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Important COVID Update – December 18, 2021

January 9, 2022

This morning the Covid Response Team held an emergency meeting to consider the latest Ontario regulations and Covid numbers and trends. The team has made several difficult decisions recognizing that the Omicron variant has significantly increased risk, even for those who have had two doses. Until further notice, we will no longer have in-person worship in the church building. Our worship will continue to be available on both Zoom and YouTube.

We will have our 3pm In the Wild gathering on Sunday, December 19, but will not hold our 5pm Choirs and Carols Christmas Eve service – both because the new restriction on outdoor gatherings is 25 and because we do not believe we can safely distance everyone who might want to attend.

This is hard. I (Emily) wanted nothing more than to sing with you outside and to gather as the hybrid community we have been forming this fall. We are asked to adjust once again to this new variant and how it is upending things in another wave just when we thought we were getting things figured out. We know to keep one another safe we need to pull back once more, but it doesn’t make it easy to do so.

Once again we are in this Advent space, this space of waiting and expectation. But although it might not fit all of our longings, Christmas is still coming. And along with it is the promise of God’s presence. In the birth of Jesus, God becomes a part of our vulnerable human lives, suffers and struggles with us, and connects us with love.

Rev. Emily Gordon

If you have any questions, please contact Emily at emily@leasideuc.com or 647-303-6709, and she can pass them along to the full team.

The Song of Hannah – Sunday November 14th, 2021

November 14, 2021

Today’s service will be shared as a livestream on YouTube and Zoom as well as in-person, beginning with a prelude leading up to 10:30am. Registration is no longer required for in-person worship, but proof of vaccination must be shown each time.

Lectio Divina (“divine reading”) is a way of reading and reflecting on scripture slowly to pay attention to how it is speaking to our lives. Today we will practice Lectio Divina together, focusing on the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and particularly of the song she sings when she learns she is expecting (parts of which are later echoed by Mary’s song, the Magnificat). Our lectio divina will be accompanied by short piano mediations and an anthem “Holy is the True Light” by Harris. Our final hymn will be “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”

Stories and Makers Nest

Today we continue with part 3 of the story of Moses – the Exodus. For the craft today you will need construction paper, scissors, tape, and markers.

Watch the Stories and Makers Nest at 9:55am on Zoom, or any time on YouTube.

Next Sunday
November 21st we mark Children’s Sunday with a service that will include a Junior Virtual Choir Project.

Worship will begin with a baptism live in the sanctuary. Since the parents have decided not to have their child online, the baptism will not be livestreamed.
The livestream will begin immediately following the baptism, at approximately 10:40am. On Zoom, there will be an additional opportunity for conversation. If you are attending on YouTube, you are welcome to linger over brunch a little longer. If you are attending in-person, you are invited to arrive a couple of minutes earlier to be sure you are seated by the service start.

Then, on November 28 we begin the season of Advent. We will be sharing more about Advent and Christmas soon, as we look forward to ways to worship together inside, outside, and online!

Leaside United COVID Response Team Update – Reopening Plan “Going Forward”

September 16, 2021

June 15, 2021

This pandemic has changed our lives and the life of our church. With the initiation of the Ontario government’s “Roadmap to Reopening” Step 1 the team met on Thursday, June 10th to discuss “Going Forward”. It is our sincere hope that by Thanksgiving we can enjoy an in-person service and also a livestreaming service, for those unable to attend in-person.

The team has been asked how do we get there from where we are today? What will our music program look like? Will we be able to hold committee meetings in the church? Why are there renters in the church and yet we are not holding in-person services? We all have questions as we enthusiastically and patiently wait for a time when the Church and the Building are Open!

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