News and Heartstrings

The news has been unavoidable in our city these last several days. An eleven year-old boy, autistic, neuro-diverse and non-verbal, went missing. It seemed like the whole city got involved, including the Province allowing an Amber notification even though no suspected foul play. “Keep Hoping” was front page of Calgary Sun on July 21, and finally, ten days later Parker’s body was found. Now we read, “Hug Your Kids” and “Tough Time” in the latest two issues[i] after the child was found in a drainage culvert. It is a tragedy which softened the headlines and relegated usual frontlines to page 4 or later.[ii] I’m wondering if it has also softened our heartstrings.

I am only one citizen in this local population, but here is a little reflection on what gets attention. In addition to reallocation of newspaper front pages, I was fascinated by the absence of Parker’s parents’ names even as they were referenced and even quoted. It may be their wishes or a media constraint, but my heart missed the names of the devastated parents. Similarly and kind of confusingly, the sympathizing tears of our police chief were easily included along with samples and pictures of thousands in this city participating in the hunt, details not much talked about. This may be professional decorum, but it does not stop my thinker from going on a bit. So, what follows here is not more info, and certainly not critique of what was provided on this occasion in our city. I am still the curious one (nesheah, as my parents said) who sometimes wanders beyond the comfort zone!

I wonder about this along with some previous wondering. In my previous blog I wondered about the authorship of a book I had been reading; [iii] was it Artificial Intelligence or a real live author? I voted AI, for some pointy reasons, i.e. kind of evaluating the book, like not much of a plot, mainly logics alongside a generalized appeal to love and sensitivity for the good of us all. That post yielded responses from those who either like or do not like my theological perspective on many things, probably expecting that again. Friends like this are a gift indeed, and I appreciate responses of any vantage. Now I realize, however, that I am still the one who needs to own the way I posted it. No responses to my opinion of who wrote the book! Waiting to see if the ascribed author may yet respond; hope I did not offend him or Chatbot or whoever!

On this occasion of the missing boy and mysterious books, I find myself thinking (curious) about autism. Apart from scientific and medical studies that say it is an increasing phenomenon at this time (1 in 38 eight-year olds on Autism Spectrum Disorder) there are many articles to be read about how to understand and live with this demographic increase (check your Google). 

Into these latest statistics I wonder about cause, and my theory is that it has something to do with the normalcy of individualism which more and more seems to show up as isolationism. For example, conversations around most tables give way to innumerable fact-checks often leading to cellphone pictures circulating to illustrate whatever. It’s us human beings young, middle-aged, and even the elderly, engaged primarily with the cell phone. It’s everywhere, everybody in the mall or walking down a sidewalk with that slightly stooped head position looking down at something in the right hand! Eye contact is a rarity, an occasional treat, and a smile or hello is a special gift. This is also the reason for urban dogs; I have noted (yes in a previous blog) that saying hello to a pooch is a shortcut to saying hello to the human. I might posit that persons on the autism spectrum may want to become dog walkers, but I know the job market id not highest priority for many on the spectrum. This, however, is only the perspective of me, apparently a neurotypical, and not necessarily supported by recent scientific studies!

Back to my speculation about the AI author. Seems to me that cell phone addiction, a contributor to autism, is also what brings in the ready acceptance (relying?) on AI editors. Apparently, today’s politicians, ever looking for smooth convincing speeches, are also relying on the extra helper. That temptation is beginning to look me in the face while writing also; offers to help me write! The nerve! I turn it down, still hoping that people won’t mind me “saying it as I sees it.”

This could now become a rambling (also self-absorbed) piece. I shall cease and desist, not with my usual peaceable pastoral biblical summary statement, 😇 but with these perhaps farfetched but hopefully soft-hearted thoughts on something I know very little about.

---

[i] Calgary Sun, July 31, Aug 1, 2026.

[ii] Ibid., “Trump slams Canada with new 50% tariffs”, July 31.

[iii] James Stephens, Humanity’s Departure from the Creator and the Return to Truth: Restoring the Truth that was Lost  (Los Angeles, CA: James Stephens, 2026).

Of Learning and Truth

June 20, 2026

 … always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 3:7).

Interesting books one comes across these days. Just yesterday, in conversation with a good friend beside his hospital bed, he points to his latest acquisition, a book written by “someone he knows.” He says he could not help but think of me as he was reading. Humanity’s Departure from the Creator and the Return to Truth is the ponderous title which takes up full space on front cover.[i] Now I’m reading, not only because of the title but also my dated memories of this my long-time friend. We met as long-distance truckers once upon a time, each of us intrigued by the circumstances that had brought us in among the trucker buddies; he was a registered nurse and me an ordained preacher. During those years we talked very little about faith and religion; mostly participants in tall tales and lies, the regular fare of drivers’ lounges and truck stops. It was he, however, who provided the CB Handle which became my calling card for those twenty years, “Preacher Man.” This my friend is now hospitalized, fighting for his life, and wanting to talk mostly about religion, Christian commitment, baptism, etc. – and yes, still the occasional tall tale!

The title of this book is indeed strange, kind of an old-new multi-disciplinary assertion. Being in this latest chapter of our longtime friendship, it is a must read. My thinker and I already hard at it, wondering whether this will be a fundamentalist document or maybe another treatise from the other end of spectrum (the liberal left, as they say in the USA). Published 2026, anything is possible!

Humanity very ancient, is the opening assumption like most other tomes I have come across in the last while, [ii] definitely older than the 4000 years still alleged by a portion of my relatives and other friends! Humans came along about a billion years after the big bang 4.54 billion years ago.[iii] I need only look West from my home in Calgary, or listen to a few indigenous elders, and I know millions and billions are tenable. Something about those snowcapped mountains and our neighbors at Stoney Nakoda or Tsuu T‘ina suggests a long long time before us colonialists entered these foothills. So, I have no argument with the opening assertion, even while wondering about the further espoused theology.

The authority of this book seems to reside in AI (ChatGPT). Opening Acknowledgements and Preface present a conceptual pyramid which places a certain Mr. James Stephens as a rarity at the top, one in 10,000 persons who operate with a level of clarity beyond distortions.[iv] That is an interesting way to prove credibility. Rereading that introduction several times, it becomes almost obvious. AI must be the actual author! Gulp! Maybe that explains why no story line, only pronouncements and motherhood and apple pie questions like, “Who Are We? Where did we come from? Our purpose, and what after we leave this world?” These questions have shaped entire civilizations, obviously inspired art, religion(s) from cave paintings to great pyramids and temples, and always an originator, one who gives order, namely a Creator. These info bits are what bring on my opinion that this is AI logic. I do not know why the focus on James Stephens.

Alongside my sort-of agreement with the large topic at hand, there is skepticism, and of course this in context of my friend Tom's thinking of me as he had been reading! Does this AI author know what s/he is writing about? Creator is a term which may well serve an intellectual thinker, an agnostic or even a reluctant atheist. Then the author sleuths in to what seems to be uncharted territory. Now we read about truth. 

Truth is of a very different ilk, kind of old hat to many but sort of strange here. Recently I heard it used jokingly by Steve Bell, a Christian singer songwriter talking about challenges he encounters especially in different variations of Christian audiences looking for Truth. There is a deep search which includes both old time religion and a whole lot of present challenges. Tom and I are agreed we both have found it so in the last while. He lost his wife half a year ago, and my daughter’s funeral was at beginning of this month.[v]

So it is that ultimate questions do not go away, and even truck drivers and fundamentalists and psychologists and humanists will tap into what might be before, during, or after! After my first reading of this wide-open book I landed upon this quote in the last chapter, Throughout all history, the Creator’s invitation has remained the same: “Return to Me. Live in harmony with My design. Love one another as extension of My essence.” This sounds almost biblical, but then not at all biblical, This call transcends religion, culture, and language. It is heard not with the ears but with the heart. When we align ourselves with this truth, fear dissolves and becomes the foundation of our lives. When we resist it, distortion grows and suffering multiplies…” [vi]

So good, so ideal, but what is to grab hold of? My scrappy notebook with this old man’s handwriting says it this way, “Good book, but kind of scary, boring actually. Only statements. No plot. No story. Where is the personal?” Given all the complexity and the vastness of Creator’s creation, it is my conviction (and experience) that, even with awesome logic and clarity, there is need for ... more. 

That also has been availed to us! This Creator's Son, became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). How can one speak Creator and Truth with inter-galactic, historical, scientific and geographic AI confirmed accuracy without attention to the personal? John 14:6 offers that essential perspective for all thinkers (actually all of us), Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And it even comes with a personal invitation, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).

These gospel passages are the Truth alluded in the epigraph above. I would love to have Mr. Stephens wade in on this.

_______________________

[i] James Stephens, Humanity’s Departure from the Creator and the Return to Truth: Restoring the Truth That Was Lost (Los Angeles, CA: James Stephens, 2026).

[ii] E.g. Richard Penner, Life as I Know it: A Biologist's View of the World (Altona, MB: Friesen Press, 2023).

[iii] As per Google, James Stephens fact checked by AI.

[iv] Op.cit, p.9.

[v] “After a While”, https://www.jcfroomthoughts.blogspot.com, June 13, 2026. 

[vi] Op.cit, p.79.

After a While

It seems like an eternity since last I ventured onto this ‘field’. Strange how even writing can seem like a new world if you are doing it on a new device. New device; there is the rub. My old laptop got lifted out of my car by some nighttime wanderer, I suppose, who thought it might fetch a few dollars (Maybe? It was very old). That seems like ages ago; happened in Saskatoon, just outside my sister’s residence the night after I had participated in a significant event with some members of our extended family. That Sunday morning I received message from my wife and we agreed I needed to hurry home to Calgary so I could be at the bedside of our oldest daughter in ICU in the hospital nearest to our home.

So, we’ve been busy! Our dear daughter passed away on Monday, the day after the speedy trip. Enter a week of tears, of texts and phone calls and more of the same, quickly the request for and then receiving help from everyone - from our dear church friends including the clergy type (we’re lucky to have a few of those), from relatives and neighbors all around, suddenly the world expands to remind of all we are a part of.

Here I am tapping on a new-to-me laptop, one of those things you seemingly cannot do without, gifted by our son who made a quick Kijiji purchase and that followed by emergency lessons from both sons trying to introduce dad to the new and improved! How old and thick my brain even as the devices get slim and sleeker. I appreciate my sons’ setting up task bars and tabs somewhat similar to my recall of the old one, so I won’t get lost and confused too many times after they have gone home. Ironically this cannot be ignored even as the sacred and the mysteries of life swarm all around. Aagh, touch screens are so touchy.

And that in context of the big theme! A first-time experience is before us. Our deceased daughter, oh what memories! She was by far the most colorful of our brood of four. Our family being Russian Mennonites, we are probably best described as high-energy, strong-willed lineage. Noisiness is part of the lore – especially my side of the family. Our Adrianne, being the adopted one, fit right in. Even when the points of view were flying, she would laugh at any one of us, and before you knew it, we were all laughing. She was the party girl. Her stories always came with punchlines, a feature which served not only our household, but became her (our) contribution to family visits wherever, whenever. That’s why the church was so full at her funeral.

And there is more – much more actually. This morning my wife and I both woke up with a new awareness. The people have gone home. After the funeral bustle it’s quiet in the house, and now we miss the noise. The altar picture of Adrianne still nestles among floral bouquets starting to wilt. We want it exactly that way at least for the next few days until the flowers are done their thing. What a beautiful daughter we had.

And next, what do we do with memories? Already we realize they just stay, or pop up unexpectedly even while you’re busy doing things. Helping our second daughter move out of the apartment the sisters had been renting together, there are furniture decisions and quick household errands. In and out of our house, suddenly there is a pen, just an old dried out pen laying in a drawer for years, a souvenir from our oldest son’s first teaching position in Garden River, an Indigenous community near Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. This early teaching position became a significant beginning for his career as an educator, AND provided some fascinating excursions up there for our family. For me one trip up there now serves as a run down memory lane! A trip into new territory, adulthood just around the corner, in my mind it marked the beginning of many adventures, many changes within our family in those following years. Now we are blessed with two loving daughters-in-law and two grandchildren just graduated out of high-school. Everybody all grown up! Lots of memories in that old pen. Sigh.

The obituary is nicely facilitated by the funeral home. Interesting messages from interesting people. Her laugh is the go-to in almost every post. Among the trees planted and donations made in her name, the tributes to Adrianne and condolences to us are a touching demonstration of who she was. Our daughter’s Christian commitment, along with assessment[i] of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder provided both the opportunity and the challenges of her life lived so vibrantly among all she met. And it was us her parents and siblings who had the privilege of being with her, thankful for our church and that large community around each of us. Adrianne is now cheering us on from that vantage up above.[ii]

---

[i] But not diagnosis.

[ii] Hebrews 12:1

Fun or Games

Walking into our local Shopping Centre just a few days ago, I noticed a man in front of me carrying a few books. As our paces matched, I decided to try a little connect, knowing there was a book truck being loaded for charity purposes somewhere in the mall. I asked if that was his destination. “No,” says the old guy, “I wrote these.” “Wahoo,” says I, “I am in presence of an author. And I see an interesting title there, perhaps exactly what I’ve been thinking last couple days at beginning of Stanley Cup playoffs.” He smiled and said quietly as our pathways were obviously diverging. “Yes, more than fun and games.” Title of the book? The Burden of Sports. A quick follow up Google search revealed my good fortune. I had just met Mr. John Weston Parry.[i]

Burden? Now that's an interesting word. Sports? That's the only word that would characterize the Saskatchewan farmyard of my growing up. Balls pitched and pucks endlessly fired by my brothers and sisters every available moment among the chores and jobs we had to do. Today, however, I have a hunch I know what this book is about. Sports is not as recreational as it once was, available mostly for those who can afford it, it's organized, there are better and better leagues, and if you're good you get into the pressure of professional sports. That is probably the topic this author is writing about. And living in Alberta, it may even be controversial, as my Oilers view sometimes qualifies me as enemy just by walking into a coffee shop or down the street in front of our Calgary home. 

This contributes to my interest in this book, in addition to my growing  critique of professional sport. The critique began to take hold as I watched the World Series last fall, repeat images of players like Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero reaching up, thanking God every time he hit a homer or whatever, and a shy young pitcher like Trey Yesavage. These are fascinating characters on a baseball team almost winning the Series after defeating the unbeatable New York Yankees, and then losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers. There are sub-themes like this in addition to the winning and the losing. People pay big bucks to see life enacted .

Professional sports. It’s showmanship, and it must have seats filled by ticketholders. This multi-million dollar industry is also consuming my longtime Edmonton Oilers (Five Stanley Cups while I lived in Edmonton during the 1980s). I shall never forget the tear-stained face of the still youthful Wayne Gretzky when he got traded to Los Angeles Kings by our anti-hero owner Peter Pocklington. That was then, and I now realize perhaps nothing new under the sun. In this year 2026, there were facial tensions also plainly inscribed on coach and especially superstars in this latest series round one loss to Anaheim Ducks. Players are obliged to a fan base both ticketholders and online, fully subscribing to cheap commentary like spoiled children. Round two of this year’s Eastern Conference series also good illustration of my growing apprehension. The Philadelphia – Carolina series was nothing but scrums and fights. Professional sports, practically eclipsed by commercials mostly Bet99, Bet MGM. It’s an industry no more about the game of hockey (or baseball or football for that matter).

In The Burden of Sports, which I picked up at our local library after only a few days ‘on hold’, Weston Parry examines the mental health and emotional well-being of elite American athletes generally, as well as in relation to spectator sports propaganda, the legal system, politics, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author is a lawyer whose training included his also-interest, clinical psychology. Sportswashing, the heading of his chapter 3, describes an expanding Spectator Sports Propaganda Arsenal. His analysis is as systematic as some other professionals I have recently read, analyzing Christian denominationalism alongside politics and people movements.[ii] There is much to observe and much to analyze, similar to news casts and political speeches on and on. 

I have not yet finished reading this latest find. Weston Parry's thesis is convincing based on all I see and continue to see. I may or may not reach the final chapter before due date at the library. Even with my impulse to agree, I must, however, identify a little pushback. I believe there is an element of sports still in the fun and games category. At this point the 'jury is still out', cannot quite finalize that discussion as per this book. 

There are other things to do than read books - absolutely essential for my mental health! Right now I must pay attention to the progress (success?) of the game. Another team, this one the only Canadian team still standing (still skating) 😄 for this year's Stanley Cup, needs my cheers. This is not from a ticketholder, but easily provided from the couch in front of my television. The Montreal Canadiens are the youngest NHL team this year, doing very well under the leadership of an also youngish coach, Martin St. Louis. Even as Kris Knoblauch has become yet another former coach of the Edmonton Oilers, life must go on! Go Habs!

June 15, 2026 Addendum. Well, my assessment notwithstanding, those Canadiens could not overcome the Carolina Hurricanes who went on to handily defeat the Vegas Golden Knights to win this year's Stanley Cup in a 6 game final series. This series was further illustration of what Parry's book is about. Firstly, the temporary playoff expertise offered by the legendary coach John Tortorelli did not work out for the Vegas Golden Knights. I'm guessing there are loose ends and strong feelings around the dismissal of former coach Bruce Cassidy just before playoffs, to me an exact illustration of Sportswashing. They lost the finals to the best team in NHL this year, the Carolina Hurricanes, coached by the best coach, Rod Brind'Amour, still built of muscle and steel (or muscles and blood as Johnny Cash sang once upon a time). However, even the winning team showed evidence of pain, probably mental pain, which did not get explained in the hoopla. Goalie Fredrik Anderson, recently acquired and injured at beginning of series, was unable to continue to end of the series, replaced by an incredible kid, Brandon Bussi. I wonder whether even Anderson could have been so spectacular! There were tears on many fronts, either in front of camera or behind the scenes. 

___________________

[i] John Weston Parry, The Burden of Sports (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishing, 2024).

[ii] Two recent examples, Richard Penner, Life As I Know It: A Biologist's View of the World (Altona, MB: Friesen Press, 2023), and Walter Braul, Russian Mennonites: A Broken Path to Civility (Altona, MB: Friesen Press, 2025).

Germans, Russians, and Kindred

Two books have trickled their way across my field of vision in the last several months. I say trickled because that is how I read these days. I do not like to waste time while my optometrist, ophthalmologist, and ENT surgeon all have officious looking diagnoses about what’s going on in my sinus neighborhood. Reading, a lifetime habit I am not ready to give up just yet. You take in a few sentences, think, reflect, and wipe the eyeballs, sentence after sentence after sentences!

Definitely worth the effort, I have enjoyed reading these two authors back to back, almost simultaneously, two persons who probably know nothing about each other, two very dissimilar titles, and a theme that keeps intermingling in my thinker page by page by page. Becoming Kin by Patty Krawec [i] is the subject of a book study I am currently participating in. The second book is a publication I now own thanks to a freebie I scored a couple months ago, Russian Mennonites: A Broken Path to Civility by Walter Braul.[ii] Some suggest why not just rest your eyes. My answer is that closed eyes are for sleeping; when awake I need open eyes to let in the life throb. Here we go.

Patty Krawec is an Aanishanabi mid-career social worker. Walter Braul, recently deceased, served as a professional lawyer for fifty years. Two different authors, not only by profession, but by lineage and origin. Therein is my intrigue and inspiration. The lawyer, a Mennonite with family roots in Holland, describes the sojourn of ‘his people’, much beyond his immediate clan. It is an analysis of his forbears’ journey through Poland, Prussia, Russia, and a two-staged emigration to Canada. Patty Krawec tells stories, some of them ancient and some of them like yesterday. They are stories less of her clan, but learned from elders and knowledge keepers, spiritual stories alongside Bible stories. Her theme stretches way down deep, way down before today’s colonial interpretations which most of us Christians find ourselves in. Not only solid believable information in these two respective lineages, but here is much food for thought on the shaping of nations and us beings within and beyond, over the centuries.

Braul writes as a legalist, coming by that honestly, probably thanks to his lifetime profession, yet with an Alberta farm boy twist, well appropriated by the cover picture. Although devoid of personal faith references, this book presents a homey and thoroughgoing descript of Anabaptists and Mennonites in the European beginning followed by the Russian blustery emotional path 'to civility'. The pathway is a sacred trust even, and needs to be cherished especially if our desire is to make a positive contribution going forward.

Krawec, on the other hand, reaches further back in her lineage, much of it with story (Creation story in the Bible? Creation stories alongside the biblical? Yes, she writes about it). Her family lineage includes a Mennonite grandmother and Ukrainian grandfather (white mother and indigenous father). She reflects on her and her children’s present identity on this Turtle Island, making a strong point to her clan that their indigenous history will continue as a broken path unless they enter into relationships not only with the colonialists, but also inter-tribally. This she presents as her Christian faith story including church frustrations as well as blessings (easily understood by this preacher). You cannot but recognize the invitation to becoming kin.

There is a teaching here from both of these, and it is important for modern day Anabaptists to pay attention. We are colonialists benefiting from privileges in Canada and U.S. at the expense of the Indigenous who were here before us – similar point being made by Braul regarding the Mennonites’ considerably privileged vantage in Russia.

Both of these authors have a prophetic word for this day. Here is a statement from Braul’s son who published his father's book posthumously, “It is not narrowly academic, nor is it simply devotional history. Instead, it seeks to interpret long patterns across centuries. It brings history, theology, philosophy, and political thought into the conversation.” [iii] Good perspective from an attentive son, he offers a challenge to today’s historical societies to invite careful self-examination. “Strong communities are not weakened by honest reflection; they are strengthened by it.” [iv]

As indicated at top, the reading of these two books has been a watery project. Even after these compelling reads, I conclude this blog with a perspective which is mine. I still "says it as I sees it". 😉 Among all the books or podcasts or workshops available these days, there is an important equalizing message available for all, including authors, historians, lawyers, social workers, and yes, politicians, young, old or in-between. My wife and I receive a snippet of that larger message every morning as we light a few candles and read Rejoice!, daily devotional readings published by us, yes us North American Mennonites! [v] Here is the Bible reading for today: 

18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your trust and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:18-21).

---

[i] Patty Krawec, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2022).

[ii] Walter Braul, Russian Mennonites: A Broken Path to Civility (Altona, MB: Friesen Press, 2025).

[iii] Bryan Braul, “Introducing Russian Mennonites: A Broken Path to Civility” The MHSA Chronicle   (Vol XXIX, no. 1, March 2026), p. 19.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Rejoice! (Harrisonburg, VA: Menno Media, Vol 61, no. 3).

Of Mutual Benefit

Just yesterday I sent a quick one-sentence message to my sizeable batch of sisters and brothers. It was a sentimental memo of an interesting mishap that occurred once-upon-a-time along with the ‘free labor’ that we all provided in the operation of our family farm. Sixty years later it is hilarious, although some tears were shed at the time. Those were the good old days. Now that I think of it, that old story may get another rerun at an old-timers’ coffee klatch one of these days.

That farm memory erupted in my head just a few days ago. It was also at a coffee time, but this one not with old-timers; it was with two young guys, dear friends whom I have known for about five years by now. Newcomers to this country, these ‘meetings’ can only be scheduled if they do not interfere with constantly changing employment - jobs like security, cleaning, safety companionship, Uber driving, etc. By now these friendships also include church services, funerals, community gatherings, family visits. As we become ever better acquainted in this strange new country, there are real interests and real issues that easily make up the agenda. When these topics show up the eyes begin to sparkle, lots to talk about as friendships grow.

In addition to this Calgary scene there is always the Africa scene, not necessarily making headlines here in Canada. That scene is about parents, friends and family struggling in ongoing strife with Sudan, and sadly also tribal warfare within their ‘Christian' South Sudan. And along with that, how about the young people now growing up here along with parents (some parents missing), making career and entertainment and relationship choices among many others in this our multicultural city.

This is real stuff, and yet to talk about it is a challenge. Sometimes I marvel at their patience with me when after a few details get mangled in my brain, thanks to my challenged hearing and our differing accents, the ‘truth’ may have got blurred! Then we laugh and start over again! Talking about back there and here now eventually becomes precious time because the focus is on possibilities rather than cynicism or despair. AND there is a bond; we also fully subscribe to a common denominator, namely our Christian faith, For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them (Matthew 18:20).

Now it’s thinker time again. Common interests, common questions; it seems to me whether the lineage is Mennonites from Russia, or tribal Christians from South Sudan, there are similar challenges. How do we raise our children? My memories of milking cows, pitching hay and driving farm equipment is similar to the agenda being articulated by these young dads. The farm work we did was essential to help the farm yield enough so that we could all be fed and clothed, and learn how to behave ourselves, including listening to our elders and not too many shenanigans. 

That old agenda is incredibly similar to a fresh new project taking shape in our city, Sudanese-Canadian Youth Talent Association of Alberta. As outlined in their Mission, Vision, and Values, the program is carefully articulated. My parents did not ‘write up’ their plans, and yet us kids understood exactly what needed doing. Interesting, this Association’s recent application to Revenue Canada includes a sentence might have been used back then, “Our organization is committed to providing structured educational programs that promote life skills and vocational training for the youth, general public and newcomers to Canada.” [i] I smile as they spell it out carefully, life skills will be fully organized and supervised by qualified basketball and soccer coaches. And vocational training will include sessions on resume writing, mock interviews, and indeed workplace communication. Well, there were differences: we never took classes in communication, and the de-facto sport in my day was hockey, and today's urban version of that sport is frightfully expensive. That's why this preacher's kids did not play hockey. Soccer was barely affordable! So a nice touch of realism here, basic level of these life-skills will be provided at charity price. It's also in the Bible, Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it (Proverbs 22:6 CEB). SCYTA is now a registered charity.

Not only for immigrants to learn, but very important for all who live here. Even non-immigrant families need the very things being provided by this newly formed talent association. I am inspired by the vision to keep young people busy and out of trouble. It's a charity thing and I like that image as per the old King James version of the Bible!  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity (1 Corinthians 13:13).

I recognize just a little inner disonnance at this time. I am not a fundraiser, in fact not at all impressed with latest money lingo (e.g. in some churches the tithes and offerings now rebranded as donations), and even less impressed with solicitous phone calls at suppertime thanking me for my recent supportiveness (really?) and can they count on more of the same, or maybe double the amount? Donate buttons show up in the middle of and at the end of almost everything online. So, even though unimpressed by all this latest ... this one time it's the right way! It is a charity way and a convenient way to participate in a very legitimate thing, and even revenue Canada will add their blessing at years' end. See the button? 😊  Sudanese-Canadian Youth Talent Association is a morality thing in this country of Canada. This is for all of us. It's better for our young people to play soccer than to hang out with their devices or in shopping centers.

______ [i] Sudanese-Canadian Youth Talent Association of Alberta, letter of intent, Charitable Organizations, unpublished, August 12, 2025.

 

 

	Donate to Sudanese-Canadian Youth Talent Association Now

Just Above the Maze

At the very top of front page, I read it this morning in the Calgary Sun, MAJOR MOVE: With latest defection, PM effectively has his majority. No surprise to my cynical head, I turned to the details on page 4. That’s where I gave this head a shake. Surprise? Indeed surprise! The defector is an NDP Member of Parliament, not yet another Conservative; definitely enough to keep me reading.

Lori Idlout, the MP from Nunavut in Canada’s north, is the latest turncoat. Reading on in the article, I learn she made a decision that had to be, totally in communication with her constituents. In their local Nunatsiaq News, Idlout says it’s a crucial moment not only for Nunavut but for all of Canada. “With new threats against our sovereignty and pressures on the wellbeing of people throughout the North, we need a strong and ambitious government that makes decisions with Nunavut – not only about Nunavut.”

Ms Idlout claims she is listening to her community. I am tempted to wade in with opinion, questions about national pros and cons, but without further  orientation…? [Reading a bit further down in that paper there they are, opinions in her constituency almost like our Alberta locals, except in our city of Calgary we actually pay some journalists, like Rick Bell, for their opinionating].

At present we are in a testy, restless world! On this occasion however, I am inclined to some restraint, and almost immediately there is the vantage of another, and this not a professional journalist, but very much a professional. It’s from someone who just got jilted. Heather McPherson, a fellow-NDP and one of the candidates for leader of the national Party, speaks somehow kindly, even as I can only imagine the feeling that must be included in her brief words. Writing to members of the party, she begins, “Learning that Lori Idlout crossed the floor to join the Liberals was tough. We worked together for years, fighting Liberal cuts, arrogance and hypocrisy.” Then she doesn’t go on and on about that. “I’m sad to see her go.” End of paragraph, and her message goes on. There’s work to do.

There’s something in today’s front page event which reminds me of some considerable reading I have done in the last while – not specifically on topic of politics, but very much in sync with the above. Probably like most of my neighbors, friends, and perhaps even a few enemies, I am deeply concerned about today’s lay of the land, not only North America, but Europe, the Middle East and even farther afield. And indeed I am discouraged and disgusted by the dishonesty and moral depravity of those who get elected as leaders. It’s a commentary on us, the citizens of this world, not only those leaders.

So coincidentally (providentially?) my recent reading has been not about today’s news, and yet precisely on topic. Two books written by two very different people, one a lawyer of fifty years’ professional service, and the other a mid-career social worker. They write from their vantage, and therein my surprise and inspiration. The lawyer is a Mennonite with family roots in Holland, describes the sojourn of ‘his people’, much beyond his immediate clan. It is an analysis of his forbears’ journey through Poland, Prussia, Russia, and the two-staged emigration to Canada. [i] The other, an Anishinaabe Ukrainian Indigenous writer, [ii] provides seemingly endless Bible examples of kinship that stretch way down deep below and beyond today’s colonial interpretations which most Christians find themselves in. Walter Braul’s excellent historical analysis has no reference to personal faith. Patty Krawec’s personal faith is consistently evident as she writes about kinship, not only in New Testament, but also very much in the Old!

I mention these two authors today because I must. Both of their writings provide not only solid believable information on their respective lineages, but much food for thought on the shaping of nations and us beings within and beyond, over the centuries. Today I see them simply as timely persons on scene for the mazy topic above. Also I see Lori Idlout and Heather McPherson as timely contributors to the troubled profession of politics today. Lori did what she had to do, because we all know that our Prime Minister’s liberals, egocentric as they are and very limited in analyses, at this point should receive the support of this one specific politician (not all of us, Lord have mercy)! There are many other considerations, but as an Inuit lawyer from among her people in the North, she may help Canada’s Arctic sovereignty to be more believable than if she would not participate. That was a hard call and I believe Heather McPherson understands this, and so will not villainize a colleague. Such dignity is what would qualify her as next Prime Minister of Canada (just saying 😉).

These other two writers probably qualify as my kin in the overall scheme of things. At any rate, they have been feeding my head and my heart. I see their  wisdom just above the maze. Many friends and relatives (but perhaps not kin) have no time for any of this mid-air discernment. They are up or down, all or nothing, just like the MAGA in the U.S; no more discernment needed for them. They know the signs of the times, and in spite of the instruction received from Jesus about not being preoccupied with apocalypticisms (Acts 1:8), they know He will return tonight to meet all of us true believers (1 Thess. 4:17). Many others, also my friends, attribute such beliefs to fundamentalist ignorance. It is important to "rise above" this (Anybody remember the Rankin Family singers of the 1990's?).

From within this world’s pluralistic, multicultural vantage I dare not condemn nor qualify politicians nor writers nor people with slightly different angles on the truth - or on political parties. At least I can say this today! 

Prophecies? Being prophetic?  Well, that's another topic, coming up soon. For now I quote another scripture, “Not everyone who says Lord, Lord …” (Matt. 7:21a).

---

[i] Walter Braul, Russian Mennonites: A Broken Path to Civility (Altona,MB: Friesen Press, 2025).

[ii] Patty Krawec, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2022):

A Library Thought

This is a blogpost written while sitting in a library here in our city of Calgary. It was about libraries, and why and how I sit there doing what I claim to be important things! I forgot to post it back there in October. Now I realize it is on topic for my next blog! Hopefully it will post in a few days! Stay tuned.

October 8, 2025

A little discomfort I deal with each time I go to the library. For me a library is still sort of a luxury, a place of anonymity and potential to do almost anything my head has in mind. Wow! It may be to read a book or magazine article – paper or digital – or to work at some document trying to take shape in my brain. I and my tasks are accepted as is, and library staff available with whatever query this old guy might have (and older staff ready to defer to someone younger if they are just as confused by the copy machine as I may be).

In my lifetime I have become acquainted with two approaches to library time. The first is time wasted, quite a curve ball away from farm chores and hockey and ball games. Library, in those years, suggested absolutely nothing else to do (and as might be expected some of those kids, now my fellow old-timers, still wouldn't know what to do in a library 😐). The other approach is at other end of spectrum. I can only refer to it as quality time, absolutely essential, the bibliothek in college and the rest is history. Definitely more enjoyable than fiddling around in coffee shops or watering holes, watching sports ad nauseum.  As per the therapists' opinion, this old retired Mennonite is borderline introvert - extrovert, sociable but also workaholic! So, library is wasted time for some and quality time for others. When in library I'm not fiddling or tinkering at something in my garage or yard or attending a Zoom meeting from my home office. Quality time.

Here we go. Today I shall jot down a few “ Alberta thoughts.” At present our province is enduring a teachers’ strike. Our government is not willing to shell out the big bucks for educators, and apparently it’s showdown time. Classrooms are packed and individual student needs are not being met, especially with many extra needs brought on by immigrant children. My first inclination is to give teachers all the support we can to help them do their jobs to best of their ability. Then again (ironic perspective from this longtime NDP), I also wonder about what is the most important here. Our education system is in a new day. It’s not only demographic classroom-size pressures. It begs the question, what quality education can realistically (or should) be provided for children of high echelon high salaried parents. Can an education system provide what is not provided at home, like discipline and parental guidance?

This is where my genuine socialistic inclinations lean just a bit toward the conservative. Many of today's parents need to reclaim parenting - do what you need to do yourself before looking to have government do it for you. I recently overheard a parent make a case for the importance of vacation trips so as to spend quality time with her kids! Duh!!  Maybe that woman should regularly make dinner together with her teenage daughter! Strikes and politics do not provide those things. 

Hopefully the strike will end soon with reasonable resolve, and I also hope parents will realize we must be realistic. That's it! My thoughts for this library day. And yes, today the library staff are diligently serving as alternate teachers!

Snack time Inspiration

Last week I participated in an event at the student center, mid-campus in our University of Calgary. It was one of many occasions planned as part of United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, an annual event hosted by this city’s Interfaith Council. Titled “Scriptural Sharing: Harmony in a World of Crisis,” this austere title turned out to be nothing but a circle of chairs in a comfortably arranged office and meeting room obviously designed for things like this. The name of this second floor place is Faith and Spirituality Centre.

The inspiration for me was not so much the words shared in that circle (many accents provide a little extra audio challenge for this guy), but rather the occasion. We were reflecting on two sacred texts, one from the Ahmadiyya Muslims Quran, and one from the Bible, Romans 12. Not only Muslims and Christians, but also Unitarians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus and others respectfully and peacefully holding forth in this talking circle, responding thoughtfully to 

words like “let not a people’s enmity incite you to act otherwise than with justice” and “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” [i] along with related thoughts that came up during the two hour gathering.

The occasion seemed to incite a spirit of joy on this gathering of university students and a few assorted professors, retirees, and clergy. Near end of the talking circle, our discussion facilitator asked one of the women if she might lead in a song. She was taken by surprise, but almost immediately replied, “Sure let’s try.” Using the tune “Frere Jacquez” there we were, all of us, not quite karaoke but singing our hearts out, round song complete with clapping, missed starts and laughter for all. It was spontaneous and happened only because two in our midst exercised a freedom of spirit and the gift of music.

Consistent with tone of this meeting, there was food; lots of variety and served to us by several students from different faith communities. As I overheard them talking about some unique flavors coming from certain shops in the Food Court one floor down, I could not but enjoy the hospitable camaraderie, obviously communicating a youthful connectedness with others in this student center.

And then there was the carpool to and from this location. Alongside shortest or best GPS instructions, the personality of carpoolers also came into play. Our host provided the ride and the parking fee, all this alongside back-seat driver instructions from each of his passengers.

My enthusiasm for Interfaith events in this city is definitely beyond a nice activity to occupy an old thinker. This year’s chosen theme of crisis harmony addresses the very thing everybody, all cultures, young and old, male or female, rich or poor, [ii] is aware of. There was an undeniable willingness to participate with all in something we all desire - definitely more than just 'something to do'.

So our University of Calgary, secular institute of higher learning, very attentive to the education needs of a pluralistic, multinational student body, has a spirituality center well attuned to this day. The unpretensious down-home hosting of a UNWIHW event communicates nothing but good news, perhaps also contributing to its increasing Times Higher Education (THE) rating and definitely a notch above all the separatist divisive lingo being touted in this province.

The ride home continued on topic; hearty conversation about our understanding of God (Yup, a Mormon, Unitarian, Mennonite, and a Muslim all in this neighborly rideshare). We were agreed it had been an uplifting meeting. I posit also that this was healthier for mind and soul than the religion and politics we avoid at so many of our family dinners or coffee klatches.

---

[i] From Quran 5:8 and Romans 12:9-21

[ii] Galatians 3:28

 

Sunday School

It is not often that I get inspiration from the Calgary Sun, one of our local newspapers. Referred to as The Rag by those of us not fans of its political orientation, I nonetheless read it as a freebie along with my coffee at our local McDonald's halfway through each morning’s constitutional walk. This morning’s read was one of those. The front-page article was a begrudged affirmation of our Prime Minister’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Next page was equal print to Donald Trump’s rambling speech obviously not pleased with the standing ovation "Mark" had received. 

This free read was... almost balanced.[i] In fact, a few pages in and back to the local scene, Rick Bell, the Rick Mercer of the Conservatives, went as far as to identify some problems in Alberta’s healthcare system after his recent experience in an Urgent Care facility! Interestingly, Bell, the unofficial PR man of Alberta's UCP, gets immediate response from our government Hospitals Minister Matt Jones also admitting there are some problems. Really? Nice to at least have it acknowledged, even if it's only damage control. 

So our Rag was uncharacteristically balanced today. Media is that form of communication; words, images, art, a whole lot of posturing, and always conforming to the ones who are buying in, i.e. paying their wages. Media will give a balanced perspective if it is consistent with the owners' identified business goals. Anyway, today's newspaper is what inspired the pious-looking title you see at the top. Given the vested interest of media and the deep contrariness of speeches in the big arenas, I wonder about what is actually at the heart of daily news. As a Christian reader and writer, sometimes I also wonder what is at the heart of what comes from the pulpit. It's a good time to relearn something old, to sit with one another not only in coffee klatches and watering holes, but in a healthy way. Back to Sunday School!

Here we go! So far we still live in a free and democratic society, therefor important (urgent) that churches and faith communities learn - perhaps relearn - how to speak with one another! The truth of all 'stories' is larger than information, whether it comes from journalists, politicians, or from preachers (Yes clergy, we must admit this). 

In the congregation I belong to we have devoted recent months to an intentional transition process - preparing ourselves for engagement with the next pastor, reimaging our future. Guess what, now that we think we know what we want, we discover there is a limited supply! This perceived challenge for churches casts us in the same environment as the media. If we are dependent only on adequate professionals, good luck finding the right pulpiteers or managers to do it just right. 

Sunday School. I am a member of a congregation in the low church tradition, in my case the Mennonites. In our communion we do not need to emulate fellow Christians in the mainline and/or evangelical churches since we are not dependent on authoritative structures or popes or bishops or preachers to validate us (although historically some incredible leaders). Our strength and our confidence is in what we are known for - community of believers. It means we practice the scripture at the heart of our theology, For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them (Matthew 18:20). This is what orders our life.

Aaron Stauffer, in the latest issue of Sojourners, a U.S. social gospel magazine, writes about how important it is for congregations to act on what matters, the “sacred values we hold,” not just by what is being preached.[ii] These sacred values are best nurtured in circles of learning, the practice of gathering, not to form official opinions or to hammer out agreement on sticky Bible passages. It is here we sit with one another, usually dependent on one or several who have a gift of teaching, "we have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.... if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach" (Romans 12:6-7). This is the way to discern implications for the journey of faith. 

One further feature of good Sunday School is that it can be multigenerational. I recently visited a Mennonite Church near Two Hills, AB, where the starting age for Sunday School is four! Classes range from preschool to adult, classrooms with collapsible fronts so as to provide space for larger goszgebats (gatherings). Much inspiration in the education wing of this church. And Sunday School precedes a one and half hour worship service! The faith and the energy in this fellowship of believers is palpable, and certainly more convincing than latest meeting and worship formats with sermons from high-salaried professionals. The word, as touted by many in media or from pulpits, is not adequate.

There is considerable loneliness experienced also by those seeking to provide leadership. Once our perceived solutions are limited to 'input' - speeches or opinions as described in the opening paragraphs above - then we are hopelessly lost. Jimmy Carter, President of the United States 1977-81, served his country and his people well, losing after one term to Ronald Reagan, but winning the Nobel Peace Prize twenty years later. One of his involvements that began years before his presidency and only ended years later, was his regular schedule, teaching Sunday School in his home church in Plains, Georgia. 

---

[i] Although subsequent issues back to Alberta separation and other hot topics. E.g. Rick Bell, “Not Taking the Bait,” Calgary Sun, January 30, 2026.

[ii] “How Congregations Act on What Matters,” Sojourners, Jan/Feb, 2026, p.12.