(Unsplash photo by Ahmed Hasan)
This six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors.
Advent celebrates the coming of light, the light of love that “darkness cannot extinguish” (John 1:5).
(Image by Joe/Pixabay)
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Don’t ignore pain and rage
(Photo: Kathy Bergen/Mennonite Heritage Archives)
Bishara Awad stands outside Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem in 1985. Awad, a Palestinian Christian, founded the school in 1979. He had previously served with Mennonite Central Committee in a Palestinian school and attended Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California, in 1981-82.
(Unsplash photo by Kelly Sikkema)
In B.C. we’ve heard stories of churches in at least two denomina- tions choosing to use secondary or tertiary doctrines and opinions as litmus tests for belonging.
These groups are doubling down on the wrong ways of trying to maintain unity.
(Unsplash photo by Priscilla du Preez)
It is exactly 100 years ago that my congregation, First Mennonite Church in Kitchener, divided over
the issue of women’s head coverings. Two-thirds of the congregation left
because they did not want women to be forced to wear head coverings. They moved one block up the hill to create Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church.
(Unsplash photo by Mario Gogh)
Curiosity is a powerful spiritual discipline.
Curiosity has blessed me with many opportunities to spend time with kind, intelligent and reasonable people, in many different social, political and theological camps. I’m grateful for the privilege of hearing the typically calm and logical explanations they have for the positions they hold.
(Unsplash photo by CHUTTERSNAP)
One of the contradictions I have observed in intercultural churches in North America is that, while they intentionally strive to welcome all people, almost all of them stubbornly adhere to the “closed” communion tradition, which allows only baptized participants to partake.
(Unsplash photo by lilartsy)
This six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors.
In her new book, Marlene Epp addresses the question of whether there is such a thing as ‘Mennonite food.’ (Image courtesy of Facebook.com/MennoniteStudies)
In her new book, Eating Like a Mennonite, Marlene Epp addresses the question of whether there is such a thing as “Mennonite food.” She assumes there is, and declares it should be celebrated, disagreeing with those who say “Mennonite” is a religious label that should not be used as an adjective for food.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Clarification
Dying With Dignity Canada would like to add to and clarify some of the information shared in Conrad Brunk’s letter to the editor (“Readers write,” November 3).
(Photo: Canadian Mennonite Bible College)
In 1975 the Conference of Mennonites in Canada built the chapel at Canadian Mennonite Bible College (now CMU). Rudy Friesen wrote in the Mennonite Mirror, April 1975, page 7: “It was agreed that the chapel should be simple and unadorned, yet strong and bold. . . . The large barn-like trusses on the inside continue this feeling of strength, and as such form the only decoration.
(Unsplash photo by Greg Rosenke)
“How do you like my gown? Don’t I wear it well?”
“You look amazing!”
Smoothing the creases of her gown, she flutters her eyelids, strikes a pose, and smiles with the confidence and sass of a runway model.
“I’m not going in there with you.”
“I know. When you hear me scream you can come and get me.”
(Unsplash photo by CHUTTERSNAP)
I’ve spent the past weeks sifting through the rhetoric that is being used to describe the Israel-Hamas conflict, and it’s been confusing, to say the least. At the time of this writing, officials say that more than 10,000 Gazans are dead.
(Unsplash photo by Debora Bacheschi)
Do you celebrate Buy Nothing Day? For me it’s like a holy day, a short version of Lent—that disruption of the ordinary that makes me notice the taken-for-granted and the practices of the gospel.
The intent of Buy Nothing Day is that for a single day one does not purchase anything. No economic transactions. Live the day with whatever you have. Notice how it feels.
(Unsplash photo by Tim Wildsmith)
“Let all that has breath praise Yah. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 150:6)
This is the last verse in the book of Psalms, and it was the last verse I read to complete a more than five-year journey through the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament).
(Unsplash photo by Ugne Vasyliute)
This six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors.
Metaphors and images provide vivid word pictures which help God’s people make meaning and make sense of a complex and changing context.
Cathrin van Sintern-Dick
John and Jean—not their real names—had long made plans to retire once John turned 65. They had dreams of travelling and spending more time with family, who lived far away. Plus, it simply was time to let go of their farm operation.
John’s retirement was two years away. The farming operation was held jointly with John’s brother, Pete, and Pete’s wife, Petra.
Detroit Dark Red beets, Chantenay Red carrots, Chieftain potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes and Lowell Ewert’s Jerusalem artichoke, all from the Wiederkehr garden. (Supplied photo)
The Wiederkehr root cellar, 2023. (Supplied Photo)
Harvesting kohlrabi. (Supplied photo)
Theo storing rutabaga. (Supplied photo)
Over the past two months, our household has spent a lot of time preparing root crops for storage: digging, trimming the tops and packing them in boxes of dry leaves to go in the cellar.
(Photo: John P. Dyck slide collection)
These men visited an alternative service camp in 1942. From left: D.P. Reimer (EMC, Steinbach), Jacob F. Barkman (Holdeman minister, Manitoba), David Schulz (Bergthaler bishop, Manitoba) and George DeFehr (Holdeman minister, Alberta).
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Gratitude for foyer discussions
Today I got my COVID booster. Other than a barely perceptible soreness in my arm, I have never experienced side effects from these vaccinations.
(Unsplash photo by Timothy Eberly)
On a Wednesday in mid-October, I’m at the auto shop for winter tires; a TV on the wall flashes tanks, rubble and protests alongside talking heads.
On social media, I can’t look away from children held hostage or from parents pulling kids from collapsed buildings.
(Pixabay photo by congerdesign)
I like paying attention to structures and policies. My attention was caught on Sunday when the visiting preacher, Fanosie Legesse of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, said that wisdom is when churches shape structures and policies to be salt and light in the world.
At WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio station, a very interesting testimony appeared three years ago titled “A Dual Degree from Oxford. A Medical Degree from Harvard. Neither Protected Me from Racism.” It’s from Tafadzwa Muguwe, a Zimbabwean-born Rhodes scholar and Harvard-trained physician.
Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities nearly 200 years ago. His opening lines describe our world today, as aptly as anything published in recent years. He writes:
