Written by Gwyn Beer Canada West Mission Centre Co-President As we move into November, it is the time of remembrance. Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed by Canadians and other members of the Commonwealth since the end of the First World War in order to remember all those who have fought and died in the line of duty to keep us free. We are reminded of the generosity of all who served the country and the world in trying to bring about peace. As we move forward, we see a world in conflict. Many places in the world are at war or have internal conflict. Many of you have given generous financial assistance to countries like Ukraine. Others have offered household items and assistance to refugees. Acts of generosity from people who want to Pursue Peace on Earth and Abolish Poverty and End Needless Suffering. This last Sunday, I was reminded that we need to pause and remember those who have recently passed on from this earth. More importantly, I was reminded that those who have suffered those losses need to be remembered too! I have fallen down on caring for my local community. Caring for our community means just that. I thought I had a generous heart but my actions do not follow through. I need to stop and listen and think about others in my community who I need to contact to sometimes just say Hi! I want my generosity to include support for those in need who sometimes don’t show that there is a need. ![]() The Hills of Peace Campground Association is seeking a Campground Caretaker. This position will be of interest to someone who:
This is a paid position. Contract terms will be negotiated with the successful candidate. A more detailed position description is available here. Applications will be accepted until a suitable candidate is found. Expressions of interest should be directed to: Noela Inions, President, Board of Directors at [email protected] Written by Gwyn Beer Canada West Mission Centre Co-President I attended a retreat a few weekends back! Nurturing Silence Retreat that had 2 wonderful facilitators in Jonathan Prescott and Vickie MacArthur. Listening with love combined contemplative practices:
I was generous to myself for the weekend. I really needed and enjoyed the time spent at the retreat. Creating Connection is one of the programs from Community of Christ. All programs cost to implement and the fees applied to the retreats and camps need to cover the cost of putting them on. All are welcome to join the programs and should not be denied the opportunity to attend. Through the generosity of others with financial assistance, subsidy programs are available. Youth camps and family reunions have a fee attached and all are asked to register. The fees cover the cost of food, accommodations, class materials and craft supplies. Hills of Peace and Samish Island have year round expenses that need to be covered as well. The maintenance of these properties is something all of us can help with through financial generosity and through physical efforts at work parties. Our pilgrimage to next year’s camps and retreats begins now. Consider how you can mindfully set aside resources - time, talents, and treasure - so you can be prepared to take part in this meaningful ministry. At these gatherings we come together as a mission centre to experience unity in diversity, learn and grow. We love our campgrounds! Consider making a donation to sustain your campground. E-transfer funds & write a cheque. ![]() We would like to hear your feedback about this year’s mission centre conference! We’ve created a brief, 3 min survey you can fill out by clicking here or click on the button below. You can also share feedback by emailing our Mission Centre President Team. Please fill out survey before October 28. Thank you in advance for the gift of your feedback. ![]() Written by Gwyn Beer Canada West Mission Centre Co-President We are entering a period of time that we are being asked to focus on generosity. Generosity comes in many forms. Financial generosity is always welcomed and giving can be done in many ways. You can set up a PAT (pre authorized transaction) deposit and every month your donation will be done automatically. You can put your offering in an envelope and put in the offering plate or you can go on line whenever you want and do an e-transfer. Financial generosity allows for continued programs and services like the Worship Resources and missionary outreach. Your financial generosity allows your church to be maintained and the doors opened for both church and community events. Generosity of time is something that can actually fill your soul as well as help others. Volunteering can come unexpectedly or be planned. My neighbour peaked my interest one morning when I met her coming home at 7 a.m. as I was leaving for work. She volunteered at our local hospice and had spent the night sitting by someone’s bedside as their earthly life ended. I have retired and my friend Mary invited me to a luncheon to learn about the local hospice society. I am signing up to volunteer for the hospice. So many of you volunteer for different groups and in different ways and you all are impacting the world you live in! Generosity of talents while allowing you to grow as you hone your talents, give you the opportunity to share your talents. A few years back, World Accord asked for help with a Women’s group in India. Teena, a friend of Shonnet Allen’s read her newsletter from World Accord and said “We could help them”. The “Soup in a Bowl” fundraiser came into being. The 2 of them started making pottery bowls. They picked a date, advertised, and the event happened. People made soup and biscuits and the doors to the church opened with 3 tables of bowls to purchase. Buy a bowl and get soup to enjoy. These 2 talented ladies supported a very worthy cause on the other side of the world. Generosity of spirit is when we share our Joys and Concerns. Prayer is a part of that generosity. While you may never know if your prayers and thoughts have made a difference, I know that God shares all this with you. Generosity of resources happen when a decision is made to help refugees. Many congregations have come together to help refugees find a new home. Over the years, congregations have chosen to step up and help find accommodation, clothing, furniture and food to establish a new home for refugee families. Commitment is made to be the generous benefactor for a period of time to allow these families to become part of this new country. We are a generous people. Doctrine & Covenants Sec 163: 2B & 3A reads; 2B. Generously share the invitation, ministries, and sacraments through which people can encounter the Living Christ who heals and reconciles through redemptive relationships in sacred community. The restoring of persons to healthy or righteous relationships with God, others, themselves, and the earth is at the heart of the purpose of your journey as a people of faith. 3A. You are called to create pathways in the world for peace in Christ to be relationally and culturally incarnate. The hope of Zion is realized when the vision of Christ is embodied in communities of generosity, justice, and peacefulness. Where are you being called to open your generous heart? ![]() When: October 21 - 23, 2022
Where: In person at Samish Island Registration Fee: $275 per person Follow this link to register Special Guests: Jonathan Prescott and Vickie MacArthur In this weekend retreat of deep reflective listening, we'll explore how to listen in a way that integrates body, mind, and heart, into a loving and compassionate whole. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the ocean and Samish Island, we'll slow our momentum, cultivating a silent space to receive the healing balm of contemplative practices:
This retreat calls upon diverse wisdom traditions and is open to all levels of experience. Keep watching for more retreat info! The annual Hills of Peace Men’s Retreat was the 3rd weekend in September. Rick James was the guest minister for the weekend and at our request, he has written the following article. Our thanks to Rick! Written by Rick James I was asked if I would be the guest minister at the men’s retreat at Hills of Peace, on Sept. 16th. to 18th. At first, I was reluctant as I did not know what I could talk on. I remembered a book that I had read sometime back by Philip Yancy, called “What’s So Amazing about Grace.” There was a paragraph in it that changed my way at looking at God. I had the CD for it and after much consultation with Pat, I said yes. I have to tell you, as I was driving east from Red Deer where I left Pat, I thought I was going to end up in Ontario, one long hill after another. But make it I did. It has been many years since I was last there, and I don’t think it has changed much. It is a beautiful place to see. I had 11 men in the class, and we learned about the Grace that is always with us from God. As I was going over the material, I relearned how close Forgiveness is to Grace. And sometimes I think, we as a people seemed to have forgotten this. The people that Yancy had in his CD, where varied from a story about a woman of the street and a church conflict, to a friend of his that came out of the “closet”, to what happened in Alabama in the early 60’s. And a lot of things in between. The sentence that got my attention was, “There is nothing you can do to make God love you more and nothing you can do to make God love you less.” God loves us as much as an Infinite God can love. Yancy goes on to make an explanation of this in his book, but this sentence helped bring me back to the church. I was privileged to be asked to be here as a guest and to worship with these men, my prayer for us, is that we will learn to allow themselves to feel the Grace of all loving God, that is always available to us. ![]() There is a wonderful monthly online series on mystics called “Thirsting For God” that’s hosted by the Bend, Oregon Community of Christ congregation. On Saturday, David and Carolyn Brock and Mary Jacks shared a session called “Pilgrims on the Camino Ignaciano: Walking with St. Ignatius” describing their recent pilgrimage to retrace St. Ignatius’s journey across Spain. They shared their own preparations, the spiritual practices that were part of their daily walk on pilgrimage, and the practices that St. Ignatius followed when he was alive, which included extensive time in silence in a cave. Their photos were spectacular, as were their stories! As Mission Centre Presidents, we have contemplated our camping program a lot over the past six months. With the amount of dedicated support it requires, what does it mean to us? With registration fees now in place, what is it worth? The analogy that keeps coming to my mind is pilgrimage. If I want to walk to holy places, I must get the right equipment. If I want to be able to go, I must free my calendar. If I want to have a rich experience, I must understand how to prepare spiritually. Pilgrimage is intentional and takes effort! It can be argued that one of the best things we do as a community in Western Canada is camping. That’s a big statement! It also calls us to put our sustained effort and gifts toward this goal, whether we personally set foot on a campground or not. Now that we’ve had a year of camping with our new system under our belts, we can plan our time, our registration fees, and our invitations to others within and outside our fellowship. Let’s turn our feet toward holy ground! If you would like to join the invitation list for “Thirsting for God”, please send an email to [email protected] ![]() We were so blessed at Mission Conference by the ordination of Linda Klughart to the office of Seventy and by the way this event inspired Apostle Art Smith’s Sunday message. It has been ringing in my heart ever since, and we wanted to bring you this excerpt to feed your soul, so that you can return to it again and again. This is what matters most for us right now. God bless! Mission Centre President Team Jesus tells them stories. The stories are absurd sounding. What woman having lost one of her ten coins wouldn’t light a lamp and search for it all night long? Well, no woman would do this. In the story, she would have spent more on oil burning in her lamp than the lost coin was even worth. And then, when the coin is found, she calls a celebration. By the time she had purchased a cake from Costco, she’d have spent way more than that little coin was ever worth. And no self-respecting shepherd would ever abandon the 99 sheep, risking everything, to find one that had wandered off. But the story continues similarly. The sheep is recovered and there’s a celebration. What would the party look like? Roasted sheep! I imagine. Absurd stories. But the stories are told to help the grumblers understand that from God’s perspective, when anyone is missing, or excluded, whether it’s just one in a hundred, or one in ten, or one half, it’s profoundly wrong in Heaven. So when we talk about growing together, growing in knowledge of God’s will and ways, we need to be careful. We’re a little religious community in decline. We might be tempted to circle the wagons and to focus in on each other. After all, maybe if we can strengthen ourselves, get better at what we do, then others might want to join us. After all, surely one of our greatest strengths is the way we love one another, the way we can count on each other to always make other members of our community feel at home. But what I take from this 15th chapter, at the heart of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel according to Luke (which is by the way the kind of content so much at the heart of the gospel that I know people who have Luke 15 tattooed on their forearm), what I take from this chapter is that growing together for us means growing in our capacity to notice the ones who are missing. As we grow, we become keenly aware of those who are not here. Later in chapter 15 it’s one of the two sons who's gone off with half of the inheritance. It was obvious he had gone. With the woman, it was one tenth of what she had that went missing. With the shepherd, it was one out of a hundred. We grow in our awareness and sensitivity towards the lost. We prioritize them, not us, and we celebrate when we get to be together again. The paradox is that our growing together isn’t really focused on those who are here. We grow together in our ability to notice those who are missing and in our ability to focus on them without religious or righteous grumbling. Linda will be ordained today as a minister for noticing who’s missing. The scriptures talk about the dangers that the seventy will face because of the places they will go. But today I’m thinking about the risks that will be generated back at home as the seventy do their work. They risk provoking grumbling among the religiously faithful. The seventy, like the angels in heaven, recognize how profoundly wrong it is that people are being left out, forgotten, ignored or excluded. They are passionate for the lost. But it’s risky work. All around the church, in our little communities, getting smaller all the time, we can ill afford, it would seem, to have some of our best ministers off focusing elsewhere. Focusing on those who aren’t even religious. Running after immigrants, visiting prisons, working with special needs people, paying attention to the LGBTQ community. They aren’t the ones paying the bills. We’re not too sure we really want our little community to be dominated by those people anyway. It is risky work to which you are called Linda. If you’re doing it right, there may be grumbling. But today, it seems a little bit clear. And my dream is that we’ll grow together, not necessarily to become more religious, more spiritually pure, but to be more sensitive to the ones who’re not here, those we’ve lost along the way, and maybe we can also grow to be a little less grumbly. ![]() It was so good to see so many of you this past weekend for our Canada West Mission Centre Conference! We will share more in the future about the decisions that were made in our business meeting this year, but for now, here are some photos of the fun we had in Vancouver, Calgary, and Regina, where we were able to see you in person.
Creating Connection is coming to Calgary! Join us for our Taste of Nurturing Spirit Retreat, our Community Labyrinth Walk, Coffee and Conversation, and a Meet and Greet with the hosts from Creating Connection. At this mini retreat you'll get a taste of the practices we share in An Afternoon of Nurturing Spirit and Creating Connection. From meditation, to drumming to journaling and meaningful conversation. Come prepared to be Inspired, Energized, and Connected. Click on the buttons below to register and to see our full schedule. Register today and save your spot! Space is limited. $75 per person. Here are our FREE activities in Calgary Wednesday September 14th
September 16-18, 2022 In-person event at Hills of Peace While this is a men's retreat, it is intended to provide space for all those who identify as such to explore the scriptures, their faith, and their lived experience through that unique lens. Registration Fee: $125 CAD (subsidies available) Register at www.cwm.events Registration Deadline: Friday, September 9 It's been several years since the men of Canada West gathered at Hills of Peace campground for a weekend of fellowship, spirituality, laughter and lots of food. By design, this weekend is not a church service (or any kind of service for that matter). It is an opportunity for us to take a road trip and gather as friends.
Our guest minister, Rick James, from Chilliwack is going to share some insights from one of his favorite books, "What's So Amazing about Grace". If you have attended before, you know that the weekend has it’s own vibe, somehow sharing traditions along with discussion as unique as the spectrum of interests of our guest ministers. It’s an opportunity to get away, to close up the camp, and to hang out with our buddies from Western Canada. If you’re in high school or have attended high school within the last 80 years this is your invitation. So just like always – take a chance and sign up. Accepting the invitation is the big step. We need a road-trip! Dan Esch Calling for a Rustic Re-do!
As Community of Christ summer camps wind down for the year, let’s all take a moment to reminisce about sharing laughs with family and friends, singing songs at the campfire, delicious meals in the dining hall, and enjoying the nature of our beautiful campground. If you stayed in a rustic cabin, you may also remember the sore back from an uncomfortable mattress, or the stuffy and dark cabin with it’s tiny windows that never open when you want a breeze, but refuse to close when it gets too chilly. Ah, the joys of camp! While of course we have a soft spot for the original rustic cabins that we all know and love, the camp is in the process of refurbishing and updating those beloved cabins. Updates include: new (and more effective!) insulation, bigger windows, new doors, added electrical outlets with USB ports, and super comfortable double beds (no more smacking your head on a bunk bed in the morning!). The refurbished cabins are brighter and more comfortable, as well as more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable, all of which contributes to the longevity of our beloved campground. While those of us who grew up attending camps at Samish may have a nostalgic fondness for the rustic cabins, those who attend the campground and retreat centre for the first time as an adult may not understand the appeal. This includes newcomers to Community of Christ camps (or aging C of C campers who don’t have the same tolerance for those rock hard bunks!), as well as many of the new groups that share our gorgeous campground. Did you know there are Buddhist retreats and artist groups that frequent Samish? I can understand why these groups would love our campground, and can also imagine that these groups would appreciate a more comfortable, modern, and accommodating private place to continue the zen and creativity. Some rustic cabins have already been refurbished (check out A, B, C, and D 1 or 2 next time you’re on the grounds!) and the next round of refurbishment is set to begin in October. We are lucky and grateful to have had all of the labor done by camp friends who have lovingly volunteered their time, as well as some who have donated or reduced the price of materials. Only $3,600 (USD) covers the cost of a cabin refurbishment, which buys increased comfort, energy efficiency, and appeal to a wider audience. Consider making a donation, either personally or with your family or congregation, to help update our rustic cabins so everyone can continue to enjoy the campground for years to come. Every dollar helps! If you would like to contribute to the rustic cabin refurbishment fund, please contact Jeff Cravy (Samish Island Camp Treasurer, [email protected]) or Bill Campbell, (Samish Island Camp Board President, [email protected]) to arrange donations. Your Samish Campground representative, Alexis Beer September 9-11, 2022! In-person event with online options Register at www.cwm.events Registration Fee: $10 CAD Registration Deadline: Sunday, September 11 Click here to visit Conference Hub and download conference programs, Zoom link information and more! We hope you will join us on Friday, September 9 through Sunday, September 11 for our mission conference and celebrate with us how we are continually Growing Together. Click on the button below to see full schedule.
This year our Mission Conference will be held on 3 main sites: Vancouver, Regina and Calgary from where our three mission centre presidents will be joining. People are encourage to join in-person from any of these sites or join online from their closest congregation. While our conference is September 9-11, we will have opportunities in the week leading up for you to engage early. We will have two options for virtual pre-legislative sessions on Sept 4 in the afternoon and Sept 7 in the evening for you to learn about our business agenda and ask questions in a more relaxed setting. There will also be a "coffee and conversation" virtual gathering on the evening of Thursday September 8 with Debra to explore questions around our theme. We will have our Annual Business Meeting on Saturday, September 10 as well as a very special Talent Show where we will share pre-recorded and live gifts from across the Mission Centre! We also invite you to our worship - communion service on Sunday, September 11 with guest speaker Art Smith. Change is on my mind lately. The change in weather is forefront, and the resultant change in schedule for our family – back to school, back to teaching, end of camps and trips for now. It seems that I’m daily surprised by friends’ changes in jobs and unexpected changes in personnel at our girls’ schools. Reading the new World Church appointments showed change on a larger scale – seeing the legacy of service provided and the new faces stepping into bishopric and apostolic roles. The phrase that keeps coming to my mind is, “Well you didn’t expect things to stay the same, did you?” Change can be stimulating as well as intimidating. I do best with change when I don’t chain it to the past and constantly rehearse comparisons from my limited viewpoint. While listening to a First Nations Okanagan story-teller this summer, I learned that in their wisdom tradition it’s the young people who adopt and promote change quickly, while the elders are more likely to dig in their heels and value the long view. Where am I on this spectrum of interaction with change? Where do I long to be? We have our Mission Conference this weekend, and it’s new in some ways and familiar in others. We hope that above all we can do the business of our conference while taking pleasure in being together, whether on screen or in one of the sites that will host gatherings. I picture us like a satellite’s view of Western Canada at night: bright splashes of light that push against the darkness, connected by heart instead of highways. Please join us this weekend and make room in your heart for change – for new possibilities to be born! ![]() The Saskatoon Congregation has sold it's building and will be broadcasting their service on Sunday, September 4 @ 11am (SK time) via Zoom. Click on the button below to attend online.
Art Smith will be joining virtually and a few of the Saskatoon members will share some music/reflections. This will be a communion service and those attending online are welcome to participate and prepare their own communion at home if they wish. If you have any questions, please reach out to Jae Senga ([email protected]). This week and next week our column will address some of the business that will be before us at Mission Centre Conference on Sept 10th. This conference we have an important new motion to consider, which is:
The reason we currently have a delegate conference is that when the mission centre was first created, and all conferences were in-person, it was important to make sure that there was representation from across western Canada no matter where the conference was held. This representation continues to be very important to our life together as a mission centre. There has been a big change though, since the original bylaws of the mission centre were created, and that was the year we voted to allow for virtual aka online conferences and voting. It's amazing to think about how technology has made it possible for everyone in far-flung corners of our mission centre to join us in our decision making. As we prepared for this year's conference it became clear that allowing for many voices and perspectives to speak and vote at conference is very important to many people across the mission centre. It emerged that delegate conferences were perhaps limiting participation, especially for "non-resident" members who don't have a local congregation. So the idea to open up conference voice and vote to more of our members will be before you this year. We are looking forward to the virtual pre-legislative sessions where you can share your thoughts and questions with one another on this topic, as we continue "Growing Together". Virtual Pre-Legislative Session options:
![]() We know many have been eagerly anticipating the return of in-person camping for Canada West, and we are excited to share that, barring any dramatic changes in the state of Covid-19, we are moving forward with in-person camping this year. In light of our enduring principles around the worth of all persons, unity in diversity, and personal responsibility, we are offering some guidance. We do this because of our gospel call to offer welcome to the least and most vulnerable among us. First of all, our corporate responsibility as a mission centre is to always, at a minimum, follow local Covid guidelines for safe gatherings. Individual camp directors may decide that additional restrictions are necessary to keep campers safe, including things such as no in-out privileges during camp. At a minimum, directors will be responsible for ensuring camps follow all local guidelines for communicable illness, and to stay updated as those change. Second, each of us has a personal responsibility to consider what we can do to protect one another. Personal responsibility can look like:
Our guiding question for you is: How will you protect the precious neighbour that sits beside you at camp? We also encourage everyone to respect one another’s choices in how they have responded to Covid. Regardless of our individual views on vaccinations or public health mandates, we come together as one community who find unity in diversity. Some people will feel more comfortable wearing a mask and keeping their distance, others will be ready to embrace everyone. Please respect the speed and space of each person’s engagement at camp. We can’t wait to raise our voices to sing “We’re all together again, we’re here, we’re here” in the sacred spaces we find ourselves gathering in this summer, and to also sing the words together “We are one in the Spirit”. ![]() |
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community of christ
355 Elmira Road North, Unit 129
Guelph, ON N1K 1S5 Canada Canada West Mission: 877-411-2632 Canada East Mission: 888-411-7537 |
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