Since I was a young boy, I’ve been fascinated by words, stories and ideas.
So when I heard that I had an opportunity to be a regional representative for Alberta on the Canadian Mennonite Publishing Service (CMPS) board of directors, which acts in an advisory capacity for the direction of the Canadian Mennonite periodical, I took them up on it.
'Every household contributes to the plentiful potluck lunch.' (Photo by Spencer Davis/Unsplash)
Every year around this time, the congregation I belong to makes plans for Gathering Sunday. After a summer of sparser attendance at worship services, our gathering on the first Sunday after Labour Day is always a celebration, a reunion for those of us who vacationed outside the area and for those who stayed put during the summer.
Graphic by Betty Avery
Dandelion cover inspires flower arranger
Re: Dandelion front cover, June 8.
I laughed out loud when I saw the dandelion on the cover.
‘Unless we are taken quickly in some senseless tragedy or sudden illness, those who are dying and those who accompany the dying enter into ‘the long wait.’’ (Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez/Unsplash)
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: A time to born and a time to die . . . .” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2).
Photo: Lorne W. Friesen / Conference of Mennonites in Canada Photo Collection
The Conference of Mennonites in Canada annual session was held in July 1975, in Swift Current, Sask. Hot weather put participants’ “cool” to the test. The assembly was not only about business but also about relationships and, as such, there was time for work and play, including a game of volleyball, pictured.
‘What does ‘third way’ mean and how does it relate to my family?’ (Image by Gerd Altmann/Pixabay)
I’ve been asked recently why my column is called “Third Way Family.” The question has prompted me to share my reasoning behind choosing this title and what it means to me.
People and their churches are responding to the physical and emotional needs around them due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Image by Gerd Altmann/Pixabay)
I am listening these days to stories of how people and their churches are responding to the physical and emotional needs around them due to COVID-19. Every congregation is finding ways to help those around them who need food, assistance with their rent, connecting digitally or some other kind of accompaniment.
(Photo by Andrew Seaman/Unsplash)
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.
The new book 'Jesus of the East' offers a sharp critique of western Christianity and presents a different perspective of Jesus.
When H.S. Bender came out with The Anabaptist Vision in the 1940s, he offered a Mennonite theology that was different from the evangelical fundamentalism widely accepted in the church at the time.
Josh Wallace is Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s interim church engagement minister.
During a Zoom call a month or so ago, a pastor friend mused, “Is worship all we have left?” Our virtual meet-up—all folks involved in congregational leadership—had been sharing various strategies we had tried to carry on with Sunday morning worship services.
Graphic by Betty Avery
Today’s society is a progression of Canada’s colonial past
Re: “ ‘Decolonize’ and ‘settler’ meaningless terms” letter, June 8, 2020, page 8.
'I am thinking about sparrows today...' (Image by Oldiefan/Pixabay)
I am thinking about sparrows today, about how many of them there are, and yet how little I notice them until they stop for a quick perch on the railing of my deck and I find myself wishing that they were some other variety of backyard bird, perhaps something with just a little more colour—like a wren or a goldfinch or an oriole. Even a chickadee or a nuthatch will do.
Photo: The Canadian Mennonite / Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Public school teachers Samuel B. Nafziger, Dick Neufeld, Sara (Lehn) Harder, Martin Goerzen, Grace Harder, John C. Harder and C. Boldt, are pictured in the most northerly Mennonite farm community in the world, at Fort Vermilion, Alta,. in 1958.
Superb Mennonite Church. (Photo by Lois Siemens)
A recent article in Canadian Mennonite included a story of the closing of Superb Mennonite Church. Superb was my home. I was dedicated, married, baptized and raised a family there.
'We all have to travel on some nation’s passport...' (Image by Pam Patterson/Pixabay)
I am an immigrant. After serving with Mennonite Central Committee in Canada, I chose to stay in this amazing country. The Canadian way was closer to the “thousand points of light” to which one of the leaders of my left-behind country called his own people. (I’ll leave you to guess what country.)
'Oh that my life might be less concerned about my own image...' (Image by Med Ahabchane/Pixabay)
It’s outlandish really, what God asks Hosea to do. To think that someone known for his holiness and intimate relationship with the divine would take up residence with a woman everyone knew was promiscuous.
“The way of Jesus sounds very much like embracing a social contract. He is called ‘the Man for others.’ Early Christians were known by how they loved one another.” (Pixabay photo by Caniceus)
Many years ago now—I’m getting a bit long in the tooth—I took what I thought would be a bird course in my second year at what was then known as Waterloo College. It turned out to be anything but, and I remember more from that course than from any other in my seven years of university education. It was a course on political philosophy.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
‘A wise investment’ in the future of church camps
Re: “Testing the ties that bind,” April 27, page 2.
CommonWord's new website is easily searchable and beautifully designed.
On June 1, CommonWord launched a new website at commonword.ca that is mobile-friendly, easily searchable and beautifully designed.
(Photo: Len Bechtel / Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
Len Bechtel, front, is pictured with a portable saw he and other conscientious objectors (COs) designed near Vancouver during the Second World War. As oil supplies dwindled due to the war, this group of workers with mechanical aptitude in the Alternative Service program were pulled aside from forestry work to help supply Vancouverites with wood for the winter.
The Barkman family takes part in a rally in Manila on Feb. 24, 2018 to protest the police brutality of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. (Photo courtesy of Christina Bartel Barkman)
I was in Whistler, B.C., last week with my husband and kids, and we joined a Black Lives Matter protest in the village. My eight-year-old reminded us that we used to do this often when we lived in Manila in the Philippines.
People dance at a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C. on June 6, 2020. (Photo by Clay Banks/Unsplash)
When I preach I often reference verses in the Bible that talk about God’s intention that all nations, languages and tribes are called to worship God through Jesus. The Book of Acts is the story of the Jewish disciples relying on the power of the Holy Spirit and learning that the new church is relevant to a world much bigger than they ever imagined.
'His face lit up when he saw me.' (Photo by Abhidev Vaishnav/Unsplash)
I was 7 when Rushi (a pseudonym) and his family moved into our neighbourhood. They were the first people of colour to move into the community, and nobody rolled out the welcome mat for them.
Al Friesen, left, Marlene Friesen, Charlotte Siemens and Jon Nofziger, who all attend Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C., take part in the Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation. (Photo by Al Friesen)
Following current physical-distance guidelines, the fifth annual Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation was held in various parts of British Columbia over the final weekend of May.
Although we walked apart, we did so in solidarity with our First Nations brothers and sisters whose families have been affected by the residential school system for many generations.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
‘Expect the unexpected’
When asked a few months ago what advice they would give about aging, a group of seniors responded, “Expect the unexpected.” That advice is relevant to all of us this spring!
