This morning, the elementary division held two services at the same time. Primary Chapel for Grades 1-4 took place in the cafeteria and was led by Grade 4 Chapel Leaders. Senior Chapel for Grades 5-8 took place in the gymnasium and led by Grade 5-8 Chapel Leaders. The format for both services were the same. After O Canada, The Lord’s Prayer and the Land Acknowledgement, both opened their respective service with the reading of John 14:5-7 in which Jesus states that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one can go to the Father except through Him. Students responded by singing “One Way”. Next, both looked at how Jesus is the Truth, the Way and the Life and responded with a corresponding song. For the Primary Chapel, the explanations and song choices were more suited for the audience. They sang old favourites such as “The B-I-B-L-E” and “This Little Light of Mine”. In the Senior Chapel , students responded with songs such as “This I Believe” and “I Will Follow”. Both also sang “Thy Word is A Lamp Unto My Feet” which reflects how God’s Word is the Truth and guiding light for each of us.
The guest speaker in the Primary Chapel was recently retired WCA Grade 3 teacher, Miss Phillips! She started with showing the students a photo of herself when she was approximately their age. She had also learned about John 14:5-7 then. During her message, Miss Phillips connected with the students and explained what it means for Jesus to be the WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE. She also spoke about making choices. The most important choice is to ask Jesus to be part of your life. The next is to choose to grow to be more like Him. She gave the following four ways to do that:
- Spend time in prayer
- Read the Bible
- Learn about God in church/chapel
- Set the example
The guest speaker in the Senior Chapel was Jake Wilson, aka “Captain” from Willow Springs Camp. After sharing a personal story about his grandfather and connecting how we are all “tabernacles” for God, he pointed out that we have two choices in life. Option A is to do the best with what we have and hope it is good enough. Option B is to rely on God. Many of us struggle with whether our personal desires reflect God’s plan for us. Captain reminded us that we are God’s masterpieces and He has already planned works for us to complete (Ephesians 2:8-10) .Then, he spent some time explaining how we can be transformed through Jesus. We can grow from our current state (point 1 on the diagram) to our “glorified” state as described in Revelation (point 2 on the diagram). The journey to be refined so that we can bear the Fruit of the Spirit (point 3) is called sanctification. In our daily steps, we can uphold the values of Jesus (blue lines in point 4) and shine for others. Sometimes, we start strong but can get dashed (point 5) but we must continue to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and move (point 6) towards reunification with him, our end goal. To conclude, Captain reminded students that sanctification comes from reading God’s word, listening to the prompts of the Holy Spirit and doing what glorifies the Lord. He encouraged everyone to be more sanctified each day and to build each other up.
After each speaker’s message, the Chapel Leaders ended each service with the reading of the benediction before each group was dismissed to start their academic day.