I grew up as a missionary kid in Pakistan. We had a jungle gym in our backyard and, very often, my sister and I would sit on the swings and play a game in which we would imagine we were grown up and living out the most ideal life we could think of: we were missionaries in the Peruvian jungle, with about 10 kids each. We homeschooled our kids and were, of course, the perfect missionary families.

In her article on singleness, Stephanie Fast raises the issue of reciprocity. One of the challenges of being single, she says, can be asking others for help with practical matters, knowing the favour isn’t able to be returned. This requires a certain degree of vulnerability, making it easier at times to hire needed help rather than ask.

I remember the first time meeting the post-secondary student advisor from my home reserve of Fisher River Cree Nation, I had never met anyone from here before and I was nervous.

Have you ever seen a vehicle where the dash in front of the driver is full of papers or books? It has scraps of notes, receipts, work sheets from a project or any other such thing cluttering up the top of the dash.

It started with a Bible study. Young families sensed God moving in revival. The good news of salvation in Jesus transformed their lives. Bible studies formed to discover the meaning of new life in Christ. Still, their church remained traditional and legalistic.

He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore (Micah 4:3; Isaiah 2:4).

As we continue to search for ways to meet our deep longings for communion with God and others, let’s consider how the practice of hospitality might be just the thing we need as we ride out this pandemic.

I (Jennifer Kornelsen) visited with Elvira Cote one rainy day this spring. Elvira is from Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan and she lives in Winnipeg.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been with us over a year. Since it began, we have been living under a constant diet of change with an overriding emotion of fear. Provincial and federal governments have mandated restrictions in hope of containing the virus, affecting every sector of society.

Looking back at March 2020, the coming pandemic had just shut things down in Manitoba, as in many other places. All of us were grappling with our new reality—loss of work or working remotely, virtual schooling, online church, physical contact with very limited individuals, a relentless news cycle and the accompanying anxiety.

“I can’t quite explain how distressing it was to have to go through the process of discovering I had mental illness while walking alongside well-meaning but ignorant people.”