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S u m m e r S e r v i c e s : S u n d ay s 1 1 a . m .
The Flaming
Chalice Summer 2019
Unitarian Fellowship of Sarnia & Port Huron Lochiel Kiwanis Centre, 180 College Ave. N. Sarnia, Ontario
… an inspiring alternative for spiritual explorers
I n s i d e T h i s I s s u e
2 Executive Update
3 President’s Message
4 Regular Events
5 Special Events
6 Refugee Fund Update & Community Singers
7 Rev. Linda Thomson & Climate Emergency
8 UU Links
The stained glass chalice in the header hangs in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, OR.
There will be summer services at the Lochiel Kiwanis Centre on July 14 and 28th as follows:
July 14 : “Teenage Tree Planting Program” - Presenter, Shawn McKnight & Service Leader/Facilitator, Elizabeth Soltis All are welcome to participate in this circle dialogue spot-lighting the Teenage Tree Program. Shawn will share some current updates and news about its future direction. We'll unpack milestones and action steps needed to evolve this program to its full potential. Unitarian family/friends, along with partner members, will be invited to sign up for a myriad of volunteer roles to bring this eco-fundraiser to life. Join us in celebrating this vision to revitalize nature. Together, we are re-robing Mother Earth in green while co-creating climate resilient landscapes.
July 28: “Reflecting on Retirement ” - Service Leader/Facilitator, Steve Lane Many of us are enjoying(?) retirement or semi-retirement in this phase of our lives. Steve Lane will moderate a circle discussion on the pros and cons of retirement, and invite interested Fellowship members to share their philosophies on how to make retirement the best years of our lives!
Sunday, August 11: Fellowship Canatara Picnic @ 12 Noon. See p.5
On all other summer Sundays including June 30th and September 1st, Jessie Rabbitt will once again welcome folks to her front porch at 351
Davis Street for coffee, tea and conversation. Thanks Jessie!
Regular services will resume on Sunday, September 8, 2019 with our annual ingathering “Water Communion’ service.
Page 2 The Flaming Chalice
Administration
The executive team had their last meeting for the year on June 13. We
welcomed Tracey-Lynn Jutras to this meeting as she will be on the execu-
tive for our next year program year which begins on July 1st. We made
the final decision to disperse the remaining refugee funds for a Syrian
family in need of help. Thank you to all that have contributed to the fund!
The executive will not be meeting over the summer but will begin again in
September. We plan to meet the second Thursday of the month. All
members and friends are welcome to attend a meeting.
Social Justice Action Team
The Teenage Tree Planting initiative continues to develop. We anticipate
that volunteer hands are needed at the greenhouse throughout the sum-
mer. Stay tuned for updates and calls for volunteers. There will be a
multi-stakeholder meeting in July that will include Aamjiwnaang First Na-
tion and school teachers. Progress has been made to develop the volun-
teer roles and an action plan. Shawn McKnight and Elizabeth Soltis will
make a presentation of the initiative with the Fellowship on Sunday, July
14th. There are many layers to this project and we are building the bridge
one step at a time.
Executive Team Update … by Annette Verhagen
Our faith is not
interested in saving
your soul—
we’re here to help you
unfold the awesome
soul you already have.
ANDREA LERNER
Did you know?
Henry David Thoreau may well have been “the original none”.
He wanted nothing to do with the Unitarian church that baptized him, but today’s Unitarian Universalism has embraced his revolutionary ecological, conscientious, and spiritually open
approach.
Click on the below link for an excellent UU World article from the summer of 2017.
https://www.uuworld.org/articles/thoreau-original-none
The Flaming Chalice
A friend in Vermont posted a picture of a forest and said “When I
walk slowly through the forest, I am reassured that falling to earth
and rising again toward the light - both are necessary and
beautiful.”
Summer is here and I hope we all have the chance to walk slowly
through forests, beaches, marshes, meadows, climb rocks and
perhaps mountains.
I learned from one of my mentors about praise walks a few years
ago. The idea is to walk in nature and praise each thing or place in
nature that calls to you in any way. Praise out loud in your most
eloquent speech, and /or use gesture, movement, dance, verse,
song, chant, drawing, sculpting or tears. Do your best to praise in
an embodied way, your own unique voice, gesture, and feeling
expression, rather than still and silent appreciation. Don’t look for meaning or what something might
tell you about you. Praise the “others” for the simple magnificence and miracle of their autonomous
existence.
I appreciate all of the support from the executive for this year, including Ann Steadman, Dwayne O’Neill,
Mark Woolston, Ineke Dijkhuizen, and Chuck Mackenzie. Thanks to our program team for a wonderful
year of speakers, ministers and in-house talent and enthusiasm. Thanks to Wendy Cornelis for putting
together the newsletter and for Ann Steadman’s help in the last few months.
Don’t forget about our picnic on August 11 and two circle gatherings on July 14 and July 28. Jessie’s porch is also available for drop in on all the other Sundays at 11 am. Thank you Jessie!
In Fellowship, Annette
President’s Message: Walking in the Forests
President: Annette Verhagen
Vice-President/Treasurer: Mark Woolston
Secretary: Ineke Dijkhuizen
Program Chair: Allan McKeown
Membership Chair: Dwayne O’Neill
R.E. Chair/Past President: Ann Steadman
Members at Large: Chuck MacKenzie &
Tracey-Lynn Jutras
Executive Team for 2019 –2020
Page 4 The Flaming Chalice
Regular Events
Book Club: NO BOOK CLUB IN JULY. On Sunday August 18th at
9:15 a.m., we will be reviewing the book A Good Wife by Samra Zafar. We meet at ‘John’s Restaurant’, 1643 London Line, Sarnia. Everyone is welcome to come out and join the discussion, whether you’ve read the book or not.
What would someone know about you from looking at your books?
Small Group Ministry: Members meet every other Thursday
afternoon at chosen locations. All are welcome. Contact Betty Learn for info at: 519-337-4039
Journey Groups: NO MEETINGS OVER THE SUMMER. Our Jour-
ney Groups have been modelled on the program developed at the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto. The Rev. Shawn Newton has let us know the following: “We allow people to change groups at the end of the year, without explanation, depending on their needs around scheduling or simply a desire to sit with a different group of people. By and large, people have elected to remain with their groups--some of them, now, for six years.” Consequently, our groups will be re-constituted, according to people’s wishes and begin again in September. Please contact Ann Steadman to confirm that you would like to participate in a Journey Group for the 2019-20 Program Year.
Love is the spirit of this church, and service its law. This is our great covenant: to
dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another.
JAMES VILA BLAKE
The Flaming Chalice
Upcoming Special Events
Sunday, August 11
12 Noon
Canatara Park Beach Pavilion
Published Poets to Perform at Lawrence House
Seven of Sarnia-Lambton’s published poets will be reciting some of their most cherished verses in the Lawrence House Centre for the Arts’ Turret Room as part of the Tamaracks Poetry Celebration.
The event is a tribute to local poets featured in the recently released Tamaracks: Canadian Poetry for the 21st Century Anthology, edited by Sarnian James Deahl. Writers Sharon Berg, Ryan Gibbs, Norma West Linder, Rhonda Melanson, Lynn Tait, Deahl and Grace Vermeer will be sharing some of their work.
Fellowship Picnic Our picnic was much enjoyed last summer. Special thanks to Laurence LeCapelaine for funding the event once again. More details will follow closer to the date.
Local writers Debbie Okum Hill (left), Norma
West Linder and James Deahl
IF YOU GO What: Tamaracks Poetry Celebration When: Friday, July 5, 7 to 8:45 p.m. Where: The Lawrence House Centre for the Arts Turret Room (second floor), 127 Christina St. S.
Admission: Free
Page 6 The Flaming Chalice
Syrian Family Refugee Sponsorship - Financial Aspect
In 2016, our Fellowship and the Sarnia Muslim Association partnered in sponsoring a Syrian ref-ugee family and helped them settle in Canada. We are pleased that the family of five is doing well and is established in Sarnia.
That effort included supporting the family finan-cially for the first year. Our Fellowship and others from our community were extremely generous in donating approximately $23,000 through a sepa-rate Refugee Fund towards the sponsorship
effort. The family has been extremely appreciative for this financial support.
Almost $7,700 of the donations were in excess and have remained in the Fellowship’s Refugee Fund which was designated specifically for Syrian family refugees. The Executive Team over the past year has been in-vestigating the options to deploy these funds towards Syrian refugees. The preference was to support one or more other Syrian refugee families that were settling in the Sarnia area. However, there are at present only one or two other groups in Sarnia that are currently sponsoring Syrian refugees and they are fully funded.
We then approached our Canadian Unitarian Council and they identified a Syrian family in need that the CUC is sponsoring. The Executive Team has decided that redeploying the $7,700 towards this family through the CUC is the best option. Again, many thanks for all of you that have been so generous in this endeavour.
Dwayne O’Neill
Community
Singers
Many thanks to Brad Gray and
the Community Singers for
making our year-end ‘Flower
Communion’ such a fun and
meaningful celebration. Thanks
also to the Cores and Steve
Lane for additional music and to
all those who brought soup and
handled the kitchen duties.
The Flaming Chalice
Rev. Linda Thomson makes CUC history by being the first staff member to
receive Full Fellowship while employed by the CUC!
Sarnia declares climate emergency with 7-2 vote on June 17
That the City of Sarnia, officially declare a climate emergency for the purposes of joining a national and international movement and to provide a lens through which all policies and oppor-tunities can be viewed; and
That staff identify target areas in municipal policy through which specific changes can have the greatest impact to reduce our carbon footprint and therefore, our local impact on climate change. Moved Councillor White
https://thesarniajournal.ca/sarnia-council-latest-to-declare-a-climate-emergency/
It was good to see so many members and friends of the Fellowship in attendance!
Unitarian Universalist ministers are ordained by individual congregations. However, they come into ‘Ministerial Fellowship’ with the Unitarian Univer-salist Association (UUA) through the Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC). The granting of pre-liminary fellowship indicates that the UUA formally recognizes a person as a Unitarian Universalist min-ister. Ministers in fellowship have access to the UUA retirement plan, the search and settlement process, professional development and other privi-leges. Once ministers are granted Preliminary Fel-lowship by the Ministerial MFC, they continue their journey towards Final Fellowship by meeting the MFC's extensive credentialing requirements.
Linda received her M.Div. at Meadville-Lombard Theological School in Chicago and was ordained in 2013. She did an Internship at the Amherst Unitari-an Church (near Buffalo) and at the Canadian Uni-tarian Council as well as completing a unit of Clini-cal Pastoral Education at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Centre in Hamilton.
Congratulations Linda! Rev. Linda Thomson with her husband, Gary, at the UUA
General Assembly in Spokane, Washington.
Page 8 The Flaming Chalice
For the latest Canadian Unitarian Council News please click on this link: https://cuc.ca/news/
To access the Canadian Unitarian Council’s website please click on this link: https://cuc.ca/
For the Unitarian Universalist Association’s latest UUWorld click on this link: http://www.uuworld.org/
“Because of the role that religion has historically
played in denying gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender people their full humanity, I believe
that we now have a special calling to reach out
to our GLBT sisters and brothers. We need to
offer an explicit welcome, because the world can
still be a very unwelcoming place. We need to
offer radical acceptance, because neither family
nor society can always be counted on to be
accepting. We need to offer unconditional love,
because Love is at the heart of religious
community.”
— Allison Barrett, Canadian UU Minister
“Because of the role that religion has historically
played in denying gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender people their full humanity, I believe
that we now have a special calling to reach out
to our GLBT sisters and brothers. We need to
offer an explicit welcome, because the world can
still be a very unwelcoming place. We need to
offer radical acceptance, because neither family
nor society can always be counted on to be
accepting. We need to offer unconditional love,
because Love is at the heart of religious
community.”
— Allison Barrett, Canadian UU Minister
Pease consider sharing this newsletter with a friend and invite them to a service.
Every Sunday is “Bring a Guest” Sunday!
Each issue of the “Flaming Chalice” newsletter is printed by the Organization for Literacy Lambton (OLL): helping every person acquire the gift of literacy.
Newsletter Editor: Ann Steadman (interim)
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U n i t a r i a n L i n k s
