Readers write: Jan. 6, 2014 issue

Daughter of Pembina Place resident disputes ‘quality of care’ comment

Re: “Bethania Group dismisses CEO,” Oct. 14, 2013, page 23.

I read with interest the article outlining steps Bethania and Pembina Place personal care homes will be taking to remedy the Ray Koop incident.

My father was placed in Pembina Place two years ago due to declining health related to Alzheimer’s disease. After researching a fair number of places, my mother and the children thought we had found a place with quality care which included adequate supervision needed for someone living with Alzheimer’s.

Unfortunately, our experience proved otherwise. This is why I was puzzled to read in Canadian Mennonite the statement, “Throughout this difficult time the quality of care was never in question.”

In fact, our family met a number of times with Pembina Place management, which at one point included Koop, to express concerns over inadequate staffing. Funding seemed to be the issue, to the point that during night shifts one nurse was assigned to both floors of Pembina Place with some 60-plus residents.

Lack of adequate supervision at night meant my father would fall when wandering or would end up in the rooms of other residents unheeded. My mother made daily trips to Pembina Place to ensure Dad was fed and his daily needs attended to.

The staff, for the most part, were diligent, caring and compassionate, but due to inadequate staff numbers—although we were told government standards were adhered to—it was obvious this facility was offering inadequate care based on minimal standards, and not the high-quality resident care claimed in the article.

What makes this more painful is the high salary Koop was receiving plus the bonus/rehire scenario. It calls into question the viability of a board that agreed to such an arrangement and then resisted the necessary government-mandated investigation. It also calls into question our integrity as Mennonites offering institutional care, when articles referencing such situations continue to defend a system that was flawed and clearly not delivering on promises.

Joanna Bergen, Winnipeg

God desires to help Rob Ford Re: “The wonder of scandalous grace,” Nov. 11, 2013, page 11.

This article really hit home with me. In the face of the continuing political scandal that is rocking Toronto over the mayor’s involvement with drugs and gangs, I have been thinking more and more of Philippians 4:8, where Paul instructs believers to focus their thoughts on the things that are lovely, pure, true, worthy of praise and of good report.

How sad is it to see ugly situations such as this generate distasteful gossip? While I agree that it is true our mayor needs help—and God desires to help him if he would but turn to him—this writing from Paul is a continual reminder that this world was created beautiful. A little verse I learned as a child comes to mind: “Come and see the works of God, for he has made everything beautiful!” Robert Just (online submission)

Reader bothered by Mennonite ‘blood songs’

Re “Atonement: Can our salvation be reduced to a single theory or is it a many splendoured mystery that defies an easy answer?” Nov. 11, 2013, page 4.

Ever since I was baptized as a young teenager during the early 1970s, I have been bothered by the “blood songs” as taught by my Mennonite peace church. In this I have much in common with J. Denny Weaver’s metaphor of atonement as summarized in Dave Rogalsky’s feature.

During my stay in residence at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont., I was drawn to the Mennonite emphasis on community. I believe we make a mistake if we do not recognize the contribution of Jesus’ mother in the salvation story. An angel is recorded in the New Testament as having spoken directly with Mary, who is recorded as being a witness at the cross during the death of Jesus. As a mother, Mary must have had an influence on Jesus as a boy and young man.

Although Mary is not recorded as being a leader in the early church, I agree with a suggestion by Idrisa Pandit, a Muslim scholar at Renison University College, Waterloo, that Mary could be considered a prophet of God. We who call ourselves Christians do not respect our nonviolent Mennonite traditions when we fail to celebrate Jesus’ life during the Easter season. Myron Steinman, Kitchener, Ont.

Canadian Mennonite enjoyed in the bath

I enjoy reading while relaxing in a nice warm bath. It was here that I first opened the pages of the Nov. 11, 2013, issue of Canadian Mennonite and what a delightful experience it was.

I began with the “Atonement” feature article by Dave Rogalsky. The atonement and its varied models have intrigued me for some years, especially when a fine friend of mine, the local United Church minister, each year around Easter time loudly and clearly states that “Jesus never died for my sins.” By most, he is taken as a heretic, but really he is simply asking some of the same questions of the atonement asked by Rogalsky, and has come to reject the commonly held Satisfaction Atonement, especially in its cheapest form.

Not mentioned in the article was the work of Rene Girard, who has also significantly contributed to the debate. I was happy to hear the conclusions of some of our scholars that it is okay to accept a degree of unknown and mystery in the redeeming work of God.

That was followed by Aiden Enns’s New Order Voice column, “Eight points for a great sermon.” Some would argue that Enns speaks from the fringes, but I continually hear from him what it means to live out the core of what it means to follow Jesus. I can also relate to the inconsistencies and tensions of being relatively rich, white and a property owner, and yet take Jesus seriously. (My understanding of atonement becomes important here).

Finally, there was Ryan Dueck’s “10 things I really like about my church” reflection. I especially like the notion of being a church without a lot of schemes and programs to entice outsiders in, but rather simply being a loving accepting, neighbourly community of grace where people feel welcome. I think he outlines 10 points we could all score our churches on to see how well we are doing. I got no further than that. The water was cold and I had to get out, dried and dressed. But I do look forward to my next bath! Linden Willms, Pincher Creek, Alta.

‘Never underestimate the power of music’

Re: “Music at work,” Nov. 11, 2013, page 35. Continue with your musical talents encouraging others, Erin Koop and Lori Schroeder!

I’m not a music major or a music therapist. Nor do I have clients. But I see very clearly the powerful benefits of music as I visit senior residents. Often there’ll be a cluster of people waiting for the next event to commence: a craft, a game or a meal. Sometimes the wait can be 45 minutes or longer, so I’ll take the liberty to play a few tunes on the keyboard nearby.

They hear the first measures of “You Are My Sunshine” or “Gott ist die Liebe,” and the waiting time becomes a little more meaningful. Residents, who a few minutes ago were starting to nod off and perhaps even wonder what to do next, start humming, singing, smiling or toe-tapping. Many of these folks are often dealing with dementia.

It’s very revealing in this particular setting to experience the change that a few musical numbers can offer. So let’s never underestimate the power of music. I’ve witnessed its deep effect on hurting bodies and diseased minds.

How I thank God time and time again for his gift of music to us. Trudy Enns, St. Catharines, Ont.

Reader appreciative of recent climate change, food articles

Thank you for addressing issues of climate change and food. They are the emerging peace-discipleship issues that will require much of us as followers of Jesus Christ concerned with our personal discipleship, global humanity and our creation home.

In “A bloody satisfying hassle,” Nov. 11, 2013, page 27, Will Braun addresses the goodness of self-sufficiency. In “A three-course meal of words,” Nov. 11, page 26, we learn that we can, as a community of faith, speak with one another and find enough common ground to move forward together. In “Thinking in a different way,” Nov. 11, 2013, page 28, we learn that hospitality and learning new skills that will benefit others are things many of us can share in. And on page 7 of the Nov. 25, 2013, issue, Willard Metzger says climate change is “really a peace and justice issue.”

The heavy lifting yet to be done is to understand the vulnerability we have as producers and consumers to corporate interests that control so much of our food production, processing and retailing. What is our response as a faith community in times of plenty and want?

Our educational institutions have a responsibility to help us reflect theologically on genetically modified foods and food security, as two corporations control the genetics for meat chickens in North America, and to help us live as self-sufficient citizens of creation, rather than solely as dependent consumers.

It seems also that our Amish brothers and sisters may have some things to teach us about not being dependent on corporate or government structures that compromise our witness.

I note with sadness that David Suzuki expresses a sense of futility in a recent issue of Maclean’s magazine, in his life work in the environmental movement. Can we as a people of God explore creative ways, old and new, that are life-giving, dignifying and hopeful, and ways of making a living upon the earth that are gentle, productive, neighbourly? I believe we can.

Canadian Mennonite has ushered us into that conversation. May God guide and encourage us as we seek solutions in faithfulness. In closing, “May all who gather at your table for sustenance, find grace, hope and love, abiding there with you.” May it be so for all of us. Walter Bergen, Chilliwack, B.C.

Focus on Jesus’ teaching rather than his death

I applaud Canadian Mennonite for aspiring to function as glue at a “yeasty time,” as Sarah Wenger Shenk quoted a Washington Post columnist.

On page 4 of the Nov. 11, 2013, issue, Dave Rogalsky’s review of interpretations in relation to Satisfaction Atonement—as expressed in American societal response to criminal activity—is a cogent reflection on the inconsistencies in Canadian and American societies. Troy Watson, in “Attunement: Part 2,” Nov. 25, page 13, reminds me of Madeleine L’Engle when she reflects on atonement as “at-one-ment.”

The yeast, it seems, may be in whether the emphasis is on Jesus’ life and teaching or on the theories of the meaning of his death. The genius of the Anabaptists, it seems to me, is that they focused mainly on Jesus’ teaching. Raymond Brubaker, St. Albert, Alta.

Canadian Mennonite triggers wartime reflections

Helmut Lemke’s reflections were triggered by his Remembrance Day reading of the Oct. 28, 2013, issue of Canadian Mennonite, which featured “Let nobody judge them.”

When I was 17, a young Mennonite living in a small community in West Prussia, Germany, I received a draft notice to serve in the German army. I was not courageous enough to risk my life to resist it. If all men who followed the draft had been shunned, the church benches in our community would have been filled with children and women only. During the last year of the Second World War, I was sent to the Eastern Front to defend the area of my home village against the approaching Russian army. I was wounded and awaited the end of the war in a military hospital.

Sixty-five years later, I responded to a request from Historica Canada’s Memory Project asking me if I would be willing to share my experiences with high school students. Three schools invited me.

I told the students that I have some difficulty to think on Remembrance Day of Canadian soldiers only as patriots or heroes. I wanted the students to relive with me a day on the battlefield to find out the reality of war and the tragic “side effects” of it.

We soldiers were trained to kill and some could do this better than others. For many of us, the whiff of adventure and patriotism, or the assurance “that we could do it,” soon dissipated when the action on the frontlines began and bullets were hitting. Many of us were afraid of being killed or maimed by enemy fire.

Soldiers who had not been desensitized by propaganda about the “bad guys on the other side” went through agony being ordered to kill other human beings like themselves: husbands whose wives would become widows, fathers whose children would grow up as orphans, and sons whose parents would be deprived of their caregivers.

I saw fellow soldiers being killed or wounded and dying under great pain on the battlefield or in a military hospital. Having been wounded myself, I saw young soldiers who had lost their arms or legs, or who had their face deformed or lungs punctured by shrapnel, who would have to live the rest of their lives with these handicaps.

I had a sister who had to work for an air force unit. She disappeared during the last weeks of the war. We never found out her whereabouts or what happened to her. My uncle and cousins did not return from the war, and their wives had to bring up their children without fathers. One cousin suffered depression from traumatic war experiences, having been wounded in the terrible Battle of Stalingrad.

A young cousin saw his mother die of starvation. My grandparents and aunt were burned alive in their home, which Russian soldiers set on fire one night in January 1945.

Some of my civilian relatives were captured by the Russians and taken to Siberia, where they were subjected to hard labour. Some of them died there, while others were released after several years because of sickness.

I closed my talks with the words of General Sherman: “War is hell.”

Many students shook my hand and thanked me when they left the room. One even gave me a hug. Helmut Lemke, Burnaby, B.C.

Reader feels headline left Leamington out

Re: “Rockway Collegiate gets $150,000 ‘challenge’ gift,” Nov. 25, 2013, page 23.

Just wondering why this article has the title it does, instead of something like “MC Eastern Canada provides $150,000 ‘challenge’ gifts to Mennonite high schools.” If one reads the entire article, UMEI Christian High School in Leamington, Ont., is mentioned over half-way through, but some people only skim headlines, so the fact that UMEI also received $150,000 might never be read by some.

Perhaps the editor has a valid reason for choosing the title he did. However, from the point of view of people living “way down here” in Leamington, the title seems less than inclusive. Victor Huebert, Leamington, Ont.

MC Canada can learn from Nelson Mandela

As Mennonites, I think we have something to learn from this great leader, Nelson Mandela.

Not the idea of peace and reconciliation, which we already have in our Anabaptist heritage, but the fortitude and thoroughness of this conviction that seemed to permeate every living breath he took. This man has taken “our idea” and run with it, with results that have drawn together the largest and most diverse group of world leaders ever.

I think Mandela considered himself a Christian; his denomination doesn’t really matter. The main thing is that his words and actions showed that he respected all races and religions. The result is a power that transcends all the military machinery this world can muster.

Our Mennonite Church Canada leadership is currently reviewing the structure of our church to ensure that it remains relevant to our times. Let’s hope we don’t dilute the core of the belief system we have inherited, but will create a structure that’s open and creative enough to translate these convictions into deeds, as Mandela has so ably demonstrated. Richard Penner, Calgary

--Letters posted Dec. 24, 2013