Dear Congregants,
I love snow. It brightens and refreshes. Snow storms invite comfy cocooning with a good book. And so, when I saw the forecast, I thought that I would enjoy cocooning with my computer and phone. But when I awoke to a foot of snow, my spirits were not very bright or refreshed. Although our parched land needs the moisture and snow, the last thing we need is more cocooning!! That, combined with the news of more contagious and severe variants that are sweeping us into a third wave, brought out the old fear and anxiety again. I was not alone—I have had recent conversations with others overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. I have put together some resources on prayers, readings, meditations and techniques to deal with fear and anxiety. Please contact me if you would like me to send them to you, or if you would just like a listening ear. Remember—you are not alone.
At our weekly staff meeting, we talked about the need to be more vigilant right now, not less. As people are beginning to receive their first vaccination, it might be tempting to cut a few corners, but now is not the time! Please sign up for a vaccine when your age group comes up—for your sake and the sake of others who cannot be vaccinated. But while we are waiting for our second shot, please don’t cut corners. Our staff are becoming concerned about people who are letting themselves into the church to drop things off and not following safety protocol. Please don’t do this! If you need to pick something up or drop something off, please call Tammy in the office to arrange a time. We have drop-off boxes that we are trying to use, as the building is still closed to everyone except staff, the worship tech team and individuals who have made special arrangements with Eunice P., Chair of our Safe Reopening Committee.
There will come a time when we can relax with one another again and we yearn for this! But for now, we ask God to give us yet one more dose of patience and forbearance so that we can maintain our vigilance and care for the health of one another. At the same time, may we continue to find creative, safe ways to be together. Thanks to our musicians, in May we will be resuming our church porch concerts following the live-streaming worship services on Sundays. Stay tuned!
Easter blessings of hope,
Loraine
WORSHIP SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE EASTER SEASON
April 18:
Earth Day service with Marion M. from the Outreach Team and Martin R. singing.
April 25:
Love in truth and action.
May 2:
The dynamic duo of Rev. Dr. Mac Watts preaching and Rev. Earl Gould as liturgist.
May 9:
Celebration of Westworth becoming an Affirming Ministry with Rev. Heather Robbins.
CHURCH SCHOOL
Hope this e-mail finds you all well, and I will continue to send the Sunday school lesson by e-mail until we can meet in person again.
This week’s Sunday school lesson ‘Doubting Thomas’ has been sent by e-mail, it includes all the age groups from N/K to G5/6, with the activity sheets. If you need a printed copy of the curriculum, please let me know at churchschool@westworth.ca.
The Sunday school teachers will be on Zoom this Sunday from 10.15am-10.40am to chat with you. Our theme this week will be about ‘Being at Peace ’. Then join the online service starting at 10.45am this week with Loraine following Zoom Sunday school .
This week’s bible story is read by Julia, and The Lord’s Prayer is read by Danielle, your Sunday school teachers are on the Westworth Face Book page for you to view, there is also a link in the CE drop down menu on our web site.
The Bible Story is also available here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2984720035146219
Zoom Sunday School Information
Zoom Meeting ID 743 937 1522
Pass Code 042976
Maggie
INVITING YOUR INPUT INTO THE DEVELOPING STRATEGIC PLAN
The Right Rev. Dr. Richard Bott, 43 Moderator of The United Church of Canada
March 5, 2021
https://generalcouncil43.ca/news/inviting-your-input-developing-strategic-plan
“If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Esther 4:14
Grace and peace to you, in the name of Jesus Christ.
The word “unprecedented” comes to our lips frequently these days as we experience change in every part of life as we have known it. The pandemic has required a huge leap of inventiveness in family, community, church, and movements as we strive to continue to witness God’s love to one another with acts of compassion and justice. Acting as a magnifying glass on inequities, but also on what we truly value, the pandemic pushes us to imagine a better world. In the middle of all of this flux and change, grief and possibility, we still strive to be Christ’s church together in a way that imagines that future possibility.
It is in this context—”a time such as this”—that we pick up a mantle given to the whole church by General Council 43 to identify strategic directions for our collective future. I want to tell you about how we are moving that critical planning work along, and to invite your participation.
Guided by the insights of the General Council Executive and the National Indigenous Council, we have gathered a project team from across the church to work with General Secretary Michael Blair, with assistance from Project Manager Jennifer Henry, on the development of a three-year Strategic Plan. While this Plan will be more fully developed for the work of the General Council Office, we hope that it will offer a clear understanding of mission, vision, and strategic objectives that the whole church might engage in, offering opportunities for other parts of the church to develop complementary plans along similar themes. Strategic objectives could also provide a lens through which we discern the agenda for proposals coming to General Council 44.
We are working quickly to complete a final draft of the Strategic Plan heading to General Council Executive in September, and to recalled General Council 43 in October, 2021. We feel we can do this because of all of the good work done by the denomination that already exists, in many forms, to contribute to the context, values, mission, and vision expected in this Strategic Plan.
Please keep a look out for opportunities to give input, in particular to mission, vision, and strategic objectives. One key moment will be Moderator Town Halls planned for April and May 2021.
Prior to the pandemic there were many key reasons for our church to come together in bold action. We don’t need to repeat the statistics that point to a very different demographic reality for our future. Those of us in congregational life feel that change, sharply, in numbers, resources, and community challenges. The pandemic has reinforced the call to live boldly, not just by deepening difficulties, but also by showing us that when we come together in creativity and conviction we can change. Those shifts can, however challenging, open possibilities for new life.
So, who are we, the church, called to be in time such as this, and not just in this time, but 10 years in the future? I welcome the opportunity to listen to your answers to this and other questions in the coming months, as we strive to create a road map for how we might journey into the future together.
Richard Bott
Moderator
STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS 2021
The 43rd General Council will receive a major report, recommending mission, vision, and key strategic priorities for The United Church of Canada at its October 2021 meeting. Following the major gathering of the commissioners in July 2018 in Oshawa, they agreed to meet annually until the 44th General Council to consider urgent matters of denominational importance. This strategic planning process aimed at providing a common direction for 2022‒2024 is one of those key urgent matters.
Process
Consultations are happening across the church through focus groups, interviews, and surveys. Five Moderator’s Town Hall events are also planned and open to all members, with an emphasis on those in paid and volunteer leadership. Details for registering will be available after Easter. All are welcome at these Town Halls, including lay members and adherents of congregations. Please plan to attend only one of the two options for our Prairie-to-Pine Region:
- Saturday April 17: Noon (PT), 1:00 p.m. (MT), 2:00 p.m. (CT) | Register Now
or - Tuesday April 20: 6:00 p.m. (PT), 7:00 p.m. (MT), 8:00 p.m. (CT) | Register Now
Project Team
The members of the Strategic Planning Project Team are
- Right Rev. Richard Bott, Moderator
- Rev. Michael Blair, General Secretary
- Jennifer Henry, Project Manager
- Rev. Beth Hayward
- Rev. Karlene Brown-Palmer
- Amy Haynes
- Rev. Éric Hébert-Daly
- Rev. Richard Manley-Tannis
- Allan Buckingham
- Rev. Murray Pruden
For more information: Jennifer Henry, Project Manager, jhenry@united-church.ca.
- WEST BROADWAY COMMUNITY MINISTRY
Lunches
The Outreach Team is purchasing meatballs, sauce, buns, fruit and cookies for the staff and volunteers at WBCM to serve the guests at lunchtime on Thursday, April 15. We are grateful to all of you who continue to support this vital ministry. Cheques may be sent to the Westworth office with the memo line indicating “WBCM lunches”.
Pantry
Thank you for your continuing support for the folks in the West Broadway area. Cheques to Westworth with “WBCM Pantry” on the memo line are gratefully received!
THE CANADIAN CENTRE FOR POLICY ALTERNATIVES (CCPA)
- The CCPA will host an upcoming webinar series on long-term care and health system reform in Canada:
“Converging Crises: Addressing the crises in long-term care, health system inequities, and federal-provincial relations”
This is a series of three online events taking place April 23, April 30 and May 7. Find link to further information and registration at https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/%E2%80%9Cconverging-crises%E2%80%9D-webinar-series-focus-long-term-care-health-system-reform. The CCPA, is committed to addressing through its research the growing inequities in Canada, and have also engaged in the debate around for-profit versus public delivery of health services, and challenges in long-term care and the seniors’ care system.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the CCPA has been increasingly focused on the humanitarian crisis in long-term care, the unequal impacts on the racialized and gendered workforce and the call for national standards in long-term care. The federal government struggled to take meaningful and timely leadership action due primarily to deepening fault lines between the federal and provincial governments. But now is the time for all levels of government to work together to ensure that evidence guides COVID-19 and long-term care.
- THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGICAL JUSTICE:
A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here
Emily Dickinson
In the past weeks, as we lead up to Earth Day, we have considered the love that we have for creation, and the joy that creation brings to us. This week, we’ll take a bit of time to think about our hope for creation.
This book is for those who feel overwhelmed by our current ecological crises:
Elin Kelsey. (2020) Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical to Solving the Environmental Crisis. Greystone Books.
Here is a great resource to help us act on our hope for creation. [adapted from: Las G Newman,
Is there hope for creation? https://ifesworld.org/en/journal/is-there-hope-for-creation/?switch_language=en]:
- Pay attention to the trees around you. At every opportunity, plant a tree.
- Start or join an environmental club in your neighbourhood or congregation.
- Become a conservationist (if you are not one already).
- Reduce your energy bill.
- Stop littering the community with garbage.
- Fight against deforestation.
- Mobilize neighbourhood education and action campaigns.
- Be concerned about food security and the poor.
- Advocate for proper human settlements and better shelter policy.
- Support and ensure appropriate public transportation policies to cut emissions, improve efficiency, improve air quality, and create a healthier public.
- Support poverty alleviation projects like potable water, micro-enterprise, and job creation.
- Make sure your own environment, your household, your church, your workplace, your lived community, is green, energy-efficient, healthy, and life-affirming.
- Engage in the debate on economic development vs. environmental protection that came to the fore in the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Try to understand the issues.
- Make sure that your local planners and policy makers also understand the issues.
- Make sure everyone understands the urgent need for a low carbon economy and a healthier society by reducing CO₂ emissions and other greenhouse gases.
DIETHER P.’s 90TH
“A big thank you to the large group of congregants who sent cards, came to visit, sang happy birthday and brought me cookies with good wishes.”
Sincerely,
Deither P.
AFFIRMING COMMITTEE
CELEBRATION!
Get out your rainbow colours and join in the celebration on May 9th as Westworth officially becomes an Affirming Congregation!
We have followed the United Church and Affirm United process of education, discussion and involvement of the congregation over several years to reach this point.
The regular service on May 9th will include presentation of the official certificate (by Rev. Ken DeLisle representing Affirm United), a special soloist and reader and, we hope, greetings from friends of Westworth and some of those involved in our education process.
Join us on-line on our You-tube channel at 10:45 a.m. May 9th.
FROM YOUR COMMUNITY CARE TEAM
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” (George Washington Carver)
Are you missing face to face visits with your Westworth family? Now that the weather is warming up, why not contact one or two friends for an outdoor walking visit? There are so many routes to explore. Check out www.winnipegtrails.ca for some inspiration and new ideas.
Please remember to practice COVID safety by wearing a mask and observing physical distancing guidelines.
PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY
“The Prayer Shawl Ministry group has prayer squares available for you to share with friends and family who may find comfort in your support. If you would like to pass these squares and support along, please feel free to call Barb M. and we can arrange the best way to get them to you. “
