Canadian Mennonite
Volume 12, No. 3
February 4, 2008
Readers Write
We welcome your comments and publish most letters sent by subscribers intended for publication. Respecting our theology of the priesthood of all believers and of the importance of the faith community discernment process, this section is a largely open forum for the sharing of views. Letters are the opinion of the writer only—publication does not mean endorsement by the magazine or the church. Letters should be brief and address issues rather than individuals.
Please send letters to be considered for publication to letters@canadianmennonite.org or by postal mail or fax, marked “Attn: Readers Write” (our address is on page 3). Letters should include the author’s contact information and mailing address. Letters are edited for length, style and adherence to editorial guidelines.
Myths surrounding the state of Canadian farming need dispelling
The Nov. 12, 2007, issue of Canadian Mennonite addressed an important matter: the state of Canadian farming today. The helpful set of articles makes a case for urban churches joining with rural churches to address a common challenge, but a weakness in this discussion is a ready acceptance of several myths that prevents confronting basic economic and political realities.
First, free trade is presented as a destructive force that limits enterprising family units from earning a living from the production of food in a sustainable manner. But free trade in agricultural goods does not exist. Governments in the high-income countries are paying subsidies to their farmers that approach a billion dollars a day.
Corn farmers in Mexico are now finding it difficult to compete with subsidized corn grown in the United States. We are in this mess not because of the World Trade Organization (WTO); rather, it is the product of a failure to include agriculture in the WTO. If formally part of the WTO, farmers in the U.S. would not be able to dump their excess production in Mexico at prices well below the cost of producing the corn.
The 100-Mile Diet is set forth as a means of countering the destructive effects of “free” trade. But if all consumers in the world adopted this strategy, Canadian agriculture would be devastated. And a primary effect of a successful implementation of the 100-Mile Diet would be to drive up land prices within 100 miles of our cities and reduce to sheer poverty farmers operating beyond 100 miles.
Another significant myth links genetic modification of canola to the plight of farmers. It is not the genetic modification per se that is the problem. Rather, the concern of the farmer is a form of genetic modification that has patent protection that forces farmers to annually buy their seed from this corporation if they want the cost benefit associated with growing a certain variant of canola.
A third myth is the presumption of a typical or average farmer who faces harsh market conditions in what is a high-risk venture to begin with. Family farms are now competing against corporate farms as well as communal approaches to farming like the Hutterites. Both of these alternatives have a clear cost advantage in that they do not have to buy their land every generation.
For a typical family farm, the retirement income is tied up in the value of the land. To retire, the farmer has to sell the land. The younger generation buying the land pays for it two to three times over by the time the mortgage is paid off. That is a major cost handicap carried by family farms.
Churches can’t exclude gays and expect to attract young people
Re:“Young people see Christians as judgmental, anti-gay,” Nov. 12, 2007, page 22.
Many congregations want to attract young people and exclude gay people. But the survey results described in the “Briefly noted” article indicates to me that this is unlikely to happen. Since the thoughts and practices of secular society and governments are closer to the compassionate spirit of Jesus Christ, the church needs to catch up with them.
Let dissenting B.C. congregations ‘go their own way’
Re: “Greendale, Olivet vote to leave MC B.C.,” Dec. 17, 2007, page 15.
The article states that negotiations with the four congregations that didn’t sign the covenant are continuing. These discussions have been ongoing for a long time now and I would strongly urge the MC B.C. executive not to waste any more valuable time in further talks.
These churches should be sent packing very quickly. They will never be satisfied, regardless of how much we compromise in order to accommodate them. In my view, the issues are less about theology and more about their leadership being on a power trip. Let them go their own way. We do not need dissenting churches. They wouldn’t be content if God himself was leading Mennonite Church Canada.
A big difference between knowledge and wisdom
Re: “Reading with class in mind,” Dec. 17, 2007, page 12.
My words are not a critique, rather of a memory that it recalled. In the mid-1990s I, like Aiden Enns, was asked to speak to 80 or so MC Canada church workers, but many of these were seniors. In my talk, I felt that, given my age, I needed to be edgy with my words, so I chose to speak about the very same parable using the social science methodologies as applied in William Herzog’s work that Enns quotes. What I said seemed to go over well, and as a young adult I felt good about being cutting edge and relevant.
Afterwards, however, an older gentleman approached me. He commended me for being willing to speak to the group, and for reading broadly enough to know some of Herzog’s work. Then he asked me, “Given what you have said, how do you see this ‘new interpretation’ of the text working canonically?” In other words, how does this new way of viewing the parable of the talents affect the way we read and apply the rest of Scripture, which for hundreds of years has been seen as a collection of apostolic writings, universally acknowledged by the church as authoritative in its entirety, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and guarding the truth against all heresy, in order to provide an eternal norm for church doctrine?
I was stunned. I had no response. I had not considered what it would mean canonically. I was humbled and realized that day that there was a big difference between knowledge and wisdom.
From Our Leaders
Hallowing the Sabbath
The Sabbath is a sanctuary of time within the ordinary life of the people of God. It celebrates God’s creative power during the creation of the world. Later on, it also celebrates God’s act of liberating his people from Egypt. The purpose of the Sabbath is to sanctify time, rest and creative/liberating effort. The best way to approach the Sabbath is with a spirit of thanksgiving, remembrance and celebration.
I remember the time, on a Friday at dusk, when we participated in the Sabbath celebration in a large Jewish synagogue in Jerusalem. The liturgy began when a beautiful woman, dressed in white as a bride, slowly made her way to the front of the synagogue. She symbolized the arrival of the Sabbath and its holiness. The people cheered and applauded her entrance. They sang and celebrated.
The coming of the Sabbath was joy-filled. It was an opportunity to celebrate the gift of hallowed time that God gives to his people. The coming of the Sabbath indicated that God was granting them another opportunity for faithful service and commitment.
The gift of the Sabbath is not legalism designed to make life difficult for us. It is a gift that helps us enjoy what God provides for us. And it encourages us to redouble our efforts to obey God.
The gift of the Sabbath is not legalism designed to make life difficult for us.
At the beginning of this new year, I encourage us all—individually and corporately—to re-ignite our commitment to the Sabbath: to enjoy this sanctuary of time that God has modelled for us. The ingredients of this recommitment are gratitude to God, creative effort to re-make and liberate the world, a strong dedication to the sacred vocation of God’s peoplehood, and enough trust in the power of God that allows us to rest in this assurance.
May you experience this new year as a sacred trust from God.
God, Money and Me
The relay of life
It was the school picnic and time for races—sack races, distance running, the three-legged race, wheelbarrow race and then there was the four-person relay. There are two essentials for winning relays: running fast and successfully handing off the baton—in those days, we used a short stick scrounged from an adjacent bush. Do either one poorly and you are out of the medal round. I never wanted to be the closing runner for fear of letting the team down and being tagged with failure.
Our time on the playing field of life is not unlike running our assigned turn in a relay race. We may run our segment of the race well, but unless we have a well-rehearsed plan for handing off to those who run after us, it won’t matter much how well we run. The hand-off is critical. If someone misses the hand-off, the whole team feels the loss.
Now, for a short while, it is our turn on the track and then we too must hand off to those who follow.
Do you have a written “hand-off” plan in place? Suppose you lose the ability to take care of your finances; have you authorized someone else to step in for you? Adding another signing authority to your bank account allows that individual to pay your bills from that account, but what about signing income tax returns or your pension application? What if property needs to be sold? Or investments realigned? For someone to stand in for you in these and other areas, you will need to grant a trusted person a general enduring power of attorney for property. These powers must be granted while you have mental capacity to understand what you are doing.
What if you were to die unexpectedly? Do you have a plan in place to hand off the baton for your affairs to someone else? Do you have a current will in place? Are the guardians you have named for the care of your underage children still the right ones? Are the executors you have named in your will still the right ones given your current circumstances? Are the estate distribution instructions you have outlined in your will still applicable?
We stand in a long parade of runners spanning the centuries, each of us charged with running our segment of the relay. Now, for a short while, it is our turn on the track and then we too must hand off to those who follow. The stands are packed with fans all hoping we do well, as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews states: “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses . . . let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1,2).
Once we are done with our segment of the race, we have no use for the baton. Likewise, when we die, our assets are of no value to us. But we can use them to bless our family as well as release some to further the work of God around the corner and around the globe—helping to spread the good news of Jesus, alleviate hunger, provide education and promote justice. That is leaving a legacy of faith and good deeds. Are you ready for your hand-off in the relay of life?
Family Ties
Pondering death
In the season of Lent, we ponder the mysteries of death and human frailty. We participate in Ash Wednesday services, perhaps take on Lenten disciplines of sacrifice, and generally turn our attention towards sin and mortality. It’s a sombre season. Given the simultaneous changes in our weather, as the increasing hours of sunlight warm the Earth and sprout growth in vegetation, the timing of Lent can run counter to our inner leanings, as we yearn for all the warmth and pleasures of spring. Perhaps that sharpens the effort required to quarry the spiritual treasures of Lent.
Facing our losses and our deaths can yield spiritual fruit. United Church minister Jean Stairs, in Listening for the Soul: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction, encourages people to listen for notes of death being sounded in the day-to-day conversations they share. According to Stairs, many Protestants are inclined to rush through such topics, in a hurry to put the cross behind them and get into the bright light of Easter.
She draws on Catholic spirituality that honours the death experiences of our lives as a means of joining in the paschal mystery of Christ’s suffering and death. Quoting texts such as Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12, she notes how we enter into—and live out—death and resurrection in our bodies and souls. Such a perspective deepens our awareness of Jesus’ passion-gift expressed in his death and resurrection, and enables us to enter more fully into the transformation stories of others.
Lent is well-suited to practising this kind of “listening for the soul.” We may hear hints of death when people mourn torn relationships—a spouse who has fallen out of love, a child who has wandered far from a loving parent, a fractured sibling relationship. And there’s the deaths of our friends and loved ones, a number that accumulates as we age. Sometimes we proclaim with muted or fierce anger, “There’s too much dying going on!”
God's spirit is at work...stretching one's soul
Physical losses are another place of conversation. A breast lost to cancer. Chronic challenges from polio or diabetes, which increase as the body ages. Arthritic hands that keep one from playing the piano or knitting. Alzheimer’s robbing a loved one of memories, even the names of spouses and children. We lose homes and churches and jobs. Each loss brings sadness, a tug or tearing of our spirit, a call to release attachments. All of these become places where God’s spirit is at work, comforting, bringing healing and stretching one’s soul in an echo of Jesus stretched on the cross.
As we journey towards the cross in the weeks before Good Friday, we can attend to the cross-like moments we see in ourselves and others with openness and compassion. For example, should Grandpa say, “I’m ready to go, but I’m worried about Grandma; I just don’t know how she’ll get on without me,” we can offer a listening ear and a comforting hand. We may respond by acknowledging his love for his wife and his readiness to die, even as the tears are shining in our eyes. We may assure him that we will care for Grandma. In doing so, we will mine the holiness of such moments.