The Harcourt Herald The life and work of the Harcourt Memorial United Church community Guelph, Ontario Octobe r, 2014 HOLY HEADWAR! A view from the top In this issue: Worship Schedule 3 Men’s Breakfast 9 Council News 4 Caroline Harcourt Women’s Fellowship 26 Committee and Group News 7 Announcements 23 Community 15 Harcourt Memorial United Church An Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Canada We are a people of God called together and sent forth by Christ to Rejoice... Renew... Reach Out Our Mission: Inspired by the Spirit, we participate in Christian practices that strengthen us in the building of just, compassionate, and non-violent relationships Our Vision Statement: To be an authentic community of spiritual growth and service Our Core Values: Risk...Respect...Responsibility...Vulnerability...Trust Our Purpose: To welcome and strengthen in community all who wish to serve God and follow the way of Jesus Harcourt Memorial United Church Harcourt Herald 87 Dean Avenue, Guelph, Ontario N1G 1L3 Published 10 times each year Office Hours: by the Monday to Friday, 9am-noon; 1pm-4pm Communications Committee Phone: 519-824-4177 Fax: 519-824-9448 Email: [email protected] Web: www.harcourtuc.ca Your contributions are welcome! th Deadline: 20 of each month Ministers: The People with Sept-June Reverend Wendy Brown (ext. 222) Editor: Gillian Joseph [email protected] [email protected] Reverend Jim Ball (ext. 223) Printer: Anne Purkis [email protected] Director of Music Ministry: Alison MacNeil (ext. 225) [email protected] Church Administrator: Anne Purkis E-Comm Coordinator: Nick Swan [email protected] Custodian: Darko Cikovic 2 WORSHIP SCHEDULE Oct. 5 – Creation 5 – “RIVER/HUMANITY” Worldwide Communion Sunday 9:00 in the Chapel 10:30 in the Sanctuary Nursery care available. Oct. 12 – Creation 6 – “HARVEST” Thanksgiving Sunday 9:00 in the Chapel 10:30 in the Sanctuary Nursery care available. Oct. 19 – Creation 7 – “SABBATH REST” 9:00 in the Chapel 10:30 in the Sanctuary Nursery care available. **Looking ahead – Be sure to mark Sunday, November 16 on your calendar now! nd The 2 annual Guelph United Ministries Joint Worship Celebration, with a special program for children and nursery care. 10:30 a.m. at John F. Ross CVI No worship service at Harcourt that day. 3 COUNCIL NEWS by Kathy Magee, Chair of Council Greetings from you Council as we begin this Season of Creation. It seems an appropriate context as September brings a surge in activities and opportunities at Harcourt and with the wider community. We are a busy and involved people as we live out God's call to us to the best of our individual and collective ability. Council's time together on September 17th began by meeting with Committee Chairs to review and plan for the coming year. It was a wonderful time of sharing ideas, curiosities, joys and challenges of being your leadership team. The energy and dedication to Harcourt were palpable. We are blessed to have these dedicate people who express their call to Discipleship with such faith, insight and determination. Each committee plays an integral role in making Harcourt the vibrant and diverse community it is. The Organizational Chart (available on our website or through Anne in the church office) shows clearly the interconnections and opportunities for involvement. We will be continuing with our Ministry Moments the 4th Sunday of each month so that you have the opportunity to hear stories from each committee. In compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Ministry and Personnel committee has drafted policies dealing with Violence and Harassment, based on the United Church of Canada's template. Council reviewed and approved these policies which will now be sent to Hamilton Conference and Waterloo Presbytery offices. We are so grateful to the M&P committee for their attention to this on our behalf. The Narrative Budget team presented a first draft of the narrative budget to Council. The team will consider some suggestions for refinement and return to Council with a final draft. Narrative Budgets provide an exciting opportunity to tell the story of who we are, what we do, and how we use our resources - human and financial. Stay tuned for more! Council is very aware of the increasing and wide ranging demands that are being made on the time and energy of our ministerial staff. Wendy and Jim provide inspired and 4 inspiring leadership and care for our Harcourt family in so many ways, some known and some unknown to us. We are truly blessed to have a ministerial team that is so talented, so dedicated and so respected in the wider community. As we make our way through these exciting and challenging times, as we live out our call to Discipleship, it becomes imperative that we take up our responsibility, indeed our privilege to be part of the support for new initiatives and changing expectations. Worship and M&P committees are developing a cadre of lay people, similar to the model we used during Jim's sabbatical, to take on liturgical leadership (scripture reading, announcements, prayers etc.). We need you! It is up to all of us to be part of this on-going team to help balance the shifting roles and expectations that we as a congregation have identified as priorities. Please watch for and respond to information about these opportunities. As my very wise mother says, "many hands make light work". We need to work together to bring our vision to reality. There are many opportunities for us to gather to have important conversations - and fun - together. We identified the significance of this at our June Congregational meeting. The Congregational Retreat, the variety of small groups that are available, sacred listening circles, youth activities, Fellowship activity evenings are all happening this autumn. I encourage you to talk to people involved in the activities, and to join in the conversation. I would welcome your ideas for other opportunities to get together as community. Yours in God's grace 5 PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT.... Toronto’s New Ismaili Centre Museum Hoping to Dispel Stereotypes About Islam The country’s first museum of Islamic art opened on September 18th in downtown Toronto. Prime Minister Harper and the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, attended a ceremony inaugurating the $300 million complex, which sits on 17 acres of lush gardens and parkland. This museum will house more than 1,000 artifacts spanning a millennium of Islamic history. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/toronto-ismaili- center_n_5836482.html?utm_hp_ref=religion Former Controversial Minister Gerald A. Larue Dies at Age 98 An ordained minister who became an agnostic, archeologist, religious scholar and debunker of claims, Gerald Larue recently died of a stroke at age 98. During an academic career spanning five decades, Larue wrote or co-wrote a dozen books, including the provocatively titled "Sex and the Bible" (1983) and "Playing God: Fifty Religions' Views on Your Right to Die" (1996). In 1980 he became founding president of the Hemlock Society, a right-to-die movement aimed at providing information to the terminally ill and to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The son of a salesman, Larue was born in Calgary, Canada, on June 20, 1916. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alberta in 1943 and was ordained in the United Church of Canada in 1945. http://www.dailypilot.com/news/la-me-gerald-larue-20140921,0,348292.story September Interfaith Summit on Climate Change The World Council of Churches (WCC) held an Interfaith Summit on Climate Change on September 21-22 in New York City. At the summit, organized together with Religions for Peace, more than 30 religious leaders took a united stand to encourage international and political leaders to address concretely the causes and consequences of climate change. http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/09/religion-and-climate- change 6 NEW TO HARCOURT??? We are so pleased that you’re here!! Please give the Church office a call at (519) 824-4177 so we can make your visit to Harcourt a great one... COMMITTEE AND GROUP NEWS NEW IN THE LIBRARY by Mary Lou Funston Feisty and Fearless – Glimpses into the Life of Lois Wilson Biography The Age of the Spirit: How the Ghost of an Ancient Controversy is Shaping the Church 231.3 From Teilhard to Omega – co-creating an unfinished Universe 261 Now That You Know – A Parents' Guide to Understanding Their Gay and Lesbian Children 306 A Church With the Soul of a Nation – Making and Remaking the United Church of Canada 287.9 Sabbath as Resistance – Saying No to the Culture of Now 263.1 If you have never visited the Library, here is a bit of a road map: When you go in the door, the computer is on your immediate left. If you know the title or author of a book you want, but don’t know where to find it, you can look it up – instructions on the wall above. When you look at the shelves, on the left wall are the shelves of fiction and biography; straight ahead, starting on the left is the reference section. All the other books are numbered. 7 Every book has an ID label on the spine. It may be a series of 3 letters (e.g. FIC for fiction, BIO for biography) or a number. The books with numbers are shelved according to the numbers, then alphabetically by author within the numbers. So when you want to find a book, find the number and look for that number on the shelves.