Costly perfume
On April 15, dramatic images of Paris’s burning Notre Dame Cathedral captured worldwide attention. Nearby, local citizens and tourists stood singing and praying in grief. Could it be that this majestic symbol of faith, art and culture was crumbling before our eyes? (Photo: flickr.com_47563907512_Olivier Mabelly) Within 48 hours, over one billion euros had been donated…
The Ascension of our Lord
Preached at Waterloo North Mennonite Church, Waterloo, Ont., on Ascension Sunday, 2018. Based on Luke 24:44-53, Acts 1:1-11, and Ephesians 1:15-23 Today’s readings have made me think a great deal about the remarkable year Mary and I spent living on an Old Order Mennonite farm early in our marriage. We continue to thank God for that…
Readers write: April 29, 2019 issue
Story makes you wonder why church is actually leaving Re: “Church of the Way to leave MC B.C.,” March 4, page 15. The article says Church of the Way is joining the Evangelical Free Church of Canada (EFCC) because of the “Being a Faithful Church” resolution. I found it interesting that the article does…
Experiencing God’s love affair with the world
So I’m out walking in the beautiful spring sunshine and I pass a church that has a large empty parking lot with a sign that says “No Parking.” As I turn the corner, I see the official church sign that states “Everyone is Welcome.” The incongruity between these beacons to the public makes me chuckle…
Can we talk about abortion?
At a recent gathering of pastors, one man spoke of “a woman’s right to choose” with respect to pregnancy, then added, “I assume everyone here would agree with that.” In a room of Mennonite pastors, I was not so confident that all would be “pro-choice.” Around the same time, in a Mennonite adult education setting,…
Harold Schmidt cook
We “both have white uniforms,” joked Harold Schmidt in a letter to his girlfriend (later, wife) Enid Culp in 1942. Schmidt, left, was a cook at the Seymour Mountain conscientious objector (CO) service camp in British Columbia; Enid was in nursing training in Ontario. The Second World War disrupted normal life in many ways, including…
Hold them close
It was a year ago now, when we were packing up our life in Manila, embracing in tearful goodbyes and embarking on a new path. On our departure day, our home was still full of our dear Filipino friends who had become our family over the span of six years. With mere hours to our…
What ‘confessing your sins to one another’ isn’t
Confession is primarily between the individual and God, as I wrote about last month. Yet Scripture encourages us to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16). Why is this important, and how do we do this in healthy and helpful ways? For starters, confession should be a free choice on the part of the…
‘Queer and quirky and profoundly worthy of wonder’
The gathering hymn, “God Welcomes All,” called some 120 people to worship at the opening of the “Beyond binaries: Creating an affirming church” event hosted by Waterloo North Mennonite Church on April 6. The vision for this event came from 17-year-old Thea Andres, who identified the treatment of queer people—a term being reclaimed by many…
