On meeting St. Francis
I wouldn’t normally invite a stranger to stay in our house, but there was something about Jane (a pseudonym) that changed me.
Viewpoints
Learning to let go
Four generations of women at various stages of learning to let go. Pictured from left to right: Margaret Brubacher, Erma Birky, Sophia Heidebrecht and Carmen Brubacher. (Photo by Ray Brubacher)
End of an era. The author has mixed feelings about letting go of the family stroller that transported her four children: left to right, back row: Nathan, Sophia and Conrad; and Jesse Heidebrecht in the stroller. (Photo by Carmen Brubacher)
It takes me a long time to learn a lesson.
Hauling strawberries
Photo: Jacob J. Doerksen Family Photo Collection / Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies
In February 1928, the first trainload of Mennonite farmers from the Prairies arrived in Yarrow, British Columbia, with prospects of farming the newly accessible land in the Fraser Valley. The introduction of raspberry and strawberry farming in the early 1930s increased the viability of these farms. The photo shows Len Doerksen (b. 1936) with his little brother Dan (b.
Readers write: January 29, 2018 issue
When community discernment leads to a golden calf
Re: “Recognizing potential in an uncertain future,” Dec. 11, 2017.
All gifts are important
One word
A year ago, a friend issued a challenge. He urged me to select one word as the word for me in 2017. A word on which to focus and meditate. A word of (at least hoped for) transformation.
Does your financial plan include giving?
In the early years of our marriage, my wife Sharon and I often sat through our pastor’s annual sermon on tithing consumed by the feeling that we should do more. A serious discussion always followed, but with monthly bills, a mortgage, car payments, and school fees for our daughter, it was difficult to find the means.
Love is acceptance and transformation
Does loving people and things as they are mean accepting them as they are? If so, what are we to do with the call to join the Spirit’s transformative work of making all people, places and things new?
Bloodvein Reserve
Photo courtesy of the Canadian Mennonite / Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Many years ago, our archives first described this photograph as “School children at Bloodvein Reserve, ca. 1956.” The subject heading included the phrase, “Indians of North America,” correct for the time.
#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 far too long.”
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.”
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.”
Hoisin glazed chicken recipe
Hoisin glazed chicken
The group involved with Collective Kitchen enjoyed the cookbook launch held at the Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan office.
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.”)
Collective Kitchen involves all abilities
Nancy Kube and Krista Loewen co-edited the new cookbook, One Big Table: Recipes from Friends of L’Arche Collective Kitchen.
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 us . . . Both stop us dead in our tracks with wonder.
Singing off the wall
Photo courtesy of the United Church Publishing House / Mennonite Archives of Ontario
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.
Jesus isn’t talking to you
‘The Sermon on the Mount’ by Carl Bloch, 1877
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
Readers write: January 1, 2018 issue
More responses to Maple View’s paid supplement on sexuality
Re: “Honour God with Your Bodies” insert, Sept. 25, 2017.
We know who we are
Common knowledge helps to form our identity. It creates the basis from which to describe ourselves and helps us to understand others.
Change can create a crisis of identity. When what we thought to be fact changes, it can create a distressing cloud of confusion and uncertainty. We wonder if there is anything we can know. And we no longer trust what we think we know.
Believe the best about each other
“Believe the best about each other.” When delegates met for the Mennonite Church Canada assembly this past fall, there were swirls of questions, confusion, caution and qualms. From the dense detail and multiple pages on denominational restructuring that we waded through, it was this phrase of hope and encouragement that jumped out at me, and others as well.
Be like Scrooge?
In the last few weeks, most of us have encountered some version of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’ classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Every name deserves to be remembered
Lubyanka Square (Photo by Aileen Friesen)
On the evening of Oct. 29, 2017, I found myself in Lubyanka Square by happenstance. This square stands in front of the Lubyanka Building. The vibrant yellow facade, delightful rather than imposing, disarms those passing by.
Only one thing is essential
Troy Watson
In Luke 10:40, Martha complains to Jesus about having to do all the kitchen work by herself. Jesus responds. “Martha, you’re distracted by many things, but only one thing is necessary.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t give Martha a list of seven or 47 things that are essential to life. Just one thing. If that doesn’t give focus to our spiritual journeys, I don’t know what will.
Conference of Mennonites in Canada
Mennonite Heritage Archives Photo
At the 1979 Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC) delegate sessions, David P. Neufeld, left, welcomed three new congregations into the conference by asking several doctrinal questions regarding their churches’ beliefs and understanding of CMC.
Readers write: December 11, 2017 issue
More responses to Maple View’s paid supplement on sexuality
Re: "Honour God with Your Bodies” insert, Sept. 25.
No more of that old ‘soft-sell’ gospel
Ryan Jantzi
“All you gotta do is . . . .”
How often have we in the church uttered these words? We petition new committee prospects with this blasé plea. We invite people to faith in Christ saying, “All you gotta do is ask Jesus into your heart.”
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