Letter: Living on the Borderland (And an explanation about this new Letters section)

 

When I started this blog, I envisioned it like a publication with me as the reporter. A one-person show.

Unlike other publications, which accept submissions from other writers, I would only publish things written by me. I was not interested in being an editor, choosing items for the blog. (People can leave comments on this blog, though.)

And yet many are hungry for honest conversation about this topic. A couple of people have sent me submissions, hoping I would publish them. I declined. 

But when I received the submission below, it got me thinking anew about whether this blog could play a role in facilitating conversation about LGBTQ+ in the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conference. 

But how to do that? Then I thought: A Letters section.

The best place for submissions/letters like this to be published is the Herald itself. But the publication doesn't have a letters section anymore, and I doubt it would accept submissions that challenge Conference beliefs and policy about LGBTQ+. 

That's where a letters section comes in.  

To be honest, I do this with some trepidation; I am not keen to run a public forum! But until some other way comes along, I guess its something I can do.  

If others wish to write a letter, send them to jdl562000 AT yahoo.com. They must address the issue of LGBTQ+ in the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Church, and they should be in response to something on this blog. (Although personal stories are also welcome.) 

I reserve the right to publish or not publish any letter. Keep your submission short and to the point and be respectful. Give your name, city/town and church you belong to (if any), although some letters can be published anonymously.  

All submissions express the opinion of the writer, not necessarily my own. (Or they might; I'm not saying.) Here's the first letter.   

Living on the Borderland, June 23, 2023

Brian Cooper’s point in Living on the Borderland? is summed up in his metaphor of the choir:  If you want to sing in the choir, you need to sing the song the conductor assigns and pay attention to the conductor’s baton. 

If you can’t do both, perhaps there is another more suitable choir for you somewhere else. 

Cooper concedes that other choirs also make music, just not the music the conductor of our choir makes.  

Imagine a choir where the conductor, year after year, chooses the same music and performs it in the same way despite there being many innovations that could be explored.  

Finally, some members of the choir take the conductor aside and suggest modifications to the repertoire. 

“No,” says the conductor. “This is our expression of music; the repertoire and the presentation of it are not to be questioned.” 

Some members gather a petition asking the national cohort of conductors to discuss aspects of the repertoire and their presentation. The conductors ignore the petition but, nonetheless, structure two nation-wide consultations on a single component of the repertoire.

They call these consultations ‘Study Conferences’. They make it clear from the outset, however, that the repertoire and its presentation are not under discussion.   

I am one who has sung in the conductor’s choir for more than fifty years.  I still want to sing music in this choir, but Brian Cooper has made it clear that my being in the choir will be more painful for the choir than whatever pain is caused by my departure. 

Some direct observations on the matter at hand:  

First, Jesus, not our Confession of Faith, is our centre. 

Second, confessions of faith are important for the identity of a faith community. That said, believers, including MBs, change their confessions of faith over time.  

These changes occasionally result from theological discussion that is initiated as the church ministers to people within its community and beyond. The change of the MB Confession of Faith on divorce and remarriage, and the recent U.S. MB change on non-resistance, were substantive changes. They were controversial because they challenged expressions of faithful discipleship that were held in common until then.

Third, confessions of faith can’t say it all and sometimes say too much. If Mennonite Brethren were to write a confession of faith today, what would it look like? Would it have the same number of articles?

Even with the Confession of Faith as it is, might the Statement of Shared Convictions of the Mennonite World Conference offer us something useful at this time?

This Statement summarizes commonly accepted faith principles of most Anabaptist groups worldwide. While it is not a confession of faith, the seven shared convictions are central to Anabaptist belief and practice. 

Are these seven convictions sufficiently cohesive to hold Anabaptist groups in worldwide communion? Are they sufficiently cohesive to hold current members of the Mennonite Brethren family in Canada in communion with each other? 

I hope that they are. Our commonalities greatly exceed our differences. The diversity that now exists among the Mennonite Brethren is not unusual and not unhealthy when Christ is our centre. 

Returning to the choir metaphor, let us encourage the conductor to try a little new music. There are people within and beyond our circle who’ve wanted to sing for a very long time.

Donald Peters, Winnipeg. (Don is a member of River East Church.)