New Vision Notes Fri Mar 3 2023

Fri Mar 3 2023

  1. A solid 2023 annual meeting was held this past Sunday. Thanks to all for their participation and contributions.
  2. Next step will be an internal consultation gathering among Threshold Partners and friends of New Vision in the next month or so. The Church Council is looking at possibilities here but would like everyone to be thinking about a Saturday morning. The Council will share more when they find the resource person to give leadership.
  3. Get your pie baking recipes and apron ready! We will celebrate United Church National PIE Day celebrating our Affirming Congregation (public, intentional, explicit) on Sunday, March 19. Bring a pie or tarts of any shape or description to share after church. Sweet or savory, warm or cold, all celebrations are better with food!
  4. Anti-Racism & the United Church Workshop Tuesday, March 7, 10:00 – 11:30 am. THERE’S STILL TIME TO REGISTER! This workshop is open to anyone who is ready to engage in honest conversation about racism in The United Church of Canada. This workshop is brought to you by Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls and Western Ontario Waterways Regional Councils, and the three regions have covered all costs. Part 2: Antiracism for the UC: Tuesday, March 7, 10:00-11:30 am with Alcris Limongi. Alcris Limongi is part of the Center for Christian Studies in Winnipeg team as Program Staff/Educator. In the past she has been the Racial Justice, Gender Justice and Sexual Minorities Program Coordinator at the General Council Office, and she has served in congregational ministry. Her life experience between marginality and privilege in different ways, combined with theological education, and a commitment to justice, helped her develop what she calls, “the gift of her brown eyes” to the church. If you have any questions about this workshop or your readiness to participate in it, contact Thérèse Samuel at tsamuel@united-church.ca.
  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 metre for the time being. ii) people may join the circle if they are willing to wear a mask.
  6. 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.
  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. 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.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday again, or for the first time –

Rev Ian