Thursday January 5th, 2023

Happy New Year to all!

While Rev. Ian is on vacation and sabbatical leave, here is what’s going on at New Vision:

1. This coming Sunday (January 8th) our service will be led by Helen and other members of the Church Council.
2. During Rev. Ian’s vacation and study/sabbatical leave, pastoral care will be available through members of our Pastoral Care Team by contacting Albert Jagt or Erin Poole.
3. Dixon has written a Christmas letter to all New Vision Threshold Partners, Members, and Friends. Please click here to download and read this meaningful holiday message.
4. Lent is coming up in just a few months! For those of you making plans for the Lenten season, both the print and the ebook versions of the 2023 United Church Lenten devotional, Good Courage: Daily Reflections on Hope are now available!Good Courage offers honest testimonies from people who have had the courage to follow their hearts, to hope against hope, and to faithfully work toward a better world. In this new book, you will find inspiring examples of practical and courageous hope in the midst of despair that deepen your spiritual experience of resurrection and new life.Edited by the Rev. Alydia Smith, this new Lenten devotional includes daily scripture, reflections, study questions, and prayers for individuals or groups.When you purchase the softcover edition of Good Courage, use code PLANAHEAD to receive one free 2023 Canadian Church Calendar! (Note: You must have both Good Courage and the 2023 Canadian Church Calendar added to your cart for the discount to apply to your order.) Offer valid while supplies last.
5. With contagious COVID sub-variants still spreading in Hamilton, we encourage you to get the fourth vaccination now available to all adults. We will continue our current in-person gathering approach: i) we will form the circle again in the lower hall, distancing the seats by a meter for the time being. ii) people may join the circle if they are willing to wear a mask. (Masking will allow ourselves to sing together safely, reducing the distance of the large number of air particles we expel when singing).
6. 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  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.
7. You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone. Call 1 647 374 4685, 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.
8. Rev. Ian’s sabbatical leave will end January 8, 2023 and we look forward to his return to our worship space on Sunday January 15, 2023.

Wishing you countless blessings in 2023!