On Saturday, September 28, VanU members partook in a healing medicine walk with Musqueam artist and activist Audrey Siegel at Spanish Banks.
Please fill out this doodle poll by Oct 25 to indicate your availability for the next Medicine Walk in early November.
$25 per person, limited enrollment.
The VanU book club meets on the second Sunday each month. We have been meeting monthly since at least 2001 and have read and shared a wide range of books over these years. Books are all selected by group members and reflect our changing interests over the years. Here is what we have planned for this year:
Oct 13: Fire Weather, by John Vaillant
Nov 10: The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis, by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Dec 8: TBA
Jan 12, 2025: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
Feb 9: A Most Dangerous Method, by John Kerr
Mar 9: The Candy House, by Jennifer Egan
Apr 13: TBA
May 11: All We Leave Behind, by Carol Off
June 8: TBA
Please join us to discuss and share ideas about any of these books that interest you. All are welcome.
Are you desiring close knit community? Would you like to be part of a group of people you can dive deep with, share your joys and struggles with, and explore questions big and small? Many long-time Unitarians find that their small group circle is a vital part of what sustains them and connects them to this community. Now is the time to find your place in small group ministry!
There are three Covenant Groups seeking new members for this year, two of mixed ages and genders and one that has been focused on adults in mid-life. We also have open groups meeting monthly or bi-monthly around shared identity: Women’s group, two Elders Circles, LGBTQ+, and a Global Ethnic Majority group (GEM, formerly the IBPOC Covenant group). Click here for details on all of our current open groups.
Small Group Ministry – also called Covenant Groups or Affinity Groups – is an invitation to dive deep together. Small Groups build strong relationships, engage with meaningful issues, develop confident leaders, and inspire action. Groups are lay-led with the key focuses of intimacy, or building community and deepening relationships, and ultimacy, the opportunity for deeper spiritual exploration and search for meaning. The members in a group make an intentional commitment, or covenant, to one another, thus the name “Covenant Group”. See our Small Groups page for more details.
If you do not see an active group that fits your availability and interest, you can sign-up to be connected with a new group of people. Small Group Ministry is facilitated by members and any group of 6-10 people can form a new Small Group for the year.
Registration is open and ongoing for this year’s offering of Our Whole Lives sexuality education for youth entering grades 11 or 12 this fall (roughly ages 15-17). We have a wonderful dedicated team of facilitators looking forward to delving into all aspects of sexuality, relationships, and personal empowerment with youth.
This will be our first run with the updated OWL material for this age group and we are excited! What is special about Our Whole Lives goes beyond the information it provides, much of that is available online and in high school sex ed curriculum. OWL brings youth together outside of school and the social pressures inherent to it; they have a chance to delve into these topics with real conversation. OWL allows youth to examine information, identify their own values, be their authentic self, and provides time to reflect together about what is important to them.
Read more about Our Whole Lives under the Spiritual Growth tab
Summer has its own rhythm on the Vancouver Unitarians campus. It’s beautiful and sunny and time feels slower and less hectic than other times of the year–most noticeable by many fewer emails! Many of us on staff have taken vacation time with family and friends, time camping or travelling, or simply not being in the office. I am most grateful for the wonderful team of seven volunteers who looked after children on Sundays this summer with our Can-do creative activities. I was able to take Sundays off work and the children who attended have had fun making forts, fairy houses, toothpick creations, and launching paper airplanes from the Sanctuary balcony (my personal favourite).
The land of Integria was back on campus after a year’s hiatus for our fantastic Magical Mayhem Camp. We had fourteen children from across metro-Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, ranging in age from 7-12. We explored classism and how greed, self-importance, and only looking out for oneself ties in to unequal access to the things we need in life. We used the language of casting magic to explore how we can use our voice and actions to bring about change and advocate for a just society. A little dragon named Gort caused mischief through the week stealing things for their horde but all was made right when the kids taught him about making friends and working together to help each other. It truly was a magical week and we are all looking forward to next summer already.
Alex Okrainetz is joining Vancouver Unitarian staff as our new Youth Coordinator and Casey Stainsby is filling the new role of Middle Years Coordinator to lead our Crossing Paths group and support our 10-12 year olds. We were sad to say goodbye to Olivia at the end of July, but I am confident that we are building a solid team of staff and volunteers working together for our children, youth, and families. When you see Casey and Alex on campus be sure to give them a warm thank you and welcome!
As we move into the fall our Sunday classes are resuming, including Crossing Paths (learning about neighbouring religions in Vancouver), a new Coming of Age cohort, and Our Whole Lives sexuality education for Sr. High (grades 11 and 12). It is a wonderful time to get involved with children and youth programs and there are many ways you can support this vital ministry. If you think you could be one of the Stars of RE (big, bright, or small) go ahead and let me know with the link below.
Returning families do need to register for the new program year, this helps us stay up to date with your child’s needs, allergies, photo permissions, and contact information. Registration also helps us plan age appropriate and specific programs.
More information about programs, orientations, dinners, circle worship, and more will be on the website and in the regular eWeekly and Family Newsletters. Let the office know if you don’t receive the weekly or family news and would like to.
Here is looking forward to a strong and nourishing year together!
–Kiersten Moore
Lifespan Faith Development Director
As Labour Day approaches, we hope you have had a restful and joyful summer. The Vancouver Unitarians are excited for Rev. Shawn Gauthier’s second full year as our minister, and we are all feeling inspired and energized for the Fall.
This week Rev. Shawn is working with staff to map out our Fall programming and special events. Watch this space for more details and information on how you can sign up to participate!
This bookclub will study Dr. Roxy Manning’s book “How to Have Antiracist Conversations: Embracing Our Full Humanity to Challenge White Supremacy.” Sessions are planned for Tuesday evenings online, Aug 13 and 27, Sept 10 (this date subject to change), and Sept 24.
Dr. Roxy Manning will be a guest at VanU in the Sunday service on October 6, 2024, interviewed by Rev. Shawn, sponsored by the Healthy Relations Team. Following the service Roxy will lead a workshop open to members and friends. Roxy’s book provides guidelines on authentic antiracist conversations that consider all of us part of Beloved Community (a concept promoted by Dr. Martin Luther King).
The purpose of the book club is to learn the skills in the book. Our learning will contribute to integrating the 8th Principle in ourselves and in our community, and will, we hope, enrich the October 6 workshop at VanU. The book can be purchased through Massy Books or Banyen Books, and may soon be available in the VanU library.
Questions? Ask our Membership Outreach Coordinator at moc[at]vanu[dot]ca.
Please register ideally by August 1 on this online form HERE.
On June 2, 2024, Donna Brown, VanU’s choir director of 25 years, led the choir for the last time. There was singing and laughing and speeches and cake! Van U received a new gong in Donna’s honour to commemorate her years of service. We look forward to seeing Donna sitting beside us in the congregation as a VanU member, and maybe even signing in the choir herself! Thank you Donna!
Please be advised that another wave of scam attempts have been emailed out to Vancouver Unitarian members and congregants in recent days.
Please take extra care to protect yourself. Rev. Shawn and our office staff will never request money or gift cards directly via email.
If you feel even slightly suspicious, please call the office to check on the legitimacy of the email. Thank you!
To learn more about fake emails, click HERE.
The Choir Director Search Task Force is grateful to the many people in the congregation who provided insightful input about what you are hoping for in our next Choir Director. Your reflections helped us greatly in reaching a decision. Thank you!
We are delighted, then, to announce that David Buchan has been appointed as our next Choir Director. We found David to be thoughtful and engaging in our interview and in our subsequent conversations with him. We witnessed his ability to meaningfully connect with the choir during the audition. And we are excited by the compelling vision he holds for making music together at VanU.
David is a retired school teacher from the Lower Mainland, where he was, for decades, Head of Department and the director of award-winning choral ensembles. During those years, David was also the Assistant Director and Accompanist to the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir for 20 years. Since 2020, he has served as the Assistant Director of the Vancouver Men’s Chorus.
David has an extensive background in both music and music education, with degrees from the University of Victoria in education and piano performance. David also plays the trombone, trumpet, flute, clarinet, bassoon, and the saxophone.
We look forward to introducing David to the congregation on Sunday, when he will join us to honour the end of Donna’s amazing tenure as Choir Director. Please join with us in welcoming David to VanU in the days ahead!
Finally, please help me in thanking the dedicated members of our Search Task Force: Elliott Dainow, Bryan Gick, Mary Lage, Catherine Ponsford, Katherine Roback, and Tamiko Suzuki. It has been a pleasure to work with them.
With great hope,
Shawn
The VU Earth Spirituality Group gathered to celebrate Beltane on May 1 to mark the midpoint of the year and the beginning of the summer season. Beltane is a time to celebrate the fertility of the earth, and to dance around the maypole!
The ritual was an opportunity to rejoice in the warmth of the strengthening sun, in the joy of passion and fertility, and in gratitude for all of the earth’s blessings. This year we also tried a rather intricate pattern with the maypole which resulted in a lot of fun and laughter.
The Earth Spirituality Group holds rituals eight times a year to celebrate the equinoxes, solstices, and cross quarter days (midpoints between them).
Our next ritual will be on the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, on June 20th at 7 pm, outside at VanU, weather permitting.
If you are interested in celebrating with us, please contact earthspirit[at]vanu[dot]ca.
We’re coming down to the wire in our 2024-25 Pledge campaign. The Canvass Committee is grateful to the 130-plus members and friends who have pledged over $200,000 to date.
But we still have a ways to go to reach our goal of $315,000 — and that’s where you come in! If you haven’t yet, please take 30 seconds to fill in our easy online pledge form here: vanu.ca/pledge
There’s much to celebrate these days at VanU, and we’re grateful to everyone who chooses to invest their time and money into helping this community thrive long into the future. You’re invited to join us after service May 26 for a community BBQ celebration in our courtyard. There’ll be delicious veggie burgers for all.
