Volume 26, Number 12
Responding, faithfully
(Photo by Ashni on unsplash)
What is a faithful response to the news in the world around us? Canadian Mennonite posed this question in our annual spring fundraising appeal. Each year CM needs to raise $150,000 on top of advertising and subscription revenue to ensure that people across the church, and newcomers online, have access to the important church stories of today.
What is a Christlike response to military might?
Sadly, it is too late for either a nonviolent approach or a more violent approach with a no-fly zone to quickly restore Ukrainian rights. It is impossible for any approach to take away damage to a house after it has been burning for some time. (Pixabay photo by dangrafart)
(Pixabay photo by pdbverlag)
As Christians rooted in the Anabaptist tradition, we care deeply about every human being on Earth. We no doubt have felt solidarity with Ukrainians as they struggle against violence and injustice from military invasion. Engaging in constant prayer and giving abundant contributions of spiritual and material aid to victims are very important.
Readers write: June 13, 2022 issue
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Point: When words don’t make sense, conversation is at risk
Re: “God didn’t create you wrong” feature, Feb. 21, page 4.
At work with God on climate change
(Photo by Sandie Clarke/Unsplash)
“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psalm 24:1).
It all begins here.
Bergthal church
(Photo: Conference of Mennonites in Canada Photo Collection)
The Ontario Mennonite businessman Jacob Y. Shantz established rough housing for newcomers and promoted immigration to a place he called Didsbury, N.W.T., in 1893. In the following two years, Mennonites from Ontario and Manitoba arrived to what became known as Didsbury, Alta. The Bergthal Church was established there in 1903 and became part of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada in 1910.
‘The George and Helens’
(Photo by Tyler Nix/Unsplash)
A busy weekend at the end of May resulted in some reflections on family. In this case, the family referenced is “the George and Helens” (the Olferts that include my siblings and me, and all those attached).
Faithfulness in the face of facts
(Photo by Ma Ti/Unsplash)
Even if Gandhi is reputed to have said, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” it is clear he did not mean to stop at personal change! Read most histories of this quote, and personal change is the interpretive emphasis. But we all know that Gandhi aimed to change the social and political environment of India, even as he became a spiritual leader who transcended his Hindu foundation.
Solomon’s splendour
(Photo by kazuend/Unsplash)
History really is unfair to the common people. In a previous column (“Becoming the enemy you hate,” April 18, page 13), I noted that Solomon essentially enslaved 153,600 men in order to build God’s temple, emulating the oppressor Israel had once longed to be liberated from.
Unsettling stories of darkness, healing and hope
Solo dancer Jade Davis-Smoke performed at the Indigenous Mennonite Encounters conference, held at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., from May 12 to 15. (Grebel photo by Margaret Gissing)
Group dancing was led by the Haudenosaunee Voices and leader Kelly Fran Davis. (Grebel photo by Margaret Gissing)
Composer-cellist Cris Derksen and hoop dancer Myranda Spence perform at the “ka-nîmihitocik: They Who Are Dancing” concert that was part of the Indigenous-Mennonite Encounters conference, held at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., from May 12 to 15. (Grebel photo by Margaret Gissing)
I didn’t realize what I was signing up for when I agreed to write about Indigenous-Mennonite Encounters in Time and Place, a conference held at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., from May 12 to 15.
Loss that cannot be counted
MCC partner Charitable Foundation Uman Help Center sets up a distribution event every week for food, hygiene supplies and other basic essentials for those living in or passing through Uman, Ukraine. (Photo courtesy of UMAN)
More than 100,000 people have fled to the area around the city of Uman in Ukraine as Russian military forces continue to advance. MCC partner Charitable Foundation UMAN Help Center distributes food; MCC hygiene kits, including toothpaste; and comforters to hundreds of people each month. (Photo courtesy of UMAN)
MCC partner Charitable Foundation UMAN Help Center provides food and other essential basics for people fleeing to, or through, the city of Uman, Ukraine. (Photo courtesy of UMAN)
As millions of civilians continue to flee the devastation of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, organizations like MCC partner UMAN (Charitable Foundation Uman Help Center) are working to support those who have left everything they know behind.
Small town, big heart
Participants at the Black Creek United Mennonite Church fundraiser in B.C. survey the goods for sale on May 29. Around $11,000 will be sent to MCC for Ukraine relief. (Photo by Marian Peckford)
The small town of Black Creek, British Columbia, showed its generosity with a sale for Ukraine relief, organized by United Mennonite Church, on May 29. The town has a population of just over 9,000 and is located on Vancouver Island, far from all of Mennonite Church B.C.’s other congregations.
From Vietnam to Ukraine
Dalia Abdellatif, a settlement practitioner at EMCN is pictured in a room filled with donations for newcomers to Edmonton. (Photo by Meghan Klein)
The Don Baergen Resource Room at the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers (EMCN) is overflowing with donations. Boxes of baby clothes, pots and pans, and bedding, to name a few, are stacked throughout the space. This is the state of the organization’s current refugee donation centre.
Is violence the best response to Putin?
Canada has provided four M777 155mm Howitzers—like the one pictured—to Ukraine. (The U.S. Army on Flickr.com / Creative Commons 2.0)
Given Vladimir Putin’s ruthless aggression, and the obvious limits of sanctions, and the brutal suffering of Ukrainians, is there room to question military response to Russia? What is the role of a peace church in this scenario?
Are we still, effectively, a peace church?
Sharing the land
Doyle Wiebe stands next to the Treaty Land Sharing Network sign on his property, located near Langham, Sask. (Photo by Emily Summach)
Many Canadians are familiar with the saying, “We are all treaty people.”
It is a slogan created to remind all people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, that treaties offer them rights and call them to responsibilities. A new grassroots organization in Saskatchewan is trying to help landowners live up to their responsibilities.
CM hosts first discussion of new online series
Panellist Ian Funk holds up a Canadian Mennonite cover showing the massive flooding in British Columbia last fall. (CM screenshot)
On May 25, Canadian Mennonite hosted its first-ever discussion event. But the magazine didn’t shy away from immediately diving into a tough topic: the climate crisis and the church.
CM honoured with 10 CCCA awards
(Photo compilation by Betty Avery)
The Canadian Christian Communications Association awards were handed out online on May 11 to Canadian magazines, newspapers and communications organizations that entered material published or posted online in 2021. Canadian Mennonite won six awards for writing, two for layout and design, and one each for online content and for general excellence for a magazine.
