Readers Write: March 29, 2024
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Solution must be negotiated, not dictated
I read with interest, and some disgust, Richard Penner’s letter (“Readers write”) in your January 26 issue and offer a few responses.
Opinion
Indigenous relations are not science fiction
Photo by Lukas Hartmann/Pexels.
It has been more than eight years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report, including 94 Calls to Action that various levels of government and religious communities committed themselves to implementing.
Voices from other worlds
Photo by Casey Horner.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
I clutched the oversized cup of bubbly liquid in my hands. The room was dark, and I navigated the stairs frightfully. We were late. I was with my brother, sister and dad. We fumbled our way to our seats. I sat down just in time to glance up as the big blue letters appeared.
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”
Readers write: March 8, 2024
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
To pay the price of peace
Thank you for the February 21 webinar with Maoz Inon. He reminds me of the many Israelis who work for peace by embodying forgiveness, hope, justice and reconciliation. Their witness affirms my commitment to Anabaptism.
The maize of peace
Cascade Ruby-Gold flint, Arkhipov White Dent, and Tuscarora White flour corn braided and hung for storage. Photo by Andre Wiederkehr.
By avocation, I am an historian with a strong interest in global geopolitics, so it feels odd to be a subsistence farmer. I spend much of my time just meeting my daily needs, while hearing about wars in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere.
Does my life ignore others’ pain? Could I do more?
Gathering matters more than you think
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels
I am a huge advocate for the local church.
It is the gathering of people around the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus that frees our imaginations and forms our hearts to be a different kind of nation on the earth.
Longing for transformation
As light fades . . . . Photo by fdecomite/Flickr Creative Commons.
I recently attended the Mennonite Church Manitoba annual general meeting (AGM) in Winkler. I find those events both energizing and demoralizing, which is why I have attended only a few in my life.
Seeing clearly
Photo by Luiz M Santos/Pexels.
I saw a commercial during a hockey game recently that ended with an image of an Uber Eats bag sitting beside a bowl of macaroni and cheese and a Kraft Dinner box. This struck me as odd. I wondered, what’s the connection between Uber Eats and Kraft Dinner?
One more on unity and diversity
Photo by Mckenna Phillips/Unsplash
I’ve been writing this column for four-and-a-half years, and I’m sure I’ve used the same ideas more than once. In this, my last column, I return to the two core ideas that I get passionate about the most often.
There is plenty of danger in a single story, and yet my story is not dissimilar to many others.
Do I see a hand?
Photo by Alex Woods/Unsplash
I was sitting on Dave Scott’s porch on the Swan Lake First Nation a few years back when he started talking about a handshake treaty between his Ojibwe ancestors and Mennonites.
I had never heard of this. Later, I discovered no Mennonite historians had either.
Readers write: February 23, 2024
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Review the confession of faith
In response to “Jewish perspectives” (January 26), I note that Article 22 of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective states:
Lessons from the medicine wheel
Photo by Madison Podjask/Unsplash
Each year, A Common Word Alberta brings Muslims and Christians together in Edmonton to plan an annual interfaith dialogue.
Nothing new under the sun
In Ndebele, my language, we have a proverb that says, Inala kayihambi, kuhamba indlala. It says that times of abundant harvest are not reported, but times of hunger and famine make good news. Too true.
Circling back to simplicity
Photo by Koolshooters/Pexels.
I’ve been thinking about simplicity. Are today’s Canadian Mennonites committed to faith-motivated simple living? Am I?
See all of us
Photo Dlxmedia/Unsplash.
Grace has increasingly become my lens for reading both scripture and other people. I have come to think grace—the wildly undeserved favour dispensed by God—is the most important feature of the gospel.
Readers write: February 9, 2024
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
History lesson
Will Braun’s editorial about Di Brandt (“The institution of messiness,” September 22, 2023) is a valuable piece that I hope many people will read.
In the past two centuries, the arts have gone through an unprecedented transition in Western societies, and our institutions—including churches—have often been resistant to that change.
Responding to God’s call
Photo by Alexander Andrews/Unsplash.
New Year’s Day is often a time we reflect on the events and experiences of the past year. It is also the time we look forward to what might lie ahead.
In due season
Photo by 성두 홍/Pexels.
When I first started working out at a CrossFit gym, my muscles ached constantly.
After a few months, I asked one of the trainers, “When does the pain go away?” After clarifying what kind of pain I was referring to, he said, “Oh, that never goes away. This is your new normal.”
A different kind of yes-man
Photo by Jez Timms/Unsplash.
Since Will Braun’s strong editorial in the December 1, 2023, issue (“What kind of peace church are we?”), the pages of Canadian Mennonite have included some passionate responses.
This is a good thing. Perhaps I’ll add one more.
I begin with a story.
The unend of this story
Photo by Behnam Norouzi/Unsplash.
How many sermons do you remember from 25 years ago? Likely not many.
Even the most meaningful and formative sermons from long ago tend to fade and become less a specific memory and more an unrecallable influential moment; a ripple whose impact remains but becomes indistinguishable the further life goes beyond that moment.
Thoughts for our unfinished journey
Photo by Brad-/Unsplash
Becoming an intercultural church does not happen by accident or by wishful thinking.
It takes a lifetime to create space in which everyone can gather and be welcomed, celebrated, integrated and reconciled to God and one another.
Speaking in tongues: 5 responses to 2 key stats
Photo Terren Hurst/Unsplash.
The following is adapted from a sermon that Kevin Barkowsky, pastor of Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver, preached on January 28. Reprinted with permission.
A modest proposal
The question was how churches in North America could directly communicate their support to Palestinian churches. It came during a December 18 call that Mennonite Central Committee convened with four Palestinian pastors and several dozen North Americans.
Pastor Ashraf Tannous unmuted, then muted again; he hesitated and hedged, eventually responding with uncommon candour.
Readers Write, January 26, 2024
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Literature saves lives
Seek the blessing of your city
(Photo by Andre Ouellet/Unsplash)
“That’s great!”
That is my usual response when I speak with individuals and churches who name a desire to engage their neighbourhoods more actively, or to be a mission presence in their community.
And yet, at some point in every one of these conversations, I need to ask the question, “Why?”
Pages
