I hear “I don’t know how you do it” a lot. It’s said with a tone of admiration, but the underlying message is: “I’m glad I don’t have your life.” No one chooses pain.
Monthly Archives
April 2011
The Paradox of Disability: Responses to Jean Vanier and L’Arche Communities from Theology and the Sciences, Editor: Hans S. Reinders; Life journeys: The stories of the Eden High School class of ’55,>/b> Editor: Harold Jantz
Proper review of Redekop required, re: February; Courtesy required, re: February; Critic misses mark, re: February; Canadian culture is a place of privilege, not purgatory, re: February; Appreciated: ongoing creation focus, re: January; Wanted: real scientific awareness, re: January; Crime and communion cause grief, re: February; Why wait to embrace life?, re: February
In spring 2010, Highland Community Church, Abbotsford, B.C., hosted a three-part series of conversations on unanswered prayer. The following is an excerpt from a panel discussion with congregation member and spiritual director Steve Imbach and author of Can You Hear Me? Brad Jersak, hosted by pastors Andrew Dyck and J Janzen.
More than 26 years after 13-year-old Candace Derksen disappeared off wintry Winnipeg streets on her way home from school, her parents Cliff and Wilma Derksen emerge from the court house Feb. 18, following the jury’s verdict convicting Mark Grant of Candace’s murder. Candace’s body was found in a shed more than a month after her disappearance.
The day this issue on suffering went to press, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Japan, sending a huge wave along the country’s coastal regions. We who confess faith in a loving God who is mighty to save receive this disastrous news as particularly troubling as we await rising death tolls.
Poetry by Paul Esau
From all over B.C., from Alberta, and even the Yukon, 1,500 youth came to the seventh annual “Rush” event, sponsored by Willow Park Church (MB), Kelowna, B.C., – but this year was different. It was prayer, says organizer Joel Feddersen, that made the amazing difference.
Tongue Screws and Testimonies: Poems, Stories, and Essays Inspired by the Martyrs MirrorEditor: Kirsten BeachyWritten in the 17th century, Martyrs Mirror has been an important book for many Mennonites. Its stories of the sufferings and persecutions of many of these witnesses, who were part of the pacifist Anabaptist movement, continue to inspire its readers. Tongue Screws and Testimonies is an anthology of fiction and non-fiction, creating, in effect, a mirror of the Mirror.
I was barely into my second year of pastoral ministry when I received a phone call. A young man had tried to take his life, and he was looking to speak to a priest or a pastor.
Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, will host its third annual Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP) summer program at the Shaftesbury campus June 6–24, offering international and local students the unique opportunity to study under renowned members of the world peacebuilding community.
- feature articlesFeaturesLife & FaithMB Herald
Christ’s message for the suffering church
by ContributorSuffering is part of the Mennonite Brethren identity. Suffering has been part of our experience in the Congo. I know many people who cannot have two meals a day. I know many children who cannot go to school. Eighty percent of our people are jobless.
As is typical of most family get-togethers, the 80th convention of the Ontario Conference of MB Churches called attendees to “Remember, Reflect and Renew.” And like most family gatherings, the Feb. 18–19, 2011 meeting of leaders and 156 delegates at Waterloo MB Church included encouraging celebrations and tough conversations.
Like a number of others who have sat in the “driver’s seat,” I got my MB Herald driving lessons from Harold Jantz. I came to work for him in 1973, as his first assistant editor. I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity, for I’d long had the desire, inarticulate as it was, to work in the area of writing.