The poofy blue MCC couch
When I worked at the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) office in Winnipeg 20 years ago, I took pride in showing up early. Occasionally I even arrived before Norm, the custodian, who turned the lights on at 7 a.m. Sometimes, I was also the last to leave. I was doing advocacy with a Cree community and…
The duty of tension
I did not plan to write about polarization—I’ve filled my quota on that topic—until Maxime Bernier held a rally near my home. Bernier leads the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) and may be the most prominent populist politician in the country. I couldn’t resist the chance to cross the political divide. I attended the June…
Countering intuition
I’m not certain this is a good idea, but I’m going to tell you about four things in this issue of the magazine that don’t sit well with me. If that seems counterintuitive to you, it does to me too. Some intuitions are worth countering. I’ll circle round at the end to dial back the…
How I almost bought a Tesla
I came closer than I’d like to admit. Three weeks before a family road trip to Ontario, our ex-Hutterite mechanic gave our 2004 Jetta wagon the death sentence. The ensuing car search turned into a troubling family crash course in the psychology of real-life environmental ethics. A used Prius—Toyota’s time-tested hybrid—was the obvious option: durable,…
In-house acknowledgment
With this issue of Canadian Mennonite, Ross W. Muir completes his time with the magazine. As managing editor for almost 18 years, he has undertaken a central piece of the work required to put the magazine together every two weeks. Muir has worked diligently and consistently behind the scenes, attending to the finer points of…
A centuries-old offer of peace
During the Papal visit to Canada in the summer of 2022, observers and news-watchers likely caught glimpses of banners and heard chants to reject or repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. For some, this may have been a first introduction to the Doctrine; for others it represented decades of work to bring the Doctrine out of…
Do we dare to succeed?
“I am convinced more so now than ever before that every neighbourhood deserves a Jesus-centred, disciple-making peace presence.” Norm Dyck starts the 2022 Church Planting Resource from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada with that conviction. Dyck’s words strike me in their contrast to the discourse of decline that hangs over parts of the church. Dyck, who…
No shortcut to Easter
It’s not easy to come up with fresh, new material for Easter, so we dug up something nearly 500 years old instead. We’re putting the “Menno” in Canadian Mennonite, literally—the original Menno. And while most of us are not accustomed to someone admonishing us to die to the carnal self, perhaps in our time of…
Is the ban back?
In our feature article, Carol Ann Weaver tells of two Mennonite evangelists who imposed a ban on musical instruments decades ago. It’s tempting to marvel at how utterly unenlightened such a response to perceived wrong now seems. Banning feels so backward. But the ban is back. Emma Siemens discusses the pros and cons of cancel…
Red carpet hayloft
I prefer books and sky to screens and Hollywood, but the fact that kerchief-clad colony women will appear on-screen at Hollywood’s biggest event creates a moment of opportunity for our church. The film adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel, Women Talking, is nominated for Best Picture at the March 12 Academy Awards. For me, the film…
