Gemeinschaft Home Staff And Board Speak Out

This recent statement is the result of several weeks of intense conversation.

What began as an effort by the Gemeinschaft Home board to draft a statement against racism evolved into a process in which staff members became actively engaged.

All of us realize that actions, not words, are what really matter, but our prayer is that all we do will clearly reflect our commitment to racial equality and "liberty and justice for all."

Modified Virginia Relief Sale Aims To Raise Over $300,000 For Desperate Refugees Worldwide

The annual auction will be on line this year.

Here's the latest update from our Relief Sale Board:

The Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale has had a long tradition of uniting people for the common cause of raising money for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to help people around the world "In the Name of Christ." Last year we were able to raise over $300,000, our highest amount ever. In fact, almost every year that amount increases! 

Each year it takes many volunteers working together to pull off such an event and we very much appreciate all of their work and efforts. The Relief Sale Board wants to proceed with caution to protect the health and safety of those volunteers and everyone who supports the sale. 

The 54th Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale will look very different this year due to COVID restrictions and social distancing

recommendations. Although we are still exploring various options, here is a preview of what will be happening:

- There will be an online auction only. We are currently having the online auction website/app built for us. Items to be auctioned off will need to be photographed before a specified date to be displayed on the auction website. Items will then be brought to the

Rockingham Fairgrounds the morning of October 1. We will have all items displayed for people to view Thursday (October 1) through Saturday (October 3) at specified times. All through this time, people can be bidding online for each item. The auction will then start closing items Saturday morning (you can watch items/prices live online). Once an item closes, the high bidder would then come to the fairgrounds to pick up the item. We are also exploring shipping options. Payment could be done online with credit card or in person.

- We will still encourage people to donate baked goods to be sold at the fairgrounds. People can buy these items as they view the auction items (Thursday through Saturday).

- We are exploring the idea of having drive through dinners available. We could possibly have Beef BBQ, fresh Mississippi Catfish, Chicken BBQ, or other items available. We will be contacting those in charge of different foods to gauge their comfort level in participating this year.

- The Run for Relief 5K is still happening in one form or another.

- The Sharing Our Surplus (SOS) committee is planning a family-friendly three-mile "Hundreds For Hundreds Campaign" Refugee Relief Walk for 6 pm August 23. Participants are to solicit sponsors and/or simply make a generous donation. Those not wanting to join in a group walk can choose another time and place, and make contributions as indicated below*. For more information on the Walk contact Mark Keller mkeller123@gmail.com or 434-4535.

- We invite churches to do their own fundraisers for MCC. We would gladly publicize the event for you through our facebook page and church newsletters. These events could be done at any time, not just on the Relief Sale weekend. We have considered the possibility of having 2-4 churches sell their items at a central location as a drive-through option.

- My Coins Count will continue to collect coins (or bills/checks). We will collect these at a location to be determined. Congregations could consider making some sort of matching donation.

- We encourage individual fundraising, like someone who recently made a lot of sweet rolls and sold them as a fundraiser for MCC. Think creatively in how you might raise money.

As MCC is celebrating its 100th year, let’s help make this the

most generous year of giving ever. 

Maybe we can even top the $300,000 we raised last year!

****************************

* Note: Credit card contributions can be made any time at https://vareliefsale.com/donate/. Checks should be made out to "Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale" (with SOS in the memo line if you want it to go specifically for the "Hundreds for Hundreds" campaign for refugee relief).     
   The mailing address is Relief Sale, 601 Parkwood Road, Harrisonburg, VA 22802 (the Virginia Mennonite Conference Center).

You Know You're Filthy Rich When...

I see myself in the middle of this 16th century Italian painting by Jacopo Bassano.

"There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores."   

- one of Jesus's stories, in Luke 16:19-21 (the Message)

We can be sure we are among the wealthy religious folks Jesus is addressing in this story when...

...we enjoy a life of luxury and ease that exceeds anything that could have been imagined by the Dives (Latin for "rich man") in Jesus's story, or by the wealthy family in the above 1550 painting.

...when each resident of our house has access to multiple rooms rather than each room having multiple residents.

...when we have pantries, freezers and refrigerators filled with an exotic variety of tasty foods from all over the world, with ready access to well-stocked supermarkets and wonderful restaurants.

...when as North Americans we receive extraordinarily good incomes based on 40-60 hours of work a week, and enjoy numerous vacation and other benefits, and can retire at age 65.

...when we have decent health insurance coverage, primary care physicians to respond to our every injury or illness, and all kinds of first responders, specialists and other healthcare providers when we face a medical crisis.

...when our closets are filled with enough clothes for several lifetimes--with garments made for us in far-off factories by workers putting in long hours at sweatshop wages.

...when each member of our household has access to one or more $15,000-$50,000 luxurious motorized and computerized vehicles to provide instant, convenient, and air-conditioned transportation whenever and wherever needed.

...when what we spend annually on entertainment, golfing and hunting trips, cruise vacations and other pastimes exceeds what most people have to live on in a giving year.

Note: I need the prayers, counsel and help of all God's people in light of our being in the top 3-5% of the world's wealthiest people.

Let's Repeal And Replace Retributive Justice--Three R's Of A Repentance-Based Alternative

Can we offer "liberty and justice for all?"

In a recent series of podcasts, one of our state senators lamented the number of parole releases granted by the Virginia Parole Board earlier this year. He and three Commonwealth's Attorneys, along with a former Governor of Virginia (the one who in 1995 signed the "truth in sentencing" law that eliminated parole for all except those sentenced prior to that time) all agreed that the sentences imposed by courts should be carried out in full, with 15% of time granted for good behavior.

I'm guessing most of these were God-fearing folks who believe in redemption, yet not one example was given of anyone in prison actually having been corrected or redeemed. They all seemed to agree that no one guilty of a serious crime should ever be released before they had been sufficiently punished, and that decades after the fact, all prisoners remain as dangerous and evil as they were when they committed their crime.

Likewise, I heard not one word of support for any release the Parole Board has ever granted, even when in line with the Board's stated mission, "to grant parole to those offenders whose release is compatible with public safety."

I fully understand the need victims and their families feel for retribution or revenge after having suffered some traumatic loss. But should our prisons be primarily for punishment or for rehabilitation, as indeed implied by the name "Department of Corrections?"

Otherwise, if justice calls for everyone sentenced to life in prison to remain on a de facto "death row" until they die, there seems to be little point in offering classes designed for their rehabilitation or for learning trades or skills they will never be able to use. For them, there seems to be little point in even having a Parole Board at all.

The fact is, even multiple life sentences would never be enough to compensate for the trauma of a rape or the terrible tragedy of a brutal loss of human life. Only genuine repentance on the part of a wrongdoer, met with tough love, amazing grace and ongoing accountability, is a viable alternative.

So what if we had a repentance-based justice system rather than a purely retributive one?

To be clear, true repentance is not merely a matter of feeling remorse for a wrong, but is a demonstration of a change of heart, direction and behavior that results in a transformed life.

What follows is very much a work in progress, representing some of my brainstorming as to how that might work. :

Restitution: Courts should be redesigned to focus on repairing harm rather than merely meting out punishment. Restorative justice processes would focus on the needs of victims for reparation and restitution, with offenders being mandated to work in whatever ways necessary and for as long as necessary to right their wrongs. Wherever possible those with jobs would continue their employment and continue to support their families, wearing electronic monitoring equipment if needed, and would be supervised, mentored and counseled by trained professionals and by members of their families, congregations and other appropriate agencies and organizations.

Relocation: In cases where offenders are unrepentant, are unwilling to work and to make restitution and/or are clearly a danger to others, individuals would be moved into secure rehabilitation centers where they would be taught job skills, civic responsibility and be offered psychological and drug treatment. Some individuals might literally be relocated to other communities and offered support and help as outlined above.

Rehabilitation: In all cases the ultimate goal would be to restore people's lives, support them in repairing harms they have caused, and to help them become fully responsible, tax-paying and constructive members of their communities.

Everyone wins when that happens.

Richard Nixon's Good-Sounding Words At The Presidential Prayer Breakfast, January 30, 1969

This photo of Nixon being sworn into office appeared on the front cover of the April 1969 Decision magazine, published by the Billy Graham Association. The two family Bibles used for the ceremony were open to Isaiah 2:4 (see below). Graham is on the right.

The lead article in the April, 1969, Decision magazine, "One Nation Under God," consisted of the text of a speech by then president Richard Nixon at the 1969 Presidential Prayer Breakfast, just five years before Nixon resigned in disgrace from his office. Nixon's remarks are examples of how the language of evangelical faith became seamlessly tied to American civil religion.

Here are key excerpts:

As I was preparing my inaugural address I did what I am sure every President who has had this responsibility did: I read the ones that had previously been delivered. They were very different, but one theme was common to every one of them. Each President as he was being inaugurated recognized, in his own way, the spiritual heritage of this nation, and asked for the blessing of God upon the country in its affairs at home and abroad.

...One of the great early presidents, Andrew Jackson, came to the Presidency from the battlefield; perhaps those who have read history are not aware of the deep religious faith that he had, which he perhaps had not then expressed, but to which in his later years, and particularly after he left the White House, he often attested.

...when President Jackson was asked to participate in a dedication ceremony marking the Battle of New Orleans, he refused because the ceremony was set for Sunday. Those who were inviting him said, "Mr. President, you fought the Battle of New Orleans on Sunday." President Jackson answered, "That was a matter of necessity. I am now speaking from choice."

...I say to all of you joining us here today at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast that of the many events in which I will participate, none will mean more to me personally. None, I think, will mean more to the members of the Cabinet and the Congress than this occasion. You have inspired us. You have given us a sense of the  continuity of history that brings us together. You have told us in a simple yet eloquent way that great as are the problems that confront us, with faith--faith in our God, faith in the ideals of our country--and with a deep dedication to what our role is in this nation and in the world, we are going to be able to make these next years great for this nation and great years for the world.

I believe that. And it is to that end that we dedicate ourselves today. That objective transcends all partisan considerations, and I am proud to stand here today in your presence; for you by being here indicate that you have not lost faith in this nation. You have not lost faith in the religious background that has sustained us. We are entering a period when, sustained by that faith, we will be able to meet the challenge that is ours--a challenge such as comes to very few people in the history of man. It is America's now.

Whether we succeed or fail will determine whether peace and freedom will survive in this world. We will meet the challenge. We will meet it because we are going to devote every hour of the day to see that we meet it properly. But we will meet it also because we will be sustained and inspired by the prayers of million of people across this world.

Those prayers do mean something, and through the medium of these words I want to thank the people of this nation and the people of the world for praying for us. We trust we shall be worthy of your prayers and of your efforts.

**************************************

The article concludes with the following words by Billy Graham:

Two days ago I spent four hours with one of the theoreticians of the "New Left." We debated, we fought, we disagreed, we agreed. He said that within five years, unless his group's demands were granted, they would burn the country down. Then he added that in his opinion the only thing that would save America would be a religious awakening. With that, at least, I agreed.

When President Eisenhower was in Pittsburgh in 1955 he said, The history of free men is never really written by chance, but by choice--their choice." I believe that we have a choice; that our poverty problem, our race problem, the war problem, are problems of the heart, problems of the spirit. This is the basic crisis, and if we can solve the problem of the spirit, all of our problems can be solved. Therefore I believe it is time that we take our eyes off our shortcomings and our failures and put them on Christ, who said, "You must be born again."

...you can have a new birth, and through you, America and the world can have a new birth.

                                           **************************************

Here is the Isaiah 2:4 text (New International Version)!

"He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples. 

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore."

Four Responses To The SOS “Hundreds for Hundreds” Campaign For Refugee Relief

In a time of desperate needs worldwide, MCC is facing a
shortfall of millions due to reduced revenue from MCC thrift
stores, relief sales and general contributions.

In celebration of Mennonite Central Committee’s 100th anniversary, the Virginia Relief Sale’s SOS Committee (Sharing Our Surplus) is launching a “Hundreds for Hundreds” campaign to raise much needed cash, check and credit card donations for MCC worldwide refugee relief.

Most of our efforts this year will be focused on promoting giving generously online. We are also planning a two-mile “Hundreds For Hundreds” SOS Walk in Harrisonburg Sunday, August 23 at 6 pm as a family-friendly fundraiser. Those who prefer not to do a public walk can get sponsors for a virtual walk at a time and place of their choosing.

MCC was formed in 1920 to provide desperately needed relief for Mennonites in famine and war-ravaged Ukraine. Over a three year period, it raised $1.3 million in food aid and purchased 50 tractors and plows to replace draft horses that had been destroyed or confiscated during the recent war. Today that would represent over $33 million worth of aid.

Today people all over the world are suffering the effects of similar—and even worse—wars and famines, combined with such disasters as locust plagues, floods and now a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 265 million people will experience severe food shortages this year, twice the number that faced starvation-level poverty a year ago. And among the populations most affected are the over 70 million refugees around the world.

Meanwhile, MCC income has dropped by some $5 million this year. The “Hundreds for Hundreds” campaign can help make up for this shortfall.

Here are four possible responses:

Level 1) No Giving. Just ignore the crisis, keep it “out of sight and out of mind.”

Upside: Low stress, minimal worry.
Downside: An indifference that can result in the heart becoming, like that of Seuss’s Grinch, “two sizes too small.”.

Level 2) Token Giving. Give just enough to help SOS keep raising 10% of the Virginia Relief Sale’s annual receipts.

Upside: An easier conscience, and a feeling of at least doing something to benefit needy refugees.
Downside: Only a minimal awareness of the suffering of those facing massive hardship and starvation.

Level 3) Generous Giving. Write a big check based on a genuine concern for millions in dire circumstances, but without diminishing our financial status or standard of living.

Upside: MCC and other charities minister to many more people and offer much more relief aid!
Downside: The gap between the very well to do and the very poor remains largely unchanged.

Level 4)  Pentecostal/Jubilee Style Giving. Follow Jesus’ call to “sell what you have,” radically downscaling all personal wealth, with an eye toward creating greater justice and equality worldwide.

Upside: Helps create a world in which there are “no needy persons among them,” while adding greatly to ones stock in the internationally-based “Company of Heaven.”
Downside: According to the teachings and life of Jesus, who “became poor for our sakes,” * there is no downside, and the rewards are eternal and immeasurable.

So as we make our choices, consider the prayer by 7-year-old Ben Zimmerly Jantzi:

"God, please help the poor get rich and the rich get poor, so they know what it feels like. And then, God, let everyone switch back to medium and let everyone have the same amount of food and money."   
                   ********************************************************
* Radical re-investing may not mean becoming poor in terms of wealth used in the production of essential goods and services. That is, some may be entrusted with the stewardship (management) of farms, factories or other business enterprises worth millions. What Jesus asks is that we radically downsize and re-invest the kinds of personal and consumer wealth that is subject to loss by theft, economic downturns, depreciation and deterioration--simply because it is a wiser choice that results in better returns.

You can contribute online at https://donate.mcc.org/ or to the SOS "Hundreds for Hundreds" campaign on the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale site https://vareliefsale.com/donate/

A Taste Of Heaven Right Behind Our House

Surely on God's new earth we'll have some space to grow a nice row of sugar snap peas.
(View is from behind our house toward our neighbors' duplex)

Of all of life's pleasures, few of them compare to the joy of planting, cultivating and harvesting a garden--unless it is the joy of enjoying its fruit.

According to the book of Genesis, a productive garden was humanity's first home, and at the other end of the Bible's story we are told there will be trees bearing all manner of fruit, a different kind for each month of the year.

Between these two narratives, we learn that one of Jesus's favorite places was a garden that included a productive olive grove, the Garden of Gethsemane, and that Jesus's body was buried in a friend's memorial garden. Then on the morning of his resurrection--before dawn on Easter--Mary, one of his followers, mistook Jesus for a gardener.

So with God's interest in botany, horticulture and in all manner of living and growing things, I'm thinking there will be lots of garden space in the next life. Meanwhile, the time we spend in such spaces is rewarding not only for what is harvested for the body, but for what is resurrected in the soul.

Stormie Omartian, author of "Lord, I Want to Be Whole," writes, "One of the greatest things you can do outdoors is gardening. Getting your hands in the earth has a miraculous calming effect upon your whole being. Digging up weeds and planting flowers and vegetables is great therapy."

As a therapist, I heartily agree.

And I would add, applying layers of semi-composted, weed-inhibiting, soil enriching mulch from the mountain of leaves and grass clippings we collect each year adds to the pleasure. After years of doing this, our mostly clay soil has become a dark loam that is a pleasure to work with. Sugar snap peas, green and lima beans, tomato plants, sweet corn and all kinds of vegetables thrive on it, as do the army of earthworms that tirelessly work at improving the soil throughout the year.

Some separate flower, tea and salad gardens next to the house provide things like lettuce, spinach, onions, beets and carrots.

Now if we can just keep the nearby herd of deer at bay, we'll be fine.

We harvested some sugar snap peas this week, but the beans and corn in the 
foreground won't be ready until next month sometime.

How German Mennonites Came To Defend The Use Of The 'Heil Hitler" Greeting

Facebook removed this post on the Anabaptist Collective site, but here are its main points.

Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, Associate Professor of Theology and VP and Dean of the Seminary at Tyndale University in Toronto, has done considerable research on European Mennonites prior to and during World War II. Some of his findings, including a recent post on the use of the "Heil Hitler" greeting, I found chilling and disturbing.

One quote he gives is by Walter [Jakob] Quiring, who in 1934 explained the “Heil Hitler” greeting as being the way in which millions of Germans “express their desire for strength, health, knowledge, in short, the blessing of God for their spiritual leader in his titanic battle against evil.”

Another Mennonite leader, Benjamin H. Unruh, who was exiled to Germany by the Stalin regime in 1921, wrote the following in 1937 to the District Administrator of Fernheim, the pioneer Mennonite colony in Paraguay:

“Heil Hitler” means that one heartily wishes the head of the new Germany hail [well-being]. Above all, believing Christians think of “salvation from God,” whom the Chancellor and Führer honestly confesses, for which we cannot be thankful enough. Just think of Stalin! ... In the Hitler greeting “Hitler” is in the dative case. Have you never read 1 Timothy 2:2? … Adolf Hitler wants nothing for himself, everything only for his Volk. I honour him with my whole heart, and I love him as one can only love a sovereign (Fürst means the first among his people!). Only history will reveal what God through Adolf Hitler has granted the German Volk in its entirety, including Germans in host countries, and what he will still grant to Europe and the world as well. Hitler is the great combatant of Stalin."

Elsewhere, Neufeldt-Fast states that the justification Mennonites and other professed Christians most often gave for supporting Hitler was his rhetoric on resisting the socialism of Stalinist Russia. Sadly, this rationalization resulted in many individuals and whole congregations embracing one of the most demonic regimes in history. Prussian Mennonite church leaders, he notes, "regularly signed formal and informal correspondence to each other in a way that linked traditional Mennonite piety with piety toward the Führer: 'With brotherly greetings, Heil Hitler!' ”

"History does not repeat," Neufeldt-Fast believes, "but it can rhyme." He concludes that apostasy is rarely obvious to people at the time they are embracing it.

This should serve as a reminder of how easy it is to become seduced by any mix of nationalism and the Christian faith.

Which Road to Peace In A Time Of Crisis?

Raise your hand if you favor 1) applying ever more force and dominance, 2) appealing to our basic American ideals, and/or 3) committing to a life of suffering, service and self-sacrifice.*

Option 1. Oppose Force With More Force. The president recently made headlines by ordering that a group of protesters around the White House be forcibly removed in order for him to make a symbolic visit to a nearby church. This followed his having just made statements vilifying protestors and threatening the use of military troops if governors didn't take more aggressive action to restore order. He then posed for some official photos taken of him holding a Bible in his right hand in front of a nearby church. Ironically, his message continues to be one of threatening harm to those expressing their outrage over injustices, not always clearly distinguishing between peaceable and violent protestors.

Option 2. Appeal To American Ideals. A second alternative is one symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. Instead of a Bible in her raised right hand, she holds a torch of light and freedom, and in her left hand a tablet inscribed with the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At her feet are a broken shackle and chain, symbolizing the freedom African Americans experienced following the  abolition of slavery. While there are no explicit scriptural references in this national icon, many of the ideals of the Biblical prophets are embodied in this symbol of liberty and justice.

 Option 3. Heed The Words of Jesus and the Prophets. For a nation that claims to be made up of a majority of Christians, there are surprisingly few voices advocating for the kind of radical non-violence taught and practiced by Jesus and many of the Hebrew prophets. Like them, Jesus railed against injustice and condemned the rich and powerful, but refused to condone returning evil for evil. Instead he urged his followers to choose taking up the cross over taking up arms, to suffer harm rather than ever inflicting it.

*Art photo source: https://benedicttheafrican.org/art

Should Churches Accept Government Handouts?

The church is not a "business" intended to receive government support.

Gary Oyer of Hesston, Kansas, had a letter published in the Mennonite World Review in May that questioned congregations and conferences applying for benefits like those provided in the current Paycheck Protection Program. Technically, the PPP offers a loan through the government's Small Business Administration, but one that is to be forgiven if a business or organization retains its employees over a required period of time.

I understand the temptation to have some extra funds on hand for people on a church's payroll, but like Oyer, my first thought was that this is not free money, but something we are adding to the already staggering national debt that our children and grandchildren will be burdened with forever.  Oyer also makes the point that "The government will soon complain about the enormous government deficit and use that as an excuse to cut education, health and social budgets."

Even more important, the more we come to depend on government benefits the more our prophetic voice is in danger of becoming muted out of a fear we may jeopardize our privileged position. Already we have the benefit of having to pay no local property or other taxes on billions of dollars of prime real estate held by congregations. And pastors enjoy enormous tax benefits by being able to claim up to 40% of their incomes as a housing allowance, which can cover things like mortgage interest (even though already counted as a deductible item!), utilities, home repair and improvements, and even cleaning supplies.

How does any of this square with our conviction, as Anabaptists, that the church should be free of state control and support?

Oyer's letter closes with a quote from the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, "In times of suffering the church depends on the Spirit's presence and power, rather than on the power or benevolence of government, for its preservation and mission."

Maybe at the very least our churches should commit to paying back what we have borrowed as soon as we are able. Also, congregations could make a hefty contribution to local governments for the fire and other protections they enjoy, and pastors could contribute every bit of their personal tax savings to charity.