Hospitality to strangers
Next to the Toronto Blue Jays, nothing more has gotten our attention as Anabaptist Mennonites than the greatest refugee crisis in the modern age, with more than 50 million displaced persons—the greatest number since the Second World War. With our own history of resettlement during the past century, this has become our defining spiritual moment.…
Dis-placed and de-natured
Why should I care for the environment? A lot of Christians today are asking that question. I mean, we know it’s probably the right thing to do, but what’s a Christ-centred perspective on the matter? Sometimes modern Christians, in our excitement about Jesus, think the incarnation of God first happened two thousand years ago in…
Watershed discipleship
What does a transformative, earth-honouring Christianity look like at ground level and lived out in daily action? Reforms of personal habits—such as recycling, eating locally and shopping responsibly—are important steps. But we’ll need to embody a more vibrant Christian environmental ethic if we are to become the people God yearns for us to be, and…
Readers write: October 26, 2015 issue
Is it really time for a vote . . . or should we keep talking? Re: “It’s time for a vote,” March 30, page 14,” and “A historic moment,” Aug. 17, page 2. Russel Snyder-Penner makes many good points in “It’s time for a vote.” His description of how the roundtable discussion format has hindered…
Defining the ‘other’
Early in the Syrian refugee crisis, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) asked me to be part of a delegation meeting with Chris Alexander, minister of immigration. We indicated that the church was ready to do what it could to respond to the crisis. But as the crisis continued to unfold and governments struggle to…
In tribute
The mourners gathered for what turned out to be an exceptionally beautiful service for an exceptionally beautiful saint. The family tributes shone with love and tenderness. The music was angelic. The sermons were theologically rock-solid and inspiring. The funeral of David “Doc” Schroeder on Oct. 2, 2015, was an occasion to open our hearts to…
Regrets on parting with my old bicycle
This past summer I had my own Diderot Effect moment. The term comes from Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who has studied patterns of consumption. He coined it from an essay written by Denis Diderot, a French philosopher in the late 18th century. Diderot’s essay, “Regrets on parting with my old dressing gown,” opens with a…
Honouring the epic journey of food
I came across an article about the epic journey of sugar from a sugarcane field on the Hawaiian island of Maui to a nearby coffee shop down the road. It claimed the sugar travelled about 16,000 kilometres to arrive at its final destination a little over a kilometre away. It was shipped from Maui to…
Does religion make people intolerant?
Predictably, CBC jumped on the story of presumed Bible Belt intolerance. The members of our smallish Southern Manitoba credit union voted down a merger with a larger Winnipeg-based credit union and the rumblings here were that the city credit union’s “sharia” mortgages did not align with “local values.” In a column entitled “Sickened by ‘Christian’ opposition,” Winkler…
