Fri Jun 24 2022
1. We will mark the covenant between Horseshoe Falls Regional Council, New Vision United Church and me as ordered minister this Sunday, June 26, as part of our Sunday morning worship. New Vision and I have been together since New Vision began eight years ago, but it was only two years ago that we and the Regional Council moved from an annual appointment by the regional council to a permanent, called relationship in New Vision’s ministry and mission. We delayed the celebration of our covenanting until we could gather in-person for it. Horseshoe Falls Regional Council will be represented by Marilyn Parsons of St. Mark’s United in Dundas in the celebration of our covenant together this Sunday.
2. New Vision is also covenanting with Horseshoe Falls Regional Council on Sunday. This is a new kind of thing for the United Church to be doing. The Church’s aim is for the work between the regional council and the local faith community to be done in a more independent and yet more mutual way. These covenanting liturgies between regional council and local faith community are intended to be enabling and empowering of the mutuality of the work of faith communities and of regional councils. Rev. Diane Blanchard will be representing the Regional Council in New Vision’s covenanting with the Regional Council this Sunday.
3. It’s Case for Kids through to the end of June. We’ll continue through the month to collect for Wesley Urban Ministries’ Case for Kids. Wesley reports that donations are now at $80,000 closing in on their $90,000 target. Linda Waugh is collecting for New Vision.
4. Coordinating team opportunity for a booth shared with other Affirming United Churches at Pride Reunited July 8th and 9th, Hamilton Convention Centre. Contact me at this email address if you would like to join in.
5. New Vision is joining in with the pandemic-begun Gore Park Outreach Program on Saturday mornings by providing them use of our kitchen Saturday morning for the hot meal they serve their guests at noon in the Park. They have begun! There will be more news as our pilot project with them develops.
6. Here our current in-person gathering approach: i) we will form the circle again in the lower hall, distancing the seats by a metre for the time being. ii) people may join the circle if they are willing to wear a mask.
7. The reason for the masks is that we will allow ourselves to sing, and masking reduces the distance air we expel travels with the increased effort singing.
8. 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.
9. 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.
Hope to see you Sunday again, or for the first time –
Rev Ian