Onscreen adventures
This past year, I followed a honey gatherer up Macedonian hills, watched a recording session with a legendary jazz singer, witnessed the political turmoil within Denmark’s parliament, and traveled throughout Canada to the strains of Handel’s music. All these adventures happened while I lounged on the living room sofa. A favorite pastime for my husband…
Hearing from God
A long time ago I told God that I was his, and that I would follow him wherever he led me. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to decipher God’s leading! Does that still small voice belong to God, or is that just my own will whispering loudly? Closed doors and open windows are often a…
Springridge Mennonite considers the birds of the Bible
Who knew that ostriches are mentioned multiple times in the Bible? Job 39:13 says: “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and the feathers of the stork.” Springridge Mennonite Church began a six-week series on “Birds of the Bible” in June. The ostrich session was entitled, “Comedy and…
Congregation holds memorial service for graves at residential school sites
Osler Mennonite Church congregants gathered on Canada Day, July 1, in the local cemetery next door, to sing some hymns, share their sorrow and pray together. But it wasn’t one of their own they were grieving. The congregation met instead to grieve in solidarity with its Indigenous neighbours on the finding of unmarked graves at…
An Indigenous woman’s journey and advice to Mennonites
She was born Danielle Dubois and placed in foster care at age three. She stayed in five different foster homes until, shortly before her fifth birthday, the Loewen family adopted her and gave her a new name. Now known as Theresa Loewen, she grew up on a farm west of Saskatoon and says she “was…
Summer camping returns to Squeah
After a too-quiet 2020, when summer camps were cancelled due to the pandemic, Camp Squeah of Hope, B.C., is once again a place to hear the sounds of children’s laughter and families gathering this summer. This summer, a modified schedule of “Go Beyond” day camps, family camps and self-contained family camps has replaced the traditional…
Bake sale, borscht and bouncy castles
A September tradition in British Columbia is returning with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) B.C. Festival for World Relief, scheduled in Abbotsford on Sept. 17 and 18. While the pandemic forced a drastically downscaled event last year, consisting only of a drive-through food pickup with limited choices, the 2021 event will be the traditional…
MDS Canada, MCC complete office renovation project in Timmins
In light of the news about the unmarked graves of children at former residential schools in B.C., Saskatchewan and other parts of the country, the work of Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada at the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Indigenous Neighbours office in Timmins, Ont., took on new resonance for volunteers. The project to renovate and…
Toronto church podcast offers a ‘call to rest’
A proposal made by Toronto United Mennonite Church’s worship committee has evolved into a new podcast project called “TUMC On Air.” Hosts Peter Haresnape and Michele Rizoli, the church’s pastors, explore new ways of conducting church solely through audio. The podcast encourages congregational members to disengage their eyes and focus on listening. Haresnape says, “It…
