My friend Robin loves mystery stories, as do I. But when she starts one, she always reads the ending first so she won’t worry about things ending badly. Me, I like the suspense! Our text for Nov. 3 reminds...
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The good news is human beings are a lot less violent today than at any other time in human history. The bad news is religion has been — and continues to be — a major contributor to violence. Those are a...
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“At that time the Canaanites were in the land.” With that casual aside, the biblical account of Abraham and Sarah arriving in Canaan states that the territory already was populated. “To your offspring I...
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I love the paradoxes of God: “God is love,” the Bible states, but it also says, “God is holy.” God is portrayed as both the vulnerable lamb and the wrathful lion. He is king and servant, Alpha and...
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Nur Jemon remembers that the day she fled her home in the Rakhine district of Myanmar started as it did every other day. The Rohingya Muslim woman was cooking rice when the military stormed her village,...
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TSHIKAPA, Democratic Republic of Congo — More than 200 teachers have received training in Evangelization Through Literacy initiated by female leaders of three Mennonite denominations. The new teachers are...
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For several years, Kenya has been a flashpoint of Christian-Muslim conflict. With each incident of terror, the tension increases. Kenyan Mennonites are finding hope in small incidents of transformation. Kenya...
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Over the past several decades, one remarkable initiative in Mennonite higher education has been in the new academic field of peace and conflict studies. Mennonite schools across North America — from Fresno...
[read more]The flaming, flying wheel came out of the sky to whisk Ezekiel off on a grand journey. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. The “rims...
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The story of the Democratic Republic of Congo casts a long, disturbing shadow. The legacy of colonialism thrusts malevolent roots into the kingdoms of the Congo basin, which sustains the second largest country...
[read more]Peacemakers believe it is possible to earn the trust of both sides in a conflict. They are careful not to divide the parties into friends and enemies. It’s a narrow path to walk, but Mennonites are trying to...
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Imagine the pain of losing a child to war, compounded by not having a safe space to express grief. This is Claudia Antonovna Ushakova’s story. Her son, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, died in combat at the...
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The John and Jane Doe family and the Ilsa and Ivan Doesky family lived at opposite ends of a fine apartment building in Solarville. Being quite well to do, they were the envy of many of their neighbors in the...
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My wife and I have led 13 groups of college students to the Middle East since 1991 as part of Eastern Mennonite University’s required cross-cultural program. During the semester-long immersive travel, we...
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Deonta Turner, Lemont Davis, Alandis Allison, Maurice Purnell and Juan Bahena Jr. I felt these five people’s deaths most deeply amid more than 500 fatal shootings this year in Chicago. Deonta Turner and...
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During a Muslim-Christian peacemaking meeting in Indonesia in 2003, Mesach Krisetya, president of Mennonite World Conference, made a speech. Seeking to dismantle negative stereotypes of Christians —...
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One cousin was already at the beach. When the other topped the dune and they spied one another, both galloped across sand and their different ages, 3 and nearly 5, arms outstretched. It was a thrill to watch,...
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Where do you locate evil? In the aftermath of the deadly white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Va., it’s easy to point to places where evil was active: evil was marching down the streets, under...
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Globally, violent conflicts are increasing, according to the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway. There are more armed conflicts now than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Unfortunately, many...
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Partners of Mennonite Central Committee in Colombia continue to walk with people affected by more than 50 years of violence as new armed conflict emerges even after a peace accord. Violence among armed groups...
[read more]Staking out a middle ground in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict virtually guarantees a barrage of hostility. Angry words flew last month between staunch allies Israel and the United States over a United...
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We have done a disservice to our children in terms of relational health. We have, in a myriad of ways, taught them not how to handle conflict or to reconcile relationships, but to avoid conflict and deny its...
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So, it’s finally here. The holidays are upon us, and there’s no turning back, and no avoiding them. I don’t know about you, but while I’m looking forward to the holidays, and while I want to be able to...
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Not to take sides but to reflect the conversation, a nation argues over whether to name its presidential candidates crooks, fascists, or worse. At lunch with a denomination’s representatives, talk turns to...
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The possible signing of a peace agreement between the guerrilla group FARC and the Colombian government brought for me, as a Colombian Mennonite, a sense of hope that the path to peace is starting in my...
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