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Friends, it has been an honour and a pleasure to serve as your minister for the last 4.5 years. I will always treasure my time with you, and this congregation has always and will always have a special place in my heart. For my final service as your minister, I invite you to come for reflections on blessings - my blessings for you and for UUCD going forward, and a celebration of the blessings we give and receive in the world. This service will also mark the debut of the UUCD Tone Chime Choir, reminding us that there is always a new song, a new way to connect, a new blessing around the corner. Until we meet again, some blessings for the road ahead.
In the midst of stress, burnout, and tension, how do we find our calm as individuals and as a community? How can we appreciate what was and also rebuild and reconnect? In the midst of challenge and transition, we'll explore the concept of Jubilee, which has several meanings related to reconciliation, forgiveness, new beginnings, and hope for the future.
In the midst of changes in the seasons, in our congregation, and the world, how do we hold on to that which is worth preserving and also embrace change? Let go of 'the way we've always done things' without losing the important things along the way? To say goodbye and hello with grace and love?
With meticulous research and deep compassion author Denise Davy analyzed over eight hundred pages of medical records and conducted interviews with Margaret's friends and family, as well as those who worked in psychiatric care, to create this compelling portrait of a woman abandoned by society. Denise will talk to us about how larger questions around homelessness and mental health became essential frameworks for her writing, how the generosity of Jacobson's family in sharing stories and letters brought the book to life, and how styrofoam ceiling tiles became an unexpected part of her writing process for this project.
When I breathe in, I breathe in peace; when I breathe out, I breathe out love. How do you find peace so that you can continue to breathe out love? This Sunday will be one focused on spiritual renewal and sustenance, including time of quiet meditation.
A thoughtful person recently said of us as UUs: "We are not like-minded people, we are like-valued people." Our UU principles express our values and our intentions for how to live well in this world. In this service, we'll explore our principles, what they mean to us, how they came to be, and how we strive to live by them.
There is much to get in the way of our capacity to hope. And yet, most of us find a way to get out of bed in the morning and do what it is we need to do. Where do we find the resources to be hopeful? Let's explore together the ways that we can nurture hope and how we can, in community, cultivate it.
In our first service of the new congregational year, we'll gather online to reflect on the waters that connect and sustain us through the ebbs and flows of life. As the pandemic continues, we'll reconnect and share in our annual water communion to honour our connection to one another and the earth. Please bring water that symbolizes something significant to you in this moment, whether from a lake, river, ocean or your tap.
Mary Beth Wighton is a writer, blogger, inspirational speaker, and a founding member and co-chair of Dementia Advocacy Canada, an organization of people living with dementia and partners whose goal is to have an active and respected role in decisions about all programs and policies that impact their lives. Since being diagnosed at the age of 45 with probable frontotemporal dementia in 2012, Wighton has become an international dementia advocate who has greatly influenced the Canadian landscape and government policies as it pertains to dementia and human rights. She is considered a pioneer in promoting the rights of people with dementia, inspiring Canadians to work alongside particularly vulnerable and excluded people, and to build coherent supports and platforms for co-creation and partnership building aligned with a vibrant, resilient and inclusive democratic Canada. Wighton, now 54 years old, is living well with young-onset dementia along the beautiful shores of Lake Huron, in Ontario, Canada with her partner Dawn.
These past pandemic months have been hard on everyone - we have all struggled in our own ways to get through each day. But on June 6, please join members of the Worship Committee for Silver Linings, a chance to share the unexpected good things that happened to you, or that you made happen. What has brought you joy that would not have happened had Covid not come to disrupt your life? What positive thing will you remember from these times? How has this experience changed you?
The Silver Linings service is all about you, and us. Please bring a song, a story, a poem, an object to show, or some reflection about the silver linings in your life since March 2020. It can be a piece that you created, or one that someone else created but that speaks to your experience. Please come and share your silver linings. |
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We look forward to meeting you!
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