Pastor's Puddle

Why I am a Mennonite, Part 2 (Part 1 appeared in the CMC Newsletter recently)

Why am I a Mennonite? One answer is, because of my family heritage. The name Waite looks afar at the Germanic names which fill the Mennonite world and form the building blocks of the Mennonite game. But I am claiming Mennonite heritage.

Joe Springer, as Jonathan's mentor, as well as archivist and genealogist, has unearthed our family ancestry, both Beth's and mine. Her book is thin, and she seems to be a cousin to half College Mennonite Church. My book is thick and I'm related to no one at College Mennonite.

I am watching Mennonite life from the outside at times. Yes, I am a leader in the Mennonite Church. Yes, I have been a Mennonite pastor for 14 years. Yes I have half a dozen Mennonite institutions in my past. Still, my experience is that of the in-law at a family reunion, struggling to comprehend the unwritten rules, navigating a peculiar culture with its own set of values, customs and practices. To be clear, the work of finding my place in this family is mine, but I appreciate help wherever I can get it.

In his excavation of Jonathan's ancestry, Joe gives me a great gift, and a new window on why I am a Mennonite. It's my heritage. Perhaps I am Mennonite by heritage as much as Beth, or any Bontrager, Friesen or Yoder. Joe's digging in the Waite family garden reveals an ideal genealogical ecology for a Mennonite minister to sprout and grow.

RogerWilliams, Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer (above, at the gallows), 17th century pioneers in religious freedom, are 11x great grandparents. Thomas Frazier, anchor of five generations of Quaker abolitionists is a 4x great grandfather. BD Austin, a circuit writing Cumberland Presbyterian preacher in Texas, is a great great grandfather. Methodist pastor Charlie Brown is a great grandfather, and his namesake, my father Chuck, is ordained in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition. This eclectic mix of Christians wrestled with issues of peace and justice, religious freedom, the relationship of church and state, how to build Christian community, and how to live faithfully in challenging circumstances.

My unique Mennonite genealogical ecology now joins the many Mennonite genealogical ecologies at College Mennonite Church, strengthening, broadening, changing it as each of us do when we join this body. In particular, the genealogical ecology of my ancestors is united in marriage, and in the flesh and blood of two boys, with a genealogical ecology, fertilized with the stories and lives of 16th century Swiss Anabaptists and their descendants.