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This Week


Sunday Dec 28, no gathering this week

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

The Foyer

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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Some >> Useful Links <<
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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.

Back to School

It seems that everyone is obsessing with going back to school. Even those of us who left school decades ago. It’s in the air. Stores are filled with ”bts” shoppers. Traffic patterns are changing as people leave work early to get to those malls before closing. (Do they ever really close?) And woe to those of us who forget and get caught on our trips out to the doctor or other normal appointments. Must remember to avoid every route around this “move in weekend” at the university!

All this to say that it seems there’s nobody chatting in the Foyer this week! Nothing to say. Must be all the distractions of end-of-summer, back-to-school time. Sorry folks. Maybe next week.

Good luck!

Laugh and play and sing

We had our church picnic at the farm last Sunday. We missed you. It was great! The rain overnight meant that the humidity had broken and the sun was not so hot. Plenty of shade and big fluffy clouds made it the perfect day for a picnic. What a time we had!

Cheryl and Gladys won the mother/daughter three- legged race. Though Jennifer and Diana and Marion and Barbara were close behind. Ed easily took the sack race. Must be his farming background. And Dennis was the clear canon-ball champ. Dorothy stayed on the stilts for the longest time while Diana caught the most caterpillars. Who did I miss?

The food was perfect for all our crazy gluten-free, vegan, no sugar needs but there was also plenty of everybody’s favourite picnic food. And the rain clouds went around us while we visited in a cozy circle for a couple of hours. Thanks to Jennifer and Jacob and Danny for the wonderful hospitality.

Last week we talked about the very serious team that gets serious things done. But this week we remembered that any team also needs to take the time to have fun. And fun we had. We try never to forget to “Be faithful to the spirit of the Restoration, mindful that it is a spirit of adventure, openness, and searching. Walk proudly and with a quickened step. Be a joyful people. Laugh and play and sing, embodying the hope and freedom of the gospel.” D&C 161:1.

We’ll do this again. We hope you can make it next time.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

I happened to catch a Massey lecture about Ursula Frankin (an amazing Canadian; look her up) that gave me an idea for this week’s Foyer posting. Where do our ideas come from? We’ve had many new ideas in the last year, and the years leading up to our reinvention of our congregation. People have asked this very question. Where do you get your ideas?

Ursula was clearly a genius who worked across a number of fields – physics, pacificism, journalism, feminism, education. So she had lots of ideas and even wrote some about where she got her ideas. He response reminded me of our little group, particularly our leadership team.

One critical element was conversation. She advocated for lots of discussion among people with varying perspectives; then go deep to find the kernels you haven’t noticed before and elaborate. We do this all the time. If you follow us here you must have noticed that this is key to our new identity.

The next thing she spoke of was also interesting. She called her Quaker faith with its emphasis on silent worship vital to her MO. We need this regular practice of sitting in silence, waiting upon God, as important. It creates space for ideas to come. She didn’t wait “for” God to give her ideas, but of creating space to let the ideas in.

Our leadership team is great at ideas. We could sit around and come up with ideas all day long. It took us some time to discover a couple of other key components. We’re lucky to have these as well. But ideas alone don’t do it. An idea is not enough.

We’ve got an encourager; someone who routinely reacts to our ideas with a “Great idea! You guys are amazing! Yes, yes, we should do it! How can I help?”

Now you would think that should be enough. But it isn’t and it wasn’t for a very long time. Because we didn’t have enough “do-ers.” We had willing workers, helpers. But our idea people were already lining up a new set of ideas that would be fun or interesting. And our encourager would love them all.

Finally the one we needed arrived and went to work. When the encourager said, Yes, great idea, and the followers lined up to help, the Do-er stepped up with the right questions to form a real plan; the budget issues and questions got dealt with and the idea people moved from one more good idea to “Give me job and let’s begin.”

It took us all to move us all. “Do-er” readily admits they don’t know where the ideas come from. “Encourager” will always support and encourage everyone (I suspect even a bad idea, but of course we’ve never had one of those.) We have willing helpers, and if we don’t have enough of them, “do-er” will figure out how to get the job done with the resources we have.

So there is the secret sauce for how to reinvent your congregation. Put the right people on your leadership team and let them get to work doing what they do best.
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Useful Links
Community of Christ World Headquarters
Canada East Mission
Herald House Worship Resources
Daily Bread
Toronto Centre Place
Brian Carwana: ReligionsGeek
Encounter World Religions
World Accord
Children's Foundation of Guelph and Wellington
Hope House
Suzuki Early Childhood Music Classes

Remember

This is an important word for us as Christians, as members of the community. At our recent communion we remembered the last supper; we repeated the prayer words “that we might always remember Him, that we might always have His spirit to be with [us].” We recall the story where Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me.”

We recently spent a discussion hour thinking about “Remember the Sabbath day” and instruction to “keep it holy.”

I’m using lots more quotation marks than usual today. Because there are plenty of phrases we use exactly the same, every time, word for word to ensure we “remember” their significance. The communion prayer, the baptism statement, the essential sentence in the marriage ceremony. Some are unique to our denomination, some we share with other Christians.

Other Christians use other remembering tools: crucifixes, rosaries, head covering, forms and numbers of sacraments. But essentially their function is the same. They help us remember who we are, whose we are. They are all for us to internalize our identity as followers of Jesus. And the variations have developed over the centuries to nail that identity firm and fast.

Why then are Christians so quick to criticize the very same, very human tendency to create words, and rituals and symbols of other faith groups to do the same thing? So many practices that we ought to easily recognize are often the very things we object to.

We make rules, even laws, against wearing veils, turbans, religious symbols. We regard things like mezuzahs, prayer beads, karas, and kipahs with suspicion. We judge people who observe Fridays or Saturdays as special.

I once had a conversation with a dear friend, a priesthood member, who was very critical of people who use a rosary as a prayer aid. He could not believe the repetition of memorized words could ever be considered “real prayer.” He actually called it a “pretense of prayer.” And yet more that half the world’s religions remember who they are when they run their prayer beads through their hands, and familiar words through their minds. Who am I to deny that?

That turban-wearing bus driver doesn’t expect anything of you at all. That elderly woman on the park bench quietly saying her rosary to herself isn’t expecting any change in your behavior. That girl in a head cover playing soccer doesn’t’ deserve the jeers from the Christian dad on the sidelines. They are all just remembering who they are. Just like we are when promise to “always remember him and keep his commandments.,,,” Commandments like “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

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Scripture

Last Sunday we met for our “summer communion” service. Circumstances put us outdoors, in a picnic shelter. It was hot, but we were shaded and it was lovely to be together and surrounded by nature, by sacred creation..

Our presider was well-prepared and we experienced the tradition of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper and a familiar exploration of the scriptures. We’d been apart for a few weeks, as you know, and it was good to remember these important bits of our identity.

Of course, our conversation continued on Tuesday when our discussion group met. It was a good reminder of just how scripture has helped shape us as a group, as a congregation. It’s another area where we have been intentional about reinventing ourselves. We agreed with Affirmation One ( you can find it here Sharing in Community of Christ) that our first allegiance is to Jesus as the one to whom scripture points. But we have also found reason to agree with Affirmation Five, that scripture is “vital and essential to the church.” Not as a law book or code of conduct, but as a trustworthy anchor that nurtures a life of discipleship.

We don’t do lectionary sermons much in our little group but we try to remember to return regularly to scripture and we have often found in those “ancient words of scripture “ something revelatory for our time and place, something new, not seen or heard before.

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History

 

We were a small group at Discussion time this week, but that doesn’t mean we don’t talk about big subjects. This week it was History.

What is history? When does it start? When does it end? Does it end, really, ever? Why all of us participating in the conversation were alive for the entire Volume III of the latest version of official church “history.” Does our story count as history or is it just memories that may or may not be recorded anywhere? When do we pick up the thread of history and just add more story? And how will our memories become part of the history if we don’t share the story? So many questions.

While I was thinking about all this (Note; the discussion never ends when we walk out the door.) I remembered a bit of recent history. something that possibly I am the only one who remembers.

Some years ago I was part of the Mission Centre staff and we were dealing with the need to reorganize the various reunions. Volunteer help and resources had begun to dwindle and it just wasn’t practical or even possible to operate three big traditional family camps for the three former districts that used the Ziontario property. This was going to be a big change and there was going to be pushback.

Two of us (one other who may remember this too) were on one of those long car rides together. We did a lot of important work on those rides. This one, I think, qualifies as “historic.” For miles and miles we imagined and envisioned what it would be like if we stopped calling the reunions by the geographic names and instead created two events with different characteristics. They would still be true to the nature of reunion but they would emphasize different things.

One would be most like the camps we knew and knew how to plan and support. Lots of families with lots of kids and schedules full of familiar activities like worship and classes and volleyball and canteen and campfires and visiting around the trailers and under the trees. Many people wanted this kind of camp and they came to be fed, like to crowds who came to Jesus.

The other one would also feed the people who came. But this reunion would fucus more on the individual, the tired or traumatized or the burned out, the ones most interested in reflection, meditation, spiritual renewal. Oh there would still be support with sympathetic ministry and fun, but the campfires and morning meditations might have a quieter tone, might even be completely silent, except for the sounds of nature.

People would choose according to their needs. Some might do both or alternate years. But their choices would reflect something other than their geography.

The names of the two events came out of the scripture rather than off the map. And “Loaves and Fishes” and “Healing and Freeing the Spirit” were born. Driving down the road unwinding the story of history.

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It's Too Hot

...to do most anything. “Forty” is NOT a word I want to hear in a weather forecast.

Oh well. No deep thinking today folks. I’m sitting in the shade on my deck. I’ll take you for a slow walk around. This is what I’m seeing from my lovely wicker rocker:

I share this space with my houseplants, brought outside to enjoy the summer air and light. The Christmas cactus is thriving. It may have doubled in size. All my spider plants are happily producing babies. And the snake plant actually has THREE flower stalks growing amidst those hard green leaves that I faithfully ignored and withheld water for three months last winter (the secret to getting them to bloom I’ve read).

One step down is my salad garden with lettuces, parsley, kale, dill, cucumbers, thyme and oregano. Blooms and aromas abound in this mostly shady spot.

The birdbath garden is a busy place. Squirrels, chipmunks come to drink along with all the birds. The birds don’t care. As long as there’s space and time and fresh water for their them. Robins keep the shasta daisies watered with all their splashing, and I must get up from time to time to keep the bath refilled.

Zinnias, petunias, salvia, coleus, day lilies, snap dragons and various unnamed annuals collected from the end-of-season-will-you-give-us-a-home tables at the nurseries, the garden centres, the grocery stores all blooming happily and not minding the heat at all.

Off to my right is another aromantic corner. There’s a pot of basil and a beautiful happy lovage that I must keep pruned or it would be six feet tall. (I did let it go one season just to see: six feet is where I drew the line.) So all this pruning releases its lovely celery aroma, alongside the lemon balm that happily shares its bed.

There’s raspberry patch just there, beside the garden steps. Not a good spot for it as it doesn’t really get enough sun and it’s hard to reach. But never mind, The chipmunks love to climb up the canes and harvest the garden candy it produces for them. And on the other side of the step is the prickly pear garden. This plant followed us from another house to this little hillside where it is so happy it makes copious new paddles and has decided to reward us with blooms! So we keep it and avoid touching any part of that garden. It can inject its nasty little prickles even inside what felt like the most impermeable glove. But leave it alone and it will do amazing things. (Prickly pear is a cactus that is, in fact, native in this part of Ontario, so we prize and protect it.)
Maybe another day I’ll walk you on up the steps to the tomatoes and vegetable garden. But not today. It’s too hot.

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Can I Get A Witness?

This is an idea I’ve been playing around with for a long time. Years, even. If you’ve been following me you might have seen some of my musings about it. (Do you have these questions that keep coming back and demanding you chew on them some more? I do.)

When I was growing up in the church we had things called “witnessing weekends.” The basic concept, as I recall, was that a group from one congregation would visit another congregation and team up to make several visits to potential new members or folks we were trying to “bring back to church”? Is that what you remember? I don’t know if it ever worked.

It seems that the key concept upon which real “success” depended was the the ability to WITNESS. I wasn’t much of a witness. How did you do? I’m not sure I even knew what it meant. How do you learn to witness? Do you remember having witnessing classes? We would import some fab witnesses from time to time. Really exciting preachers; story-tellers to be more accurate. You likely remember some names. Impossible standards! I’ll never be that kind of witness. I’m a failure before I even begin.

I lived with that notion for decades. Then I had a new idea. I realized that as I went out into the community I often saw examples of the Holy Spirit at work in the world! When I looked for the helpers during times of trouble or tragedy, I had no problem at all finding them. Where there were folks in need I found all kinds of people already working to make things better for them. They were almost always more than willing to let me help!

One thing that got more obvious, the more I looked, was that we could head off some of those problems-in-the-making if we did something to keep it from happening. So we got busy feeding breakfast to kids who came to school hungry. Same principle with our music grants. Kids with music in their lives do better, have fewer of those life problems to be fixed.

Now one thing that is essential to MY idea is the need to be out and about. We need to go where the people are. And we need to be noticing that Holy Spirit at work in the world. We need to be actively witnessing where it is happening, or where it could be or where it should be happening. Can I be this kind of WITNESS? You bet!

Now, what about a new kind of witnessing weekend?

When we come back together after a nice relaxing summer camping or traveling or visiting we’ll have had plenty of time and places to Witness. We’ll be so excited to tell each other what we’ve observed. It will be so easy to share this kind of story. We’ll be full of ideas about ways we can help. We may have met new people already engaged in projects just waiting for us to join in. We’ll be excited to introduce our new friends and lobby for the ways we want to help next.

What do you think?

That’s where my mind has been this summer season. Now, can I get a witness?
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Conversation

We were a small group this week. But we were operating on the “where two or three are gathered” principle. So our discussion group met as usual on Tuesday morning. Without a specific topic we talked about “conversation.”

I confess the discussion touched several subjects and took lots of detours, but on reflection I’ve decided that the main point we made was the importance of conversation! It’s how we establish and maintain relationships. Conversation is how our understanding evolves and grows. True conversation is more than just talking. It has long periods of listening.

We try to keep our conversations generous. Not every thought is fully developed and ready to share. But there is grace in our sharing. We’ll help with the word that escapes and wait for a point to clarify. We definitely do not just wait for a turn to speak and we’re patient as we listen to the same point we’ve heard last week or something that’s coming round yet again – a favourite theme. Because sometimes we notice a slight change, a new emphasis, some nuance that wasn’t there before.

Conversation can be the way we change our minds. It’s definitely part of the identity of our little congregation. It’s how we’re reinventing ourselves. I guess you might say that the chats we have in the Foyer play a serious and important role in who we are. And when we miss our regular times to get together and just talk, we miss something critical to who we are.

I’m looking forward to hearing from those who are at reunion this week. And at least part of the reason is that you’ve had the opportunity for lots of conversations, chats under the trees or around the dining tables. I’ll be listening for ways you’ve changed or things you’ve learned from your conversations.

We’ll have lots to talk about when we meet again.

Summer

It feels as if it’s really summer!

Oh I know it was officially summer last week sometime, but really this week real summer begins. For example, the first few days of this week were really, really HOT. It’s the end of Pride month with parades and festivals (which are always hot). School is finally finished. Exams are done, over, in the rear-view mirror with fun times ahead. For some it was even a graduation. Next week is Canada Day. Break out the maple leaves and the red t-shirts; get that barbecue ready or whatever food does it for you,

Vacations plans are being finalized. I’ve got grandkids en route for a much anticipated visit as I write this. And another with their plane ticket ready. I’m hearing every day of planned camping trips, an island escape, two weeks with girlfriends.

And some of you are going to reunion! Loaves and Fishes begin this weekend. But if L&F is here, can Healing and Freeing be far behind? Or Erie Beach, or Noronto? Almost all of us have some reunion memory. Some have years of memories just waiting to add some more.

We all look forward to hearing from you on the other side. Go out into your summer, make memories. Be blessed and come back refreshed and ready to share your stories.

(If you have a minute and you’re so inclined you can drop into the Foyer. We’ll be here every week. Probably not too serious or deep subject matter though – after all, it’s SUMMER .)

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The Self-preaching Sermon

I’m not sure I can adequately tell you what I want to tell you this week; but I can’t seem to think of another topic, so I shall try.

We had a very special gathering last Sunday. I have been thinking about it all week. Of course it was fathers day, and that was part of it. We had a room full of children and grandchildren who are part of our extended family, and who were there to honour their father/grandfather. As it happened their “baby brother” was in charge. It was the first time he had agreed to take charge and organize the service. Imagine his feeling as this whole troop of his siblings began filling up the empty seats around the circle.

Now I’ve told you before that our services tend not to be traditional. Our hymn sandwich every Sunday days are behind us. We don’t have a lot of formal “sermons” but every so often, a sermon shows up. Somehow, I think the Holy Spirit just decides to step in. It’s what I have come to think of as a self-preaching sermon.

We were welcomed to our familiar circle by our presider and introduced to the theme for the day—God’s Peace.

We lit the peace candle and had some words about the great need for peace in today’s world. One person couldn’t let the moment end and spoke further about what we, a little group of Christians in a little Ontario town could do to bring peace to our big troubled world. He spoke about the need to step up, to speak up, to do the things we know we can do. Another took up the thread and reminded us that real Christians cannot let the distorted idea of Jesus become the prevalent story. Jesus is about Peace and about looking after the suffering and we need to also be about making peace and ending suffering.

Remember that big circle of children and grandchildren? They began to share too. The sermon grew and evolved. We agree that we cannot remain silent when words spoken in our presence distort Jesus‘ message, or actions do not care for the marginalized and the suffering. We need to speak and act for Jesus.

One of the daughters told of her work place, an extended care home, where every day she watches as caring people take care of their charges. Others shared similar stories. It is good to know that these peacemakers bring compassion and concern where it is needed. We can pray for this army of caretakers and caregivers at work everywhere there is suffering. We can send them resources, or support, or prayers wherever they are working.

Brother in charge then read the scripture he had chosen, which summed up the sermon perfectly, the sermon the circle had preached to itself. I’ve got to think his prayerful preparation helped make it possible. I know I’ve been thinking about it all week. Now we don’t always have this kind of service, but every so often the Holy Spirit steps in with such a sermon.

The offering for the day was dedicated to World Accord and the jar was filled to overflowing. One small thing we can do to bring peace to the world.

Summer Plans

Our leadership team met this week to nail down our summer plans. It has become our habit (we’ve had exactly one summer of experience) to give ourselves a long rest and time to recover and build up energy for a serious season of business ahead. Here’s what to expect:

We launched our summer season with a picnic in the Marden pavilion. Our Fathers Day gathering will be inside our Marden room and next week we meet at Sharon’s house to reflect, discuss, review the whole World Conference experience. Sharon, as our official delegate, will host and lead the conversation.
Then our schedule loosens up considerably. Some of us will be attending reunions; some will be enjoying home and family, and gardens and company. There are community festivals, and day trips. Some will be preparing for surgery or recovering from treatments or illnesses. Some will be welcoming new grandbabies. Of course there are always soccer games and tournaments.

We have a Summer Communion gathering planned at our Marden room at the end of July. And we expect to get together, some of us, for midweek discussions. We are determined not to lose track of each other. Our regular weekly e-mails and Foyer conversations will continue so you all can follow our meanderings through the warm days of summer.

We’ll get together at the Rowe farm in August for some socializing and rejoin for regular congregation gatherings in September. Communion service to start our fall season is on September 7.

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Watching World Conference

I’ve been watching for you. Eyes peeled to see familiar faces in the crowds. Lots of opportunities as had been promised. I know some of you are also watching from home or some of those remote sites. We’ll have so many notes to compare when we get back together.

I’ve got lots of ideas for Foyer conversations. Look for them in future posts. But for now I’ll just let them pile up because you can’t decide too soon what it all means. So many images, prophecies and poetry. Some of them even expressed in words.

I don’t ever remember a World Conference with so many personnel changes at once. Do you? We are indeed in for a new future. Are you ready?

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World Conference

This week the church is gathering for World Conference. And we are part of that gathering. Just like in every other area this is a first for our little group, so we’re trying out new or different ways to participate in a gathering church.

Of course, we’re not the only ones trying out different ways to be a global church meeting in conference. Some of us will be delegates in remote locations linked by the internet. Some will observe from those remote sites and enjoy a new kind of fellowship. This remote site is one of a few in different parts of the world. Travel restrictions, cost, distance, technology, disabilities, even fear and uncertainty all enter into individual decisions how to participate and our little group is very, very grateful that our global church has worked so hard to make those decisions possible.

Our wee group of nomadic church people have talked most about finding our way as a congregation in this community where we find our selves planted. But our conversations don’t end there. We regularly talk about our place in a world wide church. We feel so enriched by the opportunities we have to learn about, and from brothers and sisters in other countries. We appreciate the stories shared by our apostle; we love meeting travelers who have come our way to share with us. We look forward to the speeches and presentations that are central to the conferring process. We know that there are other ways to look at almost any question, many that we haven’t though about.

We have learned that our faith journey is indeed just that—a journey. And that what we think today may be different next year, or even next week. We are grateful to be associated with a church without borders and we pledge to play our part is figuring out how to make it work. This week, and next, that will be our focus. We’ll see you at World Conference, one way or another.

Discussions

Every Tuesday morning, if we possibly can, a small group of us gets together for a focused discussion. I’ve mentioned this before but it’s awhile since I talked about it. So here I go with the impossible task of squeezing a ninety minute conversation into three or four hundred words.

We took a little different tack this week. To give us some direction we listened to a segment from CBC’s “The Current” about birdwatching! Now you might not imagine how we could then spend an hour in a useful conversation about birding, but we did.

The science writer whose life experience led him to take up the new interest in birding spoke of the radical change, of finding what makes him whole –an experience of joy and wonder. His pandemic time of greater isolation, of anxiety over friends and family’s difficulties with mental health, his own feelings of angst and emptiness completely, radically changed with the discovery of birding. He recognized in himself what he called “a search for meaning in the midst of the chaos.”

We found ourselves reminded of conversations we’ve had before. The importance of nature in a complete life. The sacredness of creation and our responsibility to protect and defend the world around us. We spoke of our tendency to be overwhelmed by the world’s problems and the futility of “fixing” everything that needs attention. We acknowledge that our time cannot stay with need and brokenness but must be balanced with intentional seeking experiences of joy and wonder.

Birding is one possibility, but not the only one. We talked about our experience with gardening, or insects, or bees or fish or frogs or rocks. Taking time to be in the natural world is essential to living a whole life. Walking or sitting out side with eyes open to the expansive life that comes with truly experiencing nature.

There you have it. Not everything we talked about, but a taste of how we spend our Tuesday mornings.
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I've Got A Cold

This means that I’m “shut in” for the time being. So I don’t have a nice, inspiring little story about our group; what we’re doing, where we’re gathering, what wonderful plans we’re making for summer. I hope to have some of this good news to share soon.

But for now, I’m living in the whole world. What a world! It comes into my living room via too much news! Just this morning I’m involved in a new war in India and Pakistan. How many strikes, How many deaths. Yesterday, all day, I considered what would happen when our prime minister entered that famous oval office to sit on those famous yellow chairs. As I’m writing this the slow procession of cardinals is walking under that amazing ceiling to select the next pope. They’re about to lock the doors and we’ll wait for white smoke.

I’m aware of many more world conflicts, many tragedies, catastrophes as news stories compete for my attention via countless news sources. I have to choose.

My choices have to include not to be engaged at all. Not to worry about what I cannot influence in any way. Not to notice what new threat has appeared in some distant time zone since I last looked. Not to notice what red tape has been cut, or what environmental regulation is set to be ignored, whose care will be next to sacrificed in the name of necessary development.

I can choose to look in another direction. I can follow the hockey season, nearing its end. Or I can keep one eye on the rising popularity of women in sports as new soccer, basketball and hockey. Surely a positive trend?

So what is my point as I sit here with my Kleenex in one hand and my remote in the other? Every life is shaped by a series of such choices. An infinite number of such choices we make every hour of every day. Of course, even the choice not to choose is to choose. How do I make those choices “responsible” ones? One of our enduring principles is to make responsible choices. Where I sit today, with my cold, brings this value close to me. Perhaps too close.

I’m reminded of that principle of the conflict between the circle of concern and the circle of influence. Balancing those circles is important. Choosing to look away to protect my own mental health is also important. Because I need to preserve the energy to tend to the needs where I have the ability to help. One day this cold will subside and I’ll turn off the world that could paralyze me into inactivity if I’m not careful.

Join me in making the responsible choice to do what I can, where I am.
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Lessons From The Seasons

Finally the good weather is starting to show up. Our group is feeling the pull in many directions. There are end of season recitals, start of season soccer games, family visits that didn’t happen in winter weather, the call of the open road…

Last Sunday a few of us went to a local nursery. Oh the pansies! Forty varieties of day lilly! Lavender and sage and racks and racks of seeds! It was wonderful. We sat by the fountain and listened to the spring sounds. We thought about the sacredness of creation. We meditated on all the lessons of the peace lily. We imagined future garden projects. We looked forward to even warmer days and more sunshine.

The plaque on the fountain invited us to “learn the lessons the season can teach us.” I’ve thought about this in the days since Sunday. Our planning group also met this week to work on our calendar for the next quarter. Where? What? When? Who? Oh the questions were flying about. Some had answers; some didn’t. But that’s OK. I was reminded to think about the lessons we’ve learned in the year we’ve come through. Some of those lessons learned from the seasons.

Everybody brings what they can. It takes us all to do the work. But not all at once. Some things won’t get done. Or, plans will change when one (or more) of those “W questions” don’t work out. We won’t fall apart if plans change. We need to stay in touch with each other and not be apart for too long. But if we need to take a trip, or a day off, or just need to say “No” it doesn’t mean forever. We’ll be back when the sun shines.

We have much to celebrate and we’re putting celebrations into our calendar. We’ll also allow time for rest. So there will be spaces but we’ll try to keep communication lines open. Drop into the Foyer for news any time.

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How To Be Resurrection People

8 Mitchell Street long ago

8 Mitchell Street a year ago

8 Mitchell Street now

It’s been a year since we walked away from our church building on Mitchell street. Some of us went kicking and screaming. Oh not literally, but certainly it was really, really hard. None of us made the move easily. It is hard to face death. And any way you look at it, we were facing a death.

Our congregation had met for generations in that building. It was a big part of the identity for children who had grown up there. They gathered on Sundays got married there, brought their children to be blessed and grew old with their families around them. Many of us could look back at memories like this. As with any life nearing its end, we focused on those happy memories and we hung on to life as we’d known it forever.

But it was time to let it go. It was not what it had been. And we spent far too long clinging to what had been. It was time to imagine ourselves into a new future. It was time for a new life with new energy and new vision. It was time to become Resurrection people.


We’d been listening to sermons about the Easter event, the resurrection of Jesus for all those generations. It was time to take the message to heart. To test our belief. To see what it really means to lay down that old life, take up our cross and pass through the experience of death and move on.

This week, they knocked down our old building. While there was some sadness, it’s not the sadness that marks our identity this Easter week. Because we have been resurrected to new life. We’re almost a year into our new being. We’ve had fun imagining ideas like buying a bus and painting a sign “Nomads for Jesus” on the side as we drive around to pick up members wherever they live, chatting and singing along our route to drop them off again.

We never did that though it’s still a possibility. Anything is possible to this group watching for ways to be real in and for this neigbourhood. Our eyes are fixed firmly on the future and what we can do to make it the best it can be for our neighbours. After all, and finally, we are Resurrection people!

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Being In Community

You’ve no doubt heard the illustration of the people in a mad rush to pull babies out of the river. They call others to come, set up rescue chains and look for more resources to help with their urgent task. Until some one, eventually, realizes the need to go upstream to stop whoever is throwing babies in the river!

Last Sunday we had a guest. Karyn Kirkwood, the executive director of the Children’s Foundation of Guelph Wellington came to share some of her experiences with the various programs and projects benefiting the children of our community. She spoke about little children who come early to school for breakfast they don’t have at home. She told of school principals who tell her that it’s the breakfast program that KEEPs many youth coming to school who would otherwise have quit! She shared lots about Adopt a Family and the summer camping benefits. She reminded us of those inevitable questions “What did you do for summer vacation?” or “What did Santa bring?” Hundreds of children who didn’t used to, now have answers to share.

She came to thank us for our fourteen years and thousands of dollars of support for these and various food programs, but expanding through the years to include others. One important thing we learned was the number of other groups, organizations and partners collaborating with them. We are certainly not alone in our belief in the importance of investing in the children of the community. Remember? Look for the helpers when there’s a BIG task to be done. We are grateful to live in a community with so many helpers!

We are grateful for all these people who have made it their business to keep those babies out of the river. And we count it as part of our mission to pursue peace to be involved with this great organization and all the staff and volunteers. Do look to the list of links at the bottom of the page to learn more about them—our partners for more than fourteen years.

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Stepping Up

Energy levels ebb and flow. When we feel a bit low someone else in the group will step up. This week was one of those times.

Thanks to all the step uppers…the steppers up…the up steppers.

That’s how it works in community.

Thanks to all those who stepped up.

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Day Off

I recall driving to church on Sunday mornings in my childhood. We’d go past many fields where our neigbhours were out in their fields, ploughing or cultivating, even harvesting. I would always feel sad (or lucky) that they had to work while our family got the day off to go to church.

Even in times when the rest of the week we were hurrying to complete whatever task the season called for, my dad always said “There will be time.” And as far as I can remember, there always was.

Now that I’m retired and every day is a “day off” I still feel something missing if I don’t have that time to be heading down the road to church. This week we were contending with ice, so we wisely avoided the road. And we don’t feel the least bit guilty. We’re not so foolish to believe that the mere act of getting to church is some kind of rule or commandment to be obeyed.

But there is something about being together, about the chance for mindfulness about the values that unite us, even the notion that “where two or three are gathered” the feeling of Jesus in our midst is there.

If someone needs to miss this gathering time for extended periods there is real joy when they return. We hope never to shame those who’ve missed meeting, only real rejoicing when we see them again. We try to make this one essential characteristic of our little group. If you ever want to drop in, know you’ll be welcomed with love as we scooch over to make room for you in our circle.

Sacrifice

Our conversation about Lent continued this week. This is really just one small piece of a much longer discussion. A question arose about “sacrifice” – what is it? Is it necessary? How does it relate to our lives?

One thought was that if we’re living our lives every day making smart choices, not wasting, taking care of the earth by not buying too much might “look like” a life of sacrifice but it really isn’t.

This reminds me of an essay I read recently by one of my favourite authors, Ann Patchett: My Year of No Shopping. Challenged by a friend Ann decided to not buy anything for a year. Oh not necessaries like groceries and shampoo. But all that other stuff she was buying just because she likes things like a new sweater, some perfume, a snazzy purse or even an extra kettle (because who knew they even made red kettles?)

It didn’t take her very long to notice that she had lots more time. And that there was more money in her last year’s purse. But what surprised her was her emerging sense of people who had much less. It was as if the “extra space in her brain made room for the poor.” Her friend too had continued the practice of not shopping and discovered that “Our capacity to give is huge.” Patchett discovered in the end “I still have plenty. I know there’s a big difference between not buying things and not being able to buy things. Not shopping for a year hardly makes me one with the poor but it’s put me on a path of figuring ot what I can do to help.”

I compared this way of thinking to what happened to us as we gave up our church building and approach Lent this year a little like a group who’ve become “homeless.” Like Ann we’re by no means anywhere near the real homeless, but we’ve become more aware of what it means to truly be without things we might have taken for granted before. And all the things we truly didn't need. Our capacity to help grew larger, but more important our desire to help expanded.

That’s where my Lenten meditation leads me today.

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