My Mennonite identity – shaped by my faith in God as revealed through Jesus – can create an opening for authentic relationship-building with people whose identity and privilege might differ from my own.
As the MCA faith family we are halfway through Year 2 of our 3 Year Action Plan, “Encountering, Embracing, Embodying Christ…in Community”. The past 16 months of health restrictions have forced us to look for different ways to connect with each other and be the community God calls us to be. I am grateful for the many ways God brings people together even during a pandemic, whether within our faith family or beyond.
Isn’t it wonderful that God can bring us together even when other circumstances are pulling us apart? I thank God that we can encounter, embrace and embody Christ in Community, even without gathering face to face.
A few weeks ago I was invited to speak at Bergthal Mennonite Church. As I was preparing, I started wondering about my “themes” and if I’m prone to saying the same things over and over again.
Last fall, there was such an emptiness.The joyful weekly connection of young children and loving adults, talking, touching, singing, laughing, praying and exploring Bible stories together was gone.Our Sunday morning experience had disappeared.How would we stay connected?A new idea started percolating and I began recording Bible stories and sharing them with the whole congregation through our weekly community connection email.
“To pray, does not mean to listen to oneself speaking. Prayer involves becoming silent and being silent and waiting until God is heard” – Soren Kierkegaard.
I thank the people in the church, the Canadian government and its people for allowing us to be in Canada, but my heart is still with my people in South Sudan and I think of them all the time.
The Bible, it makes no sense. Walking around a city seven times for the walls to come down?Using trumpets and clay pots for weapons?People walking through water?Being fed by ravens? Feeding 5000 from a small lunch? A virgin birth?
At times the process of reviewing of MCA’s Constitution and Bylaws may have felt more like sifting through grains of sand than thinking through important aspects of what it means to be the church. And yet documents like these name important aspects of who we are and what we aspire to be.
Many of us tend to internalize the idea that building a vision of hope for the future can only be uncovered by looking forward, willing ourselves not only to learn more, but to learn faster, convinced that we must find ourselves on the forefront of some field or industry where we will then, finally, have the capacity to “make a difference.”
Biblical prophet Isaiah promises that they who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; God is just, and longs to be gracious and show compassion to His creation - Blessed are those who wait for Him! King David waited for God, who with unfailing love redeemed him from sin, set his feet upon a rock, and put a new song of praise in his mouth.
“All that kills abundant living, let it from the earth be banned: pride of status, race or schooling, dogmas that obscure Your plan. In our common quest for justice may we hallow life’s brief span.” from the hymn, For the Healing of the Nations
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. --Isaiah 61: 1-2a
I believe that while they may look different, our Advent and Christmas celebrations will be filled with meaning and we prepare to welcome the Christ child, who comes bearing hope, peace, joy, and love.
Advent is all about waiting for the revelation of God’s mystery. It’s hard to wait for the Messiah; for Jesus to be born. As children it was difficult to wait until Christmas to find out what gifts we might get under the tree. But now life is difficult as we wait for other things.
Armed with the story of our God, we can make it through this bleak Advent time and have full faith that, as our premier said, “the end of this terrible time is in sight.”
The church, though structured, is made up of relationships, ours with God and with each other. To keep the church healthy and thriving, our attention to interpersonal relationships is vital. Without good connections to each other, we do not have church.
Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother.”
Most of my work thus far, seems like disseminating information one direction — from MCA and MC Canada to you. Sending out information to those who subscribe to the MCA Communiqué and those who read their church’s bulletins — whether in paper or email form.I gather information from various people and pass it on. That said, understanding communication as passing on information isn’t the intention of MCA Communications.
What are our stories as congregations and as individuals within congregations?
Who tells our stories? How are they told? How do our stories inspire and shape us? What is the purpose of stories? How can we learn from each other’s stories?
The story of Bavak, his driver's license and "just a bit more freedom in this new country which he claims is a wonderful place, given the troubled South Sudan where he has come from."
It was about this time of year, the summer of 1996, when I had to say goodbye to friends in Russia. After three years, that day at the train station was a tearful goodbye.
God brought Siaka Traore of Burkina Faso into our lives in 1979. In spite of opposition from every direction possible, he has always been consistent in responding as Jesus would.
I am a witness to the power of summer camp. We have all had experiences that have molded and formed us, but working at Camp Valaqua was one of my most transformative experiences. It was what transitioned me from an uncertain girl of sixteen to a more self-assured leader.
This winter felt long. I suppose by March or so they all tend to start feeling long. But this year that late winter bleakness was only reinforced by the sadness of Covid-19.
Last week I interviewed an ex-offender who had successfully gone through the Mennonite Central Committee-Alberta Bridges program. He mentioned that when you are locked up in prison you have no internet and no fresh air.
Easter just wasn’t the same this year. Instead of hymns sung by the joyful voices of the full congregation, there was music played through laptop speakers. The online worship services were a far cry from the annual in-person celebrations I so much enjoy.
What was the average age of people at the last church event you went to? When my husband and I attend church events we have sometimes been the only people in our age demographic.
I clicked on the Zoom “join with video” button and was met by the familiar faces of Executive and staff members. Within seconds the doorbell was dinging and new faces were popping up on everyone’s computer screens.
It was barely a week ago that I received news of my first cancelled event: a Mennonite World Conference gathering scheduled to take place in Abbotsford at the end of the month. By Friday MCA had cancelled its Annual Assembly, First Mennonite Edmonton had cancelled Sunday worship services, and a long-planned family gathering was shelved.
by Werner DeJong, Pastor Holyrood Mennonite Church
After preaching a sermon on technology and discipleship in early September,I invited the young adult and adult members of the congregation to attend a new Sunday School class on the same theme.
“Where did you get the neat stones?” I hadn’t expected this question at this past weekend’s Vision 2020 event. In my search for a symbol of our coming together as MCA, I settled on 1 Peter 2’s image of “living stones” to represent the body of Christ. I visited a local landscaper and scrounged up a bucket of small, smooth stones, each unique in shape and colour...
The clanging sound of a bell being struck and the echo of voices cheering in support drift to me through the forest. Someone has just mastered a face of the climbing wall and I smile to myself, music to my ears.
by Donna Entz, Director of North Edmonton Ministry
It is so easy to make assumptions about others. The Muslim-Christian Dialogue forces each of us to realize that we are constantly making assumptions about those not quite like us.