This week, chapel service was held on Thursday morning as the gym will be occupied for Photo Day on Friday. Some of our Grade 8 students led the morning pledges, The Lord’s Prayer, O Canada and the Land Acknowledgement. Mr. Bailey encouraged everyone to remain standing and lift up their voices to sing “Amazing Love”, which is a song that simply glorifies God for being so amazing!
Next, members of our Grade 7 class introduced our September Care & Share for the food bank at the 105 Gibson Centre, which is the community centre associated with the Toronto Christian Community Church. They shared a little bit about some of the services offered at 105 Gibson as well as the profile of some of the households that use the foodbank. The students also introduced the 105 Challenge in which each Wesley class will be asked to bring in 105 or more non-perishable items for the foodbank between Monday to Thursday next week (September 25-28). Some classes at Wesley are larger than others so those classes can reallocate any excess to help other classes meet the 105 Challenge! Please see the slides for a list of most needed items.
When the students prepared to sing the next worship song, some loud excited whispers could be heard, especially amongst the younger students. Mr. Bailey picked up on it and asked them to “sing nice and loud for God!”
After singing praises, everyone welcomed our guest speaker, Pastor Jake Wilson, AKA “Captain” – Director of Willow Springs Camp. Mr. Wilson reintroduced himself and shared that before he worked at Willow Springs, he had worked at another camp, in Reni, Ukraine, in 2014. He recounted how he went with the interpreter into town to purchase groceries for the camp. They chatted as they walked and after they exited the store with all their groceries, the interpreter left him, telling him to go back to the camp by himself with all the bags. Jake wasn’t sure he could as he wasn’t paying attention when they walked there and there were no road signs in English.
Mr. Wilson paused the story at that point to change gears and jump into the passage surrounding our school theme, “All In”. He read Mark 12:28-34 and explained that Jesus had just arrived in Jerusalem by donkey and was surrounded by people who called him “Hosanna” but also people that grumbled against him. After Jesus refuted every challenge from the grumblers, there was one Teacher of the Law who asked a question about the Greatest Commandment. Jesus responded to the question as well as the teacher’s subsequent statement which acknowledged the need to love God, love others and that love is more important than sacrificial burnt offerings. Jesus pointed out that the teacher’s comment was “not far from the Kingdom of God”. Mr. Wilson hinted that the missing component was loving God and loving others enables true sacrifice, like Jesus demonstrated for us. He will be speaking about this on another visit to Wesley.
To wrap up, Captain ended his story about being in Ukraine with bags full of groceries and not knowing where to go. He shared that Jesus led him back to the camp, safe and sound, after he prayed for guidance. Mr. Wilson emphasized that when we feel lost, we can do the same and pray, trusting Jesus to lead us all the way.
After the message, Mr. Bailey, Ms. Wong and Mr. Au launched into an amusing skit to kick off our annual Walk-A-Thon fundraiser. Our fundraising goal is $35, 000 which will go towards paying for our newly installed water bottle fillers, upgrading our security system, and repaving the playground at the back of the school. As a not-for profit charitable organization, fundraising is a critical part of Wesley Christian Academy’s financial stability. Student tuition covers teachers’ salaries and some basic operational costs. However, maintenance, upgrades to existing equipment and resources, or their complete replacement requires significant outside funding. Please pray for the fundraising period and the event itself, on October 19th.
