Part V: Risking relationship
Categories: OpinionThis six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors. “Relationships involve risk,” a pastor from MC Eastern Canada told me. “It’s not a risk to hang out…
The shoofly pie question
Categories: OpinionIn her new book, Eating Like a Mennonite, Marlene Epp addresses the question of whether there is such a thing as “Mennonite food.” She assumes there is, and declares it should be celebrated, disagreeing with those who say “Mennonite” is…
Readers write: November 17, 2023
Categories: OpinionClarification Dying With Dignity Canada would like to add to and clarify some of the information shared in Conrad Brunk’s letter to the editor (“Readers write,” November 3). In the Government of Canada’s 2022 annual report on medical assistance in…
Chapel at Canadian Mennonite Bible College
Categories: OpinionIn 1975 the Conference of Mennonites in Canada built the chapel at Canadian Mennonite Bible College (now CMU). Rudy Friesen wrote in the Mennonite Mirror, April 1975, page 7: “It was agreed that the chapel should be simple and unadorned,…
Vignettes from the waiting room
“How do you like my gown? Don’t I wear it well?” “You look amazing!” Smoothing the creases of her gown, she flutters her eyelids, strikes a pose, and smiles with the confidence and sass of a runway model. “I’m not…
Acknowledging outrage, stepping toward love
Categories: OpinionI’ve spent the past weeks sifting through the rhetoric that is being used to describe the Israel-Hamas conflict, and it’s been confusing, to say the least. At the time of this writing, officials say that more than 10,000 Gazans are…
Can we talk about capitalism?
Do you celebrate Buy Nothing Day? For me it’s like a holy day, a short version of Lent—that disruption of the ordinary that makes me notice the taken-for-granted and the practices of the gospel. The intent of Buy Nothing Day…
My extended season of Advent
Categories: Opinion“Let all that has breath praise Yah. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 150:6) This is the last verse in the book of Psalms, and it was the last verse I read to complete a more than five-year journey through the Hebrew scriptures (Old…
Part IV: Telling, re-telling, re-storying
Categories: OpinionThis six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors. Metaphors and images provide vivid word pictures which help God’s people make meaning and make sense of a…
Part III: Succession
Categories: OpinionJohn and Jean—not their real names—had long made plans to retire once John turned 65. They had dreams of travelling and spending more time with family, who lived far away. Plus, it simply was time to let go of their…
Consider the roots
Categories: OpinionOver the past two months, our household has spent a lot of time preparing root crops for storage: digging, trimming the tops and packing them in boxes of dry leaves to go in the cellar. As we’ve worked with the…
‘They are like angels’
Categories: Web First – Opinion“It was help from heaven. When I talk about it, I want to cry. Nobody has ever helped me like this. They are like angels.” That’s what a homeowner in Grand Forks, B.C., said in 2019 about Mennonite Disaster Service…
WWII Alternative service camp
Categories: OpinionThese men visited an alternative service camp in 1942. From left: D.P. Reimer (EMC, Steinbach), Jacob F. Barkman (Holdeman minister, Manitoba), David Schulz (Bergthaler bishop, Manitoba) and George DeFehr (Holdeman minister, Alberta). During WWII, Schulz supported men applying for conscientious…
Readers write: November 3, 2023 issue
Categories: OpinionGratitude for foyer discussions Today I got my COVID booster. Other than a barely perceptible soreness in my arm, I have never experienced side effects from these vaccinations. When it comes to being pro-vaccine, my wife and I are in…
Teach us to pray
Categories: OpinionOn a Wednesday in mid-October, I’m at the auto shop for winter tires; a TV on the wall flashes tanks, rubble and protests alongside talking heads. On social media, I can’t look away from children held hostage or from parents…
Salt and light: Structures and policies
Categories: OpinionI like paying attention to structures and policies. My attention was caught on Sunday when the visiting preacher, Fanosie Legesse of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, said that wisdom is when churches shape structures and policies to be salt and light…
Invisible barriers to becoming an intercultural church
Categories: OpinionAt WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio station, a very interesting testimony appeared three years ago titled “A Dual Degree from Oxford. A Medical Degree from Harvard. Neither Protected Me from Racism.” It’s from Tafadzwa Muguwe, a Zimbabwean-born Rhodes scholar and…
Opened eyes
Categories: OpinionCharles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities nearly 200 years ago. His opening lines describe our world today, as aptly as anything published in recent years. He writes: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of…
Part III: Who owns your church building?
Categories: OpinionThis six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors. For periods of time during the pandemic, sanctuaries sat empty and congregations scattered, worshipping from home. As…
Part II: Aging
Categories: Opinion“My children decided it’s time for me to move out of my house and join a retirement community. I don’t agree. I feel like I have no say anymore. I can still think, but they are not interested in hearing…
Opinion/columns
