Hillcrest Mennonite Church

Sometimes life can be playfully cruel to some. No matter how they spend wisely when unfortunate events like divorce or health problems occur, their financial status is placed on the rocks. Credit card issuers can be sympathetic but there is no way they will be lenient with your debts. You just have to accept the unfortunate situation and understand that the most decent way out is to pay them in full. To do this, look for free debt consolidation ads on the internet and see what they can offer. Debt relief companies surely have feasible credit card debt consolidation solution to offer.

On June 19th I attended a fund raising dinner at Conrad Grebel University College. The speaker was Jack Suderman, General Secretary of Mennonite Church Canada. He spoke on identity and leadership formation. One of the more intriguing moments in his speech was his experience in the 1980s of being part of a small group to have a personal meeting with Fidel Castro. Here is an excerpt,

We talked about a lot of things. He asked us what we had seen in Cuba and what our impressions were. He talked about his passion to provide health services to Cubans, and make sure that education was freely available to all. He talked about providing shelter for the homeless and more equality for the poor. He talked about the achievements of the revolution and compared conditions to the pre-revolution Batista times. And we indicated that we had seen fruit of these efforts, and that we were there to learn more. And he began to talk about the church, and about the Christian faith. He said that Christians are good and spiritual people, and he joked that we were surely concerned about getting to heaven. And he said: “You know, I think I should get to heaven too. From what you’ve seen about how we have helped the poor, do you think there’s room for me in heaven?”

And he held up a copy of a brand new biography of him that had just come out that week. And he pointed to page 29, and he said: “This biographer says here that the Cuban revolution was inspired by Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto. You know, that’s wrong. It was not inspired by Marx. The Cuban revolution was inspired by a carpenter from Nazareth who went up on a mountain to teach. And it was inspired by the sermon from that mountain.”
And he talked to us about his education in the Jesuit schools. And about how excited he was to learn about Jesus and his teachings, something he never had heard in church. And he asked his teachers how come he could never hear this in the Latin mass; and why they were not told what Jesus taught and how he lived. And he talked about how badly he wanted to know this Jesus better, and how excited he was about what little that was available to him. And then he made a statement that continues to be seared into my memory. Shaking his finger in his characteristic way, he said: “Remember that the Cuban revolution was in 1959; three years before the beginning of Vatican II. If the Catholic Church in Cuba in 1959 would have been like the Catholic Church in Nicaragua in 1980, there never would have been a Cuban revolution of the kind we know. But the church wasn’t doing what it was designed for, and so someone had to.”

Suderman continues that his sadness is seeing how the church failed to engage such zealous enthusiasm and wonders how it is that we can be doing the same without the institutional restrictions of something like pre-Vatican II Catholicism.

Suderman challenged us to pursue ecclesial identity and stir up imagination which believes that perhaps God’s Kingdom is actually among us.

Click on image for full size.

This last Tuesday our junior youth had the opportunity to move from Me to We (our theme for the year) as they donated money from their fundraiser to Hidden Acres and to Sarah Sine and Jaime Doucet who will be swimming Lake Ontario in support of Multiple Sclerosis.

This Wednesday is the first night of our four-week series on the Bible.  Come on out and let’s explore this together!  Supper is at 6pm and the class goes from 7-8:30.

Tues. Feb. 5 6:30-7:30 PM Pancake supper at Hillcrest served by Venture Club, followed by ‘Ash Wednesday’ Service 7:30-8:15.

Wed. Feb. 6 – Mar. 19 Noon Soup, Sandwich, Sermon & Song! Lenten Services at Zion United Church, New Hamburg. Theme – “I am …” …shepherd, light, bread, way, truth …Free-will offering to support the Canadian Bible Society.

Month of Guided Prayer – Join with other Mennonites in the K-W and New Hamburg areas in a Month of Guided Prayer beginning Sunday eve. Feb. 10. We’ll be praying with the Gospel texts for Lent individually and in weekly small groups. Registration: $25.00. Registration forms are available in the literature rack. Sponsored by the Mennonite Spiritual Directors of Eastern Canada. 

I thought I should highlight a few events coming up

Lent will be starting with a Pancake and sausage Supper for the whole church (put on by the Venture Club) to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. This will be followed by a brief ‘Ash Wednesday’ service. This will be on Tuesday Feb 6 from 6:30-8:15.

Starting Sunday Feb 10 we will be having three Sunday evening discussion on the topic of Sexual Orientation and the Church. These sessions will be held from 7:30-9:00.

Hope to see everyone out!

Last Sunday we had a great turn out at our third potluck discussion time. Here we explored what we thought it meant for the church to be a part of the community around us. Look for the minutes coming out on what we all talked about.

A few weeks back Venture Club hosted Hillcrest’s Got Talent. We had a tremendous turn out with standing room only by the time with started the show.

Many gifted performances were given.

And well some of us find our talent it being just a little odd.

Thanks to everyone for making this such a memorable event.

For more information on the Saturday learning tours at Six Nations see here

Jan will be leading a group on Feb 23
David will be leading groups on Mar 29 and Apr 19

New Sunday School Elective, starting Nov. 25 — Adventures in Missing the Point by Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren. “If you’re brave enough to take an honest look at the issues facing the culture–controlled church–and the issues in your own life–read on. Join the authors on an adventure–one that’s about uncovering and naming faulty conclusions, suppositions, and assumptions about the Christian faith.” Led by John & Heidi Bailey.