Volume 18, Number 23
New every year!
Several years ago, a fellow pastor sighed in resignation as we talked about the approach of Advent, a pastor’s workload equivalent to an accountant’s tax season. “I don’t like preaching through Christmas,” he said.
For discussion: "The desert of Advent: our passage to Christmas" and "A mother’s perspective on Advent"
1. Stuart Scadron-Wattles says that waiting in expectation is a difficult balancing act. What experiences have you had of waiting with expectation? What makes it difficult? Do we recognize and accept what we’re waiting for when it comes?
A mother’s perspective on Advent
'It is my favourite time of year, this season of Advent.' (Image by Anuja Tilj/Pixabay)
Rebecca Penfold.
It is my favourite time of year, this season of Advent. The anticipation leading up to Christmas is the richest and most exciting time of year for me. Last year, I had the privilege of journeying with Mary while expecting our second child. There is nothing quite as amazing as waiting for the birth of a child, waiting for the seeds of hope, the promise within the womb to be realized.
The desert of Advent: our passage to Christmas
Photo credit: Shayantani Sarkar/Commons.Wikipedia.org
Photo credit: Luca_Galuzzi/Commons.Wikipedia.org
Stuart Scadron-Wattles
“I can’t get into the Christmas spirit,” she said. My daughter Alyson hefted the load in front of her, and the load—my 10-week-old granddaughter—squeaked. “Maybe it’s the new baby. Everything else seems anticlimactic.”
Readers write: November 24, 2014 issue
‘Open invitation’ leaves reader saddened and disturbed
Re: “Come out: An open invitation,” Oct. 13, page 14.
Faith vs. beliefs (Pt. 2)
“When the disciples saw him they worshipped him, but some of them doubted.” That’s how the disciples responded to the risen Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (28:17).
So what were these disciples doubting? Nothing less than the resurrection of Jesus.
Serving as a witness to God’s salvation
What is central to our relationship with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit? Do we experience vitality in this relationship? What happens when we encounter people who can’t, or won’t, agree with what we hold as central to our understanding of faith? How do we challenge the discomfort, doubt or uncertainty many feel when asked to seriously consider our role in mission or evangelism?
Talk of sin should start with forgiveness
The best moment of my Sunday school teaching career happened when the children were nearly stumped by a question. My co-teacher began the Bible lesson by asking the 8- to 10-year-olds, “What is sin?” whereupon a rare and rich silence descended as the children contemplated her question. The silence was broken by a spiritually precocious boy who offered, “Isn’t that where we’re forgiven?”
Transformation to generosity
I didn’t grow up in a home steeped in Christian heritage. Instead, my childhood includes only a handful of memories that involve the church or religion. But in 1980, that all changed. My parents moved from having a distant relationship with God to a profound new life of walking with Christ.
MC Manitoba approves 2015 budget in principle
Peter Rempel, left, chair of the MC Manitoba board, addresses delegates at Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg on Nov. 6. Treasurer Tom Seals looks on.
Despite falling short of a quorum, delegates attending Mennonite Church Manitoba’s fall gathering on Nov. 6 gave the board strong affirmation for its 2015 proposed budget.
The budget as presented calls for the same amount—$645,000—from congregations as the 2014 budget.
How will we walk together?
Adrian Jacobs, right, responds to questions and concerns from Rudy Friesen and Gerhard Neufeld.
Michael Champagne, left, participates in a table discussion of opportunities and barriers to indigenous people and settler populations working together in the city.
Michael Champagne speaks with energy and passion about indigenous youth and young adults in the city.
Adrian Jacobs, left, addresses the gather circle at Circle of Life Thunderbird House while Michael Champagne looks on.
Instead of the usual small, intimate gathering that has characterized previous fall Partnership Circle meetings, more than 85 northern indigenous people, Mennonite Church Manitoba representatives, people from other denominations and social service agencies gathered on Nov. 1 to form a vastly expanded circle at Winnipeg’s Circle of Life Thunderbird House.
Water of life
Daryl Redsky of the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation stands on a temporary bridge over the man-made channel that isolates his community. (Photo by Will Braun)
Moses Falco and Steve Heinrichs of Mennonite Church Canada support access to the Shoal Lake community. (Photo courtesy of MC Canada)
When Mennonites in Winnipeg baptize a believer, they do so with water from Shoal Lake. The baptismal water comes from a project for which the members of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation were involuntarily moved. It comes from a place where local residents have lived under a boil-water advisory for 17 years.
MC Canada promises prayer for Middle East churches
Mennonite Church Canada has responded with letters of support to the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Community and the Middle East Council of Churches.
Building peace in Northeast Asia
Keynote speaker Jae Young Lee, left, visits with Tina Doell at the MCC Saskatchewan Encounter and annual general meeting held in Saskatoon on Nov. 1.
How does a South Korean soldier become a teacher of peace?
Delegates at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan’s Encounter and annual general meeting heard the answer to that question through the life stories of keynote speaker Jae Young Lee.
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 place of beauty
Day and night, children love to play on the metal playground equipment, placed there haphazardly many decades ago. . . . The rusted slides have gaping and jagged holes, and can’t be used except to scramble up and down; children do this each day, still wearing their blue and grey school uniforms as they pause for some fun. (Photo: Nathan Dirks)
Nathan Dirks shows plans for a new soccer pitch and improved playground to local children.(Photo: Bellson Othomile)
When entering Bontleng in Botswana’s Gaborone Region from the southeasternmost road you find yourself passing tall grass, wrought-iron covers and headstones of a large cemetery.
Our contrary and divisive spiritual calling
There are some verses in the Bible that we studiously avoid thinking about, let alone discussing publicly. They are like repressed memories or family secrets that threaten, if evoked, to cast us back into shame and confusion, to undo the semblance of peace, fellowship and orderliness that we have so diligently cultivated for ourselves.
Divided for service
Markus Poetzsch
There are some verses in the Bible that we studiously avoid thinking about, let alone discuss publicly. They are like repressed memories or family secrets that threaten to cast us back into shame and confusion, to undo the semblance of peace, fellowship and orderliness that we have so diligently cultivated for ourselves.
Doing well then doing good
There is a difference between doing well and doing good in business, Grant Unrau says. Doing good is something that Stun Collective, a strategic design company, strives to do on a daily basis.
Letters to my sister, Part 3
Readers write
‘As Amos as possible’
Re: “I’m a human being,” Sept. 5, page 12.
Troy Watson’s column reminded me of a story in Jewish lore. It went something like this:
Christmas in Nazareth
Hinke Loewen-Rudgers, second from left, poses with the Arab Christian family that took her in as their daughter. From left to right: Rajaa, Andera and Eman.
“I felt a very intense homesickness and wanted to go home [to Manitoba] for Christmas. Christmas is a very important holiday to me.”
It was Christmas 2010 and Hinke Loewen-Rudgers had been in Nazareth since October 2008, working through the Witness program of Mennonite Church Canada.
Thirty years of A Christmas Carol
'We began reading it out loud to each other in 1981, and have done so every year since, finding more gems to think about each time.' (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Annemarie Rogalsky prepares to read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol again from the now ragged paperback bought in 1981. (Photo courtesy of Dave Rogalsky)
Thirty years ago this Christmas, my wife Annemarie and I began a Christmas tradition we’ve continued year after year, with variations.
MCC centrality questioned
The MCC revisioning process seeks to address the tension of being rich Christians in an age of global inequality—an age in which golf tournaments in Manitoba (as shown by the cover of MCC Manitoba’s annual report, left) fund hurricane recovery efforts in Haiti. (MCC file photo by Ben Depp, right)
At a time when relief supplies can be purchased in countries close to disaster sites—providing stimulus to their often hard-hit local economies—does it make economic or environmental sense to continue making blankets and relief kits of all kinds in North America and then ship them around the world?
Will Braun
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is the largest and most influential Anabaptist organization in the world. It has nearly 1,200 workers and an annual budget of $82 million.
