Riding for affordable housing
Ken and Debbie Martin are ready to head out from Elmira (Ont.) Mennonite Church on a countryside tour as part of the MennoHomes fifth annual bike-a-thon for affordable housing on June 20. More than 100 adults and children participated by walking, cycling or riding, and raised $40,000 toward a three-storey apartment building to be built…
My soul brother
The sky was a deep blue, the sun shining brightly as we gathered in the Zion Memorial Gardens to bury the ashes of a beloved family friend, my brother-in-law Frank R. Keller, in the community of our birth—Souderton, Pennsylvania. We all knew him as “Butch.” Somehow the familiar words of Psalm 90 read by Pastor…
It takes a (global) village
The last in a five-part series leading up to Mennonite World Conference Assembly in Harrisburg, Pa. When someone asks you to use a few words to describe yourself, what words do you use? Would you change those words to describe yourself when you are with your family? At work? Travelling to some distant place? …
Readers write: July 27, 2015 issue
Thanks to those who attended TRC report in Ottawa I would publicly like to thank and acknowledge the presence of Mennonite Church Canada personnel and other Mennonite workers who attended the Truth and Reconciliation Report in Ottawa. I think it is awesome that you took time out of your busy schedules and made this a priority…
Garden dreams
“All through the long winter I dream of my garden. On the first warm day of Spring I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy and my spirits soar.” ~Helen Hays, quoted in Like a Garden: A Biblical Spirituality of Growth by Sara Coven Juengst (Westminster John Knox Press,…
Interruptions
So Jesus was striding down the street one day when a kid in front of him turned around and asked for a bus ticket. Jesus had noticed the boy—a skinny teenager wearing a too-big T-shirt—aimlessly tapping a stick on a nearby fence. Jesus had wondered why the boy wasn’t in school, and if he was…
When a little becomes a lot
“Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’” (John 6: 8-9) I’ve always loved the story of Jesus and the disciples feeding the five thousand. Crowds of people have been following…
Where you start matters
The fragrance of old books mingled with stale pipe tobacco washed over me like finely aged wisdom, fermented from years of deep contemplation. Every wall of the late history professor’s study was concealed behind rows of shelves fully stocked with hardcover and paperback treasure. My sense of gratitude for the invitation to come “pillage” Robert’s…
The future of poverty
In the year 2000, world leaders set themselves a deadline for dramatically decreasing global poverty. That deadline was 2015. The global betterment plan was contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which committed the international community to: eradicate extreme hunger and poverty; provide universal primary education; promote gender equality; reduce child mortality; “ensure environmental sustainability;”…
