Spirit, Learning and Life

These reflections on our past year have been organized into four “quadrants” — fellowship, teaching, service and worship. Details large and small reflect God’s abundant goodness in every season.

FELLOWSHIP
Community News & Events

• The biggest news affecting us all continues to be the ongoing Covid pandemic. The worldwide effects of climate change is also reaching us. More reflections below.
• January

• Lydia was grateful to be injury free after her car accident which totaled their car.
• Carolin adopted a turtle (now famous) named Fred.
• Bernie Sanders joined Watershed in a famous photo😉
• We began the 2021 Watershed calendar, “Lord’s Prayer edition”, with our paraphrases of the Lord’s prayer featured every month.

February

• With tons of help from Lyle, Lydia published her e-book Letters for Lent on February 17.
• Starting in February, Enneagram switcheroo’s happened to a few people who “fine-tuned” which type they gravitate to more (Cal #9, Bev #9, Paul #1).

March

• Some of us did a Good Friday walk through the Stations of the Cross set up outside of neighbourhood houses, sponsored by Many Rooms (another house church in the West End).
• Freshco took the place of our neighbourhood Safeway.

April

• After months of lock-down, we put on our masks and met in real life for our Easter service at Grain of Wheat. Eldon preached. Many of us had the jitters about being together. It was also the last time many of us saw Rene, who died in the fall
• Penny and Wade sold the house in Pinawa.
• We all took part in a 14-day “love-bomb” experiment to encourage Paul who had been struggling with depression.

May

• Many of us began to get their first Covid vaccine.

June

• Paul saved Bev’s life on Friday, June 25 when she got a piece of steak lodged in her throat and Paul did the Heimlich maneuver.
• Many of us contributed well wishes for Erik’s 30th birthday (Bev’s son)
• Wade introduced Watershed to the joys of city chickens (named Noah and Sunny)
• Our study of Jesus Christ for Today’s World by Moltmann (begun on October 28, 2020) ended on June 30.

July

• On July 1, Mel’s florist shop Freshcut Downtown moved out of Portage Place after 25 years, and onto the corner of Smith and St. Mary.
• Watershed did a “car and bike parade” past Sarah’s house to commemorate her 18th birthday. Many of us also wrote birthday wishes for the book Debbie published in her honor.
• On July 4, some gathered in Cal and Linda’s backyard for a concert for neighbour Harvey who is battling cancer.
• Finley Mac Heinrichs was born happy and healthy, July 20/21
• After many months on zoom, Watershed met in real life for the first time in the Heinrichs backyard on July 25. Some of the gals also met at Mel’s new shop for a craft night on July 20. Little did we know that by December we would head back onto Zoom due to the Omicron variant.

August

• Carolin moved to Carlton Street.
• Wade and Penny’s son Jordan married Lindsey on August 28.
• Watershed had our last (for a while) meeting on Zoom for Wednesdays as well as Sundays.
• Our Isaiah study ended.

September

• Retreat! We were blessed to be able to go to Falcon for our fall retreat, after missing it in 2020. More details below
• Brock and Sarah got married
• Cal and Lyle hiked the Hunt Lake trail.
• Penny displayed some of her art for over a month in Mel’s shop windows as part of Winnipeg’s Nuit Blanche. Many of us went there to help launch it on September 23.
• We enjoyed a backyard concert in Charles’ backyard.

October

• After launching it at the Falcon retreat, we began our study on Colossians.

November

December

• Several of us went through Advent meditations on the “Pray as you go” app, organized by Wade
• As Covid (Omicron) numbers began to rise, we went back to meeting on Zoom on December 22.
• We began getting our 3rd Covid “booster” vaccines.
• We had our annual Watershed Christmas book gifting on December 15.

Medical news

• Paul’s health — Paul had some tests on his heart in August, and we all jumped for joy when in September he got good news. Bev wrote: “Put simply and with much relief … the tests for the heart scan to indicate harmful levels of phosphates in the heart muscles came back negative along with a good heart rate from today’s EKG and decent blood pressure. Paul even got a medication taken off his regimen. So we are cautiously doing a happy dance. A big thanks for all your prayers and well wishes.” Paul also went through a deeper depression in April, and we all arranged a 14-day prayer cycle to encourage him through it.
• Wade’s health — We did another happy dance when a lump on Wade’s shoulder proved to be lipoma — a large mass of fatty tissue between muscle and the skin. He will be getting a day operation to have it removed. And thank God Wade’s cancer remains in the background.

Pet News

• Carolin adopted Fred the turtle in January.
• Lyle and Lydia’s 17-year old cat Bijou passed on August 18.
• “Peter Penner” the kitten has become a lively new younger brother to Earl.
• Wade’s sister Karen has two chickens who are cute “cousins” to Watershed pets.

Passages

• Rene Sookram passed away on October 28 at the age of 61. His funeral was held at City Church on November 9, with stirring tributes by Wade, Steve and Bev, and singing led by the Watershed group.
• Jen and Marty experienced pregnancy loss.
• Steve’s father passed away in late October.
• Eldon’s mom Verna passed away on December 17.

2021 Awards
The Watershed community has a few light-hearted awards which we give out annually (decided by votes).

• Wildlife award — Trumpeter Swan (Wade) - In the only sighting to inspire a poem, Wade was accompanied by a trumpeter swan on a boat ride. Summer, 2021
• Runner up — Two Wrestling Minks (Cal & Linda) - On a guided tour of Oak Hammock Marsh, Cal and Linda first saw some mink scat and then saw two minks wrestling on the path for one minute. After the mink ran off, the nature interpreter said it was one of the best nature encounters he'd had that summer. Sept 22/21
• Quote of the year — Upon walking into a bakery, Aster (our 6-year old friend and former Watersheddian who now lives in Montreal) said to her mom Janet, ”This smells like Watershed." (October 31/21)
• Pun of the Year (new category) — Eldon & Marty - Eldon was opening his gifts on his second zoom birthday. Bev had written something in his card about wrens (to accompany a wren metal bird) and Eldon read it out loud to us. “Good wren-dition!” quipped Marty to Eldon. “Thanks…it was on the fly,” replied Eldon.
• Quotable Quote of the Year (new category) — Jen, talking about Watershed when she first came, "Your words scared me, but your character attracted me." June 13/21

TEACHING
Study Nights

• Our study nights continue to be a steadfast means of grace, on Zoom or in real life, keeping us grounded and distracted from the news in the best way possible. Each course was and is a godsend.
• Isaiah — Our Isaiah study (begun in September 2020) continued through much of 2021. A blog of our studies was posted online (click on link), curated by Linda and Lydia. We used Brueggemann’s book as our main text. As Linda wrote in the blog, “The themes of restorative judgement and healing mercy have been our North Star during this deeply unsettling time.” Though it was a rich study, some of us began wondering about the spiritual fruits of our Isaiah course. Things were ambiguous — for every "comfort me" text - there followed a judgment section that rattled us. After community discussion, we decided to pivot at the end of June and hone it down to just four more sessions. Our pivot happened at the cusp of beginning 3rd Isaiah, with the last evening on August 18. One memorable evening was Isaiah 59 (by Cal) was studied through the lens of justice and the Indigenous story that all of Canada is having their eyes opened to — that of the residential school system and the horrific treatment of Indigenous peoples through the years. This study was prompted by the discovery of mass graves at all the schools. We had all written prayers of confession which we read at the end.
• Colossians - We began our Colossians study on October 13 using NT Wright videos to start us off. As an added bonus, the Colossians planning group decided to do homilies based on Colossians for the next while.

End of the Month Book Studies

• Moltmann - Our study of Jesus Christ for Today’s World (begun on October 28, 2021) ended on June 30.
• Colossians Remixed was begun at the end of October.
• Work of the People - Lyle found good videos for us with Richard Rohr talking about the Trinity, and Pete Enns (Reimagining God)
• Zoom! — Meeting on Zoom continued to be a godsend in 2021. We met for a total of 47 times on Zoom (compared to 49 in 2020). One notable new activity we enjoyed was breakout rooms. Several people “dropped in” over the year such as TJ and Janet from Montreal (and the girls), Phil (BC), Madelinz (Chili). Others dropped in on movie nights (Quinn, Malinda, Rebecca and Peter, Vic). Our Zoom version of the birthday dirge is being perfected.

Extra One-evening Courses

• In February, Lydia led us in an Ash Wednesday evening.
• In April, Lyle shared a video of a “TheoEd” talk by Pete Enns called “Re-imagining God”. What did it look like in biblical times, and what does it look like for us today?
• In July, Paul led us on a discussion on the historical rise of the Christian Right, and the progressive/conservative culture clash using a video from Great Courses with “Molly Monday”.
• In August, Jen shared her homily on a Wednesday instead of a Sunday.
• In August, we watched videos from Work of the People with Richard Rohr talking about the Trinity.
• In September, Lydia did an evening on Thomas Merton
• In November, Lyle taught us about NDE’s (Near Death Experiences) for two evenings
• In December, Wade led us in an evening of watching the movie “Seeking Shelter”, about an alternative community formed by the gospel, on Block Island.

Tutorials (Smaller Book and Video Studies)
Several informal smaller groups met to ponder:

• The podcast series about biases with Brian McLaren and Richard Rohr, based on McLaren’s book Why Don’t They Get It?
• Great courses Plus videos (Arthur and Paul) “History of Christianity 1 & 2” (“Mondays with Molly”) and “Why Evil Exists”, among other courses.
• Books such as Jesus Christ for Today’s World (Moltmann), Colossians Remixed, Living Jesus (Luke Timothy Johnson),The Way of Jesus Christ (Moltmann), Invitation to Love (Thomas Keating), Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (Marshall B. Rosenberg), Indigenous history course (online)
• Audio recordings by Henri Nouwen
• Some went through the Advent meditation series together on the “Pray as You Go” app.
• Some learned from courses outside of Watershed, such as learning to make sourdough bread, learning “Non-Violent Communication” with Marshall Rosenberg, learning french, and a free indigenous history course offered through U of Alberta.

Movie Night
Due to the pandemic, we saw only three movies together in 2021, twice on Zoom and once in person.

• Minari (April 10) on Zoom
• Two Popes (July 3) on Zoom
• Another Round (September 11) at Cal & Linda’s

The more informal Friday night movie group has been meeting faithfully since March, 2020. Big shout-out to Lyle for all his research to find suitable movie picks for us every week.