Enough Light to Find Our Way

Sunday, August 2, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. – Enough Light to Find Our Way – We first encountered the word raðljóst on the signage along the Gimli beach boardwalk that introduces visitors to Icelandic words. It means “enough light to find your way.” This useful word for describing the experience of Iceland during both summer nights and winter days is also helpful in describing the twists and turns on the path of our spiritual journeys. – Rev. Wayne Arnason & 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 19, 2026 – Those Silly Love Songs

Sunday, July 19, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. – Those Silly Love Songs – “Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs,” sang Paul McCartney. “And what's wrong with that?” Half a century after his Silly Love Songs hit the top of the charts, it’s still a good question. From medieval tales of chivalry to the latest romantic film, love (and its heartfelt songs) still makes the world go round – 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! 

Sunday, July 5, 2026 – Through a Reflecting Pool Darkly

Sunday, July 5, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. – Through a Reflecting Pool Darkly – The American experiment, as it is sometimes called, is marking the 250th anniversary of its birth while some see it teetering on the precipice of its own demise. As the United States marks this milestone, has the experiment run its course? Has it become the latest fading empire? Or does it still have within it, as Abraham Lincoln once envisioned, yet another “new birth of freedom?” – 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!

Summer Sundays at Gimli Unitarian Church

Summer Sundays at the Gimli Unitarian Church Second Avenue near Centre Street – 11:00 a.m. – Everyone Welcome!

July 5 – Through a Reflecting Pool Darkly – The American experiment, as it is sometimes called, is marking the 250th anniversary of its birth while some see it teetering on the precipice of its own demise. As the United States marks this milestone, has the experiment run its course? Has it become the latest fading empire? Or does it still have within it, as Abraham Lincoln once envisioned, yet another “new birth of freedom?” – Rev. Stefan Jonasson

July 19 – Those Silly Love Songs – “Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs,” sang Paul McCartney. “And what's wrong with that?” Half a century after his Silly Loves Songs hit the top of the charts, it’s still a good question. From medieval tales of chivalry to the latest romantic film, love (and its heartfelt songs) still makes the world go round. – Rev. Stefan Jonasson

August 2 – Enough Light to Find Our Way – We first encountered the word raðljóst on the signage along the Gimli beach boardwalk that introduces visitors to Icelandic words. It means “enough light to find your way.” This useful word for describing the experience of Iceland during both summer nights and winter days is also helpful in describing the twists and turns on the path of our spiritual journeys. – Rev. Wayne Arnason & Rev. Kathleen Rolenz

August 16 – What Are the Odds? – Have you seen the pharmaceutical commercial about the odds of getting shingles? Beyond its obvious purpose, it reminds us how wrong we can be when estimating the chance of misfortune – or good fortune, for that matter. From random events to the nearly certain, what are the odds? And how can we live well while calculating life’s risks? – 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! See less

Sunday, September 1, 2024 – Enough is Enough

Sunday, September 1, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. – Enough is Enough – Many complain about overregulation, but overdevelopment and overconsumption are greater threats to our wellbeing. When is enough enough? And why can’t we seem to regulate our appetites for more? Our human footprint threatens the sustainability of both our species and the planet. – 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! This will be the last service of the Summer 2024 season.

Sunday, August 18, 2024 – Martyrs and Mayhem

Sunday, August 18, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. – Martyrs and Mayhem – I am generally unmoved by join protests, vigils, and acts of civil disobedience. They often seem like feel-good exercises more than effective strategies for social change. And they too often magnify voices on the fringe at the expense of reasonable voices advocating for constructive change. 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!

Sunday, August 4, 2024 – Finding Joy Amidst the Noise

Sunday, August 4, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. – Finding Joy Amidst the Noise – Every day brings the news of the latest catastrophe. Each day we must decide what we choose to listen to and how it will challenge us and change us. Icelandic Festival weekend invites us to explore the deeper joys that live alongside life's challenges. We will reflect on the life-giving role of joy in our lives and how we can learn to practice it on a daily basis. – Rev. Wayne Arnason & 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 21, 2024 – Dressed in Nature, Crowned in Lore

Sunday, July 21, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. – Dressed in Nature, Crowned in Lore – A century has passed since the first Fjallkona, Sigrun Lindal, presided over the Icelandic Festival when it was still held in Winnipeg. Iceland wasn’t the first country to personify the nation in the shape of a woman, but this symbol and its origins are unique and deeply spiritual. – 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!

Sunday, July 7, 2024 – The Idolatry of the Far Right

Sunday, July 7, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. – The Idolatry of the Far Right – Alabama has mandated the Ten Commandments in schools, and Oklahoma will require teaching the Bible in theirs, injecting fundamentalism into the classroom. This isn’t piety, it isn’t education – it’s idolatry. The Ten Commandments have morphed into a golden calf. 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!

Summer Services at Gimli Unitarian Church – 2024

Summer Sundays at the Gimli Unitarian Church Second Avenue near Centre Street – 11:00 a.m. – Everyone Welcome!

July 7 – The Idolatry of the Far Right – Alabama has mandated the Ten Commandments in schools, and Oklahoma will require teaching the Bible in theirs, injecting fundamentalism into the classroom. This isn’t piety, it isn’t education – it’s idolatry. The Ten Commandments have morphed into a golden calf. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

July 21 – Dressed in Nature, Crowned in Lore – A century has passed since the first Fjallkona, Sigrun Lindal, presided over the Icelandic Festival when it was still held in Winnipeg. Iceland wasn’t the first country to personify the nation in the shape of a woman, but this symbol and its origins are unique and deeply spiritual. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

August 4 – Finding Joy Amidst the Noise – Every day brings the news of the latest catastrophe. Each day we must decide what we choose to listen to and how it will challenge us and change us. Icelandic Festival weekend invites us to explore the deeper joys that live alongside life's challenges. We will reflect on the life-giving role of joy in our lives and how we can learn to practice it on a daily basis. Rev. Kathleen Rolenz & Rev. Wayne Arnason

August 18 – Martyrs and Mayhem – I am generally unmoved by protests, vigils, and acts of civil disobedience. They often seem like feel-good exercises more than effective strategies for social change. And they too often magnify the voices of extremism at the expense of reasonable voices advocating for constructive change. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

September 1 – Enough is Enough – Many complain about overregulation, but overdevelopment and overconsumption are greater threats to our wellbeing. When is enough enough? And why can’t we seem to regulate our appetites for more? Our human footprint threatens the sustainability of both our species and the planet. 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!

Sunday, September 3, 2023 – Kodak Moments

September 3 – Kodak Moments – Photography has lost most of its magic since its invention, and the camera of old has been supplanted by the smartphone, but it’s impossible to overstate how the photograph has changed our lives in countless ways. 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!

Sunday, August 20, 2023 – Our Ground of Being

Sunday, August 20, at 11:00 a.m. – Our Ground of Being – Paul Tillich defined God as “the ground of being” or “being itself.” Such a philosophical understanding of divinity stands in contrast to the personal God or gods that many believe in. What is it that commands your ultimate commitment in life? 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!

Sunday, August 6, 2023 – Restless and Rooted

Sunday, August 6, at 11:00 a.m. – Restless and Rooted – So often in life we find ourselves torn between two equally compelling desires: to stay put and to venture forth. During COVID, we were forced to stay put! If you’ve travelled this year, you have witnessed a massive outbreak of restlessness! On Icelandic Festival weekend, we’ll honour the restlessness of our ancestors and, at the same time, celebrate the many generations who have called this community home. – 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 16, 2023 – Lazy Days of Summer

Sunday, July 16, at 11:00 a.m. – Lazy Days of Summer – “Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer,” sang Nat King Cole. I’m content just to be lazy. At times, we all need a chance to step back from the busyness of life and simply relax. 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!

Summer Services at Gimli Unitarian Church – 2023

Summer Sundays at the Gimli Unitarian Church Second Avenue near Centre Street – 11:00 a.m. – Everyone Welcome!

July 2 – Once Upon a Time (and Repeat) – How often have we heard someone say, “That’s just a story?” Yet we humans are, by nature, storytellers. It’s how we roll in the shire. We’ll explore why our everyday stories are so important in our quest for meaning. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

July 16 – Lazy Days of Summer – “Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer,” sang Nat King Cole. I’m content just to be lazy. At times, we all need a chance to step back from the busyness of life and simply relax. Rev. Stefan Jonasson

August 6 – Restless and Rooted – So often in life we find ourselves torn between two equally compelling desires: to stay put and to venture forth. We’ll honour the restlessness of our ancestors while celebrating the many generations who have called this community home. Rev. Wayne Arnason & Rev. Kathleen Rolenz

August 20 – Our Ground of Being – Paul Tillich defined God as “the ground of being” or “being itself.” Such a philosophical understanding of divinity stands in contrast to the personal God or gods that many believe in. What is it that commands your ultimate commitment in life? Rev. Stefan Jonasson

September 3 – Kodak Moments – Photography has lost most of its magic since its invention, and the camera of old has been supplanted by the smartphone, but it’s impossible to overstate how the photograph has changed our lives in countless ways. 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!

Sunday, July 2, 2023 – Once Upon a Time (and Repeat)

Sunday, July 2, at 11:00 a.m. – Once Upon a Time (and Repeat) – How often have we heard someone say, "That's just a story?" Yet we humans are, by nature, storytellers. It's how we roll in the shire. We'll explore why our everyday stories are so important in our quest for meaning. – 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!

Summer Services 2023

Yes, Gimli Unitarian Church will be open this summer! We have five services planned: July 2, July 16, August 6, August 20, and September 3. All five services are at 11:00 a.m. Watch this page for details.

Summer Services at Gimli Unitarian Church – 2022

Gimli Unitarian Church will re-open for the 2022 summer season on Sunday, July 17, 2020. 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 17 – Life Interrupted – The past two years disrupted our routines and tested our spirits. What did we lose? What have we gained? Where are we going?

July 31 – An Unwanted Reformation – Icelanders love to brag about the country’s peaceful conversion to Christianity around the year 1000. By contrast, the Reformation was embroiled in conflict and violence. And it was largely unwanted.

August 14 – A Cosmic Viewpoint – This year, NASA released the most amazing images ever of galaxies beyond our own. So why does religion still seem locked in an Aristotelian universe?

August 28 – Our Sources of Authority – Over two centuries, Unitarianism evolved from a Christian sect into a tradition claiming multiple sources. Do our roots still influence us? Do they matter? Or have we become a kind of spiritual tumbleweed?

Rev. Stefan Jonasson will preach at all three services in July.

Sunday, September 2, 2018 – How Conventional Is Wisdom?

Sunday, September 2, at 11:00 a.m. – How Conventional Is Wisdom? – The familiar expression “conventional wisdom” has become so commonplace that few people remember, if they ever knew, that it only entered the lexicon sixty years ago, following its appearance in John Kenneth Galbraith’s book, The Affluent Society, in 1958. While Galbraith used the term to describe “the ideas which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability,” often uncritically but not necessarily without merit, many people have come to think of conventional wisdom as something to be debunked, for it is often disproven upon closer examination. This leads me to wonder whether Galbraith was really talking about wisdom in the first place – or if wisdom is really all that conventional. 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!

Prof. Orlando Ferguson's flat earth map of 1893.

Sunday, August 19, 2018 – Progressive Revelation and Insatiable Desire

Sunday, August 19, at 11:00 a.m. – Progressive Revelation and Insatiable Desire – “When you live for the cause that progressively unfolds and reveals itself, your desires are under progressive transformation,” said Henry Nelson Wieman, “but when you live for satisfaction of them they are fixated.” I think I’ve just discovered why I remain hopeful and even optimistic despite my chronic malaise, why I am insatiably curious even about subjects I’m presumptuous enough to believe I’ve already mastered, and why I’ve never seemed to be fully satisfied when I’ve accomplished (or helped to accomplish) anything. Wieman’s insight helps to explain why we always seem to be on a quest for something more. 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!