Past Services
CUC Worship from the annual general meeting in Ottawa.
Sunday May 21, 2023. 10:30 am
All are welcome to join us at our Sunday Worship Service at 10:30am at Calgary Unitarians Building to watch the service together.
Interactive on Zoom: https://bit.ly/2023-05_NationalService
More information on the website https://sites.google.com/cuc.ca/cuc-symposium-2023/symposium/worship
Mother’s Day
Sunday May 14, 2023. 10:30 am
Creativity
Sunday May 7, 2023. 10:30 am
Practices of Community Care and Preemptive Radical Inclusion
Sunday April 30, 2023. 10:30 am
Honoring Earth Day – Green-spiration
Sunday April 23, 2023. 10:30 am
Celebrating Poetry Month: Poems that Make Us Laugh!
Sunday April 16, 2023. 10:30 am
Easter Sunday Worship for All Ages
Sunday April 9 , 2023. 10:30 am
The Path of Resistance
Sunday April 02, 2023. 10:30 am
What does it mean to be a people of Resistance? We’ll consider the benefits of viewing Right Relationship, Community Building and Self Care as counter-cultural acts of resistance.
Vulnerability
Sunday March 26, 2023. 10:30 am
Brene Brown tells us “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability and authenticity.” In a culture that values individuality, independence, aggression and power can we risk showing our vulnerability? Can we consider vulnerability not a weakness, but a softer form of strength? Join us as we explore these questions.
Commitment Sunday
Sunday March 19, 2023. 10:30 am
Join us as we celebrate the power of community. When we open our hearts and let people truly know us, we learn the deeper meaning of belonging to and with one another.
This Sunday is the live world premiere of “Like A Willow”
Stewardship Sunday: Show Your True Colors
Sunday March 12, 2023. 10:30 am
Our beloved community is a self-sustaining organization. For all that we give to and receive from one another, one of the ways we show our love and gratitude is through our generous financial contributions. The Annual Pledge Campaign gives us the chance to collect your best estimates of what you anticipate giving over the next year.
This helps us make an accurate mission-based operations budget for the coming year of ministry. Your gifts are gratefully received!
International Women’s Day
Sunday March 05, 2023. 10:30 am
To mark International Women’s Day coming up on March 8th, we recognize the journeys of refugee women in particular, and the work of The Centre For Newcomers in Calgary. We will be joined by Workenesh Sahle who shares her work with The Shoe Project where she shares her refugee journey in a project called In Her Shoes. Worship Leaders: Marcia Epstein and Cathy Welburn
Love in Action
Sunday February 26, 2023. 10:30 am
We use the word ‘love’ liberally in our beloved community- during worship and otherwise. But what do we mean? What does it look like? Join us this week as we explore love and love in action.
Making the Prophetic Personal: Othering and Belonging
Sunday February 19, 2023. 10:30 am
In 2017, the UUA common read was Centering: Navigating Race Power and Authenticity in Ministry. The book features essays by religious professionals of color in Unitarian Universalist congregations. The first essay is Othering and Belonging by Rev. Darrick Jackson. Listening to Darrick’s story will help us reflect on the true meaning of radical inclusion in our UU communities.
Love the World
Sunday February 12, 2023. 10:30 am
Our theme this month is Love. For Valentines’ Day we will have an all-ages worship that starts with music and a story to inspire us to widen the circle of love to the whole world. Then, we will go into Wickenden for community time to make valentines. ❤
And after worship…
The Panabaker Award goes to…Mary Anna Louise Kovar!
Join us on Sunday after worship for lunch and a celebration of Mary Anna Louise and her wonderful contributions to our community! We will eat and share stories and continue to make those Valentines. It will be a FUN time!
National Worship Sunday Service: Covenanting through Transitions
Sunday February 05, 2023. 11 am
Congregations are experiencing a lot of change these days: from ministerial transitions to implementing the 8th Principle, all during a pandemic. Upheaval, loss, uncertainty, pain, aspirations, conflict: cultural shifts within and without are calling us to hold one another gently, despite our differences and difficulties.
Covenanting through Transition is a national worship service that asks us “How do we stay in covenant through all of this in our communities? How do we stay in it in a good way when it is hard and people aren’t always their best selves or are disappointed?”
We encourage you to bring materials to help you participate in a creative ritual to express yourself during the service; art supplies, an instrument, findings from outside, whatever moves you!
Where: Zoom, YouTube Live
Use the bitly link to join the service on Zoom, or watch live on the CUC’s YouTube channel
If you’re phoning in, call 1-855-703-8985 and enter the Meeting ID and password when prompted:
Meeting ID:891 5257 2984
Password: 136347
KAIROS Blanket Exercise
Sunday January 29, 2023. 10 am – noon
This is an in person service and there will be no Zoom meeting
Welcome to Calgary Unitarians Blanket Exercise, our Sunday service for January 29.
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise’s goal is to build understanding about our shared history as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada by walking through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization, and resistance.
Everyone is actively involved as they step, or roll onto blankets that represent the land, and into the role of First Nations, Inuit, and later Métis peoples.
By engaging on an emotional and intellectual level, the Blanket Exercise effectively educates and increases empathy.
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Our Facilitators:
Elder Doreen Healy – born and raised on the Blood Reserve, Blackfoot Confederacy, Southern Alberta. Member of the Kainai Nation, Blood Tribe. She is a residential school survivor taken from her family at age 5. She has worked in the oil and gas industry for many years with Amoco Canada and
MEG Energy as an Indigenous Relations Liaison and for Alberta Energy Regulator as an Indigenous Specialist and Resident Elder.
Anne Harding – Owner of Forum Community Relations Inc, where she has engaged with over 85 Indigenous communities and organizations across Canada, delivered training to more than 2000 people, Vice-Chair Indigenous Gathering Place Society of Calgary, Director Calgary Chamber of Commerce where she co-chairs Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Sub-Committee.
Workshop Outline (2.5 hrs)
TIME | ACTIVITY | PURPOSE |
20 mins | Opening ceremony (smudge), introduce exercise, key concepts, and participants and assign roles | Prepare participants for what they’re about to experience |
45 mins | Experience the KAIROS Blanket Exercise | Experiential learning of history. |
15 mins | BREAK | |
25 mins | Hear the lived experience of a residential school survivor | Connect learning with personal story and emotion |
45 mins | Talking Circle and Video | Debrief lessons and emotions that came up during exercise |
It is customary for women to wear long skirts when participating in many Indigenous Ceremonies. This is an exercise as a workshop rather than a Ceremony. There will be some ceremony elements incorporated when Elder Doreen smudges at the beginning, but the exercise itself is very much a non-Indigenous way of learning designed for non-Indigenous people, and therefore the term ‘Ceremony’ doesn’t fit so it is not necessary to advise women to wear long skirts.
Please note that participants will be asked to take off their shoes so that they are more closely connected to the ground as they move around the blankets. If this is truly a distraction for some participants they may leave their shoes on, but it’s a better experience if everyone has their shoes off.
Please fill out this pre-session survey if you are planning to participate in the Blanket Exercise. It provides the opportunity for folks who may be triggered by the experience to let the Facilitator know in advance so that accommodations can be made in terms of the roles people are assigned.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday morning at 10 AM. Lunch will be provided.
The Path of Finding Our Center: Beyond
Sunday January 22, 2022. 10:30 am