Author: admin
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An Anabaptist Pilgramage (and no, that’s not a typo)
My theme of “(Re)Discovering Ancient Spiritual Practices” at the Mennonite Church where I serve as the pastor seems a little odd to some. Those religious rituals having little to no bearing with our Radical Reformation past. In fact, our spiritual ancestors would likely reject many of these activities as human creation and therefore unhelpful in…
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Why doesn’t this feel more sacred?
My theme for the year at our church is “(Re)Discovering Ancient Spiritual Practices.” As a part of that, I’ve introduced ritual prayer, labyrinths, sacred calendars, etc. People have been generally supportive and willing to try new things, which has been great. The latest spiritual practice I’ve talked about is pilgrimage. Like many ancient spiritual practices,…
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Babies don’t fix anything
Every now and then I hear people talk as though having a baby will somehow fix a part of their life. Don’t get me wrong, I love babies. I think there are lots of people who aren’t having babies that should. Still, it needs to be clear that having a baby, whether it’s by birth…
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Short Story: Ten Bucks
This short story was written as a submission in a writing contest in a literature magazine. It wasn’t selected as one of the winners, and so now I am free to use it for my own purposes. The story is mostly true with names and some details changed. — “They saw you coming,” I said…
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I didn’t notice at all
So, there I was, in a room full of church people more evangelical and traditional than me, at least I’m sure all of them saw it that way. A video had been presented to us as a potential education and outreach resource for high school aged youth. My concern was that the material provided no…
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Is missional thinking based in Christendom?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of missional thinking. I love the challenge to ask how the church can join God’s ongoing mission rather than asking how we can get God to bless our church programming. I love the emphasis on developing a sense of belonging before the rigid requirements of belief. But there…
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Maundy Thursday labyrinth
Every year our church hosts a Maundy Thursday service. I have been given the grace from my congregation that I can try new things, as long as I stick within the holy week theme. One year we had a kind of foot-washing service Last year we had informal stations of the cross where I…
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A Tale of Two Meetings
I would like to talk about two meetings with some obvious differences and some profound similarities. The first is a series of meetings that took place across Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba in the early 1920s. Members of various conservative, traditional Mennonite churches were gathering to discus how to respond to recent government policies put in…
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I forgot
I forgot how tired I felt when at two in the morning I was woken up by a crying baby and a frustrated wife. I forgot how keenly aware I was of the sleep I was losing, the productivity I would be sacrificing and how much my forthcoming decrease in mental alertness would cost me.…
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The Cat and the Mouse
I had hoped to post a new revised fairy tale each week as a new writing project this year, but that won’t be happening. This will be my final fairy tale related post for a number of reasons: It’s a lot of work. I could simply record myself as I reword the stories on the…