SERVICES AND GATHERINGS THIS WEEK
WEDNESDAY – COMPLINE - Compline is a short service of night prayer. The heart of Compline is the recitation of several psalms. There is a short reading from scripture, intercession, and time for reflection. It is a beautiful way to close out an active day. Compline is offered by St. James’ through Facebook as a way to bring the community together. If you cannot join live, the service is available afterwards on St. James’ Facebook channel.
THURSDAY - Our coffee hour occurs on Zoom at 10am. Join us to chat and enjoy one another’s company for an hour. Bring your own coffee!
Contact the office before Thursday for zoom link
SUNDAY
Service at 10 am. Coffee Hour to follow.
GARAGE SALE
St James will be having a garage sale 7 may. Drop off 1-4 Friday may 6th or from 8-9 Saturday…sale is from 10-12 Saturday. No early drop offs please. More info in next weeks eblast.
STOP PLASTIC POLLUTION
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 4-6 p.m. For adults and kids!
In the Unitarian church gardens (indoors in inclement weather) Activities to encourage children and adults to learn and ponder. Linda Lukasik from Environment Hamilton will be the main speaker. Petra Versteeg will facilitate children's activities.
Co-sponsored by Eco-Locke, Climate Justice (1st UU Hamilton) and Eco-WHam.
Listening to Indigenous Voices – A Missional Initiatives Course
I recently took a course through the Niagara School of Missional Leadership titled Listening to Indigenous Voices. This course opened my eyes to how the church, not just the Anglican Church, has failed and in many cases continues to fail the original owners of this land called Turtle Island. Did you know that Turtle Island includes all of North America?
Each session in the course opened with everyone giving their land territorial acknowledgment which lead us into a weekly check in. The first week everyone expressed their joy at being able to join in this very important course. My class had 39 individuals of which 90% were Indigenous from as far away as Moose Factory, Wawa, and James Bay. As the course progressed the check in session became harder and harder for many as we became aware of the injustices borne on the First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.
Many of the individuals came out of the Residential School system and related their stories of abuse at the hands of the religious orders that ran the schools. We were also made much more aware of the lack of resources we as the settlers take for granted. Lack of fresh drinking water, proper housing, the high cost of food basics, lack of mental health counselling, alcohol and drug abuse, the missing and murdered women and children, everyday racism , the failure of proper health care facilities and complete lack of local, provincial and federal government to take ownership of their failings to fix the problems the original owners of these lands face every day.
For me, this course was a real eye opener, at times heart wrenching, but there was also healing and many heartwarming stories of endurance. We heard about Indigenous history and cultural diversity, did the blanket exercise, studied the Doctrine of Discovery, and listened to the Primates Apology. We like to call all First Nations, Inuit and Métis our brothers and sisters in Christ, which is true … but for me to call them my brothers and sisters is a very hard thing to do because I would never, ever treat my brothers and sisters the way we as a society have treated them.
As many churches are starting to look at how to be more Missional, this course will help everyone to understand our past failings with the Indigenous, Aboriginal and Inuit peoples of this land and how we as Christ’s disciples can help to heal the wounds.
Barry S.
SPRING FLOWER SALE
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