social concerns

Proximity and resources

Winnipeg experienced its tenth homicide last week. The shooting took place around the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation parking lot at Portage and Young. We were likely just leaving our house at that time to run a few errands. I am trying to retrace the moments to see if anything comes to mind. We would have been close enough to hear the shooting. Learning about the shooting does not seem to phase me personally, despite the proximity. In the larger media and civic perspective this will of course

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social concerns

justice

Is this heaven? . . . No its the 44

A few weeks ago in the first Sunday of Lent I challenged our congregation to fast from the fruits of privilege. One minor act on my part has been to ride the bus as often as possible. As a country-boy the bus has always been a source of fascination for me and this spiritual exercise paid dividends this last week as my experience ended comprising about half the sermon

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Preaching Existentially?

I am detecting a consistent trend in my preaching. I am targeting the individual. This comes in part from my own experience and formation in existentialism but also in my experience of the Mennonite church in which it is easy for individuals to point to our good works in social services and non-violent initiatives. And then when the individual is called to account it is typically with some moral leveraging or slightly shamed response of what else we could be doing.

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The Good Neighbourhood

My wife and I recently purchased our first home. The house is located in a neighbourhood of Winnipeg in which I have spent the vast majority of my adult Manitoba life. Moving back from Ontario it was like coming back home. I am referring to the Spence Neighbourhood in the West End of Winnipeg. I have lived on Spence St, Young St and I now reside on Langside. What is clear to me is that everyone, everyone from Winnipeg somehow knows this is a 'bad' neighbourhood. This is so implicitly ingrained in my psyche that when I tell people where our house was I began to rationalize or

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social concerns

politics

city

social concerns

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