Ralph Connor Memorial
United Church
Weekly
Kindly submit your Newsletter items to office@ralphconnor.ca by Thursday at 11:00 AM
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This Sunday is Pentecost: the bestowing of the Holy Spirit, and "birthday" of the Church!!
For a video invitation, see
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Friday, May 29, 2020
FOR THIS WEEK'S WORSHIP
This Sunday, May 31, please joi us online for the sacrament of communion. Get your bread and cup ready, log into our YouTubeChannel,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi8loA1BP8lNAppSRR9_aQQ at 10:00 AM and then we can all have communion at the same time, each in our own homes. Many thanks to the Worship Committee for the advance preparation to make this happen!
If you can't make it at 10 AM, not to worry - the Worship service will still be posted at the same link, ready for you to have communion "with us" whenever it works for you.
Scripture Lesson for
Pentecost Sunday, May 31 is
Acts 2: 1-21
click here~
Although “phase 1” of the Alberta re-launch started on May 14th, most of the changes that will allow us to worship in person in familiar ways are several weeks away: gathering more than one-third of our usual attendance, relaxing the 2 metre distancing, singing together, shaking hands or hugging, having coffee time, etc.
As we continue to organize online Worship services, we’re looking for your participation and input:
- If you have favourite hymns or sacred/Christian music that you'd like to hear, perhaps as a prelude or postlude… or if you’ve got a solo or duet you’d like to share…contact Tanya, music@ralphconnor.ca.
- If you’d like to share in scripture readings, prayers, or meditations/reflections, contact Greg.
- If you have a talent for photography, or video editing, or Zoom hosting, or are keen to learn, contact Greg.
Wednesday night Evensong at 7:15 pm,
is being done as a live “Zoom” event – watc
h for your Monday/Tuesday Evensong email for details. (And if you don’t receive the Evensong email, contact
jan.tissandier@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list!!)
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RCMUC now has two prayer circles! If you know of someone that is going through difficult times and would like to be included in our prayers, please contact
Sue Nichols 403-678-7025 or
We request that the person gives consent to have their name mentioned in prayer as privacy/confidentiality is of utmost importance. We also would appreciate knowing when the situation changes and we can release them from our prayers or update the prayer to a changing need.
Tuesday Morning Prayer
Each Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM, we hold a virtual "Morning Prayer" service via Zoom. f you would like to join this service next Tuesday morning, please email Rev. Greg,
minister@ralphconnor.ca and he will send you the Zoom meeting ID and password.
Facemasks for free?
This idea comes to us from a United Church of Christ congregation in New Hampshire: might there be interest in the Ralph Connor congregation, to sew face masks for the public? What they do in their congregation, is sew face masks (and crochet "ear savers") and then make them available for free - to care homes and social service agencies, in bins at local shops, and pinned to a clothesline on the front steps of the Church. Can't you just picture a clothesline out front of RCMUC, with a bunch of face masks pinned to it, encouraging locals and visitors alike to wear a free mask whilst wandering Main Street (where it is nearly impossible to maintain 2m distancing)...?
Healing Pathway Prayer Circle
During this time Healing Pathway members are remaining active by meeting several times a week on the Zoom video communication app. Our thanks go to Val Goodrow for initiating and leading this time when the healing intention of the Divine is held so lovingly.
God bless you and hold you all during this time of change in our lives.
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FUNDING OUR MISSION
a Message from your Stewardship Committee
A heartfelt thank you to RCMUC friends for your generosity during these challenging times. We continue to receive an outpouring of kindnesses and generosity, which helps us to pay our ongoing expenses and reach out to others in our community.
Thank you to everyone who has signed up for PAR (Pre-Authorized Remittance) - this is a great help in providing predictable income each month for RCMUC. A link to sign up for PAR is found at the bottom of this Newsletter.
We appreciate the additional donations that have been coming in since mid-March; contributions may be made by any of the following methods:
- An eTransfer is the easiest and quickest of all and without fees or nominal fees, sent to office@ralphconnor.ca
- the DONATE NOW button - found on the front page of the ralphconnor.ca website, and linked at the bottom of this page, is an easy way to help our cashflow stay healthy.
- A cheque in the mail will also be warmly received.
Donations will be assumed to be a donation to "general funds" unless otherwise indicated.
Thank you, all, for your continued support of the ministry of Ralph Connor Memorial United Church.
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An ongoing thank you to our "Care Contact" phoners and "Care Courier" errand/delivery team, for doing such wonderful outreach in keeping us connected to one another. If you are showing any cold/flu symptoms at all and need something from the store, please do not “pop out” to get it. Let us know what you need (via Greg or the Office or your Care Contact) and we will arrange a Care Courier to bring it to you.
If you are not on one of our contact lists and would like to be added, just send a note to Barb Profitt at
bprofitt@shaw.ca
and she will add you to a list.
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Each day at
7:00 PM
, communities around the world are expressing their thanks to front-line personnel. You are invited to join in this! Step out onto your balcony or deck and
make some happy sounds in appreciation
of the efforts made by medical personnel and others providing essential services. You will hear that the bells of
RCMUC
happily ringing,
7 days a week.
We are sorry to hear that the Church bell at St. Michael's Anglican is out of commission
...and the RCMUC bell was also silent for a few days this week while the Sanctuary & Narthex floors were being refinished.
So let's step onto our decks and doorsteps and make lots of celebrative noise each night at 7 PM!
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Ongoing Ministries
& Community Programs
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Canmore Young Adult Network - CYAN
Tara offers community yoga lessons on Wednesday nights via Facebook,
click here~ with hundreds of followers: CYAN’s Facebook page also has a great collection of information regarding employment, and government support benefit programs.
Bow Valley Syria Refugee Project - BVSRP
The BVSRP remains in close contact with Dana and Wa'ill, who remain in Malaysia until international travel restrictions are lifted. We look forward to welcoming them into the Canmore community.
Community Food & Friends
Big news for Community Food & Friends!! As of Thursday, June 4th, Food & Friends will be serving TWO nights a week rather than just one, with meal delivery on Monday and Thursday. If you are already on the Monday delivery schedule you will automatically get the Thursday meal as well, with the same protocols in place (cooler on the porch, call from the parking lot...whatever we've got in place) unless you SPECIFICALLY message
foodandfriends2020@gmail.com and say no thanks. If you only want one or the other, please send a SPECIFIC email indicating which one (and if you are a new recipient, a specific delivery location is also needed). Many thanks to the Iron Goat restaurant for their ongoing partnership in this expanded venture. To donate to Food & Friends see their Facebook page; to volunteer as a driver, contact the email address above! Many thanks to all businesses pitching in on this project.
Community Groups at RCMUC
Both the Alpine Voices Threshold Choir and "High Strung" Ukulele groups have continued to gather online via Zoom. If you or someone you know would like to be held in the Threshold Choir's circle of song, please email Jan at
jan.tissandier@gmail.com and if you'd like more information about the Ukulele group, contact Donna or Marsh Kennedy at
dmkennedy11@gmail.com.
A Message from the Mountain Grannies
It is with regret that the Mountain Grannies have made the difficult decision to cancel the Chili Bowl Dinner for this year. Thanks for all of your support of this great event over the past 12 years and thanks too for the generosity of the Potters who have provided the beautiful bowls and to the Restaurants who have so generously provided the Chili. We sincerely hope to see you all again next year once we can gather together. For further details, see last week's RCMUC Newsletter.
Other Initiatives
Rather than posting a comprehensive listing of websites and ongoing local initiatives in each week's newsletter, Go to
click here~
and you will have an abundance of information. If there are new initiatives that come to our attention - or substantial changes to ongoing programs - we will note those in the Newsletter.
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Opportunities for Learning & Reflection
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Ralph Connor Gathering on Zoom
If you have been missing good conversation with your friends at Ralph Connor, here is a way to deal with that; a Ralph Connor Gathering on Zoom:
The gathering on
Thursday, June 4
will:
- Begin at 7:00 PM and end at 8:45 PM MDT - detailed agenda posted at click here~
- Be held on Zoom
- Be facilitated by Ruben Nelson
- Explore the question “Where, for you, is God/the sacred in the mess of COVID-19?” – Register here: click here~
No cost other than your time and energy. Feel free to invite a friend.
To allow Ruben to plan please register in advance for each meeting at the links above. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Ruben Nelson: 404-609-1016 or
rubennelson@shaw.ca
Do c
ome.
Does the United Church have a ‘Skunk Works’?
A Skunk Works is an innovative group of people dedicated to trying things out that have never been done before and are outside the normal operations in the sponsoring organization.
Yes we do! The UCC skunk works is called “Embracing the Spirit.”
They funded our venture with CYAN. They are doing remarkable things across and beyond Canada, within and beyond the church. The United Church of Canada is one of the few churches in the world to create and support such a team of adventurers whose sole job is to “fish on the other side of the boat.” They also have a national advisory group called, the Gaggle. Ruben Nelson is a member. You can sign up for their free newsletter:
You can also learn with them. In June, they are offering a multi-week, virtual workshop called “The Theory of Change.” You will learn to think more systematically about how things change… and therefore, how to be more effective in changing things. If you are interested send a note to Chris Rotolo:
chrisrotolo@gmail.com
No cost, other than your time and energy. Just tell him you are with RCMUC, the folks who sponsor CYAN.
OPEN OUT
Remember the Pentecost story, of religious folk from many lands hearing their languages being spoken? God has intended, from the very beginnings of the Church, that we be able to engage and hear one another, no matter what our ethnicity or language. Which brings us to …
Open Out
!! Rev. Bill Millar, RCMUC’s “Sabbatical Minister” in the spring of 2019, has continued to post podcasts at
http://openout.ca/ t
o help listeners “develop a sense of compassionate curiosity about the changing cultural landscape of Canada.” Wherever you are on this journey – from curious, all the way to continuing a process that is well under way – Bill has podcasts waiting for you! This week’s episodes include
“Um, how many kisses are required?”
https://www.buzzsprout.com/917410/3894581
which explores some of the small things we easily trip over in cross-cultural relationships, and introduces a spiritual practice called NAIL, to help our brains when they encounter the unexpected.
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Many thanks to Robin Slater for offering "Robin's Web" as a feature in our Newsletter, as part of our efforts to be a more broadly inclusive Community of Faith.
ROBIN'S WEB
CONNECTING DIVERSITY
When the current outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December it was referred to as a Novel Coronavirus Disease. A novel coronavirus is a new coronavirus that has not been previously identified. Then the scientists named it COVID-19, CO rona VI rus D isease - (20) 19 the year it appeared and the world will never be the same again. It will be new like the virus that changed us. We are praying to get back to normal but many envision a
new
normal. We don’t know what it will look like but we do know the lessons we want to take into the future. One is that we are now praying globally as one family.
Join as people all over the world participate in the
“Light up the world in prayer”
initiative. This is in conjunction with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Global Wave of Prayer: “Thy Kingdom Come”, the global ecumenical prayer movement which is scheduled from Ascension Day to the Day of Pentecost (May 21-31) with services at 7:00 pm each night and will involve more than 90 percent of countries around the world.
https://calgary.anglican.ca/news/light-up-the-world-in-prayer Then, show your “light” on the map at this link:
Register here
Amid the unique challenges and opportunities of this year’s COVID-19 pandemic, leaders of The Canadian Council of Churches' member churches will gather
“Together in One Place”
(Acts 2:1) in ecumenical friendship and prayer during Western Pentecost / Eastern Ascension. The season of Pentecost has always held a special significance for the ecumenical movement. With it comes the promise of new life through the arrival of the Holy Spirit, and a reminder of the unity we share, which has been forged with God’s help across differences.
Register here
to receive a Zoom link and a bilingual prayer service booklet. Sat, May 30, 2020, 1:00 pm MDT
What, in the coming months, will we take with us into our “new normal”? Maybe our old way of life wasn’t sustainable. Maybe one of the good things God will bring out of this pandemic is a more balanced life that includes tangible acts of looking after and serving each other even once we are allowed to return to work and school. From:
"
Following Jesus through COVID-19
"
by Michael Wagenmann, professor of theology and religious studies at Western University, London, Canada,
For some hope and vision: Rev. Mark Whittall (Anglican Church of Canada – author of ) reflects on
We must ensure a just recovery from COVID-19 in Canada. These recommendations are aligned with the
Principles of a Just Recovery
, a coalition of over 150 Canadian organizations and churches from across the country. COVID-19 has laid bare what we already knew about the precarity and inequity of our existing systems; we know the world is broken, now together we must
fix it.
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for
"a new kind of Christianity"
- just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. Last week he did a 20 minute zoom interview with John Pentland of Hillhurst United Church. John and Brian
reflect
here o
n what COVID19 is going to mean for the great spiritual migration.
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OFFICE CONTACTS
The Church Offices are closed, but emails and phone messages will be retrieved Tuesday-Friday. Note: You may still use letter mail via Canada Post, or drop mail off at the church side entrance. Mail is picked up and distributed weekly.
Administration: Trish Campney
Minister: Rev. Greg Wooley
To print a
Preauthorized Remittance Form
To print a
Cheque Requisition Form
To make a donation to RCMUC through the
"Canada Helps" organization
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Ralph Connor Memorial United Church
617 Main Street, Canmore, Alberta, T1W 2B1
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