Tied to One Another
We sat in a large circle in the lounge, some sitting straight with legs crossed, others stretched out on the carpeted floor. One by one we passed the “talking piece” and we invited to say a few words about the experience of the last few weeks. I think the organizers of the evening from NARPI…
Introduction to NARPI
NARPI stands for Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute and is run through collaboration among several organizations across South Korea, Japan, and China. Their goal is to meet regularly for several weeks in the summer to gather peacebuilding practitioners and students from Northeast Asia to share their experience, get to know one another, and learn new…
War and Peace through Taxes
While studying in Harrisonburg, Virginia, I was fortunate to have work on campus. What I didn’t realize when taking the job that I would have an ethical dilemma. If I received a paycheque, I would also have to pay taxes. Although I fully support the use of taxes in any country to provide for education,…
Unintended Consequences
Today I read a post from the Globe and Mail highlighted by Dan Dyck on the MC Canada facebook page about a retired teacher and church member who decided to start helping people file their taxes. As a result, many people received tax returns from tax credits they hadn’t used and from not filing in…
First Advent: Presence in the Chaos
With the first Sunday of advent come the simple little changes that I have come to make to mark this season as set apart. Placing candles on the table, shifting devotionals from regular materials to special advent resources, getting out Christmas music and decorations, and planning special worship with our faith community all happen year…
Recent Korea Reflections
Recently, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about “things” in Korea. It’s hard to know what to think about the recent violence on the peninsula from the English and Korean media I read and the comments from friends and family around Seoul. I may write more in the future, but I wanted to share…
