Join us this Pentecost Sunday as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. Pentecost is a joyful and vibrant feast filled with the symbols of wind, fire, and new life in Christ. To help mark the occasion, everyone is invited to wear something red — a reminder of the flames of the Spirit that descended upon the disciples on the first Pentecost. We look forward to celebrating together! 

Next Sunday, May 31st, the ELCIC has asked all Lutherans across Canada to be involved in an act of community service.  Gloria Dei will have a table at SaveOn Foods Lynn Valley to gather donations for SAGE,  a short-term transition house for women and their children leaving domestic violence on the North Shore. We will be giving out cookies and lemonade in exchange for a donation.  There will also be someone from SAGE with us at the table to give out information and answer questions.  You are welcome to join us between 3:00pm and 5:00pm on the day.  You could also make a donation to SAGE  in the same way that you normally make donations to the church - just be sure to mark it for SAGE.

- L.P. 

We are pleased to promote this dinner prepared by world-renowned chef from East Jerusalem at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Chef Izzeldin Bukhari will share a multiple course vegetarian meal of traditional Palestinian Somi cuisine, share recipes and stories about life under occupation.

For tickets, please click on the "see more" button which will take you to our website and the attached poster for QR code. 

Join National Bishop Larry Kochendorfer this Sunday, May 24 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Pacific) for Conversations Across the Church.

**NOTE: You must register to receive the registration link. Can’t attend on Sunday? Register to receive the recording.**

Conversations Across the Church is an hour-long online gathering bringing together members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) from coast to coast and includes a brief time of worship, reflections from several our of National Church Council Members, and a time to come together as community as we listen, learn and reflect together with ELCIC National Bishop Larry Kochendorfer.

This Sunday, Bishop Larry will be joined by voices from our Global Mission partners: Bishop Imad Haddad from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), Pastor Mariela Pereyra, President of Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida (IELU), and Pastor Ofelia Davila, President of Iglesia Luterana del Perú (IL-P). Together, our Global Mission leaders will reflect on a shared question: Where do you see life in your church?

Through these perspectives, we’ll hear stories from across our global community—reminding us of the many ways God is at work with and among us.

Join us for this meaningful time of connection and reflection.
Register now to reserve your spot!
https://us02web.zoom.us/.../register/s27TUCRVTGS2EUyJJBvLKg

One of the appointed readings for Pentecost Sunday is 1 Cor. 12:3b-13, and there we find this verse. 

For just as the body is one and has many members,

and all the members of the body,

though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

 Think about this verse or read the full reading and then read this excerpt from the poem by Walt Whitman. 

I Sing the Body Electric

The man’s body is sacred and the woman’s body is sacred,
No matter who it is, it is sacred—is it the meanest one in the laborers’ gang?
Is it one of the dull-faced immigrants just landed on the wharf?
Each belongs here or anywhere just as much as the well-off, just as much as you,
Each has his or her place in the procession.

(All is a procession,
The universe is a procession with measured and perfect motion.)

Do you know so much yourself that you call the meanest ignorant?
Do you suppose you have a right to a good sight, and he or she has no right to a sight?
Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffuse float, and the soil is on the surface, and water runs and vegetation sprouts,
For you only, and not for him and her?

Image: Photo by Leo_Visions on Unsplash