Changes coming to CM
Some significant changes are occurring at Canadian Mennonite. First, we are bidding farewell to one of our expert regional correspondents, Evelyn Rempel Petkau, after 18 years of her serving, with distinction, as our Manitoba correspondent (see the story here). Her 600 stories, written to the highest standard of journalism, had a unique style. She seemed…
Out of control
“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! So have no fear of…
Correcting a common misunderstanding
Matthew 10:37 reads, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” These verses have justified the rejection of countless sons and daughters who don’t conform to their parents’ understanding of what it means to love Jesus.…
Readers write: April 13, 2015 issue
Bible contains the word of God but isn’t the Word of God Re: “Bible written without an understanding of genetics” letter, March 2, page 14. Finally, we have someone pointing out that genetics plays an important part in establishing who we are sexually, and that we do inherit some deviations. I thank Frank Hiemstra for…
Proud banners that need shredding
I was on my Monday morning transit commute sitting near a group of people who loudly reminisced about their weekend exploits. Without embarrassment they relived what could be remembered of a wild party’s excitement, exploits and emissions—despite the presence of strangers and a few grandmas. The visualizations were a challenge to forget. That commute wrecked…
The last church I visited
My wife and I arrived in Vancouver in 1994 with our two sons, aged 9 and 12. I had been an air traffic controller, then law enforcement officer in Hong Kong. As a landed immigrant in Canada, I found some odd jobs before going back to school at the B.C. Institute of Technology and beginning…
Learning from each other
Although less than a three-hour drive from Winnipeg, Manigotagan seemed a world away. This Metis community of about 200 lives in the dense forest along the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. It abuts the much larger reserve community of Hollow Water (population 1,200) whose border has become more porous since the passing of Bill C-31…
Western Christians need to ‘get out of the way’
Mark MacDonald is convinced that “it is the time for something great to happen and that the best thing we can do is get up and wait. There is no stopping it.” But the Anglican Church of Canada’s first national indigenous bishop admits that the church has likely stood in the way of God’s work…
‘We weren’t on the same page’
“We have not left. Maybe the [area church] leadership has left, but we have stayed with the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective.” With these words, Artur Esau, Hague Mennonite Church’s pastor, spoke of his congregation’s withdrawal from Mennonite Church Saskatchewan. The decision, announced at the area church’s March delegate sessions, “has been 10…
