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Unitarian Universalists of the Salish Sea

February 28, 2025 Unitarian Universalist of the Salish Sea e-news

28 Feb 2025 5:00 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

Unitarian Universalists of the Salish Sea Weekly Update
February 21, 2025

 

Next Sunday Gathering

"Joined By Song"

with Lindsay Hindle

March 2 @ 11:00pm

Molly Nye House, 940 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver

Come feel more alive, more at peace, and joyfully bonded as we gather to be Joined By Song on Sunday March 2. 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!

Soup and bread will be provided. If you'd like to bring something to share (fruit, veggie plate, cookies etc.) that would be nice, but please know that this is not an expectation. Donations for soup will be gratefully accepted.

 

Please rsvp to  Barbara.Moore@vch.ca so that we know how much soup to make. Thank you!


Announcing our new logo!

Thank you to everyone who responded to our logo survey! We have a clear winner. The above logo option received a total of 34 points! The next closest one got 12 points. 

Points were allocated as follows:

* 2 points for "Love it"

* 1 point for "Like it"

* 0 points for "Can live with it"

* -1 point for "Don't like it".

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. warmly, catherine


Justice News

Canada’s Competition Bureau Wants Your Feedback On its Proposed Guidelines.

by February 28

 

From WE-CAN: The Competition Act contains two new provisions that explicitly target greenwashing. They require that claims about the environmental benefits of a product be based on adequate and proper testing, and claims about the environmental benefits of a business or business activity must be properly substantiated in accordance with an internationally recognized methodology. They need to hear from the public. Please write to say how important it is to stop greenwashing, such as “Clean LNG Will Save the World!” because they’ll surely get lots of feedback from LNG and other fossil fuel industries trying to weaken the proposed standards. Dig into the details here.

Tell the B.C. Government to Block the Wall Street-Backed PRGT Pipeline (Sign please!)

From Dogwood: American billionaires are buying up control of Canadian LNG. Wall Street billionaire and major Donald Trump donor Steve Schwarzman wants to fast-track the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project because his financial firm, Blackstone, is a major investor in the project. Expanding U.S.-backed fracking operations in B.C. will raise utility bills, hand more control of our energy resources to the United States, fly in the face of communities along the pipeline route opposed to the project, destroy fresh water, salmon and wildlife habitat, make climate change WORSE, delay the creation of good jobs in renewable energy. Sign here.

Are you one of your congregation's facilitators for the UU Climate Justice Revival? All facilitators need to join one of our 2-hour Facilitator Training Sessions. Come learn how to be the best facilitator you can be for your congregation's Revival! Register to join us.

RAVEN is starting a book club! Join them on April 3, 2025 at 5pm PT (8pm ET) to discuss the book "Valley of the Birdtail" by two esteemed law professors, Douglas Sanderson and Andrew Snobo Sniderman. The book dives into history, reconciliation, power, and how Canada has become what it is today. Register Here:  https://raventrust.com/event/raven-book-club-april-2025/

 

Designing and & Leading Rites of Passage: Basics Training for Lay Chaplains

Feb. 22 –  9:00 am PT

Feb. 23 –  11:30 am PT

March 1 – 9:00 am PT

This workshop is for those considering lay chaplaincy, recently appointed lay chaplains and members of a congregation’s Lay Chaplaincy Committee. It provides basic guidelines on the management of a congregation’s lay chaplaincy program and the training new lay chaplains need to begin their work. 

Rev. Linda Thomson, likes to joke that if there had been a poll entitled “Least Likely To Become A Religious Professional”, conducted in High School, she would have been at the top of the list. Yet life surprises us all. In June, Linda is retiring as the CUC’s Congregational Life Lead for the Central and Eastern regions, after holding this position for over 20 years. Based in Burlington, Ontario, she had previously served in a similar role with the Unitarian Universalist Association’s St. Lawrence District. She applied for her current position when the CUC took over providing services to Canadian congregations in 2002.

Linda was drawn to her position by her strong belief that Unitarian Universalism can be a positive force in both individuals’ lives and the wider world. She’s appreciated how it creates communities of support and challenge for people including herself.

“Things I don’t think I ever would have thought of before became apparent to me through my involvement with UUism,” she says. “My worldview really expanded. That felt to me like a really important and good thing to be part of.”

As one of the Congregational Life Leads, Linda has felt privileged to witness the dedication of the UU’s she’s interacted with. 

“Sometimes when I’ve been in a room full of committed UUs, — and this is true both In physical rooms and on Zoom rooms — I just get moved,” she says. “By the care and commitment of the people who love their congregations and are willing to give part of themselves to those congregations and their missions. That’s really inspiring to see. These are volunteers who are working hard to make the world better. And that really keeps me going a lot of the time.”

“Many of you will be asking – what’s next?” For Linda – a lot of enjoyable camping and spending time with her beloved family. For the CUC – we will be advertising and hiring a Congregational Life position later in the spring, with a planned overlap with Linda before she leaves.”

The technological advances that have occurred over the past two decades have significantly impacted Linda’s work. Recalling a time when group meetings had to be held by phone and many congregations only had print editions of their newsletters, she’s grateful that videoconferencing and email have made it easier to connect.

“That’s a practical change, but it’s made really cool things possible,” she says. “We are able to network and collaborate in ways that we couldn’t before.”

In a time of rising secularism and anti-religiosity, Linda believes UUism is handling the challenges this poses better than many other faith traditions. But she’s nonetheless concerned by the sense, particularly among the younger generations, that church is “old-fashioned” or irrelevant, a misconception she hopes can be addressed.

“That is probably where my place of concern lies,” she says. How do we make ourselves known and how do we disavow people of the notion that we are not relevant to their lives because people have a need to reflect on the meaning of life and the big questions and to be in community with one another and to be challenged. And there are other ways to do it, but we’re a really great way to do it, and I want people to know that.”

While technology has made connection across congregations easier, Linda emphasizes that relationships remain the foundation of the work, and anyone doing similar work to start with relationships. The connections she’s built in her role are something she anticipates she’ll miss in retirement.

“I’ll miss the people,” she says. “I’ve made lots of dear relationships and I won’t be in regular contact with those folks as much anymore. That feels like a bit of a looming hole.”

In retirement, Linda is looking forward to once again singing in her church choir, doing some traveling, and perhaps some contract work.

“I’m open to what opportunities arise,” she says. “I want to give myself space.”

Executive Director Vyda Ng says Linda holds large swaths of CUC history. “Linda has been a steady, wise and experienced presence throughout all the changes at the CUC since 2002. I have depended on her knowledge and memory and will sorely miss Linda.”

Q: How many Unitarians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: We choose not to make a statement either in favour of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey, you have found that light bulbs work for you, that is wonderful. You are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your personal relationship with your light bulb. Present it next month at our annual Light Bulb Sunday Service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life, and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

 Join us on Bluesky: 

@uusalishsea.bsky.social





We acknowledge that we live on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem First Nation), which lies within the shared territories of the Tsleil-Waututh, Katzie, Musqueam, Qayqayt, Squamish, and Sto’:lo Nations. We thank the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm who continue
to live on these lands and care for them, along with the waters and all that is above and below
.     

www.uusalishsea.ca.     2025


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