Happy Birthday to Our June Celebrants!

As the summer sun begins to shine, we joyfully celebrate the birthdays of our wonderful members born in the month of June. May your days be filled with warmth, love, and blessings!

Please join us in wishing a Happy Birthday to:

June 5 – Ralph H
June 7 – Ken P
June 11 – Genevieve Miller-Elsner
June 17 – Bob K
June 28 – Ron S
June 28 – Nataliya Zaliznyak
June 30 – Lorraine M

God’s richest blessings to each of you!

We are celebrating the end of our Spring session with a salmon lunch! Pastor Vida is providing the salmon, please bring a salad or desert to share.

When: Saturday, May 31

Time: 12:30PM

Where: Fireside Room 

All are welcome! 

The Groovin' Grannies are back! Don't miss out on this short program of piano duets after our Sunday worship on June 1. Arelene McIntyre adn Pat Shaw will play familiar tunes from Beethoven to Boogie Woogie.

Dear people of God at Gloria Dei, 

In this critical moment when the situation for the people in Gaza and the West Bank is dire, I want to bring to your attention this powerful statement from the perspective of Palestinian Christian women - as grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and caregivers. The statement has just been endorsed by our National Church - (it does not yet appear on the page).

The statement was drafted by Shadia Qubti whom we hosted at Gloria Dei in January. It is a prophetic response to the ongoing starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. 

In her email to me and others she writes: 

While the world speaks of "women and children" as victims, we must articulate a more complete vision of justice that recognizes the humanity of all Palestinians.

Drawing on the foundation of the Kairos Palestine document and the Call to Repentance, we seek to create a statement that:

1. 1. Centers the prophetic tradition of women in scripture (Mary, Tabitha, Huldah, and others)
   2. Addresses the "unchilding" of our children and the denial of Jesus's command to "let the little children come to me"
   3. Speaks to our experiences as women caring for families while processing our own trauma
   4. Connects Palestinian women's embroidery traditions to Tabitha's story and our forms of resistance
   5. Reclaims the unnamed and marginalized women of scripture and connects their erasure to our own

Please visit the petition page to add your signature to the statement. 

 Together with the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) observes Jerusalem and Holy Land Sunday annually on the Seventh Sunday of Easter. 

This Sunday, June 1 is an opportunity to lift up our partner churches in the region—The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

“These are our partner churches. That means we have an ongoing relationship with them and a commitment to walk with them in times of joy and in times of adversity,” said ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson.

Bishop Johnson encourages churches and individuals to remain involved leading up to and after Jerusalem and the Holy Land Sunday. She invites the following three meaningful ways to do this:

1/ “Prayer is always No. 1,” she shared. “And that’s the main reason why we have this Sunday; it is an encouragement for people to pray for peace in Gaza, peace in the Holy Land. We want to pray for the Christian presence to be maintained because unfortunately with the difficult times, Christians are immigrating away from the Holy Land, and soon there will not be a very strong Christian presence there.

2/ No. 2 is to remain particularly observant of the news, so you can always direct what your prayers are for.

3/ and No. 3, be sure to watch for the letters that are being written by myself and other church leaders to advocate with our government to seek peace in Gaza. These are all things that I ask the ELCIC to consider doing for our partners in the ELCJHL.” 

You can read the full article on Jerusalem and Holy Land Sunday on the ELCIC website here. 

The 2025 ELCIC National Convention will be held from July 10-13, 2025 at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.  

At the Convention, delegates will elect a new bishop following 18 years of service from our current National Bishop Susan Johnson, who has indicated her desire to retire. 

The ELCIC’s National Church Council has approved a discernment process leading up to the election proceedings at convention. This process does not impact the ELCIC Bylaws' process for elections of a bishop, rather, the discernment process is about an intentional process leading up to the election of consideration, prayer and pre-identification of potential individuals for election.

Through this process, seven names were submitted. Of these, six individuals discerned that they would like to proceed to the next steps in the process.

You are encouraged to read through the biographies and watch an introductory video for each of these indivduals which can be read and viewed on the ELCIC website here.

1. Everyone is welcome to conform to the church's image of what a Christian looks like.

2. Everyone is welcome to fully embody the unique image God created them to be. 

~ from Zach W. Lambert