Can money really buy happiness?
What makes people happier: spending money on themselves or giving to others? It might surprise many of us to learn that research done by Elizabeth W. Dunn, a social psychologist at the University of British Columbia, shows that spending money on other people may have a more positive impact on happiness. Therefore, people who live…
The deadly sin of gluttony
A disturbing cartoon from childhood has stayed with me. In the cartoon, a pig—of course!—was over-eating, stuffing himself from a heavily laden table. At the very end, the pig stood up, pushed himself back from the table and, with a filled-to-bursting gut, took a few wobbly steps. But then he saw just one more thing…
The future before us
Those who survived Indian Residential Schools, Mennonite Church Canada members and South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission participants all have one thing in common. The three groups rely on archival institutions to collect, preserve and make accessible profound stories of their cultural identities. Whether found within the new University of Manitoba Centre for Truth and…
Readers write: Feb. 3, 2014 issue
Be careful of what the church is ‘shifting’ from I am writing out of care and concern for the church. There are many practices coming in and I hear more and more people in the body of Christ doing yoga, labyrinths and types of non-biblical meditation and prayer. Some of these practices are being done…
One step at a time
Across Canada, generations of women have been walking together in faith. As early as 1786, when Mennonites first began arriving from Pennsylvania, up until today, Mennonite women have found a sense of belonging by sharing with and caring for each other. Historically, women did not have a voice in the church, and meeting together as…
An ode to this printed page
I used to be the circulation and fulfillment manager for a small, independent, faith-based magazine. Ever-increasing postage rates and pressure to increase online presence were constant concerns. I regularly received e-mails from people who wanted to know if we offered digital subscriptions. Their inquiries often included some version of the following: “I’m trying to save…
Fight or flight?
My city had a year of sorrow sadly stamped by the death of Julie Paskall on Dec. 29. It was Surrey’s 25th murder of the year. The 53-year-old mom was randomly beaten to death in an arena parking lot where she had stopped to pick up her teenage son. While we can compartmentalize gang- or…
Addressing inner needs
Sometimes I find the relationship between church and business a little baffling. It seems that the business world is increasingly adopting Christian values and practices to run their organizations, including aspects of Christian spirituality. It appears that there is something about Christian practices that is good for business. In his “Uncovering the blind spot of…
Readers write: Jan. 20, 2014 issue
Nelson Mandela: We all love a hero Politicians and celebrities need saints to lean on. And so it was this time around, that after Nelson Mandela died all the most important politicians and celebrities of the world lined up for interviews to say they had met him, had had coffee with him or had been…
Spirit attunement
In my last article, I explained that baptizo (the Greek word for “baptize”) means to merge or saturate something to the point of transforming its essence. One of the oldest documented uses of baptizo is found in an ancient pickling recipe. Although the phrase “pickled in the Holy Spirit” sounds silly, and is unlikely to…
