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 1310 Taylor Ave. Winnipeg, Man.  R3M 3Z6 or send via e-mail. (Please ensure that your postal address is included in your e-mail correspondence.)

Reminiscences of a former Canadian

As I opened my recent issue of the MB Herald, I asked myself why, after living in Kansas for 43 years, I still subscribe to this periodical. My roots in Canada are very deep, having lived in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario during formative years. My husband’s roots were in Alberta. We attended MBBC and he was privileged to be part of conference ministries, so we learned to know many people across Canada. Each time I read the MB Herald, it’s like a mini-reunion. Reconnecting with old friends, if only by reading about them, is a brief moment of joy. But, of course, their number is decreasing.

What do I read? Obituaries, of course. I am glad that these have not been whittled down to a few facts. I am interested to know which of my friends and sometimes extended family members have left this world.

I read the letters to the editor. Canadians seem to have a willingness to move close to cutting-edge issues. Canadian MBs, with their large preponderance of Russian Mennonite stock, have always seemed a little more willing to speak up, to risk, than their American counterparts.

I ponder questions that are raised. Did MBs ever excommunicate members for marrying outside the fold? I know of one case. In Ukraine, my father, baptized in the MB church, married my mother, a born-again, baptized-by-immersion Christian from the Allianz church. Consequently, he was excommunicated from the MB church. Why was he back in the MB fold in Saskatchewan where we lived? He chuckled. During the revolution all records were lost and in the newly formed church no one asked such trivial questions.

I feel affirmed to read that the Canadian MBs have tackled the women’s ministry issue once again. I feel encouraged when I read that the next editor will again be a woman. When I first started writing in the 1960s, serious religious writing was not for women, and certainly not the editorship of the conference organ. I recall in 1990 when I became editor of the inter-Mennonite devotional Rejoice!, a board member commented, “I don’t think it will matter that you are a woman.”

Part of my heart will always belong in Canada. I wish the new editor God’s grace for a fruitful ministry and thank the present editors for their excellent work.

Katie Funk Wiebe,
Wichita, Kan.

Additional copyright information

Trevor Olfert states (Letters, Sept. 2) “CCLI does not give churches permission to copy music; it only gives churches permission to copy words onto overheads/powerpoint/handouts.”

In contrast, CCLI’s website states “The Church Copyright License only allows you to photocopy what we call Congregational Single Songsheets (CSS), which is a single song found in a compilation of songs intended for congregational use. Song compilations include a hymnal or chorus book, and also include our online collection of lead sheets available through SongSelect Advanced. These songs can be photocopied for the purpose of assisting in congregational worship, if they are owned by one of the member copyright owners of CCLI, listed in the Authorized Catalog List.”

Permission to photocopy covered songs from a hymnal, chorus book or lead sheet obviously includes the notes.

John C. Klassen,
Winnipeg, Man.

Church shopping

I respond to Cara Pauls’s, “The Sunday morning shopping spree,” in which she answers her question, “What’s a person to do when they become dissatisfied with their church?” (Aug 12).

I would add questions such as: What does one do when Christian leaders advocate assassination of political leaders? What does one do when Christian churchgoers pray for successful (and illegal) wars and weapons?

Cara suggests we get involved. Good idea. But, in modern church life, can we march down to the local temple as Jesus did and chase away the false leaders?

Until we can drive out these “wolves in church clothing,” church “Sunday shopping” ought to be a moral and religious duty of every good Christian.

David Morgan,
Lower Sackville, N.S.

Spiritual enrichment

Thanks to the Herald for “Hymn is hip” (Aug. 12), to Helen Rose Pauls for writing it and for conductor Herbert Tsang’s wholesome attitude toward hymn singing. Certainly many of the 55+ age bracket have wondered at, and sorrowed over, the demise of hymn singing, along with its rather easy, melodious 4-part harmony tunes. We agree with Tsang that the traditional hymns are a wonderful means of Christian worship and spiritual enrichment. We, as two seniors, will never forget the hymns whose lyrics and melodies have blest us throughout our lives. We are thankful to our church for several Sunday evenings that have been devoted to hymn singing.

John and Margaret Dick,
Coaldale, Alta.

Pastors need to care for themselves

In response to “Conference support lacking” (Letters, Sept. 2), I would like to say thank you to the author for thoughts expressed. Having been in the ministry in one form or another for 12 years, I understand your fear about what the ministry and more specifically “the church” can do to your lives. As you expressed dismay at the number of people involved in ministry who were hit by “low self-esteem, depression, strained marital relationships, affairs, separation, divorces” and whose lives are “unrecognizable to the persons they used to be,” – it makes one wonder, why would someone risk stepping into an environment that could eventually destroy them? I have often asked myself that question.

A few years ago, I experienced a great deal of grief due to events in our church. I was personally attacked, a third of our congregation left, and my wife and I entered into a period of pain, grief and depression. Fortunately the leadership of the church stuck with us, but I felt alone and defeated. The scars are deep and I still struggle with depression from time to time. As I look back on those events, the question always comes up in my mind – “Where was the conference? Why didn’t I receive the support I needed? Why didn’t I even get a visit?” It has been a while since those events; yet the questions still haunt me.

Of the things you listed that have hit many pastors and former pastors you know, the last three fortunately have not hit me. Hopefully they never will. I also have to ask the question: whose responsibility is it really to take care of me? I know that in order to survive in ministry, I need to take care of myself. I have set up my own support systems: I have several individuals who fulfill the role as mentors for the various areas of my life, I have close personal friends, I have even humbled myself and sought the help of a psychiatrist. I have determined that I must be insane to stay in this environment, but I joyfully do so because as Erwin McManus has said in The Barbarian Way, “We are called to a path filled with uncertainty, mystery and risk.”

I understand the risks and I will joyfully follow this mysterious path, not knowing where the end will be, not knowing the effects it will have on me, only believing that in the end, if I stay true, it will be worth it.

Name withheld

Distress saddens

I am deeply saddened by the call of distress “Conference support lacking” (Letters, Sept. 2). I haven’t been able to shake it from my mind. I would like the writer to know I am a member of her “faith community” but not a representative of our conference so not eligible to give an official response. I would be interested to know whether she has already bared her soul to confidantes she had faith in, to no avail, this plea being her last resort. If so, this cry is even more troubling. My wife and I are hoping and praying that her SOS will be answered by not only qualified personnel but from deep within her own soul and counsel from Scripture. One fact I’m certain of – she and her husband are not the lone combatants in the spiritual battle. So am I.

R. Loewen,
Steinbach, Man.