Ralph Connor Memorial United Church
Weekly
Friday, July 30, 2021

Kindly submit your Newsletter items to office@ralphconnor.ca
by Thursday at 11:00 AM

We will have a simplified Newsletter for the summer, with fresh content each week ~ please refer to the June 25th Newsletter click here~.
WORSHIP CONTINUES
~ONLINE~
Sunday, August 1, 2021

Rev. Greg Wooley returns from holidays. This week’s worship examines the complex story of David, Bathsheba and Uriah, a story with many contemporary parallels: 2 Samuel 11 click here~.

The service will be posted to the Ralph Connor Canmore YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi8loA1BP8lNAppSRR9_aQQ

Tanya Sullivan is on holidays in August so this week we welcome Aurora Borin as pianist!

Depending on how everything goes with Alberta’s Stage 3 summer reopening, we are tentatively planning an outdoor in-person worship service for Sunday, August 15th. More details in next Friday’s Newsletter. 
$  Good News from the Stewards  $
The Rowe family (Carole, Bill & Andrew) have mowed our RCMUC lawns all summer. Volunteers save us money! Thanks Rowe family.
As always, the regular Church expenses (utility bills, salaries, etc) continue 12 months of the year and your ongoing support is greatly appreciated. If you wish to make a financial contribution to Ralph Connor, please go to http://ralphconnor.ca/giving/
or for Rundle,
http://rundleunited.ca/donate/.
EVERY CHILD MATTERS
Each week, we continue our presentation of the calls to the nation, and calls to the Church, that were issued in 2015 as a result of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Four of the calls pertain to Museums and Archives, including #67:
67. We call upon the federal government to provide funding to the Canadian Museums Association to undertake, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, a national review of museum policies and best practices to determine the level of compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to make recommendations.

In the spirit of reconciliation, the Canmore Museum has worked with local First Nations to have a tipi on the NWMP grounds this summer. Traditional stories and knowledge are shared and crafts, games and traditional skills are demonstrated as part of the Barracks' new Indigenous Stories tipi program at the NWMP Barracks. The program runs daily Thursday to Monday, June 26 to August 30, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm with a Stoney Nakoda cultural interpreter. The program is offered in partnership with Nakota Tipi n Rider Style Craft from Eden Valley.  
To read all 94 calls to action, go to http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf  
A group of three women -  Iva Geddes-McNab, Heather Geddes and Carlene Hotomoni  - are walking from Regina to Kamloops to honour the 215 children in unmarked graves, and all who were impacted by the Residential Schools. As of Thursday, they've just passed through the Bow Valley. For more information see click here~. and for a local audio clip, click here~.
On Saturday afternoons at 2 PM, we've resumed BELL RINGING at RCMUC as a thank you to Health Care Workers, Teachers, Servers & Frontline staff who have been faithfully on-the-job for public benefit throughout the pandemic.
RCMUC Prayer Circles
We have two prayer groups at RCMUC: The Healing Pathway Prayer which meets on Wednesdays and Fridays, and Tuesday's “Morning Prayer” group. 

To share a prayer concern, please email Val Goodrow at v.goodrow@me.com and Rev Greg Wooley at minister@ralphconnor.ca.

We request that the person gives consent to have their name mentioned in prayer as privacy/confidentiality is of utmost importance. We also would appreciate knowing when the situation changes and we can release them from our prayers or update the prayer to a changing need.
Pastoral Care Committee Benevolent Fundraiser
Thank you photographers!

Many beautiful images were submitted for the notecard fundraiser. Images are now being selected for "Members Only Trial" of 50 packets available for purchase at planned August 15 outdoor service.
AFFIRMING MINISTRY
Our gratitude to Robin Slater for offering the following feature in our weekly Newsletter, as part of our efforts to be a more broadly inclusive, and affirming, Community of Faith.


ROBIN'S WEB
CONNECTING DIVERSITY


What better time to undertake a deep dive into the intersection of technology and human spirituality than after being held hostage in cyber-land by Telus last week. Please excuse me if my biases show thru!

Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity. One challenge is how little we know about the dangers.  Click here~.

Sometimes, paying attention means we see the world less clearly. Here’s an interesting dissertation about how our decision-making is influenced by our brain’s ability to focus. Click here~.

I Used to Be a Human Being   An endless bombardment of news and gossip and images has rendered us manic information addicts. Click here~.

Lost in the Super Market Reclaiming Self-Rule in the Digital Dystopia  Attention-harvesting technologies jeopardize our capacity to govern concentrated power—and ourselves. In a world increasingly shifting to an attention economy we may need to put down our Milton Friedman and pick up our George Orwell.  Click here~.

Matthew B. Crawford also wrote Shop Class As Soulcraft, An Inquiry into the Value of Work, which lives beside my copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Both are fodder to re-evaluate our priorities as we emerge from economic lockdown.

As our lives become increasingly mediated by algorithms and machines, tech designers need to rethink the promises of innovation and convenience. This hasn't healed the most acute aches that people experience on a daily basis: boredom, stress, isolation. If anything, it's only deepened those wounds. The following “ten commandments” suggest a way of designing technology that is centered not on ease or distraction, but flourishing. Click here~.

What does all of this mean for us, as the users of this technology? Tech companies seem disinclined to operate within humane, ethical frameworks rather they actively cultivate these addictive and often destructive patterns of behaviour in us. The Will is Not Enough  Why we need to think less about our phones and more about our practices. Click here~. 

An antidote to computer driven choices: Life in the Stacks  Algorithms are integral to how everyone finds and consumes art. But, old-fashioned browsing still has its benefits.   Click here~.
Ralph Connor Memorial
United Church (RCMUC)
CONTACTS

Administration: Trish Campney
Ph. 403-678-5354 - office@ralphconnor.ca

Minister: Rev. Greg Wooley
Ph. 403-493-4923 - minister@ralphconnor.ca

Music Director: Tanya Sullivan
Tanya is on holidays for the month of August,
Rundle's Aurora Borin is stepping in, and Dave Somerville at 2nd outdoor venue - thank you talented musicians
Please send all Office emails to office@ralphconnor.ca

The old canmoreu@telusplanet.net and canmoreu@telus.net addresses are now defunct.
Incoming: office@ralphconnor.ca
New Outgoing: ralphconnormemorial@gmail.com

Please also note: if you are sending letter mail to RCMUC, please include “Box 8901” in the address to make things easier for the folks at Canada Post. 
Rundle Memorial
United Church (RMUC) Contacts
The mail, email and phone messages will be picked up regularly.

Administration: Nancy Murray
Ph. 403-762-2075 - office@rundleunited.ca

Mailing address: P.O. Box 1086
Street address: 102 Banff Ave
Banff, Alberta, Canada T1L 1B1

To volunteer at Banff Thrift Store - thrift@rundleunited.ca

RMUC Website: http://rundleunited.ca/
Ralph Connor Memorial United Church
Mailing address: P.O. Box 8901
Street Address: 617 Main Street
Canmore, Alberta, T1W 2B1
403-678-5354 | office@ralphconnor.ca