Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
bangladesh blog
Hi church family!
I've heard such positive feedback from the Yella blog that I thought Shikka should have one too. It is a good way to keep in contact with you while our group is on the other side of the world.
So, while we are in Bangladesh, we will post some entries whenever we have an internet connection. Check out Shikka's blog and read of the experiences of the whole group!
Thank you for all your support, both financially and through prayer. It is most meaningful.
Dhonnobad (Thank you)
Rebecca
I've heard such positive feedback from the Yella blog that I thought Shikka should have one too. It is a good way to keep in contact with you while our group is on the other side of the world.
So, while we are in Bangladesh, we will post some entries whenever we have an internet connection. Check out Shikka's blog and read of the experiences of the whole group!
Thank you for all your support, both financially and through prayer. It is most meaningful.
Dhonnobad (Thank you)
Rebecca
Thursday, May 22, 2008
environmental action
Here's an article by Geralde that will soon be appearing in the Stouffville Free Press:
GOD’S EARTH CAN STILL SUSTAIN US, BUT WE NEED TO ACT NOW
Global warming, contamination, air quality advisory… these are words of today. All is not well with God’s creation. Its current state warrants great concern. Depletion of the ozone layer, disappearing rain forests, melting polar ice caps, and –much closer to home– rapidly disappearing farm land. And these are but a few examples…
When asked how God is revealed to them, many Christians will mention “nature”. If God speaks to us through His creation, why do we not take better care of it? Is it not our Christian responsibility to be good stewards of our earth? No matter how you interpret the creation story, the environment started out in perfect balance. In Genesis we read: “God saw all that He had made and it was very good”. God then entrusted people to take care of the earth, but they soon started doing things their own way, often at the expense of God’s good work.
Today, we do not live in harmony with creation. In our disposable society, we build up landfill sites faster than they can break down, our need for bigger houses swallows up farm land. Convenience is our biggest enemy. We are sold on the idea that everything should be effortless, regardless of the -environmental or financial- cost. We have become so far removed from nature that we cannot see the impact of our actions. Our waste is picked up weekly or goes down a big pipe. Out of sight, out of mind… Would we make different lifestyle choices if we had to throw our waste in our backyard, between the water well and the children’s swing set?
Even today, the earth is able to sustain all people in the world, but not necessarily our lifestyle. Or, in Ghandi’s words: “there are sufficient resources on earth to satisfy everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed”. Greed can be material, but also immaterial, such as time and effort (convenience). We need to determine where, in our life, need stops and greed begins.
Fortunately, there is a positive side to this story. Carbon neutrality, renewable energy and sustainability are also words of today. We need to focus on these positives, and realize that Mother Earth can heal herself, but not without our help.
This year, several members of Community Mennonite Church formed an Environmental Action Committee, in a desire to take some concrete steps to address climate change. The first focus has been to explore the viability of solar energy. As a pilot project, one family will have solar panels installed on its home and sell the energy back to the grid. A second initiative, on using geothermal energy, is in the information gathering stage. In the future, we hope to promote alternative energy sources in the Stouffville area, to help families reduce the size of their ecological footprint and perhaps save money in the process.
Since not everyone can install solar panels tomorrow, we must remember we can start small and still make a difference. Whether it is rechargeable batteries or natural cleaning products, a small vegetable garden or postponing that errand until you have to drive into town anyway… Every little effort has an accumulative effect once it becomes a habit.
If you would like to join our Environmental Action Committee, please contact us and we will welcome you into our discussions.
Let’s accept the invitation to be caretakers of this beautiful earth.
- Geralde Reesor-Grooters
GOD’S EARTH CAN STILL SUSTAIN US, BUT WE NEED TO ACT NOW
Global warming, contamination, air quality advisory… these are words of today. All is not well with God’s creation. Its current state warrants great concern. Depletion of the ozone layer, disappearing rain forests, melting polar ice caps, and –much closer to home– rapidly disappearing farm land. And these are but a few examples…
When asked how God is revealed to them, many Christians will mention “nature”. If God speaks to us through His creation, why do we not take better care of it? Is it not our Christian responsibility to be good stewards of our earth? No matter how you interpret the creation story, the environment started out in perfect balance. In Genesis we read: “God saw all that He had made and it was very good”. God then entrusted people to take care of the earth, but they soon started doing things their own way, often at the expense of God’s good work.
Today, we do not live in harmony with creation. In our disposable society, we build up landfill sites faster than they can break down, our need for bigger houses swallows up farm land. Convenience is our biggest enemy. We are sold on the idea that everything should be effortless, regardless of the -environmental or financial- cost. We have become so far removed from nature that we cannot see the impact of our actions. Our waste is picked up weekly or goes down a big pipe. Out of sight, out of mind… Would we make different lifestyle choices if we had to throw our waste in our backyard, between the water well and the children’s swing set?
Even today, the earth is able to sustain all people in the world, but not necessarily our lifestyle. Or, in Ghandi’s words: “there are sufficient resources on earth to satisfy everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed”. Greed can be material, but also immaterial, such as time and effort (convenience). We need to determine where, in our life, need stops and greed begins.
Fortunately, there is a positive side to this story. Carbon neutrality, renewable energy and sustainability are also words of today. We need to focus on these positives, and realize that Mother Earth can heal herself, but not without our help.
This year, several members of Community Mennonite Church formed an Environmental Action Committee, in a desire to take some concrete steps to address climate change. The first focus has been to explore the viability of solar energy. As a pilot project, one family will have solar panels installed on its home and sell the energy back to the grid. A second initiative, on using geothermal energy, is in the information gathering stage. In the future, we hope to promote alternative energy sources in the Stouffville area, to help families reduce the size of their ecological footprint and perhaps save money in the process.
Since not everyone can install solar panels tomorrow, we must remember we can start small and still make a difference. Whether it is rechargeable batteries or natural cleaning products, a small vegetable garden or postponing that errand until you have to drive into town anyway… Every little effort has an accumulative effect once it becomes a habit.
If you would like to join our Environmental Action Committee, please contact us and we will welcome you into our discussions.
Let’s accept the invitation to be caretakers of this beautiful earth.
- Geralde Reesor-Grooters
Saturday, May 10, 2008
so that's where they are
You can follow the adventures and reflections of our young adults in the Middle East right here. They're blogging every day, so you might want to adjust your "online time budget" accordingly...
Friday, May 9, 2008
Celebrating With Jim Veltman
Eugene writes:
Last weekend we cheered, we cried, we celebrated with a friend who has been a model of sportsmanship at the highest level of professional competition. The Toronto Rock lacrosse game on April 27 celebrated the retirement of Community participant Jim Veltman. The tributes were moving, the game was exciting and our church celebrated in a new way!
And ... of note ... our church attendance that morning (when we adjusted the worship time a little bit to enable more people to attend the game and support Jim) was amongst our largest ever. Hmm ... maybe we are on to something...
Here's an article from the local paper, and a YouTube clip of the tribute at the ACC...
Last weekend we cheered, we cried, we celebrated with a friend who has been a model of sportsmanship at the highest level of professional competition. The Toronto Rock lacrosse game on April 27 celebrated the retirement of Community participant Jim Veltman. The tributes were moving, the game was exciting and our church celebrated in a new way!
And ... of note ... our church attendance that morning (when we adjusted the worship time a little bit to enable more people to attend the game and support Jim) was amongst our largest ever. Hmm ... maybe we are on to something...
Here's an article from the local paper, and a YouTube clip of the tribute at the ACC...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
look out, world!
The young people from Community Mennonite Church are going places... literally.
You can read here about Rebecca's upcoming trip to Bangladesh in June (she has been helping to organize a service-and-learning experience called Shikka, which is a Bengla word meaning "to learn").
Sarah and Christine will be going to Guatemala later in this summer with ENLACE, another serving-and-learning program run by MCC Ontario (and one of the leaders will be Denise - also of our congregation).
And then there's ANOTHER overseas learning experience - this one called YELLA (I know... MCC's department of "program-name-thinker-uppers" has been working overtime), involving Justin, Ben, Kayla, David, Mike, Derek, and Kevin, with Allan as one of the leaders as well.
Here's what Justin had to say about the trip in a recent message to the congregation:
"This May I will be participating in a young adult learning trip to Israel/Palestine with a group of 20 plus people. This 3 week trip, jointly sponsored by Mennonite Church Eastern Canada and Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, is designed to provide young adults, like myself, with faith-shaping and faith-stretching experiences that will help us develop as Christian disciples and leaders. I feel like being in the “holy land” will go a long way in solidifying my own faith by experiencing contexts of the bible and the Christian faith visually and first hand.
The tour is named Yella, which means “Let’s go!” in both Arabic and Hebrew. This Middle East experience will provide us with the opportunity to wrestle with multi-faith realities, delve into issues that divide people, explore biblical stories within their context, and encounter a Jesus we have not met . . . yet! Linford Stutzman, professor of culture and mission at Eastern Mennonite University will be leading the tour. He has led several groups of EMU students on semesters in the Middle East. There is also a service component where we will work at Nazareth Village, a Mennonite mission organization that helps hundreds of tourists each month understand the teachings of Jesus within 1st century Palestine."
... and here are some words from Mike - an invitation to a special event TOMORROW evening (Friday, April 25):
"This Friday at Rouge Valley Mennonite Church we are hosting a
Coffeehouse Fundraiser to help us be able to afford this trip. The
show, which features acoustic sets by local musical talents, will
begin at 7:30. The bill includes the Markham MYF Praise Band, Marcus Adrian & Co., Allan Reesor-McDowell, Mike Turman, and Antigonie.
Desserts and refreshments will be provided as well. Please come
prepared to support our trip to the holy land."
You can read here about Rebecca's upcoming trip to Bangladesh in June (she has been helping to organize a service-and-learning experience called Shikka, which is a Bengla word meaning "to learn").
Sarah and Christine will be going to Guatemala later in this summer with ENLACE, another serving-and-learning program run by MCC Ontario (and one of the leaders will be Denise - also of our congregation).
And then there's ANOTHER overseas learning experience - this one called YELLA (I know... MCC's department of "program-name-thinker-uppers" has been working overtime), involving Justin, Ben, Kayla, David, Mike, Derek, and Kevin, with Allan as one of the leaders as well.
Here's what Justin had to say about the trip in a recent message to the congregation:
"This May I will be participating in a young adult learning trip to Israel/Palestine with a group of 20 plus people. This 3 week trip, jointly sponsored by Mennonite Church Eastern Canada and Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, is designed to provide young adults, like myself, with faith-shaping and faith-stretching experiences that will help us develop as Christian disciples and leaders. I feel like being in the “holy land” will go a long way in solidifying my own faith by experiencing contexts of the bible and the Christian faith visually and first hand.
The tour is named Yella, which means “Let’s go!” in both Arabic and Hebrew. This Middle East experience will provide us with the opportunity to wrestle with multi-faith realities, delve into issues that divide people, explore biblical stories within their context, and encounter a Jesus we have not met . . . yet! Linford Stutzman, professor of culture and mission at Eastern Mennonite University will be leading the tour. He has led several groups of EMU students on semesters in the Middle East. There is also a service component where we will work at Nazareth Village, a Mennonite mission organization that helps hundreds of tourists each month understand the teachings of Jesus within 1st century Palestine."
... and here are some words from Mike - an invitation to a special event TOMORROW evening (Friday, April 25):
"This Friday at Rouge Valley Mennonite Church we are hosting a
Coffeehouse Fundraiser to help us be able to afford this trip. The
show, which features acoustic sets by local musical talents, will
begin at 7:30. The bill includes the Markham MYF Praise Band, Marcus Adrian & Co., Allan Reesor-McDowell, Mike Turman, and Antigonie.
Desserts and refreshments will be provided as well. Please come
prepared to support our trip to the holy land."
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
What If?
Here's an article by Paul that appeared in last week's Stouffville Free Press:
As a member of Community Mennonite Church of Stouffville, a peace church that promotes non-violent, constructive and transforming approaches to conflict, I became quite concerned after hearing that the Canadian military is recruiting in high schools across Canada (including Stouffville). The military is presented as a career option and targets teenagers through offering to pay for higher education if they enlist and recruiters present a career in the military as one of promoting peace-keeping throughout the world. My concern was heightened in hearing that the goal for recruitment is the “Number of recruiters being increased from 300 currently to 30,000 in the short-term to 80,000 in the long term.” (General Rick Hillier, February, 2006). "We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people" -- General Rick Hillier, July 13, 2005. Is learning to kill people being presented as just another exciting career option?
In high school in the late 60's in Markham, I was taught that Canada was an international leader in finding peaceful means to resolve conflicts and was a leader in contributing to a world UN police force. In this new century, Canada has been steadily giving up its special leadership in international peace-keeping. Instead, the militarization (violence) of Canada’s response to international relations has increased and we have become a lower-grade partner with other countries in using military force to try to establish peace (Afganistan). This approach is internationally recognized as ineffective, and in fact increases the cycle of violence.
This change has made me quite sad at what has been lost to my children and to our country. What if Canada was truly in the business of saving lives and reducing conflict rather than having the job of being “able to kill people?” What if, instead of a doubling of the Canadian military budget over the past 10 years to 17 billion dollars, half of that had gone to using peaceful means that actually work in reducing and transforming international conflict? What if only the 2007 military overspending of one billion dollars was put into courses in high school and colleges that teach conflict resolution and transformation and how lives can be saved? What if our teenagers were offered free university education to become international peacekeepers? I expect that many young persons would jump at the chance and take great pride in being international peacekeepers. We all know that we define ourselves as a country by the resources we put into education. Are we putting our resources into teaching war? Or can we put our resources into teaching peace and once again become world leaders in transforming conflicted societies?
- Paul McDowell
As a member of Community Mennonite Church of Stouffville, a peace church that promotes non-violent, constructive and transforming approaches to conflict, I became quite concerned after hearing that the Canadian military is recruiting in high schools across Canada (including Stouffville). The military is presented as a career option and targets teenagers through offering to pay for higher education if they enlist and recruiters present a career in the military as one of promoting peace-keeping throughout the world. My concern was heightened in hearing that the goal for recruitment is the “Number of recruiters being increased from 300 currently to 30,000 in the short-term to 80,000 in the long term.” (General Rick Hillier, February, 2006). "We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people" -- General Rick Hillier, July 13, 2005. Is learning to kill people being presented as just another exciting career option?
In high school in the late 60's in Markham, I was taught that Canada was an international leader in finding peaceful means to resolve conflicts and was a leader in contributing to a world UN police force. In this new century, Canada has been steadily giving up its special leadership in international peace-keeping. Instead, the militarization (violence) of Canada’s response to international relations has increased and we have become a lower-grade partner with other countries in using military force to try to establish peace (Afganistan). This approach is internationally recognized as ineffective, and in fact increases the cycle of violence.
This change has made me quite sad at what has been lost to my children and to our country. What if Canada was truly in the business of saving lives and reducing conflict rather than having the job of being “able to kill people?” What if, instead of a doubling of the Canadian military budget over the past 10 years to 17 billion dollars, half of that had gone to using peaceful means that actually work in reducing and transforming international conflict? What if only the 2007 military overspending of one billion dollars was put into courses in high school and colleges that teach conflict resolution and transformation and how lives can be saved? What if our teenagers were offered free university education to become international peacekeepers? I expect that many young persons would jump at the chance and take great pride in being international peacekeepers. We all know that we define ourselves as a country by the resources we put into education. Are we putting our resources into teaching war? Or can we put our resources into teaching peace and once again become world leaders in transforming conflicted societies?
- Paul McDowell
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