Ministry

Bosho, Lauren nŤėshnēkas. Ote ke xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) eťtēŤayan. Mshkodani bodéwadmi mine kiikaapoa nŤēbenŤagwïs. My name’s Lauren, and I’m the Spiritual Care Manager and Chaplain for First United.

How’s your spirit today?

Whether you are celebrating a new lunar year with the vibrancy and passion of the fire horse, or spending time in reflection and prayer during Ramadan or Lent, this is the season of breathing deeply and engaging creativity.

We will lift our grief up during this season of Ramadan and Lent. With all of the horrors going on in the world right now, art can be very healing so this year, we will revisit First United’s grief art challenge. Let us explore the complicated feelings and emotions of the cycles of grief.

This is a feelings wheel (click the image and save to download). I made this one. There are many other kinds. Gloria Wilcox is known as being the pioneer of this tool. She made hers as a visual aid that helped folks acknowledge and communicate about their feelings and work towards change.

Using the feelings wheel and watching (or listening) to our grief vlog, I wonder what feelings you feel as you paint. I wonder what you feel when you are faced with the craziness and urgency of problems near you and across the globe. I wonder where you recognize grief.

Art Challenge

Lent is a time of prayer and fasting and a time to explore new spiritual practices. One of the most basic spiritual practices that humanity has is our feelings and emotions.

To help us explore and work through complex emotions that accompany grief, Lauren Sanders, Indigenous Spiritual Care Chaplain, is hosting an art challenge for the Lenten season.

You’re invited to join in this weekly practice as Lauren shares her own painting process and guides us through some “wondering questions” around grief. Feel free to comment your answers to the questions. You can also share your painting on social media with the hashtag #PourOutGrief.

All videos will be posted here. Check back every Wednesday to see the latest one!

Week 1: Grief

Week 2: Denial, Shock, Numbness

Week 3: Pain, Guilt and Shame

Week 5: Isolation, Loneliness and Processing

Week 6: Testing

Week 7: Acceptance

Land Acknowledgement

Words of Welcome and Explanation

Fear Not The Pain

Gathering Prayer
~A Celtic Prayer – David Adam
(We all read the bold together.)
From chaos and emptiness,
From loneliness and lifelessness,
All: Come, Creator, Come.
From void and shapelessness,
From the abyss and awfulness,
All: Come, Creator, Come.
From fearfulness and hopelessness,
From weakness and dreadfulness,
All: Come, Creator, Come.

Fear Not The Pain

Psalm 22

Fear Not The Pain

Litany of Comfort for Blue Christmas By Debra Faulk

(We all read the bold together.)

All around us are bright lights and merry messages
Yet in our heart not all is joyful
There is grief with the loss of relationships,
Those we love, no longer with us because of death
Those we have loved who are estranged from us
Those we love, yet experience a diminishment of intimacy
There is grief with the loss and change of relationship,

Grief, bittersweet for it is a consequence of the presence of love
This season brings forth many feelings

All: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together

All around us are bright lights and merry messages
Yet in our heart not all is joyful
There may be pain in our bodies,
Physical pain as a natural outcome of aging
Physical pain that presents itself in illness
Pain in the body that forces us to change and imposes limitations

Pain, bittersweet for physical experience includes both pain and pleasure and
This season brings forth many feelings

All: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together

All around us are bright lights and merry messages
Yet in our heart not all is joyful
There may be anger and regret with the memories we hold,
Anger with past experiences of hurt or abuse,
Regret of our own actions that may have cause hurt to others,
Anger that life has not turned out as we imagined,
Regret for what we might have said or done,

Anger and regret, bittersweet in presenting the possibility for healing and forgiveness,
This season brings forth many feelings

All: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together

All around us are bright lights and merry messages
Yet in our heart not all is joyful
There may be uncertainty that accompanies transition and change,
Uncertainty of what the future may bring with changes,
Uncertainty of direction or purpose after retirement or change of vocation,
Uncertainty when changing residence, by choice or necessity,

Uncertainty, bittersweet for change, a constant in life, let’s us know we are alive, and change along with
This season brings forth many feelings

All: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together

All around us are bright lights and merry messages
Yet in our heart not all is joyful
There may be a sense of hopelessness,
Hopelessness in the face of so much violence and suffering
Hopelessness with attempts to heal our aching world and ourselves
Hopelessness in witnessing what we have not managed to accomplish

Hopelessness, bittersweet for its longing reminds us of our capacity for hope and the human spirit’s tenacity and courage that rest deep within each of us as
This season brings forth many feelings

All: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together

All around us are bright lights and merry messages
Yet in our heart not all is joyful
There is loneliness,
Loneliness when we find ourselves alone after being long-partnered,
Loneliness when we are separated from loved ones,
Loneliness when we move to a new community and struggle to find our way,
Loneliness that never seems filled even with good company,

Loneliness that is an ever-present aching in the heart,

Loneliness, bittersweet for it is felt only when we have known connectedness and
This season brings forth many feelings

All: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together

All around us are bright lights and merry messages
Yet in our heart not all is joyful
We know grief and pain,
We know anger and regret,
We know hopelessness and loneliness,
We know all these feeling, we name them, we live them for such is the human experience
That love presents us with the possibility of being hurt, with the grief of loss,
That connection holds the potential of loneliness and uncertainty,
That forgiveness can begin to heal anger and regret

That being alive is a courageous act in which we engage all of our emotions and
This season brings forth many feelings

All: We find comfort in naming these feelings; we find some peace in being together

Ritual of Lighting Candles

Fear Not The Pain

Sending Words

Adapted from Enid A. Virago

Friends, go in peace.
Hold in your heart the certainty
That the spirit of life is with you always.

When your heart is torn asunder
Or when you soar with sweet joy,
You are never alone, never apart,
From the spirit that resides within us,
That guides our lives and cherishes us always.

Take comfort.
Blessed be.

Fear Not The Pain

Calendar

Join us this winter season as we work through a justice-focused Advent and Christmas calendar, created by Rev. Lauren Sanders, Spiritual Care Manager (Prairie Band Potawatomi/mshkodéni bodewadminwen, Kickapoo Nation of Kansas/kiikaapoa, African American/Black).

Together, we’ll learn about the Doctrine of Discovery and the harmful influence and impact it has had and continues to have on our theology and laws in Canada and around the world. We’ll look at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 45, 46, 47 and how we can respond.

The calendar runs from November 30 to January 5 and features daily actions that we can participate in together. This important work is part of our commitment to putting reconciliation into action.

Advent and Christmas Calendar 2025