Behind the scenes
Over the years, I’ve learned that every grand enterprise depends on a certain amount of work behind the scenes, those unglamorous tasks that sustain the public vision but don’t get noticed very often. Paying the bills, maintaining the calendar, wiping the kitchen cupboards, watering the plants, taking out the garbage, changing the toilet paper rolls.…
Learning fluency step by step
Recovering a lost language or learning to speak a language doesn’t happen overnight. But a desire to learn will unbolt the door—swinging it wide open—and fill our lungs with sparkling morning air. We can learn to talk about faith in ways that are honest. We can recover winsome beauty that was lost. We can salt…
Readers write: July 19, 2021 issue
Beware of pulling up the crop with the weeds Re: “Author, bookstore owner dispute ‘censorship’ claim,” June 7, page 21. Censorship versus freedom of speech is a hot topic in the news and, rather than debate thoughtfully about it, we’ve again chosen to quarrel. Censorship, as in the silencing of contrary voices, is everywhere. It’s…
‘It is so good to connect!’
“It is so good to connect with each other.” In my role as executive minister of Mennonite Church Alberta, I have heard this sentiment expressed many times in many different ways. It is a feeling I heard expressed again on a Monday evening in late June as I met with the church chairs from the…
Cairn unveiled
Hochstadt, Man., near Altona was the location of the first delegate meeting of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC) in 1903. A cairn was unveiled in July 1978 at that location to mark the 75th anniversary. On the left is Peter J. Hamm, but who is the man with the beard on the right?…
A pretty big leap for Arthur
It’s Friday. I drive to Rosthern, Sask., and pull in at the Good Neighbours Food Centre, where I will spend the day volunteering. My task, besides praying before the doors are opened, is to deliver groceries to cars, and to offer relationships to everyone I encounter. It’s a good fit. On this day, the action…
Is it moral to bike?
What is a bike to you: Exercise? A commuter vehicle? Opportunity for a family outing? Tool for close-by errands? A connection to simple living? Related to your spirituality? One day, when the kids were young, I came home really upset from a near-altercation with a car during the rush-hour commute from work. You know who…
Discovering my dross
I remember singing in various youth-group settings the once popular, and now dated-sounding, worship song, “Refiner’s Fire.” Admittedly, I never really took the time to ponder the metaphor of being refined in the fire. The words “Purify my heart, let me be as gold and precious silver” sounded nice, accompanied with lyrics desiring holiness. It…
Former Mennonite church building vandalized
“When I first saw it, I thought, ‘We might as well burn it down.’” says Patty Neufeld, of the former Horse Lake Mennonite Church building. “It was really depressing.” The church building was vandalized sometime during the evening of June 21. Though nothing appears to have been stolen, every window in the 111-year-old building was…
