Week of May 30-June 5, 2021.

Excerpt from Angela’s Meditation 

Sometimes hope feels like folly. About eight years ago I seeded some Goji berry plants. They stayed in pots for a year, then we moved them to a plot of land. It wasn’t great soil: very sandy, not many nutrients–they didn’t thrive. We added compost, a watering system; they grew, but had very few fruit. I pruned them back, staked them; some died off. But each season we’ve tackled the weeds and continued to amend the soil, layering Comfrey for nutrients and maintaining moisture. Some farmmates wondered at my persistence and ill-fated plan. Last year, Denise moved some raspberries over there. They didn’t thrive either. This spring the raspberries are flourishing. I may give up on the Goji berries eventually, but my real heart is for improving that soil–what if, after 20 years, that plot is one of our best growing areas? That excites me. I am able to see long range possibility. In the parable of the Fig tree, Jesus invites us into this practise of cultivating and letting go.

“Try softer, not harder,” were words that stuck out to me as I scrolled through my Instagram feed the other week. I recognized that tendency in myself to just press in harder when there’s lots to do or when I am coming up against resistance in relationships. What would it look like, practically, for me to try “softer”?  Taking more breaks, saying “yes” to someone else’s idea or suggestion, saying “yes” to a relationship instead of a task, saying “yes” to intimacy.

So, here is the invitation for us this over the next few months (and beyond): be attentive to what is being cultivated in and around us. What are we being invited to cultivate? What are we being invited to let go of?  As we hear each other share our journeys over the summer, I wonder what patterns emerge individually and for us as a church community?

– Angela

Angela shared “The Wisdom of the Fig Tree, by Lisle Gwynn Garrity of “A Sanctified Art”. This is a visual and spoken mediation on the parable of the fig tree in Luke 13:1-9. What does it bring up in you? Video link  (less than 4 minutes long)

 

Together @ Southpoint

Youth, In June

Got a question? Contact Katie (email)
Instagram: thechurchatSouthpoint

Order of the Phoenix
Zooms 6:00-7:00 pm
Tuesday, Jun 1, 15, 29

Fellowship of the Rings 
Zooms 6:30-7:30 pm
Tuesday, Jun 8, 22

Roots
Project Climb, 6:00-8:00 pm
Friday, Jun 4

Hike, Everyone Welcome
Saturday, Jun 19

Zoom chat, 8:00 pm
Friday, Jun 25

Community Sharing

Here, we hold space particularly to hear the sorrow/worry in hearts of those whose journeys are right now hard. Your ‘voice’ as you share in the Southpoint News may be different than what you tell a member of the Pastoral Care Team and confidential prayer chain (i.e. more general info and less vulnerable), or it may be exactly the same. To contribute a care: email.

Grant Frewing

For news of Grant in hospice, his photo, and a message from their son, Daryl, visit here.  If you’d like to drop by his window at the hospice, please contact their son, Daryl, rather than Loriane.

We have paused our TakeThemAMeal soup for supper offering as Loriane let us know she has more than she needs right now.

Prayer

Prayer Chain
If you have a confidential prayer need, please send it to the first link in the chain, John H (email).
Prayer Circles NEW TIME!
Wednesdays: May 19, 26
6:30 pm, by Zoom
If you’d like to join, please contact Donelda by 6:00 pm for the link

 

Pastoral Care

Active Pastoral Care Person

If you’re needing to talk or to pray, or would like support while you figure out what you need(!), our Pastoral Care Team is here for you:

From May 20-Jun 12 please contact  Nancy D.

Southpoint Gathering Groups
These are designed also to show care and be neighbourly – let your group facilitators know that you’re limping a little. Let’s lift each other up.

Gathering Group Leaders are:
Jen & Andrew H.
Angela & Paul N.
Brian & Lynne O.
Loree & Kevin McD / L.
Karin B. & Brent U.
Anne & Craig S.

Worship 

If you’re new and would like join in on a church zoom service, please contact our administrator, Karin (email).

Our summer invitation is to pay attention to God, our Master Gardener, and God’s actions in and around us. We invite God to unearth in us what lies fallow, what needs to be tended, and what needs to die for new life to emerge. We embrace the practise of cultivating and letting go using resources created by A Sanctified Art (website).

June 6 Outdoor Church
* Wear a mask
* Bring a chair/blanket
* and a summer liturgy

If an Outdoor Church needs to be cancelled (for Covid reasons, or due to inclement weather!) you will receive an email on Sunday morning by 8:30 am from Karin (office@southpoint.ca) to alert you.

Small Group Zoom
Zoom host: Yvonne
NB: This an option for those unable to attend an outdoor gathering. It is a time of fellowship and not a ‘led’ service. It will NOT replace Outdoor Church if weather cancels it.

Jun 13 Zoom Church 
Speaker: Ruth Des Cotes
Luke 4:1-13
Cultivating who you are; Letting Go of ‘identity’

Supporting Southpoint 

Your donation is so important – thank you for supporting the church in this time.

Pre-authorized debit (monthly or one-time) with our linked form. Cost to Southpoint is $0.50.

Paypal to the The Church at Southpoint. Cost is 3% of the donation. No Paypal account is required, only a credit card.

Charitable Impact Foundation.  Cost is 2.8% of the donation.