Good morning. I would like to welcome you to Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship’s Sunday Praise and Worship Service, which includes a life celebration of our dear friend, and brother-in-Christ, Rawle James. A recent article, written by Kerry Doole of FYI Music News on March 7, gave the following summary of Rawle’s career:
FYI Music News by Kerry Doole, March07, 2023
Rawle James, a Toronto dance music industry veteran, died of a heart attack on March 1 at age 68. James’ career included roles in A&R, marketing, radio promotion, management, publicity, retail buying, record store ownership, DJing, record production and mixing, and album compilations (including some of the Much Music Dance Mix series) at such companies and labels as Koch, TJSB, Disco Sound, J’s Records, Aires Entertainment, and Quality.
While “dash” found between Rawle’s date of birth and his date of death would include a multitude of achievements, anniversaries, and important events over the 68 years of his lifetime. I would like to leave the sharing of Rawle’s personal and career events to those who will come forward to share their memories of him later in this service and focus instead upon Rawle’s actions as a friend and brother-in-Christ here at BLCF over the last 16 or 17 years.
My first impression of Rawle was his great smile, booming laugh, and friendly, casual demeanor. How could you not like this guy? Early on, our conversations were limited to the short coffee and tea time held after the service. Sometimes we talked about the message of the service, others it might be an aspect of sports or politics.
So if you were to ask me what single verse from the Bible best exemplifies Rowle James, I would have to say that Psalm 100 best exemplifies Rawle’s joyfulness, gladness, and love for song:
Psalm 100 – His Steadfast Love Endures Forever (ESV)
A Psalm for giving thanks.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Over time BLCF sought to an outreach activity to grow the church and make the local community aware that BLCF was there to serve the needs of the neighborhood. When another church which had run a community dinner for several years proposed that we sponsor a similar one at BLCF, we did not hesitate to take the leap.
Within a few months, the Bloor Lansdowne Community Dinner, grew from an initial outreach to 30 guests to over 50 guests and by 2010, we found the number jumping to 100 or more every Wednesday.
When we needed servers Rawle stepped up. Then when BLCF needed a cook to help prepare and cook 100 or more meals ever Wednesday, Rawle stepped in. Later when one of the partner churches which would bring bread for the dinner moved to another part of the city, Rawle stepped in and negotiated donations from a couple of bakeries, which provided brad and pastries insufficient quantity to be served both as part of the meal and dessert, with enough left over that we could start distributing bread for our guests to take home after their meal. On two occasions we had local bakeries close their doors due to the economy, Rawle had sourced a new donor. And when we found that serving a weekly dinner to a 100 or more guests necessitated us to find a source of 70 to 80 chairs, Rawle found a donor willing to give us 80 chairs, as well as shelving and tables.
When Terry Sywanyk, our regular singer for the dinners bought in the rest of his group, Coldwater Roots to sing for fundraisers for the dinner and at special dinners, such as Christmas and New Years, Rawle approached them to see if he could help them fill their need for an experienced manager.
It was about this time that I realized that Rawle was a person who could easily wear any of many hats, including a chef’s hat or the hat of a musical consultant. Rawle had a knack of finding solutions to logistical problems by involving friends in his quest to become the “Bread Man of BLCF”. If he needed help to pick up donations from the bakery, he would ask friends to help. If would help if the friend had a vehicle to help transport the donations. After bringing the bread to the church during the week prior to the Wednesday BLCF Café, Rawle would ensure that the bread delivery was put safely away.
On Wednesday, Rawle would arrive around noon, and after seeing that the needs for the dinner prep were taken care of, our “Bread man” would next set up his bread tables, clean them, and after putting on the table cloths, he embarked upon cleaning them, then sorting his bakery goods and packaging them individually for distribution at the dinner that evening. At the end of the day, Rawle would strike down the tables, vacuum the floor. Our George Brown volunteers would keep attendance by taking a group photo of their student volunteers. As everyone needed to be in the photo, Rawle would offer to take the group photo. He would end the day by sweeping and mopping the kitchen and prep room, often offering to lock up at the end of the evening.
When all is said and done, you may conclude Rawle was a good, dedicated volunteer for a local dinner feeding the marginalized in our community, and you would be right. However, like broadcast journalist Paul Harvey would say, “and now the rest of the story.”
Often after Rawle arrived at the bakery to pick up a donation, he would talk with the staff, and find that some would have a family or friend who may be in need of prayer for a concern. Rawle would bring these Prayer Requests to either the Wednesday Bible Study at BLCF or to the Sunday Worship Service.
And while Rawle serving at the bread table, dinner guests would often share a concern with the bread man. If Rawle could not think of a solution, he would ask if were OK to bring up the concern at Sunday Prayer at BLCF.
And then, having brought bread to BLCF for the dinner, Rawle would often play a game or two of hoops in the church gym, which provided him an opportunity to chat with those who helped him pick up the bread.
Rawle wore the hats, sometimes more than one at a time, of chef, musician, baker, basket ball player, and lay minister. If we had a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner and needed an MC for the event, Rawle would step up to the task.
This brings me to one of our multi-talented friends gifts, which was the ability to read the room, whether it be occupied by two individuals or a hundred and twenty. Rawle would see a need, figure out a solution, and take action to fix the problem.
Rawle’s next talent was the tactful use of humour and a positive attitude to address a problem.
A number of years ago, I had developed what I thought was a great formula for writing my sermons. Having written the lesson for Sunday, and chosen illustrations for the online version of the message, all I needed was to select hymns which complemented the sermon. In the back of our hymnals were several indexes, allowing one to find a hymn by its title, by the first line of lyrics, based on a Scripture Verse, or based on a topic. I used the latter two to search out an appropriate hymn based on topic or a Scripture used in the lesson. If I did not know the hymn, I would read through the lyric, to see whether they were a match to the Scripture verses used in the message. But there was one problem to this system, I did not read music.
One Sunday, the failure of my system became quite evident when two of the hymns I had selected, though containing wonderful inspiring prose for lyrics, had a terrible melody. Both were remarkable for unknown, difficult for the congregation to sing, and almost depressingly slow. At the end of the service, Rawle walked up to me, and commented that “a couple of those hymns today were so bad, I wouldn’t sing them at a funeral.” To which I agreed and we both had a chuckle. Needless to say, when selecting hymns, I first audit either on Youtube or Godtube, and then verify with Sophie if it is OK from a musical standpoint. And then check to see if it meets the following criteria described by Stephen Witwicki:
1) Is it singable? 2) Is it memorable? 3) Does it tell the truth about God? 4) Does it tell the truth about us? (are we saying/singing something we wouldn’t actually do)
I believe on one occasion, a few years later did I repeat my mistake. And as Rawle approached me I said, “No need to say it, Rawle. I know!” At which point we both burst out in laughter!
Rawle had a compassionate care for the needs of others. Whether it was alternately missing church on alternate Sundays so that he could travel from his place near Mimico to visit his mom in a home in Markham, by way of public transit, or the time he invested in teaching students how to clean and temper a cast iron pan, or having taken a group photo of student volunteers, asking for them to pose for another one, this time make a funny face, Rowle always found a funny way to break the ice when the going gets tough. Rawle shone his light to all he met, just as Jesus taught us in John 8:12,
John 8:12 (ESV): I Am the Light of the World
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Rawle allowed the light of his faith to shine, as we see in Matthew 5:14-16.
Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV): You Are the Light of the World
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that[a] they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Dear friend Rawle, we will miss your booming, infectious laugh, your compassionate concern for those in need, your love for your God and your mom, and your joy for music. Goodbye for now dear friend, you will be sorely missed until the day the Lord chooses to reunite us. For how you have treated others, reflects a love for the Lord reflected through your love for others, as we read in Matthew 25:21:
Matthew 25:21(ESV)
21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[a] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
As believers in the resurrected Christ, I would like to share the following poem, written by Clare Harner entitled, Immortality, which describes Jesus’ promise to those who believe:
Immortality – by Clare Harner
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
This poem reflects the faith that we as believer in the resurrected Christ Jesus, believe is promised to all by way of His New Covenant:
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (ESV): The Coming of the Lord
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Let us pray…
At this time, I would like to invite members of the family and friends to come forward and share a memory of experience they had of our friend Rawle James.
Benediction: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. – Romans 15:13 (ESV)
BLCF wishes to thank the family, friends, and volunteers for attending this Service to Celebrate the Life of our dear friend, and brother-in-Christ, Rawle James
Thank you for sharing the Celebration of the Life
Of our dear friend Rawle James
Dear friend many good thoughts and
Words were shared
Love you and you will be missed
But Rawle of many hats you will be not be forgotten:
BLCF church and BLCF Cafe and your
Music Industry friends and family
-Sophie Mickelson, BLCF, March 27, 2023
Trish Buchanan: Rawl James (Posted March 31, 2023)
I with John & Irene had the pleasure of attending our neighbour Rawle’s Celebration of Life on Sunday, March 26th, 2023.
There were many common threads that everyone had to say about Rawle.
First & foremost Rawle was a man of God and served every day of his life. This was evident in the stories that was shared by his friends that went back to the 70’s.
His charm and charisma stole everyone’s .
Rawle was kind, soft, a teddy bear, funny, had a hearty laugh, beautiful smile, not materialistic, intelligent, saved lives, travelled a lot, master of music, loved deeply and LOVED his Mother.
So long neighbour. You are missed as you pass by our homes, smiling, waving & singing a tune. No more chats on the street, ,no more Milo (my dog) greeting you, a ride to the subway, & no more bread runs with Rod. Parisbakery
The love in your church was bountiful and your presence with be deeply missed for a long time.
RIP Rawle James
– Trish Buchanan: (Posted March 31, 2023)
About 60 attended Rawle James’ Celebration of Life at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – Blcf Church on March 26, 2023. Memorial Service photos courtesy Trish Buchanan.
Effective April 10, 2022, Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church has reopened by reservation only for Sunday worship under the limitations and guidelines set by Public Health and the Board of BLCF. In order to protect those who are vulnerable at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship from COVID-19 Virus infection, the BLCF Board mandates that the church will be open by reservation, with the following rules:
attendees must wear a mask while on the premises
attendees give their contact information upon arrival
attendees observe two meters of social distance while seated
attendees use hand sanitizer as needed
attendees follow any additional directions given by members of the board, while inside the church
Please be advised that both the BLCF Café Community Dinner and the BLCF Wednesday Prayer Service will continue to remain closed effective March 16, 2020, and until further notice. We pray with the administration of sufficient COVID-19 vaccinations, and following the determination of Health Canada and other Health Authorities, that the danger of the Pandemic will have subsided sufficiently, to allow BLCF to reopen safely more of our worship and outreach activities without any concern of infection to the vulnerable within our community.
– Pastor Steve
Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church, 1307 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON.
Message for Sunday:
Staying on the Path to Salvation through Humility and Forgiveness
Responsive Reading 667: Humility and Exaltation (Philippians 2 and Matthew 23); Prayer
Let Us Pray…
Welcome to Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church’s Sunday Morning Praise and Worship Service for Sunday, March 19, 2023. Tomorrow, Monday, March 20 marks the first day of Spring, 2023.
In Next Sunday’s Service, we will have a celebration of our friend and brother in Christ, Rawle James, who passed suddenly on March 1. We invite you to join us in remembering Rawle, who was both an active member of BLCF Church and a volunteer for our BLCF Cafe Community Dinner.
I would like to begin our lesson today, entitled Staying on the Path to Salvation through Humility and Forgiveness, with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi:
Things that will destroy man: Politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; worship without sacrifice.
If you picked up a newspaper recently, you may have read the following headline and news story:
Accused Florida school shooter pleads guilty in 2018 Parkland massacre
Oct 20, 2021 (Reuters) – Accused shooter Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the deadliest ever at a U.S. high school.
At a hearing, Cruz, 23, stood hunched over and entered one guilty plea at a time as the judge read off the charges. His lawyer, David Wheeler, Broward County’s chief assistant public defender, said last week Cruz intended to plead guilty in the Valentine’s Day attack.
Cruz was a 19-year-old expelled student with a history of mental health and behavioral issues at the time of the “cold, calculated and premeditated” killings, Broward County’s State’s Attorney Office said in court documents.
After the pleas were entered, Cruz removed his COVID-19 mask and apologized to his victims.
“I am very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it every day,” he said. “And that if I were to get a second chance I will do everything in my power to try to help others … I have to live with this every day, and it brings me nightmares that I can’t live with myself sometimes.”
Cruz wore a dark blue sweater vest above a blue shirt. He was thin and had on large glasses. His hands clutched the wooden podium he stood at while the judge spoke to him.
As a prosecutor read a detailed account of the incident, relatives and friends of the victims sat in the courtroom gallery, wiping tears from their eyes and holding each other.
Because prosecutors have vowed to seek the death penalty, his change of plea from not guilty opens the penalty phase. A jury would decide whether he should be sentenced to life in prison or death. In Florida, juries determine whether to impose a death sentence. If prosecutors are not willing to drop the potential death penalty as part of any plea deal that may be struck with Cruz, then a jury would decide.
Much of today’s news media contains a litany of stories describing the sadness of when innocent lives are lost often quote the title of a well-known book:
When Bad Things Happen To Good People
When Harold Kushner’s three-year-old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease and that he would only live until his early teens, he was faced with one of life’s most difficult questions: Why, God? Years later, Rabbi Kushner wrote this straightforward, elegant contemplation of the doubts and fears that arise when tragedy strikes. Kushner shares his wisdom as a rabbi, a parent, a reader, and a human being. Often imitated but never superseded, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a classic that offers clear thinking and consolation in times of sorrow. Since its original publication in 1981, When Bad Things Happen to Good People has brought solace and hope to millions of readers and its author has become a nationally known spiritual leader.
RHONA MICKELSON (From Hansard Transcripts – Legislative Assembly of Ontario) 36th Parliament, 1st session, October 29, 1996:
RHONA MICKELSON
Mr. Alvin Curling (Scarborough North): On October 22 the disabled community lost a very special friend. Rhona Mickelson, founder of Star Tracks Performing Arts Centre and Talent Agency for the Disabled, passed away from heart failure..
At the age of three, Miss Mickelson was playing with her dolls when an improperly constructed patio roof gave way at the family home at San Antonio, Texas, caving in on her. The resulting spinal injury left her a paraplegic and required the use of a wheelchair.
In university, she noticed during film studies that able-bodied actors were used to play the roles of people with disabilities; thus the idea for a talent agency for the disabled was born. Her efforts opened doors for people with disabilities in the world of film, advertising and employment. She found work for people with disabilities as models, in magazines, films and commercials. Rhona Mickelson lived on a disability pension and supported Star Tracks out of her own pocket.
Rhona was a personal friend who was always there for me, with a smile, with a laugh, with optimism abounding.
Whatever damage was caused from the accident, the spirit of a remarkable woman survived. There are examples of courage everywhere, from the tenacious desire of Terry Fox to the determined perseverance and courage of Rick Hansen. Rhona Mickelson personified all that and more. Her unfailing spirit and selfless concern for others is a remarkable legacy that will never be forgotten.
Rhona, you are among the leaves, the trees — you will always be among us.
Our deepest sympathies go out to her sister, Penny, brother, Stephen, and father, Harry.
14 Feb 1997, 102 – National Post at Newspapers.com Rhona Winifred Mickelson winner of 1996 King Clancy Award
When a child dies, the surviving parents and family are not only struck by their own mortality but are distinctly aware of the loss of someone close to them with whom there will be no more conversations, no more laughter, or jokes. For parents, they sense the loss of someone who was to carry on with the family name. Lost, are the hopes, dreams, and aspirations that the parent had for the child. Such a loss can be very difficult to accept, the causes are often hard to reconcile, and for those outside the family, such loss may be hard to understand.
Such was the case in Nickels Belt, Pennsylvania, when Charles Roberts, a 32-year-old milk truck driver, burst into an Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania on Monday, October 2, 2006, and killed five schoolgirls execution-style and then shot and then killed himself. Initially, the public viewed the tragedy as another case of a disturbed individual acting out his psychosis by killing innocent victims. It was just another school shooting by a man who was described by neighbors as a soccer dad, a seemingly good husband, and a hard worker who just snapped. A rambling letter written by Roberts prior to his death blamed his emotional state upon a personal loss, some years previous.
The scope and scale of the tragic loss of life at the Amish schoolhouse paled in comparison to the reaction given by the families of the five victims towards the killer Roberts and the Roberts family. Though the act of violence against the children in the Amish schoolhouse by this outsider had shaken the community to its core and in spite of the Amish community’s feelings of shock, disbelief, and then grief, the reaction of the Amish community to the deaths was not what others had expected. Members of the Amish community sought to support all of the families who had suffered a tremendous loss; both Amish as well as Robert’s family. Within a day of the shootings, members of the Amish community, friends, and families of the slain girls called upon the parents, widow, and children of Charles Roberts to embrace the shooter’s family, to show forgiveness towards the killer, and to support the Roberts in their time of personal loss and grief. This reaction of forgiveness stunned both the public and the media.
Dr. Donald Kraybill co-authored: Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, and wrote the following:
One of the fathers who lost a daughter in the schoolhouse and had another one seriously injured said, “Our forgiveness was not in our words, it was in what we did.” What did they do? How did the Amish enact forgiveness?
Two days after the shooting the Amish formed the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee to disperse, with fiscal integrity, the financial gifts of goodwill that were suddenly coming from people around the world to help the suffering families. Composed of seven Amish leaders and two outside businessmen, the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee decided to give a proportion of the funds they received to the widow and children of Charles Roberts. In time, the committee received about $4.2 million from generous donors around the world.
One of the most striking expressions of forgiveness occurred at Charles Roberts’s burial on the Saturday after the shooting. Roberts was buried in the Georgetown cemetery, about a mile from the school, beside his firstborn daughter whose premature death nine years earlier he blamed on God and gave as the reason for his murderous acts. Over half of the people in attendance were Amish. They spontaneously decided to attend. Some had just buried their own daughters the day before. After the burial they hugged the widow and the parents of Charles Roberts. It was a remarkable act of grace. The funeral director supervising the burial said, “I realized that I was witnessing a miracle!” The Amish families bestowed other gracious acts of kindness on the family of Charles Roberts. Some sent meals and flowers to his widow. At Christmastime children from a nearby Amish school went to the Roberts home to sing carols.
Another remarkable facet of the Amish response was the absence of anger and rage. One Amish woman said, “When I saw the bodies of one of the little girls at the viewing it just made me mad, mad at the evil, not at the shooter.” In my interviews, I probed for anger toward Charles Roberts but I detected only deep sorrow, not anger. When I asked about Roberts’s eternal destiny, one Amish minister said, “I can only hope for him what I hope for myself, that God will be a merciful and loving judge.” Deep pain and sorrow seared the hearts of the Amish parents. Even months after the tragedy, the memory of the event brought tears to the eyes of many Amish people. “I couldn’t preach in church for several weeks because when I tried, I just cried and cried,” said one grandfather, a minister who lost a granddaughter in the schoolhouse. The Amish are not stoic people; they experience the emotions of pain and suffering like the rest of us.
For all the Amish, as well as for fellow Christians at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship– BLCF Church, the strength to forgive is found through humility and by God’s grace.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, well known for his Christian walk, once said: “Forgiving is one of the most difficult things for a human being to do, but I think it means looking at some slight you feel, putting yourself in the position of the other person, and wiping away any sort of resentment and antagonism you feel toward them. Then let that other person know that everything is perfectly friendly and normal between you…One of the most basic principles for making and keeping peace within and between nations. . . is that in political, military, moral, and spiritual confrontations, there should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat”
C. Ryle on the subject of humility and love said: “Humility and love are precisely the graces which the men of the world can understand, if they do not comprehend doctrines. They are the graces about which there is no mystery, and they are within reach of all classes… [The poorest] Christian can every day find occasion for practicing love and humility. “
To understand the reaction, we must understand the Amish. There are about 200,000 Amish who live in 27 states and 350 geographical settlements. They came from Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and have lived lives largely separate from mainstream American society ever since. They have a Biblically-based understanding of their way of life, and they seek to apply their unique ways in terms of their selective use of technology, and the way in which they interact with the outside world. Because the Amish are pacifists, they see the school rampage as a test of faith. Part of their faith practices includes not only reciting daily The Lord’s Prayer but actually incorporating the message of the prayer into their everyday life. As one member of the Amish community stated, “There’s strength and forgiveness and not having the kind of bitterness that we think possibly caused this terrible tragedy.”
In order to achieve forgiveness, the Amish live a life of humility. Their manner of dress is simple and unassuming. They shun modern technology, preferring to travel by horse-drawn carriage than by automobile. They live off the power grid; do not have any gas lines, phones, radios or televisions, computers, or the internet. They have no commercial insurance policies; say for life or property insurance, no credit cards, and no loans. If an Amish suffers a loss, his support network is comprised of a community of fellow believers, who draw close to the person to provide care and support. The Amish learn the Way of humility from the Scriptures, 2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV):
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Philippians 2:1-11 (ESV) Christ’s Example of Humility
2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a]6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[b] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Just as our weakness and imperfections are made strong and perfect through the power of the Holy Spirit; a humble believer will become the greatest proponent of the faith in the Lord:
Matthew 18:3-4 (ESV)
3 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Steve Marshall in an article on overcoming depression entitled: How forgiveness has healing power over depression states the following:
Healing through forgiveness and growing through humility. Accepting your depression and finding that it is no more than a curtain on the stage of life, your life. What is the real spiritual connection between depression and forgiveness? Is there a causal connection? Can depression be alleviated from a “heartfelt connectingly” deep forgiveness of myself and of others made by myself? Forgiveness always helps because to forgive is to embrace the loving option. Love heals depression by allowing it’s healing “of the opening up of yourself to yourself and of the opening up of yourself to others” to take place. For essentially depression is a sign of your closing down to yourself and to life. The way to allow growth through and past your depression is to start forgiving yourself for having allowed this degree of closing down of yourself to yourself and to life to have taken place. Depression is a really deep, painful and lonely place to be, but it’s very deepness is what allows you to grow. It is true in life that you grow most from the deepest pain and the deepest feelings and that your most penetratingly painful experiences will often teach you the most. And so depression as I have just said allows you to feel feelings more deeply and this then will open the other side of depression in you and which is forgiveness. When you are feeling any feeling other than happiness or experiencing any state other than love, it is time to think about forgiveness. Forgive yourself first by just accepting yourself, for acceptance is the always the first step of forgiveness. The second step is to acknowledge that depression is a part of life and of your life and to look for the hidden jewels hiding within the darkness of depression. Forgiveness is the candle or the light in this darkness that will allow you to see the jewel and which is your soul sparkling and shining with a glimmering hope. That hope is that real hope that you will at last contact your real self as soul and that this contact will now begin to turn you around, and then after that the next step is humility. It takes true humility to forgive, and true forgiveness makes you humble. It goes on from there, and you will find that when you can touch yourself as soul, and feel a little of your true value, and accept that you have indeed a unique purpose and unique gifts and that you are a part of God’s overall plan for all of life, you will maybe realize then that your part in it all is just simply to be you.
And you may ask what Christ said we may expect if we do not forgive those who have wronged us? Let us read from Matthew 25, verses 31-46 for the answer let us look to Matthew 25:31-45 (ESV):
The Final Judgment
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
In other words, we will be judged according to how we have treated others. We cannot expect forgiveness and salvation if we do not forgive others. And we cannot forgive others if we have not humbled ourselves in the eyes of the Lord. Or to put it a little more clearly:
Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV)
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
And if we must remember Christ’s words, while nailed to the cross, through His anguish and pain the words He spoke were of suffering but forgiveness:
Luke 23:34 (ESV)
34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[a] And they cast lots to divide his garments. Footnotes: a. Luke 23:34 Some manuscripts omit the sentence And Jesus… what they do
So, we can see that one of the requisites for our Salvation is humility and in order to be forgiven, we must first forgive. These are not guidelines but a path that we may walk as do the Amish, it is a way of life. The Scriptures become alive for you and me only after we chose not just to speak the scriptures, but to live the scripture. To demonstrate by our actions humility before the Lord and forgiveness to others who have wronged us.
Danish philosopher, theologian, and psychologistSoren Kierkegaard once said: Christ did not appoint professors, but followers. If Christianity… is not reduplicated in the life of the person expounding it, then he does not expound Christianity, for Christianity is a message about living and can only be expounded by being realized in men’s lives.
Humility and forgiveness are the sacrifices we must make to be worthy in God’s eyes so as to receive Christ’s gift of salvation. His sacrifice for our forgiveness was great. What we must sacrifice is relatively small, we must be humble, forgiven, and receive the gift of salvation.
With respect to forgiveness and the Christian walk, author CS Lewis observed: To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.
Over the last century alone, history bears witness to a host of inexcusable circumstances, a World War meant to end all wars” that failed in this purpose, a Spanish Flu Pandemic, a Great Depression, another World War which included a Holocaust that epitomized man’s inhumanity to man, the Atomic Bomb that drove Superpowers to a protracted cold war that nearly ended with a Missile Crises in Cuba, more wars, police actions, interventions, racial riots, mass shootings, terrorist attracts, and our current COVID-19 Pandemic. All of these have put people’s faith and trust in God to the test, as some deny war and Holocaust, deny pandemics and vaccines, deny sin in general, preferring to hide the lies of their sins under a veil of fig leaves, oblivious to the truth. The human reaction to such horrific events is the adrenalin-driven “flight or fight” syndrome, whereby they run away and hide from the horrors, pretending that it does not exist and if they deny it, it will just disappear and go away. On the other hand, they could decide to put on the armour that God has provided for just such events and fight their own fears and frustrations, avoiding any denial of the truth, being confident that the Lord will bring them through the storm, safely to the other side.
Let us conclude this morning’s lesson with the same quote from Mahatma Gandhi that was used at the beginning:
Things that will destroy man: Politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; worship without sacrifice.
Let us pray…
Music Benediction Special:In Jesus’ Name (God of Possible) – Katy Nichole – Lyric Video – https://youtu.be/R84PqRdZ7_Y
Benediction (Romans 15:5-6): May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Effective April 10, 2022, Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church has reopened by reservation only for Sunday worship under the limitations and guidelines set by Public Health and the Board of BLCF. In order to protect those who are vulnerable at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship from COVID-19 Virus infection, the BLCF Board mandates that the church will be open by reservation, with the following rules:
attendees must wear a mask while on the premises
attendees give their contact information upon arrival
attendees observe two meters of social distance while seated
attendees use hand sanitizer as needed
attendees follow any additional directions given by members of the board, while inside the church
Please be advised that both the BLCF Café Community Dinner and the BLCF Wednesday Prayer Service will continue to remain closed effective March 16, 2020, and until further notice. We pray with the administration of sufficient COVID-19 vaccinations, and following the determination of Health Canada and other Health Authorities, that the danger of the Pandemic will have subsided sufficiently, to allow BLCF to reopen safely more of our worship and outreach activities without any concern of infection to the vulnerable within our community.
– Pastor Steve
Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church, 1307 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON.
Message for Sunday:
‘‘Finding What Is Lost:
A Sheep (Luke 15:1-7); A Coin (Luke 15:8-10); A Son (Luke 15:11-22)”
Opening Hymn #288: Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound – Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone (with lyrics) – Georgetown Community Church – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wbxqt3qQ4o
Scripture Verses: Ezekiel 34:11-16, Luke 15:1-22, Jeremiah 23:1-8
Let us pray…
We are saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Rawle James on March 1, 2023. Rawle is in now God’s hands. Our friend Rawle, we will miss your booming, infectious laugh, compassionate concern for those in need, your love for your God and your mom, and your joy for music. Goodbye for now dear friend.
Amazing Grace, our opening hymn this morning, is a testimony in song authored by John Newton whose faith conversion was as dramatic a change as the apostle Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. Here are the Wiki bits of John Newton:
“Amazing Grace” is a Christianhymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807), published in 1779. With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, “Amazing Grace” is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.
Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life’s path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination. He was pressed (forced into service involuntarily) into the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel so severely that he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion. However, he continued his slave trading career until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether and began studying Christian theology.
Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. “Amazing Grace” was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year’s Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses; it may have simply been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper’s Olney Hymns, but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States however, “Amazing Grace” was used extensively during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a tune named “New Britain” to which it is most frequently sung today.
Author Gilbert Chase writes that “Amazing Grace” is “without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns,” and Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, estimates that it is performed about 10 million times annually. It has had particular influence in folk music, and has become an emblematic African American spiritual. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. “Amazing Grace” saw a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s and has been recorded thousands of times during and since the 20th century, occasionally appearing on popular music charts.
For the Trekkers out there, Amazing Grace was piped by Commander Scott at the funeral of First Officer Spock in the movie The Wrath of Kahn. If you are not a follower of Star Trek, the point is that Amazing Grace has become synonymous with the living testimony of Christians, often sung at a believer’s funeral to praise and express gratitude for the promise of the resurrection through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But John Newton, not to be confused with contemporary singer Olivia Newton-John, before his conversion, lived the life of a lost sheep described in Ezekiel 34, without love for God or fellow man. He became wealthy at the expense of the lives and freedom of others. But like Saul of Tarsus, the Lord had a plan for Newton: a plan of conviction and conversion of faith that led John Newton to become a minister of God, spreading the gospel of Jesus.
But more than gathering together His lost sheep, the Lord will send the lost sinners a new shepherd and reclaim from a life of sin and destruction His beloved human sheep. Ezekiel 34:11-16 (ESV):
The Lord God Will Seek Them Out
11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.[a] I will feed them in justice.
Footnotes: a. Ezekiel 34:16 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate I will watch over
To reaffirm how Jesus fits in the picture, let us look at the prophecy, where the Lord is described as the “Righteous Branch” in Jeremiah 23:1-8 (ESV):
The Righteous Branch
23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”
The love that the Lord has for us is so great that he rejoices every time a lost human sheep returns to his flock, as is expressed in the three parables we have printed in today’s bulletin. The first is found in Luke 15:1-7 (ESV):
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
We all have experienced the loss of something valuable. We worry and fret over what is lost. But like the lesson from Ezekiel, the Lord will go out and seek the lost sheep, bring it back to the fold, and celebrate its return. For every lost soul or sinner that is saved, there is a celebration in heaven.
For those who may not identify with the sheep in the first parable, we have the parable of the Lost Coin, Luke 15:8-10 (ESV):
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins,[a] if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Footnotes: a. Luke 15:8 Greek ten drachmas; a drachma was a Greek coin approximately equal in value to a Roman denarius, worth about a day’s wage for a laborer
And just in case we still do not understand what the Lord has told us, he teaches us the lesson again, in the parable of a son that is lost in Luke 15:11-22 (ESV):
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b]22 But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
Footnotes: a. Luke 15:15 Greek joined himself to b. Luke 15:21 Some manuscripts add treat me as one of your hired servants c. Luke 15:22 Greek bondservants
The Parable of the Prodigal Son not only teaches how the Lord desires us to return to Him but how He has compassion for us and is willing to forgive us all of our transgressions.
By teaching the same lesson three times in three different parables, the Lord indicates how much He cares for His lost sheep and the priority He places on returning sinners back to a righteous place.
I remember some years ago, how Sophie had lost her engagement ring at a church function. Sophie looked everywhere in her pockets for the ring. She had retraced her steps through the evening. Eventually, Sophie received a call from a friend that the young daughter of one of the ladies had found her ring. How relieved and happy she was when it was returned.
And when a sinner returns to the flock, he has the confidence and peace of mind as well, that he is safe at home with the shepherd, as we see in Psalm 23, which I would like to read for our closing prayer:
Let us pray…
Psalm 23 (ESV): The Lord Is My Shepherd – A Psalm of David.
Closing Hymn #49: A Pilgrim Was I and A-wandering (Surely Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me) – (Ministers Hub Lyrics with Piano Accompaniment) – https://youtu.be/GdN7q2lroJI
Let us pray…
Music Benediction Special:In Jesus’ Name (God of Possible) – Katy Nichole – Lyric Video – https://youtu.be/R84PqRdZ7_Y
Benediction Hebrews 13:20-21(ESV):
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
We are saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Rawle James on March 1, 2023. Rawle is in now God’s hands. Our friend Rawle, we will miss your booming, infectious laugh, compassionate concern for those in need, your love for your God and your Mom, and your joy for music. Goodbye for now dear friend. – Steve and Sophie Mickelson
Remembering Rawle – A Celebration of the Life of Rawle James
He was a member of Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship and BLCF Cafe
Please join us 11 AM Sunday, March 26, 2023, at 1307 Bloor Street West
For more information call: Blcf Church at 416 535-9578
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. – 2 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV
Remembering Rawle
A Celebration of the Life of Rawle James
Thank you for sharing the Celebration of the Life
Of our dear friend Rawle James
Dear friend many good thoughts and
Words were shared
Love you and you will be missed
But Rawle of many hats you will be not be forgotten:
.
Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship BLCF Church 
