Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  1 John 2:15

These two verses are often quoted by those who call themselves Anabaptists in support of the doctrine of non-conformity to the world.  But there is a subtle difference in the meaning of these two verses that I fear is often missed.

Let me explain.  World in 1 John 2:15 is kosmos, the physical universe, the earth and its riches, the people of the world, especially those without God.  World in Romans 12:2 is aion, the age or period of time we live in, the spirit and values that are highly esteemed in a particular epoch.  Note that the verse says this world.  French translations say the present age.

1 John 2:15 is cautioning us not to fall in love with the things of the world.  Romans 12:2 is cautioning us not to allow our thoughts to be shaped by the spirit and values that are held dear by the world in the time and place that we live.  In other words, it is possible to identify certain things and actions as worldly, and scrupulously avoid them, yet be entirely worldly-minded.

Buttons were originally hand-made from clam shells, metal, porcelain and other materials.  These buttons were valued for their ornamental function and were priced beyond the reach of the common people.  Most buttons today are mass-produced out of plastic and cost only pennies, yet there are folks today who call themselves anabaptists who refuse to wear buttons because they were used for ornamental purposes three hundred years ago.

I don’t mean to ridicule such people, buttons are not essential to a happy and fulfilling life.  Yet there is a danger that in focussing on avoiding something that was a temptation to pride three centuries ago they may miss more immediate and pressing temptations.

In 1697, Gerrit Roosen, elder of the Mennonite church at Hamburg-Altona in Germany, wrote a letter to Mennonites in Alsace from which I will append some excerpts.  The advice he gives concerns clothing, but could be applied to many other areas of life.  He regards luxury, pride, high-mindedness, fleshly lusts, and stubbornness as being our greatest threats and points out that the objects of our pride and fleshly lusts will vary from country to country and epoch to epoch.

“Moreover, I am heartily sorry that you have been so disturbed by some that think highly of themselves and make laws about things that are not required in the Gospel.  Had the apostolic writings stated how and wherewith a believer should clothe himself, and a person travelling in other countries would find people living contrary to these rules, then this stand might be valid.  But to contradict the Gospel in binding the conscience to a certain form in hats, clothes, shoes, stockings or hair, which forms differ from country to country, and to take upon himself to bann those who will not accept such rules; also to cast out of the Church as leaven those who will not avoid such, is something that neither the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, nor the holy apostles have commanded, to be bound by these outward things, and have given neither laws nor rules in this matter . . .

“In all of Paul’s letters we do not find a single word that he has given commandments to believers what form or style of clothing they should have, but rather he admonishes to condescend to men of low estate in all humility.  I consider it to be proper and right to conduct oneself like the customs of the country in which you sojourn.  But it is reasonable and just that all luxury, pride, high-mindedness and fleshly lusts be avoided (1 John 2), and not quickly accept new styles of clothing nor alter them to conform to fashion.  That is something to be disciplined.  But where it has become common usage in a country it is honourable and proper to accept such usage, but to walk in humility.  Thanks be to God, I do not want lust of the eyes nor pride of this world, but have always worn nearly the same pattern of clothing; but if I put on another style, according to the common usage of the country, should I have been banned because of it?  That would have been unreasonable and contrary to Scripture.  The Lord has, of course, ordained that there should be discipline in the Church of God for stubborn members and such as resist the law of God in the Gospel.  Therein it must arise whether that which we intend to bind will also be bound there, or is commanded to be bound.

“The Holy Scriptures must be our measuring standard.  To them we must submit; not run ahead but follow them; not too rashly, but in carefulness, fear and affliction; for it is a perilous thing in the judgement of God, to bind that which is not bound in heaven.” (From a letter of Gerrit Roosen, dated December 21, 1697.)

As in all relationships, there will be ups and downs in this relationship with Jesus.  The beginning is usually not very smooth.  The first thing that He tells us is that we are good for nothing sinners.  Maybe that doesn’t sound like a very charming way to begin a relationship, but if we don’t begin on the basis of truth, there will be no real foundation for our relationship.

We probably thought we were really doing quite well, at least the best we could under the circumstances, considering all the unreasonable turkeys with whom we have to deal.  But Jesus has nothing to offer good people.  Finally we accept His judgement and He forgives us.  One of the first things we notice is that those miserable turkeys around us have become pretty decent people.

This is part of the miracle of the new birth: we not only begin a lasting relationship with Jesus, but our relationships with other people become much more enjoyable.  There will likely be some who resent the change in us and don’t want to have much to do with us anymore.  We remember that we used to be like that and do not judge them.

We have brought a lot of unnecessary baggage into this relationship.  Jesus doesn’t point it all out at once, but from time to time He will point out an attitude, an activity, or something about ourselves that makes us feel really good and say, “This is hindering our relationship, why not just let it go?”

The smaller we become in our own eyes, the more we trust Jesus, the more precious our relationship becomes.  We become part of His flock, His disciples, and together we enjoy this relationship.  However, there are enemies out there.  Some of the flock will wander away from Jesus, they will be attacked and wounded, perhaps even captured.  We begin to perceive that the enemies are not people, but ideas and feelings, spirits sent by the arch-enemy of Jesus and of all those who walk with Him.

Seeing that, we rejoice that He is leading us in a safe way, supplying our real needs, and preparing us for something far beyond what we can see or imagine right now.

We were contemplating joining this bishop’s church.  This sermon, on top of others in a similar vein, was enough to convince my wife and I that this was not what we were looking for.

It seemed to me that the poor man did not know what the new birth was.  People naturally want to dress in a way that identifies them with the group they associate with.  This can be a sports team, a street gang, the boy scouts, whatever.  It does not require a change of heart to put on a police uniform, an army uniform, or a lab coat.  A standard of dress and conduct that is specified in a book does not make one a Christian.

Some years ago, we often had occasion to travel on Autoroute 10 in Québec and would take note of a tall, barren oak tree close to St-Jean.  Then an artist cut out hundreds of oak leaves from green plastic and hung them on the tree.  The leaves did improve the look of the tree, but they were not evidence of life in the tree.  After a month or two, a strong wind blew the tree down.

When a person who has no spiritual life within himself tries to decorate his life by putting on clothes and conduct that he believes to be evidence of Christian life, that does not produce spiritual life with him.  He is still in the same condition as that oak tree.

When a person is truly born again and listens to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, there will be a change in the way that person dresses and in the way he or she conducts his or her life.  A Spirit-filled Christian should look different than the non-Christians around him, not because he is obeying a set of rules but because he is obeying the Holy Spirit.  This does not mean that there will be a uniformity of dress among believers, but if they are truly following the Spirit there will be a resemblance.  The Spirit does not give drastically different direction to each believer.

Although the original message of Jesus was compromised … the most fundamental apostasy was the reversal of Jesus’ attitude towards kingship in favor of the ‘Constantinian’ glorification of imperial autocracy and wealth. Thus the subversive memory of Jesus could not but respond in the finite, fallible, historical movements of radical discipleship that we call ‘radical reformation’: monasticism, St Francis, the Waldensians and Czech Brethren, Anabaptism and Quakerism, Dorothy Day and Helder Camara, Clarence Jordan and Athol Gill.

These movements of radical discipleship challenged the domination of violence, wealth, social hierarchy and empty ritual. Each such summons to the retrieval of discipleship confirms the centrality of Jesus in our history. (J.H. Yoder: Jesus – A model of Radical Political action, p.169)

Who are the real Christian apostates today? Just ask yourself, who is it in the churches that have reversed Jesus’ attitude to top down power, wealth and hierarchy and violence?  (added 1/2/13)

The Anabaptist Vision by Harold Bender. A good overview of Anabaptist history and theology.

I hereby declare January 21, “Argument day.” …for example, on this date in 1525 in Zurich Switzerland, the fifteenth century Anabaptist movement began. The Anabaptists were a radical religious group somewhat distinct from protestantism, and splintered off in an argument which we can simplify grossly by describing it as being over whether or not infant baptism was enough or was more baptism necessary? Plenty to argue about in the Sixteenth Century. Not much better in the Eighteenth, as today was the day in 1791 that they took King Louis the Sixteenth or Citizen Louis Capet, as they called him on that day, to the Guillotine, and the long Capetian Dynasty came to a grim end…when the much vaunted merciful execution machine required two strokes to finish off his Majesty Properly. You want arguments? 1908, New York passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it a crime for the proprietor of a Public Business to tolerate women smoking. That didn’t last terribly long. It’s the birthday of some heroic figures…Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas, Telly Savalas, Steve Reeves and one of my personal heroes, Wolfman Jack. One of the greatest personalities In the history of radio…no argument.

Album Notes:  Grateful Acknowledgments to Mike Koenig, and Drum 8.  “Gaslamp Funworks” Written and Performed by Kevin McLeod,  Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 3.0″ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ and used here by permission, and with appreciation and thanks.  Some audio may be used under the Fair Use Doctrine.

English: Streetwalker by moonlight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mennonite Buggy (Photo credit: *Muhammad*)

Acts of the Apostles, Waltham Abbey (Photo credit: TheRevSteve)

Questioning Our Loyalty 011713

Jeremiah (Photo credit: Lawrence OP)

This blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of Columbia, MO

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

Today’s Scriptures Click the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

Psalm 36:5-10 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2036:5-10&version=MSG

Jeremiah 3:1-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%203:1-5&version=MSG

Acts 8:18-24 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%208:18-24&version=MSG

Questioning Our Loyalty 011713

We may sometimes find ourselves in the position of questioning someone’s loyalty, even though we humbly have no right or license to do so.

But today’s scriptures are different and more severe. In Jeremiah 3 our loyalty to God is questioned. One’s first thoughts when trying to apply these verses to our contemporary world, which is always our intent when we read any ancient document, is that with so much access to information by way of the internet and other sources we can easily jump ‘god to god’, and stray from God, so that our loyalty is questionable.

This is not just a situation of people learning about other religions, or studying comparative religion. Instead, the problem could be, that, like a streetwalker, one never fully commits to any religion, and possible never commits to any person as well.

So, what I see possible, is that Jeremiah speaks to us now by questioning our commitment. Are we committed totally to God and to Jesus? Or do we try to practice three or four creeds at once, like a person that seriously dates 3 or 4 people, but never is really serious about anyone? Jeremiah complains about promiscuity. Our lack of loyalty and commitment.

Think about it, and us know what you think.

Pray for peace,

Bill

Prayer List: Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @ peacemennonitechurch.net (Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

Pray with us!

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’ old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

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Psalm 36:5-10

Jeremiah 3:1-5

Acts 8:18-24

Psalm 36:5-12

The Message (MSG)

5-6 God’s love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness
nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse,
slips through the cracks.

7-9 How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,
To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You’re a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light.

10-12 Keep on loving your friends;
do your work in welcoming hearts.
Don’t let the bullies kick me around,
the moral midgets slap me down.
Send the upstarts sprawling
flat on their faces in the mud.

Jeremiah 3:1-5

The Message (MSG)

Your Sex-and-Religion Obsessions

3 God’s Message came to me as follows:

“If a man’s wife
walks out on him
And marries another man,
can he take her back as if nothing had happened?
Wouldn’t that raise a huge stink
in the land?
And isn’t that what you’ve done—
‘whored’ your way with god after god?
And now you want to come back as if nothing had happened.”
God’s Decree.

2-5 “Look around at the hills.
Where have you not had sex?
You’ve camped out like hunters stalking deer.
You’ve solicited many lover-gods,
Like a streetwalking whore
chasing after other gods.
And so the rain has stopped.
No more rain from the skies!
But it doesn’t even faze you. Brazen as whores,
you carry on as if you’ve done nothing wrong.
Then you have the nerve to call out, ‘My father!
You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?
Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?’
That’s your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop.”

Acts 8:18-24

The Message (MSG)

18-19 When Simon saw that the apostles by merely laying on hands conferred the Spirit, he pulled out his money, excited, and said, “Sell me your secret! Show me how you did that! How much do you want? Name your price!”

20-23 Peter said, “To hell with your money! And you along with it. Why, that’s unthinkable—trying to buy God’s gift! You’ll never be part of what God is doing by striking bargains and offering bribes. Change your ways—and now! Ask the Master to forgive you for trying to use God to make money. I can see this is an old habit with you; you reek with money-lust.”

24 “Oh!” said Simon, “pray for me! Pray to the Master that nothing like that will ever happen to me!”

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Menno Simons, 1610. Christoffel van Sichem. University Library, Amsterdam (via Wikicommons)

Who was he? Menno Simmons (Minne Simens) was an Anabaptist Reformer after having left the Roman Catholic Priesthood about twenty years after the beginning of the Reformation. Previously the Melchoirites and Münsterites were anabaptist groups, though they tended to readily accept that sometimes violence was needed to change the social order. Simmons joined sometime shortly after his brother, Pietr, was killed for being Anabaptist. The Anabaptists are now known as “radicial reformers”  who went past the reforms of Luther and Calvin. Particularly, they outright rejected infant baptism in favor of adult baptism (or baptism of repentance, or believer’s baptism), something other reformed groups (and most Protestant denominations, even today) did not give up. Since in the early centuries most of the followers were converts who had previously been baptized as infants, they gained the name Anabaptist (Re-baptist).

Why was he important? The early Anabaptists tended to be somewhat violent, often taking over cities and “ruling” them through military means. While this was not a requirement, it was also not expressly forbidden. Simmons radically changed that. He insisted on non-violence, or at least non-aggression. It was not right, he thought, to be killing other people for the supposed cause of Christ, and thus the Anabaptists changed their ways. This led to less fear of Anabaptists generally (which stopped them from being killed outright) and led to other Christian groups not being killed by the Anabaptists. Oddly, he and some other earlier Anabaptists, in an effort to affirm both the divinity and humanity of Christ suggested something often called the “celestial flesh” of Christ. Humanity was so corrupted, they reasoned, that the flesh of Jesus needed to be of a different sort. This was so controversial (and borderline heretical) that it was omitted from all official church documents that were written just 70 years after Simmons death onward.

Fun Fact: During the early years of serving as a Roman Catholic priest, Menno Simmons admits he never read the bible. Eventually he read the bible (after having doubts about transubstantiation) and found himself in agreement with Anabaptists, though found them too radical. Looking back at this time he said he didn’t read the bible because “I was such a stupid priest.” (source)

Where might I have heard of him? The Amish and Mennonite groups famous for their beards, barns, and horse drawn buggies are followers of Menno Simmons. However, many of the groups that look back to Simmons as their founder in some sense live completely modern lives, some also called Mennonites. Today most Anabaptists look to Simmons for some of their doctrines.

I have grown up hearing Christians talk a lot about aligning themselves to the ‘will of God’. People wrestle constantly over whether they are aligned with God’s will’. This is the most sacred of tasks for many people. If one can be sure they are walking in the will of God, all is well. And so we try to ‘discern’. We try to discern if the church we are currently attending is the right one to feed us and our faith. We try to discern if that someone special is ‘the One’ for us. We try to discern if a particular ministry opportunity is what God is calling us to. If someone asks us to commit to help serve others because we are capable of doing so, first we need to pray about it. We pray about it because we need to know if it is in God’s will for our lives.

Following this logic, people amazingly tend to hear from God through the Spirit. The Spirit just so happens to lead most people into living lives that are self centered, apathetic, and in pursuit of the American Dream. But, one ought not question it, because it is God’s will, and the Spirit ‘led them’ to this point. Right?

In the New Testament, the primary motif for determining the life and lifestyle of a Christian is based on the call to follow and imitate Jesus. Consider Luke 9:23, 1 Pet. 2:20-21, 1 Cor. 11:1, 1 John 2:6 for just a few samples of this. What I am saying is that the Christian life is not a blank slate, upon which we need to discern how to fill it all up. Instead, the Christian life  is defined by a concrete lifestyle and ethics which demands following. We follow the life of Christ. Jesus is never on route to the American Dream (or the Imperial Throne of Rome), but to the cross. In fact, to choose to not live a life of the cross is to choose to no longer be Christ’s follower (Luke 14:27).

So back to discerning the ‘will of God’. Before we make the Christian life an abstract,and hence meaningless thing, we ought to start off by faithfully following and obeying Christ. However, I still do believe that we ought to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading. Yet, we must insist that there is only one Spirit, and it is always guiding us concretely in the steps of Jesus. We can know the Spirit of God is alive in our lives and truly guiding us when our lives are aligned with the work and life of Christ. Jesus understood very well what the Spirit was leading him to: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

Let’s not use the ‘will of God’ as an excuse to avoid following Jesus and obeying his commands. To follow Jesus is the will of God for our lives.

The idea that the two are related is not uncommon:

If you participate in the “emerging church conversation,” you are probably aware of Brian McLaren’s writings. His book A Generous Orthodoxy includes Anabaptism as one of the traditions he values. Elsewhere he writes, “Anabaptists know things that all of us need as we slide or run or crawl or are dragged into the postmodern world.” He suggested in a recent interview, “Emergent represents a rediscovery of the Anabaptist spirit. It’s very hard in other Protestant denominations to find people who take Jesus as teacher deeply seriously, and take Jesus’ teachings and the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus’ example of nonviolence, seriously.” (Murray, The Naked Anabaptist, pg. 27)

In addition, I find certain core Anabaptist beliefs reflected in the Progressive Christian community, and this is especially true of my spiritual home — the Progressive Christian Alliance (PCA). The second core conviction of the Anabaptist Network reads:

Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation. We are committed to a Jesus-centred approach to the Bible, and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship.

This is very similar to a teaching that is found within the PCA:

The words of Jesus found in the gospels – specifically, what he states are the greatest commandments: “Love God with all of your essence and love your neighbor as you should love yourself” – are to be the focus for any disciple of him. We submit the rest of Scripture to the position of “sacred commentary.”

Also, the core convictions of the Anabaptist Network reflect that following Jesus is counter-cultural and radical. Well, so does the PCA:

Following Jesus is counter-cultural, radical, and disrupts the status-quo. The good news of the gospel is intentional in its inclusion of those who are traditionally marginalized and refused by Mainline Christianity.

This passage from the PCA website also reflects a movement away from Christendom, which I am sure Anabaptists can completely identify with. Also, both Anabaptism and Progressive Christianity have, in addition to christocentrism, have stressed doing good works in addition to faith. You will find many Progressive Christians who work for peace and social justice, and you will even find the occasional Christian Anarchist within such circles.

For me, Anabaptism and Progressive Christianity (or Emergent Christianity, Emerging church, etc.) are not two unrelated movements. Rather, I think that the emerging church is a reincarnation of the old Anabaptist spirit. Once again we have a radical return to Jesus, peace, and social justice in the face of a collapsing Christendom and economic struggle.

Postscript: There is already a small organization that has developed a similar synthesis of Progressive Christianity and Anabaptism — the Progressive Brethren — that are worth checking out.

Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation. We are committed to a Jesus-centred approach to the Bible, to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship. (http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/coreconvictions.)

1. Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation

Assuming that God exists and that he has revealed himself/herself in many and various ways, I take the view (on faith) that God’s supreme self-disclosure is in the person of Jesus. Jesus reflects the character and will of God for our humanity.

Jesus, in his very humanity, discloses to us a God who loves his enemies, a God who sends his rain upon the just and the unjust, and makes his sun to shine upon the  evil and the good. Jesus discloses a God who welcomes outcasts and sinners, a God who heals the broken-hearted and  liberates the oppressed. This is a God who seeks to rectify all wrongs and to restore humans to wholeness in their lives and relationships .

The synoptic gospels present us with a Christology  that is primarily from below whereas  John’s Gospel and Paul’s letters present us with a Christology that is primarily from above. In the synoptics, the emphasis is primarily on the humanity of Jesus without denying his deity whereas in John’s Gospel and Paul’s letters the emphasis is primarily on the deity of Jesus  without denying his humanity.

I believe it is very important which Jesus you give priority to. If you prioritize a Christology from below you get a different theology than if you prioritize a theology from above. We need to make Jesus central and Jesus in his very humanity.

It is Jesus, in his humanity, that shows us God as a servant king. It is Jesus, in his very humanity, that shows us a God of compassion, loving-kindness and healing mercy. It is Jesus, in his humanity, who shows us the God of a tender heart. It is Jesus, in his very humanity, who shows us a God who champions the poor and the powerless, who challenges the principalities and social, economic, religious and political powers and whose calling out of a new humanity to follow him in a life and lifestyle of radical discipleship challenges empire with its nonviolent lifestyle.

It is only when we interpret John, Paul and the rest of the NT in the light of the synoptics that we make Jesus, in his humanity, the focal point of God’s revelation.

2. The community of faith as the primary context in which we read the bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship

The community of faith here refers to a committed community of disciples who seek to follow Jesus’ way of nonviolence and compassion. It is not, in my view, a community of committed disciples that by-passes the significance of Jesus’ humanity and teachings  in the Sermon on the Mount in order to support war, to maintain the religious, political and economic status quo  or which spiritualizes the teaching  or applies it only to personal ethics.

Jesus was empowered by the Spirit of God for his mission in the world and so is the messianic community of disciples. This Spirit of God is the Spirit of the nonviolent and compassionate Jesus and this community is meant to interpret the bible in utter reliance on the Spirit of Jesus. And the community is empowered by Jesus to love their ‘neighbour’ as themselves.

As the community seeks the ‘mind of Christ’ it is to be  done in open dialogue around an open bible with Jesus at its centre. He is the Word of God. He is the light that enlightens. It is his Spirit that is meant to guide the community, enabling us to apply his message in today’s context just as Jesus as the early communities of Jesus did in their context.

I simply don’t see this kind of model in the Conservative churches within 15 minutes drive of my place and I would find it very difficult to return.

That’s Mr Manz, being put in the boat- chained.  The decision of the Council was reached after a good deal of debate, and a good deal of pleading from Zwingli to Manz that he amend his ways before the government took matters into its own hands.

There’s an interesting historical footnote to the affair here, which you ought to read.  It has to do with an apology by the authorities of Zurich in 2004 given to the descendants of the Anabaptists for their poor treatment.

There’s also a very fine essay by Gottfried Locher in Zwingliana titled Felix Manz’ Abschiedsworte an seine Mitbrüder vor der Hinrichtung 1527: Spiritualität und Theologie. Die Echtheit des Liedes «Bey Christo will ich bleiben».‘  Enjoy.

If one does not start with the narratives of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) to understand who Jesus is, but rather abstract and dogmatic doctrines about Jesus’ salvific work, then Jesus can either accommodate anything (crusades, persecuting the Jews for 1500 years, waging war against other nations, colonizing continents, and slavery to name a few examples). If it is not an accommodated Jesus, it is skirting Jesus all together. People try to dismiss Jesus by going backwards to the Old Testament (an unfulfilled narrative by all Christian account) or past him to Paul (unfortunately Paul is most often misread through European eyes as writing theology books rather than contextualized theological letters). Either way, the end result is one not having to follow Jesus’ life or obey his teachings.

We need to recover the ancient practice of  early Christians who understood that Jesus’ life and teachings were meant to be taken seriously and followed. It’s time to let the abstract and domesticated Jesus of the West die, and let God resurrect the true and living Jesus in your lives. This is the Crucified One that actually spoke and lived in a manner that was supposed to be ‘the Way’ to follow. We need to go back to the particularities of Christ. What are the actual and concrete ways that Jesus lived? What did he specifically teach? Howard Thurman talks about recovering Jesus’ Jewish ethnicity, poor upbringing, and minority status as important aspects of Jesus’ identity. Furthermore, Black and Anabaptist theologians have been pointing the Church towards Jesus’ particularity in both word and deed. This is why they can boldly talk about Jesus as liberator (Luke 4) and peace maker (Matthew 5). It is in the particularities of Jesus’ teaching and life as recorded in Scripture that he is known, not through the memorization of human articulations of doctrines, creeds, and confessions which are inevitably more abstract than the Gospel narratives themselves.

1 John 2: 6 “The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.” (NET)

In his last message as pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church, John Piper condemned prosperity preachers for enticing worshippers into a faith that’s not real Christianity.

“If you entice people with wealth, … ease, health, chipper, bouncy, light-hearted, playful, superficial banter in your worship service posing as joy in Christ, you will attract people, oh yeah, you can grow a huge church that way. But Christ will not be seen in his glory and the Christian life will not be seen as the calvary road that it is,” said Piper on Sunday.

After 32 years of preaching at Bethlehem in Minneapolis, Piper handed the baton to Jason Meyer, who will be installed on Jan. 20.

While Sunday’s sermon was not likely Piper’s final message, it was his last on an official level as pastor for Preaching and Vision. In his last official message, Piper wanted to convey to the congregation “what the world needs from the church.”

What it needs, he preached, is “our indomitable, invincible joy in the midst of suffering and sorrow.”

He wasn’t speaking of a “chipper” or “bouncy” joy that he sees in many church services but true rejoicing in the face of suffering and sorrow.

The many and varied comments on the original post are truly from all view points and very interesting.  They give a cross section from our Christian world.  Click below if you want to read them.

Fr. Orthohippo

[the] Anabaptists… realized their principles had long endured.
 On this date, Jan. 05, 1527 two outstanding Anabaptists paid the price for their faith.  Felix Manz, known as the Apollo of the Anabaptists, was drowned in Lake Zurich for his testimony for Christ.  George Blaurock, considered the Hercules of the movement, was stripped to the waist and severely beaten.  Many church historians speak of the Anabaptists as mere heretics.  Franklin Hamlin Littell, in The Origins of Protestantism (New York: The Macmillan Co. 1964), wrote, “Information on the…[Anabaptists] has been notoriously scarce and has rested in the main upon hostile polemics.”  It is apparent that the Anabaptists in the days of the Reformers realized their principles had long endured.  They maintained, according to Littell, the “…principle that the True Church could not have been destroyed since the founding. …”  Dr. Roland H. Bainton connects Anabaptists with the ancient Donatists he when acknowledges that “The parallels between the Anabaptists and Donatists were however, more than superficial.”  One of the things he wrote of was their similar enemies and persecutions and enemies.  He also said, “To call these people Anabaptists, that is rebaptizers, was to malign them, because they denied that baptism was repeated, inasmuch as infant baptism is no baptism at all.  The called themselves simply Baptists.  The offensive name was given to them to bring them under the Justinian Code which had been written against the Donatists.  Leonard Verdin, historian of the Christian Reformed Denomination wrote, “We know that at the time of the birth of the Hybrid [The Anabaptists of the days of the Reformation] there were already people who were called Anabaptists.”  Interestingly C. A. Cornelius (1819-1903) a Roman Catholic scholar was among the first historians to call for modern research of the Anabaptist movement.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. IIII: Cummins /, pp. 9-10.
The picture above is a memorial in Zurich listing the names of 43 Anabaptists who were martyred by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy (Church/State) in the 16th Century. (Wickepedia)

Church HDR (Photo credit: I_am_Allan)

This blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of Columbia, MO

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

Today’s Scriptures Click the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

Psalm 72 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2072&version=MSG

Jeremiah 31:7-14 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2031:7-14&version=MSG

John 1:1-18 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201:1-18&version=MSG

The Organized Church 010613

It is fairly easy to find internet essays, websites, cartoons, music and other media condemning or discussing the organized church. Of all the reasons people have given me for not attending, or worse, participating in church is that don’t get organized churches, and they don’t get into organized religion. (International reader: Please excuse the american (U.S.) vernacular).

Such Mennonite or Anabaptist resources include:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marginal-Mennonite-Society/195351727157390

http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/2011/08/13/mcusa-what-keeps-us-together/

and

http://www.radiofreebabylon.com/

Here’s a sample:

This isn’t exactly Mennonite or Anabaptist, but it’s close for me, and their daily comic strip called ‘Coffee with Jesus’ is amazing and hilarious.

Among the complaints against organized religion is that it always becomes domineering, rigid, lifeless and self-serving. Maybe it is because churches are made of people—we people always tend to make evil use of God’s power, just as we misuse every other source of power—oil, coal, nuclear—you name it, we misuse it.

But when I’m honest with myself, brutally, when I get upset by the church, the organized church, the denominational church (and I also get upset by Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and all other institutional churches) it is not because they are organized—it is because they are horribly disorganized.

With all these churches in the world, why are there still hungry people? Why is there not global peace? Why do women, children and the disabled and elderly live in fear and deprivation? My God, why can’t we get organized? Why don’t churches find a way to help God’s people and creatures, instead of only serving themselves?

From John 1: 9-13 come these words:

^9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.

If we all entering life as part of Jesus’ life-light, why can’t we shine together?

Pray for peace,

Bill

Prayer List: Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @ peacemennonitechurch.net (Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

Pray with us!

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’ old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

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Psalm 72

Jeremiah 31:7-14

John 1:[1-9] 10-18

Psalm 72

The Message (MSG)

A Solomon Psalm

72 ^1-8 Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God,
the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
May he judge your people rightly,
be honorable to your meek and lowly.
Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
shape the hills with the contours of right living.
Please stand up for the poor,
help the children of the needy,
come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
age after age after age.
Be rainfall on cut grass,
earth-refreshing rain showers.
Let righteousness burst into blossom
and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Rule from sea to sea,
from the River to the Rim.

^9-14 Foes will fall on their knees before God,
his enemies lick the dust.
Kings remote and legendary will pay homage,
kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth.
All kings will fall down and worship,
and godless nations sign up to serve him,
Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need,
the destitute who have run out of luck.
He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out,
he restores the wretched of the earth.
He frees them from tyranny and torture—
when they bleed, he bleeds;
when they die, he dies.

^15-17 And live! Oh, let him live!
Deck him out in Sheba gold.
Offer prayers unceasing to him,
bless him from morning to night.
Fields of golden grain in the land,
cresting the mountains in wild exuberance,
Cornucopias of praise, praises
springing from the city like grass from the earth.
May he never be forgotten,
his fame shine on like sunshine.
May all godless people enter his circle of blessing
and bless the One who blessed them.

^18-20 Blessed God, Israel’s God,
the one and only wonder-working God!
Blessed always his blazing glory!
All earth brims with his glory.
Yes and Yes and Yes.

Jeremiah 31:7-14

The Message (MSG)

⁷ Oh yes, God says so:

“Shout for joy at the top of your lungs for Jacob!
Announce the good news to the number-one nation!
Raise cheers! Sing praises. Say,
‘God has saved his people,
saved the core of Israel.’

⁸ “Watch what comes next:

“I’ll bring my people back
from the north country
And gather them up from the ends of the earth,
gather those who’ve gone blind
And those who are lame and limping,
gather pregnant women,
Even the mothers whose birth pangs have started,
bring them all back, a huge crowd!

⁹ “Watch them come! They’ll come weeping for joy
as I take their hands and lead them,
Lead them to fresh flowing brooks,
lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths.
Yes, it’s because I’m Israel’s Father
and Ephraim’s my firstborn son!

^10-14 “Hear this, nations! God’s Message!
Broadcast this all over the world!
Tell them, ‘The One who scattered Israel
will gather them together again.
From now on he’ll keep a careful eye on them,
like a shepherd with his flock.’
I, God, will pay a stiff ransom price for Jacob;
I’ll free him from the grip of the Babylonian bully.
The people will climb up Zion’s slopes shouting with joy,
their faces beaming because of God’s bounty—
Grain and wine and oil,
flocks of sheep, herds of cattle.
Their lives will be like a well-watered garden,
never again left to dry up.
Young women will dance and be happy,
young men and old men will join in.
I’ll convert their weeping into laughter,
lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.
I’ll make sure that their priests get three square meals a day
and that my people have more than enough.’” God’s Decree.

John 1:1-18

The Message (MSG)

The Life-Light

1 ^1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.

^3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.

^6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

^9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.

¹⁵ John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”

^16-18 We all live off his generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.

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• Making the Springtime Decisions 010213 (mennonitepreacher.wordpress.com)
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A deep longing to know God’s ways and the desire to overcome sin moved those who became the first Quakers. Like many of us today, they also felt disheartened by the condition of the world and longed for truth and justice to prevail. In mid seventeenth-century England, many different ways of worship and spiritual practice were offered as alternatives to the status quo. The theological diversity was not nearly as great as what is available today, but the ideas and new practices seemed radical, and there were fierce debates about which were orthodox and which were heretical.

When spiritual longing grows strong, it compels people to seek for a way to live that meets the inner need. Most early Friends began seeking by attending the sermons and lectures of priests and ministers who had a reputation for spiritual wisdom. Some, like George Fox, traveled long distances to seek out those with the highest reputations.

“Non-conformist” clergy were preaching new religious ideas. Only a few decades earlier, the Bible had finally become available in English in an edition inexpensive enough for ordinary people to afford. Often it was the only book a family owned, and each day households gathered together at regular times for the reading of prayers and Bible passages.  Puritans were those who wanted to purify the church of practices and rituals not mentioned in the scriptures. Numerous religious groups had sprung up, each with a slightly different idea about what constituted a true, pure church. They were variously called Independents, Separatists, Dissenters, and Anabaptists; all of them were referred to as Puritans.

Those dissatisfied with the Anglican Church joined one of the new religious sects, seeking the true way that God wanted to be worshipped. They participated in morning and afternoon Sabbath services, read recommended books, attended mid-week lectures, and engaged in spiritual practices such as fasting and abstaining from sports and card-playing on the Sabbath. All the Puritan groups put emphasis on finding clear instructions in Scripture about what God wanted. Within and among the various sects, however, seminary-educated ministers debated fiercely about whose Scripture interpretations were correct.

Yorkshire teenager William Dewsbury begged his family to apprentice him to someone in Leeds, because he heard there were strict Puritans in that town. At Sunday services, he sang psalms, took communion, and wrote down the sermons in shorthand. During the week he fasted and participated in all the other recommended practices. When he had free time from his apprenticeship, he visited the ministers at home and asked them to explain various points they had made while preaching. Even the most educated ministers, however, responded solely from their book learning. They did not speak of direct knowledge of God or God’s ways. None were able to describe to Dewsbury any personal experience of God enabling them to overcome sin: “I met with none who could tell me what God had done for their souls, in redeeming them from the body of sin, which I groaned under, and which separated me from the presence of God; although I walked strictly with them in their outward observances and in running to hear one man after another, called ministers, yet I found no rest nor peace to my weary soul.” (qtd. in Smith, 25)

Elizabeth Hooton, a farmer’s wife, found Anglican services inadequate for her spiritual needs and sought for a more zealous congregation; she joined a group of general Baptists. The Baptists–also called Anabaptists–were among the most radical in the spectrum of Puritan sects at that time. They believed that baptism was only for mature believers, not infants. At their services, the Baptists allowed the ministry of lay preachers, sometimes including women.

Members of all the new religious groups in England were hopeful that when the Civil War was won by the Puritan army, a government would be established more in keeping with God’s righteousness, one in which they would receive religious freedom. The new Commonwealth established after the war proved disillusioning, however, and some of the Baptists Elizabeth Hooton joined lost the heart to continue their religious observances. They decided to play football on the Sabbath instead. Elizabeth Hooton judged that these drop-outs “were not upright hearted to ye Lord but did his work negligently.”( qtd. in Manners 4) Gathering the remnants of the shattered group, she began to hold meetings in her house in the village of Skegby. Her husband was not happy about this. The marriage nearly broke up, but the Hooton children attended the meetings.

In the rural north of England, Francis Howgill had been seeking for decades: “I fasted and prayed and walked mournfully in sorrow, and thought none was like me, tempted on every hand. So I ran to this man and the other, and they made promises to me, but it was only words….” (Early Quaker Writing, 171-172) He joined the Independents and then the Anabaptists, for a time feeling at home among tender-hearted seekers like himself, eagerly joining in all their services and practices and spending his spare income on the books they recommended. Ultimately, however, he was disappointed. The groups he joined were focused on interpreting the words of scripture and talked only about what God and Christ had done in the past. They did not know the living God or the risen Christ by direct experience. Among them, he wrote, “no peace nor no guide did I find.” He became a preacher among those called Seekers, people who were waiting for God to send someone with apostolic power to teach how God wanted them to worship.

In sophisticated London, Martha Simmonds, from a family of printers, searched for a minister who spoke truth, attending a variety of churches, as well gatherings held in public places or in people’s homes: “For seven years together I wandered up and down the streets enquiring of those that had the image of honesty in their countenances, where I might find an honest Minister, …and wandering from one idol’s temple to another, and from one private meeting to another, I heard a sound of words among them but no substance could I find….”(qtd. in Moore, 37)

Reading accounts of the seeking of early Friends reminded me of my own experience of seeking, which began with questions to my Sunday School teachers when I was a child. In my late teens, I left the church of my childhood, unsure that God existed. Like many readers who responded to my recent blog posts about the Ten Elements of the Quaker Spiritual Journey and Longing, I did not know at first that the pain I felt inside was a spiritual longing. In my early twenties, my seeking was directed toward relationships, travel, and intellectual and creative pursuits. Later I began to seek by reading books about spiritual matters, attending different churches, and trying a wide range of spiritual practices. Like Francis Howgill, however, I eventually found that none of my outward seeking led to finding peace or a guide. That did not happen until, like those who became the first Quakers, I looked inward.

The next post will describe the experience of Turning Within.

A bibliography page has been added. To see it, go to awholeheart.com

Seeking: In what ways have you been a seeker? Did your seeking bear fruit?

(c) 2013 Marcelle Martin

I have been listening to both Bruxy Cavey of The Meeting House and Greg Boyd of Woodland Hills for a while now. It seems the Facebook conversation missed a key point which both pastors always seems to strive to make when talking about Christian Pacifism: Christian Pacifism is NOT pacifism, or as I like to say it, secular pacifism.

From what I understand, a secular pacifist is one that judges all war/violence is wrong, period. I do not see this as a Biblical view. As Bruxy points out, Romans 13:1-7 states that all authority has been established by God, and that these authorities were not given the sword for no reason.

I believe one must start with The Fall (Genesis 3) if they are to understand my Biblical view of Christian Pacifism. As we know, The Fall is all about man thinking we know good and evil. Man thinking we know better than ___________. It all results in us judging others when the truth is we don’t have all the facts. The secular pacifist prospective of all war/violence is wrong looks to me like judging.

It appears to me Romans 13:1-7 is calling followers of Christ to have faith that the Holy Spirit is moving the authorities, who are God servants, to do the just thing, let it be violent or nonviolent. Romans 12 talks about how followers of Christ should live. I believe it also can guide us in how to advice the authorities, if we are so called. But in the end, as far as the choices the authorities make, I believe Romans 13:1-7 is telling us to respect their choice and have faith in the authorities established by God. Ultimately I see it as a call for us to have faith and not to judge.

In a sermon by Greg Boyd (I think after Bruxy’s) he talked about the term ‘established’ used in Romans 13:1. I recall his point was that in the Greek, it didn’t mean put in place, but simply means put to use what is already there. My take on that was God does not always pick the individuals who are the authorities. Nor are all authorities godly people. Rather, once one is an authority, God use that authority for justice (Of course the enemy does his deception thing and uses the authority for injustice, too.)

As a Christian Pacifist, the one thing I do know is that despite Christ’s opportunity to be violent, he chose the way of sacrificial love, Calvary. In his parting words, he commissioned me to teach other to obey everything he commanded me. What they do with those teaching is between them and God, it is not my place to judge them. My place is to love The Lord my God and to love those God makes my neighbors.

How can a “Christian” be Conservative when Jesus Christ was so revolutionary? Only by ignoring much of what Jesus himself identified as his most important teaching! (http://www.liberalslikejesus.org/.)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour (1.e. the Jubilee).

Blessed are you who are poor,  for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now,  for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now. for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. …  for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. … Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, you did it to me.

“In the world, but not of the world”, or “Stranger in a strange land”? Yes.
Those statements resonate within my heart, and seem to be resonant within Scripture.

While we strive to live in harmony and at peace with our neighbour, I find it hard to believe that we can exist within the world in it’s state of decay, and not have anarchistic tendencies simply by living truly as ‘kingdom’ citizens within a foreign empire. So while I agree with Stackhouse in this article, that we are to ‘garden’ within our setting, I also feel that it is a sentiment of a rich, Western, apathetic church, assuming that our state of peace, quiet and tolerance is, for lack of a better word, normal.

Judge for yourself, have a read, write your own blog about it:

http://www.geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/a-dash-of-cold-water-for-christian-anarchism/

Scrapple 

Scrapple is considered to be one of the first original dishes created in the Mid-Atlantic region.  It is called Pon Haus in Pennsylvania Dutch which is the region in which the recipe is most commonly associated with.  In Pennsylvania it is also referred to as Pannhaas,” “panhoss,” or “pannhas.”

As the name implies, this dish was created as a way of utilizing scrap meat from pork butchering.  There is a great injustice associated with this product.  It is much maligned by people who are uniformed on the subject.  Scrapple does not contain eyeballs, ears, lips and intestines of the pig.  It may contain Offal such as liver or lungs, but it is mostly limited to pork trim.

Along the Mid-Atlantic, it is jokingly referred to as “poor man’s pâté,” and in a way it kind of is, although it has more in common with “white pudding,” which is a dish eaten primarily in the United Kingdom and is made with oatmeal rather than cornmeal and rye flours.

The Pennsylvania Dutch is a remarkable ethno-religious people which have created a sort of cuisine within a cuisine, when it comes to regional Mid-Atlantic cooking.  Their food is generally much plainer than food in the rest of the region, but this is due to the self-reliant nature of the people who practice this belief.

The spices which were so common in the American spice trade, which ran through Baltimore, while locally convenient, all such luxuries had to be traded and bartered for by the Pennsylvania Dutch.  Due to their reclusive nature, which increased more as industrial innovation began to become common place, they did not have access to “exotic” ingredients which were considered to be common only a few miles away.

As the innovations in technology and transport became more common, the Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine remained dependent on local and seasonal ingredients.  This dependence has worked to their advantage in recent years as the culinary market for local food has made the Pennsylvania Dutch a coveted supplier to restaurants and hotels in the region.

History:

(Wikipedia Entry)

            Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from Alsace, southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they have spoken the dialect of German known as Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania German.

            The first major emigration of Germans to America resulted in the founding of the Borough of Germantown in northwest Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania on October 6, 1683.^[1] Mass emigration of Palatines began out of Germany in the early 18th century.

            The Pennsylvania Dutch maintained numerous religious affiliations, with the greatest number being Lutheran or Reformed, but many Anabaptists as well. The Anabaptist religions promoted a simple lifestyle and their adherents were known as Plain people or Plain Dutch, as opposed to the Fancy Dutch who tended to assimilate more easily into the American mainstream.

            Over time, the various dialects spoken by these immigrants fused into a unique dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania German. At one time, over a third of Pennsylvania’s population spoke this language, which also had an impact on the local dialect of English.

            After the Second World War, use of Pennsylvania German died out in favor of English, except among the more insular and tradition-bound Anabaptists, such as the Old Order Mennonite and Old Order Amish. However, a number of German cultural practices continue to this day, and German-Americans remain the largest ancestry group in Pennsylvania.^[2]

Pork mush or scrapple can be eaten “raw,” which is actually not really raw since it is pre cooked, and is sometimes eaten by impatient children, but most often, it is sliced and dredged in flour and fried in oil until crisp.  It is usually served with eggs, but it can also be commonly found in a breakfast sandwich.  Most people consider it to be a cholesterol nightmare, but in fact, it is mostly a carbohydrate.

Scrapple is commonly served with catsup, or applesauce, although sour cream is also a common accompaniment.  It is said that these are a direct result of the region of Pennsylvania in which you eat it, but you can see any of these things served just about anywhere.  Catsup is the most common of all the condiments since it also is served on the side with scrambled eggs.

I don’t have a recipe for scrapple myself, since even though it is on the breakfast menu; it is not something that we make.  It is readily available for purchase already made and is a quality product as good as anything you can make yourself.  You may have to special order it if you do not live in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Evolution:

Scrapple

Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland

Frederick Philip Stieff

The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore & London, 1932

                One jowl and one liver.  Boil until it is well done, take out all the bones, run the meat through sausage cutter, then throw it in the water it was boiled in, season with salt, pepper, and sage, thicken with cornmeal the consistency of thin mush, put in pans and slice off to fry.  – Mrs. J. Morsell Roberts, Calvert County. 

The recipe for scrapple has not really changed much over the years, since it is a product of utilizing scrap meat.  The one tip I can give you is the importance of seasoning, since the dish is comprised of so much carbohydrates and flour, the seasoning must be strong.  Salt, as well as herbs and spices, must be used in large quantities.  You can taste this dish as it is thickening, since it is already well cooked by this point.

Philadelphia Scrapple Croquettes

 The Pennsylvania Dutch and their Cookery

J. George Frederick

The Business Bourse, Publishers, 1935

1 Cup Scrapple                                                                                                 

½ Cup Cracker or Bread Crumbs

2 Eggs, Hard Boiled                                                                                        

1 Tsp. Minced Parsley

1 Cup Cooked Rice, or Mashed Potatoes                                              

Salt, Pepper

1 Egg, Beaten

                In a wooden or earthen bowl, mix well the scrapple, the rice or the potatoes, the hard cooked eggs, chopped fine.  Season with parsley etc, shape into croquettes with beaten egg and bread crumbs, fry in deep fat.  Serve with horseradish sauce or with fried tomatoes.

                In this book there are a myriad of recipes for the uses of scrapple including:  Scrapple Cabbage, Bethlehem, Baked Scrapple with Scalloped Potatoes,  Scrapple Peppers, Germantown, Scrapple with Pineapple Rings, scrapple with Fried Tomatoes, Scrapple with Fried Peppers, Scrapple with Tomato Sauce, and Scrapple with Spinach.  The recipe use scrapple as an ingredient rather than as a recipe for making scrapple so I do not include them here, but it is a book that is worthy of seeking out if you are interested in the history and cookery of the Pennsylvania Dutch. 

Pann Haas

(Scrapple)

The Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook

Ruth Hutchison

Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York & London 1948

1 Calf’s Liver

½ Kidney (Optional)

Pork Scraps

Cornmeal

½ Tsp. Sage

Salt And Pepper

                The correct way to make scrapple is to boil a lot of pork scraps in the water in which liverwurst is made.  Since this can only occur on a farm at butchering time, the way to get around that is to boil the liver and kidney until tender, remove from water, and chop the liver.  Chop pork and place in water with the liver.  (Skip the liver if you do not want a decided liver flavor.) Simmer until the scraps of meat shred.  The drabble cornmeal into the mixture stirring constantly.  When the consistency of mush had been achieved, add the sage, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 15 minutes longer, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.  Pour into pans about 3 inches deep.  Cool.  Slice and fry lightly.

                One of the big differences in scrapple recipes is the use of buckwheat flour.  This adds a unique taste to the dish.  In the recipe above, only cornmeal is used, this will require more cornmeal as it does not thicken the same way that Buckwheat flour does and will need additional seasoning.  This recipe would be great for anyone with a gluten allergy.

Homemade Scrapple

Mrs. Kitching’s Smith Island Cookbook

Frances Kitching & Susan Stiles Dowell

Tidewater Publishers, 1981

2 Pounds Pork Liver

1 Pound Lean Salt Pork

1 ½ Cups Flour

1 ½ Cup Cornmeal

1 Tsp. Sage

                Cut up meat into cubes.  Add to 1 ½ quarts of water.  Cook until meat is tender.  Drain and Save liquid.  Mash meat and add liquid.  Sift together dry ingredients and add to mashed meat as it simmers on the stove.  Stir constantly to keep from sticking.  Pour into baking dish and let stand until gelled.  Eat hot or store in the fridge to slice and fry later. 

In this version, they use salt pork and a larger quantity of pork liver.  Be careful with the liver, as it has a strong flavor and can make the dish taste more like pate than scrapple.  Salt pork can be used, but it is hard to puree it into the necessary mush since it has been cured.  It will give a good flavor, but the texture will be different in the final product.

Scrapple

Best of the Best from Pennsylvania

Gwen McKee & Barbra Moseley

Quail Ridge Press 1993

1 Pound Pork Pudding Meat

1 Qt. Water or Pork Broth

1 ½ Cups Cornmeal

¼ Cup Buckwheat Flour

Salt & Pepper to Taste

                Stir pudding meat into 1 quart seasoned rapidly boiling water or pork broth.  When the mixture reaches the boiling point, slowly add the cornmeal and buckwheat flour.  Stir continuously until thickened.  Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes over low heat.  Pour into two 1 pound loaf pans.  Cool thoroughly; then refrigerate promptly.  When scrapple is set, cut in ⅜ to ½ inch slices and fry in hot, greased skillet.  When slices are browned and crusty, turn and brown the other side. 

                Serve with catsup, syrup or apple butter.  A hearty and traditional breakfast dish.  Makes 3 – 4 pounds of scrapple.

                This is a classic example of a scrapple recipe.  Pork pudding meat is pureed pork trim, this can be done in a food processor.  The main innovation in the evolution of this dish is the use of machines to pulp the meat.  Even 50 years before this, sausage grinders were used, now any number of kitchen tools can be used to achieve the same result with a lot less effort.

The recipe does not make clear if the pork pudding meat is raw or cook, it should be cooked since the liquid used to cook the pork makes a stock which is used in the cooking process.

Scrapple (Pannhass)

Pennsylvania Trail of History Cookbook

The Editor’s of Stackpile Books &

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

Stackpile Books, 2004

2 Pigs Hearts                                                                                                     

1 ½ Pounds Pig Liver

2 Pounds somewhat Fatty Pork                                                                

2 or 3 Pounds Pork Bones (Optional)

1 ½ Cups Flour                                                                                                  

1 Cup Buckwheat Flour

3 Cups Yellow Cornmeal                                                                             

2 Tbsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Ground Black Pepper                                                                    

1 ½ Tbsp. Ground Sage (Optional)

                Cover meat and bones completely with water in a large pot.  Boil for 3 hours.  Remove meat and bones, and let cool.  Strain the liquid and set aside.  Cut off the excess fat and gristle, then grind the meat.  Discard bones.  Mix together flour and cornmeal.  Dissolve a little of the flour mixture into some of the liquid to make a smooth paste.  Mix this into the rest of the liquid, add meat and bring to a boil.  Take off the heat and stir in the rest of the flour and cornmeal mixture and seasoning.  Adjust seasoning to taste.  Return to the heat and boil for 30 – 45 minutes, or until very thick.  The mixture must be stirred constantly after the cornmeal is added, as it will burn very easily.  When a cake tester remains upright in the mixture, pour into bread pans and let cool.  After refrigerating overnight, the scrapple will be ready to fry.  If it is cooked nice and thick, the scrapple will slice easily and fry up without breaking apart.  Fry on both sides with a little lard and butter.  You may dip the scrapple into flour before frying.  In the Cambria-Somerset county area, scrapple is often topped with maple syrup, jelly or apple butter.  In the Lancaster County, where Landis Valley Museum is located, the preferred topping is King Syrup, Molasses or Catsup.  Makes 3 – 4 servings. 

The biggest problem faced when making scrapple is keeping the slurry moving in the pot, so it does not burn.  If it “catches” on the bottom, the resulting burning of the mush will contaminate the flavor of the entire dish; it can’t just be scrapped off.  It is similar to making a cream based soup, it is better to take it slow over a low heat than to try to bring it to a boil.  This is why the ingredients need to be cooked before the final thickening is done.

Scrapple is a dish that must be experienced before it is written off.  Most of the prejudice against this dish is based on complete ignorance.  The people, who are the strongest advocates against it, are people who have never tried it.

It is considered to be a first world problem to be picky about the food you eat.  In countries where food is a necessity, not a luxury, utilizing every scrap is the difference between eating and starving.  This dish was born out of necessity and in the modern world, it should be considered an inexpensive luxury.

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