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Lockdown

myaccount82020-03-23T05:48:45-07:00March 23rd, 2020|

By Br. Richard Hendrick, priest-friar of the Irish branch of the Capuchin Franciscan Order

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St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church
Suite 100, 1022 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 4S7

T/ +1 604 683 4574

(Parking available off the lane. Free parking for Sunday services. Wheelchair accessible.)

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This Sunday we will be exploring the weird enterpr

This Sunday we will be exploring the weird enterprise of being a faith community. Delving into the secondary meaning of enterprise, which is the eagerness to do something new and clever, despite any risks. As we are asked to be cautious around so many things right now, one place of freedom might be to explore the corners and hidden pockets of our faith, both individually and collectively. Let's allow the strangeness of Bible stories really intrigues us, to try new spiritual practices, or to reflect on odd spiritual experiences with a view to wonder.

Hope to see you at our joint Live-Stream service together with Highlands United Church on their Youtube channel tomorrow at 10am. Say hello and comment on the Live Chat section.

To contribute financially to this ministry and the work of Highlands United Church please visit: https://www.highlandsonline.org/pages...
To give to the STAW community, please visit: https://pushpay.com/g/standrewswesley

Please send prayer requests throughout the week to Prayers@highlandsunited.org To contact Online Minister please email andria.irwin@highlandsunited.org
For all other ministry personnel please visit www.highlandsunited.org

St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
ZOOM COFFEE TIME!
Grab your favorite mug and gather with your friends from church!
This week we are starting a Zoom coffee hour from 11-12 Sunday after worship.

Please REGISTER caretaker@standrewswesley.com and Tom will send you the secure Zoom link (and how to use it!).

“Normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to

“Normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk but no flowers grow.” Vincent van Gogh

Feeling a little weird this week? I was! Maybe it was because last week in worship we began exploring the theme of “weirdness” in faith. We experimented with the idea of reclaiming the term “weird” away from negative connotations (“you’re WEIRD”), and instead reclaiming the sense of freedom and creativity that is part of the root of the word.

How might the weirdness of faith and spirituality be a gift as it lets us step outside the dominant culture and speak about a world that is not yet taken shape? How might the weirdness of the Christian story bring us hope, right now?

Frankly, I could do with a bit of that creativity and freedom. I want us to figure out how to tell the story of unbounded love to our world, and hear the stories of others who long for that peace, love and justice to be real and right now. This might just be the summer to paint, write, dance, make music and build something that is different, that is risky, or that is just plain…weird. Because when we have collectively come to the realization that much of what has been is not working, then why not? Our creativity in faith might just help us get out of this mess!

This Sunday we will be exploring the weird enterprise of being a faith community. The word geek in me latched onto the secondary meaning of enterprise, which is the eagerness to do something new and clever, despite any risks. We need to be cautious around so many things right now, but one place of freedom might be to explore the corners and hidden pockets of our faith, both individually and collectively. To let the strangeness of Bible stories really intrigue us, to try new spiritual practices, or to reflect on odd spiritual experiences with a view to wonder. So for this summer, get weird, get creative, and share it with us!

Now, who wants to walk the labyrinth in leopard print with me?

With every blessing,
Rhian

image: Amy Humphries

#exploreyourweirdness #weirdnessinfaith #getcreative #staystrange

"In my own moccasins" by Helen Knott, University o

"In my own moccasins" by Helen Knott, University of Regina Press.

This powerful memoir of addiction, healing, colonialism and the reclaiming of one’s indigenous identity will stay with you a long time after the cover is shut. Helen writes courageously and you’ll find it hard to put down. It’s particularly important for anyone who wonders how healing in the space of immense trauma is possible. Bless you Helen for this book. ~ Rhian Walker
@helenknott05 @rhianwalker
#StAWsummerreads2020 #helenknott #indigenouswriters #indegenousleaders #decolonize

“Sacred is the pause that draws us into stillnes

“Sacred is the pause that draws us into stillness . . . “ A prayer from Macrina Wiederkehr’s book Seven Sacred Pauses. #standrewswesley #morningprayer #stoppingtobreathe #reminder

Awakening in the stream#smalllivingthings#stillnes

Awakening in the stream#smalllivingthings#stillness#flawedabundance

Your morning meditation is from John Philip Newell

Your morning meditation is from John Philip Newell’s prayers. Each day has a theme and helps us get back in touch with seeing the world as holy... #revrhian #holycreation #gaia #morningmeditation #morningroutine #spiritualpractice #hope #morningrituals #johnphillipnewell #celticspirituality

St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church is looking for a

St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church is looking for a new music director. Our search committee has put together a survey and invites you to help with our search with your input.

If you are not on our mailing list would like to receive the link for the online survey or would like to receive a paper copy, please email us at:
office@standrewswesley.com

Thank you in advance for your interest and participation.

Sincerely,
StAW Music Director Search Committee

Join Darlene Cooper, Bill Sample and rev. Dan Cham

Join Darlene Cooper, Bill Sample and rev. Dan Chambers for an at-home Jazz Vespers.
Check our Youtube and Facebook on Sunday, July 5th at 4pm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roPHQj4jX2w

or on our facebook page

@wildblueherons
#jazzvespers #standrewswesleyunitedchurch #billsample #darlenecooper #revdanchambers #vancouverjazz #coastaljazz #jazzvespersathome

July 5th 10am morning's worship is in collaboratio

July 5th 10am morning's worship is in collaboration with the leadership of St. Andrew's Wesley United Church in Vancouver, BC.

For the order of service, see info on the youtube feed.

For the virtual coffee hour link email caretakers@standrewswesley.com

To contribute financially to this ministry and the work of Highlands United Church please visit: https://www.highlandsonline.org/pages...
To give to the STAW community, please visit: https://pushpay.com/g/standrewswesley

Please send prayer requests throughout the week to Prayers@highlandsunited.org To contact our Online Minister please email andria.irwin@highlandsunited.org
For all other ministry personnel please visit www.highlandsunited.org

St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church
ZOOM COFFEE TIME!
Grab your favorite mug and gather with your friends from church! This week we are starting a Zoom coffee hour from 11-12 Sunday after worship.

Please REGISTER caretaker@standrewswesley.com and Tom will send you the secure Zoom link (and how to use it!).

#livestreamworship #sundaysat10am #inthistogether #weirdchurch #standrewswesleyunitedchurch #highlandsunitedchurch

Is your summer feeling a little…weird? Yes, of

Is your summer feeling a little…weird? Yes, of course there will still be sunshine, gardens in bloom, fresh sea air and time with friends, but we also walk around a world that is changed: by COVID, by the rise in awareness around racism and the hunger for justice, and by the overturning of old ideas and assumptions.

Weird is a word that gets misused, as it is not really a stand-in for “strange” but comes from the old English word “wyrd” which means to be gripped by fate, chance or fortune, and the word “weorðan” which means to turn, to become.

Chance as an active agent in the world, our collective fortunes turning, a movement of becoming something else, things turning and transforming, well, that is sounding to my ears like a pretty decent description of right now.

Yes, things are going to get weird, and praise God that they are.

If there was one thing the early Christians were likely not too worried about, it was of being weird. Breaking from an established religious tradition, putting forth counter-cultural ideas, and breaking social codes was part of the weirdness of church.

As for Jesus, could we get anyone, well, weirder? Love your neighbour as yourself, turn the other cheek, dine with the powerless and the shunned, or just give away all your possessions, Jesus is full of ideas that turn certainty and conventionality on its head. And oh, how wonderfully weird our world might be if we follow them…

This month we will explore the “weirdness” of church and faith in our worship with Highlands United. We will uncover the strangeness of this Christian path of ours and allow ourselves to creativity dream with God about a future that includes all life.

Prepare to stretch, to ponder, to laugh and to enter the summer embracing the possibility of change that might serve us all.

With every blessing,
@rhianwalker

PS This Sunday is our Jazz Vespers online with Bill Sample and Darlene Cooper which goes live on our facebook and youtube site at 4pm on Sunday!

#exploreweirdness #standrewswesley #highlandsunited #livestreamworship

#embracetheweird #inthistogether

This quote of Dorothy Frances Gurney hangs in my k

This quote of Dorothy Frances Gurney hangs in my kitchen in the form of a needlepoint
my nana made and is a lovely reminder for me of my deep love of being aware of God in
creation. @jen_cunnings

#godincreation #inthistogether #feelinggodspresence #standrewswesleyunitedchurch

Let the summer reading begin! Our ministry team a

Let the summer reading begin! Our ministry team at StAW will be sharing their recommendations throughout the summer from the Best BC & Yukon Booklist Finalist : https://bcbookprizes.ca/announcing-the-bc-and-yukon-book-prizes-finalists-for-2019-2020/

Kicking off with Rev. @rhianwalker first recommendations:

Rebent Sinner by Ivan Coyote. @ivancoyote
Published by Arsenal Pulp Press. @arsenalpulp

Part memoir, part reflections and completely awesome, Rev. Rhian Walker loves how Ivan treats all of lived ordinary and extraordinary moments as worthy of reflection. Their experiences as a non-binary trans person and as an artist open us up to beauty, hardship, laughter and hope.

#ivancoyote #spiritpride #pride #memoirs #bcbooks #bestbcbooks #bestbcbooks2020 #readingreverends #summerreads

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