I can give with joy
Early last year I decided to give a few dollars to any panhandler I encountered. I made sure to keep loonies, toonies and quarters in my car in case someone approached me while I was stopped at a red light. Prior to this, encounters with panhandlers felt awkward. I was taught growing up not to…
‘Serving the Lord with gladness’
When the indomitable Orie O. Miller retired from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in 1958, there was a lot of speculation about who would fill his big shoes. In Miller’s mind, though, that question had been settled years earlier, when he chose, out of the rich Civilian Public Service (CPS) talent pool, the unpresumptuous William Thomas…
#MeToo in the pew next to you
The incredible wave of disclosure around sexual abuse has dominated the front pages of our newspapers and our news feeds these past months. Women, in particular, are saying, “It’s about time that the pain and suffering of victims are acknowledged. It’s time to bring into the open what has been covered up and supressed for…
Readers write: January 15, 2018 issue
‘Come to the table . . . and meet Jesus’ Re: “A memorable remembrance,” Nov. 20, 2017, page 12. I want to affirm Troy Watson’s assertion that our communion services should “result in our hearts being set ablaze within us.” It is now more than a year since we found a welcoming church home…
Salty language and coming to faith
“Ah, sorry about all the cussing! I’ll be sure to watch my language around you from now on.” I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard an embarrassing apology of this sort when someone discovers that I’m a pastor. Having spent time in hockey dressing rooms, on baseball fields and at construction sites,…
Hoisin glazed chicken recipe
The L’Arche Collective Kitchen in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, provides opportunities for people with and without disabilities to share life together. (See more of the story at “Collective Kitchen involves all abilities.”) This recipe is from our new cookbook, One Big Table: Recipes from Friends of L’Arche Collective Kitchen. We are sharing the recipe for Hoisin glazed…
Collective Kitchen involves all abilities
The act of eating and preparing food is my greatest joy. Creating the dance of different flavours upon my palate is a spiritual experience. Robert Farror Capon writes in The Supper of the Lamb, “Food and cooking are among the richest subjects in the world. Every day of our lives, they preoccupy, delight and refresh…
Singing off the wall
The phrase “singing off the wall,” referring to singing from projected words rather than a hymn book, first appeared in Canadian Mennonite in 2010. This image shows that the practice went back much further. Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont., recently donated a collection of glass “lantern slides” probably in use circa 1924-45. This…
Creating a mission partnership web
What does mission look like in a country where the church is well established? From Jeanette Hanson’s point of view it’s a web of interconnected relationships. Hanson is a Mennonite Church Canada Witness worker and the associate director for Mennonite Partners in China (MPC). For 10 years, Hanson and her husband Todd taught English under…
