Church lessons
My church experience has included at least 13 Mennonite churches, a Baptist church, an inter-denominational church and two Catholic schools. That represents more worship services and Sunday school lessons than I can count! Not many details from the sermons and classes stick in my mind, but those experiences taught me many lessons over the years.…
Suffering from Bach withdrawal?
Sean Gortzen got his first taste of baroque cantata repertoire during his time at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), both on campus and through his involvement with local groups like the Mennonite Festival Chorus. Captivated by the music, it became a dream of his to sing in a chorus in which he could explore the full…
Be a CO at tax time
Religious wars raged in 16th-century Europe between Catholics and Protestants. In northern Holland, Jan Smit was captured by the Catholics and was being pressed into service as an oarsman. His captors commanded him to join a crew of prisoners and row across the lake for a battle against Haarlem. But Smit declared, “I have no…
Readers write: April 10, 2017 issue
‘The faith of our fathers lives on’ There used to be a hymn we sang in our congregation: “Faith of our Fathers, Living Still.” As a person ages, one has more memories from the past. Often in the present, we make decisions for the future with knowledge from the past. So from the past to…
A parting blessing
At my first Mennonite Church Alberta assembly as area church minister, one of my official tasks was to offer a prayer of release to Calgary Vietnamese Mennonite Church. It was one of two congregations that had withdrawn its membership from the area church in response to the Being a Faithful Church decision at MC Canada’s…
Reclaiming Scripture
We must not hand them back. Others before us fought long and hard to get them back into our hands. Through blood, sweat and tears, they were returned to the rightful owners. And now, slowly but surely, we are returning the Holy Scriptures to those who hoarded them for so long. It was in the…
Ailsa Craig Boys Farm
Boys on horseback pose in front of the main entrance to the Ailsa Craig Boys Farm, a home for troubled boys, in the 1960s. The farm, begun in 1955, was the brainchild of Jack Wall. With the help of Harvey Taves at Mennonite Central Committee and a handful of families eager to start mission work…
Creation care in action
Building to green standards using cutting-edge technology is a significant expense. After nearly four years in its 50 Kent Avenue building, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Ontario is pleased with the choices it made and feels that its constituents can be satisfied that the extra expenses have paid creation-care dividends. Most initiatives have met or exceeded…
‘Not just an activist political group’
Mennonite Church Canada’s resolution on Israel and Palestine took centre stage during an informative workshop in early March 2017 at the Mennonite Church Manitoba annual general meeting. Hosted by co-leaders Byron Rempel-Burkholder and Carolyne Epp-Fransen, the workshop aimed at helping members of the area church better understand what the resolution has given rise to through…
