#anabaptist perspective

[slowtumbling]

Nail Man

The square fills with banners and brass,with speeches that ring like hammered steel.A wooden soldier stands in the center—silent, tall, waiting for iron. They call him the Nail Man. Children clutch coins in trembling fists.Mothers lift hammers too heavy for their hands.Old men step forward with solemn prideas if entering a chapel. The first nail bites. Strike. The sound cracks across the…

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[slowtumbling]

Keep Hope Alive

A Commemoration for Reverend Jesse Jackson (Rest in Power, February 17, 2026) I remember when he came to EMU. The auditorium was full long before he arrived. We waited several hours. College students — fidgeting, leaning back in wooden pews, whispering, wondering — but no one left. There was a current in the room. Expectation. Restlessness. Something about to crest. And when he finally…

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[slowtumbling]

The Halfway Café

There is a café we meet at—not because it is perfect, but because it is halfway.Each of us drives a good stretch of rural road to get there. Cornfields, barns, two-lane highways, long silences. We come from different directions, carrying our own schedules, habits, assumptions, and worries. The café is not home for any of us—and that is precisely why it works.When we sit at the table, the coffee…

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[slowtumbling]

Zealotry Is the Friend of Injustice

An Essay on Extremism Zealotry rarely realizes it is unjust. It believes itself pure—clarified, distilled, righteous. It walks with the certainty of fire, not the patience of flame. It is a terrible companion for power, and an even more terrible master of conscience. History has taught us this lesson repeatedly, but zealotry has a poor memory. It prefers to remember only its victories, never…

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[peacegrooves]

Zealotry Is the Friend of Injustice

An Essay on Extremism Zealotry rarely realizes it is unjust.It believes itself pure—clarified, distilled, righteous. It walks with the certainty of fire, not the patience of flame. It is a terrible companion for power, and an even more terrible master of conscience. History has taught us this lesson repeatedly, but zealotry has a poor memory. It prefers to remember only its victories, never its…

Zealotry Is the Friend of Injustice

[slowtumbling]

THE JOY WE CANNOT BUY

A Sermon for Gaudete Sunday (Note: Sermons can be heard in audio format at https://millersburgmennonite.org/worship/sermon-audio/) Isaiah 55:1–13 — Advent 3 INTRODUCTION — A WORLD EXHAUSTED BY PURSUIT We live in a world that knows all about pursuit. Our calendars, our newsfeeds, our holidays—even this nation’s founding documents—chase the same idea: life, liberty, and the pursuit of…

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[slowtumbling]

The Fisherman

José rose before the sun, when the sea was still breathing in its sleep.Maria lay on her side, one arm curved protectively around Josué, whose small chest fluttered like a bird beneath her hand. José stood for a moment in the doorway, watching them. The child’s mouth opened and closed as if he were already practicing a language he did not yet know. Maria stirred.“You’ll be back before dark,” she…

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[slowtumbling]

Not So Innocent

A Reflection on Torture, Power, and the Call to a Different Witness On May 15, 1252, Pope Innocent IV issued the bull Ad extirpanda, a decree that authorized the use of torture by civil authorities for the purpose of extracting confessions from those accused of heresy. The language of the document treated heresy as a kind of spiritual treason, comparable to the most serious civil crimes, and it…

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