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Letters to the editor
Mennonite Brethren Herald welcomes your letters on issues relevant to the Mennonite Brethren Church, especially in response to material published in the Herald. Please keep your letters courteous, brief and about one subject only. We will edit letters for length and clarity. We will not publish letters sent anonymously, although we may withhold names from publication at the request of the letter writer and at our discretion. Publication is also subject to space limitations. Because the Letters column is a free forum for discussion, it should be understood that letters represent the position of the letter writer, not necessarily the position of the Herald or the Mennonite Brethren Church. Send letters to:
Letters, MB Herald
3-169 Riverton Ave.
Winnipeg, Man. R2L 2E5
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or by e-mail to mbherald@mbconf.ca. (Please ensure that your postal address is included in your e-mail correspondence.) |
Thanks
I very much enjoyed the April 27 issue on sharing the faith. Every article had something to think about and to emulate. I totally agree with “A simple love story”. Thanks for putting together a very worthwhile read.
Helen Grace Lescheid,
Abbotsford, B.C.
Spirit-filled teaching
Re “Is there a better way?” (Letters, March 30) and “Herald a sacred cow” (Letters, May 11): I don’t read every copy of the Herald either but when I do, it’s a gift from God. I am so thankful to have such Spirit-filled teaching land each week on my doorstep just when I need it. I hope others will read this and also come forward to say how this magazine is a ministry of God to them.
I read a story in a recent Guidepost magazine that a pig gives only when it’s dead but a cow continues to give while it’s alive. I hope this is one sacred cow that will continue to give for a long time before we kill it! The May 11 Herald was inspiring from cover to cover! It reminded me that our outreach must be in love and we must abide in Christ to have that love. It encouraged me to labour for God’s Kingdom and not lounge during this short life here. It reminded me that my life with God’s indwelling peace is the best testimony for Jesus, especially through the hard times that we all go through. It reminded me that God can use all of us, no matter how humble, if we’ll just live for Him in everything we do. I think when we get to heaven, the truth will come out, about how much the Herald has advanced God’s Kingdom here on earth! It sure has helped this family!
Diane Maybee,
Langley, B.C.
Thanks for addressing subject
Thank you for addressing mental health (March 2, 16). It was an answer to prayer. I have been a Christian for 25 years, and in all that time it has been very rare to hear the words “mental health” or “depression”. I can relate to Bruce Anderson’s letter (Apr. 27) that many people are forced to suffer in silence and often do not feel that they would receive the needed support. Depression has been a part of my life for a long time, but it was only in the past several years that it finally started to show its face to the public. At times, I would get very negative about everything precious around me: my children, my church, my work, and even my relationship with my God. I would get very frustrated with myself because I knew this was not the way I wanted to feel or act. Then, a few years ago everything came crashing down. There were days of just wanting to sit and stare out the window. Days of not wanting to meet anyone. Days of no prayer, no Scripture reading. Days and weeks of total mental exhaustion. Then one evening I had go to the church to take care of a need. I went with reluctance, and there the crash came. I remember speaking harshly to several people, including a very surprised pastor. I resigned from the board of elders on the spot and drove home in a daze. Upon confronting my dear wife, all I could do is stand there with tears running down my face saying, “I’m in trouble. Something terrible is happening to me.” Over and over I repeated, “That was not me.” I was in trouble, but because of an understanding God, a Christ-centred pastor and a few friends, I was able to start down a road to understanding the silent word “depression”. My pastor recommended a fine Christian psychologist with whom I spent valuable time unloading; I was given the drugs Prozac and Wellbutrin. I sense that I’m on the road to recovery after having cast much aside. I know that many people were hurt by my actions and comments in times of depression. There has been real healing between myself and many of those whom I hurt. There are also those who still hold onto bitterness and unforgiveness. I go forward serving God, my church family and those who also suffer with depression. God has sent many people my way who just want to unload. My times of reading Scripture and prayer have literally exploded. I had (and have) many problems, but thank my Lord Jesus Christ, who never gave up on this depressed person.
Jim Hunt,
Leamington, Ont.
Thanks for Personal Opinion
I have not written to you before. Thank you for John H. Redekop’s “Revisiting the alcohol question” (May 11). We need to practice total abstinence, as he so ably points out.
Arnold Stobbe,
Borden, Sask.
Equal rights to ordination
I am no longer a member of the MB Church; however, I still have respect for my heritage and love for many MB mentors, teachers and friends. This past Easter, while reading Matthew 28, it struck me that the first thing that happened in the post-resurrection era, in the early beginnings of Christianity, was that two women were sent forth, commissioned and ordained by an angel of the Lord and by Jesus Christ to tell the men the Good News. The resurrection was the most momentous occasion in the history of Christianity, and two women were entrusted with its proclamation. The angel comforted the women and told them to go quickly to tell the disciples. Then Jesus comforted, blessed and “laid hands” on these first Christian preachers, charging them to tell the Good News. Is this not one of the most important roles in the job description of ministers – to proclaim the Good News?
In orthodox Judaism, males dominated all power positions. In the Judeo-Christian system of beliefs, it can be argued that gender equality is a revolutionary, primary tenet. First, salvation for all humans comes from God through one born of a woman. Second, maleness does not have pre-eminence in the proclamation of the Christmas story nor the Easter story. The shepherds, Joseph, Elizabeth, Mary and the two women mentioned earlier were all visited by angels. Women and men were told to tell others about the Good News revealed to them.
If women were suitable messengers as far as angels and Jesus are concerned, then what is it that has made women ineligible to be messengers of the Good News today? It seems to me that theology argues for gender equity and that pre-Christian and Christian orthodoxy, entrenched cultures and human politics have perpetuated gender inequity.
Women and men are both equally eligible for ordination. It is mind-boggling to contemplate how much human potential has been squandered because in a large portion of Christendom, for almost two millennia, women have not been ordained to preach the Good News. It is saddening and destructive when one group of human beings prohibits and stifles what other positive, constructive, creative people of good will might accomplish.
Walter Driedger,
Mission, B.C.
Re-examination welcome
I am thrilled that the Canadian MB Conference Board of Communications is re-examining the role and purpose of the Herald. I have wanted to ask you to remove our name from the mailing list for some time. We will now wait and see if you make improvements that make it more interesting for the ordinary reader.
I hope you take note of the suggestions Alma Brown made in the March 30 issue. If you follow her advice, the Herald might be read by more people because one-third of our people are not members. Of course, it would require a good promoter in the local church.
For the last 10-15 years I have made numerous suggestions for a more readable magazine, all of which were ignored. I finally gave up. Please don’t ignore advice from readers. For every one that takes the time or dares to write, there are many more that feel the same.
Shirley B. Bergen,
Brandon, Man.
Money better spent
I would like to have my name removed from your mailing list; I read very little in the magazine and believe that if anyone wants a magazine, they should pay for it themselves. That money could be used for better purposes. There are others I know of who just recycle the paper without reading it. Perhaps it’s time to change some MB policies?
Katie Peters,
Boissevain, Man.
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© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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