Gratitude for this family

Posted on October 16, 2011 by doradueck

Playing in the tent and on the rope swing, by granddaughter M., 7.

I’m just coming off a wonderful week with our family. Instead of the usual two of us, the house filled with eleven more people — five adult children/spouses, and six grandchildren aged four months to nearly ten. For most of the week, we had warm autumn weather, allowing us to extend our interactions onto the deck and into the back yard. We played boce ball, put up a tent, swung on a rope swing, and jumped in leaves. The kids had planned a number of special activities such as an egg drop competition (teams tried to wrap a raw egg so it would survive ever higher drops) and pumpkin carving. We went to Birds Hill for a wiener roast and kite flying. Inside we read and played games and visited and ate.

I confess I’m always reluctant to get too buttery in my expressions around family life, lest they mask both its inherent challenges and its true splendor. But I’m so deeply grateful for this family, for each one in it, and for the relationships we enjoy. These (now) twelve other people are truly the best gifts to me, over and over. And not just in what they give me in their love and kindness, but also in what I see them giving each other. Continue reading →

In honor of Eric Wingender

Posted on October 6, 2011 by doradueck

The world mourns the untimely death of Apple genius and former CEO Steve Jobs, as it should, but I’m grieving the untimely death of Eric Wingender, professor (and former president) at Ecole de Theologie Evangelique de Montreal (ETEM), who died yesterday of a massive heart attack.

I first got to know Eric when I sat in on a workshop he gave, in which he reflected on his experience of Christian conversion and becoming part of the Mennonite Brethren in Quebec. He spoke respectfully and gratefully of those missionaries who had brought him and many other young Quebecers to faith in the 70s and 80s. But he also felt something spiritually significant had been lost in Quebec’s Quiet Revolution that was not adequately replaced by the somewhat simplistic and pietistic gospel to which he was introduced. The churches that emerged from the evangelical “boom” of that era struggled a great deal and the movement plateaued. (He explained some of this in a 1994 article in Direction.) Eric was one of those who persisted and became leaders, seeking to help the Quebec church find better ground. Continue reading →

Blessed are the merciful

Posted on September 30, 2011 by doradueck

I belong to a Mennonite-Catholic dialogue group which meets several times a year. Our assignment for this week’s meeting was a personal reflection on the Beatitudes, broadly, and then more specifically, in choosing one beatitude we were particularly “attracted” to at this point — in not more than seven minutes each! The contributions were varied, and all interesting. This was mine:

I memorized many parts of the Sermon on the Mount as a child, to get a reduction on Bible camp fees. So it seems the Beatitudes have been with me forever, like old markers, like a fence around my life. They’ve been markers for my (Mennonite) understanding of discipleship.

“Selig sind die Barmherzigen” (Blessed are the merciful), inscription over doorway in Berlin

In this reflection, however, I was struck by something else. The opening beatitudes [blessed are the poor, mourning, meek, hungry], at least, seem an expression of holes in the soul. I see need, grief, poverty of whatever kind, hunger. Yes, there’s a happiness expressed, but next to gaping wounds. Continue reading →