Peace settlement
“Give love to your friends—and your enemies,” Luis Hurtarte whispered, quietly translating as members of the Toronto Mennonite New Life Church sang in Spanish. “Everybody needs love.
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13 (Mennonite) things to do when your church has a snow day
Photo credit: Universal Pops on Flickr Creative Commons
If your congregation cancels the Sunday worship service because of snow and ice, there is no need to stay in bed all morning. Here are some ideas for redeeming the time:
Green burials reflect a shift to care for the body and soul
Jeff and Suzanne Becker buried father and husband Gilbert Becker naturally, in a hand-carved log casket after his death in Sept. 2013. (Photo by Sally Morrow, RNS)
Growing up in small-town Georgia, John B. Johnson had family friends who ran the funeral home down the street, so the particulars of a typical American funeral — the embalming, the heavy casket and remarks about how great the deceased's hair looked — were all familiar to him.
When the time came, he assumed, his funeral would look much the same.
Art shows feature quilts, paintings and 'hitchhiking' wood
A collaboration between two long-time friends and the woodwork of a man with a long history with Mennonite Church Canada are the basis for two exhibitions now showing at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery (MHCG).
Denver Mennonites take first step toward gay ordination
Theda Good
On Sunday (Feb. 2), a Denver congregation of Mennonites licensed the first lesbian in a committed same-sex relationship, the first step toward ordination.
Theda Good’s licensure was celebrated by some Mennonite Church USA clergy and greeted with dismay by others.
Canada spotlighted in Christian Unity Week
When the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is observed around the world this year from Jan. 18 to 25, there will be a special focus on Canada.
Funds, Syria peace talks raise hope
In Damascus, a woman accepts a box of food supplied by MCC through its partner, the Syrian Orthodox Church. People in the photo are not identified for security reasons. (Photo courtesy of the Syrian Orthodox Church)
As international efforts are under way to convince warring parties in Syria to gather for peace talks in Geneva on Jan. 22, 2014, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is releasing an additional $200,000 to help Syrian families get through the winter.
Calling all ‘wildly hopeful’ artists
The Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery invites artists to submit artworks for consideration for a national exhibition to take place during the Mennonite Church Canada assembly to be held in Winnipeg from July 3 to 6, 2014.
Micah Mission offers restorative justice to ex-offenders
Ex-offender Ryan Grills, who chairs the Forward Step support group, left, chats with Dave Feick, coordinator of the Micah Mission.
Sporting a bright orange T-shirt and a shaved head, Ryan Grills is an imposing presence, but his handshake is warm and his voice enthusiastic as he speaks about Forward Step, a support group for ex-offenders that he chairs. Forward Step is a program of the Micah Mission, an inter-church agency committed to restorative justice in Saskatoon.
Congregations turn to compost for lessons on life, death and the environment
Ashley Goff, minister for spiritual formation at Church of the Pilgrims, compares her time in her church’s backyard to making lasagna -- spreading vegetable scraps in one layer, straw in the next. (RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks)
The wheelbarrow outside the sanctuary was overflowing with vegetable scraps; decomposing matter filled the baptismal font; and a pile of rich brown soil replaced the Communion table.
COMMENTARY: The Christmas Wars are over, and Christmas won
If there is indeed a "War on Christmas," those on the anti-Christmas side of the war have lost — big time.
The television pundits, conservative politicians and talk-radio loudmouths who believe there is a "War on Christmas" should look around, withdraw their troops and quit screaming. Because if there is a war on Christmas, Christmas has won.
Mennonites “do” Advent
Traditionally Mennonite worship did not acknowledge the nuances of the church year. Today more congregations and individuals are seeing the seasons of the church calendar as a time to reflect and cultivate spiritual disciplines. A few samples:
South Africa mourns Mandela, a man of many names
Karen and Andrew Suderman and their children
South Africa lost the “Father of the nation” and the world lost an icon when Nelson Mandela passed away Dec. 5, 2013.
Mandela as Messiah
The world seemed very different when I awoke last Friday morning and heard the news: “Mandela is dead.” I first heard about it in an e-mail from a friend in Canada who, so he told me, saw the headline while reading an article I had written in 1994 at the time Mandela was inaugurated as president of the new South Africa.
Ontario Mennonite community loses influential genealogist
Lorraine Roth
Lorraine Roth, a well-known Mennonite genealogist, passed away early on Wed. Dec. 11, 2013, at the age of 83. She grew up near Shakespeare, Ont., and spent her last years in Tavistock, Ont.
Storytelling used to teach peace
Presenter David Neufeld chats with Leonard Doell, a member of the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan, at the ‘Peace Saturday’ event at Mount Royal Mennonite Church in Saskatoon on Nov. 9. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
“Peace Saturday,” a time of storytelling at Mount Royal Mennonite Church in Saskatoon on Nov. 9, 2013, featured four presenters with diverse points of view on the theme.
Leamington businessman killed in Brazil
A Leamington man has been killed in an attempted car-jacking on a highway in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Brazilian media reports say Dean Tiessen was travelling with a friend, Paul Carver, when he was fatally shot on Saturday, but the circumstances around the incident remain unclear.
Mennonites asked for Mandela’s release
Bergen
Mandela in prison
As the world remembers Nelson Mandela today, Walter Bergen, an organic farmer from Chilliwack, BC, recalls a moment in July, 1986, when the Conference of Mennonites in Canada stepped forward to “officially encourage the Canadian government to release Mandela and to send a letter of support to Bishop Desmond Tutu for his work against apartheid,” according to a report by Brenda Suderman in the Me
Christians lend a hand to West Bank farmers
American evangelicals help plant and harvest grapes for Israeli settlers in the West Bank settlement of Dolev on the morning of Oct. 27, 2013. Photo by Debbie Hill, courtesy of USA Today
Sitting in the shadow of a row of leafy grapevines, 26-year-old Zac Waller grabbed his guitar and started playing a hymn.
The soulful sounds tripped down the hillside adjacent to the Jewish settlement of Dolev, west of Jerusalem, bringing a smile to the volunteers harvesting grapes in the warm October sun.
Francis creates commission to deal with sexual abuse
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley celebrates Sunday Mass with other American cardinals at the Pontifical North American College March 3, 2013. Photo by Gregory L. Tracy/The Pilot
Pope Francis is creating a special commission to deal with the clergy sexual abuse crisis on a global scale, a step that comes amid growing criticism that Francis had not given sufficient attention to the scandal.
The chalice that helped make possible the Iran nuclear deal
During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September, a U.S. diplomat presented this griffin-shaped chalice to an Iranian counterpart. (Photo credit: Mehdi Moazen, Islamic Republic News Agency)
Many paths led to the international agreement to temporarily curb Iran's nuclear program: secret meetings in Oman, formal negotiations in Geneva, and a quiet encounter in New York involving two diplomats and an exquisite silver chalice in the shape of a mythical winged creature.
Prosperity gospel televangelist dead at 79
Paul Crouch, the religious broadcaster who co-founded Trinity Broadcasting Network and was known for his prosperity gospel messages and lavish lifestyle, died Saturday (Nov. 30). He was 79. Photo courtesy Trinity Broadcasting Network
Paul Crouch, the religious broadcaster who co-founded Trinity Broadcasting Network and was known for his prosperity gospel messages and lavish lifestyle, died Saturday (Nov. 30). He was 79.
His death was announced on the network’s website.
“We are grateful for the life of this amazing servant of God,” it said. “Please pray for the Crouch family during this time.”
MEDA receives grant for innovative water solution
Women in Ghana will benefit from the new water project.
Mennonite Economic Development Associates announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. MEDA will pursue an innovative global health and development research project in Ghana, Water Catchment, Storage and Irrigation for Women.
C.S. Lewis, more popular 50 years after his death than he was in life
As the United States marks the 50th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy on Friday (Nov. 22), many Christians will also pause to recall the death of C.S. Lewis, who died the same day, just one week short of his 65th birthday.
Our contrary and divisive spiritual calling
There are some verses in the Bible that we studiously avoid thinking about, let alone discussing publicly. They are like repressed memories or family secrets that threaten, if evoked, to cast us back into shame and confusion, to undo the semblance of peace, fellowship and orderliness that we have so diligently cultivated for ourselves.
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