Place of Meeting May 2015

Place of Meeting

A time of resurrection TUMC marked Good Friday and Easter with solemnity and joy, many arising in darkness on Easter Sunday to witness a cold but glorious sunrise by the lakeshore, breakfasting as the disciples did with the risen Lord on simple fish and bread cooked out of doors. In the past month, we have celebrated the courage and faith of some of our Anabaptist foremothers with an exhibit of art by Ray Dirks, and reflected on the suffering still endured by refugees and by the original peoples of this land. More on this rich and meaningful season inside.

Toronto United Mennonite Church

May 2015

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: June 2 Have you discovered the allcolour online version of Place of Meeting, complete with live weblinks? Check this month’s issue out here: issuu.com/pomeditor/docs/ pom_may_2015l NOTE: New address for submissions: dmartens4@cogeco.ca Editor: Doreen Martens

Place of Meeting Page 2

Worship services can get long for little ones, especially when there’s all that grownup social time after; it’s always fun to enjoy traditional breads on Easter morning; and oh, what a joy to have brass as part of our Alleluias on Easter!

Who we are and where we are: Are we all culpable?

A story by Gary Harder

R

osemary, Alberta, my home territory growing up, was a fertile oasis in a semi-arid prairie landscape – an oasis created by a water supply. Irrigating was very labour-intensive (slogging through ankle deep water in rubber boots, spade in hand, laying canvas dams and digging water channels all day long, and into the night) but this water source allowed Rosemary to flourish economically. And it provided a home for a unique disparate community. It featured a Buddhist temple, a Mormon “temple-church” and a Mennonite church ––three communities that had a history of persecution in common.

As a youngster it never occurred to me to wonder how it happened that I went to school with Japanese and Mormon and Mennonite schoolmates, and formed friendships with some of each. I certainly argued with Ron Gibbs, a Mormon friend, about whether God was a Mormon or a Mennonite. But when he went off on a two year “mission” I was quite impressed.

My friend Keyoshi invited me to go along with him and his parents to watch a Calgary Stampeder football game in Calgary. I was thrilled (even though Calgary lost to the Saskatchewan Roughriders). They even took me to a Japanese restaurant where I marvelled at how Mr. Iomoto slurped down a huge bowl full of noodle soup in just moments. Every fall I was hired by various Japanese farmers to help harvest their potatoes. But I never knew their story. How did they come to be in Rosemary?

Coming Events April 26 - May 17: Four-week series in our Sunday worship services hearing the voices of our First Peoples: “Who we are and where we are” May 3: Taize Service 7 p.m.

May 9: Community Open House meeting for neighbours to hear about Aurora House, 2 p.m.

May 10: Ecumenical celebration of music and prayer at St. Aidan in the Beach Anglican Church at 4:30 p.m.

June 6: Spring Cleanup Day June 12-14 TUMC all-church retreat at Silver Lake Mennonite Camp

I knew a bit about our Mennonite story. My father moved to Rosemary in 1934 because the Canadian Pacific Railway offered relatively cheap land along their railroad system, land they had been given by the Canadian government for their feat of building a trans-Canada railroad. The extra enticement they offered was providing water for irrigation. This ranked high with us Mennonites.

And with the Mormons who had immigrated northward a few years before we Mennonites came.

The water for irrigation was provided by a dam which the CPR built on the Bow River near Bassano, a small town 12 miles west of Rosemary. Our church sometimes held its annual Sunday school picnic at the Bassano Dam. And it was a good place to go fishing.

Most of us youngsters learned how to swim in the ditches and canals created to transport this water to our thirsty land. And this water was the source for creating “Rock Lake,” southeast of Rosemary, another good place for fishing.

Place of Meeting May 2015 page 3

Who we are and where we are

But what brought the Japanese to Rosemary? Only much later, long after I had left Rosemary for good, did I learn of the Japanese internment camps during the Second World War. These excellent farmers, and my Buddhist friends, and the girls with their splendid dances in their colourful kimonos, had been dispossessed of their land and belongings, suffered internment, and had finally been “allowed” to go elsewhere to live. This is what brought some of them to take advantage of the irrigation farming opportunities in Rosemary. I was totally ignorant of their story.

Growing up I was vaguely aware that there was an “Indian Reservation” near Gleichen, about 35 miles from Rosemary. Very occasionally young men from that reserve stopped at our farm looking either for a handout or for some temporary work. My memory is that my parents always treated them respectfully. But we youngsters certainly had our prejudices.

In 1973 Lydia and I adopted a two and a half year old daughter –– a native daughter. We had not specified native. Already having two boys, we simply wanted to adopt a girl. What we received was a native girl –– a very beautiful black-haired native girl.

What we were unaware of, was that we became a part of what later became known as “the 1960s Scoop.”

The Scoop, as our First Nations people call it, was an indirect government program carried out by the social welfare system which took native children out of their own families and adopted them into white families. In essence, it was a program to “take the Indian out of these children.” It had the same purpose as the Indian Residential School system. Many Mennonite families innocently became part of this horrendous program, with huge negative consequences for native people, and for many of these children –– and their parents.

A personal “irony,” or is it “providence,” is that when our daughter began exploring her native roots, she discovered that she came from the Siksika Blackfoot Nation –– the very reserve 35 miles from where I grew up. It may be that I even played hockey with some of her uncles.

Five years ago I became aware of another story I knew nothing about, one that has affected Rose-

Place of Meeting page 4

mary –– including Mennonites and Mormons and Buddhists equally. The CPR built the Bassano Dam on Siksika nation property without their permission.

There was no agreement. It was illegal. Our community became prosperous at the expense of those whose land it was by treaty right. (The CPR and the Alberta Government and the Siksika nation did come to an agreement, including some financial compensation, a few years ago.)

And so it is that my personal story carries a lot of history, and complicity, with it. Do we regret the adoption? No, not at all. We love our daughter dearly.

And our grandchildren. But we do regret our own naiveté, our own assumptions that our daughter could grow up in our “white” culture without needing to know her own people. Ours and our children’s and grandchildren’s lives, and our relationship with them, are immensely complicated by the dynamics of “the Scoop.” I do deeply regret that our governments have promoted residential schools and scoop adoptions and building dams without permission on native lands. As a citizen of this country I share blame and now need to find ways to renew a relationship that has integrity with First Nations people.

It has been a huge privilege for us to have been invited into the lives of a number of First Nations people, to have been able to attend powwows, religious ceremonies, host parties, and experience a “sweat lodge.” Their hospitality and welcome has been there for us despite our complicated relationships.

My personal “Who” and “Where” has its origins in Rosemary. Who could have imagined that even then and there I was already implicated in the many abuses perpetrated on our aboriginal peoples. And yet my home also gifted me with the kind of boundary breaking relationships which give me hope for the future.

Supporting Luis

O

n April 18, TUMC hosted the launch of a campaign to persuade the Canadian government to grant our member Luis Mata his permanent residency. Mark Andrews and the Thiessen trio performed music for the occasion, and a series of speakers gained the rapt attention of a full house of supporters.

Some 150 signatures were placed on a paper petition, while an online petition has collected close to 900 names. Thanks to all those who participated and are supporting his cause, including by signing the petition and/or contributing to his legal fund.

Some background: Luis Alberto Mata is a Convention Refugee, writer, researcher and human rights activist from Colombia. He has lived in and contributed to Canadian society since his arrival in 2002 and recognition as a Convention Refugee in 2003.

Luis fled Colombia for Canada in 2002 when his life and that of his Diana and their young son were under threat. He was at risk due to his work as a social justice advocate and author, as he exposed some of the worst human rights violations in his country. Diana, a lawyer and member of a human rights organization was also intimidated and threatened by paramilitary forces.

Within a year of arriving in Canada, in 2003, he and his family were recognized as “Convention Refugees� by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board. With this clear and unequivocal recognition of the risk they faced in Colombia, within 180 days they applied to become permanent residents of Canada. Luis and his family should have been quickly granted permanent residence, which provides a pathway towards Canadian citizenship. However, for more than a decade they have been subjected to bewildering delays with no resolution in sight. To this day the Canadian government has not provided a clear explanation as to why this has taken so long. This is in spite of the fact that since arriving in Canada, Luis and Diana have become pillars of their community while raising their son.

Place of Meeting May 2015 page 5

Supporting Luis

Despite having the support of his community and local and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and PEN Canada, Luis has been left in limbo. As a result his opportunity to enjoy the social, political and economic rights awarded to Canadian citizens and opportunities to fully contribute to Canada has been stalled since 2003. He can’t vote, travel freely outside Canada’s borders without overcoming administrative hurdles, access credit, serve on a jury, and risks discriminatory treatment in housing and employment because of his clearly identifiable temporary SIN number. In effect, by not deciding on his application the Canadian government has place Luis in limbo and made him permanently precarious.

The limbo and uncertainly in which Luis has been forced to live needs to end. He and his family deserve to know that his place in Canada is secure. He must be granted permanent residence. Now.

From top: the family speaks to the crowd of supporters; Gloria Nafziger, refugee coordinator for Amnesty International; Mark Andrews performs on the piano.

Photos by Tim Schmucker

Sign the petition for Luis Mata at http://nolivesinlimbo.org

Place of Meeting page 6

Sharing our SOOP

By Ed and Sharon Heide As some of you know, we spent the month of February in spring-like sunny Reedley, California volunteering with MCC’s (Mennonite Central Committee) SOOP program (SOOP stands for Service Opportunities for Older Persons).

It was our first such assignment, coming after Ed’s retirement in December.

The setting was MCC’s regional headquarters, with offices, a tea room, a major quilting and rug-making store, and then a large thrift store. We spent 95% of our time in the thrift store named “Nearly New”. We were warmly welcomed by the few paid staff and by the many local volunteers who spend varying amounts of time in the store. There was a really nice mix of resident Mexicans and Mennonites, as well as a few special needs students from the local community college on placement here. Our jobs centered on receiving donations of clothing, books, furniture, appliances, etc. through the back door, sorting, cleaning, and pricing articles and getting them onto the sales floor. Their slogan was “In the door, on the floor, out the door in 24 (hours)”. The turnover of product was quite impressive, with daily sales averaging $1200. We also spent time at the front cash register, where we witnessed buyers enjoying their great deals!

The work hours were 9-5, Monday to Friday.

We were given a nice home to stay in by ourselves, along with bicycles to ride the 3 kms to work. It was fruit tree blossom time in the valley, and so we enjoyed getting to see the blossoms of a wide variety of fruits, including almonds, pomegranates, walnuts, peaches, pears, grapes and cherries.

The orange and grapefruit seasons were in full swing, and so we had our share of those! On weekends we explored the surrounding areas, including Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Forest, both so impressive in their natural beauty.

We were tremendously impressed by the Mennonite community’s support for MCC. The area is home to a large Mennonite Brethren population and then a much smaller MC USA group. Even though we could sense some pretty significant differences in belief systems between the two, when it came to MCC, they were of one mind. Already in February, much work was being done in preparation for the big annual MCC sale in mid-April.

Ed and Sharon Heide at work in Reedley.

As we left Reedley, we wondered how our next SOOP assignment could ever match our experience here. We will see where the path will lead to next.

Place of Meeting May 2015 page 7

Into the heart of the mystery: Good Friday

TUMC marked Good Friday with two very different but equally meaningful services. The morning familyoriented service invited groups of participants to travel around the building visiting a series of stations. In the Upper Room, children and adults alike were invited to remember the events of the Last Supper with handwashing and a reflection around grapes and bread, symbolic of the Communion elements.

Place of Meeting page 8

Into the heart of the mystery: Good Friday

Participants were invited to walk a labyrinth, an ancient pattern meant to aid in meditation as the walker takes a symbolic journey into the heart of the mystery of our faith. Each walker picked up a stone and placed it on arriving at the centre. In another room, a simple craft of making tissue flowers hinted at the Easter celebration to come.

Place of Meeting May 2015 page 9

Into the heart of the mystery: Good Friday

In the sanctuary, a modified Stations of the Cross told the story of the crucifixion in terms children could understand, followed by an anointing with fragant oils, a reflection both on death and on the sweetness of the coming Resurrection.

Place of Meeting page 10

Into the heart of the mystery: Good Friday

A quiet evening service featured beautiful reflective music, much of it in the Taize style, and the telling of the Crucifixion story in scripture, prayer and Communion.

Place of Meeting May 2015 page 11

He is risen!

The sunrise service came on a cold snowy morning, but the gorgeous dawn, simple worship and delicious fish and bannock were ample rewards.

Place of Meeting page 12

He is risen!

After breakfast –– and a dousing of the fire by disciples Peter and John –– attenders at Easter worship were greeted by live chicks and bunnies, traditional symbols of new life, in a display created by the Alexander-Unger family.

Place of Meeting May 2015 page 13

He is risen!

Easter worship at TUMC was full of colour, splendid music and joy as children were invited to “flower” the cross with the tissue blooms made on Good Friday.

Place of Meeting page 14

A cloud of witnesses

We were surrounded by a “cloud of witnesses� for three Sundays running by an amazing exhibit of art and story panels created by Winnipeg Mennonite artist Ray Dirks, telling the stories of women of courage and faith who brought their families out of the trials and trauma of the Soviet Union to the Americas. The exhibit, just part of a larger collection, will travel to the Mennonite World Conference assembly in Harrisburg, Pa., this summer.

Place of Meeting May 2015 page 15