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CURRENTLY IN BOOKS
Working towards peace important, love essential

Jane Woelk

Straight Talk: From a Brethren Sister Wanda L. Callahan, Waterloo, Ont.: Herald Press, 2000.

Wanda Callahan models her life after Christ, especially on His peace position, and recommends that all followers of Christ do likewise. She has strong convictions about what causes conflict in the church and states feasible solutions to resolve these conflicts.

Callahan pastored Jacksonville (Fla.) Church of the Brethren and Cedar Creek Church of the Brethren in Garret, Ind., before retiring in 1986 to care for her husband who was dying of cancer. After his death, she pastored Wawaka (Ind.) Church of the Brethren. She has pastored men on death row in various prisons in Indiana and Florida. Her motto in life is to pray before you act, then work as hard as you can on what you decide to do.

Straight Talk is an appropriate title for her book because she speaks in a no-nonsense way, straight from her heart. The second part of her title, From a Brethren Sister, however, is misleading because she only touches on the irony of being a woman pastor in a Brethren church, and this is not the focus of her book.

To call her blunt would be accurate, but her bluntness is softened for her compassion for people, especially for the women in her congregation as well as in the broader context of her denomination.

She condemns judgmental attitudes, racism, apathy towards the less fortunate, discrimination, war, the death penalty, and favouritism for the wealthy. She states, “Real peacemaking is more than just believing in peace. Real peacemaking is finding a place to create wholeness in every person we meet . . . Forgiveness has the power of transforming enemies into persons.”

For Callahan, “absolute wellness” means showing love to all people as Christ showed love to all. It means treating others as whole people who deserve respect. Embracing the Spirit of Christ and relying on Him to create peace in our relationships are essential to bringing about wellness in ourselves and others. She implores her readers to treat others as God’s sons and daughters, to be tolerant, and to pour out courtesy, compassion, patience and love to all. Being open and faithful in working towards peace is important, but showing love is essential.

I recommend this book for its honest approach to peacemaking in our congregations.

Jane Woelk is a conflict management consultant and a member of McIvor Ave. MB CHURCH in Winnipeg.

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Last modified August 2, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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