(5) Sermon at The Way of Life Community Church

Me and J.D.

Our point person throughout the trip was a pastor by the name of J.D. Landis. J.D. came to Mobile from Pennsylvania in the 60’s with his wife two weeks after they had just been married to serve in the Mennonite Volunteer Service. On Sunday, I was given the opportunity to give a sermon at The Way of Life Community Church in Mobile, AL, which is the church at which J.D. pastors. I spoke on Luke 18:9-14 and the call for Christians to be humble people. I don’t know about you, but I don’t get many chances to guest speak and so I really enjoy it. No one called me a “heretic” or walked out on me so I guess the people enjoyed it too (which could mean it wasn’t really that good).

(4) Relevant Ministry in Mississippi

Those Mennonites like their guitars!

Relevant Ministry is the post-Katrina organization which K.J. and I spent time at on Wednesday and Thursday. I shared my story of Billy, but, overall, I was very impressed by how connected this group was from coming together after Katrina. We spent most of our time with a Mennonite youth group from Ohio–we even got time to worship with them Wednesday evening. Also, Relevant was running a VBS and a basketball-volleyball camp simultaneously. K.J. and I were both every impressed with Relevant Ministry, and I (I can’t speak for K.J.) would recommend connecting with them if you want to do ministry in the Gulf Coast.
(3) Robert Thrower

I shared my story of Robert in yesterday’s post, but our Southern Baptist Medicine Man really helped me to see history from the eyes of the minority. He did not like Andrew Jackson for his genocide of the Native Americans, and rightly so. I could identify with the statement, “History is written by the winners.” I know Robert said he thought Jackson was worse than Hitler, and I think he is justified in saying so. When I look at Hitler, I see someone outside of my own “people.” A crazed German, but a German, nonetheless. Jackson is an American, and I hand out his face every time I hand someone a 20 dollar bill. Would I feel more offended if I handed out Hitler’s face on a 20? I think so. I guess I just ignored that part of our history because I wanted to. Or maybe it wasn’t ever taught, but my wife, who is a history teacher, definitely gave me a, “Oh yeah! He was horrible,” when I brought it up to her. So, maybe I’ve just blocked it out.

(2) Conversation at the Canal

K.J. on the Canal

K.J. and I were able to take Friday evening and Saturday to enjoy. Seeing how we were two hours from New Orleans and K.J. had never been and because we love to eat, we made the trip down. I think New Orleans is great so I was all about it! We spent most of the time eating in the French Quarter. But on Friday, K.J. and I were able to have a great conversation about life and death, about ministry, family, relationships. I really enjoyed that time. In some ways, those things are what make trips like this so great.

You always can use someone to talk to and help you engage your thoughts, and that was exactly what happened. And I definitely enjoyed the beignets we ate during the conversation.

(1) Reverend Rosemary

I already shared my story about Reverend Rosemary, but what has not left my mind is how she saw everyone in her community (don’t read “church”) as her children. I definitely don’t have this mindset. Some young men in her community turned to drugs and then were killed as part of it. Rosemary felt strongly that something needed to happen–prayer vigils, activism, etc.–because these were her children. If you minister to others (and all Christians should be doing so), do we see others as our children? Would it make a difference if we did? Would it make a difference if we saw the child in Iraq as our child–would we drop bombs? Would we watch the news in a “removed” way when see that another person is shot down in Chester? Would we allow men and women to go hungry if we saw them as our children? I wouldn’t let that happen to my biological kids. What would it mean if we took this seriously? To me, Reverend Rosemary embodied the story of Jesus (and I will always remember her because of it) –

^{Mark 3:31} Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

³³“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

We can play games and say, “Well, Jesus just says that those who do God’s will is his brother and sister and mother,” but I think that misses the point. And Reverend Rosemary, she gets it. I don’t. I am grateful for our conversation with her.