Communiqué
2023 Issue 2
Lent
Time for PIE

You may have heard talk around the church that we will be celebrating PIE day on March 12. But what is PIE Day and why do we celebrate?

Do you remember from Geometry classes that there is a math constant named for the Greek letter Pi, a number often rounded to 3.14? Mathematicians with a sense of humour began to celebrate March 14 (3/14) as Pi Day. And it was a day to share great pastries and all things math.

In church circles it has nothing to do with math. PIE is short for “public, intentional, and explicit.” These are the standards we hold ourselves to when we seek to be affirming, welcoming, and inclusive.

PIE Day was co-founded by Affirm United and Affirming Connections. Every year, on the Sunday closest to March 14, we are invited to celebrate the full inclusion of Two Spirit or LGBTQIA+ people in our faith communities and beyond. The day challenges us to widen our welcome, to embody love, and to celebrate gender and sexual diversity.
It’s critical that we do. Gender identity and sexual orientation are used to justify human rights violations around the world. Same-sex sexual activity is a crime in 71 countries; in 11 of these the death penalty can be imposed.

In a report from 2021, Two Spirit LGBTQI people were found to be five to ten times more likely to attempt suicide compared to cisgender and heterosexual individuals

Here in Canada, 1 million people identify as Two Spirit or LGBTQIA+. In 2019, police reported 263 hate crimes targeting people for their sexual orientation. This was a 41 percent increase over the previous year and the highest number since 2009.
The United Church and Affirm work to provide life-transforming advocacy and education. We support refugees fleeing for their lives because they identify as Two Spirit or LGBTQIA+. We sponsor safe shelters, community awareness education, human rights programs, and safe spaces.

Our congregational vote last October was a huge accomplishment, but as Rev Etienne reminded us at our wonderful celebration in January, this is just the beginning. The theme for PIE day in 2023 is “intention.” A reminder that the work of being an Affirming, welcoming church is ongoing and planned. 

Please join us in-person or online on March 12 as we celebrate the beauty of living in a diverse world. And if you need a little more motivation…there will be pie after worship.

God’s compassionate love knows no boundaries. Let’s show that ours doesn’t either.

Peace! 
Kathi
From the Chair of the Leadership Circle
As I am writing this article it is bright and sunny outside bringing thoughts of spring, renewal, and new energy. I was excited to see all the energy at the Inspire Café Sunday held recently. We only asked for 3 ideas per table and we got double that. People are continuing to approach me with even more ideas. Of course, we cannot do them all, certainly not at once. We will prioritize those that reach out to the community. The idea is that one or some of these ideas will really resonate with the community which in turn will change their image of our church and draw them in, creating a thriving and growing Erin Mills United Church. 
 
In this time of renewal and Easter, we also reexamine and renew our spiritual connections. This is important for us and it is also important as we reach out to the community. We do not want to just provide activities, but more importantly, we want those who come through our doors to feel spiritually uplifted through our values of Living Spiritually, Engaged in Community, Openness to All, Connection & Friendship, and Helping Others. If we can achieve this we will truly have succeeded and we will leave a fantastic legacy. 

Kathy Andres
Chair, Leadership Circle
Transitions

Condolences are sent to Dan and Debby Sturgeon and the entire family as they grieve the passing of their son, Jesse Sturgeon.  Jesse passed away on February 25. The Celebration of Life will be held at EMUC on Saturday March 11 at 1 p.m., followed by a reception. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.
Jesse's family has requested that in lieu of flowers, his memory be honoured by donations to Canadian Blood Services.



Our thoughts and prayers are sent to Heather and Derry Bunting and their extended family who are mourning the sudden passing of Heather's brother, Gordon, who lived in Montreal.
Thanks
Thanks to:

  • All those who planned, organized, and delivered the Black History Month services
  • The Finance Committee for preparing the Financial Report and the Draft 2023 Budget for the Annual Meeting
  • The Focus Circle Leaders and Tina for preparing the 2022 Annual Report
  • Joanne Hines, Sandy Hayes, Rebecca Hines, Karen Colwell, Theresa Morris and Terry Loffree for joining the new Affirm Group
  • David Leeder and the men, as well as Sue Ogilvie, who organized the Pancake Supper event
  • Inspire Team for running the Café Sunday event
  • The Leadership Circle for providing desserts for the Café Sunday lunch and for the Annual Meeting lunch
  • Cindy Young, Janet Morrison, Larry van Goozen, Mike Ogilvie, and Barb Jennings for getting the Movie Nights started. Thanks also to those who attended the first movie.
Life at EMUC
INSPIRE
Café Sunday, February 19th, 2023.

I forget what the weather was like on Feb 19th, but inside our church building, there was sure a lot of sunshine and positive vibes! Following our church service and a light lunch, we worked in teams to brainstorm ideas and projects that we believe would be of interest and meet the needs of our community. I’ll share the results from Café Sunday, but first, I’d like to go back to why we even had a Café Sunday. 

Our “why” is about living our mission. And our mission is that we believe EMUC is a thriving and growing, spirit-filled, safe, and open place for the church community within as well as the Erin Mills Community without, to experience God’s love. In other words, we are engaged with what we believe to be the purpose of our church. Would we like to see our church grow? Would we like to have our community know that the church on the corner of Winston Churchill and the Collegeway is an open and safe place to gather and experience a wide range of activities and God’s love? Are we concerned that at some point down the line our church may not be viable if we don’t invest in drawing in more people? The answer is yes to all the above. We believe that by living out our mission we will see our church flourish.

Now on to the results from Café Sunday.

There were six teams present and the Zoom team. The teams were a combination of focus circle members and the congregation. Guess how many ideas were created? Over twenty-four! Yes, and all the ideas were exciting and doable. What’s more, many of them will be realized within the next few months to two years. So here is a peek at just a few ideas that were generated.

  • Return of Vesper services
  • Special music events
  • Authors night
  • Participating in 2023 Pride Parade
  • Guest speakers on a variety of topics such as health, the environment
  • Parking lot events, including a community bicycle tune up
  • Come to the movies, regular showing of movies
  • Teaching clinics
  • A Zoom mid-week drop in

EMUC will be bursting with activities and events! If you would like to become part of this amazing adventure, please contact the Inspire committee through the church office.

Submitted by the Inspire Team
Lunch
Discussion Group on Zoom
Worship Focus Circle Table

A Request From Inspire
Canadian Blood Services has asked EMUC if we could get together a small group of people to donate blood in March. They are in great need and I know that we have some dedicated members who could help out. If you are willing to join a small group of donors, we could all go together, donate blood and then go out for dinner, or go earlier and do lunch! They are open Mondays and Tuesdays from 2-7, Wednesday from 9-2, Thursday from 1-7 and Friday from 9-2. If you feel this is something that you would be interested in, please email Patti King at pattica50@gmail.com. Please let me know what day of the week is best for you and I will try to co-ordinate a group effort.

Thanking you in advance. 
Patti King
A Tradition Returns – Pancake Supper

After a two-year absence caused by the pandemic, our annual Pancake Supper returned on Tuesday February 21, 2023. Forty people attended to enjoy a feast of fresh pancakes, sausages, ham, fruit and home baked desserts. As usual, the group of men organizing the event had a good time of preparing the food and setting up the hall. A special thank-you to Sue Ogilvie for stepping in at the last moment to coordinate the event. As an incidental outcome, $263 after deduction of expenses was raised for the fundraising budget.
New Visiting Team Almost Ready

The Member Development and Care focus circle is pleased to announce the new Pastoral Care Visiting (PCV) team will soon be up and visiting (or calling)! The purpose of this ministry is to maintain connectedness and offer fellowship to those EMUC folks who find it difficult to participate in worship and other in-church events. Work on this project began in the late fall of 2019, but was interrupted by the onset of the pandemic. 

Two training sessions, led by Rev. Kathi, have been completed and we are awaiting the completion of Criminal Record checks. The police have advised us this may take a while, as there is a backlog of requests for checks with the easing of the pandemic. Once these are received the eleven members of the team will each be assigned a person from EMUC who has indicated they would like to have visits (or phone calls) from the PCV team. Please contact Rev. Kathi or Sandy Hayes if you would like to participate in this ministry, either as a visitor or receiving visits or calls.

Submitted by Sandy Hayes, Member Development and Care
Movie Night - Inspire Initiative

On February 24, the Movie Night initiative was launched. Although attendance was low, the organizing team (Cindy Young, Janet Morrison, Larry van Goozen, and Barb Jennings) were happy that the processes worked well for ticket and concession sales. The technical aspects also worked fine. Thanks to Mike Ogilvie who helped with ticket sales and set-up. We learned that much more time is required to get the word out to the community. Plans have been completed for a March Break Movie Matinee on March 18 at 2 p.m. The movie will be “Peter Rabbit”. Help us advertise by telling your families and friends, or take some flyers to post or distribute in your neighbourhood.
Sharing our Building with others ... Community Service

The Mississauga Special Events Trefoil Guild held a milk bag mat event last week at our church. About 100 people participated from ages 5-85 taking turns sorting, cutting and weaving the milk bags into sleeping mats. These are sent to third world countries, at their request. Due to the preservatives in the bags, they repel insects, giving sleepers a soft, bug free night off the damp earth. It is a great way to take advantage of something that does not decompose! Community service, whether it be local or international, is a big part of Guiding. 

Heather Nutbeem, Member of Trefoil Guild
Upcoming Events
2023 Annual Meeting, March 5 (Today!)

A lunch follows the service before the meeting. Below are documents for you to review before the meeting on Sunday. Click the title to go to each document.
 
 
Affirming

PIE (Public, Intentional, Explicit) DAY

As an Affirming Congregation, we will be celebrating PIE Day (being Public, Intentional and Explicit about our inclusion of the LGBTQ2SIA+ community). The mathematical representation of pi is 3.14, which is why PIE Day falls on March 14, every year. We will celebrate on the closest Sunday to the official date, which will be Sunday, March 12. Please plan to attend and share some actual pie following the service!
For those folks who are interested, please check the Affirm United website (ause.ca) for special PIE day Zoom events and guest speakers.

Also, there will be an on-line PIE Day Workshop put on by Ozhawa Anung Kweon. This will take place on March 14 at 7:00 p.m - 8:30 p.m. For further information, click here: https://hfrcucc.ca/event/pie-day-workshop-ozhawa-anung-kweon/

Submitted by Joanne Hines, Affirm Focus Circle Leader
Meet Our Neighbours

One of the ideas/projects that came out of Café Sunday, at the Community Life table, was to extend invitations to other faiths.  Well, before we could act, EMUC received an invitation from Muslim Neighbour Nexus (MNN). They are nearby at 3520 Odyssey Drive and serve the areas of Churchill Meadows and Lisgar. What a great opportunity for EMUC to meet our neighbours, and learn a little about Islam. The date is Sunday, March 12 from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. We can easily car pool from the church. Consider attending!
Please confirm your participation with Lorraine Moore at lorrainemoore1207@hotmail.com. 
 
Submitted by Lorraine Moore, Community Life Focus Circle 
Women for Women, Friday, March 17.

Get your Irish on!! Plan to attend a Women for Women St. Patrick's Day get together on Friday, March 17 at EMUC. Join us from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for some St. Patrick's day treats, maybe a game or two, and a chance to re-connect and spend some time together in casual conversation. Free will donation to help cover the cost of snacks. Don't forget to wear something GREEN!!! Contact Cathy Scattergood (cathy.scattergood@sympatico.ca) with any questions.
March Break Movie Matinee

Are you looking for something to do with your kids during March Break?
 Come to the Movies! 

EMUC will be showing “Peter Rabbit” on Saturday March 18 at 2 pm. Doors open and concession stand open at 1:30 pm. Children must be accompanied by an adult. $5 per person or $15 per family. Free parking. Bring your grandchildren!

Tell your families and friends about this movie and help us get the word out!