Humble confessions, compelling stories
As Neill von Gunten and his Black companions departed an increasingly volatile Chicago rally at which Martin Luther King Jr. had taken a brick to the head, KKK members and other whites attacked their bus at a red light. Bricks flew through windows. Rioters rocked the bus. Amid panic, the driver ran the red…
Watch: Ten helpful steps to decolonize our minds
How can Mennonites, with their long colonial history, work toward genuine reconciliation with Indigenous peoples? Mennonite Church British Columbia’s Indigenous Relations Task Group has some ideas. In a video released earlier this year, the group’s members provide a list of 10 actionable steps Mennonites can take to decolonize their minds, and they invite believers to…
Tending the cairn
A public apology is one of many ways that a church may address past wrongs and those persons who have been harmed. Right now, for example, even following the apology by the Canadian Catholic bishops, there remains a strong call for an apology by Pope Francis for residential schools in Canada and abuses that happened…
Peace on the screen
A rant is taking shape in your brain, anger is seething in your gut, your finger is poised over the “post” button. What could possibly go wrong? One option is to step away from your device, take a deep breath, and think “reconciliation.” That is the advice offered in the new book, Posting Peace: Why…
Race explored in 2021 Bechtel Lecture
This year’s virtual Bechtel Lecture, “Blackness, whiteness and the Anabaptist ‘imagined community’ in print and mission,” featured two speakers: Diana Braithwaite, an accomplished blues, gospel and jazz performer, and founder and director of the Rella Braithwaite Black History Foundation, where she researches, preserves and shares the story of Blacks in Canada. Timothy D. Epp, an…
Reconciliation recommendations for worship
In an Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary course for worship leaders engaging the new Voices Together hymnal, we were asked to consider the following question for an assignment: How can our congregaton’s worship focus more on justice and racial reconciliation? We found some resonance in our respective responses and collaborated to share them more broadly. We…
Confronting the fear of our history
“Yet we Christians have also been called to take a good hard look at ourselves. To reflect on our Christian beliefs, to scrutinize our missional practices. And to decolonize. It’s not that Christianity is inherently colonial, but for generations the church and its faith have been used —wittingly, unwittingly, and far too often—as instruments of…
Two countries, one mission on the Korean Peninsula
It has been more than 60 years since the ceasefire that ended the Korean War, but to this day North Korea and South Korea do not have an official peace, and the divide remains great. In the last months of 2018, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada executive director Rick Cober Bauman and MCC U.S. executive…
Seeking reconciliation through jubilee
What does the ancient Levitical concept of jubilee have to do with reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and their settler neighbours? Plenty, according to Steve Heinrichs. During Rosthern Mennonite Church’s Deeper Life Days on Jan. 26 and 27, 2018, Heinrichs, who is director of Indigenous-settler relations for Mennonite Church Canada, presented a three-session workshop entitled “Unsettling…
Seeking reconciliation through multicultural art
Around 200 people gathered at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery on Jan. 26 to celebrate the opening of Reconciliation Through the Arts, an exhibition of Indigenous and settler art that explores the history and present reality of colonization in Canada and different visions of reconciliation. Clairissa Kelly, coordinator of the Peguis Post-Secondary Transition Program at…
