Greetings to everybody back home, from the warm and welcoming Land of Africa!

Paul Vetter, Clara Basel, Chris and myself have been in Palmgrove community for over a week now. It was such a joy to see familiar faces again, after 10 years! The last time I was here was in 2008. Now o....

Since God in His grace has been merciful to you and through the death of Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, and the intercession of the Church has forgiven and remitted your sins. May He fill you with the powers from on High and write your name in the Book of Eternal Life. May He keep you as a true Brother/Sister in the Church to serve Jesus until the end, Amen.

The simplest answer to this question is also the best one. To pay for our sins.

But, why do our sins need to be paid for? Do they carry such far-reaching consequences?

In society there are laws. There have to be, to protect the innocent and to ensure that everything runs smoothly, orderly, and efficiently. And if those laws are broken then there are consequences and a price has to be paid. Sometimes monetarily, sometimes with community work, sometimes with jail time and sometimes with life itself -- as in the death penalty.

In God's fa....

While reading the tragic, blood-curdling accounts of Canada’s Residential Schools, I was struck once again by how torturous it must have been for parents during that period -- where a dreadful decision by powerful government and church leaders forcibly separated children from families, effectively destroying a people’s future, in the name of assimilating them into an enemy culture.

My mind wandered to Europe and some dismal chapters of my own Hutterite history involving a similar decision, but with a drastically different outcome. What i....