Volume 27 Issue 21
Volume 27, Number 21
God have mercy on the Middle East
As we prepare to send this peace-themed issue of the magazine to press, all eyes are on Gaza. Israeli tanks sit poised at its northern border, ready to invade. Long lines of transport trucks laden with aid sit at its southern border, as a humanitarian catastrophe unfolds. The people of Gaza, mostly civilians, sit in between—cut off, trapped, at the mercy of outside forces.
Memory carrier
“Sir,” said the man, “you and your family can be very proud of your son.”
Readers write: October 20, 2023 issue
Pay attention to artists
Thanks for your willingness to address tough issues facing the church and other institutions in our society. I appreciate your attempt at enlarging the tent by listening to voices that have been marginalized.
Wanner Mennonite Church
This photograph shows Wanner Mennonite Church at worship in July 1950. In the mid-20th century, it was a new pattern for many Ontario Mennonite congregations to have men and women sitting together in a worship service rather than men on one side and women on the other. What is your congregation’s “social geography?” Who sits where? Why do you think this is?
Whose side are you on?
In Joshua 5, we come across one of those wonderfully strange biblical stories that shakes our preconceptions and leaves us with more questions than answers.
Israel is encamped at Gilgal, preparing to besiege Jericho at God’s command—so they firmly believe. Suddenly Joshua sees a man whom he does not recognize standing in front of him, sword drawn.
The guy with the toothpick
A good friend, Wes Neepin, died this past week. I’ve written columns about Wes in the past but used a pseudonym, because I never got around to asking permission to tell his stories. Anonymity seems less important now.
To remember is to work for peace
At this time of year, I begin to rummage through the various drawers of miscellany in search of those red Mennonite Central Committee buttons that say, “To remember is to work for peace.” Maybe you wear such a button too in the run-up to Remembrance Day.
An Open Letter to the Psalmists
Part I: Family ties
Why cut what can be untied? This wise, old saying can apply to family conflicts. Some of our family ties are threadbare and frail; there is strain, and there is underlying conflict that we are aware of but too timid and, dare I say, too peace-loving to address.
Part II: Telling and re-telling who we are
Palestinian voices
Yousef Alkhouri
Yousef Alkhouri is a Palestinian Christian from Gaza. He is a lecturer at Bethlehem Bible College, though is currently studying in Europe. He visited Canada last year, along with Jack Sara, at the invitation of Mennonite Church Canada. The following is part of a note he sent to Canadian Mennonite on October 14.
Mennonites in Ecuador reach out as their country struggles
In August, Iglesia Cristiana Anabautista Menonita de Ecuador (ICAME) published a statement calling for prayers amid escalating violence in the country.
Rod Suderman, Emmanuel pastor, dies at 63
Rod Suderman, lead pastor of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C., died on Sept. 2 following a cancer diagnosis earlier this year. He had also served as a pastor in Saskatchewan and worked in China, both with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and the General Conference Mennonite Church.
Making peace with policing
White Christian nationalism
During three decades of travel to the U.S. for work, I’ve enjoyed many conversations about faith and politics. These discussions have become more polarized in recent years, with my conversation partners often repeating odd, sometimes contradictory views.
Green growth repeats a bad story
Green growth, or green capitalism, is hailed as a novel, inventive solution to the climate crisis. But green growth assumes business as usual—a continuation of our current system based on continuous economic growth—except replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy.
Theatre group tackles abuse
Interactive theatre requires audience participation, explained Cedric Martin as he introduced “I Love You and It Hurts,” a Theatre of the Beat performance held at the Kitchener Public Library on September 30. “Don’t panic,” he added quickly, promising that no one would be coerced or shamed into participating.
Children find belonging, friendship in Winnipeg choir
It’s a Wednesday evening and the two dozen children gathered in a room at the back of Sargent Avenue Mennonite Church in Winnipeg are singing about candy-coated chocolate.
“Mommy made me mash my M&M’s” isn’t a sentence one expects to hear in church, but the members of the Sargent Junior Choir are singing the phrase as part of their warm-up exercises.
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