Planning for the Year Ahead

On a hot summer’s day, the Incarnation Worship Group gathered in the shade to share a meal and dream about the possibilities for our worship life together over the coming year.

As a result, we’ve laid out a general plan for the upcoming year, identifying special seasons and services that we will plan in more detail as the year progresses. We’ve identified a youth-planned and led service (Earth Day), as well as three more all-ages services (Halloween, Transfiguration/Mardi Gras, and Fathers’ Day). In keeping with the Greening Niagara program, we’ve ensured that we will have some specific services throughout the year that will have an environmental focus. And we’ve identified tentative timing for Stewardship Sunday and Volunteer Appreciation Sunday. The planners among us are ecstatic!

Noting that 2012 represents the 25th anniversary of the first service of “The Anglican Church in Glen Abbey”, we are thrilled to have Bishop Michael already booked to join us for Epiphany on January 8th, 2012, and we look forward to opportunities to welcome back our former rectors as guest preachers throughout the anniversary year.

In a community such as Incarnation, where we have a “tradition” of being “non-traditional”, there is a lot of energy and effort needed to develop new liturgical materials and organize innovative services. So understandably, one of our focuses was how to maintain the vibrancy, momentum and innovation of our worship life without burning ourselves out! As a result, we agreed to building on our recent practice of seasonal liturgies, giving ourselves permission to occasionally “recycle” services from past years, and identifying opportunities to draw others into the planning or execution of specific services. In that regard, we are particularly interested in recruiting volunteers for the following opportunities:

• Individuals who would be willing to join a planning team for one of our “all ages” services
• Individuals with computer, graphics, audio-visual and/or general techie skills who could assist with multi-media elements for occasional services

Our church year will start with the Incarnation tradition of celebrating our community as we welcome ourselves into a new year on September 11th. Be sure to bring your backpacks, briefcases, blackberries, or other paraphernalia for a blessing!

Over the next five Sundays, we will reflect on who we are as a community and why we are called to be church, preparing us for our visioning work on Saturday October 15th. We are looking forward to this engaging start to the fall season, as we kick of the 2011-12 year together.