(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Thank you for this excellent, nuanced article (“The gift of life, the question of death,” September 22). Clearly, patients have always made private, off-the-books decisions with the help and hindrance of doctors and loved ones alike.
(Photo: The Canadian Mennonite/ Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
David Klassen of Rosenfeld, Manitoba, age 83, poses for an informal portrait at a family reunion. The photo is from a 1955 article in The Canadian Mennonite, which frequently published articles about family reunions and wedding anniversaries as matters of wider interest to the Mennonite community.
Ben Cassels in Middle Lake, Saskatchewan. (Supplied photo)
As a child, I was vaguely envious of others who had deep connections in Canada. In my family, that was not the case. My parents are from the UK and we spent our vacations going back to visit family. Although born in Canada, I longed for a deeper sense of belonging.
(Unsplash photo by Josue Michel)
My 88-year-old father often asks why churches push out people who don’t 100 percent agree with their theology. “Why can’t they all just get along?” He is worried about the increasing polarization in Western society and within the church.
(Unsplash photo by Caroline Veronez)
Popular author, speaker and shame researcher Brené Brown once quipped, “You can’t swing a cat without hitting a narcissist.” She later apologized for the inhumane image conjured by the idiom, but she stood behind the underlying message. Many psychologists and social scientists agree: Narcissism is everywhere. Some are calling it an epidemic.
(Unsplash photo by Matheus Viana)
In early 2000, when I first stepped into the sanctuary of Willingdon Church in Burnaby, B.C., I was astounded to see the music team’s diversity. A variety of races and ethnicities was represented, singing a chorus praising God.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Wrestling
I read your piece (“The duty of tension,” June 16) and I’ve been wrestling with the content. It was a great editorial, and I commend your willingness to stomach the rhetoric for the sake of journalism (and in promotion of open-mindedness).
Listen to the children. Listen without being defensive. (Wikipedia Commons photo by Dcpeopleandeventsof2017)
It’s worth celebrating that the regions of MC Canada have identified the climate crisis as a priority ministry area in recent years. Like all priorities, where the rubber really hits the road is not in reports and lists and minutes from meetings, but where two or three (or 200 or 300) are gathered—the congregation.
(Photo: Peter Regier fonds / Mennonite Heritage Archives)
This photo depicts the founding of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada in 1902 at Tiefengrund, Sask.
Contrary reactions to the concept of assisted dying are respected. (Photo by Jon Tyson from Unsplash)
My sister Helen is a retired nurse who spent much of her career working with palliative patients. In the last few years of her working life, she encountered medical assistance in dying (MAID).
(Photo by Enrique from Pixabay)
An encounter with Jesus is a call for transformation. Such is the story of Zacchaeus. Jesus noticed him watching from a tree and invited himself for dinner. Zacchaeus must have known Jesus often preached against those with wealth who took advantage of others—as was the reputation of tax collectors such as Zacchaeus—but accepted the hosting request.
(Canadian Mennonite photo)
Psalm 103 contains familiar and beautiful lines that speak of the Lord as being gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. They’re lovely, but that’s not what struck me in my most recent read-through. Instead, I was surprised by:
(Photo by Aaron Epp)
In order to fully embrace the diversity of the church and to live into God’s reign of justice and peace, it is necessary to sing and pray with Indigenous Christians.
Supper at the Wiederkehrs. All ingredients are home grown, except the salt. (Photo by Andre Wiederkehr)
Several varieties of dry beans ready for threshing on the Wiederkehr farm. (Photo courtesy of the Wiederkehr family)
Cascade Ruby-Gold Flint corn with corn sheller. (Photo courtesy of the Wiederkehr family)
Andre Wiederkehr adding a pail of “humanure” to the compost pile. (Photo by Theo Wiederkehr)
My memories of high school are largely a featureless blur—I did graduate 40 years ago—but one incident that stands out in detail is a lecture in my vocational agriculture class. Mr. Upp drew an illustration of nutrient cycling on the chalkboard, complete with stick-figure cows.
Photo by Khyta (Unsplash)
How do you discern a career change? Or, to use language many in the church are familiar with, how do you discern a new call?
After 25 years in local ministry, specifically in the areas of church planting, revitalization and change leadership, my new call came through various means.
Bontu recovered from her trauma after participating in a series of healing sessions. (Supplied photo)
For the past two years, the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC)—the Anabaptist denominational body in Ethiopia—has been working with communities and local institutions to restore peace between warring ethnic groups in the Nono district of the West Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Humans, humus and healing
Kathleen Cahalan of St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Minnesota. (Collegeville Institute Photo)
The first time I remember hearing of a shortage of pastors was over 35 years ago. I was in the process of completing my Bible College degree, and a conference leader was encouraging me to consider a career in pastoral ministry.
(Photo: Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
In December 1924, this family was starting a new life in more ways than one. Katharina (Enns Rempel) and Jacob P. Braun, both widowed, separately emigrated from the Soviet Union to Ontario. A few weeks after their arrival, they were married in the Waterloo region. Here the newly blended family prepares to move from the home of their first Ontario Mennonite hosts.
(Photo by Betty Avery)
I heard some strong language this summer about church from various extended family members. I’m sure this is not just in my family! Conversation at family gatherings is not usually conducive for more thoughtful or caring conversations, but these phrases caught my ear and attention.
“I’m done with church.”
“I’m done with denominations.”
“I’m deconstructing my faith.”
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house. (flickr photo by Mariano Mantel)
This is the first summer I haven’t gone camping for at least 25 years, maybe my entire life. Since Tammy and I got married 23 years ago, our family holidays have focused on hiking, kayaking and sleeping in tents. Often in the rain. My family suggested we try something different this year, and I found myself connecting with God and nature in a new way—through architecture.
Perhaps you remember the 2000 box office hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It tells the story of a young Greek American woman, Toula Portokalos, falling in love with a non-Greek WASP, Ian Miller. Her family struggles to accept him while she struggles to come to terms with her cultural identity.
(Unsplash photo by Ümit Bulut)
I’ve been learning about waiting.
After avoiding it for three years, I tested positive for COVID-19 at the beginning of July—just in time to disrupt the return of the Grand Wallace Road Trip.
Each year we pile the kids into our vehicle and drive hard from Saskatchewan to Montana to Michigan and back to visit family. Or at least, we did until the pandemic started.
Arthur Boers’ new book unpacks the ways his father’s violence shaped the person he became. (Supplied photo)
Shattered includes vibrant, emotional vignettes. (Supplied photo)
In his new book Shattered, Arthur Boers writes, “I realized that I never understood my father, our relationship, or even myself.” In this coming-of-age story, Boers explores his relationship with his father, trying to make sense of why he both feared and loved him. How did his father’s violence shape the person that Boers became?
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
In defense of dandelions
