Jerusalem!!!

It's official and most of the world already knows this but I am going to Jerusalem in July! I am one of forty people in the world to be selected to attend a conference on justice in the Middle East. All the participants will be between 18&35 years old and from many different countries and Christian churches affliated with the World Council of Churches. The conference will be hosted by Sabeel; an Ecumenical Liberation Theological Centre. I've booked my flights and depart of July 19th. Luckily my to do list between now and then is small as time is ticking and I will be in the Holy lands before I know. What an amazing opportunity!

Stolen

Tonight I decided to check out my garden plot and see how things are growing. Once I arrived I discovered that someone stole my strawberry plant, which had berries that were almost ready on it and they pulled out a large plant which I recently discovered was a large weed...no big deal. Then as I walked through the garden I noticed that someone has intentionally stepped all through a number of garden plots, damaging plants and pulling out others. I am not mad but I have to say that this is pretty disappointing. I've written to Strata to see what they can do.

85th Anniversary

Tomorrow is the United Church of Canada's 85th Anniversary. I am SO proud to be a member of this church. Tomorrow during worship we will celebrate Communion and the bread we will eat is bannock, made from locally milled flour from each province in Canada. Isn't that neat? I baked three loaves tonight and it smells great. This week I watched an amazing video recapping 85 years and the amazing things that the church has done. Did you know that....
We were the first church in Canada to ordain women?
We were one of the first churches to openly welcome, ordain and marry gay and lesbian people?
We strive towards seeking justice locally and globally?
We've apologized for our part in the First Nations Residential School abuses?
We are a member of the World Council of Churches?
Of course there is a lot of diversity within each congregation however I think it's pretty incredible to be apart of a church that is generally so open, welcoming and empowered.
Happy Birthday UC!

JUNE!

How did it happen? June is here and that means Canada Day is one month away. For those of you who don't know, Canada Day is my most favourite not-religious day of the entire year! Anyways, back to June arriving.... This is my first blog update in a few weeks so I thought I would share some highlights of what has been happening in my life. My Mom always says that I could write a book with the amount of things going on all the time. So here it goes:

1. It has been raining soooo much in May that I have spent more time dumping out plant dishes filled with water than I have spent gardening and tending my garden plot. As one who has grown up in BC, the rain doesn't bother me but it has been much more noticeable this year. My garden is growing well with strawberries arriving in just a couple more weeks.

2. The Emerging Spirit book is in the final stages and I will be listed as one of the editors. Look through my previous posts to find out what I am talking about.

3. Langley Farmer's Market started last week and I was one of the first 200 people there (in the pouring rain) and received a free market bag.

4. It's rhubarb season and I've been buying it by the pounds and stocking up my freezer with this great pie-making, muffin-making, crumble-making ingredient.

5. It's Grad Season and so this month I will be celebrating and recognizing a handful of high school graduates through various ceremonies and gatherings. I also received a wonderful invitation for a cousin graduating in Utah.

6. Wedding #1 of the season is coming up and I am one of 25 people who have been invited. One of the smallest weddings ever and one that is all about organic, down to earth, outdoor, community style celebration. I can hardly wait!

7. The Summer semester began a few weeks ago and I am taking one class until August on the topic of behaviours. I am also challenging my final practicum and I have a few assignments to complete over the summer for this.

8. My quilting group is coming to an official end in mid-June. We've been quilting together for 10 years, all through our twenties and into our thirties. As a final project we are working on a stained glass quilt and a burgello. Both are quite neat projects.

9. I have led three "retreats" over the last month; Children's Retreat, Women's Retreat and May Youth Retreat. All went well and all took a ton of energy.

10. Finally this coming Sunday is the churches 85th Birthday and I have been given the task of baking 8 loaves of bannock for our worship celebration. Every congregation across Canada has been given the same dry ingredient mix so that we all eat the same bread on the same day while celebrating the United Church of Canada.

All is well in Kerry-land!

Garden

I finally had time this afternoon to plant my garden plot. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for a free, sunny afternoon and today became that day. An added bonus was that the local high school had a manure sale this weekend and I bought a bag of great organic mushroom manure to add to the mix. Apparently other people in the neighbourhood had the same idea as the garden was busy today. The garden plot is small and after a lot of thinking and planning I just ended up randomly planting seeds in no particular order. It will be interesting to see the abstract garden look once everything starts to grow. So in my plot I planted
carrots, lettuce, green onions, chives,garlic,lemon balm,dill,cilantro and basil. Tomorrow I will be creating my balcony garden which will be made up of tomato plants, zucchini, mint, lavender and peppers. I've already bought plant feet to go along with some beautiful cedar plant boxes. I'll be sure to take photos once the project is complete.

Healing Touch

My Senior Youth Group (Grades 8-12) meet every Friday night for fun, adventure, fellowship, community and some sort of program. Last night I invited the Healing Touch Team from Northwood to visit and offer the youth an introduction to Healing Touch. A technique used outside of the church often in hospitals and holistic centres and inside of the church for a spiritual experience. 11 of us gathered last night and it was truly amazing. Lots of good energy work, sacred time, quiet atmosphere and some very personal experiences for each individual. One of the teens posted on their Facebook a huge thanks to the team for coming. I love it when new attempts work out well.

Women's Retreat

I was away this weekend on a congregational retreat for women. I was leading the theme and worship for the entire weekend and was the main facilitator for the event. It went REALLY well. I was a little worried because I usually work with children and youth. Adults are different in many ways so I worked extra hard to ensure that I gave a 110% effort. It paid off. People left this afternoon feeling refreshed, happy, content and spiritually-filled. I am sure they will return to church next Sunday and share wonderful stories. I returned home this afternoon feeling very satisfied with the experience. I've even been asked to do it again next year!