‘The music ever changing’
Categories: OpinionIn The Pastor-Congregation Duet, Gary Harder weaves together his love of pastoral ministry and his love of music. It is clear from the outset, that his call to ministry ran deep, and his love for making music and appreciating music…
Revisiting a third way
Categories: OpinionJ. Lawrence Burkholder’s experiences as a relief worker in China in 1947 caused him to think about the nature of power. His dissertation, “The problem of social responsibility from the perspective of the Mennonite church,” was completed in 1958 but…
Readers write: January 7, 2019 issue
Categories: Opinion‘There needs to be understanding’ Re: “Worship happened,” Nov. 5, 2018, page 8. Ed Olfert’s column left me in tears. I facilitate many Kairos blanket exercises, where I act out the part of the “grandmother.” Chi miigwech (thank you) for…
Come and let your imagination be ignited
Categories: Opinion“Igniting the imagination of the church.” That’s the theme of Mennonite Church Canada’s Gathering 2019, to be held from June 28 to July 1 in Abbotsford, B.C. Powerful words, those! What might they mean for us as congregations comprising five…
The daily phone-call prayer
Categories: OpinionOver the course of our lives, we likely offer many prayers in a variety of ways. Some are formal, memorized prayers said for specific occasions. A family table grace recited before meals. The comforting words of Psalm 23. The Lord’s…
A ‘village’ in our home
Categories: OpinionWhen our family lived in the Philippines from 2012 to 2018, we hosted our Peace Church community in our home every weekend and opened our doors to countless friends throughout the week. I remember reading articles about the absence of…
The clarity of divine call
Categories: OpinionI believe every human being has a divine call. This divine call is more explicit than the generic “call to ministry” associated with the clergy. It’s a specific expectation God has given each person to fulfill. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote:…
‘Called to be a church for others’
Categories: OpinionThe August sky was an eerie brownish-orange as the morning news warned Edmontonians not to exert themselves outside. Thick smoke smelling of charred forests blanketed the city, and the air quality was so poor that even healthy young people stayed…
‘I have no say . . .’
Categories: OpinionLeah is a lifer, and I like her. She is middle-aged and is at the beginning of her sentence. She is educated and insightful, and has a good sense of humour. But what I am impressed by is her heart.…
Conscientious objectors tree planting
Categories: OpinionDuring the Second World War, Canadian conscientious objectors (COs) planted 17 million trees in British Columbia between 1942 and 1944. Some COs questioned the use of working in the “bush.” Pictured from left to right: Frank Dyck, Jacob Wiebe, Menno…
World Fellowship Sunday: A communion of 500 years
Categories: Web First – OpinionEvery year on the Sunday closest to January 21, Mennonite World Conference (MWC) invites its 107 member churches to join in a celebration of World Fellowship Sunday. (See the 2019 worship resources here.) The worship themes vary from year to…
Once Round the Barn: Pat-on-the-back Edition
Categories: Web First – OpinionHe’s our resident ranter, our pigpen pundit. Canadian Mennonite writer Will Braun rants around the barn on his southern Manitoba farmyard. This time he’s got opinions on how Mennonites talk about their generosity. (See the video below. Then scroll down…
Once Round the Barn: LBGTQ Edition
Categories: OpinionWith a nod to Ranting Rick Mercer, senior writer Will Braun steps into the mess that is the church’s disagreement over same-sex inclusion. The Maple View insert appeared in the September 25, 2017, print issue of Canadian Mennonite.…
Once Round the Barn: Radisson Assembly Edition
Categories: OpinionIn this inaugural edition of “Once Round the Barn,” Braun unravels the less-with-more choice of a downtown Radisson as the venue for the 2017 Mennonite Church Canada Special Assembly (which he chose to skip). See Assembly coverage…
‘Winds of the Spirit’ blow through the Global South
Categories: Web First – OpinionAnabaptist churches in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have grown rapidly in recent years, while membership and attendance numbers in North American and European churches have declined. In Winds of the Spirit, authors Conrad Kanagy, Tilahun Beyene, and Richard Showalter examine…
Kiss of the Fur Queen
Categories: Web First – Opinion“Mush!” the hunter cried into the wind, through the rising vapour of a northern Manitoba February, so crisp, so dry, the snow creaked underfoot, the caribou hunter Abraham Okinasis drove his sled and team of eight grey huskies through the…
Breaking the chain of violence
Categories: Web First – OpinionIs the New Testament inherently violent? What does Jesus’ brutal death on the cross mean to persons holding a more passive view of non-resistance? How does one seriously read the text and make sense of Jesus’ teaching of non-violence and…
Reimer’s distinction between policing and just war questioned
Categories: Web First – OpinionIn this wonderfully crafted booklet, the last before his untimely death, Reimer gifts his readers with a succinct summary of a topic that has preoccupied much of Christian theology. The genius of this work lies in a careful and eminently…
Mendelssohn biography an honest revelation of the whole man
Categories: Web First – OpinionWhen Felix Mendelssohn died in 1847 aged 38, it marked the close of a life which increasingly was lived in the glare and demands of great fame, public adulation, high honours at home and abroad, especially in Britain, and personal…
A Classic Mennonite Tale of One City
Categories: Web First – OpinionAs a relative newcomer to the Canadian scene, I found Driedger’s latest book on the Mennonites in Winnipeg, his 19th, a virtual map as he traces their development in what has become the largest concentration of them in the world,…
Opinion/columns
