February 5th

What do you want?

A Menno Minute

by Donna Dinsmore, Intentional Transitional Pastor at Foothills Mennonite Church

“What do you want?” The tone says it all. The words are more of a put-down than a question spoken by a belligerent teen or a ticked-off boss. But when the question is asked by someone who really wants to know, it can be a key that opens a mysterious door with wonders inside.

This question, “what do you want”” are the first words of Jesus recorded in John’s gospel. I love that.

And we know without checking, don’t we, that the answer was surely not, “We want change!” Of course not. We hate change. It is unsettling and annoying and makes us feel out of control and uncomfortable. Who in the world would ask for change?

Thus says the privileged ones, the satisfied ones, without reflecting first. Would any of Jesus’ disciples have followed him if they were satisfied with the status quo?

Living with the Nuxalk people in Bella Coola, there was not a day went by but I was aware of all sorts of situations that I wanted to see changed; everything from the return of the ooligan to the Bella Coola river, to more employment opportunities, to healing for Residential School survivors and their families, and ever so much more.

Donna Dinsmore is the Intentional Transitional Pastor at Foothills Mennonite Church.