Update December 18th, 2021: The Christmas Eve Service at 8pm with Leaside United Church will be moved online to YouTube and Zoom. The 5pm Christmas Eve Service is cancelled. There will be no in-person indoor services at Leaside United effective immediately as per the COVID Team Response to Ontario’s challenge of managing increasing cases of the Omicron variant. Stay well and be safe, we look forward to celebrating Christmas with you online.
This Sunday is the final Sunday of Advent, and we will be lighting the candle of Love.
As you might know, we have been having some livestream challenges, so this Sunday we will have a second service viewing time at 1:30pm on Zoom and YouTube, should our livestream not be up to the task on Sunday morning. We will update you on Zoom and add a note in the YouTube description should this be the case.
Our In the Wild service at 3pm Sunday will happen with carols led by Matt on guitar. Please pay particular attention to dressing for the weather, wearing masks properly, and maintaining a good distance if you are planning on attending.
Then, on Christmas Eve join us online at 8pm for a beautiful musical celebration of the birth of Jesus.
Watch the Stories and Makers Nest at 9:55am on Zoom, or any time on YouTube.
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.
Advent II Peace
Our weekly service will be shared as a livestream on YouTube and Zoom as well as in-person. Registration is no longer required for in-person worship, but proof of vaccination must be shown each time, masks must be worn at all times, and we encourage you to distance from anyone you do not consider part of your bubble.
This Sunday we move from hope to peace. We plan for our service to include the Junior Choir Anthem originally planned to be shared in November – “Child of God” by Mark Miller. We will also hear the leads sing the anthem “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree” by Poston.
Our scripture reading will be the first of two weeks when we hear about John the Baptist, and we will have the chance to sing “There’s a Voice in the Wilderness” as well. We will also continue praying with our bodies as well as our words, as we did last Sunday.
Watch the Stories and Makers Nest at 9:55am on Zoom, or any time on YouTube.
Please note that despite last week’s internet challenges, we were able to record the Nov. 28 service, and post it on YouTube later that afternoon. You are welcome to watch it any time here.
Then, this week we look forward to the Christmas Tea on December 8th, our Third Sunday of Advent Service (Joy) the morning of December 12th and our joint Carols by Candlelight service that evening!
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