The view through a prison keyhole
Categories: Feature ArticlesTony Deik experienced a dramatic return to faith when he was studying at Birzeit University in the Israeli-occupied territory of the West Bank. Raised Roman Catholic in Bethlehem, he had…
A big fan of Jesus . . . the church not so much
Categories: Feature ArticlesA lot has been said and written about millennials: What’s wrong with them? What’s influenced them? What does their future hold? Google “millennials and the church” and dozens of articles…
On becoming a better person
Categories: Feature ArticlesAlthough I had biked 21 kilometres to work and spent the hot day bent over in a vegetable patch just south of Winnipeg, I was still pushing hard on my…
Land is the heart of the matter
Categories: Feature ArticlesIn the opening half of Steven Ratzlaff’s play Reservations, first staged in Winnipeg in 2016, an Alberta Mennonite farmer informs his two children that he plans to give a section…
‘They’re destroying our home’
Categories: Feature ArticlesWhen the water goes up behind the $8.7-billion Keeyask Dam in northern Manitoba, one family will lose more than any other. At a church-sponsored event in Winnipeg on March 18,…
Ceremonies of belief
Categories: Feature ArticlesSeveral years ago, my Russian Mennonite grandmother told me a story about her childhood that I think about often. When she was just a young girl living somewhere southeast of…
Be a CO at tax time
Categories: Feature ArticlesReligious wars raged in 16th-century Europe between Catholics and Protestants. In northern Holland, Jan Smit was captured by the Catholics and was being pressed into service as an oarsman. His…
Dependent on God’s mercy
Categories: Feature ArticlesA Pharisee and a tax collector This parable of Jesus seems self-evident. It compares the attitude of two men’s prayers: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee’s seems rather…
Rolled away
Categories: Feature ArticlesChrist is risen. He is risen indeed. I always love this joyful affirmation of life and hope on Easter morning. When it is still grey and cold outside, when the…
Who’s winning at church?
Categories: Feature ArticlesOver the past while, a number of people have inquired about my thoughts on a recent “Theology matters” study conducted by Canadian scholar David Haskell that draws a strong connection…
A new recipe for church
Categories: Feature ArticlesWhy do you go to church? One of the main reasons is that there is something there that feeds your soul. If there was nothing nourishing there, you would find…
Remembering the Reformation
Categories: Feature ArticlesThe year 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. According to tradition, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on Oct. 31, 1517, thereby starting the chain of events…
10 under 30
Categories: Feature ArticlesWe asked and you responded. This past fall, Canadian Mennonite put out a call to readers. We wanted to hear about the young adults who are making a difference in…
‘I should ask Dad’
Categories: Feature Articles“It was here somewhere,” I said to my son Allan. “The Boese canning factory was over here, and over there was an orchard where we lived in our trailer until…
Spirit-heat to thaw your freezing blood
Categories: Feature Articles“Good King Wenceslas” is not the most sing-able of carols and the lyrics are on the King James end of archaic. You may have assumed this 10th-century legend is about…
A walk in the dark
Categories: Feature ArticlesIn the northern hemisphere, Advent comes to us in the darkest time of the year. Christmas is advertised and celebrated as the happiest time of the year, and for some…
Instilling faith at home
Categories: Feature ArticlesAt times we have been both inspired and overwhelmed by the parenting books that crowd bookstore and library shelves. We have also found useful advice, and a dauntingly high bar,…
Take, bless, break
Categories: Feature ArticlesThe Evansons were out of our league. We were a plain old missionary family coming from rural New Hamburg, Ont., and they were über-educated university professors from glamorous Colorado, U.S.A.…
Why Mennonite education matters
Categories: Feature Articles“Why should young people from our congregations choose a Christian college or university like Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C., Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., or Canadian Mennonite…
A misunderstood people
Categories: Feature ArticlesMany U.S. and Canadian Mennonites think of German-speaking Mennonites in Mexico as a backward people in a Wild West country. We read of Mennonites involved in drug trafficking and ask…
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