With joyful music, heartfelt testimony and a call to holy disruption, Anglicans from across the diocese gathered at All Saints, Whitby on May 31 for the third of five Lift Up Our Hearts services. Part of the diocese’s Season of Spiritual Renewal, the celebration brought people together to share stories of faith, renew their baptismal vows and encounter the Holy Spirit at work in their lives and communities.
The afternoon got off to an energetic start with music by the Dreamers, the youth band from Christ Memorial Church, Oshawa, as people greeted each other and found their seats. By the start of the service, the pews were full of Anglicans ready to join in worship.
“What a great joy it is to be here with all of you this afternoon,” said Bishop Kevin Robertson, the celebrant. “All of you could be in a thousand different places, and you chose to be here as we renew our faith as individuals and as the Church in our diocese and give thanks to God for the gift of the Holy Spirit that enlivens our Church and promises to lead us forward.”
After the congregation heard the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven from the Book of Acts, Kennedy Marshall, ODT gave the first of the afternoon’s two lay witness talks.
Mr. Marshall recalled a time in his life when he and his wife, Esther, were searching for a church home after having drifted away from their faith in early adulthood.
“There was an emptiness, a restlessness, a lack of direction, an absence of Christ in our lives, and that’s why we thought we needed to reconnect,” he said.
Having recently moved to the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto, they decided to try the nearby parish of St. Mark, Parkdale.
“We were bowled over by the warm welcome, and we were further strengthened by the fact that the church, with its limited resources, was still able to be a signal presence in the Parkdale community. So we were hooked,” he said. He and Esther have been parishioners of St. Mark’s – now Epiphany and St. Mark – ever since.
The afternoon’s preacher was the Rev. Gerlyn Henry, who brought greetings from the diocese’s youngest parish, the Church of the Holy Wisdom. Reflecting on the reading from Acts, she considered the disciples gazing upward as Jesus ascends to heaven, a gap opening between them and Jesus. She asked the congregation to think about gaps that have opened at points in their own lives.
“Sometimes that gap feels like an ever-widening chasm that we just can’t imagine bridging or crossing. Sometimes that gap is about longing and desire for something new or something different or just something more. Other times that gap is about pain and loss and heartbreak,” she said.
How, she wondered, do we live into spiritual renewal in the midst of this “Ascension-shaped hole or gap” that we find ourselves in?
“The good thing about gaps is that they take us to the edge of what we know, to the horizon of what we can see, to the limits of our self-sufficiency,” she said.
Renewal, she continued, doesn’t come from keeping things as they are, but from holy disruption.
“We have a choice to make. We can keep looking up toward heaven, towards that which is unseen, or we can turn our eyes to our neighbours who are visible, reach our hands to the circumstances that are tangible, and step into that gap. The Holy Spirit will meet us there, interceding with sighs too deep for words, renewing us from within our souls,” she said.
After Rev. Henry’s sermon and a hymn, the congregation heard a second story of grace from sisters Colette and Andrea Francis, parishioners of Christ Church, Scarborough. They reflected on how the experience of their mother’s illness and eventual death in 2022, and the care they received from clergy, led them to renew their faith.
“We are now confirmed in the Anglican Church, and we are now diligent servants of Christ Church, Scarborough Village. Indeed, it has been an awesome spiritual renewal. We are now firmly rooted and grounded in the Lord,” said Andrea Francis.
As with the first two Lift Up Our Hearts services, the congregation members joined together to renew their baptismal vows before the celebration of the Eucharist. During communion, lay anointers offered prayers and anointing with oil to anyone who wanted them.
Before the service ended, Bishop Robertson thanked everyone for attending and for taking to heart God’s call to be spiritually renewed in Jesus Christ.
“My prayer for you is that you will be sent out with power as you, in your own life and ministry, are spiritually renewed, and that you go and tell those who have not yet heard the good news of God in Christ, and to be an instrument of God’s transforming love in the world,” he said.
After the service, laughter and warm conversation filled the parish hall, where people shared food and reflected on the moving afternoon together.
The next Lift Up Our Hearts service will take place on Sept. 27 at St. James, Orillia, with the Rev. Dr. Rob Hurkmans preaching. The final service is scheduled for Oct. 25 at St. Paul, Bloor Street, where the Rev. Dr. Alvardo Adderly will preach. Visit www.toronto.anglican.ca/spiritualrenewal for more details.
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