Volume 25, Number 10
Caring for our family
A patient receives the COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo by Steven Cornfield/Unsplash)
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 who we are: a beloved community.
Holding the hope
(Photo by DrAfter123/flickr.com)
Amidst the darkness and uncertainties of the past year, there have been some gifts in this pandemic time. One of these gifts has been increased acknowledgement of the existence of mental-health challenges, and of the reality that, for many, this is a profound struggle.
Readers write: May 10, 2021 issue
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Venn diagram needs political domain
Re: “Avoiding an environmental shipwreck,” March 29, page 4.
Dreaming of a good night’s sleep
(Photo by Gregory Pappas/Unsplash)
To some, rest is a four-letter word. There are a myriad of reasons why people avoid sleep: some restrict it in a counterproductive attempt to increase work output; others devalue sleep for the preference of entertainment; still others are reluctant to acknowledge their limits and they push through when their body signals it’s time to sleep.
Helena Reimer
(Photo: Helena F. Reimer Photograph Collection / Mennonite Heritage Archives)
To celebrate Manitoba’s 150th birthday, the Trailblazer’s Award was established. Helena Reimer (1905-1993) of Steinbach, Man., was a recipient. Reimer was a nurse, educator, administrator and a pioneer. She was one of the first nurses in Canada selected to participate overseas in the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration during the Second World War.
Saying goodbye, then hello again
(Image by wal_172619/Pixabay)
From 1992 to ’95 I worked at Rosthern (Sask.) Junior College as dean in the men’s dormitory. It was my first step away from the farm. I was 40 when I moved there, and the experience was rich and challenging. It was rich in that I was reminded that we are created in the holy image of God, that each one carries that core of goodness that waits to be recognized and affirmed.
Vaccination colonialism
(Image by Spencer Davis/Pixabay)
Some of us are getting vaccinated against COVID-19, and more are on lists, anxiously waiting for supplies to become more robust, and hoping dearly that the end of the pandemic is in sight. Imagine being the Indigenous people of a land where the government doesn’t provide for you to get vaccinated, but it provides for settlers.
Whoever has a nose, let them smell
(Image by Free-Photos/Pixabay)
It was the first Sunday of Advent and we had lit a single candle in our living room as part of our online worship service. Our Advent wreath was neatly set up on the coffee table, safely away from anything flammable, and our children are old enough to know to be careful with fire.
Mennonites in Myanmar facing desperate situation
Jehu Lian, a Mennonite pastor, and his wife, Ma Bawi, show solidarity with the people suffering repression in Myanmar. The three-finger salute—adapted from the Hunger Games film—has become a common symbol of freedom, defiance and solidarity in Myanmar and among pro-democracy movements elsewhere in Southeast Asia. (Photo courtesy of Jehu Lian and Ma Bawi)
Amid mass protests, lethal military response and UN warnings of Myanmar becoming a “new Syria,” one Mennonite source in the country said, “We are in darkness, full of fear and with no hope for the future.”
Canadian Mennonite has agreed not to use the source’s name due to the threat to those who speak critically of the military.
Why not a letter?
Jaxon Gin, a children’s ministry member of Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church, is pictured with a stained-glass cross he made. (Photo by Grace Ho)
“Let us consider how we may spur one another toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
What does biblical togetherness look like during a pandemic?
MC Eastern Canada looks to where God is calling the church
Craig Frere takes in MC Eastern Canada’s spring gathering from his backyard. This was the second year the annual event was held online due to pandemic restrictions. (Photo courtesy of Craig Frere)
Leah Reesor-Keller, MC Eastern Canada’s executive minister, shares the kimchi-making process from her kitchen. The hands-on project got a little messy. (Photo by Leah-Ressor-Keller)
Muriel Bechtel takes in MC Eastern Canada’s spring gathering from her dining-room table. (Photo courtesy of Muriel Bechtel)
Norm Dyck, MC Eastern Canada’s mission minister, top left, welcomes new congregations and their pastors: Rheau Jean-Claude and Marjory Brutus of Ma Destinée, in Montréal, bottom right; and Fitsum Debesay and Habte Araya from Hiyaw Amalak ( Living God) Evangelical Church in Ottawa, bottom left and top right, respectively. (Screenshot courtesy of MC Eastern Canada)
Norm Dyck, MC Eastern Canada’s mission minister, top left, welcomes new congregations and their pastors: Rheau Jean-Claude and Marjory Brutus of Ma Destinée, in Montréal, bottom right; and Fitsum Debesay and Habte Araya from Hiyaw Amalak ( Living God) Evangelical Church in Ottawa, bottom left and top right, respectively. (Screenshot courtesy of MC Eastern Canada)
Pablo Kim Sun preps ingredients for kimchi as he explores how the traditional Korean dish is a good metaphor for the church. The cooking demonstration was part of MC Eastern Canada’s annual Spring Gathering, held virtually April 23 and 24. Participants were invited to follow Kim Sun’s cooking demonstration in their own kitchens. (Screenshot courtesy of MC Eastern Canada)
Paul Brubacher measures ingredients for making kimchi as part of MC Eastern Canada’s annual Spring Gathering, held virtually on April 23 and 24. (Photo by Marilyn Brubacher)
How is the church like kimchi? At Mennonite Church Eastern Canada’s spring gathering, held virtually on April 23 and 24, many of the more than 250 in attendance tried making the traditional Korean dish while following Pablo Kim Sun’s demonstration from his kitchen in Toronto.
Zoar Mennonite closes after 111 years
Liz Baerwald estimates that Zoar Mennonite women and men donated more than 5,900 comforters to Mennonite Central Committee since 1962. In the foreground, Liz and husband Greg knot a quilt together, while, in the background, Erna Funk, left, and Pastor Andrea Enns-Gooding work on another. (Photo by Anna Penz)
Following a service of release and blessing, Zoar Mennonite congregants visit together in the church foyer. (Photo by Anna Penz)
Pastor Andrea Enns-Gooding baptizes Annika Neufeldt on April 4, a week before Zoar Mennonite Church’s final worship service. (Photo by Anna Penz)
Zoar Mennonite congregants, pictured from left, Corinne Scheetz, Ruth Ratzlaff, Tina Wiebe, Greg Baerwald, Louella Friesen and Don Friesen, share memories in the church’s fellowship hall during a service of release and blessing held on March 25. (Photo by Anna Penz)
Zoar Mennonite Church gathers for a group photograph following its closing worship service on April 11. (Photo by Erica Baerwald)
“It was not a sudden oh-my-goodness-what-are-we-going-to-do conversation,” says Liz Baerwald of her church’s decision to close. As she sees it, the conversation began more than a decade ago.
Artist explores faith through scrap-metal sculpting
Don Engbrecht has built around 200 works, including this Easter sculpture. (Photo courtesy of Don Engbrecht)
Don Engbrecht has been sculpting and welding scrap metal for 20 years. (Photo courtesy of Don Engbrecht)
This special Easter sculpture now sits in Whitewater Mennonite Church in Boissevain, Man. (Photo courtesy of Don Engbrecht)
The outer circle of the Shalom sculpture indicates wholeness, while each segment represents an aspect of shalom: physical wellness, right relationships and healthy spirituality. The pattern of threes symbolizes stability and harmony. (Photo courtesy of Don Engbrecht)
One of the sites in the Engbrechts’ Anchorage Gardens. (Photo courtesy of Don Engbrecht)
Old agricultural equipment left to languish in junkyards or alongside highways gets a second life in Don Engbrecht’s workshop. He has created approximately 200 works over the 20 years he has been sculpting in Boissevain, Man., with scrap metal and welding tools.
Stand by me
Walking alongside people with mental illness includes offering a listening ear and a non-judgmental attitude, say family members. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)
With one in five Canadians experiencing mental illness in any year, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association, it is likely that most people might be called upon to support a loved one with a mental illness. But many people are at a loss as to how.
‘A fine line between surviving and falling apart’
Pastor Caleb Kowalko relaxes at the MC Alberta pastors and leaders retreat, held last November at the King’s Fold Retreat and Renewal Centre, west of Cochrane. (Photo courtesy of Caleb Kowalko)
Over the past year, everyone—pastors included—found themselves in situations requiring problem solving and emotional fortitude. Pastor Ken Tse, from Edmonton Christian Life Community Church, talks about the stress of seeking ways to minister to an older congregation that was not tech savvy.
