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Death toll
I started Sunday morning in tears as I read through the heartbreaking list that blanketed the front page of the New York Times. To mark the deaths of (at that point) nearly 100,000 American citizens, the paper listed the names of a thousand of them. Short phrases accompany each name, things like “a veteran who excelled…
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Menno leaders publish Holy Week letter
The executive directors of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) have published a letter of encouragement to constituents this week during the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter—which you can read below—acknowledges the unusual circumstances and challenges surrounding this year’s Holy Week, while offering a message of hope and unity. Doug Klassen (left) and Glen Guyton.…
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An open letter of gratitude
I am—apparently—vulnerable. This for two reasons: I’m chronologically categorized (senior), and I’m locationally challenged (live in a senior’s community). But I don’t feel vulnerable. My wife and I are both in excellent health, with robust energy, and significantly active in meaningful things. The social definition and my personal experience of who I am don’t match. …
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MC Canada congregations offering online worship services
Mennonite Church Canada, in collaboration with its regional churches and their local congregations, will share worship services each week for congregations across our nationwide community of faith. These services are available at mennonitechurch.ca/worshipservices, as well as on regional church websites. The purpose of this collaboration is to help congregations who do not have the capacity,…
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Love in the time of COVID-19
Thursday, as I sat down to a board meeting for the Micah Mission, a restorative justice organization in Saskatoon, I got the news that the Juno Awards show was being cancelled in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. For months I’d been hearing the Junos hyped on CBC Radio 2 and seeing advertisements…
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‘Greater love has no one . . .’
“Greater love has no one than to lay their life down for their friends,” said Jesus. That’s an amazing thing for anyone to do. But what about a whole village laying down its life for people it doesn’t even know? That would be extraordinary. Yet that’s what happened more than 350 years ago when a…
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Mennonite organizations cancelling events, making adjustments in response to COVID-19
Mennonite churches and organizations across Canada are cancelling or postponing services and other events in response to COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus. Here is a list (last updated at 12:45 p.m. EST on March 19), broken down by region. BRITISH COLUMBIA Mennonite Church British Columbia – In a letter sent to MCBC churches on…
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MC Canada offers pandemic preparedness web resources for congregations
As of March 11, the World Health Organization is now describing the global outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 as a pandemic. This move is not to incite fear but to motivate governments to ramp up their preparation efforts before the virus spreads more quickly in their own countries. Mennonite Church Canada has updated web resources…
