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eSpirit...weekly news from Beach United Church
WedWednesdayJanJanuary9th2013
Week of Jan 8 2012
SORRY FOR THE TECHNICAL GLITCH IN GETTING OUT THIS WEEK'S HEARTBEAT!
News item from USA Today via Jim Winn:
Up to 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic priests and monks swinging brooms clashed inside the Church of Nativity today in Bethlehem in a frenzied turf battle, the Associated Press reports. Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics share the administration of the church, which often leads to jurisdictional disputes. The fighting broke out during cleaning of the West Bank church in preparation for Orthodox Christmas celebrations in early January, as each side jealously guards its territory. Palestinian police, using batons and shields, were called in to break up the fighting inside the basilica. "It was a trivial problem that . . . occurs every year," police Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled al-Tamimi tells Reuters. "Everything is all right and things have returned to normal.” He tells the news agency that there were no arrests "because all those involved were men of God."
I hope there are exemptions for ‘women of God’ too!
With news like this we at Beach United can celebrate our peaceful Christmas ecumenical services with St Aidan’s Anglican congregation. In addition, we are discovering a shared passion with St Aidan’s for serving food to those in our community who are hungry. In shared moments of worship and outreach we can see evidence of God’s love writ large.
And now we move from our Christmas season into our season of epiphany. Christmas gave us an opportunity to see God revealed in baby Jesus. Epiphany offers us 8 weeks to see God’s revelation even more clearly.
We begin looking for God revealed this Sunday when we hear about Jesus being baptized by his cousin John (Mark 1:4-11). Baptism plays an important part in our faith life because it is one of two sacraments, meaning a visible expression of God’s invisible grace. But what happens when we turn that grace into a wall that excludes others? Or when we turn our particular baptism ritual into the only way to enter heaven?
So this Sunday, let’s focus our spiritual eyes on an inclusive God as we revisit baptism. Oh, and prepare to get wet!
Shalom, Abigail
Please click here for HEARTBEAT
Or access on our web page next to the blue wave www.beachunitedchurch.com
ThuThursdayFebFebruary9th2012
Week of Feb 12 2012
In worship we are travelling through Mark’s gospel. Short, pithy stories take us to the heart of what ‘gospel’ or good news means.
So let me be pithy . . . read Mark 1:40-45 . . . watch the following youtube clip:
Narayanan Krishnan: Companion to the Forgotten
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoeKCCpkgrw
Sometimes healing doesn't look like skin healed. Sometimes healing is found in love offered, relationships formed, humanity affirmed and nurtured.
Shalom, Abigail
To connect with Heartbeat, our weekly newsletter, click here
Or click on the blue wave on our web home page www.beachunitedchurch.com
TueTuesdayFebFebruary7th2012
Special Announcement
Our Last Big Push!
Karen Watson, chair of our HOMe Commission, announced last Sunday that our construction contract is now signed so we are moving on to the next stage: renovation. In order to get ready, we have one final push to clear out 140 Wineva.
Please lend a hand for ½ hour, an hour, or two, on Thursday, February 9th, between 8am and 11am. Contact Ron Fitton (416-699-2489) for more information, or just show up! We are schlepping the last bits and pieces into a dumpster—what fun!!
Thanks in advance,
Abigail and Karen
WedWednesdayFebFebruary1st2012
Week of Feb 5 2012
Build us a table and tear down the wall!
Christ is our host. There is room for us all!
So begins the chorus of our epiphany theme song Build Us a Table. And so continues our year-long theme of a place for you at the table.
Being a faith community, our central table is a communion table. We begin communion with an invitation that conveys, “This is not a table of the United Church, or Beach United Church. This table is open to anyone who wishes to come closer to God.” We have a table where everyone is welcome and there is always room for one more. One verse of our theme song declares:
Now at a table the bread that we share
joins us to Christ in a circle of care.
So join us for Communion this Sunday.
Being a faith community, other tables create community, whether that is a table set up with coffee & tea each Sunday before and after worship, or the tables set up for our Interfaith Lunch Program each Thursday, or the table covered in carafes and thermos’ of hot chocolate for “Eat, Pray, Skate” last Sunday evening. Whoever is gathered at these tables we are:
Making room for one more
welcoming friends we had not known before
On Saturday we will have another kind of table when we welcome Joe Sealy and Paul Novotny to our Jazz & Reflection (aka Jazz Vespers). Joe and Paul have graced us with their musical gifts a number of times and they are bringing some friends along with them—enlarging our musical table with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.
Founder Brainerd Blyden-Taylor named the Chorale after internationally renowned African-Canadian composer R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943), a talented performer who appeared onstage at prestigious concert venues such as Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall. Celebrated composer Nathaniel Dett was born in Drummondville (Niagara Falls), Ontario on October 11, 1882. He died on October 2, 1943 in Battle Creek, Michigan. Dett studied piano as a child and was church organist in Niagara Falls, Ontario from 1898-1903.Dett was dedicated to the cause of Black music, and won the Bowdoin and Frances Boott prizes in 1920 from Harvard University in honour of his writings and compositions. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor established the Chorale to draw attention not only to Dett’s legacy, but also to the wealth of Afrocentric choral music, and to create a professional choral group where persons of African heritage could see themselves represented in the majority. Since its inception, the Chorale has honoured the memory of its namesake, performing extensively throughout North America and delighting national audiences in critically acclaimed tours. Check out the sounds of the Chorale: http://nathanieldettchorale.org/experience/audio/
As we welcome Joe & Paul and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, we bring awareness of racism and prejudice that used to divide us along lines of colour. New tables are formed where all are welcome so:
at a table in open exchange
new ties are formed as our lives rearrange
Tables are symbols of food and companionship with room for one more. Whatever tables are part of our lives, let us make them places of joy and grace.
Shalom,
Abigail
A Roy Thomson Hall quality concert - but out on Queen East!
Ladies & Gentlemen,
lend us your ears.
Come and truly enjoy ...
JAZZ VESPERS IN THE BEACH
4:30 – 5:15 pm, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4th
Reception to follow
featuring
Joe Sealy & Paul Novotny
legendary jazz composers, arrangers and
remarkable players - Joe, piano; Paul, bass.
and
The Nathaniel Dett Chorale
lead by Founder & Artistic Director
Brainerd Blyden-Taylor.
Renowned throughout North America,
this 21-voice choral group is dedicated
to Afrocentric music of all styles – jazz,
gospel, folk, blues and classical.
Sponsored by
BEACH UNITED CHURCH
but held at St Aidan’s while we rebuild
DON’T MISS THIS EVENT
st adian’s church
70 Silver Birch Ave
QUEEN EAST AT SILVER BIRCH
THE BEACH, TORONTO
4:30pm to 5:15, Saturday, February 4th
Short and oh so sweet!
For our newsletter Heartbeat, click on: /Content/10457/Feb 5 HB.pdf
Or check out the blue wave on our web page: www.beachunitedchurch.com
ThuThursdayJanJanuary26th2012
Week of Jan 29, 2012
The surprising things that you find in the bible!
There are some things that immediately connect us to the ancient biblical story – flocks of sheep, mountain top encounters, angel song. However, if I mentioned “snow, frost and icicles” you are more likely to think of “Frosty the Snowman” than any of the books found in the bible. I had no idea that such winter images were found in books that were written in much warmer parts of the world than Canada. It was more from curiosity that I engaged in a “google” search, to see if snow was mentioned anywhere in the bible – I never expected anything to come up! This is what I found - -- -
Sirach 43 selected verses
The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven, a glittering array in the heights of God. God scatters the snow – the eye is dazzled by the beauty of its whiteness and the mind is amazed as it falls. God pours frost over the earth like salt and icicles form like pointed thorns. We could say more but could never say enough: let the final word be “God is all”.
Perhaps you have never come across the book of “Sirach” in your bible at home. Most bibles are divided into the “Old Testament” [ Hebrew scriptures] and the “New Testament” [Christian scriptures]. In between those two sections you might find the books of the Apocrypha which includes 15 books, all but one of which are Jewish in origin and connect to the books of the Old Testament. These books are in a separate section in the Protestant Bible, or sometimes omitted entirely. The Roman Catholic Bible includes 12 of these books as part of the canon.
Interestingly the term "apocrypha" comes from the Greek word meaning "hidden". Winter images in the biblical text are certainly well hidden but why was I looking in the first place? Well, I was creating an experiential worship for the “Eat, Pray, Skate” event, which is being held on Sunday Jan 29th at 6.30pm at Kew Gardens skating rink. I hope that you will come and join us and explore how the divine spark is embedded in all creation; including winter darkness, ice and snow. There will be lots of movement, so that we can keep warm!
Blessings, Karen
Please click for HEARTBEAT
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Saturday, February 4, 4:30-5:15, 2012
Joe Sealy & Paul Novotny present the Nathaniel Dhett Chorale
with Brainerd Blyden-Taylor
Reception to follow
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