Northern Lights: An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Writing in Canada

265 Pages·2008·0.68 MB·English

by  Byron Rempel-Burkholder

Northern Lights
01_475690-ffirs.qxp 2/27/09 8:08 PM Page viii
Northern Lights
An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Writing in Canada
Editors
Byron Rempel-Burkholder
Dora Dueck
John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Copyright © 2008 by Byron Rempel-Burkholder and Dora Dueck
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may
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Care has been taken to trace ownership of copyright material contained in this
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rectify any reference or credit line in subsequent editions.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Northern lights : an anthology of contemporary Christian writing in
Canada / [edited by] Byron Rempel-Burkholder, Dora Dueck.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-470-15526-4
1. Christian literature, Canadian (English). 2. Canadian literature (Eng-
lish)—21st century. I. Rempel-Burkholder, Byron, 1957- II. Dueck, Dora,
1950-
BR53.N67 2008 C810.8’03823 C2008-902159-2
Production Credits
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Interior text design and typesetting: Michael Chan
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John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
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This book is printed with biodegradable vegetable-based inks on 55lb. recycled
cream paper, 100% post-consumer waste.
Printed in Canada
1 2 3 4 5 TRI 12 11 10 09 08
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Acknowledgements 4
1. Dance to Creation
Thirty Names ~ John Terpstra 6
Here ~ Susan Fish 8
Love and the Law ~ Molly Wolf 13
The Song of the Paddle ~ R. Paul Stevens 17
Sit, Stay, Listen ~ Hannah Main-van der Kamp 22
Celestial Navigation ~ Linda Hall 25
For the Love of Trees ~ David Waltner-Toews 29
Dancing the Rubber Ice ~ Ralph Milton 32
2. A Place in the World
Miss Morley’s Parrot ~ Hugh Cook 36
Why I Enjoy My Job ~ Douglas Todd 45
On Monks, Monsters, and Manuscripts ~ Michael W.
Higgins 51
Finding a Prophetic Perspective ~ Bill Blaikie 60
El Marahka IV ~ Trevor Herriot 69
The Making of a Prairie Preacher ~ Brian C. Stiller 77
Christ in the Room ~ Philip Marchand 84
3. Sorrow and the Wild
The Aspens ~ Rudy Wiebe 92
Vacancy ~ Diane Tucker 96
Breathe ~ Joanne Gerber 98
The Holes in Our Old, Old Stories ~ Daniel
Coleman 108
Atomic Birthday ~ Sally Ito 113
On Bergman ~ John Bentley Mays 120
Where Was God? ~ Joy Kogawa 123
Wild Roses ~ Peter Short 131
VI NORTHERN LIGHTS
4. Leaps of Faith
On Pioneering ~ Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers 140
Surprised by Goodness ~ Mary Jo Leddy 147
Crossing to the Other Side ~ James Loney 155
Sacred Encounters with Wolf ~ Anita L. Keith 163
Growing Up Here, and There ~ Mark Buchanan 170
The Cross and the Sword Trial ~ Leonard Desroches 176
Facing Outward, Looking Up ~ Lorna Dueck 182
5. Transformation
Accidents of Birth ~ John Fraser 188
The Value of Praying a Doxology ~ Ron Rolheiser 196
The Child in the Midst ~ Preston Manning 199
As Christmas Comes ~ Bob Haverluck 203
Two Seconds from Death ~ James A. Taylor 204
Elegy for the Red River ~ Sarah Klassen 208
Words/Tenebrae ~ Catherine Edward 210
Jesus Jumps into Bed ~ Michael Coren 214
Kissing Mother Oksana ~ Katya Szalasznyj 219
6. Glimpses of Glory
Remembering World Youth Day 2002 ~ Thomas
Rosica 226
No Hurry in L’Arche ~ Carolyn Whitney-Brown 233
The Day My Father Was Born Again, Again ~ Maxine
Hancock 241
Safe in the Dark ~ Ray Aldred 247
The Voice of Silence ~ George W hipple 249
Home ~ Gloria Ostrem Sawai 251
Can I Go with You? ~ Bruce Cockburn 255
Permissions and Sources 257
About the Authors 261
Introduction
This collection is an experiment in identity.
Its conception occurred almost by accident on a snowy
March morning in Winnipeg, near the longitudinal centre of
Canada. On his daily walk to the bus stop, Byron found himself
mulling over the relationship between spirituality and geog-
raphy. That connection had planted itself in his mind a decade
earlier through American poet Kathleen Norris’s memoir
Dakota, a moving chronicle of Norris’s rediscovery of faith upon
her move from New York City to her grandmother’s windswept
prairie hometown of Pierre, North Dakota. How did living in
Canada, he wondered, affect his own identity as a Christian?
Whether it was the snow or the barometric pressure of that
winter day, the question stuck, and it spawned others. What is
the spiritual geography of Canada? The country has many physical
geographies—but what are the spiritual ones? And is there such a
thing as a Canadian spiritual identity, or do we Canadians simply
borrow from the habits, songs, writing, and preaching of our
neighbours across the forty-ninth parallel?
A generation ago, university halls were abuzz with the
discovery of a distinct literary landscape in Canadian novels and
poetry. CanLit, as it was called, produced a rich body of reflec-
tion and a surge of exciting new writing to further delineate its
contours.
But what of our spiritual landscape? How was it being
mapped into words? And who were our spiritual writers and
leaders?
That day Byron emailed Dora, another Winnipeg editor.
Did these mullings, he asked, have any validity? And might
Canadians be interested in a collection of writing that reflected
the many faces of being Christian in Canada?
Dora was immediately intrigued by the questions and the
idea of a book. In her journal that day, she began to jot words in
the margin—words that seemed to adhere not only to the earth
2 NORTHERN LIGHTS
but also to the soul of the northern half of this continent that
First Nations people have called “Turtle Island.” North. East
and West. Cold and snow. Prairie, city, mountain. Vast.
(cid:1)
As we [Byron and Dora] brainstormed further, this margina-
lia expanded into a chart of words that juxtaposed Canadian
geography, history, sense of home, and emotional orientation,
with the broad spiritual themes of birth and incarnation, suf-
fering and death, transformation and glory.
Another list—this one of possible contributors to an an-
thology—began to take shape over a series of breakfasts with
ChristianWeek editor Doug Koop, who offered his enthusias-
tic encouragement and extensive knowledge of the national
religious scene. After a string of meetings, emails, Internet
searches, and discussions with others, we had a proposal in
hand, and then a commitment from Wiley Canada to risk
publishing the collection. Byron and Dora would work as edi-
tors on the project; Doug would be the marketing contact.
We decided early on that this collection would be Chris-
tian rather than interfaith. The latter would have been just as
rich and would certainly have reflected the diversity of this
country. But as Christians nurtured by and familiar with our
own traditions, we felt there was also a compelling case for
gathering Christians from a broad range of heritage and ex-
perience around the theological narrative they share and call
“gospel.”
Our aim was not to analyze, define, or argue about
Christian identity in Canada. Rather, we wanted to explore,
express, and showcase it. We wanted to discover it in a variety
of genres, from poetry to fiction, memoir to meditation. The
writing would come from literary figures, religious leaders,
public figures, and activists. Contributors would reflect the
many church traditions represented in Canada, from evangeli-
INTRODUCTION 3
cal to Catholic, mainline Protestant to Orthodox, Pentecostal
to Anabaptist. Some would still have family connections be-
yond our shores; others would have ancestors who were here
long before the Europeans came.
This anthology is just a beginning of something that may
continue to evolve. So we will be honest in our disclaimers. We
did not include everyone who could have been included. Some
declined our invitation for various reasons; others we learned
about too late. We were unable to represent all regions as much
as we would have liked, especially Quebec, and we were not
equipped to make this a bilingual collection.
The writers we were able to bring together, however, are
a wonderfully interesting and eclectic group, each one illumi-
nating some important aspect of Christian faith and life in this
country. For us, this project was a rewarding personal journey
as we celebrated writers we already loved and discovered
others we had not known before. The best part was reading all
their contributions side by side. We were delighted with the
mosaic that formed.
Does Canada have great writers who express what it
means to be Christian in this country? The answer is an un-
equivocal yes.
And what of our spiritual geographies? They too exist and
can be glimpsed, uniquely ours, and shaped by our land, our
history, our people. The following pages take a look.