First Community

10/23/2026

Hebrews 6:10

Read today's verse in the Bible App! https://app.bible.com/votd-2026-10-20-facebook-graphic

10/20/2026

Please join us Monday, October 26 from 6 - 8pm for Pastor Ben MacRae’s Covenanting Service at First United Church Salmon Arm - in the Village Hall.

This is a special worship service that officially celebrates and marks the beginning of a new pastoral relationship between Ben, First United, and the wider church represented by the Pacific Mountain Regional Council.

Everyone is Welcome! Please come celebrate with us as we welcome Ben to First United. Live Jazz at 5:30pm and there will be coffee, tea and baked goodies following the service. Hope to see you there!

10/16/2026

This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

From his books, Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

10/16/2026

Above all, how can we continue to speak of God in ways that lead us to live divided lives, without ever addressing the significant (and valuable) differences between religious and scientific ways of thinking? People of faith may be excused for wanting to avoid the dialogue, but not for avoiding it. Our faith in an incarnational God will not allow us to ignore the physical world, nor any of its nuances.

10/16/2026

10/13/2026

Aretha Tillotson
Thursday, October 15, 2026
7:00 PM 9:00 PM
The Nexus at First
450 Okanagan Avenue East, Salmon Arm
PLEASE NOTE - this event takes place on the 3rd Thursday of the month, a departure from our typical 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month timing.

Join JUNO-nominated bassist, composer, and educator Aretha Tillotson for an exceptional evening of contemporary jazz. Recognized as the 2024 Western Canadian Music Award "Jazz Artist of the Year," Tillotson has quickly established herself as a prominent force in the Canadian music community. Her rigorous musical background includes training at MacEwan University, the University of Toronto, and the prestigious Berklee Global Jazz Institute. She now shapes the next generation of musicians by teaching bass and music theory at MacEwan University in Edmonton.

Aretha has toured North America alongside renowned jazz icons such as Kris Davis, Walter Smith III, and the Ingrid and Christine Jensen Quintet. Her professional diversity spans from anchoring major Canadian jazz festival stages to performing as the resident bassist for the Broadway production of SIX the Musical. As a bandleader, her recorded projects—including her debut album Introducing Aretha Tillotson and her second release Kinda Out West—have earned wide critical praise for their strong melodic ideas and grounded, steady bass lines.

Band members joining Aretha will be announced soon — please stay tuned for details. Better yet, subscribe to our newsletter and never miss hearing about upcoming jazz and jazz-adjacent events throughout the Shuswap and nearby locations.

ADMISSION: By donation.
CONCESSION: Coffee, tea and treats are also available by donation.
DOORS: Open at 6:30 pm

10/10/2026

There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you need time to focus on your mental state. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you need help with your mental health. Therapy and/or medication are not weaknesses.

Today, try to give yourself time to rest and recover. Read a book, play a game, watch a movie, listen to music, whatever it is that makes you happy.

You are loved, and you deserve to be here. Your mental health is just as important as any other part of your health.

10/09/2026

Stillness is vital to the world of the soul. If as you age you become more still, you will discover that stillness can be a great companion. The fragments of your life will have time to unify, and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken will have time to knit and heal. You will be able to return to yourself. In this stillness, you will engage your soul. Many people miss out on themselves completely as they journey through life. They know others, they know places, they know skills, they know their work, but tragically, they do not know themselves at all. Aging can be a lovely time of ripening when you actually meet yourself, indeed maybe for the first time. There are beautiful lines from T. S. Eliot that say:

'And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.'

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the book, Anam Cara,
25th Anniversary Edition.
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/anam-cara

Dunquin Cottage, County Kerry, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

10/09/2026

“...whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.”
Mary Oliver - from, Wild Geese, 1986.

David Lloyd Evans - Three Swans in Flight,1945.