Jesus replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind”

-          Matthew 22:37

How do love God with all our heart, soul, and mind? Ruth Haley Barton asks this question in her book “Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation”. She offers the practice of Lectio Divina to engage, not only our mind, but our hearts as well. Barton compares the practice to that of reading a love letter. When you read a newspaper, you are looking for the facts and main points, skimming over the details. When you read a love letter, you savour every word, maybe even stopping to ponder what the author meant by a certain word or phrase. This is how we approach our bible reading with Lectio Divina. It’s a practice that serves to deepen your relationship with God. It asks the question “God, what do you want to say to me right now?” or “What do I need to hear from you at this point in my day?”.

Lecitio Divina can be done in a group or on your own. I always enjoy a group setting as it’s amazing how different people will have very different responses are to the same passage. It reminds me that God sees us all and speaks to us in different ways.

Here are the steps involved in Lectio Divina (taken from Sacred Rhythms, chapter 3):

Read (Lectio): Listen for the word or phrase that is addressed to you as you read (silently or aloud). Allow for silence at the end of your reading. Don’t try too hard! Be honest with yourself about what stands out to you and don’t try to judge or analyze.

Reflect (Meditatio): How is my life touched by this word? Once you have a word or phrase, read the passage again and listen for the way this passage connects with your life. Allow for silence as you explore your thoughts and perceptions.

Respond (Oratio): What is my response to God based on what I have read and encountered? Read the passage again and listen for your truest response. Allow for silence and then pray what is on your heart. Pay attention to how God might be inviting you to respond to him.

Rest (Contemplatio): Rest in the Word of God. Read again, and release all that you have gleaned so you can simply rest in God.

Resolve (Incarnatio): Incarnate or live out the Word of God. As you emerge from this place of personal encounter with God to life in the company of others, resolve to carry this word with you and live it out in the context of daily life and activity.

You can get a full explanation of Lectio Divina and an opportunity to practice it, by listening to Sunday’s sermon.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. 1 John 4:7

I often hear people say that we should love everyone. I understand what they are getting at. I want to have a loving disposition toward everyone I meet. I want to be patient and kind to those I come into contact with on a daily basis. And yes, it seems like a good response when people ask about your faith to say, “oh, we love everyone”.

I want to love everyone. But I know I can’t. I’m struggling to love the people I know. I want to give time and energy and attention to all the people in my life, and yet I never have enough time or energy or attention to love them all well. Sometimes I flinch at my own lame efforts to show others I care. When someone is having a hard time, is sending a quick text really enough? Other times I wonder, how I let weeks go by without reaching out to someone close to me. And when friends confess their struggles on social media, I hope that liking their status is enough because my words often seem inadequate. I want to love everyone. But more than that, I want to love the people that are actually in my life.

Does God really ask us to love everyone? We are told to live in peace with everyone (Hebrews 12:14). We are told to love our enemies (Luke 6:35). We are told to love our neighbour and, as my husband often points out, we’re even told to love ourselves (Mark 12:31). We often told to ‘love one another’ (John 13:34; Romans 13:8, 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 4:7) but loving ‘one another’ is different than ‘loving everyone’.

When the Bible says we should “love one another” it is usually referring to believers. This love was the witness of the early church. People heard about God’s love for them and were changed. They started meeting together regularly for food and prayer and teaching and they shared all their possessions and had everything in common (Acts 2). The love they had for each other then spilled over into the wider community, and they were able to care for those who couldn’t care for themselves.  Their love began with God, then turned inward to the believing community, and then outward, to those in need. This was the natural progression of Christian love and it still is today.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to ‘love everyone’ but I do think the words lack meaning when applied universally. Love isn’t just about words, but about actions. God loves everyone. He made that clear by giving his Son to die for everyone. God proved his love through his actions. We show our love through actions too, and not just how we care for those outside the Church, but in how we care for those inside as well. This is important because as disciples, we are called to participate in Kingdom building together. The Church should be a place where we see forgiveness, grace, and patience. The Church should be a place where we are committed to each other. The Church should be a place where we laugh and cry and eat together. If we’re not practicing that kind of love inside the Church, then how can we expect to take it outside of the Church?

So as much as I want to love everyone, I’m going to start by loving those in my home and in my church. And I’m going to pray that God will help me love the people I know well.

by Pastor Abby Davidson

This summer is different from any other summer. Children didn’t race from schoolyards as the final bell rang. The streets aren’t filled with music and the food festivals that usually take place during these warm months in Toronto. And, if you are fortunate enough to be able to take a vacation, it probably looks much different than it usually does.

We’ve come a long way in this pandemic since March, but there’s still a long way to go. Viral outbreaks are still happening in different parts of the world. As if that weren’t enough, protests still continue across the globe as people confront racism and hatred in their communities that refuse to die. We’ve all had time to sit back and witness the chaos and suffering that exist in our world. If ever there were a time to read Job, that time is now.

Job is a book about suffering. It’s a book about questioning God. It’s a book about being faithful when chaos surrounds you. It looks at the question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. It also looks at the struggle that exists between good and evil.

Job can be confusing to read. It brings up a lot of questions about God.

Does God really have wagers with the devil?

Does God use people and allow unnecessary suffering in their lives to prove a point?

Will this happen to me?

Job is a book of praise and lament; praise for the Creator and lament over the evil that exists this world. The question that I take from it is “Do we love God because we benefit from the relationship, or do we love God for who he is?”. Last Sunday we sang Blessed Be the Name of the Lord. There’s a line in the song that says You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name.

I struggle to sing this line. It grieves me to think of losing all that God has given me. Yet this is the world we live in. Loss is guaranteed to happen and suffering is a part of life.

Job is a hard book to read, but it teaches us about faithfulness – both ours and God’s. God is faithful in the midst of loss. We may lose everything, but we don’t lose God. Our faithful response is to both praise and lament in times of trouble. We lament our losses, and we praise God for who He is; unchanging and omnipotent. Job teaches us to proclaim with the Psalmist Though an army encamp around me, my heart will not fear. Though a war breaks out against me, I will keep my trust. Job teaches us how to bless the name of the Lord, now and forevermore.

by Pastor Abby Davidson

A member of our church reached out to me yesterday, with a couple of questions. She asked what my parents taught me about dealing with racism and how the church can respond positively to the recent events in the States. I thought I would share my answers with all of you.

I grew up north of the city in a small town. There were very few non-white families and so we were an anomaly. I remember my parents teaching us about slavery. I remember my dad telling us what it was like growing up in Jamaica before independence and after (by which time he had left to come to Canada). I struggle to remember what my parents had to say to us about racism. I know they spoke to my siblings and I about it but at the time, it wasn’t something I could comprehend. For me, family was black, white, and in-between and it was hard to imagine how skin colour could divide people.

There were times when we encountered racism. Unfortunately, it was in the church. Another child, calling me “blackie” during Sunday school. My sister visiting a friend whose father (a church leader) told her to wear sunscreen so her skin wouldn’t turn brown and “yucky” like ours. The more I think back, I remember certain incidents and wonder “was that racism?”. I realize that my confusion indicates a certain level of fortune in my experiences. For many people, the racism they experience isn’t subtle or polite; it’s blatant and ugly and costs them dearly.

Some local news that came out last week, was about a young woman named Chika Oriuwa who is graduating from the faculty of medicine at the University of Toronto. She was the second black woman in the history of the faculty of medicine to be named valedictorian and, four years ago, in a class of 259, students, she was the only black person.

I’ve noticed that in Canada, while we talk about being diverse and inclusive, we see very little representation from racialized communities (particularly the black community) in leadership roles. I remember looking at graduate theology programs for schools in southern Ontario and finding places with all-white faculties. We need to do better at making sure that racialized people have equal opportunities because right now, that’s far from the reality.

The world has been awakened to this reality over the past two weeks. I believe that the Church (that’s you and me) was made for times like these. We have an understanding of the evil that holds our world in its grip. We also know where to look for hope.

How can we respond?

First, we can pray. Pray that God will enable us to bring his justice to life in our city. Pray that hatred and racism will end. Pray that God will open our eyes to our own prejudices and biases and give us the courage to change.

Second, educate yourself. Know what the issues are so that you can be a part of the conversation. Read this interview (https://baptist.ca/2020/06/stepping-forward/) from CBOQ with Pastor Audley Goulbourne about how you can support the black community. If you’re looking for books to read, the Toronto Public Library has released a ‘Black Lives Matter’ booklist on their website.

Third, listen. Look for ways to listen to black voices; whether in books, on social media, or within your own circles. When we stop speaking and start listening, we make room for change. When I read the gospels, I am always amazed at how Jesus took time to listen to people, especially when in conversation with ‘the other’.

Fourth, speak. Speak up when you hear or see racism and speak wisely. Proverbs 12:18 says that the words of the wise bring healing. Healing is the work of the Church. May we, by the power of the Spirit, speak words of life that will bring healing and redemption to those who live with the wounds of racism.

by Pastor Abby Davidson

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

We have looked at the ministry roles of Shepherd, Evangelist, Prophet, and Teacher. This week we are looking at the role of Apostle.

The Greek word that our word Apostle is based on, means “one who is sent out”. The twelve apostles of Jesus show us what it means to live in this role. They were sent out to share the good news, to grow the Church, and to help God’s kingdom to the ends of the earth. They were pioneers, venturing out into new lands. They did this in very innovative ways as each place they visited had a unique culture.  We also see that Jesus filled the role of Apostle as he was sent by God to us, in order that God might be revealed to us.

What does the role of Apostle look like in the Church today? You might be an apostle if you:

• Love to start things up
• Enjoy change
• Embrace new tasks and challenges
• Dream
• Have a lot of big ideas
• Can attract people to your vision of how to build things up

Apostles are often the ones who start church plants or new ministries within a church. Apostles are helpful for churches because they are committed to a forward moment and can help ward off complacency. They also inspire others to come alongside the vision. Sometimes their ideas can be overwhelming to others and they need to slow down so that everyone else can catch up.

Apostles are important for Church growth. Their energy and ideas help keep churches healthy and alive. They aren’t afraid of new ideas and their openness is important when churches are listening for God’s leading and discernment.

Think you might be an Apostle? Let us know. Here is the link to take the FiveFold ministry test. http://www.fivefoldsurvey.com/

by Pastor Abby Davidson 

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

We have looked at the ministry roles of Shepherd, Evangelist, and Prophet so far in this series. This week we are looking at the role of Teacher. We have an example of a Teacher in Acts 18 where we read about Apollos. We are told he is a learned man with thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He spoke with great fervour and taught about Jesus accurately (verses 24-26). Another great example of a Teacher in the Bible is the one the disciples called Rabbi. We call him Jesus!

I grew up with a father who is a teacher, which meant that everything was a learning opportunity. I remember any time my siblings or I would make a mistake (i.e. drive the car into a ditch), his response would always be “Now what did you learn?”. It affected how I see the world around me and even today, I still everything as a learning opportunity.

Teachers are important for the community of God because they remind us that we are always learning. They can take their knowledge of scripture and apply it in everyday situations. Here are some of the characteristics of a Teacher:

• Looks for ways to explain, enlighten and apply truth
• Enjoys studying and reading the Bible and helping others understand it
• Is concerned with logic, order, process, and development
• Leans toward proven systems to get the job done rather than unproven ones
• Can help bring practicality and realization to the dreams and visions of Prophets and Apostles
• They ask tough questions

Teachers are important for the Church because they help people learn about God. When new believers come into the church, Teachers are the ones who will help them learn about discipleship and understand biblical truth. They make great small group leaders or bible study leaders. Teachers also help people deepen their faith and gain new understanding about God. When Teachers work together with the Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Apostles in their congregation, the Church will grow and thrive.

Think you might be a Teacher? Let us know. Here is the link to take the FiveFold ministry test. http://www.fivefoldsurvey.com/

from Pastor Abby Davidson

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

Why would anyone want to be a prophet? The role of the Prophet is an important one in the Bible. We have the books of the major prophets and those of the minors, and then we have prophets scattered throughout the other books of the Bible, always playing an important role in the story of God. Prophets would receive a message from God and pass it on to his people. It seems that God didn’t want people to miss the meaning of his message because he often had prophets act out his words. With Hosea, he was instructed to marry an unfaithful woman and with Isaiah, he named his children according to how God would act. And then there was Jonah who ran away from God and ended inside a big fish. There’s no glamour in being a prophet. Yet, the role of the prophet is vital if the church is going to grow and fulfill her God-given mission.

The Prophet is one who hears and listens to God. They are able to stand back for a Kingdom perspective. The Prophet often sees a clear picture of what is happening and can develop a vision for situations that others don’t see. They are committed to a vision and will hold others accountable to that vision. They tend to question the status quo.

A Prophet is not necessarily someone who knows the future or has strange visions all the time. Rather, a Prophet is one who cares about God’s values and whether or not people are living those out.

A prophet:

• Enjoys spending time with God
• Can sense when a church is drifting from her values and mission
• Thinks outside the box
• Is future-oriented

Because they are willing to disrupt the status quo, Prophets can come off as very annoying to everyone else. They often get frustrated in churches seeing all the things that are wrong and have a hard time bringing others alongside them in their vision.

Prophets are committed to pursuing God’s will, even when it doesn’t make sense in the eyes of the world or the church for that matter. Prophets are the ones who will help us step out in faith and enter new territory that we might not have considered without them.

Think you might be a Prophet? Let us know. Here is the link to take the FiveFold ministry test. http://www.fivefoldsurvey.com/

by Pastor Abby Davidson

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

I was getting my hair done at a new place a couple of years ago and talking with my hairdresser. She asked me what I do and I told her I’m a pastor. Oh wow, she replied, I’m an evangelist. I had never heard someone describe themself as an evangelist before (and never have since) but I was impressed with how she embraced this role. Of course, she wasn’t talking about a paid position, but about her ministry role.

Last week we looked at Shepherds – those who nurture and protect. Today we are going to look at Evangelists – those who recruit.

Evangelists are those who readily share the gospel with others. They know the Bible but more than that, they know how to make it relevant to life. Evangelists are “people-gatherers” as others are drawn to them. They tend to be surrounded by non-Christians all the time. They are concerned with whether new people are entering the kingdom of God and will be focused on ministries that invite others into a saving relationship with Christ. Evangelists enjoy debate and discussion and aren’t timid about sharing their faith with others.

Evangelists are important for a church as they are often the connection between believers and the outside world. They are usually the ones who bring people into the fold and then connect them with a shepherd who will nurture them in their newfound faith. 

Evangelists can also help other Christians learn how to talk about their faith and proclaim the good news. We have many examples of evangelists throughout the Bible, especially in the book of Acts (think Paul, Philip, Stephen).

We are all called to evangelism, but some are uniquely gifted to do this ministry role. Of course, being gifted in this area doesn’t mean that evangelists can’t grow in their ministry. Evangelists can focus so much on conversion that they drop the relationship once someone comes to faith in Christ. They can also undervalue the importance of ongoing discipleship and meeting together because it feels “boring” or not as important as reaching out.

Helping to identify and nurture the evangelists in our midst will lead to church growth. The model of evangelism that the Bible gives us is one of a team approach – it’s not about one person being responsible for proclamation, but it’s small groups of people that go out to share the good news.

If you think you are gifted in the role of evangelism, let us know.

Here is the link to take the APEST/Fivefold ministry test: http://www.fivefoldsurvey.com/

by Pastor Abby Davidson

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

The image of ‘shepherd’ is probably the most well known when thinking of an image of God. Throughout the Bible, we have examples of different leaders who started out as shepherds and end up as leaders of God’s people. Moses and David were both shepherds before they held positions of authority among the Israelites. It was shepherds who were the first invited to see that God had become flesh the very first Christmas morning. Shepherds were chosen to lead God’s people toward him and to care for them. God has a special place for shepherds in the community of believers.

The word ‘pastor’ means shepherd. We tend to think of a pastor as a leader of a church, but the Bible actually has a much broader definition for the word. A pastor is one who cares for others. A pastor is one who cultivates a sense of family and belonging within a group of people. A pastor is one who creates a safe environment where people can be honest and find healing. This is what God as Shepherd does for us, and this is what we are called to do for others. In that way, we are all called to be pastors and imitate the care that the Good Shepherd provides for us.

In Ephesians 4 we see that there are some who are particularly gifted for this ministry. Here are some characteristics as those who are gifted as pastors or shepherds.

Pastors see the individual needs and not just the big picture.

Pastors are committed to harmony.

Pastors are empathetic.

Pastors are focused on cultivating community within the church.

Pastors are committed to protecting values and principles within a church.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about the different gifts as outlined in Ephesians 4. It’s important to know how you are gifted because this is how the church is edified and built. When everyone is working according to their gifts and calling, the church is healthy and functioning in the role that God calls her to.

For those who are gifted as pastors, we can look to God as our example in caring for others. God cares for our needs. God gives us time and space to rest and reflect. God gently corrects us when we stray and leads us on paths of righteousness. God restores our soul.

So if you are a shepherd, pray that God will show you how you can use your gifts during this time. When the worst of this pandemic is over, the world is going to need a lot of soul-healers who are ready to encourage and minister in the power of the Spirit. Let’s be ready!

Interested in knowing whether you are an apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd or teacher? Take the test at http://www.fivefoldsurvey.com/. Let us know your results!

~John 12:25

How many disciples did Jesus have?

In John six we read Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life. He tells his disciples that unless they are willing to drink his blood and eat his flesh, they have no life in them. Upon hearing this, many of his disciples say “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” And they turn back and desert Jesus. He was left with 12 disciples.

A few weeks ago I told the children a story about my encounters with sheep. My grandparents and uncle both had sheep farms in Northern Ontario and at the age of two I went out to the barn for the first time. One of the lambs started toward me and I began to cry because I was frightened. I was living in Scarborough at the time and the only animals I saw were raccoons so I was certain that this lamb was going to attack me. Of course, it didn’t and after reassurance from my father, I was able to hold a bottle of milk and feed the lamb (with my dad acting as a barrier between us of course). As the years went on and I spent summers up north at the farm I came to love the animals there and especially enjoyed holding the lambs. My sisters and I would give them names and talk to them as if they were pets. I named one Pete and enjoyed going to the barn to feed him and touch his soft woolly coat.

During the Spring and Fall, my grandparents would make the 6-hour trek down to Southern Ontario to visit us. They would usually bring gifts and occasionally a cardboard box that would go directly into the freezer. I never thought much of it. One day, as we enjoyed stew I asked about how Pete was doing. There was silence and snickering around the table as my dad leaned forward to say We’re eating Pete. I was horrified as I realized my enjoyment of supper had come at the cost of Pete’s life. Lamb stew ruined.

My life experiences with lambs have taught me about discipleship. When it’s unknown and new we get scared by it. Gradually we realize it’s not so bad and get on board. At first, it feels good. But eventually, we get to a point where we realize that discipleship means participating in the death of Christ. There’s a cost and joining in Christ’s death means that we must die to ourselves. That’s not easy to swallow.

Every aspect of who we are – our personality, desires, thoughts, sexuality and our very nature must be put death so that the life of Christ can reign in us.

Do we, like the disciples who abandoned Jesus say “Who can do this?” Or are we with Peter who when asked by Jesus if he is going to leave to replies with “Where shall I go?”

Peter knows that while the cost of discipleship is great, the cost of nondiscipleship is greater.

Dallas Willard puts it this way:

Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10). The cross-shaped yoke of Christ is, after all, an instrument of liberation and power to those who live in it with him and learn the meekness and lowliness of heart that brings rest to the soul. . . . The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.

To be a disciple is to have this attitude – to see all that the world has to offer and know that it is nothing compared to life in the Kingdom. It is to taste the body and blood and Christ and see that it is good.  It is to know that life with Jesus is the best possible life we can live.

As Lent draws to a close and we look forward to Good Friday, let us thank God for enabling us to participate in the death of Christ that gives us new life.

by Pastor Abby

And this is the way to have eternal life – to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. John 17:3

Over the last 3 weeks, the world has changed in ways we couldn’t have imagined. We have all been asked to stay home and determine what is ‘essential’ and what we can do without. Assuming you have a home to stay in, it’s probably been a fairly good experience for you; more time with family, more rest, more track pants. I’ve had a lot more time to read. I found a book on my shelf (yes, I have too many books) that describes the lives of several Christian mystics. They all led fascinating lives, but the story of Julian of Norwich really stood out to me. She spent most of her time in a cell attached to a church. She had several revelatory visions in which God spoke to her about his love for humanity. These visions inspired her writing and her theology in which she talks about acting from a hermeneutic of love. For her, sins became wounds that need healing rather than acts to be condemned. She realized that it is easy for Christians to believe in God’s power but hard to believe in His love. As such, judgment and condemnation often take centre stage over love and grace. But when we understand that God loves us, we see ourselves and others and beloved children of God. Children who can experience God’s hope and redemption no matter what circumstances they find themselves in. In her time of detachment from the world, Julian got to know God. Everything that she had heard about Him from people or institutions was replaced with true knowledge that can only come from an encounter with God Himself.

It might be hard to see how Julian of Norwich’s words apply to our situation today. How do God’s hope and redemption speak into COVID-19? Julian lived in the fourteenth century. The Bubonic plague was claiming lives all around her. At the age of 30, she became fatally ill and was preparing to die. It was at that time that she had visions from God, after which she miraculously recovered. She devoted herself to a life of simplicity so she could hear from God and better understand His will for humanity.

This may be an extreme example, but we have all been given a chance to cut out distractions so that we can better hear from God. It’s a chance for us to live simply so that we can get to know God. What are some ways we can do that?

1. Read your Bible! Before you check the news, or your phone and do anything, start your day in God’s word.
2. Set aside a good chunk of time during the day to pray (speak and listen!).
3. Connect with others to hear how God has been speaking to them.
4. Listen to worship music. This is a time to be reminded of who God is and what his promises are.

As you read and pray and connect, ask God to show you his will for others and for you. Let this be a time of getting reacquainted with God and learning how to listen to his voice.

This is a time for the Church to speak into the fears and doubts that are circulating around us. But we can’t do that unless we are grounded in the truth of the gospel. That truth is that God is for us; for you, for me, for the neighbour next door. This doesn’t mean that we can’t catch COVID-19. It does mean that God loves us and knows us and wants to be known by us. And this can only happen when we make the time to know Him.

So let’s take this time to reset and remind ourselves of what is essential. For Julian of Norwich, she came out on the other end committed to a life of prayer, reading, and writing. When our time of social distancing is over, will we return to the way things were, or will we come out more committed to new rhythms of knowing God?

I pray that this finds you all well and safe in the midst of the ever-changing situation we find ourselves in.  As I said to someone recently, during uncertain times we need to hold on to the things that are certain.  The underlying question for our faith community is 'What does loving God and loving one another look like during this Covid-19 pandemic?'

I have consulted with Pastor Abby and our Deacon's Board, and part of our response is to suspend indefinitely all meetings at Blythwood.  We feel that this is only right in light of current public health guidelines.  This will affect everything from Sunday morning worship to Wednesday drop-in, to small groups.  

We are live-streaming the worship service on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am. Please go to www.facebook.com/blythwoodroadbaptist

We will continue to make a written and audio version of the weekly sermon available on the church's website www.blythwood.org/index.php/sermons

During this time, please pray for those who are sick, for the vulnerable and immunocompromised, for healthcare workers, for custodians and cleaners, for those who are isolated, and for those who feel anxious and worried. Let us continue to ask 'What does loving God and one another look like now?'  Reach out to one another in the various ways that we can do that.  Know that your pastoral staff are praying for you.  While we are curtailing in-person visits outside of emergencies, know that you can reach out to us anytime.  If you need something from the grocery store or pharmacy, please be in touch with myself, Pastor Abby, or the church office.  Help is here.

I said to someone earlier today that being apart from one another will make our reunion all the more sweet.  I know this will be true. Let us continue to hold one another up in love, support, encouragement, and prayer.

'Christ be with me,

Christ within me,

Christ behind me,

Christ before me,

Christ beside me,

Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ in quiet,

Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three.

By Whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:

Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.'

-- St. Patrick's Breastplate

Written by Helen Lenz, Assistant in Ministry, Family Engagement and Outreach

This past May, I had the opportunity to travel to Germany to attend my cousin’s wedding. My father’s extended family has lived in the same village in Southwest Germany for as long as anyone has been able to trace. My cousin was married in her hometown, in the same church in which she was christened, and also where her parents were married…and her grandparents! Nearly everyone at the wedding seemed to have some sort of connection to this particular church and community which went back generations. No one questioned their identity or the authenticity of their relationship to the couple or the community.

In my mind, North American churchgoers don’t have these same roots to draw upon for a sense of security and belonging. I’ve lived in a small handful of cities and attended a large handful of churches over the years, and while I have certainly encountered people with family roots in a particular congregation or community, this is far from the norm. Yet, our idea and vision of parish and community haven’t really changed from when we were more likely to spend our lives in the same community than not. We want others to feel welcome in our space, yet this can be difficult to leverage without history and rapport. We welcome new people into our community with the hope that they are planning to stay long-term, yet this is not often the case. Perhaps as a by-product of living in a society fueled by instant gratification, we tend to invest in outreach opportunities in which we can witness the fruits of our efforts. We want to see how things turn out—we want to know the end of the story. If we can’t have that confirmation of the efficacy of our efforts, they almost seem futile.

Summer camp at Blythwood has been a prime example and a bit of a case study in this transience. We have but two weeks of the year to love on 95 kids whose parents have trustingly allowed them to grace the doors of our church. We have little to no control over what these kids are exposed to, or not exposed to, the other 50 weeks of the year. What kind of impact can occur in two weeks? How are we sustained and encouraged through this venture? How do we know that God is with us in this? Is it worth it if none of these families stick around to become more permanent fixtures in our church community?

God, by his grace, gave us so many reminders this year of his involvement and work in the lives of these children and their families. There were children reading their Bibles at every opportunity, thirsty for more of God’s word; parents who were reporting to us that their children were sharing with them more about the Bible than they had previously known; children dedicating their lives to Christ for the first time, and those who were renewing that decision; and a kitchen volunteer who shocked me with the question of how she could become a Christian, because she had felt God working in her heart.

As I have taken some time to step back and reflect upon this year’s summer camp, I have been filled with awe and gratitude for the God who does immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. Our identity is not determined by our family history, location, age, race, or socioeconomic bracket, but by the fact that we are beloved children of God. In a fast-paced world where so many are struggling to find or discover or reinvent themselves, what could be more important than showing the individuals whom God places in our lives his love? What a special privilege it is to demonstrate the Father’s love to children, so that they may carry their identity of “God’s beloved” throughout their lives!

We were invited to visit by Gordon and Mary Jane Petawabano. Gordon grew up in Mistissini and is now the pastor of the community’s only Baptist church, Faith Bible Chapel. Our team arrived with a mixture of excitement and curiousity. We didn’t know what to expect, aside from the cold temperatures, and we were looking forward to seeing how God would move during our time there.

Given that half of our group was pastors, we were all prepared to speak if called upon. Soon after we arrived, it became clear that we there to listen. As we began to meet people I was amazed at how open everyone was with us. Every time we sat down to a meal with one of our Cree neighbours, they would tell us their story. We heard stories of growing up in residential schools and about what it is like living in the aftermath of those schools. We heard stories of family generational trauma, broken relationships, and grief. We also heard stories of forgiveness, hope and healing.

I was struck by the vibrant faith that many of these residential school survivors held. One man told us of his struggle with alcohol addiction. After years of struggling, he saw how it was hurting his family so he decided to go on a long-distance walk – something, I learned, that is very important in First Nations culture. These walks can range from a few to hundreds of kilometers. For this man, the walk broke the power of his addiction and gave him the healing he needed. It also deepened his understanding of God and renewed his faith.

His story reminded me of the passage in Luke where Jesus meets the two travellers on the road to Emmaus. As their journey begins they are disheartened and their hopes have been dashed. When their journey ends they are filled with joy and hope has been restored. Looking back, they remember that as they walking, their hearts burned within them. They didn’t know that Jesus was walking with them until their long journey had ended.

I was grateful for the chance to listen to people’s stories. I was honoured that they were so willing to share very personal and difficult experiences with us.

After listening, it was our turn to speak. We did so in the Saturday and Sunday services. The church meets in a chapel on the campground just outside the town. There’s no electricity so we heated the building with two wood-burning stoves. Before long, our little sanctuary had turned from a frozen and dark space into a room full of warmth and light.

After hearing about other’s journeys of grief and pain, I was inspired to share my own experience with grief. I shared about disappointment and feeling distant from God, only to look back and realize that he had been with me the whole time. I discovered that whether we walk the road to Emmaus, or Yonge Street in Toronto, or a frozen road in Northern Quebec we all need help identifying that the burning we feel in our hearts is Christ walking with us.

Our trip to Mistissini was an eye-opening experience for our team. We learned a lot about Cree life and culture, we met residential school survivors and we even ate moose meat! We also found that though we come from very different walks of life, we’re not so different from each other.

Week two started with leaving the remote town of Auquile. During week one, we spent three days working on our two houses and two professionals came in to finish the jobs. On Friday we bought gifts for the families and went to say goodbye. It was a long process as our messages were translated from English to Spanish to Quechua and then back again. Up until that point, we didn't have much opportunity to speak with the families. It was a very meaningful time and there were a lot of tears. 

In the house where I was working, the mother was a widow. She lived there with her two sons, two daughters, son-in-law and three grandchildren. She told us that before we came, her house was falling apart. She was grateful for our help and offered us a lamb as a thank you gift. After our goodbyes, we began the five-hour trip back to Cochabamba. 

As we drive through the dusty and winding mountain roads I had time to reflect on the two families we had spent time with. What struck me was how they worked together. They didn't have much in terms of material wealth but they were rich in their sense of family. They had a common goal in the preservation of their home. This was something they work for day and night. It was beautiful to see.

The weekend was our chance to see Cochabamba. We visited the market and had lunch at a local sandwich shop. Then at night, we went to the young adults' group at Villa Galindo. We played some get-to-know-you games and then I shared with the group about Transformation. Bruce was able to share a testimony and by the end of the night, we felt a deep connection with our Bolivian friends.

On Sunday, I preached in the morning service. I spoke on Psalm 23 and how God is always with us through the different seasons of life.

Sunday afternoon we went to see a soccer game. The crowd was very enthusiastic and it was as much fun to watch them as it was to watch the game.

Monday and Wednesday were spent at Casa de la Amistad playing with kids who have parents in jail. They were all very excited to have us there and weren't too shy to try out their English on us. 

Tuesday we were at the Seminary getting to know the students and doing some painting. Week two seemed to go by very fast and we were all a little sad when Thursday arrived and it was time to say our final goodbyes. 

We flew to Santa Cruz this evening and now begin the long journey back to Toronto via Panama City.

We are all looking forward to sharing more stories with you in person.

For now, Dios te bendiga!

Pastora Abby

Our first few days in Bolivia have been tiring and wonderful. We flew into Santa Cruz on Saturday and stayed there overnight before flying to Cochabamba the next morning. 

Patty, who works for CBM in Bolivia met us at the airport with a Canadian flag. She took us to our hotel where we got settled in and had a meal. Then we headed out to one of the local Baptist Churches as they were having an afternoon service to celebrate their 53rd anniversary. They welcomed our team and I was able to bring them greetings from Canada. After the service, we ate cake (so much cake!) and spent some time talking with the church members.

On Monday, we had our orientation at the CBM office. We met the staff and missionaries and found out what to expect during our trip. We reunited with Bill and Janice Dyck who arrived in Bolivia in June and are settling in nicely.

In the afternoon we packed our things and made the long drive to Aiquile. We will be staying in Aquile until Friday as we work with the Chagas project. We have two teams working on two houses. 

This afternoon (Tuesday) we had taken a break from work to play a soccer game with four of the children that live in the house. It was dusty and a lot of fun! The families we are working with primarily speak Quechua so communication is difficult but playing a sport together seemed to break through that barrier with the children.

The other team has a hard job as they are doing the roof of the house but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. The family in the second house has a three-year-old daughter who is enjoying the bubbles the group brought with them.

We have two more days of working on the houses and then hired workers will come in and finish whatever is left. We are grateful to be able to spend time with these two families as we work and play together.

Last night we attended a church service at Iglesia Evangelica Bautista. They invited us to introduce ourselves and sing a song for them. We were able to sing two songs, both English with the chorus in Spanish!

Everyone on the team is working hard and really enjoying taking everything in. Only one person had altitude sickness and has since recovered. We are really enjoying getting to know the Bolivian volunteers who have joined our team. We are learning a lot from them.

Please continue to pray for our team!

Dios te bendiga!

Pastora Abby

Written by Rev. Abby Davidson

So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

- Hebrews 10:22-25 MSG

Our two weeks of camp were full of crafts, bible stories, music, sports, and a lot of Freezies. Add eighty campers and fifty volunteers and you’ve got everything and everyone that makes up our BRBC day camp. It was great to see smiling faces returning for a second, third, fourth, fifth or even sixth year. Campers proudly donned their shirts from years past and were eager to get a new one for 2017. In addition to the returnees, we had some new campers this year. Some were younger siblings who, much to their joy (and their parents’ joy) were finally old enough to attend. Others were new arrivals to Canada who had heard about our camp through a friend or community centre.

The only hiccup we had in our planning was the fact that, due to construction, the camp was held at church this year rather than at the school in Flemington Heights. Fortunately, the location change didn’t keep anyone from having a great time. Blythwood was fully taken over by children as they worshipped in the sanctuary, played on the front lawn, learned bible stories upstairs and ate snacks and meals in the Friendship room. 

With each activity, we watched as friendships formed and children who were shy and apprehensive the first day became quite at home. After a few days of watching the volunteers, one camper asked if we were a family. “In a way”, was the reply that came back to him. 

I discovered that although we were offering the same camp to everyone, coming in meant something different for each person. For one nine-year-old boy it was a place where he could share his fears, ask hard questions and be encouraged. For two sisters it was a place to have fun and relax before going to see their mother who is terminally ill and in the hospital. For those who were new to Canada, it was a place where they were guaranteed to find someone who spoke their language while they were learning how to speak English. For many of the kids, camp was a place where they could scream The Joy of the Lord is my Strength at the top of their lungs and know it was okay. Camp was a place where kids could be themselves, no matter what was going on in their lives, experience joy, and be loved.

For me, it was a gift to see so many children experience church in such a real way. It was more than the fact that they were in a church, it was that for two weeks, five days a week, they were doing church. Between campers and volunteers, there were people ranging from ages 4 to 74 eating together, playing together, creating together, worshipping together, and studying God’s word together.  It may have been a little messier and less structured than a Sunday service, but it was church in every sense of the word. God’s grace was powerfully at work throughout the two weeks and as we said goodbye, we did so trusting that God’s work will continue in each and every camper.

On January 20, our junior highs hopped on a bus with two other Toronto churches and headed north for a weekend at Muskoka Woods. It was a two and a half hour bus ride which we needed to rest because the schedule was nonstop from the time we arrived until we left on Sunday afternoon.

In total there were just over 500 junior highs there from all over Ontario and Quebec. CBOQ staff put a lot of planning into the weekend so, despite a large number of people, everything ran smoothly.

Upon our arrival, we found our cabins and dropped off all our luggage. We arrived after snack (much to everyone’s dismay) so we headed straight to the Hangar where the main sessions take place. We were led in worship by Chasing After, a band from London, Ontario. The speaker for the weekend, Heather Flies, is a junior high Pastor from Minnesota who spoke about being the real you, dealing with sin and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. She has a personality that is larger than life and she really connected with the junior highs (and the adults too!). She brought the message of the cross to life. She gave a dramatic illustration that showed when we feel far from God, he’s not the one who moved! Heather talked about how school, technology, and even friends can be a distraction from staying close to God. She also talked about having ownership over your faith and making your relationship with Jesus personal. We were able to talk over all these ideas in our cabin small groups after each of the four sessions.

In addition to the main sessions, there were snow activities, team games in the gym, movie night and several other smaller events. The girls most enjoyed hanging out with their cabin-mates, some girls from Hamilton and Peterborough.

Here are the weekend highlights according to the girls:

“I learned that God is there and I need to be willing to get into a relationship with him. We also talked about a lot of things that I want to take home to my family.”

“I learned that I need to build a stronger relationship with Jesus, It’s easy to get distracted by school and technology but these things cause me to drift away. I want to come back as a child of God.”

“It was good to make new friends and I would love to come back next year”

Everyone really enjoyed themselves and they all expressed a desire to return next year. It was great for the girls to meet new Christian friends and to have dedicated time to talk about the big issues in their lives and how faith can inform those issues. It was great for me to spend so much time with them!

Grace and peace be yours abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

2 Peter 1:2

What does peace mean to us at Christmastime?

The word is plastered all over shop windows, ornaments, my coffee cup. I drive by a mosque on the way home and see “PEACE” lit up in neon on a giant sign.

It seems everyone is thinking about peace during this season. And rightly so.

At Christmas, we celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace. We’re reminded that God came down so we could know his peace here on earth.

So why does it feel like we have to search for peace? Why does it feel so far out of reach?

I think of some of the people I’ve encountered over the last few weeks.

The woman whose hand won't stop shaking from her Parkinson's.

The neighbour who is waking up at three am to start his shift.

The mother who lost custody of her children.

The man who can’t find work.

The parent who has had enough of the cooking, cleaning and shopping that comes with Christmas.

What does peace look them for them? What does peace look like for me?

Sparkling lights and a world blanketed in snow remind us that we should feel cherry, thankful, festive... and these small indications that Christmas is here help. Still, we search for peace as if it's lost. Flying away, shutting ourselves inside, taking pause from our routine life in hopes of finding this peace.

And God speaks: My peace I leave to you, my peace give.

No one told us that peace doesn't have to be pursued. They didn't tell us that peace isn't about isolation or vacation or checking out of life.

Peace is a gift. One that is given freely. It doesn't drop in at Christmas like Santa, leaving only traces of its presence. It's not a memory for us to treasure or a wish to long for. No, peace can be a very present reality for us.

When our souls are tormented by confusion, when we're lonely, when our bodies disappoint us and when all is well; God's peace is there to behold, to experience, and to envelop us.

May your prayer today be that you will know the peace of God. A peace that comes from the father who gave his Son for us, so that we could have a relationship with him.

A peace that trusts God is working for you.

A peace that knows the Spirit will advocate for you.

A peace that knows that God was, is and will be.

Whether you're holed up for a while, making angels in the snow, hosting one, two or three Christmas dinners, know that the peace of God is for you.

May you know his peace this Christmas and always.

Behold What Manner of Love

November 2016

by Pastor Abby Davidson

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  Ephesians 1:3-6

I’ve been thinking a lot about adoption lately. Partly because November is National Adoption Month and partly because two of my close friends have recently adopted children and I’ve had a front seat to all the joy, drama and perseverance that’s involved in the process. The road to adoption is long and winding with bumps along the way, but as my friend put it “It’s well worth the wait”.

This morning I heard the story of country music singer Jimmy Wayne. As a thirteen-year-old his parents abandoned him at the side of the road. After a few years in foster homes and on the street, an elderly couple invited him into their home. They gave him work to do and a place to sleep and showed him love in a way that he had never experienced it before. Their compassion toward him changed his life and introduced him to Christ.

Adoption is a beautiful thing. It so closely mirrors what God has done for us. We who were without a home and without a chance have been brought into the family of God. We are now children of God. We can’t all imagine what it’s like to be without a home or a family but most of us have probably experienced rejection. We know how painful it can be to have someone turn their back or walk away from us. It hurts. It changes you.

God’s fatherly love changes us too. We read in the above verses that God adopts us “according to the good pleasure of his will”. He doesn’t take us in out of obligation or because no one else will. He calls us his own because it brings him pleasure. Through Christ, the Father pours out his grace on us to give us every spiritual blessing. Because of his love, no one need be without a home.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking about family in our Sunday service. We’ll look at what it means to be a part of God’s family and how we can welcome others into that family. There’s a joyful reunion awaiting all who have experienced loss and rejection. We’re here to show them that they were well worth the wait.

by Pastor Abby Davidson

Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

For two weeks in July, children from Lawrence Heights and the surrounding area descended on Flemington Public School for the BRBC day camp. This marks Blythwood Road Baptist’s fifth year running a day camp in the area and it has grown every year with this summer averaging 85 campers daily. Campers ranged from ages 4-13 years old. Some had only recently arrived in Canada and spoke little to no English.

For the past four years Blythwood has hosted mission teams to come in and run the program and we welcomed back the team from Southeast Baptist Church, Murfreesboro TN for the fifth year! This year for the first time, Blythwood undertook the running of a second week on its own. Being a small church, there was some difficulty finding enough volunteer help. We began to look for help in our association as well as some of the other ministries we are involve

d with and sure enough, help came. The end result was a dynamic volunteer team of people from all sorts of different backgrounds. We had two refugees to Canada, a team from a Community Centre, teachers on their summer break, our own church volunteers and some Farsi-speaking teenagers who helped with translation. Dufferin Street Baptist Church also joined us to help with the planning and provide camp counsellors.

The days were full of music, drama, dance, sports, crafts and Bible lessons. Campers learned about God’s greatness and love and about how He is working for our good. There was a wide array of faith backgrounds – some children had grown up in church while others were unfamiliar with the Bible – so the gospel message was taught, danced, sung and shown throughout every aspect of the camp. Campers and volunteers alike left exhausted at the end of the day.

God’s goodness was evident throughout the two weeks. During the planning it appeared that there might not be enough resources to run the camp. Yet in the end, help came from unexpected places and there were more supplies, food and campers than we had bargained for. We were blessed beyond what we had imagined.

Reflecting on the camp, it’s amazing to see just how many people were involved with it; from our 

volunteer teams, both local and international, to the volunteer chefs and local businesses who provided food and those who supported by prayer, this camp truly was a community effort. The best part of course was the campers themselves. For those who had been coming for 3-4 years, they were being reunited with friends and falling into familiar rhythms of play. For the ones who were new or finally old enough to attend, they discovered that they too had a place to belong in this little summer community. Monkey bars were climbed, friendships formed, baby teeth fell out and a lot of pizza was consumed. Amidst all the activity and scheduling, campers had a chance to be who God made them to be. Whether it was the little girl who didn’t speak English but knew how to do the robot dance, to the ten-year-old-girl who rocked the tambourine during music, to the older boy who laughed hysterically at every attempt by his leaders to pronounce his name, there was no need for holding back.

The two weeks of BRBC day camp served as a reminder of how God loves His children and of the beautiful chaos that ensues when you have over one hundred children and volunteers from around the globe in a room together. We’re already looking forward to next year!

Blythwood Intern and Master of Divinity Student, Tyndale Seminary

A theme that has struck me repeatedly over the last few months is the enormity of the diversity which exists within the Kingdom of God, particularly in terms of the methods by which individuals and communities worship and experience him. Very often in our churches, we seem to be stuck in a one-track-mind mentality of doing things--the same way that our church has always done them--because that is what is tried and true and what works, right? I've heard it said that the last words of a dying church are: 'we've never done things this way before!'

I think the Western church is starting to recognize and appreciate the diversity that exists within her. For example, I am not a traditionalist, and do not prefer to worship God through ritual and symbol, but some people do. In the same way, as I prefer to worship God outside, interacting with his creation, some people would rather stay indoors and meditate without getting dirty. Still, others can't get past the thought of 'nature' meaning a lion killing a zebra for food, and fail to find God in something so vicious. All of these are valid responses.

In my undergrad, I took a botany course called 'Plants as a Human Resource' to fulfill a science requirement, thinking that at the very least, I would be able to learn how to grow my own herbs or prepare some new vegetable dishes. In between learning that curry powder is actually a blend of 10 different spices (who knew?!) and that different segments of a felled tree produce different types of lumber for different purposes, I also learned a lot about leaves. Nearly all plants have leaves, and from the structure of those leaves, you can determine the type of environment in which that plant will thrive. For example, succulent, desert plants like the aloe vera have thicker leaves in order to efficiently store large quantities of water, while hostas, which prefer shade, have thinner, broader leaves to catch the sun, and allow excess water to evaporate easily. Pine needles are hardy enough to withstand the Canadian winters, while maple leaves are more fragile, and well-suited to the season colloquially referred to by Canadians as 'construction.'

Often, in creation, we can catch glimpses of the heart of our Creator. As I've been thinking about diversity, my mind has wandered back to leaves. Regardless of their shape, leaves all serve the same purpose: to photosynthesize, or produce food for the plant. In the same way, humans have all been created for one chief purpose, which the Westminster Shorter Catechism describes aptly as 'to glorify God and enjoy him forever.' Like the leaves, although we are created and designed for the same purpose, the ways in which we fulfill it will look different, and that is okay.

The other day, I was walking through a forest, and was struck by the variety of trees and other plants that were there--tall ones, short ones, young ones, old ones, leaves of all different shapes and sizes. The verse 'the trees of the field shall clap their hands' (Isaiah 55:12) came to my mind, and I imagined how funny it would look to have the oaks and ashes and cedars and spruces and maples and pines and poplars and the plethora of other flora that were present clapping their hands in praise to their Creator. What a beautiful, profound image this was of God being glorified by his creation in the wholeness of its diversity. Imagine how pleasing it is to God when he sees all of his children lifting up their voices to him in praise--people of different races, ethnicities, cultures, denominations, and traditions worshipping him together as one Body of Christ.

We are all made in the image of God. One doesn't have to look very far to see how different that image can look. Just as the different leaves are structured to function in different environments, so too are humans wired to worship and enjoy God in different ways. If setting aside devotional time has become a chore, maybe you need to explore other avenues of spending time with God. If going for a walk in a garden, or buying a meal for a homeless person, or singing a hymn, or meditating in an ornate sanctuary enables you to feel closer to God, don't be afraid to incorporate those things into your rhythm of life, and see how you will begin to look forward to them as your time spent growing in relationship with your Father in Heaven.

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ~Romans 5:5

The Spirit of God dwells in us. Have you ever stopped to think about what that means?  The Holy Spirit convicts, comforts and counsels us. It also guides us in our thoughts and actions.

Consider that as a child of God, when you go somewhere, the Holy Spirit goes with you. That truth baffles me. In my home, my neighbourhood and in my church, my presence is joined with the presence of God.

Have you seen evidence of the Spirit in your own life? It can be hard to identify sometimes. Unless you’re given an It’s a Wonderful Life experience of seeing the world without you it, you may never know the extent to which the Spirit works through you to bless other people. I admit that often I can see the Spirit working in others better than I can see it in myself.

My word for the year has been discernment. I want to grow in this area and being discerning requires sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I believe that God makes this available to all of us but it requires shutting off all the other voices and distractions so we can hear what he is telling us.

You probably know what I’m talking about. Sometimes you get that little nudge from inside. You leave a conversation feeling that something was left unsaid or you can’t get a certain person off your mind until you pray for them. That’s the Spirit prompting you. We know when the Spirit is working because we see its fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

As a church we want this for ourselves and for those in our community. We prayed/sang it in church on Sunday.

Holy Spirit you are welcome here, come flood this place and fill the atmosphere… your glory God is what our hearts long for, to be overcome by your presence Lord.

Having the Holy Spirit in us is to be overcome by the glory of God. That’s no small matter. Where the Spirit is, and by consequence where you are, God is at work.

Pray that God will open your eyes to see how the Holy Spirit is working in your life. Ask for sensitivity and obedience when the Spirit prompts you.

by Pastor Abby Davidson

I remember sitting in a seminary class on Pastoral crisis counselling when I received a text from my sister. One of our childhood friends had ended his life. I sat through the remainder of the class somewhat dazed and then wandered out as the professor wrapped up her lecture. I didn’t know what to do. My mind was racing with questions.

Over the past couple of weeks two of our families here at Blythwood have been affected by the suicide of someone close to them. And in the last few weeks we’ve been hearing about the many suicide attempts happening up north in Attawapiskat. Hearing these stories leaves us with a lot of questions, but one question that stands out to me is How do I trust God through this? We know that our God doesn’t shy away from suffering. He enters into it fully and willingly. We also know that we can lean on him when the sorrows of life seem overwhelming. Reading the psalms when tragedy strikes always gives me comfort.  One of my favourite psalms is Psalm 91 because it outlines the promises God gives us during difficult times.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Take comfort in God’s presence as he shades you from the harsh realities of life without him. He promises that you will find rest in his presence.

I will say of my Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

God is not only a safe place to reside but a fortress that keeps danger away.

Surely he will save you… his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

God’s faithfulness to us surrounds us as a rampart (think giant wall) surrounds a castle. Anything that comes our way has to go through him first.

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

This is a pretty gruesome picture. We know there will be terror, danger, sickness, and grief and these evils will come at all hours of the day of night yet we need not fear them.

A thousand may fall at your side…but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

Be confident that whatever danger you see cannot touch you. Even though you can see suffering happening all around you, know that you are safe in the arms of your Father.

If you say “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the most high your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.

Make God your refuge and your dwelling place. When troubles overwhelm you run to him. When the sorrow is too heavy to bear, let him bear it for you.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in your ways…

There are powers of good and evil at work all the time. You have the power of God on your side.

You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

You will have victory over any threat that crosses your path.

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Call on God and he will answer you. He will bless you with long life and more importantly you will experience life with him!

These are the promises of God that we can cling to when we encounter pain and suffering. God is with us, he has conquered and he is at work in the world. We may not be able to make sense of the pain we experience, but we can rest and trust that God will carry us through it. God is on our side.

by Pastor Abby Davidson

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~ James 1:2-4

The book of James talks about keeping ourselves from the pollution of this world. I’m not sure what the author had in mind but as I think about what pollutes our world one thing stands out – discouragement. You know the feeling. It can start off as something small and insignificant, perhaps a comment made in passing, but it can grow into something that completely overwhelms you. When dealing with long-term illness or a loss and it hard to see past your present struggle.

It seems there are always people that are willing to feed your discouragement too. In a society driven by competition, numbers and individualism, people’s comments can be hurtful and push you further down when what you really need is a hand up. Unlike our fight or flight response when we’re afraid, discouragement leaves us immobile and without hope. Discouragement can build walls around us, brick by brick, until we can’t see out anymore and are left in windowless room of isolation and despair.

Truth be told, we have many reasons to be discouraged. If you don’t think so then turn on the news. You’ll get there.

Discouragement is unavoidable. So what can we do to overcome it when it happens? How can we keep ourselves from this pollution?

James tells us to consider it pure joy when we face various trials. For these trials will produce perseverance. What does it mean to have “pure joy” during a trial. I know it doesn’t mean putting on a fake smile and pretending to be unaffected by whatever is grieving you. Rather, biblical joy is an orientation of the heart. It’s a peaceful resolve that comes from knowing God is alive and working. It’s knowing that whatever is discouraging you is temporary and will strengthen your perseverance.

Whenever I’m feeling discouraged the words from Psalm 43 come to mind:

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,  my help and my God.

 The psalmist names praise as the key to fighting discouragement. When we praise God we remember who He is and what He has done. We also look forward to what he will do. This is how life in the Kingdom of God works. When we suffer or feel alone, we turn our hearts to God. In doing so we rid ourselves of discouragement and remember the joy that is ours in Christ.

Our vulnerability to discouragement is another reason why it’s important that believers keep meeting together. We’re not meant to overcome trials on our own. One of the gifts of the Spirit is encouragement and it’s important to know who the encouragers are in your community. I have friends with this gift and the timeliness and power of their words always amazes me. It’s a good reminder that regardless of our gifts, we should always be looking for ways to encourage each other and to speak words of blessing.

While we cannot avoid being discouraged, we can stop it from overwhelming us. By being in community and praising God through our trials, we will find the pure joy that is promised.

So go on, be encouraged and be an encourager!

by Pastor Abby Davidson

You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights. Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book. ~Psalm 56:8

May those who sow in tears, reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. ~Psalm 125:5-6

If there were ever a week for tears this is it. If you’ve been listening to the news then you know about the too-soon death of the former mayor of Toronto (regardless of oft-reported questionable lifestyle choices) and the bombings in Brussels. We have been reminded this week of the frailty of life and the injustice that pervades our world. Some of us bear those reminders every day; we need not turn on the radio to hear bad news because it’s evident in our own lives. It might be failing health or a broken relationship or the grief of a dream that will never be realized. This is cause for tears. 

As we approach Good Friday we are struck by the gravity of the day. This day was the day that all of creation had been leading up to – a day when God’s redemptive plan would be complete. The gospels give us a glimpse into the mind of Jesus during the days leading up to his crucifixion. Earlier in the week, as Jesus approached Jerusalem, we are told he looked at the city and wept. Now Jesus is praying in garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood and asking God to spare him the suffering he is about to endure.

You have to wonder why Jesus cried. He was the perfect human being and had an intimate understanding of God’s plan for salvation. He must have known that good would come from his death. Yet he was still a man of deep sorrow. He was a man who wasn’t afraid to weep.

We need to keep in mind the psalmist’s words that God holds each of our tears in a bottle. He keeps track of our sorrows. We grieve with God and trust that although we cannot see the joy that is to come, it will come. We grieve as people who have hope.

Tim Keller, an author and pastor, talks about the importance of ‘sowing our tears’. We are to grieve with tears and entrust those tears to God. We are told that when we sow tears, we will reap joy.

Looking at the life of Jesus we see he had an understanding that suffering is inevitable. The gospel of John shows us that even during times of feasting and celebration, Jesus had his death in mind.  We need to live with Christ’s death in mind. There’s a temptation to gloss over Good Friday so we can get to the joy of Easter but if we do that then we miss the purpose for our joy. Christ’s death leads us to life and it is through the lens of his death that we need to view our own sufferings.

To do so doesn’t mean that we rationalize our sufferings and hold in our pain. It means that we grieve and we weep and we do so knowing full well that the tears we sow will one day reap a harvest of joy.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

~John 12:25

How many disciples did Jesus have?

In John six we read Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life. He tells his disciples that that unless they are willing to drink his blood and eat his flesh, they have no life in them. Upon hearing this, many of his disciples say “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” And they turn back and desert Jesus. He was left with 12 disciples.

A few weeks ago I told the children a story about my encounters with sheep. My grandparents and uncle both had sheep farms in Northern Ontario and at the age of two I went out to the barn for the first time. One of the lambs started toward me and I began to cry because I was frightened. I was living in Scarborough at the time and the only animals I saw were raccoons so I was certain that this lamb was going to attack me. Of course it didn’t and after reassurance from my father I was able to hold a bottle of milk and feed the lamb (with my dad acting as a barrier between us of course). As the years went on and I spent summers up north at the farm I came to love the animals there and especially enjoyed holding the lambs. My sisters and I would give them names and talk to them as if they were pets. I named one Pete and enjoyed going to the barn to feed him and touch his soft woolly coat.

During the Spring and Fall my grandparents would make the 6-hour trek down to Southern Ontario to visit us. They would usually bring gifts and occasionally a cardboard box that would go directly into the freezer. I never thought much of it. One day, as we enjoyed stew I asked about how Pete was doing. There was silence and snickering around the table as my dad leaned forward to say We’re eating Pete. I was horrified as I realized my enjoyment of supper had come at the cost of Pete’s life. Lamb stew ruined.

My life experiences with lambs have taught me about discipleship. When it’s unknown and new we get scared by it. Gradually we realize it’s not so bad and get on board. At first it feels good. But eventually we get to a point where we realize that discipleship means participating in the death of Christ. There’s a cost and joining in Christ’s death means that we must die to ourselves. That’s not easy to swallow.

Every aspect of who we are – our personality, desires, thoughts, sexuality and our very nature must be put death so that the life of Christ can reign in us.

Do we like the disciples who abandoned Jesus say “Who can do this?” Or are we with Peter who when asked by Jesus if he is going to leave to replies with “Where shall I go?”

Peter knows that while the cost of discipleship is great, the cost of nondiscipleship is greater.

Dallas Willard puts it this way:

Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10). The cross-shaped yoke of Christ is after all an instrument of liberation and power to those who live in it with him and learn the meekness and lowliness of heart that brings rest to the soul. . . . The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.

To be a disciple is to have this attitude – to see all that the world has to offer and know that it is nothing compared to life in the Kingdom. It is to taste the body and blood and Christ and see that it is good.  It is to know that life with Jesus is the best possible life we can live.

As Lent draws to a close and we look forward to Good Friday, let us thank God for enabling us to participate in the death of Christ that gives us new life.

Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the Law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. Psalm 1:2

I remember my childhood Bible had this poem by Fanny Crosby written on the opening page:

Blessed Bible, sacred treasure,

Precious book of all the best,

There is comfort never failing and a calm abiding rest.

Read with reverence and commit it,

Verse by verse and day by day;

Tis’ the word that God has spoken,

And it cannot pass away.

These words are true of my experience with the Bible. There is nothing more important or foundational for us than the Word of God.  It provides comfort, conviction and inspiration. More importantly, it is how we get to know our Heavenly Father.

Bible study is essential to learning about God but it can seem daunting. Is there a way to do it without knowing Hebrew or Greek? We don’t all need to be scholars in order to understand the Bible. When digging into the Word try following this formula: Pray, Read, Observe, Interpret, Apply.

Pray that the Spirit will guide your reading and open your eyes to what God has to say to you.

Read the text.

Observe what is happening. Ask the 5W’s and H questions. Get out your coloured pens and highlight things that stand out to you; make lists, note contrasts and comparisons, metaphors and similes.

Interpret the passage. Look at the context for the passage, the chapter and the book. How does this relate to the wider message of the gospel?

Apply the text to your own life. How does this speak to me today in my context? When interpreting Scripture I like to ask three questions: What does this say about God? How is the gospel communicated? What does this mean for me?

These steps will help you get the most out of your reading. The beautiful thing about the Bible is that it is alive. I’ve read through the Bible several times and each time I learn new things. It never gets old or boring or irrelevant. Of all the spiritual disciplines, I believe that this is the most important one and one that we should all be practicing.

Over the past several weeks we’ve looked at different spiritual disciplines. I’ve highlighted a few of the ones that I’ve found to be particularly helpful on my journey of faith; fasting, keeping Sabbath, building margins into your life, silent prayer, scripture memory and Bible study.

As much as I hope to inspire you to try them, it’s not something that you truly appreciate until you experience it for yourself. I encourage you to commit to practice one over the next six months. As you do, you’ll grow deeper in your relationship to God and be transformed into the image of Christ.

If you want to further explore the spiritual disciplines you can check out Richard Foster’s A Celebration of Discipline, Lauren Winner’s Mudhouse Sabbath, Ruth Hailey Barton’s Sacred Rhythms or Donald S. Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.

For those of us who grew up in Sunday school, memorizing a new Bible verse each week was probably a regular childhood practice. Unfortunately, as we age out of Sunday school, we tend to leave Scripture memory behind.

Why should we memorize scripture? Wasn’t that for the days when we couldn’t look verses up on biblegateway.com? I confess that when I’m without the internet I have a very hard time finding bible verses. I can recite the verse and guess what book of the Bible it’s in but I need to sift through the chapters in order to locate the reference. Thanks to the internet, we can look up a verse instantly but there are good reasons for committing God’s Word to memory.

Here are 5 reasons why we should continue to practice Scripture memory as a Spiritual Discipline:

1. Jesus did it.

During his life on earth Jesus quoted scripture about 180 times. He who was there at the dawn of creation felt it best to communicate by speaking words that had been written down by the prophets and psalmists.

2. It makes us wise.

Colossians 3:16 tells us to “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly” as it will allow us to teach each other and admonish each other wisely.

3. It helps us resist temptation.

When Jesus was led by the Sprit into the wilderness he was tempted by Satan for 40 days. Jesus responded to each temptation with words from Scripture. When we are tempted we need to be reminded of biblical truth.  

4. So we can encourage each other.

When I am afraid I will trust in you.

You will restore my life again.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end.

These are not just words we throw around to make ourselves feel better. The word of God is powerful and is a reminder that even in the most desperate situations, God is with us and is working for our good.

5. To better understand God and his will.

One of the most common questions I hear Christians ask is What is God’s will for me? The good news is that the answer to that question is given in the Bible. When we memorize Scripture we can be confident that in difficult situations or dilemmas, those words will come to us and guide us in our decisions. 

These are only a few reasons why we should memorize scripture. You can start by writing down your choice of verse on a piece of paper and sticking it somewhere you look often (ie. Computer screen, bathroom mirror, day planner). Every time you look at it say the reference, then the verse and end by saying the reference again. Keep these written verses in an envelope or drawer where you can go back and look at them again.

Here’s a good verse to start with:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Or if that seems too long you can start with John 11:35… I’ll let you look it up!

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. ~Isaiah 58:13-14
When I was a child I loved watching Little House on the Prairie. In one Sabbath-day episode, Laura and her family are sitting around quietly as they listen to Pa read from the Bible. There was no work or play allowed, only rest, reading and singing hymns. Most of us probably can’t imagine spending Sunday that way. We all know that we should keep the Sabbath yet so often what was once the Lord’s day has been reduced to the Lord’s hour and a half and then back to business as usual.
Why does God instruct his people first in Exodus 20 to remember the Sabbath and then in Deuteronomy 5 to observe the Sabbath? One author talks about how remembering and observing have to do with the ordering of time. The days following Sabbath are spent remembering it while the next three days of the week are spent preparing for the next one. The Jewish idea of Shabbat isn’t about have a ‘day off’ from a busy week. There’s a temptation to make Sabbath a landing point from the rest of the week when what it was meant to be is a day that all other days centre around.
If you take a look the lists of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament you’ll see that while most are summed up in one line, the fourth commandment is given a whole paragraph. Why did God take care to give so much attention that that one commandment? Exodus 20:11 says:
In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
There’s something about abstaining from creating that brings blessing. We’ve developed many ways to manipulate nature and control our environments. One author writes “When we cease interfering in the world, we are acknowledging that is it God’s world”. Sabbath is about ceasing from our regular rhythms to set apart a day for rest, worship and community. It’s about acknowledging that we ourselves have been created as we worship our Creator.
Practically how do we do we honour the Sabbath? It’s going to look different for everybody but here are a few steps to getting started.
Prepare. Use the days before to attend to any errands, chores or homework that needs to be done. Is it possible for you to cook your meals in advance? Use the evening before to pray for the Sunday service and quiet your mind.
Stop working. By taking a day off work (that includes checking work emails) we acknowledge that it is not all up to us. Ultimately God is the one who produces fruit from our labour.
Stop worrying. For me this means taking a break from my incessant desire to plan everything out for the next 2 years. Again, this is an acknowledgment that God is in control. When worries arise pray about them and ask God to push them from your mind.
Celebrate. As Jesus reminds us, the Sabbath was made for us. It was meant to be enjoyed, not dreaded. That celebration encompasses our gathering together with other believers to worship.
Honouring the Sabbath is something that takes practice and discipline. Remember that God designed it as a day for us and when we fail to honour it we are missing out the blessing he has for us.

I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.'                         ~ Job 3:26

To have margins is to have space and time in your day that is unoccupied and unscheduled. In his book Margin, Dr. Swenson describes margin like this:

Margin is the space between our load and our limits. It is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between breathing freely and suffocating... As a result, many people commit to a 120 percent life and wonder why the burden feels so heavy. It is rare to see a life prescheduled to only 80 percent, leaving a margin for responding to the unexpected that God sends our way.

We all need margins in our lives. We need to leave space for leisure and rest and family and God and health. When we don’t have margins we end up stressed, tired and putting our relationships and our health at risk.

I had never thought of having margins as a spiritual discipline until reading “The Good and Beautiful God” by James Bryan Smith. It was however, something I had put into practice a few years back.

My first year in seminary I was working full-time and decided to take a full course load as well. A few months into my schooling I found a church to attend and starting volunteering on the worship team and running a weekly kids program for the ESL class. Being somewhat of an overachiever, I wanted to do everything and I really believed that I could do everything well. My schedule left very little time for rest but as my dad always said You can rest when you’re dead.

I lasted about one year like this and then one day I broke. I was coming off a high-stress time at work when I noticed that I was feeling anxious all the time. In addition to that, my body was feeling worn and I couldn’t keep any food down. I thought maybe I had a bug and waited for it to pass. My emotions were out of control and I found that I didn’t want to talk to people anymore. Eventually I clued in that I was doing too much and my body and mind couldn’t handle it anymore.

I decided to quit my job and sign up for only one course the following semester. I didn’t know where my income would come from but I knew I could not continue the way I was going. Suddenly I went from being marginless to having large blank spaces in my schedule. It was a breath of fresh air. My body and mind recovered slowly. I learned what it means to rest in God and to rely on him. After a month without income I found a job that allowed me to work ten hours a week and still pay my bills. I felt as though I had been given the gift of time; time to spend with God, to read, to have spontaneous conversations with people I ran into, and time to rest.

We all need margins in our lives. Quitting your job probably isn’t practical (or necessary) but there might be things we need to cut out or relationships that we can spend less time on. It’s not always a matter of cutting out things that are bad but it might mean choosing between two things that are good. This requires saying ‘no’ once in a while.  I found it helpful to ask myself Is this something God is calling me to do or I am I saying yes because I feel like I’m the only one willing/able to do it? What will I be giving up to have this in my life?

God calls us to live life abundantly and having margins is important for that. Let’s make sure we keep some blank space in our schedules.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6

One of my professors once gave us a reflective exercise to do. He asked us to draw a pie chart of our time on any given day. How many hours do we spend sleeping, eating, in class, etc. I was a little embarrassed when I had completed mine as only a thin, sliver of a line was dedicated to prayer every day. Being a seminary student, I was a reading lot of books about God and had somehow let this take the place of actually spending time with him. It was like trying to get to know someone by studying their Facebook page rather than actually spending time with them – it can be very informative but it doesn’t hold a candle to the real thing.
Upon further examination of my prayer life, I noticed that my prayers had become very one-sided, mostly pleading with God to help me get through a certain course or offering up a list of my wants. I wasn’t leaving room for God to speak.
I decided to take up silence as a discipline and spend 30 minutes once a day sitting with God and listening to what he had to say.
Sitting in silence for even five minutes proved to be very difficult but with practice and time (aka discipline!) it became easier. I found it was helpful to begin by reading a verse or picking a phrase like ‘Be still and know that I am God’ and then ask God to speak to me.
I found these times to be very refreshing. They became the most important part of my day as I heard God speak words of blessing, encouragement and conviction. Often we’re looking for God to appear in thunder from heaven, full of drama and force but he comes instead in the gentle breeze (1 Kings 19:10-12). He comes to us in the silence.
“We need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence … We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us.” - Malcolm Muggeridge
We worship a God who speaks. Let’s be people who listen.

by Pastor Abby Davidson
Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. 1 Tim. 4:7
The first time I tried fasting I was a teenager. World Vision was running a 30-hour famine and my youth group decided to participate. About twenty of us gathered at the church on Friday night and planned to spend the next 30 hours together. All I remember is that it was a lot of fun. We had bible study, prayed, played hide-and-seek, and tried not to think about food. I didn’t know it at the time but that was my introduction to spiritual discipline. In those 30 hours we spent together, God was molding our community and drawing us closer to himself and to each other.
Fast-forward a few years and my leadership class was challenged to take up a discipline for six months and write about our experience in a journal. I chose silence. It is probably one of the more difficult practices to do while living in a busy city, but I was able to find the space and time and came to enjoy these pockets of silence. Practicing spiritual disciplines became central in the formation of my spirituality.
Adding discipline to any area of your life can be daunting. There’s always a reason I didn’t go jogging (it’s too cold… or too hot), had to eat out (two burgers for the price of one!) or binge-watched Netflix (you never know when they’ll take the show off). Whatever the reasons are, we can’t ignore the fact that discipline is a part of caring for ourselves and we are called to be disciplined in caring for our souls.
It’s not a coincidence that ‘disciple’ and ‘discipline’ are so similar.
Just as an athlete disciplines her physical body when training for a marathon, we are called to discipline ourselves in order to be more like Christ. In Lauren Winner’s book Mudhouse Sabbath, she describes spiritual disciplines as practices that “refine our Christianity; they make the inheritance Christ gave us on the cross more fully our own”. These practices become rhythms that centre our actions, thoughts and words around Christ.
There are several spiritual disciplines outlined in the Bible. These disciplines can be divided into 2 categories – disciplines of engagement and disciplines of abstinence. Disciplines of engagement are practices like Bible reading, prayer and acts of kindness whereas disciplines of abstinence are practices like fasting, silence and frugality. Over the next few weeks I’ll be writing about different spiritual disciplines and I encourage you to choose one and commit to it for the next six months.
For further reading on the spiritual disciplines you can read Richard Foster’s A Celebration of Discipline, Ruth Hailey Barton’s Sacred Rhythms, or Lauren Winner’s Mudhouse Sabbath.
Let’s embrace the D-word for all it’s worth. Here’s to a year of discipline.

by Pastor Abby Davidson
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14
On Saturday at noon we’re asking you to join us in a church-wide, twenty-four hour fast. We are praying that this will be a time of spiritual renewal for you personally but also for our church as a whole. During this time we ask that you would be in prayer for BRBC. Pray that God would guide us and direct our efforts as we begin a new year and that our leaders and congregants would be diligent in seeking God.
If you’ve never fasted before the idea probably seems somewhat intimidating. Refraining from food for an entire day is not a regular practice for most of us. I invite you to see this as opportunity for us to humble ourselves before God and seek him. The goal is not to get through a day without eating but to get closer to God. Fasting then becomes the means to that goal rather than the goal itself.
We all operate according to rhythms and meal-time is often central to those rhythms; wake-up, coffee and breakfast, commute, work, lunch, more coffee, more work, return home, supper, etc. A fast is designed to interrupt our regular rhythm and help us re-orient ourselves toward God. Some people prefer to do a partial food fast rather than completely abstaining from food and that’s fine. Again, the goal is to set aside a time as a church where we seek God as one body united in Christ.
When we refrain from food we recognize that God is our primary source of sustenance. We acknowledge that everything we have comes from him and him alone. Our strength and our flesh may fail but God is our portion. Fasting then becomes an aid to prayer, an act of repentance and a way to experience the presence of God. It is also symbolic of that the hope that is ours in Christ – that one day all brokenness and suffering will be wiped away and we will feast at the marriage supper of the lamb (Revelation 19).
Please take time this weekend to fast and pray as we seek God. We will begin Saturday at noon and end Sunday at noon with a light lunch after the service.
Here are some prayer points to direct your time:
• Pray that BRBC would be a church that is seeking God and continuing the work of Christ
• Pray for your pastors as they teach and lead as well as for deacons and other church leaders
• Pray the individuals coming to the Out of the Cold program would experience God’s grace and healing in their lives
• Pray for our members who are sick or facing physical or mental health challenges. Pray for their caregivers and families as well.
• Pray for spiritual renewal and growth in our church.
• Pray for the various ministries we support as a church: Out of the Cold, Horizons For Youth, Habitat for Humanity, Wednesday drop-in and the BRBC summer camp.
• Pray for the upcoming trip to Bolivia in August. Pray for the team members as they prepare to serve alongside the Nacho Family.
• Pray for our neighbours in the Lawrence Park community.
• Pray for those you know who don’t need Jesus. Ask for opportunities to share his truth with them.
• Pray for yourself. Ask God what he wants for you this year.
We look forward to hearing about your experience with fasting. Who knows, maybe some of you will want to take this up as a Spiritual Discipline to deepen your walk with God. I’m excited to see what God will do this weekend as we seek him together.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people ~ Luke 2:10

On the third Sunday of Advent we light the candle of Joy. This candle is also known as the shepherd’s candle since the angels came to them proclaiming the joyful news that the Saviour had been born. Did the shepherds understand the implications of this miraculous birth? Were they in shock after seeing the skies above fill with angels praising God or did they understand that this baby was the promised Messiah? We don’t know the answer to these questions but we are told they “came with haste” to see the Christ-child.
What do those “good tidings of great joy” look like today? Is it still something that causes us to come with haste to the Saviour?
Joy and happiness are often confused. We’re told in the Bible to be joyful and we think that means we should be happy all the time. ‘Happy’ is based on a feeling whereas ‘joy’ is based on truth. For example, I feel happy when I eat chocolate or when I see a puppy. That elation that comes to us feels great but is snuffed out rather quickly when the puppy chews on your shoes or when the chocolate bar is gone. Joy on the other hand comes from knowing that regardless of my circumstances God is Sovereign and He is working for my good. Joy comes from knowing who Jesus is and understanding what he has done for – taken us from darkness to light so we can be in relationship with the Father.
The word ‘joy’ is mentioned several times throughout the Old Testament, often referring to the joy Israel should have when they remember God’s miracles and his deliverance. In the New Testament the invitation to joy is open. The joy proclaimed by the angels is for ALL people. God’s covenant is now extended to all people through Christ and we who were once lost and living in darkness are now children of light. Biblical joy then, is based on God’s open invitation to us. We can find joy in the fact that no matter what is going on around us, God’s love for us does not change. We can find joy in the fact that when Christ came to earth, he brought with him all the blessings of the Kingdom of God - blessings of redemption, reconciliation and restoration.
This is the miracle of Christmas – that God’s joy was made full in the person of Jesus. This joy is a gift we can have for ourselves and share with others. Joy to the world indeed.

Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; In the day when I call answer me quickly. ~Psalm 102:1-2

The spirit of the Christmas season calls us to rejoice but it also calls us to lament. A lament is a prayer brought to God out of deep sorrow. It’s not a common practice in the church but throughout the Bible we see many examples of people lamenting, including an entire book of laments – the book of Lamentations. The truth is we don’t always feel joyful at Christmas and that’s okay. During those times we are free to bring our struggles to God.

Last Sunday you heard Laura read an Advent Lament during the service. The spoken word poem was adapted from A Brave Merry Christmas by Ann Voskamp and Amena Brown. If you missed Sunday or would like to hear it again, click on the link below. Here’s a snippet of the piece:

So they just keep saying it’s the most wonderful time of the year,

sing hymns lively in all the malls and through all the airport terminals,

like they forget that we’re all terminal,

forget that we’re all grieving,

forget that we’ve got people we love fighting,

fighting each other and fighting cancer under blinking, twinkly lights

by these radios that just keep spinning

all these Christmas tunes that can seem all out of tune

to the howl of our pain over this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wvBtI5Sess

As you prepare for Christmas with rejoicing or lamenting or both, be reminded that God is with you in your joy and in your sorrow.  

Most of us have had an advent calendar before. Each day of the month you open a square and get to eat a chocolate. If you were like me you made sure that every morning you were diligent in opening that chocolate. As a child it can be hard waiting for Christmas but getting chocolate every day makes the wait a little bit easier.
These chocolate calendars are good training to prepare us for advent. Advent is about waiting expectantly. In our time of waiting we learn what it is to long for Christ. We wait for Christmas to arrive when we will celebrate his first coming, his birth to a virgin in a lowly stable without any pomp or celebration. But we also long for his return – a time when all sorrow and pain will be wiped away and all of creation will be reconciled to God.
I’ve heard many people (mostly older generations) say that they long for Christ to return. For a long time I had trouble understanding where they were coming from. It would be great to have Jesus back and all but we do have him within us… and there are still so many things I would like to do. I didn’t long for Jesus to return like they did. The more I come to understand about the world and people in it the more I can understand that longing. Every time a loved one dies or I hear about another shooting or bomb going off, I feel that longing for Christ to come again.
Christ’s arrival on this earth 2000 years ago brought with it a hope that previously had been impossible. A relationship with God that was unattainable before was suddenly in our grasp. All those failed attempts to live up to an impossible standard of holiness became unnecessary. We couldn’t get to God so he came to us. He came down into the mess and mire of a stable so that we could spend eternity with him. Suddenly, there was hope. That hope surrounds us today. Every Sunday we celebrate that hope and every Christmas we’re reminded of the absurdity of God’s love for us.
That is why we need to long for Christ to come again. The hope we have now is only a glimmer of things to come. We look forward to a time when there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears and no more death. We see a glimpse of this in the gospel stories of Jesus’ life. A time is coming when it will no longer be a hope but a reality.
Do you long for that day? It’s hard for our minds to even fathom and so we’re left to long. We long as a groom longs for his bride as they approach their wedding day. We long as a mother longs to see the face of the child she carries within her womb. We long as one who aches to be reunited with a loved one who has gone on to glory before his time. We long for Christ. That’s what advent is about.
A Prayer for Advent
Lord Jesus Christ
your world awaits you.
In the longing of the persecuted for justice;
in the longing of the poor for prosperity;
in the longing of the privileged
for riches greater than wealth;
in the longing of our hearts for a better life;
and in the song of your Church,
expectation is ever present.
O come, Lord, desire behind our greatest needs.
O come, Lord, Liberator of humanity.
O come, Lord, O come, Immanuel.

I was a stranger and you invited me in… ~ Matthew 25:35b

It all started with a man named George. He was living on the streets of Toronto and was befriended by some staff and students at St. Michael’s High School in Toronto. Unfortunately, as with many homeless men and women, George died much too soon. His friends at the high school decided they wanted to do something so others living on the streets of Toronto wouldn’t share his fate so they started a program called Out of the Cold. That was almost 30 years ago.[i]

Today there are several Out of the Cold programs running across the city. They range from offering a meal to opening their doors to operate as a shelter. Blythwood Road Baptist has had the privilege of being involved in this program for 21 years. 

In 1995 several church members felt called to open up the doors of Blythwood every Saturday night to offer a meal and provide shelter for those who didn’t have a home. Today the Out of the Cold program welcomes approximately anywhere from 110 to180 guests for dinner, shelters close to 70 overnight and has a vibrant team of over 44 volunteers each weekend.

I was able to participate Out of the Cold for the first time last Saturday. I arrived to a gym bustling with people. Tables are chairs were set up cafeteria style and single mattresses lined the perimeter of the gym. Volunteers were busy in the kitchen cooking up Moroccan stew (it smelled amazing!) and sorting through new clothes in the back room to give out. As I walked around the room I was greeted by volunteers and guests and introduced here and there. One woman asked for prayer as she was grieving the loss of a friend. Another offered to get me a plate of food. Heading to the church that evening I was somewhat apprehensive and wondering how I would fit in. After being there only a few minutes I felt very at ease. There was a deep sense of community among both those who had come for shelter and those who had come to serve. There was something quite beautiful about it.

Out of the Cold may have been inspired by the life of death of George but its origin really goes back to Jesus. The words of Matthew 25 were replaying in my head all night – for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. This is the compassion that Jesus is calling us to demonstrate and that was what I witnessed on Saturday.

Showing compassion has been a hot topic as of late. People are wondering how far or compassion should extend. Does the Bible give parameters on who should receive our compassion? So how far do we go?

In Pastor David’s sermon two weeks ago he said that we are called to enter into suffering because we serve a God who enters into suffering. Our God suffers with us and for us because he loves us. Are we willing to enter into the suffering of others to show them love?

We’re looking forward to opening our doors each Saturday night this Winter to welcome familiar faces and likely some new ones too. Please be in prayer that God will continue to bless our guests as they come for food and shelter. Pray too that God will enable us to show his love and compassion to those without a place to call home.

 Source: http://test.kwootc.ca/about-us/history/

I will remember… - God (Gen. 9:15)

We’ve just observed Remembrance Day. For a brief moment we were united in silence to remember those who lost their lives serving our country and to honour our veterans. We remember.
We serve a God who remembers. Throughout the Old Testament the phrase we see many instances of God remembering his people or remembering his covenant. Some might think that in order to remember you must have forgotten something. Does God forget? No.
The Hebrew word for remember is zakar and implies movement toward someone or something. Remembering is an active, not a passive term. God remembers and then he acts.
God remembers Noah and the flood water subside.
God remembers Rachel and Hannah and their wombs are opened.
God remembers the Israelites in slavery and he appoints Moses to deliver them out of Egypt.
God remembers Sampson and he restores his strength.
There are many examples of God’s remembrance in the Old Testament as well as examples of God calling his people to remember. Whether they are told to set an altar, celebrate a festival or observe a meal, God instructs them to “do this so you will remember”. In the New Testament Jesus instructs his disciples to eat the bread, drink from the cup and to remember.
Be encouraged that God remembers. He remembers us in our affliction and in our suffering. He remembers and he moves. And just as God actively remembers, we are called to do the same.
As you go about your week make an effort to remember.
Remember our war vets and thank them for their service.
Remember those fleeing Syrian and donate to relief efforts. 

Remember those living on the streets of Toronto and volunteer at Out of the Cold.
Remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and share his message of reconciliation with someone.

Let's remember.

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For I was hungry and you gave me food

-Matthew 25:35a

On Saturday, October 24^th youth from Blythwood Road Baptist, Eglinton St. George and Glenview Presbyterian Church went Trick or Treating. While some neighbours opened their opened their doors with a look of confusion on their faces letting us know that we were a week early for Halloween, most were expecting us.

We had sent flyers out a week before letting neighbours know that we would be running “Trick or Eat”. Almost 30 teens and pre-teens participated in the event.  It was a wet and rainy night but that didn’t discourage them. The response from our neighbours was overwhelmingly positive as we collected dozens of bags of non-perishable food from houses in the Yonge & Lawrence area.

This is the fifth year Blythwood has collected donations for the North York Harvest Food Bank (NYHFB). NYHFB is the primary food bank for families living in Toronto. In 2014 they distributed more than 2 million pounds of food to thousands of families in Toronto. Below are some stats taken from their recent newsletter.

To learn more about the NYHFB you can visit their website at www.northyorkharvest.com. Their Fall food drive runs until November 6^th and we will be collecting donations at church this Sunday.

It was great to see our young people getting excited about helping others. It goes to show that no matter what age you are, you can make a difference. The time and effort they gave to “Trick or Eat” will ensure that families in need have enough food this winter.

Let’s keep the NYHFB in our prayers as they continue to provide food to Toronto families.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

~ 1 Timothy 2:1-4

The federal election is over. There have been many campaign ads, a few debates and various articles on the “Christian way” to vote and after all that, Canadians have chosen their next leader. I know from talking with friends and family and from perusing Facebook that Christians are not of a single-mind when it comes to politics.

Now that the decision has been made, we do need to be of one mind, or at least of one action - prayer. We’ve been reading through Joshua over the past weeks and one message that keeps coming up is the importance of depending on God for everything. That dependence comes through prayer.

Are we depending on God to work through our leaders? The Bible has a lot to say about leadership and it is clear that we need to respect those who are in authority over us. This does not mean that we have to agree with everything they do and offer our support blindly. We should evaluate leadership critically and hold leaders to a high standard.

Our primary concern should be to pray for our leaders. We are told to give petitions, prayers and thanksgiving for all people and specifically those in authority. We need to petition God for our country and pray for wisdom for our MPs and our Prime Minister, because real change doesn’t begin in Ottawa, it begins when we get down on our knees.

God has chosen us to bless the nations and just as he promised this would happen through Abraham, we are heirs of that promise. How are we blessing those around us? How can we be faithful to God’s calling in our own communities? When we’re tempted to complain about an issue not being addressed or being delayed is to ask ourselves “What can I do about this?”. Our first response should always be prayer. From there we can discern how God is leading us and respond accordingly.

Change that happens on a national scale is change that begins in the heart. Peace will reign only when the Prince of Peace reigns in every heart. And of course we want that peace to reign in our Prime Minister’s heart. He is after all neither our enemy nor our saviour but a man who like the rest of us, needs God.

Canada is a great country to live in and there’s nowhere else I would rather be. Still, we have some very real issues of justice and integrity that need to be addressed. As we’re waiting to see how our government will respond to these issues, let’s be diligent in praying for those who will be making decisions that will shape our country’s future.

Let’s pray for wisdom for our Prime Minister. Let’s pray for God’s kingdom to come here in Canada and in our communities. Let’s pray that as Christians we will make Jesus known in all that we say and do and that as we show Christ’s compassion and share his message, hearts will turn toward him.

Let’s pray.

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
Romans 12:16

It seems that in the past few weeks I cannot have a conversation without the Blue Jays coming up. Whether we’re going over prayer requests in our small 

group or I’m on the phone with my grandmother, all conversational roads lead to the Jays and how awesome they are. And what else would we talk about? It’s kind of a big deal, right?

Now in my own personal MLB walk I’m somewhere between the bandwagon and true fanship. Four years ago I had no idea that baseball was a thing in Toronto. Then I starting dating my would-be husband and my eyes were opened to a whole new world. He had to attend at least fifteen games a year and listen to or watch every other game. And so I was brought (rather reluctantly) into the world of the Blue Jays. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend four hours of my Saturday afternoon but hey, at least there was popcorn. 
Fast-forward to today and I find that I actually look forward to hearing score updates from my husband, I feel a sense of solidarity with that guy wearing a Jays jersey who just passed me on the street and yes, I am praying for healing for Tulo’s shoulder.* All that to say, I was pretty happy when we won our first game against Baltimore and clinched the AL East. Again, it’s kind of a big deal.

The Jays ad campaign for this season is “Come T.O.gether” and I think it was successful in that they have all of Toronto and likely all of Canada behind them

. In the past month we’ve seen people from all over Canada united in their support for our team and with hopeful excitement that this, God willing, could be the year to end a 22 year World Series drought.

It’s amazing how this team has the ability to stir people’s hearts and unite those who otherwise have little in common.
It would be great if we could “come together” about other, perhaps more serious issues.
In the midst of a federal election it’s easy to focus on what makes us different from others. Our leaders are running their political platforms on those differences and it’s tempting to get so caught up in them that we forget our commonality. After all, we are all made in the image of God and we are all broken people in need of a Saviour. How then, can I relate to those around me who aren’t like me? This is a question that all Christians need to ask at one point. We’re called to be Christ to all people, but how can I do that if I can’t get over the fact that the guy next to me is voting for party X or (gasp!) a Yankees fan?
I had to ask myself this question as I participated in Blythwood’s drop-in program last month. I’ve never done any type of homeless ministry before so as I approached the group of people that had gathered outside the church doors I wondered “what do I talk to them about?”. I’d love to tell y

ou that I was able to share great spiritual insights with them but that wouldn’t be true. I talked about the Jays. 

Over the course of the conversation it struck me that I wasn’t so different from the people I was talking with. We all desire human connection and we all desire a relationship with our Creator, even if we don’t recognize it as such. We also all fall short of God’s glory every day and are in need of his saving grace. Thankfully, that grace is always available to us. 

Let’s make every effort to live in harmony with one another, remembering that though our differences are many, we are all connected by our humanness. The more tightly we cling to our Saviour, the closer we’ll find ourselves to each other.

*edit – since this post was written, Troy Tulowitzki has recovered from his injury… and what a healing it has been! Go Jays Go!

If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.

2 Timothy 2:13

Our teens will be reading through the book “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller this Fall. It’s a book of short essays about the intersection of life and Christian spirituality. In one section, he writes about an experience he had at seminar where the lecturer asked everyone to throw out words they use to describe relationships and love. Words like invest, value and priceless came up… all economic metaphors.

The author goes on to describe how in our culture we tend to think of love as a commodity; something that can be bought, sold and earned. This concept is something we see, hear and feel every day. Even children know that good things come to those who earn them. Good behaviour earns you praise, doing homework earns you good grades, studying earns you a degree, hard work earns you a paycheque and so on.

That’s not the type of love that God offers us.

So what do we do with this God who wants to freely lavish his love upon us? How does that fit into our earning mentality? And how can we mirror that love for others when we struggle to accept it for ourselves?

We can start by admitting to ourselves that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s love. Nothing. Regular tithing, a pristine Sunday church attendance record and being kind to that lady next door aren’t going to get you a spot in God’s good graces (though these are all good things to do).  Yes, we’re called to obey God but our obedience does not and cannot earn his love in any way. His love is freely given with reckless abandon. That will never change because God is love.

Obedience then is a natural response to God’s love for us. We love because he first loved us (1 Jn 4:19). God’s love for us is so vast that once we experience it, it overflows out of us and affects everyone we come into contact with. So let’s stop trying to deserve what we already have. God sees you as you are (not as you think you should be) and he loves you.

Meditate on that this week.

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. ~Psalm 27:5

Pastor David and I had the chance to participate in Horizons for Youth Umbrella Day last week. Along with some other volunteers, we set up in a subway entrance and went to work selling umbrellas and accepting donations, giving people a chance to shelter themselves from the rain while also sheltering homeless youth. 

Aside from selling Girl Guide cookies I haven’t had any experience in sales.  Some may contest that I have yet to have any experience in sales, because those cookies pretty much sell themselves.  Regardless, umbrellas do need some salesmanship, and I’m encouraged that we were able to make sales despite the busy nature of the intersection of Yonge & Eglinton, culminating in a successful fundraiser for Horizons.

People’s reactions were varied. Some stopped to ask questions, a few bought umbrellas (the rain was on our side that day), but most hurried by, not even wanting to make eye contact.

The commuters’ reaction to our umbrella sale got me thinking about the youth at Horizons – the 16 to 24 year olds that somehow ended up without a home. How often do they get passed by? How often are they given a second glance? And where would they be without organizations like Horizons to offer them shelter and help them integrate back into the community?

Pastor David asked us in his sermon a couple of weeks ago “who is God asking us to welcome with open arms?”.  Horizons is welcoming homeless youth.

This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. Joshua 1:8 (NRSV)

Have you seen any red leaves yet? September is here and even though there are few things more beautiful than the changing trees of an Ontario Fall, seeing the first leaf turn scarlet tends to fills me with dread as I realize that summer is ending. No more long days, no more barefoot walks along the beach and no more Rookie Blue.

Of course there are some things to look forward to in addition to the changing trees; cooler temperatures, a return to school (for parents), and pumpkin-spiced everything! Fall also heralds in the ever-important “schedule”. Church activities, school, sports, lessons, and family time all get tossed into the mix and hopefully come out to form a well organized, balanced and colour-coded (for those like me) schedule.

So what’s in your schedule for this Fall? Our desire here at Blythwood is that you will make time to worship with us as a community on Sunday morning but also that you will set aside time each day to dive into God’s word as a family. As a church we are committed to walking alongside you and your family to help you raise children and teens who are following God but the truth is that what happens here on Sunday mornings isn’t nearly as important as what’s happening at home.

Parents are the most important influence and resource when it comes to learning about faith and discipleship. For that reason, we want to encourage you to set up a time every day to gather as a family to read scripture, ask questions and pray together.

Here are some ideas you can try with your family:

1. Try a daily devotional like Our Daily Bread - http://odb.org/
2. Read through and discuss a chapter in Proverbs each day.
3. Bedtime devotions – read a verse of scripture. Thank God for today and pray for tomorrow.
4. Discuss the Sunday sermon. Focus on a different part of the passage each day and ask questions. 
5. Practice Lectio Divina. Choose a passage of scripture (Tip: Pastor David emails one out every day) and read it through four times. Each time has a different purpose: read, reflect, respond and rest.

These are but a few suggestions. Perhaps you already have a family devotion time at home and if so, we’d love to hear about what you’re doing. We trust you and your family can come up with a way to carve out some God-time in your schedules! Let’s make it a priority to build faith at home.

-Pastor Abby

“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me...” Mark 9:37a

Blythwood Road Baptist Church (BRBC) ran a day camp for kids aged 5-13 this past July. With close to 80 kids in attendance each week and youth teams coming from Tennessee, Chicago, and Oklahoma to help run the camp, it was memorable for everyone involved.

The camp is run in Lawrence Heights, an area of Toronto that has been identified as a priority neighbourhood. Many of the kids are from low-income families or have recently arrived in Canada. Some of the campers have been coming since the camp started four years ago while others attended for the first time.

Walking through the door on the first morning, you hear a flurry of excited conversations in English, Spanish, Farsi and Tagalog. Many different backgrounds were represented and even though there was a language barrier for some, it didn’t stop the kids from diving right in to Day Camp! Campers had the chance to participate in various sports, do arts and crafts, sing songs and hear Bible stories. Snacks and hot lunches for each day were graciously provided by members of the community.  Over the course of the two weeks about 60 volunteers came through the camp. From cooking and cleaning to running soccer drills and scouring the neighbourhood for “kid-size” milk bottles, volunteers were more than ready to serve and put their faith into action.

If you ask campers what they enjoy most about camp you will get a variety of answers; counselors, learning fun songs, making new friends, playing kickball and of course the pizza lunch on the last day. One thing is clear – the BRBC camp is a safe space for kids to learn, grow and just be kids. It’s a chance for them to experience the love of Christ by hearing about his love, being served pizza, or being welcomed with a big hug.

Our hope for the children of Lawrence Heights is that they each come to know their value as a child of God. In a world where children can be overlooked, we want them to know that God’s love extends to them and that they are precious in His sight. Also, we want their families to know that the Church is there to be a support and a resource for them. We are very excited that the camp has been growing steadily over the last four years.  We trust that as we continue to welcome these children in Jesus’ name, lives will change and hearts will turn toward the Saviour.

Pastor Abby Davidson

This summer Blythwood Road is pleased to offer the BRBC – Lawrence Heights free Summer Day Camp for boys and girls ages five to thirteen. This will be our fourth year running the camp at Flemington Public School – Lawrence Heights, which is located north of Lawrence Avenue East of the Allen Expressway.

The camp dates are Monday July 13 to Friday July 17 and the following week, Monday July 20 to Thursday July 23 from 9 AM to 4 PM.

This year we are pleased to welcome back Southeast Baptist Church, from Murfreesboro, TN for their fourth year with the camp and excited to welcome Trinity Baptist Church of Yukon, OK and Alleluia Lutheran Church, Napierville IL.

Blythwood provides all snacks and lunches for the Day Camp. If you are interested in helping out, please contact Pastor David or the office.

I must admit it is with mixed emotions that we close our doors for the summer.  On the one hand, our volunteers deserve a well-earned summer break.  On the other, we wonder how our guests are coping as the days get warmer.  Their health problems worsen in the summer.  And every year, we tragically lose one or two guests. 

It’s sad to see how many of our guests have deteriorated both physically and mentally over the years.  The streets take a terrible toll.

We owe our volunteers a big vote of thanks.  And we ask for prayer for our guests.

If you are a volunteer and you bump into any our guests on the street, take a moment to say hello and ask how they are doing.  It will be much appreciated and you will be blessed.

Dennis Bruce

Co-Chairman, Blythwood Out of the Cold

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The first weekend of May also marks work weekend at Camp Kwasind for many people.  This year there was close to 70 of us that traveled up on the Friday night arriving at all hours (I believe the last group to arrive that night was close to Midnight), so that they could be ready to start the long process of opening up the camp for the summer, first thing Saturday morning.  Not only was everyone blessed with nice weather and conditions to drive up to camp in, we were blessed on Saturday for working in. 

After a beautiful breakfast by Chef Bruce Duff (for those who have never had his cooking, you are missing out) and the team of volunteers helping him, we broke up into teams to work around camp.  Some jobs done around camp included:

• Checking each cabin, making sure that everything worked and that it had everything needed for the summer
• Getting the campfire area ready again for the summer use
• Cleaning up and out areas like the office, the maintenance shop, the kitchen and other main areas that are heavily used around camp 
• Raking up leaves (those with a cottage or who have ever worked at a camp, will tell you it is a never ending job)
• Some people worked on cleaning up trees that had got damaged by the snow over the winter.
• Painting around camp (it is a never ending job)
• Small repairs around camp
• Getting the dock back in to the water and repaired (I personally thank the brave souls who did this, the water was COLD!)

By the time dinner rolled around, so much had been accomplished. We spent the evening hanging out and getting to catch up with people we haven’t seen in a long time and getting to know new friends.  On Sunday, many entered the dinning hall for breakfast and were greeted with the announcement that one of the couples who were on staff last summer and up working for the weekend, had got engaged. Having personally witnessed the sunrise proposal, I can say it was beautiful and touching to see the loved shared by the couple. Congratulations again to Adrian Karasmanis and Sara Manuel, best wishes for the future. After breakfast  we enjoyed a wonderful message from Rodney Vis, who is the Managing Director at Kwasind. Before we finished some odds and ends around camp, including packed up before heading out and home.

                I would like to thank everyone who came up over the weekend and worked so hard at getting the camp ready for the summer. I would like to also thank those that had us all in their prayers over the weekend. It was a wonderful weekend, filled with hard work, fun, friendship and love.

Blessings,

Alicia Petley

What a glorious, bountiful, sunshiny day

With a sky washed in bright azure blue.

There’s a wisp of a cloud that is lulling about,

Just relaxing, with nothing to do.

See the oak trees’ new buds, still a yellowish green,

Inching out to achieve their full size.

And the breeze-stirring pine holds a nest in its arms

Filled with three little chirping young cries.

Feel the warmth of the sun flooding comfort and health

To a world that’s alive with rebirth.

And now pause to absorb what we share with all life:

Being alive! On God’s beautiful earth. —Peggy Ferrell

Just like at camp, parents and some very excited camper’s started arriving earlier then we had planned but it was ok, we were ready and excited too.  Just like at camp, camper’s signed in and then are  told what cabin they would be staying in, each cabin is a different age group.  We spent the first little bit while everyone was arriving getting to know everyone in our cabins.  My cabin group, Algonquin, had 16 campers and a total of three leaders.  We had a blast playing get to know you games and telling stories about what camp is like to those that have never been to Kwasind before (which in our group was about half the campers).

Once everyone had arrived and signed in and got to know their cabin groups a bit, we moved on to our next activity. A camp wide game, while normally at camp this is done after dinner, was a great way to start the day.  Our first camp wide game that we played is known as Phobia.  Phobia is played by having a bunch of staff pretending to be afraid of different things (touching the ground, must be singing songs etc.) and having the campers have to figure out what it is and then successfully brings the person back to the starting point where they get points for each person they bring back.   After Phobia we played “Game in a box”. The game is played with everyone siting in a large square and being given a number. When the persons number is called they do have to do the action that the announcer has said, to get the other side.  Some of these actions included, crab walking, lunges and hopping on one foot.

After that we had Worship.  Some of our volunteers made up the worship team and played some of our most popular worship songs from camp while others showed the actions that go along with them.  We also got to hear from our speaker of the day, who got some of the camper’s involved with his lesson by having them dress up and act out the bible verses that we were focusing on.  The campers loved it, there were lots of laughs.  I also think it left a number of them hoping he is the speaker of the week that they have signed up for this summer.

After Worship, it was finally lunch! Lunch was set up almost like it would be at camp. The campers all loved the hot dogs and hamburgers that they got to eat but I think the real hit was desert.  Yummy cupcakes with little flags stick out the top with messages like “ I love Kwasind”. We even got to sing one of the songs that we sometimes sing during desert, “Shake it dear…”  Everyone got to shake it at least once.

After lunch, was a quick 10 minute staff land bucketball. This allowed us to show campers how to play the game that is so famously played at camp.  For those of you that don’t know what bucketball is, it is played with two teams who are trying to get the ball into the bucket (which is held by one of their team members) on the other team’s side. It’s simply a mix between basketball and football, normally played in water.   It was after this that we started into rotation activities with our cabins. Each cabin moved on through the activities as a group.  The day’s activities included:

~ Bucketball

~Human sized hungry hippos

~“Cabin Time” where were learned a cabin cheer for campfire later in the day

~Crafts where they were able to make a keychain or pom-pom pen

~Video where they were able to help make a video with one of the staff by doing silly things

After our rotations we, had vespers, were we sung quite songs and had reflection time with the speaker of the day. 

Then it was campfire.  Campfire started off with each cabin being able to do their cheer that they learned during “Cabin Time” before moving into different volunteers leading some of the most popular camp songs and doing some of the camps most popular skits. I feel like every song and skit was a hit. There was always campers laughing and cheering. After all the songs and skits, we did our campfire closing, “Day is Done”.

After Campfire, everyone had the hard job of saying goodbye to the new friends they made as it was time to go home.  It was a sad time for everyone.  But overall it was a great day and everyone, campers and volunteers alike, left looking forward to when they could finally head up to camp this summer.  Thank you to all the campers and volunteers that made the day a success!

Blessings, 

Alicia Petley

—St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)

Once again, Lord, we are astounded by the incomparable and glorious event of Easter. 

To remember how you conquered sin and evil through the resurrection of Jesus stirs up joy and hope within us. 

It comforts us greatly to know that because Christ was raised from the dead, we who are 'in Christ' have the assurance of eternal life. 

Furthermore, to have the living Christ as our Savior and the undergirding Holy Spirit as our daily Companion assures us of grace that never fails us. 

Finally, it is a certainty that all things good and desirable are possible for those who love you, because Christ lives and reigns as King of our lives. 

All praise and glory to you, loving Creator, now and forever! Amen. 

-Charles Ferrell 

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of our volunteers for the wonderful work you have done for the past five months.  We could not run this program without you.

Some of you have prepared and cooked delicious meals, others have set up and cleaned tables, laid out mats, welcomed guests at the doors, and still others have organized and handed out much needed clothing to keep our guests warm.  Then there are those who got up before dawn to come and cook breakfast.  And those that did the dirty job of cleaning mats, sweeping floors, disinfecting bathrooms and generally making the church basement shine again.

To all of you, I wish a very special summer filled with sunshine, travel and fun.

Please spare a thought for our guests who now have to find other places to sleep and eat.  Being homeless is a tough, dehumanizing life.  So, if you see any of them on the streets, please take a moment to stop and chat.  You have no idea how much it will mean to them. 

God bless you all.

Dennis Bruce, co-chairman, Blythwood Out of the Cold program.

On January 10, 1995, we joined the Out of the Cold program and opened our church doors to seven homeless people. 

It had been a difficult decision for the church and caused an upheaval in the district. Some members objected and left the church in protest. But the majority felt convinced that this was a work that God called us to do. And when God calls, there is no escape, at least if we want to remain on speaking terms with Him. 

Back then, I wrote, “Everywhere, in our glittering city, people are huddled in doorways, spread-eagled over warm air vents, sleeping under bridges, begging for handouts on street corners, escaping the icy fist of winter in shopping malls and on subway platforms. And many are dying”

 Fast forward to January 2015. Things haven’t changed. They’ve gotten worse. And the words I wrote when we started remain true today -- as is obvious to anyone who reads the over 500 names written on the memorial board outside The Church of the Holy Trinity immediately to the west of the Eaton Centre. These people died on our streets in the shadows of the towers of finance and power. People passed them by, averted their eyes and wondered why the city just didn’t make it a crime to be homeless and mess up public spaces. 

Now, on the 20^th anniversary of the program at Blythwood, we are hosting around 140 to dinner on Saturday nights and sleeping 70 overnight. Some of our guests have been with us from day one. But they still come to us for a safe, warm, welcoming place to escape the threatening cold of the streets and the deadening loneliness which is often worse.  

 Many’s the time I have wondered how long we can go on with this program. It’s hard, demanding work. And, I will admit to hoping that it will come to an end and another church will take over and give Blythwood a break. It would, frankly, be a relief. 

Volunteers sometimes get burned out and stop coming. When we, on the committee, worry that we cannot continue, I am reminded that this is God’s work and if He wants it to continue he will supply new volunteers. This is not just a pious cliché. It happens over and over again. Churches and groups across the city continue to come and prepare and serve delicious and nourishing meals. People of good will donate money, food and themselves. In our basement on Saturday nights, friendships are made, and, while many would not articulate is this way, the eternal God of love is encountered.

These are just some of the reasons we are still going strong after 20 years.A huge THANK YOU to all our wonderful volunteers. You may not think of yourselves this way but you are a gift of God to us and especially to our guests. A blessed 2015 to you all!

- Dennis Bruce, co-chairman, Blythwood Out of the Cold Committee.

Last week we had the final “official” meet up with the team that went down to Bolivia this past August and Canadian Baptist Ministries. It was good to once again reflect on what God had done throughout our time together – and what God continues to do in our lives.

Whenever short term mission is discussed, the questions “Why bother going in the first place?Wouldn’t it be better just to send money?” arise. When I think of these questions I think of our experience in La Paz with the lustrabotas. These are young people who are either on or not very far from the street. They earn money by shining shoes, wearing masks and hats partly as a mark of their sub-culture and partly to hide their shame. When I heard that we were going to spend a morning sitting and working with a group of lustrabotas, I wondered how we would be accepted and received by them and their customers. Would the sight of a masked 6’4” man walking along the streets of La Paz cause some consternation? In our culture, masks are usually a sign of being up to no good.

The day turned into one of the most meaningful experiences of the two weeks for me. The lustrabota youth we were with had formed themselves into a kind of guild, with a house they used as a base of operations. They band together for protection and to make sure that if one of their number can’t work for whatever reason, they’re still supported. Spending the morning with them on the streets gave new meaning to the concept of coming alongside people. Our friend Luceyro from El Alto told us of how she’s been running a Bible study monthly for these kids – bringing church to a group of people who may not feel welcome in church. 

We don’t get to meet these kids, hear their stories, have a chance to literally sit down with them, hear about and be encouraged by what God is doing through people like Luceyro, if we don’t show up. I don’t say that to signify that we’re such excellent people, but to show that where we choose to place ourselves matters. As I heard someone say recently, Christianity is an embodied faith – God came to us in the form of human body –and what we do with our bodies matters.

None of the above happens if people don’t show up.

Blessings

David

This past Saturday Blythood held its fourth annual “Trick or Eat” night. On the Saturday before Hallowe’en, our youth go door to door in the neighbourhood in their Hallowe’en outfits collecting non-perishable food items for the North York Daily Harvest Food Bank. This year we were pleased to have Glenview Presbyterian and Eglinton St George United join us. Glenview collected food from the streets around their church, then met up with us at Blythwood afterward to share some snacks and to get to know one another. 

All in all it was a great night! We were able to invite our neighbours to join us in helping those in need, have fun and enjoy some great snacks and hot chocolate afterwards! While we collected over 600 lbs of food, the success of the night wasn’t measure in how much food we collected.The success was in how we were able to show God’s love, and what we learned about God in the

process.

We look forward to doing the same next year with our friends from Glenview and ESG!

Blessings

Pastor David