31 Days: Our Greatest Weakness

Let me be the first to say, I am under no delusion that there is a Perfect Church out there somewhere. There just simply is not a Perfect Church! After all, what are churches made up of? Imperfect humans. Need I say more?

People tend to have their weaknesses. One person struggles with anger, another with lying, another with immorality...and so on. One of the Mennonite's weaknesses seems to be the failure to teach the Art of Thinking. I suppose it's normal to not need to think much about something you are born into. Someone born on a dairy farm, for instance, is submerged in the routine at such a young age they hardly even have to think about learning the process. I, on the other hand, would need to put a lot of thought into learning the ropes of a dairy farm!

In the same way, those of us born into Mennonite homes generally take up the lifestyle without much thought. Why do we wear black shoes to church? Why solid colored dresses? Why white, long sleeved, button down shirts for the men on Sundays? Well, that's just the way we do it! The standards spell it out for us and that's the way it's always been done. There tends to be a lack of explanation of "why" it's done that way, the emphasis is mostly on making sure you do it! After all, there's safety in a unified group and why change something that has worked for years?

This lack of thinking skills is something those coming into our churches from a non-Mennonite background pick up on easily, and it doesn't go over too well with them! However, they aren't the only ones who struggle with it. There are a few thinkers among us...