Hopewit

"Swimming in the same chaotic sea" - Taboga I’m halfway through rereading Stuart Murray’s, The Naked Anabaptist. As is often the case—I suspect with most people who have spent years studying and teaching the language medium—my mind wanders into the area of words, sentences, paragraphs, grammar, connotation and denotation. Why did Murray use that word? What connotations does this sentence carry that may be unintended? Murray’s use of the English language is generally above serious criticism; he was, after all, born and raised in England where education has tended to emphasize language-arts as core . . . at least historically. Without even having thought about it much, nearly all of us—I think—have come to know that semantically, words that end in ist are usually nouns and words that end in ic are generally adjectives (words that modify the meaning of nouns). In the sentence, “He’s a sarcastIC AnabaptIST,” the last word categorizes the person, the former adds...

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (I Corinthians 12:4-11, NIV) The summer edition, 2017, of History Manitoba contains an article called “ Evangelization, not Legislation ,” by Nolan Bro...

   . . . for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:27-9, NIV)  One new humanity out of two, or three, or 2 million?? For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Eph. 2:14-16, NIV) South Korean born American citizen, Euna Lee, was captured by North Korean border guards as she was filming in a remote area along the Chinese/North Korean border....

"Over my head, I hear music in the air . . ." You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:5&6) A church whose website I viewed recently characterizes itself something like this: “We are sinners saved by grace.” In his recent publication, Anabaptist Essentials: Ten signs of a Unique Christian Faith , Palmer Becker writes about his father: My father, whose first language was German, understood Christianity as Nachfolge Christi , which means, “following Jesus.” When it came to baptism, he was perplexed by the question, “Are you saved?” His answer was, “I am a follower of Jesus.” He was baptized upon that confession of faith. (p. 36) I’m curious about how any one of us would answer when pressed to provide a single sentence, key characterization of our...

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” This coming Sunday, I have the job of leading an adult study class on Biblical interpretation through an Anabaptist lens. In short, when early radical reformers took exception to the prevailing interpretations of the gospel, they underwent startling, life-changing rebirth which so deeply affected them that they became dangerous beyond tolerating to the established order, a threat urgent enough to motivate both state and church to consider and carry out their brutal genocide.      The idea that both lay people and priests could—thanks to Gutenberg and the printing press—read for themselves every word of the canon and by a natural progression, make judgments about what it meant, was anathema to t...

It's no secret to anyone, surely . Institutions in droves are struggling, and failing to survive. Some have simply shut up shop; continuing simply no longer feasible.  Coming soon to a tree near you Many of us grew up in the age of the family farm, for instance. Mom and pop, kids and animals institutions that nostalgia paints a rosy pink. A Conservative politician recently chided the government for introducing legislation that would prevent “sprinkling,” incorporating a farm or business and spreading the income around to family members in order to decrease tax liability. She said it would kill the family farm. I'm sorry, but you can't kill an entity that's already dead! Seems we've generally walked blindfolded toward one or the other precipice; embedded in human nature is an underlying assumption that tomorrow will be much like today. And so an historic school's demise seems sudden when the signs of its coming have certainly been there all along. ...

Photo Credit: Pauline Roth Photo Credit: George Epp Meditation for Eigenheim’s 125 th Celebration: Saturday, August 19, 2017 George Epp, chair Service, Mission and Outreach Committee E igenheim Mennonite Church is the story of a community; a community steeped in the gospel of Jesus Christ, seeking to live out faith in harmony and to spread the good news in service to their neighbours and the world. Stumbling sometimes, disagreeing on issues sometimes, misunderstanding each other at times, but always conscious of the core and centre of community and faith: I Corinthians 3:11. “For other foundation can no one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The story is not finished; we write new chapters as we go.     The authors of the opening chapter came from a variety of backgrounds: There were the 1892 Chortitza Mennonites from Russia (Epps, Friesens, Letkemanns, Janzens, Duecks and others), the Prussian contingent (Tiefengrund Regiers, Friesen...