Chequebook and calendar
In early March, the church my husband and I belong to held its annual general meeting. This year there wasn’t a lot of discussion, but Paul, the representative of the finance and stewardship committee, got us all thinking. The financial report is usually done as a “narrative budget,” with pie charts showing the various aspects…
Out of holy weakness, mysterious power arises
I could not have predicted the responses I got when I asked 15 Mennonite Church Canada pastors—all women—how they would explain the meaning of the cross and resurrection to a 12-year-old. When I was 12, the idea of “Jesus dying for my sins” didn’t make sense. I believed it in some sense but I also…
Readers write: March 16, 2020 issue
Comments on Wet’suwet’en article divided Re: “Who do you support when a community is divided?” Feb. 17, page 20. I believe Ross W. Muir covered the recent blockade in British Columbia by the Wet’suwet’en people very well. What bothers me is that Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is taking sides with those who chose to disobey…
Living into a new imagination
Once upon a time, around 35 years ago, God brought into the world some new people. These people have grown up to love Jesus and follow him with all of their lives. They have also responded to the impulse of the Holy Spirit and God’s call to serve as leaders in the church. Some of…
Manitoba historical society
The work of community remembering is important work. Archives, historical societies, libraries and museums all have a role in a community to remind us who we are and help point us to where we should go. Sometimes we have been in the wrong and need to change course; at other times we have done well…
‘O, you gorgeous man!’
I recently sat with a friend for lunch and conversation. I had not seen her for almost three years. At one point she reached across the table, grasped both of my hands in hers, and exclaimed, “O, you gorgeous man!” If your eyes are sliding down to the small photo at the bottom of this column,…
The gift of imagination
I remember the feeling with such clarity: that furious, terrified, sick-to-your-stomach despair one feels when you are numerous pages into writing an academic paper and the computer freezes and you’re unsure if it was saved. Rebooting and reopening the document brings about despair and tears as you discover it’s all gone. Every. Single. Word. These memories…
Climate change as a spiritual crisis
When Luke Gascho and Jennifer Schrock of Goshen College’s Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center invited me to help lead efforts to engage Mennonite churches on climate change, it felt like a call from the Spirit. I felt prepared because I had been leading Benton Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind., in creation care for 15 years…
‘In the end, we’re all neighbours’
How do people respond to the strong rhetoric of polarization that is gripping the world? How can they listen and talk to people that are different from them? And why does it matter if they do? More than 180 people gathered in the Marpeck Commons at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) on Feb. 10 to discuss…
