We enter the new year, like the god Janus, looking backward and looking forward with a fire communion. In the words of Rev. Elizabeth Harding, “The fire communion separates the end of the year from the beginning, helping us to put in perspective the joys and sorrows, the changes and transitions, the ups and downs … Continue reading A Fire Communion for the New Year
Join the four Metro Vancouver UU Congregations as you ease into the holiday remembering its meaning and beauty amidst all the activity. Music and scripture readings will be shared by each congregation. You can take in the service from the comfort of your home (still in your jammies if you wish). Join us for a … Continue reading Christmas Morning Stories, Songs, and Scripture
Christmas Eve and Hanukah are a time of wonder. A time of hope. A time to gather with our families and friends in gentle candlelight. A time to sing familiar songs. A time to hear the ancient stories and remember that humanity has walked familiar roads of despair and hopelessness, and emerged, time after time, into … Continue reading A Candle Light Service for Christmas Eve and Hanukah
Join us for a special service to celebrate the approaching Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. We will explore how darkness can nourish us and help us find stillness in challenging times through contemplative ritual, story and music. If you are attending on Zoom, you are invited to join us in candlelight/reduced light. … Continue reading Winter Solstice: Honouring the Dark
A seasonal feast for the senses. First, we enter the sweet dark, the gentle dark, the thoughtful dark through popular and timeless songs, stories and poetry. In the deep dark, where sadness and joy are woven together, we find the transcendent light. Then joy breaks through, rising up in us through seasonal songs and the … Continue reading The Wonder of It All
The pressures and anxieties of living in this modern world can, at times, be nightmarish.It is too easy to slip into a bleak and hopeless outlook for humanity. But, there is another point of view, as there are wondrous acts of bravery and generosity, and miracles of technology that can spark hope in our hearts.The … Continue reading Days of Miracle and Wonder
We live in a culture that celebrates the individual, where the motto is that you can be whatever you want, and if you don’t get what you want, well, that’s on you. And it’s all a lie. Ryan Guenther started attending the First Unitarian Church of Victoria at age 10, and he’s sung in the … Continue reading The Myth of Personal Responsibility
The tsunami of change we are experiencing, from the global pandemic, the climate emergency, a racial justice reckoning, societal polarization and a host of factors that are causing institutions, like churches, to deconstruct and reorient, grabbing onto what is familiar and safe is not going to help. It is going to add more fear not … Continue reading Agents of Change in Liminal Time
Karl Perrin has been a climate activist for decades and is a member of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver. Over the years, Karl has struggled, like many of us do, to come to grips with the magnitude of the climate crisis. However, he has found ways to express gratitude that feeds his soul and allows … Continue reading Gratitude and Climate Action
Not only are the clocks changing this weekend, we are too. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly change happens. The climate crisis has been slowly building for decades and now it seems to be suddenly upon us, maybe too late to reverse. . Our bodies have been slowly aging since we took our first breath, but it … Continue reading To Hell in a Hand Basket!
