Though most of us have never wandered a literal desert for forty years, we have all spent some time wandering in a wilderness of one kind or another. So, too, have many women across the pages of the Bible. In their stories of doubt and questioning, of dryness and distance, we can find guideposts for the inevitable wilderness periods in our own lives. As we enter into the wilderness season of the church year, this Lenten devotional by Joanna Harader explores the stories of thirty biblical women--from Eve to Mary Magdalene--who had their own such experiences. For some, the women inhabited a literal wilderness. For others, their wilderness was metaphorical. All were drawn closer to God, who does not leave us to wander alone.
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Embark on a Lenten journey with these women in the wilderness through daily reflections, prayer practices, and questions, as well as Sunday blessings accompanied by beautiful hand-cut paper artwork by Michelle Burkholder. From the author of Expecting Emmanuel, Prone to Wander provides resources for using the book in group and worship settings.
As you consider these women who inhabited a swath of wilderness spaces, draw closer to the God who met them--and meets you--there.

In the hustle and bustle of the season's endless to-dos, it can be difficult to truly connect with what matters--honoring beloved traditions with family and friends, being present in our communities, and experiencing God in the celebration of Jesus' birth. In Comfort and Joy, authors Sherah-Leigh Gerber and Gwen Lantz offer a unique blend of thoughtful reflections and inspiring spiritual practices grounded in noticing the sacred amid the ordinary. Two friends who forged a friendship and a blog through a shared love of writing, together they bring fresh insight, warmth, and opportunities for spiritual nurture and growth. In these pages, you'll find ways to engage more deeply with favorite traditions and cultivate creative space for new ones.

With readings to walk through the Advent and Christmas season, the weekly offerings include a variety of devotional meditations and invitations. Scripture texts drawn from A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church by Wilda C. Gafney accompany reflections, journal prompts, and spiritual practices to help us slow down and savor this meaningful and holy Advent journey.

Catch a glimpse of pre-Civil War Quaker life as Hannah and her family go to Meeting and to market, host a gathering of Friends, and enjoy ice skating and other pastimes. Nine-year-old Hannah finds it hard to wear a plain bonnet that pinches her ears and a plain dress with no lace! Will Hannah ever understand the value of plain dress and learn to be content as a Friend?

In The Land Is Not Empty, author Sarah Augustine unpacks the harm of the Doctrine of Discovery--a set of laws rooted in the fifteenth century that gave Christian governments the moral and legal right to seize lands they discovered despite those lands already being populated by indigenous peoples. Legitimized by the church and justified by a misreading of Scripture, the Doctrine of Discovery says a land can be considered empty and therefore free for the taking if inhabited by heathens, pagans, and infidels.

In this prophetic book, Augustine, a Pueblo woman, reframes the colonization of North America as she investigates ways that the Doctrine of Discovery continues to devastate indigenous cultures, and even the planet itself, as it justifies exploitation of both natural resources and people. This is a powerful call to reckon with the root causes of a legacy that continues to have devastating effects on indigenous peoples around the globe and a call to recognize how all of our lives and our choices are interwoven.
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What was done in the name of Christ must be undone in the name of Christ, the author claims. The good news of Jesus means there is still hope for the righting of wrongs. Right relationship with God, others, and the earth requires no less.

Where can we go when the world refuses to see us in our fullness? When culture reduces us to categories and stereotypes and even our churches make us feel like we don't fit in? If we're blessed to have an Auntie--someone who, like Jesus, welcomes us wholly and calls us beloved--then we have glimpsed the liberation and divine affirmation of sacred belonging.
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Time and again, Aunties have offered a model for undoing, becoming, and embracing our identities and deepest beliefs. Auntie culture, particularly in Black spaces, is immediately recognizable as an embodied experience where nieces, nephews, and niblings feel safe, heard, and seen. Whether we are biological or simply beloved kin, Aunties welcome us in.
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In Love, Auntie, Shantell Hinton Hill--aka Reverend Auntie--offers tender testimonies to a flock of loved ones who have been led to believe they do not belong. Through modern-day parables, prayers, and prompts for reflection, she invites readers to sit alongside the wisdom-bearing of Black women, lovingly known as Aunties, as they carve out space for doubts, questions, and spiritual expression that honor intersecting identities of race, gender, and class. Because trust and believe, Aunties always know how to turn mess into miracles.

As Christians, we want to follow Jesus in his teachings and way of life, which were significantly shaped by his reading of the Jewish Scriptures. By exploring how Jesus engaged the Scriptures, we can better understand how we should read our Bibles today--thereby following Jesus in the way we study our foundational text.
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The Word Fulfilled offers in-depth explorations of how Jesus discussed seven important passages in his life and ministry. Through scholarship, scriptural engagement, and imaginative storytelling, author and pastor Michael W. Pahl illuminates what Scripture looked and sounded like in Jesus' context. For anyone who desires to follow Jesus more deeply, Pahl helps us step back into the world of early Judaism and into synagogues, family kitchens, and other first-century settings as we encounter afresh the Word of God.

Culture is all around us. Nothing we think, do, or say exists outside of it. But the story of God is clear: We are all made in God's good image, and God's people are meant to be a diverse community. Looking to the example of Jesus, author J. W. Buck offers practical insights into how cultural identity fits into our walk as Christians. No matter where we come from and no matter how complex our cultural narratives, the Scriptures point to the One who embodied a particular identity--of a Jewish man in first-century Palestine--in order to shape our own.
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Jesus teaches those formed by majority culture to humbly embrace their identity as they foster space for others. And he empowers those from minority cultures to resist pressure to assimilate in unhealthy ways and instead live into their God-given identity. God dignifies our culture and wants us to shape it to look more like Jesus. We are meant to be like Jesus in our home culture, in our heart language, and throughout our collective journey to understand how our diversity points us to a better expression of God's good image.

This grandmother of all Mennonite cookbooks brings a touch of Mennonite culture and hospitality to any home that relishes great cooking. Mary Emma Showalter compiled favorite recipes from hundreds of Mennonite women across the United States and Canada noted for their excellent cooking into this book of more than 1,100 recipes. These tantalizing dishes came to this country directly from Dutch, German, Swiss, and Russian kitchens. Old-fashioned cooking and traditional Mennonite values are woven throughout. Original directions like a dab of cinnamon or ten blubs of molasses have been standardized to help you get the same wonderful individuality and flavor. Showalter introduces each chapter with her own nostalgic recollection of cookery in grandma's day--the pie shelf in the springhouse, outdoor bake ovens, the summer kitchen.

First published in 1950, Mennonite Community Cookbook has become a treasured part of many family kitchens. Parents who received the cookbook when they were first married make sure to purchase it for their own sons and daughters when they wed.

This 65th anniversary edition adds all new color photography and a brief history while retaining all of the original recipes and traditional Fraktur drawings.

Check out the cookbook blog at mennonitecommunitycookbook.com

Everywhere we look, we see signs that all is not right with our earth: Extreme weather patterns wreak havoc. Pollutants sour soils and waterways. Fires and floods ravage land and communities. Climate change is just a symptom of a larger ecological crisis. If we want change, the solutions can't come through the same systems that created those problems.

Ecological justice requires us to challenge our assumptions about creation and our relationship to it. It requires decolonization. We must turn to the leadership of Indigenous communities who struggle for all life as land and water protectors, and we must call on people of faith to join them--to confront climate change and resource extraction and choose life for our children and the future of our planet. This book offers hope for a better future alongside concrete actions for joining with Indigenous Peoples to protect life and negotiate with decision-makers for sustainable change that follows Jesus.

The Homestead Cook celebrates tradition, simplicity, and relationships through classic recipes from a Christian family farmstead. These recipes--from appetizers and beverages to main dishes and desserts--are rich in flavor while using common ingredients to offer simple twists on beloved favorites. If you're looking for a cookbook that will stick around in your kitchen, this is the one. It's a cookbook to pore over rather than pick through; to savor rather than sideline.
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With practical recipes, engaging stories, and beautiful photography, The Homestead Cook is rooted deep in rich heritage. Author Jody Bahler incorporates favorite dishes from her family business, The Homestead, a home-style bakery, deli, and gift shop in Indiana. Many of the dishes have been enjoyed around her family's dinner table for generations--and now are ready to be shared at yours.

Classic graphic accounts of more than 4,000 Christians who endured suffering, torture, and a martyr's death because of their simple faith in the gospel of Christ. Includes more than 50 finely detailed etchings by noted Dutch artist Jan Luyken. Songs, letters, prayers, and confessions appear with the stories of many defenseless Christians who were able to love their enemies and return good for evil.

This gigantic book calls believers to follow Jesus in all areas of life, even unto death. Come what may, true Christian commitment demands supreme discipleship and steadfast adherence to the teachings modeled by Jesus and his apostles.

Written and published in 1659 by a Dutch Mennonite, Thieleman J. van Braght, to strengthen the faith of his fellow believers, and translated into German in 1748 at the time of the French and Indian War for the same reason. In 1886 Martyrs Mirror was translated into English to challenge generations of Christians in North America.

Free downloadable study guide available here.

Your kids are talking about identity. Are you part of the conversation?

Today's kids and youth are talking about identity--and often very differently from the adults around them. How can we walk well with them through their questions about who they are and how they fit into the family of God? We must begin by telling a better gospel story, with an invitational posture that actually expects us to love God and love others.

In this engaging and disarming book that speaks to readers across the theological spectrum, author and children's ministry expert Christie Penner Worden invites grownups along to imagine a more Jesus-centered narrative for the sake of kids who are no longer buying what the church is selling, who do not feel safe, and who have not been welcomed into the conversation that adults are having without them. The Me I Was Made to Be is the beginning of a conversation that offers a compelling story on identity rooted in a deeper understanding of the gospel--one that includes all image-bearers and extends Jesus' welcome to all our kids.

With Bibles and baptism, a movement was born.

From renegade gatherings of Christian believers in the 1500s to a global communion of more than 2.1 million members, the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement has been marked by faithfulness and failure, continuity and conflict, radicalism and reformation. In this engaging history, Radicals and Reformers traces the origins and development of the Anabaptist and Mennonite movements from their beginnings in Europe through their spread across the globe.

In this new authoritative introduction to Anabaptist history, historian Troy Osborne reflects on the ways that Anabaptists have defined their identity in new settings and in response to new theological, intellectual, geographic, and political contexts. Drawing from current scholarship and a range of written and visual sources, this book provides an overview of how Mennonites from Zurich to Zimbabwe have adapted to or resisted the world around them.

Like your grandmother's beloved recipe file, Hope's Table brings enticing meals to your family's table. From the kitchen of Mennonite cook Hope Helmuth comes this mix of more than 150 delectable recipes, stunning food photographs, and stories of strawberry picking, corn day, and Christmas cookie bakes. Traditions of hearth, home, and hospitality run deep, and those values flavor every recipe and story.
Hope's Table offers simple step-by-step instructions that help you create wholesome dishes with artistic flair. Practical kitchen hints and memories from a Mennonite life garnish the pages. In Hope's Table, you'll find recipes sure to become family favorites:

• Mom's Rolls
• Bacon and Corn Chowder
• Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
• Maple-Glazed Pork Chops
• Apple Dumplings

Martin Luther's son has a problem. What should young Hans Luther do when he grows up? How can he ever do anything important when he is constantly overshadowed by his famous father? Gradually he discovers who he is and how God wants him to live.Through Hans' eyes 9-to-14 year olds will learn to know Martin Luther not only as the great Reformer-preacher, but also as a father with a sense of humor and as a friend.

Throughout Holy Week, two competing approaches to peacemaking collide. What if we've embraced the wrong one?

At the start of Holy Week, tears streamed down Jesus' face as he cried out, If only you knew the things that make for peace. From that moment, until a week later when he triumphantly declared, Peace be with you, Jesus spent each day confronting injustice, calling out oppressors and contending for peace.

But what if--despite all our familiarity with the events of Holy Week--we still don't know how Jesus makes peace? And what if--despite clinging to the cross of Christ for our salvation--we've actually embraced a different approach to peacemaking? One that justifies killing enemies. One whose methods include nailing criminals to crosses.

We desperately need to recover the radical vision of peacemaking that Jesus embodied throughout Holy Week. And we urgently need to be trained in his way of making peace. So, come. Let's journey together day-by-day through Jesus' final week and discover anew why he is called the Prince of Peace.

Taste the goodness of Amish life.

Bestselling cookbook author and food columnist Lovina Eicher brings together the best of Amish cooking in The Essential Amish Cookbook: Everyday Recipes from Farm and Pantry. Join Eicher as she shares traditional Amish recipes along with her own kitchen tips and secrets. Growing up, Eicher learned to cook and bake at an early age alongside her mother, longtime columnist and Amish cookbook author Elizabeth Coblentz, and has put those skills to use in her own Amish kitchen as she cooks for her eight children.

The easy-to-follow, authentic recipes you'll find in The Essential Amish Cookbook are prepared every day in countless homes in Old Order Amish communities across North America. Many of the more than 100 recipes are richly illustrated with step-by-step photographs to help you learn Amish cooking just as if you were in Lovina's kitchen. From hearty main dishes to substantial sides--plus a generous sampling of scrumptious cakes, pies, cookies, and other delectable desserts--learn how to make the hearty, simple dishes that the Amish cook together and serve at home, church services, and weddings.

In a fast-food, digital world, the book's colorful photos and conversational tone provide a real taste of Amish life and invite you to slow down. Your family will come to love her Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread, Rhubarb Juice, Roast Beef with Veggies, Oven Crusted Chicken, pickles, jams, and so much more. Experience the simple joys of Amish life--food, faith and family!

Jesus called us to love our enemies. But to befriend an enemy, we first have to acknowledge their existence, understand who they are, and recognize the ways they are acting in opposition to God's good news. In How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace, Melissa Florer-Bixler looks closely at what the Bible says about enemies--who they are, what they do, and how Jesus and his followers responded to them. The result is a theology that allows us to name our enemies as a form of truth-telling about ourselves, our communities, and the histories in which our lives are embedded. Only then can we grapple with the power of the acts of destruction carried out by our enemies, and invite them to lay down their enmity, opening a path for healing, reconciliation, and unity.
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Jesus named and confronted his enemies as an essential part to loving them. In this provocative book, Florer-Bixler calls us to do the same.

Author Natalie Frisk introduces 12 Jesus followers who discovered their gifts and shared them with the world. These inspirational figures--from history through today--all found strength in their Anabaptist faith.

Some used their gift to share about Jesus through preaching, peace clubs, and podcasts. One person used her love of biology to teach others about the amazing world that God created.
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With vivid, compelling art by María Diaz Perera, the Anabaptist stories of Conrad Grebel, Helena von Freyberg, Christoph Sauer, Tunggul Wulung, Anna Mow, Edna Ruth Byler, Alta Schrock, Lawrence Homer Hart / Sky Chief, Paulus Hartono, Issa Ebombolo, Kate Bowler, and Drew G. I. Hart come to life!

When we discover our gifts from God, it is like a light flips on inside us. This light can change the world! Suggested reading for ages 5-9.

Race is one of the hardest topics to discuss in America. Many white Christians avoid talking about it altogether. But a commitment to peacemaking requires white people to step out of their comfort and privilege and into the work of anti-racism. Dear White Peacemakers is an invitation to white Christians to come to the table and join this hard work and holy calling. Rooted in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus, this book is a challenging call to transform white shame, fragility, saviorism, and privilege, in order to work together to build the Beloved Community as anti-racism peacemakers.

Written in the wake of George Floyd's death, Dear White Peacemakers draws on the Sermon on the Mount, Spirituals, and personal stories from author Osheta Moore's work as a pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota. Enter into this story of shalom and join in the urgent work of anti-racism peacemaking.