This was an “octave” here at New Vision this week. Last Sunday we celebrated Pride in both worship and in the Park – Gage Park, that is. This Sunday is our fourth anniversary celebration in worship. Leo Johnson is our guest speaker.
“Octave” is known by most as a term in music – but it is also a temporal concept in the church. An “octave” is 8 days. So, from Sunday June 17 to Sunday June 24 is an octave. Usually there are important worship events at each end of an “octave.” The best example of an Octave is the Octave between Palm/Passion Sunday and Easter Sunday.
So we might make the week that includes Pride Sunday and New Vision Anniversary Sunday the “New Vision octave” each year.
Just a thought.
We were busy at Pride in the Park. Thanks to everyone who personed our booth with St. Andrew’s United Church. We also participated to the degree 
that Pride in the Park organizers wanted us to in standing up to the hateful protesters of the day’s festivities. Imagine me in my Pride “cat in the hat” hat with my Bible in hand suggesting to the protesters that they ought to read the Bible. The whole Bible. In the Spirit.
Sunday Leo Johnson of Empowerment Squared joins us as our guest speaker. Leo f
ounded Empowerment Squared in 2008 to effect sustainable change through the development of educational pathways and social skills for youth. Leo came to Canada as a Liberian refugee from Ghana on his own as a teenager. He attended McMaster and earned his B.A. there. He is a powerful speaker, and a most appropriate choice for New Vision to mark our fourth anniversary, since just two days ago, June 20, was World Refugee Day.
See you Sunday ~
Rev. Ian