Unitarian Universalists of the Salish Sea

CHANGE IN VENUE FOR
THIS SUNDAY

Join us for our Summer Picnic!
Sunday, Aug 25 at 11:30am

Due to a large event at Ray Perrault Park, we are moving our picnic and going back to Norma Elrod’s lovely garden on the Seymour River where we had our magical July service:

Norma Elrod's garden, 2012 Old Dollarton Road North Vancouver. Easily accessible by bus and parking is available on the street nearby or in the shopping plaza across the street. 

It would be lovely to catch up with each other before the business of September. To share stories of our summer and how we are all doing.  Anne would love to share what she learned at August Eliot family camp. It is a casual and do-it-yourself affair. Please bring your own picnic (and maybe a treat to share? ). Camping chairs and waterproof ground covers are important as the ground will be wet. If you have extra, please bring them. Any outdoor toys/games you want to play. After picnicking some of us might want to take a walk in the Wild Bird Trust just down the road. Or take in the Persian harvest Festival of Shahrivargaan at Ray Perrault Park. 

If you know you are coming, it would be great if you emailed or texted or called Anne Mayall. annemayall51@gmail.com. 778-686-3643. That way if the weather doesn’t cooperate we can contact you. But also please feel free to just show up.

Mark your calendars:
Water Communion
Saturday, Sep 21st 

Please join us for the first service of our new church year. We will celebrate with a Unitarian Universalist water communion homecoming ritual in a service lead by your Worship Team.  Please bring some water from your home or from your summer adventures. We will enjoy food and fellowship at a potluck after the service

And in October on the 19th: "Celebrating the sacred circle of life -  The interdependent web of all existence after death"

Life depends on death. Everything alive and vital depends on the death of other things to survive. It is a key part of the interdependent web of life. Lay chaplains Barb Moore (UUSS) and Laureen Stokes (Vancouver Unitarians) present how helping our clients deal with the death of a loved one has shaped our ideas on after death planning and care.  For the grieving, and the deceased.  Laureen will speak on how Terramation - a new method of body disposition - creates new ways to care for our deceased as we grieve, and reconnect us back into the web of life. 

Please join us for the first service of our new church year. We will celebrate with a Unitarian Universalist water communion homecoming ritual in a service lead by your Worship Team.  Please bring some water from your home or from your summer adventures. We will enjoy food and fellowship at a potluck after the servi

And in October on the 19th: "Celebrating the sacred circle of life -  The interdependent web of all existence after death"

Life depends on death. Everything alive and vital depends on the death of other things to survive. It is a key part of the interdependent web of life. Lay chaplains Barb Moore (UUSS) and Laureen Stokes (Vancouver Unitarians) present how helping our clients deal with the death of a loved one has shaped our ideas on after death planning and care.  For the grieving, and the deceased.  Laureen will speak on how Terramation - a new method of body disposition - creates new ways to care for our deceased as we grieve, and reconnect us back into the web of life. 

Did you know they were Unitarian?

Greta Gerwig (1983 - )

Greta Gerwig is a director, screenwriter, and actor. She began her career primarily focused up on acting, particularly in independent films, and earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Frances Ha. Her solo directorial debut, 2017’s Lady Bird, saw rave reviews and led to her Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. After earning praise for her movie adaptation of Little Women, Gerwig achieved her greatest box-office success with Barbie, 2023’s highest-grossing movie that also set a new earning record among women-directed movies. Gerwig regularly collaborates with her husband and fellow filmmaker Noah Baumbach.

"I was born into the UU community. My parents were married [at the UU Society of Sacramento], and I had my “naming ceremony” in 1983 with the then-minister Ted Webb. My parents ended up leaving the church for a time in the 1990s but have since returned. My mom likes to say that having a time of a “walkabout” is almost part of being a Unitarian. I think religion has always been something that has occupied me as a person, and Unitarianism is the most complete expression of my multiple and, at times, contradictory thoughts about the spiritual life. I think the openness of the community allows for a greater variety of personal faith and ideas. It isn’t oppressively open, but generously so."

Volunteer to make our Second Monthly Community Event Happen!  

Zoom meeting Monday August 26 at 7:00pm
(please see details below).

At our Inaugural General Meeting in June, most of us expressed a desire for a regular second monthly event. To make it happen, we need to create a circle (team) that organizes and coordinates it? You don't need to have experience, just willingness! Ideally, you will also participate in our Sociocracy Workshop, but that is not required.

There is a strong community interest in having our second event happen on the North Shore (Sat or Sun, time and location TBD). However, what it looks like, what we do together, etc. is still up in the air! You do not need to be willing to lead any activities (although a willingness to lead is welcomed) but rather you will be working with others to organize and determine what our second monthly gathering will involve.

Our first meeting for this circle will be Monday August 26 from 7:00-8:30pm. A zoom link will be emailed to the UUSS community on Monday morning. All are welcome to attend!

Call to Action for
UUSS social justice warriors 

Tuesday, Aug 27 at 9 am at the PNE Vancouver 

The Gitxsan will be rallying on Tuesday August 27 starting at 9 am PT at the entrance to the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver to demand that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police C-IRG/CRU not trespass on their traditional territory. The PRGT pipeline goes through Gitsxan territory without consent. Gitanyow have set up a blockade on the man camp access road. 

More at  
https://pbicanada.org/2024/08/11/gitxsan-to-rally-against-the-rcmp-c-irg-cru-trespassing-on-their-territory-at-the-pacific-national-exhibition-august-27/

VanU is Hiring a Head Nursery Staff Person *New!*

Casey Stainsby is moving into the new Middle Years Coordinator position, taking over leadership of Crossing Paths and other programming for ages 10-12. Casey has been wonderful as our Head Nursery staff over this past year and now we need to fill that position with someone new!

Our infant and toddler members need supportive, open, and loving care while their parents and older siblings attend service and classes. Our youngest members need to feel safe to explore their burgeoning sense of wonder, joy, awe, and love of the world and beings around them to build trust in this place and its people.

Are you interested? Contact Kiersten Moore at kiersten@vanu.ca  You may check out the job description here.

2 Adult Volunteers Still Needed for the BC Fall Youth Gathering *Updated!*

Welcome Rory Brimacombe as our BC Fall Con Coordinator! Rory came up through UU youth culture in Vancouver through the early part of the last decade and is now back in Vancouver after completing a masters at UBC. They are excited to be able to bring their experience and knowledge to a new generation of youth!

These adult roles are less task focused and more support oriented, they do require a time commitment nonetheless. We need everyone to commit to meetings starting in early September and probably an hour a week of work, ramping up as we get closer to the conference.

The roles will be almost identical to the CanUUdle staff system, with the exception of online components that we do not do.

• Advisor’s Advisor (1 adult)
• Peer Chaplains (1 adult)