(Photo by Elisabeth Wales/Unsplash)
A reader who comes from outside the religious community asked what I meant by the term “flourishing” when I used it last month. I had written that God desires the flourishing of all peoples, especially the marginalized of our global world.
(Photo by Niklas Ohlrogge/Unsplash)
In Dr. Seuss’s book Oh the Places You’ll Go there is a section about “the waiting place.” It is depicted as an undesirable and useless place to be. I wonder if our Advent waiting sometimes feels like that kind of waiting. I wrote a little poem in the style of Dr. Seuss about Advent waiting:
They can be necessary, but they are usually devastating. Church splits, in my experience, are not often talked about in Christian circles, yet they are not uncommon.
Church splits are necessary for many different reasons, including:
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
‘We are in a climate emergency’: MC Canada
Mennonite Church Canada leaders released the following statement on Nov. 4 during the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland:
(Photo by Lawrence Aritao/Unsplash)
The last time my in-laws came north to visit, they brought us a broken electric kettle. We had gifted it to them at a long-ago Christmas. Now, years later, it stopped working. It was under warranty, but that only applied in Canada. With repair, it could function and stay out of the landfill.
Photo: The Canadian Mennonite / Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Herb Wiebe, facing camera, visits with an inmate at the Oakalla Prison Farm in Burnaby, B.C., in 1970. A growing number of British Columbia Mennonite men volunteered to befriend inmates through the M-2 (Man to Man) program, a prison visitation program then in its early days in Canada.
(Photo by Amador Loureiro/Unsplash)
I expect everyone has forgotten what I had to say when I spoke at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate’s chapel a few years ago. But I know some remember that I asked students to read Scripture in their own languages. For a few international students it was the first time they heard the Bible read in their mother tongue. That has not been forgotten.
(Photo by Karl Fredrickson/Unsplash)
After a month in the woods by myself, my sabbatical plan is to spend three months listening to people who aren’t a part of church culture, to see how they view church and understand why they don’t go to church.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Readers respond to ‘living simply’
Re: “What is enough?” Sept. 13, page 11.
(Photo by Kyle Glenn/Unsplash)
I remember a conversation with my mom when I was a child.
“Why is there a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day, but no Children’s Day?” I asked.
My mom’s answer was rather predictable, “Every day is Children’s Day!”
(Photo: Waterloo North Mennonite Church / Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
“Gluten free” proclaims the sign on one of these desserts at a Waterloo North Mennonite Church potluck in 2011. How have the offerings at your congregational potluck changed over the years? What traditions have endured? If you could convey the history of your congregation through a potluck table, what dishes would be on it?
(Image by gayleenfroese2/Pixabay)
Our lives—Holly’s and mine, that is—changed to a significant degree. Our oldest granddaughter, Maeve, who is 19, has moved into our home. Maeve comes to us from Ontario, where she left her family behind to begin the next portion of her life.
(Photo by Matias North/Unsplash)
What is the most dangerous place in your community? The speaker at a large gathering of Christian university students queried us. “It is the library!” he answered.
(Photo courtesy of Joshua Penfold)
I miss my Opa.
A few years ago, my daughter Ellie had a school assignment for Remembrance Day to to write about someone she remembered that served in the armed forces. She wrote about her great-grandfather (Opa). Helping her write a few short sentences about his life made me realize just how little I knew about his story, specifically his time in the war.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
No religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccines: MC Canada
Mennonite Church Canada’s executive ministers released a statement at the end of September responding to inquiries from constituents regarding exemption from COVID-19 vaccines.
It states:
'I walked into my curling club for the first time in 11 months...' (Photo by Francis Bouffard/Unsplash)
I walked into my curling club for the first time in 11 months and saw my team preparing to go out on the ice. I immediately teared up, telling them, “I’m so happy to be here, I think I’m going to cry!” We shared a laugh and hugs, and revelled in the moment of our mutual love of a sport and the camaraderie associated with it.
(Photo: Joseph Vale / Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
Look way off in the distance behind the North American Mennonite and Brethren farm boys (looking rather dazed at their surroundings) and you will notice the ruins of ancient Athens. These young men volunteered to tend horses and other livestock on ships sent to Europe to replenish herds following the Second World War.
(Photo by Nijwam Swargiary/Unsplash)
I am pondering yet again the “Mennonite” label, and what it means for us today in Canada. There are three things that recently provoked these questions.
(Photo by Mohamed/Unsplash)
Tomorrow I’m driving to a log cabin in remote northern Quebec to spend a month in the woods by myself. That said, I’m not exactly roughing it. The cabin has electricity, a kitchen, a bathroom and what looks like a comfortable bed.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Idea of defunding the police based on false premises
Re: “Defund the Police?”, Sept. 27, page 4.
(Photo by mauro mora/Unsplash)
No one would dispute that our world has become intercultural. Culture meets culture and languages are exchanged randomly on streets, in restaurants, in classrooms and even during Sunday church worship. “Intercultural” is being used at a massive rate. But this is being done without the faintest idea of what it means to be truly intercultural.
Photo: Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Women at Grace Lao Mennonite Church sing at a “ladies’ revival” in 1999. This was an important year for the congregation of about 90 people, as they also dedicated their own independent church building in Kitchener, Ont. Previously, they worshipped nearby at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church. The church grew from the efforts of refugee families sponsored by St.
Main Street in Laird, Sask. (Photo by Canadian2006/CC BY-SA 3.0)
Someone suggested I apply for a pastoral position in a church in a large Canadian city. My ego liked that quite a lot. Then I gave it some thought.
(Photo by Clay Banks/Unsplash)
Learning happens because learners do something, not because teachers teach. Education is not about teaching—it is about learning.
'Nostalgia is an enemy of hope...' (Photo by Josh Hild/Unsplash)
Three years after graduating from Bible college on the prairies, I returned for a one-week complimentary alumni seminary course. I was excited to be back in the classroom again, but if I’m completely honest, I was just as, if not more, excited to return to a place that held so many good memories.
