New Vision Notes Thur May 4 2023

Thur May 4 2023

  1. Christ is risen!
  2. Christ is risen indeed!
  3. This Sunday May 7 we celebrate the first anniversary of the Al Zahra family’s arrival in Canada together with the Al Zahra family! This will be a joint interfaith service with our partners in the project, Rockville United Church of Rockville Maryland. We’ll both be in-person connected to each other by zoom and with everyone who joins our zoom gathering. A time of hospitality will follow the worship gathering. We’ll be gathering in Rockville United’s Zoom room. You get there by following this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81437132585
  4. SAVE THE DATE: On Saturday June 3rd at 7:30pm, A La Mode Choir (this is Martine’s choir that did the gospel concert back in the fall) will be presenting a concert upstairs in the Music Hall. Prepare to set sail at our choral concert filled with treasures! Sea Shanties, folk songs, moving ballads, and of course some laughs will delight the senses and inspire the adventurer in you! Tickets will be available after services throughout May. Thanks for your support!
  5. Our Called to be the Church stewardship campaign wrapped up this past Sunday April 30. Now it is your turn…if you have yet to return your response card, please do so in the next few days.
  6. The campaign team has tried to reach everyone who regularly contributes their time, talent and money to New Vision. Remember, a completed response card with no change in level of your financial commitment is itself a positive response – a thank you to God for this place of belonging.
  7. You can mail your response card to New Vision United Church, 24 Main St. W., Hamilton ON L8P iH2 to the attention of Erick Feltham, Treasurer.
  8. May is Asian Heritage Month. We’ll mark it every Sunday of May, with leadership from within our Asian circle of members and participants. We’ll have our Sunday May 28 worship gathering focussed on the themes of the Month. This year’s pan-Canadian theme, “Continuing a Legacy of Greatness,” emphasizes the rich, diverse, and historic pathways that have laid the foundation for Asian communities in Canada to thrive.
  9. Another exciting New Vision event occurred at the end of last week: the congregational in-person consultation on adjustments to make to our mission and ministry. The Saturday morning concluded with a provided lunch and donation basket for the meal. You will be invited to into the consultation as the results of this initial meeting begin to be made use of.
  10. Here were our goals this past Saturday: a) To remember the story of New Vision United Church and, in that remembering, to both grieve what has not come to fruit and to celebrate what has, and b) To imagine what our story could become and, in that imagining, to generate real, actionable options, for the life of New Vision United Church in the coming year. (This gathering will collect these possibilities for the further work and decisions of the New Vision United Church Council, who will invite the entire community of faith into shared action.)
  11. We will celebrate Pride month with the rest of the United Church on the first Sunday of June. We are pleased to have Ward 2 Councillor Cameron Kroetsch join us and speak to us that day. Councillor Kroetsch accepted our invitation to speak on some Sunday during our anniversary month of June. Sunday June 4 was most convenient for him.
  12. June is Wesley Urban Ministries’ Case for Kids month. The annual walk takes place on Sunday June 4 in the early afternoon. For more info on giving the Case your support, go to wesley.ca/caseforkids
  13. We 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.
  14. 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.
  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. Christ has risen indeed! Alleluia!

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

Rev Ian