Top Ten Reasons to Join a Mennonite Disaster Service Crew

Just an excuse for some new pictures:


Number 1) The relaxing schedule-you get a full 30 minutes between 6:30 AM and 7:30 PM that is not devoted to eating or working (I usually take a shower).

Number 2) It’s Diet friendly! While you eat 3500 calories a day, you work most of it off as you go.

Number 3) The luxurious accommodations- between the bunk beds, the cold showers, and the bathrooms in a different building from both the bedroom and the kitchen, when you get home, you’re living in the lap of luxury.

Number 4) the scintillating nightlife-between checking in at 10:00, and the long discussions on the Canadian tax code and the US national debt, we own the night.

Number 5) Meeting Canadians-enough said. Did you know that the Maple Leaf flag dates back to only 1967?

Number 6) Free publicity-we were interviewed by a reporter from the Wall Street Journal today-here is the official Wall Street Journal photographer at work.

Number 7) Learning new skills-from crawling in attics putting in insulation, to crawling on floors, scraping off old varnish, to crawling under floors, in dirt and other things, our boundaries are always stretched.

Number 8) Seeing new sights-the Bayous, the mighty Mississippi , the ‘wrong’ side of the tracks in New Iberia, and wildlife-frogs, lizards, dogs, birds, and the stray snake.

Number 9) New stories-friends who share things you never new before, new friends who have wonderful adventures. People we have known for twenty years can still surprise us.

Number 10) helping people in need, connecting to new children of God, getting to know them, and the satisfaction of service (Mr. Green, owner of the home I'm working on).

Pictures!

As promised, a few photos from our trip so far. More later. 

The first is Prejean's, the Cajun restaurant we ate at the first night.

The accomodations are luxurious, a big trailer with indoor plumbing! You can see Kyle in the background.

 

We even have a stove-which I'm using as a dresser since we are a little bit cramped.

And the most impressive part of MDS-Pick-up Truck Row, prepared to leave as a fleet of do-gooders every morning.

We had a good day today, I'll report back after I've collected some stories.

Mennonite Disaster Service

I'm down in New Iberia, Louisiana, working with seven other people from SLMF for Mennonite Disaster Service.

We're all here safely, and have happily finished up our first day on the job.

Its been a learning experience for all of us.
Rich Howard-Willms learned that the pancake platter at Hardies has pancakes.

Most of us learned what alligator meat tastes like for the first time (its good-firm, not fishy at all, and it does not taste like chicken) when we tried some at a cajun restaurant in Lafayette.

This evening, we played a game of Malarky, where Arnie Sprunger taught us such useful information as 'the Arabic numbering system came from India' and 'the phrase 'stealing your thunder' comes from an obscure British playwright.'

And I've learned how to be a construction group leader, because the MDS people decided to make the least experienced person on the trip from SLMF take charge of a bunch of very patient and very polite Canadians who drove three days down from Ontario because they have a sick sense of humor.

New Iberia is an interesting city, its a small town with some extreme differences between the wealthy and the poor. We're helping at a number of different houses around town with some significant interior and exterior maintenance.  We're all pretty exhausted after the first day, and are looking forward to the snoring symphony that is the men's bunkhouse.

I'll have some pictures up tomorrow, which will be more fun-I was unable to get onto the wireless on my own computer, so I am limited to text today.

Good night, and God bless

Report from Illinois Mennonite Convention:

The Annual Illinois Mennonite Convention took place on April 9th-11th, and I served as representative for the congregation.
The gathering was a time of celebration and connection with people from around Illinois. I bring greetings from Chuck Neufeld, our conference minister, and other conference leaders, including our new Conference Moderator, Cal Zehr, pastor of Willow Springs Mennonite Church.
At the conference, I received financial reports about the conference. We spent about 150,000$ this last year (Chuck Neufeld and his support staff make up the vast majority of conference expenses) and brought in 175,000$, which is a pleasant change from the most recent years when we have gone into a deficit. Next year, Chuck would like to hire a half time associate conference pastor, so next year’s budget will aim for 180,000$.
Chuck is pushing all congregations to ‘Activate’ their membership in Illinois Mennonite Conference. Right now, 50% of congregations in the conference give nothing to conference at all, and 20% of congregations make up 80% of all conference giving. We fall in the middle 30%. Chuck is hoping that all congregations will engage in some conference activities and giving every year.
The Southern Illinois Mission Partnership continues to flourish, with small worshiping groups growing around Southern Illinois.
The denominational reports from Mennonite Church USA included a report from Mennonite Mutual Aid, which is changing its name to Everance, and from Mennonite Education Agency, which is working on a large scale Mennonite distance learning program for all age ranges. When it becomes a little more solidified, I will provide more information.
I encourage you to consider making a trip to the Illinois Mennonite Conference some year, it is a delightful experience, and a good chance to learn about the broader Mennonite Church.

If you are interested in more information, the annual workbook can be downloaded here:
http://illinois.mennonite.net/Docs_for_2010_Assembly_files/Annual%20Report%202010%2010318.pdf
Grace and peace,
Samuel Voth Schrag

Confederate History Month

You may have heard about the governor of Virginia declaring April confederate history month (as well as the governors of many Southern States). See here.

There was a big news story, because after his original proclamation failed to mention slavery, governor McDonnell apologized, and amended the declaration to include slavery as the root cause of the civil war, and a moral horror.

I always grieve when I see these sorts of proclamations, or see the confederate flag on the back of cars, or hear of people proclaiming pride in the Confederacy. These things seem to ignore how morally bankrupt the entire economic system of the South was. Slavery and the racism that surrounded it remain the worst crimes of this nation, and the white privilege that was formed over those centuries remains a real part of our culture today, such that people who have no overt racism still receive tremendous benefits because they are white, and when we forget that history, we can be persuaded of ridiculous things like white men are the objects of discrimination in our society.

So, in this context, I wanted to point anyone who is interested toward a blogger who has taken Confederate History Month to heart. Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic magazine has been remembering the true stories around the civil war and the institution of slavery this month, and I invite you to travel with him.

Here is his blog page.
http://www.theatlantic.com/ta-nehisi-coates/
I'd particularly recommend this reflection on slavery,
One Drop
and this one on
Robert E. Lee (an interesting addition-the power of the myth of Robert Lee is pernicious-one of my pastor friends had a funeral this weekend, the deceased was named David Lee. In the funeral service, he called him Robert Lee. The family handled it very well).

And just to acknowledge where Coates is coming from-a strong liberal position-here is one of his rants.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/04/proud-of-being-ignorant/38569/

Climate Economics

One of the major debates in our political culture today surrounds global warming, and what to do about it. Since I think that the scientific evidence suggests that this far and away the key political and moral question in our world today I try to pay attention to the debate.

Paul Krugman, noble prize winning economist recently wrote this reflection on climate change economics, which I found fascinating, and a really good outline of the debate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magazine/11Economy-t.html?pagewanted=all

I confess, this is a huge article, and may be a bit intimidating.
In short,

since Carbon Dioxide emissions are causing global warming, society ought to make emitters pay for them. Thus, a carbon tax or cap and trade program.

While this will be expensive, the negative effects on the United States and global economy will be limited, because the tremendous power of American creativity and capitalism will adapt.

The costs of ignoring climate change will certainly be more devastating in terms of human lives, as well as in terms of GDP.

The political realities right now make this pretty difficult.

It is my prayer that this is something this generation enacts, so that our children's children might be more likely to flourish.

Maundy Thursday-Footwashing

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http://www.reep.org/resources/easter/2003/footwashing2.html



I provided this reflection on footwashing at our Good Friday service this evening. I thought I would share it with you as well.
I began with reading this scripture:
John 13:1-15

It is because of this scripture text that Mennonites have adopted the tradition of footwashing. In the broader Christian community, there has been discussion as to whether footwashing is a one of the sacred rites, even a sacrament of the church, or something done for guests and visitors, or only in monasteries or convents, or some other special occasion like the coronation of a king. From the early church on, there have been some communities that have adopted footwashing, and others that dismiss it as an overly literal reading of a metaphorical or spiritual text.