Making space for the Spirit
Fourteen months have gone by since the conclusion of the Being a Faithful Church (BFC) process and the decision congregational delegates made at Assembly 2016. At the end of that seven-year process, a large majority of the delegates voted in favour of “creating space” for congregations to differ from one another when it comes…
Jacob’s ‘imaginary’ struggle
“The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids and his 11 children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man…
Readers write: September 25, 2017 issue
Watson’s wisdom is ‘a pernicious fable’ Re: “Wisdom, where art thou?” (Pt. 10), July 24, page 13. After reading Troy Watson’s column, I’m inclined to wonder if we’ve gone backward to a time when emotions were lodged in the heart, anger in the spleen and reason in the brain. It’s my understanding that the human…
A huge challenge
It’s a big year for Lutherans—the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. So it struck me as significant that I was invited to present a sermon and serve communion alongside a synod bishop at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada’s national convention in July. At the 450th anniversary of the Lutheran’s Augsburg Confession of Faith in…
Paddling down the river
To celebrate our wedding anniversary, my husband and I canoed on our neighborhood river. Due to extremely low water levels, the first stretch was quite challenging, not unlike some stretches of marriage. This was abundantly clear when the stern yelled, “Draw!” and the bow replied, “What’s a draw?” Immediately after, the canoe lodged on a…
Mary Ann Cressman
Do you recognize this “Mennonite centre”? Mary Ann Cressman, second from left, her husband Menno C., and others stand outside the family’s dry goods store at 82 King Street East, Kitchener, Ont., circa 1905. Mary Ann lost an arm in a buggy accident, but that did not deter her from becoming the “founding mother” of…
A legacy of giving
A few weeks ago, we welcomed our first grandchild into the world. Amid my great joy, I have recently found myself reflecting on the incredible responsibility of raising children. Scripture advises that if we “train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it”…
Focussing our fear
I have a nagging thought as I sit down to write this article. It’s this: I have no idea what state our world will be in when you read this in a few weeks. Who knows what will happen between now and then? It’s unsettling to be aware of not only the possibility—but the probability—something…
Tears shed over the closing of Riverdale Mennonite
After 71 years of faithful service, Riverdale Mennonite Church closed its doors on Aug. 31, 2017. The building is being taken over by the Berean Community Church, which assumed ownership and took over the charter of the congregation on Sept. 1. The church was birthed in 1946, planted there by members of the Poole and…
