Young Anabaptist Radicals

Monthly Archive: January 2013

What We Give to the World: Insuring Our Better Selves

Hi, YAR family! It’s literally been years (years!) since I’ve written to fellow YAR readers here in our online sanctuary. Though I’ve been silent here, know that your existence has buoyed me and challenged me in my Anabaptist seeking.

Why do we write, anyway? To an audience of one, to loved ones and complete strangers? After finally visiting with an insurance agent yesterday (who’d been emailing and calling like I was a close friend who’d been putting off a brunch date), I found that I needed to make sense of my unease and questions about “insuring” a better world as a 21st-century Mennonite. Writing is my go-to in these cases. An act of faith, so to speak.

So here’s something for our collective offering plate: http://tattooedmennonite.blogspot.com/2013/01/insurance-and-wordles.html

January 30, 2013 activism, Anabaptism, Change, Economics, Wealth, Writing Read more >

Book Review of “A Map and a Mule: A Peace Story of Queen Isabel of Portugal.”

I am a frequent reader of children’s books. I can’t help it. I have two small children of my own who have voracious appetites for books, so reading and reviewing this book seemed a welcomed challenge.

As many adults can attest there is no lack of books for children and most of it just doesn’t keep you coming back for more — even though such sentiment may not be shared by your child. I dove straight into this book with a willful giddiness because it explored the largely forgotten topic of peace. Not the typical child peace story that takes place during recess, but an actual story of someone engaging in nonviolent action to thwart bloodshed. These are the stories that I want my children to be versed in, exposed to, and ultimately to possess in their own right.

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January 28, 2013 Books, children Read more >

Adventures in Anabaptist Comedy Improv Auctioneering

Crossposted from As of Yet Untitled.

This past month has been a busy one for me, starting with two and a half weeks in Chicago to help lead training for new trainees joining Christian Peacemaker Teams. One of the highlights was this video of the public witness to close Guantanamo and end torture in which I did some videography and my first ever voice over narration.

This past weekend was the first in our two weekend Peace, Pies and Prophets west coast tour. On Friday night, Jan. 25, we raised over $5,000 at Seattle Mennonite Church. It was a rousing good time, with Tim Ruebke at his most hyper auctioneering level that I’d seen yet.

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January 28, 2013 humor, Peace & Peacemaking Read more >

Anabaptism and Progressive Christianity

(This is a blog I just wrote for my own website, but I felt that it should be shared here too.)

As I am sure many already know, I am training to be a minister of the Progressive Christian Alliance, yet I also identify as an Anabaptist. At first glance, it would appear that I am serving two masters, but I think that this is not the case. Instead of seeing the old Anabaptist spirit of the Radical Reformation and contemporary Progressive Christianity as two independent things, I see them as a single movement.

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January 13, 2013 Anabaptism, Church, Emerging Church, , , , , , Read more >

Beyond the Geese: Six Peacemaker Portraits for the days of Christmas

Crossposted for As of Yet Untitled

For each of the 12 days of Christmas, Christian Peacemaker Teams is honoring a specific CPTer for their peacemaking work. Here are the first six honorees. I wrote the first three and the last three were written by Sarah Thompson, CPT’s outreach coordinator:

Pierre Shantz

Pierre

For the first day of Christmas we’re thanking Pierre Shantz for his 15 years of full-time service with CPT, working for peace and justice first with the team in Hebron, then in Chiapas and, since 2001, in Colombia. Pierre is the longest serving field-based peacemaker, and also the silliest CPTer. Here’s a portrait I took of him while I was visiting the Colombia team this summer. (more…)

January 1, 2013 activism, christmas, Peace & Peacemaking Read more >