It was good to return home from the July meeting at St. John’s and have other “bridgefolk” to meet with for debriefing, reflecting, and brainstorming options for bridge-building work right here in our own community.
Like many of you we have individually tried to find ways to communicate our experience to friends, family, and members of our churches and parishes. Gordon Houser certainly has the widest reach as an editor of The Mennonite, and some of you may have read the article he wrote on the Bridgefolk gathering.
We have made a couple of attempts to do some of this sharing as a group. Several of us shared at New Creation Mennonite Fellowship here in Newton as part of a Sunday morning worship service. Gordon also called us together to help lead a chapel service at the Mennonite Church USA offices in town. Our reflections on the July gathering and our need as Mennonites to help create stronger relationships with our Catholic sisters and brothers seemed to be well received.
More recently, C. Arnold Snyder (another Bridgefolk participant) came to Newton and offered the Menno Simons Lectures at Bethel College (Nov. 3-5). Myrna Krehbiel learned that Arnold is a gifted jazz pianist and set up a special evening concert at Peace Connections in Newton where she serves as the director. It was a fun night of connecting with others through music. Thank you Arnold for the many gifts you shared with us! (Why didn’t we hear you tickle the ivories this summer?? Maybe next time!)
Our current national and international environment is, of course, causing us to reflect in some new ways on what it means to be disciples and Christian peacebuilders in our world today. A number of recent actions and activities in the Newton community have allowed us to build bridges with people of many stripes who are working for peace.
The July 2002 Bridgefolk gathering was a meaningful event for each one of us, and we will continue to seek ways to keep the spirit of hospitality, peace, and understanding we encountered there alive and moving here on the Kansas prairies. Blessings to all of the bridgefolk out there! May God’s fierce love and enduring peace move in this beautiful and unsettled world.
(Bridgefolk 2002 participants from Newton were Gordon Houser, Myrna & Randy Krehbiel, Don & Corinne Kehrberg, and Eric Massanari):