Welcome Sunday Worship at James Bay United Church, Victoria BC. November 13th, 2022
This Sunday, as we continue in our “Season of Creation”, we come together to reflect on where WE belong in the whole scheme of Creation. How does getting in touch with our sense of BELONGING inform and nurture the way we live? So many directions we could take with that question!
One might be to ponder how our perception of what “belongs” to us shapes our sense of belonging within the great web of Creation.
To spark our wondering, I share with you a “garden epiphany” I had this summer. It was one of those glorious verdant July afternoons, and I found myself drawn to my swing bench suspended under its wisteria-strewn arbor. As I sat there contentedly drinking in the expanse of grassy emerald green and the vibrant floral display of my garden, I became aware of the birdsong accompanying me … and then of the squirrel scurrying up the dogwood tree … and then the buzz of a bee in the wisteria blossoms … and some other unseen creature rustling through our tall cedar hedge. All of these and yet other creatures — some more welcome than others — finding their way so freely into “my” garden. And it suddenly struck me as utterly strange and even misguided to perceive this garden as “belonging” to me. The only claim I had to this little swatch of paradise was the money we had paid to purchase it. The hedges and trees planted to ‘stake our claim’ and offer us privacy was really somewhat of an illusion. This plot of land — as domesticated and cultivated as it had become — belonged every bit as much to the creatures who found their way into it. I saw myself for at least one glorious moment as a blessed co-inhabitant sharing it with all manner of wildlife — all of us belonging equally. How might THAT sense of belonging inform and nurture the way we choose to move through life!
~ Colleen Nichol, Chair of the Worship Committee
Today's scripture: https://tinyurl.com/4uaa5t6r and https://tinyurl.com/3bmnb39b
Presider: Colleen Nichol Music: Jennifer Turner
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Our worship each Sunday is intended to be a collective experience, a communal practice.
We might step into whatever is our sanctuary, each one of us as individuals, and yet as we assemble, from wherever we are, we become a people, drawn together through song and prayer, through word and ritual, and through the Spirit who breathes through it all, through us all.
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