Rev. Samaya Oakley has been the Minister of the South Fraser Unitarians since August 2016. She received her Masters of Divinity from the Vancouver School of Theology and has worked with Unitarian Universalist communities at the local, national and continental levels for the past twenty years.
The headlines can be frightening at times! The songs we sing can remind us that we don’t have to wait
for some future utopia or far-off heaven to create the world we want. We can create melody and
music and sing together in harmony right now, even when there’s violence and injustice in the
headlines every day. Musical guests @@@ join us for this service.
In a favourite hymn of ours by Ysaye M. Barnwell, we sing that “we are our grandmothers prayers and we are our grandfathers dreamings.” In this service, we’ll look at what SFUC’s founding members hoped and visioned for who we are – and cast some visions of our own for the future.
So today we are going to take time to think about our inner superhero. Wear your superhero cape – or
anything that is a cape to you – to the service so that we can celebrate your superhero powers that
work towards a transformed world.
We’re invited to bring our whole selves into the life of South Fraser Unitarians. Our whole selves. That
means not only do we bring our gifts and talents to bear, but we also bring the tragic strategies that
we’ve used in the past to help us cope with life’s events. The spiritual practice of living into our
covenant can help us out during the times when we encounter this in ourselves and in each other.
What better time than Thanksgiving to honour the practice of gratitude in our lives! It’s hard living up
to the ideal of being grateful every moment in our lives! It is by adopting a practice of gratitude that
we bring our attitudes and behaviour in alignment.
What does reconciliation look like as a spiritual practice? This is the second year that Canada has set
aside a day that honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families, and
communities. Join Rev. Samaya for an exploration into this question. In honour of this day, please
remember to wear your orange t-shirt to the service so we can take a few screen shots of our
congregation.
Join us this afternoon as we regather the waters of our spirits into a common river of love. It is our practice for our first Sunday back as a community to honour a Unitarian tradition called Water Communion. This is a service that mingles waters of the spirit and soul.
In preparation for the service, you’re invited to bring a slip of paper on which you have written a couple of sentences about your spiritual and physical journeys this summer. Please ensure that your writing is legible as others will be reading your reflection.
For this service, we’ll gather in person at the labyrinth at Kwomais Park, 1367 128th Street in Surrey at 1:30 pm. You may want to bring a lawn chair.
Join us for our final service for this congregational church year. Together we’ll reflect on the blessings that the Soul Matters program has made a difference in our lives and in the lives of the people we are in contact with. As is our tradition, we’ll end with an opportunity for each person to be blessed as we move into our summer break.
Join Rev. Samaya for an exploration of how the intersection of our first and seventh Principles demand that we address the interconnected nature of all of life – particularly the oppressed as well as non-human beings. Please have some art supplies and paper on hand for this service.
Rev. Samaya Oakley will reflect on her 5-month sabbatical.
