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News & Views
Find out the latest scoop @ WHUC
Tag >> fellowship
Join us for an exciting evening. Stimulate your senses with aromatic coffee blends and help us choose the perfect blend and roast for West Hill. Our Fair Trade coffee selections are roasted by Alternative Grounds. Then stimulate your mind with an incredible new play by Munroe Scott, performed by Rick Miller and based almost entirely on interviews with the Great Infidel himself, a.k.a. The Orator, Robert Ingersoll. February 23, beginning at 7:30. 
Posted by: Janice Meighan in thoughts, spirituality, social, religion, relationships, reflection, people, fellowship, current events, community news, church news on
Jan 31, 2010
Beginning on Monday evening March 1, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. (to 9:30 p.m. with a short break) in the Lounge is a six (6) week Lenten/Easter series on: Faith. Lent is traditionally a time of reflection, of giving something up - in anticipation of Easter. This series is a Conversation with you. What have you given up regarding your faith journey ... BUT more importantly, what are you choosing to keep!!! What does your faith journey look like these days - what inspires you and connects you to/ with 'mystery, the divine, the spirit, gaia, wisdom, your inner-knowing, the transcendent, god, creation, love, and so on ...'? The weekly conversations are hosted by Janice Meighan, chair of wellness & care. There are no books to read, simply because, YOU are the 'book of faith' being shared during this conversational program! Some topics for the Conversations include: Faith/Spiritual/Religious Journey - are they the same thing, different and does it really matter?; Death & Dying - the afterlife?; Creativity As An Expression of Faith - music, art, poetry, drama, pottery ... do you "connect" through creativity? ... AND Much More....!! Come out to one, several or all weeks ... it's your choice. Please do sign-up (initially) if you are interested in attending any week in this series. Sign-up sheet is on the Wellness & Care board directly across from the church office. Or speak to Janice if you have questions. Mark your calendars and see you Monday March 1, 2010!
The ANNUAL BOWLING TOURNAMENT will be on Saturday, February 27th at the Rouge Hill Bowl. The cost is $25.00 which includes 3 games and a delicious buffet. See Joanne or contact the office for tickets. If you live at a distance and can't be with us, why not get a group together and go bowling locally? It will be lots of fun and we'd be thrilled to post your photos on our Facebook page!
Just the facts: When: January 15, 2010 and alternating Fridays until May Time: 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm Where: WHU Upper Lounge Who: You! Details: Join us next Friday January 15, 2010 at 7:30 in the West Hill United Church lounge for the first session of this year's book study. Meeting alternating Fridays in the West Hill UC Lounge, this season we'll be taking a look at A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada by John Ralston Saul. Recommended by Darrick Heyd, A Fair Country unveils three founding myths about our country and argues for a new way of looking at Canada, as a Métis nation and through aboriginal ideas and culture. How does a new way of thinking about our country change the way in which we connect with it? Are there lessons here for the way we explore the idea of faith at West Hill? Participants are not always West Hill congregants and the Book Study is always open to new voices so please do join us for an intriguing and animated discussion. Please contact me at dana@westhill.net, in church, or give me a call (through the church office) if you'd like to be on the mailing list. See you soon.
Posted by: Janice Meighan in spirituality, social, religion, people, movie, media, fellowship, current events, community news, church news on
Nov 17, 2009
Mark your calender and plan to join us in the Lounge on Friday December 4, 2009 to watch the last movie in our Fall Film Fest (or WHIFF - West Hill International Film Festival). The movie is: The Life of Brian - by Monty Python. Seen it? Come and have a laugh again. Never have seen it - well, here's a bit of the plot: Brian is born on the original Christmas, in the stable next door. He spends his life being mistaken for a messiah. ... Sound familiar? Let's get ready for the Season! Again that's Friday December 4, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lounge. Refreshments and Popcorn are supplied - as is good conversation and fellowship! See you there!
When: Friday November 6th 7:00 pm
Where: WHU Upper Lounge
What: A Wrinkle in TimeTo rescue their father, they must save the universe. Based on a children's series by author is Madeleine L'Engle. Meg and Charles Wallace are aided by Calvin and three interesting women, Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Who in the search for their father who disappeared during a government experiment. Their travels take them around the universe to a place unlike any other. They must learn to trust each other and to understand that everyone is different. A lovely movie for the whole family.
Date: October 23rd Time: 7pm Place: WHUC Upper Lounge The West Hill Film Festival presents: The 2005 International Film Water directed by Deepa Mehta: In 1938, Chuyia (Sarala) a child bride whose husband dies before their union is consummated is relegated to life in an ashram in Varanasi (Benares) for other "unwanted" widows. Their life is ruled over by a venal old woman, Madhumati (Manorama) She prostitutes the young widows out to wealthy Brahmin gentlemen, whose attentions are considered by society to be a blessing. Another young widow, Kalyani (Lisa Ray) runs away to marry a young lawyer, a devotee of Ghandi (Mohan Jhangiani), until she discovers that his father has been her "client/benefactor."
(This article is also published in the October edition of the Salt Shaker) Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Award for children’s books, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak had a film adaptation released earlier this year that will introduce a whole new generation of children to the fairy tale Sendak weaves. In the book, little Max, angry at having been sent to his room without a dinner, imagines his way into a strange and distant land ruled by wild things. Staring into their yellow eyes, he becomes king of them all, dances and rules them until, finally, he becomes bored. Max, tiring of the wild things, finds the control he needs to manage the complex emotional landscape of a child, a place where all the decisions are made by people bigger than himself. When he returns to his room, he finds his still-warm dinner, a sign of his mother’s love, awaiting him. From time to time, we all feel like Max. What we want and what we can do are two different things; forces beyond our control impose their choices upon us; situations we understand but can do nothing about, threaten to engulf us. Frustration builds and anger erupts. If we aren’t careful, our “wild things” end up running the show. We react with our emotions instead of responding with as objective an appreciation of the situation as is possible. On September 20th, I advised the congregation of the financial situation in which West Hill currently finds itself. Thrown off the long range plan we’d set in 2007 by the departure of many long-term, established donors, our focus, necessarily, turned toward survival. The situation appeared beyond our control and, indeed, threatened to engulf us. Frustration built. Feelings of betrayal have been strong. Anger, periodically, peeped out from the depths. During the service that day and in a subsequent email, I invited the congregation to come together to talk about what we might do about the situation the following Saturday. In the interim period, the wild things had a pretty good time. We conjured up all sorts of measures to cut expenses or create income that, while seemingly drastic, were all potentially acceptable outcomes. The images were graphic and stark. The darkness swirled. The week was long. But Saturday came. That afternoon fifty-six people gathered to offer their energy and put their shoulders to the task of getting some objectivity and creating a plan. We worked under the leadership of Scott Campbell, author of 5D Leadership (check it out in our library!), and mentor to the board through its leadership assessment process, to describe the mess we found ourselves in; clarify what we knew and what we only guessed at or didn’t know at all; identify the key elements that would stabilize and sustain us; and “fish-bone” our way to an incredible list of potential options that we can now explore and engage as we (wild things at bay) choose what it is we want to do. In the process, we realized that two significant things could be identified as essential to stabilizing our financial picture and moving forward with confidence. 1. we need to raise a certain amount of money immediately to stem the use of our reserves and 2. we need to increase our monthly income in order to sustain us into the future. We came to a couple of numbers to use without hard facts in front of us. Review of our finances shows that we were close, but not bang on. The figures as they stand now are: 1. we need to raise $34,000 by April 1. 2. we need to increase our monthly income by $4,300 by April 1. Two groups of people are needed to get this work underway, one looking at immediate fundraising ideas and the other looking at sustainable income sources. A few names were collected at the end of the meeting. Darrick Heyd has agreed to coordinate the fundraising group. Joe Konecny will coordinate the other group. Both groups will be energetically engaged in the process of moving us toward stability so if you’re inclined or forgot to put your name down on Saturday, let someone know! Getting these two groups going and brainstorming some ideas for them to work with were huge tasks we had to accomplish on Saturday and we did. I like to think, though, that the greatest accomplishments made that day came in the form of single steps. As each person took his or her first step toward the church that day, a little bit of “we can do it” that hadn’t existed before popped into the realm of possibility; working through our challenges became a little bit more likely. Without those first steps, it would have been an empty room. In an empty room, “we can do it” never gets said, thought, even dreamt. The wild things continue to stamp their feet. But Saturday afternoon, one step at a time, we stared the wild things down, got them under control, found our way to possibility, to maybe, to something can be done. And, as we all know, once you’ve managed to get that far, the sky’s the limit!
Are you good with numbers and interested in being part of charting the financial course of WHU? We still have an opening for a Finance Chair. This crucial role, critical to the ongoing sustainability of West Hill United, carries with it an opportunity to make a difference managing the financial aspect of our work. Workload varies, with one, sometimes two, major projects during the year as well as the expectation of attendance at Board Meetings once a month. If you are interested please connect with Trisha Bower, Program Coordinator (trisha@westhill.net) or Dana Wilson-Li (dana@westhill.net), Chair of the Nominations Committee.
Mark your calendars! This year's annual congregational meeting will take place on THURSDAY June 18, 2009. Join us for conversation, food, and friendship at 6:30pm (Potluck so bring your favourite dish) and we'll get down to business at 7:30. This will be a meeting you won't want to miss as the Board brings for the congregation's approval a new mission statement, VisionWorks (2009), and a proposal to become an affirming ministry within the United Church of Canada. We'll be electing a new chair of the board. Your participation in these decisions is crucial so see you there!
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