September 2018
1
Features Musings: God is Holy. God is Love Vocation Commissioning Vocation and the Image of God Questions from the Pew A Word of Thanks Mission Sharing
4 11 12 14 15 16
Departments SGC Discipleship Ministries Resource Centre
18 24
Information Contact Inormation Calendar
28 30
Cover & Design: Dale Forder Michelle Li Contributors: Alice Ng Bouwma Garth Barron Greg Kay Sam Chaise Sam Lee Karen Cassel Jeremy Ranasinghe Kaitlyn Ranasinghe Gene Tempelmeyer
Delve submissions are due on the LAST MONDAY of each month. To submit for the next issue of Delve, please email: delve@springgardenchurch.ca
Copy Editors: Greg Kay Karen Cassel Jeremy Ranasinghe Michelle Li Gene Tempelmeyer
of love and holiness works, perhaps, because we have already learned to be comfortable with cognitive dissonance. I don’t believe God’s love and holiness are character traits held in careful balance by God. I think love and holiness are synonyms. Holiness is God’s internal character of moral perfection. Love is the outward and relational expression of that character. God loves because He is holy. God is holy because he loves.
Musings: God is Holy. God is Love. by Gene Tempelmeyer
I
don’t like being mean. I admit it. My deepest feelings of shame arise when I know I have hurt someone, even though it is almost always unintentional. I don’t like mean people. I especially don’t like mean religious people. I don’t like being mean. Someone recently told me that when they hear, “God is love,” they assume the speaker has come against a situation in which they don’t want to be mean. So instead of saying, “That is wrong,” or “that is sin,” they said simply, “God is love,” and leave unfinished the thought, “So I don’t have to confront you.” I don’t like being mean, and I believe God is love. But those are not at all the same thing to me. Often when I speak or write about the audacity of God’s grace and the unconditional nature of His love I meet the objection, “But you must remember that God is also holy!” As if holiness and love are opposite principles. As if love is a counter-balance to God’s holiness and holiness is a counter-balance to God’s love. In this counterbalancing scenario, holiness condemns while love forgives. Holiness demands while love offers. Love welcomes us into God’s presence but holiness closes the door. Love invites a few of us into heaven while holiness condemns most of us to hell. Holiness dispenses retribution while love dispenses redemption. Does this oversimplify? Perhaps the paragraph above oversimplifies theological issues, but I think it accurately reflects a dissonance in much classical Christian religion. This is not unusual. The popular Christian mind is filled with cognitive dissonance. The counterbalancing theology 4
The word “holy” is a derivative of the word “wholly.” Integrity is being the same thing through and through. The thing that God is through and through is love. God’s holiness does not draw Him toward judgement. God’s holiness draws Him toward forgiveness. Holiness does not impose retribution. Holiness always offers redemption. Let’s take a detour and think about God and morality. I offer a simple idea: if God would do it, it is moral; if God would not do it, it is not moral. If taking vengeance in a violent matter is immoral, God would not do it. If God would do it, it is morally acceptable for you and I predict the objection, “But God is not bound by our moral standards.” I agree. God is not restricted by what I think is or is not moral. My morality, however, is defined by what God thinks is or is not moral. Our morality is derived from God’s character. As Jesus wrote, “Be perfect/whole as the Father is perfect/whole” (Mt 5:48). It should be noticed that this is said in conclusion to the command to love our enemy, pray for our persecutor, and love those who do not love us, “…that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Both Jesus and Paul identify love as a summation of all morality. God set the moral standard. He exemplifies the moral standard. His holiness is His consistent unconditional love. He does not distinguish between the righteous and the unrighteous when He sends rain because He is holy. Were He to send rain only on the righteous or give sun only to the good, He, Himself, would not be holy. I know. This takes a while to get our head around. It is not how we operate or think. Which, of course, is one more evidence that we are not God. How can God, who is wholly holy, be the friend of sinners? Where does sin begin? Consider a young man driving through the
5
territory of a rival gang. He sees a member of that gang, aims his gun and pulls the trigger four times. Two shots wound his enemy while one of the remaining two strikes and kills an innocent bystander. Clearly this act is evil sin. What we see is an angry young man with a gun and an innocent death. What does a holy God see? God immediately and fully sees an entire web of responsibility leading to this act. Perhaps he sees the shooter as a victim of earlier violence acting out anger in his present world. Perhaps he sees a racialized youth who has been suspected, carded, and profiled since he started middle school. Perhaps he sees a culture of poverty and constant government countbacks that protect the finances of middle class families but worsen the impact of poverty on this young man’s family and childhood. To put this another way, we see one sin, God sees the entire “fall”: that is, a broken society in a broken universe which constantly renews the principle of sin as a response to previous sin. It is inescapable. Yes, the young man has a choice whether or not to shoot, and society has an obligation to hold that choice accountable for the safety of everyone. But God, who is wholly love, can look with compassion and grace because he sees the victim inside the criminal. Before seeing how the cycle of sin will stop it would be wise to consider how it started. What put the perpetual motion machine of sin and evil into effect in the first place? A man, a woman, a snake, and a fruit. Consider this puzzling story of our genesis. God gave Adam and Eve right to every fruit but one. The only thing in all creation that might kill the harmony and unity of God’s order was knowledge of good and evil. (Ironically, it is precisely from this knowledge that we generally take our view of “holiness”.) What kills us is binary thinking. Good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood are like a light switch: on or off. One or the other. And when we see a person perform an action that is in the “evil” column, that person thereby is also placed in the “evil” column. This is why when Christian authors take one unpopular stand it is not uncommon to see some Christians not only reject that one stand, but everything else that author has written, perhaps even boycotting the entire publisher. God knows and understands our drive-by shooter within a wider network of his influences and individual actions. Rather than seeing 6
good or evil, God sees good and evil. Holiness is living, acting, and speaking in response to the magnetic pull of God who is love; sin is actively resisting and turning against that pull. Whereas love pulls us toward good, fear pulls toward evil. Fear is generated by the harm and hurt previous sin has generated. The essence of “original sin” is that we are all born into a sinful creation that inevitably causes us to act contrary to our good creation in response to the harm and fear of fallen creation. The most compelling idolatry we face is the certainty that if we were in control we could protect ourselves against danger and further hurt. This is true both individually and collectively. "This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us."(1 John 4:17-20) A corollary is also true: Fear drives out love. Fear drives out the influence of God. Fear makes us determined to become gods of our own destiny. Because we can’t trust Love to love us. It is because God is holy that He willingly becomes the friend of sinners. It is because God is holy He incarnated Himself as Jesus, well known for his friendship with tax collectors and prostitutes. If God can’t be friends with sinners, who can He be friends with? You are not either good or evil. It is not true that if you are evil God can’t stand to have you in His presence, but if you are good you are welcome. We are not binary beings. When I consider myself a binary being I begin to fear judgement. Fearing judgement, I withdraw from my brother who is evil, lest I become tainted with that evil. How do I know that my brother is evil? He does evil things. He believes something about God I don’t believe. Perhaps his economic status or even the colour of his skin causes me to suspect he is not among the good people chosen and blessed by God. "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."(1 John 4:20,21) 7
Driven by fear, it is the very desire to be numbered among the good that causes me to sin and reject God. The more I strive to be holy in a binary view of the universe, the more truly unholy I become. Does this mean there is no room for justice? Does our drive-by killer go free? Not at all. But perhaps we need to consider that God does not think as we think and may have a fuller sense of justice than we could possibly possess. Who is guilty? The shooter, obviously. But also the social, political, and economic networks that made the shooter what he is. We have all participated in these networks. We all face a nonbinary reality: we are both innocent and guilty. When we seek divine justice it does us well to reflect on the parable Jesus told of workers who were paid equally regardless the hour they began work. When they complained of the injustice the farmer replied that, as it was his money, it was his prerogative to be more generous than fair. What if God were able to vindicate the oppressed while simultaneously redeeming the oppressor? Jesus described hearts that have become callous. The hurt we have experienced can grow thick protective callouses that protect us from feeling pain – sometimes from feeling the pain that we cause. Imagine you had been hurtful without empathy. Perhaps you had done serious wrong to a large number of people, but you didn’t feel any guilt or remorse because your heart had been hardened. And then God ripped the callus off your heart. The skin underneath is raw and tender because it has been coming to life underneath a callus. Raw and tender you suddenly see the fullness of what you have done, you experience empathy and sympathy for each person you have hurt. You are overwhelmed by the number of people who have suffered deeply because of things you hardly felt. How much pain would accompany the removal of your heart’s calluses? Now, you, who had power to hurt (which gave you a false feeling of power to control your own destiny) have opportunity to be reconciled with those you previously regarded with distain. Because that wounded person you hurt also now has eyes to see your complexity as God sees it, the eyes that once looked at you with fear now look at you with pity. You discover that whether or not they were right all along, you, at least, were wrong all along. You discover that your feelings of strength and power were a stupid, foolish illusion. 8
How painful would that moment of discovery be for you? You have two choices. You can be reconciled to those you have damaged, but that way requires acknowledging your wrong in the deepest places of your own being – places of guilt and accountability you have never dared visit. To enter the fullness of love you must be willing to be detached from your hate. Perhaps sobbing with gratitude for their graciousness, you accept the pity and mercy of those for whom you have shown no pity or mercy. Perhaps you would find that level of self-awareness so hard you would rather just cease to be. Who you have been could never continue in a universe of Wholly Love. One way or another the drive-by shooter will be gone for eternity. Either the consciousness of hate will be transformed into love or simply disappear into nothing in a universe where there is only Wholly Love. The person who was hurt has the same two choices: becoming detached from hate and resentment in order to fully enter Wholly Love, or, decide that you would rather not exist than to be reconciled to the ones who harmed you. The evil person who bullied you, foreclosed your farm, put you in jail, even gassed you in a concentration camp, is now weak, helpless, and revealed. Does that not vindicate your suffering? Remember, your own walls of fear, hurt and resentment have also been embraced by Wholly Love. Seeing Him, who forgave from the cross, you have become like him. Is not Easter adequate justice for Good Friday? If not, Jesus’ prayer from the cross has still gone unanswered. The cross was not simply the product of decisions made by Pontus Pilate or the Chief Priest, Annas. The cross was also the product of larger social structures of empire and established religion. Jesus, himself, participated in these systems navigating them consistently with wholly love and confronting them where wholly love was absent. Our own suffering would not be possible apart from similar structures of political, religious and economic power. But we have not navigated these systems as perfectly as Jesus did. We are both victim and criminal. Like the drive-by shooter who dies one way or another, in God’s final healing of the universe our social structures will be absorbed and transformed by wholly love into an entirely new kind of human community. In this community the binaries that divide us now will 9
be revealed as false and disappear. There will be no more “them” and “us”. No more rich or poor. No more enemy or ally. No more my tribe, your tribe. No more, even, heaven or earth, for in the final restoration we will realize that heaven and earth have always co-existed. God has always been more near and present than we thought, we just could not perceive Him. In a new joining of heaven and earth through Jesus, God will bring about a social order that is truly holy: wholly loving. The church exists today as an outpost of that coming order. Binaries that have divided us already disappear “in Christ”. This is why Paul writes of us: "From now on, then, we do know anyone in a purely human way. … If anyone is in Christ, she or he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. … Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:16-20) “We believe in the holy [catholic/universal/Christian/diverse/inclusive] Church.” The church cannot be “holy” unless it is also “catholic” (the word means: including a wide variety of things; all-embracing). When the Church defines its holiness by people, actions, and thoughts it does not accept, such a church cannot be truly holy. Another way to say we believe in the holy, catholic church is to say we believe in the wholly loving church. The holiness the church exhibits in the world is our ability to love. The invitation the church gives to the world is to step into God’s restoration now, to experience the freedom of forgiveness now, to join a reconciled community without binaries now. This, of course, requires faith: the willingness to live hopefully in an ideal we do not yet see, and will not fully see until Jesus comes again. God is holy because He is wholly love. God is wholly love because He is holy. We can only be holy when we, too, are wholly love. A holy church will not step away from the world. The holy church steps into the world again and again, as ambassadors, messengers and agents of a new world to come. Our method and our message is wholly love. 10
Vocation Commissioning by Gene Tempelmeyer
I
t has become one of our traditions at Spring Garden to have a time each autumn in which we “commission” each other to the work we do in the world throughout the week. We believe that God is present and active in the world and in all we do. We don’t divide our lives between the “sacred” and the “secular”. It is all sacred. From filling a tooth cavity to cooking supper, from selling cars to teaching school, God is active in the world using our activity to fulfill His purpose in us and in the universe. We are part of something big. Very big. To “commission” a person or a group is to urge and authorize someone to fulfill a special role or duty. Most churches commission missionaries, pastors, and other Church workers. If all the work we do in the world is God’s work (and it is), we ought also to be commissioning real estate agents, nurses and custodians. God is able to do it all. We, however, are just able to do part of it. An important element of our annual commissioning to our jobs is identifying the way our activities in the world reflect components of God’s activity in the world. He uses some of us to provide people’s daily needs, for example, while using others to bring justice or reveal truth. What follows is a list of the ways different work flows with God’s mission in the world. On Sunday morning, Sept. 16, our worship will include commissioning each and all of us to our work. This will be more meaningful if, before this time, you have an opportunity to reflect on what you “do for a living” and how it reflects the living God. 11
Vocation and the Image of God © Robert Banks, Faith Goes to Work, Wlpf and Stock Publishers, Eugene Oregon, 1999
Redemptive work
God’s saving activity, reconciling “all things, whether in heaven or in earth” (Col 1:19-20) • Whenever anyone speaks up for God • “Prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks” (1 Peter 3:15) • Employment that possess a redemptive dimension • Examples: evangelists, apologists, church founders, counsellors, social workers, engaging in negotiating an end to hostilities, mediating divorce cases and other disputes, resolving neighbourhood or racial conflicts, screen writers/producers committed to developing redemptive motifs
Creative Work
God’s work began long before the incarnation. God’s fashioning the physical and human world, the novel and surprising ways God shapes historical and future events. God continues to work in the world partly through human creative work. • Examples: arts, musicians, painters, sculptors, writers, film makers, crafts, craft persons like, potter, metalworker, weaver, knitter, stonemason, carpenter, builder, and architect, or gardening and landscape, interior design, urban planning • Activity with touch of originality or creativity, even homemakers, office workers and factory hands that have found ways to grace work with creative touch.
Justice Work
Giving people their fair and equal redress or due. • Examples: legislators, government regulators, judges and attorneys, supervisors, para-legal workers, social activists, minority advocates, consumer protectors, people who apply equitable rules, seek to avoid discrimination, adopt an affirmative action approach.
Compassionate Work
Showing compassion, as seen in divinely appointed “servant” described by the prophets (Isaiah 40-55) • Examples: helping professions ranging from doctors, nurses, paramedics, psychologists, therapists, community workers, home visitors, personnel directors, welfare agents, or like work within the home
Revelatory Work
God as the one who enlightens others about the truth. Revealing, enlightening, educating activity of God that seeks to bring truth and wisdom to others. • Examples: preachers, professors, teachers, writers, commentators, journalists, parents, humorists, cartoonists.
Providential Work
Full range of what God brings, gives, and supplies to us. All that God does to maintain the universe and human life in an orderly and beneficial fashion. Conserving, sustaining, replenishing, daily provider. • Examples: bureaucracies run society, public utility workers, entrepreneurs building businesses and creating jobs, service occupations and trades supply and support and fix and remedy problems, civil servant, housing inspector, trash collector, cab, bus driver, garage mechanic, builder, janitors, cleaning services.
12
13
A Word of Thanks by Greg Kay
M
Questions from the Pew
E
arly this summer you had opportunity to submit questions to provide topics for the talk each Sunday. All the questions were put into a box, and each Sunday someone reached in to pull out a question for the following week. Then whomever was scheduled to speak began thinking and studying! It created an interesting series of talks: fun to prepare and engage with. We enjoyed it so much we thought you might like to know what topics you missed when you were away. The following list provides the topics and speakers available on our podcast. (The last two will be added asap and the August 12 recording did not come out.) Whenever you have to miss a Sunday you can catch the talk later on www.springgardenchurch.ca and follow the link to podcasts. June 24
Understanding What We Read in the Bible
Gene Tempelmeyer
July 1
What is God Doing in Our Community?
Gene Tempelmeyer
July 8
What Does the Bible Say about Homosexuality?
Gene Tempelmeyer
July 15
Is Genesis Literal?
Gene Tempelmeyer
July 22
How Can I Know God is Really Leading Me?
Victoria Shipmaker
July 29
Who was Paul?
Sam Lee
August 5
Speaking in Tongues
Gene Tempelmeyer
August 17 14
God's Heart for the Nations and the Marginalized
Michel Belzile
y dear Spring Garden community, my family and I want to express our thanks to you all for your gracious support through giving myself (and the pastoral staff in general) the opportunity to have a 4 month Sabbatical. Words cannot express the depth of gratitude we have to be part of a church community that shows such practical care to its pastors. It was a wonderful four months of being able to be home and present with my family—picking the kids up from school and spending relaxing Sunday mornings together at home and in the pew; being able to travel—we began my sabbatical with a trip to Costa Rica with 4 other families who are friends from our neighbourhood, and ended it with a trip to Japan spending almost 2 full weeks enjoying the amazing culture, food and activities in Tokyo; and being able to pray, reflect and retreat—my spiritual highlight was a retreat Monica and I took to a spiritual renewal centre called “The Spring” in Indiana. Although there were some challenges, like any time in life, it was a wonderful gift. So thank you Spring Garden for your love and support! Greg, Monica, Chloe and Neve
15
Mission Sharing by Alice Ng Bouwma
For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
W
Jeremiah 29:11
hile in Saint Martin II in the Peten Department of Northern Guatemala in July, I had the opportunity to share this verse with the community of indigenous Chachi. Supporting the work of World Renew and the local partner APIDEC (Spanish acronym for Presbyterian Christian Service Committee of Peten), I heard of how God was moving in these communities. I heard stories of struggle and stories of empowerment. While the community struggles with having water that is contaminated and causes outbreaks and having a health clinic that has no medicine or visiting health staff, World Renew and APIDEC are helping to empower the community leaders in understanding that they in fact have many local resources that they can utilize. After learning about gender equality and realizing that women have a voice to share, I saw firsthand a young girl who used to be too intimidated to speak in front of others, now presenting the kinds of conflicts that exist in their community and solutions on how to resolve them. Also after being trained on how to develop community action plans, I heard a community elder proudly share their community’s heritage and what kind of future they envisioned for themselves and how they were going to make it happen. My frustration with so many systematic structures beyond the control of this community including; a government that did not provide their people with basic services such as healthcare, education and electricity, palm oil plantations that contaminate water with their by-products, and large ranchers that take away indigenous land rights, made it difficult for me to envision a more prosperous future for these people. But in the stories of so many strong men and women, and boys and girls, I could hear God echoing the words of Jeremiah 29:11. As our visit was ending, Maria, one of the most dedicated women in the farmer’s group who is adopting and adapting many of the agricultural skills that World Renew and APIDEC were teaching, came to make a personal plea to our group. Maria was carrying her one and Health clinic with no supplies and a half year old daughter, who was suffering medical support from a condition that caused her head to be abnormally enlarged, and told us that doctors said that her daughter would not learn to walk because her condition was a symptom of other complications. Maria wanted to share her story with us, as she had spent significant resources traveling the 15 hours to Guatemala City with her daughter visiting hospital after hospital with no one able and willing to help someone unable to pay the necessary medical fees. As I
16
listened to Maria’s story, I as a mother could see the pain and despair in her eyes. We offered what we could to Maria by praying that God would heal her baby, that God would send help, and that God would provide for them. After returning from the community and sharing about our visit with APIDEC’s board members, I broke down in tears recounting Maria’s story. To my surprise, one of the board members said that the day after our visit, Maria was given a wheelchair for her daughter. Our prayers were partially answered; the wheelchair would provide Maria relief from carrying her daughter everywhere. However, I recognized that this was only the start, the little girl, like so many who are disadvantaged and marginalized, needs so much more prayer and support. As our visit was ending, Maria, one of the most dedicated woman in the farmer’s group who is adopting and adapting many of the agricultural skills that World Renew and APIDEC were teaching, came to make a personal plea to our group. Maria was carrying her one and a half year old daughter, who was suffering from a condition that caused her head to be abnormally enlarged, and told us that doctors said that her daughter would not learn to walk because her condition was a symptom of other complications. Maria wanted to share her story with us, as she had spent significant resources traveling the 15 hours to Guatemala City with her daughter visiting hospital after hospital with no one able and willing to help someone unable to pay the necessary medical fees. As I listened to Maria’s story, I as a mother could see the pain and despair in her eyes. We offered what we could to Maria by praying that God would heal her baby, that God would send help, and that God would provide for them. After returning from the community and sharing about our visit with APIDEC’s board members, I broke down in tears recounting Maria’s story. To my surprise, one of the board members said that the day after our visit, Maria was given a wheelchair for her daughter. Our prayers were partially answered; the wheelchair would provide Maria relief from carrying her daughter everywhere. However, I recognized that this was only the start, the little girl, like so many who are disadvantaged and marginalized, needs so much more prayer and support. Throughout my visit to Peten, I was reminded that God has so much in store for us – a plan for a prosperous hope-filled future. I have to believe that this is God’s desire for everyone even though I saw so much injustice and poverty. I believe in a God that cares for everyone and sees things beyond what I can understand and I believe He has a plan to prosper the people of Saint Martin II. To learn more about World Renew's ministries visit worldrenew.net.
17
Partnering with Families
SGC Discipleship Ministries 18
Coffee and refreshments will be served during the morning sessions and evening sessions. Food will be provided for both sessions so please let us know which one you will be attending.
Discipleship Ministry Summer Report This Summer has been a whirlwind of excitement! From LIT training, to Camp, and Summer Sunday, there has been a lot going on for us. Sam and Jeremy are incredibly proud of our Summer Staff, as well as the volunteers whose leadership helped to make it all happen! As their working time with us comes to a close we want to thank them for serving with us this summer, and we pray that this upcoming school year be a fruitful and exciting one for them. **Special Thanks** Alec Macri • Leah Pivato • Eldrin Macaraig
For more information contact Sam (samlee@springgardenchurch. ca) or Jeremy (jeremy@springgardenchurch.ca)
Spring Kids Changes to Kid’s Sunday Worship As the new ministry year approaches, we have had to make some changes to how we are doing things downstairs. Here are the updated group lists Nursery (0-18 months) - Purple Room Toddler/Pre-K (2 & 3 Year Olds) - Orange Room JK/SK (4 & 6 Year Olds) - Yellow Room Grades 1 & 2 - Blue Room for drop off and pick up
Luke Reyes • Lily Sider • Tristan Lee
Grade 3 - Blue Room for drop off, Green Room for pick up
Kieran Lee • Gideon Lee • Ella Sider
Grade 4 & 5 - Blue Room for drop off, and Red Room for pick up
Hannah Turner • Diana Belyalova • Kaitlyn Ranasinghe
Discipleship Ministry Orientation Days
Here is an overview of what we will be talking about on Sundays for Spring Kids.
Toddlers/Pre-K – JK/SK: Alive
We will be holding Orientation Training Days for all our volunteers in the Discipleship Ministry Program. Volunteers are only required to sign up for one of the following days: Sept. 2nd
Sept. 6th
Sept. 9th
9am-10am
8pm-9pm
9am-10:00pm
12pm-1pm
Grade 6-12 - Youth Lounge
This month, children will be learning all about the good things that God created. They will also learn that God rested to enjoy his creation and friendship with people, and the way that people hurt that friendship through sin. “God saw everything he had made. And it was very good.” - Genesis 1:31
19
Grades 1-5
want this to be on your calendar as soon as possible. *More details to come*
• God Gives New Life • God is Provider • God is the One True God
Staying Updated:
SGC Youth
http://tinyurl.com/SGCYouth
To stay up to date on what is happening for your youth, please visit our google calendar which has all our planned events.
Here is what's happening this September!
Sunday Morning Worship Gatherings: September 16th, 23rd, and 30th We will be having regular worship gatherings for youth in grades 6-12. Following the children’s blessing, youth will move to the youth lounge to continue worship there.
Annual Fall Ministry Launch BBQ Sunday September 9, 2018
Youth Life Groups: Life Groups will start back up on October 5th, 2018. For more information email Sam or Jeremy.
Youth Events: September 15th - Jr High Welcome BBQ:
We will be meeting at Sam’s house to welcome the new group of Jr High youth joining our group. This event will be for youth in grades 6-8. Time: 5:00pm-9:00pm Cost: Free
September 16th: Youth Dave and Busters:
We will be going to Dave and Busters arcade for unlimited gameplay. The event will begin after worship on the Sunday. Space is limited so please reserve your youth’s spot by emailing Jeremy. Time: 12:00pm-5:00pm Cost: $20 (Include food, rides, and unlimited games)
To kick off our fall ministry year, will be hosting our annual fall launch BBQ. Please join us after worship for some food and fun as we prepare for another great year!
October 19-21 - Fall Youth Retreat 2018:
Our annual fall youth retreat will be coming up quickly, and so we
20
21
ESL Café
After a summer break, the ESL Café will begin again on September 12th. On Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 in the east lounge, the ESL Café provides newcomers to Canada with an opportunity to practice and improve their English, and to make new friends. The time is spent in discussing a wide variety of topics, reading short stories aloud, as well as occasional grammar instruction. If you know someone who might benefit from an opportunity to practice their English speaking and listening skills, please let them know about the ESL Café. We are also looking for one or two people who would be willing to commit to coming out on a fairly regular basis to help facilitate. These facilitators don’t necessarily need a background in ESL, although that would be a help. Anyone who is a native English speaker could fill this role. If you are interested, contact Garth Barron (email garthbarron@ sympatico.ca).
Sunday Morning Bible Study
The Sunday Morning Bible Study will begin meeting again starting on September 16th at 9 AM in the meeting room. We would be happy to have you join us as we begin a study of Matthew’s gospel.
Community Corner Walk4Freedom | Ending Sex Trafficking One Step at a Time
On September 22, Fight4Freedom is hosting a Walk4Freedom in 22 cities across Canada and around the world. We will be walking to raise awareness about human trafficking in our neighbourhoods, pray for those affected by it, and for those who raise funds to help end it. One of these walks will be happening right here in North York. We will meet at Spring Garden and walk through our neighbourhood praying over areas where human trafficking is known to be happening. Last year, the Walk4Freedom raised $10,000 to support survivors of human trafficking. This year, our goal is $20, 000! Will you join us? We would love to see you there! September 22 at 10:00am at Spring Garden.
Welcome, Safety & Support for Refugees
For nearly 30 years Christie Refugee Centre has provided emergency shelter and a warm welcome for refugee families from all ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. Started by World Vision and now a partner with the City of Toronto, we are motivated by our Christian faith to respond to God’s call to pursue justice and offer compassion. Approximately 100 families (300 people, including lots of children) arrive at our doorstep every year, escaping homes and homelands that have become dangerous. At Christie they receive the care, support and assistance they need to pursue their refugee claim and to reconstruct and begin their new lives in Canada. The RIDE for REFUGE is a wonderful opportunity to support and advocate for refugee families arriving in Toronto. It’s a cycling and walking event on September 29th where churches, families (strollers are welcome!), friends and co-workers can come together to support a cause that moves their hearts towards compassion and action. Sam Chaise, who is the Executive Director at Christie and a member of Spring Garden, will be the team captain for the Spring Garden Church team! You and your friends and family can sign up to be on the SGC team to cycle or walk in support of Christie Refugee Welcome Centre. Each rider or walker can register online and then begin to share their fundraising page with potential supporters, in person, by email, or on social media! Go to http://ride.w-ith.me/springgarden and then click on the ‘Join the Team’ button, and follow the instructions from there. You’ll hear more about this in late August and early September! The Ride takes places at Ashbridges Bay Park, 1561 Lake Shore Blvd East. Plenty of parking at: 20 Ashbridges Bay Park -- $7 flat rate for the day.
For more information, visit fight4freedom.ca/walk4freedom or email Kaitlyn Ranasinghe at kaitlyn@fight4freedom.ca. 22
23
Recomendations From The Resource Centre Spring Garden’s online library catalog can be accessed at springgardenchurch.ca/library
If you know of books or DVDs that you’d like to recommend to the Resource Centre, please contact Karen Cassel (karen.cassel@bell.net)
Prophetic imagination, by Walter Brueggemann
The Reason you walk, a memoir,
Walter Brueggemann, offers a theological and ethical reading of the Hebrew Bible. He finds there a vision for the community of God whose words and practices of lament, protest and complaint give rise to an alternative social order that opposes the "totalism" of the day. Brueggemann traces the lines from the radical vision of Moses to the solidification of royal power in Solomon to the prophetic critique of that power with a new vision of freedom in the prophets. Here he traces the broad sweep from Exodus to Kings to Jeremiah to Jesus. He highlights that the prophetic vision and not only embraces the pain of the people but creates an energy and amazement based on
When his father was given a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Winnipeg broadcaster and musician Wab Kinew decided to spend a year reconnecting with the accomplished but distant aboriginal man who had raised him. His father, Tobasonakwut, was a beloved traditional chief and respected elected leader who engaged directly with Ottawa. He was also a survivor of the residential school system. As Kinew revisits his own childhood, he learns more about his father’s traumatic past. Kinew writes affectingly of his own struggles in his youth to find the right path, eventually giving up a self- destructive lifestyle to pursue music and martial arts. Invoking hope, healing and forgiveness, The reason you walk is a poignant memoir of a towering but damaged father and his son as they embark on a journey to repair their family bond, a story that will inspire us to continue the wider conversation about the future of Indigenous peoples.
the new thing that God is doing.
24
by Wab Kinew
25
Recomendations From The Resource Centre A Wrinkle in Time,
The Aging brain,
by Madeleine L’Engle
by Dr. Timothy Jennings
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. "Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract." A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.
While growing older is inevitable, many of the troubles we associate with aging-including dementia, disability, and an increased dependence on others--are not. The choices we make now can help us to maintain our vitality, a sharp mind, and our independence as we age. Filled with simple, everyday actions we can take to avoid disease, promote vitality, and prevent dementia and late onset Alzheimer's, The Aging Brain is an easy-to-use guide to maintaining brain and body health throughout our lives. Based on solid, up-to-date scientific research, the interventions explained in this book not only prevent progression toward dementia even in those who have already shown mild cognitive impairment, they also reduce disability and depression and keep people living independently longer than those
26
who do not practice these methods.
27
Leadership at Spring Garden
Elders
Pastoral Team Gene Tempelmeyer, Pastor 416-223-4593 genetemp@springgardenchurch.ca Greg Kay, Worship and Mission Pastor gregkay@springgardenchurch.ca Margaret Sutton, Pastoral Care/Seniors margaretsutton@springgardenchurch.ca Sam Lee, Pastor of Discipleship, samlee@springgardenchurch.ca Michelle Li, Church Office and Communications Manager michelleli@springgardenchurch.ca Jeremy Ranasinghe, Discipleship Ministries Assistant jeremy@springgardenchurch.ca
Ext. 222 Ext. 224 Ext. 226 Ext. 227 Ext. 221 Ext. 223
Garth Barron garthbarron@sympatico.ca Darlene Boyd darlene.boyd@gmail.com Cindie Chaise cchaise@yahoo.ca Cheryl Chapman cheryl.chapman@live.ca Joanna James jo.april.james@gmail.com Barrie Porter barriep91@gmail.com Brad Sider bradsider@yahoo.ca
416-724-9329 416.385.2483 416.738.0530 416.222.6963 647.928.0862 416.829.4210 647.200.6853
Deacons Sam Chaise 647-968-5065 sam_chaise@yahoo.com Adora Chui 905.962.3897 adora.chui@sgbc.ca Lesley Daniels 416.806.5373 lesley.daniels@sgbc.ca Joanne Laing 416-617-6582 joannelaing@gmail.com MartinDewar 416.229.2695 martin.dewar@sgbc.ca Shannon Loewen 647-202-0701 shannon.loewen1@gmail.com Peggy Moore 416.225.2406 peggylouisemoore@gmail.com Esther Penner 416.227.1840 esther.penner@sgbc.ca Doug Willson 416.221.0450 doug.willson191@gmail.com 28
Spring Garden Church T 416.223.4593 112 Spring Garden Ave. F 416.223.6126 Toronto ON M2N3G3 www.springgardenchurch.ca office@springgardenchurch.ca Prayer Line 416.223.4038
29
What’s Happening Life in Spring Garden
Weekly Tuesdays 1:00 pm - Pastoral Team Meeting (in Meeting Room) Wednesdays 10:00 am -11:30 am - Refresh Women's Group - in West Lounge (resumes on Sept 12, 2018) 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm - ESL cafe - Wednesday (resumes on Sept 12, 2018) Thursdays 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm - The Thursday Bunch (resumes on Sept 6, 2018) Contact Margaret Sutton 416-223-4593 ext. 226 for more info Sundays 9:00 am - 10:00 am - ESL Bible Class - Sunday (at southwest corner, lower level) 9:00 am -10:00 am - Sunday Morning Bible Study (resumes on Sept 16, 2018) (in Meeting Room) 10:00 am - 11:30 am - Sunday Morning Worship (communion on the first Sunday of the month)
If you would like to receive a weekly email update on what’s happening in Spring Garden, please visit the SGC website (www.springgardenchurch.ca) and add your email address at the bottom of our home page to subscribe to our weekly email.
Upcoming Months Sept 2, 6 & 9: Discipleship Ministry Orientation Days Sept 9 - Annual Fall Launch Kick Off BBQ September 16: Youth Dave and Busters Sept 15 - Jr High Welcome BBQ Oct 5- Youth Life Group begins Oct 19-21 - Fall Youth Retreat 30
31
Our Values We believe in a humble God who came not to be served, but to serve. Therefore we engage in sacrificial and active service to those around us. We strive to be good stewards of God’s gifts and talents by serving one another in humility. We aspire to regard others as higher than ourselves, which liberates us to creatively take risks in serving others for God’s glory. We believe in a God of grace who came to save the world, not to condemn it. Therefore, as we are continuously receiving the gift of God’s grace, we seek to grow in that grace and extend it to others. We strive to define ourselves by what we are for, not what we are against. We believe in a God who knows us, and who desires to be known. Therefore we embrace a journey of faith that requires us to constantly strive for a personal, intimate and transformative knowledge of God. We strive to be led by God’s Spirit in supporting and encouraging one another in working out our faith. We believe in a creative God. Therefore we are open to expressing our faith in new and creative ways that reflect the beauty and complexity of our creator. We are called to use our creative gifts in worship and service as we engage with our world. We take joy in the diversity of gifts that allow us to delight God and participate in His ongoing story. We believe in a triune, relational God who calls us to come together as a diverse community of believers. Therefore, we want to walk together, supporting one another physically, emotionally and spiritually. We strive to be a welcoming, inclusive family that goes through the joys and the trials of life together, acknowledging that God uses this community to deepen and mature our faith. We believe in a God who loves this broken world and wants to reconcile us to Himself. Therefore we are commissioned by Christ to go out into the world, meeting the holistic needs of the local and global community. God calls us to participate in a redemptive work that he has already initiated; in humility, we will partner with others to work alongside and chase after Him. We believe in a God who is our center. Therefore where we are on the journey is less important than that we are moving towards a deeper relationship with Christ. We believe and participate in God’s redemptive work in all people, which gives us the freedom to come as we are, and to accept others as they are. We each are on a unique journey to become who God has created us to be.