CInside T H E L U T H E R A N ONNECTION

Transcription

1 C T H E L U T H E R A N ONNECTION NEWS OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCHES OF THE TORONTO CONFERENCE MARCH 2012 CInside Our Congregations at Work 2 Peace, Mississauga, Finds New Home in Church of the Holy Spirit (Anglican) 2 Ecumenical Events Donation Reminder Help Wanted The Two Suppers An Idea for Odd Socks Community Events and Service 4 Purchase Anniversary Book 4 Youth 6 Please check the Toronto Conference website for the Updated Toronto Conference Prayer Rotation easternsynod.org Special Toronto Conference Structural Renewal Meeting You are invited to attend a special Conference meeting on Sunday, March 18, 3:00 p.m. to discuss ELCIC Structural Renewal. The meeting will be held at Toronto Chinese Lutheran Church at 2850 Midland Avenue, Scarborough. We apologize for the short lead time, but we were just advised of the urgency to have some plans in place prior to the Deans meeting beginning March 19. We particularly encourage clergy and lay delegates to the 2012 Synod Assembly to be present as well as congregational council members. Others interested are invited as well. At this meeting we will discuss how the Conference congregations will be divided into areas. All our Eastern Synod Conferences (as well as those of the other synods) will be dissolved and newly formed areas will replace them. The areas can be as small as three congregations and as large as twenty-five. Our Conference Deans are working with Synod office in the restructuring of our Conferences. Information has been sent to all our pastors to discuss with their councils and congregations. Congregations at the borders of their Conference may form areas with congregations in neighbouring Conferences. The more concentrated Conferences (Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo) may find it easier to work with larger areas. The more widelyspread conferences (Atlantic and Ottawa/St. Lawrence) may find smaller areas better to work with. The important thing is to involve as many people as possible lay and clergy in the decision-making process. Many new bylaws will have to be passed at the Synodical Conventions this summer. So it will be very important for our members to attend the upcoming Spring Conference meeting on May 5 at St. Ansgar. These decisions and discussions affect ALL our congregations. The deans will be doing much of the restructuring work at their meeting March 19 to 21. All input is welcome. For anyone unable to attend March 18, you are invited to attend the Structural Renewal discussion following the Ministerial Meeting on March 15 at 1:00 p.m. at Christ the King-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thornhill. Laypeople are invited to this meeting.u Toronto Conference Spring Meeting The Toronto Conference Spring meeting will be held on Saturday, May 5, at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church in Toronto. As this is the Conference s annual business meeting, we will be electing clergy delegates to the 2013 National Convention, electing the Dean and three Conference Council members. We will also discuss the most current information available on Structural Renewal and receive a report from Synod. We plan to complete the meeting around noon and ask that every congregation be represented. If you wish to volunteer, or nominate someone for Conference Council, please contact Pastor Mark van House, Pastor Gigi Young or Judy Baribeau. u

2 Page 2 The Lutheran Connection, March 2012 n Christ the King-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thornhill, is holding a lunch and learn series on the Sacrament of Baptism on Sundays March 18 and 25. n Pastors Sebastian and Carey Meadows-Helmer, Christ the King- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thornhill, are leading a tour to the Holy Land from April 28-May 7, n Christ the King-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thornhill, is designating its Easter offering to Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. n Christ the King-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thornhill, is holding an Easter egg colouring event for families on April 7. n St. David s, Orillia, is holding a Family Skate day on March 18. n St. Philip s, Toronto s, children s program is presenting sessions on learning about God s Kingdom through Art, Cooking and other workshops. n A representative from Community Care Durham will visit Peace, Pickering, on March 25 to discuss the opportunity of volunteering work with them. n Deborah McCracken from The Olive Branch for Children will visit the Rhenish Church, Markham, on March 18. n The Rhenish Church, Markham, is holding a Parenting Children Course on Sunday afternoons April 15-May 13. n The Rhenish Church, Markham, held a debrief and sharing session on NCD (Natural Church Development) results on February 26. n The book club at Faith, Oshawa, will discuss Left Neglected by Lisa Genova at their meeting on March 27. n Faith, Oshawa, is beginning to make plans for its second Annual Charity Auction on October 21. n Members of Peace, Mississauga, will hold their Service of Thanksgiving and Farewell to Square One on April 22 and will begin worshipping at Holy Spirit Anglican Church on April 29. n Westside, Barrie, is holding monthly Messy Church sessions they are for families and for all ages. Our Congregations at Work Peace, Mississauga, Finds New Home in Church of the Holy Spirit (Anglican) Peace Lutheran Church has called Square One Shopping Centre home for 37 years, but a planned food court expansion means the congregation must leave its beloved space there at the end of April. Finding a new home for Peace presented a significant challenge: commercial real estate in central Mississauga is incredibly expensive, and venues like community centres and schools could not offer stable longterm commitments. But God has been busy doing something new for God s church in Mississauga, bringing Peace Lutheran Church into a new ministry relationship with the people of the Church of the Holy Spirit (Anglican). This new relationship will see the Anglican congregation share their lovely building with Peace, incorporating many of Peace s beautiful worship furnishings in the sanctuary so that the space truly reflects the identity of both communities. People from both Peace and Holy Spirit will now have the option of worshipping at any one of three weekly Sunday morning worship services: an 8 a.m. or 11 a.m. Anglican service, or a 9 a.m. Lutheran service. There are also plans for regularly scheduled combined worship, and shared opportunities for study, fellowship and community service. This exciting new relationship was celebrated by both congregations in a joint service and potluck luncheon at Holy Spirit on February 26. The official move to Holy Spirit will be marked by another joint celebration on April 29, the first Sunday following Peace Lutheran s final worship service at Square One on April 22. Thanks be to God for this wonderful sign of God s ongoing Kingdom work among us, and to all God s faithful people throughout our Conference (and beyond) who have prayed for Peace these past few months. Pastor Susan Climo Peace, Mississauga n Westside, Barrie, is holding a fiveweek Bible study on the Gospel of John. It is available on Sunday afternoons as well as Thursday evenings. n Westside, Barrie, is planning to organize a Prayer Ministry team whose responsibility would vary according to the needs of the congregation. n The women at Christ the King, Whitby, are planning to complete 100 Little Dresses for Africa by Easter. n Christ the King, Whitby, is planning a Talent Show for May 12. n The men at Bethesda, Unionville, will host an Easter breakfast. n The women at Epiphany, Toronto, will hold a plant share/exchange session at its March 14 meeting. They will also discuss the care and planting of seeds at the meeting. n The Sunday School at Augsburg, Brampton, is collecting money during Lent to help support Pastor Fran Schmidt, ELCIC missionary in Peru. n Augsburg, Brampton, held a Chili Lunch on March 4. Competition for the best chili took place with proceeds going to the ELCIC mission in Peru. n St. Ansgar, Toronto s, theme for its Lenten worship this year is The Orthodox Heretic: and Other Impossible Tales by Peter Rollins. n St. Ansgar, Toronto, holds hymn sings before its services in months with five Sundays.u

3 The Lutheran Connection, March 2012 Page 3 Ecumenical Events n Faith, Oshawa, participates in providing Lenten lunches at Northminster United Church. On March 14 members of Faith will be hosts and will feed approximately 90 people. n St. Ansgar Toronto, along with Asbury and West United Church raised $685 this year at their Mardi Gras Pancake Supper to go to Lighthouse Food Bank. Since 2002 they have raised over $4,500 as well as $420 last year for Haitian earthquake relief.u Donation Reminder Enclosed is the notice for contributions to support the Toronto Conference in Please pass this notice to your Treasurers if you have not done so. We look forward to your continued support for the Toronto Conference in We would like to have all donations by the end of March Help Wanted St. Ansgar Lutheran Church in North Toronto seeks a Vacation Bible School coordinator for Summer 2012 program. Job includes planning, organizing and executing a one-week half day program. Please send your resume by March 30, admin@stansgar.ca. See our website for the detailed job description. An Idea for Odd Socks The Two Suppers It s the great supper of God, When the angels invite the vultures, To eat the flesh of men and horses, The flesh of the free and the slave. Thus will be the misery of the fallen, Both small and great, For they oppose Almighty God, And the vultures will be filled with their flesh. There ll be another supper, The marriage supper of the Lamb; Oh! What a day it will be! A time of great joy. I m glad and I rejoice, And give Him glory; I m ready, to Him a VIP, He has invited me to His supper, I've accepted, and sent my RSVP. John Muttiah Christ the King, Whitby St. Philip s, Toronto, has started a new project. Perhaps your household is like many others in which pairs of socks go into the washer but only odd ones come out of the dryer. Now you can get rid of all those one of socks. No matter what colour, you can bring them to church and deposit them into a box under the table in the narthex. From there they are given to a person who cuts them up into small pieces and uses them for stuffing soft toys that she makes for charities. So finally, you have a place to throw that bag full of odd socks and not have a guilty conscience. Community Events and Service n St. Philip s, Toronto, provided lunches for the Out of the Cold program on March 9. n During Lent, St. Philip s, Toronto, will give food donations in support of their local food bank. n Faith, Oshawa s, Lenten food drive will benefit Gate 3:16. n Westside, Barrie, participated in the final Out of the Cold Cook-off for the seasons on March 3. n Westside, Barrie, will be creating a vegetable garden on a portion of its property to grow vegetables that will be given to food banks, Salvation Army and individuals in need. u

4 Page 4 The Lutheran Connection, March 2012 Rev. Martha Tatarnic St. David s, Orillia Fasting is a recognized spiritual discipline in every major world religion. It is not about dieting. It is not about selfdenial for the sake of appeasing some exacting and suffering-loving God. Fasting, instead, is a letting go of the inessential in order to hold fast to what is essential. Jesus went into the wilderness in order to take a step back, a timeout, in order to better be able to see and claim what is true, what is real, what has been there all along. Fasting is about letting go of the ways in which we take God s gifts for granted so we can reclaim gratitude. Fasting is about letting go of habits that have caused harm to ourselves and those around us in order to Re-new relationship. Fasting is about letting go of our idols all of the stuff with which we fill ourselves that doesn t actually nourish us in order to Re-turn to the life God offers us. Pastor Claudine Carlson Interim, St. Philip s, Toronto Lent takes us on a journey to the cruelty of the cross, to be sure, but also to Jesus resurrection. The Lent-Easter cycle assures us that bad news is never the last news. God s powerful and good word is always the last word. And that goes for God s good and gracious word about us. No matter what, we are loved. No matter what, God is making us new. No matter what, Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. No matter what! Life is a journey, and Lent takes us to the deepest valleys of its pain and to the highest peaks of its joys. Life is a journey, and though we may strive, we do not arrive this side of glory. Until we die, we will know the good, bad, beautiful, and ugly parts of life... and, if we re honest enough, of ourselves. And yet grace abounds through it all. Pastor Linda Douglas Zion, Maple It is commonly said that religion is a personal matter. But of no faith is that so profoundly true as it is of the Christian faith. Christianity is not a faith in a body of teaching, however exalted, nor faith in the example of an exemplary life lived long ago. First and foremost it is faith in a person, the risen Lord Jesus, in and through whom God s eternal grace took shape within time. Generic religion has the same problem as generic cola: it tastes a bit like the real thing but lacks the punch of the brand name product. Even so, Christian prayer is not addressed to God in general, but to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the name that is above every name, for Christians dare to believe that the strange power of grace at work in our world is not the trademark of a generic God, but the telltale sign of our risen Lord. Wherever such grace is found, we know he is present. Pastor Mark van House Peace, Pickering To repent and be forgiven is at the heart of Lent. To seek to reciprocate this with one another, while a vital piece of our discipleship, entails a faith journey that brings us face to face with each other s human frailties and sinful selves. To bring conflict or tension to a resolution is to meet head-on with issues and people we may rather avoid, limit our contact with, or keep our relationship on a superficial level. As a family of believers, Lent affords us the opportunity to be in communion with one another as well as with God. To be in right relationship with God, and one another, is not only worthy of our Lenten discipline but worthy every step of the way to the cross and the empty tomb, all the days of our faith. Pastor Sebastian Meadows- Helmer, Christ the King- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thornhill On March 4, we will as a congregation begin to discuss and put into practice our Vision for Mission , a document presented in the 2011 Annual Report. Our Vision for Mission attempts to identify who we are and where we re going, offering a dream of things we would like to see, along with some specific time-based goals and challenges. We are at a crossroads in these next few years, and this document will be a preliminary map to help us on our way. Christ is our model for how we should live: to love God with all our heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. As a community of faith, we are uniquely positioned to encourage and to help each other live out these two great commandments. And we do this through word and meal, fellowship, learning, and outreach. Pastor Susan Climo Peace, Mississauga During Lent, we often focus on sacrifice, on giving up something; the whole point of this is to clear our lives of the clutter that can get in the way of our relationship to God. As a whole community, I invite Peace into a de-cluttering exercise this Lent. As we prepare to leave Square One, let s think about and pray about all that we need to clear out of our lives not just excess things (and we ve accumulated quite a few), but also surplus ideas about church denominations (and how Lutherans are different ) and even what church is for (hint: it s not just Sunday morning). Letting go of all this will help us draw closer to God and that s exactly where we need to be as we embark on our journey into a new era for Peace. Pastor Dennis Becker Faith, Oshawa The beauty of Joel s prophecy is that Joel knows that there is hope. God is gracious, loving, abounding in steadfast love. God will forgive. God will restore the relationship, welcoming us back with open arms. Each and every time. Lent is the one time when we can deliberately examine our lives, and do so publically and with the support of the whole community. Let s not trivialize it. Continued on Page 5

5 The Lutheran Connection, March 2012 Page 5 Continued from Page 4 Let s use it. Let s encourage each other, and more and more, to be faithful in the Lenten disciplines of prayer, scripture study, fasting, good works not for show, but as genuine attempts at rending our hearts. So, with Joel, I urge each one of us to return to the Lord with our whole heart, and to rend our hearts and not only our garments. Pastor Carey Meadows-Helmer Interim, Epiphany, Toronto As we grow, our prayer life grows. As we mature not only in years but also in faith, we grow in relationship with God and each other through prayer. Our prayers transform as we are simultaneously transformed by prayer, both individually and collectively. Our hearts and minds are opened, comforted, and guided by a gentle nudging. Prayer has the potential to become a way of life, woven in all and through all. As we walk, clean, drive, or shovel the freshly fallen snow. Even in times when prayer may not be on the tip of our tongue, in illness or hardship, Luther says, the spirit intercedes on our behalf. Even when we are unable to pray, the spirit prays for us, and with us. A prayer is placed in our heart, or on our lips. Pastor Ann Krueger Westside, Barrie So what did I learn? The title was From Bishop to Pew and so the focus was partly on communication, back and forth in the church. Guess what, if I want to communicate with everyone at Westside, I need to do it 14 times or in 14 different ways to make sure the message will be heard. Let s see announcements, newsletter, , sermon...oh, oh that s only four. No wonder communication is a challenge. We also talked about listening. Our spiritual director, Jon, reminded us that listening really listening is a gift to the person we listen to. He reminded us that Jesus really listened to people. My challenge to you this Lent is to spend more time listening to all the people in your life. You'll have to make time for it, but what benefits. Also take time in your prayer life to simply listen, quietly and attentively and your prayer life will also flourish. Equally as important, read Jesus words and listen to him. Pastor Nadine Nicholds Augsburg, Brampton If you are one who lives through your smart-phone, can you imagine how much more convenient it is to receive daily Bible reflections right at your finger tips? The Canadian Bible Society has created a Lenten devotional that will be sent electronically. The CBS writes that Research has shown that the more people engage with God s word, the more their lives change and so these 46-day devotions help people begin the habit of meeting God daily. You can sign up for this by going to Alternately, if you have a Facebook account, you can join our own, Toronto based, Lutherans Connect, in the series Sacred Space in Lent. There are so many options for keeping close to God this Lent. We can t use the excuse of being too busy, because the Bible can come with us now, wherever we go. Pastor Lowell Nussey Christ the King Whitby The key to making Lent work for you is to remember that you are not travelling alone; you are travelling with Jesus. When you were baptized, you were united with Christ. Yes, we are travelling with him to his cross and to death. Yes, he will endure rejection and insult. There are some seasons in life in which that happens to us all. Yes, he will be misunderstood and treated like a villain. You may know how that feels too. He will also suffer pain, the kind of pain that makes it impossible not to cry. Hopefully you will never know that kind of pain, though too many of us will. He will experience discouragement; a feeling that enters most of our lives. His death, that we remember on Good Friday, is however not the end of his, or our journey. Our journey with Jesus continues to the day of resurrection. Because we journey through Lent, and through life, with Jesus, our journey is a journey of hope and promise. Pastor Roy Thakurdyal Bethesda, Unionville We miss out on these little things because we are rushing to go some place or doing something. Also we are often too preoccupied with our thoughts, problems and anxieties that the world in all its beauty passes by without our noticing. And then there are the Tuned Out among us. They always have some device in their ears listening to music or conversing with some unseen person. Or their eyes are focused on a cell phone; texting, dialing, playing games and whatever else. Living in a world wrapped up in ourselves, preoccupations and rushing to get to the next place or to do the next thing we miss out on the joys, pleasures and beauty that are all around us for our enjoyment. And we wonder, Why am I so stressed out? or Why is life so boring and routine? or Why something seems to be missing in life? Take some time and look around; see, smell, feel and experience the beauty that are all around you. Life offers many little pleasures along the way every day for your enjoyment. Pastor Brian Wilker-Frey St. Ansgar, Toronto Here is what I have concluded: If the motion fails I will not receive that as a message that I should seek a new call. Instead, I will take the rejection of the motion as a sign that I have not been clear enough with you in my proclamation of the gospel and must take a more radical approach to communicating it. And I hope that those of you who would be dejected by the failure of this motion Continued on Page 6

6 Page 4 The Lutheran Connection, March 2012 Toronto Conference Contacts Dean: The Pastor Linda Douglas or lkdouglas@sympatico.ca Secretary/Treasurer: Judy Baribeau judybaribeau@rogers.com Copies of the Anniversary Booklet are available from Pastor Linda Douglas $10.00 each Please send your parish newsletters, articles and other announcements you would like included in The Lutheran Connection to: Judy Baribeau 23 Toynbee Trail West Hill, Ontario M1E 1E8 or judybaribeau@rogers.com Please indicate any items you particularly would like to have covered in the newsletter. If you have any questions, please call me at or to judybaribeau@rogers.com Youth n Junior youth at St. Philip s, Toronto, are planning a movie night for March 23. n Senior youth at St. Philip s, Toronto, are going to SkyZone indoor trampoline park on March 30. n The youth at Faith, Oshawa, took in $435 at their Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. They will use the money to support their youth activities. n Youth at Westside, Barrie, enjoyed Air Raid 20, a Christian rock concert, recently. n Youth at Westside, Barrie, will participate in a 30 hour famine in April. u Continued from Page 5 would also stay and support this more clear and radical approach. And if the motion passes, I will also take that as an excuse to be clearer in my proclamation of the gospel and to take an even more radical approach to communicating it. And I pray that all of us would be uplifted, empowered and energized to even more enthusiastically proclaim this gospel through the life and ministries of our congregation.u Toronto Conference Website Updates Please check that your congregational listings on the Toronto Conference website are current. Please forward any updates to me. Also, if your congregation has its own website, please forward the link information so we can include it on our website. Please link your congregational websites to the Toronto Conference website ( Please check our Conference website frequently as updates are added between newsletters when required. jb