HARDTIME VIRGINIA Vol. 8, No. 3, Summer 2023

PRISON CAN BE A HOSTILE PLACE. THEN THE BIRDS CAME.

by Christopher Blackwell

     Last month, a tiny, colorful barn swallow and her partner began building a nest outside a window at the prison where I am incarcerated. The brightly colored birds worked diligently, assembling their nest one beakful of mud at a time. All the guys in my unit were immediately entranced by the glimpse of nature we so rarely get to experience.

     In prison, guys act tough and move carefully within a highly segregated environment. But once those birds planted themselves outside our window, those barriers melted away. The dayroom was packed, with guys from different gangs and races squeezing in together to observe the swallows at work. We watched their every move, pointing, laughing, and yelling like we were close friends. In those moments, we could let our guards down, forget about prison politics, and just be ourselves. I notice moments like these because they are so unusual.

     After completing her nest, the mama bird laid four fingernail-sized eggs. The eggs hatched, and the baby birds quickly became the talk of the unit. Suddenly, every guy in prison was an ornithologist, claiming to know whether barn swallows were an endangered species, what kind of food they ate, how long the chicks would take to mature, and a string of other details that seemed at least somewhat believable. I have no idea if any of them knew what they were talking about, but it felt good to see everyone excited about something other than typical prison crap, like lifting weights and card games. Even the toughest guys became consumed by these little creatures. It was impossible not to be—they were adorable.

     The baby birds became a treasured part of my daily routine—each morning at 5 a.m. I would make my first cup of freeze-dried coffee and check on the nest. I approached slowly, careful not to upset the mama bird. As you can imagine, she wasn’t exactly thrilled about us looming over her brood. But during these calm, quiet mornings, she sometimes allowed me to get close.

     I would count each of the four babies, making sure they had all survived another night. I savored the silence, the time to think. After living in prison for 20 years surrounded by layers of dense razor wire fencing designed to keep us in and everything else out, having this personal connection to nature felt special. For a few minutes, I could feel like a part of something much bigger than the closed world of this penitentiary.

     As the chicks grew, we fretted about whether they would all survive. One prisoner was convinced it was only a matter of time until the birds pushed one of the babies out of the nest to make more room. I wondered if that was true. I swore that if it happened, I would raise the baby myself, giving it a home in my cell. How would it learn to fly? That was a problem for later.

     We didn’t always agree on what was best for the birds. One time, one of the guys climbed up on the window ledge and tapped on the glass—as if he were a child peering into a fish tank—hoping the babies would lift their heads. This caused chaos. Several prisoners, myself included, got worked up and accused him of disturbing the birds for his own selfish entertainment. He tried to insist he wasn’t bothering them, but the mama bird’s nervous chirps said otherwise. Finally, he left them alone, but he was too prideful to admit he was wrong.

     On the morning of July 4, a prisoner on my unit named Dakota Collins quipped the birds were bound to find their independence that day. “It’s destined,” Collins said.

     What had started as a joke became a prophecy. By midday, all four babies had left the nest.

     “It’s cool that these birds are finding their independence on Independence Day,” Thomas Mullin-Coston, another prisoner in my unit, told me. “It just makes the day—we get a good meal today and our friends are off to start their little lives.”

     Although the guys were also sad to see the birds go, we would be the last to begrudge any living being its freedom.

I post this with the kind permission of The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization that envisions a world in which systems of support and care, not punishment, create public safety.

July Parole Numbers Are Up, But Only Slightly

     The Parole Board released a grand total of five individuals in July, and the total number of grants for the year so far is only 25. And in spite of the marked increase in “old law” prisoners eligible for geriatric parole, only six were released under that provision.

     Reform advocate Jonathan White at Augusta  Correctional Center recently quoted a “new law” prisoner he is mentoring as saying, ”Why should I care about doing right and staying on the straight path when they will not even give you parole after all the many decades of being a model prisoner and kissing up to their rules that they put everyone through? Now, they don't even want to give us the privileges to earn our way back to freedom with the little bit of good time that would have allowed many of us to go home before dying in this place!” 

ACLU Appeals Two Cases Involving Earned Sentence Credits

     After two of their lawsuits in Richmond courts failed. the ACLU appealed to the Virginia State Supreme Court, and in June that court ruled in favor of the Steven Prease case, agreeing that he had been denied by VADOC the earned sentence credits he had earned and were now overdue to him by a year. Currently the VADOC has not applied the ruling to all related cases, however. The hope is that the DOC will be directed by Attorney General Miyares to simply apply the earned credits to the related cases without the need for further lawsuits, thus saving taxpayers thousands of dollars. The second case appealed to the State Supreme Court is for those with “mixed charges.” These were denied enhanced earned credits by Amendment 19 to the budget in June 2022 because at least one of their charges was specifically excluded in the ESC Law. That case will be heard in September.            -Deb Turner, VJC

Overdose Deaths In Prisons—A Form Of Suicide Or Something Worse?        

     According to recent stats from the DOC there have been 417 overdose deaths in Virginia prisons since 2016, and the numbers are increasing. There were eight confirmed cases of such deaths in one 24 hour period at Lawrenceville Correctional Center in August of last year, and at the end of July, three such deaths were reported in a two day period at the Greensville Correctional Center, another facility where drug use is alleged to be rampant.

     Some have come to believe that many such deaths may be murders, cases of gang members forcibly injecting someone with a lethal dose of fentanyl or other drug, as well as cases of some guards who are bringing in drugs from the outside having a potential informant eliminated.

    We won’t assume any of that being true without hard evidence, but it illustrates the need for having an independent ombudsman make immediate and thorough investigations of all such cases. An ombudsman bill was making its way through the legislature in the last session, but it was held up by the Appropriation Committee and did not receive the support of the Governor.

I Love Your Letters, But May Not Always Be Able To Respond Promptly

     At 84, I am still working two days a week and am active in a lot of church and community causes, so I can’t always keep up with my correspondence as I should. Sorry!

    Something I want to feature in a future newsletter is the topic of prison food, especially as it relates to the health of those behind bars. I will also forward your responses to Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, who is a senior reporter for The Appeal, a prisoner advocacy group in New Jersey. 

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

Harvey Yoder, co-chair of the Valley Justice Coalition, P.O. Box 434, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

Guest Post: The Untold Nagasaki Story 8/9/45

There are an unimaginable number of untold stories associated with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 78 years ago.  

I post the following with the kind permission of Walt Zlotow of the West Suburban Peace Coalition of Glen Ellyn, Illinois:

Why no Hollywood movie on Nagasaki Atomic Bombing?

In the 1952 movie ‘Above and Beyond’, movie idol Robert Taylor played handsome Col. Paul Tibbetts, straight out of Central Casting, who piloted Enola Gay to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima 78 years ago today. We all grew up in awe of Tibbetts, Enola Gay and the perfect mission which incinerated Hiroshima from the first A Bomb dropped in anger. My awe eventually turned to revulsion over a horrendous war crime.

But who piloted what plane that dropped the second A Bomb on Nagasaki just 3 days later? The American Story has largely erased the saga of the Nagasaki mission for good reason. It was a colossal screw up that almost got the pilot court martialed; indeed, nearly detonated Fat Man over the Pacific en route.

Trouble began early on. Paul Tibbetts, fresh from his Hiroshima success, picked his friend Charles Sweeney to pilot the drop plane ‘Bockscar’ instead of its regular pilot Fred Bock. Sweeney was unfamiliar with both combat and the plane. Preparing for takeoff, Sweeney was unable to operate the reserve tank containing 640 gallons of fuel needed to get Bockscar safely back to its Tinian takeoff point. Bock may have had the familiarity with the plane to accomplish that. Regulations required the mission be scrapped so Sweeney and crew exited Bockscar. But Tibbetts overruled them and the mission was on with insufficient fuel.

Three hours in, worse trouble. Fat Man’s red detonation lights began blinking wildly. Chief weaponeer Dick Ashworth frantically searched the blueprints and realized 2 switches had been reversed in the pre flight assembly. Solving that problem, everyone relaxed till Bockscar failed to rendezvous with the second of two back up planes, one for photography and one for instruments. The instrument plane, The Big Stink, was 9,000 feet above Bockscar. 

Instead of pushing on to original target Kokura, Sweeney wasted 45 minutes of precious fuel trying to link up. Big Stink pilot Hoppy Hopkins broke radio silence frantically calling Tinian asking “Is Bockscar down?” Mission officials only heard “Bockscar Down” and freaked out believing Bockscar, Fat Man and the 13 member crew were in Davy Jones Locker.

Ashford was frantic that all was lost. As tension mounted between the weaponeer and the pilot, he finally persuaded Sweeney to proceed to primary target Kokura. But a smokescreen put up by Japanese defenders responding to the Hiroshima attack caused Sweeney to go around for a second and third bomb run, wasting more fuel.

More trouble. Flack and approaching Japanese Zeros forced Sweeney to abandon Kokura to flee 100 miles to alternate target Nagasaki.

The drop made, Sweeney made a desperate dive to avoid the mushroom cloud that nearly engulfed them. But his previous delays made the return trip to Tinian impossible. Low on fuel, Sweeney began a treacherous 450 mile flight on dwindling fuel for Okinawa. All aboard Bockscar prepared to ditch. Approaching the Okinawa airfield unable to radio the tower of their emergency, Bockscar had to drop into a forced landing amid numerous other flights without control tower clearance. Bockscar bounced 25 feet in the air landing at 30 MPH over the maximum landing speed, nearly colliding with a row of fuel laden B-24’s. One engine quit on the approach and another upon touchdown. Thinking Bockscar was lost, airport personnel inquired who this strange plane was that descended out of the sky unannounced. ‘We just dropped an atomic bomb’ was the reply.

There were no celebrations for the crew of Bockscar. Officials considered a courts martial for Sweeney for his life and mission threatening delays but considered the embarrassment it would cause and decided against. Why mar the mission-perfect first nuking of civilians by Paul Tibbetts and Enola Gay? 

While we’ll never get a Hollywood treatment of the Bockscar A Bomb mission, it would be a lot more exciting than ‘Above and Beyond’. An appropriate title? ‘Nearly Down and Out Over Nagasaki’.

Walt Zlotow

West Suburban Peace Coalition

Glen Ellyn IL 

Hail And Fire--We May Someday Look Back To This Summer As One Of Our Milder Ones

A hotter, drier climate is a major contributor to extreme weather conditions and out-of-control wildfires around the world.

When the first angel blew his trumpet, hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. A third of the earth, a third of the trees, and a third of all green plants were burned.

When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a great fiery mountain was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

When the third angel blew his trumpet, a great star fell from heaven. It was burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on a third of the springs of water. The name of the star was Bitter, and a third of the water turned bitter. Many people died because the water was so bitter.

When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were struck. They each lost a third of their light. So during a third of the day there was no light, and a third of the night was also without light. 

Revelation 8:7-12 (CEV)

Whether we take these words as a literal prediction of the earth's fate or as simply among many Biblical warnings of apocalyptic disasters, we are seeing records broken for summer heat around the globe. According to data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2022 surface temperature of the earth was 1.55 °F warmer than the 20th-century average, with the past decade being the warmest in recorded history. 

Weather variations are normal, of course, but current long-range climate trends are ominous, resulting in catastrophic fires and severe droughts that are putting billions of lives at risk. Ocean temperatures, which require an enormous amount of thermal energy to affect, are in some areas exceeding 100 degrees for the first time ever, threatening marine life and adding to the likelihood of ever more destructive tropical storms.

In Jennifer Szalal's review of Jeff Goodell's bestseller,  The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet: she writes, ”Goodell’s stripped-down style suits his subject. This is a propulsive book, one to be raced through; the planet is burning, and we are running out of time. Death is a common refrain, and it doesn’t apply only to humans. ‘When it gets too hot, things die,’ an agricultural ecologist tells Goodell.” Or, as Goodell writes of creatures that adapt by moving to cooler places: “If they can’t find refuge, they die. A hotter world puts the most vulnerable at risk — the old, the sick, the poor.”

According to John P Abraham, professor of thermal sciences at the University of St Thomas School of Engineering, we will all face life altering changes in a warming climate. “Working outdoors in the heat will require shorter shifts with more breaks, and more overnight work.” Meanwhile, night-time heat is increasing faster than daytime ones, according to Abraham, who adds, “If workers are in daytime heat at work but night temperatures are sufficiently hot that their body cannot cool, they will have a much harder time the next day.” 

We do well to heed warnings like these, each calling for serious repentance of our self indulgent ways, and for radical changes in the way we care for the planet. According to the Revelation text, the trumpet warnings follow the opening of the last of seven seals, suggesting that God is permitting, rather than causing, what is happening to the planet. So to the extent that we humans are contributing to the problem, might there still be hope, as in the case of the Biblical story of Nineveh, that God may withhold judgment if we do an about face and work at righting our wrongs?

Certainly ignoring the problem and simply turning up our air conditioners will only make things worse.

As someone has observed, "Good planets are hard to find." Certainly ours is a rare jewel worth making every effort to preserve. Not only has our Creator made humans responsible for the stewardship of the earth,  to “cultivate and care for it,” we are also urged to practice good creation care by reputable organizations like the Audubon Society, National Geographic Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Medical Association, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, American Physical Society, Geological Society of America, Union of Concerned Scientists, United Nations IPCC, NOAA, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, NASA, EPA, American Geophysical Union, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Royal Society of the United Kingdom, Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, Science Council of Japan, Russian Academy of Science, Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Canada, Chinese Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Sciences, German Academy of Natural Scientists, Indian National Science Academy, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy), Australian Academy of Sciences, Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts, Caribbean Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences Malaysia, Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, etc., etc.

We can act in ways that will cause our children and grandchildren to be forever grateful.

Or not.

A Tribute To A Mentor, Role Model And Friend

Eugene Kraybill Souder 
October 12, 1927-June 3, 2023

I had the privilege of sharing the following message at my friend Eugene Souder's memorial service at the Zion Mennonite Church today:

It’s December, 1946. A 19 year old Pennsylvania farm boy finds himself in the Neapolis Harbor in Greece, having for the second time accompanied one of numerous cargo ships to locations across Europe in desperate need of help after the Second World War. This one carried nearly 1000 draft animals he helped take care of on the long ocean journey. 

Eugene Souder, having been brought up in a preacher’s home and gone to Eastern Mennonite School, recognized this as the very place the apostle Paul landed after responding to a vision he received in Asia Minor of someone just across the Aegean Sea, in Greece, calling, “Come to Macedonia and help us.”

Here he was at the very spot his admired apostle Paul had been, and Eugene and others walked the ten mile Roman Road to Philippi, and saw what he was told was the jail where Paul and Silas had been held. In the Acts 16 story they sang as  a duet until midnight, when there was an earthquake so violent that it demolished the jail and freed those held captive, and that night Paul baptized the traumatized jailer and members of his family.

Later Paul writes a letter from a prison in Rome to encourage the house church at Philippi, writing,"I thank my God whenever I think of you, and when I pray for you, my prayers are always joyful, because of the part you have taken in the work of the gospel from the first day until now.” 

Eugene is inspired, feels a renewed sense of calling to follow Paul as Paul followed Christ. So these two images come to my mind as I reflect on Eugene’s life—apostle and prophet. 

As an apostle, a "sent one," he and Alice followed the call to go to wherever they saw people in need of God’s good news. As a young adult he traveled all over the eastern part of the country as a member of a quartet involved with evangelist B. Charles Hostetter, speaker for the new Mennonite Broadcasts, where he later worked for many years. Then for most of his adult life he carried out God’s call as a dedicated pastor to the emerging Mount Vernon Mennonite Church and to serve with Alice as a beloved shepherd to so many in the surrounding Grottoes community.

He was not unlike Paul the first century apostle, who when writing to the church at Thessalonica, said, “As you know, we dealt with each of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” Eugene was laser focused on fulfilling this kind of life calling as a good father to his children and grandchildren, here today as a witness to what he and Alice were able to give birth and life and direction to as a remarkable and blessed family. But he was also as an apostle to God’s larger family, like Jesus, anointed, commissioned, sent to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to announce the Jubilee Year of the Lord.

I know Eugene wanted Jesus, not himself, to be the primary focus here in today’s service, but Jesus’ plan has always been to live on in and through his chosen followers, his disciples, his sent ones. Paul the apostle taught that our Lord, head of the church, gave some to be apostles, and some prophets. I know he  would be “appalled” at being compared to the apostle Paul, but he was certainly a committed follower of that pioneer church planter, and he named his firstborn Paul, maybe partly because he had two brothers-in-law by that name. Most of the scriptures he chose for his service were by the apostle Paul, and like Paul he was a singer (remember the jail story?) and a writer, reaching thousands through the printed page, through free papers he launched and edited like TOGETHER and LIVING magazines and OUR FAITH DIGEST.

That brings me to the prophet side of his life mission. Eugene spoke out against public school segregation in our community when it was extremely unpopular to do so, working with a group called the Rockingham Council on Human Relations to encourage integration of not only local schools but of Rockingham Memorial Hospital and work places. Even some of his fellow ministers felt he was going too far too fast, and his barber no longer welcomed him to his shop. 

What made him even less popular in the eyes of many was his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, and his part in organizing Christians for Peace, producing bumper stickers like Peace is Patriotic and Blessed are the Peacemakers. and circulating thousands of copies of "Letters to the President," an appeal from our missionaries in Vietnam to end the awful bloodshed and destruction in that part of the world. 

Later he was co-chair of Rockingham Concerned Citizens, a local group opposing Coors Brewery locating in the the Valley, in spite of actual threats he received for his stand. Even in his retirement was writing frequent letters to the editor and when his health was in decline he had me read a number of them and suggest editing changes. He was also one of the only pastors in the area to speak out against VMRC demolishing a row of Park Village along Park Road valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to make room for upscale retirement units for the privileged.

In the last two months of his life, I made weekly visits to Eugene as a way of showing my gratitude for the kind of mentor and role model he was. On the last visit in which we were able to communicate with each other, just days before his passing, I felt led to sing to him, "Come and go with me to my Father’s house... where there's joy, joy, joy." That's the kind of song he would want us to hear from him today.

Here on the platform you see a ceramic pitcher and basin given him when he was named Alumnus of the Year at Eastern Mennonite High School. Today we honor him by recognizing him as Alumnus of a Lifetime. 

Eugene Kraybill Souder, apostle and prophet, you have fought the good fight. You have finished the course. You have kept the faith--and passed it on. Enter into the joy of the Lord! 

Amen.

Have We Become A Nation Of Narcissists?

World Inequality Update 2022

According to the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM-5), individuals with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder exhibit many or all of the following traits: a sense of self-importance, a preoccupation with power, beauty, or success, a sense of entitlement, a need to be around people who are important or special, and a need to be admired. They are typically arrogant, lack empathy, and are exploitative for their own gain.

Applying that description to US citizens like ourselves may seem harsh, but are we becoming a nation of narcissists?

Imagine all of the world’s people around one table, over 7 billion of us, with some 27,000 children dying every day from hunger related causes. Yet we, like the rich man in Jesus’ story in Luke 16, “feast sumptuously every day.” 

     

Here are just a few of the benefits many of us at the American end of the table feel entitled to:

• an unheard of level of personal wealth. Those of us with an annual income of $50,000 or more are in the top 1% of the richest people on earth, according to Richard Stearn, president of World Vision and author of The Hole in Our Gospel.

• the availability of state of the art healthcare unheard of in all of human history.

• exotic foods shipped to our supermarkets, restaurants and convenience stores from all over the world, often harvested, packaged and transported by exploited and underpaid workers, and of which, according to some estimates, 40% is wasted.

• clothes closets packed with apparel manufactured in sweatshops in some of the poorest nations on earth.

 

• a national “defense” budget that exceeds that of the combined total spending on war, and preparation for war, of the next highest nine countries' expenditures in the world. 

• a criminal justice system that, in the interest of “public safety,” incarcerates multiple times more people per capita than any other developed nation on earth.

• access to comfortable and efficient means of transportation, with more licensed vehicles in the US than there are licensed drivers.

• climate controlled comfort and a multitude of other energy driven amenities in our homes, schools and workplaces, with little regard for how our excessive use of fossil fuels is having disastrous effects on the climate.

• state of the art places of worship with an excess of pew space typically utilized only several hours a week.

• more firearms per capita than any country on earth, with correspondingly shocking rates of suicides and mass murders.

• expansive homes with well manicured lawns, beautifully furnished interiors, unused bedrooms and other under utilized space.

All of these marks of privilege are well in excess of what even royalty would have dreamed of throughout history, but which we have come to claim as our inherent right. And along with this level of entitlement we demonstrate a distressing lack of empathy, as evidenced by the fact that according to Stearn, the average US congregation designates only 2% of its budget to needs beyond our borders.  

     

May it be said of us as of Job in the Bible, “I assisted the poor in their need and the orphans who required help. I helped those without hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy."            Job 29:12-13 (NLB)

Celebrating Some Of Our Next Door Neighbors

On the official Mennonite World Conference website,
Jamaica, an English speaking former British colony,
is listed with Central and South American churches
rather than with their nearby North American neighbors.

We were blessed having two delegates from the Jamaica Mennonite Church speak to our 12-member house church at VMRC's Village Hall Sunday. 

Sister Yvonne McDonald, treasurer of the Jamaica Mennonite Conference (JMC), and Sister Regina Taylor, their Training and Education Ministry Director, shared how Virginia Mennonite Missions was a vital part of their founding in 1955, and how they have since grown to over 700 members in 11 congregations across the island. They described JMC as a mission driven church recognized for its outreach to people in need, its educational and children's ministries and for promoting peace and reconciliation in communities rife with local conflicts.

 Since our house church is small, we invited others to join us, made an announcement at the Park Village Coffee Hour, put up posters around VMRC, and had a bulletin announcement go to local Mennonite churches. 

We had a wonderful meeting, raised over $200 for our sister church (one with a fraction of the financial resources we take for granted) and experienced some great fellowship. But I keep wondering how we can get more of people interested in our worldwide neighbors, given the fact that there were only ten persons present at Sunday's meeting who were not a part of our house church. 

Any ideas?

Refreshing Our Mennonite Confessions of Faith

Should our 1995 Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective be considered definitive and normative for all time? 

In 1927, the Schleitheim, Dordrecht and numerous other Anabaptist statements of faith were superseded by the Christian Fundamentals confession adopted by the Mennonite General Assembly in Garden City, Missouri. This statement was then updated a generation later with the adoption of the 1963 Mennonite Confession of Faith, which was in turn replaced 32 years later with our most recent Confession. 

Should it come as a surprise that a generation later (28 years), some members of an ever evolving church may question whether another revision is called for?

Or did we finally get everything exactly right in 1995? 

To be clear, I deeply appreciate the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, and largely endorse it without reservation. But to be honest many of our congregations haven't had a foot washing service in decades (a practice affirmed in that 1995 statement), many no longer promote women wearing veilings (1963 statement), and few practice the repeated scriptural mandate to greet one another with a holy kiss (1921 confession). And some pastors, after considerable soul searching, have officiated at weddings in which one or both have had a divorced partner who was still living.

Regarding the latter issue, I agree that a definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman for life may be far more fundamental than many of the issues some members may judge as peripheral today. Yet in their time, and in my own memory, they were seen as anything but "disputable matters." Some were as hotly debated then as the issue of whether a faithful, covenanted same sex relationship should be blessed is today. And the underlying concern raised has always whether we are in danger of no longer considering scripture as authoritative.

Many of us will continue to encourage celibacy for our differently oriented sisters and brothers, and perhaps even promote celibacy as a viable Christian option for believers in general (see I Corinthians 6), even though most of us would be unwilling to consider that option for ourselves. But I regret that  in all of the conversations we've had on this issue in the past, I don't recall a single example of leaders in our Virginia Mennonite conference leaders ever inviting their own gay or lesbian sons and daughters, sisters and brothers to be a part of the discernment process. This in spite of the fact that many such believers have been hidden in plain sight in our midst for decades, with most simply leaving our communities, turning their backs on the church or finding welcoming congregations elsewhere. 

So in light of the differences that divide us today what if we were to prayerfully consider producing an updated "2025 Confession of Faith in a  Mennonite Perspective" together in which all members would be invited to the table? In the meantime we could and should affirm anew the "fundamentals" outlined by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, teachings he himself stated were foundational for all who "hear these sayings of mine and practice them." 

The first century church in fact did create something like that in their Didache, a second generation document they referred to as "The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles." It was used for the instruction of new believers and was largely based on Jesus's inaugural sermon, the "all things I have commanded you" reiterated in the Great Commission given by Jesus on that same Mount of the Beatitudes.

I know creating another confessional statement would be a hard and potentially long process, but in the spirit of Jesus's prayer in John 17, we need to be committed to staying together while we take on this kind of ongoing task prayerfully and carefully, and for as long as it takes, knowing that future generations of faithful believers will surely amend whatever we come up with, as they certainly should. 

We have successfully done something very similar with the periodic adoption of new hymnals, which it could be argued have far greater impacts on the faith and theology of our people than do our confessions. Mennonite congregations were blessed by the first edition of the Church Hymnal published in 1927, followed by the 1969 Mennonite Hymnal, then the 1992 Hymnal, a Worship Book, and finally the latest, the new Voices Together. In each case, newer hymnals tend to first be viewed with suspicion by some but mostly embraced over time, and the process of creating them has been life-giving. 

We might ask, which is a sign of greater spiritual life and health, a church that forever preserves and elevates one particular statement of faith for all time, or one in which members are constantly searching the scriptures for ways of becoming ever more faithful to the way of Jesus?

May all of God's people who are committed to the confession "Jesus is Lord" work together as one, for as long as it takes, meanwhile practicing the kind of congregational discipling of individual members in the manner taught by Jesus in Matthew 18:15-20--but without separating ourselves from whole communities of believers we believe to be in error.