(Gen. 12:1, Mt. 28:19) – One generational shift at our church is that we cannot assume everyone’s life revolves around the calendar of the school year or seasonal living for the weather. Once, many Torontonians could afford a shack up north, but those houses are often now as expensive as these in the GTA. Families look different now, and so do our socio-economic brackets. My predecessors often took the summer away, inviting in excellent summer preachers, and in Andy Lawson’s case, even writing his sermons for the next year! I’ll likely not do that. Instead, I’d like to invite preachers year-round who add to our mission, say things I cannot, and challenge and bless us. And I want to be there for them when I can!
On February 16 we had Nathan Uttangi, a GTA native, a theatre nerd, a gifted administrator, and a site pastor at one of Canada’s most innovative multi-site megachurches, Tenth Church in Vancouver, BC. A week after his excellent sermon he was ordained in his Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, and he is slated to get married this summer—go Nathan!
On February 23rd we hosted the Rev. Dr. Ray Aldred, an Anglican deacon with a PhD in theology from Wycliffe College. He directs the Indigenous Studies program at the Vancouver School of Theology and is a status Cree from Swan River Band, Treaty 8. Ray is a leading voice for reconciliation in Canada and worldwide.
March 3-16 Jason is away on prayer and study retreat to Taize and Colmar, France and Leipzig, Germany, working in the latter place with Alexander Deeg on preaching for Christians and Jews alike. How do God’s people preach and minister after a century’s worst catastrophe? And how does God bring healing precisely to the places of our deepest agony—not just as victims, but as victimizers? Dayle Barrett will preach and Joanne Leatch will preside.
May 17-27 Jason is away for a pilgrimage in Turkey. It is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 325 that codified such crucial teachings as the doctrine of the Trinity. This trip will include a visit to the sites of all seven of the original ecumenical councils (some of the cities repeat—Constantinople, Nicaea . . . ). Expect to hear lots of sermons about the homoousion and the hypostatic union. That’ll bring the kids in! If Dayle can contain his jealousy, he will preach and Joanne will preside. This trip is heavily subsidized by A Foundation for Theological Education (AFTE) which funded Jason’s Ph.D. work at Duke.
The Lilly Endowment in Indiana has long offered a grant program for pastoral renewal. When applicants ask what sorts of proposals LEI is looking to fund, Lilly tends to respond, “Whatever makes your heart sing.” This isn’t a sabbatical for Jason so much as it is two working trips plotted so that he’ll come back renewed to preach and lead, like Andy Lawson or Andrew Stirling back from the cottage or Oxbridge back in the day. He covets your prayers, as ever.