Safe space in light of COVID-19
On a cold wintry night in the middle of February around a decade ago, I arranged five chairs at the table for our committee meeting. One person came in looking wretched; she blew her nose and sneezed through the whole meeting. I felt like moving my chair away, as I was sitting next to her,…
Hellos and goodbyes
At the end of a video conferencing call, have you found yourself waving energetically at the screen? It might seem strange to make a goodbye gesture toward a computer, but something tells us that it’s not right to simply make those faces disappear by clicking a button labeled “Leave meeting.” According to some body language…
Toward Antioch
By Doug Klassen During times of crisis or struggle, I study Scripture, praying that the Holy Spirit nudges me with a word, a phrase . . . anything. A few months ago, I came upon Acts 11:19-26 and I knew that I had received an answer to a question I had wrestling with: Where is…
Readers write: May 24, 2021 issue
Doctors, prof and more weigh in on controversial vaccine letter Re: “Reader calls on Mennonites to reject COVID-19 vaccines,” April 12, page 7. I am disturbed by the publication of the letter calling on Mennonites to reject the vaccine offered to help people avoid the COVID-19 infection. It contains a lot of misinformation and, as…
‘Follow that wild turkey!’
I have grown accustomed to our regular Sunday morning live-streamed worship services and the Zoom call that follows. Oh, I might try to change it up occasionally and take the computer to the kitchen, but I am somehow predestined to end up on the couch like it was my regular pew. I am a creature…
Fruit basket
Helene (Heese) Toews, seated, is honoured by Katie Dyck with a fruit basket, circa 1972. At a Conference of Mennonites in Canada meeting in 1945, Toews read a paper to a gathering of women on “the true role of women” in which she argued that women could work for God’s kingdom outside the realm of…
A communion in communion
Where or when is the next Mennonite World Conference? This was the question posed to all of us as Mennonite World Conference (MWC) staff and volunteers at a recent Zoom gathering. Some people quickly figured out it was a trick question. The next MWC assembly will be in Indonesia in July 2022. But MWC is…
‘Truth balm’
You are at the centre of every experience you’ve ever had. You’re hard wired to be self-centred. It’s your default setting because, from your relative position, you are the centre of the universe. Most of us eventually come to understand that our perspective is limited to our own experience of reality, which only accounts for…
‘I am not being persecuted’
Michael Pahl A former church minister in Morden is pushing back on churches arguing for freedom from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. In a series of tweets sent out May 3, Michael Pahl, executive minister of Mennonite Church Manitoba, called on Christians in his southern Manitoba community to continue to follow public-health orders as a way to…
