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Adhering to the "Saved by grace alone" or "Just believe" doctrine while throwing all the other verses out the window is a pretty gutsy move. That would tell me that the apostle Paul was going around, preaching a gospel that goes beyond "faith alone". Paul said in Galatians 1:9 that everyone is accursed that preaches another gospel than the one he preached. Taking only Acts 16:30-31 as the entirety of the bible would tell us that no repentance of any kind is needed for salvation. Acts 16:30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” In addition, only the person asking what he needed to do to be saved would need to "believe". This infers that the rest of his household could be complete atheists, yet would be saved. Are we having a contest to water down the Word of God until it has absolutely no effect? If so, the entire population of earth should read ONLY Titus 3:5 and see that Jesus already saved us by His mercy and we don't have to do a single thing. Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost If we take this one verse literally, without reading any other in the bible, one could come to the conclusion that: 1) They don't even need to "Believe in Jesus" to be saved, because this verse doesn't say anything about belief. 2) They don't need to hear the Word 3) They don't need to read the Word 3) No relationship with God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is needed. 4) Hell is completely empty because everyone already got saved by His "mercy". 5) Sin as much as you want to, because repentance (to turn away from sin) wasn't specifically mentioned in this verse, either. If this is the case, then ask yourself: Why is there even a judgment of man (Revelation 20:12-15)? Why is there a Gospel? And why is there even a Bible? <End Sarcasm> If one is going to take the "minimalist" doctrine to the nth degree, then you should end up something similar to the above. Take this approach and you will eventually find out that God is NOT playing around. He will not be mocked and ignored. In flaming fire, God will take vengeance on those that do not know Him and do not obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). The Word of God commands us to make our calling and election "sure", not "minimal" (2 Peter 1:10). It also instructs us to study the word to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15). The best policy is to read the ENTIRE Word of God for yourself to find out what the TRUE DOCTRINE and TRUE GOSPEL really is and then OBEY that gospel. If you are genuinely seeking God on this topic, He will most definitely fill in the blanks on any questions you have. All you have to do is ask Him in sincerity. When the disciples preached the Gospel, what did the hearers of that Gospel actually do? They repented. They got baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. They received the Promise of the Father - The baptism of the Holy Ghost. If a person truly BELIEVES the gospel, they will OBEY the gospel. In addition, once that individual experiences the sin unravelling and being removed from their life and the POWER of the Holy Ghost living inside, they will NOT be ashamed of that gospel, even as Paul declared in Romans 1:16. God provided the plan of salvation for all men, women and children when He was under no obligation to do so. This is the very demonstration of His grace and mercy. The problem with arguing against Lordship salvation is that one can argue so hard against works that they take it over the edge and completely IGNORE and therefore REJECT the instructions given from the Gospel, stating that those are works as well. THIS IS DECEPTION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. Do yourself a HUGE favor. Don't take reckless chances with your salvation. OBEY the TRUE GOSPEL.

Repent to Jesus Christ! Are you a sinner? Luke 5:32 King James Version 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Luke 13:3 King James Version 3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Presiding Bishop Curry and Reverend Alexa share a love-is-love approach to the world 😚💋😚💋🤗🤗🤗.

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Billionaire fascists won't allow a basic income to happen anytime soon.

I don't think you know how phoney and insincere the United Church is.

Can’t wait to check out some of your other videos! Good luck with growing your channel! Have you ever looked into using Promosm?! You should use it to promote your videos!

Beautiful collective prayer..thank you.Amen & Amen🙏🌿

The worse oppression is sin oppression. Jesus died to release us from sin oppression. All other types of opressioon follow from that. Lack of love of God leads to wrong treasures and wrong pleasures and injustice man to man. One disasterous failure of liberation theology is claiming as Ibram Kendri has that 'Anti Racist oppose Savior Theology" Tragically Kendri even laughs at the idea of sin and only focus on human oppression and human revolution. Neither Jesus or apostle would agree. A Biblical description of a fool could include treating sin as a joke.

I know 8760 hours ago...... My worst year irrespective of covid..... God bless Mike from UK

Note: The Fifth Estate is generally a responsible source but do not accept all of its content uncritically; it has provided harmful misleading coverage of "birth tourism" widely protested by migrant rights organisations and offered a platform to individuals falsely blaming the overdose crisis on "overprescribing" rather than a toxic fentanyl based drug supply.

I attended a different virtual Toronto United Church Christmas service, led by Cheri DiNovo - when Alexa said "how wonderful it is to know that you are 😘d and not alone", it reminded me of Cheri's lovely and loving message. Sending love 😚🤗 all round!

Thank you for such a beautiful service on this Christmas Eve night. The stories and music were very moving. It was just wonderful to see the inside of Windermere United as it has been many years since I've attended the Christmas Eve service. I felt dad was enjoying the service and taping his toes with the jazzy songs. Thank you again Alexa & Adrian for making this evening a special one. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us as we celebrate this incredible Christmas season. God Bless!

You are 😍d, Alexa. 🤗😘

Great video! I believe you'd enjoy my content too. Keep up with the great work! 🧡💖

Gracias! This was so helpful to my spirit. Bless you.

Gracias! So helpful to my spirit!

Such a great sermon! Inspiring and wise. Thank you.

Good blessed you

Amen Amen Amen

You are right Reverent Alexa. Vigils are not enough. If only the canadian civilian population would accept to be disarmed. I am sure you would be delighted. Your vivid talk here reminded me the heartfelt pleas of the so called '' widows '' of the so called '' Moncton terrorist attack ''. You are lucky the general population has no clue what your occult agenda really consist of. czcams.com/video/FuopGEpiOKE/video.html

Thank you for the powerful message. What is next and how the poison of hate could be detoxicated?

Thank you, Thank you, Alexa!

As soon as Alexa finished speaking our Music Minister, Adrian Marchuk, sang Leonard Cohen's Anthem, "Anthem" by Leonard Cohen The birds they sang at the break of day Start again I heard them say Don't dwell on what has passed away or what is yet to be. Ah the wars they will be fought again The holy dove She will be caught again bought and sold and bought again the dove is never free. Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in. We asked for signs the signs were sent: the birth betrayed the marriage spent Yeah the widowhood of every government -- signs for all to see. I can't run no more with that lawless crowd while the killers in high places say their prayers out loud. But they've summoned, they've summoned up a thundercloud and they're going to hear from me. Ring the bells that still can ring ... You can add up the parts but you won't have the sum You can strike up the march, there is no drum Every heart, every heart to love will come but like a refugee. Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in.

amen

“On the Mountaintop with the Pusumas” by Rev. Alexa Gilmour February 7th, 2016 Luke 9:38-36 “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Today the truth of these words, first spoken by cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, are born out in a story that began in Hungary, with the Pusumas, and over the past 5 years has become our story. Nearly a decade ago, as the systemic hatred and everyday violence against the Roma, Jews, and Blacks in Hungary intensified, a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens set up an emergency hotline for victims of hate crimes. As part of the team of committed volunteers, Joszef Pusuma, began risking his life to investigate the scene of hate crimes; including vandalism, fires, and murders. In Hungary, where the government appeared to be deaf to the cries of it’s dark-skinned citizens, this hotline was a lifeline, offering hope and the possibility of a better outcome for the victims. It wasn’t long before a small group of citizens committed to preserving their white-privilege showed up at Pusumas home and beat them. Joszef threw himself on top of his 18 month old baby girl to protect her from the blows of their baseball bat. The rest of the story we know all too well. They sought refugee status here in Canada and were failed by their first lawyer Viktor Hohots, who was discipline for professional misconduct by the Law Society of Upper Canada. With a hopeless future before them in Hungary, they cried out one last time and found refuge in a community of concerned committed citizens, you. The years in sanctuary brought much suffering for the Pusumas and frustration for us as our government appeared unwilling to listen. And yet there were also moments of great joy as strangers from all over the city became a family determined to free Lulu. As we spoke on Friday, Joszef said to me, “Alexa,, do you remember the picture your church made for my family?” How could I forget? It was a photograph taken right here on the chancel steps, on the last Sunday before their departure. The family is in the center front row with dozens of their Canadian supporters surrounding them. Lulu captures the eye immediately because she is wearing a long white puffy party dress. It looks more like a first communion celebration that a deportation. How could I ever forget that picture? “I look at that picture every day,” said Joszef, “my Canadian family so far away but now, today, I look at it and see my future. One little restaurant on Bloor st. serving Hungarian food. Lulu in an English school and eventually maybe going to university. I see my whole future and I am happy. “ When the Rev. Dr. MLK jr. said, “God has taken me to the mountaintop and I have seen the promise land,” we all know the spiritual metaphor he is referring to; that symbolic sacred place in time and space where it is easy to see God at work. We stand at the top of the mountain, the place of perspective, of light and awesome wonder, of clean air, and undiluted thoughts. Here in this place it is easy to see that there is hope for our tattered lives and the wounded world. Here is the place we catch a glimpse of God’s promise land, described in King’s dream speech as the place where all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last." (1963, I Have a Dream, MLK jr.) It is an honour to stand on the mountaintop with you this morning. To see how the kingdom is made possible when concerned committed souls refuse to let injustice have the last word. When people of faith take seriously the call to show compassionate love in their actions as well as their speech (1 John 3:18). To know, without a doubt that the disciples of mercy, who have already been transfigured on the mountaintop, go before us on the path towards the kingdom, making it ever more straight so that our footing will be ever more sure and that we, all of us, - leaders and behind the scene workers - must do the same for those who will come after. The gift that we have shared this day is not a private one. “Living high up in the rarefied air isn’t the point of transfiguration.” The vision must be brought down the mountain. Like Peter, James, and John, we must offer this vision of hope to the homeless ones in our streets, to the lonely ones in our old age homes, to the refugees at are borders, and to our own sometimes weary, sometimes doubtful soul. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Amen.

“The Point of Church” by Rev. Alexa Gilmour January 10, 2016 Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3:15-16, 21-38 Sara Miles faith journey was a long and complicated one (#1). She left home as an atheist, after being raised by parents who wanted to protect her from an archaic superstition that, they believed, served no one. She knew she yearned for meaning and connection and searched in even the most extreme places for something that would satisfy her hunger. For years, Sara travelled to conflict zones - Central America and Africa mostly - as a journalist covering the politics and atrocities of war. In the midst of the pain of death and starvation, she saw the extremes of human behaviour; she saw “people betray their friends and sacrifice for strangers; people suffering and starving and people transcending their own limitations to nurture others and become part of communities (p xiv).” She found connection by crossing social boundaries and sitting down to eat with people so unlike herself. More often than she could count, she experienced the generosity of people through the breaking of bread. She ate meals with Central American guerrillas in their secret mountain camps. She was given a jar of fresh milk, still warm from the cow’s body, by a kindly woman who lived in a barrio in El Salvador. Years later, when the story broke about the 6 Jesuit priests from the University of Central America being brutally martyred, Sara would recall the many times that one of them, Father Martin-Baro, would offer her imported biscuits to eat, as they sat in his office discussing the politics of war and peace. Her war years came to an end when she got pregnant and moved to the safer streets of San Francisco but her yearning continued. A bishop once explained to her that “there’s a hunger beyond food that’s expressed in food, and that’s s why feeding is always a kind of miracle (p23).” but it would take 46 years for her to understand this truth and discover what could satisfy the hunger that was beyond food. Rob Brearley describes the scene at the Jordan river, where John baptized Jesus, as a line up of hungry people “who had been broken by the “wear and tear” of this selfish world and had all but given up on themselves and their God” (#2); a desperately sin-sick group yearning for a taste of hope, a new beginning, and a new relationship with God. Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus stood right in the midst of them, lining up with these life-weary people, and, at first, no one on the banks of the Jordon noticed that Christ was in their midst. Even when we yearn and seek, we sometimes fail to notice Christ. And, then, there are times when we see him everywhere. One of our Messy Church volunteers, Cathie, who attends another local church, told me a wonderful story about her 20-something year old son with intellectual disabilities. A couple of months ago, her family was invited to a wedding. She and her son were sitting the second row of the unfamiliar church waiting for the bride and groom to make their grand entrance when her son pointed at the cross on the wall and exclaimed “Hey, Mom! That’s the same guy that hangs on the cross at our church!” Those of us who join a church learn how to recognize Christ; he’s the one hanging from the cross or hanging out on our windowsills. If he is not in the iconography than we find him in our hymns, our scriptures, our prayers. He stands amongst us broken but hopeful believers and we derive comfort from seeing him; we point to his cross as the embodiment of love at its best and, as members of the communion of saints, we strive to keep step with the Lord of the Dance. A church in San Francisco, St. Gregory’s Episcopalian church, is famous for a 3,000 square foot mural that surrounds their entire sanctuary, and is called The Dancing Saints. Visitors regularly look up at the walls and ask things like “Is that Malcolm X dancing with Queen Elizabeth the 1st?” The answer is yes. In this iconic work, the likes of King David, Isaiah, Paul, Aquinas, and Teresa of Avila are dance partners with people that might cause you and I to raise an eyebrow and ask “are they really a saint?” The 90 saints include theologians, missionaries, martyrs and prophets but also mathematicians, anthropologists, architects, artists, and animals. The dancers represent 26 different countries, multiple ethnicities, different religions, and a variety of sexual orientations. They are dressed in traditional robes, jeans, and there is even Lady Godiva in her birthday suit protesting the oppressive taxation of the poor. Arm in arm, left leg raised, right leg planted, in two stacked rows saints dance round and round the walls of the sanctuary, encouraging the congregation to kick up their heels and dance during their Sunday morning liturgy. Leading the dance is a 12 foot tall black Jesus, carrying a cross in his right hand, while his left one reaches out, inviting all who enter St. Gregory’s to join in the dance. Sara Miles has no idea what prompted her, at the age of 46, to walk into St. Gregory’s that fateful Sunday morning. She’d always been curious about the church’s unique architecture and that morning she pushed past the cautioning voice in her head that belonged to her atheist family and went inside. She sang, danced beneath the saints, and broke bread with the believers. As she tasted her first communion, she felt as is she’d been shoved off the edge of the earth. Nothing made sense any more. She heard someone say, “the body of Christ” as they handed her a chunk of bread. She knew that was patently untrue, bread was not body, and yet she knew it was absolutely true, she was taking Christ into herself. She went through the following days “excited beyond words, frequently on the verge of tears, then confused and scared” (p61). But conversion, she discovered was not a one-time, once-and-for-all-times thing. The journey towards accepting membership in Christ, for most of us, is slow and sometimes even boring process. It can be punctuated by ecstatic epiphanies, but more often than not it is a process that involves questioning ourselves and God and even wondering whether we have made the whole thing up. Like Jesus, after his baptism, Sara spent the following year in the solitary act of faith exploration, growing quiet enough to get in touch with the hunger that pulled her ever closer to the mystery and peace. After a year of giving Sara time for self-discovery, the priest at St. Greg’s invited her to help serve communion to others. As she began distributing communion to her fellow congregants, she was struck with what she called “the truly disturbing, dreadful realization about Christianity: You can’t be Christian by yourself … just like the strangers who’d fed (her) in El Salvador or South Africa, (she) was going to have to see and understand the hunger of other, different men and women, and make a gesture of welcome, and eat with them…. Just as (she) hadn’t “deserved” any of what had been given to (her)… (she) didn’t get to pick who else was good enough, holy enough, deserving enough, to receive it. It wasn’t a private meal… the table had to be shared with everyone in order for (her) to really taste it” (p96-97) and have her hunger satisfied. Looking up at Christ’s outstretched hand, she decided to join in the dance. Because food had always been a way for her to connect with others, Sara started a food pantry at St. Greg’s. She had seen, first hand, through the dedicated work of Christians in Central America how Christ’s Eucharist, the metaphorical and literal feeding of bodies and souls, knitted together broken communities that had been dispersed by violence (p123) and she knew that feeding others was the way to satisfying her own hunger. For 10 years now, Sara has been running the food pantry. They serve about 600 people per week (#3). She describes the food pantry as a “loud and holy” place where prostitutes, the disabled, widows, refugees, thieves, and plenty of little children gather to create a truly biblical atmosphere (p127). Wearing what Leonard Cohen describes as rags of light, the battle-scarred holy ones come every week to take from the altar that Sara piles high with groceries, while high above them the saints, the broken and hopeful believers of the past, dance in Divine harmony. Jesus stands in the midst of them, holding out his hand. “This is the point of church,” says Sara. It’s not to get people to come to church… (it is) to feed them, so they can go out and be Jesus (p265).” (#1) The page references in this sermon are all from Sara Miles’s book, Take This Bread: The Spiritual Memoir of a Twenty-First-Century Christian. (#2) Feasting On The Word, Yr C, Vl 1, p236. (#3) thefoodpantry.org

Sermon “There’s More Than Enough God to Go Around” by Rev. Alexa Gilmour January 17, 2016 John 2: 1-11 There are so many great thinkers to learn from and lately, I’ve been spending time with a burgeoning theologian by the name of Sasha Thorburn. My 4 -year-old nephew may not have any theology degrees hanging from his wall but he sure has a lot to say about God. His thoughts about communion are particularly profound. When he was 2-years-old some of you might remember him ignoring his aunt’s brilliant children’s time in favour of lifting up the lids on the communion platters and peaking inside with intense curiosity. After the service was over, he announced enthusiastically “I like communion!!” “That’s great. Sasha. Why is that?” we asked. Thinking about the small cubes of bread and grape juice cups, Sasha replied, “because it is a like a little lunch.” Perhaps that is true for a two year old but to most of us, it’s more like an amuse bouche than a whole lunch. As Sasha grew, I think he also begun to notice that the Christian meal looks more like a weight-watchers helping than a hungry-man dinner. Last month, on his way home from communion, Sasha was silently pondering the meal he had just shared at church. “Mom,” he said, “I know why the pieces of bread and cups are so small.” “You do! Why do you think that is?” my sister asked. “Because,” he said earnestly, “you wouldn’t want to kill Jesus-God dead by taking too much of him.” Watching Sasha struggle, as many of us do, with the mystery of the Eucharist made me smile but also wonder about whether Sasha had ever heard about God’s unending grace? And I began to wonder about the theology we profess with our mouths verses the theology we profess with our lives? Where in my life and our church might we be failing to tell the story of God’s grace? On Friday, deeply sad news came out of the worldwide Anglican Communion. For sometime, the African churches had been threatening to boycott the annual meeting in Canterbury over the fact that the Episcopalians in the States had changed their definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. This week, in an effort to keep the Communion together, the Anglican leaders voted in favour of sanctioning the Episcopalian church for embracing gay marriage; a painful blow to so many. Bishop Curry of the Episcopalian church responded by saying, “Our commitment to be an inclusive church is not based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture, but on our belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are a sign of the very love of God reaching out to us all.”(1) Which theology do we profess with our actions? That there isn’t enough God to go around (exhibited to 4-year-olds in small cubes of bread and to others when we sanction of those who offer welcome to the LGTBQ community) or that God’s generous abundance, exhibited in Jesus’ first miracle at Cana, continues to flow in unending streams filled with love, hope, and joy to us, regardless of where we’ve been, what we’ve done, and who we are; Grace, the underserved gift of a generous God. If it’s possible to ever get tired of watching cute cat videos on CZcams, you can always goggle “weddings gone wrong” and feast on the pain of bridal couples who have hilarious and horrifying mishaps on their special day. But you’ll never see, even if there had been videotape in those days, a CZcams video titled “Cana wedding disaster” because just when the party was about to come to a screeching halt, Jesus, prompted by his mother, steps in to save the couple from public shame and keeps the party overflowing with more wine than they could possibly have drunk in weeks, let alone the remaining days of the wedding celebration. And not just any wine, this is about a 1,000 bottles worth of the finest Amarone you’ve ever tasted. In this one story, where John talks about Jesus’ first miracle, we get some understanding of one of the most important theological concepts in Christianity, Grace. Grace is more than simply an undeserved gift from God, it is utterly unbelievable abundance. More of God’s overflowing love, deep hope, and ecstatic joy than we could possible ever use up in our lifetime. I think sometimes we forget that God loves to hear our laughter. Robert Brearley says “The sign at Cana tells us that Jesus served a God who puts joy into life, who thinks it is worth a miracle to keep the party going as we celebrate people" (2). When the servants do “exactly what Jesus tells them to do,” a miracle occurs that benefits all people. The volume of wine is too much for one couple to drink alone. It is a gift that must be shared. It must be shared with your neighbour who grieves the loss of their marriage. It must be shared with the in-law that drives you crazy. It must be shared with those who would open their arms to embrace all of God’s family and those who want to turn off the flow of grace to those who love differently than they do. There is a special kind of hospitality that the theologian David Steele calls Cana-Grace. It refers to an atmosphere, created by Christians, that is full of the spirit of God’s celebration and welcome. You might have felt it last night at our Chili dinner. The joy comes from knowing God and knowing how precious each one of us is. David Steele coined a beatitude based on this kind of hospitality: “Blessed is the pastor whose church has a real tenor (thank you Adrian) or plumber. But doubly blessed is the pastor whose congregation knows Cana-Grace” (3) Later today, I’m thinking of taking a loaf of bread and some grape juice over to Sasha’s house. When my pint-sized theologian has ripped, dipped, and eaten his piece of bread, I’m going to offer the loaf again. I’ll have a second piece, too, and maybe even a third. When the juice jar is nearly empty and our bellies are completely full, we’ll profess through our giggles and shared meal that there is always more than enough God to go around. Amen. (1) episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/01/14/majority-of-primates-call-for-temporary-episcopal-church-sanctions/ (2) FOTW, Yr. C, Vl. 1, p262. (3) David Steels, “Cana-Grace,” In Presbyterian Outlook, 174, no. 14 (Apr 13, 1992): 6.

This sermon was inspired by many and especially the works of: David Lose, “Ordinary Saints,” www.davidlose.net/2015/12/advent-3-c-ordinary-saints/ Barbara Brown Taylor, “Wherever the Way May Lead,” Home By Another Way, p10-14 Kindness Breeds More Kindness www.wired.com/2010/03/kindness-spreads/