Dear Blooming Glen Friends,
"By the grace of God, we seek to live and proclaim the good news of reconciliation in Jesus Christ. As part of the one body of Christ at all times and places, we hold the following to be central to our belief and practice:
4. As a faith community, we accept the Bible as our authority for faith and life, interpreting it together under Holy Spirit guidance, in the light of Jesus Christ to discern God’s will for our obedience.
The most recent Anabaptist confession of faith, known as the "Statement of Shared Convictions of Global Anabaptists," was adopted in 2006. I helped to host the meetings of the Mennonite World Conference General Council in Pasadena, California that adopted a seven-point confessional statement that Anabaptists leaders from national church bodies around the world agreed was a sufficient summary of our common beliefs. This statement doesn't replace our "Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995)," but it does provide us with a starting point to define our faith identity as Mennonites in relationship with sisters and brothers around the world.
The Bible is the essential book of the church. As Anabaptists our hymnals are important, our historic prayerbooks are helpful, and our ordinals can give us some direction, but none of them matter unless the Bible is our primary book. The Bible is our sole source of authority, but it requires that we read it together, and interpret it together with a prayer-filled attitude with the Holy Spirit. When we come to the Bible, we must come with the confidence that the Holy Spirit is speaking to me – and to my sister and brothers in the church. Such a belief gives us fresh confidence that disagreements can be resolved – because the One Holy Spirit speaks to us all through the same scriptures. We can, eventually, come to common agreements. The Bible is our testimony that we need not resolve to, “agree to disagree.” The Bible can, if we read it together with open minds and open hearts, bring us to unity in faith (doctrine – the who of the Jesus Way), life (ethics – the what of the Jesus Way), and discernment (discipleship – the how of the Jesus way).
This is why preaching is important – not to hear one dude pontificate – but to launch into a shared, ongoing discovery of the truth embedded in everywhere in scripture. This is why I bookend sermons with personal gratitude at the start and personal questions at the end. In between, my goal is to invite you wrestle with the very Word of God. I’m not here to tell you what to believe. My preaching mission is to present to you my joy in the life God is giving me, my wrestling match with God to understand how to live in a holy community, and my ongoing questions about what God is up to in my life and in our common life.
The early Christian doctor of the church, St. Augustine (354-430 AD), began his journey into faith in Christ when he saw a copy of the scriptures, and heard a child’s sing, “Take up, and read … take up and read.” My prayer for us at Blooming Glen is that we will take up and read – as individuals, as groups, and as a congregation. I pray that we read a few verses as daily devotional encouragement. I pray that we will read mass quantities of scriptures regularly to deepen and sharpen our souls. I pray that we will read the Bible cover-to-cover (at least) annually, sweeping across the pages like we do when a new novel comes out, and in doing so, see the holy hands of God across time and space in a way that draws us again to faithfulness in the Way of Jesus.
Love you, Church!
Pastor Jeff
jeff@bgmc.net
PS - October 9-13, Amanda Yoder and I are speaking at Dock Academy (EC-8) Spiritual Life Week, from 8:40-9:10 am. So, I won’t be at the A&N on Monday, October 9. However, I encourage y’all to go to the A&N anyway, ask for Natashia as your waitress, and order pancakes with extra maple syrup, in “honour” of Canadian Thanksgiving. Lord willing, I’ll be at the Broad Street Grind on Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm for a coffee and likely a pastry to give thanks for the week and to listen to whatever is on your hearts and minds.