Gesangbuch
Categories: OpinionWhy go to all the trouble of producing a new hymnal? The Gesangbuch commission of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada faced this question in 1961. The 1942 version, it was felt, lacked readability and a variety in tunes. Furthermore,…
The kingdom of heaven now
Categories: OpinionAt the end of the infamous year 2020, I retired from pastoral ministry. Again. We’ll see if it “takes” this time. Looking back, I am reminded that, at different times in my ministry, I have been impassioned by different scriptural…
The practice of faith
Categories: OpinionThe Buddhist nun looked across the table and asked me if Christians were taught how to practise faith. “Is Christian faith only beliefs that you try to internalize? Or do you do anything to help people more deeply develop themselves?”…
Launched into oblivion
Categories: OpinionMy youngest daughter Ruth can be a little firecracker. We say that she’s sweet and spicy. Sometimes she can get into a real funk, though, and I can feel lost as to how to help her. I am thankful for…
Good graces
Categories: OpinionAs human beings, we’re generally pretty lousy at grace. We long for it in our deepest and truest moments, and we desperately need it, God knows. But we often struggle to receive it. We’d prefer to earn, to justify, to…
Readers write: January 4, 2021 issue
Categories: OpinionRelationships, not rituals, are what’s important Mennonite Church Canada’s online study conference, “Table talk: Does the church still have legs,” had thought-provoking talks. In Sara Wenger Shenk’s talk, she asked, “Why do instructions about how we do communion become more…
Church needs to be like a choir
Categories: OpinionHappy New Year. In reflecting on the church for 2021, I’ve been impacted by my experience creating virtual choirs—those videos where choristers sing at home, into their phone, and the video and audio from that phone recording get put together…
Year of wonders
Categories: OpinionI read with great interest the many articles about how different churches are responding to the pandemic and government restrictions. There are many! Because there are many ways for churches to respond both to the pandemic and to the restrictions.…
The joy connection
Categories: OpinionIn 2013 I went on a pilgrimage to Scotland to explore my family roots and the “thin places” and sacred sites in the land of my ancestors. I arrived at the Glasgow airport shortly after 8 a.m. After landing, I…
Interculturalism and expectations
Categories: OpinionExpectations. We all have them. We have expectations of others, and expectations placed upon us. Meeting expectations can be especially conflicting when navigating between different cultures. I was born in Canada, where I have lived my whole life. I was…
Evangelism that cares
Categories: OpinionThe 1973 motto for the annual Conference of the United Mennonite Churches of B.C. was “Evangelism that cares.” Sessions were hosted by two churches in Vancouver: First United Mennonite and Mountainview Mennonite. The opening speaker asked, “Are we evangelists who…
The importance of patience in settling marital conflict
Categories: Opinion(This Viewpoint piece was inspired by Christina Bartel Barkman’s recent “Marriage and conflict” column.) Conflicts seem to occur even in the best marriages, and sometimes even church policies can become the cause of a marriage conflict. There are different ways…
Pandemic denies us shared rituals of grief
Categories: OpinionBy everything that is right and good, Helen Penner’s life should have been celebrated with singing. Singing was a passion for her and her late husband John, and they ensured their eight children found their melodic voices at an early…
‘Why don’t we have a food-truck night?’
Categories: OpinionLet me tell you a story. A couple of years ago, our church council did some brainstorming around how to begin reaching out to our neighbours. Because our church is located in a rural community, the possibilities are limited and…
Readers write: December 7, 2020 issue
Categories: OpinionLiberals let off easy in Tommy Prince feature Re: “Expanding the reconciliation tent,” Oct. 12, page 4. This unnecessarily politicized article comes across as a subtle demonization of Conservatives. To illustrate, I point out the highlighted quotation on page 5:…
Growing with our global faith family
Categories: OpinionIn the early 2000s, I sat in the church office of Pastor Wang in southern China. He was lamenting the fact that 300 people from his congregation had signed up to take baptismal classes during services over the Christmas weekend.…
Rosedale Church of God
Categories: OpinionThe Rosedale Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (also known as Holdeman) is in the community of Crooked Creek, Alta. This photo is from the 1970s, but the community began in 1928 and is located 72 kilometres east of Grand…
‘Touch the hem of her cloak’
Categories: OpinionI have a friend. Her name is Samantha (a pseudonym). I called Samantha last night and invited her to a church service next Sunday. It will be an Eternity service, during which candles are lit for those in our lives who…
A gift to faith
Categories: OpinionAdvent is the season of waiting for the gift to come. Advent moves into the season of Christmas, which ends at Epiphany, when the Magi—possibly Zoroastrians—famously gave gifts to the infant Jesus. In these monthly columns I have tried to…
Sovereign of good and bad
Categories: OpinionWhat do you do when you maybe don’t believe the Bible—or at least a particular part of it? Amos 3 has a list of rhetorical questions from God: “Does a lion roar in the thicket when he has no prey?”…
Opinion/columns
