THE PARISH OF CHRIST THE KING

Dear Friends…                                                                          Wednesday, April30^th, 2008

Last Saturday, Jim and Dorothy Elliott celebrated their 50^th Wedding Anniversary with an Open-house and tea in their back yard.  Jim showed me a magnificent cedar tree that grows in the middle of the porch at the back.  When the Elliott’s moved into their house on Courtwright, the first on the street, there were only fields surrounding them, and as far as the eye could see, there was only one tree, a cedar.  Things have changed over the years.  Many trees have been planted, cared for, and indeed cut down in the area.  Jim was told at one point that the cedar would not survive, and yet it is still there, sometimes a little brown around the edges, and yet still putting out green shoots, still giving shade in the heat of the sun, and holding off the snow in the depth of winter.

As a Parish we will be celebrating our 50^th Anniversary next year and preparations are well underway.  50 years ago the world was a different place.  In one 8 month period 54 children and 1 adult were baptized, approximately 260 children and young people were enrolled in the Sunday School, and there was only 1 funeral.  Hundreds and hundreds of young families flooded the area and a large number of them were anxious to attach to a church and bring their children for a proper Christian upbringing.

In those early days, our church blossomed with new and green growth.  In the midst of a young and vital neighborhood, the “Church of Christ the King”, stood strong, picking up the challenges, building worship space, and dealing well, one with the other, in the midst of the congregation.

The world is a different place today.  The community of which we are a part has one of the highest proportions of seniors in the GTA.  It is much harder to find families who would like to make church, let alone any organized sense of Christian Belief, part of their pattern.  As seniors, many of us feel as though we are turning slightly brown around the edges, we wonder how much longer we, or our church, can last.  And yet, like the cedar on Courtwright, we are still here, dealing with the community, responding to challenges, putting out new green shoots for the world of today, and witnessing to Jesus Christ, our hope through the years to come.

It is easy to think that as the original congregation becomes less involved or even dies, that the end is near, the church will fold, and yet our task has never been to see how long we can keep one group together, but rather to share with others the fact that we are loved by God.  We look back with glowing hearts, hearing the stories and honouring those who have trusted their lives into God’s care through the years.  Surprisingly enough, a large portion of our congregation has arrived in recent years, and whether they are older or younger, their hope and joy in attending is not merely to look back at the glories of the past, but to look ahead to the wonders of the future.  Our promise, God’s promise is that we can trust ourselves and those we love into God’s care, today, tomorrow and forever.  Our task is to witness to the world, of that promise.

Our elevator is at last up, running, and well used.  Green shoots blossoming out in the midst of the chaos of the world.  So many of our congregation now finds it easier to gather for worship, to join in fellowship, to be an active part of the community.  This is but a first step, because an effective church building is only part of the answer.  We are now trying to look to the future and busy ourselves with programs, services, concerts, information events, whatever will give the community that surrounds us a sense of who

we are and what we believe.  Our witness if it is to be even noticed by the world that surrounds us must find its base in loving, caring acts, reaching out to those we love, to the stranger that is within our gates and to the far-flung world at large.  The Church of Christ the King still stands, still witnesses, after nearly 50 years, still brings forth green shoots to enliven the world.

We have a daunting task before us.  Our world finds more comfort in TV and movies than in anything that the church has to offer.  Our world is one in which easy living is the prize, and forms the great hope and goal for many, a world which will not learn of faith and devotion unless it sees them in us.  Those early days were heady times, forming a new community, building new buildings, working with adults, youth, and seniors to nurture Christian Faith.  Through the years we have been surrounded by so many who have lived out their lives, not only being good to their own families, but witnessing to the world of their Christian hopes.

THANK GOD, A TREE STILL GROWS IN ETOBICOKE!  We still provide a place of rest and refreshment during the heat of the day, when the busyness of the world seems to overwhelm.  We still provide shelter from the storm as the hurts and pains of life tend to crush down upon us.  We do this by proclaiming God’s love for us to a world that desperately needs to hear that there is a God who brings peace, power and hope, even when everything goes wrong.  We gather to follow his commandments, loving one another, and telling others of his promise of life and that abundant.  We gather to be a light, encouraging others to personal faith, striving to show the world that we hold to another way, a way of righteousness and life, a way of peace and joy.

Pray for your parish, that people will come to know God’s love through our witness.  Pray for your minister and for all who work to glorify God through their service here, that their strengths and weaknesses may be reworked in God’s name to glorify him.  Pray for the community that surrounds us that they may pause in the midst of busy lives and listen to the voice of Jesus calling.  Pray for yourselves and your families, that You may glorify God’s name and enliven His creation.  Trust in Him, that He will honour those who honour him, and, in the last day, bring us safely home.

God Bless

The Rev. John Phillips