Readers write: February 7, 2022 issue
Categories: OpinionWriters speak out in support of sexual-abuse survivor Re: “A survivor of sexual abuse speaks out,” Jan. 10, page 13. I love that phrase that you use to describe yourself: “a fierce pacifist.” That is what I want to be,…
Passing on what we have received
Categories: OpinionThere is something about snowstorms that brings out the best in people. A stuck car will quickly attract a group to help push it out. My wife and I often find our neighbour has shovelled our walks before we get…
Harold Cardinal
Categories: OpinionCree chief, lawyer and author Harold Cardinal speaks at a symposium on “Native Peoples” at the University of Waterloo, Ont., in 1976. The event was planned by Conrad Grebel College students, and attracted Indigenous students from other universities, as well…
Communion with creation
Categories: OpinionI’ve been pondering a new-to-me thought in the last few weeks. In reviewing the Scripture texts selected for Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday this year, from the worship resources produced by Indonesian Anabaptist church leaders, I stayed with Psalm 104. Pastor…
Solitude and community
Categories: OpinionAlmost 400 years ago, the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote, “All of humanity’s problems stem from [people’s] inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Pascal was probably being hyperbolic, but he was making a profound point, one…
Be at peace?
Categories: OpinionI once memorized Romans 12, and verse 18 always stuck with me: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” As Christians, shouldn’t we be at peace with everyone? Shouldn’t we make…
‘The ears of the family’
Categories: OpinionA few months ago, my wife and I watched a film called CODA. Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a child of deaf adults (CODA). Her parents and brother, who is also deaf, rely on her to interpret the outside world to them.…
Readers write: January 24, 2022 issue
Categories: OpinionTalking will hopefully lead to learning Re: “ ‘We might learn something’ ” letter, Dec. 6, 2021, page 8. I definitely agree with Henry Bergen’s comments concerning our need to talk about vaccinations. I am also “fully vaccinated” and have friends and…
‘What is it that endures?’
Categories: OpinionIn this beginning time of 2022, while we are coming out of the dark of winter, and hopefully out of the dark of this pandemic, what is it that endures? Also, what is it that gives us hope? Jesus has…
The ‘chicken whisperer’
Categories: OpinionGenesis 1 describes God’s creation activity as, among other things, blessing the male/female that God had created, and commanding them to rule over every living creature that moves on the ground. Meanwhile, Indigenous spirituality offers stories of hunters extending thanks…
On evangelization
Categories: OpinionI am in favour of talking about faith in Jesus. I especially like to do so with those who do not hold to that faith. Some call that “evangelism” and use it as a dirty word. We all know great…
Prayer and lasting
Categories: OpinionFor a few years now, I have felt good about my slow but steady pace of reading reflectively through Scripture. It is a spiritual discipline I’ve moulded in a way that works for me. Prayer, however, is one that, although…
Readers write: January 10, 2022 issue
Categories: OpinionThanks offered for ‘defunding police’ feature Re: “Defund the police?” feature, Sept. 27, 2021, page 4. Grateful to Aaron Epp and Canadian Mennonite for taking up this conversation, for featuring Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land’s critical framing alongside reflections on how abolition overlaps…
Perpetual epiphany
Categories: OpinionIt was a lifelong dream coming true. In a crowded stairwell I inched toward what we had all come to see. Down in the basement, below street level, the room smelled of the smoke from oil lamps dangling precariously overhead,…
Dancing problems
Categories: OpinionProblems with dancing have been discussed at numerous times in many church settings. On July 3, 1951, the Northwest Mennonite Conference delegates discussed the Alberta education system that offered lessons in various types of dancing. Delegates approved a resolution that…
Dismay or hope?
Categories: OpinionAs we move into 2022, many of us look back at our experience of church last year with dismay and we look forward with hope. Or do you look back with longing, and forward with dismay? Might we look both…
She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes
Categories: OpinionI’ve never seen mist move in so quickly. A multitude of mysterious wisps just appeared out of nowhere, advancing swiftly across the rolling hills before me like an army of ghosts. It was stunning, haunting, beautiful. I put my jacket…
A survivor of sexual abuse speaks out
Categories: OpinionYet again, I read last month about another pastor, an Anabaptist leader at that, being accused of sexual misconduct. It was Bruxy Cavey, pastor of The Meeting House, a Be in Christ megachurch. I thought to myself: “yet again.” Our…
The heart of evangelism
Categories: OpinionIn warmer months, a circle of seven or so adults gathers in my backyard on Sunday afternoons. We earnestly discuss Scripture, share the highs and lows of our lives, ask what God may be saying to us this afternoon. We…
Opinion/columns
