First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo
595 Townsite Rd # 1 V9S 1K9 Nanaimo, BC, Canada

You are invited to join us this Sunday, May 2nd at 11:00 on Zoom as Rev Debra Thorne presents "Encountering Awe." Have you ever encountered a world beyond your imaginings where light and sound and shape pull you out of your preconceived ideas, transporting you into a new understanding of your world? Environmental artists can take you to the most unexpected places. They have transformed war zones and forests and the underside of urban bridges, shape-shifting your senses and your expectations of time and nature. Opening you to the forces which create and uphold life, moving you to awe and renewing our spirits. The Zoom link can be found on our website ufon.ca and in the weekly update.

Hear members of our Environmental Task Force speak passionately about their commitment to environmental change and sustainability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfQaJMkNKPk

Friday, April 22 is Earth Day. In the fall of 2020 our Fellowship formed an Environmental Justice Task Force to create action items for environmental justice based on our seventh principle (RESPECT FOR THE INTERDEPENDENT WEB OF ALL EXISTENCE OF WHICH WE ARE A PART) and to diminish the damage done by greenhouse gas emissions by creating and implementing a fixed-time action plan for the Fellowship, members, and friends. Learn more here: https://ufon.ca/weather-shelter/green-action/

Join us this Sunday, April 25th, at 11:00 on Zoom as members of the Environmental Justice Task Force present "Earth Day: A Spiritual Quest." Brenda Stewart, Dorothy Mandy and Brian Short will expound on what drives them to be environmental activists and explain what Earth Day means to them. The Zoom link for the service can be found on our website: ufon.ca and in the Weekly Update.

A huge vote of thanks to all the volunteers who contribute so much to our community. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank. To see which local organizations serving our community could use YOUR help, check www.volunteerNanaimo.ca

We may still not be able to gather yet, but spring has sprung in the garden of our ‘home’ on Townsite Road. Photo by our very own Rev. Debra Thorne.

Congratulations to the Comox Valley Unitarians for their contrribution to this meaningful fundraiser. https://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com//comox-valley-walkers-n/

Join us this Sunday, February 7th, at 10:00am for a national service entitled "A Faith Worth Failing For." We often talk about Unitarian Universalism as a transformational faith and yet to be transformed means to take a risk. How is it that we are averse to taking such risks when it comes to widening the circle of who we are as a community? Join Revs. Shana Lynngood and Samaya Oakley for a service that explores mistakes we've made and how we can learn from them to become th...e transformational faith we proclaim to be. The virtual collection taken during the service will be allocated to successful congregational applicants for growth initiatives. These funds will be supplemented by a Foundation Fund administered by the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto. https://cuc.ca//sharing-our-faith-n/1612702800/1612710000/ A FUFON social time will take place at 11:00am. For the link to the social time, please see our website ufon.ca or the weekly update.

Please join us on Zoom this Sunday, January 31st, at 11:00am as Rev Debra Thorne presents "Serenity & Ferocity: Aging as a Spiritual Maturity. Aging is inevitable and unpredictable. It is an act of hope and optimism, laced with fear and dread. A mystery. When did you first realize that you were aging? Was it at 10 or at 50? At every stage there are opportunities and lessons to be learned. It's thought that the last third of life - an elder's life - is a gateway into a deeper spiritual life. Because whether we are graceful or raging, we pay closer attention to things that really matter. The Zoom link to the service can be found on our website: ufon.ca and in the Thursday update.

South Fraser Unitarians in Surrey BC take action for social justice. https://www.youtube.com/watch

Please join us this Sunday, January 24th, as Rev Debra Thorne presents "We Have Come to be Danced." Energy flows through matter, animating the lump of clay we call home. Our tender strong bodies are move by breath to stretch and bounce and tap and swirl. We are ignited by taste and smell and touch into realms of pleasure. Our creative bodies call us into lands of ecstasy. What embodied spiritual practice moves you? What have we asked to move us? The Zoom link for the service is on our website ufon.ca and in Thursday's Weekly Update. Please note that there will be a Special General Meeting directly after the service.

Check out this short video to learn more about who we are. https://www.youtube.com/watch/-3UYWnngiEo

We welcome Ammar as a newcomer to Canada and proud Permanent Resident. Hear a little of his story here. https://www.youtube.com/watch

... our recent services, offered on Zoom, are now available for viewing at our website. https://ufon.ca/worship/past-worship-services/ Click on the service title for the video. Recent services have included: 'Love is on the Way,' 'Meeting our Ancestors' and 'Revealing the Invisible'.

A flame within a chalice is a primary symbol of the Unitarian Universalist faith tradition. The Austrian artist Hans Deutsch first brought together the chalice and the flame as a Unitarian symbol during World War II to convey the idea of love and sacrifice. Many Unitarian Universalist congregations and fellowships light a chalice in worship to create a reverent space for reflection, prayer, meditation, and singing. Check out just a few of the ways the chalice is represented by different Unitarian communities.

THIS SUNDAY. Celebrating Life: Meeting People Where They Are November 22, 2020 at 11:00am. Via Zoom For the link, please contact the office at [email protected] or 250-755-1215 Every life faces transitions with the passage of time; some are welcome and bring joy or celebration while others are uninvited and accompanied by loss. In this service, our Lay Chaplaincy Committee members will share their inspiration, vision for the future, and provide some ideas for how you too can demarcate those moments in your own lives worth noting through celebrations, rituals, even pausing.

Today is World Kindness Day. 'FUFON' is taking care of our community and each other by keeping in touch with members and friends through our Phone Tree, Sunday services on Zoom, virtual programs for children, and continuing our longterm commitment to running the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter. www.ufon.ca

The congregation, members and friends gathered to celebrate the arrival of our new minister, the Reverend Debra Thorne in February 2019.

Did You Know.... Our traditions, values and ideals are conveyed in the Six Sources and Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism. These are the Principles in the original, and as interpreted for children, important members of our community.

If you missed Sunday's Nov 15th National Service: Sustaining the Light Presented by Rev Debra Thorne (Nanaimo), Rev Debra Faulk (Calgary), Rev Wayne Walde, (Toronto) and Rev Diane Rollert (Montreal), you can soon see the Yutube video of it here. https://www.youtube.com/c/UCJ25lMWQwrxSnry11bdBS-g/featured. 'From the light of days remembered, to the fire that burns within us', Canadian Unitarian Universalists gathered from coast to coast.

Please join us this Sunday, November 8th, as Rev Debra Thorne presents "Love is on the Way." Motivated by their religious values, Rev Watsill Sharpe an his wife Martha, left their children in the hands of their Unitarian congregation and boldly committed to a life threatening mission in Europe. For over two dangerous years they helped save scores of imperiled dissidents and refugees fleeing Nazi occupation across Europe. Their inspiring true story was moved by a powerful commitment to freedom and justice. For the Zoom link to the service, please see the Weekly Update or contact the office at [email protected]