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Christmas Eve tradition brings comfort and joy
Celebration is necessary for survival. It renews the spirit and recreates hope. It nourishes and strengthens both giver and receiver, and it helps to lighten the crosses in our daily lives. That’s what our friends at the Christian Council of Mozambique taught us over and over again in the 1980s, when Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)…
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Knitting project portrayed as pilgrimage
The audience was absolutely amazed when Kirk Dunn finally revealed his “Stitched Glass” knitted panels at the end of his one-man show, The Knitting Pilgrim, held at Floradale Mennonite Church on Oct. 26. The performance described his 15-year knitting pilgrimage of making three panels in the style of stained-glass windows representing the three Abrahamic faiths. …
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Expiring City
Michael Veith grew up across the world in Macau, where his parents were Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers. This November, seven years after moving to Canada, he launched a photo exhibit featuring the city where he was raised. Titled Expiring City, the show ran at the gallery space at Forth Café in Winnipeg, where a…
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A plausible, persistent passion
On a spring morning in 1970, Henry Regier walked out of the residence assigned to guest lecturers at the University of Wisconsin and turned east. Student riots related to the Vietnam War had broken out on campus, and the night before National Guards with bayonets had deployed tear gas. Wanting to avoid the brewing violence…
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‘Jesus Christ is present here’
“Jesus Christ is present here. Alleluia!” sang enthusiastic worshippers in many languages to begin the fourth annual Mennonite Church Eastern Canada multicultural Mission Festival, held on Oct. 26 at First Mennonite Church in Kitchener. Worship leader Yoel Masyawong, the pastor of Grace Lao Mennonite Church in Kitchener, expressed his delight to see “all the nations…
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Like a bird who flew away . . . and came home
Nancy Frey remembers as a young child seeing a bird flying by and telling her mother, “Someday I am going to be like that bird and fly away.” She did just that, spending a year in France after graduating from high school. That was only the beginning of a ministry career that has spanned two…
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Langham artist finds connection through painting
Her parents called her Dynamite. Although she didn’t care for the nickname when she was a child, Valerie Wiebe has come to appreciate its layers of meaning. The Langham, Sask., artist says that when she looked up the etymology of “dynamite,” she learned that the prefix “dyna” describes “something with the potential for an explosion…
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Senior inspires others with desire to give
The small group of cyclists cheered as Irvin Driedger set off on his walking bike, kicking off the 2019 Shekinah Bike-paddle-hike-a-thon. His participation was inspiring on many levels. Eight years ago, he suffered a massive stroke. He could only move his eyes and one foot. The doctor told Irvin’s wife Donna that he likely wouldn’t…
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Dave Wall inducted into sports wall of fame
Dave Wall, who was an active member of Grace Mennonite Church in St. Catharines and an ardent supporter of Silver Lake Mennonite Camp fundraising dinners, was honoured by his local community for the many roles he played there and for his enduring legacy. On Aug. 23, Wall was inducted into the Sports Wall of Fame…
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Move to Canadian office ‘a blessing’
For César Garcia, general secretary of Mennonite World Conference (MWC), relocating to office space in Kitchener has “been a blessing.” He shares the office with four staff, some of the 40 people who work and volunteer for MWC around the world. MWC shares space at 50 Kent Avenue with staff from a variety of other…
