Calendar of events
Here you will find all of our congregation’s Sunday Services, Board and Committee meetings and other events. Use the calendar controls to see events for past or future dates. For a quick look at recent Sunday Services, click here!
With religiosity in decline and church attendance dwindling, those of us who remain connected to religion must ask ourselves: what is the function of religion in the 21st century and, more importantly, is any religion successfully performing that function? Why do we persist in our own Unitarian Universalist faith? What is the future of organized religion, and what is our role in shaping it?
Cycling Without Age is a volunteer-run program that takes seniors for free bicycle rides and offers opportunities to experience life beyond the confines of their care homes. Rides through their neighbourhood streets and parks give seniors the ability to connect with nature and the chance to share their stories.
In each generation there are those that pursue alternatives to the mainstream in search of a better tomorrow. In this generation some people are choosing Polyamory, an alternative to traditional romantic, monogamous, two-person relationships. We’ll explore how this lifestyle challenges the traditional concepts of love, sex, family, friendship, and community.
Ivy O’Reilly has been a UU for 20 years! With a B.Ed. from McGill University, she has teaching both traditional and spiritual education since 2004. She started her UU journey at the Montreal congregation working her way through the Religious Education program as a teacher, Junior & Youth Advisor, Youth Programs Coordinator, then on to serve as the Director of Religious Education Assistant. She has since completed and facilitated the K-12 Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education Program, co-lead Summer Services, and served UU congregations Canada wide! Ivy is a high energy, ambitious, and passionate person whose true inspiration comes from teaching and learning. She has recently relocated to Brentwood Bay and is thrilled to be involved with Capital.
Charity and volunteering are almost always framed as altruistic actions, with all the focus on how someone else will benefit from our good deed. In fact, we often feel guilty about deriving pleasure from something which is supposed to be selfless. This is completely backwards, doing good should feel good because it’s good, and it’s okay to admit it. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but a stairway to heaven can be built from selfish acts.
“Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world
waits. A world lives within you.” Join us to explore your inner world through the thoughts and teachings of John O’Donohue.
“What does it mean to be a vibrational being living in a vibratory universe, with an innate ability to make sound that can be used consciously?
Since time immemorial Indigenous cultures and spiritual communities have regarded singing, chanting, toning, and other ways of using the voice as integral to individual and communal wellbeing. Today there is a resurgence of practice and understanding of what these traditions have long known: that the voice is both a portal to presence, and a powerful vibrational medium that can heal and transform. Come and explore – with body, mind and spirit – what it really means to ‘have a voice.’”
Leah Hokanson is a vocalist, pianist, conductor, music educator and facilitator based on Gabriola Island, BC. Currently she is music director a the First Unitarian Fellowship of Nanaimo, director of Song Keepers women’s choir (Gabriola), and leads workshops on the transformative power of the voice. She has recently produced two albums: Facets (original songs), and Diamond Chants: The Heart (original musical settings of ecstatic poetry).
“Hold fast to dreams”, said the poet. Unitarians dream of building a land where we bind up the broken. Let’s look at the ways we can inspire one another to action on this celebration of Aboriginal Day!
Dana Lynn Seaborn is a Métis elder. This homily is adapted from a sermon by Rod Richards of the San Luis Obispo Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
We will also welcome visiting guest Samara Jade to perform a song as Guest Musician.
Don’t miss this high energy music filled service highlighting the amazing music of Pride. Jill Cooper is an acclaimed Victoria Musician. For more information about Jill see her website:
Join us in this lovely Unitarian Universalist ritual to welcome in the summer months.
You are a dedicated Unitarian. But then you decide to also become a Quaker. Why would anyone do that? Don Vipond, an elder at First Unitarian Church of Victoria, had three reasons and he will tell you. And it all turns around a Unitarian principle.
Don Vipond is active in social justice issues at his church, in particular the Lifeline List Project and the annual Healing Our World campaign. Before retirement he was a reporter and an editor at the Times-Colonist.
Trees sustain us both material and spiritually and so it’s no surprise that they feature in religion, folklore and mythology from all around the world. Enjoy a morning of stories that explore our relationship with these noble, life-giving beings.
Faye Mogensen is the author of Ancient Stories for Modern Times and has been telling stories professionally for many years; first as a Park Naturalist, later as the Director of Spiritual Exploration at First Unitarian. She continues to love sharing the wisdom of folktales and mythology, and playing with them to enhance personal, historic, scientific and other tales.