In the whole narrative of Christmas there is no word of Mary recorded. Luke 2:19 simply says, “…but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

In Bethlehem the long awaited promise was fulfilled. The newborn child was to be the Saviour. Israel was no longer the great nation whose faith had sustained them in days gone by. They were captives in their own land, not only by the Romans, but by their sinful lives. What Israel needed now was a Saviour.

As we listen to the news or read the paper, we realize how much we are like the Israel of old. Wars, sickness, poverty and injustice – it was a world much like ours, populated with people like us: sinful, lost people who need a Saviour.

In Luke 2:10 we read that the first announcement of Christ’s birth came to shepherds. “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” The message of the Gospel is not something reserved for the powerful or the exclusive, it’s to shepherds!

One of the things I enjoy at Christmas is hearing children’s letters to Santa. One of my favourites said, “Dear Santa, There are three little boys who live at our house. There is Jeffrey, he is 2. There is David, he is 4 and there is Stephen, he is 7. Jeffrey is good some of the time. David is good some of the time, but Stephen is good ALL of the time. I am Stephen!”

Unfortunately, we aren’t all Normans – we’re shepherds! The real message of Christmas is salvation. “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) Bethlehem leads right to Calvary. Christmas is the announcement that we were worth enough to God for Him to come. God cared enough for us, the shepherds of this world, to send Jesus.

The shepherds welcomed the Saviour, but many missed the experience of that first Christmas. In the hustle and bustle that often accompanies this season, may we take a few moments to ponder, as Mary did on that first Christmas, the miracle of the Saviour’s birth and allow it to be one of those moments when our breath is taken away as we think about the depth of God’s love in sending Jesus. May we never take this gift for granted!

The people at Zemabawk Corps are friendly and have heart to serve God.  We had lots of worship services every day throughout the week.  We had prayer service early in the morning and, except on Friday, we had worship service every night.  On Sundays, we had five services and since we see each other often, there is unity among the people in the Corps and the people knew each other very well.

I did lots of visitation and participated in various activities.  Besides the activities we had at Zemabawk Corps, I also had a chance to attend the Young People’s Congress for two days. The Congress was held at Bethlehem Corps, where more than 3,000 children came together, dancing and praising God.  I was spiritually blessed at this Congress.  I also had a chance to attend the Central North Division Home League Local Officers Seminar, India Eastern Territory, which was also a blessing for me.

It was a great privilege for me to spend my summer back at home where I could serve God in my own language with my own people.  I thank God and our leaders, who made the arrangements for this assignment, and last but not least, I thank all the people at Zemabawk Corps who helped me and moulded me, and gave me suggestions so that I can become a better minister in the future. 

 (For a closer look at a picture,  just click on it.)

Cadet Lalrengpuii Hmar Sungte is in Training at CFOT in Winnipeg rather than in her home Territory as a part of a special arrangement between the India East Territory and the Canada and Bermuda Territory. 

Lalrengpuii is from Aizawl, Mizoram. After Commissioning she will be returning to India for her first appointment as a Salvation Army Officer.

Grace, when we refer to it is usually a good thing. Yet defining / understanding what grace is, split the church in the mid 1600’s. Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that God uses the sacraments to facilitate the reception of God’s grace. Protestant doctrine teaches that grace is undeserved mercy that God gave to us by sending his son to die on the cross to give us a way to be with him for the balance of eternity.

As Protestants, if we defie grace as undeserved mercy given to us by God, through Jesus Christ, as a way to be with him for the balance of eternity how is that we can be so bold to think that we can offer grace to those around us? How is that we can be so bold as to think we can dispense grace/ undeserved mercy?

Grace in the Greek language is ‘charis’, meaning the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life.

Charis is related to two other Greek/English words. Charisma- a special endowment or influence and character – and an engraving stamp or mark indicating the genuiness of something.

Using the Greek root words, grace is given by God in reference to developing characteristics in harmony with God’s character, implying that grace is given to those who develop God like characteristics. And/or that grace is given to enable such character changes to be realized.

Philip Yancey in his devotional entitled “Grace Notes,” describes humans as grace dispensers. Those individuals who have and are developing God like characteristics and extending those God like characteristics to those in their presence. Not so much being God but developing and extending God like characteristics.

As grace dispensers Yancey writes that we are like old fashioned perfume dispensers in which the top twisted onto the perfume bottle, one end of the ‘lid’ dispensed the perfume when the other end of the lid – the rubber ball was squeezed and a shot of perfume would fill the air. Yancey suggests that as Christians we should be that shot of perfume, when we walk into a room, when we speak, when we act. We should be walking grace dispensers, filling the room with the presence of God.

The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

May each of us willingly be grace dispensers with the fragrance of Christ to those all who we come into contact with.

Posted by Major Margaret McLeod

These words from Henri Nouwen strike a cord with me.  We live such busy lives, and so easily and frequently fall into the trap of pushing God out of our daily lives.  Slowing down enough to meditate on Him and to truly listen is one of our greatest challenges.  Yet it is the greatest source of blessing and grace.  It teaches us, as Nouwen says, to rely on his grace more and more, rather than upon our limited strength.  As we begin a new season would you commit with me to take every opportunity you can to slow down and listen to his still small voice?  Perhaps it will be when you are waiting in line at the grocery store or backed up in traffic.  Perhaps it will be when you go for a walk, or when you first sit in front of your computer each day.  Take some time to hear Him speak.   

On the home page of our site is a link to a rich resource in mediative prayer I have found very helpful.  Select the icon in the upper right corner (titled “Prayer for Today”) and it will bring you to a daily prayer and scripture reading for each day.  Try it out, and if you’d like, make a comment below to let others know your thoughts.  We’d also like to hear about what has helped you to slow down and listen to God speak in the midst of your busy days.  Take a moment and share with us!

Posted by Captain Robert Russell

Robert is appointed to CFOT as the Distance Training Officer, where he faciliates the training for Auxiliary Captains throughout the Territory.  Robert also teaches Spiritual Formation and Salvation Army Business and Management.

- Source for quote:  Henri Nouwen, ”The Living Reminder” (51-52).

The gospel is the story of God looking for us and in return, us looking for others to be chased by the same grace.  Compassion is about seeking, but not seeking those who are just like us.  It is about seeking and finding people who are alone, sick and forgotten.  It is seeing the invisible, and helping them feel good when they are in our presence.  It is showing an interest in their lives and seeing them differently:  Looking beyond their exterior to who they really are.

Canada, and specifically Toronto, welcomes immigrants from around the world making this city the most multicultural city in the world.  This multiculturalism came to our Corps some time ago. Although the reaction was never rejection, it wasn’t easy for either party to adapt to the new vision God had for our congregation.  We are in a state of continuous growth as we experience the grace and renewing of the Holy Spirit.  I definitely see God’s grace poured out onto the people who have led this change and awakening.

When the first immigrants came to our church no one had any idea about the suffering and paperwork that an immigrant to go through. Although they are not experts, most people in our congregation have a minimum knowledge of the immigration laws and the language of the culture they have adopted, which is Spanish.

We pray together when one of our brothers has to face an Immigration Hearing.  We rejoice and celebrate when a family is accepted as a landed immigrant, but we cry and we mourn when someone is rejected and sent back to their country of origin.  Even after some have returned to their countries, people in our Canadian congregation maintain contact with them and support them.

God has given us the opportunity to serve others through the opening of a Family Services Centre.  Members of our church, who may not have had direct contact with the need and poverty of immigrants, have been able to use gifts and skills that they didn’t even know they had.  Not just in a position of helper and helped, but they have developed relationships and friendships that go beyond what they had always lived.  Several times we have had to stop and have a break because some volunteers from our congregation have experienced such strong emotions when the faced the suffering of others.  The people they are helping have faced such extreme situations, totally unfamiliar to our daily Canadian life.  The experience of helping has allowed compassion, latent in some, to be returned to life.

Most of the newcomers not only had material needs, but many of them were not yet Christians.  Many did not want to know anything about God.  Canadians cannot evangelize new immigrants without real love and compassion.  Although language may be a barrier, there is something more convincing than a thousand words: LOVE. Love has no language barriers and it’s the only reason that newcomers keep coming into our church, even though they may not understand a word of what the Canadians are saying.

 We have seen people with no hope or knowledge about Jesus coming to the Lord experiencing His transforming love through the congregation.  We know about some cases, even though they have to go back to their countries, took the seed and they are planting in their countries because they understood that the Promised Land is not found in Canada, but in Jesus.  Now they are working for the Lord and giving away what they received in Yorkminster.

Due to the change in our congregation and the arrival of new members, preaching has become a training ground to help prepare us as we open the door to new believers.  We are listening to their stories and the problems that many newcomers have.  Such situations are entirely new for some, and some have no idea of how to handle them.  That’s why our sermons have become training lessons that have opened the eyes of many and have touched the hearts of others and equipped us to take on new challenges.

My perception of others and their problems has changed greatly.  My senses have been awakened to see the needs around me.  I cannot be idle next to suffering and continue as if I had not seen it.  I know I cannot change the world, but if I can change my perception about the world that is a very important step.  I’m not as critical as before; on the contrary, I understand that there is always a reason, a trigger, that has led this person into that situation.

I had seen myself as a radical person, talking about moral values, but the Lord has challenged me… letting me know that He is the only one who can decide who is right or not.  My position is only being the tool that He chooses to use to change the circumstances of those whom He has chosen to bless. 

A brush cannot criticize the canvas.  A chisel cannot refuse to work on certain kinds of rock.  Likewise, I cannot judge the people with whom the Lord wants to work.  His love, that inspires compassion, protects us from the weariness and monotony to which any other work would have to face.  It is much easier to work alongside those whom you love, than to take them as a burden that you have to carry eight hours a day, five days a week.  When we love our people as Christ loves us, then they won’t be a burden.  That is the protection that the Lord wants to offer through the grace that is poured through his love.

The Lord has called us to weep with those who are weeping and laugh with those who are laughing. Christ offers to us, as protection, His love and the certainty of victory.  The cross is the perfect place to lay down our burdens, the perfect therapy to find balance in life.  Now I understand that compassion is not passive pity that makes us suffer, but the awareness and awakening that makes us move and changes lives, starting with our own.

Post by Auxiliary Captain Angelica Hernandez

Greetings from Central Newfoundland! Here I am at the wonderful Corps of Grand Falls Windsor for my Summer  Assignment and it is anything but quiet and low key here! 

But ready for what? Lord, we prayed, send us some children. We expected some where around 35 or 40. Be careful what you ask the Lord for, He blesses abundantly. I think we maxed out at 72 or 73 at one point! And the noise and singing—I am sure that it sounded like there were at least a thousand voices all giving their all! At one point when the flood of children charged in a lady remarked, “Samson, the Philistines be upon thee!”

Camp with Family Services is also a lively time. Some 40 or so children went from our area this year for one of the weeks to Twin Ponds. The bus driver was a very brave and partially deaf man to take all of us on at once. The children were so very happy and excited, some of them were going for the very first time. Jesus blesses their lives in so many ways through our ministries but according to the kids this is their ‘most favourite way of all, ‘cause there is canoeing and campfires’.

We had our first open air last week, there being sunshine and no windy weather. What a wonderful experience to praise God under the open sky and invite people to His loving presence. It can be sketchy here with rain, but wait ten minutes, I’m told, the weather can drastically change. All in all I am having the time of my life and I am learning so very much. Everyone is so very kind and caring. Truly Newfoundlanders are the most hospitable people I have ever met!

Sharyl Marriott-Lowry  was appointed to the Grand Falls-Windsor Citadel in Newfoundland for her summer assignment.  She entered training out of the Burlington Corps in th Ontario Great Lakes Division. 

God has been stretching Grace and I as we do ministry together.  Finding the balance with ministry and family is always a challenge.  We have been able to share with those at Golden West Centennial Lodge and that has been a new experience for me.  I believe that our presence there is very significant to all those who attend the chapel services.  As I see tears of joy roll down the face of some people there I know that God is there.  I feel that God is using us to reach both young and old alike. 

 What I did not expect was for there to be a flood in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  I was called to be a part of the (EDS) Emergency Disaster Service team.  We jumped into a CFOT van on Sunday afternoon, right after I preached that morning and headed out to help those in need.  I spent four days there with the team and we were able to minister to those who had lost everything.  We provided much needed clean water, cleaning supplies, set up a food bank and clothing distribution centers to help the victims of the flood.  We were in the community providing pastoral and spiritual care for those in crisis. It was an experience I will never forget.  We even had a chance to meet the Premiere of Saskatchewan and even wave to the Prime Minister of Canada as they arrived to survey the damage. 

 The summer has been great so far and there is more to experience.  We still have “National Music and Gospel Arts Camp” at the end of the summer.  God is using us and we are learning about God, ourselves, and our mission to the world.  This has been a great summer so far and I anticipate that it will continue to be an even greater summer in the days ahead.  It is truly about “heart to God and hands to mankind.”  We pray that in our lives the Lord will be glorified.

 Cadet Peter Kim and his wife Cadet Grace Kim are appointed to the Heritage Park Temple Corps in the Prairie Division for their summer assignment. They entered training out of the Korean Corps in Toronto, Ontario Central East Division.

Cadet Tonia Street has prepared an update on how their summer is progressing so far.  Click here to read what she has to say.

Cadets Chris and Tonia Street are appointed to the Moncton Citadel Community Church in the Maritime Division.  Christ and Tonia entered training out of the Green’s Harbour Corps, Newfoundland and Labrador Division.

The opportunity to form relationships has been very rich.  While the town is a good size and in close proximity to St. John’s, the people have retained the hospitality and openness that I know smaller, more isolated communities to be famous for.  Through visits in people’s homes, coffee times at Tim Horton’s, and a Bible study BBQ I have been given the opportunity to enter into people’s lives and hear about their lives and spiritual journeys.

A huge highlight of my summer so far was the week of VBS ministry.  I was able to join the team that led the week and was given responsibility for the Bible time and working with the summer student to facilitate the technical end of things.  Working within the team was a real blessing, as I was able to learn from members of the corps who have been involved in this ministry for many years, as well as catch a glimpse of the enthusiasm of new Christians for their new found ministry.  It was a real joy to watch the children learn and have fun throughout the week, culminating in a closing event on Sunday morning with the church filled with corps members as well as families who do not normally attend.

I am very excited to see what new blessings God has in store for the remaining weeks!

Cadet Jason Waters the Bay Roberts Corps in the Newfoundland and Labrador Division for his summer assignment.  Jason entered training out of the Edmonton Temple Corps in Edmonton, Alberta & Northern Territories Division.