Empowerment & Expression in a Trauma-Informed Community: Sunday, January 15th

Our JEDI Team invites you to this FREE (or by donation) workshop, but pre-registration is required. Please email sam@samdarling.com to register.

This in-person workshop with Sam Darling explores rupture and repair and how confident self-expression nurtures radical inclusion.

Community is built on connection and trust. We may think that connection will be threatened by ruptures to it, ruptures we must prevent as leaders. However, in the dynamic space of rupture real connection is made possible – because of the essential work of repair. Being trauma-informed in our leadership enables communities to face the hard work of justice and care and what it takes to welcome, not avoid, rupture.

This workshop is for those who want to be empowered in their communities in embracing truth-telling, healing wrongs, and building environments of safety and reconnection. Participants will learn how to use their inherent gifts as creative and heart-centered individuals to make spaces that are welcoming and whole.

Please email Sam if you’d like to attend the January 15th session (1-4pm in the Sanctuary).

Facilitator

Sam Darling was born in France and raised by a notable family of artists and doctors, and she traveled the world shadowing her mother's opera career. When they settled in New York City Sam embarked on her own theatrical career as a teen. Sam switched to a career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles on award-winning film and television programs all through her twenties. Sam switched gears again in her thirties to work as a science communicator for a large university in New Zealand. She traveled the planet with her own progeny and eventually settled in Canada in 2014. She has a Bachelor of Science (high honors) from Emerson College (1996), a Certificate in Adult Education from UFV (2023), and a lifetime of experience with a wide range of cultures.

Sam is secular and evidence based but leaves the possibility of magic in what happens when heart-centered people influence the world and each other. She wants to empower you to make a difference.

Music & Reflection

An opportunity for Music and Reflection

Remaining session:
7pm on December 7th
on the theme of “Purpose”

For NSUC folks who may be wishing for a little extra spiritual and/or aesthetic sustenance, four Wednesday evenings (7-8:15 PM) will be offered in our church sanctuary, hosted by one of our long-standing women's groups. Each gathering will focus on one of the following themes: how to live with depth, meaning, purpose and gratitude. These themes will be expanded through simple readings and music. As well, participants are always welcome to share an anecdote, poem etc. of their own related to the topic.

Everyone is welcome. Contact Kathryn Nicholson if you need a ride or have questions.

Our Eight Principles

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote eightPrinciples, which we hold as strong values and moral guides.  The Principles are not dogma or doctrine, but rather a guide for those of us who choose to join and participate in Unitarian Universalist religious communities.

  • The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Wonderdome

WONDERDOME

The Wonderdome is an area in the Sanctuary for anyone who needs to keep a little bit busy during the service. If playing with pop-it fidgets, colouring, drawing, knitting or crochet will help you focus, you’re welcome to the resources in the Wonderdome. Feel free to take what you need to your seat or hang out near the Wonderdome. Please just bring it back after service or Spirit Zones.

Fall Outreach Recipients

Each month, we Each Sunday, 100% of our offering plate collections, unless otherwise marked, are given to a nonprofit organization whose mission is in line with our own. We call this “Outreach”.

During September, October, and November, we are collecting Outreach funds to be divided evenly between these four organizations. (Click on any of these logos to visit that website).

(Click on the above images to go to the organization’s website to learn more!)

To contribute to our Fall Outreach Collection, place your cash or cheque in the Sunday morning offering plate OR you can donate by eTransfer, text giving, or credit card. Whichever payment method you use, please mark your payment as “Outreach” so we know how to apply the funds.

NEW: Pre-Service Centering Ritual

This week marks the beginning of a new element in our Sunday Services. There will be two stations, one with water, one with fire, on either side of the chancel. During the prelude you may wish to light a candle on the fire station for an inspiration, joy, or hope you are bringing with you. If you would like to acknowledge and release a burden or sorrow, you may wish to drop a stone into the water at the other station.

As a private gesture, we hope this fortifies your heart and soul. As a public gesture and witness we hope it knits us closer together as a community of care.

As with all new endeavors, this is a process of discovery. So please give us grace as we learn from experience.

CUC Symposium May 19-21, 2023

Now more than ever we need to come together to strengthen our connections, kindle hope, and move forward in love. The CUC has announced it’s 2023 National Symposium on the 8th Principle in Ottawa, Ontario or Online May 19-21, 2023.

In the spring of 2023, the Canadian Unitarian Council and First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, in collaboration with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa, invite you to a national symposium. Join us in person in Ottawa or online to renew your spirit, reconnect with friends, and celebrate what it means to be Unitarian Universalist (UU).

The CUC is referring to this event as a symposium, not a conference. That's because it will be organized around a single issue rather than a general theme. Through engaging presentations, rich discussions, and worship, we will explore our newest principle, which calls us "to dismantle racism and systemic barriers to full inclusion in ourselves and our institutions."

Maury Prevost, lead for the Host Team, sends this warm invitation:

“On behalf of the Host Team, the hosting First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, and our collaborators at the UU Fellowship of Ottawa, I invite you to come to Ottawa in person to join us for the events over the May long weekend of 2023. Although we can’t promise that the tulips will be at their best for the long weekend, spring will be well underway and the Tulip Festival should run May 12-22 in 2023. With spring flowers, national museums, many parks, and other activities in Canada’s capital city, it is a good time of year to visit Ottawa, so you may wish to extend your stay before or after the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) events. We look forward to seeing many of you in Ottawa and we equally look forward to welcoming online participants.”

Young adults will have their own gathering, Chorus, alongside the Symposium. The youth con, CanUUdle, will also take place concurrently on the campus of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. 

The Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday, May 19th, from 1:00 to 4:30 pm ET, and will have online and in-person participation.

Watch for more details in the coming months. Registration opens at the end of January 2023. 

Volunteers Needed! The CUC’s national gatherings needs many, many people working together to organize and execute. Let us know if you'd be willing to help with the National Symposium in Ottawa from May 19 - 21, 2023. Volunteers are needed in different areas, so fill in this form to tell us how and when you'd like to be involved (feel free to share the link!)

Questions? Email conference@cuc.ca

These beautiful photos of Ottawa were taken by Maury Prevost: