Finding the ‘growth edge’ in our lives
Categories: OpinionMy focus on growth may seem strange during this difficult season we’re in, but I believe that the best way to get through this pandemic is by growing. My understanding of growth is simple. It’s the process of becoming who…
Readers write: October 12, 2020 issue
Categories: OpinionReactions to recent ‘A moment from yesterday’ photographs Re: A photograph of a volleyball game beside a row of tall poplar trees with a lake in the background, Aug. 17, page. 4. The site is Camp Elim on the north…
Faith is so much more
Categories: OpinionThe youth of the Mennonite church are often on my mind, and over the years, they have secured a place in my heart. It has been total joy and privilege to share time and space with them at national gatherings,…
LaVerna Klippenstein
Categories: OpinionLaVerna Klippenstein (1934-2014) fulfilled many roles, including mother, wife, teacher and author. After her marriage to Lawrence Klippenstein in 1956, the pair began working in the Métis community of Matheson Island, Man., for two years with Mennonite Pioneer Mission. She…
Two stories clamour to be shared
Categories: OpinionThe first story is as recent as a week ago last Sunday. As I stood to sing a somewhat familiar hymn in the morning worship service, the words came off the page to grasp my attention with unusual urgency. The…
Living well together
Categories: OpinionWhether you know the word or not, shalom is central to the way most Mennonites think of what it means to be disciples faithful to Jesus. “Peace” is how the Hebrew word shalom is often translated. Eminent theologian Walter Brueggemann…
Praying for the prophets
Categories: OpinionI was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to read amidst my children having breakfast and building with Lego, and I read this verse: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, Your sons and daughters will prophesy.…
Readers write: September 28, 2020 issue
Categories: OpinionPandemic provides ‘extra bonuses’ for elderly congregant Re: “In a time of uncertainty: COVID-19 prompts churches to rethink gatherings,” March 30, page 15. The Japanese Mennonite Christian Fellowship meets in Surrey, B.C., at Living Hope Church every Sunday afternoon. I…
Our need for community
Categories: OpinionIn my work with high-risk single mothers, I’ve been meeting one-on-one this summer with women, as our weekly group program was put on hold due to the pandemic. Over and over, I’ve seen the positive effects that a caring community…
‘A little mercy now’
Categories: OpinionIn early August, I heard about the devastating impact of floods and a landside on a Mennonite congregation in Kerala in southern India, with mud covering the building and many church members missing. Paul Phinehas, head of the Anabaptist conference…
Grinding gears
Categories: OpinionThis summer, our neighbours had a total of four trees taken down that bordered either side of our property. I really miss those big, beautiful trees. One tree was at least 50 years old, the other three were probably closer…
The land of my belonging
Categories: Web First – OpinionI sit in my backyard watching my dog as he rolls in the grass, pressing his back as deeply into the ground as he can. He moves freely, alternating his rolling with digging into patches of the earth that intrigue…
Readers write: September 14, 2020 issue
Categories: Opinion‘Better stories’ needed for ‘future inventories’ Re: “A Black/Menno inventory,” June 22, page 13. I deeply appreciate this column. While I am sure that there is much more history than could fit in it, I wonder how to understand the…
It’s been a feast!
Categories: Opinion“Find us empty and wandering . . . find us in the wilderness, and fill us with your feast.” This lyric by Phil Campbell-Enns, pastor of Home Street Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, is from a song that was chosen for…
CMBC student discussion
Categories: OpinionIn Saskatoon, at the 1975 Conference of Mennonites in Canada annual conference, the Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC) board, “long embarrassed about faculty salaries,” asked for funds to raise salaries to a maximum of $20,000 per year for PhD professors…
Bethel moments
Categories: OpinionA story in Genesis 28 describes the patriarch Jacob stopping for the night while on a journey. His sleep includes a dream of a visit from God. In the morning, Jacob awakes and offers the profound observation, “Surely the Lord…
Learning from Quakers
Categories: OpinionBecause of my Christian friends I’m taking a hiatus from social media. One has repeatedly posted a meme of Jesus with an AK-47 assault rifle. I tried hard to explain in detail why I thought this was horrible. What I…
A spiritual disruption
Categories: Opinion“Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God” (Hosea 14:1). In this final chapter of Hosea, God bids the Israelites return to God and acknowledge their waywardness, but also to be assured they will find compassion and fruitfulness in God.…
White Mennonite static
Categories: OpinionThe Mennonite church has the opportunity to become a dependable partner in the work of dismantling racism. The church as a whole has a record of racism—both overt and covert—that has been attested to by generations of Black, Indigenous and…
Canadian voices on racism
Categories: OpinionWhat follows is a companion piece to “White Mennonite static” by American scholar Tobin Miller Shearer. To read Mennonite Church Canada offers several resources, through its office of Indigenous-Settler Relations, including the “TRC Trilogy”: Wrongs to Right; Yours, Mine and…
Opinion/columns
