Making dreams real
I am crocheting a baby afghan. The soft, multi-coloured yarn slides through my fingers. I catch it on the end a hook, spin and loop it into the expanding blanket. My cat lies beside me, sometimes taking a swipe at the tantalizing string, but mostly curled up sleeping. The afghan is a gift for Kenneth,…
Readers write
Come to the defence of ‘God’s great gift’ In the beginning—13.7 billion years ago—God created the heavens, also known as the universe; 4.5 billion years ago God created our planet, Earth. Life began on Earth some 700,000 years later, with human beings—homo sapiens—appearing in Africa some 70,000 to 100,000 years ago. Down through these millennia…
For discussion
1. What technology does your congregation use in worship? What are the challenges to learning how to use new technology in worship? How much power is wielded by those who control the sound board? 2. Andy Brubacher Kaethler argues that technology is not neutral, but that technology shapes the message. Do you agree? How is…
Is technology enriching our worship?
Technology is the single most significant characteristic of modern western culture. Canadian philosopher George Grant contends it has long displaced democracy and capitalism as top identifiers. Technology directly shapes Christian belief and practice in ways we must at the very least question, if not actively resist. The Mennonite church has not paid adequate attention to…
MAX Mutual Aid Ministries enters new era
Mutual Aid eXchange (MAX) Canada Insurance Company is increasing the support for its Mutual Aid Ministries program. “Mutual Aid Ministries is the heart and soul of the MAX enterprise,” says Tim Wagler, president and chief executive officer of MAX Canada. “MAX would be just another insurance company without Mutual Aid Ministries. This being the case,…
Poetry, paintings bring Old Orders to life
Peter Etril Snyder is known the world over for his sensitive paintings of Old Order Mennonites in the Waterloo Region. Although he had just retired from his gallery and painting for health reasons, he was intrigued when Tundra Books came to him with Nan Forler’s poems of an Old Order girl’s life over the course…
Sudermans find a gift in return to AMBS
Robert J. (Jack) and Irene Suderman say it was a gift to spend five weeks at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), where they studied almost 40 years ago. Jack was a student at AMBS in the early 1970s, earning a master of arts in religion degree with a focus on peace studies. Irene audited classes…
‘Kill the bill’
The federal government’s Bill C-10—part of a wider crime omnibus bill—had already met opposition in Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia by the time Manitobans rallied in opposition. The Nov. 8, 2011, rally organized by the John Howard Society was sparked in part by comments from Andrew Swan, minister of justice and Manitoba’s attorney general,…
Women of four faiths share on suffering
I had the opportunity to participate in a symposium hosted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community women in Surrey, B.C., late last year. The meeting took place in a store-front temple in a strip mall, where we all had to remove our shoes because it had been consecrated as a place of prayer. I was one…
