A Moment with the Mission Centre President–Early 2021 Programs

Black Lives Matter
Indigenous Lives Matter
Lives of People of Colour Matter
 
Happy New Year to you! I hope that everyone has had a good experience over the Christmas and New Year’s period. Along with you, I look forward to 2021 with expectations of a better year.

For today’s message I will highlight the variety of programs and events that are already on our Canada West Mission Centre calendar for the first couple of months. There are MANY of them. Truly, there is a plethora, some would even say a cornucopia, of choices! Full information about all of these programs appears elsewhere in this week’s Weekly Wire. Here is the summary of what is upcoming – click on the links where you can find more details.

First, a cancellation announcement followed by a replacement announcement: The Canada West Mission Centre e-Conference (i.e., online conference) scheduled for Saturday, February 6, has been cancelled because of a lack of enough business to conduct that would justify the meeting. Check with me or with your Pastor for more details.
 
In its place an Online Ordination Service is being planned. It will be on the same date, February 6, and will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific Time/ 11 a.m. Mountain Time/ 12 p.m. Central Time. Two persons will be ordained: Brenda Senga (Saskatoon), to the office of Evangelist; and Doug Hayden (Calgary), to the office of High Priest. Both calls were approved at the 2019 Mission Conference in Edmonton. We will be using the principles and guidelines for offering the sacraments through online means provided by the First Presidency last fall. Watch for more details about this service in the coming weeks.
 
Here are three multi-session events that are highly recommended:

• Community of Christ Adult Lessons Online: Beginning Sunday evening, January 10. If you have been missing the in-person banter of Sunday morning discussions, here is your chance to regain a taste of it. Everyone is encouraged to participate in these classes if possible. There is no fee. Registration is required.

 

• Exploring a Post-Pandemic Church: Discern, Plan, and Act in Hope: This session will provide a focused opportunity to learn about, discuss, and begin discerning what church will look like once we emerge from the constraints of the pandemic. This workshop takes place over two Saturdays, 2 weeks apart (January 16 and 30). All congregational members and leaders are urged to participate in this workshop.

 

• Nurturing Spirit Retreat: This long-standing retreat was popular in its in-person format and retained most of its participation last year as one of our first on-line options early in the pandemic. It has a varied program with many excellent facilitators. It is scheduled for the last weekend of February (26th to the 28th); plan now to attend.

 
All of the following events also are scheduled in the next few weeks. Without providing any details here, follow the links to these events:

• Starting this week: selection of priesthood and other classes from Developmetrics. (Check for the possibility of joining late if you are seeing this after the start dates.)
• A series of several Creating Connection/Nurturing Spirit events including:
  • Afternoon of Nurturing Spirit
  • Coffee and Meaningful Conversation
  • Book Club
  • Satsang: Singing into Silence
• January 10: Climate Change Colloquy Series (note participation of President Veazey)

 
There is obviously LOTS of activities from which to choose. I invite you to register now in the events of interest to you.
 
As always, I pray for you God’s blessings of joy, hope, love, and peace in these challenging times.

​Steve Thompson
Canada West Mission Centre President
steve@communityofchrist.ca