‘We don’t know who really won in the Congo’

January 6, 2012

Patricia Kisare provides analysis on the November elections in Congo.

W don’t really know who won the presidency, because there are many indications that the electoral process was flawed. Local and international election observers found the elections to be fraught with widespread irregularities. The Carter Center reported that “the quality and integrity of the vote tabulation process has varied across the country, ranging from the proper application of procedures to serious irregularities, including the loss of nearly 2,000 polling station results in Kinshasa.”

Read the article here.

Leave a Comment » | Africa, Articles, Issues | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen

In a world of turmoil, a light appears

January 3, 2012

Jesse Epp-Fransen reflects on the need for hope in a world full of turmoil, both in the biblical era, and today.

We… live in a turbulent world, desperately in need of good news. In America 15 percent of the population experienced poverty in 2011. More than 2 million people are in federal or state prisons, or in jails awaiting trial. One in nine African-American males ages 25-29 was in prison or jail in 2009, according to The Sentencing Project(1). The Mayor of New Orleans recently noted in a statement that “from September of last year to February of this year, a student attending John McDonough [High School] was more likely to be killed than a soldier in Afghanistan”(2).

Read the full article here.

Leave a Comment » | Articles, Crime and Justice, Issues, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen

A Year of Revolutions?

December 23, 2011

Theo Sitther writes for Third Way Cafe of the revolutions around the world and the connections to the Christmas story.

In this season of Advent, the words of Mary bring hope. Christ enters our broken world, uplifts the lowly, and feeds the hungry. Christ’s birth brings hope of newness and renewal. Was this a year of revolutions? In many ways, yes. How will we in our comfort respond to the injustice in our own communities and our world?

Read the article here and let us know what you think in the comment section.

Leave a Comment » | Articles, Global Economic Justice, Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen

Frosty relations: U.S. and Iran

December 23, 2011

Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach writes about the end of the Iraq war and rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the latest Third Way Cafe.

One would think that policymakers would have no interest in getting into another conflict in the region. But since early November, U.S.-Iran relations, which have long been frosty, have gotten even more tense.

Read the full article here.

Leave a Comment » | Articles, Issues, Middle East, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by jesseeppfransen

Lectionary reflection for Christmas Sunday

December 19, 2011

Melissa Engle/MCC

Monica Scheifele of MCC’s Ottawa Office reflects on joy in this Christmas season, mixed with longing:

The waiting of advent is finally over and at last we can let our joy break forth as we celebrate the gift of God coming among us. We’ve kept awake in anticipation of the unexpected. We’ve felt God drawing near to us as we trusted in the new thing being done, and now we’re ready to celebrate.

We can lift our voices with the sentinels in Isaiah 52:8 who sing for joy as they see the return of the LORD to Zion. With the Psalmist we can sing a new song and make a joyful noise to the LORD for the marvelous things He has done. It feels good to let loose and celebrate after feeling as if the waiting would never end.

However, for many the waiting doesn’t end as they continue searching for a job, hoping for a home, suffering through an illness, enduring a violent conflict, or longing for freedom…

Read the entire reflection.

Leave a Comment » | Resources | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach

Reflection for third Sunday of Advent

December 5, 2011

Melissa Engle/MCC

Earl Zimmerman reflects on John the Baptist and recommends a “wonderful Advent exercise”:

I recently accompanied Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, from the MCC U.S. Washington Office, to the office of a Kansas senator. We were delivering a big stack of postcards from Mennonite congregations in Kansas asking the senator to support a just federal budget…

Read the entire reflection.

Leave a Comment » | Resources | Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach

Reflection for Second Sunday of Advent

November 29, 2011

Melissa Engle/MCC

Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach reflects on the lectionary texts for this Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent:

Even though I’ve lived in Washington, DC many years, it still makes an impression on me when I see the presidential motorcade go by, with Secret Service and police escorts and all remaining traffic brought to a halt. The sheer scale of it all declares that someone important is passing by….

Read the entire reflection.

Leave a Comment » | Resources | Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach

« Previous Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 34 other followers