Party with piecaken
“This isn’t really working out the way I imagined,” I mused, as my mother slept in her chair while I worked on her birthday dessert. I had just ended a phone call with my son, my consultant on the somewhat complicated-to-assemble treat. He was a relative expert, having made two of them compared to my…
Just imagine
Just imagine you are there, sitting on the hillside, listening to Jesus. It’s past mealtime and your stomach starts to rumble, but his words mesmerize you and you don’t want to leave. You notice the disciples talking together and gesturing to the crowd. Then you see a boy approach and offer a small bundle. You…
B.C. firefighting
Firefighting in British Columbia was one of the tasks assigned to Canadian conscientious objectors (COs) during the Second World War. They were ‘the best firefighters we ever had,’ according to Jim Pedly from the forestry service. From spring 1942 to spring 1944, the COs spent 4,875 days training and on standby, and 8,470 days…
Wisdom, where art thou? (Pt. 7)
So how does one enrol as an apprentice in the School of Divine Wisdom? The Bible tells us there are a few prerequisites. The first one is found in Proverbs 4:7: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.” The first time I really paid attention to this verse,…
Readers write: April 10, 2017 issue
‘The faith of our fathers lives on’ There used to be a hymn we sang in our congregation: “Faith of our Fathers, Living Still.” As a person ages, one has more memories from the past. Often in the present, we make decisions for the future with knowledge from the past. So from the past to…
A parting blessing
At my first Mennonite Church Alberta assembly as area church minister, one of my official tasks was to offer a prayer of release to Calgary Vietnamese Mennonite Church. It was one of two congregations that had withdrawn its membership from the area church in response to the Being a Faithful Church decision at MC Canada’s…
Reclaiming Scripture
We must not hand them back. Others before us fought long and hard to get them back into our hands. Through blood, sweat and tears, they were returned to the rightful owners. And now, slowly but surely, we are returning the Holy Scriptures to those who hoarded them for so long. It was in the…
Ailsa Craig Boys Farm
Boys on horseback pose in front of the main entrance to the Ailsa Craig Boys Farm, a home for troubled boys, in the 1960s. The farm, begun in 1955, was the brainchild of Jack Wall. With the help of Harvey Taves at Mennonite Central Committee and a handful of families eager to start mission work…
Readers write: March 27, 2017 issue
That’s not who we are . . . as Mennonites or Muslims Re: “A not-so-pure depiction of Mennonites,” Feb. 13, page 20. I read with interest the various online responses by Mennonites concerned about how Mennonites are depicted in the CBC drama series Pure. I spent several years working in the tour program in the…
The power of imagination
When communicating about the ministries of Mennonite Church Canada Witness, my former colleague Al Rempel used to tell me, “Help your listeners imagine the work that is being done.” Imaginations are powerful, liberating gifts of God. Through our imaginations, God meets us. God helps us draw from current realities, Scripture and history to paint possibilities,…
