Thursday December 15th, 2022

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

1. This coming Sunday (December 18th) is the fourth Sunday of Advent: a service of carols and readings, led by Martine and many others from our church community.
2. A vigil will be held for Bekett Noble (A Redeemer student who died by suicide) on Sunday afternoon at the City Hall forecourt at 2 pm. Please consider joining with other Affirming United Churches there to show our support for Bekett’s friends and the wider Q/T community.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Christmas Eve dinner: New Vision will be hosting a Christmas Eve supper at 5PM for those attending the Christmas Eve service. Menu will include three courses, and vegetarian options. Please email Jen (jenniferhompoth@gmail.com) by Saturday evening if you are able to attend or volunteer to help with food prep, serving or clean-up for this event. For those attending on Sunday morning, sign-up will also be available in the lower hall. We look forward to this time of community and togetherness.
6. You are invited to join us in a contemplative space that honours grief and loss- of loved ones and  companion animals, as well as ambiguous loss (e.g. personal illness, discrimination, loss of relationships)- during the Advent and Christmas season. You are invited to be exactly where you are at, at the Service of Remembrance on Thursday, December 22 at 7 pm. Join us in-person or by Zoom at our usual Sunday worship link. This service will be facilitated by Erin Poole and the Pastoral Care Committee.
7. Our Christmas Eve service will take place on Saturday December 24th at 7pm in the lower hall and virtually on Zoom (using our regular worship service link).
8. Please note that we will not be holding a Christmas Day service in person or on Zoom this year. If you would like to attend a Christmas Day service in person or virtually, here are some churches who will be worshiping on the 25th: St. Paul’s Dundas is at 10 a.m. in person or can be livestreamed from their website: https://stpaulsdundas.com/ St. Andrew’s United, Hamilton will worship at 10:30 in person or by livestream from their website: https://standrewsunitedhamilton.ca/ Delta United, Hamilton also has worship at 10:30 in person or via their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DeltaUnitedChurch/
9. Notice was given to Loreena McKennitt’s “Under a Winter’s Moon” concert last Friday evening in the Music Hall by the music industry news site “FYImusicnews.ca:”  Loreena McKennitt is nearing the end of an eight-city Ontario tour presenting a seasonal concert entitled Under A Winter’s Moon: A Concert of Carols and Tales. Promoting the tour herself, McKennitt chose historic churches as her venues, and, judging by the superb show FYI caught at the lovely Music Hall situated in the New Vision United Church in downtown Hamilton, the ambience of these rooms perfectly fits her well-curated material. She has explained that “one of the missions of this tour is to help build the profile of projects like The Music Hall and help to save these historic buildings as they try to find their new role in the community.”Carols and stories from Indigenous and Celtic cultures were featured in the concert, and much of the second half was devoted to readings from the Dylan Thomas classic A Child’s Christmas In Wales, performed by renowned veteran actor and folk musician Cedric Smith. McKennitt’s pure voice was skillfully accompanied by an ensemble that included English cellist Caroline Lavelle, and the sizeable crowd in attendance was highly appreciative.
10. The theme of holy darkness that Diane and Miriam spoke of on December 4 is explored by Cole Arthur Riley who posts on facebook. Also, the “Nap Ministry” is Tricia Hersey and she also can be found on facebook. “Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto” is her book published in October. Contact Miriam or Diane if you need help finding them.
11. With a very contagious new COVID sub-variant 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).
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. 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.
14. 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.

See you on Sunday!