Zion Calendar

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Nova Scotia Provincial Festival comes to Liverpool & Zion United



Competitions taking place at Liverpool Baptist Church and the Zion United Church on May 31 & June 1st, leading up to the Gala Concert. 

               Nova Scotia Provincial Music Festival
Gala Concert
7:00 p.m. Saturday, June 1, 2013
Astor Theatre, Liverpool, NS
Admission: Adults $10 Students: $5

This concert features as performers the winners of all Junior and Senioir classes, an announcement of the Choral Awards, and the adjudicators' selection of Nova Scotia's Team to the National Music Festival 2013, at Sir Wilfred Laurier  

Click HERE for the schedule of events for the festival to when you can watch at Zion United. 

Tuesday 21 May 2013

General Secretary's Weekly Letter



May 16, 2013

Dear Friends,

Last week was a difficult one at the General Council Office. In follow up to the decisions made at the meeting of the Executive of the General Council the previous weekend, we laid off staff and announced cuts to grants to meet a more frugal budget in 2014. The decisions were necessary but hard.

These aren’t the moments one has in mind when asked to offer leadership in the church, but I’m grateful for the Executive members and staff colleagues who made the decisions carefully and carried them out.

We had a staff meeting this week, one of the big ones for everyone in the office (and those from Conferences who chose to join in by videoconference). It was a quiet group, as people are still settling into the changes, but the thing that prevented it from being overly grim was the thoughtful opening by the Moderator. He acknowledged the uncertainty that everyone was feeling and offered it back to us as a time of possibility. When I say that here, it sounds trite. When he speaks, it touches the listeners in a way real, poetic, and hopeful.

Sitting in a meeting with the Moderator’s Advisory Committee this week, I couldn’t help but reflect on the rare privilege I have had to work closely with the past three Moderators, each one different, each one a powerful leader of our church.

I was appointed at the meeting where David Giuliano was elected Moderator. I met him at the 39th General Council for the first time, and then occasionally that first autumn, but I didn’t actually work with him until I had finished up my previous work in Saskatchewan and moved to Toronto over Christmas. It was a good thing for him that Jim Sinclair was still here to introduce him to his role, because I was green as grass about the General Council Office, too.

We did a lot of learning together, but I have no doubt that I learned much more from him than the other way around. His life was turned upside down by cancer in the midst of his term, yet throughout he offered deeply spiritual leadership with a rare mix of humility and strong will.

We left the 40th General Council with a new Moderator, Mardi Tindal, a lay person like me but with a long history of work in the United Church, everything from camps and youth work to Vision TV to Five Oaks. Mardi brought her wonderful gifts for working with groups of people to draw ideas and purpose from them. God’s love for this beautiful and fragile earth was at the heart of her theology and this resonated strongly with so many in the church, and beyond.

And now Gary Paterson, not far into his term, but already engaged in conversations across the church through his blog, his visits, and his preaching. He is actively involved in the process of listening and engaging with new ideas, which is the work of the Comprehensive Review Task Group. His positive nature carries a sense of possibility in all that he does.

One of the strange and beautiful things about my role is getting to work with a series of Moderators and supporting them to lift up the visions they bring to their roles. With each one, it is hard to think of them leaving in three years and being replaced by anyone new, and yet, as is so often said in the United Church, “we always get the right Moderator for the time.”

One of the things that I remember most clearly from the Arnprior Conference in 2005, before I ever thought of working in this office, was the night that most of the former Moderators sat down together and talked to us about their experiences as Moderator and their vision for the United Church. What I remember more than what any of them said was the sense of this amazing group of individuals, each so different and each so gifted, and all part of the leadership of our wonderful church.

After a week of facing up to challenging budget constraints, I invite you to reflect with gratitude on all those who offer leadership in all parts of the United Church.

Nora

Monday 20 May 2013

Pentecost Celebrations at Zion


Thanks to Rev Sheila for decorating Gorham Hall at Zion United Church for Pentecost and bringing alive this festive time for everyone, including cake!!!

What is Pentecost?

For Christians, Pentecost is a holiday on which we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the early followers of Jesus. Before the events of the first Pentecost, which came a few weeks after Jesus’ death and resurrection, there were followers of Jesus, but no movement that could be meaningfully called “the church.” Thus, from an historical point of view, Pentecost is the day on which the church was started. This is also true from a spiritual perspective, since the Spirit brings the church into existence and enlivens it. Thus Pentecost is the church’s birthday.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. -Acts 2:1-4


Wednesday 15 May 2013

Pentecost Sunday

Come and join us for Pentecost Sunday. Rev. Sheila is very excited and is decorating Gorham Hall for the ocassion. Communion will also be offered this Sunday.


Sunday 12 May 2013

This Week at Zion

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's. Have a great day!!!


This was the last Sunday for Robbie the Dragon. Robbie will be back in September to spread the Gospel according to Robbie. 

Bye ROBBIE!!!

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Spring has Sprung at Zion

Here are a few pics of the gardens at Zion. Our flowers are coming up. 


We are starting to see a bit of color in the front gardens.

Our neighbor has some great looking daffodils. The Zion congregation gets to see these every Sunday when they come to church.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

General Secretary's Weekly Letter


May 3, 2013

I remember that when I lived in the North, this was a very strange time of year to come to southern Canada.  In Yellowknife or Iqaluit, the glorious thing this time of year is the sunshine stretching further and further into the evening hours.  With all that sunlight, the snow is receding rapidly and the winter is clearly over. That feels like spring until you travel south and find the tulips in full bloom and joggers out in their shorts.
Now, I’m living in a place where the first week in May the lawns are green velvet, tiny leaves are unfurling on every twig, the birds are singing crazily, and the forsythia are in full bloom.  After lots of warm spring rain in recent weeks, the earth has sprung back to life.
This weekend is predicted to be warm and sunny throughout.  I guess I shouldn’t begrudge that fact that, along with those wonderfully dedicated members of the Executive of the General  Council and supporting staff and volunteers, I’ll be inside the whole time!  In fact, whether we get out and enjoy the sunshine or not, the gift of springtime bursting forth will be uplifting to all who toil over difficult budget decisions this weekend. 
In preparation for work heavy with responsibility and emotion, I was blessed last week to take part in the Week of Guided Prayer at Islington United Church.  This program originates with Hamilton Conference, but has been well used at Islington and various other churches for years.   Many of those at the opening worship described themselves as returning participants, a testament to the value found in this week of intentional practice of prayer.  The theme of hope resonated well with me.  I confess to being less regular than I aspire to be in my practice of praying with scripture, so it made so much sense to have this week set aside to share with others in dedicated practice. The private reading and prayer, the journaling, and the conversations with my companion offered a balance to many of the other things going on in my life.  I liked it so well that I am hoping that we can do something  similar at the General Council Office in coming months.
Meanwhile, I turn to this week’s work with scriptural images and reflections to offer guidance – and hope.

May peace be with you.

Nora

Sunday 5 May 2013

This Week at The United Church of Canada



I did not make it to Church today, so I was wondering what I could post when I saw the post on the United Church of Canada facebook page. You can follow their page too by clicking here.

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Historic signing this morning as part of the worship experience of the General Council Executive. Moderator Gary Paterson and General Secretary, General Council Nora Sanders, sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Presiding Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Asante and North American Supervising Bishop Rev. Benjamin Asare of the Methodist Church of Ghana to establish a formal relationship of Associate Membership for the Ghana Calvary Methodist United Church of Toronto. The MOU lives into the decision of the 41st General Council to establish Associate Relationships with Migrant Church communities. (Photos by Michael Blair.)