Are you okay with okay?
It’s been a while since you dared listen to the whispers of your innermost being, calling you to discover who you truly, fully are. That inner voice suggesting there is a power at work within you capable of doing far greater things than you could ever hope for or imagine. But hope is a dangerous…
A defining moment revisited
In the summer of 2003, as I pondered how to say farewell to a 24-year career as editor of Canadian Mennonite and its predecessor, Mennonite Reporter, a friend suggested I reflect back on some defining moments. I could think of many such moments, but the one that loomed the largest was what happened in 1997.…
A pastor’s holy moments
We expect a lot from our pastors, especially the part-time ones who are forced to be bi-vocational. They speak candidly about their roles and their congregation’s expectations in this issue beginning on page 4, as interviewed by our Saskatchewan correspondent, Donna Schulz. Are we getting enough bang for our buck, to use a cliché? Yes,…
The snowball effect
The snowball effect refers to a situation in which something starts off small or insignificant and increases in size or importance at an accelerating rate. Like when you roll a small snowball through wet snow and it accumulates more and more snow until it becomes so large and heavy that you can’t move it anymore.…
Preserving the voices of the past
“This is our collective memory,” says Conrad Stoesz, gesturing to a long hallway filled with row upon row of shelves, packed with files and boxes. Stoesz is the archivist at the Mennonite Heritage Archives (MHA), located on the campus of Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg. The “collective memory” stored in this archive is made…
Readers write: May 11, 2020 issue
Don’t confuse a thrift-store receipt with a charitable receipt Re: “Thrift shopper, peacebuilder,” March 30, page 11. This column raises a number of concerns in regards to how some may view donations/tithing, corporations/brands, and the mission of thrift stores: A purchase at a thrift store should not be considered a donation or part of one’s…
El Shaddai’s Story II
Part 2… The story progresses.
How long until the fullness of time?
There is an old story that when Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Pope Julius would come by to yell up at him in the scaffolding, “When will my ceiling be ready?” Michelangelo would grit his teeth and mutter, “When it is finished.” In Mark 5, Jesus enters a town and a…
Good Friday and the important travel companion
Can you believe that I proposed to my wife in a cemetery? It wasn’t premeditated. We went for a walk and ended up there. That’s when it felt right. I got down on one knee like a sentimentalist and said, “This is where it starts and this is where it ends.” The line just came…
Seated among the unsettled
There are people who feel entirely settled in their lives. They feel confident about their location, occupation and calling in life. Then there are the rest of us. We’re not so sure. We’re not sure where to live, what to study, who to marry, where to work, when to retire, which church to attend, whether…
