And so, early on Easter Sunday, 2008, the EMU junior biblical studies and philosophy major from Lansdale, Pa., was baptized in the Jordan River into the community of faith.

EMU student John Tyson during his baptism in the Jordan River on Easter Sunday.

What made the experience even more special: Tyson was baptized by Linford L. Stutzman, associate professor of culture and mission at EMU and witnessed by 29 fellow students in his Middle East study group. Dr. Stutzman and his wife, Janet M. Stutzman, are leading the cross-cultural seminar during the university’s second (spring) semester.

‘Sharing Something Special’

“The community I’ve experienced in this cross-cultural group and the journey we are sharing is something special,” Tyson said afterwards. “I’ve been active in the Mennonite church for several years, but traveling with this group has been the place where I’ve been most at home with God and the world.

“John had asked about the possibility of being baptized several weeks before Easter, when our group was still in Jerusalem,” said Stutzman. “I mentioned that the Jordan River runs through the back of Kibbutz Afikim, and that we would be there over Easter. Perhaps that would be a good opportunity.”

The EMU group arrived at Kibbutz Afikim on Mar. 17 for two weeks of work, study and field trips. Kibbutz Afikim is a secular Jewish agricultural commune established around 1925. In the fields behind the kibbutz is their graveyard on a bluff overlooking the Jordan River.

Easter Sunday morning the entire group, got up early and assembled at 5:30 for the 20-minute hike to the graveyard. They walked through the kibbutz quietly to keep the dogs from barking, toward the Jordan. In the graveyard, the students led songs and read scriptures as the sun rose over the Golan Heights. It was a beautiful, peaceful morning.

Then they hiked for about another 10 minutes down toward the Jordan through the fields of freshly-cut barley singing, “As I went down to the river to pray.” Earlier, Stutzman had found an ideal baptismal spot with a break in the reeds that grow along the banks that allowed the group to stand on the bank and see the water flowing.

“I recounted the journey of learning and faith that everyone is traveling on this cross-cultural, paralleling the journeys of faith in Scripture, how wilderness and water are so much a part of it, and how baptism connects to these stories – Moses and the Hebrew children crossing the Red Sea, the Hebrews wandering through the wilderness then crossing the Jordan to the promise, John baptizing in the Jordan, Jesus being baptized in the Jordan. All of these places and events have been part of the group’s travels, and all relate to the meaning of baptism,” Stutzman recalled.

‘God at Work in the World’

Tyson and EMU Professor Linford Stutzman, leader of the Middle East crosscultural, embrace after Tyson’s baptism.

Tyson then recounted his own journey of faith and why he chose to be baptized at this point in his life.

“I decided that taking this step [to be baptized] was appropriate and the time and place and people only confirmed that,” he said. “For me, water baptism symbolized the life of God at work in the world through things we often take for granted but that create new life.”

The men waded into the middle of the Jordan, and Stutzman poured water over head. (The Jordan is fairly shallow, so immersion wasn’t a good option). Then they waded back to shore, and the students gave their encouragement and blessing, sang several songs and hiked back to the kibbutz in time for breakfast.

Tyson has been attending Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church since age 17. More recently, he’s attended Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.

It is the fifth time for Linford and wife Janet, a former director of alumni/parent relations at EMU, to lead a cross-cultural program in the Middle East. The group is scheduled to return to campus Apr. 22.

Soon it will be four months since I left my summer Ministry Inquiry Program experience in the Midwest. Before I left last May, I was never so positive, so sure about a decision in my life. The pegs fit perfectly in the holes, both squares. It was a done deal, and I was about to have the benefit of spending my summer days working in an invigorating setting.

The experience wasn’t easy for me, though. I was a circular peg and I didn’t fit the square hole. I often hear of people who struggle with doubts and feelings of anger towards God after difficult or episodic experiences. I think that’s reasonable and healthy. In my case, how I invoke or call upon God is evolving. But what I am realizing is that my experience this summer will forever impact my images of God and the church.

While working with the church this summer, I realized that I like liturgy. It’s beautiful how the Eucharist blurs our economic inequalities by letting us share together without reserve. But we mess it up when we believe that what results from liturgy and worship forms is a God that we can use on our own terms to control our own reality or even to control the community itself. If we’re not careful, our forms of worship become formulaic and thus we expect God to respond accordingly. We think we have our God made in the right traditions, the right words, rightly done ritual.

I find myself believing in and worshiping a God who surprises us. Maybe more than we are comfortable with at times. After all, God does have a sense of humor, God does laugh. So why wouldn’t God surprise us? Is it not surprising that South Philadelphia is home to our conferences fastest growing congregations? This summer I was moved by listening to a student stumble through the words of a text of the Old Testament Prophets. It was the surprise of hearing a young person’s voice that shattered my images of perfect worship and opened space for God to move.

By invoking God in hopes of surprise and mystery and diversity, we make space for God to lead us into places we otherwise might not journey. We don’t need to have a flawless worship service and attempt to invoke God by doing everything "the right way." It becomes less about what we’re doing and more about what God’s doing, and what God is doing is going to surprise us in mysterious ways.

My suspicion is that invoking the God of surprise will ultimately lead us to unity, not uniformity. I think we are on the right path. My hope is that we can continue to walk that path and that the path begins overflowing with the people journeying alongside us, the gifts God continues to surprise us with.

This reflection is reprinted from the Franconia Mennonite Conference blog:

Emily Derstine, a JPCS major at EMU, with her supervisor, Kirk Hanger, an EMU alumnus, at Nueva Esperanza/New Hope Fellowship in suburban Washington, D.C.

A record-setting 10 students have begun internships with congregations through Franconia Mennonite Conference as part of Mennonite Church USA‘s (MIP). The group includes three EMU students.

Two EMU students will intern with congregations in the Midwest:

• John Tyson, a sophomore at EMU and a member at Souderton (PA) Mennonite congregation, will intern at Christ Community Church in Des Moines, Iowa;
• EMU sophomore Jordan Good, a member of Bally Mennonite congregation, will spend 11 weeks with the Walnut Hill congregation in Goshen, Ind.

Emily Derstine of Plains Mennonite congregation, Lansdale, Pa., an EMU sophomore, will spend her summer in suburban Washington, D.C. with Nueva Esperanza/New Hope Fellowship, a “Partner in Mission” congregation with Franconia Conference.

Hands-on Experience

The Ministry Inquiry Program is an 11-week internship traditionally available to any student attending a Mennonite college. Students interested in a specific area of ministry – usually, but not limited to, pastoral ministry – gain hands-on experience by working alongside a supervisor in their respective discipline.

The inquiry program is offered year-round but is most popular in the summer, and all participants are given a stipend for their work.

This year, through a grant from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, three Franconia Conference students attending non-Mennonite institutions will participate in MIP.

• Tim Moyer, a sophomore at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia from the Blooming Glen (PA) congregation;
• Felicia Moore, member at New Beginnings Community Church in Bristol, Pa., who is in her second year at Indiana University of Pennsylvania;
• Philadelphia Praise Center attendee and first-year Penn State University student, Andrew Liemon.

Moyer will work with Franconia Mennonite Conference, while Moore and Liemon will assist with ministries at their home congregations.

Several students will work with congregations on the East coast:

• Jessica Cassel, a sophomore at Bluffton University, will work in youth ministry at her home congregation, Souderton (PA) Mennonite;
• Peter Koontz, a member at Assembly Mennonite and Goshen College junior from Elkhart, Ind., will intern with Oxford Circle congregation in Philadelphia.
• Mercy Oyana, a Goshen College sophomore from West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship, will work alongside managers at Spruce Lake Camp in the Pocono Mountains.
• Krista Ehst, a Goshen College junior and member at Perkasie (PA) Mennonite congregation, will work alongside Tim Moyer at Franconia Conference headquarters in Souderton.

All participants are beginning their work at the end of May and will finish towards the beginning of August. Eight of the students are college sophomores.