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!

More updates...

Note: TONIGHT at 7:30 - prayer at Spring Garden Church for any and all.
This week's resources are posted: here.

What's Going On...May 7

Make sure you read the announcement post below this one! It has lots of important information from last night.

Gene's teaching is up on the teaching blog, and the Community Prayer post is also up! Click on the links to see them.

Announcements Galore!!

HEAR YE!! HEAR YE!! I think tonight we had our longest ever TILT announcements and if your mind is anything like mine, you've forgotten all of them already. Thankfully, I wrote them all down so we can have them up on the website!! Here goes...in NO order of importance:
: See the earlier post on AIM {Acts of Intentional Mission} which is happening on May 27 from 11:30 - 2:00.

: We have the opportunity to minister among a First Nations Reserve near Georgian Bay from August 12 - August 18. We will be involved in running a day camp for youth and children on the reserve. More details to come!! These are people who have long been forgotten and ignored when it comes to national matters and treated unjustly for centuries. They are literally in our neighbourhood. Post a comment if you are interested!!

: Everyone is invited to attend Simon Wukasch's (son of Rick, Pastor at Spring) wedding at Spring Garden on Saturday. Not sure about the time.

: Everyone is invited to attend Scott Moore (guy who is typing this) and Kate Locke's wedding also on Saturday, May 12 at 2:00 pm at Georgetown Alliance Church. Click on the thumbnail on the right for a map.

: ***IMPORTANT*** On this Tuesday night at 7:30 pm (and the following one) at Spring Garden, we will be gathering together for a time of prayer. The TILT and Spring Garden communities have many pockets of prayer happening, but it is important that we pray as one voice together to God, listening to Him and responding to Him as a whole body. So, come! Gene is also offering people a book to use for praying through this time - for fresh encounters with God and for revival - not "more numbers" revival, but more "God being revealed" revival.

Sunday Sampler | John 21

This Sunday, Gene wraps up our four weeks in the story of John 21:15-25. He will be bringing three things which Jesus says together: feed my sheep, I tell you the truth and come follow me. Spend some time in the story before coming on Sunday night!

Random Interests | Sleep & Other...

I often say that sleep is the best spiritual medicine. I'm no doctor, but it sure is hard to be gracious and compassionate when you are dead tired. So, if you need a little entertainment, check out this sleep survey! I mean, we do spend (supposedly...for our better health) one third of our lives sleeping...

Have you checked out any videos, music, or writing at TILT art lately?

AIM '07

Spring Garden is putting on a Spring Festival of Ministries, called "AIM '07" - Acts of Intentional Mission. It will be an opportunity to link up with organizations that people within the Spring Garden Community are already working for. For more details, check out Spring Garden's website.

You may also want to check out this week's community post and comments!

Spring Garden Community | Praying for Revival

As Greg mentioned on Sunday, Spring Garden is currently in a financial crunch. Rather than seeing this as a time of desperation and praying for money, we see it as an opportunity to pray and seek revival. To re-evaluate how we do ministry, what God is calling us to as a community and responding to His Words to us in faith. Go to the Spring Garden website here to listen to Sunday morning time of prayer, as well as words from Gene and a couple of others.

What's Goin' On | May 1

April showers give way to May flowers!! Spring finally looks like it has arrived...Here's what has arrived on the TILT website for this week.

As always, your weekly resources for devotion/meditation/worship/prayer are here. You can also listen to, download or read Scott's sermon under TILT teaching.

Most importantly [I suppose that is expressing a personal opinion], Community Life & Prayer is posted under Urban Monks. You can post your comments through that link, or directly here.

Our Stories

We are always looking for people to share their stories with the TILT community - it doesn't have to be anything stunningly remarkable! Just glimpses into one another's lives and seeing how God is moving among us as a community. Check out Diana's story here. If you don't know Diana, she is often graciously putting together coffee and the snack table before we gather on Sunday evenings.

Weekly Resources & Writing

Sorry this is a bit late:
Here are the weekly resources for the week - Scripture, song and prayer.

Have you checked out some of the writing of TILTers? Read it and post your thoughts!!

And throughout the week, post your reflections/thoughts/prayers here under Community Life & Prayer.

The Latest | April 23

Sorry for a slow update week last week...Just a couple of additions this morning.
Greg's teaching is linked here.
As always, community and prayer is here (to read what people post - click on "COMMENTS" at the bottom of the post, unless they are already visible!). Please share your reflections, heart for prayer and anything else as we journey together as a TILT community.

This Sunday | A Challenge from Small(er) Blog

Sunday is "Earth Day". The folks at small(er) blog are challenging us to consider alternative methods of transportation (alternative to single person vehicles that is) for getting to the worship gathering this Sunday - check it out: "I'm going to carpool, bus, walk or bike to church on April 22nd". If you are interested in connecting with other people for transportation on Sunday, post comments here!

Bill's Teaching

Unfortunately we lost the audio to Bill's teaching. But, if you can decipher his notes here, kudos to you.

The Plague of "Busy"

Yann Martel, Canadian author of "Life of Pi", made some interesting remarks about busy-ness in the Globe on Saturday. Read them here. What is a Christian response to busyness?

What's Goin' On | April 16

Last night, we had a meal by the beach...figuratively only unfortunately. Although the Daniels' fire pit made it as authentic as could be!! It was all harkening back to Jesus cooking fish and having bread with the disciples after his resurrection (see John 21). For four weeks, we will be dwelling and living in this passage.

First of all, a relatively urgent community need...pass the word along: Becki Lee is seeking a new room mate to share a spacious 2 bedroom apartment on Bloor St. between Bathurst and Spadina. Preferably a fun and easy going Christian female. Very short walking distance to subway. $600/month plus hydro. Available May 1st.

The usual suspects are posted:
Community Life & Prayer - as always, post your prayer needs!
Resources for the week - opportunities to dwell in God's written Word, worship His Incarnate Word (Jesus)
The Daily @ TILT entry for Praying with Icons - we did this for the first time on Sunday. Thoughts?

Sunday Sampler | John 21

At TILT, we try to follow [loosely] the church calendar, which is essentially an annual calendar centered around the major celebrations, events and dates in the church year. (Read here for a very detailed and Catholic perspective on the calendar year.) As the Church, we now enter four weeks of Easter where we celebrate, contemplate and live out the Resurrection of Jesus.

We are doing something somewhat unique (not totally unique because the idea is from another church Greg read about)...for four weeks, we will be going through John 21, specifically verses 15 to the end (read it here). This is the story after Jesus' resurrection where he asks Peter three times if he loves him...Four people will teach from this same passage as we seek to hear God's living Word and what it means for TILT as a community.

The latest and the greatest...

I forgot to post images from last week's Journey with Jesus. They are now up under TILT art!
Also, Sunday's image is there too.

Haven't been able to see where people have been posting stuff? There are lots of areas from prayer over the weeks where we can continue to pray for people. Check out these:

• Prayer this week;
• Reflections from a TILTer on the Journey with Jesus stations;
• Prayer stemming from the Commissioning Gathering;
• I could keep going...
• We're still interested on thoughts on the subversive social justice post - comment here;
• And of course, post your prayer/reflections/stories on community life and prayer this week.
  

What's Goin' On | April 9

A little later than usual, but your weekly (or more) update per usual...
We'd still love to hear your thoughts on subversive social justice and how TILT can be a community of justice. Comment on the linked post!

For this week - for the Scriptures we used as part of our Easter celebration, check out the post under teaching. Comment if you have any reflections from the evening - how did simply speaking the written Word impact you or reveal God to you?

Your weekly resources for contemplation/devotion/meditation/worship as always can be found on the urban monks blog. We continue to affirm our belief that a community rooted in reading the written Word together and praying together will hear from God and be moved by Him!

On that note, post any prayer requests, celebrations and life journeys on this week's community life and prayer post. Pray through how we can be a community of the resurrection this week, bringing hope to our communities.

Are you still struggling with this whole blog thing? Email TILT or read this post again.

Subversive Social Justice | Thoughts?

An interesting campaign has been begun by an OCAD student to subversively raise awareness about the plea of those without homes in Toronto. It may be short-lived as the signs are taken down by government officials. Get more info from James Kingsley's post or read the article in the Toronto Star.

What do you think of the signs? How are we as the TILT community, the Church in Toronto to respond? Where's the balance between raising awareness and helping to end the cycle of poverty? How can we do both?

What's Goin' On | April 2

Still working on getting everything up here, but while we are at it...
Check out the handout/booklet from last night's Journey with Jesus - a pilgrimage of sorts through the last events of Jesus' life, in life with the tradition of the Stations of the Cross (click on the link for an entry from the Catholic Encyclopedia).
Also, you can download the image from last night under TILT art.

Here are the rest of the updates from Sunday Night. Community Life and Prayer. Weekly Resources for Scripture reading, reflection, meditation and worship.

Another Update...

They just keep coming. We have re-posted a better version of one of our newest songs written by Greg - Called. Check it out here.

Also, post to community life & prayer, so we can pray for one another through the week!

Bored?

Why not answer a bunch of questions in CBC's Test the Nation? Find out the results from the TV special here.

A couple additions...

Two more things up for the week. Per usual, go here for the week's resources in meditation and devotion. We would love to hear how God is using these!

Also, Tony Campolo was in Toronto last week and was interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC's "The Hour". Check out the interview, it's powerful stuff.

What's Goin' On | March 26

Your friendly, neighbourhood webmaster here...I've got to say, last night was really exciting and I'm excited to hear about how God is moving among us as we are commissioned to our vocations and into the places we are.

On that note, our community life & prayer this week is centered on those places, people and things God has called us to. Post your comments! Read here.

We commissioned every based on one of six groups. Each group had a specific Scripture read to them as part of the commissioning before we laid hands on one another and prayed together. The summary of the verses used are here.

A Few Updates...

Commissioning gathering tonight!! Read this if you haven't yet!
Gene's teaching is now up as well. And also the Desert Fathers story from last Sunday. And last but not least, a community announcement:

Becki Lee is seeking a new room mate to share a spacious 2 bedroom apartment on Bloor St. between Bathurst and Spadina. Preferably a fun and easy going Christian female. Very short walking distance to subway. $600/month plus hydro. Available May 1st.

Addressing Poverty

Check out The Daily for the Star's resource on their War on Poverty. I am struck by the appeal to popularity that seems to be in every budget - go for the middle class!! Should we be supporting this kind of action? The Gospel is Good News for the poor, for the oppressed, for those who suffer injustice. I know money doesn't solve everything, but...anyhow...post your thoughts via comments!
Check the post in the Daily for one writer's opinion and a link to write your MP if you have something to say to them.

Here is also an interesting link to the blog of one of the speakers at the upcoming Evolving Church conference: Read it here.

COMMISSIONING WEEK | Reminder!

Just your friendly neighbourhood reminder about this week's upcoming commissioning gathering. To read more and also pray through how you sense God leading you to be commissioned, go here.

The War on Poverty | A Public Forum

Just wanted to let everyone know about a series of forums going on in the city which look really interesting and something the church should definitely be a part of!! Here's the blurb from the Star:

The Toronto Star and the Income Security Advocacy Centre tackle the issue of "precarious employment" – people working part-time, casually, with few benefits and low wages – at a public forum tonight, Tuesday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m., at the St. Lawrence Centre, 27 Front St. E. (view map).

Read the flyer here.

What's Goin' On | March 20

As always at the start of the week, lots of new stuff up on the blogs. I'll just run them off here:

• Community Life and Prayer post for the week. Post prayer requests, stories of God that we can celebrate.
• Urban Monk resources for the week. We continue to pray that these will bring us together as a community and lead us closer to the heart of God together.
• Becki Lee's Newsletter for this month. Continue to pray for her!
• Journey to the Cross image from the last two weeks.
• A poem by Heidi on TILT Art. Thanks Heidi!
• I think that's it for now...
  

The Lord's Supper

Ever since our series on First John, we have been receiving the Lord's Supper every week as a community. Here's an interesting video that might spur some thinking on who and what communion is for [shared from Work of the People]:

Gene's Teaching & Leave Your Footprint on the Blog!!

Yes, that is Gene leading Alpha, but on Sunday night he was at TILT, teaching about the meaning of the Cross. Check it out here!

God leading you in any direction this week as you read his written Word or pray? Post your thoughts here.

Need prayer for something? Have an exciting story to tell? Leave a comment under community life and prayer.

What's Goin' On | March 13

Here is your semi-regular update on links throughout the TILT blogs. Your weekly resources for reading and prayer are here under Urban Monks as always. We continue to affirm the belief that a community rooted in prayer and Scripture reading together throughout the week will hear and be moved by God in amazing ways! Any feedback on this would be superb...comment here or under the resources.

Community prayer and life is here. Please add any stories, need for prayer, praise. Anything!

NOTE: Our commissioning gathering will be on March 25 stemming from our series "Reconstructing the Call". In preparation for this evening gathering, we would encourage you to read through the document in the post on the Commissioning Gathering here. It will illustrate how will we go about commissioning and it would be great if you can pray through it beforehand!

Gene's teaching will be up tomorrow morning.

Teaching Sampler | The Journey to the Cross

For the next two weeks we are looking at "The Journey to the Cross". This week, Gene will be teaching us about how Jesus was aware of his fast approaching death as he journeyed to Jerusalem. Check out Hebrews 12:1-2:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne".
What exactly did his death do or accomplish? Was it just 'substitionary' - that Jesus died in our place? Then why couldn't he have just been killed when he was two and Herod tried to kill him?

More updates...

I've added another great link under Green Resources. It's a website called greenopolis.ca. It contains a directory to green products and services, and a bunch of other useful tidbits that are easy to implement. Start small!!

We would also love to make part of the urban monks blog a sharing of our stories with one another. Becki's story from the stations is up there. If you would like to share your story, email tilt.toronto AT gmail.com.

What's Goin' On | March 4

Last night we had an intimate communion potluck. Any votes for favourite dish of the night? I have to go with Les's cake, despite the bottom being stuck to the pan.

Some more stuff will be posted later, but most importantly: Community Life & Prayer for the week.

Resources for the week are up now too.

COMMUNION POTLUCK | Tomorrow!

For our gathering tomorrow, we're having our about bi-monthly communion potluck where we celebrate communion over a meal. So, we'll be downstairs in the Multi-Purpose Room instead of up in the sanctuary. 6:30 pm per usual!!

We don't assign food by name or anything like that, so if you are able to bring anything, please do. However, if you don't have time/money/whatever to prepare anything, don't worry about it! We always make extra and often those who need to take food home, we send some with them!!

If you haven't been at a communion potluck before, a little background...the early Christian church celebrated communion over an entire meal, rather than just as part of a worship gathering. So, that is what we are doing at TILT - framing a meal together through the celebration of communion, so that the entire meal is communion. Greg, you can comment if this is an inadequate explanation...

See you tomorrow night!

What's Goin' On! Updates...

Check out the latest under green resources, including an article on "High Efficiency Worship". James Kingsley's small(er) blog is gaining momentum and an interesting place to stay updated on what other churches are doing [speaking of which - Rodway, if you are reading this, what's the name of that RC church that won an environmental award...James would definitely be interested].



A new feature in the Daily...let me know what you guys think...but I just saw Stranger than Fiction and couldn't help seeing parallels to the Christian faith. Check out the post. It would be great to get some discussion/thoughts on that one. Do we want this type of thing on the Daily? Comments!! Post 'em!!

As always, post things we can pray about as a community under Community Life & Prayer posting for the week. Something to pray through as the Canadian church is the recent report: "The Rich and the Rest of Us". [click title to read article from The Star]

We have also begun a new section in the Urban Monks blog: "Our Stories". Check it out.

What's Goin' On | February 26

Last night was the final evening in our series of "Reconstructing the Call", although we will be having a commissioning gathering on March 11th to send us out as God's called people (information about this here). Our focus was "God's Call IN Your life" and we wanted it to be a practical evening. How do we listen to God and know His will? We often hear about the "5 Steps to Knowing God's Will", but is that really biblical? We're not so sure. Check out the stations from last night here. Post comments on how God spoke to you last night on that post. Last night's images are also up here.
Continuing reflections for Lent: Week two Earthkeeping Exercises | Other resources
Read what some people have given up for Lent (below the post): here. Lyndzie - did you have some chocolate on your Sabbath? Becki - cheese?
Community prayer post for the week - please post thoughts/requests/praises/God's working in your life.
A TIP for navigating the blogs: There are five blogs and on the right sidebar of each is a "label cloud" - this is an easy way to find a post that relates to any of the labels in the blog (for example, click on "goin' on" in the label cloud and you will get all of these posts in one page!).

Reconstructing God's Call | COMMISSIONING!

We've spent several weeks learning about what it means to have God's call upon our lives. We've seen our primary call to follow Jesus, our call to community, Sabbath, creation, ministry. And how God has a call ON our lives.

So, knowing that God calls us in all of these ways, we would like to commission everyone at TILT in their lives as a whole and in the specific things that we all do. We are planning on doing this on March 11 (CHANGE: March 25th).

To prepare for this gathering, check out the post on Commissioning. Read through the linked summary in the post and pray through where you feel God has placed you vocationally. We will be using this model to commission everyone. Obviously, we all don't fit neatly into one box - good! You can obviously be working in more than one 'vocation'.

What's Goin' On...February 23

A few things to make note of...

• A new addition to TILT Art - poetry! Nick Cox has a couple of poems up. Read them under TILT art.
• Rob Bell (you know the guy from the NOOMA films) has a new book coming out in a month, called Sex God. I think the title is more provocative than anything. Read the first chapter here - pretty powerful stuff about our humanity.
• This Sunday we are doing stations. We'll be journeying through how God calls us in the details of our lives.
  

Reflections for Lent

Lent is a season where we focus on Christ's journey to the Cross. Some of us choose to 'fast' from something in our life - food, TV, excessive work. Some of us 'fast' by implementing a new discipline into our lives.

But the value is not in the fasting itself, but rather in that it re-focuses us on our journey with Christ. So, we've provided a couple of specific reflections for the Lent season. Feel free to post comments there throughout the next 40 days as God speaks to you.

Oh Hungry? | Lent season

Are you fasting in any sense for the Lenten season? Not really sure what it's all about? It is just giving up chocolate to lose a couple of pounds? Or a lot more? Read about Lent in the Daily.

Spring Garden will have a labyrinth set-up for much of the Lent season. Check the calendar or above link to the Daily for times.

What's Goin' On!

As always, keeping you up-to-date and with-it... Tonight was focused on "God's Call ON your life". Listen to Bill's teaching. Check out the latest art. Let us know how we can pray for one another or what's happening in your life in community prayer this week. (Although it didn't appear to be so at TILT tonight, we promise it was a PowerPoint issue and not a website issue. It really is easy to post a comment!) Last night, we used the ancient practice of the [finger] labyrinth.
There are also a couple new links under Green Resources in the daily.

Called to Creation | Some Resources

Stewardship of God's creation seems to be a hot topic these days and so there are lots of resources. Check out the latest post under the daily.

Earthkeeping | Spring Garden Church Series

The whole community of Spring Garden is beginning a series about climate change, the environment, and God's heart for His creation. You can read more info here. There will be three Sunday afternoon sessions taking place at the church - February 18, March 4, March 25 - from 12:00 - 3:00 pm. Details are in the linked file (or click on the picture). The dates are also included in the TILT calendar!

Also, read about an interesting couple under the daily

Desert Fathers in The Daily

Gene's reading from the stories of the Desert Fathers is now under The Daily. Check it out! You can also view/download an explanation of the practice of reading their stories aloud during a common meal in monasteries. Monasteries continue to do this to this day!

What's goin' on

	Although Gene was sick, we have posted a sermon on the same topic under TILT teaching. Simon's image is poster per usual under TILT Art. Please, post to Community Prayer so we can pray for one another! (Click 'Community Prayer' on sidebar at right)
Scott Moore | From TILT Set-ups

Called to Creation | Teaching Sampler

Gene will be teaching this week on our call to creation. After God's addressing us as humans, this is the first call to something we received. The environment is in the news daily now and is becoming the number one political issue in Canada. What is our role in creation as Christians, as humans? How does God's call to us influence our daily decisions - dealing with waste, driving our cars, etc.? Is this just a craze?

Greg's Music is Online!!

Check out Greg's music under TILT art. An awesome way to learn Greg's music and use it for worshipping through music throughout the week. Put your comments under the post to let us know what you think. What do you think of Greg's new song from Sunday Night - Called? (Excuse the rough recording...it was all of our first time going through the song [other than Greg of course]).

Teaching from Last Night | Called to Ministry

Monica's teaching is now posted at TILT Teaching. The video from last night is also up under TILT Art. Check 'em out! Comment on them!

What's Goin' On | February 5

Reconstructing the Call continues at TILT. Last night we saw a homegrown video (to be posted later today) and Monica spoke to us (audio also to be posted later when I'm home!). The Divine Offices, Once-A-Day and Community Prayer is posted under "Urban Monks". Post your comments in Community Prayer - thoughts, what's happening in your life, prayer needs...

Film for Social Change

The National Film Board has just re-kindled an interesting initiative formerly known as "Challenge for Change". Check out http://www.nfb.ca/filmmakerinresidence/. St. Michael's Hospital has a "film-maker in residence" who is creating videos about inner city health. These are eye-opening videos that present an opportunity for us to become involved in the needs of those in the inner city. Check it out! Let us know what you think in the comments...

Called to Ministry: Video

Just a little sampling of the innards and makings of the video for TILT this week. It will feature a star-studded cast including Laura Adams, Rodway Daniels, Geoff "Big G" Moore, among others.

CBC Town Hall: Growing Up Without Men

I was listening to the CBC today and heard some interesting comments stemming from a town hall Grant Lawrence conducted on "Growing Up Without Men". Single parent families are increasingly prevalent and present a major need for support and love in our communities. Check out what people were saying on CBC's website.

Called to Ministry: Teaching Teaser

Holy iPod user or hip pastor? Either way, we'll be talking about being 'called to ministry' on Sunday evening. The Super Bowl can wait on this...There will be a homegrown video and Monica will be speaking. Is ministry just for professionals? What is ministry anyway? How can I be called to ministry when I'm working my job 40+ hours/week?