Mennonites on retreat…

We had a great time at Portland Mennonite Church retreat this weekend. Nine of us became members, five of whom are in our church small group. Only two had a Mennonite background (or were “ethnic Mennonites” as I like to say).

I love that Mennonites are completely fine nurturing Anabaptist stereotypes. We even rebaptized a former Catholic this weekend which I thought was hilarious. There were lots of opportunities for Mennonite jokes. Here was my favorite:

Q: What’s the difference between kissing a Mennonite and kissing a Pentecostal?

A: Tongues.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I will probably tell that joke a hundred more times before I die.

One of my favorite activities was a weekend long contest to see what Ben and Jerry’s would name a flavor of ice cream to honor the 483rd Anniversary of Anabaptism (when George Blaurock was baptized upon confession of faith by Conrad Grebel). Silas, a Duke grad (!) and philosophy prof came up with something brilliant.

“The Schleitheim Confection” - A consensus of seven flavors for the seven articles of the confession:

1) Baptism – double dunked chocolate peanuts

2) Communion – grape wafer crumble

3) Separation for the world – Mars bar crumble

4) Reputable pastor – teddy grahams

5) Do not take the oath – red, white and blue candy corn

6) Do not take up the sword – Dove bar crumble

7) The Ban – a separate bag of rainbow sprinkles which can be added to the ice cream if you feel they are ready to be restored to fellowship.

I laughed so hard I almost cried.

So the question for you, fearless blog readers: if your ecclesial tradition were to have a representative ice cream flavor, what would it be?

(Thanks to Tim Bobosky for his amazing picture of our church witnessing baptism in the ocean. Tim’s looking for a job using his photography and journalism skills. Let me know if you have any leads.)