New Vision Notes Wed Apr 7 2021

Wed Apr 7 2021

  1. Happy Easter!
  2. Christ is risen.
  3. Indeed.
  4. Follow this link to hear the choir sing the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel again (or for the first time).
  5. New Vision has been targeted in the last few months by heritage activists for deciding that after extensive study there was no viable future for the Holton Ave. S. building that met our objectives.
  6. The City Council has given heritage activists and New Vision time to go through the matter again and see if after three years there might now be a way to preserve the building and meet our objectives.
  7. Our objective is to provide mixed and affordable housing at the Holton Ave. site and a revenue stream to support the model of post-Christendom church we seek to be.
  8. The Spec has assigned a reporter to the story. You can read his report here.
  9. The Church Council and Board of Trustees will hold a joint meeting Friday evening to consider how New Vision can help our development partner the United Property Resource Corporation to work effectively on the issue on our behalf, and how we can take care of each other and those who identify with New Vision as a safe space in the community.
  10. Looking ahead: Our Rockville partners in bringing the Al Zahar family from Syria to Canada as refugees will be joining us for our virtual worship gathering on Sunday, Apr 18 at the usual time of 10:30 am.
  11. Hamilton is back into the Province of Ontario’s “grey zone”. I am sad to say this means that New Vision folks without access to Zoom will have to wait for a while more to participate in person at 24 Main W in our Zoom worship gathering on Sundays. I know those gathering on Zoom keenly miss those who have been gathering in person. I am looking forward to the day we can meet again in person, and I am sad that this is the second Easter we will not be able to gather in person as a Christian faith community.
  12. New Vision Virtual Worship is experiential, participatory, image-rich and collective, just like worship in person at New Vision! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week during the Covid-19 emergency by clicking here. If you want to put the link someplace easy to find each week, here it is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. Please share it with others and invite them to a “different” kind of time on Zoom from the usual.
  13. You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, then, when prompted, input the Meeting ID 782 292 511 followed by the # sign. Ignore the prompts for Participant ID and Password. You are in when the recorded voice says, “You are in the meeting.” If you can only connect by video on your computer with no audio, you can use the phone connection for audio and the computer connection for visual.

The New Vision Players are on for this week’s worship gathering while I take a week for study. See you soon  ~

Rev Ian

New Vision Notes Thur Dec 3 2020

Thur Dec 3 2020

  1. New Vision shared in the leadership of a memorial service on the forecourt of City Hall last Sunday evening, The memorial marked the beginning of a vigil by the demonstrators on the forecourt against an order by the City to take down their sleeping tents or face the prospect of the tents being seized and destroyed Monday at 12 midnight.
  2. The service was officiated by me. I led it as a celebration, and drew heavily on our funeral service tradition. We were limited by pandemic orders to no more than 100 people for this outdoor service. I believe those gathered were about 100 people.
  3. We remembered Hamilton people who lived difficult lives who have died who were known to the Wesley Day Centre and New Vision United Church communities, often on the streets and homeless. We remembered Blacks who have died subjected to police violence. All attendees were invited to place a rose in an array in the middle of the forecourt in memory of the persons as they were named.
  4. On Monday morning, around 10 am, I watched a by-law officer issue a ticket for littering to one of the demonstrators when the demonstrator picked up a handful of the roses and placed them before the officer.
  5. Bylaw officers and police attended the forecourt on Monday morning around 9 am and seized and disposed of the demonstrators’ tents.
  6. New Vision’s Church Council issued a letter to the civic authorities on Sunday evening and placed it in the hands of the desk officer at police headquarters around 6;30 pm. The letter asserted that the tents were part and parcel of the demonstrators’ speech, and ordering them taken down placed a municipal by-law ordinance against the Church Council members’ charter rights. As Canadian citizens they wanted to “hear” this demonstration speech of words and tents without obstruction from the civic authorities.
  7. New Vision continues to provide safe harbour to the demonstrators within the walls of 24 Main St. W. Their demonstration is ongoing.
  8. New Vision’s Resting and Hygiene Centre has completed its assignment. Begun in the last days of April, it provided essential relief and support to people who were sleeping rough in downtown Hamilton. There were 3 churches providing these respite centres at the beginning. The other two closed by the end of the summer. New Vision promised to keep its centre going until better arrangements could be made in its place, or it was no longer needed.
  9. A new downtown service for people on the streets and living rough will open this Saturday at 5 pm at 78 Vine St. It will be staffed and run by the volunteers who operated the New Vision Resting and Hygiene Centre. It will be open 7 days a week from 5 pm to 9 pm.
  10. Thanks to commitment, passion and talent, the New Vision centre became over time something much more than a stopping point for hygiene and rest. The resting centre grew into a hub. The centre became a place for social service workers to interact with guests in a gracious space. It became a place where community and mutual aid could be.
  11. Not only did the centre outgrow its original emergency mandate, it became clear that there was nowhere else in the City doing anything quite like it from 5 pm to 9 pm 7 days a week during the pandemic. The unanticipated development of community programming at New Vision led to the realization that the space and our running it was not really set up for such programming. Thus, as we began to peer at the second wave of the pandemic coming toward us, the leadership of the hub looked for a better location to move to.
  12. We rejoice that New Vision seeded something so beneficial and substantial for people living with marginalizations in downtown Hamilton during this terrible pandemic. We celebrate the courage and passion of the leadership who secured agreement from Philpott Memorial Church for a larger space with more amenities for guests in Philpott’s building at 78 Vine St.
  13. We would do it again. We wish godspeed to “The [ ] Hub”  — friends, acquaintances, strangers.
  14. New Vision folks without access to Zoom are continuing to attend our Zoom worship gathering on Sundays in person at 24 Main W. Because attendees are at a religious gathering, pandemic health orders allow us to have 10 people together, when at present in all other circumstances gatherings are limited to 5 people.
  15. If you are interested in attending the in-person gathering, please be in touch with New Vision by emailing officeadmin@newvisionunited.org. The gathering will observe all the best practices for hygiene, screening, and sanitation.
  16. We will be celebrating communion this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent. Have a beverage and some bread nearby to join in.
  17. Christmas is right around the corner! As you might have already heard, Wesley Urban Ministries’ Christmas & Holiday Store will not operate like a store this year. Instead, it will provide hampers for people who participate in Wesley programs and through some of its community partners. For more information on how to get involved, please visit the website https://wesley.ca/holiday-assistance-program/.
  18. Purchase donations and do a curbside drop off at 1974 King St E (Pioneer Church), December 6 – 22, 1 – 4 pm. Calendar is here: https://wesley.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/christmas-holiday-hamper-calendar-2020.pdf
  19. Wesley Donation Wish List:
    Plastic or re-usable bags
    Any non-perishable food in individual or family sizes
    New gifts: toys, hygiene items, small kitchen appliances, towel & linens
    Gift Certificates for Walmart, Giant Tiger, Canadian Tire, Toys ‘R’ Us
    New or gently used hats, mitts, socks, winter boots and coats (No clothing)
  20. For those looking to volunteer at Wesley, their new volunteer roles and pandemic protocols are available online at the above link. There will be a limited number of on-site volunteers this year, however, you can also help from home by making pre packed hampers or volunteer as a driver to take the hampers to Wesley programs and community partners.
  21. New Vision Virtual Worship is experiential, participatory, image-rich and collective, just like worship in person at New Vision! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week during the Covid-19 emergency by clicking here. If you want to put the link someplace easy to find each week, here it is:?https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. Please share it with others and invite them to a “different” kind of time on Zoom from the usual.
  22. You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, then, when prompted, input the Meeting ID 782 292 511 followed by the # sign. Ignore the prompts for Participant ID and Password. You are in when the recorded voice says, “You are in the meeting.” If you can only connect by video on your computer with no audio, you can use the phone connection for audio and the computer connection for visual.
  23. For updates on New Vision plans in the post Covid-19 emergency recovery, please visit http://newvisionunited.org/new-vision-covid-19-updates/.

Hope to see you on Sunday –  again, or for the first time.

Rev Ian

New Vision Notes Fri Nov 27 2020

Fri Nov 27 2020

  1.  A protest against the Hamilton Police Services budget and the City housing policy began on Monday in the City Hall forecourt and continues. I have attended and offered a worship service several times, with help from several New Vision threshold partners and other Hamilton area ministers. I see a strong connection between the Scriptural call to solidarity with the marginalized and this symbolic action that makes its point through an encampment that can include people who are sleeping rough. As such I see it as a religious meeting, and when I am present I declare it such. I believe it would be folly on the part of the City to take the tents down. They are part of a prophetic sign-act, as much a sign-act as any of the prophetic sign-acts found in the Hebrew Scriptures – for example, Jeremiah shattering an earthenware pot before the people to symbolize the destruction of Jerusalem. The prophets were primarily concerned with ethics.
  2. In light of this, it is interesting that the Criminal Code of Canada prohibits obstruction of religious services and “certain meetings” — meetings that serve a benevolent, moral or social purpose. It would seem it would be counter-indicated for the municipality to take any action against the protest outside the realm of addressing reasonable safety concerns during a pandemic.  I do not believe the Criminal Code can be so narrowly interpreted as to exclude this protest.
  3. We might ask, “Is this protest always a meeting for benevolent, moral or social purpose, 24 hours a day?” Our ethical prophetic tradition says that the answer is clearly yes. Prophetic sign-acts always break the norms or the conventions in order to draw attention to the ethical concern.
  4. But our ethical prophetic tradition implies something in the outrage it is prepared to countenance: there is a conversation that has to take place in this society – it is the only way adaptive change can occur that brings more equity, and inclusion across a diverse population. Such conversations must and do start at the grass roots – from the bottom up. Or, more precisely, in the friction between the civic authority and the prophetic action taking place on the forecourt of City Hall.
  5. The other night I took a photo of the Ghandi sculpture at City Hall. You can see the protest in the distance and the City Hall Christmas tree.  It’s a journey.
  6. The New Vision Resting and Hygiene Centre for People Sleeping Rough will be winding up by December 11. We are so very grateful to the volunteer coordinators who have made it possible, and to Luke, Steve and Willis who have done well by all of us through providing building services to the centre 7 days a week since late April. Guests will be directed over the next few weeks to available services that they can access when the centre at New Vision is wound up.
  7. We begin a new church year this Sunday with the first Sunday of Advent. To get into the spirit, let me encourage you to send me a photo of your Christmas tree – present or past – and we’ll put it in our opening slide in our worship gathering. You can send to this email address.
  8. The slide deck we drew on in our second Threshold Partner meeting last Sunday to begin our New Vision intercultural relational currency design project can be found here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dq2uFRaNjGJMtEV-F4FHio_tOn4olJlG/view?usp=sharing.
  9. Here are the motions passed by the Threshold Partners at the meeting: a) That the Threshold Partners of New Vision United Church engage in “The Relationship Currency Project” in the calendar year 2021 as discussed in this meeting and the meeting on November 1 2020, based on our successful Mission Support Grant  Application “Just Intercultural Consultation with Diverse Communities,” b) That the Threshold Partners of New Vision United Church create a 5 member (including the minister) Steering Group to coordinate Threshold Partners in achieving the objectives of the Project accountable to the Threshold Partners through the Church Council, and c) That the Threshold Partners of New Vision United Church appoint a diverse group that is reflective of the goals of the intercultural relationship currency project to the steering group. Through the Church Council the group can add members in order to achieve the desired diversity stated above.
  10. Several Threshold Partners are considering nominations made at the meeting that they join the steering group. Please hold them in your prayers.
  11. New Vision folks without access to Zoom are continuing to attend our Zoom worship gathering in person at 24 Main W. Because attendees are at a religious gathering, pandemic health orders allow us to have 10 people together, when at present in all other circumstances in-door gatherings are limited to 5 people.
  12. If you are interested in attending the in-person gathering, please be in touch with New Vision by emailing officeadmin@newvisionunited.org. The gathering will observe all the best practices for hygiene, screening, and sanitation.
  13. Christmas is right around the corner! As you might have already heard, Wesley Urban Ministries’ Christmas & Holiday Store will not operate like a store this year. Instead, it will provide hampers for people who participate in Wesley programs and through some of its community partners. For more information on how to get involved, please visit the website https://wesley.ca/holiday-assistance-program/.
  14. Purchase donations and do a curbside drop off at 1974 King St E (Pioneer Church), December 6 – 22, 1 – 4 pm. Calendar is here: https://wesley.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/christmas-holiday-hamper-calendar-2020.pdf
  15. Wesley Donation Wish List:
    Plastic or re-usable bags
    Any non-perishable food in individual or family sizes
    New gifts: toys, hygiene items, small kitchen appliances, towel & linens
    Gift Certificates for Walmart, Giant Tiger, Canadian Tire, Toys ‘R’ Us
    New or gently used hats, mitts, socks, winter boots and coats (No clothing)
  16. For those looking to volunteer at Wesley, their new volunteer roles and pandemic protocols are available online at the above link. There will be a limited number of on-site volunteers this year, however, you can also help from home by making pre packed hampers or volunteer as a driver to take the hampers to Wesley programs and community partners.
  17. New Vision Virtual Worship is experiential, participatory, image-rich and collective, just like worship in person at New Vision! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week during the Covid-19 emergency by clicking here. If you want to put the link someplace easy to find each week, here it is:?https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. Please share it with others and invite them to a “different” kind of time on Zoom from the usual.
  18. You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, then, when prompted, input the Meeting ID 782 292 511 followed by the # sign. Ignore the prompts for Participant ID and Password. You are in when the recorded voice says, “You are in the meeting.” If you can only connect by video on your computer with no audio, you can use the phone connection for audio and the computer connection for visual.
  19. For updates on New Vision plans in the post Covid-19 emergency recovery, please visit http://newvisionunited.org/new-vision-covid-19-updates/.

Hope to see you on Sunday –  again, or for the first time.

Rev Ian

New Vision Notes Thur July 30 2020

New Vision Notes for Thursday July 30, 2020

  • From Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team: We are grateful to the evolving Beasley Neighbourhood Association for their op-ed in The Spec this week, voicing their support for our community members in tents. “In Hamilton, the social and economic fault lines couldn’t be clearer. In little tent encampments that have sprung up all around the lower-city, we are now also witnessing the result of years of underinvestment in public housing. The city housing department cannot even offer what its name suggests, attempting to convince homeless people to use a shelter system that many are avoiding for the same reasons wealthy Hamiltonians are avoiding indoor dining. We support all groups and individuals working to alleviate the social issues that have long existed downtown. At the risk of incurring the ire of council over an issue of basic human decency, our downtown neighbourhood association stands with local groups HAMSMaRT and Keeping Six.” We hope this is a growing movement towards YIMBYism (Yes In My Back Yard-ism).
  • You too can add your voice to the growing movement for a humane and just approach to encampments in the city. Please keep up the pressure on city officials, and consider who else in your network might be able to take action and/or offer services. Our requests are:

Stop ticketing people who are homeless.

Enact a moratorium on clearing encampments on public lands as per available public health guidance.

Work to quickly open more washrooms, showers, and physical spaces for people to safely be throughout downtown and east Hamilton.

Ensure that people have adequate access to potable water.

Take a housing first approach to helping people access non-congregate housing options.

Please take 5 minutes today to call or email your city councillor about these urgent needs.

  • August 1, 1834 is the day the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect in Great Britain, ending slavery throughout most of the British Empire – including in the colonies that would become Canada. It is estimated that on that day, 800,000 enslaved Black peoples were freed, as it became illegal for anyone to be a slave in the British Empire. There is a grassroots movement happening in the United Church and beyond to proclaim August 1 as one way to support the fair treatment of all humans and affirm that all persons are made in the image of God. The commemoration of August 1 reminds us that the fight against systemic and anti-Black racism is far from over, and that we need to continue the work for the creation of a more just society. It is one way to continue the work of becoming an anti-racist church. You can attend a virtual Emancipation Day event in Hamilton this Saturday August 1. Learn more about this African Caribbean Canadian Association event here: http://newvisionunited.org/4930-2/The link for the ACCA Emancipation Day event on Saturday at 6 pm in the New Vision Notes does not work.Here is the correct link: http://newvisionunited.org/4930-2/The link for the ACCA Emancipation Day event on Saturday at 6 pm in the New Vision Notes does not work.Here is the correct link: http://newvisionunited.org/4930-2/
  • We will be celebrating communion this Sunday at our Virtual Worship Gathering.
  • New Vision will be gathering for worship on Sundays on Zoom throughout the summer to the end of September. We will evaluate next steps in the middle of September. We will keep in place our phone network to keep in touch with those who are not able to join us virtually on Sundays. Here is our worship leadership schedule into September:
DATEWORSHIP LEADERSHIP
  
Sunday August 2 2020Rev Ian Sloan
Sunday August 9 2020Worship Team
Sunday August 16 2020Affirming Team
Sunday August 23 2020“Field Trip” Sunday
Sunday August 30 2020Foodgrains Sunday
Sunday September 6 2020Rev. Lynn Godfrey
Sunday September 13 2020Erin Poole
  • We invite you to try something new on August 23rd! Instead of worshipping together at New Vision, the Worship Committee is suggesting our Community of Faith visits some of our friends and kindred spirits. We have connected with 2 Congregations in the US that welcome guests online. Because of the time difference, you can worship with both of them, if you wish! We encourage you to visit Rockville United Church of Christ in Rockville, Maryland. The community at Rockville are our partners in the sponsorship in our Syrian Refugee Family. Rev. Scott Winette and the community in Rockville are looking forward to meeting us. Zoom Worship at Rockville is at 11am and can be accessed by entering https://zoom.us/j/4019388880?pwd=dEw0V2JFT3RkZG1CZ0loMC8wcHZUUT09
  • Our other suggestion is to visit with the House of All Sinners and Saints in Denver Colorado. This lively affirming Congregation welcomes folks from all across the USA. Their Service is at 7pm our time (5pm Denver time). You reach them at www.houseforallsinnersandsaints.org. Click on ‘Visiting’ and you will find the link to join the Worship Service
  • For updates on New Vision plans in the Covid-19 emergency recovery, please visit http://newvisionunited.org/new-vision-covid-19-updates/.
  • New Vision Virtual Worship is experiential, participatory, image-rich and collective, just like worship in person at New Vision! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week during the Covid-19 emergency by clicking here. If you want to put the link someplace easy to find each week, here it is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. Please share it with others and invite them to a “different” kind of time on Zoom from the usual.
  • You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, then, when prompted, input the Meeting ID 782 292 511 followed by the # sign. Ignore the prompts for Participant ID and Password. You are in when the recorded voice says, “You are in the meeting.”

Hope to see you on Sunday ~ again, or for the first time.

Rev Ian

New Vision Notes Wed July 22 2022

New Vision Notes Wed July 22 2020

  1. Calling on people who sew: the Hamilton bylaw requiring the public to wear masks in interior public settings applies to the Resting and Hygiene Centre. Given the circumstances of many guests of the Centre, we cannot assume that they will be masked when they seek entrance. Our plan to ensure everyone who seeks to enter may enter is to have a reusable supply of cloth masks which we will launder and reuse. If you sew, we need your help! Please contact Helen helen.bradleyrd@gmail.com or Martine martini.sings@gmail.com if you want to help.
  2. Home baking individually wrapped is being highly appreciated by the guests of the Resting Centre! Please keep it coming! You can drop it off any day of the week between 5 and 9 pm. 
  3. For updates on New Vision plans in the Covid-19 emergency recovery, please visit http://newvisionunited.org/new-vision-covid-19-updates/.
  4. Tomorrow evening tune into the third concert in the Music Hall’s “Do Well by Hamilton” Virtual Concert Series. Featured artist Zaki Ibrahim is a South AfricanCanadian singer-songwriter. Her music blends R&Bsoul and jazz. Show streams live at 8 pm. You can get to the stream here: https://www.facebook.com/ZakiIbrahim/
  5. New Vision will be gathering for worship on Sundays on Zoom throughout the summer and into the fall. We will keep in place our phone network to keep in touch with those who are not able to join us virtually on Sundays. Here is our worship leadership schedule into September:
DATEWORSHIP LEADERSHIP
  
Sunday July 26 2020Rev Ian Sloan
Sunday August 2 2020Rev Ian Sloan
Sunday August 9 2020Worship Team
Sunday August 16 2020Affirming Team
Sunday August 23 2020“Field Trip” Sunday
Sunday August 30 2020Foodgrains Sunday
Sunday September 6 2020Rev. Lynn Godfrey
Sunday September 13 2020Erin Poole
  • More info coming on “Field Trip” Sunday August 23 in the next edition of New Vision Notes.
  • New Vision Virtual Worship is experiential, participatory, image-rich and collective, just like worship in person at New Vision! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week during the Covid-19 emergency by clicking here. If you want to put the link someplace easy to find each week, here it is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. Please share it with others and invite them to a “different” kind of time on Zoom from the usual.
  • You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, then, when prompted, input the Meeting ID 782 292 511 followed by the # sign. Ignore the prompts for Participant ID and Password. You are in when the recorded voice says, “You are in the meeting.”

Hope to see you on Sunday ~ again, or for the first time.

Rev Ian

New Vision Notes Wed July 8 2020

  1. For updates on New Vision plans in the Covid-19 emergency recovery, please visit http://newvisionunited.org/new-vision-covid-19-updates/
  2. We are looking for donated electronic devices that can be used by participants in New Vision congregate-setting virtual worship. We imagine people without access to devices and/or the internet coming to 24 Main W on Sundays for 10:30 am and being given a device that allows them to get onto the internet and into our Zoom virtual worship gathering using our church wifi signal. Old mobile phones or laptops with wifi connectivity are what we are looking for. If you have any used ones around that you are not using suitable for this and are willing either to donate or lend to New Vision, please contact George MacCuish at georgeamac@gmail.com.
  3. Zoom has delayed the introduction of mandatory passcodes or waiting rooms until the end of September that I was mentioning in the Notes last week. At some point our plan is to use the waiting room feature rather than issue passcodes, and to treat the waiting room as a place in which someone welcomes you to the gathering. If you arrive a little earlier than 10:30 on the dot it will make it easier for the “ushers” to greet you and admit you. When you get in the microphones will be unmuted. You can also use the chat box to talk privately with others before the gathering commences. We will let you know.
  4. New Vision will be gathering for worship on Sundays on Zoom throughout the summer. We will keep in place our phone network to keep in touch with those who are not able to join us on the internet. Here is our worship leadership schedule into September:
    DATEWORSHIP LEADERSHIPSunday July 12 2020Rev Ian SloanSunday July 19 2020Rev Ian SloanSunday July 26 2020Rev Ian SloanSunday August 2 2020Rev Ian SloanSunday August 9 2020Worship TeamSunday August 16 2020Affirming TeamSunday August 23 2020″Field Trip” SundaySunday August 30 2020Foodgrains SundaySunday September 6 2020Rev. Lynn GodfreySunday September 13 2020Erin Poole
  5. We have secured more funding for the Resting and Hygiene Centre: it will continue to operate throughout the summer. Usually there are at least 30 guests per evening, which sometimes grows to 50 or more. Home baking individually wrapped is being highly appreciated by the guests! Please keep it coming!
  6. The next concert in the Music Hall Do Well by Hamilton Live Stream Concert Series takes place tomorrow evening, Thursday July 9 at 8 pm. The artist is country blues singer/songwriter Jeremie Albino. For more on Jeremie, follow this link http://jeremiealbino.com/. You can stream the concert from this link: https://www.facebook.com/musichallhamont/?ref=bookmarks
  7. New Vision Virtual Worship is experiential, participatory, image-rich and collective, just like worship in person at New Vision! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week during the Covid-19 emergency by clicking here. If you want to put the link someplace easy to find each week, here it is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. Please share it with others and invite them to a “different” kind of time on Zoom from the usual.
  8. You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, then, when prompted, input the Meeting ID 782 292 511 followed by the # sign. Ignore the prompts for Participant ID and Password. You are in when the recorded voice says, “You are in the meeting.”

Hope to see you on Sunday ~ again, or for the first time.

Rev Ian

New Vision Notes Wed June 10 2020

  1. You may have noticed in the news in the last few days that the province is permitting faith communities to gather in-person again across the province beginning this Friday. Anticipating that in-person worship will look much different in the restart ahead, New Vision Church Council struck a Team New Vision ad hoc group to give leadership to issues such as this and others that are emerging from the lock-down period. The group is working on the issues presenting themselves to us. The short answer to the question of when? Is “when we are ready.” We will carry on as we are for the time being. Team New Vision is Helen, Dixon, George and Ian.
  2. This Sunday the Threshold Partners will be meeting in a Zoom meeting after the worship gathering. It will take place in a different Zoom room than the virtual worship gathering. Threshold Partners will be receiving a separate reminder of the meeting in another email note.
  3. Looking ahead, on June 18 from 6 to 7:30 pm, join the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, Keeping 6, HAMSMaRT (that’s Hamilton Social Medicine and Resource Team), Kyle’s Place, SWAP (the Sex Workers Action Program), and Strathcona Mutual Aid in conversation about what mutual aid means to us, and where we go next. COVID-19 has illuminated the many ways that racism, colonization, capitalism, ableism, and other forms of violence intersect to harm people and communities. However it has also opened a window to imagine and create communities where we collectively care for each other. To join, get your FREE ticket online: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/hamilton-mutual-aid-webinar-tickets-107735166784?ref=estw
  4. New Vision’s sixth anniversary worship gathering takes place on Sunday June 21. Our guest speakers will be coordinators and physician consultant of our Resting and Hygiene Centre for People Sleeping Rough.
  5. This past Sunday our annual Pride worship gathering took place. The Affirming Committee put together a rich service for us that included videos, special music, an inspired play and a from-the-margins service of the table. Thanks to the many who made this a special gathering. I am inserting the White Board drawings people did during the exchange of peace to inspire you.
  6. The Pastoral Care Committee has prepared a COVID-19 spiritual care resource. Many thanks to Erin for giving shape to this. You can download it by clicking on this link.
  7. Martine our Music Leader is asking everyone to please consider taking a picture or quick video of themselves (15 seconds or less) sharing a message of hope, resilience and/or faith to make part of the New Vision Choir’s anthem for our sixth anniversary on Sunday, June 21. Send it to her at sings@gmail.com. Deadline (absolute latest!) Sunday June 14.
  8. The Music Hall at New Vision is launching its Virtual Concert Series during Hamilton Arts Week. The first concert will take place on June 18, and will be streamed live on the Music Hall Facebook Page. Please follow this link to learn more about DJ Shub of A Tribe Called Red, grandfather of the Pow Wow Step. You can also watch a DJ Shub music video, Black Snakes, here.
  9. Home baking individually wrapped is being highly appreciated by the guests at the Resting and Hygiene Centre! Keep it coming!
  10. New Vision Virtual Worship is experiential, participatory, image-rich and collective, just like worship in person at New Vision! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week during the Covid-19 emergency by clicking here. If you want to put the link someplace easy to find each week, here it is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. Please share it with others and invite them to a “different” kind of time on Zoom from the usual.
  11. You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, then, when prompted, input the Meeting ID 782 292 511 followed by the # sign. Ignore the prompts for Participant ID and Password. You are in when the recorded voice says, “You are in the meeting.”

Hope to see you Sunday ~

Rev Ian

New Vision Notes Thur May 2 2019

New Vision has a legacy relationship with a Tokyo all-girls school that was begun in 1884 by a member of Centenary United Church.  A founder in Japanese culture is practically an ancestor to those who pass through such an institution.  24 Main W has the element of a shrine to the founder of the school (Toyo Eiwa), Martha Cartmell.

Five years ago alumnae of Toyo Eiwa gifted a cherry tree garden to the City of Hamilton in recognition of all the Canadian women missionaries who taught at Toyo Eiwa and especially its founder, Martha. The garden is in the Dundas Valley. Today 11 alumnae came to a 5 year anniversary celebration of the garden organized by Rev’ds Seiichi Ariga and Wayne Irwin. The group aslo visited Marth Cartmell’s grave, and enjoyed a  reception at New Vision in the Music Hall hosted by the Martha Cartmell UCW unit.

The cherry trees have not quite blossomed. I took that as a good sign – of the potentiality of good relationships, sustained and developed. The blossoms come when they will, and the fruit, in due course.

See you Sunday ~

Rev. Ian