We’re off today to take part in Behold!, an intercultural church conference at the University of British Columbia. join us for the whole event, or come for the worship services at the UBC SUB Ballroom and the intercultural festival concert, May 13 at 7:30pm at the First Nations Longhouse. Full conference details can be found on the Behold! website.
Remembering Mom – Helen Kendrick – March 26
Cheryl’s mom, Helen, died on March 3, after a slow and steady decline over the past few years, hastened in the end by a ten-month battle with oral cancer. She lived a long and full life, one filled with much love and happiness, good food and friends, and we miss her dearly, just as we still miss Cheryl’s dad, Milt, who died in 1994. And so for us, Lent started a bit early this year, and the Lenten journey has been filled with sadness and busyness as we clear out mom’s apartment and prepare for a celebration of her life this Saturday, March 26.
Yesterday as I was preparing for this week’s community worship at VST, a new setting of the ancient prayer of the church, Kyrie Eleison, sung itself into my heart, so I quickly notated it and we introduced it to the VST choir. We’ll sing it tomorrow in worship, and we offer it to you to accompany your Lenten journey:
May you be filled with peace during this poignant season, as we wait in hope for the resurrection to come. And please keep us in your prayers as we walk this journey of life and death and life beyond death.
Spirit as Mindfulness: A Learning Fair of Mindfulness Practices – February 16
Yearning for en”chant”ment? Join us for free session on Christian chanting practices on February 16 at the Vancouver School of Theology!
In a distracted world, mindfulness has becomes a desirable religious expression in the West. While persons in the West have increasingly found such important insights in Buddhist and yogic practice, the Christian path too has diverse practices that promote mindfulness. If most familiar today as practices of breath that integrate body and spirit, Christianity historically has attempted to develop practices that include multiple sensory and postural attentiveness–everything from meditating with icons to centering prayer to the ascetic arts (e.g., fasting) to Quaker sitting and Mennonite simplicity. This pre-Lenten learning fair—open to the public—invites person to acquaint or re-acquaint themselves with practices which not only restore us to the passionate equanimity of the Spirit, but re-mind us of our ethical responsibilities to our neighbors, to creation.
[Persons are invited to participate in VST’s community worship at 12 noon in Epiphany chapel, followed by a free lunch hosted by the principal in the Iona 3rd floor lounge.]
Full details are available on the VST website. Come one, come all!
Live broadcast – A Black and White Christmas launch concert
A quick update for those who can’t join us for our launch concert for our new intercultural Christmas album, A Black and White Christmas, on November 21: we’ll be streaming it live to the internet starting at 5pm Eastern time. Visit the MelodicArts streaming channel at 5pm, and if you can’t watch it live it will be archived for seven days afterwards. Enjoy! And if you’re loving the music, you can order the CD or download the mp3s and help support us in our music-making. Thanks!
Advent Tour in Southern BC – December 1-22
In the busyness of Christmas preparations, with Christmas parties, shopping, extravagant meals and family travel for which to get ready, it is no wonder that many people find December to be tiring. We know many people who even take their Christmas trees down on Boxing Day (December 26) because they are already tired of the season!
Despite what our consumerist culture and corporate ethos has done to our Christmas celebrations over the past century or so, in the Christian calendar, Christmas is actually the twelve days between December 25 and January 5, before the feast of Epiphany on January 6! The four weeks leading up to Christmas are traditionally known as Advent, a season of longing and expectation, as we prepare for the birth of the Christ Child. And so in our ongoing desire to have people experience Advent, we are again continuing a tradition as we hit the road throughout southern British Columbia, sharing songs of Advent and providing an oasis of musical space in the midst of busy Christmas preparations. We’ll be in the Okanagan valley, in the Vancouver area, and on Vancouver Island for Evenings of Singing and for a few Blue Christmas services, December 1-22. Please join us if you can, and help us spread the word! Details are on our events page.
May we be filled again with anticipation of the joy to come!