Edgework

For nearly 500 years Anabaptists have advocated the way of peace as an ethic for all followers of Christ. Nonviolence was a central tenet of their movement which burst onto the European scene in 1525.

It seems to me that many times I find myself caught in the act of trying to tidy up my adult life but then find out it is easier said than done.

In recent months I have had the privilege of dialoguing with a number of honest doubters.

In light of a flourishing Zionism in many evangelical churches in North America, the Presbyterian Church of the USA published a 74-page congregational study guide in January, 2014 entitled, “Zionism Unsettled”.

In recent years I have begun to explore “Celtic Spirituality.” Celts originated in Central Europe, but repeatedly were driven west and north from about 500 B.C. to 150 A.D., mostly by the Romans, into regions of present-day Ireland and Scotland.

I have been struck recently by the number of people who make statements like, “I’ve seen that before,” or “It’s always been this way,” or as the teacher in Ecclesiastes has it, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

I spent six or seven hours on Main Street at Summer-in-the-City in Steinbach on June 20-21 this year at the South Eastman Transition Initiative booth.

The agricultural chemical, Roundup, has been around since 1974 when Monsanto introduced it as a “magic” cure for all unwanted weeds.

This past week, two things happened simultaneously to provide the synergy for writing this essay.

For much of my early pilgrimage as a Christian, I understood that Christian piety mostly had to do with the interior life of believers preparing for an escape from this sinful world.