking, and want to get the jobs done that we have set out to do. We need to be aware of people around us that may need a listening ear or someone to share with. Make it a habit to look out for people that need Jesus.

On July 4th, our nation will celebrate two-hundred and forty-four years of declaring freedom from the King of England. Early patriots felt the king was oppressive and taxed the colonist too much. They wanted to be a free nation. So, in anticipation of being an independent nation, they endured war for eight years. They had no permanent central government in place other than the Continental Congress. They appointed a military general to lead the army. The people in the land were told they were free from the king. However, no one had promised that they would win and truly be free. 

Based on a sermon given at Hephzibah Mennonite Church on October 30, 2016.
If the title were “Why I Chose to Be a Conservative Mennonite,” I would probably say, “Because my parents taught me and led me in that direction.” Or maybe, “Because I grew up in that church and thought it was right.”

Former Vice President Al Gore wrote a book titled “An Inconvenient Truth.” The book’s theme was the urgent crisis of climate change. He urged the world to act on the inconvenient truth that we must take the difficult steps to correct our practices to save our world from a climate that is rapidly destroying our planet. We agree that often the truth is inconvenient. Convenient makes things easier or does not involve much effort or trouble. Is the truth you believe convenient or inconvenient?

The term nonconformity is a Biblical term derived from the Scripture be not conformed to this world, as found in Romans 12:2. The word conformed comes from the same Greek word that is translated fashioning in I Peter 1:14, where Peter tells Christians not to fashion themselves as they did when they lived in ignorance. This word, as it is used in the Bible, always refers to the outward appearance of a person or object. The fashion pages of the newspapers and catalogs will also verify that it has reference to outward appearance.

There is a tremendous need for warnings against the accumulation of wealth in the affluent society in which we live. During Jesus’ day, wealth and riches were very prevalent as well, although perhaps on a different scale. Jesus was anything but silent on this issue, and we have many foundational teachings regarding affluence. However, because of the effect that riches can have on us, it is quite easy to misinterpret scripture making us feel more comfortable with our accumulation of wealth.

Some questions frequently asked in our day are: Which translation of the Bible should we use? Which translation is best for our churches? Shouldn’t we use a translation of the Bible that people can easily understand? Is it right to read other translations?