Volume 20, Number 17
Ramadan delights
It’s been a couple years now, but the experience stands out in my mind as if it were yesterday.
Engin Sezen, executive director of the Waterloo, Ont., Intercultural Dialogue Institute, invited my wife Marlene and me to share a meal with his and his brother’s families after dusk during Ramadan.
When your services are no longer required
“So this is how Mennonite Church Canada handles layoffs due to shrinking budgets. This was my mom’s experience today: show up to work; given the news; laptop taken away; password changed; escorted off the premises to a taxi. Who treats my mommy that way?” (Posted by Daniel Rempel on Facebook)
Advice for those ‘no longer required’
Since I shared my husband’s painful job loss through no fault of his own, I’ve received many emails and other private messages from people who have also experienced difficult endings in their employment. Some have changed churches or denominations, or left ministry all together. Some have been close to suicide and still struggle with depression and anxiety.
Readers write: August 29, 2016 issue
Dealing with mental illness is ‘hard enough already’
Ride for a ‘dream’
In October 2014, Wame Chiepe invited us to dream.
Wame lives near an abandoned park in Gaborone, Botswana. Young children play on a rusty, broken-down slide. Surrounded by drinking establishments, the park is an unsafe place. Night-time robberies and stabbings are not unusual. Eventually, the playground kids graduate to the nearby bars.
Healthy families adapt
It’s an exciting time for many people in my extended family. Three nieces are university students, preparing for careers in education or medicine. One niece, with BA newly in hand, has entered an intense one-year fellowship, halfway across the continent from her family and friendship supports. Two nephews are marrying this year.
A big change
Mennonite Foundation of Canada (MFC) is about to make a big change. In October, we will become Abundance Canada.
The pursuit of truth (Pt. 8)
In John 14:6, Jesus claims that he is the truth. What does this mean?
I used to think that the truth of Christ was a set of doctrines I needed to believe in, but I’ve become convinced that it is actually his state of consciousness and his way of life that we are now called to participate in.
An open letter to MC Canada
I was grateful for the opportunity to attend your biennial meeting in Saskatoon in early July.
Vineland
When Mennonites came to Ontario and western Canada in the 1920s, they were helped by the “Swiss” Mennonites, such as those from The First Mennonite Church in Vineland, Ont. The poor farming conditions and low commodity prices of the 1930s made the financial situation very difficult. In these circumstances, Mennonite Brethren and Mennonites worshipped together in communities such as Vineland.
SEED comes to an end
When Geoff Gould ponders his six years directing the SEED program at Camp Squeah, it is with mixed emotions: pride, joy, humility, gratitude. But there is also sadness.
Marching to ‘Onward’ from ‘Zion’
Rockway Mennonite Church in Kitchener has worshipped in rental properties for all of its 56-year existence. Until now.
‘Still carrying on the vision’
Tall Grass Prairie Bakery
The passions that inspired Winnipeg’s community shared agriculture (CSA) movement and the famous Tall Grass Prairie Bakery are now making waves around the world, from Winnipeg to Hokkaido, Japan, and back.
Familiarity breeds good content
Jane Austen once wrote that, for a developing writer, “three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on.” While Steinbach, Man., is certainly no “country village,” culturally it retains much of its old small-town feel, as so many Bible-belt communities do. Perhaps this is why Steinbach has served local blogger Andrew J.
A unique treasure
Anna Rehan has logged countless hours of volunteer time as Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s music librarian. Appointed by the area church council, her mandate was to organize the large collection of music known as the MC Saskatchewan Music Library.
Food for body and soul
While the aroma of fresh-baked zwieback filled the air, members of the “Mennonite Girls Can Cook” blog group launched their newest book at the Mennonite Heritage Museum on Aug. 3, 2016.
Letting Christ abide, from Saskatchewan to Gambia
Tending to the grapes she grows in the house she lives in provides Terri Lynn Paulson with a very tangible way of considering John 15, a chapter of the Bible she has been reflecting on in recent months. It begins: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”
A potluck plate full of Mennonite cultures
During his internship, Andrew Brown, centre, happened to meet John Redekop, left, and Peter Redekop, right, who were part of a group of Mennonites Brown researched. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Brown)
Andrew Brown, left, stands with members of the Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Brown)
This spring I was awarded an archival internship with the Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission that allowed me to travel to various Mennonite Brethren archives in North America to learn how they work, as well as to do some of my own research.
