Cheering for the Leafs!
Tim and Donita Wiebe-Neufeld of Edmonton First Mennonite Church own an electric Nissan Leaf car. Tim’s cousin, Arlyn Friesen Epp, owns a Leaf. Another cousin, Kendall Jongejan Harder, owns a Leaf. Tim laughs, “I guess our family cheers for the Leafs!” Being a Leaf fan is not always well received, especially in Alberta, where oil…
We need ‘Emmanuel’ like never before
If ever we needed to hear “Emmanuel” (God with us), it is during this Advent season as we wind up the year 2016. With violence prevailing in war-torn countries, and political upheaval changing the face of our neighbour to the south, not to mention changes in our own denominational structure, we seem to be groping…
Spirit-heat to thaw your freezing blood
“Good King Wenceslas” is not the most sing-able of carols and the lyrics are on the King James end of archaic. You may have assumed this 10th-century legend is about the spirit of the Yule and putting a penny in the old man’s hat. Let’s look again. See what you think of the conversion of…
Readers write: December 12, 2016 issue
Is the Doctrine of Discovery yesterday’s news? Re: “Discovering humility” column, Sept. 26, page 7. It seems Pope Paul III may have spoken to the Doctrine of Discovery already, in his 1537 papal encyclical: “We define and declare . . . that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the…
The new normal now
For the past two months I have been living with post-concussion syndrome after an incident that involved a bear, a rock and the rain. The prognosis for me is very good. Improvement has been steady and gradual—sometimes too gradual for my liking—but likely I will not sustain any long-term damage. While I am beginning to…
Are we living in the last millennium?
No one would doubt that Stephen Hawking, the Cambridge University theoretical physicist and cosmologist, is one of the more brilliant minds of recent times. The guy forgets more in a day then I’ll learn in a lifetime. The Theory of Everything, the movie of his marriages, his journey with early-onset Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS—more commonly…
Church wants to spread the ‘Living Word’
Church of the Living Word in Ottawa became an emerging church in Mennonite Church Eastern Canada in 2009, although it was founded four years earlier. Church of the Living Word has some members, including Pastor Getachew Woldeyes’s wife, who belonged to Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia, a Mennonite World Conference (MWC) member church. Most of…
Understanding opponents of LGBTQ inclusion
Officially, the resolution creating greater openness to LGBTQ people received 85 percent support at the Mennonite Church Canada assembly. That number is incomplete—more on that below—but it establishes a new narrative in which a majority within MC Canada expresses a degree of openness toward LGBTQ inclusion. So what about the people excluded from that narrative?…
Viewpoints: Calls for understanding and repentance
These are two responses to Will Braun’s ‘Understanding opponents of LGBTQ inclusion’ column. No. 1: Seeking ways to move forward By Lois Epp I agree with Will that circumstances surrounding the Being a Faithful Church (BFC) vote at this past summer’s Mennonite Church Canada assembly leave open questions. The majority at the assembly supported the…
