On Eternity Sunday, the last Sunday of the traditional church calendar, at Wildwood we take time to name and grieve for our losses in the past year. This year's snow storm meant that only a few of us met at the church building while most others joined online. This solemn service raises big questions for many of us, especially about death, resurrect…

This week we were excited to have Wyndham Thiessen ( Executive Director/Community Leader) and Alecia Thompson join us from L’Arche Saskatoon. They talked about building community and referenced some scripture texts that are particularly relevant to them in this context. We have chosen L'Arche Saskatoon to be our Annual Community Partner this year a…

What Colour is your Faith? This summer at Wildwood, we're exploring the model of Spiral Dynamics as a way to understand the many different faith perspectives that are within and around all of us. Billie Eilish. Mumilaaq Taqqaq. Hannah Gadsby. (Yup, we are shamelessly celebrity name-dropping to clickbait you into checking out this week's sermon.) Bu…

What does it look like to break the cycle of shame in practical terms? Embracing vulnerability in your relationships, with yourself and with others. Ben and Joe explain what that might look like, and then a dance party breaks out. Seriously. The song Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars was removed from this recording due to copyright.…

The prayer that Jesus taught us, or the Lord's prayer, outlines a vision for the kin-dom of God on earth. This Peace Sunday, as we are surrounded by narratives of war, scarcity, and fear, how can we rewrite the stories? How can we reimagine the ancient vision of shalom (peace) and make it make sense for our world today? Note: Song recording Your Pe…

This Sunday Andy Arthur, MCC Thrift Coordinator for SK and AB shared with us about a recent MCC Learning Tour to Uganda that he and Lisi participated in.

The Beloved Community, sometimes called the Kingdom of God, is political. How do we share life together, as followers of Jesus and children of God? How can we practice politics in ways that limit our self-interest in order to lift up those with the greatest needs?

The Beloved Community is one vision for creating a “truly brotherly society” (Martin Luther King, Jr.), a call for solidarity and harmony between all people. For followers of the way of Jesus, an important dimension of this call is the spiritual. The prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21 is an encouragement for the church to orient ourselves to the “Infinite…

This Sunday Len Rempel, Executive Minister of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan joined us for our Service of Installation for our new co-pastor Lisi Schröttner. Len connected the stories of Jonah, Andrew and Mary Magdalene and spoke to us about their different calls and different responses to those calls from God.…

Matthew 25 contains a verse that may be familiar to many, and is used to promote the work of nonprofits and politicians the world over: "Just as you did to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me" (NRSV). Jesus is inviting us to reflect on where we saw him in the least of those around us. From the hungry to the thirsty to the stranger, do…

What do jewelry, land titles and pottery have to do with peace? Dwight Eisler was our speaker this week.

"Consider the fig tree," Jesus says in Mark 13. As sure as the greening tree signals the coming of summer, the end of the world is both immanent and unavoidable. How do we prepare for these endings, large and small? And what hopeful note is hidden in the image of the fig tree that is also renewed in its time?…

What does belonging look like? It seems to be a bit of a moving target these days, especially in faith communities. We were pleased to have Tristan Norton join us to share about belonging in the context of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in his sermon "The Journey Home: Rediscovering Community and Connection in God's Love."…

"But can you tell us, exactly, who is our neighbour?" This question prompted Jesus to tell the now-famous Parable of the Good Samaritan. A neighbour responds to the needs right in front of them. We know that one. But as Jesus didn't actually answer the question, it's up to us to work out who is our neighbour, right now?…

“One day, a farmer went out sowing seed…” The Parable of the Seeds and the Soils (Matthew 13) is a familiar one. Jesus describes different conditions under which people receive God’s Message as four different types of soil. Obviously, we are meant to be like the “good soil” that produces the best harvest—or is Jesus up to something entirely differe…

Nature is wild. Many of us miss that, hiding out in our climate-controlled homes and carefully manicured gardens... And yet, the wildness of life is ultimately unavoidable. Wilderness finds us, ready or not. As we continue our "Wild Church" series, how might engaging with the natural world help to prepare us to hear from God in the all-natural full…

This Sunday we had Lisi Schrottner share with us. In Deuteronomy 30, we've reached a point of transition and choice for the people of God. Following their wilderness wandering and giving of the Law, the Israelites are about to enter the "Promised Land". They are invited to heed the instruction they've just been given, and thus choose life. The way …

Anabaptism began in Europe in the 1500s in small, often intentionally isolated, agricultural communities for the better part of four centuries. In the past 100-150 years, Anabaptism has experienced major changes: shifting its center from Europe to North America and then to the global South, becoming increasingly modernized, and culturally and theol…

What does it mean to be part of the global Anabaptist body? Jesus spoke of being a vine to which we are connected (John 15:1-17). The Anabaptist branches of this vine are varied yet we remain one. We have siblings in the faith in Ethiopia, Thailand, Kenya, and the Philippines. Our stories are intertwined and sometimes it gets messy but we remain co…

"From their innermost being will flow rivers of living water," Jesus said. This "River of Life" flows within and all around us, the way of shalom. In the baptism ritual, we name and celebrate this living water. And in the communion ritual, we practice living this way of shalom, each in our part of the Body of Christ. Come on in, the water is fine!…

The Mennonite tradition claims two rituals as central to our practice: baptism and communion. While other denominations claim these (and others) as sacramental--the essential means by which God’s grace is given--we hold them as “merely” symbols--pointing to the more significant transformation in progress beyond these practices. Does that make them …

When we follow Jesus, we see him building bridges and tearing down walls between communities, offering forgiveness and mercy rather than judgment, standing with “the least of these” in service and solidarity. and choosing sacrificial love as the way to peace. As Mennonites, reconciliation--right relationships with one another and all of Creation--i…

What do lotus flowers, butterflies and honey bees have in common? Following our Sunday Brunch on this last Sunday of the month, Peter Lippmann shared with us some thoughts on patience drawn from Psalm 37:3-7 and Philippians 4:8.

We were excited to work with Amanda Dodge, Program Director with MCC SK, to have a guest speaker from India join us this Sunday live via Zoom, as part of MCC's "Climate Action for Peace" campaign. Our speaker, Pabrita Paramanya, is an MCC staffer working in development and agriculture. Pabrita’s presentation covered identification of regions in eas…

How are we meant to read the Bible? Anabaptists take the Bible seriously as a guide for faith and life. Of course, that’s the claim of most every Christian church--so what makes an Anabaptist perspective different? Our tradition claims faithfulness to a simple, straightforward understanding of Scripture, to an interpretation guided by community, an…

Following our Sunday Brunch on this last Sunday of the month, Kari Thronberg shared with us some thoughts on self-esteem drawn from Psalm 139.

Jesus is the center of our faith. While our ways of living this out are many, Mennonites are followers of Jesus. We study his teachings, we follow his example, and we keep him at the center of our theology. This plays out in different ways in different settings, but this relationship with Jesus holds us together and is the basis for our shared valu…

An Anabaptist faith is rooted in the story of a particular place and time: the “radical reformation” of 16th century Western Europe. As political and religious shifts raced across the region, a small community of religious radicals challenged the state-sanctioned Christian hierarchies and formed their own churches based around a simple reading of S…

Our sermon this Sunday was a video recording of the message given by Mennonite Church Canada executive minister Doug Klassen at the recent MC Sask delegate sessions. Doug joins ancient religious leader Nicodemus in wrestling with how the identity of Jesus changes everything and shares some of his vision for the future of the church.…

We come to Easter Sunday expecting a happy ending, as we should, with Jesus having risen from the grave! However, the gospel of Mark leaves readers with an entirely different vibe: overwhelming fear. Why is that? And how is this story of fear still good news?

On Palm Sunday, Christians around the globe sing praises to King Jesus. And yet, when we read the gospels, on Palm Sunday Jesus actually walked away from the crown and all it promised. Why would he do such a thing? And what does it mean for us to follow in the footsteps of a man who would not be king?…

God’s light shines everywhere and always. We can embrace it or cover it; we all stray from the path but God is always with us. Let us open our hearts to the light so that God’s love can flow in and through us to all those we encounter. As the light does not begin with us and yet we have a part to play in reflecting and amplifying the light, so too …

Welcome to the journey of Lent! This season begins with a call to change, to "Repent and Believe the Good News!" But what kind of repentance are we talking about here? And what is the Good News? It's a long walk to understanding, and this is but the next step... come and see!

Following our Sunday Brunch on this last Sunday of the month, Don Epp shared with us from a book of stories about a prairie teacher (his Dad) in Saskatchewan. The stories describe what life was like in the mid '40s for a teacher in a one room school. Listen for Don’s sharing about the book From Between the Tracks by Dick H. Epp.…

What's your origin story? Our religious ancestors defined their beginnings through the Creation Story of Genesis 1. "In the beginning, God Created... everything!" What does this familiar story have to say about our place in this wide universe as we begin another journey around the sun?

God chooses to work through ordinary people like Mary, more likely clad in rough brown rather than silken blue. God still works through ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

This third week of Advent finds us looking for hope and joy amidst the unanswered questions of life. Not knowing can feel like darkness, failure, or disorder. And yet, God shows up with freedom, integrity, and good company. Come and see!

This second Sunday of Advent asks the question: "What shall we do while we wait?" While we may sometimes feel discouraged or uncertain about when or how God will act, like those in our scriptures, we are called to live and move in the world as God's people. Where do we begin?

Our Advent theme this season is How Will We Know? This first Sunday of advent we focused on the question How Long Must We Wait? Dr. Seuss and Joe introduced the topic of waiting and then Marg Epp helped us to think about waiting from the perspective of a refugee. Marg shared about the period of waiting that our refugee committee experienced back in…

Most years our Eternity Sunday service focuses on a time of remembering those we love who have died in the past year. We watch a slideshow of pictures, we light candles in their memory, and we have an open mic time for anyone to share about these and other losses as well. Here are the words of this year's ritual, along with a short sermon from Joe …

We were pleased to have Eileen Klassen Hamm, Executive Director for MCC Saskatchewan and a part of our Wildwood family, as our guest speaker this Peace Sunday. Eileen encouraged us to ponder how interconnected creation is, even in this very first creation story, and then wonder about how we might understand "dominion" as love, love of neighbour/ene…

The great prophet Moses devoted his life to getting his people to the Promised Land--but never made it himself. Our world is full of that kind of tragedy; people searching fruitlessly for meaning, purpose and belonging, even struggling for the basics of survival let alone prosperity. How can we possibly claim there is "enough for all" when so few o…

We were pleased to have Carol Penner as our guest speaker this Sunday. In her sermon Carol talks about the tension between deliverance and suffering in the life of Christians. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him; does that mean choosing suffering is always the most faithful choice? Yet God also calls us to freedom and deliverance. Ho…

This Sunday was our congregation’s opportunity to say “thank you” and “farewell” to Pastor Eileen as she retired after five years as pastor at Wildwood. Join us as we reflect on the presence of Lady Wisdom in Eileen's service and friendship in our congregation.

Things are looking pretty bleak, eh? I mean, we don't know the future, but when it comes to climate change it sure looks like things are going to get a lot worse before they get better... Given the magnitude of challenges facing humanity and the earth, our "Season of Creation" series can bring on feelings of despair and helplessness. What does it m…

Not all of our emotions in this Season of Creation are pleasant ones. The climate crisis is a loaded topic that generates strong reactions, including more than a bit of anger on all sides. What do we do with feelings of rage--our own, those from people whose values we share, and those of folks we think of as opponents? Can fury be part of a healthy…

Reflection on our relationships with the natural world and an invitation to deepen our awareness of all that is around us. We have many lessons to learn from plants and animals, perhaps most importantly the lessons of generosity, connection and interdependence. From Amy Peters

What do old mysteries, old stories, David and Goliath, and changing perspectives have to do with our ability to stand firm when the going gets tough? Hopefully something emerges as we study how to battle giants in this weeks sermon from Dwight Eisler.

Jesus’ last prayer for his followers was a prayer for Oneness. What does Oneness mean to you? What does it mean for us as the church of Christ? And why does Oneness with God and with each other - and even those we would rather avoid - even matter?

"Loving Others: Fight" - that's the theme of this fourth service in our Revolutionary Love series. As Mennonites, we feel the tension of that: fighting seems like the opposite of Jesus' way of peace! And yet, in spite of our particular tradition of nonviolence, fighting is a significant part of the Christian story. There is a way of fighting that m…