The emergency shelter is a scaled-down version of full-service shelters offered deeper into the winter. The parish will provide the space and the volunteers to make the emergency shelter possible. Mosaic Interfaith will provide the mattresses, blankets, security and transportation for guests, as well as the funds.

This opportunity came to the parish because of provincial funding cuts that have negatively affected the work of Mosaic Interfaith. The organization needed more shelter nights to secure a certain level of funding. Rehana Sunar, executive director for Mosaic-York Region, described the problem for the parish at a town hall meeting in held in the spring.

Poverty and homelessness have been increasing in York Region. It’s estimated that more than 2,800 people are in shelters in the region, yet there is a limited number of permanent shelters. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of shelters are in the north end of the region, while the majority of the population is in the south.

The committee at Holy Trinity responsible for overseeing the pilot will report to the annual vestry meeting in 2020 when, depending on the results, the vestry may be asked to decide whether to host the program on a more permanent basis in the future.

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When you look at your Christmas card list, who do you usually include? We often think of people we haven’t seen in some time – those who are hundreds of miles away or across the ocean in a far-off land.  These people tend to be at the top of our family’s list.

It would never occur to anyone by looking at, or trying to pronounce, my surname that I would include Wales as part of my family heritage, but it is indeed the case. My mother was born and raised in north Wales and immigrated to Canada in 1964. As a result, I have an extended family some five time zones away. Though we are in regular contact through Facebook, I still make a habit of sending a card and a photograph of our children every Christmas.

Many churches in our diocese stay connected with parishioners throughout the year via newsletters, email and invitations to events. But how often is our communication limited to regular attendees or donors? If we dig a little deeper into our membership rolls, we can find many people who don’t fall into the “regulars” category, including shut-ins, infrequent attenders, those who have moved or fallen away, seniors, singles, families that participated in sacramental preparation, and so on. The list of “others” can be lengthy.

It’s the “others” that I am most interested in connecting with. In our diocese’s donor database, we have a record of more than 30,000 individuals, stretching back to the 1990s. Often, we use language like “renewals” or “lapsed” to organize our mailing list; these tend to be the people that we focus our attention on retaining or increasing their gift amount. But the “others” – the people who are part of the myriad of connections that we have acquired over the years – shouldn’t be neglected.

There is a school of thought in fundraising that says if a donor hasn’t given in the last three years, they may as well be considered brand new – as if they had never connected with us before. A competing viewpoint is that all donors – even the ones that are dated – should be retained. I am more inclined to embrace the latter, not only because they are people who know us and thought enough of us at one time to donate, but it is more in line with our Christian attitude that all are welcome and none are forsaken, even when they have fallen away. Think of the prodigal son or the lost sheep as examples in scripture.

The stewardship office is applying these principles to our Advent mailings this year. We are reconnecting with, and inviting, donors who have fallen off the radar screen in recent years. That means we are inviting friends who may have given to the Bishop’s Company or FaithWorks some five to seven years back who we’ve lost contact with, or they may have forgotten to include us in their annual giving to charity.

This pattern can be applied to our parishes as well. With Christmas just a few weeks away, perhaps we should consider inviting everyone on our membership lists and the immediate neighbourhood to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I think we can take for granted that people know that services are offered at Christmas time. Consider how it might be received, however, if everyone on our list – even those we have lost contact with – received an invitation to celebrate in this joyous event. It might even open the door to renewed friendships, connections and church participation.

In fundraising parlance, “if you don’t ask, you don’t get.” So many have fallen away and simply stopped coming. Some will never return. But some want to come back and are looking for an opening.  Let’s personally invite them.

I don’t believe it is enough for a church to simply be present. Just because it’s Christmas and our church has a big sign on it with service times, that’s not enough to incline many to grace our doors; they need more of a prompting. How about a personal invitation? Now that’s a big deal. Everyone loves to get a letter. Why not personally invite everyone to experience Jesus’ birthday party this year? And do it up fancy – for some, it’s the most anticipated day of the year.

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The diocese’s annual fundraiser, held Oct. 18 at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel, was attended by 375 people and raised $135,000. The funds will help clergy and their families in need and provide scholarships for theological students.

Among the guests were the diocese’s suffragan bishops – Peter Fenty, Riscylla Shaw, Kevin Robertson, Jenny Andison – and several retired bishops, including Michael Bedford-Jones, Ann Tottenham, George Elliott and Patrick Yu. The master of ceremonies was Stephen Vail, the rector of St. James Cathedral and Dean of Toronto.

The dinner’s presenting sponsor was Jim Fleck and his family in memory of the Rev. Dr. Margaret Fleck, a priest of the diocese who passed away last January. Mr. Fleck spoke about his life with Margaret and how she touched the lives of many people, as a pastor and friend. Dr. Fleck served at Holy Trinity, Thornhill, St. Peter and St. Simon-the-Apostle, St. Luke, Church of the Annunciation, St. Paul L’Amoreaux and St. Augustine of Canterbury. Guests watched a short video of parishioners at St. Augustine recalling Dr. Fleck’s warmth, compassion and openness.

Bishop Robertson, who first met Dr. Fleck in 1982 when she was a curate at Holy Trinity, Thornhill, described the Flecks as “exceedingly generous” in their philanthropy, supporting the arts and education, health care, and the advancement of religion and public policy. “They gave leadership (in the Church) in often quiet and unassuming ways, not only in their home parish of St. Augustine of Canterbury, but across the diocese and the wider Church,” he said. He thanked Mr. Fleck “for a lifetime of generosity and commitment to the Church in our diocese, and for your example of faithful discipleship in the name of Jesus Christ.”

In his keynote address, Bishop Asbil spoke about his upbringing as a “preacher’s kid” and the role that bishops played in his early life. His father, Walter Asbil, served as a priest in the dioceses of Niagara and Montreal before becoming Bishop of Niagara in the 1990s.

“For the longest time, bishops came in and out of our lives, moving like bishops on a chessboard – diagonally, on a little bit of an angle, coming in and going out,” he said. “I didn’t really understand what a bishop did until my father became one, and then I watched him age 10 years in three, and what it meant to carry the mantle of leadership, and how hard it is to wander and chase after the one lost sheep, or the two lost sheep, or wonder if we’re somehow all lost sheep.”

He expressed gratitude for all the bishops he has known, including the late Archbishop Terence Finlay, Archbishop Colin Johnson, the retired bishops of the Diocese of Toronto and the current suffragan bishops.

He thanked the Bishop’s Company and the generosity of its members, saying that their support over the years has helped the bishops of the diocese in many ways. “It is important for you to know that when a family is in crisis and needs a hand, to be able to offer a tangible gift to support and uphold them is one of the greatest gifts that you have been able to give to us,” he said.

He said he is deeply grateful for the life of the Church, for “the undertone and narrative that weaves bishops, clergy, rectories, chancels, sacraments, hymn book and prayer book together. It is the narrative of love – the love of God – that weaves each one of us together and helps us to breathe together in unison as a people created on this earth.”

He spoke about the “great company of the saints in light” that greet Anglicans in church each Sunday – people such as John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene, Mary, Martha, Ruth, Thomas, Paul, Peter and Elizabeth – “ordinary men and women who have done their very best in their lifetimes to stand in the face of change and uncertainty, knowing they could stand on the shoulders of others in faith and always have courage in uncharted waters that at times are precarious.”

He said Anglicans in this generation, like their ancestors in the faith, are called to stand like the prophet Elijah, “to face the earthquakes and the fire, the wind and the cracking stones, and to be perfectly still, and to know the time for us to move together.”

He closed by “showing, not saying” and then lit two small torches, extinguishing them with his hands and mouth. The astonished and delighted guests gave him a long ovation.

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Ms. Prescod, a street nurse and member of Toronto’s Sanctuary community, confessed that when she learned the theme of the conference was “Church as a Centre of Resistance and Hope,” she was tempted to withdraw as keynote speaker since she experienced Christ in this way, but not the Church. “Christ has been my source of resistance and hope,” she said.

Yet upon reflection, she realized that “justice work is real Church work.” She cited the courageous witness of Stephen in the Book of Acts as an example of a faith-filled person doing the work of Christ.

Ms. Prescod’s work with marginalized people is extremely challenging. Eighteen people helped by Sanctuary have died this year, including a friend of Ms. Prescod who was murdered only three days before the conference. Yet she has also seen people who had stopped breathing after drug overdoses come back to life. “I experienced Lazarus,” she said.

She says she could not have survived 17 years of work among marginalized people without prayer from a supportive parish.

If it seems like one’s church community is not responding to local justice issues strongly enough, the solution is to find new allies within the congregation, she said. For example, a pharmacist could be asked to give Naloxone training as a response to the opioid crisis (Naloxone is a medication used to counter the effects of opioid overdose).

Workshops at the conference covered a wide range of issues. In a workshop on rural and small-town outreach, Patricia Sinnott outlined how dogged perseverance and collaboration with community partners enabled parishes in the Port Hope-Grafton area to win approval and funding for a 27-unit affordable housing project through an organization they founded called Community Housing Northumberland. Now the group has set its sights on building a 54-unit building in Port Hope. The need for affordable housing is urgent, with a scant 0.3 percent vacancy rate in Northumberland County.

The key to success, said Ms. Sinnott, has been to keep pushing despite setbacks along the way. “You have to have faith. It’s all about finding connections, about talking and partnerships.” Prayer support is important as well. St George, Grafton has a circle of prayer whose members pray each week for the needs of the community.

Three conference workshops dealt with environmental concerns. A workshop on how to respond to grief over environmental harm noted that some couples are choosing not to have children due to deep pessimism about the impacts of climate change. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s famous book, On Death and Dying, was cited as a resource that can help people come to grips with the death of the world as we’ve known it.

A worship and educational series called Season of Creation has sparked activity at Toronto’s Church of the Redeemer, Bloor St. Sunday worship services have opened with people processing into the church carrying beautiful silk panels depicting images from creation. The series has also featured presentations, discussions, a concert and a film on the global fashion industry’s environmental impact, resulting from a new parishioner’s fashion industry experience. “We are rich in resources,” said workshop leader Grant Jahnke.

The Rev. Christian Harvey, deacon at St. John the Evangelist, Peterborough and founder of Warming Room Community Ministries in that city, told a workshop on homelessness how we need to embrace the awkwardness of relationships with people very different from ourselves, such as homeless people. After the local homeless shelter closed, St. John’s allowed some homeless people to camp on church property during the summer and encouraged parishioners to get to know homeless people and work with them on their needs. We need to truly listen to people on the margins of society, then amplify their voices, said Mr. Harvey. “As Anglican churches, we’re so worried about the system not taking us seriously,” he said. “The gift of losing our relationship to power means we can be bold and prophetic.”

The thorny issue of racism in Canada came to the fore in a workshop called Turning the Tables: Anger, Injustice and Solidarity. Participants discussed the blackface incident with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a powerful article called “Why I hate being a black man.” Author Orville Douglas noted, “There is so much negativity and criminal suspicion associated with being a black male in Toronto.” A survey found that one in four Canadians were victims of racism in 2017.

A workshop led by and for youth looked at how to teach discipleship and the role of young people in justice and advocacy work. There’s a lot more to God than just going to church.

In a closing summary, Mr. Harvey noted that Anglicans focus much of their energy on ways to keep parishes from dying. Yet the message of the cross is that life comes after death. “The body of Christ is not going to die with us,” he said. “We’re called to courage, to take a stand. How do we pick up the cross?”

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Members of the Black community in the Diocese of Toronto have been attending Anglican churches and participating in their work and witness for generations. Since the first Black member entered the doors of an Anglican Church centuries ago, the community has been striving for full inclusion, including as participants in the leadership and decision-making of the Church, while remaining committed to active involvement in Church life.

Our Church exists in a time when secular public discourse offers a commitment to cultural sensitivity, inclusion, reconciliation and postcolonial thought. The Church is an active participant and contributor to this discourse. Its work on reconciliation with our Indigenous siblings is one example.

Over the years, Black Anglicans have discussed formally and informally their participation in Church life. The community’s yearnings became especially focused following the release of the Rev. Dr. Romney Moseley’s report No Longer Strangers (1992). The report strongly encouraged the Anglican Church of Canada “to actively promote an identity which is culturally diverse and inclusive at national, diocesan, and congregational levels, especially with regard to worship and leadership.” It was the foundation of the Anglican Church of Canada’s Multicultural Policy developed in 1992.

Two years later, Mr. Moseley’s work sparked a diocesan multicultural initiative also called “No Longer Strangers.” As part of this initiative, some clergy and parishioners organized themselves into groups to reflect and respond to Mr. Moseley’s challenges to the Anglican Church. In 1995, a group named the Black Anglicans Coordinating Committee was established. Its goals were to advocate on behalf of the Black community, to encourage and support Black clergy and laity in Church ministries, and to foster vocations. The enduring achievement of the Black Anglicans Coordinating Committee is the annual February celebration of Black heritage, now in its 25th year. The Black heritage service gathers Anglicans and members of other communities to St. Paul, Bloor Street during Black History Month to learn, reflect and, most importantly, worshipfully celebrate our rich history.

In 2017, Black clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of Toronto came together to respond to needs in the Caribbean following hurricanes and tropical storms that devastated many communities. The group organized a service and raised funds needed for rebuilding. Such vision and outreach galvanized the group, providing an opportunity to discuss progress made so far in fuller participation and representation within the Church. There was a sentiment in these discussions that more work was needed, and Black Anglicans of Canada (Bl.A.C.) was formed.

This new organization builds on previous work by serving the needs of Black members of the Anglican Church as they continue their Christian journeys, and by enabling opportunities at all levels within the Church. Bl.A.C. will focus on deepening an understanding of historical and current issues Black Anglicans continue to face. It will work to respond effectively to community needs and concerns.

The organization will also serve as a hub that encourages churches to develop and embrace Afro-Anglican liturgy, music, drama, cultural practices and spoken word inside and outside of worship services. It will organize annual conferences and will seek to support members who feel called to ordained ministry as they begin or continue to participate in leadership or support roles within the Church, or while in seminary.

In the spring, Bishop Andrew Asbil accepted an invitation to meet with the organization. He listened to the concerns raised and shared aspects of his own vision for the diocese. “Bishop Asbil assured the group of his support and offered to meet with the group in the future,” said the Rev. Canon Stephen Fields, who attended the meeting.

This work aims to strengthen our Church family into one that is more inclusive, and reflects and embraces the call of the gospel to create a more just society.

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Alexandra McIntosh, the youth ministry coordinator for the area, offers these events as a chance to empower and equip youth leaders to be confident agents of change in their ministry contexts. “Youth ministry is so often separated from the life of the parish, relegated to the basement and under-resourced,” she says. “There are also few opportunities for youth leaders to network and learn from each other in the same ways clergy can. When youth leaders gather and hear from each other, they get a chance to create valuable networks and learn how to imagine new ways of doing youth ministry.”

An important part of the summits is sharing resources, she says. Many churches offer some funds to their youth leaders for continuing education, books and conferences. Ms. McIntosh brought several of her favourite resources, including her top two recommendations: Faith Formation in a Secular Age by Andrew Root, and Rebooted by Tim Gough. “These are two short, affordable texts that would strengthen any youth worker’s ministry,” she adds.

The summit heard presentations from youth leaders engaged in innovative programming in each deanery. Sarah Layman from the North Peel Deanery discussed what it was like to lead youth ministries in two different churches, and how to build holistic goals for the groups. James Noronha from the Etobicoke-Humber Deanery discussed how to meaningfully engage youth in the life of the parish and stressed the importance of relationship-building and meeting youth where they are. Jenni King-Feheley from Parkdale West Toronto offered reflections on how to authentically listen and respond to the needs of one’s community and how to create new ways to give young people experiences of God. Lastly, Bridget Poole from the Mississauga Deanery, who wasn’t able to attend in person, offered practical tips on how to involve parents in youth ministry and create intergenerational programming.

Bishop Jenny Andison also attended, giving attendees a chance to ask questions about how to walk alongside youth as they personally and corporately deal with the difficulties the Church is going through. “Everyone learned a great deal by listening to what others had to say, and left with a stronger network and community,” says Ms. McIntosh.

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In a pastoral letter to the clergy and people of York-Simcoe, I wrote that my recent illness was a life-altering experience for me. When we face such challenges in our lives, we tend to view life in a very different light than before. I am learning to pay very close attention to the signs and signals that I receive from my body. I encourage others to do the same. Paul reminds us that our bodies are “temples of the Lord.”

Sometimes we receive gifts from family, friends, neighbours and even strangers. Those gifts may vary in quantity and quality, but they are given, in most cases, with a degree of care and generosity. It is important how we receive such gifts, which often are given selflessly and with a genuine desire to be thoughtful and kind. We are reminded of the “widow’s mite” in the gospel story, in which she gave of her all, and although a small gift, it was sacrificial and out of the little that she had. The giving of everything, the sacrifice made, is probably of more value than the giving of much out of abundance. We may thank the giver by words, cards, emails, letters or a telephone call. It really is just as important what we do with the gift, the value we attach to it and the appreciation we have for the generosity of the giver.

At this time in our Christian liturgical calendar, we celebrate the greatest of all gifts: the gift of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3: 16). This gift of salvation comes to all of us out of unconditional love, not for a few, but for the world, for all who would receive it. In John’s gospel we also read, “but to all who received him, he gave power to become the children of God… born of the will of God” (John 1: 12 ff).

God’s will is that we receive the gift of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. In receiving Christ and following in His Way, His Truth and His Life, we are given power to love unconditionally as he loves, to forgive as he forgives, and to be compassionate as he is compassionate.

We may claim and own this wonderful gift of salvation in the name of Jesus Christ by living that salvation daily in our lives, work and witness, daily loving others for their sake, going the extra mile to make something work, and by being Christ-like.

God has come among us in order that we might have life in all its fullness. He chose to come among us, our Emmanuel, to share in our humanity. God has come among us in Christ, in order to reconcile the world to himself. God has come among us in Christ, in order that we may become reconciled to each other. Christ dwells among us to share in our joys and our sorrows, our ups and downs in life, and that we may know that we are all loved by God.

Every day is a God-given opportunity to be reconciled with God and each other. It is an opportunity to tell loved ones, friends, co-workers and the many with whom we share our lives, that they are loved, appreciated and valued by us. Let us not regret missing the chance to share with those whom God has placed in our lives, our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for all they are and have shared, and all that they mean to us.

My hope this Christmas season is that we would be intentional in expressing thanks to Almighty God for life and the gift of salvation in his Son Jesus Christ. I also hope that we would show and express gratitude to those whom we can so easily take for granted: family, friend, co-worker, neighbour and the person who may never be able to give us anything in return.

While tributes to loved ones and friends at retirement functions and funerals are fitting and appropriate, let us not lose the opportunity to tell them while they are with us, how much they are loved and cherished.

In this season of love, peace, joy, hope and goodwill, as we gather to celebrate the birth of Christ in our churches, at meals with family, friends and others, may we be reminded that we are called to love God and neighbour, as we love ourselves.

A blessed and happy Christmas to you and all with whom you share your lives.

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