Volume 27 Issue 22

There were nineteen beds in the hospice, that’s what I heard, most of them occupied, but I paid no attention to them.

These men visited an alternative service camp in 1942. From left:  D.P. Reimer (EMC, Steinbach), Jacob F. Barkman (Holdeman minister, Manitoba), David Schulz (Bergthaler bishop, Manitoba) and George DeFehr (Holdeman minister, Alberta).

On a Wednesday in mid-October, I’m at the auto shop for winter tires; a TV on the wall flashes tanks, rubble and protests alongside talking heads.

On social media, I can’t look away from children held hostage or from parents pulling kids from collapsed buildings.

At WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio station, a very interesting testimony appeared three years ago titled “A Dual Degree from Oxford. A Medical Degree from Harvard. Neither Protected Me from Racism.” It’s from Tafadzwa Muguwe, a Zimbabwean-born Rhodes scholar and Harvard-trained physician.

This six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors.

During her community outreach work, Judith McCartney will typically ask people: “Did you know Christ walked 22,000 miles in his lifetime of ministry?”

McCartney believes in venturing outside the church doors and putting on some miles.

“We, nosotros, we saved Colombia from being handed over to communists!” Those were the words of a celebrity pastor from a Colombian mega-church, spoken to a cheering crowd in California. That pastor referred to the recent success of a “No” campaign in the popular referendum that voted against implementing a peace agreement in my country.

Getting old was not something I looked forward to. The shift from being someone who gives to someone who receives requires adjustment, but with God’s help we can prepare for getting old gracefully.

October was a big month for pastoral leadership in Mennonite Church Saskatchewan as two young pastors, Rodney Hennessey and Curtis Wiens, were ordained by their congregations.

On September 29, 18 participants gathered in Saskatoon to kick off the Mennonite Church Saskatchewan youth programming year. The youth got to know one another in a variety of ways as the event went on, first learning what everyone had for breakfast, then playing ‘Never Have I Ever . .

Jan Steven, a commissioned chaplain with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, has found a new way to show care for seniors in long term care facilities. The new venture starts with buying new or next-to-new teddy bears and blankets from the Mennonite Central Committee Christian Benefit Thrift Shop in St. Catharines, Ontario. Then Mary Koop, who, like Steven, attends Grace Mennonite Church in St.