'Now I find myself a homeowner and still tempted, as I walk past the beautiful houses, to covet what I don’t have...' (Photo by Tierra Mallorca/Unsplash)
In late August, my wife and I became first-time homeowners. There had been many times we wondered if we would ever be able to afford a house, ever save up enough for a down payment, or if we even wanted to do the traditional homeownership thing. But, after 16 years of marriage, we bought a house.
Bryan Born, president of Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C., speaks as part of Mennonite Church Canada's 'Table Talk' study conference.
The Oct. 24 Mennonite Church Canada study conference asked the question: “Does the church have legs?”
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Voluntary service important in cross-border interaction
Re: “Cross-border interaction in decline since integration” letter, Sept. 14, page 9.
Martens Bartel with some of the vegetables from her garden. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Martens Bartel)
As I finish off another growing season on the farm, I reflect on how things grew, what went well, and what to tweak for next year. Aside from our various pastured livestock, I also grow a market garden and, after nine years, I still feel that I have so much to learn.
(Photo: Brubacher House Museum, Waterloo, Ont. / Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
Within this Mennonite hearth, we can read an environmental history. By 1850, when John E. and Magdalena Brubacher built this house, the forest stands of southwestern Ontario were well on their way to being transformed into farmland. The harvesting and sale of wood and its products was the engine of the economy.
(Photo by Nina Strehl/Unsplash)
Since living in a pandemic that has suddenly limited indoor socializing, I have been particularly thankful for the neighbourhood friendships we’ve created. In March and April, when we were all isolating, we actually got to know our neighbours far better.
'Don’t we know that choosing to be a Mennonite is not about skin colour or names, but a specific part of the Christian faith tradition?' (Image by Tumisu/Pixabay)
As a young adult I entered a Mennonite college knowing little about Mennonites. I grew up (mostly) Baptist. I was astonished to hear people say over and over again, “You must be a Mennonite!” I sputtered that just because my last name is Klassen does not make me Mennonite, and that, in fact, I was a Christian who happened to be a member of a Baptist congregation.
'Just as exhaling is as important as inhaling to the breathing process, rest is as important as activity to the growth process.' (Photo by Katie Barrett/Unsplash)
My focus on growth may seem strange during this difficult season we’re in, but I believe that the best way to get through this pandemic is by growing.
My understanding of growth is simple. It’s the process of becoming who someone (or something) was created and designed to be.
There are many ways for us to grow during even the most-challenging times. We can grow by:
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Reactions to recent ‘A moment from yesterday’ photographs
Re: A photograph of a volleyball game beside a row of tall poplar trees with a lake in the background, Aug. 17, page. 4.
Andrew Root speaks at Canadian Mennonite University in February 2020. (Instagram.com/cmuwpg)
The youth of the Mennonite church are often on my mind, and over the years, they have secured a place in my heart. It has been total joy and privilege to share time and space with them at national gatherings, regularly in my ministry within Mennonite Church Manitoba, and through the sharing of stories in Canadian Mennonite.
(Photo: Lawrence Klippenstein / Mennonite Heritage Archives)
LaVerna Klippenstein (1934-2014) fulfilled many roles, including mother, wife, teacher and author. After her marriage to Lawrence Klippenstein in 1956, the pair began working in the Métis community of Matheson Island, Man., for two years with Mennonite Pioneer Mission. She is pictured hanging laundry on Matheson Island.
'We learned that he had become a priest...'
The first story is as recent as a week ago last Sunday. As I stood to sing a somewhat familiar hymn in the morning worship service, the words came off the page to grasp my attention with unusual urgency. The song was “There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy,” and the verse that snared me was the third.
A wall at Netiv HaAsara facing the Gaza border reads the words “Path to Peace” in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Netiv HaAsara is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the north-west Negev, it nearly borders the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Cole Keister/Unsplash)
Whether you know the word or not, shalom is central to the way most Mennonites think of what it means to be disciples faithful to Jesus. “Peace” is how the Hebrew word shalom is often translated.
'I pray that my daughters will continue to blossom in their faith...' (Photo by Ben White/Unsplash)
I was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to read amidst my children having breakfast and building with Lego, and I read this verse: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, Your sons and daughters will prophesy. . .” (Joel 2:28).
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Pandemic provides ‘extra bonuses’ for elderly congregant
Re: “In a time of uncertainty: COVID-19 prompts churches to rethink gatherings,” March 30, page 15.
(Photo by Vonecia Carswell/Unsplash)
In my work with high-risk single mothers, I’ve been meeting one-on-one this summer with women, as our weekly group program was put on hold due to the pandemic. Over and over, I’ve seen the positive effects that a caring community has on individuals and how vastly important it is.
(Photo by Aaron Burden/Unsplash)
In early August, I heard about the devastating impact of floods and a landside on a Mennonite congregation in Kerala in southern India, with mud covering the building and many church members missing. Paul Phinehas, head of the Anabaptist conference there, asked for prayers for:
(Photo by Wayne Bishop/Unsplash)
This summer, our neighbours had a total of four trees taken down that bordered either side of our property. I really miss those big, beautiful trees. One tree was at least 50 years old, the other three were probably closer to 100, but it took only a few hours to reduce them to small piles of stump shavings scattered on the ground.
Graphic by Betty Avery
‘Better stories’ needed for ‘future inventories’
Re: “A Black/Menno inventory,” June 22, page 13.
A family from Morden Mennonite Church in Manitoba shares a song during Mennonite Church Canada's Sept. 6 online worship service. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
“Find us empty and wandering . . . find us in the wilderness, and fill us with your feast.”
This lyric by Phil Campbell-Enns, pastor of Home Street Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, is from a song that was chosen for the first Mennonite Church Canada online worship service on March 22. At the time, it perfectly described where we found ourselves and how we felt.
Photo: Unknown / Mennonite Heritage Archives
In Saskatoon, at the 1975 Conference of Mennonites in Canada annual conference, the Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC) board, “long embarrassed about faculty salaries,” asked for funds to raise salaries to a maximum of $20,000 per year for PhD professors after 10 years of service.
'Wonder and awe are held in an open palm, where they can be considered but never grasped tightly.' (Image by Radoan Tanvir/Pixabay)
A story in Genesis 28 describes the patriarch Jacob stopping for the night while on a journey. His sleep includes a dream of a visit from God. In the morning, Jacob awakes and offers the profound observation, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I didn’t know it! This is none other than the house of God!”
As a result of that experience, Jacob names the spot “Bethel.”
(Photo by Gift Habeshaw/Unsplash)
Because of my Christian friends I’m taking a hiatus from social media. One has repeatedly posted a meme of Jesus with an AK-47 assault rifle. I tried hard to explain in detail why I thought this was horrible. What I mean, of course, is that we argued.
'For the first few months of 2020, I’d developed a pretty regular routine of reading my Bible, journalling and praying...' (Photo by Aaron Burden/Unsplash)
“Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God” (Hosea 14:1).
In this final chapter of Hosea, God bids the Israelites return to God and acknowledge their waywardness, but also to be assured they will find compassion and fruitfulness in God.
Photo © istock.com/llyast
The Mennonite church has the opportunity to become a dependable partner in the work of dismantling racism.
The church as a whole has a record of racism—both overt and covert—that has been attested to by generations of Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) community members both within and outside the church.
