Christmas delight?
Christmas is a difficult season for many people, myself included. As a Christian, I “should” be celebrating the birth of Jesus. The angels sing of “great joy” as the lowly and the mighty come to bend the knee at the crude bedside of the baby. The Incarnation is what makes Christianity profoundly different from all…
What is your theory of social change?
Some years after making a faith commitment, I was drawn by Anabaptism. It seemed to be a movement of the spirit, deeply aligned with the way of Jesus, which had attracted me to the Christian faith. The historic peace churches have had impacts on Christianity in general and the world that far outweigh their limited…
Climate imagination
Faith and imagination go hand in hand. Addressing climate change decidedly requires both. Can Christians imagine a different world that takes better care of creation and all human brothers and sisters? Over the past few weeks I have been intricately involved with a team creating material for people and faith communities, with the intent to…
Cycling the Black history of Ontario
When I moved from Alberta last year, my explorations of Ontario began by bike. My cycling companions showed me things I had not heard of. Once, we biked past the towering statue of some military guy on the heights above the town of Queenston. Just a day earlier, we had cycled around another part of the…
Faithfulness in the face of facts
Even if Gandhi is reputed to have said, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” it is clear he did not mean to stop at personal change! Read most histories of this quote, and personal change is the interpretive emphasis. But we all know that Gandhi aimed to change the social and…
Lonely without insects
Once upon a time I hitchhiked to a park visitors centre nestled beneath Wyoming’s Grand Tetons. Next to other quotes by famous American wilderness gurus were the words of a far-less recognized teacher of ecological wisdom. “Woe be unto you, who add house to house and field to field until you live alone in the…
Mission for now
Since this is the Spring Books and Resources issue of Canadian Mennonite, let me recommend a book that speaks directly to some of the headline news of the past few weeks. No, it’s not something on Ukraine. It’s a book on mission. A monster challenge is how institutions respond to issues of social injustice and…
A culture of peace
The very day that Russia sent tanks across the Ukrainian border, a book on nonviolence arrived at my door. Sometimes I wonder if God does that sort of thing intentionally. As an advocate of nonviolence, I have been queried frequently about what can be done about this war. The challenge is whether one can say…
CPT changed its name
The organization formerly known as Christian Peacemaker Teams has changed its name, replacing the meaning of that first letter with “Community.” I have two reactions. First, the name change is good for the organization. Second, it shows that the broader church has not caught the vision of the peacemaker Jesus. As an organization, CPT supports…
On evangelization
I am in favour of talking about faith in Jesus. I especially like to do so with those who do not hold to that faith. Some call that “evangelism” and use it as a dirty word. We all know great abuses have occurred doing evangelism. Still, I am in favour of it. I even want…
