I have been here for a couple of days, and during that time we had to do some grocery shopping. In the supermarket theer was a Mennonite woman with two of her daughters following behind — getting the groceries. No one blinked. I did not realize that Manitoba has its fair share of the Mennonites.

The Mennonites are Anabaptists, and I have a series of problems with their theology that are about as big as those I have with the Romans. It goes back to yesterday;’s and the day before;s comments: the church should be universal, it should not be perfect.

But the Mennonites are losing their kids because the rules of their community do not gel with those of Child Support.

Four Old Order Mennonite children — among dozens apprehended from their community by Child and Family Services amid allegations of physical abuse — have returned home.

The young children were returned on Thursday afternoon after nearly five months away from home.

Their father — who is not among the adult community members charged over the abuse allegations — described how he returned to his house from an important meeting and was greeted by the sound of happy childrens’ chatter as he approached.

His children and wife met him at the door.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” he said, describing the feeling of having his daughter and three sons home. “We were just overjoyed.”

The kids headed straight for their toys, and the father spent part of the evening holding, and reading to, his two-year-old boy.

This is unjust. If a family has violence within it add the children are at risk — then there is a placed to keep the children safe. But removing children from their main caregivers it itself damaging. THose of us who are grandparents have to not parent the grandkids (spoiling them rotten is OK, but we cannot micromanage our children). To label all children of a group as at risk is repugnant to natural justice. And the prophets d a few things to say about this.

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

¹The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

²O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? ³Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. ⁴So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

¹I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. ²Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. ³For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. ⁴Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.

Nehemiah 5:1-9

¹Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish kin. ²For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive.” ³There were also those who said, “We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine.” ⁴And there were those who said, “We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king’s tax. ⁵Now our flesh is the same as that of our kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others.”

⁶I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. ⁷After thinking it over, I brought charges against the nobles and the officials; I said to them, “You are all taking interest from your own people.” And I called a great assembly to deal with them, ⁸and said to them, “As far as we were able, we have bought back our Jewish kindred who had been sold to other nations; but now you are selling your own kin, who must then be bought back by us!” They were silent, and could not find a word to say. ⁹So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?

Mennon was a leader of a church who taught that the church should be a pure community, separate from the world, and should keep its own discipline: that believers should not serve in the military, or courts, or have any involvement with the greater society. This community was to be kept pure by casting out those who did not choose to keep to the rules, and at the same time require that each generation choose to join the community.

These Anabaptist tactics do work in keeping a community tight and together. They make it somewhat harder to witness — because joining the community means that you have to ascribe to all their values. The idea of rebaptism offends my sense of covenant theology. And the idea that the church can be pure strikes me as unrealistic. But the Mennonites can teach us about careful use of technology, and critiquing our society

But those tactics leave our Mennonite brothers and sisters open to persecution. And as the Prophet confronted the money men who were selling children into slavery, it is time to confront those minions of the bureaux that think every person in a group is the same, and remove all chidden at once, ignoring justice, and causing great damage.

For it they come for the Mennonites, they could be coming for us next.