Events

“Food & Faith: Mennonites Farming Locally and Globally”

Mennonite sociologist Winfield Fretz called farming the ‘sacred vocation.’  Even though fewer and fewer Mennonites are involved in it, we are all dependent on, if not blessed by it.  We used to talk together about farming and faith a lot more when more of us were farmers.  Maybe it’s time to talk again. 

"Where Moth and Rust Destroy: Archives and the Contest over Anabaptist Information"

Archives set the parameters of what we can know about early Anabaptists. Examination of archives’ own histories shows that, far from neutral repositories of historical evidence, these collections intensified conflict between early Anabaptists and their opponents. The management of information about nonconformists contributed to their repression, while Anabaptists’ documentary response supported their efforts to survive. 

Attend a film screening of The Fault In Our Stars and follow up discussion from 7:oo p.m.-9:30 p.m. at Grebel, as part of the Absent Friends Film Series. 

Based on The New York Times best-selling book by John Green, The Fault In Our Stars follows two adolescents living with cancer who fall in love. 

Watch The Anabaptist Story Lives On: Virtual Museum and Archives Tour with Anabaptist museums, archives and heritage centres across North America. Beginning May 12 at 8 pm EDT and on Tuesday evenings following, watch 20 minute presentations followed by a chance to ask questions. Free Registration and More Information

2020 Benjamin Eby Lecture

The #MeToo movement has placed sexual violence in the spotlight and Mennonites are asking; “What does it mean to be people of peace when sexual abuse and assault is woven into the fabric of our own communities?” Through a survey of church periodicals, I will show that some Mennonites have been working on this topic for almost fifty years.

Join the Grebel Community for a special virtual chapel service to celebrate the arrival of our new hymnal Voices Together. This special service is open to the public and will feature a homiletic reflection by Distinguished Alumni award winner Sarah Johnson. The service will include music and worship resources from Voices Together. 

Three cookies baked by local Old Order Mennonite women in 1984 lie in a box at the Mennonite Archives of Ontario. How they came to be here involves a patent dispute, a famous cookbook author, and a series of events that inspired a stage production and screenplay. Perhaps this lighthearted tale holds some lessons for us today? Join Archivist Laureen Harder-Gissing to find out.

Blackness, Whiteness and the Anabaptist 'Imagined Community' in Print and Mission

This lecture will premiere via YouTube on March 11 at 7:00 PM and is viewable without registration.

A virtual Q&A will follow, and requires registration to participate. Please register here to participate in the Q&A.

Composing Louis Riel's Dream: Exploring the history of the Red River Settlement through family stories and music

In the last two years, instructions to "shelter in place" became familiar around the globe as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This lecture considers what it means to shelter in place, not just in terms of emergency management, but as a deliberate practice with ethical and ecological effects. What do poets, walkers, and weather observers teach us about the value of dwelling in place? What does shelter look like for those who are forced to leave their homes? And when prevented from staying in place, how can a person dwell? Is it possible to shelter in time?