Hi Glen Morris United Church,

This week I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what it has been like for me to be a minister during this pandemic. Check out the video below:

How to Support the Church During the Pandemic

Many many thanks to each person who has supported the church throughout this pandemic. Even though the building is closed, the church remains open and requires your support! Our staff continue to work from home and we are using this time to renovate the church so that it may serve the community even better! All the information you need about how to contribute financially to the church can be found here: https://www.glenmorrisunited.ca/pages/donate

Engage

For all the choir folks especially - check this out! Spirituals are the Song of Slavery and Here is Why It Matters: The Nathaniel Dett Chorale is teaching the meaning of spirituals and why it's vital to know the songs' history. Watch the video here. 

 

Online Events

Affirm United presents The Kitchen Sink Series: Queer Joy -The Gifts of Identity

On Tuesday November 3rd at 6:30pm to 8pm EST come celebrate all the glorious, joyful, totally queer ways we exist and thrive in this diverse, beautiful world. Our LGBTQIA2S+ siblings, bring your unbridled glee and ecstatic revelations about your queerness, how it serves you in this world and what gifts your identities have given you in this lifetime. Allies, bring your gratefulness and praise for the gifts that queer folks have gifted you in your homes, churches and communities at large. We’re all created intentionally with great care, let’s celebrate all the magnificent ways to be made in the image of a loving Creator!

For more information and to register, click here. 

There Are No Closets in Tipis 

Riveting, captivating, real, insightful, grounded, illuminated are just a few words to describe Jack Saddleback's presentation of his life as a Cree Two-Spirited Champion. Jack’s life story embodies how one man’s spirit can help transform a community as well as individuals. We all need his message of self awareness, identity and embracing our authentic self. Jack Saddleback is a true gift to our society; he tears down the barriers that divide us all. For more information on how to join, click here. 

 

Canadian Foodgrains Bank presents Ontario World Food Day Virtual Concert 

This virtual World Food Day concert is being presented as a YouTube premiere on Sunday Nov. 1 at 7:00 p.m.  Andy Harrington, our new executive director, will have a few opening comments and I will give a brief update on how COVID is impacting world hunger, but the real star of the show is Naomi Bristow, an up-and- coming country music artist from Beeton, ON who has numerous awards and albums to her credit.  At this concert, she performs a number of country classics and gospel tunes, an original song and several pieces in which she displays her unique yodeling ability.  With all the fundraising cancellations that have occurred this year, my hope is that we can all come together as one community on Sunday night, enjoy a wonderful concert and raise some funds for Canadian Foodgrains Bank by donating online or sending in a cheque. More information available here. 

General Council Annual Meeting

Did you know that The United Church of Canada just held a General Council meeting this past weekend? This meeting made some exciting and significant decisions including the commitment to becoming an anti-racist denominiation. If you’re interested in learning more about the life and work of the church as a denomination, there is a video recording of the entire meeting available here. In particular, you can skip to the last few minutes to hear remarks from Rev Michael Blair, as he is welcomed as our new Secretary General. Recording is available here. 

A final piece of wisdom:

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. ― Henri Nouwen

 

Yours in Christ,

Rev Michiko