reamSeekreamSeekerer MagazineMagazine DD Voices from the Soul A Brief History of Love and Suffering Dan Schreiber On the Edge of the Razor Stephen Mitchell Kingsview When Something Takes the Babies Michael A. King Ink Aria Countdowns and Clock-Watching Renee Gehman Lousy Gifts Brenda Hartman-Souder A Funky Sunset Rainbow Craig Pelkey-Landis Beneath the Skyline On the Cusp of New Beginnings Deborah Good and much more Summer 2009 Volume 9, Number 3; ISSN 1546-4172 Editor IN THIS ISSUE Editorial: Shadows and Sunshine Michael A. King Summer 2009, Volume 9, Number 3 Assistant Editor As this issue of DSM is being final- extends and deepens the theme with a Renee Gehman Editorial: Shadows and Sunshine ized, the United States, as it has so of- meditation on, of all things, lice. Editorial Council Poetry ten since 9-11, is wrestling yet again Then Craig Pelkey-Landis takes David Graybill, Daniel Julie Cadwallader-Staub, Longing • 2; Ken Gibble, with how to treat enemies. We mostly us to sun-dappled Phoenix. And Hertzler, Kristina M. King, Mollie • 12; Eastern Towhee • 15; Stalker • 26; seem to have resolved it’s okay to kill Deborah Good ponders life on the Richard A. Kauffman, Jake • back cover Paul M. Schrock them if they’re bad enough. But we’re cusp of “what-next” in various in- A Brief History of Love and Suffering 3 still not quite sure it’s okay to sightful ways and set- Columnists or Dan Schreiber torture them, although ap- Even amid gauzy tings—but not least an Regular Contributors parently (according to a re- summer Arizona road trip. Renee Gehman, Deborah On the Edge of the Razor 7 cent survey), a majority of breezes, then, it Ah, but this issue of Good, David B. Greiser, Stephen Mitchell Daniel Hertzler, Michael A. more faithful churchgoing seems important DSM will remain cur- Kingsview 10 King, Nöel R. King, Mark R. evangelical Christians do to think yet rent through September When Something Takes the Babies think torture is the way to and the beginning of fall, Wenger again about Michael A. King go. when school starts and Publication, Even amid gauzy sum- what we do with we expect minds to work Printing, and Design Ink Aria 13 mer breezes, then, it seems evil. Never- hard. So onward with a Cascadia Publishing House Countdowns and Clock-Watching important to think yet again theless, it is thoughtful review by Advertising Renee Gehman about what we do with evil, summer. Dave Greiser of “The Michael A. King Lousy Gifts 16 with bad people, with Jesus’ Soloist” and the com- Brenda Hartman-Souder teachings to love even beyond what Contact plexities of mental illness it both ad- 126 Klingerman Road A Funky Sunset Rainbow 20 seems right to us. Dan Schreiber and dresses and fails to address; by James Telford, PA 18969 Stephen Mitchell, who submitted Juhnke of “Silent Light” and the film’s 1-215-723-9125 Craig Pelkey-Landis their overlapping and mutually en- illuminating (sometimes) treatment [email protected] Beneath the Skyline 23 riching articles without being aware of Old Order Mennonites; by Dan On the Cusp of New Beginnings of the other’s, keep us pondering. My Submissions Hertzler of ways Marlene Epp “lifts Occasional unsolicited sub- Deborah Good column on robins goes next because it the fog” in telling of the treatment missions accepted, 750-1500 worries about where God fits when and mistreatment of Mennonite words, returned only with “Silent Light”: A Film Review 27 robins are taken (which extends to women. The poets add their own SASE. Letters invited. Jim Juhnke when people are tortured). dappling of light, longing, God leav- Subscriptions Reel Reflections 31 Nevertheless, it is summer. Dur- ing or lurking. Standard rates in U.S. “The Soloist”—Flawed Genius, ing a recession. I at least yearn also to Finally I can’t resist closing on a $14.95/yr. in US, automatic Flawed Film: A Review feel touched during summer by the resurgent summery note, with Noël Jan. renewals, cancel any time. Dave Greiser magic of landscapes, laughter, the King’s fantasy of what happens when Single copy: $3.75 sheer joy of the moment. So next a babysitter realizes she’s taking care Free online: Books, Faith, World & More 34 comes Renee Gehman, reminding us, of Alison, daughter of Wonderland Al- www.CascadiaPublishingHouse.com/dsm Lifting the Fog: A Review of precisely, to cherish the moment, ice. DreamSeeker Magazine is Mennonite Women in Canada which for me includes the summer Shadows and sunshine. Summer published quarterly in spring, Daniel Hertzler sunshine, so soon gone, such a gift summer, fall, and winter. into autumn, 2009. The Turquoise Pen 40 while here. Brenda Hartman-Souder —Michael A. King Copyright © 2009 ISSN: 1546-4172 (paper) Second Generation ISSN: 1548-1719 (online) Noël R. King Longing Consider the blackpoll warbler. She tips the scales at one ounce before she migrates, taking off from the seacoast to our east A Brief History of flying higher and higher ascending two or three miles Love and Suffering during her eighty hours of flight until she lands, in Tobago, north of Venezuela Dan Schreiber three days older, and weighing half as much. She flies over open ocean almost the whole way. Oh she is not so different from us. Human institutions, despite whatever good in- The arc of our lives is a mystery too. tentions they claim, seem inevitably to find ways to We do not understand, increase suffering in the world. Government has its we cannot see bureaucracy, law its lawyers, and Microsoft its Win- what guides us on our way: dows®. But Christianity trumps them all, by de- that longing that pulls us toward light. manding adherence to a concept that has caused more suffering than all other strategies combined: Loving Not knowing, we fly onward our neighbors. hearing the dull roar of the waves below. Love is supposed to be a good thing, of course. —Julie Cadwallader-Staub grew up in Min- However, in those rare instances of right loving, it is nesota with her five sisters, her parents, and a often painful for the one doing the loving. Martin dog beside one of Minnesota’s small lakes. Her Luther King Jr., for example, loved his country into favorite words to hear growing up were, providing some measure of justice for African-Ameri- “Now you girls go outside and play.” She now cans. He was rewarded with an early exit from his lives in Vermont and still loves to explore the struggle to reflect God’s kingdom on earth. natural world right out her back door. And in the more usual case of loving done badly, the suffering lands squarely on those being loved. Eu- ropean Christians loved their way across North Amer- ica, attempting to convert the savages to everlasting Correction: The early hardcopy printings of DreamSeeker Magazine, Spring 2009, life. They were not terribly successful at conversion, ran an incorrect byline for the poem "Kansas, My Home," p. 41. The correct byline but they did manage to leave an efficient wake of death should have been Elizabeth Ann Raid. and devastation behind them. Love is indeed a battle- Letters to DreamSeeker Magazine are encouraged. We also welcome and when possi- field, as the prophet Benatar once proclaimed. ble publish extended responses (max. 400 words). 3 4 / SUMMER 2009 DREAMSEEKER MAGAZINE / 5 In my own life, I’ve encountered the wider world to see who else was should not discount the possibility whether our actions result in more many a Christian attempting to love worthy of their affection. that vegetarians are damned. power for the people we love, or more me into seeing God their way. All too Around the same time, St. Augus- power for ourselves. Even though we often, it ends in shouting, finger-wag- tine invoked love of neighbor to inau- Vegetarians aside, the solution isn’t might do good deeds that are worth- ging, or tears. And yet, my own love of gurate the Just War tradition. He to stop loving our neighbors, but to while, and even succeed in making neighbor demands that I offer in re- made the reasonable claim that even do it better than we nor- others happy, we can’t turn some vital and sincere reflection though a Christian must turn the mally do. And it turns out Our credibility is so call it love unless it is of God’s eternal wisdom. Not infre- other cheek when struck, he is al- that the problem with damaged that we painful and costly to quently, this is met with the same lowed to protect a neighbor when a loving our neighbors is should not allow ourselves. We may not stubborn resistance. Where did we go second neighbor strikes the first one. not the part where we care ourselves to invoke need to literally hang on wrong? Unfortunately, this has been inter- for our neighbors’ physi- love as a motivation a cross for our love, but preted rather broadly over the cen- cal, emotional, and spiri- we do need to challenge Christian love started out well turies. In practice it has now tual needs. Providing aid for helping others the powers of the world enough. Jesus urged us to love our degenerated to the right of any Chris- and comfort to those in unless we physi- for the benefit of others. neighbors as second only to loving tian nation to invade any other nation need and advocating jus- cally, emotionally, Sure, I am overstat- God in our right-living priorities. He if it contains a single person who has tice for the oppressed are or spiritually lose ing it, but perhaps some even helpfully pointed out who our ever been slapped.