Lustre - Volt Through the Lens of Tapaha

Lustre - Volt Community by Elliot Tapaha

Oostre (Easter)

The 606 a German translation

Music Image c Wiki

 

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

 

   The 606 has often been referred to as the Mennonite National Anthem -- indeed it seems to unite all of the disparate Germanic ethnic Anabaptist voices into a single melody -- literally.

    Basically, the 606, which is now available as a ring-tone btw, is the traditional "Praise God from Whom all blessings, flow," also known as the Doxology.

    In my Bruderthaler family, we did not use the Mennonite Hymnal, so the long-standing hymnal version, the 606, did not exist for us.  Instead, we sang the simple Doxology at all family gatherings as our traditional grace before meals -- Easter, Christmas, anniversaries, weddings -- they all began with Grandpa leading the Doxology.  In that the words remain the same for both the short Doxology and the more elaborate 606, the basic unity of Mennonite culture remains intact.

Russian Mennonite Heritage Decals (TM)

    Here are some fun Russian Mennonite (TM) Decals that you can download for personal (non-commercial) use.  It is important to show your pride in your family heritage.

    Some of the decals are meant to show your pride in being a Russian Mennonite from a particular country, or they might convey a dual heritage (mine is Mennonite - Swedish), or they might show the union of couple -- one flag for each partner.

    Click on the decal and save image to your computer.  Then print it out onto a T-shirt iron on paper (available at your craft store) or onto a bumper sticker printer sheet.  You might adjust the size with the correct software.

Secular Catholics

Terry Mattingly

    In an article published by The Elkhart Truth, Terry Mattingly, director of the Journalism Center for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C., and Baylor graduate, is bringing forward the concept of the “secular” Catholic – a proposed entity not unlike that of the ethnic Mennonite that has been brought forward by secular Russländer Mennonites of the Canadian persuasion (including the Brüderthaler).

    Mattingly quotes Fordham’s Tom Beaudoin in defining secular Catholics as, “’… people who were baptized as Catholics, but they find it impossible to make Catholicism the center of (their) lives, by which I mean Catholicism as defined by the official teachings of the church’ … [f]or these believers, there are ‘things that they learned about faith from Catholicism.  Then there are things they learned from their jobs, from school experiences, from their music and from their favorite movies. … They are hybrid believers and their faith comes from all over the place,’” (Mattingly, ibid).

    Culturally, this is an interesting idea, not in its novelty – cultural Mennonites have been defining themselves out of a spiritual self-identity since the early 1960s – but rather in its reflection on “identity.” 

General Answers to Queries

Amsterdam Canal

    Where do these essays come from and what are they used for?

    A number of persons have asked what the goals are for the blog, what is the organizing concept behind the essays? Etc.

    Somewhat embarrassingly, there is no ultimate agenda.  The majority of the essays are merely thoughts and conversations that have occurred while researching other projects, performing school work or drafting papers, discussion group topics and presentations.  Unless otherwise indicated, the essays do not represent any actual papers, themselves.  That is part of the reason that so many of the essays contain phrases such as “it occurs to me,” “is it possible?” “potential … “.  It is also the reason there are so many questions openly asked in the writing and the mentioning of source materials.

    Regrettably, we simply do not have time to winnow everything down and do a lot of editing.  This is not a commercially feasible hobby or use of time.   ; )

    On the other hand, it is a great way to review older information, to look for possible connections between disparate sources and find new perspectives.