Hopewit

“ It turns out a settler executed a Palestinian on Shuhada Street outside the Beit Hadassah settlement - we can see this spot from our roof. After which, soldiers (caught on video) planted a knife on the 18 yr old boy's body to claim he attempted to stab someone - that's been happening a lot recently. Don't believe all the stabbings being reported, some are real and some are bogus and simply an excuse/justification for executing Palestinians. The settlers proceeded to rejoice, they were handing out sweets and cups of tea and dancing around the boy's body. There are photos of this.” ( Reliable witness ) “ Six church leaders and parishioners now face charges including manslaughter and assault for a brutal beating in the sanctuary last Sunday that left Lucas Leonard, 19, dead and his brother Christopher, 17, in hospital. (CBC News at http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/church-beating-death-1.3276674 ) The beatings were an escalation of a “counseling session” trying t...

Eigenheim Mennonite Church, 1896 So do not fear, for I am with you ; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 There are fully 70 admonitions in the Old Testament alone that urge the Children of Israel not to be afraid, not to be discouraged because God is on their side and will prevail. Add to that the roughly 20 references in the New Testament that urge us to be fearless in the face of a hostile world and you begin to approach 100 repetitions of that theme. It's amazing that so many Christians have swapped that obviously-Judeo/Christian value for its opposite: a doctrine of intolerance and self-defense borne out of fear of “the other” and the prevailing view that security lies in military might. What can that mean but that we have lost confidence in the God whom we purport to worship and in Christ who said, “ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not...

As Jesus made his long journey down to Jerusalem , anticipating there the final clash of worlds, I wonder if he brooded nostalgically over the pungent smell of sandalwood, the heft of a hammer in his hand, the vision of his father bent over a block of sycamore planing it to a smooth, aromatic finish. Did he long to feel again the warmth of his mother's hand on his forehead, her quiet movements around the house as she prepared the evening meal? As he lay awake at night, did he long for the countryside of his youth, the hills and valleys around Nazareth where he spent long summer days of discovery with friends, the beach days skipping stones on the sparkling surface of the Sea of Galilee? For what was Jesus nostalgic, what did he long to retrieve when he cried out in agony in Gethsemane, “ Abba , Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” It comes as no surprise that age longs for youth, that the river imagines brilliant, sparkling mounta...

Peace, safety, serenity It gets complicated. Or does it? The voices are many and loud urging Canada to take in more refugees from Syria, and to do it quickly. Meanwhile, other voices are cautioning that this mass migration is a perfect opportunity, for instance, for ISIS to infiltrate Western countries for the purpose of terrorizing us. How can we both take in many refugees quickly and ensure that they're truly refugees and not hiding in the migration population with sinister purposes in mind? There's an old saying that no good deed ever goes unpunished. As an MCC volunteer in Europe, I facilitated the relocation of a refugee family from Hungary to Canada under the sponsorship of a Mennonite congregation. Despite the best efforts of the congregation to welcome and settle the family, it was very soon clear that the church and MCC were being used; the family disappeared shortly after arrival and turned up in a Hungarian expat community in Toronto.  All involved ...

My favourite watercolour artist and neighbour, Brian Hicks It seems tragic to me that we have now reached the point where the defining factor in a person's Mennonite identity is his/her opinion on whether or not the church should honour gay persons' desires to solemnize their commitment to each other in their church. In the USA, the large Lancaster Conference is working on plans to separate from MC USA; except for the gay marriage issue, this wouldn't be happening. I'm reminded of Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches where a physical attribute is allowed to divide, where a certain feature—or lack of it—escalates to become blatant and unnecessary discrimination blocking out the central truth—which is discovered at the end: WE ARE ALL SNEETCHES.  It's a children's book, not the Bible, but the core of Dr. Seuss' parable might be something we want to revisit: the unwarranted escalation of one apparently important difference has the power to obscure ...

(From Edmonton) John 7 strikes me as political as the gospel gets, almost as if it's a chronicle of the ambivalence in the Jewish Community of the time with regard to the identity and role of the awaited Davidic Messiah. Rumours abound about this Jesus who claims that identity; the people wait for leadership to decide, they in turn are torn between recognizing his deeds and teachings as God-inspired or killing him as an impostor. I'm not sure what one should make of the brothers of Jesus urging him to go up to Judea for the Festival of Tabernacles, his refusal to do so . . . And then going anyway. Once there, of course, he's recognized as the one who's raised a following potentially capable of challenging the status quo. So the debate is on: how could a Galilean, of all people claim to be the fulfillment of the Messianic hope? Described in it's most raw firm, I am a spiritual descendant of the Gentile converts post-resurrection, not of the Jewish followers of J...

(Written on my Blackberry; no picture today) John six begins with the feeding of the five thousand and "walking on water" signs and more or less duplicates the stories in the other gospels. I won't repeat the comments  I made during my Matthew reading about these events. I just participated in an inter-church communion service last night and so the metaphoric "eat my flesh, drink my blood" pronouncement is still fresh in my mind. In John's record, so much is made of the image and the fact that hearers were extremely disturbed by it that one wonders why Jesus didn’t choose a more palatable metaphor. As I understand it, it's a simple declaration that following Jesus requires that his word, his teaching, his sonship must be absorbed in their totality; this is not a hobby or something that one does on weekends. You don't snack on Jesus; he must be your main course, your total spiritual sustenance. That has to be the message; not much is as repugnant...