Peter’s Blog

I wrote this prayer on one of those days when I was finding the news of the world too hard to watch.  I offered it in worship on Feb. 23 and soon discovered I wasn’t the only one finding it hard to watch. 

A Prayer For Those Days When You Can’t Bear to Watch

Gracious and merciful God, you are the giver of life, the source of all knowledge and wisdom, the root of all that is good and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered his life in love that we might live in love.  Father, our Lord taught us to watch and pray, but it has become too hard to watch when the world around seems to have turned its back on decency and the rule of law, abandoning friends and allies to embrace wicked foes.  It is too hard to look when heroes have targets placed on their backs and villains are allowed to go free.  We confess that we often turn the channel when people are dying in our streets having overdosed on drugs laced with poison.  We don’t want to see the news when the first item each morning seems to be related to a shooting the night before.  O Lord it is so hard to watch when truth has been Xed out and misinformation and lies are endlessly paraded as facts.  And even though we can’t watch, help us dear Lord to pray for this world.  We ask you to restore the fortunes of those victimized by greed, terror and warfare.  Lift up, as you promised, the oppressed and impoverished and bring the haughty and proud down from their thrones.  Reduce the kingdoms of the wicked to rubble.  Bring racial and economic justice and healing to all held back, overlooked, discriminated against and even hated because prejudice, fear and loathing seem to rule the day.  Creator, Redeemer, we pray too for the environment of this world, asking that citizens, rulers, nations and corporations would all protect and care for this beautiful planet.

Above all O Lord, when unable to watch we fail to be your eyes and ears in this world,  empower us by your Holy Spirit to be the mouth of Christ speaking truth to power and wisdom to fools.  And by your Spirit grant that we might be your hands and feet in this world; hands to lift up the fallen and broken; and feet to be present for those alone and abandoned; feet to run the race before us strong and brave to face the foe; hands to fight the good fight with all our might; believing that Christ is our strength, and Christ our right.

Now, open our eyes Lord we want to see Jesus and see your kingdom cone on earth as it is in heaven.  O God, forgive us for closing our eyes and open then now to all that is good and beautiful that in the name of Jesus who taught us to watch and pray we might indeed live rejoicing every day.  Keep our hearts fixed O God on that happy day when met the One who washed our sins away.  Help us to forgive and to live in your grace that our hearts might always be open and alert to love and beauty.  We rejoice in wonder of winter as the deep snow protects the seeds of life beneath from the deadly cold.  In the name of Jesus who forgives us our sin and conquered the grave and death that we might not live in fear, increase our faith that we might dare to dream and hope for that day when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and in the name of the One who is both lion and lamb plant the tree of peace until that day when you swing wide the gates to your garden and welcome where our eyes shall behold him face to face and our hands embrace him and our feet leap for joy.  Amen.

JPH

A Prayer for the World in Disrupting and Confusing Times

Gracious God, you are the source of all wisdom and strength, power and glory.  Your ways are higher than our ways and beyond our comprehension, yet in Christ, you dwelt among us full of grace and truth.   As we seek and celebrate the peace of your presence, free us from all fear.

Dear God, in this prodigal world of countless half-truths and wild conspiracies, of pointed fingers and dangerous dreams, bring us back to our senses, and free us from the sloth and the slime, the madness and the crime,  that have our minds and hearts out of tune and quickly running out of time.  Blur the endless broadcasting of the bad that we might see the good and aim even higher.  Hold up the truth and silence those who against it conspire.  Renew the fire of compassion towards those living on the margins economically and emotionally and those who are falling through the cracks.  Bless our leaders with wisdom from on high and unite us as a people in our support and service of one another for the common good. Strengthen us all by your Spirit that we might shine your light in this world.

These things we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Risen One, who came for the good of us all and calls us now to stand tall, for truth and righteousness, for love and liberty.

Amen.

If you receive an email from someone using my name or the name of a member of the ministry team asking for money, or gift cards, or telling you I need you to call, please ignore such emails, or block the sender and delete it.  Do not answer the email.  These emails are not from me or from a member of the ministry team.  They are a scam.

There are so many scams.  It seems a day rarely goes by in which I don’t receive a phone call on either my cell phone or my landline from someone claiming to be from Revenue Canada to inform me that my Social Insurance Number is going to be cancelled, or from someone claiming to be from VISA to say that there has been suspicious activity on my credit card, or from someone else claiming to be from Microsoft to inform me that my computer has a serious virus.  Have you received any calls like these?  All of these messages are scams.  Each one is an attempt by someone to gain access to our accounts in order to steal money or even identity. They will inevitably ask for bank account information, SIN numbers, or computer passwords.  DO NOT GIVE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION.  The best thing to do is to hang up immediately.

One scam I have heard about from several of our members and even from my own mother, specifically targets seniors.  It comes in the form of a phone call from a young person identifying themself as your grandson or granddaughter.  They will inform you that they have gotten into a bit of trouble, but don’t want their parents to know and so could you please help them by delivering an envelope of cash to a particular address asap, but please tell no one.  It is a scam.  Hang up.  There are many scams that target seniors and others that specifically target new Canadians and refugees.

Be warned.  Last year alone in Canada there were almost 42,000 victims of such fraud and 569 million dollars was stolen from Canadians through such schemes.

Scam artists use not only the telephone, but also email.  Members of the ministry team have received numerous emails from someone using my name and informing them that I am in a bind and need help immediately with either money or gift cards.  While the scam email will use my name, these emails all come from an email address that is not my own.  Recently a senior in the church told me that she had received such an email and was very concerned for me and went to her bank ready to make a transfer.  Fortunately, her bank told her the email was a scam.  Please note: IGNORE ANY EMAILS USING MY NAME ASKING FOR MONEY OR ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION.  I will never send any such email and neither will anyone in the employment of the church.

With the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) these scams will undoubtedly become more sophisticated. There may be phone messages in which someone’s voice is being imitated, or even video messages in which their voice and face have been duplicated using sophisticated computer programming.

To learn more about how to protect yourself from such scams please visit the government website at: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/fraud-scams.html

Yorkminster Park has a long standing and well-established partnership with the Baptist church in Lebanon through the work of Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) and our own Board of Mission.

The recent invasion of Lebanon and the bombings and air strikes on Hezbollah targets have resulted in the killing of more than 2,000 people with 10,000 injured and according to the United Nations approximately 1.2 million people now displaced from their homes.

Lebanon is a relatively small country with under 6 million people.  Prior to the invasion they had already been facing the challenges of the highest per capita refugee population in the world, three plus years of triple digit inflation as well as the ongoing recovery from the destruction of much of their harbour during the explosion of 2020.

Last Thursday evening Joe Bridi of CBM visited Yorkminster Park and updated us regarding the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and the response of the Lebanese Baptists and their agency, the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD).

In the most challenging of times, our partners in the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development always look beyond their own needs by offering compassion and aid, love and kindness to those who are in need. For example, since the bombings and invasion, the Beirut Baptist Seminary has been housing displaced people from Southern Lebanon and the Beirut Baptist School, located in the Muslim section of Beirut where many of the airstrikes have landed, has been supplying the community around with food and other necessities.

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Lebanon as they respond to this humanitarian crisis. Joe Bridi also informed us that funds directed to CBM and marked Lebanon Relief will provide support for this humanitarian response. Further, through CBM’s membership in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and by extension the Humanitarian Coalition of Canada, individual’s gifts given to CBM and other coalition agencies between October 24 and November 3rd marked for Lebanon Relief will be matched by the Canadian Government up to a maximum of three million dollars.

When one of our members heard the inspiring response of our partners in Lebanon to the humanitarian crisis he was moved to go above and beyond. While choosing to keep his identity anonymous he has generously offered to match any gifts received by Yorkminster Park on or before October 31 and marked Lebanon Aid up to a maximum of $50,000.

This is a wonderful offer which means that thanks to both our generous donor and the Canadian government, every one hundred dollars given has the potential to result in four hundred dollars of humanitarian aid being offered through our partners in Lebanon.

I invite you to prayerfully consider your response and direct your gift to Lebanon Aid c/o Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. Make cheques out to the church with the Lebanon designation. Similarly, gifts can be offered online but be sure to use the drop-down box to designate it to Lebanon Relief.

Thank you for your prayerful support.

A Prayer for Truth and Reconciliation

September 30 is Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

A Prayer for Truth and Reconciliation – September  2024

Gracious and merciful God, Creator of the heavens and the earth we are blessed by the sacred rhythms of the seasons that you have put in place and the setting of the sun which invites us to rest and the rising of the same which offers a new day.

On this National Day of Truth and Reconciliation we pray for the families of indigenous children and youth who did not rest when the sun set and their children did not return from residential schools.  Only now are they learning of unmarked graves many of which are yet to be discovered and still there is no rest.  O God, forgive us as a nation of people for inflicting this nightmare on our neighbours. Bring healing and hope to each family and to the Indigenous peoples of this land and plant the seeds of peace among all the people of this nation.

Faithful Creator, we thank you for the abundance of water in this land and the bounty of the earth’s harvest which offers food enough for all.  And yet O God, we confess that many of our Indigenous neighbours still thirst for water that is fresh and clean, and hunger deeply for the food of justice.  Nurture their souls and equip them by your Spirit to preserve their languages and culture.  And strengthen the resolve of the leaders of our nation to work together to overcome the challenges that stand in the way of true reconciliation.

O God as the sun rises across our land on September 30th may it truly begin to usher in a new day for our Indigenous neighbours and indeed for all of Canada.  May this day be marked by a deepening appreciation for the hopes and dreams of Indigenous youth and indeed for the whole nation.  Creator God, Lord of Life and Redeemer of the World, bring justice and peace, healing and hope, through Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.

(originally posted, Sept. 30, 2021)

Christmas Commercials That Aren’t So Commercial 

In my sermon on Sunday, (December 17), I referenced two wonderful Christmas commercials that were both produced by the John Lewis Department Store in the UK. to encourage charitable giving.  Afterwards a number of people asked me for the links which I am providing below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z0jfP2gCIs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSfOss6ymk

The store has produced similar commercials for charity each Christmas since 2007.   Enjoy!

If you weren’t there but wonder how I related these commercials to the Christmas story, the link to my sermon is below.  The sermon starts at the 60 minute mark.

https://www.yorkminsterpark.com/gather/webcast/index.php

Merry Christmas!

Peter

CHARLES GILCHRIST ADAMS (1936 – 2023)

Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Toronto lost a great friend with the passing of the Rev. Dr. Charles Gilchrist Adams earlier on Wednesday.  Pastor Adams, served as Minister at the historic, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit for over fifty years prior to his official retirement four years ago.  Dr. Adams was not only a remarkable preacher, but also a prophetic voice calling for civil rights and civic reform.  We thank God for the privilege that was ours in knowing and hearing him as we did.

Dr. Adams and the choir of HMBC participated in a pulpit and choir exchange with Yorkminster Park on three different occasions which were organized following the visit of Deacon Milton Fletcher of Hartford Memorial to YPBC for our Watchnight Service twenty-one years ago.  Pastor Adams also spoke and sang at a Yorkminster Park Church Dinner and on another occasion, he drove to Toronto following his morning service to be at Yorkminster Park in order to introduce his great colleague and friend, the late Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor to Yorkminster Park.  Pastor Adams introduction on that occasion was as eloquent and rich as the finest sermon.

His sermons were most memorable and moved us deeply as he entered the pulpit to engage our hearts and minds as if making a case in the very court of God.  Once his case for the Christian faith was made, he would launch into his signature celebration with raised, rhythmic and poetic voice singing into our souls.

After having had the honour of preaching in his pulpit on the first leg of our first exchange and being moved as I was by the heavenly cadence of the African American call and response, I warned Pastor Adams that at Yorkminster Park, the congregation’s highest level of participation is absolute silence.  I told him that when they are deeply moved, they will meet you at the door and tell you they could have heard a pin drop.  And for the most part Pastor Adams achieved the highest level of that sacred silence, but then it happened.  At some point in his celebratory exclamation the entire congregation was unable to sit still any longer and the people jumped to their feet with hands clapping and a chorus of Amens echoing through the sanctuary.

Thinking back on it now, it was such an honour as a young preacher to be welcomed by this master orator with such warmth and grace.  I treasure those memories as I am certain all of our choir members do as well of sharing services with one of America’s greatest preachers.

Shortly before the death of one of my predecessors, the remarkable John Gladstone, I took Charles to visit the preacher we both admired so greatly.  During an earlier chapter in his ministry, when he had felt a need to be fed by a great preacher, Pastor Adams would often drive from Detroit to Toronto on a Sunday afternoon in order to attend Yorkminster Park’s evening service and hear Dr. Gladstone preach.  He had never announced himself during those years, but when he met Dr. Gladstone on his first visit to our pulpit, he embraced him and told him what a difference he had made in his life and ministry.  What a blessing it was for Yorkminster Park to realize it had played a small part in nurturing one of the great preachers of the day and what a blessing it always was to welcome him to our pulpit.

To read more about the passing of this remarkable friend and preacher please go to….

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/11/29/detroit-pastor-emeritus-rev-charles-gilchrist-adams-dies-at-86/71748687007/

https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/well-known-detroit-pastor-charles-g-adams-dies/

A Prayer for A Gaza Hospital

Perhaps you heard it too.  In some of the early accounts of the bombing of the Gaza hospital, it was referred to as the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital.  The hospital was in fact founded by the Church Mission Society of the Church of England, (Anglican) in 1882.  The Baptist name which seemed to appear in some of the earlier reports, dates from the years 1954-1982 when the hospital was administered and supported by Southern Baptists.  However, since 1982 it has been run by the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem.  It is estimated that there are half a million Christian Palestinians living outside of Palestine, while only a few thousand remain in Gaza and the West Bank.

The hospital has remained in Gaza despite the relatively small Christian population, because it was, as the name Al-Ahli translates, a hospital for all the people.  The Church Mission Society, which founded the hospital, traces its roots back to William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect who are best remembered for their work to abolish slavery in the British Empire.  The presence of this Christian hospital in Gaza has been a sign of the call of Christ on the church to care for the sick in a broken world.  The bombing of the hospital and the suffering it has brought is heartbreaking.

I don’t know what the future holds for this hospital at a time when it is needed more than ever, but even in this time of devastation, its Christian presence in Gaza has served as a reminder that Christ is present in the midst of great terror, suffering and strife.   As we pray for peace in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and the surrounding countries, let us also pray that like Christ this hospital will rise from the ashes to serve a broken world in his name and spirit as they have been doing for 141 years.

Let us Pray

Gracious God we pray for the staff and patients of the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza City.   We pray for those seeking recovery amidst so much horror and grief.

We thank you that through so many years of strife and conflict the hospital has remained true to its mission to offer healing and hope and we ask that this place which by its very presence has been an instrument of peace would now in its vulnerability and brokenness, provoke the warring factions to lay down their arms and work for an end to these conflicts.

We pray too for all of the hospitals and medical centres, the medics and first responders throughout the region as they deal with the casualties of this war in both Palestine and Israel.

We pray for peace and healing throughout Palestine, Israel and the entire region in the name of the Prince of Peace, Amen.

A PRAYER FOR PEACE

The events of last weekend in Israel were horrifying.  The Hamas attack on innocent Jewish civilians was evil. Listening to the accounts of barbaric, murderous, hate filled violence has sickened me.  It has been unimaginable. The sight of innocent civilians suffering in Gaza is also hard to watch. There is so much anger, fear and confusion on both sides and it has touched and wounded so many families all around the world and continues to do so.

The issues in Palestine and Israel are so deep and complicated and the images of this week so raw that I find myself speechless.  At times I have even been thinking things that simply can’t be uttered aloud.  It is hard to find the right words when there are no words.

However, I have been reaching out to Jewish rabbis with whom I have had the opportunity to work through the years.  I have told them how deeply upsetting it is to see the horrendous violence Israelis have endured at the hands of Hamas terrorists this week.  I have assured them of my solidarity and prayerful support.  Similarly, I have reached out to Imams with whom I have worked and to a Palestinian leader.  All of these people have given their lives to build bridges for peace and I have written to thank them and assure them of my prayers for them and for a true and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel.

It is natural that fear and anger are coming to the fore, but the best things we can do, and perhaps the only things, are to pray for peace and to reach out to people we know whose community or loved ones are impacted and assure them of our concern and our prayers for justice and peace.

A Prayer for Peace

Gracious and merciful God, on this day when some call for rage, we pray for peace, but we know there can be no peace without justice and so we turn this great crisis in Israel and Palestine to you remembering that vengeance is yours and not ours.  You alone are able to discern and find a way beyond the anger, hatred, and fear.  Show us the way and shine your light into the hearts of those filled with hate that, like Saul of Tarsus, they might come alive to love.  Strengthen all who seek to build bridges for peace and understanding.  Silence the bombs and the weapons of destruction.  Save the children and the aged. Watch over and protect emergency service workers, doctors and nurses and bring healing and comfort through their hands.  Protect the homes and lives of innocent civilians and even in the midst of a blockade open doors to healing and hope.  Bring to the table the best minds and hearts and through the process plant the seeds of a true and lasting peace.  We pray these things in the name of the One who is the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.