St. Pauls Bloor Street

This morning's service was one I won't soon forget, it was like God was in the room with us as a community, holding us together, binding us and building up a group of people that love each other so much. It was an emotional service, with a final prayer at the end for Joshua and Kaleb and our family as well as any other members of our community who are suffering. It was so beautiful, and in so many ways to freeing to not need to tell everyone who asks about Josh all that is going on, but to simply have it spelled out by Barry (The Rector of St. Paul's). Usually I leave the service and there is a barrage of questions about how Josh is doing, which is wonderful because you know that people care, but this week my emotional strength was depleted and when the service ended with prayer for our family I left to not questions but simply words of love, concern and prayers. It was exactly what I needed today, and allowed me to not be comforter but simply be comforted. What a blessing. It was also so wonderful to see a community so touched and bonded together.

The worship particularly spoke to me and I have compiled a number of the lines from the music we sang during the service. The songs, 'Lord, Reign in me', 'Hosanna', 'We fall down', 'I give you my heart', 'God of justice' and finally a powerful rendition of 'Crown him with many crowns'.

Over all the earth, you reign on high
Every mountain stream, every sunset sky
But my one request, Lord my only aim
Is that you'd reign in my again.
Lord reign in me, reign in your power
over all my dreams,  my darkest hour
Over every thought, over every word
may my life reflect, the beauty of the Lord
Cause you mean more to me, than any earthy thing,
so won't you reign in my again
Praise is rising
eyes are turning to you
we turn to you
Hope is stirring
We long for you
When we see you we find strength to face the day
in your presence all our fears are washed away
In your Kingdom broken lives are made new
You make all things new
We fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus,
The greatness of mercy and love, at the feet of Jesus
and we cry holy, holy holy
and we cry holy, holy, holy
and we cry holy, holy, holy is the lamb.
Lord I give you my heart, I give you my soul
I live for you alone
Every breath I take, Every moment I'm awake,
Lord have your way in me
God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Jesus you have called us,
Freely we received
Now freely we will give
Stepping forward, keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go
Crown him the Lord of life, who triumphed o'er the grave
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save
His glories now we sing, who died and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring
and lives that death may die.
All hail Redeemer hail, for thou hast died for me,
thy praise and glory shall not fail
throughout eternity!

My heart is full and my blessings impossible to count, thank you to my wonderful St. Paul's community for circling around us then, now and always. We are truly blessed to be a part of such a strong and wonderful group of people. Your love has seen us through and will continue to see us through, and your prayers offer us hope. Every week we have the entrance prayer "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me' and every week I see each and everyone of you being used by God to show mercy to each other and us. There is blessings untold in that large church we call St. Paul's and a family that is growing stronger by the day, it is beautiful to see.