A happy Christmas morning
Categories: Feature ArticlesMy great-grandparents emigrated from Ukraine to central Kansas in 1874 and eventually purchased a farm. Towards the end of October 1894, the harvest was done and the year’s crop of…
Singing ‘Silent Night’ in German
Categories: Feature ArticlesSometimes a Christmas experience stands out in memory simply because it is so different from any other. When Joani Neufeldt, nee Goerzen, thinks of a memorable Christmas, it is one…
Lighting candles, telling stories
Categories: Feature ArticlesWhen recalling a significant Christmas memory, Claire Ewert Fisher goes back some 30 years. The executive director of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan, Fisher and her first husband, Wally Ewert,…
Christmas in Nazareth
Categories: Feature Articles“I felt a very intense homesickness and wanted to go home [to Manitoba] for Christmas. Christmas is a very important holiday to me.” It was Christmas 2010 and Hinke Loewen-Rudgers…
Thirty years of A Christmas Carol
Categories: Feature ArticlesThirty years ago this Christmas, my wife Annemarie and I began a Christmas tradition we’ve continued year after year, with variations. Our first child was in utero the first time…
For discussion
Categories: Feature Articles1. Why might the idea of learning from other faiths make us uncomfortable or fearful? What are the risks and benefits of honest dialogue with other faiths? What are the…
Learning from diverse faiths
Categories: Feature ArticlesIn our increasingly multicultural and multi-faith society, can we learn from belief systems other than our own? I believe so, and offer what I have learned from two faiths—Mormonism and…
On using Scripture to discern sexual issues
Categories: Feature ArticlesDelegates to the 2011 Mennonite Church Canada assembly responded to the Being a Faithful Church (BFC) 3 process with more than 750 recorded comments being turned in from the 800…
Unwrapping sexuality
Categories: Feature ArticlesAfter more than two decades of being married, birthing and adopting children, and annually teaching two college sexuality courses, I have come to the not-terribly-startling conclusion that I’m rather fond…
The alternative method of God
Categories: Feature ArticlesOne thing that I find so inspiring in South Africa is the countless people who participate in miraculous activities as they strive to make their communities better. In working for…
For discussion
Categories: Feature Articles1. Professional hockey is known for fighting and violence. Should this deter Mennonites from being avid hockey fans? Is hard hitting and fighting an essential part of the game? Is…
New logo a distraction to talking about peace and violence
Categories: Feature ArticlesIt is nothing new to say that Winnipeg and southern Manitoba boasts an abnormally high concentration of Mennonites, although I suppose the Mennonites don’t boast. And given our historical and…
Should Mennos cheer for fighter Jets?
Categories: Feature ArticlesCanadian hockey fans have a reason to celebrate. Fifteen years after the last NHL game was played in Winnipeg, Man., the league is coming back to the city. With other…
For discussion
Categories: Feature Articles1. Ralph Lebold says that “the congregation is the central reality for gathered Christians.” Do you agree? What are some ways that people from your congregation engage meaningfully with each…
Strange and wonderful paths
Categories: Feature ArticlesAfter 50 years in ministry I have discovered that there is a significant interplay between the divine and human when it comes to physical and emotional healing. All healing is…
For discussion
Categories: Feature Articles1. How are the songs and music chosen in your congregation? How much thought is given to the words when songs are chosen? Do you agree that we focus on…
Paying attention to the words we sing
Categories: Feature Articles“Let me write the songs of a nation. I don’t care who writes its laws.” This statement attributed to 17th-century Scottish politician Andrew Fletcher about countries also applies to the…
Heeding the call
Categories: Feature ArticlesAs one amateur Mennonite historian likes to point out, the only real Mennonite name is Menno Simons. From there on down through history, the rest of the family names are…
“Good news . . . God dwells with us!”
Categories: Feature ArticlesAt the last worship service of Mennonite Church Canada Assembly on July 8, Nelson Kraybill reminded the congregation that some of the aboriginal people in southern Ontario moved here from…
Quilt art depicts Mennonite-Aboriginal interaction
Categories: Feature ArticlesA fibre art depiction of the interaction between early Mennonite settlers and Aboriginal people in the Grand River valley was on display at the Mennonite Church Canada assembly July 4-8.…
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