Volume 15, Number 4
Movie not true to Mennonite life
Small Town Murder Songs is an independently produced Canadian movie with a Mennonite connection, first shown at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
A thousand hallelujahs
The boys choir combined with youths and men to form a 270-voice mass choir that performed ‘A Thousand Hallelujahs’ at the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall on Jan. 23. The concert concluded with ‘Arise!’, a commissioned work by Larry Nickel.
“For God is great and worth a thousand hallelujahs!” proclaims the psalmist (The Message).
On Jan. 23, a mass Faith and Life Male Choir united to celebrate more than 25 years of ministry and to proclaim this message with the psalmist.
Testimonies strengthen cross-generational bonds
The youth group at North Kildonan Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, Man., appreciates the in-home testimony nights with the church’s seniors.
Leonora Wiebe
Brian Wiebe
Relationships between youths and seniors within congregations are often strained, as neither group understands the other. Sometimes both groups are content not to know one another at all.
MCC revisioning loses connection with people in the pew
Sixty-two executive directors, board chairs and senior staff from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and MCC member churches met for a summit in Akron, Pa., on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The topic of this rare gathering was MCC’s New Wineskins revisioning process.
Our leaders talked about four things:
Ernie Regehr receives Pearson Peace Medal
Ernie Regehr, left, the cofounder of Project Ploughshares and a longtime peace advocate, holds the Pearson Peace Medal he received from Governor General David Johnston during a ceremony at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Ont., on Jan. 21, while his wife Nancy looks on.
Ernie Regehr, cofounder of Project Ploughshares and longtime peace advocate, was honoured with the 2010 Pearson Peace Medal at a special ceremony in Ottawa last month.
Identity, leadership and Mennonite World Conference
Robert J. Suderman, MWC Peace Commission assistant secretary, left, and MWC Executive Committee member Adi Walujo, of the Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa (GITJ) Mennonite Synod, share the podium at a teaching session in Indonesia.
“Our children and young people have no idea what it means to be Anabaptist or Mennonite. What is MWC going to do about that?”
This concern, forthrightly expressed, came from a congregational leader in India during one of dozens of teaching sessions in which I participated last fall in India and Indonesia.
What are we afraid of?
I am increasingly convinced that most unsavoury behaviour in our world, particularly unkind and violent behaviour, can be traced back to fear. It is not surprising that biblical literature contains much instruction not to fear. This counsel is important in every aspect of life.
Was Jesus tough on crime?
Our government’s attitude towards offenders is clear. It wants to see them punished. It wants tougher laws, longer sentences and bigger prisons. Ottawa recently announced 3,000 new corrections staff as part of a $2 billion plan to expand prisons.
Skating in another’s sledge
Where were you on Feb. 28, 2010? For Canadians, that was the glorious day of the golden goal: St. Sidney’s slick shot that eluded American goaltender Ryan Miller.
Is Egypt changing our worldview?
It’s been some week. As I write this several days after a stubborn dictator, Hosni Mubarak, has finally stepped down in Egypt, there is a feeling of relief even though the event has transformed an oppressed country half a world away.
