Going live, virtually

The article Virtual Church During Global Pandemic went live earlier this week on Canadian News about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Below is the link to that article

https://news-ca.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/virtual-church-during-global-pandemic

Catherine Jarvis is the one who pulled this article together. She says that in writing this article the most important thing she learned

was that our connections to God and to each other are only limited by our creativity. Although this pandemic has been challenging on many levels, during this time I have come to a deeper appreciation of the importance of God's love in my life and of how my connections to the larger community, including my Latter-day Saint congregation are essential. It is in those connections to others that love is experienced, given and received.

I love the nine pictures that accompany the article.  For a few years now, I have been wanting to think about my relationship to my church as horizontal rather than vertical.  That it to say, it has always seemed to me that the road ran from Alberta down to Utah when it comes to Mormonism.  I have been hoping that the road might run coast to coast, at least for a few trips.

In other words, I have been wanting conversation with other Canadian Mormons. mainly to develop a group conversation about the work our church might do in light of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commision.

I purchased the new book by the Pretes to accomplish this.  The book isn't that satisfying if read for that purpose, though I am loving it for other reasons.

Better for me, I love the photos that accompany Catherine's article.  This may be the first time in my life I have felt my Canadian religious identity. I studied the You Tube screen shot, hoping to recognize a name I knew.

I loved listening to the Canadian Mormon Virtual Choir singing "Love One Another" (there is a link to this in the text).  The 1 1/2 minutes it took to look at that link was not  time lost during my day.  I have been wanting to ask if an of my Albertan friends know any of the people singing.  I don't know any of them.

I know Cornetta, the woman with the family ages 17 to 4, for she was the first person to tend Catherine's kids for an extended period of time when they were about 1 1/2.  But I have only known her by name, so it was so good to see her face.  Catherine told me that on Christmas Day she can always count on getting a phone call from Cornetta -- something she can't count on from me or from the rest of her siblings.  We know we are family in other ways.  Cornetta and Catherine reaffirm their deep connection with a phone call on that holy day.  For some reason that makes Cornetta feel like family to me.

I love the paragraph about the woman who connects with the children in her Primary by email and other electronic platforms.  Just love it!

I think Natalie Berg's paragraph about Sunday in the Park is just a riot.  The picture could be repainted by Seurat, or could easily fade into a musical Sondheim style.

Well, that is the short way of saying what is in my heart the long way.

Arta