The Logo of Bayview United Church
The amalgamation team wanted to see several different iterations of the same theme, a cross or dove to represent faith, or a globe to represent the world. The idea was to pick a theme that most liked and to clean it up from there. Ultimately, the most popular choice was a simplified globe with a cross and spirit lines to incorporate God, faith and the world. After some discussions on colour and sizing we had our final product! (logo designed by Kathe Sanz)
Bayview United Church Amalgamation
Bayview United Church came into existence on Sunday, September 28, 2014. The celebration started with the revealing of the new Bayview road sign and parading into the church singing “We are one”. An inspirational service followed with the amalgamation of Centennial-Japanese United Church and Oriole-York Mills United Church to form Bayview United Church.
Click here for photos from the amalgamation day.
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New Antipendium
The new antipendium hanging on the communion table at the front of the church was revealed on Sun. Sept 7.
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Dome Installation
The dome recently installed in the church narthex was originally installed in 1958 in the upper chapel of 701 Dovercourt Road; the former home of Centennial-Japanese United Church.
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The Bazaar at CJUC –
Sat. Oct 19, 12:30 to 3:00pm
The 2nd Annual Oriole-York Mills United Church and Centennial-Japanese United Church FOOD & CRAFT BAZAAR was held on Saturday, October 19. Thank you for your donations of crafts, pickles, jams, baked goods, books and gently used or new household items. The udon was very good and several hundred bowls of it were served.
Photos from previous bazaars.
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Sun. Apr. 6 – 11:00 a.m. – CJUC 60th Anniversary Service
Centennial-Japanese United Church, in 1954 known as Toronto Japanese United Church Nisei Congregation, then led by Rev K Shimizu, celebrates its 60th anniversary on Sunday April 6, 2014. You are welcome to attend the anniversary service to remember the events of that inaugural day. Please join us for the singing of timely hymns and stories from church members about that era and a free lunch following the service.
Click here to view the CJUC history synopsis pamphlet for the 60th anniversary April 6, 2014.
Click here to view the greeting from the Rt Rev Gary Paterson, Moderator of the United Church of Canada on CJUC’s 60th anniversary.
Click here to view the order of service for the first regular worship of Toronto Japanese United Church Nisei Congregation on April 11, 1954.
Click here to view the slide show for the CJUC 60th anniversary.
Click here to view the certificate of congratulations from the Premier of Ontario.
Click here to view the ad in the Nikkei Voice for the CJUC 60th Anniversary.
Click here to view the worship slides for CJUC’s 60th Anniversary.
Click here to view the worship bulletin for CJUC’s 60th Anniversary.
Remembering Audrey Fukuzawa
Nori Nagano, Audrey’s daughter-in-law, remembers Audrey in this essay.
Click here to view this remembrance.
Spirit.calm Service
This special service on June 16 featured the singing of the gospel band Spirit.calm with guest trumpeter John Liddle. Some songs included, Our God Goes with Us, Amazing Grace (Rising Sun version), Wherever You May Go, Victory Chant, Flowers Will Bloom in the Desert and Our Father. Thanks to the band members for their participation and leadership.
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Church Picnic at Earl Bales Park
For the first time, the church picnic was held at Earl Bales Park (Bathurst and Sheppart) on Sunday June 23. The weather was hot and partly cloudy, so we were lucky to be able to sit in the shade under some large trees. Rev Cindy conducted the outdoor worship service, with John Liddle and Brian Kai providing the musical accompaniment. The potluck lunch was delicious and the games were enjoyed by the young and old.
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June 30 Canada Day Service
This colourful red and white service on June 30 featured a variety of members of the congregation (and the minister) wearing Canada’s official colours.
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Sue Kai recalls the Ushi Doshi celebration event
This is an article written by Sue Kai that appeared in the magazine called More of Our Canada. This is a magazine where the articles are written by the subscribers. The article is about a celebration event called Ushi Doshi that Sue is a part of. The participants are born in 1925 and meets every five years. The article also appeared in the Holiday 2012 edition of the Nikkei Voice. Click on the title to view the Our Canada article. Click here for the article in the Nikkei Voice
CJUC celebrates the 33rd anniversary of sponsorship of Vietnamese refugees
On Sunday December 2, the CJUC members who were involved with the sponsorship of Vietnamese refugees in 1979 met with the former refugees and their families. In 1979, Van Long Hua, Phuoc Minh Tran, Tan Loc Tran and Chi Minh Tran, arrived in Canada on a harsh and cold wintry day. They had never seen snow before. In August 1979, then CJUC minister, Rev. George Tomita, has challenged the CJUC board to act and do something about the plight of the boat people. CJUC formed a committee headed by Irene Kagawa and Brian Kai. We applied for sponsorship of a family and we received 4 teenaged boys from Vietnam.
The boys had survived poor conditions in a Malaysian refugee camp and a dangerous boat ride in the South China Sea to escape their homeland. They were separated from their family who could not leave Vietnam. A new country, Canada, was now their home.
After getting settled and acclimatized to their new homes, with the help of the CJUC members, the Vietnamese men have become Canadian citizens. They and their children are contributing citizens in their adopted country. They view the CJUC members who helped them, as part of their family. We were happy to make a difference in their lives.
To view photos from the December 2 event, please click on the title and go to the bottom of the photo page. The CJUC members at the dinner were: Rev Cindy Cooper, Brian/Irene/Howie Kagawa, Kaz/Ruby Shikaze, Brian Kai, Dee Dee Yatabe
Recital by Karen Quinton – Sun. Nov. 27. 1:30pm
Karen Quinton (piano) and Helen Russell (clarinet), along with one surprise guest, Hannah Corbett (violin), daughter of Helen’s husband, Hugh, played a light-hearted one-hour recital of works by Paul Reade, Poulenc and Charles Stanford. This concert was held in the sanctuary after lunch at 1:30 p.m.
Remembrance Day Service
This special service featured the trumpet playing of John Liddle in all aspects of the service including the Last Post. Karen Quinton on piano was excellent too. We heard the stories Private David Fraser Marshall from World War I, read by his daughter-in-law, Barbara Marshall. We also listened to the story of current OYM member Ron McIntyre, presented by Bruce McIntyre and Lynne Pulenzas.
Worship bulletin of Nov. 11 service
Barb Marshall’s talk at the Nov. 11 service
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New Crest of the United Church of Canada
In what former Moderator Mardi Tindal described as “an historic moment,” The United Church of Canada has acknowledged the presence and spirituality of Aboriginal peoples in the United Church by adopting additions to the introductory materials to the Basis of Union as found in The Manual and revising the church’s crest. More information can be found at The United Church of Canada website.
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701 Dovercourt – Plaque Honouring CJUC
After 2006, when CJUC left 701 Dovercourt Road, Toronto, and after about five decades of calling it our church home, the church building went under construction. Four years later, it became a 28 unit condominium including parking in the former gymnasium. The plaque is posted on the outside wall of the condo which explains some history of the building. As the Bloor/Dovercourt area changes, a new condo is being constructed at the former site of the Earle Elliot Funeral Home.
Media article on the condos at 701 Dovercourt
The Bazaar returns to CJUC –
Sat. Oct 13, 12noon to 3pm
The annual CJUC and OYM Food and Craft Bazaar took place on Sat. Oct. 13 at Oriole-York Mills United Church. Preparations took place during the week leading to Oct. 13 to renew memories and traditions of previous bazaars. Features included: bake sale, boutique, udon, pickles, and preserves. In the kitchen over 200 bowls of udon were prepared. All were sold and it tasted great. Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped to make the bazaar a success.
Photos from previous bazaars.
Bazaar advertising poster
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New United Church Moderator Rev. Gary Paterson offers United Church congregations a message of hope in his first pastoral letter, “Learning to Live in Babylon”.
Moderator’s Message (text)
Moderator meets the press (video)
Historical Note – CJUC Moved from Dovercourt to Lansing – January, 2006
It’s been over six years since CJUC moved from downtown Toronto to Lansing United Church in 2006. We look back to the final worship service at Dovercourt.
After many years at 701 Dovercourt Road in downtown Toronto, CJUC wanted to give up maintaining a church building and moved to Lansing United Church in a rental agreement. David Kai was commissioned to write a song to commemorate this event. He composed Our God Goes with Us to celebrate the Japanese Canadian dispersal from British Columbia, overcoming hardships and forming a church community.
The words and music to Our God Goes with Us
Video clip for Our God Goes with Us
CJUC Launches a New Website
In the year 2000, CJUC created its first website. In those days, the most common mode of connection to the internet was a dial up circuit of 56 kilobits per second. The original CJUC website was primarily text-based as the slow internet speeds could tolerate sending text through the internet, but bandwidth hogging images were transferred much too slowly. A decade later, connection speeds are commonly 500 times faster or more and websites rich with images can be transmitted more easily. This website upgrade refreshes the look and feel of the original website and adds new features like image galleries, variable text sizes. Perhaps in the future we will move to links to social networks and electronic givings, but only time will tell.
You will notice that on the top left corner of each page is the circular dome symbol. This dome was installed at 701 Dovercourt Road in 1958 when the Upper Chapel was built for the then-named Toronto Japanese United Church Nisei Congregation. The Niseis required a separate space for their worship services held in English rather than sharing space with the original Toronto Japanese United Church Issei Congregation that worshipped in Japanese. The dome was the focal point of the chapel and when CJUC moved to Lansing, the dome was dismantled and stored at Lansing. The plan is to re-install the dome inside the renovated Lansing building. The dome is an important symbol of CJUC as we move from Dovercourt to Lansing to Oriole-York Mills.
Much of the content of the old site is included in the new site. If you have not already explored CJUC’s history, take a look at the page About Us, History. View some faces in the Gallery page. Take a look at our events in the Calendar page. See how CJUC fits into the larger United Church of Canada in the About Us, Background page.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Please send them (and any digital images of church activities for possible inclusion in the photo gallery) to cjuc@sympatico.ca
CJUC Moves Once More
After 5 years of worshipping at Lansing United Church, CJUC has temporarily moved its location. Lansing is undergoing a large renovation project to demolish the old gymnasium and build a new worship space, put in an underground garage, and change the old sanctuary into a multi-use activity room. Lansing decided to stay at the site while the construction is in progress. As the length of the construction is not known, but estimated to be two years, the CJUC council decided to move to Oriole-York Mills United Church for a period of up to two years. OYM’s minister retired in June 2011, so Rev Cindy Cooper is now the minister of two churches. CJUC and OYM retain their autonomous status as separate churches and have agreed to combine their worship services, with CJUC renting space from OYM. Both churches have adapted to this unique situation. The service outline is much like the CJUC service of previous times. However, the worship music includes many OYM traits, including soloists and a strong choir. Our new service now has two music directors alternating or playing simultaneously on the piano and organ, with many other instruments included regularly.
OYM and CJUC have both benefitted. OYM found the minister they needed after the former minister retired and is reinvigorated with new people. CJUC found the physical space that they were searching for and were welcomed warmly by OYM members. Attendance at Sunday services is encouraging and many times the chapel pews and parking lot are full. Shared activities are well attended and Sunday lunch has become very popular.
To add to the mix, the former Toronto Japanese United Church (Issei or Japanese-speaking congregation) now has amalgamated with CJUC and its members worship with CJUC and OYM. Former TJUC members meet monthly for a Japanese language worship service.
