Can CM survive?
Perhaps the more pointed question should be: Do our readers and congregations of Mennonite Church Canada want us to survive? At the risk of this editorial sounding self-serving and turf-protecting, let us clarify that the level of this question goes far deeper than protecting a 62-year-old enterprise or saving staff positions. It has more to…
Easter is past . . . where is Jesus now?
Excerpted and translated from a sermon preached at Niagara United Mennonite Church, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on April 26, 2015. It is based on chapter 21 of the Gospel of John, the well-known story of the disciples back in Galilee shortly after Easter. The entire Easter story is full of tension and contradictions. And the disciples had…
Readers write: March 28, 2016 issue
Mennonite histories ‘are not that different’ Re: Future Directions Task Force editorials in the Jan. 18, Feb. 1 and 15 issues. The editor is to be thanked for wading into the Future Directions Task Force report. That analysis raises a number of issues that warrant more discussion. One of my concerns has been that the…
Strange, suspect voices
One of the things I most admire about Scripture is the space it creates for the undominant voice, specifically the strange and suspect voice. For sure, the text is far from perfect. Alongside all those male authors, heroes and stories, give us some more women! And next to those Israelite colonists, how about a few…
Gently lead the mother sheep
“What this is about,” the counsellor said kindly, “is the end. How your mother faces the end—her dying—impacts everyone else in the family. How you and your siblings respond to your mother affects each person as well. You are all in this together.” I had sought counselling not because my mother was terminally ill, but…
It’s time we had ‘the talk’
It’s time for “the talk.” You know, the one we’ve been putting off because it’s uncomfortable. That end-of-life conversation. There is, after all, a 100 percent certainty of our death. The Psalms remind us of our frailty: “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my…
Montreal River memories
‘Braun, Harder, Andres with wives at Montreal River,’ read the caption on the back of this photo taken by conscientious objector Wes Brown in 1942. As luck would have it, I knew Ted and Mary Harder, the centre couple, who were my great-uncle and great-aunt. E-mails to relatives confirmed the couple at left as Mary…
The pursuit of truth (Pt. 3)
The way many Canadians understand and talk about truth has changed. Some Christian thinkers believe the church needs to change how we understand and talk about truth as well, if we are to engage our fellow Canadians in meaningful conversations about God and faith. This shift would need to begin with the church acknowl-edging and…
Readers want CM to remain a print publication
Canadian Mennonite thanks everyone who took the time to fill out the reader survey distributed late in 2015. The responses were positive overall and showed that the magazine is generally well liked. Readers clearly prefer to read print, rather than online, and there is great resistance to the idea of making the magazine digital-only. Various…
