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Hi Rural Folks Across Canada!
This is our sixth monthly eNews, which shares more information of rural ministry initiatives across Canada, mostly in the United Church of Canada.
Welcome to our new subscribers.
Past eNewsletters are archived at www.UCRMN.ca
Have a rural story you would like to share? You are welcome to submit your story to Connor at editor@UCRMN.ca. Please try to keep articles 300 to 500 words.
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Ashes and Resurrection:
How are COVID days shaping
us for Newness?
Join us on February 18, 2021 from 1pm to 3pm (Toronto Time) for a Zoom Workshop. Tickets are $10 to help cover the cost of the workshop.
C.S. Lewis said, “you can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending”. How are our practices in these days - our ways of being church “together while apart” - shaping us for newness? What are we discovering as an answer to the question, why is the church? We’ll share practices that nourish and connect us these days and also how they open our hearts to something new.
We’ll have time to just be together, sharing our stories. We’ll also take time to be encouraged, to take heart in these days with Scriptural themes of annunciation and exile, stars and wilderness.
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Practical Technology Possibilities
for Rural Churches
During Covid, many of us in small and rural churches have learned more than we thought possible about sharing technology, and we find that learning will well serve the church in the future.
UCRMN will be facilitating a workshop on practical tech possibilities. Please indicate to editor@ucrmn.ca if you would be interested in participating and if you would like to see it before Easter to help with Easter prep (early to mid March as Easter is so early this year), or in mid-April (post-Easter). Tickets are $10 to help cover the cost of the workshop.
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Want to do your own Online Workshop?
** You supply the topic and the leadership
** UCRMN will supply the logistics, such as; advertising in our monthly ENews, Registration, Zoom platform and all the administration needed for a successful workshop.
Email Connor at office@UCRMN.ca to talk about possibilities.
Why a cost for the workshops?
UCRMN has been granted $5,000 from United Church of Canada Foundation to set up the Network. One of the goals is to make UCRMN self sufficient. The token costs will help with accountability. We are not expecting the $10 cost to cover actual expenses.
We are open to any ideas how we can make UCRMN self sufficient: Please Email info@UCRMN.ca with suggestions.
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How Will Our Twenties Roar
by Joyce Sasse
Events from a hundred years ago meant nothing to most of us until Covid19 attacked us with feelings of fear and helplessness. By the end of March 2020 our lives, our economies and our world were all challenged and changed in ways we couldn’t imagine possible.
Fortunately, within a time-sequence we can hardly believe possible, scientists from around the world worked together to develop and deliver anti-viral vaccines for a desperate world. Meanwhile, politicians, for the most part, tried to give leadership to their constituents. As they sought balance between the advice of the scientists and the needs of business interests, social discourse proved to be a valuable decision-making tool. The debates were oft-times extremely lively, but as Canadians we can be appreciative of where the journey has taken us thus far.
Incredible changes have happened in our lives over the course of this year. So much of what we once thought to be normal has been “smelted and refined” in ways that make parts of our lives seem unrecognizable. Reworked! Melted! Moulded! Many are even discovering exciting things are emerging from out of the recesses of our imagination.
Some of these changes will be accepted as we move forward … Others rejected … Many need to be re-thought long into the future. What now? What of hope? What of promise? Look back 100 years. See what happened as the world-wide Flu Pandemic of 1918 moved forward? There was the shock and grief … Memories brought nightmares and surprises … And there was a wealth of learning.
In addition to the old “containment” practices (masks, hand-washing, social distancing), scientists learned about vaccinations. Desperate people learned how important it was to work together – and the World Health Organization was formed. Eventually many countries found the means of protecting people through socialized ways of supporting their people. Think of socialized medicine. What about Pensions? Unemployment Insurance? …
As a student of history, the next thing to follow 1918-1919 was the “Roaring Twenties”. In our current transition-time of “New Year 2021” consider the promises and opportunities that lie ahead …
Be ready! Be responsible! Be reminded that God isn’t finished with us yet!
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Appointed To Be Read in Churches
by Rev. Martin Dawson (retired)
Cornwall, Prince Edward Island
Every morning I make a cup of coffee and sit down in front of my laptop to check out, “the news”. Yes, much of the world has now moved away from the morning newspaper being delivered to your door. So, my screen lights up, and there is BBC World News before me, visible through the steam of my morning beverage.
There is usually a “lifestyle” section at the bottom of the site, and it was here that I recently came across an article by Sophie Hardach, entitled, “Why You Should Read This Aloud”. She mentions that today, silent reading is the norm for most of western society. Perhaps, the image of being “shhh’d” at your local library by the librarian comes to mind. Well, long before Andrew Carnegie donated millions to build a public library system, silent reading was not the norm. Should you have read St. Augustine’s, “Confessions”, you will have come across the meeting of St. Augustine and St Ambrose in Milan. It was noted that St. Ambrose was considered strange, as he read silently; thus the norm was obviously reading aloud.
Sophie Hardach goes on to make the case for improved memory retention and improved memory through reading aloud and by being read to by someone. I found all of this very interesting, because reading aloud was such a recreational activity at the time of Jane Austen, the famous English novelist. In her novel, “Mansfield Park”, and in, “Sense and Sensibility”, main characters read aloud plays and poetry to close family gatherings in the evening. Actually, Jane Austen, herself, read aloud to her family regularly. Therefore, in her novel, “Emma”, we find Miss Bates reading her correspondence from Miss Fairfax to all her friends, who come to visit.
Now, it must also be remembered that Jane Austen’s father was a preacher, so she must have experienced what worship was like in the early 1800’s. And so, we arrive at the “Bible”, which would have been the King James Version at that time. The title page of the 1611 printing states that it was, “appointed to be read in churches”. This statement refers to the fact that the translation had been designed to be read aloud from the pulpit.
It is not difficult to see the difference between this goal, versus either a strict word for word translation, or a more modern paraphrase version, that are usually read silently. I looked at numerous translations, and apart from the language, it is the punctuation that stands out. The King James Version has greater usage of commas, semicolons, etc., than our more modern texts. The purpose appears to be to mark off phrases and to slow down the reading. No speed reading is to be found there.
I can attest to the effect of reading aloud. While I was a student, my Presbytery asked me to “fill in” at a small rural church. It was indeed small, but it had a secret that impacted me greatly. After my first worship service there, I asked a gentleman to read scripture the next Sunday. A week later, he got up from his seat and walked forward to the front of the church. He opened his Bible to the reading, and then it happened! In a slow, almost western-style drawl, he read. The sound was so warm and comforting, that I sat, almost spellbound, hoping that he would continue reading for the duration of the service. It was as if we were all sitting around the church’s space heater, and he was leading a fireside chat. I shall never forget it.
So if reading aloud offers so many benefits, perhaps we all might be inspired to “slow down” our speed. Obviously, we do not have to return to the King James Version, but whatever version used, might be more effective in communication, if we read it aloud more slowly, and even add the natural pauses should the punctuation be lacking. We should remember that Paul’s letters were read to his communities of faith aloud. “Revelation”, of John was also read aloud to seven churches. Yes, there just may be something advantageous to us to move beyond just reading bedtime stories aloud to our children, and to start emphasizing our reading of scripture aloud as well.
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Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals Faith Advisory Council
The Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals (CCFA) is looking at a new initiative proposed called the “Faith Advisory Council”.
They are putting together a Faith Advisory Council, to help promote farm animal welfare in Canada. They believe a council of this kind, can help mobilize support for legislation or oppose negative initiatives. Council members could hopefully give CCFA advice on how we can navigate certain sensitive issues.
Time required: a meeting once or twice a year and an occasional letter to review.
They already have a Rabbi and a Roman Catholic priest on board, and are looking for someone from the United Church to be a representative on this Council.
If you have an interest in this work please contact Vicki Fecteau at vickifecteau@rogers.com
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Rural Connect
Rural Connect is an initiative of the United Church and Canada to support rural churches through the use of technology. You can find more information at our website www.ruralconnectucc.ca.
For an example of a service using this technology during the pandemic, here’s an example.
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So Long For Now!
We hope you enjoyed this "work in process".
Any suggestions are most welcomed. Email editor@UCRMN.ca
Please forward this email to your Rural Ministry Colleagues and encourage them to subscribe from our webpage at www.UCRMN.ca
Who is UCRMN?
We are a Volunteer Network that is collecting and posting Rural Ministries initiatives in the United Church - across Canada - in one place;
www.UCRMN.ca
If you have an interest in finding out more, or to volunteer as a Board Member or in some other way, please email us at info@UCRMN.ca
Blessings on your ministry!
Catherine, Eric, Donna, Felicia and Shelley
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