by Michele | Dec 20, 2024 | Advent, Community, Events, News, Regional Council
Dear Friends,
As we gather to celebrate the joyous season of Christmas, I want to extend my warmest greetings and blessings to each member of the Antler River Watershed Region. As we travel through the Advent Season, we reflect on the profound gifts of Hope, Peace Joy and Love that the birth of Jesus Christ brought into our world.
Those gifts often feel lost with the hustle and bustle of our daily lives and it is easy to feel disconnected—from our loved ones, our communities, and even from God. Christmas is a beautiful opportunity to pause, reflect, and renew these essential bonds.
This season, I invite you to reconnect with each other and with God in meaningful ways. Reach out to a friend or family member you haven’t spoken to in a while. Share a meal, a story, or simply a moment of your time. Maybe you are missing seeing your neighbouring churches or colleagues, why not reach out and get together support each others events, form a cluster or just have that coffee that we keep talking about having but never quite set a date! The new year is the perfect time for new and renewed relationships. When we connect with one another, we embody the spirit of Christ’s love and hospitality.
Let us also take time to reconnect with God. Through prayer, scripture, and worship, we can deepen our relationship with the Divine. Remember the humble manger where Jesus was born—a symbol of God’s profound love and presence in the simplest of places. God is always with us, inviting us into a deeper communion.
As we light our Advent and Christ candles, may they remind us of the light of Christ that shines within us and guides our path. Let this light inspire us to spread Hope, Peace, Joy and Love in our communities of faith and beyond.
May your hearts be filled with the wonder of Christ’s birth, and may you experience the true meaning of Christmas through the warmth of reconnection this holiday season and beyond.
Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with grace and peace.
In Christ’s Love,
Rev. Cheryl Bolton
President, Antler River Watershed Regional Council
by Michele | Nov 13, 2024 | Advent, Community, Learning Opportunity, News, Regional Council, Resources
Free Resource
for an Advent Small Group Study
We are offering every Community of Faith a gift this Advent season! By means of a regional subscription you can access an Advent Small Group Study created by:
The Prayer Bench entitled Advent Longing
We hope this will be a gift for busy ministers and lay leaders in this Advent season who want a faith formation opportunity for their community of faith.
This Advent Small Group Study invites participants to nurture longing as a powerful spiritual gift through an imaginative pilgrimage in an old-growth forest. It encourages us to notice longing in our ordinary days, recognize its gifts during times of desolation and reclamation, and welcome “thin spaces”—those moments of connection, support, and hope. In the context of a planetary crisis, we explore how to activate Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in the world God loves.
What You Receive with this Downloadable Resource
- Complete Leader’s Guide for three Advent sessions with ideas for Opening, Singing, Movement or Sound Prayers, Conversation prompts, a Group Spiritual Practice, and Closing.
- Three 8-10-minute audio recordings.
- Three scripts of the audio recordings to download and copy so participants can follow along.
- Access to a Prayer Bench webpage with all the study materials, downloadable image for social media promotion, customizable poster for the series, and other resources related to the study.
Click here to register and receive the free resource here:
https://prayerbench.ca/regional-license-for-advent-small-group-study/
Advent Small Group Study Taster on Zoom
An introduction to the Advent Small Group Study for Leaders with Janice MacLean of Prayer Bench, offering background information and hints for leading the process. Please download the resource and come with any comments or questions for use in your setting.
We are offering two sessions (the same content just different times and days) as follows:
Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls and Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council
Friday, November 22nd at 1:00pm
Click link to register and receive the Zoom link:
https://united-church.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAudequpj4qHtUr_VJD6D436RejF-lPoQO7
OR with
Eastern Central Ontario Regional Council
Monday, November 25 at 7:00 pm
Click link to register and receive the zoom link:
https://ecorcuccan.ca/eco-rc-2024-advent-small-group-study/
