generosity

The joy of receiving

(Photo by Kira auf der Heide/Unsplash)

My mom worked hard to make Christmas happy and special for me, but it wasn’t easy. My family was what I would now understand as extremely marginalized, and we experienced the kind of deep poverty that creates a grinding, helpless feeling for children who wind up worrying about things that no kid should have to think twice about, like what (or whether) they’ll eat, or whether there will be enough money to make it to the end of the month.

Substance over glitz

Jon Lebold seals a Mennonite Central Committee relief kit with the help of his son, Jed Lebold. 'Mennonite agencies like MCC and others have found ways to serve people in critical need for a century,' Tobi Thiessen writes. 'They do it with little glitz but a lot of substance.' (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/MCCpeace)

While public conversation swirled in July over the details of WE Charity’s speaker fees and all-expenses-paid trips for donors, my church was having a sermon series on Mennonite Central Committee’s 100 years of service in the name Christ.

Selling generosity

(Mennopix Digital Art by Ross W. Muir)

‘Jesus, can you spare a dime?’ (Mennopix Digital Art by Ross W. Muir)

When I am asked what I do for a living, I often say, “I show people how much fun it is to give their money away.” That elicits a better conversation than if I tell them I manage a registered, charitable, donor-advised foundation.

Church garden provides produce for soup kitchen

The garden at Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, Man., donates its produce to local soup kitchen, Soup’s On. (Photo by Larry Friesen)

Larry Friesen, garden coordinator, shows a harvest of potatoes from the garden. (Photo courtesy of Larry Friesen)

Sharon Reimer picks cucumbers from the garden. (Photo by Larry Friesen)

Betty Koop showcases the garden’s tall tomato plants. (Photo by Larry Friesen)

In the summer of 2004, Joy Neufeld opened the first soup kitchen in Steinbach. Fifteen years later, Soup’s On is still serving its community and is thriving.

Neufeld, a member of Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, started the project because she loved working in the kitchen. “I just love cooking and baking, but the last thing Steinbach needed was another restaurant,” she says. 

Costly perfume

“Why did Jesus praise this woman for pouring out the costly perfume when the proceeds of its sale could have helped many poor people in their town?” (Image by Luisella Planeta Leoni/Pixabay)

On April 15, dramatic images of Paris’s burning Notre Dame Cathedral captured worldwide attention. Nearby, local citizens and tourists stood singing and praying in grief. Could it be that this majestic symbol of faith, art and culture was crumbling before our eyes? 

Once Round the Barn: Pat-on-the-back Edition

Video below: ‘Once Round the Barn’ rides again. Resident ranter Will Braun has some choice words about how Mennonites talk about their generosity.

He’s our resident ranter, our pigpen pundit. Canadian Mennonite writer Will Braun rants around the barn on his southern Manitoba farmyard. This time he’s got opinions on how Mennonites talk about their generosity. (See the video below. Then scroll down more and check out more rants.)

Planning to give this Christmas?

Marlow Gingerich

The gift-giving season is upon us, and with it comes Christmas shopping for our loved ones. We all know people who will be running around the mall five minutes before closing time on Dec. 24, looking for that spontaneous token to tuck under the tree. Then there are those meticulous planners who have every gift listed in a spreadsheet and finished their shopping way back in October.

Full stomach, faulty memory

‘Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark’ (detail), by Benjamin West

‘Moses shown the Promised Land,’ by Benjamin West.

We are daily awash in choices and opportunities, and many of us are affluent enough to be able to choose among many options. Many of us make many choices even before we get out the door in the morning. Our stomachs are full, we live in fine houses, our income and assets have grown, our retirement funds are increasing, and our possessions keep multiplying.

Stories of generosity

The young couple was living far from home, juggling college studies and part-time work, in preparation for overseas missionary work. Their first child was due and then complications set in. It was a difficult birth, and the hospital bill totalled much more than their meagre budget allowed. When the time came for the new father to take mother and baby home, the hospital authorities balked.

A new view of nature

I am so glad that summer is on the horizon. Spending time outdoors was a huge part of my childhood. My family shared many weekends at a small one-room cabin on a river, fishing, swimming, canoeing and just enjoying the beauty around us. We would watch the beavers make their way up and down the river, hope to see a deer come out at dusk for a drink, and listen to the wolves howl at night.

Buried treasure

Lately, I have had several conversations with people about downsizing or simplifying their estates. Some talk about rearranging their financial affairs to make life easier for their executors someday. Others face the physically and emotionally demanding task of moving from the homes they have lived in for many years to smaller, more manageable accommodations.

Pies bring a message of encouragement

Each year Tim Sauer, left, takes his first rhubarb pie to John Neufeld, the executive director of House of Friendship in Kitchener, Ont., because rhubarb is John's favourite. (Photo courtesy of Tim Sauer)

Tim Sauer is known as the “pie man” because every now and then he shows up at places like the thrift shop or House of Friendship in Kitchener, Ont., with a pie for volunteers or staff. His gifts of pie are meant to bring a message of encouragement, to say, “You’re doing important work.”

Tim’s rhubarb pie

Tim’s rhubarb pie—a pie to share and enjoy! (Photo by D. Michael Hostetler)

Tim Sauer, who is known as the “pie man,” bakes at least 200 pies a year that he gives away to encourage volunteers and those who work in church-related organizations. This is his recipe for rhubarb pie, a favourite of John Neufeld, executive-director of House of Friendship in Kitchener, Ont.

MC Saskatchewan ‘extends the table’

The Gospel According to Food, a play written and performed by members of Pleasant Point Mennonite Church, encourages the audience to re-examine their relationship with food. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

The Saskatunes performed during MC Saskatchewan’s annual delegate sessions. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

The bread and the cup graced the communion table at Nutana Park Mennonite Church during MC Saskatchewan’s recent annual delegate sessions, along with jars of preserves and a basket of corn reflecting the event’s theme: ‘Extending the table: Enough for all.’ (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Nutana Park Mennonite Church delegates, from left to right, Brent Gunther, Susanne Guenther Loewen, Mat Rouleau and Gordon Peters, discussed proposed changes to the structure of MC Canada. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Susanne Gunther Loewen reminded those at MC Saskatchewan’s annual delegate sessions that “’our God is generous, welcoming, always making room for more at the table.’ (Photo by Donna Schulz)

“Extending the table: Enough for all.” That was the theme chosen for Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s annual delegate sessions this year, and as delegates and guests broke bread together, literally and metaphorically, they found there was indeed enough for all.

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