Even without being intentionally spiritual, the kind of attention to language that poetry requires can help readers focus on worlds without and within. As with all art, this can lead us to unsuspected discoveries and empathy.

Christopher Levenson is a UCV member, award-winning poet, translator, and author of eleven books of poetry.

From May 2, 2010 Labour Day service.

Stagnant minimum wages, inspections slashed on BC farm workers’ vans, non-stop work by fewer people for less pay—what’s to celebrate this May Day? The pride in our skill, intelligence and craft—something all of us, white and blue collar workers, homemakers, students and volunteers young and old can identify with and affirm. Solidarity anyone?

“For sixteen years now, I have seen and experienced the strange, difficult, and confounding landscape of housing in Vancouver (and across urban Canada). I have some stories to tell! No doubt, many of us have.”

-Rev. Steven Epperson

The Environment Committee is honoured to present Aline LaFlamme as guest speaker for the Earth Day service. Aline shares the Aboriginal world view with a focus on how all things in Creation are viewed and how that impacts our sense of ourselves in relation to all life forms. This results in a Bill of Responsibilities rather than a Bill of Rights.

After having seen ways in which religion can run off the rails (March 18), you are invited to explore how it could be a force for love and justice in the world.

An Invitation to Love and Justice is the theme of this year’s Annual Meeting and Conference of the Canadian Unitarian Council taking place in Hamilton, Ontario May 18-20.

An exploration of the deeper meaning and purpose which our community and religion bring into our lives.

This sermon was the kick-off to our 2018 pledge drive

References:

David Foster Wallace’s Kenyon College commencement address, This Is Water.

New York Times story about the remains found in the Man Bac excavation in Vietnam.

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From April 21, 2013, Rev. Dr. Phillip Hewett, speaking in honour of Earth Day.

The ancient image of the Green Man has been called “the archetype of our oneness with the earth”. His reappearance today in art and as a symbol for environmental awareness can reinforce our efforts to avert ecological catastrophe.

 

Increasingly, it is becoming clear that young people, roughly between the ages of 18 and 35, who make up what’s called the “Millennial Generation” face a unique set of challenges. How is this cohort responding to them? How does it impact their future and spirituality? And how can other age groups respond generatively?

This service will be a good run-up for our April 7th Metro Vancouver Gathering which will be exploring this and related issues.

Having explored what religion may be good for in February, let’s follow that up with a walk on the wild, more forbidding side of it. People have been asking what the heck’s going on with the toxic brew of religion, culture and politics south of the border and elsewhere. Let’s see where the journey takes us.