 A Postcard and a Prayer |
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| Mennonite Women USA |
November 2008 |
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"The injustice of world hunger requires us to eat a moderate diet at all seasons of the year." Jocele Meyer, Fresno, Ohio
"May the Lord grace you with a sister to carry you when you are weak and to dance with you when you are strong! And may the Lord serenade us all with a tender love song as with linked arms our feet find their way home." - Cheryl Hollinger, Atlantic Coast MW dinner | |
New MW USA web site opens
Take a look at our new website - redesigned, updated - and opened in the last two weeks. On the site you'll find a variety of resources for women, ministry opportunities, group resources, timbrel archives, Postcard & Prayer archives, and links to contemporary issues. Added in November is Marlene Kropf's newly revised article on "Women's Spirituality" with a forward by Marcus Smucker.
Many thanks to the MC USA Information Technology staff who labored patiently as our Sharepoint teachers in this team endeavor equipping all MW USA staff to work on the web - Lois, Berni, Patty and Rhoda!
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Help Women Theologians
Learn more about women theologians in our worldwide church and a giving project to help women theologians from Africa and Latin America gather in Paraguay at Mennonite World Conference. This need was featured in "Cup of Water" in the September-October timbrel and in the November-December timbrel "Across the Border, Across the Ocean" column. For more information, contact Edie Tschetter by email or by telephone 605.925.7009. |
| timbrel: Keeping holidays holy days
Be sure to read the November-December issue of timbrel: women in conversation together with God which focuses on holiday traditions. In this issue Maria DeLeon, south Texan resident and president of MCC  Central States, describes many of the holiday traditions Americans of Mexican heritage celebrate; Julia Gerber of Sugarcreek, Ohio (pictured) explains how her tradition of preparing herself spiritually for Christmas weeks before it arrives helps her stay focused on that which is truly important to her; and Canadian, Maureen Driedger, reviews a book that helped her family better understand the meaning of the holiday traditions Christians routinely celebrate. The sister question asked in the September-October issue: What tradition helps keep your family focused on God during the holidays? generated several interesting responses. Vera Schmucker from Goshen, Indiana writes: For a few years our married son and daughter and families have donated money to Heifer Project instead of buying each other gifts. We still do stockings for all, however. This holiday season you might want to consider giving a subscription to timbrel to the adult women in your biological family or your church family-or both. To order individual subscriptions or gift subscriptions click here. To get the group rate discount for 10 or more subscriptions, click here. To subscribe to timbrel, send $14 for one year or $12 per person for a group of 10 or more to Mennonite Women USA, P.O. Box 347, Newton, KS 67114. You can also e-mail or call 800-794-5101, ext. 227. We'll start your subscription and send you a bill.
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Sister question for Jan.-Feb. timbrel
In preparation for the next issue of timbrel, which will focus on the importance of ethnic/cultural/gender diversity in the church, consider why you think such diversity is significant.
What experience with Mennonites from different ethnic/cultural/gender perspectives has most affected your understanding of God or your relationship with God?
Send answers (under 100 words) by Dec. 1 to Patty. Be sure to include name, city, and state.
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Constituent groups together
Did you know Mennonite Women USA is a constituent group of Mennonite Church USA? Pictured here are representatives of the five MC USA constituent groups at the Constituency Leadership Council, Glorieta, New Mexico.
Left to right: Carol Roth, Native Mennonite Ministries; Zenobia Sowell Bianchi, African American Mennonite Association; Jim Gingerich and Don Schmidt, Mennonite Men; Juanita Nunez, Iglesia Menonita Hispana; and Rebecca Sommers and Rhoda Keener, Mennonite Women USA.
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A prayer shawl on each table
With the theme "Let's Walk it Together, Caring for Each Other on Our Life Journeys," Atlantic Coast MW enjoyed a dinner meeting Oct. 24 at Conestoga Mennonite Church, Pa. Speaker Cheryl Hollinger shared wisdom gained through challenges and joys experienced in mentoring. At the close of the evening each table group was invited to give their prayer shawl centerpiece to one person at their table.
Pictured (left to right) are Evanna Hess, Lucy Rudy, and Donna Mast. Photo by Rhoda Keener.
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Matching Lydia Circle gift for 2008
Last year we received an offer to match five new Lydia Circle gifts in 2008, up to $2,500. We have welcomed four new Lydias this year whose gifts of $500 will be matched, thanks to the generosity of one of our donors. One match remains!
Your gifts make Mennonite Women USA's ministry possible. Contribute on-line. Please consider this ministry in your giving. Gifts are tax deductible.
Or send by regular mail to: Mennonite Women USA, 722 Main St., P.O. Box 347, Newton, KS 67114. |
A Prayer for Thanksgiving
By Raylene Hinz-Penner, Topeka, Kan.
Creator God,
It is the season of preparations for winter's cold in Kansas--darker these evenings and mornings; our tired bodies now long to be wrapped tightly, to lie still before a warm fire. I want to feel the early gratitude of Thanksgiving, not the dread I sense deep down as I absorb the world's fears--our hateful politics, not having enough, a distrust of human motives. That is it, God, being human among my fellow humans is all too real.
But when I have said it, I remember who I am, my own human failings: I know my place, and I begin to feel gratitude for my community of faith-- the good people who have lived through much harder times, those who say aloud their fears and ask for ways to show love, those who teach me by their acts of kindness and faith in God's goodness in this world, those who risk all they have for others, who work in the dark.
When I see God's work in the lives of those around me, throughout the years of my life, I am genuinely grateful for all I have, grateful for God's love to humanity, grateful for the good work I have to do and the health to do it. I know that the antidote to fear is love. Let me be where the world needs me this November, this dark evening.
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A Postcard & a Prayer is compiled by Mennonite Women USA staff Rhoda Keener, Patricia Burdette, Berni Kaufman, and Lois Loflin. |
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Know of others who would like to receive "A Postcard & a Prayer" e-mails from Mennonite Women USA? Have them send name, address, and e-mail Berni. | |
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