Today I met my history

August 5, 2025

Good afternoon,

Wow, another God story. I had my first shift at The Mennonite Story at the St. Jacobs market this morning. It was not very busy for the first two hours. Then, the coordinator  asked me to come out to the lobby. There was a man from Switzerland who had  been the minister at the Grossmunster Church( 2003-2024) in Zurich. There are pictures on the wall in the museum of the church where he was pastor. He wanted to show me. He knew the history, the Mennonite story. He wanted to tell me about the reconciliation service held in 2004, where  thousands of Mennonites showed up, and the Reformed Church leadership asked for forgiveness for the violence done to the Anabaptists in the 16th and 17the century. He was in tears. The church where he was pastor had condemned many early Anabaptists to death.
I told him I had been to Zurich in April. 

 I told him that we had been to the church where he had been pastor ( see picture above ), and the many other places of importance for Mennonites. His name is Christoph Sigrist, and he teaches religion at the University of Zurich. After showing the short video on the Old Order community, he asked me, ” Do you have hope for the church  ? ” Well, I said, ” I have to live with hope, but I am not optimistic. Many churches are closing, and the church is getting smaller and older all the time.” He said it is the same in Switzerland. 

Do you have hope for the church? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being ‘ we are done ‘ , where would you put a number for the church surviving well ? There has been lots of study on what has happened , and what to do going forward, but it seems the church has lost its way. I do not think that God has given up on us. I believe that the focus on love and non-violence is a strength we have in our community. Is it enough ? What do you think ?

To the church of God in Corinth,

           to those sanctified in Christ Jesus 

                      and called to be his holy people, 

                            together with all those everywhere

                                  who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

                                               Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 1:2-3
Fred

black and white shadows 

crush humanity’s freedom

am I complicit ? 

MPL 2025