I was supposed to be on Study Leave from June 4-10, but my mother-in-law died in the early hours of Tuesday morning, so I’m on Bereavement Leave instead. I’ll still be participating in the combined worship service at Woodlawn on Sunday, June 8th. Thank you to those who responded to the request for cookies! I also had signed up for an on-line course through AST on AI and Ministry which starts today, which I will attend.
For those of you not on Facebook, you will not have seen the photos from the gathering of the two Maritime Regions this past weekend. One of the highlights was participating in the laying on of hands for a former student and now friend and colleague as she was ordained. I participated in a panel on Theological Banquet as well as facilitated a LARGE group of those who defined themselves as spiritual. Another highlight was gathering with my former Clergy Group, we hadn’t all been together since before Covid! Robyn Brown-Hewitt wrote some amazing, funny, heartfelt sketches to commemorate 100 years of UCC history; I think I have her convinced to share them with me. I attended a book reading by Marie Wilson and bought her book! North of Nowhere.
I also had a chance to have a conversation with David Hewitt about our church and the upcoming meeting with the Leadership Team on June 18th. He and another person are formulating questions for us and will get them to us in time for us to seek out the answers if we don’t already have them.
As parliament reopens, the Moderator and General Secretary of the United Church wrote Prime Minister Mark Carney to request a meeting; and outline the UCC’s priorities:
- 2S & LGBTQIA+ peoples’ rights
- Advancing racial equity
- Indigenous Peoples’ right to truth, justice and reparations
- Acting for climate justice
- Standing for global solidarity, peace, and respect for international law
You can read the entire text of the letter HERE.
St. James United Church Dartmouth 