Unitarian Congregation of Guelph

What Does Love Look Like?
2024-01-21 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Toronto) | 122 Harris St / Zoom
(Speaker: Rev. Victoria)
If you listen to popular music, you might learn that love is either a blissful high that never ends, or a painful low that crushes the soul. Either way, it’s portrayed as pretty extreme! But love has many faces and many aspects, giving all of us a chance to explore the subtleties and nuances of love – for ourselves, for nature, for others, for animals, for a social cause, for a place, and on and on. This Sunday we explore love and how it liberates, energizes, and enlightens our lives.
Nursery Care with Ash will be available for this service. For the service link, please email admin@guelpj-unitarians.com

Congregational Meeting
2024-01-24 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Please attend our upcoming Zoom Congregational meeting tonight at 7pm to:

hear about the budget as it looks now,
find out about the work that has gone on over the last year to tackle the issue BEFORE this budget was prepared,
see the budget as it was prepared and where our major expenses are that we could adjust,
ask questions and discuss the options the Board is considering adjusting so we can present a prudent and responsible budget for the coming year,
and provide your input.

Based on this conversation, the budget for the Annual Meeting will be adjusted if needed. The budget will then be presented as usual at our Annual Meeting for routine approval. The Annual Meeting will occur on February 8, 2024 at 7pm in hybrid format. Please join us for this important discussion!
For the Zoom link, please email admin@guelph-unitarians.com

Reconciliation
2024-01-28 11:00 - 12:00 | 122 Harris St / Zoom
Brian Hawker doesn’t see the issue of “Reconciliation” in isolation from the bigger Canadian picture. The “Indian problem” is typically described using shocking statistics about diabetes, poverty, suicide . . . The problem is isolated. It exists “over there”. To him this is an unfortunate illusion which allows busy people with other priorities to abdicate responsibility. It has become a pebble in our collective shoe. It doesn’t paralyze but it slows us down, obstructing our attempts to create a common story, a common vision.
Neither the problem nor the solution is “over there”. A structure that works will not simply follow from educating First Nations people to the point where they will be able to manage and participate in an aboriginal version of a free enterprise urban-style democratic system. It will emerge but it will emerge in a way that we cannot predict because we will not be able to see it until we create the conditions necessary for it to be seen. The path is emergent with each small success informing us of what the next step must be.
This talk will provide suggestions for all of us to participate in a country that is a true community of many diverse cultures.
Nursery Care with Ash will be available for this service.
Please email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for the Zoom link.

Annual Meeting
2024-02-08 19:00 - 21:00 | 122 Harris St / Zoom
Please try to join us as we give an overview to our members and friends about what has been happening over the last year and talk about our plans for the coming seasons!
Please email Admin@guelph-unitarians.com for a full Annual Meeting package including reports and information on how to vote by proxy. You can also use this email address to request a Zoom link.

Peer Support Group for Parents of Neurodiverse Kids
2024-02-17 13:30 - 15:00 | 122 Harris St / Zoom
UCG’s Peer Parent support group for parents of kids with neurodiversity continues to meet on the third Saturday of every month at the same time until June. Holly will continue to lead the group on a volunteer basis.
Join us at UCG for snacks, games and safe conversations. There is a Zoom option for those unable to attend in person. (Please let us know if you plan to attend this way so we can provide a link). Ash will be on hand with our junior RE staff to engage the kiddos in fun games and crafts so the big people can chatter.
Please let us know if there are any barriers preventing you from attending, so that we can do our best to accommodate you and your little one.
For more information or to book a spot for your child in the children’s program, please contact Holly Jones (she/her) admin@guelph-unitarians.com

Deepen Your Life. Celebrate Death
2024-10-27 11:00 - 13:00 | 122 Harris Street, Guelph, ON, 122 Harris St., Guelph, ON-Ontario, N1E5T1, Canada
October 27th: Deepen Your Life. Celebrate Death.
Every year UCG draws on it’s pagan roots to benefit from the ancient tradition of Samhain, the festival of death that was transformed into Hallowe’en. This year, as always, we will invite everyone to bring pictures or mementoes of loved ones who have died. In treasuring our connections with our ancestors, we acknowledge that we too are ancestors and our time is coming to die. Let us build our capacity to die with grace and awareness. Revolutionary in the overculture’s denial of death, rejecting it as some kind of failure.
Presenters: Rebekah Jamieson, Lorna Wyllson and Linda Reith
Join us either in person or online.
Childcare will be provided
#guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph #halloween #samhein #death #celebratedeath #pagan
The service was recorded and can be viewed here:
https://youtu.be/udnDdVoT2Bs

Don't Know Much about (UU) History
2024-11-03 11:00 - 13:00 | 122 Harris Street, Guelph, ON, 122 Harris St., Guelph, ON-Ontario, N1E5T1, Canada
Sunday 3rd November @ 11:00 AM Eastern
Many Unitarian Universalists enter our congregations as adults, finding a compatible community and theological haven. But we don’t necessarily know much about how our faith came to be, where we originated, or what connections we might have to Christianity, Judaism, or other faith groups. Rev. Victoria Ingram shares highlights of our faith’s past to enlarge our understanding of our religious heritage.
Join us either in person at 122 Harris Street or online (email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for Zoom details).
Childcare will be provided
#guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph #halloween #uuhistory
#history
Photo by Sharlene Rochen on Unsplash

To Batoche and Back: A Story of the Métis Nation and One Family presented by Paul Smith
2024-11-17 11:00 - 14:00
This Sunday November 17th at 11am

To Batoche and Back: A Story of the Métis Nation and One Family
presented by Paul Smith

Métis leader Louis Riel advocated for democracy, human rights for all,
and for Indigenous people. Louis surrendered to Canadian troops at
Batoche in 1885, ending the Northwest Resistance. Canada hung Louis on November 16, 1885, and we commemorate the day each year. The Michif or Métis people emerged out of the fur trade, and a creative fusion and improvisation of European and First Nations cultures. Paul Smith will
tell a story of the journey of Métis Nation and his own family to
Batoche and back. 2024 marks a step in reconciliation with the Métis
Nation as the Manitoba Government recognized Louis Riel as Manitoba’s
first Premier.

Join us at either in person at 122 Harris Strret or online via Zoom. Email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for the link

Childcare will be provided

#guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph
#Batoche #metis #michif
The service recording can be accessed here:
https://youtu.be/yYvrf-uteOs

WHITE SUPREMACY presented by SOFIA TROOP
2024-11-24 11:00 - 14:00 | 122 Harris Street, Guelph, ON, 122 Harris St., Guelph, ON-Ontario, N1E5T1, Canada
WHITE SUPREMACY presented by SOFIA TROOP
Sofia Troop invites us to reflect deeply on how white supremacy isn’t just a political or social system, but a relational one that shapes our connections – with ourselves, with others, with the land, and with spirituality. As we examine our roles within this structure, Sofia encourages us to reclaim our curiosity and critically assess the subtle ways we may be complicit in perpetuating white supremacy, even in spaces where we consider ourselves anti-racist or progressive. With compassion and clarity, she will offer pathways forward, guiding us toward lives that break free from these ingrained patterns, fostering healing and reshaping our relationships from the ground up Join us either in person at 122 Harris Street or via Zoom
Please email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for the Service Link Childcare will be provided
#guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph
Service Recording can be found here:
https://youtu.be/xvOgF9dEHO8

Is There Anything I Need to Change? with Rev. Victoria Ingram
2024-11-28 08:00 - 17:00
Is There Anything I Need to Change? with Rev. Victoria Ingram
Around this time of year, many of us start to ponder what is or isn’t working in our lives and consider resolutions to make changes in the new year. If you got to do it over, is there anything about 2024 you’d want to change? There always seems to be an expectation that we work on some personal weakness and strive to be “better.” This Sunday, Rev. Victoria explores the idea that we are, perhaps, enough just the way we are right now, and how reconsideration, reconciliation, renewal, and recommitment frame our life’s work.
Join us either in person at 122 Harris Street or via Zoom
Please email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for the Service Link
Childcare will be provided. #guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph
Service recording here: https://youtu.be/PDoC_jJ5T6g

Land Trust as An Approach to Hospicing Modernity presented by Mary-Kate Craig and Sarah Best
2024-12-04 08:00 - 2024-12-08 17:00
Land Trust as An Approach to Hospicing Modernity
presented by Mary-Kate Craig and Sarah Best
In our Bringing the Light Series: Join us this Sunday as Mary-Kate Craig and Sarah Best share reflections on Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Andreotti, a profound exploration of letting go of unsustainable systems and planting seeds for a regenerative future. Drawing on personal stories and the transformative work of the Junction Village Community Land Trust, they will invite us to consider how grieving, unlearning, and embracing radical interdependence can guide us through times of profound change.
Join us either in person at 122 Harris Street or via Zoom
Please email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for the Service Link
Childcare will be provided.
#guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph
Service Recording here: https://youtu.be/xpRKcNnWVXs

Holiday Sing Along
2024-12-11 08:00 - 2024-12-15 14:00 | 122 Harris Street, Guelph, ON, 122 Harris St., Guelph, ON-Ontario, N1E5T1, Canada
Holiday Sing Along
with Seanna, John, Sean and Paul
Please join us for an informal service, filled with lots of music, singing and community with Seanna, John, Sean and Paul.
Join us either in person at 122 Harris Street or via Zoom
Please email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for the Service Link
Childcare will be provided.
#guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph

Service Recording here:
https://youtu.be/HrAorIcOXY8
Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay

Winter Solstice Service
2024-12-18 08:00 - 2024-12-22 17:00 | 122 Harris Street, Guelph, ON, 122 Harris St., Guelph, ON-Ontario, N1E5T1, Canada
Winter Solstice Service
with Rebekah, Lorna and Linda
The darkest time of the year brings both gifts and challenges, joys and sorrows. Join us in community as we “bring the light” into the darkness and explore together. If you are able, please consider bringing an item for the Food Bank or something pre-made for Dec.25th’s holiday dinner.
Please email admin@guelph-unitarians.com for the Service Link
Childcare will be provided.
#guelphunitarians #unitarian #unitarianuniversalist #guelph

In Between the Old and the New...Chalice Cafe
2024-12-29 08:00 - 17:00
In Between the Old and the New…

Chalice Cafe Facilitated by Margriet
https://youtu.be/XQnTqdC7_Kk

Letting Go & Moving Forward Into The Light
2025-01-05 08:00 - 17:00 | 122 Harris Street, Guelph, ON, 122 Harris St., Guelph, ON-Ontario, N1E5T1, Canada
Letting Go & Moving Forward Into The Light

Join us for the Burning Bowl ceremony. For more information on the Burning Bowl please have a look at this link https://www.uua.org/worship/holidays/fire-communion-burning-bowl
This ritual allows us to symbolically release what no longer serves us – worries, anxieties, regrets, and negative patterns. It is a link to our 4th principle: “A free and responsible search for truth and meaning” and is a ceremony often held in UU communities to symbolize the start of the New Year, letting go of the past and looking forward to the new.
During this service, we will:
Reflect: Spend time in quiet contemplation, identifying the things we wish to release.
Write: Write a short word or set of words representing these burdens on slips of paper.
Release: Place these slips of paper into the fire, witnessing their transformation.
Intend: Set intentions for the future, focusing on growth, healing, and positive change.
Connect: Share in community with others as we collectively release and renew.
We look forward to sharing this experience with you.
Service Recording here: https://youtu.be/mgrIyLWMDY0

Memory and Hope
2025-01-12 11:00 - 14:00 | 122 Harris Street, Guelph, ON, 122 Harris St., Guelph, ON-Ontario, N1E5T1, Canada
Memory and Hope
Remembering UCG Members Who Have Passed

This Sunday, we come together as a community of memory and hope to remember and honor the UCG members who have passed. 🌿✨ Led by Hannah Schell, our service will reflect on the rich history we share and look toward the future we are creating together, grounded in our Unitarian-Universalist values.
We invite you to bring your stories and photos as we celebrate the spirits of beloved past members whose legacies continue to inspire us. Whether you’re a longtime member or new to our community, your presence is welcome.
Have a photo to share? Email Hannah at channahschell@gmail.com to be part of the service montage.
Join us in person or online, with childcare available during the service.
Recording here: https://youtu.be/h4ikdA1-4oI
#MemoryAndHope #UCGCommunity #InMemory #HopeForTheFuture #UU #UnitarianUniversalism #UUValues #UUCommunity #BelovedCommunity #SpiritualJourney #UnitarianUniversalist

Awe and the Sacred Pause
2025-01-19 08:00 - 17:00
Awe and the Sacred Pause
by Melina Bondy
Service leader: Lisa Clendenning
Science is starting to catch up on what religion has always known, that awe and wonder are good for us, maybe even vital for human flourishing. In this service we’ll look at some of the research on wonder and connect it to the mindfulness practices of Thich Nhat Hanh called gathas. This will be an experiential service – come ready to wake up wonder.
Recording here: https://youtu.be/2ZSox_ZDFes

Growing Our Roots: The History and Hope of UU
2025-01-26 08:00 - 17:00
Growing Our Roots: The History and Hope of UU
Rev. Victoria Ingram
We continue our monthly exploration of UU history by focusing on the 8 Principles of our faith.
Each month, Rev. Victoria will unpack a selection from our Principles and explain how the statement came to be included, how it has been used and interpreted, and what each means in relationship to how we work together as a church community and how we personally make choices about our lives
Join us either in person or online.
Service Zoom Link
Childcare will be provided

UU PRINCIPLES 2 AND 3
2025-02-22 08:00 - 17:00
UU PRINCIPLES 2 AND 3
Rev. Victoria Ingram

Principles Two and Three
Exploring the next of our UU Principles brings us to the exploration of dichotomies. Our Principles call our congregations to covenant and affirm the values they contain – justice, equity, acceptance of one another. But the same statements include the words compassion and encouragement for spiritual growth. Sometimes the two parts of one Principle seem to call for potentially conflicting behaviors. We’ll explore how to work with these dichotomies.

Join us either in person or online.

Service Zoom Link

Childacre will be provided during the service.

Introduction to Qigong For Inviting Compassion
2025-03-14 08:00 - 17:00
Introduction to Qigong For Inviting Compassion

Lisa Clendening, a UCG member, Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist, and Qigong instructor will lead us through this service.
Childcare will be provided
Service link : Here

Chalice Cafe
2025-03-16 08:00 - 17:00
Chalice Cafe
Discussion led By Margriet van haren and Brien Miron

Childcare will be provided
