New Light on Old Insights

For many participating in congregations, the United Church anniversary year will have begun in early 2025 in an interactive centennial Epiphany Study, scheduled to take place on computers, on Smart TVs, in church lounges, and in homes on Wednesday evenings through January and February. Groups at church or individuals at home may watch a half-hour panel of denominational leaders and involved local members at any time on each Wednesday evening, followed by a half-hour group discussion at church, or a half-hour of reading at home.

Previewing celebrations of the past, and reviewing chapters of progressive and confident visions of the United Church future in THE UNTIED CHURCH OF CANADA anniversary book, the eight weekly sessions are sponsored by The United Church Foundation. They are found easily in the Niagara Online Worship YouTube Channel (search there for "Epiphany Series” and the date), even for those watching after the fact. These interactive sessions are offered to prepare congregations for transformative events which affect them directly in United Church 100th anniversary celebrations starting June 1.

The Wednesday evening televised sessions will open with half-hour panel discussions hosted by Royal Orr, past host of CBC’s Cross Country Checkup and remembered by many as Vision TV’sUnited Church Spirit Connection. The programs will feature high profile and well-informed panelists, beginning on January 8, when The Rev. Dr. Michael Blair, General Secretary of the United Church of Canada and Cheryl-Ann Stadelbauer-Sampa, UC Senior Governance Support Lead, will share in discussions of the United Church Strategic Plan and the Preface in THE UNTIED CHURCH.  Sometimes also engaging with author Brian Arthur Brown, each session will be anchored by Sarah Charters, President of the United Church of Canada Foundation.

Seven subsequent panels include United Church public figures like Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, former Foreign Minister of Canada, and past President of our University of Winnipeg, discussing the United Church and politics with esteemed United Church activist, Rev. Dr. James Christie. Other media doyens will be serving on panels with local church lay leaders, some of whom are former Wood Lake Whole People of God Sunday School teachers, and others now distinguished as Friends of the United Church of Canada Foundation, all involved in the planning of congregational events in June, previewed in context and content by this outstanding Epiphany interactive study.

Other topics for consideration include uses of AI in local United Church media, new immigrant congregations, expanding francophone developments, current worship trends, new music, and gender issues, concluding with the Moderator, The Rt. Rev. Carmen Lansdowne, who will be elaborating on her Foreword to THE UNTIED CHURCH, and BC Judge, J. Packard MacCurdy, who will discuss legal perspectives of Truth & Reconciliation in both church and society. Each free-standing half-hour program should continue with another UNTIED book chapter, some on things like how we are going to finance these expansions, having been just introduced on YouTube by Sarah Charters. These may all be considered further with local ministers and leaders in their own church lounges, or read by members at home after viewing the first half-hour on their own computer or smart TV.

Thousands of copies of THE UNTIED CHURCH are already in circulation from Wood Lake, and are now available again from UCRD. For those without printed copies, The United Church Foundation will be sending e-Books to all church offices in December, as Christmas gifts from the foundation to every Community of Faith, asking that they then be forwarded by e-mail attachment to every household as gifts from their congregation, and for use in the Epiphany Study.