Canadian Mennonite
Volume 10, No. 04
February 20, 2006
Letters
This section is a forum for discussion and discernment. Letters express the opinion of the writer only, not necessarily the position of Canadian Mennonite, the five area churches or Mennonite Church Canada. Letters should address issues rather than criticizing individuals and include contact information. We will send copies of letters referring to other parties to them to provide an opportunity to respond in a future issue if their views have not already been printed in an earlier letter.
Please send letters to be considered for publication to letters@canadianmennonite.org or to Canadian Mennonite, 490 Dutton Drive, Unit C5, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6H7, “Attn: Letter to the Editor.” Letters may be edited for length, style and adherence to editorial guidelines.
‘No, I’m not a Mennonite, but I greatly admire them’
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What do you associate with the word “Mennonite?” Maybe the images that spring to mind include men with beards, women wearing homemade dresses and white caps, farmers’ markets, no televisions. Do you also associate Mennonites with artisans in Third World countries? Adult baptism? Peace? The belief that Christian faith must be lived every day?
The perceptions many of us have barely scratch the surface of what it means to be a Mennonite, conservative or modern. In doing research about Mennonites in the Maritimes, I found myself surprised by how similar the Mennonite faith is to mine. Despite the fact that our faiths grew from the same moment in history, I knew very little about this denomination.
The Mennonites emerged in the 1500s from a group of Europeans who felt that Martin Luther’s reforms didn’t go far enough. The group insisted on the separation of church and state, including a refusal to serve the military. Baptism, they believed, should occur in adulthood.
We are most familiar with the conservatives who maintain the traditional way of living, but it turns out Mennonites are everywhere. Mennonite Church Canada, for example, which ministers to “modern” Mennonites, has more than 230 congregations across Canada.
During interviews with both conservative and modern Mennonites, I even wondered, “Am I a Mennonite at heart?” Not really, since Mennonites are quite literal in their interpretation of the Bible, whereas I am not. Their singular devotion to their beliefs, however, is both alarming and inspiring; their three founding and enduring principles gave me much to consider:
• Mennonites don’t baptize babies. They believe in baptizing teenagers and adults who have made a conscious decision. When I consider how meaningless my own confirmation experience at age 14 was, adult baptism makes sense.
• Second, Mennonites believe profoundly that once a person is baptized, they should live out their Christian faith each and every day. As Leroy Boese, a minister with the Church of God in Christ denomination near Tatamagouche, N.S., explains, “We believe the values of Jesus should influence our everyday life. We believe the Lord’s blessings are for everyone and it would be selfish to hold them to ourselves.” Perhaps this is why they are so welcoming.
• Finally, the Mennonite peace position states that war is never the answer. “To bring peace in the world, you have to fill bellies,” says Joanne DeJong, a member of Mennonite Church Canada in Petitcodiac, N.B. DeJong is the Atlantic sales co-ordinator for Ten Thousand Villages. “Mennonites, whether they are Old Order or modern, live life in the name of Christ,” DeJong says. “I think if you’re compassionate and hardworking and practical and you love God, great things can happen.”
How exciting when misconceptions are corrected. Learning about the Mennonites has surprised me with an unexpected challenge to what I believe and how, and with the motivation to try and live my faith every day without worrying about what the rest of the world will think of me.
Ambassador’s tribute to Soviet Christians remembered
News about the death (in Moscow late last year) of Alexandre Yacovlev reminded me of one of my encounters with him. It was in the early 1980s, when he was the Soviet Union’s ambassador to Canada. There were reports of a new wave of repression against Mennonites and other Christians resulting in, among other things, the imprisonment of many ministers. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) compiled a list of more than 30 imprisoned pastors, which it then asked me to present to the Soviet embassy in Ottawa with a request that the government in Moscow look into the cases.
My assistant and I went to the embassy at the appointed time and two officials received us. After 15 minutes, the ambassador appeared. He was short, somewhat heavy, with bushy hair, thick eyebrows, a stern face and a strong voice. He wasted no time in making his points, starting with the question: “Do you personally know the individuals on your list? Are you familiar with them? Do you know their personal lives?”
Of course I didn’t know them personally, but I argued that we were fully confident as to the accuracy of our list, we were not motivated by a desire to criticize his government, our organization was not on a crusade against communism, and that we just wanted the basic rights of these people respected.
“So,” he interrupted, “since you do not personally know these individuals, you have to admit that there is at least a small chance that they may be in prison, not for the reasons you say, but because of some hooliganism.”
“Also,” he said, shaking his finger for emphasis, “you Christians in the West have a totally wrong view about how my government sees the Christians in our country. You think that we hate them. That is not true, absolutely not! The Christians in our country are our best workers. They don’t steal from our factories. They don’t come to work drunk. When they say they will do something, they do it. They are reliable. They are our best workers…. We like the Christians in our country. It is high time that you Christians in the West understood that!”
I do not remember how I responded, but I will never forget the testimony that his words conveyed. Clearly, Christian people, by being faithful in “ordinary things,” had made a substantial impression at high levels of the Soviet government, despite all the restrictions and hardships under which they lived. It was a wonderful tribute both to their personal faith and integrity, and to God’s sustaining grace.
A few years later, after Yacovlev was recalled to Moscow, newspaper stories referred to him as the architect of Glasnost, that is, the move toward greater freedom in the Soviet Union. Those small groups of oppressed Christians had planted some of the seeds for that historic move.
Larger economic picture can’t be overlooked
Both Will Braun—in “Buckets, blankets and the WTO” (Dec. 19, page 14) and Wally Kroeker, in “The wealthy in the land” (Jan. 9, page 5)—push the church to move beyond simple notions of “charity” or “wealth redistribution” when addressing issues of global poverty.
Yet Kroeker and organizations like Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) would benefit from Braun’s challenge: to more critically engage the broader issues of economic globalization and larger causes of global inequality. Although donations that support micro-credit loans through MEDA, or HIV/AIDS projects through MCC, are worthy of our generosity, we need greater leadership from both of these organizations to help us become better stewards of our incredible wealth.
Traditionally, MCC and MEDA’s strengths have been in practical local development—relief buckets, school kits, conflict resolution training and community economic development projects. They have not, however, strongly emphasized the need for innovative research and public engagement on larger issues, such as trade justice, environmental stewardship or our governments’ aid policies.
How does a micro-credit loan help a farmer who is faced with plummeting and unstable world commodity prices? How does local peacebuilding stop our consumption of the goods that finance armed conflict? How do relief kits protect those who are faced with the effects of climate-change disasters? How does purchasing one package of fair-trade coffee at Ten Thousand Villages help all the other Third World producers behind the shelves of Costco?
As a past MCCer and MCC Manitoba board member, I am very proud of the excellent work that organizations like MCC and MEDA are doing in communities around the world. But as a student of international development, educated in our Mennonite schools, I don’t think we can continue to overlook the larger picture.
Addressing these broader issues will be complicated, political, and certainly not as easy to swallow as the scrumptious farmer’s sausage I have grown accustomed to at the MCC Saskatchewan Relief Sale, but it is in such wrestling that we may encounter God’s grace and redemption.
Thanks to Will Braun for nudging us toward such transformation.
Compassion must go deeper than charity
Re: Will Braun’s opinion piece, “Buckets, blankets and the WTO,” (Dec. 19, page 14).
He calls for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to expend its energy critiquing economic globalization and the systems of oppression it spawns, rather than continuing to send blankets and buckets to areas of need.
I am thankful for Braun’s critique. He is right in saying that MCC must do more to address the ways in which North Americans are part of the problem, rather than the solution, to global poverty.
A number of new MCC resources address the subject of economic globalization and invite faithful responses. These resources include videos, resource “toolkits” and the new cookbook, Simply in Season. As executive director of MCC Canada, I can say that all of them are being used well. In Canada, MCC’s involvement in the Make Poverty History campaign is another way of addressing more systemic causes of poverty.
Buckets and blankets are not the answer to global poverty. At the same time, they are a way of building a connection between people in need and people who have more than they need. There is something very spiritual that happens when children gather relief bucket supplies for tsunami victims and when seniors—and others—sew quilts and comforters week after week for earthquake survivors. Buckets and blankets teach us about compassion.
But our compassion must go deeper than charity. It must move us to seek justice. It must also move individuals and communities to make the changes in our lives that prevent justice from unfolding. MCC needs to be much bolder in addressing the underlying causes, and not only the symptoms, of poverty, particularly when they implicate those of us who work for and support MCC. Thanks to Will Braun and others who are pushing us in this direction.
‘Buckets and blankets’ comment degrades MCC
I read with interest the article by Will Braun—“Buckets, blankets and the WTO”—in the Dec. 19 issue of Canadian Mennonite.
I fully agree with his concern to do one thing and not to neglect the other. But I felt he degraded Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) by referring to it as “buckets and blankets” work. We Mennonites who created and are supporting MCC are a relatively small group on this planet and it would be hard for us to carry the world on our shoulders. But I think we can make a dent in changing it—if we put our words and faith into action.
MCC was formed to help our brothers and sisters in need and that I think is still its main mandate. MCC has birthed several affiliate organizations, like Mennonite Economic Development Associates, Mennonite Disaster Service, Supportive Care Services and Mennonite non-profit housing societies (of which I am a director) to house the homeless, seniors and mentally challenged.
If MCC is to address the issue of globalization, what exactly is it we want them to do? If it is shifting its priorities from more hands-on projects to the area of politics, who is standing with refugees, prisoners, First Nations people and those with AIDS? Who is holding the banner for justice, reconciliation and peace? If we stretch our human resources too thin, can we do a good job of addressing all of our concerns?
Some of our constituents who are not too familiar with the complexities of globalization may feel that to get too far into politics is “ungodly,” and they may withdraw their support; these are often the best supporters financially and spiritually.
But perhaps the article “MCC addresses foreign policy parliamentary committee,” Dec. 19, page 23, about the political involvement of the MCC’s Don Peters and Bill Janzen, is a better response than mine.
New Order Voice
High-efficiency worship
What if the cracks around our church windows are letting the Holy Spirit out as they let the winter cold in? What if the energy-sucking light bulbs in our sanctuaries are casting an unholy glow on our otherwise holy Scriptures?
We are an energy-intensive church in a time of climate chaos. This invites a redemptive, spirited response—a low-emissions, candlelit, weather-stripped and Holy-Spirited response.
The earth may not have time for our hand-wringing guilt or ever-so-earnest dialogue. No time for SUV-maligning, Exxon-bashing self-righteousness either. We’ll just have to roll up our sleeves and kick right into creative, constructive high gear. I propose we start not with theological imperatives or alarming scientific data, but with a new set of spiritual disciplines.
I go to an over-lit church. With full daylight streaming through large windows, we have banks of lights on. It directly affects the quality of our worship.
I used to live with the people at the other end of the transmission lines that deliver power to the lights in our sacred space. Those people—the remote Pimicikamak indigenous people—live daily with the consequences of a massive hydro-electric system that provides us electrical convenience while profoundly disrupting their lands and lives. The production of energy affects their souls, so the use of it must affect ours.
In our sanctuary, I hear the sermon with one ear and the painful stories of the elders with the other. Perhaps our Scriptures would read slightly differently under better light.
The same principle applies even if the energy source is different. People and the earth suffer as a result of our energy-hungry churches. Our worship would be richer if this were not so. And what about the spiritual impact of the fossil fuels we use to transport ourselves to our places of worship?
This sort of enviro-spiritual impact assessment can be overwhelming. But what if we just skipped that stage—just short-circuited the guilt with grace and went right on to the actual tasks of making our sacred spaces more sacred. Our warming world needs all the sacredness it can get.
I recently became involved with Greening Sacred Spaces, an initiative of the national interfaith group Faith and the Common Good. This initiative draws a link between the spiritual vitality of a faith group and the ecological integrity of the sacred spaces in which they meet. It points us to a new set of spiritual disciplines.
Like prayer, church attendance, Bible study and fasting (for the more rigorous among us), activities such as caulking windows (at church or at home), installing high-efficiency lighting, ditching the air conditioner, and cycling or walking to church can be exercises of spiritual value. They can nourish us in the deepest ways, connect us to God and increase the amount of love in the world.
Instead of taking such steps just because they are “the right thing to do,” they can be done as a prayer for those most impacted by climate change. They can be worked into the prayers and ceremonies of Sunday worship—blessing the new high-efficiency furnace, praying for the safety of those who bike, or a candle-lit and bulletin-free service as a celebration of cleaner futures. By ritualizing change, a new way of being takes deep root in us.
By being more energy-wise on Sunday mornings, we reduce spiritual leakage. In a single redemptive process, we retrofit our places of worship and our souls.
Outside the box
Oprah’s boo-boo
Oprah can make you a star. Be named to her book club and her disciples will ride your bandwagon. But recently Oprah made a boo-boo and the bandwagon spilled its joy riders.
One of her most highly acclaimed book club choices was the supposed true-life memoir of James Frey—A Million Little Pieces. The story of an addict and criminal who turns his life around, it was, according to St. Oprah, a powerful story of redemption (albeit self-made redemption, but then that is the central thrust of the pop spirituality so many turn to Oprah for).
Alas, it turns out that A Million Little Pieces was a million little lies. Initially, Oprah ran to Frey’s defence, but later recanted, saying, “I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter. I am deeply sorry, because that is not what I believe.”
Her words, coupled with the myriad of voices calling for Frey’s head on a platter, left me in a cultural conundrum. Our culture has been pontificating that truth is relative: You essentially make up what is true for you, which is exactly what Frey did. So why is he now being fried for doing what we say is the ideal?
Is it because a story with a good moral is not moral when it is a lie—especially when it addresses the depths of the human dilemma?
Have the followers of Jesus forgotten what we’ve experienced? Or that we are to be witnesses in this culture lost in the grip of lies, yet desperate for truth and redemption?
We all thirst to do away with the guilt of sin, the “yuck” of the soul, the guilt that pools below the surface of our well-manicured lives. We seek to be justified, to be made right, to be redeemed, to be whole—even if we can’t articulate it in those biblical terms. We who experience the freedom of Christ know redemption is a true reality that we can’t make up. We can’t save ourselves.
We’ve all pulled a James Frey to some degree. But grace has brought us the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life.
If we are to see the kingdom come in our communities, we must be unashamed of asserting the truth of the reality of sin, the guilty conscience’s irritating prodding we seek release from, and the hope of the power of God in the good news to save. Christians very often forget the improbable wonder of salvation and have long ago supplanted gospel with the religion of Oprah and haven’t even noticed.
Have we forgotten that the core human questions about truth and righteousness do not have human solutions? People are not made whole by reading the self-help book of the month. They are made whole by trusting the promised gift of the Word made flesh and crucified for all the million little pieces our souls have been reduced to, which not even Oprah can put back together again.