Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council Weekly Announcements – March 05, 2025

NEWS AND UPDATES FROM BERMUDA-NOVA SCOTIA REGIONAL COUNCIL

Submission Request for Weekly Announcements

www.ucceast.ca 

Staff Directory      

It’s Your Call – Podcast

News from the Pews Newsletter

To view upcoming programs at the Tatamagouche Centre please click here. To view upcoming events at the Atlantic School of Theology please click here. To view Continuing Education opportunities at the Atlantic School of Theology please click here. To view upcoming events at the the Centre for Christian Studies please click here. Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council Committee Volunteer form.

Condolences – Lorna Jean Huestis

Our condolences are extended to the family of Lorna Jean Huestis who passed away on February 25, 2025. The obituary can be viewed here.

Condolences – Rev. Greta Ione Smith

Our condolences are extended to the family of Rev. Greta Ione Smith who passed away on February 22, 2025. The obituary can be viewed here.  

Condolences: Alice Tressa Jacobs

Our condolences are extended to the family of Rev. Helene Burns, whose mother,  Alice Tressa Jacobs, passed away on February 19, 2025.  The obituary can be viewed here.

Condolences : Paul Douglas Clark

Our condolences are extended to the family of Bev Sharpe, whose husband, Paul Douglas Clark, passed away on February, 11, 2025. The obituary can be viewed here.

Online Business Annual Meeting and In-Person Centennial Gathering

The Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council (BNS) will hold its business meeting online over two evening, May 14 and 15. A draft agenda for this meeting can be found on the Annual Meeting webpage .

There will be an information webinar held on Tuesday, May 6, please mark your calendar as we are hoping to have all members attend.

BNS and Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters (FSLDW) Regional Councils will hold an in-person Centennial Gathering in Sackville, NB on May 30-June 1. The draft agenda for this gathering can be found on the In-Person Gathering webpage .

There will be one registration form, opening mid-March, that will include registration for both the online business meeting and in-person gathering. There will be an announcement going out when registration is open. If you are unable to attend, please ensure you fill out the regrets form.

As information for both the online business meeting and in-person gathering become available it will be posted on the respective webpages.

Nominations are Open for President-Elect

Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council is seeking nominations for President-Elect. This position is for a total of three years: one year as President-Elect, one year as President, and the last year as Past-President. The President-Elect will serve as a member of the Regional Executive, leading our Region in its work and ministry, within the bounds of the Region. Serving the Region in this way offers many unique and exciting opportunities to engage in its work and life. More information on the role of President-Elect, President, and Past-President can be found here.

As this election will take place through the Annual meeting held online, no nominations will be accepted from the floor, due to the nature of the online voting process. All nominations must be received by May 2, 2025 at midnight. Nominations are open to all members of the Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council, including ministry personnel and lay representatives. To submit your nomination, please fill out the form here.

Each nomination must include the names of two people who will move the nomination. These people must be members of Regional Council. The nomination does not need to come from the governing body of your local community of faith, it just needs to be 2 people from the Region who support the nomination.

If you have any questions, please contact Nominations Chair, Angela MacLean.

Agenda Time Requests Deadline is Friday

The deadline to submit your request for agenda time is March 7. Please click here to submit your request.

These beautiful stain glass crests are for sale. We only have 2 available right now but can take orders for more. This piece makes a beautiful gift and will look fantastic hung in your window.

The measurements are 6 x 4. The cost is 51.95 tax included. Don’t miss out on this beautiful piece, contact Leona at llaundry@united-church.ca to get yours today. Remember if they are sold we can will take orders

BNS Affirm Webinar Recording – February 25, 2025

The Bermuda-Nova Scotia Affirm committee hosted a webinar on February 25, 2025 on Microaggressions; subtle, often unintentional comments, actions, or behaviors that convey stereotypes, biases, or derogatory assumptions about a marginalized group. While seemingly minor, microaggressions cumulatively reinforce systemic inequalities and can have a significant impact on individuals’ mental and emotional well-being. The Facilitator for the webinar was Emo Yango, Growth Coordinator for The United Church of Canada. In this position, Emo recruits church plant leads, supervises and coordinates all new emerging migrant, diasporic and racialized communities of faith. He also coordinates the Anti-Racism courses for UCCan ministers and lay leaders.

Please view the recording of this workshop here.

ATLANTIC SEMINAR IN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION 2025

Atlantic Seminar in Theological Education
Tatamagouche Centre
May12 to May 15th.

COMING HOME TO EARTH
Embracing Kinship, Creation and Community with Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill & Rev. Hannah K. Sotak

In 2025 how do we make meaning, and how shall we think about a faithful response to global conditions?

During this ASTE 2025 gathering, with Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill and Rev. Hannah Sotak as our guides, we’ll consider the sacred invitation to embrace kinship, Creation, and community — to encounter all life with reverence, to reclaim our place within natural and social ecosystems, and to pursue the unique roles that faith leaders and spiritual communities can play.

Through inspiring lectures, small-group discussion, conversation over meals, and contemplative practice in nature, we’ll explore what it means to take our place within a great web of belonging, inviting interdependence and reciprocity to inform our theological understandings, our spiritual practice, and our life in community. Join us for this time of deepening spirituality, as we seek to strengthen our relationships with one another and with all of Creation.

Harry Thurston, nature writer and poet, will be joining us Tuesday evening for the Levy Lecture.

Join us in Coming Home to Earth.

More information and registration links are on our website: Atlantic Seminar in Theological Education.

We are aware of the conflict with Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional meeting and have arranged our schedule so allow you to join this meeting Wednesday evening.

Prayer Bench Lent Calendar & New this Lent

Prayer Bench Lent Calendar & New this Lent

You are welcome to follow the Lent Calendar at Prayer Bench for snippets of inspiration, calls to action, and pauses for practice. Visit the Calendar.

New for this Lent, “Mystics in Lent: Their Wisdom, Our Response.” Journey with six mystics, ancient and modern. Learn from them and participate in making Goodness in our world. Learn more here.

Greetings Growth Seekers from Growth Animator Sharon

How are you prioritizing relationships? As you lean into Lent, make your practice to get to know people better. Imagine if you invited just one person for coffee each week for six weeks and each week, how much more you would deepen that relationship and learn about each other. Feeling really daring make it exponential and each week someone agree to be intentional to add one more to the coffee time, by Easter you will have a whole group! Be creative and do what can be managed what works. Perhaps a group of three will each invite one person for six weeks and that group of six will connect. Let other people know what you are doing! It only takes a spark of creativity to invite people to come together.

The simplest ministry approaches invite people to take time to talk, connect, to get to know one another. Food and friendships are natural experiments having big impacts. How about a meal and good conversation? Whether it is brown bag bring your own, potluck, coffee and a snack, a simple offering or full meal, bringing people together is all it takes to start a conversation. With a conversation is the opportunity to build relationship. Meet neighbours where they already gather—in homes, coffee shops, activity spaces and third places. Who are the natural connectors in your community of faith? Among your family? Friends? Activity groups? Link up with them and invite others to join you. Add on the gift of deepening relationship, however it works in your context.

Let’s get growth animated together. Call Sharon at 506-306-0500 or by email at sballantyne@united-church.ca as together, we keep being bold, deep and daring!

Stewardship Update – March

Please click here to read the stewardship update for March.

UCC Korean Network ( The UCCan KN) General Meeting & Centennial Celebration

The UCCan KN will celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the UCC and the 60^th anniversary of the Korean UC’s ministry alongside its General Meeting from May 13^th to 15^th, 2025, at Willowdale-Emmanuel United Church in Toronto, with the theme of “Deep Memories, Daring Visions.”