Leaving a church that left
Harv Wiebe—not his real name—did not agree with his congregation’s decision to leave the regional church, but still, he hoped things would work out for the congregation he had once pastored. Questions about the conference had been discussed in the small-town congregation for many years, Wiebe says. (Canadian Mennonite is not identifying Wiebe due to…
Hillsboro Resolution
In 1974, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) approved a resolution that encouraged each Mennonite household in North America to “examine its lifestyle” and adopt a goal to “reduce consumption and expenditures by 10 percent.” It came to be known as the Hillsboro Resolution, as the meeting in question took place in Hillsboro, Kansas. Five years after…
Humans and Humus
On a hundred hilly acres near Mildmay, Ontario, the Wiederkehr family is quietly pushing the limits of human energy, spiritual integrity and disconnection from the consumerist web. The following is the first in a series of bi-monthly dispatches from their family. If you were to visit my family’s home and stroll about with a sharp…
Dispatches from the front lines
I’m basing the form of this final missive on the last book I read, Dispatches—a harrowing and sometimes hilarious memoir by Michael Herr, who covered the insanity of the Vietnam War for Esquire magazine during two years in the late 1960s. (How insane is it that Esquire thought it needed a war correspondent in the…
The piano ban
October 22 was a normal Sunday. I had just arrived at Rockway Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont., when Conrad Brunk approached me. He is a fellow Rockway member, a former colleague at Conrad Grebel University College and a former next-door neighbour in Harrisonburg, Va. when we were very young. He wanted to talk about “the…
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.…
Faithful constancy
He might be the youth leader, enthusiastically singing the loudest, or the young mother protectively watching over her children as they run among the pews, or the strong-willed divorcée who is the staunch activist for women’s justice, or the angry old man suffering from cancer while his wife sits quietly beside him. What they share…
We gratefully acknowledge . . .
In recent years, whether attending church meetings or public or community gatherings, Canadians may have heard opening words similar to these: “We gratefully acknowledge that we are meeting today on the traditional, ancestral territory of [local Indigenous group].” Especially since the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) report and Calls to Action published in 2015,…
The way is made by walking
Lately I’ve had a lot of trouble concentrating. This past week I have spent far too many hours staring at my computer screen without much progress being made. When this happens, I find myself staring at my to-do list, expecting things to take care of themselves, and being surprised when, at the end of the…
Justice in the name of Jesus
Some Mennonites raise their hands when they sing. Others don’t. Some attend climate rallies and examine decolonization. Others don’t. Some Mennonites hear sermons focused on the Word and personal relationship with Jesus. Others hear sermons that draw on Pete Enns; Mary Oliver, a modern day mystic; or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. My point,…
