Acts | A New Series

This Sunday we are beginning a series going through the book of Acts, which is the story of Christ's followers after the Resurrection. Gene will be preaching on Acts 1:1-12

In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile.

The Daily | Scripture & Memorization

Check out this quote from Dallas Willard in the Daily. As I've been reading the Psalms in the Divine Offices, it is so evident how the Psalmists always had the Word of the Lord before them, in their hearts and on their minds. We continue to affirm the incredible power of a life of prayer and Scripture, especially reading together as a community. There are a couple of us that do the Divine Offices, and some who do the Once-A-Day approach. If you are on a computer a lot, the Divine Offices Calendar literally makes it two clicks away to read a short section of Scripture and say a prayer. You can also print either out when the resources posting in Urban Monks every week.

A couple of us (well, Kate and I) have begun weekly Scripture memory and if anyone is interested in joining in, let us know!! We are starting with Colossians 3, about 4 verses a week.

All of these things are not ends in and of themselves. They are merely practices that train us in becoming more and more like Jesus - becoming his disciples. It is sometimes easy to forget that!

What's Goin' On | June 18

All the regular fixin's are up...
:. Laura's teaching is here.
:. Community resources are here.
:. We still want to hear from you!
:. Community Prayer posting as always on urban monks.

Partial Update | June 18

Goooooooooood morning, everybody! It's probably not morning by the time you are reading this, but nevertheless...a few announcements:

:. COMMUNITY PRAYER post is up for the week. Check it out. Add to it. Pray through the things on it.

:. We are still looking for people to join the community connections trip in August. More info here. If you are interested, leave a comment on that post or email tilt.toronto@gmail.com

:. IMPORTANT! TILT Leadership is meeting on June 25th for a day of prayer and evaluation/visioning/all that good stuff....we need to hear from you! More info and ability to give input here.

:. If you haven't seen them yet, baby shower pictures are here!!

TILT Leadership Meeting | Community Voice

As Greg mentioned tonight during announcements, the TILT leadership team is dedicating a day on June 25th to praying through and discussing anything and everything regarding the TILT community. We believe leadership exists within the community and does not stand over and above it. In other words, leadership does not dictate. SO, we would like to give anyone and everyone an opportunity to put "items" up for discussion for this day. They can be concerns about the community, a vision of where God wants it to go, encouragements about what TILT is doing well, ideas to integrate into our worship gathering, thoughts about becoming more of a "sent-out" community rather than inward-focused...anything! We would really appreciate your input on this. You can provide input in one of three ways:

• Post a comment by clicking "# COMMENTS" below;
• Post a comment by going here;
• Email tilt.toronto@gmail.com.
• NOTE: all comments must be published by someone on the TILT leadership team. Therefore, you can actually post a comment that nobody will ever see (please state this as your desire if you would like your comment to be private). You can also post a comment as anonymous too!
  

Photos | TILT Baby Shower!

	Sorry these took a wee while to get posted. But if you missed the TILT Baby Shower celebrating Rylie and Chloe, now you can see all the action in still photos!! Note: anything that looks like chocolate is chocolate, even if it is somewhere that it normally wouldn't be. The photos are here, or click on the picture or the link at the bottom of the picture. Options, baby!
From TILT Baby Shower

Martin Dewar | Operation Mobilization

Our friend Martin is headed to France in July as part of a team being sent by Operation Mobilisation. He will be part of the Hope for the West Campaign, doing evangelism work in partnership with local churches. Read his prayer letter here. Learn more about Operation Mobilization here.

New Music Wednesday | Songs at TILT

As you are wittling time away at work or cruising the streets, you can now listen to the two most recent songs we have been singing at TILT, written by Greg. Both are rooted in Scripture from the Gospel of Matthew. Listen here.

What's Goin' On | June 12

Good Tuesday morning to one and all! Your regular updates as always:
:. Community life & prayer is posted.
:. Weekly resources are posted.
:. Greg's new song "Outcast (This Is Our God)" is under TILT art.
:. Bill's sermon is in teaching.
:. (Note the picture is of Rylie McIntyre and Chloe Kay from Friday's shower...more pictures to be posted later!)

Sunday Sampler | 1 Timothy 6

The words of Paul to Timothy: "Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth". Read the whole Scripture for Sunday here. Bill will be preaching again this week!

Teachings are up! And Other Reminders

Baby shower on Friday evening!! Details and RSVP info below.

You can listen to the teachings from the last month of the Moth & Rust series in the Teaching Blog. (Thus inspiring some good ol' painting of Jesus teaching.)

As always, Community Life & Prayer is posted in urban monks. Post!

Community Connection | Moose Deer Point Reserve

As we have been announcing for a couple of weeks now, we have the opportunity to connect with the community at Moose Deer Point (click on the name for info about the community). We will be running a day camp for the children and youth of the community for the week of August 12-18.

If you are interested (not committed definitely necessarily!), just interested, please let Bill know. Email Bill AT springgardenchurch.ca, or post a comment here!

Here are some off-the-cuff thoughts on doing this trip within the context of our friends at Small(r) Blog.

What's Goin' On | June 4

Depending upon how much I procrastinate, things will be appearing throughout the day!

Check out the Communion Liturgy from yesterday under the Daily.

Resources for today and this upcoming week are now posted under Urban Monks.

Community Life & Prayer is now posted!

Images for the theme "Moth & Rust" are posted under TILT Art.

In case you haven't scrolled down lately...

Sometimes things can get lost in a blog when your mouse scroll-down function just doesn't seem to be quite functioning properly. So here's a succinct re-cap of what's been posted lately:

:. BABY SHOWER! For Rylie McIntyre and Chloe Kay on Friday, June 8th. Post here.

:. Jan D'Angelo will be preaching this Sunday on Luke 12:13-21. We'll also be praying through the Lord's Prayer as translated in the Voice. Check it out under the Daily here.

:. COMMUNITY PRAYER posting is up. Read the post here. Post a comment here.

:. An interesting article in the Globe and Mail that gives us a taste of what it's like being a Christian in other countries...read it here.

:. Once-A-Day Devotionals and the Daily Offices will be back up and functioning next week!!

Sunday Sampler | Luke 12:13-21

Scott Moore | From Designed Images

Parable of the Rich Fool 13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” 16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

What's Goin' On | May 30

Slowly the TILT website awakes again. Thank you Greg for your posts while yours truly was away on a certain special vacation.

This past week, we reflected on Jesus' words in Matthew's Gospel: 19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
May our treasure be in the Kingdom of God!

Community Prayer Post is now up under Urban Monks. As always, we encourage you to post comments so we can pray for one another. Read the post here. Post a comment here.

Baby Shower | Friday, June 8

The echo of the echo boom has begun within the TILT community!! Congrats to Jay and Michelle on the birth of Rylie, and to Mon and Greg on the birth of Chloe.

To celebrate, the Halls are hosting a "Jack & Jill" of Baby Showers (in other words, both men and women are welcome) on Friday, June 8th from 7 - 9 pm at the church (directions here should they be needed!).

What to bring?
If you haven't already thought about a gift, we'd like to throw out the suggestion of people bringing a meal for each family that they can freeze/store for when they need it. (It doesn't even have to be homemade!) It would be a great way to extend our hospitality to these sleep deprived couples! :)

Please talk to Lesley Daniels or Shelby Hall (billandshelbs@hotmail.com) for more info and to RSVP.

Regular updates coming...SOON...

It seems to take a couple of weeks to return to normal life after marriages, honeymoons, and baby birthing. Please forgive the lack of updates, but life on tilttoronto.ca will be back to normal as soon as possible!

Some MORE of What's Goin' On this week

This coming Sunday May 20 as part of our worship we are going to be heading outdoors to walk around the neighbourhood on what we've previously called a Kingdom Walk, where we walk around watching for places of God's Kingdom presence and absence and praying for our city and neighbours.
Make sure you bring some comfortable walking shoes and appropriate clothing! If for any reason you are unable to walk we will have a car or two prepared to do a prayer DRIVE so that everyone can participate.

We will be meeting as per usual at 6:15pm for gathering, formally starting at 6:30 first inside for some singing, teaching and celebrating communion before heading out.

If you're wondering about the picture here, this is apparently what google considers to be a 'kingdom walk'... but don't worry, Gene is proficient at fending off any evil mushrooms that may attempt to thwart us!

What's Goin' On | May 15

Well, Scott is away on his honeymoon, so this is Greg attempting to cover for him!

Tonight (May 15) at 7:30 there is a prayer meeting being held for Spring Garden as a whole in the sanctuary to which everyone is invited. We are gathering to seek God's leading as a community, seeking revival as God leads us into new territory!

As per usual, we can't encourage you enough to read, pray through and add comments to the Community prayer post. Plus there are some pictures of babies there... who can resist pictures of babies!

Also here are the once a day and 8 daily offices resources for the week

That's all for now!