Beach United Church joined thousands upon thousands of young people at Queen’s Park and on the streets of Toronto on Friday, September 27, 2019. We streamed from the subway, streetcars, and buses to shout for climate justice.
What do we want? CLIMATE JUSTICE
When do we want it? NOW!
We heard young people speak eloquently on the need to act now; saying that no-one will be left behind and we will follow the lead of our First Nations peoples. The passion and fury were as palpable as the care shown for all – chairs for those who needed them and a vehicle for those who could not march on foot.
Usually, at such a large event there would be litter everywhere; I did not see a single dropped item of any sort – pretty amazing. It was very humbling to join others all around the world who are making their voice heard.
No more coal. No more oil. Fossil fuels stay in the soil!
One of the ways we, as people of faith, seek justice is
through the electoral process, seeking to elect people to represent us who
share our values and our commitment to social justice. As you know, Canada will
be electing new Members of Parliament on October 21.
Representatives of 8 faith communities in the Beaches-East York riding, in conjunction with GreenPac, have organized a forum to hear from the 5 main candidates for the election about their values and intentions in 3 key areas: the environment, health care, and inequality.
The meeting will be at Beach United Church on Thursday, October 3 at 7:00 p.m. The ground rules for the evening will be clear. We don`t want to hear what they think of the other guy. We want to hear what each candidate believes and what they will do if we elect them.
Come to the Candidates Meeting; hear what the candidates say
and, on October 21, vote for the person and the party that best represents what
you expect from Canada.
Close to fifteen members of the congregation worked together through August, landscaping the new parking lot. Initial steps included planting several trees (3 Honey Locust, 2 maples and 2 oaks), and identifying some 30 – 40 different plants and shrubs that would be hardy, low maintenance and provide colour and visual interest.
This was followed by substantial preparation work: clearing construction rubble, removing brush,
soil improvements and weeding areas where Mother Nature hadn’t waited!
Let’s take a tour of just the most visible part, the north border nearest the church building: starting from the Wineva Avenue sidewalk, a new Honey Locust tree in the picture below is surrounded by newly planted roses (just one in flower now) and daylilies in a variety of colours – yellow, orange and cream.
Just out of sight on the left are three Serviceberry, a native shrub which will have masses of white flowers in spring and saskatoon berries in the fall.
Walking towards the church main door, the next bit of garden is split in two by a massive electrical transformer box. But already, its presence is offset by the bright colours of Black-eyed Susans and Potentilla in the next picture, and Dahlias in the following two:
The Potentilla in the foreground above is aka Cinquefoil, on account of its distinctive 5 lobed leaf structure. Historical note: The 5 lobed leaf was the symbol of Sir Bardolph the Brutal, second in command of King William’s forces when he defeated the British at the battle of Hastings in 1066.
In the picture below, these Ball Dahlias, being newly planted, would appreciate a bit of staking:
This second dahlia picture shows just a single flower head right now, hidden under its leaves. But a close look reveals other flower buds which might still come out this year.
And on the other side of the transformer box, along with colourful ground cover (Ajuga and Pulmonaria) there is a mass planting of pink Spirea and yellow Dogwood. These are hardy native shrubs that will maintain their colour all through summer and early fall.
Just visible on the right of the transformer, the sun-loving Cone plant will grow to be much bigger and will have masses of blooms. Its Latin name is Echinacea; it can also be yellow and very hard to distinguish from Black-Eyed Susans, leading to the botanist joke – here’s another DYC – damn yellow confusion.
Some of the plants were purchased, but many were transplanted from the existing church garden, including the DYC’s, Little Bluestems, iris, and Bee Balm shown in the above tour of the northern border. In the southern border Hosta, Solomon’s Seal, Evening Primrose, Periwinkle and Bleeding Hearts from the church garden joined the purchased Burning Bush euonymus and alpine currant.
And there’s more to come from the current garden. Turning from the parking lot towards the church main door, one is met by a profusion of colour, an area only a few years ago was just a bare construction site!
In the picture above, the Joe Pye at the back is ready to be cut back and given a new home around the parking lot. Likewise, The Solomon’s Seal in the foreground, and some of the beautiful Japanese Anemone by the south window. A garden is always a “work in progress “.
Sometimes, all it takes is a project to have a lightbulb moment, and working on the new website of Beach United is what did it for me. What started as a journey to understand what needs to be part of the website and what doesn’t turned out to be much more than that. In fact, during a brainstorming session with Minister, Karen Dale, I realized that we are not what you call a conventional charity or even a church for that matter.
Our repertoire has expanded, and we have taken on many new projects over a few years. These include our environmental initiatives such as the Solar Energy for Beach Cooperative Inc. (a not-for-profit renewable energy co-operative, incorporated for the purpose of generating and selling renewable energy in order to support Beach United Church ministries.), Gardening Group and a fully accessible green parking lot which helps reduce flooding and sewage back-ups after heavy rainfalls, a significant breakthrough with regard to sustainability.
Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but for those who have read up on the state of churches in Canada, BUC’s involvement in the community is like a breath of fresh air. Recently the National Trust of Canada estimated that 9,000 religious spaces in Canada would be lost in the next decade. The reasons for this are mainly rising maintenance costs and shrinking membership in congregations.
However, our story is different. Not only have we grown our community of faith due to constant engagement especially with the younger demographic through our Young Adults Program, but also we have successfully raised funds through a variety of initiatives such as the Christmas Market and Fair Trade Fayre, where we partnered with Fair Trade Vendors to sell organic products.
We have thus gone beyond the conventional understanding of a church and truly gone beyond the script.
