“By sharing the story of the global church, we can expand the concept of community. In the process of finding a Jesus-centred neighbourhood, not an ‘I’-centred neighbourhood, we can break down walls,” says Kkhot-Ip Bae. The Mennonite Christian from South Korea is the Asia representative on the YABs Committee.
Join us in person or via livestream from South Abbotsford Church, B.C., Canada to hear these stories from the global church on 25 March 2023 at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (1:30 a.m. 26 March UTC)
Renewal 2028 is a series of events commemorating the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement.
“MWC brings people from different cultural backgrounds together into one basket,” says Bishop Simon Okoth of Mennonite Church Uganda.
A chance airport encounter allowed Simon Okoth to bring that cultural mixing to Mennonite congregations in his country.
Departing Semarang after Assembly, Rashard Allen recognized Simon Okoth by his event lanyard. And Simon Okoth recognized Rashard Allan, director of music and worship at Neffsville Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania, USA, who was part of the international ensemble for Assembly 17.
“I was touched by the way he was singing and the way the international choir presented their songs,” says Simon Okoth who recognized Rashard Allen from the stage.
Their boarding-lounge conversation ended with an invitation to Uganda.
Over WhatsApp, the Ugandan church leader and the American worship director made plans. In January 2023, Rashard Allen (doctor of worship studies from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies) would conduct two three-day seminars for Mennonite congregations in rural Uganda.
“Worship is a holy conversation,” says Rashard Allen. His goal was to help participants “to worship plan so we can worship with greater understanding and so congregations can worship with greater intention.”
“The people were proud as Mennonites to see a Mennonite from a distant land coming to join them in worship, in fellowship and to guide them in understanding worship,” says Simon Okoth.
“I was struck by people’s faith…. And by their talent in terms of ministry and musicality,” says Rashard Allen. With a few parameters, participants separated into groups to compose a song from a psalm. “The songs they came back with were remarkable: they were songs they could starting using immediately in their churches. It was a wonderful blessing for me to see.”
He also gave concerts of African American sacred music. “Being able to share that part of the African diaspora was a major blessing.”
Singing can take more than an hour at the beginning of a worship service in Uganda and another period at the end. “It is the moment when we get to meet,” says Simon Okoth. “What tunes our minds, what subjects us to the feeling of God is the singing.”
In one congregation, people match their singing to background instrumentals from a cellphone plugged into a speaker. In another, a talented preteen supplies a drum kit, melody and bass line from a keyboard, “like he’s been there for 20 years,” says Rashard Allen. Another congregation sings acapella with accompaniment from three large drums.
“The sense of joy they bring when they sing and dance is rather striking to me,” says Rashard Allen. “They sing in 3 or 4 different languages: they know the songs, they know the meaning, and they sing with gusto.”
“MWC is doing a good job when you bring us together,” says Simon Okoth. “We are able to study the culture, to interface, to bond freely.”
“We are uniquely imprinted with image of God. So for us to experience the fullness of the kingdom of God, we need to know one another as much as we are able,” says Rashard Allen.
“I love that MWC regards everyone as equals: there is no hierarchy, no sense of paternalism or patronizing,” he says. MWC connects people, helping create opportunities for “cross cultural exchanges, singing one another’s songs, not just exporting [one] culture’s songs; mutual sharing with each other.”
Singing from the international songbook in 15 different languages at Assembly is “a piece of what heaven must be like. We get a deeper understanding of one another’s cultures….what is important to them in their faith…what they experience through their songs,” says Rashard Allen.
Meeting Mennonites from around the world through MWC events, “brings into our mind the oneness in creation, despite the fact that we live in different geographical locations, we speak different dialects or tongues, God is still one,” says Simon Okoth. “MWC bringing us together is one way of confirming that we are good creation of God.”
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. (Revelation 7:9, NRSV)
The first time I saw a horror movie was one evening at a church. I was around eight years old when my mother took me to the premiere of a Christian film about the book of Revelation. That night I could hardly sleep. I dreamed that Christ had come for his church and that I had stayed behind to suffer what would be the Great Tribulation.
There are different ways of looking at the book of Revelation. Some of them, quite terrifying, fill people with fear. Others, in the voice of some preachers, use this book as a crystal ball to discover the future and explain the events regarding the end of humanity. Countless films and books have fed on such ways of understanding this type of literature.
Another option is to consider the book of Revelation as God’s vision for creation. As such, it shows God’s will for humanity and invites us to live in our present according to that will. Through the book of Revelation, we are asked, we are called to be a sign of God’s kingdom here and now.
Speaking about God’s vision, about God’s invitation, the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) vision statement says:
Mennonite World Conference is called to be a communion (Koinonia) of Anabaptist-related churches linked to one another in a worldwide community of faith for fellowship, worship, service, and witness.
According to our MWC vision, worship is one of the purposes of being one, of enjoying a global community of faith, of being a worldwide communion. In that sense, it follows the emphasis the book of Revelation gives to worship in a multicultural setting. The sentence “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” appears several times in Revelation in the context of worship. At MWC, we want to be a foretaste of God’s future by being – here and now – a global communion that worships God amid cultural and linguistic diversity.
The kind of worship exercised in such a diverse community must be centred on Jesus. That makes it possible to value multicultural diversity without privileging specific cultures but giving the same value to all cultures and languages. That kind of worship does not suppress or ignore differences. It celebrates multicultural diversity. That has been and continues to be our experience, call and challenge in MWC.
With worship being such a prominent theme in MWC circles, this first electronic-only issue of Courier addresses it from different perspectives. In particular, it touches on the challenges and points of view of various members of our global communion when COVID-19 pushed their congregations to re-imagine communal worship, an experience we also faced globally by the impossibility of celebrating worldwide encounters in person.
Does online worship replace on-site liturgies? That and other questions that emerged because of the pandemic may help us to keep our conversation going to respond to God’s call to worship multiculturally and, by doing so, bear witness to the world of a God that celebrates and makes possible cultural diversity.
— César García, MWC general secretary, originally from Colombia, lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
We never imagined that the pandemic and its scars would affect our lives and the lives of our institutions to the extent it has. The church could not divorce itself from the difficult realities we lived through, and that still affects the “new normal” we live with today. Like society at large, the church must also learn to reinterpret our reality so that we can improvise creative responses to the needs of the family, the church and the community. It was a time filled with learning along the way as well as a time with many losses and much uncertainty.
A creative response to the pandemic
We halted physical meetings and yet our fellowship was strengthened through the creative ways we found to live it out.
It’s something that we considered impossible before, though now we are beginning to uncover the power of virtual communication, especially when youth who are well discipled apply these tools. Being able to virtually return to worship in the midst of the pandemic, and in spite of the circumstances, brought us together and recreated church which would have been possible in no other way.
Not all households were able to participate. Some people took the risk of visiting one another in person, and others made contact by telephone. Mennonite pastors ventured out in the rural areas, visiting members who lived far afield. They made sure to social distance while they prayed and read the Word.
The creative improvisation and love for the Lord attracted many people who approached our communities during times of worshipping the Lord and then worked through their problems. Hallelujah.
What is Anabaptist worship like now after the pandemic?
I think that the liturgical process is what was most affected because most people experienced the service via a screen, creating an understandable distance between them. Now the task is to work at reconnecting and fellowshipping in the Spirit to strengthen our relationships. It is important to note that the pandemic and its repercussions mostly affected meeting in person at church services. The pandemic affected us with loss and created much pain, but it did not destroy us. We discovered that the church knew how to express and live resilience as the body of Christ.
The communion of the saints
We learned that the body of Christ is real and extends beyond the four walls of church; it is all those who live in the communion of the saints. For sure the pandemic created distance because our normal was of relating were truncated and we had to “watch from a distance” as we participated in church. The churches that worked hard at emphasising the importance of community in spite of the circumstances were better placed to maintain fellowship amongst the members.
The Spirit of God sustains and maintains fellowship, which is experienced through the synergy of uniting our hope, faith and presence. In this way, fellowship is alive and transcends time, distance and place. Worship overcomes our barriers because it depends on the power of God’s grace and love, rather than on our own efforts, to foment the communion of the saints, the community of the Spirit.
Although members were unable to physically meet, they knew they were not alone. Prayers, intercession and petitions were a loving part of the Spirit-led community that gave a sense of community while worshiping at a distance. We learned a great lesson from the importance of communal solidarity and following Jesus under such difficult conditions because it prompted us to be more creative.
Worship as a liturgical expression of prophesy
Rev. Donald Munachoonga of Chilenje Brethren in Christ Church, Zambia, preaches. Photo: Donald Munachoonga-Chilenje BIC
Anabaptist worship has always been known for being a place where faith and life can be found. The churches were clear about the importance of worship as mediating an encounter between God and God’s people. Each service nourished hope and spirituality within people who were suffering. It is for this reason that professor Amós López maintains, “worship should always be an expression of adoration in spirit and in truth”. As Jesus says to his disciples: “But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…” (John 4:23).
Worshipping in spirit and in truth is the essence of a liturgical attitude that is prophetic. We are not a duality but rather a unity, writes Amós López; “humans don’t have a body and a spirit, they are bodyspirits that express and realize their totality through words and gesture.” Therefore, our services should not be directed only at people’s souls. Creating a service that fails to affirm life is to create a subjective experience that defies the prophetic vision of the service.
The clearest example of this is the Lord Jesus. Resurrection happened to his body but also in his Spirit, giving Jesus a quality of liberation that transforms our reality regardless of how difficult it may be. His message shows new paths and horizons that help us imagine a dignified and abundant life. For this reason, we argue that the strength of our relationship comes from our fellowship empowered by the Spirit and not by force of habit.
Now that we are returning to in-person encounters, the church should embrace the opportunity to reimagine what a prophetic liturgy could be. Worship today must be healing, reviving, unifying, nourishing and hopeful. As such, the service should never lose the prophetic liturgical dimension as these elements provide consistency and meaning to worship. It is prophetic in that worship illuminates the will of God through the Word, songs, etc. It is also prophetic in that it always shows us God in the midst of everyday circumstances. The people of Israel are a paradigmatic example of this.
Worship as an expression of committed love and solidarity
We are created to love. For this reason, all our gifts should be channeled towards putting love, mercy and justice into practice. In this sense, professor Jaci Maraschin considers our own bodies to be the greatest gift of all, because through them we can love. The apostle Paul, on the other hand, believes that the greatest gift of all is to love. He expresses this in the middle of his discussion of the gifts of the Spirit in his first letter to the Corinthians. He presents the gift of love as an indissoluble unity of gesture, theological meaning and life-giving attitude. That is, a form of worship that affirms life and life in abundance.
Even as physical presence was limited during the pandemic, love creatively transcended this dimension. There were many losses: life, employment, resources. And together these losses affected the life of the community. But how special it was to know that in midst of the loss, it was possible to hear someone’s voice, receive financial support, or share food across the distance, as an expression of God’s love.
What do we mean when we say “worship”?
We know that there are many ways to approach the topic. However, in our case we follow in the steps of professor Nelson Kirst who simply states, “worship is the meeting of the community of faith with the eternal God of life. Of course, this encounter is possible, not because we desire it, but because God, in grace and love, allows it.” This is why we should not view worship as an established religious routine. Worship as an encounter should be planned, yearned for, desired and enjoyed by a community that knows that it will meet the God of life who will be present with the community. To achieve this, we set times, rhythms, and places for this encounter with God and with the community itself.
This encounter has a place and meaning, not because God is waiting above when we open the doors to the church, but because each participant carries the Spirit of Christ with them. It is they who make it possible for the Spirit to be present – blessing, healing, forgiving, transforming us. In other words, worship starts at home.
We are responsible for preparing the meeting with God, using all of our heart, our creativity, our will and the gifts God has given us, and putting them at the service of others. Worship is the community of faith. Therefore, responsibility for this meeting goes beyond that of the pastor, the musicians, and the leaders; the whole community is responsible for it. The worship service is a vital part of our lives and affects how we envision and experience our daily lives.
The special character of services
JKI liturgical dancers at Assembly 17 in Indonesia.
Photo: Tiz Brotosudarmo
Each worship service is unique.
The proposed Bible readings for a service orient the rest of the liturgy because God’s Word guides the content of worship.
These days, singing and music often make up 65 percent of the service. Also, we see that the music and songs should serve the nature of the service. As such, the worship team and worship leaders should understand that worship does not belong to them; it belongs to the community of faith. They should also understand that they are there to serve the community’s real and felt needs. They should remember that the songs are theology set to music. Therefore, the songs should affirm truths and principles that justify faith.
Worship should inspire service which is why each service should end with a refrain like, “Yes, send me,” so that everyone is open and willing to serve the church of the Lord in solidarity.
In a nutshell, the worship service should be perfected until it is like Jesus who came to serve and not to be served.
Conclusion
What happened during the pandemic taught us great lessons that we should treasure. The pandemic was an escatalogical lesson for a comfortable church.
Through the pandemic we learned that the church should be aware, alert and willing to adjust to the signs of the times and break from our comfort zones so that we can respond to people who are suffering, waiting, trusting and resisting in the name of Jesus. We should continue encouraging life and faith within God’s community.
The church learned that it is vulnerable, and that we need God’s grace, love and blessing. We learned to express ourselves with humility, not with bragging or viewing ourselves as all-powerful. Rather, we should be a church that understands that we are sustained only because of God’s grace and love.
We also learned to be incredibly creative and to improvise when needed. In consequence, we found out that fixed, rigid models that worked for a time must give way when circumstances demand something different.
May God keep guiding out steps. May we never be without God’s grace and love.
Bibliographical notes on the authors mentioned in the article:
Amós López Rubio has a DTh from the Instituto Universitario ISEDET, Buenos Aires, and is pastor of the Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba (FIBAC).
Nelson Kirst has a DTh and is author of the book Culto Cristiano: Historia, teolog√≠a y formas (Christian worship: history, theology and forms), “Colmenas” Series.
Jaci C. Maracshin was professor emeritus of St. Paul Methodist University and author of the book A Beleza de Santidade (The Beauty of Holiness).
In 2023, we want to offer you more opportunities to relate with Anabaptist-related churches worldwide as a global family of faith together.
Courier will come to you four times in 2023:
Readers will receive April and October issues in print or via email, according to their subscription preferences.
However, new issues in February and July will be available electronically only.
If you aren’t already receiving a e-notification about Courier, please visit mwc-cmm.org/email-signup to ensure you receive the news when the electronic issues are available.
“They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4)
Christians are called into prayer and advocacy for peace. In a global context where war and violence abound, the practice of peace has become even more urgent.
The war in Ukraine has entered its second year; there is simultaneously escalating violence in Palestine; continuing military exercises threatening peace on the Korean peninsula; state violence in Myanmar; a fragile situation in Ethiopia; and war in several other parts of the world.
Christian world communions – including Mennonite World Conference – are organizing a Global Peace Prayer on 22 March 2023 at 14:00 UTC.
“As Anabaptists, peacemaking is one of our core convictions. We gratefully join this ecumenical event to pray to the Prince of Peace for courage to confront violence with shalom,” says César García, MWC general secretary.
Interpretation is available in Spanish, French, German, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese and Ukrainian.
Last year, The Conference of European Churches, Baptist World Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference, World Methodist Council and the World Communion of Reformed Churches organized an online global peace prayer on 2 March 2022. This was attended by more than 5 000 people from some 150 countries.
The Spirit of Jesus empowers us to trust God in all areas of life so we become peacemakers who renounce violence, love our enemies, seek justice, and share our possessions with those in need.
on the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the Russian government’s war of aggression against the people of Ukraine.
24 February 2023
War causes endless suffering.
Locally, where people experience gun violence, rape, death and displacement; regionally, where the use of mines, heavy equipment and attacks on heavy industry contaminates the habitats of future generations; and globally, where inflation and rising food prices add to the hardship of those affected by other conflicts, wars and climate change.
In memory of all those directly and indirectly affected by this war, which is contrary to international law
we pray:
“Deliver us from evil”
“Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die?” (Ezekiel 33:11)
“Deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)
God of just peace,
we flee to you with our worries, our fears and our helplessness in the face of the destruction, the displacement, the rapes, the killings in Ukraine.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace,
we pray for all the people of Ukraine and Russia, including those who are fleeing the war.
Let them not despair – and let us help where we can.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace,
we pray for all Christian communities in Ukraine and Russia.
Make them messengers and instruments of Your peace, not of war!
Let their light and witness shine in the darkness.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace,
we pray for all those who, in the midst of war courageously witness and walk the path of nonviolence.
Strengthen them and protect them – and let us help where we can.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace,
we pray for all those who refuse to go to war.
Let them find refuge – and let us help where we can.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace,
we pray for all those who now feel they must fight with arms – willingly, tempted, forced or even unknowingly.
Be near to them in their fears and in their dying or their return, wounded in body and soul.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace,
we pray for those in power in Ukraine and Russia.
Let them seek and find nonviolent ways to silence the guns. – and let us help where we can.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace, we pray for those who govern here and in all countries.
Let them seek and find nonviolent ways to silence the guns – and let us help where we can.
“Deliver us from evil.”
God of just peace,
we pray for ourselves.
Let us not go astray by becoming part of a logic of hate and violence,
“Let us not fall into temptation”,
but “Deliver us from evil.”
We ask in the name of Jesus, whom we follow in the way of just peace.
Amen.
—Submitted by The Board of the Association of Mennonite Congregations in Germany on the eve of the 2023 anniversary of the outbreak of war.
Join the ecumenical Global Peace Prayer on 22 March 2023 at 14:00 UTC.
An Executive Committee is elected from the General Council and meets annually. Two members from each continental region are elected from the Council; a President and Vice-President are also elected by the Council. The Treasurer and General Secretary are also members of the Executive Committee.
Meet treasurer Sunoko Lin, appointed in 2018.
What does it mean for MWC to be a “communion” of churches?
MWC is a gathering place for each member church to encourage and strengthen each other by sharing resources with one another.
What is your hope for what MWC will accomplish or be in the years ahead?
Our member churches have been growing steadily as faith communities embrace Anabaptist theology and practices of nonviolence, service and community. It is my hope that MWC can expand beyond the traditional Mennonite and Brethren churches.
Secondly, it is my hope that MWC’s Global Youth Summit will play a more active role in recruiting young leaders and developing initiatives that meet the present challenges, like economic justice, racism and climate sustainability. That MWC will also create space for them to collaborate in developing strategies and action plans.
What are you reading that has insights to share with the global family?
I felt convicted this statement in a survey done by a consulting firm, EY: “Gen Z want to make changes for their families, friends and communities – not just today, but for generations to come.”
We often say, “Youth and young adults are the future of the church.” This needs to change.
We need to actively listen to the cry of our youth and young adults. They want to make a difference in the world today. Let us work side by side with them.
How do you serve your local congregation?
I serve as a volunteer senior pastor at Maranatha Christian Fellowship located in Reseda, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, USA.
Besides serving the church, I am also engaged in the marketplace, working as Chief Financial Officer with an aviation company. This gives me access to share my faith with non-Christians. The gospel message is becoming more relevant as the world is witnessing a moral decay.
What is your professional training?
I am a Certified Public Accountant. I have also received my theological training at Fuller Theological Seminary.
How do you pray for the global church?
Info, MWC’s monthly newsletter, and Courier magazine are good resources to keep me informed about our global family. What I from the news, I include in my morning prayer.
As officers, we often receive an immediate prayer request. If it happens during our meetings, we include this in our prayers. We care for the well being of our members.
As Apostle Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 12:26: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”
Wednesday, 1 March 2023
Webinar
08:00–10:00 CST (Winnipeg)
15:00–17:00 CET (Amsterdam)
22:00–00:00 PhST (Manila)
What do we need to know and how can we engage in climate justice work?
We invite you to join the Global Anabaptist Peace Network for another webinar. In this webinar Rebecca Froese will assist us in deepening our ways of understanding climate issues and Sandy Plett will guide us in finding ways to talk about climate justice in our congregations and organizations.
Rebecca Froese is an expert in “social-ecological peace and conflict research” – the subject of her PhD. She holds a Post Doc position at the Center for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research at the University of Münster, Germany.
Sandy Plett is the new Climate Action Coordinator for Mennonite Church Canada.
“The beauty of listening the stories of the global church is immense,” says José Arrais. “We are all so diverse, with so complex backgrounds, with such unique dynamics between the regions, that each story is an original inspiration that all of us can learn from.”
Locals near the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada – and anyone around the world with an internet connection – can learn from these stories 25 March 2023 at Renewal 2023.
Renewal 2028 is a series of events commemorating the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement. This year, B.C. is the local host with a Saturday evening event at South Abbotsford Church at 6:30 p.m. (PDT). The theme is “Jesus Christ, our hope.”
“Learn more about Mennonite World Conference, sing songs from the global church, hear testimonies of hope from different countries, and join in prayer for brothers and sisters in the faith from around the world,” says John Roth, Faith and Life Commission secretary and event co-organizer.
José Arrais
José Arrais is one of the speakers. A specialist in international business communications and sales, he served as president of Associação dos Irmãos Menonitas de Portugal (the Portuguese Mennonite Brethren church) from 2013-2020. In 2021, he was elected European Coordinator of the Mennonite Conferences and alongside that role serves as Mennonite World Conference regional representative for Europe.
“Being from Europe, where the Anabaptist movement started 500 years ago, I feel that the history has been extremely rich and inspirational and really impacted many layers of society,” he says. With the current war in Ukraine, “Never was it so relevant to see the Anabaptist movement impacting all around us…: with solidarity with the ones suffering (in other zones in conflict too), standing for minorities, providing fruitful dialogue among other confessions of faith,” says José Arrais.
Tigist Tesfaye
“As we remind ourselves of the truth foundation which is grounded on the Bible, it always washes away any impurity in our doctrine due to the governing ideology of this world and also help us to be revived back to our origin,” says Tigist Tesfaye, another speaker at the event. A youth mentor and coach in the Meserete Kristos Church (Mennonite) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she is managing director at The Spark Valley, an organization that empowers young people for meaningful engagement in civic, social and cultural spheres.
“It’s a great opportunity for our renewal as a church and as a body of Christ as we come together to celebrate and remined ourselves of our foundation,” says Tigist Tesfaye.
Also scheduled to speak are Amos Chin of Bible Missionary Church, Myanmar; Cynthia Dück, Asociación Hermanos Menonitas (MB national church), Paraguay; (pending visa approvals) and Ashley Rempel, Mennonite Church Canada.
Mennonite World Conference guests from around the world will preach in local congregations all over the Lower Mainland the next day, followed by a week of meetings with the Executive Committee.
Introducing the global family:
Vereinigung der Menoniten Brudergemein von Bavaria (VMBB)
ICOMB member church
Here is some information about the church in Burghausen, Bavaria (VMBB).
The church is doing well. Enjoying a period of peacefulness and growth. Since the war in Ukraine started, many refugees have come to Germany. We have been able to take care of a number of them, and about 20-25 refugees join us at the church services. We are able to translate the service into their language thanks to Ukrainians who have lived in Germany for a number of years already. Some of them have accepted Christ and are interested in getting baptized this year. In the fall of 2022, we also started a home fellowship group with them. We want to start a baptism discipleship class in the spring. Please pray for these people.
We have now a number of children from different cultures in the church (Ukraine, Eritrea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Brazil). Please pray for more Sunday school teachers and the ability to meet their needs. We plan a children’s camp, a junior camp and a youth camp this summer.
Please pray for good preparation and training of young leaders. Also for all the kids who will join the camps.
Greetings from Bavaria, —Andreas Isaak, ICOMB Update
The International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) is made up of 22 national churches in 19 countries. ICOMB also has associate members in more than 20 countries, all at different points along the pathway to full membership. ICOMB exists to facilitate relationships and ministries to enhance the witness and discipleship of its member national churches – connecting, strengthening and expanding.
Sunday morning
Ruth is the only book in the biblical canon named after a foreign woman. The book centres on Ruth, a Moabite, and her mother-in-law, Naomi, who return to the land of Judah. Calamity, displacement, barrenness, death and survival can be found in the first five verses of this book. It opens with a famine in Bethlehem, a crisis which forced Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their sons to migrate to Moab. Then, Naomi’s sons took Moabite wives. As the story goes, the three men of the family died in this foreign land. Three women survived: one Israelite mother and two Moabite daughters-in-laws.
Our global Anabaptist family also faces these predicaments today. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to postpone MWC’s Indonesia Assembly. These past two years, we have witnessed the horror of death because of the raging virus, a horror which we cannot see its end to this day. We heard deaths every day during the heights of the pandemic. Indeed, we have good vaccines, but the problem is not over. New outbreaks still take place in different countries, and these brought about shortages of food and daily needs. The virus separated us from our loved ones and isolated us from each other.
In the book of Ruth, the three vulnerable, disenfranchised women are at the frontier of strange lands, standing on the borderland between Moab and Israel. Moab is a still a strange land to Naomi and so she decides to go home to Bethlehem. But the land of Judah is a strange land to Orpah and Ruth. These childless widows cannot know if they will find a place of security or a home in a new land.
Naomi admonishes her daughters-in-law not to follow her to Bethlehem. They must return to their homeland to find husbands. Orpah yields to Naomi and kisses her mother-in-law goodbye. Ruth, however, persists to follow Naomi wherever she goes.
Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth are us. Today, many people live like these vulnerable widows. This book is rich in depicting problems shared by our Anabaptist family: women and children who live under the trauma of domestic violence, the dire effects of climate change, hostilities toward immigrants, injustice toward people with disabilities or who are gender minorities and consequences of colonialism. As we conclude the Indonesia Assembly 2022, we are ready to depart from the island of Java. But where shall we return?
Naomi’s return with her daughter-in-law Ruth is not only a story about the survival of two worthless women. Indeed, this story can be seen as one of the greatest stories of reconciliation in human history. In the Bible, the story of Moab and the Moabites is full of scandal and malice. For the Israelites, the Moabites were hostile pagans and thus forbidden from entering Israel’s religious gatherings, even to the tenth generation. Foreign wives could be expelled among the Israelites in Ezra and Nehemiah.
The book of Ruth presents a different story, however. Biblical scholar Eunny P. Lee opines that Ruth offers “an alternative vision of a caring community.” Moab is thus “a theologically evocative space, the boundary to the promised land,” a liminal space at which “cultural negotiations and identity (re)construction take place.” For Naomi, returning to her place of origin is a negotiation of identity and destiny. Together with her daughter-in-law Ruth, a barren widow from Moab, the challenge could be more intense. Ruth’s commitment to follow Naomi shows a profound courage to break the boundaries of ethnicity and race, nationality, religion, and age. Reconciliation cannot be achieved when there is no commitment to cross boundaries.
Ruth’s commitment to her mother-in-law is depicted in an astonishing way: Ruth clings to Naomi (1:15). The Hebrew verb (dâvaq) expresses Ruth’s deepest commitment. The same word can be found in Genesis 2:24 to describe a man’s union with a woman in marriage. In leaving his father and mother, the husband clings to his wife and the two become one flesh. Ruth thus chooses to be “one flesh” with her mother-in-law over her family of origin. By venturing to a strange land and to an unknown people, Ruth refuses the status of a worthless woman based on heterosexist patriarchal definition of family and childbearing.
But there is more in this story. This unconventional bond between two women is between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, a relationship which often filled with tension and rivalry in many cultures. In some Asian cultures, this relationship can be downright oppressive. Ruth’s first words demonstrate her independent character: a marginalized woman who shows fidelity and solidarity with another woman. If fidelity and solidarity can be found among us, the seed of reconciliation has been planted in our midst.
As we conclude the Indonesia Assembly 2022, where shall our global Anabaptist family go?
Yes, we must follow Jesus across barriers, ones created by human structures which separate us from our neighbours. I recall one event in my teenage years through which I was called into the ministry of the Word. In 1993, David W. Shenk of Eastern Mennonite Mission visited my home church GKMI Kudus and gave a message. In the past, Christianity was spread from West to East. Today, mission has changed its direction. The West, said Shenk, also needs missionaries from the East, thus breaking barriers between West and East.
The old paradigm of Christian mission, one centred on evangelism and church planting, cannot be sufficient. Spreading the gospel must not simply mean offering the good news for non-believers. The goal of Christian mission must be living fully in a new family, a kinship in which the loving presence of God can be experienced within, among and between all. In the gospels, this is called the kingdom of God. Indeed, in Christ we find new siblings from around the world. We are all loved by the Lord and, as Pastor Saptojo Adi of GITJ puts it in a hymn, we come together “whether from West or East.” As such, living in a new family must encourage us to revisit our ministry. Ministry must mean a commitment to living out the good news with those on the margins of power.
Today, we are not only called to celebrate our faith together, but to dismantle the long repercussions of Western colonialism, resulting from the doctrine of discovery in the Americas, the imposition of chattel slavery on people from Africa and genocides of indigenous peoples. Today, migration to foreign lands because of climate change, war and poverty can be found in many parts of the world. Those immigrants are vulnerable to new surroundings. They often face intolerance and appalling hostility from the host country as they try to assimilate to new contexts and cultures. Today, we are challenged by young people who join hands, raising global awareness to the climate crisis. In Kenya, says MWC vice president Rebecca Osiro, young people of her local congregations know that creation care must begin with them.
Today, women are still living in a highly patriarchal and sexist society. As valiant survivors of sexual abuse are calling out the duplicity of religious leaders, entertainment stars, sport heroes and politicians, we are challenged to raise our voice together with these survivors. We must revisit our discipleship through the “wisdom of women” in their everyday struggle – “en la lucha” as Elizabeth Soto Albrecht says. “Through the eyes of women,” theologian Darryl W. Stephens writes, “we are reminded that the personal is political, that peacemaking pertains to the home as well as to the war and that the good news of Jesus Christ proclaims not suffering and docility but liberation and justice.”
Siblings in Christ, as we look forward to the next General Assembly in Ethiopia 2027, let us continue to follow Jesus together. Let us proclaim the gospel of liberating peace, breaking barriers and crossing boundaries set up by the unjust powers to isolate us from each other. May we find a home wherever Christ’s light will lead us, a home shared with those deemed worthless by the world. Amen.
‚Äî‚ÄØNindyo Sasongko is a teaching fellow at Fordham University, theologian in residence at Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship and a member of MWC’s Creation Care Task Force. Originally from Indonesia, he served as a minister in Gereja Muria Kristen Indonesia (GKMI).
