Blue Corn Tortillas, Parking In The Clouds, Mayan Ceremonies, Living Presence

Dear Friends,

I hope you have found some rest and renewal after the demands of Holy Week and Easter – and that the Risen One will continue to meet you in surprising ways and places this Eastertide!

And, I hope you can give some thought and prayer to joining in the Guatemala Pilgrimage this August 2-12, 2024.

In our Executive Minister Treena Duncan’s Holy Week message, she wrote, “Despite facing generations of trauma and scarcity, the people of Guatemala demonstrate unwavering faith and hope, pouring out their love and devotion into the world. Witnessing their dedication reminds me of the inseparable connection between faith and hope: when we nurture faith, we nurture hope; when we nurture hope, we nurture faith. There is resurrection going on.”

Our intention is that this pilgrimage of ministry leaders, will indeed nurture our faith and our hope – and that we will see, and be, signs of resurrection.  

Guatemala: a tour for ministry leaders
August 2-12, 2024

I know it’s expensive – and I believe it is really, really worth it. I’ve sourced a few options for financial assistance, with links below.

We’ve set the registration deadline at April 30, so we can make a decision on whether the trip is a go – and if it is, we’ll continue to accept more participants, so spread the word!

• You can register directly with World Pilgrim Global Education, here: World Pilgrim Global Education Incorporated » Application Form

Lots more information is on the event webpage, here: Guatemala: A Your For Ministry Leaders in the Time of Lent — LeaderSHIFT UCCan, including a recorded Zoom information session with our guides in Guatemala, as well as the itinerary.

I hope you can join us – it would be really meaningful to be on this journey with you (and don’t worry about the heat, it’s quite cool in the highlands where we’ll be going)!

Deep blessings,

Michelle

Sources of funding:

 
For Diaconal Ministers, through Diakonia of the United Church of Canada:  2023editedKaufmanFundBrochure (ducc.ca)
 
For Youth/Young Adult Ministry leaders, through the national church:    vision-fund_con-ed-bursary_application-form_2024.docx (live.com)
 
For clergy, through VST:H.R. MacMillan Fund application - Vancouver School of Theology (vst.edu)
 
For lay and ministry personnel leaders in Pacific Mountain Region:Pacific Mountain Congregational Learning Fund — LeaderSHIFT UCCan
 
For lay and ministry personnel leaders in Chinook Winds: there is some leadership funding available, contact me!

- Michelle

Knowing Jesus In A New Way

Dear Friends,

Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia, alleluia!
 
One of the wonderful things about Easter is that it is not over – it has just begun.
 
While the rest of the world may mark Easter Sunday with bunnies and chocolate and then move on, the church knows that the mystery of Easter is far too big and deep, beautiful and important, to be explored or celebrated in just one day. The mystery of the rising is so great, that it takes not one Sunday, not one week, but seven, to truly enter the mystery. Well, perhaps it can take our whole lives to really comprehend the mystery of the resurrection, but the circle of the church year gives us seven weeks in which to hear all the ways the disciples encountered the risen Christ, and to look together for signs of unexpected and paradoxical new life.
 
During this season, the Risen One is made known to them in absence (in an empty tomb)…in the breaking of the bread (on the road to Emmaus)…in doubt (with the disciple Thomas)…and in waiting (for the day of Pentecost).

I am always struck by the way Jesus reveals himself to his friends. He does not come in a show of glory and power, blasting open locked doors, like a superhero. He does not perform wonders and miracles, like a magician. Rather, he comes in silence, hardly recognizable at times, a physically scarred human being.  
 
It takes the disciples a long time to recognize and accept the mystery of Easter, and I find this tremendously comforting. This broken, beautiful world is suffering right now, and just like the disciples, I am often full of doubt, and fear, and confusion, and longing.
 
It helps, I think, to remember that the word “faith” in scripture, doesn’t mean a cognitive acceptance of intellectual truths. It means something more like trust, loyalty, giving your heart. Rather than talking about “having faith”, we should perhaps talk about “faithing” – the choosing to give our heart to the Risen One and the kin-dom he proclaimed and embodied. To trust that the rising is occurring, “unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see” (in the words of Natalie Sleeth). And then, to commit our lives, our words, and our actions, to be witnesses of these things.
 
May we be given the grace to trust in God’s power for resurrection, and to keep our eyes open to see it, ears attuned to hear it, and bodies prepared to enact it, even and especially when it is hard to glimpse.

During the season of Easter, and beyond, you’re invited…

to the Theological Banquet!,
to take a Deep Dive!,
to Live Generously!,
to enter into Pilgrimage!

Easter Blessings,

Michelle

Supporting the (weary?) Justice heart, Talking about money with your church, Lenten book study, and more in The Latest newsletter

New year blessings to you, from me and all of us at LeaderSHIFT. And, hoping this Friday evening message finds you when you can take, or create, a cozy moment for the news within; consider the invitations before you and the collective delight of sacred-birth-story-sharing and all that new life offered!

Depending on the choices your community of faith has made, you may have either just celebrated the baptism of Jesus in worship, or are about to. The baptism of Jesus is one of my favourite stories of our faith. Jesus is claimed as God’s own, as God’s beloved, in whom Goddelights - and all before he has done one. single. thing.

celebrated

Jesus is not beloved because of what he’s accomplished, what he’s taught, who he’s healed, or the stories he’s told. He just IS beloved, because he is a child of God. In Jan Richardson’s blessings, “Beginning with Beloved", she suggests, “Begin here: Beloved. Is there any other word needs saying, any other blessing could compare with this name, this knowing? Beloved."

 In Jesus, God comes to be with us, to be one of us. We too, are children of God, who are beloved just as we are, without having to earn, accomplish, deserve, or achieve one. single. thing.

beloved

Of course, beginning with beloved leads us to notice and affirm the beloved-ness of the rest of God’s people and the entire creation, too. Which compels us to stand in solidarity with those whose beloved-ness is denied, by the forces of racism and sexism, homo/bi/transphobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, unfettered capitalism, and the drive for power. As Howard Thurman wrote,

“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others, to make music in the heart.”
 

invitation

The opportunities that follow are an invitation to you, and to your community of faith, to begin with Beloved, to join together in the work of Christmas that has only begun.
 

Living Generously: A Stewardship Webinar Series
Beginning Jan 23, 2024, Four sessions in total, Online Via Zoom

Daring Justice: Uniting in Dialogue and Reflection Course
Beginning Feb 15, 2024, Six sessions in total, Online Via Zoom

Lenten Book Study: 'Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory"
Beginning Feb 20, 2024, Online Via Zoom

Anti-Racism Work & Action: First Third Ministry Leadership Conference
April 4-6, 2024, In-Person Only at Vancouver School of Theology

Introduction to the Theological Banquet: For Ministry Leaders
April 16, In-Person Only at Jubilee United (Sussex) Burnaby BC
 
Guatemala: a Tour for Ministry Leaders with Treena Duncan, World Pilgrim Global Education Tours
Tour Date: 2-12 August 2024
Info Sessions: Jan 30 or Feb 9, 2024, Online via Zoom 

So many opportunities to learn, grow and build life-giving community. Full details (date, time, investment, registration) are below. Please scroll down to take it all in. Won’t you join us?
 
Blessings,
 
Michelle

info page coming soon!