Full stomach, faulty memory
We are daily awash in choices and opportunities, and many of us are affluent enough to be able to choose among many options. Many of us make many choices even before we get out the door in the morning. Our stomachs are full, we live in fine houses, our income and assets have grown, our…
Stories of generosity
The young couple was living far from home, juggling college studies and part-time work, in preparation for overseas missionary work. Their first child was due and then complications set in. It was a difficult birth, and the hospital bill totalled much more than their meagre budget allowed. When the time came for the new father…
Readers write: November 5, 2018 issue
Story on Manitoba prison ministry lauded Re: “Paying attention to the invisible,” Sept. 10, page 17. Many thanks for the fine article about our prison ministry program. On Oct. 3, Dorianna Toews, a new member of our team and a member of River East Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, and I led two groups of…
Listen to the silence
Recently, I heard a story about a young prince named Hullabaloo. He lived in a land where everyone and everything was noisy. When people talked, they shouted at each other. When they ate their soup, they inhaled it with a loud air-over-tongue sound. When they worked, they clanked and bumped until the air was filled…
Worship happened
The small church where I pastor, Grace Mennonite Church in Prince Albert, Sask., is probably not often accused of being “high church.” A few weeks ago, the service began with a worship leader wandering distractedly between his seat and the pulpit, wondering out loud whether he should shed his tools before the service began. Finally,…
Oma’s Peppernuts
This recipe for Pfeffernusse (peppernuts) is from my Oma (grandmother) Maria (Wiebe) Kroeger and my mother Helen. (See more at “Family tradition goes back 500 years.”) Ingredients 2 cups butter or margarine 2 cups white sugar 2 cups Rogers Golden syrup 1 tsp ginger 2 tsp star anise or aniseed 1 tsp mace 1 tsp…
Family tradition goes back 500 years
“Pfeffernusse,” Dora repeated after me in amazement! She couldn’t believe that my Christmas treats were the same as hers. It was Nov. 7, 2002, and we were sitting around the pool at Toddy’s Backpacker Hostel in Alice Springs, Australia. Nostalgia crept among us; we had wandered far and wouldn’t be home for Christmas. At the…
‘I’m sorry:’ Apologies and abuse
What role do apologies play in healing from abuse? We may feel that we can’t go wrong by offering an apology. We encourage people to apologize to each other in church. Unfortunately, too often quick apologies lead to more hurt than healing, especially in the context of abuse, where the hurt done is so long-lasting…
What moves you?
A big thank you to our 75 participants on 12 teams, and to our generous Mennonite Church Canada family who sponsored these riders in this year’s Ride for Refuge event held in communities across Canada on Sept. 29, 2018. Together, we raised more than $19,500 towards our International Witness ministry. The Ride for Refuge event…
