Our Grade 8 Worship Team led this morning’s service, starting with the pledges, The Lord’s Prayer, O Canada and the Land Acknowledgement. This was followed by two praise songs – “Hymn of Heaven” and “Hosanna”.
Next, there was a Wesley Wildfire Basketball update. The coaches of each of our four teams shared the results of the tournaments and recognized the students who showed the best spirit and positivity on each team. Our Senior Boys finished in 4th, the Junior Boys ended up in 3rd, the Senior Girls secured 2nd place and the Junior Girls came in 1st in their tournament!
After the sports update, the Worship Team led the students in singing one final song, “Who You Say I Am”.
Our guest speaker this morning was Pastor Stephanie Jones from OneChurch.To. She shared the story of how Jesus fed 5 000 with the gift of a young boy who shared 5 loaves of bread and two fish. Although the events in the story were familiar to most students, Pastor Stephanie wanted to emphasize the actions of the child. He gave everything that he had to Jesus who, in turn, blessed what was given, transforming it into something greater than anyone could have imagined. In addition to the 5 000 men that were fed, there were many women and children in the crowd that had not been counted. Furthermore, there were 12 baskets of leftovers! Pastor Stephanie pointed out that if we trust Jesus with what we have, He will use it for His purpose and kingdom. To conclude, she asked everyone to hold out their hands with their palms facing up, as a sign of offering. Then, she prayed, acknowledging all good gifts come from God and when we offer up what we have, He will use it wisely for His glory. She also asked to help all of us be leaders to show the world what being a follower of Jesus is all about.
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In the ELC, the JK2 class was responsible for the chapel service. Five students led the pledges, O Canada and the Lord’s Prayer. Usually, the praise portion of the worship begins with an energetic upbeat song. However, Mrs. Seto picked “For God So Loved the World”. The students immediately picked up on the tranquility of the song and calmed right down, doing the actions as they sang. The second song, “Children of God” was sung with great exuberance, even though it was not particularly fast paced. For the final song, “The Fruit of the Spirit”, the students were energized by the speed of the song and enjoyed the animation.
After all the singing, Mrs. Seto asked what was the one word that was common in all three songs. One student said, “Love!”, which was indeed the core of Mrs. Seto’s message. She pointed out that it is because of God’s great love that Jesus came to die and save the world from our sins. She also reminded the students that to love God is the greatest commandment, which is followed by the second greatest – to love your neighbour as yourself. She also mentioned that love is the first fruit of the Spirit. Mrs. Seto also showed a short video about all of the Fruit of the Spirit. She concluded the service in prayer, thanking God for His love and acknowledging that it is the only way that we can bear fruit and be transformed to be more like Jesus.