Intergenerational Dance Party

Homilist: Rev. Shana
Worship Associate: Dan Klimke

It’s become an August tradition to have a service in which we gather to dance together, share our highlights and lowlights of the summer months, and reconnect by enjoying one another’s company on the dance floor. We’ll move to the music, pause to light candles, and offer a few words of appreciation for summer’s gifts.

Board Member on Duty: Shirley Travis

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Blessing of the Animals

Homilist: Rev. Melora
Worship Associate: Ian Warrender

Come one, come all! Come bipeds, come quadrupeds! Dogs, cats, gerbils, lizards, fish, teddy bears — all are welcome! In this service, we honour the gifts that animals bring to our lives. Bring your pets (appropriately leashed or caged), beloved stuffed animals, or mementos of your pets (e.g., if your cat would not enjoy such an outing, bring their photo and their favourite toy or collar). There will also be a time to remember the pets we have lost; bring photos and mementos of any beloved animal companion you would like to remember with a candle lighting.

Music: Jennifer Mitchell, piano
Board Member on Duty: Jim Hemstock

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Summer Musings

Homilist: Rev. Shana
Worship Associate: John Hopewell

Summer is often a time of slower pace and long days that can lead to contemplation. What have you been reflecting on this summer? How might you carry the observations of summer into the other seasons of the year?

Music: Jennifer Mitchell, piano
Board Member on Duty: Katherine Maas

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Unitarians Face A New Age

Homilist: Rev. Shawn Gauthier (Video)
Worship Associate: Lynne Bonner

In the 1930s, our spiritual forebears bravely asked: “whether the organized religious movement known as Unitarianism has any real function to perform in the modern world”. Come and hear their bold response, and Reverend Shawn Gauthier’s equally powerful invitations to us all.

This will be a video service provided by the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC). This sermon was recorded in November 2025 at Vancouver Unitarians.

Rev. Shawn Gauthier is the Settled Minister at Vancouver Unitarians. Previously, he served for 16 years as the Minister at the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto. Rev. Shawn loves to travel, to take in theatre and classical music, and to explore alongside his husband Bob.

Board Member on Duty: Liz Graham

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Passages of Poetry and Pride

Wilder Simpson, Homilist
Dan Klimke, Worship Associate

Wilder is a transgender man whose poetry explores what it means—and how it feels—to live authentically and vulnerably in such a harsh and beautiful world. He will share poetry during this service that explores themes of love, loss, grief, transformation, joy and pride. His message will blend the human and spiritual experience, tenderly call in community, and offer permission to find freedom and pride in authentic self-expression.

Wilder Simpson is a poet, an athlete, a creative mind, a presence within a large and loving family, and an academic currently completing a Bachelor of Athletic and Exercise Therapy at Camosun College. He finds access to an unnamable presence of Love that underlies every aspect of his human experience.  Poetry is one way that Love moves through him.

Board Member on Duty: Katherine Maas
Music: Jennifer Mitchell, piano

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Summer is here, and with it a slower pace at UUCV. Here’s what you need to know about services, office hours, newsletters and points of contact over July and August.

Ministers’ Summer Break

Revs. Shana and Melora will be on their well-earned summer break from June 26th through August 10th, returning on August 11th.

During their absence, Shirley Travis (president@victoriaunitarian.ca) and Jeanne Van Bronkhorst (contact info in Breeze) are available for pastoral or general matters you would normally bring to a minister. They will triage any issues that arise, and can reach out to the ministers in cases that require immediate ministerial involvement.

Sunday Services

Regular Sunday worship services are taking a five-week break, covering all four Sundays in July (July 5, 12, 19 & 26) and Sunday, August 2nd. We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Sunday, August 9th.

Gatherings Under the Willows

While there are no services in July or on August 2^nd, there will be informal gatherings outside “under the willows” at 10:30 am on Sunday mornings during this hiatus. This will be unstructured time to connect and check in with each other.

You are encouraged to bring camp chairs or a blanket and your own water bottle or beverage. Anyone who wishes to bring a song for a singalong is most welcome, as there will be no organized music — let’s be spontaneous!

(Contact Shirley Travis or Lynne Bonner if you have any questions.)

Newsletter

The June 26th edition of In The Spirit covers the whole summer: July and August. The submission deadline for the September edition of In The Spirit is August 17th.

There will be no E-Weekly mailings in July. They will resume on August 7; the submission deadline is Wednesday, August 5th, at noon.

(These are our new, more generous deadlines for In The Spirit and the e-Weekly. Please note that late submissions – other than care & concern items – can unfortunately no longer be accepted.)

Office Staff Vacations

Niki Mullin (Office Administrator) will be off July 1 – July 11, BC Day long weekend (August 1 – 3), and August 9 – 22.

Erin Carson DeWolfe (Communications Coordinator) will be off July 12th–August 1st and August 23–29.

Summer Office Hours

Questions? Contact Erin at communications@victoriaunitarian.ca.

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Silence and Contemplation

Rev. Shana, Homilist
Johnathan Savard, Worship Associate

I find myself again and again returning to writings about the beauty and lessons of silence. In a world that is in constant motion and so very noisy, it can be a great relief to be still and be quiet. How much can we hear when we are silent? How much better can we get to know ourselves?

Music: Jennifer Mitchell, piano
Board Member on Duty: Katherine Maas

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Life Lessons

Rev. Melora, Homilist
John Hopewell, Worship Associate

If you could speak to your younger self, what counsel would you offer?

Knowing what you know now, having lived the decades you have lived, what life wisdom have you gleaned?

In this interactive, connection-building service, we’ll look at some ‘life wisdom’ written by others, and consider which parts might speak to each of us today.

Please bring to the service:

If you have a poem that has guided you through tough times, or a postcard with words of inspiration you keep on your desk, or a mantra you recite every day, you are invited to bring it to the sanctuary Sunday for sharing on a display table (just for others to see, not keep; you can take it home after the service). Feel free to be creative – if there is a song or an image that highlights an important life lesson for you, bring that too.

Music: Jennifer Mitchell
Board Member on Duty: Peter Hancock

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Change and Loss

Rev. Shana, Homilist
Ian Warrender, Worship Associate

One of the spiritual questions that surfaces continually as we age is how we will cope with grief and loss. As we face both the grief of losing people we love, and the other types of loss that confront us—mobility, health, or shifting circumstances of well being—we seek resilience and spiritual insight. This morning we’ll explore together how we hold the realities of living and loving and losing.

Music: Chalice Choir
Board Member on Duty: Jim Hemstock

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The Lens of Liberation

Kelly Schaecher, Homilist
Jesse Invik, Worship Associate

Kelly reflects on her journey across places, identities, and personal crises to explore what “liberating love” truly means. Weaving together stories of wartime resistance, cultural mistrust, neurodiversity, and years of caregiving through illness and uncertainty, she reframes liberation not as escape, but as the courage to live with honesty, trust, and vulnerability. Through exhaustion, anxiety, and “poly crisis,” she discovers that freedom comes not from pushing harder, but from connection, adaptation, and care—for ourselves and each other. In the end, liberation is deeply personal, nonlinear, and shared: a messy, human process of breaking through what confines us and choosing to keep going, together.

Music: Cantabile Handbell Choir

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