MWR : Articles : Dec. 22, 2008

Articles : Dec. 22, 2008

Keeping the sabbath

How do we keep sabbath? To help us think of this, there were messages on the rhythm of creation, renewal, remembering the Exodus and Sabbath resurrection and thanksgiving. People were encouraged to write how they observe and keep the Sabbath, and these stories were printed in the bulletin.

One story was written by Bruck Mulat, a Goshen College student from Ethiopia staying in one of our homes.
Philadelphia church to buy new building

PHILADELPHIA — Oxford Circle Mennonite Church and Christian Community Development Association have met fundraising goals to purchase a large building across the street from the church, taking possession on Jan. 9.

Quotes from 2008

It’s time we get back to talking about peace not only for ourselves, because it’s foundational to the gospel, but also for our children.
— Teresa Aeschliman, member of Asheville (N.C.) Mennonite Church, on peace lamps displayed in Mennonite Church USA congregations

Youth give comforters to Iraqi refugees

AKRON, Pa. — When Kholiwe Vundla knotted comforters for Mennonite Central Committee, she didn’t know her youth group would give similar comforters to refugees in her own community.

Keep ‘Mennonite’

I am lingering on the fringes of a small circle of Mennonites in the Rochester, Minn., area who have graciously welcomed me. This relationship began because of my growing conviction that the professed nonviolence of the Mennonites is the correct understanding of what Jesus Christ preached and embodied.

CPT views life amid Congo war

GOMA, Congo — In this city in eastern Congo where Christian Peacemaker Teams is setting up a three-month project, motorbike taxis kick up dust. The crowded market is full of jars of raw honey, bundles of local greens called lenga lenga, and katenga cloth in reds, purples, yellows and blues.
EMU students on Spain, Morocco trip tell of host families, religious dialogue

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Eastern Mennonite University students who spent a cross-cultural semester in Spain and Morocco used journal reflections, skits, music and a slide show to share their experience in chapel Dec. 10.
Future of health care topic of Goshen event

GOSHEN, Ind. — To encourage community involvement in the future of U.S. health care, Mennonite Mutual Aid and Mennonite Central Committee Great Lakes are sponsoring a “Holiday Health Care House Party” at 7 p.m. Dec. 29 at College Mennonite Church.

Response to evil

In response to the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, India, a friend sent me this quote from the Talmud: “The Jewish response to evil is to put good in the world.” That’s exactly what the two midwives in today’s lesson were all about.

Year in Review: barriers fall, doors open, light shines

Barriers fell in 2008 when women pastors got new affirmation, doors opened when long-repressed churches in Vietnam gained more freedom, and light shone in dark times when Africans in three nations cared for their neighbors and showed the way of peace.
Deaths in 2008

James H. Waltner, 76, pastor and conference leader, Dec. 18, 2007.

Starving to help the hungry

On my desk is The Great Starvation Experiment, by Todd Tucker, published by Free Press, 2006, 288 pages, $52.

A weapon that kills civilians

Suraj Ghulam Habib, 17, of Afghanistan lost both his legs when he found a cluster bomb that he mistook for a can of food. He and five members of his family were walking home from a picnic when the bomb exploded. Suraj’s cousin was killed instantly, and everyone else was injured by the blast.