“Feed me till I want no more!” So sang a congregation of about 350 Anglicans gathered at St. James Cathedral in March to worship God together in a service that fed hearts and minds and souls.
March 22 marked the first of five “Lift Up Our Hearts” services being held around the diocese on Saturday afternoons in 2025 as part of the Season of Spiritual Renewal.
“There’s no reason why you can’t come to all five,” Bishop Andrew Asbil remarked in his welcome at the start of the service.
At least two parishes hired buses to carry their members downtown, while many others arrived by car, subway and streetcar from across the city of Toronto and beyond. People mingled in the aisles and waved across pews before the service, greeting friends from other parishes. The service was also live streamed on YouTube to allow for hybrid worship.
“This is an opportunity for us as a diocesan family to come together, to meet people we have not met before, to be reminded that we are all one family in faith; an opportunity for us to sow hope into the world; and an opportunity for us to be reminded that we are not just the Church of yesterday, not just the Church for today, but for tomorrow,” said Bishop Asbil.
A talented group of instrumentalists and vocalists from many different parishes led the congregation in music that ranged from the 18th to the 21st centuries. The diocese’s bishops led those who attended in renewing their baptismal covenant, and everyone had the opportunity to receive prayers and anointing with oil at Communion.
The readings from scripture all touched on the theme of spiritual renewal. The congregation heard the story of Ezekiel prophesying to the dry bones, as well as Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples.
In her sermon, the Rev. Molly Finlay, incumbent of St. John the Baptist, Norway, set the idea of spiritual renewal in the context of the world the present-day Church finds itself in.
“Our calling, our vocation, just got a whole lot more urgent, and it seems to have happened almost overnight. We are not playing here. There are forces of darkness at work in the world in a way that I have not witnessed in my lifetime. There are very public and vocal voices twisting the truth of the gospel into something that it is not,” she said.
The Church, she went on, is being called to be its churchiest.
“The darkness will never, ever overshadow the light, but it is going to take all of us little Christs to be fully reconstituted, spirit-filled bodies using our prophetic voices to speak out against tyranny, our bones fully joined, our souls and bodies alive and kicking,” she said. “Renewal is no longer an option. It’s now what we are going to beg for with every ounce of energy we may or may not have left, so we can be the freedom fighters for justice and peace, love and mercy, that God calls each and every one of us to be.”
After the sermon and a piece of reflective music, Jennafer Da Silva, a lay member of St. John the Baptist, Norway, spoke about her own story of faith that led her to join that community in 2022 after a time of upheaval in her life.
“The St. John’s community was truly an answer to my prayers. It felt like a miracle to be sitting next to my parents in church every Sunday,” she said. “Throughout my separation and divorce, I depended on God when I had no one else to turn to. I needed Him so desperately, and He was there for me.”
After the service, members of the congregation lingered over food and drink served in the side aisles, reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones as some groups took photos of their parish contingents visiting the cathedral.
The inaugural Lift Up Our Hearts service was followed by a second event on March 29 at Trinity, Streetsville with the Rev. Canon Stephanie Douglas preaching.
The remaining three services will take place on May 31 at All Saints, Whitby with the Rev. Gerlyn Henry preaching; on Sept. 27 at St. James, Orillia with the Rev. Dr. Rob Hurkmans preaching; and on Oct. 25 at St. Paul, Bloor Street with the Rev. Dr. Alvardo Adderly preaching. Visit www.toronto.anglican.ca/spiritualrenewal for more details.
I get to time travel every day