Readers Write: July 2024
A Mennonite Life
Opinion
The urgency of untidy joy
I’ve been thinking again about joy.
Open to the Spirit
Photo: Josh Eckstein/Unsplash
Just over a year ago, I invited readers of Canadian Mennonite to share their Holy Spirit experiences with me (April 6, 2023). I was pleasantly surprised by the response. I was moved and encouraged by the messages I received.
Long live Ubuntu
Every Tuesday evening, my five sisters, two cousins and I join Aunt Musa Mashamba for online prayers.
Threads of unity - Diversity in faith and tradition
The tilet is a quintessential feature of Ethiopian traditional attire, deeply rooted in our religious, ethnic and identity symbolism.
Why we asked MCM to sign a call for a fossil fuel treaty
Our society is in the middle of a painful, promising and complicated shift. We know we need to stop burning fossil fuels.
A Place to Hate
Hate – Ryan Dueck
The long road to freedom
The Wiederkehr garden. Photo by Andre Wiederkehr
Turning sod into garden with human power on the Wiederkehr farm. Photo by Andre Wiederkehr
As I write this, we are in the midst of planting our garden. But don’t get the wrong image; when I say garden, I mean a field worked by hand to grow our own f
Navigating pastoral transitions
Photo: Mantas Hesthaven/UNSPLASH
My interview with the pastoral search committee was wrapping up when one of the members asked me if I had any questions.
Readers Write: June 2024
Does CM support Trump?
Readers Write: May 2024
Graphic by Betty Avery
Taxing ideas
Learning unity
Photo by Caglar Oskay/Unsplash.
As Christians, we are called to be in the world but not of the world. We are urged to be transformed and renewed by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:2).
To talk about God
Photo by Abdghat/Pexels
When I started seminary three years ago, I realized I didn’t know how to talk about God.
Am I Mennonite?
Photo by Pixabay/Pexels
Although I’ve been a Mennonite pastor for over 25 years, I’m reluctant to call myself Mennonite. For several reasons.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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