Letter to the Women in our Churches

The following letter was prepared by Shirley Redekop, President of Mennonite Women Canada  and Elsie Rempel, Secretary/Treasurer.

To the women in our churches who gather for fellowship, service and mission,

Blessings for the fall season with its energy and new beginnings, even while our gardens yield their harvest and settle into a season of rest. We hope you have received and are enjoying this year's Bible Study Guide, Live Your Call, Embracing God's Mission. My husband, Peter, a seasoned church leader, is enjoying it for his devotional reading and recently asked me, "Are the other BSGs this good too?" If you haven't received the copy we sent to your church, please check with the BSG contact person or the person who distributes the mail. In my church, I added it to the library after introducing it in sharing time. We hope it brings blessing however it is used. 

The executive of Mennonite Women Canada is looking forward to an additional executive meeting right after the concluding worship of the Special Delegate Assembly of Mennonite Church Canada this October 15. Please pray for us! We will be bringing a resolution to remain under the organizational umbrella of Mennonite Church Canada at the Assembly and will then meet afterwards to see how our planning needs to adjust to changes the nation wide church has decided on. Therefore, you will not be receiving the customary fall issue of our Connections newsletter before then, but will receive a report from us after that.

In the meantime, it has come to my attention that some of the women's groups in our congregations may not have received our 2016 Annual Report Book, Continuing the Call with its Opportunities for Giving Form on page 20. That was certainly not our intent! While there are many structural changes occurring in our nation wide church, ministry needs and many opportunities continue, and the donations of your women's group remain most desired and appreciated. 

As always, we look forward to hearing about what is happening in your area. Mennonite Women Manitoba's Spring Retreat report and the BC Women's Ministry Inspirational Day report are now posted on our blog mennowomencanada.blogspot.com. We hope you will soon see more reports there from across the country.

Elsie Rempel

MWCanada Secretary/Treasurer

Shirley Redekop

MWCanada President

Note:  MW Canada's 2016 Annual Report Book is available on line.  Click here.

Crisis in DRC ~ Prayer Request

I received the information below from the President of Mennonite Women Canada, Shirley Redekop. Her counterpart, Adolphine Tshiama, National President of the women's organization for Mennonite Church of Congo, wrote the following letter to Africa Inter Mennonite Mission (AIMM) sharing her grief and sadness at the violence which has affected many families. She herself has lost a number of her family to the violence.  

Adolphine Tshiama writes:  

"It is with great sadness that I share this sad news. When my husband was still alive, he purchased agricultural land on the road leading to Ndjoko Punda, 65 kms from Tshikapa at the village of Inga which is inhabited by the Chokwe ethnic group.

After his death, the land was divided in two, one part for me and one for the members of his family. My young brother decided to go live on my land in order to farm it and to help me as well as make a living for his family. In the troubles (the violence, sometimes between ethnic groups, currently happening in the Kasai region of the DRC) he was attacked by some Chokwe, and in that attack lost his 23 year old son, who left behind a widow and two children.

On Friday June 16, 2017 their farm was attacked a second time. My brother was killed and dismembered, his wife and his two daughters along with his son's widow were all killed. The two children of his son have disappeared and have not been found up to today.

I ask you to pray for me, placing me in the hands of the Lord. I am going through a difficult time." 

Rod Hollinger-Janzen, AIMM staff, encourages us to:

* Pray for Adolphine and her family, that the Lord would comfort and strengthen them
* Pray for the two children, traumatized and in grief, wherever they are, that the Lord would protect them and bring healing
* Pray for all families living in the Kasai who have experienced loss and grief
* Pray for an end to violence and hostility in the Kasai region
* Pray that the church might continue to play its role as the hands, feet and mouth of Jesus who gave his life to bring an end to hostility and to reconcile all things to himself

(Information from an email received from Shirley Redekop)

NEW YEAR'S PRAYER OF HOPE

Lord, we stand at the door of this New Year,

thankful for the year behind us,
a gift through which we’ve lived and moved.
At this timely threshold,
with our feet poised to walk into 2015,
we turn to you with our prayer of hope.

Hope springs eternal when we walk with you.
Help us walk this year with you.
We hope that this will be a year filled
with joy, with love, with laughter,
a year filled with plenty and abundance,
with purpose and fulfillment.

But if the year brings hard times and hurt,
pain and sorrow, tears and trials,
we know that your care and comfort
will console us month by month.
Grace us with forgiving spirits.

As a community help us walk
with the happy and the sorrowful,
holding their stories tenderly.

We hope for peace in our time,
for an end to wild war music.

We long to hear the sound of governments
listening to their people,
heeding their pleas for justice.

We long to hear the sound of the children of the world
cheering together because peace has been declared,
and they do not have to fear anymore.

We hope for healing for our beloved earth,
for harmony and balance where we have caused
disharmony and unbalance.

This year, Lord, help us to feel in our bones
the beauty of this life, this world;
its sounds and sights and smells and tastes,
the lavishness of being
which you give us in seconds and minutes
and hours and days and weeks and months.

Move in us, have your way with us,
so that on the last day of the year
we can say, wholeheartedly,
this year has been a gift
through which we’ve lived and moved
as followers of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Copyright Carol Penner

www.leadinginworship.com

Thanksgiving Grace

Thanksgiving Grace

We are people with full hearts:
we feel blessed, we are blessed,
and on this Thanksgiving Day we say thank you with all our hearts.
Thank you for your love, and for the gift of your son.
Thank you for those dear to us, those near at hand,
and those much farther away.
Thank you for food.
Thank you for rich soil, good weather, hard-working farmers.
In a society where we are so often
self-sufficient, self reliant and self-satisfied,
give us humble hearts.
All we are and all we have comes from your hand;
it’s by your grace that we have life and breath
on this thanksgiving day.
Bless the hands that have prepared the food,
and those who are serving it.
Bless the food before us,
may it strengthen us to be a blessing to all we meet,
in the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

~ Carol Penner (http://carolpenner.typepad.com)

NEW YEAR'S PRAYER OF HOPE

Lord, we stand at the door of this New Year,

thankful for the year behind us,
a gift through which we’ve lived and moved.
At this timely threshold,
with our feet poised to walk into 2015,
we turn to you with our prayer of hope.

Hope springs eternal when we walk with you.
Help us walk this year with you.
We hope that this will be a year filled
with joy, with love, with laughter,
a year filled with plenty and abundance,
with purpose and fulfillment.

But if the year brings hard times and hurt,
pain and sorrow, tears and trials,
we know that your care and comfort
will console us month by month.
Grace us with forgiving spirits.

As a community help us walk
with the happy and the sorrowful,
holding their stories tenderly.

We hope for peace in our time,
for an end to wild war music.

We long to hear the sound of governments
listening to their people,
heeding their pleas for justice.

We long to hear the sound of the children of the world
cheering together because peace has been declared,
and they do not have to fear anymore.

We hope for healing for our beloved earth,
for harmony and balance where we have caused
disharmony and unbalance.

This year, Lord, help us to feel in our bones
the beauty of this life, this world;
its sounds and sights and smells and tastes,
the lavishness of being
which you give us in seconds and minutes
and hours and days and weeks and months.

Move in us, have your way with us,
so that on the last day of the year
we can say, wholeheartedly,
this year has been a gift
through which we’ve lived and moved
as followers of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Copyright Carol Penner

www.leadinginworship.com

Request for Prayer for the Barkman's

Mennonite Church Canada worker Christina Bartel Barkman has just posted a blog entry about the explosion that rocked the apartment where she lives with her husband Darnell Barkman and their sons Cody and Makai. Thankfully, the Barkmans are unhurt and staying in a hotel, but news reports say that others were injured and falling debris crashed into a passing delivery van, killing the three men inside. Please pray for shalom to settle over the Barkmans and their community.   
(From an MC Canada news release by Deborah Froese)

A Mother's Day Prayer

Loving God, we give thanks today for mothers!
Thank you for mothers who gave birth to us,
and women who have treated us as their own children.
You teach us how to be good mothers,
cherishing and protecting the children among us.
Help us mother lovingly, fairly, wisely and with great joy.
Help us raise our children to be the people they are born to be.

We need your comfort here today, Lord,
because some are missing mothers, some are missing children,
some are parted by distance or death.
Comfort those who have given up their child for adoption,
or who chose not to give birth, and had an abortion.
Comfort those who longed to be biological mothers, and could not.
We pray for those here whose mothers have disappointed them;
we ask for grace in relationships where there is pain and bitterness,
for healing in relationships where there is abuse and violence.
Help our congregation be a space where people can feel mothered,
their gifts and talents appreciated and nurtured.

Finally, we pray today for mothers around the world;
mothers who cannot feed their children,
mothers who are homeless or without a homeland;
mothers who must teach their children about the dangers of bombs and bullets.
Help us create a world where mothers can raise their children in peace and plenty.
God of mothers, who created mothers, who came as a child and had a mother,
God our Mother, loving us with a sweeter and deeper love than we have ever known,
hear our prayer this day, Amen.

Carol Penner
www.leadinginworship.com

A Christmas Prayer

Loving father,

Help us to remember the birth of Jesus, 

that we may share in the song of the angels,

the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wisemen.

Close the doors of hate and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,

and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,

forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen

Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Our best wishes to all for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

~~ from the executive of Mennonite Women Canada

Pentecost and Baptism
This past Sunday churches around the world celebrated Pentecost remembering God's gift of the Holy Spirit to us.  Many churches also offered baptism to new believers welcoming them into the family of God.  As part of the worship/baptism service at Vineland United Mennonite Church, the following poem by Carol Penner was read.


Step One 

On the journey with Jesus

there is always the  first step; 

the first prayer,

the first self-less act,

the first encounter with scripture,

the first true repentance,

the first enemy loved,

the first sin renounced,

the first gift discovered,

the first falling away,

the first return to a God waiting

with open arms.

Baptism is a first.

A first public commitment,

a first joining the church,

a first communion,

a first dedication,

body, mind and soul for Jesus,

who also took first steps

wading into the river to be baptized.

Bless our beginnings,

for we know that simplicity and innocence

are often casualties on the rocky road.

Creator God, make the seed of our first

beginnings grow into a sturdy tree.

Holy Spirit, make the trickle of our first beginnings

join in the rush of your mighty river.

Jesus, train from these humble first beginnings

disciples who will walk with you

on the long road to Jerusalem.

Written by Carol Penner  

Prayer for a New Year

God, a new year brings a sense of freshness, of possibilities for the future and of discoveries yet to be made.  As we look forward to stepping into the days ahead, we trust that you will guide us into the good purposes you have planned for our lives.  We ask you for an extra measure of courage, strength, optimism and faith to meet every challenge along the way.  Thank-you for your guidance and lead us into each new day with open hearts and minds.  Amen

Adapted from My Personal Daily Prayer Book, Publications International 2003

Prayer for Japan - March 18, 2010The stories and images of the devastating crisis in Japan are at times beyond comprehension and words. Carol Penner, pastor of The First Mennonite Church in Vineland, ON offers the prayer below for use in our congregations, providing specific words of care and petition for the many persons affected. If you wish to access additional prayers and worship resources that Carol has written check out her blog at http://www.leadinginworship.com/.

Prayer for Japan

Carol Penner, The First Mennonite Church, Vineland

http://www.leadinginworship.com/

God of Hope,

in this time of tumult we lay before you the country of Japan.

With their land still trembling,

they try to comprehend devastation too broad in its scope:

people killed and missing,

homes and towns and cities demolished,

the sea sweeping through with yet more destruction.

Our prayers are for the people of Japan:

Holy Comforter, bring your peace.

We are acutely aware of all who need rescue:

those trapped in buildings and remote areas,

those without food or clean water or shelter,

the injured, the terrified, the anguished.

Give strength and stamina to rescuers.

Give strength and compassion to medical staff.

Give strength and clear vision to leaders who mobilize relief.

Our prayers are for the people of Japan:

Holy Comforter, bring your peace.

A country stretched to its limits

and yet now the fear of nuclear disaster looms.

God of infinite mercy, stop this from happening!

This country, of all countries, has suffered enough

and knows the terrible consequences of radiation.

Help the authorities to make careful decisions in the coming days.

Give them strength and courage as they man their posts.

Our prayers are for the people of Japan:

Holy Comforter, bring your peace.

In this time of crisis for a country that is suffering deeply,

we pray for the Christian church in Japan and all people of faith

that they will be a calm presence

providing hope and help in such a time as this.

Aid those from around the world who are mobilizing support

so that their efforts can be effective and timely.

Give us open hands and hearts to help the people of Japan.

Thank you for being the Holy Comforter, who brings us peace.