Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

February 20, 2026

TOMORROW!!
"Imbolic Tools"

Sat, February 21st @ 5:00pm
St Margaret's, 1530 E. 22nd
Bring your tools!

Join us once again for our Imbolc Tool Blessing on February 21st! 

In person and on Zoom

For our tool blessing, we invite you to bring the “tools” of your life. In this service we will celebrate and ‘bless’ one another's tools, in an act of resilience and community care to prepare our tools and ourselves to persevere through the work of the coming year. 

For this participatory ritual the tools you bring could be anything you use to make your mark on the world, and do your work (paid or not). We especially welcome tools you might use to help further the mission of the UUSS, supporting us to "become a multigenerational spiritual community where love and trust guide us, where all who seek to connect with the mystery, joy, and wonder of life feel wholly welcome, and that contributes to a more just and interdependent world." We recommend choosing tools that are relatively small and portable, or a smaller object to represent a larger tool that you can’t bring with you. 

Examples of tools include: pens, notebooks, musical instruments, a laptop, sewing tools, protest signs, paintbrushes, construction or power tools, books, manuals, sports equipment, a chalice or other spiritual tools, keys to a vehicle or piece of machinery, cleaning tools, spreadsheets, backpacks, activity sets (like Spirit Play boxes or fidget toys), seeds and gardening tools, lesson plans, petri dishes, tarot cards, workshop materials, cooking tools, mobility aids, safety gear, theatre costumes or props… anything you consider the tools of your life!

Next Sunday Service is on March 1
"Joined By Song" 
with Lindsay Hindle

March 1st, 2026 @ 11:00am
Molly Nye House, 940 Lynn ValleyRd
North Vancouver

Come feel more alive, more at peace, and joyfully bonded as we gather to be Joined By Song on Sunday March 1st. Together we will create an energizing, safe and sacred space to sing inspiring songs and healing chants. Did you know singing releases oxytocin, endorphins and lowers cortisol? The perfect remedy for troubled times. No matter if you’re a seasoned singer or someone just beginning, all are welcome to come find freedom in their voice and expression. Lindsay will be teaching easy songs to learn and tracks to sing along to. Feel free to bring a frame drum, rattle or a friend!

Hope to see lots of folks there!

Come feel more alive, more at peace, and joyfully bonded as we gather to be Joined By Song on Sunday March 1st. Together we will create an energizing, safe and sacred space to sing inspiring songs and healing chants. Did you know singing releases oxytocin, endorphins and lowers cortisol? The perfect remedy for troubled times. No matter if you’re a seasoned singer or someone just beginning, all are welcome to come find freedom in their voice and expression. Lindsay will be teaching easy songs to learn and tracks to sing along to. Feel free to bring a frame drum, rattle or a friend!

Hope to see lots of folks there!

Mark Your Calendars for
upcoming Sunday Gatherings

Memorial Services at NSUC

Sheila Letson's Celebration of Life: Saturday, March 7th at 1:00pm

Social Justice

Support for Minneapolis

Focus on helping trans and immigrant refugees with rent, groceries, medical expenses, infant and children's items, and rides. on First Universalist Church of Minneapolis, select Sanctuary and Resistance Fund to ensure that every dollar goes directly to people who need it and not to church operations. 

Where Do We Go Next? A Climate Conversation with Steven Guilbeault
Wed, February 25, 2026. 630pm

Join Steven Guilbeault and Seniors for Climate on February 25 for a timely conversation about climate action and leadership, part of Seniors for Climate’s unifying theme for 2026: Break Through the Climate Silence. Register.

UUSS Ecosystem Research Circle Looks for Curious Explorers

Are you curious about what other liberal religious and progressive communities are doing to remain relevant and viable in today’s rapidly shifting culture? Join the Research Circle and help uncover stories, experiments and initiatives (successful or not) that we can all learn from. Visit the link for additional information, including time commitments and contact info.

Join Fair Vote Canada letter writing team for proportional representation!

Research is clear. Proportional representation can make Canada stronger. Countries with proportional representation are less politically polarized. They have higher economic growth, healthier populations and stronger environmental protections. Countries with proportional representation systems outperform countries with winner-take-all systems on every measure of democracy. Politicians need to hear that Canadians want action on PR.

Sign the Petition to support the use of Renewable Energy in Canada

With Canada aspiring to become an energy superpower, MP Elizabeth May will be presenting Petition e-7114 in Parliament later this spring, encouraging our Federal Government to support the development of renewable energy sources by matching dollar-for-dollar any federal financial suppOort of hydrocarbon infrastructure development.  

If you support this vision for a clean and prosperous energy future, you are invited to add your name to Petition e‑7114.

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

February 13, 2026

Three days ago, one of the worst tragedies in Canadian history struck British Columbia. We grieve with Tumbler Ridge.

Our thoughts are with those who have been affected as well as their families, friends and the community who are coping with unimaginable loss at this heartbreaking time.

A week from tomorrow
"Imbolic Tools"

February 21st @ 5:00pm
St Margaret's, 1530 E. 22nd

Join us once again for our Imbolc Tool Blessing on February 21st! 

For our tool blessing, we invite you to bring the “tools” of your life. In this service we will celebrate and ‘bless’ one another's tools, in an act of resilience and community care to prepare our tools and ourselves to persevere through the work of the coming year. 

For this participatory ritual the tools you bring could be anything you use to make your mark on the world, and do your work (paid or not). We especially welcome tools you might use to help further the mission of the UUSS, supporting us to "become a multigenerational spiritual community where love and trust guide us, where all who seek to connect with the mystery, joy, and wonder of life feel wholly welcome, and that contributes to a more just and interdependent world." We recommend choosing tools that are relatively small and portable, or a smaller object to represent a larger tool that you can’t bring with you. 

Examples of tools include: pens, notebooks, musical instruments, a laptop, sewing tools, protest signs, paintbrushes, construction or power tools, books, manuals, sports equipment, a chalice or other spiritual tools, keys to a vehicle or piece of machinery, cleaning tools, spreadsheets, backpacks, activity sets (like Spirit Play boxes or fidget toys), seeds and gardening tools, lesson plans, petri dishes, tarot cards, workshop materials, cooking tools, mobility aids, safety gear, theatre costumes or props… anything you consider the tools of your life!

Next Sunday Service is on March 1
"Joined By Song" 
with Lindsay Hindle
March 1st, 2026 @ 11:00am

Molly Nye House, 940 Lynn ValleyRd, North Vancouver

Come feel more alive, more at peace, and joyfully bonded as we gather to be Joined By Song on Sunday March 1st. Together we will create an energizing, safe and sacred space to sing inspiring songs and healing chants. Did you know singing releases oxytocin, endorphins and lowers cortisol? The perfect remedy for troubled times. No matter if you’re a seasoned singer or someone just beginning, all are welcome to come find freedom in their voice and expression. Lindsay will be teaching easy songs to learn and tracks to sing along to. Feel free to bring a frame drum, rattle or a friend!

Hope to see lots of folks there!

Sheila Letson's Celebration of Life:
Saturday, March 7th at 1:00pm at NSUC

There will be a honouring long-time NSUs Member Sheila Letson, who passed away last October. Obituary 

Social Justice

Women’s Memorial Walk – February 14, 12-3pm.

Walk with fellow Unitarians to honour the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited people.  We will meet at noon at the NW corner of Main and Hasting (in front of OWL Drugs). 

The stakes of Bill C-233, the No More Loopholes Act, have never been clearer. And with the critical vote coming up at the end of February, we have just a few more weeks to flip as many MPs as possible to VOTE YES.

Arms Embargo Now is planning a day of action on February 17.  If you are interested in helping organize a visit to your local MPs office, contact Robyn.  If you have just a few minutes, call or write to your MP. 

From Avaaz

Please take a minute to call on the Canadian government to defy Trump's flagrant violation of international law, by selling oil, food and medicine to the Cuba.

From Sierra Club - Prayers for Burrard Inlet

The waters of the Burrard Inlet are under threat. The Vancouver Port Authority plans to dredge near the Second Narrows Bridge later this year  to allow more oil to be shipped from the Westridge Marine Terminal (part of the Trans Mountain pipeline facility).

Rueben George of Tsleil-Waututh Nation is inviting people to join him in prayer and action for the inlet. 
When: Feb 21st , 2PM, St Andrews Wesley United Church (1022 Nelson St)
Contact Barb or Robyn if you would like to participate.

Annual General Meetings 2026 Conversations

The CUC Board has brought forward proposed updates to the CUC Bylaws regarding how the CUC’s foundational documents – Principles, Sources, Aspirations and Vision – are amended. This begins a period of national discernment, during which people across the country are invited to reflect, ask questions, and offer feedback.

The hour-long CUC-hosted conversations are open to you, and are designed to answer questions about the AGM, solicit feedback for the motions, and to invite curiosity and engagement; each conversation will be similar in format and content so come to either one. 

February 21: 10:00 am
February 25: 4:00 pm

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

February 6, 2026

TOMORROW
Saturday Feb 7, 11-2

Community Dialog on
Accessibility and Inclusion

In Person at Laura McNaughton's Co-op Common Room
5085 McHardy St., Vancouver, BC
(Near Joyce-Collingwood Skytrain Station)
or on Zoom
(note new Zoom link for tomorrow)

We hope you will join us for our first Community Dialogue of 2026! We will be exploring Inclusion and Accessibility from a broad perspective to see how we can be more welcoming to all who are drawn to be part of our community. Our work will be anchored in our Mission, specifically:

"Creating the conditions for people of diverse beliefs, backgrounds and identities to feel fully welcome in our congregation and the broader Unitarian Universalism tradition by experimenting with systems, structures, practices and rituals that challenge the status quo."

This event will be fun and interactive and includes a potluck lunch. Please bring something to share. We hope to see you there! If you have any questions, please reach out to catherine at cstrickland@shaw.ca.

Next Saturday Service
"Imbolic Tools"

February 21st @ 5:00pm
St Margaret's, 1530 E. 22nd

Our February 21st service is our annual Imbolc Tool blessing, in which we come together to prepare and bless the tools we use for the work we are called to do for the world. Start thinking about which tool(s) you will bring to be spiritually strengthened by our community!

Mark Your Calendars for
upcoming Sunday Gatherings

March 1: “Gather in Song” with Lindsay Hindle
April 5: “German Reconciliation”with Michael Watson
June 7: “Portugal” with Catarina Gomes

May 3: “Question Storming” with Jessica Motherw

Thanks to everyone who joined us this past Sunday for "The Things We Call For Love " with Rev. Shawn Gauthier from Vancouver Unitarians at the Molly Nye House. And a special thanks to our kitchen crew who coordinated a delicious soup luncheon and to all who shared their bounty with all of us.

Social Justice

February is Black
History Month 

I encourage you to find out more here.   I also highly recommend the book Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard.  ~Robyn Newton, Social and Environmental Justice Circle.

Opportunities for action:

Urgent Action From Amnesty International: Demand Accountability for Deadly Immigration Enforcement»

Sign the Petition to support the use of Renewable Energy
in Canada

With Canada aspiring to become an energy superpower, MP Elizabeth May will be presenting Petition e-7114 in Parliament later this spring, encouraging our Federal Government to support the development of renewable energy sources by matching dollar-for-dollar any federal financial suppOort of hydrocarbon infrastructure development.  

If you support this vision for a clean and prosperous energy future, you are invited to add your name to Petition e‑7114.

Information From RAVEN Trust: What We Know to Be True: Unpacking the Recent DRIPA Decision

Congregational Conversations

In 2026, we invite you into a renewed season of Congregational Conversations—spaces where UU leaders and seekers gather not simply to learn, but to practice the spiritual work of community.

Each session is an opportunity to pause, breathe, reflect, and reconnect with the deeper purpose of congregational life. When you attend, you are not only nurturing your own leadership—you are offering a gift to your congregation and to our wider movement. Your presence helps strengthen the ecosystem of Unitarian Universalism across Canada.

These conversations are moments to ask:
What is emerging in our communities? What is being asked of us now? How can we lead with courage, imagination, and care?

Together, we cultivate wisdom that no congregation could generate alone.
  

Annual General Meetings 2026 Conversations

The CUC Board has brought forward proposed updates to the CUC Bylaws regarding how the CUC’s foundational documents – Principles, Sources, Aspirations and Vision – are amended. 

The hour-long CUC-hosted conversations are open to you, and are designed to answer questions about the AGM, solicit feedback for the motions, and to invite curiosity and engagement; each conversation will be similar in format and content so come to either one. 

February 21: 10:00 am
February 25: 4:00 pm

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

January 30, 2026

THIS SUNDAY!!
February 1 @ 11:00am

a very special Sunday Service at Molly Nye House
940 Lynn Valley Road

Please try to join us in a big welcome on the north shore this weekend for "The Things We Do for Love" with Rev. Shaw Gauthier, the minister of the Vancouver Unitarians. He will invite us through this gathering to consider how love calls us to be courageous in the face of vulnerability.

Please RSVP to Barb so we know how much soup to have on hand. If anyone would like to make an additional pot of soup for this gathering, also please let Barb know.

Parking Information: Mollie Nye House is at 940 Lynn Valley Road.  We are in the basement, entrance on the south side.  We can't park in the Hillside Baptist lot as they are using their lot Sunday morning.  The best parking option is at the Karen Magnussesn Rec center.  It's a little walk.  If you have accessibility issues you could be dropped off at Mollie Nye and then the vehicle can be moved.If anyone needs help with carpooling, please send an email to care.concerns.uuss@gmail.com.  

Next Saturday Service
"Imbolic Tools"

February 21st @ 5:00pm
St Margaret's, 1530 E. 22nd

Our February 21st service is our annual Imbolc Tool blessing, in which we come together to prepare and bless the tools we use for the work we are called to do for the world. Start thinking about which tool(s) you will bring to be spiritually strengthened by our community!

Mark Your Calendars:
upcoming Sunday Gatherings

March 1: “Gather in Song” with Lindsay Hindle

June 7: “Portugal” with Catarina Gomes

Congratulations to our UUSS Singers - Allyson, Carla, Jacky, Ryan & Sonya on their great performance last Saturday with Out In Harmony!

Social Justice

The CUSJ - Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice hosts a presentation

TOMORROW Sat, Jan 31 @ 10am

“Protecting and Advancing Public Universal Health Care” by  Anne Lagacé Dowson of the Canadian Health Coalition

Our Universal Health Care is eroded and endangered. See our website for more details. REGISTER per ZOOM in Advance now. Then ZOOM will send you a PERSONALIZED link to the Jan 31 Meeting.

Women’s Memorial Walk – February 14, 12-3pm.

Walk with fellow Unitarians to honour the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited people.  We will meet at noon at the NW corner of Main and Hasting (in front of OWL Drugs).  Remember to wear your UUSS T-shirt, and I will bring our banner!  Robyn Newton, Social and Environmental Justice Circle.

Support Bill C-233, the No More Loopholes Act,

There is absolutely no justification for our government to allow Canadian companies to sell military goods to ICE – but this is exactly what the US Loophole in Canada’s arms export laws enables. The same loophole that is still allowing Canadian explosives to flow through US bomb factories before being dropped by Israel in their renewed attacks on Gaza this month.

Arms Embargo Now is planning a day of action on February 17.  If you are interested in helping organize a visit to your local MPs office, contact robyn.newton.mail@gmail.com.  If you have just a few minutes, call or write to your MP. 

UU Ecosystem Website Launch Party - Save the Date
Sat, February 28, 2026 10:00am
Join us for a fun-filled fete as we launch a fabulous new hub for Canadian UUs to share ideas, inspiration and research. Think of it as an online magazine for learning about Canadian UU endeavours, successes, and reflections about what didn't go as well as hoped—and sharing your own, too!
Register today for this exciting online event and be the first to get updates and reminders.

GOOD NEWS
The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Mowi's appeal against Minister of Fisheries Joyce Murray and Bernadette Jordan's decisions not to renew salmon farm licences in the Discovery Islands. 

BAD NEWS
You’re paying for Ksi Lisims
B.C.’s Energy Minister quietly changed the rules so Ksi Lisims LNG won’t. have to pay for new electricity generation or power lines. Instead, we’ll pay on our BC Hydro bills. -  The Narwhal

Fossil fuel pension risk
Workers in B.C. and Alberta face growing risk as our pension funds increase exposure to fossil fuels. The Canada Pension Plan gets a “D” on Shift Action’s annual report card. - The Energy Mix

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

January 23, 2026

A WEEK FROM SUNDAY on February 1 @ 11:00am

a very special Sunday Service at Molly Nye House

A WEEK FROM SUNDAY on February 1 @ 11:00am

a very special Sunday Service at Molly Nye House
A WEEK FROM THIS SUNDAY
February 1 @ 11:00am

a very special Sunday Service
at Molly Nye House, 940 Lynn Valley Road

Please try to join us on the north shore next Sunday for "The Things We Do for Love" with Rev. Shaw Gauthier, the minister of the Vancouver Unitarians. He will invite us through this gathering to consider how love calls us to be courageous in the face of vulnerability.

Please RSVP to Barb so we know how much soup to have on hand. If anyone would like to make an additional pot of soup for this gathering, also please let Barb know.

Parking Information: Mollie Nye House is at 940 Lynn Valley Road.  We are in the basement, entrance on the south side.  We can't park in the Hillside Baptist lot as they are using their lot Sunday morning.  The best parking option is at the Karen Magnussesn Rec center.  It's a little walk.  If you have accessibility issues you could be dropped off at Mollie Nye and then the vehicle can be moved.If anyone needs help with carpooling, please send an email to care.concerns.uuss@gmail.com.  

Mark Your Calendars:
upcoming Sunday Gatherings

March 1: “Gather in Song” with Lindsay Hindle

June 7: “Portugal” with Catarina Gomes

THIS SUNDAY

Sunday, January 25th  at 1 pm - at Jessica's North Van Home 

*New* Stitch Witches. The Care & Concerns Team invite you to our new friendship gathering, Stitch Witches. People of all ages, genders, and rainbow identities are warmly welcomed to create yarn- and thread-based crafts while we chat and snack. Bring your ongoing projects, or start something. Bring your questions and curiosity about techniques for crochet, knitting or any craft with yarn or thread for the group to ponder and wonder about. Beginners are warmly welcomed--we can help each other learn. Jessica has supplies to get a beginner started. Nibble donations gratefully received. RSVP to Jessica’s email docjamm@gmail.com for directions and phone contact.

Thank you from Jacky and Jessica

TOMORROW at 2:00pm!

Applications Open for RAMP!(Reciprocal Annual Mentorship Program)

What if mentoring was not about expertise or authority, but about two people from different generations sharing wisdom and learning together?

That is the heart of RAMP!, a program of the Canadian Unitarian Council. This invitation may be for you, whether or not you have ever thought of yourself as a mentor.

RAMP! brings Unitarian Universalists across generations into reciprocal mentorship partnerships. Each partner offers lived experience, insight, and care. Each partner listens, reflects, and learns. Wisdom flows in more than one direction.

You do not need a title or a formal leadership role.
If you have lived a life, navigated change, questioned faith, stayed with community through challenge, or helped build something that lasted, you carry wisdom worth sharing.

For youth and young adults. RAMP! offers space to speak honestly, to be taken seriously, and to practice sharing your insight with confidence. You will also learn from elders and long-time UUs whose experience carries history, perspective, and hard-earned wisdom.

For experienced UUs and elders. RAMP! offers space to share stories, skills, and spiritual grounding shaped over time. You will also learn from younger generations whose insight, imagination, and courage bring fresh perspective and challenge.

This is not mentoring down or learning up. It is mutual mentoring, rooted in respect, curiosity, and relationship.

RAMP! is not about productivity or perfect outcomes. It is about presence, and about strengthening the web of UU connection across generations so shared wisdom continues to grow.

If you have ever wondered where you belong in this community right now, if you have ever felt called to deeper connection, if you believe wisdom grows when it is exchanged,

Apply.

Before applying, you are invited to watch a short reel from Amber & Camellia, the program leads. They offer a simple, heartfelt introduction to RAMP! and what makes it unique.

Social Justice

Thursday, February 5, 7 pm till late. Drag the Pipeline! A Fundraiser for Indigenous Land Defenders

From Dogwood: Join us for a boisterous soiree of drag, DJs, and dancing to roast the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, and provide funds for the courageous Indigenous and defenders resisting this colonial project. At The Cobalt, 917 Main St, Vancouver. Tickets here 

From BC Climate Emergency Campaign: 
BC has backtracked on climate, environment, and reconciliation. It is using its “Elbows Up” response to scrap climate policies, renew public funding for fossil fuels, weaken environmental protections to fast-track industrial development, ignore DRIPA, and prioritize the profits of multi-national corporations over public health, safety, and a livable future for British Columbians. It’s not too late for BC to invest in a truly sustainable economy. Read more

The Carbon Budget Petition (Please Sign)

From the 343 Project: Canada's emissions targets are too weak to counter the threat of global warming. We have the technology to replace fossil fuels, but instead, we are chasing the last oil dollars. The first step is to strengthen the targets. The second step is to measure our progress and hold ourselves accountable. A legislative carbon budget will help us do this, and give our children and grandchildren a chance at a better future. Please sign the petition to Parliament.

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

January 16, 2026

TOMORROW!!
Join us for our 1st Saturday
service in 2026
"Awaken Wonder"
Sat, January 17th at 5:00pm

Wonder is a feeling of surprised awe. Wonder is also the curiosity to know something. Please join us for our monthly worship service at St.Margaret's Cottage when we will be exploring how we can awaken wonder in our lives. Jessica Motherwell McFarlane and your worship team will explore the different aspects of wonder and experience wonder.

*New* Stitch Witches

NEXT SATURDAY
Sunday, January 25th  at 1 pm - at Jessica's North Van Home 

The Care & Concerns Team invite you to our new friendship gathering, Stitch Witches. People of all ages, genders, and rainbow identities are warmly welcomed to create yarn- and thread-based crafts while we chat and snack. Bring your ongoing projects, or start something. Bring your questions and curiosity about techniques for crochet, knitting or any craft with yarn or thread for the group to ponder and wonder about. Beginners are warmly welcomed--we can help each other learn. Jessica has supplies to get a beginner started. Nibble donations gratefully received. RSVP to Jessica’s email docjamm@gmail.com for directions and phone contact.

Thank you from Jacky and Jessica

at LLaura McNaughton's Co-op Common Room
Near the Joyce-Collingwood Skytrain Station (address to follow)

SATURDAY,  February 7 from 11:00 am - 2:00 pWe hope you will join us for our first Community Dialogue of 2026! We will be exploring Inclusion and Accessibility from a broad perspective to see how we can be more welcoming to all who are drawn to be part of our community. Our work will be anchored in our Mission, specifically:

"Creating the conditions for people of diverse beliefs, backgrounds and identities to feel fully welcome in our congregation and the broader Unitarian Universalism tradition by experimenting with systems, structures, practices and rituals that challenge the status quo."

This event will be fun and interactive and includes a potluck lunch.

We hope to see you there!

If you have any questions, please reach out to catherine at cstrickland@shaw.ca.

New and Ongoing Initiatives
of our Cares and Concerns Team:
(Jacky Coates, (Chair), Jessica Motherwell, Joy Silver, Lindsay Hindle, Casey Stainsby)

On Going Care Initiatives

Heart Ministry

Let’s help keep up the supply of hand-stitched hearts.  Their tactile construction helps others to remember to love themselves when they are sad, anxious, fearful, upset.  They can also be given to those who have delighted us with their service, care, kindness, thoughtfulness, etc.  See Joy Silver for supplies and/or come to Stitch Witches on the third Sundays of the month at Jessica and Bill’s home. E-mail Jessica if you are coming and what you would like to work on so that she can have materials and equipment ready.  Entry is around the back of the house.

New  Care Initiatives

Remembering-Care

Our C&C Team would like to offer care to those members and adherents who are experiencing new challenges in their lives that are resulting in long-term duration and stress. Over time, this person’s on-going challenge may not be remembered. Our Team would like to introduce a way to help our spiritual community remember to send our caring thoughts.

Action Plan – Invitation to help with long-term care: At future Worship Services, following Joys and Sorrows, one of our C&C Team members will invite us to send caring thoughts to those who have indicated their appreciation for being remembered in their ongoing challenge. Here ways how you can help:
Send the name by either:
a) Emailing to care.concerns.uuss@gmail.com or
b) Telling a C&C Team member who is present at a Worship Service or Gathering Circle before the service or meeting begins.
Let the Team know when the person is ready to be removed from the Care List.

                 
Birthday Angels

The Team will:
a) host an annual workshop, (TBA) at Molly Nye House for all ages to make a bank of birthday cards for our UUSS Community.  Children and youth are particularly welcome to bring THEIR PLAYFUL creativity to the project.
b) invite people to indicate if they would enjoy the recognition of their birthday with a card/phone call.

Hands Together Remembering-To-Care Cards Workshop, (TBA)

Create a Remembering Card Workshop Multi-media art materials will be provided.
C&C Team members will provide finished cards to send messages of care to members who are for example: in hospital, receiving home-care, home-bound, going through a rite-of passage, e.g. divorce, sobriety, earning a driver’s licence, or having to retire one! 

Some snapshots of last weekend's Sunday Gathering "Games and Connection"

NEXT WEEKEND

Out In Harmony now boasts six members of UUSS (and counting?). Come enjoy an evening of music on Saturday, Jan 24, 2pm at VanU.  Get your tickets here.

And if you'd like to participate in our clandestine take-over, we'll be starting a new season with all new music on Feb 3 at 7:15pm.

Starting next week 

From the UUA: Sign up for a month of love!

Love At The Center: Reimagining the World As It Could Be:

Mon, Jan 19 - Mon, Feb 16

Sign up  here.

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

January 9, 2026

Next weekend
Join us for our 1st Saturday
service in 2026
"Awaken Wonder"
Saturday, January 17th at 5:00pm

Wonder is a feeling of surprised awe. Wonder is also the curiosity to know something. Please join us for our monthly worship service at St.Margaret's Cottage when we will be exploring how we can awaken wonder in our lives. Jessica Motherwell McFarlane and your worship team will explore the different aspects of wonder and experience wonder.

For this service your worship team would love some images of people, places and things that bring you a sense of wonder. Please send your pictures to Cara.

Sunday, January 25th  at 1 pm - at Jessica's North Van Home 

*New* Stitch Witches. The Care & Concerns Team invite you to our new friendship gathering, Stitch Witches. People of all ages, genders, and rainbow identities are warmly welcomed to create yarn- and thread-based crafts while we chat and snack. Bring your ongoing projects, or start something. Bring your questions and curiosity about techniques for crochet, knitting or any craft with yarn or thread for the group to ponder and wonder about. Beginners are warmly welcomed--we can help each other learn. Jessica has supplies to get a beginner started. Nibble donations gratefully received. RSVP to Jessica’s email docjamm@gmail.com for directions and phone contact.

Thank you from Jacky and Jessica

Sharing Our Faith 2026: Orientation Session

Thursday, Jan 15, 2026 – 4:30 pm

Sharing Our Faith is an annual opportunity for Canadian Unitarian Universalists to explore a shared spiritual theme, deepen our connections with one another, and support congregational growth across the country. Each year, the Canadian Unitarian Council offers a worship packet and conversation guide that congregations can use to shape a Sunday service, a discussion group, or a community gathering.

The 2026 theme—Practicing Hope: Facing the Future with Gratitude, Imagination, Courage & Action—was developed collaboratively by more than 50 UUs from across Canada who participated in Canadian UUs Read this fall. Their wisdom, insights, and shared longings helped shape a national conversation about how we live our values in rapidly changing times.

Register here.

Social Justice

THIS SUNDAY, Jan 11 at 11:00am
ICE OUT for Good, Vancouver BC
US Consulate• 1075 W Pender St

Wednesday, January 7th, an American citizen was killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This killing is part of a broader pattern of unchecked violence, impunity, and abuse carried out by federal immigration enforcement agencies against members of our communities. 

A broad coalition of groups across the US is calling for a coordinated Ice Out For Good Weekend of Action on Saturday, January 10th and Sunday, January 11th to demand accountability, honour the life lost, and make visible the human cost of ICE’s actions. 

We in Canada stand with the US. In July Indivisible Vancouver held an anti-ICE rally to speak out against Canadians being detained in UC ICE facilities. Let's make our voices heard again. 

A core principle behind all ICE Out For Good events is a commitment to nonviolent action and NO civil disobedience. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values, and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events. All events should be held in public spaces or on public property.

From Fair Vote Canada: Sign up to join the phone bank to push the BC NDP government to act on the recommendation for a Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform! https://secure.fairvote.ca/en/action/join-phonebank-to-push-for-action-on-pr-for-bc
Stop the Liberal Government From Undermining Canada’s Climate Scientists. (Please Write)
Between muzzling scientists and cutting research budgets, the government is undermining Canada's ability to develop good climate policy. Background.

From Seniors For Climate: If you are interested in joining Seniors For Climate, feel free to join the next SFC BC Provincial zoom meeting WED, January 14 @ 3:30
Invite neighbours and friends, seniors AND youth.  You don’t need to be a senior to participate! Join.  To get on the BC email list bc-hub@seniorsforclimate.org 

From the UUA:
Sign up for a month of love!

Love At The Center: Reimagining the World As It Could Be:

Mon, Jan 19 - Mon, Feb 16

At a time when fear, violence, and extraction dominate our politics and our planet, we practice another way. We believe love is not fragile; it is fierce. It grounds our organizing, fuels our imagination, and sustains our communities. Over five weeks, we will move through a journey from imagination to action, rooting our freedom dreams in faith and bringing them to life in our world.

Each week, we will have a written reflection from Side With Love staff; a conversation with a UU theologian; a multigenerational family activity; reflection questions for journaling; a meditative body practice; and a coloring sheet connected to the weekly theme.

Sign up here.

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

January 2, 2026

THIS SUNDAY
January 4th @ 11:00am

Sunday Gathering
"Games and Connection"

Mollie Nye House
940 Lynn Valley Road

Join us for a relaxed gathering of games and connection.We’ll have a selection of games available, and you’re invited to bring along your favourite card or board games to share.

Not really into games? No worries—you’re still warmly welcome to come chat and cheer on the players.

Please RSVP to Barb so we know how much soup to have on hand. If anyone would like to make an additional pot of soup for this gathering, also please let Barb know: Barbara.Moore@vch.ca

Join us for our 1st Saturday
service in 2026
"Awaken Wonder"
Saturday, January 17th at 5:00pm

Wonder is a feeling of surprised awe. Wonder is also the curiosity to know something. Please join us for our monthly worship service at St.Margaret's Cottage when we will be exploring how we can awaken wonder in our lives. Jessica Motherwell McFarlane and your worship team will explore the different aspects of wonder and experience wonder.

For this service your worship team would love some images of people, places and things that bring you a sense of wonder. Please send your pictures to Cara.

Sunday, January 25th  at 1 pm - at Jessica's North Van Home 

*New* Stitch Witches. The Care & Concerns Team invite you to our new friendship gathering, Stitch Witches. People of all ages, genders, and rainbow identities are warmly welcomed to create yarn- and thread-based crafts while we chat and snack. Bring your ongoing projects, or start something. Bring your questions and curiosity about techniques for crochet, knitting or any craft with yarn or thread for the group to ponder and wonder about. Beginners are warmly welcomed--we can help each other learn. Jessica has supplies to get a beginner started. Nibble donations gratefully received. RSVP to Jessica’s email docjamm@gmail.com for directions and phone contact.

Thank you from Jacky and Jessica

Social Justice

From Fair Vote Canada:

Seeking volunteers - sign up here to join their phone bank to encourage the BC NDP government to establish a Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform: https://secure.fairvote.ca/en/action/join-phonebank-to-push-for-action-on-pr-for-bc

Sharing Our Faith 2026: Orientation Session

Thursday, Jan 15, 2026 – 4:30 pm

Sharing Our Faith is an annual opportunity for Canadian Unitarian Universalists to explore a shared spiritual theme, deepen our connections with one another, and support congregational growth across the country. Each year, the Canadian Unitarian Council offers a worship packet and conversation guide that congregations can use to shape a Sunday service, a discussion group, or a community gathering.

The 2026 theme—Practicing Hope: Facing the Future with Gratitude, Imagination, Courage & Action—was developed collaboratively by more than 50 UUs from across Canada who participated in Canadian UUs Read this fall. Their wisdom, insights, and shared longings helped shape a national conversation about how we live our values in rapidly changing times.

Register here.

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

December 26, 2025

Coming up on January 4th

Sunday Gathering
"Games and Connection"

Mollie Nye House
940 Lynn Valley Road

Join us for a relaxed gathering of games and connection.We’ll have a selection of games available, and you’re invited to bring along your favourite card or board games to share.

Not really into games? No worries—you’re still warmly welcome to come chat and cheer on the players.

Please RSVP to Barb so we know how much soup to have on hand. If anyone would like to make an additional pot of soup for this gathering, also please let Barb know: Barbara.Moore@vch.ca

Sunday, January 25th  at 1 pm - at Jessica's North Van Home 

*New* Stitch Witches. The Care & Concerns Team invite you to our new friendship gathering, Stitch Witches. People of all ages, genders, and rainbow identities are warmly welcomed to create yarn- and thread-based crafts while we chat and snack. Bring your ongoing projects, or start something. Bring your questions and curiosity about techniques for crochet, knitting or any craft with yarn or thread for the group to ponder and wonder about. Beginners are warmly welcomed--we can help each other learn. Jessica has supplies to get a beginner started. Nibble donations gratefully received. RSVP to Jessica’s email  docjamm@gmail.com for directions and phone contact.

Thank you from Jacky and Jessica

Come Join Barb as
a Lay Chaplain!

The CUC's National Lay Chaplains Committee will again be offering and facilitating the annual Basics Training for Rites of Passages, and also continuing with the successful LC Chats in the upcoming months. Registration and details to follow. 

Dates for the training (1 cohort) are: Saturday April 11, Sunday April 12 and Saturday April 18, 2026.  Training will be delivered via Zoom.   A certificate will be issued to those who complete the required 3 sessions.  This training is intended for those who are interested in pursuing the Lay Chaplaincy path, have been members of their congregation or fellowship for at least a year and have the endorsement of their congregational board.

LC Chats: Monday January 26, 2026 (evening) , Topic: "When things Go Sideways", Monday April 27.  (Topic & speaker TBD. The LC Chats are open to Lay Chaplains and aspiring Lay Chaplains. 

About the CUC's unique program: 
The Canadian Unitarian Council’s unique lay chaplaincy program was created in 1971. The program trains and supports carefully chosen lay members of Unitarian Universalist congregations who create and perform rites of passage, including weddings, child dedications, and memorial services. Lay chaplains are pleased to provide this outreach service to people who want a religious or spiritual ceremony: both to the general public and to Unitarian Universalists in congregations without a minister. Read more about the program here.

A year end note from Ryan
regarding donations - you have until next Wednesday!

Winter is a special time in many religions, and while the specific traditions and rituals may differ, we all make a point to mark the shortest day of the year and the shortest time between making a donation and receiving a tax refund.

This is your one and only reminder to get any donations you were planning on making in before the end of the year. If you're donating via eTransfer, you theoretically have until Dec 31. If you want to donate cash or a cheque, your best bet is to give it to me (Ryan) at the Solstice Service on Dec 20.

Reminder that all donations have to go through the recently renamed UU Community of Victoria. Instructions are here: https://uusalishsea.ca/Donate

If you'd like some or all of your donation to go toward the Christmas hampers, please tell me how much as I don't see individual donations come in, and I don't want to pester the Victoria Treasurer unnecessarily.

Thanks and happy tax season!
Ryan

Social Justice

BC is being threatened with the Alberta - Ottawa MOU for a bitumen pipeline to the dangerous Hecate Strait. LNG is a risk for taxpayers' health and pocketbook and the environment. The more letters the PM and Ministers and MPs get, the more they might listen to our resistance.Access the toolkit here.

From Dogwood:

Tell your MP: no subsidies for Ksi Lisims

The federal government is considering billions in public funding for this American-owned, Korean-built gas terminal. Tell them to create jobs in Canada instead!

Mission Report: Lessons and Legacies from the Climate Emergency Unit

Honourable mention
for UUSS Members!

Some of you may remember when the Justice group of NSUC joined the "Have a Heart" campaign that was initiated by Cindy Blackstock of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.  In November 2021 several of us (and our children) wrote to then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him not to appeal the landmark Decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, ordering the Canadian government to compensate First Nations children and their families for years of chronic underfunding of the Indigenous child welfare system.  Trudeau did abandon the appeal in December, and we wrote him thank you Valentines in February.  Alex Neve mentions this campaign in his 2025 book on Human Rights, Universal (on page 155), noting how the involvement of non-Indigenous Canadians (particularly the children) made First Nations youth feel like they were not alone in their struggles.  Kudos to Harper, Laura and Charlotte and the many more UUSS members who participated in this campaign.  You DO make a positive difference!

Unitarian Universalists
of the Salish Sea

December 19, 2025

TOMORROW

"A Little Hope for the Solstice"
Saturday Dec 20 @ 5:00pm
St Margaret’s Cedar Cottage
1530 E. 22nd

in person and on Zoom

Join us on Dec 20th at 5:00 for a little hope for this season. We're offering a pagan-style Winter Solstice celebration that includes a story of hope for the world and many small rituals to ground us in the season and in the hope that is the coming light. There will be wassail (non-alcoholic) to share as well as our regular potluck dinner following the service. We look forward to celebrating the Winter Solstice with you.

"Wintering: A mini retreat for the winter solstice"
Sunday Dec 21 @ 3:30pm

The Vancouver Unitarian Earth Spirituality group invites you to spend some time with other creative souls on the longest night of the year.

Winter is a time to focus on our inner life, and yet the world sometimes pulls us out and about, spinning us around.We’ll gather in Hewett Hall, cast a circle of sanctuary to protect us from the busy world outside. We’ll ritually bid farewell to whatever we are eager to leave behind from the past year.

Then people will choose one of three workshops and spend 2 hours together, whether circle dancing, crafting garlands or reading and writing.The workshops will be a way to connect with others and possibly make new friends.

Come and experience the power of rest and retreat and enjoy a time of quiet joy in community with other creative souls.

At 4:30, we gather in the hall together in a circle for a winter solstice ritual and to release directions and open the circle, followed by a giveaway of pre-loved goods.At 5:00, go if you must, stay if you will.  (Help with cleanup appreciated.)

To make this a comfortable and cozy space, we have a maximum enrollment, so please do register early. Registration

What to bring:

• Some goodies to share.  Labels re gluten, nuts and dairy are helpful.   Providing serving plates and utensils is much appreciated so we can minimize cleanup.
• A giveaway item. (Any leftover items will be donated to the Vancouver Unitarian Refugee Committee table.)

Coming up on January 4th

Sunday Gathering
"Games and Connection"

Mollie Nye House
940 Lynn Valley Road

Join us for a relaxed gathering of games and connection.We’ll have a selection of games available, and you’re invited to bring along your favourite card or board games to share.

Not really into games? No worries—you’re still warmly welcome to come chat and cheer on the players.

Please RSVP to Barb so we know how much soup to have on hand. If anyone would like to make an additional pot of soup for this gathering, also please let Barb know: Barbara.Moore@vch.ca

A year end note from Ryan
regarding donations 

Winter is a special time in many religions, and while the specific traditions and rituals may differ, we all make a point to mark the shortest day of the year and the shortest time between making a donation and receiving a tax refund.

This is your one and only reminder to get any donations you were planning on making in before the end of the year. If you're donating via eTransfer, you theoretically have until Dec 31. If you want to donate cash or a cheque, your best bet is to give it to me (Ryan) at the Solstice Service on Dec 20.

Reminder that all donations have to go through the recently renamed UU Community of Victoria. Instructions are here: https://uusalishsea.ca/Donate

If you'd like some or all of your donation to go toward the Christmas hampers, please tell me how much as I don't see individual donations come in, and I don't want to pester the Victoria Treasurer unnecessarily.

Thanks and happy tax season!
Ryan

Christmas Hamper
project update

We had a very successful Holiday Hamper project. Thanks to your generous donations we created two very abundant gift baskets for a family of a young mother and her 12 year old son, and a 79 year old senior woman. And we had a lot of fun doing it, especially at the wrapping table (special thanks to Cindy and Harper) at the gift making workshop. Shelly and Anne delivered the hampers to the North Shore Christmas Bureau on Dec. 15, where we were also able to hand over a couple of additional gift cards. They are an entirely voluntary organization and were very appreciative. Thanks to all who helped us contribute happiness to our community.

Come Join Barb as a Chaplain!

The CUC's National Lay Chaplains Committee will again be offering and facilitating the annual Basics Training for Rites of Passages, and also continuing with the successful LC Chats in the upcoming months. Registration and details to follow. 

Dates for the training (1 cohort) are: Saturday April 11, Sunday April 12 and Saturday April 18, 2026.  Training will be delivered via Zoom.   A certificate will be issued to those who complete the required 3 sessions.  This training is intended for those who are interested in pursuing the Lay Chaplaincy path, have been members of their congregation or fellowship for at least a year and have the endorsement of their congregational board.

LC Chats: Monday January 26, 2026 (evening) , Topic: "When things Go Sideways", Monday April 27.  (Topic & speaker TBD. The LC Chats are open to Lay Chaplains and aspiring Lay Chaplains. 

About the CUC's unique program: 
The Canadian Unitarian Council’s unique lay chaplaincy program was created in 1971. The program trains and supports carefully chosen lay members of Unitarian Universalist congregations who create and perform rites of passage, including weddings, child dedications, and memorial services. Lay chaplains are pleased to provide this outreach service to people who want a religious or spiritual ceremony: both to the general public and to Unitarian Universalists in congregations without a minister. Read more about the program here.