Authors /
Ron Adams
Ron Adams is lead pastor of Landisville Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania.
Many paths to Jesus (Mark 9:38-50)
Jesus seems to have an aversion to the kind of us-and-them boundary setting of his disciples.
September 29, Ordinary 26B (Psalm 124)
When the Spirit moved among us, we heard the tongues of angels.
The disciples and us (Mark 9:30-37)
Poor disciples. They rarely miss an opportunity to make a mess.
September 22, Ordinary 25B (Mark 9:30–37)
Rather than rebuke the disciples, Jesus takes a little child by the hand.
A preacher’s (well-bridled) tongue (James 3:1-12)
When is a pastor obliged to speak about their own theological shifts? Or obliged not to?
September 15, Ordinary 24B (James 3:1–12)
As a preacher, I used to worry that people don’t listen to me. Now I worry that they do.
April 14, Palm Sunday C (Luke 19:28-40)
Part of me thinks Palm Sunday worship is all too much—too loud, too celebratory.
April 14, Passion Sunday C (Luke 22:14-23:56)
We recognize ourselves in those who accompany Jesus on that longest, hardest night.
Fallen snakes
As she was about to open the gate, the sister glanced at the ground. Then she quickly removed her sandal, bent over, and began beating it on the ground.
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June 7, 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Genesis 3:8-15
As an adolescent, I had a recurring anxiety. It often hit me at night, as I lay in bed thinking about who I was and what God thought about me....
Radical new birth
I was not raised in the Mennonite church; I came to it later in life. It was primarily the commitment to nonviolence that drew me in, though I soon learned that there is more to like about being a Mennonite than that.
One of the things I admire about Mennonites is their respect for history.
May 31, Trinity Sunday: John 3:1-17
I wonder if Nicodemus knows what he’s getting into. What draws him to Jesus? What motivates any of us to come to Jesus?
A verse that puts the brakes on
It's only in the last few years that I've felt free to resist a biblical text, free to accept that such resistance is "allowed." It still isn't something that comes easily for me, given my particul...
Sunday, May 15, 2011: 1 Peter 2:19-25
"But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval." (1 Pet. 2:20b)...
Small things and miracles
I am not a particularly confident pastor and preacher. I don't think I am neurotic about it, but I do harbor my own sense of doubt. It's not that the doubt freezes me in place and keeps me from functioning. It's more the kind of doubt that sits off in the corner somewhere, creeping up now and then to poke at me, asking questions like, Does anything you do really make a difference?