Readers write: April 15, 2019 issue
Categories: OpinionMennonite camps exist outside of Ontario and Manitoba Re: “Focus on Camping,” Feb. 18, pages 23-28. One might think from reading these stories that no Mennonite camps existed west of Manitoba. We know that’s not the case, so maybe…
Didsbury drawing
Categories: OpinionIn 1893, Kitchener, Ont., businessman Jacob Y. Shantz secured land from the government and railway, and he promoted the Didsbury, Alta., settlement to eastern Mennonites. The West was a great unknown to many, who felt they would never see their…
Whose are we?
Categories: Opinion“It isn’t the authority which is given to me, but the authority under whose I am,” was the answer of a friend when I asked, “So what is it like to wear a clerical collar?” In other words, it isn’t…
Holiness doesn’t demand perfection
Categories: OpinionTowards the end of 2006, I burned out as a full-time minister. I had failed to find adequate supports for my introverted spirit in an extroverted role. I chose not attend the church while it made decisions about future directions…
MW Canada theme puts words into action
Categories: Opinion“Women walking together in faith“ is such a fitting theme as I observe life around me this Easter season. The “walking together” part, which carries echoes of the two disciples sharing concerns on the road to Emmaus, draws me in…
Gathering 2019 is for the whole family
Categories: OpinionI have many fond memories of attending our annual national events over my lifetime, beginning in my youth at Great Treks and then as a young adult at assemblies. I remember creative and inspiring worship; animated, even heated, business meetings; and,…
Should we fear the future of technology?
Categories: OpinionHow should Christians respond to the technology that seems to be taking over our lives? Should we welcome new technology as beneficial or should we be afraid of the future it will bring? Two new books, Braving the Future…
Readers write: April 1, 2019 issue
Categories: OpinionThoughts for the Easter season The season of Lent and Easter is a time of mystery and power. God is much bigger and more than a warm security blanket wrapping the Earth, and bigger than the whole solar system.…
Interdependence
Categories: Opinion“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12, NIV). Most likely, you have heard these words during a wedding ceremony. Although they are fitting for the marriage context,…
Graduating class
Categories: OpinionThis adorable, and very formal, group is the “graduating class” of the Steinmann Mennonite Church Kindergarten in Baden, Ont., in 1964. The Kindergarten was started in 1962 by the married couples fellowship at Steinmann. Enrolment in the first year was…
Can we talk about ageism?
Categories: OpinionA Winnipeg winter has many pleasures: plentiful sunshine, thick river ice for skating, cozy cafés and a wealth of artistic treasures. A Winnipeg winter is also long and challenging, hard on body and spirit. One of the ways I cope with…
Equally welcome
Categories: OpinionThe other day I hosted a diverse group of women from church: some single, some widowed, some married with kids, some married without kids, some in their 20s and some in their 80s. While sharing our joys and our struggles,…
Confession as a personal spiritual practice
Categories: OpinionThis Lenten season I find myself reflecting on the spiritual discipline of confession. What does a healthy practice of confession look like both individually and collectively? Confession played a huge part in my childhood faith. I was taught that you…
Readers write: March 18, 2019 issue
Categories: OpinionShould Thrift Store purchases be ‘designated’ to First Nations communities? Re: “MCC Canada cuts Canadian programs to focus on advocacy,” Feb. 4, page 14. This article raises some serious concerns regarding Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada’s Indigenous programming. Executive…
Welcome to Gathering 2019
Categories: OpinionMennonite Church British Columbia is excited to welcome the nationwide Mennonite church to Gathering 2019 in Abbotsford, B.C. The imagination of the church is still unfolding and becoming. We have said that the local congregation is the foundational unit of…
Swords into ploughshares
Categories: Opinion“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” These famous words from Isaiah 2:4 have been enacted in various ways…
A friend tells a story
Categories: OpinionMy friend Catherine* teaches at a community school in the core of our city. Given her experience and her skill set, she manages a classroom that is not so much age- or grade-specific, but rather contains children whose behavioural issues…
Readers write: March 4, 2019 issue
Categories: OpinionAuthor Miriam Toews a ‘two-trick’ pony Re: “Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal: Pt. IV,” Nov. 26, 2018, page 18. Unfortunately, Miriam Toews has only two themes she writes about: fundamentalist Mennonites and the mental illness that runs in…
Dreaming of possibilities
Categories: OpinionAs we explore new possibilities in our journey with a new church structure, the Mission and Service Committee of Mennonite Church Alberta has been dreaming about possibilities in a variety of areas. Some of these dreams will remain dreams, while…
Canadian Women in Mission
Categories: OpinionThese Saskatchewan ladies are hovering over baked goods at a sale circa 1964. “Ladies groups” have been significant organizations that have contributed to the social and spiritual well-being of women, their families, communities and beyond. Over time, the organizational structures…
Opinion/columns
