Making sense of the bleakness
“An urgent reality … a state of public health emergency.” This is how our premier, Jason Kenney, described our situation in Alberta last week because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is probably not news to anyone that the number of new cases in Alberta has continued to rise dramatically over the last couple weeks. Hospitals…
Gifts received, gifts given
As Christmas approaches, many of us are thinking about gifts. The beautifully wrapped packages under the Christmas tree, of course. Also other types of gifts—the kind that we can receive and give at any time of the year. The gifts that require more than a click on a website or a trip to the mall.…
A gift to faith
Advent is the season of waiting for the gift to come. Advent moves into the season of Christmas, which ends at Epiphany, when the Magi—possibly Zoroastrians—famously gave gifts to the infant Jesus. In these monthly columns I have tried to emphasize the mind as a gift essential to faith. Another emphasis is that our objective…
Waiting in the dark
waiting in the dark this season and place tilted away from the sun provides generous hours of darkness darkness may harbour breathtaking fear endless dread of unknowns aching hearts darkness may host healing rest lovemaking visitations in dreams babies grow strong in dark wombs turnips and beet roots stretch and fatten in dark earth darkness…
An Anabaptist does Advent
I don’t recall talking about Advent in the church in which I grew up, an Anabaptist church with a conservative evangelical bent. Certainly we didn’t mention Lent. And those other church days, with names like “Epiphany” and “Trinity Sunday” and “Feast of Christ the King”? Those weren’t even in my universe. We celebrated the five…
Goshen College’s annual online Advent devotions to start Nov. 25
GOSHEN, Ind. — Goshen College will offer annual online weekday devotions to help believers make time and space in their hearts and minds to reflect during the season of Advent. Beginning Nov. 25, the week before the first Sunday of Advent, and culminating on Christmas Day, Goshen College students, faculty and staff will provide weekday…
An everlasting light
God of grace, today we pray for peace for the City of Bethlehem. It has had more than its share of conflict, as it has changed from a sleepy little town to a bustling city that is visited by millions each year. Lord, you know the walls that separate people in Bethlehem: walls of concrete,…
Pregnant with peace
From the moment we learned I was pregnant, the baby we longed for was continually on my mind. What would it look like? What kind of personality would it have? How would this baby change our life? I was truly “expecting.” Expectant waiting with our baby in mind transformed not just me and my husband,…
‘What’s next, God?’
Advent means arrival. During Advent we contemplate and celebrate the arrival of our Messiah. However, the purpose of Advent for Spirit-filled followers of Christ is not to pretend to long for the coming of Christ, whose presence we are already intimately familiar with. For us, Advent is an opportunity to cultivate a deeper longing for…
Significant tidings
What are the significant stories in this issue? When I asked this question in the office, the answer came back: “They’re all significant.” This, our Christmas issue, is chock-full of stories to pay attention to—with our prayers and actions. Two international stories stand out—some good news and some heart-breaking news. Our Anabaptist sisters and brothers…
