‘I expected better from you’
I’ll never forget the moment that Bill came to sit with me in the penalty box. I was rather embarrassed. It was a Bible college intramural hockey game. I had been a little chippy with my stick. I had been a little lippy with my mouth. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time that game. The…
Making Space for the Stranger
We are accustomed to reading the narrative of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) as something of an ethereal event, a moment of encounter with the divine realm during which Mary’s feet didn’t quite touch the ground. But in our preoccupation with the other-worldly, we can overlook the fact that this is one of the most this-worldly…
Worship as drama
Occasionally, because of my background in dramatic arts and pastoral ministry, I have been asked how well worship and drama mix. The query often assumes a disconnect between the two, or, at best, a sense that if the “dramatic element” is missing, it can simply be added to an existent worship outline with a skit,…
‘A place that gives life’
Larry Miller remembers one moment clearly when, as a 38-year-old, he was weighing whether or not to accept the nomination to lead Mennonite World Conference (MWC). The year was 1988 and he was sitting in a university library in Strasbourg, France, where he lived. “I was working on my dissertation, and I looked up and…
God in the nooks and crannies
On the first Sunday of Advent, many of us will hear the proclamation, “The Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Matthew 25:44). Advent worship resources from The Leader have highlighted the words “an unexpected hour” as a theme for this season. We are called to make space to receive God’s presence among…
Reconciliation requires an end to guilty white inhibition
The door to reconciliation is open further now than ever before in Canada. From Trudeau to church organizers I speak with, interest in improving relations between indigenous and non-indigenous people is far greater than even a few years ago. Yet most of the discussion leaves me feeling hollow. If we are to seize this moment,…
Meeting the Risen Lord in church
When I am in Vancouver, I am bad at going to church. I was better last year when my friend Rebecca and I would go, sharing ear buds and listening to One Direction all the way there and back, but this year Rebecca is in Australia and I haven’t gone to church once. I guess…
MC Alberta calls congregants to prayer with Zoom
At 7:30 on Monday mornings, members of Mennonite Church Alberta wake up to pray together on Zoom. Each participant is invited to light a candle, open a print copy of the Anabaptist prayer book, Take our Moments and our Days, or the accompanying digital app, and pull out their Mennonite hymnal for a time of…
Wisdom, where art thou? (Pt. 1)
One of the devil’s tactics in the temptation of Jesus, recorded in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, intrigues me. In this story, Satan takes Jesus to the holy city of God, into the house of God, and uses the Word of God to distort the truth of God and oppose the will of God. The…
The purpose and joy of congregational singing
“I turned the key and the stillness of the morning was shattered by the uneven rumbling of the engine. Everything was ready for the day’s work. In a few minutes, the pickup would drive onto the farmyard and empty its load of Mexican labourers. But for now I was alone. I eased the clutch out…
