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This was part of a brochure handed out to our congregation last week:
I pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ,
And to God’s kingdom for which he died—
One Spirit-led people the world over, indivisible,
With love and justice for all.
Just when I thought life could not get stranger I find out that John McCain is a closet Mennonite.
Okay, not really. At least not self-professing. But check out this short summary of McCain’s recollection of a “sermon” he gave while imprisoned in Hanoi:
One day I talked about the parable of when they asked Christ whether they should pay taxes and he held up a coin and said, “Render unto Caesar, etc.” My point was and still is that when we were flying in combat, we weren’t doing God’s work. We were doing Caesar’s work. So for us to go to prison and then ask God to get us out was not fair to God, to our religion, to our beliefs and to ourselves. It wasn’t a miracle that sent a SAM [surface-to-air missile] to hit my airplane. It was a guy, a technician at a SAM site.
I think it was important, a little bit for the stability factor, that it wasn’t God who was going to perform a miracle, end the war and bring us home. It was men. It was Caesar. I think the majority of those guys felt the way I did but we just had some, just as people turn to faith healing and that kind of stuff, we had some of that. A lot of times I would pray for strength and I think sometimes I got it. Pray for patience to get through the next minute when things were bad. I just don’t think it’s fair to expect too much out of what is basically not the Lord’s business.
I don’t agree with everything McCain says here but there are some key agreements I never imagined possible. McCain’s conviction was that the Vietnam war was outside the workings of God and that to ask God for a victory or even a rescue was out of the question. There’s some undeveloped but very poignant theology in this, something that points to the difference between Anabaptists and mainline Evangelicals.
According the article 23 of our Confession, Mennonites believe that governing authorities contrast the church in their institution by God to maintain societies. Every nation goes astray in demanding allegiance that conflicts with the demands of discipleship in the body of Christ. “Even at its best, a government cannot act completely according to the justice of God because no nation, except the church, confesses Christ’s rule as its foundation.” Nations call out to the power thirst of Caesar.
The Evangelical opinion is brought up in the NYTimes piece. The op-ed writer contacted a conservative pastor friend.
“As an evangelical, spiritual alarms start going off when I feel myself segmenting any element of my life from my devotion to Christ,” he wrote in an e-mail. Unlike a very personal Jesus providing critical support along a “faith walk,” Mr. McCain’s deity sounds like an aloof neighbor who keeps his lawn tidy and his hedge high, an exemplar of the kind of moderate, mainline Protestantism that launched countless evangelicals on the seeker’s path in the first place.
I don’t think McCain sounds like a mainline Protestant; I think he’s someone who, in some small way doesn’t want God to bless air missiles shooting down planes, regardless of whose side you’re on.
Unfortunately for the GOP this common ground John and I have come to has not changed my vote. This is because I don’t ever plan on voting for someone based on their theological prowess. It would be hypocritical to do so because, at the end of the day, our President elect is going to swear an oath that has nothing to do with Jesus:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
So I will take the theologically dubious Barack Obama who, I hope, will also interpret the Constitution in a way that protects our weak, hungry and vulnerable.
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.)
At church this Sunday we officially become Mennonites. Wish us the best.
Today Jacob and I finished our final membership class at Portland Mennonite Church. It took us a long time to start the process. Since we never know how long we are going to be in the Northwest, becoming a member and the next month skipping town hasn’t made much sense.
J’s perspective on the matter finally swayed me – we just need to make it official. We’ve been going to this church for two and a half years. We serve on committees, are part of a small group, heck I was even asked if I would consider being nominated as an elder. Membership for us means formalizing our relationship with this particular church community in a way that we can contribute even more to the life of the body.
Part of our preparation has been reading the Mennonite Confession of Faith. The baptism article is the only one that I’ve found particularly challenging. Having grown up in the Episcopal Church, there’s a lot to “get over” in coming to the Anabaptists. While not always agreeing, I’ve been able to adapt to 7-times-a-year Communion, the lack of emphasis on Old Testament scripture and the fear of ritual I sense in many parishioners. Baptism is a little different for me simply because the theology of pado-baptism makes so much theological sense, especially for theology of disability.
I certainly understand why the early Anabaptists abandoned pado-baptism. But today those reasons don’t seem as relevant. At greatest stake for me is what adult baptism says about our ability to acknowledge the weight of the cross. Infant baptism, for those in reformed traditions is baptism into the Trinity, death with Christ and the beginning of life in the church. When these churches baptize infants it is the child’s parents and the community of believers who take on the weight of responsibility. infant baptism says, “this child is going to die and if you don’t do something about it, they are going to die eternally.”
In the Mennonite church baptism means something very different:
Christian baptism is for those who confess their sins, repent, accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and commit themselves to follow Christ in obedience as members of his body, both giving and receiving care and counsel in the church. Baptism is for those who are of the age of accountability and who freely request baptism on the basis of their response to Jesus Christ in faith.
The reason we don’t baptize infants is because they cannot “freely request” “on the basis of their response.” Neither can children truly comprehend something else required in the confession: “Those who accept water baptism commit themselves to follow Jesus in giving their lives for others, in loving their enemies, and in renouncing violence, even when it means their own suffering or death.”
You know who else can’t do these things? The disabled.
Some kind people in the membership class tried to help by saying that, because baptism isn’t efficacious and instead just a sign, it didn’t really matter if you were baptized. I don’t think this is true. Baptism is initiation into the life of the church universal, the body of Christ. Whenever I see someone with a mental illness, a profound disability or a child baptized this is an awesome reminder of how foolish we are to think we can make a confession of faith. Just like the first disciples we can’t even imagine what it would mean to carry the cross and, in the moment of truth, like Peter most of us would run.
But that’s why we aren’t left alone. The community of believers is what strengthens us, trains us and prepares us for a lifetime in the church. In many ways, baptism is the first expression of our dependence on one another and the Holy Spirit for our redemption and for bringing that redemption back into the world. It is the moment when we experience our most profound disability. We don’t know what we are getting into and we are dependent on God and others for every breath of faithfulness.
I’m not sure where to put all this. I’d like to think some wise Mennonite theologian has a great answer to this very serious theological issue. Isaac? Any thoughts? Anyone else care to chime in?
