Reflections On A Virginia Conference Assembly

In the introduction to Amish farmer and minister David Kline’s book, “Letters From Larksong,” are these words by one of his friends, poet Wendell Berry:

.... my friend David Kline told me,

"It falls strangely on Amish ears,

This talk of how you find yourself.

We Amish, after all, don't try

To find ourselves. We try to lose

Ourselves"--and thus are lost within

The found world of sunlight and rain

Where fields are green and then are ripe,

And the people eat together by

The charity of God, who is kind

Even to those who give no thanks.

Our July 20-22 Virginia Mennonite Conference Assembly proved to be another great time of uplifting worship, inspirational messages and meeting with friends and fellow believers I've grown to love and appreciate over my past fifty years of ministry.

Sadly, VMC, like many other Mennonite communions across the land, is faced with some dwindling numbers due to individuals and congregations leaving the church for a variety of reasons. This brings about feelings of grief over the "loss of loved ones", sisters and brothers who've been so much a part of our church family. We're all left with fears over how we might stem these losses.

This year's assembly theme was "Neighbors: Strangers No More", a special focus on the church reaching out to include new immigrants, refugees and other alienated and disenfranchised people in our communities. The evening services and all of the workshops highlighted these concerns.

In our delegate sessions, however, we largely went about business as usual, as in dealing with finances, discussing church policies, and trying to find consensus on the wording of our conference's vision statement. Good things to think about, and in some ways all important. But I couldn't help but wonder, what would happen if we were to spend the bulk of our business session time in how to extravagantly invest ourselves and our resources in the service of others, and less on efforts to define and preserve ourselves and our future as a conference?

In other words, might Jesus' admonitions about not saving or preserving our personal lives (but to take radical risks of losing them) also apply to our corporate lives as churches and church institutions?

I love my church family, and so much want to see it preserved. But Jesus's way of accomplishing this may be counterintuitive. He would have us save ourselves not so much by building, staffing and financing our programs and institutions, but by radically giving ourselves and our assets away.

Just like He did.

The Parable Of The Terrible Tares

"While everyone was asleep, someone sowed weed seeds 
among the wheat."

One of last Sunday's scripture texts included Jesus's story of someone planting a field of wheat, then having an enemy sow noxious weed seeds in that field while the farmer slept.

When the owner of the field was asked by his servants whether they should root out the unwanted weeds he told them to wait for the harvest to separate the good from the bad.

In explaining the parable's meaning, Jesus says the field is the world, the wheat represents God's people and the weeds, evildoers. Let them both grow together, he said, until God separates them at the last judgment.

This passage has been a source of confusion for those who assume this means that the church therefore exercises no discernment as to who is a follower of Jesus and who is not. This would contradict what is taught in passages like Matthew 18 and other texts which counsel us to meet with a erring person privately to bring about restoration, then if needed take another caring person with us to make another appeal, then involve the whole congregation if necessary to discern whether that person is to remain loved and cared for as a member or to be loved and re-evangelized equally warmly as an outsider. The church continues to love and care in either case.

But this parable is not about the church but about the world. In other words, followers of Jesus are not to go about seeking and destroying God's enemies, going after unbelievers or persecuting members of ISIS or others who are clearly living in ways that are counter to the life and teachings of Jesus. Let God be the judge of all outsiders, Jesus is saying, meanwhile we are to go about the business of simply being a faithful community of Jesus followers.

The field is the world.

The High (And Hidden) Costs Of Incarceration--Guest Post by Julie Bender

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The following is based on research done by Julie Bender, a member of the local Valley Justice Coalition:

“Jim," age 20, is serving a six-month sentence at the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail, charged with grand larceny. It appears he may have been under the influence of street drugs and/or Xanax at the time of the offense, not fully comprehending the trouble he was causing its consequences.

One might ask whether options other than incarceration should have been considered. If so, the following questions might have been considered:

● What would appropriate consequences be for breaking and entering a private home and stealing a used flat screen TV? In Jim’s case, this resulted in a charge of grand larceny. States other than Virginia have raised the threshold for grand larceny to $1000, so the charges in another community most likely would have been considered simple larceny. However in Virginia, the threshold is still $200, thus the charge of grand larceny.

● What damages were done to the home, at what cost for repairs?  

● How might this young man be held responsible for his misbehavior?  

● How might he realize the effect of his actions on the victim or community and “make things right?"

● How might he best learn about the effects of his ongoing use of drugs?

These questions might have resulted in other alternatives: a suspended sentence, probation, fine, counseling, community service, house arrest, drug treatment, or restorative approaches, where Jim would have been supported in facing his victim and working out a plan to repair the harm done, both relationally and financially.

One might even ask whether other alternatives to incarceration might have been more readily accessible if he had been a Caucasian male rather than a "person of color".

At the time of this writing, Jim has already served five months of incarceration, at a cost per inmate of some $26,000 per year.  Meanwhile he owes thousands in court and attorney fees he needs to be able to pay off. In addition, his time behind bars has cost his family approximately $200 a month for supplemental nutritious food, toiletries and medical copays, along with thefamily having to pay $1 a day for "jail rent".  

Minimum wages lost in this six-month time period would add up to $7800.  

Financial costs for the time it will take for Jim to get re-established with a job, housing, and transportation will likely fall on parents for at least the first year, and possibly through his entire three years of probation.  Should he take to the streets and become homeless, the costs would then fall on the community. 

And then there are the hidden "social” costs of Jim's incarceration:

● the likelihood that he will reoffend, given that his underlying drug issues were not addressed;

● the effects on Jim's younger siblings, particularly an at-risk teenage brother;

● the stigma Jim now faces, with his crime history, in finding work, housing, enlisting in the armed services, further education, and marriage;

● the criminogenic effect of incarceration, which reinforces maladaptive behavior and survival strategies.  In Jim’s case, these could include:

• learned helplessness;
• learned violence, in order to defend oneself against other inmates;
• learning (from other inmates) how to make methamphetamines;
• disrespect for authority and for other humans;
• the role modeling (sometimes constructive, often not) observed from the jail staff in  authority over him.  

These are troubling questions and issues posed by only one young adult experiencing incarceration and facing the future. What if we multiply them by 337 (juvenile population projected in 2017) or 18,000 (adult population in local jails in Virginia projected in 2017?  

What are those implications for our community and our state?

Click on Comments below for an engaging response.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream... For A Big Health Hazard?

A pint of Trader Joe's Premium Chocolate

As long as I can remember, I've always loved ice cream, a treat we didn't often get to indulge in when I was growing up.

Last weekend Alma Jean and I were enjoying some of this addictively delicious frozen fare with our son Brad and one of his apartment mates.

At least "enjoyed" seemed like the right word until I read the Nutrition Facts label on the pint of Trader Joe's Ultra Chocolate Premium in front of me. The "Facts" I read there were cause for alarm, especially since they were based on a serving of a mere half cup (105g) of this favorite dessert:

Total Fat 16g                24% of daily value
Saturated Fat 10g      48% of daily value
Cholesterol 65mg      22% of daily value

This was doubly distressing in light of the fact that I'd like to lose some weight and that my doctor has prescribed some Lipitor to reduce my cholesterol.

Then there was the additional realization that my normal "serving" of this favorite type of dessert is likely to be in excess of a full cup rather than a paltry half.

So, sad to say, my lifelong love affair with ice cream, especially the premium, extra delicious kind, may need to come to an end. Or at the very least, I'll need to check the nutrition labels a lot more carefully in the interest of maintaining good health and a lower weight.

Given the kind of food addict I am, I may need your help to staying on the wagon on this one.

P.S. Since posting this, I've become aware of research that shows that sugar, rather than fat, is the primary culprit in causing our epidemic of obesity. And this product is, of course, is loaded with it. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html

Brad Finds A Profound Note On His Doorstep

An anonymous "Fellow Pittsburgher" left this amazing note on our son's
doorstep a number of months ago upon seeing his 
yard sign welcoming immigrant neighbors.
(note transcribed below). 

Hello,

We have never met.

When my grandparents were teenagers, they traveled, mostly on foot, across Europe. They were "undocumenteds" in every country through which they passed.  They obtained visas to enter Canada, where they met, married and raised a family.

They lived. They were Jews. The remainder of their families did not survive. Canada, the United States and all other countries stopped admitting Jews in the years leading up to the war.

When I drove by your house today and saw your yard sign, I felt some consolation. I felt that your sign honored the family that was lost, because you were telling your community, "Never again."

Kind regards,

A Fellow Pittsburgher

Check this link for more on these yard signs sprouting up everywhere: 

http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2017/07/welcome-signs-multiply-on-pittsburgh.html

Welcome Signs Multiply On Pittsburgh Yards

photos by Brad Yoder

On an early morning walk today while visiting our son Brad, we saw 16 yard signs expressing welcome for immigrant neighbors. These were all within a five-block residential area bounded by Meade St. and Thomas Boulevard in the North Point Breeze section of Pittsburgh where he lives. 

All but three of these were the ones with the message, "No matter where you're from, we're glad you're are neighbor" that originated in our home town of Harrisonburg. Two others simply said "You Belong," and a third was a MoveOn.org "Refugees and Immigrants Welcome Here" sign (on the lower left of the photo montage above).

This area is far from being some Mennonite ghetto. In fact, Brad is the only person in the immediate neighborhood presently attending the city's one Pittsburgh Mennonite Church.

Is this phenomenon a heartening sign or what?

Mennonite Girls From Everywhere Can Cook

Tens of thousands of Mennos cook in these kinds of kitchens.

I am disappointed that your cookbook includes a recipe for tacos. To me, that's not Mennonite food. 

- anonymous comment on Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Herald Press recently published a beautifully illustrated book called Mennonite Girls Can Cook. As a Menno who loves good food it's hard not to like this attractive work by ten very creative members of my faith.

Their use of the label "Mennonite" raises a question, however. Doesn't this just add to a stereotype that Mennonites are fair skinned middle-class North American folks of Swiss, German, Dutch or Russian descent who live north of the Rio Grande?

The fact is that there are now more Anabaptists/Mennonites on the continent of Africa alone (nearly 700,000 according to the latest 2015 stats), than there are in Canada and the United States combined. And their numbers are growing far more rapidly than ours.

As another example of this growing diversity, there are more Mennonites on the subcontinent of India, some 250, 000 in all, than there are members of our entire Mennonite Church USA, now well under 100,000 in number and declining.

To be fair, the numbers of all Anabaptist related groups in North America is over 683,000. But oddly, Mexican and Central American Mennonites are officially counted with their South American counterparts rather than as a part of the actual continent they share with Canada and the US.

This is presumably because their culture, language and ethnicity are seen as being more similar to fellow believers further south, but doesn't this represent a subtle form of bias on the part of those of us of European descent?

I know the good folks who produced this cookbook in no way intended to convey any such bias. And the fact that they are  dedicating all of their royalties to programs to feed hungry children is beyond commendable. I'm simply using this example to highlight an issue I feel deserves attention.

Or am I just being way too picky about such things?

Here's a link to the 40th anniversary edition of another best-selling Mennonite cookbook: 
http://store.mennomedia.org/More-with-Less-Cookbook-Fortieth-Anniversary-Edition-P4756.aspx