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Dear Friends in Valhalla Parish—

Here we are several weeks into the month of June. Last week, we gathere in-person at St. Stephen's in New Denver. The week before at St. David's in Castlegar. What a joy it has been for me to finally meet you all!

We have gathered around the table of justice and joy, rejoicing that we are one in the body of Christ. For the first time in nearly a year and a half, we have shared in the one bread. We have shared in the gifts of God, gifts given for the Holy people of God. As we have done so, we have been simultaneously fed and knit together in the One who—as Paul proclaims in Colossians—reconciles all things.

This Sunday we will have the chance to gather together, this time on Zoom. As we we move towards more in-person gatherings, I am constantly aware that there are some for whom a return to in-person worship will not work. And so we ease into our in-person gatherings, ensuring that all members of our community are able to gather in worship in some way. Online worship is not my favourite—and yet it does have some benefits. 

This Sunday, as we mark the National Indigenous Day of Prayer, our online worship has made it possible to have the Rt. Rev. Chris Harper—Bishop of Saskatoon—as our guest preacher. Bishop Chris comes from Treaty Six territory, and is the first person from that territory to be elected Diocesan Bishop. 

For those who are able to join in, I would invite you—even if it isn't your practice to come to Zoom services—to join us on Sunday. I'm excited to hear from Bishop Chris as we offer prayers, enter into worship, aacknowledge and celebrate the gifts of Indigenous people in the church and across the country. The Zoom Link is available through our email newsletter. 

This week when Parish Council gathered to meet, one of the items on the agenda was how we might respond—as a parish—to the recent revelations from Kamloops Residential School.

On Wednesday, Council approved a motion that Valhalla Parish commit to making a minimum monthly contribution to the Anglican Healing Fund of $50. As we are able—and if individuals are willing to make gifts above and beyond this commitment, we will ensure that this money goes to the Fund, which makes grants to encourage and initiate programs that help heal language loss, cultural abuse and other forms of hurt and oppression.

After a very good discussion about particular ways in which we could commit to facilitating necessary learning and unlearning with regards to colonization and the church's complicity in genocide, Parish Council also committed to adopting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action 59. This Call to Action—geared specifically towards churches—calls us to:

develop ongoing education strategies to ensure that congregations learn about their church’s role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and why apologies to former residential school students, their families, and communities were necessary

In a month fraught with reminders of old and ongoing wounds, these motions start to move us from thoughts and prayers to policy and change. That can be both exciting and challenging. In the coming months, we will develop ways of learning and speaking about the issues, as we discover together new ways of walking in a good way with our Indigenous siblings.

Our next opportunity to gather and to engage with these realities is Sunday as we gather in worship to celebrate God's ongoing work of reconciliation, that through Christ all may be reconciled one to another. 

Every Blessing, 

Andrew Stephens-Rennie
Valhalla Parish Missioner

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