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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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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Time: Sunday, May 24, 7:15 pm
Place: UUCV Sanctuary

Be sure to join us for this uplifting, fun, and vibrant evening as your host, co-minister and Reverend of Jazz, Shana Lynngood, explores the historic roots of jazz interspersed with a note of spirituality.

Find Stella on Instragram at: @stellawhitemusic

All are welcome – admission by donation. All contributions go to the musicians and are very much appreciated.

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Capacious Love

Rev Shana, Homilist
Karen Christie, Worship Associate

Some of my most favourite images of love are those that invite me to see it as larger than I can imagine. If love is not just a sentiment shared between particular, individual people what size and shape and form might we imagine it takes? How can we feel free to love others and ourselves and the world around us in ways that feel as large as we know might be possible?

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Neurodiversity: The Spice of Life

Dar Levy, Homilist
Dan Klimke, Worship Associate

Being neurodiverse in a one size fits all world is hard. Especially when our differences are judged as a disorder and something that needs to be fixed to better suit the ways of this world. Science tells us that diversity is a normal occurrence and is something needed for the survival of all species; then why does our modern day culture insist on pushing such differences away with such vengeance, and what can be gained or regained by embracing all of it as a welcome part of the whole?

Music: Chalice Choir

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What Can I Say? Trans Affirmation

Rev Melora, Homilist
Ian Warrender, Worship Associate

What do you do when your old friend from high school posts something about transgender people that makes you uncomfortable? Or when an uncle at the Thanksgiving table says something ill-informed about the LBGTQ+ community? Recently, some of us UUCV members participated in the online course sponsored by CUC (our national organization of Canadian UUs, the Canadian Unitarian Council), and led by the phenomenal leaders of Transforming Hearts Collective. The program specifically focused on responding to the Anti-Trans Movement. We see it most clearly in Alberta, but its hateful fingers reach everywhere. In this service, we’ll share what we learned about the strategic ‘issues’ the right wing uses to divide us, and how to counter their arguments and influence.

Music: Bare Bones Band

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