Volume 14, Number 23
Downsizing for service
Dave and Karen Mast have traded their home in Ephrata, Pa., for a trailer that they take with them on their assignments with Service Opportunities for Older People (SOOP), a Mennonite Mission Network ministry.
A year ago, Dave and Karen Mast traded their 240-square-metre home in Ephrata, Pa., for a 12-metre-long travel trailer.
Dave, 51, and Karen, 48, now travel across the eastern U.S. as volunteers for Service Opportunities for Older People (SOOP), a Mennonite Mission Network (MMN) volunteer opportunity throughout the U.S. and Canada for adults and families.
Promotional video for Whatever Happened To Dinner? created
A short promotional video about the new Herald Press book, Whatever Happened to Dinner?, can now be found on YouTube, courtesy of Wayne Gehman, a video producer at Third Way Media.
The Crash
Because it’s like driving cold and restless I put my arms up and out and feel
wind pushing me pushing me pushing me like an aching like a crumbling
like an
ending
you ask if I’m conducting I am I am but
it’s like a pirate ship a sinking ship a spaceship half gone but people are on
the lookout and write about it in their news
Faith seeking understanding
Ens
Senior year in high school is generally busy, but Sarah Ens managed to pack more activities and achievements into Grade 12 than many do in a lifetime, combining academic excellence while pursuing her passions for social justice, writing and volunteerism.
Lao church dedicates new worship space
Lao Canadian Evangelical Mennonite Church youths welcomed guests to a fellowship meal following a grand opening celebration for the congregation’s new worship space at a mall in northwest Toronto.
Why would several hundred people enter a storefront on Finch Avenue West in northwest Toronto late in the afternoon of Sept. 26? Not to get a haircut; that’s next door. No, these people were gathered to celebrate.
Tree-planting project takes root
Jake Rempel and Brian Wiebe prepare a hole to plant one of 37 trees that will border the Carman Mennonite Church property on three sides. About half of the funding came from Manitoba Hydro’s Forest Enhancement Program.
On Nov. 9, a wagonload of 37 trees and an eager group of Carman Mennonite Church members armed with spades, including a massive tree spade powered by a tractor, showed up in the church parking lot. A plan to enhance the parking lot, provide shelter from the winds and care for the environment had been developed years ago and now was about to take root.
What to believe?
The daily bombardment of advertising from radio, billboards, newspapers, the Internet, fliers and TV leaves me discouraged and fatigued. Relentless messages urge me to cling to an insidious mantra, to believe that I will be a better person for using a particular product or service, to believe that advertisers are honest and want the best for me.
God in the nooks and crannies
Melissa Miller
On the first Sunday of Advent, many of us will hear the proclamation, “The Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Matthew 25:44). Advent worship resources from The Leader have highlighted the words “an unexpected hour” as a theme for this season. We are called to make space to receive God’s presence among us by slowing down and slipping into silence.
Thy will be done
Arnie Friesen
Preparing your personal will in light of the Lord’s Prayer makes a lot of sense if you seek to do God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven.
For discussion
1. In what ways are the people of your congregation involved with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)? Which generations are most involved? How high are the feelings of support and loyalty towards MCC? Do you know Mennonite churches that do not support MCC?
‘For such a time as this’
Clayton Kratz
Jack Dueck
Worship is remembering, said the prophet Jeremiah. The past holds regenerative power.
I’m a human being living in Canada today because of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC); some of my family in southern Russia (now Ukraine) were rescued from famine and annihilation.
Congregations, too, want ‘new wineskins’
It’s too bad the New Wineskins consultations of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), that covered a four-year period and got Mennonites together from all over the world, didn’t “become a hot topic” in the pew, as Will Braun observes in our main feature on page 4.
MC Canada approves MPN/Third Way merger
“Are we satisfied the process has been a healthy one?” MC Canada moderator Andrew Reesor-McDowell asked the General Board members.
What began as a bit of barn-burner issue settled down this past weekend into a few comforting embers
