Reflections

Vol. 2, No. 2 -- Winter 2000

Table of Contents

The prose poem on stone....Miriam Pellman Maust
Editorial....Erica Jantzen
family.... carol wiebe
The changing Ravi River .... Peter Thiessen
Connecting abroad ... USA .... Betti Erb
Ministry Team ... Angie Koch
Please read with care
The pleasure of growing pains .... Natasha Krahn & Stefanie Unger
homebaked .... carol wiebe
My church is a dandelion? ... Sam Steiner
Waterloo North is a river ... Angie Koch
"Seven things I believe" .... Sue Steiner
Connecting abroad ... Egypt ... Karen Cressman Anderson
Humour: Valentine's edition
Connecting abroad: Uganda ... Mary Lou Klassen
photograph
From your church library ...
Children's Page

The Prose Poem on Stones

The people of Waterloo North Mennonite Church are like the stones forming the inner front wall of their building. Of all sizes and surfaces–small, large, pink, grey, smooth, grooved, and fossil-bearing--we manage to look like we fit together! Seamless we are not, but solidly trowelled through the experiences where we touch each other.

The stones are central and foundational. Carried to this spot, they show the support of and connection with many communities. Sometimes I try to find the one Laura and Milo brought from Jerusalem; other times I look for the Appalachian limestone we lugged from Pennsylvania. I like the pink ones from the Canadian Shield and all those from southern Ontario. We have been founded on a Rock, on many rocks. And we are all beautiful!

It’s said that the artist’s task is to make the stone "stony" so that, from art, we sense real life. When I look at this mosaic of stones I think how rough we are, not unlike Abram’s fieldstone altars of covenant. Yet in life we form God’s work as living altars of confession and communion. We are bedrock to one another, in sickness and in health. From another perspective, we are stepping stones to those whom we need and for those who need us. Not stumbling stones, we trust.

The fabrics of wall hangings that signal changes in the church year offer contrasts to the cold stones. Evergreen at Christmas. Unadorned, gnarled wreaths during Lent and two stark pieces of wood crossed to fit an outstretched human body. Floral wreaths. We celebrate and rejoice. We suffer. We receive comfort and warmth.

If these stones could cry out, they would tell the wonder and nature of God.

-Miriam Pellman Maust

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Editorial

Now that we have passed Y2K, I am wondering if those born in the new millennium will think of 1900 as remote as 1800 once seemed to us. Soon we will begin to reminisce about the old days, those before the year 2000. Eventually we will give answers to children who will want to know how people lived before there was virtual reality and before everybody carried a cell telephone and ---- (fill in the technological inventions of the next seven years). They might also ask what Waterloo North Mennonite Church was like in the beginning.

It is important to reflect where we have come from. In this issue we are dealing with Images of Church, describing who we are and casting a look forward to what God has in store for us.

We are living in exciting times. Sue Steiner in her January 16th sermon — "Listening to God Call" — listed affirmations of guidance. Jim Reusser summarized Sue’s "Seven things I believe" statements, which include: that "God has been with us these fourteen years" (no.2); that "any new call of God to us will be in significant continuity with who we are and have been" (no.4), and that "we need to listen to everyone" (no. 6).

Read also "The Pleasure of Growing Pains," the report by Stefanie Unger and Natasha Krahn on the Growth Task Force and the congregational meeting. Problems or opportunities? Much discussing and listening, with three options listed, all in a spirit of harmony. They conclude, "it is clear also that this journey will include meditation and much prayer."

Angie Koch tells of her journey in internship at WNMC. We have appreciated her in various capacities of leadership. It is good to know that she felt many meetings left her with more energy, rather than drained.

WNMC participants of a Sunday school elective with Len Friesen grappled with defining our congregation. Would you describe our church as an oval dining room table, a street lamp or a dandelion? Sam Steiner summarized the findings in "My Church is a Dandelion?"

Read Miriam Maust’s reflections on our meeting place. What meaning do you associate with the stones at the front that we face each Sunday?

And so a few years down the road when the little people ask questions of us, we can reflect on the decisions we have made that shaped us into a unique congregation we will have become — by the grace of God.

-Erica Jantzen, Editorial Committee

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family

trees with
roots spreading
deep
intermingling
holding each other
up

arms raised
branch tips supporting
the sky’s
magnificent banner
a gesture   of
shared celebration

and the water
lucid eye   that sees
and gives it back
to us    the gift

of reflection

carol wiebe

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The changing Ravi River

I recently returned from a 15 day trip to Pakistan working for MCC’s job creation program, Ten Thousand Villages. We work with 2 groups of artisans in Pakistan. Reverend Chaman Mesih and his family have devoted their lives to an organization called JAKCISS which they created to show Christian love to their Muslim neighbours by organizing 650 families near Lahore in making rugs. The second group, Dominion Traders in Karachi, works to support about 120 families, both Christian and Muslim, by exporting beautiful onyx stone handicrafts to Ten Thousand Villages. My visit to these two groups unsettled my belief that we "North Americans" can ever realize the effects our consumerism has on both enslaving and rebuilding families in developing countries.

One of my first vivid memories of Lahore was as we drove past the dried up Ravi River on my way from the airport to where I was staying. For thousands of years the Ravi was the main transportation route for commerce from the Himalayas in India, out through the Indus valley into the Arabian sea. As we drove over the dusty bridge I glanced down at a creek about 6 feet wide surrounded by a broad, muddy bank speckled with unmanned boats resting at the distant shoreline. As I looked over the dried up riverbed, all I could see were images of the begging woman from the airport and her infant child — about Kayla’s age. Along our drive I spotted a number of sleeping vagrants that made a home out of a 4 foot narrow strip of dirt in between a bustling roadway. Poverty could be seen everywhere, if you had a glance to spare. I kept these thoughts to myself hoping later to fill my mind with images of progress. But if you spend any significant time in Lahore you will probably see a transformation occur to the Ravi and yourself.

After 2 days of heavy rains and an additional 2 days of drying I was able to visit the village of Halwan some 60 km from Lahore. Over 100 families now earn 75% of their income from making rugs for JAKCISS. Families can afford to send there children, boys and girls, to school. Ashed proudly held his son in front of himself while he explained how by knotting rugs he was able to support his family of 10 living in a sparse 2 room bricked home. His son flashed me a smile confirming his father’s joy. No longer do the villagers need to rely on rice and wheat farming to scrape out an existence for their families. Through the work of JAKCISS the village is scattered with water buffalo, goats, chickens, ducks — and satisfied parents and children. Most of the mud walled homes are now made of bricks and concrete roofs. Muslim and Christian families barely interacting in the past now occasionally help each other finish larger rugs. On my way back from the village passing over the Ravi I gazed with a joyful heart into the reflection of the sunset in the water near some boys fishing by the riverbank. My hope for these people returned with the water that now flowed a kilometer wide down the Ravi river.

Ten Thousand Villages provides vital fair income to people in developing countries by selling their products and telling their stories.

- Peter Thiessen (Peter is the Eastern Regional Sales Manger for Ten Thousand Villages Canada)

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Connecting abroad ... USA

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest, where primroses have been on display outside supermarkets since mid-January. (No, I do not miss snow, and yes, the winter rain can be wearisome.) John enjoys his medical practice in Mukilteo, in north Seattle. I am the church administrator at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle. I enjoy daily views of Seattle’s Space Needle from my office window. (Indeed, the WTO-related mayhem in the streets, in early December, was only blocks away.) I run a small food bank (one of 37 sites operated by the city of Seattle), produce a regular parish newsletter and more or less run the church. In my evening/weekend time I write and edit the Evangel, the newsletter of the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference (congregations sprinkled throughout the states of Washington, Idaho and Oregon).

We have found a home at Seattle Mennonite Church. (It is, in fact, a refurbished theatre.) John sits on the pastoral care committee and I on worship, doing pretty much what I did at Waterloo North — leading worship, preaching now and then. SMC is a young congregation, established in 1968 when some Mennonites employed at Boeing decided to meet more intentionally. A Voluntary Service unit downtown has guaranteed a modest stream of people from elsewhere, a number of whom have married, established families and settled. Evidence of SMC’s youth: the page-turner birthdays here are 40^th and 50^th, and in the past decade there has been only one funeral. The church has a soccer team, and a band called Georg and the Blaurockers (after the early Anabaptist leader, of course). SMCers tend to wear fleece and bluejeans, and there are only rare sightings of men’s neckties. As one might expect in an urban setting, the congregation is well educated. (Four members teach at the local Seattle Pacific University.) There are a number of fine musicians, but far fewer people with theological training, it seems to me, than in Ontario. There are more people from other traditions than there are ethnic Mennonites. All of this makes for rich, and sometimes combative, differences over worship style, the role of liturgy, symbol and ritual. Decisions are made — intentionally and consistently — by consensus. SMC seems to have created its own niche: some say they would not attend anywhere else.

SMC’s most salient characteristic, however, is that it is centered-set: more concerned with making life giving the center of faith than patrolling the community’s boundaries. Or, one could say, a theology of grace over a theology of judgment. It is a given, therefore, that SMC welcomes gays and lesbians. SMCers exhibit what I call a quietly contained faith. They are passionate about peace and social concerns; many are in service oriented vocations, working with the hungry and the dispossessed. On the wide scene, there are mental adjustments to make in this culture. Regularly one encounters that free enterprise attitude (small-r republicanism) that you can shape your own destiny, if only you toil long and hard enough. Often we miss good old Canadian communalism (tattered as it may be). Warm greetings to all.

-Betti Erb

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Ministry Team

My Ministry Team internship, lasting from February to December 1999, began with a phone call to Sue made shortly before Christmas. Being at a point in my life where I was making post-university career and life direction decisions, I wanted to explore and test my sense of calling to ministry in a hands-on way. I was encouraged by the openness of Sue, the current Ministry Team and CMC to talk about opportunities to do this as an intern in what I had come to consider my home congregation. To begin a ministry role with more lenient expectations was freeing, and protected me from the pressure of immediately having to take on all the responsibilities a Ministry Team member would be expected to assume. At the same time, I’m thankful for the many responsibilities and opportunities I was presented with which stretched and challenged me. Preaching, leading congregational prayer, worship leading, and working with Growth Task Force are but a few examples of opportunities for learning and discernment it is unlikely I would otherwise have experienced last year. As a younger member of the team, it felt both helpful and appropriate for me to learn from the experiences of other (I won’t say "older"!) Ministry Team members, as well as to offer insights from the perspective of a young adult in the church.

I look back now on what was indeed a rich year. This type of experience seems to me to be invaluable both from the position of the church, and from that of one who is interning. For the church it is important, among other things, for the growing of new leaders and for gaining the perspective of younger members. As an intern, I felt blessed to be steeped in the experience, wisdom and skill of existing leaders; and to have many opportunities to test out my own gifts. Realizing that I left many meetings with more energy that I came with was certainly one of the signs that I was in the right place!

At Ministry Team meetings in the Fall, each of us took part of a meeting to reflect on our "passion" in our lives and ministry. The way I could best conceive of this for myself was to reflect that my passion was to figure out what my passion is! Being able to work through some of this in the context of a ministry internship at the church has been an incredible experience. I would hope that this type of experience would be extended to others in the future — both those from within our congregation, and possibly those from other congregations as well. As I said at my Ministry Team Commissioning in January, this is a wonderful church in which to do ministry, and I am sure I will continue to learn from and be shaped by the many thoughtful and gifted people here.

-Angie Koch 

(Angie served her internship from February to December 1999. Presently she is a regular member of the Ministry Team).

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Please read with care

The Editorial Committee needs two or more members and a Children’s Page editor. Esther Regehr is resigning because she and her husband are fully involved at Bethel Mennonite Church at Elora. Erica Jantzen has accepted a one-year MCC/CEE (teaching in China) assignment and will leave in summer.

The job as Children’s Page editor calls for, not necessarily to prepare the page single-handedly, but to get others, especially children, to assume the assignment.

General editing requires one meeting for each of the quarterly issues where contacts are assigned. Submissions are received via e-mail; editing and forwarding to printing is done on computer — making it possible to work at your own time and pace.

Please speak to any member of the editorial committee and/or to Marnie Gerster, WNMC support person for the committee.

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The Pleasure of growing pains

This Taize song captured the essence of the congregational Growth Task Force (GTF) meeting held on January 23. The simple fellowship supper of sandwiches and fruit which preceded, set the evening’s tone, so that it resembled an after-dinner conversation more that a formal meeting. From the outset it was clear that no concrete decisions were to be made; the time was meant for discussion and listening to the diverse voices present.

In keeping with Waterloo North history, the discernment time was prefaced with singing, prayer and a meditation on excerpts from Psalm 25. The themes of love, hope, integrity and faithfulness that resound in this passage, carried through the remainder of the evening. This psalm was the foundation for the meeting.

Recalling previous growth conversations held during the fall retreat and a Sunday school series, the GTF moved the core of the discussion from past and present toward the future. The GTF presented three options for responding to WNMC’s current issues surrounding growth. The first option was to enter into a building project, the second was to adopt a consolidation model of ministry and the third was to embark on a church plant.

There was initial confusion about what was meant by a consolidation model of ministry. The GTF clarified by referring to a model of church life cited during a previous Sunday School series. Consolidation was likened to the continuing waves of church life throughout which congregational vision and goals need to be revisited at each crest and ebb of a new phase. With general clarity on these three options, small groups were formed. The task was to discuss the viability of these options, including personal preferences, fears, ideas and concerns.

As groups reported back, there was a sense of general agreement that indicated the people present were at parallel places. While there were differences, a spirit of harmony prevailed. It was clear that there needs to be a sense of spiritual direction and call before WNMC makes decisions about knocking out walls or initiating a church plant.

As in any discussion, concerns were raised. The desire to preserve the spirit and energy that exists at WNMC was categorized as a priority. The question of how building codes and design limitations might affect a building project, remained unanswered. The perception of growth issues as "problems" instead of "opportunities" continues to be a challenge. In addition, it was noted that shortage of space is an immediate issue that needs to be addressed.

During the discussion of specific short term solutions, it became evident from a larger perspective that WNMC has entered an overall long-term process. This process needs to be continuously handled with caution, open mindedness, sensitivity and a commitment to look at all options. It was clear also that the journey must include meditation and much prayer. For as our collective voice sang in closing,

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homebaked

that yeasty smell
and i was a little girl
watching mother punch

down dough and pinch off
baby fists to place
on grease-skimmed

sheets
but their rising
was hidden   peeking

was forbidden
i might make them
pop

like small balloons
i waited
while the stove

grew hot    another
dangerous thing
i must not

touch
and if i talked
too much or just

got in her way
i wouldn’t get to see them
puff   and turn

as brown
as my sister and i   in
the summer sun

our hair bleached
golden as stalks of wheat
our bellies soft

and round    as
homebaked buns
pulled

from mother’s oven.

-- carol wiebe

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My church is a dandelion?

The "new" Mennonite Church did a study last year on "Envisioning a new Mennonite Church." Waterloo North participated through a Sunday school elective led by Len Friesen.

The surveys returned from congregations included many interesting images of church that might help us in our own visioning. What do you think of the church as:

    *a Dandelion — deeply rooted, withstands persecution, persists, misunderstood, multiplies, spreads with the wind of the Spirit, stands apart, noticeable, grows in communities, and stands in contrast to the larger society. Our image of the wider church [says one congregation] is a community of dandelions.

    *an Oval dining room table, a place of nourishment, where leaves can be added or taken away, intimate, inclusive.

    * a Street lamp illuminating the way and holding back the shadows.

    * a House with a fenced yard (denomination), a large living room (worship services) and numerous small rooms in the back. The gate and front door are open, while the doors to the back rooms are open just a crack (small groups, Sunday school classes), and persons often have to take the initiative to gain entrance to these rooms. The fence and rooms are barriers of culture, ethnicity and social status.

* Genes — recently we have learned that a gene for a specific characteristic can be transplanted into the chain of genes and thereby make its distinctive contribution. It can be passed on to future generations. The Mennonite Church shares many genes in common with other denominations. But we also have some distinctive genes that enhances its life. Our genetic uniqueness has been accepted by individuals in other churches and we have also accepted the contribution of others into our lives. The Mennonite Church along with other denominations participates in the reign of God. Together with other churches’ contributions we add to the well-being of humanity when we faithfully carry out our mission.

-Sam Steiner

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Waterloo North is a River

This analogy came to mind upon reflecting on the nature of our congregation and the strength of our mix of order and innovation; our concern for deliberation and process juxtaposed with our creativity and excitement for change.

We are no waterfall, but we are also no stagnant pool. Maybe our congregation is a steadily flowing, carefully winding river fed by a fresh, lively, bubbling spring. Our river can change course, and does so over time, but does not tend to alter this course of flow without clarity of intention and direction. We are in little danger of roaring out of control and spilling over our banks in an evangelistic flood, leaving devastation in our wake. Neither are we in much danger of drying up or becoming stale. Perhaps what we are in danger of, however, is keeping our water to ourselves – maybe we do not have enough creeks and brooks running out from our river and watering the land through which we run. Maybe there is not enough water spilling over onto the shore from time to time. Our river has a good path that is being carved thoughtfully into the land, but is the water of the spring being retained within its banks?

This summer at St. Louis, we were invited to "Come to the River." As a river our congregation is a holy place – a place of healing, hope, abundance and rejuvenation. My prayer for us is twofold: that we celebrate our gift in the lively, spirited spring feeding us on our steadily flowing course; and that we may continually challenge ourselves to look for ways to share from the abundance of our resource outside the confines of our banks.

– Angie Koch

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"Seven things I believe"

Someone in this congregation recently said: "I’ve come to trust the decisions this congregation makes when we deliberate. I trust God’s way with us on this one too."

"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening"

(From Sue Steiner’s sermon, January 16, 2000: "Listening for God’s Call". Summarized by Jim Reusser)

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I am a fascinated observer of the Egyptian system of driving. In North America we would have a great deal of difficulty accommodating the quantity of traffic that Cairo manages every day. That isn’t to say it isn’t a problem here. In getting from one place to another transportation and traffic are still major considerations. However, Egyptians have evolved a system of driving that has much more in common with the way water in a stream flows or birds fly en masse than it has with the North American system of rules and regulation.

In Egypt, unless you are physically impeded from doing something, you do it. To prevent drivers from making U-turns, roads are divided by a curb or boulevard. To prevent cars from parking in a given space, physical obstacles are set up. There are traffic lights, and policemen to reinforce them, but unless the policeman has a book for recording the license number of offending drivers — in order to fine the driver when s/he goes to renew the car license — they are pretty much ignored. While there are kind-hearted drivers, who will allow fellow-cars to merge with them, generally cars "change lanes" by gradually veering in the direction they wish to go until other traffic is forced to let them in or risk hitting them. It is not at all uncommon to see cars going the wrong way up a one-way street — or even up the wrong side of a divided street.

A common driving technique is to use mass in your favour. If there are enough of you wanting to cross a street, you can force the on-coming traffic to stop. It’s my theory that honking the horn at an intersection does have a practical result: when the horn volume reaches a certain intensity, cars in front consider themselves to have the group’s consensus to ease their way

forward until the on-coming traffic can no longer swerve around them and is forced to stop. As a driver, I’m always thrilled to see a fellow-car pull up beside me at an intersection. I know that, if nothing else, I have help to cross the on-coming stream of traffic.

Lest you have the impression that driving in Cairo is an extremely dangerous, accident-prone activity, let me reassure you. There are no more than the usual share of accidents. When people understand the system, and know what sorts of crazy behaviour to watch out for, things go fairly smoothly. None-the-less, it can be very frustrating for North Americans.

Karen Cressman Anderson, MCC Egypt
14 El Sobki St. #1
Mansheyet El Bakri, Heliopolis, Cairo, EGYPT
Tel: (20)(2)418-7120 Home; (20)(2)417-6110 Office

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Humour: Valentine's edition

Top Ten Pickup Lines Used By Adam

10. "You know you’re the only one for me!"
9. "Do you come here often?"
8. "Trust me, this was meant to be!"
7. "Look around, baby. All the other guys around here are animals!"
6. "I already feel like you’re a part of me!"
5. "Honey, you were made for me!"
4. "Why don’t you come over to my place and we can name some animals?"
3. "You’re the girl of my dreams!" (Gen. 2:21)
2. "I like a girl who doesn’t mind being ribbed!"

And the number one pick up line from Adam is:

1. "You’re the apple of my eye!"

<http://graceland.gentle.org/toplist.html>

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Connecting abroad ... Uganda

Though the decision was challenging and difficult, the way was shown for our family to make the move to send Kara, Aleda and Hannah to Rift Valley Academy, a mission boarding school in Kenya. We are learning how to relate as a family over the distance, but then enjoy the opportunities for reunion when we are together. The girls all feel that this is the right decision and the right place for them — which greatly brightens this part of our journey.

Aleda is a Junior in High School — Grade 11. She’s involved in leading a committee to plan for the graduation banquet. She’s also the dorm prefect and in the school choir. She’s working hard academically.

Kara is enjoying being part of the high-school scene as a Freshman — Gr. 9. She’s working hard and doing very well in her studies. One of her favorite things is playing soccer. She is trying out for the varsity girls’ soccer team for next term. We all hope she makes it.

Hannah has settled well into Gr. 8 and is also doing well in her studies. She likes to keep active and so is trying out for all the sports teams as well. We hope she makes it onto the Jr. High soccer team next term. Hannah also enjoys cooking.

Dave suffered increasing pain in his back and leg. Finally the decision was made to go South Africa for surgery. So on May 20 he had back surgery. Three vertebrae in his lower back were fused together to ease the tension on his sciatic nerve. He has improved greatly since that time, though recently, after a long drive to Kitgum (6 hours) in a bumpy vehicle, he has experienced increased discomfort in his lower back. We pray for and anticipate continued healing.

Dave and Mary Lou continue to enjoy and be challenged by the work as MCC Country Reps in Uganda. We enjoy the people we work with, the Ugandan partners and leaders we have the privilege of interacting with and the diversity of the work. Dave focuses his energies on relationships with small grants recipients, relief work and the physical aspects of setting up worker placements. Mary Lou spends a lot of time with the accounting work for the program. The focus of the program is on Peace and Reconciliation and so we both try to use those lenses to see the diversity of relationships and partners we have in Uganda.

We enjoy our team that increased from one to five: Hilda Birungi from Kampala joined us in October 1998 and is our Administrative Officer. She has learned the ropes of getting needed government documents. She is also skilled as a facilitator in Alternatives to Violence Project training.

Jon and Wendy Miller from Ohio arrived in mid-January 1999. Wendy is teaching in an alternative secondary school. Jon is working at several engineering projects, including a community wind-power generation scheme.

Lam Cosmas, from Atiak, Uganda joined us in July 1999 and is working with the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative as the coordinator of their program of grassroots preparation for peace in the north of the country after thirteen years of devastating conflict. Lam is ever on the move and with his diversity of connections and heart-felt commitment to Christ’s way of peace. Lam leaves his wife Margaret and sons John Paul and Anthony, in Kampala for several weeks at a time as his work involves a lot of travel and long days in both the districts of Gulu and Kitgum.

Rachel Klassen, from Edmonton, joined us in August as a one-year worker with the MCC’s SALT (Serving and Learning Together) program. She is working with our partner, Hands-In-Service, in Soroti, in an after school / afternoon children’s ministry that has blossomed from approximately 60 children to now over 150 children.

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photograph

He found it in the back of
the old desk drawer,

a bent and faded
photograph
he wasn’t looking for.

Did they ever really smile
like that,
so sure?

And wrap their arms so
easily
around what they thought

they were?

--carol wiebe

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From your church library...

If you have not had a chance to hear the new Songs to Live By: Passing on Hymns of the Faith, please visit the library and check out our cassette. Share your love of hymns with family and friends! Lively adaptations of 16 hymns from Hymnal: A Worship Book will inspire people of all generations. Designed to be child-friendly, Songs to Live By brings together the spiritual depth of treasured hymns with the energy, joy and fun of a contemporary style, and is perfect for both listening and singing along. Features children’s and adult voices accompanied by a variety of instruments.

Magazines

< Canadian Mennonite
< The Mennonite
< Christian Living
< With (for youth)

- Eleanor Kreider, Regents Park College, Oxford, England. (Review from Herald Press BOOK NEWS)

New Books Added in January

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Children's Page

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