over and around the rainbow

Yesterday Ashton Wells, Aaron Barnhart, and I loved us some earth. We hummed (slightly off-pitch?) some songs and emptied our church prayer bowl into the Good Earth, into God’s Good Keeping. As Beatrix Amstutz said, “What a great gift to the earth, almost like natural “miracle grow”. 

Ashton

Aaron

I also received this beautiful note from Terri Gaeddert, one of the co-leaders of WorshipArts:

During WorshipArts we talked a bit about the prayer bowl and the plan for adding them to the garden. I invited them to add their prayers to the bowl – led to some discussion about what prayers say (I used the “help, thanks, wow” approach to keep it simple) and some discussion about what “anonymous” means and then I collected the prayers, added them to the bowl and watered them on their behalf.

And so we begin again. The prayer bowl stands ready for our new/old prayers.

And the pitcher we used on Sunday, which is the first thing I see every morning when I walk into my office, stands to remind me of new life, hope, and the fruits of our praying together.

A lot of firsts for me this year, including the annual Easter egg hunt. It was great fun. Check out these videos and photos.

Terry

Gary and Sallie

Jesse, Mitch and Steve

This morning was a memorial/inter-faith service like no other. It was led by the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City, in partnership with Community Clergy. It was called a “Service of Unity & Hope.” (See next blog post for more information).

About 2 miles from the Jewish Community Center I noticed increased police presence, and I began to hear the sounds of helicopters (media? security?). Even though I was 30 minutes early, I got one of the last seats available, behind the media crew or should I say media frenzy?

From what I could see, it seemed like a diverse crowd. It included Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Jews, men, women, children, people of all nationalities, police officers, and political figures like Eric Holder, United States Attorney General. I know of at least one other Rainbow member who was there.

The service included prayers, scripture, music–things you might expect. Words were said on behalf of the two families. (I found it interesting and perhaps odd that the burial for Terri LaManno was taking place during this interfaith service.) As far as I could tell neither of the families of the victims were in attendance.

It would have been fascinating to be part of this planning group. What were their motivations? Why was Eric Holder invited? Who and what was this interfaith service for? How did they determine who would speak? And did it accomplish unity and hope? Let’s pray it did.

I’m glad I went, and I will keep this sticker on my purse as long as it wants to stay there. And I will join others in prayer at 1:00 on Sunday, April 20. See the following invitation for more information.

The Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council Expresses Message of Hope in Light of Tragic Events(1)

On Palm Sunday I talked about how Jesus leads us in peaceful counter-processions, whereby we are called to subvert components of the cultural status quo like ethnic stereotypes, discrimination, and racism. My last words were: May our lives honor the one whom we seek to follow: Jesus, the peaceful one, riding on a donkey.

Less than two hours later news broke that three people had been killed  by a gunman at two different Jewish facilities in Overland Park, KS. Early reports called this a hate crime, and the suspect was immediately linked to white-supremacist activities.

Upon hearing of this act of horrendous violence and hatred, I thought of the lines in 1 Corinthians 15:54…Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Right here, I say. It’s RIGHT HERE in Kansas City. The sting is often RIGHT HERE in our hearts, in our bodies, in our communities as we face the death of loved ones or as we try to make sense of these acts of violence and hatred. Our weapons have not all been turned to plowshares! Not all conflict has been transformed, at least not in ways we can comprehend or see at times.

Our Lenten worship theme is Conflict Transformed. This image drawn by Jesse Graber was inspired by an Arlie Regier sculpture that resides at the Clay County Court House in Liberty, MO. The plaque next to Arlie’s sculpture reads as follows: “…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares…” Isaiah’s vision, early settlers’ dreams, and descendants’ honest toil bring greatness to the land.

On Monday afternoon, after attending an ecumenical Holy Week service in downtown Lawrence, and with grief and love propelling me, I decided to 1) write some letters (see below) and 2) attend the inter-faith service planned for 10 a.m. Thursday morning at the Overland Park Jewish Community Center.

Thursday, of course, is known in the Christian Church as Maundy Thursday, a time when we hear the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet, giving them a new commandment: “Just as I have loved you,” Jesus said, “you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This will most likely be a Maundy Thursday to remember as we gather for this interfaith service on Thursday, as we stoop to wash each others feet, even if symbolically, in a spirit of solidarity and love. If anyone wants to come with me, let me know.

The letters I wrote and sent are attached here:

Letter to Jewish community center

Letter to Church of the Resurrection

Letter to St. Peter’s

This is a week for facing the reality of grief, pain and violence. This is also a week for hoping that a new day has and will continue to dawn. Consider joining others in this time of grief and hope. Our Wednesday Taize service will start  at 5:45 pm and communion will be shared. On Friday, the sanctuary will remain open for prayer and reflection. Look for more details in the mid-week.

Let there be light, Lord God of hosts…

Let woe and waste of warfare cease, that useful labor yet may build its homes with love and laughter filled. God, give your wayward children peace!

Hymn with text by William M. Vories, Advocate of Peace, 1908

In early June we will welcome Renee Reimer as the new RMC Youth Program Director.

I first learned to know Renee when she came on board as the Junior Choir Director at Bethel College Mennonite Church. She had a magnetic personality, she was a hard-worker, and she seemed to genuinely love working with our junior highers. The choir grew in size and maturity under her leadership.

Then one day she popped into my office and said, “I want to direct a play. How about we do Godspell Junior?” Okay. Good idea, I thought. But does she really know what that involves? (My mom is in theater and I know what it takes to put on a play!) For the next several months she studied the script, organized a rehearsal schedule, communicated with families, held auditions, encouraged the kids, drew in other Bethel friends to help, and ended up pulling off one of the best productions of Godspell that I’ve ever seen. All the while she had her eyes on another theater project: My name is Rachel Corrie, a one-woman play based on the journals and e-mail messages of an American college student who, in early 2003, died while working with the International Solidarity Movement in the Gaza Strip. Click on these two links to learn more about that project:

Bethel article

Renee’s blog on the experience of preparing and performing My Name is Rachel Corrie

Renee is currently a 5th year senior at Bethel College, majoring in Music Education. Here is Renee’s resume for those who want to learn more.

Renee will begin at RMC on Monday, June 9. Her office will be on the 2nd floor. Thanks to the Trustees, especially Gary Kaufman, for working hard to get the space ready. We have some more work to do as you can see from these pictures, but at least we’ve started!

Welcome Renee!

At times gardening in KS can feel sort of like prayer, especially given the drought, heat and wind. One hopes that the effort put forth will bring about SOME results, and not just sweat, blood and tears.

From what I have heard there is no questioning the results of the Rainbow garden. Thanks to the hard work of church members and volunteers (see slideshow below), each year the Rainbow Garden provides hundreds of pounds of fresh tomatoes, potatoes, onions, broccoli, cabbage, beets, sturdy greens and other vegetables for Freedom School culinary staff, who provide a nutritious breakfast, lunch and snack to more than 100 students every day.

A new addition to our master garden plan or a new plant added to the mix this year will be  prayers. Rainbow prayers. Let me explain:

Prayer bowl

See the picture to the right? That is our prayer bowl that sits at the front of the sanctuary.

On Easter morn we will have a ritual in worship whereby we affirm and release these prayers into God’s keeping and into the good earth. After pouring water on them, they will be tilled into our Rainbow garden, symbolic of the fruit and life that we hope grows from our praying. Our hope is to have a similar ritual every year around Easter, so keep praying! Note that these prayers have been offered anonymously and have not been read by anyone at Rainbow. If you have a prayer request that you would like a pastor or deacon to be aware of, please find some way, even if anonymously, to make that request. And speaking of Rainbow Deacons, this Thursday during our monthly meeting we will take turns holding this prayer bowl, saying our own prayers over the prayers. Prayers on prayers on prayers on prayers will surely make for a beautiful Rainbow garden/church!

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Sometimes I like to think of God as The Great Quilter, piecing creation together. And sometimes I like to think that it’s the quilters of the world who are really holding the church together. After all, it takes great dedication, commitment, patience, skill, love and teamwork to put together a quilt. How I hope these qualities will be on display here at Rainbow and in the larger church.

Thanks to information provided by Phyllis Carlson, since 2003 the Rainbow Quilters have pieced and quilted TEN quilts for the Mennonite Central Committee Sale in Hutchinson, KS.  This year’s quilt (pictured above) is an Amish design called “Roman Stripes.” Quilters on Roman Stripes included:  Phyllis Carlson, Laurel Kauffman, Kathy Kaufman, Susan Kysela, Karla Leuenberg, Marsha Rhodes and her sister Monica, Betty Wykcoff, and Claire Zehner. Betty Wyckoff pictured above did most of the hand quilting using a purple thread. The baby quilt pictured above is the fine work of Emily Wiebe.

Through the years much of the fabric used in these Rainbow quilts has been donated; however, the past two years money has been set aside for this project in the church budget.  These quilts and others will be auctioned for Mennonite Central Committee April 11, and 12.

Of course you don’t have to go all the way to Hutchinson to enjoy quilts. For example, did you know that some of the flooring at Rainbow is designed to look like quilt blocks?

Floor designed to look like quilt blocks

East entryway quilt block floor tiles

And have you took time to notice these beauties?

I’ll end this post by sharing a prayer written by the one and only Judi Jacobson, a woman of tremendous beauty and who lives on in memory.

“Weave the strands of our lives into the fabric of your Body. Make us strong and durable, colorful and interesting, supple and resilient so that we may be a useful part of Your Handiwork. Bind us with others so that we may dress the world in comfort, beauty, and peace.”

J. Denny Weaver is coming to town! Some of you might remember Denny as a boy, a peer or perhaps some remember his parents since they lived in KC and attended Argentine Mennonite Church. Mervin Hershberger, current pastor at Argentine Mennonite Church, said that Denny was his piano teacher for a short time but he was always distracted by the giant trains in the Weaver household. “A little bit of piano was played,” he said.

J. Denny is known as a teacher, scholar, author, doctor, and professor emeritus of religion Bluffton University. And what’s this about a Beaver? The Bluffton University mascot was named in his honor: J. Denny Beaver.

I remember first learning about J. Denny while at Bethel College. He was there talking about the strange-sounding word and concept of atonement. I had never heard that word before and so I asked my dad later that night and he said something like, “welcome to the world of theology Ruth.” He then said that some people like to talk about “at-one-ment”-the study of how we are reconciled to God through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. I would come across J. Denny’s writings on atonement later in seminary and it all sounded less strange and more intriguing. He’s one of many theologians and scholars asking important questions about the meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection: How does Jesus save? What does Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection have to say about the character of God? Or as Serene Jones asks in her recent book, Trauma and Grace, “How do we make theological sense of what happened on the cross in a way that speaks to the experience of traumatized victims without glorifying violence?”

We aren’t going to cut our KC hometown scholar any slack while he is here. He’ll be quite busy! Click on the following link for more details about his time with us March 30-31: Dr. Weaver-final

I will end by sharing three more links which give more insight into J. Denny’s work. Two are by church members Leroy Seat and Clif Hostetler and one is by popular theologian Greg Boyd.

Leroy Seat blog post

Clif Hostetler book review

 Greg Boyd critique

Dale Suderman now lives at Parkside Home in his home town of Hillsboro, KS. He is dealing heroically with the aftermath of a massive stroke.

I’m helping a family relative (Dale Suderman) record life memories. During a recent visit with him he reminded me that he became a member at Rainbow Mennonite Church when he was a young adult. He didn’t live in Kansas City all that long but he found refuge at Rainbow and more than that, he said he became a Christian at Rainbow. Yes, he had been to other churches and yes, he had been baptized at his home church near Hillsboro, KS. Still, it was only later that he would become a Christian, and at Rainbow no less.

Dale is a man of ironies and contradictions. He was raised in the Mennonite Brethren community, he is a Vietnam War Veteran, gay, and a recovering alcoholic (his AA sponsor was the film critic Roger Ebert). He spent part of his career working as a Salvation Army therapist helping many alcoholics, drug addicts and criminals seek recovery. Oh and he was a bookstore owner and good friend of the well-known Christian writer, Philip Yancey. Many of Yancey’s articles were written about and inspired by Dale. Dale is now an Episcopalian because in his words, “clearly such a faith community must have room for an ironic child like me.” Dale currently lives at Parkside Home in Hillsboro where he is recovering yet again, this time from a stroke.

Dale is a cynic in the best sense of the word. And I think the reason he found refuge at Rainbow is that he found other Christian cynics.  So read on all you cynics. In an articled titled “Cynicism as Therapy: Seeing the Log in Our Own Eye,” Dale portrays the ancient cynics as people who thoughtfully examined and reexamined idealism. They were not bitter and cold, words people might associate with cynics today.  Rather, the ancient cynics were often the ones who “mocked the pretenses” and unexamined idealism of others.  Cynicism, writes Dale, “is not nihilism, it is not bitterness, and it is not despair.” He goes on to say this:

Our problem may not be cynicism so much as unfettered and unexamined idealisms, often the idealism of a naive worldview. The world will be saved by neither the idealism of peacemaking nor the idealisms of the craft of war. As an interim ethic or at least a viable strategy, the options of pragmatism, social realism, and even compromise may be needed in areas of conflict. These do not necessarily contradict the deeper hopes that Christians have.

In this same article (let me know if you want a copy) Dale writes this moving testimony of a Christian cynic:

Tomorrow morning I will go to church and we will get on our knees and ask for forgiveness and admit that we have sinned in thought or deed because we are people who admit that sin exists both in us and around us. And we will affirm our hope as we do every Sunday: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Though for the most part we are agnostic as to whether that is a pre-, post-, or amillennial event, this Christ-centered understanding of history is our hope. Our idealisms, ideologies, and social constructs are myopic: we see through a glass made darkly ironic and paradoxical by our inability to see our own eyeballs. We are certain that the church is eternal, but we are equally confident that it is made up of broken persons…

In a subtle way we will affirm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Father of our Lord…

The communion rail is ironic and moving in most services. From generals to peace activists, gay men to homophobes, the economic elite of the city to the dispossessed of the city, we will all leave our pews and genuflect and walk down the aisle to accept bread and wine at a common table. In doing this, we recognize that we are participating in a larger cosmic drama going beyond our personal lives and beyond historical events.

And then the benediction will be recited by a deacon, with one portion of the stole going across the deacon’s front then tied at the side to symbolize moving freely on the streets as a servant of Christ. “Send us now into the world in peace,” we will say, “and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Notice that this does not say “to save the world.” We are just to move through it as servants, deacons, and emissaries.

I am moved by this. And I’m glad Dale is part of our Rainbow. As I told Dale recently, I hope that Rainbow makes a Christian out of me, too, because of course, we are all in process as followers of Jesus. I don’t know where I am or will end up on the idealism/cynicism scale but I think or I hope that at Rainbow there is enough room for us all.

That leads me to remind everyone that I’m looking forward to having a conversation in the near future with those who would like to consider becoming a member at Rainbow. Stay tuned!

Several have asked that I post the questions I posed last Sunday as part of the sermon. Who will join me in reflecting on these questions throughout the season of Lent?

What are we learning about conflict?

Where have I/we been blind in the midst of conflict?

When or how was I hurt without anyone noticing?

What have I/we avoided in the face of conflict?

When have I neglected myself?

When have I neglected others?

Where did I allow myself to receive love?

Where could I have exposed myself to the risk of something different?

-These questions are adapted from a poem by John O’Donohue in his book,                                           To bless the space between us