Volume 27 Issue 25

Volume 27, Number 25

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December 15, 2023

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Volume 27, Number 25

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Volume 27 Issue 25

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Survey says . . .

(Pixabay photo by Adrian)

Starting in April, this magazine will be printed 12 times per year instead of 22. Many readers encouraged the change.

In the Canadian Mennonite (CM) survey, carried out from July to October, we heard from nearly 350 people.

In addition, CM board members and I spoke directly with pastors, church leaders and others across the country.

Readers write: December 15, 2023

(Graphic by Betty Avery)

Advent in light of current events

Needlework from the Middle East

(Photo: The Canadian Mennonite/Mennonite Archives of Ontario)

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) worker Alice Snyder (right) shows needlework done by rural and refugee women in Jordan and the West Bank to Esther Weber at the MCC Ontario offices in Kitchener in 1964.

The Overseas Needlepoint and Crafts Project would become SelfHelp and later, Ten Thousand Villages.

—With files from GAMEO.org

The church cannot be silent

(Pexels photo by Nothing Ahead)

We have entered the days of Advent. It’s usually one of my favourite periods in the church calendar, but this year, the waiting is heavy.

The candle is a tiny flicker in a world of darkness, and Christmas music rings false with its promises of joy and celebration.

Highlights from CM’s online event with young pastors

YElshaday Baraki of Meheret Evangelical Church in Kitchener. (Supplied photo)

On November 29, Canadian Mennonite hosted “Answering the Call,” an online event featuring three young pastors: Curtis Wiens of Aberdeen Mennonite Church in Aberdeen, Saskatchewan; Kennedy Froese of Sterling Mennonite Fellowship in Winnipeg; and YElshaday Baraki of Meheret Evangelical Church in Kitchener, Ontario.

The gift of Greg

(Unsplash photo by Josh Carter)

It’s that season where gifts are received, admired, beheld.

When thinking about gifts, my thoughts turn to my friend, “Greg.” Greg is interesting for many reasons.

‘You can’t keep everything you love’

Louise and Ed Janzen. (Photo by Cyndy Brandt)

Welcome to “Life in the 80s,” a semi-regular series in which we ask people in their 80s or 90s to share their wisdom.

Ed (85) and Louise (84) Janzen met as students at Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) in Abbotsford, B.C. Both grew up in the Mennonite Brethren Church.

The best non-Christmas Christmas song

(Unsplash photo by Debora Bacheschithe-mill Christmas music.

Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation.

Christmas says that Jesus became a human; a baby who went through the terrible twos, puberty, the teen years and a carpenter’s life.

In the words of what might be my favourite song about incarnation, “What if God was one of us?”

‘Custodians’ makes a clean sweep

(Photo courtesy of Brad Langendoen)

The film Custodians: A Story of Ancient Echoes won big at the Saskatchewan International Film Fest (SIFF) in October. The documentary explores the work of local landowners, volunteers and municipal government officials in conserving the many signs of historic Indigenous presence in the Herschel, Saskatchewan, area.

A strange act of fealty

(Unsplash photo by Randy Tarampi)

I was on the cusp of starting a family, engaged to an honorable girl.

It is one of the commands of scripture to “be fruitful and increase in number,” so marriage and then children (in that order) are a critical part of being obedient to God and fulfilling my purpose.

Part VI: Stories of hope

(Unsplash photo by Ahmed Hasan)

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

Advent celebrates the coming of light, the light of love that “darkness cannot extinguish” (John 1:5).

A cry of the heart

Palestinians at a makeshift tent camp on the grounds of a UN school in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. October 20, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Zaanoun/Active Stills)

Overwhelmed, distraught, touched and compelled by the stories and images from Gaza, Canadian Mennonite reporter Madalene Arias has interviewed many people—Palestinians and Jews—she found through various connections and means. Below are interviews with two people Arias has spoken with recently. We share this as a cry of the heart and a prayer for mercy. – Eds.

MC Manitoba partners with B.C. church

‘This tether to the Anabaptist stream is … really helpful,’ says Darren DeMelo, co-pastor of Estuary Church. (Supplied photo)

One of the latest churches to partner with Mennonite Church Manitoba is outside the province—2,047 kilometers outside of Winnipeg, to be exact.

Estuary Church, an emerging congregation in Delta, B.C., is receiving guidance and support from MC Manitoba as it gets established and finds a denomination.