Real love...

"God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world—this is for God the ground of unfathomable love."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How much do you like a good argument?

Quick poll: How much do you love a good argument?

Maybe a little or maybe a whole lot… perhaps not at all.

Whatever your preferences, there’s no doubt that arguing – and conflict – is a normal part of human relationships. Especially, perhaps, in Spirit-filled, alive communities like St. Philip’s. Engaged people naturally bring their perspectives, opinions, experiences, ideas, and it only makes sense that these won’t all match or fit together in an obvious way all the time.

Sometimes when I hear the gospel read aloud in church on Sundays, I get all worked up about how often Jesus gets challenged by people around him. Everyone’s always trying to test him and catch him on some bit of wisdom or biblical knowledge. From the lens of my current social context, it seems almost rude – why can’t they give him a break and CALM DOWN??

Then I think of the ancient, Jewish practice of Talmudic debate, and I remember that I’m the one who needs to calm down. For millennia, rabbis and students have come together to analyze, discuss and debate scripture, to challenge each other, to sharpen their thinking, to search for truth. They don’t do it to be rude. They don’t do it to be disrespectful. Debate and conflict is often how we grow. And growth is an undeniable outcome of Jesus’ story.

I find this reassuring and instructive. It’s a worthy if sometimes uncomfortable practice; creating debate and disagreement to sharpen my thinking and search for truth.

Spirit be with you,

Victoria

Finding God through Gratitude

When I am unsure about my faith or how to pray, I start with giving thanks.  Regardless of how difficult my life is, there is always something to be thankful for.

I am thankful for the coloured leaves, the last flowers, the first snow, the stars, and all the beauty of nature.

I am thankful for my church, the people that walk with me while demonstrating their faith. Being in the presence of such faithful people allows my own faith to stay strong.

I am thankful for the congregation that supported my children as they grew up, developing their faith and their skills in this special community.

I am thankful for the outreach activities that let our neighbors know that we are here; ready to embrace them as human beings.

And just as I appreciate everybody, I feel appreciated as well.  We are here for each other and thankful for each other.

And just like this a prayer becomes action, big or small.  I can be a steward of the environment and act responsibly, recycle, protect and support.  I can demonstrate my faith to others in actions or with my presence.  I can support the children of the congregation with praise, and engage with them and support their initiatives.  I can sew, I can greet, I can bring items for the food bank and I can support financially and spiritually those who initiate and maintain activities.  I can do many things even when I think I can do nothing.  My prayer of gratitude inspires action and encourages me to engage with others.  And in them I can see the face of God.  

Sabine George

Generosity changes lives

Generosity

gen-er-os-i-ty – readiness or liberality in giving

Two weeks ago, in our Grace Moment, I talked about attending the memorial service for Torstein, a U of T professor who was especially generous with his time.  I witnessed a passionate and visceral outpouring of grief.  His readiness to share his time had profoundly touched his students and colleagues. 

Have you ever stopped to think about the individuals who have impacted your life through generosity?  It is an interesting exercise.  

Recently, I received an award and made a talk related to my professional career.  I wanted to acknowledge the contributions of a few of the many people who had assisted me along the way.  After much thought, I identified three long-term mentors who had generously shared their time, ideas, and thoughts, and mentioned them specially.  As well, I seriously considered acknowledging the contribution of Regis, a person I barely knew.  Regis was the marketing guru in our company, and the sponsor of the project I was leading as a new, young researcher, a project that was floundering.  In a review meeting, he was “generous” in sharing his frustration, emotions and legitimate concerns about how I was communicating and working with colleagues, i.e. he “raked me over the coals” about working together.  It was an embarrassing and humiliating experience.  However, Regis was right.  I took his berating to heart, rethinking my approach to people, realizing that more was to be gained by working together than separately, and I had to be responsible for insuring this happened.  This made all the difference.  

This month, we are being asked to express our generosity in a gentler fashion.  To pursue our outreach to children, youth and families within both our St. Philip’s community and the neighbouring community, the Council has decided to hire a part-time Learning and Engagement Coordinator to lead these efforts.   This is an ambitious plan.  Needless to say there will be additional expenses. These costs cannot be borne by the few, but through working and giving together, can be met by us, the many.  

Consider your 2019 commitment to St. Philips though a lens of generosity.  Generosity touches and changes lives. 

Sam Marcuson

On generosity

Generosity can mean different things.  It may be giving of your income, as part of your offering.  It can be giving of your time.  It can be sharing of your faith in the form of prayers, belief from others when I may not have it at times for myself.

All of you, the congregation and friends of St. Philip’s inspire me to be more generous:

1)    With my offerings, because of the important work that I know is done with the monies
2)    With my time because of how many of you do a large multiple of things for this church

Particularly, it’s what people offer up in terms of their time, because I personally see the benefit as do others, whether it’s flowers arranged beautifully at the altar, yummy treats at the Good News café, a fun event that you have taken the trouble to organize for our youth, or an inspiring musical piece that the bell choir rehearses and plays to the awe of all of us gathered here in this sanctuary.

That’s what St. Philip’s means to me and is just one of the reasons I so value this church in my life and I give to its sustainment.

The Bible tells about generosity many times.  The best I know is in Paul and Timothy’s 2^nd letter to the Corinthians.  He’s talking about the Corinthian church giving faithfully to help a community of people whom they have never met.  Out of that comes probably the best words on generosity in the bible. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Generous people give to others, even when they differ from one another.  We see it in Luke 7:1-10, as a Gentile builds a Jewish synagogue! That’s the story of the centaurion who implored to have Christ heal his sick servant.  Who could have predicted such a donor for such a cause?

One of the things I value about St. Philip’s is the fact that we have adopted a vision statement that implicitly supports this. We practice hospitality of open hearts and open arms.  We unite with partners to make a difference in our neighbourhood.

So thank you.  Thank you for your generosity

And let’s remember this:

No one can help everyone with everything, but each of us can help someone, somehow.  Every bit is important and valued.

Eric Fergin