Waiting in the uterverse
On every one of my previous visits to the fertility clinic, the waiting room was full. Women of different ages, ethnicities and income brackets would take their seats in fertility limbo. Some would sit on their own, while others sat with partners who held their hands and brought them water or coffee until they were…
With God, all things are truly possible
I am honoured and delighted to share my faith journey and to witness to the grace and love of Christ in my life. I am a proud Eritrean-Canadian who has called Canada home for eight years. I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, grounded in the teachings and love of my Saviour. I live…
When time becomes the right time
The New Testament speaks of time in two ways: there is chronos (chronology, the movement of time by clock and calendar), and there is kairos (the opportune time, the right moment). Life is full of chronos. We wake up at a certain time. We eat at certain times. We go to work, school and appointments…
The colour of prayer
For my birthday last month, I asked for markers. Since then, I’ve spent several hours in my soft front-room chair, copying out verses from the Psalms in a large, empty sketchbook I’ve had for years, illuminating the letters like a not-very-talented medieval scribe. I meditate on the words as the texture of the paper, the…
Women who prepared the way for Jesus
Rahab acts by faith Joshua 2:1-21; 6:22-25; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:29-31; James 2:23-26. Beyond the narrative in Joshua and Jesus’ genealogy, Rahab is mentioned two other times in Scripture. Both times her name appears in a list of heroes of the faith, and it seems like a miracle that this woman, a prostitute with only…
No longer, but not yet
I was engaged for four months before the big day. Engagement is an interval in time determined by things that are no longer and things that are not yet. The engaged are not really single, but not yet spouse. My experience of engagement was of a time in between. It involved longing (hey, I’m a…
Solitude and community
A peculiar thing happened to me last Sunday while I was on holidays. I felt a strong desire to attend a church service. Curious, to say the least. You see, by the time summer arrives, I’m usually churched out. As a pastor, church is not only my work life but a significant part of my…
Ten years after ‘Points of View’
On April 3, 2009, southern Manitoba-based folk group the Other Brothers released Points of View. Recorded in the studio at Mennonite Church Manitoba, the album earned critical acclaim—CBC dubbed them “the Simon and Garfunkel of the Prairies”—and a small but loyal following. Made up at the time of Chris Neufeld and Donovan Giesbrecht, the group’s…
Faith forged in disorientation
This is an unprecedented time. Unprecedented—it’s a word we’re hearing a lot in the last few months. The sense of disorientation has been palpable, from eerily empty streets to new protocols at the grocery store, an ever-increasing number of masks and people performing acrobatic feats to maintain a two-metre buffer. Somehow, this feels like a…
Called to deep hope
Mary Magdalene couldn’t have known the end of the story—how things would turn out. How could she? She, and the rest of the disciples, were no different from the rest of us. The future is cloudy at best. We don’t know what the next day will hold. Back then, no one saw the resurrection coming.…
