Volume 21, Number 5
In the cross-hairs of change
“The times, they are a-changin,” belted out singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in the mid 1960s.
Who’s winning at church?
Over the past while, a number of people have inquired about my thoughts on a recent “Theology matters” study conducted by Canadian scholar David Haskell that draws a strong connection between theological conservatism in Canadian mainline Protestant churches and church attendance.
Readers write: February 27, 2017 issue
Visit to the West Bank might enlighten letter writer
Re: “MC Canada should retract BDS resolution and apologize to Israel” letter, Jan. 2, page 10.
‘The darkness of the womb’?
“[Y]ou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. . . . ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
In defence of masks
The subject of masks came up in the adult Sunday school class. Not literal ones, but the invisible ones we wear in an attempt to hide that which we don’t want to be seen. I ventured that such masks are unhelpful barriers, interfering with connectedness and intimacy.
Journey of generosity
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. . . . [I]nstead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ ” (James 4:13-15)
Elmer Martens
Elmer Martens, kneeling bottom left, was born in 1930 in Main Centre, Sask. He went on to become a leading authority on the Old Testament. His career was based at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, but he also taught at numerous seminaries in North America and beyond.
Wisdom, where art thou? (Pt. 5)
The king was looking for someone possessing great wisdom to join his council of advisors. So he contacted the elders of the 12 regions of his kingdom and asked them to send their wisest man or woman to his palace to participate in a challenge. The winner would then be invited to join his council.
New name, different ownership
The Mennonite Heritage Centre, including its archival and art gallery programs, is being reorganized under a new partnership and name.
Is Future Directions a First-World problem?
The Future Directions process is moving slowly and surely forward with a specific restructuring proposal and a timeline for downsizing proposals. Meanwhile, the notion of refocussing on the local congregation, which is central to the transition narrative, is generating vital questions about the importance of global perspectives in an increasingly nationalistic world.
An historical treasure
Holding the 1930 volume of the Saskatchewan Valley News, Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan members, from left, Jake Buhler, John Reddekopp and Susan Braun, pose with Terry Jensen, the paper’s owner. Jensen is donating all of the paper’s archival material to the society’s Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan member Jake Buhler examines a drawer filled with 35mm negatives used in publishing the Saskatchewan Valley News. Now that the weekly community paper is no longer being published, the negatives will be preserved in the Historical Society’s Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
In addition to back issues and photographic negatives, an assortment of documents pertaining to Mennonite church history that have been housed at the Saskatchewan Valley News offices will also be donated to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Bound copies of the Saskatchewan Valley News dating from 1930, as well as unbound copies from recent years, will find a new home at the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
The first volume of Der Mennonitische Immigranten Bote (The Mennonite Immigration Messenger), published in 1924 in Rosthern, Sask., is among the historical artifacts that Terry Jensen, the owner of the Saskatchewan Valley News, is donating to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Jake Buhler knows an historical treasure when he sees one. That’s why he’s so excited that the Saskatchewan Valley News is donating all of its back issues to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives in Saskatoon.
Biblical response to colonial legacy
Last November, Vic Bartel and John Ilg pulled into the northern Manitoba Cree community of Cross Lake with a thousand Bibles. The Bibles had been requested by the local Pentecostal church and supplied by Canadian LifeLight Ministries. Neither Bartel nor Ilg had made such a delivery before.
Talking with our cousins
A public panel discussion on the relationships between the three Abrahamic religions couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, occurring as it did on the heels of the opening of the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery’s showing of “Synagogues in Germany: A virtual reconstruction” and the recent Quebec City mosque shooting.
Matt Epp helps ‘grow hope’
The soulful voice of Matt Epp serenaded a crowd at Foothills Mennonite Church in Calgary on Feb. 3, 2017. Epp partnered with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Alberta and Canadian Foodgrains Bank for a fundraising concert to launch the Grow Hope campaign.
A kidney for a guitar
Gerald Neufeld of B.C. and Russ Sawatsky of Ontario have several things in common: they both served as missionaries in Japan, where they met their wives; and they both attended Canadian Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg at the same time. But the donation of a kidney for one and the receiving of a kidney for the other gives the two a life-transforming connection like no other.
Saint or sinner?
“There’s a crack in everything / that’s how the light gets in,” is often quoted by Christians as hope that God will “get in” to any situation. But the quote has a strange source, penned and sung as it was by Canada’s own beat poet, Leonard Cohen, that Jewish? Christian? Buddhist?
Silver Lake takes steps to deepen faith formation
How can we deepen Christian faith formation at camp?
A special faith-based community
Attending Ontario Mennonite Music Camp at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., has benefitted me in ways that I never could have imagined when I registered in 2012.
A front-row seat
Pictured from left to right: Katie Wiebe, Curtis Wiens and Kristy Hosler. (Shekinah Retreat Centre photo)
A highlight of each summer at the Shekinah Retreat Centre near Waldheim, Sask., is the coffee house during our senior-teen camp for ages 15 to 18. Campers come out of their shell and display talents that we didn’t know they had. It is a special time of vulnerability.
Peace Camp 2016 was a huge success!
Conrad Grebel University College’s sixth annual Peace Camp was an opportunity to inspire young lives, strengthen community ties and make peace happen in Waterloo Region.
‘I can’t wait for summer’
A camper climbs the rock wall at Camp Valaqua in order to ring the bell at the top. (Camp Valaqua photo)
The sun is shining through the tall trees today at Camp Valaqua near Water Valley, Alta., and the a hint of spring is in the air. This time of year brings hiring, planning and anticipation into our little corner of the camp world. Sometimes it is tough to keep track of why we work at this all year long and so I tell myself stories to remember. Here is one of my favourites:
The beauty in difference
Yun Lin is a staff member at Fraser Lake Camp near Bancroft, Ont., and brings joy to everyone she meets.
I’m an archetype. My family immigrated to Canada when I was 6, and while I went to school, my parents worked tirelessly to support me. They uprooted their lives in hope of a better tomorrow for their child. My story is that of millions of immigrant children in Canada and around the world. At 10, unfortunate circumstances led to my placement in the foster-care system for six months.
‘So supported’
The summer of 2016 was one the most memorable summers of my life.
When the opportunity to work as a camp counsellor first came up, I was admittedly a little apprehensive. Having never counselled before, I was unsure of what to expect. What I experienced, however, was nothing short of spectacular.
‘I eat your garbage’
This meal brought to you by dumpster diving.
Thanks to dumpster diving, Nathaniel De Avila hasn’t had to purchase groceries in the past year. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Nathaniel De Avila and his fellow foragers found all this food in dumpsters. (Photo courtesy of Nathaniel De Avila)
Nathaniel De Avila and his friends operate a donation-based community food share at their church. They have moved 1.8 metric tonnes of food through this refrigerator since last June. (Photo courtesy of Nathaniel De Avila)
I am a thief. I steal our food system’s waste.
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