By Kat Goheen, Canada West Mission Centre Co-President

In 2018, my friends Lanette and Vickie, and I stood in front of the lodge where we would learn to become spiritual directors over a two-year period. We were told right away that our third retreat of five would be in silence. I found that intimidating, as I only meditated for ten minutes at a time and often struggled with scattered thoughts. How would I manage three days of silence?

When that retreat came, we were shown how to enter our own space by avoiding eye contact with others, media, and excessive reading. We were encouraged to move from headspace to heart and body space. We cooked our meals in silence, ate in silence, and listened to short meditations while maintaining the feeling of silence. Silence became a presence. The setting was gorgeous, and we had true freedom to wander aimlessly and rest when needed. One afternoon, I sat on a glacial stone for hours, watching two ravens fly back and forth between the mountains, calling to one another frequently. I watched the sun travel across the sky and jotted down the occasional thought in my journal as it occurred—not striving for anything, just being. As one of our teachers often said, “Nothing to do, nothing to be done.”

There is a connection between silence and presence. You can’t buy presence; you can’t learn it in a book. You can only live into it by finding peace within yourself, then moving yourself out of the way to make space for others. In silence, I found deeper personal presence, and I found God waiting there for me in a powerful way.

You are in good hands at the Nurturing Silence retreat at Samish, Oct 18–20. Lanette and Vickie have planned the weekend and will take excellent care of us.
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Whether this is your first experience with silence or you are old friends, I hope to see you there!

By Debra Donohue
Creating Connection Director Canada West

Last fall I spent several days with the Edmonton congregation during the Canada West Mission Conference. Edmonton leadership had expressed interest in learning more about Creating Connection and the resources available. During my visit we talked about different ideas, tried some out, and had a lot of fun. By November we had set up a Creating Connection Edmonton Meet-up Page to advertise Edmonton events and several different in-person activities were posted. (Meetup.com is a platform we use to advertise Creating Connection activities.)
Soon after that, Edmonton was posting their regular Games Night and Christmas services. Knit-a-Bit (a knit/crochet group) was started and met regularly until April with plans to meet again in the fall. Along with the Community of Christ members, they had a few community members attend, two from the community were regular attendees.

Edmonton also started hosting a Conversation Café that meets twice a month. Discussion has centered around the books ‘Active Hope’ and ‘Drop Dead Healthy’ as well as topics focusing on mental health. Immediately people from the community rsvp’d for these in-person activities. Not everyone showed up every week, but attendance grew, and the conversations were rich and meaningful.

Attendance for Conversation Café has changed dramatically. Where Community of Christ members were initially the majority, now non-members often represent the majority. The Edmonton team made a commitment to support and advertise these events for 6 months to see what would happen, and it’s taken off. And something else has happened!

Church folks are expressing joy and value in their lives because of meeting with this new diverse community. Friendships are developing that are extending beyond the café. Conversation Café attendees who looked uncomfortable in the beginning are now active participants and are expressing how much fun they are having and how much they enjoy the group. Participants are striking up conversations with each other, building new relationships and sharing knowledge and resources.

Our goal in Creating Connection is to reach out to people in our communities and help them discover more—more meaning in their lives, more ways to contribute to their communities, and more ways to experience and share joy. Oh, and I think Community of Christ calls us to do that too!

My next article will be about Chilliwack and their success stories working with Creating Connection.  If you'd like a ZOOM call or a