Call for Sermons,
Homilies, Poetry and Art
Invitation To submit sermons and homilies as well as poetry and art that reflect on the relationship between eating together at the Lord’s Table and our life of Christian peacemaking – for publication in a new book, We Are Each Other’s Bread and Wine: Mennonite and Catholic Reflections on Eucharist and Peacemaking
Description This book is a collaborative effort among Mennonites and Catholics to share reflections and convictions on the profound gifts of each tradition -- the Eucharist and peacemaking -- for the sake of encouraging richer Christian worship and more faithful Christian discipleship in the world. The contents of the book will be invited from Catholic and Mennonite communities in the United States, Canada, and abroad. The Institute of Mennonite Studies (AMBS) plans to publish the book jointly with a Catholic publisher.
We hope the book will explore questions such as:
o How does the feast we share nourish our passion for peacemaking?
o How does the ministry of Jesus and his work on the cross inspire us to become peacemakers?
o How do our active lives of working for justice and making peace call us back to the Lord’s Table
How to submit Any sermons or homilies that are submitted must be your original
entries work and must actually have been preached (note the date and place on your manuscript). Length of sermons should not exceed 3000 words. If you use any quotations, please include complete bibliographical information.
Poetry and art on the themes of communion and peacemaking are also invited. Photographs of art should be taken with a camera with at least 6.1 megapixels. Poetry submissions should not be longer than 25-30 lines. We are especially interested in a form used at Bridgefolk conferences called “autobiography as haiku.” These are vivid, short pieces (not to exceed 100 words in length) that describe a significant personal experience, in which there is some value expressed that is even greater than the experience itself. The form doesn’t literally follow the 5-7-5 syllable form of haiku poems; instead it imitates the simple, concrete and specific language of the form.
Send hard copy as well as electronic documents (if possible). By submitting material, you are granting permission for your work to be edited and published. Entries will not be returned unless a stamped, self-addressed envelope is included.
Deadline for
submissions March 15, 2009
Send to Marlene Kropf
Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership
PO Box 1245, Elkhart, IN 46515-1245
Fr. William Skudlarek, OSB
Saint John’s Abbey
P.O. Box 2015
Collegeville , MN 56321-2015
Additional This book grows out of the mutual exchange of gifts among Catholics and
background Mennonites in the Bridgefolk movement since 2002 and ongoing conversa-
tions regarding spirituality and peacemaking. At the recent Mennonite-
Catholic Theological Conference held at Notre Dame (July 30-31, 2007),
Elizabeth Groppe (Xavier University) noted in her presentation that
“Catholics have a strong Eucharistic theology and a weak peacemaking
practice whereas Mennonites have a weak Eucharistic theology and a strong peacemaking practice.” Her observation that “This ought not to be so” was
echoed by other conference participants.
In response, the Bridgefolk board has invited Marlene Kropf, Denominational Minister of Worship (Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership) and AMBS Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Worship, and William Skudlarek, Administrative Assistant to the Abbot of Saint John’s Abbey and teacher of homiletics, to compile and edit a collection of sermons, homilies, poetry and art that will encourage a more visible and fruitful connection between the Lord’s Supper and the church’s practice of peacemaking.
The intended audience for this book is preachers, worship planners, church leaders, teachers of preaching, students, people engaged in peacemaking ministries, and those participating in interchurch conversations.
For more information about Bridgefolk, see http://www.bridgefolk.net/.
And we accept bread at his table,
broken and shared, a living sign.
Here in this world, dying and living,
we are each other’s bread and wine.
This is the place where we can receive
what we need to increase:
God’s justice and God’s peace.
Hymn, “What is this place?” (Hymnal: A Worship Book, #1)