Dear Friends,
Let’s go, Blue Jays!
Tonight, the World Series comes back to Toronto for the first time since 1993, and the energy and (nervous) excitement is palpable across our Diocese. Jays swag is everywhere! I’ve witnessed total strangers stopping in the street to chat about Springer’s dinger, Vladdy’s tears, or just share their fervent hope for a championship win here at home.
While watching the games on TV has been thrilling, being present in the Rogers Centre is another experience altogether. The Jays themselves, and certainly our opponents and even the broadcast commentators, often speak of the energy and noise that can come from the 45,000 fans packed into the Rogers Centre. The outpouring of joy that erupts with every good hit or pitch by a Blue Jay “raises the roof” – even when it’s open! I had the joy of being present for game three of the ALCS in 1989 when the Blue Jays played the Oakland Athletics. We won that game 7-3. My ears rang for days afterward.
That communal experience of being together to celebrate, commiserate, rejoice, despair – these are moments that the Church knows well and practices daily. I think we do it even better than professional sports! Nothing compares to a profoundly moving worship service. When we come together, in sincerity and truth, bringing our gifts and talents, to worship and praise our holy and Triune God with scripture, testimony, preaching, music and praise, and the Holy Sacrament, we are united with our siblings in Christ, both known and unknown, present, elsewhere and gone before, to offer glory and honour to God.
Tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. at St. Paul’s Bloor Street, we will have the last of our five Lift Up Our Hearts services in the Diocese of Toronto – and I anticipate it will be our biggest and best yet. There is enough space at St. Paul’s for 2,000 people, so there is room for you too: please come! All our services have featured uplifting and excellent music, inspiring speakers and preachers, anointing for healing, and the Holy Eucharist. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this Diocese has renewed and refreshed us for witness and service to God’s world.
The Season of Spiritual Renewal – the first of our 20 Calls in the Cast the Net visioning process – has been and continues to be a pivotal moment in the life of our Diocese. I believe we have put our priorities in order by starting with this fundamental grounding of our life in Christ. Everything else that we do must come out of our wellspring of devotion to the One who created, redeemed and sustains us in our faith. Although the season officially ends at Epiphany, we know that spiritual renewal will – by God’s Grace – continue into 2026 and beyond, as we look to new ways to deepen our discipleship and equip ourselves to live more fully into our walk with Jesus.
Over 1,300 Anglicans attended the first four Lift Up Our Hearts services, and more than 1,000 people have taken part in one of the 40 workshops offered during the season. That’s a lot of renewal! And we’re just getting started.
Friends, our Church is alive in Christ, and I encourage you to come out to Lift Up Our Hearts.
See you tomorrow! (And in the meantime, Go Jays!)
Yours in Christ,
The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto
