(some audio available)
(some audio available)
Sunday services are at 10:30 am. unless otherwise indicated.
At least once each year Rev. Mead Baldwin agrees to be our speaker for our worship service
1 PM: A national service on CUC zoom, led by Reverends Shanna Lingood and Samaia Oakley. The "plate collection" on this Sunday will be taken up electronically or by mail and given to the Sharing Our Faith fund of the CUC, who will use this fund to support worthy projects in several congregations this year. UUEstrie has benefited a number of times from this program. Go to the zoom link via CUC.ca or go to the CUC You Tube channel. Note the unusual time of the service (1 PM Eastern for us in the Eastern time zone).
Chrystle will first explore the concept of high and low art and then explore the form of graphic novels.
Crystle will show a Ted Talk
A traditional service once each year at UUEstrie where we grow our understanding and nourish our spirits through the time-honored medium of Story.
An annual tradition at UUEstrie Where we choose to grow our understanding and nourish our spirits via the time-honored medium of Story. Tellers welcome. If you would like to tell, please speak to Keith at 819 3468273. Email info@UUEstrie.ca to get our zoom link.
10 January, 2021: Meditative movement exercise together (qui gong or yoga or Balancing Act or something) Liaison and lead: Mary-Ann
UUEstrie will be Dark on Jan 3, 2021. Next Gathering: 10 Jan 2021: Movement and exercise together.
20 Dec: local writers reading from their writings on a Holiday/Winter Solstice/Christmas theme. Liaison: Angela Leuck and Keith. TBC Go to UUEstrie.ca to find our zoom link. Angela will also be hosting several more readings in the afternoons of the week before Christmas on her own zoom link.
An annual event at UUEstrie, where letters are written by members and friends on behalf of persons identified by Amnesty International as unjustly incarcerated. Join Us! email UUEstrie.ca to learn our Zoom links.
A comic path to the true spirit of Christmas, Held on Zoom
An ancient Celtic tradition describes this time of year as when "the veil between the two worlds is thinnest". In this service we encourage everyone to share a personal testimony about someone important to them who has passed away in the recent past. it will clearly be an opportunity for more sharing about Jaime Dunton, a dear member and selfless leader in this church, who passed away suddenly but peacefully on the 4th of October 2020. The service will take place on Zoom.
Canadian Unitarian Universalists aspire to many things to help us deepen and grow our spirituality, even as we respect and revere our sources and principles.
We meet in a very different place than a year ago, and surely miss our traditional gathering in Huntingville. We celebrate with a nod of respect and gratitude to the Haudenosaunee indigenous peoples, for whom gratitude was a daily spiritual practice. We will celebrate with an online communion. Please have on hand something to eat - a cracker, piece of bread, or cake ~ and something to drink. Despite all that has changed since last Thanksgiving, we know our lives are blessed beyond measure.
Meeting regretfully cancelled because of the coronavirus situation.
Meeting regretfully cancelled because of the coronavirus situation.
Service Leader: Keith Baxter. Popcorn and juice.
This Sunday will be International Women`s day. A holiday honoring women was instituted by the Soviet Union, which was the first modern country to give women the vote, back in 1917. This holiday was formally recognized by the United Nations in 1975. Garrett Halas is a professor of sociology, at Bishop`s University. Coffee convener: Gudrun Brand.
'Making Waves' is also the theme for the CUC national conference to be held in Halifax this year from May 15 to 17. The theme encourages UUs across Canada to 'make waves' that embody justice and push us to remain relevant into the future.
The offering this Sunday will be a special collection for the Sharing our Faith fund of the CUC(a fund that has benefited projects at UUEstrie about ten times in the last 25 years(!) Please plan to be generous to help make such projects happen across Canada.
Claudia is an award-winning poet, editor, artist, publisher and teacher and is also the Ontario Rep for the League of Canadian Poets and President of Haiku Canada. She will share her thoughts and some original tips to get us writing. She is also willing to offer comments on individual poems. To give her enough time to look over the poems, Claudia requests that you submit a maximum of 2 poems at least 5 days before the workshop. A potluck will follow the workshop for those who wish.
This is part of a workshop series sponsored by Studio Georgeville for women or emerging poets. Registration is limited: Please contact Angela Leuck at 819-416-0712.
“The most delicate flower is still a badass, it sucks food from roots, stares at the sun and basks in it. It wrestles the wind, and drinks rain." - Rob Grad. Small-group sharing and deep listening. All are welcome to come and reflect with us. Speak the language of your choice. If you would like to join us, please let Phyllis know at 819-346-8273, or Rachel at 819-640-1340. We will send you the resource packet about Resilience, and the address of the meeting place. (The group will meet in Lennoxville this month.)
Karen Armstrong's latest book is entitled the Art of Scripture, and is reportedly another high quality, thoughtful foray into spiritual life that has once again inspired Mead. Our last exploration of the work of Karen Armstrong was several years ago when a group of us studied her "12 Steps to Compassion".
This day we feed our souls and grow our consciousness exclusively through the time-honored medium of story. All are welcome to tell. Please speak to Keith if you would like to tell.
“Winter kept us warm” - T.S. Eliot. Angela Leuck, aided by her husband Steve Luxton, will warm us up with a selection of classic and contemporary poems and music inspired by winter. After the service, stay for a hearty and delicious soup lunch! Then, weather permitting, we will go cross-country skiing, so bring along you skis, poles and boots (and extras if you have).
This will be a participatory service in which Phyllis will lead us in a number of exercises from the Chinese physical-health-and-spiritual practice of Qi Gong.
January and February in Quebec are quite cold and frosty, but the upcoming agricultural holiday of Imbolc on February 1st celebrates the beginning of springtime in Celtic lands. Imbolc has also been associated with the feast day for Sainte Brigid. Together, we will explore the historical figure of Sainte Brigid and traditions and songs associated with her feast day. Let this celebration be an opportunity to meditate on what new life we would like to sow and sprout in the springtime to come!
Our Annual storytelling service where we learn more of what life is really about, through the time-honoured medium of Story. If you would perhaps like to tell on that day, please speak to Keith.
“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” - Spencer Johnson
Small-group sharing and deep listening. All are welcome to come and reflect with us. Speak the language of your choice. If you would like to join us, please let Phyllis know at 819-346-8273, or Rachel at 819-640-1340. We will send you the resource packet about Integrity, and the address of the meeting place. (This group will meet in Lennoxville this month.)
A participatory service exploring the ancient Chinese practice of meditation and movement called Qi Gong.
There will be no service at UUEstrie on Sunday, January 5, 2020. Regular Sunday services will resume on January 12, at the usual time of 10:30 am.
Wishing you a year full of happiness and prosperity. May this year give you the opportunity to follow your dreams, love like there is no tomorrow and smile unconditionally.
There will be no service at UUEstrie on Sunday, December 29, 2019, or January 5, 2020. Regular Sunday services will resume on January 12, 2020, at the usual time of 10:30 a.m.
Whatever is beautiful. Whatever is meaningful. Whatever brings you happiness. May it be yours this holiday season and throughout the coming year!
A service of carols with perhaps a few readings mixed in, to put us again into the holiday mood we deserve and need.
Reminder: Bridges Not Borders, a group of concerned citizens who welcome refugees entering Canada at Roxham Road, needs warm hats and gloves for men, gloves and scarves for women, and hats and mittens for children. Please bring your gifts on Sunday December 22, and Rachel & John will deliver them to the group in Hemmingford.
Bhutan: Cultivating the Dream of a Sustainable Humanity in the Kingdom of Happiness. With Bhutan filmmaker Loday Chophel. Thursday, December 19, at 2 p.m. Mr. Chophel will discuss diverse aspects of Bhutan: the history of the Kingdom, its government and social structures, its Gross National Happiness (GNH), education and travel. And how Bhutan became the only carbon negative country in the world. A 90-minute presentation with videos/photos, questions & answers. UUEstrie (downstairs), 201 Main Street, North Hatley. Free admission. All are welcome.
Our annual Dramatic Presentation (Upstairs, in the Sanctuary) to be followed once again by a Community Turkey supper (Downstairs, Stoddard Hall). All Welcome. Cost of supper: $10/person; $5/child age 12 or younger; $20/family. All welcome.
Reminder: Bridges Not Borders, a group of concerned citizens who welcome refugees entering Canada at Roxham Road, needs warm hats and gloves for men, gloves and scarves for women, and hats and mittens for children. Please bring your gifts on Sunday December 15 or 22, and Rachel & John will deliver them to the group in Hemmingford.
Theme: Awe. Our expression “awe” is rooted in the Greek word áchos, which also gives us the word ache. That vastness we experience in awe opens an ache in the heart, and by doing so, expands it. - Soul Matters.
Small-group sharing and deep listening. All are welcome to come and reflect with us. If you would like to join us, could you please let Rachel know at 819-640-1340. I will send you the resource packet about Awe. If you wish you can choose one of the exercises to expand your experience of Awe this month, and one of the questions to reflect on, or come with one of your own. (This group is organized by Phyllis Baxter and Rachel Garber. Speak the language of your choice.)
In 2004, Douglas Nadler started incorporating climate change and biodiversity action and education into a music festival in Ontario of which he was the artistic director. Nature and the arts became a focal point for the festival. At the same time Douglas wrote biweekly articles in 4 newspapers in Ontario on climate change, biodiversity and community and youth action. He now writes articles for the Sherbrooke Record and has given talks on the ecological crisis at Bishops University. Refreshments: Chantal Michaud.
An invitation to participate in Amnesty International Advocacy for social justice. We will learn about selected cases where human rights are being denied, and write letters advocating for justice. Drafts of letters are provided.
We all must struggle with our finitude, our death. We feel a host of emotions about our own deaths and the death of those we love. Given that we often think of life as a gift, we will explore three possible ways for us to approach death. Service Leader: Camille Bouskéla.
Power and privilege have silently, but profoundly, shaped the practice of global health since its inception. To overcome the reality of these inequities when working with the disadvantaged, one must confront long-held assumptions about helping others and reorient one’s thinking more towards helping ourselves in partnership with those trapped in poverty and limited opportunity. Drawing on my own 30-year career working in global health I will share a few personal stories and how applying an equity lens has led to a reassessment of my career, the pitfalls of privilege, and how I now advise those who will follow me. Refreshments: Reine Gagnon.
Another participatory service where personal testimonies from anyone present about a book they have read that spoke to them on a deep level are invited. All Welcome, as always. Lin knows his book already. Others of us still have to think a bit about it.
Dear Friends, Winter is coming and with that brings the change of our service locale to Stoddard Hall. Unfortunately, many of the rooms downstairs are not ready to receive visitors. The children's room has become a storage space for unwanted items, the office is disorganized, and we seem to have lost parts of the coffee urn somewhere in the building. We also have a continuing mice problem that is difficult to combat unless the building is in order. Though we are a welcoming congregation, it is preferable that the rodents go back outside. We frequently raise concerns about the state of the church's interior and it is time that we take action by giving it some TLC. I am organizing a downstairs cleanup for November 9th at 9 a.m. I strongly encourage as many of you to attend as possible to make the workload easier on everyone. If you can not make it, you are encouraged to come help tidy the building when you have the spare time. A "lost and found" box will be available after this date to help track down any random items we locate during cleanup. If you have any questions, concerns or would like to RSVP (please do), call 819-993-7543 or email amanda.hillenburg@gmail.com.
Spirit Circle. Thursday, November 7, at 7 p.m. Theme: Attention. Small-group sharing and deep listening. All are welcome to come and reflect with us. This group is starting up again after a summer break. It is organized by Phyllis Baxter and Rachel Garber. If you would like to join us, could you please let Phyllis know at 819-346-8273. (Space is limited.) (Speak the language of your choice.)
This is a special time of the year where we honor friends and loved ones who have passed away, especially those who have passed in the past year, but also any persons dear to us for whom this day may occasion special memories we would like to share. This is a participatory service where all are invited to share a personal testimony about someone dear to us.
Our UU principles coincide very strongly with the principles and purposes of the United Nations, which was founded to promote peace and justice in the world. Also, the Unitarian Universalist Association's UN Office (UU-UNO) is very active in the network of non-governmental organizations that operate as civil society support for social justice initiatives undertaken in the name of the UN. The plate collection this Sunday will be a special collection for the UU-UNO.
What I learned from the “Veiled Like Me” experiment, and reflections on Quebec’s Bill 21 (An Act Respecting the Laicity of the State) that forbids some public employees to wear “religious symbols,” including the hijab. Information about a possible court challenge to the law on the grounds that public debate was short-circuited in order to deny basic rights to Quebec citizens that would otherwise be guaranteed by the Quebec and Canadian Charters of Rights and Freedoms.
Giving Thanks: A Thanksgiving Service at the Historical Huntingville Universalist Church. A traditional Thanksgiving service is planned at this historical church building, preserved in its original state, with 19th century box pews and balcony. A rare opportunity to see the interior of the building that is now closed to the public, and to learn about its origins and past. Located in Waterville (Huntingville) on Route 147, just across the road from the Mitchell Road Bridge. Free-will donation invited for the maintenance of the Huntingville Universalist Church and grounds.
What does it mean to be a people of Belonging? What spiritual work must we do to make our community a place where every person belongs and can bring their whole selves, including culture, history, and identities? Small-group sharing and deep listening. All are welcome to come and reflect with us. This group is starting up again after a summer break. It is organized by Phyllis Baxter and Rachel Garber. If you would like to join us, could you please let Phyllis know at 819-346-8273. (Space is limited.) (Speak the language of your choice.)
Experiences that expand our awareness and touch deeply the heart and soul, and we are changed. Lenora will play her flute. Service Leader: Camille Bouskéla.
Carmen Moliner of North Hatley will discuss and show slides to illustrate the road to building rehabilitation education in Haiti, and why her heart has become hooked on supporting this ongoing project to train and graduate the first Haitian trained professional occupational therapists and physical therapists. Carmen teaches in the Occupational Therapy program at the University of Sherbrooke. Service leader & Musician: Kevin Jensen. Refreshments: Gudrun & Wilhelm Brand.
Poet and editor Steve Luxton was born in Coventry, England, has taught at John Abbott College and Concordia University in Montreal, and retired to Hatley a few years ago. He has published a number of books of poetry, including The Hills that Pass By, Iridium, Luna Moth and Other Poems, and In the Vision of Birds. His latest collection, The Dying Meteorologist, was published this year.
“We often think of dance as body movement only, forgetting about its perceptive, emotional, cognitive, psychosocial and spiritual dimensions. Dance has a power to promote ecstatic knowing and self-transformation. Dance and creative movement can take a person into a fantasy world, which allows for expression and experience of new states. It can also facilitate revisiting old memories or repressed material. All these elements contribute to the inherently therapeutic nature of dance and movement. I had a chance to experience its power and study its effects and I would like to share some of this knowledge with you.”
Adrianna Mendrek is a professor of Psychology at Bishop's University.
The Smartest Voice in the African Room: How food security and climate change offer a chance for environmental renewal (if only we learn how to listen to women). Three individuals from our team at WaterforAfricanWomen.org will recount a recent meeting where they invited development experts from around the world to meet with the residents of one of the most under-served villages in Senegal, West Africa. Mr. Douglas Coutts (retired, UN World Food Program for Africa) will comment on how the experts’ response, versus the comments of a hilarious-grandmother-with-attitude, is connected to how food security indicators are going in the wrong direction, while a handful of women’s gardens are exploding with food. Douglas will be joined by Senegalese community organizer Awa Ba and Water for African Women founder and executive director Jonathon Ellison. We are hoping to encourage discussion.(WaterforAfricanWomen.org will be up and running soon).
Everyone is invited to bring a little water and pour it into a large communal bowl and tell where it is from, or what it means to them, or whatever. Water will be available for those who fail or forget to bring some of their own. The Water Communion is a ritual that allows us to share the meaning of significant happenings that we have experienced.
We close our summer season with another picnic gathering, this time at the home of George and Tony Weller, 4945 Stage Road, Stanstead. The Wellers are inviting both UUEstrie and First Parish Derby Line to gather together in the fine hall George has on the second floor of his airplane hangar.
In several amendments to the Indian Act, the federal government reinforced the assimilation of Indigenous people by forbidding their cultural and spiritual ceremonies. Activities we see today at Native gatherings like smudging, Pipe ceremonies, sweats lodges, etc. were legally forbidden until 1951 when the federal restrictions were finally lifted. This PowerPoint presentation reviews these spiritual practices and questions why this attempt at cultural genocide was allowed to happen. (Service Leader: Gudrun Brand. Musician: Kevin Jensen. Refreshments: Hélène & Peter Cunningham.)
Paul-Conrad Carignan is a federally-recognized metis of Anishnabe (Algonquin) and Huron-Wendat heritage. He has been on the Red Road of learning and sharing his Indigenous heritage for over 25 years. A Franco-Ontarian by birth, he presently lives in the Eastern Townships.
A personal exploration of spiritual strands in music by Leonard Cohen, including some songs that are well-known, and some less well known. (Service Leader: Camille Bouskéla. Musician: Eric Akbar Manolson. Refreshments: Esther Saanum. Rachel Garber lived in Leonard Cohen's neighbourhood from 1975 to 1985, and has lived in the vicinity of his music since then.
American Pulitzer prize-winning poet, Mary Oliver, died this past winter. But her poetry lives on and on. Gabriella Brand, a poet herself, speaks about Mary Oliver’s life, her popularity with Unitarian Universalists, and her relevance to our spiritual, material, and ecological well-being.
Gabriella is a regular summer resident of North Hatley where she likes to canoe on the lake and leads a summer writing workshop, among other things.
Vocal music from Quebec and around the world, an exciting concert by the 25-voice Village Harmony, a highly professional singing camp for youth and emerging adults, based in Vermont. As their camp ends, they go on a performance tour for several weeks, culminating in North Hatley. Led by Nicholas Williams, Mary Cay Brass & Gabrielle Bouthillier. Suggested donation: $10.
Both Plato and Aristotle tag wonder as the origin of philosophy. For that reason alone, we're well advised to take an interest in it. But, on reflection, there are others. In this talk, I will explore the personal impact of two aspects of wonder - the wonder of beginnings culminating in a kind of invitation to knowledge, and the wonder of ends culminating in gratitute for the gift of existence.
Ms. Awa Ba, from la Casamance, Senegal, is one of our community organizers helping to train women at the village level. She has just arrived in Canada to receive more training in organic agriculture over the next 3 months. Awa’s talk in French, and translated, will describe how rural women are able to achieve their own economic independence only through a better understanding on our part of the many barriers they face. This understanding then opens the garden door where Food Security, Water, Solar Energy and little boys learning to respect little girls, can combine to create sustainable change. (bilingual) Awa’s talk will be followed by a brief update about Water for Woman by Jonathon Ellison.
Soup & Salad. Following the service, Angela Leuck is offering a light lunch of soup and salad. Donations will be gratefully received to help support Awa Ba's training experience in organic agriculture in Quebec over the coming three months. (Charitable receipt available if desired.)
We welcome back to our pulpit, Barbara Birks Wybar, who first addressed our congregation in 2016. She is the Founder and Director of The Bududa Learning Center in eastern Uganda. The Centre is made up of three components: the Vocational Academy, the Children of Bududa and the Bududa Women’s Development Group. Barbara will speak of the great strides that are being made at the Center and will share with us how this unique experience has touched and changed her.
Our annual beginning-of-summer church picnic will take place at the home of Ryan Frizzell and Crystle Reid, which is at 125 ch Coutu, in Val Joli, near Windsor QC. We shall gather at 11 am for a circle service near their pond. Bring your own picnic or something to share with everybody, as well as your bathing suit if you'd like a dip in the pond. Friends and visitors are most welcome.
A retired professor from Champlain College in Lennoxville, Jan Draper recently spent a number of weeks in China, and will share some of her thoughts about her experience there. Service Leader: Camille Bouskéla. Musician: ??. Coffee Convener: Phyllis Baxter.
Charles Shields is a Canadian Unitarian Universalist from First Unitarian Church of Ottawa who is also a member of the Board of the Canadian Unitarian Council. Each Board member of the CUC is a designated liaison with several CUC member congregations in the area of the country that they are from, and UUEstrie is on Charles' list. Phyllis and Keith first met Charles at the Eastern Fall Gathering in Kingston last November. Musician: Mike Matheson. Refreshments: Camille Bouskéla.
The offering this Sunday is designated for the SHARING OUR FAITH fund of the Canadian Unitarian Council. Over the years, UUEstrie has often received a grant from this fund for special projects. It is a very worthy fund! Please feel free to make a donation in an envelope, giving your name and address, in order to receive
Today, we celebrate Father’s Day, in traditional UU fashion. We welcome you to come forward with a photo, if you like, of your father, a father figure or a man whom you admire, and tell us a little about him.
All are welcome! Small-group sharing and deep listening. This is the final meeting until next fall. (At this meeting, we will discuss the best evening of the week for our autumn schedule. If you would like to attend, but cannot, please let Rachel know what day(s) of the week are the best or the worst for you. Just reply to 16rg10@gmail.com. Thank you.)
Daniel Miller is a Religion prof at Bishops University. This talk will trace the recent shocking rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and North America, now approaching levels unseen since the end of the Second World War.
Our 3rd UU principle calls us to accept one another, and our 4th calls us to a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. So what is the problem?
We all face difficult choices in our lives. As a parent and advocate for her autistic son, Angela Leuck has had to make many gut-wrenching decisions relating to his health, education and security. Her experiences have led her to think deeply about the decision-making process. She will share some of her insights on how - in the face of uncertainty and imperfect knowledge - we can make life's tough choices.
In 2018, Amanda was diagnosed with placenta percreta, a complication during pregnancy which carries the risk of life-threatening hemorrhage during delivery. Amanda will share her experiences as well as reflect on the challenges women face during high-risk pregnancy.
We welcome back for another visit the Reverend Brendan Hadash. Brendan was our minister in the 1980s, when we shared him with Derby Line and West Burke VT. Now retired from full time ministry, he continues to share a reflection in our worship service from time to time. This time he will reflect on the variations among UU congregations across Canada.
A Music service led by Nicholas Williams and members of local choir Les Voix du Village
Spirit Circle. Thursday, May 9, at 7:15 p.m. Theme: Curiosity. All are welcome! Small-group sharing and deep listening.
Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. Stuart will explore this citation by examining the spiritual dimension of Bob’s work across different music genres, illustrating it with examples of song performances over the years.
Stuart McKelvie was a member of the Psychology Department at Bishop’s University from 1972 to 2013. He has been listening to Bob Dylan since he was a teenager.
This Friday, May 3, between 9 a.m. and noon. Mary Lynn asks our help for UUEstrie's spring clean-up. If you can give an hour or so sometime between 9 a.m. and noon, could you please contact Mary Lynn at 819-842-4177 or marylynnross80@gmail.com. All are welcome!
The concert is in our sanctuary at 4 p.m. (in lieu of a normal worship service).
A fundraising dinner and silent auction, co-sponsored by UUEstrie, held at Restaurant Shalimar in Lennoxville. This will be the 6th annual celebration of this event for the benefit of Child Haven International, a Canadian Charity based in Maxville ON, which provides homes for over 1,000 formerly destitute children in south Asia. All more than welcome. Speak to Phyllis Baxter (819-346-8273) for tickets or reservations
"To what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough." - Edna St. Vincent Millay. Easter and Earth Day appear together this year, as they should. Come celebrate with poetry, story and song. (en anglais) Musician: Mike Matheson. Refreshments: Mary Ann McCarron.
Come celebrate Poem in your Pocket Day with poetry, candlelight, and delicacies. Come and listen, or bring a favourite poem or one of your own to read in the language of your choice. In the midst of National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day is an international movement that encourages folks to center poetry within their daily interactions. On PIYP Day, select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, coffee shops, street corners, and on social media using the hashtag #PocketPoem.
Joey was in St. Miguel, Mexico, during the holy week a year ago, and was awed. Downstairs, in Stoddard Hall. Musician: Mike Matheson. Refreshments: Hélène Cunningham.
Pledge Lunch at 1 p.m. in Stoddard Hall.
All are welcome! Small-group sharing and deep listening.
These screenings have been organized by the Canadian Unitarian Council's Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Team to help us better understand the history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This is the first of three films we will watch and discuss. (After Trick or Treaty, the next film will be Angry Inuk, on the impact of the campaign against hunting seals.) If you are interested in receiving the reflection questions that accompany the film, RSVP to president@uuestrie.ca, and I will try to make them available. Thanks for your interest and please come and learn with us. - Phyllis Baxter.
A young British man helps Czechoslovakian Jewish children escape from the Nazis before the outbreak of WWII. This extraordinary, powerful, true story is told in a documentary film, the showing of which will begin at 10:30 a.m. sharp, with time for discussion. Coffee Convenor: Reine Gagnon & Debra Fougere.
Linnie McGuire is a 3rd generation UU from the Boston now studying at Bishop's . She believes that the Unitarian movement in Canada and the U.S. has been made stronger by drawing upon practices and sources employed by the UU youth movement, including, for example, an enlightened mindfulness of of other spiritual sources than the conventional Judeo-Christian ones. Linnie is happy with how we Canadian UUs honour and support the place of youth and young adults in the fabric of our communities.
Once a year we invite members and friends of our congregation to a 'social, Sunday called Games Day. Families and children are welcome as well as adults of all ages. Bring a game or two share if you like. Juice and popcorn.
Kate and partner Raymond traveled across the country all the way to Alaska, making contact with indigenous people along the way.
Small-group sharing and deep listening. All are welcome.
Eric Akbar is a local professional musician and friend of UUEstrie, who is called from time to time to help heal the spirits of those in need. He recently participated in the World Parliament of Religions that was held in Toronto. Refreshments: Chantal Michaud. TIME CHANGE! Clocks spring forward.
Henry David Thoreau was part of the Transcendentalist movement in the mid 19th century in Concord, Massachusetts, United States. He spent some time alone in a cabin on Walden Pond reflecting on life, nature, and humankind. Rachel Garber has been a lifelong reader of Thoreau, and has visited Walden Pond twice.
A service connecting us to our sister churches across the country on the theme of "Water and Water Justice".
The offering plate this day will be a special collection dedicated to the Sharing Our Faith Fund of the Canadian Unitarian Council. This fund makes grants to UU congregations in Canada for highly desirable projects that cannot quite be afforded and would not happen without the Sharing Our Faith financial support. Please plan to be generous in supporting Sharing Our Faith.
Rev. Mead Baldwin was born and raised in Baldwin's Mills," one of God's most Beautiful places". With post secondary studies in pure and Applied Science, Religious Studies, and Ministry, he was ordained into the United Church ministry in 1979 and served in New Brunswick, and in the Ottawa area before returning to the Townships ten years ago. He is now based in Waterville. Today he will reflect on the wisdom of children.
All are welcome! Small-group sharing and deep listening.
This will be a participatory gathering in our Stoddard Hall--a drumming circle led by Amy Panetta. Amy is a UU from New Jersey, now living in the Townships. She is a music teacher by profession, and looking forward to leading us in this activity, one of our 'alternate' winter services. Hand drums will be provided, though you may bring your own if you like.
Our annual Storytelling service, previously scheduled for Jan 20, will now take place on Sunday February 3, and be followed by a potluck lunch after the storytelling. All Welcome to come listen to stories, or tell a story, as well as to stay for potluck lunch.
This is an annual tradition at UUEstrie, already. A participatory service of gentle but extraordinary movement exercises for all. No better way to get yourself centered.
Postponed because of storm to February 3.
Nancy Pacaud, long time faithful member of UUEstrie (she lived to a ripe old age of 103!), visited India at least 4 times. Joyce will share some of Nancy's thoughts on her first visit there.
All are welcome to join in a thoughtful exchange of ideas on the theme, which this month is "Journey". Our Spirit Circle meets the second Thursday of each month, in our Stoddard Hall at the UU meetinghouse. All are welcome.
Could the gospel of Thomas possibly be the missing Unitarian Universalist book of the bible? To answer this question all we need to do is explain what we believe to be the core of Unitarian Universalism, explain how the whole New Testament came to be written, and then look at the Gospel of Thomas itself – all in 20 minutes or less. "No problem", says Rev.Brendan.
Brendan served UUEstrie in the 1980s. He enjoys acting and singing in local theatre groups in Northern Vermont, where he lives.
Our annual worship service devoted to aiding the cause of persons around the world whose rights have been violated in any of a number of ways, such as political prisoners incarcerated for their activism in the cause of social justice. There will be an opportunity to write letters of support in a number of cases identified by Amnesty International.
Also at 3:30pm on this day there will be a concert by Le Coeur des Sangs Mêlés entitled Mélodies Nomades in our Sanctuary. Suggested donation: $15
“Dark Memories haunted Jefferson Davis in Quebec”, a paper by recently deceased Bishop’s professor Robert MacGregor, will be presented by Dr. Adele Ernstrom on November 25. Prof. MacGregor’s research examines local responses to Jefferson Davis’s presence in Quebec. They range from reports he arrived in Lennoxville in his wife’s clothes, to threats from a Stanstead crowd that he be tarred and feathered as a war criminal. He was held responsible for the abuse of Union captives in Andersonville Prison. Shedding light on Canadians’ relationship with the American Civil War, the paper will be presented at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of North Hatley, corner of Main and Gagnon, in a service at 10:30 AM to honour the memory of Prof. MacGregor.
Day Two of a two-day workshop in Non-Violent Communication in Stoddard hall with certified trainers Francois Beausoleil and Michel Dufresne. The workshop will be given in English, with questions and comments welcome in French as well. Early Bird cost for the two-day workshop: $200. This is an excellent chance to practise discerning the needs underlying the words of another and to improve our empathy and compassion skills.
Eric will be presenting a session at the World Parliament of Religions, which is meeting in Canada this year at the Toronto Convention Center during the first week of November. This gathering will feature dozens and dozens of talks and workshops, three of which are being organized and presented by the Canadian Unitarian Council. We look forward to Eric's talk about what the experience of being at the Parliament was like.
Unitarian universalists from across Eastern Canada are invited to gather at the Kingston (Ontario) Unitarian Fellowship on this Saturday for a day whose main theme will be "Creating Our Own Theology". What a UU thing to do! The schedule for the day begins at 9:am and goes till 3:45pm. Speak to Phyllis Baxter about possible car pooling.
Honoring the war dead both civilian and military on this Remembrance Day.
A monthly discussion group meeting in our Stoddard Hall, animated by Reverend Carole, usually on the second Thursday of the month.
Our theme for the Month of November is "Memory". Note: Daylight Savings Time ends this day: Fall back or be early to church!
Also this Sunday after the worship service, we shall have a little celebration of the completion of a project initiated and driven by Mary Lynn Ross: the production of pew cushions for our sanctuary pews. Thanks to all who helped with the sewing, and Special thanks to Mary Lynn for making this happen, so that we are all more comfortable sitting in our sanctuary.
Retired professor of Art History, Adele Ernstrom will focus on the images of the 'Wise Woman' in portraiture. Just what do they show us?
Day One of a two-day workshop in Non-Violent Communication in Stoddard hall with certified trainers Francois Beausoleil and Michel Dufresne. The workshop will be given in English, with questions and comments welcome in French as well. Early Bird cost for the two-day workshop: $200. Day Two of the workshop will be Saturday November 24. This is an excellent chance to practise discerning the needs underlying the words of another and to improve our empathy and compassion skills.
An annual event at UUEstrie where we honor the United Nations' efforts for a peaceful world. This year's theme is Migration, focusing on the many people who have left their homelands in search of a safe and decent life elsewhere. The offering this morning will be dedicated to the UU United Nations Office.
UUEstrie is offering a free supper for students in the lower hall at Lennoxville United Church, on Church St. In Lennoxville. Convenor:Joey Marosi. Coincidentally, in the upstairs hall at Lennoxville United the annual used book sale in aid of the Bishop's/Champlain refugee sponsorship project will be taking place as well.
Jonathon will speak of his past year working with over a thousand village women in Senegal, and try to address: How can Helen Reddy, Advanced Ladies Yoga and Hysterical Laughing maybe advance global health?
Our monthly discussion group, held in Stoddard Hall, led by Reverend Carole. Newcomers welcome. Theme this month: "Sanctuary"
We shall celebrate our Thanksgiving service at the Universalist Church in Huntingville, as we have for a number of years. This historic Universalist Church is located right on Highway 147 about 1 km south of the junction with highway 143. There will be no service in our meetinghouse in North Hatley on this day.
A concert in our sanctuary of traditional Quebecois music featuring fiddle, accordion, guitar and vocals, by trio Genticorum, which includes friend Nicholas Williams on accordion. The concert begins at 8 pm, with tickets at the door: $20 general admission, $10 for students. Opening the concert will be a set of Scandinavian folk music played by guest musician Alex Kehler.
This talk will describe what it means to sponsor refugee youth through World University Service of Canada as well as some of the challenges and rewards associated with private sponsorship.
Our theme of the month is VISION. One way to maintain our equilibrium and avoid despair in difficult times is to cultivate the long-range view. We will explore ways of voicing our vision and supporting each other in challenging times
Rev. Carole and her husband David will be back from their summer travels as will many of us. The Water communion is a ritual that allows us to share the meaning of significant happenings that we have experienced.
This morning's worship will comprise a participatory session led by Simon on what Marshal Rosenburg calls 'Non-violent communication'. How can we enhance our compassionate selves by learning to avoid judging others in the way we listen and in the way we speak?
This year we close our summer season with another hike and picnic, this time to take place at Scowen Park which is on Capelton Road, a few hundred metres up the hill from North Hatley village center. the Parking lot is just off Capleton Road, and the picnic area is about 100 yards up a smooth finished path from the parking area.
For those keen to hike the paths going up the hill, there are several loops of varying length; we shall make groups depending on how keen and able each person is. For those whose mobility is very limited we invite you to meet us back at the picnic area about 11:30 or 11:45. A short devotional circle will close our morning.
If the weather proves to be seriously inclement, we shall simply gather at 11am for our picnic lunch in Stoddard hall in our meetinghouse 201 Main St in North Hatley
All members, friends and visitors are most welcome to join us. (Bring a frisbee if you have one!)
So many factors cause stress in our lives, many factors which we cannot control like world politics, climate change and so on not to mention the situation in our own homes. Consolation is there in the details of our lives. This talk will focus the everyday which brings to us comfort and balance and humour. Relax and enjoy yourself. This talk is not meant to teach or to be too serious but to highlight the good things there for us all.
Lenora is a psychologist who believes in its original meaning 'the study of the soul'. She learned to play indigenous flute in the mountains of Santa Fe and began to study;research ancient sacred music.
This type of music will be shared.
A Dragon Boat is a super-sized unwieldy canoe. It holds twenty people, all of whom have to paddle at the same time to the beat of a drummer. Brute strength won’t get you to the finish line, but well-honed synchronicity and cooperation will. Gabriella Brand recently participated in her first Dragon Boat Regatta. She thinks that Dragon Boating might be the answer to World Peace.
Whitty will share the story of the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, an all-girls' inner-city public school, where students facing homelessness, violence and hunger are given an opportunity for healthy life. Whitty will explain how miracles happen through hard work, faith and community commitment.
In the aftermath of a natural disaster or a social tragedy, we are often at a loss for words. We feel inadequate in our role as friend or neighbor, counselor or pastor. But we are also humbled by this uncomfortable feeling, and ultimately brought to a new place of awareness. Gabriella Brand found herself in that situation recently while serving in the devastated Caribbean following Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
How and where do we find inspiration for all the things we want to do in life? Anne Fortier talks about how—in her own experience as a novelist—inspiration relates to creativity and energy, and ultimately to happiness. How do we enter a positive state of “flow” in our busy schedules, and why is this important?”
Our annual picnic Sunday, where we gather and worship outdoors, and picnic together afterwards. This year, we gather once again at the home of Uma Nigam, 14 Vaughan Rd in Canton de Hatley. Vaughan Rd is at the northern limit of North Hatley, just past the curling rink on Capleton Rd, which is also Rte 108 east. On Vaughan Rd cross over the bridge, bear slightly right towards Uma's house, and park under the trees somewhere.
The journey of a Syrian family to Canada and the story of the local Syrian Church who welcomed them and hundreds of others and helped them integrate into Canadian society.
No service in our meetinghouse this day. Happy Canada Day everyone. Perhaps we'll see you in Hatley!
Celebrate the solstice, enjoy a southern BBQ supper and seafood boil with hors d'oeuvres, BYO-wine if you wish, and place bids in a silent auction of services, experiences and intriguing items. All for a great cause - to help UUEstrie. Vegetarian/gluten-free options. $35/person. Space is limited. Get tickets now at 819-943-1215 or vicepresident@uuestrie.ca. All are welcome!
Today is the National Holiday of the Province of Quebec, La Fete St.-Jean. It also marks the beginning of summer holidays for Quebec schoolchildren.
Murray Johnston teaches Religion and Philosophy at Champlain. He is completing a dissertation on inter-religious dialogue at Regis College, University of Toronto. Last year he spent time in Anglican Benedictine and Roman Catholic Dominican communities in Canada,and six months in a small Inuit village on Hudson Bay. He began thinking about the spiritual significance of the treaty relationship in Canada. He will share some of the questions that he has found himself asking the last few months.
As we seek to become more compassionate and loving toward all people, one of the skills for us to work on is how we communicate. We all tend to have bad habits in the way we communicate with one another, both to friends and strangers. Simon and Maxime will lead us in a participatory workshop type of session to make us more conscious of the way we communicate, and how to do it better.
Count your blessings, we're told. The question is: What do you count? For all those blessings unknown or too numerous to name, we need a kind of higher than higher algebra.
In general, some ritual behaviours are helpful for those who carry them out, and some are not. The rituals associated with the mental illness Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) feel helpful at first but are ultimately damaging. OCD affects roughly 2–3% of the population. Daniel Miller, a professor of Religion at Bishop’s University, was diagnosed with OCD in his mid-teens.
We shall be livestreaming the Sunday worship service from the CUC conference in Hamilton Ontario in our own Stoddard Hall. Note the earlier than usual time: 10 am!
To check in from home, log on at https://cuc.ca/2125-2/ and then onto the CUC YouTube channel from the CUC website.
The CUC The Canadian Unitarian Council is livestreaming what is called the Confluence lecture this Friday evening May 18, at 8 pm. The speaker is Rev. Karen Fraser Gitlitz, whom I know and highly recommend. The talk will be about Karen's thoughts about many things connected to being a good person and becoming a living spiritual movement.
To log on: https://cuc.ca/2125-2/ and then click on the CUC YouTube channel.
Motherhood holds different meanings for us all. For some it's a day to celebrate memories of love and nurture, for others it's a reminder of pain and loss. Along with honouring those who gave us birth, we will explore the deep symbolism of earth as ancient mother of all.
Our Spirit of Life discussion group meets regularly on the second Thursday of the month, led by Reverend Carole. Theme this month: Embodiment. All are welcome to join us; the group is an open group.
Pagan and earth-based traditions have long celebrated the turning wheel of the year with dancing and feasting. The fire festivals of Beltaine and the dancing of the May Pole are layered with symbolism. Come with your dancing shoes (or boots) on. (Please, no cars in the upper lot adjacent to the sanctuary.)
No, this is not a story about London and Paris. Rather, it is about two cities in Mexico – Merida and Cancun.
Heather and John visited there last January, on vacation. Both cities are found in the Yucatan Peninsula, but are different in many ways. Join us as they share photos and stories of their exciting travels to this part of the world. Nos vemos entonces!
This is episode 3 in our 'Traveling' series.
On Poem-in-your-Pocket Day, Black Cat Books & UUEstrie invite you to a Poetry Coffee House featuring a variety of poets reading their poems. You are also invited to bring a favourite poem in your pocket to share with others during the informal coffee house. Entrance by free-will donation. Refreshments at modest prices. Fundraiser for UUEstrie and Black Cat Books. All are welcome! Lower level. Info: 819-842-4146, Revcarole@uuestrie.ca, or visit Black Cat Books, 168E Queen St., Lennoxville.
5th Annual Fundraising dinner and silent auction for Child Haven International held in Lennoxville at Shalimar Restaurant. Child Haven is a Canadian charity operating 8 homes for formerly destitute children in South Asia. They now provide homes, including food, clothing ,shelter, medical care, education through at least high scool, and loving care for over 1,000 children. For info, tickets or reservations, Please call Phyllis Baxter, 819-346-8273.
Come celebrate Earth Day. At 10:30 a.m., attend a music service with Les Voix du Village from Waterville, then help ring the church bells 400 times as a call to end plastic pollution and reduce carbon dioxide, now at 400 parts per million, a level that is not compatible with continued life on earth. All are welcome. Refreshments.
Those who are willing and able to make it are invited to join in cleaning up our grounds around the church. This is weather permitting of course. Note time is moved to the pm.
David Webster is a History professor at Bishop's University. He has studied the situation in Timor l'este for a number of years and produced a book of readings on the subject, which was launched several weeks ago, at a time when Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation are, or should be, on the mind of every Canadian citizen.
Note: Next week, April 22nd, we plan to move our service upstairs, kicking off the 'upstairs season' with a music service featuring Les Voix du village.
Those who can spare some time on Saturday April 14 are invited to come by the church from 9:30 am on to help with some of our annual spring cleaning.
Our second instalment in our 'Thoughts on Traveling' Series. Our first instalment came through Phyllis Baxter, who spoke about going to a summer cottage with her family, and other trips, including most recently a trip down the Rhine River.
Transformation is the theme of the month, and a change of seasons is in the air. Come celebrate the long-awaited warmth and beauty as Nature transforms itself and the Earth awakens again. We'll pay a nod to April Fools day, too - I kid you not!
More thoughts on taking our welcome and hospitality to a deeper level, that changes us for the better.
Six discussion sessions led by Rev. Carole Martignacco, based on the book and TED project, 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong. (In English) Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., at UUEstrie, 201 Main. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration: Please contact 819-842-1387.
February 13: Steps 1 & 2: Learn about compassion; Look at your own world February 20: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for yourself; Empathy February 27: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action March 6: Steps 7 & 8: How little we know; How should we speak to one another? March 13: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for everybody; Knowledge March 20: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love your enemies
Thoughts on traveling. If you are willing we invite you to come prepared to share a thought or two on traveling from your own reflection or experience. Part of it is surely gaining competence in other cultures, a step to bridging the culture divide, a step to peace in the world. But it's more than that, or can be.
Six discussion sessions led by Rev. Carole Martignacco, based on the book and TED project, 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong. (In English) Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., at UUEstrie, 201 Main. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration: Please contact 819-842-1387.
February 13: Steps 1 & 2: Learn about compassion; Look at your own world February 20: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for yourself; Empathy February 27: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action March 6: Steps 7 & 8: How little we know; How should we speak to one another? March 13: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for everybody; Knowledge March 20: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love your enemies
12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, six discussion sessions led by Rev. Carole Martignacco, based on the book and TED project, 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong. (In English) Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., at UUEstrie, 201 Main. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration: Please contact 819-842-1387.
February 13: Steps 1 & 2: Learn about compassion; Look at your own world February 20: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for yourself; Empathy February 27: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action March 6: Steps 7 & 8: How little we know; How should we speak to one another? March 13: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for everybody; Knowledge March 20: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love your enemies
We are inspired by stories of greatness, people who are willing to take huge risks for what they believe in and value. Between fear and possibility, safety and the unknown, there is a leap. How do we decide when to take it or hold back?
12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, six discussion sessions led by Rev. Carole Martignacco, based on the book and TED project, 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong. (In English) Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., at UUEstrie, 201 Main. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration: Please contact 819-842-1387.
February 13: Steps 1 & 2: Learn about compassion; Look at your own world February 20: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for yourself; Empathy February 27: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action March 6: Steps 7 & 8: How little we know; How should we speak to one another? March 13: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for everybody; Knowledge March 20: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love your enemies
Since the days of Jonah and Job the whale has symbolized the sublime and awesome power of the universe. Our vitality allows us to participate courageously and creatively in this sublime power, and yet it also vastly overreaches us and, in moments of clarity, terrifies us. Moby Dick is a metaphysical novel about the face to face encounter with these mysterious powers. Its characters, from the vengeful Ahab, to business-like Starbuck, to the devil-may-care Stubb, to the ocean-crazed insanity of Pip, to the contemplative Ishmael, are a veritable catalogue of the human attitudes towards the sublimity of the universe.
12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, six discussion sessions led by Rev. Carole Martignacco, based on the book and TED project, 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong. (In English) Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., at UUEstrie, 201 Main. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration: Please contact 819-842-1387.
February 13: Steps 1 & 2: Learn about compassion; Look at your own world February 20: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for yourself; Empathy February 27: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action March 6: Steps 7 & 8: How little we know; How should we speak to one another? March 13: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for everybody; Knowledge March 20: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love your enemies
Hospitality is welcoming people into a home or a community without discrimination. Are we able to do that? It's a habitat thing, too, isn't it? And reaching out, what does that involve?
12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, six discussion sessions led by Rev. Carole Martignacco, based on the book and TED project, 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong. (In English) Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., at UUEstrie, 201 Main. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration: Please contact 819-842-1387.
February 13: Steps 1 & 2: Learn about compassion; Look at your own world February 20: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for yourself; Empathy February 27: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action March 6: Steps 7 & 8: How little we know; How should we speak to one another? March 13: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for everybody; Knowledge March 20: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love your enemies
Our 7th annual Sunday morning service devoted to playing games involving both children and adults, so , fun and games!
Theme: Interconnectedness
Service on the theme of interconnection.
Contemplating the amazing Creation that is the universe leads to some powerful and humbling thoughts. The title for this service comes from a book with the same title that Gudrun has been reading since last fall, and been quite moved by.
A tradition going on some 25 years here at UUEstrie: our annual storytelling service, in which our food for the soul on this Sunday comes through the time-honored medium of story. If you think you might like to tell a story please speak to Keith Baxter.
A session of meditative movement led by David Turner, who has been leading this type of activity on a regular basis here at UUEstrie for a group of Golden Agers for several years. Today we who are not part of that group will get to be illuminated by the experience.
Theme: PROPHESY
Theme: INTERDEPENDENCE
Our monthly theme of Prophecy invites us to reflect together about the future we are moving into. Beyond consulting oracles or fortune-tellers, we are creating creating and recreating the world in the present moment. Let's mark the moment with more than noise-makers and confetti!
No service this Sunday. Enjoy the holidays!
No service this Sunday. Enjoy the holiday.
Our traditional service of readings and carols, stories, and prayers for the coming year. With guest musicians, trimming of our Mitten Tree, and a festive Wassail. Donations of mittens, socks, scarves or tuques are invited to trim the tree, and will be given to persons who are homeless.
Theme: PRESENCE
A turkey supper in our Stoddard Hall, put together by members of our community and offered to all who wish to join us. The supper will be preceded by a 'pageant' upstairs in the sanctuary, beginning at 4:30pm. The pageant will be a series of readings and images from Canadian artist William Kurelek which he put into a book called "A Northern Nativity". Imagine if the Nativity occurred in the middle of winter, somewhere in Canada.... All are welcome!
Come join us in the UUEstrie office to help photocopy letters written last Sunday, and stuffing envelopes. All for the Amnesty International campaign to save lives and promote justice.
Once again we dedicate the first Sunday in December to a service focused on the plight of political prisoners who are being made to suffer unjustly because of their beliefs. We will discuss the Amnesty International cases and write letters asking for justice. Bring a pen and, if possible, a contribution toward postage.
Evelyn Miller is a retired social worker. She has led a number of workshops in the local area on these subjects, and notes that they affect us not only in the death of someone we love, but in many situations in life.
Jackie will have just returned again from Samos, Greece, where she has been working for the last two months with refugees who, while seeking to escape the intolerable living conditions in their home countries, are stuck in miserable living conditions in the overcrowded refugee camps of the more sympathetic but rather overwhelmed Mediterranean countries. Jackie asks "Would anyone like to sponsor a lovely Syrian family with three young children whose parents are both artists?"
Dr. Bruce Gilbert is a professor of Philosophy and Liberal Arts at Bishop's University.
Bruce writes: When Juliet says these words to Romeo she says more than she thinks, for this is the formula not only for romantic love but even more so for the highest form of human love, agapé. We will explore agapé not only in its character as abundant self-giving (drawing upon authors like Shakespeare and Dante) but also in a metaphysical light, as the way to understand reality in general.
Carole will be exploring the theme of "Identity" in its many guises. 'Identity' is our theme for the month of November.
Once a year we dedicate this service to remembering those who have departed this life in the recent past. A bilingual participatory service in which all are invited to to share their own testimony, in French or in English, on the death of a person or persons who meant a lot to them.
Today we Celebrate United Nations Sunday, with our theme the Goal of World Peace. The focus will be the treaty agreeing to ban all nuclear weapons which has been negotiated without the participation of Canada and the nuclear-armed states. How to move forward with implementation of a ban is the imperative we seek to address.
Frances Aboud, who lived for many years in Ethiopia with her family, recently returned with McGill colleagues to examine whether children benefited from the introduction of iodized salt in their diet. This is a fascinating story that includes many actors from Canada and Ethiopia over many years.
Our Service on this day will NOT be in North Hatley. We take our Thanksgiving Service to the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147 in Huntingville, (just opposite the bridge). All welcome, as always.
Today we plan to worship outdoors, to close the summer season. Gather chez Joey Marosi, 780 ch. de North Hatley, St. Catherine de Hatley. Those who are willing to participate in a beautiful but strenuous hike down to Black Point and back should arrive by 10am. those who prefer a gentler hike should arrive by 10:30, and those who are not hikers but wish to attend the picnic and/or the circle service on the lawn should arrive by 11:30. All welcome. If it pours rain we shall gather indoors at Joey's at 11:30.
Gabriella, a good friend of UUEstrie, will be speaking at our sister church, First Universalist Parish, in Derby Line VT on this day. That provides us with an extra incentive to invite our members, friends and visitors to join us in an annual visit to our Derby Line sisters and brothers. No worship service in our North Hatley meetinghouse on this day. The Derby Line meetinghouse is just across the U.S. border from Dufferin Street in Stanstead. Note the earlier time for the service.
Despite the fact that humans developed in a natural environment, forests, plains, shores, riverain landscapes, societies' visions of nature vary greatly: some choose to distance themselves from what they term,"the wilderness;"others deify nature and some want to asphalt over it. This presentation will look at our different and changing ways of seeing nature both through an examination of nature writing and other cultural expressions.
Caroline B. Parry lives in Ottawa. Now retired, she has been a professional Director of Religious Education at several Unitarian Universalist congregations in Canada and the U.S., Including in Ottawa and Montreal. She was raised a Quaker and still makes this an active part of her personal spirituality. She has written a lovely book called "Heron Spirals" reflecting in part the inspiration she draws from watching herons standing in absolute stillness in the shallows of lakes wherever she goes.
Unitarian Universalism is often described as a covenant with two faiths. September's worship theme is Promise. What promises do we make to each other and ourselves, as individuals and as members of a spiritual community. And how do we help each other fulfill them?
Jonathon has been working for the past year on a project to bring fresh clean water to women in villages in Senegal. He will give us an update of this UUEstrie- Power Corporation partnership based on three questions: What happens if village women don’t spend 6 hours a day carrying water? What happens if women’s lives are made easier? And what happens if the women are provided with basic irrigation infrastructure? Jonathon will report on the secrets to making it all work.
Adrianna is a Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at Bishop’s University, as well as a neuroscientist and yoga and meditation teacher. In her talk she will summarize recent research concerning the effects of various forms of meditation on mental health, including anxiety, depression and psychosis. In addition, she will share some personal experiences with traditional Eastern spiritual practices, which have been enriching and transformative in her life.
Human beings have been giving each other advice since the beginning of time. We’ve grown adept at offering, receiving, and declining the counsel of others. In this interactive service, Gabriella Brand will ask you to share examples of everyday wisdom that you carry with you. Things your mother used to say. Songs and poems that help you sort things out. Life-changing advice you got from a mentor. The Best Advice We’ve Ever Received. Let’s pool it!
Tom Wilcox, an American, whose family has been coming to Lake Massawippi for 116 years, will reflect on his career in education and philanthropy, the goals of the Massawippi Foundation and the Massawippi Conservation Trust
Andrea Rittenhouse will speak about her 25 years of experience working in a Montreal women's shelter, as well as her day job working with the police helping victims of violence.
Simon is a student at Bishop's University who recently returned from Denmark, where he experienced an intensive week of training in non-violent communication. We look forward to his insights into our largely unconscious habits of speech which do violence to one another. How can we learn to become more conscious and non-violent in our communication?
Dr. Jessica Riddell is chair of the English Department at Bishop's University. She reckons that the Humanities in general and the giant figures of English literature have much to teach us.
Our relationship to food in the 21st century is complicated. In a world where children still go hungry, food waste is at an all time high. Some of us obsess over nutrition and purity, some of us eat fast and mindlessly. Still others struggle with diets, eating too much or too little. Isn’t something missing? Isn’t there a fundamentally sacred nature to food? Gabriella Brand will explore the spiritual connection to our dinner plates.
An annual summer celebration and fundraising event at UUEstrie. Reserve the date and time. More info to follow.
Our annual Picnic Sunday will take place at 11am at the home of Uma Nigam, 14 Vaughan Rd in Canton de Hatley. Vaughan Rd is off the Capleton Rd. near the north edge of the village of North Hatley; Uma's home is across the bridge on the right. There will be a circle service on the lawn at some point, and a potluck picnic lunch for all. All are welcome.
No service in our meetinghouse on this day.
This service will consist of personal testimonies. It will be a participatory celebration of teachers or mentors or fathers or brothers in our lives, and what we have learned from them. All are welcome to participate, and invited to bring if they would like a photo or memento of some kind that represents this person they would like to honour.
At the edge of the world… in a small remote village, an American doctor and a Haitian nurse confront their cultural differences as they face a life-threatening emergency. Written and performed by Barbara Newman MD, Doctors without Boredom was developed at The Marsh Theatre in San Francisco with Charlie Varon and Mark Kenward. She will have performed this work at the Black Theatre Workshop Studio during the Montreal Fringe Festival the week before this performance in North Hatley. Suggested donation: $10.
At 3:30 pm on this fathers' day we present a concert in our sanctuary by the Chœur des Sangs Mêlés. Beautiful songs from around the world. Freewill donation. Proceeds shared in part with the UUEstrie Roof Fund.
A musical stage play that gives an eye-opening glimpse into the 40-year career that made Mason one of Canada’s greatest musical legends. A 15-member cast co-directed by Wade Lynch of Bishop’s University, performed one night only at the Piggery Theatre, 215 Simard Road, North Hatley. This performance is a fundraiser for UUEstrie, and tickets purchased from us are only $20 instead of $25. Speak to Crystle Reid for tickets or reservations.
Early summer our corner of the world is arrayed with an astonishing abundance of flowers. In our own version of a uniquely UU ritual first celebrated by Czech Unitarians to find hope during wartime, we will celebrate our shared ministry and express gratitude for the abundance of gifts we give to and receive from each other. Come and be celebrated for the colour you bring to our landscape! (Bring flowers from your garden if you can; extra flowers will also be provided.)
This month's theme for discussion and sharing is Growth. If you would like to participate, please contact Rev. Carole first, at revcarole@uuestrie.ca .
Writer and teacher Angela Leuck describes her experiences and adventures giving creative writing workshops to a variety of at-risk populations: youth, the disabled, teen mothers, battered women, the homeless, and soon, prisoners!
The third in our spring series of literary readings begins with a “Meet the Authors Potluck” at 6 p.m. in the downstairs Stoddard Hall, followed by Kenneth Radu and Keith Henderson reading from their works at 7:30 p.m. upstairs in the wood-panelled church sanctuary. Both the potluck (bring a food contribution) and the readings are free of charge and open to the public. UUEstrie gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts through the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
In every society it is the Elders who hold and understand and pass on the Story of the people in which is accumulated the wisdom that allows the community to cohere, the good life to be shared.
Unitarians and Universalists celebrate freedom of thought in Religion. Indeed we celebrate the basic freedom of choice in Religion, and freedom to choose in general seems to be the foundation of the democratic way of life that we hold so dear. But...
There will be No worship celebration this morning. But at 7:30 pm there will be a lovely concert of Scandinavian/Celtic/folk music, by Nicholas Williams and Alex Kehler in our sanctuary. $15 donation at the door.
This month's theme for discussion is Compassion. If you would like to participate, please contact Rev. Carole first, at revcarole@uuestrie.ca .
This month's theme of Compassion extends beyond the human to all of creation. What would a world look like inhabited by evolved compassionate beings who treat with tenderness the very life forms that sustain them? Let's celebrate our 7th Principle of interconnectedness with all of nature, of which we are a part. Let's love our earth home, and dance the message round the Maypole. (Wear comfortable shoes and your brightest garb!)
The second in our spring series of literary readings begins with a “Meet the Authors Potluck” at 6 p.m. in the downstairs Stoddard Hall, followed by Mark Abley and Endre Farkas reading from their works at 7:15 p.m. upstairs in the wood-panelled church sanctuary. Both the potluck (bring a food contribution) and the readings are free of charge and open to the public. UUEstrie gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts through the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
Final session in discussion series with Rev. Carole Martignacco. Based on the book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, a TED project by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong.
May 2: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love Your Enemies.
Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at UUEstrie, 201 Main, North Hatley. (en anglais) All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration strongly encouraged. Please call 819-842-4146. Please tell us if childcare or transportation needed.
Thomas Jefferson was a Unitarian. He did not believe that Jesus was God, nor that Jesus performed miracles. He did however believe that Jesus was a great spiritual teacher. So he took the New Testament and, with a razor, cut out everything that Jesus said or taught and pasted it into one book he called, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth". Amazon still sells this 'Jefferson bible'.
Brendan will share a 'Brendan Bible', a few passages he has found personally meaningful and uplifting.
It's that time again, with lots of big and small cleanup chores still to do, in and around our meetinghouse. Join us anytime after 9 am for fellowship and good feelings from giving the place a little shine. A list of chores needing doing and tools for doing so will be available. Questions? Speak to Mary Lynn Ross, or Keith Baxter.
UUEstrie and Black Cat Books are partnering to host a Poetry Coffee House in celebration of Poem-in-your-Pocket Day, April 27. It’s in Stoddard Hall at UUEstrie, 201 Main St., North Hatley. The doors open at 7 p.m., and the program begins at 7:30 p.m. Hear a variety of poets reading their work, and if you wish, bring a favourite poem in your pocket to share. It could be a poem you wrote, or one by someone else. Refreshments are available at a modest cost. Admission is by donation. Persons who donate $10+ are eligible to enter a drawing for a free Sunday evening buffet meal at the Shalimar Restaurant in Lennoxville. All are welcome!
12 Steps to a Compassionate Life Discussion Series with Rev. Carole Martignacco Based on the book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, a TED project by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong.
April 25: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for Everybody; Knowledge. May 2: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love Your Enemies.
Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at UUEstrie, 201 Main, North Hatley. (en anglais) All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration strongly encouraged. Please call 819-842-4146. Please tell us if childcare or transportation needed.
Joanna Bateman lives in Sherbrooke. She is Director of Literacy in Action, which is based in Lennoxville. She is also a graduate of Bishop's U. and a social activist who tries to live intentionally. Joanna will reflect on her experience of constantly being faced with choices and decisions, and the taking of responsibility that comes with making choices of all kinds. Decisions, both long-term and short-term decisions, seem to become even more demanding as one emerges into adulthood.
At 12:30 p.m., members are invited to a Special Meeting in Stoddard Hall. On the agenda is the approval of the Minister's consulting contract for 2017-2018.
Researchers have calculated that the safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 350 parts per million (ppm), or less. More than that “is not compatible with life on earth.” Before the industrial age, carbon dioxide levels averaged 275 ppm. In 2015, we reached a new high – 400 ppm. So we are ringing our bell 400 times as a call to action. We begin ringing at 11 a.m., symbolizing that we are at the 11th hour in this important problem. You are invited to come help ring UUEstrie’s church bell! Meet in the bell tower shortly before 11 a.m., and have a cup of coffee or tisane.
Fundraiser at Shalimar Restaurant in Lennoxville, co-sponsored by UUEstrie, to benefit Child Haven International. Child Haven provides homes for over 1,300 formerly destitute children in South Asia, providing them plenty of loving care, and healthy food; clothing and shelter; and education through at least secondary school to get them launched into a productive life. Tickets on a sliding scale: $50 minimum and everything over $28 earns a charitable tax receipt. Speak to Phyllis or Keith Baxter.
A conventional Christian reading of the Easter Story has Jesus literally and visibly rising, body and soul, from the dead, demonstrating thereby his miraculous messianic powers.
The Reverend Jim MacDonald wants intelligent people to think beyond the characters in the story. He wants the Easter story to become again that incredible metaphor that reveals an important truth about life. To become again that story of hope that relates to every troubling situation we encounter in life.
It's that time again, with lots of big and small cleanup chores to do, in and around our meetinghouse. Join us anytime after 9 am for fellowship and good feelings from giving the place a little shine. A list of chores needing doing and tools for doing so will be available. Questions? Speak to Mary Lynn Ross, or Keith Baxter.
This month's theme is Resistance. If you would like to participate, please contact Rev. Carole first (revcarole @uuestrie.ca).
Discussion Series with Rev. Carole Martignacco Based on the book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, a TED project by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong.
April 11: Steps 7 & 8: How Little We Know; How Should We Speak to One Another? April 25: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for Everybody; Knowledge. May 2: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love Your Enemies.
Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at UUEstrie, 201 Main, North Hatley. (en anglais) All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration strongly encouraged. Please call 819-842-4146. Please tell us if childcare or transportation needed.
Frances Alvo is an alumna of the Sudbury Valley School. The Sudbury Valley School gives children the time and space to form themselves into responsible, independent, and resourceful adults. At SVS, children take control of their own lives within a community where all members are treated with trust and respect, and allowed full participation in the democratic process of running the school. SVS was inspired by Summerhill, which was a major breakthrough in the Free School movement.
It's that time again, with lots of big and small cleanup chores still to do, in and around our meetinghouse. Join us anytime after 9 am for fellowship and good feelings from giving the place a little shine. A list of chores needing doing and tools for doing so will be available. Questions? Speak to Mary Lynn Ross, or Keith Baxter.
Two Montreal writers, Jocelyne Dubois and Brian Campbell, kick off a Spring Reading Series at UUEstrie in North Hatley this Friday. Jocelyne Dubois is a novelist, poet and visual artist whose work frequently deals with mental health. Brian Campbell is a poet, photographer and singer-songwriter. The event begins with a “Meet the Authors Potluck” at 6 p.m. in the downstairs Stoddard Hall, followed by their readings at 7:15 p.m. upstairs in the wood-panelled church sanctuary. Both the potluck (bring a food contribution) and the readings are free of charge and open to the public. UUEstrie gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts through the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
Discussion Series with Rev. Carole Martignacco (en anglais) Based on the book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, a TED project by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong.
April 4: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action. April 11: Steps 7 & 8: How Little We Know; How Should We Speak to One Another? April 25: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for Everybody; Knowledge. May 2: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love Your Enemies.
Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at UUEstrie, 201 Main, North Hatley. (en anglais) All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration strongly encouraged. Please call 819-842-4146. Please tell us if childcare or transportation needed.
April's shared ministry theme is Resistance, in this month that begins yesterday with the Feast of Fools. We celebrate both with a madcap review of political humour, giving thanks to our invaluable pundits and cartoonists who somehow know how to "nail" the truth with bizarre wisdom. Come laugh with us at the obviously absurd!
Discussion Series with Rev. Carole Martignacco (en anglais). Based on the book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, a TED project by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong.
March 21: Steps 1 & 2: Learn About Compassion; Look at Your Own World. March 28: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for Yourself; Empathy. April 4: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action. April 11: Steps 7 & 8: How Little We Know; How Should We Speak to One Another? April 25: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for Everybody; Knowledge. May 2: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love Your Enemies.
Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at UUEstrie, 201 Main, North Hatley, in Stoddard Hall. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration strongly encouraged. Please call 819-842-4146. Please tell us if childcare or transportation needed.
Nicholas Williams leads Les Voix du Village (the Waterville community choir), in a music service up in our sanctuary.
Discussion Series with Rev. Carole Martignacco (en anglais). Based on the book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, a TED project by leading scholar of religion Karen Armstrong.
March 21: Steps 1 & 2: Learn About Compassion; Look at Your Own World. March 28: Steps 3 & 4: Compassion for Yourself; Empathy. April 4: Steps 5 & 6: Mindfulness; Action. April 11: Steps 7 & 8: How Little We Know; How Should We Speak to One Another? April 25: Steps 9 & 10: Concern for Everybody; Knowledge. May 2: Steps 11 & 12: Recognition; Love Your Enemies.
Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at UUEstrie, 201 Main, North Hatley, in Stoddard Hall. All are welcome. Book: $20. Suggested donation: $5/session. Registration strongly encouraged. Please call 819-842-4146. Please tell us if childcare or transportation needed.
Robin Cappuccino will speak about some of the many people who he looks to for inspiration from the world of Child Haven International and the world at large. In these Trumpian times, remembering and looking to those whose quiet determination, conviction and courage helped to uplift those around them, can offer hope and inspiration for us all.
Robin will be hosting the fourth annual Lennoxville Child Haven Dinner and Silent Auction at Shalimar Restaurant on April 18.
Note: Daylight Savings Time begins today! Spring forward or be late.
Experiences of burnout and busyness abound in our society, and, sadly, congregational life is often no exception. How do we find quiet, renewal, and oasis, from the hectic nature of contemporary life?
Following the service please join us for a potluck lunch; bring whatever you'd like. After lunch Carly will lead a short informal workshop on 'young adult welcoming'.
This month's theme is Symplicity. If you would like to participate, please contact Rev. Carole first (revcarole @uuestrie.ca).
SIMPLICITY is our theme of the month - what the poet Longfellow called "the supreme elegance." More than clean lines in art or a lack of household clutter, simplicity can also be the art of traveling lightly through this life, burdened with a minimum of baggage. Rooted in clarity, honesty, and integrity of spirit, it can lead to inner freedom.
Today we devote the entire morning to playing games with the children. We are an intentional multigenerational community, and this is one way we manifest that, encouraging friendly interaction between the generations, so that the children get to know more of the adults and the adults get to know the children better. Join us for a relaxed morning fueled by popcorn, fun, and youthful energy.
We celebrate today our common vision in solidarity with our fellow UUs across Canada.
The offering today will be a special collection for the Sharing Our Faith fund of the Canadian Unitarian Council, which funds programming or projects in Canadian Unitarian Universalist congregations that will grow their spiritual capital. We at UUEstrie have benefited often from this fund, so please help us help it to grow back.
The Venerable Yuan Hao is a Chinese Buddhist nun who gave up a career in the USA as an engineer, with a PhD in engineering and all that, to study at a Buddhist centre in China. She is on a speaking tour here in Canada, with talks scheduled at U of Toronto, York University, and the University of Montreal, as well as at UUEstrie!
Mary Henein is a Criminal Defense Lawyer based in Toronto. She will deliver the last Donald Lecture of the 2016-17 series in Centennial Theater at Bishop's University at 7 pm. This is not a UUEstrie activity but a free lecture that will interest many of our members and friends, hence its posting here
This month's theme is Love & Justice. This will not be a political discussion! We'll focus on how these two themes impact our personal lives. If you would like to participate, please contact Rev. Carole first (revcarole@ uuestrie.ca).
Seemingly overnight, the socio-political landscape we live in has changed. How do we respond? Love & Justice is our monthly theme. Let's explore together what we can do to tip the scales in their favour. Mike Matheson will lead us with songs of protest and freedom.
Heather & Adrian Niderost from Montreal will offer an introduction to the Baha’i Faith, an independent world religion founded in 1844. It is based on the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh (in Iran), which emphasize the oneness of humanity, the oneness of God and the fundamental oneness of religion.
The world seems to be changing very rapidly, especially in the area of applied electronics, but also in other ways. Much of what's coming is pretty neat. But not all. Jason is an avid listener to Ideas, weeknights at 9 on CBC radio.
THE BOMBADILS - CONCERT OF CELTIC & FOLK MUSIC Also this Sunday evening of the 22nd we host a concert in our sanctuary by a Montreal band called the Bombadils, featuring Celtic and folk music. Proceeds to be shared between the band and our Roof Fund and our Water for Women project. Suggested donation: $15.
An annual tradition at UUEstrie: storytelling as the medium for spiritual insight and enrichment. Anyone who would like to tell, please speak to Keith Baxter. Special guests: The Townships Tellers, a storytelling group that meets at Uplands, in Lennoxville the third Thursday of every month.
We start our New Year off with a service on the theme of "Creation", presented by Rev. Carole.
Living in EXPECTATION in a dark, cold and beautiful dormant season.
Our annual yuletide/Christmas pageant in our sanctuary followed by a turkey dinner in Stoddard Hall. All welcome. We plan to do a collective creation of the pageant as we did last year. Speak to Crystle Reid if you'd like to be part of the pageant creation and presentation. The turkey supper will be convened by Kevin Jensen and Gudrun Brand.
Another annual tradition at UUEstrie, where we support Amnesty International by writing letters in support of those who have been unjustly incarcerated, usually simply because of their political beliefs. A special collection will be taken to cover postage for the letters we choose to send.
In 2014 Margrethe spent 3 months as "artist in residence" on the west coast of Norway, her native country. She will share some photos and reflections on how it feels to belong to a place that is no longer one's home.
The monthly meeting of this group to share thoughts about the theme of the month. This month the theme is "Letting Go". All are welcome: speak to Carole.
Meet at the church at 10:15 for a 10:30 departure by carpooling to the start of the new Massawippi Foundation trail in North Hatley, which is off the Capleton Road, at Scowen Park near the curling club, and take about a thirty-minute walk together in the crisp autumnal air, whence we shall return to our own Stoddard Hall for hot soup and cocoa. In part we wish to celebrate this new community walking trail, and in part to make up for our regular fall hike that was rained out in September.
Amanda Lindhout was held hostage in Somalia for over 400 days. She speaks of her experience and the spiritual growth that is possible from it. This is not a UUEstrie event, but is of deep interest to most of us. It is one of the Donald Lectures held at Bishop's University, Centennial Theatre at 7 pm, free and open to the public.
There are many synonyms for trust: faith, confidence, reliance, duty, protection, etc. What is it to truly trust ourselves and one another, to trust that we have and are enough? Are we people of trust or fear? How can we renew our relationship with trust?
Rev. Carly Gaylor has most recently served as Sabbatical Minister at the Unitarian Church of Calgary. Her long-term ministry plans include planting a new UU urban ministry with her partner, Curtis Murphy.
Listen to Audio file: 13-Nov-2016-Carly-Gaylor.mp3
Canada's Minister for International Development is giving a talk (in English)open to the public, about her vision of Canada's role in overcoming international economic and social inequality. Her talk is at Bishop's University, Bandeen Hall, at 7 pm Nov 10. This is not a UUEstrie event, but is of interest to many of us, hence its posting here. Ms. Bibeau is also MP for Compton-Stanstead, the riding that includes both North Hatley and Lennoxville.
How do we deal with loss and grief, and support each other in times of need?
Note: today we return to Eastern Standard time. Fall back or you'll be early to church!
Our service this Sunday is an opportunity for all to remember those dear ones who have passed away in the past year or so. The service is intended to be bilingual, with personal testimonies invited from anyone who would like to participate, in French or in English.
Today we celebrate UN Sunday with as guest speaker a young woman from Washington DC studying at McGill University. Audrey is also an intern at the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office in New York City. We have flown the UN flag in our sanctuary for many years, honoring the mutual goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. The offering will be a special collection for the UU United Nations Office to support the work they do there for human rights around the world.
A gathering of Unitarian Universalists from Eastern Canada, including Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal, Fredericton and Halifax, as well as North Hatley, will take place this weekend at Lakeshore Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Lachine (Montreal). More details to follow, but all are welcome to attend and meet our sisters and brothers, to workshop and celebrate together, so mark thy calendar and plan to attend!
Rabbi Sherril Gilbert of B'nai Or in Montreal will be sharing a "Sukkot" service with UUEstrie, followed by a potluck lunch.
Families including parents and children as well as 'allies' join together to chat about a theme or just to hang out with other families. All welcome. Let Amanda know if you are coming: 819-993-7543.
As we have done for a number of years, we celebrate Thanksgiving with a worship service at the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, which is on Route 147 in Huntingville, just opposite the Ascot River bridge. No service in North Hatley this Sunday.
To Believe or Not to Believe - Is that the question? I've noticed a quiet but deeply felt dispute between UUs who believe in God, and those who don't. Could it be a false dichotomy? I do AND I don't, and that's not the same as being an agnostic. I'd like to talk about my own journey in this regard.
Note: The Fall Reading Series has been postponed until the Spring. More news to follow.
On this Sunday, we invite all members and friends to join us in a fraternal visit to First Univeralist Parish in Derby Line VT, our sister church just over the border from Dufferin St. in Stanstead. Service there begins at 10 am, and will feature our own Gabriella Brand with a reflection on Deep Listening.
First monthly meeting, in Stoddard Hall for a simple ritual that includes brief check-in, centering words, lighting the chalice, exploring the monthly theme - this time it's INVITATION - and sharing our thoughts, mindfully speaking and listening to each other in love and respect. If a deeper dimension of being together appeals to you, call me at 819.842.1387 or email revcarole@uuestrie.ca to RSVP. We'd love to have you!
Life changes can be fearsome and anxiety-producing, or they can be positive opportunities for personal transformation.
Rev Gary Shapiro is an ordained Interfaith and Interspiritual minister from Southern VT. He is a member at FUSH (the First Universalist Society of Hartland VT), where he attends services.
It is our custom to close the summer season with another outdoor gathering. This year Pat Bird has kindly agreed to host us once again. The address is 453, ch de Bolton Centre, St.-Etienne. Take exit 100 off Autoroute 10 west, turn south, continue to and through the village of St.-Etienne, past a small lake on the left to #453 on the left. Pot-luck picnic lunch at noon. All welcome, as always.
Reverend Carole explores the theme of INVITATION - the invitation to share our talents and dreams, the work we do together as a spiritual community. During coffee hour, a list of "equal-volunteer opportunities" will be provided.
Clown’s Travel Log - Chapter 2: How to Avoid Being Attacked by Wild, Little Girls when Travelling in Africa. Jonathon’s humanitarian work in West Africa is first and foremost about listening to women. He’ll share his thoughts on how that process gets him closer to what he calls The Soul of Humanity, along with an update on the wells he’s helping to install, his film-making in Senegal, and his close call with a pack of wild, female, five-year-olds.
Poet Steve Luxton will speak about the work and legacy of long-time North Hatley resident and poet, D. G. Jones, who died in March. Next, from 12 to 2 p.m., is a free Blueberry Pancake Brunch downstairs in Stoddard Hall. Everyone is welcome. Freewill donation.
At 2:30 p.m, Steve will host a literary tribute to honour this renowned poet, translator and critic. Writers, readers and friends are invited to share their remembrances or read their favorite poems of Doug's. Please join us!
This fearless foursome attended the national conference of Unitarians and Universalists held at UBC in May. Each was thrilled and moved by different events they attended while there including an exciting new vision for our national movement, a stirring talk on getting each of us to a deeper open-heartedness, original music, a moving 'bridging service for youth moving into young adulthood, and more.
Potluck at 6 p.m. (Stoddard Hall), Reading at 7:30 p.m. (upstairs). Come to a potluck supper to welcome visiting Minnesota writer Barton Sutter. Bring along your favorite dish and meet this multiple award-winning poet, playwright and short story writer. Bart is also an exhilarating performer who has been featured on National Public Radio. At 7:30 p.m., he will entertain us with stories and poems that are at times humorous and at others moving and poignant. All are welcome. Admission is free (free will donation).
Reverend Carole begins her new role as our consulting Minister. She will be delivering one Sunday service each month, normally on the first Sunday of the month, starting with this Sunday, Aug. 7.
Stine Linden-Andersen teaches in the Psychology Department at Bishop's University, and is concerned with people's well-being. She is a 'local' living in Hatley Canton.
Gabriella is a long time friend of this congregation whose home base is in New Haven CT. She writes: "What does it mean to be really tolerant? In the past year I have participated in an Interfaith Round Table of women of Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Unitarian, Quaker and other backgrounds. The experience has left me at times baffled, challenged, ticked off, and delighted."
Harvey White teaches Religion at Bishop's University. St. Augustine and other writers have addressed the question of 'goodness'. What does it mean? What is its importance? Is there a 'How' for being good? Harvey last spoke to us several years ago on Spirituality, and again on what 'God Is Not'.
Murray Johnston is a humanities and philosophy professor at Champlain Regional College. He has a particular interest in the Hebrew Bible, and the need and possibilities for a modern interpretation of these sacred texts. He spoke to us last fall about Redeeming Religion by making it more inclusive and respectful of other traditions, and thereby more authentic.
This Sunday is Picnic Sunday; all are invited to meet at Joey Marosi's (780 ch North Hatley, Katevale--past Hovey Manor on the east side of Lake Massawippi)at 10:45 am. Hike at 11am, followed by a circle service on the lawn at 11:45, and picnic lunch at noon, in turn followed by swimming and games and hanging out. All welcome: bring your swimsuit and towels as well as your picnic. No service in our sanctuary on this Sunday.
Once a year, in the village of Hatley, a community festival with a country parade is held in this village, a hop and a skip South and East of our home in North Hatley.
The board of trustees invites you to UUEstrie’s Annual General Meeting of Members. UUEstrie has 34 voting members at present. All are welcome! Members will receive an agenda and supporting documents two weeks in advance of the meeting. (Upstairs, in the Avery Booth Hall)
Your trusty board, Rachel Garber (president), Heather Lewis (vice-president), Adele Ernstrom (secretary), Michael Grayson (member-at-large).
Celebrate the solstice, enjoy a southern BBQ supper with hors d'oeuvres, BYO-wine if you wish, and place bids in a silent auction of services, experiences and intriguing items. All for a great cause - to help repair and re-roof our bell tower, and help support the David Suzuki Foundation. Vegetarian/gluten-free options. $25/person. Space is limited. Get tickets now at 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca. All are welcome!
Note: No morning service this Sunday. Come to Solstice Celebration, instead!
Barbara (Bubby) Birks Wybar will speak to us about her work in Bududa, Uganda. In 2003, Barbara traveled to Eastern Uganda with a Quaker group to help build a vocational school for orphans. Since then, she has established the Bududa Learning Center, consisting of the Bududa Vocational Academy, The Children of Bududa Sponsorship Program, and the Women's Microfinance Initiative.
Yanan Wang is a friend of UUEstrie and a professor of marketing at Bishop's University. She and her smiling daughter May-Lann attended our Child Haven Dinner in April. Yanan recently gave a talk on "The Paradox of Choice" to the Senior Academy for Lifelong Learning.
Listen to Audio file: 160612-The How of Happiness.mp3
Rev. Brendan Hadash’s husband, Alan Hultquist, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease eight years ago. Everyone who lives long enough will be faced with some sort of debilitating condition. Rev. Hadash will share what he has learned about Parkinson’s and how to be supportive to those near and dear to us when they are faced with serious illness. Alan Hultquist is the author of two children’s books on Parkinson’s “Can I Tell You About Parkinson’s Disease?" and "A Day with Parkinson’s". Rev. Hadash is on the Vermont state board of the American Parkinson Disease Association.
Listen to Audio file: 160605-Living With Parkinsons.mp3
Nancy, our oldest member, and probably the only one of us who was born a Unitarian, passed away peacefully this spring just shy of her 103rd birthday. She was long-time convenor of the now defunct Women's Auxiliary, and tireless worker for all manner of our church needs, both in our activities and in our meetinghouse. Our upstairs kitchen is named for her: Nancy's Kitchen.
Royal Orr is part of a youth education/school project in Tanzania with an emphasis on AIDS education. Born, raised and still living in the Eastern Townships he has been a community organizer, a journalist, and a communications trainer.
Also at UUEstrie this afternoon from 1:30 to 5:30, Day 3 of a weekend workshop in Non Violent Communication, in English, that began Fri May 27, led by M. François Beausoleil, a certified CNVC Trainer, and author of The Blame-Free State. Sunday, May 29, 1:30 to 5:30pm. Charge for the entire training: $200
Day 2 of a weekend workshop in Non Violent Communication, in English, that began Fri May 27, led by M. François Beausoleil, a certified CNVC Trainer, and author of the Blame-Free State. Saturday, May 28, 10 am to 6pm, and continuing Sunday, May 29, 1:30 to 5:30pm. Charge for the entire training: $200
Alain Lévesque, financial advisor, explains how to maximize giving to your favourite charity without diminishing too much from your estate. En anglais. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All welcome. Please pre-register with your name and phone number at 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca.
Also starting this evening: a training in Non-Violent Communication, in English, led by François Beausoleil, certified CNVC Trainer. Friday, 7 - 9:30pm. Continuing Sat, May 28 and Sun, May 29. Fee: $200.
Alain Lévesque, financial advisor, will explain how to maximize giving to your favourite charity without diminishing too much from your estate. He is expert at simplifying financial concepts. Free booklet. (en anglais)
This is the last in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Wednesday mornings at the Memphremagog Community Learning Center in the Princess Elizabeth Elementary School, 120 Bellevue, MAGOG. Please enter by door #3 from the parking lot and press the CLC Room buzzer.
Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register at 819-238-1258 or 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca. Organized by UUEstrie (Unitarian Universalists in the Eastern Townships) & the Memphremagog Community Learning Centre.
We shall be live-streaming the worship service from the Annual Conference and Meeting (the ACM)of the Canadian Unitarian Council, taking place at the Chan Center of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Join us and many hundreds of other Canadians from across the country for this first-time experience. Note the change in the time of the service, which is happening at 10:30 am Vancouver time, 1:30 pm chez nous.
Award-winning documentary film about persons having recourse to the “assisted dying” law in Oregon. Also, information about Quebec’s new law. (en anglais)
This is session 4 in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Friday mornings at UUEstrie, 201 Main St., Magog, in Stoddard Hall (lower level). Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register by leaving your name and phone number at 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca.
Award-winning documentary film about persons having recourse to the “assisted dying” law in Oregon. Also, information about Quebec’s new law. (en anglais)
This is session 4 in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Wednesday mornings at the Memphremagog Community Learning Center in the Princess Elizabeth Elementary School, 120 Bellevue, MAGOG. Please enter by door #3 from the parking lot and press the CLC Room buzzer.
Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register at 819-238-1258 or 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca. Organized by UUEstrie (Unitarian Universalists in the Eastern Townships) & the Memphremagog Community Learning Centre.
Joey Marosi, like many Canadians, spent some time in Cuba last winter, and was enchanted by the Spirit of the Cuban people she met everywhere she went.
Listen to Audio/Visual presentation 160515-Cuban-Spirit.m4v
Funeral Director Stephan Elkas will speak about environmentally friendly, alternative burial options that are locally available. (en anglais)
This is session 3 in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Friday mornings at UUEstrie, 201 Main St., North Hatley, in Stoddard Hall (lower level). Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome - please just come. Info: 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca.
Funeral Director Stephan Elkas will speak about environmentally friendly, alternative burial options that are locally available. (en anglais)
This is session 3 in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Wednesday mornings at the Memphremagog Community Learning Center in the Princess Elizabeth Elementary School, 120 Bellevue, MAGOG. Please enter by door #3 from the parking lot and press the CLC Room buzzer.
Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register at 819-238-1258 or 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca. Organized by UUEstrie (Unitarian Universalists in the Eastern Townships) & the Memphremagog Community Learning Centre.
Life's lessons learned in the laps of our mothers, aunties, grandmas. All are welcome to share a story of a mother figure in their lives. Bring a photo or an artifact if you like.
Rev. Carole Martignacco has developed an expertise in personalized ceremonies. She will tell us how to design memorials or celebrations of life that leave an intangible legacy of values. Handouts. (en anglais) This is session 2 in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Friday mornings at UUEstrie, 201 Main St., Magog, in Stoddard Hall (lower level). Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register by leaving your name and phone number at 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca.
At 5:30 p.m.: Welcome Families! Potluck supper and discussion for young families (and those who enjoy being with them), with child care offered for children. Coffee, tea and juice are offered. Bring a dish to share. RSVP to Amanda.hillenburg @ gmail.com, revcarole@uuestrie.ca, or wildflowergrowing @ hotmail.com . *Downstairs in Stoddard Hall.
Me. Tim Leonard, Notary, will speak about legal issues pertaining to the end of life, such as wills, living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders, incapacity mandates or other questions. (en anglais)
This is session 2 in the "Happy Endings" series of presentations on end-of-life issues, on Wednesday mornings at the Memphremagog Community Learning Center in the Princess Elizabeth Elementary School, 120 Bellevue, MAGOG. Please enter by door #3 from the parking lot and press the CLC Room buzzer.
Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register at 819-238-1258 or 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca. Organized by UUEstrie (Unitarian Universalists in the Eastern Townships) & the Memphremagog Community Learning Centre.
Lin and Kevin will lead a service that reflects on the Celtic celebration of Beltane. Includes music, story, poetry, and some childhood memories of this time of year in Britain where Kevin spent much of her childhood. After the service and before our refreshments, all are invited to the back lawn to dance around the Maypole.
Me. Tim Leonard, Notary, will speak about legal issues pertaining to the end of life, such as do-not-resuscitate orders, incapacity mandates or other questions. (en anglais)
This is the first in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Friday mornings at UUEstrie, 201 Main St., Magog, in Stoddard Hall (lower level). Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register by leaving your name and phone number at 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca.
Rev. Carole Martignacco will tell us how to design our own memorial that leaves an intangible legacy of values. She has developed an expertise in personalized ceremonies. Handouts. (en anglais)
This is the first in a series of five "Happy Endings" presentations on end-of-life issues, on Wednesday mornings at the Memphremagog Community Learning Center in the Princess Elizabeth Elementary School, 120 Bellevue, MAGOG. Please enter by door #3 from the parking lot and press the CLC Room buzzer.
Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. All are welcome. Please pre-register at 819-238-1258 or 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca. Organized by UUEstrie (the Unitarian Universalists in the Eastern Townships) & the Memphremagog Community Learning Centre.
A special meeting of members will continue the agenda of the last meeting, January 31, with a few changes. Voting members will receive a call to the meeting and agenda either by mail or in person. The meeting will be upstairs, in the Avery Booth Hall. Questions? Feel free to contact Rachel Garber.
The service will celebrate Earth Day, and also have a little covenanting ceremony, marking Rev. Carole's transition from half-time settled ministry to quarter-time consulting ministry: What was, what is, and what will be. She marks 13 years of parish ministry with us here at UUEstrie, beginning in January 2003, and officially ending on April 30, 2016. Carole will continue to be available to us as a consulting minister for specific ministry work about 6-7 days a month, beginning August 2016.
After the service: "Soup for Syria" - have a bowl of hearty soup as a benefit for Syrian refugees. $5/bowl and trimmings.
Listen to Audio file: 160424-Caroles Reflection-MP3 File.mp3
Religion affects our planet. The beliefs and rituals of people around the world have a great impact on how the planet is being treated. Understanding these beliefs and working with different religious communities in restructuring environmental attitudes is one way in which we can make this planet a better place for generations to come.
Townshipper Cinthia Reynolds studied Christianity and Islam at Concordia University. She works at Massey-Vanier High School.
Spring Clean-up Day #3, from 9 am. If you couldn't make one of the earlier clean-up days, or are simply willing to see another of the clean-up jobs yet to be accomplished through to completion, please join us at a time convenient for you.
An evening of varied readings by poets, in a coffee house ambiance. Marjorie Bruhmuller, Heather Davis, Rachel Garber, Ann Hill, Angela Leuck, Steve Luxton, Susan Macaulay, Carole Martignacco, Esther Saanum and more. A benefit for Syrian refugees and bell tower repairs. Free-will donation. All are welcome.
On this Tuesday evening at 6 pm at Shalimar Restaurant in Lennoxville, the third annual Lennoxville CHILD HAVEN BENEFIT DINNER AND SILENT AUCTION, co-sponsored by UUEstrie. Speak to Uma Nigam for tickets, or call Phyllis Baxter at 819-346-8273. Please note that places at the dinner are limited; you are encouraged to get your tickets early to avoid disappointment.
This Sunday, we feature a friend of Child Haven International, Ms. Deborah Hartt. Deborah says she has three things in her life: her family, her work, and the Child Haven home in Kaliyampoondi, which she describes as her second ‘Home'.
At 1:30 p.m., ANGELA LEUCK will lead a RENGA POETRY PARTY, with soup and salad. Come and discover the fun of a collective poem. Free-will donations; all are welcome. Please contact info@uuestrie.ca or 819-842-4146 so we can plan the space and food.
This one-afternoon retreat is at St. Paul's United Church in Magog, from 1:30 to 5 p.m., co-facilitated by Rev. Carole and an inter-faith group of her fellow ministers here in the Townships, co-authors of the “Opening to the Spirit” column in The Sherbrooke Record. For info, speak to Rev. Carole: 819-842-4146.
Also, Cleanup Day #2 is from 9 a.m. For those who couldn't make it on the 2nd, or didn't finish what they wanted to get done, or recognize that there are still jobs that need doing, we welcome you all.
Compassionate Communities – A Global Movement is the theme of this third of 3 presentations. In 2009, the “Council of Conscience,” a gathering of religious leaders and thinkers, crafted the Charter of Compassion. Since then, the movement has started compassionate communities and cities throughout the world. We will receive copies of the Charter, with an opportunity for individuals to add their signatures. We will explore how the Charter has become a global movement, been adopted by organizations and cities throughout the world, and discuss how we might join in creating our own compassionate communities close to home. Guided discussion. Refreshments. (7 to 9:30 p.m., in English, downstairs in Stoddard Hall.) For details, please email info@uuestrie.ca or call 819-842-4146.
Lisa Merovitz has recently created a government-sanctioned wilderness nature reserve on part of her land on Mount Foster, 40 minutes west of North Hatley.
Today at 12 noon: The "Welcome Families" group has organized a group trip to a sugar shanty (Cabane à sucre Erabilis, 4666 ch. de North-Hatley, Sherbrooke. If you would like to go along, contact Amanda Hillenburg at amanda.hillenburg(at)gmail.com.
This first Saturday morning in April, from 9 a.m. on, is our Spring Cleanup day #1. As many as can are needed to come out for a couple hours to clean up, polish up, fix up our building and grounds. A list of jobs and basic cleaning supplies will be available. Join in fellowship, as many hands make light work.
Session 2 of 3 on the Charter for Compassion. While compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, Karen Armstrong says, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. We will watch a second TED talk by Armstrong, "Let's Revive the Golden Rule," followed by discussion and overview (with handouts) from her book, 12 Steps to A Compassionate Life. Guided discussion. Refreshments. (7 to 9:30 p.m., in English, downstairs in Stoddard Hall.) For details, please email info@uuestrie.ca or call 819-842-4146.
Celebrate the arrival of Spring with story, poetry and song. Intergenerational egg-colouring and exchange.
Listen to Audio file: Carole_March272016.mp3
First of 3 presentations (7 to 9:30 p.m., in English, downstairs in Stoddard Hall) on the Charter for Compassion, proposed by TED prize winner, author and provocative thinker KAREN ARMSTRONG. We will watch her TED talk entitled "My Wish - A Charter For Compassion," describing how her project draws upon universally shared values and transcends differences among the world's great religions. Guided discussion. Refreshments. For details, please email info@uuestrie.ca or call 819-842-4146. There is no fee, but we ask you to please sign up for the series by calling 819-842-4146, and leaving your name and phone number. This will help us plan the space and refreshments. Thank you!
Poet Steve Luxton will give a reading of his poetry on the theme of nature. Note: this date is also the United Nations International Happiness Day! May all beings be happy.
Listen to Audio file: Steve Luxton.mp3
Come and be fed, be entertained, and learn about UUEstrie's financial situation. Downstairs, in Stoddard Hall.
A morning devoted entirely to strengthening our multi-generality, and our sense of play. Games and popcorn, mixing adults and children. Bring a game or two if you like.
NB: Daylight Saving Time begins today! Spring Forward or be late!
In Lennoxville. If you would like to volunteer, contact Rev. Carole, 819-842-4146.
Jane Gowman is a mother who lives and farms with her husband Alex Brand. Their farm is on Rte 143 in Hatley.
Listen to Audio file: 160306-Life of a Farm Wife.mp3
Listen to Audio file: 160306-Life of a Farm Wife-With Song.mp3
Mini talk (in English) and concert revealing the genius of a musician/composer's work in later life. Followed by a light lunch (free for seniors over 60). Reserve in advance at estria@cgocable.ca or 819-842-1072. Upstairs, in the sanctuary.
WELCOME FAMILIES! Later, at 5:30 p.m., downstairs in Stoddard Hall, a pot luck supper for families with young children, and adult allies. Welcome all. Info: Amanda Hillenburg, 819-993-7543.
Haiku is one of the world's shortest poems and February, as the year's shortest month, is "National Haiku Writing Month." Join poet Angela Leuck as she gives a brief introduction to this traditional, Japanese-inspired poem and shows how writing haiku helps you relax and connect more deeply with nature.
Listen to Audio file: Angela1.mp3
Listen to Audio file: Angela2.MP3
UUEstrie is part of a wider Unitarian Universalist movement of some 50 congregations across Canada. Representatives from these congregations will gather in Vancouver in May, in part to reflect on what we think is an appropriate 21st-century vision for our national movement. What is 'special' about UUism? What challenges should we focus on with our fellow Canadian UUs?
The offering will be for the Canadian Unitarian Council’s Sharing our Faith fund, from which we have benefited a number of times.
An evening of music in a coffee house ambiance. (bilingual) Dans la Salle Stoddard.
Happy Valentine's Day!
A special meeting of members will follow the service, from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. in Stoddard Hall.
Potluck supper and discussion for young families (and those who enjoy being with them), with child care offered for children. Coffee, tea and juice are offered. Bring a dish to share. RSVP to Amanda.hillenburg @ gmail.com, revcarole@uuestrie.ca, or wildflowergrowing @ hotmail.com . *Downstairs in Stoddard Hall.
Regine is a sculptor and artist who works with the fine arts department of Bishop's University. She has done a number of outdoor installations of her work.
Mini talk (in French) and concert revealing the genius of a musician/composer's work in later life. Followed by a light lunch (free for seniors over 60). Reserve in advance at estria@cgocable.ca or 819-842-1072.
François Beausoleil lives with his wife Anya Borissova in Canton de Hatley. He worked for a number of years for the Cirque du Soleil, and now travels widely as a consultant in Non-violent Communication to business and other organizations, and gives workshops for the general public.
Special Meeting of Members is at 12:30 p.m., following the service, in Stoddard Hall.
British romantic poet William Blake (1757-1827) believed that the if the doorways of perception could be cleansed we would be able to perceive in the infinite. The active exercise of one's creative imagination releases divine energies that reveal "the world in a grain of sand."
Dr. Bruce Gilbert is Professor of Liberal Arts and Philosophy at Bishop's University. He will explore Blake's spirituality of creativity by reflecting on Blake's poetry and visual art.
Coffee House & theatrical reading of a radio play based on The Cruellest Month,a novel by mystery writer Louise Penny and adapted by Eric Alexander. Directed by Phyllis Baxter, with a cast of 14 characters and sound effects, in a coffee house ambiance. Repeat performances Friday and Saturday. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; refreshments available at reasonable cost. Tickets: $15/performance. Benefit for UUEstrie and Syrian refugees. To buy tickets: 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca.
Coffee House & theatrical reading of a radio play based on The Cruellest Month,a novel by mystery writer Louise Penny and adapted by Eric Alexandre. Directed by Phyllis Baxter, with a cast of 14 characters and sound effects, in a coffee house ambiance. Repeat performances Friday and Saturday. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; refreshments available at reasonable cost. Tickets: $15/performance. Benefit for UUEstrie and Syrian refugees. To buy tickets: 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca.
An evening of music in a coffee house ambiance. (bilingual)
A morning filled with nothing but stories, featuring tellers from the Townships Tellers as well as other local tellers. Followed with a potluck lunch with the tellers for those who would like to join us. All Welcome.
From the decades of anti-this and anti-that, a deeper wisdom is welling up. It is not enough to protest injustice, as our resistance too often is dominated by the very shape of what we protest. Instead, we are called to be innovators, shape-changers in a world that longs to be reinvented.
January's theme is Resistance.
Listen to Audio file: 160110-Beyond Protest.mp3
Potluck supper and discussion for young families (and those who enjoy being with them), with child care offered for children. Coffee, tea and juice are offered. Bring a dish to share. RSVP to Amanda.hillenburg @ gmail.com, revcarole@uuestrie.ca, or wildflowergrowing @ hotmail.com . *Downstairs in Stoddard Hall.
No service this Sunday. Enjoy the holiday.
today we hold our customary Thanksgiving service at the Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147 in Huntingville, at the usual time of 10:30 am. No service in North Hatley this week. The offering this morning will be gifted to Heritage Huntingville, for the upkeep of the Huntingville Universalist Church.
No service this Sunday. Enjoy the holiday.
Our traditional service of readings and carols, stories, and prayers for the coming year. With guest musicians, trimming of our Mitten Tree, and a festive Wassail.
Donations of mittens, socks, scarves or tuques are invited to trim the tree, and will be given to persons who are homeless.
This pageant on the theme of the Winter Solstice will be filled with beautiful music, community singing, and a few dramatic surprises. A community turkey supper will follow. All are welcome! Suggested donation for dinner: $8/adult; $20/family.
This holiday season, through a series of guided workshops on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 to 8:30, we’re going to collectively create the Christmas Pageant. Everyone who participates will learn a little bit more about collective creation/devised theatre! We will be exploring the ideas of solstice, other light festivals and searching for the light. Being a part of the creation step does not require that you must perform in the final product (Christmas show on Sunday, December 13, at 4:30 p.m.) Please join us so we can go on a creative adventure together!
If you have any questions please contact Crystle at 514.206.1334 or crystle_reid @ hotmail.com.
Just back from Lesbos, Greece, Jackie Heim will speak to us about the Syrian refugee situation there.
Following the service, over soup and samosas, participants are invited to write letters urging social justice and political freedom for certain key cases identified by Amnesty International. UUEstrie will mail them all on December 10, as part of the "Write for Rights" annual campaign.
Welcome Families! Potluck supper and discussion for young families (and those who enjoy being with them), with child care offered for children. Coffee, tea and juice are offered. Bring a dish to share. RSVP to Amanda.hillenburg @ gmail.com, revcarole@uuestrie.ca, or wildflowergrowing @ hotmail.com .
This holiday season, through a series of four guided workshops from 6:30 to 8:30, we’re going to collectively create the Christmas Pageant. Everyone who participates will learn a little bit more about collective creation/devised theatre! We will be exploring the ideas of solstice, other light festivals and searching for the light. Being a part of the creation step does not require that you must perform in the final product (Christmas show on Sunday, December 13, at 4:30 p.m.) Please join us so we can go on a creative adventure together!
If you have any questions please contact Crystle at 514.206.1334 or crystle_reid @ hotmail.com.
Murray Johnston is the coordinator of the Liberal Arts Program at Champlain College where he teaches courses in Philosophy and Religion. He has an MA in Jewish Studies from McGill. Two years ago he returned to formal studies and is now working on a PhD in Philosophical Theology at Regis College at the University of Toronto. He claims that religion to be authentic must accept to be in relationship with other religions in society, the antithesis of theocracy.
Back for their semi-annual concert of world music, this mostly 'a cappella' chorale of 12 women and men will warm our sanctuary once again, singing from the heart. The proceeds will benefit L'Accorderie de Sherbrooke, a cooperative that fights poverty and social exclusion from a perspective of solidarity, cooperation and social justice, as well as UUEstrie's capital expenditures fund and Michele Murray's project to sponsor a Syrian family she knows in Aleppo, Syria. Suggested donation: $12
This holiday season, through a series of guided workshops, we’re going to collectively create the Christmas Pageant. Everyone who participates will learn a little bit more about collective creation/devised theatre! We will be exploring the ideas of solstice, other light festivals and searching for the light. We will be meeting on Wednesday evenings at 6:30-8:30. Being a part of the creation step does not require that you must perform in the final product (Christmas show on Sunday, December 13, at 4:30 p.m.) Please join us so we can go on a creative adventure together!
If you have any questions please contact Crystle at 514.206.1334 or crystle_reid @ hotmail.com.
The title of this talk refers to Robert M. Pirsig's classic 1974 philosophical non-fiction book on the Metaphysics of Quality, which is still relevant for our society, perhaps more relevant than ever.
Jason Krpan is an autodidact and practitioner of simple living, who would like to remind us once again of the important values we ignore at our peril.
'Bent by Elephants' is a Montreal-based folk-rock band in which our own Ryan Frizzell plays. They will play a benefit concert with voluntary donations accepted at the door, proceeds to our UUEstrie. Suggested donation: $10.
This holiday season, through a series of guided workshops, we’re going to collectively create the Christmas Pageant. Everyone who participates will learn a little bit more about collective creation/devised theatre! We will be exploring the ideas of solstice, other light festivals and searching for the light. We will be meeting on Wednesday evenings at 6:30-8:30. Being a part of the creation step does not require that you must perform in the final product (Christmas show on Sunday, December 13, at 4:30 p.m.) Please join us so we can go on a creative adventure together!
If you have any questions please contact Crystle at 514.206.1334 or crystle_reid @ hotmail.com.
In keeping with the theme of the month, Celebrating Ancestry, Reverend Carole will explore the legacy and impact of the generations who have gone before.
Listen to Audio file: 151115-Ancestry-.mp3
In the Autumn Genius series, a talk and mini concert about the work of a musician in the autumn of their years, followed by lunch (free for age 60+. Reserve at estria@cgocable.ca). *In English. Upstairs, in the Sanctuary.
At 5:30 p.m.: Welcome Families! Potluck supper and discussion for young families (and those who enjoy being with them), with child care offered for children. Coffee, tea and juice are offered. Bring a dish to share. RSVP to info@uuestrie.ca. *Downstairs in Stoddard Hall.
Cathy Stackpole is Executive Director of Ferry Beach, a UU summer camp on Saco Bay, in Maine, where a number of UUEstriens have spent time. Over 100 years ago, famous missionary Universalist preacher Quillen Shinn helped found Ferry Beach camp and conference center.
At 12:15 p.m. is a Special Meeting of Members downstairs, in Stoddard Hall.
Also, at 3 p.m. Remembrance Day ceremonies are at the North Hatley cenotaph.
Listen to Audio file: 151108-115 Years of a Living Religion.mp3
A bilingual service of personal testimonies linking us to the spirit of loved ones who have recently passed away. Bring a photo or other artifact if you like. All are welcome to participate in the language of their choice, or simply to attend and be inspired by the testimonies of others. A joint service with l'Olivier.
Dr. Osire Glacier is an author and a professor in the History Department at Bishop’s University. From the perspectives of religion, history and political science, she offers an insightful look at ISIS – the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - also known as ISIL – the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. What are the origins of this extremist militant group? Its aims? Its strategies? Its consequences? And what solutions can be envisaged?
Listen to Audio/Visual presentation All-About-ISIS.m4v
Oops... Rev. Rich Forcier is not able to join us after all this Sunday due to passport problems. So Keith Baxter will be stepping in with "The Human Condition." He says his opening line in this reflection on living a human life will be: "Let me tell you about the things we love." In this sermon he credits Rev. Dr. Matthew Johnson, singer/songwriter David Myles, Baruch Spinoza, William Hyde, Beth Ide,Carolyn Barker, Rev. Fred Cappuccino, Holly Near and E.F. Schumacher.
Listen to Audio file: 151018-The Human Condition.mp3
An interfaith retreat led by four clergy who write the weekly column, "Opening to the Spirit" in the Sherbrooke Record. Creative writing, meditation, music and other optional workshops, from Friday at 5:30 p.m. to Sunday at 4 p.m., October 16-18, at The Round Hearth Retreat Center in Eastman. For more information, contact Rev. Martignacco at 819-842-4146 or revcarole@uuestrie.ca. Advance registration required.
Join us for our annual Thanksgiving service at the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147, in Huntingville. The plate collection will go towards the maintenance of the Huntingville Universalist Church building.
A talk and mini concert on the work of a famous composer during his senior years. Followed by a light lunch (free for seniors over 60).
Also, at 5:30pm: Potluck night for families with young children (and those who enjoy being with them). Join us for food, friends and fun together. Beverages and child care provided. Please bring a dish to share. All are welcome!
Seniors! Today, make your plans to attend TOMORROW, Oct. 9, at 11 a.m., a new "Autumn Genius" presentation, music and lunch. This one honours Francis Poulenc, and will be in French. It's Friday, Oct 9, at 11 a.m. at UUEstrie (upstairs), and Oct 10, at 3 p.m. at Uplands in Lennoxville. Musicians are Étienne de Médicis, Pauline Farrugia, and Tristan Longval-Gagné. Free for persons age 60+. Reservations for this free series are mandatory as places are very very limited (estria@cgocable.ca).
An open discussion on social justice issues that may be addressed by UUEstrie or friends and members, convened by Adele Ernstrom and Rachel Garber. A number of possibilities have been raised for consideration, including responses to the Syrian refugee crisis. All are welcome.
An interfaith service celebrating the harvest season, drawing from the Jewish tradition, with guests from Montreal and elsewhere.
Haiku is a Japanese form of short poetry. Angela Leuck has authored five books of haiku. She began writing haiku 17 years ago. Her son had just been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. She will give a taste of her haiku journey, and, after the service, a taste of her sushi too.
Back in Minnesota, a favourite restaurant called itself "Polly's Slow Food." Countering the growing demand for "fast food", they advertised as a welcoming place to take a break, come in out of the rush and relax, savour the flavours of a meal carefully prepared in good company. Out of the rush of living, how do we make meaning and find a deep sense of belonging?
For our "Water Communion" this Sunday, you are invited to bring a small container of water which represents a place or memory of significance. Combining the water in a common bowl signifies our lives flowing together in community. All are welcome to participate.
Join us for an evening of food, friends and fun together. Beverages will be provided - coffee, tea, juice. Please bring a dish to share. Afterward, we will have a discussion on a parenting topic. Child care will be provided. This will be part of a series which we would like to have once per month. All are welcome! Please RSVP and send your suggestion for a topic to Amanda Hillenburg (amanda.hillenburg @ gmail.com), Rev. Carole Martignacco (revcarole @ uuestrie.ca) or Jane Gowman (wildflowersgrowing @ hotmail.com)
PURPOSE OF MEETING: Decision on proposed capital expenditures, including (1) Roof, tower, and front door, (2) Attic insulation, attic window repairs, ceiling fan and lighting in attic, and (3) Hand railing leading from street to church door at lower level. The meeting should be happy and short! Upstairs, in Avery Booth Hall. Full details are available from info@uuestrie.ca or 819-842-4146, or on a flyer available in Avery Booth Hall.
Once again, as summer begins to close, we take 'church' into the great outdoors. Join us for a hike at 11 a.m. followed by a picnic lunch at noon, all at the Cowan-Weber cottage, 590 Descente 14, off Cedarville Rd. in Ogden. Phone 819-349-8569 for details, or if you find yourself lost. Car pooling departure from UUEstrie at 10:05. Maps available at UUEstrie. If you need a ride, or can offer one, please email info@uuestrie.ca or call 819-842-4146 as soon as possible.
Doug Mitchell is a lawyer with a deep interest in charitable work. He is particularly interested in the phenomenon of autism, and how to make the lives of those touched by this phenomenon a little better. He and his wife Simone have an autistic son who is now in his twenties.
Listen to Audio file: 150830-Our Journey With Autism.mp3
PRIDE FESTIVAL: In Sherbrooke, at the Marché de la Gare, at 11 a.m. Fière la Fête is a “pride festival” to celebrate sexual diversity in Estrie. It’s festive, family oriented, and inclusive. Its aim is to make sexual and gender diversity more visible and to create a space for sharing and networking. It’s free of charge, this Saturday, and everyone is welcome. This is the third annual festival in Sherbrooke. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/fierelafete or the website fierelafete.ca .
TOM BIRD MEMORIAL SERVICE: At UUEstrie, 201 Main (at Gagnon), North Hatley, at 3 p.m. Our warmest condolences to Pat and all of the Bird family on the passing of our dear friend, Tom Bird, on August 18. He was 88 years old. A reception will follow the memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Child Haven International, www.childhaven.ca.
Robert Chadwick is a scholar of religion and an archaeologist. He will discuss this fascinating pursuit of deeper knowledge about ancient religion.
Words can hurt, words can soothe, words can inspire. Mark Abley is a writer and a columnist for the Montreal Gazette, fascinated by the power of words. He is also a member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal. This will be his third visit to our pulpit.
Listen to Audio file: 150816-The Power of Words.mp3
Potluck night for families with young children (and those who enjoy being with them). Join us for an evening of food, friends and fun together. Beverages will be provided - coffee, tea, juice. Please bring a dish to share.
Afterwards, we will have a discussion on a parenting topic. Child care will be provided. This will be part of a series which we would like to have once per month.
Please RSVP and send your suggestion for a topic to Amanda Hillenburg (amanda.hillenburg@gmail.com), Rev. Carole Martignacco (revcarole@uuestrie.ca) or Jane Gowman (wildflowersgrowing@hotmail.com)
Theodora Brinckman is Executive Director of the MAB Mackay Centre Foundation in Montreal. In this role she has journeyed into the soul and energy of the philanthropic movement and developed a broad, thought-provoking, and inspiring interpretation of what being a philanthropist has come to mean to her.
Just what does it mean to give back?
Note: Following the service, you are warmly invited to an informal reception in the Avery Booth Hall in celebration of the recent marriage of our minister, Rev. Carole Martignacco, and Major David Turner.
Gabriella Brand explores the nature of fear. Who are the fearless? Who are the brave? When is fear paralyzing? When is fear our best friend?
Gabriella is a writer, foreign language consultant, and a former school head from New Haven, Connecticut. She currently teaches in a special program at the University of Connecticut. She is an annual summer visitor to North Hatley, and a welcome annual visitor to our pulpit.
For the last 4 or 5 years, Jan has been involved in a project sponsored by Rotary International aimed at improving the quality of life of tribal peoples living in a remote area of Guyana.
This is a special night. Spitfire Dance is the only play this season at The Piggery, and UUEstrie's benefit evening is Thursday, July 23, at 8 p.m. Tickets are cut rate - only $20 (of which $8 goes to benefit UUEstrie). Get yours NOW by contacting Mary Lynn at 819-842-4177. LAST CALL!
Spitfire Dance, a dramatic musical entertainment in two acts by playwright and producer Clint Ward, leads theatre audiences onto the much less-travelled road of the courageous and fascinating women who also dared fly the skies when the Wright Brothers, Billy Bishop and Lindbergh were stealing the headlines. In a world of aviation dominated by men, women had other ideas!
It's a play about remembrance. Accompanied by well-loved WW2-era songs, Spitfire Dance tells the stories of pioneer aviators, their courage, their daring and their frustrations. They were the women who dared compete in that most male establishment, aviation. (in English)
Is this the 50th anniversary already? Rev. Ken MacLean has been a regular summer minister here at UUEstrie since 1965! He shares his time between California and London, England. Welcome back, Ken!
Please join us for a 50th anniversary celebration with Ken after the service. We'll have a very lucky potluck. Bring some food to share! And of course, we'll have a 50th anniversary cake.
Listen to Audio file: 150719-Ken MacLean-Sermon Only-MP3 File.mp3
Listen to Audio file: 150719-Ken MacLean-Extended Version.mp3
Bethany Knight is a popular annual visitor to our pulpit. She now lives with her husband in Connecticut, but is still connected to Vermont. She has preached to congregations in Florida, Vermont and Quebec for a number of years.
Listen to Audio file: 150712-Bumpy Road to Transcendence.mp3
Rev. Linda Thomson of the Canadian Unitarian Council will speak about PLAY. Many of us find ourselves feeling a bit guilty when we indulge in our favourite leisure activities. On our first July Sunday and we find ourselves in the ‘lazy, hazy days of summer’, let's reconsider the reasons we play. Agenda: 9:30 a.m. Coffee and donuts; 10:30 a.m. Service; Picnic lunch, swimming, and games at the home of Mary Lynn Ross in North Hatley. All welcome, particularly our sisters and brothers from Montréal and Derby Line.
Listen to Audio file: 150705-Linda Thomson-Play.mp3
Join us on Saturday July 4, at 1:30-4:30 p.m., for a Personality Dimensions program, led by Rev. Linda Thomson of the Canadian Unitarian Council. Personality Dimensions uses colour designations to help people better understand their own personality type and preferences and more importantly those of others. Knowing how others work, their motivations, their needs and their styles is important as it helps us all to adapt in order to build more harmonious and effective teams.
Some children whose parents separate and divorce later find themselves with two moms, as their birth father finds a new partner or wife. Tadhg and his brother Ciaran, however, have had their two moms since birth, with both Lisa and Lita (who are their moms)and no father, mentioned on their birth certificates! What is it like, growing up with two moms? Members' Annual General Meeting is at 12 noon, in Stoddard Hall, served with salads, right after the service. Info: 819-842-4146.
"Last words: How to plan your own memorial or celebration of life, and a leave a spiritual legacy." Rev. Carole Martignacco is the pastor of UUEstrie, and has developed an expertise in facilitating personalized ceremonies.
This is the last in "Happy Endings," a series of five workshops at the Uplands Cultural & Historical Centre, 9 Speid St., Lennoxville, from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. Info: 819-842-4146.
A participatory service where all are welcome to share a thought, an anecdote, a prayer, for a father figure in their lives. Bring a photo or other artifact to share, if you like. We shall try to acknowledge the many dimensions of fatherhood, and wish to welcome especially single and co-parenting fathers on this day. (bilingual)
YOU are invited to come celebrate the summer solstice with a dinner and silent auction on Friday, June 19, at 6 p.m. The evening consists of cocktails and a home-cooked dinner featuring chicken with abundant accompaniments, plus vegetarian and gluten-free options. It’s a bring-your-own-wine event, with background music and a silent auction of services and classy items. Donnie Rittenhouse is in charge of the silent auction. The auction includes gift certificates from golf courses in the area, as well as other selected businesses. Door prizes are also planned.
All is for the benefit of the UUEstrie and to help victims of the Nepal earthquakes. Ten percent of the proceeds are earmarked for USC-Canada. That is a Unitarian Universalist organization that has been working for decades with local farmers in the Rasuwa region of Nepal. “This region has been hit hard by the earthquakes, with serious damage to property and livestock. Our donations will help restore family farms and rebuild farmhouses,” said Rev. Carole Martignacco, UUEstrie pastor. For more information, visit http://usc-canada.org/.
UUEstrie is located in a centenarian wood-panelled church building at 201 Main St., North Hatley. It was once the First Universalist Church of North Hatley, a parish founded in 1870.
But the celebration is also for the fun of it. For information or to get tickets ($30), call 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca. The deadline for registration is June 14. All are welcome.
"Bequests: How to give to your favourite charity AND leave all your money to your children." Mr. Alain Lévesque of the DeVimy Group Inc. has presented widely on this topic and authored several books, including "The Orchard: Leave a legacy - make a difference."
This is the fourth in "Happy Endings," a series of five workshops at the Uplands Cultural & Historical Centre, 9 Speid St., Lennoxville, from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. Info: 819-842-4146.
Guylaine Cliche is a Sherbrooke humanitarian with a passion for empowering homeless women, getting them off the streets and into higher education, helping them take control of their lives. She has written a book and produced a DVD and will share interviews with young women and speak about her new foundation, The Compassion Clan. The offering will be for The Compassion Clan.
Listen to Audio file: 150614-Helping The Homeless.mp3
Jacques Laberge of the Cass Funeral Homes based in Lennoxville will discuss alternative, environmentally friendly burials, and options available locally.
This is the third in "Happy Endings," a series of five workshops at the Uplands Cultural & Historical Centre, 9 Speid St., Lennoxville, from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays. Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. Info: 819-842-4146.
Lawrence Mysak is Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill. He notes that Northern Hemisphere warming during the past 50 years has had a significant impact on the length of the outdoor skating season in Canada. Dr. Mysak will review climate change over the history of the Earth, the relatively large and rapid global warming that has occurred during the industrial revolution, possible consequences of global warming, and what we can do to slow it down.
The final in a series of programmes consisting of a talk (in French this time) and mini concert focused on composer/musicians who flourished in their later years. William Bennett and James Galway are geniuses of the flute. Followed by a light lunch. Free for seniors over 60; a small charge for others. Series produced by Pauline Farrugia.
Me. Tim Leonard, notary in Lennoxville, will discuss wills, living wills, incapacity mandates, do-not-resuscitate orders, and related legal issues.
This is the second in "Happy Endings," a series of five workshops at the Uplands Cultural & Historical Centre, 9 Speid St., Lennoxville, from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m., Mondays. Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. Info: 819-842-4146.
Reflections on a visit to a small island in a far region of the mind, evaluated to be the most environmentally sustainable country in the world.
Dying with Dignity recommended this documentary made in 2011, when it won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award. The film follows a few families in Oregon who choose to end their lives. Oregon was the first state in the United States to legalize assisted dying.
This is the first in "Happy Endings," a series of five workshops at the Uplands Cultural & Historical Centre, 9 Speid St., Lennoxville. Free of charge. Suggested donation for refreshments: $2. Info: 819-842-4146.
Small but mighty - we do so many things and have some really great "Fun" raising ideas for refinement - ideas that are fun for us and interesting for our friends, are different from what others are already doing, are in keeping with our values, and can contribute to the cultural life of our community. Find out what's going on, and what you would enjoy doing. We invite your input!
Rev. Carole will return to North Hatley during the conference to speak to the theme of the CUC Annual Conference and Meeting, May 15–17, 2015, in Ottawa that brings together Canadian Unitarians and Universalists of all ages to explore how we live out our faith as engaged and compassionate global citizens.
Today is Mothers' Day. We invite any and all to bring a photo or other artifact representative of a mother figure dear to them, and share the story in some way.
Beltane is the Gaelic May Day festival. Most commonly it is held on April 30, but sometimes on May 1st, or about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.
Now that the weather is warmer, all who can make it are invited to join us for a couple hours any time after 9 am for the annual spring cleanup of our building and grounds. A list of jobs, and cleaning materials, will be available in the downstairs kitchen.
Another in a series of programmes consisting of a talk (in English this time) and mini concert focused on composer/musicians who flourished in their later years. Followed by a light lunch. Free for seniors over 60; a small charge for others. Series produced by Pauline Farrugia.
Robin Cappuccino travels twice a year to visit 1,300 formerly destitute children now cared for in Child Haven International’s Children’s Homes in South Asia with his mother, Bonnie, Child Haven’s International Director. His father, Fred, oversees Child Haven’s office attached to Bonnie and Fred’s home in Maxville, Ontario. Bonnie is 81 and Fred is 89. Robin will share some of the stories, challenges and inspirations he has encountered while trying to keep up with their antics.
Many customs we celebrate in spring derive from early cultural understandings of our Earth and humanity's place in relation to nature and the cycles of life. Out of our contemporary wisdom of Earth as a fragile system, profoundly inter-related in a vast cosmic web of life, what new customs and legends might tell the relevant Spring story of our time?
All who can make it are invited to join us for a couple hours any time after 9 am for the annual spring cleanup of our building and grounds. A list of jobs, and cleaning materials, will be available in the downstairs kitchen.
An 80-minute film documenting an ordinary guy born in the USA of Indian parents who starts out exploring the phenomenon of 'fake' gurus and in the process turns himself into an effective guru and healer named Kumaré. We shall watch the film together and save some time for discussion afterward.
Another in a series of programmes consisting of a talk (in English this time) and mini concert focused on composer/musicians who flourished in their later years. Dr. Eby's talk will be accompanied by excerpts from Verdi's opera Otello, on DVD. Followed by a light lunch. Free for seniors over 60; a small charge for others. Series produced by Pauline Farrugia.
Spring is a welcome season, a season of joy and rebirth, freedom, community, and gratitude, in all faith calendars. Around a large table we shall experience the joy of liberation in a UU version of the ritual Jewish celebration of the Passover Seder.
The Board of Trustees invites you to our annual Pledge Dinner. The menu will be home-cooked and served with love by your very own board members. We will have a mystery entertainment, something a little different, something fun. And a short but meaty PowerPoint report on the results of our three research groups (investments, parsonage, fundraising). Please join us!
We inherit from the ancient Romans annual customs of celebrating the silly, the madcap and ridiculous, overturning the usual order of things, in a spirit of mayhem and merry-making as the year turns. Join us for some holy madness, as we look at traditions of sacred humour across the world and celebrate what makes us laugh.
In 2011, Susan Macaulay left her job and business in the United Arab Emirates to return to North Hatley to accompany her elderly mother who is living with the brain disease known as Alzheimer's. She will share her story and the insights she has gained over the last several years, particularly the joy that is possible even as the disease progresses.
See Post by Susan, describing her talk, with links to her website, myalzheimersstory.com.
"Imagine standing in front of a stained glass window in the cathedral of the world. The light outside signifies whatever is most holy, whatever is true, whatever is of ultimate importance; the colors of the window signify the faith you were raised in." This image invites us to reflect on the relationship of the world's religions to one another and to Unitarian Universalism.
Reverend Brendan Hadash, who served UUEstrie in the 1980s, is now retired and living in St. Johnsbury VT.
All religious traditions have some prescription for surrender. If not to God, Allah, or something holy - what about to life in general, forces beyond our control, letting go of the ego, and finding a peace that passes understanding? What would surrender look like for UUs?
Today is also International Women's Day.
Speaker: Dr. François de Médici. Prélude, chorale and fugue: Tristan Longval-Gagné, piano. Another in a series of programmes consisting of a talk (in French this time) and mini concert focused on composer/musicians who flourished in their later years. Series produced by Pauline Farrugia. Speaker at 11 a.m., concert at 11:30 a.m., light lunch at 12 noon. Reservations required: 819-842-1072. Free for age 60+. Tickets: $12 for general public, or $8 for students.
This Sunday we shall let humour be the instrument nourishing our souls. All are invited to bring a joke or two that you could share with everyone. If you can't come up with one we shall have some extra jokes on hand that you could use. If you prefer not to tell, just come and laugh!
As a member of the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC), UUEstrie is asked for feedback on four draft resolutions for the CUC's 2015 AGM: (1) Abortion rights; (2) Clean air, water and soil; (3)Divestment from fossil fuel investments; (4) Truth and reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians. We will read and comment on them.
This Sunday's offering is for the Sharing Our Faith fund of the CUC, for worthwhile projects in Canadian congregations. Please give generously.
Nourishing the spirit through fun and games with children and adults. Our once-a-year dedication of a Sunday to interacting with the various children of our community in the spirit of play. Bring a board game if the spirit moves you.
Once again for the eighth time, Works In Progress is dishing out a night of home grown entertainment to warm your heart this Valentine's day.
A free will offering will be accepted in return for song and dance. 8-9 performers will pour their hearts out in a cozy coffee house atmosphere There will be an exotic, romantic menu offered at very reasonable prices for those who wish to come early and grab a loving spoonful before the show. Doors will open at 6:00 pm. (This is also a good opportunity to get a good seat.) For more information contact Debra.
The beginning of February brings celebrations of early signs of returning life stirring around us. Imbolc is the Celtic name for this celebration of the white goddess. How do we humans open ourselves to the quickening of the life-stirring spirit within, among, between, and beyond us?
Abigail Stockman is a UU minister living in Irasburg VT. She last spoke to us about her Prison ministry.
Listen to Audio file: 150208-Mother Earths Quickening.mp3
A talk, and short concert focused on a composer/musician who flourished in their later years, followed by a light lunch. Free for seniors over 60; a small charge for others. Part of a series produced by Pauline Farrugia.
Marie-Claude Cantin is a local resident, a yoga teacher, and a practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine. "What's that?" you say. Come and find out!
Listen to Audio file: 150201-Ayurvedic Medicine.mp3
A brief talk, followed by actual writing exercises for all. Feel the therapeutic and revelatory qualities of simply writing.
What does it mean to gather as a congregation? What are we doing when we agree to live in community? Why do we do it? Who do we serve? These four questions are important ones for congregations to consider: knowing the answers can help us build the solid foundation we know we need to ensure congregational vitality. Building on her time, yesterday, with the Board of Directors, Rev. Linda Thomson, from the Canadian Unitarian Council, will reflect on these questions.
Listen to Audio file: 150118-Linda Thompson.mp3
Linda Thomson will be with us this Saturday for an all-day board orientation and retreat, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the morning will be an orientation to current Board policies, committee mandates and expectations – with discussion for clarifications. Then in the afternoon Linda will provide training regarding boards and processes, and share ideas for best practices. Although this orientation is for board members, all are welcome!
A morning worship consisting entirely of Stories, told by members and friends augmented by special guests from the Townships Tellers. If you would like to tell, just speak to Keith Baxter. A potluck lunch will follow the storytelling service; all are welcome to stay for lunch, and invited if they can, to bring a 'pot' to share.
We wish you the very best this holiday season. Our next service is on January 11, 2015. You are very welcome!
We wish you the very best this holiday season. Our next service is on January 11, 2015. You are very welcome!
With guest musicians Donald Patriquin and Catherine Walker. Songs and readings to evoke diverse traditions of the world at this time, and especially the love, peace and joy that is Christmas. Bring hats, scarves, mittens and other items of warmth to help trim our tree. A festive Wassail follows the service.
This is our annual seasonal community celebration with, this year, an original play which will include some musical offerings. It will be performed in our sanctuary and will be followed by a turkey supper downstairs in Stoddard Hall. Welcome and a Merry Christmas to one and all!
Christmas can be a tough time, stressful in its busy-ness, its compulsion to buying and spending. It can be lonely for those deprived of family and companionship, or who are experiencing hardships of any kind. Let us recognize December's dark as well as light, speak for simplicity and celebrate the true gifts we give each other in community.
Rev. Karen Tse is a UU minister and former defence attorney. In too many countries, it's still normal to torture prisoners for confessions and information. Tse works to end that, through International Bridges to Justice, complementing the work of Amnesty International. After a 13-minute TED Talk by Tse, we will participate in Amnesty International's annual "Write for Rights" campaign. Service Leaders: Rachel Garber and Adele Ernstrom. Music: Debra Fougère and friends.
The singers of Le Chœur des Sangs Mêlés will carry you off on a vocal journey to the four corners of the world, offering up captivating rhythms, exotic languages, thrilling harmonies . . . and incomparable energy rooted in diversity!
Unitarian Universalist Church of North Hatley, 201 Main St., North Hatley Suggested donation $12; proceeds to Avenir Togo Canada. There will be African crafts for sale at some of the shows, for the benefit of Togolese NGOs. Information: choeursangsmeles.ca
Baruch Spinoza, banished from the Jewish community of Amsterdam in 1656, at the age of 24. Among other ideas that continually got him into trouble with authorities, Spinoza insisted that reason and rational intuition were sources of knowledge on a par with the revelations of the Bible. Dr. Jamie Crooks is a professor of philosophy at Bishop's University.
After the service we move downstairs to continue winter services in Stoddard Hall.
Listen to Audio file: 141123-Dr Jamie Crooks.mp3
Our theme of the month is Courage. What does it take to live a life of courage? We often think of it as a response to threat. What are the real threats in our world, and how might we rise in courage to face and perhaps even transform them?
The speed and stress and fear and over-stimulation of contemporary society takes its toll. Especially on children.
Blondine Maurice leads workshops in Simplicity Parenting as well as Inner Clown Play. She was the pioneer Waldorf teacher in the Eastern Townships, starting 'l'0iseau d'or' kindergarten in her home in 1986. (L'Oiseau d'or later occupied our own Stoddard Hall for two years in 1990-92!) She lives in Montreal.
Listen to Audio file: 141109-Blondine Maurice.mp3
A serice in memory of friends and loved ones who have recently passed away. A joint service with l'Olivier, a francophone group devoted to the spiritual connection we have with the departed. Personal testimonies from everyone who would like to participate are welcome.
Julia Hamel is a young adult who has just returned from Sri Lanka. She will share her observations on its adjustment after years of internal war.
Each year we take one Sunday to recognize the goal of peace, justice and liberty for all people in all nations of the world. Today's collection will go to support the UU United Nations Office. The UU-UNO plays a major role among NGOs affiliated with the UN, and hosts a spring seminar for youth and adults in April each year.
Explore the Power of Song in our lives through words, silence and singing. Soulful Singing (singing meditation) moves us off the page, we go with the flow, become more fully present in the moment. No written Order of Service or hymnbook. Songs and chants are taught using the oral tradition with no accompaniment. All the familiar elements of a worship service will be here. Children age 12 + are welcome to stay for the service. You are invited to lean into this Sunday morning experience, embracing the moment-to-moment existence we share together.
Singing is good for the soul. Wendy is an experienced singer and chorister, who leads workshops designed to get everyone singing lustily, without fear. Various exercises will help us release our inner song, and improve our singing every week at worship! All members and friends are welcome to take part in this 2 1/2 hour session on Saturday evening. Members of the public are also welcome; we suggest a goodwill donation.
For our annual Thanksgiving service at the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, we welcome Rabbi Anna Maranta of Ottawa and Isaac Romanov of JCCET, who will celebrate with us themes of joy, gratitude and justice in the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Music by harpist Rev. Abigail Stockman. (Directions: At traffic circle Jct. 143/147, go south 1k on 147; church is on right across from bridge.)
This is a Sundance prize-winning feature-length documentary shot by a Palestinian farmer and amateur photographer. Another step in our study of the complicated issue of Peace in the Middle East.
At recent UU Estre Town Hall Meetings a longing has been expressed for finding some common cause for justice. What if, beyond our concern for the nation and the world, we might find our galvanizing project right under our own feet? Bring your good hearts and ideas; let's explore options for engagement here and now.
Listen to Audio file: 140928-Step By Step.mp3
Christina Reimer is a professor of religion at Bishop's University, with a particular interest in the phenomenon of Christian fundamentalism and its impacts on society.
Listen to Audio file: 140921-Dr Christina Reimer.mp3
To get a good table in the dining room, we may need reservations. But playing full out requires courageously dealing with whatever holds us back. What does it mean to live fully engaged, as if this is the only life there is?
Listen to Audio file: 140914-One Wild and Precious Life.mp3
We shall close our summer season with our traditional hike and outdoor worship and picnic lunch at the Jensen farm, 16 Bowen Rd. in Hatley. All welcome. No service in North Hatley-- just come directly to the farm for 10:30 am. Bring your picnic lunch or something to share. Reverend Carole will lead a water service on the lawn after the hike. To be noted: There are different options for hikes. One could take a leisurely stroll in the lane, or go on a longer or shorter hike to the maple woods on the ridge. All have possibilities of nice views.
Contemporary Worship with lots of music. A number of local musicians have been invited to give us an eclectic mix of spiritual songs, which will constitute the bulk of this fairly spontaneous and creative worship service.
Dr. Charles Larson, McGill University and UBC, is the director of the University of British Columbia's Centre for International Child Health. He has lived and worked in many countries in the field of community health, and will have many interesting insights to share.
Daniel Nerenberg is a former Townshipper now living in Washington DC. He has lived in Ramallah, and will have recently returned from another visit to Palestine. This will be another in our 2014 study series on the problem of achieving peace and justice in the Middle East.
In May of 1948, Israel declared itself an independent state for the Jewish people. The war that led to that moment also caused a catastrophe for the Palestinian people, 750,000 of whom became refugees. The central conundrum of 1948 is unique in the annals of history: Israel is simultaneously a victorious independence movement, and an aggressive colonial project.
Sixty-six years later, we are left with some important questions: Is the ongoing violence inevitable? Is peace on the horizon? What can we do to get involved? My talk begins with the founding conundrum, proceeds with the daily realities of military occupation today, and ends with a discussion on what we can do to help realize the ever-elusive peace.
We all live with constructs--ideas or thoughts which we hold to be true, but which are not based on empirical evidence. What are yours? What’s so true for you that you never even question it? Gabriella Brand will explore theories of social construct and bare her Unitarian soul.
Gabriella is a long-time friend of UUEstrie. A former school head and foreign language educator, she has been a Unitarian for over fifty years.
Claire Webster will be speaking predominantly from the caregiver's persepctive, and will welcome questions regarding the types of support services available to caregivers as well as any other questions related to this disease and the impact that it has on the individual and the family.
Listen to Audio file: 140803-Claire Webster-Alzheimers.mp3
Thomas Pick will tell his own family story, starting with his Jewish parents, who fled Czechoslovakia before the war and, upon arriving in Sherbrooke, hid their Jewishness and brought up their two sons as Christians. At the end of his talk, he will show an 18-minute film, made by one of his cousins, about growing up as a Christian and hiding her Jewish heritage. Thomas says that the movie could have been about him.
Listen to Audio file: 140727-Thomas Pick.mp3
Religion UU-style, without creed or dogma, grounds us in a social covenant based on Seven UU Principles that guide how we govern ourselves and relate to each other in community. Not the same as an authentically open spiritual path! Today's cutting edge UU spirituality is like a new alphabet - what would you include from A to Z?
UUEstrie Town Hall meeting: 12:30 p.m., Stoddard Hall. Who are we? Where are we going? How will we get there? Bring a brown-bag lunch and join us. All are welcome.
Listen to Audio file: 140720-A Spiritual Alphabet.mp3
Henry David Thoreau said, "If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment."
Bethany Knight, an annual visitor to our pulpit, returns with her reflections on the power and value of disappointment. Bethany is now living in Florida, but visiting back in Vermont, which allows us the privilege of having her visit UUEstrie.
After the service: UU Light - Tea and Conversation with the Minister in Stoddard Hall (downstairs). An open invitation to all visitors, friends and newcomers - members also welcome! Come enjoy an informal chat about Unitarian Universalism and the many ways of becoming involved in the UUEstrie community.
Reverend Ken MacLean has been visiting us in North Hatley for 50(!) years, now. It is always a joy to welcome him back for his annual visit.
After the worship service, we shall adjourn to Fellgarth Farm, the home of Wilhelm and Gudrun Brand, 3795 Rte 143, about 6 km south of North Hatley, for our annual summer picnic. All welcome. Bring your picnic lunch or something to share. Sunshine guaranteed.
Join the UUEstrie 'walking float' in the Canada Day parade in Hatley village. Our theme this year: Canada Strong and Free for All Species. If you can walk with us, or help us make signs please speak to Phyllis Baxter. "We're all a family under one sky."
Colin Standish is a native Townshipper graduating in Law from Université Laval. He is a keen student of Québec society and political affairs.
After this morning's service, at 12:30, the Annual General Meeting of UUEstrie will be held in Stoddard Hall.
After the AGM there will be a benefit concert in our sanctuary at 3pm, featuring Maude Lussier of the Estrie Wind Ensemble
Listen to Audio file: 140629-Language Rights And Myths.mp3
CANADIAN DOUBLES! – The Suzanne Sheridan Band performs "The Music of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen" with Sheridan on vocals and guitar; Bob Cooper of Westport, CT on keyboards; sax/flute/clarinet player Ruth Ahlers of Norwalk; and percussionist Marshal Rosenberg of New York City. FUNDRAISER for UUEstrie - get tickets through us for only $20 instead of $25! info@uuestrie.ca
This is another in an ongoing series at UUEstrie exploring the question of achieving Peace in the Middle East. Tikkun is the newsletter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, based in San Francisco. They have produced a thorough 9-point peace plan, all of which is absolutely necessary if there is ever to be a lasting peace in the Middle East.
Listen to Audio file: 140622-Tikkun Peace Plan.mp3
A day to honour fathers. All are welcome to bring a photo or other artifact if they would like, and to share memories and pay homage to their fathers, or a father figure in their lives.
A concert of lively and beautiful choral music of a special quality, from a variety of traditions and styles, sung a capella by a touring group of young adults, alumni of the Village Harmony singing camp in Vermont. Free will donation at the door. For all.
To survive and thrive as a faith of our times, we can no longer afford to remain simply a “religious alternative” to the mainstream, a “refuge” for those seeking freedom from doctrine and dogma. Religion is about connection, about community, about meeting the needs for belonging and living meaningful lives. Our challenge: how to transform ourselves to remain relevant to the changing world.
At 12:30, the second UUEstrie Town Hall Meeting is planned in Stoddard Hall. Bring your "brown bag" lunch. The meeting will last 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Topic: Why are we here, and where are we going?
Listen to Audio file: 140608-Beyond the Steeple.mp3
Mark will explore how one of Canada’s most distinguished poets could also be responsible for the Indian residential school policy and the destruction of Aboriginal cultures and languages. How could Scott do what he did?
Mark is a writer and columnist for the Montreal Gazette. His latest book is on Duncan Campbell Scott.
Listen to Audio file: 140601-Mark Abley.mp3
Denise (Denny) Davidoff lives in Connecticut. For a number of years she served as Moderator for the Unitarian Universalist Association, based in Boston. In retirement she travels North America to speak at UU congregations and events, and lends her energy to support Meadville Lombard Theological School, a training ground for UU ministers. She helped to fund and to launch the independence of the Canadian Unitarian Council from the UUA in 2003.
A story of cultivating creativity, self-awareness and personal satisfaction. Annis is a Townshipper ending a multi-year stint as General Manager of the SRC at Bishop's University, while exploring the art of thesis writing.
Town hall meeting. After the morning service, the Board of Trustees invites members and friends to a discussion of the future of UUEstrie. We'll take a look at our current budget, but will also look at the bigger picture. Within the context of our limited resources, what are our priorities? What is our raison d'être? How can we creatively face the congregation's challenges?
The meeting will be about an hour long - 90 minutes, absolute maximum. We invite you to bring a brown-bag lunch, and join us downstairs in Stoddard Hall. A short coffee hour will be downstairs after the service, leading into lunch and then the Town Hall Meeting!
This is the first step in our follow-up to Linda Thomson's workshop. We are approaching it in a spirit of shared respect for each other and the mission of our congregation. We sincerely hope you will join us. Rachel Garber, President
Listen to Audio file: 140525-Annis Karpenko.mp3
...as we are invited to join with UUs from across Canada assembled for worship in Montreal at the Sheraton Dorval at 10:30 am.
The occasion is the Annual Conference and Meeting of the Canadian Unitarian Council, whose theme is 'Building Beloved CommUUnity: Sacred Spaces beyond Walls'. Visit cuc.ca for details. If Montreal seems too far to go for Sunday worship, may we suggest First Universalist Parish, 112 Main in Derby Line VT, where worship begins at 10:00 am
Mother's Day we honour those who have nurtured us and given the gift of life. It's also a good time to look at family systems, the contexts in which we become who we are. The work of a lifetime is to somehow put together the myriad pieces of our lives, from birth onward. Meaning emerges as each piece clicks into place.
Listen to Audio file: 140511-Mothers Day.mp3
It is easily shown that contemporary Western civilization is unsustainable on ecological grounds. So what happens next?
Another "day" 9 a.m. to 12 noon, for volunteers among our members and friends to come out and put in a couple hours shining up the DOWNSTAIRS of our church building. Come any time after 9 am. Thank you for your help!
Coffee and juice provided. Muffins are welcome.
The second in our series of informative sessions exposing us to the struggle for peace in the Middle East. Pina Feiller is a 91-year-old Israeli who has been an activist inside Israel most of her life. We shall view a 55-minute documentary film of her life.
On this Earth Day, we bear witness, along with other religious congregations in the area, to the fact that CO2 in the atmosphere has reached 400ppm,a level unmatched since millions of years ago.
Come at 10:45, to get organized for the bell ringing, which starts at 11 a.m.
Climate change "by its nature" includes and supersedes all other pressing issues of our day, even - though it's hard to admit - Quebec Election outcomes. Since the first Earth Day in 1970 marked an emerging awareness of environmental concerns, faith communities throughout the world have developed diverse responses to this escalating crisis of our time.
Sponsored by UUEstrie and Child Haven International. Reserved tickets in advance: $50 with a $25 tax receipt. Larger donations are welcome (tickets suggest a sliding scale of $50 to $75). The Indian Dinner will be at Restaurant Shalimar, 263 Queen, Lennoxville, at 6pm, April 15, 2014, and will feature a presentation by Robin Cappuccino. Speak to Keith Baxter, 819-346-8273, or visit www.childhaven.ca and click on Lennoxville.Apr15 for tickets and information.
Child Haven operates Homes for over 1300 formerly destitute children in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Tibet. The Homes provide food, education, healthcare, shelter, clothing and loving care. Child Haven is a registered Canadian charity (1985) founded by Bonnie and Fred Cappuccino, recipients of the Order of Canada and the United Nations Humanitarian Service Award.
Many of us experience Unitarian Universalism, when we first find it, as ‘coming home’. But consider this: We can have Unitarian Universalist understandings, but we’re not really UU until we are in relationship with others. In the absence of a creed, all we have, at the core of each of our congregations is a covenant. Today we’ll pick up on yesterday’s workshop on Right Relations and consider the powerful beating heart of our tradition and this community.
Listen to Audio file: 140413-Linda Thomson-Covenant.mp3
Linda Thomson is a resource person for congregational development at the Canadian Unitarian Council. Her workshop is from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Avery Booth Hall, upstairs. It is free of charge and open to all members and friends.
She says, "The way we do things in congregations; make decisions, deal with diverse opinions, and manage relationships are key expressions of our values. They communicate, both internally and to others, who we really are. Therefore it is important that the members of congregations consider these matters before they find themselves managing significant decisions and the challenges that accompany them. In the workshop we’ll work to develop some guidelines for decision making and for relationships, so that we understand our aspirations and so that we can help one another to meet them."
Robin Cappuccino of Child Haven. He is the first born and third eldest of Bonnie and Fred’s 21 children, will share stories and reflect on family - both immediate and universal, including recollections of being a “PK” or preacher's kid at the Lakeshore UU Congregation in Pointe Claire QC. Child Haven now provides homes for 1,300 formerly destitute children.
Listen to Audio file: 140406-Robin Cappuccino-MP3 File.mp3
Spring Cleanup time! All members and friends are invited for a work party cleaning up our UPPER level. It's from 9 a.m. to noon. Come any time after 9 am and stay for an hour or two or as long as you like. Mary Lynn will have a list of jobs that need doing. We will be working upstairs because of flooding repairs to be done downstairs.
Coffee and juice will be provided. Muffins are welcome!
If you're not free to come on this day, no worries; there will be another clean-up day on April 19!
Israel and Palestine need peace, security, prosperity and nationhood. "If every nation in the world set a true course for freedom; if every nation raised its children in a culture of peace..."
Jerzy will show one or two documentary films made by Israelis on the inside, seeking the just peace we all seek for the Middle East
In honour of spring, Le Chœur des Sangs Mêlés presents a concert of (mainly) a cappella songs from the peoples of the earth. From Norway to Zimbabwe, from Chile to Ukraine, here are rituals of rebirth and paeans of rejoicing; hymns of unity and connection; calls for change; and appeals to our shared humanity – because, like ice in the sun, the walls within our hearts must surely melt away! Suggested donation: $12.
We're not lost in the universe; we're right here. How come?
Listen to Audio file: 140316-Lucky To Be Here.mp3
The community to be viable must care for itself. Dian Cohen is a leader of a local ad hoc citizens' group trying to bring a medical center to Ayer's Cliff, in order that residents of the south Massawippi area might have access to General Practitioners and first line medical care in the local area.
NB: Daylight Saving Time begins this morning; our clocks spring forward one hour. Don't forget, or you'll miss the service!
Listen to Audio file: 140309-Dr Dian Cohen.mp3
A participatory service.
Unitarian Universalists are a social-justice-minded community. As part of 'CUC month' (February), we will learn about and discuss a few social justice resolutions from across Canada to be brought before the annual general meeting of the Canadian Unitarian Council. The meeting is to be May 16-18 in Montreal. The delegates will want your views!
UUEstrie aspires to be a genuine multigenerational community. One way we try to advance this is by dedicating one Sunday morning each winter to simply playing with the children in our midst. This Sunday, adults and kids will mingle in a number of games, giving the kids a chance to get to know the adults better, and vice versa. Play is good for the soul!
Rev. Brendan Hadash used to serve UUEstrie as a part-time minister in the 1980s, and now in retirement, lives in Vermont. In his sermon he will elucidate what he is certain of in the areas of math, geometry, physics, philosophy, the world, morality, etc.
We also celebrate this Sunday as Sharing Our Faith Sunday. and shall dedicate the offering plate to the Sharing Our Faith fund of the Canadian Unitarian Council.
UUEstrie is a tiny island in a small sea of UU congregations in Canada that stretches from coast to coast. Once each year we celebrate the larger community of Unitarian Universalism of which we are a part, and donate to a fund that makes grants for projects in congregations across the country that might never come to fruition without this external funding. UUEstrie has benefited a number of times from this fund. Please be generous. To make your donation tax-receiptable, you must simply identify yourself as donor in some way, e.g. on an envelope, or on your cheque, or by donating on-line through our website.
Listen to Audio file: 140209-Brendan Hadash.mp3
One of the reasons why Spiritual Communities everywhere gather in worship, is to seek Truth together.
In her talk this Sunday, Scosha Merovitz, Chair of Mathematics, and Director of the Math help center at Bishop's University, will explore the meaning of truth under the axiomatic method. For examples, she will look at two of the most controversial topics in mathematics and the history of truth--infinity, and Euclidean geometry. Mathematics certainly has profound things to say about what it means for humans to truly know something. But how can we, or can we, apply mathematical reasoning to faith and religion?
Most religions have a tradition that recognizes the need for reconciliation and healing when human limitations surface within the context of community. We often say we UUs don't do guilt - but do we do forgiveness? Can we afford not to?
Listen to Audio file: 140126-Universal Forgiveness.mp3
A Sunday worship devoted entirely to the telling of stories, a universal path to wisdom and inner peace. Special guests: the Townships Tellers, a storytelling group based in Lennoxville. If you bring a story to tell, just speak to the service leader before the service begins.
All are invited to remain and join the Tellers for a potluck lunch in the same parish hall following the service.
There are two kinds of entrepreneurs. There are your capitalist entrepreneurs who innovate to make more money. And another kind, who operate in a diametrically opposed direction, seeking only to make a living by adapting their economy to the resources that are available, instead of the other way around. This latter kind is a womb to human creativity, constantly finding and enabling different ways of being creative, while living peaceful, constructive lives.
Kalends is a Roman word that means calendar. We celebrate the turning of the year as a time of renewal and revisioning. If so moved, bring your resolutions for the new year.
No service today. We hope you have a happy new year.
Enjoy a service of carols with guest musicians, then a Wassail in the adjoining hall. Welcome to all!
Celebrate the season with story, song and poetry. Welcome IN A CHORD, a visiting trio led by Donald Patriquin. Welcome Louise de Bruin from the Townships Tellers. And bring HUGS.
That's Hats, Underwear, Gloves (or mittens), and Socks and Scarves - please bring NEW warm items of clothing. They will decorate the tree, then be given to the "Walk in My Shoes: HUGS for the homeless" program of Mental Health Estrie (MHE). MHE says "Each year the homeless shelter in Sherbrooke assists approx. 600 clients. Of this, 75% of men and 90% of women are dealing with persistent mental illness. HUGS is the annual outreach project of Mental Health Estrie, our opportunity to let homeless people know that someone is thinking of them."
After the service is the annual Turkey Supper (downstairs). The supper is NOT pot-luck this year. To help cover costs, participants are asked to pay $6 per person, or $20 per family. Also, please bring a donation of money or non-perishable food items for the Cornerstone Food Bank.
All are invited to hear a short description of some current Amnesty causes. These include individual prisoners of conscience as well as a campaign called "Open for Justice" which advocates for allowing victims of Canadian corporate injustices abroad to pursue justice in Canadian civil courts.
A "Write For Rights" will finish the service. Individual letters for each cause will have already been written. People will have the possibility of signing these letters, adding their own messages to these letters, or completely writing their own letter.
We are moving quickly toward the "tipping point" in the balance of light and darkness. As Earth's cycles change, how are we affected, mentally, physically, spiritually? Celebrate the Solstice in all it's deeper meanings with poetry, story and song.
Listen to Audio file: 131201-Balancing the Light and Dark.mp3
The Dalai Lama said "My religion is kindness." But kindness is hard. Its nice to be nice to the nice, but to the not so nice not so much. How to do this? Why bother?
Listen to Audio file: 131124-Maggie Tuck-Buddhism.mp3
La réunion mensuelle du Cercle gaulois UU aura lieu dans le International Centre, sur le campus de l'Université Bishop's, de 20h à 21h15. Il s'agit d'un groupe de discussion sur de différentes questions religieuses et spirituelles. Info auprès du coordonnateur: M. Matthew Peros, matthew.peros@ubishops.ca.
Peebles is a small rural town in Southern Scotland. King David 1 granted it a Royal Burgh Charter in 1140. International attention was focused on the town and its annual Beltane Festival activities. Traditionally, a children’s fancy dress parade was a part of the activities for over 100 years. In 1991 widespread protestations arose over a number of child participants who would be in “blackface” and dressed as golliwogs, a minstrel/samboesque image.
Numerous social, racial, cultural dimensions that surrounded this incident will be presented.
Robert MacGregor is a retired professor of marketing from Bishop's University. His research has covered a number of instances of poor taste and racism in the advertising industry, which, interestingly and sadly, have become embedded in Western culture.
How shall we honour those whose lives are sacrificed to preserve the freedoms of others? Fighting for peace, in the long history of humankind, seems rarely to have accomplished its task. Is a Department of Peace possible?
Listen to Audio file: 131110-Waging Peace.mp3
This service will be a completely participatory service honoring those who were close to us who have departed this life in the past year or more, for those who wish to celebrate an older memory. Depending on the number of people who attend and testify, the service will likely be up to two hours long, followed by refreshments. All are welcome to bring a photo or other artefact of significance and prepare to light a candle and share a few words about a person who has passed away.
For this commemorative service we will be welcoming our wider community of friends from l'Olivier, the groupe d'ètude de la vie après la mort, from la société Anthroposophique, La Traversée, the community of the school les Enfants de la Terre, and others.
The service will be bilingual, with everyone encouraged to speak the language of their choice.
Whose judgement of art should be considered authoritative, that of critics or that of artists? In Victorian England the question was hotly contested. It figured in a famous libel suit in which J.A.M. Whistler defended his Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket as embodying the knowledge of his lifetime as an artist--this against John Ruskin's charge that Whistler had merely flung a pot of paint in the public's face.
Another exploration of the issue shifted ground slightly to consider whether the value of art lay in what was proper to it--the artist's means--or whether concept in art was paramount; in the latter case any generally educated person could judge. Elizabeth Eastlake argued the former position with verve in the Quarterly Review, an influential organ of opinion. She there challenged Ruskin's view that the thought, or idea, in art is everything and the artist's means simply a vehicle for that content.
We look at the outcome of this contest.
This Sunday, Jonathon will share his experiences of clowning to prevent Cholera, clowning for the elderly and kids with HIV, joining a theatre company in Sri Lanka to tackle heroin-use and young girls being sold into marriage, clowning in a Mumbai slum, and his most recent experience of being kidnapped and married off by a large group of wild African ladies.
He is guaranteed to make you laugh while challenging how our economy, our global banking, our investment opportunities and our aid are affecting the less fortunate he has been fortunate enough to live and clown with.
Jonathon would especially appreciate children to be present for his story!
The plate collection for this Sunday will be a special collection for the UU United Nations Office. UUUNO is one of many NGOs affiliated with the United Nations, and is one of the most active in organizing for human rights internationally, including especially at this time the rights of Gay and Lesbian persons who find themselves persecuted in a number of countries.
Our Thanksgiving worship service is a harvest communion in the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147 in Huntingville. No service in North Hatley this day.
Thomas Jefferson, author of the American Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the State of Virginia, and founder of the University of Virginia,once said that every democracy needed a revolution every seven years or so, to break the shackles of accumulated power, and restore true democracy. He was a radical free thinker, for sure. One of his productions was a severe editing of the New Testament Bible to rid it of superstition and dogma, and retain only the essential teachings of Jesus.
Allen Yale is an elder of First Universalist Parish of Derby Line, Vermont. This is Allen's first visit to our pulpit.
Listen to Audio file: 131006-The Jefferson Bible.mp3
From the age of 7, Ena Greyeyes was forcibly removed from her family in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan and placed in a residential school for 13 years, completely cut off from her parents, her culture, her language, her world. Following that time she had a choice to make about whether to use that sorrowful experience in a destructive or a constructive way. Repressed for years, her voice returned in her 60th year.
Listen to Audio file: 130929-A Story of Struggle and Survival.mp3
Sukkot is called variously “The Festival of Booths” or “The Season of Our Joy”. With the help of our Jewish friends in faith, from B'nai Or in Montreal and the JCCET community here in L'estrie, we celebrate this important Jewish harvest festival, giving thanks for the bounty of the Earth. Ours is an intergenerational service in which we will gather around our own Sukkah, or temporary dwelling and share a potluck feast. Please bring an uncooked vegetable to exchange.
Listen to Audio file: 130922-Sukkot.mp3
One person's journey to a spirituality that has become a weekly covenant. Keith will deliver his take on this homily which was originally presented to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Vancouver by Geoffrey Gomery. What is Church? What is community? And why bother?
Listen to Audio file: 130915-On Community.mp3
This Sunday, we gather at the Jensen farm, 16 Bowen Rd., in Hatley, at 10:30 am for a hike on a trail in the woods, followed by an informal water communion service on the lawn at 11:30, followed by a potluck/picnic on the lawn at 11:50. All are welcome to participate in any part of the festivities and fellowship, as we seek joy together in the splendid out of doors.
The 'water communion' is a relaxed ritual where each of us is invited to bring some special water evocative of a special place or a special time that we have experienced in recent months. Spare 'symbolic water' will be available. We then mix our waters together in a large bowl to signify the many streams of thought and experience that join in our community.
Severe weather plan: assemble at the church for 10:30; to be announced last hour on the website if needed. Otherwise there will be no service at our meeting house in North Hatley on this Sunday.
We will be joined by Curtis Murphy, a theological education student for the UU Ministry from Montreal. Curtis is currently involved particularly with UU Ministry for the Earth.
There are many olive oils to choose from. Jill Hertog will tell us how to choose the olive oil that is both environmentally sound and gives one the best in healthy antioxidants anti inflammatories and taste.
Launched in 2003 in Philadelphia and celebrated on September 12 in the years since as a global holiday in response to acts of violence, the theme of Interdependence Day is regeneration, calling the world to reflect on our necessary solidarity and interconnectedness for survival. Today we invoke our own 7th UU Principle which affirms our place in the web of life.
Listen to Audio file: 130825-Interdependence.mp3
How do we cope with events that shock or horrify us? Do we use teddy bears or send care packages? Do we pick up a hammer, make art, make casseroles or hug strangers? Do we keep calm and carry on? Do we run toward the grief or away from it?
Jane Cameron worked as a Grief Counselor and director of curriculum for the Bereavement Center of Westchester, New York. She has published materials and led these groups for 17 years.
Today she will share her reflections on how children grieve differently from adults; how their yearnings, needs and strengths can be honoured within both family-based and school-based support groups; as well as some of the art projects, writing exercises, games and readings that have been helpful.
Listen to Audio file: 130811-Jane Cameron.mp3
When we consider religion, without creed or hierarchy, what are we really talking about? When people say they are "spiritual but not religious", what are they rejecting?
Listen to Audio file: 130804-Rev Ken MacLean.mp3
Listen to Audio file: 130804-Nancys Kitchen Dedication.mp3
How can we engage in mutually respectful dialogue , find common cause, and collaborate across faith lines to effect meaningful change in the world? Rev. Carole will share insights from a fascinating 2-day conference held at McGill this past May, featuring presenters from federal and provincial governments, journalists and faith leaders from diverse religious traditions.
Listen to Audio file: 130728-Bridging the Secular Divide.mp3
It’s 2 guys on 2 pianos having way 2 much fun. Randy Vancourt and Mark Kersey. All the way from 2ronto, 2 The Piggery.
And us 2. Our challenge: Raise funds for UUEstrie by giving yourself and your friends way 2 much fun.
Aha – gottcha. You saw “pianos” and you thought “concert.” But no – think comedy! It’s an evening of high fun by 2 seasoned comedians. Think being in stitches, and think music 2. Think 2 pianos, think 2 many laughs. Think a 1-of-a-kind show filled with all kinds of music, laughs, flashy piano pieces, singalongs, and even championship yo-yo tricks.
Think about paying $5 less than the going rate for tickets for this 2 funny show. Only $20. And $8 of it comes right back to UUEstrie. Take a crowd with you!
Build your summer around That Special Moment, Thursday, July 25, at 8 p.m. And be there, with Randy and Mark, and their twin pianos 2, for The Original Canadian Dueling Pianos show.
Randy has performed all over North America, building up to this night. He co-created Radio Freaks. He has composed music for TV shows. Dudley the Dragon and Don’t Lick the Pig are just 2 of many. Check out www.randyvancourt.com.
Mark has pulled himself away from 6 years writing scripts and performing as Mark The Repairman on Mr. Dressup. He was the 1984 Canadian yo-yo champion, and recorded 5 albums with his children’s group The Stylamanders. Read all about it at 2pianos.homestead.com.
They’re ready for us! Are we ready for them? Please join the fun and help raise funds for the UUEstrie 2. Get tickets for yourself and your friends. Get them now. From Rachel. Call 819-300-2374, email Rachel@uuestrie.ca or nab me next Sunday. Bless you x 2.
Family violence, spousal abuse, and child abuse are a tragedy in our society. As these situations spiral out of control, we may not often think of the other helpless victim--the family pet.
There are pets in over half of homes where such violence occurs; these animals can become the target of abuse if the woman leaves. Threats are made in order to give the abuser psychological control over his victim, so that she is afraid to leave, for fear her pet may be hurt or killed.
Lois will discuss the situation of family pets in abusive households, statistics, options to protect these animals; and we will ask the question, where do we go from here?
Listen to Audio file: 130721-Dr Lois Saucke.mp3
Thursday July 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Piggery’s House & Garden Tour comes to UUEstrie!
Our historical Universalist church building will be part of this tour, with visitors arriving anytime from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Upstairs: An exquisite 19th century wood-panelled sanctuary and bell tower, with a tour guide researched and written by art historian Adele Ernstrom. At 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., she will also be available to explain the unique features of the building, and answer questions.
In the reception hall and downstairs: refreshments and a fascinating collection of items on silent auction for browsing and bidding.
FINAL DAY OF BIDDING!
Super Summer Silent Auction – Grand Finale, 5 to 6 p.m.
The tolling of the bell will announce the grand finale of this auction of antiques, art objects and curiosities. Animated by Mead Baldwin, it promises excitement, fun and lots of good deals.
When we speak about spirituality do we even know what we are talking about? Or do our conversations force us to face the limitations of words and ponder the ineffable? The French phrase “un certain je ne sais quoi” means “a certain I don’t know what.” It is a phrase that might prove helpful to Unitarian Universalists reflecting on the nature of spirituality where we accept that “what we don’t know” may be as important as “what we do know.” This morning we will ponder the nature of the spirit in the broadest of possible terms in ways that might include school spirit, camp spirit, team spirit or the holy spirit. We will also talk about the potential for spiritual growth when two languages or cultures meet and learn from each other. Rev. Chris Buice is pastor of Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is a regular visitor to the Province of Québec, but this will be his first visit to our community. Last summer he was 'Minister of the Week' for RE week at Ferry Beach, where he met our own RE Chair, Phyllis Baxter. He is also a friend of Rev. Ken MacLean, himself a loyal friend of UUEstrie, and whose first parish was in Knoxville. (Ken MacLean will be taking our pulpit on Aug. 4 this year.)
ALSO - SUPER SUMMER SILENT AUCTION
This silent auction of objets d’art, antiques and curiosities is a BENEFIT for the historic Unitarian Universalist church building, plus donations to the North Hatley Recreation Centre’s summer program for youth, and to student Louba Gubbins-Fougère for her study trip to Peru.
Bidding is open:
Sunday July 14, 12 to 2 p.m. & Thursday July 18, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Piggery's House & Garden Tour visits UUEstrie during the last day of the Silent Auction, Thursday July 18. The Grand Finale animated by Mead Baldwin is from 5 to 6 p.m.
Stop by and make your bids at your leisure, then come back and seal your deals.
Listen to Audio file: 130714-Spirit.mp3
This silent auction of objets d’art, antiques and curiosities is a BENEFIT for the historic Unitarian Universalist church building, plus donations to the North Hatley Recreation Centre’s summer program for youth, and to student Louba Gubbins-Fougère for her study trip to Peru.
Bidding is open:
July 13-14: Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 2 p.m. & Thursday July 18, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Piggery's House & Garden Tour visits UUEstrie during the last day of the Silent Auction, Thursday July 18. The Grand Finale animated by Mead Baldwin is from 5 to 6 p.m.
Stop by and make your bids at your leisure, then come back and seal your deals.
The word community, to a large extent, doesn’t mean the same thing today that it did even 20 years ago. As we move into an ever more virtual reality, what will happen to “real” reality and how we communicate within it? The art of letter-writing as a form of written communication has all but disappeared; is face-to-face verbal communication on its way to the realm of history? Susan-Lynn Johns is lay minister of our sister Universalist church just over the border in Derby Line. This will be her first visit to our pulpit. As a university communications professor, Susan-Lynn has observed our changing methods of making contact with each other for nearly 40 years . . . and she’s fascinated but perhaps a little frustrated by it all!
Today is also our annual PICNIC SUNDAY. After the 10 am worship service in our sanctuary, we shall adjourn to the Jensen farm, on Bowen Rd. in Hatley, for a picnic lunch. Bring your frisbees, your picnic lunch, outdoor games to play, even your bathing suits if you like (there is a pond). All are welcome.
ALSO - SUPER SUMMER SILENT AUCTION This silent auction of objets d’art, antiques and curiosities is a BENEFIT for the historic Unitarian Universalist church building, plus donations to the North Hatley Recreation Centre’s summer program for youth, and to student Louba Gubbins-Fougère for her study trip to Peru.
Bidding is open:
July 6-7 & 13-14: Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 2 p.m. & Thursday July 18, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Piggery's House & Garden Tour visits UUEstrie during the last day of the Silent Auction, Thursday July 18. The Grand Finale animated by Mead Baldwin is from 5 to 6 p.m.
Stop by and make your bids at your leisure, then come back and seal your deals.
NOTE: NEXT WEEK THE SERVICE BEGINS AT 10:30 A.M.
Listen to Audio file: 130707-Being CommUnitarian.mp3
Super Summer Silent Auction
This silent auction of objets d’art, antiques and curiosities is a BENEFIT for the historic Unitarian Universalist church building, plus donations to the North Hatley Recreation Centre’s summer program for youth, and to student Louba Gubbins-Fougère for her study trip to Peru.
Ice cream kick-off – Free Ice Cream Cones (while supplies last):
Saturday July 6, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Bidding is open:
July 6-7 & 13-14: Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 2 p.m. & Thursday July 18, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Piggery's House & Garden Tour visits UUEstrie during the last day of the Silent Auction, Thursday July 18.
The Grand Finale animated by Mead Baldwin is from 5 to 6 p.m.
Stop by and make your bids at your leisure, then come back and seal your deals.
Super Summer Silent Auction
This silent auction of objets d’art, antiques and curiosities is a BENEFIT for the historic Unitarian Universalist church building, plus donations to the North Hatley Recreation Centre’s summer program for youth, and to student Louba Gubbins-Fougère for her study trip to Peru.
Drop-off of Donations
Can you help? Donations of items for the silent auction are invited. If you have large items that need to be transported in a van, or want to drop off something, please call Mary Lynn Ross at 819-842-4177 or Sooky Dunton at 819-842-1042. DEADLINE FOR DONATIONS: Wednesday, July 3.
Please note that we cannot accept delivery of large furniture or appliances. However, if you have an interesting large item to donate, you are invited to submit a photograph and written description of it.
Donors of items which, together, sell for $50 or more may receive a charitable receipt for income tax purposes. To receive a receipt, the donor’s name and complete postal address are needed.
Kira, age 10 years, raised funds to provide scholarships for children in Nicaragua by baking, garage and book sales in her home town of Davis, California. She and her Dad, along with three other parents and children ages 10 to 14 years flew to South America to deliver their gift. While there the parents helped to build an addition to a school while the children helped with the fetching and carrying of materials. As well as teaching those children games for them to enjoy, Kira and friends are in a Spanish immersion program at their school. This will be a power point presentation.
Bethany Knight is an annual visitor to our pulpit. She is the daughter of a Unitarian Universalist minister, who taught her to spell God with two Os. She won a trip to India in 1970 that forever shaped her life; she has traveled there more than a dozen times. (About as many times as she has preached here in North Hatley!)
A published author and yoga teacher, Bethany and her husband, violinmaker Thurmond Knight, live in Glover, VT, during the lovely months of the year. In her talk this morning, Bethany reflects on simple practices for creating great meaning, every day.
Listen to Audio file: 130623-Bethany Knight.mp3
Personal testimony about our fathers. Everyone is welcome to offer a personal testimony about a father figure in their life.
In the language of your choice.
Mercy Chidi is a Kenyan advocate for "160 girls." The local grandmothers group organized this talk for other groups and the public as well. The audio file includes an introduction to the project, her talk, and the question & answer period.
Listen to Audio file: 130615-Grannies-Mercy Chidi-UUE.mp3
Village Harmony is a singing camp for youth and young adults based in Vermont. For over 20 years they have been taking their singers on tour in Northern New England, developing their voices, their repertoire and their professionalism. This will be their only Canadian stop on this tour.
Twenty voices ringing out acapella songs in English, everything from Gospel to Contemporary. Suggested donation: $12 at the door.
In our UU tradition of shared ministry, especially in Fellowships that are totally or largely lay-led , many of us act as ministers to to each other and to others. So just what does being ministers to each other require of us? A subtitle for this reflection might be: 'Shadow Selves and Higher Selves'.
Our culture, and often our friends and community consider ministers to be beacons, keepers of a higher standard. And we do bring our best gifts. So what do we do with the rest of ourselves when we seek to serve a community?
Kye Flannery is a student for the UU ministry, based in Boston. She is just completing a one-year internship at the First Unitarian Church of Ottawa, under Rev. John Marsh, where she has been reflecting a lot about ministry with a small 'm' and Ministry with a big 'M'.
Listen to Audio file: 130609-Im a Minister Not a Saint.mp3
It's not Quirks and Quarks, but pretty close. Patrick Labelle is a physicist who teaches at Champlain College and Bishop's University. He enjoys trying to translate Quantum Physics into terms that you and I can understand. And then trying to figure out what it all means.
Spring concert! Lune de miel will be a honeymoon indeed, featuring blossoms, birds and bees – and the “birds and the bees”! From Armenia to Sweden, South Africa to Peru to Tibet, here’s a basket of a cappella songs evoking the old spring festivals and fertility traditions, the fickle hummingbird and the traitorous cuckoo, roses, nightingales and the pleasures and sorrows of love.
Suggested donation $12
Saturday, June 1, 8 p.m.: Unitarian Universalist Church of North Hatley, 201 Rue Main, North Hatley
The proceeds of this concert will be divided between UUEstrie and the following organizations: Les AmiEs de la Terre and Carrefour de solidarité internationale.
We're looking forward to singing for you -- and please do tell your friends!
Carol, Cécile, Christine, Jacinthe, Manou, Marie-Chantal, Nathalie, Sangi and Sophie, joined by Alex, Louis, Maxime and Sébastien
Rev. Mead Baldwin, United Church of Canada (UCC) minister, and Rev. Carole Martignacco, Unitarian Universalist (UU minister), in dialogue, exploring our diversity and the common ground that connects our two religious traditions.
The church is located on Route 147 in Huntingville, Quebec.
No service today in North Hatley.
How do we differ? Where is our common ground?
On this Sunday, the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) as a national religious movement comes together in Calgary for its Annual Conference and Meeting and a worship service attended by UUs from congregations all across Canada. Rev. Carole will share materials she helped develop for the Exploring Our Theological Diversity full-day program stream, with opportunities for interactive participation.
Listen to Audio file: 130519-CUC Conference Theme.mp3
A day honouring our foremothers, inviting testimony from anyone about mother figures in their lives.
Listen to Audio file: 130512-Mothers Day.mp3
Milestones are important; we look back to remember in order to look forward and imagine. Visiting UU and interfaith clergy are our honoured guests, as is each of you who have contributed in countless ways to our past decade of ministry together.
Come, let us celebrate with poetry, song and story!
A Festive Reception in Avery Booth Hall follows the service.
Listen to Audio file: 130505-Celebrating Shared Ministry-Service.mp3
Listen to Audio file: 130505-Celebrating Shared Ministry-Reflexion.mp3
Connection seems to be important for human well-being. When do we feel especially connected? With what do we feel the connection?
*A complete service in French.
We are celebrating this Sunday as Earth Sunday. Our speaker will be Helen Jensen, the Quebec Regional Coordinator of USC Canada’s domestic program: The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security (and daughter of Kevin and Lin Jensen). She will be talking about the link between farmers, seed conservation, and food security in the developing world and in Canada. The offering plate this day will be a special collection for USC Canada Seeds for Survival. Please feel free to bring seeds to share with the congregation after the service.
The file for this week includes the slides shown with the talk, so it is in the form of a movie. Thanks to Gordon Stoddard for this nice editing.
Listen to Audio file: 130421-Helen Jensen-Seeds-UUE Ver.m4v
An evening of fun and food,for all members and friends of UUEstrie. Look for another skit from Fincte, and some rousing songs, as well as encouragement to make a substantial pledge to the church, to keep it going. Supper provided by your loyal Board of trustees. Just bring yourself, and your spouse (and your pledge form, and your chequebook if you want!).
Jeff Brown is a retired UU minister from Mississauga ON. He has a second home in southern Vermont, which puts him close enough to North Hatley to be able to drop in and share a worship service with us.
Jeff asks, "How do we make our time together different – more celebratory, responsive, and open — services that round out our whole being and reflect twenty-first century questions and sensibilities? We can start with our emotions, urges, and senses — everything that makes us human.
"With all due humility, I’ve had enough of what’s wrong with our human condition. I'm tired of all the analysis of Benedict XVI’s abdication and the commentaries about all that religion categorizes as taboo. It’s time to reclaim some of those forbidden, and all too mortal, parts, for they are what creates our humanity.
"Let’s hear it for the sacredness of sin!"
Listen to Audio file: 130414-Lets Celebrate Sin.mp3
Come one, come all. Put a little time into sprucing up the old place. Wear comfortable work clothes. Pick a task from the list that will be available at UUEstrie and go to work indoors or outdoors. Plan ahead if you like,to make sure supplies for your chosen task are at hand. Bring a brown bag lunch if you like. People are expected off and on all day from 9:30 am. Come when you can.
Climate change has dominated recent news with startling weather-related evidence documented world-wide. Are we entering a new age of awareness, based less on a willful shift in consciousness and more on actual experience of the effects of our collective denial of the past decades? If we humans have a prayer - what is it?
Listen to Audio file: 130407-Enlightment Now!.mp3
Come one, come all. Put a little time into sprucing up the old place. Wear comfortable work clothes. Pick a task from the list that will be available at UUEstrie and go to work indoors or outdoors. Plan ahead if you like,to make sure supplies for your chosen task are at hand. Bring a brown bag lunch if you like. People are expected off and on all day from 9:30 am. Come when you can.
Can't make it on the 6th? Come to Cleanup Day #2 on Saturday April 13!
We celebrate the renewal of spring and the sacred blossoming of earth - and with an abundance of flowers also celebrate the living legacy of Nancy Pacaud on her 100th birthday.
Listen to Audio file: 130331-Easter Flower Communion.mp3
Listen to Audio file: 130331-Tribute to Nancy Pacaud.mp3
Philosophy usually relates only to abstract thoughts in the human mind. What if philosophy related rather to the natural world?
Jason Krpan is a local artisan,a maker of musical instruments, and a potter. He is also an artist, a musician, a storyteller and an expert in doing more with less. He frequently comments on modern society and its foibles. He lives near Georgeville.
Listen to Audio file: 130324-Jason Krpan.mp3
Dr. Heather Ross, a local townshipper who has been an equine veterinarian in this area for 27 years, will give a talk and slide presentation on her work in Mexico with Equitarian Initiative, an organization which sends vets to third world countries to provide veterinary care to working equids, i.e. donkeys, horses and mules.
Ours is a living tradition, by which we mean that it survives by adapting to change. Somewhere between evolution and prophetic vision, our future calls to us. Bring a friend; we will have a question and answer dialogue following the sermon.
Service Leader Training - Immediately after Coffee Hour If you have ever wished to lead a service, come see what's involved. We welcome you to engage in our shared ministry on Sundays.
Listen to Audio file: 130310-Beyond Belief-A New Universalism.mp3
It has been said that if we are reduced to but one prayer, a prayer of thanks will suffice. This Sunday Rev. Brendan Hadash, former minister here in North Hatley and now minister at the UU congregation in St. Johnsbury VT, will speak on the human need to express gratitude and the wonderful effects it has on the human spirit.
Listen to Audio file: 130303-Brendan Hadash-Gratitude.mp3
A worship service the main body of which will be an examination of the resolutions being brought to the CUC AGM in May, in a World Cafè format.
Was Jesus an actual historical person who was later mythologised as the Christ, or was it the other way around?
Today will also be Sharing Our Faith Sunday, with the plate collection to be donated to the Sharing Our Faith Fund of the CUC, to help fund projects in Canadian UU congregations.
A second session of this theme, following an introductory session held on Jan. 20. We will spend time creating a spiritual legacy.
A morning devoted entirely to intergenerational games with our children and adults: building our intergenerational community, one game at a time.
A Unitarian Universalist Community minister from Irasburg, Vermont, Rev. Stockman will speak about experiences in multi-faith prison ministry in the United States. Of note are recent funding cuts for Canadian prison chaplaincy.
A hands-on worship workshop on mining our lived experience for wisdom and the importance of leaving a spiritual legacy.
A worship service consisting entirely of stories, told by members of the Townships Tellers,supplemented by members and friend of UUEstrie.
The storytelling will be followed by a potluck lunch for those who would like to stay and lunch with the tellers. Just bring a dish of any kind, and stay for lunch, too.
Dark
No service this Sunday. We wish you a Happy New Year!
Christmas brings together the traditions of many lands and cultures. Join us for a unique ceremony of stories, readings and carols celebrating the light and joy of this holy season, and a few prayers of hope for the coming year.
The following Fellowship hour will feature a Wassail for all.
Listen to Audio file: 121223-Carols and Stories.mp3
Intergenerational program.
Our live creche scene features child performers and an animal choir singing the simple, poignant melodies of UU singer/songwriter Joyce Poley. A key figure in this humble version of the Nativity story is the innkeeper's daughter, who is irresistibly drawn to the miraculous drama unfolding in the stable. Narration in English and French. Musician: Mike Matheson
A turkey potluck Supper for all downstairs in Stoddard Hall follows the play; you are invited to bring something to contribute to the meal, plus there will be a donation basket to defray the cost of the turkeys.
All are welcome!
Listen to Audio file: 121216-Christmas Play.mp3
In May 2012, Mahicans Diamond & Clara Bird biked & kayaked through the Westfjords of Iceland. They will be showing a movie of their adventures with the extended goal of encouraging responsible, participatory travel that benefits the host environment and culture. Breathtaking scenery unfolds as we follow this young couple's journey through unique and wild lands. Two short movies will be shown. Refreshments & snacks will be served.
Jim Scott is a musician and composer, perhaps most famous for a song in the UU hymnbook called Gather the Spirt. Jim will be in Montreal on Sunday, Dec. 9 to participate in the worship service at the Unitarian Church of Montreal. This gives us at UUEstrie the opportunity to have him stop in North Hatley on his way, and share once again is entertaining and accessible style of folk music for guitar and voice,for the whole family, in a benefit concert for the UUEstrie Roof Fund. Jim was last here in the spring of 2010. Admission by donation with $10 per person suggested.
There will also be a table of artefacts and gift items made in Bali, for sale to support the Eaton Corner Museum, a project dear to the heart of Dick Nolet and Richard Faubert,who selected and brought back from Bali the items included in the sale.
Come celebrate the Winter Solstice with poetry, stories, song, candlelight and silence, honouring the “great-grandmother” of winter holidays and the natural beauty of this holy season.
There will also be a table of artefacts and gift items made in Bali, for sale to support the Eaton Corner Museum, a project dear to the heart of Dick Nolet and Richard Faubert,who selected and brought back from Bali the items included in the sale.
Listen to Audio file: 121202-A Winter Soltice.mp3
Several members will speak about several current campaigns of Amnesty International and Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice (CUSJ), ranging from the imprisonment of the Pussy Riot Band to the Keystone XL pipeline project. Then letter-writing groups about these issues will offer an opportunity to express your views.
There will also be a table of artifacts and gift items made in Bali, for sale to support the Eaton Corner Museum, a project dear to the heart of Dick Nolet and Richard Faubert,who selected and brought back from Bali the items included in the sale.
Le Chœur des Sangs Mêlés and friends present a concert, UnisSons!
In this season of long, cold nights, family and friends the world over have always gathered to share love and joy, the abundance of the harvest—and a wealth of song! And because we are all one great world family, there has always been a place at the fireside for the stranger, the wayfarer, the wanderer without a home. We invite you to welcome the season in joy and harmony with UnisSons, a concert of world songs celebrating light and hope, life’s eternal renewal and the links that unite us all.
The members of Le Chœur des Sangs Mêlés are Carol, Cécile, Christine, Jacinthe, Manou, Marie-Chantal, Nathalie, Sangi and Sophie.
For your greater enjoyment—and ours!—we will be joined by our friends Alex, Danny, Louis, Maxime and Sébastien.
the suggested freewill donation is $10: all proceeds will be donated to two organizations our soprano Manou worked with when she was in Africa last winter: Avenir Togo and Espoir Vie Togo, plus the UUEstrie Roof Fund. For more about these organizations, see their websites: www.avenir-togo.org and www.espoir-vie-togo.org
“To sing is a very great thing. There is healing in it; the breath of life is in it. As long as I shall live, wherever I go, I will lift up my voice in song.” (Song lyrics from Togo)
We look forward to singing for you!
Please note that African crafts from the organizations in Togo will be for sale during and after the concert.
Agriculture feeds us, but agriculture depends on a number of things, starting with healthy seeds for planting. Where do the seeds come from?
Brian Creelman is a Townshipper active in growing and saving heritage seeds, and is a strong supporter of USC Canada's Seeds for Survival programme.
Listen to Audio file: 121118-Brian Creelman-Seeds.mp3
Allison Calvern, visiting from Fredericton NB, will be our guest speaker this Sunday. Her theme is drawn from the wisdom of the Oglala Sioux. The Oglala Sioux have studied human suffering; they are experts on loneliness. This reflection will focus on how a Unitarian Universalist might apply Oglala Sioux wisdom to our own burdens: displacement, bullying, suicide, and the work of community.
This Sunday is also Remembrance Day, on which Canadians honour and remember their war dead. (Major) Edson Warner will give a short testimonial on this important occasion, before heading off to represent UUEstrie at the Remembrance service at the North Hatley cenotaph. Edson will also participate in several other Remembrance Day services in neighbouring rural municipalities on this day.
Listen to Audio file: 121111-Allison Calvern.mp3
in 1956, at the age of 17, Joe escaped from the totalitarian state that was Hungary, and came to Canada. Why? How? What did he live and learn through that experience?
Joe is now retired from a career as a Professor at the University of Sherbrooke. He and wife Janet live in Lennoxville, when they are not at their cottage on the water, or travelling to Hungary or Argentina, or other places on the planet. Janet spoke at UUEstrie this past winter about their experience visiting Cuba last year.
Each year, near the anniversary date of the founding of the United Nations, UUEstrie celebrates United Nations Sunday. The Plate collection this Sunday will be a special collection for the UU United Nations Office, which we as a congregation wish to support, as a means to further our covenant to affirm and promote a peaceful world with liberty and justice for all.
Children’s religious exploration, refreshments served. All welcome.
Listen to Audio file: 121028-United Nations Day-MP3 File.mp3
Writer Bethany Knight spent much of the summer examining this question. She found many players blaming each other: Is it the capitalist system? Is it the mindset of the poor? Is it poverty programs that promote dependency?
And perhaps most importantly, what can caring citizens do to truly help the poor?
Influenced by her long association working with the poor of India, Bethany brings a unique, creative slant to this compelling topic.
Listen to Audio file: 121021-Bethany Knight.mp3
Come for an entirely musical morning. Mike will teach rounds and part singing to some of our UU hymns. Multiple musicians from our community will share there talents, and the significance of music in their lives.
The ERG will happen at the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa from Friday, Oct. 12 through Sunday, Oct. 14. The theme this year is RE and raising healthy UU kids.
Our worship service this Thanksgiving Sunday will be held in the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147 in Huntingville. No service in North Hatley this day. Please note the time of the service will be 10:30 am.
This time in the early fall is an occasion for celebrating the harvest season. In dialogue with Rev. Carole Martignacco, Rabbi Gilbert will share some of the deeper insight and meaning associated with these annual celebrations.
The 3rd Jewish High Holy Day, Sukkot, follows Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Otherwise named the Festival of Booths, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Season of Our Joy, it is a time to celebrate true joy in ourselves and in our communities. The hospitality of the Sukkah is intertwined with social justice, as we "welcome the stranger, the widow, and the orphan" into our dwellings. Rabbi Sherrill Gilbert of JCCET and B'nai Or in Montreal joins our minister, Rev. Carole Martignacco, for a festive service and dialogue reflection on the many meanings of Sukkot.
Listen to Audio file: 120930-Sherril Gilbert-Sukkot-Service.mp3
Listen to Audio file: 120930-Sherril Gilbert-Sukkot-Sermon.mp3
Jean Rousseau is the Member of Parliament for the Compton-Stanstead riding, which includes North Hatley. He was first elected in the 'Orange Wave' that swept Quebec in 2011. He has kindly agreed to speak to us before Parliament resumes sitting in early October.
(*in both English and French)
Listen to Audio file: 120923-Jean Rousseau.mp3
Drawing on the work of Tom Atlee, The Tao of Democracy, we will explore the spiritual dimension of democracy, beyond its political dimension.
Listen to Audio file: 120916-Vision Of Community.mp3
We plan to close our summer season with a traditional hike in the woods, on relatively well-trod trails that do involve some uphill and downhill walking, followed by a simple outdoor water communion ceremony on the lawn, all at the Jensen farm, 16 Bowen Road in the village of Hatley. All welcome.
Meet at 10 am at the Jensen farm. Water communion will follow at 11:30 am, and picnic lunch at noon. If you cannot make the hike, meet us at 11:30 for the water communion and luncheon. Don't forget to bring your picnic lunch, and a frisbee if you like.
Bad weather plan: meet at UUEstrie at 11:30 am for the water communion ceremony and potluck/picnic lunch. Check our website for any last minute changes of plans.
Margot Heyerhoff refers to this topic as "How I Was Kidnapped by Aliens in North Hatley." Margot, a North Hatley resident and prolific volunteer, has taken on the chairmanship of the Massawippi Foundation and Land Trust, at the request of the Foundation's first Executive Director, David Rittenhouse. She will speak to how and why a Community Foundation and a Land Trust were established here, why now, and how they function.
Listen to Audio file: 120902-Margot Heyerhoff.mp3
What happens when we look at one experience through the lens of another? Do we lose the essence of each one? Do we fail to see what's under our nose? Taking as her point of departure two recent pilgrimage experiences (The Camino de Santiago and the 88 Temples of Shikoku) Gabriella Brand uncovers some questions about the role of comparison in our daily lives.
Gabriella is an old friend of UUEstrie. She spends her summers in North Hatley each year. This year she has undertaken a walking pigrimage of sacred shrines in Japan, which she says is nothing like doing the Camino.
A life review process is the context for a shift from viewing age as a time of loss to viewing it as a place of wisdom and heritage, in keeping with the world view of Eastern philosophies and religions.
Rev. Martignacco is UUEstrie's minister.
Listen to Audio file: 120819-Carol Sermon.mp3
Slide show about the travels of Michael Grayson and Chantal Michaud last fall, ranging from mountain-hiking to cathedrals, including art, architecture and touching on religious persecution and the clash of civilisations in the Middle Ages.
Alain is an engineer and a member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, where a version of this talk was well received.
Listen to Audio file: 120812-Alain Pierre Bachecongi.mp3
Deepak Chopra, spiritual teacher now based in Los Angeles, is, it turns out, a golfer, too. He has noted strong parallels between the secrets of the game of golf and the art of living.
Listen to Audio file: 120805-Golf is Life II.mp3
Writer Donald Hall defines poetry as "the unsayable said." This is a celebration of the power of words to inspire, to comfort, to center our spirits, to connect our hearts, and to prophetically name reality and vision.
Listen to Audio file: 120729-Poems Of Spirit.mp3
Today's global youth population of 1.8 billion stands at a historical high. 1.5 billion of them live in developing countries, where millions of economically active youth are currently unemployed, the highest youth unemployment rate on record.
What are the positive trends and opportunities necessary to channel the creativity and energy of this generation of young people so they can realize their potential and support stable families, stable regions and a stable global community? We will travel from Kenya to Canada and Jordan to Indonesia to discuss what research and innovations are telling us about what we can and should be doing.
Fiona Macaulay is Founder and CEO of Making Cents International, whose slogan is Creative Solutions to Economic Development Challenges. Fiona has fifteen years of experience in microenterprise development, experiential learning curriculum design, facilitation, and organizational capacity building in more than 20 countries across North America, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central Europe. See www.makingcents.com
AFTER THE SERVICE, 12 - 2 p.m. THE SUPER SUMMER SALE WRAPS UP, ON THE LOWER LEVEL OF THE BUILDING
For sale: Some super items, large and small, including a washer-dryer, a kayak, air conditioner, furniture, stove (counter-top oven), fire screen, dishes, antiques (desk, dishes), duvet donated by Joyce Booth.
The Super Summer Sale will help support the ongoing maintenance of our beautiful heritage church and manse. Also, a portion of the proceeds will help support the Diamond-Bird ecotour and the film they are making about it.
Listen to Audio file: 120722-Making Cents.mp3
For sale: Some super items, large and small, including a washer-dryer, a kayak, air conditioner, furniture, stove (counter-top oven), fire screen, dishes, antiques (desk, dishes), duvet donated by Joyce Booth.
The sale wraps up Sunday, July 22 from noon to 2 p.m.
The Super Summer Sale will help support the ongoing maintenance of our beautiful heritage church and manse. Also, a portion of the proceeds will help support the Diamond-Bird ecotour and the film they are making about it.
Starting this Friday afternoon is a Super Summer Sale, both inside and outside on the church's lower level.
For sale: Some super items, large and small, including a washer-dryer, a kayak, air conditioner, furniture, stove (counter-top oven), fire screen, dishes, antiques (desk, dishes), duvet donated by Joyce Booth.
The sale continues on Saturday, July 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and wraps up Sunday, July 22 from noon to 2 p.m.
The Super Summer Sale will help support the ongoing maintenance of our beautiful heritage church and manse. Also, a portion of the proceeds will help support the Diamond-Bird ecotour and the film they are making about it.
Volunteers are welcome to sign up to staff the tables, and everone is invited to set aside quality items large and small to put in the sale. Speak to Carol McKinley for more information.
“Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other” – Rainer Maria Rilke
“Communication leads to community – that is, to understanding, intimacy, and mutual valuing.” – Rollo May
How can we better create community – understanding, intimacy, and mutual valuing – in a group where exists a communication “speed bump” comprised of language, culture, and generations?
Graham Fraser is Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages. He is a former journalist and author of several books in both English and French, notably "Sorry, I don't speak French: Confronting the Canadian crisis that won't go away." He is also adjunct professor of journalism at Carleton University.
A bilingual event. Admission is free. All are welcome.
Listen to Audio file: 120715-Graham Fraser.mp3
“At this June time of anniversaries, I am pulled back with memories and forward with a somewhat new idea of who we are.”
Reverend Ken MacLean, minister emeritus of Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda Maryland, and current minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert in south-central California, is a veteran summer minister at UUEstrie, where he first preached in 1963 (!).
This Sunday is also the day of our annual July picnic, to take place at the Jensen farm in Hatley immediately following our worship service. All are welcome. Maps will be available at the meetinghouse for those who do not know the way.
Because of the picnic, a special early 'coffee hour' will take place at 9:30 am in Avery Booth Hall next to the sanctuary, to welcome visitors from other UU churches joining us for this day.
Listen to Audio file: 120708-Ken MacLean.mp3
Note: UUEstrie will be in two places this morning. There will be a short service in the sanctuary at the usual time, 10 am. But many of us will instead be in the village of Hatley, participating in the Canada Day parade at 11 am, as UUEstrie. Look for our float, and drop by and say hello after the parade.
Reflection on true patriotism, the Rainbow Flag and why we fly it. Reading from Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon Days on the Living Flag.
Music soothes the soul and makes the world go round. This morning's service will feature a bilingual concert by members of the renowned Elm City Girls Choir, directed by Rebecca Ronsenbaum, together with reflections on the role of music in our lives by Gabriella Brand.
Father’s Day is an opportunity for every person to bring a photo or memento of their father or grandfather and tell us what memories it evokes.
“Preachers are us”.
A young adult perspective on the Occupy movement and fundamental values. Joanna Bateman is a Bishop's graduate and a co-founder of Tierra del Fuego Lennoxville, a community resource center for young adults seeking a better way.
Sooky Dunton will convene this service, to consist of some 'readings from the heart', plus a sermon from the Rev. Shana Lyngood called "In Praise of our Differences." The inspiration for this service comes from a recent Canadian Unitarian Council Symposium on 'Spiritual Leadership'.
Everything we do is spiritual, from worship to hospitality, cleaning up to children's Religious Exploration. Expanding on the theme of the May Conference in Ottawa, we will celebrate the grace we give to each other with a ceremony of gratitude and recognition. Come prepared to be celebrated!
On this morning we shall devote our time to a showing of the documentary film "Forks into Knives". This is a 96-minute film discussing veganism; we shall take a coffee break part way through, so that folks who cannot stay for the whole thing may nevertheless participate in some discussion.
A Canadian UU symposium in Ottawa will include a CUC business meeting on Friday May 18 all day, followed by two days of activities May 19 and 20, centered on the theme of Spiritual Leadership. Monday would be time for special caucuses and affinity groups to get together. All are welcome. All church leaders are strongly encouraged to attend.
Each year we are moved by the testimonials we receive at this Mothers' Day service honouring mothers and motherhood. All are welcome to bring a short recollection/reflection of a mother in their lives, perhaps accompanying this with a photo or other evocative artifact. A short tribute to Mary Jean Bean, who passed away last year, will be incorporated into the service.
Celebrate the spring equinox and honour the wisdom of earth religions in song and story, and with a traditional Maypole Dance. All are welcome to join in.
How do we give expression to the seven unitarian-universalist principles?
A few months ago, the board of trustees asked members to take part in a survey about members’ concerns and the issues they support, as well as what social causes they would like UUEstrie to support. This interactive service will present the results of the survey, and invite those present to take part in reviewing UUEstrie's social actions and our future direction. Come prepared for a stimulating, thoughtful encounter.
The Rio+20 Summit in early June could very well be a major turning point on how we manage our planet in the next generations. Twenty years after the Rio Conference the agenda has seriously evolved, beyond the climate debate, towards what we should do to have a sustainable future. Over 40 000 attendees will try and come up with ways to change our economies and renew our social and environmental contract with nature.
Guest speaker François Tanguay will introduce us to this critical event. He is a consultant on energy and specializes in climate change issues, based in Montréal.
This will be a bilingual service in English and French.
All are invited to an informal potluck lunch with M. Tanguay after the service.
The people of Cuba exhibit a wonderful humanity: hospitable, caring, valuing real life values. Janet and husband Joe visited Cuba this past winter.
Pick a time that is convenient for you and plan to spend a couple of hours alongside other members and friends as we clean up from winter, and prepare to move our worship services back up to the sanctuary for our spring-summer-fall season. A list of jobs needing doing will be posted in the lower level kitchen.
The universal message is renewal, resurrection and rejoicing.
It's time to do a spring cleanup of our Building and Grounds. Pick a time that is convenient for you and plan to spend a couple hours alongside other members and friends as we clean up from winter, and prepare to move our worship services back up to the sanctuary for our spring-summer-fall season. A list of jobs needing doing will be posted in the lower level kitchen. If you cannot make it on this Saturday, no worries! You can come next Saturday, the 14th, for cleanup day #2!
The dying process raises profound ethical and philosophical questions, as well as legal questions. Carleton will help us to better understand, via several specific cases, the nature of law, and the meaning and purpose of law, in the context of the dying process.
Carleton Monk is a local lawyer whose practice has evolved to include a great deal of mediation, including complications that arise around the death of a loved one.
All members and friends are invited to an evening of song, comedy, and camaraderie, beginning with supper provided by our Board, spiced with down-home entertainment. Look for more details by mid-month.
Writer, Paul Theroux, while visiting Easter Island in the South Pacific discovered that it lays claim to being "the navel of the world." Varied places around the globe make similar claims, thus asking adherents for the allegiance of their hearts and minds. In this message Rich reflects on this vital matter of faith.
Rich Forcier lives in Vermont where he served as pastor of First Church in Barre (VT), Universalist, for a number of years. Now retired from full-time parish ministry, he is active in the teaching of English to immigrants and refugees. He is a regular and popular visitor to our pulpit.
Even as a minister, I could easily say - "Who needs church? The woods and sky are my cathedral." Private experiences of awe, wonder, beauty and gratitude are deeply spiritual. But we humans are social beings. Religion has to do with creating community, a relatedness grounded in shared joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams, doubts and wisdom. Collectively we pursue our passions and concerns for the world. Can it be a dance? Only if we step lightly, move to the beat, and remember that the patterns of distance and closeness keep changing.
Rev. Carole Martignacco is pastor of UUEstrie, returning this Sunday from a three-month working "sabbatical" in Montreal.
Groupe de discussion de différents thèmes religieux et spirituels. Le rassemblement aura lieu à l'université Bishop's. Info: Katherine Pérusse.
NB: Don't be late!! Daylight Saving Time begins today! Turn your clocks forward one hour.
Many people will remember Kim Prangley as the director of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Stanstead. After 20 years there, she had a period of inner reflection and spiritual growth in a tiny Welsh cottage. Her experience of a quadruple labyrinth in Ireland in 2006 led her to a deep yearning for a special sacred space in her own community.
In Birthing a Stone Circle, she will explain how the Stanstead Stone Circle was conceived and constructed, its deep connection to the equinox and the synchronicities that helped bring it about.
International Women's Day is March 8. To mark the occasion, we have invited Ms. Paraskevi Mazarakiotis to be our guest speaker on March 4. Paraskevi last spoke from our pulpit in December, on the topic of conjugal violence. You can read her talk from that date on our website.
Throughout history, women have shown courage and resiliency in front of many adversities. It is because of these "pioneer" women that, today, younger women have many life choices. Let's embrace our history and honor our role models who fought for our rights and equality!
Paraskevi Mazarakiotis is an English language arts high school teacher. She was born in Montreal and raised in the Eastern Townships. She studied at Bishop's University (Education, Drama/film studies & English).
Rich writes: "This message is based on a line from W.C. Fields, who quipped when caught reading the Bible, "I was looking for a loophole." I want to examine our human propensity to act with guile even as I suggest that our goodness rests on our being as transparent as possible. Rich Forcier lives in Vermont where he served as pastor of First Church in Barre (VT), Universalist for a number of years. Now retired from full-time parish ministry, he is active in the teaching of English to immigrants and refugees. He is a regular, and popular, visitor to our pulpit.
An intergenerational service featuring interactive games. Let's play! A pot-luck lunch will follow.
Every now and again, there is an upsurge in interest in whether life exists in the universe beyond the happenings on our small planet. Is this a spiritual concern? What does it tell us about the human spirit that we long for cosmic company?
This Sunday's plate collection will be a special collection for the Sharing Our Faith fund of the Canadian Unitarian Council. This fund is used to finance special projects in different UU churches in Canada. UUEstrie has benefited from a Sharing Our Faith grant on several occasions, most recently for our Communications Plan.
Baraka: The Thread that Weaves Life Together. This is a 97-minute film that offers a wordless and transcendent global experience of sights and sounds of the human condition.
What is on your 'Bucket List', that list of things you would set about doing before you 'kick the bucket'? Most of the time we don't think about them in this way, because we assume death is a long way off. But if you knew that you only had, say, six months to go, and were still fairly together physically and mentally, how do you think you would spend them?
This is intended to be a participatory service, with contributions from anyone in attendance.
Groupe d'échange et de partage spirituel, issu de UUEstrie, qui se rassemble une fois par mois, animé chaque fois par un voluntaire du groupe. Ce mois-ci la rencontre aura lieu à l'International Centre', Université Bishop's, le mardi 24 janvier. Pour plus d'informations, contacter: katherine.perusse@videotron.ca
Love and compassion are at the heart of all the world's religions. In our time, a slow revolution is happening among progressive religious voices, struggling to create communities of faith that truly live a religion of love that extends beyond their own circle of religious kinship. What would a Charter for Compassion look like, and how might it transform our religious community and our world?
Another annual tradition at UUEstrie: a morning service devoted entirely to storytelling, an ancient medium providing nourishment and insight for the human spirit.
We shall feature tellers from the Townships Tellers, and a potluck lunch for all who would like to dine with the tellers, will follow the service.
Without a doubt, we live in changing times. Our faith calls us to action, and yet it also calls us to be patient, to navigate among prophecy and hyperbole, urgency and anxiety. What does it mean to live responsibly amid the demands of family, community and the web of life? And how can we make space for joy?
Curtis Murphy is a young adult member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, where he is delighted to serve as Youth Program Coordinator. Currently a student at the Montreal School of Theology, he also is a member of the Canadian Unitarian Council Board of Trustees, where he represents congregations like us from the Eastern Region (Kingston to St John's). He is, therefore, UUEstrie's liaison to the CUC Board, so is as curious to get to know us in North Hatley as we are to get to know him.
There will be no service at UUEstrie this Sunday. Enjoy the holiday.
A service of contemporary lessons and carols celebrating the Spirit of Christmas. Special music by Lindsay-Jane Gowman and Emily Fowler. We will sing familiar carols, share stories old and new, and end with a candlelight prayer for a world renewed by love, justice, peace and goodwill. Join us in a wassail following the service.
The shortest day of the year marks the beginning of the return the rising sun. An ancient celebration of rejoicing at Yuletide. Come celebrate with poetry, music, story and song the natural beauty of this season of light and darkness.
Participants: Donald Davison, Faith Lebaron, David Oliver, Stephen Prangley-Desormeaux, Kevin Tomlin. Live music by Donald Patriquin.
Admission by donation to World Vision Canada
A pageant/play featuring the children of UUEstrie community, to celebrate the deeper meaning of the holiday season. The Pageant/play starring Rat and Mole and the Spirit of Christmas are taken from "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame.
Followed by a Turkey potluck supper (turkey provided). All welcome. Free-will donation for the turkey dinner. An annual tradition at UUEstrie.
A reflection on violence against women, inspired by her best friend, Rachelle Wrathmall, who lost her life to conjugal violence. The purpose of this presentation is to build awareness in order to prevent other tragedies.
Ms. Mazarakiotis is a language arts teacher in high school.
We are approaching the season of peace, joy and jolly goodwill - when holiday plans can sometimes fall short of the ideal. For some, it may be family issues, job loss or health concerns over the past year. We may be financially, spiritually, relationally or theologically challenged, or may find ourselves unable to meet the demands of gift-giving and partying.
Celebrate by sharing your stories; come find common ground with those who would prepare for the season with realistic expectations, a balance of humour and compassion, perhaps even a subdued sense of peace?
Plus — Children’s program every Sunday. All are welcome!
The end of a human life can sometimes be gruesome, painful, and undignified. There is ample evidence that it need not be so, that competent people should have choice, and their choices honoured, in how and when they are allowed to die. And society will not fall apart, and human rights will be enhanced and respected in the process.
Plus — Children’s program every Sunday. All are welcome!
Bruce Knotts is a former diplomat in the U.S. foreign service and now servces as Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO) in New York City. He will discuss the various contributions of that office to the UN mission. The UU-UNO is part of what has been called the faith-based NGO caucus at the UN, and has taken a leadership role in a number of UN initiatives, including the founding of the International Criminal Court, the UN Humanitarian Commission, and, more recently, the extension of LBGT rights throughout the world.
Plus — Children’s program every Sunday. All are welcome!
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! For all members and friends of UUEstrie,
Our big all-church event for November is coming up fast. It consists of a one-day Congregational Retreat, to be held in Stoddard Hall this Saturday, the 12th of November,from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 pm.
See the details..
Samhain in the Pagan tradition refers to the time of the year when the 'veil' between the world of the living and the world of those who have passed on is at its thinnest. A time to pause and reflect as the season of growth draws to an end for another year, and the season of winter begins to take over.
Plus — Children’s program every Sunday. All are welcome!
Our annual series of coffeehouse concerts called Works in Progress, resumes on this Friday night with another session, this time featuring younger musicians from the Eastern Townships. Proceeds from food sales and a silent auction will go to Jeunes Musiciens du Monde, a non-profit organization devoted to providing an avenue for young persons from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences, to learn to create and find beauty, joy, and personal fulfillment through music. Free-will donation at the door. The concert will be held upstairs in the Sanctuary of the UUEstrie meetinghouse.
Come at 6 p.m. for home made soup, goodies and a silent auction.
Yannick Daoudi has travelled the world using simple means (without fossil fuels often), observing the many varieties of humanity in our world and their humantitarian needs. He works as an international consultant in education for a variety of NGOs, developing education projects in developing countries. He also organizes expeditions around the world which incorporate small humanitarian projects, always emphasizing environmental sustainability. His talks have captivated many in the Townships and elsewhere. He lives in Lennoxville.
We recognize the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all with a special worship service on 'United Nations Sunday' each October. The UN has adopted the theme of Empowering Women for a Peaceful World as a special focus for 2011.
Lindsay-Jane Gowman visited the UN last April, participating in the annual seminar of the UU United Nations Office. She is also the Religious Education Coordinator for UUEstrie.
Season of bright leaves and dark twilights, of harvest and hunt, of hoarding and feasting, of transformation and passage between the worlds...
Choir members Manou, Nathalie, Jacinthe, Christine, Marie-Chantal, Sangi, Guylaine, Manu and Carol are joined in glorious harmony by friends Martine, Louis, Éric, Babao, Mathieu and Antho! Admission (or suggested donation) is $10; all proceeds from these concerts will be shared between the hosting venue and the organization La Via Campesina which brings together millions of peasants from around the world and defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity.
The Choeur has a new website: http://www.choeursangsmeles.com.
Baraka is a 97-minute film. It is a wordless and transcendent global experience of sights and sounds of the human condition.
Also note: another possibility in the works for this Sunday morning: a live Skype transmission of the Sunday morning worship service from the annual regional fall gathering of UUs, happening this year in Fredericton NB, October 14-16. This, if it works out, would be at our usual worship time of 10 a.m. here. The Reverend Ray Drennan, former parish minister of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, and now an informal minister at large for the Maritimes, will be in the pulpit. At this time we are not yet 100% sure this will happen, but it is being worked on, so it is quite likely. An opportunity (using technology) to worship together with 75-100 devoted UUs from the St. Lawrence and Atlantic region of Canada.
So stay tuned to see what this Sunday will actually turn out to be like in North Hatley.
This weekend is the Fall Gathering of Unitarians and Universalists from Eastern Canada (Kingston to St. John's) to be held this year in Fredericton NB. Look for more info in the fall newsletter, but save the date and plan to carpool with others from North Hatley for a weekend of fellowship and workshopping with our Sisters and Brothers from around the Region.
Since all life is gift, our primary and universal prayer should be one of thanksgiving. We will celebrate with our traditional, non-denominational communion service.
This Thanksgiving service will take place at the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147 in Huntingville, about 12 km northeast of North Hatley. Rte 147 goes south from Route 143, just south of Lennoxville. Note the slightly later than usual time: 10:30 a.m. There will be no service in North Hatley this Sunday.
A careful reading of the Koran yields many insights amenable to the religiously liberal. Daron Westman has read the Koran carefully. Daron is a Humanities Professor at Champlain Regional College and Bishop's University. He last spoke to us about how to read the Bible story of Abraham and Sarah. He lives in Lennoxville.
At-one-ment, with Rev. Carole Martignacco, pastor of UUEstrie. Rosh Hashanah marks the Jewish celebration of forgiveness and reconciliation, or atonement.
Children’s Religious Exploration program during the service; refreshments served after the service - all are welcome.
Organized by Eleanor Beattie and Audrey Bean, with Carolyne Harrison in dialog with residents of l’Abri en ville and Our Harbour in Montreal. These programs facilitate community-supported housing for adults with a serious mental illness. For children: Religious Exploration program.
At 1 p.m.: Creating Mental Health through an Active Community: a 1 ½-hour workshop about the l’Abri en ville model and experiences, and a dialogue on possibilities for Estrie. Dr. Natasha Bird will speak about the evolution of mental health care in the Eastern Townships. Interested individuals and organizations are invited to participate, and to lunch at noon ($5 suggested donation). Advance registration: 819-889-2520, or info@uuestrie.ca.
Eleanor Beattie and Audrey Bean are active members of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, as well as volunteers with l'Abri en ville.
UU Booth goes to Townshippers' Day!
T-Day is in Stanstead on Saturday, September 17, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. UUEstrie will be there!
The T-Day site is located at the Manoir Stanstead, 496 Dufferin St., in Stanstead. Please stop by and visit our booth at Table No. 30 in the Main Tent. Our table will be staffed by volunteers from both the North Hatley and the Derby Line churches.
From the fabled Land of Punt in East Africa, early Egyptian pharaohs imported frankincense, myrrh, gold and many other riches. Today the region is a land of dust, drought and heartbreaking famine. A few decades ago, I lived in Somalia for 3 years. I will talk about several surprises I encountered, and offer my personal perspective on the current crisis in the region.
The offering will be a special collection for the Horn of Africa Crisis Fund of the Canadian Unitarian Council. All donations to this special collection will be matched by the Canadian government, and will go for Somalian Relief needs.
Children's Religious Exploration program during the service; refreshments served after the service. All are welcome.
Water Communion and Picnic in breathtaking St-Etienne. Bring a water sample from your summer activities or travels for this annual merging of the waters led by Rev. Carole Martignacco, pastor of UUEstrie. Featuring a hike and potluck picnic lunch at the home of one of our members. Maps provided - all are welcome. Details: 819-842-4146, www.uuestrie.ca.
No service in North Hatley this morning.
This will be an intergenerational service, where adults and children will be able to interact. Katherine is a teacher/workshop leader in the techniques and psychology of self-defense. This service will be primarily in French with certain activities guided bilingually (English/French).
Via outdoor experiential education, the Look to the Mountain Program of the Eastern Townships School Board strives to restore hope in the lives of challenged youth. The Program draws on the four key values of Belonging, Mastery, Independence and Generosity, which comprise the Circle of Courage philosophy.
Somewhere between beach and BBQ, golf and gardening, summer invites us to cultivate a different spirit. What are the virtues of taking time and being laid back?
Rev. Carole Martignacco is pastor of UUEstrie.
Alain is Sooky's son-in-law and an active member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, where a version of this talk was well received.
Ji Shuku: The Japanese concept of self-restraint. How did this concept manifest itself after the March 2011 Tsunami and Earthquake? How does it manifest in daily life? What aspects of ji shuku do Canadians have? Do UU’s have? When is ji shuku a handicap?
Two modern gurus of adaptive leadership — Linsky and Heifitz — teach at Harvard University. Their theories lend themselves well to building the beloved community.
Rev. Martignacco is pastor of UUEstrie in North Hatley.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of North Hatley (UUEstrie) is offering tickets at a reduced rate for a special one-night-only Charles Aznavour Tribute Concert starring the singer-author-composer Serge Bédrossian. The event is at The Piggery Theatre in Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley on Saturday, July 30, at 8 p.m.
“Buying tickets from UUEstrie for the Aznavour Tribute Concert will help finance major repairs to our beautiful heritage church building, while enjoying a marvellous evening out at our own Townships' Summer Theatre, The Piggery, which also deserves our support,” said Carol McKinley, who organized the fundraiser.
“If you get your tickets in advance through us,” she said, “you’ll have choice seats, at a reduced price.”
UUEstrie is offering tickets at only $20, compared to the regular price of $25.
Serge Bédrossian sings popular songs in 10 languages. Like Aznavour, he is originally from Armenia, and he still has the first guitar he bought at age 12. He studied music and theatre at the Université de Montpellier in France, and continued his music studies after he arrived in Quebec in 1980. He has performed widely, and his repertoire includes 200 original songs. In addition to singing, he also plays piano and guitar.
His musical style has diverse influences – Armenian, Arabic, Italian, European (Aznavour, Adamo, Enrico) and American (Elvis, Humperdinck and Sinatra). He has been called a “young Aznavour,” and on his website, he openly acknowledges Charles Aznavour as his idol. “To sing the songs of Mr. Charles Aznavour is a privilege, a pleasure and a challenge,” he writes. “It’s no small challenge to be able to pay homage to the last giant of French song.”
On the home page of his website, www.sergebedrossian.com, he asks, “If you are a fan of Charles Aznavour, wherever you may live, please send me an email.”
For tickets, call Carol McKinley at 819-563-6286 before July 30. If purchased through UUEstrie, a portion of the ticket price will help support major repairs to the building of the Unitarian Universalist Church of North Hatley.
This service will explore the value of human imagination as well as the tension it can provoke in a religious context. Think John Lennon, William Blake, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland and The Snow Leopard.
Mark Abley is a poet, non-fiction writer, journalist, editor and children's author. He has been a member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal since 2004.
Gala fundraising cocktail party and silent auction at UUEstrie.
Reverend Rich Forcier is retired from UU Parish Ministry since last year, after serving the First Church in Barre, Universalist, our sister church in Barre, Vermont, for a number of years. He is an annual visitor to our pulpit, and we are blessed each time with his wisdom, compassion and oratorical skill.
'Tikkun' is an ancient Jewish concept best translated as "Repair the world." It is also the title of a regular publication published by the Network of Spiritual Progressives, an organization based in San Francisco, founded by Rabbi Michael Lerner.
Canadian UU Leadership School runs in Halifax NS and Nanaimo BC from July 14 to 17 this year. More info at the church.
This is our annual Picnic Sunday. After the worship service, to which we invite all our friends from both the Montreal and Lakeshore UU congregations and First Parish in Derby Line VT, we shall adjourn to the Jensen farm in Hatley for a picnic lunch and games. Bring food for your family, or food to share, frisbees and soccer balls, bathing suits?, musical instruments. But most of all bring yourselves.
The Reverend Kenneth Torquil MacLean is a favorite 'summer minister' in North Hatley since 1965(!). It is especially gratifying that he can be with us for our picnic Sunday this year. Ken is now Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert, in Rancho Mirage, California. Ken writes:
"WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? Someone asked why people join a church, and after some serious study, a group was able to come back with three single words, and they all began with the same letter. Two of the words surprised me as answers to the original question, and I decided to see where one of those words would take me. The first letter for all three words is H. "I have been coming to the church in North Hatley since 1965, and am grateful for the warm welcome I still find, for the sharing of this ministry from Carole, the hospitality of the Duntons, the decades of devotion to the church of people with names like Baxter, Jensen, van Lier, Booth, and Pacaud, and the memories of others, now gone, who invested a chunk of their lives in the community that has been housed in this building. It is like coming home for me. KTM"
We shall also have the pleasure of some very special music on this Sunday from a band called "JAMS", with members Jessica Burpee (vocals, ukulele & bass), Ann Cascarano (vocals & mandolin), Margo Ellis (vocals & guitar), and Shawn Dohring (vocals & guitar). They are all members of the Music Collective of the Montreal Unitarian Church.
In spite of 2500 years of interpretation, the Book of Job remains one of the most challenging texts in the entire western canon. In this brief talk I reflect on what we might learn from it about the meaning of suffering, about the limitation of reasoned explanation, about the challenge of offering comfort, about the value of integrity and about the love of God.
Jamie Crooks is a professor of philosophy at Bishop's University. By this date he will have just completed a stint as Dean of Arts and Science there. This will be his first visit to UUEstrie.
The soul is satisfied with nothing less than the divine.
For most of us, the life of the spirit is below the surface, and below the surface of our consciousness. But sometimes we experience an epiphany, and our view of life, our experience of life, changes.
Jane Pankovitch is a CEGEP teacher of English language. She is a long-time member, as well as one of our lay chaplains, at UUEstrie.
Please take notice that our annual general meeting will be held on this date to hear reports from various committees, including the nominating committee's recommendations for our Board for the coming year, to review the finances of the church and approve a budget for the fiscal year just begun, as well as to discuss any items of interest as we move forward into another year. All members and active friends of the church are most welcome. Keith Baxter, president.
A service celebrating fatherhood, grandfatherhood, and relations with father figures, coordinated by Jaime Dunton.
Citing the Mayan calendar as well as other prophecies, a large number of people are claiming the end times will visit Planet Earth in 2012. Rather than fear this fantastic claim, Bethany Knight proposes we embrace it! "May the world, as we know it, come to an end," she says. "Rather than focusing on the seen highly technological world and all its material riches, isn't it time to focus on the unseen…those precious measures of a life well lived: loving relationships, meaningful contributions to the greater good, a sense of real community?" Rich with fresh stories and lessons gleaned from her winter in Florida and India, Bethany's talk is aimed at lifting us up and reminding us of our inherent goodness.
What calls us from beyond ourselves to live a life of goodness and justice? How might we speak of this?
A one-day workshop on the art of worship: How to make UU worship beautiful and effective, every time. For worship leaders, worship committees, lay leaders, and anyone interested in deepening their understanding and skill in creating good worship services that touch the soul and keep 'em coming back for more. Special guest facilitator: the Reverend Allison Barrett, from Hamilton Ontario. Lunch provided with a $10 registration cost for lunch.
The number one function of church is worship; we all seek to provide a regular, weekly worship. It behoves us to do it as well as we can.
Billets available for Friday and Saturday night for those who would like. Child care provided as well on Saturday. This event is sponsored by UUEstrie and the Canadian Unitarian Council.
Registration: Rachel Garber: rachel@uuestrie.ca; Billets: Mary Lynn Ross: 819-842-4177
Note: a complete supper is also available in the church on the Friday night, as we are holding a gala community supper fundraiser at $20/plate, $10/child, 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Reservations/tickets in advance.
Gala Community Dinner, with music, Friday, June 3, at 6:30 p.m. Fundraising Event. Bring family and friends for fine food, congenial company and mellow music. Tickets: $20; $10/child.. BYOB.
Canada's history regarding her indigenous peoples has been fraught with failure. By present standards, our treatment of native people has often been abusive. How did we get into that? Duncan Campbell Scott was the initial authority in Canada's Department of Indian Affairs who set the pattern and the objectives of our policies regarding native peoples, and managed their implementation for several decades.
Mark Abley is a Montreal writer who recently published a book on Duncan Campbell Scott.
As the dog bit my leg, my mind exclaimed, “This isn’t what I came to India for!”
4 p.m. S.O.U.L. Concert
The Singers Of United Lands brings us vocal music from around the world, with a unique quartet of young professional singers representing four continents — Paddy McDonald from Australia, Sergio Martinez from Colombia, Kayla Stride from the Mi’kmaq Nation of Canada, and Lulu Imbula from Zambia. Admission is free; a love offering will be shared between S.O.U.L. and UUEstrie.
A 97-minute film, Baraka is a world beyond words, a wordless and transcendent global experience of sights and sounds of the human condition: the Thread that Weaves Life Together. Director: Ron Fricke. Music: Michael Stearns.
The Universalist idea dates from the very early beginnings of Christianity, 2000 years ago. Strongly progressive thought entered Universalism 200 years ago. Why do some of these beautiful and evolving ideas of loving kindness still seem so radical today?
This is a small group attached to UUEstrie, which meets monthly to discuss religious questions in French. Meetings are held at the International Center at Bishop's University. Contact person: Katherine Pérusse.
Mothers will be in some families acclaimed, in others blamed. Here we celebrate them with real love and affection, knowing that the entire family system is what shapes our lives.
A traditional 'earth-centered' May Day celebration of the turning of the season will be the focus of this service. Bring appropriate clothing (it's hard to predict the weather two weeks in advance) for the outdoor Maypole dance.
Easter service in the upstairs sanctuary, and a coloured egg parade during the coffee hour.
We will celebrate this service upstairs in the sanctuary, our first 'sanctuary' service since Christmas, and the beginning of the spring, summer, fall season of services held upstairs. The fellowship hour will also be held upstairs in Avery Booth Hall.
*Plus — Children’s program every Sunday. All are welcome!
Renouveau et Résurrection**
Dimanche 24 avril à 10 h, avec la rév. Carole Martignacco
Service pascal dans le sanctuaire (1er étage de l’église) et parade des œufs de Pâques décorés durant la pause-café.
**Les homélies sont présentées en anglais seulement. Plus! La programmation pour enfant tous les dimanche. Toutes et tous sont les bienvenus !
See description under April 16. A second and final chance to join in fellowship to get the windows all washed, the floors shining, etc. etc. A task list will be available in the church. All are welcome. All are needed. Come for an hour or two or three, whatever you can do. Thanks.
Journées de nettoyage —Samedi 16 et 23 avril, de 9 h 30 à 19 h
Amis, amies et membres! Joignez-vous au nettoyage du printemps en fête à l’église! Une liste de tâches sera disponible. Venez aider quelques heures ou toute la journée durant ces deux jours. Tout le monde est bienvenu et nous avons besoin de toute l’aide possible!
On this Saturday morning, we invite all and sundry to head on down to the church in North Hatley, with work clothes and energy, to lend a hand at our annual spring cleanup: washing windows and walls, cleaning floors, setting up the sanctuary for our return to worshipping up there after a winter of worshipping in our fellowship hall. Come anytime after 9am and stay for a couple hours or as long as you like.
Supplies and a checklist of jobs will be available on site. See you there!
"God" suffers a lot of doubt and criticism, especially, but not only, by Unitarian Universalists. Attempts to describe what one means by 'God', or the existence and nature of something called 'God', are fraught with argument and contradiction. Can some of the venerables of theological thought help us out?
Harvey White, professor of religion at Bishop's University, returns to our pulpit to reflect on so-called negative theology's contribution to the discussion.
This service was rescheduled to this date after the extreme snowstorm of Feb 6.
*Plus — Children’s program every Sunday. All are welcome!
A film about Maude Barlow’s continuing efforts, on behalf of the Council of Canadians, and as a special UN delegate, to highlight the need for appropriate policies for managing the world’s precious and scarce (fresh) water resources. The film will be followed by a panel discussion and questions and comments from the audience. Dr. Elisabeth Levac, professor of environmental studies at Bishop's University, and M. André Nault, président des AmiEs de la Terre de l'Estrie have confirmed as panelists. All welcome. Free-will donations to help cover the cost of the film will be accepted at the door.
The Unitarian Universalist Church in North Hatley (UUEstrie) has organized a debate among the candidates for Member of Parliament for the Compton-Stanstead riding. The event is planned for THURSDAY, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. at UUEstrie, 201 Main St., North Hatley. It is open to the public. See Poster
The organizers invited all five candidates in the riding to participate. Sandrine Gressard Bélanger (Conservative Party), France Bonsant, MP (Bloc Québécois), Gary Caldwell (Green Party), and William Hogg (Liberal Party) have agreed to take part. As of this date, the candidate for the New Democratic Party (NDP), Jean Rousseau, has not yet confirmed his participation.
The debate is to follow the same format as the previous candidates’ debates organized by UUEstrie during the 2006 and 2008 elections. After short opening statements, each candidate will be asked to respond to a few prepared questions. A half-hour period is then allocated to questions from the audience, and finally, each candidate will be invited to give a closing statement.
According to Me. Jaime Dunton, moderator of the debate, questions are welcome in both English and French. Dunton is a former president of UUEstrie and a former mayor of Hatley.
“We have organized this debate in order to enhance the quality of the democratic process,” said Keith Baxter, president of UUEstrie. “This is an opportunity for candidates to interact with community members in person, and for local people to ask them questions directly.”
UUEstrie is a spiritual community with a long liberal tradition dating from the 1800s. It is a member of the Canadian Unitarian Council.
“Our values include the right of conscience and the use of democratic process,” said Baxter. “We are committed to working toward a peaceful, equitable world community.”
For more information, contact 819-842-4146 or info@uuestrie.ca, or visit www.uuestrie.ca.
Is there a message for us today in ancient flood stories of the middle east? In this season that threatens flash floods in many parts of the world, we revisit the old biblical story from a fresh and entertaining perspective. A look also at issues related to water protection, in anticipation of Earth Day 2011.
Plus — Children’s program every Sunday. All are welcome!
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Clean-up Day #1!
All members and friends are invited to a spring cleaning party in the church. Please mark the date in your agenda and join the work party. If the time does not suit you, you can come later in the day, or the next Saturday, April 16, instead. The dates are chosen to prepare for our move back upstairs, scheduled for April 17. A list of tasks available to work on will be available in the church. All we need is you!
We are a decade into a new millennium. Is UUism a relevant and dynamic religion for the 21st century?
How we frame our UU story is critical to our character, our attitude, and our effectiveness. Kelly will reflect on Unitarian Universalism as she has experienced it, and the insights and engagement needed to keep it unstuck and moving.
Kelly is Congregational Services Coordinator for CUC Eastern Region. She met several of us from North Hatley at the Eastern Fall Gathering in Montreal in November, 2010. She will also meet with us today for a Visioning Workshop after lunch.
A special Sharing Our Faith collection will be taken on this Sunday. Please be generous. Combined with similar donations from all CUC congregations, these funds are used to finance important projects in UU churches across the country. Sharing our Faith monies have come back to us here in North Hatley in the form of grants to develop both our RE program and our current Communications project.
UU Estrie VISIONING WORKSHOP -Noon to 2:30 p.m. All members and friends are encouraged stay following the service for chile and salad luncheon, and to meet with Kelly after lunch to voice our ideas about our vision of UUEstrie. Help us imagine a future for our dynamic spiritual community. All are welcome.
Sue Montgomery, journalist for the Montreal Gazette, returns to UU Estrie to give us her impressions of post-election changes in Haiti, and will share a slide show from all three of her trips there last year. A special collection will be taken to help support the orphanage Maison enfants d'espoir and other Haitian projects.
Our annual Pledge Dinner. Food supplied to all members and friends of UUEstrie by your loyal Board of Trustees. Vegetarian and gluten-free dishes available. Children welcome. Come on out, the supper is free and the entertainment is always worth the price of admission.
More info on pledging $ to the church, and budgets for the new fiscal year that begins May 1, will be available closer to the date.
The concluding episode in this three-part mini-series of discussions of the ideas of Mr. Sam Harris, as described in his book of the same title. A short presentation followed by active round-table discussion by all those present. Join us. (Part one took place on January 23rd, Part two on Feb. 20.)
An intergenerational service! We shall remember how to play, and how beautiful and important play is, by interacting with all the children in our spiritual community in various forms of play. Getting to know each child, and their getting to know each of the adults, will be a lovely blessing on the side.
Lindsay-Jane Gowman is the Coordinator of Children's Religious and Spiritual Exploration at UUEstrie.
Religion wants to be a force for Good in the World. And it succeeds sometimes, but fails a lot, too. What is needed to restore Religion to its real purpose in life?
A man falls on a moving escalator and no one moves to help. Where are the Good Samaritans? What do people need to know, to understand or to believe in order to be enabled to step forward and become Good Samaritans? What is missing, and what can we do, not only to become Good Samaritans ourselves, but to help others to make that same step forward?
Kirstin McKeown is Worship Chair at the Montreal Unitarian Church. This is her first visit to North Hatley
Episode 2 in this three-part mini-series of discussions of the ideas of Mr. Sam Harris, as described in his book of the same title. A short presentation followed by active round-table discussion by all those present. Join us. (Part one took place on January 23rd.)
Laurent a écrit: Le thème qui m'inspire c'est l'amour, d'abord entre conjoints, puis avec les autres, comme mécanisme naturel pour aller plus loin que soi, se dépasser et finalement faire évoluer son être intérieur (son âme?).
NB: ce service bilingue va privilégier le français, surtout pour l'homélie.
Please note: While parts of this service will be bilingual English-French, the bulk of this service will be delivered, exceptionally, in French. We especially invite all our francophone friends to this service.
"God" suffers a lot of doubt and criticism, especially, but not only, by Unitarian Universalists. Attempts to describe what one means by 'God', or the existence and nature of something called 'God', are fraught with argument and contradiction. Can some of the venerables of theological thought help us out?
Harvey White, professor of religion at Bishop's University, returns to our pulpit to reflect on so-called negative theology's contribution to the discussion.
UUs from the Greater Toronto Area plus friends from all over are invited to a weekend of pleasant reflection on a variety of topics, at a retreat centre outside Toronto, from Feb 4 - 6. Details available on the CUC website.
Barbara Hunting teaches at Bishop's University. She spent time last summer in the African country of Malawi, as part of a project involving a number of university students spending 6 weeks there. She will share her reflections on her experience.
Words convey spirit. All words are metaphor that gives us access to complex associations and meaning. We will explore together the power that religious words have in our life as a community – both negative and positive.
An annual tradition at UUEstrie. On this Sunday each year we take our spiritual nourishment entirely in the form of Story, featuring tellers from the Townships Tellers.
Nothing takes us close to truth in quite the way story does--close to the truth and close to the heart.
A shortened service will be followed by the first instalment of a three-part series discussing the book of the same title by Sam Harris. Sam Harris' basic thesis is that there is an objective, scientific way to evaluate and compare different moralities, and that moral relativism is bunk. A short presentation will lead into active round table discussions among all present.
UUEstrie will be dark this Sunday as we all relax from the Christmas season just past. Services will resume next week, January 9, 2011, at 10 am.
UUEstrie will be dark this day, in honour of one of the natural spirits of the season - hibernation. Services will resume on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 10 am.
A service of poetry, readings, song and story celebrating the season, followed by a hearty Wassail - with even more singing!
Our annual Christmas Pageant and Turkey Potluck
The intergenerational (i.e., starring the children) pageant presentation upstairs in the sanctuary will be followed by a wonderful turkey potluck supper downstairs in Stoddard Hall, as we do every year.
Friends and friends of friends are more than welcome to this special UU musical presentation of the Spirit of Christmas.
Personal reflections on Carl Jung and the Advaita tradition.
Also, at 3 pm on this day, upstairs in the Sanctuary, the CHOEUR DES SANGS MÊLÉS returns to welcome the holidays with a Christmas concert titled "Joies et Douceurs des Fêtes". A benefit concert for our Roof fund. Suggested donation $10 per person.
A cornucopia of a cappella songs from around the globe, in celebration of light, peace, life renewed ... and the joy of being together! To savour this joy to the fullest, the singers invite you to join them for a festive snack after the concert.
Le Choeur des Sangs Mêlés vous invite à partager "Joies et douceurs des Fêtes", un festin de chansons a cappella du monde entier qui célèbrent la lumière, la paix, la vie renouvelée... et la joie d’être ensemble! Pour savourer ce bonheur pleinement, les chanteuses vous invitent à partager une collation festive après le concert.
Dr. Marcel Arcand is a professor at the Université de Sherbrooke whose main work is with the Centre of Research on Aging CSSS-IUGS. The idea is that end of life issues are becoming more complex with modern medicine's new technology. Ethical discussions and decisions on therapeutic appropriateness are almost always necessary near the end of life.
Children! Theme: Our Community. Activity: Trip to local park. Please dress warmly!
Brendan is a former minister here in North Hatley and now Parish Minister at St. Johnsbury, Vermont Universalist Church. Christopher Hitchens, whose book "God Is Not Great", is one of a spate of recent authors criticizing belief in God ss naive, a-scientific superstition. Brendan will share his reflections on the views of these contemporary atheists.
Brendan was also a political candidate in this fall's U.S. election. He is guaranteed to have stories to share.
Children! Theme: Being Present.
As an open, non-dogmatic religious community, we seek to honour all world religions. The first step beyond mere tolerance toward deeper understanding is to challenge ourselves.
Children! Theme: The Gift of Friends. Activity: Please bring a friend.
NB: There will be NO SERVICE IN NORTH HATLEY this Sunday. All are invited to join our UU friends at the Unitarian Church of Montreal, 5035 deMaisonneuve O., where the Sunday Service on 'Embracing Change' will be the closing event in what is called the Eastern Fall Gathering of the 11 UU Congregations in the Eastern part of Canada, from Kingston to St. John's.
Friday, Nov. 5 to Sunday Nov. 7, at the Unitarian Church of Montreal, a gathering of UUs from Kingston to St. John's, for learning, networking, and fine fellowship. Save the dates! Billets available.
Happy Hallowe'en! There are many ways to celebrate this colorful turning of the season, with especial recognition of the spirits of those who have passed away.
Assisting in this service: Lin Jensen, Jane Pankovitch, Howard Hale.
Children: Halloween Surprise- wear your costume.
Once a year, a worship service recalls us to the goal of world peace with liberty and justice for all, and why we fly the UN flag in our sanctuary.
Bill Hogg has taught the Model UN course in the Political Studies department at Bishop's University several times. (He is also the candidate for the Liberal Party in the federal riding of Compton Stanstead, which includes both Lennoxville and North Hatley.) We hope to have some students join us to share their experience at the UN, and their views about what the UN means to them.
Children's theme: Forgiveness
An illustrated talk of the sights, the culture and the life of Turkey.
Children's theme: The Colours of Our UU Principles
Ken MacLean reminded us this year once again that the first and foremost prayer for everyone is "Thank You".
This service will take place off-site at the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147 in Huntingville, just south of Lennoxville.
No service in North Hatley this Sunday.
Children's theme: Caring for the Earth. Please bring a cereal box and some photos of your pets and family.
Hafid Agourram, a professor in the Williams School of Business at Bishop's University, is originally from Morocco. He has been in Canada for fifteen years and lives in Sherbrooke with his wife and their three daughters. He is a practicing Muslim and an active member of the Islamic Association in l'Estrie, of which he is a past-president.
He will share some of his thoughts of the teachings of Islam, and particularly its emphasis on human relationships and social justice. One of the most important gifts of Islam to the human family is to the cause of justice in the world and respect for human rights.
Children's theme: A Peaceful and Fair World. Activity: Magnet Making
Eight facets of the diamond to explore: Mystery; The Sacred in the Here and Now; Variety; Mutuality; The “Divine” Seed; Emergence; Darkness and Light in Balance; Ongoing Revelation
Children's theme: Who are our First Nations? Activity: Fall equinox candle holders driftwood, bark, seed pods. Wise Elders help please.
This will be a power point presentation on the lives of these native people. Jan is a community-based volunteer sponsored by the Rotary Club to report on the control of malaria in Guyana while working in that country.
Children's theme: Who are Quakers? Activity: Candlemaking.
Mental illness is an illness. Why should it have a stigma, too?
Children's theme: Who are UUs? Activity: What do I bring with me to church? (painting)
All are welcome to this picnic service to be held off-site near St. Etienne. For directions, contact Keith Baxter or another member.
Early birds will hike in the woods from 10:30 am; the water ceremony will start about 11:30 am, followed by our picnic lunch.
Water is THE basis of all life on our planet. The earth surface is 7/8ths water, the human body 60% water.Everyone is invited to bring a sample of water that represents a place or event that is meaningful in their lives and a picnic lunch. Where have you traveled this summer?
Rich Forcier is Parish Minister at First Universalist in Barre, Vermont. He is a most welcome annual visitor to our pulpit.
Joey travelled to eastern Uganda in October, 2009, to work with an old friend from McGill, Barbara Wybar. Barbara has been living in Bududa full time for the last four years.
She runs a Vocational School and an Enrichment Program for very needy orphans in the area.
This is a benefit concert to be given in our Church by Mr. Jim Scott, singer/songwriter well known in UU circles with a total of eight compositions in the two hymnals we use. Jim is an ardent environmentalist and upholds the Earth in many of his compositions. A moving and varied performance featuring Jim Scott solo, on guitar and vocals.
Proceeds will benefit needed repairs to the roof and walkway of our building. Free-will donation; suggested $10-$20.
UUEstrie is very grateful to Jim Scott for offering this concert to us. He will be part of the worship service at the Unitarian Church of Montreal on Sunday the 15th of Auguest.
A natural-born communitarian, Margot Heyerhoff's personal energy flows easily into society. An appreciation of the values and the value of Community.
Reverend Heather is a regular visitor to our pulpit, from Montréal. "Spiraling Dynamics" is about how society evolves over time. Apparently, things are spiraling faster these days.
On this one-year anniversary of the death of one of our beloved members, Judith Koritar, we will remember her and the many loved ones whose spirits we keep alive in our hearts by loving memory. Join us for this ritual of poetry, song, story and candlelighting.
Golf is an art. Golf has rules. Life is an art. Life has rules.
This is an examination of the words and expressions that people use as guideposts in life.
UU's are people who live without dogma, but who still face circumstances which try our souls. What gets us through? Where do we find wisdom, inspiration, hope and more? What sayings do YOU cherish? What pithy wisdom speaks to you? What did you find yourself muttering the last time your found yourself, literally or figuratively, in a foxhole? Has a maxim ever changed your life?
This Sunday there will be a picnic after the service, all are welcome.
Programme Committee meeting, RE room
Rev. Dr. Ken MacLean is a long-standing friend, having first preached in North Hatley in about 1963! Among his many contributions to our denomination, he is minister emeritus of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Maryland.
All members and friends are happily invited to participate in the Annual General Meeting of our community. Usually there is dessert offered to the participants. Reports are heard, elections are held, and ideas shared about where we are going. Are we actually a Breakthrough Congregation?
The Genesis story is easily and often misread. What does it really say?
A native of the Eastern Townships, Daron Westman teaches Classics at Bishop’s University and Humanities at Champlain College in Lennoxville. His courses at Champlain focus on Islam, the Bible, sexuality and LGBT culture and history. This semester he taught a course on non-traditional interpretations of Genesis.
This small group next gathers in Stoddard Hall of UUEstrie on Wednesday, 23 June, 2010. Info: Carol McKinley. Newcomers welcome.
As a society, we generally have favourable views about mothering, seeing it as a form of nurturing. What about fathering? On Father's Day, we shall explore the concept of fathering. Whether you are a father, have a father, or think that you too have fathered something into existence, come and share this day with us.
Assemblée mensuelle, le Cercle Gaulois de UUEstrie se réunit prochainement le 15 juin, un mardi, dans la salle d'exploration religieuse de UUEstrie, de 19h30 à 21 hres. Info: Katherine Pérusse. Le thème cette fois, semble-t-il, sera 'l'insécurité'. On s'ouvre à vous.
Bethany's talk will be based upon the idea that "Knowledge and growth do not necessarily mean accumulating more, but letting go of most everything." She will spend some time looking at loss and less...and what we can do in their presence to find peace and contentment.
Bethany is a regular spring-time visitor to our pulpit whose bright messages of the path to inner peace are as welcome as the robins, every year. She hails from Vermont, and spends time in India each winter.
Heather, who was the only Quebec Grandmother to travel with 39 other Canadian Grandmothers to a gathering of African Grandmothers in Swaziland, will report on her impressions of this event. These hosting Grandmothers have been the recipients of monies raised by the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and our Grandmothers were invited to be shown the fruits of their money raising efforts.
Sold out last year, this amazing women's choir will be presenting two performances in our sanctuary this year. The first has already sold out on Sunday afternoon, May 30 at 3 pm, and the second, a repeat performance, is this Saturday evening, June 5 at 8 pm.
All performances of les Sangs mêlés are fund-raising concerts for a variety of women's rights and development organizations. These two concerts will share of the proceeds between UUEstrie's 'Roof Fund' and Eau Secours, a Quebec group focussed on the goals and means to healthy water.
Fresh from the meeting, our delegates will tell us what is going on with the Canadian Unitarian Council, and with the UU movement in Canada.
This afternoon at 3 pm in the Sanctuary, the first performance of the spring concert by le Choeur des Sangs mêlés. Sold out last year, this amazing women's choir has had to expand to two shows at UUEstrie this year.The second show will be Saturday, June 5 at 7 pm.
All performances of les Sangs Mêlés are fund-raising concerts for a variety of women's rights and development organizations. These two concerts will also dedicate a share of the proceeds to UUEstrie's 'Roof Fund'.
Bring your voice and your spirit for this Singing service. The service will consist of songs and readings from Singing the Living Tradition, and Singing the Journey, two UU hymnbooks we use all the time. We shall make a joyful noise.
For the tek savvy curious who would like to look in on the worship gathering taking place in Victoria BC on this day, as part of the annual conference of Canadian Unitarians and Universalists, go to cuc.ca for live streaming of this event at 4 pm Eastern time. This event includes the premiere performance of a Unitarian Latin mass Missa Brevis Pro Serveto (How shall we live?) presented by the conference choir, musical ensemble and interpretive dancers.
Can't make it to this year's annual conference of Canadian Unitarians and Universalists in Victoria BC? You can watch some events live on your computer at the cuc.ca website.
Click on the cuc.ca website Saturday May 22 at 12:00 noon Eastern time to watch the Welcome and Keynote Speech by Dr. Paul Bramadat of the University of Victoria.
Saturday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern watch the Confluence Lecture. This is an erudite presentation of serious religious thought by a Canadian UU minister.
On Sunday, join those at worship at 4:00 p.m Eastern and also watch the Unitarian Latin mass Missa Brevis Pro Serveto (How shall we live?) presented by the conference choir, musical ensemble and interpretive dancers.
Can't watch it at those times on your computer? These video highlights and other conference events will also be recorded and available to watch any time on the cuc.ca website.
Jason Krpan is of Croatian origin, born in Yugoslavia, immigrated to Manitoba, where he spent about 20 years, before moving to Georgeville QC as the result of a mistake. He continues to live in Georgeville and is a retired potter and letter-writer, a poet, singer-songwriter, storyteller, fabricator of artifacts, including percussion instruments, and a keen observer of Materialism and its consequences.
A service of shared testimonials from all who are willing to participate. Members and friends are invited to think of a mother figure in their lives that they could testify about, perhaps with an artifact such as a picture or something else to represent that special MOM.
5th Annual Works In Progress Musical Coffee House
" We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a better day so let's start giving". This year, Work's In Progress presents many varied and talented performers with a range of musical genres; African, blues, folk, Gaelic, reggae, calypso, French and Greek--even a comedy act and circus juggling. All are 'experienced' amateurs with lots of heart and soul ready to entertain for the benefit of Haiti. Bring an appetite for a smorgasbord of different flavours of entertainment and delicious desserts, coffee and tea. Proceeds for Haiti and the the church Roof Fund.
Another turning of the Wheel of the Year. Join us for our annual spring service drawing upon one of the oldest religions, the pagan Beltane - named for the burning flames on the hillside. Here on our own hillside, we'll dance around the be-ribboned May Pole, with Celtic music on guitar and mandolin by France Thibault and Laurent Hubert.
Creativity: “two men and a bear,” or if you will, “Bozeman, Montana, an opera house and a brick”…
Whether for stories, dance, theatre, the building of a personal project, or of a congregational project, from where do our great ideas come? How do we curb our creativity? How do we feed it into blossoming? Let’s consider individual and collective creativity.
Reverend Doctor Heather Fraser Fawcett is a UU Community Minister connected to Lakeshore Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Montreal. She is a regular visitor to our pulpit once or twice a year.
A one-day retreat for members of the Board, plus other church leaders on this Saturday in Spring, to revision our trajectory going forward, using examples of breakthrough UU congregations from across North America. Participants will engage in a variety of exercises all designed to ensure that UUEstrie continues to thrive and grow, to reach its people, and make its mark here in the Eastern Townships of Québec.
In designing a 21st century religion relevant to our times, Earth Day could become a major religious holiday akin to Christmas or Easter in the Christian tradition. With all the tools of worship - song, story, art and symbolism - let us create rituals that truly celebrate our wonder and joy at the miracle of being here on this spinning green planet, Earth.
All hands are invited to join us for an hour or two or three, in the morning from 9:30, or in the afternoon, to help finish up the annual spring cleanup and preparation of the upstairs sanctuary for weekly Sunday services from April 18 on. Indoor and outdoor jobs for all. Lists of tasks and cleaning materials will be available on the day.
Jennifer Dunn conveys stories of compassion, courage and community from-on -the -ground interactions with individuals bearing with the devastating impact of Aids in Uganda and South Africa. With tales of hope from the sick, the children orphaned from the disease and the grandmothers left to care for the next generation.. Jennifer imparts just how profoundly the Stephen Lewis Foundation and, specifically, their network of grandmothers across Canada are helping to turn the tide in Africa
All hands invited to join us for an hour or two or three, in the morning from 9:30 or in the afternoon to help with the annual spring cleanup, and preparation of the upstairs sanctuary for weekly Sunday services from April 18 on. Lists of tasks and cleaning materials will be available on the day.
If you cannot make it this Saturday, don't feel bad; come next Saturday, to cleanup day #2!
In Nature, the first book of scripture, resurrection happens as part of the cycle of seasons. We are immersed in evidence of life rising from death, a natural regeneration echoed in the human spirit. How do we celebrate this time of year? By rejoicing in Spring's return and Earth's eternal renewal of life, the blossom emerging from the dry seed.
Title: "Eye-Witness Report: What's Really Happening in Haiti?" - Sue Montgomery
Sue Montgomery, journalist and member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, went to Haiti at a moment's notice to provide on-site coverage for the Gazette when the Jan 12th earthquake hit. Before she returns to help rebuild an orphanage there, she'll share her stories of heartbreaking devastation in that poorest of countries and the heroic spirit of the Haitian people.
A journalist for almost 25 years, Sue has worked for the Toronto Star, Canadian Press, Gemini News Service in London, England, and Montreal's Gazette. She worked for CUSO in Bangkok, Thailand and has covered the Velvet Revolution in the former Czech republic, Namibia independence, and 2004 coup d'état in Haiti. When the world is quiet, she covers the justice beat at the Gazette.
As a group theological inquiry project, the UU Ministers of Canada (UUMOC) last May committed to reading and discussing John Ralston Saul's recent book, A Fair Country. Saul critiques commonly held assumptions and myths about Canadian culture, and challenges how we think about national justice issues. Rev. Carole will share some of her own and her colleagues' reflections. Come prepared to engage in lively debate. There will be a talk back session during Coffee Hour.
Reserve this Friday evening for our annual Pledge Dinner, held in Stoddard Hall, with entertainment nonpareil by Fincte (ask anyone who's been to one of these before), and food lovingly prepared for all members and friends of UUEstrie by our loyal Board of Trustees. All you need to do is come (prepared to pledge, if you can, but prepared to simply enjoy the fellowship in any case).
How would the world and our experience of life be different if we grew up and learned to function in a cooperative rather than competitive society? There are signs on the cultural horizon of radical change, from emphasizing individual to collective wellbeing.
Don't forget we begin on Daylight Time this morning!
Harvey White is a professor of Religion at Bishop's University. He recently gave a public lecture refuting all the probabilistic arguments for the existence of a Creator-God.
Why study religion? For various reasons: some do it to go deeper into the religious life to which they are already committed, some to question the religion of their childhood, some to search for a vague 'something' missing in their lives, some to actively seek out a spiritual path that is right for them, some....
We return to the theme of the end of life and how to prepare for that, a theme we treated earlier in February.
After the coffee hour following the service, there will be a brown bag lunch and workshop for those who are interested on designing your own memorial service. What would you like your friends and loved ones to experience and take away from your funeral? This workshop will be facilitated by Rev. Carole.
Some say that Environmentalism is the new Christianity: Lots of fervent devotees, and plenty of guilt thrown about.
But it is true that we humans have grown so numerous, and have occupied and transformed so much of planet earth, that the future evolution of the planet (some say the survival of life on earth) depends upon what we do.
So what do we do?
The service will include the viewing of a short film on things some people are doing.
UUEstrie Cercle Gaulois gathering, RE room.
This is also Shrove Tuesday! (Easter comes early this year!)
If the quest for universal love is at the core of all world religious traditions, why is what we all long for so difficult to achieve?
UUEstrie Programme Committee meeting
Homo Sapiens have been burying our dead and marking their passing with ritual for thousands of years.
There are so many questions about what to do when someone dies. How do we prepare well so that we can minimize stress and maximize the beneficial effects of this emotional and spiritual time when a loved one passes away?
Diane-Huguette is a participant in a group that has been meeting in Stoddard Hall twice a year since 2008 to explore all aspects of these issues.
This weekend, Feb. 5-7, is the annual Midwinter Retreat, organized by the congregations of the GTA, and held in Bolton ON, near Hamilton. An enjoyable learning and social experience for any UU, combined with a concurrent professional development workshop for lay chaplains. Our Reverend Carole will be there. Ask her for more information.
UUEstrie Board meeting
We plan to watch an 80-minute film, Food, Inc. Discussion will follow.
Inge will talk about her experience establishing and managing a community for handicapped individuals up in the Laurentians.
All human communities have a narrative. Humans live by stories. Humans learn by stories. Our worship this day will consist of a number of stories told by Townships tellers and friends. This has been a traditional celebration on our yearly calendar for nearly two decades!
A New Year is always a moment of looking back and looking forward.
Rev. Carole, the Programme Committee, and, we hope, yourselves, are still on Christmas vacation. Regular Sunday morning services shall resume next week, January 10.
No service: Rev. Carole and the Programme Committee are on Christmas vacation!
Our traditional service of readings, silence, stories and carols.
Our pageant this year is on the theme of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". It is directed by Debra Fougère with a familiar cast of characters and choristers.
Earlier on this day: at 1:30 pm at the Huntingville Universalist Church, a Christmas concert by the Montreal Welsh Male Choir.
Also, at 3 pm in North Hatley, we shall be ringing our church bell 350(!) times, in solidarity with the international Climate Change conference going on at that time in Copenhagen, and in solidarity with the goal of lowering atmospheric CO2 from its current 390 ppm to the much safer level of 350 ppm. We hope to get the other North Hatley churches to join us in this statement of our ecological consciousness.
Frances has been involved in the education of Bangladesh children and her Mc Gill students for many years. She makes many trips yearly to advise and administer schooling to this country and other countries in that part of the world. She lived there for a time and is familiar with the social and psychological workings of this population. She will address their health issues.
Also on Dec. 6, at 3 in the afternoon UUEstrie will host a Christmas Concert by the Choeur des Sangs Mêlés, in our church sanctuary. A dynamic group of women's voices who never fail to move ears and hearts, this time their concert is entitled "Chants d'elles". The concert will benefit Amnesty International and the roof fund of the church. A sale table featuring beautiful, light, paper bead jewellery from Uganda, made available through BeadForLife, will give everyone opportunities to purchase lovely Christmas gifts, and support the fight against poverty in Africa.
As the detail and precision of our knowledge of the universe increase, what do we really know?
Dr. Lorne Nelson is a highly respected astrophysicist from Bishop's University. He held a Canada Chair for Research in Astrophysics and sits on an international committee that priorizes which research projects will be allocated time on the several major telescopes available in the world. He is a self-confessed workaholic and an Eastern Townshipper through and through.
This Sunday will be a special 'New to UU' Sunday, with the worship service devoted to deepening our understanding of UU theology as it has evolved. After coffee hour we shall continue with a Beans and Salad luncheon provided by the Church for all those new to UU or curious about UUism, followed by a 90-minute workshop on various aspects of UU history, our local congregation's history, the meaning of membership, and the lay leadership tradition and structure of the congregation.
Michael Goldbloom is Principal of Bishop's University. Originally from Montréal, he and his wife Fiona now live in the Principal's residence on Bishop's campus. We are honoured to have him take our pulpit this morning.
Viedo/discussion of simple exercise techniques for balancing the energies of our own bodies for increased vitality, health, alertness. Features the work of Donna Eden, whose workshop Phyllis attended at Omega Institute in New York state last summer.
Anyone is welcome to join this discussion/workshop.
Most Canadians have heard of 56 Sparks St, Ottawa. It is the home of USC Canada, an international development organization founded after World War II by Lotta Hitschmanova (as the Unitarian Service Committee). Our church has supplied two members to the Board of USC over the years, and we often receive visits and updates on their activities by members of their staff, while sending contributions to that organization in support of their projects.
2009 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lotta, who became a Canadian icon through her creation and leadership of USC Canada. Today, David Rain, a USC staff member, will be here to talk about the amazing, feisty Lotta Hitschmanova, and her legacy. Today as well, we shall devote the regular offering plate to a special collection for USC Canada. Please be generous, and know that recorded donations are entirely tax-deductible.
Cheryl Stroud was a victim of Stage Four, 99% terminal, ovarian cancer. She is still with us. Her faith is a huge component of her story.
Cheryl is a long time resident of this area, a professional musician, and retired director of the Creative Arts programme at Champlain College. She still teaches part time in the Bishop's University music programme.
A silent auction fundraiser for the Church will wind up its final day with a special concert in the church headlined by France Thibault and Laurent Hubert, and featuring plerformances by Jane Gowman and Reine Gagnon.
The final chance to bid in the silent auction will be during the intermission at the Gala. Objects and services offered at auction are displayed in the lower level entrance hall of the church.
Heather is a professor in Political Studies at Bishop's University. She is responsible for the Bishop's delegation to an annual Model U.N. conference attended by University groups from around the world. The mission of Model UN is an inspiration in itself.
We celebrate this Sunday each year as U.N. Sunday, recognizing the importance of the United Nations and the continuing relevance of its mission for Human Society. We share with the U.N. the goal of world peace with justice, liberty and freedom for all people.
Phyllis will host a video presentation featuring Donna Eden on this fascinating, gentle and effective approach to strengthening one's vital energies, using simple exercises that anyone can do, that give significant, positive, day-to-day and long-term, benefits to our health.
There will be time for discussion, and the possibility of a follow-up study group. For more information speak to Phyllis (819-346-8273). A voluntary contribution to help pay for the cost of the video will be welcomed. All interested members, friends, and friends of friends are welcome.
This Thanksgiving service shall take place at the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, in Huntingville. No service in North Hatley. Note the slightly later start time for this service, to allow visitors to find their way over from North Hatley. (Take the 108 or 143 north toward Lennoxville. Just before Lennoxville, turn right (south) on the 147. The Huntingville Universalist Church is on the right about 1.5 km south of the junction with 108/143, just opposite the bridge over the Ascot River.)
Children's programme will be held in the historic old one-room schoolhouse adjacent to the church.
George Foster is a local artist, blacksmith, and organic gardener. He grows bananas in his greenhouse in Way's Mills, and is famous for his large bronze bug sculptures. His take on the world and his particular sense of humour promise to enliven our worship.
This Sunday will also be the opening day of our silent auction fundraiser, which will run for 3 weeks in the lower level entrance foyer, and which will wind up with a Gala concert on October 24th in the evening.
A Sunday to recognize and appreciate the gifts of each to all.
Impressions, information and insights gained from a weekend with several hundred other UUs from across Canada last May at the Annual Conference and Meeting of the Canadian Unitarian Council: (a) The role of the Parliamentarian; (b) Report on the ambiance and various workshops
Unitarians and Universalists have few traditional rituals, but a growing tradition among us is the annual celebration of how our lives connect and flow together, using the symbolism of water - necessary for all life on earth. Bring a sample of water from your travels or your own backyard, and share the story of where it came from as we merge the waters in one bowl. Alert: Begin collecting your water samples now!!!
On this Labour Day Sunday, there is no regular service in the church. All are welcome to join us outdoors for a friendship circle and congregational picnic on the Tomifobia Nature Trail, which runs from Ayer's Cliff to Stanstead along the Tomifobia River. Rendezvous at km 12 of the Trail, in the trail parking lot at Laflamme Road, just east of Boynton Rd. (From the north, get off autoroute 55, if necessary, at Ayer's Cliff, take the 141 through Ayer's Cliff to the Boynton Rd. and follow Boynton Rd. south to Laflamme Rd where you turn left and go down to the valley bottom. From the south, Curtis Rd does a level crossing of 55; you can turn left there, then left at Laperle and right at Laflamme. See map.)
Hikers are invited to gather at 10 a.m. to hike the Trail for an hour before the Friendship Circle and picnic lunch, which will take place in the rest area at km 11 of the trail, 1000m north of the parking lot, at 11:30 am. Mobility impaired can be taxied in to the picnic site from Laflamme Rd. In case of inclement weather we shall meet in the church at 11:30.
Rich writes, "On July 7, 1984 a young man was murdered in Bangor, Maine. Charlie Howard had been attending the congregation that I was serving as a student minister; he intended to join us. I officiated at a very public memorial service for Charlie.
"Subsequently, a coalition of people gathered together in the pursuit of equality for and understanding of gay/lesbian/bisexual people. I will use this major illustration to develop the theme of the sermon."
Rev. Rich Forcier is parish minister at the First Church in Barre, Universalist, in Vermont. He is an annual visitor to our pulpit, having last spoken here in September, 2008. We always look forward to his polished and insightful worship services.
Our beloved Carole returns to our pulpit after a month of so-called vacation. This sermon reflects some discussion about the concept of Absolute Truth that is happening at the CUC.
Also this Sunday, at 6 pm, a "Local Organic Harvest Supper", in Stoddard Hall in the Church. Tickets are $20 per plate. This is a time of fellowship, of celebration of sustainable and healthy food production, as well as a fundraiser for the church. All welcome. Bring your friends. Reserve with Ann Rothfels, 819-875-5428.
Rev. Brendan Hadash is a former minister of this church, now living in Glover VT, and minister of the UU Church in St. Johnsbury VT. He returns as a visitor to our pulpit about once a year.
Whitney 'Whitty' Ransome and her husband Tom Wilcox live in Baltimore MD. They have been summer residents of North hatley for over 30 years.
Whitty is co-founder and former co-Executive Director of the National Coalition of Girls' Schools (www.ncgs.org), an organization of over 130 girls' schools in the U.S.A. with affiliates in Canada, the U.K., South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. She will speak about the critical role that girls' schools play, and the benefits of all-girls education. She has appeared on ABC, NBC, and NPR as well as in many other journals and newspapers.
Gabriella is a dear friend of this Congregation and a regular in our pulpit, travelling up from her home in Connecticut each summer and occasionally at other times. She last spoke in our worship service back in April. Gabriella is now a retired school principal, while husband Doug Peary continues to work for the U.S. National Labour Relations Board. August 6th and 9th mark the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The survivors are getting old and their story attracts less attention, but aren't we forgetting something? This sermon will not focus on the justification or political ramifications of the bombings, but rather on the human lessons we still need to learn.
A memorial service for Judith Koritar, who died on July 24, 2009 from a severe case of food poisoning, will take place in the church sanctuary at 2 pm on Wednesday, July 29.
Rev. Abhi Janamanchi is a UU minister from Clearwater FL. His thoughts on this interesting theological conundrum have been adapted by Keith Baxter for this service. Because we embrace inclusivity, including theological inclusivity, ideas like God, and prayer, mean different things and elicit different reactions among us. How do we sort that out?
David Rittenhouse is a resident of North Hatley who is battling serious cancer. He recently completed the multi-day El Camino walking pilgrimage in northern Spain. This is his testimony of that event.
This intensive 4-day workshop July 16-19 occurs once a year in both the east and west of Canada. Canadian Unitarian Universalist Leadership School is a profound experience and an opportunity to deepen one's understanding of one's own relation to Unitarian Universalism, as well as to acquire practice and insight into skills of use in congregational life back here in l'Estrie. Speak to a Board member if you might be interested in this.
The Reverend Kenneth Torquil MacLean is minister emeritus of Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda MD and has been a visiting minister in NH nearly every summer since 1965. Ken writes: "In the course of five trips to India which I made when I was on the UUA staff, I had the privilege of getting to know Ela Bhatt, a truly world figure who was the founder of the Self Employed Women's Association in the state of Gujarat, which now has 500,000 members in that state and a similar number in nearby states. "A few years ago Ela Bhatt was invited to address the commencement of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and began her address with three questions. Let us consider her questions as a beginning."
Our Annual North Hatley UU Picnic Sunday. Coffee and donuts at 9:30 in Avery Booth Hall, worship service in the church at 10 am, followed by picnic at the home of Mary Lynn Ross, 285 Merrill, North Hatley. Large lawn, barbecue, and outdoor swimming pool await us. We hope to have several carloads of our Montreal and Vermont UU cousins join us.
What are the secrets of creating good conditions for our lives, so that we may be both content and contributing? Bethany has spent several months in India again this winter, and has a wonderful way of sharing the spiritual quality she experiences there. We always look forward to her annual visit to UUEstrie. During the worship service we plan to hold a short ceremony for the Installation of the new Board. The Lakeside Singers will grace us with their harmony at this service
Jason Krpan is a local potter, artist, storyteller, musician, and maker of interesting musical instruments, sculptures and artifacts. His pithy comments on any variety of subjects are often published in the Sherbrooke Record. His reflections about life and society are usually humorous, always acerbic, and very relevant.
Another wonderful concert in our sanctuary by le Choeur des Sangs Mêlés. This concert will benefit a women's group, but which one has yet to be determined. These 11 women rocked our building last fall, and they and we are excitedly looking forward to this next time.
all members and friends of UUCNH are invited to participate in the democratic governance of our spiritual community, at 7 pm this Tuesday evening the 16th of June. Dessert will be served!
After coffee hour following the worship service, Carole Martignacco will facilitate an orientation session for new and prospective members of UUEstrie. Topics such as UU History, UU theology, our church vision and governance, UUEstrie programmes, and the meaning of membership, are expected to be discussed. Anyone is welcome to join this discussion.
CHOROMONDO will be joined for part of the program by RIVER VOICES, Stanstead's new community choir. Both choirs are directed by musician/composer Allyna Harris. In a departure from CHOROMONDO's usual support of projects in other parts of the world, this year's concerts will benefit two projects closer to home, those projects themselves serving the communities in which they live. Proceeds from the North Hatley concert will go towards the fund for the new roof at the North Hatley Church which has sheltered CHOROMONDO and so many others over the years. There will also be a Saturday night concert in Stanstead,with proceeds going to C.A.B. Rediker.
Come and share in a great evening of traditional music from South Africa, Iceland, Bulgaria, India, Namibia, Argentina, Québec and North America.
Jim Slocombe is a Lennoxville resident and multiple Teacher-of-the-year at Champlain College. He has been impassioned by the Arthurian legends for years.
Jim was born in the historic city of Bath, Somerset, and grew up surrounded by history and fascinated by all things ancient and medieval. After university in London, he became a teacher and eventually relocated to Quebec in the late seventies. Jim has taught students of all ages on two continents – every grade from Kindergarten to the Master’s level - and presently is an instructor in History and Political Science at Champlain College Lennoxville, and a part-time teacher in the School of Education at Bishop’s University.
He has been able to indulge his obsession with Arthuriana through reading, travels, research, and an extensive round table of scholars around the world. In the last twenty-five years he has given more than twenty papers and several lectures on various aspects of the legend at forums, colloquiums and conferences. His latest project is a multimedia interpretation of the wizard Merlin for the Vermont Humanities Council (hosted by Stanstead College) in early June.
Joan Turner is a 'Grannie', part of a group within the Ottawa UU church participating in the 'Grannies to Grannies' project of the Stephen Lewis Foundation for Aids in Africa.
She has visited Africa and has lots to share
This is a workshop being held at the Unitarian Church of Montreal for worship leaders, potential worship leaders, or worship leaders-in-training, as well as any church members and friends curious to deepen their understanding of what contstitutes quality UU worship. We hope that several members asnd friends from UUEstrie will be able to participate. Would you like to join us?
This will be a bilingual service, as an American-born, French-speaking UU minister gives us his take on being religious in Canada in a Unitarian Universalist way.
Rev. Marcel Duhamel was born in Manville RI USA, and raised in this village of Québécois immigrants who had moved south to work in the mills of New England. His family intentionally sustained and maintained their Québécois culture, which meant both the use of the French language and the practice of Roman Catholicism. As an adult he gradually fell away from Catholicism, eventually discovering Unitarian Universalism in the 1970s.
He left a 20-year career in teaching, went to seminary, and ended up serving UU congregations in Binghamton NY (10 years) and Concord, New Hampshire (9 years). He is presently the interim minister at the First Unitarian Church of Ottawa. This will be his first visit to North Hatley.
Members and Friends are invited to remain for a potluck lunch with Marcel and his wife, Ellie, after the service. Following the lunch, there will be a discussion led by those in our congregation who have been thinking about and working toward improving our image and message to the francophone population of l'Estrie. (Keith calls them our 'Front Gaulois') All are most welcome to participate at either or both of the lunch and the discussion.
Rev. Heather Fraser Fawcett is a regular visitor to our pulpit. She is a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister in Montreal, having most recently spoken to us in March on Healing Touch and Energy Medicine. Heather writes:
"At this time of economic uncertainty, let us learn from a master of the art of transforming our relationship with money and with life, Lynne Twist. I had the privilege of training with Lynne back in 2004. Lynne has taken a stand to end world hunger and, as of 2003, had raised more than $150 million from individual contributions towards that goal. She invites us to take a stand and to transform and be transformed by clear-headed and loving use of money."
This Saturday morning workshop in Healing Touch, a technique of healing using the body's own energy, in which Heather, a UU community minister from Montreal, is a trained and certified practioner, is open to all. It is planned for 3 hours, from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, in Stoddard Hall. Cost is $30 per person. Speak to Phyllis Baxter to register.
A rich gathering of Unitarians and Universalists, the biggest in Canada, is held on the Victoria Day weekend each year. This year, it is happening in Thunder Bay, Ontario, May 15-18 plus pre- and post-conference events. Find yourself a good flight and plan to be there. A small budget is available to subsidize conference fees for those who need help to go.
Need we say more?
"Wondrous our faith settles deep in the earth, rising green to bring a new day." (Carolyn McDade) An annual spring festival in the Pagan tradition.
On this Sunday all are invited to bring a brown-bag lunch, and to stay for another Spirit Circle conversation facilitated by our minister, Rev. Carole.
Our 4th annual musical evening. A freewill offering will be accepted and proceeds will go to the Church's roof repair fund.
The program includes a variety of performances of Traditional and Popular Québecois, folk, Celtic and Greek music; ballet, hip-hop, flamenco dance arrangements as well as poetry and flute.
Join us for an evening of music and fun as we welcome back the much appreciated Jason Krpan with his style of flamenco guitar and voice for his fourth year as a special contributor to this event.
Be prepared to be surprised and entertained by Jason and all the talented performers featured on the program.
Those who wish to stay for the after show jam session can bring their voices, instruments and talents to share at the 'open mike' portion of the evening.
Coffee desserts and other goodies are available and can be bought to bring home! All profits will benefit the church.
Contact Debra for additional information at (819)842-1265.
Has the worldwide economic crisis caused you to rethink anything? Has it changed your fears, your desires, or your intentions? Has a personal challenge - like sickness or divorce - caused you to see things in a different light? Has a life-change hit you in the solar plexus? This sermon will examine those beliefs and hopes which ground us in shaky times.
Gabriella is a dear friend of this congregation and one of our favorite worship providers. She lives in North Haven CT with her partner Rev. Doug Peary.
'Fincte' is actually the name of a group--a surprise group (from Holland?) coming to provide an in-house soirée in Stoddard Hall on this Friday evening, exclusively to members and friends of UUEstrie. The supper is being provided by your Board, demonstrating their philosophy of service to the congregation once again. The only place to be on this once-a-year special, special evening. NB: this is not a potluck! you are a guest this evening!
Ann Rothfels received her introduction to Brain Gym (otherwise known as educational kinesiology) as a kindergarten teacher for the E.T.S.B. and became a devoted practitioner along with her students. These simple exercises, based upon energy points in the body, improve concentration and focus, stimulate creativity and help to relieve stress. Although Ann left teaching over five years ago, she continues this practice on her own as an almost daily routine.
A Unitarian and Universalist Easter celebration.
This service will be our seasonal opening service in the upstairs sanctuary, where services will be held until mid-November.
Gather at the church anytime after 9:30 am to finish up that window washing, wall washing, cupboard organizing, fly vaccuuming, etc., etc, that didn't get done on the 4th.
The solemn and joyous Jewish spring festival of Passover runs from April 9 to 16 this year.
Natasha Bird is a family doctor in a small town here in the Eastern Townships. Rooted in her personal experience in dealing with real families, her reflection will center on the choices that are there to be made at the end of life.
Natasha is one of the Bird family, and a resident of nearby Way's Mills, where she lives with husband Yerzy and family and friends. She is a new grandmother again, baby Mabel, a new sister to little Henry, having been born to son Zephyr and his wife Tricia in late February.
Spring Clean-up Day #1. All welcome. There is a good list of things to do to clean up the sanctuary, and everywhere else in the church. Our goal is to get our indoor and outdoor space shining for the new spring and summer season. Gather at the church anytime after 9:30. Stay as long or as short as you like. While getting some cleanup work done is the primary objective, fellowship with church friends is a wonderful free gift that comes with! Plan to stay for a bowl of 'Soup by Sooky' at noon before you leave. Or, if this is in the middle of your work time, take a break for lunch, or, if you are an afternoon person, fuel up before you get down to your selected cleaning chores.
If this Saturday doesn't work out for you, you will have a second chance to participate next Saturday, April 11, again, from 9:30 am.
North Hatley is a member of the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC). So what? Why should we care? What’s the use for us in a national organization? Jean Pfleiderer, President of the Board of Trustees of the CUC, makes the case for congregations walking together in mutual support and celebration.”
Jean is an advisor in the Human Rights Office at Queen's University, and teaches in the Women's Studies programme there. As well, she is a member of the Kingston ON Unitarian Fellowship and the current President of the Canadian Unitarian Council. She has been to North Hatley before but never in our pulpit, so we are very much looking forward to her reflections.
The offering on this Sunday will be a special collection for the Sharing Our Faith fund of the CUC. North Hatley is a current recipient of a grant from this fund to help finance our children's RE programme.
All are invited to bring something and stay for a potluck luncheon right after the service, so we can have another Spirit Circle conversation with Jean after lunch.
This one will ask whether we Unitarians and Universalists actually are a religion (since a supernatural anthropomorphic deity seems not to be a strongly held belief among us). What are we, then? Can we be a religion without such a God? What are the different perceptions among us? What are the perceptions of us 'out there', in the general public? It promises to be a fascinating hour.
The recently-retired UU minister from Montpelier VT, Maggie Rebmann, authored many outstanding worship services. "Left-over Grace" is one of them.
This reflection builds on one offered here by Rev. Heather in July 2008. That one was called “Why You Feel the Way You Feel.” Today’s reflection is an introduction of energy psychology and healing touch.
Heather has just completed her accreditation process as a Diplomate in Energy Psychology with the Association of Comprehensive Energy Psychology. She has also – as of January 2009 – completed a five and a half year programme offered by the United Church of Canada called “Healing Pathway.”
Heather uses energy methods in her work as a U.U. Community Minister. She invites us to use the gift of energy to bring healing and vitality to our lives.
If there is interest, Heather may come back to lead a workshop and or show a film on this theme in May.
Dr. John Robb is a local physician specialized in internal medicine. He will share his thoughts about the healing process, centered on the patient and including the interactions of the trinity (or is it a triumvirate?) of body, mind and spirit.
The Spirit of the Age is changing, and must change. David Korten talks about the shift from Empire to Earth Community, Margaret Atwood about Payback, others about needs and opportunities. A documentary film called "Be the Change" made in Ottawa will be shown featuring some of the many ways people are Making the Change to a healthy planet.
A potluck lunch is scheduled on this Sunday, followed by another Spirit Circle conversation facilitated by Rev. Carole, to which all are welcome.
When a loved one dies, what are our choices? Can we do anything other than sending them to the morgue or the undertaker's? Why would anyone want to do any different? Can we sometimes provide a higher quality death care at home than in the hospital? What is the importance of the 3-day period immediately following a death?
After the coffee hour following the service it is planned to show a moving, 1-hr documentary film called "A Family Undertaking". This film was made by a mother, Beth Westrate, whom Phyllis has met, whose child died tragically in an accident. Those who would like to bring a brown bag lunch or whatever are most welcome to stay.
Love is in the air this Sunday. Carole has also requested a special layer cake for this Sunday in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the man who wrote Origin of Species.
Is the purpose of religion not to help us bring more love into the world?
At Bishop's University, Bishop Williams Hall
Charles Darwin is a pivotal figure in science and culture. 2009 marks the 200th Anniversary of his birth and the 150th Anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. Come celebrate with the Biology Dept and learn about Darwin, his ideas and their modern reverberations. Brief introductory remarks and excerpts from Darwin's correspondence will be followed by a screening of "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial". This award-winning documentary by the NOVA Science Unit presents the 2004 U.S. court case of Kitzmiller v. Dover, including the arguments by lawyers and expert witnesses. It provides an eye-opening crash course on Darwinian evolution and its contrasts with intelligent design. All are welcome. Free. Book prizes for students.
The time surrounding the death of a loved one is a very emotional time, a time when much healing is meant to happen. Thinking in advance of what one will need and want at the time can be very helpful.
Homo Sapiens have been burying our dead and marking their passing with ritual for thousands of years.
After the coffee hour following the service, there will be a brown bag lunch and workshop on designing your own memorial service. What would you like your friends and loved ones to experience and take away from your funeral?
A glimpse of a time in Carole's life as a minister that was 'healing intensive'.
Carole plans to facilitate another Spirit Circle Conversation on this Sunday, following coffee hour: another conversation connecting folks to one another, to their own spiritual path,and to Unitarian Universalism. A follow up to a very successful session held on November 30.
Mary Purkey is professor of humanities and international studies at Champlain Regional College in Lennoxville. She is active in the campus Amnesty International group, the local organizing committee for the Mae-Sot school project on the Burmese-Thai border in southeast Asia, as well as the Champlain-Bishop's Refugee Sponsorship Project.
This past fall she spent a number of weeks in Mae-Sot relating to the child refugees from Burma who are being or have been receiving schooling there, some of whom are now young adults who need new and different forms of support. She also got involved while there with the issue of political prisoners, through an organization known as APP. She has much to share, from the gut-wrenching to the extremely hopeful and powerful.
Inge will talk about her experience establishing a community for handicapped individuals up in the Laurentians.
This is a talk that will be presented in Nicolls Building, room N1, at Bishop's University on Monday Jan. 19th.
John Foster is an international energy economist who has worked with British Petroleum and Petro Canada, plus the World Band and the Inter-American Development Bank, always in the area of energy and international development. He has been researching the geopolitics of petroleum in Central Asia and the Middle East these past two years.
John and his wife Millie Morton are members of the Kingston, Ontario Unitarian Fellowship. They gave a version of this presentation at the Eastern Fall Gathering of Unitarians and Universalists, held in Kingston last November.
Once a year we dedicate our worship service to the power of story, inviting the Townships Tellers, and friends and allies, to move our hearts with stories. We are indeed fortunate to have storyteller Ann Rothfels as one of us; Ann will be convening this event as usual.
There will be a pot luck luncheon with the Tellers in Stoddard Hall following the stories.
All human communities have a narrative. Humans live by stories. Humans learn by stories. Our worship this day will consist of a number of stories told by Townships tellers and friends.
For this winter season we plan a number of worship services around the general theme of healing: healing the body, healing the mind, healing the spirit, healing the earth, healing the world,....
Gudrun Brand has battled illness with healthy food as well as conventional medicine. She is a dedicated biodynamic farmer along with husband Wilhelm, and a member of UUEstrie.
A time for rebuilding our energy and our Spirits after the hustle and bustle, the busyness and loneliness the holiday season can bring.
Any adult interested to be part of the Secret Friends programme is invited to speak to Carole.
weekly worship services resume January 4th.
A candlelight music service led by the Lakeside Singers, celebrating the Christmas season, with congregational carol singing as well as anthems by the choir. Wassail (hot apple cider) served after the service. All are welcome.
This annual super event on our Church calendar allows all friends of UUEstrie to gather in fellowship. The programme is being planned by the RE committee. This is always a special and joyous event. Spread the word. Please note the 4:00 p.m. time. not 4:30 as mentioned earlier.
The days get shorter and darker, but the winter solstice, and longer days, as well as the Joy of Christmas are ahead.
Today's service will explore the nature of our religion. It will be followed by a soup and sandwich luncheon provided by the programme committee, after which there will be a more systematic and interactive 1-hour workshop called 'Introduction to Unitarian Universalism'. All are welcome, but this programme is especially intended for those who are new among us, both visitors and newer members. What are we really about? What history do we come from?
This promises to be a very rich Church day, for all this will be followed at 3:00 pm by a Yuletide concert in the Sanctuary given by le Choeur des Sangs Mêlés, an excellent, vibrant, 10-woman choir, directed by Ms. Carol Harris.
What an imbroglio! Canada is not at war, but so far 97 Canadian soldiers have died in this struggle, a struggle over what, exactly? A failed state, where religious fundamentalism once was seen as the saviour to a country descended into chaos. All the questions of justifiable war, economic and social development, regional and international security, with seemingly "too many moving parts" according to Maj. Phil Bury, impeding the achievement of a coherent solution. What to make of it? What should our stance be?
The title says it all. The somewhat chilling story of children impressed into a life of service to a doctrine of violence.
Inspired by a programme attended at the CUC Annual Conference in Ottawa last May, and a book of the same name.
Part of an adult religious exploration series on feminine spirituality, running Tuesdays 7-9 pm. Speak to Carole for more info.
This session is entitled,"Who is/was Mary?"
This weekend, Nov 7-9, will see the annual Eastern Fall Gathering of UU congregations from Kingston to St. John's, hosted this time by our westernmost congregation, KUF. We hope that several carloads of North Hatleyites will plan on attending this gathering, to enrich our sense of Unitarian and Universalist Spirituality and Community. Billets available. Speak to Jaime or Rev. Carole for more info.
Part of an adult religious exploration series on feminine spirituality, running Tuesdays 7-9 pm into November. Speak to Carole for more info.
This session is entitled, "Reclaiming the female presence in Judaism and Christianity."
At 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time, we shall hold a Samhain service in the Celtic pagan tradition, led by Lin Jensen and Rev. Carole Martignacco.
At 2:00 pm in the sanctuary there will be an hour of stories told by veteran storyteller Ann Rothfels, accompanied by local cellist Catherine Walker. This is a fundraiser for re-roofing the church.
Part of an adult religious exploration series on feminine spirituality, running Tuesdays 7-9 pm into November. Speak to Carole for more info.
This session is entitled: "The Feminine Divine."
This is our annual U.N. Sunday, where we reaffirm our committment to our 6th principle: "the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all".
Our speaker is Rudy Nassar, professor of history and international politics at Bishop's. Rudy is a native of Lebanon, and a graduate of the American University in Beirut. He has lived in Lennoxville for 30 years.
The Palestinian-Israeli question is at the core of dysamicable relations throughout the Middle East, however these may be exacerbated by other factors. Let us reflect more deeply and factually on the problem, and on the problems faced by those trying to plan for peace in the region.
Part of an adult religious exploration series on feminine spirituality, running Tuesdays 7-9 pm into November. Speak to Carole for more info.
This session is entitled, "From Goddess to God; How Did That Happen?"
Each year the number of varieties of seeds available to grow food is diminished, as industrial agribusiness concentrates on fewer and fewer hybridized varieties. This phenomenon, a product of our economic system, is putting humankind and the world food system ever more at risk.
USC Canada is a world leader of a programme to reduce this risk, while, at the same time, maintaining native farmers' right to preserve their livelihoods.
Mamby Fofana has worked with USC in this area for the past 15 years. He is on his way back to Africa at this time, and we are grateful that he is able to stop in the Townships on his way.
The offering during the service will be a special collection for USC Canada.
Part of an adult religious exploration series on feminine spirituality, running Tuesdays 7-9 pm into November. Speak to Carole for more info. This session is entitled "Reclaiming Feminine Power."
This is also Federal election day. We are covenanted to affirm and promote the use of the democratic process (UU principle no. 5)
Plus, the CFUW is celebrating their 40th anniversary with a dinner on this date at the OLGC.
On this Thanksgiving Sunday,this service will take place in the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147 in Huntingville. NO service in North Hatley.
Frances Aboud is a member of UUEstrie and an educational psychologist associated with McGill University. For a number of years she has been associated with PLAN international in improving educational opportunities and outcomes in Bangladesh. She will bring us up to date on what our donations have accomplished in the past year.
The economy of Bangladesh has been growing at 5% per year, and there is reason for optimism.
After coffee hour this Sunday there will be a dedication service for baby Charlotte, daughter of Alex Brand and Rachel Bury, and granddaughter of members Gudrun and Wilhelm Brand.
This is part of an adult religious exploration series on feminine spirituality, with all other sessions running Tuesdays 7-9pm into November. This session, however is an all-day, 9 am - 3:30 pm, retreat at a chalet on Lac Lovering, on the theme "Masks We Wear.) Speak to Carole for more info.
A workshop being held at the Unitarian Fellowship of Fredericton NB, on the topic of Healthy Congregations. We have a car going from North Hatley, on Friday Oct. 3, returning Sunday Oct. 5. Billets are free and we would love to have someone join the Duntons. Speak to Jaime or Sooky.
This is the first of a 9-session series of adult religious exploration on the topic of feminine spirituality, running Tuesdays 7-9 pm into November, except for session two, which is on Saturday Oct 4 (see below). Speak to Carole for more info.
This session is entitled: "Telling Our Stories."
Rich's theme in this reflection is 'the slippery nature of truth'. Rev. Rick Forcier is parish minister at the First Church in Barre, Universalist, in Barre, Vermont. We look forward to this annual visit to North Hatley from a seasoned and moving preacher.
Next week, we begin a series of worship services on an Internationalist theme, examining more closely life as lived elswhere on the planet, and our own relationship to other peoples. This theme will carry on into the month of November
Dowsing is a question and answer system, traditionally used to discover the location of underground water and minerals, but open to other applications. Spirituality, too, deals with things that are unknown, and the way the world works.
George Weller is a friend of UUEstrie and a member of First Universalist Parish, Derby Line, Vermont. He himself is a dowser, and lives with his wife Tony on their farm in Stanstead, where he also has an airstrip for his light aircraft.
a celebration of the marriage of Gabriella Brand and Doug Peary in Conneticut. The North Hatley congregation is invited to the happy event. Board members will provide details for the asking
During this service their will be a brief formal installation of our new Board of Trustees, who were elected at the AGM in June.
Glen Villa is a property on Lake Massawippi. Pat Webster has a particular, loving connection to this property and will present this piece of Townships history as only she can.
AT 3 p.m. this same Sunday, le Choeur des Sangs Mêlés presents a benefit concert; a free-will donation at the door is requested. Suggested donation $10. 8 vivacious women, directed by Ms. Carol Harris singing lively renditions of familiar and not so familiar songs from everywhere. This is their sole concert of this summer season; don't miss it.
This service will take place at the Bird family home and nature sanctuary, 453 ch. Bolton Centre, in St-Étienne; NO service in North Hatley
Celebrating how our lives diverge in many different directions, and converge each time we gather in community, everyone is invited to bring a sample of water from their travels for this communion. We shall merge together these samples symbolic of our separate summer activities, with the telling of our stories.
This is a picnic service: people are invited to arrive early to take a hike on local trails if they would like, before the service. After the water communion, we share our picnic lunch together.
The talk will concern "letting go of the stories of ourselves as human doings, so that we can pay attention to the awarenesses of ourselves as human beings." All over the world, more and more people are awakening to wisdom and consciousness, overcoming prejudice, fear, hatred and untruth, on their own.
James Guess is a friend of UUEstrie and a resident of Atlanta GA. He has been searching and reflecting on these topics for the last several years.
This will be a poetry reading. Creativity and meaningful living-and how they are connected. You will be invited to address the question: How do you recreate yourself? What is your source of joy? (ideally, I will be able to enroll others to participate with me in this service to share their own words and other talents, if possible.)
This service will take place at the historic Huntingville Universalist Church, route 147, Huntingville; NO service in North Hatley.
Reverence for our Mother Earth; Gratitude for the blessings we receive from her.
Each summer, Randy and Sandra, who hail from Illinois, pass through and give us a wonderful, worshipful experience of music and movement in the most gentle and pleasing way one could imagine.
This Service will be held at the Huntingville Universalist Church, Rte 147, Huntingville; no service at the North Hatley church. Please join us in Huntingville.
The Massachusetts writer, Henry David Thoreau once said that he did not want to get to the end of his life and discover that he had not lived it. That is fascinating coming from a man who never traveled very far from Concord and spent a couple of years living in the woods near Walden Pond, writing a book which made him famous. Most of us would seem to live with a much broader compass than Thoreau ever managed, but the challenge he poses may still give us pause.
Rev. Kenneth Torquil MacLean is the Minister Emeritus of the Cedar Lane UU Church in Bethesda, Maryland, and has served churches in Boston, Knoxville, Rancho Mirage, and Juneau, Alaska. For five years he worked at the Unitarian Universalist Association headquarters in Boston with responsibility for international relations for the denomination. He began coming to North Hatley as summer minister in 1965 and served in that role for many years. He is now retired and living in Cathedral City, California.
After all this time, with nearly fifty years in ministry, why am I still asking this question. I know how I became a UU; I married into it. But as time goes one, the reasons for the commitment change with new experience, and this sermon deals with three different kinds of experience which have made me more committed to this off-brand religion.
Rev. Kenneth Torquil MacLean is the Minister Emeritus of the Cedar Lane UU Church in Bethesda, Maryland, and has served churches in Boston, Knoxville, Rancho Mirage, and Juneau, Alaska. For five years he worked at the Unitarian Universalist Association headquarters in Boston with responsibility for international relations for the denomination. He began coming to North Hatley as summer minister in 1965 and served in that role for many years. He is now retired and living in Cathedral City, California.
Carole will have just returned from her vacation out west, and from her 5-month sabbatical away from our congregation. A few thoughts on Sabbaths and Sabbaticals. A series of three brief reflections on the theme with musical interludes. On the importance on integrating into our lives, time for renewal and reordering priorities, in order to grow and deepen our experience of life, to restore and redirect our energies.
Religion has three purposes.
We will serve coffee and doughnuts at the church at 10 a.m. and will plan to be at the Brands' farm, 3795 Rte 143, Hatley, for 11 a.m. for a circle blessing. This will be followed by a picnic and games. Everyone to bring their own lunch. Sunshine guaranteed. Anyone for golf?
Bethany's service will focus on opportunities we are given to be a loving person.
Bethany, a VT resident and yoga teacher, spends her winters in India, deepening her sense of the spiritual, the good, and non-suffering. We very much look forward to her annual, beautifully articulate and uplifting visit to our pulpit.
“Awareness can actually transform matter,… the mind is nonlocal.”
“It’s true we do store some memory in the brain, but by far, the deeper, older messages are stored in the body and must be accessed through the body. Your body is your subconscious mind, and you can’t heal it by talk alone.” (Molecules of Emotion , Candace Pert, pgs 9, 306)
Sorting out our feelings in the face of new discoveries is exploration into new territory. Let’s explore together.
Jaime will animate a service with some of the congregation's personal reflections about their fathers.
At one time all Unitarians and all Universalists were Christians. They were just two among many Protestant denominations, like the Presbyterians, or the Methodists, or the Lutherans or the Baptists. And then something happened.
Based upon a sermon by Kathleen Rolenz, delivered in Clearwater Florida and picked up by the Duntons there in February 2008.
Note that this service has been rescheduled from June 1, and the service originally scheduled for June 8, on "Children of the Jihad" has been re-scheduled to August 24.
Five members of our church have just returned from the Annual Conference and Meeting of the Canadian Unitarian Council, the national association of Unitarian and Universalist congregations, of which UUEstrie is a part. They will share Impressions, Inspirations, Intrusions, Ironies and Insights from their experience.
Note that in order to accommodate this service in a timely fashion, so as to take advantage of the energy of that conference in our attendees, a service by Keith on Unitarian Universalism and Christianity, originally scheduled for this date has been pushed one week to June 8, and the service previously scheduled for June 8, 'Children of the Jihad', has been pushed to August 24.
A personal reflection about finding one's way after the loss of a partner.
This is the CUC annual meeting in Ottawa and we are hopeful that as many of our congregation as possible will be in Ottawa. Our church service in North Hatley is cancelled for this Sunday only
In November, 2006, an interest group of the University Women's Association of the Sherbrooke and District, got together to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.Many women of this group are UU's, including Reverend Carole Martignacco. We started making angel ornaments for Christmas at $5:00 each. Since then we have sold other home-made items and raised several thousand dollars which has been sent to the Fund. The church very kindly provides space for our workshop most every second week at no cost. We will tell you all about these efforts
Imperfection....a way to look at art, nature, and faith. Le verre brisé,,,,une façon d'approcher l'art, la nature et la spiritualité.Gabriella is an experienced headmistress, a student of Japanese, and a regular summer visitor to our congregation. Her permanent home is in North Haven, Connecticut.
Local amateur musicians and performance artists will present pieces they have been working on. Profits to be donated to l'Éscale, the Sherbrooke womens shelter. All welcome. Doors open at 7:00. You are invited to bring your instruments for a jam after the coffee house. Admission: Freewill donation - refreshments sold.
Eddie Pomykala has coached men's basketbsll teams at Bishops and lived innoxville for the past 24 years. During his coaching career, Eddie has earned the title of Quebec University Basketball Coach of the year 6 times.In 1998, Eddie coached Bishop's to the National Championship and was voted the Canadian University basketball Coach of the year for his effort.A self described expert on two things:"failure and perseverance". Eddie is an engaging story teller who enjoys speaking to people about the most important person in the room-YOU!
A sermon by Rev. Maggie Rebmann, a UU minister from Montpelier VT, delivered by our own Dona Matheson. This sermon is based on a visit to a newly minted museum in the United States and their version of the creation story, which has been rejected by scientific evidence.
5:30pm, a Seder supper in Stoddard Hall. Akbar Eric Manolson will lead with Debra, Lucie and Keith. They will convene a potluck Seder meal. All welcome.
This is a sermon written by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed, a retired UU minister from Ontario, and former President of the CUC, to be shared with us by our own Keith Baxter.
The title refers to an image used in a historical talk on Universalism that Mark, then a young, newly-minted UU minister, heard 25 years ago. Mark, who had been steeped all his life in the Unitarian faith, speaks of how this talk captured his imagination and constitued for him an actual conversion experience to Universalism.
Heather is a UU community outreach minister from Montreal, and has graced us with her presence on many occasions.
'Social Artistry' is a fascinating concept that involves cutting edge leadership, and teaching-learning-communities. It has been developed and built on the life-long study and interests of Dr. Jean Houston. Heather will be attending a professional development workshop on Social Artistry on April 12 and 13.
Every year, congregations are asked to share their collection on this Sunday with the CUC, who give it to those congregations, who apply for it, to help with special projects. We have been the recipient of this largesse on a couple of occasions. The CUC provides material for the service and Keith has kindly offered to share with us.
On this Easter Sunday the theme is In Search of Oneself: The story of an young lady in search of the meaning of life in our modern society, from a bestselling novel, "Eat, Pray, Love", by Elizabeth Gilbert. A bread and olive oil communion are planned as part of the service.
Religious Liberals and Lent Contradiction or Challenge?
Carême: Contradiction ou défi pour l'Eglise Unitarienne-Universaliste
Bob is an Eastern Townships farmer who spent a month over the Christmas holidays in Mozambique
Our annual PLEDGE DINNER for members and contributing friends of UUEstrie. Come one, come all; this is one of our funnest gettogethers. Bring nothing but your appetite and good cheer. Everything else is provided: the meal, the entertainment, the dishwashing detergent, the pledge forms, pens for filling out pledge forms. Don't miss it.
This service will take place in the chapel at the Wales Home, with a luncheon to follow on the 4th floor, Manning Wing, recreation room. A service of readings of prose and poetry, songs and stories celebrating Nancy Pacaud's 95 years as a Unitarian. Nancy now spends her winters as a resident at the Wales Home. She is leaving shortly for a trip to France and Greece. To carpool from North Hatley, please call the Rev. Carole Martignacco at 842-3260. To carpool from Lennoxville, please call the Baxters at 346-8273. The Wales Home is at 506 Rte 243, north of Richmond.
What is or should be the 'raison d'être' for Unitarian and Universalist religion at the dawn of the 21st century? This service takes inspiration from a talk by a woman named Olga, in 2006, in Transylvania. This will be the last in a series of explorations into this version of spirituality being held at Bishop's University International Center Sundays at 2p.m. No service in North Hatley.
Lebanon, an ancient land, became an independent modern nation state in 1946. It has been caught up in all the sectarianism and violence of Middle Eastern politics ever since. Whither Lebanon now? Rudy Nassar lives in Lennoxville and teaches Middle Eastern history and politics at Bishop's University. He also taught in the Humanities programme at Champlain College for many years. In a former life he worked as a journalist in Lebanon for a number of years after graduating from the American University of Beirut. He lives in Lennoxville. This service is the third in a series of four being held throughout the month of February at the International Centre, Bishop's University. The theme for the series is "The Home We Share". Note there are no services in North Hatley this month.
This Sunday Feb. 10 at 2 pm in the International Centre on Bishop's University campus there will be an Alternative Worship service in the Unitarian and Universalist tradition. When Rodney King, an innocent, non-threatening black man, was cruelly and senselessly beaten by a group of Los Angeles policemen several years ago, he lamented publicly from his hospital bed, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Indeed. We liberal, tolerant, progressive people, or those who like to think of ourselves this way, have work to do in order to authentically ‘meet the other’ in genuine, constructive, multi-cultural and multi-religious encounter. Join Keith Baxter in an exploration of the challenges we face in finding this elusive approach to religion and spirituality in our 21st century, post-modern, global village. This service will be the second in a series of four being held at Bishop's each Sunday in February. (No services in North Hatley this month.)The theme for the series is “The Home We Share”, a reference to the oneness of humanity. Live music for this service will also be provided by Keith.
Reverend Derek McCullough from Christchurch, N.Z.was interviewed by the national New Zealand television network. This was a series of interviews of different faiths for a program called, "My God" and this is his take on his Unitarian Universalist faith.
This is the second of a 4 part series, the remiining 2 will be the last two Sundays of February.
All services in February will be held at the International Center at Bishop's University at 2p.m.
This sunday and 3 of the next four Sundays (to be held at 2pm in Lennoxville) will be a series of topics on Unitarian Universalism emanating from a conference held in Oberwesel, Germany held in November 2007. This Sunday will be an overview of that conference, based on essays from the 2nd Theological Symposium, "The Home We Share".
The power of story to capture our imaginations and reveal truth about Life is revered in every culture throughout history. The Townships Tellers will be back this Sunday to lift our spirits via this wonderful medium. This is an annual event and a favourite winter tradition of ours, convened by Ann Rothfels. Come with a story to share, or just to listen. Bring a dish if you care to, and stay for the potluck lunch to follow. Friends and family are more than welcome.
Frances and Charles Larson have been working on development projects in Bangladesh for the last 5 years. Nutritional supplementation to make inroads against malnutrition, and early childhood education programmes that are innovative and carefully evaluated to ensure the improvement of educational outcomes, are their focus. What lessons can we learn from their work? Dr. Frances Aboud is an educational psychologist at McGill University, with 20 years experience in international development work.
Back to UU Estrie website
