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How ‘The Commitment’ came to be
It all began in January 2014. My husband Gary and I started to research conventional nativity art and arrived at a new vision. We decided to focus attention on the very humble and usually invisible Joseph. From then, the painting took three months to create, beginning with buying old sheets from Mennonite Central Committee for…
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Three meditations on Christmas mysteries
A gathering of strangers The Christmas stories include an odd assortment of strangers. The guest list for the party that would eventually become the familiar nativity scene omitted all of the proper people: no clergy—you would have thought that the founder of a new religion could have been welcomed by the licensed prophets at least,…
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For discussion: “The desert of Advent: our passage to Christmas” and “A mother’s perspective on Advent”
1. Stuart Scadron-Wattles says that waiting in expectation is a difficult balancing act. What experiences have you had of waiting with expectation? What makes it difficult? Do we recognize and accept what we’re waiting for when it comes? 2. Scadron-Wattles contrasts “getting into the Christmas spirit” with journeying through the desert of Advent to get…
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A mother’s perspective on Advent
It is my favourite time of year, this season of Advent. The anticipation leading up to Christmas is the richest and most exciting time of year for me. Last year, I had the privilege of journeying with Mary while expecting our second child. There is nothing quite as amazing as waiting for the birth of…
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The desert of Advent: our passage to Christmas
“I can’t get into the Christmas spirit,” she said. My daughter Alyson hefted the load in front of her, and the load—my 10-week-old granddaughter—squeaked. “Maybe it’s the new baby. Everything else seems anticlimactic.” We were walking in downtown Seattle, Wash.—Alyson’s hometown—and every store was bedecked and bejewelled. In Seattle, of course, one does not need…
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For discussion: ‘Seeking the welfare of the city’
1. How long ago did Mennonites in your community begin holding public office? Was there a time when local/municipal offices were deemed appropriate for Mennonites, but not provincial or federal ones? 2. Carl Zehr felt conflicted when he had to lay a wreath at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day. If Mennonites believe in peace…
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‘Seeking the welfare of the city’
“In the New Testament,” said Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, who ran unsuccessfully for the office of mayor of the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont., on Oct. 27, “the state is understood as part of God’s good ordering function in the world—but it is not the centre of God’s purposes in history; that distinction belongs to the church. The…
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For discussion: “What is truth?”
1. Where would you place yourself and your congregation: believing in absolute truths, wondering if there really is any truth, or somewhere in between? Do you agree that many Christians are finding they need a new way to think about faith? 2. Can you live with the idea that, on many topics, truth might be…
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“What is truth?”
“Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said…
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For discussion: Can we talk?
1. What have been your experiences in cross-cultural bridge-building with Canada’s indigenous people? What involvement does the church and organizations like Mennonite Central Committee have with indigenous people in your province? 2. Why has the number of Mennonites living and working with indigenous people declined over the years? Will Braun raises questions about the “theological…
