Canadian Mennonite
Volume 10, No. 16
August 21, 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.
Canada called to Middle East peacebuilding
The following letter was sent by Mennonite Church Canada general secretary Robert J. Suderman to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Aug. 2. A copy of the letter was also sent to Peter MacKay, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs.
As a church of the historic and well-respected Peace Church tradition, Mennonite Church Canada is deeply concerned about the escalation of violence that we have recently witnessed in Lebanon, Israel and Gaza. We are distressed to see the actions of combatants on all sides of this conflict that have already destroyed many lives, including civilian families, and permanently marred livelihoods, homes, and vital infrastructure of the nations. We believe that, especially in such difficult international conflicts, God calls us all to nurture a new imagination that reflects the peacemaking model of Jesus Christ and therefore contemplates the possibilities of surprises that only God can bring about. We are called to seek responses to conflict that do not involve violent initiatives, violent retaliation strategies, revenge or all-out warfare.
MC Canada currently has workers in Israel who work at building bridges of understanding between Jewish and Christian and Muslim peoples of that region. As a Peace Church, our work in Israel involves peacebuilding that crosses both religious and political boundaries. Our denomination is an active member of Mennonite Central Committee, which has worked with Palestinian and Israeli partners in the Middle East since the late 1940s in relief, development and peacebuilding ministries.
Our concern, however, goes beyond the immediate crisis in the Middle East. We are concerned about what appears to be a multi-faceted and intentional escalation of public advocacy, decisions and actions that foster the increasing militarization of the Canadian mind, psyche, soul and imagination. We have noted advocacy coming from you and your office that closely resembles the logic of military solutions so evident in the Bush administration in the U.S.
We have noted the shifting assignment for Canadian troops from their traditional peacekeeping role to active and proactive military combatants in Afghanistan. And we have noted the decisions and heard the public rationale advocating for the remarkable increase for military spending in the Canadian budget.
These are all symptoms of a desperate need for a new imagination in addressing the evils of our world based on other than military paradigms. As a fellow Christian, we know we can appeal to you from this framework and exhort you to find strategies that are more in keeping with that which is so foundational to our common faith.
It is in this spirit of peacemaking that we call on you, Mr. Prime Minister, to use your influence to issue statements that favour peaceful solutions, and call on all sides to observe an immediate cease-fire in the Middle East.
The insistence on diplomatic solutions, rather than military accomplishments, is of vital importance to the lives of many in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel. We ask that you avoid aggravating tensions further, and that you do not advocate the justification of the violence and war or signal that Canada indeed might support or favor the escalation of war.
We are thankful for Canada’s history as a peacebuilding nation. As a Peace Church, we are committed to voicing our concerns for peace and justice in the world.
On behalf of MC Canada, I urge you and your government to act quickly to promote the ways of diplomacy and peace within this current crisis, and to open all of us to the possibilities of surprise by humanity and by God’s activity in the world.
Home-grown cooking still the best choice
I appreciate Will Braun’s concern about spiritual health and connecting it with the food we eat (“The spiritual health of Ronald McDonald,” June 12, page 15).
For the church to take the lead in choosing wholesome food, grown in rich, healthy soil, is imperative, I think, and I am glad to read this article expressing concern and action in that regard.
For many years, I elected to avoid sugar, but I also thought it was good to eat in restaurants at times—to save time for more important activities than shopping, preparing and eating food, and cleaning up after the event. I have learned, however, that to select vegetables grown in my own garden is the greatest culinary pleasure, one that grocery stores and restaurants cannot compete with.
Vietnamese persecution could very well be political
Thank you for your brief story on the church in Vietnam (“Church rebuilding halted, leaders re-arrested,” June 12, page 17).
For several years, I have been following the story with keen interest. For the first time, the issue of political activism was raised and implied that perhaps part of the persecution is political in nature. Based upon a number of factors, I have long suspected this.
However, there are many opportunities for thanksgiving and praise for God’s work in Vietnam, and we need to continue our prayers for our brothers and sisters there. We need to pray for good judgment and wisdom in those in leadership, both here and aboard.
Ukrainian land restitution needed for ‘real healing’
I agree with Robert Peters, who wrote in a letter to the editor (“Mennonites must seek Ukrainian compensation, June 12, page 16), “[W]e must seek appropriate restitution from Ukraine before real healing can happen.”
I brought forward one possible path for working toward restitution—a real estate investment company. (See “Mennonite groups oppose land speculator,” Jan. 23, page 20. Ed.) It is not the only path. However, I firmly and pragmatically believe that the restitution of our lands will occur only with a financial transaction; it will require a significant investment in the Ukrainian economy.
For me, this all began with a trip to the Molochansk region in 2005, where I visited the town of my father’s birth. I was struck by the Ukrainian caretakers’ warm welcome, and surprised by their exclamation, “We were wondering when your family would return because this is your land.” They know how much we lost. The land, and our buildings which still stand, tell the story of the violence that forced us to flee.
I believe the time has come for us to find a way to return, through investment or otherwise. Only through restitution can “real healing” happen.
Congregants should share at least five times a year
It is troubling to discover that Arthur Boers has found support in his critique of congregational sharing (“Thank you for sharing,” April 3, page 10). Such sharing is crucial in that it is perhaps the only structured time in which the congregation meets and interacts as a community. I was disappointed to read Kevin Drudge’s response (“Sharing covenants could set time limits,” July 10, page 12).
Drudge mentions times in which sharing has been inappropriate or misguided. But in my 40 or so years of attending church I have heard many a ridiculous sermon, but no one has suggested eliminating or restricting that part of the service, although the quality of the sermon is far more central to worship than the sharing time.
That Drudge and Boers want to hold our services to standards is commendable. However, one suspects that sharing is under attack because it is the one aspect of our service that isn’t controlled. Sharing time is unpredictable. It can be embarrassing to discover details of other lives; we often don’t know what to do about it. Still, sharing time binds us together. We might not always like it, but unless we commit ourselves to it we risk the greater danger of isolating ourselves in worship even more than we presently do.
Is sharing always positive? Of course not, but rather than impose arbitrary restrictions, let us provide positive examples. In fact, the only requirement for sharing that I could support is that every member of the congregation share some facet of their life at least five times a year!
My congregation has recently abandoned sharing altogether and I fear for its future because of it. Please pray for us.
Magazine must continue to challenge readers
I would like to add my words of appreciation regarding the current direction given by the Canadian Mennonite board and editorial staff. I have been able to identify with many of the DeskTop editorials as Tim Miller Dyck grapples with real-life issues both within and without our denomination.
I give high marks for your “Nurturing global Anabaptism” series (April 17, pages 16-17) that challenged us both by the vibrancy and the needs of our spiritual kinsfolk around the world. Since I have visited some of those younger churches, reading their stories becomes an emotional experience for me.
Outside the Box and New Order Voice address with vigour two often divergent aspects of the one gospel. Your many other varied topics demonstrate a truly Anabaptist emphasis on taking seriously all aspects of Christ’s gospel.
“Disciplining the church” (May 15, pages 11-15) brought to mind the enlightening 1960s “Concern” series of booklets containing reflections and dissertations by the then young theologians Marlin Jeschke, Walter Klassen, Jacob A. Loewen, John W. Miller, Samuel Shoemaker and John H. Yoder, among others. They helped us think about the potential blessings offered to the church if only we were willing to be “radical” enough in taking Jesus seriously in many aspects of communal living that we have preferred to water down.
I would invite Canadian Mennonite to further challenge our denomination with the full implications of believer’s baptism and church membership; all the communal—in contrast to the now-popular subjective—ramifications of the Lord’s Supper; the discerning and nurturing strength of an interdependency within the body of Christ; being both a welcoming and a disciplined church; being vibrantly evangelical and socially sensitive; and being both threateningly prophetic and peaceable.
Conservatives ‘crack down’ in the wrong places
Re: “Justice minister cracking down on crime in Canada,” July 10, page 14.
Your report on Vic Toews’ “legacy” makes two interesting claims:
• The two bills in question will in some way prevent crime; and,
• Toews attributes his approach to crime prevention to his Christian faith.
The two pieces of legislation simply place criminals in prison and extend their stays. Evidence, especially from the United States but also in Canada and other countries, shows that merely placing people in prison for extended periods of time leads to a high probability of their re-offending within two years of release. Therefore, the effect of Toews’ initiatives will be to remove selected criminals from the community until after the next election.
A lack of concern with preventing crime is evident in what the Conservative party has chosen not to do:
• Maintain the gun registry; and,
• Include in the federal budget resources to address causes of severe poverty in aboriginal communities within Canada.
When investigating a crime involving guns, the gun registry enabled police to place an immediate charge if a suspect had an unregistered gun. This immediate charge gave police time to assemble evidence on whether or not the suspect was involved in the initial crime under investigation. As such, this gun registry was likely one of the more effective crime prevention measures passed in the recent past by the Government of Canada.
Toews may view crime prevention as the prerequisite for success of all other programs. Programs that deal effectively with severe disparities in the distribution of income and wealth are also prerequisites for a successful crime prevention program.
Human salvation
I am writing in relation to Peter Harris’s wonderful article on page 6 of the June 26 issue—“The gospel and nature conservation.” It is painfully true, as he says, that the idea that God’s good news is just about saving souls is far from being biblical. The biblical revelation is that it is God’s purpose to save the whole human being and the human being was not whole without the earth and all that we call nature, and will not again be whole without the manifested salvation of the earth and all that we call nature.
God did not rest in the creation of the human being until he had created a reproductive being that began with not one, but two, individuals united as one. And what we are—our corporate nature—is completed by the responsible relationship with the garden in which it was made. Therefore, in God’s Word, the ultimate description of salvation comes in the words, “God creates new heavens and a new earth.”
The good news is not, as we might be tempted to think, that we can be saved from our responsibility as members of the human race for corporate responsibility for our planet and all its creatures. Salvation from this responsibility would be no salvation at all. The good news is that the opportunity for us to fulfill the purpose for which God created us on the Earth to begin with has been saved.
If we want to return to the fully biblical understanding of salvation, we must begin to learn about our corporate identity and nature, first as God created it in the beginning, and then as he has redeemed it in and through the Messiah. Indeed, we must begin to understand the mystery of Jesus’ corporate, redeeming relationship of sacrificial love with his people, Israel. For out of this relationship comes the good news of hope and salvation for the whole human being, together with the world in which—and for which—the human being (individually and corporately) was created.
Outside the box
Holy dying
Weddings or funerals—which do you prefer? While officiating a community wedding I received a great compliment through the mostly inebriated mouth of a best man who, in introducing me prior to the obligatory pastoral blessing upon the nuptial meal, recapped boisterously my message in all its brilliant homiletic poignancy. I must have hit a home run if even he remembered the point. Maybe water to wine would help on Sunday mornings too?
No doubt weddings are wonderful. The beginning of a home—especially a Christ-centred home—is truly worthy of great joy, honour and celebration. It is a moment harkening back to a very good Creation, always a declaration that the Fall will not be tolerated, for a man and a woman will leave mom and dad and cleave to each other despite the serpent’s attempt to destroy this mini-church.
Yet not everyone marries. Many remain single. Still others experience what it is like to have loved and lost. And there are always a few at a wedding under protest. For them, this day is a reminder of emptiness, bitterness and painful longing. This is why, in my mind, funerals trump weddings. You see, unlike marriage, death is for all of us—young and old, male and female, rich and poor, married, divorced or single.
At a funeral we’re all in the same boat. We all hurt. We’re all free to uncover the real us. This day is a stark, blatant reminder that all of us, without fail, will reach an expiration date.
Not that I like to see people suffer. That would be mercilessly morbid. I like funerals because we are all caught by the presence of death—caught by our own mortality as “time sweeps away all that is not immortal” (hymn writer Isaac Watts). On any given day, at any given funeral, human beings are caught and desperate for escape, and hence the soil for the seed of the Good News at a funeral is much more fertile than at weddings.
In the 18th century Jeremy Taylor penned a little book, Holy Dying, and rightly pointed out that the test for whether or not we believe in the hope of Jesus’ resurrection is not passed on on fair-weather days (like weddings), but in those moments when we find ourselves “on the margin of the grave.”
Christians should marry well. We should celebrate the covenanted union of man and woman better than anyone else, for marriage is God’s idea. A Christian wedding should speak that life is to be embraced and enjoyed.
But, above all, Christians should die well. We live and die with the hope of resurrection. This truth is central to our faith without which we might as well eat, drink, and make stupidly merry. A Christian funeral should speak that the party has only just begun.
At the bookends of Jesus’ ministry you find a wedding celebration (John 2) and a funeral (John 11). Jesus began his ministry encouraging joyous celebration of the good things and ended it with the hope that in him life does not end, even though we die. Do you believe this?
In recent months I have had the honour of watching two saints die well. Carol Erb Gingerich, missionary servant in Afghanistan, and Clive Ollies, pastor of Riverdale Mennonite in Millbank, Ont., are both living on beyond the margin of the grave. Their lives and funerals were appetizers of a wedding feast yet to come. Party on.
New Order voice
Make affluence history
The lure of wealth is losing its brilliance. I’m learning to value fewer things—simple, more durable things. I have a bias towards previously used, less-electronic items. In some ways, and maybe this is subconscious, I’m preparing for the collapse of our commodity-saturated, unlimited-growth economy.
In other ways, I’m fumbling towards a world without poverty. In theological terms, I’m seeking God in all things, especially the mustard seed.
As a highly educated and relatively rich person, I’m troubled by the growing gap between the rich and the poor. A recent example was given by Ron Sider in Canadian Mennonite. He said one quarter of the world’s Anabaptists own almost 90 percent of all Anabaptist wealth (“Sharing: A radical way to empower the global church,” July 10, page 6). Then he called for a “massive revival” in North America to reallocate wealth within our global Christian family.
I hope a seed of this revival begins to sprout in me. I draw inspiration from people who question the foundation of consumer capitalism, who explore the richness of prayer and contemplation, and pursue the virtues of sustainability and generosity.
Sallie McFague, in Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology for a Planet in Peril, dissects the contemporary economic worldview that assumes self-aggrandizement and greed. She contrasts that with an ecological economic worldview that focuses on interdependence and need. She reminds us that “individuals cannot thrive apart from the wellbeing of the whole.”
In Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society, Marva Dawn explains how our society loves technology and machines. Sure, technology provides convenience, but it also disconnects us from each other and can lead to a poverty of spirit. It’s unconventional to suspect things “new and improved,” but I’m starting to see them as an expensive trap.
Richard Rohr, an author and Franciscan priest from New Mexico, is the founder of the Centre for Action and Contemplation. Part of the journey of contemplation is the journey into emptiness, he says in his book, Simplicity: The Freedom of Letting Go. Living under capitalism, in an affluent society that always wants and expects more, it is hard for us to empty ourselves. “The more we own, ironically enough, the less we enjoy,” he writes “This is the paradox that lies within all material goods.” For the sake of inner abundance, I need outer scarcity.
A recent influence in my life is the Mennonite mystic, Clarence Bauman (1928 to 1995) who taught discipleship and spirituality at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Together with his wife Alice, he built a hermitage on the grounds of Camp Squeah in B.C. About the hermitage he said, “It is here that the will of God is discerned, that shallow options of man are transcended and that the lost wasteland of the soul is recovered.” I want to go to that hermitage, physically and metaphorically.
Here in the rich sector of the world, where conspicuous consumption is the norm, perhaps the best way to make poverty history is to celebrate conspicuous non-consumption and make “affluence” history. A journey towards contemplation subverts my desire for wealth. I hope this seed spreads and blossoms into a massive revival among Anabaptists and beyond.