Pandemic denies us shared rituals of grief
By everything that is right and good, Helen Penner’s life should have been celebrated with singing. Singing was a passion for her and her late husband John, and they ensured their eight children found their melodic voices at an early age. The kids grew up singing in church, blending their voices in the four-part harmony…
COVID-19 cases rise among Mennonites in Waterloo Region
On Nov. 30, public health officials in the Waterloo Region of Ontario issued an order to close all Old Order, Markham, Old Colony (Low German speaking) and David Martin Mennonite churches and schools due to significant community spread of COVID-19 in the northern portions of Wellesley and Woolwich townships. More than 200 new cases of…
Making sense of the bleakness
“An urgent reality … a state of public health emergency.” This is how our premier, Jason Kenney, described our situation in Alberta last week because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is probably not news to anyone that the number of new cases in Alberta has continued to rise dramatically over the last couple weeks. Hospitals…
MC Canada calls for prayer for Ethiopia and Eritrea
Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) held a nationwide fasting and prayer for peace on Nov. 16. “Believers are still praying for peace, individually and collectively,” they announced. “At present, our hope is in God alone. We kindly request the Mennonite families in North America and around the world to pray for our country. We need peace…
Grief and a snowman
A few weeks ago, I received a package in the mail from the Boston Athletic Association for finishers of the Boston Marathon. It was exciting to receive the package and yet it was also quite sad. ‘It was exciting to receive the package and yet it was also quite sad.’ This was not how I…
Pandemic offers new opportunities for students
The pandemic this year has turned the master of theological study (MTS) program’s teaching model on its head. Conrad Grebel University College professors have adapted and, in some cases, entirely reconstructed their MTS courses for the ease of learning and connecting virtually, meaning that graduate students who were used to learning together in small classes…
Take care
Recently the worldwide number of souls lost to the COVID-19 virus surpassed 1 million. Visualizing that large number of lives cut short touches one’s own soul. We, the living, mourn and seek to understand. As members of the world community and participants in our own neighbourhoods and congregations, you and I are witnessing the many…
Low German community in southwestern Ontario experiences persecution
Members of Low German-speaking Mennonite communities in southwestern Ontario have experienced public discrimination recently because of a surge in COVID-19 cases in their population. Incidents include negative online comments, cancelled playdates with children in the Low German community, and aggressive verbal attacks at the grocery store. The Windsor-Essex region of the province has been a…
Antifragile church
The past few months have awakened us to our fragility as individuals, communities and nation states. We’ve observed the fragility of our health-care system, food-supply chain, economies, global trade, international relations, institutional accountability. It seems that everything in our world is fragile, including ourselves. We’re also becoming acutely aware of the fragility of the Canadian…
COVID-19 global response fund helps Global South churches
The Mennonite World Conference (MWC) COVID-19 inter-agency task force has approved 21 relief proposals. Food and sanitation materials are part of all the proposals from Anabaptist member churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America. With the COVID-19 fund’s assistance, local congregations in more than a dozen countries will bring relief to thousands of families, sharing…
