coming events

Prayer is talking to God, but prayer is also listening for God.

How do we hear God speak? 

How may God speak to us in ways we may not hear using our own words?

The ancients believed scripture was not just something to be read. They also believed God communicated to us through the words of scripture. And more. They believed using the words of scripture for personal prayer could make prayer revelatory communication with God beyond our own words alone (which can often be mere self-talk).

Out of ancient Christian mystical spirituality comes 

the practice of “praying the scriptures” or 

“Lectio Divina.” It involves four steps.

Join us Wednesday, September 18, 7:30pm, in person & online,

as we learn this prayer practice and try it out together.

Tomson Highway was born in a snowbank on an island in the sub-Arctic, the eleventh of twelve children in a nomadic, caribou-hunting Cree family. Growing up in a land of ten thousand lakes and islands, Tomson relished being pulled by dogsled beneath a night sky alive with stars, sucking the juices from roasted muskrat tails, and singing country music songs with his impossibly beautiful older sister and her teenaged friends. Surrounded by the love of his family and the vast, mesmerizing landscape they called home, his was in many ways an idyllic far-north childhood. But five of Tomson's siblings died in childhood, and Balazee and Joe Highway, who loved their surviving children profoundly, wanted their two youngest sons, Tomson and Rene, to enjoy opportunities as big as the world. And so when Tomson was six, he was flown south by float plane to attend a residential school. A year later Rene joined him to begin the rest of their education. In 1990 Rene Highway, a world-renowned dancer, died of an AIDS-related illness.

Permanent Astonishment is Tomson's extravagant embrace of his younger brother's final words: "Don't mourn me, be joyful." His memoir offers insights, both hilarious and profound, into the Cree experience of culture, conquest, and survival. 

Whether you will have read the book or not, join us for the discussion Tuesday, September 24 7:30pm via zoom. If you need assistance getting a copy of the book, speak to Erin Stone.

CLICK HERE to read a preview of the book. 

A most profound yet most mis-read and mid-understood book, Job has much to offer those who invest in discovering its true wisdom. Among the many ways it has opened doors to understanding and transformation for the spiritually hungry, here are three:

1) While much religion and especially imperial and colonizing religion is about learning and teaching obedience, submission, acceptance and surrender, Job is also about the empowerment of questioning, dissent and protest. Does your spirituality have a meaningful place for questioning, dissent and protest as much as acceptance and surrender?

2) While so much of life involves loss, grief and traumatic experiences of crisis, there is a whole new literature which is discovering in Job deep riches for therapeutic healing toward a more resilient wholeness. How fully have you experienced inner healing and how well may you be equipped to transmute crises in your life into transformative ways of living grace, abundance and peace?

3) While different authors may be responsible for crafting different parts of Job making it read in contradictory ways as if Job is a split personality, more profound readings recognize that contradictory experiences and emotions are very much part of the development of a rich spiritual life not closeted from the real world of vulnerability, pain and periods that can feel like chaos. How full-orbed is your spiritual and emotional life as you live it with eyes and heart wide-open?

If any of this stirs your soul, the book of Job, rightly read and absorbed, is inner medicine that can open up new spiritual arteries flowing through your being. 

Join us, beginning Wednesday, September 25, 7:30pm, as we begin our journey through Job.

Ways you can participate: 

1) Notes will be sent out ahead of the sessions along with readings from Job. 

2) Each session will be recorded should you miss any or want to listen to parts of it again.

3) You can join our discussion group in person or online.

Any questions? Speak to Dr. Harris

Would you be interested in hosting or sponsoring coffee hour? You can participate as an individual or as a team! The coffee itself is made every Sunday by Jim Nasmith, all we need help with is coordinating setting out some food and clean-up. We would be so grateful for any help you are willing to offer. You can find a sign-up sheet just outside the kitchenette if you would like to add your name. For details, speak to Barbara Thomas, or anyone on the ministry team.

Thank you for considering this wonderful fellowship opportunity!