Sunday, July 5, 2015 – Stumbling into Heaven

Sunday, July 5 at 11:00 a.m. – Stumbling into Heaven – Heaven has been the topic of several books in recent years, from imaginative volumes like The Five People You Meet in Heaven to the wishful thinking of pop theology like Heaven is for Real. The Universalist showman P.T. Barnum insisted that heaven isn’t a place at all, but rather a state of being right here on earth. 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!

A slice of heaven: Spruce Sands, Manitoba (Photo by Stefan Jonasson)

Summer Sundays at Gimli Unitarian Church – 2015

Gimli Unitarian Church will open for the summer season on Sunday, July 5, 2015, continuing on the first and third Sundays of the month until the final service of the season on Sunday, September 6. 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 5 – Stumbling into Heaven – Heaven has been the topic of several books in recent years, from imaginative volumes like The Five People You Meet in Heaven to the wishful thinking of pop theology like Heaven is for Real. The Universalist showman P.T. Barnum insisted that heaven isn’t a place at all, but rather a state of being right here on earth. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

July 19 – Surprised by Joy – “Life is a series of surprises,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson, and it certainly seems to be true. And while it’s also common to hear people, especially bosses, say, “I don’t like surprises,” I’ve been surprised by joy so often that I relish the surprises that come my way. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

August 2 – May I Change Your Mind? – Some years ago a Buddhist magazine, Tricycle, sponsored “Change Your Mind” Days across the country, involving meditation events in public places. The title was a pun on the usual way we think about “Changing Your Mind,” which usually means changing your opinions. It turns out the changing your opinions may be even harder than changing your mind through spiritual discipline. In fact, it turns out that changing your mind by changing your opinions takes a special kind of spiritual discipline. Rev. Wayne Arnason and Rev. Kathleen Rolenz

August 16 – Faith in Things Unseen – The most precious things in life are intangible for most people and our deepest values stand upon beliefs we cannot prove and experiences we often cannot articulate. Even those of us who fancy ourselves humanists and materialists have a faith in things unseen. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

August 30 – From Chaos to Creation – “Invention,” according to Mary Shelley, “does not consist of creating out of void, but out of chaos.” The old mythologies teach us to believe in creation ex nihilo – out of nothing – but is creation not better understood as the emergence of order out of chaos? Rev. Stefan Jonasson

September 6 – The Good We Seek for All – “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain,” claimed Jane Addams, “until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” On Labour Day weekend, we do well to reflect upon what a good and just society looks like. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

Gimli Unitarian Church - 2015
(Photo by Cindy Jonasson)

Sunday, August 31, 2014 — Beyond the Reach of Tides

Sunday, August 31, at 11:00 a.m. — Beyond the Reach of Tides – Henry David Thoreau was a saunterer, not a sailor.  Pondering the ocean depths and the fate of shipwrecks, while strolling along the beach, he yearned “to place my gains beyond the reach of tides.”  Are we ever really beyond the reach of life’s tides and trends?  Should we even want to be?   Rev. Stefan M. 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!

This will be the last service in this year's summer offerings.  Watch for details of our Yuletide service and plan to join us again in 2015.

Stykkishólmur Harbour by Stefan Jonasson © 2010

Sunday, August 17, 2014 — The Affirmative Life

Sunday, August 17, at 11:00 a.m. — The Affirmative Life – “To live the affirmative life is to adopt a positive attitude towards the whole of existence,” wrote Horace Westwood. “Our affirmations must bear some relation to what is real or what may become real.”  As heirs to the ages of the past, yet belonging to a future yet unknown, we are called to affirmative lives.  Rev. Stefan M. 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!

Sunday, August 3, 2014 — And If We Fail?

Sunday, August 3, at 11:00 a.m. — And If We Fail? – Risk is a part of living. In a world where insurance, security systems, and RRSPs are promoted to give you peace of mind, no one likes to talk about the fear of failure. This sermon looks at risk, reward, and failure — in school, in business, in relationships, as issues in religious living — and since it'sFestival weekend, we'll have to include a look at Iceland's recent experience with economic disaster and rebound for life lessons. Rev. Wayne Arnason and Rev. Kathleen Rolenz

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!

Sunday, July 20, 2014 — Radical Moderation

Sunday, July 20 at 11:00 a.m. — Radical Moderation – The late Elliot Richardson declared, "I am a moderate — a radical moderate."  The very phrase seems like a contradiction, but is it really?  Amidst the shrill pronouncements of radicals and ideologues, public discourse might benefit from some radical moderation — in religion, in politics, and in everyday life.  Rev. Stefan M. 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!

Summer Sundays at Gimli Unitarian Church

Gimli Unitarian Church will open for the summer season on Sunday, July 6, 2014, continuing on the first and third Sundays of the month until the final service of the season on Sunday, August 31. 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 6 — The Possibility of Purpose – “From this belief in the possibility of purpose in my own life,” wrote Frederick May Eliot, “I go on to the belief in the possibility of introducing purpose into the social life of groups and communities and nations.”  Have you considered the purpose of your life lately?  And if you have, does your life’s purpose have something important to say to the community?  Rev. Stefan M. Jonasson

July 20 — Radical Moderation – The late Elliot Richardson declared, “I am a moderate — a radical moderate.”  The very phrase seems like a contradiction, but is it really?  Amidst the shrill pronouncements of radicals and ideologues, public discourse might benefit from some radical moderation — in religion, in politics, and in everyday life.  Rev. Stefan M. Jonasson

August 3 — And If We Fail? – Risk is a part of living. In a world where insurance, security systems, and RRSPs are promoted to give you peace of mind, no one likes to talk about the fear of failure. This sermon looks at risk, reward, and failure — in school, in business, in relationships, as issues in religious living — and  since it's Festival weekend, we'll have to include a look at Iceland's recent experience with economic disaster and rebound for life lessons.  Rev. Wayne Arnason and Rev. Kathleen Rolenz

August 17 — The Affirmative Life – “To live the affirmative life is to adopt a positive attitude towards the whole of existence,” wrote Horace Westwood. “Our affirmations must bear some relation to what is real or what may become real.”  As heirs to the ages of the past, yet belonging to a future yet unknown, we are called to affirmative lives.  Rev. Stefan M. Jonasson

August 31 — Beyond the Reach of Tides – Henry David Thoreau was a saunterer, not a sailor.  Pondering the ocean depths and the fate of shipwrecks, while strolling along the beach, he yearned “to place my gains beyond the reach of tides.”  Are we ever really beyond the reach of life’s tides and trends?  Should we even want to be?   Rev. Stefan M. Jonasson