Place of Meeting March 2016

Place of Meeting

Joy in the everyday TUMC kids know how to make the best of an annual general meeting, goofing it up while spaghetti was served during this year’s meeting. We’re doing a bit of catching up in this issue –– enjoy this look at what’s been going on around TUMC for the past couple of months.

Toronto United Mennonite Church March 2016

Place of Meeting

Scene around TUMC

is the meaning of the Huron word “toronton,” from which our city gets its name. Fittingly, it can also mean “plenty” or “abundance.”

Place of Meeting is also the monthly newsletter of Toronto United Mennonite Church. May you find plenty here to enjoy and ponder. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily of the congregation as a whole.

Contributions of all kinds are enthusiastically received, through the mail folder in the lobby or at dmartens@pathcom.com Next deadline: March 29 Have you discovered the all-colour online version of Place of Meeting, complete with live weblinks? Check this month’s issue out here: issuu.com/pomeditor/docs/ pom_march_2016l NOTE: New address for submissions: dmartens4@cogeco.ca Editor: Doreen Martens

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Top: celebrating with Alison and Doug Blair at the dedication of their son, Hamish, on Jan. 31. Above, little hands get into the fun as the junior youth bake cookies.

A taste of Italy at the AGM

The youth turned our humble basement into the Trattoria TUMC on the evening of Feb. 20, complete with checkered tablecloths, menus in Italian, a slightly menacing wait staff (cue the Godfather theme) and a delightful rendition of “Menno Lisa” on the wall. And, for diner’s pleasure, there was even a live violinist to entertain.

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A Taste of Italy at the AGM

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The Blanket Exercise On Jan. 17, our service explored the story of Canada’s aboriginal peoples through the Blanket Exercise, a physical representation of how the lands, culture and dignity of our indigenous brothers and sisters were taken away from them through the settler process. The moving service, following the completion of the Truth and Reconciliation process in Canada, reminded us all that there is still a long way to go in bringing about reconciliation, and that we all have a role to play.

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The blanket exercise

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Accompanying the hunters at Short Hills

By Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Submitted by Doug Pritchard.

For the second year, CPTers were among the supporters of the November Haudenosaunee deer harvest at Short Hills Provincial Park in Thorold, Ontario. In past years, Haudenosaunee hunters entering or leaving the park have been subjected to anti-hunt protesters surrounding their vehicles with flashlights aimed in hunter’s faces, waving placards and calling out various derogatory statements. In response, Supporters of the Haudenosaunee Right to Hunt organised to accompany the hunters and demonstrate respect for this exercise of treaty and inherent rights, joined by the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity team beginning in November 2014.

In addition to the Hunters, in the past local Haudenosaunee who came out in support also endured racism and harassment from protesters. The presence of supporters (includng CPTers) practicing nonviolent intervention and deescalation helped to change that dynamic. The second evening of the hunt saw Haudenosaunee and Anishinabe people drumming and singing to create a positive atmosphere, turning a tense protest site into a celebratory sharing of culture, music and food as the hunters headed home.

The team helped to set up a ‘Peace Table’ on site, funded in part by local churches and supplied by the vegan activist catering co-op Food Not Bombs, as a CPT-style ‘experiment in peacemaking’. The Peace Table had food and hot drinks for everyone, including hunters, supporters, anti-hunt protesters, police and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNR). It also served as a place for passers-by to learn what was happening. The aim was to shift the oppositional nature of the protest/supporter divide and invite non-Indigenous Canadians to relate to their Haudenosaunee neighbours in a better way.

Since the last hunt, local allies have been busy creating dialogue with the communities of hunt protesters. This includes animal rights activists, local property owners with safety concerns, and even non-native hunters seeking the right to hunt in the park. The success of

these outreach efforts is shown in the contingent of animal rights activists that joined the supporters, demonstrating that a commitment to animal rights does not require opposing the rights of the Haundenosaunee over their territory.

The new Canadian government has named the need for reconciliation. The Supporters of the Haudenosaunee Right to Hunt know that Canada’s existence is based upon treaty relationships with Indigenous peoples. Understanding that the Nanfan Treaty of 1701 guarantees the right to hunt for Haudenosaunee peoples is critical to healing the relationships between Haudenosaunee and settlers in Southern Ontario. The Nanfan Treaty was affirmed in R. vs. Ireland (1990) when it was ruled that the treaty is a living document.

Brian Skye, member of the Haudenosaunee Wildlife and Habitat Authority (HWHA) says, “that [treaty] relationship is based on mutual respect, trust and friendship. Our respect for safety has ensured we conduct ourselves accordingly. Our trust is that we are allowed to continue to practice our traditional methods of harvesting within the context of our mutual understanding of conservation. We continue to hope to build on the relationship so that we may understand that the accommodation that all parties have undertaken will result in a natural balance. The ecosystem needs to rebound so that indigenous plants and medicines can survive without invasive species being allowed to thrive.”

The MNR has identified deer overpopulation as one of the main reasons for devastated landscapes where flora and fauna are consumed to the point of erasure in the area. The crowding of deer herds into close proximity increases the spread of disease, which heightens the potential for harmful contact with nearby human communities.

The land management partnership between MNR and HWHA has the potential to develop a real nation-tonation relationship, where the rights, needs and skills of different communities are balanced in such a way that all are supported and the land is sustained for future generations.

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Celebrating Advent TUMC marked the season with song and many visual reminders of the this time of turning from indifference to love, from chaos to peace.

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Ding dong merrily

On Dec. 13, the third Sunday of Advent, our service was a purely musical delight, featuring many instrumentalists and singers from the tiniest to the eldest.

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O Holy Night

Christmas Eve, we packed the house with many dear friends and family returning to enjoy the candlelit Service of Lessons and Carols, featuring young string players and a wonderful quartet.

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Scene around TUMC

Left, the youth enjoy a planning meeting over pizza in December. Below, some of the 20s and 30s group enjoyed an afternoon of curling at the Leaside Arena.

Below, goodie bags delight the kids after the Christmas Eve Service. Junior youth get cozy in their construction-reduced Sunday school space. And Ken Salsman delivers a children’s story that made good use of his toolbox.

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A little bit of TUMC in Korea Many TUMCers will remember Bock Ki Kim, a longtime member of TUMC who now serves the growing Anabaptist community in South Korea, This article appeared in the Mennonite World Conference newsfeed.

On Jan.30, nearly 100 people gathered in downtown Seoul, Korea to participate in the first Korean Anabaptist Conference. The goal of the gathering, according to Bock Ki Kim, director of the Korea Anabaptist Center and co-sponsor of the event, was “to introduce Anabaptist theology and values in a public, academic setting” and to “challenge ourselves as Korean Anabaptists to see who we are and what we have to do in South Korea.”

Participants listened and responded to presentations by five speakers on the theme of “What is Anabaptism and Why is it Needed in Korea?” Presenters included John D. Roth, secretary of the MWC Faith and Life commission and director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism at Goshen College; Baptist seminary church historian Byung Doo Nahm; Sang Kyu Lee of the Presbyterian Kosin Theological Seminary; conference organizer and Baptist professor Ki Hyun Kim; and Won Bum Jung of the Daejeon Theological Seminary.

In the conversation following the presentations, the question of nonresistance sparked the most vigorous exchange. For the past 60 years, South Koreans have lived in the shadow of a nuclear power to the north.

Consequently, military service is an important part of Korean cultural identity, especially for young men.

The only recourse for conscientious objectors is imprisonment, a choice recently exercised by Sang Min Lee of the Grace and Peace Mennonite Church in Seoul, but his decision remains a highly controversial topic among Korean Anabaptists.

Today, South Korea is home to one of the most creative and dynamic expressions of contemporary Anabaptism anywhere in the global church, with potential for explosive growth in the future. The origins of Korean Anabaptism can be traced back to multiple sources. In the decades immediately following the Korean War (1950–1953), Mennonite Central Committee had a modest presence in the country. In the 1980s, several key Korean leaders, based in part

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on their contact with MCC personnel, began independent theological study of the Anabaptist tradition.

Several pursued training at Mennonite seminaries in North America. In 2001, a more formal relationship with Mennonite Church Canada Witness, combined with the energetic leadership of members of the Jesus Village Church, led to the formation of the Korea Anabaptist Center, which has since served as an important resource to the growing movement.

Dae Jang Gan Press has overseen the translation and publication of nearly 100 Anabaptist-Mennonite books into Korean. In fact, church leaders and others celebrated the book launch of the Korean translation of John D. Roth’s Beliefs: Mennonite Faith and Practice before the conference began.

Through this Korean Anabaptist Conference, various Anabaptist groups came together to offer a unified voice within the larger Korean Christian context.

“People want to see a healthy, biblical church, justice in the public square, and a tangible community based on the Anabaptist movement,” says Bock Ki Kim. “We hope that the conference can be a small catalyst for the future movement as well as a clear invitation to the participants to follow the way of Jesus Christ in their daily lives.”

-MWC Release by the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism

Scene around TUMC All generations get a chance to be up front at TUMC! Left, the youth report on their retreat.

Below, the tiniest new baby and one of the elder members of the congregations both have something to teach the kids.

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