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This Week

Sunday Feb 1, 10:30 AM Communion at Marden 

Tuesday Feb 3, 10:30 AM, Discussion at Wares'

For future plans see the >> Meetings << page.

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The Foyer

Hope
Our discussion group bundled up, dug out and ventured into the minus double digit frigid weather to get together this week. And what we talked about was “Hope”. We’ve been hunkered down for days following downright depressing news. We’ve used various techniques to deal with the overwhelming feelings of helplessness that falls over us. There is much to despair over. We really needed to get together. Because that’s step One. Reach out and find someone to talk to. Find allies and friends or strangers who care about the same things you do. They really are out there. Even finding companions in your misery can change how you feel. You are not alone in caring about — the climate, or food insecurity, or the unhoused, or the war in Ukraine or Minnesota… 

Our group has figured out step Two. In talking with each other we quickly move to the next question. What can we DO? Finding Hope follows the turn to action. “Passive hope” has no place in our conversation. There is no future in waiting for someone else to do something. Even waiting on God to work out God’s plan doesn’t do it for us. Involvement, engagement engenders real Hope. So we encourage practical steps we can take. Writing letters, donating to causes, bringing warm clothes to the collection points, researching local organizations already working on genuine help, finding partners where hope is already alive and working. Next week we officially launch “Feb u wear y.” Once again we’ll be collecting new underwear that we’ll be donating to Hope House. And we’ve recruited Harcourt United Church to join us. Partners in hope. I am so thankful for our Tuesday discussion group for providing relief from those winter doldrums and sharing Hope and motivation to be part of the solution.

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>> Some Useful Links <<
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The New Canadian Mission Centre

This past Saturday, January 17, will be remembered as the day Community of Christ in Canada began a new era as one unified mission centre. Read about it here >> Onward together <<

It's Winter
No question about it this morning with more than a foot of snow on my birdbath-- and everything else! Happy to hunker down. Our leadership team met this week on Zoom. No nasty icy roads to deal with; no finicky furnaces or drafty windows taking our attention.

So we put our attention instead to thinking about our mission and what we'll be doing this year. Scheduling includes renewing relationships with our partners in mission, hearing what they're planning, things they're proud of, where they can use our future support.

We recalled all the things that brought joy to last year and looked forward to future picnics, expeditions, participating in conferences and reunions. Reports from members of our congregation about ways they're making our community a better place. Meeting together in our circle for worship, singing, scripture study and all the many ways our Guelph Elora family will find to be a family. Looking forward to many midweek discussion where we go deeper into the vast array of topics we'll be exploring.

Not much news today but I'm happy to spend some quiet time reflecting and imagining the year ahead. What better to be doing on a day like this...

Jeremiah
Jeremiah lived in troubled times. Big power countries next door were exerting control over their little nation. Babylon and Egypt who were taking turns moving in on Judah kept the people on edge. Jeremiah tried to warn the people who thought they were protected by their “chosen people” status. They thought they'd be OK while they lived there in the safe shadow of the temple and kept up with their responiblities to the law of Moses. But no: the invaders prevailed and marched hundreds of the community leaders, eventually even theit king as prisoners to Babylon.

Meanwhile Jeremiah continued his voice of doom, telling the people it was all their fault because they had broken their covenant with God whom they had counted on as their protactor.

The scripture for the first Sunday of 2026 sounded weirdly like the news we're hearing every day. Our speaker struggled to find “Hope” in Jeremiah's words. We all sympathized with his efforts. Jermiah's nickname of “Prophet of Doom and Hope” was a hard one. Nebuchednezzer and Trump seem to be using the same playlist. Where is the hope?

But we stay with Jeremiah. We identify with his instructions about how to live in exile. Hope comes from action. From his own exile in Egypt Jeremiah writes to those iin Babylon and urges them to “plant gardens” and move into their neighbourhoods there. They should NOT keep themselves remote but unite their families and learn their needs. Only in making a place with the people and growing in their faith will they find the hope they are seeking.

This is what we have found here in our present search for hope in our own troubled times. Whenever we have moved out in action we have found others doing the same. We will continue to join our neighbours with a mission to serve the community. Sharing this way is the only way out of despair and into the pathway to HOPE. We resolve to continue in this way in 2026.

Foyer Archive

Year End

Christmas is behind us and the year is winding down. Everywhere we're seeing end of year lists: the ten best movies, top newsmakers, books you must read before it's too late...
We're encouraged to take stock of the year that's ending and set goals or make resolutions for the year ahead.

Guelph/Elora have had our final gathering for the year 2025 and we wrapped up our Advent season in fine fashion. We welcomed back some who had been absent and we sent out healing thoughts to those still on the sick list. We go into 2026 well aware of the challenges of aging and even the unexpected mishaps that can strike any family but we will get together as we are able and continue to pursue our mission together.

Looking back on our year we took pride in the ways we've made a difference. Just now we're celebrating the families that will have a real Christmas because of the work of the Adopt a Family program we supported financially. Our year-end donation of more than $2000 to the Guelph and Fergus food banks should help the epidemic food insecurity in our communities.

We love that we are putting music into the lives or little people and their families. We listened to our friend Carmen's story of a single mom living in supported housing with her baby who began coming every week to join their group and who is encouraging other mothers in her circle to come along. She's already signed up for the next year! (with our help)

We were glad to help World Accord when they were struck by a catastrophic cut in federal funding and to support Encounters efforts to spread the benefits of religious literacy in schools, police departments, businesses and others.

Our Advent series of stories based on the nativity parables was particularly meaningful this year as we looked for the meaning of Christmas in the here and now. We looked carefully at the real scripture lessons, some of the bits that might have got lost in the generations of pageants the squeezed out the "begats" or the political speech of Mary. We realized that Jesus' mother just might have been a spunky teen who really cared about a more equitable and just world.

Our final service told the story of the shepherds who sat on that dark hillside after the angels had left them and said to each other "Now what?" They didn't know the end of the story but they knew how to start. "Let's go!"

It's a bit like our story. We don't know where our little group will end but we have heard the angels' song. We've chosen not to sit in the dark but to get up and start making a difference. As we sang the hymn "No Obvious Angels" we realized that if Christmas is going to touch the here and the now it's going to be up to us.

We wish you all the blessings of the season and good things in the year ahead.
Happy New Year!

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We are small; we are big

Our Sunday group was pretty little this week. It’s the season of weather and flu and our numbers tend to shrink accordingly. However we did celebrate the third week of Advent in a most JOYful manner. We missed our absent members as we lit that pink candle, as we sang all the carols and heard the Mary story from Luke’s nativity parable. We were sorry they had to miss our potluck but we thoroughly enjoyed our feast. And our conversation was as rich as ever around a smaller table.

Tuesday’s discussion group happened to be exactly the same number. But this time it felt quite big. We often have fewer who gather to continue the discussions on Tuesday.

This week we reviewed the latest edition of the Herald. We frequently share thoughts from this global church magazine. It is good to remind us that we truly are part of a world-wide community. This time it reported the teams that have been reconstituted following World Conference 2025.We considered the priorities, mandates and membership of these global committees. This article reminded us that while we respect and follow the leadership of the Presidency, the Bishopric and the Council of Twelve Apostles, we realize that this small number of people can’t possibly do all that we, the membership, expect of the “Church.”

You know those time we’ve said or heard said “The Church should do this or that; or the Church should say something”? Well this is how they do it. Those ten teams pay attention to all those important issues the gathered membership identified at World Conference 2025.

The two important things are Nonviolence and the Climate Emergency. Those are priorities for our small group too. But we can’t tackle them alone. So we’re very pleased to learn that teams from the whole wide world are putting their heads together to read the signs and signals from their perspective and make recommendations to us about how we might respond locally.

We’ll be watching the Herald to learn what’s happening in other places, with other small groups also responding to the need for Peace and Justice, Human Rights, Earth Stewardship, Interfaith relations and Theology Formation. The heading of the article is “Goals to support global mission.”
We sometimes need a reminder that though our numbers may be small we are part of a world wide team engaged in a global mission, And in the spirit of the Advent season we will be Joyful to be part of such a grand and important mission.
We may be small but we’re BIG.

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World Accord’s first Accord Adventures learning trip is officially open for applications since the summer, and our full itinerary for the August 20–30, 2026p trip to Honduras is now available.
This immersive experience will bring participants, especially youth, to Honduras to meet our partner ASOCIALAYO, learn about women’s leadership in agriculture, explore vibrant cultural sites, visit local schools that were built by Al Wigood and friends, witness sustainable farming practices, and build meaningful connections with communities who are cultivating resilience and growth.

Stories

CBC National News is featuring a story about Robert Munsch today. Did you hear it? He’s a neighbour of ours. Guelph is very proud of this wonderful storyteller. Our community is home to lots of writers. Maybe it’s something in the water. Munsch will be donating his papers to the Guelph library. Our grand new library is nearing completion. We can hardly wait.

I met Robert Munsch and his wife Ann a few years ago at another event where the speaker was another neighbour or ours, Thomas King. He and his wife used to walk by my house all the time; and I often run into him at the grocery story. Jean Little lived in Guelph and Fergus. Children of all ages in both communities have memories of her coming to their schools. Most of those children have probably visited the home of John McCrae at some point. The Flanders Field poet also came from Guelph.

I must mention another writer I know well. Melinda Burns welcomed me along with a lot of would-be writers of stories, novels and poetry to her cozy studio. This year she published her own book of poetry. “Homecoming” feels very familiar to me and to many, many of those folks who would came every Tuesday or Thursday to write and listen to each other’s stories. Some of them are also now published authors.

My heart is hurting a little these days for our friend Tom King. You may have heard his story recently on the hews. He has taught me and countless others the importance of “stories.” The fact that his own story needs to have its facts corrected does not change the truth about stories. “The truth about stories is that that’s all we have.”

I’m thinking about this a lot these days as we’ve been exploring the nativity parables in the gospels of Mattew and Luke. These familiar unfamiliar stories are taking centre stage at our Advent services this month. We’re taking a new look at the familiar characters in the Christmas pageant. But we’ve done anew thing. We’re taking the stories apart and considering them separately.

All those writing workshops have been a great help to me as I’ve tried to get into those ancient authors’ minds. Jesus also taught his lessons with stories. We call them parables. What are the gospel writers but storytellers? Why did they write the story this way? Why did one of them tell Joseph’s story and the other one featured Mary? It’s been a real adventure.

Our “Matthew Pageant” is over. Next week we give Luke centre stage My Advent experience has been so enriched as I’ve looked at the stories through this new lens. Searching for the deeper meaning beneath and behind the nativity parables has been a real treasure hunt.

Christmas Music

I’ve noticed a certain conflict of thought around Christmas music. We tend to complain that it gets played way too early “No Christmas music before December!” We hear it every November. BUT then Advent arrives and our worship planners hear all the other complaints: “why don’t we sing more carols?”

There’s hardly enough opportunity to sing all the wonderful Advent hymns. For sure we never seem to use someone’s most favourite carol in our worship service. Then comes a snow cancelation the first Sunday of Advent!

Oh no! There goes the chance to start on our repertoire of Carols. And there is a great collection of Advent music. While there’s pressure to sing the familiar “Angels We Have Heard” and “Joy to the World.” People can’t wait to “Go Tell it on the Mountain” and to welcome “We Three Kings” – who really aren’t due until January!

And really we find we also DO love “The Canticle of the Turning”” People Look East” and “All Earth is Hopeful.”

Then there is the other conundrum. If we fill up our services with “Away in a Manger” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” when will we discover our new favourites? Imagine a Christmas without “No Obvious Angels” and “Star Child.”

Oh it’s a dilemma alright. And our congregation does love to sing. So we’re looking forward to the third Sunday of Advent. That’s the JOY Sunday and the day we’re gathering at Sharon and Daniel’s home for our annual carol sing. (Can we call this a new tradition?)

No constraints: we’ll just sing them all. If you’re longing for more Christmas music in your life want a chance to be with the community and share in the JOY of the season please plan to come along and unite your voice. Put in your request for that carol you can’t live without.

Oh and let’s bring your favourite brunch dish to share. We plan to begin at 11 o’clock (Note the difference) and then sing and eat until Sharon throws us out – well maybe 1:30 or so.

Meanwhile we hope to see you this Sunday for communion, combined advent themes Hope and Peace. We’ll hear Matthew’s nativity story and sing at least five hymns!

Anticipation

As I write this many of us are anticipating the arrival of a massive weather system. We’ve heard all the dire warnings about major wind gusts, snow squalls, whiteouts, driving hazards and were reacting accordingly—or not.

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. It’s a season of anticipation. And I imagine our practices around this season are very much like our readying ourselves for weather. Children anticipate Christmas in their way; parents do it another way, or ways. Because we all have our different “To Do” lists.

But Advent calls Christians to slow down, to take time for reflection and expectation as we look forward to the birth of Jesus and consider just what that means to us. I’ll not say more now because my writing muscles are very much engaged in producing a set of Advent stories for our congregation’s Advent services.

Perhaps these few thoughts will remind you all to make a place in your own anticipation time for some slower moments, a little bit of mindfulness and quiet reflection as we approach the Christmas season.

Budget week

There was no political intrigue. No secret conversations about votes for and against. Budget week in our congregation was a time for celebration. The financial statement showed a healthy surplus. We’d met all our obligations to the mission centre, the camping program, the various expenses as a reliable part of the church we belong to.

We reviewed the causes we support, the community and worlds partners whose values we share and contribute to. We celebrated the donation we were able to advance to World Accord in their need after federal funding dropped off. We listened to the thank you from Encounter World Religions about all their good work in helping school children, police departments, business and non-government institutions build religious literacy. True peace-making.

Our mission calls us to directly contribute to the needs of children in our community. We believe in the concept of “bread and hyacinths.” Food programs and music programs are both projects in our budget.

The Children’s Foundation sponsors an Adopt a Family project every Christmas. We have increased our support year after year. (Our drive to raise funds for this ends November 23 so if you haven’t donated yet the time is short!)

And we have a little surplus we have to give to food banks or to unhoused neighbours.

We’re going into the new year anxious to explore the needs of our world and our community. We look forward to hearing from our partners and visiting some of our shared projects. This budget marks the first full year as an unhoused congregation. Walls are going up at our former address and we celebrate the homes that will house multiple families. While we will use the funds formerly dedicated to maintenance to better ways to serve. Of course there are things we can’t do, but we’re happy for the good we can. We’re also happy for the new friends and partners we’ve made as nomads.

Sacred creation

The sacredness of creation has always had an important place for our congregation. At one time, when we were a larger group, we included a “sacredness of creation” moment just as we had a “prayer for peace” in our worship services. We learned many things about nature from various members; we supported causes advocated by our young people. We even considered promoting the idea to the worship office. Why not have a “sacredness of creation” element in every service?

If you know our group, you know this has not changed. And that it has had an impact on our personal lives. Members of our group have solar panels, heat pumps, electric cars. We follow the Suzuki foundation and belong to local environment groups. One of us is an avid letter writer and keeps the environment always in the face of local, provincial and federal politicians.

Of course one of our right choices for the environment was the big decision to sell our building. It became obvious over the years that our group was either unable or unwilling to do the necessary updates and repairs needed to make the building anywhere near to “green,” Our values just did not support our continuing in our leaky, uninsulated, fossil fuel heated structure. (We are happy to see a future home for several families rising on its spot.)

Last Sunday was one of our “sacredness of creation” services. We shared the resolutions passed at the recent World Conference and once again we resolved to “share with God in the stewardship of the earth.” In the new year we’ll be looking for the next thing our group can do to care for the planet. We have already gone beyond changing the light bulbs and rejecting paper products at our potlucks. We are into divesting in investments that support fossil fuels. This is one idea on the table.

Expect more research, more conversation in 2026. But also expect the practical action decision coming soon. We mean to make our reverence for our sacred creation more than just a slogan. We want to take seriously our role as stewards of the earth.

Sacrament

We met as is our custom for the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper last Sunday.

We congratulate our sister congregation in Toronto, Centre Place, on their tenth anniversary. Ane we read with interest your question as to the meaning of “communion.” We spent our hour together reflecting on your questions. What dos it mean? What is its significance to us? We marveled at the richness of the symbols of the sacrament. We dug deeper into the poetry of this ancient ritual. As usual we found much to discuss. I’ll share one of my poems based on that great metaphor.

Becoming Bread

Who can tell

when bread begins?

Is it with swelling seed

atop the waving grain

in summer sun,

Or scattered kernel

buried under soil that also

speaks to us of death?

Perhaps it’s harvest time

and promises fulfilled.

Or as the stone grinds to dust

the gathered seeds;

future harvests

sacrificed for food today.

Mixing, melding, joining

with the yeast that holds

the spark of life

to make it bread.

And salt – of sweat or tears –

from mine or ocean depths.

And water

pure and clean.

These three with flour

no longer wheat

or yeast or water

or salt

But kneaded into something new

though not yet bread—

not without the fire.

Bread at last and now

transformed again.

Take, break, bless, eat.

Becoming sacrament.

Where indeed does bread begin?

And who in covenant community

can but become the bread

to bless each one?

MS/2001

Bits and pieces

Last week we talked about getting ready for winter. And I referred to bringing in my houseplants. One way I get through the dark days of winter is to surround myself with plants. Sharing my home with Nature gives me joy when it’s dark and cold and snowy outside. My Christmas cactus is up to the task for sure.

One other thing that gives me joy is the report I received about the music program we support. Carmen tells me that we have helped twenty-one families this year! And that there are currently three classes running with one-third of those participating receiving help from our bursary. We’re looking for ways to expand to assist even more. If you know a family with babies or toddlers who would love to add more music to their lives by all means get in touch with Guelph Youth Music Centre. They’re waiting for them, and they’ve got funds to help with registration if you need it.

And finally: what we’ve been waiting for all summer. This is the weekend we get that hour of sleep back. Don’t forget to change your clock this weekend. We return to Standard Time overnight this Saturday. You wouldn’t want to make a mistake and get to church an hour early.

Winter’s coming

There is a very busy little red squirrel spending every day stacking up a supply of walnuts and pinecones under my deck. He only stops to scan the landscape for any interlopers, black or grey squirrels chipmunks, even bluejays or grackles stopping by the birdbath on their migration tour. He’ll chase them all. Nobody is too big for him, and he puts the fear in any intruder. Winter preparation is a full time serious job for this little guy.

We may resist but we cannot deny that those falling leaves and chilly nights send the clear message to us all: winter IS coming. And if we’re smart we too are getting ready.

Of course there are the obvious things to do. Bring out the boots and coats, the flannel sheets, the snow tires, the winter windshield wipers. Outdoor plants have come inside. Gardeners have tended to those seasonal tasks; but not too much cleanup in concern for the overwintering insects and birds who need the seed heads and hollow stems for hiding.

Maybe there are a few things you haven’t thought about. We reminded you last week that there are those neighbours who need some help. We’ll be donating to Adopt a Family for some who struggle with Christmas planning. (Get your donations in soon guelpheloracofc@gmail.com)

But don’t forget the campaigns to collect warm clothes. There are lots of places collecting stuff that will be desperately needed by our unhoused neighbours. We’ll also be paying attention to the ongoing conversation by our local politicians, institutions working to solve the bigger issues so when we can offer supportive input we’re ready.

The dark season is often a time that some of us go into hibernation mode. And sometimes it takes active planning to not let ourselves sink into a depressing solitude. Our congregation will keep planning weekly worship experiences on Sundays and discussion/conversations on Tuesdays. We’re pairing up to plan getting together. Christmas caroling, a participatory Advent celebration. We’ll be checking in with some of our community partners to see what they’re doing with funds we’ve donated.

You might be registering for Zoom get-togethers, educations events, crafting, prayer shawls, book clubs. And the list goes on. My point being that NOW is the time to prepare for the cold dark days. Let’s be intentional and plan for a good winter season. After all it’s Canada and there will always be winter. Let’s plan now to have a good one.

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Thanksgiving

We began this week in an attitude of gratitude. We gave thanks for all we have, for relationships, and shared experiences. We prayed over feasts, thankful to have our food that is still bountiful at this harvest time in this prosperous country we live in. Perhaps we turned off the news so as not to think about the peace that still eludes so many in our troubled world.

This week was also time for our regular leadership team meeting. We’re putting together the budget for our next year. We looked at the record of our giving for last year and considered how we’ll spend the resources we anticipate for the coming year. Our attitude of gratitude appeared again. We are grateful for the projects we supported in 2025 and for all the good our partners were able to do with our support.

Soon we’ll be getting ready for Christmas. Time flies and these warm autumn days can’t last. December will be here before we know it. And many, many families among our neighbours do NOT look forward to Christmas with joy. They know they don’t have the resources to plan the joyous feasts, the colourful trimmings of trees and homes. Most of all they realize there won’t be the gifts their children are anticipating. Those letters to Santa only serve to create heartaches for parents struggling to meet even basic needs.

So our next month we’re dedicating to Adopt a Family. This local program helped almost 2000 families last year have a holiday season they would not have had without it. Let’s see if we can stretch our Thanksgiving feelings into the rest of the season. Let’s see if we can at least match our last year’s target of $3000 and give our neighbours a December to plan a real Christmas for their families too.

We plan to make our donation by November 23 or 30 so Adopt a Family can get help into neediest hands and we can all look forward to Christmas with joy. Please consider how generous you can be as you write your cheque or prepare to your e-transfer to
guelpheloracofc@gmail.com and mark your donation Adopt a Family. Merry Christmas everyone!

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Let’s go…

A lot of folks are happily wearing their Blue Jays hats and jerseys today. Everybody has hi-fives and broad grins as they identify with the community of winners. And it’s a big community.

Sports teams all have their hats and jerseys and logos that they flog to their followers and we all know them and see them everywhere. I remember the hats the farmers wore with the John Deer and the Pioneer trademarks. Even those red MAGA hats loudly mark a connected community.

For awhile I kept a list of personalized license plates that said “This is who I am and I’m proud to announce it wherever I go.” I tried to imagine the story behind each one.

“BLUJ 92” was an easy one. I liked “SUZY RN” and “2 SKI BUMS” and “CATS RUL” all of which identified an obvious community of shared interests. I swear I did see with my own eyes “EZEDZIT” and “YUDIDIT” and ‘WHATEVUR.” I’m not sure what these signify, but they are fun.

Another very popular way folks today support causes or advocate for people or call out to communities is by way of their T-shirts. Pat brought her collection of shirts to share on Sunday. They had lovely messages such as “Expect Miracles” and “Pay it forward.” Our conversation was about how we choose to wear or not wear such ideas. Do we want to have a conversation with a stranger, whether they agree or disagree with our slogan? Are we calling out to our own community with the shirt on our backs? Does our T-shirt hold us accountable for our own behavior? Are we ready with the answer when our shirt provokes a question?

When our group struck out in a new direction we toyed with the idea of a slogan to identify our new brand. But we rejected “Nomads for Jesus” after we googled it and discovered that some other community (whose values didn’t match) showed up high in the list. So I guess you can say we decided to go with the line in the familiar song “We are One In the Spirit” and hope always to live by “they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

It's harder than putting on a hat or a T-shirt but more true to the community we belong to.

Let Us Sing

Do you have a favourite hymn? How about your congregation? Are there hymns you love to sing together? Are there hymns that have a habit of reappearing on your order of worship?

We’re a group that loves to sing. Lately we’ve been taking particular notice of our hymns, what they say, how their melodies speak to us. It’s not unusual for someone to ask for a hymn to be repeated, or to ask if we could please sing the hymn just used as a prelude piece.

Last week we discovered an old familiar hymn printed in our current hymnal with new words! It surprised some of us who had thought we could sing this particular hymn without looking at the words. But no. They were new words.

This launched the conversation in our Tuesday group. What was the origin of this hymn? Was it one of “ours” and how did these new words come about? We learned from Jane Gardner’s article in the Herald that the practice of “correcting” hymns began at the very beginning of our church’s history. WW Phelps was assigned to correct Emma Smith’s collection. In discussing our experience with the various editions of the church’s hymnals we recalled many examples of familiar songs being changed, updated or discarded altogether when their words no longer fit the current theology or identity.

We’ve come to pay particular attention to the lyrics of our hymns, both the new ones and the old familiar ones. Very often the words of one our hymns provide the main message for the day. As we launched our new season Hymn 237 formed the foundation prayer. With the words of God Renew Us By Your Spirit we prayed for renewed energy, revitalized dedication to our mission and a sense of joy and celebration to share with all we meet. I find myself returning to the words of this hymn as I plan activities and worship for the months ahead.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, the hymn whose words changed was #127, We Gather Together (in Hymns of the Saints it was #11) in case you’d like to look it up. It’s a traditional Dutch hymn translated by Theodore Baker and “corrected” by Ruth Duck.

--MS

Advice for Tomorrow

Our Tuesday discussion group has roamed far and wide, but the last couple of weeks mostly circled around the theme of “prayer.” As I’ve reflected on our conversations I’ve also noticed that we also explored the idea of how important it is to us, as a group, to have these discussions. We’ve considered how much we’ve learned from each other over the years. We’ve appreciated the deepening relationships that come our of the experience.

I really don’t have a final conclusion to an idea that I can tie a ribbon on and offer up as a “lesson for the day.” But I did find a poem I wrote many years ago that feels somehow connected to last Tuesday’s discussion. Here it is:

Advice for tomorrow

Know that what you seek
will not be what you will find;
what you learn will not be
what you’ve been taught;
what I might tell will not be
what you will hear.

But do not stop seeking
or listening or learning,
because there will always be
more to it than you first imagined
if you are willing to let it grow.

Today’s knowledge is
tomorrow’s mystery
and tomorrow’s mystery
may turn to wisdom
or understanding
or joy.

Today’s pain may turn to courage
or insight or compassion.

Whatever happens
don’t stop living
until you die.

Marion Smith

Unity In Diversity

Our discussion group this week focused on “prayer.” It was not a “prayer service” per se but a discussion about how we thought, or believed or practiced prayer. We considered the place of prayer in our congregation; we looked at differences and similarities in the various attitudes we were willing to own around how our group prays. So interesting!

Our conversation roved far and wide. We talked about sacraments, invocations and benedictions, our practice of praying for friends and family, even the blessing of food at potlucks and picnics. We learned that some of us “pray” the hymns we sing. Some of us “check out” when prayer is offered because we think we don’t share understanding of “what prayer is supposed to do for us.”

Which comes to the point of this blog. How do we know what we understand if we never talk about it? How did we learn about prayer if we’ve never told each other what we think? So our discussion moved into our practice of prayer as children. We spoke of bedtime prayers and table blessings. Do some of us feel that food that hasn’t been “blessed” is less holy or less nutritious or really shouldn’t be eaten without an official “table grace”?

How has our understanding of prayer evolved? How does it evolve without intention? What do we do with this difference? Do we use different language in our public prayer? Do we judge people who pray differently, who pray “wrong”?

One of the valued gifts of our congregation is that of prayer shawl ministry. It is a regular occurrence for us to bless one or more prayer shawls that various members have made as a blessing for those with specific needs. We think of these handcrafted shawls as a warm hug for someone who needs one, whether because of ill health, or loneliness or grief. And we add our congregation’s prayer to those who made them.

Someone might ask just what happens when we pray this blessing. Is it magic? Must we lay our hands on the shawl, or is a virtual touch enough? Is the whole idea a “placebo?” How do we explain the testimonies of “success”?

This really just scratches the surface of our conversation. (We’ll probably talk some more in future.) One of MY main learnings from Tuesday’s discussion is up there in the title. As we talk about our theology we realize that we’re all on a journey and that we mostly take different routes. And yet we also know just how much we value and care for each person in our group. No matter what they believe! In fact we may value their “difference” more than we imagined. And we didn’t know that until we talked about it.

Who knew it was even possible to think of God as a mother until someone addressed their invocation to “Mother God”? Maybe this new thought began a significant moment in my faith journey.

But this might require a further conversation in a congregation like ours. I am so thankful that this is part of our identity. We’ll love you if your ideas are different but we hope you’ll be willing to talk about the difference because it’s those conversations that tie us together.

Gather Us In

Our leadership team met this Tuesday to begin planning for the new season. We’ve had a summer to rest and recharge and now it’s time for us to get back to work. Ten of us gathered to remind ourselves of where we are, how is our budget doing, how have our circumstances changed while we’ve been apart and what do we want to do next.

I’m thinking of last week’s foyer conversation about prophetic people, shared leadership, the need for dialogue and decision-making as we pick up the things we must do if we are to fulfill our mission to represent Community of Christ in this community.

Our identity has two parts: we need to look outward and feel the needs of our neighbours, and the need to gather together to support and strengthen each other.

How good it felt to be together again. To complete the circle and hear the updates each one had to share. The good news of new grandchild, the thank you note from the excited new camper, the report of the various new adventures of various extended family knitted us together. But also the health challenges, the hospital experiences, the sports injuries and the car accident also belong to us all and we are glad to be part of each other.

So here we are at the beginning of September, not exactly “back to school” but back to the familiar routine of gathering as a community, a reborn congregation. We’re in our familiar spaces surrounded by familiar faces and grateful for our shared mission, in our president’s words “to live as citizens of God’s diverse, Spirit-driven community—not for the sake of the church alone but to help restore the world to God’s vision of shalom.”

If you’ve been missing our gatherings, by all means consider this your invitation to come back. Watch for weekly updates of where we’ll be and come along. You’re welcome to join our circle; in fact, we’ve got a place just for you.

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Rebirth

This week our Tuesday discussion group looked at President Stassi Cramm’s opening letter in the latest edition of the Herald. She spoke about the world conference experience and about how the church is set to be reborn, set up to begin a new era with energy and hope. It felt very much like a reflection of what our small group has been experiencing in the past year, and more.

Her reflections on the conference and on the gathered community rang true for us. “We don’t feel like a church that is dying, but one that is being reborn.” As we sold our building and moved into the neigbourhood we fielded many such comments about our future. Friends commiserated and offered sympathy for what they believed must be our sadness. But we weren’t sad. We felt only hope and possibility as we moved into the unknown. And now we hear those feelings echoed in this letter from our new prophet-president.

She speaks of a need to live inside the surrounding culture, to exemplify what it means to live our enduring principles, not just affirm or preach them. To signal how compassion and sharing and advocating for justice can change us all.

References to a new way of operating felt encouraging too. Leadership must be shared. Our decisions come from dialogue, of consensus building, of trying out new ideas and projects that change our extended community for the better.

Resolutions emerging from World Conference were different. They didn’t give instructions on “what to do” but should be seen as “beacons, guiding our path” and calling us all to find that prophetic voice in ourselves. The call to live as “a prophetic, collaborative people.”

Next week we will pick up the traces and get busy on our new season. Our leadership team, which really represents the whole group will work on plans for the rest of the year. Our budget will be modified to add things we want to do. And our gatherings will get plugged into the calendar. Hopefully we can live up to the guidelines Stassi offered: living as possibility people, imagining new and hopeful futures, with the momentum to respond to the Pentecost experience.

Not because we are better than the community that surrounds us but that we are part of that community. We all have access to that Spirit if we are open to it. And as prophetic people we choose to show the way.