The Grapevine is back!The Grapevine is back!The Grapevine is back!The Grapevine is back!

Our previous editor Laura Thiessen spent the last year studying in England

and no one replaced her during her absence. Since Laura consented to take on

the role of Worship Committee Chair the editorship position remained open.

Peter Peters and Rudy Friesen thought there were too many stories not being

told if the Grapevine lapsed any longer so they volunteered.

The purpose and goal of this organ is simple and straight forward. It's all

about making connections. Relationships are strengthened when we share

stories. Ideas and insights from individual members can enhance our faith and

life together. Experiences are relived and enjoyed again when shared with a

larger audience.

So we ask for Raisins: short news items about your family, book reports,

short articles on current topics, poetry, achievements, etc. Thanks for helping to

make the Grapevine a community enhancing, faith enriching paper.

Your editors, Peter and Rudy

The Grapevine Charleswood Mennonite Church Newsletter

Summer 2015 / Issue 1 (15-01)

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CMC's INVOLVEMENT at MCC's SPRING FEST, 2015

It was inspiring and thrilling to see our church members involved in MCC's Spring Fest this year, May 22-23. The Plant Sale and the Walkathon had major Charleswood church members' input. (See the reports below). Others helped out with the Quilt Show as well.

The ability to organize and carry out events such as these for a good and just cause is a special gift and a sign of God's spirit among us. The gift of the Spirit is evident in any activity that results in some just and good outcomes.

Peter Peters

MCC PLANT SALE 2015

By Ron Dueck

Sunny skies, warm temperatures and lots of plants were the order of the day for the much anticipated plant sale held at Plaza Drive on May 22 and 23. This is an annual event organized by the churches of Charleswood Mennonite and Fort Garry Mennonite . The goal of this exciting event is to raise money for MCC. This year’s project was used for MCC’s program in South Sudan working on literacy and skills training for women.

Sales were considerably higher this year compared to the previous 4 years. The plants brought in $3861 this year with expenses running at $600 for the tent.

The plant sale started many years ago when CMC had a plant booth at the Winnipeg Festival event. The booth owed much of its success to the initiatives of Dave & Ann Winter who coordinated the project. When the Festival closed down, members of CMC decided to keep an annual plant sale going. In the last number of years we have been joined by FGMC. About 22 volunteers are involved on the days of the sale with others involved in planning, organizing and collecting plants from donors in the weeks before that. Garden Nurseries have been most generous in donating potted plants for the sale. This year we had several individual donors from CMC that started dozens of plants for the sale. Elsie Rempel donated about a hundred tomato plants. Gavin Ewert donated dozens of herbs and vegetable plants.

At the debriefing meeting, the group affirmed continuing the sale for next year. We are working at getting more people and congregations involved in planting herbs and vegetables for an even larger sale. We will be contacting you next spring (February) to harness your enthusiasm for growing garden plants.

A happy customer –Claudia Winter. ( MCC Photo)

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Families Walking for Families Walkathon

By Rudy Friesen

May 23 was a good day for the 7 km walk from 134

Plaza Drive across the bridge and through St. Vital Park. The number of walkers, 53, was down a bit from last year but the income was up. Walkers and their sponsors raised $9,169 which will be a big encouragement to Global Family students in N.E. Uganda.

One walker from North Kildonan, Alvin Braun decided to make this a true walkathon. Starting at 6 a.m. he walked to Plaza Drive from his home on Devon Ave. After the 21 km hike he chose not to walk the designated route. He had sponsorships worth almost $2,000. A true supporter!

Special thanks to all people from our church who supported us in this effort. ⧫

Send in your stories, reflections, Raisins, etc toSend in your stories, reflections, Raisins, etc toSend in your stories, reflections, Raisins, etc toSend in your stories, reflections, Raisins, etc to

Rudy Friesen or Peter PetersRudy Friesen or Peter PetersRudy Friesen or Peter PetersRudy Friesen or Peter Peters

for the next issue offor the next issue offor the next issue offor the next issue of The Grapevine.The Grapevine.The Grapevine.The Grapevine.

Editors: Rudy Friesen (rudynruth@mymts.net)

Peter Peters (petma@shaw.ca

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Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reflections

By Peter Peters

Maya Janzen was present in Ottawa June 2 when Commission Chair Murray Sinclair formally presented the long awaited TRC report on the facts and effects of Canada's residential school system. Maya was part of a van load of people Steve Heinrichs, director of Indigenous relations had taken to Ottawa to be present where the report was formally released. Gordon Janzen, Maya's father witnessed the event as it was live streamed at U of Winnipeg's Riddell Hall. Maya gave a short reflection of her experience on Sunday, June 14.

Over the years of the Residential School System's existence, there were some 150,000 native children forcibly separated from parents and communities, and carried off to places where native languages and culture were prohibited. Here the victims were inadequately housed and fed, and often emotionally, physically and sexually abused. It is now acknowledged that this policy was a misguided attempt to assimilate them into the dominant culture, and “to kill the Indian in the child,” as Sir John A. Macdonald himself had put it. Our Prime Minister Steven Harper in his formal apology to aboriginal people seven years ago, said it was wrong and had caused great harm. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission created to look into residential schools has now reported. Its findings have been shocking, detailing a history even worse than imagined. Commission chair Murray Sinclair called it Cultural genocide.

Canadians learned this week that the abuse at residential schools was more damaging and widespread, and its effects longer lasting, than previously understood. The schools’ very existence was an abuse. As many as 6,000 children may have died in them, meaning that residential school inmates were as likely to lose their lives as Canadians in the military during the Second World War.

The commission is right to demand, among its core recommendations, that steps be taken to, somehow, improve the economic and educational outcomes of native Canadians and to address their overrepresentation in Canada’s justice system. It also rightly calls for the creation of reporting mechanisms to monitor progress. Author John Ralston Saul in his recent book Comeback says that this is the number one challenge facing Canadians today. He says that we should be supporting political leaders who will be most generous in their response to this issue facing Canadians. As Christians we would do well in humbly acknowledging our need to learn more about the history of aboriginal peoples. We want to grow an attitude of appreciation and goodwill. May God help and bless us in this endeavour.

Blog Post: Winnipeg’s TRC Event

by Elsie Rempel

( https://elsiehannahruth.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/truth-and-reconciliation-with-the-grandmothers/ )

Yesterday was a historic day for Canada. After six years of careful listening and recording of the stories of survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools (the last of which closed in 1996) the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its summary report in Ottawa.

Through regional events with live streaming of the Ottawa event, this day was honoured throughout Canada; a day many hope and pray will be a turning point toward better relationship between Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

The live streamed Ottawa event was important and informative. So were the opening prayers and greetings. So was the walk through downtown by about 600 Indigenous and non-Indigenous Winnipeggers. So was the shared feast and the pipe ceremony at Thunderbird House. But for me, a

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grandmother, it was the ritualized actions of the Grandmothers that were most transformative. I was so moved, I didn’t think of taking a picture. Thankfully, my friend, Kyle Penner, sent me one which I edited into the post a day after publishing.

The Grandmother’s event happened after the live streaming of the Commission’s report. Elder Velma Orvis invited us into a large basement room for a stick ceremony called RE-MEMBERING TOGETHER. She, two other Grandmothers, and a young woman seated on a chair, occupied the center of the circle. The Grandmothers tied and erected three peeled poplar saplings to create the beginning of a teepee frame. Ten more such poles were distributed to group participants. (There are thirteen moons to the Indigenous year.)

As Velma read from a document which highlighted parts of our shared history that oppress indigenous women the two other Grandmothers placed black cloths over the young woman’s head, one for each item that was named. The weight of those symbolic black cloths weighed down on all of us.

The ten recipients of the sticks were then invited to share. Among the respondents were survivors of abuse in the residential school system. One grandmother shared with her 10 year old granddaughter at her side for support. There was also one of my people, a Mennonite, who walked in solidarity with his Indigenous neighbours. One middle aged Indigenous woman choked out a sentence and sat down. Another, rather radiant Grandmother shared about the importance of holistic re-education and relationships. Later, on the walk, she would tell me about the Creator’s healing touch in her journey toward forgiveness.

With each shared story a black cloth was lifted from the young woman’s head. With the lifting of the last cloth the young woman shared her experiences of sitting under those dark cloths. Under their cover she had remembered her grandmother, a survivor of the residential schools, whose programs are now being correctly described as cultural genocide. But experiencing the increasing dark and heat under the accumulating cloths had also reminded her of being in a sweat lodge. At this point she got up, and left the room rather quickly, perhaps to have a good cry.

We dispersed with our thoughts and emotions as well, just to reassemble outside and walk the 3.7 kilometres to Thunderbird House where feasting and ceremonies continued. It was clearly an important spiritual event for the Indigenous participants, and I appreciated the Grand Chief’s call to making new beginnings at all levels of society.

As I walked from the event to catch a bus back home, the woman respondent who had choked out a one sentence response during the stick ceremony came alongside me. She shared how emotional the ceremonies in Thunderbird House had been for her. We chatted about the event and about our mothers. I shared how I was now connecting my learning about our history with the residential schools with my love for my grandchildren. We shared comments about the freeing power of forgiveness.

At this point she trusted me with the story she couldn’t share during the ceremony, of becoming a mother, and having her five children ripped from her home by Child and Family Services. She left me with this comment, “How can I forgive when CFS robbed me of my motherhood?”

How indeed? May the Creator’s healing touch also find her, and help her find joy in her Grandmotherhood. And may the Creator help me faithfully share the story with which she trusted me. ⧫

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Raisins … Recent births in our church:

Luke Manfred Peters Claassen born to Sarah and Jonathan Claassen on Dec. 22, 2014, brother to Sylvie and Molly.

Oslo Arthur Petkau Kulik born to Tamara Petkau and Joel Kulik on March 9, 2015, brother to Maelle and Esme. (Luke and Oslo were dedicated on Sunday, June 21 during the morning worship service).

Acacia Katherine Friesen Thiessen born April 15, 2015 to Kira Friesen and Kenton Thiessen.

Elisa Soto Payares born May 27, 2015 to Luz Merys and Javier, sister to Diana, Cristina and Sofia.

~ Eunkyoung Park was baptized on confession of her faith on May 24. She and her family have moved to Waterloo, ON from where Kyunkyoung Yoon, her husband, will commute to Toronto for work and Da-in Yoon their daughter will attend Rockway.

~ Six Grade 6 students were given Bibles and a congregational blessing upon the completion of elementary school. The students included: Juniper Giesbrecht,

Alayna Smith, Daniel De Ryck, Emmanuel

Tshimanga, Ethan Friesen and Grace

Pilkey (who was absent).

~ Subin Bae, a Grade 12 student received a mug and a blessing from the congregation on June 7.

~ Rebecca Klassen-Wiebe graduated from CMU this spring with a B. Music degree and received the President's Medal upon graduation. Last year Rebecca received the Verna Mae Janzen award as an outstanding pianist in a piano competition. Rebecca plans to teach piano students.

~ Alayna Smith earned a Gold medal at her school's Science Fair for her project on The Best Highlighting Color. She interviewed more than 50 students in a memory test using different color highlighters. Ask her which color won out.

~ Joshua Peters, 23, grandson of Peter and Greti Peters recently won the $10,000 Eckhart-Gramatte national strings (violin) competition. This competition, named after Manitoba composer, Sonia Eckhart-Gramatte is held every year in May at the Brandon University School of Music, rotating between strings, piano and vocals. Joshua's reward also includes performing a series of concerts across Cananda, including Winnipeg next Fall.

~ Alvin Thiessen plans to walk the El Camino de Santiago again this September. This time he will be joined by his two brothers.

~ Our church has a team in the Christian Men's Slo-Pitch League again in this summer. People from our church participating in the team include: Tom, Josh and Gavin Ewert,

Mike Friesen, Byron Neufeld, Jeff Friesen,

Justin Neufeld, Alec Beatty and Bucky

Driedger.

~ The Women's Lunch Out Group met at Marpeck Commons in late June. ⧫

Photo: Maya Janzen

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Physician Assisted Death

By Cornel Rempel

The Supreme Court of Canada recently issued a ruling that allows a person to request physician

assisted death when the person requesting is “a competent adult person who clearly consents to the termination of life and has a grievous and irremediable medical condition, including an illness, disease or disability, that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual.”

The ruling is celebrated by some and causes concern for others. Some questions and thoughts:

1. At first glance the phrase “…who clearly consents…” is troubling in that the word consent implies a response to an external suggestion. I am told, however, that in legal language the word “consent” carries the meaning of “request” and is the proper word in the ruling. The ruling permits a patient to choose assisted death in specific circumstances and does not suggest that someone’s fate can be decided upon by a third party.

2. Some may be concerned about physicians "playing God" by being permitted to assist in a patient’s

death. That argument overlooks two factors. One is that playing God applies equally to how modern medicine often keeps people's bodies going long after their normal expiry date. The other is that the Supreme Court ruling may be more of a burden for physicians than a right. The risk that physicians will abuse the “privilege” of assisting death is low because it goes against what motivated them to enter medical practice and what they have been trained for. Also medical practice is subject to peer review more than most professions. Furthermore, for the physician it is not only a medical but also a moral issue.

3. It is unlikely that people will jump at the opportunity to request termination of life simply because

it is available. We make considered choices every day based not only on what is available but on what is needed, reasonable and right. That applies to smoking, use of alcohol, abortion and other options. We would not want any of these to be illegal even if we may abstain for medical, personal or moral reasons.

4. Even though medically assisted death is now legal, the choice is mitigated by the availability of

effective palliative care. Fortunately we have excellent palliative care services in Winnipeg, Steinbach and some other communities in Manitoba and improvements are called for where it is less available. In other words, medically assisted death does not have to be a choice out of desperation even when it is legally available.

5. The legality of assisted death is no longer in question. Now decisions have to be made about the

process in particular cases. When cure or relief is no longer possible the issue of legitimacy should not be a patient and medical decision alone but include family, religious and social considerations and involvement. A broad based review of each request should be made in order to be assured that no external coercion or patient desire to lighten the load for caregivers or a depressive state is prompting the decision.

6. The "life is sacred" argument can be used on both sides of the issue. To end life as in capital

punishment, to shoot someone over a parking dispute, to eliminate life in warfare is not treating life as sacred. On the other hand, when one’s own life has become intolerable even under the best of care, is the medical prolongation of physical life necessarily treating life as sacred?

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7. When life has become unbearable and intolerable in terms of the Court’s definition, can a case be made for ritualizing the death in a way that acknowledges the life that has been lived rather than demanding that the dying be protracted?

In the church we belonged to in PA a couple's marriage hit the skids. First a care group was formed to walk with them in their attempt to save the marriage. When reconciliation was not achieved, a care group was made available for the husband, and another care group for the wife to uphold them in the process of separation and divorce. Since their marriage had begun with a religious ceremony they were offered the opportunity to recognize the dissolution of their marriage with a religious act as well. In the end, the husband chose not to participate but the pastor and invited participants joined the wife in the church for a worshipful act of closure.

Could a parallel be drawn between providing a religious ritual that acknowledges a failed marriage and a religious ritual of acknowledgment when life has utterly failed a person? Are there circumstances in which having the family gather for such a sober event with prayers and rituals would be more meaningful than having the person risk dying alone at an undetermined time with family absent due to distance or circumstance? Such a scenario of course must not be created for the convenience of the family but based on the wishes of the dying person. The biblical example would be Isaac arranging for the blessing of Jacob and Esau when he had reached the end of the road. Whether any of us would choose this route in the face of an intolerable, terminal condition, I do not know.

8. Some of the current debate is focused on whether assisted death is legitimate. That horse has left

the barn. After the Supreme Court ruling, that debate no longer applies. The discussion and debate now is on limits, conditions and procedures.

Questions

1. Can physician assisted death be reconciled with our understanding that life is sacred? 2. How does physician assisted death compare to, and how does it differ from convictions we hold on

capital punishment, participation in war and abortion? 3. In light of modern medicine, what is a natural death anymore? How can a line be drawn between

physician assisted death and physician assisted prolongation of dying? 4. How can a person exercise the right to die under specific circumstances while being protected

from external coercion or internal motivation to free the family of a burden? 5. How can a family physician’s right to opt out be protected while avoiding the phenomenon of a

roster of death doctors? 6. Just as we regard baptism, church membership and marriage not only to be individual choices but

affirmed in the community of faith, how could the issue of physician assisted death also involve the community of faith? ⧫

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Book Review:

A Bird Must Fly by Dr. Eva Pip

Reviewed by Ruth M. Schroeder

For a period of time during the 1980s Dr. Eva Pip attended Charleswood Mennonite Church. It was a connection, as neighbors, with Dave and Mildred Schroeder that drew her in. She not only sang in the choir but performed self-composed piano pieces. We came to know about her very difficult and unhappy childhood. In adult life, however, she accomplished noteworthy and self-fulfilling achievements.

Her book, A Bird Must Fly, is classified as fiction. However, considering her childhood experiences, one wonders if the first part of the novel isn’t memoir related. Since she has never married the romantic element is touchingly imaginative.

Dr. Pip presently resides on an acreage near Beausejour, and before retirement worked for over forty years on water equality issues. She was, as the jacket blurb states: “full professor at the University of Winnipeg, author of eighty scientific articles, {particulars} about Ukrainian folk music,” and goes on to comment; A Bird Must Fly, is a thought provoking, intense story that reflects on the nature of the human soul and the ideals it strives for in its walk with God… . Her work in science has served to consolidate her firm belief in the existence of God.” ⧫

Israel: Trip of a Lifetime

By Justina Wiens

April 28, 2015: Our plane lands in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Jordan prides itself on its history of peace

among Christians, Jews and Muslims. Seventy percent of the people are of Palestinian descent. Mt. Nebo is here, the site where tradition has it that Moses received the Ten Commandments

and saw the Promised Land before he died. Moses is part of Judaism, Christianity and the Muslim faiths, with a God of Love at its centre, our guide tells us.

As we leave Jordan, surrounded by desert and sandy hills, I am reminded of the 40 days and nights (i.e. a long time) that Jesus spent in the wilderness. The Jordan River, which flows south from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, marks the boundary between Jordan and Israel (see map). It is in the fertile river valleys, with top soil that is many meters deep, that we find the land of milk and honey – not bee honey, but date honey.

The Sea of Galilee in northern Israel is the area around which Jesus did most of his teaching. It is the largest body of water in the region - about the size of Clear Lake in Manitoba.

In Jerusalem our hotel overlooks the wall surrounding the old city of Jerusalem. The wall, recently built, is twice as high and longer than the Berlin Wall. Old Jerusalem, with its narrow cobblestone streets, is central to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. The area is rich with ancient stories and archeological remains.

The Temple Mount, constructed in the seventh century, is said to be the site where Abraham

almost sacrificed his son Isaac. According to the Muslims, however, it was his son Ishmael. Jesus is traditionally understood to have been a precursor to Muhammad in the Muslim religion. Muslims also believe this is where Muhammad (.ca 570 to 632 CE) ascended to heaven. The Muslim Dome of

the Rock with its spectacular 24carat golden dome was built here in the late 7th century. We are not allowed to enter.

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At age 40 Muhammad began receiving revelations from the angel Gabriel, proclaiming that God is One! (God is not a Trinity); Muhammad was a prophet and messenger of God; and the Koran came from God. Islam traces its heritage through Abraham's son Ishmael. Ishmael was Abraham’s first born by Hagar, his wife Sarah’s slave, because Sarah was barren. Sarah had her own son, Isaac, when she was 90 years old and Ishmael 13!

Our Palestinian guide takes us to his 1425 CE stone family home inside the ancient Jerusalem stonewall. Several hundred years later, the family built a second storey. The third storey was added in 1917 by his grandfather. Every ten years the family holds a lottery among the heads of households who wish to live there. A maximum of 30 years of continuous habitation is allowed. Since Muslim religion forbids charging interest (usury in the OT), family members may borrow from a “box,” but they must have two family sureties who each can repay the loan in case of default. The family “box” helps with maintenance and renovations, but most of it is paid by the home’s inhabitants. The modest dwelling is now estimated to be worth 15 to 17 million dollars, given its antiquity. The dwelling can only be sold by unanimous consent of all family members, believed to be close to 1900 living descendants by now.

The water in the Jordan River is heavily used for irrigation purposes. Only a small

percentage of the water now reaches the Dead Sea. Our guide remembers the Jordan River as a

wide river. Now, in its southern reaches, the river is little more than a creek (barely deep

enough for baptismal purposes). A water shortage crisis is looming. The Dead Sea lies south and east of Jerusalem. The Sea is the lowest point on earth, and it is still shrinking. This Sea is surrounded by desert. The water is very dirty and extremely salty. No one in our group attempts

to sit in the water and read a newspaper.

Jericho, with its walls, is possibly the lowest and oldest city on earth, going back to 9,000 BCE. The site is strategically located. Any military force attempting to penetrate Canaan would first have to capture Jericho – which is exactly what the Israelites did (Joshua 3:16). We note however, that there is no evidence of walls in the time of Joshua. Since the region is seismically unstable, there is

speculation that earthquakes could have

caused Jericho’s city walls to tumble.

However, the ancient crumbled walls lie

well below the .ca 1400 BCE excavations

associated with the Israeli assault. It is

difficult to avoid concluding that any

massive structures must have been built

with slaves, given the lack of technology.

Since eating pork is forbidden in the Jewish religion, by law no pigs can be raised on Israeli land. However, non-religious Israelis (80% of the Jewish population) do eat pork. Hence, there are feed lots one foot above Israeli soil - therefore not on Israeli soil goes the argument. The owners won their case in the Israeli courts.

We are introduced to a dark side of Jewish history. The Jerusalem Holocaust

Museum is overwhelming. Most of the six million Holocaust killings occurred in the last 1½ years of WW II, after Hitler knew he was losing the war. Hence the Jewish need for a country of their own.

Israel: Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast (east

of the Golan Heights), Jordan to the east.

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Following the war, a steady flow of Israelis immigrated into the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced. A series of wars climaxed with the 1967 Six Day Arab-

Israeli War in which Israel trounced the Arab world and seized control of the Gaza Strip (from Egypt), the West Bank and East Jerusalem (from Jordan), and the Golan Heights (from Syria) (see map). The area under Israeli control tripled.

Israel rightfully believes it is surrounded by enemies. There is also a dark side for present Palestinians. Palestinians make up 25% of the Israeli

population, but their schools get only 2% of the budget. There is a water shortage. Therefore Palestinians are allowed water only one day a week. Their

apartment blocks are easily identified by rooftops that are covered with storage tanks. It is almost impossible for Palestinians to get a permit to build a home. According to Jewish Nobel

Prize nominee, Jeff Halper, who visited Winnipeg in February, 2015, only 14 building permits were issued to Palestinians in 2014. If a home is built without a permit it is bulldozed. By now the majority of the Palestinians have been dispossessed and locked into tiny islands surrounded by 600 Israeli check points.

Israelis are settling on Palestinian land illegally. Palestinians are not allowed to travel on the hi-ways. In some towns they are not allowed to walk on the streets. Soldiers harass children on their way to school.

All high school students spend time in the military after graduation. Given youthful lack of judgment, it is almost inevitable that many of them will have secrets to hide and justify.

Bethlehem is in Palestinian territory surrounded by Jewish settlements. All settlers have guns; they kill Palestinians at will. Only the deaths of Israelis get into the news. Life in Bethlehem now is a far cry from the tender story of the birth of the Christ child.

We hear from Nurit Peled, daughter of an Israeli general in the 1967 Six Day War. After her daughter was killed in a suicide attack in 1967, she became active in an organization of Jewish and Palestinian parents whose children have been killed in the conflict. In her view, Israeli has developed an Apartheid system that is worse than that of South Africa. Palestinians are not considered citizens of Israel. The west closed its eyes to the Holocaust and is now closing its eyes to the Palestinian plight.

Thus far, the Catholic Church has been unwilling to get involved. However, on May 15, 2015,

while we were in Israel, the Pope issued a statement supporting Palestine’s right to exist. Currently, neither the U.S. nor Canada recognizes Palestinian rights. The U.S. supports Israel unreservedly. Harper is threatening to take away the United Church’s charitable status because it is critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Israelis place huge boulders on roads to Palestinian land making it almost impossible for Palestinians to work it. If Palestinians move the boulders, they are arrested. Once the land has not been worked for three years, the ownership goes to the state.

We tour a 100 acre Palestinian orchard near Bethlehem, purchased in 1916. In 1991 the

government declared the property to be state land. The case has been before the courts since

then. First, the road to the land was blocked with huge cement blocks. In 2002 the family hired

bulldozers to remove them. Soldiers would not allow it. Israelis demanded to see the signed

deed for the land. It was produced. The Israelis countered, saying God had signed the Israeli

deed. The Palestinian lawyer demanded to see the Israeli deed! In 2014 bull-dozers destroyed

every tree on the farm (350 trees). Ultimately, an American Jewish psychologist brought

Jewish volunteers from Scotland who came and planted twice as many trees as before. The

family was finally offered a blank cheque to leave the land. They refused and remain defiant.

Sixty per cent of Palestinian land is now under Israeli control. There is helplessness and more hopelessness. The situation is volatile.

The European Union has decided to bar grants, prizes, financial assistance and collaborative

agreements with Israeli organizations and individuals located in the West Bank, East Jerusalem

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and the Golan Heights. Netanyahu remains defiant. The consensus is that the Jews are determined to push the Palestinians into the sea. God promised the land to them, not to the Palestinians. Besides, there was the Holocaust. Palestinians have no votes and no rights.

Christian Peacemaker Teams, created by the Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and the Quakers in 1984, have for 20 years maintained a project in Hebron, the Palestinian economic centre. CPT came to support local Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers in 1995 after 29 Palestinians were killed at prayer. They walk Palestinian children to school. They have been called “Nazis” and compared to ISIS.

On the news we hear of a 14 year old boy who “attacked guards” at one of the many check points and was killed. Chillingly, we learn he was the nephew of our bus driver. His sin - he had forgotten his ID card. A female soldier shot him at close range. We are told that a favourite activity of soldiers is to force boys to drink gasoline and then set them on fire. People are cut in pieces; children are burned; people are deliberately infected with diseases; grazing lands are poisoned. These actions are

justified with Old Testament scripture and the Holocaust. At this time, it is believed that Netanyahu heads the most right-wing coalition government in the history of the modern state of Israel.

This is a land where ancient historical personalities and events still influence current events very directly. ⧫

Charleswood Mennonite Church Retreat – May 30-31, 2015

Journeying on God’s Way

By Megan Klassen-Wiebe

About a month ago, on the weekend of May

30-31, many members of our church gathered together at Camp Assiniboia for our annual church retreat. The weather was perfect for us and we spend lots of time playing outside, enjoying each other’s company, and exploring the theme. This year the theme was “Journeying on God’s Way” and we spent the weekend learning about many different types of journeys. Some people chose to start the

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weekend with a journey on bikes as they travelled to Camp Assiniboia together in a cycling convoy. Once at camp, we started our weekend with some singing and a short introduction to the theme.

The afternoon workshops also covered several different ways of journeying. Julie Derksen led a discussion about the journey of learning. Richard Boyd took a group through the journey of making their own cheese while also sharing some of his own journey. Darren Grunau led a group out to tour the barn and shared about the new farm camp that Camp Assiniboia is running this year. Miriam Huebner taught us how to create intricate little dolls from pipe cleaner and string. In all of these workshops, we learned something about the journey, whether it was a physical journey, the journey of creating, or a journey that happens over time within ourselves.

It was great to see people make use of the prayer labyrinth painted on the grass, whether for a personal journey of prayer or as a racetrack!

Our Sunday morning worship included three people sharing about journeys. John Braun took a closer look at our scripture texts of Isaiah 6:1-8 and John 3:1-17; Josh Ewert reflected on his recent journey to the Philippines with a CMU study tour; Megan Friesen and Wendy Dueck reflected on the journey they have had leading Bible studies at the Women’s Correctional Centre in Headingly.

Overall, it was a great weekend to be out of the city at the beautiful Camp Assiniboia, spend some time in retreat, and be together as a church community. Thanks to all who came out and we’re looking forward to next year! ⧫