Music
Rest: Inspirations From Taizé
Gemma & Co. (Cathy Hardy and Karin Dart). MCC Supportive Care Services, 2006. |
The Dancing Violin
Calvin Dyck. MCC Supportive Care Services, 2006. |
The convergence of fine music and vital community service championed by MCC Supportive Care Services (MCCSCS), based in Abbotsford, B.C., continues with the release of these two CDs. Since 1991, various B.C. musicians and the MCCSCS have collaborated for a total of 21 recordings (13 of them by the West Coast Mennonite Chamber Choir). Net funds raised through sales support services for people with disabilities and those struggling with mental illness.
Calvin Dyck’s recording (with Betty Suderman on piano and Joel Stobbe on cello) is his fourth, and as the name suggests, is all about music that cheers the spirit and lifts the feet. The collection spans 14 countries and 300 years.
Gemma & co., the name Cathy Hardy and Karin Dart have given their musical partnership (which includes other musicians as well), makes a first appearance in the series. This CD is “soulful and contemplative,” with the song–prayers of the Taizé community of France as well as original compositions in a similarly meditative style.
To order these or other MCCSCS recordings, call 1-800-622-5455 or use this contact form.
Books
To Stand on Mountains
Helen Grace Lescheid. Essence Publishing, 2005. |
Those facing disappointment or difficulties will be inspired by this book of true stories, told or collected by Helen Grace Lescheid, member of South Abbotsford (B.C.) MB Church. Over the years, Lescheid has shared godly wisdom through personal experience in books, many articles, and speaking engagements. Obstacles can be opportunities for growth, she says, as we accept them as part of God’s plan for our lives.
38 Years of God’s Faithfulness with Child Evangelism Fellowship
Lydia Dyck, 2006. |
In 1968, Lydia Dick opened her Saskatoon home to a Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) Bible club, taught by students from Bethany College. A trained teacher, she was soon involved in the work herself, and later, when the family moved to Manitoba, she did religious instruction classes in schools. She coordinated the program in 12 schools as well as some 90 volunteers. This book (of 46 pages) recounts her experiences and conveys her love of ministry to children.
(Available from the author at Box 2536, Steinbach, Man., phone 204-326-6188.)
Looking Forward to the Nativity
Jon Farrar. Tyndale House, 2006. |
It’s too late for this year perhaps, but this book of devotionals – one for each day in December up to Christmas Day – is a guide to a meaningful Advent experience for families. Very short re-tellings of Old Testament stories take the narrative of God’s purposes from Christmas’s “seed” in the Garden of Eden to Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Each day also has a Bible promise, prayer, and family activity.
From Oma’s Kitchen: From Russia to Canada with Love, Courage and Gratitude
Selma Willms Turner. Judson Lake Publishers, 2006. |
A Time of Wonder, A Season of Joy
Selma Willms Turner. Judson Lake Publishers, 2006. |
Acts of memory take various forms. Cousins Selma Willms Turner and Neil Klassen celebrate their past in two coffee table books packed with recipes, stories, and colour photographs. From Oma’s Kitchen highlights dishes passed down within the family, such as cabbage rolls, wareneke, Kotletin soup, and moos, and includes a CD with instructions on making bread and zwieback. The second book highlights Christmas recipes and ideas, and includes a CD with Christmas music.
Turner (expert in the kitchen) and Klassen (designer, photographer) are members of South Abbotsford (B.C.) MB Church; their grandfather Abram Rempel was the founding pastor of that church. These lush-to-look-at books with their tempting recipes remind how significantly both family and faith are nourished by gathering around the table. To order, contact Judson Lake House Publishers.
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology
Eugene Peterson. Eerdmans, 2005. |
Living the Resurrection: The Risen Christ in Everyday Life
Eugene Peterson. NavPress, 2006. |
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading
Eugene Peterson. Eerdmans, 2006. |
Eugene Peterson, long-time pastor, professor emeritus of spiritual theology at Regent College, Vancouver, and well-known translator of the Bible into “American” (The Message) seems to write faster than many of us read!
Any one of his latest three books is well worth its while, but Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, the largest at more than 300 pages, is notable for what it undertakes: a bringing together of biblical theology with the lived spiritual life. Peterson’s familiarity with the details as well as the narrative sweep of the Bible shows in the compelling way he joins “grounding texts” in both Testaments to explore Christ “at play” – in creation (Genesis, John), in history (Exodus, Mark), and in community (Deuteronomy, Luke/Acts).
The other books, as their titles suggest, focus on specific themes: the resurrection as “the core reality of our spiritual formation,” and reading the Bible with “awed reverence – for the revelatory and transformative power of words.” In the latter, Peterson also describes how he ended up in the company of biblical translators.
The Leader’s Legacy
David L. McKenna. Barclay Press, 2006. |
Genealogies usually bored David McKenna, until he realized “God’s redemptive plan depends upon historical continuity through the generations . . . and sucession of leadership from one generation to the next.” He sees John the Baptist as a model for succession in Christian leadership and discusses 12 “rules” for the succession cycle, on topics such as accepting our role, timing our leave, celebrating our successor, managing our emotions, and letting history be our judge.
Cosmology, Evolution, and Resurrection Hope: Theology and Science in Creative Mutual Interaction
Robert John Russell. Goshen College/Pandora Press, 2006. |
This small book (118 pages) contains the proceedings of the fifth annual Goshen (Ind.) Conference on Religion and Science in 2005, with three lectures by theologian and physicist Robert John Russell, founder and director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, Cal. He spoke about the interaction of science and theology, the dilemma of suffering in nature, and the resurrection as “an act of God which transforms the regular structure of nature into a new ‘paradigm’.” Post-lecture questions and responses are also included.
—DD
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