New Vision Notes Thur June 3 2021

Thurs June 3 2021

  1. To begin the notes this week, I invite you to take the time to read this post by the Indigenous Ministries and Justice at The United Church of Canada: “Kamloops Residential School: A Time for Mourning and Support.
  2. This Sunday June 6 we celebrate the United Church of Canada National Pride Day with a gathering led by our Affirming Committee.
  3. In addition, at 2 pm on June 6th, all are invited to join “We are One, We are Many: A Celebration of the Affirming Designations of Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls, and Western Ontario Waterways Regional Councils” that same day, at 2 pm. Follow this Zoom link: https://united-church.zoom.us/j/92162978931
  4. New Vision and our property redevelopment partner the United Property Resource Corporation will be holding a virtual town hall gathering on June 10th in which we consult with our neighbours and the community about options for our Holton Ave. S. campus. Please plan to attend one of the two gatherings: one from noon to 1:30- pm and the other from 6 pm to 7:30 pm.
  5. To attend the Holton campus townhalls simply go to this website at 12 pm or 6 pm and click on the link that takes you into the meeting. There is no requirement to register. And send out invitations to those in your circle to join in. There will be virtual polls undertaken during the meeting. This is an opportunity for us to express our commitment in public to a value-aligned redevelopment of one of our heritage campuses.
  6. On Sunday June 13 we are going to bear witness as a community to St. Andrew’s United Church on the mountain being recognized as an Affirming Ministry! Dixon Challoner will be presenting their Affirming Ministry certificate to them. We all will be attending St. Andrew’s in our usual way by gathering virtually at our usual time of 10:30 am in our virtual worship gathering on Zoom to take in their live stream service together.
  7. St. Andrew’s was begun as a church start-up by the former St. Giles congregation. So, in a big way, this is totally a family celebration.
  8. Sunday June 20th is our 7th anniversary. Ward 3 Councillor Nrinder Nann has accepted our invitation to come speak as our guest at our worship gathering on that Sunday.
  9. Sunday June 20 is also Indigenous Day of Prayer, the Sunday before National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21): an opportunity to celebrate First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples’ values, customs, languages, and culture. We will make this celebration part of our worship gathering on June 20, and Sunday June 28.
  10. With June being both Pride month and National Indigenous Heritage Month, the United Church of Canada is presenting a webinar called “Two-Spirit People: A Part of our Circle and our Teachings” on Monday, June 28 at 7 pm. Follow this link to register. It is free – brought to us by The UCC’s Mission and Service Fund.
  11. This is the time of year Wesley Urban Minstries gears up for Case for Kids, Wesley’s largest annual fundraiser. In fact, this year marks 30 years for this event! Normally we’re all together at Bayfront Park, but just like last year, Case for Kids will be a June virtual campaign, and we’re being asked for our help in spreading the word and helping to make this year’s event a smash success for Wesley’s children and youth programs.
  12. Here’s the video for this year’s Case for Kids:
  13. Here is the webpage for the 2021 Case for Kids: .
  14. We look forward in the weeks ahead to good progress in lowering the incident levels of COVID-19 infection so that the movement and gathering restrictions will be progressively relaxed. At this time I am sad to say this still means that New Vision folks without access to Zoom will have to wait for a while more to participate in person at 24 Main W in our Zoom worship gathering on Sundays. But we are getting close! I know those gathering on Zoom keenly miss those who have been gathering in person. I am looking forward to the day we can meet again in person, and I am sad that this is the second Easter we will not be able to gather in person as a Christian faith community.
  15. 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.
  16. You can also call in to the gathering on the telephone toll free. Call 1 855 703 8985, 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