This Lent my cluster of United Churches have a lot of activities planned. I created a little webpage for our churches to advertise all of the things going on. Of note there will be a great little lunch and learn series which I am doing with Rev. Paul from Riverside United Church on becoming an invitational church. This idea was sparked by the work our denomination is doing on thinking about church growth. What I love about the United Church is that we are trying to hold in tension the idea of being doers of the world (our passion for social justice) as well as creating spaces for people to grow in their spiritual lives. These two ideas belong together and not collapsed into some sort of proselytization program or a pure social program. We act because of our faith, but we are comfortable with faith taking many forms in our communities. It should be a rich discussion – so bring a lunch and jump into the conversations.
The other thing I’m excited about is Rideau Park United Church is doing a sensory service for Ash Wednesday and we at Southminster are doing one for Good Friday. I used to do a Good Friday sensory service every year with Freedom Vineyard, so it will be a lot of fun to put together. I’m especially excited to work with out LNGO committee to create a social justice themed station where you can engage in actual social justice action!