Change ahead
I once knew a young child for whom change was extremely difficult. Whether the change came as a surprise or whether the child anticipated the happy results of an expected change, it was hard to move from “here” to “there.” Change can be difficult for people of all ages. As we assembled this issue of…
Readers write: September 19, 2022 issue
Two editorials lauded Re: “Two things not up for debate” and “Acting ‘a little strange’ ” editorials, May 16 and June 27, respectively. What a great editorial. You are expressing my thoughts completely. When the abortion question was discussed in the 1980s at conference and at our Mennonite Central Committee board, I voiced similar thoughts, and…
Faithful constancy
He might be the youth leader, enthusiastically singing the loudest, or the young mother protectively watching over her children as they run among the pews, or the strong-willed divorcée who is the staunch activist for women’s justice, or the angry old man suffering from cancer while his wife sits quietly beside him. What they share…
A narrative of hope
This fall is unlike any fall in my memory. As a new Mennonite pastor, I am entering this fall listening to the hearts and minds of the congregation at Foothills Mennonite Church and helping discern how our church lives faithfully within our neighbourhood and beyond. After two-and-a-half years of pandemic-inhibited ministry, churches must be re-engaging…
Zollikon church
For a few brief months in spring 1525, the first Anabaptist congregation flickered to life in this house in Zollikon, a village on the edge of Zurich, Switzerland. According to the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, the group attempted to become a “free church,” administering communion, preaching, discipline and baptism on their own without reliance…
A tale of two clans
This summer, I attended two family reunions separated by one week. The Olferts, my paternal family, gathered at Pike Lake for several days, while the Warkentins, the maternal side, met a week later at Shekinah, a church camp near my home. Both families, the offspring of my grandparents on both sides, typically meet every three…
Climate imagination
Faith and imagination go hand in hand. Addressing climate change decidedly requires both. Can Christians imagine a different world that takes better care of creation and all human brothers and sisters? Over the past few weeks I have been intricately involved with a team creating material for people and faith communities, with the intent to…
Grasping God’s glory
Sometimes I wish God would indisputably appear in some fantastically obvious way, eliminating my wrestling, struggling and doubt. Something like what happens in II Chronicles 7: “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could…
Canadian Mennonite online event will explore Indigenous-settler reconciliation
The second event in a series of online discussions that Canadian Mennonite is hosting will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. ET. Hosted by Aaron Epp, CM’s online media manager, the discussion will explore Indigenous-settler relations and some of the concrete steps Canadian Mennonites are taking to further reconciliation. We…
