The Messenger Eighth Street Mennonite Church November 2015 Volume 77, No. 11

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1 The Messenger Eighth Street Mennonite Church November 2015 Volume 77, No. 11 Eighth Street Mennonite Church is a Christian community, rooted in Anabaptism, that welcomes diversity and is devoted to worshipping God and to extending God s love to the congregation, to Goshen, and to the world. PASTOR S PONDERINGS By Brenda Sawatzky Paetkau The photo is breathtaking. The object is immediately recognizable a dandelion turned white just before it lets go of all the seeds. What is breathtaking is its beauty. Dewitt Jones, a photographer for National Geographic, took this photograph called Puffball. It can be found by using this link: dewittjones.com/puffball.htm. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15b In a video called Celebrating what s right with the world, Dewitt describes the creation of this photo. He came across this field of dandelions, took some pictures, but eventually left not feeling it. He came back a few days later to discover a field of puffballs not exactly what he had in mind. But then he challenged himself C mon Dewitt what s here to celebrate? I know it wasn t how you planned it, but what s right with the situation? Where are the possibilities? He goes on, Before I knew it I was into puffballs. Puffballs, puffballs! Over the puffballs, at eye level with the puffballs, under the puffballs, looking at them from every angle until...whoa. Whoa. That s what I found. It was there. It seemed it was always there if I was open enough to see it. The result is this stunning photo. Colossians 3:12-17 is one of 8 th Street s 12 core scriptures. Tucked at the end of vs 15 is this tiny sentence fragment. And be thankful. Again Dewitt Jones, By celebrating the best, that allows us to fall in love with it. That connects us with our passion that emancipates the energy. Thankfulness stunning beauty celebrating what s right - emancipates the energy! This begins to put words to what happens when God and people collaborate. And be thankful. Pondering these words has created a series of pictures of congregational life that hold breathtaking beauty and possibility. Picture #1: The spark of delight in the face of young boy when he was greeted by name by John Gerber at the pancake breakfast. Picture #2: The contagious energy among sponsors to invite several youth to attend an upcoming MCC Racial Justice Seminar for Youth. Picture #3: The emerging recognition from 8 th Streeters of a variety of ages that the immediate neighborhood in which our church is located might provide new possibilities for experiencing God s reign on earth. And be thankful. What picture of congregational life is breathtaking for you? Share your pictures with Julia and Brenda. We d like to create centerpieces for the tables at the Thanksgiving Meal, celebrating the stunning beauty that is right here among us. Trusting that our collaboration with God is emancipating energy for God s reign to appear! Eighth Street Mennonite Church 602 South Eighth Street Goshen, IN (574) office@8thstmennonite.org Pastors: Brenda Sawatzky Paetkau & Julia Gingrich

2 CHURCH FAMILY AND FRIENDS Rachel Kreider, 106, died early Friday morning, October 30th in her home at Greencroft. There will be a Memorial Service at 8th Street on Saturday, November 7th, 11:00am. Please join our Community of Faith in thanking God for Rachel's life as we grieve her death together. Emma Dugger shares that her dad, Jake Loewen, has experienced no significant change in his health. However, due to side-effects, chemotherapy has been stopped and he will now be receiving care from Hospice. The family is grateful for your continued prayers. Dick and Carolyn Cripe were in a car accident on September 23rd while returning home from Syracuse. Their new car was totaled and Dick was hospitalized with a neck injury. Dick continues to recover at the Maples and asks for continued prayers for healing. EIGHTH STREET NEWS Congregational Care Commission Congregational Care Commission will put the names of persons no longer able to attend church services or social functions in each MESSENGER. In this way, we can remember these persons who are still a part of our church body. Harold Bachman John Christner Arlene Holdread Remembering Those Unable to Attend Church Catherine Lundberg Bob & Doris Wortinger Lura Mae Yoder Preschool Fall Fundraiser Little Caesars pizzas! Help support the Preschool by ordering your during fellowship time Sunday, 11/1 & 11/8. Orders will be available to pick up on Wednesday, November 18th at the church. November Giving Box The Center for Community Justice By Julia Gingrich Before coming to Eighth Street, I had the joy of working at the Center for Community Justice (CCJ). Since the late 1970s, CCJ has been helping Elkhart County find alternatives to incarceration and develop healing responses to crime. Over the years, Bob Peters and Earl Sears have contributed to the mission of CCJ. CCJ provides programs based on the principles of restorative justice. Our current criminal justice system is based on retributive justice and asks three basic questions when a crime is committed: What law was broken? Who did it? What punishment do they deserve? Restorative Justice is a community-based process which asks a different set of questions: Who was harmed? Who is responsible? How can things be made right and the community made whole? Relationship-building is at the heart of restorative justice. It is a lively process that emphasizes healing in victims, accountability of offenders, and the involvement of citizens in creating healthier, safer communities. The goal is to reach meaningful, creative, and fair outcomes through the inclusion of all stakeholders, open communication, respect, and trust. Below is a summary of four programs offered by CCJ. If you are interested in learning more about CCJ and volunteer opportunities, you can visit CCJ s website: Additionally, a representative from CCJ will be speaking to the Intergenerational Class on November 15. Come and join the conversation about restorative justice in Elkhart County! Your contributions through the Giving Box will enable CCJ to continue moving our community toward the vision and practice of restorative justice. Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP): VORP works with victims and offenders to identify who was affected by the crime, what harm was caused, and what steps the offender can take to begin to make things right. Community Mediation Program (CMP): CMP is an opportunity for people in conflict to sit down, discuss their dispute, work together to discover their own solution. With the help of a trained mediator, many people can find common ground without the need of a trial. Transitional Coaching Program (TCP): TCP provides volunteer mentors to support people who are transitioning back into Elkhart County from Indiana Department of Corrections. Reading for Life (RFL): RFL is a program that combines reading literature, studying seven classic virtues Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Fidelity, Hope, Charity and being mentored to help at-risk youth make better life choices.

3 Christian Education Commission Task Force The Christian Education Commission Task Force for Adult Formation has planned discussion times to gather information about adult formation and 2 nd hour activities. You may attend any of the scheduled sessions, even though we have divided them into suggested age ranges. Discussions will be held during 2 nd hour on the following Sundays: November 8th 20s to 40s November 22nd 40s to 60s December 13th 60s or older (Seekers/Builders) Our discussion will focus on three questions: 1. What are your reflections about adult formation/2 nd hour activities? (A quick round of storytelling: What is one memory you have of a really good experience? What is one memory you have of a less than desirable experience? 2. What are you looking for in Adult Formation? What matters - Relationships? Bible study? Service projects? Current issues? Book study? Other? 3. If you were to design a new, innovative adult education experience for our church, what would it include? Sessions will be held in the Sunday school classrooms specific locations will be announced. Each session will include special coffee hour refreshments. A short paper survey will be distributed at the end of each session. Please contact Julia Gingrich, Tim Neufeld or Floyd Saner if you have questions. The Church Garden The Church Garden Project, which began in 2011, has been a way for our congregation to extend God s love to people in Goshen. Initially, the produce, tomatoes and peppers, was donated to the Harvest of Hope Food Pantry in Goshen and for the last several years the produce was divided between The Window and the East Goshen Mennonite Church Food Pantry. There has been great appreciation for the fresh tomatoes and peppers from the garden and the committee thanks all those who have helped with the planting, harvesting, rototilling and other tasks. The first two years this 30 by 20 foot plot of ground produced approximately 600 pounds of tomatoes and peppers. But by planting tomatoes in the same soil year after year the amount of produce was considerably less during the last two years. The fungi which cause several common tomato diseases can overwinter in the soil be left fallow for at least a year. This was done in 2015 and no crops were planted. In addition, a cover crop is planned for this fall and will be rototilled into the soil in the spring of The Church Garden, cont d. The initial garden committee was comprised of Delores Bartel, Rachel Eisenhour, Ben Wiebe and Leonard Wiebe. Later, John Bohn joined the group. As plans are being made for next year, new committee members are needed to replace those who will be terminating. If you would enjoy being involved in this project, either as a member of the committee or as an occasional helper, or if you would like more information, please contact Leonard Wiebe or John Bohn. The garden has been a wonderful way to bring fresh, nutritious vegetables to people who eagerly look forward to them at The Window and other food pantries. Sustainability Stories This reflection by Evan Miller begins a series of stories by Eighth Street attenders who are taking steps both large and small to care for creation and move toward more sustainable lifestyles. We hope these stories will spark conversations and creative steps by all of us. Janeen Bertsche Johnson, for the Congregational Care Commission My business, Hertzler Systems, sits on the front half of a two acre lot. The back half of the lot is land-locked; you can t get to it except through our parking lot. For the first 17 or 18 years that we occupied this space we didn t bother to mow the back half of the property and it became overgrown with weeds. By 2008 it was an eyesore. Our business produces a lot of carbon, which is a major greenhouse gas, and an important contributor to global climate change. We run a lot of computers, and we re often on the road to be with our customers. Since we produce so much carbon dioxide (CO2), I wanted to do something offset that production. It isn t a panacea, but there is a lot of evidence that trees can sequester CO2 and help reduce carbon emissions. So in March, 2009, we planted about 600 trees on that weed-infested acre.

4 Sustainability Stories Cont d At one point I did the math, and as impressive as planting 600 trees sounds, it isn t all that much. All those trees might offset the carbon produced in the lifetime of one person in our business. Since we have 16 or 17 people in the business, we d need another 15 or 16 acres to get to be carbon neutral. So this is really just one small step. Surprisingly, this little woods feeds my spiritual life. Each fall I spend a couple afternoons and evenings trimming and tending the woods. I find great peace and satisfaction from this work, with the inevitable encounters with dazzling, dew covered spider webs, and the rare meeting with a well-hidden praying mantis. I feel honored - humbled really - to get to know these individual trees. Many of them seem to have unique personalities. In the first few years I hired Stef Miller, of this congregation, to keep the grass between the rows mowed to encourage the success of the trees. They ve now grown to a point that the mowing might not be necessary for the trees, but I keep it mowed because I like to wander among the trees when I need quiet time in the middle of the day. Last year I took that to a new level and laid out a seven course labyrinth that winds among the rows. I think it was St. Francis who said that creation is our first scripture. This little woods connects me to that scripture on an almost daily basis. BEYOND EIGHTH STREET Goshen College Afternoon Sabatical Affordable High Quality Primary Care from Oxymoron to Reality with Dr. James Nelson Gingerich Sunday, November 8, :00pm Music Center, Sauder Concert Hall You will not want to miss this enthusiastic presentation by Dr. Gingerich as he shares the Maple City Health Center's vision of quality health care for its clients. He will share the newest direction of this innovative health care center serving the needs of its community. This event event is free and open to the public. For additional information or questions call or aftsabb@goshen.edu Mennonite Mission Network News from around the world: Spain Mennonites first became active in Spain in the late 1930s, providing relief during the civil war. The current ministry of Mennonite Mission Network emerged from the vision of Spanish Christians who joined the Mennonites while living in Belgium in the 1960s. For more than 30 years, Mission Network's personnel have related to these Anabaptist-Mennonite communities in Spain, as well as being involved in wider teaching ministries in Spanish churches and seminaries. Dennis and Connie Byler have served in Burgos with Mennonite Mission Network since Dennis teaches at the Protestant seminaries, Centro Teológico Koinonía and Seminario Evangélico Unido de Teología. He also serves as secretary for the Anabaptist network in Spain, and edits its monthly newsletter, El Mensajero. Connie is an elder on the leadership team at their local Mennonite church, Comunidades Unidas Anabautistas, and provides spiritual companionship and counseling to many people, including those not accepted by society. Here are some excerpts from a report Dennis wrote earlier this year: "This was probably my last year teaching elementary Greek, after about 15 years. But if have enough students sign up, I'll still teach advanced Greek next year. Another course that will be offered next year is Radical Christian Movements. I won't be teaching this course alone. Another teacher, a specialist on the Middle Ages, will teach the first twothirds of the course, and then I will take over, starting with the Anabaptists. In June I gave a series of lectures for Taller Teologico, workshops on theology offered in Madrid. They wanted me to talk about my understanding of violence and warfare in the Bible. I decided to begin exploration into what may eventually prove to be another book, explaining how I understand Jesus to be perfectly aligned with the Old testament. In other words, I understand the Old Testament is plotted the way it is in order to lead to the kind of conclusions Jesus arrived at regarding violence and warfare. This is not the way the matter is usually understood. If it becomes a book I still have some work ahead of me, probably along the lines of dealing with objections that were raised and comments that were made during the discussion times. I am also on the board of, and teach for, Centro Teologico Koinonia, a less academically demanding school, serving our Anabaptist network of congregations in Spain. I made another trip to Madrid to meet with the board, together with as many of our teachers as could make it. We discussed our program and evaluated our pedagogical model."

5 Thursday, November 5 11:30am 1:00pm AMBS Forum (lunch, presentation, discussion) Friday, November 6 6:00pm First Friday book signing in downtown Goshen, Better World Books Saturday, November 7 10:00am Electric Brew drop in for dialogue (2:00pm with local youth leaders) 8:00pm Constant Spring (drinks and apps with Todd) Sunday, November 8 9:30a, Goshen College Mennonite Church 10:45am GCMC Sunday school hour (Creation Care group) 5:00pm Berkey Avenue Fellowship (join with Mennonite Creation Care groups from all over the Michiana area to plan for an exciting, decade-long life-change movement) Monday, November 9 AMBS Mennonite Co-op Bookstore book signing Want to schedule your own event while Todd is in Goshen? toddwynward@gmail.com The Window The Window Silent Auction Fundraiser November 13, :30pm 9:00pm The Window 223 S. Main Street Goshen, IN Admission: $10.00 Benefiting Programs & Mission To Serve The Goshen Community Gourmet Appetizers will be served Visit beginning November 2nd to view items for bid. For additional information contact: Scarlett Garrison (574) ext. 203 sgarrison@thewindowinc.com

6 Goshen College Music Center Goshen College Community School of the Arts Showcase Concert Featuring the CSA Choirs: Rejoice (conducted by Kristin Kauffman) Shout for Joy (conducted by Sandy Hill) Sommo Voci (conducted by Marcia Yost). Sunday, November 15 4:00pm Sauder Concert Hall (GC Music Center) Tickets available online at or by calling (574) $7 adults, $5 senior/student discount. November Sunday Services Hymn of the Month: O Jesus Christ, may grateful hymns #404 (HWB) November 1, Sermon: Jerrell Ross Richer Worship Leader: Julia Gingrich Texts: Mark 12:28-34 Matthew 28:16-20 November 8, Sermon: Brenda Sawatzky Paetkau Worship Leader: Youth Texts: Mark 12:38-44 November 15, Sermon: Julia Gingrich Worship Leader: Texts: Mark 13:1-8 November 22, Sermon: Julia Gingrich Worship Leader: Brenda S Paetkau Texts: John 18:33-37 Rieth Chamber Series Aureole Harp Trio Saturday, November 21 4:00pm Rieth Recital Hall (GC Music Center) $15 general admission Aureole trio s intoxicating blend of flute, viola and harp gives a deep satisfaction that increases with repetition. The trio s members play with effortless technique and a fine sensitivity to the music and to one another. Their performance is, as chamber music should be, like a conversation among friends [Washington Post] This radiant concert includes works by Ravel and Debussy, and is not to be missed! Mennonite Mission Network Mennonite Mission Network currently has openings for a personnel counselor and an International Ministries department assistant. A personnel counselor will receive applications for service and conduct interviews to discern appropriate program placement; assist in planning orientations and retreats of program participants. The IM department assistant will schedule department meetings, track agenda and be responsible for minutes. This person will also serve as assistant to the director for Asia and Middle East, as well as assistant to the Global Ministries senior executive. Each position is.8 FTE and will be located in the Elkhart, IN office. You can view both position descriptions at or Linda Krueger at LindaK@MennoniteMission.net for more information. November Birthdays and Anniversaries 1 Greg and Eudora Hartzler ( 86) 1 Shirley King 2 Roger Nafziger 5 Aiden Saner 8 Jason Lauver 9 Tonya Jaberg 10 Dorothy Yoder Nyce 10 Sharon Risser 12 Brady Coblentz 12 Paul Lauver 13 Bob Peters 13 Mark Saner 14 John and Joy Liechty ( 81) 15 Isaiah Goertz 15 Brenda Sawatzky Paetkau 16 Annelise Wiebe 17 Kevin Jaberg 18 Lynette Bachman 18 Phyllis Hostetler 19 Chris Meyer 19 Christine Gerig Way 21 Josiah Eisenhour 22 Erin Gotwals 22 Alice Roth 23 James Nelson Gingerich 25 Carolyn Cripe 26 Laura Funk 26 Geri Peters 27 Marvin and Delores Bartel ( 58) 28 Don Nofziger 28 Caleb Wiebe 29 Caroline Weaver 30 Brian and Brenda Wiebe ( 85)

7 November Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday :30am Choir Rehersal 12:00pm Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Asperger Group Christion Education Jr Youth Fellowship Comm. 6:00pm Mission & Service :00pm Service of Remembering Muffins w/pastors 10:00am Juniper 1:00pm Evergreen 2:30pm Courtyard Worship Comm. Trustee Comm 4:30pm Congregational Care 5:00pm Stewardship Comm. 12:30pm Men's & Women's Luncheon :00pm Jr Youth 6:00pm MidWeek Meal Sr. Youth - Supper for Body & Soul Church Board 9:00am Northern Indiana Food Bank 11:00am Funeral for Rachel Kreider Sr. Youth Lock In at Church :30am Choir Rehearsal Messenger News Due 12:00pm Thanksgiving Meal Thanksgiving Day :30am Choir Rehearsal Children & Youth no Sunday School November Bus Driver: John Gerber November Fellowship Team: Lynn Stutzman, Eileen Saner Tex Eisenhour, Mary Liechty Caskey Church Office Hours: Monday Friday 8:30am 3:00pm The Messenger is published monthly by Eighth Street Mennonite Church office@8thstmennonite.org