October 14th
Five Minutes on Friday #45

‘St Francis and the Sow’   -  https://youtu.be/yBJ3Llp_Lj8

Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them:
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.  [Galway Kinnell]

 

INTERNATIONAL WITNESS SUNDAY

Join congregations across our nationwide community of faith as we celebrate International Witness Sunday. This year we consider the question, “What is in your hands?” What has God given you and your congregation to use to bless your community and strengthen the global Body of Christ? As we look at the gifts that God has given us, material or spiritual, around the world, we see that we have enough for all. Just as Jesus faced a crowd of 5,000 with only five loaves and two fishes, we look at the global Body of Christ with faith that God provides. Let’s celebrate the gifts and relationships we share across borders and boundaries.

 

Mennonite Church Canada International Witness is committed to the creation, resourcing and strengthening of Anabaptist/Mennonite faith communities and to witnessing God’s work in the world through relationship-building ministries. Through the work of International Witness you can:

  • Support the emergence of new faith communities
  • Foster the vitality of existing faith communities
  • Equip leadership in these communities
  • Enrich disciple-making ministries
  • Support communication between congregations and our wider church

Donate to International Witness ministries by visiting www.mennonitechurch.ca/giving.

For information on International Witness ministries, visit  mennonitechurch.ca/international-witness

 

Below are two video stories from International Witness:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bu4ksrjpigr9z85/Gerald%20and%20Rie%20Neufeld%20-%20Japan.mp4?dl=0  - church in Japan

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7et4sppjma0i7a/Whats%20in%20your%20hand-sermon.MOV?dl=0  - church in Ethiopia

 

https://youtu.be/1LgGT0KXI1o - ‘Enough for all’