New Vision Notes for Thursday February 20, 2025

Welcome to a new edition of New Vision Notes! We are grateful to be reaching you each week. This coming Sunday we mark the Seventh Sunday After Epiphany and the Fourth Sunday of African Heritage Month. Our worship will be led by Daniel, Joda, and other fabulous folks from our New Vision Community.

Unfortunately, due to recent and pending winter storms, there is no on-site parking available until further notice. Parking is available directly across the street from the church, or near City Hall. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this challenging season, and ask that you travel carefully (or consider attending worship through Zoom, if you feel uncomfortable making the trek to church in stormy weather).

New Vision needs to do some repair work on the building exterior! For everyone’s safety, some parts of the sidewalk around our building are now closed. Please continue to use the accessible door on the corner of Main and MacNab (close to our illuminated sign).

Thanks to everyone who so generously gave to New Vision United Church in 2024! Chartitable donation receipts will be available for pick up in person this Sunday. Receipts that aren’t picked up on Sunday will be put in the mail on Tuesday.

Right now in Alberta, a small town’s government is threatening to close and relocate a library that is known as a safe haven of social justice and diversity. In response we intend to mail paper hearts with messages of love, hope, and solidarity to the folks at the Valleyview Municipal Library. We will have the hearts in our worship space for the next couple Sundays, so you may take a moment to share your messages of love. To learn more about this ‘shadow war on libraries’, please check out this informative article from Fifth Estate: https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/a-shadow-war-on-libraries

The Ecumenical Week of Guided Prayer and Spiritual Exploration will be held March 16 to 22, online or in person. The Week of Guided Prayer and Spiritual Exploration is an opportunity to enrich your spiritual life and deepen your relationship with God. We hope you can join us.
Information and registration online at www.guidedprayer.ca until March 9.

It Didn’t Start on October 7: Zionism and its Victims: United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel is presenting a series of one-hour illustrated talks that trace Zionist / Israeli efforts to take the land of historic Palestine, dispossess the Palestinian inhabitants, and deny them fundamental human rights and self determination. Each talk is 60 minutes followed by 30 minutes of Q/A and discussion. The talks are introductory and non-academic and are suitable for anyone who wants to learn more. No prior knowledge of the history of Palestine / Israel is necessary. The talks were originally given at an Islamic Centre in BC in 2024. To register, please visit https://tinyurl.com/zy9k73kn

Marian works hard to maintain our Resource room and spends a considerable amount of her time sorting and frequently disposing or donating impractical items to other organizations. She would truly appreciate if folks took more care to examine items they’re bringing before dropping them off.

The Resource Room could really use more coats, boots, casual shoes, running shoes, casual pants and shirts, blouses, and jeans.

Marian appreciates your generosity of spirit and invites you to reach out to her on Sunday and ask if you have any questions or concerns.

A Song of Faith – A Song of Faith, adopted in 2006, seeks to provide a verbal picture of what The United Church of Canada understands its faith to be in the historical, political, social, and theological context of the early 21st century. It is also a means of ongoing reflection and an invitation for the church to live out its convictions in relation to the world in which we live. Please click here to view (and/or download) this important literature.

Would you like to try leading a worship service? Our worship team is looking for some folks to consider leading worship. It’s a fun and meaningful way to contribute to our faith community! Please reach out to Julie or Dan to learn more about putting a service together.

Enjoy Daily scripture readings from The Revised Common Lectionary: This three-year cycle of scripture readings is used by most churches in Canada and the US. Let the Word inspire you by visiting https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/daily.php?year=B#id79

You’re invited! Join us on Sunday mornings 10:30 am week to week either in person at 24 Main St. W. or on Zoom by clicking here. The link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/782292511. If you’re on Facebook, you may also want to consider joining our New Vision United Community Group , where we post updates and share with one another online.