No time to give up on Planet Earth
“We’re not meant to save the world; we’re meant to leave it.” So says the protagonist of Interstellar, a grand science fiction epic from Christopher Nolan. One of Hollywood’s best ‘blockbuster’ directors (Inception, the Dark Knight trilogy), he has created the best film to come out of Hollywood this year. It may also be the…
‘Portraits of perseverance’
Karl Kessler and Sunshine Chen openly admit to being inspired by Harvey Wang’s New York, a 1990 book of photographic “portraits of men and women in vanishing jobs and professions.” Kessler and Chen decided that there was ample material for a similar project in Waterloo Region. What developed over six years was “Portraits of perseverance,”…
Old hymns get new arrangements
"Whatever you believe, there is something about the way words and music combine that allows us to see beauty, find comfort and connect with history.” This is the essence of the “Hymn Project,” a new blog by Carla Klassen. Each week Klassen composes a new piano arrangement of an old hymn and uploads a recording…
Herald Press publishes new book on spiritual formation
Many people have grown tired of the pat answers that the church and religion have provided regarding questions of faith and meaning in life. A new book addressing the deepest questions of the soul, The Spacious Heart: Room for Spiritual Awakening, was released by Herald Press this fall. The authors, siblings Donald Clymer and Sharon…
The Amish Project provocative and harrowing
In 2006, when the Amish of Nickel Mines, Pa., forgave the man who shot their daughters and offered assistance to his widowed family, the world was divided: Were they insane, misguided or holy beyond human reckoning? Jessica Dickey, an award-winning actress and playwright from Pennsylvania, wrote a one-woman play about the tragedy, trying to get…
Parenting along the Road to Emmaus
Managed chaos. That’s how Rachel Gerber describes parenting three young sons. Herald Press has published her first book, a devotional memoir, Ordinary Miracles: Awakening to the Holy Work of Parenting. She also keeps a blog, “Everything belongs” (www.everything-belongs.com), in which she explores the intersection of parenting, faith and work. “I. Don’t. Know. Anything,” Gerber recalls…
Niska beadwork stitches relationships together
The Niska Artisans cooperative, operating for the past seven years in Timmins, Ont., launched a beadwork display at the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Ontario complex at 50 Kent Avenue in Kitchener on Sept. 11. Niska, which means “Canada goose” in Cree, was the name taken by the artisans group, whose mandate is to educate, supplement…
Finding a sense of place
Churches should be rooted in neighbourhoods or parishes. That’s the claim of the authors, who represent Pentecostal, Anabaptist and Reformed traditions. Our lives and churches are fragmented, and many Sunday commuters pass other churches to meet with people who support their views and where everyone looks and acts similarly. The church has left the neighbourhood;…
A family in need of a fresh start
“The only safe place is inside the story,” reads an epigraph to this first novel by Sarah Klassen of Winnipeg. This story moves through a momentous year in the life of the Wittenberg family, and it unfolds within the larger narratives of family history and coming of age in 21st-century Canada. The Wittenbergs are going…
‘Along the Road to Freedom’
Seeking to honour the faith of Mennonite mothers who single-handedly brought their families through difficult and challenging experiences to safety, Winnipeg artist Ray Dirks has created “Along the Road to Freedom,” a travelling exhibit currently on display at Conrad Grebel University College’s new gallery in Waterloo, Ont. The women depicted lost their husbands in Russia…
