Emmanuel Mennonite

Teddy Bears' Prayer Meeting

For our second prayer evening this month, our Mennonite Church Canada materials suggested a display of teddy bears because Colossians 3:13 tells us to "bear with" one another.

Bearing with one another doesn't really have anything to do with teddy bears--but at least it would make for a memorable display, and it gave me a chance to bring a few of my bears to church:  Tennessee Sunshine Princess Buttercup (from Nashville); Cranberry Baby (from the Calgary Airport, named for her cranberry-coloured nose); Dr. Edward Leonard Lo (an English professor who sits on top of my writing files at home); Smokeless (who looks like Smokey the Bear, but since we have a non-smoking household, he was dubbed Smokeless); Consolation (bought a number of years ago when my mother was diagnosed with lymphoma).

The bears were glad to be part of the display for the evening, although they weren't so happy with being unceremoniously dumped into a plastic bag for the trip to the church--fortunately bears are very forgiving, which is another part of Col. 3:13:  "forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."