Life in the 80s
Categories: PeopleFrom southern Manitoba to B.C., and from Idaho to India, Bill Block had a long and varied career as a pastor. Along the way, he and his wife Dolores, who…
One more on unity and diversity
I’ve been writing this column for four-and-a-half years, and I’m sure I’ve used the same ideas more than once. In this, my last column, I return to the two core…
‘What do you do with an unjust benefit?’
Categories: NewsFor John Stoesz, making land reparations to Indigenous communities is a way to follow Jesus. In 2012, Stoesz’s family sold his grandparents’ farm near Mountain Lake, Minnesota. Stoesz returned half…
Do I see a hand?
Categories: EditorialI was sitting on Dave Scott’s porch on the Swan Lake First Nation a few years back when he started talking about a handshake treaty between his Ojibwe ancestors and…
Readers write: February 23, 2024
Categories: Readers WriteReview the confession of faith In response to “Jewish perspectives” (January 26), I note that Article 22 of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective states: “We believe that…
The meaning of seeds
Categories: NewsAt 9 a.m., it was already hot and humid in Hopelchén, a small city in the Yucatán peninsula. A collective of Maya farmers had gathered in the shaded courtyard outside…
Lessons from the medicine wheel
Each year, A Common Word Alberta brings Muslims and Christians together in Edmonton to plan an annual interfaith dialogue. As the facilitator of Mennonite Church Alberta’s Bridge Building network (a…
The Secret Treaty
Categories: Feature ArticlesThe feature for our February 23, 2024 issue is a 12-page comic by noted graphic novelist Jonathan Dyck. For the piece, Dyck collaborated with Dave Scott, an historian and ambassador…
Nothing new under the sun
In Ndebele, my language, we have a proverb that says, Inala kayihambi, kuhamba indlala. It says that times of abundant harvest are not reported, but times of hunger and famine…
Saskatchewan sidesteps First Nations in selling Crown land
Categories: NewsFirst Nations in Saskatchewan are in conflict with the provincial government regarding the sale of Crown land. Indigenous peoples in the province have treaty rights to use government-owned land…
Giving back to the land
Categories: NewsOur farmyard opened from its treelines to the south and southwest. A mile south, I could see the shelterbelts surrounding my paternal grandmother’s 1870s homestead. A few farmyards were dotted…
Circling back to simplicity
Categories: OpinionI’ve been thinking about simplicity. Are today’s Canadian Mennonites committed to faith-motivated simple living? Am I? I first encountered the spiritual discipline of simplicity 20 years ago when I read…
A spiritual covenant with churches and First Nations
Categories: NewsA most promising possibility for a tangible response by churches to past injustice in the Six Nations Grand River lands conflict came from a conversation I had after the monthly…
Small steps toward reparation
Categories: NewsTen years ago, Adrian Jacobs of the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy proposed a Spiritual Covenant with Mennonite churches located on the Haldimand Tract. One Kitchener church is now looking closely…
See all of us
Categories: OpinionGrace has increasingly become my lens for reading both scripture and other people. I have come to think grace—the wildly undeserved favour dispensed by God—is the most important feature of…
Witness workers provide Thailand overview
Categories: NewsTwo Mennonite Church Canada International Witness workers are at the centre of an initiative to train, mentor and support church leaders in Thailand. Tom and Christine Poovong, together with…
Four tributes, two announcements
Categories: EditorialWith this issue, we bid farewell to columnists Ed Olfert, Joshua Penfold and Joon Park. While we are excited to welcome new columnists, the end of existing columns is a…
Readers write: February 9, 2024
Categories: OpinionHistory lesson Will Braun’s editorial about Di Brandt (“The institution of messiness,” September 22, 2023) is a valuable piece that I hope many people will read. In the past two…
In due season
Categories: OpinionWhen I first started working out at a CrossFit gym, my muscles ached constantly. After a few months, I asked one of the trainers, “When does the pain go away?”…
Responding to God’s call
New Year’s Day is often a time we reflect on the events and experiences of the past year. It is also the time we look forward to what might lie…
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