Friday, December 16, 2016

Sunday, December 18, 2016 – Ghosts of Christmas Yet to Come



SERVICE CANCELLED – Regrettably, the board has cancelled the Sunday evening candlelight service owing to bitterly cold temperatures. When it's too cold for the school buses to be on the road, the board doesn't want members and friends to take any chances with highway travel.

Sunday, December 18, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.Ghosts of Christmas Yet to Come – a celebration of candlelight and carols. Faced with the ghost of Christmas yet to come, Ebenezer Scrooge said, "I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart." Charles Dickens understood that we help create our own destinies and, despite our anxieties and fears, we are called to hopefulness and redemption.  Rev. Stefan Jonasson 


All are welcome. Refreshments will follow the service.

Gimli Unitarian Church is located at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Sunday, August 21, 2016 – The Friendly Neighbourhood Progressive Christian

Sunday, August 21 at 11:00 a.m. – The Friendly Neighbourhood Progressive Christian – Christianity is in the news a lot, but often for the wrong reasons. Discrimination, prejudice and closed-mindedness often accompany a declaration of these being in line with Christian teachings. David Kendall of the blog site The Friendly Neighbourhood Progressive Christian (fnpc.wordpress.com) will be speaking on what progressive Christianity is, and showing that belief in Jesus and his teachings are fully compatible with, and demand, acceptance, loving others, and education about the world around us. David Kendall

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Sunday, August 7, 2016 – Outlaws, Then and Now

Sunday, August 7 at 11:00 a.m. – Outlaws, Then and Now – On this day in 1772, Fjalla-Eyvindur (Eyvindur of the Mountains) and his wife, Halla, were arrested on Sprengisandi. Fjalla-Eyvindur escaped and, two weeks later, freed Halla. They spent the next two decades living on the Icelandic highlands … and working their way into the nation’s folklore. What is it about the outlaw that captures the human imagination? Who are the outlaws today who will be the subject of legends a century or two from now? Rev. Stefan Jonasson

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!


"The Outlaws," a sculpture by Einar Jónsson, in Reykjavík.
(Photo by Stefan Jonasson.)

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Sunday, July 31, 2016 – Free the Fjallkona!

Sunday, July 31 at 11:00 a.m. – Free the Fjallkona! – This year marks the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in Manitoba. Both the United States and the Unitarian Universalist Association are having elections that could result in the first female president. On Icelandic Festival weekend, when we celebrate the Fjallkona as a symbolic representation of Mother Iceland, can we also reframe, forgive, and free this symbol for the 21st century? Rev. Kathleen C. Rolenz and Rev. Dr. Wayne B. Arnason 

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!


Saturday, July 16, 2016

Sunday, July 17, 2016 – Fear, Fragmentation, and the Future

Sunday, July 17 at 11:00 a.m.Fear, Fragmentation, and the Future – A month after the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, and while fear and fragmentation appear to be gaining ground in the EU, the United States, and elsewhere, are we facing a future of global balkanization and division? Or is there still hope for creating some kind of world community? – Rev. Stefan Jonasson

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Þingvellir (Photo by Stefan Jonasson)

Friday, July 1, 2016

Summer Sundays at Gimli Unitarian Church – 2016

Gimli Unitarian Church will open for the summer season on Sunday, July 3, 2016, continuing on the first and third Sundays of the month until the final service of the season on Sunday, August 21. Services are at 11:00 a.m. in the congregation’s landmark building at 76 Second Avenue. Dress is casual — after all, it’s cottage season! 

July 3 Bearing Witness To What? – “But seeing that we are a witnessing body as well as a worshipping body,” said John Cordner, “seeing that we are a body of worshippers bearing testimony to a paramount truth, now obscured by the prevalent ecclesiastical creeds, it requires minds of a certain measure of courage to stand in our ranks.” Inspired by the bicentennial of this early Canadian Unitarian minister’s birth, we ask:   do will still have a paramount truth to proclaim? Does it still take courage to do so?  Rev. Stefan Jonasson

July 17Fear, Fragmentation, and the Future – A month after the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, and while fear and fragmentation appear to be gaining ground in the EU, the United States, and elsewhere, are we facing a future of global balkanization and division? Or is there still hope for creating some kind of world community? Rev. Stefan Jonasson

July 31Free the Fjallkona! – This year marks the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in Manitoba. Both the United States and the Unitarian Universalist Association are having elections that could result in the first female president. On Icelandic Festival weekend, when we celebrate the Fjallkona as a symbolic representation of Mother Iceland, can we also reframe, forgive, and free this symbol for the 21st century? Rev. Kathleen C. Rolenz and Rev. Dr. Wayne B. Arnason 

August 7Outlaws, Then and Now – On this day in 1772, Fjalla-Eyvindur (Eyvindur of the Mountains) and his wife, Halla, were arrested on Sprengisandi. Fjalla-Eyvindur escaped and, two weeks later, freed Halla. They spent the next two decades living on the Icelandic highlands … and working their way into the nation’s folklore. What is it about the outlaw that captures the human imagination? Who are the outlaws today who will be the subject of legends a century or two from now? Rev. Stefan Jonasson

August 21The Friendly Neighbourhood Progressive Christian – Christianity is in the news a lot, but often for the wrong reasons. Discrimination, prejudice and closed-mindedness often accompany a declaration of these being in line with Christian teachings. David Kendall of the blog site The Friendly Neighbourhood Progressive Christian (fnpc.wordpress.com) will be speaking on what progressive Christianity is, and showing that belief in Jesus and his teachings are fully compatible with, and demand, acceptance, loving others, and education about the world around us. David Kendall

Gimli Unitarian Church - 2015
(Photo by Cindy Jonasson)

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Sunday, July 3, 2016 – Bearing Witness To What?

Sunday, July 3 at 11:00 a.m. – Bearing Witness To What? – “But seeing that we are a witnessing body as well as a worshipping body,” said John Cordner, “seeing that we are a body of worshippers bearing testimony to a paramount truth, now obscured by the prevalent ecclesiastical creeds, it requires minds of a certain measure of courage to stand in our ranks.” Inspired by the bicentennial of this early Canadian Unitarian minister’s birth, we ask: do will still have a paramount truth to proclaim? Does it still take courage to do so? — Rev. Stefan Jonasson

Services are in the Gimli Unitarian Church's landmark building at 76 Second Avenue, near Centre Street. Dress is casual — after all, it's summer!

Standing on the Side of Love – a public witness at the 2011 General Assembly of the
Unitarian Universalist Association in Charlotte, North Carolina. © UUA / UU World