Readers write: March 28, 2016 issue
Mennonite histories ‘are not that different’ Re: Future Directions Task Force editorials in the Jan. 18, Feb. 1 and 15 issues. The editor is to be thanked for wading into the Future Directions Task Force report. That analysis raises a number of issues that warrant more discussion. One of my concerns has been that the…
Strange, suspect voices
One of the things I most admire about Scripture is the space it creates for the undominant voice, specifically the strange and suspect voice. For sure, the text is far from perfect. Alongside all those male authors, heroes and stories, give us some more women! And next to those Israelite colonists, how about a few…
Gently lead the mother sheep
“What this is about,” the counsellor said kindly, “is the end. How your mother faces the end—her dying—impacts everyone else in the family. How you and your siblings respond to your mother affects each person as well. You are all in this together.” I had sought counselling not because my mother was terminally ill, but…
It’s time we had ‘the talk’
It’s time for “the talk.” You know, the one we’ve been putting off because it’s uncomfortable. That end-of-life conversation. There is, after all, a 100 percent certainty of our death. The Psalms remind us of our frailty: “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my…
Montreal River memories
‘Braun, Harder, Andres with wives at Montreal River,’ read the caption on the back of this photo taken by conscientious objector Wes Brown in 1942. As luck would have it, I knew Ted and Mary Harder, the centre couple, who were my great-uncle and great-aunt. E-mails to relatives confirmed the couple at left as Mary…
The pursuit of truth (Pt. 3)
The way many Canadians understand and talk about truth has changed. Some Christian thinkers believe the church needs to change how we understand and talk about truth as well, if we are to engage our fellow Canadians in meaningful conversations about God and faith. This shift would need to begin with the church acknowl-edging and…
Readers write: March 14, 2016 issue
Church leaders thanked for naming Vernon Leis I want to publicly say thank you to Mennonite church leaders for speaking up against sexual misconduct in the case against Vernon Leis, even if it is decades after the fact. There is never a good time to reveal the misconduct of a church leader. This is true…
The church as ‘choir’
Recently I discovered Apple Music. This is an amazing deal in which I give the good folks at Apple a few dollars every month and they give me access to more than 30 million songs. Well, I went on a bit of a listening binge. I would think of a song and then look it…
To whom do we listen?
The real driver of our lives—and even our churches—is whose voice we hear and obey. We make decisions to listen to and give authority somewhere. We quote, footnote and reference. We point to a source, and usually one that agrees with us. “As you have lived, so have you believed,” said philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Our…
Ripples and waves
On Feb. 27, 2016, I attended a talk given by Seth Klein, director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives B.C., about The Leap Manifesto, an initiative out of the This Changes Everything movement begun by Naomi Klein and her book of the same name. The manifesto’s subtitle reads, “A call for a Canada based…
