Following the wrong drummer to Parliament Hill
The first in Dick Benner’s elections editorials, “Vote your core beliefs,” April 18, page 2, should have spoken to our constituency clearly. It should have delineated the political issues relating to our faith.
According to a tract produced by a Holdeman group, television is “rocking people to sleep morally and spiritually.” I agree with our Anabaptist cousins—however outdated they sound—although I still love TV.
A few months ago our four-year-old daughter was overheard singing a song with only one line, which she repeated irritatingly till my patient wife didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Our little fireball of estrogen was singing a song of her own creation ripe with ironic truth: “I’m a different sort of challenge.” Amen, little sister.
Mennonites are in a unique position in this era of mission. Arthur Boers, author and seminary professor, notes that we sit in that uncomfortable place between the mainline and the evangelical church traditions.
In search of a ‘relational’ theologian
Thank you very much for your editorial, “Habits of Repair,” May 2, page 2.
Divorce can be seen as a double-edged sword that cuts two ways, with the potential to bring both pain and healing. With one edge, it ends a marriage and there is great loss and brokenness. At the same time, the sword of divorce severs what has died, and, in doing so, creates new possibilities of life and health.
“But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Mark 10: 6-9).
It’s no secret. Throughout church history, the unchurched have watched Christians closely, ready to assess, evaluate and judge how God’s people act and respond to the world around them. Christians judge each other, too, a simple and easy response when disagreements flare up.
Stop ‘cherry picking’ the Bible
Re: “Bible teaches against women in ministry” letter, April 4, page 12.
Aiden Enns
I find hope as I tend to my mystical side. As a youth growing up in church, I did this through prayer. But, in spite of my earnestness, it often felt formulaic and contrived.
Capitulation is tantalizing. Tucking our tails is tempting. This is why stories of the persevering human spirit are so inspirational. Those who overcome the black hole of capitulation surprise us by their tenacity. Mark Twain, with whimsical honesty, captures our capitulating nature: “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world.
Finding a good fit in a pastor is not an easy thing. Meeting a congregation’s present reality and hopes for the future is a daunting task for a search committee—given that we give the job to ordinary people, doing ordinary jobs.
Prayer needed as MC Canada prepares to downsize
Re: “‘The signs are clear’: MC Canada leadership discerns a smaller church system,” April 4, page 18.
Most regular readers of Canadian Mennonite now know that Mennonite Church Canada is adopting a smaller structure to reduce ministry expenditures by a half-million dollars. The question of “why” persists.
I’ve imagined a column with this title for some time. While it sounds more than a little presumptuous, it is a topic to which I’ve given a great deal of thought.
As parents, many of us go to great lengths to ensure that our children and youths get the best of everything. We sign them up for hockey camps, music and snowboarding lessons, swim teams, tutors and after-school clubs, all in an effort to guarantee their success.
Call on whatever God you worship for comfort when grieving
I was interested in “A heart for grieving people,” March 7, page 22, which featured Hank Friesen in his role as an assistant funeral director in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.
Charles de Foucauld was humble.
You don’t often hear people described that way. Humility is a fading art. In our age, Christian organizations shout their good works from rooftops, many Christian leaders seek all the attention they can get, philanthropy glorifies ostentatious wealth, and more Christians seek self-fulfillment than self-denial.
I was handed a paper that I shoved in my pocket unread. But, later, the title caught my attention as I was about to drop it in recycling: “Relax.” That word thrust me back to a “Teen-dom” ruled by mullets and neon, where “relax” was used to call people back from hysterics because of some youthful limit-pushing.
With 34 years of ministry, including almost nine years as conference minister for Mennonite Church Alberta, behind me, I am poignantly reminded that each public event is my last, having announced retirement for this summer.
Former MCC director laments ‘big failure’ of Wineskins process
Re: “MCC ‘divorce’ a cause for confession, remorse,” March 21, page 12.
I, too, am saddened and indeed angered with the result of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Wineskins process.
Elsie Rempel ponders the small opening to a first-century tomb that may be similar to the one Jesus was buried in.
In Luke 24, the disciples on the road to Emmaus were confused and discouraged. They had trouble recognizing Jesus.
In March of last year, I was a disciple on the road to Emmaus as part of a learning tour in the Holy Land. I was also confused and discouraged by the complexities of the deep fear, pain and suffering that is the story of this land and its peoples.
‘Resurrection of the Christ and the Women at the Tomb’ by Fra Angelico, circa mid-15th century.
“Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid” (Mark 16:8).
Fleeing death
Forty years ago this June, I fled from death. The day before the annual Sunday school picnic, my grandfather died of a heart attack. I was almost 10 years old.
In deciding how to live as Christians, the church is called to rely on the Holy Spirit and use Scripture, prayer and the family of faith, as it determines responses to the circumstances of its unique family. One purpose of Mennonite Church Canada is to discern issues of faithful living for our times.
In his book Will Our Children Have Faith?, John Westerhoff argues that for future generations of young people and adults to develop Christian faith they will need more than Sunday school. They’ll need a host of opportunities where faith is not only taught but experienced.
