For many Mennonites, the Brethren in Christ are distant spiritual cousins. The BIC, while firmly Anabaptist, have also drawn deeply from the wells of pietism and Wesleyanism, which has created some...
[read more]
Sometimes I talk to my seatmates on the plane. Sometimes I don’t. But when the young woman next to me had a panic attack brought on by her just-discharged-from-Afghanistan post-traumatic stress, how could...
[read more]
Our communities are hurting. Few want to accept responsibility, particularly those who benefit from the conditions that have created the pain. We have learned to play the blame game. Blame the victims. Accuse...
[read more]
Bluebird, girl, noncradle — all innocent words. Sometimes it isn’t what we say; it’s how we say it. If you were a bluebird in my first-grade class, you were teased. “Bluebird” was an innocent label...
[read more]
Christians know the cost of reconciliation. It stands at the core of the gospel in the suffering and death of Jesus for our salvation. Greater love has no one than a life sacrificed for others. Reconciliation...
[read more]
We don’t often have the chance to witness mass religious festivals of a kind seen regularly in some parts of the world. They are unforgettable: the Muslim hajj, the Easter throngs in southern Africa or the...
[read more]
“Look, what large stones and what large buildings!” cried a disciple of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem (Mark 13:1). King Herod and his dynasty had spent decades fabulously rebuilding Israel’s center of...
[read more]
Under the heading “Needs” on the dry-erase board at the retreat center was my name and “Ride to Southfield after Sunday lunch.” Next to it was a large blank spot. It was accurate, but it was jarring as...
[read more]
Before #MeToo and #ChurchToo — before there even was the internet—there was Winnipegger Peggy Unruh Regehr. Unruh Regehr, who died Sept. 27 at the age of 89, was a pioneer in championing the cause of women...
[read more]
For two weeks I have been in Mexico, far south of the proposed border wall, in a place people from the U.S. come to frolic in the sun. The Yucatan peninsula resisted colonization from Europeans into the 20th...
[read more]
We live in an era of human flight and displacement. The United Nations Refugee Agency says there are more than 68 million refugees throughout the world. A top political issue in North America and Europe is...
[read more]
Maynard Kaufman is a South Dakota farm boy, a Joycian scholar and post-Christian theologian, a multidisciplinary professor in religious and environmental studies, an organic farmer, a communitarian and...
[read more]
A famous impressionist artist once said, “I know what I’m looking at, but what am I seeing?” This inviting question leads to the heart of Psalm 48. At first glance, an ancient traveler approaching the...
[read more]
At Christmas, we celebrated love and shared the joy of God’s gift of himself as a light to all people. Christmas is a season of grace that sparks unconditional generosity to others. What about the rest of...
[read more]
Decades ago, discovery of a murmur alerted me that my heart will always require monitoring and more of it, plus potentially treatment, as I age. Recently while grandchildren raced hither and yon, seemingly...
[read more]
Mennonites today are found on every continent of the world (save for Antarctica, of course). But in the mid-19th century, the original Anabaptists’ spiritual descendants lived only in North America and...
[read more]
Someone asked me what books have shaped my thinking or best represent the way I see reality. This got me thinking about how these books are like glimpses through windows that help me see the way the world...
[read more]
Two years ago, Ethiopia was a basket case. The government seemed to be losing control. The majority Oromo people were restive under a rule that seemed to rob them of their place. The traditionally powerful...
[read more]
I sit in a departure lounge of Logan International Airport — late, late. Boston’s winter weather is chancy, and today — flying home for a visit — I drew the wrong straw. The lounge is empty except for...
[read more]
The Four Gifts by April Yamasaki evokes for me Jesus’ search for solitude after his work of healing among the crowds. It seems that some of the most oft-told stories of Jesus are of his crossing the sea to...
[read more]
What a year! I’ll call 2018 the year of living dangerously. It was a year of fear, hatred, lies and deception. Some people’s anxiety was eased by the outcome of the U.S. midterm election, but many...
[read more]
How brave are we at speaking up in the face of opposition? We all remember times when we stayed silent knowing that our opinions would not be welcome. It’s easy to fall in line with the surrounding tone. I...
[read more]
The late Vincent Harding, an African-American scholar and civil rights activist with Mennonite connections, recounted a visit to Guatemala to witness the turmoil and suffering of its oppressed indigenous...
[read more]
It’s Christmas, a time for giving and also for asking. You will see lots of ads and letters asking you for money, including from aid groups. While you will see lots of photos of people in the developing...
[read more]
Aimee Smucker noticed the little dog as she left a Sarasota, Fla., drugstore. The animal lover couldn’t just walk by, so she reached down to pet the Yorkie attached to a leash held by an older man. She...
[read more]