Contemplation Archives - Ralph Connor Memorial United Church

GREEN EXODUS – soft launch, Friday January 22nd

January 14, 2021

Are you astonished by the beauty of the world – especially the Bow Valley corridor? Are you wanting the empowerment of community as you engage with the needs of this planet? Are you fed by a sense of sacredness or Spirituality in your life’s journey? The Green Exodus: The Canmore Series – will use contemplation, creativity, community and a fresh look at the Cosmos to refresh and realign our relationship with the Earth. We will draw on the lineage of Indigenous, …

Evensong ~ The Longest Night ~ Monday, December 21, 7:30 pm

December 24, 2020December 20, 2020

Poem for Advent Amidst ten thousand losses and swirling joys, at this very instant on the sacred Earth I wait. Come to us Beauty, Wisdom, Goodness, Peace, Solace, Grace, Counsel, Love. See the open archway this cold night Air, rich as gold, flows. Fine snow glistens on our faces. Each flake, every exquisite crystal blossom is a covenant of your love told a thousand thousand times. ~ Patricia Van Ness In her book, “The Stillness of Winter: Sacred Blessings …

Sermon: September 6, 2020 – Psalm 46

November 25, 2020September 6, 2020

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging”. (Psalm 46: 1-3) What a dramatic beginning to our Psalm today, and to our month-long journey in the season of creation. Watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dC3Dk4Q4E0 Download PDF at Sermon_06September 2020 The Psalmist draws these terrifying pictures from …

Earth Day Evensong

April 22, 2020

Once again, Evensong gathers by Zoom – Wednesday April 22 at 7:15 PM. Login details are attached to the weekly Evensong email – or contact office@ralphconnor.ca We should be listening to the stars in the heavens and the sun and the moon, to the mountains and the plains, to the forests and rivers and seas that surround us, to the meadows and the flowering grasses, to the songbirds and the insects and to their music especially in the evening and …

Evensong – Wed Jan 8 2020 at 7:15 PM

January 7, 2020January 4, 2020

The magi reveal the gifts they have brought of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold represents the honour brought to a King, frankincense is a connection to the divine by raising our prayers heavenward, and myrrh a holy oil of anointing. Carry your treasures and give them away freely. ~ Christine Valters Paintner There is so much love in the world. There is so much good. Smile at people you go past even if they don’t smile back, they feel that …

Evensong: Wed Nov 13 at 7:15 PM

November 12, 2019November 10, 2019

Evensong ~ Befriending the end of the Journey ~ November 13, 7:15 “Death is our friend precisely because it brings us into absolute and passionate presence with all that is here, that is natural, that is love.” Rilke We gather to contemplate befriending death in song, silence and in story, with the reading of an uncommonly tender, wonderfully warm story written for children, a meditation on the cycle of life. “Each day, we wake slightly altered, and the person …

Evensong – Wed Oct 30 at 7:15 PM

October 25, 2019

On the Eve of All Souls… Join in a time of remembrance in the sanctuary …where we will remember those who have gone before us…a time for prayer, for song and for silence, for remembering and naming. Please feel free to bring a symbol of personal remembrance, an object, a photograph, a word a name…an offering to bless the space between us. Evensong Contemplative Mid-Week Worship 7:15 PM on Wednesdays Ralph Connor Memorial United Church

Evensong – Wed Oct 23 at 7:15 PM

October 20, 2019

~ Blessings of trees ~ They give us shade, fruit, beauty, and a place of refuge for all ages. We consider the many blessings of trees. Join us, as we contemplate blessings, in word and song.

Evensong Returns! September 25 at 7:15 PM

September 24, 2019

Evensong Ralph Connor Memorial United Church Wednesday, Sept. 25, 7:15pm Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars of light, are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment… ~ Mary Oliver, In Blackwater Woods In Praise of the Earth Let us remember within us The ancient clay, Holding the memory of seasons, The passion of the wind, The fluency of water, The warmth of fire, The quiver-touch of the sun And shadowed sureness of the moon. …

Evensong, May 29 at 7:15 PM

June 6, 2020May 28, 2019

We continue in the liturgical season of Easter with a celebration of the poetry of spring. Praying by Mary Oliver It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few Small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak. Evensong …