The ordinary dark



Dawn comes slowly.

There is no rush in it.

Often—not always—the hour is still and quiet when the dark so gradually abates in the east. The dawn comes slowly. As it must. We can but wait.

I have not always been an earlier riser, but since Cinnamon the milk cow moved into the barn on our micro-farm in July, I have usually been out the door before dawn. It’s a gift, though one that requires an investment.

As I write—the cow milked and the chickens, which stir and murmur at the hint of new day, fed—dawn turns dullish orange. The gradual becoming. An ordinary day. No particular glory, but still the gift of a new day.

‘Let it be done …’

Dawn is a gift, as is dusk, as are spring, summer, fall and the dark, fallow winter. As are infancy, youth, midlife crises and old age.

I’m a great believer in seasons and cycles. Though it has much more to do with acceptance than belief. Seasons, as with the turn of night to day and youth to old age, exist whether anyone believes in them or not. It is only ours to accept. Which is to surrender. Not all of life is light or day or the freshness of spring. So it must be.

Sometimes the hour is one of waiting. The wait can be aggravating—the deep irritation of lack of control—or, perhaps, it can be liberating. Can there not be freedom in the surrender?

The writer of Lamentations said, “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

In Advent, Mary waits. As she must. There can be no rush in it. She ponders slowly. She needs her rest—the rest of the becoming within.

The daybreak from on high will visit her, as Zechariah said, but not yet. Dawn comes slowly. In the great, pregnant meantime, Mary says to God, “Let it be done to me according to your will.


A word about getting the word out. We invite you to think about people you know who might not get Canadian Mennonite but who might benefit from it. Encourage them to subscribe. We don’t spend big bucks on advertising our magazine; we rely largely on the community.

Here’s how subscriptions work. Everyone in a Mennonite Church Canada congregation is entitled to a subscription at a cost paid collectively through the church. All they need to do is inquire with the CM contact person in their church—usually the church administrator or pastor—or email Lorna at office@canadianmennonite.org.

We deliver the magazine electronically, in print, or both. Same price.

People who are not part of an MC Canada congregation are also welcome to subscribe. The cost is $49 per year.

A magazine is one way to nurture a sense of broader belonging; let’s make that circle as wide as possible.

For those wondering about the financial nitty-gritty, we send a bill to each regional church annually for a portion of the cost of the subscriptions in their region. It works out to about $31 per subscription. Some regional churches pay it out of general revenue while others ask congregations for a contribution based on the number of subscribers in their church.

Four more logistical notes from CM HQ.

  1. We have a new HQ. We moved our headquarters from Waterloo, Ontario, to 50 Kent in neighbouring Kitchener. Because most staff now work remotely, we need much less space. The move also brings us under the same roof as other Mennonite organizations.
  2. We print a magazine monthly and send out a short, newsy email with three links every Friday. To sign up for “CM Weekly,” contact Lorna by email at office@canadianmennonite.org.
  3. We’ve revamped our website: canadianmennonite.org.
  4. We welcome Betelhem Yimer as our advertising representative. Betelhem lives in Kitchener and attends Bethel Ethiopian Evangelical Church, a Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC) congregation. She replaces Ben Thiessen who took a position with MCEC. Welcome aboard Betelhem!



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