fall into winter

As I write this, the rain that has been pouring down for the last two days, has finally turned to icy snow and I can no longer deny that (in this part of the country at least) winter fully is upon us. November and the last days of fall completely flew by me as I flew around the country meeting with UUs from across Canada. After attending the Western Regional Gathering in Winnipeg in October I went to three other gatherings in November! It was a whirl wind and I hope to provide some more reflections of my travels and meetings here soon but in brief here goes:

Montreal was next after Winnipeg where the Unitarian Church of Montreal hosted the Eastern  region for a full weekend Regional Fall Gathering. The fellowship (and the food - all lovingly prepared by UCM volunteers) had was wonderful. At this gathering, in addition to workshops and singing and an inspiring, standing room only Sunday morning service, there was also a CUC sponsored Lay Chaplains Basic Training and a Basic Youth Advisor Training.


Into southern Ontario, my next journey was to the Central Region Fall Gathering, hosted by the First Unitarian Church of Waterloo.  This was a day long meeting, which begun with a moving call to action in Rev. Jessica Rodela Purple's sermon that morning.  Overall we had a great day of networking, workshopping and general reconnecting for UUs from the Central region.

After this event, my travels took me further west to the BC Heartwarming, hosted by the Unitarian Church of Vancouver and organized by the ministers of the BC region. Opting out of traditional workshops and plenary discussions, the ministers organized a powerful and intimate program of sharing and spiritual reflection in large and small groups that spoke to those aspects of our UU faith that excite us and feed and ultimately have been transformational in our lives. In addition to this mulitgenerational program there was also a full program for children and a BC Youth Adult Committee organized, day long, Youth Con that included a scavenger hunt through downtown Vancouver and elections for new members to the BC YAC.

Having had the privilege to meet folks from congregations and fellowships, large and small across Canada I must say that I feel incredible proud of who we are and what we have to offer the world.  I am also extremely hopeful for our next 50 years as we at the CUC continue our transformational journey to increase our capacity to nurture and grow vital religious communities in Canada.


in faith,
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