30 Day Stretch

As we enter the 30 day stretch to Christmas, I notice a certain type of chocolaty treat appearing in stores. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, it’s the box with the small windows on it that are a sort of countdown to Christmas. When I was a kid, I loved these treats but shhh!… Can you keep a secret? There were times when I cheated! I guess I was so excited I just couldn’t wait! As we approach and celebrate the first advent when Jesus came to this earth as a baby, one question I think about often is whether we look forward to His soon return as well. Jesus said in the last chapter in the Bible, “Behold, I come quickly…” (Revelation 22:7) but how many of us are looking forward to that day? Is it as exciting to us as waiting for Christmas? Should it be? I’d like to encourage all of us to remember that the same Jesus that came 2000 years ago IS coming again. That matters because it helps me live for something today. Today at Bronte we have a guest speaker who will share a message with us. I’m sure he’s familiar with most of you and we’re excited that Michael and his family will be officially joining our church family soon. If you’d like to consider moving your membership over too, please get in touch with me, we’d love to have you as an official part of our church as well… Welcome!

Empowering our Young People

I have a question for you. Do you remember a time when you were young and someone older from the church invested in you? How did that make you feel? One of our greatest passions and missions as a church is our young people. We have an excellent group of leaders for our youth and children’s programs to engage them and inspire their faith. While we have some exciting plans for 2020, one thing I like to do once in a while as a pastor, is give young people an opportunity to join me up front and help deliver a sermon. Because someone invested in me when I was young and gave me the opportunity to preach, it made a positive impact on my ministry and who I am today. So, I’ve been praying about this idea for a few months now and the person God laid on my heart to ask is Aaron Hurlington. As you know, he was baptized not too long ago, and he has an interest in ministry and a passion for God. He is 12 years old and I’m excited that we have the opportunity to preach a message together on a topic God has laid on his heart. Let’s continue to work together as a church family to encourage and empower our young people to participate in our worship here at Bronte.

Poverty Close to Home

Last Saturday night a group of us from Bronte joined the Really Living church and went downtown Hamilton to serve food and clothing to those in need. I have to tell you that it was an eye-opening experience for many of us. It amazed me that we have that level of poverty so close to home. It was a cold night and there were people we served in flip-flops simply because they didn’t have anything else. It was a rewarding experience and I recommend going out on one of these events in the new year, it really helps put things into perspective. Today’s message is on the topic of “Legacy”. We’ll be exploring a Bible character that isn’t talked about very often, but his story has an interesting outcome. While we do our exploration today, I’d like to challenge all of us to think about what kind of legacy you’d like to leave for the generations that come after you? Welcome and may our time together bring us closer to God and to each other.

Celebrating Seniors

Today we celebrate seniors. If you’re worshiping with us today and you’re a senior, please know that you are loved and appreciated very much. God has blessed our church family because of your tireless efforts, support, and wisdom you share so freely with our families. May God continue to bless you as you journey together with Him, looking forward to that great day when we all see our Savior face-to-face. For our special day today, I’m excited that our very own president of the Ontario Conference is here. One of his greatest passions is the seniors of our churches and has started creative initiatives to keep you active and inspired. We welcome Dr. Mansfield Edwards along with his wife Sharon who are with us today, and I pray that God will bless us all richly as we worship together.

To be noticed is to be loved.

I read a quote this week that was so powerful I was impressed to share it with all of you. It says, “To be noticed is to be loved.” (Ali Smith). This month we are looking at how we can grow closer to our families and I believe simply helping someone feel noticed is one of the easiest ways to make a big impact, not just in our families, but with everyone we are surrounded by. Receiving a compliment feels nice and is one way we can feel noticed but there are other ways as well. In fact, words of affirmation is one of the 5 love languages according to Gary Chapman and so I thought it would be a good topic to explore today. I’d like you to think about how many people, maybe even yourself, who go unnoticed. Think about how God noticed us and how He showed us that we are noticed. Finally, what can you do to help someone feel noticed today or this week?