‘What do you do with an unjust benefit?’
Photo of John Stoesz Land back by Makoce Ikikcupi - from Facebook
For John Stoesz, making land reparations to Indigenous communities is a way to follow Jesus.
Volume 28 Issue 4
Volume 28, Number 4
Cover Date:
February 23, 2024
Do I see a hand?
Photo by Alex Woods/Unsplash
I was sitting on Dave Scott’s porch on the Swan Lake First Nation a few years back when he started talking about a handshake treaty between his Ojibwe ancestors and Mennonites.
I had never heard of this. Later, I discovered no Mennonite historians had either.
Readers write: February 23, 2024
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Review the confession of faith
In response to “Jewish perspectives” (January 26), I note that Article 22 of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective states:
The meaning of seeds
A Mennonite colony in Campeche state, Mexico. Photo by Anika Reynar.
At 9 a.m., it was already hot and humid in Hopelchén, a small city in the Yucatán peninsula. A collective of Maya farmers had gathered in the shaded courtyard outside the home where we were staying. We could hear laughter and chatter over the wall as we returned from our morning walk.
Lessons from the medicine wheel
Photo by Madison Podjask/Unsplash
Each year, A Common Word Alberta brings Muslims and Christians together in Edmonton to plan an annual interfaith dialogue.
The Secret Treaty
Art by Jonathan Dyck
The feature for our February 23, 2024 issue is a 12-page comic by noted graphic novelist Jonathan Dyck. For the piece, Dyck collaborated with Dave Scott, an historian and ambassador from the Swan Lake First Nation in southern Manitoba.
See the sample below.
Nothing new under the sun
In Ndebele, my language, we have a proverb that says, Inala kayihambi, kuhamba indlala. It says that times of abundant harvest are not reported, but times of hunger and famine make good news. Too true.
Saskatchewan sidesteps First Nations in selling Crown land
Photo by Tjflex2/flickr
First Nations in Saskatchewan are in conflict with the provincial government regarding the sale of Crown land.
Giving back to the land
Photo by Artur Roman/Pexels
Our farmyard opened from its treelines to the south and southwest. A mile south, I could see the shelterbelts surrounding my paternal grandmother’s 1870s homestead. A few farmyards were dotted out in the horizon in the southwest, but looking that direction was mostly for watching weather systems develop, dissipate or roll in.
Circling back to simplicity
Photo by Koolshooters/Pexels.
I’ve been thinking about simplicity. Are today’s Canadian Mennonites committed to faith-motivated simple living? Am I?
A spiritual covenant with churches and First Nations
A portion of an 1821 survey showing part of the Haldimand Tract area in southern Ontario (Wikicommons).
A most promising possibility for a tangible response by churches to past injustice in the Six Nations Grand River lands conflict came from a conversation I had after the monthly meeting of the Haudenosaunee Council at Onondaga Longhouse on Saturday, March 3, 2007.
Small steps toward reparation
Stirling Ave. Mennonite Church. Photo by Randy Culp/Google.
Ten years ago, Adrian Jacobs of the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy proposed a Spiritual Covenant with Mennonite churches located on the Haldimand Tract. One Kitchener church is now looking closely at that challenge.
See all of us
Photo Dlxmedia/Unsplash.
Grace has increasingly become my lens for reading both scripture and other people. I have come to think grace—the wildly undeserved favour dispensed by God—is the most important feature of the gospel.
Witness workers provide Thailand overview
Christine and Tom Poovong, pictured with their children, Joseph and Phimchanok, are MC Canada International Witness workers in northeastern Thailand. Supplied photo.
Two Mennonite Church Canada International Witness workers are at the centre of an initiative to train, mentor and support church leaders in Thailand.
