Please join us for in-person worship at 6025 Stanley Street on Sundays at 10:30 AM.
You can also live stream our services and events on YouTube. Just click (or copy and paste) this link: http://youtube.com/channel/UCbMDfKALZsTyvkXTHYrzQUg/live Services will also be uploaded to our Facebook page on Sunday afternoon.
If you'd like to comment and react to others during the live stream service, you will need to create a YouTube account, which only takes a minute.
See you this Sunday on YouTube (or better yet: in person)!
Sunday School
We will be back in-person for Sunday School
this year!
If you haven't already registered, please
complete and submit this FORM.
Children will begin the service in our main
worship area and then move to the Annex for
Sunday School programming during the service.
Youth Group
If you're between the ages of 12 & 18, join our Youth Group which meets at 6025 Stanley Street on Sundays from 5:00 - 7:00 pm (dinner is included!). Contact Kathy (kcawsey@eastlink.ca), Jacob Ritchie or Annika for more information
The Youth Group is looking for people to provide dinners for our Sunday evening meetings. If this is something you feel you are able to do once a year or once a week, please contact Kathy (kcawsey@eastlink.ca), Jacob or Annika for more details.
Taizé Service
On Sunday, October 16 at 7:00p.m., we will be hosting a Taizé Prayer
Service in the main worship space at Stanley Street. This short service will include singing, scripture reading, prayer and silent meditation. Music will be provided by our Taizé Instrumental Ensemble.
These services will be held on the 1st and 3rd Sunday evenings of each month.
We look forward to seeing you there.
October 23 – Blessing of the Animals
We will be reinstating a much-loved tradition here at St. John’s: the Blessing of the Animals. You are invited to bring your pet(s) this coming October 23rd as we celebrate God’s presence in them and our interconnectedness with all living things.
It will be a short, fun and multi-sensory service for all ages and stages. Prefer not to bring your pet but would still like them to be blessed? Simply bring a picture or a stuffy that represents them.
Do you know others who’d like their pets blessed? Just let them know or better yet, bring them along!
A Message from the United Church of Canada
Dear friends,
We are checking in on you and your church community in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona. As noted in the memo to the regions, dated October 3, 2022, Hurricane Fiona has caused devastating damage across Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec. We are still hearing stories from the region about the devastation and some of the longer-term needs are becoming clearer as the clean up continues and we look at what may need to happen to rebuild and repair what was lost.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask that you and your community of faith to contact us with reports of the damages your congregation is facing, and what, if any, response that your insurer will provide. To report damages and the financial impact to your congregation please be in touch with me directly at fmaccuish@united-church.ca Thank you for your assistance in providing this information and please continue holding everyone affected by Hurricane Fiona in prayer.
The Board has approved a direct request from nearby Aurora North End Church to help out with “Happy Munch”, a food program they have started.
A small group of churches has offered to provide weekly lunches for the 16 tenants of a rooming house on Bright Street at a stone’s throw distance from us. Each church takes on 1 or 2 months a year; we have taken on December.
There are different ways we can help:
- by raising $300 for the food expenses for one month,
- by collecting specific food items for a healthy lunch (a list will be provided),
- by assisting the program coordinator at Aurora purchasing the groceries,
- by assisting the program coordinator making and packaging the 16 lunches.
- or by a combination of any of the above!
We are looking for someone to coordinate our part. It’s a one-time commitment, and you can make it as simple or involved as you like. You will meet new people and groups in our community, and most of all: your help (together with others) will mean a great deal to our nearby neighbours on Bright Street.
Please connect with the Outreach Lead Team (Jacomyn) or withHubert if you’d like to find out more.
Accessible Hearing System Training - October 23 at 10:00 am
The training originally scheduled for September 25 has been rescheduled to October 23.
St. John's United Church is pleased to invite you to trial our new Phonak Roger
SoundField System on Sunday, October 23 at 10:00 am.
This accessible hearing system is designed to directly connect to our sound
system with headphones or your own hearing aid devices to help overcome the
barriers of distance, background noise, or poor acoustics which can make it
more difficult to hear or can cause listening fatigue; especially for people living
with hearing loss.
If you want to give it a try, please show up 30 minutes before the start of the
service to ensure there is enough time to get an assistive listening device to
borrow with headphones. You can also bring your own wired headphones if
you prefer.
If you wear hearing aids or cochlear implants, Audiologists from Accessible
Hearing Solutions (the company who installed our system) will be present to
help you directly connect to the system depending on your device(s). There are
different ways to connect hearing aids directly to the Phonak Roger SoundField
System, through a telecoil, an integrated receiver, or a universal plug-in
receiver (Roger X (02)). Sometimes hearing aids have these options but the
wearer is unaware or does not know how to access them. If you are unsure,
contact your local audiologist and ask them if your devices are able to connect
to a Phonak Sound Field System, and if so how. This will be helpful information
to get prior to September 25th when trialling the system.
Zatoun is a unique project offering
fair trade olive oil from Palestine to
connect people in North America to
the history, culture and challenges of
the Palestinian people and the land
of Palestine.
Brunswick Street Mission
Brunswick Street Mission Fundraising Breakfast
The annual Brunswick Steet Mission Fundraising Breakfast will be on Thursday,
October 20 at the Pier 21 auditorium. This year’s speaker is Anna Maria
Tremonti, past CBC anchor of “The Current.” She will speak on “Welcome to
Paradise” based on her podcast revealing her open long-held secret — that
she was once married to a man who abused her. She tells us about
confronting that past and how it shaped her career as a journalist. Tickets
are available on the BSM website. Please join
other members of St. John’s at one of our tables. There will be an opportunity
to purchase tickets after church on Sunday.
Executive Director and Morning Breakfast Coordinator
Brunswick Street Mission is searching for a new Executive Director and
Morning Breakfast Coordinator. If you are interested or know of someone who
may be interested, please contact Jim Sharpe at sharpe@ns.sympatico.ca for
the position descriptions. The ad for the Executive Director can be viewed HERE.
Spiritual Friends
All are welcome to join the St. John's United Spiritual Friends group which meets Mondays from 5:30 - 6:30 pm via Zoom (and hopefully in-person occasionally).
The group is beginning a video series entitled, Living the Questions 2.0: An Introduction to Progressive Christianity on Monday, October 17.
Please contact Connie in the church office if you are interested in participating.
St. John's United Book Club
St. John's has a very active Book Club which meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 7:00 pm from September to November and January to May.
The book for our October 26 session is Here We Are by Graham Swift. All are welcome to join us at our Stanley Street location for a discussion of this novel.
Online Prayer Box
To have your prayer requests included in Sunday's Prayers of the Community just click the link below and type in your request. Names will not be mentioned, unless so specified; or reach out to one of our Ministers, Hubert or Annika, to let them know.
Hubert I'm working primarily from my Stanley Street office combined with work from home. Saturdays and Mondays are my days off, but otherwise feel free to call, text, email or Zoom me. My cell: (902) 414-6342.
If you'd like to book a meeting with me, please insert your details into this calendar.
Annika I will be working in both the Stanley Street space and my home office Monday - Thursday. Sundays will be a mix of hours as programming requires. Fridays and Saturdays will continue to be my days off.
If you'd like to book a meeting with me, please insert your details into this calendar. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Church Office Hours
The church office will only be open on Friday from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm this week as Connie is on vacation Wednesday and Thursday.
Phone number: (902) 423-8498
The Weekly Newsletter is sent out on WEDNESDAYS.
Please send any new content to Connie at office@stjohnsunited.com.Deadline is Tuesday evening.
