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At least there is hope for a tree!
At a corner of Ellice Avenue and Marilyn Street in Winnipeg, the neighbourhood association erected four sheets of plywood and painted them with chalkboard paint. The phrase, “Before I die I want to _________” invited passersby to fill in the blank with their own wishes. Many responses expressed deep desires for meaning and purpose. Seminar…
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Cancer buddies connect at assembly
They walked together through a valley of shadows for two years, yet Assembly 2014 is the first time Elizabeth Wall and Lorraine Reimer have met face to face. Reimer, a member of Whitewater Mennonite Church in Boissevain, Man., is a breast cancer survivor. A mutual friend in Edmonton connected her with Wall in November 2012,…
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‘Spiritual disciplines are not magic’
“It only takes a scrap of time to turn to God.” April Yamasaki shared this anonymous piece of 14th-century wisdom in her “Cultivating spiritual disciplines” workshop at Assembly 14. Sometimes it feels like a scrap of time is all people have, but that can be turned into a sacred pause, she told a roomful of…
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Sisters equipped to care for their sisters
What are the needs of women, and how are they working to meet those needs? Rhoda Keener, co-director of Mennonite Women U.S.A., led a presentation and discussion surrounding these needs at the assembly. Keener explained that Sister Care seminars, which are given all over the world, are made up of four units: Claiming our identity…
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‘We are all cousins’
The Cree word “kiciwamanawak” means “we are all cousins.” In Canada, however, this familial relationship between settler and host is fractured. This was the theme of the “Broken covenant: Indigenous nations, the Crown and the Royal Proclamation” workshop co-hosted by Steve Heinrichs, Mennonite Church Canada’s director of indigenous relations, and Brander McDonald, MC B.C.’s indigenous…
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Subversive guest
After seminar leader Chris Lenshyn began his post-Christian landscape session by reading chapter 1 of Daniel, he invited participants—48 adults and one baby—to gather in twos to converse about this story of young exiles living out their faith in a foreign land. It is the story, he said, of a group of people expressing their…
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A splashing good time
Unique timing and collaboration led to one of Manitoba Church Manitoba Camps with Meaning sites hosting two days of the children’s assembly—a first in Assembly gathering history. And they did so in the midst of flood conditions. Twenty children embraced the theme of Wild Hope and experienced the wider church community at a kids’ level.…
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Jesus taught equality, regardless of sexual identity
Probably the two most divisive issues in the church at the moment are women’s status and rights in the church, and the moral legitimacy of same-sex covenant relationships. The parallel passages of Matthew 19:3-22 and Mark 10:2-12 have implications for both of these questions. And Matthew 19:4-5 is frequently misused as Jesus’ authoritative word proscribing…
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‘They will know we are Christians by our love’
During the 2013-14 academic year, Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) was engaged in intense conversations on and off campus regarding its hiring policy concerning individuals in covenanted same-sex relationships. Research professor Lisa Schirch sent the following letter to the university’s student newspaper, The Weather Vane, representing some of that conversation. Here are 10 points to consider…
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For discussion: Jesus taught equality, regardless of sexual identity
1. Does your church give equal status and rights to women and men? How did earlier generations explain their assumption that powerful roles were reserved for men? How much does our culture affect our attitudes when it comes to what is right or wrong in the church? 2. How have you traditionally understood Jesus’ words…
