The poofy blue MCC couch
When I worked at the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) office in Winnipeg 20 years ago, I took pride in showing up early. Occasionally I even arrived before Norm, the custodian, who turned the lights on at 7 a.m. Sometimes, I was also the last to leave. I was doing advocacy with a Cree community and…
Rest and Restlessness
We asked the Canadian Mennonite community to reflect on rest and restlessness. Where do you find rest for your soul? What do you need rest from? How does Jesus’ promise in Matthew 11 connect with your experience? “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my…
Readers write: June 30, 2023 issue
Column about Holy Land draws response In response to Randy Haluza-DeLay’s June 16 column, “Not talking politics in the Holy Land,” Canadian Mennonite received over 70 identical copies of the letter below. The form letter was posted on the website of HonestReporting Canada, which describes itself as, “an independent grassroots organization promoting fairness and accuracy…
A plastic chair partnership
I was recently tasked with writing a “giving catalogue” that will highlight various activities of Mennonite Church Canada International Witness. For some organizations, this would be easy—one goat costs $15—but how do you reduce leadership development and mentoring, relationship building and the development of Asian-based, post-colonial peace theology into easy bite-size, or wallet-size, pieces? Part…
Peter J. Dyck
Peter J. Dyck was recognized with an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo on Oct. 18, 1974. Dyck was born in 1914 and immigrated with his family to a farm near Laird, Saskatchewan, in 1927. During World War II, he and his wife, Elfrieda were part of the MCC work in Europe helping refugees…
Unity and uniformity
As a preteen more than 50 years ago, I remember asking my mom about the difference between Baptists and Mennonites, given that we were members of a Fellowship Baptist church while all our relatives were Mennonite Brethren. My mom stumbled to find an answer. She finally gave me a response that focused on confidence in…
Worship through visual art
If you have flipped through Voices Together, you have likely found that visually it looks like many other worship and song collections, with one noticeable difference: the inclusion of visual art. Unlike previous collections, the new hymnal contains 12 works of art which are interspersed throughout the collection, depicting acts of worship and aspects of…
Let’s talk about spiritual experiences
In my April column, I invited Canadian Mennonite readers to email me their experiences, thoughts and questions about the Holy Spirit. I’m humbled and grateful to the many people who took the time to formulate responses and send them to me. Thank you for trusting me with your stories. I have been encouraged. The vast…
Four models of multiracial church
In his 2003 book, One Body, One Spirit: Principles of Successful Multiracial Churches, George Yancey shares the results of a major study funded by the Lily Endowment and conducted by Michael Emerson, Karen Chai and Yancey. The researchers discuss four distinctive types of multiracial churches. Below, I analyze these types from a Mennonite perspective. 1)“Leadership…
