On July 1, 2014 the new Canada Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) takes effect.  This legislation sets new rules for sending out commercial emails.  It also applies to not-for-profit organisations who communicate through email and social media.  Organisations must have explicit permission to continue to send emails to clients and individuals.

Erin Mills United Church has routinely sent the Communiqu� newsletter and Friday Message to the congregation and friends of the congregation using email.  Going forward electronic communication is the medium of choice to all who have access, since it is the most cost-efficient mode of communication.

Thank you for helping us comply with the new legislation.  If you do not respond by the end of June, your email address will be removed from our database.

Barbara Jennings, Chair, Communication Committee

If you are like me, you clock a lot of hours in front of a screen - corresponding by email, Facebook or by text; researching information on the world wide web; keyboarding reports and documents on your computer; watching video clips, TV and movies, reading books on a tablet, or an electronic reader. With summer upon us, it's time to take a break from the screen and the virtual world.

So engrossed have we become with this virtual world that 'nature deficit order' was recently coined by Richard Louv to describe the growing gap between us and nature. In his book The Nature Principle, Louv describes our obsession and fascination with technology and the virtual world.

'our culture's faith in technological immersion seems to have no limits, and we drift ever deeper into a sea of circuitry. We consume breathtaking media accounts of the creation of synthetic life, combining bacteria with human DNA; of microscopic machines designed to enter our bodies to fight biological invaders or to move in deadly clouds across the battlefields of war; of computer-augmented reality; of futuristic houses in which we are surrounded by simulated reality transmitted from every wall.'

Louv goes on to say that he is not arguing against technology, but rather he is claiming that 'we have yet to fully realize, or even adequately study, the enhancement of human capacities through the power of nature.'

Summer is a wonderful time to experience and enfold our lives in the power of nature. As a spiritual practice this summer; as a way to deepen your connection with God: Creator, Christ and Spirit, I would like to prescribe that you spend time outside in creation. (And yes, of course that doesn't have to exclude joining others to worship 'inside' for an hour or so on Sunday mornings!).

Bruce Sanguin, a United Church Minister, and author of Darwin, Divinity and the Dance of the Cosmos reminds us that Jesus 'looked around at the natural world and saw God everywhere; in sparrows, in mustard seeds, in harvest festivals, in fig trees bearing fruit, in a gardener adding manure to a struggling tree. The natural process of the growth of a seed becomes a metaphor of the grace of God. Lost sheep reflected the condition of humanity. The wind was a metaphor for Spirit. He tells us to consider the lilies, and the ravens, if we want to understand the non-anxious life. Light is an image of God... For Jesus, all of creation was charged with Holy Presence.'

Experiencing the divine in creation is not a product of 'new-age spirituality'; it is actually deeply rooted in our Christian tradition. Recently, while preparing for the EMUC women's retreat weekend, I read Christine Valters Painter's book, Water, Wind, Earth and Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements. It is a wonderful collection of prayers and reflections linking creation with worship and encounters with the divine. She includes contributions from Christian poets and writers as far back as the third century.  

Here's an excerpt from her book:

'Christian tradition tells us that we have received two books of divine revelation: the book of scripture and the book of nature. Creation itself is a sacred text through which the presence of God is revealed to us. There is a story about the hermit Antony, who lived in the desert of Egypt in the third to fourth centuries. When he was asked once by a philosopher what he would do if one day he could no longer read scripture, Antony replied simply: "My book, sir philosopher, is the nature of created things, and it is always on hand when I wish to read it."'

So here's my prescription for this summertime:

• Spend at least an hour outside each day in your garden, a park, or in a conservation area nearby.
• If you can; go further afield, and backpack on a hiking trail, sail or kayak on a lake, canoe into the wilderness, camp in the woods.
• Listen to the song on the wind or the waters.
• Look for God's creative hand in the diversity and colours of creation.
• Breathe in the rich scent of flowers and trees and herbs and taste from the abundance of field and garden.
• Remembering that you are part of creation, rooted in the earth and yet created to soar with the Spirit, ponder your place and responsibility in creation. For you are wonderfully made by the Creator's hands; one in whom the Spirit has breathed the breath of life; one who is baptized into life in Christ through water; and one who experiences communion in Christ through bread and fruit of the vine.
• Read Psalm 8, 23, 29, 65, 96, 100, 104, 121, 139, 147, 148.

 May this summer be a restorative time; a time to experience God's blessing in your life and in this world.

Peace, Kathy Toivanen

A Celtic Prayer

Deep peace of the running wave to you,

of water flowing, rising and falling,

sometimes advancing, sometimes receding....

May the stream of your life flow unimpeded!

Deep peace of the running wave to you!

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,

which fans your face on a sultry day,

the air which you breathe deeply, rhythmically,

which imparts to you energy, consciousness, life.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you!

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,

who, herself unmoving,

harbors the movements

and facilitates the life of the ten thousand creatures,

while resting contented, stable, tranquil.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you!

Deep peace of the shining stars to you,

which stay invisible till darkness falls

and disclose their pure and shining presence

beaming down in compassion on our turning world.

Deep peace of the shining stars to you!

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EMUC celebrated the baptisms of Christian, Chase, Lily and Violet, children of Tanya Lawrence and John Franchi on May 11th.

Congratulations to Heather Nutbeem who received the Gold Medal of Merit Award.  This is the highest award given to Guide leaders working at the local level.  Well done Heather!

One of the early issues notable in our planning was the need for good succession planning normally achieved in a congregation through an active nominating process. The LC has been discussing this and members of the LC have been directly asking individuals to help fill lay leadership positions. These are vacant and or new committee positions that are available for folks to get in involved and help carry out the work of EMUC. I feel nominating is vital to the sustainability of EMUC as a church community and I will be looking to strengthen this role.

We have all come through the first half of the year blessed with many good spirit filled events, activities and experiences at EMUC. It is now time for our summer break. On behalf of the LC, I would like to wish you all a very happy and safe summer and we look forward to carrying on in the second half of the year.

 Paul Marot, Chair of EMUC Leadership Circle

Living with Respect in Churchill Meadows