Growers and eaters
What do city dwellers and farmers have in common? They are all eaters! And, in the Mennonite community, another important characteristic is their shared faith. Yet, despite those commonalities, country and city folk sometimes bring different points of view to the question of how our food is grown. When your family plans a picnic, you…
Hellos and goodbyes
At the end of a video conferencing call, have you found yourself waving energetically at the screen? It might seem strange to make a goodbye gesture toward a computer, but something tells us that it’s not right to simply make those faces disappear by clicking a button labeled “Leave meeting.” According to some body language…
Caring for our family
To the Anabaptist Mennonites and Brethren in Christ around the globe: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant disruption, pain and loss. We mourn with those who have lost loved ones and grieve the loss of livelihood for others. We long to gather freely again, to share a meal, and worship without constraints, because this is…
Words and community
How can helpful, respectful conversation happen in the church? Who can speak? What are they allowed to say? How can words cause harm? These questions emerge from time to time in response to content in this magazine. As a Christian community, we need to talk about hard topics, things that we value greatly and things…
What happens when we read together?
When my family moved to Canada, I was amazed to learn that the Canadian Broadcasting Company ran a reality show featuring—of all things!—books. Each year, the Canada Reads program selects five books it encourages Canadians to read, with each title being championed by a public personality. Over several months, CBC runs interviews with each of…
Greening the church
“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psa. 24:1) a congregation declares in its worship service. In recognition of Earth Day on April 22, this issue of the magazine carries the feature, “Avoiding an environmental shipwreck” by Tim Wiebe-Neufeld. As part of Mennonite…
The gifts of all
On March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day, I attended the celebration of life for Doris Gascho, who had died a week before, after many years of serving the church. Doris was a pastor in the mid-80s and early 90s and was the first woman to serve as conference minister of the Mennonite Conference of Eastern…
Celebrating the good
The March 15, 2020, entry in our household calendar reads: “We started COVID-19 social distancing today.” It’s been one year since the worldwide community began confronting the reality of the latest coronavirus. In the past twelve months, this pandemic has brought confusion, fear, anger, illness, death and more. No need for details—you know what I’m…
What are they doing with our money?
The annual congregational meeting is moving along with the usual reports and updates. Then it’s time to discuss next year’s budget. Seeing the dollar amount the congregation will forward to the regional church, a well-intentioned member stands up to ask the question: What are they doing with our money anyway? A fair question. When you…
Hope in a bleak midwinter
Canadians are struggling with the heaviness of this winter. The prospect of several more months with physical gathering restrictions is as depressing as the grey skies of southern Ontario in February. As a society, we have started to squabble, point fingers and shift blame. The arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in December buoyed our spirits as…
