2018 Stewardship Report Summary: Investments UP, Income and Expenditures DOWN Major factors influencing our investment results: – shorter reference period (to February) this year due to earlier date of this presentation – slower growth in LAM investment fund 3,5% this year vs. 7% last year (BLUE bars) – both years had identical withdrawal of 5000 $ … Continue reading 2018 Stewardship Report
Energetic Love. The Energy of Love It can be as difficult to define As it is easy to feel The moment now Where it can feel, even surreal It is this love we all wish to capture and keep but energetic love, like all energy While it can be stored It will certainly seep … Continue reading Energetic Love
As part of our community’s on-going reflections on stewardship, we need to think not only about fundraising but also about how we spend our money. To this end, the Annual General Meeting in June 2017 adopted the following resolution: To strike a committee to reflect on the uses to which our investment fund could be put to sustain … Continue reading Long-range Planning Meeting
During a Membership and Communications Committee brainstorming session at Lakeshore on 31 March 2017, Timothy Byrnes suggested that building a new blog-compatible website could be the most cost-effective way of making what we offer as an inclusive spiritual community better known to the larger Montreal community. Nowadays, with so much information available on-line, talking up … Continue reading Communications Committee updates new Website
Near the end of February 2018, I went on a two-week visit to my sister Carole who lives in New Smyrna Beach in Florida. It is nice to visit family and also enjoy some respite from the tough winter we had this year. I want as well to feel at home away from home … Continue reading Home Away from Home
Last night the Canadian Senate passed a private-member’s bill making the National Anthem gender neutral. Words will change from “in all thy son’s command” to “in all of us command” after royal assent. Personally, I find this a great step forward for inclusiveness. When singing O Canada, there was always this need to ‘put … Continue reading At last! Canadian anthem is gender neutral
OVERVIEW I am going to talk about a Near Death Experience, that is to say, memories from a coma. This is based on Anita Moorjani‘s Dying To Be Me, published in 2012. In my talk, I’ll broach the following points: 1) the life of the person before their illness, 2) the illness and attempts to … Continue reading A Near Death Experience: Dying To Be Me
We honour the soldiers who battled on the front lines Who sacrificed for a cause and their country Even ending their time War is filled with stories of great heroism and valour … but in itself is a shame All sides claim to be righteous Often even pray to a god of the same name … Continue reading Remembrance Today
Spirituality without Religious Identity? In our Lakeshore community, there is a near constant discussion on the role of spirituality and regular ceremonial celebrations. We even debate what to call our “services.” Avoiding all ceremonial aspects could make the event seem too sterile. Alternatively, too much ceremony can weigh heavily and make it seem too “heavy.” … Continue reading Spirituality for Montreal’s Religiously Unaffiliated?
After a very successful evening at a fund raising dinner for Child Haven International last Saturday, our congregation took the opportunity during our Sunday service to honour the close relationship we have had over the years with Bonnie and Fred Cappuccino. Various members of the congregation took part, recounting the highlights of the years before … Continue reading Comment on “Honouring the Cappuccinos”
