Volume 27, Number 6
A story of war, immigration and connection
Madalene Arias.
Like a garden maze with various starting points, the story of how I became connected to the Mennonite community is the sum of several individual stories that all led to the same place. My family’s journey to the Mennonites began with a Mennonite woman extending her compassion to us, and this has become a recurring theme.
No shortcut to Easter
A mural in San Salvador shows Oscar Romero surrounded by peasants. (Photo by Will Braun)
It’s not easy to come up with fresh, new material for Easter, so we dug up something nearly 500 years old instead. We’re putting the “Menno” in Canadian Mennonite, literally—the original Menno.
The spiritual resurrection
Art by Nick Schuurman(therainthesnowtheseed.ca)
Reading words written nearly 500 years ago and translated nearly 70 years ago takes some effort, especially when the message is that death precedes resurrection. We trust the Spirit will reveal something new in the old.
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Easter reflections
An Easter turtle in Mampujan, Colombia. (Photo by Anna Vogt)
We asked 10 people for their most meaningful Easter memory, or an image that best captures the essence of Easter, or what Easter makes them wonder.
Readers write: March 24, 2023 issue
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Alvin Baroro
What is a Mennonite?
Kevin Barkowsky (seated third from left) pictured in Vietnam last month. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Barkowsky)
Last month I was sleeping in my hotel in Vietnam when loud karaoke music started playing outside. The music was so loud that I thought my window was open, so I turned the lights on to check, but no, the window was closed. I put my earplugs in, put my pillow over my head and fell back to sleep.
Gilbert Snider
(Photo: David L. Hunsberger / Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
Gilbert Snider stokes his wood-fed, maple-syrup evaporator in rural Waterloo County in 1954. The photographer, David L. Hunsberger, took many photos of working life in Ontario’s Waterloo Region. How much do you know about the working lives of your fellow churchgoers?
Gentleness behind bars
(Photo by Saad Chaudhry/Unsplash)
On Thursday mornings, I drive an hour north to the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, a federal institution in Prince Albert.
Chickadee as sacrament
(Photo by Jack Bulmer/Unsplash)
Normally I hearken closely to the words of Jesus. But although he advises that we consider the sparrows of the field, I’d rather pay attention to chickadees.
Within a shadow of doubt
(Photo by Md Mahdi/Unsplash)
I have so inextricably linked Psalm 22 to the words of Jesus on the cross that I don’t think I have ever really read the Psalm in its own light before.
Ten insights from CM’s latest online event
Clockwise from bottom left, Ryan Dueck, Peter Haresnape and Cynthia Wallace joined CM staffer Aaron Epp for an online event earlier this month.
“Are we too progressive for our own good?” That was the title of an online panel discussion Canadian Mennonite hosted on March 8.
Transitions abound at MC Saskatchewan’s annual delegate sessions
Kirsten Hamm-Epp, regional church minister, and Josh Wallace, church engagement minister, lead morning worship. (Photo by Emily Summach)
Jeanette Hanson and David Neufeld chat between sessions. (Photo by Emily Summach)
Sharon Schultz, pastor of Eyebrow Mennonite Church, and Andrea Enns-Gooding, pastor of Rosthern Mennonite Church, engage in conversation. (Photo by Emily Summach)
Audrey Mierau Bechtel plays piano for morning worship with Josh Wallace on guitar. (Photo by Emily Summach)
Delegates and guests raise their voices in song. (Photo by Emily Summach)
Participants hang ‘seeds’ of the various MC Saskatchewan and MC Canada ministries on the ‘roots’ displayed at the front of the meeting hall. (Photo by Emily Summach)
David Boshart, president of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, delivers the afternoon keynote session. (Photo by Emily Summach)
David Boshart, president of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., encouraged Mennonite Church Saskatchewan participants at this year’s annual delegate sessions (ADS) to hold on to a hopeful perspective, even as the challenges of church life after the pandemic grew.
Vietnam church strong, dynamic
Garry Janzen (left), Yha Robin, Nhien Pham, Hung Doan Dinh and Kosor Tuih in Qui Nhon, Vietnam, on Feb. 14. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Barkowsky)
With 100,000 members, the Mennonite church in Vietnam is going strong, reports Nhien Pham. The retired pastor, who came to Canada from Vietnam in 1976, returned to his home country for a month with a group from Mennonite Church Canada earlier this year. Pham is president of the North American Evangelical Vietnamese Fellowship and advisor for Evangelical Church Vietnam.
MC Manitoba re-imagines church together at annual gathering
Sol Janzen (left), Heidi Dirks, Marcus Rempel and Teresa Enns Zehr represented the two congregations joining MC Manitoba at this year’s annual gathering: Aberdeen Evangelical Mennonite Church and Saint Julian’s Table. (Photo by Karen Schellenberg)
The buzz of conversation and singing was a welcome sound as people filled Douglas Mennonite Church in Winnipeg for Mennonite Church Manitoba’s first in-person gathering in three years.
This year’s event hosted more than 150 people, including 111 delegates, on March 3 and 4. The theme was “Re-imagining church together.”
Journey from pastor to politician
Caleb Ratzlaff mingles with supporters at his campaign launch. (Photo by Jenessa Jessome Photography)
Caleb Ratzlaff has always had an interest in theology and politics. After spending time in seminary, he ultimately decided to complete a master’s degree in political philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. Last November, he was elected to the St. Catherines city council, at which time he left his position as pastor of Westview Christian Fellowship.
On a journey with Jesus
Colin McCartney
When Colin McCartney of Connect City, a church-planting ministry in Toronto, came to Leamington last month, members of five local congregations in Essex County were taken on a journey from Christendom—where the church used to thrive—to post-Christendom—where it is now struggling.
CMU student finds her place as composer
Composer and CMU student Anna Schwartz. (Photo courtesy of CMU)
With choral singing back in full swing, its community-building capacity is even more obvious to composer and Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) student Anna Schwartz. After writing the song “Answers” at the height of the pandemic, she is set to direct the CMU Chamber Choir’s spring performance of the song on April 28.
