It's easy to define prayer in narrow ways when put in the broader context of spirituality across religions.  Monday's convocation will provide an opportunity to broaden one's spiritual horizons, as Sanyatha Thawalanthanne, a Buddhist monk, and Ann Hostetler, professor of English, present "Meditation Practices: Buddhist & Christian Perspectives."  The convocation will explore the purpose and value of meditation, which has arisen from the Buddhist tradition, in the context of our society. Senior Ross Weaver, who will introduce the chapel speakers, met Thawalanthanne at a meditation course in which they were both participating over the summer in Illinois.  Both Weaver and...

By Alysha Landis • November 10, 2010 • News

It took almost two years of living with an old-order Anabaptist community in Tennessee for author Eric Brende to find the reality that he was looking for. Brende, author of Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, visited Goshen College on Sunday, Oct. 31 to speak on how technology has distorted humans’ view of reality and what he has done to make peace with such technology. Sitting at the piano in the Music Center, Brende used musical metaphors to illustrate how important music had been in his development and understanding of life.  Early in the event, he took two volunteers...

By Nick Wesman • November 3, 2010 • News

Author and theologian William Klassen’s experiences at Goshen College included waking up in the middle of the night to load 300 chickens onto a truck as part of a part-time job, taking courses in history and English, learning from speakers and participating in age-old GC traditions. He graduated in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in English and History and eventually studied at AMBS and Princeton to develop his religious studies. One tradition Klassen participated in during his GC days was the annual feast with Harold Bender, dean of students and professor of theology at the time.  Every year, Bender would...

By Annalisa Harder • October 6, 2010 • Features

Members of Goshen College’s traveling worship team, Parables, are once again preparing to use music, drama, and personal faith stories to lead audiences on an hour-long spiritual journey. The focus for the 2010-2011 worship program is “Meeting Christ on the Journey,” a theme that the student-led team’s seven members agreed upon while planning for this season’s program. Over the next few weeks the group will begin to travel to congregations and other local venues to sing, perform, and share their own faith journeys. “This is a fun program that has a strong theme we all identify with,” said team member Emily...

By Ariel Ropp • September 23, 2010 • Arts

Candles nestled around a wooden cross set the mood as Goshen College students arrange themselves in the circle of folding chairs. Sarah Rody, a sophomore, speaks softly as she guides the group of 20 students through worship. The worship that the group is participating in is much different than what most of the college students are used to. Voices singing softly and occasionally humming permeate the room as piano and the occasional flute descant lead participants through song. Then comes time for silence: an integral part of the Taize service. “Expect silence,”  says Rody. “Reflective and contemplative –they’re kind of...

By Lavonne Shetler • March 18, 2010 • Features

With diverse interests and artistic specialties, the Parables worship team comes together about once a week to share their many gifts but same spirit with congregations and other Christian functions in the area. They recently held one such program for prospective students and local youth groups in Reith Recital Hall. After beginning the evening with an up-beat, foot-kicking African number, the 10-person group introduced their repertoire as stories from the Bible and from their own lives. “We encourage you to listen with an open heart so you, too, can find some truth in it,” said Aaron Kaufmann, a sophomore. In...

By Sarah Rich • November 4, 2009 • Arts

Coffee or tea with your Bible study?  Or how about a cushion to sit on? Coffee, meditation, and singing are but a few of the many diverse focal points of groups that reflect an increasing spirituality at Goshen College. Arienne Johnson, who has a double major in History and Bible, religion and philosophy, co-hosts an informal prayer and reflection time at Aurora House with Andrea Kraybill, a senior Art major. The atmosphere is informal and friendly, and the focus is on prayer, collectively experiencing God, and the inherent communal draw of tea and coffee. The approach now is “organically balancing...

By Anna Ruth • October 7, 2009 • Features

Alexie Torres-Fleming, speaker and Christian urban leader, shared her faith journey with the Goshen College community at the special “Celebrate Service Day” chapel on Wednesday morning. Torres-Fleming was born in a housing project in the South Bronx—the poorest area in the country.  Her father came to New York from Puerto Rico before she was born, and he got a job where he had to complete tasks such as washing urine off of elevator walls. Despite her sometimes difficult living conditions growing up, she said, “My life was wonderful, to me.” It wasn’t until she entered high school that she began...

By Alysha Landis • September 23, 2009 • News

Alexie Torres-Fleming, Christian speaker and urban leader, will be on campus Sept. 23-25.  Fleming will speak in two chapels and interact with students and faculty in a variety of activities on campus. Torres-Fleming is the founder and executive director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice and the recipient of the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism. Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice is based in the South Bronx and was founded in 1994.  According to their website, their goal is “the leadership development and formation of young people for a life of peace and justice…and molding...

By Alysha Landis • September 16, 2009 • News

Holiness is at work on the Goshen College campus. Four Physical Plant custodians have the story: Olga Rabchuk, Olga Astakhov and two named Olga Panchelyuga. Each flew independently to the United States from Ukraine during the last decade, but somehow they landed jobs in the same department on the same Christian campus. Maybe the college was praying for more holiness, they joked. After all, it can’t be just coincidence that the name Olga means “holy.” “In the Soviet Union, Christians were under pressure,” Olga Astakov said. “You had to be in the communist party, but we couldn’t, because we believed...

By Kathryn Birky • April 15, 2009 • Features

Wednesday evenings in the Yoder residence hall last semester were fight nights. Fifty students crowded into the second-floor lounge, pulsing in a ring around two boxers. Levi Yoder, the sophomore who organized the event, described the tentative first few blows. For the mostly Mennonite students, it was “unnatural for people to hit each other,” according to Yoder. After the first blow to a face, though, the opponents lost any reservations and dove in, pummeling their aggression away. “They just started duking it out,” Yoder said, laughing. “Certain events brought the floor together, and one of them was boxing nights,” Yoder...

By Kathryn Birky • April 8, 2009 • Features