Glebe-St. James United Church

Reaching – Into Faith, Out to Others

PRIDE Sunday June 27, 2021

Gathered by God

PREPARING OUR HEARTS

WELCOME

LIGHTING OF CHRIST CANDLE

We are followers of the Prince of Peace, and we light this candle as a sign of our commitment to peace, and a reminder that God’s love shines in all people and in all of creation. As the flame reaches to you, may our prayers and intentions be lifted to you with them.

CALL TO WORSHIP

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And also with you. All you who delight in the Sacred Strange, come and worship the queer Creator. Thanks be to God who blesses the peculiar and rejoices in the uniqueness of every body and being.

The Holy takes on flesh in every gender and sexual orientation, every race and ability, every body size and body type. Each embodied difference is a unique glimpse of Holy Wonder.

Blessed are those who search for God among the lives of the oppressed, the betrayed, the turned-away, and the condemned. Blessed are those who receive with the gifts of God enfleshed among us.

The Sacred is with us. Let us worship and be transformed.

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HYMN MV 145 Draw the Circle Wide

Words and Music: Gordon Light 1994, Words and music © 1994 Common Cup Company Arrangement: Michael Bloss, 1998 © 1998 Wood Lake Books Used by permission. All rights reserved. Reprinted under ONE LICENCE A-722049

Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still. Let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing up side by side, draw the circle wide.

God the still-point of the circle, ‘round whom al creation turns; nothing lost but held forever, in God’s gracious arms.

Let our hearts touch far horizons, so encompass great and small; let our loving know no borders, faithful to God’s call.

Let the dreams we cream be larger, than we’ve ever dreamed before; let the dream of Christ be in us, open every door.

OPENING PRAYER

God, when you called each of us into being, you delighted in your works. You gifted us with differences that illuminate the breadth of beauty, wisdom, and practices of love in your creation. In whatever ways we still struggle to accept and celebrate our own unique offerings, free us from narrow thinking that confines, constrains, or condemns your good work in us. Amen.

Listening for the Word

CHILDREN’S TIME

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GIFT OF MUSIC We are a rainbow (David Kai)

READING Psalm 150

Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds;

praise him according to his surpassing greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance;

praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with clanging cymbals;

praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

This is wisdom from our ancestors in faith.

REFLECTION

Holy Wisdom, come. We long for your truth that sets the captives free. Bring us your Word that liberates. Quiet all that turns us against ourselves, one another, or any of your creatures and creations. Lead us in love that mends and restores. Amen.

When I was just a little girl I asked my mother, what will I be Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Here's what she said to me: Que sera sera Whatever will be will be The future's not ours to see Que sera sera…1

This is a song that I remember sung to as lullaby for me when I was young, but I doubt either of my expected (que sera sera) I would be an out and proud lesbian, long- time married to a wonderful woman, and an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada.

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Parents, fair warning, choose the lullabies you sing with caution, for they turn into prophesies in young hearts. Whatever will be will be… the future is not ours to see… I was 25 years old when I came out as a lesbian. I remember telling my parents very clearly. I sat them down in the living room and said I had something I had to tell them. After coming out I waited anxiously to see what they would say. My father, in his quiet way, thanked me for telling the truth and told me of the gay clients he had worked with over the years. My mother, on the other hand, sat and looked at the floor. She finally looked me in the eye and said, “Why are you telling us this now?” Not really what I was expecting. I stammered something like “I thought you’d want to know before I bring someone home to meet you.” My mother sat and considered this and said, “No…I could have waited.”

Que sera… sera… whatever will be will be, the future is not ours to see… indeed!

This week when I read Psalm 150, the last word, the finale of the Psalms; I just couldn’t keep from singing! This famous song is also a psalm for the gay community. Whatever Will Be Will Be, was sung by Doris Day who became an unlikely but important gay icon and HIV/ AIDS activist after the death of her friend Rock Hudson.2 She found herself in a moment with friends who needed her support. Doris Day didn’t train as an activist — but an oppressed people and a pandemic forced her into a new unforeseen role later in life.

Today, this song is an important anthem — a secular psalm for today — and fits in our Pride Sunday service in this year of the unexpected. It is been a year of transformative protest for racial justice and anti-racist commitment as well as a year of pandemic. “The future is not ours to see.” Does that ever resonate as true today, but it is ours to co- create with God! As Saint Doris Day did, we must show-up when our friends need us…whatever will be.

Likewise, today’s Scripture, Psalm 150, is the unexpected conclusion of the psalter —a vast collection of hymns and poetry spanning the human psyche and range of emotions. The Psalms are a kaleidoscope of emotional whiplash.

Right now, like my recent ancestors in the LGBTQ2S+2S+ community who lived through pain and the political awakening of the HIV/ AIDS epidemic and acted-up for change and justice, we too are living through a time of awakening paired with pain. Whiplash from lament to praise, from hope to despair — this happens day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute, or even in the short span of time it takes for a screen to refresh! We are living in whiplash times of sudden contrast that the Psalmist would recognize.

Learning that 215 children were buried in a mass grave in a church-run residential school as the Indigenous community has been saying for years — a most sinful act one day — to hearing shortly thereafter that, at very long last, the government will provide financial assistance to search the rest of the residential school sites is whiplash. From

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our hope for intersectional justice to be in true, full, and real authentic solidarity and meaningful change with Black Lives Matter (diverse rallies of hope for change), to hearing of more deaths and murders results in a sudden change in emotion. From hearing of friends struck with Covid-19 symptoms or job losses or chronic new anxieties to celebrating the community efforts we have seen in getting the community vaccinated and the courage of our healthcare workers, we are living a roller coaster of emotions that the Psalmist would understand.

[Pause]

We are living in a time when we that the last word, the last dance, the final Psalm isn’t an accident. Whatever will be will be, the future is not ours to see, but as Christians we remember our theology that in the end God’s final realm of justice and hope will prevail.

Psalm 150, the great conclusion of the Psalms is a love song. It is a love song, a dance, a parade and a protest! Whatever Psalm (lament or praise) we are going through in this moment, we know that at the end of the universe, somewhere over the rainbow, the final song, the last dance will be love and inclusion.

One scholar, C.S. Rodd, in the Oxford Bible Commentary3 writes about Psalm 150, saying, “A loud cacophony of praise is described; each verse slightly longer than the previous one, indicating increasing praise.”

It is this call to increasing praise, to hope, and to knowing that at the end of it all, at the end of the universe is love, is joy, and is praise. This is what Pride feels like and sounds like — throw in all the signs of diversity and joy — tambourines, harps, feathers, boas, glitter, and protest!

When I hear this psalm, and I think of what stirs me to give God praise in this way, what brings my heart to the exponential end of words of praise to God’s surpassing greatness, I think of my wife and the love she inspires in me. Ruth is my Psalm 150 inspiration. What or who is it in your life (living or passed on… person, place, movement, idea) inspires you to cry out with these words? What entity on earth gives you that glimpse of heaven?

Hallelujah! Praise God in the sanctuary; praise God from the mighty firmament! Praise God’s mighty deeds; praise God according to God’s surpassing greatness! Praise God with trumpet sound; praise God with lute and harp! Praise God with tambourine and dance, praise God with strings and pipe! Praise God with clanging cymbals, praise God with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise God! Hallelujah!

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When we say “love is love” or say that we are fighting for justice or we hope to eliminate racism, it is because we are Psalm 150 people — living into the promise of God’s hope with all we have — harp, tambourine, rainbows, feathers, boas, and heart!

This is the call of Psalm 150, with textually increasing urgency in the original Hebrew and modern English, to do what one scholar would call praising God for God’s “impossible possibility”. Late Yale Professor, Dr. Letty Russell, in Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference, is about the intersection of justice and hospitality. She ends by writing, “To live out God’s Welcome in our worship, our church, our lives is no easy task. That is why I continue to reiterate the concept of impossible possibility; we are called beyond what we believe our limitations are to live into greater possibility… [she later continues] …Our calling to welcome others as Christ is no easy task. It is an impossible possibility! Just hospitality will not make us safe, but it will lead us to risk joining in the work of mending creation without requiring those who are different to become like us…we know that the future that awaits is surely as chaotic as the past — a future open to the work of those who choose to join in God’s intention to restore creation’s rainbow of difference!”4

Psalm 150, true Pride for all of God’s creation, is an impossible possibility — and that is a good and hope-filled thing — a future open to the work of those who choose to join in God’s intention to restore creation’s rainbow of difference!”

But it isn’t always so easy! The Rev. Dr. Robert Goss, in his book, Jesus Acted Up: A Gay and Lesbian Manifesto (1993), wrote what was then a shockingly honest and utterly fabulous account of LGBTQ2S+ love and hope. It is an extension of the branch of theology called Liberation Theology that emerged from South American Catholicism and has expanded into a wide range of hermeneutics or theological interpretive lenses. For Goss and for myself as LGBTQ2S+ people—we cannot help but read the Bible with the perspective of Queer Liberation. He wrote, “[LGBTQ2S+ communities] create a social space that refuses to be assimilated into heterosexist social space…The battle for truth is not a polite practice; it is a discursive practice that challenges the sacred deployments of homophobic/ heterosexist [I would add racist] ecclesial power with the power of queer truth…” He continues, “Christianity aspires to be meaningful for all people, at all times. Christian theology, however, is the product of people with power and privilege, influence and wealth. This gives their theology a partisan bias that renders it meaningful to only a limited audience…This partisan bias must be unmasked. The theology of Jesus the Christ must expand to include the reality of [LGBTQ2S+ and all forms of] oppression.”5

Psalm 150 is the last word in the Psalms. After all of the lament, all of the pain, all of the death, all of the grief, after all… there is Pride and there is Love and there is God.

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After all, yes, God’s realm does lean deeply into wholeness, into justice, and into renewal. Our religion is nothing if not about the work of hope — and we will always find song, dance, feathers, glitter, wigs, stilettos, and signs of hope and life.

Pride Month for me is not only my own coming out anniversary and a time of annual rebirth, but it is a time of remembrance of the acting up of the past (Jesus, the Civil Rights Movement, the Act-Up HIV/ AIDS, those who fought for gay ordination, same sex marriage activists), as well as a recommitment (a vow renewal) for the acting up still needed from us today.

At its best, Pride is an ambitious and audacious call to action for the abundance of the future — there will be feathers, there will be glitter, and there will be dancing! For the Psalmist, for God, for Jesus the Christ call us out of the closets of oppression and into the acting-up needed for today.

While “Que Sera Sera” might well be Doris Day’s most famous song, and her friendship and compassion for Rock Hudson made her one of the first true public (if unlikely) allies of LGBTQ2S+ people during a devastating pandemic, there is another song she sang that I would like to end with. “Secret Love”6 from the 1953 film Calamity Jane became an anthem — a Psalm 150 for many in need of hope, of Gospel, of love who no longer had access to institutional religion because of coming out or acting up. Here in this grand church with an out queer minister in Ottawa, it is important to remember that many still need to appropriate secular culture as a source of the sacred… because the church and family have become inaccessible and hostile. From our comfort, we should never forget this source of Sacred Text and Sainthood.

Doris Day sings this Gospel, “Once I had a secret love that lived within the heart of me. All too soon my secret love became impatient to be free. Now I shout it from the highest hills. Even told the golden daffodils. At last my heart’s an open door, and my secret love is no secret anymore.”7

Impatient to be free and grounded in the Biblical Truth of Psalm 150 — dancing, singing, and grounded in God’s realm of just hospitality are the final refrain of this song. Happy Pride, 2021. Amen.

1 Whatever Will Be, Will Be, Doris Day. 2 https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-doris-day-rock-hudson-aids-retrospective-20190513-story.html 3 C.S. Rodd, Oxford Bible Commentary, 405. 4 Letty Russell, Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 118, 123-124. 5 Robert Goss, Jesus Acted Up: A Gay and Lesbian Manifesto (San Francisco, California: Harper Collins, 1993), 59, 61. 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU8tQpCZEzg 7 https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/05/13/doris-day-dead-gay-icon/

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Responding to God’s Word

HYMN VU 241 Oh, Sing to Our God

Words: Brazilian folk song, trans. Gerhard Cartford © Gerhard Cartford Music: Brazilian folk song, arr John L. Bell arrangement © 1991 G.I.A Publications, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Reprinted under ONE LICENCE A-722049

Oh, sing to our God, oh, sing out a new song. Oh, sing to our God, oh, sing out a new song. Oh, sing to our God, oh, sing out a new song. Oh, sing to our God. Oh, sing to our God.

Oh, dance for our God and blow all the trumpets. Oh, dance for our God and blow all the trumpets. Oh, dance for our God and blow all the trumpets. And sing to our God, and sing to our God.

Oh, shout to our God, who gave us the Spirit. Oh, shout to our God, who gave us the Spirit. Oh, shout to our God, who gave us the Spirit. Oh, sing to our God. Oh, sing to our God.

PASTORAL PRAYER

Constant Friend, because

People of every sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity have the right to live with dignity and without persecution or discrimination, we

Remember in our prayers: • LGBTQ2S+ people of Chechnya, Uganda, Zambia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and elsewhere who have been murdered and tortured because of who they are. We remember them and the people who love them. • LGBTQ2S+ refugees from around the world seeking safety and sanctuary. We remember them and the people who welcome them. • Trans and gender-diverse people in Canada, the United States, Brazil, and elsewhere, who are targeted victims of hate crimes and assaults. We remember them and the people who love them. 8 | P a g e

• LGBTQ2S+ people whose dignity and self-esteem have been eroded by hateful systems and structures. We remember them and seek to be people who love more fully.

Individually, we each uniquely reflect your glory and express your love, but anti-gay violence, homophobia, and transphobia have blocked many from recognizing your beauty in all people. All of creation suffers from the effects of such hate, fear, and violence.

Daily, may we dedicate ourselves to building bridges of love and hope where harmful divisions have been made, making equity and equality for all people our goal, while working continually for justice, so that

Everyone can live fully in your love. All this we pray as we share the prayer our brother Jesus taught us:

PRAYER OF JESUS

Our Mother and Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sent by the Spirit

HYMN VU PSALM 150b Praise to God, Your Praises Show (page 875)

Words: Henry Francis Lyte, 18334 Music: Robert Williams 1817, Harmony: David Evans 1927 Used by permission of Oxford University Press

Praise to God, your praises show, Hallelujah! saints within God's courts below, Hallelujah! angels round the throne above, Hallelujah! all who see and share God's love. Hallelujah!

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Earth to heaven and heaven to earth, Hallelujah! tell the wonders, sing God’s worth, Hallelujah! age to age, and shore to shore, Hallelujah! Praise God, praise forever more! Hallelujah!

Praise to God, great mercies trace, Hallelujah! Praise tis providence and grace, Hallelujah! All that God for us has done, Hallelujah! Praise to the all glorious One. Hallelujah!

Strings and voices, hands and hearts, Hallelujah! concert, play your parts, Hallelujah! all that breathe, your God adore, Hallelujah! sing your praise forevermore, Hallelujah!

COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION

Let us go from our time of worship to proclaim the good news:

God takes on flesh in the strange and surprising. Love liberates from the margins. Together, we have what we need to resist evil and oppression.

With a renewed commitment to solidarity with God and all LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit people, may the Spirit lead us from this place with peace.

As we leave this time of worship, remember, even in the midst of the pandemic, we are never alone, for we go with God, the Source of Love, Jesus, the Love Incarnate, and the Holy Spirit, Love’s peace and power. And let the people say, Amen.

MUSIC TO SEND US FORTH

Thank you for joining us at Glebe-St. James United Church.

We offer a special thank you to those who have contributed to today’s service. Music: Julia Barry, Elisabeth Caswell, Crystal Maitland Scripture Reader: Margo Williams

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Coffee Hour / Hymn Sing On Sunday, June 27th, we will once again have a hymn sing. Coffee Hour will start at 12 Noon Hymn Sing will start @ 1 pm Zoom links for both can be found at the end of this e-update.

Virtual Coffee Hours will continue throughout the summer at 1 pm The link is the same each week and can also be found on our website www.glebestjames.ca

OMRA Grocery gift cards The July order will be processed on Tuesday, June 29th. If you have not already done so and wish to order cards for pick up in July, please drop your order off at the church. Items dropped into the Lyon Street mailbox fall into a locked box. Jennifer checks the box when she is in over the summer.

Karen Walker has now replaced Marisa Romano on OMRA’s Board of Directors. This change became effective at the June OMRA Annual General Meeting.

Marisa who has served on the OMRA board since 2014, continues coordinating the sale of grocery cards together with Donna-Fay Mailhot and Janice Vennos. Our thanks to all these ladies.

Christian Development Stephanie Langill has decided to take a leave of absence from her job with the school board to spend time in Nova Scotia. Fortunately for Glebe-St. James, she will continue leading Children’s Church from a distance via video calls. Stephanie tells us that these calls are the highlight of her week! The Christian Development Ministry team will be looking for volunteers in the Fall to help out with tasks to support Children’s Church on the ground in Ottawa.

Re-opening Plans At its June 16th meeting Council discussed the provincial re-opening plan and its significance for us. Ontario has announced that Step Two of the “Reopening Ontario” plan will start when 70% of adults have been vaccinated with one dose and 20% vaccinated with two doses. We can anticipate that Step Two will permit in-person worship with limited numbers and could start in July. This would mean we could have some attendance at the summer services hosted by Glebe-St. James starting on August 15th. Specific plans will be based on Ottawa Public Health, UCC and EOORC guidance. Council will be keeping a close eye on announcements so that we can update our protocols as needed and determine how we will apply the rules at Glebe-St James. Please check the e-update and the website for news. If you have any comments or concerns, let Jenifer Aitken or Chris Burbridge know.

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News from the Council Meeting on June 16th In addition to our re-opening plans, Council discussed a number of developments in the work and life of the church:

• National Indigenous People’s Day is on June 21st; there is a new art installation on the Lyon St side of Glebe-St. James where orange T shirts have been hung on the Dreamcatcher: one shirt to represent each of the 140 residential schools; local media have expressed interest and Ruth has been interviewed. • Pride Day is next week (June 28) - join with the rest of the country to celebrate • Stone Soup Network - discussions with the Central Ottawa Cluster about bringing the Stone Soup Network to Ottawa are proceeding well and it looks like our involvement, including opportunities for volunteers, will start in the Fall. • Outreach: community gardens are going well; egg cartons and milk bags are still needed - please bring them to the office. Jennifer is in on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. • St. Paul’s Eastern - We will send a letter to the SPE Council to share with their congregation inviting them to consider Glebe-St. James. St. Paul’s Eastern is disbanding as of June 30th. • Accessibility - meeting planned for June 23rd to share information about what has been done and what needs to be done. • Thriving Churches - Tuesday evening group will complete a report based on their meetings - their conclusion is that Glebe-St. James is, by many indicators, thriving! • Responding to the Futures Task Force Report and the Thriving Churches Report - thinking to continue over the summer about how to respond to these recommendations; Council members are hoping to identify some specific actions they can take when they meet in the fall; Council discussed the Moderator’s call to be Anti-racist church and noted that Teresa is leading us in this direction with the focus of worship services, such as for Black history Month and Asian Heritage Month

Thriving Churches Discussion Group We will be meeting on Tuesday evenings at 7 pm on Zoom. You are most welcome to join us if you are interested.

If you would like more information, please contact Chris Burbridge ([email protected] / 613 232-6509).

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Women’s Intergenerational Group – next date: July 18th Topic: Travel Stories – Tall Tales or True Come share stories that make us laugh or smile Zoom link will be provided closer to the meeting date.

Glebe-St. James Antique Road Show……sort of It is happening already. The Glebe-St. James version. If you are downsizing or maybe just having a good clean-out, please keep us in mind. You likely have items that you have had forever and you are ready to say good-bye to them. If you would like further information or you have some stuff, give Dudleigh Coyle a call (613-233-2500) and just sit back and smile knowing you are helping to balance the 2021 Glebe-St. James Operating Budget.

Ottawa Pastoral Care Training Program

The following courses are available via zoom this Fall. Brochures are attached.

• Fall 2021 Basic Course (Mondays Sept 20 – Nov 22nd) • Advanced Course (Oct 5, 12, 19, 26th) • Continuing Educational Event (Nov 16th) Pastoral Care for those in Vulnerable Situations www.ottawapastoralcare.com

Egg cartons – milk bags – re-useable grocery bags Thank you to all those who have been collecting and dropping off their egg cartons, milk bags, grocery bags, etc. at Glebe-St. James United. Andy & Marilyn continue to pick up these items and distribute them to various locations.

The food banks are now also accepting donations of re-useable grocery bags. If you have extras that you would like to pass along, please drop them by the church office.

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Our Ministry Team…

Coordinating Minister: Rev. Teresa Burnett-Cole, ex 24; [email protected]

Minister of Visitation: Rev. George Clifford, 613-825-5997; [email protected]

Minister of Music: James Caswell, ex 25; [email protected]

Minister of Music Emeritus: Robert Palmai

Minister of Christian Development: Stephanie Langill, ex 22; [email protected]

Accounts: Lori Stinson, ex 23; [email protected]

Church Administrator: Jennifer Reid, ex 21; [email protected]

Office Hours Please note that Teresa continues to work from home. Stephanie continues to work remotely. The best way to contact her is via e-mail. Lori is in the office on Mondays. If you need to speak with her, please call before 12 Noon. Jennifer is starting summer hours early. She will be in the office on Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm. She will also be checking e-mails on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Please send e-mails to [email protected]

Office e-mails If you are sending an e-mail to Jennifer Reid on Church related matters, please send it to [email protected]. There is no need and no benefit to sending it to more than one e-mail address.

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Zoom Log-ins

Coffee Hour – Sunday @ 12 Noon https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82491637052?pwd=dnM1QjNOSnMvY09teXlRZlZlcWQ3 UT09

Meeting ID: 824 9163 7052 Passcode: 464909 One tap mobile +16475580588,,82491637052#,,,,*464909# Canada +17789072071,,82491637052#,,,,*464909# Canada

Dial by your location +1 647 558 0588 Canada +1 778 907 2071 Canada +1 204 272 7920 Canada +1 438 809 7799 Canada +1 587 328 1099 Canada +1 647 374 4685 Canada Meeting ID: 824 9163 7052 Passcode: 464909 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kEP4jF7aK

June Hymn Sing – 1 pm https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87288663587?pwd=NUFiNktjN1Y4RjZKaHBGMS9kb1M0dz09

Meeting ID: 872 8866 3587 Passcode: 6505966 One tap mobile +14388097799,,87288663587#,,,,*6505966# Canada +15873281099,,87288663587#,,,,*6505966# Canada

Dial by your location +1 438 809 7799 Canada +1 587 328 1099 Canada +1 647 374 4685 Canada +1 647 558 0588 Canada +1 778 907 2071 Canada +1 204 272 7920 Canada Meeting ID: 872 8866 3587 Passcode: 6505966 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbOMmuatLW

Glebe-St. James United Church 650 Lyon Street South, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 3Z7 613-236-0617 www.glebestjames.ca

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