Grace Church on-the-Hill
300 Lonsdale Rd M4V 1X4 Toronto, ON, Canada

Origins of Care Historically the Church has often been found caring for people on the edge of society. For hundreds of years the Church challenged, led and changed the wider culture through its valuing of those who were powerless. It practiced faith in action by feeding, housing and caring for people who otherwise would have suffered or died through poverty or sickness. Many great institutions, hospitals and charities have their origins in people living out their faith. Fiona MacMillan, St. Luke’s Day, in Liturgy on the Edge, pg. 11

Grow Up! We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.... But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. (Ephesians 4:14-15) See more

Come see our new window. We are grateful to Bishop Tutu for a lifetime of service to humanity and humbled to be able to offer this window in his name to the Glory of God, and to peace on earth. #gracechurchonthehill #tutu #florenceLi #stainedglass

Today’s Reflection In its broadest arc, the Bible tells the story of our reunion with the God who is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, our parent by birth and by adoption, the most complete image of our identity. We are legion, we are many, but God has our seemingly infinite variety covered by God’s own infinite image. However we differentiate ourselves, we cannot deny the image of God that imprints us, shaping us in ways our DNA maps cannot describe. Rosalind C. Hughes,... A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing (Upper Room Books, 2020) Today’s Question How can you celebrate the infinite variety of God’s image in humanity today? Today’s Scripture So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (NRSV) Prayer for the Week How infinite is your embrace, O God. How broad and high and deep and enduring is your love.

Community Makes God Visible - Henri J. M. Nouwen Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other as a gesture of hope. In community we say: Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downsbut we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when... lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care. Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, others ordinary. Some look valuable, others worthless. Some look gaudy, others delicate. We can do little with them as individual stones except compare them and judge their beauty and value. When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic, portraying the face of Christ, who would ever question the importance of any one of them? If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete. Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world.