September 28, 2018; Thanksgiving

THANKSGIVING

Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever. (Psalm 106:1 NIV)

Last week I went to a Presbytery of Brampton meeting. All pastors of churches within the Presbytery of Brampton are members of this Presbytery and must attend it. A Presbytery is a leadership group that is above Session (Elders) in a local church. In the Presbyterian Church in Canada Book of Forms it is explained that the Presbytery is the court above Session which is the court that oversees the local church.

Last week’s Presbytery meeting was held at Nassagaweya Presbyterian Church in Campbellville. Their pastor is Rev. Reuben St. Louis. I chatted with Reuben that evening. I reminisced about the fact that Nassagaweya P. C. was the first ever Presbyterian Church in Ontario that I preached at. (The first Presbyterian Church I ever preached at was Chinese Presbyterian Church in Vancouver in about 1999). I had met Reuben earlier in March 2015 when I was interviewed by the Presbytery Ministry Committee with a hope of being received into the Presbyterian Church in Canada as a pastor. I was received at General Assembly in June 2015 with the proviso that I did 10 courses at Knox College, the training college for Presbyterian pastors at the University of Toronto. In September 2015 I started my studies at Knox College. I was invited by Reuben to preach at Nassagaweya P.C. on September 20, 2015.

The building of Nassagaweya P.C. was built in 1861. Our St. Andrew’s Streetsville building was completed in 1868. It is a smaller building than ours. They also have an unused balcony like us (used to store items too). Yet what impressed me about my first visit to Nassagaweya P.C. were the 2 frames at the back of the sanctuary that had the list of army people who served in both World Wars. I had been to Anglican churches who has these Remembrance frames. I did not envisage that Presbyterian churches also had them. To think that army personnel who went to these wars also met for worship at Nassagaweya PC. on Sundays. Some of them even gave their lives for their country.

Last week Reuben and I chatted about my first visit to Nassagaweya to preach and about how I felt about those 2 Remembrance frames. I thanked him for that opportunity to preach that Sunday in September 2015. Although I was anticipating serving in a Presbyterian church one day, I had not led worship in a Presbyterian church before. Reuben gave me an opportunity to experience to do that. Another small development also occurred that day. The person doing Powerpoint at Nassagaweya that day had to give announcements too. So she asked if Luke could help in Powerpoint that day. Luke helped in Powerpoint that day. Luke is now helping us with the Powerpoint on the Sunday mornings that he is rostered on.

This happened 3 years ago. Most of you know what happened to me since then. I give thanks to the Lord for he is good (Psalm 106:1).

Pastor Pye